Our daughter recently told Sara, while they were learning Humash together a few nights ago, “Moshe is so much better than Abraham and everyone else. They’re all just like: “Yes, God, okay.” Moshe has a life.”
I think there is so much truth in her observation.
Moshe’s personality, his passions, his anger, his humility, his commitment as a teacher, all come through in the Torah in a way that just doesn’t happen for any of our other heroes or ancestors. And that is most true in Sefer Devarim, Moshe’s own words that were endorsed by God and canonized as part of the Torah itself.
These final parshiot in the Torah represent the summation, of the summation, the essence of the essence, of Moshe’s devotion to his mission and his devotion to us for forty years in the desert.
Moshe tries to convey the importance of his words to his audience, and he tries to impress upon them, and upon us hearing his words thousands of years later, that the beginning and end of Jewish life is in the Torah. All that we need is in the Torah, and the only way to ensure a thriving life for Jews and Judaism is through Torah.
כִּ֚י הַמִּצְוָ֣ה הַזֹּ֔את אֲשֶׁ֛ר אָנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם לֹא־נִפְלֵ֥את הִוא֙ מִמְּךָ֔ וְלֹ֥א רְחֹקָ֖ה הִֽוא׃
This Mitzvah, Moshe says, perhaps referring to the mitzvah of Teshuvah that he had just described – the mitzvah we are all contemplating in the final days of the year, is not beyond you. It is not far away.
לֹ֥א בַשָּׁמַ֖יִם הִ֑וא לֵאמֹ֗ר מִ֣י יַעֲלֶה־לָּ֤נוּ הַשָּׁמַ֙יְמָה֙ וְיִקָּחֶ֣הָ לָּ֔נוּ וְיַשְׁמִעֵ֥נוּ אֹתָ֖הּ וְנַעֲשֶֽׂנָּה׃
It is not in heaven. And here, I think Moshe, refers back to the entire Torah. It is no longer in Heaven it has been given to us. The Midrash Rabbah on Devarim says:
אָמַר לָהֶן משֶׁה שֶׁלֹא תֹאמְרוּ משֶׁה אַחֵר עוֹמֵד וּמֵבִיא לָנוּ תּוֹרָה אַחֶרֶת מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם, כְּבָר אֲנִי מוֹדִיעַ אֶתְכֶם לֹא בַשָּׁמַיִם הִוא, שֶׁלֹא נִשְׁתַּיֵּיר הֵימֶנָּה בַּשָּׁמַיִם
Don’t think another Moshe is going to come along and give you a new Torah with different instructions and different mitzvot. Nothing is left in Heaven so you’re going to have to reconcile yourselves to the challenging demands of the Torah that we have. And then the Midrash continues:
.דָּבָר אַחֵר, אָמַר רַבִּי חֲנִינָא הִיא וְכָל כְּלֵי אֻמָנוּתָהּ נִתְּנָה, עִנְוְתָנוּתָהּ, צִדְקָהּ וְיַשְׁרוּתָהּ וּמַתַּן שְׂכָרָהּ
Rabbi Hanina says, the Torah and all of the tools to understand it, and all of the humility associated with Torah, and the righteousness and ethical excellence associated with the Torah, and its reward, were all given already.
We don’t need oracles or prophets to makes sense of the Torah. We can study it. We have the dictionaries and the ability to write commentaries and translations. We can build schools to teach Torah and websites to spread Torah.
The character traits that make Torah compelling are also in our hands and were given alongside the Torah. Humility, ethical excellence, righteousness and a passion for justice were given with the Torah and they are meant to accompany the Torah.
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 