ועתה ישראל שמע אל החוקים, "And now, O Israel, hearken to the statutes, etc." Perhaps Moses referred to 2 separate incidents which had happened to him personally (when he had been remiss.) The first instance was the matter of speaking to the rock when Moses had struck the rock instead in his eagerness to fulfil G'd's instructions. The second instance was the matter of Zimri publicly cohabiting with the Midianite princess Cosbi when Moses had forgotten the ruling that anyone sincerely jealous of such a desecration of the name of the Lord is to execute the sinner forthwith without trial. On that occasion too, Moses had missed an opportunity to sanctify the name of the Lord as we have explained in that context. Even though Pinchas had articulated this halachah in front of Moses at the time (compare Sanhedrin 82) Moses had answered him: "he who reads the letter must execute what is written therein." As a result, Pinchas acquired the merit of the covenant of peace which in truth had been reserved for Moses himself.

It is possible that Moses' reason for failing to act correctly had been that "his hands were weakened" when he had acted rashly in hitting the rock instead of speaking to it, all because he had not taken the time to reflect on what G'd's proper instructions had been. It is also possible that he felt that the rule קנאים פוגעים בו, that people jealous on behalf of G'd must execute such a sinner, applied only to someone who had seen the actual sin being performed not to someone who had heard about it second-hand. This is why he did not think he had the right to instruct Pinchas to carry out the deed. As a result "he sat on it," and did nothing contrary to his immediate response to hitting the rock when G'd had instructed him to take along his staff at the time. In view of these two failures on his part, Moses now said to the people: "hearken to the statutes, i.e. the laws which lack rationale such as the commandment to speak to the rock at the time. As far as Moses was concerned that instruction was like a חוקה for him, something he did not understand. Moses continued to speak of משפטים, social laws, i.e. the kind of laws which appear to contain an element of social justice such as the law to execute Jews who have sexual intercourse with Gentiles. Both Moses' failures related to one or the other of these types of commandments; this prompted him to warn the Israelites specifically not to become guilty of the mistakes he had made himself, though inadvertently, and which were the reason he suffered from the decree of not being allowed to enter the Holy Land.

Moses concluded this exhortation with the plea "so that you will live and come and take possession of the land which the Lord your G'd is about to give to you." He implied that what happened to him should not happen to them. He added: לא תוסיפו על הדבר, "do not add to the word, etc." This too was a warning to the Israelites that something that happened to him should not happen to them. Torat Kohanim at the beginning of Parshat Acharey Mot (page 1138) describes Rabbi Eleazar ben Azaryah who illustrated the difference in impact between two different kinds of warnings. The first example had a doctor tell his patient not to eat cold foods nor to sleep on a cold floor. The second doctor gave the same instructions but added the warning that not heeding his advice would result in the patient's death just as another patient who had ignored this warning had died. The Rabbi pointed out that the warning of the second physician was taken much more seriously. Moses is compared to the second physician as he could tell the people from his own experience that ignoring the warning had proved fatal for him. He had deviated, i.e. exceeded his instructions by not talking to the rock but hitting it.

ולא תגרעו ממנו, "neither shall you diminish from it;" in this instance Moses referred to his failure to do what was required in the matter of Zimri. His failure to demand that someone execute Zimri had been equivalent to his "diminishing" from one of the social laws of the Torah. Moses said ולא תגרעו, "you must not diminish," to indicate that even if by diminishing a law of the Torah such as the בועל ארמי your intention is to save someone's life by your inaction.

עיניכם הראות, "you have seen with your own eyes, etc." Moses meant that the Israelites had first- hand experience of the severity with which G'd punishes idol worship. G'd relates to that sin more harshly than to any other sin. He punishes even the people who have not actually served the idol with any of their limbs or their organs but have merely entertained idolatrous thoughts. G'd destroyed people who intended to worship Baal Pe-or. Kidushin 39 cites Ezekiel 14,5 as proof that G'd punishes the mere intention to indulge in idol worship.

ואתם הדבקים בה׳ אלוקיכם חיים כולכם היום, "But you who have cleaved to the Lord your G'd are all alive this day." Why did Moses add the letter ו at the beginning of the word אתם, "you?" This creates the impression as if it were meant to add an additional dimension to what was written before, whereas in fact it does the opposite, it contrasts the people whom Moses faced with those who served the Baal Pe-or. Another problem is why Moses speaks of הדבקים, "the ones who have cleaved," using the letter ה at the beginning of the word to indicate that the people he spoke about had been mentioned on a previous occasion.

Perhaps we can understand the verse by keeping in mind the Talmud's explanation (Sanhedrin 108) on Genesis 6,8 that "Noach found favour in the eyes of G'd." The Talmud says that even Noach was not really worthy of being saved but he managed to find favour in the eyes of G'd. When Moses prefaced his remarks with the word ואתם, "and you," he may have meant that even you the survivors deserved death; however, due to the fact that you demonstrated your cleaving to G'd at a certain time you are alive as of this day. The meaning of דבקות then is that the Israelites did תשובה before they too perished, and this is what saved them.

Moses made a point of saying כלכם, "all of you," to make it plain that he referred to the whole nation. We find that a similar thing occurred in Numbers 25,11 when G'd spoke of not destroying the children of Israel in His jealousy. From G'd's wording it is clear that all of the Israelites had been candidates for destruction at the time. Even though Pinchas had been the instrument of saving most of the people, he could not have accomplished this if the people had not done תשובה at the time already.

The letter ו here may also be understood as a reference to the people who had intended to worship the Baal Pe-or although not having done so in practice. I had explained that these people too had become culpable for entertaining thoughts of idolatry. Moses contrasts what happened to those people with what happened to those who remained alive. Just as the ones who died were punished for evil thoughts, so the ones who remained alive were rewarded for positive thoughts, for mentally cleaving to their G'd. The common denominator between both categories of people then is what went on in their minds. Hence the linkage by Moses using the conjunctive letter ו in the word ואתם. This conforms to the statement in Kidushin 40 that normally G'd counts a good intention as equal to a good deed even when it could not be carried out, whereas He does not consider an evil intention as culpable though the reason the person who had the evil intention and had not carried it out had been circumstances beyond his control rather than his having had a change of heart.

Moses phrased it ואתם הדבקים, to reflect a statement in Berachot 7 that in Exodus 33,16 Moses had prayed that G'd's presence should never rest on the Gentiles. We explained there that Moses meant that even if the behaviour of the Gentiles improves to a degree that would make it plausible for G'd to allow His presence to come to rest on them, he, Moses, prayed that the monopoly of being the carrier of G'd's presence should never be taken away from the Jewish people. When Moses said here ואתם הדבקים בה׳ אלוקיכם, he referred to this unique relationship between the Jewish people and G'd. When you accept this interpretation you will realise that the letter ה at the beginning of this word is justified as it refers to an agreement made between G'd and Moses after the episode of the golden calf.

הדבקים בה׳ אלוקיכם, "who have cleaved to the Lord your G'd." The choice of these two names of G'd used by Moses may be understood in light of what Maimonides wrote in chapter six of his treatise Yessodey Hatorah. He writes that there are seven sacred names of G'd and whoever destroys any of these seven names is guilty of the penalty of 39 lashes. Any letter which is a prefix to the name of G'd may be erased whereas any letter or letters which form a suffix to the name of G'd are treated as if they were an integral part of the name of G'd. Examples for the latter are the letter ך or כם at the end of such names as אלוקיך, or אלוקיכם. These letters have become sanctified by the name of G'd which precedes them and to which they have been attached. Thus far Maimonides on the subject. Moses may have wanted to teach us the lesson that the manner of our attachment to G'd should not be like a letter which forms a prefix of the sacred name of G'd and which therefore may be detached; rather, our attachment to G'd should be like the letters in the suffix of His sacred name which are not subject to erasure or detachment from the holy name itself. Moses illustrates the two varieties of prefixes and suffixes by using first the word ב־שם as the example for the detachable prefix, and אלוקי־כם as the example for the integral suffix which may not be destroyed or detached from the sacred name itself.

The combination of בה׳ אלוקיכם may also teach that our cleaving to G'd should not be merely like the prefix of a name of G'd which does not commit that letter to become sacred, but it should rather be like the suffix in the holy name of G'd אלוקיכם, i.e. inseparable. It is also possible that Moses hinted at the two levels of commitment to G'd amongst the Jewish people, the elite being committed like אלוקיכם, whereas the bulk of the people's cleaving was more like ב־שם. We have an allusion to this thought in Deut. 32,9 כי חלק ה׳ עמו, "for His people are an inseparable part of G'd." The Torah means that part of His people, i.e חלק, are an inseparable part of G'd Himself. This lends further weight to our interpretation.

Another meaning of the sequence of the words הדבקים בה׳ אלוקיכם may be understood in light of the Zohar volume 3 page 238 that when someone performs one of G'd's commandments the Ineffable Name comes to rest on the organ with which the מצוה has been fulfilled. The kabbalists claim that the positive commandments are all alluded to in that name. The negative commandments, on the other hand, are alluded to in the name אלוקים. Moses' use of both these names when describing that the Israelites had cleaved to G'd indicated that he alluded to the fact that they had performed both the positive and the negative commandments.

Moses may also have wanted to illustrate the nature of Israel's cleavage to G'd when he chose these two names. He meant to imply that the Israelites' hearts took pleasure both in G'd and in His commandments seeing that the name "your G'd" made Him their exclusive G'd, so to speak. We find a similar thought in the interpretation by Yalkut Shimoni at the end of Parshat Noach where the author explains Psalms 22,4 ישב תהלות ישראל. We are told there that G'd did not want even the hosts of the heavens to praise Him until after the Jewish people had said: "blessed be the Lord G'd of Israel." The reason is that G'd's uniqueness and Israel's uniqueness form such a strong bond between them. This is the reason you will not find expressions of praise for G'd in the Bible such as "the Lord of the heavens," "the Lord of the earth," or "the Lord of the angels."

חיים כלכם היום, "all of you are alive as of this day." These words are both a continuation of what is written before as well as an introduction to what follows. These words are a continuation of what is written before in the sense of אלוקיכם חיים, "your G'd is alive," as we know from Deut. 5,23. The words are also linked to what follows in the sense that the life which the Jewish people enjoy are a direct result of the source of life, i.e. our G'd. Even though we might be moving around, eating and drinking, etc., this would not be called being "alive." We know (Berachot 18) that the wicked are referred to as "dead" even while they go through the motions of being "alive." The reason for this is that the source they draw their energy from is itself "dead," i.e. is the source of death, i.e. Satan. Moses revealed to the people that the reason for their being alive was their cleaving to the source of life itself.

One may summarise Moses' words in one of two ways: 1) The reason you are alive today is because you have chosen to cleave to the source of life, i.e. the Lord your G'd. 2) The reason you have been found worthy to cleave to the Lord your G'd is because you are alive, i.e. you are righteous. You have demonstrated that you are careful to distance yourselves from "death" and have chosen life instead. Both these meanings are part of what this verse tries to tell us.

When Moses said כלכם, "all of you," he referred to being alive in a particular as well as in a general sense. The "particular sense" means that every individual Israelite was healthy, alive in all his limbs; no one was crippled or otherwise physically handicapped. The Talmud Zevachim 116 explains the words ומכל החי, "and from every living thing you shall bring to the ark, etc." (Genesis 6,19), i.e. Noach was to bring to the ark only animals which did not lack any limbs or organs. Moses alluded to something similar when he said כלכם חיים, i.e. all of you are in perfect physical condition. Our sages in the Mechilta mentioned that all the Israelites who were present at the revelation at Mount Sinai were in perfect physical condition, neither a blind man nor a deaf man amongst them. They base this on Exodus 20,15 "all the people saw the sounds and heard the sound of the shofar, etc." There is no reason to suppose that the physical condition of these people had deteriorated since the revelation. I have already explained elsewhere that any physical ailment is merely a reflection of a spiritual imperfection. The reason that the Torah disqualified priests with a physical blemish from performing service in the Temple is because such a physical blemish is only an external manifestation of a blemish on the person's soul. The Zohar volume three page 4 elaborates on this theme. As to the general condition of the Israelite nation qualifying as חיים "alive" at that time, Moses implied that not a single one of them was not righteous. Moses added the word היום, "as of this day," as he was not in a position to predict whether the people would all be able to maintain the spiritual high they were on at the time he addressed them. After all, man is a free agent, and until the day he goes to the ארץ החיים, "the land of the living," i.e. to the hereafter, there is no guarantee he may not sin.

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.

אשר הכה משה, whom Moses and Israel had defeated, etc. How could the Torah describe this as having occurred "when the Israelites left Egypt," when we all know that this war occurred in the fortieth year of the Israelites' wanderings? Perhaps all the Torah wanted to say was that ever since the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt it had been one of the objectives to defeat these two kings. In fact, had it not been for the debacle with the spies, the Israelites would have defeated these two kings in the second year after the Exodus.

Furthermore, the Torah may hint that the terror of the Israelites defeating them had been part of the lives of the kings of these two countries and their people. For every practical purpose then these kings and their countries could have been considered as defeated already at that time (compare Bereshit Rabbah 80 that these kings had a tradition they would fall victim to the Israelites). The fact that the Torah speaks about the Israelites inheriting these lands only in the next verse instead of at the end of verse 46 indicates that our interpretation is correct.