Deuteronomy · Chapter 31

And Moses went and spoke these words with all Israel.

AND MOSES WENT. When Moses concluded his words, all who stood before him, and the young children, and the women returned to their own tents. It was not necessary for Scripture to mention this [that they returned to their tents], for it already stated, Ye are standing this day all of you before the Eternal your G-d; that thou shouldest enter into the covenant of the Eternal thy G-d, and [it is self-understood that] after having entered the covenant they would go away from him [Moses]. And so Scripture now states that Moses went from the camp of the Levites to the camp of the Israelites in order to show them honor, like someone who wishes to take leave of his friend and comes to ask permission of him.

"And he went" — he went to every tribe and tribe to inform them that he was dying, so they would not be afraid, and to strengthen their hearts with the words of Joshua. That is why it is written after this: "and you shall cause them to inherit it." In my opinion, it was then that he blessed the tribes — even though their blessings appear later in the written text.

וילך משה, he was self-propelled, just as was Amram, Moses’ father who married his aunt Yocheved, daughter of Levi, and almost certainly many years his senior. (Exodus 2,1) Another of many uses of the word וילך meaning that the person described acted of their own initiative is found in Deut. 17,3 where the Jewish idolater described had not been seduced by anyone. After having concluded the matter of the covenant between G’d and this second generation of Israelites many of whom had not been born at the time of the Exodus, Moses now proceeds to comfort the people over his impending death. He does so in order that the joy over G’d having concluded this covenant with them should not be turned into sorrow over the prospect of his impending passing from the scene. Rejoicing over having been found fit to become a party to such a covenant is something natural, the psalmist in Psalms 149,2 speaking of Israel rejoicing with or over its Maker. Being in G’d’s presence, such as here, is always a joyful experience, as is offering sacrifices to Him, as we know from Deut. 27,7.when the occasion was to mark the erecting of the stones after the successful crossing of the river Jordan.

וילך משה, "Moses went, etc." We need to know where Moses went. Yonathan ben Uzziel translates that Moses went to the study hall. Other commentators such as Nachmanides and Rabbeynu Bachyah say that he went from the camp of the Levites to the encampment of the Israelites much like a man who takes leave from his friends. The wording of the Torah is vague and does not provide a clue as to where Moses actually went. Another thing we are entitled to know is who told Moses that he would die on that day. Have we not been told in Shabbat 30 that man is not informed of precisely how long he will live? If that is correct, who told Moses that he would die on that day? I believe we must explain our verse by recalling the Zohar volume one page 217. We are told there that 40 days prior to man's death his נשמה leaves him. Zohar bases this on Song of Songs 4,6: ונסו הצללים, "and the shadows fled." These "shadows" search for a resting place in the celestial regions and the righteous are aware of this. It is described there that Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai was aware of the fact that Rabbi Yitzchak's soul had already departed from him while the latter was still alive. It is also mentioned there that the names of the Israelites are actually the names of their respective souls. I myself have explained this on Proverbs 10,7 "that the name of the wicked will rot." Zohar Chadash 120 interprets this to mean that the wicked will not be able to remember his name, the reason being that the wicked has no soul. Having been deprived of his soul it is not surprising that the wicked does not recall his name. Here we are told that "Moses went;" this means that his soul, the spirit of life named Moses, had gone from him just like in any other צדיק whose end is at hand. In this instance Moses' soul is referred to in the masculine gender, i.e. וילך, to stress the greatness of his soul. By writing וידבר את הדברים האלה the Torah indicates that Moses was aware when walking that he would die on that day. He made this plain when he said: "I am exactly 120 years old today, etc." Our sages in Rosh Hashanah 11 interpret Moses' words as: "today my days and years have been completed." Having read all this you may ask how it was that Moses knew that he would die on that day and not 40 days later seeing we said that the soul leaves 40 days before one's death? Read what I have written on Genesis 47,29 "Israel's days to die approached." וידבר את הדברים האלה, He spoke these words, etc. Moses wanted to show that though he was 120 years old and about to die he had the strength to say all the words recorded from here until the end of the Book of Deuteronomy. No one except Moses possessed the physical or intellectual strength to do this.

וילך משה, “Moses went;” from near the Tabernacle where he had his residence, as we know from: והחונים לפני משכן ה' משה אהרן ובניו, “and the ones encamped in front of the Tent of meeting: Moses, Aaron and his sons.”He now went from each tribe to the next to advise them of his impending death. He assured them that they had nothing to fear from his impending death, but that they should take heart and support their new leader Joshua. Why did Moses feel that he had to address and reassure each tribe separately? Why did he not merely use his trumpets and call a great assembly of the whole nation? According to Rabbi Joshua in the name of Rabbi Levi of Sakkinon, the trumpets which Moses had made in the desert, G-d hid them so that no one, not even he himself, would ever blow them again, as it would have been unseemly to do so on the day when he knew he was going to die. On that day Moses’ control over events had come to an end.

לכו לחמו בלחמי ושתו ביין מסכתי, “Come and eat my bread, drink the wine which I have mixed.” (Proverbs 9,5.) In this verse Solomon compared the Torah to bread and wine, seeing that bread and wine are the principal sources of food for the body. Similarly, Torah and wisdom are the principal sources of nourishment for the soul. The reason why Solomon commences with the expression לכו, and did not say בואו, “come,” is to teach that a person has to follow wisdom, i.e. go out in search of it and after the people who teach it. We find this verb used in this connection also in Proverbs 13,20: הולך את חכמים יחכם, “he who walks with scholars will himself become wise.” The expression is unusual as we would have expected the author to say: “he who sits with the scholars will become wise.” The only reason that in both instances Solomon used the verb הולך to describe how one is to relate to the scholars in order to benefit from their wisdom is to teach that one has to actively go after the wisdom which comes out of the mouth of the Torah scholars. One needs to denigrate oneself vis-a-vis the scholars; as a result one will absorb wisdom. It is also possible that the reason for the use of the word לכו by Solomon is a hint that even if one has to travel a long way from one’s home in order to acquire this wisdom one should do so. The message is that it is worth while to travel to distant countries in order to hear and study “My bread,” i.e. Torah. The same thought is echoed by Isaiah 55,3 who quotes the Lord as saying: “incline your ear and come to Me, hearken and you shall be revived.” G’d (The prophet) did not say: בואו אלי, “come to Me,” as man sometimes has to travel to distant places in order to study Torah. The words לכו לחמו בלחמי, may be perceived as “go to one another those who are anxious to eat of My bread.” it is a warning to remove jealousy and envy from one’s heart and that the scholars should not project an image of superiority which would prevent them from going to colleagues of equal stature. Most certainly they should not be arrogant enough to refrain from going to scholars who are of still greater stature. Wisdom increases through the interchange of ideas among equals. Our sages in Makkot 10 used the verse in Jeremiah 50,36: חרב אל הבדים ונואלו (concerning people who avoid studying in large groups) to illustrate this thought by understanding these words to mean “a sword against the loners!” The prophet condemns the people who want to study in solitary meditation only. Not only do these people not increase their knowledge by doing so, but they are even apt to become foolish, i.e. arrive at faulty conclusions. In the verse quoted from Jeremiah, we have the word נואלו and we have a similar word in Numbers 12,11 i.e. אשר נואלנו, where it means: “we have acted foolishly.” The message is clear. Concerning the words: “drink from My wine;” the letter ב in the word בלחמי in the first half of the verse appears superfluous. Why then did Solomon write it? Similarly, the letter ב in the word ביין also appears unnecessary. Actually, the letter ב in both instances means the same as in Genesis 41,2 where Ibn Ezra understands the letter ב in ותרענה באחו as not part of the word אחו. I believe that whereas when one drinks wine it is only healthy in diluted form, and damaging if drunk in its full strength, so that the word בלחמי and ביין could be understood as warning not to eat or drink all of the bread and the wine, the word מסכתי, “what I (G’d) have mixed” is to teach that when it comes to Torah and the performance of its commandments, all of them are to be studied and performed in undiluted form. This simile contains yet another lesson which is worth mentioning. If someone spends a lot of time engaged in the pursuit of his livelihood, i.e. the needs of his body, and travels abroad in order to secure himself such a sound economic existence, even though he should have concentrated the major part of his energies amassing Torah knowledge, i.e. food for his soul, he errs, seeing that when one spends all kinds of energy on the amassing of Torah knowledge a measure of success is guaranteed, whereas the energy spent on the amassing of material wealth does not always result in success. Solomon encourages the pursuit of food for the soul more so than the pursuit of physical food for the body. He makes this plain in Proverbs 2, 4-5: “if you seek it (Torah) as silver, and search for it as for treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and will find knowledge of G’d.” Every single commandment may be perceived of as “soul-food;” it provides the kind of nourishment which the soul will imbibe in the future when it is exposed to the brilliance of G’d’s Shechinah in עולם הבא, the world to come. If one is able to perform commandments and good deeds locally, his reward is most certainly substantial; imagine how much more will be his reward if he travels far and wide in order to fulfill some of the commandments of the Torah! The reason is that he also receives a reward for the distance traveled and the effort and fatigue involved. We find proof of this when the eagerness to fulfill a commandment is described by the Torah (Exodus 12,28) as “they went and they did.” Similarly, the Torah describes Moses’ leaving the camp of the Levites in order to go to the camp of the Israelites in these terms. He could have waited for the Israelites to come to him and take leave of him. In fact, although they had all been assembled around him to listen to the rebukes, and he could easily have said his good byes then, he waited till each one of them had returned to his tent, and only then וילך משה וידבר את הדברים האלה אל כל ישראל. בן מאה ועשרים שנה אנכי היום, וגו', “Moses went and spoke these words to all of Israel. ‘I am 120 years old this day.’” It is possible that the 120 years Moses lived corresponded to the 120 days he spent on Mount Sinai. During the first 40 days he received the first set of Tablets. During the second 40 days he pleaded for G’d to forgive the people the sin of the golden calf; he spent the next 40 days on the mountain in order to receive the second set of Tablets. This may be the reason why he used the term אנכי instead of אני. Our sages in Sotah 13 feel that he meant to say that on that day he was precisely 120 years old, i.e. that he died on the same day of the same month as he had been born. This may also be the reason why he used the word היום at the beginning of the previous Parshah, so that all these speeches took place on the same day. The day in question was the seventh day of Adar at the end of the Israelites 40th year in the desert. We have further proof of this in 34,8 where the Torah reported that the people mourned Moses for 30 days during which they did not journey. The Torah states explicitly that the days of Moses’ mourning came to an end. It is proper to read this verse in conjunction with Joshua 1,10: “Joshua commanded the law-enforcement officers of the people: ‘prepare for yourselves provisions for in another three days you will cross the river Jordan.’” Anyone reading these two verses together will realize that Joshua would not command the people to prepare these provisions until the mourning period for Moses had passed. To make this plain, the Torah had to write the verse: “the days of crying for (the death of) Moses had concluded.” The Book of Joshua 4,19 reports that the Jewish people completed crossing the river Jordan on the tenth of the first month, i.e. 3 days after the conclusion of the mourning period for Moses. By counting backwards you will arrive at the date of the 7th Adar as the date on which Moses had died. When the Torah in Exodus 2,3 reported that Moses’ mother was unable to hide him any longer, the date referred to is the 6th of Sivan, the day on which the revelation at Mount Sinai took place 80 years later. On that day, the light which filled only his parents’ home on the day he was born became so powerful that it shone for the whole Jewish nation. The light which had filled the house of Amram had already forecast the eventual greatness of the boy that had been born to Yocheved. The reason Yocheved had to hide Moses in a basket, well insulated, was that the light surrounding the baby had become so much stronger that it represented a danger to the family. The Torah speaks of Yocheved having hidden Moses for שלשה ירחים ‘three lunar months,” rather than שלשה חדשים, “three months,” (Exodus 2,2) to indicate that these were lunar months. The months Adar, Nisan, and Iyar are 29,30, and 29 days long, respectively. This gives us a total of 88 days during which Moses was kept “hidden” at home, or it takes us back to the 7th day of Adar as Moses’ birthday. From all this it becomes clear that Moses died on the same day of the same month on which he had been born. The word חדש implies a period which equals 1/12th of the year, something not subject to variation either by adding or subtracting from it. The same is not true of the period known as ירח, a period which may comprise either 29 or 30 days. The reason why the Torah used the term ירחים in the verse mentioned was to enable us to calculate the precise date on which Moses was born. This prompted our sages in Kiddushin 38 to state that G’d completes the life cycle of the righteous from day to day (to grant them whole years) something they base on Exodus 23,26: את מספר ימיך אמלא, “I will fill (round out) the number of your days (meaning “years”). לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבא, “I am no longer able to go out (to war) and to come back.” Moses refers to the times he had led the armies of the Jewish people against Sichon and Og, respectively. Nachmanides claims that the reason that Moses made this statement was to console the people about his impending death. No doubt, his physical powers had continued undiminished, as the Torah testifies about him in Deut. 34,7. He simply wanted to enhance the people’s regard for Joshua who would henceforth lead them in battle, and ensure that they would inherit the land. Our sages in Sotah 13. understand the words: “to go out and to come back” as referring to words of Torah. They claim that Moses felt that his ability to teach the Torah had waned, that the fountains of wisdom had dried up for him. This by it self was a miracle as it prevented him from relating to his impending death with worry and sadness. G’d also allowed this to happen so that Joshua could take over from him during his lifetime.

And Moses went and spoke these words. All the commentators were perplexed by this “going” since it is not specified where he went. It seems to me that this can be interpreted in two ways. The first is that Moses wanted to say I am no longer able to go out and come in. The phrase I am not able [lo uchal] can have two meanings: either “I am literally not capable” due to inability, or “I am not permitted” as in you shall not be able [lo tuchal] to eat within your gates (Deuteronomy 12:17). In truth, here it means “I am no longer permitted to go out and come in” because authority had already been given to Joshua. Moses feared that Israel might interpret I am not able in its literal sense, meaning he lacked the physical ability to walk, come, and go out before them as before. What did Moses do? He walked before all of Israel with vigor, throughout its length and breadth, thereby demonstrating to them that his strength was now as it had been before, to walk and go out and come in before them. Then they would understand on their own that when he said I am not able, he meant “I am not permitted.” This is why it says And Moses went — he walked before all Israel with vigor to show them that he was capable of walking but not permitted. For this reason, he told them, I am one hundred and twenty years old today, and nevertheless, “as my strength was then, so it is now,” for throughout all these days my strength has not diminished, which proves that I am able but not permitted. In this way, we can also explain And Moses went in relation to another matter that Rashi explained: “I am not able to go out and come in regarding matters of law.” Therefore, Moses went — he went before them in matters of law and Torah, thereby showing them that his strength in matters of law was now as it had been before. He was capable but not permitted, since permission had been given to Joshua, and consequently the wellsprings of wisdom were closed to him — this closure being because he was not permitted, as mentioned. The second [interpretation] is that Moses wanted to encourage them to repentance, which primarily involves words, as it is written Take with you words and return to the Lord (Hosea 14:3). Therefore it says, And Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. And since it says afterward, And he said to them, “I am one hundred and twenty years old today” then where did the first speech go? Rather, it was a difficult speech of moral instruction, and therefore he spoke to all Israel, meaning that anyone who has what to respond should come and respond, as Rashi explained on the verse These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel (Deuteronomy 1:1). Similarly here, he told everyone about repentance, which depends on words. And since a person never sees their own faults, and every sinner and rebel will never go on their own to the wise healer to seek a remedy for their spiritual sickness — and it would be fortunate if they would just listen when the sage calls to them, goes to them, and speaks to their heart to persuade them about repentance — therefore it says And Moses went, meaning that he went from tent to tent to each individual Israelite and spoke to their hearts these words, namely, matters of repentance which depend on words. This connects to what was stated above, For the matter is very close to you, in your mouth (Deuteronomy 30:14), which refers to the concept of “take with you words” [for repentance]. And perhaps it is a matter of peace, as they expounded on the verse seek peace and pursue it (Psalms 34:15), for peace is not like other commandments because for all other commandments such as tzitzit, mezuzah, and challah, if they come before you, you are obligated to perform them, but you are not obligated to pursue them. However, with peace, you are obligated to pursue it (Vayikra Rabbah 9:9). We should provide a reason for this matter: Why is peace different from all other commandments in the Torah? It will be properly explained if we say that this peace refers to making peace between Israel and their Father in Heaven through repentance. Therefore, you need to pursue it from two perspectives: First, because the sinner will never acknowledge guilt in his soul and will never see his own fault as you see it, therefore you must pursue him, for he will not pursue you. Second, because you need this peace since all of Israel are guarantors for one another. Our Sages said (Yoma 86b): Great is repentance, for even when an individual repents, he is forgiven and so is the entire world, as it is said (Hosea 14:5): I will heal their backsliding, for My anger has turned away from him. If so, this peace is for your benefit, and it is only right that you should pursue it. And even if peace is in its simple sense between a person and their fellow, nevertheless, they have a great need for it in repentance, so that those who repent will be many. For throughout the year, the Holy One, blessed be He, only accepts the repentance of many people, and when does He accept an individual’s repentance? Only during the Ten Days of Repentance. Therefore it is said Peace, peace, to the far and to the near (Isaiah 57:19). For one who is far and has drawn near needs these two types of peace: peace between themselves and their God, and peace between themselves and their fellow. Then, says God, I will heal him. And just as this peace, which leads to repentance, every person is obligated to pursue, so did Moses do, as it says, And Moses went — for he went after them and urged them to repent and to follow the paths that lead to repentance, namely the two types of peace that we mentioned. Both are included in the phrase and he spoke these words — both words of confession between man and God, and words of appeasement between man and their fellow. For regarding both it is said, Take words with you and return to the Lord.

וילך משה, “Moses went, etc.” According to Nachmanides, after the people had accepted the new covenant and had gone to their respective tents, Moses left the encampment of the Levites, where the assembly had taken place, and went to the encampment of the Israelites, to show them respect and to take his final leave of them as on that very day he was to die on Mount Nebo. It is good manners not to take one’s leave without asking his host for permission to absent oneself, and Moses adhered to this time-honoured custom. His parting words commenced with his telling the people that on that day he had attained the age of 120 years. He informed them of this in order to lessen their grief over his passing, suggesting that now that he had attained that age he would no longer be a suitable leader for them. Moreover, seeing that G’d had forbidden him to cross the river Jordan, even if he felt capable and so inclined, he could not continue to lead them. Our sages said that the fountains of wisdom from which Moses had drunk during the last forty years had already dried up for him, and he could no longer draw inspiration from them. (Compare Sotah 13) This was actually a miracle G’d performed for him so that he would not grieve over Joshua taking over from him at a time when he still felt perfectly competent to continue.

He said to them: I am one hundred and twenty years old today; I am no longer able to go out and come in, and Hashem has said to me: You shall not cross this Jordan.

וילך משה וגו' ... אנכי היום AND MOSES WENT ... I AM [HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS OLD] THIS DAY — Today my days and my years become full: for on this day (the seventh of Adar; cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 1:3) I was born and on this day I must die (Sotah 13b). לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבוא I CAN NO LONGER GO OUT AND COME IN — One might think that this was because his physical strength failed him! Scripture, however, states (Deuteronomy 34:7) “His eye was not dim nor his natural force abated!” What then is the meaning of לא אוכל? It means: “I am not permitted” (cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 12:17 and Deuteronomy 24:4), because the power (leadership) is being taken from me and given to Joshua. — Another explanation of לצאת ולבוא is: I can no more take the lead in the matter of the Law; this teaches us that the traditions and the well-springs of wisdom were stopped up for him (cf. Sotah 13b). וה' אמר אלי — This (according to the previous comment) is the explanation of לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבוא: I can no more go out and come in because (ו = because) the Lord has said unto Me, [Thou shalt not pass over this Jordan].

AND HE SAID UNTO THEM: ‘I AM A HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS OLD THIS DAY.’ This was to comfort them concerning his condition [i.e., about his approaching death], as if to say, “I am old and you have no more benefit from me. Moreover, G-d has commanded me that I should not go over there. Do not dread and do not be fearful, for the Eternal will go over with you; He will not remove His Presence from you on my account [i.e., because of my absence], and Joshua, he shall go over before you in my place.” Now, although Moses our teacher retained his vigor and health, as Scripture testifies, his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated, he told them this [“I am old and you have no more benefit of me”] in order to comfort them [over the transfer of leadership to Joshua].Now, Rashi wrote: “I can no longer go out and go in, because the Eternal hath said unto me: Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.” But it is not correct. And in the opinion of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra the expression I can no longer go out and come in means to war, because his powers weakened in his old age. This too, is not correct. And our Rabbis have said: “This teaches us that the well-springs of wisdom were stopped for him.” This was a miraculous event in order that Moses should not be troubled [about the transfer of leadership to Joshua] and [G-d] bestowing honor upon Joshua in his [Moses’] presence.

"To go out and to come in" — in battle. The meaning is: even were I not now dying, I would no longer have the capacity to fight. And you have no need of anyone to help you — for Hashem will destroy the nations; and so too will Joshua. The proof is what you yourselves witnessed with your own eyes in the wars against Sihon and Og.

בן מאה ועשרים שנה אנכי היום, Moses mentions his age to remind the people that there is no reason to be sad that someone of his age has to die. According to any life expectancy and law of nature, he was no longer fit to go on living by natural means. לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבא, even if I were still able, I would not be able to function physically as a leader should, such as leading you in he conquest of the Land of Israel as I am suffering from symptoms of old age. וה' אמר אלי לא תעבור, furthermore, G’d had said to me a while ago: “you will not cross;” even if I were physically capable of leading you, the fact that G’d told me that I would not cross the Jordan would have made my leadership pointless. You are therefore better off without me so that you will be able to cross.

לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבא, "I am no longer able to go out and come in" (lead you in war). Moses attributed his inability to do so to the fact that he had already lost control over his soul the one which bore his name, as we explained in the name of the Zohar. It had already departed from him. He also wanted to explain to the people why he was convinced that he would die on that day. While we have already supplied the reason for this, it is not in the nature of the righteous to let on to their peers that they have some superior perceptions; this would be arrogant. This is why Moses cited two different reasons. 1) I am unable to lead you in war, i.e. I no longer have G'd's permission to do so. This permission has now been given Joshua. 2) G'd has told me: "you will not cross this river Jordan." From these two indicators it was clear to him that he had outlived his usefulness and was about to die. The letter ו before the word השם is to be understood as the reason for the word היום Moses had used immediately before. The sequence of the words וה׳ אמר אלי, "and the Lord had said to me, etc." which follow so closely on Moses' statement: I cannot go out, etc." indicate his loyalty as a servant of the Creator. He suggested by this sequence that if, per chance, this same G'd would now give him instructions to cross the Jordan, he, Moses, would gird himself and be ready to lead the Israelites across though he did not feel capable of doing so at this moment. The only reason he did not insist on doing so was that G'd had told him not to.

אמר אלי לא תעבור את הירדן הזה, “He had said to me: you will not cross this river Jordan.” You, the people, will not lose anything by that fact, as G-d Himself will cross the river Jordan ahead of you, leading you. (verse 3)

בן מאה ועשרים שנה אנכי היום לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבא, “I am one hundred and twenty years old today, I can no longer go out and return home.” One reason I cannot do so is my age; another reason is the fact that G–d has forbidden me to cross the river Jordan. You will not suffer a setback by my not crossing the Jordan, as G–d, personally, will cross with you, and He will destroy etc.;” i.e. כי ה' הוא עובר לפניך והוא ישמיד וגו'. I do not feel weak, but I must obey G–d’s command.

Hashem your God — His Word goes before you; He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua, he goes before you, as Hashem has spoken.

ה' אלוקיך הוא עובר לפניך, so that you have no reason to be saddened by my absence. You will enjoy leadership superior to mine, by G’d Himself orchestrating the crossing of the river. 'יהושע הוא עובר לפניך כאשר דבר ה. Although, strictly speaking, Joshua is not he people’s leader in that crossing, he will be the one who nominally will be leading you across the river, just as G’d has said. (2) YEHOSHUA IS THE ONE WHO SHALL CROSS BEFORE YOU, AS ADONAI HAS SAID. For, while Yehoshua is not the leader, he will cross before you at the instruction of God, may He be exalted, for He is the leader.

ה אלוקיך הוא עובר לפניך…הוא ישמיד "The Lord your G'd will personally cross ahead of you;…He will destroy these nations, etc." Moses had to repeat the word הוא, "He," a second time as he intended to console the people over his own death which represented a double loss for them. Firstly, it had been he who had repeatedly protected the people from G'd's anger such as at the episode of the golden calf and then again when G'd had threatened to wipe out the people after they had accepted the majority report of the spies. Secondly, Moses had defeated the two mighty kings Sichon and Og. They would therefore be concerned who would take Moses' place should the need arise. Concerning the fact that he had been able to assuage G'd's anger on two critical occasions, he now said that G'd would עובר לפניך, in the sense this word occurred in Exodus 17,5 where G'd had said to Moses עבור לפני העם, suggesting that Moses forgive, "pass over" the sins he had accused the people of committing. At that time, G'd wanted the miracle of producing water to be credited to Moses rather than to Himself. On another occasion, immediately after the sin of the golden calf, G'd had said to Moses: "Let Me be so that I can destroy the people." In other words, it had been G'd who had given Moses a hint that his prayer might help (Exodus 32,9). In view of this Moses said: "He will pass over your sins Himself;" you do not depend on me doing this for you. As far as Moses' prowess in warfare, He told the people that it was not his own personal strength which had performed all these valiant deeds but that G'd had been the real Warrior. As to the means G'd would employ in His fight against the Canaanites, Moses cited Joshua as the official representative who would march at the head of the army. He emphasised the word הוא, "he," to make clear that the fact that Joshua marches at the head was crucial. When the army of Israel [a small contingent of about 3.000 men. Ed.] suffered a defeat at the town of Ai (Joshua 7,5-15) and there were about 36 Jewish casualties, Joshua is reported as falling on his face complaining to G'd. One of the reasons cited by the Talmud Sanhedrin 44 for this defeat was that Joshua had not been at the head of that army contingent. He had not considered the objective as deserving his personal attention. Moses here stresses that it is Joshua's task to walk in front of the army.

כאשר דבר ה, “as the Lord had said.” This is a reference to Deuteronomy 18,15, where G-d had promised: “that He would raise a prophet amongst them, just like Moses.” He had also told him to take Joshua the son of Nun who had been filled with the spirit of G-d (Numbers 27,18).”

ה' אלוקיך הוא העובר לפניך, “the Lord your G’d, He will cross (the Jordan) in front of you.” Moses speaks to the whole nation. He repeats this line almost verbatim at the end of his address in verse 6. Personally, I feel that this paragraph was addressed by Moses exclusively to the ears of Joshua. By emphasizing the words ה' אלוקיך, Moses wanted to tell Joshua something about the high level of his prophetic powers. Targum Yonathan ben Uzziel also understood it in this sense when he rendered the words as שכינתיה, i.e. implying that “the Lord your G’d is walking ahead of you.” The word הוא is a limitation, suggesting that whereas the Lord Himself had walked ahead of Moses, His Shechinah, a lesser attribute, would walk in front of Joshua. Proof of this is found in verse 3 where Moses described the attribute of Hashem as speaking to him. No mention is made there of a lesser attribute than that of Hashem. Moses referred to the time in Deut. 3,26 when G’d had told him that he would not cross the Jordan. It says there ויאמר ה' אלי אל תוסף לדבר, “the Lord said to me: ‘do not continue to speak, etc.’” The careful phrasing of every single word in the written Torah reveals the nuances of intimacy with which G’d related to people such as Moses or Joshua, etc. This reflects the statement of our sages that if we compare the face of Moses to the sun, that of Joshua is comparable to the moon (Baba Batra 75).

And Hashem will do to them as He did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, which He destroyed.

And Hashem will deliver them before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment that I have commanded you.

"And you shall do to them" — to shatter their pillars.

אשר צויתי אתכם, “which I have commanded you.” This is a reference to Deut. 20,16, where G-d had commanded the Jewish people not to allow a single soul of the Canaanites to remain alive, (unless they had left that land of their own accord).

Be strong and courageous; do not fear and do not be broken before them, for Hashem your God — it is He who leads before you; He will not forsake you and He will not abandon you.

לא ירפך means He will give you no looseness that you should be abandoned by Him (cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 4:31).

"Be strong and courageous" — since you know that Hashem goes with you wherever you go to fight.

לא ירפך, for at the hour of battle G’d will lend you additional mental fortitude ולא יעזבך, neither will He abandon you afterwards by decreasing the attention He pays to your affairs. As a result, none of the neighbouring nations will dare attack you.

For the Lord your God, He is the one who goes with you. We find the language of “going” in this portion in three aspects. For regarding Israel it is written, For the Lord your God, He is the one who goes with you, which implies that He holds your hand and guides you in the way you should go. But regarding Joshua it is written, The Lord, He is the one who goes before you, and regarding Moses it simply states, And Moses went without any support at all. This is similar to what was said about Noah, who was of little faith, Noah walked with God (Genesis 6:9), meaning he needed support to sustain him. Similarly, regarding Israel it is written, For the Lord your God, He is the one who goes with you, because they needed support to sustain them in the fear of God. But regarding Joshua it says, The Lord, He is the one who goes before you, and he follows after Him, because he did not need as much support as Israel did. Nevertheless, he did not reach the level of the Patriarchs, about whom it says, God before whom my fathers walked, implying that the Divine Presence was behind them. Moses reached this level, as it says, And Moses went, implying that he walked alone without any support at all. For one who walks after God has some support, but not like one who walks with God. For this reason, they said (Bava Batra 75a), “Moses’ face was like the face of the sun.” Just as the sun does not receive light from another celestial body, so too Moses shone with his own righteousness, while Joshua was like the moon that needs support from the sun’s light. But Israel was compared to the stars, whose light is minimal here and there, requiring much more support. Astronomers have said that what the stars orbit in 70 years, the sun and moon orbit in one day. Similarly, the perfect ones like Moses and Joshua acquire their world in one day, gaining in one day the perfection that an average person cannot acquire except in 70 years — the average time that God has allotted for every person to acquire his perfection. And sometimes “gray hair has sprinkled on him, and he knows it not.”

And Moses called Joshua and said to him before the eyes of all Israel: Be strong and courageous, for you shall enter with this people into the land that Hashem swore to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it.

כי אתה תבוא את העם הזה — Translate this as the Targum does: ארי אתה תעול עם עמא הדין, THOU SHALT GO WITH THIS PEOPLE. Moses, by the statement “Thou shall go with this people” (as one of them) said in effect to Joshua: The elders of the generation will be with thee: everything has to be done according to their opinion and their advice. The Holy One, blessed be He, however, said to Joshua, (v. 23) “For thou shalt bring (תביא) the children of Israel into the land which I swore unto them” — thou shalt bring them even against their will; everything depends on you alone: if necessary take a stick and beat them over the head: there can be but one leader for a generation, and not two leaders for a generation (Sanhedrin 8a).

"Be strong and courageous" — Moses said this also to Joshua, whom he had appointed over them. "For you shall come with this people" — the word אֶת here has the sense of עִם, "with."

כי אתה תבא, even though I myself have not merited this.

כי אתה תבא את העם הזה, "for you will come with this people, etc." Moses did not say תביא, "you will bring this people," seeing it was G'd who would actually bring the people by destroying their opposition. All Joshua was required to do was to march at the head of the people. While it is true that our sages in Sanhedrin 8 drew our attention to the end of our portion (verse 23) where G'd tells Joshua "you shall bring the children of Israel to the land I have sworn to them," the reason that G'd used the expression תביא was to correct the impression Moses' words had left when he said תבא. According to Rabbi Yochanan Moses meant "you and the elders." G'd objected by saying that there can only be one authoritative spokesman per generation, i.e; dabbar echad ledor. To make this point, G'd said to Joshua "you will bring," instead of "you will come." Now that we have that verse we can interpret the verse in which Moses said "you will come" as a reminder that G'd would do the actual "bringing."

לעיני כל ישראל, “in the sight of all of Israel;” this was necessary so that none of them would ever be able to say toJoshua that as long as Moses had been alive he had not had permission to assume the mantle of leadership. כי אתה תבא את העם הזה, “for you will come with this people;” seeing that here Moses was speaking with Joshua in the presence of the whole people, he honoured the Jewish people by not saying that Joshua would go ahead of them when crossing the Jordan, but that they would walk alongside them.

And Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, etc. But did all the people see the voices [a reference to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, where the people saw the voices]? What does it mean in the sight of all Israel? And what is meant by be strong and courageous? Does it depend on him? If God does not strengthen his hand, then what is Joshua that Moses would say to him be strong and courageous? Also, any thoughtful person should consider the differences between Moses’ words to Joshua and God’s words to Joshua. For Moses said, for you will go with the people, but God said, for you will bring them. And regarding what Rashi explained, that Moses meant “the elders of the generation will be with you, everything according to their opinion and counsel,” and therefore said for you will go with the people, but God said “for you will bring them against their will — take a stick and strike them on their heads” — one could question this: How did God contradict Moses’ words, since all of Moses’ statements were said prophetically and by God’s command? Moses said the people, while God said you will bring the children of Israel; Moses said to the land which the Lord swore to their fathers, attributing the inheritance of the land to their forefathers, while God said for you will bring the children of Israel to the land which I swore to them, not attributing it to their forefathers; Moses said and you shall cause them to inherit it, but God did not say this, rather He said and I will be with you. All these differences surely mean something. And I say that this matter appears truly in my eyes, similar to what the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses (Numbers 20:12): Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land. He began with children of Israel and concluded with assembly. We have already explained above in Parashat Chukat (20:12) that there were always two groups among Israel: the children of Israel, who are the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, believers the children of believers; but the mixed multitude, as well as the lesser ones among Israel, were called by the name assembly or people. Now, Moses’ sin in striking the rock was that he did not cause the observers to come to faith in God by learning a fortiori from the rock, as Rashi explained there, and as it says, Because you did not believe in Me — meaning, you did not cause them to believe in Me. If only believers had been present, there would have been no need to perform something before their eyes that would strengthen their faith. But because there was an assembly of converts who needed strengthening in faith, therefore God was strict and said, Because you did not believe in Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land. For if they had all been children of Israel, I would not have been concerned, but since there is also among them an assembly, children who are not steadfast in their faith and who always need actions that will strengthen faltering knees in faith, therefore you shall not bring the assembly into the land. For that assembly needs a man who has spirit within him, who will constantly perform miracles before their eyes that strengthen weak hands in faith. And similarly to this, Moses said to Joshua, Before the eyes of all Israel be strong and courageous for you will bring this people in. The phrase before the eyes of all Israel relates to what follows, meaning before the eyes of all Israel — where all includes the converts and the outcasts among the people — before all of them be strong and courageous. That is to say, do before their eyes things that strengthen faith, since you will bring this people in — for among the children of Israel there are also outcasts who are called people, and they are not strong in faith because they are always in evil. Therefore, you need to perform before their eyes acts of strengthening and reinforcement in faith, so that what happened to me will not happen to you. For because of them it was said to me, Therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land, since you did not sanctify the Lord before the eyes of the children of Israel. Therefore, I am warning you that before the eyes of all Israel you should be strong and courageous in matters that promote faith, and then you will bring this people into the land and what happened to me will not happen to you. And with this approach, all the mentioned changes are settled, because in Moses’s words to Joshua it says, For you shall come with this people, and this speaks of the most resistant ones among the people, for the reason we mentioned, because on their account he needed to warn him in the sight of all Israel: be strong and courageous. Therefore he said, For you shall come with this people, meaning that the elders of the generation are with you, all according to their knowledge and advice, because truly, a rebuke enters deeper into a wise man than a hundred blows into a fool (Proverbs 17:10). And the most resistant among the people do not accept authority at all, and it is not their way to bear the yoke and accept the words of their leaders. Therefore Moses said, For you shall come with this people, all according to their knowledge and advice, and he said, to the land which the Lord swore to their fathers, etc. Because on their own merit, they do not deserve to come to the land, but only because the Lord swore to their fathers, for the merit of their fathers and your merit will stand for them. Therefore it says, which the Lord swore to their fathers to give to them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. For your merit will also stand for them to inherit the land, but they themselves have no merit of their own. But the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Joshua simply “be strong and courageous” in Torah and commandments, and did not say before the eyes of the children of Israel because He was speaking about the righteous ones among Israel who do not need strengthening in faith, and the good ones accept the discipline of their leaders. Therefore He said for you will bring the children of Israel, because the righteous among them who are called children of Israel listen to the voice of their leaders even in matters that go against their own will, as something they are compelled to do. That is why it says you will bring [implying] against their will, because the good ones accept discipline and authority as mentioned. And He said to the land which I swore to them — He did not mention “to their fathers” because the righteous of Israel merit the land on their own merit and do not need the merit of their forefathers. And He said and I will be with you because the merit of Israel caused that I will be with you, for all the leaders of Israel only rise to greatness through the merit of Israel, as it is written And you, bring near to yourself Aaron your brother from among the children of Israel (Exodus 28:1). And some say that Moses taught him the way of political leadership, which needs to be according to their understanding and advice, for the reason explained in Parashat Pinchas (27:18) in the verse And you shall lay your hand upon him. And the proof for this is the end of the verse that says and you shall cause them to inherit it. But the Holy One, blessed be He, taught him the way of leadership in Torah and commandments, as it is said at the end of the verse and I will be with you. And in this matter, it is certainly not appropriate to say that everything should be according to their understanding, but rather “take a staff, etc.” to compel them to observe the Torah. Another explanation for “before the eyes of all Israel, be strong and courageous.” Since the eyes of all Israel are upon him [Joshua], and from him they will see and so they will do, therefore he especially needs to strengthen himself in Torah and fear of God before their eyes, following the principle of adorn yourself first (Bava Metzia 107b). For he is like a peg that everyone hangs upon. And this is the meaning of for you will come with the people — that is to say, the good people among Israel do not suspect the righteous as much as the lesser ones do, and for their sake you need to be especially careful before their eyes.

And Hashem — it is He who leads before you; His Word will be at your aid. He will not forsake you and He will not distance Himself from you. Do not fear and do not be broken.

וה׳ הוא ההולך לפניך, "as to the Lord, it is He Who will walk in front of you." In this instance Moses did not refer to the Lord as "your G'd" as he did on most other occasions. The reason is that G'd does not associate His name with individuals who are still alive. When speaking of the Jewish people as a whole it is quite in order to refer to G'd as "your G'd" such as in Exodus 20,2 "I am the Lord your G'd," the opening sentence of the Ten Commandments. When Moses refers to G'd by the pronoun הוא, saying "He walks before you," instead of saying "and G'd walks before you," he did so to preclude us from thinking that G'd plus some other force would destroy the Canaanites. Omission of the word הוא would have left us with והשם, "and G'd, etc." Moses did not want that anybody should misunderstand the meaning of the letter ו in this context. הוא יהיה עמך, "He will be with you." Moses again stresses the הוא, to emphasise that G'd's שכינה i.e. a very high level manifestation of His presence will walk in front of Joshua. הוא יהיה עמך, this manifestation of G'd's presence will remain at Joshua's side. Its effect will be that Joshua will not weaken in face of a variety of challenges.

And the Shekinah of the Word of the Lord will go before thee, and His Word will be thy helper; He will not forsake nor be far from thee; fear not, nor be dismayed.

And Moses wrote this Torah and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carry the Ark of the Covenant of Hashem, and to all the elders of Israel.

ויכתב משה ... ויתנה AND MOSES WROTE [THIS LAW] AND GAVE IT [UNTO THE PRIESTS, THE SONS OF LEVI] — When it was completely finished he gave it to the sons of his tribe.

AND MOSES WROTE THIS LAW — from the beginning of Bereshith to in the sight of all Israel. Even though it is written here, thou shalt read this law before all Israel, and according to the opinion of our Rabbis, it refers to this Book of Deuteronomy, at this point, he reverted and explained, And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this Law in a book, until they were finished. This includes the entire Torah. [Hence the expression this Law in the verse before us means the entire Torah, while in the following Verse 11, concerning the reading in the Assembly, the same expression refers only to the Book of Deuteronomy.]

"And he gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi" — for they are the teachers of the Torah. "And to all the elders of Israel" — that is, the Sanhedrin. Or the meaning is like the phrase "and Moses and the elders of Israel commanded."

את התורה הזאת, a reference to the final commandment in the Torah, Hakhel, for the king to read the Torah once in seven years before the entire Jewish people, minors and babies in arms included. ויתנה אל הכהנים בני לוי, from whose hands the King who would read it in public would receive it. The Talmud Sotah 41 describes that the Torah scroll passed from the deputy High Priest’s hands to those of the High Priest himself, who in turn handed it to the King. הנושאים את ארון, one of the three occasions when the priests rather than the ordinary Levites carried the Ark; at the time when the miracle of the waters being split would occur once more, the priests carrying the Ark were the catalyst. ואל כל זקני ישראל, from whom the priests had received the Torah scroll on that occasion. On the folio in Sotah 41 mentioned earlier, the details of this whole procedure are described.

אל הכהנים בני לוי הנושאים את הארון וגו, “to the priests the members of the tribe of Levi, who were charged with carrying the Holy Ark, etc.” Even though it was the Levites who carried the Holy Ark, and not the priests, (Numbers 7,8) as soon as Moses had died, the priests carried the Holy Ark when the Israelites were in the process of crossing the river Jordan. (Compare Talmud, tractate Sotah folio 33). They did so again when the people marched around Jericho and when they returned the Ark to its place in the days of King Solomon, when it was transferred from the Tabernacle. (Kings I 8,6) An alternate interpretation: seeing that it was the priests who assigned the transportation of the Ark to the Levites, as spelled out in Numbers 4,5, they could have been described as the prime movers. They were referred to there as נושאי הארון, “the carriers of the Ark.”

ויכתוב משה את התורה הזאת, “Moses wrote down this Torah.” This means that he wrote down the entire Torah commencing with Genesis up to the last words in Deut. 34,12: “before the eyes of all of Israel.” When we read in verse 11 of our chapter: “you will read this Torah,” this refers only to the Book of Deuteronomy (Sotah 41).

ויכתוב משה את התורה הזאת, “Moses wrote down this whole Torah, etc.” The whole Torah from Genesis to the last word in vezot hab’rachah. This is so, in spite of the fact that when the Torah reports that he read it all out באזניהם, as G’d had commanded him, “before their ears,” this suggests that they heard him report about his death and about his funeral, etc. [I do not know what verse the author refers to. I have not found a verse which states that Moses read out the entire Torah before the people. Verses 11-12, refer to hakhel, and about a location that G’d has chosen for that event, certainly not to the wilderness of Moav. According to verse 24 the priests placed this Torah scroll into the Holy Ark as soon as Moses had completed writing it. Ed.]

And Moses commanded them, saying: At the end of seven years, at the time of the year of release, during the Festival of Booths —

מקץ שבע שנים AT THE END OF EVERY SEVEN YEARS [AT THE APPOINTED SEASON OF THE SHEMITTAH YEAR] — This means in the first year of the new Shemittah-period — in the eighth year (Sotah 41a). But why does Scripture call it the “Shemittah-year”, which name usually implies the seventh year? Because the law of the “seventh year” still applies to it, viz., in connection with the harvest of the seventh year’s produce that actually goes forth into (takes place in) the year following the seventh year (the eighth year) (Rosh Hashanah 12b; cf. Rashi on Exodus 34:21).

"At the end of seven years" — at the beginning of the year.

מקץ שבע שנים, “at the end of (every) seven years;” at the beginning of the eight’s year. [The sh’mittah year. Ed.] This was in order to enable the idle farmers to devote the whole year to the study of the Torah. בבא כל ישראל, “when the whole Jewish nation would come” (on the pilgrimage for Sukkot) במועד שנת השמטה, “on the feast of Sukkot;” seeing that this year is the first year in the new sh’mittah cycle which comprises seven years, why does the Torah refer to that year as שנת השמטה, the year of the sh’mittah? The reason is that many of the restrictions that applied during the previous year were still in force, such as the residue of the “harvest” of the previous year. (Compare Talmud, tractate Rosh Hashanah folio 12. It is stated there that any crop which had completed one third of its growth before the end of the sh’mittah year was still considered as subject to the regulations applicable during that year.)

מקץ שבע שנים במועד שנת השמטה בחג הסוכות, “at the end of seven years, at the time of the Sabbatical year, on the festival of Tabernacles;” this is a reference to the commandment known as הקהל, “assembly.” The word מקץ means “at the end.” Wherever we encounter the expression מקץ it means “at the end.” [I suppose the reason that our author tells us this is that the preposition” מ in front of the word קץ might have suggested a different meaning. Ed.] The first time we encounter the word in Genesis 6,13 it also means “end.” In our instance, the Torah refers to the end of the Shemittah year (the year concluded 2 weeks before the festival of Tabernacles). In other words, “after that year has passed completely.” In actual fact the commandment is observed during the eighth year during the intermediate days of the Sukkot festival. When we have a different verse in which the word מקץ is also used in connection with the year when the Shemittah is being observed, (Deut. 15,1), the meaning is that the duty to relinquish overdue loans falls due on the last day of that year by sunset (Erchin 28). If the Torah there uses the term בשנת השמטה, it means: “while the Shemittah year is still in force.” Although in both instances the word מקץ means “at the end” [as opposed to Ibn Ezra. Ed.], here it means “after the end,” whereas in Deut. 15,1 it means “just before the end.” If you will analyse the mystical dimension of the commandment of הקהל, you will find that just as the Shemittah year itself is an allusion to the 7th millennium during which our universe will revert to chaos, so the commandment of הקהל, which commences after completion of the seventh year alludes to the word לעשות in Genesis 2,4 which follows the report of the conclusion of the seven days of creation after the Torah had introduced the concept of the Sabbath. We also find in Psalms 92, the hymn dedicated by David to the Sabbath, that he speaks about the righteous who will flourish like the palm tree. (presumably after the seventh millennium) I have already dealt with the meaning of that psalm in connection with Genesis 2,2. The mystical dimension of the commandment of hakhel is that all people who exist at that time are called to appear before the Lord, the King of the universe. This is why this commandment had to be performed by the king. He represented the King in the celestial spheres. He had to read from the Torah (not the High Priest). This is reflected in the statement of the scholars of the Kabbalah who posit that before proceeding with the creation of the universe the Lord consulted His blueprint, i.e. the Torah. Another reason for reading from the Torah on that occasion was to remind the people that without Torah the universe cannot endure, just as it could not have been created without it. The reason the site for the fulfillment of the commandment is described as במקום אשר יבחר, “the place which the Lord will choose,” is that the Temple-site was the place whence the universe started being created. This is the meaning of Psalms 50,2: “for from Zion, perfect in beauty, G’d appeared.” As the sages say in Yuma 54: “the world was perfected starting with Zion.”

when all Israel comes to appear before Hashem your God in the place that He will choose, you shall read this Torah before all Israel, and let them hear it.

תקרא את התורה הזאת [WHEN ALL ISRAEL IS COME TO APPEAR BEFORE THE LORD …] THOU SHALT READ THIS LAW [BEFORE ALL ISRAEL] — The king read from the beginning of the section “These are the words” (Deuteronomy 1:1), — as is set forth in Treatise Sotah 41a — upon a wooden platform that was erected in the forecourt.

תקרא את התורה הזאת, “you shall read out publicly this Torah;” this commandment was addressed to Joshua. This is why he is also referred to as the king.

“You shall read this Torah opposite [neged] all of Israel in their ears.” Behold, anyone who reads to their fellow in their ears does not stand opposite them, but rather at their side. Perhaps from here our Rabbis learned (Sotah 41) that at the conclusion of the first holiday of the festival [Sukkot], they would make a wooden platform for the king in the Temple courtyard, etc., and he would read from the beginning of These are the words [of Deuteronomy], etc. And from where did they learn to say that he begins from These are the words, for it would have been more appropriate to say that he begins from Moses began to explain this Torah (Deuteronomy 1:5). Rather, they learned this from what is written opposite [neged, which also means opposing] all of Israel, because the entire verse of These are the words was challenging for all of Israel, as it hinted at all the places where they angered the Holy One, blessed be He, [but was said in hints] out of respect for Israel. And something said in a hint is like whispering in someone’s ear, where the listeners do not understand anything except for the one who feels in themselves that they sinned in that matter, who understands that hint. And regarding this it says that he should read this Torah which is opposite all of Israel in their ears, meaning the Torah that challenges Israel and is said in their ears as a hint. And there it says, These are the words which Moses spoke to all of Israel. Therefore it says here opposite all of Israel. For at this assembly, it is impossible that all of Israel from across the land would be there, but rather it speaks of Moses’s speech which was in the presence of all of Israel. From here we learn about all words of rebuke concerning sin, that the rebuker needs to speak with a hint about the sin that some particular person has committed, in a way that the matter enters only into his ears, and others will not understand it, out of respect for his honor, as Moses did.

Assemble the people — the men, the women, and the children, and your stranger who is in your cities — so that they may hear and so that they may learn and fear before Hashem your God, and take care to perform all the words of this Torah.

האנשים [ASSEMBLE THE PEOPLE,] MEN [WOMEN, AND LITTLE ONES] — the men, in order to learn, והנשים THE WOMEN, in order to listen to the words of the Law, והטף AND THE LITTLE ONES — Why did they come? For no other purpose than that a reward should be given to those who bring them (Chagigah 3a).

THAT THEY MAY HEAR, AND THAT THEY MAY LEARN — that is, the men and the women [mentioned in the first part of the verse], for the women, too, heard and learned to fear the Eternal.

"So that they may learn" — throughout the entire year, and likewise on the Sabbath. "And your stranger" — perhaps he will convert. And when they hear, those who are not wise will ask and learn, as will the children who are young.

למען ישמעו, in order that the wise men in the congregation would understand. ולמען ילמדו, and in order that the less intelligent members of the people would learn it from them. ויראו את ה' אלוקיכם, once they have understood the greatness of Torah they will automatically revere and be in awe of its author, G’d, whose supreme intelligence they will admire.

הקהל את העם,..למען ישמעו ולמען ילמדו, "assemble the people…in order that they hearken and in order that they learn, etc." Why did Moses have to write the word למען, "in order that," twice? Would it not have been simpler to write למען ישמעו וילמדו? Perhaps the answer is contained in the very instructions to Moses having been to "assemble the people, the men, the women and the children" in order to read the Torah before them, something women are not obligated to hear. In Deut 11,19 the Torah's instructions to teach it had been reserved for בניכם, your male children, as opposed to your daughters (compare Kidushin 29). This may have been the reason the Torah separated the "hearing" from the "learning" in our verse and wrote the word למען twice. The males, including the male children, were to study the Torah; the women and their daughters were to listen to the Torah. The Torah first speaks about למען ישמעו, "in order that they hearken" as it refers to the negative commandments which apply equally to men and women. The words למען ילמדו, "in order that they learn," refer to the positive commandments many of which women are not obligated to perform if they must be performed only at certain times. Had the Torah lumped both statements together we would have concluded that negative and positive commandments both carry the same penalties. I have seen a statement by our sages in Chagigah 3 "the women were to come to listen whereas the men were to attend in order to study."

הקהל את העם, “assemble the nation;” they are all available not having chores to attend to, seeing that they are not at home but in Jerusalem (or wherever the Tabernacle stood prior to Jerusalem having been captured by David about 400 years later).

Gather the people, the men, and the women, and the children. The Sages said (Chagigah 3): Men came to learn, women to hear, but why did the children come? To give reward to those who brought them. This implies that it is referring to children who have not yet reached the age of education, otherwise they would not need the reason “to give reward, etc.” This is a great difficulty, for it is similar to commanding people to carry a burden of wood and stones to the house of God in order to give reward to those who carry them. It appears that the main purpose of this gathering [Hakhel] was for repentance. As our Sages said (Vayikra Rabbah 37) that the first day of the festival is called “the first for the accounting of sins.” Therefore, they need to immediately prepare for repentance, and this preparation is the Hakhel, where the king gathers the people and reads to them from “These are the words” [Deuteronomy], for most of this book contains words of rebuke concerning sin and matters of admonition. It is already known that the gathering [Hakhel] has great importance for repentance, because by being gathered together, they become one unit and join together as one to return to God, so that there will be many who repent. This is because specifically during the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Holy One, blessed be He, accepts the repentance of an individual, but during the rest of the year, the Holy One, blessed be He, only accepts the repentance of the many (Rosh Hashanah 18a). This is what our Sages interpreted regarding And you shall take for yourselves on the first day — Is it really the first? Isn’t it the 15th? Rather, it is the first for the accounting of sins, etc. And why did Scripture mention this matter specifically in the verse speaking about taking the four species, and not in the verse speaking about dwelling in the sukkah?It is because in the taking of the four species, all four groups of Israel are alluded to, that they should be one unit, as explained above in Parashat Emor (23:40). And the verse needed to give a good reason and understanding as to why specifically on this day they were commanded to perform this mitzvah, which indicates that all of Israel should be one unit so that they may atone for one another. The reason is that from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur, the Holy One, blessed be He, accepts even the repentance of an individual, so they do not yet need to be one unit in order for there to be many who repent. And from Yom Kippur until Sukkot, they do not commit sins because each one is occupied with the mitzvot of sukkah and lulav, and “one mitzvah leads to another mitzvah.” Therefore, presumably, no iniquity will befall the righteous until the first day of Sukkot, which is the first for the accounting of sins. Thus, they need to prepare for repentance, and this preparation is that they should all be one unit, like these four species. Therefore it says, And you shall take for yourselves on the first day, giving a reason why I commanded you to take these four species as a bundle specifically on this day — because it is the first day for the accounting of sins. Therefore, you need to prepare for the repentance of the entire year, and this preparation is when you will be one unit like these four species. Then God will accept your repentance, for Behold, God is mighty and does not despise. This is also the reason for this gathering [Hakhel]: In addition to taking the four species on the first day of the festival, God commanded to make another similar impression at the end of seven years, because the Sabbatical year also causes gathering and peace through not sowing or growing crops, and the poor of your people shall eat because one is not permitted to retain the produce of the seventh year as an owner. This is undoubtedly a cause of peace, for all disputes stem from the attitude of “what’s mine is mine” — one says “it’s all mine” — but this is not so prevalent in the seventh year. For in active matters [doing positive actions] not everyone is equal, but in passive matters [refraining from action] all are equal, and this is truly the essence of peace. Similarly, during the Festival of Sukkot, when each person leaves their permanent dwelling for a temporary one and sits under the sukkah of their peace, on the first day of the intermediate days [Chol HaMoed], the king was commanded to make an impression of peace. This is the purpose of the Hakhel gathering, as all this is preparation for repentance, and he reads to them from These are the words with words of rebuke and admonishment. This is the meaning of “men come to learn, etc., but why do infants come? To give reward to those who bring them.” For when Israel repents, they seek mercy from Him, blessed be He, for forgiveness of sin, and they say, “If not for our sake, then do it for the sake of the weaned infants who have not transgressed,” as is found in the formula of “Our Father, our King, have compassion on us and on our children and infants.” Similarly, we say, “Act for the sake of those weaned from milk, etc.” This is the reward given to those who bring the infants — that they can say before Him, blessed be He, “Act for the sake of these infants who are brought to the house of the Lord,” as it is stated in Joel, Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing infants, etc. (Joel 2:16). According to its simple meaning, it speaks about children who have already reached the age of education, as it says so that they will hear — this refers to the women, and so that they will learn — this refers to the men, and their children who do not know will hear and learn — this refers to children who have reached the age of education.

And their children, who do not yet know, shall hear and shall learn to fear Hashem your God all the days that you live on the land to which you are crossing the Jordan there to possess it.

AND THAT THEIR CHILDREN, WHO HAVE NOT KNOWN, MAY HEAR, AND LEARN TO FEAR. This refers to the little children [mentioned in the preceding verse], for they will hear and inquire, and the fathers will accustom them [to the words of the Law] and educate them. For the little children [mentioned here] are not those who suckle at the breasts, but rather the young in years who are nearly old enough to be educated, this being the sense of the expression and learn to fear — in the future [when they are grown up]. But above [when speaking of the men and the women] he stated, that they may learn, and fear [now, since they are adults]. However, our Rabbis have said, “The men came to learn, and the women to listen. And the little children — why did they come? In order to reward those who bring them.”

ובניהם אשר לא ידעו, seeing that due to their tender age they are unable to formulate their questions if they have any. ישמעו, either simply that their ears will hear sounds, or, if they are a little older, that they will hear words. ולמדו, they will ask adults and learn by listening intently to the answers they receive from people who do understand.

ובניהם אשר לא ידעו, "and their children, who do not know, etc." This division is in line with mention of "and the children" in verse 12 as part of the מצוה of הקהל. Moses says that although he is aware that the children are too young to understand what they would hear at that assembly, they are not too young to learn to fear G'd, i.e. one must train them in יראת השם from an early age. This is the reason why Moses changed the sequence in which he described this process. Whereas in verse 12 he had said ילמדו ויראו they would "learn and (as a result) fear," in this verse he says "they will learn to fear." Being present at such an experience as הקהל is inspirational even for young children and inspires fear of G'd. Moses adds the comment כל הימים, "all the days," to remind us that when fear of G'd is instilled in children at an early age it will last them all their lives. Our sages (Chagigah 3) ask why the women had to drag their children along for this assembly, and they answer "in order to receive credit for complying with the instruction." Presumably they referred to those children who could not even appreciate that their elders were listening to the Torah, i.e. the babies in arms. They must have understood that Moses' reason for bringing them applied only to children who were already somewhat older.

And their children who did not know, etc. If this verse is speaking about young children who have reached the age of education, then it makes sense when it says “they will hear and learn to fear the Lord,” because they still do not know anything about the fear of the Lord. But regarding adults, it says “so that they may hear and so that they may learn and fear the Lord,” because they only need to hear and learn the commandments, but regarding fear, they will naturally fear the Lord on their own, as they are already accustomed to fearing the Lord all day long. However, if this verse is speaking about future generations, it seems appropriate to interpret this in the way it is stated in Parashat Ekev And now, Israel, what does the Lord ask of you but to fear, etc. (Deuteronomy 10:12). Because it is written afterward, not with your children who did not know and who did not see the discipline of the Lord your God, etc. continuing until for your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord. For he wanted to explain with this what was written above, And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear. Is fear such a small matter? To this he said: If I were speaking with your children who did not see the discipline of the Lord and were not rooted in the fear of the Lord, certainly I would be asking of them something very great. However, I am speaking with you, for your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord which God performed so that people would fear Him, as it says so that His fear may be before you, etc. (Exodus 20:17). And for you, I am certainly asking for something small, because even though fear is something of great value, nevertheless for you it is easy to fulfill, because you are already rooted in fear. This is what is meant by And now, Israel. With the word now, he concluded all his words, saying that now, in this generation, it is a small matter, and what does the Lord ask of you now but to fear. And this is what it says here about that generation: so that they may hear and so that they may learn and fear the Lord, because regarding fear, they do not need so much encouragement, and they will fear the Lord on their own. And their children who did not know is exactly similar to the statement not with your children who did not know, etc. And with this, he meant that your children who did not know the discipline of the Lord and did not see His greatness need encouragement and instruction about fear. And this is what it says: they will hear and learn to fear the Lord, because for them, fear is a very great matter.

ובניהם אשר לא ידעו ישמעו ולמדו ליראה, “and their children who do not know of this will learn and be in awe, etc.;” when they will hear about it and ask their parents who will instruct them in all aspects of Judaism and Jewish history. The word טף, frequently used to describes babies, in this case speaks of children that are already older and that can be taught. In the previous verse the Torah wrote:ילמדו ויראו, ”they will learn and be in awe,” instead of “they will learn to be in awe.” Our sages do not understand the word טף here as referring to children of school-going age, but to infants, and they explain that the reasons that the mothers were to bring them along was to receive a reward for their efforts.

And Hashem said to Moses: Behold, your days have drawn near to die. Call Joshua and stand ready at the Tent of Meeting, and I will commission him. And Moses and Joshua went and stood ready at the Tent of Meeting.

ואצונו means, THAT I MAY EXHORT HIM.

THAT I MAY GIVE HIM [Joshua] A CHARGE. “This means that I may exhort him.” This is Rashi’s language. But there is no need for this, because G-d’s statement [to Joshua] for thou shalt bring [the children of Israel into the Land] is a command, and, if he were to be indolent and not do so, he would be liable to the death-penalty. It is possible that the meaning of that I may give him a charge is that I will appoint him a prince and commander over Israel, and thou shalt give him a charge in their sight.

"Your days are drawing near to die" — for every person has appointed times allotted to him, and I have already explained this. "And Moses went" — from the camp of Israel, for that is where he had been, and he came to the camp of the Shekhinah.

הן קרבו ימיך למות, "Behold, your days are drawing near to die, etc." The reason for the word הן here is to justify Moses' having said that he had reached his 120th birthday on that day. Our sages in Rosh Hashanah 11 mention that by the word היום in verse 2 Moses meant that he reached the age allotted to him. As a result, G'd's word came to him saying: הן, "you are correct," the time has come for you to die. The reason G'd said קרבו ימיך (pl.) instead of saying קרב יומך, "your day has arrived (sing.)" may be understood in the same vein as Genesis 47,29 where we have explained this wording. Another intention of the Torah for using the expression הן קרבו, may be as follows: "The days which are yours have approached; these days are the ones on which parts of your soul are approaching." This is the mystical dimension of Psalms 104,29: תוסף רוחם יגועון, "when You take away their breath they will perish." In my commentary of the Ari Zal on this verse on page 391 of my commentary on Jacob's impending death, I have explained all this in detail. The approach of the different parts of the soul making up the composite of one's soul, spell the imminence of physical death. The verse in Psalms then has to be translated as: "when all the parts of their spirit come together their bodies will die." והתיצבו באהל מועד, "and stand both of you in the Tent of Meeting, etc." This is the first instance where G'd commands Joshua to display a symbol of his new authority in Moses' presence. G'd did this by giving both Moses and Joshua simultaneous instructions using the plural התיצבו. We have explained this word as meaning "being appointed" in connection with Deut. 29,12. The word has a similar meaning in Samuel I 13,14 where Samuel tells King Saul ויצוהו ה׳ לנגיד על עמו, that in His heart G'd had already appointed someone else as leader of His people. This was some time before G'd ordered Samuel to anoint one of Yishai's sons as king. G'd's words to Joshua "for you will bring the children of Israel to the land, etc." (verse 22) are interpreted in Sanhedrin 8 as another such appointment of Joshua to a position of authority.

הן קרבו ימיך למות, “here your days to die are drawing near.” According to the plain meaning of the text this verse teaches that the period man has to live has been predetermined, every single human being having a time allocated to him at birth. G’d sees to it that every person lives out the time thus allocated to him at birth. This would correspond to Exodus 23,26: “I will ensure that you complete the number of your days (years).” The expression קריבה, “approach,” mentioned here is one which is specifically reserved for the approach of death of righteous people as we know already from Genesis 47,29 when the Torah speaks about the approaching death of Israel our patriarch. Similarly, Kings I 2,1: “the time for David to die approached.” These verses prove that such times had been determined by G’d already at birth, and that G’d’s השגחה, “benevolent supervision of history,” ensures that the individuals in question get to live out their allotted time, that their lives are not cut short by acts of violence or natural disasters. Alternatively, G’d lengthens the allotted life span of these people as a reward for merits which they have accumulated during their lives. At the same time, their allotted life span may be reduced due to demerits they have become guilty of. The important thing is that no one dies unless G’d has so determined. According to our information that G’d has empowered planetary forces, stars and their constellations, to exercise their influence on the lives of people on terrestrial earth, and the orbits of these forces are of constructive or destructive influence on these lives so that their lives appear to depend on mazal,” i.e. such influences (Targum Kohelet 9,2), we find that our sages did not deny the impact of such mazal; we therefore seem to be faced with a dilemma here. Our sages said specifically that phenomena such as economic success, (duration of) life on earth itself, as well as the ability to have children, do not depend on one’s merit but on one’s mazal (Moed Katan 28). If that is so, where is there room for G’d’s השגחה in the matter? Further details of our sages’ view is found in their statement that though both Rabbah and Rav Chisdah were righteous individuals (seeing that when they prayed for rain it materialised), one lived only to the age of 40 whereas the other lived to the age of 92. Rabbah’s 40 years on earth were filled with painful experiences. Rav Chisdah was blessed to marry off 60 children, whereas Rabbah buried 60 family members. The latter could not always afford to eat even bread made from barley, whereas the former fed his dogs with white bread. These statements are proof positive that the sages acknowledged the influence of mazal in our lives, i.e. that there is substance to the discipline we call astrology. It is true that these planetary phenomena have been equipped with initial power to influence our fates. However, they are not supreme. Their influence need not be final. They are subservient to the Lord Almighty, to the attribute Hashem. If people born under adverse mazal turn to the supreme G’d, to Hashem, and appeal to Him to neutralize their apparently negative mazal, G’d will respond to such prayer if it is warranted. In fact, we may go further and posit that G’d instituted mazal partly in order to encourage us to pray to Him to change adverse mazal in His benevolent way. We know that G’d can lengthen our lives from the very verse in Exodus 23,26: “I will make full the number of your days,” i.e. “I will add to them if the situation warrants.” King Chizkiyah had 15 years added to his life expectancy although the prophet Isaiah had been sent to him to prepare his last will and testament as he was not going to recover from his sickness. G’d responded to his prayer and revoked the decree he had been subject to (Isaiah 38,5). We also know that when the occasion warrants it G’d reduces the number of years allocated to a person at birth, from Achazyah King of Israel son of Achav. The reason he had his life span shortened was that when he fell ill, instead of turning to G’d or to an accredited prophet, he turned to idols to inquire about his chances of a recovery (compare Kings II 1,16). He was told clearly that he would die now because he had turned to Baal Zevuv, the god of Akron, ignoring the presence of accredited prophets in Israel. The verse we just quoted makes it plain that Achazya’s death at that time was due to his having turned to idols at that time. Had death already have been decreed upon him previously, what point was there in the prophet telling him about it now? The above examples teach us that G’d reserves the right to lengthen or shorten the life span decreed for man at birth. G’d remains a free agent; this is why He is known as שדי. The word, derived from שדד, means that He is in charge of the laws of nature, changing them at will if He so desires. (Compare author’s comments on Genesis 17,1) These adjustments in life span, etc., occur with a view to reward and punishment. It follows that the statement that “life (expectancy), children (ability to have them), and economic success, do not depend on merit but on mazal,” which we quoted from Moed Katan, means that the power of prayer is so great that it can override predetermined fates set according to mazal. The astrologers themselves admit that the general rules are set by G’d, whereas the planetary systems only supplement details pertaining to the lives of the subjects under their influence. Clearly, He who sets the general rules is able to set aside mere details, i.e. the subordinate powers assigned to the horoscopes. It follows that it is within man’s power to create the conditions for setting aside such details if his actions merit it and he appeals to the Lord to use His powers on his behalf. On occasion, G’d fulfills man’s desire without waiting for man to appeal to Him. What the statement in Moed Katan, regarding the three cardinal parts of man’s fate does mean is that in these matters G’d does not interfere with the predetermined fates of these individuals unless asked, unless appealed to. This is the meaning of Psalms 145,19 ואת שועתם ישמע ויושיעים, “and their cry He hears and He delivers them.” On the other hand, the same psalmist says in the first half of this verse: “He does the will of those who fear Him;” this refers to the unspoken requests by these people. We have proof positive from the Torah and the Books of Prophets that the three critical values of man, 1) children, 2) life, and 3) economic success, פרנסה, are all subject to prayer. Rachel, who had been unable to conceive and had prayed was granted children (Genesis 30,22): “G’d listened to her and opened her womb.” King Chizkiyah provided proof for the fact that G’d changes even decrees of death announced by one of His prophets at His command. Elijah and Elisha both experienced that the supply of food was dramatically increased through their prayerful intervention in the fates of starving individuals (Kings I 17,13-15 and Kings II 5,42-44). These individuals were saved from famine, although clearly that had been their assigned fate. This is the reason why our sages singled out these three aspects of life which are normally dependent on mazal to inform us that even these matters are subject to change by means of prayer by the intended victims. A Midrashic approach (based on Devarim Rabbah 9,4). The words: “here the days of your death are approaching,” reflect a conversation between Moses and G’d. Moses had said to G’d: ”I have praised You using the word הן (Deut. 10,14), and You are using the same word introducing the decree that I am to die.” We may understand this by means of a parable. A king had an outstanding minister, one of whom he was exceedingly fond. One day this minister came across a sword, which was exceptionally beautiful, the like of which he had never seen. He immediately determined that this sword was appropriate for his employer, the king. What did he do? He bought it and presented it to the king as a gift. The king said: “may they cut off his head with it.” This is what Moses had in mind when he said to G’d: “are You going to use my gift to turn it against me?” Another thought which is contained in the words הן קרבו ימיך למות, is that G’d meant: “the time has come for your sun to set and for the moon to shine.” This was a reference to the statement of our sages we have already quoted in which the face of Moses was compared to that of the sun whereas that of Joshua, his successor, was compared to that of the moon. When G’d said to Moses: “here you are going to lie with your ancestors, and this nation will arise and serve idols, etc.,” (verse 16 in our chapter), He meant that “your power, that of the exceptional level of prophecy granted to you, will continue to illuminate the moon (inspire Joshua) although you are already in your grave, just as the sun even after it has set shines upon the surface of the moon to enable it to reflect its light.” The word וקם may be read together with the words הנך שוכב עם אבותיך וקם, “although you are lying with your fathers it will rise.” Just as the sun supplies light to the moon even after it has set, you Moses will inspire Joshua even after you have joined your fathers. This is also the meaning of the word ואצונו, i.e. “I will impress My power on the moon.” וילך משה ויהושע, “Moses and Joshua went; from the camp of Israel to the camp of the Shechinah.

Behold, your days approach to die. In Rabbati (15) it concludes: Moses said to the Holy One, blessed be He, “With Behold [hen] I praised You, as it says (Deuteronomy 10:14), Behold [hen], to the Lord your God belong the heavens, etc. And with Behold [hen] You are imposing death upon me.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Remember what you said, And behold [hen], they will not believe me (Exodus 4:1).” This midrash requires explanation, for was death imposed upon him because he said, And behold, they will not believe me? It seems to me that indeed it is true that his statement they will not believe me caused a death penalty to be decreed upon him. Since Moses testified about Israel that they are children in whom there is no faithfulness, he should have spoken to the rock in order to strengthen weak hands in faith. For if Moses had not said they will not believe me, I would say that in Moses’ eyes they were presumed to be believers, and since they were strong in faith, it makes no difference whether he speaks to the rock or strikes it. The main reason for and you shall speak to the rock was so that they would learn a fortiori from the rock, etc., as it is said because you did not believe/cause belief in Me (Numbers 20:12). It does not say “you did not believe” but rather “you did not cause belief,” in the causative form that extends to others — that you did not cause Israel to believe in Me through the rock, so that they would learn an a fortiori argument from it. If Moses had presumed them to be believers, his guilt would not have been so great as to deserve the penalty of death. But since he said they will not believe me, he presumed them to be unbelievers who needed strengthening in faith. Because of this, his guilt was greatly magnified for not speaking to the rock to strengthen faltering knees in faith. Therefore, it says behold, your days approach to die. That same behold [hen] that you said, behold [hen], they will not believe me, caused your days to approach death. Another explanation: According to what our Sages said (Shabbat 97a), “One who suspects the innocent is punished bodily [begufo].” From where do we learn this? From Moses, who said, But they will not believe me, etc. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses, “You yourself will ultimately not believe, as it is said, Because you did not believe in Me.” Although the simple interpretation is that he was punished with leprosy, nevertheless, it seems more correct to me to explain that “one who suspects the innocent is punished begufo” means that he will be afflicted in the body [of the matter], with the same suspicion that he cast upon others. He himself will be suspected of the same thing, for “one who invalidates others does so with his own flaw” (Kiddushin 70a). This is precisely what it means to be “punished begufo.” The proof is from Moses, who said, But they will not believe me, and in the end he was punished with the same suspicion, as it is said, Because you did not believe in Me. According to this interpretation, you did not believe refers to Moses. Thus, behold, your time [to die] has drawn near, because since he said, But they will not believe me, he brought harm upon himself by stumbling, as it is said, Because you did not believe in Me. Because of this, death was decreed upon him, and this is what is meant by Behold, your days to die have drawn near.

ואצונו, “and I shall instruct him.” Rashi under-stands the word as “I will urge him to act promptly.” Nachmanides writes that there is no need to change the meaning of the word from what it means ordinarily, seeing that when G’d told Joshua ”you will bring,“ this is by itself a commandment. (Numbers 27,19) If Joshua had been deliberately slow in carrying out that command he would have been guilty of a capital offence. It is possible that the word ואצונו means: “I will inaugurate him as the leader of the Jewish nation.”

הן קרבו ימיך למות, “the time is approaching when you must die;” Moses had said to G–d that he had employed the word הן when praising Him, as is recorded in Deut. 10,14: הן לה' אלוקיך השמים ושמי השמים הארץ וכל אשר בם, “Mark, the heavens to their uppermost reaches belong to the Lord your G–d, the earth and all that is in it.” Why do You decree death upon me by using the same introductory word? G–d reminded Moses that he had used the same word also when challenging G–d’s judgment in Exodus 6,12 when he complained that since had commenced his mission the suffering of his people had become more severe. He felt that he was not being dealt with fairly. G–d explained to him that he erred and that what He had decreed was for his own good. How so? We read in Proverbs 11,31: הן בארץ ישלם אף כי רשע וחוטא, ‘”if the righteous will be recompensed on earth, how much more so the wicked and the sinner!” G–d assured Moses that in the world to come he would occupy a throne made of precious stones and would be seated on a loftier platform than 550000 righteous people. An alternate interpretation of the word הן, there is no other word in the Hebrew language which is a match for the word הן. What is meant by this? The word אחד 1 when matched with the word תשעה, 9 makes ten. The word שנים 2 when matched with the word שמונה, 8, makes ten. The word (number) 5, as well as the word 50 have no partners. Moses, i.e. his name, has no partners, as the Torah testifies that no other human being emerged who could match Moses. (Midrash Devarim Rabbah 9,6 as well as 11,9) Therefore, Moses being unique had to be matched with G–d Who is unique.

And Hashem appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the entrance of the Tent.

AND THE ETERNAL APPEARED IN THE TENT IN A PILLAR OF CLOUD. The purport thereof is that the pillar of cloud was over the entrance [of the Tent] and G-d appeared in the Tent — this being the Glory, according to Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra. In my opinion, this verse is like And the Eternal came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Tent; and, behold, the Glory of the Eternal appeared in the cloud. And the meaning [of the verse here] is that He wanted to speak with Moses so that Joshua would hear, and He would also charge Joshua there. Now, to Moses it was said, And there I will meet with thee, and I will speak with thee from above the ark-cover but Joshua was not of that exalted status [in prophecy] and he was forbidden to enter the Tent altogether. Thus the phrase, and the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the Tent reverts to explain that the cloud, in which was the Glory, was above the door of the Tent covering it, and accordingly He was in the Tent [as the verse states, And the Eternal appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud].

"And Hashem appeared in the Tent" — the well-known one. The meaning is that the pillar of cloud stood at the entrance and Hashem appeared in the Tent — this is the Glory. And as for "and He commanded him" — this is the commanding of Joshua son of Nun by divine mandate; therefore it says "whom I swore to them." After this comes the passage beginning "Behold, you are about to lie with your fathers" — there is no strict chronological order in the Torah. Similarly, the passage "And when Moses finished writing" belongs together with "And Moses wrote this Torah."

וירא ה' באהל בעמוד הענן, “The Lord appeared in the Tent within the pillar of cloud.” The attribute כבוד was contained within the pillar of cloud, containing within it the essence of the attribute of Mercy.

ויעמוד עמוד הענן על פתח האהל, “the pillar of cloud stood by the entrance to the Tent.” Nachmanides writes that the reason for this was that G’d wanted to speak to Moses in such a way that Joshua would be able to hear the voice of G’d. G’d wanted Joshua to hear, but He also wanted him to know that he had not attained the stature of Moses. Only Moses had ever been told (Exodus 25,22) ונועדתי לך שם ואדבר אתך מעל הכפורת, “I will set My meetings with you there, and I will speak with you from above the lid of the Holy Ark.” Joshua did not have permission to enter the Tabernacle. This is why the Torah writes that on this occasion, in order for Joshua to hear G’d’s voice, the pillar of cloud, signifying the cover within which G’d’s glory was situated, moved from the inner Sanctum where the Holy Ark was located, to the eastern entrance of the Tabernacle.

And Hashem said to Moses: Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers, and this people will arise and go astray after the idols of the nations of the land among whom they will be, and they will forsake My fear and will violate My covenant that I made with them.

נכר הארץ [THIS PEOPLE WILL … GO ASTRAY AFTER THE GODS OF] נכר הארץ — i.e., [after the gods of] the peoples of the land (Onkelos).

THE GODS OF ‘NEICHAR’ OF THE LAND — “the gods of the [foreign] peoples of the Land.” This is Rashi’s language. But it is not correct. Rather, it means “the gods that are foreign to this Land,” for the Glorious Name is called the G-d of the Land, similar to what is stated, because they know not the manner of the G-d of the Land. Similarly, And they spoke of the G-d of Jerusalem, as concerning the gods of the peoples of the earth and it is further written, They shall not dwell in the Eternal’s Land. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra mentioned this [here], and I have already explained it. WHITHER HE GOETH TO BE ‘B’KIRBO’ (AMONG THEM). This means “whither he [the foreign god] goes to be among His people and His servants.” Or b’kirbo may mean “in the midst of the Land,” as in the expressions: and the land was not able to bear them; the land burnt up, in accordance with the words of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra.

"And this people will rise up" — it cannot be connected syntactically to what precedes it, for what sense would there be in "this people" and "go astray"? "And the meaning of 'and go astray'" — to depart in thought from under His sovereignty. "After the gods of the foreigners of the land" — we know that Hashem is one, and that change comes from those who receive; Hashem does not alter His actions, for all are done in wisdom. And part of the service of Hashem is to preserve the capacity of reception according to place — therefore it is written: "the ordinance of the God of the land." Therefore Jacob said: "Remove the foreign gods." The opposite holds for a place associated with sexual immorality, which pertains to close kin — the discerning will understand. "And the meaning of 'in its midst'" — it refers back to "foreign" (נֵכָר), as if he said: "and go astray after the gods of a foreign people, who are the gods of the land." More likely, "in its midst" refers back to "the land," for the masculine form is attested, as in "and the land could not bear them," and "the land was sickened."

וקם העם הזה וזנו אחרי אלוהי נכר, "and this nation will arise and stray after idols, etc." How can Moses describe such a deviation as a קימה, "a rising," instead of as a ירידה, "a descent, a degradation?" Perhaps we may relate the description וקמו to 32,15 where Moses described the Israelites as first waxing fat and as a result "kicking." Up until that point Israel had been referred to as "Yeshurun." At this point Moses pointedly speaks about העם, the common people rising. The coarsening of the Jewish people was due to their material blessing which G'd had showered upon the nation deserving of the distinctive appellation "Yeshurun." Another meaning of the verse is that not only the generation Moses describes in our verse will worship idols but also the following generation. We find in Judges 2,11 that after the death of Joshua and his generation, the Israelites began to worship the Baal. This is what G'd had predicted in our verse when He said to Moses that after he would die this people would rise and stray after alien gods.

אשר הוא בא שמה בקרבו, “to which it (the nation of Israel) goes to be among them.” The words: בקרב הארץ, are treated as in the masculine mode, just as in Genesis 13,6: ולא נשא אותם הארץ, “and the land could not support (both) of them;” or as in Isaiah 9,18: נעתם ארץ, “the earth was shaken.” [The word ארץ, ארצות, “land, lands,” is treated as a feminine noun in the vast majority of instances when it occurs. Ed.]

הנך שוכב עם אבותיך, “here you are going to lie with your fathers, etc.” When Moses had complained that G’d was using the very instrument to kill him with which he had used to praise the Lord with, G’d reassured him, calmed him down by assuring him that as opposed to other people who die and whose influence dies with them, his influence would continue to be manifest just as the sun’s influence is manifest even after it sets when it shines upon the moon enabling the moon to illuminate the earth with its reflected light. The verse is used to prove that resurrection is promised in the Torah as the sages in Sanhedrin 90 read the sequence of the words הנך שוכב עם אבותיך וקם as if G’d were saying: “here you will lie with your fathers and arise.” Similar comments are made about Moses having introduced the famous song after the crossing of the Sea of Reeds with the words אז ישיר instead of אז שר, “then he will sing,” instead of “then he sang” (Exodus 15,1). Concerning the serenity experienced by the souls in the hereafter the sages in Avot 4,22 opined that a single hour of the serenity in that world outweighs all the good experienced in our terrestrial world. If G’d, as it were, introduced Moses to that world of serenity with the word הן, He did indeed set Moses’ mind at rest over the need for him to leave the arena in which he had been so influential. He convinced him that death is the entrance fee one has to pay for attaining that desirable serenity. Considering all this, Moses had no reason to view death as a penalty, on the contrary, he was to view it as an introduction to untold delights. All of this is alluded to in the otherwise extraneous letter ך at the end of the word הנך, seeing Moses had not been accurate (according to the Midrash) in comparing הן and הנך. This final letter was an allusion to the כסא הכבוד, “G’d’s throne of glory in the celestial regions,” the proximity of which Moses would henceforth experience. We have previously mentioned that the inexplicable use of that letter such as in Leviticus chapter 27,2 בערכך נפשות לה', is also an allusion to that כסא הכבוד. All the souls which truly belong to Hashem, לה', are to be found in that celestial region, i.e. are viewed as close to the throne of G’d’s glory in value. From all of the foregoing you will realise that although G’d introduced Moses’ impending death to him with the word הן, Moses was not correct in complaining that the very instrument he had used to praise the Lord with was now being turned against him. The fact that the word הן, as distinct from the word הנה, is a plural, indicates that G’d referred to two kinds of life after death which Moses would attain. The first is the life reserved for the souls while they await the metamorphosis of our universe in the seventh millennium, as we discussed repeatedly; the second is the physical life after the resurrection. Whereas the word הנך may allude to the life of the souls, the words שוכב וקם, “lie down and arise,” are an allusion to this life after the period of the resurrection when both body and soul are reunited. אלהי נכר הארץ, “after the gods of the foreigners of the land.” The Torah tells us that such gods as had been permitted to the Gentile nations were nonetheless “strangers” in the Holy Land as that land was always under the direct supervision of the Lord, and He had never assigned what goes on there to the supervision of any celestial/planetary forces. This land is G’d’s own “inheritance.” This is also what the sages meant when they said אין מזל לישראל, “the Jewish people are not subject to the horoscopic influences we know as mazal.” They meant that the Jewish people, when in the land of Israel and observing the laws of the Torah, are not subject to such influences. This must be so, as we have a clear statement by these same sages that מזלו גורם, that “his mazal was a causative factor in his fate.” (Yevamot 64, et al) Seeing that the planets, stars, and all other celestial phenomena have been created for the sake of the righteous, how could it possibly be that these same righteous people are suddenly subject to these horoscopic constellations? Each of these horoscopic constellations has been assigned to certain nations, such as the constellation known as scorpion which was assigned to the people of Ishmael, the constellation Sagittarius, the archer, to the people of Persia, etc., etc. This was what the Torah referred to in Deut. 4,19-20 “which He assigned to them, whereas He (personally) took you out of the iron crucible, etc.” Clearly, the supervision of the fates of the other nations by celestial forces has been entrusted to agents of the Lord, i.e. the horoscopic forces, whereas that of the Jewish people is not determined by means of intermediaries. It is noteworthy that nowhere in the Torah does G’d accuse the Gentile nations of idolatry or describe them as being punished for relating to these forces as gods. Only the Jewish people have been warned again and again not to turn to any form of intermediary, and they are being held responsible for observing this commandment in the strictest possible sense. The only time Gentile nations are described as being punished for the practice of idolatry is if they did so in the Holy Land, the land which G’d claimed as His share and inheritance. The best proof of this is found in Kings II 17,26 where the prophet tells us about the Kushites who practiced the cults of their fathers after they had been forcibly transplanted to the areas previously inhabited by the Ten Tribes who had been exiled by King Shalmanesser of Assyria. The reason that the Torah speaks here of אלוהי נכר הארץ, is that these deities are totally alien to the land of Israel, fulfilling neither a function for the local inhabitants nor for the Israelites. All kinds of idolatry is alien to that country, no intermediary force having been assigned to function in that land. Anyone practicing idolatry in that land is seen as if he were trying to expel the king of that country from his palace. This is one of the ways in which the land of Israel is superior to all other countries. This fact is alluded to in the verse in Job 5,10: הנותן מטר על פני ארץ ושולח מים על פני חוצות, “Who gives rain to the earth, and sends water over the fields.” This verse teaches that G’d’s benevolent supervision of what goes on earth concentrates on the land of Israel and spreads from there to other parts of the globe. These parts are referred to in the verse in Job as חוצות, “outlying areas.” The manner in which this proliferation has been described is שולח, “dispatches,” whereas the rain which falls in the Holy Land is described in this verses as the result of נתינה, “something given directly.” David refers to the areas described as חוצות in Job as אהלי רשע, “the tents of the wicked.” (Psalms 84,11) The whole verse there reads: “Better one day in Your courts than a thousand anywhere else; I would rather stand on the threshold of G’d’s House than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” When compared to Jerusalem, the city of righteousness, other locations do not qualify for a better description than “tents of wickedness.” Our paragraph refers to the period of the first Temple when idolatry was rampant. אשר הוא בא שמה בקרבו, “in whose midst it is coming.” the reference is not to the people but to the land. This is not the first time that the word ארץ appears as masculine; we have a similar masculine description of the land of Israel in Genesis 13,6. It is also possible that the word בקרבו is an allusion to the Sanctuary in the land, which is viewed as being in its center. This would be analogous to a statement by our sages in Petichta Rabbah to Lamentations 22: “How long (did they relentlessly introduce more and more idolatry)? Until they introduced idolatry into the Sanctuary itself.” [The Midrash refers to a verse in Jeremiah 11,6 in which the proliferation of idolatry in the towns of Yehudah is described and the word חוצות describes the innermost part of Jerusalem. It adds a verse from Ezekiel 8,5 describing penetration by idolatry of the Sanctuary itself as the ultimate act of rebellion against the Lord. Ed.]

“Behold, you shall lie with your fathers, and this people will rise up…” The Rabbis of Blessed Memory (Sanhedrin 90b) learned from here a reference to the resurrection of the dead from the Torah, as it is said, Behold, you shall lie with your fathers and rise up. This interpretation is very puzzling, for who does not know that the phrase and rise up is connected to the people [who will then go astray].It seems to me that they derived this from the redundancy of the word and rise up because it should have simply said “and the people will go astray” — what is the purpose of and rise up? Rather, its interpretation is that the language of and rise up is similar to when a man rises up against his neighbor and kills him (Deuteronomy 19:11). Just as when a student recites a teaching in the name of his teacher, the teacher’s lips move in the grave (see Yevamot 97a), similarly, when a student “burns his food in public” [i.e., acts incorrectly], his teacher has no rest in the grave. For the teacher should have warned his student repeatedly not to come to sin, and if he did not teach him properly, people will say “Woe to this one’s teacher who taught him this way.” In this case, it appears as if the sinning student rises up against his teacher like an enemy and ambusher, disturbing his rest in the grave. This is what is meant by Behold, you shall lie with your fathers — peacefully and securely in the grave, without Satan or any evil occurrence — and suddenly ambushers will rise up against you, a congregation of evildoers, because through their corrupt actions they are rising up against you. Therefore it says, and this people will rise up and go astray, because through their straying after idolatry, they are rising up against you. If so, from here there is proof for the resurrection of the dead from the Torah, because if the dead do not live again, then the body in the grave would be like a silent stone, neither feeling sick nor sensing anything, and whatever happens after death would make no difference. So how could it say that through their straying after idolatry they will rise up against him? Rather, certainly there is resurrection of the dead, and the body of the perfect ones is still in its prime, not completely cut off, and knows and feels everything that happens. Therefore, one should be concerned lest they rise up against him after they stray after idolatry. Therefore, you need to repeatedly warn them, warning after warning. This interpretation is necessary both because of the redundant language of and rise up and because of the phrase Behold, you shall lie with your fathers, for it should have said Behold, you shall die. Rather, it wanted to warn him that he should lie with his fathers peacefully by warning them further about idolatry.

אלוהי נכר הארץ, “after the gods of the strangers of the land.” According to Rashi these words are a reference to the local deities. Nachmanides writes, that of course, the Torah does not suggest that these gods have any legitimacy in any other country either, but the Torah stresses that in that land they have even less claim to legitimacy, seeing that only the G’d of Israel has any claim to that, especially in the Israelites’ land. These so-called gods are not even familiar with the customs and mores that govern human conduct in that land. (Compare Kings II 7,26)

And My anger will blaze against them on that day, and I will distance them and withdraw My Shechinah from them, and they will become prey, and many evils and troubles will befall them; and they will say on that day: Is it not because the Shechinah of my God is not among me that these evils have befallen me?

והסתרתי פני AND I WILL HIDE MY FACE FROM THEM, as though I do not see their distress.

AND THEY WILL SAY IN THAT DAY: ARE NOT THESE EVILS COME UPON US BECAUSE OUR G-D IS NOT AMONG US? This is not a total confession like [the confession in the verse] And they shall confess their iniquity, but it is a reflection and a regret. They will feel sorry for their iniquity and recognize that they are guilty.

"And I will forsake them" — all of them. "And he will be" — each one, to be consumed by the enemy.

ועזבתים, to the various nations who will overpower them. והסתרתי פני מהם, after they will have fallen under the control of the gentile nations who will abuse them and oppress them I will ignore my natural sense of pity, and make believe as if I were unaware of their plight. על כי אין אלוקי בקרבי מצאוני הרעות, all of this has befallen me because G’d has abandoned me. Seeing that they feel abandoned, they will not bother to pray to Me, nor will they do teshuvah, considering such prayer futile, wasted.

ועזבתים והסתרתי פני מהם, "and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, etc." The meaning is that if G'd were to allow Himself to dwell on the troubles which will befall His people, His mercy would be stirred and He would banish His anger. This is why He informs the people in advance that if they were to turn to idols, He, G'd, would turn His face away from them so as not to be tempted to show them compassion. ואמר ביום ההוא, "and the people of Israel will say on that day, etc." They will be intelligent enough to conclude that all the troubles which suddenly overtook them must be due to G'd having deliberately left their midst. Had G'd not abandoned them it would be impossible that He would tolerate such treatment of His people. Compare what the prophet said in Judges 10,11. We gain the impression from there that G'd Himself had become fed up with the sufferings His people had to endure.

והסתרתי פני מהם, “I will hide My face from them.” This is evidence of G-d’s fondness of the Jewish people, His acting like a father who while forced to discipline his son cannot bring himself to watch the pain he is inflicting upon him.

והסתרתי פני מהם והיה לאכול, “and I will hide My face from them and they will become prey.” Our sages in Chagigah 5 have said: “anyone who does not experience an eclipse of G’d’s face does not belong to them (the Jewish people), whereas anyone who is not subject to becoming prey is also not one of the Jews.” [This confirms the special relationship between G’d and His people Israel. Ed.] When hearing this statement, the other Rabbis said to Rava (the Rabbi quoting it) “you yourself have experienced neither a hiding of the Lord’s face nor have you become prey !” Rava answered: “do you have any idea how much I pay in bribes to King Shevor, (the local authority) in order not to become a victim of this verse in the Torah?” [he meant that the need to pay these bribes proves that he was subject to the curse, hence a Jew.] Even after this reply, the Rabbis looked at Rava suspiciously. In the interval, the king sent emissaries and incarcerated Rava. This proves that Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel was correct when he said that whenever the sages look at someone suspiciously or worse, the “someone” will either die or become poor. על כי אין אלוקי בקרבי, “because my G’d is not in my midst;” this verse teaches that the Temple was not destroyed and the people of Yehudah were not exiled until the Shechinah had withdrawn from them. This is also what David said in Psalms 68,19: “You rose to the high regions.” Subsequently, David continues with: “You had made prisoners.” You have to appreciate that the meaning of the word בקרבי is derived from קרב, “battle;” its numerical value is the same as that of שדי, i.e. 314. In other words, when this attribute of G’d withdrew the Jewish people lost the battle. I believe that wherever we find the word בקרב or similar in the Torah there is an allusion in that word to the “awakening” of the attribute of Justice. The root of all this is to be found in Exodus 23,21 כי שמי בקרבו, “for My name is within it” [the angel representing the attribute of Justice]. Other examples are: Genesis 48,16 וידגו לרוב בקרב הארץ, “may they proliferate abundantly like fish, in the midst of the land.” The beginning of that verse referred to the המלאך הגואל אותי מכל רע, “the angel who has redeemed me from all harmful influences,” a clear reference to the attribute of Justice. Other verses in which the word בקרב is clearly indicative of an association with the attribute of Justice are: Exodus 10,1 למען שתי אותותי אלה בקרבו, as well as Exodus 8,18: כי אני ה' בקרב הארץ, or Deut. 15,11: כי לא יחדל אביון מקרב הארץ, “there will not cease to be someone who is destitute in the midst of the land.” The author extends the list; [I will omit further examples in the interest of brevity. Ed.]

And many evils and troubles shall befall him. In the Tractate Chagigah, Rabbi Yochanan, when he reached this verse (31:21), And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles have befallen them, wept and said: “A servant whose master brings upon him many evils — is there any remedy for him?” What is meant by “and troubles” [ve-tzarot]? Rav said: “They become troubles [tzarot] to one another, like a hornet and a scorpion [whose stings compound each other’s harm].” And Samuel said: “This refers to one who provides money to a poor person in his time of distress,” meaning not before [the distress]. Rava said: “This is what people say: ‘Money for produce [in advance] is not readily available, but for a third [of its value, when the poor person is desperate] it is readily available.’” Rashi explained that Samuel was commenting on the verse which was interpreted above, Whether it be good or evil (Ecclesiastes 12:14). But Rabbenu Tam objected to his words: “Why would he interrupt Rabbi Yochanan’s words?” Rather, certainly Samuel was commenting on Rabbi Yochanan’s words, and so it also implies in the Yalkut (31:941), which cites Samuel’s words regarding the verse And it shall come to pass, when many evils befall them. There is reason to question Rabbi Yochanan’s words, who said, “A servant whose master brings many evils upon him” — but does the Holy One, Blessed be He, bring about evils? Does not scripture say, From the mouth of the Most High comes not evil (Lamentations 3:38)? Rather, evil comes by itself through the hiding of His face, as it is written: And I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. This means that automatically they will be devoured, and this cannot be called “bringing about.” There is also reason to question: isn’t it already written and many evils and troubles shall befall them? Why didn’t Rabbi Yochanan weep when reading this verse that was written before the verse And it shall be when these things come upon him? For when it says “when he reached this verse,” it implies that he was reading the passage from the beginning. It is true that we could say he was precise about the language of and it shall be [v’haya] which indicates certainty, as it is written And it shall be if you do not desire her (Deuteronomy 21:14), which Rashi explains as “the verse tells us that you will eventually hate her.” And Rabbi Nathan explained that Rashi was precise about the language of “v’haya” [and it shall be], which implies that this will definitely happen. Similarly, And it shall be when these things come upon him indicates that they will certainly find him. But above it only says and they shall be devoured. However, in and many evils and troubles shall befall them, the phrase “and it shall be” is not mentioned, as if it is uncertain whether they will befall them or not. Samuel’s words are very puzzling, to interpret this verse about one who lends to a poor person in his time of distress, as if all the rebukes will not return him to righteousness except for this trouble that he lends to him in his time of need and not before then. And as if this obligates him to say on that day, Is it not because my God is not within me that these evils have befallen me? May it be God’s will that there not be a greater trouble upon Israel than this. And how can the passage include, among great and terrible punishments, the matter of lending to a poor person in his time of distress? This is something that reason refuses to accept at all. Furthermore, the matter that commentators have found difficult needs resolution: What is meant by the verse saying, And he will say on that day, “Is it not because my God is not within me that these evils have befallen me?” And I will surely hide My face on that day. Isn’t the main aspect of idolatry in the heart? For every matter that depends on faith has its root and source in the heart, which is why it is said regarding idolatry In order to seize the house of Israel by their heart (Ezekiel 14:5). And this is what is meant by Is it not because my God is not within me — he admits openly that all the gods of the nations are worthless and he denies idolatry. So what further justification does he have to cry out before the King, the Lord (see Second Samuel 19:29)? And how is his punishment doubled after his confession when it says, And I will surely hide My face?Some say that this “hiding” means that He will hide His face from the evil that was done, and that “pana” [turned] is language meaning “even though,” to say that even from this great evil, the Lord will hide His face, as it is written Had I seen iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened (Psalms 66:18). And I say to explain the words of Rabbi Yochanan regarding the mutual responsibility, that all Israel became guarantors for one another, to the extent that every individual bears [the responsibility] for the sin of the many, and this is something that the public cannot endure. Therefore, Rabbi Yochanan cried when he reached this verse, And it will be when many evils find him (Deuteronomy 31:17), because the word him [oto] seems superfluous, as it could have said, “And it will be when many evils find-him,” as stated above, and many evils will find-him. Rather, with the word him, it points specifically to the individual who will bear the evils, namely the sins of many groups, as it is written And he bore the sin of many (Isaiah 53:12). And the reason it uses the feminine term rabot [many] is because every sinner becomes weak like a woman, as Moses said, “You have weakened my strength like a woman,” as Rashi explains in Parshat Va’etchanan (5:24) on the verse And you [in the feminine form] shall speak to us. And he said, ‘and troubles [tzarot, which also means adversaries],’ because when there is peace and friendship among Israel, then the mutual responsibility does not harm them so much. On the contrary, it is beneficial, because when one sees his fellow straying from the path of reason, he guides him on the way to go, to return him to the right path out of fear of mutual responsibility. For rebuke is only found from one who loves to the beloved, as it is written: For whom the Lord loves, He reproves (Proverbs 3:12). And similarly, the commandment You shall surely rebuke your fellow (Leviticus 19:17) is placed next to the commandment Love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18). For rebuke is only found when people love one another, but when there is no peace in their circles, then not only does one not rebuke the other, but on the contrary, he rejoices in his downfall in order to deflect the evil onto him and that he should be consumed in his sin. And if you say that there might be found some complete person who would rebuke even his enemy, behold, the enemy will not accept rebuke from him because he is suspicious in his eyes that he does not intend for his good. Thus, mutual responsibility inflicts a great blow upon Israel when there is no peace among them and they are like adversaries to one another, like a wasp and a scorpion. For what seems good and right in the eyes of one appears evil in the eyes of his fellow, and vice versa, until they are never in one agreement — what one forbids, the other permits. Therefore, Rabbi Yochanan, when he reached this verse, “And it shall be, when many evils and troubles have befallen him.” He derived from the word him [אותו], that it is speaking about the individual who will bear many evils — the evils done by wicked people which are likened to many females. And the cause of all this is troubles [וצרות] — that each person in Israel becomes like an adversary to his fellow, like a wasp and a scorpion, and they are never in one accord. For if they were in one accord, no harm would come from the mutual responsibility. Therefore, Rabbi Yochanan wept and said: “A servant whose master brings upon him many evils and imposes on him to bear the sin of many at a time when they are all like adversaries to each other — is there any remedy for him?” Certainly, there is no remedy at all in this situation, as it is written, And the sound of a driven leaf shall chase them. As we explained in the section of Bechukotai (26:36) which speaks of this matter — that each person in Israel is pursued by his fellow Israelite. Therefore, it immediately says, And they shall stumble one over another (26:37), and our Sages said (Sanhedrin 27a) “because of the sin of his brother.”This is what is meant by And many evils and troubles will befall him, and it says, And he will say on that day, “Is it not because my God is not within me that these evils have befallen me?” For if my God were within me, in my heart and in my thoughts, and each person expressed his opinion for the sake of Heaven when the leaders of the people gather together, then they would not be divided, because the true purpose would unite them. However, since one’s intention was not for the sake of Heaven, but rather outwardly each person would present himself as if his opinion was for the sake of God’s name — like hypocrites and flatterers — but within me, God was not present. Instead, each person was seeking his own benefit or to antagonize his enemy. Therefore, justice came out distorted, for the truth will never be clarified through discussion that is not for the sake of Heaven. According to this, this confession is not a confession of the sin of idolatry, because the sin would still remain in any case, but rather he admits that his inner intention is no longer directed toward Heaven, because he didn’t say “because God was not within me,” which would imply that he wants to repent from that crooked path, but rather because God is not within me today. At this point, he is worse than he was before because he knows his Master and deliberately rebels against Him. Therefore, there is a double concealment, and it says for all the evil he has done because he turned to other gods. “Turning” refers only to the heart, as it is written, and if your heart turns away (Deuteronomy 30:17). This means that outwardly he presented himself as virtuous, as if his intention was for Heaven, but inwardly he turned to other gods and foreign intentions. Consequently, they were never in one accord, and the truth was never clarified among them. But since it says “And I will surely hide My face on that day.” It seems to me, according to the way we explained in our work Olalot Ephraim (Part 1, Chapter 83) regarding the statement of our Sages (Genesis Rabbah 38:6): “Even when Israel worships idols, if there is peace among them, leave them alone, as it is said (Hosea 4:17), Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone. However, when their heart is divided, now they shall be found guilty (Hosea 10:2).” This is because when there is peace among them, they will certainly debate among themselves about that idol worship, and through that debate, it will become clear that its worshippers inherited falsehood. Therefore, let him alone — the Holy One, blessed be He, extends His patience to them so that they will understand on their own that all their deeds are futile. But when the hearts of the worshippers are divided and there is no peace in their paths, even if they discuss the matter, the truth will never be clarified among people who debate with divided hearts, because each one’s intention is to refute the words of his fellow. Therefore it says, now they shall be found guilty — immediately, without delay, for why should He grant them an extension in vain? Thus it also says here, And My anger shall be kindled against them on that day — immediately on that same day when they begin to worship it, because this portion speaks of a time when the Israelites are adversaries to one another and are not in agreement. Therefore, now they shall be found guilty without an extension of time. And this is also indicated in the confession, because my God is not in my midst, in the way explained above — that one admits that he never expressed his opinion for the sake of Heaven with a unified mouth and heart, but rather with his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets his ambush (Jeremiah 9:7). Therefore it says, And I will surely hide My face on that day — immediately, as it says, now they shall be found guilty, and this is a very appropriate allusion. And Samuel said that this portion accuses Israel, saying, that it is their foolish way that they never repent except after necessity, for at the time when afflictions are mounted on his shoulders, then he vows vows to give his money to charity or to return to God, as explained in Parashat Bechukotai (27:2) in the connection between if he makes a special vow and the portion of rebuke. For even our Sages distinguished between those who repent out of love and those who repent out of fear, as stated in Tractate Yoma (86b): Reish Lakish said: Great is repentance, for intentional sins become like unintentional ones, as it is said Return, O Israel, unto the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity (Hosea 14:2). Iniquity is intentional, yet he calls it a stumbling. But is that so? For Reish Lakish said: Great is repentance, for intentional sins become like merits, as it is said And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, etc., he shall live because of them (Ezekiel 33:19). Rashi explained: On account of all that he did, even the transgressions. This is not difficult: this [refers to repentance] out of love, and that [refers to repentance] out of fear. And still the matter needs explanation to interpret the meaning of the verses, for although Rashi explained unto the Lord your God [to mean] until [God’s] defense does not become accusation — that is, out of fear of the attribute of judgment, so that the Lord [the attribute of mercy] does not become your God [the attribute of judgment] — nevertheless, for you have stumbled in the past tense does not fit well, for it is [only] now through repentance that iniquity becomes a stumbling. And it seems to me that the intention of the Scripture is to warn him to return out of love, for every fearful person distances himself from that which he fears, while every lover draws near to his beloved. Therefore it says, Return, O Israel, unto the Lord (Hosea 14:2) — literally to Him, in the manner of a lover who connects himself to his beloved. And concerning this, our Sages of blessed memory said (Pesachim 50b, see there), it is written (Psalms 57:11), For Your kindness is great unto the heavens, and it is written (Psalms 108:5), For Your kindness is great above the heavens. The former refers to those who act out of love, etc. This means that one who acts out of fear does not truly connect with the Blessed One, and his connection is only unto the heavens but not including the heavens. Therefore, the kindness is also unto the heavens. But one who acts out of love cleaves above the heavens to the Blessed One, therefore the kindness is also “above the heavens.”And He says, because until now you have only repented out of fear, this is what is meant by for you have stumbled in your iniquity (Hosea 14:2). This means that previously, when you repented out of fear, you were not completely cleansed, but only halfway, because you had already stumbled in your iniquities — the intentional sin became an unintentional stumbling. Thus, the impression of the stumbling remains within you, and you were not completely cleansed of the sin, as it has become an unintentional error, and you still require a sacrifice for the unintentional sin. But when you return to the Lord out of love, that is, above the heavens, then you will be completely cleansed, and you will not need even a sacrifice, but only a verbal confession. This is what is meant by (Hosea 14:3), Take words with you and return to the Lord. Literally to Him. Say to Him, Forgive all iniquity. That He will completely forgive iniquity, not partially as one who returns out of fear, whose sin is not completely forgiven but only partially, transforming intentional sin to unintentional. However, by returning out of love, then forgive all iniquity — the sin will be completely forgiven, becoming like a commandment that is elevated and raised very high, not as it is said (Micah 7:19), And You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Rather, the iniquity will be elevated. And accept good (Hosea 14:3) — that the Holy One, Blessed be He, will accept it as something good, as if the sin were a merit, a good thing. Then you will not need even a sacrifice. This is what is meant by and we will offer the words of our lips instead of bulls (Hosea 14:3). However, in Ezekiel (33:14-15) it is written, And when I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” and he turns from his sin… he shall surely live. Is not [just] the phrase shall surely live said about them because this speaks of one who returns out of fear, due to the threat of you shall surely die — that is, out of fear? However, later it says, “And when the wicked man turns from his wickedness,” meaning not out of fear of death, but from his wickedness on his own, because he recognizes that the path he is walking on is not good. Then he shall live because of them, for this person has returned out of love, solely from recognizing his wickedness. And concerning what is said And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, etc. (Ezekiel 18:27), and it does not say there about them “he shall surely live because of them,” is because it is speaking of one who repents out of fear, as it is stated there And he sees and turns, etc. (Ezekiel 18:28). The word sees is in the sense of sight, meaning that he observes the sufferings that have come upon him. Therefore, it immediately states there Return and cause others to return, etc., and iniquity shall not be a stumbling block to you (Ezekiel 18:30). For it is known that one who repents out of fear seeks only to save himself and does not seek to bring others to repentance, but one who repents out of love also brings others to repentance, because one who loves the king wants everyone to love him. Therefore, it says, Return and cause others to return, and then iniquity shall not be a stumbling block to you, but rather you will be completely cleansed and no trace of the stumbling block will remain. It appears from this that one who repents out of fear is inferior to one who repents out of love, but one who repents after being compelled, when sufferings have already come upon him, is even more inferior, because when the compelling force is removed, he will return to his evil ways. As it says about Pharaoh and he saw that there was relief, and he hardened his heart (Exodus 8:11). And as it says How long will you refuse to be humbled before Me? (Exodus 10:3) That is to say, not because of the sufferings, but before Me; the submission that comes through sufferings is nothing, because after the sufferings pass, you return to your evil ways. Similarly, any repentance that is done under the compulsion of suffering is worthless, because when the storm and tempest pass, he will return to his former state, as it is said Does the plowman plow all day to sow? (Isaiah 28:24) and that entire parable speaks of this matter. And this is what is meant by and many evils and troubles shall befall them, and he [Israel] will say on that day, “Is it not because my God is not within me that these evils have befallen me?” Here, with these two words, on that day, the entire matter is sealed, for they exclude both the preceding days and the days that follow. For before many evils and troubles befell them, it is obvious that they would not take it upon themselves to return to God. But even after those evils befell them, nevertheless, they only confess “on that day” when troubles are bound upon their shoulders, but not on the following day. For immediately afterward, as soon as God’s storm and fury passes, they immediately return to their wayward behavior. Therefore, I will surely hide My face on that day — even on the day they confess, I will hide My face, and even more than I hid My face previously, but doubly so — I will surely hide My face, because they see the troubles bound in their sack, and nevertheless, their heart is not complete with God, for God knows that today they will speak with submission, as if deceiving the Divine, but tomorrow they will return to their wayward ways. And this is what Samuel meant by “one who lends to a poor person in his time of distress.” The phrase “in his time of distress” does not refer to the distress of the poor person, but to the distress of the lender. For this is the lender who does not lend anything to the poor except during his own distress, when troubles compel him to give charity from his wealth, and when that distress passes, his heart becomes hard and resolute as before. He chose one specific commandment, namely charity, because it is common practice in the world that people make vows in their time of trouble, and after the trouble passes, they regret and give nothing. The same applies to other commandments that are only performed when necessity is mounted upon one’s shoulders. And as a hint, this alludes to all the commandments of the Torah, which are like a loan and charity to the “poor child,” namely the good inclination, as Hillel said when he went to bestow kindness upon “this guest,” etc. (Vayikra Rabbah 34:3). And Rava said, this is what people say: Money is not readily available for abundance, but it is available for the third part.“For abundance” [le’alala] refers to a time of plenty, when there is abundance in the world, which is precisely a time of tranquility, because when there is abundance in the world, there is tranquility in the world, as one depends on the other, as it is written: He makes your borders peaceful; He satisfies you with the finest wheat (Psalms 147:14). And at that time when “alala,” meaning produce, is abundant in the world, at that time it is not at all common for one to give from their money to charity, as “Jeshurun grew fat and kicked” [became rebellious].But “for the third part” [letalita] it is available — whether according to Rashi’s interpretation that “letalita” means loss and destruction, or according to Rabbeinu Tam who interprets “letalita” as the fear of the ruler who frightens them — in either case, it refers to a time when troubles are prevalent in the world, meaning loss and destruction or the fear of the rulers of nations who rule over Israel. It all speaks of a time of necessity, and this is not complete repentance. It also alludes to one who is compelled by the earthly court regarding charity, as they force them in court to give charity. All these forms of repentance are not complete, because they only occur when compulsion is present, and when the compulsion is removed, they will return to their old ways. Therefore it is said, And now, write this song for yourselves. With the word and now, the entire matter is sealed, saying now, immediately, while you are still in your tranquility, before the days of evil come, write this song for yourselves so that it will be engraved upon your hearts, so that you will return to God with complete repentance, not out of compulsion. In my small composition Orach L’Chaim, we interpreted this entire section in a different way, that face mentioned here refers to a face of wrath, as in And I will set My face against that man (Leviticus 25). And it says that after this complete confession, God will hide His face of wrath, therefore the expression of hiding is doubled because the measure of goodness is doubled, for all the evil, etc. This emphasizes something significant: even though they committed one evil that encompasses all evils — for one who acknowledges idolatry is as if they deny the entire Torah (Sifri, Shelach 15:22) — therefore it says for all the evil, even for all the great evil they committed by turning to other gods, nevertheless I will surely hide the face of anger from him, and everything is pardoned and forgiven after the complete confession. And regarding the statement And he will say on that day, etc., we explained there that this verse includes all the foundations of repentance. Seek it where it dwells [referring to his other work], and there you will find the entire matter explained.

ואמר ביום ההוא הלא על כי אין אלוקי בקרבי, “the nation will say on that day: ‘is it not because my G’d is not in my midst, etc.?’” Nachmanides writes that this is an incomplete confession, as compared to Leviticus However, it is a partial awareness of remorse being called for. They have finally become aware that they must somehow be at fault.

והסתרתי פנח מהם, “I will hide My face from them.” This is an expression of G–d’s fondness for the Jewish people, it expresses His grief at what befalls them, just as that of a father who instructs a servant to administer punishment to his wayward son. He cannot bear to do it himself, or to have to watch it being administered. רעות רבות וצרות, “many evils and troubles.” These are evils, which in turn will cause them many troubles. The Talmud in tractate Avodah Zarah folio 28, gives examples of this when describing changes in climate resulting in an abundance of harmful insects which in turn will sting people, etc. People who suffer these stings do not know how to counteract and neutralise the pain resulting from them. This is a metaphor for hostility encountered by Jewish people when in exile. When the gentiles hit them they are afraid even to cry out so that the gentiles will not hate them even more. If they fail to cry out they have to learn to live with the pain. על כי אין אלוקי בקרבי, “on account of my G–d no longer being in my midst.” The Israelites are aware that they have driven G–d’s presence out of their midst, as a result of which they have become the victims of all these phenomena. [but they have not drawn the right conclusions from that, i.e. to repent. Ed.

And I will utterly withdraw My Shechinah from them on that day, on account of all the evil that they have done, for they have turned to the idols of the nations.

AND I WILL SURELY HIDE MY FACE IN THAT DAY. The meaning thereof is that [He will hide His face] on a different occasion [for it was already stated in Verse 17, and I will hide My face from them]. Since the Israelites already reflected in their hearts that they sinned against G-d, and that these evils came upon them because their G-d was not among them, it would have been fitting — according to the exceeding mercies of G-d — that He help them and rescue them because they had already denied the idols. This is similar to what is stated, Behold, I will enter into judgment with thee, because thou sayest: ‘I have not sinned,’ [indicating that the very denial of wrongdoing is a grievous sin, but here the admission of sin should have caused G-d to help them]. Therefore he [Moses] states that, because of the great evil that they did in trusting idols, He will again hide His face from them — not like the first hiding of His face when He hid the face of His mercies and many evils and troubles came upon them — but that only the face of redemption will be hidden and they will abide by the promise of the face of His mercies. [This is the promise of] And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them etc. [They will not be shown the face of redemption] until they add to the aforementioned regret real confession and perfect repentance, as is stated above, and thou shalt return unto the Eternal thy G-d etc.

"And the meaning of 'I will utterly hide'" — that if they call out to Me I will not answer them. The parable is of a person who is neither seen nor knows what to do. This is the customary manner of the language to speak in doubling — and the grammarians will understand this. "For it has turned" — that is the great evil, as I have explained: there is nothing worse than it.

ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני מהם, not as they thought that I was no longer in their midst; wherever they are My presence is with them, as our sages said in Megillah 29 “wherever the Jewish people have been exiled G’d’s presence accompanies them. However, it does not manifest itself by saving them from their oppressor.” על כל הרעה אשר עשה, Israel had done harm to itself, not G’d. כי פנה אל אלוהים אחרים, while being beset by all of their problems, instead of turning to Me in prayer, supplication and remorse, they chose to pray to idols instead.

ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני ביום ההוא, "But I will surely hide My face on that day, etc." The difficulty in this verse is that G'd is portrayed as hiding His face after the Israelites have already confessed their sins, and have acknowledged that their troubles were due to G'd having turned His back on them. If all our verse wanted to do was to provide us with the reason why what happened so far had occurred, there is no need for this. We already know that G'd turned His face away as a result of the Israelites flirting with local deities! Moreover, why did Moses repeat the mention of G'd hiding His face, i.e. הסתר אסתיר? Another thing which is puzzling is why Moses used such a long-winded expression as על כל הרעה, followed by כי פנה אל אלוהים אחרים. The fact is that our verse does want to provide a reason for G'd's turning away His face. Someone might say that G'd had not judged the Israelites fairly, G'd forbid, for the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 27,8: "assailing them with unchained fury." Sanhedrin 100 states that "man will be measured by the yardstick he himself applied in measuring others." G'd will certainly apply fair yardsticks when judging the Israelites. At first glance it might appear as if turning His face away from the Israelites results in their being punished over and above what they deserve, as the Judge deliberately ignores what happens to them. Perhaps this is what our verse means when writing "is it not (only) because my G'd is not in my midst that all these troubles have found me?" To ward off such an interpretation of the previous verse, the Torah writes: ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פנים, "and I am surely going to turn away My face;" I am legally entitled to turn away My face from them. This is why G'd had to repeat the word. ביום ההוא, "on that day." On the day they stray after alien gods. The reason the Torah wrote על כל הרעה אשר עשה, is "on account of all the evil it (Israel) has done." This is best understood in light of Chulin 5 that "anyone who admits that idols are independent powers has in fact denied the entire Torah." G'd explains that as soon as the people turned to idols they had in effect turned away from the whole of the Torah, i.e. from G'd. As a result, even if as a result of G'd's turning His face away from them the Israelites would be afflicted with all the curses of the world this would be no different than measuring them with the yardstick by which they themselves had measured others.. Remember that just as the blessings and rewards G'd has promised are meant for the performance of a string of commandments, etc., so curses and punishments are administered in respect of a string of violations of G'd's commandments. As a result, if someone either transgressed all the commandments bar idolatry, or only committed idolatry, he is deserving of all the punishments as commission of idolatry is considered as equal to committing all other violations. No wonder then that G'd hid His face from His people.

ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני ביום ההוא, “as for Me, I will most certainly hide My face on that day.” G’d had already mentioned earlier (verse 17) that He would hide His face. On that occasion it referred to the exile in Babylon. Now, when He describes this “hiding” of His face in even stronger terms, it refers to the present exile under the Romans. The repetition of the word “hiding” is a warning that this second exile will be much longer than the first. On the other hand, what the Torah writes also contains a message of consolation in Leviticus 26,44 that G’d will not forsake us even when we are in exile, i.e. “the land of their enemies.” This verse reveals to us something about the length of this exile we find ourselves in. The combined numerical value of the words הסתר אסתיר is 1336. This appears to correspond to a vision in Daniel 12,12 according to which the redemption would come after 1335 years. [According to this, an opportune time for the final redemption was the year 1405 or 1406, which could have happened during the period the author wrote this, but we ultimately did not merit it then. Ed.]

ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני, “but I will increasingly hide My presence, etc.” G’d will hide His face once more, as He had done in verse 17. This is remarkable, as we would have thought that now that the people had attributed their misfortunes to G’d withdrawing from them, G’d should respond by showering them with His loving kindness seeing that they had at least acknowledged the impotence of any other deities. The Torah explains why this is not the next scenario by writing: על כל הרעה אשר עשה, ”on account of all the evil this people have committed.” By having put their faith in idols, G’d had withdrawn His face from them in the first place, as a result of which many misfortunes had befallen them. Now, He must still withdraw His face from them, but not as absolutely as He had done the first, time; this time the withdrawal is only to the extent that the redeemer does not yet come and they will return to their homeland. However, in the meantime, until they confess their guilt completely and show remorse, they will still continue their existence in the Diaspora, without, however, being hounded from one place to another and being exposed to all manner of demeaning insults and degradations. The redemption will not come until the repentance described in 30,2 has become reality.

ואנכי הסתר אסתיר, “and I will hide Myself even further;” our sages derive from this line that the Purim story i.e. the scroll of Esther and Mordechai are of Biblical authority [Esther’s real name having been Hadass, Ed.] i.e. that even during periods of exile when we do not feel the presence of G–d around us, He nonetheless watches over us and intervenes in our fates decisively when we are under attack. [Although His name does not even appear in that scroll, Haman did not succeed in killing a single Jew. Ed.]

And now, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the children of Israel; place it in their mouths, so that this song may be a witness before Me among the children of Israel.

את השירה הזאת [NOW THEREFORE WRITE YE] THIS SONG — i.e. the text “Give ear, O ye heavens”, till “and make expiation for his ground, and his people” (Deuteronomy 32:1—43).

AND NOW WRITE YE THIS SONG. In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, He commands both Moses and Joshua to write it for He wanted to make Joshua His prophet during Moses’ lifetime. Now, Moses wrote it while Joshua stood by him, read it, and saw [it completed], this being the sense of the verse, So Moses wrote this Song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel. It refers to Moses who was the principal [in the writing of the Song] for it was from him that they would hear it and learn it, although Joshua, too, taught it with him, as it is stated at the conclusion [of the chapter] he [i.e., Moses], and Hoshea, the son of Nun. Now, the meaning of the expression this Song is “the Song that I will now tell you,” this being ‘Ha’azinu’ (Give ear). It is called Song because Israel would recite it with song and psalm. It was also written [in the Torah] in the style of a song, since songs are written with interruptions [empty spaces] indicating the places of chanting.

"Write for yourselves" — a commandment that Moses himself should write it, along with every person who is capable of writing. "And teach it" — the difficult meanings that he will explain to them. "Put it in their mouths" — so that they will know it by rote. The words וְלַמְּדָהּ and also שִׂימָהּ are irregular forms, for the proper rule would be that the heh of וְלַמְּדָהּ be vowelized with a kamatz and the dalet with a small patah. "As a witness for the children of Israel" — this is connected in meaning with "when I bring them," but it can also be taken as standing independently because of "and it shall testify," in the sense of "you shall not testify against your neighbor" — as though the song answers those who say: "Why has all this befallen us?"

ועתה כתבו, "And now write, etc." G'd says to Moses: "and now," although Moses could not delay by a single day seeing he was going to die on this day. G'd meant for Moses to write this down before he would command Joshua what is written in verse 23. Although the instruction to call Joshua and to give him certain instructions had preceded the command to record this song, G'd wanted the song to be recorded first. You will find that Moses complied with these instructions as we find in verse 22 that he wrote down the song and taught it to the Israelites. Only in the verse following did G'd give His instructions to Joshua to bring the Israelites across the Jordan, to be strong, etc. Normally, we would have expected G'd to complete all His various instructions and only then to write down this song (Haazinu) and to teach it to the people. Seeing that G'd did not want the normal procedure to be followed, He wrote the word ועתה, "and now." ולמדה, שימה בפיהם, "and teach it and place it in their mouths." G'd commanded three separate commandments here. 1) To write down the song; 2) to teach it to the children of Israel so that they would understand it. [as one has to teach any poem. Ed.] 3) To "place it in their mouths," i.e. to teach them how to read it correctly. Moses carried out all three instructions as the Torah recorded (verse 23) "Moses wrote the song. 2) He taught it to the children of Israel. 3) Moses said in the hearing of the entire congregation the words of the song (verse 30)." He read it to them in such a way that they would know how to read it properly in the future. This is the meaning of the words שימה בפיהם.

ולמדה את בני ישראל, “and teach it to the Children of Israel!” G-d is speaking in this way to Joshua. [Seeing that Moses will no longer be around, as he is dying on this day, it is clear that these words must have been addressed to his successor. Ed.

ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת, “and now write down for yourselves this song;” Nachmanides writes that the plain meaning is that G’d commanded this to Moses while Joshua heard G’d’s instructions, and read what Moses wrote down. This is the meaning of verse 22 where Moses is reported as writing all this down and teaching the people the contents of that ”song.” Joshua joined in teaching the people, as we know from The “song” that is referred to is the first section of Parshat Haazinu. The reason that this portion is called שירה, song, or poem, is that since time immemorial the Jewish people recite it as such.

השירה, the entire book of Deuteronomy is called שירה, “Song, Poem.” הזאת, the portion Haazinu, which testifies concerning the impending disasters if the people were to abandon the path of Torah. If and when this would come to pass, they would know exactly to what to ascribe their misfortune.

For when I bring them into the land that I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, they will eat and be satisfied and live in luxury, and will turn to the idols of the nations and serve them, and they will provoke before Me and violate My covenant.

ונאצוני means AND THEY WILL PROVOKE ME TO ANGER. So, too, every form of the root נאץ denotes anger.

ואכל ושבע ודשן ופנה אל אלוהים אחרים, “and will eat, be sated, and grow fat, and turn to strange gods.” This demonstrates that this paragraph speaks about conditions during the first Temple. During that era the Israelites ate, and grew fat and also practiced idolatry. They primarily served idols known as Baalim. This is the meaning of ועבדום ונאצוני והפר את בריתי, “and they will serve them and provoke Me and breach My covenant.”

For I will bring them into the land which I promised to their fathers, (a land) producing milk and honey, and they will eat and be satisfied: but (after that they have) waxen fat they will turn away to the idols of the Gentiles and worship them; so will they provoke Me to anger, and abolish My covenant.

And it shall be, when many evils and troubles befall him, this song will testify before Him as a witness, for it shall not be forgotten from the mouths of his descendants — for it has been revealed before Me their inclination that they pursue this very day, before I bring them into the land that I swore.

וענתה השירה הזאת לפניו לעד [AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS …] THAT THIS SONG SHALL TESTIFY that in it I had warned them concerning all the things that had befallen them. כי לא תשכח מפי זרעו FOR IT SHALL NOT BE FORGOTTEN OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF THEIR SEED — This is an assurance to Israel that the Torah in which this song is contained will never be entirely forgotten by their descendants (Shabbat 138b).

FOR I KNOW THEIR INCLINATION WHICH THEY HAVE SHOWN THIS DAY. The meaning thereof is like the expression, for now I know that thou art a G-d-fearing man, which is knowledge become actualized, for knowledge of the future is knowledge in potential. Now, if Israel had not sinned in the wilderness and the recognition of his temperament had not been actualized, it would have been inappropriate for him to testify against them in the Song, saying that it is known to Him that you will sin and therefore I call [heaven and earth] to witness that many evils and troubles like such and such will come upon you. Instead it would have been proper that He give them the Torah with unspecified foreknowledge: If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the Land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword. But now, that their bad temperament and their straying heart had become known to them as well, He told them all that would occur to them. This is similar to what is said, Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew etc., therefore I have declared to thee from of old; before it came to pass I announced it to thee.

"Before him" — meaning opposite him; that is, the witness will not move away from him but will be with him always. "For I know his inclination" — even had I not known future things, I already know what they have done up to this very day.

כי ידעתי את יצרו אשר הוא עושה היום, for I, G’d, know its nature, its character; they do not look forward to taking over the land of the Canaanites in order to serve Me, as I wanted them to and hoped they would do. (compare Psalms 105,44-45 “He gave them the lands of nations; they inherited the wealth of peoples; in order to observe His statutes and His teachings, and observe His laws.”) Instead they look forward to gratify their own cravings as a result of which their excess wealth will be the cause of their decline and corruption, as per 32,15 “Yeshurun waxed fate and kicked, etc.”

וענתה השירה הזאת, “and this song shall testify before them as a witness;” we must imagine this as if the “song” will reply to those who say “why have all these disasters befallen us?” לפניו, “in response to this;” כי לא תשכח מפי זרעו, “it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of their offspring;” although there are many chastisements, eventually this will end in words of comfort.

והיה כי תמצאן אתו רעות רבות וצרות וענתה השירה הזאת לפניו לעד; “it will be when many evils and distresses come upon it, then this song shall speak up before it as a witness.” This is a reference to the song at the beginning of Parshat Haazinu. There the Torah speaks in detail about the ones who have been cast out. כי לא תשכח מפי זרעו כי ידעתי את יצרו אשר הוא עושה היום, “for it will not be forgotten from the mouth of its offspring; for I know its inclination, what it does today.” Moses says that he can draw conclusions from Israel’s behavior in his own time when the people suffer from an inclination to practice idolatry. It is likely therefore that they will put their inclination into practice in the future. This is why, when the penalties described here, i.e. the sufferings, will occur, they will find that they have all been foretold in the Torah. The reason they will find this out is that the Torah will not be forgotten among their offspring (despite their committing all these sins). The witnesses in the song in the Torah in which heaven and earth are called on will endure and give their testimony. The reason Moses was allowed to say such words as “for I know its inclination,” [in a negative connotation, and G’d did not punish him for slandering the people as He had done in Exodus when he had said they would not believe him (Exodus 4,1), Ed.] is that G’d Himself had described the people in these terms in Psalms 103,14 where the psalmist says “for He knows our inclinations.” Midrash Tehillim on this verse states; “woe to the dough of which the baker himself says that it is defective.” It seems to me that the wording of the Torah does suggest that there would come a time when the Torah would indeed be forgotten by the people. The time in question is when, in the future, the evil urge will be annulled, as distinct from the messianic era during which, as we pointed out previously, (Shabbat 138) “business will be as usual,” all the commandments of the Torah remaining applicable. As long as this present universe continues, Torah will continue as the guideline for the Jewish people to live by. The period when Torah will be “forgotten” will be during the period of the resurrection. In other words, as long as the people have the same inclination as now, i.e. they are burdened with the evil urge, Torah will not be forgotten by them. Once they are free from the evil urge there is no need to remember Torah. At that time the only holiday which will still be celebrated will be that of Purim, (seeing that it came about as a reward for the Israelites who had done תשובה). The foregoing is based on a Midrash Mishlei 9, where the sages comment on the verse in Proverbs 9,2: טבחה טבחה, מסכה יינה, אף ערכה שלחנה, “she has slaughtered the meat, mixed her wine, she has also set her table.” The sages understand these words as describing the time when Queen Esther prepared the meal for the King and Haman. The words: “she also prepared her table,” which appear superfluous, mean that she prepared for the life in the hereafter as well as for that on earth when she took those fateful steps. The emphasis on this meal, i.e. a festive meal, is an allusion to the time in the future when all the festivals and their festive meals will be abolished, although the festive meal on Purim will not be abolished. This is the meaning of the words at the end of Megillat Esther 9,28: “and these days of Purim will not disappear and their memory (what occasioned them) will not be forgotten by the Jews or their offspring.”

כי ידעתי את יצרו, “for I am familiar with its basic inclination;” even if I did not possess knowledge of future events, I could draw valid conclusions of how they would behave, based on the past performance of this people.

And Moses wrote this song on that day and taught it to the children of Israel.

"On that day" — he did not delay the matter. And it is possible that it was the day of his death, after the writing of the words of the Torah, for the song Moses wrote along with it.

And He commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said: Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land that I swore to them, and My Word will be at your aid.

ויצו את יהושע בן נון AND HE COMMANDED JOSHUA THE SON OF NUN — This has to be connected with v. 14 above, and it refers to the Shechinah (to God; “He commanded” means “God commanded”), as it distinctly states here “[for thou shalt bring the children of Israel] into the land which “I” swore unto them, [and “I” will be with thee]”.

AND HE COMMANDED JOSHUA THE SON OF NUN. “This [pronoun ‘He’] refers to the Divine Presence [mentioned] above as it is explained [here], into the Land which I swore unto them; and I will be with thee.” This is Rashi’s language. He has explained it well. And in the opinion of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra: “And he commanded Joshua — that is, Moses [commanded] by order of G-d, and therefore he said, into the Land which I swore unto them.” Similarly we find that Moses said, And I will give the rain of your Land in its season. So also, And I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle. Likewise, that ye might know that I am the Eternal your G-d. And so also, The Eternal will send upon thee the scantiness etc. because of the evil doings, whereby thou hast forsaken Me. I have already discussed this.

ויצו את יהושע, at that time G’d appointed Joshua to be the leader. The expression ויצו used here has been used elsewhere to describe someone’s appointment, such as in Samuel I 25,30 וצוך לנגיד, “He appointed you as leader,” or Samuel II 7,11 צויתי שופטים, “I appointed judges.” There are more such examples in Scripture.

ויצו את יהושע, “He commanded Joshua;” The Lord commanded him (not Moses) These words refer to verse 14 in our chapter. אתה תביא כי, “for you are going to bring;” seeing that the people were not present at the time when G-d said these words to Joshua, G-d did not have to pay them a special compliment, as Moses had done in verse 7.

And it came to pass, when Moses had finished writing the words of this Torah upon a scroll, to their completion —

AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN MOSES HAD FINISHED WRITING [THE WORDS OF THIS LAW]. The meaning thereof is that, at first, he wrote the Law and delivered it unto the priests as is stated above, but he did not tell them where they were to put it. Afterwards he was commanded concerning this Song — he wrote it and taught it the children of Israel that same day, and thus added it to the Law. And it came to pass, when Moses had finished writing everything in the Book of the Law, then he commanded the priests, Take this Book of the Law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Eternal your G-d, meaning that it should remain in the ark at the side [of the Tablets], for henceforth they would not even touch it to add [thereto] or to diminish [from it]. This is the sense of the verse, And it came to pass, when Moses had finished writing [the words of this Law in a book] until they were completed. Therefore Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that [Seder] V’zoth Habrachah was [written] earlier, and its proper place is above as it is stated And Moses went and spoke these words unto all Israel. It is possible that after he wrote the Song and taught it the children of Israel one by one according to their tribes as he had them brought before him to the House of Learning, he wrote it in the Book of the Law and commanded the priests Take this Book of the Law, meaning that the Song too, should remain in the ark with the Law, for it is part of the Law since it is there as a testimony. Then Moses told them to assemble before him again — all the elders of the tribes and the officers — and that the people should join them, for so it is stated at the end, And Moses came and spoke all the words of this Song in the ears of the people. Now the priests did so and they assembled the entire people before him and he called heaven and earth to witness against them in assembly in the hearing of the priests and all the people. Then G-d, blessed be He, told him Get thee up into this mountain of Abarim. This he was bound to do immediately, and so he stood up and blessed them: ‘V’zoth Habrachah’ (And this is the blessing). He then wrote it at the end of the book which he gave to the priests. Then the priests did as he commanded them — they placed the complete book by the side of the ark of the covenant. Thus everything took place in the order stated in the Torah. Ha’azinu

"Until their completion" — this connects with the word "words."

על ספר עד תומם, together with the portions Haazinu and Vezot ha’brachah.

ויהי ככלות משה לכתוב, “When Moses had finished writing, etc.;” according to Nachmanides, Moses first wrote a Torah scroll which he handed to the priests as mentioned earlier, (verse 9) at which time he had not yet told them where to deposit that scroll. Following that, he had been commanded to commit the “song” to parchment, and he wrote it down and taught it to the Children of Israel on that very same day. He then added that section to the Torah scroll he had written previously. Having completed this, he issued the order to the priests to deposit the whole Torah scroll inside the Holy Ark next two the two Tablets with the Ten Commandments. From that moment on, neither the Tablets nor that Torah scroll were touched again, so as to preserve the text inviolate, no one being able to claim that anything had either been added or erased. This is why Ibn Ezra says that the last portion in our scrolls of the Torah, the portion known as וזאת הברכה, must have been written before the song portion in האזינו, immediately after the verse in our portion in which Moses announces that G’d had told him that the period of his leadership of the people was drawing to an end. When he took his leave from the people he also blessed them after announcing that he was about to die. Alternatively, it is possible that he went around to the people after he had completed writing the song in haazinu and took that opportunity to familiarize the people with it, each tribe separately. In that event, this song too would have been placed inside the Holy Ark, next to the original Torah scroll and the two Tablets. The “song” would serve as the witness that Moses had spoken about in This would correspond to 32,44 where Moses is reported as reading out the song before the assembled people, flanked by Joshua. The priests had assembled the people for that purpose. Immediately after that ceremony G’d told Moses (32,49) to ascend Mount Nebo in preparation for his departure from this world. Moses immediately complied with that order and began to dispense his final blessings to the various tribes. Having done so, he also committed these blessings to writing as an appendix to the Torah that he had already given to the priests in order for them to deposit it as a complete book next to the Tablets in the Holy Ark. If this had indeed been the procedure, it would correspond to the order in which matters are recorded in our version of the Torah.

Moses commanded the Levites who carry the Ark of the Covenant of Hashem, saying:

"And Moses commanded the Levites" — by a shortened expression, as though he said: the Levites previously mentioned, that is, the priests — not all the Levites, for not all of them handled the Ark. "And the meaning of 'bearers of the Ark of the covenant of Hashem'" — it is in the imperative sense, and there are many like it.

ויצו משה את הלוים, “Moses ordered the Levites, etc.” these are the Levites who had been mentioned in verse 9 as the “priests, who were the sons of the Levites;” Moses was not addressing the tribe of the Levites here. After all, the Levites at large were prohibited from touching the Holy Ark, much less carrying it.

Take this scroll of the Torah and place it at the side of the Ark of the Covenant of Hashem your God, and it shall be there as a witness against you.

לקח — The grammatical form and its meaning are the same as in (Exodus 20:8) זכור; (Deuteronomy 5:12) שמור; (Jeremiah 2:2) הלוך. מצד ארון ברית ה׳ [TAKE THIS BOOK OF THE LAW AND PUT IT] AT THE SIDE OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT OF THE LORD — The sages of Israel differ about it (the meaning of the phrase “at the side of the Ark”) in Treatise Bava Batra 14a. Some of them say: A board projected from the Ark outside it and there it (the song) lay, whilst others say that it lay at the side of the Tablets within the Ark.

"And it shall be there among you as a witness" — he is speaking to all Israel, the priests included among them, just as he spoke to Israel. Its meaning refers specifically to the Reubenites and the Gadites alone, as I have explained.

והיה שם בך לעד, the written Torah, reposing in the Holy Ark is witness that I have predicted and warned against your abandoning G’d and His Torah. This is why I arranged for this testimony to be preserved in a place accessible even to the High Priest only once a year on the Day of Atonement. This original copy of the written Torah will, if need be, prove that all that is written in all the Torah scrolls later and accessible to all the people all the time was a true copy of the Torah Moses had received from G’d at Mount Sinai. It will serve as proof that the Torah scrolls in circulation among the Torah scholars and the righteous people who commissioned copies for their private libraries, are all true to the original and do not contain additions or omissions. It would appear, however, that the Torah scroll found by the High Priest Chilkiyah (Kings II 22,8) was the very one which Moses had handed over to the priests who carried the Ark across the river Jordan which we referred to earlier. It contained only the passage dealing with the legislation pertaining to the king. It was this scroll in which Joshua wrote (added) the renewal of G’d’s covenant with the people which took place at Shechem. This was the record of Israel’s renewed undertaking to serve the Lord. Compare Kings II 22,13 where King Yoshiyahu refers to this scroll containing matters not contained in Moses’ original Torah scroll, as Joshua had written part of this scroll after the covenant’s renewal in Shechem. The King had become painfully aware how far the people had strayed from their solemn undertaking.

ושמתם אותו מצד ארון ברית ה' אלוקיכם, “you are to place it on the side of the Ark of the Covenant with the Lord your G’d.” It was to be placed inside the Ark, on the side of the Tablets. The verse refers to the text of the song in Haazinu. It should be deposited there next to the Torah scroll seeing that its text was part of the Torah. It was to remain there permanently.

לקח את ספר התורה הזה, “take this book of the Torah!” according to a Midrash, on this date, the seventh day of the month of Adar, Moses personally wrote 13 Torah scrolls one each for the twelve tribes. He read out of each one before each of the tribes passages of warning, exhorting them to observe the Torah meticulously. He read to the men and women separately, warning them to treasure their Torah scroll and protect it from all hazards. Moses took the thirteenth Torah scroll and deposited it in the Holy Ark next to the second set of Tablets. This interpretation is based on the text of this verse, which appears portray him as instructing the priests to do so, [as being “only” a Levite he had no access to the Holy Ark inside the tabernacle. Ed.] Other commentators suggest that the archangel Gavriel descended from the heavenly regions and took the thirteenth Torah scroll back with him to those regions. The reason for this was to acquaint the residents of those regions with the greatness of Moses. This exegesis is based on Deuteronomy 33,21: צדקת ה' עשה ומשפט עם ישראל, “He executed the righteousness of the Lord and His ordinances with Israel.” Not only this, but the righteous in those regions read from this Torah scroll every Monday and Thursday, every Sabbath and on every New Moon and the festivals. In the first chapter of the tractate Baba batra, folio 14 there is reported a dispute between Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehudah, about whether the Torah scroll was deposited inside the Holy Ark or next to it.

For I know your rebelliousness and your stiff neck. Behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious before Hashem — how much more so after my death.

"How much more so after my death" — for I know that after my death it will be so, because Hashem told me: "this people will rise up after you lie with your fathers" — and that is "after my death."

הן בעודני חי עמכם, "Behold even while I am still alive amongst you, etc." This again reminds us of what the Talmud stated in Berachot 18 that the righteous are called alive even after their bodies have died. When Moses mentions the words: "here when I am still alive amongst you," he did not imply that he would soon die, but that he would live in a different region of the universe, one which could not be described as עמכם, "amongst you." The Torah writes היום, "today," i.e. Moses hinting that the "amongst you" he spoke of refers only to the balance of the day on which he was addressing them. The plain meaning of the verse is that the word היום means עד היום, "until today." The reason that Moses referred to the people's acts of rebellion in the past tense, i.e. הייתם, was in case they had already repented of their sins at that very hour. We have been taught in Kidushin 49 that if someone betrothes a woman on the understanding that he (the groom) is a totally righteous person, and we are aware that until very shortly prior to that moment he was a thoroughly wicked person, the lady in question has to consider herself as betrothed as we assume the groom had resolved to become a perfect בעל תשובה at the time he asked her to accept the token of her betrothal to him.

Gather to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, and I will speak these words before them, and call heaven and earth to witness against them.

הקהילו אלי ASSEMBLE UNTO ME [ALL THE ELDERS OF YOUR TRIBE] — They did not, however, blow the trumpets that day to call the congregation together (as is prescribed in Numbers 10:3), because it states (Numbers 10:2) “Make for thee [two trumpets of silver]” (which Rashi explains to mean that no one should use them except himself), and he had not empowered Joshua to use them. Indeed they were hidden away even during his (Moses) lifetime — on the day of his death, thus fulfilling the words of the text, (Ecclesiastes 8:8) “There is no authority on the day of death” (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Vayechi 2 on ויחי and Midrash Tanchuma, Beha'alotcha 10 on בהעלתך). ואעידה בם את השמים ואת הארץ I WILL CALL THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AS WITNESSES AGAINST THEM — But if you ask, “Behold he has already above (Deuteronomy 30:19) called heaven and earth as witnesses: “I call [the heaven and the earth] as witnesses this day against you etc.”?! Then I reply: There he said this to the Israelites (he told them that He would do this), but now he intends to say (Deuteronomy 32:1) “Give ear, O ye heavens, [and I will speak; and hear earth] etc.”, thus calling them as witnesses.

ואדברה באזניהם את הדברים האלה, the words of poetry contained in the portion Haazinu. ואעידה בם את השמים ואת הארץ, just as we read in the opening words of that poem in 32,1.

ואעידה בם את השמים ואת הארץ, “and I will appoint as witnesses against them Heaven and Earth.” Here Moses actually appointed Heaven and Earth as witnesses, while earlier (in verse 30.19) he merely told the Jewish people that these would be witnesses against them.

הקהילו אלי, “Assemble to me, etc.” According to Tanchuma Vayechi 2, on this day Moses did not blow in the trumpets to assemble the people (elders) as was customary, and as Moses had been commanded to do in Numbers 10,2. The trumpets were for the exclusive use of Moses; they were never used by Joshua, but buried during the lifetime of Moses. This was in order to fulfill the statement of Kohelet 8,5 that on the day of one’s death one does not have authority. Seeing this was the day Moses was to die, he did not employ symbols of his authority. Blowing the shofar or the trumpets was a symbol of the authority wielded by the one who blew them or had them blown. ואעידה בכם את השמים ואת הארץ, “so that I may call upon heaven and earth as witness against you.” Concerning this introductory statement, Moses continued with the words: האזינו השמים וגו' in chapter 32, 1. At this point he merely pointed out that heaven and earth would put their seal on his words at the end of the song in Haazinu. He invited heaven and earth to be present so that at the end of Haazinu they would be in a position to “sign” the document, much as witnesses to documents prepared in court are present during the preparation of the document so that they know what they are signatories to. He had made a similar statement earlier in 30,19. All of these passages were written on the same day. We have a halachah (Maimonides Hilchot Sefer Torah 7,3) that the words ואעידה, etc., have to be written at the top of the column in which the chapter commencing with the song האזינו השמים ואדברה commences. This would be the concluding letter (acronym) of the two words ב)י'ה שמ'ו), which are scattered throughout the Torah as letters which have to be written at the top of a column, i.e. the first letter of a verse respectively. Compare Genesis 49,8, Exodus 14,28; Exodus 34,11; Numbers 24,5, and our verse here commencing with the letter ו in the word ואעידה. I have already referred to this in Parshat Beshalach 14,28 in connection with the word הבאים. The letter ו in the word ואעידה is an allusion to the same letter in the tetragram. It is symbolic of the “heaven” which Moses said he is calling as witness.

For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the path that I commanded you, and evil will befall you at the end of days, because you will do what is evil before Hashem, to provoke before Him through the deeds of your hands.

אחרי מותי כי השחת תשחתון [FOR I KNOW THAT] AFTER MY DEATH YE WILL UTTERLY CORRUPT YOURSELVES — But, you see, as a matter of fact, that all the days of Joshua they did not corrupt themselves, for it states, (Judges 2:7) “And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua”?! (How, then, could Moses say that they would corrupt themselves after his death, by which he evidently meant immediately after his death, cf. v. 16)? But we may derive from here that one’s pupil should be as dear to him as his own self: — it appeared to Moses that so long as Joshua would live it would be as though he himself would be living (he thus alluded by the words “after my death” to a period after Joshua’s death).

"And the meaning of 'and it shall befall you'" — it is like "and you have sinned against your people," and that is explained there.

כי ידעתי, in the course of that song (poem) I will reveal that I know how you will act so that the evil, if and when it befalls you, will not be perceived as “bad luck,” as coincidence, but can be traced back to my warnings. Once you realise and admit hat you had become guilty of a corrupt way of life, you will repent and turn to G’d in sincere remorse. Compare Isaiah 48,5 ואגיד לך מאז, בטרם תבוא השמעתיך, פן תאמר עצבי אשם, “Therefore I told you long beforehand, announced things to you before they happened, that you might not say: “my idol caused them.”

אחרי מותי . It is a historical fact that during the life time of Joshua and the elders of his time who survived him, the Jewish people remained absolutely loyal to G-d and His Torah. (Joshua 24,31)

אחרי מותי כי השחת תשחתון, “after my death, that you will become very corrupt, etc.” History shows that during all of the years when Joshua was in charge of the people they did not become corrupt but remained loyal to the Torah. This fact is specifically attested to near the end of the Book of Joshua (Joshua 24,31) “the people served Hashem all the days of Joshua as well as during all of the days of the elders who lived longer than Joshua.” Our sages derive from this verse that “a teacher treasures his disciple as much as he treasures his own body,” (loves himself) seeing that as long as Joshua was alive, Moses had the feeling that he himself was still alive. The corruption Moses speaks of here is the practice of idolatry (Temurah 28). This is also what he had in mind when he said: “to anger Him with your handiwork.” Moses had a prophetic vision of the idolatry which would be practiced during the period of the first Temple.

And Moses spoke before all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, to their completion.

את דברי השירה הזאת עד תומם, including 32,36 כי ידין and כי אשא in 32,40, although those verses are not strictly speaking, part of Moses’ warning and testimony.

את דברי השירה הזאת, “the words of this song;” this is a reference to the next portion, Haazinu, the major part of which consists of Moses’ parting song/poem to his nation. The subject is that G-d had provided for them in the desert as well as in the land of Israel, and how in spite of this they would forsake Him and be exiled, until eventually they would be redeemed from exile.

את דברי השירה הזאת עד תומם, “the words of this song until their conclusion.” This is a reference to the song Haazinu which commences with the next verse. Seeing that Moses referred to his speech as a שירה, “song or poem,” this is the reason that it must always be written and read in the manner one writes and reads a poem. Our sages in the Sifri Haazinu 333 state that some of the greatness of a שירה is that it deals not only with the past and the present but also deals with aspects of the future, the world to come. Tanchuma asks why the שירה which is in the past tense is completely in the feminine gender, whereas the parts referring to the future have been written in the masculine gender? The answer given is that just as a woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth normally repeats the process again and again, so past redemptions and salvations of the Jewish people resulted in renewed exiles. Not so with the redemption of the future which will be absolute, final, not to be followed by any further exiles. This is why the prophet uses the masculine term שיר instead of the feminine term שירה, when he speaks of the future. Compare Isaiah 26,1: ביום ההוא יושר השיר הזה בארץ יהודה, עיר עז לנו ישועה ישית חומות וחל, “on that day, this song shall be sung in the land of Yehudah; “ours is a mighty city; He makes victory our inner and outer wall.” Another verse conveying a similar message is found in Psalms 98,1: שירו לה' שיר חדש כי נפלאות עשה, הושיעה לו ימינו וזרועו קדשו, “Sing to the Lord, a new song, for He has worked wonders; His right hand, His holy arm has won Him victory.”