פרשת כי תבוא תשי"א - "והקמת לך אבנים גדולות"

שמור את כל המצוה, “Observe the whole command ment, etc.” The Torah refers to the impending command to erect stones on Mount Eyval (verse 4) after they have been inscribed, stones taken from the river Jordan at the time the people would cross that river. These stones are intended to commemorate the miracles which occurred enabling the Israelites to cross the river without becoming wet at a time of year when it was swollen with melting snow from Mount Hermon. There were a total of 12 such stones as we know from Joshua 4,2 that one stone per tribe was to be erected. Joshua commanded the twelve men to whom he had assigned the task of taking these stones from the river after the people had completed crossing. These stones were carried on the shoulders of the twelve men, each of whom represented his tribe (Joshua 4,1-8). These stones were deposited next to the place at Gilgal where the Israeites spent the first night in the Holy Land, close to the river. The stones which were erected on Mount Eyval had the entire text of the Torah inscribed on them. Another twelve stones (Joshua 4,9) were erected in the river bed of the Jordan at the site of the miracle where the priests with the Holy Ark had crossed and G’d had arrested the flow of the river so as not to swamp the Holy Ark (Joshua 4,7). The reason the stones are described as having to be “large,” is to enable the engravers to inscribe the whole text of the Torah on their surface. The latter stones are reported as still being in existence at the time the Book of Joshua had been written. [What is written in Joshua 4,3-4 is an elaboration of what was mentioned in summary in the preceding verse 2.] (compare Daat Mikra). There were a total of 36 stones, three groups of 12. Twelve were erected in the river bed of the Jordan, before the Jordan had resumed flowing south. 12 were erected at Gilgal. The final twelve were taken all the way to Mount Eyval. These latter stones were made into the altar on Mount Eyval as mentioned by Rashi in his commentary on verse two of our chapter. [According to a view also mentioned by Rashi in conjunction with the Baraitha in Sotah 35, the stones which were made into a (temporary) altar on Mount Eyval were brought back to Gilgal and erected there.]
Our author feels that the plain meaning of our verses allows for only a total of 24 stones, 12 of which were erected in the river bed, whereas the other 12 were taken from the river. The stones erected in the river bed remain to this day and their purpose had been to enable the feet of the priests carrying the Holy Ark not to get wet in the slime while crossing the river. [The actual flow of the water had been arrested in deference to the presence of the Holy Ark. Ed.]
We find the expression באר used in Deut. 1,5 when Moses is reported as “explaining” the Torah. We find it used again in verse 5 of our chapter here. This gives rise to the exegesis by means of a גזרה שוה that just as Moses explained the Torah in 70 languages, the inscribing of the stones with the Torah also was in 70 languages.
The words והקמות לך אבנים גדולות (verse 3) may be understood as a כלל, a general summary of the subject under discussion, whereas the words (verse 4) והיה בעברכם את הירדן תקימו את האבנים האלה may be viewed as the details elaborating on the summary mentioned before. It is as if the Torah wanted to say that the twelve stones mentioned earlier were to be treated in a certain manner. Verse four refers to the aforementioned stones and instructs for them to be erected on Mount Eival. They are to be covered with plaster and then inscribed after the altar on Mount Eival has been erected. [the building of the altar is to precede the erecting of these stones, not as the wording appears at first glance (Rabbi Chavell) Ed.] Following all this, the stones are to be inscribed with the text of the entire Torah, well clarified (verse 8). If we do not explain the verse in this fashion i.e. on the basis of A) summary (כלל) followed by B) detailed instructions (פרט), the entire passage will sound confusing. What would be the point of writing in verse 8 that the entire Torah, well clarified, is to be inscribed on these stones, seeing that G’d had already instructed the Torah to be inscribed on the stones in verse 3? Furthermore, how could the Torah first write: “you are to write upon them” (verse 3), and subsequently “you shall build an altar there?” (verse 5). The Talmud in Sotah 32 also appears to understand our paragraph as an example of the exegetical principle of כלל ופרט.

And Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying: ‘Keep all the commandment which I command you this day.

And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over; that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of thy fathers, hath promised thee.

observe the entire commandment, namely, to erect for you stones which much be large enough to contain the entire Torah (Sa‘adya Gaon, of blessed memory, proposed the attractive hypothesis that the stones contained only an enumeration of the commandments such as is found in the codes of law, as a kind of public notice).

According to Ramban these stones were enormous in size, perhaps miraculously formed, to write from Bereishit through “before the eyes of all Israel” [at the end of the Torah] on them. According to Ibn Ezra in the name of Rav Saadia Gaon, they wrote on the stones the overall count of mitzvot and prohibitions, like those recorded in Halachot Gedolot. Others explain that only the previous paragraph (Devarim 26:16-19) was written on them. My son, the insightful Rabbi Shmuel, explained that here the word “kol [all]” is best understood as “klal [general principle]”, which incorporates many specific details. This is akin to “And you shall remember all the mitzvot of G-d,” which the Sages teach refers to the paragraph of Shema, which contains within it an acceptance of all rule of Heaven and a distancing from idol worship. So, too, the first two of the Ten Commandments, “I am” and “You shall not” are referred to as “All of these words” (in Exodus 15:22). And we have already been taught from the words of Rabbi David Kimchi that “kol” is not just a word; rather, it is a term that refers to “the entire general principle.” ... So too here, “all the words of this Torah” means “the general principle of the Torah’s words”... This explains the statement of the Sages (in Tractate Sotah) that the Torah was written on the stones in seventy languages in order to benefit the nations of the world, to learn it-but the nations of the world aren’t commanded to observe the entire Torah ... Rather it refers to the general Torah, meaning the unity of the Creator, as we have said. More literally, we could explain, as do other commentators, that “all the words of the Torah” means from Bereishit through “before the eyes of all Israel” [at the end of the Torah]. When the Torah states, “And you shall write them on the stones,” it is analogous to the statement, “And you shall write them on the doorposts.” That “writing” doesn’t mean to write the words on the doorpost itself, but rather on a parchment which is then mounted on the doorpost. So too here it means to write the entire Torah, from Bereishit through “before the eyes of all Israel”, on parchment in the form of a Torah scroll, and then mount it upon the stones. However, the tradition of our Sages [that these words were written on the stones themselves] should be the deciding factor.