פרשה: ואתחנן · עלייה: שני (גבורה)

ואשמעם את דברי, "and I will make them hear My words, etc." This is best understood in light of what we learned in Shabbat 146 that when the Jewish people stood at Mount Sinai any residual pollutant dating back to the original sin and its pervasive spiritually negative influence departed from them. I explained in that context that this occurred as a result of the power of G'd's words, and that these words were in fact so overpowering that they resulted in the souls of the Israelites being released from their bodies. This is the deeper meaning of the sages' statement that the pollutants departed from them. This is also what Moses referred to when he quoted G'd as saying: "I will let them hear My words, i.e. the Ten Commandments." When the Torah wrote (Exodus 20,1) "G'd spoke all these words, etc." this is what is meant. The reason G'd did this, Moses explains at this juncture, was so that the people would revere G'd for all future times through having been temporarily released from all spiritually polluting influences. These are the only influences which prevent man from heeding G'd's commandments at all times. If the Jewish people, throughout their long and frequently painful history have managed to remain loyal to their G'd and their religion it is because at least for a time they had been free from such pollutants. This enabled them to revert to what is natural for man, i.e. to revere his Maker.

קול דברים אתם שומעים, "you (only) heard the sounds of words, etc." The words "the sound of words" may best be understood in connection with Shir Hashirim Rabbah on Song of Songs 1,2: "may He kiss me with the kisses of His mouth." The Midrash explains that every utterance of G'd during the revelation at Mount Sinai resulted in the creation of an angel who would stand by each Israelite and ask him: "are you willing to accept me i.e. the respective one of the Ten Commandments and what other sub-commandments it contained?" The Israelite in question would answer in the affirmative whereupon the angel would embrace him and kiss him. The words קול דברים, "the sound of the words," is a reference to these questions the angels asked the Israelites. Please refer to what I have written in Parshat Yitro (page 671) where I explained that the only words the Israelites heard from the mouth of G'd directly were the first two commandments. They were physically unable to comprehend the other eight commandments though G'd uttered them simultaneously. The other eight utterances were turned into angels. When the souls returned to the Israelites' bodies at the time, they heard those commandments from the angels. This is what the Midrash described.

ותמונה אינכם רואים, "but you did not see an image." How can we understand Moses referring to an image by contrasting it with a sound, i.e. זולתי קול? It seems quite obvious that if one did not see an image that what one heard was only a sound? You may understand this in conjunction with what I explained on the last verse, that the Israelite saw an angel who communicated G'd's words, i.e. the sound to him. This is also a way the Mechilta explains the words: "the whole people saw the voices (Exodus 20,15)." Moses was afraid that the Israelites would think that the angel whom they had seen was the G'd of Israel. He therefore had to underline that all the Israelites saw in addition to the voices described in that verse were the angels described by the Midrash. They most certainly did not see G'd.

וה׳ התאנף בי על דבריכם, "G'd was angry at me on account of you." Moses repeated this once more, not content with what he had said already in 1,37. He also repeated twice: "not to let me cross the Jordan and not to let me come to the good land." He meant that he suffered not only from the decree of having to die in the desert but from another decree i.e. that even his bones would not be buried in ארץ ישראל although he had made sure that both Joseph's remains and the remains of the brothers would be buried in holy soil (compare Jerusalem Talmud Sotah 1,10). The first time he mentioned the word לבלתי he referred to his not entering the Holy Land while alive, whereas the second time he mentioned that word he referred to not even being brought to burial there. Moses repeats the same theme in another form when he says in verse 22: "I am going to die in this land and I will not cross the Jordan." He means that he will neither cross the Jordan alive nor dead. He contrasts this with the Jewish people, his charges, whom he congratulates by saying: "you will cross and inherit the land." The form of address is what is known as לא זו אף זו, i.e. "not only will you cross the Jordan but you will even take possession of that land."

Devarim Rabbah approaches the meaning of the words על דבריכם by means of a parable. A person had lost some money in a dark place. He said to himself that if he were to ask people to light up the area for him so that he could retrieve his money no one would pay any attention to him. What did he do? He threw a gold coin amongst the people present and started yelling that he had a single gold coin and now he lost it. He begged people to provide some light so that he could retrieve his coin. The people brought a lantern; once he had retrieved his coin he asked them to wait a little longer until he could find the rest of his money. Eventually, he did retrieve all his money. Moses, or G'd if you will, found himself in a similar situation. Once G'd would make the effort to resurrect Moses, He would wait a little longer to resurrect his generation with him at the same time. After all, Moses had taken them out of Egypt (so that they could be considered his "money"), and it would only be fair that he would bring them to their destination, the land of Israel. Thus far the Midrash. This is an illustration of the word על דבריכם, i.e. if it were not for G'd wanting to bring the Israelites of the generation of the Exodus to the Hereafter eventually, there would have been no need for Moses to be buried on the East Bank of the Jordan.

ובקשתם משם….בכל לבבך, "and you will seek (G'd) from there with all your heart, etc. Verses 29 and 30 require analysis. [Basically, the author tries to explain why repentance is mentioned only after exile, and why exile by itself does not appear to be classified as an affliction. Ed.] Remember there are two types of penitence. There is the kind of repentance which is self-induced when people become aware they have sinned and want to rehabilitate themselves to be in good standing with their Creator. The second type of repentance is only the result of the sinner first having suffered severe afflictions at the hands of his enemies, etc. The words: "you will seek from there the Lord your G'd" refer to the people whose repentance was not due to their first having suffered persecution, but was motivated by their fondness of G'd. Moses promises "you will find Him because you seek Him with all your heart" even though you may have committed the most serious sins, such as idolatry, as detailed in verse 28. The fact that you found your way back to G'd will save you from having to experience afflictions.

Concerning the people who become penitents only after having experienced severe afflictions, Moses says: "when you are in dire straits and all the retributions G'd has warned you of have found you at the end of days, you will return to the Lord your G'd and hearken to His voice." Moses makes clear that this repentance is not self-induced and that is why he does not characterise this repentance as being בכל לבבך, "with all your heart." The only reason you decided to become penitents is to escape the afflictions and persecutions. These penitents will have to compensate for their lack of whole-heartedness when they decide to rehabilitate themselves by absorbing more afflictions before their account with G'd is finally settled. This is the precise opposite of what happens to their counter-parts who adopted the path of penitence before they had become victims of afflictions. In their case their very penitence protects them against the afflictions which they had been in line for because of the sins they had committed. According to this interpretation the words בצר לך in verse 30 belong to what preceded them. The meter of the verses then is as follows: "When you seek out the Lord you will find him because you strive for Him with all your heart;" alternatively (the second scenario), "when you are in trouble and as a result become a penitent, even though not with your whole heart, these afflictions will still find you because you have not become a true penitent. In either event, G'd will not destroy you as He is a merciful G'd, etc."

These three verses may also be explained in the following fashion. ובקשתם משם, "You will seek from there," i.e. once you find yourselves in exile amongst other nations and you pray for your daily needs. The Torah does not speak about the exiled Israelites praying for deliverance from their exile; they only pray to make their existence tolerable. The Torah goes on ומצאת, "and you will find," i.e. G'd is approachable even in exile. Otherwise you would perish in exile. The Torah uses the singular, i.e. "you (singular) will find," as not every Jew who prays on foreign soil, in exile, will find Him responding to him. The reason only selected individuals will find that G'd responds to them even when they are in exile is that they seek G'd with their whole heart. Prayer in exile has to be far more intense than prayer on holy soil in order for G'd to respond favourably.

When Moses mentions בצר לך, "when you are in trouble," this is an assurance that there will come a redemption, i.e. at a time in exile when things appear totally intolerable, "when all these afflictions have found you and you have been reduced to greatly diminished numbers." This will be a sign that the end of days is at hand and that what you experience are the birthpangs of the Messiah. The Torah promises that at least at that time G'd will encourage the exiled Jews to do תשובה. This is the promise contained in the words ושבת עד ה׳ אלוקיך ושמעת בקולו, "and you will return to the Lord your G'd and hearken to His voice." The Torah explains the reason for this promise by saying that "the Lord your G'd is merciful."

Perhaps this is the argument of the angel Michael about whom the Zohar Chadash page 30 writes "here the end of days has already arrived and G'd has still not encouraged the hearts of the Jews to become penitents!" I have explained that passage elsewhere in a different context. Meanwhile our eyes are trained on G'd and we anxiously await that He will open His treasure of pure spirit to open blind eyes and to incline our hearts in order for us to appreciate how invaluable it is to enjoy His friendship.

מן השמים השמיעך את קולו ליסרך, "He made you hear His voice out of the heaven in order to discipline you, etc." The meaning of this verse is similar to what I have explained on Exodus 20,1. I have already referred to it on verse 12 in our chapter where Moses underlined that the people did not see a visual, image during the revelation at Mount Sinai. We mentioned that the people heard the first two of the Ten Commandments directly from G'd. This is what Moses meant when he said: "out of the heaven, etc." The meaning of the word ליסרך is "in order to remove the residual pollutants from you;" we have explained this concept already repeatedly. When Moses said ועל הארץ הראך את אשו, "He showed you His fire on the earth," he referred to the manner in which the Israelites heard the other eight of the Ten Commandments. He alluded to the people "seeing" those sounds in the form of fiery flames which had been "hewn" from G'd's words. I have explained already that Exodus 20,15 referred to this phenomenon with the verse: "and the whole nation observed the sounds, etc." Moses elaborated on this once more in verse 12 of our chapter which mentioned the absence of a visual image for the people to see at that time.

The words: "and you have heard His words out of the fire" are most appropriate as they refer to the last eight of the Ten Commandments, the "fire" referring to the angel which materialised and asked each individual Israelite if he accepted the commandment in question.

וידעת היום, "and you should know this day, etc." What is it that the people should know about on this day rather than on any other day? What knowledge were they to store up in their hearts? Perhaps Moses referred to the need to subdue the evil urge which lurks within all of us. Moses may have referred to 10 such pieces of information which the Israelites were to store up in their hearts.

1) The Talmud Berachot 5 suggests that if the evil urge becomes active our first line of action should be to "drag him to the Torah Academy," i.e. to counter him by Torah study. If this fails, we must remind him of the day we will die, an effective means of putting him in his place.

2) Sukkah 52 describes that in the future G'd will "slaughter" Satan in front of the eyes of all of Israel. Moses commanded the people to store up an awareness of this day in the future in their hearts. Awareness of this will be a valuable tool in the fight against the evil urge.

3) Moses also referred to the Day of Judgment. What will a person do when G'd presents him with a list of all his sins on that day? How profound will be his feeling of shame at that time when he will be found wanting in front of an audience of illustrious souls and angels? Reminding oneself of this scenario will help one to subdue one's sinful instincts

4) Moses may have had in mind a statement in Baba Batra 84 that the reason the sun appears so reddish looking in the morning and in the evening is that it has just passed by the gates of hell whose fires have reddened it. One look at what happens in the course of a day will convince a person that the people who violate G'd's commandments will experience retribution. The reddish appearance of the sun is a reminder of where this retribution is handed out. Moses advises us to concentrate on what goes on in the world by day, i.e. היום.

5) He may also have alluded to what the kabbalists say i.e. that the sphere of sanctity is known as "day," whereas the sphere of alienation (from G'd) is known as "night." Parts of the world which belonged to the sphere of sanctity may become "alienated" through the deeds of man so that man will find himself as belonging to that sphere. This is why Moses prayed in Psalms 91,5 that G'd "should remove the fear of night." When Moses said וידעת היום, "know the (sphere called) day," he meant that we should endeavour to know this sphere; it would then follow automatically that we would pursue the proper path in life.

6) He may also have referred to something we have been taught by the Zohar volume three page 178 that in order to conduct oneself properly it is necessary to review every night what one has done during the day so as to repair any spiritual damage one had become guilty of by day. When a person keeps track of his deeds on a daily basis he will repent all the inadvertently committed mistakes he has become guilty of, and he will confess them. Unless he does this, his sins are liable to create within him a lack of sensitivity to having made mistakes, even inadvertent mistakes. This is why Moses commanded the people to make sure they would become aware of their actions on a daily basis, i.e. היום, this very day; do not wait until the Day of Atonement to confess your sins and to rehabilitate yourselves. If you do this, והשבות אל לבבך, you will ensure that your heart remains conscious of and sensitive to your shortcomings.

Moses may also have alluded to the day the soul was placed in the body of a person. According to Zohar volume one page 233 on that day G'd exhorts the soul which has come from the celestial regions to observe the commandments of the Torah while on earth, threatening with a variety of penalties for non-observance, but also promising reward for observance. When Moses said היום in our verse, he referred to the day when the soul began its journey on earth.

8) Moses may also have alluded to something we learned in Chagigah 12 that the present material world on earth is called לילה, "night," whereas the celestial regions are known as יום, "day." When observing life in this material world man will observe that often what occurs is the very opposite of what he expected to occur, such as the wicked enjoying the good life whereas the pious frequently live a life of suffering. Moses advises us to concentrate on life in the eternal regions, i.e. in the Hereafter instead of falling victim to the lure of what the transient life on earth appears to offer the sinner. He reminds us by saying והשבת אל לבבך that G'd has an ironclad answer to all these apparent perversions of justice we observe in this world and that all the sinners will be punished while the pious will be rewarded in due course.

9) Moses may also have alluded to an interpretation in Shabbat 28 on Genesis 1,31: "it was evening it was morning the sixth day." According to the Talmud the letter ה before the word ששי refers to a pact made by G'd with His creation that in due course He would give Israel the Torah on the sixth day (of Sivan). Moses reminds the people never to forget that glorious day which they had experienced when G'd had revealed Himself at Mount Sinai. They were to remember that creation itself continues to exist only for the sake of that day. This must be enough to remind their hearts to be constantly aware of the awesomeness of their obligation to observe the path of Torah. The words כי ה׳ הוא האלוקים are a continuation of the words והשבות אל לבבך. By contemplating the day on which G'd revealed Himself on Mount Sinai, the whole world found out that there is no other G'd in heaven nor on earth. This is parallel to what we learned in the Mechilta on Exodus 20,2 that when G'd began the decalogue He referred to having manifested Himself publicly when He took the Israelites out of Egypt. The author of the Mechilta there quotes Isaiah 48,16 who said: לא מראש בסתר דברתי, "From the beginning I did not speak in secret."

10) Moses may also have alluded to something we learned in Shemot Rabbah 25,12 that the commandment of the Sabbath is equal in weight to all the other commandments combined. It is in the nature of the evil urge that first he undermines a Jew's desire by saying to him that it is quite futile to endeavour to keep all the commandments, he would never succeed, so why even bother? At the same time, when a Jew has become aware of his sins and he wants to rehabilitate himself Satan tells him that he deludes himself if he thinks that a person who has become guilty of so many sins has a chance to purify himself through penitence. Moses counters these two arguments of Satan. Concerning a person's inability to observe all the commandments, Moses points to the fulfilment of a single commandment, that of היום, the Sabbath day, and assures the Jew that fulfilment of the Sabbath legislation is equivalent to fulfilment of all the 613 commandments. It is not so hard therefore to be a Torah-observant Jew. The scriptural proof for the value of this commandment is found in Exodus 16,25: "for the Sabbath is the day." Moses tells us to concentrate on the meaning of that day and the fact that it is equal in weight to the combined commandments of the Torah, and that this will keep us from sinning. The same thought is also useful for the sinner who wants to become a penitent and who has been told by Satan not to waste his time. If the sinner concentrates on that day and starts by observing the Sabbath he has gone a long way towards rehabilitation. G'd will give him credit for having observed all the 613 commandments.

נתן לך כל הימים, "which He gives to you for all time." Seeing that Moses told the people to observe the Torah in order to enjoy long life, he was afraid that the people would interpret that by observing the commandments of the Torah G'd would lengthen their lifespan on earth. As a result of such reasoning the people might also argue that this was proof that just as man's life on earth is limited in time (compare Job 14,5 "his days are determined, You know the number of his months"), so possession of the Holy Land would also be subject to limitations in time. Moses therefore corrects any such impression by going on record that a) G'd would add years to the people's lives if they observed the Torah, and b) assuring them that G'd's gift of the land to the Jewish people is a gift in perpetuity. It follows that when he mentioned "in order that you will have a long life on the earth, etc," Moses meant that they would not die prematurely, just as we have been told in Deut. 11,21. As to the land itself, it will remain Israel's forever.