The Torah’s Final Words

Moses, Joshua, Tears, and the Light of Moshiach

The Question of Who Wrote the Last Eight Verses

The Talmud raises an obvious question: Who wrote the last eight verses of the Torah, which describe Moses’ passing and G-d’s eulogy for him?

Regarding the verse, “And Moses, the servant of G-d, died there” (Deuteronomy 34:5), the Talmud asks:

“Is it possible that while Moses was still alive, he wrote, ‘And Moses died there’?” (Bava Batra 15a)

The Talmud provides two answers.

The first opinion states:

“Rather, Moses wrote up to this point, and Joshua wrote from this point onward.”

This is the opinion of Rabbi Yehudah, or, according to another version, Rabbi Nechemiah.

Rabbi Shimon disagrees:

“Is it possible that the Torah scroll was missing even one letter? But it is written, ‘Take this Torah scroll’ [Deuteronomy 31:26]. Rather, up to this point, the Holy One, blessed be He, would dictate and Moses would repeat [what G-d dictated] and then write it down. But from this point onward, the Holy One, blessed be He, would dictate and Moses would write with tears.”

The Talmud then discusses the special manner in which these final verses are to be read. They may be read “individually” or “separately,” depending upon how the term is understood. Rashi explains this to mean that the reading cannot be divided into several sections; rather, it must be read continuously by one person.

Maimonides, however, understands the Talmud differently. According to his interpretation, these final eight verses do not require a minyan, a quorum of ten people for their public reading.

These two interpretations raise a fascinating question: Why should the final eight verses of the Torah have a different status from the rest of the Torah?

Moses and Joshua: The Sun and the Moon

According to Rabbi Yehudah, the answer is straightforward.

The final eight verses do not possess precisely the same status as the rest of the Torah because they were not written by Moses. They were written by his successor, Joshua.

Our Sages describe the spiritual distinction between Moses and Joshua with the famous statement:

“Moses’ face was like the face of the sun, and Joshua’s face was like the face of the moon.” (Bava Batra 75a)

The sun and moon are not merely two different sources of light. The moon’s light is a reflection of the sun’s light. Thus, Joshua’s spiritual illumination, although profoundly elevated, was derivative of the illumination of Moses.

This suggests that the holiness of Joshua’s writing was not identical to the holiness of the Torah written by Moses.

But this creates another question.

If the final eight verses possess a somewhat different and lesser degree of holiness, how does that explain the Talmudic requirement that they be read by one person, without dividing them into several separate readings?

The Light of the Sun and the Light of the Moon

One possible explanation can be suggested.

When a passage of Torah is divided into separate sections, this may indicate that its holiness and intensity are so great that it cannot be absorbed by one person in one uninterrupted flow. It is analogous to gazing directly at the sun. One cannot stare at the sun continuously because its brilliance is too intense for the human eye.

The Torah written by Moses possesses the quality of the sun. Its spiritual intensity is overwhelming.

Joshua, by contrast, is compared to the moon. The moon does not possess its own light; it reflects the light of the sun in a form that can be received by the world.

Thus, the very fact that Joshua’s level of illumination was lower than Moses’ could explain why the final verses can be read continuously by a single individual. Their holiness, while still the holiness of Torah, is presented in a form that is more readily absorbed.

A similar approach can be applied to Maimonides’ interpretation that these verses do not require a quorum of ten.

Since Joshua’s spiritual light was a reflection of Moses’ light, the words written by Joshua did not possess precisely the same degree of intensity as the Torah written by Moses. They therefore did not require the presence of a minyan for their reading, for a minyan is needed for the public readings of the Torah due to the powerful holiness involved.

Rabbi Shimon’s Difficulty

Rabbi Shimon, however, maintains that Moses himself wrote these final verses.

This creates a much greater difficulty.

If Moses wrote the final eight verses, why should they have a different status from the rest of the Torah?

The Talmud itself addresses this issue by saying that these verses are different.

Rashi explains that they are different because Moses wrote them “with tears.”

At first glance, however, this explanation seems difficult.

What does the fact that Moses wrote these verses with tears have to do with their unique status?

According to Rabbi Yehudah, there is an obvious explanation: Joshua wrote them. They therefore did not possess the same imprimatur of Moses and consequently had a somewhat different level of holiness.

But according to Rabbi Shimon, Moses himself wrote them. Why should the fact that he wrote them with tears make them different from every other verse in the Torah?

Several explanations have been offered.

Did Moses Actually Write with Tears?

One interpretation understands Rabbi Shimon’s words literally: Moses wrote these verses with his tears rather than with ink.

If that were the case, the diminished status of these verses would be understandable. However, this interpretation creates a serious halachic problem.

A Torah scroll must be written with ink. If even one letter is written with a substance other than the prescribed ink, the Torah scroll is invalid.

It is therefore difficult to understand how Moses could have physically written these words with tears.

Tears as a Manifestation of Death

A variation of this explanation by the Maharal suggests that Moses’ tears were actually a manifestation of his passing.

As the body approaches death, it loses its physical vitality and fluids. Moses’ tears therefore represented, in some sense, the process of his own passing.

Thus, when the Torah describes Moses’ death, it was describing something that was happening to Moses in real time.

If Moses was already experiencing a form of death while writing these final verses, this itself could explain why these verses possessed a different status.

“Dema” as a Mixture

Another explanation, offered by the Shaloh and other commentators, understands the word dema not as “tears,” but as a “mixture.”

According to this interpretation, the final eight verses were written in a jumbled fashion. Moses did not simply write the words describing his own death in their final arrangement. Rather, the words were rearranged after his passing.

This interpretation preserves the idea that Moses wrote the verses while simultaneously explaining why their status differs from the rest of the Torah.

Tears and the Loss of Joy

There is another possible explanation.

The fact that Moses wrote these words with tears indicates that he was not in a state of joy.

This is significant because, as several commentators explain, Moses could not repeat the words dictated to him by G-d because of the profound pain associated with his impending death.

We also find that joy is a prerequisite for Divine inspiration.

When the prophet Elisha was approached by the kings, he declared:

“But now bring me a musician.”

Only after the musician played did the Divine spirit rest upon him (II Kings 3:15).

This teaches us that although prophecy is a Divine gift, the prophet’s emotional and spiritual state affects his ability to receive and internalize that revelation.

Moses, therefore, was in an unusual state while writing the final verses.

He was experiencing profound sorrow.

Consequently, his receptivity to the Shechinah, the Divine Presence, was different from what it had been when he transmitted the rest of the Torah.

This could explain why the final eight verses possessed a different status.

Did Moses Really Die?

There is yet another possible explanation based upon an unusual statement recorded in the Talmud: Moses did not die.

According to this teaching, the words describing Moses’ death must be understood in a deeper sense. Perhaps it appeared that he had died, or perhaps the description of his death must be understood in the spiritual sense found in the Zohar, that when a person descends or departs from a particular spiritual level, that descent can be described as a form of death.

But this interpretation itself raises a problem.

Moses did not descend spiritually at the end of his life.

On the contrary, our Sages tell us that Moses reached the fiftieth level of understanding. He was not falling from his spiritual level; he was being elevated to an even higher one.

How, then, can his passing be understood as a spiritual diminution?

Moses the Leader: The Paradox of Elevation

The answer requires us to appreciate Moses not merely as a prophet and teacher, but as the quintessential leader of the Jewish people.

There is a paradox in leadership.

A leader can rise to an increasingly higher spiritual level, but if that ascent causes him to become more distant from his people, it can paradoxically constitute a form of diminution.

We find a remarkable insight in Rashi’s commentary concerning Moses’ descent from Mount Sinai.

The Torah tells us that when Moses came down from the mountain, he went directly to the Jewish people.

Moses did not first attend to his own personal interests.

The commentators ask: What personal interests could Moses possibly have had?

The answer is profound.

Moses certainly had his own spiritual journey. He was constantly ascending from one spiritual level to another, ultimately reaching the highest level of comprehension available to a human being.

Yet Moses consistently subordinated his own spiritual advancement to the needs of his people.

His greatness was not merely that he could ascend to heaven.

His greatness was that he could descend from heaven and remain connected to the Jewish people.

Moses’ Tears at the End of His Life

This enables us to understand Moses’ tears in a completely different way.

When Moses left this world and was elevated to a much higher spiritual level, he cried—not because he was afraid of death, but because he feared that his connection to the Jewish people would be diminished.

He was about to enter a spiritual realm in which he would be further removed from the people whom he had spent his entire life leading.

This was a radical departure from the entire mission of Moses.

Throughout the Torah, Moses is the one who connects G-d with the Jewish people.

He descends from Sinai.

He transmits the Torah.

He pleads for forgiveness after the sin of the Golden Calf.

He fights for his people.

He teaches them.

He guides them.

His entire existence is defined by his relationship with them.

Now, at the end of his life, he was being elevated to a level beyond their immediate spiritual reach.

For Moses, this was painful.

His elevation was simultaneously a diminution of his capacity to relate to his people in the same way.

That is why he cried.

Why Moses Could Not Repeat the Final Words

This also enables us to understand why Moses did not repeat G-d’s words when writing the final eight verses.

The reason that Moses normally repeated the words dictated to him by G-d is explained by the Bach: Moses’ repetition was not merely mechanical. It helped infuse the written words with the holiness that would enable them to be received by the Jewish people.

G-d’s original dictation represented Divine revelation at a level that transcended the ordinary capacity of the people.

Moses’ repetition served a different purpose.

Moses translated the Divine word into a form that could be internalized by the Jewish people.

But at the end of his life, something had changed.

Moses himself had been elevated to a higher spiritual level. At the very moment that he was ascending spiritually, his ability to relate to the people at their level was diminishing.

He could therefore no longer repeat G-d’s words in the same way.

The Divine dictation remained perfect.

But Moses’ ability to serve as the intermediary who would bring that revelation down to the level of the people had changed.

Consequently, these final verses lacked the same communal quality as the rest of the Torah.

They were Torah, but they were Torah written at the moment when Moses’ relationship with the people was undergoing its greatest transition.

Why No Minyan Is Required

This provides an explanation for Maimonides’ interpretation that these eight verses do not require a quorum of ten.

Throughout Moses’ life, his words had the capacity to reach the entire community.

He was the intermediary who connected the Divine word to every Jew.

But in these final verses, Moses was already in the process of ascending beyond the spiritual level of the community.

His words therefore possessed a different quality.

They were still Torah, but they lacked the same communal dimension that characterized the Torah transmitted by Moses throughout his life.

The absence of the requirement for a minyan can therefore be understood as reflecting the unique spiritual circumstances under which these final verses were written.

Why Does the Torah End on Such a Negative Note?

There is, however, an even deeper question.

According to all these explanations, it seems strange that the Torah should end on what appears to be a negative note.

The Torah concludes with the death of Moses, the greatest Jewish leader, and with verses that, according to some interpretations, possess a diminished status.

But Judaism teaches that everything follows the conclusion.

The end is not merely an ending.

It is the seal of the entire work.

The final words of a book encapsulate and preserve everything that preceded them.

Why, then, would the Torah conclude with Moses’ passing and with the apparent diminution of the power of its final words?

The End That Is Really a Beginning

Perhaps the answer lies in the very paradox contained in Moses’ passing.

Moses’ departure from this world was not the disappearance of Moses.

The Zohar teaches that the soul of Moses continues to be present through the great Jewish leaders of subsequent generations. The spiritual mission of Moses therefore continues even after his physical passing.

Moses does not disappear from history.

He is reincarnated, in the mystical sense, into the leaders of Israel who continue his mission.

But there is an even more profound dimension.

Moshiach will complete the work that Moses began.

Moses reached the fiftieth level of understanding, but that level could not yet be fully revealed and internalized by the Jewish people.

The Messianic era represents the completion of this process.

What Moses achieved individually will ultimately become accessible collectively.

The light that Moses experienced will no longer remain the private illumination of one individual. It will become a revelation accessible to every Jew.

From the Light of Moses to the Light of Moshiach

This brings us back to the metaphor of the sun and the moon.

Moses was like the sun.

Joshua was like the moon.

The moon reflects the light of the sun, but it does not yet reveal the sun itself.

The final eight verses of the Torah therefore appear to represent a diminution: Moses is departing, Joshua is assuming leadership, and the Torah is concluding with Moses’ death.

But this is not the ultimate conclusion.

It is a transition.

The light of Moses is being transferred through the generations until the time when that light can be fully revealed.

Moshiach will complete what Moses began.

He will reveal the fiftieth level of understanding that Moses attained and make that level accessible to the entire Jewish people.

The final verses of the Torah therefore do not really signify the end of Moses.

They signify the beginning of the process through which the light of Moses will eventually become the possession of all of Israel.

The Torah ends with Moses’ passing because Moses’ physical life had to end before his universal mission could be completed.

The tears of Moses were therefore not merely tears of personal sorrow.

They were tears over the temporary interruption of his direct connection with his people.

And the ultimate response to those tears is the Messianic redemption, when the distance between Moses and Israel will disappear, the fiftieth level of Divine understanding will be revealed, and the light of Moses will illuminate the entire world.

Thus, the Torah’s final words are not a diminution of the Torah. They are a promise that the Torah’s deepest light has not yet been fully revealed. The end of the Torah is therefore not merely an ending—it is the prelude to its ultimate fulfillment in the Messianic era.