## Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy Chapter 4

###### Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy 4:2:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy 4:2:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Deuteronomy/r/4:2:1)

**לא תוסיפו**. עליו שאם תוסיפו תגרעו דכל המוסיף גורע שאם תעשה חמשה ציציות גרעת גם הארבעה שהרי אינם כלום מאחר שלא עשית המצוה כהלכתה וכן פרש"י חמש פרשיות שבתפילין וחמש מינין שבלולב אבל אם ישב בשמנה ימים בסוכה לא בא השמיני עם השבעה ומה שעשה עשוי:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
לא תוסיפו וגו, “do not add, etc.;” G–d implies that anyone adding to the words of the Torah,-however well meaning he may be,-will in fact detract from the value of the Torah. [If G–d is perfect, something that every believing Jew accepts as axiomatic, any addition to or deletion from His Torah would make it, ergo Him, imperfect. Ed.] For instance, when the Torah decreed 4 strings of tzitzit for the corners of a four-cornered garment, adding a fifth string would not only not make it holier, but would make it useless, and anyone reciting a benediction over such a tallit would desecrate the holy name of G–d by pronouncing such a benediction. The same reasoning applies to sitting in a sukkah for an extra day or adding another a fifth species to a lulav.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy 4:25:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy 4:25:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Deuteronomy/r/4:25:1)

**כי תוליד.** כלו' שתאמרו כבר נתישבנו בארץ ולא ירבה עוד כעס והשחתה הנני מעיד עליכם דברים שהם קיימים לעולם דהיינו שמים וארץ כי אבוד תאבדון ולא יועיל לכם מה שנתישבתם בה. ד"א פירשו רז"ל אם תהיו בארץ כמנין ונושנת"ם אבוד תאבדון וצדקה עשה לנו הקב"ה שהקדים שתי שנים החורבן למנין ונושנתם הה"ד וישקוד ה' על הרעה ויביא' עלינו כי צדיק ה' אלהינו:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
כי תוליד בנים וגו, “when you beget children etc.” Moses warns the people not to take their settlement in the land of Israel for granted even after they have lived there for several generations. Their tenure in the land is contingent on their continuing to observe the Torah and all of its commandments. If they failed to do, not only would they endanger their tenure of the land, but they would endanger their continued existence as G–d’s people. [If, say after six generations in the Holy Land, the people who had not been witnesses to all the miracles G–d had performed before the first generation settled in that land, they would claim that there was no reason why their tenure is linked to Torah observance, just as their neighbour’s tenure to their respective lands is not contingent on a set of laws of their religion, Moses warns them against such a fatal error. Ed. According to the Talmud, tractate Sanhedrin, folio 38, the numerical value of the letters in the words: ונושנתם בארץ, “and you will be long established in the land,” (852) אבוד תאבדון, “you will be utterly wiped out in verse 26. G–d did us a great favour when the exile began after 850 years of tenure, so that the threat of utter destruction of the Jewish nation since the time Joshua crossed the Jordan did not have to be fulfilled. This has been hinted at in the Book of Daniel 9,14: וישקוד ה' על הרעה ויביאה עלינו כי צדיק ה' אלוקינו, “Hashem hastened the calamity and brought it upon us, for Hashem is righteous in all He does (but we did not heed His voice).”


###### Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy 4:32:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy 4:32:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Deuteronomy/r/4:32:1)

**כי שאל נא וכו'.** כלומר אם תשאל מפני מה מקפיד הקב"ה עלינו יותר מכל האומות כי שאל נא לימים ראשונים כלומר אם עשה כך לשום אומה בעולם או הנסה אלהים וגו' כל זה שאל:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
כי שאל נא וגו, “You only have to inquire, etc.;” if you were to ask why G–d is so much more strict with us than with other nations, all you have to do is to ask yourselves if there is any nation whose fate has been as carefully supervised by G–d as yours from the time of Avraham; in light of all that He has done for you, do you not think that He is entitled to measure you by different yardsticks?


###### Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy 4:34:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy 4:34:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Deuteronomy/r/4:34:1)

**ובמלחמה.** הוא קורא לים סוף מלחמה משום דכתיב שם ה' ילחם לכם:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
ובמלחמה, and in war; Moses considers the crossing by the Jewish people of the sea of reeds the end of a “war” as he had referred to G–d as conducting war in the song of thanksgiving he composed after that event, as well as in the critical hours preceding it. Compare Exodus 14,14: ה' ילחם לחם, “the Lord will fight on your behalf.”


###### Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy 4:41:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy 4:41:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Deuteronomy/r/4:41:1)

**אז יבדיל משה.** אז לשון שירה כמו אז ישיר משה כי כששמעו שאמר הקב"ה ולארץ לא יכופר לדם כי אם בדם שופכו אמרו וכי מי שהרג בשוגג יהיה נהרג כיון שהגיד משה רפואתו של דבר לברוח לערי מקלט אז אמרו שירה והיינו דאמרי אינשי מי שאוכל התבשיל יודע טעמו כך משה כשהרג המצרי וברח ידע מה עונשן של הורגים לברוח:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
אז יבדיל משה שלש ערים, “then Moses set aside three cities, etc;” the expression אז is usually reserved as introduction to a poem, a song; compare Exodus 15,1, so that its appearance here is somewhat puzzling. When the people had heard the legislation about the cities of refuge in Numbers 35,33, where the Torah decreed that blood spilled of a person who was innocent could never be atoned for by a payment of ransom, they were afraid that even if someone were to commit a killing unintentionally he would be subject to the death penalty; Moses reassured them that there was another method by which such a person could atone for his negligence in having caused the death of an innocent person, i.e. his being forced to reside in a city of refuge until the death of the High Priest at that time. When they heard this they broke out in a song of relief. This was remindful of the proverb that (only) if someone has tasted a dish does he really know what it tastes like. Moses, who had had cursed an Egyptian who had slain a Jew by using the holy name of the Lord, had been forced to flee and reside outside his homeland for close to 60 years. He therefore understood that this was a very harsh penalty. [Our author clearly belongs to the school of thought that does not consider Moses as a hero for taking the law into his own hands. Ed.]


###### Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy 4:41:2
[Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy 4:41:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Deuteronomy/r/4:41:2)

**מזרחה שמש.** כל הרוצחין בורחין לשם אדם הראשון שקנס מיתה על בני העולם ברח למזרח שנ' וישכן מקדם לגן עדן וגו' קין ברח למזרח שנ' ויצא קין מלפני ה' וישב בארץ נוד קדמת עדן:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
מזרחה שמש, “on the east side facing the sun” All the murderers listed in the Bible fled eastward. Adam, whose penalty for eating from the tree of knowledge was supposed to be death, fled in that direction, seeing that he had caused the mortality of every human being. (Compare Genesis 3,24, “he took up residence east of gan eden). Kayin who had murdered his brother) settled also in the east as we know from Genesis 4,16.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy 4:43:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Deuteronomy 4:43:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Deuteronomy/r/4:43:1)

**את בצר במדבר.** זש"ה אדם עשוק בדם נפש עד בור ינוס וגו' כלומר אדם שנאנס לשפוך דם נפש כלומר שהרג בשוגג עד מקום אותו שנ' בו וישב ראובן אל הבור ינוס למקלט דהיינו בצר במדבר לראובני:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
ואת בצר במדבר, “and Betzer in the desert.” This is what Solomon referred to when he said in Proverbs 28,17: “a man burdened with blood guilt will flee to a pit;” he referred to someone who had incurred this guilt inadvertently, or even in self defense, i.e. accidentally. After Reuven (Genesis 37,29) found the pit in which he had left Joseph empty, i.e. he had to assume that he had been the cause of Joseph’s death; he supposedly fled to that town in the desert, later on in the territory of Reuven on the east bank of the Jordan.