The Repetition That Saved a Nation Memory, Moshe, and the Churban of Our Time - Devarim

How many times do you need to hear something before it
becomes part of you?

Once? Twice? Ten times?

Moshe Rabbenu gathers the people one last time, and he
doesn’t teach them anything “new.” No fresh miracles. No dazzling wonders. He
retells stories they already know. He repeats. Again. And again.

הוֹאִ֛יל מֹשֶׁ֥ה בֵאֵ֖ר אֶת־הַתּוֹרָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את לֵאמֹֽר׃

“Then Moshe undertook to expound this Torah…” (דברים א׳:ה׳)

Why the repetition? Because Moshe isn’t lecturing. He’s
engraving. He’s searing memory into the soul of a people.

And as we approach תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב, our national day of
mourning, we learn from Parashat Devarim the sacred power of memory—how
remembering can be redemptive, and how forgetfulness can destroy.