A.
וידבר משה אל ראשי המטות לבני ישראל לאמר זה הדבר אשר צוה ד' (“And Moshe spoke to the heads of the staffs [i.e., the tribes] of bënei Yisra’él, to say. Zeh ha-davar, This is the thing/word which Ha-Shem has commanded”). So begins our parasha, and promptly launches into a discussion of the laws pertaining to vows (nëdarim) and oaths (shëvu‘oth).
Rashi quotes the Sifrei on our verse: משה נתנבא ב"כה אמר ד' כחצות הלילה" והנביאים נתנבאו ב"כה אמר ד'" מוסף עליהם משה שנתנבא בלשון "זה הדבר" (“Moshe prophesied with ‘Thus said Ha-Shem [Ko amar Ha-Shem] at about midnight’ [Exodus XI, 4] and the [other] prophets prophesied with ‘ko amar Ha-Shem’; Moshe was superior to them because he [also] prophesied with the expression ‘Zeh ha-davar’”).
As Rabbi Naftali Tzëvi Yëhuda Berlin (Nëtziv) notes, elsewhere in the Sifrei (עמק הנצי"ב פר' ראה פיסקא י"ז) we learn that Ko amar Ha-Shem is the standard introduction to a prophetic pronouncement, a fact which can be confirmed by simply paging through the books of the prophets in Tanach, where it recurs many times.
The midrash seems to suggest that Moshe’s prophetic superiority is somehow tied to his use of the expression zeh ha-davar instead of, or in addition to, ko amar Ha-Shem. Indeed, the Torah tells us לא קם נביא עוד בישראל כמשה, “No other prophet arose in Israel like Moshe” (Deuteronomy XXXIV, 10); Moshe’s unique status is on record; but what has zeh ha-davar to do with this?
B.
The Nëtziv comments on our passage in the Sifrei דלשון כה משמע דכה שמע דבר ד' אבל עתה מדבר מפי עצמו כאשר שמע ממש בלא שנוי וכבר נסתלק שפע רוה"ק מהם שהרי כל הנביאים בשעה שחל עליהם הנבואה כשל כח החושים ואין להם פה לדבר כו' אלא שזוכרים מה ששמעו בלי שנוי ומדברים מפי עצמן (“that the term ko means that thus [ko] did [the prophet] hear the word of Ha-Shem, but now is speaking on his own. Just as he had heard without any change, and already the abundance of ruach ha-qodesh [‘the spirit of holy things’] has been removed from them, for all the prophets at the moment prophecy comes into effect on them lose the power of [their] senses and have no ability to speak.... But they remember what they have heard without any change and speak on their own....”).
Thus, “ordinary” nëvu’a takes place in such an altered state that the navi’ is not really in this world, and is unable to sense or communicate in this world; however, the experience leaves an indelible, unforgettable impression upon him, so that he formulates in his own words exactly what he experienced and what he heard as the dëvar Ha-Shem (ע"ע רמב"ם הל' יסודי התורה פ"ז).
The Nëtziv contrasts this with Moshe: אבל משה מדבר והשכינה שורה עליו והיא מדברת מגרונו של משה, נמצא דבר משה עצמו זהו דבר ד' כ"י. וזהו דתניא במכילתא יתרו פרשה ד' "משה ידבר וד' יעננו בקול" מלמד שנתן הקב"ה כח וגבורה במשה והי' הקב"ה מסייעו בקול ובנעימה שהי' משה שומע בו הי' משמיע את ישראל וגו' (“But Moshe would speak whilst the Shëchina suffused him, and [the Shëchina, the “Divine Presence”] spoke through Moshe’s throat, such that the dëvar Moshe itself was the dëvar Ha-Shem, as it were. And this is what is taught in the Mëchilta...‘Moshe speaks and Ha-Shem answers him in voice’ [Exodus XIX, 19], teaching that the Holy One, Blessed is He gave power and strength to Moshe, and the Holy One, Blessed is He was supporting him with voice and tone/inflection, so that Moshe would hear in it and make it heard to Israel....”).
This seems a clear description of the difference between the two, but a little examination reveals that it is only a partial answer; Moshe also prophesied with ko, just as the other prophets did. So, again, what is the difference between the two?
C.
The Maharal mi-Prag provides us with the rest of the story.
Of the two fundamental levels of nëvu’a, the lower, more common one is שנתנבאו בה כל הנביאים על מעשה ד' והנהגתו בעולם לכל אשר נעשה בעולם (“in which all the other prophets prophesied concerning the acts of Ha-Shem and His conduct in the world concerning anything which is done in the world”). In other words, it involves the interpretation and understanding of events and phenomena as they happen in this world. The navi’ is granted a glimpse “behind the curtain,” as it were, enabling him to perceive the metaphysical impetus or initiative which results in phenomena in the physical world. This view “behind the curtain” affords the navi’ both some appreciation of the motivation behind a phenomenon and also of the phenomenon’s broader effects, the “ripples” spreading out through space-time from the original impetus.
והמדריגה של משה רבינו עליו השלום הי' כולל זה וכולל גם כן להתנבאות על המצות והתורה שציוה לו השם יתברך מפיו (“And our teacher Moshe’s level encompassed this and also encompassed the capability to prophesy about the mitzvoth and the Torah which Ha-Shem commanded him directly”).
The meaning of this distinction is profound: כי המדריגה הראשונה בדברים אשר יחדש ויעשה בעולם והמדריגה של משה רבינו עליו השלום היא התורה מה שהשם יתברך רוצה שיהי' נוהג תמיד בעולם מבלי שנוי והוא סדר מציאות כללי בעולם (“For the first level concerns dëvarim which [Ha-Shem] originates and does in the world, and our teacher Moshe’s level is the Torah, the way in which Ha-Shem wishes the world to be managed constantly, unchangingly; that is, the general order of reality in the world”).
Once the impetus perceived in the first level of nëvu’a makes its impact on our world, it proceeds according to what we consider the “laws of nature.” These are the generally very consistent manifestations of Ha-Shem’s will in running His world. What we understand to be “miracles” contrary to nature are singularities built into reality from the beginning, located in space-time along line-segments on the four axes; when the phenomenon has run its course and reached the terminus on the time axis toward which it is vectored, the “laws of nature” revert to their “normal” dispensation. The impetus itself, originating in the atemporality of the ‘alma dë-qushta, is perceived to make its impact in the past, present, or future/potential by our time-bound senses.
Moshe was also able to perceive such events, of course, and when he did, he, too, spoke in terms of ko amar Ha-Shem, though even when he did, his perceptions were made on a higher level (עיי' למשל רש"י לשמות י"א ד' ופי' רא"ם שם). But when he accessed his true potential, and spoke in terms of zeh ha-davar (or, as the Nëtziv also points out, such equivalents as zoth chuqqath ha-Torah, “this is the law of the Torah”; cf. e.g. Numbers XIX, 2), he did something far deeper, כי בתורה אשר נתן השם יתברך על ידי משה סידר את ישראל בסדר הכללי, לא בענינים המתחדשים בפרטים מן הסבה הראשונה (“for by means of the Torah which Ha-Shem gave through Moshe He set up Israel in the general order, not [merely] in terms of matters which originate in detail from the First Cause”).
Unlike the visions of the other prophets, which occur in terms of the physical world, Moshe’s were מופשטים מן החומר ומושכלים ביותר (“free of materiality and most abstract”), ובשביל זה הי' מתנבא "בזה הדבר" כו' כי מצות התורה הם בענינים בוללים לכך הם יותר מושכלים (“and for this reason he would prophesy with zeh ha-davar... for the Torah’s mitzvoth concern comprehensive things, therefore they are more abstract”).
Yet, as we all know, the mitzvoth by and large mandate concrete actions, often involving material objects; so what does the Maharal mean by “abstract”?
D.
Chazal famously tell us; "הליכות עולם לו" אל תקרי הליכות רלר הלהכות (“‘The ways [halichoth] of the world are his’ [Habakkuk III, 6], read not halichoth but halachoth”; מגילה כ"ה:). The halachoth, the practical details of mitzva-observance, are natural laws, part of the warp and woof of the cosmos, as much as, say, gravity or the law of conservation of energy are.
What Moshe was doing as he transmitted Torah to Israel in this constant, uniquely intense prophetic state, was wiring Israel into the cosmos, as it were, סידר את ישראל בסדר הכללי, מה שרוצה השם יתברך שיהי' נוהג תמיד בעולם , as the Maharal said supra. As a result, our performance of mitzvoth in this material world provides a feedback loop into the metaphysical realm, the ‘alma dë-qushta, for which provision was made from the very beginning: "אם לא בריתי יומם ולילה חקות שמים וארץ לא שמתי" כו' מלמד שהתנה הקב"ה עם מעשה בראשית, ואמר אם ישראל מקבלין את תורתי מוטב, ואם לאו אני אחזיר אתכם לתהו ובהו “‘If My covenant is not [in effect] by day and by night, I have not set the laws of heaven and earth” [Jeremiah XXXIII, 25]... teaching that the Holy One, Blessed is He made a condition with Creation and said: If Israel accept My Torah, it is made well; and if not, I shall return you to chaos!”; עבודה זרה ג.). All of Creation was conditional and provisional until ma‘a-mad Har Sinai, when Moshe began hooking up the connections for the feedback loop already prepared for Israel.
זה הדבר אשר צוה ד', this is what G-d commanded, and Israel’s ability to “create facts” through the agency of nëdarim and shëvu‘oth which must be carried out exemplifies the feedback capacity.
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