Commentaire sur Le Lévitique 26:14

ואם לא תשמעו לי BUT IF YE WILL NOT HEARKEN UNTO ME to study the Torah laboriously in order to fathom the textual interpretation of the Sages…, I also will do this unto you, etc. One might think that this refers to the fulfillment of the commandments! When, however, Scripture states immediately afterwards: “and ye will not do [all my commandments]”, it is evident that the fulfilment of the commandments is mentioned there! How, then, must I explain לא תשמעו לי? Obviously as meaning: “But if you will not hearken unto Me to study the Torah industriously” as I bid you do when I said אם בחקתי תלכו (cf. Rashi on v. 3). And what is the force of the word לי? (To express this idea would it not have sufficed to state: ואם לא תשמעו?) It implies that your disobedience is directed לי against Me. The word לי is used only in the case of such a one who knows his Master and yet of set purpose rebels against Him (i. e. the entire chapter containing these threats of punishment is addressed only to such a person, not to one who sins against God unwittingly). Similarly in reference to Nimrod: (Genesis 10:9) “a mighty hunter before (לפני) the Lord” which means that he knew Him and yet of set purpose rebelled against him. Similarly in reference to the men of Sodom: (Genesis 13:13) “[But the men of Sodom were] evil and sinful against the Lord ('לה‎) exceedingly” — they knew their Master and yet of set purpose rebelled against him (Sifra, Bechukotai, Section 2 1-2; cf. Rashi on those two verses).

ואם לא תשמעו לי, to follow in My statues, as explained earlier

ואם לא תשמעו לי, "And if you will fail to hearken to Me, etc." We need to know where obedience to G'd ever was something optional at the beginning of our portion so that the Torah would be justified in introducing this paragraph with the conditional "if." The paragraph should simply have commenced with the words: "If you despise My statutes, etc." Apparently, the wording of the Torah in this verse shows that the meaning of the opening paragraph of the portion "if you will walk in My statutes" refers to precoccupation with Torah study and not to performance of any specific commandmments. This is why the Torah is able to consider the alternative in our verse as something which is related to one's hearing. It is similar to Isaiah 55,3: "listen so that you will live," or Proverbs 1,5 "the wise will listen and increase learning." Inasmuch as the Torah intended to convey so many different lessons with the words אם בחקתי תלכו as I have demonstrated, the failure to exercise these options are at the root of all the misfortunes which will befall the Jewish people if they ignore such glorious opportunities as offered by the Torah in the opening verse of our portion.

ואם לא תשמעו לי, “and if you do not listen to Me, etc.” The Torah refers to the people not heeding the instruction to study Torah; it goes on to list a succession of seven different sins, each progressively more serious than the preceding one. The words ולא תעשון, “and you will not perform,” are a direct result of your failing to study Torah. The next sin which results from the previous one is that you will “despise My statutes.” The reason for this is that you do not know he reasons behind this legislation. Having reached the stage of rejecting part of My laws you will also find fault with My משפטים, social legislation, feeling revolted by them. Your negative attitude will include both such legislation involving stealing and robbery as well as regulations governing with whom you may have sexual intercourse. You, in common with the Gentiles, will find such legislation burdensome, often running counter to your natural instincts, especially when people whom you believe you love are forbidden to you as marriage partners. The Torah is aware of the impact of this legislation and this is why in verse 43, at the end of the paragraph, it repeats once more that your failure to observe these commandments is the principal cause of all the disasters predicted in this chapter.
When the Torah speaks about לבלתי עשות את כל מצותי, “not to perform all My commandments” (verse 15), this is not a repetition but means that not only will you not observe My commandments but you will try to prevent others from performing them, i.e. the words mean: ”so that they will not be performed.” The words: “all My commandments,” mean that you have reached the stage when you deny the validity of any of My laws. This accounts for the sixth of the seven sins we said are listed in the introduction to the warning of retributive action by G’d. Finally, the seventh sin is described as להפרכם את בריתי, “to breach My covenant,” i.e. you deny the essential tenets of Judaism. The verses 14-15 are a model lesson of the Talmudic axiom that “one sin brings another sin in its wake.”

To know the expositions of the Sages. Explanation: Rashi is answering the question: Why does the Torah make a change? Before (26:3) it is written, “If you follow My statutes,” meaning that you should labor in Torah, while here it writes “If you will not listen to Me,” when it should have said, “If you do not follow My statutes.” This question is answered if the verse is also referring to “the exposition of the Sages,” as the exposition of the Sages is called “receipt,” since they received [the tradition] from each other [by listening to their teachers].

את כל המצות האלה, “all these commandments;” if you will fail to observe any of these commandments;” [it would be impossible to ignore all of these commandments. Ed.] We find a parallel expression to the construction in Exodus 20,10: לא תעשה כל מלאכה, “you shall not do any work,” or in verse Exodus 22,9: כל אלמנה ויתום לא תענון, “you are not to mistreat any widow or orphan.” [In both these verses the meaning of the word כל could not possibly be “all.” Ed.]

ולא תעשו AND YOU WILL NOT DO — Because you will not learn you will not practice the commandments: thus you have two separate sins mentioned here (Sifra, Bechukotai, Section 2 3).

ולא תעשו את כל המצות האלה, seeing that you did not follow in My statues it follows that you do not keep all My commandments but only those that find favour in your eyes.

Resulting in two sins. Rashi is answering the question: If they did not learn, obviously they will not know what to do? He answers: This is indeed what the verse is saying; since you will not learn, you will certainly not fulfill.

Furthermore, seeing that the Torah is about to discuss the result of not carrying out G'd's wishes the Torah pinpoints the root of such non-observance as being the failure to listen to the Torah's instructions by not studying the Torah. Concerning this we learned in Kidushin 30 that G'd told the Jewish people that the only antidote to the danger of succumbing to the temptations by the evil urge is Torah, i.e. study of Torah and performance of its precepts.

Our paragraph is also concerned with awakening sleeping hearts. If someone pursues a path which is not good this is only proof that he has not acquired knowledge about G'd and the good he would derive by serving the Lord. We may therefore understand the conditional "if you will not listen" in the sense of "if you fail to understand." Failure to understand the advantages of serving the Lord may result in someone refusing to do so. The prophet Isaiah summed it up when he said that Israel went into exile as a direct result of lack of knowledge (Isaiah 5,13).

Another message contained in our verse is derived from the Torah's emphasis on the words ולא תעשו את כל המצות, "and you will not perform all the commandments, etc." Seeing we have explained on the words אם בחקתי תלכו that one's preoccupation with Torah protects one against and saves one from the evil urge (Sotah 21), the Torah here spells out the condition both positively and negatively, i.e. what will happen if you study Torah for My sake, and what will happen if you do not study for the right reasons. G'd reminds us that even if we study Torah as long as we do not do so for the sake of G'd and perform the commandments, Torah will not act as a shield for us against the evil urge.

Another nuance contained in our verse is the message that even preparedness to perform all the commandments is of not much use by itself; unless one has studied Torah in depth one simply is not able to perform all its precepts properly. As a result such performance cannot protect one against temptation by the evil urge. We may also understand this pronouncement along the lines of Menachot 110 on the verse "This is the Torah of the burnt-offering (Leviticus 6,2)." If one studies the details of the legislation of the sacrifices nowadays when there is no chance to translate one's knowledge into practice, he has fulfilled the commandment better than when the Temple stood and one performed the actual sacrificial rites without knowing all its details.

The word לי in our verse reminds us that failure to heed the words of Torah is similar to someone refusing to listen to his king when he wants to speak to his subject. The words אם לא תשמעו לי are G'd's way of saying that He, personally, will feel insulted by our failure to study Torah.

You may also understand the verse as conveying a message similar to that in Jeremiah 16,11: "and Me they have forsaken and My Torah they have not observed." Rabbi Moshe Alshech explains this verse by means of a parable. He warns that the Israelites should not think that because they studied Torah this would neutralise their abominations including idol worship as proved by the fact that the Temple had not been destroyed while idol worship was going on for hundreds of years. The Torah explains here what the parameters are to be. "If you do not listen to Me this will lead to non-performance of My commandments and eventual destruction." If, however, you listen to Me, i.e. your attitude to G'd is positive, even if you do not fulfil all the commandments, this will not bring about catastrophe either on a personal or national level.

Another way of justifying the opening words of our paragraph is that G'd is aware of how man's mind and heart functions and of the machinations of the evil urge which exploits man's psyche. G'd therefore decided to address the very first stage of any seduction planned by the evil urge. We have explained repeatedly that Satan is well aware of the intimate relationship between G'd and Israel as a result of which he never counsels that a Jew commit acts of outright rebellion against G'd and His Torah. Satan works far more insidiuously. He will ostensibly agree that everything written in the Torah is, of course, binding on a Jew but that all the additional ordinances with which the sages have surrounded Biblical Law are not really of significance and may be ignored without peril to oneself. Once a person begins to consider if there is merit to that argument he has already been entrapped by the evil urge.

In our verse the Torah addresses two kinds of seductions. 1) "If you do not hearken to Me;" this is a reference to G'd having authorised the Torah scholars to make ordinances. This authority is based on Deut. 17,12; "Any man who deliberately fails to listen to the priest who stands to minister to the Lord your G'd, that man shall die." The reason the Torah insisted on writing the word לי in our verse is to remind us that anyone who questions the authority of the rabbis is as if he questioned G'd Himself (compare Sanhedrin 110). The word לי means: "it concerns Me." Moreover, the sages are considered as the "Sanctuary" of the Lord.

Concerning the second kind of seductive tactic by Satan namely his trying to convince us that the number of positive commandments is unnecessarily large, the Torah writes: "and you will not perform all these commandments." The Torah also implies here that if someone fails to believe in the authority of the sages to interpret the law he most certainly will not fulfil any commandment. The reason is simple. The definition of the 613 commandments (מנין המצות) is something which the sages of former generations have determined. Anyone who does not accept that principle is not considered as having observed any of the commandments. When the Torah speaks of ולא תעשו this is merely the result of not listening. [The letter ו is not meant as an alternative to the words ואם לא תשמעו. Ed.]