Kids Question, Devarim 5775

Question 

Moshe Rabeinu says B'nei Yisroel were "in the wilderness" (במדבר) when he spoke to them at the beginning of the parsha, but they were actually in the Plains of Moav (בערבות מואב).

  1. Why did Moshe say they were "in the wilderness" if they actually weren't?
  2. Why didn't Moshe just say what he meant?

Answer

Moshe wanted to remind B'nei Yisroel about the many times we had strayed from Hashem as a way to encourage us not to stray again. The words "in the wilderness" (במדבר) refer to how we complained that Hashem was going to starve us when we were in the wilderness. We didn't have emunah and bitachon that Hashem could feed the entire nation in the wilderness.

If that was the message, why didn't Moshe just say so? Out of kavod for B'nei Yisroel. Moshe wanted to give us tochacha for our mistakes without embarassing us.

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