A Thought on Parshas Devarim

"...mol Suf..." "...near Suf..." (1:1) The Torah gives a short review of the places and events under Moshe Rabbeinu's leadership over forty years. Most of the commentaries see in these references a blend of place names with their associated events. Paran, Tofel, Di Zahav, Suf........some of those words are unfamiliar to us, and are interpreted as image metaphors for key locations in the desert travelogue where important incidents happened. Our verse mentions Suf, which could represent the Yam Suf - the putative Red Sea (or Reed Sea) or could refer to other places. The puzzling word, however, is "mol." Rashi views it as equivalent to the more common word "mul" which means adjacent to or near (as in 2:19 where mul is used.) Thus, mol Suf really means mul Suf, and refers to our early history after the departure from Egypt where our people hesitated, in fact, before fleeing straight into the Sea. A difficulty which I have with this interpretation, however, is one which I am sure that Rashi faced as well. Throughout the entire Torah and Ta'Na'Ch, there is only one time where the word mul is spelled mol. It seems as if the Torah would have written mul Suf had it intended the meaning which Rashi ascribes to the verse. According to Rashi, our own verse's use of this spelling would be the only other time where we find this form of the word. Noch a mol. So what does mol mean when it is spelled with the o sound and not the u sound? The Bechor Shor tackles this and writes that mol virtually always means to cut, as in bris mila. What does cutting have to do with Suf? He suggests that in Tehillim (136:13), the splitting of the Yam Suf is referred to as cutting - "l'gozer Yam Suf le'gezarim. (I note that in the gemara, we find "Rabbi Yehuda haGozer"- Rabbi Judah the Cutter, which refers to his having been an expert mohel, one who circumcises.) So with this insight, our verse must be understood as "when HaShem cut the sea into parts, as the Jewish people cut across it." Mol Suf is the same as that expression cited above fromTehillim, and means "the cutting or splitting of the Reed Sea." This is loyal to the general meaning of the word mol, and does not require, as Rashi does, that we understand mol as if it were mul. According to Rashi, the verse references our having stopped near the Sea. According to the Bechor Shor, the verse references the actual event of how we were able to traverse that frightening body of water which blocked our flight to freedom. This Shabbos is known as Shabbos Chazon. May the Nine Days close with signs of geula. Good Shabbos. D Fox