פרשת וילך תש"ד - דברי משה לפני מותו

And Moses went and spoke these words unto all Israel.

went He went to each tribe, to inform them that he was going to die, so that they would not be frightened, and to hearten them with respect to Joshua (this is the reason for the passage which immediately follows: “… you will divide it among them” [: 7]). It is also my belief that this is when Moshe blessed the tribes, even though it is recorded later [cf. 33: 1 ff .].

לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבוא I CAN NO LONGER GO OUT AND COME IN — One might think that this was because his physical strength failed him! Scripture, however, states (Deuteronomy 34:7) “His eye was not dim nor his natural force abated!” What then is the meaning of לא אוכל? It means: “I am not permitted” (cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 12:17 and Deuteronomy 24:4), because the power (leadership) is being taken from me and given to Joshua. — Another explanation of לצאת ולבוא is: I can no more take the lead in the matter of the Law; this teaches us that the traditions and the well-springs of wisdom were stopped up for him (cf. Sotah 13b).

לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבוא I CAN NO LONGER GO OUT AND COME IN — One might think that this was because his physical strength failed him! Scripture, however, states (Deuteronomy 34:7) “His eye was not dim nor his natural force abated!” What then is the meaning of לא אוכל? It means: “I am not permitted” (cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 12:17 and Deuteronomy 24:4), because the power (leadership) is being taken from me and given to Joshua. — Another explanation of לצאת ולבוא is: I can no more take the lead in the matter of the Law; this teaches us that the traditions and the well-springs of wisdom were stopped up for him (cf. Sotah 13b).

To go to and fro denotes going out to, and returning from, battle. In other words: “Even if I were not now going to die, still I am incapable of waging war. Thus, you have no need of someone who would leave you unattended. But rather, God will destroy the nations, and Joshua also — and the proof is that which you have seen with your very eyes, namely, the war of Siḥon and ‘Og.”

לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבא, even if I were still able, I would not be able to function physically as a leader should, such as leading you in he conquest of the Land of Israel as I am suffering from symptoms of old age.

לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבוא I CAN NO LONGER GO OUT AND COME IN — One might think that this was because his physical strength failed him! Scripture, however, states (Deuteronomy 34:7) “His eye was not dim nor his natural force abated!” What then is the meaning of לא אוכל? It means: “I am not permitted” (cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 12:17 and Deuteronomy 24:4), because the power (leadership) is being taken from me and given to Joshua. — Another explanation of לצאת ולבוא is: I can no more take the lead in the matter of the Law; this teaches us that the traditions and the well-springs of wisdom were stopped up for him (cf. Sotah 13b).

וילך משה וגו' ... אנכי היום AND MOSES WENT ... I AM [HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS OLD] THIS DAY — Today my days and my years become full: for on this day (the seventh of Adar; cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 1:3) I was born and on this day I must die (Sotah 13b). לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבוא I CAN NO LONGER GO OUT AND COME IN — One might think that this was because his physical strength failed him! Scripture, however, states (Deuteronomy 34:7) “His eye was not dim nor his natural force abated!” What then is the meaning of לא אוכל? It means: “I am not permitted” (cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 12:17 and Deuteronomy 24:4), because the power (leadership) is being taken from me and given to Joshua. — Another explanation of לצאת ולבוא is: I can no more take the lead in the matter of the Law; this teaches us that the traditions and the well-springs of wisdom were stopped up for him (cf. Sotah 13b).

לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבוא I CAN NO LONGER GO OUT AND COME IN — One might think that this was because his physical strength failed him! Scripture, however, states (Deuteronomy 34:7) “His eye was not dim nor his natural force abated!” What then is the meaning of לא אוכל? It means: “I am not permitted” (cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 12:17 and Deuteronomy 24:4), because the power (leadership) is being taken from me and given to Joshua. — Another explanation of לצאת ולבוא is: I can no more take the lead in the matter of the Law; this teaches us that the traditions and the well-springs of wisdom were stopped up for him (cf. Sotah 13b).

לא ירפך means He will give you no looseness that you should be abandoned by Him (cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 4:31).

לא ירפך means, He will not let loose of thee so as not to hold thee fast by His hands. The expression לא ירפך is an expression signifying: He will not cause something (our Hiphil) — He will not give the any looseness, i.e. He will not separate you from Him. Similar is (Song 3:4) “I hold him fast, and I will not let him loose (אַרְפֶּנוּ )”, which is not vowelled אֶרְפֶּנוּ (which is Kal and an impossible form of the root רפה “to be loose”). Always the expression “letting slack (רפה)” in the Hiphil refers to one who causes looseness to others or to one who causes it to himself. For example (2 Kings 4:2) הרפה לה means, “give her looseness”; (Deuteronomy 9:14) הרף ממני means, “Give looseness to thyself from off me”.

כי אתה תבוא את העם הזה — Translate this as the Targum does: ארי אתה תעול עם עמא הדין, THOU SHALT GO WITH THIS PEOPLE. Moses, by the statement “Thou shall go with this people” (as one of them) said in effect to Joshua: The elders of the generation will be with thee: everything has to be done according to their opinion and their advice. The Holy One, blessed be He, however, said to Joshua, (v. 23) “For thou shalt bring (תביא) the children of Israel into the land which I swore unto them” — thou shalt bring them even against their will; everything depends on you alone: if necessary take a stick and beat them over the head: there can be but one leader for a generation, and not two leaders for a generation (Sanhedrin 8a).

ויכתב משה ... ויתנה AND MOSES WROTE [THIS LAW] AND GAVE IT [UNTO THE PRIESTS, THE SONS OF LEVI] — When it was completely finished he gave it to the sons of his tribe.