[Avodah] When was the Torah given to Moshe? [was: Resh Lakish]

[Zev Sero]

T613K at aol.com wrote:
 
> What I was wondering was, when and where did Moshe Rabbeinu receive the 
> whole Torah?   If he received it on Har Sinai, did he come down from the 
> mountain carrying, not only two slabs of stone, but also a whole sefer 
> Torah?!  Or did he receive part of it on Har Sinai (minus everything 
> that happened after Ma'amad Har Sinai) and bring down a lighter, smaller 
> scroll to which he later added as events occurred?  Or did he receive 
> both the Written and Oral Torah orally and transcribe the Written Torah 
> from memory after he came down from the mountain?  And again, was it the 
> whole Torah that he wrote all at once, including events that were yet to 
> occur, or only the Torah up to the point of Ma'amad Har Sinai, adding to 
> it later as events unfolded?
>  
> BTW I know that there are two opinions about the end of the Torah, 
> describing Moshe's death -- an opinion that he wrote those pesukim 
> prophetically and an opinion that they were written by Yehoshu after 
> Moshe's death.   Can someone please provide me with the exact quotes and 
> who says which opinion?  And again, if these verses were written by 
> Moshe -- when did he write them?  On Har Sinai, or right after he came 
> down from Har Sinai, or shortly before his death?

AFAIK there is no question that the Torah was not written down until
the day before Moshe's death.  Nor AFAIK does anyone hold that the
actual text of the Torah as we have it was given earlier than that
date.  The question is only when he was taught the laws that are in
the Torah.  IOW when Moshe came down from the Mountain he knew either
a) all the 613 mitzvos, including that of writing a sefer torah,
which isn't written until the end of Devarim; or b) only the mitzvos
that are written in Sefer Shemos.  But either way, the text of our
five chumashim was only dictated to him before his death.

BTW, are we forced to say that that was on the very last day possible,
Friday 6th Adar 2490?  And that on that day he wrote 13 copies?  Or is
it possible that the dictation started several days or weeks earlier,
some time after Rosh Chodesh Shevat, which makes his feat of safrus
slightly less formidable, though I don't know any sofer who could write
13 sifrei torah in less than 4 years!


-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas