Be'er - The Oral Torah Has Been Here All Along

On the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this Teaching. He said:

באר את התורה [MOSES BEGAN] TO EXPLAIN THIS LAW — in the seventy languages of the ancient world did he explain it to them (Midrash Tanchuma, Devarim 2; Genesis Rabbah 49; cf. Sotah 32a and Rashi on Deuteronomy 27:8).

TOOK MOSES UPON HIM TO EXPLAIN. Ho’il (took upon himself) and be’er (to explain) are two verbs in the perfect attached to each other without a connective vav. We find the same in chamak avar (had turned away, and was gone) (Cant. 5:6). Look! Moses began to explain to the children who were born in the wilderness what happened to their fathers. He related to them all the commandments. They would also hear from the mouth of the faithful messenger the Ten Statements which their fathers heard from God.

הואיל משה באר, “Moses undertook to expound this Torah;” he expounded all the commandments in the Torah, including the Ten Commandments that the people had heard from G-d directly. Hashem wished that the new generation which had been born after the revelation at Mount Sinai, should hear the Ten Commandments at least from the mouth of Moses. He was the most reliable human being that this task could be entrusted to.

הואיל משה באר את התורה הזאת, “Moses began explaining this Torah.” According to the plain meaning of the text Moses wanted to explain to the people at this time all the commandments and the fact that the essence of the Torah is contained in the Ten Commandments. Seeing that the parent generation of the people assembled had heard the Ten Commandments ,directly from from G’d, Moses repeated the text so that at least they would hear it from his mouth. Even though the people were already familiar with the Ten Commandments, having heard them from their fathers, and they believed in the divine origin of these commandments, the fact that Moses was an accredited prophet in their eyes made hearing them from him equivalent to hearing them from G’d Himself. A Midrashic approach: Moses commenced explaining the Torah in the land of Moav explaining 49 facets of the Torah in a way that would yield authentic exegesis, [our sages call it טהור, ritually pure] and also demonstrating that one can pervert Torah exegesis by 49 ways and obtain 49 inadmissible, “ritually unclean” ways of exegesis. The number 49 corresponds to the numerical value of the word מואב. [This explains that the words בארץ מואב are not to be translated as “in the land of Moav,” seeing the people of Israel had been forbidden to violate the borders of Moav. Ed.]. We have a similar explanation on Song of Songs 5,10: דודי צח ואדום, where these words do not mean “my beloved (simile for Hashem) is clear-skinned and ruddy,” certainly not an appropriate description for G’d. The word דודי is a simile for the 24 Books of the Bible, seeing that its numerical value is 24. The word צח has a numerical value of 98, reflecting the 2 sets of 49 ways to interpret the Torah (pure & impure) discussed above. We also have an allusion to this kind of exegesis in Proverbs 2,4 כמטמונים תחפשנה, “search for it as you would for treasures.” The word מטמונים is understood as מ'ט טמונים, that the Bible or Torah contains 49 (מ'ט) “hidden meanings.” The word מונים as “times” appears already in Genesis 31,7 when Lavan changed Yaakov’s wages עשרת מונים, “ten times.”

Before we clarify this matter, it is appropriate for you to know the distinction which exists between the repetition of the Torah (Deuteronomy), where the second set of Ten Commandments are found, and the rest of the Torah. In the gemara Megillah 31b it says “…one may not interrupt the reading of the curses…Abaye said: They taught this only with regard to the curses that are in Leviticus, but with regard to the curses that are in Deuteronomy, one may interrupt. What is the reason for this distinction? These curses in Leviticus are stated in the plural, and Moses pronounced them from the mouth of the Almighty. However, these curses in Deuteronomy are stated in the singular, and Moses said them on his own.” This does not mean that, Gd forbid, Moshe said even one letter on his own. Rather it refers to the distinction between Deuteronomy and the rest of the Torah, because the Torah which God gave to Israel has two aspects – one from the perspective of God who gave the Torah and the second from the perspective of Israel who received it. If one gave something to a friend who was of equal status, then there is only one perspective because they are equals, but when God who is above all gave the Torah to Israel on earth it is impossible that there not be a special aspect to it which pertains to the giver and another which pertains to the receiver. It is fit that the rest of the Torah express the aspect of the giver while the last book of Deuteronomy express that of the receiver because one who receives does so at the end once the giver has completed their words. This is why Deuteronomy is called Mishne Torah (the repetition of the Torah) to indicate that it contains some special aspect from the perspective of the receiver, as it says “…Moses undertook to expound this Teaching…” (Deut. 1:5) This is because the one who receives needs more clarification and explanation, and this is the distinction between Deuteronomy and the rest of the Torah. In the rest of the Torah, even though Moshe spoke every word nevertheless it was as if God said that ‘thus was decreed and so commanded the Lord,’ God placed the words in Moshe’s mouth as it is written regarding the Ten Commandments “…As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder.” (Exodus 19:19) Thus it was with everything that Moshe said – God put the words in his mouth. Deuteronomy is different, because in this book Moshe spoke his own words as a messenger who has been commanded to deliver a message. This is what the gemara means when it said ‘these curses in Deuteronomy are stated in the singular, and Moses said them on his own,’ God did not place the words in his mouth because the Deuteronomy is the receiving of the Torah and the act of receiving happens through one who is close to the receiver. The receiver is the essential element of Deuteronomy and therefore it was spoken by Moshe who was close to the receiver (i.e. Israel). The general principal is that God gave the Torah and Israel received it, and that receiving always happens at the end which is Deuteronomy. This is why the language of the book is fit to the receiver, because in it the receiver is primary – meaning that Deuteronomy came at the end to clarify the Divine message further in a manner fit to the receiver. This is a great and essential principal which answers all the difficulties posed by the differences and deviations between the first and second descriptions of the Ten Commandments. Furthermore you must know that the Torah is a covenant between God who gave it and Israel who received the covenant. A covenant binds together the one who makes the covenant with the one who receives it, and anything which connects two things from one perspective is close to one side and from another to the other. Therefore the Torah, which is the covenant between God and Israel, is from one perspective closer to God who gave the covenant and from another perspective to Israel who received it. Thus all of the Torah except Deuteronomy was spoken directly by God who made the covenant but Deuteronomy which comes at the end, which is so to speak the other extremity, is closer to Israel the receiver…