Parasha: Devarim · Aliyah: First (Chesed)

אלה הדברים, These are the words, etc. The word אלה is restrictive, especially in regard to what has been written previously. Seeing Moses recorded in this Book only words which he had spoken on his own initiative, the Torah wishes to emphasise that only the words of admonition recorded in this Book were spoken by Moses on his own initiative. We are told in Megillah 31 that Moses personally composed the curses recorded in this Book, and that even legislation which Moses repeated in this Book he had not been commanded to repeat but did so of his own volition. The Torah was concerned that we might conclude that just as Moses had felt free to say things of his own volition in this Book he might have done so in the previous four Books. This is why this Book commences with the words אלה הדברים, "only these are the words Moses spoke of his own volition, none other."

The Torah also wanted to go on record that during the entire preceding 40 years when Moses had been the faithful shepherd of the people of Israel, he never spoke harshly to the children of Israel unless instructed to do so by G'd. Even though we find Moses reported as having addressed the Israelites with the words: "listen you rebellious people" in Numbers 20,10, he did not include the whole people in that description but only referred to those reluctant to accept authority. This view is supported by the Zohar. The only time Moses included the entire people in an address consisting primarily of words of admonition is in this Book. This is why the Torah here stresses: "to the whole of Israel."

Furthermore, the Torah wanted to provide the time frame during which Moses admonished the people with these words. He began to speak to them on the first day of Shevat as the Torah speaks of "the eleventh month on the first of the month." We know that Moses died on the seventh of Adar, (Kidushin 38) so that he allowed himself 36 days for these admonitions. These 36 days correspond to the numerical value of the word אלה.

The word אלה is also an allusion to a statement by Rava in Yuma 19 that the words ודברת בם "and you shall speak about them" in Deut 6,7 mean that the only legitimate subjects of conversation are Torah learning and the instilling of fear of G'd in the minds of people, i.e. words of admonition. The Torah wishes to testify that throughout his life the only words which Moses permitted himself to speak unbidden were of a compelling nature; other than that he only spoke words which G'd had bidden him to speak. Anyone who peruses the words in this Book can see at once that they are either instructions in Torah or words designed to strengthen the people's faith in G'd.

Still another meaning of the word אלה is based on the words of Bereshit Rabbah 12 which we quoted at the beginning of Parshat Massey that this word separates from what precedes it, the previous subject matter being regarded as something inferior by comparison to what is being introduced by the word אלה. The subject matter being introduced by the word אלה is considered as far greater in importance than what has preceded it. The Torah here explains that the reason for these words of Moses being superior to anything he is quoted as having said in the preceding four Books is 1) the fact that these words were his very own. No other human being could equal Moses in stature which made his words superior to those of any other human being. G'd had indicated this already in Numbers 12,8 when He admonished Moses' brother and sister. 2) He addressed these words to a group of people, i.e. the Jewish people, who also were a select group of human beings, collectively on an incomparably higher spiritual level than any other collection of human beings. In short then: אלה הדברים, "these are (the true) words of Moses, there are none to compare to it."

אשר דבר משה, which Moses spoke, etc. Inasmuch as Moses commences with hinting at Israel's insubordination already at the sea of reeds, the present generation might well have countered that there was no point in dragging up sins committed by people who had long since died. After all, the last of the 600,000 men whose death had been decreed as a result of the sin of the spies had died on the 15th of Av previously (compare beginning of Midrash Eycha Rabbati). The Torah therefore says that if Moses had spoken in G'd's name such a complaint might have been justified. However, he personally, was not bound by such considerations and he considered it important to remind those who had been younger than twenty at the time of the Exodus to look back on a string of insubordinations the people had been guilty of already at that stage of the Exodus. While it was quite true that the Celestial Court sentences only people over and above the age of 20, the same is not true of courts administered by judges on earth who consider males over 13 years as fully liable for their actions. When Moses "dragged" up these ancient sins, he had in mind all those who had been at least 13 years old at the time.

אל כל ישראל, to all of Israel, etc. The reason the Torah had to stress that Moses spoke to all of Israel was twofold. 1) Moses reviewed the Torah; 2) he admonished them concerning things they had been already guilty of. Both matters require that the entire people be in attendance. The reason for reviewing the Torah was to ensure that if someone had forgotten a certain commandment it would now be recalled. Seeing that it was quite impossible to single out who might have forgotten which commandment, Moses had to assemble the entire nation to make certain they would all hear the Torah once more. In this manner everyone could remind himself of anything which he had forgotten. The entire nation had to be assembled to listen to the words of admonition as the impression created if Moses had assembled only part of the people would have been counterproductive. Those who had been assembled would complain that only they had been singled out. The words אל כל ישראל may even include those who had already died. Moses addressed both the living and the dead. We find a parallel for this in Isaiah 43,27 "Your original father (Adam) has sinned, etc."

בעבר הירדן, on the far side of the Jordan, etc. Moses held back with these words of admonition until the Israelites had reached the banks of the Jordan. Once they saw with their own eyes that they had come very close to their eventual destination they would be in a better frame of mind to accept admonitions. As long as they had been a long way from their objective they would not have been in a suitable frame of mind to listen to admonitions.

במדבר בערבה, in the wilderness in the Aravah; our sages in Sifri explain at this juncture that the words מדבר and ערבה [as well as the following names Ed.] are allusions to places where the Israelites had sinned; It is possible to explain the entire verse as a moral/ethical allusion of a slightly different nature. Moses tried to incorporate in a short verse all the principles of reverence for G'd and the various virtues which have to be practiced by all the people who adopt the teachings of Torah as their lifestyle. These comprise a total of nine מדות, virtues, characteristics.

1) One has to adopt the virtue of Abraham of whom the Torah testified that he was העברי, (Genesis 14,13) "on the other side," in a moral class all by himself, he did not run with the pack. Moses alluded to this when he said בעבר.

2) He should always be conscious of a sense of self-imposed humility as a response to rebelliousness. Our sages in Berachot 7 claim that it is better for a person to harbour a single such feeling of self-imposed humility rather than to endure 100 מלקיות, chastisements imposed upon him by others. Moses alluded to this idea when he said הירדן.

3) The virtue of modesty, humility. Our sages in Erchin phrased this as follows: "Man should always view himself as if במדבר, in a wilderness." I have explained this concept in my comments on Exodus 19,2: ויסעו מרפידים." Here Moses alludes to this idea by saying במדבר.

4) The humility we speak about should be of a positive nature; it should not consist of a person looking upon himself in a derogatory fashion. Maimonides explains this in chapter five of his treatise Hilchot Deyot. [I have not found it there but I have found something similar in chapter 6. Ed.] He writes as follows: "Another aspect of true humility is not to fail to admonish people whom one observes committing sins on the basis of one's thinking to oneself: 'who am I to admonish others who are of greater stature than I?' One has to carry out the commandment of calling people to order. This is what Moses had in mind when he said בערבה, an allusion to admonishing people based on our ערבות, mutual responsibility of one Jew for the other.

5) We are told in Avot 3,1 that if one wants to restrain oneself from sinning one should look at three phenomena., i.e. one's lowly origin, one's ultimate destiny, i.e. dust and worms, and the fact that one will have to render an accounting for all one's deeds before the heavenly Tribunal. Another scholar admonishes us in chapter two of Avot to become a penitent a day before our death. The meaning is, of course, that one should be constantly aware of one's impending death. This is what Moses alluded to with the words מול סוף, i.e. that one ought to keep "one's end constantly before (opposite) one's mental eye."

6) There is a quotation from chapter 4 in Shaar Haprishut of Chovot Halevavot according to which the mark of a פרוש, a self-denying, pious person is that צהלתו בפניו ואבלו בלבו, "he presents a happy face to all whom he greets, while at the same time he buries his true sorrow within his heart." Moses used the word בין פארן to allude to the manner in which such pious people greet others; the word פארן is connected to פאר everything outwardly illustrious, the reverse of sadness, whereas he said ובין תפל, when he described the true state of mind of someone who qualifies for the title פרוש; such a person must not be light-hearted. He should be in a constant state of concern lest he had become guilty of transgressing one of G'd's commandments inadvertently. Perhaps he had only been remiss in serving the Lord with less than all his faculties.

7) The kind of person the Torah envisages is the one who has a pure heart as David prayed in Psalms 51,12 where he pleaded with G'd to fashion a pure heart for him. At the same time such a person must not hate other people, nor be jealous of them or feel himself to be in competition with them. Moses alluded to this quality in a Torah personality when he said ולבן, the expression "white" symbolising all that is pure.

8) The ideal personality is engaged in Torah study on a permanent basis like our Patriarch Jacob whom the Torah (Genesis 25,27) describes as a ישב אהלים, a dweller of tents. The word ישב refers to a permanent presence. Moses alluded to this quality when he said וחצרות, and referred to the courtyards of the Lord as the study halls.

9) The ideal personality should not be engaged in chasing after transient values, possessions of this world. Anyone who engages in the pursuit of these values thereby voids part of his service to the Lord. Man must learn to do with the essentials for survival in this life. Moses alluded to this virtue when he said ודי זהב, i.e. "enough of gold." Alternatively, man should learn to look at all his achievements in this material world as adequate; he should feel as if he owned all the gold in the world. This is equivalent to what the sages taught in Avot 4,1: "who is wealthy? He who enjoys what life has granted him."

ראה נתתי לפניכם את הארץ, "Behold, I have set the land before you;" The Torah switches from the singular ראה, to the plural לפניכם, "before you (pl), because when it comes to looking at the land they were all alike. However each individual Jew was different from his brethren in character, mentality, etc. Similarly, the nature of taking possession of the land and what it meant to each individual Israelite differed, so that the balance of the verse is in the plural.

באו ורשו את הארץ, "Enter and take possession of the land, etc." Why did the Torah have to repeat the words את הארץ, instead of merely saying אותה, "it?" The reason is that the land which had been mentioned previously was the land which used to belong to Sichon and Og which G'd had allocated to Reuven and Gad. Now that Moses gave instructions to take possession of the land he had to make plain that the land which G'd had sworn to the Patriarchs had not included the lands now inherited by Reuven and Gad. I have already explained this in connection with Numbers 32,7 and have proved the point from the Sifri there.

לא אוכל לבדי שאת אתכם, "I am not able to bear you myself alone." This does not mean that Moses said so in these very words; rather it means that Moses said something which was equivalent to these words.

ה׳ אלוקיכם הרבה אתכם, "The Lord your G'd has multiplied you, etc." This sounds peculiar as we have not read anywhere that the Jewish people had multiplied and become more numerous than the number of people who had participated in the Exodus. Neither did the Israelites increase since the census in the second year of their wanderings. Our sages in the Sifri understood the reference as meaning: "He has made you greater than your judges." Perhaps another thing which Moses had in mind with these words is something we have been taught in the Zohar volume 3 page 211 that when one mentions the abundance of good, its power is increased when it comes to warding off evil influences. The Zohar writes there that whenever one mentions G'd's name as the supreme G'd, the spiritually negative influences lose their power to exercise dominion. Seeing that Moses had first complained that he himself could not handle the Jewish people by himself, he felt it necessary to invoke this Name to counteract any negative influences he might have awakened by his comment.

והנכם היום, "and here you are as of this day, etc." Moses was very careful to say היום, "today," to alert us to the fact that the statement is to be divided into two separate time frames. The first time frame related to the period during the second year of their wanderings when he had told G'd that he was unable to bear the burden of leadership all by himself. Concerning that period, he had said "G'd has mutiplied you, etc." The second time frame concerned the present, i.e. the fortieth year of their wanderings as he pointed out "as of today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky."

ככוכבי השמים, "as the stars in the sky." When Moses said these words he referred to something we have learned in Sanhedrin 26 that אין מנין לרשעים, "that the wicked do not really have a number." What the Talmud means is that though from a numerical point of view the wicked may appear to number a great many, their increase in number does not imply an increase in importance. The very reverse is true of the righteous. Though, numerically speaking, they may appear as insignificant, their influence is totally disproportionate to their actual number. This is precisely what Moses had in mind when he compared the "number" of the Israelites to the stars in the sky. Just as each of the stars is an important unit in its own right, so each one of the Israelites contributed to the importance represented by their collective רבוי, multiplicity.