Critique eek?

The Torah portion is the beginning of Moses' critique of our tendencies and actions . One would be hard pressed to find positive , encouraging words until the very end of the Torah. One is almost
ready to say that rebuke and criticism seem to be the Torah way.

Still it seems unwise and impractical for such negativity to be issued on the part of Moshe.

Rashi's comments that one must save one's rebuke until one's deathbed so that the receiver of the criticism would understand that there is no ulterior motive except concern for one's future.
Indeed , by being critical of his 3 oldest sons at his deathbed, Yakov helped Levi to change.
By exposing our weaknesses at his end of life , Moshe was encouraging self-evaluation
even while the people would be drunk with their own success in the wars in Eretz Yisroel.
Nonetheless, since it did not seem to alter the ways of the people would we then deem Moshe's efforts to be colored by failure?
Is it possible that the recurrent theme of an entire Book of the Torah would be cast off as useless?
There are three methods of dealing with true criticism.
1)Avoidance- keep away from those situations that cause the conflict or problems to occur.
2)Rooting out - get to the root cause of the problem and changing one's basic reaction to
these problems.
3)Transformation- utilize the bad nature in a positive way.

In general the 3 methods are similar to our 3 branches of the River .Here we are calling this the ART approach - avoid root out and transform . In our first articles we called these methods
by different names- information, inspiration and integration . They are the same and i think ART
is catchier. So let's look at the advice one can give based upon the ART methods.

1) Avoid- Learn about your situations and see the patterns and the warning signs. Avoid the situations that deal with your problems especially if you have failed in the past . This is the Nazirite process- a person who has a drinking problem should become a Nazirite. That is , if you are addicted there is no treatment of moderation for an addictive problem.
2) Root out-Before you get to the addictive stage , learn about yourself and see what are the causes of various natures and how they may be good or harmful. See what ideas and attitudes trigger them.
and work on uprooting those attitudes and negating those ideas . The tools for this is meditation,not just on a positive nature but on the ramifications of these negative ideas and their resultants. Then ,one can focus on the beauty and necessity of the positive traits . In this arena one must also underscore the actions that flow from the positive attitude and do them over and over again until they become easy and second nature.
3) Transform-Transform the negative into a positive . Their is a little known Sefer called Chovat Hatalmidim-
The Responsibility to one's students. The Author was murdered by the Nazis but his legacy lives on . He writes that there are no negative traits in children just in how the trait is used . For example
to be strident and bold to your teachers is a negative. However , used in the promotion of Jewish Issues , Chutzpah and positive forcefulness are absolutely good and necessary.
In my opinion , Moshe was not just criticizing . He was identifying our natures for us and showing how they were just misused . Taken for use in good matters and those very same traits become the plow shears of the Moshiach !
In practical terms see how your bad tendencies ca be used for good and then shoot for the stars!