Midrash for Deuteronomy 4:45

[(Exod. 35:30:) SEE, THE LORD HAS CALLED BEZALEL <…> BY NAME.] This text is related (to Is. 40:25–26): THEN UNTO WHOM WILL YOU LIKEN ME THAT I SHOULD BE EQUAL? SAYS THE HOLY ONE. LIFT UP YOUR EYES ON HIGH <AND SEE: WHO CREATED THESE? >…. The Holy One said: THEN UNTO WHOM WILL YOU LIKEN ME? If <a person of> flesh and blood is walking in the darkness, when someone comes and gives him light, should he not be grateful to him?⁸Tanh., Exod. 10:4; Exod. R. 48:2. Now you are asleep at night when I cause the light to rise for you. Should you not be grateful to me? (Is. 40:26:) LIFT UP YOUR EYES ON HIGH <AND SEE; WHO CREATED THESE?>…. By virtue of what do they stand? THESE (in Gen. 2:4:): THE GENERATIONS OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH?⁹These words would be more commonly rendered: THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. By virtue of THESE (in Exod. 1:1): THE NAMES OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.¹⁰These words would be more commonly rendered: NOW THESE ARE THE NAMES OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. And these are by virtue of whom? By virtue of THESE (in Deut. 4:45): THE TESTIMONIES, THE STATUTES, AND THE JUDGMENTS.¹¹The words would be more commonly rendered: THESE ARE THE TESTIMONIES, THE STATUTES, AND THE JUDGMENTS.

A new vessel filled with old wine. Another explanation of The Tabernacle of the testimony (Exod. 38:21). R. Simeon the son of Yohai said: There is no testimony other than the Torah, as it is said: These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances (Deut. 4:45). This may be compared to a king who has a daughter for whom he builds a palace. He sets it in the midst of seven other palaces and then decrees: “Anyone who approaches my daughter will be considered as though he were approaching me.” The Tabernacle was called by two names: The Tabernacle of the testimony, which is the Torah, and elsewhere: A Tabernacle of the Lord (Lev. 17:4). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Anyone who despises My daughter is considered as though he were despising Me. That is, if a man enters the synagogue and disparages My Torah, it is as though he arose and were disparaging My honor. You know this to be so from the fact that R. Simeon the son of Yohai said: When Hadrian entered the Temple he reviled and blasphemed against God. David said: Master of the world, it should be counted against them as though they had hewn cedars and built ladders in order to ascend into the firmament to wage war against You, as it is said: It seemed as when men wield upwards axes in a thicket of trees (Ps. 74:5). Since they are unable to accomplish this, they turned on You and attacked us, as it said: O God, the heathen are come into Thine inheritance; they have defiled Thy holy temple (Ps. 79:1). All of this transpired because the Temple was seized on account of our sins.

The Holy One, blessed be He, asked: To whom will you liken Me? If a man walking in darkness encounters another who lights the way for him, should he not be grateful for his kindness? Even so, should not you, for whom I cause the light to shine as you sleep at night, be grateful to me for My kindness? Hence, to whom will ye liken Me, that I shall be equal? (ibid.). Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who hath created these? (ibid.). By whose merit did these generations of the heavens (Gen. 2:4) exist? Because of the merit of These are the names (Exod. 1:1)?⁷I. e., because of the merit of the children of Israel. For whose sake do they all exist? Because of the merit of These are the testimonies, and the statues and the ordinances (Deut. 4:45)? Who created these? He who bringeth out their hosts by number (Isa. 40:26).

(Fol. 87) We are taught in a Baraitha: R. Juda says: "A blind person has no sense of shame." And so also did R. Juda relieve him from the performance of all the positive commandments contained in the Scripture. Said R. Shesheth b. R. Juda: "What is the meaning of the passage (Deut. 6, 1) And this is the commandment, with the statutes and the ordinances? Whoever is eligible to be ordained as judge, has the obligation of observing the commandments, but whoever is not eligible to be ordained as judge, is exempt." R. Joseph said: "First I used to say: If there should come one and tell me that the Halacha prevails according to R. Juda, who says that a blind person is exempt from the performance of the positive commandments, I shall make a feast for the Rabbis, because I, who am under no obligation to do so, still do perform them; but since I heard of what R. Chanina said, that there is more reward for him who performs a commandment to which he has an obligation than for him who performs it without such obligation, I changed my mind, and I say that I shall make a feast if one should come and tell me that the Halacha does not prevail in accordance with R. Juda, for if I am required to perform the commandments, the reward will be greater."