Shabbat Devarim

Words

The whole of the last book of the Torah is a sort of last will and testament by Moses before he dies. It is not a repetition of the essential message of the Torah, its laws and the spiritual content of Jewish life. What has been left out is the whole of the earlier narrative from Creation through to the Exodus. The Book is called Dvarim, literally-words. Which encapsulates the concept of communication, instruction, history, song, poetry and language. In essence, the core of a culture, national identity and civilisation. There are so many different levels, and yet all depend on words.

People and cultures are different, although they have certain basic commonalities. But all use language and words to tell their stories (as well as art and artefacts). Which is why humans are sometimes described as talking animals.  But as the Tower of Babel story tells us, a common language is no guarantee of unity or even peace.

When one reads the Torah, one is bound to wonder why there is so much repetition. The fact is that it is not repetition but rather expansion. Often, telling the same story and the same laws several times over, with what seem to be minor and even contradictory messages. On the one hand, this is because language has its limitations, words can have different connotations and meanings, and events can be seen through different eyes. There must have been different views of the Red Sea crossing. As Egyptian and Hittite records of the Battle of Kadesh 1,300 BCE or Babylonian and Egyptian records of the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BCE contradict each other.

Words to describe the same thing can be both crucial and add dimensions. For example, the different laws regarding parents who both love and respect. Or remembering or keeping Shabbat. Either? Or both? It is hardly surprising that different words are used over a fifty-year time scale. Over a period of time, new developments require new descriptions and new laws. And constant repetition is another way of reiterating. Of stressing and emphasising. And given the oral nature of transmission in those times, this too explains the nuances and variations. In the end, all we can be absolutely certain about is the actual text or texts that have survived.

What we have in the opening chapters of Devarim is Moshe describing the sequence of events that led from Egypt to this moment, when, overlooking the Promised Land and knowing that he will not lead the people into it, Moses prepares the people for the future.  But there are different versions of events to those mentioned earlier. In the light of Moses’s experience over forty years, it is natural that he focuses more on matters of Kingship, Leadership, Organisation and Administration than he did in Exodus when there were other priorities.

There is nothing wrong in shifting emphasis. This will happen many times in the course of Jewish Life, from the Tabernacle to the Temple, from the Temple to the Exile and at each time, different aspects of Torah have assumed greater or lesser significance. The crucial issue is that the tradition remains faithful to its essential spiritual and ethical message. This is why Moses is about to give greater emphasis to the ideas behind the Law while still reiterating the importance of the laws themselves.

Like any good teacher, Moshe is, after all, described as our teacher. You need to repeat the lessons and clarify. Certainly, in a world with no books and only monumental records the oral message is something that was sung and repeated over and over in different ways to ensure it was remembered. Which is why we so revere our texts and have been preserving them for thousands of years from periods so different to our present scientific and technical ways of communication and recording.

We have the great gift of being able to look back as well as forward.

Devarim Chapters 1- 3

Rabbi Jeremy Rosen lives in New York. He was born in Manchester. His writings are concerned with religion, culture, history and current affairs – anything he finds interesting or relevant. They are designed to entertain and to stimulate. Disagreement is always welcome.