In Moses's second to last speech to the children of Israel, before he dies and they enter the land, he hands them the "keys to the city" as it were. The centerpiece of this speech, coming after the rewards and punishments of the covenant, and right before the exhortation to choose good and therefore life, is the criterion for membership in the community.
"For this commandment that I have commanded you today is not beyond your powers nor is it distant from you. It is not in the heavens so that you might say: 'Who will go up to Heaven and take it for us, and teach it to us so that we will do it.' Neither is it beyond the Ocean so that you might say: 'Who will cross to the other side of the ocean for us, and take it, and teach it to us so that we will do it.' For the thing is very close to you, it is in your mouth, and in your heart to fulfill." (Deut. 30:11-14)
As Moses leaves the stage, he takes with him the necessity for his role as mediator. It is no longer necessary for somebody to go up to heaven (not once, but twice) to bring the Torah down. It is no longer necessary for there to be one person who mediates the word of God for the people. "It is in your mouth, and in your heart to fulfill."
There is one oft-quoted Talmudic tradition that understands this exhortation as saying that once the Torah was given at Sinai, it is no longer in the realm of Heaven, and its interpretation is dependent solely on human understanding. God is no longer a voice in the debate. "It is in your mouth, and in your heart to fulfill."
There is, however, another line of thinking which valorizes the prophetic moment. The Midrash (Mekhilta deRabbi Ishmael, Bahodesh 9) states that Israel merited prophecy because they refused to hear the voice of God directly at Sinai, and begged Moses to be the intermediary (Exodus 20:19). When Moses retells the story of the theophany at Sinai (Deut. 6:19-30) he adds God's response to the people's request not to hear God's voice. "They have done good in what they have said," God says. The Midrash takes this to be an approval of the mediated structure of that moment.
Moses' statement in this week's portion, however, doesn't fit neatly into either camp of the mediator/no mediator debate. This is the "key to the city." The point of Moses' statement is that you cannot rely on the fact that there might be somebody else to get the Torah and teach it to you, or for you. You must get it, study it and teach it. There is no longer an excuse. The fear that Israel had at Sinai of hearing the voice of God, cannot now be avoided-for the voice of God is what happens when Torah is studied. God is in the space between the student and her text, between teacher and student, between student and study partner.
When Moses finishes speaking, he immediately writes "the words of this Torah on a scroll, in their entirety." He then entrusts them to the Levites to carry with the Ark of the Covenant. The Torah is now text, and inert unless studied. This is the obligation of freedom, and the criteria for membership in the community: being involved in the ongoing dialogue of Torah study. For those who take up the challenge-it is theirs; for those who don't-it remains beyond the ocean and above the Heavens.
The Sfat Emet, a Hassidic work from the last century, comments that Moses broke the tablets of the law only upon seeing the golden calf. When Moses saw that Israel was capable of trying to materially incarnate a vision of God, he knew that they were not ready for the proper relationship with the commandments. For, the Sfat Emet says, if Moses had brought the tablets to the people at that moment, they would have worshipped them as an idol. When Torah is static it is an idol: inaccessible, beyond the heavens, and for all intents and purposes, mute. When Torah is studied, and therefore dynamic, it is close at hand and alive. It is the word of God.