we find the Biblical source for the phrase
"V'zot haTorah asher sam Moshe..."
If you attend Shabbat Morning Services on a regular basis you will undoubtedly recognize this as the very phrase we sing as the Sefer Torah is lifted into the air at the conclusion of the Torah reading.
The entire congregation is standing on its feet, pointing at the Torah, proclaiming in unison that "this is the Torah that Moses put before the Jewish people" having received it from God.
It is a grand moment! And one would expect that the context in which this verse appears in the Torah would be equally grand. One would expect that it would have been some consummate moment in Jewish history where the Israelites stand together before Moses and God and proclaim the glory of the Torah and their recognition of its sacred source!
So you would expect.
But you would be wrong.
Our verse is immediately preceded (Deut. 4:41-43) by a description of the treatment of people who killed someone by accident. The Torah describes the setting up of Cities of Refuge - sanctuaries established throughout the land of Israel where people who committed certain crimes could flee.
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Any scholar of texts from the Ancient Near East will tell you that most of the stories of ancient Mesopotamia are inhabited mainly by over-sized heroes. Everyone is darn near perfect.
In the Torah, no one is. People are constantly messing up. Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit. Abraham tries to sacrifice Isaac. Jacob cheats Esau. Esau tries to kill Jacob. Jacob's sons think about killing Joseph but sell him into slavery instead.
The fun never stops!
But this is what makes it all so relevant to us. The Torah describes real human beings - or at least the behavior patterns of what real human beings would do. These are not marble men, not caricatures, but people with 'schmutz', people with real flaws and frailties, passions and jealousies.
These are people we can relate to. These are people we can identify with. And their struggles - and ultimately, their personal growth - become a model and an inspiration for ours.
So "V'zot haTorah asher sam Moshe." THIS is the Torah that Moses gave us. This is the Torah we point to. A Torah of imperfect people.
Thankfully, we are rarely inadvertent killers. However, we are people who sometimes make mistakes and - thankfully - end up learning from them.
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