Commentaire de citation sur Le Deutéronome 31:11

These are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel. We do not find anywhere else in Scripture that Moses spoke to all of Israel at once, and how could it be possible for him to speak to 600,000 men at one time? This phrasing is not found anywhere else in Scripture except here and in the section about Hakhel [the gathering], where it says, You shall read this Torah before all of Israel in their hearing (Deuteronomy 31:11). And the Sages said (Sotah 41a) that the king would read from These are the words and onward. For certainly there is a connection and similarity between them, because throughout the Torah it says “the children of Israel,” but here it says Israel. Did he speak to Israel? Wasn’t it to the children of Israel that he spoke all his words?

חוץ מחרש – and even though he can speak, and even one who is deaf in one ear is exempt, as it is written (Deuteronomy 31:11): “When all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God [in the place that He will choose…],” and it written after this (verse 12): “[Gather the people….]-that they may hear….,” excluding one who lacks complete hearing. And the person who hears but cannot speak is also exempt as it is written (verse 12): “...[that they may hear] and learn [to revere the LORD your God and to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching].” (NOTE: Rabbinic tradition, as found in the Mishnah of Tractate Terumot, Chapter 1, Mishnah 2, teaches that the deaf-mute individual, of whom the Sages generally spoke in all places, both cannot hear and cannot speak, and the Bartenura commentary on this Mishnah. Also see Chapter 12 of the Mishnah Tractate Yevamot, especially Mishnah four.)

וטומטום ואנדרוגינוס, נשים ועבדים שאינן משוחררין – all of these are excluded from [the word] זכורך/”your males,” (Deuteronomy 16:16) except for one whose sex is unknown, a hermaphrodite and a woman who are not included within [the term] זכורך/”your males.” For any commandment for which women are not obligated [to perform], slaves are also not obligated [to perform]. And further, when it [the Torah] states (Deuteronomy 31:11): “When all Israel comes to appear [before the LORD your God]...” and slaves are not considered part of the Jewish people. (See also Mishnah Bikkurim, Chapter 1, Mishnah 5, regarding the one whose sex is unknown and the hermaphrodite in regard to their exemption from the bringing of First Fruits to the Temple.)