ואזנים לשמוע עד היום הזה, “and ears to listen, until this day.” The message is that a student does not truly appreciate the opinions and knowledge of his teacher until he reaches the age of 40. This is why the sages in Avot 5,27 characterize the attainment of the fortieth birthday as a time when one is granted בינה, a measure of insight.

ותבואו אל המקום הזה, “and you arrived at this place.” Moses inserted these two verses in the middle of his lecture as he wanted to reinforce the people’s faith in the fact that they would conquer and inherit the land of Israel, just as they had conquered and inherited the lands formerly belonging to Sichon and Og who also belonged to the seven Canaanite tribes whose land had been promised to the Jewish people (Avraham and the other patriarchs). The two and a half tribes Reuven, Gad, and half the tribe of Menashe had already taken possession of these lands at the time Moses was speaking, leaving the land on the West Bank of the Jordan for the other 9 1/2 tribes.

You should appreciate that the warnings of doom enumerated in this whole portion are Moses’ own wording as distinct from similar warnings of disaster in Leviticus chapter 26. This does not mean that Moses “made up the תוכחה by himself.” Rather, it means that the syntax used by the Torah reflects that G’d approved of the choice of words Moses had used so that effectively everything recorded in the written text of the Torah is equivalent to something dictated by G’d Himself. If our sages (Megillah 31) stated that the “curses contained in the Torah and which were uttered by the priests were words put in their mouths by G’d Himself,” whereas those contained in the Book of Deuteronomy reflect Moses’ words, they meant that Moses succeeded in voicing thoughts which reflected exactly what G’d would have told him to say. The reason that the Torah chose to write two versions of these exhortations and warnings, one being G’d’s initiative and words, the other at the initiative of Moses who had divined what G’d wanted him to say, is that the version we read at the end of the Book of Leviticus is that which became true at the time the first Temple was destroyed, whereas the longer version we read here in the Book of Deuteronomy was not fulfilled until the second Temple was being destroyed. One proof that this is so is furnished by the words (Leviticus 26,30) והשמדתי את במותיכם והכרתי את חמניכם, “I will destroy your private altars and demolish your sun-idols.” These are phenomena which existed only during the period of the first Temple when idolatry was widespread among the people during the reigns of many kings. The curses listed in Deuteronomy were all fulfilled during the collapse of the second commonwealth and its Temple.

Seeing that the Shechinah resided in Jerusalem during the period of the first Temple David wrote (Psalms 24,7) “lift up your heads o gate! Up high, you everlasting doors, so the King of glory may come in!” The words מלך הכבוד used by David there mean מלך של הכבוד, a reference to the Shechinah resident in Jerusalem, i.e. the Temple during that epoch. During the period of the second Temple the Shechinah did not reside permanently in Jerusalem, but merely straddled the Temple from time to time as described by Chagai 1,8: ”I will look upon it (the second Temple) with favor and will be glorified, said the Lord.” The letter ה at the end of the word ואכבדה in that verse is a hint that the Shechinah will be there as a loose cover, חופף. In the future, when the third Temple will be built, the Shechinah will return in full force as it had been manifest during the first Temple. In fact, its manifestation will be even more pronounced than it had been during the period of the first Temple. This is what Isaiah meant when he said (Isaiah 60, 1-2) “Arise, shine, for your light has dawned; the Presence of the Lord has shone upon you! Behold! Darkness shall cover the earth, and thick clouds the peoples, but upon you the Lord will shine, and His Presence will be over you; nations shall walk by your light, kings by your shining radiance.”

טובה תוכחת מגולה מאהבה מסוטרת, “Better an open rebuke than love which is concealed.” (Prov.27,5)

In his Book of Proverbs Solomon taught us important principles about the nature of rebukes and how to administer them. He taught the people that life itself is closely linked to rebukes and the ability to accept same, whereas death is inextricably involved with people who resent being rebuked and are unwilling to accept rebukes. We know that life is closely linked to rebukes from Proverbs 6,23: “instructive rebukes are a way to life.” We also have a verse expressing similar sentiments in Proverbs 10,17: “he who accepts rebukes is on the way to the path of life.” Yet another verse from Scripture dwelling on the same subject is found in Proverbs 15,4: ”a healing tongue is a tree of life,” i.e. the way to heal a tongue (which has wagged) is to rebuke the owner. On the other hand, death attaches itself to people who hate being rebuked as we know from Proverbs 15,10: “Harsh discipline is needed for those who abandon the right path; he who hates rebuke will die.” He who departs from the right path (of Torah) only temporarily but does not hate being rebuked will be judged by harsh discipline in order to make him abandon the path of evil; the one who hates rebukes, however, cannot be brought back to the right path by afflictions. There is no hope for him. As a result, such a person will be sentenced to death (by the celestial court) A love to accept rebukes is a strong indication that the person in question possesses fine qualities, generally. A negative attitude to rebukes indicates that such a person also suffers from other negative traits. This is the reason Solomon says (Proverbs 9,8) “do not rebuke a scoffer lest he will hate you, rather rebuke a wise man and he will love you.” When rebuking a fellow human being one must reveal sincerity and not engage in flattery. One should give him credit for whatever good points he has, and at the same time restrict oneself to point out such a person’s shortcomings, for the righteous and the wicked are two total opposites. When someone has escaped the path of wickedness he does not automatically qualify for the appellation of צדיק, a righteous person, until he has embraced the path of righteousness in his lifestyle. This is because the character of a wicked person is so totally different from that of a righteous person. When such a wicked person has abandoned his former path in life he has only reached the half-way mark separating him from the truly righteous person. This is why the rebuker has to be candid and explain to him the whole truth and not indulge in flattery, praising him for abandoning the path of evil, thereby lulling him into the belief that he has already completely rehabilitated himself. This is what prompted Solomon to say: “better open rebuke than concealed love.” He may appear to reveal hatred by rebuking so candidly; however, better to appear in that guise than to appear as loving the subject of the rebuke by suppressing further guidance and congratulating the subject as if he already had completed the path of rehabilitation. R' David Kimchi, (Radak) quoting his father, takes a different view of the meaning of our introductory verse. He understands Solomon as saying that an open rebuke is good; however it is so only if the rebuker reveals underlying love for the rebuked by speaking to him privately, not exposing him to embarrassment. A Midrashic approach mentioned in Devarim Rabbah (Lieberman edition item 8) states that the “open” rebukes are the ones addressed by Moses to his people, whereas the ones described as “from hidden love,” refer to the rebukes of Bileam who flattered Israel by pronouncing blessings, whereas in his heart he hated the very people upon whom he showered all his blessings. For instance, when he complimented the people on preserving each other’s privacy by saying: “how goodly are your tents O Yaakov,” etc., (Numbers 24,5) what he really wanted to say was: “how goodly are your tents O Moav, your dwellings, children of Ammon.” Had G’d not twisted his mouth this is what would have come out of it. There is yet another way to understand this saying by Solomon. The words: “open rebuke,” refer to the rebukes we read in Leviticus chapter 26, whereas the ones in Deuteronomy, all of whom originate with the Lord Himself, though the wording may have been Moses’, were approved by G’d as we explained already. The words מאהבה מסוטרת, may mean: “from the One whose love is not manifest, i.e. G’d, the attribute Shechinah.” This attribute is often referred to as אהבה, “love,” such as in Proverbs 15,17: “better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox where there is hate.” The “love” referred to in that verse is a reference to the Presence of the Shechinah. The basis for such exegesis is found in Song of Songs 2,7: אם תעירו ואם תעוררו את האהבה, “do not dare to arouse the love,” [a reference to premature attempts to secure the redemption, return to Israel of the Shechinah. Ed.] The word באהבה in Song of Songs 8,7 “that vast floods cannot quench love,” also refers to the Shechinah. Similarly, the word אהבה, love, is used in our liturgy when we say להודות לך וליחדך באהבה, “to give thanks to You and to declare Your unity in the form of the Shechinah,” (prior to reciting the Kriyat Shema). [The reason the word באהבה in that paragraph is not taken at face value, is presumably that the same word occurred immediately before the word להודות already, thus making it redundant unless it meant something different than usual. Ed.] Therefore, Solomon describes open rebuke as emanating from G’d’s attribute Shechinah. Wherein then is the goodness of which Solomon speaks manifest? Even though the Israelites had violated so many of the commandments that G’d had been forced to bring upon them all the various afflictions mentioned both in Leviticus chapter 26 and in Deuteronomy chapter 28 so that the people were progressively deprived of the first Temple and the second Temple, all this was for their own good. Moses explained this to the people already in Deut. 8,21 when he said that G’d starved the Jewish people “in order to afflict you, to subject you to trials in order to treat you well in your distant future.” All afflictions serve an educational purpose, to ensure that in the end you will become worthy of your lofty destiny. Although all the curses have been exhausted (fulfilled) i.e. Israel deserved the afflictions, the Jewish people have not ceased to exist. This is the meaning of Maleachi 3,7: “I the Lord have not changed, and you the Children of Yaakov have not perished.” Our sages in Tanchuma Nitzavim 1 comment on this verse that when the Gentile nations experience a single series of afflictions this results in their demise from history, whereas the Jewish people, in spite of having experienced one holocaust after another, are still around and flourishing. They cite Micah 7,8 as proof of this. We read there: “Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy! though I have fallen, I rise again, though I sit in darkness the Lord is my light.” Deut. 32,23 proclaims the same message when the Torah writes: “My arrows I have used up against them, yet they have not perished.” The matter can be compared to a warrior who erects a beam shooting all his arrows at the beam. In the end, the warrior finds that he has exhausted his supply of arrows but that the beam is still standing. Although Israel has collapsed frequently under the afflictions G’d has disciplined it with, it always emerged from these afflictions and was rehabilitated. This is also the meaning of Jeremiah in Lamentations 3,12: “He has bent His bow and made me the target of His arrows.” This is also what Moses said in his admonitions here in the following verse:

אתם נצבים היום כלכם, ראשיכם, שבטיכם וזקניכם ושוטריכם כל איש ישראל, “You are all standing upright here his day, your chiefs, your tribes, all the men of your elders, your law-enforcers, all the men of Israel.” All of the Israelites were assembled there in one place in anticipation of the renewal of the covenant just as they had all been assembled on the occasion of the first covenant at Mount Sinai. Seeing the people had been unfaithful to the first covenant when they had said (about the golden calf) “these are your gods O Israel” (Exodus 32,4), there had arisen the need to conclude a second covenant with this generation in the wilderness of Moav which the people had to confirm with an oath and a curse in the event that they would again dishonour their commitment. This is the reason Moses used the preamble: “you are standing here upright, all of you in the presence of the Lord your G’d.” Moses meant to compare the present assembly to the one 40 years earlier at Mount Sinai. Whereas on that occasion Israel’s word, unsupported by an explicit oath, had been deemed sufficient, this time they were required to confirm their undertaking by an oath. It is possible to understand that our verse contains 2 promises: 1) that the Jewish people would endure and would never become extinct but would survive (as a people) all future catastrophes befalling mankind. 2) that the people would merit life in the hereafter if they would observe the commandments of the Torah. The need to give the people this assurance arose out of the fact that if they were to experience the full brunt of the curses mentioned in the previous portion, they would surely think that this spelled their doom. Moses therefore reminded them that just as they were all standing before him upright and well now, so they would emerge from even the worst aspects of the afflictions listed in the Torah and would be rehabilitated. The effect of the afflictions suffered in this life would be to erase the impact of their sins so that their claim to a life in the world to come would remain intact. This is what was meant when the Torah wrote in Deut. 6,25: “it will be a merit for us if we are careful to perform this entire commandment before Hashem.” This is the assurance of life in the hereafter. This is also a meaning of the word כלכם which is an allusion to the statement of the sages in Sanhedrin 90 that כל ישראל יש להם חלק בעולם הבא, that “the entire Jewish nation has a share in the hereafter.”

A Midrashic view (Tanchuma Nitzavim 1) of the words: “you are all standing here upright this day;” just as this day commences in darkness, the darkness later giving way to light, so the darkness that you find yourself in as a result of enduring the afflictions listed previously will be replaced by bright light,” as described by Isaiah 60,19: “the Lord will become for you an eternal light and your G’d will be your source of splendour.”

ראשיכם שבטיכם, “your heads (leaders), your tribes, etc.” The meaning is: “your heads, who are the leaders of your respective tribes.” Moses listed the more distinguished people first, afterwards the adult males, followed by the male children who were under age, followed by the women, concluding with the proselytes.

כל איש ישראל, “every man in Israel.” The sages in Tanchuma Nitzavim 1 use this expression to teach us that every man in Israel is co-responsible for the sin of every other Israelite. They bring practical proof for this from Joshua 7,11 where G’d told Joshua that the sin of one man, Achan ben Karmi, was the reason that the entire people had suffered a military setback at the hands of a small town, Ai. The words describing Achan’s sin are: “Israel has sinned.” This spells out the extent to which every Israelite shares in the sin of another Israelite. [Obviously, there are degrees in such sharing of another Israelite’s sin. Ed.] This is also why we read in Leviticus 26,37: וכשלו איש באחיו, “they shall stumble one over the other.” Our sages in Sanhedrin 27 interpret these words as meaning “they shall stumble over the sins of one another.” This teaches the principle of reciprocal responsibility of one Israelite for the conduct of (all) other Israelites. If such reciprocal responsibility extends to all Israelites sharing misfortune on account of the sins committed by a few, how much more so will it apply to the reciprocal entitlement to enjoyment by all Israelites of good fortune (life in the hereafter), the entitlement to which was merited by the few! This is the meaning of the words of Eliphaz to Job ימלט אי נקי, “he will deliver the guilty; He will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.” (Job 22,30) In other words, a single individual with “clean” hands can be the instrument through which all the inhabitants of an island are saved. One single individual whose lifestyle is beyond reproach may save [for a period of time, Ed.] all his peers from impending doom. It follows that seeing while a righteous person is alive he saves his compatriots from doom, the death of such a man is a signal for all his compatriots to repent their sins, as they have been deprived of the protective merit of this righteous person. We have a principle that מדה טובה מרובה על מדת פורענות, that the range of the application of measures of good exceeds the range of the application of measures of evil. Hence if the righteous shares in the guilt of the sinner, the sinner benefits even more strongly from the merits accumulated by the righteous (Sotah 11).

לעברך בברית ה’ אלוקיך, ”for you to pass into the covenant with the Lord your G’d.” This “passing” is equivalent to “entering into.“ This is evident from the fact that the Torah does not use the regular preposition used with the verb עבר, i.e. לעבור על, but the preposition ב. What occurred here is similar to what occurred when G’d concluded the covenant with Avraham in Genesis 15,17 when He passed between the pieces. This is why Onkelos translates לאעלות בקיימא. The word ובאלתו refers to the people of Israel; in other words: “by means of its oath which He made you swear and which you accepted upon yourselves.”

It is possible to understand the word ובאלתו as referring to G’d, meaning “and by means of His oath which He swore to you.” The whole verse then would mean: “you are standing here today ready to enter the covenant and oath of the Lord by means of which He swore that You will be His people and that He will be your G’d.” The verse following would prove that this is the meaning, seeing the Torah writes there: “as He said to you and swore to your fathers.” Further reinforcement of this interpretation is provided by Samuel I 12,22: “seeing that the Lord had agreed (sworn) to make you His people.” Even though all the commentators there understand the word הואיל to be an expression of G’d’s goodwill, grace, I believe the word הואיל in that verse derives from the word אלה, and means “for G’d swore to make you His people.” This does not preclude that the oath itself was an expression of G’d’s goodwill towards the people so that there is no conflict between the two interpretations. Still further proof of the meaning of אלה in our verse is the comment in Tanchuma Nitzavim 3 on Song of Songs 7,6: מלך אסור ברהטים, usually translated as “a king held captive by tresses” (of hair). According to the Midrash the meaning is “a king who is bound by his oath.” The word אסר meaning oath, occurs in Numbers 30,7. G’d’s oath to the patriarchs that He would not exchange the Jewish people for any other nation is what ties Him to Israel. The word רהטים in the verse from Song of Songs which we quoted is a reference to the patriarchs; this word occurs in the record of their life stories both in Genesis 18,7 where the word הבקר is rendered by Onkelos as רהט; as well as in connection with Yaakov in Genesis 30,38. This is why G’d cannot violate His oath to the patriarchs . You will find that in Ezekiel 20 when the Jewish people challenged the continued validity of the Torah’s commandments by describing themselves as having been freed (sold) by their master (G’d) since they had become exiled, that the prophet did not accept that argument and vehemently pointed out that the basic relationship between G’d and the Jewish people is an eternal bond, that severing it would mean the total demise of the party who severed it. [I have merely summarized the dialogue in Ezekiel 20. Ed.] Basically, Ezekiel’s argument was that as long as the master had not received monetary compensation from the “buyer” of the slave no transaction had taken place at all; the Jewish people still belong to their erstwhile master, i.e. G’d. This is also reflected in the words of Isaiah 52,3: “you have been sold חנם, without price, therefore you will also be redeemed without monetary compensation having to be paid.”

ולא אתכם לבדכם, “And not only with you, etc.” Moses means that although G’d concludes this covenant with the present generation of Jews as well as the oath warning against non-performance, seeing that you are standing here this day, the fact is that even future generations of Jews unable to stand here today are included in this covenant. The reason that Moses is able to make such a statement is that the trunk of the tree is viewed as the father, i.e. “the root ” of all subsequent branches. All the branches are only the offshoots of the original roots. Concerning how it s possible to include unborn generations in this covenant, i.e. reciprocal undertaking, our sages in Tanchuma Yitro 11 comment that all souls ever created since the days of the creation of the earth were present at this assembly. They are not all described as “standing,” as souls without bodies cannot “stand.” The words אשר איננו פה, “who are not here,” refer to the bodies of such souls. The words עמנו היום, refer to their souls, which are present even today. The word עמנו, “with us,” refers back to the word עומד, “standing,” in verse 14. It is as if the Torah had written: “and all those not standing here with us this day.” The reason Moses uses the word “standing,” is because the angels in Zecharyah 3,7 have been described as בין העומדים האלה, “among these who are standing.” Our sages in Tanchuma Yitro 11 also claim that all the prophets who ever lived (after Moses) all received their prophetic powers when their souls were at the assembly at Sinai; however they were not allowed to make use of their prophetic powers until their respective generations when they were alive on earth. This is also the meaning of Malachi 1,1 משא דבר ה’ ביד מלאכי. It is significant that the wording is not על מלאכי, but ביד מלאכי. The present formulation means: ”A pronouncement: ‘the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi,’” whereas the other formulation would have meant that the “message only now came to Malachi.” The present formulation describes only the point in time when this message, which the soul of the prophet had received at Mount Sinai, was released for publication. We find something similar in Isaiah 48,16 where the prophet writes: “from the beginning I did not speak in secret; from the time anything existed I was there. And now, the Lord G’d has sent me, endowed me with His spirit.” The meaning of the verse is that the soul of the prophet had received this communication from G’d already at Mount Sinai but it had only now been released for publication.

כי אתם ידעתם, “for you have known;” a reference to the fact that among the people Moses addressed here there were some who remembered the abominations practiced by the Egyptians, whereas all of them had observed the abominations practiced by the peoples whose land they had crossed in the meantime, i.e. Edom, Moav, Ammon and Midian.

ותראו את שקוציהם...עץ ואבן, “you have seen their detestable idols, wood and stone, silver and gold.” The former were on display openly; the latter — due to their value and the owners being afraid of theft — were kept inside their homes (Tanchuma Nitzavim 3).

פן יש בכם שרש פורה ראש ולענה, “lest there be among you a root flourishing with gall and wormwood.” Venom is considered the ראש, ‘principal’ of all bitter roots or leafs, being more bitter than any other variant. Some commentators explain the meaning of the word ראש here as a reference to the venom of the viper in whose head it is found, i.e. animal-based. The word לענה, by contrast, refers to some bitter vegetable matter. We find the expression in Numbers 30,14: לענות נפש, “to cause bitterness in a person.” It describes the person making such a vow as causing herself the utmost anguish.

והיה בשמעו את דברי האלה הזאת, “it will be when he hears these words of a curse, etc.;” a reference to what we read above in Deut. 27,15: “cursed the man who makes a hewn image, etc.” The person concerned is under the mistaken impression that he will be a beneficiary of the merit accumulated by the many people who do observe the Torah and have forsworn any form of idolatry. והתברך בלבבו לאמר “and he will bless himself in his heart, saying;" He will think upon hearing the curses that they will not harm him and actually be turned into blessings. בשרירות לבי אלך, “I will walk as my heart sees fit.” He says to himself that in spite of the fact that he does not accept any part of the Torah which does not appeal to him he will not be punished, seeing that he is only an individual whose actions are not relevant when the vast majority of his fellow Jews are observant and therefore the whole people is deserving of G’d’s bountiful blessing as promised. Seeing that he reasons in such a way, the Torah adds immediately that he is totally wrong. G’d will not forgive him, i.e. turn a blind eye to his conduct; on the contrary, G’d’s wrath will be fuming, etc., against such an individual. The word אז in our verse is understood to mean “immediately,” by Ibn Ezra.

It is also possible to understand the words בשרירות לבי as an expression of aggressive obstinacy. This individual deliberately disregards the opinion of the multitude, “doing his own thing” openly. The meaning of the expression is similar to what is known in the Talmud (Gittin 26) as אשרתא דדייני, “a document signed by judges testifying to the fulfillment of conditions in an accompanying document,” i.e. confirmation. The reason the Torah writes למען ספות הרוה את הצמאה, is that the wicked person prides himself with his evil deeds and determines to continue in his evil ways, thereby adding more “thirst” to his whole system which previously was adequately supplied with moisture. He had hoped to become satiated by indulging his cravings for sin. His punishment consists of the fact that instead of deriving satisfaction from his sins, he constantly feels the irrepressible urge to commit more and more sins. Instead of slaking his thirst for whatever it is he wishes to achieve, he will find that he gets ever thirstier. [A form of the principle described by our sages in Avot 4,2 עבירה גוררת עבירה, “one deliberately committed sin brings in its wake another.” Ed.] The desire to sin acts like a roller-coaster; once on that path it is almost impossible to stop and to reverse course. It is also a well known fact that man’s heart is the “root” of the body. His thoughts are like the branches, his deeds like the fruit of the tree. The Torah has already stated (Genesis 6,5) that “all the thoughts of (wicked people) are centered all day long on doing evil.” Such people will not cease producing bitter fruit (Jeremiah 17,8). Even if all the planning of the wicked people is not translated into deeds, such wicked people are punished for the wicked thoughts they entertain. This is what Solomon referred to when he said (Proverbs 15,13) “a happy heart makes for a cheerful face; a sad heart causes a despondent spirit.” The meaning of the entire verse is that one should not think that mere thoughts have no bearing on one’s personality. If a person has a positive attitude to life, is joyful, or has a negative attitude to life, is despondent, all depends on the kind of thoughts he entertains. In other words, the thoughts have their origin in the heart; when these thoughts are translated into action they have an impact on the body, i.e. the body reveals the nature of the thoughts a person entertains. It follows that the despondent person is in line for punishment even more so when he actually enjoys contemplating the performance of sins. This is also what the sages (Yuma 29) had in mind when they said that the contemplating of sins is a more serious offense than the actual carrying out of the sin. The sinful thoughts, when carried out, leave their mark on the body of a person, whereas spontaneously committed sins do not leave such marks on the body. This statement, i.e. psychological insight, of the sages is of very great importance. The statement has given rise to many and varied interpretations as I have already mentioned elsewhere where I said that it means that contemplating sins is more serious than committing the actual sin seeing that the contemplating of the sin is what brings about its execution. By contemplating sins on a regular basis, the heart becomes involved in one’s deeds. Seeing that the soul has its home in the heart, such evil thoughts tend to corrupt the soul. [The author clearly feels that the soul, something disembodied, abstract, must be housed in something physical in order to be able to function. One cannot think of the soul as being something detached from the body, independent. Therefore, the part of the body in which the soul is “at home” is of crucial significance. Ed.] Contaminating the soul by entertaining these sinful thoughts is therefore a more serious offense than the actual spontaneous commission of a sin which had not previously had such an impact on one’s soul. Another interpretation of the statement that הרהורי עבירה קשין מעבירה involves often “follow-up” sins. Let us say that a person entertains the thought of breaking into someone’s house. If he is contemplating this sin instead of spontaneously stealing, he most likely weighs what action to take if his plan encounters opposition. He will think of how to deal with the opposition, i.e. possibly decide to kill the person who would frustrate his plan. Thus he already adds further sinful thoughts before even committing the original sin.

Should someone ask: “how can the Torah decree penalties for thoughts which have never been carried out? How can the Torah expect a person to be so perfect that the temptation and intention to commit a sin never occurs to him?” Let me explain the essence of the subject. We know that man is in charge (has the choice) of the actions he carries out. This is what the Torah alluded to in Deut. 30, 15-19: “see I have today given into your hand (control) over life and goodness, over death and evil;......you shall choose life.“ Just as man can control his actions, he can also control his thoughts. True, the latter require some preparation, education. We are commanded to entertain constructive thoughts and to avoid thinking potentially destructive, sinful thoughts. G’d gives credit for our entertaining positive constructive thoughts, whereas He punishes us for thinking sinful thoughts. If, on occasion, one does entertain unworthy thoughts, thoughts which creep up on a person uninvited, such thoughts reflect the fact that the individual in question has not trained himself sufficiently not to entertain unworthy, potentially sinful thoughts. The only cure for this is to concentrate on G’d and what He expects us to do and how He expects us to relate to His universe and our environment. One must relate to such unworthy thoughts with anger at oneself for such thoughts to have occurred to one at all. If one does so, one may rely on the saying of our sages that הבא לטהר מסיין אותו, “when a person makes a genuine effort to purify (himself or others) he receives a divine assist.” (Yuma 38) There are numerous verses in the Bible testifying to the principle that there are divine assists for people trying to do the right thing. One such verse is found In Chronicles I 28,9: ”for the Lord searches all minds and discerns the design of every thought, if you seek Him, He will be available to you.” Another verse in a similar vein is found in Proverbs 21,2: ”G’d probes the (content) of one’s hearts.” Solomon means that when man entertains positive thoughts, G’d will help translate them into reality. Other verses from Scripture which convey similar messages are found in Psalms 10,17, as well as in Chronicles I 29,18.

Maimonides explains the statement that the contemplating of commission of sins is קשין, something more severe than the actual commission of the sin, by reference to the fact that the ability to entertain thoughts is one of the major factors elevating man above the beasts. Abusing such a faculty is more serious than committing sins with the body, something we have in common with the animals, i.e. the lower forms of life. Perverting the very distinctive feature given to us by the Almighty by contemplating actions aimed against our Creator, is indeed an unforgivable abuse of the powers granted to us. By turning the dominating element of his personality into a tool to commit sins, the subservient part of man, i.e. his body, will automatically tend to become corrupted thereby. When someone commits a sin using as his instrument a foolish slave, this is not nearly as serious as when one uses a free man to carry out one’s nefarious schemes. This is what Maimonides wrote at the beginning of the second part of his Moreh Nevuchim. [Actually it is found in section 3, chapter 8] Yet another reason why planning a sin is more serious than the actual commission of it (a thought attributed to Nachmanides by the author in his book Kad Hakemach), is that the author of the statement had in mind the satisfaction one derives from having carried out the sin. The fact that the perpetrator still thinks about the sin as an accomplishment results in his punishment becoming harsher. According to this interpretation no penalty accrues to the contemplation of a sin not carried out. The author, in his volume Kad Hakemach, reasons that seeing that we do not have control of our thoughts, we cannot be held culpable for them. [I am quoting from Rabbi Chavell’s notes, seeing I have neither seen the comment by Nachmanides nor the author’s book Kad Hakemach. Ed.] This is based on the statement of our sages in Kidushin 40 that G‘d does not combine the sinful thought with the actual performance of the evil deed. There is no penalty for the thought. This is also supported by a verse in Psalms 66,18: ”Had I an evil thought in my mind, the Lord would not have listened.” The only exception to this rule is contemplating idolatry. Such thoughts are punishable even if not carried out, as it states in Ezekiel 14,5: “Thus I will hold the House of Israel responsible for their thoughts, because they have all been estranged from Me through their fetishes.”

שרפה כל ארצה, “a burning up of its entire land;” according to the plain meaning of the text the word ארצה refers back to what the Torah described in verse 21 as “the plagues which afflicted that land.” In that verse the land had been described generally, whereas in our verse the Torah gives some details of what precisely happened to the land, i.e. that it was “burned” by sulphur and salt. The Torah now makes clear that this affliction struck the entire land. Alternatively, the words כל ארצה, can mean that the choicest part of Israel’s land was turned into something similar to Sodom and Gomorrah which had been destroyed by sulphur and brimstone.

It is also possible that the word כל in the expression כל ארצה refers to the land which had formerly contained everything, i.e. כל; the land which epitomized every thing good under the sun. When G’d related to that land (and its people) with goodwill, benevolently, the land of Israel was לא תחסר כל בה, “did not lack for anything,” (Deut. 5,9) whereas now when the Divine Presence had withdrawn in anger, it once more came to resemble a land which had been burned.

וישתחוו להם, אלוהים אשר לא ידעום ולא חלק להם, and they served their gods; gods they did not know of and which He did not apportion to them.” Moses meant that the Jewish people had never known that these idols were supposed to possess independent divine powers. Not only this, but G’d had not assigned these powers to the Jewish people but only to the Canaanites (Nachmanides). This is based on Deut. 4,19 where we discussed it and pointed out that Israel had been assigned as its protective Power the Creator of the entire universe, and that the Lord Himself is described as מנת חלקי וכוסי, “the Lord is my allotted share and portion” (Psalms 16,5). We also have a verse in the Torah itself, Deut. 32,9 כי חלק ה’ עמו, “for He is the share of His people.”

ויתשם ה’ מעל אדמתם, ”the Lord uprooted them from their soil.” This whole paragraph refers to the period of the first Temple, seeing that this was the period during which the people were guilty of idolatry. The expressions ויתשם and וישליכם refer to the fate of the ten tribes, exiled by Shalmanesser, who never returned to their homeland. Such people are considered נדחים, “outcast.” This is why the Torah uses the expression כיום הזה, i.e. their fate became similar to yours as of this day. Just as you are all together in one place, not spread out over the area comprising your homeland, so these exiles will be in a closely confined area. As long as you (the Jewish people) have not yet come to your homeland, i.e. אל המנוחה ואל הנחלה, (compare Deut. 12,9) you too can be considered as נדחים. Your descendants will once more face such crowded conditions, if and when they are exiled due to breaking the conditions of this covenant. Whenever a people are not on their own land where they have space to spread out they are considered as נדחים, outcast.

וישליכם אל ארץ אחרת, “He expelled them to another land.” The letter ל is anyway the largest of the letters in the א-ב. Here it is written even larger. This may be an allusion to the exceptionally high spiritual level from which the people were flung down at the time they were exiled. The prophet Jeremiah (Lamentations 2,1) already speaks of this when he says: השליך משמים ארץ תפארת ישראל, “the Lord has cast down from heaven to earth the majesty of Israel.” Another verse referring to the same experience of the Jewish people is found in Psalms 78,61: “His majesty is in the hands of an oppressor.” This is similar to Daniel 8,12: ”it hurled truth to the ground.” This is a reference to the countenance of Yaakov engraved on the throne of G’d [he is known as personifying “truth” just as is G’d Himself, Ed.] This is also what we read in Midrash Eychah 2,2: “G’d said to Israel the reason you have the audacity to anger Me is that you rely on the fact that the picture of your patriarch Yaakov’s countenance is engraved in My throne, This is why I will fling it back at you right into your faces.” This (according to the author of this Midrash) is the meaning of the verse we quoted from Lamentations 2,1 that “He hurled the majesty of the people of Israel from the heaven.” This is also what David referred to when he wrote (Psalms 102,11) כי נשאתני ותשליכני, “for You had lifted me up high only to cast me down.” G’d flung down the Jewish people whom He had raised previously to such great heights (spiritual). It is as if the psalmist said that the very great height to which the Jewish people had risen previously was a reason why their fall became so phenomenal. Seeing that G’d had flung the Jewish people down from such great heights, “He no longer remembered the footstool of His feet on the day of His wrath* (Lamentations 2,1). [the thrust of this commentary, if I understand correctly, is that the upheaval caused to the Jewish people by its exile was matched by a similar upheaval in the celestial spheres. Ed.] The various portions of verses from Lamentations (5,16) or Amos (5,2), as well as from Ezekiel (19,12) cited by the author, all tend to describe the decline of Israel’s image in the celestial regions before this was followed by Israel’s physical decline and exile. It is part of the mystical aspect of what is referred to in our verse.

הנסתרות לה’ אלוקינו והנגלות לנו ולבנינו, “The hidden (sins) are for Hashem, whereas the revealed (sins) are for us and our children forever to deal with.” Rashi comments that the reason why the eleven letters commencing with the letter ל in the word לנו have dots above them is to tell us that G’d did not punish the multitude for revealed sins committed prior to the crossing of the Jordan. Once they confirmed the blessings and curses at Mount Gerizim and Mount Eyval respectively, the period of reciprocal responsibility began. [The following is not found in our editions of Rashi’s commentary. Ed.] Rashi quotes the Jerusalem Talmud in Sotah 7,5 in support of his view. The Talmud quotes that Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai said that at these two mountains the people accepted the responsibility for hidden sins. Joshua had said to them: “if you do not accept reciprocal responsibility for the hidden sins you will all be swept away by a great flood.” Rabbi Shimon ben Sevidai added that we should know that the majority of the sages who were members of the Sanhedrin died during the battle of Ai (after the assembly at Mount Gerizim, proving that the elders are held responsible even for hidden sins, i.e. that of Achan ben Karmi). Joshua said to the people after that, that by the death of these 36 members of the Sanhedrin that בכם הותרה הרצועה “as of now you are held responsible also for hidden sins committed.” [This statement is not found in our editions of the Jerusalem Talmud; I am relying on the notes and research of Rabbi Chavell, Ed.] At that time, a heavenly echo was heard announcing that the Sanhedrin, and certainly lesser dignitaries, have no business investigating hidden sins. There are different interpretations of the meaning of the words בכם הותרה הרצועה. Some say that what is meant is that when Moses had warned the people (29,17) “lest there be amongst you a root flourishing with gall and wormwood,” that as of that time reciprocal responsibility for hidden sins already commenced. [seeing that the people at that time accepted the oath and the covenant. Ed.] This is Rashi’s view as it appears in Sanhedrin 43. The dots really should have appeared also over the letters in the words ל-י-ה-ו-ה אלוקינו in order to show that the hidden sins are not G’d’s exclusive domain to investigate, except that for reasons of etiquette it was deemed inappropriate to place those dots over the name of the Lord.

According to Rashi there, although a penalty accrues to the people and/or their leaders for not bringing sinners who committed their sin in private to justice, the duty to investigate if such sins had been committed begins with the time when the people crossed the river Jordan. [If I understand Rashi correctly, investigation of such sins, rather than sentencing the sinner, is of the essence. We have to do what we can in order to become free from this reciprocal responsibility we described earlier. Ed] Seeing the dots could not be placed on the letters of the name of Hashem, they were moved sideways and had to include a dot over the letter ע of the word עד in order to total 11.

Nachmanides, tackling the problem, writes as follows: “my opinion is that if we follow the plain meaning of the text the word הנסתרות refers to sins committed in private and not witnessed by credible witnesses. The word reflects David’s exclamation in Psalms 19,13: שגיאות מי יבין מנסתרות נקני, ‘who can be aware of errors? Clear me of unperceived guilt!’ David means that such hidden sins are exclusively G’d’s domain to investigate and to punish. No guilt attaches to the Jewish people or their representatives concerning such sins. However, the revealed sins, הנגלות, are forever our obligation to investigate and deal with as a חוקת עולם, an eternal statute, etc. This responsibility devolves upon us due to the wordsאשר איננו פה , (verse 17) for all future generations. Seeing that with these words all Israelites for all future times had been committed to observe the Torah, etc., the Torah saw fit in our verse to exempt us from sins committed without our knowledge so that we would not be held responsible from the curse devolving us for such sins.” Thus far Nachmanides.

The sage Ibn Ezra writes as follows: “the word הנסתרות refers to acts of idolatry committed by individuals in the privacy of their homes. Bringing such people to justice is exclusively G’d’s business; He will take care of such individuals. No guilt attaches to us for the commission of those sins.

I have heard it said in the name of Maimonides about this verse that that the words הנסתרות לה’ אלוקינו refer to the fact that mystical dimensions of the Torah, such as the true reason behind the various commandments, are the exclusive domain of the Lord; if man succeeds in revealing even a small portion of such reasons, this does not excuse him from fulfilling the respective commandment in accordance with what the Torah has revealed about it in the text. It is our duty to perform all the commandments as written, even if we are certain that seeing we know the true reason for them this would make performance redundant in our eyes. This is the meaning of והנגלות לנו ולבנינו עד עולם, i.e. “and what has been revealed we are duty bound to fulfill forever more.” While this is a wonderful and profound explanation, it has nothing to do with the text in our paragraph. We must understand the text as related to the previous verse in which the fact that the people have been exiled and apparently abandoned by Hashem has been described.

One may explain the whole matter of reciprocal responsibility described here as follows: “the hidden ones (sins) are G’d’s problem, seeing that in the previous verse the syntax is exceedingly long, i.e. the words: ‘The Lord removed them from their soil in anger and wrath and with great fury and He expelled them to another land as of this day.’” The verse is a reference to this long and seemingly interminable exile we find ourselves in. The word הנסתרות is a warning not to try and figure out when this exile will end. This knowledge is reserved for Hashem alone. However, as soon as G’d reveals the advent of the redemption it will become clear that our future and that of our children will endure forever (in spite of the gloom and doom prevailing during the long years of exile). Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to carry out the commandments of the Torah seeing the Torah is valid forever. It will not become redundant even in the days of the Messiah. Its applicability is as basic during the years of exile as during the glorious era following our redemption. This is reflected in the exegesis by our sages of the words in Deut. 16,3 למען תזכור את יום צאתך מארץ מצרים כל ימי חייך, “in order that you may remember (by the performance of this legislation) the day you came out of Egypt for all the days of your life.” Had the Torah omitted the word כל, “all,” in that verse, I would have been entitled to conclude that when a greater redemption such as that of the Messiah will take place, the provisions to observe Passover will become redundant. Seeing that the Torah wrote the word כל ימי, it is clear that it meant to legislate the observance of Passover (and other laws) even for the period when it is overshadowed by a more recent and all-embracing redemption (Berachot 12). By adopting this explanation, the whole verse by itself as well as how it relates to the previous verse and to what follows becomes crystal clear.

As to the missing letter ו in the word הנסתרת which appears as if it were singular, the word as it is should be viewed as an allusion to the שכינה, the hidden Presence of G’d. After all, G’d had warned us that in times of exile He would “hide” His face from us, אסתירה פני מהם in Deut. 32,20. The reason the Shechinah is described as something hidden is that the clouds of glory covered it both when it was inside the Tabernacle and elsewhere in the desert. The word הנסתרת in our verse may be understood as an appeal to the Lord our G’d by the Shechinah to reveal Himself, for His Presence to become manifest, and to reveal itself when this exile will come to an end. Our sages (Midrash Tehillim 9) follow a similar approach in the way they understand the words אגילה בישועתך, “I want to have a revelation of Your salvation” in Psalms 9,15. Significantly, the psalmist does not speak of ישועתנו, “our salvation,” but of “Your salvation.” This is not the only verse in which the Shechinah is perceived as asking mercy, salvation, for itself from the higher emanation of Hashem. Other verses in Scripture carrying a similar message are found in Isaiah 30,18, as well as in Psalms 60,7 where the words הושיעה ימינך וענני, “deliver Your right hand and I will have been answered,” are understood as an appeal by the Shechinah to Hashem to manifest Himself. Israel’s salvation and the Shechinah’s salvation are equated. A still clearer verse attesting to this phenomenon is found in Samuel II 7,23: “which You have redeemed for Yourself” [a reference to G’d’s personal self-interest (instead of Israel’s). Ed.]. We have already elaborated on the mystical aspect of this whole subject in our commentary on Deut. 5,26. You ought to realize also that our sages derive from our verse here that an expert may be able to interpret dreams by his knowledge of the deeper meaning of the letters in the holy names of G’d and the ability to rearrange same. [The author goes into greater detail, the meaning of which escapes me. Ed.]