ויקרא משה אל כל ישראל, “Moses called all of Israel;” this refers to the children i.e. the generation which had not heard the Ten Commandments first-hand at Mount Sinai. This is why in verse three Moses makes the point that the covenant made between G’d and the people at the time did not only include the generation which was an eye-witness to the revelation but that it included all the subsequent generations of Jews throughout the ages.

כי אתנו אנחנו אלה פה היום כלנו, “but with us we who are here all of us alive today.” Moses‘ point is that “the covenant was concluded with us.” Seeing that there were some survivors from the time of the revelation at Mount Sinai, Moses added: “G’d spoke with you face to face, etc.” In verse 5 Moses recalls to the survivors of that time that at that time they (their elders) had asked him to be the go-between between themselves and G’d as they felt unable to endure the voice of G’d directly any longer.

פנים בפנים דבר ה’ עמכם, “the Lord spoke with you face to face.” According to the plain meaning of the text the meaning is that there was no intermediary between G’d’s voice and the people’s ears.

According to a Midrashic approach (Shemot Rabbah 29,2) G’d told the people that the fact that they had experienced a variety of manifestations of Him must not mislead them. The fact is that sometimes G’d appeared to them in the guise of a young man, a warrior (Exodus 15,3), and other times as an old man (Hoseah 12,11), a sage, sometimes they perceived Him as seated, whereas other times as standing up. At Mount Sinai they perceived Him as an old man seated, dispensing the Torah. The words פנים בפנים then mean: ”I have spoken to you revealing many different facets of Myself.”

A kabbalistic approach: compare author’s comment on Exodus 33,11

אנכי עומד בין ה’ וביניכם, “I was standing between Hashem and between you.” According to Ibn Ezra this verse speaks about Moses being an intermediary between the Israelites and G’d ever since the revelation at Mount Sinai. However, the correct meaning is that described by Nachmanides, that Moses reverted to describe what happened during that revelation when Moses was speaking to the Israelites translating G’d’s words to them, i.e. making what they had heard intelligible to them. The Israelites had both heard and understood the first two of the Ten Commandments. They heard G’d’s voice saying the remainder but did not understand the words and their meanings. This is the meaning of להגיד לכם את דבר ה’, “to tell you the word of Hashem, i.e. the ones you did not understand.” You had become afraid of the fire and you had not ascended the mountain.

שמור את יום השבת לקדשו , “safeguard the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” In the first recorded version of the Ten Commandments, this commandment was introduced with the word זכור “to remember.” The reason for the variation is to obligate women to listen to kiddush and havdalah. Women are traditionally not obligated to observe positive commandments the performance of which is tied to a certain time frame. If the Torah had not written the word שמור here, the laws about a formal sanctification of the Sabbath, kiddush, and a formal termination of the holiness of the Sabbath, havdalah, would not have been applicable to women. By writing a formula applicable to negative commandments, i.e. שמור, in this version, the Torah made it plain that women are included in these aspects of Sabbath obser-vance. The technical halachic means of arriving at this is termed: “every person who is obligated to fulfill the שמור aspect of the Sabbath legislation is automatically also obligated to observe the זכור aspect, seeing the Torah once employs the one term and once the other.” (Berachot 20,2). This statement effectively covers the Sabbath from its commencement to its termination. Our sages committed this principle to memory by coining the phrase זכור ושמור בדבור אחד נאמרו, “the words זכור and שמור were said as a single utterance” (Shvuot 20).

A kabbalistic approach to the concept of בדבור אחד נאמרו: We explained that normally G’d’s legislation appears under the heading of Hashem, i.e. the attribute of Mercy being predominant. In the Book of Deuteronomy, this norm is reversed and Moses almost always speaks of ה’ אלו-היך, “the Lord your G’d,” i.e. a blend (of equal proportions) of the attribute of Mercy and the attribute of Justice. According to accepted norms the first set of the Ten Commandments should have been introduced by Hashem whereas in fact the first set of the Commandments is introduced by the uncharacteristic וידבר אלו-הים, “G’d spoke” (Exodus 20,1). G’d had employed only the attribute of Justice when He began to create the universe. When it came to creating man who was subject to His commandments G’d co-opted the attribute of Mercy in His creation as we explained in our commentary on Genesis 2,4 ב-הבראם. The letter ה alludes to this attribute of Hashem. We have explained that the universe was created by G’d employing 5 sounds. The universe was created in 6 days. The Torah was given on the 6th day of Sivan, and you find the name אלו-הים 32 times in the course of the Torah’s report of the creation. The revelation comprises 10 commandments [10 commandments plus 5 sounds plus five Books of the Torah, plus six days plus the 6th of Sivan add up to 32. Ed.] The Torah commences with the letter ב, concluding with the letter ל, another allusion to the 32 paths of wisdom of the Torah. All of these allusions are reminders of Who created the universe and Who gave us the Torah.

כאשר צוך ה’ אלו-היך, “as the Lord your G’d commanded you;” at the revelation at Mount Sinai at which time the Torah commenced with וידבר אלו-הים, to remind us that the Creator spoke those words.

למען ינוח עבדך ואמתך כמוך, “so that your male servant as well as our female servant may enjoy rest just like you.” The Torah here gave a reason for the work-prohibition on the Sabbath by your servants, i.e. that the Sabbath was not legislated to give the slaves a rest, but the rest enjoyed by the slaves is merely a by-product of their owners’ rest. In other words, seeing that G’d has had pity on you and instead of your having to serve Him for 7 days a week (the curse of earning one’s livelihood in the sweat of our brow) we in turn should display the same kind of consideration for our own servants and not assign them tasks on the days when we rest.

וזכרת כי עבד היית במצרים, “you shall remember (on the Sabbath) that you used to be a slave in Egypt, etc.” just like the slaves that you own now. ויוציאך ה’ אלו-היך, “and the Lord your G’d took you out;” with manifest miracles which attested that something like a rebirth of the universe had taken place, i.e. that it was your G’d who must have created the universe in the first place. על כן, “this is why;” He commanded you to observe the Sabbath day as reminder that G’d created the universe and it did not precede Him as proven by His orchestrating the Exodus.

כבד את אביך, “honour your father.” In this version of the fifth commandment, Moses (the Torah) added the words למען ייטב לך, “so that it will be good for you,” i.e. that the person fulfilling this commandment will enjoy a quality of life on earth. This is an example of reaping the dividends of the reward for a mitzvah-performance in this life, whereas the principal is stored up in the hereafter. The author explained the significance of the letter ט which introduces טוב the first time it appeared in the Torah, in connection with his commentary at the end of Exodus 20,14. Similarly, you will find explanations about the letter ו which links several commandments to each other in this version whereas this letter is absent in his discussion of the first version in Exodus.

ולא תתאוה בית רעיך, “and do not covet the house of your fellow.” In the first version of the Ten Commandments the Torah described this coveting of one’s fellow’s house with the verb לא תחמוד. The difference is whether one is planning to pay for it or wants it even without contemplating paying for it i.e. not planning to translate his craving into action. Here Moses reminds us that even the mere thought of wanting it makes one liable for violating this commandment. The reason is that ultimately the desire to own what belongs to someone else (who has not offered it for sale) will lead to one offering money and pressuring the owner to part with it (compare Maimonides Hilchot Gezeilah 1,9).

קול גדול ולא יסף, “a powerful voice not weakening;” the sound did not stop, did not exhaust itself. This is also how Onkelos understands the words ולא יסף. If you peruse the whole paragraph you will find the word קול “sound, voice,” occurring seven times. It occurs five times as referring to G’d’s voice (verses 19,20,21,22,23 and twice in verse 25 as the voice of the Israelites.) This is what the sages in Shemot Rabbah 28,4 meant when they said that the Torah was given with seven “voices,” i.e. that one voice was split into seven sounds. We have mentioned this already near the end of our commentary on Exodus 20,1.

הן הראנו ה’ אלו-הינו את כבודו, “here the Lord our G’d has shown us His (attribute) כבוד.” This is a reference to the fire the people experienced at Mount Sinai which was totally aflame. ואת גדלו, “and His greatness;” this is a reference to the thunder and lightning which accompanied the giving of the Ten Commandments, as well as the sound of the Shofar. ואת קולו שמענו, “and we have heard His voice;” a reference to the Ten Commandments.”

כי מי כל בשר אשר שמע קול אלו-הים חיים...ויחי, “for whatever creature of flesh and blood has heard the voice of the Living G’d .....and remained alive?” The meaning of the words “the living G’d” is: “the G’d who is the source of all life.” [How could the Torah speak about a “dead” G’d? Ed.]. According to the author, if the Torah had not added the word חיים, one would have interpreted the word אלו-הים to be a reference to an angel.

According to Ibn Ezra the word was meant to distinguish between Hashem, and His army, His entourage, even the stars.

ואת תדבר אלינו, “and you will speak to us.” The meaning of the feminine את for of אתה here is similar to the same word in Numbers 11,15 ואם ככה את עושה לי, where Moses applied this feminine form of “you” to G’d.

A kabbalistic approach: The people wanted to be addressed by the attribute of Justice rather than by the attribute Hashem. Hence the weaker form of אתה. את כל אשר ידבר ה’ אלו-הינו אליך “everything the Lord our G’d will say to you.” seeing that the Speaker is Hashem. ושמענו ועשינו, “as soon as we hear it we will carry it out.” They meant that as soon as they would hear it from Moses they would carry out G’d’s instructions.

מי יתן והיה לבבם זה להם ליראה אותי, “who can assure that their heart should remain the same for them to revere Me, etc.” According to the plain meaning of the text the reason that Moses quoted G’d as using the words מי יתן, “who could assure?” is that seeing that G’d had divested Himself of the right to control man’s heart by granting him free will, there is no authority in the world which could guarantee that His wish be fulfilled. This is why our sages in Berachot 33 coined the phrase “all is within the power of heaven except the fear of heaven.”

A Midrashic approach (based on Midrash Tehillim 14): We must understand these words in the same vein as Psalms 14,7: מי יתן מציון ישועת ישראל, “O that the deliverance of Israel might come from Zion!” David records this same verse twice in the Book of Psalms (compare Psalms 53,7). Why did he do so? The verses have to be understood as respective wishes by teacher and student. The teacher expresses the wish that the students would remain on their spiritual high as evidenced at the time of the revelation at Mount Sinai, whereas the student (Moses) expresses a similar wish regarding the teacher, i.e. מי יתן כל עם ה’ נביאים, “who could assure that G’d’s entire nation were gifted with the power of prophecy!” (Numbers 11,29 when Eldad prophesied and Joshua was upset.) The fact is that in this terrestrial world there is no assurance that either the wish of the “teacher” or the wish of the “student” will be fulfilled. In fact, according to the Midrash it is certain that the wishes of both will not be fulfilled. However, in the life after the arrival of the Messiah the psalmist is convinced that such wishes will be fulfilled. He bases himself on Ezekiel 36,26 who describes the ushering in of that age with G’d’s promise to replace the heart of stone with a heart of flesh. This will result in the wishes of the teacher regarding the conduct of his pupil being fulfilled. He also finds an allusion to the wishes of the pupil being fulfilled in that new world in the prophecy of Yoel 3,1: “l will pour out My spirit upon all flesh.” The reason David repeated this verse then is to teach us that the time will come when both these types of wishes will become realistic and subject to realization.

A kabbalistic approach: The words מי יתן והיה לבבם זה, “these words were uttered by Hashem, meaning who would “inspire” the emanation of wisdom, the source of inspiration for reverence of the Lord, to be active in this regard on an ongoing basis!. Seeing that G’d has to wish that the emanation “wisdom” do or not do certain things is proof that G’d Himself is unable to do this. This is the true meaning of the statement by the sages we quoted that “all is in the hands of heaven except the fear of heaven.” The sages referred to the attribute known as heaven, an attribute which has great powers but whose powers do not include the ability to inculcate fear of the Lord in people. It is something “beyond” this particular attribute, emanation, as it has no control over inspiring reverence for G’d in people. We find a dialogue between Moses and the people described in Avodah Zarah 5 where Moses is described as having harangued the Israelites for being ungrateful when they heard G’d express the wish that the people should always be on a spiritual high such as they attained at Mount Sinai. According to Moses they should immediately have asked G’d to grant that His own wish be fulfilled. Surely this dialogue described in the Talmud presupposes that G’d does have control over who would and who would not possess יראת שמים, “reverence for heaven!” Moses meant that the people should have asked G’d to address His prayer to an emanation higher than the one called שמים. This reflects something we learned in Taanit 25 in connection with Rabbi Eleazar ben Pedot who was in very depressed economic circumstances and it bothered him so that G’d asked him if he really wished that G’d should decree destruction on earth so that possibly on his next round of life he might be born under a more propitious horoscope? Rabbi ben Pedot was amazed to learn that even if G’d were to turn the universe upside down on his account this would still not be a guarantee that his personal fortunes would improve significantly. He therefore declined the “offer.” [The author mentioned only the gist of the story, and although I added some of what is found in the Talmud I suggest to the interested reader to read the whole story in the Talmud. Ed.]. In a different context the Talmud tells the story of how G’d showed Moses all the leaders of successive generations including that of Rabbi Akiva and his death through cruel torture by the Romans. When Moses saw with his mental eye that Rabbi Akiva’s flesh was being offered for sale in the store, he exclaimed: “is this the reward you receive for excelling in Torah?” G’d told Moses to keep silent, that He had seen fit to allow things to happen this way. (Compare Menachot 29 and Nachmanides’ comment). The meaning of this comment by G’d (speaking as the essence) there is that the emanation “wisdom” decreed to delay punishment for the crime of the sale of Joseph by his brothers until over 1200 years later for the sake of the Jewish people as a whole. You find a comment in Midrash Rabbah on the first half of Proverbs 8,30 ואהיה אצלו אמון, “I was like an artisan with Him,” explaining these words as meaning that the Torah says about G’d that it was G’d’s artisan, i.e. He used it to fashion the world. Just as the King when he builds a palace does not do so with his own hands but employs the services of an architect, but the architect works according to plans provided by the king, not making his own designs, so G’d “looked” into the Torah to consult how best to implement His own plans for the universe. Thus far the Midrash. The meaning of all this is that the author of the Midrash compared the Shechinah to a king of flesh and blood and His great name to the “artisan” who carries out the various tasks assigned to him by G’d’s essence The חכמה, the emanation wisdom, is perceived as the textbook which serves the artisans as a standby for consultation to perform their work in the most efficient manner. This is why Moses of whom the Torah wrote in Deut 33,21 וירא ראשית לו כי שם חלקת מחוקק ספון, ”he chose the first portion for himself for that is where the lawgiver’s plot is hidden,” was called מחוקק. [The reason this needs explaining is that this term normally translated as “lawgiver” suggests that the law is initiated by such a מחוקק. This would mean that Moses acted independently of G’d, an intolerable thought. The Midrash therefore introduces these parables to define Moses’ role within the hierarchy commencing at the top with G’d the essence, the emanation wisdom, the Torah as the textbook of wisdom, etc. Ed.] The Talmud elsewhere defines this word as similar to parchment which has been salted and treated with flour in order to make it ready for the writing on it to endure. We encounter such Midrashim (Tanchuma Va'eyra 5) in connection with Pharaoh, who, when told by Moses that he was sent by Hashem, is reported to have asked his magicians to take out all the books containing the names of any past and present deities to search for the name Hashem. The Midrash refers to these “books” also as דפתרא, the kind of parchment we just described. All of this merely proves that the king does not proceed to implement his plans without going “through channels.” When we keep this in mind we do not find some of our sages’ statements as so difficult to comprehend. Seeing that an artisan is not a robot and does not perform his work mechanically without employing his mental faculties it becomes clear that חכמה, the emanation wisdom, is pivotal to all of G’d’s activities. This then is the mystical dimension of Job 28,28: “See, fear of the Lord is wisdom,” i.e. ”wisdom, i.e. pure intelligence, pure thought equates with reverence of the Lord the Creator, the master of the universe.” This is also the mystical dimension of Isaiah 30,18: ולכן יחכה ה’ לחננכם ולכן ירום לרחמכם, “truly, the Lord is waiting to show you grace, truly, He will arise to pardon you.” Why does the prophet switch from the verb חכה in the first half of the verse to רום in the second half of the same verse? The first half of the verse describing G’d as waiting is similar to the wish expressed by G’d in our verse here where G’d waits for the Jewish people to maintain their spiritual high. The second part, i.e. the word ירום describes the result of such waiting at the end of which time G’d can endow the people with His חכמה. חכמה and אמונה, “wisdom and faith” are so closely interwoven as to make them almost inseparabable.

The author, quoting the Kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchok ben Harav suggests that psalm 143,1 באמונתך ענני בצדקך, is to be understood as an oath to which David wants G’d to commit Himself.

ואתה פה עמוד עמדי ואדברה אליך את כל המצוה והחקים והמשפטים, “and you, stand here with Me, and I will say to you all the ceremonial laws, the statutes and the social laws.” When G’d uses the term דבור as distinct from אמירה He refers to the written Torah; i.e. the area over which Moses’ prophecy extended. This is why G’d mentioned that He only “said” it to “you,” i.e. to Moses, seeing that the rest of the people would receive these messages in written form on a Torah scroll. When Moses refers to the people who had originally received these laws the wording is not אליכם but אתכם, i.e. “as the Lord your G’d commanded you at Sinai when you heard the words from His mouth” (verse 30). [The word את always describes some closer relationship than the word אל, such as the difference between ואהבת לרעך and 'ואהבת את ה].

ועשו בארץ, “they shall perform it in the land.” This wording was now appropriate as the people were nearing their destination. Alternatively, the reason for adding the word בארץ is simply because the entire panorama of commandments is designed first and foremost for performance in the land of Israel. I have mentioned this previously (4,14).