This week’s parsha begins Moshe’s final speech to Klal Yisrael and the speech is not short. Most of the book of Devarim is his speech. Many commentators ask how Klal Yisrael could listen to him speak for so long. We know from earlier in the Torah that Moshe stuttered when he spoke, so how is it that he is able to deliver this long speech? To understand the answer, we must first understand why Moshe stuttered. The reason he stuttered was because he was on such a high level, he could not explain in words what he wanted to say. Moshe was so great that no words existed in this world which could explain what he wanted to say. This was true until the Torah was given. Once the Torah was given, now something existed in the world that was on the higher level he was on, and through the words of Torah, he could speak without stuttering. Therefore, when he gave this long speech, he did not stutter because it was all words of Torah.

A great Rosh Yeshiva used to stand up to honor any mentally handicapped person that would walk into his office. A person once asked the Rosh Yeshiva why he did this. He answered that each person in this world has a unique, special mission they need to accomplish and they are given the tools to reach that goal. A mentally handicapped person does not need as many tools as a “regular” person because he is missing certain abilities. The Rosh Yeshiva continued stating people sometimes are sent back to this world after death because they did not fully complete what they needed to the first time they were here. This is called being ‘gilgulim’. These mentally handicapped people must be ‘gilgulim’ and must have been so righteous that they do not need all of the abilities most people have. They just need to accomplish very little more. The Rosh Yeshiva concluded he should stand up for these people because the soul in their body is so holy that it should be honored.

In the current generation, handicapped people are treated much better than they have been in the past, but they are still not treated the way they should be. When my wife was pregnant, the doctor asked us if we wanted to take a test to see if the baby had symptons of being certain mental handicaps. We asked why we would want to take this test and the doctor responded “so you can abort the baby.” My wife and I agreed we would not be taking this test. Personally, I find the test very disturbing. Why would a person want to abort a baby just because they are handicapped? Many people, unfortunately, think of a handicapped child as being on a lower level than the average person. This might be true when you look at what they can physically do. But if you look into the reason for their handicap, you will most likely find this person is on a much higher level than the average person. Moshe did not stutter because he was on a lower level; it was because he was so much greater than everyone else in his generation.

The next time you see a handicapped person, think about this. Hopefully, one day everyone will think this way!

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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