Shabbat Parashat Ki Tavo - 5784

Shabbat Parashat Ki Tavo - 5784

Rabbi Hal Miller

   Moshe and the elders of Israel commanded the people saying, keep the

   entire commandment that I command you this day. [Devarim 27:1]

This verse, and verses 27:9-10 to follow, seem to switch back and forth

between singular and plural. Who is doing the commanding, to whom, and

what is being commanded?

To break apart this verse, 'Moshe' is singular, the 'elders of Israel' is plural. The

word 'commanded' as written could be either singular or plural depending on

context. 'Saying' is singular, 'keep' is singular, 'that I command" is singular, 'you'

is plural. In 27:9-10 ("Moshe and the Kohanim, the Leviim, spoke to all Israel

saying, be attentive and hear, O Israel. This day you have become a people to

Hashem your God. You shall listen to the voice of Hashem your God and you

shall perform all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today")

the words 'hear', 'spoke', 'you', and 'your' are singular.

We could explain that Moshe was speaking to the people as a whole, thus we

would refer to "the people" as a singular unit. But the verse is not consistent with

that approach.

As to what is being commanded, the verse indicates "entire commandment", to which

Ramban explains, "they should warn the people to observe all the commandments"

meaning the entire Torah. This certainly makes sense given the context in which the

verse is found. Perhaps this will help us understand who is commanding and who is

being commanded.

Moshe has been, and remains, the voice commanding the people in all the mitzvot,

repeating what God gave him. This explains who is doing the commanding here,

being Moshe. So how do we understand the phrases "the elders of Israel" and "the

Kohanim the Leviim"? Sforno gives two explanations, "God co-opted the elders

seeing it was they who would stand at Mount Gerizim and Mount Eival and not Moshe"

to the first verse, and to the second, "Moshe co-opted the Kohanim to caution them on

the importance of studying the Torah in depth." Ramban says, "that after Moshe

completed his words, he commanded the elders that they too should speak alongside

him and they should warn the people to observe" the Torah, since "every nation follows

the counsel of its elders". Thus the one commanding is Moshe, and the elders are there

to reinforce his words.

The question of who is being commanded can be understood as follows. Moshe was

speaking to everyone in general, but specifically commanding each individual separately

for that individual to follow the commandments that Moshe gave to the entire nation. Each

Jew is responsible for carrying out the Torah, and also for assisting the rest of the nation

to do so as well. As Rav Hirsch puts it, "Each is separately and collectively responsible for it."

Every Jew is responsible for all the rest of the nation, whether in charity, in national defense,

or in the other laws such as returning lost objects or integrity in business dealings. We all

succeed together or not at all.