Deuteronomy

Why, of all matters and incidents in the wilderness, does Moses begin with his appointment of judges and delegation of authority?

The Torah does not say. The appointment of judges (1:9–18) answers the problem Moses states at the outset, “I cannot bear the burden of you by myself” (1:9, 12). He is about to die, and a people entering its land will need justice and shared leadership that do not depend on him, founded on judging fairly, without partiality or fear, “for judgment is God’s” (1:16–17). The growth that made delegation necessary was itself God’s blessing (1:10–11).

Which crucial episode of the wilderness is omitted by Moses in the beginning of the PARSHA?

The golden calf, which Moses recounts only later, in Ekev (9:8–21). Rashi on 1:1, following the Sifrei, reads the place names of the opening verse as veiled allusions to the people’s sins, mentioned only by hint out of regard for Israel; Di-zahab, “enough gold,” hints at the calf.

This PARSHA is always read on the Shabbat preceding TISHA B’AV. This is appropriate because it deals with admonitions to Israel and warnings of national catastrophe. Which word connects the PARSHA with the Book of Lamentations read on TISHA B’AV?

Eikhah, “how”: “How can I bear unaided the trouble of you, and the burden, and the bickering!” (1:12). Lamentations opens with the same word (Lamentations 1:1), and in many congregations, especially Ashkenazi ones, this verse is chanted in the melody of Lamentations. The Midrash (Eikhah Rabbah 1:1) notes that three prophets spoke with eikhah: Moses (1:12), Isaiah (Isaiah 1:21) and Jeremiah.

Can you find any differences in the description of the expedition of the spies here (1:22-38) and what’s mentioned in Numbers Chapter 13?

In Numbers God tells Moses to send the spies (Numbers 13:1–2); here the people ask for them and Moses approves (1:22–23). Numbers names the twelve, traces their route through the whole land (Numbers 13:21) and gives the evil report at length (Numbers 13:27–33); here the emphasis is on the wadi Eshcol, the fruit and the report “It is a good land” (1:24–25); the frightening words about giants and walled cities are quoted only as the people’s own complaint (1:28), and the blame falls on their fear (1:26–28). Moses also says God was angry with him “because of you” (1:37), which seems to link his own exclusion to this episode, although elsewhere it is tied to the waters of Meribah (Numbers 20:12; Deuteronomy 32:51).

Which 3 foreign countries are mentioned in the PARSHA?

Edom, the land of Esau’s descendants in Seir (2:4–8); Moab (2:9); and Ammon (2:19). Israel was forbidden to attack any of them, since God had given them their land. Egypt (1:27, 30) and the Amorite kingdoms of Sihon and Og (2:24–3:11) are also mentioned.

Whom did Moses designate as his successor?

Joshua son of Nun (1:38). Moses also charged him not to fear the kings he would face, “for it is the Lord your God who will battle for you” (3:21–22).

Which king refused to give the Israelites transit through his country?

Sihon, king of Heshbon, who refused to let Israel pass, though Moses offered to keep to the highway and pay for food and water (2:26–30); God delivered him to Israel at Jahaz (2:32–33). According to Numbers 20:18–21 Edom too refused passage, though here Moses says Esau’s descendants sold Israel food and water (2:6, 29).

What were the cities of refuge? Who was entitled to go there? Under what circumstances?

Three cities east of the Jordan that Moses set aside: Bezer for Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead for Gad and Golan in Bashan for Manasseh (4:41–43). One who had killed another unintentionally, “without having been an enemy in the past,” could flee there and live, safe from the blood avenger (4:42). The law is set out more fully in 19:1–13 and Numbers 35:9–34, which add cities west of the Jordan.

What famous verse said in the daily prayers is mentioned in the PARSHA?

The Shema: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one” (6:4), with the passage that follows, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart …” (6:5–9).

Which verse in the PARSHA is said at the Seder on Passover?

“We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand” (6:21), the answer to the child’s question in 6:20. The Haggadah begins its answer to the Four Questions with these words, and the wise son’s question is taken from 6:20.

How many nations lived in Canaan? What were their names?

Seven: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, “seven nations greater and mightier than you” (7:1).

What were the Israelites to do to these nations? (list at least 3 items).

Defeat them and doom them to destruction (ḥerem), make no covenant with them and show them no mercy (7:2); not intermarry with them, lest they turn Israel’s children to other gods (7:3–4); and tear down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their sacred posts and burn their images (7:5).

What reason was given in the PARSHA to why we must observe the Sabbath?

“Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there” (5:15), and “so that your male and female slave may rest as you do” (5:14). In Exodus the reason is creation: God made heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh (Exodus 20:11).

Even wealth can be a test of faith. Cite a verse from the PARSHA that illustrates this.

“When you have eaten your fill, and have built fine houses … and your silver and gold have increased … beware lest your heart grow haughty and you forget the Lord your God” (8:12–14), and say, “My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me” (8:17). Remember that it is God who gives the power to get wealth (8:18).

What encouraging thought(s) should accompany the Israelite soldier in battle?

Do not fear the nations, though they are more numerous: remember what God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt, and so He will do to them (7:17–19). “The Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God” (7:21), and He goes before you “as a devouring fire” (9:3). Compare the priest’s address to the army in 20:2–4.

What two miracles mentioned in the PARSHA happened to the Children of Israel during their 40 years of travelling?

The manna, food that neither they nor their fathers had known (8:3, 16); and their clothing did not wear out, nor did their feet swell, for forty years (8:4). The portion also recalls water brought out of the flinty rock (8:15).

List 7 types of agricultural produce mentioned in the PARSHA.

Wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olives (for oil) and honey (8:8), the seven species for which the land is praised. The honey is usually understood as date honey.

What reason was given why the Tribe of Levi got no NACHALA (hereditary portion)?

God set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve Him, and to bless in His name; therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers: “the Lord is his inheritance” (10:8–9). Compare 18:1–2.

In 11:6, Moshe recalls the rebellion of Datan and Aviram. Whose name is conspicuously absent from the account? Why?

Korah, the leader of the rebellion (Numbers 16:1). The Torah does not explain the omission. Ramban on 11:6 says Moses lists only unique wonders: the earth swallowing Dathan and Abiram was one, but a non-priest who offers incense is punished in every generation, as King Uzziah was later struck with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:19), so the fire that consumed Korah’s company was not a new wonder. It may also be relevant that Korah’s sons did not die (Numbers 26:11).

The law of TEFILLIN is mentioned in the PARSHA. Find the verse.

“Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol between your eyes” (11:18). The same command appears in the Shema, in Va’etchanan (6:8).

Why is Mount Gerizim also called Mount Beracha?

Because the blessing was to be pronounced there: “you shall pronounce the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal” (11:29), and six tribes were to stand on Gerizim for the blessing (27:12). The name Mount Beracha does not appear in the Bible; it reflects the mountain’s role in the ceremony, which Joshua carried out (Joshua 8:33).

What changes or innovations are found in this week’s PARSHA as compared with the other Books of the Torah, especially Vayikra?

Worship is centralized in “the place that the Lord will choose” (12:5–14), so meat may now be slaughtered and eaten anywhere for food (12:15, 20–22), whereas Leviticus 17:3–4 required every slaughtered animal to be brought to the Tabernacle; the blood is simply poured on the ground like water (12:16, 24). The tithe is eaten at the chosen place or turned into money and spent there, and every third year it goes to the Levite and the poor (14:22–29). Debts are remitted in the seventh year (15:1–3), where Leviticus 25 speaks of letting the land rest, and the freed Hebrew slave, man or woman, must be sent off with gifts (15:12–17). The festivals are kept at the chosen place, with rejoicing that includes the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow (16:1–17).

When must we NOT follow the claims of a prophet?

When he urges Israel to follow other gods, even if the sign or wonder he gives comes true (13:2–4). God is testing whether you love Him with all your heart and soul, and such a prophet is to be put to death (13:4–6). In Shoftim, a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or whose prediction does not come to pass, is likewise false (18:20–22).

In 16:11 and 16:14, the Israelite is commanded to rejoice on the festivals. What is the purpose of legislating a natural reaction? Why is there no similar expression with regard to Pessach (Passover)?

Verse 16:11 refers to Shavuot and 16:14 to Sukkot; both command rejoicing with one’s children and slaves, the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow, so that the commanded joy is joy shared with those who have little of their own. The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 654) notes that joy is mentioned three times for Sukkot, once for Shavuot and not at all for Passover, because at Passover the year’s grain is still being judged and no one knows how the harvest will turn out. Passover also recalls the “bread of distress” and the haste of the Exodus (16:3).

What was the MAASER SHENI (2nd Tithes)?

A tenth of the yield of grain, wine and oil (14:22), which the owner and his household ate “before the Lord” at the place He would choose, as they did the firstlings of herd and flock, “so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God” (14:22–23). If the distance was too great, the produce could be turned into money and the money spent there on a festive meal, without forgetting the Levite (14:24–27). In the third year the tithe was instead left in the towns for the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow (14:28–29).

What was to happen to debts every 7 years?

Every seventh year creditors had to remit what their fellow Israelites owed them, though debts from a foreigner could still be collected (15:1–3). The Torah warns against refusing a loan to the poor because the year of release is near (15:9). When people did just that, Hillel instituted the prozbul, which let creditors collect through the court after the seventh year (Mishnah Shevi’it 10:3).

Why was self-mutilation (cutting one’s flesh or tearing out one’s hair) in mourning for the dead prohibited?

“You are children of the Lord your God: you shall not gash yourselves or make baldness … for the dead, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God” (14:1–2). Rashi on 14:1 explains that cutting for the dead was the practice of the Amorites, and that as God’s children Israel should be comely, not gashed or with hair torn out. Compare Leviticus 19:28.

What is the relationship between the law in 18:1 and that found in Genesis Chapter 47:22 and 47:26?

Both set the priests apart in the matter of land, but in opposite ways. In Egypt the priests alone kept their land when everyone else sold theirs to Pharaoh, and they lived on an allotment from him (Genesis 47:22, 26); in Israel the priests and Levites alone receive no territory and live on the Lord’s offerings, for “the Lord is their portion” (18:1–2). Egypt’s priests depended on the king; Israel’s depend on God and on the people’s gifts (18:3–4).

What does this week’s PARSHA say about judges taking bribes?

“You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just” (16:19). The next verse adds, “Justice, justice shall you pursue” (16:20).

What are the minimum number of witnesses that are required by Jewish law in a court of law?

Two. A person may be put to death only “on the testimony of two or more witnesses,” never on one (17:6), and “a case can be valid only on the testimony of two witnesses or more” (19:15).

What are the obligations of an Israelite king? What was he forbidden to do?

The king must be one whom God chooses, and an Israelite, not a foreigner (17:15). He must not acquire many horses or send the people back to Egypt for horses, nor take many wives, nor amass silver and gold to excess (17:16–17). He must have a copy of this Torah written for him, keep it with him and read it all his life, so that he reveres God, keeps the law and does not act haughtily toward his brothers (17:18–20).

How do we know from this week’s PARSHA that a seance is forbidden?

Among the practices forbidden as “abhorrent to the Lord” are consulting ghosts or familiar spirits and inquiring of the dead (18:10–12), which is what a séance attempts. Compare Saul and the woman of En-dor (1 Samuel 28:7–19).

If someone accidentally killed another person, what was he to do according to this week’s PARSHA?

He was to flee to one of the cities of refuge, where he would be safe from the blood avenger (19:1–7). The Torah’s example is a man whose ax head flies off the handle while he is cutting wood and kills his companion (19:5). The roads were to be prepared so the killer could reach a city in time, and three more cities added if the territory grew (19:3, 8–9); a deliberate murderer who fled there was to be handed over to the avenger (19:11–13).

From where in the PARSHA do we know that we must remove all obstacles and dangers from one’s property?

“When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone should fall from it” (22:8). The Talmud (Bava Kamma 15b, 46a; Ketubot 41b) learns from the words “that you do not bring blood on your house” that one may not keep a vicious dog or a rickety ladder in one’s home.

What is the law concerning someone who kidnaps?

One who kidnaps a fellow Israelite and enslaves or sells him shall die (24:7). Compare Exodus 21:16.

What was to happen if a man lays wanton charges of immorality against his wife?

If the young woman’s parents prove the charge false, the elders flog him and fine him a hundred shekels of silver, paid to her father, and she remains his wife; he may never divorce her (22:13–19). If the charge proves true, she is stoned (22:20–21).

What were the rules concerning conduct in a military camp?

Soldiers were to guard against anything unseemly (23:10). A man made impure by a nocturnal emission had to leave the camp, bathe toward evening and return at sunset (23:11–12). A place outside the camp was set aside for relieving oneself, and each man carried a spike to cover his excrement, “since the Lord your God moves about in your camp … let your camp be holy” (23:13–15).

What verse in the PARSHA teaches us about the prohibition of cruelty toward animals?

“You shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing” (25:4). The portion also requires helping to raise a fallen donkey or ox (22:4) and sending away the mother bird before taking the young (22:6–7), and forbids plowing with an ox and a donkey together (22:10).

“Human dignity” is an issue in several laws in the PARSHA. List at least 4 examples.

A captive woman is given a month to mourn her parents and, if no longer wanted, must be set free, not sold (21:13–14); the body of an executed criminal may not be left hanging overnight (21:22–23); and an escaped slave is not handed back to his master (23:16–17). A creditor may not enter a debtor’s house to take a pledge but must wait outside, and must return a poor man’s garment by sunset (24:10–13); a poor laborer is paid the same day (24:14–15). Flogging is limited to forty lashes, “lest your brother be degraded before your eyes” (25:3).

Why do you think the Torah requires a person to recite the history of the Jewish people when bringing the first fruit of the land to Jerusalem?

The Torah does not say, but the declaration itself suggests reasons (26:3–10). By recalling his humble origins, “My father was a wandering Aramean,” the slavery in Egypt and the Exodus, the farmer acknowledges that the land and its fruit are God’s gift and not his own achievement, and links his harvest to the history of his people and the promise to the fathers (26:3, 5, 9–10). Rashi on 26:3, following the Sifrei, says the declaration shows that one is not ungrateful.

What is the ultimate punishment hinted at in Chapter 28 verse 36?

Exile: “The Lord will drive you, and the king you have set over you, to a nation unknown to you or your fathers, where you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone” (28:36). Even the king would be carried off, as Jehoiachin and Zedekiah were taken to Babylon (2 Kings 24:15; 25:7).

What happened on Mount Eval and Mount Gerizim?

Moses commanded that after crossing the Jordan the people set up large plastered stones on Mount Ebal inscribed with the words of the Torah, build an altar of unhewn stones there, and offer burnt offerings and offerings of well-being (27:1–8). Six tribes were to stand on Mount Gerizim for the blessing and six on Mount Ebal for the curse, while the Levites proclaimed the curses and the people answered “Amen” (27:12–26). Joshua carried this out (Joshua 8:30–35).

Read Chapter 28 from verse 15-69. Do you think that what happened in Jewish history is accurately reflected here?

Readers have long seen Jewish history in these verses: siege and famine so dire that parents eat their children (28:52–57; compare Lamentations 4:10 and 2 Kings 6:28–29), exile and scattering among the nations (28:36, 64), no rest or security there (28:65–67), and even being sold back to Egypt as slaves with no buyer (28:68). The destructions of the First and Second Temples and the long exile that followed match much of the description. In the Hebrew numbering the curses end at 28:68; 28:69 (29:1 in many English Bibles) is the closing verse of the covenant.

What is the reciprocal relationship between God and Israel?

Each side binds itself: “You have affirmed this day that the Lord is your God, that you will walk in His ways … and the Lord has affirmed this day that you are His treasured people” (26:17–18). God will establish Israel as His holy people if they keep His commandments (28:9); the blessings follow obedience (28:1–14) and the curses disobedience (28:15–68).

In 28:29, there is a puzzling verse. What difference does it make to a blind man if he gropes in darkness or in light?

The Talmud (Megillah 24b) records that Rabbi Yose was troubled by this verse all his life, until he met a blind man walking at night with a torch. The man explained that as long as he held it, people could see him and save him from pits, thorns and thistles. Even the blind benefit from light; in darkness no one will see them and help, and the verse ends, “with none to give help” (28:29).

What do the 12 offenses in 27:15-26 have in common?

Most are sins that can be done in secret, beyond the reach of a human court; the first and the tenth say so outright: one who sets up an idol “in secret” (27:15) and one who strikes his neighbor “in secret” (27:24). Ibn Ezra on 27:15 notes that these are sins that can be done secretly. Rashbam develops the point: where the court cannot punish, the curse, pronounced in God’s name, applies (compare 29:28, “Concealed acts concern the Lord our God”). The twelfth is a general curse on whoever does not uphold the Torah (27:26).

The PARSHA begins with an assembly of all Israel for the purpose of entering a BRIT (covenant) with God. A number of times in the Torah, God enters into a BRIT with people. Cite at least three other instances of such sacred agreements with God.

With Noah and every living creature, never again to destroy the earth by a flood (Genesis 9:9–17); with Abraham at the covenant between the pieces (Genesis 15:18) and in the covenant of circumcision (Genesis 17:1–14); with Israel at Sinai, sealed with “the blood of the covenant” (Exodus 24:7–8); the Sabbath as “a covenant for all time” (Exodus 31:16); and with Phinehas, a covenant of peace and of priesthood (Numbers 25:12–13). The covenant in the land of Moab is made “in addition to the covenant … at Horeb” (28:69).

God proclaims that a certain phenomenon and two ritual observances are to symbolize His covenant. Which are these?

The rainbow (Genesis 9:12–17), circumcision (Genesis 17:10–11) and the Sabbath (Exodus 31:13, 16–17), each called a “sign” of the covenant. None of them appears in this portion; the question refers to Genesis and Exodus.

This PARSHA is always read before the High Holidays (ROSH HASHANA). Which key words, repeated often in Chapter 30, make this an especially appropriate reading?

Forms of shuv, “return,” recur throughout 30:1–10: “you take them to heart” (literally, “return them to your heart,” 30:1), “you return to the Lord your God” (30:2, 10), God “will restore your fortunes” (ve-shav … et shevutekha) and gather you again (30:3), “you will again obey” (30:8), and God “will again delight” in you (30:9). Teshuvah, repentance and return, is the central theme of the High Holidays.

Which punishment is indicated in the PARSHA for violating the BRIT?

Whoever thinks he is safe while following his own willful heart will not be forgiven; every curse written in this book will fall on him and God will blot out his name (29:17–19). The land will be devastated by sulfur and salt like Sodom and Gomorrah, and the people uprooted and cast into another land (29:21–27). “You shall certainly perish” and not long endure in the land (30:17–18), and God will hide His face from them (31:17–18).

What logical connection can you see between this PARSHA and the prior one?

Ki Tavo ends with the blessings and curses, “the terms of the covenant … in the land of Moab” (28:69), and with Moses reminding the people of all God did for them in forty years (29:1–8). Nitzavim continues the same speech with the covenant ceremony itself, binding those present and those not yet born (29:9–14). After the curses it offers the hope of return and restoration (30:1–10) and sets before the people the choice between life and death (30:15–20).

The word BADAD (solitary) in verse 12 is believed by some commentators to refer not only to God but also to Israel. Where else in the Torah is Israel referred to as BADAD?

Balaam calls Israel “a people that dwells apart (levadad), not reckoned among the nations” (Numbers 23:9), and Moses, in his final blessing: “Israel dwells in safety, alone (badad)” (33:28).

Verse 10 states that God found Israel in the desert. How could the passage omit the beginnings of God’s relationship with Israel in Egypt?

The Song begins its account of the bond in the wilderness, where God “found” Israel, encircled them and guarded them “as the pupil of His eye” (32:10). Rashi on 32:10 explains that there God found them faithful, for there they accepted His Torah and His sovereignty, which other nations had refused; he cites Jeremiah 2:2, “I remember … how you followed Me in the wilderness.” Hosea too says, “Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel” (Hosea 9:10).

List the various ways God is described in the PARSHA. Cite the verses.

The Rock, whose work is perfect and all of whose ways are just, a faithful God without iniquity (32:4); the Father who created and established Israel (32:6); the Most High who fixed the boundaries of the peoples (32:8); an eagle bearing its young on its wings (32:11); the Rock who begot Israel and the God who brought them forth (32:18); the One beside whom there is no god, who kills and makes alive, wounds and heals (32:39); and the avenger of His servants’ blood (32:41–43). “Rock” recurs throughout (32:4, 15, 18, 30, 31).

List the various anthropomorphisms in the PARSHA.

God is a father (32:6) who begot Israel and labored to bring them forth (32:18); He guards them as the pupil of His eye (32:10) and spreads His wings like an eagle (32:11). He is vexed and provoked to jealousy (32:16, 19, 21), hides His face (32:20), and His anger burns like fire (32:22). He shoots arrows (32:23, 42), fears the taunts of the enemy (32:27), raises His hand to heaven and swears “as I live forever” (32:40), and whets His sword, which devours flesh (32:41–42).

What is the sin that would arouse the wrath of God?

Forsaking God for other gods. Grown fat on the land’s bounty, Jeshurun “kicked” and forsook the God who made him (32:15), provoking Him with strange gods and abominations and sacrificing to demons, “no-gods,” new gods their fathers never knew (32:16–17, 21). At the root is ingratitude: they forgot the Rock who begot them (32:18).

Would Israel suffer and be destroyed?

Israel would suffer terribly, from famine, plague, wild beasts and the sword (32:23–25). But God would not destroy them, lest their enemies boast, “Our own hand has prevailed” (32:26–27). In the end He will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants (32:36), avenge their blood and make expiation for His land and His people (32:43).

What is the meaning of the verse: “Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask your father and he will declare unto you, your elders and they will tell you” (32:7)?

Israel should learn from history and from tradition: what God did for the nation in the past, handed down from parents and elders to children, shows what He can do and what He expects (32:7–14). Rashi on 32:7 reads it as a call to remember how God punished earlier generations who angered Him, and to consider what He can yet do for Israel, including the days of the Messiah and the world to come. Following the Sifrei, he takes “your father” to mean the prophets and “your elders” the sages.

Which tribe did not get a blessing from Moses? Why?

Simeon, who is missing from the list (33:6–25); the Torah gives no reason. Jacob had cursed the anger of Simeon and Levi and said he would scatter them in Israel (Genesis 49:5–7), and Simeon’s inheritance lay within Judah’s (Joshua 19:1, 9). Rashi on 33:7 suggests Simeon is alluded to in Judah’s blessing, “Hear (shema), O Lord, the voice of Judah,” and cites a Midrash that Moses withheld a separate blessing because of what Simeon did at Shittim, where Zimri was a Simeonite chieftain (Numbers 25:14).

Which animals are mentioned in connection with which tribe in the blessings?

Joseph is likened to a firstling bull with horns like those of the wild ox (33:17); Gad is poised like a lion (33:20); and Dan is “a lion’s whelp that leaps forth from Bashan” (33:22).

Which tribe is referred to here with a metaphor applied in Jacob’s blessings (Genesis 49) to a different tribe?

Dan is called “a lion’s whelp” (33:22), the image Jacob used for Judah: “Judah is a lion’s whelp” (Genesis 49:9). In Jacob’s blessing Dan was a serpent by the road (Genesis 49:17).

According to the Talmud (Bava Batra 14b) Moses wrote the entire Torah as dictated by God except for some verses in this PARSHA. Which verses at the end of the PARSHA do you think tradition ascribes to Joshua?

The last eight verses, from “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there” to the end of the Torah (34:5–12). The Talmud asks how Moses, while alive, could write “and Moses died there”; Rabbi Yehudah (some say Rabbi Nehemiah) answers that up to that point Moses wrote, and from there on Joshua wrote (Bava Batra 15a). Rabbi Shimon holds that Moses wrote these verses too, as God dictated them, in tears.

“There was a king in Jeshurun” (33:5). Whom does this refer to?

Rashi on 33:5 takes the king to be God, whose sovereignty rested on Israel constantly, and, he adds from the Sifrei, especially when the heads of the people gathered together in unity. Ibn Ezra on 33:5 says it is Moses, who was like a king when the tribal heads assembled to hear the Torah from him; he also cites Rabbi Judah Halevi, who took “king” to mean the Torah.