Parasha Debarim
"These are the words that Moshe said to all Israel in the desert, (...) in the plain, in front of Suf." (Devarim-Deut 1,1)
The book of Devarim is called "the book of reproach" , because Moshe, at the end of his days,
reproaches the People of Israel so that correct and improve your actions.
And what did Moshe speak with them?
Verse (Devarim 1: 1) says about this: "in the desert, in the plain, in front of Suf", thus hinting at the moment when the person is taken to his grave. And since the person knows that in the end he will die, therefore he must live in the concept of "in front of Suf" (in Hebrew suf can be read as sof - 'final'), that is, he must always have his end and goal in front of him, and he must always remember the day of death. Well, when a person remembers the day of death, and he knows that he is dust, and to dust he will return, the mere fact of knowing it awakens in him the will to do teshuvah. As the Gemara (Berachot 5a) says: “May the person always make the Good Instinct angry so that it fights
that he remembers the day of death, in which he will render accounts of all his acts. ”
We see that the memory of the day of death leads the person to carry out a spiritual balance; When he stops the race of routine life and meditates on his actions, he turns away from the affections of the Evil Inclination and from all worldly pleasure.
These are the words of the Taná (Avot 3: 1): “Observe three things and you will not transgress: know where you come from, where you are going and in front of Who will you surrender accounts. Where you come from? From a
stinky blob. Where are you going? To a place of dust, bugs and worms. ”
Behold, meditation on this makes a person return to good. Obviously, the person does not know how long he will live, so he has the obligation to polish his soul at all times, and “prepare provisions for the path” with Torah, the fulfillment of mitzvot and performing acts of kindness. As our Sages of blessed memory said (Shabbat 153a):
“Rabbi Eliezer says: 'Repent one day before your death'. The students asked Ribí Eliézer: "But does the person know when he will die?" He told them: 'All the more reason you should repent today, because perhaps he will die tomorrow; Thus, every day of his he will have lived in repentance '".
"Remember the day of our departure" Surely it is a topic that many of us do not like to touch, but besides being something that we are clear that one day it will come, also as our sages say "meditating on that will make us reconsider and come back in teshuva "!
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