One of the most common theological questions with which we wrestle: who is in control? God? Mankind? This particular pasuk in the parsha seems to convey it is both. 

Rashi explains that the word “eto” (with him) is used to show that while God first articulated words of Torah, subsequently, God and Moses repeated each piece of Jewish law, in tandem. If God wanted Moses to internalize each commandment, Moses alone would have repeated the laws. However, as they spoke in unison, it was as if God was reminding Moses and the Jewish people: in order for the Torah to serve as a guide, we need each other.

The image is powerful. God and Moses, reading verse by verse of Torah like two hevruta, two study partners trying to understand the deeper meaning of the text. Powerful and comforting. An image we are meant to summon as we traverse some of the most difficult times in Jewish history. How many of us have stared up at the heavens and asked, “God, why? Why this? Why now?” And perhaps, like God and Moses pouring over the Torah thousands of years ago, God is asking to sit with us. To comfort each other.

To learn and perhaps discover together, holy secrets of the universe are only revealed when man and God find time for each other.