Vayelech: Documentary Evidence

The agreement between Gd and Israel is contingent upon obedience to the rules.  That is the message of most of Deuteronomy and becomes more explicit as the book moves toward its conclusion.  Vayelech emphasizes the contractual bonds. 

The written contract is conveyed to the responsible keepers of the precious artefacts and the elders ( 31:9)

וַיִּכְתֹּ֣ב מֹשֶׁה֮ אֶת־הַתּוֹרָ֣ה הַזֹּאת֒ וַֽיִּתְּנָ֗הּ אֶל־הַכֹּֽהֲנִים֙ בְּנֵ֣י לֵוִ֔י הַנֹּ֣שְׂאִ֔ים אֶת־אֲר֖וֹן בְּרִ֣ית יְ  וְאֶל־כׇּל־זִקְנֵ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

Moses wrote down this Teaching and gave it to the priests, sons of Levi, who carried the Ark of Gd's  Covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.

The song is to placed in the ark itself, along with the tablets (31;26)

לָקֹ֗חַ אֵ֣ת סֵ֤פֶר הַתּוֹרָה֙ הַזֶּ֔ה וְשַׂמְתֶּ֣ם אֹת֔וֹ מִצַּ֛ד אֲר֥וֹן בְּרִית־יְ  וְהָיָה־שָׁ֥ם בְּךָ֖ לְעֵֽד׃ 

Take this book of Teaching and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant of your Gd  and let it remain there as a witness against you.

The ark is the repository of the physical evidence that an agreement was made between Israel and the Almighty.  Adherence to that agreement allows the continued terraforming of the promised land, the conditions that allow habitation are maintained, life is good. Violation of the contract leads to environmental disasters, foreign conquest and exile. It is all written: in stone ( broken and intact) and  on parchment.  It is stored in a gilded acacia wood box with an ornate gold cover, carried by the Levite keepers. Now... it is nowhere to be found.  

Were the agreement based solely on inscribed record ( stone and ink), questions would arise about the details and its current enforcement would be (even more) problematic. The song preserves the bond. It sustains the bond through association and ambiguity, perhaps intentionally 

For forty years, Moses had been the transmitter, interpreter and, at times, the author of the law. Now Moses was coming to the end of his life. He had to undertake his final adventure:

וַיֵּ֖לֶךְ מֹשֶׁ֑ה

Moses went 

He did not go far.  The going hardly deserves the mention. 

Rashi's comment: 

וילך משה. וגו':  Moses went: et cetera.

Nothing more; Rashi glosses a mystery with a mystery. 

Many commentators make the going literal: Moses went from tribe to tribe ( Ramban), he showed energy to comfort the the people ( Raeinu Bachya) or to show the need to mobilize one's self for repentance (Kli Yakar).  The Abarbanel understands the the vayelech to be an introduction to the next chapter of the Torah, a epilogue. Sforno understands  it as: he was self-propelled. acted of their own initiative. I like this interpretation. It relates Moses not only to his father Amram (Sforno), but also to Abraham ( LechLecha) and Jacob ( וַיֵּצֵ֥א יַעֲקֹ֖ב מִבְּאֵ֣ר שָׁ֑בַע וַיֵּ֖לֶךְ חָרָֽנָה׃ Jacob left Beer-sheba, and set out for Haran.),  Vayelech introduces an Odyssey: a story that becomes a song and transmits a(n ambiguous) message.  Rashi's interpretation stands. 

This past Rosh Hashanah, my son-in-law Judah spoke about how incomplete memory is;  and how it become dependent upon the recall of others, from the generation past. All communication is deficient and the meaning of prayer depends, in part, on this deficiency. It is the mystery of song

 Micha, my other son-in-law, related the Rosh Hashana experience to Kafa's Trial. The entire process is familiar.  Going before the inapproachable, never approachable, judge for offences that are not clearly defined; facing consequences that are dire, but not detailed; receiving advice from people with irrelevant powers.  Kafka directed in his last will that the book be burned, unread  never seen by anyone.  Max Brod did not comply. We have the intact and the incomplete chapters ( the tablets and the broken tablets). Moses entrusted the original written Torah and the tablets ( broken and unbroken) to the Levites and Elders.  All we have are the copies and the song.