וילך משה, "Moses went, etc." We need to know where Moses went. Yonathan ben Uzziel translates that Moses went to the study hall. Other commentators such as Nachmanides and Rabbeynu Bachyah say that he went from the camp of the Levites to the encampment of the Israelites much like a man who takes leave from his friends. The wording of the Torah is vague and does not provide a clue as to where Moses actually went. Another thing we are entitled to know is who told Moses that he would die on that day. Have we not been told in Shabbat 30 that man is not informed of precisely how long he will live? If that is correct, who told Moses that he would die on that day?

I believe we must explain our verse by recalling the Zohar volume one page 217. We are told there that 40 days prior to man's death his נשמה leaves him. Zohar bases this on Song of Songs 4,6: ונסו הצללים, "and the shadows fled." These "shadows" search for a resting place in the celestial regions and the righteous are aware of this. It is described there that Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai was aware of the fact that Rabbi Yitzchak's soul had already departed from him while the latter was still alive.

It is also mentioned there that the names of the Israelites are actually the names of their respective souls. I myself have explained this on Proverbs 10,7 "that the name of the wicked will rot." Zohar Chadash 120 interprets this to mean that the wicked will not be able to remember his name, the reason being that the wicked has no soul. Having been deprived of his soul it is not surprising that the wicked does not recall his name.

Here we are told that "Moses went;" this means that his soul, the spirit of life named Moses, had gone from him just like in any other צדיק whose end is at hand. In this instance Moses' soul is referred to in the masculine gender, i.e. וילך, to stress the greatness of his soul. By writing וידבר את הדברים האלה the Torah indicates that Moses was aware when walking that he would die on that day. He made this plain when he said: "I am exactly 120 years old today, etc." Our sages in Rosh Hashanah 11 interpret Moses' words as: "today my days and years have been completed."

Having read all this you may ask how it was that Moses knew that he would die on that day and not 40 days later seeing we said that the soul leaves 40 days before one's death? Read what I have written on Genesis 47,29 "Israel's days to die approached."

וידבר את הדברים האלה, He spoke these words, etc. Moses wanted to show that though he was 120 years old and about to die he had the strength to say all the words recorded from here until the end of the Book of Deuteronomy. No one except Moses possessed the physical or intellectual strength to do this.

לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבא, "I am no longer able to go out and come in" (lead you in war). Moses attributed his inability to do so to the fact that he had already lost control over his soul the one which bore his name, as we explained in the name of the Zohar. It had already departed from him.

He also wanted to explain to the people why he was convinced that he would die on that day. While we have already supplied the reason for this, it is not in the nature of the righteous to let on to their peers that they have some superior perceptions; this would be arrogant. This is why Moses cited two different reasons. 1) I am unable to lead you in war, i.e. I no longer have G'd's permission to do so. This permission has now been given Joshua. 2) G'd has told me: "you will not cross this river Jordan." From these two indicators it was clear to him that he had outlived his usefulness and was about to die.

The letter ו before the word השם is to be understood as the reason for the word היום Moses had used immediately before.

The sequence of the words וה׳ אמר אלי, "and the Lord had said to me, etc." which follow so closely on Moses' statement: I cannot go out, etc." indicate his loyalty as a servant of the Creator. He suggested by this sequence that if, per chance, this same G'd would now give him instructions to cross the Jordan, he, Moses, would gird himself and be ready to lead the Israelites across though he did not feel capable of doing so at this moment. The only reason he did not insist on doing so was that G'd had told him not to.

ה אלוקיך הוא עובר לפניך…הוא ישמיד "The Lord your G'd will personally cross ahead of you;…He will destroy these nations, etc." Moses had to repeat the word הוא, "He," a second time as he intended to console the people over his own death which represented a double loss for them. Firstly, it had been he who had repeatedly protected the people from G'd's anger such as at the episode of the golden calf and then again when G'd had threatened to wipe out the people after they had accepted the majority report of the spies. Secondly, Moses had defeated the two mighty kings Sichon and Og. They would therefore be concerned who would take Moses' place should the need arise.

Concerning the fact that he had been able to assuage G'd's anger on two critical occasions, he now said that G'd would עובר לפניך, in the sense this word occurred in Exodus 17,5 where G'd had said to Moses עבור לפני העם, suggesting that Moses forgive, "pass over" the sins he had accused the people of committing. At that time, G'd wanted the miracle of producing water to be credited to Moses rather than to Himself. On another occasion, immediately after the sin of the golden calf, G'd had said to Moses: "Let Me be so that I can destroy the people." In other words, it had been G'd who had given Moses a hint that his prayer might help (Exodus 32,9). In view of this Moses said: "He will pass over your sins Himself;" you do not depend on me doing this for you.

As far as Moses' prowess in warfare, He told the people that it was not his own personal strength which had performed all these valiant deeds but that G'd had been the real Warrior. As to the means G'd would employ in His fight against the Canaanites, Moses cited Joshua as the official representative who would march at the head of the army.

He emphasised the word הוא, "he," to make clear that the fact that Joshua marches at the head was crucial. When the army of Israel [a small contingent of about 3.000 men. Ed.] suffered a defeat at the town of Ai (Joshua 7,5-15) and there were about 36 Jewish casualties, Joshua is reported as falling on his face complaining to G'd. One of the reasons cited by the Talmud Sanhedrin 44 for this defeat was that Joshua had not been at the head of that army contingent. He had not considered the objective as deserving his personal attention. Moses here stresses that it is Joshua's task to walk in front of the army.

כי אתה תבא את העם הזה, "for you will come with this people, etc." Moses did not say תביא, "you will bring this people," seeing it was G'd who would actually bring the people by destroying their opposition. All Joshua was required to do was to march at the head of the people. While it is true that our sages in Sanhedrin 8 drew our attention to the end of our portion (verse 23) where G'd tells Joshua "you shall bring the children of Israel to the land I have sworn to them," the reason that G'd used the expression תביא was to correct the impression Moses' words had left when he said תבא. According to Rabbi Yochanan Moses meant "you and the elders." G'd objected by saying that there can only be one authoritative spokesman per generation, i.e; dabbar echad ledor. To make this point, G'd said to Joshua "you will bring," instead of "you will come." Now that we have that verse we can interpret the verse in which Moses said "you will come" as a reminder that G'd would do the actual "bringing."

וה׳ הוא ההולך לפניך, "as to the Lord, it is He Who will walk in front of you." In this instance Moses did not refer to the Lord as "your G'd" as he did on most other occasions. The reason is that G'd does not associate His name with individuals who are still alive. When speaking of the Jewish people as a whole it is quite in order to refer to G'd as "your G'd" such as in Exodus 20,2 "I am the Lord your G'd," the opening sentence of the Ten Commandments.

When Moses refers to G'd by the pronoun הוא, saying "He walks before you," instead of saying "and G'd walks before you," he did so to preclude us from thinking that G'd plus some other force would destroy the Canaanites. Omission of the word הוא would have left us with והשם, "and G'd, etc." Moses did not want that anybody should misunderstand the meaning of the letter ו in this context.

הוא יהיה עמך, "He will be with you." Moses again stresses the הוא, to emphasise that G'd's שכינה i.e. a very high level manifestation of His presence will walk in front of Joshua. הוא יהיה עמך, this manifestation of G'd's presence will remain at Joshua's side. Its effect will be that Joshua will not weaken in face of a variety of challenges.

הקהל את העם,..למען ישמעו ולמען ילמדו, "assemble the people…in order that they hearken and in order that they learn, etc." Why did Moses have to write the word למען, "in order that," twice? Would it not have been simpler to write למען ישמעו וילמדו?

Perhaps the answer is contained in the very instructions to Moses having been to "assemble the people, the men, the women and the children" in order to read the Torah before them, something women are not obligated to hear. In Deut 11,19 the Torah's instructions to teach it had been reserved for בניכם, your male children, as opposed to your daughters (compare Kidushin 29). This may have been the reason the Torah separated the "hearing" from the "learning" in our verse and wrote the word למען twice. The males, including the male children, were to study the Torah; the women and their daughters were to listen to the Torah.

The Torah first speaks about למען ישמעו, "in order that they hearken" as it refers to the negative commandments which apply equally to men and women.

The words למען ילמדו, "in order that they learn," refer to the positive commandments many of which women are not obligated to perform if they must be performed only at certain times. Had the Torah lumped both statements together we would have concluded that negative and positive commandments both carry the same penalties.

I have seen a statement by our sages in Chagigah 3 "the women were to come to listen whereas the men were to attend in order to study."

ובניהם אשר לא ידעו, "and their children, who do not know, etc." This division is in line with mention of "and the children" in verse 12 as part of the מצוה of הקהל. Moses says that although he is aware that the children are too young to understand what they would hear at that assembly, they are not too young to learn to fear G'd, i.e. one must train them in יראת השם from an early age.

This is the reason why Moses changed the sequence in which he described this process. Whereas in verse 12 he had said ילמדו ויראו they would "learn and (as a result) fear," in this verse he says "they will learn to fear." Being present at such an experience as הקהל is inspirational even for young children and inspires fear of G'd. Moses adds the comment כל הימים, "all the days," to remind us that when fear of G'd is instilled in children at an early age it will last them all their lives.

Our sages (Chagigah 3) ask why the women had to drag their children along for this assembly, and they answer "in order to receive credit for complying with the instruction." Presumably they referred to those children who could not even appreciate that their elders were listening to the Torah, i.e. the babies in arms. They must have understood that Moses' reason for bringing them applied only to children who were already somewhat older.

הן קרבו ימיך למות, "Behold, your days are drawing near to die, etc." The reason for the word הן here is to justify Moses' having said that he had reached his 120th birthday on that day. Our sages in Rosh Hashanah 11 mention that by the word היום in verse 2 Moses meant that he reached the age allotted to him. As a result, G'd's word came to him saying: הן, "you are correct," the time has come for you to die. The reason G'd said קרבו ימיך (pl.) instead of saying קרב יומך, "your day has arrived (sing.)" may be understood in the same vein as Genesis 47,29 where we have explained this wording.

Another intention of the Torah for using the expression הן קרבו, may be as follows: "The days which are yours have approached; these days are the ones on which parts of your soul are approaching." This is the mystical dimension of Psalms 104,29: תוסף רוחם יגועון, "when You take away their breath they will perish." In my commentary of the Ari Zal on this verse on page 391 of my commentary on Jacob's impending death, I have explained all this in detail. The approach of the different parts of the soul making up the composite of one's soul, spell the imminence of physical death. The verse in Psalms then has to be translated as: "when all the parts of their spirit come together their bodies will die."

והתיצבו באהל מועד, "and stand both of you in the Tent of Meeting, etc." This is the first instance where G'd commands Joshua to display a symbol of his new authority in Moses' presence. G'd did this by giving both Moses and Joshua simultaneous instructions using the plural התיצבו. We have explained this word as meaning "being appointed" in connection with Deut. 29,12. The word has a similar meaning in Samuel I 13,14 where Samuel tells King Saul ויצוהו ה׳ לנגיד על עמו, that in His heart G'd had already appointed someone else as leader of His people. This was some time before G'd ordered Samuel to anoint one of Yishai's sons as king. G'd's words to Joshua "for you will bring the children of Israel to the land, etc." (verse 22) are interpreted in Sanhedrin 8 as another such appointment of Joshua to a position of authority.

וקם העם הזה וזנו אחרי אלוהי נכר, "and this nation will arise and stray after idols, etc." How can Moses describe such a deviation as a קימה, "a rising," instead of as a ירידה, "a descent, a degradation?" Perhaps we may relate the description וקמו to 32,15 where Moses described the Israelites as first waxing fat and as a result "kicking." Up until that point Israel had been referred to as "Yeshurun." At this point Moses pointedly speaks about העם, the common people rising. The coarsening of the Jewish people was due to their material blessing which G'd had showered upon the nation deserving of the distinctive appellation "Yeshurun."

Another meaning of the verse is that not only the generation Moses describes in our verse will worship idols but also the following generation. We find in Judges 2,11 that after the death of Joshua and his generation, the Israelites began to worship the Baal. This is what G'd had predicted in our verse when He said to Moses that after he would die this people would rise and stray after alien gods.

ועזבתים והסתרתי פני מהם, "and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, etc." The meaning is that if G'd were to allow Himself to dwell on the troubles which will befall His people, His mercy would be stirred and He would banish His anger. This is why He informs the people in advance that if they were to turn to idols, He, G'd, would turn His face away from them so as not to be tempted to show them compassion.

ואמר ביום ההוא, "and the people of Israel will say on that day, etc." They will be intelligent enough to conclude that all the troubles which suddenly overtook them must be due to G'd having deliberately left their midst. Had G'd not abandoned them it would be impossible that He would tolerate such treatment of His people. Compare what the prophet said in Judges 10,11. We gain the impression from there that G'd Himself had become fed up with the sufferings His people had to endure.

ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני ביום ההוא, "But I will surely hide My face on that day, etc." The difficulty in this verse is that G'd is portrayed as hiding His face after the Israelites have already confessed their sins, and have acknowledged that their troubles were due to G'd having turned His back on them. If all our verse wanted to do was to provide us with the reason why what happened so far had occurred, there is no need for this. We already know that G'd turned His face away as a result of the Israelites flirting with local deities! Moreover, why did Moses repeat the mention of G'd hiding His face, i.e. הסתר אסתיר? Another thing which is puzzling is why Moses used such a long-winded expression as על כל הרעה, followed by כי פנה אל אלוהים אחרים.

The fact is that our verse does want to provide a reason for G'd's turning away His face. Someone might say that G'd had not judged the Israelites fairly, G'd forbid, for the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 27,8: "assailing them with unchained fury." Sanhedrin 100 states that "man will be measured by the yardstick he himself applied in measuring others."

G'd will certainly apply fair yardsticks when judging the Israelites. At first glance it might appear as if turning His face away from the Israelites results in their being punished over and above what they deserve, as the Judge deliberately ignores what happens to them. Perhaps this is what our verse means when writing "is it not (only) because my G'd is not in my midst that all these troubles have found me?"

To ward off such an interpretation of the previous verse, the Torah writes: ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פנים, "and I am surely going to turn away My face;" I am legally entitled to turn away My face from them. This is why G'd had to repeat the word. ביום ההוא, "on that day." On the day they stray after alien gods. The reason the Torah wrote על כל הרעה אשר עשה, is "on account of all the evil it (Israel) has done." This is best understood in light of Chulin 5 that "anyone who admits that idols are independent powers has in fact denied the entire Torah." G'd explains that as soon as the people turned to idols they had in effect turned away from the whole of the Torah, i.e. from G'd. As a result, even if as a result of G'd's turning His face away from them the Israelites would be afflicted with all the curses of the world this would be no different than measuring them with the yardstick by which they themselves had measured others..

Remember that just as the blessings and rewards G'd has promised are meant for the performance of a string of commandments, etc., so curses and punishments are administered in respect of a string of violations of G'd's commandments. As a result, if someone either transgressed all the commandments bar idolatry, or only committed idolatry, he is deserving of all the punishments as commission of idolatry is considered as equal to committing all other violations. No wonder then that G'd hid His face from His people.

ועתה כתבו, "And now write, etc." G'd says to Moses: "and now," although Moses could not delay by a single day seeing he was going to die on this day. G'd meant for Moses to write this down before he would command Joshua what is written in verse 23. Although the instruction to call Joshua and to give him certain instructions had preceded the command to record this song, G'd wanted the song to be recorded first.

You will find that Moses complied with these instructions as we find in verse 22 that he wrote down the song and taught it to the Israelites. Only in the verse following did G'd give His instructions to Joshua to bring the Israelites across the Jordan, to be strong, etc. Normally, we would have expected G'd to complete all His various instructions and only then to write down this song (Haazinu) and to teach it to the people. Seeing that G'd did not want the normal procedure to be followed, He wrote the word ועתה, "and now."

ולמדה, שימה בפיהם, "and teach it and place it in their mouths." G'd commanded three separate commandments here. 1) To write down the song; 2) to teach it to the children of Israel so that they would understand it. [as one has to teach any poem. Ed.] 3) To "place it in their mouths," i.e. to teach them how to read it correctly.

Moses carried out all three instructions as the Torah recorded (verse 23) "Moses wrote the song. 2) He taught it to the children of Israel. 3) Moses said in the hearing of the entire congregation the words of the song (verse 30)." He read it to them in such a way that they would know how to read it properly in the future. This is the meaning of the words שימה בפיהם.

הן בעודני חי עמכם, "Behold even while I am still alive amongst you, etc." This again reminds us of what the Talmud stated in Berachot 18 that the righteous are called alive even after their bodies have died. When Moses mentions the words: "here when I am still alive amongst you," he did not imply that he would soon die, but that he would live in a different region of the universe, one which could not be described as עמכם, "amongst you."

The Torah writes היום, "today," i.e. Moses hinting that the "amongst you" he spoke of refers only to the balance of the day on which he was addressing them. The plain meaning of the verse is that the word היום means עד היום, "until today."

The reason that Moses referred to the people's acts of rebellion in the past tense, i.e. הייתם, was in case they had already repented of their sins at that very hour. We have been taught in Kidushin 49 that if someone betrothes a woman on the understanding that he (the groom) is a totally righteous person, and we are aware that until very shortly prior to that moment he was a thoroughly wicked person, the lady in question has to consider herself as betrothed as we assume the groom had resolved to become a perfect בעל תשובה at the time he asked her to accept the token of her betrothal to him.