Deuteronomy 3,23. “I pleaded with Hashem at ‎that time, to say:” the word ‎לאמור‎ after we have been told that ‎Moses pleaded with Hashem appears totally superfluous. ‎Who else was this to be relayed to? In light of this, it appears that ‎the correct interpretation of this verse is that prior to Moses’ ‎praying to G’d on his own behalf he pleaded with Hashem to ‎ensure that He was in a receptive mood for the prayer which ‎would follow. This is also why the Torah added the words: ‎בעת ‏ההיא‎, “at that time,” to teach us that before that time Moses felt ‎too ashamed to offer entreaty or prayer on his own behalf.‎

Another possible way of explaining the opening line of our ‎‎Parshah is based on a statement in the Talmud ‎‎B’rachot 9 according to which although we have a rule that ‎there must not be an interruption of any kind between the ‎conclusion of the b’rachah “concluding with the words ‎גאל ‏ישראל‎, and the Amidah which follows, the words ‎א-דוני שפתי ‏תפתח‎, “Lord, open my lips” (in prayer), do not constitute an ‎interruption. The reason is that the sages declared the ‎‎Amidah as a “long prayer,” i.e. the line beginning with ‎‎“Lord open my lips,” are considered an integral part of the ‎‎Amidah rather than merely an introduction. Although the ‎members of the “Great Assembly” who composed the ‎‎Amidah prayer had not included these words in their ‎formula, subsequent religious authorities decided to add this line. ‎Apparently during the era of the “great Assembly,” a period ‎beginning with the coming of Ezra to Eretz Yisrael, there was no ‎need for people to ask for Divine assistance before they could ‎concentrate on saying their prayers. By the time of the ‎‎Mishnah 200-250 years later approx., in line with the ‎principle of ‎ירידת הדורות‎, “the gradual but constant decline of the ‎spiritual level of the Jewish people,” it had become necessary to ‎ask for assistance from heaven to enable us to pray with the ‎mental concentration without which our prayers are not a ‎compliment for G’d, but G’d forbid, an insult.‎ From the above it follows that our prayers must be viewed as ‎consisting of two separate components. One consists of the actual ‎prayer, as composed by the members of the Great Assembly, and ‎the second consists of a plea to enable us to pray in such a way ‎that our prayers may find the desired response from G’d.‎ There can be no question that Moses did not require these ‎‎“artificial” assists not only to formulate his prayers but to pray ‎with the appropriate mental concentration. His prayers on behalf ‎of his people had always found a receptive ear, but now when for ‎the first time his prayer had not been accepted, it is clear that the ‎reason must have been that the prayer itself was somehow ‎defective, did not flow from his mouth as it had been on all other ‎occasions. He therefore found it necessary to ask G’d to assist him ‎in formulating his prayer appropriately. The word ‎לאמור‎ in the ‎verse quoted above reflects this need of Moses to ask for ‎assistance to his entreaty to be allowed to enter the Holy Land. ‎The word ‎לאמור‎ on this occasion in connection with Moses’ ‎prayer shows us that this was the only time in his career as the ‎leader of the nation that he felt the need for assistance in this.‎ Moreover, as a rule, when the Torah reports Moses as ‎speaking, it reports merely that G’d’s voice was speaking through ‎his throat.‎ This also helps us answer the question of why Moses, during ‎the revelation at Mount Sinai was angry at the people who had ‎heard G’d speak to them directly when they requested that ‎instead of having to listen to His voice they preferred to listen to ‎it as relayed to them through Moses as His interpreter. At that ‎time (Deuteronomy 5,24) the Israelites had addressed Moses as if ‎he were a female by using the feminine pronoun ‎את‎, for “and ‎you,” instead of the masculine ‎ואתה‎. Our sages, quoted by ‎‎Rashi, commenting on this, observe that Moses felt that he ‎personally had been weakened by the people, because they had ‎failed to display the ability to serve the Lord from love, else they ‎would not have had to be afraid of G’d’s voice causing them to ‎die, as they claimed.‎ In light of what we said i.e. that generally G’d’s voice spoke ‎out of the throat of Moses, we could have understood Moses’ ‎reaction very well, as hearing Torah from the Rabbi’s student ‎cannot be compared to hearing it from the Rabbi himself. But If ‎G’d was indeed speaking through the throat of Moses, there ‎should have been no difference to hearing it that way or hearing ‎it without Moses as the intermediary. Why then would Moses ‎have been displeased at their request, especially as G’d Himself ‎told him (Deut. 5,26) that the people had done well in requesting ‎a change of venue by asking that Moses be their intermediary? ‎We must therefore fall back on a statement by our sages that ‎there were three things that Moses had done without having ‎consulted G’d. ‎

‎(Compare Shabbat 87) In the event, G’d agreed with Moses, ‎i.e. approved of his initiative after the event. One of the three ‎things was that he added an additional day for the people to ‎prepare themselves mentally, (spiritually) for the Revelation and ‎the receiving of the Torah. The second was that he smashed the ‎first set of the Tablets containing the Ten Commandments. He ‎applied logic when doing this, reasoning that if a Jew who has not ‎been circumcised is forbidden to partake of the Passover due to ‎his status, and this is only one commandment, how much less do ‎they deserve the entire Torah, having just been guilty of idolatry? ‎This logic is flawed, as in the case of the Passover, the Torah ‎forbids participation in a ritual which provides the participant ‎with pleasure, i.e. the eating of the lamb, something not ‎applicable to most other commandments of the Torah. We have a ‎general rule that the commandments of the Torah have not been ‎given to us for whatever physical pleasure performance of it ‎would yield.‎ ‎Tossaphot on that folio query how the sages could ‎describe this decision of Moses as being made by himself when he ‎had used the Torah as the yardstick by which he had arrived at ‎this decision? They answer that since Moses’ logic in that ‎instance was flawed, the decision must be viewed as his and not as ‎inspired by his study of the Torah. The third example of Moses ‎making a high-handed decision without consulting G’d is his ‎separation from his wife, the subject for which Miriam criticized ‎him in Numbers 12,1-2. On that occasion also, according to the ‎Talmud, he used logic, a valid tool of interpreting the Torah, ‎saying that if the people who heard G’d speak for only a few ‎minutes had to separate from their wives for three days prior to ‎that, he, to whom G’d spoke almost on a daily basis, [prior ‎to the sin of the spies, Ed.] surely had to separate from ‎his wife permanently.‎ Concerning that logic the Talmud points out that seeing that ‎G’d had told Moses to send the Israelites home to their wives, ‎whereas at the same time He commanded him to remain at the ‎site of the revelation, surely in light of this Moses’ decision could ‎not be construed as being arrived at on his own? Here too, the ‎Talmud says that whereas Moses considered his logic as ‎unassailable and therefore based on the Torah, in fact his logic ‎can be challenged.‎ Moses was in a category by himself, having stated that during ‎‎40 days in the celestial regions (on top of Mt. Sinai) he had ‎neither eaten bread nor had drunk water. (Deut. 9,9) His ‎nourishment had consisted of the ‎זיו השכינה‎, “enjoying the ‎splendour of the Divine Presence.” Due to his extreme humility, ‎Moses presumed that the entire Jewish nation was entitled to a ‎similar experience, i.e. the ability to satisfy the body’s ‎requirements through infusions of spirituality from a celestial ‎source. This is what he built his logic (‎קל וחומר‎) on when drawing ‎conclusions from the three day period of the abstaining from ‎marital intercourse during the preparations for the Revelation at ‎Mount Sinai, as well as from the laws concerning who may ‎partake of the Passover. He reasoned that the Torah most ‎certainly did not address nitwits, but a people on the highest ‎spiritual level, else how could they be able to hear G’d speak to ‎them directly on that occasion. He considered it as certain that at ‎that time everything the people did was only for the loftiest ‎motives, i.e. ‎לשם שמים‎, why else would they keep their distance ‎from their spouses? He erred by comparing the whole people to ‎himself, so that the logic which formed the premise of his ‎decision was flawed. In other words, his decisions were not based ‎on correct interpretations of precedents in the Torah, so that the ‎sages in the Talmud were correct in describing his three decisions ‎as “homegrown.”‎

The prophet Isaiah 40,10-11 teaches us something about ‎different levels of holiness. The prophet writes as follows: ‎הנה א-‏דוני אלוקים בחזק יבוא וזרועו משלה לו, הנה שכרו אתו ופעולתו לפניו. ‏כרועה עדרו ירעה בזרועו יקבץ טלאים ובחיקו ישא עלות ינהל.‏‎. ”Behold, ‎the Lord G’d comes in might, and His arm wins triumph for Him; ‎see, His reward is with Him, His recompense before Him. Like a ‎shepherd He pastures His flock; He gathers the lambs in His arms, ‎and carries them in His bosom, He drives the mother ‎sheep.” When we conduct ourselves in a holy spirit then all ‎the largesse of the Lord that we experience contains holiness, so ‎that in effect, even when eating our daily bread, we are ‎participating at a meal served on a celestial table, the table of He ‎Who owns the earth and all there is on it. Even though, as we have learned (based on a Midrash on ‎Genesis 33,13) Yaakov and Esau agreed to divide the universe ‎between them, Esau becoming heir to the earth and all its ‎material blessings, while Yaakov reserved for himself the world to ‎come a world of disembodied creatures, this did not mean that G’d ‎cannot provide largesse of a material kind for His people to be ‎enjoyed while their souls inhabit their bodies. When the prophet ‎says: “Behold the Lord comes in might,” he refers to G’d giving us ‎the Jewish people something that according to the division of ‎Esau and Yaakov we did not have a legal claim to. [Esau is ‎not being deprived by anything that G’d gives to us the Jewish ‎people, through His largesse. Ed.] The simile of the ‎shepherd used by the prophet, is reminiscent of a statement in ‎the Talmud Baba Metziah 5 according to which it is natural ‎for a shepherd who tends sheep that are his own, to treat them ‎with even more care than he does the sheep belonging to others. ‎There is therefore no reason why G’d should not treat His people ‎with especial concern.‎ ‎

Yet another way of interpreting the line ‎ואתחנן אל ה' בעת ההיא ‏לאמור‎, is based on the discussion of the Rabbis in Eyruvin 13 ‎concerning whether it would have been more comfortable for the ‎human race if it had not been born to live on this earth. The ‎debate concluded with a vote by the majority of the participants ‎that indeed it would have been more comfortable (‎נוח לו לאדם‎) ‎not to have been born, but seeing that this was G’d’s will we ‎must, of course, respect His decision. The debate sounds difficult ‎to understand, seeing that G’d is presumed to primarily represent ‎the attribute of Love, ‎חסד‎, so how could the scholars even dare ‎discuss if, seeing that He had seen fit to create man, this might ‎not have been “good” for man? ‎[the author refers to the discussion having centered ‎around the word ‎טוב‎ “good,” i.e. an objective term. A look at the ‎text of the Talmud shows that the word ‎טוב‎ does not appear; ‎instead the scholars referred to a relative term, the word ‎נוח לו‎, “is ‎it comfortable for man.” In light of this the author’s question is ‎out of place. Ed.]‎ The author proceeds from the premise that the tzaddik ‎does not wish to enter the lower universe, i.e. our world. He does ‎so only in order to fulfill G’d’s will, i.e. the commandments of the ‎Torah. Seeing that through being born into this part of the ‎universe the tzaddik has been given the opportunity to ‎fulfill the commandments that he could not have fulfilled in the ‎celestial spheres with the angels, G’d did indeed practice the ‎attribute of ‎חסד‎ when He decided to create the human race. ‎When the Torah reports Moses as using the words ‎ואתחנן בעת ‏ההיא‎, it wishes to convey that Moses did not pray for an extension ‎of his life nor for enjoying his stay on earth longer, but only to ‎have the chance to fulfill commandments that could not be ‎fulfilled except through his crossing the Jordan and serving G’d in ‎the Holy Land.‎

Still another aspect of the opening line of our Parshah. ‎When evaluating happenings on this earth we always proceed ‎from the premise that all G’d does or allows to happen, is meant ‎for the good, even though on occasion it takes a while to realize ‎that what started as apparently a dreadful event, will ultimately ‎be realized to have been the beginning of something good. ‎‎[According to the formula of Rabbi Nachum ish gam ‎zu. When we ask G’d in psalms 85,8 ‎הראנו ה' חסדך וישעך תתן לנו‎, ‎‎“show us, O Lord, Your kindness grant us Your deliverance,” ‎these words spring from our conviction that, of course, what G’d ‎has in mind is for our own good. Our prayer is to be granted to ‎live long enough to see this confirmed with our own eyes. The ‎word ‎לאמור‎ which we had questioned at the outset, is to be ‎understood as in Deuteronomy 26,17 and 18 ‎האמרת‎ and ‎האמירך‎, ‎where these words are expressions of love. Moses prays to be ‎granted to see with his own eyes this expression of G’d’s love.‎

Deuteronomy 24:3, You have begun to show Your servant, ‎etc,” According to Rashi’s commentary on Exodus 32,10 ‎where G’d tried to forestall Moses’ prayer on behalf of his people, ‎this had been an indication that basically G’d is very interested in ‎our prayers. In light of Rashi’s comment there, why did ‎Moses refer to “Your greatness, etc.; at this point?” The answer is ‎that that by having said on that occasion “Leave Me be,” G’d had ‎indicated that He normally longed for the prayers of the ‎righteous, prayers which are capable of reversing potentially ‎harmful decrees into beneficial ones. When Moses referred here to ‎G’d having displayed that very greatness, the occasion had been ‎his own readiness to pray and to reverse His decree. It was ‎therefore appropriate now that he now do the same on his own ‎behalf.‎

Another angle from which to understand the line ‎אתה החילות ‏וגו'‏‎; we know that G’d created all the various parts of the universe. ‎In spite of this, His supervision and guidance of the various parts ‎of the universe are largely influenced by the Jewish people. Seeing ‎that G’d wished to bestow His largesse on the Jewish people, and ‎that this includes the people whom the Jewish people ask that He ‎deal with on the basis of the attribute of Justice, Moses refers to ‎this aspect of G’d’s greatness when he says: “Your greatness and ‎Your strong hand.” In other words, “Your carrying out the ‎wishes expressed in my prayer are proof of Your greatness, and ‎Your power.”‎

‎**“You Who are unparalleled in heaven or on earth for ‎the great and powerful deeds that You have performed.”** ‎‎ In order to understand what Moses refers to here it must be ‎assumed that the tzaddikim, the righteous, are referred to ‎in this line as G’d’s handiwork, ‎מעשיך‎. The definition of a ‎‎tzaddik is someone who is constantly in control of his awe ‎of the Creator. Moses continues to describe even people who can ‎act like the tzaddikim as being something so outstanding ‎that such people do not have their equals anywhere, i.e. ‎אשר יעשה ‏כמעשיך‎.‎

Deuteronomy 4,2. “and as far as you who have cleaved ‎to the Lord your G’d is concerned, etc.;” when the Torah ‎employs the name elo-him when referring to G’d, this ‎means that it refers to Him as the ultimate root cause of every ‎phenomenon and as the ultimate height of all that has been ‎spiritually elevated. Our G’d combines within Himself all aspects ‎of all that surrounds Him. All this is due to the existence of the ‎Jewish people, so that indirectly the Jewish people have a hand in ‎whatever occurs in the world.‎ This answers a question which has bothered members of ‎ancient cultures when they look at the first line of the k’riyat ‎sh’ma ‎שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד‎, “hear O Israel the Lord our ‎G’d the Lord is One.” They could not understand the need for the ‎words: ‎אלוקינו‎ ‎ה'‏‎ “the Lord is our G’d,” when they had already ‎been told that there is only One G’d. The simple answer to this ‎question is that the words ‎ה' אלוקינו‎, mean that this G’d of ours ‎combines within Him all the subsidiary causes in the universe. ‎None of these so-called “causes,” are independent and do not owe ‎an accounting to Hashem. Seeing that this is not something ‎that is visible and traceable by scientists, the Torah had to assert ‎that it is so nonetheless. Due to the fact that Israel is the vehicle ‎through which the entire human race will eventually realize the ‎unique Oneness of G’d, Moses tells them that they have this ‎distinction with the words: ‎ואתם הדבקים בה' חיים כולכם היום‎, “and ‎you who have cleaved to G’d are therefore alive this day.”‎

Another way of understanding the line: ‎ואתם הדבקים בה'‏‎ puts ‎the emphasis on Moses’ choice of the word: ‎היום‎, “this day.” The ‎Talmud in Eyruvin 22 states that as a rule, when there does ‎not seem to be any other reason for inserting this word, the ‎meaning is “that whereas you perform the commandment today, ‎your reward will be delayed until tomorrow,” i.e. some time in the ‎future. While it is a fact that the “principal” reward will be paid in ‎the hereafter, when a person performs a commandment such as ‎studying the Torah, for instance, he receives an additional and ‎almost tangible dimension of life as an immediate consequence of ‎having performed the commandment, plus an additional ‎dimension of wisdom. We know this from Job 28,28: ‎‏ הן יראת ה' היא ‏חכמה‎, “behold reverence for G’d results immediately in wisdom.” ‎This additional wisdom in turn provides an additional dimension ‎of life to those who are endowed with it. This is the meaning of ‎Moses’ telling the people that whereas their mitzvah ‎performance due to their having cleaved to Him has secured for ‎them a reward in the future, they could rest assured that there is ‎also an immediate benefit for mitzvah performance, i.e. ‎the additional dimension of one’s vitality; this latter aspect is ‎described as ‎היום אתם חיים‎, “a vitality that you experience already ‎this very day.” The word ‎אלוקיכם‎, “your G’d,” is an allusion to the ‎fact that all initiatives are indirectly traceable to the existence of ‎the Jewish people.‎

Deuteronomy 4,5. “See, I have taught you statutes and ‎civil laws as the Lord my G’d commanded me, for you to do once ‎you are in the midst of the land.” This verse is best ‎understood on the basis of what we have explained on Exodus ‎‎12,28: ‎ויעשו בני ישראל כאשר צוה ה' את משה‎, “the Israelites did in ‎accordance with what G’d had commanded Moses.” [At the ‎time, we would have expected the Torah to write that the ‎Israelites did as Moses had commanded them, as they had not ‎heard G’d’s command to Moses. Ed.]‎ We abide by the rule that G’d told Moses the details of the ‎commandments in order for him to relay these to the people, i.e. ‎the meaning of the word: ‎לאמור‎, “to say.” [We must ‎always remember, however, not to equate the person who learns ‎something through his own efforts to someone who learns it ‎from his Rabbi. It is better to have learned it from one’s Rabbi. ‎Ed.] (Ketuvot 111). The Israelites, upon hearing ‎Moses’ instructions in the name of the Lord, did not generally ‎understand the value of these commandments. It was only after ‎they performed them personally that their meaning dawned ‎upon them. At that time their perceptive powers were enhanced ‎so that they could be described as having “heard” the ‎commandments from Moses as clearly as Moses had heard it from ‎G’d Himself. This is the deeper meaning of the verse in Exodus ‎‎2,28 which reports the Israelites carrying out the ‎commandments. From that moment on, it was as if they had ‎heard the commandments from G’d’s mouth. In the event that ‎some reader might understand that the insights gained by the ‎Israelites came from Moses performing them rather than by ‎their performing them, the Torah in our verse adds the word ‎לעשות‎, “to do,” i.e. they had not been performed yet.‎

Another approach to the line: ‎ראה למדתי אתכם חוקים ומשפטים ‏כאשר צוני ה' לעשות כן בקרב הארץ וגו'‏‎. According to the Talmud ‎‎Nedarim 38 where our verse is also discussed, G’d gave the ‎Torah only to Moses, as only he combined all the attributes ‎necessary within a single human being to qualify him to be the ‎recipient of such a marvelous gift. Being of an exceptionally ‎generous nature, he decided to share this gift with the people. ‎This is why he took so much time to teach the Torah to the ‎people. We have already mentioned repeatedly that the form in ‎which the Torah was given to Moses is known as ‎אספקלריא מאירה‎, ‎‎“a clear and distinct light.” (Yevamot 49) When Moses ‎uttered prophecies, these prophecies always reflected what he ‎had seen as a clear unmistakable vision. When other prophets had ‎visions, even though at that time their perceptive powers had ‎been increased in order for them to understand these visions, ‎when they passed them on to their listeners they were no longer ‎on the same spiritually high plane as they had been at the time ‎when they had received them. (Sifri Mattot 2) Normally, even when a prophet relays visions and ‎instructions he has received in an undiluted form, he can do this ‎only through constantly focusing on the commandment ‎concerned. When these commandments are capable of being ‎fulfilled only in the Holy Land, he cannot focus on them ‎sufficiently while outside the Holy Land. Moses hints to the ‎people that he was an exception to this rule in that although ‎forbidden to ever perform any of these commandments inside ‎the Holy Land, he was able to communicate the laws with the ‎same undiluted clarity as if he had been in the process of ‎performing them inside the Holy Land. This is what he alluded to ‎by the words ‎לעשות כן בקרב הארץ‎, “the ones to be performed ‎‎(only) within the Holy land.” He assures the people that the ‎lessons and instructions they had received from him were ‎completely “undiluted.”‎ ‎

Deuteronomy 4,39. “You will know this day and keep it ‎in mind that the Lord alone is G’d in the heaven above and on ‎the earth below; there is no other.” Most of you are ‎familiar with the disagreement between Rashi and ‎‎Rabbeinu Tam concerning the order of the four parchments ‎containing excerpts from the Torah in the phylacteries that are ‎worn on the head. [Since Rabbeinu Tam was only 5 ‎years old when his grandfather Rashi died, the former was ‎not aware of a disagreement with his grandson. Ed.]‎ One of the “proofs” cited by Rabbeinu Tam that he was ‎correct, is based on the wording in the Talmud Menachot 34 ‎according to which the order is: ‎קדש, והיה כי יבאך,‏‎ on the right, ‎and ‎שמע,‏‎ plus ‎והיה אם שמוע‎ on the left. [The Talmud there ‎immediately quotes a baraitha saying the opposite. ‎Ed.] The word: ”on the right,” is understood to mean “on ‎the right side of the reader.” If the meaning had been “to the ‎right side of the person wearing the phylacteries,” the order ‎would have to be the reverse, as is Rashi’s opinion. ‎‎Tossaphot there rules according to the former view, ‎claiming that if the latter version were correct the wording of the ‎first opinion quoted should have been: “‎קדש‎ on the right and ‎whatever follows (sequentially in the Torah) on the left,” or: the ‎first three paragraphs should be arranged on the right with the ‎paragraph commencing with the words: ‎והיה אם שמוע‎ on the left ‎outside.‎ Why do the two opinions both require that two of the four ‎paragraphs be paired, i.e. the two paragraphs from the Book of ‎Deuteronomy appearing next to one another in the order in ‎which they are written in the Torah? According to a number of ‎codifiers the paragraph commencing with ‎שמע ישראל‎, is perceived ‎as our accepting the Uniqueness of the Creator, whereas the ‎second paragraph represents our acceptance of the yoke of the ‎commandments written in the Torah.‎ The author lists different views on this and tries to explain ‎the divergence of opinions as being based on whether the author ‎views us collectively as on the level of receiving unclear visions as ‎opposed to clear visions, as we explained on 4,5.‎ ‎[I have abbreviated as the author is lengthy, and it is ‎not really his style to devote so much space to a discussion of the ‎text as if the halachah were truly based on the text rather ‎than our oral tradition. Ed.]‎

‎(Exodus 19,20) “The Lord descended on Mount ‎Sinai;” The statement by our sages in B’rachot 5 that ‎the yardsticks we apply to actions of human beings must not be ‎applied when the Torah appears to apply them also to actions by ‎G’d, is well known. The example quoted by the Talmud, describes ‎the average person selling some of his belongings as feeling ‎saddened that circumstances forced him to do so, while the buyer ‎is overjoyed to have come into possession of what had been ‎offered for sale. Not so with G’d. When He “sells” something, both ‎the buyer and the seller rejoice. When G’d “sold” His Torah to ‎Israel, He was happy that He had found someone worthy of ‎receiving that exclusive “merchandise.”‎ In Baba Metzia 59 there is an interesting statement in ‎connection with an ingenious construction of a certain baking ‎oven, the builders of which had found a way of protecting that ‎oven against contracting ritual pollution. In spite of the fact that ‎Rabbi Eliezer, the outstanding sage of the time, gave his blessing ‎to this oven, the majority of the sages outvoted him and declared ‎it as requiring the same procedures for purification that was ‎required for ordinary ovens if the latter had become polluted. ‎When Rabbi Eliezer invoked support for his opinion from celestial ‎sources and a heavenly voice proclaimed him as being correct in ‎his ruling, the other sages ignored that voice, saying that ever ‎since the Torah had been given to man, i.e. Moses and the Jewish ‎people, heaven no longer had a legal standing in how to interpret ‎it. This is also a practical example of the ability of the righteous ‎to override or reverse heavenly decrees. In the parlance of the ‎sages: ‎צדיק מושל ביראת אלוקים‎. There is a somewhat enigmatic ‎statement in Moed Katan 16 which reads as follows, based ‎on Samuel II 23,3 (David speaking) ‎אמר אלוקי ישראל לי דבר צור ‏ישראל מושל באדם צדיק מושל יראת אלוקים‎. On the face of it, the ‎translation would go something like this: “the G’d of Israel has ‎spoken, the Rock of Israel said concerning me; He who rules men ‎justly, He who rules in awe of G’d.”‎ The Talmud, i.e. Rabbi Abahu after a short discussion, ‎explained the verse as follows: “the Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‎saying: “I rule man.” To the question of who “rules” G’d? David ‎was given the answer: “the tzaddik.” G’d then elaborated by ‎saying that the tzaddik’s “rule,” meant that whereas He, ‎G’d, formulates decrees, the tzadddik by dint of his ‎relationship to G’d, ‎ביראת אלוקים‎, can reverse it.‎ Rabbi Abahu may have been inspired by our verse when the ‎Torah describes G’d as “descending” onto Mount Sinai, i.e. as ‎giving us the Torah, this may be understood as Israel, i.e. the elite ‎of Israel, the righteous having scored a victory over “Him.” In ‎commemoration of this the Talmud describes Moses as adding an ‎additional day to the preparations for receiving the Torah ‎‎(Compare Shabbat 87) Ordinarily, we would have presumed ‎that when G’d decreed two days of preparation i.e. ‎היום ומחר‎, ‎‎“today and tomorrow,” (Exodus 19,10) how could Moses arrogate ‎to himself the right to delay the giving of the Torah by an ‎additional day? Does G’d’s subsequent statement that He would ‎descend on the Mountain on the third day not signify that He ‎had accepted Moses’ addition of an extra day of sanctification? ‎‎(Exodus 19,11)‎ The answer is that Avraham had observed all the laws of the ‎Torah even in his own lifetime, without the Torah having been ‎revealed to him. (Compare Yuma 25) The Torah had been in ‎existence, according to Pessachim 54 and other ‎‎midrashim (2000 years) before G’d created the universe and ‎its letters had served G’d as “building blocks” for the universe. If ‎an Avraham could divine the contents of the Torah without ‎having had it revealed to him, Moses felt that if even at this stage ‎the Jewish people could only qualify for the giving of the Torah ‎after segregating themselves from their wives, that in order for ‎the Torah to become firmly ours, so that we could ignore the ‎interference of a heavenly voice if our interpretation of the Torah ‎would be challenged, an extra day of sanctification might ensure ‎this. By being able to do this, we would demonstrate that the ‎Torah is indeed not in heaven, as Moses told the people in ‎Deuteronomy 30,12. When G’d said that He would descend on ‎Mount Sinai only on the third day, He did not mean that He ‎would delay giving the Torah [after all we observe Shavuot ‎on the 6th day of Sivan Ed.] but that the Torah ‎would become truly the property of the Jewish people only on ‎that day. This is also what G’d had meant when He told the ‎people to be prepared “for three days.” (Exodus 19,15)‎

It is possible, however, to interpret our verse by keeping in ‎mind that Moses’ quality of prophetic visions was superior to ‎that of other prophets. This expressed itself in the rule that ‎whereas other prophets were duty bound to relate the messages ‎they had received in accordance with the way in which they had ‎understood it from G’d without adding, detracting, or changing ‎one iota. People who had heard the message delivered by the ‎prophets were not allowed to alter any part of it. Moses, on the ‎other hand, seeing that G’d’s voice was uttered by his throat, ‎‎(Zohar III 232) so that people hearing it actually heard ‎G’d’s voice, were understood by the people according to the ‎intellectual capacity of each individual. The word ‎וירד‎, “He (G’d) ‎descended”, should therefore be translated as “it descended,” i.e. ‎when G’d’s voice was received by the people who “heard” it from ‎Moses’ throat it underwent a “descent,” i.e. it was understood by ‎each individual according to his perceptive powers.‎ When we understand our verse in this manner the question ‎raised by Tossaphot in B’rachot 45 on the words: ‎‎(Exodus 19,19) ‎משה ידבר והאלוקים יעננו בקול‎, usually translated as ‎‎“Moses would speak and G’d would respond audibly,” can be ‎answered. [The Talmud there had used this verse to ‎‎”prove” that the person who translated every word read by the ‎Reader from the Torah in Hebrew must not raise his voice to a ‎level louder than that of the reader. Assuming our translation of ‎that verse was correct, Tossaphot argue that we should ‎derive the very opposite from this, namely that the Reader ‎should not raise his voice above the level of the translator! ‎‎Tossaphot, based on Alfassi, attempt some forced ‎explanation. Ed.]‎ Our author translates the verse simply as telling us that ‎although it appeared to the listener that Moses was speaking, ‎actually seeing that G’d’s voice was speaking through his throat, ‎he was in the position of the translator, i.e. communicating what ‎G’d had already initiated.‎

Deuteronomy 5,7. “You shall not have any other ‎deities beside Me.” Regarding the expression: ‎על פני‎, it is ‎important to read Rashi’s comment on these words in ‎Exodus 20,3. He understands these words literally, i.e. “as long as I ‎‎(G’d) exist.” Rashi considers it necessary to explain his own ‎words (based on the Mechilta) by saying that the Jewish ‎people should not say that idolatry is forbidden only for the ‎generation whom G’d addressed at that time. Anyone reading ‎these words of Rashi surely must ask what could possibly ‎have made Rashi think that we could misinterpret this ‎commandment and pervert it in such a fashion? The answer is ‎that when the Israelites heard this commandment from G’d’s own ‎mouth at Mount Sinai, they were (temporarily) in a super ‎terrestrial domain, something that could not be said of future ‎generations, nor of the gentiles of the same generation. This is ‎also why according to halachah, gentiles are not forbidden ‎to also worship some kind of “junior partner” in addition to ‎‎Hashem. [Catholics are not considered idolaters. ‎Ed.] The Torah, according to Rashi based on the ‎‎Mechilta, therefore warns future Jewish generations not to ‎use the same excuse for worshipping “junior partners” of G’d ‎based on this argument. The meaning of the words: ‎על פני‎ in the ‎sense of “as long as I exist,” therefore is that this law is applicable ‎for Jews eternally.‎ The positive part of the verse’s message is that seeing that ‎G’d is eternal, deserving people have access to the Torah on the ‎same plane as had the generation during which the Torah was ‎first revealed at Mount Sinai. The most important step in this ‎direction is to serve G’d exclusively as the only deity. The divine ‎souls of all the Israelites, due to their status, are potentially able ‎to attain the same spiritual plateau that the Israelites at the ‎revelation at Mount Sinai had attained in their time. When ‎‎Rashi said that the meaning of the words ‎על פני‎ is: “as long ‎as I am alive,” he meant that G’d assures us in this verse that ‎what could happen at Mount Sinai, i.e. that He could speak ‎directly to man, basically can happen again provided that we are ‎worthy and worship only Him with all our heart.‎

Deuteornomy 5,16. “honour your father and your ‎mother as the Lord your G’d has commanded you, etc.” ‎We need to understand why the words: ‎כאשר צוך ה' אלוקיך‎, “as the ‎Lord your G’d commanded you,” did not appear in the version of ‎the Ten Commandments in the Book of Exodus. It appears that ‎the version we have in Deuteronomy adds an additional ‎dimension to this commandment. Had these words not appeared ‎at least in the second version, we might have thought that even ‎when the father commands his child something that the Torah ‎had prohibited, the father’s command overrides the Torah’s ‎command. The Talmud Yevamot 5 explains this very simply. ‎Seeing that both father and mother had already been commanded ‎to observe the Sabbath themselves, how could their forbidding ‎the son to do so be relevant at all? In other words, the words “as ‎the Lord G’d commanded you,” mean “with the exception of ‎when father or mother ask you to violate one of My ‎commandments.” These words would not have been appropriate ‎in Exodus, since most of the Torah had not yet been given at the ‎time when the first version of the Ten Commandments was ‎revealed.‎

Deuteronomy 6,4. “Hear O Israel!” it is a rule based ‎on tradition that when the Israelites pray and address G’d as ‎הא-ל ‏הגדול‎, “the great G’d,” G’d responds by wrapping Himself in ‎greatness, whereas when we add the words: ‎הגבור‎, “the mighty ‎One,” G’d drapes Himself in garments signaling that He is mighty. ‎When we continue in our prayers to refer to G’d as ‎הנורא‎, “the ‎awesome One,” G’d garbs Himself in a robe symbolizing that ‎adjective or attribute. The phenomenon of G’d garbing Himself in ‎various robes in response to our prayers is known as ‎אם‎, an ‎abbreviated form of the word ‎אמה‎, “cubit,” a basic unit in ‎measuring lengths. [If I understand correctly, this is used ‎as a device to interpose between the root, the essence, and visual ‎image of the essence it hides. Ed.] The “essence” behind is ‎known as ‎מטי ולא מטי‎, “both capable of being found and not ‎capable of being found;” [in the sense of “at one and the ‎same time attainable and yet not attainable”. Ed.] Even ‎this expression never appears without an accompanying ‎modifying adjective, attribute. When we recite the first line of the kriyat sh’ma, i.e. the ‎verse above, we refer to G’d in His essence prior to His having ‎garbed Himself in “robes,” in order to make it easier for us to ‎visualize Him, seeing that His Essence is beyond our ability to ‎visualize. The moment we add the word: ‎אלוקינו‎, i.e. “our G’d,” we ‎have already added something that reflects how G’d has imposed ‎restrictions on Himself and the absolute freedom represented by ‎His Essence. It is important for us to remember at all times that ‎we do not address our prayers to the “visualized” version of ‎‎“Hashem,” but to His Essence. [In order to ‎understand the concept of ‎אם המדידה‎ the “mother of measuring,” ‎the reader may recall that there is a rod exactly one meter long ‎preserved in Paris as a terms of reference whenever a dispute ‎would arise about the accuracy of a device claiming to be exactly ‎one meter long. Ed.]‎ ‎

An alternate way of understanding the words: ‎ה' אלוקינו‎, ‎loosely translated as “the Lord our G’d,” is that it is a fact that the ‎Jewish people possess the “power” to describe G’d as if He were ‎somehow restricted to the attributes which we choose to assign ‎to Him, as expressed by our sages when they formulated the ‎liturgy. However, this “power” will be universally recognized only ‎in a future era, and this is why Moses says: ‎שמע ישראל וגו'‏‎, which ‎‎Rashi already understands as something addressed to the ‎future when he says that the word: ‎ישראל‎ in our verse means that ‎as of the time when these words were spoken, G’d was “G’d only ‎amongst the Israelites,” whereas in the future He would be ‎recognized as such universally. This is basically what Rashi ‎meant when he spoke of the future, i.e. that the Israelites possess ‎the potential to bring about universal recognition of G’d as the ‎Creator and Owner of the universe, and all the consequences that ‎this recognition entails.‎

Alternately, Moses refers to what our sages said when they ‎spoke about a heavenly voice emanating from Mount Chorev ‎which can be heard daily proclaiming that the Lord our G’d the ‎Lord is One, imploring the Jewish people to return to G’d in ‎penitence, and that the righteous are able to hear this voice.‎

Another way of understanding our verse is by contrasting its ‎message with the norms applicable in our parts of the universe. ‎When we converse with one another, we do not keep mentioning ‎the respective names of our partners in the conversation. ‎However, when one does not see the King, i.e. in the absence of ‎the King, one constantly refers to him by his name or title. The ‎same is true when we speak about the Creator; since He is not ‎visibly present in our midst, we refer to Him respectfully, as if He ‎were present. Some of us when conversing, feel that they are in ‎the presence of G’d; others are not conscious of the fact G’d is ‎ever present. If the last letter in the word ‎שמע‎ Is spelled in a ‎bigger font, it is a reminder to every Jew to view himself at all ‎times as if G’d were standing next to him and listening to what he ‎had to say. If he is aware of G’d’s presence, then the word ‎שמע‎ ‎does not require emphasis on the letter ‎עין‎, “eye,” as we feel His ‎presence. If we do not feel His presence, the letter serves as a ‎reminder to establish eye contact rather than merely aural ‎contact. [Some of these words are mine. Ed.]‎

We have been taught that cleaving to G’d is something that ‎can be accomplished through fear of the Lord, in the words of ‎Solomon in Proverbs 3,6 ‎בכל דרכיך דעהו‎, “endeavour to become ‎intimate with Him by means of all your activities,” In other ‎words, if all our activities are based upon the teachings of the ‎Torah and in compliance with it we will gain ever greater insights. ‎Moses used the opportunity to teach us this great principle in a ‎nutshell when he said: “Hear O Israel;” as a result of doing so, ‎‎“the Lord our G’d will be One, i.e. His unity will be demonstrated ‎to all.”‎

A somewhat different approach to the verse ‎שמע ישראל ה' ‏אלוקינו ה' אחד‎, “Listen O Israel the Lord our G’d, the Lord is ‎One,” concentrates on the differences in meaning between the ‎different names of G’d used by Moses in a single verse. We know ‎that the tetragram, i.e. the four-lettered name of G’d spelled ‎י-ה-ו-‏ה‎, describes the Essence of G’d, “unity” in its simplest most ‎uncomplicated form. While this is most certainly true, people ‎who worship G’d do so on different levels, motivated by different ‎considerations so that by implication even while worshipping the ‎one and only Creator, they somehow “undermine” this concept of ‎G’d’s Unity by the multifaceted approach to Hashem. Moses ‎is aware of this, and he takes due note of this by first speaking of ‎G’d as the tetragram, i.e. Hashem, while immediately almost ‎‎“correcting”: himself by switching to the name ‎אלוקים‎, i.e. ‎אלוקינו‎, a specific attribute of G’d, one that alludes to the many ‎facets of G’d in the eyes of His worshippers. Moses describes Him ‎at this stage as “our G’d,” instead of as a universal G’d. This idea is ‎also reflected in Rashi’s commentary, who states on several ‎occasions that the reason that the very name ‎אלוקים‎ is always in ‎the plural mode, reflects the fact that even people worshipping ‎Him, exclusively, do not relate to Him from identical ‎perspectives, thus creating the impression that He is not an ‎absolute Unity. Moses therefore is at pains to teach us that we ‎must not allow such considerations to undermine our perception ‎of Him as total Unity, hence he concludes with the words ‎ה' אחד‎, ‎‎“Hashem is absolute Unity,” once more. Each one of us, ‎regardless of whether we worship G’d out of fear of punishment, ‎because we have learned to love Him, because we wish to establish ‎a relationship known as ‎דבקות‎, “cleaving to Him,” must never lose ‎sight of the fact that He is the only true Unity that exists, and ‎that anything less than this Unity, is somewhat removed from ‎the Essence of the Creator Whom we worship as such.‎

‎5,21. “you (the Jewish people) said, here the Lord has ‎shown us……..we have seen (realized) this day that when G’d ‎speaks with man he is able to survive this experience., ‎etc.” Why should we die when the great fire ‎consumes us, etc,.?‎‏ ‏The difficulty in these verses must strike any ‎reader! Why should a people who had survived the experience of ‎being addressed by G’d personally, suddenly become afraid of the ‎thunder and lightning which accompanied the revelation? I ‎believe that a look at the Zohar on Parshat Pinchas, ‎will help us understand this enigma. Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair is ‎quoted there as saying that when a member of the gentile nations ‎says something spiritually significant his body does not ‎automatically move as a result of his speaking. Not so when an ‎Israelite speaks of the same subject. The fact is that an Israelite ‎has a soul equipped with the sprit of life, ‎רוח חיים‎, i.e. life of a ‎spiritual dimension. [There is no such Zohar quoting ‎Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair that this editor has been able to find. ‎Ed.] Following the concept outlined by our author, seeing that we ‎have been equipped with a spiritually more sensitive soul than ‎the gentiles, as soon as a Jew opens his mouth in order to utter ‎matters related to sanctity, even his entire body reacts to this by ‎moving, as it feels that contact has been established between it ‎and its origin, i.e. the Creator, its ultimate root. On the other ‎hand, if G’d were to address members of the gentile nations ‎directly, their bodies would not respond at all, seeing that their ‎souls lack the sensitivity to holiness that is second nature to the ‎Jew. Seeing that Jews are so sensitive to being exposed to ‎holiness, it is not surprising that they were afraid that this ‎phenomenon was a prelude to their death, i.e. the separation of ‎their souls from their bodies. This feeling expressed itself in the ‎kind of ecstasy that burns within man threatening to engulf him ‎totally and burn him. ‎ ‎Tossaphot on Avodah Zarah 3 write concerning a ‎question raised there on the exegesis of Deuteronomy 7,11: where ‎the Torah writes that the commandments which had just been ‎revealed to the people were to be preformed ‎היום‎, “this day,” i.e. ‎from this day onwards. The Talmud explains that the emphasis ‎on performing the commandments “this day,” is meant to inform ‎us that although performance of the commandments is scheduled ‎for life in this world, the reward will be paid in a different world, ‎i.e. the after death of the body. According to the Talmud in Pessachim 56 it was the ‎custom of the people of Jericho, when reciting the daily keriyat ‎sh’ma in which we encounter line: ‎היום על לבבך‎ “this day, on ‎your heart;” contrary to the Israelites in other cities not to pause ‎before the words: ‎על לבבך‎. Although the sages are on record as ‎having disapproved of some of the customs of the people of ‎Jericho, this was not one of the customs of which they ‎disapproved. Tossaphot, in light of what we have written ‎earlier, states that the word ‎היום‎ emphasizes the “here and now,” ‎and ask why the sages while disapproving did not demand that ‎they change their custom as they did concerning other matters ‎they had disapproved of. The answer offered is that whereas in Deuteronomy the Torah ‎does not speak about the reward of the performance of the ‎commandments but about the manner of their fulfillment, the ‎words ‎היום‎ is to be understood literally. However, the ‎performance of the commandment is obligatory daily, i.e. every ‎‎“day” is ‎היום‎, as far as the subject of the verse is concerned. When ‎reward for performance of good deeds is the subject, there is a ‎difference between Jews and gentiles, as the latter do not ‎automatically qualify for an afterlife, so that G’d has to pay the ‎their reward in this life.‎ In order to follow this subject better we must refer to the ‎Talmud in Baba Metzia 114 where the point is made that ‎whereas the Jewish people have been distinguished with the title, ‎‎“‎אדם‎,” we never find that the gentiles are referred to by that ‎complimentary title. The Talmud derives from this that when the ‎Torah wrote in Numbers 19,14 that ‎אדם כי ימות באהל‎ that when a ‎Jew, i.e. ‎אדם‎, dies while in an enclosed space, house or tent, then ‎the laws of ritual impurity that apply to people present in that ‎same airspace apply only if the dead person was a Jew. A similar ‎lesson can be learned from our verse here (5,21) where the Torah ‎did not write ‎אדם‎ but ‎האדם‎ to alert us to the fact that not only ‎Jews but any human being is included in the reminder that G’d ‎may directly address any human being. The gentile, due to the ‎limitations of his soul which we discussed, may not survive the ‎experience of being addressed by G’d directly, whereas ‎אדם‎, ‎without the prefix ‎ה‎ i.e. a Jew, has no reason to be afraid of this. ‎The line commencing with ‎למה נמות‎, usually translated as “why ‎should we die?,” is not to be understood as a question, but as a ‎statement, albeit a reflexive one, meaning: “we, being ‎אדם‎ and ‎not merely ‎האדם‎, have no reason to fear that we will die, the ‎reason being that we have been imbued with this great fire of ‎religious fervor, ‎האש הגדולה‎, which effectively shields us against ‎the dangers faced by the souls of the gentiles if addressed by G’d ‎directly. In fact, the Israelites, i.e. Moses as their mouthpiece, re-‎affirms that there is no other people than the Jewish people who ‎is so endowed spiritually that they have survived the revelation at ‎Mount Sinai with both mind and body intact. Moses spells out ‎clearly that the reason why his people survived that tremendous ‎experience was that enthusiasm, this fiery ecstasy, with which ‎they acted at the time, [an example of which was their giving ‎Moses a blank cheque by saying about the Torah to be received: ‎נעשה ונשמע‎, “we will observe it as soon as we have studied it.” Ed.] ‎This enthusiasm was so exhausting that they fainted and looked ‎almost as if they had died.‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

Deuteronomy 7,11 “you are to observe the ‎commandment, the statutes and the laws regulating inter-‎personal relations that I have command you to carry out from ‎this day on, as a result of your listening to them etc.;” there ‎is a basic question concerning the conceptual connection ‎between Parshat Vaetchanan and the portion following, i.e. ‎‎Parshat Eykev Furthermore, what need is there for the word ‎תשמעון‎, “you will hear or listen to,” in the first verse of Parshat ‎Eykev. This word implies that an act that you performed under ‎duress, i.e. you happened to hear something, i.e. a command.‎ In the writings of the Ari z’al we come across a ‎statement that a human being must undergo a number of re-‎incarnations, i.e. his soul will return to earth and inhabit different ‎bodies each time until he has rehabilitated himself for sins ‎committed during a previous life cycle on earth. According to this ‎concept, the verses at the end of Parshat Vaetchanan and ‎the beginning of Parshat Eykev allude to these re-‎incarnations.‎ The words: ‎היום לעשותם‎, are to be understood as good advice, ‎i.e. if you will observe the commandments while on earth at this ‎time, you will not have to be born again and experience life on ‎earth a second time before fulfilling your purpose on earth. This ‎is also the connection to the next Parshah which ‎commences with the words: ‎והיה עקב תשמעון‎, where the Torah ‎states that if we would fail to do so, and do so only at the end of ‎the third or fourth reincarnation, then the promises of the Torah ‎which follow will be ours to enjoy only ‎עקב‎ at the tail end of such ‎multiple experiences of life in a body on earth. When we keep this ‎in mind it will also be easier to understand a statement in the ‎Talmud Eyruvin 13 that it would have been more ‎comfortable for man never to have been created, but since we ‎have been created it is best that we adjust to this and discharge ‎our duties on earth without delay and procrastination. The ‎alternative would be that we have to experience life on this earth ‎even more than once before we fulfill our destiny on earth. It is ‎this aspect of the human existence, i.e. the possibly recurring ‎lifecycles on earth which the same soul is required to experience ‎to rehabilitate what it did not achieve inside the body it had ‎inhabited on a previous life cycle which Moses hints at. The ‎majority of the scholars in the Talmud found life on earth ‎therefore as potentially burdensome. ‎

In this connection we can now also understand the meaning ‎of a somewhat enigmatic Midrash Rabbah on Deuteronomy ‎‎3 (Eykev) which reads as follows: “a halachic problem ‎concerning whether an Israelite who owns a candlestick ‎consisting of a number of separate parts may move it on the ‎Sabbath?” We have learned in the Talmud Shabbat 47 that ‎if someone puts together the different components of a ‎candlestick on the Sabbath (inadvertently) he must bring a sin ‎offering for having violated the commandment not to engage in ‎acts of building on the Sabbath. The author of the Midrash ‎before us concludes that the candlestick mentioned as consisting ‎of several components may be moved on the Sabbath. This ‎‎“ruling” is something all the scholars found extremely puzzling in ‎light of the statement in Shabbat 47 which we have quoted. ‎‎[The reason given for the prohibition was that if ‎perchance one of the components had fallen off, the owner would ‎put it back on and thus complete the process of “building” the ‎candlestick. Ed.] Our question is simply why the author ‎of the Midrash decided to insert this problem at the ‎beginning of the Parshat Eykev? There does not appear to be ‎a single conceptual link to the words ‎והיה עקב תשמעון‎, “as a result ‎of your listening;”‎ However, among the Kabbalists on the one hand, and the ‎religious “scientists,” there is a well known disagreement as to the ‎number of times a soul is given the opportunity to rehabilitate ‎itself in another body for having failed to achieve its (G’d’s) ‎objective during its first life on earth. Similarly, there is ‎disagreement as to the type of body that soul will be assigned on ‎subsequent rounds of life on earth.‎ ‎[Some editions of the Kedushat Levi have omitted ‎this whole paragraph as it deals with aspects of transmigration of ‎the souls. I have decided not to leave it out entirely, as the author ‎feels strongly that the linkage between the last verse in Va-‎etchanan and the first verse in Eykev is based on that ‎concept. Moreover, amongst Kabbalists there is a tradition that ‎anyone studying Kabbalah will never have to endure ‎transmigration of his soul. Ed.]

The author sees in the Midrash dealing with the ‎candlestick consisting of several parts an allusion to the human ‎body, each of whose limbs has been charged with fulfilling one of ‎the 248 positive commandments of the Torah. Similarly, each of ‎the 365 tendons has been made responsible for not transgressing ‎any of the 365 negative commandments. Avraham was able to ‎fulfill all the commandments that were later revealed in the Torah ‎due to his amazing intellect. (Compare Yuma 28) Anyone ‎born since the Torah has been given who is obligated to keep the ‎commandments, causes harm to parts of his body through failure ‎to perform any commandment which he is capable of fulfilling. ‎His body therefore becomes flawed and requires rehabilitation. ‎The instrument G’d selected to help us to achieve this ‎rehabilitation is giving our soul an additional round of life on ‎earth during which we can make up for our failures in the ‎previous round. According to our author, the word ‎היום‎ in the ‎last verse of Vaetchanan, alludes to the individual who ‎through meticulous mitzvah performance does not need to ‎experience transmigration, whereas the word ‎עקב‎ in the first ‎verse of the next portion alludes to the final round of life on ‎earth experienced by someone who did need to experience ‎transmigration to complete his task on this earth.‎