תורה או שירה?

And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel: ‘Be strong and of good courage; for thou shalt go with this people into the land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And the LORD, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee; fear not, neither be dismayed.’ And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, that bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, saying: ‘At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which He shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law; and that their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over the Jordan to possess it.’ And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Behold, thy days approach that thou must die; call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may give him a charge.’ And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. And the LORD appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud; and the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the Tent. And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Behold, thou art about to sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go astray after the foreign gods of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake Me, and break My covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day: Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide My face in that day for all the evil which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods. Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach thou it the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel. For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore unto their fathers, flowing with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten their fill, and waxen fat; and turned unto other gods, and served them, and despised Me, and broken My covenant; then it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are come upon them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed; for I know their imagination how they do even now, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.’ So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.

Rava says: With regard to the mitzva for every Jew to write himself a Torah scroll, even if a person’s ancestors left him a Torah scroll, it is a mitzva to write a scroll of one’s own, as it is stated: “Now, therefore, write for yourselves this song and teach it to the children of Israel” (Deuteronomy 31:19). Abaye raised an objection to him from a baraita concerning the king’s Torah scroll: And he writes himself a Torah scroll for his sake, so that he does not beautify himself with the Torah scroll of others. Read precisely, this indicates that a king, yes, he is included in the halakha not to have a scroll inherited from his ancestors suffice, but an ordinary person is not.

It is an affirmative precept binding upon every individual Israelite to write a scroll of the Law for his own use, as it is said, "Now therefore write ye this Song for you" (Deuteronomy 31:19). As the Torah is not written in separate sections, this text means, "Write for yourselves the Torah in which this Song is contained." Even if one's ancestors have left a person a scroll, it is a religious duty to write a scroll at his own expense. If he wrote it with his own hand, it is accounted to him as if he had received it from Sinai. If one does not know how to write a scroll, he should get others to write it for him. He who corrects a scroll, even a single letter of it, is regarded as if he had written it completely.

(Devarim 32:43) "The nations will praise His people": In the future, when the L-rd brings redemption to Israel, the nations will be wroth before Him, viz. (Psalms 99:1) "The L-rd has reigned; the peoples will be wroth." And this will not be the first time, for they were already wroth in the past, viz. (Shemoth 15:19) "The peoples heard (of the splitting of the sea); they were wroth." But in the end, the peoples will praise Israel (for the fulfillment of their faith in the L-rd), viz.: "The nations will praise His people." And whence (do we derive the same for) heaven and earth? From (Isaiah 44:23) "Sing, O heavens, for the L-rd has wrought; shout (for joy), foundations of the earth!" And whence, mountains and hills? From (Ibid. 55:12) "The mountains and hills will break out in song before You, and all the trees of the field will clap hands." And whence, the (fore-) fathers and mothers? From (Ibid. 42:11) "The dwellers of the rock will sing; from the peaks of the mountains will they shout." "For the blood of His servants shall He avenge, and vengeances will He return to His adversaries": two vengeances — one for the blood; one for the despoiling. And whence is it derived that every despoiling of Israel by the nations is accounted to them as having spilled innocent blood? From (Joel 4:2) "I will gather all of the nations, and I will bring them down to the valley of Yehoshafat and I will contend with them there for My people and My inheritance, which they scattered … (Ibid. 19) Egypt will become a desolation, and Edom a desolate desert, because of the despoiling of the children of Judah, their spilling of innocent blood in their land." At that time (Ibid. 20-21) "And Yehudah will dwell (secure) forever … And cleanse their blood (i.e., to forgive this bloodshed by the nations) — I will not cleanse it." (Devarim, Ibid.) "and His earth will atone for His people": Whence is it derived that the killing of Israel by the nations atones for them (Israel) in the world to come? From (Psalms 79:1) "A psalm of Asaf: O G-d, nations have entered Your inheritance … (3) They have shed their blood like water … (8) Do not remember against us (our) first sins, etc." R. Meir was wont to say: All who dwell in Eretz Yisrael are atoned for by the land, as it is written (Isaiah 33:24) "The people that dwell in it (Eretz Yisrael) nesu sin." But I still would not know whether sin were removed from it or borne upon it, ("nesu" being susceptible of both meanings) — were it not written "and His earth shall atone for His people." And thus was R. Meir wont to say: "Whoever lives in Eretz Yisrael and recites the Shema morning and night, and speaks the holy tongue is a son of the world to come." Great is "song," which obtains in the past, and obtains in the future, and obtains in time to come (the time of the Messiah) and obtains in the world to come.