Ramban 1194-1270, born Girona, Catalonia and dies in Israel
Ramban's commentary on the Torah (five books of Moses) was his last work, and his most well known. He frequently cites and critiques Rashi's commentary, and provides alternative interpretations where he disagrees with Rashi's interpretation. He was prompted to record his commentary by three motives:
- to satisfy the minds of students of the Law and stimulate their interest by a critical examination of the text;
- to justify the ways of God and discover the hidden meanings of the words of Scripture, "for in the Torah are hidden every wonder and every mystery, and in her treasures is sealed every beauty of wisdom";
- to soothe the minds of the students by simple explanations and pleasant words when they read the appointed sections of the Pentateuch on Sabbaths and festivals.
Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, Netziv, 1816 Mir - 1893, Poland
The Netziv was the rosh yeshiva of Volozhin, he was a traditionalist in his approach to Torah, unlike that of his colleagues from the Soloveitchik dynasty. He was a Zionist, in the religious sense of the word, encouraging his students to settle the land of Israel.
Rabbi Ovadia Seforno - 1470-1550, Italy
After studying traditional rabbinics in his hometown, R. Ovadyah moved to Rome to study medicine and other fields. Seforno was an expert in Hebrew grammar who was once commissioned to compose a book of Hebrew grammar, and to translate it to Latin. He became an important Halakhic authority who sent responsa to communities throughout Italy.
Rabeinu Bachya - 1255 Spain - 1340, Kever Rachel
The Ramban looks at Sefer Devarim as the following
- A repitition of all the laws already given in the Torah
- A book that strengthen's the Jewish people's connection to Hashem and the laws already given. He notes explicitly that the admonitions given in Sefer Devarim are specifaclly geared to the regular tribes, and not the Cohanim.
הספר הזה ענינו ידוע שהוא משנה תורה יבאר בו משה רבנו לדור הנכנס בארץ רוב מצות התורה הצריכות לישראל ולא יזכיר בו דבר בתורת כהנים ולא במעשה הקרבנות ולא בטהרת כהנים ובמעשי ה' שכבר ביאר אותם להם. והכהנים זריזים הם לא יצטרכו לאזהרה אחר אזהרה אבל בישראל יחזיר המצות הנוהגות בהם פעם להוסיף בהם ביאור ופעם שלא יחזיר אותם רק להזהיר את ישראל ברוב אזהרות כמו שיבאו בספר הזה בעניני עבודת גלולים אזהרות מרובות זו אחר זו בתוכחות וקול פחדים אשר יפחיד אותם בכל ענשי העבירות. ועוד יוסיף בספר הזה כמה מצות שלא נזכרו כלל כגון היבום ודין המוציא שם רע והגרושין באשה ועדים זוממין וזולתו. וכבר נאמרו לו כולן בסיני או באוהל מועד בשנה הראשונה קודם המרגלים כי בערבות מואב לא נתחדשו לו אלא דברי הברית כאשר נתפרש בו. ועל כן לא נאמר בספר הזה וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר צו את בני ישראל או דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם מצוה פלונית. אבל לא נכתבו המצות בספרים הראשונים שידבר עם יוצאי מצרים כי אולי לא נהגו באותן המצות רק בארץ אע"פ שהן חובת הגוף. כאשר בא בענין הנסכים או מפני שאינן תדירות לא הזכיר רק בבנים נוחלי הארץ.
‘EILEH HADEVARIM’ (THESE ARE THE WORDS). This book is known to constitute a review of the Torah, in which Moses our teacher explains to the generation entering the Land most of the commandments of the Torah that pertain to Israelites [as distinguished from the priests]. He does not mention anything relative to the law of the priests, neither about their performance of the offerings nor the ritual purity of the priests and their functions [in the Sanctuary], having already explained these matters to them. The priests, being diligent in their duties, do not require repeated admonitions. The Israelites, [i.e., the non-priests], however, are admonished time and again about the commandments that apply to them, sometimes to add further clarification and sometimes only to caution the Israelites with multiple warnings. Thus there are in this book many admonitions regarding idolatry that follow one after another, as well as chastisements and a sound of terrors casting upon them the fear of all the punishments for the transgressions. Additionally, he proclaims commandments which have not been [previously] mentioned at all, such as the levirate marriage, the law concerning the defamation of a virgin bride, the divorcing of a wife, [the punishment of] plotting witnesses, and others besides. Now all these laws had in fact been declared to Moses, either on Sinai or in the Tent of Meeting within the first year [of the erection of the Tabernacle] before the affair of the spies. Nothing new was revealed to Moses in the plains of Moab [where he held this review of the Torah] except the words of the covenant, as is expressly stated there. It is for this reason that this book does not contain such statements as “And G-d spoke to Moses, saying:Command the children of Israel,” or “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them the following commandment” [since no new commandments were given in this book; they had all been previously declared to Moses either on Mount Sinai or in the Tent of Meeting]. These commandments, however, were not written in the preceding books wherein He speaks to those that came forth from Egypt. Perhaps this was because these commandments were obligatory only in the Land even though they affect personal conduct [and do not depend on the Land] such as Scripture mentions with reference to the drink-offerings; or it may be that because these were not of common occurrence, he mentioned them only to the generation, the inheritors of the Land.
וטרם שיתחיל בביאור התורה התחיל להוכיחם ולהזכיר להם עונותיהם כמה ימרוהו במדבר וכמה שהתנהג עמהם הקב"ה במדת רחמים וזה להודיע חסדיו עמהם. ועוד שיוכחו בדבריו שלא יחזירו לקלקולם פן יספו בכל חטאתם ולחזק לבם בהודיעו אותם כי במדת רחמים יתנהג עמהם לעולם. שלא יאמר אדם לא נוכל לרשת את הארץ כי אין אדם אשר לא יחטא ומיד תהיה מדת הדין מתוחה כנגדנו ונאבד ולכן הודיעם משה רבנו כי הקב"ה רחמן מלא רחמים כי הסליחה והמחילה ממנו יתברך סיוע ועזר לבני אדם בעבודתו. וכענין שאמר הכתוב כי עמך הסליחה למען תורא.
Before Moses commenced the explanation of the Torah he began to reprove them, reminding them of their sins, How oft did they rebel against Him in the wilderness, and how the Holy One, blessed be He, conducted Himself towards them with the attribute of mercy. This was to inform them of His mercies towards them; also, that they be chastised by his words so that they would not revert to their degradation lest they be swept away in all their sins, and [finally] to strengthen their hearts by informing them that He will always conduct Himself towards them with the attribute of mercy, and hence a person should not feel that he will not be able to inherit the Land because — since there is no person that does not sin — the attribute of judgment would at once be aimed against him and he would be destroyed. Therefore Moses our teacher informed them that the Holy One, blessed be He, is the Merciful One, full of mercy, since the forgiveness and pardon which come from Him, blessed be He, are an assistance and help to people in serving Him, similar to what Scripture says, For with Thee is forgiveness, that Thou mayest be feared.
זה הספר נקרא משנה תורה. וכתבו התוס' ריש מס׳ גיטין דמשנה תורה אינו אלא חוזר ושונה מה שלמעלה. וזה הטעם שומה בפי הרמב״ן ז״ל. עד שהרמב״ן כשמגיע למצות שבפ׳ שופטים תצא מבאר בכמה מצות שמצוה זו מעין וחלק אותה מצוה הכתובה כבר. עד שחושב מצות שלוח הקן. חלק ממצות אותו ואת בנו. ובעיני הוא פלא. כי שתי מצות אלו רחוקות זמ״ז מן הקצה אל הקצה, וגם כפילות המצות נמצא בס׳ שמות מן תחלת פרשת שמר לו עד בחלב אמו, בפ׳ תשא. היא כפולה וכבר נאמרה בפ׳ משפטים. אלא שמ״מ אינו מיותר ח״ו כמבואר שם בס״ד. וכך בס׳ דברים לא נמצא הרבה מצות שנשנה. ומה שנשנה אינו מיותר ח״ו. אלא נראה טעם לזה השם.
This book is called Mishneh Torah. And at the beginning to tractate Gittin, Tosafos writes that Mishneh Torah denotes that [this Book] “only recapitulates and repeats what was stated previously [in the other four Books].” The Ramban of blessed memory is so convinced of this understanding [of Mishneh Torah] that when he addresses the mitzvos listed in the parashios of Shoftim and [Ki] Seitzei, he explains some of them as being part and parcel of mitzvos written earlier. [And he applies this understanding] to the extreme by considering the mitzvah of shi’luach ha’kein (sending away the mother bird), to be part of the mitzvah of oso v’es b’no, (the prohibition of slaughtering the mother and her calf in the same day). And in my opinion, this is astonishing, for these two mitzvos are entirely different. Moreover, we also find a duplication of the mitzvos in the Book of Exodus: In the parasha of Ki Sissa beginning with the verse, “Beware of what I command you today,” until “Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk,” it is a repetition of what was already written in the parasha of Mishpatim. We explained there with God’s assistance how none [of those words] are superfluous – Heaven forbid [that one should say so]. And accordingly in the Book of Devarim one does not find that many duplicated mitzvos and whatever [seem to be] repeated are not considered – Heaven forbid – to be superfluous.
HaEmek Davar diagrees with the Ramban's undrstanding of the book of Devarim, he thinks we aren't doubling up on the halachot rather learning new areas of halachot.
מבואר בת״א פתשגן אורייתא. כמבואר להלן י״ח ומשמעו פירוש ובאור עד שמעמיד על דקדוק לשון התורה. ומשום דכלל זה הספר ועיקרו בא להזהיר על עמל תורה לפרש דקדוקי המקרא וזהו תלמוד. וכל המוסר ורבוי דברים שהי׳ משה רבינו מוכיחם הכל בא לזה התכלית שיקבלו ע״ע עול התלמוד מפני כמה עיקרים שיבואר בגוף הספר. מש״ה נקרא בשמו משנה תורה לשון שינון של תורה.
Rather it appears that the meaning of [Mishneh Torah] is clarified by the Targum Onkelos [when he translates, Mishneh Torah in Deut.] 17:18, [as] pas’shegen ha’kesav; meaning to apply elucidation and clarification that results in a clear analysis of the Torah’s wording. As the theme and main objective of this Book is to exhort us to toil in the study of Torah to expound the nuances of Scripture – this is Talmud. All the instructions and abundance of Moses’ warnings [in this Book] were to achieve this goal of accepting the yoke of Talmud [so as to grasp] the numerous principles found in the body of this Book. For this reason this Book is referred to as Mishneh Torah; related to the word shinun, i.e., the sharpening of the Torah.
ויש להבין מכ״ז דהמדקדק יפה בדברי מוסר שבזה הספר שיצא מפי משה רבינו ברוח קדשו. ימצא כל איש לפי ערכו דבש וחלב. [וע׳ בפ׳. עקב פרשה ועתה ישראל מה ה׳ אלהיך שואל מעמך עד סוף הפרשה] עד שגם יהושע רבן של ישראל השקיף בזה הספר תמיד. ומזה יתבונן כל אחד לפי כחו. וימצא דרך ישר להלוך נכחו. לפי הליכות עולם לו. ואור זה הספר יהי נר לרגלו:
One can infer from all [the above] that anyone who properly investigates the words of ethics in this Book, that emanated from the mouth of Moses with the divine spirit, will find – according to his [mental and spiritual] character – [insights pleasant as] milk and honey. (See the Torah reading of Eikev beginning with the verse, “Now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you?” until the end of the parasha.) So much [is this the case] that even Joshua, the Rabbi of all Israel, reviewed this Book constantly. Every individual can obtain insight according to his capacity to find the path of yosher, to walk in uprightness, appropriate to his worldly affairs; may this Book of enlightenment be a guiding lamp to his feet.
אמנם ראש וסוף התוכחה שבזה הספר. הוא על החזקת חקים ומשפטים שהוא התלמוד בישראל. אשר ממנה תוצאות חיי האומה והיהדות בכלל. וע״ז נכרת הברית השני בערבות מואב ובהר גריזים וה״ע להקים את דברי התורה וגו'. וממנה יתד ופנה למוסרי אנשי המעלה. הן מי שזכה לתורה ועמלה הן מי שברכו ה׳ להחזיקה בקיומה וכלכולה. [כמובא בפנים ו' כ״ד כ״ו י״ט ובכ״מ] וע״ז נקרא זה הספר משנה תורה. לשנן חרבה ולהשיב מלחמתה של תורה שערה. ובזה תהי לנו עוז ואורה. אמן:
Accordingly, this Book begins and ends with admonitions to strengthen the chukim and mishpatim, i.e. the Talmud, in Israel – effecting the survival of the Nation, and Judaism in general. It was for this objective that the second covenant was made in the Plains of Moab and on Mounts Gerizim and Ebal – “to establish the words of the Torah, etc.” [The toil in analyzing the Torah] yields men of ethics and eminence, whether they be those who merit to [grasp] the Torah and toil in her study, or those whom God has blessed with the means to fortify the Torah and sustain [the scholars] (as explained inside in 6:24, 26:19 and several other places). Thus this Book is called the Mishneh Torah as it sharpens the sword [of Torah], to repel the attacks at the gates [of the houses of study]. May it be our strength and light, Amen.