Parasha: Nitzavim · Aliyah: Third (Tiferet)

כי אתם ידעתם, "For you know, etc." We need to analyse why the Torah suddenly provides this rationale for what it legislates in this paragraph. Nachmanides wrote that this is the introduction to what follows "so that there not be amongst you a root flourishing with wormwood, etc." I consider this explanation a little forced. It is not the custom of the Torah to write the reason for its legislation before writing the legislation itself. Perhaps the verse may be understood differently. Inasmuch as what is being legislated here is something unique, i.e. obligating unborn generations to observe a code of conduct over which they have never been allowed to make a decision, as had their ancestors at Mount Sinai, this requires an unusual approach. We have a rule in Ketuvot 11 that "one cannot hold a person responsible for committing a wrong which he had never been aware of." According to this principle the acceptance by the parents of the obligation to keep the Torah would not be binding on the children at all. This is why the Torah adds: "for you are aware what your life was like before you became G'd's people and received the Torah, etc." In other words, the Torah is reminding us that it is a privilege to be G'd's people, to keep the Torah, etc. This is not comparable to imposing duties and restrictions on your children. The purpose of a life filled with מצוה-observance is to avoid the pitfalls of the abominations and detestable idols the Egyptians were captive to. Moses tells the people present that inasmuch as they know all about this they also know that what is being asked of them is to confer benefits rather than restrictions on their children and children's children.

פן יש בכם…ללכת לעבוד, "lest there be amongst you ….to go and serve the gods, etc." In this verse the Torah warns against the mere intention to practice idolatry, making the person doing this culpable. The operative word is לבבו פונה, "his heart turns, etc.

פן יש בכם, what precisely is this "root flourishing with gall and wormwood?" If these words refer to the previous statement where the Torah describes when this person's "heart turns to go and serve idols," the words פן יש בכם should not have been repeated. The Torah should have written something of this order: פן יש בכם איש או אשה אשר לבבו פונה…שרש פרה ראש ולענה. Furthermore, what is the meaning of the words "a root of wormwood?" Apparently the Torah does not speak about wormwood and gall but about a root. How does the Israelite who plans to engage in idolatry "bless himself in his heart?" Besides what is the point of the word לאמור in this verse? What does the Torah mean with the words: "for I will walk in the path my heart sees fit," in verse 18?

The basic idea underlying this verse is to warn the Israelite that anyone who attempts to get away with none or only minor punishments by only thinking about sinning but not actually violating any of the Torah's commandments will be disappointed. The Torah tells such a person that at this particular stage of his thinking he is merely a root, Le. harmless in itself; however, the outgrowth of this root will be gall and wormwood. This is why, in the first instance, the Torah speaks of פן יש בכם שרש פורה ראש ולענה, "it is first and foremost a root from which unexpected plants will grow."

The clever Israelite who looks for devious ways to escape the curses of which the Torah warns first blesses himself in "his heart." This means that he says to himself that merely contemplating sins is not so bad. This is why the Torah uses the words והיה בשמעו. We have explained repeatedly that the word והיה always has a joyful connotation. This Israelite says to himself that as long as he only contemplates sinning, he is not guilty of anything. This contributes to his joy. The Torah puts the record straight telling such an individual that if he thought he could cancel the oath Moses committed him to before accepting it even if he had answered "Amen", this would not help him. We have learned in Shavuot 26 that when it comes to oaths one's mouth and one's heart must act in unison, and that if someone makes up his mind to invalidate the words of an oath he will utter, only his intention commits him, not his words. When Moses speaks of שרירות לבו, he describes a person who uses the loophole we just quoted to escape culpability. Not only that, but למען ספות הרוה את הצמאה, "in order to add the watered to the thirsty," i.e. to benefit from the blessings G'd will shower upon the Torah-observant people. The word ספות is related to כריתה, an end. The word רוה is an alternative for רבה, "increase." The word צמאה describes something small, insignificant. The Israelite intends to limit or totally cut off any punishment by cancelling the oath Moses wants him to undertake.

This kind of conduct is what Moses calls שרש, from which eventually will sprout gall and wormwood. Normally, the justification of swearing an oath is to make it a bulwark against the temptations of the evil urge. David referred to such an oath in Psalms 119,106 when he said: "I have firmly sworn to keep Your just social laws." Our sages in Ruth Rabbah credit Boaz with having sworn such an oath to resist the temptation to sleep with Ruth before they were married. The person whom Moses refers to in our paragraph uses an oath to establish a circumvention of the law. This is much worse than merely not answering "Amen" when required to do so. Moses considers this the root of all the evil that will develop from such an attitude.

The Torah singles out such a person for worse punishment than that in store for people who accepted the covenant but who violate it from time to time.

לא יאבה ה׳ סלוח לו "G'd will not be willing to forgive him;" Although it is one of G'd's major attributes to pardon and forgive man's sins, the kind of devious scheming person described here does not qualify for G'd exercising this attribute. As a result of G'd's unwillingness to forgive such a person, He will punish him with all the severity at His command once such a person has translated sinful thoughts into sinful deeds. He will be subjected to all the curses written in the Torah.

Even though the Torah refers here to האיש ההוא, "that man," the same applies to a family or tribe which conduct themselves in the same manner.

ומחה ה׳ את שמו מתחת השמים, "and G'd will blot out his name from under the heaven." Remember that the root of the souls of all the Israelites originates in a sacred part of heaven, immediately below the throne of G'd.

In this instance, a unique instance, the Torah threatens that in spite of the sacred origin of his soul, it will be utterly blotted out in retribution for the devious plan to be parasites and to benefit from the blessings granted to the Torah-observant majority while at the same time violating all the commandments.

והבדילו ה׳ לרעה, "And G'd will single him out for misfortune, etc," This seems a paradox. After the soul of the person has already been blotted out, how can G'd separate it from other souls? We may have to understand this in connection with Isaiah 60 that all the Jewish souls originate in the same place as we have been told by Vayikra Rabbah 4,6 on Genesis 46,26 where all the 70 souls of the family of Jacob are described as כל הנפש, "the whole soul" (singular), as opposed to the souls of Esau which are described in the plural (Genesis 36). When the Torah writes that "G'd will blot out his name from under the heaven, this means that G'd will not take action against this man and consign him to the forces of the קליפה which is here called רעה, "evil," until He has separated his soul. This "separation" implies certain restrictions G'd imposes on the forces of the קליפה concerning the soul of this person. G'd makes it a point to always set some limits on the forces of destruction though He Himself allocated to these forces the parameters within which they may operate. We have quoted an example of such restrictions placed on the forces of destruction when Rava's father warned his son not to sleep in his bed in order not to be killed by these forces ( Taanit 24).

מכל שבטי ישראל, from all the tribes of Israel. Seeing that a Jewish soul has an affinity to all the tribes, G'd has to separate this person's soul from all the tribes lest the evil which befalls it will have negative repercussions on those tribes.

Alternatively, the word והבדילו may mean that after G'd has wiped out the name of this person, i.e. his soul, from under the heaven, He will transfer it to a spiritual region reserved for destroying such souls. ככל האלות, "like all the curses, etc." this means that the רעה, "evil" in store for this soul will include all the curses mentioned in the Torah thus far.

ואמר הדור האחרון..וראו את מכת הארץ, "The later generation will say,…when they see the destruction and the conflagration, etc." Clearly, the Torah envisages that such punishment will not be something isolated. Why does the Torah mention the reaction by a later generation viewing the destruction of the Holy Land before mentioning the fact that they have seen it? The Torah should have written: "the later generation will see what destruction happened to this country and they will ask what caused it." Besides, the word ואמר is totally superfluous here seeing the Torah repeats in verse 23 that "they will say" i.e. all the other nations who came face to face with the destruction in the Holy Land. Furthermore, why did the Torah begin the verse in the singular, i.e. ואמר, only to switch to the plural, i.e. ואמרו כל הגוים, "and all the nations will say?"

I believe the best approach to understanding the sequence in our verse is as follows: "the later generation will say, etc." who is this later generation? Your children. The Torah had to spell this out seeing that other nations also have later generations. The Torah adds that not only your own children will raise this question, but even the Gentile who lives nearby and the nations who come from afar. וראו When all these nations from near and far will observe how this land has been devastated, they (too) will say: "what has caused this destruction?" It is taken for granted that your children who live in the land did not have to come and see the destruction. This is why the Torah could commence with describing only their reaction. The reason the Torah speaks of כל הגוים, "all the nations," is that those who have seen the desolation in the Holy Land will tell all those who have not seen it with their own eyes.

The desolation described in this verse refers to the people of whom the Torah spoke in verse 17, the ones who decided to become idolators. The curses which had been mentioned immediately prior to this verse referred to the individual who tried to outsmart the Torah by hedging his acceptance of the oath of the covenant prior to affirming it with his mouth. The warning that G'd would erase that man's name applied only to the individual described in verse 18. Exile and desolation of the land of Israel are the result of idolatry.

הנסתרות לה׳ אלוקינו, והנגלות לנו, "The hidden sins are G'd's business, but the visible ones (are our business to deal with)." We have to understand this verse as the response by the Jewish people to Moses that he cannot hold them responsible for sins committed by fellow Jews in private. However, they accept the responsibility to try and stop sins being committed in public. לנו ולבנינו עד עולם, "for us and our children forever." This is the official acceptance by the Israelites of the oath Moses wanted them to swear.