This Dvar Torah is based on my notes of a Shiur from HaRav Blachman SHLIT"A:
Devarim is referred to as the Mishna Torah, which has a few different meanings, but we will focus on it’s meaning as an “explanation” of the first four books of the Bible. The Written Torah (the Five books of Moses) is God’s infinite wisdom. The Oral Torah on the other hand, is man translating that wisdom and applying it to his everyday life. In a sense, Mishna Torah is the beginning of the Oral Torah. Devarim begins saying, “These are the words that Moshe spoke...” Because this book is Moshe Rabeinu’s translation of the infinite wisdom contained in the first four.
Only Moshe, the greatest man who ever lived, could be capable of such a translation. When two people speak to each other, they only communicate based on their common ground. In other words, it would be difficult for the average city dweller to carry on a coherent conversation with a bushman, because they have no common experience. They haven’t even a common language. So too our relationship with God, is based on common “experiences.” God has put forth certain values that he desires man live by, the more he’s in touch with those values, the more in touch he is with God. Since every act of communication is an act of translation (A teacher will never really get across the entire concept he has in mind to the student, because by definition a thought is infinite, and once put into words it is limited by the understanding of the listener. It’s up to the listener to translate the infinite idea into his own experience. And it won’t be the same as the idea the teacher had. But the more the teacher and student have similar experiences, the more exactly the idea will be translated.), of course God will only speak to someone he knows will translate correctly. To be on a level like this, one must have no vested interests, no biases. He must be able to hear God’s word objectively. This means the prophet must have no ego. The less ego he has, the more objectively he will be able to translate. The Torah its self says that Moshe was the humblest man who ever lived. This is also demonstrated in VaYikrah, which is written with a little Alef. Moshe wanted it to read, “Vayikar” - “And God happened to Moshe,” like it says by Billam. Moshe was a source for the Torah, and any prophesy he related is considered a Torah law. Whereas a prophesy from any other is not. By Moshe being this source, God could speak to man through him, and Moshe, being devoid of any sense of existence outside of God, could be relied upon to translate.
It says in Bava Basra 75a, that Moshe was like the sun, and Yehoshuah was like the moon. Moshe is the source of human knowledge, he was capable of taking knowledge from God (in the metaphor as light), and transferring it to man. Yehoshuah is just a receptacle, he can only reflect the suns light, he is not a source of it. This is the second generation, and they can only receive as much light as they can handle, and it is the moon. The sun would be too much for them. Mishnah Torah is what man can perceive, the first four books are infinite wisdom. The laws of divorce, perjury, false witnesses, rebellious elders and youngsters, Kings, the law of shooing away the mother bird before taking her nest eggs and the law to love God are among the laws only discussed in Mishna Torah. The whole book is patterned thus: A law, reproach. Another law, reproach, etc. Moshe is saying, “You will keep messing up.” This book is about the downfall of man. It could be titled, “Religion When it Doesn’t Work!” It’s all about when things aren’t happening the way they should. If one is sensitive, he will see in all the laws related only in Devarim, what to do when the system fails. When two people marry, opposites meet and it’s beautiful, but what happens when it doesn’t work, when it’s not beautiful? Then there has to be a divorce for each to find his or her beauty. When courts work the moral system works, but what happens when morality is corrupted and people begin to corrupt the courts? A King cannot reflect all which God does as a “King,” but sometimes people need something tangible. Our shooing away the mother bird is in its self a prayer. We are saying, “God, look how much the mother bird cares for her babes, where are you for us?” Is there really a need for a commandment to love God? Everyone loves his mother; she is the one who gave him life. But in this generation, even Jews fail to recognize he who gave them life, instead relating to a life philosophy of chance and accidents. Mishna Torah is about distance, when we feel distant from our creator, when things are unclear, when there is actually a generation that can even doubt their own existence (no philosopher has proved it). How can a generation like that be expected to love God? They don’t know they exist, forget knowing God does? Even the description of the size of the Jews implies distance, for Moshe says in pasuk yud, that the Jews are like the stars. If they were like the sand, that would mean they were clumped together, but stars are literally light years apart, even from each other.
This distance is what we must feel at this time of year, especially as the Ninth of Av approaches. This is when the worst tragedies of our history occurred, and it’s up to us to struggle to love God, and to see him clearly, even in the darkness. Because that is when our loyalty is truly tested. Good Shabbos.
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