Since there are no Rabbi Frand shiurim on the Parsha until Elul, I generally substitute a vort from other Rabbanim each week, rather than leaving the blog without a vort for shabbos. This week, I am attempting to repeat a vort heard from a young maggid shiur in my community - R' Jeff Thurm who gives a great 40 minute parsha shiur at the BTU shul on Thursday nights. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to the maggid shiur.
R' Jeff began his shiur by discussing the term Mishna Torah which is used to describe Sefer Devarim. The Medrash explains that Devarim teaches us many halachos, so its called Mishna Torah. But R' Jeff had many other reasons for this term.
He first quoted the Ramban who notes that Devarim is basically a reiteration of halachos which were discussed earlier in the Torah and that the mitzvos which appear to be "new" were hinted at earlier in the Torah. But if they were learned earlier as a hint, why not give the details there, rather than in Sefer Devarim? The Ramban answers that since the Jews were about to enter the land of Israel and these laws were relevant to life in Israel they are mentioned in Sefer Devarim. Additionally, some of these mitzvos are less frequent, so they are mentioned at the end.
R' Jeff also brought the Maharal who notes that Sefer Devarim is Moshe's reiteration and personal views on the Torah. By example, the Tochacha in Devarim is said in singular form as Moshe is telling the Jews about it, whereas in Vayikra its said in plural form as Moshe is telling the Jews about it from Hashem's directive. The Maharal further explains that the first four books were Moshe telling the Jews verbatim from Hashem. But Devarim is a prophecy to Moshe which he then told them after. In so doing Hashem was weaning the Jews off a direct reiteration of Hashem's words, towards the words which were said over by a prophet like Yehoshua. Thus Devarim serves as a transition so that the Jews will be accustomed to hearing prophecy from Nevi'im.
R' Jeff said a third explanation from R' Tzadok, who explains that this was a different kind of transition. This is a transition from the Written Law to the Oral Law (Torah SheB'al Peh). As opposed to the first four books which were written law, Sefer Devarim is Moshe's interpretation of the laws which are now being canonized as part of Torah SheB'ctav. In so doing, Hashem is teaching us that the words of the Rabbanim in interpreting Torah are important as well.
The fourth view on Sefer Devarim is based on a Gemara in Avodah Zarah which states that Sefer HaYashar is a reference to Sefer Devarim as mentioned in Shmuel II, based on the words V'Asisa HaYashar V'HaTov B'einei Hashem. But why is one mention in Sefer Devarim of Yashar the link?
The Maharsha explains that the first four books are the rules - the halachos. But Sefer Devarim is meant to unify all the rules as the sum of its parts - how to live a life that is complete as a Yashar. R' Jeff noted in the name of R' Weinberger that the Gemara in Veyamos states that we generally we are not doresh s'muchim - we don't draw rules based on the juxtaposition / proximity of the pesukim one to another. However in Sefer Devarim we are doresh s'muchim. Why? Because everything in Devarim is connected under the rubric of Yashrus - that everything has a cohesiveness, we can learn rules based upon the connection of the pesukim.
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