Commentaire de citation sur Le Deutéronome 7:7

The third is, You shall not establish for yourself an asherah — our Sages interpreted (Sanhedrin 7b) about one who appoints an unfit judge, [if it is] in a place of Torah scholars, it is as if he planted [an asherah] next to God’s altar. Similarly, they interpreted the verse You shall not make with Me gods of silver, etc. as referring to a god or judge appointed because of silver and gold. The concept of the asherah we learn from what is written: An altar of earth you shall make for Me — either filled with earth or adjacent to the earth. From all this we can learn that the Sanhedrin should also be humble in mind, for every humble and lowly person diminishes his full height toward the ground. Therefore it says He guides the humble in justice (Psalms 25:9). But one who is arrogant in rendering legal decisions is a fool, wicked, and haughty in spirit, for he does not judge deliberately since he is embarrassed to ask about his uncertainties.
It is known that sometimes an unfit judge is appointed because of his arrogance or the arrogance of his relatives and family who honor him so that he might be “fortunate” [meushar] in the land and bring them fame and praise, as suggested by the name “asherah” from the expression women have called me fortunate [ashruni banot]. Our Sages said (Sotah 5a) that anyone who has arrogance deserves to be cut down like an asherah tree, as it is written here and their asherah trees you shall cut down (Deuteronomy 7:5), and it is written there and the tall of stature shall be cut down (Isaiah 10:33).
What is the connection between an arrogant person and an asherah? It is because this unfit person is established for the fortune and praise of his relatives, and he is like an asherah tree that has many branches and leaves to sit in its shade. Similarly, they appoint him as a judge so that his relatives can sit in his shade. But in truth, their protection has departed from them, and there is no need to elaborate further on this.
And regarding what they said, “in a place of Torah scholars, it is as if he planted it next to the altar” — this is because that is where the Sanhedrin sits. For this reason they said, “before them and not before gentiles, etc.” because it is said Not because you are more numerous than all the peoples did the Lord desire you [and choose you, as you are the smallest] (Deuteronomy 7:7). And our Sages said in the tractate (Chullin 89a) that Israel diminishes themselves, unlike idolaters who are haughty and arrogant in spirit. Therefore, they are not fit for laws and judgments which they do not know, for their arrogance ruins all judgments.

And as they said (Avot 1:1) “Moses received the Torah from Sinai,” and they didn’t say “on Sinai,” because Moses, due to his great humility, considered himself the lowliest of men, saying, “Who am I that the Torah should be given through me?” But when he heard God’s word, When you bring the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain (Exodus 3:12), then he pondered in his heart, “Why specifically on this mountain? Aren’t there higher mountains in the world?” Rather, this is God’s way — to choose the most humble and to dwell with the contrite and lowly of spirit. From that point onward, Moses no longer refused his mission and accepted that the Torah would be given through him. Therefore it says, “Moses received the Torah from Sinai,” because from Sinai he learned that he was more worthy to receive the Torah than anyone else.
This is what our Sages taught (Megillah 29a) regarding the verse Why do you look with envy, O mountains of peaks (Psalms 68:17) — “All of you have blemishes compared to Mount Sinai,” as it is said, or hunchbacked or dwarfed (Leviticus 21:20). What blemish did those mountains have, and what does hunchbacked have to do with mountains? After all, hunchbacked is a blemish of the eyes. Rather, this hints that pride of heart is a great blemish in God’s Torah, and these mountains, by being tall, have a blemish. Similarly, in humans, haughty eyes are a blemish of the eye. Therefore, he brings proof from “hunchbacked.” Thus, these mountains are not associated with Israel, only Mount Sinai is, and upon it God first descended, thereby teaching them that the Holy One, blessed be He, dwells with the most lowly. From this they should learn that not because you are more numerous than any other people did the Lord desire you, for you are the fewest (Deuteronomy 7:7), and therefore they are suited for the Torah, and the Torah is suited for them. Therefore it says, The Lord came from Sinai. And this is truly a great praise for Israel, making them worthy to receive the blessings.

ואהבת את ה' אלו-היך, “You shall love the Lord your G’d.” Seeing that we have no other G’d than Hashem we are bound to love Him. The point of “loving G’d” is to perform His commandments out of a sense of love for Him. If someone serves the Lord out of fear, his service is not of the best variety. The way this love for G’d expresses itself is by our studying the laws of the Torah and by obtaining a better understanding of what G’d expects from us through such study. As a result of such study we will enjoy having gained deeper insights of what the Lord wants from us. To tell us that this is the purpose of loving G’d, the Torah immediately continues with —
והיו הדברים האלה אשר אנכי מצוך היום על לבבך, “these matters which I have commanded you this day will be upon your heart.” The verse is the practical manifestation of the result of your loving the Lord. The Sifri Vaetchanan 33 explains the subject of man loving G’d in a similar manner when the author writes that the key to this is found in the verse והיו הדברים האלה. The words ואהבת את ה' אלו-היך are an instruction to display love vis-a-vis G’d as one would vis-a-vis G’d’s creatures. This is what Avraham did and why G’d referred to him as אברהם אוהבי “Avraham who loves Me” in Isaiah 41, 8.
Our sages, in elaborating on this theme, defined someone as loving G’d if by his conduct he brings people closer to G’d and thereby helps them secure their claim to the hereafter. This is the reason why the sages cited Avraham as their model for such love.
Do not argue that seeing that the emotion described as חשק is perceived to be a stronger emotion than that of אהבה, love, why did the Torah not instruct us to וחשקת את ה' אלו-היך, “to display fondness of the Lord your G’d?” The answer to this question is that אהבה, “love”, is something that comes and goes, an emotion which manifests itself on occasion but does not manifest itself on other occasions. If someone loves a certain kind of food, he will experience this emotion when such food is placed before him and he eats it. He does not however, go around all day long “loving” that dish. When someone is in the grip of the emotion we call חשק an inordinate desire, [such as that of Shechem for Yaakov’s daughter Dinah, Ed.] this emotion is ever-present in his mind even if the object of his desire is out of sight and earshot. He will dream about the object he is so fond of.
Seeing that we have been commanded to love the Lord with both our hearts לבבך, i.e. both the urges within us, (Berachot 62) as well as with all our soul and all our material assets, i.e. we must involve emotions which we cannot suppress in this love of G’d in order to fulfill the commandment properly. The Torah’s point in using this term ואהבת is to make clear that our love for G’d must always win out in a conflict with our other emotions. The other urges cannot be ignored as one cannot live without them. For instance, unless one has an urge to stay alive one will likely become the victim of death in its many forms in short order. Similarly, unless one has an active urge to acquire some material goods one will starve to death not having the wherewithal to pay for one’s food, clothing and shelter. The very relativity of the emotion אהבה then is what enables us to fulfill this commandment. Had the Torah commanded us to relate to G’d with the emotion חשק, this would involve our abandoning all other emotions in order to devote ourselves exclusively to the emotion of being fond of the Lord. We would have had to totally suppress even the emotions without which life on terrestrial earth is impossible. The end-result of relating to G’d in such a manner would effectively have made it impossible to fulfill any of the other commandments in the Torah as they all presuppose the activation of a whole range of human emotions.
The definition of the emotion חשק implies דבקות, an inseparable attachment to the object of one’s חשק such as described in Psalms 91,14 כי בי חשק ואפלטהו. The point made in that psalm is that if only the Jewish people will display sufficient חשק, affinity to G’d, He will personally deliver them instead of only by means of an angel (compare Alshich). When one attains that level of affinity to G‘d one qualifies for what is commonly known as מיתת נשיקה, a death by kiss from G’d, i.e. a demonstration by G’d of His affinity to the person leaving earth.
We find that even in His relationship to the entire Jewish people G’d speaks of such חשק, such an intense feeling of fondness for the Jewish people, when He says in Deut. 7,7 לא מרבכם מכל העמים חשק ה' בכם, “not because you are the most numerous of all the nations did the Lord entertain such a strong fondness for you.“ This verse clearly spelled out that G’d’s closeness, affinity to us, surpasses His affinity to any other nation. Our sages derived from there also that wherever the Jewish people are exiled, G’d, in the form of part of the Shechinah, is also present (Megillah 29).

We have a [little] sister. In the earthly abode, who unites, joins and desires to be with us, and she is little and humbles herself more than all the nations, as the matter is stated, “Not because you are more numerous, etc.”¹⁰Devorim 7:7. for they humble themselves.

ואלה בני שותלח וגו׳ AND THESE ARE THE SONS OF SHUTHELAH etc. — As for the other sons of Shuthelah their offspring were called after Shuthelah’s name; but out of Eron there issued a large family which was therefore called after his own name so that the children of Shuthelah were reckoned as two different families (the family of Shuthelah and the family of Eron). — Go and reckon and you will find in this section fifty seven families, and of the sons of Levi eight, so that there are sixty five in all. This is the meaning of what is said, (Deuteronomy 7:7): “For you are the least (המעט) [of all the peoples etc.].” The word המעט may be taken to signify: you are five (ה) less (מעט) than the families of all the nations, who are seventy in number. This, also, I understand from the work of R. Moses the Preacher, only that I have been compelled to omit from or add to his words.