The Covenant Ceremonies of D'varim 27

(1) Moses and the elders of Israel charged the people, saying: Observe all the Instruction that I enjoin upon you this day. (2) As soon as you have crossed the Jordan into the land that your God יהוה is giving you, you shall set up large stones. Coat them with plaster (3) and inscribe upon them all the words of this Teaching.... (4) upon crossing the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, about which I charge you this day, on Mount Ebal, and coat them with plaster. (5) There, too, you shall build an altar to your God יהוה, an altar of stones.... (8) And on those stones you shall inscribe every word of this Teaching most distinctly.

(9) Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Silence! Hear, O Israel! Today you have become the people of your God יהוה: (10) Heed your God יהוה and observe the divine commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you this day.

(11) Thereupon Moses charged the people, saying: (12) After you have crossed the Jordan, the following shall stand on Mount Gerizim when the blessing for the people is spoken: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. (13) And for the curse, the following shall stand on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. (14) The Levites shall then proclaim in a loud voice to all the people of Israel: (15) Cursed be any party who makes a sculptured or molten image, abhorred by יהוה, a craftsman’s handiwork, and sets it up in secret.—And all the people shall respond, Amen. (16) Cursed be the one who insults father or mother.—And all the people shall say, Amen. (17) Cursed be the one who moves a neighbor’s landmark.—And all the people shall say, Amen. (18) Cursed be the one who misdirects a blind person who is underway.—And all the people shall say, Amen. (19) Cursed be the one who subverts the rights of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.—And all the people shall say, Amen. (20) Cursed be the [man] who lies with his father’s wife, for he has removed his father’s garment. —And all the people shall say, Amen. (21) Cursed be the one who lies with any beast.—And all the people shall say, Amen. (22) Cursed be the [man] who lies with his sister, whether daughter of his father or of his mother.—And all the people shall say, Amen. (23) Cursed be the [man] who lies with his mother-in-law.—And all the people shall say, Amen. (24) Cursed be the one who strikes down a fellow [Israelite] in secret.—And all the people shall say, Amen. (25) Cursed be the one who accepts a bribe in the case of the murder of an innocent person.—And all the people shall say, Amen. (26) Cursed be whoever will not uphold the terms of this Teaching and observe them.—And all the people shall say, Amen.

(1) לברך את העם [THESE SHALL STAND UP …] TO BLESS THE PEOPLE — The procedure was as is found in Treatise Sotah 32a: Six tribes ascended the top of Mount Gerizim and the other six the top of Mount Ebal, the priests, the Levites and the Ark remaining below in the midst (i.e. in the valley between). The Levites turned their faces towards Mount Gerizim and began to recite the blessing: “Blessed be the man that does not make any graven or molten image etc.”, and both these and those (the tribes on Mount Gerizim and those on Mount Ebal) answered “Amen”! Then they turned their faces towards Mount Ebal and began to recite the curse, saying: “Cursed be the man who maketh any graven [or molten image]” — and so in the case of all of them (the curses set forth here) till the last: “Cursed be he that does not uphold [all the words of this law to do them]”.

(1) CURSED BE HE THAT CONFIRMETH NOT THE WORDS OF THIS LAW. “Here [in these words] he included the entire Torah and they took it upon themselves with an imprecation and an oath [to observe all the commandments thereof].” This is Rashi’s language.

In my opinion this “acceptance” requires that one avow the commandments in his heart and consider them as the truth, believe that he who observes them will be requited with the best of rewards and he who transgresses them will be punished, and if someone denies any of them, or considers it annulled forever he will be cursed. However, if one transgressed any commandment, such as eating swine or some abominable thing because of his desire, or he did not make a Booth or take the palm-branch [on the Festival of Tabernacles] because of laziness, he is not included within this ban, for Scripture did not say “who does not perform the words of this Law” but it states that ‘confirmeth’ not the words of this Law to do them, similar to the expression the Jews ordained, and took upon them [and upon their seed … so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days — of Purim — according to the writing thereof].73Esther 9:27. Thus the verse [before us] is the ban on those who rebel [against the authority of the Torah] and who deny [its validity].

(30) At that time Joshua built an altar to the ETERNAL, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, (31) as Moses, the servant of GOD, had commanded the Israelites—as is written in the Book of the Teaching of Moses [See Deut. 27.3–8] —an altar of unhewn stone.... (32) And there, on the stones, he inscribed a copy of the Teaching that Moses had written for the Israelites. (33) All Israel—stranger and citizen alike—with their elders, officials, and magistrates, stood on either side of the Ark, facing the levitical priests who carried the Ark of GOD’s Covenant. Half of them faced Mount Gerizim and half of them faced Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of GOD had commanded them of old, in order to bless the people of Israel. (34)...he read all the words of the Teaching, the blessing and the curse, just as is written in the Book of the Teaching. (35) There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read in the presence of the whole congregation of Israel, including the women and children and the strangers who accompanied them.