Did the Ohr Hachaim Misremember the Chumash?

The Added Word

“Ohr Hachaim” is a popular Torah commentary by Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar. At the beginning of Parshas Vayeilech, he writes a comment which seems to be based on a nonexistent word in the text of the Torah.

Ohr Hachaim (Deuteronomy 31:1, end) –

(וידבר את (כל) הדברים וגו’,) אומרו את (כל) הדברים, להעיר שהגם שהגיע יום פטירתו כאומרו כו’, אף על פי כן היה בו כח היכול דבר כל הדברים הנאמרים מכאן ועד סוף הספר, מה שאין כח בזולתו עשות כן, בין בכח הגופיי בין בכח השכל.

Translation: “And spoke (all) these things etc.” The reason the Torah states “(All) these things” is to make us aware that even though Moshe’s life was ending, as it says etc., nevertheless he had the power to say all the words mentioned from here until the end of the book, something which is impossible for anyone else to manage, whether physically or mentally.

The original verse, in fact, states just –

וילך משה וידבר את הדברים האלה אל כל ישראל.

Moshe went and spoke these things to all Israel.

As can be seen in the Hebrew text copied above, the text as quoted by Rabbi Attar differs sharply from the universal account found in all Torah scrolls. Our version is not “All these things” but simply “these things”. No “Kol hadevarim” to be seen or heard!

This is neither typographical error nor a simple “Slip of the Pen” (see here). Indeed, the entire thought expressed here by the Ohr Hachaim’s author rests on the added word. The publishers, dimly aware of the problem, shed some light on matters by encircling the superfluous “Kol” in parentheses. But did they go far enough? It rather seems they ought to have placed the whole passage in parentheses.

In our time similar errata throughout Torah scholarship might be better suited to a separate, special volume.

Perhaps Rabbi Attar mistakenly transferred the “Kol” at the end of the verse (“El kol yisrael“) to the beginning instead: “Es kol hadevarim (sic)”. The access to printed volumes of the Pentateuch (Chumashim) was far more limited at that period, and Rabbi Attar might have misremembered. Rabbi Attar lived from 1696 to 1743 and worked on “Ohr Hachaim” in Morroco.

I hesitate to jump to any conclusions, particularly since I have not had the opportunity to peruse any new editions or super-commentaries on Ohr Hachaim. I turn to the readers then; what do you know about this? Can you help me out?