Chasidut su Deuteronomio 26:18
וַֽיהוָ֞ה הֶאֱמִֽירְךָ֣ הַיּ֗וֹם לִהְי֥וֹת לוֹ֙ לְעַ֣ם סְגֻלָּ֔ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר דִּבֶּר־לָ֑ךְ וְלִשְׁמֹ֖ר כָּל־מִצְוֺתָֽיו׃
E l'Eterno ti ha riconosciuto oggi di essere il Suo tesoro, come ti ha promesso, e che dovresti osservare tutti i Suoi comandamenti;
Kedushat Levi
Deuteronomy 26,18. “and Hashem on His part has guaranteed you this day to be His treasured people, as He had said to you.” The next verse spells out the result of G’d having avouched the Jewish people, i.e. ולתתך עליון על כל הגוים אשר עשה לתהלה לשם ולתפארת, “and to make you high above all the other nations that He has made in praise, in name, and in glory;”
In trying to explain this verse we are stymied by the fact that the word: לשם does not precede the words: לתהלה ולתפארת.
This apparent anomaly is explained with the help of the statement in the Talmud Sanhedrin 99 that repentant sinners occupy a spiritual plateau that is higher than that of the natural born righteous people, who have never sinned. It is explained additionally by a statement in the Talmud Yuma 86 that the effect of repentance is so great that erstwhile sins may be converted retroactively into being accounted as meritorious deeds.
G’d’s servants may be divided into two distinct categories. One category has a mental image of G’d and what He stands for in front of him at all times, whereas the second category arouses itself from time to time in order to summon up such an image of G’d’s Majesty, which in turn impresses upon him the duty to serve Him as befits a king. This latter type of individual does not present the Creator with a list of personal requests, however. He is content to be able to serve his Master the King of Kings, in fact he regards it as a privilege. This latter type of individual requests only that he be able to continue to serve the Lord, and while so engaged he shuts out any thoughts pertaining to his daily routine, pursuit of a livelihood, etc. He places his entire person at the service of the Lord. It is this type of individual that the psalmist in psalms 102,1 speaks of when he commences with the words: תפלה לעני כי יעטוף, “a prayer of the lowly man when he is faint, etc.” When such a person, notwithstanding the fact that he has urgent duties to attend to, duties that do not allow him the luxury of putting them on hold, offers his entire being in the service of the Lord, this is something that causes G’d to experience a great deal of pleasurable satisfaction. He reacts by saying: “look at this human being, who, although guilty of numerous sins in the past, has pulled himself together in order to serve Me;” he deserves that even his prior sins be converted to merits,” as it was the recognition of the futility of his former sinful lifestyle that eventually caused him to become a penitent. Someone raised in a devout family, who had accepted his family’s devoutness as something that did not need to be questioned, could not have entertained the kind of thoughts that went through the mind of the repentant sinner before he decided to turn over an entirely new leaf.
When G’d looks down on the Jewish people and compares them to the gentile nations, and He sees how none of them serve Him, He naturally glorifies in the Jewish people, considering the rest of mankind a bunch of fools by comparison.
In trying to explain this verse we are stymied by the fact that the word: לשם does not precede the words: לתהלה ולתפארת.
This apparent anomaly is explained with the help of the statement in the Talmud Sanhedrin 99 that repentant sinners occupy a spiritual plateau that is higher than that of the natural born righteous people, who have never sinned. It is explained additionally by a statement in the Talmud Yuma 86 that the effect of repentance is so great that erstwhile sins may be converted retroactively into being accounted as meritorious deeds.
G’d’s servants may be divided into two distinct categories. One category has a mental image of G’d and what He stands for in front of him at all times, whereas the second category arouses itself from time to time in order to summon up such an image of G’d’s Majesty, which in turn impresses upon him the duty to serve Him as befits a king. This latter type of individual does not present the Creator with a list of personal requests, however. He is content to be able to serve his Master the King of Kings, in fact he regards it as a privilege. This latter type of individual requests only that he be able to continue to serve the Lord, and while so engaged he shuts out any thoughts pertaining to his daily routine, pursuit of a livelihood, etc. He places his entire person at the service of the Lord. It is this type of individual that the psalmist in psalms 102,1 speaks of when he commences with the words: תפלה לעני כי יעטוף, “a prayer of the lowly man when he is faint, etc.” When such a person, notwithstanding the fact that he has urgent duties to attend to, duties that do not allow him the luxury of putting them on hold, offers his entire being in the service of the Lord, this is something that causes G’d to experience a great deal of pleasurable satisfaction. He reacts by saying: “look at this human being, who, although guilty of numerous sins in the past, has pulled himself together in order to serve Me;” he deserves that even his prior sins be converted to merits,” as it was the recognition of the futility of his former sinful lifestyle that eventually caused him to become a penitent. Someone raised in a devout family, who had accepted his family’s devoutness as something that did not need to be questioned, could not have entertained the kind of thoughts that went through the mind of the repentant sinner before he decided to turn over an entirely new leaf.
When G’d looks down on the Jewish people and compares them to the gentile nations, and He sees how none of them serve Him, He naturally glorifies in the Jewish people, considering the rest of mankind a bunch of fools by comparison.
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Kedushat Levi
Still another aspect of the opening line of our Parshah. When evaluating happenings on this earth we always proceed from the premise that all G’d does or allows to happen, is meant for the good, even though on occasion it takes a while to realize that what started as apparently a dreadful event, will ultimately be realized to have been the beginning of something good. [According to the formula of Rabbi Nachum ish gam zu.
When we ask G’d in psalms 85,8 הראנו ה' חסדך וישעך תתן לנו, “show us, O Lord, Your kindness grant us Your deliverance,” these words spring from our conviction that, of course, what G’d has in mind is for our own good. Our prayer is to be granted to live long enough to see this confirmed with our own eyes. The word לאמור which we had questioned at the outset, is to be understood as in Deuteronomy 26,17 and 18 האמרת and האמירך, where these words are expressions of love.
Moses prays to be granted to see with his own eyes this expression of G’d’s love.
When we ask G’d in psalms 85,8 הראנו ה' חסדך וישעך תתן לנו, “show us, O Lord, Your kindness grant us Your deliverance,” these words spring from our conviction that, of course, what G’d has in mind is for our own good. Our prayer is to be granted to live long enough to see this confirmed with our own eyes. The word לאמור which we had questioned at the outset, is to be understood as in Deuteronomy 26,17 and 18 האמרת and האמירך, where these words are expressions of love.
Moses prays to be granted to see with his own eyes this expression of G’d’s love.
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