Lock It In

Why are the last two mitzvot in the Torah that of writing the Torah and the mitzvah of hakhal?  Why is hakhal done specifically on Sukkot in the year after shemitah?  

The Torah refers to this time a במועד שנת השמיטה because it is after a year of not working the land that one can see that it was a shemitah year (Netziv.)  That is not only true in the sense of the lack of growth of the field but in the growth of the person.  After such a year of spiritual growth, the Torah says to lock it those gains and extend them into the next shemitah cycle.  Says the Oznaim L'Torah, that is why hakhal is done on Sukkot because Sukkot is חג האסיף, the time to reap the harvest of the spiritual gains of the previous year.  What is the message of hakhal that one takes to lead into the next shemitah cycle?  The message is ליראה את ה, as the Rambam Chagigah (3:6) describes the event as a reenactment of maamad Har Sinai.  It is the yira experienced through that maamad which carries one back into everyday life to remain steadfast in serving Hashem.  

The two final mitzvot are a message to Klal Yisrael as they are about to leave the Midbar to take the gains and the years of spiritual growth that they experienced and take that "Sinai effect" and bring it with them into Eretz Yisrael.  There were two aspects to the "Sinai existence" in the Midbar.  There was the learning of Torah and that is expressed through the mitzvah of writing a Sefer Torah and the aspect of yiras Hashem through seeing Hashem's miracles on a daily basis.  That idea is reflected through the mitzvah of hakhal.  That is why these two mitzvot are given right before entering Eretz Yisrael.  The mitzvot are a way of tapping into the spiritual gains of the Midbar to assist in the transfer to living a worldly existence of Eretz Yisrael (see Likutay Sichos volume 34.)    

Why does it need to tell us אתם נצבים היום כולכם if we already know everyone is gathered from the end of the previous parsha, וַיִּקְרָ֥א מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶל⁠־כׇּל⁠־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל?  These are two types of gatherings for two different purposes.  At the end of Ki Savo, everyone is reminded to keep the Torah, וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֗ם אֶת⁠־דִּבְרֵי֙ הַבְּרִ֣ית הַזֹּ֔את וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם אֹתָ֑ם.  It is a gathering about the experience of Torah and mitzvot.  In the beginning of Nitzavim, the Torah stresses טפכם נשיכם וגרך אשר בקרב מחניך just as it does by hakhal for this gathering is to form a bris with Hahem.  Everyone is present to enter the bris regardless of level.  This is the yirah aspect.  To experience the presence of Hashem even beyond the boundaries of Torah and mtizvot.  That is a message everyone, even children must experience.