Vayelech- The Song of the Torah | Rabbi James Kennard | Sep 1 2026

to the Sidrot of Nitzavim and Vayeilech. And Vayeilech is almost the last Sidra in the Torah. And it contains the last two Mitzvot in the Torah. The penultimate Mitzvah is what we call Hakhel. When the people are assembled every 7 years after Shmita and the king reads parts of the Torah. And a simple explanation of that is that the idea of Hakhel is to recreate and reenact the Sinai experience. So that the what happened at Sinai is not forgotten because it's recreated every 7 years. And that serves as a good introduction to the last Mitzvah of the Torah, which is to write a Sefer Torah. That every male has the Mitzvah of writing a Sefer Torah. By the way, the Rosh famously says you can fulfill this Mitzvah today by buying Seforim. Um I'm very much aware of that and I do it a lot. Um and obviously writing a Sefer Torah is part of perpetuating the message of what the Sefer Torah has to say. But the question I want to delve into is how is this Mitzvah to write a Sefer Torah actually phrased in the Chumash? And if we look at quote number one. Is there a clock in sight? No, there isn't. If we look at quote number one. Um we start with Pasuk Yud Tet where it says "Ve'ata Kitvu Lachem Et HaShira Hazot." Hashem says to Moshe, "Now write for yourselves this Shira, this song for Lamda Et Bnei Yisrael and teach it to the Bnei Yisrael. Simu B'Fihem, put it in their mouths. L'man Tihiyeh Li HaShira Hazot L'eid B'nei Yisrael." In order that this Shira will be a testimony, a witness for me in the Bnei Yisrael. Now, what Shira is being referred to here? And by the way, that that covers the whole Shira. What Shira is being referred to here? That's what we're going to explore. Because the obvious answer, which is that we'll see in just a minute in Russia and elsewhere, is it refers to what we call Shirat Moshe or Shirat Ha'azinu. Because straight after the end of Vayeilech, we hit Ha'azinu. And Ha'azinu, nearly all of it, not quite, but nearly all of it, is the song that Moshe taught to the Bnei Israel. And it's a song which in short, brief form, encapulate encapsulates Jewish history. It talks about how Hashem created the world and selected the Jewish people, and Hashem has a bond with the Jewish people, and our responsibility is to keep the mitzvot, and if we don't, there will be exile and all sorts of bad stuff. And that is the shira, and that is perhaps the aid, the testimony, um which the shira gives. And Hashem says to Moshe, "I'd like you to write this shira and teach it to the Bnei Israel." So, the simple meaning of the text, if you look at quote number three, we'll come back to number two. Quote number three, Rashi says, "Et Ha'azinu Ha'azot." What is the shira being referred to? Ha'azinu Hashamayim, the one that begins with the opening words of next week's parsha, "Ad v'chaper admato amo." Uh which concludes with those words, which is the beginning and ending of what we call the shira or what we call Ha'azinu. So, Rashi is clear that when Hashem gives Moshe a command to write the shira, it's referring to Ha'azinu. So, just bear in mind what our task will be to explore how the mitzvah of writing what's called the shira, which Rashi says is Ha'azinu, somehow become becomes translated into a mitzvah to write the entire Sefer Torah. Rashi is not of that opinion. Rashi's not commenting on the halachic question. Rashi, as is his uh trademark, is giving you p'shat, is giving you the simple meaning of the text. And when the text says, "Hashem says to Moshe, write the shira," it means write Ha'azinu. And we'll leave the rest of the Torah for another occasion, for another uh interpretation. >> Does it mean to write it separately or as part of the Torah? >> Ah, can we hold that question? Yes. Why is it plural? Yes. Good question. I'm going to be very honest here. I also noticed that when I was reviewing this year, and I haven't got an answer. Okay? So, I'll pass on that one. That'll be homework for both of us. Yes. >> So, when the Israelites sang Az Yashir, that was just a spontaneous overflow of emotion? >> Well, Moshe led them, and then Miriam led the women, so it was it was choreographed a bit. It wasn't This is a very different type of shira, because this is written by Hashem as it were, and Hashem is telling Moshe to make sure everyone knows it. Right, put it in their hearts, and put it in their mouths, in order that they should always know it. And if we jump to the Ramban in number four, the Ramban says, "The ta'am hashira hazot, the meaning of this shira, hashira asher agid lacha ata. It's the shira, the song of Hazinu, which I am going to tell you now. Vehi Hazinu. Now, by the way, I hope I've set the scene. The reason that Rashi has to tell us what is the shira, I have to spell it out, it's from the beginning to the end of Hazinu, and the Ramban is doing the same, is because of the question, what does the shira mean? Maybe it just means Hazinu, or maybe it means something else. Rashi wants to tell you between those two options, it means Hazinu. And the Ramban also is of that opinion. The Ramban is also of that opinion, and he says in number four, the ta'am hashira hazot I already said this, hashira asher agid lacha ata. It refers to the shira which I'm about to tell you now, vehi Hazinu. Veyikra shira, and it's called a shira, ki Yisrael amruha tamid beshir ubizimra, because the Jewish people said it constantly with song and another word for song. V'chein Nikhtav K'Shirah. And it's written like a Shirah. If you look in the Sefer Torah, most of the Sefer Torah is written what we call justified text from left to right. Words, words, words, words, words. When you get to the Shirah of Ha'azinu, you can actually see, if you look at the the Sefer Torah, it's in a different style. There is a column of words on the right and a column of words on the left and in the middle there's a space. So says the Ramban, that's how you write a Shirah. And as he says at the end of number four, Ki Ha'Shirah Nikhtavu Bahem Hefsek Bimkomot Ha'Ne'imah. Because when you look at a song, songs will have spaces where the melody requires it. And if you look at the lyrics of a song, there'll be a line, there'll be a space, there'll be a line, there'll be a space. So the Shirah of Ha'azinu is written in the style of a song. Incidentally, the Ramban here trans- really sort of reinterprets the words of the Chumash itself. That the purpose of writing the Shirah, the purpose of teaching the Shirah, is it should be in the mouths and in the hearts of all B'nei Yisrael. They should be fluent in it. They should sing it regularly. We don't do that. Maybe we should. Um in truth, to be very honest, the words of the Shirah of Ha'azinu are very hard to penetrate. Um what exactly is going on? What exactly is being referred to? And the words themselves are sometimes very obscure words that don't appear many places elsewhere. And that's why the Meforshim struggle to explain what the words of Ha- of Ha'azinu are all about. And maybe that's part of the reason that we've sort of lost the approach that we're supposed to have. That this Shirah of Ha'azinu should be well known. It should be very well known more than perhaps the rest of the Torah. Because Hashem says write it and put it in the mouths in order that they should know it and the Shirah should be a testimony for me. That's only going to happen if we do what the Ramban said, which is regularly sing it, but we don't. So, maybe that's something we should do more of. And then let's come before we get to the Ramban in number five, let's go back to number one. So, we saw pasuk Yud Tet and pasuk Kaf Bet says, "Vayikhtov Moshe et ha-shirah ha-zot ba-yom ha-hu." Moshe wrote this shirah on that day, "le-lamda et benei Yisrael." And taught it to the benei Yisrael. Then, if you jump a pasuk and you get to Kaf Dalet, "Vayehi ke-khalot Moshe likhtov et divrei ha-Torah ha-zot." It was when Moshe finished writing the words of this Torah, "al sefer ad tam." In the scroll, "ad tam" until they were complete. Now, this raises an obvious question. If you look at pasuk Kaf Bet and pasuk Kaf Dalet, are they talking about the same thing or are they talking about two different things? If they're the same thing, that implies the shirah that Moshe wrote in finishing Kaf Bet is the same as "divrei ha-Torah ha-zot" that he says in Kaf Dalet. Opening the door, perhaps, to the idea that when it says shirah, it's actually referring to "divrei Torah ha-zot," the whole Torah. But, you could argue the other way. If it meant the same thing, why would it say it twice? If it use it or put it another way, if it uses different words, in Kaf Bet it says shirah and in Kaf Dalet it says Torah, that perhaps implies that it's two separate things. The shirah is not the Torah and the Torah is not the shirah. And the Ramban in number five says, "The ta'am," the meaning of "Vayehi ke-khalot Moshe likhtov," when Moshe uh finished writing, so the Ramban gives a sort of chronology. By the way, the the chronology of this whole perek is is needs explanation, and there are different ways of reading what happened when and when Moshe gave what to whom and at what stage. And the Ramban gives a couple of uh suggestions. We're only going to see one. So, in number five he says, "The ta'am Vayehi ke-khalot Moshe likhtov," it was when Moshe finished writing him Katav et ha Torah. First of all, he wrote the Torah. And he gave the safer Torah to the Kohanim as was said above in earlier possuk. And he didn't tell them where it was going to be put. That has to come later. And after that, he was commanded about the shira, which is Hazinu. And he wrote it, the shira of Hazinu, and he taught it to the Bnei Israel and he taught it to the Bnei Israel on that day. It was a very busy day. He wrote the safer Torah. He wrote the Torah. He then added that to the Torah. So, the way I understand this Ramban is he wrote the shira and that concluded the words of the Torah, even though it's a little bit after the shira. There's a couple more chapters to go. But he wrote the shira and that completed writing the safer Torah. And that is a beautiful way of reconciling Kaf Dalet. In Kaf Bet, Moshe finishes writing the shira and in Kaf Dalet, Moshe finishes writing the safer Torah because the shira was the last part. It concluded, it completed the safer Torah. So, he did write a safer Torah and he did write at the shira and they're two separate things, but they fit together. Okay, so according to the Rashi and the Yes, sorry. >> Question that a nice comment in my opinion. I once was familiar with Rabbi Aaron from London. And he said he once made an experiment to see if it was possible to write the whole of the safer Torah in one day and he came to the conclusion he could. >> Could? >> In one day. >> He said you could Yes, you can. Except the Midrash says that Moshe wrote one safer Torah which was put in the Aron and the Midrash says he wrote one for each tribe, making 13 on one day. So that I think we have to say was with the Sierra de Shima if we take that midrash literally. Yes. Well, it's it's words of Torah. Okay. No, because we see earlier Moshe Hashem says this is the Shira which you're going to write and you're going to teach. And so the Ramban is really paraphrasing what it said in positive you take. But the Ramban says the Shira which I am going to tell you now and then he and then in your take he says write down this Shira this Shira. So the Shira like all the words of Torah even though you can say that the Devarim is a little bit different and perhaps it's a little bit more Moshe as a Navi and less of a mouthpiece but no Hashem tells him the words of the Shira. Okay. So we see Rashi says it clearly Hashira Hazot refers to Hazinu. The Ramban says Hashira Hazot refers to Hazinu by which they will complete writing the Torah. In the the Rashbam I sort of I I took out a line to make everything fit on the sheet and I shouldn't have taken it out but the Rashbam also says clearly Hashira Hazot refers to the song in Hazinu. Okay. So we've got the big big Rishonim lined up to say that Shira refers to Hazinu. Is there another interpretation? Well, I've said many times yes and the key perhaps is to look at the Gemara in Sanhedrin in number six and the Gemara says as follows Amora Rabba la Adam safer Torah even though a person might have had a safer Torah left to him from his parents. Nevertheless, even if you got your own safer Torah which you've inherited, mitzvah l'ichtov mishalo, there's a mitzvah to write a new one. The the child who's inherited the safer Torah has still a mitzvah to write their own. Sh'ne'emar, how do we know this? And this is the key point the Gemara says, I'll tell you there's a pasuk, a pasuk which we today have met already several times. V'ata kitvu lachem et hashira. Doesn't say as old in the Gemara, but it's referring to our pasuk. So, uh number one, if this were an opportunity to give a beautiful drasha, I might talk about the idea that even if you inherit the safer Torah from your parents, you still have to write your own. And our connection to Hakadosh Baruchu and our connection to Yiddishkeit is always twofold, that what we've learned from our parents and what we've established for ourselves. At the beginning of the Amidah, we say Elokeinu v'Elokei avoteinu. We connect to Hashem, our God, and Hashem who is our parents' God as well. And we always have that duality. And it comes out here, even if your parents left you a safer Torah, that's very nice and you can use it, but you have to write your own as well. But that's not what I'm talking about, I'm talking about parshat what is meant by hashira, and the Gemara seems to say that write this shira is the source for the mitzvah of writing a safer Torah, which suggests that the shira is the safer Torah. Yes? >> Is the accent on the word "ata" now? So, "ata" to you, or is the accent on "lachem"? You have to do it for yourselves. Where's the accent there? >> Um >> What's why why why why is it become a mitzvah for you to write for yourself? >> I I I hear what you say. Um I [clears throat] guess lachem. Write, you people, write for yourselves this safer Torah. Okay, so >> [cough and clears throat] >> So, now we've crossed this Rubicon and we've seen this Gemara that says clearly kitvu lachem et hashira hazot is the source for writing a safer Torah. Now, how can that be? So, Rav Hirsch in number seven actually refers us to another Gemara in the Daram and the comment of the Ran on that Gemara. So, let's see what Rav Hirsch says. Number seven. It says here here in the for the purpose of writing this shira he a in order that this shira will be a testimony, a witness for the Bene Israel. Um Continues Rav Hirsch second line. And the learn from here in the Gemara in the Daram the mitzvah of writing this shira does not apply just to the shira of Hazinu Elohim to but rather this is the mitzvah the right the entire Torah of share of the mitzvah of writing this shira will seal will sign off will conclude the words of the Torah. Now, how do we know this? So, the Ran comments on the Gemara in the Daram and he says end of line four the shira of the Daram which Rav Hirsch hopefully translates to us from the Aramaic to Hebrew. If the Daram relates to the shira if the command relates to the shira of Hazinu alone Um is there what testimony is there here? Now, here we have to explore a little bit about what's this idea this testimony. And the idea of this testimony is the Shira is this brief description of I would say Jewish history from the creation of the world to the to the future. And it reiterates that if Klal Yisrael keep the mitzvot, keep their side of the covenant of the brit, Hashem will look after them. And if they don't, Hashem will not look after them and they'll be subject to terrible punishments. That is the encapsulation of the Shira, which itself is the encapsulation of ideas that are the Torah is replete with, but the Shira presents it in a very, very brief form. Now, how does that serve as testimony? Now, you could say, and I think this would be the idea of Rashi and Ramban, i- if you read the Shira, it's brief, it's uh it's it's it won't take you long. Take you long to read all the Rashi on it, but the idea of reading the Shira won't take you long. And you'll get the idea that our destiny is intertwined with our loyalty to Hakadosh Baruchu. However, you could also say, and I think this is what the Ran is saying or Rav Hirsch is quoting, is it's not much of an edut. It's pretty short. It's very brief. And it doesn't really tell you very, very much. And in particular, there is another more aspects of the Torah which are not included in the Shira, and I'm going to come to that. And in the absence of those aspects of Torah which are not included in the Shira, you can't really say that the Shira alone is edut, is testimony. That's what the Ran says. The Ran says, "If it's just the Shira, if that's what you're told to write, then how can that serve as testimony? It's too brief. It's too uh too much of an extract. It's not the real thing." So, says Rav Hirsch, "That is why we learn that when the Torah says, 'Write this song,' it can't just mean the Shira of Ha'azinu, because that wouldn't provide much edut. It must be something more than that. It must be something that really determines the testimony of the Torah itself, and that is the Torah itself. If you're going to write something that will serve as edut, that must be the entire Torah. If we move on to number eight, the Ralbag Keshonidis has a very takes a very strong point here in line with the Gemara. So again, just to be clear, the Ralbag is on those amongst whom who say when it says Hashira Hazot, it's referring to the entire Torah. And if Hashira Hazot refers to the entire Torah, then that solves that explains the Gemara, because in Ketiv Hashira Hazot means write the entire Torah, and that's the source of the mitzvah of writing the Torah. But let's see how the Ralbag works that out. He says in number eight, Kavan baer acharei zeh she Hashira hi divrei Torah bichlalam. It's It's indicated, it's clarified after this, and he's referring to pasuk kaf bet and kaf and kaf dalet, that the shira is the words of Torah in their entirety, ad tumam, until their completion. She nemar, because it says in in kaf bet, "Vayichtov Moshe et ha shira hazot." And it says in kaf dalet, "Vayihi kalot Moshe lichtov et divrei ha Torah hazot al seifer ad tumam." Vezeh meid she Hashira Hazinu rotzeh ba kol divrei ha Torah Sorry, Hazot. I'm not Hazinu. Thank you. I'll go back to the middle of third line. The The This juxtaposition of the two pesukim of kaf bet and kaf dalet, kaf bet which refers to shira and kaf dalet which refers to Torah, but the Ralbag learns it must be the same thing because Moshe's finishing writing the shira, Moshe's finishing writing the Torah, they must be the same thing. So again, middle of line three of number eight. "Vezeh meid she Hashira Hazot rotzeh ba kol divrei ha Torah bichlalam. Vegam Hashira imahem." So by looking at the carefully at calf bet and calf dalet, it must mean the that when it says Moshe wrote the Shira and it also says Moshe wrote the Torah, it's the same thing and the Shira refers to the entire Torah, which contains the Shira, but it's much more than the Shira. It's the entire Torah. And in paragraph nine, what the what the Ralbag does is he goes through really the rest of the perek and he says every time it says Moshe wrote the Torah, Moshe wrote the Shira, Moshe gave the Torah to to bene Yisrael, it's the same thing. Every reference throughout this perek is either to the Shira or to the Torah, but they're the same thing and he proves that they must be the same thing just by the structure of the perek. And he's actually uh it's not on the sheet. Um he's very kharif about this point and he says it is sheker. It is falsehood to think that one part of the Torah, the Shira of Hazinu, one has to be more medakdek, more particular, more careful about than the rest of the Torah. The idea and this is my words rather than his, but I think it's what he means. The idea that you can select out one part of the Torah, which we call Hazinu, and give that special priority and give that a special pride of place as opposed to the rest of the Torah, doesn't make sense. The whole Torah needs the same level of connection that we have to it and that is why when it says write this Shira, it must mean write the Torah. It cannot mean just write a little bit of the Torah. >> Can I just ask a point referring to aidut? It seems to me from the pasuk that it's it says it's a aidut for Hashem. Hashem says it's >> Aidut for me, bene Yisrael. It's >> It's giving an aidut for what purpose? >> It's an aidut from Hashem as testify testimony how Hashem rewards or punishes klal Yisrael. That's the aidut. Okay. So, having seen that Ralbag, who says it cannot be that we single out part of the Torah and write that alone, it must be that we write the entire Torah and that the entire Torah contains the aidut. Now, let's move to the Rambam. So, the Rambam has a famous derivation of this idea. Again, yet again, our question is, the pasuk says, write this shira. The Gemara says that refers to writing a safer Torah. How do we jump from the shira to the safer Torah? So, the Ralbag, whom we just saw, says they are the same thing. The Rambam doesn't say that. The Rambam says in number 10, Mitzvat asei al kol ish v'ish miYisrael lichtov sefer Torah It's a mitzvah on every man to write a sefer Torah for themselves. Shenemar, how do I know that? So, he quotes our pasuk and following the Gemara, v'atah kitvu lachem et hashira. Now, you should write yourselves the shira. Kulama, that is to say, kitvu lachem Torah sheyeish ba shira zu. Write the Torah which contains the shira of Ha'azinu. Lefisha ein kotvin et haTorah parshiyot parshiyot. We don't write bits of Torah, incomplete bits of Torah. Says the Rambam, it is forbidden to have, let's say, a sefer Torah in the aron which has, let's say, a paragraph missing. That would be a sefer Torah which is chaser, which is lacking. Nor could you have a sefer Torah which is missing two paragraphs. Nor could you have a sefer Torah which is missing every single paragraph but one. If you wrote one paragraph of the Torah, you'd be missing 99.99% of the Torah. That's a big lacking. So, if you wrote the shira alone, you'd be writing an incomplete sefer Torah. What must you do to rectify that? Write the rest of the Torah as well. So, the Rambam says, when it says the shira, write the shira, it means write the shira, it means write Ha'azinu. The word shira refers to Ha'azinu. But, when you write Hazinu, you then have a technical problem. What about the rest of the safer Torah that you have to write? So you have to write the rest of it. And that's why the mitzvah of writing the Shira is extended into becoming the mitzvah to write the entire safer Torah. But what's fascinating is he doesn't go down the Ralbag's road of saying Shira Torah, they're the same thing. It's quite clear they're not the same thing for the Rambam. The Shira is the Shira and the Torah is the Torah, but you can't write one without writing the other. And so if you write the Shira, you have to write the rest of the safer Torah. Now there are many who question this Rambam. Um the Sha'agas Aryeh, for instance, says, uh quoting the Gemara, there are things called Chumashim, which means what it means to them what it means to us. A Chumash, by the way, the word Chumash means fifth, doesn't mean five, it means a fifth. So a Chumash is Bereishit or Shemot or Vayikra or Bamidbar or Devarim. And the Gemara talks about writing Chumashim for reading and for educating. So the kid comes to school, he doesn't have to bring the entire safer Torah, he can bring 1/5 of the safer Torah. And the Rambam talks about using Chumashim. So the Sha'agas Aryeh says, "Aha! How can the Rambam talk about using Chumashim? Because if you write safer Bereishit, what have you got? An incomplete safer Torah because you missed out 80%." The Emek Davar in Netzeiv number 11 has a slightly different kasha, and he says like this, for our Rambam reish hilchos sefer Torah katav kulama, the Rambam at the beginning hilchos sefer Torah, our quote number 10, writes to say "Kitvu lachem sefer Torah she yesh ba Shira." Write for yourselves the safer Torah which includes the Shira. "Leficha ein kotvin et ha'Torah parshiyot parshiyot." Because you don't write fragments of the Torah. V'kasha tova, and there's a big question on this Rambam. Dilma yesh mitzvah meyuchadet b'kitivat ha'Shira, maybe there is a special mitzvah to write the Shira without the rest of the Torah. Kemo parshiyot shel tefillin umezuzah. Like we have a mitzvah to write parshiyot of tefillin and a mitzvah to write a mezuzah. If you go to the doorway, you will see a mezuzah. If you open the box, you'll open it and you'll see two paragraphs of the Torah, the first and second paragraph of the Shema. If you open up the tefillin, you'll find four paragraphs of the Torah. Nobody says, and the Rambam doesn't say, if you're writing two paragraphs on the doorpost, you have to write all the rest cuz otherwise you've got an incomplete Sefer Torah. So, the Emek Davar suggests, just as we have a special mitzvah to write tefillin four paragraphs alone and a special mitzvah to write um mezuzah two paragraphs alone, maybe there's a special mitzvah to write the Shira alone. So, the Emek Davar answers this uh uh in another safer. Um by saying there's a maybe the the Rambam means there's a difference between a safer which is to be used for reading and learning and laining as opposed to a safer or a parsha which is specifically required to be put into a little box or put on the doorpost and not used for reading and learning. Maybe the when the Rambam says you can't write a Sefer Torah which is lacking, he's talking about a Sefer Torah you're going to read from, not a Sefer Torah you're going to put on the doorpost or on your arms and heads. So, a question? Oh, sorry. Yes. >> Am I right in remembering that uh to fulfill the mitzvah of writing a Sefer Torah, it's enough to write, as people do, a letter towards the end of the Sefer? Does that Does that fulfill the mitzvah? >> Possibly. Possibly. >> It says "Atum." >> Yeah. >> You're contributing towards "Atum." >> They they often the custom of writing a Sefer Torah, well, it depends on the shul. Sometimes the sofer writes it all cuz he knows what he's doing and maybe he'll let one of the donors sort of hold his arm as he writes it. Um more commonly the sofa will write the outline of the letters and invite people if they know what they're doing to fill in the outline. It's a big question because maybe the outline is enough for most letters anyway cuz it's uh it clearly is that what letter it is. The outline of a yud might look a little bit like a mem but apart from that a final mem but apart from that the outline letters perhaps do the job anyway. But the the logic of of the common minhag is that without filling in the letter the the safer Torah is incomplete. So each person who's filled in the letter each one of them has made the Torah complete. So it's as if they've written the safer Torah. I think the answer to your question as um as often the case is it's not clear. There are some who say that you are yotzei the mitzvah of writing a safer Torah. There are others who say you're not. And you really should write your own or at least commission your own. But I'll say again the Rosh which I think is very important is very strange this Rosh who says we can sort of basically do the mitzvah in a completely different way from the what the mitzvah says which really is is the road to uh non-Orthodox Judaism. But the Rosh says that in our the mitzvah of writing a safer Torah is to have something to learn from. And in our day we don't actually learn from a safer Torah we learn from seforim. So go out and buy seforim. Okay. I'd like to show two ways in particular ways of reconciling this issue of um how we can jump from kidushin to shira hazot to writing the entire safer Torah. And I want to see the words of the Ketav Kabbalah and I want to see the words of the Emek Davar and Netziv. So in number 12 he says like this. Um after by the way he quotes the Ralbag whom we saw before and he basically says I don't understand why the Ralbag needs to work so hard to show that the pesukim themselves are talking about writing a safer Torah when there's another approach you can take a sort sort symbolic approach. But he says in number 12, he says "Dormammu This can be compared to a doctor who must resume a love Sammy before toe." Who gives to the patient a piece of paper on on which is written the medicines that the patient should take. And furthermore, end of line one, the doctor gives a big warning saying "You should know should have a near if you stop drinking literally these medicines it's like a step between you and death." Therefore, says the doctor, "I am so concerned you might forget to take your pills. I want you to write this warning Zoo that it will always be in front of your eyes as a permanent memory. That your life depends on not stopping taking the drugs. And if the doctor doesn't explicitly say you've got to keep the list of medicines it's obvious from the strength of the warning that you to remember hearing the warning. There's no benefit in writing the warning if you don't have the list of medicines themselves. Similarly, there's no benefit in writing the memory the the message of the Shira alone built easy without also remembering and hence writing the Torah itself with its mitzvot. Let's explain the martial. So, the martial is you go to the doctor. The doctor says, "Here's a list of medicines." And the doctor also says, "It's very, very important you take the medicines. So important that I want you to write for yourselves a reminder, don't forget to take the medicines. And if you forget to take the medicines, you'll die." It's pretty strict. So, the patient writes that reminder. But says the Ketav veKabbalah, there's no point in having the reminder without the list of medicines. If you just have the reminder that says, "Don't forget to take your medicine." won't help cuz you don't know what medicine to take. So, the fact that you write the reminder makes it obvious that you've got the list of medicines as well. What's the nimshal? The reminder is safer is Parshat Ha'azinu. Parshat Ha'azinu says, "Don't forget to keep the mitzvahs. If you do keep the mitzvahs, sorry, if you don't keep the mitzvahs, you'll die." So, we write Parshat Ha'azinu. But Parshat Ha'azinu alone is useless without the list of the mitzvahs. The list of the mitzvahs is in the martial is the the prescription. Where do we find the all the mitzvahs that we have to keep? The rest of the Torah. So, writing Ha'azinu, which says, "Don't forget to keep the mitzvahs." implies we must also write all the mitzvahs. I.e. we must write the Sefer Torah. Interestingly, I I find that that really is I think is what the Ran meant that Rav Hirsch quoted. When the Ran said, "If it's just the Shira, where's the Edut?" You need the rest of the story to make sense. Otherwise, the Shira alone is is like in a vacuum and it doesn't it doesn't make sense what the Shira is about. So, says the Ketav veKabbalah, the fact that you have to write the Shira means you also have to write the Sefer Torah. Because in the martial, the reminder to take the medicine is useless without the list of medicines. Now, let's move to the Emek Davar. So, the Emek Davar, the Netziv, um writes his beautiful and profound and um amazing commentary on the Torah called the Emek Davar. And in the introduction to the whole commentary on the whole Torah, the beginning of Breishis, he talks about the nature of Torah and the nature of explaining the Torah and sort of setting up his approach. And he refers to what we've been talking about, the fact that the mitzvah, Ki Tavo et ha'Shira ha'Zot, is understood by the Gemara to refer to the entire Torah. So, he says, "In what way does the word shira relate to the word Torah? In what way is the Torah described as a shira?" So, again, in terms of what we were talking about at the beginning, this is not the approach of Rashi that the word shira means Ha'azinu. Says Rav the Emek Davar, based on the Gemara, the word shira does mean the whole Torah. The question is, why? The question is, why does the word shira an appropriate way to describe the whole Torah? So, he says in number 13, Yesh lahem hekh nikra kol ha'Torah shira. We have to understand in what way is the entire Torah called a shira? Because that's the implication of the Gemara when it says, "Write the the the pasuk, write the shira" means write a sefer Torah. Middle of line one, "Ve'harei lo nikhtav ba'lashon shel shira." It's not written in the style of a shira. Now, by the way, he uses the word shira a lot. He means a song, but he also means a poem or or if you like, lyrics to the song. And there's a certain style that we recognize when we're looking at lyrics. Um we saw earlier the Ramban talked about how the parsha is written with spaces, just like lyrics have spaces where you catch your breath and you play the melody until you come to the next word. But says Rav uh the Netziv, that's not the way the Torah is written. The Torah is not written in the language of a shira. Eila, and the word The Torah has the nature and the uniqueness of a shira. There is a way There are two ways in particular in the way that that we can say that the Torah has the style of a shira. The Torah is written in the style of a melitza, which I best translate as a figurative figurative allusion. The words don't always mean what they look like. Every student knows that the style of a melitza of an figurative expression is different from a piece of prose. In two particular respects, but ever in its nature and its uniqueness. And then he gives two particular qualities that a shira has, that the Torah has, that it will explain how the Torah can be called a shira. So number 14, he says aleph. First of all, in a shira, which is a song or a poem, the matter is not as clear what the what the poem is talking about is not as clear as if it was a piece of prose. You need to make literally notes on the side of the page, and you need to say this this this this line this this line This phrase or literally this line relates to this story in a way that might not be explicit in the text like it is in a piece of prose, but in a poem you have to like work out what is the allusion referring to. So at the beginning of the line, this refers to one story, but there are two ways of the there. And this line refers to another story. And then he says something very important. The low mikrei drush. What I'm talking about, says the Nitziv, is not called drush. Now, what is drush? So, books can be written, books have been written, many books, on pshat versus drash, which we usually understand as the simple meaning of the text versus the homiletic meaning of the text, what the rabbis in the Midrash added, um sometimes with and sometimes apparently without foundation, they added to the text and that's called Midrash. Says the Nitziv, what I'm talking about here, working out what the poem really means, that is not drush. That is in fact, as he says in the next line, that's the pshat, that's the simple meaning. It's what the poem really means, even if it doesn't appear so on the surface. So, end of line two. Ela kakh hi teva hashir, afilu shel hedyot. This is the nature of a song, even if it's written a regular person, not by a Kodesh Baruchu. And when you write a song and you write a poem, you might be referring to a certain thing and you clothe it in metaphor and allegory and it's not clear if you at first glance what that thing is, but if you work it out, you find out that's what the song means and in our case, that's what the Torah means. That's not drush, that is pshat. Working out to see what the Torah really means, that's the meaning of the Torah. And then he says in line three, middle of the line. Umuskal ot, and it's furthermore understood the me she yodea betuv inyan, someone who knows, sorry, betuv inyan, somebody who knows well the matter she hevi ledei melitza that is being referred to uh zu in this expression, she nitkhaber alav, that the reader has a connection to, matok lo or lashon shel hashir. The uh light of the expression of the song is sweet for him. The dikdukha harbeh yoter and he will do more dikduk, more analysis yoter more mele ish she'ein lo yediyah mikavvanat ha'inyan. More than somebody who doesn't have we would say a handle, doesn't have knowledge of the intended meaning. Rak ba'ali hitbonen min hamelitzah toref ha'inyan. But somebody who just comes and looks at the song and tries to work out what it means. You can I have to tell you you can take a song by some singer and you can say um I think I know what the singer is talking about. I've compared some other songs that the singer has sung or written and with that context and knowing what the singer might be talking about, I can work out what the deeper meaning is. That's one approach. Another approach is to say I've got no connection to this song at all but it seems to me that it's talking about XYZ. The first one is going to get it more correct than the second one. The one who comes without the background, without the connection is going to find it harder to work out what the song is about. So, end of line five. Umiza alul hu lehasharot beda' bediyut. They're likely, the second person who comes without the connection is likely to make mistakes. Ma shelo hayah ma'ulam, something he's going to say that this song is about something that it isn't. Velol lazeh kivven hameshorer. And something that the song, the writer of the song did not intend. Kakh hi teva kol haTorah. This is the nature of the whole Torah. She'ein hasipur sheba mevu'ar yoter. But what the Torah is talking about is not, I'm going to add the word always, very clear. Ela yesh la'asot ha'arot. But you need to make comments ufirushim and explanations ledikduke halashon for the precise meaning of the words. And as we said already, velo nikra drush, this is not called drush ela kakh hi peshata mikra. This is the simple meaning of the text when you delve down and work out what the figurative allegory metaphor prescri- right way of writing is referring to. And then, so he started by saying when you approach a song, you have to work out what what it means. But somebody who's got a connection to the song or to the topic already is going to find it easier to work out what it means and is less likely to make a mistake in their assertion of what the true meaning is. So how does that translate to Torah? So our what we do to learn Torah is we go through this process of trying to work out what the Torah means even if it's not obvious. And then he says, so this is the end of line eight. Hm, lots of lines. A person, just like the someone who comes and approaches the song with no background, no connection to it is going to get it wrong. A person is not able to understand the precise meaning of the word of Hashem unless they're connecting to some word of Halakha or Musar or story that comes that we have received from Khazal. In other words, this. And I think the Maharal sorry, the Netziv is talking about himself a lot because in his Parasha Namik Devar, he sometimes brings ideas and you think, where did he get that from? He sometimes creates what I can describe as backstories to the words in front of us and you think, that's something I've never heard before. Um I I I just came across recently. I haven't got time to go through the whole thing, but um we it's probably well known the the Midrash that when the spies went into Eretz Yisrael, Calev went on his own personal trek and he went to Chevron and he went to uh um uh That's the one, Marat Hamachpelah. Um and the possuk says they they came into Eretz Yisrael and he went to Chevron. So, he is um Caleb alone. Thank you. Says the Netziv, it's a slightly different picture to the one we've always learned. He says the the spies went in pairs and each pair of two people, six pairs, went here, there, and everywhere. And Caleb went with his pair to Chevron, but the pair stayed out of Chevron and Caleb alone went in. Now, I just bring that example and there are literally thousands of examples in the Netziv where he seems to come to come to an interpretation, he's delved through the unclear meaning of the words and he's got to his version and you think, "Where did he get that from?" And the answer is he got it from somewhere in Chazal. Um in that particular case, I don't know where cuz I haven't studied it in depth, but it's always the case but it's based on some word or some connection to to divrei Chazal. And that's what he's saying here. He's saying, "In order to understand the Torah, we have to work hard and we might come up with explanations which look very, very different from the words of the Torah, but there is a rule. There is a framework which you one cannot go out of and that is there has to be a connection to the words of Chazal." So, when you're connected to the words of Chazal, then you're open you can open the Torah to various interpretations. If you're not connected to the words of Chazal, you can't and if you do, you'll get it wrong. So, it's important to understand that he's saying, "We have to delve deep into the words to understand them just like you do when appreciating a poem or a song, but there is a limit to how broad that interpretation can be." >> Just reading a very interesting book called something like Partnership, God, Science, and the Meaning of Religion by Jonathan Sacks. He published it about 2011. And one of the things he points out for all the major religions, not just Judaism, you're not allowed to none of the religions allowed to read it literally. He says if you try and read the Torah literally or any of the other major texts of the other major religions literally, you've missed the whole point. The sacredness of the text is the addition of all of the traditions and chapters that the source of the text came with. He refers to all the religions in the same >> Okay, thank you. Okay, time is running out and I don't want to bang into Mincha time. So, I'll say number 15 outside. So, he says there's another aspect which is common in a Shir which in a certain manifestation is common in a Torah as well. And that is this. That sometimes the poem will be written in a particular way to conform to a particular structure. And he talks about what we call an acrostic. The first line begins with Aleph, the second line begins with Bet, the third line begins with Gimel. Or the first letter of each line will spell out the name of the author. Um we're coming up to Slichot and each Slicha is of one of those styles or another. Um Ma'oz Tzur spells out Mordechai. Yes, it's very very common in a in a certain type of Hebrew literature. So, he said but in order to do so, the writer sometimes has to use the less obvious word to fit in. So, if you're writing acrostic where it goes Aleph, Bet, Gimel, you have to find a word that begins with Aleph, you have to find a word that begins with Bet, you find a word begins with Gimel and put them in the right place. And sometimes it seems they're not quite in the right place. You have to slightly akame, you have to slightly twist the words to make them fit. So, he says the Torah is the same. Not talking about the Torah being an acrostic, although there are some Perek of Tehillim which are written Aleph-Bet style. I don't think he means the Torah itself is an acrostic, but what he means is if you look there in paragraph 15, but the Torah has lots and lots of hidden remasim, allusions to other things. What he's saying in paragraph 15 is building on what he said in paragraph 14 but going in a slightly different direction. In the first part, he said in order to understand the meaning of the Torah, what the Torah is talking about, you have to work it out. Now, in number second section, he says, "And sometimes there are a Muslim to other subjects altogether." You might be learning the parsha of Joseph and his brothers, but in fact there are allusions to completely different ideas. And I think he's talking about things like a matrius um and other levels of interpretation which take you beyond pshat to other things that the Torah is hinting at. And sometimes, in order to convey all those hints, the Torah might use the less obvious word, the less precise word. It might seem that the Torah is using the wrong word. It isn't, that's why I say it might seem the Torah is using the wrong word, but it used a particular word to convey a deeper idea still. And our task, when we learn Torah, is like when we learn a song, is to understand, just as the song needs interpretation, so the Torah needs interpretation. So, just to conclude, "Kitzur L'chem HaShira Hazot" says the Netziv, "refers to writing the Torah." Why is it described as a shira, a song? Because the Torah is like a song. And I just want to go back to a line which I think is is particularly beautiful in the middle of paragraph 14. The more we engage in listening to the song of the Torah, the more we work to understand what the Torah is saying, which is we what we call learning Torah, the sweeter it is for us. Just like we enjoy listening to a song doesn't say this explicitly, but I think it's what he's saying. Just like we enjoy listening to a song, and the more we understand, the more we connect to the song by our own application of our own intellect and our own study and our own bringing other known ideas into interpret the song, the more we enjoy the song, so it is with Torah. The more we understand we work to understand the deeper meaning, which is the real meaning of the Torah, the more sweet it is to us. That is why the Torah is a song, and that is why we should always be singing the song of the Torah. Thank you.