Shabbat Parashat Ki Tavo - 5782

Shabbat Parashat Ki Tavo - 5782

Rabbi Hal Miller

Moshe summoned all of Israel and said to them, you have seen everything

that Hashem did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all

his slaves and to all his land. [Devarim 29:1]

Moshe has been speaking to the whole nation all along. Why does our verse now

tell us that he summoned all of Israel in order to speak to them?

Rav Hirsch tells us that up to now, Moshe was speaking to all of the people who

were before him. Now he specifically singles out those who will be going forward

into the land, the men between 40 and 60, women, and those born in the desert

who are still below 40. But this is difficult since our verse says, "you have seen

everything that God did before your eyes in the land of Egypt", but many of these

people were not there or were not old enough to recognize what they saw.

Onkelos sees this verse as somewhat out of chronological order. He says it refers

back to 28:69 where Moshe was speaking to the people in Moav and Choreiv,

and he is now addressing those same people to review what he told them then.

Ramban sort of sidesteps the question. He says that Moshe's comments coming

up are directed to the same people as those just completed, and that it is all

connected.

Rashi gives two alternative scenarios regarding the covenant situation. In the first

he says that God's instructions prior to our verse meant that it had taken Moshe

the past forty years to understand the covenant in 28:69 that God had sealed in

Moav and the one in Chorev, and Rashi, based on the Ri and Tosafot, draws various

inferences from this time length. The second alternative is that, although Moshe

understood what God had done, the people had not. From this latter view perhaps

we can draw the conclusion that Moshe, at this point, is calling to the people to

awaken and understand the covenants they hold with God. All of Rashi's learned

laws would still apply, such as a student not properly understanding the teachings

of his rebbi until he had reviewed them for forty years. Now that forty years had

passed since the covenants were sealed, the time was ripe for the people to

understand them, especially as Moshe's career was about to end.