Devarim 5775:            Same Old Story

                 By Rabbi Joshua (repetitiously known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

The Netziv, in his introduction to the book of Devarim, notes that the rabbis (Bereishis Rabbah 6:9) refer to the book as “Mishnah Torah.”  According to Tosafos (Gittin 2a), and, it seems, the Ramban in his Torah commentary, this term means simply a repetition of the Torah, repeating what was written in the previous books.  The Netziv, however, finds difficulty with this explanation, because, he avers, the Torah never simply repeats something without adding an additional meaning or nuance. He therefore offers some alternative explanations.  If we accept the explanation of Mishnah as repetition, he says, the term means that, in this book of the Torah, even the plain sense of a verse must be interpreted in two separate ways.  Another explanation of Mishnah, he says, is that it is an expression of learning, of delving deeply into a verse's meaning. This explanation, says the Netziv, really described the essence of the book of Devarim, which, as he demonstrates throughout his commentary, emphasizes the need to mine the Torah for its inner meaning, for all of the halachos and teachings embodied in its words, a feature which is especially prominent in this book.

Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook, in his Oros HaTorah, points out that while the written law comes completely as a revelation from God, the Jewish people itself is involved in the transmission of the oral law. Each Jew, in fact, has a portion of Torah which he is meant to reveal, as we mention daily at the end of Shemoneh Esreh, when we ask God to grant us our portion in the Torah. This feature of the oral law can be inferred from a verse in this week's parsha, according to Rav Moshe Yehudah Jakobovits in his Zichron Moshe.  Moshe, in blessing the people, tells them that have become as numerous as the stars in the sky. This is difficult, because we know how many people there were, and they weren't as large as the stars.  Rather, says Rabbi Jakobovits, Moshe was referring to their quality, in respect to emanating Torah, and, in this respect, they were similar to the stars in brightness.  Each Jew had within himself a great deal of Torah that needed to be brought out. On the other hand, says Rabbi Jakobovits, the people were also likened to the dust of the earth, which, unlike the stars, each of which stands alone, gather together to form a mass, symbolizing the unity of the Jewish people

Taking the two images, of stars and of dust, together, we can explain an enigmatic passage in the Talmud in regard to the destruction of Eretz Yisroel. The Talmud, (Nedarim 81a) says that the land was destroyed because the people did not recite first the blessing on the Torah.  Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook explained that Torah is the soul of the Jewish people, and when a Jew learns, he must have that in mind, and learn as part of the collective of the Jews, and not just for himself. When the people failed to do this, the unifying effect of the land was lost, as well. The dual image, of the brightness of stars symbolizing the potential Torah each Jew has within him, and the need to share that Torah with the nation, reflect a major theme of the book of Devarim.