Hebrew Bible Study
Hebrew Bible Study

Chasidut for Deuteronomy 26:7

וַנִּצְעַ֕ק אֶל־יְהוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵ֣י אֲבֹתֵ֑ינוּ וַיִּשְׁמַ֤ע יְהוָה֙ אֶת־קֹלֵ֔נוּ וַיַּ֧רְא אֶת־עָנְיֵ֛נוּ וְאֶת־עֲמָלֵ֖נוּ וְאֶת־לַחֲצֵֽנוּ׃

And we cried unto the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression.

Kedushat Levi

Deuteronomy 26,17. “this day you have guaranteed that ‎the Lord will forever be your G’d;” as a general rule the ‎largesse dispensed by G’d for mankind is known as ‎דבור‎, as we ‎know from psalms 33,6: ‎בדבר ה' שמים נעשו וברוח פיו כל צבאם‎, “by ‎the word of G’d the heavens were made and by the breath of His ‎mouth all their host.” Whenever the Jewish people are on a ‎spiritually lofty plateau, it is as if they cause G’d to dispense His ‎largesse for them, whereas if, G’d forbid, they have fallen from ‎that level the Talmud (Gittin 56) likens them to Exodus ‎‎15,11 ‎מי כמך באלם ה'‏‎, which according to the Talmud should be ‎read as ‎מי כמך באלמים‎, “who is like You amongst the “dumb, i.e. ‎silent ones, O Lord?”
[The Talmud arrives at this interpretation because the ‎word ‎אלים‎ is written defectively, without the letter ‎י‎ which would ‎indicate the plural mode, Ed.]
This is the allusion in ‎our verse where the Torah speaks –in a complimentary fashion- ‎of Israel as causing G’d to “speak,” i.e. dispense His largesse. ‎Moses adds the word ‎היום‎, “this day,” to indicate that as far as ‎Israel’s status is concerned, each day is viewed as a separate unit, ‎so that they can be credited with their spiritual accomplishments ‎anew each day.‎
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