This Week In Wisdom, Turning The Mundane Into The Sacred, Uncategorized / 20 Sep 2022

Why do we need Moses to keep talking?

According to the commentator, Nachmanides, Moses finishes reviewing the commandments and stipulations of the Torah by Deuteronomy 26:16. This already comes most of the way through a book of the Torah that some commentators view as a recapitulation of the other four books – and which some contemporary scholars view as a later addition altogether. So why are we here, three chapters after the most generous reading of the Book of Deuteronomy indicates Moses has fully conveyed the content of the Torah? Why is Moses relating a review of a review within a book of reiteration? It feels like the moment in a conversation when you might remind your interlocutor that they had already said something or that you remember what they had told you. Perhaps that is exactly what Moses is waiting for. For any number of reasons, he needs affirmation that the Israelites have heard him. From a careful reading, I intuit three possible motivations: fear that he (and, by extension, God’s message) is not adequately understood; fear that the Israelites won’t listen to him (and, by extension, God); or fear that entering the promised land will so significantly test the Israelites that there is no adequate amount to repeat, drill, practice, and internalize his message. All three are plausible, but I read Moses as giving of himself a bit more vulnerably and openly in Parshat Nitzavim (Deuteronomy 29:9 – 30:20) than in other passages from the Torah He is at once preparing to shed the mantle of leadership and reaching toward the capstone of his work, which he will achieve posthumously when the Israelites enter the Promised Land with the laws they need to live in it well. He knows that his end is near and fears losing his voice (or the impact thereof), so he implores…

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