Maharal of the Week - 2

Parshat Devarim

This week we begin reading Moses' final speech to the children of Israel. The book begins with a somewhat anomalous statement. "Elah HaDevarim..." "These are the words that Moses told all of Israel in the Jordan Valley..." Rashi, noticing this wording of Elah HaDevarim, claims that the book opens with this phrase indicates that Moses' first words to the people were rebuke.

Maharal, commenting on this Rashi, tries to explain why Rashi thinks this is the anomaly of the sentence, warranting him to claim Elah HaDevarim indicates words of rebuke. Instead, Maharal claims, Rashi should have made this comment when the verse said, "in the desert, in the plain." However, he explains that Rashi chose this location because the verse should have simply said, "And Moses spoke in the Jordan Valley..." Instead, it said Elah HaDevarim, which as Rashi has pointed out in other contexts (Qohelet 1:1) indicates words of rebuke. If this is the case, Maharal then explains, that since Devarim 1:5 says "and Moses expounded on the Torah," the opening verse should have read, "And this is the Torah that Moses expounded." Therefore, the meaning of the Elah HaDevarim, by process of elimination, is as Rashi indicates, words of rebuke.