YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
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INTRODUCTION TO PARASHAT HASHAVUA

Parashat VAYELEKH

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This shiur is dedicated in memory of Sarit Amrani, HY"D. Refuah sheleimah to her husband, Shai. He, their children and extended family should no know more sorrow. HaMakom yenakhem etkhem be-tokh she'ar avelei Tzion veYerushalayim.
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The Commandment to Perpetuate the Torah and its Text
By Rabbi Michael Hattin

Introduction

In an unusual departure from typical years, the two parashiyot of Nitzavim and Vayelekh are this year read independently.  Last year (and most years), the two were combined as a single reading on the Shabbat between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, but this year the Parasha of Nitzavim preceded Rosh HaShana, while the Parasha of Vayelekh is chanted on the so-called 'Shabbat Shuva', the 'Sabbath of Return' that falls between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur.  

The determining factor in the arrangement of these two parashiyot is the day of the week on which Rosh HaShana falls.  Tradition asserts that the Parasha of Nitzavim, with its resonant message of repentance and return, is to be read before Rosh HaShana, the Day of Judgement that inaugurates the season of Teshuva.  When Rosh Hashana falls on Monday or Tuesday, as it does this year, then there is one Sabbath between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, which falls ten days later on either Wednesday or Thursday.  There is an additional Sabbath between Yom Kippur and the festival of Succot, which falls five days after Yom Kippur, on either Monday or Tuesday.  These two Shabbatot therefore necessitate the division of Nitzavim-Vayelekh into two readings, in order to accommodate them both.  

On the other hand, when Rosh HaShana falls on a Thursday, so that Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat and displaces the usual Parasha reading with its own special section, or if Rosh Hashana itself occurs on Shabbat with similar results, then there is only a single 'unattached' Shabbat that precedes Succot, and there is therefore no reason to split up the double Parasha into its two component sections.       

A Message of Courage, Hope and Permanence

In any case, with the reading of these sections, we are now nearing the conclusion of Sefer Devarim, and of the entire Torah.  Moshe has completed his review and explication of the mitzvot, he has assembled the whole people of Israel in order to reenact the Sinaitic Covenant, and he has anxiously enjoined upon them to faithfully observe the tenets of the Torah.  Now he is ready to die, as the leadership of the Israel is formally transferred to his faithful and steadfast student, Yehoshua.  Preparing to take his leave for the last time and cognizant of the awesome challenges that loom ahead, Moshe heartens the people and Yehoshua with the same stirring charge: 'Be strong and courageous, do not be fearful or afraid' (Devarim 31:6-7).

With the completion of the Torah text, Moshe entrusts the precious scroll to the hands of the Cohanim and the Elders.  That remarkable moment is marked by the introduction of the commandment of 'Hakhel' or 'Assembly'.  Once in seven years, as the agricultural cycle begins anew and the people prepare to celebrate the festival of Succot, the entire nation is to gather as one in order to hear a public reading of the Book of Devarim at the 'place that God will choose' (Devarim 31:11).  

The event of Hakhel, incorporating reading, study and exhortation, encompassing in its wide embrace the men, women, and children, mirrors and perpetuates the overwhelming experience of the Revelation at Sinai.  There too, the entire people of Israel came together at the foot of the mountain to witness the awesome spectacle of God's teachings being proclaimed, to hear the thunderous pronouncement of His Decalogue.  In order to sustain the sublimity of that moment and to communicate to future generations an inkling of its grandeur, the command of 'Assembly' is introduced, significantly at this turning point of the people's history.  There are events and ideas, the extraordinary ones, that outlast the individual and live on in the memory of a people not as remote and timeworn events, but rather as living truths.   The generation of the Exodus may have already expired and Moshe is soon to follow in their footsteps, but the 'word of our Lord will endure forever' (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 40:8).

The Writing of the 'Song'

As Moshe completes his proclamation of the command of Hakhel, God instructs him to summon Yehoshua and to stand with him at the Tent of Meeting in order to receive His word.  As the two listen attentively, God spells out in ominous language the future infidelity of the people, their inevitable descent into idolatry, their abrogation of the Covenant of the Torah, and the portentous prospect of Divine inaccessibility: "I will surely hide My face on that day because of the wickedness that they have done, for they have turned to other gods…" (Devarim 31:18).  The testimony to that eventuality, as well as the eternal hope that the people will one day return, is embodied in the twice-stated injunction that follows: "Now therefore write this Song, and teach it to the people of Israel so that they know it be heart, in order that this Song shall serve as My witness against them.  For when I bring them to the land that I swore to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey, and they shall eat, drink and wax fat, then they shall turn to other gods and worship them, thus abrogating My covenant to anger Me.  When many great tribulations and troubles befall them, then this Song shall serve as witness, for it will never be forgotten from among their descendants…" (Devarim 31:19-21).

A number of salient themes are stated in this critical passage.  Yehoshua is about to assume leadership of the people, and Moshe will die.  The former will successfully bring them into the land and they will settle it and enjoy its bounty, but many will be the dangers that lurk in its verdant valleys and on its terraced hilltops.  The widespread idolatry of the Canaanites, its alluring and licentious rites bereft of any higher responsibilities, its polytheistic relativism numbingly soothing in its dearth of any ethical demands, will prey on the people of Israel, and they will slowly succumb to its spells.  Drunk with material success and excess, they will embrace the corrupt worship and the vacuous values of their erstwhile foes.  The holy and precious covenant struck with the God of Israel, their singular destiny to be His treasured nation and to serve as an exemplar to all of humanity, will be discarded and forgotten.  God Himself will withdraw His providential care and their fate will be no different than that of the inhabitants of any other small and insignificant country: almost certain extinction.  

God, however, provides the people with the possibility of recovery, the glimmer of restoration and the hope of return.  The people of Israel will maintain a tenuous hold on human history, to survive and to one day fulfill their mission, as long as a remnant remembers the 'Song' and is able to transmit it further across the generations.  There is much discussion among the commentaries concerning the identity of this 'Song', and most see it as a reference to next week's Torah reading, the Song of 'Haazinu', Moshe's eloquent and poetic outline of Jewish history.  That poem's resonant words portend Israel's national success inevitably followed by their abrogation of the Covenant, their subsequent exile, dispersion, and dreadful torment among the nations, until such time as Israel finally remembers its exalted calling.  The Song of Haazinu then concludes with the promise of the people's eventual vindication, as God metes out justice to their oppressors and restores them to their land.  It is not difficult to see how their safekeeping of such a startling vision, borne out exactly by the unfolding events of their history, might help sustain a people, even in the absence of their possessing any other meaningful connection to the very heritage that gave rise to it.

The Command to Write a Torah Scroll

Notwithstanding this straightforward and eminently plausible reading of the commentaries, earlier sources identified this 'Song' with the entire text of the Torah, and saw in the command to preserve it the final instruction of the Torah: to write a Torah scroll.  "Rabba said: even if a person had inherited a Torah scroll from his parents, it is nevertheless an obligation for him to write his own, as the verse states 'now therefore write this Song' (Talmud Bavli, Tractate Sanhedrin 21b).  A parallel source echoes this sentiment: "Rabbi Yehoshua bar Abba said in the name of Rav Giddel, who stated in Rav's name: One who purchases a Torah scroll in the marketplace has snatched for himself a mitzvah.  If he himself writes it, however, it is considered as if he had received it from Mount Sinai.  Rav Sheshet added: if he corrected even a single deficient letter, it is as if he had written the scroll in its entirety" (Talmud Bavli, Tractate Menachot 30a).

The early medieval authorities already discussed the practical ramifications of this commandment, and arrived at some novel conclusions.  The 14th century German scholar, Rabbenu Asher ben Yechiel, who wrote a useful compendium of Talmudic law that is still regarded as a standard text, said the following: "The mitzvah to write a Torah scroll was applicable in earlier generations when people studied the text from the actual scroll.  Nowadays, however, when the Torah scroll is written and then deposited in the synagogue ark for the liturgical purpose of public readings, it is a positive mitzvah upon every Jew who has the means to write the text of the Pentateuch, the Mishna, the Talmud and their commentaries in order to study from them, as well as their children. The purpose of the command to write a Torah scroll was to facilitate the study of Torah, as the verse states: 'teach it to Bnei Yisrael until they know it by heart'.  It is through the study of the Talmud and its commentaries that one comes to in fact know the explanation of the mitzvot and the laws.  These then are the books that one is commanded to write…" (commentary to Tractate Menachot 30a, paragraph 1).

Facilitating Torah Study

Significantly, for Rabbenu Asher, the command to write a Torah scroll is not only or even primarily an injunction to formally copy out the text of the Torah after the manner of the scribe.  Rather, it is to provide the necessary groundwork for the direct study of Torah to be accomplished.  Since in earlier times the Torah scroll was itself the primary text that was studied, the Torah therefore spoke of 'writing the Song'.  Later, however, the initially oral traditions that had been associated with and sometimes generated through the direct study of the text of the scroll, themselves developed into written sources such as the Mishna and the Talmud.  The Torah scroll itself was no longer needed for direct study and instead became redefined as a purely liturgical object that was publicly read at set times.  

Therefore, argues Rabbenu Asher, since the commandment to write the Torah is really a command to provide texts to facilitate study, the mitzvah of 'writing a scroll' is no longer to be understood as enjoining a scribal exercise with its precise requirements concerning parchment, ink, quill and highly specialized lettering.  Rather, it is the mitzvah to write or to secure all manner of appropriate texts for Torah study, be they Pentateuchal or Mishnaic, in scroll form or as folios, handwritten or printed.  Of course, Rabbenu Asher was active before the invention of the printing press, when all texts were precious commodities because they were hand written.  But his emphasis is not on the 'writing' of the text per se, but rather on making it available FOR THE PURPOSE OF STUDY.  

The position of Rabbenu Asher is eminently reasonable.  It has the added advantage of absolving people from undertaking the onerous task of studying the scribal arts and transcribing a Torah scroll, a process that takes even accomplished scribes up to a year to complete.  Significantly, to adopt Rabbenu Asher's position is to single out Torah study as a highly unusual and precious mitzvah, for where else does the Torah regard the necessary foundations of a mitzvah as a separate mitzvah act?  

Thinking for a moment of other 'scribal' commands, the Torah enjoins the placing of a mezuza upon one's doorposts (see Devarim 6:9).  It is obviously understood that in order to place a mezuza, one must first write one, but the Torah does not consider the inscribing of the mezuza to be separate mitzvah act in its own rite.  For a more timely example, consider the mitzvah of sounding the shofar on Rosh HaShana.  Here again, although it is the case that one cannot possibly sound a shofar unless one first prepares the animal horn in an appropriate manner, the Torah does not regard those preparations as a separate mitzvah but simply as a prerequisite.  It must therefore be the case that the mitzvah of Torah study is so paramount, that even the steps necessary to provide the required texts are enjoined by the Torah as freestanding mitzvah acts.

A Contrasting View and the Basis of Rabbenu Asher's Ruling

It must be pointed out that in contrast to Rabbenu Asher, other authorities such as the Rambam (Maimonides, 12th century, Egypt) rule that the mitzvah introduced in this week's reading is to write a scroll of the Torah as does a scribe, just as the straightforward reading of the Talmudic sources indicates.  Rambam makes no provision for the fulfillment of this mitzvah through the acquisition or commissioning of other Torah texts: "It is a positive command for each Jew to write a Torah scroll for themselves…if he actually writes it, it is like he received it form Har Sinai.  If, however, he is not proficient enough to write it himself, then a scribe may write it for him…" (Laws of Sefer Torah 7:1).

What could be the Scriptural source for Rabbenu Asher's inventive opinion, an interpretation that was incorporated into subsequent codes of law as normative?  Recall that earlier incidents in the Parasha included the formal transfer of leadership to Yehoshua, the completion of the Torah text, the commandment of 'Assembly', and the injunction of writing the 'Song' as the key to ensuring the survival of a remnant.  Clearly, the thrust of all of the above is the notion of perpetuating the Torah's teachings as living laws that are transmitted to subsequent generations, with all of the exhilaration of the experience at Sinai.   Really, says Rabbenu Asher, the study of Torah is qualitatively different, for it alone can guarantee the continued existence of the Jewish people.  Through the study of its laws and instructions, the people of Israel can yet achieve their destiny.  The continuity that the Torah craves can be guaranteed, by ensuring that the texts needed for its study are always available and accessible.  

The existence of the Torah scrolls that fill many a synagogue ark will not ensure the survival of the Jewish people, says Rabbenu Asher.  One scroll more or one scroll less, when those scrolls themselves cannot serve as study texts, will not generate more Torah learning, the lifeblood of Israel.  Only the ongoing devotion to the STUDY of the text, an activity that has always been regarded as defining in Jewish tradition, can ensure its eternity, and for that study to take place, appropriate texts must be available.  The PROVISION of those texts therefore becomes the independent mitzvah act of facilitating study, for the future of Israel as a faith community and a nation depends upon it.  Therefore, "write this Song, and teach it to the people of Israel so that they know it be heart, in order that this Song shall serve as My witness against them."

Shabbat Shalom