Commento su Deuteronomio 6:25

This is what I had in mind when I said to you וצדקה תהיה לו לטוב לנו כל הימים, it will be good for us not only in this life but will be a charitable act assuring us of life in the hereafter.

וצדקה תהיה לנו, "and it will be a righteousness for us, etc." What is the meaning of the word צדקה in this context? Nachmanides explains that the word refers to the reward for מצוה-performance. Inasmuch as we are G'd's slaves we are not entitled to any reward at all. If, nonetheless, G'd grants us a reward for our observing His commandments this is in the nature of צדקה, charity, as we have no claim. I do not believe that this explanation answers our problem. Moreover, we also need to understand the meaning of the words לפני ה׳ כאשר צונו, "before the Lord as He commanded us."

וצדקה תהיה לנו, “and it will be a merit for us, etc.” Although we are duty bound to observe all these commandments, and the idea that we would be entitled to be rewarded for doing so is quite beyond reason, Moses assures the people that such reward will nonetheless be in store for them, this being the nature of Hashem, Who devises ways and means to enable His people to acquire merits. Ibn Ezra writes that some scholars see in our verse (the word צדקה) an allusion to the world to come, where the reward for keeping the commandments will be handed out. According to the plain meaning of the text, the meaning is that it is no more than fair and just that we keep Hashem’s commandments as by what He did at the Exodus He has acquired us as His eternal servants obligated to do His bidding.

V. 25. וצדקה (siehe zu Bereschit 15, 6). Unsere Pflichtgerechtigkeit bleibt es, wir können die Aufgaben unserer Lebensbestimmung nur lösen, wenn wir die Gesetze als מצוה, unterschiedlos als "Gottesgebot", als "Anweisung auf unseren Lebensposten" sorgfältig, unverkümmert und unverändert, ganz nach Inhalt und Weise erfüllen, כל המצוה — כאשר צונו. Wir haben weder das Recht etwas zu abrogieren, noch zu reformieren.

וצדקה תהיה לנו, “and it will be a righteousness for us, etc;” this verse has also not been spelled out completely; it should have read: 'וצדקה תהיה לנו לפני ה' אלוקינו כי נשמור וגו “and it will be a righteousness before the Lord our G-d, when we observe, etc.” in other words, Moses holds out the promises of a great reward for keeping the Torah. An alternate interpretation: this sentence is an appendage to the one that commenced with the question of the intelligent son in verse 20. Moses assures this son that there will be a great reward in store for him if he observes the various categories of commandments in the Torah about which he had enquired. This reward is the encouragement to diligently study and observe the Torah.

We will enjoy the transient life on this earth as a result of having first assured ourselves through observance of the commandments of our share in the world to come, i.e. eternal life.

I believe that we must understand our verse by remembering that there are two levels of serving G'd. One may serve the Lord out of fear or one may serve the Lord out of love. Every single creature, human or otherwise, is obligated to serve its master out of fear for its survival. Should it fail to do so, Maleachi 1,6 already quotes G'd as asking: "if I am to be served by you because you consider yourselves My slaves and I am your Master, where is the fear of Me?" This is also the meaning of Deut.10,12: "what does the Lord ask of you except to fear Him, etc?" The second level of serving G'd is service out of love for G'd. This is, of course, a great מצוה but it is not a requirement that man must love his Master. Legally speaking it suffices that the slave does not hate his Master. On the other hand, the master is obligated to look after the physical needs of the slave such as food, shelter, medical attention, etc., all in accordance with the master's resources. Moses writes "G'd has commanded us to fear Him," i.e. our obligation is to revere G'd whereas His obligation to us is לטוב לנו ולהחיותינו, "to ensure that we are well off and to keep us alive" in return for our discharging our obligation towards Him.

Moses added the words כהיום הזה, "as of this day," meaning that just as G'd is discharging His obligation towards us today, so He will continue to do so. Devarim Rabbah 7 describes that while the Israelites were in the desert their garments grew with them as required, the clouds performed ironing duties, etc. Concerning the group of people who served the Lord out of love the Torah writes וצדקה תהיה לנו "this is accounted as a charitable act for us" as we are not obligated to perform service of the Lord from love. The nature of this love is described in Chovot Halevavot chapter אהבת השם section one in these words: "Love of G'd is a longing of one's soul and its inclining towards the Creator; this is a tendency of one's own self to cleave to the supreme Light represented by the Lord our G'd."

The Torah writes: כאשר צונו "as He commanded us," to describe that the reason we relate to G'd out of love is not because we have any ulterior motives when we serve Him thus. We find the same idea in Psalms 40,9: "to do what pleases You, my G'd, is my desire." This is a description of someone who performs G'd's will out of pure love. Please read what I have written in Leviticus 18,2 on the verse כמעשה ארץ מצרים. In return for this kind of service of the Lord man is entitled to expect some reward even as a right. Although in truth we ought to pay a reward to G'd who has allowed us to taste the sweetness of His love for us, a pleasant sensation beyond compare, such people deserve the reward for the period they strove to perfect themselves before they came to the realisation that actually they owe G'd and not vice versa.

Another allusion contained in our verse is based on Tikkuney HaZohar 21 that by observing the commandments we will secure our share in His שכינה, also known as צדקה.