ועתה ישראל שמע אל החוקים ואל המשפטים אשר אנכי מלמד אתכם לעשות למען תחיו; “and now Israel hearken to the statutes and social laws I will teach you to perform in order that you shall live.” This verse teaches that learning, studying the Torah is not the main purpose of the Torah but performing the commandments one has studied. Our sages in Avot 1,17 stated this succinctly when they taught לא המדרש הוא העיקר אלא המעשה, “not the study is of the essence but the performance, the deed.” Only performance of deeds is a guarantee of life (both here and in the hereafter).

לא תוסיפו על הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם, ולא תגרעו ממנו “do not add to the words which I command you, nor subtract from it.” This is a warning for man not to try and be smarter than G’d by saying that he will do more than G’d commanded, by thinking that the addition will be considered part of his serving the Lord. This is why Moses had to point out that the Torah is perfect. Not only does it not need additions or subtractions but any addition is in fact a subtraction (Sanhedrin 29). Our sages in Sifri Re'ay 82 quote examples of what the Torah means by additions or subtractions. If someone were to take five paragraphs from the Torah and place them inside the phylacteries of the head, doing so deliberately as an addition to what the sages said, or if he were to present G’d with five species of plants on the festival of Sukkot, instead of the four species mentioned in the Torah, or if a priest were to add a fourth verse to the three verses which form the priestly blessing, such a person would be guilty of violating this commandment. On the other hand, if someone adds to the various Rabbinic “laws” instituted to protect Biblical laws against infringement and violation by the ignorant, such additions do not qualify as a violation of the commandment Moses speaks about here. Any Rabbinic ordinance introduced for the sole purpose of ensuring the observance of the Torah law as it is and protecting it against violation is not called “an addition.” It is in the nature of a fence around a vineyard, something that does not contribute to or enlarge the vineyard but merely protects it against thieves, marauders, etc. The classic Talmudic example for this is found in Shabbat 13 where the sages are quoted as encouraging a Nazirite to detour around a vineyard. It is not forbidden for a Nazirite to walk through a vineyard. However, if he does not walk through it it will be easier for him to resist the temptation of taking and eating from its grapes, something absolutely forbidden to him by Torah law. In fact, not only does observing the Rabbinic ordinances not constitute a violation of the commandment not to add to the Torah’s laws, but violating Rabbinic ordinances violates a specific Torah commandment of “do not depart from the word that they tell you right or left.” The “they” are the duly authorized Rabbis (Deut, 17,11).

ראה למדתי היום חקים ומשפטים כאשר צוני ה’ אלו-הי, “See, I have taught you this day statutes and social laws in accordance with what the Lord my G’d has commanded me.” Moses stresses that he never initiated any thing by himself claiming G’d had told him so. Our sages in Nedarim 37 see another dimension in Moses’ statement, namely that just as he did not charge a fee for teaching G’d’s laws so teachers of Torah must be prepared to teach it gratis, not demanding payment. G’d did not charge Moses for teaching him the Torah either. This is also what Solomon meant in Proverbs 23,23 when he said: “buy the truth, never sell it.” When dispensing Torah knowledge the purpose must never be to turn a profit.

ושמרתם ועשיתם כי היא חכמתכם ובינתכם לעיני העמים, “You shall safeguard it and perform it, for it (the Torah’s laws) are what the nations perceive as your wisdom and discernment.” The verse teaches first and foremost that all the commandments only come into their own when being performed. Their integrity has to be safeguarded (against reformers) and their substance has to be carried out (when they are positive commandments) or performed by not violating them (in the case of negative commandments). All the worthwhile activities in the world are automatically part of one or more of the Torah’s commandments. The discipline of healing is part of a commandment seeing the Torah tells us that if we listen carefully to its commandments and perform all its statutes and refrain from violating them we will not experience disease, etc., (compare Exodus 15,26) “seeing the Lord is your Healer.” The message is clear: Torah observance=preventive medicine. The same applies to all other scientific disciplines. Our sages in Shabbat 75 understand the words לעיני העמים in our verse as a reference to the people (astronomers, mathema-titians) who can calculate the movements and timing of the stars in their respective orbits. They go so far as to say that if someone possesses this knowledge and neglects to use it (for the benefit of mankind) he becomes the target of the verse in Isaiah 5,12: “they refuse to acknowledge the work of the Lord and refuse to see His accomplishments.”

את כל החקים האלה, “all these statutes.” We would have expected Moses to say את כל המצות האלה, “all these commandments.” Why did he mention only the statutes? The fact is that not only do the Gentile nations not praise the Jewish people for these statutes they observe but they make fun of us for performing laws the value of which we do not comprehend. However, when the nations observe that by performing the commandments which do make sense to us the Jewish people have achieved a position of great prominence and success in the world, they reason that there must also be hidden values to the statutes even though such meanings defy our logic. They realize that the Torah does not contain any meaningless laws, כי לא דבר רק הוא, “it is not something empty, devoid of meaning and value.” This is why the Torah quotes the nations as saying: “this must be a wise and learned discerning people.” The words רק, “only,” are their admission that the Jewish people are the only people qualifying for such a compliment.

כי מי גוי גדול אשר לו אלו-הים קרובים אליו, “for who else is a great nation to whom G’d is so close!” Moses hints in this verse at the superior status of the Jewish people who, when praying, are answered seeing they focus in their prayers on the supreme Power in the universe, the only Power able to fulfill their requests. This is why they are answered each time. Moses describes the Jewish people here as גוי גדול, “a great nation,” instead of either as גוי קדוש, a “holy nation,” or גוי צדיק, “a righteous nation.” The reason is that גדולה, “greatness,” is the equivalent of the attribute (emanation) חסד, the highest attribute usually associated with Hashem such as in Chronicles I 29,10 לך ה’ הגדולה, והגבורה, והתפארת, “Yours O Lord is “greatness, mightiness and harmony.” The meaning of the verse then is: “who is a great nation so close to the attributes of G’d such as the Lord our G’d whenever we call upon Him!?” It was important for Moses to add “when we call upon Him, so that one should not think we address our prayers to the attributes instead to the essence, to Hashem. This explains why our sages (Avodah Zarah 3) describe G’d as switching from being seated on the “chair of Justice” to the “chair of Mercy,” in order to avoid rendering verdicts which could be destructive. On the other hand, on occasion G’d has to switch from the “chair of Mercy” and seat Himself on the “chair of Justice,” in order to deal with certain situations in His universe. Everything in accordance with the need of the party who addresses Him in prayer. Concerning these various attributes of G’d the prophet Chabakuk 3,8 said: “is Your rage against Yam (the Sea) or against Neharim, (rivers) that You are driving Your steeds, Your victorious chariot?” Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah (68,10) comment on this that the rider is never secondary to the horse, but the horse is secondary to the rider. They are prompted to make this observation in connection with this verse as the prophet described G’d as venting His rage at the forces of nature which have no will of their own. Seeing that neither the sea nor the rivers are the prime causes of evil but man who abuses them, what is the point of G’d venting His anger at the secondary phenomena

It is well to note that in our verse the usual order of ה’ אלו-הים is reversed in that Moses first refers to אלו-הים before referring to ה’. [Perhaps this describes G’d on the chair of Justice moving to the chair of Mercy as the result of the prayers of the Jewish people. Ed.] Our sages in Jerusalem Talmud Berachot 9,1 observe that the plural in the word קרובים in the sequence אשר אלו-הים קרובים אליו when we would have expected אשר אלו-הים קרוב אליו means that G’d is close to the Jewish people in more ways than one.

ומי גוי גדול אשר לו חקים ומשפטים צדיקים , “for what great nation possesses statutes and social laws which are fair, etc.?” After having told us in verse 7 of things which are praiseworthy about Israel, Moses now praises the Torah; when using the expression ככל התורה הזאת, he reiterates a point made previously that Torah contains the sum-total of all that is worth knowing.

רק השמר לך ושמור נפשך מאד פן תשכח את הדברים, “Only beware for yourself and be very much on guard lest you forget the thing;” Rashi understands the injunction in this verse as a corollary to the previous verses. Israel will be considered as wise, discerning, etc., on condition that it lives up to these laws so much admired by the Gentiles. If they were to forget them and not observe them they would soon be considered fools instead of wise people. It appears from the syntax that the words רק עם חכם ונבון, “only a wise and discerning nation,” refer to what Moses said previously, i.e. that “only if you observe all these G’d-given laws will you be considered as deserving the description “a wise and discerning people.”

It is also possible to see in the word רק which always points to something or someone in the minority, a hint that if the nations indeed consider themselves as inferior to you this is only as long as you perform the commandments. If you were to forget them willfully, or otherwise, the nations would soon stop considering themselves as inferior to you. Your advantage stems from the revelation at Mount Sinai when the Torah testified: “and all the people saw the sounds and the lightning, etc.” (Exodus 20,18). The moment you forget this experience, you will tend to deny it, and subsequently the whole foundation of Judaism will crumble. Both your body and your soul will then be at risk. Our sages in Avot 3,8 who said that anyone who forgets part of his learning is considered as if he had made his soul subject to perdition, referred to this verse where Moses warns us not to forget, i.e. not to do things which result in our forgetting any part of the Torah. When reading our verse here one might come to the conclusion that even if one forgot due to illness one would be guilty. This is why Moses added ופן יסורו מלבבך כל ימי חייך, that guilt occurs only if one erases these commandments from one’s heart, i.e. deliberately. We have another severe warning by our sages in the Sefer Mitzvot Gedolot 38,13 that if someone forgets part of what he has learned he violates three negative commandments all of which are derived from this verse, i.e. the words פן, תשכח, and השמר לך, are three separate injunctions.

.ואותי צוה ה’ בעת ההיא..ללמד אתכם חקים ומשפטים , “and the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes, social laws, etc.” These are the other commandments of the Torah, the ones in addition to the Ten Commandments which were commanded at Mount Sinai (Ibn Ezra). Rashi understands the words ואותי צוה as referring to the oral Torah.

לעשותכם אותם בארץ, “for you to perform in the land, etc.” This does not mean that these commandments are not a personal obligation anywhere in the world. It means that the principal purpose of all the commandments is that they be performed in the Holy Land.

ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם כי לא ראיתם כל תמונה, “But you shall greatly beware for your souls, for you did not see any likeness.” Seeing that you know clearly that you did not see any phenomenon, image, at the time when G’d revealed Himself, you must take care in the future never to make such a likeness, no molten image or sculpture; there are nations which serve and worship some domestic animal or free-roaming beast, whichever they encounter first on that day. The astrologers have written that the zodiac sign cancer places some of its power on such animals and causes them to bite or otherwise cause damage.[The point of worshipping these animals would be to neutralize their destructive power against the person worshipping them.]

ופן תשא עיניך השמימה, “not to raise your eyes skyward.” There is a difference between the word השמים and the word השמימה, just as there is a difference between מצרים and מצרימה. The name of the political entity, the state, is מצרימה, whereas the word מצרים includes the entire country, region. We have proof of this distinction in Numbers 20,15 where Moses describes the descent of the family of Yaakov from the land of Canaan as וירדו אבותינו מצרימה, ונשב במצרים, “our forefathers descended to the state of Egypt and they settled in “greater Egypt.” Similarly here. When the Torah describes השמים, this includes any part of the sky visible to the eye anywhere. All parts of the sky are the same for that purpose. This is why the Torah also writes תחת כל השמים at the end of this verse. However, when the Torah speaks of השמימה, it refers to specific areas of the sky, areas known for certain constellations of stars, etc. They are areas where certain patterns of stars always appear at intervals that are subject to human calculations. Seeing that certain such constellations appear to presage certain happenings at certain times, some people err in ascribing powers to these constellations. This is why the Torah warns the Jewish people not to raise their eyes to such parts of the sky and the constellations visible there. The “seeing” the Torah speaks of is not with the physical eye but with the mental eye, i.e. the conclusions derived from this “seeing.” This is why G’d told Avraham in Genesis 15,5: הבט נא השמימה וספור הכוכבים, “take a look at the sky and count the stars, etc.” He took him to a place from which he could look down at the stars (Bereshit Rabbah 44,12).

וראית את השמש ואת הירח, “and you will see the sun and the stars.” The words ואת הכוכבים do not refer to the multitude of the stars in the sky but to the 7 basic planets (pre-Copernicus astronomy) The word כוכבים (pl) means the minimum plural i.e. 2; the letter ה at the beginning adds another 5, making a total of 7 stars or planets. Add the words צבא השמים, and you have the 12 zodiac signs, the horoscopes. The word כל includes the ministering angels. The reason the Torah adds the words ונדחת before writing והשתחוית להם, “you will bow down to them,” is to remind us that anyone doing that will automatically be נדחה, cast out, much as one casts out a person from a certain location so that he falls and dies.

אשר חלק ה’ אלו-היך אותם לכל העמים תחת כל השמים, “which the Lord your G’d allocated to all the peoples under the whole sky.” According to the plain meaning of the text the word חלק means: “He gave it to them as their share.” [They have the choice of serving the Lord directly or by means of these astrological manifestations]. The word is not to be understood to mean that these people have been “assigned” these phenomena in the sky. If the latter meaning were correct then these people would have an ironclad argument accusing G’d of preventing them from worshipping Him directly or indirectly, seeing He had made their fates dependent on the correlation of these stars to one another. Idolatry would then have been decreed upon them. Seeing that the word חלק lends itself to misunderstandings, the seventy sages who had been assigned by King Talmai to translate the Torah into Greek, were forced to translate this as “which the Lord allocated to them to provide light for them” (Megillah 9).

A Midrashic approach: the word חלק is connected to the word חלקות, something smooth, slippery. G’d flattered the nations with words in order to eventually drive them out of the world (Pessikta Zutrata ). Our sages had interpreted the words משגיא לגוים ויאבדם in Job 12,23 as meaning precisely this (according to Shemot Rabbah 15,11). They suggested that the letter sin in the word משגיא in that verse be read as a shin to mean “mislead,” instead of “exalts”. [The end-effect of the verse, i.e. that G’d destroys the Gentiles is the same; the difference is only the immediate cause. Ed.]. We have a similar statement by the sages in Avodah Zarah 55: Rabba bar Yitzchak said to Rabbi Yuda: “there is an idol in our town, and whenever there is a drought with us it appears to a priest in a dream and says: ‘sacrifice a human being to me and you shall have rain.’ When the people of the town offer a human being as a sacrifice to this idol it really does begin to rain.” Rabbi Yuda commented: ‘if I had already died I would not have been able to explain the matter to you.’ Rav explained the words of the verse אשר חלק ה’ אלו-היך אותם לכל העמים, to mean that G’d misled these idol-worshippers (who had already forfeited their claim to the hereafter) by letting them think that their idols had some power. By making them fall victim to that illusion He expedited their disappearance from this world. This is also what Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish meant when he explained Proverbs 3,34, אם ללצים הוא יליץ, “at the scoffers He scoffs.” The principle by which G’d operates in this world is that if someone wants to do the right thing he enjoys heavenly assistance. If he insists on doing the wrong thing, (seeing he possesses free choice) one lets him be without interfering. As a result, i.e. of G’d “playing along,” these idolaters dig their own grave.”

G’d does not actively “help” them to dig their grave, He just does not restrain them from doing what they set out to do.

ועשיתם לכם פסל תמונת כל אשר צוך ה’ אלו-היך, “and you make yourselves a carved image, a likeness of anything, concerning which the Lord your G’d has commanded.” According to the plain meaning of the text the word “image of anything the Lord your G’d has commanded you,” is a warning not to make such images. Alternatively, it may be a warning not to duplicate the cherubic figures which were part of the kapporet on the lid of the Holy Ark. They were a cast likeness. This was something unique, permitted only in the Temple (where it was placed in a pitch dark section, the Holy of Holies, a cubicle without lighting or windows, so that no one, including the High Priest, ever could see it).

A kabbalistic approach: the words ה’ אלו-היך are a description of the attribute כבוד, i.e. כבוד ה’ כאש האוכלת בראש ההר, “the attribute of glory which manifests itself like fire consuming the mountain” (Exodus 24,17). This was the attribute against which Moses had sinned, and this is why the Torah wrote in verse 21 “and against me the Lord was angry on account of your words forbidding me to come into the land.” The verse is a warning of the awesome attribute of Justice when it manifests itself in that manner. Moses warns the people that they themselves had seen this attribute at work on the occasion of the revelation at Mount Sinai. The reason that Moses adds once more that G’d is a jealous G’d, adding the word הוא, is because הוא is one of the names of G’d. Moses wants to point out that seeing that G’d’s essence remains forever invisible to man, the word הוא, even when used as a name for G’d, simply means that it is a pronoun, substituting for His essence which is never manifest to us. The prophet Elijah was taught this lesson when he was at Mount Chorev and experienced a number of divine manifestations. G’d explained to him that when he thought a particular manifestation, even אש, fire, represented G’d’s essence he had been wrong (compare Kings I 19,11). Certain manifestations of an attribute have only one objective, i.e. to demonstrate that G’d is a jealous G’d, has an attribute called “jealousy.”

כי תוליד בנים ובני בנים, “When you will beget children and grandchildren, etc.” The reason this paragraph adjoins the passage warning the Israelites against becoming guilty of idolatry is because Moses foresaw that in the future the Jewish people would become guilty doing precisely this on holy soil in the land of Israel. Proof that this paragraph is a prediction, not a mere theoretical discussion of what might happen, is that the paragraph does not commence with the conditional word אם תוליד,” if you will beget,” but Moses says כי תוליד, “when you will beget, etc.” Seeing that it is the prophet’s task to rebuke his people, and at this time Moses was the prophet, it was up to him to react to what he foresaw in his prophetic vision.

ונושנתם בארץ, “and you are long established in the land;” our sages in Gittin 55 find in these words an allusion to the length of time the Israelites would enjoy independence in the land. The numerical value of the letters in the word ונושנתם is 852. Solomon’s Temple was completed 480 years after the Exodus as we know from Kings I 6,1. The Temple stood for 410 years before it was destroyed by Nevuchadnezzar King of Babylon. This gives you a total of 850 years after deducting the 40 years the Jewish people were in the desert before they gained their own land. The reason that G’d allowed the Temple to be destroyed 2 years prior to the time allotted to it was to ensure that the decree of absolute destruction [no rebuilding] would not have to be kept, seeing that the people had not been allowed to enjoy the full number of years allotted to their independence. We read in our verse the words כי אבד תאבדון מהר, which mean “you will perish utterly and quickly.” G’d in His mercy, accelerated the destruction of the Temple so that He would not be bound by this prediction. We find an allusion to this in Daniel 9,14: “Hashem hastened the calamity and brought it upon us, for Hashem is righteous in all His deeds which He has done.” Daniel means that the very premature destruction of the Temple was an act of righteousness enabling the Temple to be rebuilt 70 years later.

העידותי בכם היום את השמים ואת הארץ, “I have called as witnesses against you this day heaven and earth, etc.” Ibn Ezra quotes an opinion according to which Moses meant the angels and people on earth when he said that he called heaven and earth as witness. It is also possible that the reference was to rain. Moses meant that if the people kept the covenant rain would be forthcoming, whereas if not the heavens would be like iron, i.e. the behavior of heaven would reflect whether the Israelites kept the commandments of the Torah. Similarly, seeing that the Torah had also stated that if the people did not keep the Torah that the earth would be like copper, whereas otherwise it would yield its produce, this too could account for Moses mentioning heaven and earth as witness (compare Leviticus 26,19).

Ibn Ezra understands the fact that Moses appointed heaven and earth as witness to Israel’s performance of the Torah’s commandments as due to no one else being able to watch such developments around the clock. Any other kinds of witnesses would have to take time off their duties as witnesses. This is not the only time inert objects have been cited as witness; compare Joshua 24,27: “and this stone (monument) shall be as a witness for us.”

ועבדתם שם אלוהים מעשה ידי אדם, “and there you will serve (worship) a god which is the work of man.” This is not a prophecy that the Israelites when in exile in host countries will themselves worship idols, G’d forbid. The meaning is that once you have been exiled you will become slaves to people worshipping idols, so that indirectly you will be serving such idols (Onkelos).

אשר לא יראון ולא ישמעון ולא יאכלון ולא יריחון, “deities which are neither able to see, to hear, to eat or to smell.” In this verse Moses mentions only four of the basic five senses of man, omitting to mention the sense of touch. There was no need to mention that sense separately as it is included in the statement “who cannot eat.” There was no need to mention more than one of the two senses that serve as tools of perceptions by the body. The three senses, sight, hearing, and smelling are considered mental, spiritual senses and this is why we often find them associated with G’d. Examples are: “The Lord saw” (Genesis 6,5 and many others) “G’d heard” (Numbers 11,1 and others). “The Lord smelled” (Genesis 8,21). When David describes the impotence of the idols in Psalms 115,7, he had to mention that the idols’ hands are unable to use the sense of touch, ידיהם ולא ימישון, seeing he had not mentioned the inability of the idols to eat. From this paragraph we can learn something about the importance of the five senses which are the principal tools man employs in all his activities. They are needed to fulfill the commandments of the Torah, and, inversely, they enable man to commit trespasses against the Torah. Man’s reward or punishment is due to the manner in which he employs these five senses. The reason that G’d provided man with five such senses is that they correspond to the five Books of the Torah. They also correspond to the five occasions on which “light” is mentioned in the story of creation. They also correspond to the five names by which the soul is known. They represent the complement of the body, making it the residence of the soul. The soul displays its activities by means of these five senses This is why the Torah/Bible condemns idolatry by pointing out that these idols cannot use any of their senses. Any image, cast or otherwise, which is devoid of the means of experiencing the sensations we experience by means of our senses is a priori incapable of helping anyone. How can idolaters say to their deities in times of stress: “arise and save us!” These idols are unable to rise, much less save (compare Jeremiah 2,27). The infinite wisdom of the Creator made five different parts of the body the seat of these five senses and made them gateways to the spiritual, abstract soul. Even our “scientists” admit that the manner in which these senses have been “planted” in man is phenomenal and reflects the wisdom of the Creator. The sense of touch extends throughout the body of man, any part of man’s exterior feels, tingles, hurts, when coming into contact with other phenomena. The sense of smell extends beyond the boundary of our skin, outwards. We can perceive by means of it matters which are relatively distant. The sense of hearing covers a wider area than the sense of smell, enabling us to perceive things even further distant. The sense of sight enables us to perceive matters far further removed from us than most of the phenomena we can perceive by the sense of hearing. It is the sense which we need most of all.

ומצאת, “and you will find.” Seeing that the previous verses addressed the people en masse, as a plural, we would have expected Moses to write this verse also in the plural instead of switching to the singular, “you (individually) will find.” Had Moses continued in the plural the impression would have been created that the needs of the Jewish people of which he speaks are due only to the fact that they are in exile. It would have sounded as if G’d responds only to communal prayer, communal requests and not to that of the individual. There would have been a precedent for this seeing our sages in Berachot 8 have said that G’d does not despise communal prayer, i.e. that the prayer of a congregation is more effective than that of a mere individual. The Talmud there quotes Job 36,5: “Surely He is mighty, is not contemptuous,” as the source of its message. For these reasons Moses made a point of telling us that G’d does respond to individuals who seek Him out.

כי שאל נא לימים ראשונים, “if you inquire into the first days of history,” Moses rationalizes why G’d is unforgiving concerning the sin of idolatry if committed by the Israelites, seeing His relationship with the Jewish people is of a unique nature. He invites the people to research the annals of history as they will find that never since the creation of man has there ever been a people who had such close relations with its G’d. You will not find that G’d revealed Himself to any nation as He did to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai.

A rational approach to these lines: every nation is obligated to serve its Creator but not in the same degree as the Israelites. G’d has extended Himself on behalf of the Jewish people as He has not done for any other nation. The Jewish people are the only ones who have an intimate knowledge of G’d as “Hashem.” Idolaters are not even allowed to praise G’d using that attribute as we know from David in Psalms 145,21 תהלת ה’ ידבר פי, ויברך כל בשר שם קדשו לעולם ועד ואנחנו נברך י-ה, “the praise of the Lord my mouth will proclaim, but all flesh will bless His holy name forever.” The psalmist distinguishes between how Israel and the rest of the nations relate to the Lord even while praising Him. The reason that at the end of that verse the Jewish people say ואנחנו נברך י-ה, “let us bless the attribute י-ה instead of the full tetragram, is that these two letters describe the terrestrial world which was created with the letter ה, and the celestial regions which were created with the letter י of the tetragram. Seeing that the psalmist says מעתה ועד עולם הללויה, “from now (on terrestrial earth) until forever (in the hereafter and the perfect world to come),” the letters י-ה were quite appropriate in this psalm.

למן היום אשר ברא אלו-הים אדם על הארץ, “starting from the day G’d created man on earth;” at that point the doors of inquiry were slammed shut. We are not allowed to investigate what G’d did prior to creating man (Chagigah 11). Our sages phrased it thus: “investigation of what preceded the creation of man, what will occur after the earth as we know it ceases to function is prohibited.” Neither are we allowed to know what is “above” and “below” the visible universe. Even though the Torah preceded the creation of our visible universe the terms of reference for our investigation begin only with the creation of man.

הנשמע כמוהו, “has anything like it ever been heard of?” These words belong to what follows, i.e. השמע עם, “has any nation heard?” In other words: “has it ever been heard that a nation as a whole hears the voice of G’d speaking out of the fire, etc., as you have done and remained alive?” Normally, man is not capable of hearing the voice of G’d until after his soul has departed from his body. Another meaning of the word ויחי, could be that such a people remains alive after death of their bodies as did the Jewish people? This would be a reference to the Talmud in Shabbat 88 that upon hearing the first of the Ten Commandments from G’d directly, the souls of the Jewish people flew off and the people had to be resurrected. The Talmud bases this on Song of Songs 5,6: “my soul departed when He spoke.” G’d resurrected the people by making dew descend upon them. As a result of this experience the Israelites turned to Moses and said to him: “if we have to continue to listen to the voice of the Lord our G’d any further we will die” (5,22). The word used by the people in that verse, i.e. ומתנו instead of נמות, suggests that they had already died once. They were afraid that they would have to experience this a second time. This proves that the first time there was a collective resurrection during the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. The second time something similar occurred was when Joshua requested for the sun to stand still in its orbit (Joshua 10,12). Compare Devarim Rabbah on this (Lieberman edition page 43). I have referred to this in my commentary on Exodus 19,17

או הנסה אלו-הים לבא לקחת לו גוי מקרב גוי במסות, Or, did G’d ever attempt to remove one nation from the midst of a nation with displays of power, etc.” the word מסות is the same as נסיונות, “display of power,” such as when Moses offered Pharaoh that he could determine when he wanted the plague of frogs to disappear (Exodus 8,5). באותות, “with miracles,” i.e. certain signs on Moses’ staff. ובמופתים, “and with wonders.” This is a reference to the Ten Plagues. ובמלחמה, and with war, i.e. G’d fighting the Egyptian army at the Sea of Reeds. We read there that Pharaoh said: “for the Lord is fighting against Egypt” (Exodus 14,25). וביד חזקה, “and with a strong hand.” This is a reference to the Israelites leaving Egypt ביד רמה, with their hands held high.” ובזרוע נטויה, “and with an outstretched arm.” This is a reference to the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire in which G’d manifested Himself during the Exodus. ובמוראים גדולים, “and with awesome deeds.” This is a reference to the splitting of the Sea and the drowning of the Egyptians in it. במצרים לעיניך, “in Egypt before your eyes.” The word לעיניך is a figure of speech which occurs frequently after the Torah had first spoken in the plural and then suddenly reverts to the singular, i.e. the eyes of an individual instead of the eyes of the people collectively. A well known example of such a construction is found in Leviticus 19,9 where the Torah writes ובקצרכם את קציר ארצכם לא תכלה, “when you (collectively) will harvest the grain harvest of your lands, you (individual) must not completely cut, etc.” It is possible that Torah here wanted that our verse commenced with the letter א and concludes with the letter כ, seeing that the combined numerical value of the these letters is the same as the name of G’d אהיה, i.e. 21. It was this name with which Moses’ mission to the Jewish people commenced (Exodus 3,14) a form of the attribute of Justice contained within the attribute of Mercy. Seeing that the whole purpose of the Exodus was the acceptance by the Jewish people of the Torah at Mount Sinai, it is fitting that Moses continues after mentioning the degree to which G’d extended Himself to orchestrate the Exodus, אתה הראת לדעת, “you have been given visual knowledge that the Lord is the G’d, etc.,” a reference to the unforgettable experiences at Mount Sinai. In verse 36, מן השמים וגו’, you find all the letters of the aleph bet, just as in the Ten Commandments you also find all the letters of the aleph bet. The Ten Commandments also commence with the letter א and conclude with the letter כ, just as does our verse here.

אתה הראת לדעת, “You have witnessed a clear demonstration, etc.” All the miracles you have witnessed are equivalent to your having first-hand knowledge of the greatness of the Lord and that there is none beside Him. Verse 39, והשבות אל לבבך makes the same point once more by asking the people to also open their mental eyes and draw the proper conclusions from what they had observed with their physical eyes.

Incidentally, you will not find anywhere that when both attributes of G’d appear successively that they occur in any other sequence than Hashem Elohim. We never find the sequence Ha-elohim Hashem. The two names when used successively sometimes refer to the manifest miracle on the one hand, and the “hidden” miracles, i.e. G’d’s interference in history which is not visible to our physical eyes.

מן השמים השמיעך את קולו, “He let you hear His voice from the heavens.” The verse means that G’d’s voice emanated from heaven in order to be heard by you, but you did not hear any sound until G’d’s voice had reached the fire so that you appeared to hear His voice as coming out of the fire. If this were not the correct meaning of the verse, how could Moses first say: “you have heard the voice of G’d from the heavens,” and only afterwards: “you heard His words out of the fire?”

ותחת כי אהב את אבותיך, “and on account of His having loved your patriarchs, etc.,” i.e. He allowed you to hear His voice because He loved your forefathers.

ויבחר בזרעו אחריו, “and He chose “his seed” after him. Clearly the subject is Yaakov, the third of the patriarchs. This is why the Torah says: “his seed” instead of “their seed.” Had the Torah used the plural “their seed,” both Esau and Ishmael would heve been included in the “chosen people.” This is also the reason why the Torah wrote in Parshat Eykev, 10,15: “but the Lord your G’d was fond of your forefathers (pl) to love them, and He chose (of) their seed after them you from amongst all the nations, etc.” Seeing the Torah had written בזרעם “their seed,” which could have been interpreted as “all their seed, i.e. including Esau, etc.,” the Torah had to conclude that verse by saying “בכם” you, meaning “only you of all their seed.” Instead of using the preposition תחת, the Torah could have written more commonly used prepositions such as בעבור or למען. The reason the Torah chose the word תחת, a word which occurs on only two more occasions, once in connection with the מרכבה, the Divine “carriage,” may be an allusion to the מרכבה which is supposed to be supported on terrestrial earth by the patriarchs and the Jewish people as a whole.

ויוצאיך בפניו, “He took you out before Himself, etc.;” according to the plain meaning of the text the meaning is “G’d took you out Himself, personally.” The word is used in the same sense in Samuel II 17,11 ופניך הולכים בקרב, “and you yourself march into battle.”

A Midrashic approach based on Ibn Ezra: “the word represents “anger, כעס;” the word occurs in that sense in Exodus 33,14. “My face will go.” Also we find that expression in Samuel I 1,18 ופניה לא היו לה עוד, “she was no longer angry.” The reason for the use of this word here is that Moses tells the people that a major factor of the Exodus was G’d’s anger at the Egyptians.

A kabbalistic approach: the word בפניו in the expression ויוציאך בפניו refers to the angel who was assigned to supervise all this. The angel is known as מלאך הפנים. He is featured in Isaiah 63,9 ומלאך פניו הושיעם, Our verse also refers to the contribution made by the patriarchs to the Exodus. The word בפניו reminds us of מבקשי פניך יעקב סלה (Psalms 24,6) “Yaakov who seeks Your presence.” The word בכוחו refers to Yitzchak whose primary attribute was גבורה, “Power.” The word הגדול is an allusion to Avraham. The reason Moses mentioned (alluded to) Yaakov first is that he formed the third link in the string of patriarchs, and once there was such a third link the principles the patriarchs stood for could be perceived as certain to endure. This is also why at the end of the Tochachah the Torah quotes G’d as remembering first His covenant with Yaakov and only afterwards His covenants with Avraham and Yitzchak (Leviticus 26,42).

והשבות אל לבבך, “you will impress it upon your heart,” i.e. it is a positive commandment to know the Lord and to research the fact that He is unique, one of a kind. It is not enough to accept this merely as “something handed down by our forefathers,” but it must become something that is the result of our examining the plentiful evidence in our world which makes this quite clear.

Knowledge of G’d by means of the deeds He has performed is absolutely possible even though knowledge of G’d’s essence is beyond our ability to comprehend. Concerning this latter knowledge (or attempt at knowing) Solomon said in Proverbs 25,2: “it is the glory of G’d to conceal a matter.” Seeing that acquiring this kind of knowledge about G’d cannot commence, as do other disciplines, with one’s seeing the object of one’s research and thereby trying to assess its constituent parts, the Torah used the term והשבות, something describing an end result, when discussing our study of theology-related subjects. We find that the prophet Elijah, after having experienced several manifestations of G’d’s attributes, discovered (with the help of G’d) that he had been wrong when at the first such manifestation he had thought that he had “seen” or “experienced” the essence of G’d (Kings I 19,11-12). We have been warned in the Sefer Yetzirah (1,8) בלום פיך מלדבר ולבך מלהרר, “restrain your mouth from speaking and your heart from even contemplating.” Moses uses the word לבבך for “your heart” in our verse whereas the author of the Sefer Yetzirah uses the word לבך. Moses refers to two contradictory urges which each try to dominate our heart. One is called “the good urge,” (urge to do good) the other “the evil urge.” Moses urges us that if perchance the “evil urge” tries to make us deviate from the true path of Torah, suggesting hat there are at least two domains in the universe which compete with one another for supremacy, we are to use the “good urge” to resist such temptations and to tell the evil urge that there is only one domain. This is also why the verse ends with the words אין עוד, “there is no one else.” The expression השבת הלב, means that the subject matter is one that requires intensive study and considerable knowledge before one embarks on examining it. Isaiah 44,18 referred to people who fail to come properly equipped for such research when he said: “they have no wit or judgment, their eyes are besmeared, and they see not.” The lesson that Moses wants us to appreciate is that the Lord is also the G’d of nature, the captain of the universe; the word בשמים refers to the planets; the word ממעל refers to the celestial spheres, the habitat of the angels, the words על הארץ refer to our terrestrial earth; the word מתחת, refers to all that is hidden in the depths of the oceans or the bowels of the earth. All of this is summarized by Solomon when he says in Proverbs 25,3: “like the heavens in their height, like the earth in its depth.” The word אין עוד includes all the various layers of the universe, i.e. there are none which Moses had not already included in our verse.

אז יבדיל משה שלש ערים בעבר הירדן, “at that time Moses set aside three cities on the east bank of the Jordan.” This introduction is to inform us that when Moses set aside these three cities on the east bank of the Jordan he immediately proceeded to renew the covenant G’d had concluded with the previous generation at Mount Sinai (chapter 5 which follows). Even though Moses was well aware that these three cities would not become operational as cities of refuge until the other three cities of refuge on the west bank of the Jordan had been set aside, he wanted to fulfill at least half the commandment while he was still alive. This should serve as an important lesson to us how to relate to the commandments in general. There certainly could hardly have been anyone who had performed more commandments during the previous 40 years since the Torah was given than Moses, who had taught all these commandments to the people. If he was so concerned as not to leave even a half a commandment unfulfilled this should be our inspiration to emulate him. Perhaps this gives us a better insight into the true meaning of a comment by our sages according to which Moses became personally wealthy from the chips of the second set of Tablets which he had been told to fashion himself before coming up the mountain. The sages use the wordsפסל לך , “carve out for yourself” as meaning that the left-overs of this raw material became Moses’ personal property and that we are speaking about a very precious kind of stone (compare Exodus 34,1 and the comment in Nedarim 38). A more ethically inspiring approach would be that G’d chose the word פסל, an allusion to פסולת, rejects, left-overs, to teach that even seemingly inconsequential commandments are to be rated highly. The true measure of Torah and mitzvah performance is not the attention we give the impressive commandments, the ones which command a high degree of visibility but the loving attention which we lavish on the apparently minor commandments, the ones frequently neglected as the person who performs them does not reap any recognition for them from his peers.

מזרחה שמש, “toward the rising sun.” Our sages have said that anyone who kills a person has to flee eastward in the direction of the rising sun. Mortality was decreed upon man who was placed by G’d in Gan Eden which the Torah had described as east, i.e. מקדם. Exile is a reminder of this tragic first (disobedience) error committed by man. We also know that Kayin, who had slain his brother Hevel, was exiled in an easterly direction as he is reported subsequently to have settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden (Genesis 4,16).

את בצר במדבר, “the city Bezer in the desert;” In the next verse the Torah continues with the words וזאת התורה. It seems difficult to account for this sequence of subject matter. Our sages in Makkot 10 used this sequence to teach us that the words of Torah are equivalent to the refuge offered by the cities of refuge. They may even afford refuge from the angel of Death himself. The Talmud reports that the angel of Death wanted to take Rav Chisdah but he was so immersed in his studies hat he had no opportunity to snatch his soul until a diversion was created by a heavy beam in the academy falling down. The sound momentarily distracted Rav Chisdah so that the angel of Death could snatch his soul. Similar stories are told about David. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said that the protective angel of the Roman Empire (Edom) will make three errors in the future. He bases this on Isaiah 63,1: ”Who is this coming from Edom, in crimson garments from Bozrah — who is this majestic in attire?” The angel believes that Bozrah was also a city of refuge whereas only Bezer is such a city. Another error the angel of Edom will make is that he thinks that these cities serve as refuge for both intentional and unintentional killers, whereas they only afford protection for unintentional killers. Thirdly, he thinks these cities protect angels and humans alike. The fact is that they only protect human killers, not angels.

בארץ המישור לראובני, “in the land of the plain of the tribe of Reuven.” The reason this is mentioned first is that Reuven had tried to save the life of Joseph at the time when he prevailed on his brothers not to kill him (Genesis 36,21-22). This is why the first city of refuge was situated in Reuven’s part of the east bank. This is the meaning of Proverbs 28,17: “a man oppressed by blood guilt will flee to a pit, let none give him support.” The “pit” mentioned in that verse is a reference to the territory of Reuven of whom the Torah writes in Genesis 37,29: “Reuven returned to the pit.”

וזאת התורה אשר שם משה , “And this is the Torah which Moses placed before the Children of Israel.” This is a reference to The Ten Commandments which follow in chapter 5

A Midrashic approach (Devarim Rabbah, Lieberman edition page 62) the letter ו in the word וזאת teaches that in addition to the cities of refuge providing safety for unintentional killers, the Torah does also. In fact Torah study and observance is even more effective than the city of refuge. The cities of refuge accept only unintentional killers, whereas Torah study and performance is freely available even to intentional killers. When the Children of Israel asked Moses where an unintentional killer can flee to when the cities of refuge would cease to exist for one reason or another, he told them: “to the Torah.” This is why it says here immediately after the passage of the cities of refuge: “and this is the Torah.” This thought is reinforced by Proverbs 3,18: “she (the Torah) is a tree of life for those who support it and support themselves by it.”