וילך משה, “Moses went;” from near the Tabernacle where he had his residence, as we know from: והחונים לפני משכן ה' משה אהרן ובניו, “and the ones encamped in front of the Tent of meeting: Moses, Aaron and his sons.”He now went from each tribe to the next to advise them of his impending death. He assured them that they had nothing to fear from his impending death, but that they should take heart and support their new leader Joshua. Why did Moses feel that he had to address and reassure each tribe separately? Why did he not merely use his trumpets and call a great assembly of the whole nation? According to Rabbi Joshua in the name of Rabbi Levi of Sakkinon, the trumpets which Moses had made in the desert, G-d hid them so that no one, not even he himself, would ever blow them again, as it would have been unseemly to do so on the day when he knew he was going to die. On that day Moses’ control over events had come to an end.

אמר אלי לא תעבור את הירדן הזה, “He had said to me: you will not cross this river Jordan.” You, the people, will not lose anything by that fact, as G-d Himself will cross the river Jordan ahead of you, leading you. (verse 3)

כאשר דבר ה, “as the Lord had said.” This is a reference to Deuteronomy 18,15, where G-d had promised: “that He would raise a prophet amongst them, just like Moses.” He had also told him to take Joshua the son of Nun who had been filled with the spirit of G-d (Numbers 27,18).”

אשר צויתי אתכם, “which I have commanded you.” This is a reference to Deut. 20,16, where G-d had commanded the Jewish people not to allow a single soul of the Canaanites to remain alive, (unless they had left that land of their own accord).

לעיני כל ישראל, “in the sight of all of Israel;” this was necessary so that none of them would ever be able to say toJoshua that as long as Moses had been alive he had not had permission to assume the mantle of leadership.

כי אתה תבא את העם הזה, “for you will come with this people;” seeing that here Moses was speaking with Joshua in the presence of the whole people, he honoured the Jewish people by not saying that Joshua would go ahead of them when crossing the Jordan, but that they would walk alongside them.

אל הכהנים בני לוי הנושאים את הארון וגו, “to the priests the members of the tribe of Levi, who were charged with carrying the Holy Ark, etc.” Even though it was the Levites who carried the Holy Ark, and not the priests, (Numbers 7,8) as soon as Moses had died, the priests carried the Holy Ark when the Israelites were in the process of crossing the river Jordan. (Compare Talmud, tractate Sotah folio 33). They did so again when the people marched around Jericho and when they returned the Ark to its place in the days of King Solomon, when it was transferred from the Tabernacle. (Kings I 8,6) An alternate interpretation: seeing that it was the priests who assigned the transportation of the Ark to the Levites, as spelled out in Numbers 4,5, they could have been described as the prime movers. They were referred to there as נושאי הארון, “the carriers of the Ark.”

מקץ שבע שנים, “at the end of (every) seven years;” at the beginning of the eight’s year. [The sh’mittah year. Ed.] This was in order to enable the idle farmers to devote the whole year to the study of the Torah. בבא כל ישראל, “when the whole Jewish nation would come” (on the pilgrimage for Sukkot)

במועד שנת השמטה, “on the feast of Sukkot;” seeing that this year is the first year in the new sh’mittah cycle which comprises seven years, why does the Torah refer to that year as שנת השמטה, the year of the sh’mittah? The reason is that many of the restrictions that applied during the previous year were still in force, such as the residue of the “harvest” of the previous year. (Compare Talmud, tractate Rosh Hashanah folio 12. It is stated there that any crop which had completed one third of its growth before the end of the sh’mittah year was still considered as subject to the regulations applicable during that year.)

תקרא את התורה הזאת, “you shall read out publicly this Torah;” this commandment was addressed to Joshua. This is why he is also referred to as the king.

הקהל את העם, “assemble the nation;” they are all available not having chores to attend to, seeing that they are not at home but in Jerusalem (or wherever the Tabernacle stood prior to Jerusalem having been captured by David about 400 years later).

אשר הוא בא שמה בקרבו, “to which it (the nation of Israel) goes to be among them.” The words: בקרב הארץ, are treated as in the masculine mode, just as in Genesis 13,6: ולא נשא אותם הארץ, “and the land could not support (both) of them;” or as in Isaiah 9,18: נעתם ארץ, “the earth was shaken.” [The word ארץ, ארצות, “land, lands,” is treated as a feminine noun in the vast majority of instances when it occurs. Ed.]

והסתרתי פני מהם, “I will hide My face from them.” This is evidence of G-d’s fondness of the Jewish people, His acting like a father who while forced to discipline his son cannot bring himself to watch the pain he is inflicting upon him.

ולמדה את בני ישראל, “and teach it to the Children of Israel!” G-d is speaking in this way to Joshua. [Seeing that Moses will no longer be around, as he is dying on this day, it is clear that these words must have been addressed to his successor. Ed.

וענתה השירה הזאת, “and this song shall testify before them as a witness;” we must imagine this as if the “song” will reply to those who say “why have all these disasters befallen us?”

לפניו, “in response to this;”

כי לא תשכח מפי זרעו, “it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of their offspring;” although there are many chastisements, eventually this will end in words of comfort.

ויצו את יהושע, “He commanded Joshua;” The Lord commanded him (not Moses) These words refer to verse 14 in our chapter.

אתה תביא כי, “for you are going to bring;” seeing that the people were not present at the time when G-d said these words to Joshua, G-d did not have to pay them a special compliment, as Moses had done in verse 7.

ויצו משה את הלוים, “Moses ordered the Levites, etc.” these are the Levites who had been mentioned in verse 9 as the “priests, who were the sons of the Levites;” Moses was not addressing the tribe of the Levites here. After all, the Levites at large were prohibited from touching the Holy Ark, much less carrying it.

ואעידה בם את השמים ואת הארץ, “and I will appoint as witnesses against them Heaven and Earth.” Here Moses actually appointed Heaven and Earth as witnesses, while earlier (in verse 30.19) he merely told the Jewish people that these would be witnesses against them.

אחרי מותי . It is a historical fact that during the life time of Joshua and the elders of his time who survived him, the Jewish people remained absolutely loyal to G-d and His Torah. (Joshua 24,31)

את דברי השירה הזאת, “the words of this song;” this is a reference to the next portion, Haazinu, the major part of which consists of Moses’ parting song/poem to his nation. The subject is that G-d had provided for them in the desert as well as in the land of Israel, and how in spite of this they would forsake Him and be exiled, until eventually they would be redeemed from exile.