Commentators in Tension with Each Other

by R. Gidon Rothstein

Parshat Ve-Zot Ha-Berachah
For our last parsha this go round—spoiler alert, next year, it’s going to be the culmination of all our work!– I found two verses with disputes about their meaning, plus a Chatam Sofer we can tussle with, in our troubled times fighting over who should participate in national endeavors.

Disagreement One, Onkelos vs. Ramban: Moshe’s Role in the Blessings

We’ll get there. First, when the Torah introduces our parsha as the blessing bestowed by Moshe ish ha-Elokim , Moshe the man of God, Onkelos takes “man” to mean prophet of God. Similarly, Shemot 14;31 tells us the people believed in Hashem and Moshe avdo, Onkelos says they believed be-nevi’ut, the prophecy of Moshe, Gd’s servant.

There, Onkelos might have wanted only to ensure we not think the people believed in Moshe himself, in line with his recurring concern about treating anything other than Gd as worthy of worship. In our verse, he seems to seek to ensure we understand these “blessings” express prophetic visions, are not an ordinary person’s deathbed good wishes for his/her loved ones.

As opposed to Bereshit 49, where Onkelos gives no indication of a prophetic aspect to Ya’akov’s words to his sons before his passing. We treat them as such because they appear in the Torah, but Onkelos makes no fuss over it. Perhaps he stressed Moshe’s status here to alert us to these blessings having captured more essential truths of tribes’ futures even than did Ya’akov, because they were molded by prophecy.

From a Man of Gd

Ramban does not see it that way. He thinks we are told Moshe was a man of Gd in order for us to expect the berachot to be effective, in Ramban’s words u-tefillat yesharim retzono, the prayer of the righteous is His Will. I think he likely means the righteous are so tapped into Hashem’s Will whatever they say articulates that Will. Not the same as prophecy, by far.

He links the efficacy of the prayers of the righteous, in our case of Moshe, to his being an ish haElokim, as were many prophets. He does not go further, but I think he means to hint that Elokim refers to the Gd of Nature, as it were. Prophets come to know the natural order well enough that they also know how to ask for or invoke particular possible futures, rather than others.

At the end of the parsha, Moshe is also called eved Hashem, using the other common Name. Ramban says a maskil, an enlightened one, will understand, and leaves it at that. My guess is that the Hashem Name, commonly connected to the Attribute of Mercy, is not what prophets can figure out, so they (and we) simply serve, as servants/slaves. For Elokim, it is possible to become an ish Ha-Elokim.

A first disagreement, whether Moshe said these blessings in prophetic mode, or his prior prophecies had turned him into a person able to offer these blessings, based on his grasp of how the ordinary world works, without needing specific prophecy.

Disagreement Two, Rashi vs. Netziv: The Levi’im’s Dedication

In 33;9, Moses calls the tribe of Levi the model of retaining fidelity to Hashem in trying circumstances, ready to disregard family relationships to obey God’s Word, to adhere to the covenant. They killed close relatives who had worshipped the Calf, they, as a tribe, never worshipped powers other than God, and never lost touch with the mitzvah of milah, circumcision.

Rashi reminds us a Levite had to have enough emotional distance from relatives that if the law (and Hashem) called for one to be killed, the Levi was willing. It also meant observing laws no one else was. A Levite in Egypt and in the desert was a sort of oddball of the people, staying away from idolatry and continuing to circumcise his sons [I can imagine others looking down on them for endangering their children in this way, performing an unnecessary procedure in a desert, far from the kind of medical support that would be optimal].

That aspect of their character stood them in good stead when Moses called for those who would stand for Hashem, even as it forced them to be the agents of punishment for family members.

Levi’s Familial Relations

Netziv dislikes the idea of Levi’im killing their parents, and calls our attention to Shemot 32;29, where Moshe praised their willingness to kill children and brothers, not mentioning parents. For our verse, 33;9, where Moshe says they told their parents they had not seen them, did not recognize their brothers, did not know their sons. Ha’amek Davar offers two alternatives.

Sanhedrin 85 says a child may not be the agent of a court to administer punishment to a parent, an idea he was sure should apply here [Rashi seems not to have been bothered]. He suggests the Levi’im were being praised for not intervening when someone else killed their parent. In this view, they killed some close relatives and stood by when others killed those sinful ones they themselves could not.

His powers of re-reading are not yet sapped. He then claims the simple reading of the phrase refers to the sons of Korach, who watched their father (and mother) go to their deaths and did not join them, separated themselves from the family’s principled stand. Less active, less violent, still an example of them doing the right because it was right, not letting the ties of blood override their dedication to God.

Ha’amek Davar warns us away from thinking this evinced a lack of love, a colder sense of family. They had the same feelings for relatives other people do, he says, they just loved God’s righteousness more.

Disagreement two: how far did the Levi’im’s dedication to God ask/demand they go.

The Protection of Torah

In a comment which disagrees with what I suspect is the worldview of many who read these essays, Chatam Sofer wonders about Moshe Rabbenu’s linking Zevulun to Yissachar, 33;18, Zevulun being told to rejoice in his “going out,” Yissachar in his tents. Putting them in the same verse certainly suggests they work in relation to each other, an idea Chatam Sofer fleshes out.

He notes Shemuel 13, where Shemu’el and Shaul offer a sacrifice before going to war, an attempt to earn God’s protection. However, Sotah 21a said a mitzvah protects only while being performed. [Presumably, Shemu’el knew that; Chatam Sofer doesn’t address the issue.]

Zevulun can go to war more happily, he says, because he financed Yissachar’s Torah study, the two tribes sharing equally the rewards of his business endeavors and Yissachar’s Torah ones. [R. Moshe Feinstein said Zevulun/Yissachar deals only work if both share both equally. Otherwise, it’s laudable support of Torah study, but will not count as the business side himself studying. I don’t know if Chatam Sofer agreed.]

Also, Chatam Sofer moved far from Rashi, without noting or addressing it. Rashi in Sotah thinks Torah protects from yissurim, suffering, and the blandishments of our evil inclinations, where Chatam Sofer is sure it also protects during war. More surprisingly, Rashi says the “goings out” of our verse are business travels, which fits, since that was the topic of his arrangement with Yissachar. If he succeeds in business, Yissachar will be able to stay in his tents and study. Chatam Sofer’s reach to war has no clear source.

A topic in our times as well. We cannot know what Chatam Sofer would have said on current events. What is clear is Zevulun and Yissachar entered their agreement voluntarily. Ve-ha-mevin yavin.

Were Moshe’s blessings prophecy or the hard-earned wisdom of a man of God? How far did Levi’im go to enforce the prohibition on idolatry? What do those who study Torah contribute to a war effort? Unclear issues, different answers, in Ve-Zot Ha-Berachah. See you next Shabbat for a new approach to Bereshit.

Other Comments We Saw:
Ramban, Devarim 33;2, Ve-hem tuku
Meshech Chochmah, Devarim 33;2, Ve-zarach mi-Se’ir
Onkelos, Devarim 33;3 and 33;19, amim
Rashi, Devarim 33;2, Esh dat
Rashi, Devarim 33;3, Af chovev
Meshech Chochmah, Devarim 33;4, Torah tzivah lanu
Emet Le-Ya’akov, Devarim 33;4, Torah tziva lanu
Or HaChayyim, Devarim 33;5, Va-yehi bi-Yeshurun
Onkelos, Devarim 33;6, yechi… ve-al yamot
Ramban, Devarim 33;6, Yechi Re’uven
Sforno , Devarim 33;9, whole verse
Ramban, Devarim 33;16, U-retzon Shocheni seneh
Onkelos, Devarim 33;18, be-ohalecha
Meshech Chochmah, Devarim 33;19, Amim har yikra’u
Ramban, Devarim 33;20, Baruch marchiv Gad
Kli Yakar, Devarim 33;22, U-le-Dan amar
Ibn Ezra, Devarim 34;1, Va-ya’al Moshe
Ramban, Devarim 34;1, Va-yar’eihu Hashem
Rashi, Devarim 34;5, Va-yamot sham
Malbim, Devarim 34;5, Va-yamot Moshe
Rashi, Devarim 34;8, Benei Yisra’el
Ha-Ketav Ve-Ha-Kabbalah, Devarim 34;10, Ve-lo kam
R. Samson Raphael Hirsch, Devarim 34;10, Ve-lo kam
Ramban, Devarim 34;11, Ve-ta’am le-chol ha-otot
Onkelos, Devarim 34;12, ha-mora hagadol