Daily Chumash

On the final day of his earthly life, Moses gathered all the Israelites—men, women, and children—to enter them into a covenant with G‑d.

This section continues with the aforementioned blessings, and then launches a lengthy description of all the maledictions and suffering which will befall the Jews when they neglect the mitzvot.

The Jewish people are instructed to proclaim blessings and curses on Mts. Grizzim and Ebal. The elders of the Levite Tribe together with the Holy Ark stood between the two mountains, and six tribes were stationed atop each mountain. The Levites and priests faced each mountain alternately, and stated the blessing and curses. At the end of the aliyah, we are told of the bountiful blessings which will shower us if we hearken to G‑d's commandments.

Moses admonishes the Jews to observe G‑d's commandments; reminding them that they have selected Him to be their god, and He, in turn, has chosen them to be His holy and treasured nation.

During Temple times, Jewish farmers were required to separate from their produce several different tithes. These were distributed to the priests, the Levites, the poor, and one tithe which was eaten by its owners in Jerusalem. The different tithes were not all given each year, rather there was a three-year cycle. In this aliyah, the Torah gives the procedure to be followed on the day before Passover during those years which followed the conclusion of a cycle. The farmer was to declare that he has performed all his tithing duties and then beseeches G‑d to bless His people and the Land.

This section introduces us to the mitzvah of bikurim, the requirement to bring one's first fruits to the Holy Temple. This mitzvah applies to fruits and produce grown in the land of Israel, and only those for which the land of Israel is praised: wheat, barley, dates, figs, grapes, pomegranates and olives. When in the Temple, the owner of the fruits recites a brief thanksgiving prayer to G‑d and presents the produce to the priests.

More mitzvot: A newlywed man is exempt from military service for a full year. It is forbidden to accept utensils used to prepare food as loan security or to forcibly take a debtor's possessions as collateral, and a poor man's security must be temporarily returned to him on a daily basis. Kidnapping is a capital offense. We are commanded to always remember that Miriam was afflicted with tzara'at (Biblical leprosy) for speaking badly about Moses.

This section details the right of field workers to eat from the produce they are harvesting. The Torah then briefly discusses marriage and the bill of divorce. A divorced couple cannot remarry if the woman has been remarried to another man (and divorced again or widowed) in the interim.

Some commandments discussed in this section: Building a safety fence around a flat roof; the prohibitions against sowing mixtures of seeds, plowing with a mixed pair of animals, or wearing a garment which contains a mixture of wool and linen (shatnez); wearing tzitzit; the penalty for a husband who defames his wife; the punishment for adultery; the penalty for rape; and certain prohibited marriages.

Commandments discussed in this section: Speedy burial of the deceased, returning a lost object to its owner, aiding a neighbor when his animal has fallen because of its burden, the prohibition against cross-dressing, and the obligation to send away a mother bird before taking its chicks or eggs.