Comentario citado sobre Deuteronómio 4:36

Now that G-d had told Israel face to face¹Deuteronomy 5:4. the Ten Commandments, and had further commanded them through Moses some of the precepts which are like general principles to the [individual] commandments of the Torah — in the same way that our Rabbis were accustomed to deal with strangers who come to be converted to the Jewish faith²Yebamoth 47 a: “We inform him of some of the light commandments and of some of the weightiest …” The convert to Judaism is thus not taught the whole Torah prior to his conversion but only some of the essentials thereof, which is followed by his total commitment to observe whatever the Torah will command. Ramban’s language clearly indicates that the procedure of the Rabbis with converts followed the pattern of events at Sinai. — and now that the Israelites accepted upon themselves to do all that He would command them through Moses and He made a covenant with them concerning all this, from now on they are His people and He is their G-d³See Leviticus 26:12. This is in accordance with the condition He made with them at the beginning: Now, therefore, if ye will indeed hearken unto My voice, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure,⁴Above, 19:5. and He said further: and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.⁵Ibid., Verse 6. They are now holy, in that they are worthy that there be amongst them a Sanctuary through which He makes His Divine Glory dwell among them. Therefore He first commanded concerning the Tabernacle, so that He have amongst them a house dedicated to His name, from where He would speak with Moses and command the children of Israel. Thus the main purpose of the Tabernacle was to contain a place in which the Divine Glory rests, this being the ark, just as He said, And there will I meet with thee, and I will speak with thee from above the ark-cover.⁶Further, Verse 22. Therefore He first gave the commandment about the ark and the ark-cover, for they are first in importance. Next to the ark He gave the commandment about the table and the candelabrum, which are vessels just like the ark, and because they indicate the purpose for which the Tabernacle was made. Moses, however, preceded to mention in the section of Vayakheil: the Tabernacle, its Tent, and its covering,⁷Ibid., 35:11. And then in the following verse mentioned: the ark… and in that order Bezalel made them [first the Tabernacle and then the ark],⁸Ibid., 36:8-38. 37:1-9. because from the practical end it is proper to build the house first [and then make its vessels].
The secret of the Tabernacle is that the Glory which abode upon Mount Sinai [openly] should abide upon it in a concealed manner. For just as it is said there, And the glory of the Eternal abode upon Mount Sinai,⁹Above, 24:16. and it is further written, Behold, the Eternal our G-d hath shown us His glory and His greatness,¹⁰Deuteronomy 5:21. so it is written of the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Eternal filled the Tabernacle.¹¹Further, 40:34. Twice is this verse, and the glory of the Eternal filled the Tabernacle¹¹Further, 40:34. mentioned in connection with the Tabernacle,¹²Ibid., and in Verse 35. to correspond with His glory and His greatness.¹⁰Deuteronomy 5:21. Thus Israel always had with them in the Tabernacle the Glory which appeared to them on Mount Sinai. And when Moses went into the Tabernacle, he would hear the Divine utterance being spoken to him in the same way as on Mount Sinai. Thus just as it is said at the Giving of the Torah: Out of heaven He made thee to hear His voice, that He might instruct thee; and upon earth He made thee to see His great fire,¹³Deuteronomy 4:36. so it is written of the Tabernacle, and he heard the voice speaking unto him from above the ark-cover…from between the two cherubim; and He spoke unto him.¹⁴Numbers 7:89. The expression “speaking unto him” is mentioned here twice in order to indicate that which the Rabbis have said in the Tradition¹⁵Bamidmar Rabbah 14:22. that the Voice would come from heaven to Moses from upon the ark-cover, and from there He spoke with him; for every Divine utterance with Moses came from heaven during daytime,¹⁶Vayikra Rabbah 1:3: “But to the prophets of Israel the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself at daytime.” and was heard from between the two cherubim,¹⁴Numbers 7:89. similar to what is said, and thou didst hear His words out of the midst of the fire.¹³Deuteronomy 4:36. It is for this reason that the two cherubim were made of gold.¹⁷Further, Verse 18. — In order to resemble “the fire” that was on Mount Sinai. (Tziyoni). And Scripture so states: where I will meet with you, to speak there unto thee;¹⁸Further, 29:42. and it shall be sanctified by My glory,¹⁹Ibid., Verse 43. for there [in the Tabernacle] will be the appointed place for the Divine utterance, and it will be sanctified by My glory.¹⁹Ibid., Verse 43.
Now he who looks carefully at the verses mentioned at the Giving of the Torah, and understands what we have written about them,²⁰See above, 20:16, 24:10, and further here, Verse 21. will perceive the secret of the Tabernacle and the Sanctuary [built later by King Solomon]. He will also be able to understand it from what Solomon in his wisdom said in his prayer in the Sanctuary: O Eternal, the G-d of Israel,²¹I Kings 8:23. just as is said at Mount Sinai: And they saw the G-d of Israel.²²Above, 24:10. Solomon however added the Name the Eternal because of a matter which we have alluded to above;²²Above, 24:10. for the G-d of Israel sitteth upon the cherubim,²³II Kings 19:15. just as is said: And the glory of the G-d of Israel was over them above. This is the living creature that I saw, under the G-d of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim,²⁴Ezekiel 10:19-20. and David said, and gold for the pattern of the chariot, even the cherubim, that spread out their wings, and covered the ark of the covenant of the Eternal.²⁵I Chronicles 28:18. Solomon also always mentions that the Sanctuary is to be for the name of the Eternal,²⁶I Kings 5:19. or for Thy name,²⁷Ibid., 8:44. and at each and every section of the prayer he says, then hear Thou in heaven²⁸Ibid., Verse 32 etc. — with the attribute of mercy. And it is further written: If Thy people go out to battle against their enemy… and they pray unto the Eternal toward the city which Thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Thy name, then hear Thou in heaven,²⁹Ibid., Verses 44-45. and in explanation Solomon said: But will G-d in very truth dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee.³⁰II Chronicles 6:18. And it is written concerning the ark, And David arose… to bring up from thence the ark of G-d, whereupon is called the Name, even the Name of the Eternal of hosts that sitteth upon the cherubim,³¹II Samuel 6:2. and in the Book of Chronicles it is written: to bring up from thence the ark of G-d, the Eternal, Who sitteth upon the cherubim, whereon is called the Name³²I Chronicles 13:6. — for it is G-d Who sitteth upon the cherubim.

Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi, may His memory be an honor, asked me why it mentioned, "I am the Lord, your God, that took you out of the land of Egypt," and it did not state, "that made the heavens and the earth and I made you." And this was my answer to him: Know that the levels of people’s faith, in which they believe in the glorious God in their hearts, is not equal. As the masses believe that which was heard by their ears, that their Master told them this. And above them are those that saw it written in the words of the Torah that God gave to Moshe. And if a heretic comes to challenge that there is no God, they will place their hands on their mouths, as they will not know [what] to answer. And the one whose heart has elevated him to learn the sciences – which are like stairs to rise up upon to the place of his desire – will recognize the work of God in the patterns and the plants and the animals, and in his own human body - that he will know the function of each limb, according to its development, and why it is [made] in such a pattern. And his heart will elevate him afterwards to know the matters of the planets, that they are the works of God in the intermediate world – that he should stand and know the time of when the sun should appear or the moon and how much [of that time] the sun will appear. And he will also know why the moon appears and Who caused it [to do so]. And all of this, he will know with clear proofs that have no doubt. And from [these] ways of God, the enlightened one will know God. And so did Moshe say (Exodus 33:13), “show me Your ways and I will know You.” And behold the glorious God mentioned in the first of the statements (of the Ten Commandments), “I am the Lord, your God” – and this can only be understood by someone who is an outstanding sage. As I have already explained in Parshat Veeleh HaShemot (Ibn Ezra on Exodus 3:15) that this God is alone and He exists without change and there is none besides Him who is eternal and there is none like Him that 'dwells from the beginning always.' And He supports the higher world with His power and the intermediary world with the power of God, and His holy angels that are in the higher world. And this lowly world that we are in, He supports with the power of God and with the power of the two higher worlds. And behold, the statement, “I am the Lord, your God,” suffices for the enlightened one in every nation. As [while] only Israel concedes to the making of the heavens and the earth which today is close to five thousand years ago, the sages of the nations of the world do not deny that God alone made the heavens and the earth; just that they say that God always makes [them] – without a beginning and an end. And behold, God made signs and wonders for Israel in Egypt until He brought them out of there, ‘to be for them a God.’ And so did Moshe say (Deuteronomy 4:34), “Or did God venture to come and take for Himself a nation.” And the explanation is that God did to Israel that which He did not do to all nations, since God created the intermediate world that it govern the lowly world according to the [astrological] system [over] everything – whether it is from the good or the bad, so will it happen, since so did God apportion it to the [constellations]. And behold it was in the system for Israel – according to the stars of their constellation – to still be slaves. And God with His power – because of His love for the forefathers – introduced signs in the lowly world that were not in the power of the intermediate world, and He took Israel out from the control of the constellations, so that they be a people that is an inheritance for Him. And because of this, our ancestors said (Shabbat 156a), “There is no constellation (mazal) for Israel.” And I will also elucidate this in a metaphoric fashion in Parsht Ki Tissa (Ibn Ezra on Exodus 33:21). And behold, because of the signs that God did in Egypt, Moshe said (Deuteronomy 4:35), “You have been shown, to know” – that all saw this: the sages and those that are not sages, the adults and the children. And he also added about the matter of the stand at Mount Sinai, that they heard the voice of God. Hence afterwards, he said (Deuteronomy 4:36), “From the Heavens, He made you hear His voice to instruct you.” And he said at the end [of this], that there is complete knowledge that a person can place into his heart until it is clarified in his heart that God is alone. Therefore, he said (Deuteronomy 4:39), “And you will know today and place it upon your heart.” And David said (II Chronicles 28:9), "And you Shlomo, my son, know the God of your father and serve him [with a complete heart]" - and knowledge is in the heart and not with the admission of the mouth. And behold it mentioned for the enlightened one, "I am the Lord"; and it added, "that took you out," so that the enlightened and the unenlightened one would [both] understand. And it said, "your God," since you are obligated because He took you out of a house of bondage 'to be a servant to Me, that you should serve Me and that you should be a people for Me, and I will be for you a God.' And Moshe explained this in the section, "And when your son will ask you" (Deuteronomy 6:20), since the explanation of the question is, "Why are we obligated to do the commandments of God more than every man? And is there not one Creator to all of us?" And behold, he mentioned three answers.The first is that ‘we were slaves to Pharaoh’ and He did us this great good; therefore we are obligated to keep all of what He commanded us, even if we don’t know the explanation of His commandments. And the second is because these commandments are not for His need, but rather ‘to benefit us all of the days and to keep us alive.’ And the third is that we should be righteous [so as] to inherit the world to come. And the men of research have found that all physical things are ten, and these are the main categories and there is none above them. The first one is the essence of everything and it is permanent, and the [other] nine things are all contingent, and they all rely upon the first and accompany it and come from it. For it is like measurement of one in the calculation of ten, since all of the calculation comes from it and every calculation is found in it, as it is the foundation. And behold, this first statement (of the ‘Ten Commandments’) that the glorious God said includes all of the commandments of the heart and the tongue and the deed, as one who does not believe in God in his heart has no commandment upon him. And a person is obligated to remember Him at every moment to honor Him; since all that he does, he should only do for the sake of His honor. And he [likewise] should only prevent himself from [transgressing] negative commandments for the sake of the honor of God alone. As a man who gives charity to a poor person should not give it for the honor of the sexton and not in order that people will praise him – as then, the level of man will be higher in his eyes than the level of the honor of God, who gave him assets – and he should prefer to [use] his money to give what he can to receive reward from God. And so [too], one who does a sin in secret so that it will not be made known to the king or that people [not] see him and he become light in their eyes. And someone who thinks this is crazy, since so is it written (Psalms 94:9), “if he creates the eye, does he not observe.” And behold, God sees in secret places that which people are not able to see in the open, since God knows his thoughts and his secret. And behold, he was afraid of the king that will die tomorrow, that he should not punish him, and was not afraid of the true King, in whose hand is his soul - in this world and in the world to come. And Rav Saadia Gaon authored “The Commandments (Azharot)” and categorized all of the commandments in these ten statements (‘Ten Commandments’) and found the glorious Name of God in the first five statements. And I have already explained that the first statement is the foundation, and all of the structures of the commandments [lay] upon it. And after it is written, “There shall not be.” And the sin of one who does not believe in the great God is greater than the sin of one who worships idolatry. As there are many that believe in God and they [nonetheless] sacrifice and burn incense to idolatry, like the ones that burn incense to the ‘queen of the Heavens’; as they think that it will cause good to be done to them, like they said (Jeremiah 44:18), “And since we have stopped burning incense to the queen of the Heavens, we have been lacking everything”; and it is written (II Kings 17:33), “The Lord they feared, but their gods they would worship; and so [too] Na’aman (II Kings 5:18), “in my bowing down in Beit Rimon.”And behold, these admitted [the existence of] God, however they combined another with Him. Therefore the Name of the glorious God is written in this statement. And in the third statement, It is also written, as the sin of swearing falsely is less than idolatry. He just disgraces the Name of God openly – perhaps he did this because of anger or a need, as in his heart, he believed in God and he does not combine another with Him. And in the fourth statement, the Name of God is written, as He rested on the seventh day. And behold, one who does work on Shabbat is denying the story of Creation. And this sin is less than the one who takes up His name in vain. And in the fifth statement, the Name of God is written, since parents partner with Him in [a person’s] creation. And if he does not honor them, it is as if he does not honor God. And the remaining five statements correspond to man – the first is the most difficult, as it is to separate the soul from on top of the body. And that which is after it is not in the body, and that which is after that – not to steal – is with money; and afterwards, it is with the tongue; and afterwards coveting is in the heart.

באלוני ממרא, “at the terebinths of Mamre.” The Torah informs us of the site where the circumcision took place. This was also the place where he received an immediate sign that G’d appreciated Avraham’s deed.
We find that manifestations of G’d’s presence to the prophets occur by means of 1) fire; 2) wind; 3) water, and 4) earth [either of the four basic raw material the terrestrial earth is made of. Ed.] G’d appeared to Moses in a burning bush (Exodus 3,2). He also appeared to the entire Jewish nation in an environment of fire (Deuteronomy 4,36: “He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire”). In Exodus 24,17 G’d’s manifestation is described as “a consuming fire on top of the mountain.”
In connection with the ascent to heaven by the prophet Elijah we read in Kings II 2,1 “when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, etc.” In Kings I 19,11 והנה ה' עובר ורוח גדולה וחזק מפרק הרים, ”there was a great and mighty wind; splitting mountains and shattering rocks by the power of the Lord.” We also encounter a manifestation of G’d through a mighty wind in Job 38,1 “Then the Lord replied to Job out of the tempest and said, etc.”
An instance of G’d manifesting Himself by means of water is found in Ezekiel 1,1 “It was in the thirtieth year... when I was in the community of exiles by the river Kevar, etc.” We encounter another example of G’d manifesting Himself by means of water in Ezekiel 1,24 ”I could hear the sound of their wings like the sound of mighty waters, like the sound of Shaddai."
We find G’d manifesting Himself in connection with earth in Ezekiel 43,2 “the whole earth is filled with His glory.” We also find a revelation described as “and the earth was lit up by His Presence.” In this instance, G’d manifested Himself to Avraham by means of a tree. The Midrash uses the word אלוני ממרא to emphasise the fact that these were trees, אילנות. Actually, Mamre was the name of one of Avraham’s close associates as we know from 14,13 “Mamre the Emorite, the brother of Aner and Eshkol who were allies of Avram.” Had the Torah only wanted to tell us that Avraham circumcised himself near the place where Mamre lived, it would have been appropriate to describe the area as ערבות ממרא, “the fields of Mamre.” The emphasis on the word אלוני shows that the Torah wanted to draw our attention to the fact that we are talking about a tree or trees. When Avraham told the men who came to visit to rest “under one of the trees,” this shows that there was more than one tree.
Why did G’d choose a tree to be the site at which He manifested Himself to Avraham on this occasion? It was because the angel was going to tell him that within a year he and Sarah would have a son. He would experience something similar to that which was experienced by an aged tree which still produced fruit. It is written in Job 14,7-9: “There is hope for a tree; if it is cut down it will renew itself; its shoots will not cease. If its shoots are old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground, at the scent of water it will bud and produce branches like a sapling.” We also have a verse comparing the righteous to trees in Psalms 1,3 “He (the righteous) is like a tree planted beside streams of water which yields its fruit in season.” This is also how Rabbeinu Chananel explains our verse.