| ה וַיָּמָת שָׁם מֹשֶׁה עֶבֶד-יְהוָה, בְּאֶרֶץ מוֹאָב--עַל-פִּי יְהוָה. | 5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. |
This is eight pesukim from the end. Rashi writes:
| And Moses… died there: Is it possible that Moses died, and [then] wrote, “And Moses… died there”? But [the answer is:] Moses wrote up to that juncture, and Joshua wrote from then on. Says Rabbi Meir: But is it possible that the Torah Scroll would be lacking anything at all, and yet Scripture states (Deut. 31:26),“Take this Torah Scroll” [and Moses commanded this to the Levites; so, according to the above opinion, is it possible that the Torah Scroll referred to there was an incomplete one, up to the juncture of Moses’s death? This cannot be!] Rather, [continues Rabbi Meir, we must say that] The Holy One, blessed is He, dictated this [i.e., the verse “And Moses… died there”], and Moses wrote it in tears. — [B.B. 15b, Sifrei 33:34] | וימת שם משה: אפשר משה מת וכתב וימת שם משה, אלא עד כאן כתב משה, מכאן ואילך כתב יהושע. ר' מאיר אומר אפשר ספר התורה חסר כלום, והוא אומר (לעיל לא, כו) לקוח את ספר התורה הזה, אלא הקב"ה אומר ומשה כותב בדמע: |
This is based on gemaras in Bava Batra. First, on 14b - 15a, we have a statement that:
Who wrote the Scriptures? — Moses wrote his own book and the portion of Balaam and Job. Joshua wrote the book which bears his name and [the last] eight verses of the Pentateuch. Samuel wrote the book which bears his name and the Book of Judges and Ruth. David wrote the Book of Psalms, including in it the work of the elders, namely, Adam, Melchizedek, Abraham, Moses, Heman, Yeduthun, Asaph, and the three sons of Korah. Jeremiah wrote the book which bears his name, the Book of Kings, and Lamentations. Hezekiah and his colleagues wrote (Mnemonic YMSHK) Isaiah, Proverbs, the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes. The Men of the Great Assembly wrote (Mnemonic KNDG) Ezekiel, the Twelve Minor Prophets, Daniel and the Scroll of Esther. Ezra wrote the book that bears his name and the genealogies of the Book of Chronicles up to his own time.
Then, on Bava Batra 15b:
The Master has said: Joshua wrote the book which bears his name and the last eight verses of the Pentateuch. This statement is in agreement with the authority who says that eight verses in the Torah were written by Joshua, as it has been taught: [It is written], So Moses the servant of the Lord died there. Now is it possible that Moses being dead could have written the words, 'Moses died there'? The truth is, however, that up to this point Moses wrote, from this point Joshua wrote. This is the opinion of R. Judah, or, according to others, of R. Nehemiah. Said R. Simeon to him: Can [we imagine the] scroll of the Law being short of one word, and is it not written, Take this book of the Law? No; what we must say is that up to this point the Holy One, blessed be He, dictated and Moses repeated and wrote, and from this point God dictated and Moses wrote with tears, as it says of another occasion, Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.
The prooftext from sefer Yirmeyahu 36:18 is:
| יח וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם, בָּרוּךְ, מִפִּיו יִקְרָא אֵלַי, אֵת כָּל-הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה; וַאֲנִי כֹּתֵב עַל-הַסֵּפֶר, בַּדְּיוֹ. {ס} | 18 Then Baruch answered them: 'He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.' {S} |
The Sifrei has it as Rashi has it, with Rabbi Meir objecting rather than Rabbi Shimon objecting:
ש[ב״ב ט"ו וש״נ] אפשר שמת משה וכתיב וימת שם משה אלאעד כאן כתב משה מכאן ואילך כתב יהושע• (יד) (ר' מאיר אומר הרי הוא אומר ויכתובמשה את התורה הזאת אפשר שנתן משת את התורה) כשהיא חסירה אפי׳ אות אחת אלאמלמד שהיה משה כותב מה שאמר לו הקב״ה כתוב כענין שנאמר ויאמר אליהם ברוךמפיו יקרא אלי ואני כותב וגו׳ ״
There are two important divergences in the Sifrei's text. First, the prooftext doesn't contain the word badeyo, "with ink". Secondly, the objection by Rabbi Meir is not based on the pasuk in Vayelech, Devarim 31:26:
| כו לָקֹחַ, אֵת סֵפֶר הַתּוֹרָה הַזֶּה, וְשַׂמְתֶּם אֹתוֹ, מִצַּד אֲרוֹן בְּרִית-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם; וְהָיָה-שָׁם בְּךָ, לְעֵד. | 26 'Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. |
That was Rabbi Shimon's objection, and it is an assertion as to the integrity and wholeness of the text.
Rather, it is based on an earlier pasuk in the same perek:
| ט וַיִּכְתֹּב מֹשֶׁה, אֶת-הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת, וַיִּתְּנָהּ אֶל-הַכֹּהֲנִים בְּנֵי לֵוִי, הַנֹּשְׂאִים אֶת-אֲרוֹן בְּרִית יְהוָה; וְאֶל-כָּל-זִקְנֵי, יִשְׂרָאֵל. | 9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, that bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel. |
Thus, Moshe wrote it. The answer is that writing material does not mean coming up with the material, or even knowing the material. Indeed, in Bava Batra, our initial girsa (emended out by Bach) is that until there, Hashem said and Moshe said and wrote, and from here on Hashem said and Moshe wrote in tears.
Rashi on Shas might help us understand what Rashi on Chumash means. Rashi on Bava Batra 15a writes:
כמו שנאמר להלן כו. אכולהמילתא קאי דקאמר הקב״ה אומרומשה כותב כמה שמצינו שהנביאיםכותבים מפי רבם:
There is more to write, but I'll save it for another post. But see Mizrachi on this Rashi, and see Gur Aryeh argue on him.
But there is more reason to assume Moshe didn't write the last eight pesukim, more than that it describes his death, and burial. Although along these lines the gemara in Bava Batra asks:
[You say that] Joshua wrote his book. But is it not written, And Joshua son of Nun the servant of the Lord died? — It was completed by Eleazar. But it is also written in it, And Eleazar the son of Aaron died? — Phineas finished it. [You say that] Samuel wrote the book that bears his name. But is it not written in it, Now Samuel was dead? — It was completed by Gad the seer and Nathan the prophet.
Thus, in general, describing the death of someone is indicative of the fact that he did not write the rest. But it is not just that. There are other indications within those last eight pesukim. In Devarim 34:10:
| י וְלֹא-קָם נָבִיא עוֹד בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל, כְּמֹשֶׁה, אֲשֶׁר יְדָעוֹ יְהוָה, פָּנִים אֶל-פָּנִים. | 10 And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face; |
This seems like it must be written some time in the future, about the past, that in the intervening period, all these years, no prophet has arisen of the stature of Moshe. Indeed, even saying Yehoshua wrote it is somewhat difficult, if this is looking back; it should not be after just a single generation.
Unless we take it as "there will not arise."
Also, the ad hayom hazeh:
| ו וַיִּקְבֹּר אֹתוֹ בַגַּי בְּאֶרֶץ מוֹאָב, מוּל בֵּית פְּעוֹר; וְלֹא-יָדַע אִישׁ אֶת-קְבֻרָתוֹ, עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה. | 6 And he was buried in the valley in the land of Moab over against Beth-peor; and no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. |
What would it mean that it was not known ad hayom hazeh if Moshe was writing it just then?!
And there is the kevurah in the pasuk, and the aveilus in pasuk 8:
| ח וַיִּבְכּוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת-מֹשֶׁה בְּעַרְבֹת מוֹאָב, שְׁלֹשִׁים יוֹם; וַיִּתְּמוּ, יְמֵי בְכִי אֵבֶל מֹשֶׁה. | 8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; so the days of weeping in the mourning for Moses were ended. |
Ibn Ezra assumes all twelve pesukim (rather than 8) in the perek were written by Yehoshua, and under prophetic inspiration:
[לד, א]ויעל משה -לפי דעתי: כי מזה הפסוק כתב יהושע, כי אחר שעלה משה לא כתב ובדרך נבואה כתבו.והעד ויראהו ה' גם: ויאמר ה' אליו גם ויקבור.
He points to Moshe's ascension in the first pasuk of the perek, after which he would not be writing:
| א וַיַּעַל מֹשֶׁה מֵעַרְבֹת מוֹאָב, אֶל-הַר נְבוֹ, רֹאשׁ הַפִּסְגָּה, אֲשֶׁר עַל-פְּנֵי יְרֵחוֹ; וַיַּרְאֵהוּ יְהוָה אֶת-כָּל-הָאָרֶץ אֶת-הַגִּלְעָד, עַד-דָּן. | 1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, even Gilead as far as Dan; |
I don't know if I find this convincing -- but perhaps if we add the names of the places in these pesukim, assuming that we know the precise areas of the nachalah, it is strengthened.
In terms of ad hayom hazeh, Ibn Ezra sees that later is better in justifying the phrase, and writes:
עד היום הזה -דברי יהושע.ויתכן שכתב זה באחרית ימיו.
Perhaps more on this next year.
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