“עד תמם”
“To the very end…” (31:24; 31:30)
The Torah mentions the word תמם twice: by ויהי ככלות… and by וידבר משה… The Torah is saying that Moshe completed the Torah until its conclusion. We know, however, that Torah study never ends, and the Torah is eternal. How can the Torah say that the Torah has a conclusion? Rav Yitzchok Fingerer explains: Perhaps the Torah is referring to a later point in Jewish History, a new era in Torah chronology – the establishment of the first Beis HaMikdash. The Torah is stressing that a new chapter of Torah life will begin when the Yidden are fully settled in Eretz Yisroel, and the long-awaited Beis HaMikdash is built. This event occurred 480 years after the giving of the Torah at Sinai. תמם is Gematria 480. The Torah is alluding to this when it says that Moshe wrote עד תמם . The Yidden will now have the opportunity to fulfill Torah commandments, en masse, pertaining to Hashem’s home, the Beis HaMikdash.
