כִּ֤י בִ֣י חָ֭שַׁק וַאֲפַלְּטֵ֑הוּ אֲ֝שַׂגְּבֵ֗הוּ כִּֽי־יָדַ֥ע שְׁמִֽי׃
"Car [dit le Seigneur] il m’est attaché, et je veux le sauver du danger; je veux le grandir, parce qu’il connaît mon nom.
Rabbeinu Bahya
A kabbalistic approach: Solomon referred to the words spoken by the wise as נכוחים, “correct,” the word having a similar meaning to Proverbs 8,9 כלם נכוחים למבין, “they are all straightforward to those that possess knowledge.” Seeing that the word ישק, “will kiss,” describes close and intimate physical contact, Solomon employs this word which is familiar to us to describe close and intimate contact on an intellectual though abstract level. Solomon used similar wording in Song of Songs when he spoke of ישקני מנשיקות פיהו, “may he (G’d) kiss me with the kisses of His mouth,” (Song of Songs 1,2). There too the word is “borrowed,” describing spiritual values couched in language applicable to matters physical. The word שפתים, instead of meaning “lips” is derived from שפת הנהר, “the banks of the river,” meaning “the boundaries of the river.” Keeping this in mind, the meaning of the whole verse quoted above is: “the wise man who is tuned in to the fundamental aspects of wisdom in the celestial domains, a wisdom which is freely available at all times without interruption, can answer all questions and questioners correctly, being always in tune with them.” He can do this as he has reached the outermost limits (שפתים) of this wisdom.
When we wish to understand the specific allure of this level of wisdom we should think of what our sages call מיתת נשיקה, “death by divine kiss,” i.e. mortal man achieving the ultimate cleaving to the divine that it is possible for a creature to achieve with its Creator.
King David referred to this elevated spiritual level of the mutual attraction between G’d and man when he said in Psalms 91,14 (quoting G’d): כי בי חשק ואפלטהו, “because he is devoted to Me I will deliver him.” Any righteous person (צדיק) who has attained the spiritual level David spoke of here will not experience death as a form of destruction of the body or other faculties, but will experience it as a direct spiritual promotion. Three famous people who experienced such a “death” were Miriam, Aaron, and Moses. When the Torah reported their deaths” it always added the words,על פי ה', “a kiss of G’d.” In the case of Miriam the Torah did not use these words as it is not in keeping with accepted rules of decorum to speak of G’d as “kissing” a woman. (Compare Numbers 33,38 — Aaron, Deut. 34,5 — Moses). We have it on the authority of Rabbi Eliezer (Baba Batra 17) that Miriam experienced the same kind of death as did her brothers as there is a גזרה שוה, a textural nuance not justifiable by the rules of syntax or grammar, which links Moses and Miriam. In connection with the deaths of all these three great personalities the Torah writes an extraneous word שם, “there.” Rabbi Eliezer sees in this a hint that they all died in a similar manner, but that the Torah wished to avoid saying this outright in the case of Miriam as we have already pointed out.
We find a similar linkage of the three patriarchs by means of the respective words בכל, מכל, כל describing the blessings each received from G’d.
Another individual who experienced this kind of “death” was Rabbi Yehudah haNassi (editor of the Mishnah). We know this as according to tradition the priests took part in his funeral. Had he died at the hands of the angel of death, the priests would not have been allowed to defile themselves by participating actively in his funeral (last rites).
According to Ketuvot 104 when Rabbi Yehudah haNassi was about to die, he raised his ten fingers toward heaven exclaiming: “Lord, You are aware that I have toiled with all my ten fingers and have not even used the smallest one to indulge in the pleasures of this world. May it be Your will that my “rest” (hereafter) will be one of undisturbed tranquility.” Thereupon a heavenly echo was heard saying: יבא שלום ינוח על משכנו, “may he come to peace and rest on his couch” (compare Isaiah 57,2).
We have a passage in the Jerusalem Talmud Berachot 3,1 according to which when Rabbi Yehudah haNassi died Rabbi Yannai exclaimed “the laws applicable to the priesthood do not apply today.” He referred to the fact that the priests must not defile themselves by touching a corpse or being under the same roof as a dead body. This is because if they did they would disqualify themselves from performing service in the Temple until such time as they had purified themselves. What Rabbi Yannai had in mind was that seeing that Rabbi Yehudah did not die the kind of death other mortals die, i.e. at the hands of the angel of death, the rule about priests not being allowed to touch his body or being in his proximity did not apply to them concerning him. This statement of Rabbi Yannai was to apply only on that day and only to that particular corpse.
When we wish to understand the specific allure of this level of wisdom we should think of what our sages call מיתת נשיקה, “death by divine kiss,” i.e. mortal man achieving the ultimate cleaving to the divine that it is possible for a creature to achieve with its Creator.
King David referred to this elevated spiritual level of the mutual attraction between G’d and man when he said in Psalms 91,14 (quoting G’d): כי בי חשק ואפלטהו, “because he is devoted to Me I will deliver him.” Any righteous person (צדיק) who has attained the spiritual level David spoke of here will not experience death as a form of destruction of the body or other faculties, but will experience it as a direct spiritual promotion. Three famous people who experienced such a “death” were Miriam, Aaron, and Moses. When the Torah reported their deaths” it always added the words,על פי ה', “a kiss of G’d.” In the case of Miriam the Torah did not use these words as it is not in keeping with accepted rules of decorum to speak of G’d as “kissing” a woman. (Compare Numbers 33,38 — Aaron, Deut. 34,5 — Moses). We have it on the authority of Rabbi Eliezer (Baba Batra 17) that Miriam experienced the same kind of death as did her brothers as there is a גזרה שוה, a textural nuance not justifiable by the rules of syntax or grammar, which links Moses and Miriam. In connection with the deaths of all these three great personalities the Torah writes an extraneous word שם, “there.” Rabbi Eliezer sees in this a hint that they all died in a similar manner, but that the Torah wished to avoid saying this outright in the case of Miriam as we have already pointed out.
We find a similar linkage of the three patriarchs by means of the respective words בכל, מכל, כל describing the blessings each received from G’d.
Another individual who experienced this kind of “death” was Rabbi Yehudah haNassi (editor of the Mishnah). We know this as according to tradition the priests took part in his funeral. Had he died at the hands of the angel of death, the priests would not have been allowed to defile themselves by participating actively in his funeral (last rites).
According to Ketuvot 104 when Rabbi Yehudah haNassi was about to die, he raised his ten fingers toward heaven exclaiming: “Lord, You are aware that I have toiled with all my ten fingers and have not even used the smallest one to indulge in the pleasures of this world. May it be Your will that my “rest” (hereafter) will be one of undisturbed tranquility.” Thereupon a heavenly echo was heard saying: יבא שלום ינוח על משכנו, “may he come to peace and rest on his couch” (compare Isaiah 57,2).
We have a passage in the Jerusalem Talmud Berachot 3,1 according to which when Rabbi Yehudah haNassi died Rabbi Yannai exclaimed “the laws applicable to the priesthood do not apply today.” He referred to the fact that the priests must not defile themselves by touching a corpse or being under the same roof as a dead body. This is because if they did they would disqualify themselves from performing service in the Temple until such time as they had purified themselves. What Rabbi Yannai had in mind was that seeing that Rabbi Yehudah did not die the kind of death other mortals die, i.e. at the hands of the angel of death, the rule about priests not being allowed to touch his body or being in his proximity did not apply to them concerning him. This statement of Rabbi Yannai was to apply only on that day and only to that particular corpse.
Or HaChaim
It is also possible that Moses wanted G'd to reveal more of the mystical aspects of His name, and that in order for G'd to do so he made what sounded like a provocative statement. Moses hoped, that if successful, G'd would equip him with all the visible and invisible attributes that he felt he lacked in order to qualify as a regular prophet. We find this concept in Psalms 91,14 אשגבהו כי ידע שמי, "I will raise it (the Jewish people) high since it has become aware of My name." Moreover, if they would appreciate the qualities G'd had equipped Moses with their regard for G'd Himself would be appreciably enhanced.
Rabbeinu Bahya
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).
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).