Kommentar zu Dewarim 8:19

והיה אם שכוח תשכח, this will happen if you attribute your success to your own efforts instead of giving credit to G’d and thanking Him for it by blessing Him.

אבד תאבדון כגוים, "you will most certainly perish, just as the nations, etc." Why did Moses repeat the word אבד תאבדון? Besides, why did Moses have to illustrate this by a comparison to other nations? Moreover, why did he repeat himself another time at the end of verse 20 with the words כן תאבדון, "so you will perish?"

V. 19. והיה. Es bedarf, wie durch ברכת המזון und die anderen Institutionen des Gesetzes der steten Erinnerung an Gott. Man kehrt Gott nicht auf einmal den Rücken, man wird Ihm nach und nach entfremdet und in keinem Zustande mehr als im mangellosen Glückszustande. Darum nach der Bemerkung der Weisen: כל מקום שאתה מוצא אכילה ושביעה שם אתה מוצא אזהרה.

תאבדון, you will be lost both in the terrestrial world and will forfeit your claim to eternal life after you depart from this earth.

I believe the verse is best understood in light of the Jerusalem Talmud Chagigah 1,7 that the reason Jerusalem was destroyed was because they "cancelled" Le. deliberately failed to teach their children words of the Torah. The Talmud means that even though many people worshiped idols and committed other cardinal sins, this in itself would not have resulted in the destruction of the Temple and the city had they not openly shown their disdain for the Torah. Such a statement is apt to make some people feel that they could get away with idolatry as long as they deceive G'd and study His Torah at the same time, expecting their Torah study to serve as a protective shield for them. Moses therefore warns that idolatry will lead to destruction of the people and their expulsion from the land of Israel. He reinforces his warning with the words העידותי בכם "I forewarn you this day, etc." The repetition of the word תאבדון refers to two stages of this "perishing." Initially, you will become like Gentiles who have no Torah and who therefore forget that there is a G'd. Once you have become like the Gentiles whom G'd makes perish from time to time, you will be treated in the same maner, i.e. you will perish altogether instead of merely being reduced to the status of Gentiles. According to this interpretation the word כגוים at the beginning of verse 20 is part of verse 19. The word suggests that the first word תאבדון "you will perish" in verse 19 means that you will perish as Jews and be like Gentiles. The same word as part of verse 20 then does "double duty" and refers to the way G'd makes the Gentiles perish; Moses threatens that as stage two of this process the Jews, who have by then declined to be no better than the Gentiles, will also perish bodily, just as many of the Gentiles have done already. Moses continues saying עקב לא תשמעון to teach that where there is no Torah there is not a single element in their favour which could delay their destruction. This is why he added the words בקול ה׳ אלוקיכם, "to the voice of the Lord your G'd." I have already mentioned repeatedly that wherever we encounter the expression the "voice of G'd," this is a reference to the Torah.

The sequence of the words כגויס..כן תאבדון may also mean that in addition to the expression אבוד תאבדון in verse 19 they will face another disaster, i.e. that those Jews who have survived the disaster will end up as Gentiles. Moses means that these Jewish survivors will be deprived of prophecy and the Holy Spirit. This threat will make the people tremble as there is no greater curse in the world than this threat. Woe to the generations of Jews who have experienced this bitter existence, a fate worse than death. May the Lord have mercy upon us and restore the Holy Spirit to all deserving members of our people as in times of old.

We may also understand these two verses in the following manner. Moses alludes to three kinds of disasters. One example is what happened when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the first Temple when he killed many Jews and exiled the remainder. Moses referred to this when he said אבוד תאבדון. The second disaster alluded to is what happened during the days of Mordechai when Haman plotted to wipe out every single Jew. Moses referred to this when he said כגוים אשר ה׳ מאביד, "as the nations whom G'd wipes out." He meant that the Israelites might experience the kind of punishment which Haman had in mind for them, i.e. utter destruction such as in Deut. 20,17 where the Torah commands us not to let a single soul of the seven Canaanite nations survive. Had it not been for the merit of Mordechai and Esther who made strenuous efforts to cancel this anti Jewish decree who knows what would have happened. This is what Moses alluded to when he repeated כן תאבדון, "you would indeed perish," i.e. he referred to a separate possibility which fortunately did not materialise. The third disaster Moses alluded to in these two verses is the removal of the gift of prophecy from the people of Israel, and this is the deeper meaning of עקב לא תשמעון בקול ה׳ אלוקיכם. The word עקב again means: "at the end, etc." If after all the admonitions by the prophets you will persist in not hearkening, then the very instrument, i.e. the prophecy, which is meant to help you find your way back to G'd will be denied you. I have already emphasised that this is the worst of the three disasters Moses envisages.