DEVARIM_ DEUTERONOMY I – III,22

The fifth of the Chumashim, which are the biblical books that make up the Pentateuch, is called Devarim, Deuteronomy, which means the Second Law or the repetition of the law. Many laws are reiterated In our Chumash, including the Ten Commandments. For our Chachamim there is no superfluous word in the sacred text, and, therefore, they seek and find new teachings in what seems to be a repetition.

Devarim collects Moses’ speeches in the last days of his life. The first speech consists of a summary of our ancestors’ journeys through the desert, with special emphasis on some salient events, such as the episode of the Meraglim, the spies who were sent to investigate the Promised Land. The apparent purpose of recounting the various experiences in the wilderness is to underscore the ubiquitous Divine Providence which protected the Jewish people throughout the journey.

A large section of Devarim is dedicated to the second discourse of Moses which includes, as we already mentioned, the Aseret Hadibrot, the Ten Commandments. Also detailed are a number of additional Mitsvot about permitted and forbidden foods, various festivities, tithing obligations, selection of judges, and other laws. Before beginning the third discourse of Moses, a digression is made to alert the people to the blessings and curses they will receive, respectively, as the law is fulfilled or disobeyed.

The third discourse of Moses, which also contains paragraphs written in the form of poetry, insists on the need for unequivocal loyalty to the Creator and the instruction to read the book Devarim publicly, (according to some, only certain chapters of this Chumash), every seven years in a ceremony called Hakhel. The chant of Moses (Haazinu), the blessing of Moses (Vezot HaBerachah), the appointment of Yehoshua as the successor in the leadership of the people and some details of Moses’ death, lead us to the conclusion of the Torah.

Careful reading of our text reveals that certain sets of laws were omitted in Devarim.  Ramban’s father alerts us to the fact that the rules governing the Kohanim and the Korbanot, which are sacrifices, are not mentioned in our chapters. This is explained by the fact that priests are considered to be very jealous in the performance of their duties and do not need a repetition of instructions. 

On the other hand, on numerous occasions the exhortation is reiterated to the people not to fall into the cult of idolatry. It was necessary to remind our ancestors insistently of the danger of behaving like all peoples, Kechol hagoyim, especially at the beginning of the period of the conquest of the Promised Land. Since the inhabitants of Canaan were idolaters, it was important to warn the Hebrews not to imitate their cult. Despite this, the practice of idolatry constitutes the primary national spiritual problem during the centuries of the existence of the first Beit HaMikdash.

The Torah´s opposition to all kinds of idolatry contrasts with its totally opposite teaching: monotheism. Adin Steinsaltz, a modern thinker and great scholar of mysticism and the Talmud, reminds us of Avraham’s monotheistic formulation, and, therefore, the cardinal notion of the Torah does not constitute a revolutionary idea. This perspective of Steinsaltz with reference to the intellectual development of humanity is based on the fact that, in the beginning, the human being affirmed the existence of one God. That was, after all, the reality of man in Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden. In Bereshit we read about the frequent encounters and dialogues between primitive man and the Creator.

Steinzaltzbelieves that despite the constant encounter of the human being with divinity, the monotheistic notion of antiquity is primary and primitive. Idolatry constitutes from this prism, an intellectual advance for our species, because it associated different natural phenomena with a particular deity. Man becomes aware of what is happening around him, although this leads him to erroneous conclusions with reference to the deity. Avraham’s monotheistic teaching is not by nature new, it constitutes a case of the rediscovery of a known truth.

Devarim also presents us with some laws that are novel. We read about divorce; the obligation of Yibum, which consists in marrying the widow of a brother who has no children and other rules. Although we first encounter these laws in Devarim, we understand that all Mitsvot were enacted on Mount Sinai or in the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, during the first year after the exodus from Egypt.

Abarbanel raises the question of whether we can regard these speeches of Moses as an integral part of God’s authentic word. According to the Talmud, for example, the division of the Tanakh, the Sacred Scriptures or Bible, indicates at the same time a hierarchy with respect to the relative Kedushah, holiness, of each of the parts. Ketuvim, which is the third portion of the Tanakh, possesses a lower degree of Kedushah than the second part called Nevi’im, which in turn is a degree in holiness below the Torah.

The Torah possesses the supreme degree of Kedushah, a fact that implies that every word in its text was dictated by the Creator. Abarbanel argues, for example, that not all of Moses’speeches were included in our text. God chose only those that have transcendence, granting them holiness by incorporating them into the Torah. The Torah does not record or echo all the events that occurred at the dawn of our history. The Torah is a Divine and selective edition of the events considered by Him as decisive and important, containing a set of Mitsvot that are indispensable for the emotional and spiritual development of the human being and to make possible coexistence with other humans.

Devarim’s last sentences speak of what happened after Moses’death. Could Moses be the author of these lines? The Talmud considers this in Bava Batra. According to Rabbi Yehudah, the last six verses of the Torah were written by Yehoshua. Rabbi Shimon argues:  how is it possible to consider an incomplete writing in of the Torah? Therefore, he argues that the Torah was dictated in its entirety by God and that Moses wrote what he heard from the Almighty. He continues and point out that Moses shed tears as he wrote the last verses that speak of his own death. Ibn Ezra and other commentators argue that the last twelve verses were written by Yehoshua.

There are those who believe that Moses wrote the sacred text in ink, while the last lines of the Torah were written with tears. This opinion leads us to reflect that a large part of our history (in the long period of the diaspora, our history consists of our reactions to the initiatives or actions of others) was written with pain and suffering, with pain and tears. The nineteen centuries of the last Galut, the diaspora, consists of the account of weeping and suffering. (The great historian Salo Baron believed that a revision of this conception, which he calls “The Lachrymose History of the Jewish People,” is necessary. Baronalluded to the different eras of vitality, productivity and self-government in various Jewish communities. Medinat Israel offers us today the possibility to live, to realize ourselves and make history with cultural, intellectual and spiritual contributions, with an abundance of ink and fewer tears.

MITSVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARASHAH

CONTAINS 2 PROHIBITIONS

1. Deuteronomy 1:17 Do not appoint a judge who is not a Torah scholar, even if he is a scholar in other matters
2. Deuteronomy 1:17 The judge should not fear evil during a trial