Kommentar zu Dewarim 11:16

TAKE HEED [THAT YOUR HEART MISLEAD YOU NOT] — when you have eaten and are full, take heed to yourselves that you kick not against God; for usually no man rebels against the Holy One, blessed be He, except out of satiety, as it is said, (Deuteronomy 8:12—14) “Lest thou eat and art full … and thy herds and flocks increase”. What is stated after this? “And thy heart be lifted up and thou forget [the Lord thy God]” (Sifrei Devarim 43:7).

השמרו לכם פן יפתה לבבכם, “Be very much on guard that your hearts will not be seduced, etc.” The seduction might result from the very serenity and affluence of your existence in the land of Israel. You might, G’d forbid, become attracted to idolatry and depart from the path G’d has earmarked for you. If that were to happen, G’d will become very angry at you and lock the heavens so that there will not be any rain (next verse). The reason that Moses uses the example of absence of rain as indicating G’d’s anger is because the pagans attribute the very presence of rain to their worshipping their various deities faithfully. This is why it was important to point out to the Israelites that if they would depart from the path of the Torah the very opposite would occur; instead of their assuring themselves of their rain supply through idolatry they would lose that life-giving rain. Isaiah 30,22-23 is on record that when the Israelites who had been guilty of worshipping idols will throw out the silver overlays of these images they will be provided with rain as acknowledgment of their penitence. The prophet also picked rainfall as his example of G’d’s positive reaction to a penitent Israel to remind them that such basics as rainfall are provided only through the Lord our G’d. We have to pin our hopes on Him and not on anyone else.

By abandoning the Torah, etc. In Scripture, every instance of “turn away” means, “to turn away from what was commanded to be done,” referring to a positive commandment. It is written (below 11:28), “And you turn away from the course, etc.,” and not, from what you were commanded to refrain from doing. Therefore, perforce, “turn away,” [here] means, “To turn away from the Torah that you were commanded to toil in it,” and the result will be, “You serve other gods, etc.” From here our Sages say, “For once a man abandons the Torah, etc.” (Re”m).

V. 16. השמרו וגו׳, ist so das Gedeihen eures Landes lediglich von dem sittlichen Verhalten eurer Persönlichkeit bedingt, und zwar — wie der Numeruswechsel in vorangehenden Versen bedeutsam ausspricht: nicht nur von der gehorsamen Unterordnung der nationalen Gesamtheit als solcher, sondern der nationalen Vielheit in allen ihren Gliedern unter Gottes Gesetz, אם שמע תשמעו usw.; alle habt ihr jeder seines Teils und an seiner Stelle an der sittlichen Lösung der das Gedeihen bedingenden Gesamtaufgabe mitzuarbeiten; der Segen kommt als מטר ארצכם, und diese Lösung selbst bedingt es, dass ihr dabei nie die einheitliche Zusammenhörigkeit aller aus den Augen verlieret; als nationale Einheit und für die nationale Einheit heimst ein jeder seinen Anteil an dem nationalen Wohlstand ein, ואספת דגנך וגו׳ — ist so das Gedeihen eures Landes lediglich von dem sittlichen Verhalten eurer Persönlichkeit bedingt: so השמרו לכם, so "hütet euch aber euch", achtet darauf, dass ihr nur unter dem Einfluss eurer eigenen Erkenntnis und eurer eigenen Erfahrung bleibet (siehe zu Kap. 4, 9) wehret jeden Einfluss, der euch eurer Selbstbestimmung entfremdet, von euch ab, פן יפתה לבבכם, wörtlich, dass euer Herz nicht "offen stehe" (siehe Bereschit S. 156), nicht der inneren und äußeren Verführung Raum gebe.

פן יפתה לבבכם, “lest your heart be fooled;” the root פתה appears in this sense in Job 5,2: “passion slays the fool.” Moses warns the people not to be misled by the urges of their heart and commit foolishness. If the root of this word would be פתוי, “temptation,” Moses should have written: יפותה, as in Proverbs 25,15.

וסרתם AND YE TURN ASIDE, to depart from the Torah, and through this, ועבדתם אלהים אחרים YE WILL SERVE OTHER GODS, for so soon as a man departs from the Torah he goes and clings to idol-worship. Similarly did David say, (I Samuel 26:19) “For they have driven me out this day, that I should not cleave to the inheritance of the Lord (the Torah) saying, Go, serve other gods”. But who had really said thus to him?! But he meant: Since I am driven out so that I can no longer occupy myself with the Torah, I am nearly exposed to the danger of serving other gods (Sifrei Devarim 43:14).

They are alien to those who worship them, etc. See Rashi’s commentary in Parshas Yisro (Shmos 20:3).

וסרתם ועבדתם Die geringste Abweichung führt zur עבודה זרה und ist im Prinzip bereits עבודה זרה. So אמר להם הזהרו שלא יטעה אתכם יצר הרע ותפרשו מן התורה שכיון שאדם פורש מן התורה הולך ומדבק לעבודה זרה :ספרי (siehe daselbst).

ועבדתם אלהים אחרים, “you will worship other deities.” Rabbi Yossi queries why these deities are called elohim in the Torah seeing that they are idols. Our author dealt with this problem already in his commentary on Exodus 20,3, the main point of which was that the translation “other gods,” is incorrect, and it should be translated as: “deities” worshipped by others.”

אלהים אחרים OTHER GODS — i.e. gods that are other (alien) to those who worship them: one calls to it, and it does not answer him; consequently it becomes to him like a stranger (Sifrei Devarim 43:17).

ועברתם אלהים אחרים durch Unterordnung unseres Taten-Lebens unter den Einfluss heidnischer Wahnvorstellung, והשתחויתם להם durch Unterstellung unserer Geschicke unter deren vermeintliche Machtherrschaft.

According to the Sifri on the word אחרים, that word could be translated as “exchangeable,” if the owner of a golden idol finds himself hard up, he will sell the golden one and exchange it for something similar made of silver, etc.