Shabbat Parashat Devarim - 5786

Shabbat Parashat Devarim - 5786

Rabbi Hal Miller

  These are the words that Moshe spoke to all Israel, across the Jordan, in the

  wilderness, in the Plain, opposite the [Sea of] Reeds, between Paran and Tophel

  and Lavan, and Chatzerot and Di-Zahav. [Devarim 1:1]

What are "the words", why does it tell us "that Moshe spoke to all Israel", and why does it list all these places?

Rav Hirsch addresses our first question, "these are the words refers to the whole of the contents of this fifth book ... all that Moshe had still to tell the people." Ramban understands the words more specifically as "referring to the commandments that he will mention throughout the entire Book". Onkelos translates it as "these are the matters--the history" and he calls this book by the Jewish name Mishneh Torah, repetition of the Torah, rather than the Christian-given name of Devarim, thus to him the book deals with commandments specifically, as Ramban wrote. Malbim says that our verse means "Moshe began to make explicit this Torah, saying", and that the word Devarim refers to the lengthy lectures Moshe gave in the desert rather than just words in general. Rashi explains the verse means "words of rebuke", but Malbim's approach is that the concentration is on commandments rather than rebuke. Sfas Emes agrees to this, asking why Moshe would be rebuking the people standing before him at this point, as they were not the generation that had sinned in the desert.

Why does the Torah specify "that Moshe spoke to all Israel"? Who else would he be speaking to? Certainly he might have spoken to some subgroup, but since his mission was to spread the Torah to all Israel, that would not make sense. Rashi tells us that if Moshe rebuked some but not all, those not present would later come back and say that had they been there, they could have argued against Moshe's rebuke, so Moshe had to collect and speak to all of the people. Talelei Oros explains that this is meant to teach Israel to defend itself against future claims of other peoples who reject the idea that the land belongs to the Jews. Thus all Jews need to be in on understanding what Moshe is saying, throughout all future generations and "all Israel" is not limited to just those alive at the time in front of him.

Rashi says that the list includes some places where the people had done wrong, plus references to some things they had done wrong. The verse after ours gives a general location, the path from Choreiv to Mount Seir to Kadeish Barnea. Rashi notes that the verse seems to say that this lecture was given in the wilderness, but it is known that they were not at that time in the wilderness, rather in the plains of Moav, thus "in the wilderness" must refer to where some of these wrongs occurred. Further, there are no places named Tophel or Lavan, so these also must refer to wrongs done. Kol Dodi understands the list to be places or events where the people angered God.