ויצו משה וזקני ישראל, “Moses and the elders commanded the Israelites, etc.;” After Moses had concluded his review of the Torah he commanded the elders to also address the people and to caution them to observe all the commandments of the Torah, because he knew that such a warning would be effective as all the people willingly obeyed their respective elders.

שמור את כל המצוה, “Observe the entire commandment, etc.” According to Ibn Ezra the “commandment” referred to here is the one to erect the huge stones upon which, after these stones had been properly whitewashed, a copy of the Torah would be engraved. Nachmanides writes that this is not correct, but that Moses referred to the entire Torah as a single “מצוה” at this point.

אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם, “which I am commanding you.” Moses did not say: “which we are commanding you,” seeing that basically G’d had addressed Moses, and the function of the elders was to raise their voices so that the whole people could hear what G’d had commanded Moses. Not only that, but the elders by being placed strategically among the people, could secure the people’s attention. A little while later (verse 9) the Torah writes that Moses, as well as the priests and the Levites, addressed the whole of Israel, calling upon them to pay attention, and to make a note of the fact that on that day they had truly become a nation.

וכתבת עליהן את כל דברי התורה הזאת, “you shall inscribe upon them all the words of this Torah. Ibn Ezra writes, quoting Rav Saadyah gaon, that the list of the commandments was inscribed on these stones in a manner similar to the well known work halachot g’dolot where these commandments are recorded in the form of warnings of what to do and what not to do. (Babylon, by Rabbi Yehudai ben Sh’muel gaon, 9th century) The words באר היטב, normally understood as in clearly comprehensible language, mean in “clearly legible script”, and do not refer to interpretation. Our sages claim that the entire text of the Torah was inscribed on these stones with careful attention given to the crowns on all the letters, and in addition the text was translated and inscribed in 70 languages. (Compare Rashi) Either the stones were exceedingly large, or there was a miracle that enabled the scribes to accomplish this.

למען אשר תבא אל הארץ, “so that you may enter the land, etc.” Ibn Ezra understands these words to mean that the publication of the Torah on these stones will help the Israelites to acquire the merit to enter (and take possession of) the land of Canaan, as they have already fulfilled the first commandment tied to living in that land. Nachmanides adds, that according to the opinion of Ibn Ezra there is a hint in this commandment to constantly keep in front of our mental eye all the commandments, which in turn ensures that we will keep them and be worthy to keep the land that Hashem is giving us as an inheritance. Ibn Ezra further points out that the sons of Yaakov’s major wives stood on Mount Gerizim when the blessings were proclaimed, whereas the tribes descended from the minor wives stood on Mount Eyval, but seeing that there were not enough of them, two of Leah’s sons, the eldest, Reuven, and the youngest Zevulun, joined the sons of the minor wives on Mount Eyval.

כי גלה כנף אביו, “for he has uncovered the robe of his father.” Nachmanides writes that the reason the Torah did not write ערות אביו (as it usually does) in such verses is out of respect for the father’s dignity. Earlier (Leviticus 20,12) when the Torah wrote ערות אביו the sin committed carried a heavy penalty, administered in many instances by a human court of law. The wording therefore had to reflect the severity of the sin in order to serve as a deterrent. The offending party in our verse is guilty of a lesser sin. Similar considerations prompted the Torah to use the term גלה כנף in 23,1 where the prohibition to marry a woman who had been raped by one’s father, or is one’s stepmother is revealed, the sin is of a lower order than sleeping with one’s mother, who is also the wife of one’s father. Nachmanides writes that the reason why Moses selected the people guilty of the above mentioned eleven sins as deserving public censure, i.e. the people mouthing a curse on anyone guilty of them, is that it is the norm for those sins to be committed in the privacy of one’s home, when there are no witnesses to the deed. The guilty party therefore cannot be convicted of his sin, as there had not been any witnesses. The curse pronounced here is to act as a deterrent not commit crimes when only G’d is the witness. The Torah begins the list with a sin committed vis a vis the Creator, i.e. idolatry, and switches to a sin committed vis a vis one’s parents, i.e. degrading them. Parents represent G’d the Creator, as He had a share in the child’s coming into this world. Bestiality is mentioned in the list, as opposed to rape performed on humans, the animals cannot protest what is being done to them, giving the sinner a distinct advantage. Similar considerations apply to proselytes, orphans, and widows, none of whom have easy access to someone who would defend them if they have been wronged.

לוקח שוחד, “killing for pay.” Most people understand the verse metaphorically, i.e. a judge accepting a bribe to render a guilty verdict where it results in judicial murder. Our author understands it as addressed to the witnesses who perjure themselves for payment, causing the innocent party to be condemned to death by their testimony.

אשר לא יקים את דברי התורה הזאת, “who will not uphold the words of this Torah;” Rashi understands the verse as Moses demanding from the people that they accept the entire Torah by calling down a curse upon themselves if they were to deliberately commit violations of it. Nachmanides writes that in his view the word קבלו “they accepted”, in Rashi, means that they mentally accepted, i.e. believed in the authenticity of all the Torah’s commandments as relayed to them by Moses. This includes the belief that people observing the laws of the Torah would, in due course, receive a reward from the Lawgiver, whereas those flouting the commandments deliberately, would receive their punishment from G’d. If a Jew disbelieved even a single one of these commandments, -even the ones one does not have a single opportunity in one’s life to be called upon to perform, such as the levirate marriage if one did not have a brother- he is still subject to the curse called down upon the sinners in this verse. However, if one transgressed one of the commandments, even knowingly, but because one’s evil urge was too strong, not because of a matter of principle, one is not subject to the curse pronounced here. In the Jerusalem Talmud Sotah 7,4 the verse is understood as being addressed primarily to the kings and the authorities within whose power it is to see to it that the common people, at least in public, live according to the laws of the Torah. This is derived from the word יקים in the causative mode, hiphil, as opposed to the active mode kal that would have been יקום, and would refer to oneself, intransitively. Anyone who is capable of promoting Torah observance by others and fails to use his talents in this direction is included in the curse pronounced in our verse. The Jerusalem Talmud also understands the verse as addressed to the reader of the Torah in public, who is called upon to show the scroll he has read from to the public at the end of the reading, and to invite the congregation to rise and give honour to the Torah. (Sofrim 14,14) The congregation is to respond with the line (Deut. 4,44) וזאת התורה אשר שם משה לפני בני ישראל (על פי ה' ביד משה).