Commentaire de citation sur Le Deutéronome 31:12

At the boundary of seven years you will arrange a release denotes the beginning of the year, as is corroborated by the passage of “assemble the people” [31: 12]. The passage is connected to the previous one because, having mentioned that the Pauper’s Tithe belongs to the Levite, and the alien, and the orphan, and the widow [cf. 14: 29], it is now logical to discuss the general release. release [Hebrew: shmiṭṭah] from “drop her” [Hebrew: shimṭuhah] [II Kings 9: 33]: i.e., they released her, and she fell.

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.)

There is a Yalkut Shimoni, 408 which understands the reason why the Torah chose the word ויקהל as an allusion to the same word in Deut. 31,12. The message is that on the Sabbath there are to be large assemblies of the people in order to teach them Torah and especially אלה הדברים, the details about the ordinances connected with true Sabbath observance. The words לעשות אותם also had special significance for the generation of the golden calf as it holds out the hope that by "doing them" the people could make atonement for their participation in that sin, as per the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael in that Midrash.

And the Torah portion of the king - as is explicated in the end of the chapter [Sotah 41a:15]; this is the portion of "gather the people" [Deuteronomy 31:12].