Was Moses a Speaker?
The opening of the sidra displays Moses as an orator: "These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel." He addressed Israel with wonderful phrases, full of power and poetry. Yet, when it came to pleading with the Egyptian king to let the Israelites go, this same Moses had been so tongue-tied, so little "a man of words" (Exodus 4:10) that Aaron needed to speak for him.

Was it time and experience that made Moses a speaker? Or is Rashbam right in his commentary on parashat Shemot that Moses actually did not have a speech defect at all, nor lacked fluency in words?

Rashbam argues that it was just that Moses did not want to be known as a mere word-spinner, but as a worker. The evidence is that when necessary, as here in parashat Devarim, he was quite capable of speaking with great effectiveness. What was in Moses' mind was that he did not want people to think that simply to be a speaker
The bewitching power of words can represent a great danger.
makes a person a leader.

So right was he that the whole of history proves his point. Even if we only look at our own generation we see how much the bewitching power of words can represent a great danger. Speakers can get carried away with their own verbosity and imagine that they have achieved great things, when in fact all they have done is to give speeches.

Why is it Called Deuteronomy?
In English, the Book of Devarim, which we begin this Shabbat, is Deuteronomy. The Hebrew name is easy to understand: devarim is the first important word in the text. But Deuteronomy?

It is from Greek and was introduced by the Septuagint; its meaning is "Second Law". This is actually closer to the Hebrew mishneh Torah, from Deuteronomy 17:18, which is the rabbinic term for the Book. It is not so much a Second Law as a restatement of earlier commandments, some of them promulgated nearly forty years earlier when the people stood at Mount Sinai. The legal tone is unmistakable, but it is wrapped up in poetry and spirituality that makes it an especially memorable farewell message from Moses, summing up his life's work on the verge of the entry into the Promised Land and his own death.

One might get the impression that the Moses, who is delivering the message, is a legislator, but Ahad HaAm rightly points out that "lawmaker" is not the best way of summing up the great leader. Nor is "general" or any of the other epithets that attempt to characterise the long and distinguished career of Moses. As far as Ahad HaAm is concerned, the best word for Moses is "prophet", not in the popular sense of someone who foretells the future, but in his capacity as the spokesman whose task is to forth-tell the word of God.

Jewish tradition accepts that Moses was the father (in the sense of chief) of the prophets, but its general term for him is not Moshe HaNavi, but Moshe Rabbenu, "Moses our Teacher". If Abraham founded the Jewish people, then Moses founded Judaism - the faith that hears the Divine teaching and dedicates its history to studying the Word and passing it down from generation to generation.

The Old and the New
The Book of Devarim commences, Eileh had'varim - "These are the words..." (Deuteronomy 1:1) The Ten Commandments are also called d'varim (Exodus 20:1). The Ramban points out that this Book repeats, with minor changes, not only the Ten Commandments, but many other teachings which the people had received earlier; though certain new material is introduced, such as the laws of marriage and divorce.

Two important lessons derive from this. As Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook used to say, hayashan yitchaddesh, hechadash yitkaddesh - "The old needs to be
As Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook used to say, "Hayashan yitchaddesh, hechadash yitkaddesh."
renewed; the new needs to be consecrated."

True, some people are impatient with the past and think that modernity is automatically superior to history, but the fact is that history provides the criteria by which to assess modernity and, if necessary, to reject some less admirable aspects of the modern way. How, for example, can anyone think that the pervasive modern forms of selfishness, exploitation of others, addiction and indulgence are superior to the mores and ethics of our Biblical past?

On the other hand, some things that are new can be "consecrated". New times produce new ways of promoting and furthering the old ideals. Technological society has created new opportunities for the human mind and heart. The increasing spread of Torah material that fax, the Internet and email have facilitated is achieving ends which our ancestors could hardly dream of. The growing life span which modern medicine has made possible has given us more time to do good deeds. So many things are being discovered that we see wonders in Creation which earlier ages never realised were there.

What we need is to be judicious in the way we combine the old and the new, rejecting nothing merely because it is new and using the old to help us decide how much of the new is going to be a blessing.