This week we read פרשת דברים, the first פרשה in the last ספר of the ספר דברים ,חומש. In many ways, this ספר is unlike the other four that precede it. ויקרא ,שמות ,בראשית, and במדבר were all spoken by HaShem and written by Moshe, with absolute precision, down to the very letter. But דברים is different. It is spoken directly by Moshe; it is the record of the conversations that he gave the nation before his death, before they were to enter ארץ ישראל. The אור החיים explains that these discussions can be divided into two parts: Moshe’s rebuke of the nation and his review of the Torah, which the אם למקרא identifies as the beginning of תורה שבעל פה. But this understanding only raises a greater question: why does ספר דברים belong in the חומש at all? Why should we care about the תוכחה that Moshe gave to a generation 3 thousand years ago? Why is תורה שבעל פה written in the תורה שבכתב instead of the משנה and גמרא? But most fundamentally, what is ספר דברים really about and how, being its final ספר, does it complete the Torah?   

Recorded in Camp Moshava Ennismore