Kommentar zu Dewarim 29:17

פן יש בכם means PERHAPS (שמא = פן) THERE IS AMONG YOU,

LEST THERE SHOULD BE AMONG YOU etc. Therefore, I must place you under an oath.” Thus far is Rashi’s language. He has commented well. And the purport thereof is to state, “I must bring you now into this covenant with an imprecation and an oath on account of my fear that perhaps the hearts of some of you have been beguiled into following the abominations of Egypt as you did at the [affair of the golden] calf, or the abominations of Ammon and Moab that you saw on the road when you had the affair with Baal-peor,” for at the first covenant at the time of the Giving of the Torah there were no imprecations and curses. He stated [lest there should be among you] man or woman because a woman is frivolous [and can easily be led into idol-worship]. He stated a similar expression in [the chapter dealing with an individual] worshipping the idols.¹⁹Above, 17:2: man or woman … He mentioned individuals, family, and tribe [lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe] meaning a multitude, but he did not say it [lest they should worship the idols] concerning all of them, out of respect [to them]. Or it may be that it was impossible for the hearts of all of them to turn to the idols on that day, because, if so, they would not have come into the covenant of G-d and His oath, for who could have compelled them. A family or tribe, however, might have come into the covenant for fear of the majority. He stated lest there should be among you [man, or woman etc.] whose heart turneth away this day referring to him who has already been beguiled to idol-worship and who secretly believes in them that day. Or lest there should be among you an evil root that will blossom and grow and in the coming days will bring forth poisonous buds and grow bitter herbs. This refers back to him that is not here with us this day,²⁰Verse 14. for the father is the root and the son is the twig that shall grow forth out of his roots.²¹Isaiah 11:1. He mentioned the root in order to state that he can bring the coming generations into this oath, for the root from which the coming generations will grow is before him this day, and it comes within this covenant and oath. He stated a root that beareth gall to suggest that from a sweet root no bitter plant will issue, and that all those whose hearts are perfect with the Glorious Name²²Above, 28:58. and gave no thought to the idols, will not give birth to a child, who will avow idolatry. Now, do not refute me in this matter on the basis of the verse If he [a man who is just, and does that which is lawful and right] beget a son that is a robber,²³Ezekiel 18:10. And, as the verses state on this subject, this son is a murderer and idolator, and yet his father was a perfectly righteous man! for the matter is true, there being a great secret therein which I cannot explain.²⁴In Abusaula’s mystic commentary on Ramban the subject is explained, based on the doctrine of the transmigration of souls.

איש או אשה, neither a man nor a woman who would seduce you to follow the vain pursuits of the nations with whom you will be living in close proximity, and who might be the cause that you would default on the undertakings in this covenant. This is the reason I have insisted that all of you be present at this ceremony, seeing that G’d examines hearts He will know who only pays lip service to this covenant and who is sincere about it. You will not be able to deceive Him.

פן יש בכם…ללכת לעבוד, "lest there be amongst you ….to go and serve the gods, etc." In this verse the Torah warns against the mere intention to practice idolatry, making the person doing this culpable. The operative word is לבבו פונה, "his heart turns, etc.

איש או אשה, “be it a man or a woman;” Moses does not wish to insult anyone; therefore he speaks of individuals possibly straying, something which might also result in peer-pressure by the other members of the family drawing in the ones who were not originally willing. He mentions the woman only after the man, precisely because women are more easily seduced by false philosophies. By suggesting that a man might be the first to fall into such a trap, Moses preserves the self-respect of the Jewish women.

פן יש בכם שרש פורה ראש ולענה, “lest there be among you a root flourishing with gall and wormwood.” Venom is considered the ראש, ‘principal’ of all bitter roots or leafs, being more bitter than any other variant. Some commentators explain the meaning of the word ראש here as a reference to the venom of the viper in whose head it is found, i.e. animal-based. The word לענה, by contrast, refers to some bitter vegetable matter. We find the expression in Numbers 30,14: לענות נפש, “to cause bitterness in a person.” It describes the person making such a vow as causing herself the utmost anguish.

In case there is among you. Some people ask: It is written above in parshas Va'eschanan (4:9), Lest you forget the words, and, Lest you raise your eyes heavenward (ibid. 19), and in parshas Eikev (above 11:16), Lest your heart be misled, yet over there, Rashi does not explain that it means perhaps. According to Re”m's explanation that this perhaps there is among you is part of Rashi's words and not that he is coming to explain it, but citing it [as part of his sentence] to explain the composition of the verse, there is no difficulty at all. Even without this, you can answer that Rashi explains the meaning of פן here and not above, is because above it connotes a negative commandment as they said (Zevachim 106a), Wherever it says השמר, פן, or אל, it connotes a negative commandment. But here one cannot explain that it is a negative commandment, i.e., that one should not do this, because it is written Perhaps there is among you, which is speaking of a case where such people are already present. Therefore Rashi explains that [here] it connotes “in case” [i.e. perhaps].

V. 17. פן יש בכם וגו׳, nun könnte schon heute unter euch ein einzelner, oder ein einzelner Familien- oder Stammeskreis sein, deren Sinn sich schon heute von Gott ab und dem Heidentum zuwendet, oder es könnte eine solche sich verirrende Gesinnung noch in der Gegenwart gar nicht zum entschiedenen Durchbruch gekommen sein, sie ist heute nur erst noch שרש, eine Wurzel, ein im Entstehen begriffener Anfang, der erst in Zukunft, vielleicht erst in der Nachkommenschaft als bittere Frucht aufgeht. Die Bedeutung von ראש ist zweifelhaft. Während hier und so auch ענבי רוש (Kap. 32, 32), ופרח כראש משפט (Hosea 10, 5) usw. es einen der Pflanzenwelt angehörigen Stoff zu bedeuten scheint, weist ראש פתנים אכזר (Kap. 32, 33) auf einen animalischen Stoff hin. Jedenfalls ist es ein Stoff von höchst schlechter Wirkung auf den Körper. Die Zusammenstellung mit לענה weist auf Geschmacksinn, während ראש פתנים אכזר einen tötenden Stoff vermuten lässt. Vielleicht bezeichnet es eine Art Gift, deren sowohl das Pflanzen-, als das Tierreich liefert.

פן יש בכם, “lest there be amongst you, etc.;” this is an additional reason for renewing the original covenants.

פן יש בכם שרש פורה ראש ולענה, “lest there be amongst you a root that bears gall and wormwood. “

אשר לבבו פנה היום [A MAN …] WHOSE HEART TURNETH AWAY THIS DAY from accepting the covenant upon himself,

פן יש בכם שורש פורה ראש ולענה, a simile for people planning to beguile the multitude to adopt their own idolatrous beliefs.

פן יש בכם...אשר לבבו פונה היום, “lest there be amongst you anyone whose heart will turn away this day, etc.;” this refers to someone whose faith and belief in Hashem has already been undermined, but who has not acted upon it; or,

Whose thoughts stray today. This is part of Rashi's text, not that Rashi is now explaining the [beginning of] the verse, Perhaps there is among you, etc., [someone] whose thoughts stray, etc. [Because Rashi is actually explaining the second part of the verse, Perhaps there is within you a root producing gall and bitter fruit.] Otherwise, [i.e., if you claim that Rashi is explaining the first part of the verse], the difficulty arises that Rashi already explained [the first part of the verse] above (v. 15) [when he explained, “Perhaps there is, among you, etc.” “Perhaps someone among you has been tempted to follow them.”] Also, our verse seems to be talking about idolatry so how can Rashi explain that it is talking about accepting the covenant”? Thus one must say that [whose thoughts stray today] is part of Rashi's text. Rashi is discussing the words, Perhaps there is within you a root producing gall, etc. and not the words, Perhaps there is among you a man or a woman, etc., because he wants to answer why the Torah writes, Perhaps there is within you, etc. twice. He explains that the reason it is written a second time is because the first instance is talking about idolatry and the second instance [is talking] about accepting the covenant. It is as if the verse says, Perhaps there is among you whose heart strays today from Hashem to go after idols, or perhaps there is among you whose heart strays today from accepting the yoke of the covenant, and thus the word today applies to both of them, because neither of them wants to accept the covenant. [Re”m]

פן יש בכם, what precisely is this "root flourishing with gall and wormwood?" If these words refer to the previous statement where the Torah describes when this person's "heart turns to go and serve idols," the words פן יש בכם should not have been repeated. The Torah should have written something of this order: פן יש בכם איש או אשה אשר לבבו פונה…שרש פרה ראש ולענה. Furthermore, what is the meaning of the words "a root of wormwood?" Apparently the Torah does not speak about wormwood and gall but about a root. How does the Israelite who plans to engage in idolatry "bless himself in his heart?" Besides what is the point of the word לאמור in this verse? What does the Torah mean with the words: "for I will walk in the path my heart sees fit," in verse 18?

‘Rosh v’la’anah’ (gall and wormwood) are bitter or poisonous herbs. These are their names in the Sacred Language. Or it may be that they are surnames, one called rosh (“the head”) because it is the head of the bitter herbs, the bitterest of all, and the second is called la’anah, from the expression ‘lei’anoth’ (to humble thyself) before Me,²⁵Exodus 10:3. for he who eats it becomes oppressed and is humbled, because he eats it only in order to afflict his soul.

אשר לבבו פונה היום, “whose heart is even now turning away, etc.;” he will entertain the thought of abandoning G–d and His Torah. Moses is frank, admitting that there is cause for worry. Furthermore,

שרש פרה ראש ולענה [PERHAPS THERE IS AMONG YOU] A ROOT THAT IS FRUITFUL IN POISONOUS HERB AND WORMWOOD — i.e. a root that brings forth herbs bitter as wormwood-plants, which are very bitter. The meaning is: Lest there be a man or woman or family or tribe that fruitfully produces and increases wickedness in your midst.

פן יש בכם שורש פורה ראש ולענה, “lest there be amongst you a root flourishing with gall and wormwood.” This refers to a development in the more distant future, the party concerned not being alive yet and not having been seduced mentally, but belonging to the ones whom Moses described as “not being with us here this day.” When, or if, this occurs, it reflects on the “root”, i.e. forefather of such a person having carried within his seed some of his own spiritual weakness that he involuntarily transmitted to his offspring. He will, however, be under the obligations of this covenant and this curse applicable to non-compliance. [It is important to understand that seeing that membership of the Jewish nation brings with it a multiplicity of advantages, the small price to pay for this, even though this unborn Jew had not given his consent to membership of the Jewish people, still renders being born a Jew a “good deal” on the whole.” Ed.]

A root nurturing bitter herbs, like the bitter gidin herb. [The latter is] a species of bitter herb. And similarly, the Targum Yonasan translates Bitter as la'anah in Mishlei (5:4), and la’anah and rosh in Eicha (3:19) as gidin.

The basic idea underlying this verse is to warn the Israelite that anyone who attempts to get away with none or only minor punishments by only thinking about sinning but not actually violating any of the Torah's commandments will be disappointed. The Torah tells such a person that at this particular stage of his thinking he is merely a root, Le. harmless in itself; however, the outgrowth of this root will be gall and wormwood. This is why, in the first instance, the Torah speaks of פן יש בכם שדש פורה ראש ולענה, "it is first and foremost a root from which unexpected plants will grow."

פן יש בכם שורש פורה ראש ולענה, “lest there is perchance amongst you a stock sprouting poison weed and wormwood.” In what follows, Moses goes into greater detail about what he is worried about.

The clever Israelite who looks for devious ways to escape the curses of which the Torah warns first blesses himself in "his heart." This means that he says to himself that merely contemplating sins is not so bad. This is why the Torah uses the words והיה בשמעו. We have explained repeatedly that the word והיה always has a joyful connotation. This Israelite says to himself that as long as he only contemplates sinning, he is not guilty of anything. This contributes to his joy. The Torah puts the record straight telling such an individual that if he thought he could cancel the oath Moses committed him to before accepting it even if he had answered "Amen", this would not help him. We have learned in Shavuot 26 that when it comes to oaths one's mouth and one's heart must act in unison, and that if someone makes up his mind to invalidate the words of an oath he will utter, only his intention commits him, not his words. When Moses speaks of שרירות לבו, he describes a person who uses the loophole we just quoted to escape culpability. Not only that, but למען ספות הרוה את הצמאה, "in order to add the watered to the thirsty," i.e. to benefit from the blessings G'd will shower upon the Torah-observant people. The word ספות is related to כריתה, an end. The word רוה is an alternative for רבה, "increase." The word צמאה describes something small, insignificant. The Israelite intends to limit or totally cut off any punishment by cancelling the oath Moses wants him to undertake.

This kind of conduct is what Moses calls שרש, from which eventually will sprout gall and wormwood. Normally, the justification of swearing an oath is to make it a bulwark against the temptations of the evil urge. David referred to such an oath in Psalms 119,106 when he said: "I have firmly sworn to keep Your just social laws." Our sages in Ruth Rabbah credit Boaz with having sworn such an oath to resist the temptation to sleep with Ruth before they were married. The person whom Moses refers to in our paragraph uses an oath to establish a circumvention of the law. This is much worse than merely not answering "Amen" when required to do so. Moses considers this the root of all the evil that will develop from such an attitude.

The Torah singles out such a person for worse punishment than that in store for people who accepted the covenant but who violate it from time to time.

לא יאבה ה׳ סלוח לו "G'd will not be willing to forgive him;" Although it is one of G'd's major attributes to pardon and forgive man's sins, the kind of devious scheming person described here does not qualify for G'd exercising this attribute. As a result of G'd's unwillingness to forgive such a person, He will punish him with all the severity at His command once such a person has translated sinful thoughts into sinful deeds. He will be subjected to all the curses written in the Torah.

Even though the Torah refers here to האיש ההוא, "that man," the same applies to a family or tribe which conduct themselves in the same manner.