We were recently discussing the movies of The Godfather Parts 1 and 2 (and generally agreed that Part 3 wasn't worth watching.)
A friend mentioned that he heard about a version that spliced it all together in chronological order, instead of with flashbacks. Flashbacks, flash-forwards, and allusions to future events are popular ways of telling stories in literature and movies. It's also something that comes up in Torah study because there are events that seem to be out of chronological order. The rabbis have a concept for this - אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה, literally "There is no early and late in the Torah" and this concept applies to all the books of the Torah EXCEPT the Book of Devarim, which we start this week. This book is told in order as Moshe recounts, in order, the wanderings and events of the Israelites.
The word for "order" in Hebrew is probably a word that will sound familiar - seder. A Passover seder is called a seder because you eat the meal in a certain order. In honor of being in order for Devarim, this week's menu includes a few things to remind us of a seder, including a suggestion to do a short retelling (may I suggest a the Devarim parsha summary on Chabad.com) Two menu items that would reference the Passover seder are hard boiled eggs and salt-water (I like to eat my hard boiled egg in a salt water broth of sorts). In addition to the reference to the Passover seder, salt water and eggs also remind us of two things recounted in this week's parsha. 1) How the Israelites wept after they were attacked by the Amorites after the Israelites rebelled and did not listen to Moshe's instructions (wept=salt water) 2) Devarim is the re-telling that precedes the re-birth of the Israelite nation as they conquer the land of Israel and fulfill God's promise to Abraham (rebirth/starting something new = egg)
Speaking of God's promise to Abraham, another dish I'd make this week is a pasta salad using tiny star shaped pasta. You can mix it with whatever makes your favorite pasta salad, but I'm thinking sautéed mushrooms and onions, along with olives. Moshe reminds the people that God had promised Abraham to make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and here they are!
Alternatively, you could make sugar cookies and make them in the shape of stars (and then your dinner companions can decorate them with whatever icing and sprinkles they want for a fun DIY dessert.)
Another episode that is referenced in this parsha is the story of the spies. As a nod to that story, make something with grapefruit, which grows in clusters like grapes, but are big orbs, to represent the produce that the spies brought back ("cut off a branch which had one bunch of grapes on it so heavy that it took two men to carry it on a pole between them" Bamidbar 13) I'm thinking of a salad with grapefruit chunks, but you could always go the classic half-grapefruit appetizer.
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