How does performing affect those who perform? Starting from observation of the intergenerational tradition of performing the Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32.1-43), Keith Stone explores ways in which the Song contributes to Deuteronomy's educational program through the dynamics of reenactment that operate in traditions of performance.

Performers of the Song are transformed as they reenact not only characters within the Song but also those who came before them in the history of the Song's performance--particularly YHWH and Moses, whom Deuteronomy depicts as that tradition's founders. In...