AND THERE WAS A KIN
INTRODUCTION TO PARASHAT
HASHAVUA
**************************************************************
In memory of
Yakov Yehuda ben Pinchas Wallach
and Miriam Wallach bat Tzvi
Donner
**************************************************************
PARASHAT
VEZOTHA-BERAKHA
AND THERE WAS A
KING
By Rabbi Yaakov
Beasley
In our final
study of the weekly parasha this year, we read of Moshe Rabbeinu's
parting benediction to the tribes of Yisrael, the entire people, as well as the
record of his death and burial.
Were his blessings the heartfelt wishes of a human leader who has
accompanied the people for a generation of struggles, through their failures and
successes? Or were the blessings
that emanated from his lips reflections of a higher Divine truth? The commentators are divided on this
issue.
The Ibn Ezra
notes the title accorded to Moshe at the beginning of the
parasha:
And this is the
blessing that Moshe, the man of God, blessed the children of
Yisrael before his death. (33:1)
For the Ibn
Ezra, the sudden appearance here of the accolade "the man of God," never before
bestowed upon Moshe in the Torah, is meant to stress the prophetic origin and
the power that lay behind the blessings he was to utter. This was not just Moshe Rabbeinu
speaking, but Hashem Himself.
Not all
commentators accept this approach.
R. Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, for example, states as
follows:
If we believe
[that] this blessing was not said, as the rest of the Torah was, as the Word of
God, but emanated primarily out of the depth of his own heart, then we can well
understand
this unique designation
that tells us that nevertheless these words
are to be accorded an incomparably higher value than if they contained merely
the speech of an ordinary man
if it was not a direct prophetic delivery, it
was in any case Divinely inspired. (Commentary to 33:1)
In Ha-Emek
Ha-Davar, the Netziv describes the connection between the description of
Moshe as "the man of God" and his upcoming death:
With death at
hand, there was enkindled in Moshe a Divine flame. Like a flickering candle that bursts
into brilliant flame just before it burns out, so that soul of the righteous man
on departing this world and about to enter the World to Come, rises aloft with a
spiritual impetus more in tune with its own ethereal nature
Moshe then attained
the highest degree of spiritual perfection possible. (Commentary to
33:1)
The following
several verses describe the giving of the Torah, with is magnificent and sublime
glory, and the special relationship between Hashem and the Jewish People
that resulted from their acceptance of His Law. Most commentators understand these
verses as providing encouragement during the times of blessing and challenge
that will follow. Verse 5, however,
poses a conundrum:
And there was a
king in Yeshurun.
Who is the
king? When did he rule? The commentators disagree in identifying
this king and for what purpose Moshe Rabbeinu mentions him here. The Malbim attempts to place this verse
in the immediate historical context:
And there was a
king in Yeshurun This refers to Yehoshua, who became a king over them, as it
is stated: "And Yehoshua the son of
Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, and the Jewish People listened to him
and did as Hashem had commanded Moshe," of whom it is stated at his
command the went forth and at his command they came in. Similarly, with respect to Yehoshua, it
states, "Whoever transgresses your command will be put to death." The Torah is declaring here that the
people accepted Yehoshua as king "when the heads of the people were gathered,
all the tribes of
Some
commentators reject this approach.
Nechama Leibowitz argues that this identification can't be correct, as
nowhere in his book is Yehoshua referred to as king. (In his commentary to the
Prophets, however, the Netziv notes that by stating to Yehoshua that "whoever
transgresses your command will be put to death," the people bestowed on Yehoshua
the de facto legal status of king, if not de jure.) More importantly, if this verse was
meant to describe Yehoshua's coronation and acceptance, than his name would have
been mentioned explicitly.
How then to
decide the identity of the mysterious king? In his book Ha-Ketav
Ve-Ha-Kabbala, R. Mecklenberg suggests that we must first identify the
speaker of this verse. Based on the
shift to the first person plural in the preceding verse "Moshe commanded
us the Torah, an inheritance for the congregation of Yaakov" - he argues
that the king is none other than Moshe Rabbeinu himself!
It is very
difficult to maintain that Moshe himself proclaimed, "Moshe commanded us
the Torah." The same objection
applies with even greater force to our verse, "And there was a king in
Yeshurun," since in the view of our Rabbis, the reference is to Moshe Rabbeinu,
as it states in Shemot Rabba: "'And there was a king in Yeshurun'"- Moshe
enjoyed the privilege of kingship"
Similarly, in Bamidbar Rabba: "Said the Holy One Blessed be He to
Moshe, 'I have made you a king!'"
Could Moshe say
of himself, "And there was a king in Yeshurun?
It therefore seems to me that
these two verses (4-5) were proclaimed by the Jewish People, after they had
heard the complimentary references made by their faithful shepherd regarding
their acceptance of the Heavenly yoke and Hashem's conduct towards
them. In their enthusiasm, they
interrupted his words and proclaimed, "Moshe commanded us the Torah
and
there was a king in Yeshurun!"
However, this
explanation, which claims that verses 4-5 constitute an interpolation of the
people, violates the grammatical structure of the text. While verse 4 is written in the first
person plural, verse 5 reverts to the third person. Most likely, Moshe Rabbeinu reverts to
the role of speaker, and the question of whom he referred to as "king"
remains.
The Ramban
suggests that the king is none other than Hashem Himself. Although he attributes verse 5 to the
people as well, he argues that through the people's acceptance of the Torah,
they implicitly accepted Hashem's dominion:
"And there was
a king in Yeshurun" alludes to Hashem, who is described as the King of Israel in
their upright state, when all the heads of the people and all the tribes of
Israel are gathered together. This
verse is also in context [with the previous verses, which refer to the
revelation at Har Sinai and the acceptance of the yoke of the Torah]. The text then means that the Jewish
People will always say that the Torah which Moshe commanded us will be an
inheritance to the congregation forever, [and] they will say that Hashem was
king over Israel when our heads, elders and judges and all of the tribes were
gathered together to accept His kingdom over us for all time, obligating us to
observe His Torah for eternity.
The text
mentioned the Torah in general (verse 2) and the
The
constant mention of the Torah within the Ramban's commentary reflects his
sensitivity to the constant repetition of the Torah and its giving within the
preceding verses. Therefore, a
final possibility can be considered that the king referred to is neither human
(Yehoshua or Moshe) or even Divine. Instead, it refers to that which rules over
the Jewish People and maintains their ultimate allegiance - the Torah
itself. The Ibn Ezra quotes the
author of the Sefer Ha-Kuzari as the source for this interpretation:
R. Yehuda
Ha-Levi stated that by king, the Torah is meant, and so he explained the text,
"In those days there was no king in
R. Hirsch
echoes this in his commentary here:
The Torah, the
Law, became King in Yeshurun. It alone is the ruling, directing and deciding
power in
With
the above, we can answer a classic objection raised against those who hold that
the Torah did not command the appointment of a human king.[1] If, as they claim, the king was indeed
such a negative influence on the character and constitution of the people, why
did the book of Judges attribute the moral failings and corruptions to the lack
of a king? The answer is given above.
The king is no more than the number-one subject of the Divine King, and
is judged by his fealty to the Torah, the Divine constitution. Not for naught did the Rabbis proclaim
poetically that Hashem himself would bemoan, "Would that they [the Jewish
People] have abandoned Me, but maintained loyalty to My Torah instead!" Ultimately, the King and His Law are
one.
[1] See our previous
lecture on Parashat Shoftim, http://vbm-torah.org/archive/intparsha69/47-69shoftim.htm,
as well as others available in the Virtual Beit Midrash that deal with this
issue.