Moshe's Speech

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1. "These Are the Words…"

   Rabbi Dr. Tamir Granot

   Three elements emphasize the uniqueness of Sefer Devarim in the context of the Torah: it is a speech; the contents are, to a large extent, a repetition; and the author of the book was Moshe, instead of God. Abarbanel believes Moshe wrote the book by God’s command. Reb Tzadok wrote that Devarim is the start of the Oral Torah – a reflection of God’s Torah in man’s creation. Devarim turns God’s past revelation into an ongoing, present day fact.

2. The Opening Verses of Sefer Devarim, and the Structure of the Sefer as a Whole

   Dr. Mordechai Sabato

   The Torah introduces Sefer Devarim by informing the reader that we are about to read Moshe's words as addressed to the nation of Israel in the land of Mo'av, close to the end of The Fortieth Year. No such introduction exists for any other Sefer, and this is an indication of the uniqueness of Sefer Devarim. The great majority of Devarim consists of a record of the speeches that Moshe delivers at the end of the desert journeying. Sefer Devarim includes almost no narration of events that happened to the nation or direct Divine commands. In this sense it is different from the other four Books of the Torah. This shiur will attempt to address the significance of these introductory verses and their connection to the structure and content of Sefer Devarim.

3. The Covenant on Both Sides of the Jordan

   Rabbi Elchanan Samet

   This article examines the relationship between two covenants: the covenant of the blessing and the curse, and the covenant of Gerizim and Eval.

4. Shema Yisrael - The Goals of Mitzva Observance

   Rabbi Reuven Taragin

   Moshe delivers two parallel speeches over the first eleven chapters of Devarim. Beyond developing links between Mitzva observance and success, the second speech also redefines the man-God relationship forged by this observance. The first speech focuses on fearing God while the second speech focuses on loving Him.

5. Moshe's Interpretation of the Torah

   Rabbi Yair Kahn

   In Moshe's review of the events that occurred to the people of Israel in the wilderness beginning in Parshat Devarim, he seems to forget the exact nature of several incidents. Were these discrepancies simply the result of Moshe's faulty memory, or was some other factor at work here? By closely examining the incidents, we notice that Moshe tries to instill within the people a deep conviction that is critical for successfully settling Canaan.

6. Moshe's Interpretation of the Torah (Audio)

   Rabbi Yair Kahn | 16 minutes

   In Moshe's review of the events that occurred to the people of Israel in the wilderness beginning in Parshat Devarim, he seems to forget the exact nature of several incidents. Were these discrepancies simply the result of Moshe's faulty memory, or was some other factor at work here? By closely examining the incidents, we notice that Moshe tries to instill within the people a deep conviction that is critical for successfully settling Canaan.

7. Remembrance of the Revelation at Mount Sinai in Moshe's Speech

   Rabbi Dr. Tamir Granot

   According to Moshe's speech in Parshat Va'etchanan, the primary significance of Ma'amad Har Sinai is God's direct revelation to Israel. However, the description of Ma'amad Har Sinai in Sefer Shemot focuses on Israel's belief in Moshe as a true prophet. By closely examining the two instances of revelation, one can see that the purpose of the speech in Devarim was to establish the faith for all generations even when individuals and the community as a whole do not experience a revelation as had occurred during the exodus from Egypt or at Mount Sinai. From here it follows that faith in the book of Devarim rests on the foundations of prophecy, memory, and story, and not on unmediated experience.

8. Parshat Devarim - Moses' Speech

   Rabbi Alex Israel | 35 minutes

   Sefer Devarim contains a series of speeches by Moshe Rabbeinu. The first few chapters seem to comprise an introduction to the second, significantly longer speech. Why do we need this introduction, and why does its historical account contain major gaps, leaving out the ten plagues and the splitting of the Red Sea? The first three chapters are meant to lead to a conclusion. The ten plagues are irrelevant to this speech’s purpose, which is not to highlight miracles or wonders, but to emphasize the secret to succeeding in the future:  Bnei Yisrael need to turn to God and follow God’s law instead of believing that they themselves are the sole architects of their own success.

9. “You Shall Make For Yourself an Ark of Wood”

   Rabbi Dr. Tamir Granot

   A crucial difference between Sefer Devarim and Sefer Shemot is the mention of the wooden ark that was created for the second tablets in Sefer Devarim. The explanation for this has to do with the “immanent” nature of Sefer Shemot against the “transcendental” nature of Sefer Devarim. This explains why the Mishkan and Ohel Moed are not mentioned in Sefer Devarim - because the main goal of the covenant in Devarim is the keeping of the mitzvot, and not the dwelling of the Divine Presence as it is in Sefer Shemot. 

10. Duplication and Contradiction

    Part 5 - Breuer's Aspects Theory

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    Rav Breuer’s fundamental insight should be seen as highlighting the Torah's tendency to express the complexity of various concepts and narratives through repetition, ambiguity, and contradiction. 

    In light of this, there is no need to appeal to the "aspects approach" when discussing the contradictions between Devarim and other parts of the Torah, for it would be unwarranted to expect that a story told from an objective standpoint would be identical to a subjective account offered by someone who was part of that story.

11. Duplication and Contradiction

    Part 6 - Three Themes Unique to Sefer Devarim

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    Devarim has a special nature with its idiosyncratic style and unique ideas. Moshe, in his speeches, treats identical topics found in Devarim and in the other books of the Torah with different emphases utilizing specific themes.  This provides a convincing response to the questions raised by Biblical scholars from de Witte onwards regarding the disparities between Devarim and other books of the Torah.

    The expression "remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt", which occurs five times over the course of Devarim, is a motif that reflects the emphasis in Moshe's speech on the moral dimension of the commandments, in contrast – or in addition – to the religious aspect that is emphasized in the other books of the Torah. Moshe delivers his speeches as the nation is about to cross the Jordan and enter the land, undergoing a great transformation from a nomadic people to a nation living in its own land. For this reason, Moshe regards it as essential to emphasize the social aspect of the commandments, as a fundamental condition to sustain Israel’s presence in the land for the coming generations.

    Moshe's speeches are the only sources in the Torah that treat the relationship between God and Israel from a perspective of love and the reciprocal command for Israel to love God. Only in the Land of Israel can the relationship between God and Israel reach a level that may properly be called "love." For this reason, it is just prior to entry into the land that Moshe permits himself to mention this concept to describe the bond between God and the nation.

    The phenomenon of the sanctity of Israel appears so prominently in Devarim. It would seem that on the eve of the entry into the land, Moshe describes a utopian reality – the ideal situation of Israel. The whole nation was indeed supposed to be imbued with the same sanctity as that of the kohanim, but only if Israel were truly deserving of their status as a holy nation. This question – of whether Israel merit God’s benevolence and designation as a holy nation – is one of the central themes of Moshe's speeches throughout Devarim. On the one hand, he asserts that the people are indeed holy. On the other hand, this vision itself hints strongly that this holiness is not automatic; rather, it is contingent upon observance of the commandments. This idea, too, recurs in Moshe's speeches on the eve of the entry into the land. 

12. Descriptions of War in Devarim vs. Bemidbar

    Rabbi Shlomo Dov Rosen

13. Devarim: What Does It Mean To Have Faith?

    Rabbi David Fohrman |

    In this week's parsha, Moses accuses the nation of Israel of not having faith. What? The people know firsthand about all the miracles God has done for them, how could they not have faith? Drawing on the Maharal, Rabbi Fohrman gives us a novel approach to faith, and challenges us to rise to this level of intimacy with God and with each other.

     

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14. Parshat Vaetchanan - The Punishment of Moshe (As Told by Moshe)

    Rabbi Chanoch Waxman | 35 minutes

    We will be looking at Moshe’s account of his own sin. It begins as a relatively standard speech of Moshe in Devarim about doing mitzvot in the Promised Land. But then 

    we encounter a surprise- Moshe says "God became angry at me on your behalf- and said hat I would not cross Jordan into the Land." Is he really assigning blame to the people? Why would he do something that seems so strange? When we examine the story of Mei Meriva in Bemidbar, we are further perplexed- how can he blame the people? What is the function and purpose in Devarim for doing so?

    A historical mizmor in Tehillim sheds some light on what is happening. Moshe gives reproof for the sins of Bnei Yisrael. The purpose is to say"look at what we have lost!" to deter them from sinning in the future, and so that they will better appreciate what the stakes are.

15. “I have never been a man of words”

    Rabbanit Dr. Michal Tikochinsky

16. Themes Unique to Sefer Devarim

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak