“And Moshe went and spoke these words ….” (Devarim, 31:1) The verse says specifically “and Moshe went” and “going,” halicha, signifies being disturbed.³⁷ It was difficult for him to understand how man could fix the deficiency imprinted on the root of his soul from the day of his birth passed on from his mother and father, for his mother conceived him in sin.³⁸ 51:7. The idea needs investigation. Was he not conceived in the mitzvah of pru u’vru, [be fruitful and multiply]? Yet this is something that is very easily contaminated because of its great holiness. So this statement, especially when someone on the level of David haMelech says it about himself, is quite revealing of the human predicament. It seems here that along with the fixings needed for physical union, he is also talking about everything inherited from our parents that needs fixing. However, when the commandment to gather the people was said to him (Devarim, 31:12, “Gather the people, the parents, the children … that they may learn, and fear God”), it was intimated to Moshe that man may fix the sin he is born with, which comes from his root and the root of his parents. Then joy filled his being, as it is written (Yirmiya, 4:1), “If Israel will return … return unto Me.” When a man commits a transgression, God forbid, then in his mind he is ashamed before his friend. Even though his friend does not know about it, he is anyhow uncomfortable because he feels that his friend is better than he is. This is not teshuva shleimah, complete return to the Torah. This is why the prophet said, “you shall return to Me,” meaning that one should rather be ashamed before God so as not to do something that God did not command. God commanded 613 mitzvot, and each one is advice to Israel as to how one may remove the evil desires rooted in his heart, rooted there due to the impurity of mortal existence. This is as it says in the Gemara (Kiddushin, 40b), “[Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Tsaddok said: What is a Tsaddik compared to in this world? A tree that exists in a place that is wholly pure,] yet part of it turns to a place of impurity.” So therefore, God gave man advice as to how he may remove himself from desires, such as the mitzvah of tsitsit, which reminds man to have the fear of God, and tefillin, which teaches of the tekifut (unbridled strength) of Kedusha, a notion previously explained (see above, Devarim, 17:13). Yet, in response to the evil attributes that are imprinted in man from the day of his birth derived from the root of his father and mother, as the prophet said (Yesahya, 48:8), “For I knew that you would surely act treacherously, and you were called a sinner from the womb,” we received the section of “gather your people” (Devarim, 31:12). This is as it says in the Gemara (Chagiga, 3a), “Why did the infants also come? To reward those who brought them.” This means, by means of the longing of the father and mother to bring words of Torah into the ears of the infant—even though he does not understand anything at all. An example of this is found in the Talmud Yerushalmi (Yevamot, 1:6), “See who teaches knowledge. Rabbi Yehoshua’s mother would bring him in his cradle into the house of study so that his ears would absorb Words of Torah.” This shows how it is possible to fix even the attributes imprinted in man from his mother’s womb. This longing on the part of the parents is called “serving the Torah is greater than studying it,” for by means of this he may heal what came before. This is “[to reward] those who brought them,” meaning that even the father and mother are also fixed by this, since it fixes what came before, namely the desire of the father and mother at the moment of conception, and then it follows that he was clean regarding his mother. When Moshe Rabeynu understood this, he was filled with simcha (joy).

footnotes: ³⁷ Perhaps because when one is disturbed by something he may be inclined to move his place. ³⁸ This phrase is borrowed from Tehilim

“… I can no longer go out or come in ….” (Devarim, 31:2) On this day Moshe Rabeynu was completed in the truest form of perfection, and God signed His name to this. All the while one is not complete he may still apprehend more and reach greater heights. Yet he may also, God forbid, lose that which he has already received. After one has reached the state of completion, he will not lose anything he has previously apprehended, nor will he apprehend anything further. This is what Moshe Rabeynu meant when he said “I can no longer go out or come in.” “Going out” means that he was complete and God signed His name on his actions so that it would be impossible to lose what he had apprehended. “Coming in” means that also he would apprehend nothing further.

“… at the end of seven years, at the time of the Shmitta [sabbatical or release] year, during the festival of Succot ….” (Devarim, 31:10) It is said in the Gemara (Rosh Hashanah, 12b), “What does the festival of Succot have to do with the Shmitta [seventh] year? Succot, following Rosh Hashanah, is already in the eighth year. Yet all produce where you did not bring a third thereof in the seventh year, you treat it also in the eighth year as you would have in the seventh.” This is according to the verse (Tehilim, 115:16), “The heavens are the heavens of God, and the earth was given to man.” This is just the way it seems. Yet King David said (Tehilim, 135:6), “all that God desired, He did, in the heavens and the earth.” It is well-known that all the actions of man, even though the power of choice was given to man, are something as insignificant as a peel of garlic. This is why we say on the first day of the week (Sunday) (while reciting the daily Levitical songs in the morning service), “the earth is God’s and the fullness thereof.” The point of Shabbat is to know that man has no real power, for the thirty-nine forms of work created in the world with which man may do all he wants are all prohibited on Shabbat. Yet when the weekdays start, and work is again permitted, God forbid that man may say, “my strength and the power of my hands have gotten me this wealth” (Devarim, 8:17). Therefore our sages established that we say immediately after Shabbat, “the earth is God’s and the fullness thereof.” It is similarly so with the seventh Shmitta year that the Torah commanded, which makes it known to us that the earth is God’s and all its fullness. Then when the eighth year comes, plowing and sowing are again permitted in order that we can reap from the land without say, God forbid, “my strength and the power of my hands have gained me this wealth.” This is why with produce that a third was not brought as a tithe in the seventh year, “you treat it also in the eighth year as you would have in the seventh,” in order to remember that “the earth is God’s and the fullness thereof.”