A VERY PUBLIC DISPLAY
INTRODUCTION TO PARASHAT
HASHAVUA
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In memory of
Yakov Yehuda ben Pinchas Wallach
and Miriam Wallach bat Tzvi
Donner
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PARASHAT
NITZVAIM - VAYELEKH
A VERY PUBLIC
DISPLAY
By Rabbi Yaakov
Beasley
The history lesson has been delivered,
the commandments reviewed, and the covenant renewed. Now, at the end of his life, Moshe must
take leave of the people for one last time. He must ascend the mountain to gaze upon
the land that he will never enter.
The Jewish People are on their way to cross the Yarden to begin life as a
self-governing nation under the sovereignty of God.
Before his valedictory address,
however, Moshe gives the people two final commandments – to read the Torah in
public once every seven years and to perpetuate the Torah’s text. Why does Moshe
teach these commandments specifically here, in his parting words? Should they
not have been included among the many mitzvot listed earlier in chapters
12-26? Technically, one could argue
that the answer emerges from the verses themselves – these final two
commandments both refer to the reading and writing of the Torah, which has just
been handed over to the priests and elders (v. 9). Moshe then precedes to command them
concerning "THIS Torah," the Torah that has just been handed over to them. Since
the completion of the writing of the Torah could not be achieved until Moshe's
last day, as he had to include the preceding addresses, only now could he
command that "this Torah" be read every seven
years.
Let us look beyond the technical issue
of having to wait for the Torah’s completion before issuing these commands and
study instead the underlying meanings of both of these commandments. Both involve the preservation, in oral
and written form, of the Torah text. To an extant, these two commandments are
“meta”-commandments, which give a framework and purpose to the other
mitzvot.
Renewal of the
Covenant
In this week’s study, we will
investigate the mitzva of Hakhel, which is described in our
parasha (31:10-13). The
details of this mitzva are laid out by the Rambam in Hilkhot
Chagiga (ch. 3).
At the end of the first day of the
festival of Sukkot, at the beginning of the eighth year [the seventh year
having just ended], they make him [the king] a wooden podium in the courtyard
[of the Temple] and he sits upon it… The chanter of the Great Court takes a
sefer Torah and gives it to the head of the Court, and the head of the
Court gives it to the deputy Kohen Gadol, and the deputy Kohen
Gadol gives it to the Kohen Gadol, and the Kohen Gadol gives
it to the king, and the king stands and receives it and reads….
The king is to
gather the people together in the Temple courtyard and read to them from the
Torah, specifically selections from Sefer Devarim. The goal is simple -
to remind the people of their history, the laws they are called upon to keep,
and the principles they must live by. It is to be a ceremony of national
rededication - a renewal of their inherited and chosen destiny and a reminder of
the duties they owe to their ancestors, their descendants not yet born and,
primarily, to God Himself.
How this
command was carried out is unclear.
From the Tanakh, we see that it was performed by the nation’s
leaders at critical junctures in Jewish history. Yehoshua did so at the end of
his life (Yehoshua 24), and Yoshiyahu did so when the Torah was
rediscovered during a restoration of the Beit
Ha-Mikdash:
Then the king
called together all the elders of Yehuda and Yerushalayim. He went up to the
For the
generation of the exiles that returned from Babylon to the hardships of Eretz
Yisrael, Ezra did the same, ushering in another renewal of the
covenant:
So on the first
day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly,
which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read
it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in
the presence of the men, women, and others who could understand. And all the
people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. (Nechemia 8:
2-3)
The Message
of Hakhel
Let us analyze the verses of Hakhel to see what lessons they
contain.
Seforno considers the
significance of the ceremonial handing over of the Torah from one functionary to
another, as described in the mishna above. He finds a textual source for this ceremony in verse 9,
which precedes the mitzva of Hakhel:
"And Moshe inscribed this Torah and
gave it over to the kohanim, the children of Levi" – from whose hands the
king receives it to read, as we learn [in the mishna], "The deputy gives
it to the Kohen Gadol, and the Kohen Gadol to the
king."
"And to all the elders of
In other words, Moshe’s giving over of
the written Torah to the kohanim and the elders is itself part of
Hakhel. Those who receive the Torah for safekeeping – the kohanim
and elders – are then commanded by Moshe ("and Moshe commanded THEM") to
transmit the Torah in their trust to the person who is destined to replace Moshe
as leader of the nation, namely, the king. Indeed, the special status of the
king as Moshe's successor during the mitzva of Hakhel is almost
explicit in the words of the Rambam: "The king is the agent who gives voice to
God's words” – in other words, the replacement for Moshe.
What was the purpose of the
mitzva? At first glance, the
question seems redundant. The Torah
itself explains:
…in order that they may hear and that
they may learn to fear Hashem your God, and they will observe to perform
all the words of this Torah. And
their children who have not known – they will hear and will learn to fear
Hashem your God. (v. 12-13)
As stated in
the Sefer Ha-chinukh, the purpose of the gathering was to ensure the
central role of the Torah among the Jewish People:
The talk of all
the nation – men, women and children – would then be: "Why have we assembled for
this large gathering?" And the answer would be: "To hear the words of the Torah
— our essence, glory and pride!" This would lead them to praise the Torah and
speak of its glorious worth and implant within their hearts a desire and
motivation to study and know God. Thus, they will merit the ultimate good, and
God will rejoice in His creations... (Sefer Ha-chinukh, mitzva
612)
However, as the text alludes to through
the emphasis on the bringing of the children even though they are too young and
immature to appreciate the Torah on an intellectual level, the mitzva of
Hakhel accomplishes another, possibly even more important, purpose. The
Torah, as important as it is, is not the end-all of Judaism. It represents an even greater truth – a
truth evident in the unique manner in which it was given. The Torah represents the special
relationship that exists between Hashem and the Jewish People, as
evidenced by the Giving of the Torah at Har Sinai. This is stated clearly by the Rambam
when he discusses this mitzva (Hilkhot Chagiga
3:5-6):
The reading and the blessings are
intoned in the holy tongue, as it is written, "And you shall read THIS Torah" –
in its original language. Even
though there may be natives of other lands and strangers who are not familiar
with the holy tongue, they must ready their hearts and listen with their ears,
to hear with fear and awe and tremulous joy, LIKE THE DAY WHEN THE TORAH WAS
GIVEN AT SINAI. Even great sages,
who know the entire Torah, are [nevertheless] obligated to listen with great and
intent concentration. One who is
not able to hear – he concentrates inwardly on this reading, which the Torah
establishes solely for strengthening the true faith. HE SHOULD REGARD HIMSELF AS THOUGH HE
HAS JUST NOW BEEN COMMANDED, AND FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD HIMSELF, FOR THE KING IS
AN AGENT TO MAKE GOD'S WORDS HEARD.
For the Rambam, the commandment of
Hakhel is nothing less than a reenactment of the Giving of the Torah at
Har Sinai. Twice he states:
"They must ready their hearts and listen with their ears… LIKE THE DAY WHEN THE
TORAH WAS GIVEN AT SINAI," and "he should regard himself as though he has just
now been commanded, and from the mouth of God Himself, for the king is an agent
to make God's words heard." Just like Moshe, the king declares Hashem's
words to the people. As such, the
purpose of Hakhel is not for intellectual enjoyment, but to attempt to
live the fundamental truths of being Jewish on the most experiential level. As
such, the experience does not necessarily require an understanding of the words
being read by the king, but rather a psychological preparation and
internalization of the great significance of the occasion itself. Like the Ramban’s understanding of the
Mishkan as a mobile Har Sinai that would accompany the people
throughout their travels (see his commentary to Vayikra 1:1), the Har
Sinai experience was to be re-enacted at the beginning of every
Shemitta cycle, after the people had enjoyed the bounties of the
sabbatical crops for an entire year,