The Torah/Devarim

Questions
Here are a few of the questions that the Rabbis raised about this Torah reading:


 * Why did Moses include the stories that he did from the Israelites’ history, while skipping others?


 * Why did Moses start his address in Deuteronomy 1:1 by listing names of places?


 * How does the story of the appointment of judges, first told at Exodus 18:13–26, differ when Moses retells it, in Deuteronomy 1:9–18?


 * Why did Moses bring up the topic of the judges in Deuteronomy 1:9–18 at the point in his speech that he did? Does this relate to the commandments that he will teach in his main speech?


 * Does God alone fulfill the promise of Deuteronomy 1:10 that Jews will become as numerous as “the stars of heaven”?


 * How big was the bureaucracy of the heads of tribes, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, captains of tens, and officers”?


 * What does the Torah mean in Deuteronomy 1:16 by the instruction to “judge righteously”?


 * How does the story of the spies, first told in Numbers 13:1–14:45, differ when Moses retells it, in Deuteronomy 1:19–45?


 * Does the Torah ever exaggerate?


 * What’s the connection between parshah Devarim and Tisha B'Av?


 * Does God punish people for the actions that they take before they reach age 20?


 * If God forbade the Israelites from occupying the territory of Ammon and Moab in Deuteronomy 2:9–19, how could the Israelites acquire the land of Ammon and Moab that Sihon had conquered?


 * While the generation of the wilderness died out, did God communicate with Moses?


 * Why did Sihon resist the Israelites’ passage through Sihon’s territory? What does it mean that God hardened Sihon’s heart?


 * Once God instructed Moses to begin to drive Sihon out, why did Moses send Sihon a message of peace? Is there an obligation to try to make peace even in a war of necessity?


 * Why were the tribes of Reuben and Gad to fight at the vanguard?