Today is ערב שבת קודש, פרשת ואתחנן.
First things first. Boruch Hashem, today is a clean day. Note to my boss: I need more work to do today! Too bad he is not a GYE member to hear this (he is not Jewish, although he is a nice guy goy). Oh well, just more reason to hang out on GYE and read everyone's recent posts (even if I don't respond to them).
A couple of thoughts on the Parsha: (credit wikisouce for the ability to paste Pesukim with nekudos)
Moshe Rabbeinu, even after he heard from G-d Himself that he was not allowed to go into Eretz Yisroel, continued to daven repeatedly for the seemingly impossible, until Hashem tells him רַב לָךְ אַל תּוֹסֶף דַּבֵּר אֵלַי עוֹד בַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה. i.e. stop with the begging because if you keep making these "demands" of Me, eventually I will כביכול be "forced" to give in to you.
What can we, who struggle with lust, take from here? When we are faced with frustration, disappointment, etc. keep on davening, KOT! Don't take no for an answer! We know what the right thing is, and we can't let anyone or anything let us give up! If we stubbornly daven for something that we KNOW is the right thing for our ruchniyus, and we don't stop from davening, and begging, and davening, and begging, and even when the answer seems to be no, we don't stop begging, then in the end we KNOW Hashem WILL answer our tefillos, כביכול He doesn't have a choice.
(I don't think that I said any chiddushim here, just pointing out the relevance to our situation.)
Now for thought #2:
We find a bit of a theme runnning thoughout this week's Parsha. Moshe Rabbeinu is speaking to the dor of people who were born in the midbar, who will be entering Eretz Yisroel shortly. He is recounting the story of Matan Torah and the Aseres Hadibros. He says (3 pesukim before the Aseres Hadibros):
לֹא אֶת אֲבֹתֵינוּ כָּרַת ד' אֶת הַבְּרִית הַזֹּאת כִּי אִתָּנוּ אֲנַחְנוּ אֵלֶּה פֹה הַיּוֹם כֻּלָּנוּ חַיִּים
It wasn't our parents who stood at Har Sinai and got the עשרת הדברות, it was us, the ones who are alive today. Umm, wasn't the דור המדבר gone already at this point? The answer is, that all yidden, regardless of what point in history they live in, and regardless of where they live, have just as much of a personal relationship with הקב"ה as the our ancestors who stood at הר סיני. The passuk of
ד' אלקינו כָּרַת עִמָּנוּ בְּרִית בְּחֹרֵב
applies not one iota less to us in the 21st century than to the דור דעה. G-d loves every single one of us as an individual, and wants to see us succeed.
Later in the Parsha, we have a Passuk that we quote in the Haggadah Shel Pesach:
כִּי יִשְׁאָלְךָ בִנְךָ מָחָר לֵאמֹר מָה הָעֵדֹת וְהַחֻקִּים וְהַמִּשְׁפָּטִים אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ד' אלקינו אֶתְכֶם.
When your children ask you in the future (for example, at the Pesach Seder, but lav davka) to explain these mitzvos we are doing here, then you should answer (I am skipping here)
וְאוֹתָנוּ הוֹצִיא מִשָּׁם לְמַעַן הָבִיא אֹתָנוּ לָתֶת לָנוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֵינוּ
This is one of the pesukkim that we quote in the Hagaddah as a source that
בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לִרְאוֹת אֶת עַצְמוֹ כְּאִלּוּ הוּא יָצָא מִמִּצְרַיִם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר...וְאוֹתָנוּ הוֹצִיא מִשָּׁם .
Again we see that Yetzias Mitzraim, which is the basis for our relationship with הקב"ה, was not just a historical event, but it is something that touches each of us personally.
This also relates to Tisha B'Av, based on the Gemaras that say
כל דור שלא נבנה בית המקדש בימיו כאילו נחרב בימיו
and
כל המתאבל על ירושלים זוכה ורואה בשמחתה
We all (and I am really talking to myself more than anyone else) need to take Hashem in our hearts, and establish a deep personal relationship with Him, pour out our heart to Him when things are rough, and thank Him when things go well, and we will end up with richer lives in the short run and, b'ezras Hashem, the בית המקדש in the long run shorter run.
Have a good Shabbos chevra.