פירוש על דברים 5:3

לא את אבתינו NOT WITH OUR FATHERS — i.e. not with them alone, כרת ה׳ וגו׳ DID THE LORD MAKE [THIS COVENANT], כי אתנו BUT WITH US etc.

היום כלנו חיים, this is why the covenant has to be mad with you who enter the Holy Land, so that you will arrange things in such a manner that future generations who were not present at the time this covenant was made will consider it binding for themselves and conduct themselves accordingly.

לא את אבותינו כרת ה׳ את הברית הזאת, "G'd did not conclude this covenant with our fathers, etc." Rashi adds the word לבד. He means that G'd concluded the covenant "not only with our fathers." This is problematical as there was no need for the Torah to write this seeing it had already referred to the covenant G'd concluded "with us" in verse 1. According to my explanantion that the covenant mentioned in verse one refers to the covenant in Exodus 34,10 that G'd would not allow His presence to rest on the Gentile nations, we can understand the sequence of these verses as follows: "G'd did not specifically conclude this covenant with our fathers as we do not find this spelled out anywhere. As a result the reference in verse one to G'd having concluded a covenant with us was not sufficient as the word עמנו, "with us," does not preclude G'd from concluding similar covenants with other nations. Moses therefore went on record in our verse that the covenant he is talking about is indeed an exclsuive covenant between G'd and Israel. The principal message of the verse is that the present generation was given an assurance which even their fathers had not been given.

כי אתנו אנחנו אלה פה היום כלנו, “but with us we who are here all of us alive today.” Moses‘ point is that “the covenant was concluded with us.” Seeing that there were some survivors from the time of the revelation at Mount Sinai, Moses added: “G’d spoke with you face to face, etc.” In verse 5 Moses recalls to the survivors of that time that at that time they (their elders) had asked him to be the go-between between themselves and G’d as they felt unable to endure the voice of G’d directly any longer.

[Not with our forefathers] alone did Adonoy make this, etc. Rashi is answering the question: The verse implies that Hashem gave the Ten Commandments exclusively to us, and not to our fathers who already died. But, many were alive when the Torah was given, in the year after leaving Egypt. This covenant was also made with them, though now they are not alive. Therefore, Rashi explains: Not with our forefathers alone did Adonoy make this covenant, etc., but also with us.

V. 3. לא את אבותינו וגו׳. Ein sehr großer Teil der noch Lebenden, alle diejenigen, welche beim Auszug aus Ägypten noch nicht das zwanzigste Jahr zurückgelegt hatten, hatten die Offenbarung am Sinai selbst erlebt, und die anderen waren dem großen Ereignis zeitlich so nahe geboren, dass das von ihren leiblichen Eltern Erlebte ihnen wie Selbsterlebtes gewiss sein konnte. Es ist daher das אבתינו wohl im weiteren Sinne: Voreltern, Vorfahren zu nehmen.

לא את אבותינו (לבדם) כרת את הברית כי אתנו אנחנו, “not only with our fathers (alone) did the Lord establish the covenant;” we find a similar formulation in Genesis 32,29 לבדם) לא יקרא שמך יעקב כי אם ישראל עמו), “your name will no longer be Yaakov, but the name Yisrael will henceforth be added to it.”We find a similar interpretation in the Midrash Tehillim on Psalms 8,3: מפי עוללים ויונקים יסדת עוז, “from the mouths of infants and sucklings You have founded strength.” This is interpreted to mean that even unborn children have received the Torah and are guarantors for this to their parents that they will observe the Torah in due course. The Midrash describes the unborn fetuses as having been given visions of G-d and having heard the Ten Commandments, and responded after each that they considered it as binding for them.

כלנו חיים, "all of us who are alive." How could Moses say this? All the people with whom G'd had made the original covenant were dead already as they had died in the desert? Besides, many of the people who faced Moses at this time had not even been born at the time G'd concluded the original covenant with the Jewish people! While one could answer that what Moses said applied only to part of the people, this would be a forced explanation. Besides, what news did Moses convey to people by telling them they were all alive? Did they not know this without having to be told?

ה׳ אלהינו כרת עמנו וגו׳ כי אתנו אנחנו וגו׳. In Beziehung zu dem von Gott erteilten Gesetze und der daraus erwachsenen Verpflichtung tritt Mosche ganz in die Masse des Volkes zurück. Er hat an der Erteilung des Gesetzes keinen größeren und an der Verpflichtung darauf keinen geringeren Anteil als irgend sonst einer aus dem Volke.

כי אתנו אנחנו, “but with us here” (He concluded the covenant). Even though there are quite a few amongst us here to day who have not stood at Mount Sinai, not having been born yet, the covenant applies to them and is binding on them. [The answer to the question of how an unborn person can be held accountable for violating a covenant he had not been a party to when it was concluded, is that in Jewish law one may accept obligations on behalf of people who are not present and aware of it, provided that these obligations are for the benefit of the party on whose behalf these obligations have been accepted. Becoming part of G-d’s people is perceived of being such a benefit. Ed.] The proof that this is so is that G-d has told us that He is meting out penalties for up to the fourth generation after the sinner committed his sin, whereas He allows even the descendent 1000 generations down the line to participate in the reward given to his forbear for good deeds performed. (Exodus 20,6)

Perhaps we may say that Moses emphasised that all of them who had heard the voice of G'd at the time of the revelation at Mount Sinai and who were alive at this time had survived that experience. This in spite of the fact that G'd had spoken to them out of fire, etc, i.e. that the experience had been extremely overpowering. The words כלנו חיים therefore must be understood as belonging to what follows in verse 4 rather than to what preceded it.