Comentário sobre Deuteronômio 1:5

הואיל means HE BEGAN, just as (Genesis 18:27) "Behold, now I have begun (הואלתי)" (cf. Sifrei Devarim 4:1).

בעבר הירדן בארץ מואב הואיל משה באר, seeing that they were no longer moving around all the time, for the encampment in the steppes near Moav was their last stop before crossing the Jordan. Now, seeing that Moses himself had already given up hope of personally crossing the river Jordan he began to explain the parts of the Torah concerning which he thought some doubts could arise after his death. He did this by starting with a reminder of the covenant concluded between Israel and G’d at Mount Chorev. (compare 5,2) לאמר, before beginning with reviewing portions of the Torah, Moses explained the reason for the need to do this as being that they were about to cross into what would become their homeland where many commandments of the Torah would apply for the first time. Seeing that he could not do this at the time when they actually applied already, he had to do this now before his death. While on the subject, Moses reminded the people how, indirectly, due to their sinful conduct he was now unable to cross the Jordan with them, and that as a result he wanted to make sure that they would not again become guilty of such sinful behaviour.

[The word הואיל means] he began, etc. See Rashi’s commentary in Parshas Vayeira (Bereishis 18:31).

V. 5. הואיל משה באר וגו׳ (siehe zu V. 3). הואיל hat oft das tempus finitum nach sich, so: כי הואיל הלך (Hosea 5, 11), ולו הואלנו ונשב (Josua 7, 7), הואל קח (Könige 11. 5, 23) und sonst. Wie bereits zu V. 3 bemerkt, sind in den ersten elf Kapiteln dieses Buches die "Vorreden" enthalten, mit welchen Mosche die Wiederholung und Erläuterung des Gesamtgesetzes "einleitete". Der erste Abschnitt dieser einleitenden Vorreden (Kap. 1, 6 bis 3, 22) hat als Grundgedanken die Tendenz, an der Hand der gemachten Erfahrungen dem Volke die Überzeugung einzuprägen, dass auch zur Bezwingung der Völker und zur Eroberung ihres Landes Israel nicht Kriegsrüstung und Kriegstüchtigkeit, sondern hingebungsvoller Pflichttreue gegen Gott in Erfüllung seines Willens bedarf, und dieser Gehorsam gegen Gott, der im Frieden unsere einzige Aufgabe bildet, auch im Völkerkampfe allein genügt, allen entgegenstehenden Mächten zu obsiegen. Mit dem Gehorsam gegen Gott vermögen wir alles, ohne ihn nichts. Nicht als ein Volk der Macht und der Kriegskunst, sondern als das Volk des göttlichen Sittengesetzes soll Israel seinen völkergeschichtlichen Gang antreten. Auf diesem Gange ist Israels Sieg und Unterliegen gleich sehr eine Dokumentierung dieses gegen alle andere Völkerentwicklung protestierenden Faktums.

הואיל משה באר, “Moses undertook to expound this Torah;” he expounded all the commandments in the Torah, including the Ten Commandments that the people had heard from G-d directly. Hashem wished that the new generation which had been born after the revelation at Mount Sinai, should hear the Ten Commandments at least from the mouth of Moses. He was the most reliable human being that this task could be entrusted to.

באר את התורה [MOSES BEGAN] TO EXPLAIN THIS LAW — in the seventy languages of the ancient world did he explain it to them (Midrash Tanchuma, Devarim 2; Genesis Rabbah 49; cf. Sotah 32a and Rashi on Deuteronomy 27:8).

In seventy languages, etc. Since it is written here באר (elucidate) the Torah, and in Parshas Ki Savo (27:8) it is written “You are to write [on the stones all the statements of this Torah] באר היטב (elucidated well). The numerical value of the word היטב is seventy, when calculated as follows: ה"=5, ה"י=15, הי"ט=24, היט"ב=26; the numbers 5, 15, 24, and 26 add up to 70. [The word באר written here should also be understood as באר היטב].