Moshe went and spoke these words to all of Israel. He said to them...
There are a number of interpretations that one can offer for these words.
One contains a message for those delivering rebuke. Such an engagement is all the more effective if the agent includes himself as its object. As the primary text for this mitzvah states: את תוכיח הוכח חטא עליו תשא ולא עמיתך, you shall rebuke your friend and not bear sin on his account.* This can be parsed, הוכח, rebuke yourself first, עמיתך את תוכיח, and then your friend; חטא עליו תשא ולא, thus, you will not have loaded the guilt upon him alone.
Hence, וידבר משה וילך, before Moshe spoke words of reproof to the people – as the term וידבר indicates – he “went” with them, identified with them, and focused his rebuke on himself as well. Indeed, we find this practice adopted by a latter-day rebuker of the Jewish People, Shmuel. As the Yerushalmi says,** he would first dress himself in the “shirt of Israel,” that is, identify himself with their failings.
Alternatively, we know that rebuke is best served up in two manners: harshly for the notables, the scholarly and the elevated; and softly for the masses.*** As such, משה וילך, Moshe approached each person in accordance with his level, האלה הדברים את וידבר, i.e., harsh rebuke, אל, to the righteous, each of whom is on par with ישראל כל, the entirety of the nation, ויאמר, and yet he spoke softly, אליהם, to the masses themselves.
Another approach involves a passage in Shabbos,**** that the elders are punished for their neglect in rebuking the sins of others. This would seem to be the key to understanding two other talmudic statements:***** that Yerushalayim was destroyed due to a lack of rebuke; and that it was destroyed due to the disdain of Torah scholars. One was the result of another. The failure to rebuke was that of the scholars, as in the earlier passage. What caused them to fall short? Because scholars in general were denigrated by the public, undermining their influence.
When the influence of the scholars is weakened, it is unable to overcome the competing draw of the forces of Evil.
With all of this we can reinterpret a verse in Eichah, noblemen ,שרים בידם נתלו פני זקנים לא נהדרו ****** were hanged by their hands, they did not countenance the presence of the elders. The nobility is pulled by one hand to good by the elders, and by another to evil by the Dark Side, leaving them suspended in the air (noblemen were suspended by the competing hands). Why? Because their lack of respect for the elders diminished the elders’ sway over others (they did not countenance the presence of the elders).*******
The upshot of all this is that through the bond that one creates with a Torah scholar – with occurs with the power of Da’as, knowledge, as per אשתו חוה את אדם וידע, and Adam knew his wife Chavah ******** – one empowers the scholar to have a positive influence over himself.
As such, says our verse, משה וילך, Moshe – who symbolized Da’as – was activated, הדברים את וידבר האלה, and was capable of speaking these words of rebuke to uplift the nation.
Speaking of uplifting sinners, in this vein we can offer a theory into the prescribed measurement for a Shofar. As the Talmud states, it should be long enough that even while grasping it with one’s hand its ends are visible.********* As mentioned, to grasp the hand of a sinner and guide him is a uniquely righteous deed. However, one must always be vigilant that he himself not be influenced negatively. As Reb Yehudah Leib Pistyner********** would put it, if someone is drowning and you can jump in and save him, you must. But one must be cautious that the one drowning not pull his would-be savior down with him. Hence, the Shofar, that tool of repentance par excellance, is to be grasped, yet the two ends must be distinctly visible – creating a distinction between the influencer and the influenced.
While on the topic of Shofar, the Talmud says that if one inserted one Shofar within another and blew it, he only discharges his obligation if the sound that he heard emerged from the inner one.*********** What does this law allude to? As Mishlei famously teaches, דעהו דרכיך בכל, Know Him in all of your ways.************Hashem is, so to speak, cloaked within the materialism of our world. In our every engagement with the physical, we are enjoined to tease out the Godliness latent within it. Thus, every activity consists of dual-Shofars – a spiritual one within a physical one. If one “hears the inner one,” i.e., he connects with the spiritual side of the engagement, he has “discharged his obligation,” fulfilling his purpose in the world. However, if he only “hears the outer Shofar,” connecting with but the material, he has failed to discharge his obligation, necessitating his later return to this world for another attempt.
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* Vayikra 19:17. ** Ta’anis 2:7. *** See Rashi, Shemos 19:3; Alshich, Devarim 1:1. **** 54b. ***** Ibid., 119b. ****** 5:12. ******* This is similar to the thought which I have quoted before from the Maggid of Bar: Anyone who disparages a Torah scholar, there is no healing for his injury (Shabbos 119b), that is to say, by your diminishing the scholar’s influence, his ability to upliŌ yourself is crippled, which, ulƟmately, is to your detriment. ******** 4:25. ********* Rosh HaShanah 27b. ********** See Bereishis, n. 12. *********** Ibid. ************ 3:6.