The Song of all Songs – Dvar Torah for Shabbat Nitzavim-Vayelech 5784 by Rabbi Yisroel Levy

Parashat VaYelech has the unique distinction of containing within it the last mitzvah of the 613 mitzvot. In פסוק י”ט, the Torah declares: “ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת” – “And now write for yourselves this song.” The Gemara, סנהדרין כ”א, based directly on this pasuk, states: “אע”פ שהניחו לו אבותיו ספר תורה מצוה לכתוב משלו” – “Even if one inherits a sefer Torah, it is a mitzvah to write one of your own.”

It is interesting to note that while the Talmud clearly explains that the word “שירה” – “shira,” song – refers to the Torah in its entirety, Rashi on the chumash understands it to refer specifically to the shira which dominates the subsequent Parashat Ha’azinu. In fact, the Rambam codifies Rashi’s conclusion by stating that the main part of this mitzvah is to write the shira found in Ha’azinu.

The late great Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky zt”l points out a seeming inconsistency in the Torah’s terminology. While the term shira appears three times in connection with this mitzvah, when Moshe completed the writing of the “written Torah,” the pasuk specifically uses the term “Torah” to denote the entire chumash. To understand this inconsistency in word choice, R’ Chaim cites the Gemara in Masechet Gittin that discusses the prohibition of writing different Torah excerpts on separate parchments. This prohibition, says the Gemara, only took effect once Moshe had completed the writing of the Torah. From that point on, the writing of disparate individual sections on separate scrolls was forbidden. Following this, the pasuk uses “shira” to reference Moshe reading out Parashat Ha’azinu from his completed sefer Torah. Now we can understand the Torah’s very specific choice of terminology: when Moshe was tasked with writing and teaching “השירה הזאת” – “this song” – it was specifically in reference to the shira of Parashat Ha’azinu.

But what about the Talmud’s aforementioned assertion that the mitzvah of “ועתה כתבו לכם את שירה הזאת” is the commandment to write a complete sefer Torah?

Well, says R’ Chaim, since Moshe completed the writing of the Torah, it is forbidden to write individual excerpts on scrolls. So, while according to the Rambam the עיקר מצוה – the main component of the mitzvah – is to write Ha’azinu, this can only be accomplished by writing a complete sefer Torah, hence the Talmud’s definition of the mitzvah to write one’s own sefer Torah.

It is certainly very noteworthy that the Torah is referred to as a “song”. Tosafot at the end of Masechet Megillah state that the Mishnaic masters of the Oral Law would recite the mishnayot in song.

Rabbi Raphael Pelcovitz zt”l would often speak of the difference between a book and a song. A book, he said, can be read only so many times, but a song can be enjoyed over and over and never lose its appeal; its words firmly embedded in our minds and hearts, never to be forgotten.

So, let’s do our very best to make the Torah the soundtrack of our lives – after all, it is truly the “Song of all Songs.”

(Based on a shiur delivered by Rav Eytan Feiner)