Kommentar zu Dewarim 1:47

אלה הדברים THESE ARE THE WORDS — Because these are words of reproof and he is enumerating here all the places where they provoked God to anger, therefore he suppresses all mention of the matters in which they sinned and refers to them only by a mere allusion contained in the names of these places out of regard for Israel (cf. Sifrei Devarim 1:1; Onkelos and Targum Jonathan).

THESE ARE THE WORDS WHICH MOSES SPOKE UNTO ALL ISRAEL. [The reference is] to the commandments which he will mention in the entire book beginning with the Ten Commandments in the section of Va’ethchanan,¹⁵Further 5:6-18. In other words, the opening expression of the Torah here, These are the words …, is not a reference to the words of Moses from the beginning of the book on, narrating the historical events of the journey through the wilderness, but primarily a reference to the Ten Commandments and the laws that followed, which Moses introduced with a review of their journey from Sinai to the Jordan followed with an exhortation to obedience. as Scripture stated, Moses began explaining this Law, saying,¹⁶Verse 5. clearly indicating that he is speaking of the Law [which begins with the Ten Commandments in the next section of Va’ethchanan]. And in that case [we must say] that in the [following] verse The Eternal our G-d spoke unto us¹⁷Verse 6. an introductory expression of “saying.”¹⁸Since we have explained the word leimor (saying) in Verse 5 as referring not to the contents of Verse 6 but to the Scriptural text of the Ten Commandments, Verse 6 should begin with a phrase explaining that it was Moses who was now speaking on a different subject — not about the commandments, but about the history of the forty years. Thus the verse should begin, “And he [i.e., Moses] said: The Eternal our G-d spoke unto us …” is omitted. Similarly [there is an omission in the verse] And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Menasheh: ‘for G-d hath made me forget all my toil’ … And the name of the second he called Ephraim: ‘for G-d hath made me fruitful.’¹⁹Genesis 41:51-52. Both verses omit the expression “for he [Joseph] said” [that G-d hath made me forget … “for he said” that G-d hath made me fruitful]. And the purport of these verses here is as follows: “These are the commandments which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the fortieth year from their departure from Egypt on the first day of the eleventh month according to all that the Eternal had commanded him for them,²⁰Verse 3. this being after he had smitten Sihon and Og,²¹Verse 4. in the land of Moab, there Moses began to explain to them this Law, as follows. And he said: The Eternal our G-d spoke unto us in Horeb, saying: ‘Ye have dwelt long enough etc.’”¹⁷Verse 6. And the meaning thereof is that when Moses began explaining the commandments to them, he said to them at the outset of his words: The Eternal our G-d spoke unto us in Horeb, after He gave us the Ten Commandments, [ordering] that we conquer the Land at once and that we cross the Jordan. But your sins caused you this and that consequence [as Moses goes on to relate]. The words of this introduction continue until he concludes with the verse, And thou shalt keep His statutes, and His commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the Land, which the Eternal thy G-d giveth thee, forever.²²Further, 4:40. Then Moses called all Israel that were before him and said, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day,²³Ibid., 5:1. and then began the explanation of the Torah with the Ten Commandments in order that they hear them with the explanation from the mouth of the one who received them from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He. Afterwards he informed them of the Unity of G-d, as it is said, Hear, O Israel: the Eternal our G-d, the Eternal is One,²⁴Ibid., 6:4. and all the commandments in this book. This is why Scripture explained here which Moses spoke unto ‘all’ Israel, and there it is stated, And Moses called unto ‘all’ Israel²³Ibid., 5:1. [emphasizing that all were present], because the explanation of the Torah and the completion of the commandments must be in the presence of “all” Israel just as was the Giving of the Torah [itself on Mount Sinai]. Now, because he [Moses] prolonged the words of this introduction, Scripture [in Va’ethchanan where Moses finally begins explaining “the words” with which he began this opening verse] returned to the place at which it stopped at the beginning of the explanation of the Torah and said, And this is the Law which Moses set before the children of Israel; these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt,²⁵Ibid., 4:44-45. and mentioned that it was beyond the Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon,²⁶Ibid., Verse 46. this being the land of Moab mentioned here¹⁶Verse 5. since Israel did not enter the land of Moab except what was made permissible for them by Sihon [who conquered part of Moab and became its ruler, thus removing that territory from the injunction that Israel may not wage war against Moab] as has been explained in the preceding book.²⁷Numbers 21:26; 35:14.
Thus Scripture mentioned two things here. [The first thing is:] it stated that Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, according to all that the Eternal had commanded him for them,²⁰Verse 3. this being an allusion to the commandments which he would tell them in this book that have not been mentioned thus far in the Torah. And it says that these commandments were exactly as G-d commanded him; he did not add to, or substract from what he had been commanded. It was necessary that this be stated [i.e., that Moses spoke according to all that the Eternal had commanded him] because Scripture does not state of them “And the Eternal spoke unto Moses;” therefore it included them now, [emphasizing] that they were all according to what he was commanded from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He. [The second thing is:] it further stated that Moses began explaining this Law,¹⁶Verse 5. this being an allusion to the commandments which were already declared, that he would repeat them in order to clarify them further and to give additional instruction about them. And the meaning of the expression ho’il Mosheh²⁸Verse 5. This is generally translated: “Moses began.” Since according to Ramban, the explanation of the commandments does not begin until the Ten Commandments in 5:6, Ramban interprets the word ho’il as “wished;” thus meaning “Moses wished” to explain this Torah; however, the beginning thereof is not here, but later on as explained. According to those commentators, such as Rashi, who explain the reference ‘These are the words’ in our verse as referring to Moses’ words of chastisement, the word ho’il does mean “begin,” since the reproof begins in the next verse. is that “Moses wished” to explain the Torah to them. This is said to inform us that Moses saw fit to do so although G-d had not yet commanded him thereon [but afterwards, when He commanded him to write down the whole Torah, G-d Himself said all these words that were originally spoken by Moses; and Moses wrote them as he was commanded. Hence there is no difference between the first four books of the Torah and this fifth book, Deuteronomy, as all are equally the word of G-d]. The word ho’il is thus related to the expressions: ‘ho’el na’ (be willing, I pray thee), and tarry all night;²⁹Judges 19:6. would that ‘ho’alnu’ (we had been willing) and dwelt beyond the Jordan,³⁰Joshua 7:7. and so also many similar expressions.

'אלה הדברים אשר דבר משה אל כל ישראל וגו, he means that in all the locations mentioned by him here he had communicated what follows to the people, some in each location. In all of these locations the people had angered G’d. Each time he reminded them that if it had not been for their sins they would have long since reached their destination. The locations in question were the following: 'אחד עשר יום מחורב וגו, all the 38 years that they were wandering in the desert they did not travel in a straight line, nor did they travel on well marked routes used by desert travelers. Each time they arrived at a spot where they made camp Moses reminded them that the reason that they had still not reached their final destination was due to their having committed so many sins. The proof was that אחד עשר יום יש מחורב עד קדש ברנע...דרך הר שעיר, the shortest route to Kadesh Barnea, the southern boundary of the Land of Israel is only 11 days’ march away from Mount Chorev when traveling via Mount Seir. In fact, G’d made them reach Kadesh Barnea after they set out from Chorev in only three days by leading them through the great and terrible desert. If they were still not in the Holy Land this was only due to their sins. The delay had been designed to make them have remorse and to return to G’d without mental reservations.

These are the words (1:1) - This is a hint for three times [eleh = 1; devarim, plural, counts as 2]. They were said in Sinai, and were repeated in the Tent of Meeting and were said a third time in the wilderness of Moav, and on each mitzvah 16 covenants were established: 16 on Sinai, 16 in the Tent of Meeting and 16 in the Wilderness of Moav, and that makes for 48; and there are 48 warnings against them in the Torah regarding gerim and 48 times regarding the ger that comes to cling to Torahin which 48 covenants were established.

אלה הדברים, These are the words, etc. The word אלה is restrictive, especially in regard to what has been written previously. Seeing Moses recorded in this Book only words which he had spoken on his own initiative, the Torah wishes to emphasise that only the words of admonition recorded in this Book were spoken by Moses on his own initiative. We are told in Megillah 31 that Moses personally composed the curses recorded in this Book, and that even legislation which Moses repeated in this Book he had not been commanded to repeat but did so of his own volition. The Torah was concerned that we might conclude that just as Moses had felt free to say things of his own volition in this Book he might have done so in the previous four Books. This is why this Book commences with the words אלה הדברים, "only these are the words Moses spoke of his own volition, none other."

אלו הדברים, according to the plain meaning of the text the names mentioned in this verse all are names of locations, as we find that it is customary for the text of the Torah to give detail followed by further detail of the places whose exact location the Torah wishes to elaborate on in greater detail. For instance, in Genesis 12,8 when describing Avraham as pitching his tent in some place, it refers first to Beyt El, and then elaborates by saying that the he found himself with Beyt El on his east and Ai on the west. In Exodus 14,2, the Israelites are described as making a turnabout before a place described as Pi Hachirot, elaborating by saying that this Pi Hachirot is between Migdol and the sea to the north of Baal Yzefon. In Judges 21,19 an annual festival was observed at Shiloh which is described as situated north of Beyt El, east of the highway which runs from Beyt El to Shechem and south of Levonah.
If locations which did not have the distinction of serving as places where parts of the Torah were revealed to the Jewish people were described in such detail, it is not surprising that places where such parts of the Torah were revealed are described in detail. (compare Numbers 9,1, Exodus 12,1-2, Leviticus 25,1 Numbers 33,3) Here too, the locations are described with detail upon detail; they are the places that served Moses to explain the laws of the Torah, the ceremonial laws, the statutes, and the social laws. (compare 4,45-46, as well as verse 5 in our chapter.)

אלה הדברים, “These are the words, etc.” Nachmanides writes in a separate introduction to this Book that seeing that the generation Moses was addressing was the one that would enter the Holy Land, Moses detailed most of the Torah’s commandments that applied inside the Holy Land, omitting sacrificial offerings, purity laws as they relate to the priests, seeing that he had already outlined those, and at any rate, the priests do not need a refresher course, being by definition eager and willing to observe the laws in all its ramifications. He did, however, repeat most of the laws which applied to the ordinary Israelite a second time, adding warnings in many instances, especially laws connected to idolatry which he repeated more than twice. We also find in this Book a number of commandments that have not been mentioned in the first four Books at all, such as the laws pertaining to the levirate marriage, ייבום, or the laws about a groom who slanders the supposedly unchaste bride of his as having not entered marriage as a virgin. Moses himself had, of course, been made familiar with these laws by G’d when he had been on the mountain, before the spies had been dispatched. The thrust of the verse beginning here is that although these laws were communicated by Moses in ערבות מואב, the plain of Moav, not a single one of these commandments was new. The only “new” aspect of these commandments was the fact that they were now spelled out to the people. Another notable fact in this Book is that we do not find such sentences as וידבר ה' אל משה, “Hashem spoke to Moses, etc.” Neither do we find such lines as דבר אל בני ישראל, “speak to the Children of Israel (and tell them about such and such a commandment!)” It is possible that the reason the commandments mentioned here for the first time were not included in the first four volumes of the Torah may be that those commandments were not practiced in the desert. They would be practiced only once the people were in the Holy Land, although some of these commandments pertain to their bodies rather than to the land. Another reason for the non-publication of those commandments before now could be that they are not the type that are observed daily, the opportunity to observe them presenting itself only rarely and not to the average person. Before Moses got ready to relate all these various commandments, he used the present opportunity, a few weeks before his death, to admonish the people, and to remind them of past sins, and how they had caused Hashem a lot of grief during these years. He reminded them how G’d had treated them by invoking His attribute of Mercy and loving kindness time and again. He warned them not to become corrupt again by gambling that G’d would forever employ such forgiveness, etc. They should not rely on the fact that because they were human they were bound to err and sin from time to time, and that G’d, knowing this, would overlook their trespasses. While it is true that if G’d were not to take into consideration their evil inclination and their sometimes falling victim to its lure, neither they nor subsequent generations would ever qualify to conquer the Holy Land, however their daily conduct must not be based on such considerations. They must not forget that in spite of the prevalence of the attribute of Mercy, the attribute of Justice constantly tries to oppose that attribute and they could not rely on the attribute of mercy always prevailing.

Because these are words of admonishment, etc. For it should have said, “And Moshe spoke to all of Israel.” Therefore, Rashi explains: Because these are words of [admonishment]. In other words, we still need to explain why it says, “In the wilderness — on the Arava Plain etc,” rather than explicitly stating their actions. Perforce, we must say that these are words of admonishment etc. And the reason why Moshe said these words in an obscure manner is because in a single speech he recounted all the times that Yisroel angered Hashem. Therefore, he did not rebuke them in a direct manner. But if he was rebuking them for only one incident in which they had angered Hashem, he would have mentioned it directly. For, “There is not a righteous man on earth who does [only] good and never sins (Koheles 7:20),” and therefore it is not so embarrassing. Also, that is why it says הדברים (the words), for the term דברים indicates words of rebuke. Rashi explains this at the beginning of Koheles (1:1), and there his proof is from [this verse], “These are the words.” The primary source that the term דבר indicates rebuke is below (v. 17), “And the matter (דבר) that will be too difficult for you, etc.” Re”m writes: Rashi’s explanation is perplexing. For if “These are the words,” indicates words of rebuke, why does the verse say afterwards (v. 3), “with every detail that Adonoy had commanded etc.”? But, Moshe said the words of rebuke on his own. Perhaps the answer is: The words of rebuke were sanctioned by Hashem, although Moshe said them on his own. And since Hashem had allowed them, it says, “that Adonoy had commanded etc.” Alternatively: Hashem commanded Moshe to rebuke them, and it was on his own that Moshe waited until shortly before his death [to rebuke them]. But it seems to me: “With every detail that Adonoy had commanded etc,” is not referring to the rebuke, but rather to the mitzvos in general, i.e. the review of the Torah. Moshe did two things — he rebuked them on his own, and he also explained the Torah and the mitzvos to them, as will he explains later.

Kap. 1. V. 1. אלה הדברים bezieht sich auf den ganzen Inhalt dieses fünften Buches. Wie die letzten Kapitel des vierten Buches dasjenige berichten, was Gott in Veranlassung der nun bevorstehenden Besitznahme des Landes und in Beziehung auf dieselbe durch Mosche verordnete und anordnete, ist in dieses fünfte Buch das niedergelegt, was nun noch Mosche an das Volk, aus dessen Mitte er nun zu scheiden im Begriffe war und das ohne seine Führung der Lösung seiner Aufgabe in dem in Besitz zu nehmenden Lande entgegen ging, gesprochen hat. Die hier folgenden Ortsbestimmungen scheinen die Örtlichkeit ganz genau nach ihrer geographischen Lage bestimmen zu wollen, wo Mosche seine letzten hieniedigen Wochen unter seinem Volke gelebt, wo das Volk seinen Führer zuletzt in seiner Mitte gesehen, wo es zuletzt das lebendige Wort seines Mosche vernommen. Je mehr jedes Wort dieser letzten Reden unseres gottgesandten Führers das Gepräge der ganzen Innigkeit seiner an seinem Volke und dessen Heileszukunft hangenden Seele trägt, je mehr sich darin das heiße Verlangen ausspricht, damit gleichsam seinen Geist und seine Seele seinem Volke für die prüfungsvolle Zukunft, die seiner wartet, mit hinauszugeben, und je weniger diese Örtlichkeit in der Wüste selbst durch irgend ein eigenes Merkmal kenntlich gewesen ist, umsomehr ist der Wunsch begreiflich, sie durch ihre Lage und Begrenzung der Erinnerung zu erhalten. Geht ja unser Mosche von hinnen und kein Denkmal, keine Ehrensäule, kein irdisches Erinnerungszeichen bleibt von ihm zurück; nicht einmal sein Grab soll den Nachkommen zum äußeren Erinnerungsmittel werden. Die ganze leibliche Persönlichkeit unseres Mosche schwindet mit seinem Tode. Nur die räumliche Stätte, die sein treues Wort an sein Volk zuletzt vernommen, wird dem Gedächtnis mit möglichster Präzision überliefert, auf dass, wenn ein später Enkel seines Volkes diese Stätte betritt, ihm die Örtlichkeit das Echo des treuen Moschewortes entgegenbringe und ihn zur treuen Nachfolge in seinem Volke und für sein Volk begeistern möge. —

אלה הדברים אשר דבר משה, “These are the words that Moses spoke, etc.” This introduction to the Book of Deuteronomy is similar to what Solomon said in Proverbs 28,23: מוכיח אדם אחרי חן ימצא ממחליק לשון, “he who rebukes a man will find favour eventually; more so than he who flatters with his tongue.” Solomon refers to Moses when he speaks of the rebuker, seeing that he rebuked Israel, as the prophet Ezekiel said in Ezekiel 34,31: ואתנה צאן מרעיתי אדם אתם, “Now, you My sheep, sheep of my pasture-are Adam, i.e. after having responded to the rebuke appropriately, you are entitled to be called Adam, not animal.”

אלה הדברים, “these are the words, etc.” wherever a paragraph is introduced with the word: אלה, it is not to be considered as continuation of what preceded it. Up to now we read about commandments involving ritual and social legislation, whereas from here on in we are reading words of admonition and warnings about a dire future for the Jewish people if these warnings should be ignored. There is no point in countering that Numbers 36,13 also begins with the word: אלה, or to point to Leviticus 26,3 27,34, as in those instances the verse itself concludes the subject matter that had been under discussion.

אל כל ישראל [THE WORDS WHICH HE SPAKE] TO ALL ISRAEL — If he had reproved only some of them, those who were then in the street (i.e. those who were absent) might have said, “You heard from the son of Amram, and did not answer a single word regarding this and that; had we been there, we would have given him an answer!". On this account he assembled all of them, and said to them, "See, you are all here: he who has anything to say in reply, let him reply!” (Sifrei Devarim 1:6-7).

בעבר הירדן, followed by which side of the Jordan this took place on, i.e.

אלה הדברים, the words that Moses is about to speak refer to the words that are recorded in this volume of the Torah. Moses will first review the whole Torah, commencing with the revelation at Mount Sinai and the Ten Commandments. In verse 6 we would have expected the verse to begin with the words ויאמר משה, something that is missing here. We do find a similar construction where such an introductory remark is missing when Joseph names his first son Menashe, and the Torah reports that he said: כי נשני אלוקים את כל עמלי, “for the Lord has made me forget all my troubles,” (Genesis 41,51, as well as verse 52 concerning Ephrayim) where we would have expected at least the introductory words כי אמר. The reason that Moses used this introduction was to remind them that not quite a year after that G’d had told the people that they had encamped around Mount Sinai long enough, and that it was time to begin their journey toward their ultimate objective, the Holy Land. This was a pointed reminder that as far as G’d was concerned they had been sufficiently prepared to make war successfully against the Canaanites, whose measure of guilt by then was full, so that the Israelites should have every chance to defeat them. These introductory words continue until 4,40 ושמרת את חוקיו ואת מצותיו אשר אנכי מצוך היום, “you shall observe His decrees and His commandments that I command you this day, to carry them out, etc.” After this Moses called upon the whole nation of Israel that stood assembled before him saying: שמע ישראל וגו', 5,1 and began with a restatement of the Ten Commandments. Having concluded with that restatement, including minor additions, he emphasizes the uniqueness of G’d, i.e.שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our G’d, the Lord is One,” followed by all the commandments contained in this volume of the Torah. This is the reason why we have the formula here: דבר משה אל כל ישראל that Moses spoke to all of the Children of Israel, and the same formula is used in 5,1 when he is described as calling to all of the Children of Israel when exhorting them to learn and to keep the commandments. It was important that just as 40 years ago at the revelation to the previous generation all the people were assembled, now when the covenant is about to be renewed with a new generation the whole people must be in attendance at that event. When the Torah describes Moses as באר את התורה הזאת “explaining this Torah,” (verse 5) this is a reference to the Torah which the people had already heard from his mouth once before. He now reviews this part of the Torah and in a number of cases expands on it, filling in details not revealed up until now. He emphasized that all of this had been commanded to him by Hashem, i.e. he had not added anything of his own. The meaning of the word הואיל is that the initiative for this review is his own; he had not been told by Hashem to do so. The term is used several times in Scriptures for free-willed agreement, as for instance in Joshua 7,7 ולו הואלנו ונשב בעבר הירדן, “if we had only been willing to remain and settle on the east bank of the Jordan.” When Moses responded to Yitro’s invitation to dwell in his house, his willingness is also described by the word ויואל משה לשבת את האיש, “Moses agreed to dwell with that man.” (Exodus 2,21).

And only intimated, etc. You might ask: Note that afterwards, Moshe explicitly mentions their sins when discussing the spies, as it says (v. 22), “You approached me, all of you, etc.” And also other incidents in which they had angered Hashem are recounted in this parsha. The answer is: For this reason Rashi chose to say, “Moshe intended to recount here all the places.” I.e., here he recounted all the places in an obscure manner, as explained above.

The Torah also wanted to go on record that during the entire preceding 40 years when Moses had been the faithful shepherd of the people of Israel, he never spoke harshly to the children of Israel unless instructed to do so by G'd. Even though we find Moses reported as having addressed the Israelites with the words: "listen you rebellious people" in Numbers 20,10, he did not include the whole people in that description but only referred to those reluctant to accept authority. This view is supported by the Zohar. The only time Moses included the entire people in an address consisting primarily of words of admonition is in this Book. This is why the Torah here stresses: "to the whole of Israel."

מול סוף, es ist nicht wahrscheinlich, dass hier unter סוף das ים סוף zu verstehen sei, das ja auch sonst nicht ohne das Kollektivnomen ים vorkommt. Es scheint vielmehr ein Ortsname zu sein. Kommt doch auch sonst תפל und לבן nicht weiter vor. Wenn nach einer Auffassung im ספרי alle diese Ortsnamen an Versündigungen erinnern, die sich das Volk auf seiner langen Wanderung durch die Wüste hatte zu Schulden kommen lassen, so ist es ja nicht unmöglich, dass Mosche und das Volk bestimmten Örtern, welche die Ebene umschlossen, auf welcher Mosche die letzten Wochen seiner irdischen Wallfahrt zur Belehrung und zu ermahnenden Ansprachen benutzte, eben diese von den nationalen Verirrungen zeugenden Namen erteilten, um gleichsam unter Vergegenwärtigung einer solchen Vergangenheit die ernstesten Vorsätze für eine reinere, treuere Zukunft zu wecken.

אחרי, “after Me,” this word in the line quoted from Proverbs, refers to G–d, Who had been the first One to rebuke Israel. Israel had found favour on account of that, so that after enduring the slavery in Egypt (rebuke), when He redeemed them they accepted His Torah. G–d confirmed this when He said to Moses in Exodus 33,12: וגם מצאת חן בעיני, “and you too, have found favour in My eyes.”

אל כל ישראל, “to all the Israelites.” This teaches that Moses’ voice was powerful enough to be heard throughout the camp without megaphones.

במדבר IN THE WILDERNESS — They, however,‎‎were not then in the wilderness, but in the plains of Moab (cf. Numbers 36:13 and further on verse 5): What, therefore, is the meaning of במדבר? It does not mean "in the wilderness”, but the meaning is: he reproved them on account of that wherein they had provoked Him to anger in the wilderness — that they said, (Exodus 16:3) “Would that we had died [by the hand of the Lord]” (cf. Sifrei Devarim 1:11).

במדבר, on the bank of the Jordan facing the desert in which the Israelites had spent the last 40 years, which is know as עבר הירדן, “the far bank of the Jordan” to the people residing west of it. It did not refer to what would be called עבר הירדן near Jerusalem that is also referred to as the far bank of the Jordan by people traveling in the desert through which the Israelites had been traveling all these years.

במדבר, “in the desert.” Although at this time the people were already no longer in the desert but in the land adjoining Moav, accessible to civilization, Moses mentions that the Torah had been revealed in the desert. Onkelos claims that all the locations referred to by Moses are merely allusions, thinly veiled, to places where certain events had taken place, particularly the people’s misdemeanours that Moses at this point is not anxious to spell out.

They had angered Hashem in the wilderness, etc. Onkelos also translates in a similar manner, על דחבו במדברא וכו' (that they became guilty to Hashem in the wilderness). Re”m writes: I find it difficult to understand how Rashi can explain that the word אלה (these) is referring to the [actual] words [of rebuke] that the [rest of the] verse is alluding to. Yet, nothing is mentioned here besides the places where they angered Hashem. But the actual words [of rebuke] that Moshe said are not mentioned at all, etc. In truth, I do not know why he finds Rashi to be difficult, because note that Rashi explains אלה הדברים as “these are the words of rebuke.” The word דברים is the rebuke, as if the verse said, “This is the rebuke that Moshe admonished to all of Israel across the Yardein, because they sinned in the wilderness, etc.” Onkelos, however, translates the word הדברים as “These are the words,” instead of, “This is the rebuke, etc.” Therefore, he needed to add the words אוכח יתהון וכו' (he rebuked them, etc). But Rashi, who explains הדברים as “rebuke,” has no need to add the words that Onkelos adds. Rashi’s explanation is logical and clear.

Furthermore, the Torah wanted to provide the time frame during which Moses admonished the people with these words. He began to speak to them on the first day of Shevat as the Torah speaks of "the eleventh month on the first of the month." We know that Moses died on the seventh of Adar, (Kidushin 38) so that he allowed himself 36 days for these admonitions. These 36 days correspond to the numerical value of the word אלה.

ממחליק לשון, “more than the flatterer with his tongue;” with these words Solomon in the above quoted line, refers to Bileam, who instead of rebuking Israel, heaped words of flattery upon them (Numbers 24,5). He referred specifically to what Bileam had said there, i.e. מה טובו אהליך יעקב, “how goodly are your tents, Yaakov. (Compare D’varim Rabbah 1,2.) Our author elaborates with a parable. A prince had two ministers, one of whom he loved and the other he had grown to hate. He cautioned the minister whom he loved not to commit any misdemeanours, as if such would come to the attention of the King he would be severely punished, the king not exercising any mercy. He encouraged the minister he hated to live his life without restraints as even if he did become guilty of a misdemeanour he had someone at court who would intervene on his behalf. Moses acted similarly; seeing that he loved Israel, he warned them not to become guilty not to follow the wrong path as this would lead to disaster for them. (Deut. 11,16) Bileam, on the other hand, seeing that he hated Israel, would praise them, hoping that in their exuberance they would commit acts through which they would forfeit the goodwill of their heavenly Father. Concerning the Jewish people, Bileam had said in Numbers 23,19: לא איש א-ל ויכזב, “G–d is not like man who threatens and relents,” in dealing with the gentile nations He never relents; but when dealing with the Jwewish people, דבר ולא יקימנו, “even though He had expressed verbally His wrath and threatened punishment, in the end He will not carry out what He had threatened.” (same verse) Concerning the Jewish people, Solomon said in Proverbs 27,6: נאמנים פצעי אוהב ונעתרות נשיקות שונא, “wounds inflicted by a loved one are long lasting; the kisses of an enemy are profuse.” Concerning Moses, Solomon said in Proverbs 24,25: ולמוכיחים ינעם ועליהם תבא ברכת טוב, “but those who rebuke the wicked will experience delight; blessings of good things will come upon them.” You will note that Solomon does not conclude with the word עליו, “upon him,” the rebuker, but he uses the plural mode, עליהם, “upon them,” i.e. the ones who have been rebuked.

בעבר הירדן, the term here refers to the Israelites on the east bank of the Jordan, on the plains of Moav as mentioned in verse 5, not to the area settled by the tribes of Reuven and Gad, previously owned by the Emorites.

בערבה IN THE PLAIN — i.e. he reproved them regarding the plain: that they had sinned through Baal Peor at Shittim in the plains of Moab (cf. Sifrei Devarim 1:13)

בערבה, a narrower definition of where precisely in the desert. The location is narrowed to the Aravah of Moav

Because it was at Arava, etc. You should not say that Arava simply means “their place of encampment,” as it is written above in Parshas Masai (Bamidbar 33:48), “And they camped in the plains of Moav (בערבות מואב).” Otherwise, Scripture should have written, “Across the Yardein, in the Arava plain, in the wilderness (בערבה במדבר).”

The word אלה is also an allusion to a statement by Rava in Yuma 19 that the words ודברת בם "and you shall speak about them" in Deut 6,7 mean that the only legitimate subjects of conversation are Torah learning and the instilling of fear of G'd in the minds of people, i.e. words of admonition. The Torah wishes to testify that throughout his life the only words which Moses permitted himself to speak unbidden were of a compelling nature; other than that he only spoke words which G'd had bidden him to speak. Anyone who peruses the words in this Book can see at once that they are either instructions in Torah or words designed to strengthen the people's faith in G'd.

בין פארן ובין תפל ולבן, “between Paran, Tofel and Lavan;” Words of תיפלות, critique, against the manna which was white in colour. What precisely were these words of critique? They said: “who has ever heard of a food which requires grinding which is so absorbed by the body that none of it is excreted?”

במדבר בערבה, in the desert, the Aravah. In other words, the things Moses was about to speak to the Israelites here, he had already spoken to them about in the various places that will be named forthwith. We find a similar formulation in Deuteronomy 4,46: במדבר in the desert;” this is the desert facing Mount Sinai.

מול סוף OVER AGAINST SUPH — i.e. he reproved them regarding that in which they had shown themselves rebellious at the Red Sea (סוף): viz., on their arrival at the Red Sea — that they said, (Exodus 14:11) “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt [that thou hast brought us to die in the wilderness?]"; and similarly when they left the midst of the Sea, as it is said, (Psalms 106:7) “They murmured because of the Sea, at the Red Sea”, as it is related in Treatise Arakhin 15a (cf. Rashi on Numbers 14:22 and Sifrei 1:14).

מול סוף, the Sea of Reeds begins somewhere to the east of the land of Israel as we know from Exodus 23,31 where it is described as bordering the land of the Philistines, the eastern border being the Dead Sea, described as south-east in Numbers 34,3. We have a repetition of these data in Deuteronomy 4,49, where it is clear that what is called ים סוף is the Sea of Reeds facing the Aravah of Moav.

Regarding the denigrating statements, etc. The term תפלו is an expression of being “attached.” I.e., they engaged in an argument about the manna.

Still another meaning of the word אלה is based on the words of Bereshit Rabbah 12 which we quoted at the beginning of Parshat Massey that this word separates from what precedes it, the previous subject matter being regarded as something inferior by comparison to what is being introduced by the word אלה. The subject matter being introduced by the word אלה is considered as far greater in importance than what has preceded it. The Torah here explains that the reason for these words of Moses being superior to anything he is quoted as having said in the preceding four Books is 1) the fact that these words were his very own. No other human being could equal Moses in stature which made his words superior to those of any other human being. G'd had indicated this already in Numbers 12,8 when He admonished Moses' brother and sister. 2) He addressed these words to a group of people, i.e. the Jewish people, who also were a select group of human beings, collectively on an incomparably higher spiritual level than any other collection of human beings. In short then: אלה הדברים, "these are (the true) words of Moses, there are none to compare to it."

בערבה, “another place in the same desert known as Aravah. It is referred to again in our portion in chapter 2,8: 'ונעבור....מדרך הערבה מאילת ומעציון גבר וגו; which location precisely was this? The one opposite the reeds, the great desert of Paran which commences at a place known as Eytam. This is why the Torah wrote (Numbers 33,6) ויחנו באיתם אשר בקצה המדבר, “they encamped at Eytam which is at the edge of the desert.” Now we are told that this was also extending to the boundary of the land of Moav. We have proof of this in Deut. 2,8, as well as in Deut. 8,2. The place also appears in Ezekiel 20,35 as מדבר העמים, “desert of nations.” Several nations had a border touching the edge of this desert. This is why sometimes it appears as מדבר שור, or ,מדבר קדמות or מדבר מואב

בין פארן ובין תפל ולבן BETWEEN PARAN, AND TOPHEL AND LABAN — R. Jochanan said: We have gone through the whole Bible and we have found no place the name of which is Tophel or Laban! But the meaning is that he reproved them because of the calumnious statements (טפלו) they had made regarding the Manna which was white (לבן) in colour — that they said, (Numbers 21:5) “And our soul loathes this light bread”; and because of what they had done in the wilderness of Paran through the spies.

בין פארן ובין תופל, a description paralleling that in Genesis 13,3, i.e. בין בית אל ובין העי.

The sin they committed in the wilderness of Poron, etc. Do not ask why Rashi did not explain “Poron” before “Tofel and Lovon,” in accordance with the order that they appear in the verse. For the answer is: At first, I would have thought that “Between Poron and Tofel and Lovon,” is describing the place called “Mol Suf.” But now that Rashi explains that “Tofel and Lovon” are not the names of places, then what is the meaning of “Poron”? Rashi answers: The sin they committed etc. However, [according to this explanation] the term “between” is problematic.

אשר דבר משה, which Moses spoke, etc. Inasmuch as Moses commences with hinting at Israel's insubordination already at the sea of reeds, the present generation might well have countered that there was no point in dragging up sins committed by people who had long since died. After all, the last of the 600,000 men whose death had been decreed as a result of the sin of the spies had died on the 15th of Av previously (compare beginning of Midrash Eycha Rabbati). The Torah therefore says that if Moses had spoken in G'd's name such a complaint might have been justified. However, he personally, was not bound by such considerations and he considered it important to remind those who had been younger than twenty at the time of the Exodus to look back on a string of insubordinations the people had been guilty of already at that stage of the Exodus. While it was quite true that the Celestial Court sentences only people over and above the age of 20, the same is not true of courts administered by judges on earth who consider males over 13 years as fully liable for their actions. When Moses "dragged" up these ancient sins, he had in mind all those who had been at least 13 years old at the time.

בין פארן, between Paran, etc., seeing that the desert was very large, Moses supplies more detail concerning where what had occurred.

וחצרת AND HAZEROTH — i.e. regarding wh‎at they had done there at the insurrection of Korah. — Another explanation: He said to them, “You ought to have taken a lesson from what I did to Miriam at Hazeroth because of the slander she uttered, and yet you even after that spoke against the Omnipresent (Sifrei Devarim 1:15).

... And on Tisha b'Av was the incident of the spies and on that day was born the character trait of baseless hatred (Sinat Chinam) within Israel as it is written (Deut. 1:27) “It is out of hatred for us that יהוה brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to wipe us out." And on this Rashi explained "What is in your own mind about your friend, you imagine is what is in his mind about you" (Sifrei Devarim 24:3). Because they each thought after this (the incident with the spies) that they hated their fellow and thus it made sense to them to think that God hated them as well...

ולבן, וחצרות, ודי זהב. All these are names of locations, according to the simple meaning of the text.

This refers to the rebellion of Korach, etc. This implies that the rebellion of Korach happened before the spies were sent [as follows]: It is written, “The People traveled from Chatzeiros and they camped in the desert of Poron (Bamidbar 12:16),” and afterwards it is written, “Send for yourself men [and have them scout the land].” Since it is written here “Chatzeiros,” and Rashi explains, “This refers to the rebellion of Korach,” then we can infer that before they came to the desert of Poron, the rebellion of Korach had already taken place in Chatzeiros. See Parshas Korach [where Rashi explains differently] regarding the verse (ibid. 16:4), “And Moshe heard, etc.”

אל כל ישראל, to all of Israel, etc. The reason the Torah had to stress that Moses spoke to all of Israel was twofold. 1) Moses reviewed the Torah; 2) he admonished them concerning things they had been already guilty of. Both matters require that the entire people be in attendance. The reason for reviewing the Torah was to ensure that if someone had forgotten a certain commandment it would now be recalled. Seeing that it was quite impossible to single out who might have forgotten which commandment, Moses had to assemble the entire nation to make certain they would all hear the Torah once more. In this manner everyone could remind himself of anything which he had forgotten. The entire nation had to be assembled to listen to the words of admonition as the impression created if Moses had assembled only part of the people would have been counterproductive. Those who had been assembled would complain that only they had been singled out. The words אל כל ישראל may even include those who had already died. Moses addressed both the living and the dead. We find a parallel for this in Isaiah 43,27 "Your original father (Adam) has sinned, etc."

ובין תופל ולבן, “and between Tofel and Lavan;” we are forced to use our logic concerning these names, as we have no documents to even prove that they existed. It is most likely that they were names of sites where the Israelites had encamped, but many may have received their names only as a result of having served as a base for the Israelites during those years. Quite a few of these names did not appear in the list of the Israelites’ journey enumerated chronologically in parshat Massey. Some appear four times, each time with a different name. Compare our author on Numbers 33,19, and 46.

ודי זהב AND DI ZAHAB (the name is taken in the sense of “sufficiency of gold”) — He reproved them on account of the golden calf which they had made in consequence of the abundance of gold which they had, as it is said, (Hosea 2:10) “And silver did I give them in abundance and gold: they, however, made it into a Baal” (cf. Berakhot 32a; Sifrei Devarim 1:18).

ודי זהב, an expression similar to בת מי זהב in Genesis 36,39 which is also the name of a location.

From what I did to Miriam, etc. According to the first explanation, there is a difficulty: Scripture does not say that the rebellion of Korach happened in Chatzeiros. Therefore, Rashi says: “Another explanation, etc.” But, according to the second explanation there is a difficulty: The term, “Chatzeiros,” is not similar to the terms, “In the wilderness, on the Arava plain.” For, “In the wilderness, etc.,” refers to places where they rebelled against Hashem by angering Him, whereas “Chatzeiros” is rebuke for not having learned from Miriam, etc. But, according to the first explanation, “Chatzeiros” refers to the Jewish People angering Hashem in Chatzeiros; so it cannot be intended as rebuke for Miriam’s sin, for only the sins of the entire People are recounted here. For this reason, the first explanation is also necessary.

And nevertheless you spoke against the Almighty. “You spoke, etc,” refers to, “For it [the Nation of Canaan] is more powerful than us (Bamidbar 13:31),” as Rashi explains there. Alternatively: They spoke against the Almighty Who praised the Land, yet they denigrated it. Even though the rebuke regarding the spies was already learned from, “between Poron,” nevertheless, sending the spies was one matter, and their slander against the Land is a separate matter. We could also explain that “you spoke against the Almighty,” is referring to the rebellion of Korach. There is no [practical] difference between Rashi’s first and second explanation; only that the second one says that Hashem rebuked them for not learning from [the incident of] Miriam who was smitten for speaking against her brother, and the first explanation says that Hashem rebuked them for angering the Almighty with the rebellion [of Korach] (Re”m).

בעבר הירדן, on the far side of the Jordan, etc. Moses held back with these words of admonition until the Israelites had reached the banks of the Jordan. Once they saw with their own eyes that they had come very close to their eventual destination they would be in a better frame of mind to accept admonitions. As long as they had been a long way from their objective they would not have been in a suitable frame of mind to listen to admonitions.

במדבר בערבה, in the wilderness in the Aravah; our sages in Sifri explain at this juncture that the words מדבר and ערבה [as well as the following names Ed.] are allusions to places where the Israelites had sinned; It is possible to explain the entire verse as a moral/ethical allusion of a slightly different nature. Moses tried to incorporate in a short verse all the principles of reverence for G'd and the various virtues which have to be practiced by all the people who adopt the teachings of Torah as their lifestyle. These comprise a total of nine מדות, virtues, characteristics.

וחצרות, and Chatzerot; according to Rashi this refers to the rebellion of Korach, which had taken place there. If you were to argue that according to the sequence in which the Torah has documented all these events, the rebellion of Korach must have occurred when the Israelites were encamped in the desert of Paran, shortly after the return of the spies, and you would further argue that according to Targum Onkelos the Israelites were angry at the absence of meat at Chatzerot, whereas the Torah wrote that they journeyed to Chatzerot from Kivrot hataavah, the place where they had received the quails, (Numbers 11,35) you will realise the difficulty in reconciling what appear to be contradictory statements. The desert of Paran is many days’ march long, and to fix a place’s name based on that loose definition is not really helpful at all. Some of the places named here were quite clearly given names after the occurrence of the event the place was to commemorate. There is no guarantee that the name was given immediately after the event in question.

1) One has to adopt the virtue of Abraham of whom the Torah testified that he was העברי, (Genesis 14,13) "on the other side," in a moral class all by himself, he did not run with the pack. Moses alluded to this when he said בעבר.

2) He should always be conscious of a sense of self-imposed humility as a response to rebelliousness. Our sages in Berachot 7 claim that it is better for a person to harbour a single such feeling of self-imposed humility rather than to endure 100 מלקיות, chastisements imposed upon him by others. Moses alluded to this idea when he said הירדן.

3) The virtue of modesty, humility. Our sages in Erchin phrased this as follows: "Man should always view himself as if במדבר, in a wilderness." I have explained this concept in my comments on Exodus 19,2: ויסעו מרפידים." Here Moses alludes to this idea by saying במדבר.

4) The humility we speak about should be of a positive nature; it should not consist of a person looking upon himself in a derogatory fashion. Maimonides explains this in chapter five of his treatise Hilchot Deyot. [I have not found it there but I have found something similar in chapter 6. Ed.] He writes as follows: "Another aspect of true humility is not to fail to admonish people whom one observes committing sins on the basis of one's thinking to oneself: 'who am I to admonish others who are of greater stature than I?' One has to carry out the commandment of calling people to order. This is what Moses had in mind when he said בערבה, an allusion to admonishing people based on our ערבות, mutual responsibility of one Jew for the other.

5) We are told in Avot 3,1 that if one wants to restrain oneself from sinning one should look at three phenomena., i.e. one's lowly origin, one's ultimate destiny, i.e. dust and worms, and the fact that one will have to render an accounting for all one's deeds before the heavenly Tribunal. Another scholar admonishes us in chapter two of Avot to become a penitent a day before our death. The meaning is, of course, that one should be constantly aware of one's impending death. This is what Moses alluded to with the words מול סוף, i.e. that one ought to keep "one's end constantly before (opposite) one's mental eye."

6) There is a quotation from chapter 4 in Shaar Haprishut of Chovot Halevavot according to which the mark of a פרוש, a self-denying, pious person is that צהלתו בפניו ואבלו בלבו, "he presents a happy face to all whom he greets, while at the same time he buries his true sorrow within his heart." Moses used the word בין פארן to allude to the manner in which such pious people greet others; the word פארן is connected to פאר everything outwardly illustrious, the reverse of sadness, whereas he said ובין תפל, when he described the true state of mind of someone who qualifies for the title פרוש; such a person must not be light-hearted. He should be in a constant state of concern lest he had become guilty of transgressing one of G'd's commandments inadvertently. Perhaps he had only been remiss in serving the Lord with less than all his faculties.

7) The kind of person the Torah envisages is the one who has a pure heart as David prayed in Psalms 51,12 where he pleaded with G'd to fashion a pure heart for him. At the same time such a person must not hate other people, nor be jealous of them or feel himself to be in competition with them. Moses alluded to this quality in a Torah personality when he said ולבן, the expression "white" symbolising all that is pure.

8) The ideal personality is engaged in Torah study on a permanent basis like our Patriarch Jacob whom the Torah (Genesis 25,27) describes as a ישב אהלים, a dweller of tents. The word ישב refers to a permanent presence. Moses alluded to this quality when he said וחצרות, and referred to the courtyards of the Lord as the study halls.

9) The ideal personality should not be engaged in chasing after transient values, possessions of this world. Anyone who engages in the pursuit of these values thereby voids part of his service to the Lord. Man must learn to do with the essentials for survival in this life. Moses alluded to this virtue when he said ודי זהב, i.e. "enough of gold." Alternatively, man should learn to look at all his achievements in this material world as adequate; he should feel as if he owned all the gold in the world. This is equivalent to what the sages taught in Avot 4,1: "who is wealthy? He who enjoys what life has granted him."

אחד עשר יום מחרב ELEVEN DAYS JOURNEY FROM HOREB — Moses said to them: “See what you brought about! There is no route from Horeb to Kadesh-Barnea as short as the way through Mount Seir, and even that is a journey of eleven days. You, however, traversed it in three days!” — for you see that they journeyed from Horeb on the twentieth of Eyar, as it is said, (Numbers 10:11—12) “And it came to pass in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month, [the cloud went up and the children of Israel journeyed out of the desert of Sinai” (which is Horeb)] and on the twenty-ninth of Sivan they sent out the spies from Kadesh Barnea, (an interval of 40 days; cf. Taanit 29a); deduct from these the thirty days they spent at Kibroth Hataavah, where they ate the flesh “a month of days”, and seven days they spent at Hazeroth for Miriam to be shut up there as a leper, it follows that in three days they traversed all that way. — To such an extent did the Shechinah exert itself to hasten your coming to the land of Canaan, but because you became degenerate, He made you travel round about Mount Seir for forty years (Sifrei Devarim 2:2).

IT IS ELEVEN DAYS’ JOURNEY BY THE WAY OF SEIR UNTO KADESH-BARNEA. The meaning thereof is that Scripture informs us of the vastness of the wilderness, that from Horeb, which they left, to Kadesh-barnea is a journey of only eleven days, since by way of Mount Seir it is near. Kadesh-barnea is at the end of the wilderness at the border of the hill-country of the Amorites³¹Verse 7. which is the inheritance of Israel. There are the lands of Sihon and Og where Moses explained the Torah in the valley over against Beth-peor.³²Further, 4:29. Afterwards Scripture says, they went by way of the mountain of the Amorites all that great and fearful wilderness,³³Verse 19 (here). and, following that, it narrates that in Kadesh-barnea,³³Verse 19 (here). which is at the boundary of their inheritance, they requested spies [to see the Land]. As a result, their journey was disrupted and they went [into the wilderness] toward the Red Sea³⁴Verse 40. — backward and not forward³⁵Jeremiah 7:24. — until the completion of forty years. And because Israel was presently not in the wilderness, since they had already entered the land of Moab, earlier mentioned [i.e., the part which they took from Sihon and Og], Onkelos interpreted the expression in the wilderness, in the plain [These are the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel beyond the Jordan ‘in the wilderness, in the plain’]³⁶Verse 1. as being allusions to reproof [thus rendering: he reproved them “on account of that which they provoked Him in the wilderness, etc.”]. Moreover, why should Scripture mention all these places [in the wilderness, in the plain, over against Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab]³⁶Verse 1. and specify signs and borders more than [the law requires] in selling a field! [Therefore these place-names were interpreted by Onkelos as being allusions to certain deeds about which Moses reproved them.] And the sense of the Scripture according to Onkelos’ opinion is: “These are the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel beyond the Jordan; he spoke of [that which they did] in the wilderness, in the plain, and over against Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab, and the eleven days’ journey from Horeb,” because he mentioned to them all that they had done in these places. Afterwards Scripture states that there, beyond the previously mentioned Jordan, Moses wanted³⁷See Ramban at the end of preceding verse, and Note 28. to explain the Torah after he reproved them, and he spoke and said, The Eternal our G-d spoke unto us in Horeb, saying.¹⁷Verse 6. And so it is interpreted in the Sifre³⁸Sifre, Devarim 1. according to the opinion of Rabbi Yehudah. Rabbi Yosei ben Durmaskis, however, holds that they were actual places called by these names.

'אחד עשר יום מחורב וגו, who is wise enough to understand these words [that after 40 years the Israelites found themselves only 11 days from Mount Chorev? Ed] We must understand that the reason why Moses inserted this verse here is that in verse 19 we are told: “we set out from Chorev and traveled the great and terrible wilderness that you saw, along the road to the hill country of the Emorites and we came as far as Kadesh Barnea (which is close to the land of Israel and from where the spies were sent out.) As a result, we remained in this desert for forty years. This was due to our sin as recorded in Deuteronomy 2,1-7. Moses is simply contrasting the fact that the journey from the Sea of Reeds to the borders of the Holy Land was a distance of 11 days’ travel and had been covered in that amount of time [after deducting the encampments, especially the eleven and a half months at that mountain Ed.] whereas the rest of the journey, on account of the sin of the spies, took all these years.

Deduct from these days the thirty days, etc. I.e., in total deduct thirty-six days [instead of thirty-seven] because the thirtieth day is counted as the end of the thirty day period and also as the beginning of the seven days. For on the thirtieth day they traveled from Kivros haTaavah; so it turns out that on the thirty-ninth day they sent the spies from Kodeish-Barnei’a, which is the twenty-ninth day of Sivan (see Re”m who elaborates at length).

V. 2. אחד עשר יום. Die bezeichnete Örtlichkeit erreicht man vom Horeb in elf Tagereisen zum Gebirge Seir hin.

אחד עשר יום מחורב, “eleven days’ march from Mount Chorev.” Some of the speeches recalled by Moses here occurred during the journeys of the Israelites after leaving Mount Sinai, during the first eleven days. It took them eleven days to cover the distance from Mount Sinai to Kadesh, the place from which the spies were dispatched. The fact is that no new commandments were revealed to the Jewish people after the return of the spies until the fortieth year, after the last of the men of military age at the Exodus had died, and G-d’s presence returned to be visible.

The Shechina attempted for your good to hasten, etc. The term מתלבטת means to hasten.

אחד עשר יום, “eleven days,” there is a letter ב missing in the word אחד, which according to the rules of grammar should have been spelled באחד, so that the phrase would read: באחד עשר יום, “we find a similar anomaly in Exodus 31,17: כי ששת ימים עשה ה' את השמים, “for during six days G-d made heaven, etc,” there too we would have expected the letter ב at the beginning of the word ששת. Our author cites a few more examples of this, adding that it occurs frequently. (Judges 14,12; Samuel II 20,4)

Circle around Mount Seir for forty years. This is not an explanation of the verse, “In the fortieth year.” I.e., Rashi is not explaining the verse as: “Eleven days from Choreiv by way of Mount Seir,” but they traveled it in forty years, as it says, “In the fortieth year.” Rather, “In the fortieth year,” refers to what is written afterwards, as Rashi explains, “This teaches that he did admonish them [only shortly before his death], etc.” The first verse is abridged, and it is as if it is written, “Eleven days from Choreiv, but you traveled it in three days with the Almighty’s help. However, because of your misconduct, you were delayed for forty years.” And afterwards starts a new sentence, “In the fortieth year ... Moshe addressed Bnei Yisrael, etc.” One should not ask: Here it implies that the sin of the spies is the reason they were delayed in the wilderness for forty years, yet in Parshas Beha’aloscha (Bamidbar 10:29) Rashi explains, “Immediately within three days we will enter the land ...but they sinned with the complainers [for meat].” The answer is: Because of their complaining they were delayed for thirty days, and on account of the sin of the spies they were delayed forty years.

אחד עשר יום, Rashi understands this line as a reproof by Moses, who is telling the people that although normally it takes eleven days to cover the distance from Mount Chorev to Kadesh, with the help of G-d they had covered that distance in only three days, seeing that the Torah had reported that they had broken camp on the twentieth day of the month of lyar. When you consider that the people had spent thirty days at Kivrat Hataavah consuming the quails, and seven days waiting for Miriam to recover from the affliction of Tzoraat at Chatzerot, it followed that they covered the distance in three days, as there had been only three way stations and by the 29th of Sivan the spies had been sent out, so that only thirty eight days had elapsed since their departure from Mount Chorev. (Compare author’s commentary on Numbers 9,1.)

ויהי בארבעים שנה בעשתי עשר חדש באחד לחדש AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE FORTIETH YEAR, IN THE ELEVENTH MONTH, ON THE FIRST OF THE MONTH, [MOSES SPAKE] — This tells us that he reproved them only shortly before his death (Jewish tradition holds that Moses died on the seventh day of the twelfth month; cf. Megillah 13b). From whom did he learn this? From Jacob, who reproved his sons only shortly before his death. He said, “Reuben, my son, I will tell you why I have not reproved you for your unfitial conduct during all these years: it was in order that you should not leave me and go and join Esau, my wicked brother". — And on account of four things one should not reprove a person except shortly before one's death: that one should not reprove him and again have to reprove him; and that his fellow whom he reproves should not, when he afterwards happens to see him, feel ashamed before him, etc.; as it is set forth in Siphre. And similarly, Joshua reproved Israel only shortly before his death (cf. Joshua 24:1—29), and so, too, Samuel, as it is said, (I Samuel 12:3) “Behold, testify against me", and so, also, David reproved his son Solomon only shortly before his death (cf. 1 Kings 2:1—9).

ויהי בארבעים שנה, after the men slated to die in the desert had finished dying.

ויהי בארבעים שנה בעשתי עשר חודש, “It was in the fortieth year, during the eleventh month, etc.” Moses rebuked the people when he was already close to death; you find that our patriarch Yaakov also waited until he was close to death before rebuking those of his children whom he wanted to rebuke (Genesis chapter 49). Joshua also waited until he was close to death before he rebuked the people (Joshua chapter 24). The prophet Samuel was also close to death when he challenged the people to tell him if they had any complaints against him (Samuel I 12,2-3). King David also waited with telling his son Solomon who needed to be rebuked (Kings I 2,1).

Only shortly before his death, etc. Otherwise, why does matter when he admonished them?

V. 3. ׳ויהי וגו׳ דבר משהר וגו׳ בכל וגו nicht כל אשר וגו׳, sondern בכל אשר צוה ד׳ אותו אלהם (siehe zu Bamidbar 30, 1): er sprach nochmals nicht nur alles, was, sondern wie Gott alles geboten hatte, er sprach noch einmal in präzisen Sätzen die kurzen Normen des Gesetzes und die ausführlichen Modalitäten ihrer Ausführung, das "wie" aller Gesetze, aus. Es ist dasselbe, was (V. 5) בִאר die Erläuterung des Gesetzes heißt. Diese Wiederholung und Erläuterung des Gesetzes liegt nicht in diesem fünften Buche vor. Weder Wiederholung noch Erläuterung der bereits in den vorangehenden Büchern schriftlich niedergelegten Gesetze bildet den Hauptcharakter des Inhalts dieses fünften Buches. Von den hundert und einigen Gesetzestiteln, die in diesem Buche enthalten sind, sind mehr als siebzig durchaus neu, in den früheren Büchern nicht enthalten: שמע, לא תתחתן אסור הנאה של ע׳׳י, ברבת המזון והיה אם שמוע ברכות וקללות על הר גריזים ועיבל לא תעשון כן לד׳, שמה תביאו, איסור במה לא תוכל לאכול ,בשעריך, שחיטה, ועשית עלתיך הבשר והדם לא תוסיף, ולא תגרע נביא שקד, מסית ,עיר נדחת, מעשר עני, שמטת כספים צדקה, סנהדרין אשרה, יחיד שעבד עיר, עדות מצות המלך, זקן ממרה, ראשית הגז, משמרות כהונה, נביא אמת הסגת גבול, עדים זוממים חזרה מערכי מלחמה, קריאת שלום במלחמה, לא תשחית, עגלה ערופה, יפת תאר, בכורה, בן סורר, לא תלין, כלי גבר על אשה שלוח הקן, מעקה, חרישה בשור ,וחמור, מוציא שם רע אשת איש, נערה מאורסה, אונס, לא יקח אשת אביו, פצוע דבה ממזר עמיני ומואבי, אדומי, מצרי, קדוש מחנה, הסגרת עבד, קדשה, אתנן ומחיר, פועל ,בכרם, גט, מחזיר גרושתו, נקי לביתו, משכון, אבות, על בנים, מלקות, לא תחסום, יבום זכירת עמלק, בכורים. ודוי מעשר ,כתיבת התורה על אבנים ,הקהל ,כתיבת ס׳׳ת sind Gesetzesbestimmungen, die sich keineswegs als bloße Wiederholungen oder Erläuterungen bereits in den vorhergehenden Büchern enthaltener Gesetze darstellen.

ויהי בארבעים שנה, “it was during the fortieth year, etc.” the Torah reveals here that Moses addressed the people on the east bank of the Jordan, recalling what he had told the earlier generation already while they were at Mount Sinai. בעשתי עשר חדש באחד לחדש, “in the eleventh month , on the first day of the month. In other words, he began this speech 36 days prior to his death.

דבר משה אל בני ישראל, to those who would enter the Holy Land.

So that he does not admonish him again and again, etc. In other words, if he admonishes [sometime before] his death, he would consider, “I will admonish them some today, and some tomorrow. For why should I admonish them all at once while I still have time tomorrow to admonish them?” But perhaps the other person might think he is being constantly admonished out of hatred, and therefore he will despise the admonishment. For this reason one should admonish shortly before his own death for all misconduct. You might ask: If so, why does Rashi explain above: “From whom did he learn this? From Yaakov, etc.” How does Rashi know this? Perhaps Moshe thought on his own to do so, as there are four reasons why one would not admonish, etc. The answer is: We know that none of these four reasons apply here. For we cannot say that they would leave Moshe, for where would they go? They only left Egypt in order to enter the Land of Israel. Also we cannot say that [the reason not to admonish them is] so they should not be ashamed of him, since he is admonishing the entire Jewish People together. And Rashi’s statement, “Why did I not admonish you, etc,” is only an explanation for Yaakov. You might ask: It is written, “You shall surely rebuke (Vayikra 19:17),” and Rashi explains, “Even a hundred times.” The answer is: “You shall surely rebuke” applies at the time of the offense. And “So that he does not admonish him again and again,” applies after the offense has been done.

Dagegen erscheinen: מצות הדיינים עשית פסל, עשרת הדברות איבוד ע׳׳ז, ליראה ולאהבה את ד׳ עבודה זרה, ,בשר תאוה, איסור דם, אבר מן החי לא תתגדדו, מאכלות ,אסורות קרחה, מעשר שני, בכור, פסה, שבועות, סוכת, מצבה ,בעל מום, מולך נחש ,וכשוף, תמים תהיה, רוצח בשוגג, השבת אבדה, שעטנז, ציצת, רבית, נדר גנב נפש, צרעת ,השבת עבוט, עשק שכיר, מטה משפט ,חבול בגד, שכחה פאה עוללת, צדק משקלות als Wiederholung bereits in den früheren Büchern enthaltener Gesetze, und wäre zur Würdigung der Tendenz dieses fünften Buches die Frage zu lösen, warum jene neuen Bestimmungen erst hier ihre Zusammenstellung erhielten und warum aus der Gesamtwiederholung des ganzen Gesetzes gerade diese zur nochmaligen schriftlichen Fixierung gelangten.

ככל אשר צוה ה' אותו, “in accordance with all the Lord had commanded him.” The word אותו which is not really needed, was added to emphasise that Hashem had not issued such instructions to any other prophet.

ככל אשר צוה ה' אותו אלוקים, he reviewed the whole Torah for them that had been revealed up until this point.

So that his fellow not be ashamed, etc. I.e., when the person who gave the admonishment sees him, the one who was admonished would be ashamed.

Vielleicht ist die Betrachtung einer dieser Gesetzesgruppen, die sich als teilweise Wiederholung darstellt, geeignet, uns einen Schlüssel zur Lösung dieser Frage zu bieten. Kapitel 16, 1-17 werden die Festfeiergesetze wiederholt. Allein auf den ersten Blick fällt es auf, dass nur סוכת ,שבועות ,פסח in dieser Wiederholung genannt sind, und ein Vergleich mit dem Festkapitel (Wajikra 23) lässt die Erwähnung von י׳׳כ ,ר׳׳ה ,שבת und שמיני עצרת vermissen. Diese vier Nichterwähnten haben nun das Gemeinsame, dass sie ihrer wesentlichen Bedeutung nach rein aus unserer Beziehung zu Gott, ja, zunächst aus Beziehungen des Individuums zu Gott entspringen; sie haben daher auch in der Wüste ihre wesentlichste Verwirklichung voll zu finden vermocht, und wird deren Erfüllung durch die bevorstehende Niederlassung im Lande kaum wesentlich berührt. Anders ist dies mit סוכת ,שבועות ,פסח. Die eine Seite ihrer Bedeutung, die Beziehung zum Boden und dessen jahrzeitlicher Entwicklung, wird doch erst nunmehr zur Geltung kommen; ja das סוכת-Fest wird selbst mit der historischen Beziehung seines "Hüttenlebens" als Erinnerung an das Hüttenleben in der Wüste erst zu Begriff und Bedeutung nach dem Übergang aus diesem Hüttenleben in Land und Stadt gelangen, wie es denn auch wohl schwerlich mit seiner מצות לולב in der Wüste zu erfüllen gewesen sein mag; für alle drei endlich tritt die bedeutsame Wanderpflicht der Gesamtnation, sich um das gemeinsame Gesetzesheiligtum als nationalen Mittelpunkt zu sammeln, ja naturgemäss erst mit der Dezentralisierung der Nation im Lande in volle Verwirklichung ein, während in der Wüste sich die Nation immer um diesen Mittelpunkt vereinigt fand. Es liegt daher die Annahme sehr nahe, daß bei der Wiederholung und Erläuterung des Gesamtgesetzes in den letzten Wochen vor dem Eintritt ins Land nicht י׳׳כ ,ר׳׳ה ,שבת und ש׳׳ע, wohl aber סוכת ,שבועות ,פסח zur nochmaligen schriftlichen Fixierung im Hinblick auf den Einfluss gelangten, den die mit Besitznahme des Landes eintretenden Umstände auf deren Verwirklichung zu üben geeignet waren. Dem entsprechend sind auch eben die beiden Momente, welche bei diesem wiederholten schriftlichen Gebote der שבועות ,-פסח- und סוכת-Feste in den Vordergrund treten: die Jahreszeitbeziehungen mit der dadurch bedingten Regulierung des ganzen Kalenders: שמור את חדש האביב ,מהחל חרמש בקמה, כאספך מגרנך ומיקבן, und die Konzentrierung aller Festfeier in dem von Gott erwählten Mittelpunkt: וזבחת פסה וגו׳, במקום אשר יבחר וגו׳ לא תוכל לזבח את הפסח באחד שעריך וגו׳. כי אם אל המקום וגו׳, ובשלת ואכלת במקום וגו׳ ושמחת לפני ד׳ אלקיך ׳במקום אשר יבחר וגו׳, שבעת ימים תחוג וגו׳ במקום וגו׳ שלש פעמים יראה וגו.

Betrachten wir nun aus demselben Gesichtspunkte den ganzen übrigen Gesetzesinhalt dieses Buches, so sind zuerst die wiederholten Warnungen vor ע׳׳ז und allen damit zusammenhängenden Verirrungen durch die mit dem Eintritt in das Land sofort beginnende Berührung mit dem polytheistischen Unwesen der kanaanitischen Bevölkerung von selbst gegeben, so: עיר נדחת, מסית ,איסור הנאה של ע׳׳ז ,לא תתחתן ,אשרה ,יחיד שעבד ע׳׳י ,נחש וכשוף ,מולך ,לא תתגודו ,איבור ע׳׳ז ,עשית פסל ,מצבה.

Ferner: die nach Mosche Hintritt zu schaffende nationale Leitung und vom höchsten Zentralpunkte aus durchs ganze Land zu organisierende Gerichtsbarkeit: ,סנהדרין ,מלך, ,נביא אמת ,עדים וממים ,עדים ,וקן ממרה ,שופטים und צדק משקלות ,מלקות ,נביא שקר לא תהי׳ קדשה

Dass die zunächst die Kriegsführung berührenden Gesetze wie ,קריאת משוח מלחמה ,נקי לביתו ,קדוש מחנה ,יפת תואר ,לא תשחית ,שלום und die unmittelbar nach der ersten Betretung des Bodens vorgeschriebene כתיבת התורה על האבנים, ברכות וקללות, על הר גריזים ועיבל sich eben jetzt der besonderen Aufzeichnung darboten, liegt auf der , Hand. Ebenso die mit der bevorstehenden Dezentralisierung der Nation über das ganze Land eintretende Gestattung von בשר תאוה, womit zugleich die שחיטה und die Beachtung aller Speisegesetze der Gewissenhaftigkeit eines jeden Mannes aus dem Volke überantwortet sind, erklärt hinreichend die Niederschreibung, beziehungsweise schriftliche Wiederholung der מצות שחיטה, des אבר מן החי ,איסור דם, und des מאכלות אסורותKapitels, sowie dem gegenüber die die Hörigkeit zum Zentralheiligtum wahrenden und befruchtenden Gesetze מעשר שני ,בכורים ,לא תוכל לאכול בשעריך, שמה תביאו, איסור במה ורוי מעשר. Allein mit dem Übergang aus der direkten göttlichen Leitung und Fürsorge in der Wüste in die normalen menschengesellschaftlichen Zustände im Lande dürften so tief umwandelnde Veränderungen auch in dem sozialen Volksleben bevorgestanden sein, dass sich hieraus hinlänglich die erste Niederschreibung oder die nochmalige schriftliche Hervorhebung einer ganzen Reihe sozialer Gesetze erklärt. So z. B. das ganze ausführliche צדקה-Gesetz, das Gesetz über פועל בכדם ,שמטת כספים ,מעשר עני, die in diesem Buche zuerst in Schrift vorliegen, sowie die wiederholt gebotenen Pflichten gegen Arme und Unbemittelte, wie: שכחה פאה עוללת ,רבית ,חבל בגד ,עשק שכיר ,השבת עבוט Während der ganzen Wanderung in der Wüste, wo für Wohnung, Kleidung und alle Lebensbedürfnisse Gottes Fürsorge eintrat, gab es keinen Armen, kaum vielleicht einen Taglöhner. Erst mit dem Betreten normaler, die Menschenexistenz der Produktion und dem Verkehre der Menschen überweisender Verhältnisse traten Vermögensunterschiede und der Menschenhülfe harrende Stufen der Bedürftigkeit ein. In der Wüste, wo jeder alles und nur das Nötige hatte, gab es für צדקה kein Bedürfnis und keine Möglichkeit. So z. B. ferner wurde erst mit dem Hinaustreten aus der unmittelbaren Gottesfürsorge in die oben bezeichneten normalen Zustände der Mann in Wahrheit der Versorger der bürgerlichen Existenz seines Weibes und seines Hauses. In der Wüste fehlte diese wesentliche Seite der bürgerlichen Beziehung der Ehe. Erst im Lande trat die Ehe in ihre volle Bedeutung auf sozialrechtlicher Grundlage ein. Während daher in den früheren Büchern bereits die die physiologischen und ethischen Seiten des ehelichen Geschlechtslebens bedingenden und regelnden Gesetze auch schriftlich niedergelegt sind, blieb die schriftliche Fixierung der das Eingehen und Auflösen der Ehe regelnden Normen, גירושין, קידושין, מצרי ,אדומי ,עמוני ומואבי ,ממזר ,פצוע דכה, sowie die mit der bürgerrechtlichen Seite des Familienlebens enge zusammenhängenden מצות יבום und משפט בכורה, der Wiederholung des ganzen Gesetzes vor dem Eintritt in das Land vorbehalten. Wie uns dünkt, bieten sich diese das Erscheinen dieser Gesetzesgruppen in diesem fünften Buche normierenden Gesichtspunkte so klar und ungezwungen dar, und es sind die hier zur allgemeinen Besprechung herausgegriffenen Gesetze so sehr die bedeutende Mehrzahl, dass wir nicht fehl zu gehen glauben, wenn wir auch bei den übrigen Gesetzen bei näherem Eingehen einen ähnlichen Gesichtspunkt als maßgebendes Motiv erwarten zu dürfen meinen.

Während aber so bei der Gesamtwiederholung der Gesetzgebung nach bestimmten Gesichtspunkten einzelne Gesetzesgruppen zur wiederholten oder erstmaligen und ganz eigentlich für diesen Zeitpunkt vorbehaltenen Niederschreibung gelangten, ist uns die Einleitung, mit welcher Mosche הואיל באר את התורה, die nochmalige Erläuterung des ganzen Gesetzes begann, vollständig mitgeteilt. Denn eben diese, die ersten elf Kapitel umfassenden einleitenden Reden wollen die Grundanschauungen, Gesinnungen und allgemeinen Pflichten Gott und seinem Gesetze gegenüber, getragen von einem Rückblick auf die nun zum Abschluss kommende, erfahrungsreich Gott offenbarende Vergangenheit für ewige Zeiten aus Mosche Mund gesprochen niederlegen, welche jüdische Geister und Gemüter immer aufs neue sich aneignen und dadurch als treubegeisterte Söhne für den Gottesbund im Gottesbunde erstehen mögen. Es sind das die Gesinnungen der יראת ד׳ und אהבת ד׳ und דבקות בד׳, getragen von den Grundgedanken der אחדות ד׳ im theoretischen und praktischen Bewusstsein. Es ist die למוד התורה-Verpflichtung für jedermann im Volke und das ושננתם לבניך für jeden jüdischen Vater gegen sein Kind, sowie die Unverbrüchlichkeit und Unabänderlichkeit des überlieferten Gesetzes in לא תוסיף ולא תגרע. Gleichzeitig sind diesen Vorreden Mosche zu dem Gesetze, die so ganz eigentlich Mosche Vermächtnis für sein Volk bilden, diejenigen Gebote einverleibt, die jedes jüdische Individuum überall hin in aller Vereinzelung begleiten und noch heute unsere steten Erzieherinnen für Gott und unsere Pflichten sind, wie והיה אם שמוע ,קריאת שמע, ברכת המזון ,מזוזה ,תפלין und später in dem Festkapitel zugleich täglich זכירת יציאת מצרים, sowie auch ציצת und שעטנו nochmals schriftlich auftreten. Geht ja das Volk aus dem bisherigen Einfluß von der Zentralleitung aus in eine Vereinzelung über, wo mehr als je dem jüdischen Sohne die stete Mahnung an seinen Beruf von nöten ist, und jedem selbst sein Kleid zu einem Prediger jüdischer Menschenpflicht und sittlichen Mannesadels werden soll. —

Fassen wir das alles zusammen, so glauben wir nicht fehl zu gehen, wenn wir in diesem fünften Buche ein Kompendium derjenigen Gesetze erblicken, deren Vergegenwärtigung den Gesetzesautoritäten, sowie jedem einzelnen im Volke eben bei dem nun bevorstehenden Übergang aus der Wüste in das Land ganz besonders notwendig war, deren schriftliche Niederlegung für diese Zusammenstellung vorbehalten blieb oder deren schriftliche Wiederholung für diesen Zweck wesentlich erschien. Wenn man daher dieses Buch herkömmlich unter dem Namen משנה תורה begreift und hierunter: "Wiederholung des Gesetzes" versteht, so kann dies nicht in der Ansicht verstanden sein, als ob der schriftliche Inhalt dieses fünften Buches eine Wiederholung der bereits in den früheren Büchern schriftlich enthaltenen Gesetze wäre. Wir haben gesehen, dass bei weitem der größere Teil der in diesem Buche vorliegenden Gesetze hier zum ersten Male niedergeschrieben ist. Vielmehr kann diese Bezeichnung "Wiederholung" nur dahin als eine zutreffende erscheinen, dass dies Buch von der mündlichen nochmaligen Wiederholung und Erläuterung des Gesamtgesetzes berichtet, mit welcher Mosche seine Tätigkeit für sein Volk auf Erden beschloß, und aus welcher die Gesetze, die in diesem Buche enthalten sind, teils zur erstmaligen, teils zur wiederholten Niederschreibung gelangten.

אחרי הכתו AFTER HE HAD SMITTEN [SIHON] — Moses said: If I reprove them before they enter at least a part of the land, they will say, “What claim has this man upon us? What good has he ever conferred upon us? He only comes (his purpose is only) to vex us and to discover some pretext for leaving us in the wilderness, for he really has not the power to bring us into the land” On this account he waited until he had defeated Sihon and Og before them and had given them possession of their land — and only after that did he reprove them (Sifrei Devarim 3:2).

AFTER HE HAD SMITTEN SIHON, THE KING OF THE AMORITES, WHO ‘DWELT’ IN HESHBON — for Heshbon was not his, but he conquered it from the king of Moab and he built it to be his royal capital. Similarly, and Og the king of Bashan, who ‘dwelt’ in Ashtaroth, at Edrei³⁹In Verse 4 before us. means that it was previously the land of Rephaim⁴⁰Further, 3:13. [and then it was occupied by the king of the Amorites] as I will explain⁴¹Ibid., 2:10; 3:11. with the help of G-d. And because Scripture states, who dwelt in Ashtaroth, at Edrei,³⁹In Verse 4 before us. it indicates that Ashtaroth is the name of a place in which Edrei is located [as will be explained further]. The text of the Sifre is as follows:⁴²Sifre, Devarim 3. “‘B’ashtaroth’ — it was as hard as ashtaroth. ‘B’edrei’ — this was the seat of the government [i.e., the royal city].” Rashi wrote: “Ashtaroth — is an expression denoting rocks and hardness. Ashtaroth is Ashteroth-karnaim⁴³Genesis 14:5. This is an expression for “strength” [“the hard rocks of Kamayim”]. where the Rephaim were, as it is said, and they smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim.⁴³Genesis 14:5. This is an expression for “strength” [“the hard rocks of Kamayim”]. ‘B’edrei’ — this was the name of the kingdom [indicating that the kingdom of Edrei was located in Ashteroth-karnaim]. And⁴⁴The text from this point on, until the end of the quotation is not found in our texts of Rashi. Part of it is found in Rashi further, 7:13. so it is written, ‘ashteroth’ of thy sheep,⁴⁵Further, 7:13. meaning, as Targum [Onkelos] rendered it [‘the flocks of thy sheep’]. And our Rabbis have said:⁴⁶Chullin 84b. Why is the name ashtaroth given to them [i.e., flocks of sheep]? It is because they ‘enrich’ [from the Hebrew word ashir — rich] their owners and strengthen them like these ashtaroth which are strong rocks.” [This is Rashi’s language].
Now the Rabbi [Rashi] incorporated into the word [ashtaroth] two meanings [strength and riches], but we do not know from what source the Rabbi inferred that ashtaroth is a name for rocks and stones. But it is possible for us to say that ashtaroth is a term for flocks of sheep, from the word ashir (rich) as in the words of the Sages [quoted above: “Why is their name ashtaroth? It is because they enrich their owners”]. Ashteroth-karnaim⁴³Genesis 14:5. This is an expression for “strength” [“the hard rocks of Kamayim”]. was a place of high mountains upon which there were strongholds of stone, these being likened by Scripture to “the horns of cattle,” just as Scripture likens them to “teeth,” as it says upon ‘the crag’ [literally: “the tooth”] of the rock, and the stronghold.⁴⁷Job 39:28. Similarly, upon ‘the horns’ of the altar.⁴⁸Exodus 29:12. So also, ‘b’keren’ ben shamen⁴⁹Isaiah 5:1. These verses illustrate the Scriptural tendency of likening topographical characteristics to parts of animals such as horns and teeth. [literally: “in a fruitful ‘horn'”] which the Targum [Yonathan ben Uziel] renders: “On a high hill, in a fruitful land.” There, [upon these high hills,] the flocks of sheep ascend, the he-goats, the she-goats, and the wild-goats⁵⁰Psalms 104:18: The high mountains are for the wild-goats. and their like; and therefore the place is called Ashteroth-karnaim⁵¹Judges 2:13. [because the flocks which “enrich” their owners (ashtaroth) ascend to the “horns” of the mountain (karnaim)]. So also, and they served Baal and the Ashtaroth⁵¹Judges 2:13. — ‘Ashtaroth’ because the idol was made in the form of a sheep in order to protect them [the flocks of sheep], in accordance with their foolish belief. [This is in line with our explanation of the word ashtaroth as a synonym for sheep.] Now at the foot of the mountain they built a city whose name was Edrei, this being intimated in the verse which states, and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, unto battle at Edrei,⁵²Further, 3:1. This verse clearly indicates that Edrei is the name of a particular locality rather than the name of the entire country, hence it can be said that Og gathered his army there. This proves Ramban’s explanation “that Ashtaroth is the name of a region wherein Edrei is located.” However, it could not be as Rashi explained that Edrei is the name of the kingdom, for if it were the name of an entire country, how could it be said that Og, gathered his army “at Edrei” when it is not the name of a specific, particular place? (Aboab). denoting that he gathered his entire army to the city where the palace of the king and the throne of the kingdom were. And this is the purport of the [following] Midrashic text [which seems to agree with Rashi’s interpretation], wherein the Rabbis, of blessed memory, have stated: “Who dwelt in Ashtaroth, at Edrei. Even if Og himself had not been difficult to defeat but had resided in Ashtaroth, he would have been difficult to defeat, because the city was a difficult one to capture etc.”⁵³“And even if the city had not been difficult to capture, but Og resided in it, it would have been difficult to capture because its king was difficult to defeat. How much more so when the king was difficult to defeat and the city difficult to capture” (Sifre). Therefore they interpreted, Ashtaroth to mean that it was “as hard as Ashtaroth,”⁵⁴In other words, the word Ashtaroth here does not indicate something hard. But because Og’s royal city Edrei was well fortified, the Sifre compares it to Ashteroth-karnaim where the Rephaim lived and from where Og originated. [the phrase from which Rashi, quoted above, deduced that the word ashtaroth is defined as “hard”], as if to say that his residence was like the fortified city of Ashteroth-karnaim⁴³Genesis 14:5. This is an expression for “strength” [“the hard rocks of Kamayim”]. from which he and his family originated; for at that time he was not residing in Ashtaroth, but was residing in the land of the Amorites. And “the place of the government” [mentioned in the Sifre above] means that the city where he lived was Edrei⁵⁵Thus, unlike Rashi who wrote that Edrei was the name of the kingdom, Ramban holds that Edrei was the name of the royal city, and the name of the kingdom was “The Bashan.” but Bashan was the name of the land of his kingdom.

אחרי הכותו, he did this after the Jewish people had achieved a degree of quiet in a land which was inhabited, or fit to be inhabited.

אשר יושב בחשבון, “who dwells in Cheshbon.” Nachmanides comments that the fact that Sichon is mentioned as “dwelling” in Cheshbon confirms that it was not his originally, but that he had captured the city from the Moabites. He had converted it to become his capital.

אחרי הכותו, “after he had defeated, etc.” a reminder of how G’d had been on the side of the Israelites and had defeated the mighty kings Sichon and Og using Moses as His agent. Moses now decided the time had come to rebuke the people for past errors. [Moses reminded them that if anyone had the right to do so he possessed those credentials. Ed.]

If I admonish them, etc. Rashi is answering the question: Why does Scripture need to write, “After he had smitten, etc,” since it is previously written, “In the fortieth year, etc.” Rather, this is what Moshe said, etc. You might ask: If so, perhaps the (only) reason Moshe did not admonish them earlier was because he waited, etc., so they do not say, “What good has he done for us?” The answer is: If so, the verse should have said, “And it was after he had smitten Sichon and Og.” Why does is it written, “In the fortieth year”? Rather, it must be to teach us that one should not admonish until shortly before the admonisher’s death. And since it is written, “After he had smitten, etc.,” we can also learn that Moshe said, etc.

אחרי הכותו את סיחון, “after He had smitten Sichon, etc.;” we have been told in Deut. 2,30 that Sichon was not willing to allow the Israelites to cross his territory on their way to the land of Canaan. Both the campaigns against Sichon and Og took place in the fortieth year of the Israelites’ wanderings. Since we heard about it there we might have thought that these campaigns occurred after the capture of the lands of Sichon and Og.

סיחן … אשר יושב בחשבון [AFTER HE HAD SMITTEN] SIHON … WHO DWELT IN HESHBON — Even if Sihon himself had not been difficult to defeat, but had resided at Heshbon, he would have been difficult to defeat, because the city was a difficult one to capture: and if it had been a matter of some other city, but Sihon had resided in it, it would have been difficult to capture, because its king, at least, would have been difficult to defeat. How much more was this so now when the king was difficult to defeat and the land difficult to capture (Sifrei Devarim 3:3; cf. Rashi on Numbers 21:23).

אשר יושב בעשתרות באדרעי, “who dwelled in Ashtarots which is in Edre-ee.” This land belonged to the Re-fa-im of old, a race of giants, whereas Og was the King of the Emorites. Seeing that the Torah describes Og as having dwelled in Ashtarot it is clear that this is the name of a place (a region) within which is found the town of Edre-ee. Ashtarot was a valley, and the giants had built a town in that valley. This becomes clearer when we consider that Og has been described as gathering his troops there. (Numbers 21,33).

אשר יושב בעשתרות באדרעי, “who was dwelling in Ashtarot at Edre-i.” We find that the Bible uses the term Ashtarot to describe three totally different phenomena. The term is used to describe 1) mountains, 2) flocks of sheep; 3) a form of idolatry. In this instance the Torah tells us that Og lived in mountainous country. The reason the Torah tells us this is that not only was Og, the giant, personally powerful and awe-inspiring, but the terrain in which he had his capital was easy to defend and most difficult to conquer. The same applied to a place called עשתרות קרנים which the Torah mentioned in Genesis 14,5 when it described Kedorlaomer defeating the giants residing there. The reason that place was called not just עשתרות, but עשתרות קרנים, is that the sheep which have horns קרנים, used to graze in those mountains just as did the mountain goats and gazelles.
The flocks, sheep, are referred to as Ashtarot in Deut. 7,13 where the Torah writes עשתרות צאנך, when referring to flocks of sheep and goats. The word’s root is עשר, “wealth,” i.e. these flocks provide wealth for their owners through their milk, their wool and their young. We have been told in Chulin 84 that one should make a practice of selling land (a field, but not ancestral land in the land of Israel) and buy עתודים, he-goats with the proceeds, based on Proverbs 27,26: ”the he-goats, the price of a field.” We also have a verse making a similar point in verse 27 of the same chapter, i.e. “the goat’s milk will be sufficient for the food of your house, and for the vital needs of your maids.”
The term Ashtarot is used to describe idolatry in Judges 12,6 ויעבדו את הבעלים ואת העשתרות, “they served the Baalim and the Ashtarot.” The reason this term is used is that the image representing the deity was a sheep (and the fertility it represents).

To find an excuse, etc. The term עילה is the same as עלילה (lit. false accusation).

אשר יושב בעשתרת [AND OG] WHO DWELT AT ASHTAROTH — here, too, the king was difficult to defeat and the city difficult to capture (Sifrei Devarim 3:4).

באדרעי, “in Edre'i.” This is the name of a province in which the king’s capital was located. They used to build it at the edge of a mountain in the flat land, and there would be assembled his entire army. This is the meaning of that word in Numbers 21,33, where the Torah describes where the battle took place.

Even if Sichon was not a formidable opponent, etc. Rashi is answering the question: Why is it necessary for Scripture to write, “who was living in Cheshbon”? Why mention where they were?

עשתרת — This is an expression denoting rocks and anything hard, just as (Genesis 14:5) “Ashtaroth Karnaim”, (i.e. the hard rocks of Karnaim) (Sifrei Devarim 3:5)). And indeed this Ashtaroth is identical with Ashtaroth Karnaim where the Rephaim (the giants) were, whom Amraphel smote, as it is said, (Genesis 14:5) “And they smote the Rephaim in Ashtaroth Karnaim". Og, alone, escaped of them, and that is the meaning of what is stated, (Genesis 14:13; cf. Rashi) "And the one who escaped (הפליט) came", for it further states, (Deuteronomy 3:11) "For only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the remnant of the Rephaim",

Similar to Ashteros Karnayim, etc. The word “Karnayim” is from the term קרן (horn), which denotes strength.

באדרעי IN EDREI — the name of the royal city.

And this Ashtoros is indeed the same Ashteros Karnayim, etc. I.e., do not ask: How does Rashi know that the term “Ashtoros” denotes cliffs? Perhaps it is specifically the term “Ashteros Karnayim” that denotes cliffs. Therefore, Rashi explains: And this Ashtoros is indeed the same Ashteros Karnayim, etc. There also it is written, “the one who escaped came, etc” which refers to Og.

This was the name of the empire. Rashi is answering the question: If he was living in Ashtoros, then he is not living in Edrei. Therefore, Rashi explains: The name of the empire was Edrei. Re”m says: (If this is not so, then) the verse should say ובאדרעי (and in Edrei).

הואיל means HE BEGAN, just as (Genesis 18:27) "Behold, now I have begun (הואלתי)" (cf. Sifrei Devarim 4:1).

בעבר הירדן בארץ מואב הואיל משה באר, seeing that they were no longer moving around all the time, for the encampment in the steppes near Moav was their last stop before crossing the Jordan. Now, seeing that Moses himself had already given up hope of personally crossing the river Jordan he began to explain the parts of the Torah concerning which he thought some doubts could arise after his death. He did this by starting with a reminder of the covenant concluded between Israel and G’d at Mount Chorev. (compare 5,2) לאמר, before beginning with reviewing portions of the Torah, Moses explained the reason for the need to do this as being that they were about to cross into what would become their homeland where many commandments of the Torah would apply for the first time. Seeing that he could not do this at the time when they actually applied already, he had to do this now before his death. While on the subject, Moses reminded the people how, indirectly, due to their sinful conduct he was now unable to cross the Jordan with them, and that as a result he wanted to make sure that they would not again become guilty of such sinful behaviour.

[The word הואיל means] he began, etc. See Rashi’s commentary in Parshas Vayeira (Bereishis 18:31).

V. 5. הואיל משה באר וגו׳ (siehe zu V. 3). הואיל hat oft das tempus finitum nach sich, so: כי הואיל הלך (Hosea 5, 11), ולו הואלנו ונשב (Josua 7, 7), הואל קח (Könige 11. 5, 23) und sonst. Wie bereits zu V. 3 bemerkt, sind in den ersten elf Kapiteln dieses Buches die "Vorreden" enthalten, mit welchen Mosche die Wiederholung und Erläuterung des Gesamtgesetzes "einleitete". Der erste Abschnitt dieser einleitenden Vorreden (Kap. 1, 6 bis 3, 22) hat als Grundgedanken die Tendenz, an der Hand der gemachten Erfahrungen dem Volke die Überzeugung einzuprägen, dass auch zur Bezwingung der Völker und zur Eroberung ihres Landes Israel nicht Kriegsrüstung und Kriegstüchtigkeit, sondern hingebungsvoller Pflichttreue gegen Gott in Erfüllung seines Willens bedarf, und dieser Gehorsam gegen Gott, der im Frieden unsere einzige Aufgabe bildet, auch im Völkerkampfe allein genügt, allen entgegenstehenden Mächten zu obsiegen. Mit dem Gehorsam gegen Gott vermögen wir alles, ohne ihn nichts. Nicht als ein Volk der Macht und der Kriegskunst, sondern als das Volk des göttlichen Sittengesetzes soll Israel seinen völkergeschichtlichen Gang antreten. Auf diesem Gange ist Israels Sieg und Unterliegen gleich sehr eine Dokumentierung dieses gegen alle andere Völkerentwicklung protestierenden Faktums.

הואיל משה באר, “Moses undertook to expound this Torah;” he expounded all the commandments in the Torah, including the Ten Commandments that the people had heard from G-d directly. Hashem wished that the new generation which had been born after the revelation at Mount Sinai, should hear the Ten Commandments at least from the mouth of Moses. He was the most reliable human being that this task could be entrusted to.

באר את התורה [MOSES BEGAN] TO EXPLAIN THIS LAW — in the seventy languages of the ancient world did he explain it to them (Midrash Tanchuma, Devarim 2; Genesis Rabbah 49; cf. Sotah 32a and Rashi on Deuteronomy 27:8).

In seventy languages, etc. Since it is written here באר (elucidate) the Torah, and in Parshas Ki Savo (27:8) it is written “You are to write [on the stones all the statements of this Torah] באר היטב (elucidated well). The numerical value of the word היטב is seventy, when calculated as follows: ה"=5, ה"י=15, הי"ט=24, היט"ב=26; the numbers 5, 15, 24, and 26 add up to 70. [The word באר written here should also be understood as באר היטב].

רב לכם שבת — Explain this according to its plain sense: YE HAVE DWELT LONG ENOUGH [IN THIS MOUNT]. — But there is an Agadic explanation: He has given you much distinction and reward for your having dwelt in this mount: you made the Tabernacle, the candlestick and the other sacred articles, you received the Torah, you appointed a Sanhedrin for yourselves, captains over thousands and captains over hundreds (cf. Sifrei Devarim 5:2).

THE ETERNAL OUR G-D SPOKE UNTO US IN HOREB, SAYING. In my opinion Horeb was the name of a place near Mount Sinai⁵⁶See Vol. II, pp. 239, 253. where Israel dwelled in the year [of the exodus]. The wilderness was large and therein was the mountain which G-d hath desired;⁵⁷Psalms 68:17. its name was Sinai and it is for this reason that the entire wilderness is called the wilderness of Sinai,⁵⁸Exodus 19:1. as it were, “the wilderness of Mount Sinai.” Thus Scripture states, and they came to the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped opposite the mount,⁵⁹Ibid., Verse 2. meaning that they encamped in the wilderness in a place called Horeb, this being opposite the mountain. It is possible that both the mountain and the wilderness were called “Sinai” because many sneh (thorn-bush) trees were there, and near that mountain was a locality or an inhabited city called Horeb, and there they stopped. And the verse which states, and he [Moses] came to the mountain of G-d, unto Horeb⁶⁰Ibid., 3:1. [which might indicate that the name of the mountain itself was really Horeb or, perhaps, that the mountain was in the region called Horeb], means that he came to Horeb where the mountain of G-d was. Now the sneh (thorn-bush) [out of the midst of which the angel appeared to Moses] was on that mountain. Moses [at that moment] was in Horeb, the place before it, nearby, where the camp of Israel stood for [close to] a year [after the exodus]. Therefore Moses said, I will turn aside now and see [this great sight, why is the bush not consumed],⁶¹Ibid., Verse 3. meaning that he will turn aside from Horeb [and walk] up to the mountain. At times Scripture calls the mountain itself [Horeb], as it is said, And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb,⁶²Ibid., 33:6. that is to say “from the mountain which was in the area of Horeb, in its vicinity or before it.” Or it may be that Horeb was the name of the entire region and the mountain was within it. Similarly, Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances,⁶³Malachi 3:22. alludes to all that he was commanded on the mountain, and in the Tent of Meeting which was there in Horeb.
Now I have seen a Midrash in Yelamdeinu Rabbeinu:⁶⁴Literally: “May our master teach us.” See Vol. II, p. 131, Note 196, for description of this Midrash. “Yea, thou knewest not⁶⁵Isaiah 48:8. The verse reads: Yea, thou heardest not; yea thou knewest not; yea, from of old … — at Sinai; yea, thou heardest not — at Horeb; yea, from of old thine ear was not opened — in the plains of Moab.” The Midrash thus intimates that Horeb is the place where the Tent of Meeting was, [thus confirming the view that Sinai and Horeb are different places]. However, Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra states⁶⁶Choreb in Hebrew means “desolation,” or “dryness.” — This interpretation is found in Ibn Ezra’s commentary to Exodus 3:1-2. that Horeb is Mount Sinai, for, because of its desolation and dryness, the sneh (thorn-bush) grows there, so the mountain is known by two names [Horeb and Sinai], both being similar in meaning [“Horeb” referring to its desolate nature, and “Sinai” indicating the thorn-bushes that are products of the dryness].

בחורב לאמור, “at Mount Chorev, saying;” Nachmanides writes that Chorev is not a mountain but a region adjoining Mount Sinai where the Israelites were encamped during that year. [In light of Exodus 33,6, where Chorev is clearly described as a mountain, this is somewhat difficult to follow. Ed.] Nachmanides is aware of the difficulty and suggests several alternatives, basing himself on the fact that Sinai is both referred to by the Torah on some occasions as a mountain, and on other occasions as a region in the desert. [I suppose it is reasonable to say that the sheep which had lost its way and which Moses followed only to be confronted by a burning bush, did not climb a mountain. (compare Exodus 3,1) Ed.] Possibly, in the words of Nachmanides- Moses’ hesitation before investigating that spectacle was based on the very fact that the bush was burning on the mountain whereas he was standing at the bottom at that time. Ibn Ezra simply understands the word חורב as an alternate name for Mount Sinai, explaining that the bush was burning on account of the extreme dryness in that region. The people of Israel used either name for that mountain, interchangeably.

ה' אלו-הינו דבר אלינו, “the Lord our G’d spoke to us, etc.” You have to remember that throughout this Book Moses always refers to G’d with both attributes, i.e. Hashem and Elokim. I have already mentioned this at the end of verse 1.
בחורב, at Mount Chorev. This is the same as Mount Sinai.

According to its plain meaning. I.e., the word רב means “an extended time period.”

V. 6. בחרב, die ganze Gegend um den Sinai heißt Horeb. So: ויבא אל הר האלקים חרבה (Schmot 3, 1), רב לכם שבת בהר הזה. Vergl. ויפגשהו בהר האלקים (Schmot 4, 27). Es begreift übrigens הר nicht nur den Berg im engeren Sinne, sondern die ganze Terrainerhebung, von welcher der Berg die höchste Gipfelung bildet, woher ja auch הר überhaupt: Hochland, im Gegensatz zu שפלה Niederung, Tiefland (V. 7). בהר הזה heißt daher ganz füglich: in der Umgebung dieses Berges, in dieser Berggegend. — ׳רב לכם וגו: der Zweck, zu welchem ihr auf eurem Zuge aus Ägypten in das verheißene Land zuerst an diesen Berg geführt worden und dort weilen solltet (Schmot 3, 12), ist bereits genügend erreicht. Es ist euch hier das Gesetz geworden, mit dessen Hinnahme, Aufnahme und Annahme ihr in den "Dienst Gottes" getreten seid, und ihr habt euch hinlänglich mit dem Gesetze vertraut gemacht und ihm das Gesetzesheiligtum in eurer Mitte errichtet, so dass euch nichts mehr fehlt, um nunmehr in das Land zu ziehen, das keine andere Bestimmung hat, als Boden der Verwirklichung dieses Gesetzes zu werden.

דבר אלינו בחרב, “which He spoke to us at Chorev.” He commenced with words of encouragement (Compare Aruch hashalem under the entry בדח.

But there is an Aggadic interpretation, etc. For according to its plain meaning, there is a difficulty: The verse should have said “די לכם שבת (Enough of your living).” Why does it use the term רב (lit. a lot)? Therefore, Rashi explains: But there is an Aggadic interpretation.

פנו וסעו לכם TURN YOU AND JOURNEY — this was the journey to Arad and Hormah mentioned in Numbers 21:1—3.

TURN YOU, AND TAKE YOUR JOURNEY, AND GO TO THE MOUNT OF THE AMORITE etc. He mentioned to them the Land and the road that they are to traverse in their stages, and afterwards He said, Behold, I have set the Land before you which I swore to your fathers; go in and possess the Land⁶⁷Verse 8. — this being a command, not just an assurance and promise, as I have explained.⁶⁸Numbers 33:53, Ramban thus reiterates here his theory that the precept to conquer the Land of Israel is included in Taryag (six hundred and thirteen) mitzvoth which are binding for all times; that we are not to leave it in the hands of other nations, that we are not to leave it to waste, and that we are to dwell in it. See more fully in Vol. IV, pp. 385-386.

ואל כל שכיניו, “and to all its neighbors,” i.e. Ammon, Moav, and the Mountain of Se-ir.
והחוף הים, “and at the beaches of the Sea.” This refers to the coast of Ashkelon, Azzah, and Caesaria and other coastal towns along the Mediterranean.

This refers to Ammon, and Moav, etc. Some commentators question: Note that it is written (below 2:9), “Do not intimidate them [Moav] with war [for I will not give you any of his land] etc.” Perhaps the answer is: If the Jewish People had not sinned, Hashem would have given them the land of the ten Canaanite nations, as He promised Avrohom. However, because they sinned, Hashem only gave them the land of seven nations.

V. 7. פנו וגו׳. Erwägen wir, dass בערבה בהר ובשפלה בנגב ובחוף הים offenbar eine topographische Beschreibung des kanaanitischen Landes nach der Terrainverschiedenheit seiner Gebietsteile ist, wie dies sodann summarisch als ארץ הכנעני usw. zusammengefaßt wird; dieses ortbeschreibende בערבה usw. aber ebenso: offenbar sich auf das vorangehende הר האמרי ואל כל שכניו bezieht: so ergibt sich daraus, dass hier הר האמרי וכל שכניו das ganze Land bezeichnet, in welches sie einziehen sollen. In der Tat, so wie כנעני im engeren Sinne nur eine der Palästina bewohnenden Völkerschaften bezeichnet, in weiterem Sinne jedoch das ganze Land ארץ כנען genannt wird, so finden wir auch אמרי, obgleich an sich nur eine der palästinensischen Völkerschaften, als Repräsentanten aller und das Land als ארץ האמרי genannt (siehe Amos 2, 9 u. 10; so auch Verse 20 und 27). Die emoritische Bevölkerung war eben auf dem Einzug durch die Wüste die erste palästinensische Völkerschaft, auf welche Israel stieß, und konnte daher das ganze Land sehr wohl vollständig unter הר האמרי ושכניו begriffen und auch schlechtweg: ארץ האמרי genannt werden. בערבה: aus Kap. 3, 17 u. 11. 30 ist ersichtlich, dass diesseits und jenseits des Jordans die Umgegend des toten Meeres, welches selbst ים הערבה heißt, unter ערבה begriffen wird. So auch die Umgegend von Jericho: ערבות ירחו (Jos.5, 10 und sonst). Es ist übrigens nicht leicht, die Bedeutung von ערבה festzustellen. Während es in den Büchern der Propheten offenbar einen mit "Wüste" synonymen Begriff bezeichnet, z. B. Jirmija 6, 6: המוליך אותנו במדבר בארץ ׳ערבה ושוחה וגו, so kommt es doch neben מדבר und ישימון als örtliche Bezeichnung eines besonderen Terraius vor. Sam. I. 23, 24: במדבר מעון בערבה אל ימין הישימון. Im Sifri wird ערבה als מישור של יער, Waldebene erklärt. — שפלה ist die Niederung, die Tiefgegend zu Seiten eines Gebirges. So Josua 11, 16: הר ישראל ושפלתה.

פנו וסאו לכם וגו׳, “turn around and start journeying, etc.” ראה נתתי לפניכם, see, I have given before you’” (verse 8) Moses refers back to Exodus 23,20-32, where G-d had told Moses that He appointed His angel to proceed ahead of the people on their journey to the Holy Land.

ובאו הר האמרי — Understand this according to what it literally implies.

It is referred to as great, etc. Rashi is answering the question: Is not the Euphrates River the smallest of them all, for in Parshas Bereishis (2:14), it is mentioned last? Rashi explains this in Parshas Lech Lecha (Bereishis 15:18).

In חוף הים ,נגב ,שפלה ,הר ,ערבה scheint das ganze Land nach seinen topographischen Bestandteilen bezeichnet zu sein, ערבה: die Jordanebene, הר: das in der Mitte von Nord nach Süd sich erstreckende Hochland, שפלה: die Abdachungen zu beiden Seiten, נגב: das Tiefland im Süden, חוף הים: die Meeresküste im Westen. So wird auch Josua 11, 16 das von Josua eroberte Land beschrieben: ההר ואת כל הנגב ואת כל ארץ הגשן ואת השפלה ואת הערבה ואת הר ישראל ושפלתה (vergl. ebenso daselbst 12. 8). Es fehlt dort חוף הים, die Mittelmeergegenden, das Land der Philister, das. eben von Josua noch unerobert geblieben war. Im ספרי werden unter שכניו des Emoriters Amon und Moab und das Gebirge Seir verstanden. Es wäre sodann, wie der Kommentar זרע אברהם daselbst bemerkt, der Ausschluss der Gebiete Ammon, Moab und Edom von Israels Besitznahme erst nach der Kundschaftsversündigung und in Folge derselben bestimmt worden, ursprünglich jedoch hätten auch diese Gebiete Teile des Israel bestimmten Landes bilden sollen, wie denn auch in Midrasch Rabbot zu Bereschit 15. 19 unter den ursprünglich verheißenen und noch erst der Zukunft vorbehaltenen קיני קנזי וקדמני Ammon, Moab und Edom verstanden werden, deren Gebiet bei der einstigen Restauration dem jüdischen Lande einverleibt sein werde. So Jesaias 11, 14: אדום ארץ הכנעני .ומואב משלוח ידם ובני עמון משמעתם faßt das Genannte in einen Begriff zusammen. והלבנון: das palästinensische Gebirgsland ist eigentlich selbst nur der südliche Ausläufer des Libanons. Hier wird nun der ganze Libanon hinauf bis zum Euphrat mit in das ursprünglich verheißene Gebiet begriffen (siehe Bereschit 15, 18).

בערבה, “on the plains,” this is the plain that Moses had spoken of earlier in verse 1.

ואל כל שכניו AND TO ALL ITS NEIGHBOURING PLACES — Ammon, and Moab, and Mount Seir.

Attach yourself to the chief, etc. The word שחוור means “chief.”

בערבה IN THE PLAIN — this is the plain of the forest.

Become close to one who is anointed and you too will become anointed. I.e., become close to one who is anointed with oil, and you will also become anointed through your contact with him. The phrase (Yeshayah 34:6) הודשנה מחלב (it became anointed from the fats) is rendered in the Targum as איתדהינא [which is related to the word דהינא quoted by Rashi here]. Rashi means to say: Here too, since the Land of Israel is distinguished, so too the Euphrates River has become important along with it.

בהר IN THE MOUNTAIN — this is the King’s mountain.

ובשפלה AND IN THE LOW LAND — this is the low land of the south country.

ובנגב ובחוף הים AND IN THE SOUTH COUNTRY AND BY THE SEA COAST — Ashkelon and Gaza and Caesarea, etc., all as is stated in Sifrei Devarim 6:1.

עד הנהר הגדל TO THE GREAT RIVER [THE RIVER EUPHRATES] — Because it is mentioned in connection with the Land of Israel, it terms it "great". A popular proverb says: A king’s servant is a king, attach yourself to a captain and people will bow down to you; go near to an anointed (a distinguished) person and you become anointed (distinguished) yourself (cf. Rashi on Shevuot 47b and Genesis 15:18).

ראה נתתי SEE, I HAVE GIVEN [THE LAND BEFORE THEE] — With your own eyes do you see this: I do not tell you this by conjecture or hearsay (Sifrei Devarim 7).

WHICH THE ETERNAL SWORE. The reason [for using the third person the Eternal swore rather than the first person “I swore” which would be more appropriate, since G-d is the speaker] is similar to that in the verse, And unto Moses He said, Come up to the Eternal,⁶⁹Exodus 24:1. [rather than “Come up unto Me”]. There I have explained it.⁷⁰See ibid., Vol. II, pp. 422-424.

נתתי לפניכם את הארץ , the inhabitants of that land whose courage had already melted and who would not offer much resistance.

ראה נתתי לפניכם את הארץ, "Behold, I have set the land before you;" The Torah switches from the singular ראה, to the plural לפניכם, "before you (pl), because when it comes to looking at the land they were all alike. However each individual Jew was different from his brethren in character, mentality, etc. Similarly, the nature of taking possession of the land and what it meant to each individual Israelite differed, so that the balance of the verse is in the plural.

לתת להם ולזרעם אחריהם, “to give to them and to their descendants after them.” Our sages in Yalkut Shimoni 801 understand these words to mean: “to the people who took part in the Exodus and to their descendants,” i.e. the ones who took part in the Exodus from Babylonia. The additional word אחריהם, “after them,” refers to the people alive at the time of the final redemption, the ingathering of the exiles from the present Diaspora. It appears that the reason the Midrash had to interpret the text in this way is the fact that the Torah spent 3 verses on the subject. Each verse adds a new dimension not stated previously. The next verse on the subject is Deut. 11,21; in verse 9 of the same chapter the Torah repeats this message but without the words: “as long as there is a heaven over earth.” This prompted our sages to understand Moses as referring to three separate inheritances.

No one will contest this matter, etc. Otherwise, how could he say to them “Come,” for the Land had not yet been conquered?!

V. 8. ראה נתתי לפניכם וגו׳ באו ורשו ohne Schwertstreich, אין אתם צריכין לכלי זין hätte Israel, wenn es dem Ideale seiner Bestimmung entsprochen hätte, das Land in Besitz nehmen sollen (ספרי; — siehe Schmot 23, 27 f.).

באו ורשו GO IN AND POSSESS [THE LAND] — There is no one who will contest the matter, and you will not need to wage war. Indeed, had they not sent the spies, but had trusted in God's promise, they would not have needed weapons of war (cf. Sifrei Devarim 7).

באו ורשו את הארץ, the various districts in which the people reside for they are afraid of you and will either flee or will die without your having to engage in battle.

באו ורשו את הארץ, "Enter and take possession of the land, etc." Why did the Torah have to repeat the words את הארץ, instead of merely saying אותה, "it?" The reason is that the land which had been mentioned previously was the land which used to belong to Sichon and Og which G'd had allocated to Reuven and Gad. Now that Moses gave instructions to take possession of the land he had to make plain that the land which G'd had sworn to the Patriarchs had not included the lands now inherited by Reuven and Gad. I have already explained this in connection with Numbers 32,7 and have proved the point from the Sifri there.

לאבתיכם [THE LAND WHICH THE LORD SWARE] UNTO YOUR FATHERS … [TO GIVE TO THEM] — Why does he further mention their names: to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob? But it is to suggest the following: The merit of Abraham would itself suffice, that of Isaac would itself suffice, that of Jacob would itself suffice, that I should give the land to you (cf. Sifrei Devarim 8:1; see also Rashi on Leviticus 26:42).

ואמר אלכם בעת ההוא לאמר AND I SPAKE UNTO YOU AT THAT TIME, SAYING — What is the force of לאמר, (lit., to say. i.e. being bidden to say)? Moses, in effect, said unto them: Not of myself do I tell you that I am not able to bear you, but by the bidding of the Holy One, blessed be He (Sifrei Devarim 9:1),

AND I SPOKE UNTO YOU AT THAT TIME, SAYING: ‘I AM NOT ABLE TO BEAR YOU MYSELF ALONE.’ [Moses’ statement here in this verse was actually said] before the Eternal said to us in Horeb, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mountain,⁷¹Above, Verse 6. For, according to the opinion that Jethro came before the Giving of the Torah, the appointment of judges (recorded here in the following verses) took place almost a year before they moved away from Horeb. Hence we must say that the whole episode that begins with Verse 9 happened before Israel was commanded to journey from Horeb (Verse 6). And the expression at that time (in this verse) means “while we dwelled at Horeb.” But according to the Sages who say that Jethro came after the Giving of the Torah, the expression at that time means “at that time when we were about to leave Horeb.” according to the opinion of those who say that Jethro came before the Giving of the Torah.⁷²See Exodus 18:1; Vol. II, pp. 249-252. And the meaning of the expression at that time [in the verse before us] is “while we dwelled at Horeb.” But Moses mentioned it here [in Verse 9, rather than before Verse 6] to convey the following thought: We received the Torah, and you had judges and officers to judge you and lead you, and we were thus ready to enter the Land. And we journeyed from Horeb⁷³Further, Verse 19, and Verse 22. in our [four] divisions with our judges and our elders, and then ye came near unto me every one of you⁷³Further, Verse 19, and Verse 22. with your wise men and your leaders and you wanted spies to be sent, and thus the plan [for an immediate entry into the Land] was frustrated.

לא אוכל לבדי שאת אתכם, "I am not able to bear you myself alone." This does not mean that Moses said so in these very words; rather it means that Moses said something which was equivalent to these words.

ואומר אליכם בעת ההיא לאמור, ”at that time I said to you, saying:” Moses refers to the period before G’d had said to the people to get moving away from the region around Mount Sinai. At least, that is what we must assume according to the view that Yitro visited the Israelites prior to the revelation at Mount Sinai. The meaning of בעת ההיא is ”during the period that we were encamped around Mount Sinai.” The reason why Moses mentions this now is as if he were saying: “here we had received the Torah and you already had all the tens of thousands of judges installed as well as the law enforcers and were ready to begin the journey, and we began our trek from Sinai (Chorev) with all our elderly, etc., and suddenly you delayed us by demanding to first dispatch spies, a demand which resulted in all our plans becoming upset.

ואומר אליכם בעת ההיא לאמור, “I spoke to you at that time, saying:” the word לאמור here refers to Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law who had given this advice. When G’d indicated His approval, Moses accepted this advice in practice (Exodus 18,23).

What is the significance of לאמר, etc. I.e., the word לאמר (to say) is always intended to be expounded, meaning either, “to say to others,” or, “go say to them My words and bring Me a response,” or, “respond to My words.” But, none of these meanings apply here. Therefore, Rashi asks: What is the significance of לאמר in this context?

V. 9. ואמר אלכם בעת ההיא. So auch V. 18: בעת .ואצוה אתכם בעת ההיא ההיא: in jener Zeit, in welcher ihr zur Besitznahme eines von mächtigen, kriegserfahrenen Bevölkerungen bewohnten Landes schreiten solltet, habe ich euch nicht in Waffen geübt, nicht Kriegs- und Schlachtenplan studieren, nicht Rüstung und Kriegsmaterial vervollständigen lassen, nicht Kriegshauptleute und Führer bestellt; auch in dem Momente bevorstehender Völkerbezwingung und Ländereroberung solltet ihr nur ein Anliegen, die treueste und gewissenhafteste Verwirklichung des göttlichen Gesetzes in eurem inneren Kreise kennen. Die Erfüllung des göttlichen Sittengesetzes genügt, um die Welt zu bezwingen. Es entspreche Israel nur dem Ideale seiner göttlichen Bestimmung und überlasse seine äußere Weltstellung — Gott. בעת ההיא: in der V. 6 besprochenen Zeit ihres Verweilens am Horeb. לא אוכל לבדי שאת אתכם (vergl. Schmot 11. 11 u. 14). Es umfaßt dies. die Lösung, der Gesamtaufgabe, die aus der Mosche obliegenden Führung des Volkes erwuchs und welche V. 12 nach deren einzelnen Seiten vergegenwärtigt wird.

ואומר אליכם בעת ההיא, “and I had said to you at that time;” this includes everything until verse 18 that Moses had commanded the people. It had been the subject in Exodus 18,18 where Moses’ father in law Yitro had cautioned him against overexerting himself, and Moses’ response by appointing people to act as his delegates.

לא אוכל לבדי וגו׳ I AM NOT ABLE [TO BEAR YOU] ALONE — Is it possible that Moses was not able to judge Israel? The man who brought them forth from Egypt, and divided the sea for them, and made the Manna fall, and collected the quails, was not he able to judge them?! But thus did he say unto them, ה' אלהיכם הרבה אתכם THE LORD YOUR GOD HATH MADE YOU GREAT (הרבה) — He has made you superior to and has placed you higher than your judges, inasmuch as He takes the punishment off you and places it upon your judges if they could have prevented your wrongdoing and did not do so. Solomon made a similar statement (namely that the Jewish judge may easily make himself liable to punishment): “For who is able to judge this thy grievous people?” (1 Kings 3:9). Is it possible that he of whom it is said, (1 Kings 5:11) “He was wiser than all men”, should say, "Who is able to judge”? But this did Solomon mean: The judges of this people are not like the judges of other peoples, for if one of the latter gives judgment and wrongly sentences a person to death by the sword, or to flagellation, or to strangulation, or wrests his justice and thus robs him of his due, it is regarded as of little importance (lit., there is nothing at all in that); I, however, if I unjustly sentence a person to pay even a sum of money, my life is required of me, as it is said, (Proverbs 22:23) “And He robs of their life those who rob them" (Sifrei Devarim 9:2; Sanhedrin 7a).

I am not telling you this on my own initiative, etc. In other words, [Moshe was saying,] “Even if I had wanted to carry you by myself in order to receive reward, I would not be able to because the Almighty has prevented me.” This is the meaning of לאמר (saying) — that the Almighty told me explicitly not to do so. Rashi explains likewise below (v. 12): “If I would say, ‘I will do so in order to be rewarded,’ I cannot do so.” This is what I have [already] told you, etc., referring to the explanation given here.

Is it possible that Moshe was unable, etc. You might ask: Did Rashi not explain above, “I am not telling you this on my own, etc.”? If so, what is Rashi’s question? Perhaps Moshe was capable, but he was not permitted. The answer is: Rashi’s question is based on the (seemingly) extra words. Why does Moshe say, “I cannot [carry you] by myself ... Adonoy, your God, has multiplied you etc.”? Rather, Moshe was saying: “I am not telling you this on my own ... And even if the Almighty did not command me, I still would have needed to appoint judges over you, for I cannot carry you by myself, etc.” That is why Rashi asks: It is possible that, etc.

Was unable to judge them? Some [commentators] ask: Yisro said to Moshe, “You are going to wear yourself out (Shemos 18:18).” Rashi should have asked [there]: Regarding a prophet like Moshe, how could Yisro think it was difficult for him to judge the People? The answer is that above, I could think that Yisro was saying the following: “You are going to wear out this people.” I.e., it was difficult for the people that Moshe sat alone to judge them, for they all stood waiting for him from morning until evening. Certainly if there were many judges, it would be easier upon the people. Therefore, since it was difficult for the People then they would complain to Moshe, and this would be difficult for him. Therefore, Rashi explains [only] here.

Multiplied you — i.e., has made you great and has uplifted you. I.e., the term הרבה means, “He has made you great.”

And set it upon the judges. This refers to when the judges have the power to prevent wrongdoing, and they fail to do so.

He is the wisest of all men, etc. One should not ask: The verse, “For who is able to judge,” was stated before, “He is the wisest of all men.” And if so, then when Shlomo said, “For who is able to judge?” he was not yet wise! The answer is: His end is testimony to his beginning. I.e., since Shlomo became so wise — to the greatest extent possible — then in the beginning he also must have been wise and capable of judging the People, as it says (Mishlei 14:33), “In an understanding heart, wisdom rests.”

והנכם היום ככוכבי השמים AND, BEHOLD, YE ARE THIS DAY AS THE STARS OF THE HEAVEN — But were they that day as the stars of the heaven? Were they not, indeed, only sixty myriads? What, then, is the meaning of “And, behold, ye are this day (היום lit., the day)"? It means: Behold ye may be compared to the day (the sun), existing for ever just as the sun and the moon and the stars (cf. Sifrei Devarim 10:1).

ה׳ אלוקיכם הרבה אתכם, "The Lord your G'd has multiplied you, etc." This sounds peculiar as we have not read anywhere that the Jewish people had multiplied and become more numerous than the number of people who had participated in the Exodus. Neither did the Israelites increase since the census in the second year of their wanderings. Our sages in the Sifri understood the reference as meaning: "He has made you greater than your judges." Perhaps another thing which Moses had in mind with these words is something we have been taught in the Zohar volume 3 page 211 that when one mentions the abundance of good, its power is increased when it comes to warding off evil influences. The Zohar writes there that whenever one mentions G'd's name as the supreme G'd, the spiritually negative influences lose their power to exercise dominion. Seeing that Moses had first complained that he himself could not handle the Jewish people by himself, he felt it necessary to invoke this Name to counteract any negative influences he might have awakened by his comment.

ה' אלו-היכם הרבה אתכם, “the Lord your G’d has multiplied you, etc.” Moses referred to the increase of the Jewish people during their sojourn in Egypt. They had arrived there comprising only 70 persons, whereas by the time they left Egypt they numbered over 600,000 fighting men. As of the time when Moses was addressing them they were so numerous they could not be counted. It is also possible to understand the words הרבה אתכם as not referring to quantitative increase in the people of Israel but to the qualitative increase; they had developed into a powerful nation. The word רבי המלך in Jeremiah 39,13 means the distinguished people of the King, גדולי המלך.

What then does “you are today” mean? You are compared to the day. I.e., the term כיום [in Rashi] is the same as כהיום (like the day).

V. 10. ככוכבי וגו׳. Wie man beim Anblick des gestirnten Himmels nur den Eindruck der Unermeßlichkeit gewinnt und nicht daran denkt, die einzelnen Sterne zu zählen, den Eindruck macht auch ihr, wenn man euch in eurer Gesamtheit überblickt. Hat doch auch die Geschichte der Menschheit nicht viel Gelegenheit geboten, ein ganzes Volk, sechsmalhunderttausend Männer, an drittehalb Millionen Seelen in einer Örtlichkeit zusammen zu überblicken. Die Veranschaulichung der ungezählten Volksmenge durch die vergleichende Hinweisung auf die ungezählte Sternenmenge dürfte jedoch auch zugleich der irrigen Auffassung vorbeugen sollen, als ob das Volk in seiner Gesamtheit also als eine ungezählte Masse begriffen werden sollte, innerhalb deren der einzelne seine Bedeutung verlöre. Wie bei der ungezählten Sternenmenge, behält gleichwohl jeder einzelne seine selbständige Bedeutung, ist "eine Welt für sich", in eigenem Werte Augenmerk der göttlichen Sendung und Waltung (siehe zu Bereschit 15, 5).

As the sun, the moon, and the stars. Meaning, “like the day.” Although the moon and stars do not reign during the day, it is not called a “day” without including the night with it, as it is written (Bereishis 1:5), “And it was evening, and it was morning, [it was] day one.” If so, it is fine that the verse says [according to Rashi’s explanation] “like the day” [and then mentions the stars]. (In the name of Maharitz). The phrase לרוב (as numerous) means: In the future, you will also be as numerous as the stars. Now, however, you are eternal like them (the sun, moon and the stars), but you are not as numerous as them (Re”m).

והנכם היום, "and here you are as of this day, etc." Moses was very careful to say היום, "today," to alert us to the fact that the statement is to be divided into two separate time frames. The first time frame related to the period during the second year of their wanderings when he had told G'd that he was unable to bear the burden of leadership all by himself. Concerning that period, he had said "G'd has mutiplied you, etc." The second time frame concerned the present, i.e. the fortieth year of their wanderings as he pointed out "as of today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky."

ככוכבי השמים, "as the stars in the sky." When Moses said these words he referred to something we have learned in Sanhedrin 26 that אין מנין לרשעים, "that the wicked do not really have a number." What the Talmud means is that though from a numerical point of view the wicked may appear to number a great many, their increase in number does not imply an increase in importance. The very reverse is true of the righteous. Though, numerically speaking, they may appear as insignificant, their influence is totally disproportionate to their actual number. This is precisely what Moses had in mind when he compared the "number" of the Israelites to the stars in the sky. Just as each of the stars is an important unit in its own right, so each one of the Israelites contributed to the importance represented by their collective רבוי, multiplicity.

יסף עליכם ככם אלף פעמים MAY HE ADD TO YOU A THOUSAND TIMES AS MANY MORE AS YE ARE — What is the force of saying further: ויברך אתכם כאשר דבר לכם AND MAY HE BLESS YOU EVEN AS HE HATH SPOKEN CONCERNING YOU? But the explanation is: They said to him, “Moses, you are setting a limit to our blessings (only a thousand times)! The Holy One, blessed be He, has already made a boundless promise to Abraham (Genesis 13:16) “… if one can count [the dust of the earth, then can thy seed also be counted]"! Moses replied to them: This (a thousand times) is from me (it is my blessing); but may He bless you even as He hath spoken concerning you!" (Sifrei Devarim 11).

ה׳ אלוקי אבותיכם יסף עליכם, "May the Lord G'd of your fathers add to your numbers, etc." "May you number 1000 times as many righteous people as you are as of today." Concerning the multiplicity, Moses added: "and may He bless you as He has said." Our sages in the Sifri claim that the words: "may you number a thousand times as many righteous people as you are now," were Moses' own blessing, as distinct from the words "may He bless you as He has said." The thrust of the entire passage is to mention the name of the Lord in connection with the Israelites even at a time when Moses mentioned G'd's generosity to the Israelites in the greatest imaginable manner.

ככם אלף פעמים, “like you, one thousand times.” According to Devarim Rabbah, 13, quoted by Rashi, Moses explained that this blessing was his personal one, and therefore limited. G’d, however, would bless the people without placing a limit on His blessing. This is the meaning of Moses’ rider “as He has said to you,” i.e. “you will be like the dust of the earth (Genesis 28,14).

Moshe then said to them, “This is my personal blessing etc.” I.e., the one thousand fold is my personal blessing, but Hashem will bless you more than one thousand fold as He spoke about you. You might ask: Since Hashem promised to bless them to be as numerous as the dust of the earth, why does Moshe say, “The one thousand fold is my personal blessing”? Is that not included in Hashem’s blessing? The answer is: Moshe’s statement, “This [one thousand fold] is my personal blessing,” refers to reward [in this world] from the blessings. Another explanation is: “This is from me,” means that these blessings from me are unconditional. However, the blessings from Hashem are on the condition that you uphold the mitzvos and the Torah.

איכה אשא לבדי HOW CAN I MYSELF ALONE BEAR [YOUR CUMBRANCE, etc.]? — If I were to say, "I will do so in order to receive a reward for it", I may not do so. This is what I have already said to you: not of myself do I tell you that I am not able to bear you, but by the bidding of the Holy One, blessed be He (see Rashi v. 9).

HOW CAN I MYSELF ALONE BEAR ‘TORCHACHEM’ (YOUR TROUBLE) ‘UMASA’ACHEM’ (AND YOUR BURDEN), V’RIVCHEM (AND YOUR STRIFE)? According to the simple meaning of Scripture, Moses our teacher alluded to them the three things which he told Jethro that he was doing for the people, as I have explained there.⁷⁴Exodus 18:15. Vol. II, p. 263. He now mentioned them to Israel by implication. He said torchachem corresponding to and I make known to them the statutes of G-d and His laws,⁷⁵Ibid., Verse 16. for it was a difficult “task” to teach those who had come forth from Egypt, the statutes and the laws of G-d, their meanings, interpretations, and secrets. He said masa’achem corresponding to the people come unto me to inquire of G-d,⁷⁴Exodus 18:15. Vol. II, p. 263. a reference to prayer, for he used to pray on their behalf. The word masa’achem is related to the expression: ‘v’nasatha t’filah’ (and thou lift up prayer);⁷⁶II Kings 19:4. nor ‘tisa’ (lift up) entreaty or prayer in their behalf.⁷⁷Jeremiah 7:16. [He stated] ‘v’rivchem’ (and your strife) which is to be understood in its plain sense — matters of judgments [because judges must rule when there is strife among people]. Moses continued to state: Get you men who are wise, and understanding, and known among your tribes⁷⁸Verse 13. — referring only to [the qualities of] judges. But he said unqualifiedly, and I will make them heads over you⁷⁸Verse 13. by way of humility.⁷⁹That is, Moses told the people that he will make these judges “heads” over them — in all three of the above capacities: teaching, praying and judging. Actually, however, the “heads” were only for rendering judgment in matters of litigation between them, but not for teaching the statutes and the laws to the people, nor for praying on their behalf, those vital functions being the province of Moses. Yet Moses by way of humility said that he would appoint them to all three functions.
Now Rashi quotes from the Sifre:⁸⁰Sifre, Devarim 12. “‘Torchachem’ (Your trouble). This teaches that they were troublesome. If one perceived that his opponent was winning a litigation, he would say ‘I have witnesses to bring; I have evidence to present; I [exercise my right to] add judges to you [thereby increasing the size of the court].’” But I do not know [the validity of] this law that one of the litigants should have the right to add judges above [the usual number of] three in cases concerning monetary matters, and surely he has no such right after presenting his case before them and perceiving that his opponent was winning the case! For, had he voluntarily accepted upon himself a relative or an unqualified person as a judge, he could indeed retract⁸¹Sanhedrin 31b. prior to the rendering of the final judgment, but from those qualified to judge he cannot retract [his acceptance]! Perhaps we can deduce from here the principle that a man can say, “I choose two judges and you choose two other ones, and they [i.e., the four judges] will choose one more,⁸²For “a court must not be divisible evenly;” it must have an odd number of judges to assure that, in the event of a split, there would not be a tie vote (ibid., 2a). and let the suit be decided by five or more judges,” just as the Rabbis have said:⁸³The precise source of this statement is unknown to me. Rambam states the thought as follows: “Although a court of three judges is a perfect tribunal, yet if they are more, it is to be praised” (Mishneh Torah, Hilchoth Sanhedrin 2:13). “A suit decided by five [judges] is not comparable to one decided by ten [judges].” Although three judges [have the power to] compel parties to come before them for judgment when one refuses to be bound by their decision, yet if one [of the litigants] desires to choose additional judges, he may do so, because it is similar to [the case of] one [of the litigants] who says, “Let us go to the main meeting place of the scholars [to bring our suit before them on the assumption that superior scholars are better qualified to judge],”⁸¹Sanhedrin 31b. in which case we accede to him, provided it does not entail [undue] hardship, for in such a case we have been commanded, Justice, justice, shalt thou pursue,⁸⁴Further, 16:20. [which the Sifre interpreted]: “Go to a reliable court,” and an increase in the number constitutes “a reliable court.”⁸⁵Sifre, Shoftim 144; Sanhedrin 32b. Now in the wilderness, wise men were available to them and the litigants could say, “Let us go before the officers of the thousands.”

טרחכם, your petty arguments which did not even involve financial claims.

איכה אשא לבדי, "How can I bear alone, etc.?" Moses now reverts to what he had said in verse 9: "I cannot bear you myself alone." He had interrupted this train of thought in order to counteract any negative results which would accrue to the people from a complaint about them by their leader. At this point he feels it is safe to carry on with what he had to say in verse 9.

טרחכם ומשאכם וריבכם, “your contentiousness, your burdens, and your quarrelsomeness.” Nachmanides explains that the plain meaning of the text is that Moses here repeated in an oblique manner what he had said to his father-in-law Yitro when the latter had enquired what Moses was busy with all day long. At that time (Exodus 18,15-16) he had referred to his duties as threefold: He had stressed that his duties included the settling of disputes arising between one Israelite and another. He told Yitro that the duty to teach the people who had just left hundreds of years of slavery, involved only with the physical effort to survive such bondage, G’d’s law, was not only time-consuming, but difficult. This is what he alluded to when mentioning טרחכם, they were not such brilliant students who immediately grasped the knowledge offered, especially when it came to laws which did not appear logical to them. The word משאכם was a substitute for תפילה, prayer, as in ונשאת תפילה, (Isaiah 37,4) “if you will offer up a prayer.” A prophet, such as Isaiah in the verse quoted- is expected to offer up prayers to G’d on behalf of people who need their prayers for relief from problems to be heard by G’d. Finally, the word ריבכם used by Moses is self-explanatory. The words הבו לכם אנשים וגו', refer only to the attributes of the judges who are to be appointed. Alternatively, the word משאכם refers to the incidents when the people had demanded water, meat, etc., all matters that were beyond their leader’s ability to provide. The word משא is found in connection with that episode. (compare Numbers 11,11)

איכה אשא לבדי טרחכם, “How am I able to carry alone the trouble of you, and the burdens, etc.” The “trouble” Moses was referring to was that he had to explain the meaning of the commandments to foolish people. Our sages in Sifri Devarim 12 explain that the Israelites were bothering Moses with a great deal of litigation and the loser in litigation would never be content with the judgment but would claim that he had witnesses whom he had not presented, arguments which he had not used, etc., all in order to reopen the matter. Moses would have to add more judges to review the case.

In order to be rewarded, I cannot do so, etc. In other words: “Even if I would want to carry you alone in order to be rewarded, I cannot do so.” Otherwise, why did he say, “How can I carry alone”? For Moshe had already said (v. 9), “I cannot carry you by myself, etc.” which is due to the penalty, etc.

V. 12. טרה .טרחכם ומשאכם וריבכם, im Talmud sehr gewöhnlich: die Mühe; in תנ׳׳ך noch Jesaias 1, 14: היו עלי לטרח und Job 37, 11: אף ברי יטריח עב, wo. es das Auseinanderzwängen eines dichten Gewölkes durch den Lichtstrahl bedeutet, der das eben als dicke Wolkenmasse Dastehende als lichtumsäumte Duftwölkchen umherstreut, טרה יפיץ ענן אורו bedeutet im Rabbinischen auch ein starkes in Bewegung setzen, erschüttern. טריה (Baba Batra 18 a und Chulin 45 b). טרח ist hier die anstrengende Tätigkeit, משא das aufreibende, Geduld herausfordernde Ertragen (vergl. speziell Bamidbar 11. 11 u. 14), welches beides unausgesetzt die Mosche obliegende Gesamtleitung und Belehrung des Volkes bedingt. Wenn dazu noch ריבכם die einzelnen Streitsachen hinzukommen, deren Schlichtung Mosche allein obliegen sollte, so übersteigt dies die Kräfte selbst eines Mosche. Im ספרי wird טרחכם und משאכם auf die Erschwerung bezogen, die das Richter- und Führeramt durch die besonderen Charaktereigentümlichkeiten des Volkes erlitten, und zwar טרחכם auf den querulierenden Sinn der Prozessführenden, משאכם auf den Hang zu ironischen Witzeleien über das persönliche Tun und Lassen des Führers, was nicht wenig seine Autorität zu untergraben geeignet gewesen wäre, wenn ihm nicht Mosche ענוה mit völligem Ignorieren begegnet wäre.

וריבכם, “and your quarrels;” this refers to internal quarrels between Jew and fellow Jew.

טרחכם YOUR CUMBRANCE — Moses' use of this word regarding them teaches us that the Israelites were troublesome: if one of them perceived that his opponent in a law suit was about to be victor in the case he would say: I have witnesses to bring, further proof to adduce, I will add judges to you who are sitting (Sifrei Devarim 12:1) .

ומשאכם, your bicckering involving the provision of the needs for the many.

משאכם, “your burden.” A reference to the demands for meat and water. We know that in Numbers 11,11 Moses had asked G’d to relieve him of משא כל העם הזה עלי, “the burden of this whole people.”

This teaches that they were scoffers, etc. The word אפיקורסין means (literally) “rebels.” It is a contraction of two words: אפיק (discard), and רסן (bridle). I.e., the bridle is thrown off them — they go about unbridled. Therefore, they are rebellious, just as a horse that is unbridled.

ומשאכם YOUR BURDEN — this teaches that they were Epicorsim (that they treated the judges with scant respect): if Moses went forth early from his tent they said, “Why does the son of Amram leave so early? Perhaps he is not at ease at home?" If he left late, they said, “What do you think? He is sitting and devising evil schemes against you, and is plotting against you" (Sifrei Devarim 12:2).

וריבכם, and your mutual financial claims upon one another. He reminded them of all this in order that they should remember their sins. He hoped that the people repented their past conduct honestly, for in the past, in spite of Moses having told them that they would take over the land of Canaan without even having to fight for it, something that should have been their major concern seeing that they were in the desert. Rather than focusing on their major problem, how to get out of the desert into the promised land, they had wasted their time and efforts in the pursuit of petty concerns, undermining their inter-personal relationships in the process. Due to this interminable quarreling, Moses had been forced to appoint a large number of judges that had to exert authority over the individuals down to every 10 people requiring at least one such judge. This could only have been due to some character weakness, some pre-disposition to be quarrelsome.

וריבכם, “and your bickering.” This teaches that the people had a habit of quarreling with one another.

וריבכם AND YOUR STRIFE — this teaches that they were always contentious (Sifrei Devarim 12:3).

הבו לכם means GET YOURSELVES READY for the matter (cf. Rashi on Genesis 11:3).

VIDU’IM L’SHIVTEICHEM’ (AND KNOWN AMONG YOUR TRIBES) — “men who are known to you. For if he were to come before me [Moses] wrapped in his robe, I would not know who he is and of what tribe he is, but you know him for you have raised him.” This is Rashi’s language quoting the Sifre.⁸⁶Sifre, Devarim 13. And if so, ‘l’shivteichem’ (among your tribes) is connected with the word ‘vidu’im’ (and known).⁸⁷The Scriptural text [in the order of the words] reads: Get you men who are wise, and understanding, ‘vidu’im’ (and known) ‘l’shivteichem’ [literally: “‘to’ or ‘from’ each of your tribes”]. Now Rashi, on the basis of the Sifre, connects the last two words — “known to your tribes.” Ramban will explain l’shivteichem as referring to the first part of the verse: “Get you … from each of your tribes” and the word vidu’im he will explain as meaning and known to be judges and being qualified. But in line with the plain meaning of Scripture the purport of the verse is as follows: “Get you, from each of your tribes wise men.”⁸⁶Sifre, Devarim 13. And the meaning of the word vidu’im in my opinion is that “they are known as judges,” that is to say, their capability is known and recognized as qualifying them to be appointed judges. Now [Moses] epitomized the qualities of the judges in the word vidu’im, because the judges need to be able men, such as fear G-d; men of truth, hating unjust gain,⁸⁸Exodus 18:21. as Jethro said. And these men [that were appointed] were known from the beginning to be judges, for everyone was saying, “This one is fit to be a judge.”

הבו לכם אנשים חכמים, "get for yourselves wise and understanding men, etc." He advisedly used the word "for yourselves" before mentioning that they should be from their respective tribes as the fact that the judges would be selected from within the respective tribes would result in many beneficial effects for the members of these tribes. Please compare what I have written in Parshat Pinchas on Numbers 27,16 "may the Lord of all spirits appoint a man over the congregation."

ואשימם בראשיכם, “I shall place them as heads over you.” Moses gave these people positions of honour so that the people would respect them. Our sages (Rashi) point out that the word ואשמם is written defectively, the letter י being missing after the letter ש. This converts the word into אשם, “guilt.” The spelling teaches that the sins of the people of Israel are largely blamed on their leaders if these had been in a position to stop the people from committing these sins and they had failed to exert their authority. (The author notes that in our version of the written Torah the letter י described by the sages as missing is part of the text.)

Prepare yourselves to fulfill this matter. The word הבה always denotes preparation for a matter, meaning, to give advice or assistance for a particular matter (Re”m).

V. 13. הבו לכם וגו׳: gebet euch, oder: gebet für euch her, d. h. wählet und nennet mir aus eurer Mitte, חכמים: Männer, die die gegebenen gesetzlichen Normen kennen, ונבונים: und die die Fähigkeit haben, aus dem Gegebenen das Richtige zur Entscheidung vorliegender Fälle zu folgern (siehe zu Bereschit 41, 33 und Schmot S. 363). וידעים לשבטיכם deren Charakter euch bekannt ist. Ihre חכמה und בינה könnte auch ich durch Prüfung erkennen, allein ihr sittlicher Charakter lässt sich nur aus ihrem Leben erkennen, der ist nur denen bekannt, die mit ihnen umgehen. Darum kann ich sie nur auf euren Vorschlag ernennen. In diesem ידועים לשבטיכם sind alle die sittlichen Charakteranforderungen begriffen, die Jitros יראי אלקים אנשי אמת שנאי בצע (Schmot 18, 21) spezieller angab, während die hier genannte חכמה ובינהunter die dort geforderte Tüchtigkeit אנשי חיל fällt .Charakteristisch ist es, dass Jithro in seinem Vorschlag an Mosche die Rechtschaffenheit des Charakters in den Vordergrund stellt, Mosche in seinem Antrage an das Volk die geistigen Eigenschaften der zu Richtern zu wählenden Männer. Es dürfte damit die Tatsache gegeben sein, dass in Wahrheit, also in der Anschauung eines Mosche und Jitro, Charaktertüchtigkeit: Gottesfurcht, Wahrheitsliebe und Eigennutzhass in viel höherem Grade die Rechtsprechung als Gelehrtheit und Scharfsinn bedingen. Die Volksanschauung sucht aber vor allem in dem Richter den gelehrten und klugen Mann. In der Tat sind ja auch in der späteren jüdischen Gerichtspraxis für gewöhnliche zivilrechtliche Sachen je drei einfache rechtschaffene Männer aus dem Volke שלושה הדיוטות, zur Rechtsprechung kompetent, und war bei der im Volke verbreiteten Gesetzeskunde die Voraussetzung möglich, dass unter je dreien אי אפשר דלית בהו חד דגמיר, jedenfalls einer sein werde, der die nötige Rechtskunde besitze (Sanhedrin 3 a). ואשימם בראשיכם: wenn sie einmal auf euren Vorschlag durch mich an eure Spitze gestellt sind, dann ist allerdings ihre Autorität ein durch mich "Gesetztes" und nicht mehr eurem Belieben überlassen. Dann ist ihre Autorität wie das Gesetz selbst, אשר "שם" משה לפני בני ישראל (Kap. 4, 44). In der Achtung eurer "Vorgesetzten achtet ihr die Autorität, die sie "eingesetzt", und euch selber, aus deren Mitte sie hervorgegangen.

ואשמם, “I will appoint them;” the letter י before the first letter מ, is missing hereRashi comments on this as follows: this י was deliberately removed in order to tell us that when the Israelites commit sins, much of the blame can be laid at the doorstep of the heads of the legal system that have not enforced Torah laws diligently and fairly. (one version of Rashi) Our author’s version did have the letter י in his Torah scroll. Clearly, Rashi’s Torah scroll did not have that letter.

אנשים MEN — But would it enter your mind that he would take women? Why then does it state here men? It means that he should take righteous, desirable men (cf. Sifrei Devarim 13:2).

Righteous men. Why did Rashi not explain this above regarding, “Send for yourself men, etc. (Bamidbar 13:2)”? The answer is: This explanation applies here more than it does there. For the Mishnah says (Nidah 6:4), “All who are fit to testify, are fit to judge.” And since women are not fit to testify, they are not fit to judge. Therefore, why does the verse need to specify “men”?

ואשימם בראשיכם, "and I will place them as heads over you." Moses means that although he told the people that the appointment of these judges would be for their benefit, i.e. that they themselves would be allowed to select these judges, the fact remained that these judges would exert their authority over the people, if necessary backed up by means of enforcing same.

חכמים ונבנים WISE AND UNDERSTANDING [MEN] — i.e. men who can understand a matter out of (i.e. by comparison with) another matter. — This is what Arius asked R. Jose: what is the difference between wise men and understanding men? A wise man is like a rich money changer: when people bring him dinars to examine (to value) he examines them; and when they do not bring to him, he sits and does nothing (he does not go out to seek any). An understanding man, however, is like a merchant money changer: when they bring him coins to examine, he examines them; and when they do not bring to him, he goes about and brings of his own money (i.e. he himself buys coins) (cf. Sifrei Devarim 13:3).

Men who are desired. The word כסופים is an expression of חמוד (desirable), i.e., the people desire them, for they speak clearly and they do not speak longer than necessary. Another explanation is: The word כסופים is an expression of בושה (shame). I.e., they are ashamed of their wrongdoings. And when they desire to do an action, they consider the outcome [of their actions] beforehand, in order not to be ashamed from it. And such a person is called a חכם (wise person), as the verse says, “The wise look [ahead] from the beginning (Koheles 2:14).” This is also stated in Pirkei Avos (2:13), “Do not consider yourself to be wicked in your own eyes.”

וידעים לשבטיכם AND [MEN] KNOWN AMONGST YOUR TRIBES — i.e. men who are known to you. For if he were to come before me wrapped in his robe, “I" would not know who he is and of what tribe he is, and whether he is fitted for the office: but you know him for you have been brought up with him. On this account it states: known amongst your tribes (Sifrei Devarim 13:4).

He goes about to bring his own. I.e., he buys and sells merchandise.

בראשיכם [AND I WILL PLACE THEM] AT YOUR HEADS — as chiefs and persons honoured by you., i.e., that ye should pay them respect and reverence.

Enwrapped in his talis, etc. This is the custom of judges.

ואשמם — This word lacks the letter י (after the ש: our editions, however, have it): this teaches that Israel's transgressions (אשם) are placed upon the heads of their judges, because it is their duty to prevent them from sinning, and to direct them into the right path (Sifrei Devarim 13:6).

The word אשמם lacks the letter yud, etc. The word אשמם is an expression of אשמה (guilt). Although it should have said, “Your guilt (ואשמכם) is placed upon your heads,” since this whole section is in the second person, nevertheless, we do not question an exegesis (Re”m). The reason why Rashi reverses the order and explains בראשיכם (leaders over you) before ואשמם (and designated them) is because: According to the manner in which the verse is written, it implies the opposite of Rashi’s explanation, that the guilt of the judges is placed on your heads — referring to the people’s heads. Otherwise, the verse should have said ואשמם בראשם (and their guilt is placed upon their heads). Therefore, Rashi first had to explain the word בראשיכם “that you will conduct yourselves with them with respect.” Then afterwards he explains the word ואשמם. It is as if Rashi is saying, “and now this verse is understandable.”

ותענו אתי וגו׳ AND YE ANSWERED ME, etc. — You at once decided the matter to your benefit. You should really have replied: Our teacher, Moses! From whom is it more fitting to learn, from you or from your disciple? Is it not from you who have taken such pains about it? But I knew your thoughts: you said, “Many judges will now be appointed over us; if one of them does not happen to be an acquaintance of ours, we shall bring him a gift and he will show us favour (Sifrei Devarim 14).

ותענו אותי ותאמרו טוב הדבר, "you responded to me by saying that the matter was good, etc." Our sages in the Sifri claim that Moses' answer implied that he was critical of the people having approved so readily of his proposal. He felt that they should have objected by saying that surely it was preferable to be instructed by the teacher himself to being instructed merely by the pupil or even by the pupil's pupil. I believe it is possible to explain this verse as a compliment for the Israelites. Actually, the Israelites were sorry not to be instructed forthwith by Moses personally. However, they were willing to put up with this realising that they were doing Moses a personal favour by relieving him of some of the constant pressure he was under. This is the meaning of the words טוב הדבר, "it is a good thing to relieve the pressure from our teacher Moses, even though it is difficult for us to start learning from your pupil instead of from you directly." The words אשר דברת, "which you have spoken," refer to the harsh words Moses had said to the Israelites concerning things which they would have to do. Even though this statement is encapsuled here within the general admonitions, it is possible that Moses was angry also concerning the response of the Israelites.

וידועים לשבטיכם, “and familiar to your respective tribes.” Rashi explains that the word ידועים means that the men in question are well known to fellow members of their tribes, whereas if the same man appeared before Moses, he, Moses would not know who he is. Nachmanides writes that if Rashi were correct this would mean that that the word לשבטיכם would be inextricably linked to the word וידועים. In his opinion the reason why the Torah added the word וידועים is to teach that the judges must be capable and fearless men, i.e they must be known to the people as men of outstanding caliber. They must be known for the piety, fear of the Lord, etc., etc. Every member of their tribe should agree immediately that the person in question is fit to be a judge.

You answered with determination, etc. Rashi is answering the question: Everything that Moshe is saying to the Jewish People has been words of rebuke. Why then does Moshe say to them: You replied to me and said, “[It is a] good thing that you said to do, etc.” On the contrary, he is praising them for doing as he had commanded them. Therefore, Rashi explains: You answered with determination, etc. In other words, you did this for your own benefit. The word חלטתם is an expression of [answering with] determination.”

לעשות TO DO — If I showed myself remiss, you said: act quickly (Sifrei Devarim 14).

Who suffered for it? The word “it” refers to the Torah.

On the other hand, Moses was astute enough to formulate his words in such a way that they could be understood as a double-entendre. 1) They could be construed as a criticism as pointed out by Sifri; 2) they could also be interpreted positively as we have tried to explain. The reason Moses did so was because the Israelites could be divided into two categories. There was a category of righteous people; there was also, however, a category of cantankerous people, people who did not miss an opportunity to find fault. The righteous people accepted Moses' words as complimentary; the cantankerous people saw in Moses' words a criticism of the attitude they had revealed.

ואקח את ראשי שבטיכם SO I TOOK THE HEADS OF YOUR TRIBES — I took them by fine words: Happy are you! Over whom are you about to be appointed? Over the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — over the sons of people who are called God's brethren and friends, God's portion and inheritance and to whom is applied every other expression denoting affection (Sifrei Devarim 15:1; cf. Targum Jonathan).

אנשים חכמים וידועים, “wise men, knowledgeable ones.” Moses does not mention נבונים, “men of insight,” one of the criteria suggested by Yitro that he look for. He had not found people who possessed this quality (Sifri Devarim 15).

I persuaded them with words. Whenever the word “take” does not refer to a specific type of acquisition, it means, “persuading with words.” This has already been explained in many other places.

V. 15. ואקח את ראשי שבטיכם וגו׳ ואתן אותם ראשים עליכם, die Männer genossen schon durch ihre Persönlichkeit das allgemeine Vertrauen, wodurch sie bereits die "Häupter der Stämme", die ersten, Einflussreichsten im Volke waren. Sie wurden jetzt "ראשים "עליכם, erhielten eine übergeordnete Stellung, eine durch Mosche verliehene, ihnen "erteilte" vom Volke zu achtende Autorität. Diese Tatsache, dass nur ראשי השבטים durch Mosche zu ראשים על השבטים gesetzt wurden, dürfte in aller Folgezeit der jüdischen Gerichtspraxis ihre Fortsetzung in der Norm gefunden haben, nach welcher die vollkommene richterliche Autorität an zwei Bedingungen sich knüpft: מומחה לרבים und נטילת דשות, die vorgängige, auf Anerkennung der gesetzwissenschaftlichen und Charaktertüchtigkeit beruhende "Erprobtheit im Volke", und sodann die Autorisation von der höchsten Nationalrepräsentanz, ריש גלותא in בכל oder נשיא für ארץ ישראל (siehe Sanhedrin 9 a). — שרי אלפים siehe zu Schmot 18, 21.

אנשים חכמים וידעים, “wise and knowledgeable men;” Rashi points out that apparently Moses had not found men possessed of בינה, insight, one of the criteria Yitro had told him to look for in men appointed to judge others. He had only found men that could be called: righteous, wise, and knowledgeable. If you were to ask what happened to the other four qualifications stipulated by Yitro as a precondition for acting as a judge? (Compare Exodus 18,21) The fact that the seven qualifications do not appear consecutively, but only four of them appear in the verse quoted, is a hint that if all these virtues could not be found in one man, then we would have to settle for less. Solomon in Proverbs 31 already pointed out how difficult it is to find even one woman who can be described as אשת חיל, “a woman of valour.”Rabbi B’rechyah in the name of Rabi Chama, son of Rabbi Chanina, is quoted in Deuteronomy Rabbah, 1,10, as having said: judges must possess seven virtues: wisdom, insight, knowledge, plus the four listed in Exodus 18,21. The reason that do not all appear together is to teach that the seven virtues are meant as in the best case scenario. If it is impossible to find people with all these virtues, naturally we have to settle for less, just as we never had a king that possessed all the virtues listed in Deuteronomy 17,15-20.

אנשים חכמים וידעים [AND I TOOK] MEN, WISE AND KNOWN — but understanding men I could not find (Nedarim 20b). This, too, was one of the seven qualifications which Jethro mentioned to Moses, but he found only three: men, i.e. righteous men, wise and known (Sifrei Devarim 15:2).

שרי אלפים, “chiefs of thousands.” This means that one such “chief” would be in charge of 1,000 Israelites. Similarly, there would be judges in charge of 100 Israelites, judges in charge of 50 and judges in charge of 10 men.

This qualification was one of the seven requirements, etc. Four of them are written here: Men — which implies righteous, wise, understanding, and renowned. And another three are written in Parshas Yisro (Shemos 18:21): God-fearing, men of truth, who despise gain. Moshe found only three of them: Righteous, wise, and renowned. Even though the four written here are not written in Parshas Yisro, nevertheless we must say that Yisro also told them to Moshe. Otherwise, why would Moshe disregard what Yisro had told him? Re”m counts four qualifications in Parshas Yisro: Capable, God-fearing, men of truth, who despise gain. And he counts three here: Wise, understanding, and renowned. According to this, we must say that Re”m does not count “righteous,” for it is the same as “God-fearing” which is written in Parshas Yisro.

ראשים עליכם [AND I MADE THEM] HEADS OVER YOU — i.e. that you should pay them respect — regard them as first in buying, first in selling, first in all matters of business — coming into the Synagogue and House of Study last and leave first (so that all should rise out of respect) (cf. Sifrei Devarim 15:3).

ושוטרים, “and law enforcers.” Men who would enforce the judges’ decisions by physical force.

He is to enter [the Synagogue or Bais Hamidrash] last and he is to be first to leave. So that everyone will stand up for them, which is a great show of respect. Also, they should leave first [from the Bais Hamidrash] before anyone else, so that everyone will need to stand up for them (Re”m). Some commentators explain the opposite: He is to enter last from the Synagogue or Bais Hamidrash to his home, and this was Moshe’s humility, so that the people will not have to stand up for him. And he is to be first to leave his home to the Synagogue or Bais Hamidrash; and arrive there before anyone else so that they should not have to stand up for him.

שרי אלפים means, one officer who is appointed over one thousand.

I appointed court-officers for your tribes. Rashi chose the word מניתי (I appointed) here, but not earlier (in the verse). In doing so, he is answering the question: The verse, “And designated them leaders over you: masters of thousands, etc ... and court-officers for your tribes,” implies that the “leaders (of thousands, etc.)” are also court-officers. Therefore, Rashi explains: “I appointed court-officers for your tribes,” but the leaders were not court-officers. Rashi continues and explains how he knows this: “For the court-officers are the ones who jail, etc.” meaning, “by order of the judges,” i.e., “by order of the leaders.” This teaches us that the court-officers were not the leaders.

שרי מאות means, one who is appointed over one hundred.

ושטרים AND COURT-OFFICERS — i.e., and also I appointed court-officers over you, לשבטיכם ACCORDING TO YOUR TRIBES — these are they who bind and flog with the lash at the bidding of the judges (cf. Sifrei Devarim 15:5).

ואצוה את שפטיכם AND I COMMANDED YOUR JUDGES — I said to them: be deliberate in judgment: if a certain point of law comes before you once, twice, three times, do not say, "This point of law has already come before me several times”, but discuss it well on that occasion also (Sifrei Devarim 16:1).

בעת ההיא לאמוד, at that time, saying, etc. The word לאמור, as in many instances, indicates that the words to be communicated were not intended to be literally these words and immediate. In this instance Moses did not command the judges to say specific things; he informed them that an essential part of the judicial process was to listen to the arguments of a litigant only when the opposing side was present.

ואצוה את שפטיכם, “I commanded your judges.” This refers to the judges being cautioned that although they might feel that similar cases had been judged by them many times, each case has to be addressed as if it were the first of its kind.

Act with patience in judging, etc. It is written, “I commanded your judges,” but there has not been any previous mention of judges! It should say, “leaders.” Rather, “judges,” is intended for an exegesis. The verse should be interpreted as, “I commanded you regarding matters of judgment to act with patience.” However, Re”m explains that this is derived from, “between your brothers.” It would have been sufficient to say, “And you are to judge right between a man and his complainant.” Rather, “between your brothers,” is intended to teach us to act with patience in judging — to listen between your brothers and understand their statements well, so that if certain litigation is brought before you, etc.

V. 16. ואצוה .ואצוה את שפטיכם steht hier in seiner ganz eigentlichen mit צבא verwandten Bedeutung: jemanden auf seinen Posten anweisen, ihn für ein angewiesenes Amt in Pflicht nehmen. So Kap. 3, 28: וצו את יהושע וחזקהו. Sam. II. 6, 21: לצות אותי נגיד (siehe Bereschit S. 38). Es geht daher über die folgenden Sätze hinaus, die nur als spezielle Teile jener allgemeinen Verpflichtung hervorgehoben sind. So Sanhedrin 7 b: ואצוה וגו׳ ,כנגד מקל ורצועה תהאי זריז, nach תוספ׳ daselbst: שלא להטיל אימה על הצבור לרדתם יותר מדאי, die eingeräumte richterliche Gewalt nicht zu abschreckender Härte zu missbrauchen, und daselbst 8 a: אזהרה לדיין שיסבול את הצבור die Mühseligkeiten des Amtes und selbst Ausschreitungen der Volksgemeine mit Geduld zu ertragen, wissen, dass der Richter zum "Erzieher" des Volkes bestellt und von ihm die Geduld erwartet wird כאשר ישא האומן את היונק. So auch ספרי z. St.: אמרתי להם הוו מתונים בדין שאם בא דין לפניך פעם אחת שתים ושלש אל תאמר כבר בא דין זה לפני ושניתיו ושלשתיו אלא הוו מתונים בדין die Verpflichtung, vorsichtig und bedächtig im Urteil zu sein, nicht zu rasch zum Urteilsspruch zu schreiten, jeden Fall in besondere wiederholte Erwägung zu ziehen, selbst wenn er in ganz gleicher Weise schon oft zur Beurteilung gekommen wäre; überhaupt das Amt nicht als ein Hoheitsrecht, sondern als eine Dienstpflicht im Dienste der Gesamtheit zu betrachten: לשעבר הייתם עומדים ברשות עצמכם עכשיו הרי אתם משועבדים לצבור,

בעת ההוא [AND I COMMANDED YOUR JUDGES] AT THAT TIME — As soon as I appointed them, I said to them, "It is not now as heretofore: heretofore you were your own masters (lit., under your own control), now you are in the service of the Community!” (Sifrei Devarim 16:2).

שמוע בין אחיכם ושפטתם צדק, “listen among your brethren and judge righteously.” This means that the judges should attempt to settle conflicting claims by getting the litigants to agree to arbitration. Technically, the wording suggests: משפט, “judgment,” which is the result of צדק, “charitable attitudes” by both litigants.

In the past you were on your own, etc. It was your choice whether to learn and probe the depths of halacha or to sit idly, which is no longer the case.

Perhaps Moses also wanted to hint at something we have learned in Talmud Jerushalmi Sanhedrin 3,8. We are told there that when Rav Hunna watched litigation and observed that one of the defendants did not argue a point in his favour which he could have argued (out of ignorance) he interfered in the proceedings and drew the defendant's attention to an argument he should use. He based himself on Proverbs 31,9: "open your mouth, speak righteously." This is precisely what Moses may have alluded to when he said לאמור, "to say." No steps must be neglected if they help to establish true and fair judgment.

שמע בין אחיכם, nicht ׳שמע איש ואחיו וגו, der Richter hat nicht nur nicht bloß die eine Seite anzuhören, sondern überhaupt keine der Parteien allein, sondern nur in Gegenwart der Gegenpartei zu vernehmen, seine Stellung ist immer nur בין אחיכם, und soll auch keine Partei das Präveniere spielen und dem Richter ihre Angelegenheit vorzutragen versuchen, bevor auch die Gegenpartei anwesend ist. Es darf sich beim Richter kein einseitiges Vorurteil bilden. אזהרה לבית דין שלא ישמע דברי בעל דין קודם שיבא בעל דין חברו ואזהרה לבעל דין שלא יטעים דבריו לדיין קודם שיבא בעל דין חברו. Das Hören soll nur zwischen den Parteien geschehen, ist sowohl Warnung an die Richter, als an die Parteien.

שמע — This grammatical form expresses constant doing: oyant in old French, be hearing, just as זכור and שמור (see Rashi on Numbers 25:17).

ובין גרו, “and his litigant.” Our sages (Sanhedrin 7) derive the word from לגור, to sojourn; they mean that even if the dispute concerns minor matters such as arguments about use of a dwelling, a stove, between people who live in the same house.

Who accumulates words against him, etc. The word גרו is missing an alef, as if it said אוגרו (accumulates). Similarly, the phrase (v. 17) לא תגורו is like לא תאגרו. We should not say, as it apparently seems, that the term גרו is like the phrase (Vayikra 24:16) כגר כאזרח (as a resident or citizen). For if so, why is the letter vav of גרו necessary? However, there is a difficulty with this explanation, for then גרו is missing an aleph. Therefore, Rashi says: Another explanation — between his co-dweller, etc. According to this, גרו means “dwelling,” as in the verse (Bereishis 26:3), “Dwell (גור) in this land.” But, with the second explanation alone, there is also a difficulty: The verse should explicitly say כירו (his range). Therefore, both explanations are needed.

Another meaning of the word לאמור may be related to something we learned in Sanhedrin there and which is reflected in a ruling by Maimonides in chapter 21 of his treatise Hilchot Sanhedrin. Here is what he writes: "The judge must listen to the arguments of both litigants and repeat them as it is written in Kings I 3,23: 'the king said this woman says: "my son is alive and your son is dead," whereas this woman says: "my son is alive and your son is dead."' [The verse proves that Solomon himself repeated the arguments of both litigants. Ed.] This is what Moses alluded to when he said לאמור, i.e. that the judges themselves have to repeat the arguments of the litigants. The words לאמור שמוע are to be read together and mean that the judge has to articulate what he has heard from the litigants.

צדק .ושפטתם צדק ist die Rechtsidee, משפט die Ordnung der Personen- und Sachenverhältnisse nach diesem idealen Rechte, die Verwirklichung des Rechts in der Ordnung, daher צֵרֵק את הדין ואח׳׳כ חתכהו :ושפטתם צדק (Sanhedrin 7 b). דין ist das Ergebnis aus der allgemeinen Rechtsnorm für den besonderen Fall. Also: bringe erst das für den vorliegenden Fall aus dem allgemeinen Rechtsquell zu schöpfende Ergebnis dem entsprechend vollkommen in dir zum Abschluss, und dann sprich es präzis aus. So wird das משפט nichts als das in einem konkreten Fall verwirklichte צדק.

ובין גרו AND BETWEEN HIS גר — this is his opponent in the lawsuit who merely heaps up (אוגר) words against him. Another explanation of AND BETWEEN HIS גר — also in a matter concerning a dwelling house (גור = to dwell), — in the division of property amongst brothers, even if it be a dispute about an oven and a kitchen range (cf. Sifrei Devarim 16:8-9; Sanhedrin 7b).

Even [a dispute] about an oven and a range. Because it is written גרו, and the letters gimmel and kaf are interchangeable, as Rashi explains in Parshas Kedoshim (Vayikra 19:16), therefore, גרו is the same as כירו (his range). And since it is written ובין גרו, perforce it means: And between the division [of a house] between brothers, [even a dispute] about an oven and a range. For it is impossible that the division is between a range and a house.

שמוע בין אחיכם ושפטתם צדק, "listen to your brethren so that you can judge fairly." This whole verse is problematical. How could the judges arrive at a fair judgment unless they had first listened to the arguments of the litigants? Secondly, why did the Torah not simply write an imperative such as שמעו, instead of writing the word שמוע in the infinitive? Clearly, Moses' intention was to make the listening to the litigants' argument an ongoing rather than a one time process. The judges should not give way to the feeling that they had already listened to the litigant enough times so that they are sick and tired of hearing the same thing again and again. There are two aspects to the matter. 1) The judges should not display reluctance to hear renewed arguments by a litigant who claims that he has another point in his favour. 2) The judges should not postpone continuation of the hearing to another date as they are tired of hearing anymore on that particular day, but the proceedings should be wound up in one session if possible. Basically, the subject Moses instructs the judges on is what is called ענוי הדין, postponement of sentence.

בין איש ובין אחיו ובין גרו: es soll dir gleich sein, ob der von dir zu entscheidende Rechtsstreit zwischen zwei eingeborenen Nationalen, oder zwischen einem eingeborenen Nationalen und einem aus der Fremde Eingetretenen sich bewegt. Mit seinem Eintritt ist der גרו :גר geworden, jedem Nationalen gleichgestellt (siehe Wajikra 24, 22 und Schmot 20, 10). Jebamoth 46 b wird daran noch die Lehre geknüpft, dass auch die Erlangung des גר-Charakters, d. i. der legale Eintritt in das Judentum nur vor einem ב׳׳ד geschehen könne. גר צריך ג׳ משפט כתיב ביה (siehe תוספו׳ daselbst und 47 a). Sanhedrin 7 b wird גרו als Mithausbewohner verstanden und der ganze Passus בין איש ובין אחיו ובין גרו, beispielsweise אפילו בין בית לעלייה ,אפילו בין תנור לכירים erläutert, nach ערוך unter בית עלייה: Auseinandersetzung der Rechtsverhältnisse zweier Stöcke eines Hauses zu einander oder des gesetzlichen Entfernungsunterschiedes eines Ofens oder eines Herdes von der Mauer oder dem Estrich, und bemerkt ערוך dabei: es soll dem Richter kein Verhältnis zu geringfügig sein. Er soll sich von allem die erforderliche Sachkenntnis. aneignen, um überall das Recht als Regulator aller gegenseitigen Verhältnisse zur Geltung zu bringen.

Moses also wanted to warn the judges to be astute enough to detect from between the lines of what the litigants had to say whether they spoke truthfully. It is true that the verdict must be based on what the litigants said (and not on what they did not say or how they said it). If it became clear during their testimony and from their demeanour that the truth appeared to be the reverse of what they actually said, then Moses instructed the judges שמוע בין אחיכם, to listen to what is the difference between what the litigants say and what is obviously a distortion. This would enable them to ושפטתם צדק, "to arrive at a fair verdict," i.e. what appears to the judges to be the true state of affairs. On occasion, such judgment may appear to contradict what is written in the lawbooks. A judge cannot rule fairly except if the verdict is in line with his perception of the truth. The word שמוע addresses itself not merely to the ears of the judge but also to his brain.

Still another meaning of these words is based on what we learned in Makkot 6 that a court must not accept testimony from the mouth of an interpreter but that the judges must understand and be fluent in the language of the litigant who appears before them. This is implied in the words בין אחיכם, "directly between your brethren."

Yet another meaning of the words בין אחיכם is to warn the judge not to appear to pay more attention to one of the litigants, to appear to look at one litigant while avoiding looking at the second litigant, etc. The judges must project absolute neutrality in their demeanour vis-a-vis both parties. שמוע בין means that if a judge has occasion to raise his head, he must do so in the direction of both litigants. If, on the other hand, he has occasion to lower his head, he must also do so in equal measure vis-a-vis both litigants.

בין איש ובין אחיו, "between a man and his brother." This expression refers to three separate aspects of fair judgment. 1) It refers to a statement by Maimonides in chapter 22 of his treatise Hilchot Sanhedrin. "A judge must not be influenced by fear that the litigant whom he will. declare guilty will revenge himself on members of his family." Concerning such a situation Moses said: בין איש. Our sages in Sanhedrin 6 referred to the words לא תגורו מפני איש (verse 17) as the basis for this ruling.

2) When two brothers appear before a judge in litigation the judge must not reason that he does not have to be so exact in his judgments seeing these men are brothers. The Torah writes ובין אחיו, "and between his brother," i.e. the same yardsticks which apply to litigants who are not related to one another also apply to brothers. These words also apply to what we have learned in Shavuot 31 and the ruling based on this by Maimonides in chapter 21 of his treatise Hilchot Sanhedrin. Maimonides rules that when two litigants appear before a judge, one of whom in fancy dress, the other in shabby garments, the judge is to tell the one dressed in finery to either provide similar finery for his opposite number or to change his own clothing to bring it into line with that of the poorer litigant. This is what Moses alluded to with the words ובין אחיו, the two litigants should give the appearance as if they were brothers, alike in dress.

Maimonides also writes at the beginning of chapter 3 in the above-mentioned treatise that the words בצדק תשפוט עמיתך, "you shall judge your colleague with righteousness" (Leviticus 19,15), mean that one of the litigants should not be seated while the other one is standing. Moses added ובין גרו, "and between his stranger," to allude to this distinction. Either both litigants are to remain seated or both are to stand in front of the judges. Unless all these conditions are observed there cannot be a judgment based on righteousness.

לא תכירו פנים במשפט YE SHALL NOT RESPECT PERSONS IN JUDGMENT — This is addressed to him whose office it is to appoint judges — that he should not say, Mr. So-and-so is a fine or a strong man, I will make him a judge; Mr. So-and-so is my relative, I will make him a judge in the city, — while in reality he is not expert in the laws, and consequently he will condemn the innocent and acquit the guilty — I will account it unto him who appointed him as though he had shown favor in judgment (Sifrei Devarim 17:1).

FOR THE JUDGMENT IS G-D’S. The meaning thereof is as expressed in the verse, for ye judge not for man, but for the Eternal; and He is with you in giving judgment,⁸⁹II Chronicles 19:6. These were the words of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, to the newly appointed judges. meaning to say: “It is for G-d to execute justice between His creatures for He created them with the intention that there be fairness and justice among them, and to deliver him that is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor,⁹⁰Jeremiah 22:3. and He designated you [the judges] in His stead. And if you will be afraid and act corruptly ye have sinned against the Eternal⁹¹Numbers 32:23. and you will have betrayed His mission.”

כי המשפט לאלוקים הוא, “for the judgment is G’d’s.” Nachmanides writes that it is one of G’d’s tasks to see to it that His creatures practice justice among themselves. He has created man so that he practices fairness, etc., and the judges on earth are performing their task as G’d’s delegates when they save the oppressed from his oppressor, etc. If they (the judges) were to display fear of any man they would at the same time commit a serious breach of the trust placed in them by G’d.

לא תכירו פנים במשפט, “Do not show favoritism in judgment.” This is a warning to a judge not to display a stern attitude versus one of the litigants and a mild attitude versus the other party.

This [command is addressed] to the one who appoints judges, etc. For it is already written [to the judges], “And you are to judge right.” But in Parshas Shoftim (below 16:19) regarding, “Do not display favoritism,” Rashi explains: Even at the time of litigation — this is a warning to the judge not to be gentle to one litigant and harsh to the other, etc. The answer is: It cannot be explained there the same as here. Otherwise, the verses should be reversed and say, “Do not show favor in judgment” before, “Do not bend justice,” [as will now be explained:] the previous verse was dealing with appointing judges. For it is written, “And they will judge the people justly,” and Rashi explains, “Appoint judges who are expert and righteous.” And since, “Do not show favor in judgment,” is written after, “Do not bend justice,” (which is referring to the judges), then it too must be referring to the judges. Rashi does not explain here as he does over there, because here the verse says, “And you are to judge right between a man and his brother.” If he should be gentle to one litigant and harsh to the other, it would not be judging rightly. Therefore, “Do not show favor in judgment,” is unnecessary. Rather, it must be referring to the one who appoints judges.

V. 17. לא תכירו פנים (siehe zu Wajikra 19, 15). — כקטן בגדול. Nachdem durch לא תכירו פנים bereits jede Rücksicht auf die im Rechtsstreit vor dem Richter stehende Persönlichkeit untersagt und gefordert ist, der Richter solle die vor ihm stehenden Personen im Gerichte "gar nicht kennen", indem nach jüdischem Rechtsbegriff der richtigste Wahrspruch erfolgt, wenn dem Richter die Personen völlig unbekannt sind (siehe daselbst): so kann das כקטן כגדול nicht weiter sich auf die soziale Stellung der Personen beziehen und wird Sanhedrin 8 a vielmehr auf die größere oder geringere Relevanz des Streitobjekts bezogen: שיהא חביב עליך דין של פרוטה כדין של מאה מנה und zwar nicht nur, dass dem geringsten Streitobjekt dieselbe Sorgfalt und Gewissenhaftigkeit im Schöpfen und Sprechen des Urteils, לעיוני ביה ולמפסקיה, wie dem bedeutendsten zugewandt werde, was sich von "selbst verstünde, sondern: לאקדומיה, dass dem früher angemeldeten Rechtsstreit von geringster Relevanz der Vorrang der Zeit nach in der Verhandlung vor dem später angemeldeten bedeutendsten Rechtsstreit verbleiben müsse.

לא תגורו מפני איש, (Moses is speaking to the judges, or potential judges) “do not display fear of anyone;” [you cannot be commanded not to have fear just as you cannot be commanded to love; but you can be commanded not to display your fear. Ed.] If a judge is afraid that the party whom he will convict will hate him henceforth, he is reminded that ultimately the judgment is G-ds and he had only carried out G-d’s will.

כקטן כגדל תשמעון YE SHALL HEAR THE SMALL AS WELL AS THE GREAT, i.e. that a lawsuit regarding a peruta shall be as dear to you (shall be as of equal importance) as a lawsuit regarding a hundred maneh — that if it (the former) comes before you first, you should not set it aside until the last (Sanhedrin 8a). — Another explanation of YE SHALL HEAR THE SMALL AS WELL AS THE GREAT — Understand it as the Targum has it: Ye shall hearken unto the words of the small as to those of the great — i.e. that you should not say: This is a poor man and his fellow (opponent) is rich, and is in any case bidden to support him; I will find in favour of the poor man, and he will consequently obtain some support in a respectable fashion (see Rashi on Leviticus 19:15). — Another explanation is: that you should not say, “How can I offend against the honour of this rich man because of one dinar? I will for the moment decide in his favour, and when he goes outside (leaves the court) I will say to him, ‘Give it to him because in fact you owe it to him'" (Sifrei Devarim 17:3).

כקטון כגדול תשמעון, “listen to claims involving minor sums of money as if it concerned major sums.” Do not relate to disputes involving pennies as a waste of the court’s time.

[Litigation involving a peruta] should be as dear to you, etc. It seems that the word כתרגומו is printed in the wrong place, and should read: “Small and great alike will you hear out,” can be explained as Targum Onkelos has [adding the word מילי (matter)]: Litigation involving a peruta should be as dear to you, etc. Rashi’s [first] explanation is Talmudic (Sanhedrin 8a), and the last two are from Sifrei (Nachalas Yaakov).

לא תגורו מפני איש, eigentlich: ihr habt vor niemanden zurückzuweichen (siehe Bereschit 23, 4). Sanhedrin 6 b wird daran gelehrt: מנין לתלמיד שיושב לפני רבו וראה זכות לעני וחובה לעשיר מנין שלא ישתוק שנאמר לא תנורו מפני איש לא תכנים דבריך מפני איש, dass selbst ein Rechtsjünger, wenn er in einem seinem Meister in seiner Gegenwart zwischen einem Armen und einem Reichen zur Entscheidung vorliegenden Rechtsfalle ein dem Armen günstiges Entscheidungsmotiv vorzubringen weiß, dies nicht aus Ehrfurcht vor seinem Lehrer und aus Scheu vor dem Reichen zurückhalten dürfe. Es wird daselbst 7 a die Bedeutung von גור als an sich nehmen, bei sich zurückhalten. לישני דכנושי, durch Hinweis auf ויין וגו׳ ולא תאגר (Kap. 28, 39) אגרה בקציר מאכלה(Prov. 6, 8), אוגר בקיץ (daselbst 10, 5), in welchen Stellen allen אגר ein Einsammeln von Früchten zur Aufbewahrung bedeutet. Wir haben schon wiederholt Gelegenheit gehabt, auf die Bedeutung der Wurzeln פ׳׳א aufmerksam zu machen, wie bei ihnen in der Regel der in den zwei letzten Buchstaben liegende Begriff durch das vorangesetzte א also individualisiert wird, dass das א den Zweck- und Zielbegriff der durch die folgenden Buchstaben ausgedrückten Handlung andeutet (siehe Jeschurun VIII, S. 278). Liegt in גר, wie wir glauben, der Begriff der Bodenlosigkeit, des seinem eigentlichen Boden Entnommenseins und -Werdens, so erhält durch das vorgesetzte א das Wort die Bedeutung: etwas für sich seinem Boden entnehmen. Es liegt somit der Wurzel אגר der Begriff גר zu Grunde und kann als Erläuterung desselben dienen. Tritt ja diese Bedeutung in מגורה Scheuer, der Aufbewahrungsort des eingesammelten Getreides, deutlich hervor. Und auch in גר liegt ja nicht nur der Begriff des Losgelöstseins von seiner Heimat, sondern zugleich des Aufgenommenseins an einem anderen Orte, er ist ja: der aus der Fremde bei uns heimisch Gewordene. Eine auf dem Boden der Überlegung erwachsene und gereifte Ansicht in die Scheuer des eigenen Bewusstseins niederlegen, d. i. sie für sich behalten, sie an sich halten, kann daher ganz füglich durch גור ausgedrückt sein, und das soll kein zur Abgebung seiner Urteilsmeinung Berufener aus Rücksicht vor irgend einem Menschen tun: כי המשפט לאלהים הוא — !לא תגורו מפני איש, mit dem Rechtsprechen treibt ihr Gottes Werk. Es ist nicht eure Sache, der ihr euch nach Belieben entschlagen dürftet, es ist Gottes Recht, das durch euch zur Verwirklichung kommen soll. Darum dürft ihr ebenso wenig euer gerechtes Urteil aus irgend einer Menschenfurcht zurückhalten, als ihr vielmehr anderseits auf Gottes Beistand, dessen Werk ihr vollbringet, rechnen dürft. כל דיין, heißt es Schabbat 10 a: כל דיין שדן דין אמת לאמתו מעלה עליו הכתוב כאלו נעשה שותף להקב׳׳ה במעשה בראשית, jeder Richter, der durch sein Urteil das wahre Recht zur Wahrheit bringt, wird betrachtet, als habe er Teil an Gottes Schöpfungswerk. Durch ihn erhält ja ein menschliches Verhältnis die Gestaltung, welche in der Absicht des Schöpfers lag, als er den Menschen zur freien Verwirklichung seines Gesetzeswillens in die Erdwelt setzte. So sehr wird die Rechtsprechung als im Namen Gottes zu vollziehendes Gotteswerk betrachtet, dass Sanhedrin 8 a zu dem Satze: כי רמשפט לאלקים הוא sich die Erläuterung findet: אמר הקב׳׳ה לא דיין לרשעים שנוטלין ממון מזה ונותנין לזה שלא כדין אלא שמטריחין אותי להחזיר ממון לבעליו, wie das falsche Urteil ein Verbrechen gegen den Menschen ist, indem es das Vermögen des Berechtigten dem Unberechtigten zuspricht, so ist es auch ein Verbrechen gegen die Gotteswaltung, die es als ihre Aufgabe erkennt, das in ihrem Namen gesprochene falsche Urteil durch Zurückerstattung an den Rechtsgekränkten zu korrigieren.

לא תגורו מפני איש means: YE SHALL NOT FEAR [ANY MAN]. — Another explanation of לא תגורו: Ye shall not gather in (shall not restrain) your words before any man. The word has the same meaning as in (Proverbs 10:5), "Gathering (אוגר) in summer” (cf. Sanhedrin 8a).

So if a [minor litigation] comes before you first, etc. For if you [incorrectly] think to interpret this verse literally as, “Whether the defendant is an average person or whether he is a figure of authority,” this can be learned from the phrase, “Between a man and his brother.” (Re”m).

והדבר וגו׳ תקריבון אלי ושמעתיו, bescheiden, wie Sanhedrin 7 a bemerkt ist, sagt ל Mosche nicht, ואשמיעכם, so will ichs euch sagen, sondern ושמעתיו, so will ich es vernehmen, אי גמירנא גמירנא ואי לא אזלינא וגמירנא: wenn ich es aus der mir bereits gewordenen Rechtskunde zu entscheiden vermag, will ich es entscheiden, wo nicht, werde ich mir die fehlende Belehrung erbitten. תקריבון אלי (siehe zu Schmot 18, 22).

כי המשפט לאלהים הוא FOR THE JUDGMENT IS GOD’S — Whatever you take from this man unjustly you will compel Me to restore to him; it follows, therefore, that you have wrested judgment against Me (Sanhedrin 8a).

Another explanation: Small and great alike will you hear out, etc. The first explanation is problematic, for the verse should say כמעט כהרבה (a little or a lot). Therefore, Rashi says: Another explanation... [This one is a poor man, etc.] And the second explanation is [also] problematic, for the verse should say גדול כקטן (the great like the small). I.e., you should rule in favor of the rich man if he is innocent, just as you would try to rule in favor of the poor man to support him in a tidy manner. Therefore, Rashi says: Another explanation: He should not say, [“How can I offend] etc.” Yet, this last explanation is [also] problematic, for the verse should say קטן כגדול (the small like the great) will you hear out. And with only the last two explanations there is [also] a problem, for the verse should say כעני כעשיר (wealthy and poor alike). Therefore, the first explanation is also needed.

תקרבון אלי [AND THE CAUSE THAT IS TOO HARD FOR YOU] BRING TO ME [AND I WILL HEAR IT] — On account of this utterance (that he could decide difficult cases) the law regarding the daughters of Zelophehad evaded him (Sanhedrin 8a; see Rashi on Numbers 27:5). Similarly, Samuel said to Saul (I Samuel 9:19), “I” am the seer. Whereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “By your life, I will let you know that you are not a seer”. And when did he let him know this? When he came to anoint David. For Scripture states, (I Samuel 16:6, 7) “And when he saw Eliab he said, Surely before the Lord stands his anointed one”. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "Did you not say, “I” am the seer? Look not at the outward appearance” (Sifrei Devarim 17:7).

Do not be afraid. I.e., a judge should not say, “I am afraid of this man, for perhaps he will kill me or he will set fire to my stockpile of grain.”

Do not gather in [suppress] your words, etc. For example, a disciple who is in the presence of his rabbi, and a judgment is presented to his rabbi and he judges incorrectly, the disciple should not remain silent. Rashi’s first explanation is problematic, for the verse should have said אל תיראו (do not be afraid). Therefore, Rashi says: Another explanation, Do not gather in, etc. But, the second explanation is problematic, for the verse should have said לא תאגורו (do not gather in) [with an aleph], an expression similar to אוגר בקיץ (gathering in the summer) (Mishlei 10:5). Therefore, the first reason is also needed. Re”m explains: Do not keep your words [hidden] in your heart out of fear to speak them out and tell the litigant that he is liable or guilty in his dispute.

That you diverted the judgment upon Me. Otherwise, what is the meaning of, “Justice belongs to Hashem”? Justice pertains only to the litigants!

Because of this [statement] the law eluded him, etc. Because Moshe likened himself to Hashem: For it is written, “For justice belongs to Hashem,” and afterwards it is written, “And the matter that will be too difficult for you, present to me,” as if Moshe himself were Hashem. Therefore, the laws pertaining to inheritance which are a simple matter eluded him. For everyone knows that if a man has no sons, then a daughter inherits instead of a son. For Rachel and Leah said (Bereishis 31:14), “Do we have a portion anymore, etc,” meaning: We do not share the inheritance along with the males. Yet, this eluded Moshe. Rashi did not explain that because of this statement the law regarding the woodchopper, or regarding the ritually impure eluded him — for those are not simple [laws], and therefore Moshe did not know. But the laws regarding inheritance are simple.

את כל הדברים אשר תעשון [AND I COMMANDED YOU …] ALL THE THINGS THAT YE SHOULD DO — These are the ten things that constitute the difference between civil cases and capital cases (Sifrei Devarim 18:1; cf. Sanhedrin 32a).

AND I COMMANDED YOU AT THAT TIME ALL THE THINGS WHICH YE SHOULD DO. “These are the ten differences between monetary and capital cases.” This is Rashi’s language quoting the Sifre.⁹²Sifre, Devarim 18. See Sanhedrin 32a for these ten distinctions between monetary and capital cases. And if so, Moses is speaking here to the judges [previously] mentioned, and he abridged on the ten differences [by not enumerating them], for they are all deduced from verses.
And in line with the plain meaning of Scripture, the reference here is to the statutes and laws, the way wherein they must walk, and the deeds they must perform,⁹³Exodus 18:20. for he [Moses] personally commanded, warned, and taught Israel all these matters. And the reason for mentioning this [subject] here is because it is known that this was the substance of Jethro’s counsel when he told Moses, Be thou for the people before G-d,⁹⁴Ibid., Verse 19. meaning that he was to pray in their behalf in the time of their affliction, and he further told him, And thou shalt teach them the statutes and the laws etc.,⁹³Exodus 18:20. meaning that he, himself, was to teach them the Torah. But regarding the execution of the law, Jethro advised him to appoint judges to assist him, and I have already explained it there.⁹³Exodus 18:20. Therefore, Moses related here that when he designated the officers over thousands and hundreds he delegated them only over the execution of justice. He, however, would personally teach them [the people] everything they were to do in accordance with the Torah, because he hearkened to his father-in-law’s counsel and did all that he had said.⁹⁵Ibid., Verse 24. Now Moses did not mention Jethro’s advice here, nor did he attribute to him anything that Jethro proposed. It appears to me that Moses did not want to mention it [the fact that he was following his father-in-law’s advice] in the presence of all Israel because of his humility,⁹⁶For people would think that, were it not for Jethro’s counsel, Moses would not have needed any assistance from the other judges. But would he have brought in Jethro’s name into this affair it might have appeared that Moses himself never thought that he would need assistance of other people. Moses humility is thus made apparent when he states his own inability to cope with all the problems of the people (Keseph Mezukak). See further in my Hebrew commentary p. 349. or it may be that it would not be to his honor to mention to that generation that he had married a Cushite woman.⁹⁷Numbers 12:1. — Since in the case of Zimri the son of Salu they chided Moses about the Cushite woman [that he had married before the Torah was given — see Rashi, Numbers 25:6], he therefore avoided referring to it in order to prevent them from stumbling into evil speech (see my Hebrew commentary, p. 533). It is also possible that the reason [for not mentioning Jethro’s name] was because he had consulted the Divine Glory and this matter was done at the command of the Almighty.⁹⁸Mechilta, Yithro 2: “And Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that ‘amar’ (he, [i.e. G-d] had said” Exodus 18:24). The Mechilta thus explains the word amar as referring to G-d, and not to Jethro.

ואצוה אתכם בעת ההיא את כל הדברים אשר תעשון, “I had commanded you at that time all the things that you have to do.” Rashi, quoting Sifri, explains that the “things” referred to by the word הדברים are the ten judicial difference between adjudging disputes involving only money or its equivalent, and judging matters involving life and death. (compare Sanhedrin 32). Nachmanides writes that if that were the meaning, Moses would be addressing the judges. [Nachmanides’ problem may be that if Rashi were right, why would Moses suddenly add the words “I commanded you at that time,” when this is what he had been doing all the time? Ed.] He considers that the plain meaning is that Moses here refers to what he had taught the people in Exodus 18,20 i.e. החוקים והתורות, הדרך אשר ילכו בה, “the decrees and teachings and the path they should pursue,” the ones Yitro had told him to make his primary concern. The reason that Moses reiterates what had occurred at that time was that the people knew that the plan to appoint all the judges had originated with Yitro, and that he had told Moses that if he were to adopt it G’d would be with him and he would be able to cope with the tremendous burden imposed upon him. Moses was at pains to explain, especially to the new generation, that none of these judges had the authority to formulate new laws. They had been instructed by Moses, who had received al the laws from G’d directly. Yitro’s function had been to help Moses how to successfully disseminate G’d’s laws and teachings, and how to ensure that it could be applied with a minimum of inconvenience to the people. His suggestions had been purely administrative, not legislative. Moses had not mentioned the author of these suggestions at this time, not giving Yitro credit for his suggestions, either because he did not want to embarrass the whole people assembled before him by reminding them that what had prompted Yitro to make these suggestions was that he had observed what a difficult people the Israelites were and what a hard time they had been giving their saviour. Perhaps Moses did not want to remind the people at that time that he had married a daughter of Yitro instead of a girl who had been Jewish by birth. It is also possible that the simple reason is that Moses had not adopted any of Yitro’s suggestions until he had consulted with G’d and obtained His consent, thus making the entire appointment of the judges part of G’d’s legislation.

Between monetary litigations, etc. The fourth chapter of Sanhedrin (32a) explains regarding monetary litigation: 1. Three judges are required. 2. The judges may begin even with a guilty charge. 3. A guilty decision may be reached by a majority of only one. 4. A judge may change his verdict and render even a guilty decision. 5. Anyone may partake to acquit or to find guilty, whether a judge or a disciple. 6. A judge who was going to acquit can retract and decide guilty, and vice-verse. 7. Proceedings begin during the day and may be completed at night. 8. A decision to acquit or to find guilty may be reached on the same day. 9. The proceedings are begun by the senior judge. 10. [Ibid. 36a] A father and his son, or a rabbi and his disciple, may be considered as two judges. Capital litigation, however, requires twenty-three judges. Furthermore, everything else written above does not apply to capital litigation. To the contrary, whatever is allowed in monetary litigation is disqualified in capital litigation.

V. 18. ואצוה אתכם וגו׳ bezieht sich, dem Zusammenhange nach, auf die Nation, welcher בעת ההיא, während ihres Aufenthaltes am Horeb durch Mosche das ganze Gesetz für alle ihre Lebenstätigkeiten gelehrt worden war. Im ספרי wird es noch besonders auf die Sanhedrin 32 a gegebenen zehn Modalitäten bezogen, durch welche sich der Zivilprozess von dem Kriminalprozess unterscheidet.

ואצוה אתכם בעת ההיא, I commanded you at that time;” you have not been held up in the desert for 40 years in order to study the Torah, because I could have taught you the Torah in a few hours, but you were held up on account of your sins.

המדבר הגדול והנורא [THAT]. GREAT AND FEARFUL WILDERNESS — [It is termed fearful] because there were in it serpents thick as beams and scorpions as bows (Sifrei Devarim 18:2).

ונלך את כל המדבר הגדול והנורא, a way no one had crossed on foot before because of the many snakes and other predators and their size. These are referred to once more in 8,15. Our sages in Sifri 18 have described that the snakes were as large as beams and the scorpions as bows. If G’d had nonetheless chosen to lead them on this route, it had been to shorten the distance they would have to travel so that they could get to their destination before their tendency to quarrel, etc., would result in major sins. Nonetheless, G’d’s efforts in this respect had not proven to be sufficient; they had sinned on numerous occasions at locations Moses recalls by name.

ונלך את כל המדבר הגדול, “we went through this great desert.” This refers to the wanderings during the eleven days of which Moses spoke earlier. והנורא ההוא, “and that awesome one.” [This is a reference to the dangerous reptiles inhabited by this desert;] there were snakes as large as beams and scorpions the size of bows.

In there were snakes thick as beams, etc. Otherwise, what is the meaning of “awesome”? In that wilderness, from whom would they fear? For no person traveled there! Rather, it refers to snakes, etc. You might ask: In Parshas Beha’aloscha (Bamidbar 10:34), Rashi explains, “A cloud traveled in front of them and killed the snakes and scorpions.” The answer is: Wherever they camped in the wilderness, the snakes surrounded their camp. When they left the camp to relieve themselves, they saw the dead snakes, and they were in awe, even though the snakes did not harm them.

V. 19. ונסע וגו׳ את כל המדבר הגדול והנורא ההוא אשר ראיתם. Es ist das die Wüste Paran (siehe Bamidbar 13, 3 u. 26), אשר ראיתם: sie hatten sie zum zweiten Male am Ende der vierzig Jahre auf ihrem zweiten Zuge nach Kadesch kennen gelernt. המדבר הגדול והנורא ההוא, wenn es noch einer Befestigung des Vertrauens in Gottes allmächtigen Schutz bedurft hätte, so hätte dieser Zug durch die furchtbare Wüste es bewirken müssen, auf welchem bis zum kleinsten Kinde hinab jeder den speziellen Schutz der göttlichen Allmacht erfuhr.

ונסע מחורב, ”we journeyed from Mount Chorev;” Moses referred to what the Torah had written in Numbers10,1.

כאשר צוה ה' אלוקינו אותנו, “as the Lord our G-d commanded us;” our author has explained this already in verse 7.

ונבא עד קדש ברנע, “and we came as far as Kadesh Barnea.” This was on the 29th day of Sivan, as I have already explained on verse 2.

ואומר אליכם, באתם עד הר האמרי, “and I said to you: you have arrived at the Mountain of the Emorite;” here Moses refers to what has been written in Numbers 13,17: עלו זה בנגב ועליתם את ההר, “ascend here in the south and climb the mountain!” it also says there in chapter 14,40: וישכימו בבקר ויעלו על ראש ההר, “they arose early in the morning and ascended the top of the mountain.”

עלה רש, for no one will oppose you.

V. 21. חתת .ואל תחת (lautverwandt mit אתת, wovon אִתִם Schneid- oder Grabwerkzeuge, עט עטט Griffel, חדד scharf, עדים עד עדד entreißen, zerreißen) eigentlich zerbrochen sein, קשת גבורים חתים (Sam. I. 2, 4) des Helden Bogen liegt in Stücken. ‎הֵחַתgebrochen, mutlos werden, erschrecken.

ותקרבון אלי כלכם AND YE APPROACHED ME ALL OF YOU — all of you: in a crowd. But further on (Deuteronomy 5:20, 21) it states, “Ye approached me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders, and ye said, Behold [the Eternal our God] hath shown us [His glory and His greatness]’’: That approach to me was a fitting one — young people showing respect to their elders, letting these precede them, and the elders showing respect to the heads of the tribes that these should precede them. Here, however, ye approached me, all of you, in a crowd, the young pushing aside their olders, the elders pushing aside the heads (Sifrei Devarim 20:1).

AND BRING US BACK WORD OF THE WAY BY WHICH WE MUST GO UP. “There is no road which does not have crooked segments. AND THE CITIES UNTO WHICH WE SHALL COME — first to capture.” This is Rashi’s language. And so it is also stated in the Sifre:⁹⁹Sifre, Devarim 20. “There is no road which does not have crooked parts. There is no road which does not have traps. There is no road which does not have intersections. And the cities unto which we shall come — so that we may know by which road to come.” That is to say, from which direction we are to come into the Land so that we may capture those cities first. This is as I explained in the section Shelach Lecha¹⁰⁰Numbers, at the beginning of Chapter 13. that the Israelites requested spies only to show them the way.

ותקרבון אלי כלכם, even though you had leaders appointed to act as your representatives, appointed to concern themselves with your communal concerns, you all ganged up on me.

את הדרך אשר נעלה בה, “the road in which we should ascend, etc.” This is a reference to the initial steps prior to the conquest. The spies (people) did not voice any other purpose of the spies’ mission than to select the most effective route of approach.

ותקרבון אלי כלכם, “and all of you approached me;” the people did not come to Moses as a delegation in an orderly fashion but they mobbed him. (Sifri Devarim 20).

In a hodgepodge, etc. Rashi is answering the question: What is the rebuke in this statement?

VV. 22 u. 23. ׳וייטב וגו׳ ותקרבון וגו (siehe zu Kap. 13, 2).

ויחפרו לנו, “and espy on our behalf;” the expression חפר describes someone searching for something, generally below the surface of the earth; the principal meaning is to search for something which has been deliberately hidden. (Ibn Ezra)

וישבו אתנו דבר AND THEY SHALL BRING US WORD — i.e. they shall report to us in what language they speak (Sifrei Devarim 20:3).

נשלחה אנשים, “we ourselves want to appoint these men and dispatch them.” This was something G’d did not approve of, and this is why He told Moses: “you dispatch them!” (Numbers 13,2) The men that were to spy out the land were to be appointed by Moses himself, not by a mob. G’d was afraid that the people would appoint totally unsuitable people to be their spies. The Torah had therefore made a point of reporting that the men selected for this task by Moses were all known as outstanding people, כלם אנשים, including such men as Joshua and Calev. Even those among them, who in the end expressed their belief that they could not hope to conquer this land, did not have the effrontery to badmouth the land itself, but praised it as an excellent land. This was also why it was possible for the people to repent their sin, i.e. they had made a faulty judgment in believing the 10 spies’ assessment of the chances of conquering the land. (compare Numbers 13, 41-45.

ויחפרו לנו את הארץ, “so that they will spy out the land on our behalf.” The reason that the Torah uses the term חפר for what was really רגול, spying, is that digging is designed to uncover hidden objects; spying is also designed to reveal hidden things.

What language they speak. Otherwise, why is “word” needed? The purpose of knowing which language they speak is in order to detect if one of the seven nations dressed up like another nation. Then the Jewish People would recognize the hoax and be able to uphold the commandment, “Do not leave anyone alive (below 20:16).” This is not possible unless they knew which language they spoke so then they knew from which nation they are. Also, there are other explanations given on this matter.

את הדרך אשר נעלה בה BY WHAT WAY WE MUST GO UP — you will rarely find a road in which there is not some zigzag course (Sifrei Devarim 20:4).

There is no road in which there are no winding curves. Otherwise, for what purpose did they ask the spies which road to go upon? Certainly, whichever city they wished to conquer they would go up on that particular road.

ואת הערים אשר נבא אליהן AND UNTO WHAT CITIES WE SHALL COME first to capture them (cf. Sifrei Devarim 20:5).

[Which cities] will we have to capture first. Rashi is answering the question: The phrase, “And the cities,” implies that they will not go to every city. Yet this is not true, for they will inherit the entire land. For this reason Rashi explains: “Which cities... first.”

וייטב בעיני הדבר AND THE MATTER WAS GOOD IN MY SIGHT — in my sight, said Moses, but not in the sight of the Omnipresent God. — But if it was good in Moses' sight why did he mention it in these reproofs? A parable! It may he compared to the case of a man who says to his fellow, "Sell me this ass of yours”. He replies to him, "Yes”. He asks him, "Will you give it to me on trial?” He replies: "Yes”. — "May I try it on hills and mountains?” Again he replies, "Yes" — When he sees that he puts no obstacles in his way, the would-be purchaser says to himself: “This man is quite confident that I shall not find any defect in it", and he at once says to him, “Take your money, I need not now put it to trial”. I, too, consented to your words, thinking that you would perhaps turn back on yourselves (re-consider the question of sending spies) when you saw that I put no obstacle in your way, but you did not re-consider (Sifrei Devarim 21:1).

AND I TOOK TWELVE MEN OF YOU. He did not praise them as being princes [of their tribes]¹⁰¹Ibid., Verse 2. and their being leaders of the children of Israel,¹⁰²Ibid., Verse 3. for, since they acted wickedly, he would not speak in praise of wicked men.

וייטב בעיני הדבר, I thought that none of you would not believe G’d when He had said that He would bring you to that country and that it was a good land and that you would be able with His help to conquer it. I believed that the thought behind your desire to send out spies was not that you wanted to see if you could conquer it, but that you wanted to select for yourselves the best sections of the land, and that this was what you had in mind when you said (verse 22) “the cities which we will come to.” This seemed totally reasonable, since you were aware that the conquest would not be immediately of the whole country, seeing G’d had told us this in Exodus 23,29.

וייטב בעיני הדבר, "the matter was pleasing in my eyes." Moses meant that the reason the people advanced for dispatching the spies, i.e. to spy out the country, seemed to be a valid reason in his eyes. Yalkut Shimoni on the relevant verse in Parshat Shlach Lecha explains that the spies wanted to find out where the Canaanites had hidden their valuables, etc. The word בעיני, "in my eyes," with the emphasis on the suffix "my," means that Moses meant to say: "inasmuch as I only have eyes of flesh and blood, I was deceived; anyone who viewed things objectively would have perceived your real intent." Please compare what I have written on this subject in connection with Numbers 13,2.

ואקח מכם שנים עשר אנשים, “I selected from amongst you twelve men, etc.” Moses did not mention any titles these spies had been distinguished with, seeing that after they had disgraced themselves and led their peers into sin one is not allowed to make any complimentary remarks about the wicked.

וייטב בעיני הדבר, “the matter appeared good (worthwhile) in my eyes.” Moses felt that seeing the entire people were in agreement it was probably all right. The word בעיני, “in my eyes,” makes it clear that the suggestion did not find favour in G’d’s eyes. This is why, when G’d related to the project He told Moses: שלח לך, “send for yourself,” i.e. “not on My behalf. I am not ordering you to do this.”

From the choicest among you. Otherwise, why is “from you,” needed?

שנים עשר אנשים, “twelve men;” on this Rashi comments that there was no representative of the tribe of Levi among these 12 men. The reason was that they would not inherit any ancestral land in Eretz Yisrael, as I have already explained on Numbers 13,16.

ואקח מכם AND I TOOK OF YOU — of the choicest that were amongst you, of the finest that were amongst you (Sifrei Devarim 21:2).

I took from you. Since the stated purposed was to spy out how to conquer the land, it would have been better to hire non-Jewish spies who were experts in war and conquest… However Moshe Rabbeinu knew that by the laws of nature it would be difficult to conquer, without strength of faith and trust in Hashem, along with a desire to inherit the good land. This would have been impossible for foreigners to understand, so the spies had to be “from you.”… He also thought that the spies would become strengthened and hearty from their expedition, like Calev when he entered Chevron, and through this they would know that they would succeed in conquering the land.

From the finest among you. The word המסולתין is from the word סולת (fine flour) [Figuratively meaning, “the finest”].

שנים עשר אנשים איש אחד לשבט [AND I TOOK] … TWELVE MEN, ONE MAN FOR A TRIBE — This (the statement: “twelve men”) tells us that the tribe of Levi was not with them in this request (Sifrei Devarim 21:3; cf. Rashi on Numbers 31:4).

This tells us that the tribe of Levi was not among them. Otherwise, there should be thirteen men, as the tribes of Ephraim and Menasha are counted separately. Re”m writes: This explanation is perplexing, since without the verse [specifying], “twelve men,” we would know this. For in Parshas Shlach Lecha (Bamidbar Ch. 13), all the tribal leaders are enumerated, and the tribe of Levi is not included with them. Re”m leaves this question unresolved. It seems to me that the verse [specifying], “twelve men,” is teaching us that the tribe of Levi did not even participate [in devising the plan of the spies]. According to this, it fits well that Rashi does not say, “The tribe of Levi did not go with them,” for this was already written above in Parshas Shlach Lecha.

עד נחל אשכל [AND THEY CAME] TO THE BROOK OF ESHCOL — This tells us that it was so called on account of what was eventually, to happen there [— that they took from there a cluster (אשכל) of grapes] (Sifrei Devarim 22:2).

ויבאו עד נחל אשכול; in accordance with Moses’ instructions to ascend from the south (Numbers 13,17) from Kadesh Barnea, where the people had been encamped at the time. This was located at the southern tip of the country, as spelled out in Numbers 34,4.

ויפנו ויעלו ההרה, They turned and ascended towards the mountain, etc. Moses chose the expression ויפנו, "they turned," to indicate that they departed from the straight and narrow which they had pursued up until that time. Until the mission commenced, all these 12 men had been righteous;, they only turned from what reason dictated at that point. Please compare what I have written on Numbers 13,26.

This tells us that it was called [Eshkol] because of the incident that was to happen there. For they carried a cluster (Eshkol) of grapes from there, as it is written (Bamidbar 13:23), “And they cut off a branch, etc,” and [the following verse says explicitly that] “it was called Wadi Eshkol [because of the report about the cluster of grapes].” But this first occurred when the spies were returning.

V. 24. וירגלו אתה eigentlich: sie gingen es schrittweise durch. Während הלך das Ziel am Ende der Wanderung erwartet, hat der מרגל sein Ziel bei jedem Schritte, da er das Land, das er durchwandert, kennen lernen will.

עד נחל אשכול, “as far as the valley of Eshkol;” Rashi comments that the spies walked in a formation of crisscrossing the land in four directions. This has been explained already in the Talmud tractate Baba Metzia, folio 91.

וירגלו אתה AND THEY SPIED IT OUT — This teaches as that they passed through it along four lines, along the length and the breadth (Sifrei Devarim 22:3; cf. Rashi on Numbers 13:21).

Along four lines etc. Rashi means to say that they walked through the land in four lines — through its length and breadth, in order to spy out the entire land.

וירגלו אותה, "they spied it out." This means that they did not act in accordance with what the Israelites had said to Moses when they explained the mission as ויחפרו לנו את הארץ, "that the spies will spy out the land on our behalf, etc.," but "they spied it out." They wanted to investigate the nature of the land, its people, not where they had hidden their valuables.

ויורדו אלינו AND THEY BROUGHT IT DOWN TO US — This tells us that the land of Israel is situated higher than all other countries (Sifrei Devarim 23:2).

AND THEY SAID: ‘GOOD IS THE LAND WHICH THE ETERNAL OUR G-D GIVETH UNTO US.’ “Who were those who spoke well of the Land? Joshua and Caleb.” This is Rashi’s language quoting the Sifre.¹⁰³Sifre, Devarim 23. But I wonder. If so, what is this complaint against them [the people]? It was proper that they should believe ten people more than two? Perhaps Moses complained against them: “Since the Holy One, blessed be He, had informed you that it is a good Land, and the leading emissaries and the most righteous among them had also testified to that effect, you should have believed that the others spoke their piece out of lack of courage.”
The correct interpretation is as I have already explained there:¹⁰⁴Numbers 13:32. All the spies admitted before Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation, saying, We came unto the Land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.¹⁰⁵Ibid., Verse 27. Thus they were all in consensus on the goodness of the Land itself, but, with reference to the strength of those nations living there, they melted the people’s hearts. Then, when [the ten spies] saw that Joshua and Caleb were encouraging the people to wage war, the spies came to the children of Israel not in the presence of Moses and they disseminated a slanderous report about the Land to the effect that it is a Land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof.¹⁰⁴Numbers 13:32. This is [what Moses meant when he stated here], and ye murmured in your tents.¹⁰⁶Verse 27 here. The expression in your tents clearly indicates that the murmuring was done surreptitiously. The ten wicked spies did not confront Moses with this charge. The people also did not mention this slander in the presence of Moses¹⁰⁷In Verse 28, where Moses quotes the words of the people’s complaint. for he would refute them because they [the spies themselves] did not say so at first [that the Land kills its inhabitants]; instead they admitted that it is a good Land, and surely it floweth with milk and honey.¹⁰⁵Ibid., Verse 27. Rather, they said to Moses, Whither are we going up? our brethren have made our heart to melt, saying: The people is greater and taller than we.¹⁰⁷In Verse 28, where Moses quotes the words of the people’s complaint. Therefore, Moses now said to them: “It is true as you say that that people is great and tall, but the Eternal will fight for you¹⁰⁸Exodus 14:14. according to all that He did for you¹⁰⁹Verse 30 here. from Egypt even till now.”¹¹⁰Numbers 14:19. This, then, is the sense of the verse, Yet in this thing ye do not believe the Eternal your G-d,¹¹¹Verse 32 here. which means that the hindrance [to your immediate entry into the Land] was only a result of insufficient faith [you had in G-d]. Thus the whole section is explained in accordance with the simple meaning of Scripture and its purport.

ויאמרו טובה הארץ, even the wicked spies acknowledged the goodness of the land when they said “it is also flowing with milk and honey.” (Numbers 13,27).

ויקחו בידם מפרי הארץ, They took from the fruit of the land in their hands, etc. Why did the Torah have to add the words בידם, "in their hands?" It would have sufficed for the Torah to write that the spies brought with them some of the fruit, etc. Besides, why did the Torah have to write: "they brought us back word, and they said?" It would have sufficed to write: "they brought us back something good."

ויאמרו טובה הארץ, “they said: “the land is very good!” According to Rashi (based on Sifri) the two spies that reported on the land being so good were Joshua and Calev. Nachmanides writes that if it were correct that only Joshua and Calev had praise for the land, how could one accuse the entire people for believing the majority report of the other ten spies? Perhaps Moses’ accusation against the people for believing the ten spies was based on the fact that what these spies had reported was in direct contradiction to G’d’s own assessment of that land. If, in addition to G’d’s assessment and that of the most outstanding of the twelve spies G’d was considered as proven correct, the people had no excuse to side with the ten spies against the testimony of both G’d and the two senior spies. Once the ten spies realized that Joshua and Calev were firmly in favour of capturing the land of Canaan by war, they began to disseminate evil reports about that land, describing it as a land that consumed its inhabitants, and this is what Moses meant when he said (verse 27) ותרגנו באהליכם, “you slandered in your tents.”I believe, in accordance with what I have already explained in Parshat Shelach lecha on the relevant verses, that publicly, all the spies sang the praises of the land of Canaan. It was only in the privacy of their tents that the campaign of slandering the land and spreading fear was carried on. This is what Moses alluded to here when he recalled that the former generation of Israelites had slandered the land in their tents. The people themselves also had not dared to come out openly against the land within earshot of Moses at the beginning. Later on, they admitted that they had become frightened by their brethren the spies. This is why Moses had told them not to be afraid as they would not have to do any actual fighting; G’d would do this on their behalf.

Who were they that said [the land was] good, etc. Although the other spies also said that it was good, nevertheless they also brought a bad report about the land. And here it is written, “They said, ‘Good is the land’,” which implies that they did not say anything bad about it (Re”m).

For they were sent about this, to see the goodness of the land... Since they were sent about this detail, they had to give an answer to those that sent them. And they admitted about this that, "It is a good land" from the perspective of [it being], "that the Lord our God is giving [it] to us" - that if the Lord gives it to us miraculously, there is no objection about the land itself. And [Moshe] did not mention that which they said (Numbers 13:28), "However, the people who inhabit the country are powerful" - as this was not an answer, since they were not sent about this... So [the people] should not have paid attention to this, since they gave a positive answer to that which they were sent about. And regarding that which they said, "the people are powerful," they were not sent about it.

V. 25. ׳ויאמרו טובה הארץ וגו. Über die Vortrefflichkeit des Landes waren sie ja alle einverstanden und hatten ja auch den Beweis in den mitgebrachten Früchten in Händen. Alles andere war ja nur der subjektive Eindruck, den die riesige Erscheinung der Bewohner auf die Kleinmütigen gemacht hatte. Wäre das Volk von dem rechten Geist erfüllt gewesen, so hätten sie nur jenen Bericht von der Vortrefflichkeit des Bodens aus der Erzählung der Kundschafter entnommen, alles andere hätte sie unberührt gelassen.

ויאמרו טובה הארץ AND THEY SAID, THE LAND IS GOOD — Who were they who spoke of it being good? Joshua and Caleb (Sifrei Devarim 23:3).

The reason Moses phrased it thus was to remind us that there were two categories of spies. The first category of spies were the evil ones, the ten who brought back a negative report. The second category consisted of Joshua and Calev. Moses referred to both their reports in what he said. Concerning the negative report brought back by the ten spies he said: "they took from the fruit of the land in their hands and brought us back word." Moses did not want to repeat the negative comments made by these 10 spies in order not to arouse the attribute of Justice. He made certain that we would appreciate that he referred to the ten spies by saying: "they took in their hands, etc." We have been taught in Sotah 34 that eight spies between them carried one cluster of grapes, one of them took a fig and a tenth one took a pomegranate. Joshua and Calev, on the other hand, did not take anything, as explained in the Talmud. Moses alluded to this by speaking separately of the spies who brought back fruit with them. He added: וישיבו אותנו דבר, "they brought back word to us, i.e. whatever word they brought back." It is also possible to interpret this exegetially by comparing the use of the word דבר in Numbers 13,26 and the use of the same word here. Just as the ten spies were described there as having brought back the negative report, so Moses used the word דבר here to hint that he was speaking of the same people. It is true that we have a rule that similar-sounding words may be used exegetically out of context only if there is a historic tradition for their having been understood in this way; the rabbis did permit the historically unsupported use of such exegesis if the objective is merely to establish the plain meaning of the verse [as opposed to a new religiously binding ruling, Ed.]. In our situation application of the גזרה שוה is quite unobjectionable. Concerning the report brought back by Joshua and Calev Moses said: "they said the land is good." One could also understand Moses' words: "the land is good" as referring to all of the spies without exception; however, according to our approach Moses made a distinction between the two categories of spies.

ותמרו — This is an expression denoting setting oneself in opposition: ye opposed yourselves to His words.

ולא אביתם לעלות, for at that point you revealed your original sinful approach, i.e. that your motivation had not been to select the best part of the country for yourselves at this time, as I had thought, based on what you had said. Your purpose in the mission had been to determine if it was possible to conquer this land, something that revealed that you did not believe G’d’s promise to you. As a result of your lack of belief you accepted what the spies told you when they said that these people are too strong, and you refused to ascend to this land.

ולא אביתם לעלות, "and you did not want to ascend (to the land of Canaan)." Even though ten spies testified, as will be mentioned shortly where Moses describes the ten as demoralising the whole people, conquest of the land of Canaan had never been made subject to the Israelites' prowess or otherwise. It was a gift from G'd as we explained in detail on Numbers 13,2 based on the words "which I (the Lord) am about to give to you." G'd Himself was going to dispossess the Canaanites as mentioned in verse 29, i.e. "He will wage war on your behalf." None of these words represent a contradiction to the report of the spies describing the cities of Canaan and their inhabitants as exceedingly powerful. Nachmanides' objections are quite unfounded, therefore. [The author assumes that we are all familiar with the commentary by Nachmanides who questioned how one could fault the people for believing 10 spies rather than 2 spies. Ed.]

V. 26. אבה .ולא אביתם וגו׳ ותמרו: sich dem Willen eines andern fügen (siehe Schmot 10, 27 und Dewarim 18, 8 u. f.). מרה: dem Willen eines andern entgegen sein (siehe Bereschit 26, 35). המרה: jemandem zuwider handeln.

ותרגנו — This is an expression denoting slander. Similar is, (Proverbs 18:8) “The words of a נרגן” i.e. of a man who brings a false report (Sifrei Devarim 24:1).

בשנאת ה' אותנו, because we had worshipped idols while we were in Egypt.

ותרגנו, the word is derived from the same root as Proverbs 18,8 דברי נרגן כמתלהמים, “the words of a quarrelsome man are like afflictions.”

A popular proverb says, etc. Rashi intends to say that you should not ask how did the Israelites know that Hashem hated them. And therefore Rashi explains: Since they hated Hashem, they said that He also hated them, as a popular proverb says, etc.

V. 27. ותרגנו באהליכם וגו׳. Die Etymologie von רגן ist dunkel. Stellen wie ונרגן מפריד אלוף (Prov. 16, 28), באפם עצים תכבה אש ובאין נרגן ישתק מדון (daselbst 20) beweisen, dass רגן eine Streit erregende und Streit unterhaltende Tätigkeit bezeichnet. Es scheint Hetzen zu bedeuten, und הרגן: sich gegenseitig hetzen, und נרגן, ja auch Nifalform, einen solchen Hetzer, der, unter dem Scheine, seine eigene Sache zu führen und über selbst erlittenes Unrecht aufgebracht zu sein, oder die Kränkung des andern wie seine eigene zu fühlen, andere zum Streit aufgeregt. Daher denn der Satz: דברי נרגן כמתלהמים והם ירדו חדרי בטן (Pro. 26, 22): des Hetzers Worte klingen, als ob sie ihren eigenen Streit führen und gehen doch tief in das Innere des anderen hinab. In Mosche milder Weise erwähnt er nur das, was sie unter sich in ihren Zelten geredet (Bamidbar 14, 1), übergeht aber den Aufruhr und die förmliche Revolte gegen ihn und Gott (daselbst 2, 4).

הוציאנו מארץ מצרים, “He took us out of the land of Egypt;” Rashi, basing himself on Sifrey, says that G-d’s taking us out of Egypt was interpreted by the Israelites as an act of hatred; he quotes a parable with a king who owned two fields and had two sons. One field was very productive, as it was well irrigated, whereas the other one was far less so. He gave the productive one to his beloved son, and the inferior one to the son he disapproved of. The people of Israel were aware that Egypt was very well irrigated from the waters of the Nile, never depending on rainfall. On the other hand, Moses himself told them that the earth in the land of Israel depended on rainfall, and that by withholding rainfall this could make it very hard to work. They therefore reasoned that G-d must hate them why else would He expect them to exchange fertile Egypt for hilly Canaan?

בשנאת ה׳ אתנו BECAUSE THE LORD HATETH US — Really, however, He loved you, but you hated Him. A common proverb says: What is in your own mind about your friend, you imagine is what is in his mind about you (Sifrei Devarim 24:3).

He has now decided to deliver us into the hands of the Emorite even though He is perfectly capable to conquer the Emorites and to kill them, He will take revenge on us by delivering us into their hands.

What is in your heart regarding your friend, etc. I.e., whatever is in your heart — that you [subconsciously] hate your friend, you say about him — that he hates you.

בשנאת ה' אתנו הוציאנו מארץ מצרים BECAUSE THE LORD HATETH US HE HATH BROUGHT US FORTH FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT — His bringing us forth was out of hatred. A parable! It may be compared to an earthly king who had two sons, and who had two fields, one well-watered; the other arid (dependent upon rain only). To him whom he loved best of his sons he gave the well-watered field, and to him whom he loved less he gave the arid one. The land of Egypt is a well-watered country, for the Nile rises and irrigates it, whilst the land of Canaan is an arid country — and He brought us forth from well-watered Egypt to give us the arid land of Canaan (Numbers Rabbah 17:3).

[You imagine] is in his heart regarding yourself. I.e., whatever is in your friend’s heart — that he loves you, you say about yourself — that you love him.

His taking us out was an act of hatred, etc. Rashi answers the question: From the verse it seems that Hashem took them out of Egypt because He hated them. But, He performed many miracles for them in order to take them out to freedom. Therefore Rashi explains that they said, “His taking us out [in itself] was an act of hatred, etc.”

One of which was well-watered, and the other was dry, etc. Re”m writes: This is perplexing. Why does Rashi explain this verse as referring to a dry and a watered field? If it is to demonstrate that Hashem took the Jewish People out of Egypt because He hated them, the fact that He took them out to lead them into the hand of the Emorite and destroy them. is a greater proof of hatred. Re”m leaves this question unresolved. But it seems (to me) that Rashi is answering the following question: The verse should have said, “Because of Adonoy’s hatred of us, He took us out [in order] to deliver us into the hand of the Emorite.” Why is, “of the land of Egypt” needed? Rather, “He took us out of the land of Egypt,” must be to make the comparison to the dry field and watered field. And the verse should be understood as: “For one, because of Adonoy’s hatred of us etc.,” — this is for the comparison to the dry field and watered field. “And furthermore, in order to put us, etc.” The word בעל means a dry and arid land that requires irrigation.

ערים גדלת ובצורת בשמים THE CITIES ARE GREAT AND FORTIFIED TO HEAVEN — Scriptural texts sometimes speak in exaggerated terms (Sifrei Devarim 25:4; Chullin 90b).

Exaggerated terms. Rashi explains in the chapter [entitled], “The Sciatic Nerve,” (Maseches Chulin 90b): “לשון הבאי means, ‘a common person’s manner of speech.’ He is not precise with his words, and says things that are not true. He does not lie intentionally; he is just not precise [in what he says].”

לא תערצון — This is an expression denoting breaking, as the Targum translates it: You should not let yourselves be broken by them. Similar to it is, (Job 30:6) “To dwell in ערוץ נחלים”, i.e. in the fissure of the valleys.

V. 29. ערץ .לא תערצון hat die noch der Aufklärung bedürfende Eigentümlichkeit, dass es sowohl den Schrecken bedeutet, den man empfindet, als den man bei anderen hervorruft, so dass ערץ sowohl erschreckt werden, als erschrecken transit. bedeutet. אולי תערוצי (Jes.47, 12) heißt schwerlich etwas anderes, als: vielleicht gelingt es dir, Schrecken zu verbreiten, gelingt es dir, dich furchtbar zu zeigen, und daher hat auch לערוץ הארץ (Jes.2, 19 u. 21) wohl nur den Sinn: die Erde in Schrecken zu versetzen. Vielleicht liegt der Wurzel ערץ die Bedeutung des "Zusammennehmens aller Kraft" zu Grunde. Es heißt daher sowohl: jemandem mit der ganzen Macht seiner Kraft entgegen treten, "ihm imponieren", als auch: eine solche Vorstellung von dem andern haben, dass man das Gefühl hat, man müsse ihm gegenüber alle Kraft zusammen nehmen, also: "sich von einem andern imponieren lassen."

ילחם לכם means, [HE WILL FIGHT] ON YOUR BEHALF.

He will wage war for you. Hashem’s intent was not that the Canaanites should be smitten by plague before they arrived to wage war, but that He would help the Jews while they were fighting against them.

As in everything that He did with you. With the Egyptians — Hashem did not destroy them beforehand but waged war against them at the Red Sea. This was His Will and His Honor, and similarly in the war against the Canaanites.

ובמדבר אשר ראית — This is to be connected with the verse preceding: "according to all that He did for you in Egypt" "and" which He also did "in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that [the Lord thy God] bore thee, etc.

אשר נשאך ה' אלוקיך, in this great and terrible desert. If G’d had wanted to take His revenge on you, all He had to do was to leave you to the mercy of these predators.

This verse is connected to the [previous] verse, etc. For the verse could be understood as: “He will wage war for you as in everything that He did... and in the wilderness, etc.” Meaning, that even in the wilderness Hashem waged war on their behalf. But, He did not wage war in the wilderness! Therefore, Rashi explains: This verse is connected to the previous verse, “As in everything that He did with you in Egypt.” I.e., that He bestowed good upon you, and also in the wilderness He bestowed good upon them — for He carried them the way a man carries his son, etc. The word עשה (He did) is being used in two different ways. The first one refers to the waging of war, and the second refers to Hashem’s love (for the Jewish People).

כאשר ישא איש את בנו AS A MAN DOTH BEAR HIS SON — The meaning is just as I have explained in connection with the verse (Exodus 14:19—20), "And the angel of the Lord that went before the camp of the Israelites moved, etc.". A parable! It may be compared to one who is proceeding on a journey, his son walking in front of him. If bandits come to kidnap him (the son), he takes him away from in front of him and places him behind himself, etc.

ובדבר הזה YET IN REGARD TO THIS THING that He promised you, viz., to bring you to the Land, you did not believe in Him (because the promise has not yet been fulfilled).

ובדבר הזה אינכם מאמינים, "In this matter you did not believe in G'd, etc." Why did Moses have to say: "in this matter?" Rashi understands Moses' words as a reference to G'd's promise that the people would enter the land of Canaan. This does not appear acceptable. I believe the plain meaning of the verse is that Moses referred to the miracles G'd had demonstrated when He lifted the whole Jewish people out of Egypt just as a father carries his son. They did not even believe the miracles they themselves had experienced (Exodus 14,19 compare Rashi there) which Moses recalled in verse 31. Proof that the Israelites were lacking in faith at the time is provided by Exodus 17,7 "If the Lord is in our midst or not?" The Zohar on that verse provided us with the well known parable of the father who carried his son on his shoulder. When they met someone, the son asked the stranger if he had seen his father. Israel's question in the verse we referred to is compared to the effrontery of the child in the parable by the Zohar. This then is what Moses referred to with the words: "in this matter you did not have faith in the Lord your G'd." Moses added: "who is walking before you, etc," in order to underline that in view of the continued miracles performed constantly by G'd there was no excuse for this lack of faith.

לראתכם — This word is the same as לְהַרְאֹתְכֶם. Similar, too, is לנחתם הדרך (like לְהַנְחֹתָם; see Rashi on Exodus 13:21). So also (Psalms 26:7) לשמיע בקול תודה [like לְהַשְׁמִיעַ], also, (2 Kings 9:15) ללכת לגיד ביזרעל [like לְהַגִּיד]

לתור לכם מקום לחנותכם, in the same desert, as mentioned already in Numbers 10,33 לתור לכם מנוחה. All of this is a demonstration of G’d’s loving care for you.

The word לראתכם is the same as להראתכם, etc. The pasach vowel under the ל is a substitute for the missing ה.

את קול דבריכם, your uncalled for weeping.

This wicked generation. There were many people in that generation who said that Hashem was unable to do this, or that they did not want Hashem’s providence. And the righteous are punished along with the wicked, and when Hashem is angry He punishes even for light sins.

אשר דרך בה [AND TO HIM WILL I GIVE THE LAND] THAT HE TROD UPON — viz., Hebron, as it is said, (Numbers 13:22) “And he (Caleb) came to Hebron”.

הוא יראנה ולו אתן את הארץ, "he will see it and to him I will give the land, etc." Why did Moses have to say that Calev would see the land seeing that he had been promised that G'd would give it to him? Surely just as 100 is part of 200, the land could not be given to Calev unless he was going to see it! I believe Moses wanted to recall two separate accomplishments of Calev in the matter of the spies and to show that he acquired two separate merits. 1) He separated himself from the advice of the ten spies and did not say a single negative word. 2) He was courageous enough to come out openly against the majority report asking the people to remain loyal to G'd, as we know from Numbers 13,30: "Calev silenced the people." As a compensation G'd granted Calev two good things. Concerning his initial silence G'd rewarded him by not letting him die as part of the decree which G'd decreed against the spies. This is alluded to in Moses saying: בן יפנה הוא יראנה, "the son of Yefuneh will see it." The meaning is that because he "turned away" פנה, he was granted the reward that he would see the land he had spied out. His peers had been specifically denied this, i.e. Numbers 14,23 where G'd said that the men of his generation would not get to see the land of Canaan. In reward for Calev having come out openly on behalf of G'd he was rewarded in that G'd gave him the land, i.e. he personally i.e. לו was allocated a share in the Holy Land.

הארץ אשר דרך בה, “the land on which he walked.” A reference to the city of Chevron, seeing the Torah had specifically mentioned that Calev came to Chevron (Numbers 13,22). Calev is mentioned first before Joshua, here and everywhere when G’d speaks of him.

This refers to Chevron, etc. Rashi is explaining: Is the entire Land going to be given to Koleiv!

The crux of the decree the Moshe would not enter the land was decreed as a result of the sin of the spies... But if God had been sanctified at Mei Merivah, it would have been possible to nullify the decree. But because of the sin [of Moshe] at Mei Merivah, it was not possible to change the decree.

V. 36. מלא אחרי ד׳ (siehe zu Bamidbar 14, 24.

'מלא אחרי ה, “who has fully followed G-d’s instructions.” Moses refers to the instructions he had issued in the name of G-d. [G-d did not address Calev directly, ever. Ed.]

התאנף means HE WAS FILLED WITH ANGER.

ALSO THE ETERNAL WAS ANGRY WITH ME, FOR YOUR SAKES. He is stating: “Behold, the sin you committed then in the affair of the spies withheld from you the good Land, and yet you continued to sin another time [i.e., at the waters of Meribah] until you prevented me as well, from crossing [the Jordan].” For Moses wanted to mention simultaneously that the punishment of all who were prevented from passing into the Land, was caused by their sins. Also in order to mention here the matter of Joshua,¹¹²Verse 38 here. that he would cross over because he followed G-d wholeheartedly as did his colleague [Caleb],¹¹³Numbers 14:24. and, therefore, he will yet deserve to cause the second generation to inherit the Land, because Moses was punished and it was decreed upon him that he was not to cross [the Jordan]. Thus Moses mentioned the whole affair [of the spies] except for the death by plague of the spies themselves.¹¹⁴Ibid., Verse 37. Nor did he mention the slander [of the spies that the Land eateth up the inhabitants thereof],¹⁰⁴Numbers 13:32. for he would not speak of the shame of individuals. Instead he reproved the multitude all of whom sinned and all of whom were punished.
The meaning of the expression for your sakes [Also the Eternal was angry with me, ‘for your sakes’] is that the children of Israel strove with the Eternal etc.¹¹⁵Ibid., 20:13. [at the waters of Meribah], and all this happened because of your quarrel. Or [the expression for your sakes] may allude to the fact that the anger [of G-d] with Moses and Aaron was because — when they hit the rock twice¹¹⁶Ibid., Verse 11. in front of the people [instead of speaking to it] and did not do as they were commanded — the people were critical of it.¹¹⁷See Ramban ibid., Verse 1 (towards end). This is the purport of His words, because ye sanctified Me not in the midst of the children of Israel,¹¹⁸Further, 32:51. meaning that the punishment came [not because the sin itself was so grievous, but] because it happened in the midst of the children of Israel that the Glory was not sanctified before their eyes. Thus the Rabbis have also said in the Sifre:¹¹⁹Sifre, Ha’azinu 340. “Because ye trespassed against Me.¹¹⁸Further, 32:51. — you caused [the people] to trespass. Because ye sanctified Me not¹¹⁸Further, 32:51. — you caused that I not be sanctified. Because ye rebelled against My commandment¹²⁰Numbers 27:14. — you caused [the people] to rebel against My commandment.” The Rabbis [in the Sifre] thus interpreted all these expressions as transitional to Israel, [meaning, Moses and Aaron had really not sinned in the affair of the rock, but since their action was misconstrued by the people causing the people to sin, Moses and Aaron were punished]. I have already explained the subject.¹¹⁷See Ramban ibid., Verse 1 (towards end).

גם בי התאנף ה' בגללכם, this was in order that you would have reason to cry throughout the ages, as G’d had decreed in Numbers 14,28. When that verse referred to דבריכם, “your words,” the objectionable words G’d had referred to were: “our children and wives will become loot,” (Numbers 14,5). Moses told the people at this stage the real reason for his impending death, even though the cause occurred already 38 years earlier. At that time G’d had announced His decree אם יראה איש באנשים האלה, adding that by contrastוטפכם אשר אמרתם לבז יהי, “your children concerning whom you had predicted that they would wind up as loot, as prisoners of war, would conquer the land.” The major point Moses is making, [and I am paraphrasing the author who quotes Psalms 106,26-27, Ezekiel 20,23, as well as Psalms 106,32-40, Ed] is that were it not for the fact that he also had not been allowed to enter the Holy Land, they would have been condemned to extinction. The fact that he, the innocent leader, had been included in their punishment was for the sake of the nation’s survival as such, even if traumatic exile experiences lay ahead of them. (compare our author on Deut. 4,1)

גם בי התאנף ה׳ בגללכם, "G'd was also angry at me on your account." This is difficult as we have no independent evidence of G'd having become angry at Moses on account of the sin of the spies. Nachmanides explains these words of Moses to mean: "you have continued doing evil until the result was that G'd became angry at me." I do not find this comment acceptable as Moses continued to speak about the subject of the spies even after this verse as is clear from verse 39 "and your children whom you claimed would become booty, will come there, etc." The subject is continued right until the end of this chapter. Why then would Moses interrupt in the middle of one subject to speak about an unrelated subject? As to Nachmanides' justification that Moses wanted to lump together all the reasons why the generation of the Exodus did not get to the Holy Land, I do not see what would be accomplished by this.

... And [Moshe] said that this thing caused God to get angry with him at the end of forty years (with the rock). For his main sin was that he did not show Israel how to fulfill their needs in a natural way... And all of this began with the story of the spies in that they [then first] sought the natural way [of doing things].

גם בי התאנף ה', “Hashem also became angry at me;” Nachmanides reconstructs the proper sequence of events at that time. After Moses had recalled the events of the sin of the spies, and the nature of their sin, in the wake of which a whole generation of Israelites had been doomed to die in the desert, he continues to relate how his own inability to enter the Holy Land was also directly linked to the sin of these people. He contrasts the good fortune of Joshua and Calev, who because of their staunch loyalty to G’d on that occasion, are the only ones of that generation that will settle in the Holy Land. He relates all that had happened on that occasion except for the almost immediate death of the ten spies by a pestilence. He continues to explain that he would not be leading the Israelites across the Jordan but his successor, Joshua. He did not want to distract the people by dwelling on the disgrace and its consequences of a few individuals. He wanted the people (new generation) to concentrate on what had happened to their parents because they had been involved in that terrible sin.

VV. 37 u. 38 sind Parenthese. V. 39 setzt die Rede fort. Indem Mosche V. 36 Kalebs als des Einzigen gedachte, der von den Kundschaftern in den Besitz des Landes kommen sollte, war es Bedürfnis, auch Josuas zu erwähnen, der ja Kalebs Genosse in der Kundschaftssendung war und gleich ihm das Land betreten sollte. Es scheint, als ob Josuas bei dieser Sendung bewährte Treue von einem unmittelbaren Jünger Mosche zu sehr sich gleichsam von selbst verstand, als dass sie ebenso wie Kalebs besonders hervorgehoben hätte werden sollen. Ganz dieser Stellung gemäss, sehen wir auch Bamidbar 13, 30 Kaleb allein für Mosche dem Volke gegenüber in die Schranken treten, und wenn daselbst 14, 6 Josua und Kaleb das aufgeregte Volk von Empörung gegen Gott abzuhalten und seinen Kleinmut in hingebendes Vertrauen zu verwandeln versuchen und infolge dieses ihres männlichen Auftretens fast vom Volke gesteinigt worden sind, so wird daselbst V. 24 doch nur Kalebs gedacht, der durch seine Treue sich des Besitzes des Landes würdig gemacht, obgleich schließlich V. 30 daselbst beide als die einzig Überbleibenden des damaligen Geschlechtes genannt werden. Auch hier bleibt Josuas bewiesene Botschaftertreue unerwähnt, und seines Hineinkommens ins Land wird nur im Zusammenhang mit seiner Stellung als Diener Mosche und seiner Bestimmung zu dessen Nachfolger gedacht.

בגללכם, “on your account;” I was forbidden to enter the Holy Land on account of your lack of faith in G–d; this happened after the death of Miriam (Numbers 20,1) as a result of which the spring traveling with the people had ceased providing water, and when we, Aaron and I asked you if you believed we could provide you with water from a rock you had pointed at, and the first time I struck the rock only a few drops of water came forth, you thought that no water could come forth from the rock the people had pointed at. I should have explained to you that it is not I or Aaron who could make a rock bring forth water but only He, the Lord, could do that. This is why G–d became angry at me, i.e. the meaning of the word בגללכם, “on your account.”

.'גם בי התאנף ה, “the Lord was angry at me also.” He took the position of leader from me and gave it to Joshua; all of this happened only on your account when you caused me to lose my temper and therefore not carry out G-d’s instructions to me to the letter. I was punished for hitting the rock instead of speaking to it.

Also at me was Hashem angry. Moshe mentioned the decree against him here, because one depends on the other. Because of the decree against the spies they were forced to remain in the desert for forty years. As a result of this the time arrived for Miriam to die. Because of her death the well ceased and there was no water. And through this Moshe ended up hitting the rock and being punished.

בגללכם, “on your account;” Moses makes it plain that if 40 years later, when there was no water the people had quarreled with him and with Hashem, if he had mistakenly struck the rock instead of speaking to it, and the result was that G’d forbade him to enter the Holy Land, none of this would have happened if on an earlier occasion the people had not been punished by having to wander in the desert all these years. They would have long been settled in that land, and the occasion on which Moses made his unpardonable error would never have presented itself. Hashem Himself had stressed that Moses and Aaron had missed an opportunity to sanctify Him amongst the Children of Israel, in other words, Moses’ punishment was due to the Children of Israel.

I believe the correct meaning of these words must take into account what the Talmud in Taanit 29 said in connection with Numbers 14,1 that the people cried during that night. The Talmud says that because of their needless weeping on that night the Jewish people were condemned to weep on that date with good reason for many many years when they would mourn the destruction of both Temples which occurred on the anniversary of that fateful night. The Talmud Sotah 9 adds that if Moses had been allowed to enter the Holy Land the very first Temple would have been the final Temple, i.e. there never would have occurred a destruction of the Holy Temple. In this connection there is an interesting Midrash Tehillim on Psalm 79,1 where Assaph appears to have dedicated a hymn to the destruction of the Temple. The Midrash asks, predictably, that instead of dedicating a hymn to such an event Assaph should have written an elegy, a song of mourning! The answer is that Assaph composed the hymn in gratitude to G'd who had vented His wrath on buildings of wood and stone such as the Holy Temple and the city of Jersualem instead of on human beings. If we extrapolate on the reasoning of the Midrash and consider the fact that the Temple Moses would have built would have become indestructible, then every time the people sinned G'd would have had to pour out His wrath at the people themselves instead of at the Temple. In order to avoid such a thing from ever occurring, G'd decided to let Moses die on the East Bank of the Jordan. This is what Moses meant when he said that G'd's anger at him worked in Israel's favour, i.e. בגללכם, "for your sake." Had the sin of the spies not occurred, Moses would have entered the Holy land with the result we have just described. The word בגללכם is derived from גלגול, "revolving," or in the metaphysical sense "transmigration (of souls)." When G'd decreed death on Moses which would result in his ultimate reincarnation, He did the Israelites a great favour by venting His wrath at Moses at that time. Alternatively, the meaning of the words: "G'd was also angry at me on your account," may be that Moses implied that 'if you would not have become guilty of this sin and I would have been allowed to enter the Holy Land and to build the Holy Temple, there never would have arisen an occasion for G'd to become angry at you at all as you would have retained your level of righteousness permanently.' Had it not been for this sin, the power of evil would never have become as great. Now that this had happened, G'd realised that once the Israelites would enter the Holy land they would not be able to maintain their spiritual high. We can derive all this from a study of the song Moses composed in Parshat Haazinu.

גם בי התאנף: später, am Ende der vierzig Jahre bei den מי מריבה zu Kadesch (Bamidbar 21).

You may counter that this may be fine homiletics, but that the fact remains that Moses' death in Transjordan was caused due to his failure to speak to the rock at the waters of Merivah (Numbers chapter 20) not to the sin of the spies. The answer which I have mentioned already on that occasion is that had Moses spoken to the rock at that time the Israelites could have recovered the spiritually high level they possessed prior to the sin of the spies by means of watching that great display of G'd's power. In that event G'd would have cancelled His oath not to let Moses enter the Holy Land seeing that he had become the instrument of sanctifying the name of G'd on such a scale. As a result, Moses would have entered the Holy Land, would have built the Temple, and the Jewish people would have lived there permanently, trouble free. Israel's sin at this stage then had prevented all these scenarios from occurring.

בגללכם: in eurer Veranlassung (siehe Bereschit 12, 10-13).

העמד לפניך: Stehen ist die zur Tätigkeit bereite Stellung, Stehen vor jemandem: seiner Gebote, Anweisungen, Aufträge gewärtig sein. So drücken Elijahu und Elischa ihre Stellung im Dienste Gottes durch ׳עמד לפני ד aus (Kön. I. 17. 1 und II. 5, 16). So die Stellung der Leviten im Dienste der Gemeinde: עמד לפני העדה לשרתם (Bamidbar 16, 9 u. f).

V. 39. טף ,וטפכם ist jedenfalls die früheste Kindheit, von טפף, dem schwankenden, trippelnden Gang (siehe Bereschit S. 444). Nicht so sicher ist es, welches Alter mit ׳בניכם וגו bezeichnet ist. Man würde an das Knabenalter denken, wenn nicht alle unter zwanzig Jahren dem Eintritt in das Land erhalten geblieben wären. Es muss also דעת טוב ורע die Reife sittlichen Urteils bezeichnen, mit welcher erst die volle Verantwortlichkeit vor Gott beginnt. Erbittet sich doch selbst Salomo noch Kön. I. 3, 9: לב וגו׳ להבין בין טוב לרע. Fällt doch nach Kidduschin 30 a der eigentlich erfolgreiche sittliche Einfluss der väterlichen Leitung erst in die Jahre von sechszehn bis zweiundzwanzig oder von achtzehn bis vierundzwanzig! Und wird doch auch die volle Verantwortlichkeit vor Gott nach einem Worte der Weisen (מ׳׳ר קרח) erst mit dem zwanzigsten Jahre angenommen. Dass bei dieser nationalen Verirrung die volle Verantwortlichkeit nur auf diejenigen fiel, die als "Männer" in die Volksgemeine gezählt wurden, also mit zurückgelegtem zwanzigsten Jahre, ist bereits zu Bamidbar 14, 29 bemerkt.

פנו לכם TURN YE — I thought to let you pass across the breadth of the land of Edom in a northerly direction and thus enter the Land (cf. Rashi on Numbers 34:3); you, however, became degenerate and caused this delay for yourselves.

ואתם פנו לכם, “and you — turn yourselves around.” A 180 degrees turn in the direction of the Sea of Reeds

'ואתם פנו לכם וסעו וגו, as for you, (as opposed to the ten spies who died on the spot), “turn around and begin journeying in a reverse direction.” (Moses was quoting Numbers 14,25).

פנו לכם TURN YE backwards, and proceed through the wilderness towards the Red Sea; — for the wilderness through which they were travelling was to the south of Mount Seir separating the Red Sea from Mount Seir. — Now proceed in the direction of the Sea and travel round Mount Seir along the whole of its south side from the west to the east.

ותהינו — This is an expression derived from the word הננו in (Numbers 14:40) "Here we are (הננו) and we will go up to the place”. This is the expression which you uttered — the expression הן, "yes”. The word, therefore, means as much as: you expressed your readiness to go up into the mountain.

ANACHNU’ (WE) ‘NA’ALEH’ (WE WILL GO UP) AND FIGHT. The purport of the word ‘anachnu’ (we) [when it is already included in the word na’aleh which means “we will go up”] is that “we ourselves” will go up and we will fight, and we will not leave the matter to our children after us, as you [Moses] have said.

ותהינו, meaning הננו, “we are ready, prepared;” the people at that point were willing to ascend. (Numbers 14,40)

ותהינו, ”then you were ready.” The word is derived from הן. It is as if the people had said הננו ועלינו, “here we are ready to ascend” (Rashi). Onkelos renders the word as ושריתון למיסק לטורא, “you started to ascend the mountain.” If someone prepares himself to commence a project, an undertaking, he usually signals this by saying הנני, “I am all set to go.”

We have sinned to Hashem. You did not beg before Hashem or confess your sins before Him so that He would have compassion upon you. You thought that you could heal your sins easily, by speaking to me, saying “We have sinned to Hashem.” As if by saying those words you would already be cleansed from your sins, without any extra contrition or submission to Hashem, which is required by penitents.

As if to say, you made yourselves ready. Rashi has a difficulty with this verse: How is it plausible to use the word הן (“yes,” or, “here we are”) here? Certainly when a man tells his friend to do something for him, then a response of “yes “ or “here we are” is plausible. But here, Hashem and Moshe warned them not to go up [the mountain]. If so, a response of, “yes” is not plausible! Therefore, Rashi explains: “As if to say, you made yourselves ready.” You made yourselves ready to do this, as if you had explicitly said, “Here we are.”

V. 41. ותהינו. Die Wurzel von הן ist הנן, daher: הנך ,הנני usw. Die Wurzel von תהינו ist aber הין oder הון .הון heißt aber Vermögen, und zwar ein reichliches Vermögen, und הין daher das größte Flüssigkeitsmaß. Prov. 30, 15 u. 16 kommt הון geradezu als: "genug!" oder vielleicht: "mehr als genug!" vor, ארבע לא אמרו הון, אש לא אמרה הון. Wir glauben daher ותהינו also verstehen zu dürfen: Ihr gürtetet jeder seine Kriegswaffe um "und hieltet dies für genug", oder "mehr als genug", um das Gebirge zu ersteigen. Ihr ginget so von sträflichem Kleinmut zu sträflicher Vermessenheit über. Woran ihr eben es mit Gott ausführen zu können verzweifeltet, das glaubtet ihr jetzt ohne Gott vollbringen zu können. Euer Schwert dünkte euch mehr als hinreichend zur Eroberung des Landes.

ותהינו לעלות ההרה, what is the meaning of the word: ותהינו?, the word הין in Hebrew describes a liquid measure. The people used it in the sense of “making a mountain out of a molehill,” as if to say: “you believed then that ascending the mountains of Canaan would be mere child’s play.” You also thought that G–d’s punishment of them was grossly disproportionate to their sin.

'ותענו ותאמרו וגו, you answered and said to me: “we have sinned;” we have explained verses 41-49 already in Numbers 14,41-43.

לא תעלו “GO NOT UP” — There will be no “ascent” for you, but only a descent (defeat) (cf. Rashi on Numbers 16:12 and Numbers Rabbah 17:3).

There will be no going up [victory] for you etc. Since it is written, “Do not go up,” why then does it need to say, “Do not wage war”? It is obvious that if they do not go up, then there will be no war. Rather, the verse must certainly mean: “Do not go up, for you will not be able to wage war against them.” And if so, going up [the mountain] will be your downfall. But Re”m explains: Since it is written, “So that you will not be shattered,” we can infer that the statement, “Do not go up,” is intended for their benefit. If so, it is not a warning. Rather, it is informing them that their course of action will not be victorious, etc.

ותמדו את פי השם, "you rebelled against G'd's command, etc." Moses referred to the refusal of the Israelites to heed G'd's order not to ascend the mountain. Another element he referred to was that the fear of violating G'd's command should have been greater than the fear of their enemies. The fact that it was not demonstrated the true nature of their wickedness. This is why Moses added: ותזדו, "you sinned deliberately." Furthermore, Moses wanted to make the point that the belated display by the Israelites of faith in G'd's protective powers and their willingness to face the Canaanites was not what it appeared to be at the surface. They once more acted in a rebellious fashion, not because they were throwing themselves on G'd's mercy. They should have humbled themselves; instead they did the very reverse.

כאשר תעשינה הדברים [AND THEY PURSUED YOU] AS BEES DO — Just as a bee when it stings a person it dies immediately, similarly they (the Amorites): when they attacked you they died immediately (Numbers Rabbah 17:3).

When it stings a person, it dies immediately, etc. I.e., the bee dies immediately. The word תעשינה is related to the word עשייה (do). We should not say that the verse means: A great number of Emorites will chase you, in the same manner that a great number of bees chase after a person. If so, the verse only should have said, “And chased you like bees.” Now that it is written, “As the bees do,” then it is comparing them only to the way that bees act, etc.

V. 44. ויכתו (siehe zu Bamidbar 14, 45).

וירדפו אתכם כאשר תעשינה הדבורים, “they chased you like so many bees;” they inflicted wounds upon your bodies in many places, just as bees sting in many places, which were not fatal however; we encounter something similar in Numbers 14,45: ויכום ויכתום, “they smote them and beat them down.” G–d did not allow the Amalekites to kill these Israelites and to boast that they inflicted a defeat on the G–d of the Israelites by displaying the corpses of the slain Israelites. This would have been a slap in the face to G–d, rather than to the sinful Israelites. When the Torah describes Israelites falling victim to their enemies in these paragraphs we must not confuse this with reports of ordinary battles. It appears that what Moses refers to in our verse is what reported in Numbers 21,4: וישב ממנו שבי, “the Canaanites took some of them captive.” When in verse 3 of that chapter, the Israelites were praying to G–d on this account, He responded, and they concluded this military encounter with the Canaanites successfully.

כאשר תעשינה הדבורים, “as bees do;” Rashi comments just as a bee sting results in that bee dying immediately after it has stung a human being, in other words, the effort expended in stinging weakens the bee so that it dies from exhaustion, so the Emorites who defeat you, though being successful, will not live to enjoy their victory, but die soon after. Nonetheless they did inflict a defeat on your soldiers so that these fled as they struck you and injured you; but, they did not succeed in killing a single one of you.

ויכתו אתכם, as far as Chormah. An alternate interpretation; when a single bee leaves its formation, all the other bees immediately follow suit. Example: וירד העמלקי והכנעני, (verse 45) As soon as Amalekite descended all the Canaanites followed suit.

ויכתו אתכם, they struck you, and they injured you, but they did not kill a single one of you. G-d did not allow this to happen in order that His great Name would not be belittled. You will note that the Torah did not list numbers of Israelites killed as it had elsewhere in other wars.

ולא שמע ה' בקלכם BUT THE LORD WOULD NOT HEAR YOUR VOICE — If it is at all possible to say so of God, you made His attribute of mercy as though it were cruel (Numbers Rabbah 17:3).

AND YE RETURNED AND WEPT BEFORE THE ETERNAL. There [in the Book of Numbers]¹²¹Ibid., 14:45. Scripture did not mention this weeping, for there was no need to mention it. But Moses mentioned it now as praise that they regretted their sin, and to tell them that this sin was too great to forgive¹²²See Genesis 4:13. because the great oath [of G-d] had already been pronounced, and a Heavenly decree accompanied by an oath cannot be rent.¹²³Rosh Hashanah 18a.

ולא שמע ה' בקולכם, on account of the desecration of His name that was part of their sin. Whenever a sin includes חילול השם, the desecration of G’d’s name, (seeing that is by definition something public) forgiveness without death of the penitent sinner is impossible. Not only that, but G’d’s decree had been formulated as an oath, something that made it irrevocable after both Joshua and Calev had made efforts to make the people reconsider their negative attitude by accusing G’d of hating them. As a matter of fact, even when they did repent afterwards, this was not genuine, but was based on their fear of punishment. As a result, such a repentance is not sufficient to cancel the punishment due in this life. Something similar had already occurred with Kayin, who also repented but only because he could not face the punishment in store for him. (Genesis 4,15) Both King Shaul, in respect of his failure to wipe out Amalek completely, (Samuel I 15,26) and the High Priest Eli (Samuel I 3,14) repented, but did so only out of their unwillingness to face their punishment.

ותשובו ותבכו לפני השם, "you returned and wept in the presence of the Lord." We need to analyze the meaning of this verse. If the meaning is that these people returned from their ill-fated attempt to conquer the mountain and that they wept over their failure and the casualties they had suffered at the hands of the Emorites, this is certainly not made plain by the wording of the verse. Besides, if so, what is the meaning of such expressions as: "G'd did not hearken, and G'd did not give ear?" If the weeping concerned an event which had already occurred, such expressions are pointless! We must assume therefore that what Moses is telling us is that only after the defeat by the Emorites did the Israelites finally decide to humble themselves before the Lord, becoming penitents. They wept in recognition of their great guilt. Nonetheless, and in spite of their profession of humility, G'd did not listen to their prayers, i.e. He did not reverse the evil decree He had issued.

You made His attribute of compassion, etc. For otherwise, the name Adonoy denotes compassion — so why then is it mentioned regarding punishment? (Devek Tov).

V. 45. ולא שמע ד׳ בקלכם: er gewährte euch euer Verlangen nicht, wie überall שמע בקול, und auch von Gott in Bezug auf Menschen, ein Erfüllen des Erbetenen oder Verlangten ist. So Bamidbar 21, 4; Josua 10, 14; Richter 13, 9 usw. — ולא האזין אליכם: hörte gar nicht auf euch hin, nahm gar keine Rücksicht auf euer Weinen, etwa um das über euch Verhängte zu mildern. — Wir haben zu Bamidbar 21. 1 — 3 mit רמב׳׳ן vermutet, dass das Gebiet des Königs Arad in Palästina und nicht im transjordanischen Lande lag. Sollte dies jedoch etwa nach der Ansicht, die Arad identisch mit Sichon auffaßt, nicht, und Arads Gebiet transjordanisch zu suchen sein, dann wäre es nicht unmöglich, dass das dort genannte Chorma identisch mit dem Chorma unseres Textes wäre. Sie hätten dann nach vierzig Jahren an derselben Stelle den ersten Sieg über eine kanaanitische Bevölkerung errungen, wo sie vor vierzig Jahren von Gott verlassen eine schmachvolle Niederlage erlitten hatten. Es wäre dann nicht unmöglich, dass das ולא שמע ד׳ בקלכם auf das spätere וישמע ד׳ בקול ישראל (daselbst 3) in dem Sinne hinblicke: damals erhörte Gott euch nicht, wie er euch später an derselben Stelle erhörte.

ותשובו ותבכו, “you returned (repented) and wept.” Moses here referred to Numbers 14,39: ויתאבלו, “they mourned;” as soon as they mourned for what they thought would be their fate in accordance with the majority report of the spies, G-d issued instructions concerning their immediate future. You commenced reversing your journeys in the direction of the sea of reeds.

ולא האזין אליכם. G’d did not even listen to your plea to delay the punishment, or to suspend the part of the punishment for their children after their parents had died. Moses used this fact as proof that the repentance of their parents at the time had not been complete, sincere. As a result, even their tears had been to no avail.

ותשבו בקדש ימים רבים SO YE ABODE IN KADESH MANY DAYS — viz., nineteen years, as it is said here כימים אשר ישבתם, ACCORDING TO THE DAYS THAT YE ABODE, i.e. abode at all the other stations. They (the total years) were thirtyeight years; nineteen of them they spent at Kadesh, and nineteen years they went moving about aimlessly, and then they returned to Kadesh, as it is said, (Numbers 32:13) “And he made them move about in the wilderness”. — Thus have I found in Seder Olam 8.

כימים אשר ישבתם, another way of saying: “as you are well aware.”

ותשבו בקדש ימים רבים, “you remained in Kadesh for many years.” A total of 19 years. The words כימים אשר ישבתם mean as the total number of years you stayed in all the other locations. The subject is repeated in chapter 2 verse 14, where the number of years it took to get from Kadesh Barnea to the river Zered is given as 38 years. This number is confirmed in the Book called Seder Olam — "Nineteen years they spent in Kadesh and nineteen years they wandered the desert."

Which totaled thirty-eight years, etc. The spies were sent during the second year after leaving Egypt; and in the beginning of the fortieth year they came to the Land, for a partial year is counted as an entire year. If so, they traveled for only thirty-eight years.

V. 46. בימים אשר ישבתם, lange Zeit, so viele Tage, als sie, ohne weiter zu ziehen, an einem Orte, und zwar in Kadesch, an dem Grenzorte der Wüste, von wo aus sie in kurzem Wege hätten ins Land ziehen können, an demselben Orte still zu verweilen hatten, an welchem sie sich jetzt nach vierzig, richtiger nach achtunddreißig Jahren, wieder befanden. Dieses "Stillsitzen" an dem Grenzorte war die herbste und eindringlichste Buße für die auf ihnen lastende Verschuldung. Nach סדר עולם (Kap. 8) hatten sie neunzehn Jahre dort zuzubringen. Und als sie nun, wie im folgenden Verse erwähnt wird, aufbrachen, da hatten sie nicht vorwärts dem Lande zu, sondern rückwärts in die Wüste hineinzuziehen, auf dem Wege, der wieder zurück zum Schilfmeer führt.

ותשבו בקדש ימים רבים, “you remained in Kadesh for many years.” Here we are told by Moses that they stayed at Kadesh Barnea for a long time, something that had not been spelled out in Numbers chapter 14.