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Parshat Vetchanan 5769Rabbi Ari Kahn
 Zachor 
and
Shamor 
 The Book of Dvarim is also known as Mishneh Torah,translated as Deuteronomy. The practical explanation forthe book's name, and for its
raison d'etre
, is that at theend of Moshe’s life, before taking leave of his people,Moshe saw fit to teach the generation of Israelites whowould soon enter the Land of Israel. This is not thegeneration that left Egypt, nor are they the same peoplewho stood at Mount Sinai. That generation perished, andsoon Moshe would be "gathered in to his people" – Moshe,too, would die in the desert. The Israelites who wouldenter the Promised Land were of a new generation; theyhad been children at the time of the Exodus, or were bornduring the Jews' 40-year sojourn in the desert.
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This newgeneration, too, must hear God’s laws. Therefore, we arenot surprised to find material from the four earlier Booksof the Torah repeated in the fifth book: Mishneh Torah,Deuteronomy, literally means "the repetition of the law."One particular repetition, found in Parshat Va'etchanan, isof particular interest: The Revelation at Sinai. ParshatVa'etchanan recounts that Revelation, and restates itscontent, the Decalogue – or the Ten Commandments. Thisseminal event, and the founding principles of Judaism thatwere transmitted at that event, were surely worthy of repetition, and we find nothing strange in Moshe'sreminder to his young audience:
ד קרפ םירבד
(רֶשֲא םיִרָבְדַה תֶא חַכְשִ ןֶפ ֹאְמ ָךְשְַנ רֹמְשו ָךְל רֶמָִה קַר )טָךיֶנָבְל םָְעַהְ ָךיֶַח יֵמְי לֹכ ָךְבָבְִמ ורוסָי ןֶו ָךיֶניֵע ואָר:ָךיֶנָב יֵנְבִלְ(’ה רֹמֱאֶ בֵרֹחְ ָךיֶהֹלֱא ’ה יֵנְִל ָְַמָע רֶשֲא םי )יהְרִיְל ןוְמְלִי רֶשֲא יָרָבְד תֶא םֵעִמְשְ םָעָה תֶא יִל לֶהְקַה יַלֵא:ןוֵַלְי םֶהיֵנְ תֶאְ הָמָֲאָה לַע םיִַח םֵה רֶשֲא םיִמָַה לָכ יִתֹא()איםִיַמָַה בֵל ַע שֵאָ רֵעֹרָהָהְ רָהָה תַחַןוְמַעַַ ןובְרְקִַ:לֶָרֲעַ ןָנָע ְךֶשֹח(םיִרָבְד לק שֵאָה ְךִמ םֶיֵלֲא ’ה רֵַְיַ )בי
1
See Chzkuni Dvarim 5:1.
א קוספ ה קרפ םירבד לע ינוקזח
(הרת ןתמ רחא םילנל תרבה תרע םעימהל - לארי ל לא )א
 
:לק יִתָלוז םיִאֹר םֶְניֵא הָנומְתו םיִעְמֹש םֶ(תֶא םֶָל ֵגַַ )ייֵנְש לַע םֵבְְִַ םיִרָבְדַה תֶרֶֲע תֲעַל םֶְתֶא הָוִצ רֶשֲא תיִרְ:םיִנָבֲא תחֻל
Only take heed to yourself, and keep your souldiligently, lest you forget the things which your eyeshave seen, and lest they depart from your heart allthe days of your life; but teach them to your sons,and to your grandsons; The day when you stoodbefore the Almighty, Omnipotent God in Horev, whenGod said to me, 'Gather the People together, and Iwill make them hear My words, that they may learnto fear Me all the days that they shall live upon theearth, and that they may teach their children.' Andyou came near and stood under the mountain; andthe mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven,with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And Godspoke to you out of the midst of the fire; you heardthe sound of the words, but saw no form save avoice. And He declared to you His covenant, whichHe commanded you to perform, ten commandments;and He wrote them upon two tablets of stone.D’varim 4:9-13Rather than simply reminding them of the Revelation,Moshe goes one step further; he repeats the words whichechoed from Heaven – more or less. A close reading of the Ten Commandments as recorded in Parshat Va'etchananreveals deviations from the wording of the TenCommandments in Shmot, Parshat Yitro. Many scholarshave offered explanations of these variances, each takinginto account one or more of the relevant factors of time,place, experience, purpose and point of view of thosehearing the speech and of the speech itself:Moshe repeated the Ten Commandments on severaloccasions, the first of which was at Mount Sinai. Thepeople recoiled from the sound of God's voice; theexperience of direct communication was overwhelming,terrifying, and Moshe was called upon to transmit the TenCommandments to the people.
2
The second time Mosherepeats the law to the People is in our present
 parsha
. The
2
See Shmot 20:16, which is explained by Dvarim 5:4-6
 
Ibn Ezra suggests that the Ten Commandments as found in Yitro are the Words of God, while those found inVa'etchanan are the words of Moshe.
3
As evidence for thisposition, Ibn Ezra points to the wording of the Fourth andFifth Commandments in Va'etchanan: “…as the Lord yourGod has commanded you”.
4
 The Pnei Yehoshua (Yehoshua Yaakov Falk, 1680-1756)raises a different possibility: God said the TenCommandments twice in Yitro, each time in a differentway; First God uttered all Ten Commandmentssimultaneously,
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in an act of Divine Speech. Then Goduttered each of the Commandments again, in a form of speech more easily recognized by human senses; the firsttwo Commandments were spoken directly to the entirePeople, and when they recoiled, the rest were saidexclusively to Moshe who in turn relayed the teaching tothe People. The Pnei Yehoshua goes on to suggest that thetwo repetitions, both spoken by God, had differences. Thefirst version is reflected in the text of Shmot, and thesecond, in Dvarim.
6
Another variable that comes into play is the fact that therewere two different sets of Tablets. Do the differences
Shmot 20:16. And they said to Moses, Speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us,lest we die.Dvarim 5:4-6 God talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire, 5. I stood between God and you at that time, to tell you the Word of God; for you were afraid because of the fire,and went not up into the mount, saying, 6. I am the Almighty your God, who brought you out of theland of Egypt, from the house of slavery…
3
Ibn Ezra Shmot 20:1, the Pnei Yehoshua, op cit, also makes this suggestion.
א קוספ כ קרפ )ךוראה שוריפה( תומש ארזע ןבא
.המ ירב םה ןנחתא 'ב םיבתה םירבה תרע ,ינה חלב רמ ,חאה חלב אה רז י ,ןאה רמא רא אל.ךיהלא 'ה ךצ רא םימע בת ם הרמה היארה
4
See Hizkuni, who makes a similar observation, but notes other words as his evidence:
חי קוספ ה קרפ םירבד לע ינוקזח
תרב רמ מ םרי רזח ה"בקה יל יני ם תינל תנאר תרב ןיב ןיא יתצמ ירמל ע ינא תלחתמירחא תלמה ינב אח ןיא םרי המ רזח ראה לבא .רב ם םהב תנל ז הרב 'יא המ הצר אל רתיהב ןיא את אל תרבמ ,ה םעטה ךא תנ תלמ תינ םעב אצמת ארקמב יני רב ל ללה הז .םעטב ת םהךל בטיי ןעמל בל תערמ תסת ילב ה"בקה ירב םה רתי תרב תרבה תרע .ארקמה היה ך י יקהל ןיא יניתרבס רחא המ ןרס ןא המ ירב םה םה ז הרב םתא .תירבה תחל לע תבתה םבל םה י"רי מתרבס לע ה"בקה םרס רתי תרב .םירמח ת "חא המא בע "חא תיב "חא הא םימח הלחת םירחבה.רמח ר "חא המא בע "חא הא "חא תיב הלחת םינק המח ינא תע
5
 
As per the comments of Rashi Shmot 20:1.
6
The Pnie Yehoshua commentary to Baba Kamma 55a.א מע הנ ף אמק אבב תסמ עהי ינםר רזח "חא חא רביב םירבה ל רמא הנארב תרבה תרעה םימע ינ יה מצעב ה"בקה יתאצמ עמצעב ה"בקה תרימאב היה " יניה ןנחתא תרב רתי תרב הרתב םימע רמאנ םעטה הזמ
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