כל המצוה אשר אנכי מצוך היום, “the whole (set) of commandments which I command you this day, etc.;” The placing in apposition of the words כל המצוה, to the paragraph teaching us how we are to relate to paganism is meant to convey that he who takes the instructions of the previous chapter to heart is considered as if he had fulfilled כל המצוה, “all the commandments.” Our sages reinforced this when they said anyone who denies paganism is as if he had expressly acknowledged the entire Torah; conversely, if someone acknowledges any aspect of idolatry as true he is considered as if he had denied the totality of Torah and Judaism.

We find the following comment in Devarim Rabbah (Lieberman edition Nitzavim page 14): the words כל המצוה are to be understood as “fulfill the commandment to its nth degree, completely;” the author means that if you have commenced to fulfill a certain commandment make every effort to complete that commandment. Do not content yourself with half-measures. (compare also Tanchuma Eykev 6) where the Midrash states that the credit for fulfilling a commandment goes to the person who completes it. Although for 40 years only Moses was preoccupied with transporting the remains of Joseph through the desert as we know from Exodus 13,19, the Book of Joshua 24,32 credits the Children of Israel who reburied Joseph’s remains in Shechem with that mitzvah. This is because Moses had not been able to complete carrying out the entire mitzvah and it was completed by the Children of Israel.

לדעת את אשר בלבבך, “to know what is in your heart.” The word לדעת is to be understood as if the Torah had written להודיע, “to make known to others.” The author attributes the comment to Rabbeinu Saadyah Gaon. [It is clear that the meaning cannot be “to know,” as G’d does not have to find out what goes on in our hearts. Ed.] We find a similar meaning of the word לדעת in Exodus 31,13: לדעת כי אני ה’ מקדשכם, where the translation “to know that I the Lord am sanctifying you,” would not do justice to the text. [The text discusses the fact that the Sabbath is something called אות, a symbol, a declaration vis-a-vis others; clearly then the word לדעת must have a transitive meaning. Ed.] In both our verses the message is to be radiated to the nations of the world. In order for the Torah to make plain that service of the Lord is the principal reason G’d bothered to create the universe, G’d had to use the appropriate educational tools.

It is possible to understand the words וירעיבך, “He starved you,” as a reference to the excellence of the manna. Anyone eating it would understand the meaning of מצות המושכלות, “the deeper meaning of the commandments which are accessible to our intelligence.” This is possible only after the traces of physical food have departed from the body. This is also how our sages explained the need for Moses to be wrapped in cloud before reaching the top of Mount Sinai (Yuma 4 based on Exodus 24,16). During those six days the last traces of conventional food Moses had eaten prior to his ascent left his body. In other words, the word: “he starved you,” is not to be understood objectively, but He ensured that prior to eating manna your bodies were cleansed of any excrement remaining from conventional food. When that had occurred it was possible to become a receptacle for receiving certain commandments and to cleave to the Shechinah.

ויענך וירעיבך, “He afflicted you and let you go hungry.” The word “He afflicted you,” refers to the tedium of the journey, compare Palms 102,24: “He drained my strength on the way.” The word “He let you go hungry,” refers to denial of the kind of conventional food eaten by the other nations.

ויאכילך את המן, “He fed you the manna.” This is celestial food, not terrestrial food.

ולא ידעון אבותיך, “and which your forefathers had not known.” It is possible that these words are a reference to the patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, in which case our verse would describe that the generation of Israelites journeying in the desert enjoyed manifestations of miracles not granted to their illustrious forbears. The reason for this is that the patriarchs had not been granted a proper appreciation of the attribute Hashem as had their descendants. The great and awesome miracles are usually performed by that attribute, and G’d had not needed to invoke this attribute during the lives of the patriarchs. He had contented Himself with the kind of miracles performed within the boundaries of nature, miracles orchestrated by the attribute Shaddai.

לא על הלחם לבדו, “not on bread alone, etc.,” the bread that people normally eat does not possess the power by itself to keep man alive but it must contain also ingredients enabling it to grow, to be assimilated by the body through a digestive process. These ingredients are usually referred to as the power and mazzal of bread. The Torah here reflects a well known statement by our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 10,7) that there is not a blade of grass in this world which does not have its own mazzal, i.e. properties which enable it to accomplish the purpose of its Creator in calling it into existence. This mazzal tells the blade of grass: “grow!” We know all this from Job 38,33: “do you know the laws of heaven or impose its authority on earth? Can you send up an order to the clouds for an abundance of water to cover you?” Each of these powers reposing in any of the phenomena G’d created contains within it an adjacent power, all of which combined amount to what we call the laws of nature, the symphony of instruments which combine to keep this universe on track. Moses sums it all up as the מוצא פי ה', “the utterances of the Lord’s mouth.” Just as historic decisions are attributed to הדבר יצא מפי המלך, “the word had emerged from the mouth of the king,” (Esther 7,8) so Moses uses an idiom understandable to us human beings when describing G’d’s activities. The principal message Moses teaches us here is that contrary to appearances, the power to keep us alive does not reside in the purely physical properties of bread, or any other food for that matter, but in the potential G’d has placed within that physical food to sustain and make grow the people who consume it. Bread was chosen as the example seeing that in order for man to even produce it so many steps are necessary that one could have thought that the finished product reflects man’s accomplishment more than it does G’d’s. The closer we are to direct divine input and reduced reliance on intermediaries such as the eleven stages needed to convert a kernel of wheat into bread, the closer we are to the true life-giving forces of heaven. This is the meaning of Exodus 24,11: “they ‘saw’ G’d and they ate and drank.” The ability of the nobles of Israel described in that verse to have a vision of G’d is what gave them the energy they normally thought they derived by eating and drinking physical, conventional food. Rabbi Yochanan in expounding this verse in Vayikra Rabbah 20,7 said: אכילה ודאית. This sounds as if he meant that the people described ate regular food after or in spite of having been granted such a vision of G’d. I do not believe that this is what Rabbi Yochanan had in mind. If that had been his meaning he need not have commented at all, as the matter is self-evident. I believe that Rabbi Yochanan meant that the effect of the vision described in the Torah was the same as the effect of consuming regular terrestrial food. Even though all the phenomena in the world are in the last analysis “intermediaries” having originated with G’d, i.e. are מוצא פי ה’, as we know from the very word כל, “everything,” the manna came more directly from G’d more than any other kinds of food. This is why G’d described it as לחם מן השמים, “bread from heaven” in Exodus 16,4. The complete meaning of the verse then is: “man lives by means of all the various divine sources of food and energy. Seeing that this is so the words מוצא פי ה’ mean that this food, the manna is even superior to the other foods which come from G’d only indirectly.

שמלתך לא בלתה מעליך, “your garment did not wear out from you.” This was a great miracle involving suspension of the rules of nature. It is normal for clothes to wear out, to disintegrate after much use. The garments worn by the people of this generation remained as new for 40 years. They resisted the acidity generated by human sweat which normally has a very corrosive effect.

A Midrashic approach based on Midrash Tehillim 23: Rabbi Eliezer asked Rabbi Shimon where the Israelites got all their clothing during the forty years in the desert. Rabbi Shimon answered that their clothing came from the same source as that of the ministering angels. He based this on Ezekiel 16,10: “I clothed you in embroidered garments.” Concerning the meaning of the word רקמה, “embroidered,” used by the prophet, Rabbi Simai said that it is a kind of mantle. To the question: “did they not wear out?” Rabbi Shimon replied: “Did you not ever read the text of the Torah? The Torah tells you that the clothing did not wear out!” To this Rabbi Rabbi Simai retorted: ‎”did then the clothing grow with the children?” He was told to take his cue from the lizard whose skin (compared to clothing because it is shed) also grows with it. To this came the question: “did this clothing not ever need laundering?” He was answered that the cloud would both wash it and iron it. The questioner then wanted to know if these clothes did not ever burn, catch fire? He was told to observe a certain category of animal called Sitin (salamander) which are “sort of dry-cleaning themselves” in fire without suffering burns. The questioner now wanted to know if the people wearing the same clothing for forty years did not ever experience attacks by vermin such as lice, etc.? Thereupon the questioner was told that if the bodies of these people were not subject to attacks by worms, they would certainly not be vicitimized by vermin while they were alive. The next question concerned the foul smell that must have emanated from people who wore the same clothes year in year out without change. The answer given was that the traveling well produced fragrant smells which neutralised any stench emitted by the clothing of the people. This is why they did not have to change their garments at all. In fact, according to our tradition this well made all kinds of herbs grow, herbs the fragrance of which could be inhaled from one end of the earth to the other. The people would waft these herbs to and fro; this is what David referred to in Psalms 23,2 בנאות דשא ירביצני, “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” Solomon also referred to this phenomenon in Song of Songs 4,11 when he said: “and the scent of your robes is like the scent of Lebanon”. Thus far Midrash Tehillim on Psalms 23. The meaning of the word sittim is “garment;” a garment the size of a זרת, the span between the two outermost fingers of the hand, is called sit.

According to Shabbat 105b (The source "Pirkei Rabi Eliezer" quoted by the author may refer to the chapters in Tractate Shabbat which are entitled 'Rabi Eliezer Omer' - Chavell) the full width of a double sit is the distance between the forefinger and the middle finger. (This contradicts what was stated above that a single sit equals this distance - Chavell).. It is also reputed to be one of the 72 names of the Lord and if manipulated in the appropriate manner in order to demonstrate the power of G’d against a pagan who challenges it will result in the death of that pagan.

ורגלך לא בצקה, “and your foot did not swell;” the word is derived from בצק, dough, i.e. a mass which swells and expands in size. It is observed frequently that people who spend a lot of time walking experience swelling of their feet.

It is also possible that this remark of Moses addresses the Levites who had to carry the Holy Ark on their shoulders while walking barefoot. Even though it is actually the law that the Holy Ark is to be carried by the priests, seeing that at that time there were only so few priests, the Levites assumed this function until the priests increased in number (compare Maimonides Sefer Hamitzvot, positive commandment number 34).

Onkelos simply understands the words to mean that not only did the clothing of the people not wear out, but neither did their sandals.

ה’ אלו-היך מיסרך, “the Lord your G’d is disciplining you.” Moses means that the denial of regular food and the strain imposed on the people by their journeying are examples of how the Lord subjected them to discipline, to tests of obedience and faith. The principal virtue of a Torah-true Jew is his faith in the Lord. The two examples of “afflictions” mentioned by Moses were designed to test this faith.

כי ה’ אלו-היך מביאך אל ארץ טובה ארץ נחלי מים, “for the Lord your G’d is bringing you to a good land, a land of many rivers full of water, etc.” Moses contrasts the land of Israel with the desert the people find themselves in at this time. We find something similar in verse 6 where Moses emphasizes what grows in the land of Canaan. The products mentioned there including the honey from dates and pomegranates are supposed to account for the growth of blood in our bodies. In our verses Moses mentions only the three principal sources of nutrition. The word ארץ occurs six times in the three verses 7-8-9. The word occurs twice in verse 7, and again twice in each of the next two verses. In the fourth verse the word is הארץ when the Torah speaks about the commandment to say grace after meals, a prayer in which the excellence of the land of Israel is mentioned. The reason that the word ארץ occurs 6 times in the first three verses is that the land of Israel is the source of 6 different climatic zones which spread out from this land and which draw on its qualities. Concerning the seventh climactic zone, the Torah uses the expression הארץ הטובה, with the letter ה marking the one and only country boasting these advantages. When our sages in Avot d'Rabbi Natan speak about 7 regions, they refer to seven different climates which exist in our globe. David praised the seventh of these climates when he said in Psalms 48,3 concerning Mount Zion that it is situated in the most beautiful region, both climate and landscape-wise. The words יפה נוף used by the psalmist refer to the climate of Jerusalem. The word נוף meaning climate occurs in Joshua 17,11 in connection with the division of the Holy land to the tribes. The difference between different “climates” is determined by the proximity of the area in question to the sun. It is a well known fact that when people leave one climatic region to settle in another they are liable to suffer disease and sickness as a result. However, Jerusalem enjoys such a good climate that anyone moving there will not experience any problems but will be healthy and never get sick (based on R' David Kimchi). This is the reason that David calls it משוש כל הארץ, ‘the best climate on earth.”

ארץ חטה ושעורה, “a land producing wheat and barley, etc.” Seeing the land corresponds to the tenth emanation, it is praised as possessing ten qualities. Five of these qualities are the types of grain that can be grown in the land of Israel successfully. Moses mentions only the two principal varieties, i.e. wheat and barley as he considers the other three as sub-categories, i.e. oats, spelt, and rye. The five types of fruit mentioned make up the number ten. On other occasions the blessings of the land of Israel are summarized under the heading of “a land flowing with milk and honey.” This hints that G’d’s goodwill results in an abundance of products reminding us both of His attribute of Mercy (the white, milk) and His attribute of Justice, (the red color of the honey from dates). [The author commented on Genesis 36,39 that the abundance of material blessings when abused such as by the descendants of Esau may result in the attribute of Justice being activated. Ed.].

ארץ אשר לא במסכנות תאכל בה לחם, “a land where you will not eat bread in poverty.” A land in which all the good things of earth can be found such as the land of Egypt which the Torah compared to “a garden of the Lord,” nonetheless lacks certain ingredients found elsewhere so that people eat bread in such a land of plenty in poverty, not enjoying the affluence around them. This is why the Torah praises the Holy Land by comparison to the land of Egypt seeing it offers the same advantages without the accompanying drawbacks. None of the food products found anywhere in the world are not also available in the land of Israel. There are, however, agricultural products which are exclusive to the land of Israel and cannot be grown successfully elsewhere. This is the meaning of the words לא תחסר כל בה, “nothing is lacking in it (the land of Israel).”

It is possible that the expression: “you will not eat bread in poverty in that land,” refers to something spiritual, i.e. that the word לחם, “bread,” does not refer to physical food. This would not be the first time that Torah has been compared to לחם. Compare Proverbs 9,5 where Solomon, quoting the Torah called “Wisdom,” says: “come eat my bread”. Seeing that it is impossible to acquire Torah and wisdom in the full sense of the word without proper preparation designed to facilitate its study, Moses may indicate here that the ideal such preparation is residence in the land of Israel, which possesses the physical conditions such as ideal climate to enable people to study Torah successfully. Scholars studying Torah in that land do not suffer from the handicaps which scholars in other countries suffer from. Those scholars belong to the category of people known as eating לחם העצבים, “the bread of troubles” (Psalms 127,2), in contrast to the people in Israel. The true wealth of the people in Israel is the quality of their Torah knowledge which was acquired with the help of the superior climate and therefore food produced in the Land of Israel. This is why Moses underlines this thought by adding לא תחסר כל בה, “nothing is lacking in that land.” The blessing is anchored in the word בכל; compare Genesis 24,1 “and the Lord had blessed Avraham בכל.” The reason Moses adds that the stones of the Land of Israel yield iron, is to tell us that in places where one expects to encounter only stone one will be surprised to find iron. A similar surprise awaits those who see nothing more than high piles of rock in the mountains of that land. These mountains are filled with copper. Seeing that copper and iron are used as raw materials for most of man’s utensils, a land which yields such raw material can aptly be described as “lacking nothing.” A people who have to import all these raw materials are at a serious disadvantage, aware of real shortcomings in their land. If the earth of a land does not yield silver or gold this is at best considered a minor shortcoming. Moses praised the availability of those ores which are needed daily in people’s lives. Moses includes this kind of blessing once more at the end of the last portion of Deuteronomy when he praises the soil of Asher’s section of Eretz Yisrael (33,25). Our sages in Taanit 4 take a Midrashic approach to the words ארץ אשר אבניה ברזל by suggesting that instead of reading אבניה, “its stones,” we might read this as בוניה, “its builders,” i.e. the Torah scholars are possessed of a faith as strong as iron.

וברכת את ה’ אלו-היך, “you will bless the Lord your G’d.” According to the plain meaning of the text Moses means that when you reflect on the painful periods of your history, the sufferings you experienced in the land of Egypt, and you also look back on the discomforts experienced during your long trek through the desert, you will be inspired to bless the Lord as soon as you will enjoy eating the produce of this land. You will include the food of the land in your blessing of the Lord.

An approach to these words by our halachic authorities based on Berachot 21: our verse is the positive commandment to recite grace after one’s meal. The commandment is similar in force and meaning to: “you shall make a fence around the roof of your house” (Deut. 22,8), i.e. if you have a house (with a flat roof) you must protect the edges against the danger of someone falling from it. When you ate and were satisfied you have to bless the Lord your G’d for the food He has provided. The meaning of the word על הארץ הטובה in our verse is the same as if the Torah had written ועל הארץ הטובה, “and for the good land, etc.”

This verse contains a clue to the whole mystical dimension of the concept that man “blesses” the Lord. The whole idea of the creature blessing the Creator instead of vice versa is somewhat strange. We do not find any other place in the whole Torah except here where G’d commands us to “bless” His name. This is the verse which prompted David to say in Psalms 145,1 “and I will bless Your Name.” He also said הודו לו ברכו שמו, “give thanks to Him, bless His Name” (Psalms 100,4). We find many similar quotes in the Book of Psalms.

According to the plain meaning of this legislation we must appreciate that we are not dealing with the needs of the Lord but with the needs of man. Seeing that G’d is the source of all blessings and all the blessings devolve on His creatures from heaven it is clearly an impossibility for any of His creatures to bless Him adequately. Seeing that He, G’d, is the original Being in this universe having “invented” all the others, there is really no existence worthy of the name. His Existence is so self-sufficient that it has no need of anyone or anything beside Him. Therefore, even if we were to bless Him all day long and all night long what would we accomplish by this? How would we thereby enhance His existence either qualitatively or quantitatively? Job 35,7 makes this point when he says: “if you are righteous what do you give Him? What does He receive from your hand?” Any usefulness of blessing G’d is one-sided, i.e. affects our well-being not His, addresses our needs, not His. When we bless G’d for what we have received and enjoyed we testify that we acknowledge His השגחה, His benevolent and ongoing interest in all His creatures. The merit we accumulate for ourselves by such an act of “blessing” G’d ensures that He will continue to favour us with His benevolent largesse. The produce, the fruit, etc., will continue to be blessed by Him seeing we acknowledge Him as the provider. This is the reverse side of what the sages said in Berachot 35 that if someone enjoys the good things of this world without reciting a benediction of thanks it is as if he had robbed both G’d and the כנסת ישראל seeing that Solomon said: (Proverbs 28,24) “He who robs his father and his mother and says: ‘it is no offense,’ is a companion to vandals.” Failure to bless the Lord for His generosity in providing for us will result in a reduction of this abundance of good food, etc., and the individual -even the one who was not guilty of not reciting such benedictions- will suffer the fate of the majority seeing that in matters of livelihood the world as well as the individual is judged according to its or his respective preponderance of merits versus demerits (Kidushin 40). Seeing that this is so we can never be sure whether our next action does not place us in the minus column with all the dreadful consequences this may entail. We must therefore always behave as if our fate was in the balance and depended on our next action.

A kabbalistic approach: the commandment “you shall bless the Lord your G’d,” means that this blessing is neither exclusively for the benefit of the person reciting it, nor is it exclusively an expression of gratitude; rather it is a formula depicting something additional, natural increase, etc., as we know from Exodus 23,25 וברך את לחמך ואת מימיך, “and He will bless your bread and your water.” [The assumption being that G’d will provide additional food and water. Ed.]

You must properly understand what the sages said in Baba Metzia 114 concerning a debtor on the verse in Deut. 24,13 that when the debtor who had to give the lender a blanket as a pawn is allowed by the lender to have it back so he can cover himself with it by night, that G’d will bless the lender who is so considerate even if the debtor will not. The Talmud says that the subject of the word וברכך in that verse is the one in need of a blessing, i.e. only human beings are in need of blessings as opposed to the Temple Treasury which is not in need of blessings. The Talmud there counters: how can you say that הקדש i.e. the Temple Treasury or any property belonging to the Temple does not qualify for blessings in view of our verse that after eating and being sated one must bless G’d the provider? The Talmud answers that the reason pawns owned by the Temple Treasury do not have to be restored at night is that the verse ends “and it will be considered a charitable act on your part (if you give it back). Seeing the Temple Treasury is not in need of charity there is no need to return the pawn at night. It is evident from that passage in the Talmud that whereas the Temple Treasury is in need of blessings it is not in need of charity. The reason is that all charities emanate from G’d (the owner of the Temple treasury). We have a still more direct proof of the fact that blessings do apply to G’d from the Talmud Berachot 7, where Acatriel, a high ranking angel asked Rabbi Yishmael to bless him, i.e. such blessings are applicable to G’d? We also find in Shabbat 89 that G’d reprimanded Moses for not “assisting Him.” Clearly, man’s blessing or assistance is of value even to G’d? The assistance meant there was a blessing. When we express a blessing for the Lord we add a dimension of Holy Spirit in the universe. Our blessing will become the cause of more of G’d’s creatures receiving His blessing. The sages said also that G’d is desirous of the prayer of the righteous. If the meaning of the word blessing and prayer only referred to man thanking the Lord, why would G’d be interested specifically in the prayers of the relatively few righteous people instead of His desiring everybody’s prayer? Do we not have a principle that the glory of the king is expressed by the adulation of multitudes (Proverbs 14,28)? Clearly the very word ברכה implies that the one bestowing it adds an additional dimension to the recipient of the blessing. This is why in our prayers we mention the words תתברך ותתרומם, “be blessed and (as a result) be elevated, our King, etc.” This is also the reason for the wording in the Kaddish: יתברך וישתבח ויתפאר ויתרומם ויתנשא, “Blessed and praised, glorified, exalted, extolled, proclaimed in His majesty, etc.” In addition we find that the word ברך, knee, describes the One before Whom each knee bends, i.e. the word ברכה, blessing is directly related to a motion with his knees by the one proclaiming the blessing (compare Sefer Habahir item 4).

השמר לך פן תשכח את ה' אלו-היך לבלתי שמר מצותיו ומשפטיו וחקותיו, “Be very much on guard against yourself not to forget the Lord your G’d and to not observe His commandments, His social laws and His statutes.”You are aware already that throughout the Book of Deuteronomy Moses constantly speaks of the combined attributes ה' אלו-הינו, the ones we invoke each time we recite one of the blessings mentioning that we perform one of His commandments. The mystical dimension in that formula is that we address G’d both directly i.e. ברוך אתה, as well as indirectly 'אשר קדשנו וגו.

ורם לבבך ושכחת את ה' אלו-היך, “and your heart will be arrogant and you will forget the Lord your G’d;” pride is the principal cause of forgetting essentials. Due to the abundance of affluence, peace, tranquillity, etc., a person’s heart becomes haughty, smug, and his evil urge finds it easy to provoke him to follow the dictates of his heart without restraint. When that happens, heaven’s concerns become marginal for him. This is why Solomon felt prompted to say (Kohelet 10,4) “if the spirit of a ruler flares up against you, do not leave your place, for deference appeases great offenses.” Solomon referred to the power of the planet Mars as a “ruler,” seeing it is the instigator of all the troubles and unpleasant occurrences on earth; the evil urge derives from that constellation. Solomon calls it רוח, spirit, seeing it personifies the spirit of impurity. The meaning of the whole verse is: “if this spirit of impurity wants to assert itself over you, do not prove agreeable, do not listen to it to put aside the concerns of the Lord in order to follow its call. Do not leave “your place,” seeing G’d is “the place” of the universe.”

למען ענותך ולמען נסותך להיטיבך באחריתך, “in order to afflict you and in order to test you, to do good for you in the end.” All the tedium the people experienced during their trek in the desert was designed to subject them to a test to get them used to deal with such phenomena and to strengthen their faith when they would emerge from these tests each time. Faith in the Lord had to be instilled in them until it became their second nature (actually “first” nature). This is what David prayed for when he said in Psalms 25,5: “guide me in Your true way and teach me.” The word למדני, “teach me,” must be understood as similar to Jeremiah 2,24: פרא למוד במדבר, “a wild ass used to the desert” (trained in the desert). [The wild ass would not be wild if it had indeed been trained. The meaning is that it was unbridled and reflected the norms applicable in the desert. G’d used the Israelites’ desert experience to train them to cope with adversity by relying on their G’d in heaven. Ed.]. Hoseah 10,11 using the example of a heifer, makes a similar point. David asked for G’d’s assistance in training him to do His will until it would become his nature to do so, until it required little effort. We find the same wish expressed in Deut. 14,23 where the commandments of tithing and making pilgrimages to Jerusalem annually are used as prime examples of getting the Jewish people to “learn” to revere the Lord our G’d. The reason why the Torah describes a people being fed manna from heaven as suffering, enduring an “affliction” in doing so is to teach that when someone does not have a food supply for a number of days ahead he is considered as enduring an “affliction.” The fact that the supply of manna was only sufficient for one day at a time and the people had to depend on G’d’s goodwill on a daily basis was an ענוי, a serious discomfort. Even the eating of such a limited food supply makes one conscious that there is nothing left when one has concluded one’s meal, a fact which lessens’ one’s enjoyment. Psychologically, this is similar to the blind who cannot see what they eat and therefore do not enjoy it. Peace of mind, and therefore enjoyment of what one has in storage depends largely on one’s ability to see and reassure oneself that one has no immediate worries. Scriptural proof for this is found in Kohelet 6,9 טוב מראה עינים מהלך נפש, “better what the eyes see than what the mind (only) imagines.”

ואמרת בלבך כחי ועוצם ידי, “and you will say in your heart: “My strength and the power of My hand, etc.” Moses says that possibly your arrogance will become such that you ascribe your affluence to your horoscope. The word כחי would refer to influences from outer space, astrological in nature, the word עצם ידי would refer to sub-terrestrial influences, demons resident below earth.

וזכרת את ה', “You shall remember the Lord your G’d.” He alone is the source of your good fortune because He has given you the strength to perform deeds of valour. In other words: “He handed over to you the power to overcome negative horoscopic influences, influences which G’d had created to perform His will in the terrestrial regions. None of these constellations have any power or influence over you and your fate. This is what our sages meant when they said אין מזל לישראל, “Israel is not subject to horoscopic influences” (Shabbat 156). This is also meaning of the end of our verse: “in order to maintain His covenant which He swore to your forefathers as of this day.” G’d, in His first appearance to Avraham, had positioned him above the stars, making him look down at the stars to teach him that his descendants’ fate would not be governed by such stellar constellations. (Compare Genesis 15,5 and Bereshit Rabbah 44,14 on that verse). The expression הבט in that verse always implies “looking down on something.”

Although, technically, the wording there is in the singular, whatever G’d said to Avraham at the time was intended to cover the Jewish people as a whole not just the individual fate of Avraham. Our paragraph also commences with the singular but continues by using the plural אשר תשמרון לעשות. You might argue that Moses addressed every single Israelite making his message relevant for all future generations and this accounts for the address in the singular, and the meaning of the verse would be: ‘’if you will say in your heart that the wealth and affluence have been decreed from heaven for each Israelite individually rather than for the people collectively.” You would base this on the saying that: “there are no horoscopic forces which determine the fate of the Israelites collectively, though there are such forces at work determining the individual fate of the nation.” You might cite the statement that “economic success, the ability to have children, and the control over life and death do not depend on individual merit but on mazzal” (Moed Katan 28). This consideration might prompt you to ascribe your success to כחי “my personal mazzal.” In fact you would ascribe your success to a combination of the forces at work in outer space and those beneath the earth; Moses tells you here that you must not commit such an error but you must “individually remember (וזכרת את ה' אלו-היך), the Lord your G’d,” i.e. He gave you individually the strength to accomplish what you thought was decreed for you by the stars. Whereas G’d may have used intermediaries to channel success your way, were it not for the power He personally equipped you with, all the stars in the world would not have the power to influence your well being by one iota. This is what Solomon had in mind when he said in Proverbs 22,2: “Rich man and poor man meet; the Lord made them both.” He meant that success and failure are occurrences; they encounter each other due to the motions of the planets in orbit, not because the people who appear to possess it have acquired it due to their superior intelligence or have failed to acquire it due to their inferior intelligence. Neither is the reason for acquisition of wealth due to more sustained effort by one party than the other. Having assimilated this lesson you might say that seeing that success is not due to effort why make any effort at all? It is all the doing of the horoscopic constellations!” To ensure that you do not reason in this fashion Solomon added: “the Lord makes them both.” Everything is the result of Divine decree, even if it sometimes appears as if it is accidental or due to independent power residing in stellar forces.