Welcome to the short, practical Lelamed Weekly Dvar and Daily Aliyah. As always, you can Order The Daily Aliyah <https://mosaicapress.com/product/the-daily-aliyah/> and receive your hard copy of these daily practical and relevant Torah thoughts (all proceeds go to Daily Giving), or join this Whatsapp group <https://chat.whatsapp.com/G35Ne4mpYsm3RLPDPnPSKC> to receive one per day. I hope you find this meaningful... _______________________________________________ Moshe cautions the people that should an entire city turn to idolatry, it would need to be completely destroyed; all of its inhabitants would need to be killed, and the city would never be allowed to be rebuilt (thankfully, this has never happened). The next pasuk (verse) tells us that G-d will grant us compassion and be compassionate with us (13:18). It would seem a little late for compassion after having destroyed an entire city, so why is this reassurance even mentioned? Ohr Hachaim suggests that it is precisely because of the unthinkable things that we have had to do that G-d promises us an added level of compassion—not toward us, but in order for us to retain our humanity. When we do things outside of our nature, even if it is required and expected of us, it influences our consciousness, something that needs to be acknowledged for it to be dealt with and restored. When forced outside of our nature, re-centering ourselves and our capacity for compassion is a crucial step in restoring internal balance among our community and within ourselves. Shlomo Ressler _____________________________________________ Quotation of the week: "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."