Welcome to the Book of Words - the fifth and final of the Five Books of Moses, also known for its Greek title, inspired by rabbinic tradition - Deuteronomy - ‘The Second Law’. It consists of three spoken sermons, delivered by Moses on the border of the land he will not enter, and includes a review of what has happened on the 40 year journey, rebukes and warnings, blessings and poetry for the road ahead. This Book of Words - D’varim - is literally the speech of a lifetime. In some ways it is about the ability to overcome obstacles, and also the perennial power of the spoken word to talk back to tradition - to the written words, keep telling the story as it evolves. Moses interprets or elucidates the very Torah that he received ‘as is’ from God on Sinai. He creates the oral tradition - elaborating on the ‘words’ delivered from the mouth of the divine. This vital power of the spoken - current - word - will forever be the living life force of this, or any ancient law:
בְּעֵ֥בֶר הַיַּרְדֵּ֖ן בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מוֹאָ֑ב הוֹאִ֣יל מֹשֶׁ֔ה בֵּאֵ֛ר אֶת־הַתּוֹרָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את לֵאמֹֽר׃
On the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this Torah, and thus he spoke:
The word ‘explain’ in Hebrew is ‘ba’er’ - which means both ‘elucidate’ but also winks at the word ‘well’ - the flow of water from below. What’s fascinating is that the man delivering this fountain of words began his public life by resisting the role and refusing to be a leader and a man of words. Many have noted what this growth process meant to him - and to each of us.
Aviva Zornberg, quoting Midrash, links the last book we just read with this final one, as a way to better understand the making of Moses:
“The irony is that, from the beginning of the narrative, Moses questions his own ability to transmit God’s messages. Passionately, he protests against the role of speaker-intermediary that God has imposed on him. When he describes himself as “heavy of mouth, and heavy of tongue,” as “of uncircumcised lips,” he reveals a profoundly personal dimension of his life—perhaps the only information we receive about his inner life. Speaking of his language inhibition, he speaks of the interior of his mouth and of his difficulty in engaging with the world. In the book of Deuteronomy, he speaks in a new way, reaching out to his listeners—and to his future readers—in the mode of teaching.
Skeptical of his power to affect them, Moses stages for his students new teaching possibilities that are generated, I suggest, precisely by his inhibition... The opening to language originates in the wilderness, even though its first manifestation is in the first verse of Deuteronomy: “These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan, in the wilderness.…” In fact, says the midrash, it is the wilderness that generates the explosion of language that he experiences in the last months of his life:
“These are the words that Moses spoke to the children of Israel”: Israel said: Just yesterday you said, “I am not a man of words,” and now you have so much to say! Moses had learned the whole Torah “in the wilderness on the plains facing the Red Sea.” That is why it is written, “Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shall exult” (Isa. 35:6).
Forty years after leaving Egypt, Moses began to interpret the Torah —“He explained [ba’er] this Torah” (Deut. 1:5). The mouth that had said, “I am not a man of words,” now spoke “these are the words.”
The Aramic translation of the fifth verse in this fifth book takes this wellspring of wordsmithing to another level: Moses was now able to translate the Torah into seventy languages, one for each and every nation of the world, reaching each of us on our terms, in our own ‘language’.
In other words, he transcends his own original wound to become a vessel that can offer each of us an invitation into dialogue with the divine, with our own truth, the next step on our journey. Words carry meaning across the page and the ages. What words will emerge from the well this time round and what meanings will we each derive?
I’m curious about following this trail of words through the next 33 chapters, as the moon waxes, wanes and leads us into a new year with renewed energies, self reflection on our same-old stories, and hopefully with some new narratives and interpretations of these new chapters in our book of life.
Image: Moses. Illustration for Old Testament Portraits by Cunningham Geikie (Strahan, 1878).
Take the 34-days Book of Words Challenge.. Starting today, until 10/24/22
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Marylin - you are ALREADY part of the challenge.. just keep on reading here daily...:)
To all of your regular readers -- welcome to the fifth book..
Yes, I am curious! Where to find the Book of Words Challenge?