Kommentar zu Dewarim 30:11

לא נפלאת הוא ממך [FOR THIS COMMANDMENT …] IS NOT נפלאת FROM YOU i.e. is not concealed from you, just as it is said, (Deuteronomy 17:8): כי יפלא which is rendered in the Targum by “If there be concealed [from thee]”; and (Lamentations 1:9): ותרד פלאים which means, she went down into concealment, i.e. being covered and bound in the place of concealment.

FOR THIS COMMANDMENT. The meaning thereof is that it refers to the entire Torah. But the correct interpretation is that when he refers to the entire Torah, he says [as above] Every commandment which I command thee this day.⁶⁷Above 8:1. Rather [the expression used here] this commandment refers to [the commandment of] repentance aforementioned, for the verses, and thou shalt bethink thyself;⁶⁸Above, Verse 1. and thou shalt return unto the Eternal thy G-d⁶⁹Ibid., Verse 2. constitute a commandment, wherein he commands us to do so. It is stated in a future tense [rather than in the imperative] to suggest, in the form of a pledge, that it is destined [that Israel will repent]. And the sense thereof is to state that if thy outcasts be in the uttermost parts of heaven⁷⁰Above, Verse 4. and you are under the power of the nations, you can yet return to G-d and do according to all that I command thee this day,⁶⁹Ibid., Verse 2. for the thing is not hard, nor far off from you, but rather very nigh unto thee⁷¹Further, Verse 14. to do it at all times and in all places. This is the sense of the expression, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it⁷¹Further, Verse 14. meaning that they confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers⁷²Leviticus 26:40. by word of their mouth, and return in their heart to G-d and accept the Torah upon themselves this day to perform it throughout the generations, as he mentioned, thou and thy children with all thy heart,⁷³Above, Verse 2. as I have explained.⁷⁴Ibid., and in Verse 6.

כי המצוה הזאת, and the reason that I said in verse 1 that the repentance must be wholehearted and among the nations, i.e. while you are still in exile, is so that it can trigger your salvation. For, indeed this commandment, i.e. the one to return to G’d in sincere penitence אשר אנכי מצוך היום, Moses reminds the people that in the list of sacrifices in Leviticus 5,5 et al, where various kinds of sin and guilt offerings are listed as means to expiate for the error committed, the essential refrain is always “והתוודה אשר חטא,” that the guilty person first confesses his mistake, his sin, even the one committed inadvertently. Compare also Numbers 5,6-7)

כי המצוה הזאת אשר אנכי מצוך היום, "For this commandment which I command to you today, etc." Why did the Torah have to write the word "today?" Besides once the Torah had told us that the Torah is not hidden from you, is it not clear that it is not very distant? Why did the Torah bother to write לא רחוקה היא? Why did the Torah have to remind us that Torah is not beyond the ocean? Even if it were, it is an accessible location and we could have secured it by means of ships!

כי המצוה הזאת אשר אנכי מצוך היום, “for this commandment that I command you on this day, etc.” Nachmanides writes that the proper interpretation of our verse is that Moses here does not refer to the entire Torah, as if he did he should have spoken about כל המצות or a similar expression. Moses refers to the commandment to repent of one’s sins that was the last commandment discussed. The reason why this commandment had not been couched as such, i.e. Moses using the imperative mode שוב instead of ושבת, for instance, is that he wants to assure the people by means of this allusion that repentance in the near or even distant future, will be a natural when it does finally occur, and it cannot be hastened by being draconically commanded. If it were, it would not be the real thing, would only be lip service. The reason that Moses uses exaggerations such asאם יהיה נדחך בקצה השמים, “if you were to find yourselves cast out at the edge of heaven, etc.,” seeing that actually you will find yourselves among other nations that are your unwilling hosts, is that he makes the point that however physically distant you may be from your homeland, and however mentally absurd you would consider the chances of regaining your former stature, repentance is welcome, and will be able to overcome otherwise insurmountable obstacles. This is also why Moses adds the words בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו, If you commence your repentance with your lips, and proceed to internalize it in your heart, you will be able to carry it out absolutely.

כי המצוה הזאת, “for this commandment, etc.” In this instance the word המצוה refers to the entire Torah, just as it did in Deut. 8,1 where the Torah spoke of כל המצוה.
לא נפלאת היא, “it is not hidden.” The Torah is not so mysterious and mystical that you cannot fulfill its commandments. This is why Moses added immediately: “it is not in heaven.” Neither is it beyond the ocean. All these comparisons are only variations of the words לא נפלאת. The ocean that Moses speaks about here is the great ocean, which is dark and beyond man’s ability to navigate (Ibn Ezra). Moses does not refer to seas which man is able to navigate [with the existing means of navigation, Ed.] The words compare such an ocean to “heaven,” neither of which is accessible to man.

It is not concealed, etc. You might ask that in parshas Va’eira (Shmos 8:18), Rashi comments on the verse והפלתי (I will set apart) that it is an expression that connotes separation [and he then adds, support from our verse], “It is not נפלאת (separate) from You, etc.” But here Rashi explains that it is an expression of concealment. Re”m already answered this question in parshas Shoftim (above 17:8) on the verse If a matter of law is too abstruse (יפלא), [where] Rashi explains that הפלאה always denotes separation, or setting apart, etc. See there.

V. 11. כי המצוה וגו׳. Im Vorhergehenden ist die Erfüllung des durch Mosche uns übermittelten göttlichen Gesetzes als die bleibende einzige Basis unserer Bestimmung zu allen Zeiten und unserer Hoffnung für alle Zukunft, und zugleich die Zuversicht ausgesprochen, dass inmitten aller Geschickeswandlungen es uns nicht und wir ihm nicht verloren gehen, sondern wir endlich mit vollem Herzen und voller Seele zu ihm zurückkehren werden. Als Motiv für diese Zuversicht wird auf den menschlich nahen und verständnisvoll überlieferten Inhalt dieses Gesetzes hingewiesen. לא נפלאת היא ממך: Es hat keine über die menschliche Fassung hinausliegende übersinnliche Geheimnisse zum Gegenstand, ולא רחוקה היא: und sein Verständnis und seine Vollbringung auf Erden setzt nicht ferne, dem Verpflichteten nicht überall naheliegend gegebene Verhältnisse voraus.

לא נפלאת היא ממך, so that you would need to ask the prophets in order to understand it correctly.

Perhaps the Torah refers to two factors which contribute to failure of Torah observance by the people. 1) Ignorance of what is written in the Torah. 2) The difficulty in keeping the commandments. Moses told the people that although prior to his going up on Mount Sinai the Torah had indeed been in the heavens it was no longer in heaven but accessible to all.

ולא רחוקה היא, so that you have to ask the leading Torah scholars of your generation who live a long way from you to explain how to observe this commandment. You can easily observe this commandment even in the Diaspora where you may not have any Torah scholars nearby.

He told the people that it was not in a distant land or across the sea, i.e. that although he personally had not been favoured by G'd to keep these commandments on holy soil, they would be more fortunate. When Moses asked the rhetorical question: "it is not across the ocean so that you would have to ask who would cross the ocean to get the Torah for you," he lamented his own inability to even cross the Jordan to be able to keep the Torah commandments applicable on the other bank. He portrayed the Jordan as an insurmountable obstacle for him, much like crossing an ocean.

Nonetheless, the principal meaning of this line is that there are no valid excuses for not observing Torah. It is easily accessible.

The reason the Torah added the word "today" is the imminence of the Israelites crossing the Jordan.