Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 27:1

שמר את כל המצוה — The word שמור is a frequentative present tense, gardant in old French, keeping in English

AND MOSES AND THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL COMMANDED THE PEOPLE, SAYING: KEEP ALL THE COMMANDMENT etc. The meaning thereof is that after Moses completed his words [to the people,] he ordered the elders also to join him and warn the people to keep all the commandments, for every nation follows the advice of its elders. It states which ‘I’ command you this day, not “we,” for the principal speech was that of Moses, while the elders merely proclaimed, saying to the people, “Hear, hearken, and observe.” Similarly, And Moses and the priests, the Levites spoke unto all Israel, etc.⁵⁵Further, Verse 9. means that the priests said to the people, Keep silence, and hear, O Israel,⁵⁵Further, Verse 9. and Moses said, This day thou art become a people.⁵⁵Further, Verse 9. But Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that the expression keep all the commandment⁵⁶In Verse 1 before us. refers to the commandment about the stones which he will mention further on.⁵⁷Verses 2-8. But this is not correct [since the verse states keep ‘all’ the commandment, it must refer to the commandments in general and not to one commandment in particular].

ויצא משה וזקני ישראל, G’d co-opted the elders seeing it was they who would stand at Mount Gerizim and Mount Eyval, and not Moses.

ויצו משה וזקני ישראל את העם, Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, etc. Why did Moses single out this paragraph to mention the elders of Israel? Moses referred to what is spelled out by our sages in Berachot 19 that when the desecration of G'd's name is at stake there is no room for worrying about the respect or honour due to one's rabbi. We base this principle on Proverbs 21,30: "there is no wisdom, insight, or counsel which prevails against G'd." Moses, the Chief Rabbi of the Israelites, decreed that the elders too issue the same command to the people. [I believe the author means that normally Moses would consult with the elders and leave it to their own wisdom to communicate the Torah insights they had learned from him to the people in their own time and in their own words. In this instance, when a renewed commitment to Torah was required by a generation most of whom had not been alive at the revelation, Moses acted in what appears like a somewhat autocratic manner for the reasons mentioned. Ed.] Moses used the word שמר, because it refers to negative commandments, and the rule that one does not bother to give honour to elders applies when we need to make sure that negative commandments are not violated in public.

ויצו משה וזקני ישראל, “Moses and the elders commanded the Israelites, etc.;” After Moses had concluded his review of the Torah he commanded the elders to also address the people and to caution them to observe all the commandments of the Torah, because he knew that such a warning would be effective as all the people willingly obeyed their respective elders.

שמור את כל המצוה, “Observe the whole command ment, etc.” The Torah refers to the impending command to erect stones on Mount Eyval (verse 4) after they have been inscribed, stones taken from the river Jordan at the time the people would cross that river. These stones are intended to commemorate the miracles which occurred enabling the Israelites to cross the river without becoming wet at a time of year when it was swollen with melting snow from Mount Hermon. There were a total of 12 such stones as we know from Joshua 4,2 that one stone per tribe was to be erected. Joshua commanded the twelve men to whom he had assigned the task of taking these stones from the river after the people had completed crossing. These stones were carried on the shoulders of the twelve men, each of whom represented his tribe (Joshua 4,1-8). These stones were deposited next to the place at Gilgal where the Israeites spent the first night in the Holy Land, close to the river. The stones which were erected on Mount Eyval had the entire text of the Torah inscribed on them. Another twelve stones (Joshua 4,9) were erected in the river bed of the Jordan at the site of the miracle where the priests with the Holy Ark had crossed and G’d had arrested the flow of the river so as not to swamp the Holy Ark (Joshua 4,7). The reason the stones are described as having to be “large,” is to enable the engravers to inscribe the whole text of the Torah on their surface. The latter stones are reported as still being in existence at the time the Book of Joshua had been written. [What is written in Joshua 4,3-4 is an elaboration of what was mentioned in summary in the preceding verse 2.] (compare Daat Mikra). There were a total of 36 stones, three groups of 12. Twelve were erected in the river bed of the Jordan, before the Jordan had resumed flowing south. 12 were erected at Gilgal. The final twelve were taken all the way to Mount Eyval. These latter stones were made into the altar on Mount Eyval as mentioned by Rashi in his commentary on verse two of our chapter. [According to a view also mentioned by Rashi in conjunction with the Baraitha in Sotah 35, the stones which were made into a (temporary) altar on Mount Eyval were brought back to Gilgal and erected there.]
Our author feels that the plain meaning of our verses allows for only a total of 24 stones, 12 of which were erected in the river bed, whereas the other 12 were taken from the river. The stones erected in the river bed remain to this day and their purpose had been to enable the feet of the priests carrying the Holy Ark not to get wet in the slime while crossing the river. [The actual flow of the water had been arrested in deference to the presence of the Holy Ark. Ed.]
We find the expression באר used in Deut. 1,5 when Moses is reported as “explaining” the Torah. We find it used again in verse 5 of our chapter here. This gives rise to the exegesis by means of a גזרה שוה that just as Moses explained the Torah in 70 languages, the inscribing of the stones with the Torah also was in 70 languages.
The words והקמות לך אבנים גדולות (verse 3) may be understood as a כלל, a general summary of the subject under discussion, whereas the words (verse 4) והיה בעברכם את הירדן תקימו את האבנים האלה may be viewed as the details elaborating on the summary mentioned before. It is as if the Torah wanted to say that the twelve stones mentioned earlier were to be treated in a certain manner. Verse four refers to the aforementioned stones and instructs for them to be erected on Mount Eival. They are to be covered with plaster and then inscribed after the altar on Mount Eival has been erected. [the building of the altar is to precede the erecting of these stones, not as the wording appears at first glance (Rabbi Chavell) Ed.] Following all this, the stones are to be inscribed with the text of the entire Torah, well clarified (verse 8). If we do not explain the verse in this fashion i.e. on the basis of A) summary (כלל) followed by B) detailed instructions (פרט), the entire passage will sound confusing. What would be the point of writing in verse 8 that the entire Torah, well clarified, is to be inscribed on these stones, seeing that G’d had already instructed the Torah to be inscribed on the stones in verse 3? Furthermore, how could the Torah first write: “you are to write upon them” (verse 3), and subsequently “you shall build an altar there?” (verse 5). The Talmud in Sotah 32 also appears to understand our paragraph as an example of the exegetical principle of כלל ופרט.

This denotes constancy, etc. Meaning, you should always keep this commandment. It is not an expression that denotes a command because if so, it would have been punctuated with a sheva underneath the שי"ן. You also cannot say that it is an infinitive because then it should have said שמור תשמור, as in פתוח תפתח (above 15:8), נתון תתן (ibid. v. 10). (Re”m)

Kap. 27. V. 1. ׳שמר .ויצו משה וגו infin.: das Hüten. Nachdem nun die Gesetzgebung ganz abgeschlossen ist, tritt jetzt nun die Aufgabe, das Gesetz zu hüten, d. h. ihm stete Kenntnis und Erfüllung zu sichern, heran, und zwar soll das die Aufgabe nicht bloß der "Führer und Ältesten" der Repräsentanten der Nation, sondern die Aufgabe des ganzen Volkes sein. Jeder im Volke und alle zusammen haben dafür einzustehen. Darum nimmt Mosche die "Ältesten Israels" sich zur Seite und verpflichtete auf die Erhaltung des Gesetzes das Volk. Er nennt aber das nun abgeschlossene Gesetz: מצוה, ein Gebot; denn alle Gesetze zusammen bilden die Aufgabe, zu deren Lösung Israel auf seinen weltgeschichtlichen "Posten" gestellt worden.

שמור את כל המצוה, “Observe the entire commandment, etc.” According to Ibn Ezra the “commandment” referred to here is the one to erect the huge stones upon which, after these stones had been properly whitewashed, a copy of the Torah would be engraved. Nachmanides writes that this is not correct, but that Moses referred to the entire Torah as a single “מצוה” at this point.

אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם, “which I am commanding you.” Moses did not say: “which we are commanding you,” seeing that basically G’d had addressed Moses, and the function of the elders was to raise their voices so that the whole people could hear what G’d had commanded Moses. Not only that, but the elders by being placed strategically among the people, could secure the people’s attention. A little while later (verse 9) the Torah writes that Moses, as well as the priests and the Levites, addressed the whole of Israel, calling upon them to pay attention, and to make a note of the fact that on that day they had truly become a nation.