Helpful Signposts To and From Astray

by R. Gidon Rothstein

Parshat Nitzavim

Where Wrongly Placed Confidence Leads

In the description of the covenant enacted early in our parsha, 29;18, the Torah worries a person will “bless himself in his heart, saying it will be well with me.” Ramban hears a warning to an evildoer who will violate the Torah and also be sure no consequences will ensue for following his/her own will and desires, opposed to Hashem’s.

The certainty hurts the sinner in two ways. First, it is mistaken, all will not be well, Hashem’s ire or wrath (af is the Torah’s word) will burn against that sinner for a generation or generations. [Since Judaism does not believe descendants are punished for an ancestor’s sins unless they continue the evil path, Ramban seems to imply that choices we make can set our descendants to go astray in those ways as well.]

Slaking or Stimulating Thirst

Also, the verse uses the word sherirut, translated as stubbornness, to Ramban a way of indicating that the desire will grow more powerful as the sinner gives in to it, strengthening its hold on his/her heart (Ramban notes Baba Bathra 160b, we close documents with the words sharir ve-kayyam, effective and in force, showing the word indicates permanence).

The attachment grows, why the Torah says the ravah, the watered areas of land (a metaphor for parts of ourselves that were satisfied, not longing for anything) will be destroyed along with the thirsty. As sinners, we start out with elements of ourselves happy without the prohibited. But when other parts of ourselves want what they cannot and should not have—foods, speech, sex, etc.—giving in also whets the appetite, it will expand to that which we did not desire before.

Ramban gives the example of a man who indulges a temptation for promiscuity will. Having allowed his sexual side to overtake him, find himself desiring men, animals, and all the prohibited sexual relationships. [A claim some would argue today, would say their prohibited sexuality would not bleed into others. It doesn’t take much looking to see examples today of where experimentation leads to branching out in general, and anyone alive for the past fifty years has seen the growth of what society considers acceptable.]

Sukkah 52b asserts this growth of sexual appetite, those who try to fully satisfy themselves only get hungrier, where one who leaves desire hungry [enjoys it in moderation, abstinence within marriage is not a Talmudic value; with other temptations, such as food, the wrong from would be to seek to enjoy them as much as possible, leading to always look for more, better, newer. Listening to Hashem’s commands starts to take a back seat].

Ramban thinks Hashem here sought to help the people avoid such issues by renewing the covenant, with new and different warnings, aiming to be more effective, even if earlier covenants should have done the job.

Individual and Tribal Punishment

29;20 says God will separate the sinner who decides to follow his willful heart from all the tribes of Israel, a sentiment in line with what we read in last week’s tochachah. Meshech Chochmah wonders how this fits with the tochachah of Vayikra 26;44, where God promised never to abandon or reject the Jews fully.

He suggests Vayikra was about the tribes as corporate entities, whom Baba Batra 115b says will never be destroyed, whereas here Hashem addressed individuals, who can be. We each of us might bear significant consequences for our actions, up to and including destruction, a fate that could not befall whole tribes.

Individuals, sadly for many of us, can be lost on the way, tribes never.

Ferreting Out the Truth

The first verse of chapter thirty called for us va-hashevota el levavecha, to take to heart the messages being delivered. Sforno understands the Torah to urge us to note the course of our history, and what it says about the necessity of proper service of God.

He assumes/concedes there will be contradictory aspects to that history (blessing and curse, for example), we will need to distinguish truth from falsehood. When we do, we will see how distant our de’ot (opinions or ideas; our worldview, I think he means) have taken us from God, as well as the customs we have adopted, non-Torah ones, more like the nations among whom we have been exiled.

Second week in a row we see him disparage customs. It gives the impression he thought many of his fellow Jews were too focused on custom, too little on the truth of their situation and of standing before God. “Taking to heart” would involve an unflinching account of where we’ve gone right, where not, how to continue the good and excise the rest.

Observance in Exile Paves the Way for Observance in Israel

The Torah does promise we will eventually return to God and perform all the mitzvot, 30;8. R. Hirsch questions the need, since verse two had already said much the same. He assigns the earlier verse to exile, Jews will return to full observance of what’s doable outside Israel, where our verse eight refers to repentance in the Land, once Hashem restores us there.

An idea he writes three times, showing how much it matters to him: the Torah is declaring the indispensable prerequisite for the ingathering of exiles, Jews’return to full observance of what they can do where they are. When Hashem then ends their scatterings, adherence to the Torah in Israel will fulfill the purpose of being brought there.

[Thank God, it seems Hashem did not insist on R. Hirsch’s standard. I think he was more focused on the end of his comment, where he dismissed claims the Torah was outdated. In his time, mid- to late 1800s Germany, many Jews (especially Reform) denied any continuing role for the Land of Israel in Jewish life, and R. Hirsch, staunch defender of the faith, was telling them how wrong they were.

It is a wonder to behold, how Israel now is often a key piece of Reform Jews’ connection to their Jewish identity, when Reform in R. Hirsch’s time was adamant about how irrelevant an idea it was.]

Followership is a Form of Love

When the Torah has Moshe command the Jews le-ahavah God, and to walk in His ways, 30;16, Ibn Ezra writes ha-ikkar, the main, to comment on le-ahavah. He might have meant the Main, as in God, except the verse says et Hashem Elokecha. I think he wants us to know ahavah should be central, the ikkar, of how we relate to God.

For him, the rest of the verse details how love looks. Rambam and others thought to walk in God’s Ways required us to emulate God to the extent possible. For Ibn Ezra, it seems to mean not to change from the ways, actions, and mitzvot Hashem commanded, even if we do not know why. Love of God, for Ibn Ezra, is faithful obedience regardless of comprehension.

When the time comes to see the truth as it is, we will need to overcome our wrong ideas, our wrongly placed confidence, the inclination that has been strengthened by our past misdeeds, and our incorrect readings of history. We will instead have to see history as God has shaped it, work on our observance in preparation for the fuller form halachah will take when the redemption comes, and retrain ourselves to serve God and God alone, to set our path in God’s service.

Other Comments We Saw:
Ramban, Devarim 29;9, Ta’am Atem nitzavim
Ramban, Devarim 29;9, Ve-ta’am rosheichem
Rashi, Devarim 29;11, Le-ovrecha
Onkelos, Devarim 29;12, hayom lo le-am
Rashi, Devarim 29;12, Ve-Hu yihyeh
Onkelos, Devarim 29;17, shoresh poreh rosh ve-la’anah
Onkelos, Devarim 29;18, bi-sherirut libi
Meshech Chochmah, Devarim 29;18, Pen yesh
Rashi, Devarim 29;28, Ha-nistarot
Or HaChayim, Devarim 29;28, Ha-nistarot
R. David Tzvi Hoffmann,Devarim30;1, Ve-hayah
Ramban, Devarim 30;2, Ve-ta’am ve-shavta
Rashi, Devarim 30;3, Ve-shav
Onkelos, Devarim 30;3-4, shevutecha and nidachacha
Malbim, Devarim 30;4, Im yihyen nidachacha
Onkelos, Devarim 30;6, u-mal Hashem
Ramban, Devarim 30; 6, U-mal
Meshech Chochmah, Devarim 30;10, Ki tishma
HaKetav VeHaKabbalah, Devarim 30;11, Lo nifleit
Torat Moshe, Devarim 30;12-13, Lo ba-shamayim
Ha’amek Davar , Devarim 30;12, Lo ba-shamayim
Emet Le-Ya’akov, Devarim 30;12, Lo ba-shamayim
Ramban, Devarim 30;14, Ve-ta’am be-ficha
Rashi, Devarim 30;19, U-vacharta ba-chayim
Kli Yakar, Devarim 30;19, Le-ma’an tichyeh

Parshat VaYelech: The Road Away, the Road Back

The Distance of Abandonment

After telling Moshe about Hakhel, the mitzvah to gather the Jewish people every seven years to remind them of essentials of the Torah, Hashem also tells him of a coming time when the people will be lured by worship of other powers. In 31;16, God says va-azavani, they will leave or abandon Me, where the next verse warns va’azavtim, the exact reverse.

Onkelos avoids anthropomorphisms, so we know why he writes vi-shavkun dachalti, they will relinquish fear of Me, when the Torah speaks of our abandoning God. For 31;17, the seeming obverse, Onkelos has ve-archekinon, I will distance them.

His translation turns a verb about an action of Gd’s (I will leave them) into one that’s more about the impact on them, they will be distanced. More, abandonment is usually about a relationship gone wrong, where distancing is primarily a matter of physical separation.

Perhaps, for Onkelos, the two were linked—when the Jewish people are close to Gd, they are also physically close, in the land of Israel. And when they distance themselves with poor care for the covenant, Gd distances them physically.

It fits with how he translates 31;17 and 18, ve-histarti panai mehem, I will hide My Face from them, and ve-anochi haster astir, I will certainly hide My Face. In both cases, Onkelos has asalek Shechinti minehon, I will remove My Presence from their midst. Gd doesn’t have a face, obviously, but how he changes it again shows his sense of the metaphor—national misdeeds incur a reduction of closeness best described in physical terms, Gd’s Shechinah will not be as present in the Jewish people, Gd forbid.

Success Isn’t Always Good

Or HaChayyim’s struggle with one word in 31;16 leads to an insight on how success can father failure. Hashem tells Moshe that, after his passing, the people would kam and stray after gods. Kam means rise, or get up, a word Or HaChayyim thinks should introduce the idea of something good happening. Here, it is bad, they will betray their ideals and covenant with God.

He argues kam means financial and other worldly success. It is good in the moment, justifying the verb kam, but will then have the same result as in the next chapter, va-yishman Yeshurun va-yiv’at, the Jews will become fat (have all they need and more) and rebel. Similarly, in verse nineteen, Hashem has Moshe write Ha’azinu to try to counter the effects of excess satiety (there, the word is ve-dashen), again a situation leading them to turn to other gods.

[He doesn’t explain why it happens this way; I think we could learn a lot from thinking about why having all we need leads us away from Hashem, again and again. It’s not true of everyone who is rich, and happens to people who aren’t rich. The interesting point is that success presents its own challenges, in many areas. Including maintaining our faithful and subservient service to God.]

He offers a second idea, ve-kam means a new generation. The Jews Moshe is addressing are connected solidly enough to tradition to stave off any idolatry. For the next generation, after Yehoshu’a’s time, the protection will be lost.

Once Moshe and Yehoshu’a are gone, the connection will weaken, too.

What Comes First, Matters Most

In these same verses, when Moshe Rabbenu foretells the people’s eventual return to Hashem, 31;17 has them acknowledge the source of their troubles, God’s absence from their midst, and the verse warns that then Hashem will hide His face, as it were.

To explain why the admission should elicit further removal of God, Chatam Sofer reminds us of Shabbat 119a and 105b, where the Gemara reads a verse in Vayikra, about turning to idols, to teach us to check for root causes. The evil inclination starts us off small, turns us towards idols, not even necessarily worshipping them, step by step deepening our sin, until the victim loses God completely. When the Jews here admit only a lack God in their midst, they have missed the root cause, their turn to idols. Until they do, Hashem will not respond, God forbid.

[He seems to think we lose connection to God by being attracted to something else; I could imagine it going the other way, we are only open to something else if we have lost our connection to God.]

For teshuva to work, the first step is finding and admitting the first step.

God’s Hidden Face

Continuing with that key phrase from 31;18, haster astir panai, I will hide My face, Chullin 139b relates it to Esther of Purim, whose name is very similar to the verb for hiding. I had always thought the Gemara meant Esther would be a time of hiddenness, and because of that Haman would find room for a credible threat to annihilate the Jews.

Ibn Ezra expands it. He thinks “hiding” means God will not answer people’s prayers, will—metaphorically– neither see nor know what is going on with the Jews, and therefore not get involved.

In Ester’s time, supplication saved the day. Ibn Ezra seems to think there could be times Hashem would refuse to respond to prayers, too, leave us to our own devices.

Jews’ Lasting Respect for Torah

Hashem tells Moshe to write a Torah scroll, to testify against the Jewish people when we sin, to remind us why our national fortunes are not what we would hope. In 31;26, Moshe presents the Torah to the Levi’im, tells them to take it and put it in the Aron, for it to serve as a witness. In the next verse, he says he knows them to be a rebellious people, already in his lifetime, let alone after his passing.

The Torah can only be a witness, Meshech Chochmah argues, if we still value it—sadly, today [and I suspect, in his time], there are Jews who would not care if informed their actions contravene the Torah. It highlights an aspect of the Jews of Tanach, their having been connected to Torah even during their greatest failures.

When they worshipped the Calf, for example, Moshe told the Levi’im to judge and kill whoever had actively worshipped, and no one resisted. When people were judged and killed for Pe’or worship, no one protested other than Zimri. The generation of Ach’av was rife and rank with worship of powers other than God, yet Sanhedrin 102b—which says Yerov’am’s most significant transgressions were the least of Ach’av’s–also notes the latter’s respect for Torah (Meshech Hochmah does not summarize the Gemara’s complex inference).

Step one, the Torah thinks even sinning Jews still respect the Torah. Step two, Moshe thinks their sins while he was still alive clearly indicate they will do so after he passes away.

It shows the respect they had for Moshe, in contrast to a religion whose founding leader was mocked and crucified, and which relies on that crucifixion to anchor the religion. Moshe was different (I think he means, in a way that shows Judaism’s greater truth), founded a religion even whose sinners know to respect its Scripture, and was strongest when he was alive, did not need to be retroactively made up.

For our five commentators, a parsha about how we might get distanced from God, how far it might go, and the ways back.

Other Comments We Saw:
Rashi, Devarim 31;2, Lo uchal
Ramban, Devarim 31;2, Va-yomer aleihem
Ha’amek Davar, Devarim 31;3, Hu over lefanecha
Rashi, Devarim 31;7, Ki atah tavo
Meshech Chochmah, Devarim 31;7, Ki atah tavo
R. David Tzvi Hoffmann,Devarim31;7, Vayikra Moshe
Rashi, Devarim 31;10, Miketz
Malbim, Devarim 31;10, Mikeitz
Meshech Chochmah, Devarim 31;10, Mikeitz
Rashi, Devarim 31;11, Tikra
Emet Le-Ya’akov, Devarim 31;11, Be-vo kol Yisra’el
Ramban, Devarim 31;12, Le-ma’an yishme’u
Kli Yakar, Devarim 31;12, Hakhel
Ramban, Devarim 31;14, Va-atzavenu
Ramban, Devarim 31;16, Elohei nechar ha-aretz
Ramban, Devarim 31;17, Ve-ta’am ve-amar ba-yom ha-hu
Onkelos, Devarim 31;19, shira
Rashi, Devarim 31;19, Et ha-shirah
Ramban, Devarim 31;19, Ve-atah kitvu
Rashi, Devarim 31;21, Ve-anetah ha-shirah
Ramban, Devarim 31;21, Ve-ta’am Ki yada’ti
Ramban, Devarim 31;24, Ve-ta’am Va-yehi ke-chalot Moshe
Sforno, Devarim 31;26, Ve-hayah
Onkelos, Devarim 31;27, meryecha
R. Samson RaphaelHirsch, Devarim 31;27, Mamrim heyitem
Rashi, Devarim 31;29, Acharei moti
HaKetav VeHaKabbalah, Devarim 31;29, Ki yada’ti
Onkelos, Devarim 31;30, be-oznei kol kehal