“Words that come from the heart enter the heart” ( ). This simple but powerful saying applies especially to the opening of the book of Deuteronomy: “These are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel…” In Hebrew, the opening portion, as well as the entire book, is named devarim, “words,” due to its appearance in the first verse. A beautiful allusion to these words coming from the heart of Moses is derived from the fact that he began to impart his concluding teachings and preparation for the people to enter the holy land on the first day of Shvat and according to tradition he died on the seventh of Adar. Therefore the period in which the whole book of Deuteronomy was transmitted to Israel took but thirty-seven days, the numerical value of halev, “the heart.”
When permuting the letters of halev it produces the following idiom: hevel halev lahav, which means “the vapor of the heart is enflamed.” When the heart is enflamed and inspired, the vapor it produces is transformed into “words that come from the heart enter the heart.” We are taught that the Torah was given in fire and that the words of God are like fire. So too, when we speak words of Torah they should reflect this level of enthusiasm and passion, which in turn enters the heart and sparks the soul to be awakened.
Along with a review of all that had happened to them from the time they left Egypt and a summary of many commandments, the words of Deuteronomy are laced with constant rebuke, blessings and curses, warnings and prophesies for the future. Had he delivered these words in a harsh, uncaring, perfunctory manner, they would not have accomplished their goal. Rather the people perceived then, as we do now, that the message Moses wished to impart was coming from the heart and therefore was said from the deepest concern for the nation.
And here lies one of the greatest mysteries of this book, whose style and syntax is quite different than the first four books which are written in the third person, while Deuteronomy is written in the first person. The first four books were dictated by God to Moses in an exact manner. The uniqueness of this book, according to tradition, is that it was spoken by Moses “from his own mouth.” Later God commanded him to write the exact words he had spoken. In this way Deuteronomy is a perfect unification of the oral and written Torah and the fulfillment of the dictum to make His will your will in order that he make His will conform to your will. Moses had truly reached this level by the end of his life and therefore his words were simultaneously his as well as God’s. The expression used to express this exalted spiritual level is that the Shechina, God’s Presence, spoke through the mouth of Moses.
This level of unifying his will with God’s will and the ability to express it in words is all the more impressive when we remember that at the burning bush it was Moses who argued that he was not capable of leading the people due to his inability to speak! Even after returning to Egypt and despite God’s assurances to be with him, Moses complained that no one would listen to him as he was of “uncircumcised lips.” That he ultimately rose to the level of transmitting God’s word for all generations and that even those words that came from his heart were perfectly aligned with God’s will should serve as a source of inspiration to us all.
