Shabbos Parashas Vayeilech/Shuvah - 5779

Shabbos Parashas Vayeilech/Shuvah - 5779

Rabbi Hal Miller

So now, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel

Devarim [31:19]

Three times in our parsha, the Torah seems to indicate that Moshe sat down to write

out the Torah. Did he do so three times, or only one? Verse 31:9 says, "Moshe wrote this

Torah and gave it to the Kohanim", then after our verse in 31:24 the Torah tells us that

"So it was that when Moshe finished writing the words of this Torah onto a book until their

completion". What's more, back in Shemos 34:27, "G-d said to Moshe, write these words

for yourself."

Most of the discussion in the commentaries concentrates on precisely what Moshe

wrote, whether it was just the 'song' of Ha'azinu, whether the book of Devarim, or the

entire five books of the Torah. Many ask about the last eight lines of the Torah, which

clearly appear to have been written after Moshe's death. Many explanations are given.

But we can also ask about timing. Exactly when did Moshe sit down, stylus in hand, and

do whatever it was he may have done?

Rashi notes on this question, "When all of it was completed he gave it to the members

of his tribe." Rashi follows the line of thinking that verses in the Torah may be out of

chronological order in many instances, meaning here that Moshe gave it to the Leviim

only later, not now. Using this approach, one needs to look at each of these verses to

figure out why the Torah gave it in addition to the others, especially if the timing is not

to be an issue, and certainly many commentators do exactly that.

Onkelos explains that each of these 'writings' was only of the portion of the Torah that

had already occurred to Moshe and the people, up to the very last eight verses of

V'zot Ha'Berachah. Rav Hirsch follows this direction, and explains why each of these

instances appears. In particular, he shows that our parsha is specifically introducing

Yehoshua to the people as their true new leader. He says that the end of the Torah

was jointly written between the two leaders.

Ramban gives numerous positions, mostly similar to many others, but he has one

alternative I thought interesting. He says that Moshe wrote the entire Torah up to the

time he was about to die (the last eight verses), then died up on the mountain, but

was then brought back for one more session to write those last eight.

It would seem from a survey of opinions that Moshe wrote the entire Torah, with the

possible exception of the last eight verses, but not necessarily all at one time. He

may have given it to the Kohanim to carry, but took it back to add to it as needed.

We know that he wrote many copies, including the 70 languages, etc., so he must

have been busy updating them all each time.