Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

105
בלה תובשחמ
What is the importance, here, of such a lengthy and detailed description? In
the next section of the parsha, describing the revelation at Har Sinai, the Torah
describes in full the role that Moshe plays as teacher of the will of Hashem. In
our story, which speaks of the formation of a system of courts, would it not have
been sufficient to relate Moshe’s role in bringing difficult cases before Hashem
for His guidance? Why speak here in such broad terms about Moshe’s role in
educating the Jewish people about the way of Hashem? Perhaps understanding
the significance of this pasuk, which is placed at the exact center of this story, will
help in understanding the significance of this story in its entirety, and its curious
placement in the narrative as an antecedent to Matan Torah.
Chazal, in Bava Metzia 30b, reveal the deeper meaning of this verse according to
derash:
“The way” — This refers to acts of kindness. “That they must walk” — this means
checking on those who are sick. “In” — this refers to burial. “And the deed” this refers
to law (din); “that they must do” — this refers to going beyond the requirements of
the law (lifnim mi-shurat ha-din).
Chazal explain to us here that the key to understanding our pasuk’s apparent
verbosity about Moshe’s instruction of the law lies in understanding that our
pasuk is not, in its entirety, referring to the law! Rather, after describing how
Moshe will instruct the people regarding the chukim and the torot, the second
half of the pasuk teaches us that Moshe has another responsibility as well – to
teach basic loving-kindness, and to teach of the significance of going beyond the
requirements of the law. What a strange thing for the Torah to elaborate on here,
at the very center of the Torah’s description of the founding of the system of courts
that will judge the law and immediately preceding the description of the giving of
the law! In this context, we would expect the Torah to refer exclusively to rules
that must be followed, not to morals that must be inculcated, to norms that must
be obeyed universally, not to concerns for kindness that must be weighed on an
individual basis.
But perhaps this is exactly the point that the Torah wishes us to reconsider.
Ironic though it may be, there is a danger that accompanies the great gift of
Matan Torah. Of course, in giving us the Torah, Hashem privileges us to make