The Fifty-first and Fifty-second Sedras
17-23 Elul 5786
Link to HAFTARAH ● Link to MIDRASH
FROM THE TORAH
Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30
Sedra Nitzavim, the first of this week’s double Sedra, is the projected denouement of Israel’s choices as covenantal partner with the Eternal. The covenantal provisions and sanctions have been presented in previous sedras. Now, “this day” (Deuteronomy 29:9 et seq), as Moses surveys them and his people, in the closing of his Prophetic career, the future of their choosing and responsibility begins.
Then, in Sedra Vayelech, Moses focuses Israel on its future after his demise. He reassures them of the Eternal’s protection in their possession of the Land and of his succession by Joshua. He writes down the Torah, the record to be kept by the Ark, and commands its public recitation before all of the people every seven years. The people’s future disloyalty is anticipated, and much emphasis is laid upon a poem, in the following Sedra Ha’azeenu (read this year after Rosh Hashanah), to serve as a spur to future repentance.
Expectations
PRESENCE FOR COVENANT
29:9-14
You stand ready (Nitzavim) this day, all of you, before the Eternal your God—chiefs, tribes, elders, officers, every man of Israel, children, women, strangers within the camp, from the hewer of wood to the drawer of water—to enter into covenant with the Eternal your God and to accept His admonition—in order to establish you this day as His people and the Eternal as your God, as He promised you and your Fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and not with you alone, standing here with us this day, before the Eternal our God, but also with those who are not here with us this day.
SANCTIONS INESCAPABLE
29:15-20
From dwelling in Egypt and traveling through nations, you have seen their detestable idols of wood and stone, silver and gold. If any of you—man, woman, family, or tribe—should devise to abandon the Eternal our God and serve instead the gods of those nations—as the root of a tree that produces bitter and poison fruit—and imagines himself to be immune to the words of divine admonition, safe in his own reckless plan, know that the Eternal will not choose to pardon him but that His uncompromising anger will flare up against that man, and all of the admonition recorded herein (cf. Deuteronomy 27:15-26; 28:15-68, in Sedra Kee-Tavo) shall descend upon him, as the Eternal blots out his name from under heaven! The Eternal shall separate for punishment, as well, any of the tribes of Israel, in accordance with all of the sanctions of the covenant that is written in this book of the Torah.
FUTURE BETRAYAL PUNISHED
29:21-28
As to the question to be asked by future generations—your own children and the foreigners who enter from a distant land, when they observe the plagues and diseases which the Eternal shall have inflicted upon the Land, its devastation by sulfur and salt, beyond all means of cultivation, devoid of grass, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Tzevoyim, by the Eternal in His fierce anger—why did the Eternal do this? What made Him so angry?—it shall be answered: Because they forsook the covenant of the Eternal, the God of their Fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they worshipped other gods, which they had not before known or been allotted; therefore, the Eternal directed His anger against that Land, releasing upon it all of the curse written in this book, and He furiously uprooted them from their Land and cast them to another land, as is the case today! “Although hidden things are the exclusive realm of the Eternal our God, when things are revealed, it is for us and for our children to observe all of the words of this Torah forever” (Deuteronomy 29:28).
REWARDS OF REPENTANCE
30:1-10
As those blessings (cf. Deuteronomy 28:1-14, in Sedra Kee-Tavo) and those curses (cf. Deuteronomy 27:15-26; 28:15-68, in Sedra Kee-Tavo), which I have set before you, may come upon you, and you repent in your heart within any of the nations to which the Eternal your God may have banished you, and you turn with your children to the Eternal your God and obey Him in all that I command you this day, with all of your heart and with all of your soul, then the Eternal your God will reverse your captivity and mercifully bring you back together, from all of the peoples to which He scattered you. Even if you were banished to the ends of heaven, from there the Eternal your God will gather you, and from there He will take you and bring you to the Land which your Fathers were granted and which you have inherited, and He will make you better and greater than your Fathers!
Then the Eternal your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, to love the Eternal your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul, in order that you may live. He will transfer all of those punishments upon your enemies, who hatefully persecute you. You will return to obeying the Eternal and to doing all of His commandments, which I command you this day, whereupon He will reward you with abundance in all of your undertakings, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your soil, and rejoice over you for good, as He rejoiced over your Fathers.
Yours
NOT IN HEAVEN
30:11-14
For this Mitzvah which I command you this day is not too wondrous for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say: Who will go up for us to heaven to bring it to us and teach it to us that we may do it? Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say: Who will go for us beyond the sea to bring it to us and teach it to us that we may do it? Its word is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
CHOOSE LIFE
30:15-20
See, I have set before you this day life and good on the one hand, death and evil on the other. Now I command you to love the Eternal your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His ordinances, that you may live and increase, and that the Eternal your God may bless you in the Land which you are entering to possess! But if your heart should turn away and you stop listening, and you are drawn to worship other gods and serve them, then I declare to you this day that you shall surely perish, you shall not long endure upon the Land which you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to serve as witnesses of what I am saying to you: Life and death have I placed before you, blessing and curse; choose life—in order that you and your offspring may live—to love the Eternal your God, to hearken to His voice and to cleave to Him—as He is your life and your length of days—in order to dwell upon the Land which the Eternal promised your Fathers—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—to give to them.
Succession
MOSES LOOKS TO THE FUTURE
31:1-8
Then Moses goes (Vayelech) and speaks the following words to all of Israel: I am one hundred twenty years old today, no longer able to go out and come in, and the Eternal has said to me, you shall not cross over this Jordan. The Eternal your God will cross before you and destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua will cross before you, as the Eternal has said, and the Eternal will do to them as He did to Sichon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, whom He destroyed, and their land. He will deliver them to you to do to them in full accordance with My command to you. Be strong and courageous, fear not, tremble not before them, for the Eternal your God it is who walks with you, He will not abandon or forsake you.
Moses then addresses Joshua in the sight of all Israel: Be strong and courageous, for you shall come with this people to the Land which the Eternal your God promised their Fathers to give to them, and you shall apportion it to them. The Eternal it is who walks before you, He will be with you, He will not abandon or forsake you. Fear not, and be not dismayed!
MOSES WRITES THE TORAH AND COMMANDS HAKHEL
31:9-13
Moses writes this Torah and gives it to the Kohanim, sons of Levi, who bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Eternal, and to all of the Elders of Israel, and he commands them: Read this Torah aloud in the presence of all Israel at the end of the cycle of seven years, during the year allotted for remission of debts (shemittah) (cf. Deuteronomy 15:1-3), during the Festival of Sukkot, when all of Israel appear before the Eternal your God in the place which He shall choose. Assemble (Hakhel) all of the people—men, women and children, including the stranger within your gates—to listen and learn, that they may fear the Eternal your God and carefully observe all of the words of this Torah. Thereby shall their children, who did not have the current experience, also listen and learn to fear the Eternal your God for as long as you live upon the Land which you are crossing the Jordan to possess.
THE POEM AS TESTIMONY
31:14-30
The Eternal then says to Moses: Behold, your days to die are drawing near. Summon Joshua to stand with you at the Tent of Meeting, and I shall charge him. Moses and Joshua then present themselves at the Tent of Meeting. The Eternal is manifested in a pillar of cloud positioned at the entrance of the Tent, and He says to Moses: When you lie with your Fathers, the people will arise and go astray after foreign gods of the Land which you are entering, and shall forsake Me and violate My covenant with them. Then in My anger shall I forsake them and hide My face from them, so that they will be prey for numerous evils and troubles. The people shall attribute these woes to the absence of their God from their midst.
Therefore write for yourselves this poem and teach it to the Children of Israel, placing it in their mouth, to be My witness against them. For when I bring the people to the Land which I promised its Fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, and the people eats to satiety, grows fat and turns to other gods, and as they serve them, they despise Me and violate My covenant, and those evils and troubles then find them, then this poem will serve as witness before the people, as it will not be lost from the mouth of its offspring. For I know the people’s evil impulse as it exists even today before I bring it into the Land which I have promised.
Thus Moses writes the poem on that day and teaches it to the Children of Israel. He charges Joshua son of Nun: Be strong and courageous as you bring the Children of Israel to the Land which I promised them, and I shall be with you.
When Moses has completed recording in writing the words of this Torah, he instructs the Levites, bearers of the Ark of the Covenant of the Eternal, to place the Torah scroll next to the Ark and let it remain there for them as testimony. “For I know how rebellious and stiffnecked you are: now, while I am still alive with you, you are contentious with the Eternal, and so will you be after I die. You will act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I command you. Punishment will thus befall you in the future for the evil deeds you commit that anger the Eternal. Therefore assemble before me all the Elders of your tribes and your officers, and I will recite in their hearing these words, appealing to heaven and earth as witness!”
Thereupon Moses recites aloud to all the Congregation of Israel all of the words of this poem.
FROM THE PROPHETS
Seventh Haftarah of Consolation
Isaiah 61:10-63:9
Victory
I shall surely rejoice in the Eternal,
as He clothes me
with garments of salvation,
as a bridegroom wears
the Kohen’s diadem,
and the bride is decorated
with her ornaments.
As the earth reveals its growth,
so shall the Lord God produce
vindication in the sight of all nations!
For the sake of Zion
I shall not be quiet,
until her victory be seen,
by nations and kings,
as the brightest of lights.
A crown of beauty in the hand of the Eternal,
you shall be called by a new name:
instead of “Forsaken” and “Devastation,”
Cheftsi-vah (“My-Delight-is-in-Her”),
Be’ulah (“Wedded”)!
For as a young man joyfully weds a young woman,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
I have posted guards on the walls of Jerusalem,
watchful day and night until the Eternal
shall establish her a praise in the earth.
For the Eternal has sworn with His right hand
never again to allow her enemies to take away her food,
but that those who have grown it shall eat it
and bring it to My holy courts.
Make way through every gate,
open a highway of the people,
raise a banner over the nations;
the Eternal announces to the farthest end,
say to the daughter of Zion:
Your salvation has been earned
and is coming,
let them be called the holy people,
redeemed of the Eternal,
a city no longer forsaken.
Who is this one coming from Edom,
red-covered from Botzrah,
handsomely attired,
strong in his carriage?
“I announce victory,
mighty to save!”
Why is your raiment red,
as if you have been
treading in the vat?
“Indeed treading,
alone,
trampling the peoples
in My fury,
their blood splattered
on My garments
like the juice of grapes!
I was ready for My day of vengeance,
but none was prepared to help Me,
so My own arm brought forth My salvation,
My own anger was My support.”
Actually I am mentioning the Eternal’s lovingkindness,
in accordance with all that the Eternal has bestowed upon us,
the House of Israel, in His mercy.
He is thinking:
They are My people,
My children, who will not be untrue,
so He becomes their Savior;
He shares their suffering,
His angel seen will save them;
with love and compassion does He redeem them,
and so shall He bear them
for all days forever.
FROM TALMUD AND MIDRASH
Tanchuma Nitzavim 2
The Power of One
“You stand ready this day, all of you,
before the Eternal your God—
chiefs, tribes, elders, officers, every man of Israel,
children, women, strangers within the camp,
from the hewer of wood to the drawer of water…”
(Deuteronomy 29:9-10)
Even though I have appointed some of you for chiefs, elders and officers, all of you are equal before Me, as was said, “every man of Israel!”
Another interpretation: All of you are bound one with the other. Even with only one righteous person among you, all of you share in his merit. But not only Israel, as this applies to the entire world: with only one righteous person among you, the entire world shares in his merit, as was said, “A righteous person is the foundation of the world” (Proverbs 10:25). And if one of you sins, the entire generation is punished!
Talmud Shevuot 39a
Inclusive Covenant I
“You stand ready…
to enter into covenant
with the Eternal your God…
and it is not with you alone
that I make this covenant…”
(Deuteronomy 29:9-13)
So we find that when Moses our Teacher adjured Israel, he said: Know that it is not according to your own mind that I adjure you, but according to the mind of God, and according to my mind, as was said, “It is not with you alone that I make this covenant….”
“…but with those who are here with us,
standing this day before the Eternal our God,
and with those who are not here with us today.”
(Deuteronomy 29:14)
From the words, “with those who are here,” I understand: those who were standing, as it were, on Mount Sinai. But for future generations and those who convert to Judaism in the future, whence? From the Talmudic implication of the words, “and with those who are not here with us today!”
Tanchuma Nitzavim 3
Inclusive Covenant II
“It is not with you alone that I make this covenant…
but with those who are here with us…”
(Deuteronomy 29:13-14a)
What sense do these two verses together make?
“It is not with you alone that I make this covenant…”: I make this covenant with you but not with you alone. Then with whom else? “But (also) with those who are here with us…”: Who also are here with us? The generations that were to come: they also were there!
Rabbi Abahu in the name of Rabbi Samuel bar Nachmani parsed the verses differently to arrive at the same conclusion: “Those who are here with us, standing this day before the Eternal our God” (ibid. 14a) refers to those who were physically present, “standing,” while the following words, “And with those who are not here with us today” (ibid. 14b), refer to those whose souls were there but whose bodies were not yet created, hence the omission of “standing!”
Deuteronomy Rabbah 8:2
Blessings of the Torah
“For this Mitzvah which I command you this day
is not too wondrous for you.”
(Deuteronomy 30:11)
Halacha: When a man of Israel goes up to read from the Torah, how should he manage the blessing?
Thus taught the Sages: The one who opens and the one who concludes in the Reading of the Torah blesses before it and after it (respectively). And whence do we derive that a blessing is required before it? From what is written:
“Blessed are You, Eternal One;
teach me Your laws!”
(Psalms 119:12)
So blessing precedes the teaching of laws, which is the Torah.
And whence do we derive that a blessing is required after it? Rabbi Samuel bar Nachman interpreted in the name of Rabbi Yonatan:
“And this is the blessing
which Moses recited…”
(Deuteronomy 33:1)
This blessing follows the final Song of Moses and comes after
he has reviewed and concluded for them
the laws of the Torah in the Book of Deuteronomy.
Another word on blessing of the Torah:
“An altar of earth shall you make for Me,
and you shall sacrifice upon it…;
wherever I authorize [azkeer] My Name,
there shall I come and bless you.”
(Exodus 20:21)
The Holy One, blessed be He, was teaching: If you faithfully observe the blessing of the Torah, I also shall bless you, as may be inferred: “Wherever I cause mention [azkeer] of My Name (through your blessing), then and there shall I bless you!”
It would then follow:
The Rabbis teach that the Holy One, blessed be He, is saying: If you make a blessing over the Torah, then you are causing blessing for yourself. Whence?
“Because through Me (whom you have blessed)
shall your days be many
and the years of your life will be increased.”
(Proverbs 9:11)
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Consider also:
“My son, forget not My Torah,
and let your heart guard My Mitzvot,
as they will increase for you
length of days, years of life, and peace!”
(Proverbs 3:1-2)
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So, if you should suspect that perhaps I gave you the Torah for your detriment, My answer is that I gave you the Torah entirely for your benefit!
Moreover the ministering angels are in love with it, but it is hidden from them, as the Sage reflected, “Where can wisdom”—which is Torah!—“be found…concealed as it is from the eyes of all living [chai]”—these are the holy living creatures [chayot, cf. Ezekiel 1:5]—“and hidden from the birds [oph] of heaven”—these are the angels, the seraphim which fly [vaya’aph, cf. Isaiah 6:6]—(Job 28:21). So I (Moses) say to you: My children, for the ministering angels it is too wondrous, but “this Mitzvah which I command you this day is not too wondrous for you!”
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Mirkin Commentary: Before us is a polemic against antinomian, gnostic and Christian ideas, which attach a negative value to the Torah, understood narrowly as nomos, law. They allege that the very existence of Mitzvah leads to sin, that “without the law there would be no transgression,” and that the prohibitions contained in the Torah actually stimulate the human appetite for transgressing them.
“Therefore thus declares my Lord God:
Behold I am He who has founded a stone in Zion:
a proved stone, a precious cornerstone, firmly established,
so that whoever puts his trust in it shall not fall away!
I shall make law the standard of measure
and righteousness the standard of weight…”
(Isaiah 28:16-17a)
Cf. chapter 9, verses 31-33, of “The Letter of Paul to the Romans,” found in Christian scripture: “Israel, who pursued the righteousness which is based on law, did not succeed in fulfilling that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it through faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, ‘Behold I am laying in Zion a stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall; and he who believes in him will not be put to shame’ (Isaiah 28:16).” [Italicized words indicate Paul’s eisegetic interpretations.]
Mirkin Commentary (continued): Therefore the Midrash here emphasizes the elevated value of the Torah, even over the loftiness of the ministering angels, a value which adds years to mortal life.
Deuteronomy Rabbah 8:3
How accessible is the Mitzvah?
“This Mitzvah which I command you this day
is not too wondrous for you, nor is it far off.
It is not in heaven, that you should say:
Who will go up for us to heaven
to bring it to us and teach it to us
that we may do it?”
(Deuteronomy 30:11-12)
That is what is meant by the verse:
“Wisdom is high for the ignorant;
in the gate he opens not his mouth.”
(Proverbs 24:7)
Said Rabbi Tanchuma: An uneducated person enters the synagogue and observes them discussing the back-and-forth legal arguments of the Talmud. Since he does not understand what they are saying, he is embarrassed, as was said, “In the gate he opens not his mouth!” and “gate” may refer to Sanhedrin, as is written: “His (widowed) sister-in-law shall go up to the Gate to the Elders (for their legal remedy)” (Deuteronomy 25:7, in Sedra Kee-Teytzey).
According to the Rabbis: The uneducated person enters the synagogue and observes them engaging in Torah. He asks them, “How does a person begin the study of Torah?” They say to him, “First he learns from children’s books, then he studies individual portions of the Torah, then the entire Torah, then the Prophets and the Writings. Having learned the Written Torah, he then proceeds to learn the Oral Torah of the Talmud, Midrash, Halacha and Aggadah.” Hearing this, the fool says in his heart, “How can I possibly learn all of this?” So he withdraws from the gate, as it says, “In the gate he opens not his mouth.”
Rabbi Yannai likens it to a loaf of bread which is seen suspended in the air. The uneducated fool, dismissing hope, says, “It is in heaven, who can possibly bring it down?” The uneducated though wise person reasons, “Didn’t someone put the loaf up there?” so he fetches a ladder or a stick and brings it down. Similarly, the fool says, “When shall I find time to read all of the Torah?” while the wise person acts: he learns one chapter every day until he has completed all of the Torah!
Hence says the Holy One, blessed be He: “This Mitzvah which I command you this day is not too wondrous for you [mim’cha]” (Deuteronomy 30:11), which can be understood as “from you [mim’cha]”: If you find it “too wondrous,” then “from you” is it too wondrous, that is, from your inaction, from your not engaging in it!
Deuteronomy Rabbah 8:5
Trustees of the Mitzvah
“This Mitzvah…is not in heaven, that you should say:
Who will go up for us to heaven
to bring it to us and teach it to us
that we may do it?”
(Deuteronomy 30:11-12)
“This Mitzvah” is a rare gift. To what may it be likened? To a king who owned a precious gem, which he entrusted to his faithful subject. He said to him: I ask you to pay constant attention to it and treat it with care. If you lose it, you will never be able to make it up to me, and I do not have another to replace it—“It is not in heaven…to bring it to us…,” so you would be sinning against me and against yourself, so keep the Mitzvah for both of us! Accordingly, Moses said to Israel: If you keep the Torah, it is not only for yourself that you perform righteousness, but both for me and for yourself. Whence do we have this? As was said, “Righteousness will be ours”—mine and yours—if we observe faithfully all of this Mitzvah before the Eternal our God, as He has commanded us” (Deuteronomy 6:25)!
Deuteronomy Rabbah 8:6
Complete Torah
“It is not in heaven…”
(Deuteronomy 30:12)
Moses said to them that they should not think that another Moses will arise and bring us another Torah from heaven: I therefore warn you, “It is not in heaven,” that is to say, no part of it has remained in heaven.
Maharzu (Ze’ev Wolf Einhorn, 19th cent.): Whatever is called by the name of Torah or Mitzvah is included in this Torah that was given through Moses, and whatever the Prophets innovated or prophesied, as well as what they might prophesy in the future, is commentary to this Torah…and when he says, “You should not think that another Moses will arise,” what he means is not literally “Moses” but another Prophet like Moses, for just as there is not another Torah, so there has not arisen and will not arise another Prophet like Moses. This applies also to the Messiah, who will not deliver another Torah but will uphold and explain this Torah.
What is the meaning of, “It is not in heaven?” The Sage Samuel said: The Torah is not to be found among astrologers, whose art is in the heavens. They said to Samuel: But you are an astrologer, and yet you are also great in Torah! Whereupon he replied: I only engage in astrology when I am free from studying Torah. “When is that?” they asked. “When I am in the bathroom.”
Talmud Eruvin 55a
Implications of “Not in heaven” I
What is the meaning of the verse, “It is not in heaven…?”
Rav Avdimi bar Chama bar Dosa:
That if it were in heaven, you would have to go up after it.
Rashi (11th cent.): This is consistent with the view that the teacher should make a great effort for the Torah to be retained by its students by presenting mnemonics and developing educational tactics.
Rava:
The Torah is not found in one whose mind is focused above it as heaven.
Rabbi Yochanan:
The Torah is not found in those who are arrogant of spirit.
Deuteronomy Rabbah 8:9
Implications of “Not in heaven” II
Rabbi Acha taught: It is not in the arrogant of spirit, who ascend upwards. So where does it reside? In those who make themselves nothing.
Talmud Bava Metziah 59a-59b
Implications of “Not in heaven” III
We have learned in the Mishnah: “If they made an oven out of separate tiles and placed sand between each tile, Rabbi Eliezer declared it pure, but the Sages declared it susceptible to impurity. This is the Oven of Aknai.” (Kelim 5:10)
In the debate between Rabbi Eliezer and the Sages, Rabbi Eliezer presented various “arguments” based upon miracles, but the Sages rejected them.
He said to them: If the law agrees with me, let this carob tree prove it. A carob tree was torn out of its place by 100 cubits. They answered him: We do not present evidence from a carob tree.
Again he spoke to them: If the law agrees with me, let the stream of water prove it. The stream of water started flowing backwards. They answered him: We do not present evidence from a stream of water.
Again he said to them: If the law agrees with me, let the walls of the house of study prove it. The walls of the house of study inclined as if to fall. Rabbi Joshua rebuked the walls: If Torah scholars are disputing each other over halacha (Talmudic law), how is it of your concern? And so, the walls did not fall, out of respect to Rabbi Joshua, and they also did not stand upright, out of respect for Rabbi Eliezer, and they are still standing thus inclined.
But Rabbi Eliezer again addressed the Sages: If the halacha agrees with me, let it be proved from heaven! A heavenly voice came forth and said, “Why do you dispute Rabbi Eliezer, as the halacha always agrees with him?” But then Rabbi Joshua arose and quoted, “It is not in heaven…” (Deuteronomy 30:12)!
What is the meaning of the words, “It is not in heaven?” Said Rabbi Jeremiah: They mean that the Torah has already been given on Mount Sinai; we pay no attention to a heavenly voice because on Mount Sinai there was written in the Torah, “…after the majority to incline” (cf. Exodus 23:2b)!
When Rabbi Nathan encountered the prophet Elijah, he asked him: What was the Holy One, blessed be He, doing at that time (of the dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and the Sages)? He said to him: He was laughing and saying, “My children have defeated Me! My children have defeated Me!”
Talmud Chagigah 3a
Exclusions
“Assemble (Hakhel) all of the people—
men, women and children,
including the stranger within your gates—
in order that they may hear
and in order that they may learn [yilm’du]….”
(Deuteronomy 31:12)
From the time of the Mishnah it has been taught:
“’In order that they may hear’ excludes from Hakhel the deaf, and
‘In order that they may learn’ excludes from Hakhel the mute.”
The Gemara asks this question about the second exclusion:
Does the exclusion of the mute
mean that one who cannot speak cannot learn?!
Contradicting this assumption, there were two mute people in the vicinity of Rabbi who followed him whenever he entered the House of Study and took seats before him. They would nod their heads and move their lips. Rabbi prayed for mercy on their behalf, and they were cured. It was discovered that they had learned Halacha, Sifra, Sifre, and all of the Talmud!
Mar Zutra proposed a reading of the verse which conforms more accurately with the condition of mute people: “Assemble all of the people…in order that they may hear and in order that they may teach [yilm’du®yelam’du]!” Then the statement from the time of the Mishnah would make more sense: “’In order that they may teach’ excludes from Hakhel the mute!” For while one who cannot speak can learn, it would seem that one who cannot speak cannot teach!
Rav Ashi endorsed Mar Zutra’s proposed reading, “In order that they may teach,” with the following argument: If you think it should be, “In order that they may learn” and you believe that one who cannot speak cannot learn, you could just as well derive the latter from the well-known fact that one who cannot hear cannot learn, since people who cannot hear are often mute. So the reading, “In order that they may learn,” is not needed in the statement from the time of the Mishnah to exclude the mute, while “In order that they may teach” can exclude the mute from Hakhel!
Note: Consider how technology might impact the aforementioned arguments. Writing, printing and digital media, attenuate the disability of both the deaf and the mute.
Deuteronomy Rabbah 9:1
A Matter of Days
“The Eternal then says to Moses:
Behold, your days to die are drawing near…”
(Deuteronomy 31:14)
Halacha: An Israelite whose dead is lying before him, what may he be allowed to pray? Thus taught the Sages: One whose dead is lying before him is exempt from the recitation of Shema and from the Tefillah. Why? One who is directly confronted with his anguish is agitated of mind. But once his dead is buried, for all seven days of mourning he is subject to every commanded matter. Whence that mourning is for seven days? Said Rabbi Abba bar Avina: Thus we find with respect to Joseph, “He mourned for his father for seven days” (Genesis 50:10), and the Sabbath is included in the counting of seven.
Said Rabbi Yosi bar Zevida in the name of Resh Lakish: This may be learned from a different place. Whence? “I shall turn your festivals into mourning” (Amos 8:10)—just as the days of the “Festival” (understood by the Rabbis as Sukkot) number seven, so then shall the days of mourning be seven!
It occurred in the days of Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta that he went to celebrate a Brit Milah (Covenant of Circumcision). The infant’s father arranged a Seudah (a meal to celebrate the mitzvah) and provided wine which was seven years old. He said to them: I will store away some of this wine for my son’s wedding! They were at the present Seudah until midnight. Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta, feeling confident, began his journey home to another city at that time (midnight!). On the way he encountered the angel of death, who was wearing a sardonic grin. “Who are you?” asked Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta. “A messenger of God,” said the angel. “Why are you grinning?” he asked. “I am grinning because of the conversation of people! They say: Such-and-such will we do in the future; yet no one knows when his time to die will come. That father with whom you celebrated the Seudah said to you, ‘I will store away some of this wine for my son’s wedding,’ but his son’s life is destined to end after thirty days!” Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta said to the angel: Show me my lifespan. He said to him: I do not rule over you or others like you. Sometimes the Holy One, blessed be He, is pleased with a man’s good deeds and grants you an extension of life, as was said, “The fear of the Eternal adds days” (Proverbs 10:27)!
The Rabbis teach: It is difficult for the Holy One, blessed be He, to decree death upon the righteous. Whence? “Costly (difficult) in the sight of the Eternal is the death of His pious ones” (Psalms 116:15)! This is shown by the way He treated Moses. He could simply have said, “Behold, the time has come for you to die.” But He did not say that; instead, He softened the blow and cast it in terms of “days,” “Behold, your days to die are drawing near”: Your time to die is drawing near (allowing Moses to understand it as he would choose, in view of the fact that the time to die for all mortals is ever drawing near).
Deuteronomy Rabbah 9:2
Debilitations of Moses
“The race is not to the swift,
nor the battle to the mighty,
nor even bread to the wise,
nor even riches to the understanding,
nor even grace to the skillful…”
(Ecclesiastes 9:11)
Said Rabbi Tanchuma: This verse speaks about Moses.
How so?
“The race is not to the swift…”
Yesterday he ascended to the firmament like an eagle (cf. Exodus 19:3ff. and Mishnah Avot 5:20), then he sought to cross the Jordan and was unable, as was said: “Ascend to the summit of Pisgah and raise your eyes west and north, south and east, and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross this Jordan” (Deuteronomy 3:27)!
“nor the battle to the mighty…”
Yesterday angels [high angels like Michael and Gabriel; cf. Numbers Rabbah 11:3] trembled before him, but now he says, “I am afraid of the fiery anger [af and cheymah, names of lower angels, cf. ibid.] that the Eternal has shown to you…” (Deuteronomy 9:19)!
“nor even bread to the wise…”
Yesterday “a wise man went up to the place of angels and brought down the object of strength and confidence” (Proverbs 21:22; cf. Talmud Shabbat 88b-89a) from heaven, but now it has been taken from him and given to Joshua son of Nun. (Chidushey HaRadal [David Luria, 19th cent.]: “Bread” is a metaphor for Torah, as in Proverbs 9:1,5, “Wisdom has built her house…come, eat of my bread…”)
“nor even riches to the understanding…”
Yesterday the understanding one said to God with the confidence of a rich man, “Turn from Your fierce anger!” (Exodus 32:12) and “Pardon, I demand, the iniquity of this people! (Numbers 14:19), but now he speaks like one dispossessed, “I entreated the Eternal at that time…” (Deuteronomy 3:23): I beg of You, do me a favor!
“nor even grace to the skillful…”
Yesterday he was skilled in appeasing his Creator, following, “Arise, O Eternal One, let Your enemies be scattered…” (Numbers 10:35)! “and…be at rest [shuvah], O Eternal One, (among) the many thousands of Israel” (Ibid. 36), which we interpret, “…but repent [shuvah], O Eternal One, (from harming) the many thousands of Israel” (Ibid. 36)! (Maharzu: Grace was poured into his lips, God heard him and did what he asked), but after he supplicated for his own survival all seven days (Maharzu: 1-7 Adar), at the end the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Behold, your days to die are drawing near…” (Deuteronomy 31:14)!
Deuteronomy Rabbah 9:3
The Dominance of Death
“No one rules over the wind [ruach] to arrest the wind [ruach],
indeed there is no domination over the day of death,
nor is there agency [mishlachat] in battle,
and no scheme however aggressive
can save the schemer
from his appointed time.”
(Ecclesiastes 8:8)
Rabbi Judah interprets the verse, “No man rules over the wind to arrest the wind”: “No man rules over the Angel (of Death) to stay the Angel (of Death),” since the Psalmist declares, “The Eternal makes winds His Angels“ (Psalms 104:4a)! While Rabbi Nechemiah interprets it: “No man rules over the nations of our exile to remove them from the world,” since Daniel envisioned “four winds of heaven breaking forth upon the sea from which emerged four great beasts” (Daniel 7:2-3), representing “four kings” (ibid. 17) of the world (cf. Ezekiel 37:9)!
Rabbi Eliezer son of Jacob interprets the verse, “No man rules over the spirit [ruach] to arrest the spirit [ruach]”: “No man rules over his life spirit [ruach]—understood as soul—to remove it from himself, since the Holy One, blessed be He, ensconced it within the entire body and not in any individual part of it, so that when a person suffers anguish he will not be able to end his life by simply cutting off that part of him that contains the spirit [ruach]!
How do we interpret the verse, “There is no agency [mishlachat] in battle?” When anyone faces death, he cannot appoint his servant (as his agent) to take his place! Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta interprets it: “One cannot forge weaponry [mishlachat] to be rescued in the battle with the Angel of Death,” based upon the Chronicler’s account of the fortification of Jerusalem under King Hezekiah, “He made weaponry [shelach] and shields in abundance” (II Chronicles 32:5)!
How do we interpret the verse, “There is no domination over the day of death?” No one dominates to say: Wait for me until I finish up my accounts and provide instruction to my household, and then I will come. Another interpretation: The Angel of Death does not defer the appointed time even for a king, even by only one or two days, for on that day there is no respecting of rank before the Angel of Death. This can be shown from the account of David, who was called “king” right up through his old age—“King David was old…” (I Kings 1:1)—but when he approached the day of his death, his kingship is not mentioned: “The days drew near for David to die…” (I Kings 2:1)!
“And no scheme [resha] however aggressive can save the schemer from his appointed time”: No one may place an appeal before the Judge. Literally, “Wickedness [resha] shall not save the one who employs it.” What would be the “wickedness [resha]?” It would be an objection as to the legal validity of the decision, calling for the “tearing up” of the death sentence based upon the incrimination [harsheeyah] of the judge and therefore his replacement by a competent jurist. But even the “wickedness [resha]” of the judge shall not save the defendant from the appointed day of his death! (Maharzu)
Deuteronomy Rabbah 9:8
Why?
“The Eternal then says to Moses:
Behold, your days to die are drawing near…”
(Deuteronomy 31:14)
To what may the decree of Moses’s death be compared? To a pregnant woman who was confined in prison, and there she bore a child. When the child had grown up and the king was walking past the prison, the child began to protest: My lord king, why am I locked up in this prison? The king answered: You were put there because of your mother’s crime. Similarly said Moses: Master of the Universe, there are thirty-three crimes in the Torah which are punishable by death at the hands of the Eternal—am I guilty of even one of them? Why have You decreed my death?! God answered: It is because of the sin of Adam that you are condemned to death, as the first man brought death into the world. This is implied by “Behold…” before “Your days to die are drawing near…,” because the same word precedes one of the implications of Adam’s crime: “Behold, the man has become like one of us…” (Genesis 3:22)!
Deuteronomy Rabbah 9:9
Fateful Negotiations
“The Eternal then says to Moses:
Behold, your days draw near (for you) to die…”
(Deuteronomy 31:14a)
Rabbi Sima interpreted these words as an announcement by the Eternal that the “days” had brought to Him a complaint against Moses: Master of the Universe, we cannot move from the sky and set as long as Moses remains alive: “The days have drawn near to Me (have approached Me with a complaint against you) for you to die!”
The Rabbis explained:
When Moses learned the day on which he was to die, what did he do? Said Rabbi Yannai: He wrote thirteen Torah scrolls, one scroll for each of the twelve tribes, and one he deposited into the Ark, so that if there was a question about the correct reading, it could be confirmed from the scroll that was kept in the Ark. Moses thought: As long as I am engaged in the Torah, which is life, the edict of my death will have to wait indefinitely and will eventually expire!
What then did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He suggested to the sun (the “days”) that it should stand up and offer an objection against Moses. So the sun argued: If I do not set this day (bringing Moses’s death by its end), Moses will have overruled the law of nature (according to the covenant of Creation, cf. Genesis 1:16)!
“Did I not weep for him whose days are hard [k’shey-yom]!”
(Job 30:25a)
Thus may we interpret the comment of Job: “Did I not weep for the objection [kushia] put forward by the day [k’shey-yom]?” (Job 30:25), in that the day complained against Moses!
Recognizing the day’s objection, Moses then negotiated with the Eternal: Master of the Universe, give Joshua my office in exchange for letting me live! The Holy One, blessed be He, responded:
“…Summon Joshua to stand with you
at the Tent of Meeting,
and I shall charge him…”
(Deuteronomy 31:14a)
He further instructed Moses:
Now see if you can relate to Joshua
as your succesor while you still alive,
as he has related to you!
So Moses promptly repaired to Joshua’s house. In trepidation, Joshua said: Moses, my Rabbi, please come with me! They went out together, Moses walking on Joshua’s left side.
“Moses and Joshua then present themselves
at the Tent of Meeting.
The Eternal is manifested in a pillar of cloud
positioned at the entrance of the Tent.”
(Ibid. 14b-15)
When they enter the Tent of Meeting, the pillar of cloud comes down and separates them. When the pillar of cloud is later removed, Moses comes over to Joshua and asks him: What did He say to you? Said Joshua to Moses: When His word was revealed to you, did I know what He said to you?
Whereupon Moses exclaimed: A thousand deaths, but not a single envy! Thus commented Solomon: “Love is as strong as death; envy is as cruel as She’ol” (Song of Songs 8:6), these the love that Moses had for Joshua and the envy that Moses felt towards him!
So Moses accepted upon himself that he would die!
Then the Holy One, blessed be He, began to offer him some comfort: Indeed in this world you led My children, so in the future I shall lead them in accordance with your example.
Whence?
“He remembered the ancient days,
of Moses’s leading His people!”
(Isaiah 63:11)
Pesikta d’Rav Kahana 22:2
For the Salvation of Jerusalem
“I shall surely [sos] rejoice [asees] in the Eternal,
as He clothes me [kee hilbeeshanee]
with garments of Salvation…”
(Isaiah 61:10)
“Draw me after you, let us run—
the king has brought me into his chambers—
let us rejoice and be happy in you…”
(Song of Songs 1:4)
Rabbi Abin was considering the verse, “This is the day which the Eternal has made: let us rejoice and be happy in it/Him [vo]!” (Psalms 118:24) From these words we might not know in what to be happy: “in it,” the day? or “in Him,” the Holy One, blessed be He? But then Solomon came and explained it, “The King has brought me into His chambers (His Temple!)—let us rejoice and be happy in You [bach]!” (Song of Songs 1:4): In You (O King!), in Your Torah and thereby in Your Salvation (the redeeming of Israel and Jerusalem)!
Rabbi Isaac explained how Solomon’s words, “in You,” can mean in Your Torah and, thereby, in Your Salvation. The letters of “in You” [bach], bet-chaf, have the numerical value of twenty-two, the twenty-two letters of the Alef-Bet that are used to write the Torah. From the Torah (cf. Genesis Rabbah 45:3) emerges first the mitzvah of “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:22), which leads to Salvation — But how does the mitzvah of “Be fruitful and multiply” lead to the Salvation of Jerusalem?
First, consider the Torah mitzvah as taught in Mishnah Yevamot 6:6: If one has married a woman and lived with her for ten years, during which time she has not borne a child, he may not avoid the mitzvah to be fruitful and multiply. He may divorce her, so that she may marry another who has not yet fulfilled the commandment to be fruitful and multiply so that she might bear his child.
Now it happened that in Sidon a man married a woman and lived with her for ten years, during which time she had not borne a child. They came to Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai to be divorced. Following his advice, the man said to the woman: Remove everything that is of value to you from my house, and take it to your father’s house.
Then Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai said to them: Just as you were wedded to each other amid food and drink, so must you separate from each other amid food and drink. So what did she do? She made a big feast with more than enough wine to make him drunk and indicated to her maids to carry him to her father’s house! At midnight he awoke from his sleep, and, bewildered, he asked her: How did I get here? She said to him: Did you not say to remove everything that is of value to me from your house and to take it to my father’s house? Well, there is nothing more precious to me than you!
When Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai heard this, he prayed for them and they were blessed with a child. Of course the Holy One, blessed be He, blesses the barren woman with children, but so do the righteous, and so it follows: If flesh and blood, by bringing gladness to each other, evoke the Holy One’s blessing of happiness upon them, how much the moreso will divine gladness for Jerusalem evoke the Holy One’s blessing of happiness upon her. Thus does Israel cause divine gladness for Jerusalem in order to evoke its Salvation by the Holy One, blessed be He, as we interpret the words of the Prophet: “I shall surely cause the Eternal to rejoice [asees], that He may clothe me [kee hilbeeshanee] with garments of Salvation” (Isaiah 61:10)…
“A crown of beauty in the hand of the Eternal,
you shall be called by a new name:
instead of ‘Forsaken’ and ‘Devastation,’
Cheftsi-vah (‘My-Delight-is-in-Her’),
Be’ulah (‘Wedded’)!
For as a young man joyfully weds a virgin,
so shall your God rejoice over you,
and because a bridegroom joyfully weds a young woman,
he shall cause You to rejoice [yasees Alayich], O God [Elohayich]!”
(Ibid. 62:3-5)
Exodus Rabbah 2:5
Tanna d’Vey Eliahu Rabbah 18:1
The Eternal is our Twin
“The Eternal says:
They alone are My people,
children who will not be untrue,
so He becomes their Savior.
In all of their suffering He suffers…”
(Isaiah 63:8-9a)
“I am sleeping, but my heart is awake.
He is knocking, the sound of my beloved:
Open for me,
my sister,
my love,
my dove,
my pure one [tammatee]…”
(Song of Songs 5:2)
“My pure one [tammatee]”: They (Israel) attached themselves [netam’memu] to Me (“made themselves one with Me”) at Sinai, declaring even before they had heard all of the commandments, “All that the Eternal says we shall do and we shall hear” (Exodus 24:7)!
Rabbi Yannai explained: Just as with twins–if one of them is wounded in the head, the other one feels the pain–may the Holy One, blessed be He, be thinking: “When he calls upon Me, I will answer him; I will be with him (Israel) in distress…” (Psalms 91:15a)!
Alternatively, “I am with him in distress” (Psalms 91:15a): When they suffer, it is Me, the Holy One, blessed be He, that they call: In Egypt, “Their cry went up to God” (Exodus 2:23); at the Red Sea, “The Children of Israel cried out to the Eternal” (Exodus 14:10); and other similar incidents, which are why the Prophet says, “In all of their suffering He suffers” (Isaiah 63:9a).
But the Holy One, blessed be He, questioned Moses: Do you doubt that I am steeped in suffering at the same time that Israel is? Know the truth from the place from which I am speaking to you, from within the thorns of this bush, as it were, I am their partner in suffering!
–
“The Eternal says: They alone are My people,” and then He says, “In all of their suffering He suffers…”– That would seem to imply communal suffering; whence do we derive that He suffers along with the individual also? We derive, additionally, the individual from, “When he [singular] calls upon Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in distress…” (Psalms 91:15a)! Therefore we have, “In all of their suffering He suffers…”: both communal and individual!
–
The Holy One, blessed be He, has declared, “In all [b’chol] of their suffering…”: for every [b’chol] kind of trouble that besets Israel…, “…I am with them” as it were, “He suffers [Lo tsar]” being read, “I suffer [Lee tsar]!” The personal relationship is reflected also in His saying to the Prophet, “You are My servant, O Israel, through whom [becha (sing.)] I am glorified” (Isaiah 49:3)! Thus could the Prophet call to the daughter of Zion, “Arise, cry out in the night…” (Lamentations 2:19)! Hence it is said that every scholar who sits alone studying Scripture and Mishnah is accompanied by the Holy One, blessed be He, sitting with him studying Scripture and Mishnah, as we continue, “…and pour out your heart like water before the face of the Eternal…” (ibid.)!
SHABBAT SHALOM!
Sedra Summary 