Parshat Devarim: Making Judaism our own – partnering with the Divine

Sefer Devarim stands apart from the other four books of the Torah, bearing the intriguing label or alternate title “Mishneh Torah.” But what makes this final book so unique, and why does it carry this enigmatic name?

The term “Mishneh Torah” – the reiteration of the Torah, or the second Torah – referring to Sefer Devarim appears in over a dozen sources throughout the Talmud and early Rabbinic literature. While its origin seems to stem from Devarim 17:18, its true meaning remains a subject of interest and debate among scholars.

To unravel this mystery, we must delve into the Talmudic discussions that highlight the distinctive nature of Sefer Devarim:

R. Levi said: Come and see the difference between the ways of the Holy One and the ways of humans, for the Holy Blessed One blessed the Jewish people twenty-four times and cursed them only eight times [in Sefer Vayikra] … while Moshe Rabeinu blessed them eight times and cursed them twenty-two times [in Sefer Devarim]. (Bava Batra 88b)

Abayei said: [the prohibition of splitting the section of the curses into multiple aliyot] was only stated regarding the curses in Sefer Vayikra, but one may do so for the curses in Sefer Devarim. Why is this so? The former … were stated by Moshe in the name of God, while the latter … were stated by Moshe of his own accord. (Megillah 31b)

Furthermore, the Zohar states, “The reason [Devarim] it is called Mishneh Torah [is due to the fact that] Moshe stated it on his own (Va’etchanan 22).”

What emerges from these Talmudic conversations and from the Zohar is that there are two models of “God-speak.” The first four books of the Torah are spoken entirely by God and recorded by Moshe. This is why the first four books of the Torah are formulated in the third person. However, Sefer Devarim is formulated and written by Moshe, with God’s complete approval and veto power.

Thus, while Sefer Devarim is still choreographed by God, Moshe plays a central role in its composition. This is why Devarim is known as a Mishneh Torah – for it is a different form of Torah of God-speak (See also Ohr haChayim to Devarim 1:1 and the Maharal Tiferet Yisrael ch. 43).

This makes it clear that both participants – God and the Jewish people – must play an active role if the Torah is to be the eternal book that celebrates our covenantal relationship. Without the participation of both parties, that relationship flounders – as we see multiple times in our history. We see this when Adam and Chava are passive in Gan Eden, and their relationship with God fails.

The same occurs when the Jewish people are passive in the presentation of the first luchot. They are shattered and fail to secure a covenantal bond between God and the Jewish people (see Sheilot u’Teshuvot Beit haLevi Drasha #18).

For any relationship to succeed and thrive, both participants must play active roles. Through Mishneh Torah, Moshe and God are modeling for us what a true, ongoing relationship must look like – one in which we take initiative in our Avodat Hashem and in spreading God’s light, while rooted within the expansive parameters of Jewish law.

The idea of a Mishneh Torah – spoken by Moshe, approved and edited by God, and written by Moshe – is a recognition that within the parameters of Avodat Hashem there needs to be “human elbow grease,” which guarantees the immortality of the covenantal commitment. That is why every Jewish king must write his own Torah, highlighting that a person’s role is to partner with God, to create out of the darkness a luminous Beit Elokim.

While none of us is on the level of Moshe Rabeinu, whose words were accepted by God and incorporated into the divine Torah, the invitation and responsibility to take part in creating Torah is open to all of us, even today.

We all must be ready to scribe our own type of Mishneh Torah. The new challenges of our era – interaction with Western culture, the birth of the state, shifts in the place of women in society – call for a new and renewed Mishneh Torah – deeply grounded, like Sefer Devarim, in the divine word, yet courageously focused on applying the divine message to where the Jewish people finds itself today.

The events of the past year have only intensified this need. The swirl of emotions that has accompanied the Jewish people over these past ten months, in the face of calamity and heroism, tragedy and resilience, has pushed all of us to reassess and reimagine what God seeks of us, and we of God.

The way Sefer Devarim is vividly written – with the central role of Moshe Rabbeinu in its composition – is a timeless invitation to us to move beyond passive reception of divine wisdom and become active partners in continually applying and re-scribing Torah for our own times.