Ohr Torah: Weekly Torah Portion

Parshat Devarim

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
Ohr Torah Institutions Weekly Torah Portion
Parshat Devarim

Efrat --In many ways the Book of Deuteronomy is unique.Unlike the rest of the Bible, which generally surges forward in its passionate account of law and lore, Deuteronomy seems to take a step backward, as it were, a repetition and a review of a significant number of elements that we've seen before. Many of the commandments presented in the Fifth Book of the Torah do not appear here for the first time -starting of course with the Ten Commandments. Similarly, Moses' exhortations to the Israelites recall for us specific events, an encapsulated history of the Jewish people in the desert. In fact, Deuteronomy is the Latin translation of the phrase 'Mishne Torah,' which is what the Sages called the Fifth Book, and literally means 'second torah, or repeated torah'. We are in the domain of going over the past, a reiteration made all the more prominent by the fact that no fewer than 200 commandments are cited in the Book of Deuteronomy.

Indeed, it is this issue of commandments which Nahmanides addresses in his introduction to Deuteronomy in an attempt to understand the function and purpose of this Fifth Book of the Torah. Given that the closing verse of the previous book of Numbers records that the commandments had been given by G d to Moses in the plains of Moab, [Num. 36:13] why should Moses then wait until a future point in time to introduce them to more commandments, which the Torah records as follows: "These are the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel beyond the Jordan..." [Deut. 1:1]

Nahmanides explains that the contents of the book of Deuteronomy can only be understood within the backdrop of the fact that it was presented to the nation not during their desert wanderings but only when they were finally ready to enter the promised land. In addition to the "many admonitions regarding idolatry," - an inevitable temptation once the nation would find itself surrounded by paganistic cultures - Nahmanides sees the non-idolatry oriented commandments presented in Deuteronomy from two perspectives. First we have those commandments which deal with the current reality of the Israelites about to enter the land, a new set of circumstances necessitating the introduction of those commands specifically dependent on the land - like the first fruits and the tithes. The second grouping includes commandments which may have been presented earlier, but the new reality of the entry into the Promised Land gives them an added dimension of significance.

Two interesting examples which confirm Nahmanides' premise were suggested by Rabbi Isaac Bernstein, z'l, of London. The commandment to recite the Grace After Meals is first found in the Book of Deuteronomy: "And you shall eat and be satisfied and give thanks to the Lord your G-d for the good land which He has given you (Deuteronomy 8)". Now the Sages of the Talmud mention that this blessing was composed by Moses himself at the time when the manna descended for them [Israelites], [B.T. Brakhot 48b]". The inevitable question is why the delay? If Moses composed the blessing back in Exodus at the start of the long sojourn in the desert, why is it that only now in Deuteronomy do we hear about a commandment to recite Grace After Meals?

On the basis of the Nahmanidean distinction between desert commandments and land -of -Israel commandments, the reason is quite obvious. In the desert, food literally poured down from heaven in the form of manna; obviously there was no need to command thanking G-d for the food - since it was clear to all that without Divine intervention and heavenly supply the Israelites would long have perished from hunger in the desert!

But once the manna stopped descending from heaven, the relationship to sustenance would invariably change. In the land of Israel, where the nation would now be tilling the soil, seeding, sowing, reaping, harvesting, grinding, and baking the process from planting the first seed in the earth to the final kneading of the dough would be so long and arduous that inevitably there would be those who'd fall sway to the belief that their own determination, persistence and hard work were the only catalysts necessary to get the bread on the table. "And you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth." [Deut. 8:17]

Exchange the word 'wealth' for bread, and we have the farmer or consumer , for that matter, who's forgotten the true source of his material possessions, attributing no part whatsoever to the hand of G-d. Thus to a post-desert generation, suddenly exposed to a new feeling of the earth changing under their plows, the need for the commandment to recite the Grace After Meals couldn't be more appropriate. After all, its the Grace After Meals which prevents the sin of hubris from overtaking humanity, preventing flesh - and - blood mortals from taking full and exclusive credit for worldly sustenance.

Nahmanides' second category addresses those commandments which appeared earlier in the Torah, but whose slightly altered appearance in Deuteronomy adds a new layer of meaning. The example given by Rabbi Bernstein is the fourth commandment concerning the sanctification of the Sabbath.

As we know, in the Book of Exodus, the Torah introduces the subject of the Sabbath with the language of 'remembrance' (zakhor), "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." [Ex. 20:8], whereas in Deuteronomy, however, the language of 'observance' is used, "Observe [shamor] the Sabbath day to keep it holy." [Deut. 5:12]

The continued language of the two texts themselves provide the key by which we can discern the difference between 'zakhor' and 'shamor.' In Exodus we read... "For in six days G d made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day." [Ex. 20:11]

In the desert, where manna was provided and there was no need for the Israelites to do any sort of work to sustain themselves, then remembering that G d had created the universe during the primordial six days was the central purpose for making the seventh day holy; hence the key word is 'remember' (zakhor).

However, since the second set of the Ten Commandments comes in the Book of Deuteronomy, relating to the Israelites about to enter the land of Israel wherein they will have to engage in agricultural and industrial labor to secure their basic livelihood, then the major message of the Sabbath becomes:" You shall do no manner of physical creativity, not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your man-servant nor your maid-servant nor the stranger who is within your gates...... in order that they may rest like you (DT. 5:14)". Here the key word is observe, shamor, which implies negative prohibitions, rabbinic decrees which protect or guard (shamor, mishmeret) the basic laws. Indeed, Maimonides deduces from these very words "in order that they may rest" that it is prohibited to move around one's furniture on the Sabbath even within the home, that we are enjoined from physical exertion even though such activity may not involve a technical Sabbath violation - because we must experience an obvious period of relaxation (shvita nikeret) on the Sabbbath day (Mishneh Torah, Laws of the Sabbath, 24,12). Obviously such additional prohibitions , serving as a protective fence (mishmeret) around the Torah, pertained specifically to Israeli life post desert experience, when the necessities of physical labor threatened to undermine the desired goal of Sabbath peace.

This very structure of Deuteronomy as a repository for 200 commandments which were either entirely new or which had to be slightly altered because of the new reality of the entry into the land, may very well have provided us with a model for our oral law. Just as there were some commandments which were not given to the Israelites until they would actually apply to them, so in the course of the nation's long history there must be room for the Sages of each generation to interpret the Torah in a way which addresses those issues at the time that they emerge.

Electricity was unknown before Thomas Edison. When scientific or political realities redefine the needs of societies, the torah sages within the societies must rule whether or not the prohibition against kindling a fire or building a structure include electricity.

The initial commandments of the Bible were communicated to the desert generation; new laws, and additional interpretation of the old laws, were written in the Book of Deuteronomy for the generation entering Israel. Torah must have the capacity to speak to its generation as well as to every generation. This cannot happen without our ability to continually interpret and apply the Biblical words. Moses is the great interpretator in the Book of Deuteronomy. But Moses is not only G-d's agent; he is also the forerunner of Biblical interpreters within the rubric of the Oral Law for all subsequent generations.

Mishneh Torah, the name commonly given to Deuteronomy, becomes the name of Maimonides' major work of halacha, a codification of the vast material of the Oral Law. Thus in a metaphoric sense, the Book of Deuteronomy serves as the model for the meeting point between the Written Law and the Oral Law, where Sinai meets the horizons of the future.

Shabbat Shalom

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