Beached

“These are the words that Moshe spoke to all Yisrael…” (Devarim 1:1)

We often seek to connect one parshah to the following one, emphasizing the continuity of the Torah as a unified, flowing whole.

The Ohr HaChaim points to the opening word of Devarim: eileh. The word eileh is generally used to limit or minimize. What is it teaching here? (Yehuda Z. Klitnick, Pardes Yehuda)

My husband parked and shut off the ignition. For a moment there was blessed silence. The day at the seashore had been fun, but now, after so many hours of listening to songs, stories, and squabbles from the back seat, I just wanted to close my eyes and ignore the sandy, wet crew behind me.

“Let’s get going.” I roused myself. “Binyamin, grab the cooler, Avi, carry up the beach chairs, Yitzi, make sure your wet clothes go straight into the laundry room.” I tried to infuse some cheer into my voice as I swung out of the car. “Wasn’t today great? Now we just gotta clean up before we all can relax for the night.”

“Those beach chairs are heavy!” Avi dragged them out of the trunk. “Don’t know why everyone couldn’t just sit on the sand.”

“My clothes aren’t wet anymore.” Yitzi jumped out of the car, shaking sand as he went. “They’re just gritty.”