You stand this day, all of you…from woodchopper to water drawer (29:9–10). Midrash Kohelet Rabbah 1.12 teaches that these verses should have been placed at the beginning of Deuteronomy, directly following the initial statement, “These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan” (1:1). In this midrash, the Rabbis include Deuteronomy 29:9–10 among other biblical verses cited to substantiate the rabbinic dictum that the Torah does not follow a chronological order (“There is no before and after in Scripture”). With this suggestion, the Rabbis accomplish two things. First, 29:9–10 clarifies that “all Israel” in 1:1 includes tribal heads, elders and officials, children and women, as well as strangers within the camp. Second, they stress that 29:9–10 is a direct address to the people Israel. Juxtaposing these two verses emphasizes that Moses addressed all Israel, and that all Israel stood present “to enter into the covenant of your God יהוה” (29:11).
with those who are standing here with us this day…and with those who are not with us here this day (29:14). This verse is part of Moses’ speech to the Israelites in Moab, but the Rabbis connected it with the revelation at Sinai (Exodus 20), where all Jews—present and future—are said to have participated in the revelation of Torah. According to Midrash Sh’mot Rabbah 28.6, the Rabbis wondered why the verb “standing” was not also used in the second part of the verse, which simply reads, “who are not with us.” They suggested that the Torah was referring to future prophets and sages, whose words of wisdom appear in later parts of the Written and Oral Torah, respectively, but who were not physically present at Sinai because they had not yet been born: “Those are the souls who will one day be created…. Since there is not yet any substance in them, the word ‘standing’ is not used with them.”
A similar tradition in BT Sh’vuot 39a uses 29:13–14 to teach that all future generations of Israel, including all future converts, were at Sinai. Although these traditions do not refer explicitly to women, Sh’mot Rabbah 28.2 affirms their presence. Noting an apparent redundancy in Exodus 19:3, "Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob and declare to the children of Israel,” the midrash asks why the Torah mentions both the house of Jacob and the children of Israel. The answer is that “the house of Jacob” refers to the women and “the children of Israel” refers to the men. Indeed, the midrash further imagines that God addressed the women first in order to prevent a repetition of the catastrophe in the Garden of Eden when God initially commanded Adam, but Eve (who had not heard God’s directive first-hand) transgressed “and spoiled the world.” God, therefore, addressed the women first so they would not also “nullify the Torah.”
It is not in the heavens (30:12). Midrash D’varim Rabbah 8.6 imagines a dialogue based on 30:12–14 in which the Israelites ask Moses, “If the Torah is not in the heavens, nor beyond the sea, where is it?” Moses answers, “It is in a place very near, in your mouth and in your heart that you may do it.” The emphasis on “doing” Torah, meaning living by it, is made clear by a rabbinic interpretation of Leviticus 26:3, “If you faithfully observe My commandments,” literally “If you keep My commandments and do them.” Midrash Vayikra Rabbah 35.7 teaches of those who learn Torah without “doing” Torah, that it would be better if they had not been born.
In a famous talmudic story known as the “Oven of Achnai” (JT Mo’ed Katan 3:1, 81c–d; BT Bava M’tzia 59a–b), in the midst of a legal dispute ostensibly about the ritual purity or impurity of an oven, Rabbi Yehoshua stands up and quotes this verse, proclaiming, “It [the Torah] is not in the heavens.” Despite miraculous evidence supporting the oven’s purity, Rabbi Yehoshua sides with the majority of the sages in declaring the oven impure. In doing so, he asserts that the Torah belongs to humanity (or at least to the Rabbis) here on earth—not “in the heavens.” Miracles and even divine proclamations cannot overturn a community’s ruling. Thus the Talmud teaches that although the Torah was given by God, it remains ours to interpret.
—Gwynn Kessler