Commento su Deuteronomio 4:19

ופן תשא עיניך AND LEST THOU LIFT UP THINE EYES to ponder on the matter, and to set your heart to go astray after them.

חלק ה' אלוקיך אותם לכל העמים, He arranged for them to appear in a manner appropriate for the needs of each respective nation, according to their individual differences. This very fact proves how wrong those are who believe in the universe’s existence being the result of “the big bang,” i.e. forces, sources of energy, which operated without design, happenings which are totally random, haphazard. How could zodiac signs be of significance unless a superior intelligence had arranged for them? (compare Maimonides, Moreh Nevuchim 20,2 quoting Aristo.)

אשר חלק, in order to provide light. According to the principal meaning of the text the meaning is that these celestial bodies were put at the disposal of all nations to serve them. By doing so G’d wanted to show that He is not concerned about their competition as influences that could override His authority in the universe.

אשר חלק ה' אלוקיך אותם לכל העמים תחת כל השמים, “which Hashem your G’d, has apportioned to all the peoples under the entire heaven.” Each nation has been assigned a star that acts in a manner of speaking as their guardian angel, supervises their fate. [Hence the study of astrology. Ed.] This is why they made themselves visual images of these stars, etc., eventually, even worshipping those images as if they had power independent of the Creator.

ופן תשא עיניך השמימה, “not to raise your eyes skyward.” There is a difference between the word השמים and the word השמימה, just as there is a difference between מצרים and מצרימה. The name of the political entity, the state, is מצרימה, whereas the word מצרים includes the entire country, region. We have proof of this distinction in Numbers 20,15 where Moses describes the descent of the family of Yaakov from the land of Canaan as וירדו אבותינו מצרימה, ונשב במצרים, “our forefathers descended to the state of Egypt and they settled in “greater Egypt.” Similarly here. When the Torah describes השמים, this includes any part of the sky visible to the eye anywhere. All parts of the sky are the same for that purpose. This is why the Torah also writes תחת כל השמים at the end of this verse. However, when the Torah speaks of השמימה, it refers to specific areas of the sky, areas known for certain constellations of stars, etc. They are areas where certain patterns of stars always appear at intervals that are subject to human calculations. Seeing that certain such constellations appear to presage certain happenings at certain times, some people err in ascribing powers to these constellations. This is why the Torah warns the Jewish people not to raise their eyes to such parts of the sky and the constellations visible there. The “seeing” the Torah speaks of is not with the physical eye but with the mental eye, i.e. the conclusions derived from this “seeing.” This is why G’d told Avraham in Genesis 15,5: הבט נא השמימה וספור הכוכבים, “take a look at the sky and count the stars, etc.” He took him to a place from which he could look down at the stars (Bereshit Rabbah 44,12).

To speculate about the matter and to set your heart, etc. Rashi is answering the question: It is written, “Or lest you raise your eyes [heavenward], etc.” But will a person come to worship them just because he raises his eyes heavenward? Therefore, Rashi explains: “To speculate about the matter, etc.”

V. 19. ופן תשא (Verse 16 — 18) verbot die Vergegenwärtigung Gottes unter irgend einem Bilde. Hier folgt nun das Verbot des Sternenkultus, der Vergötterung der Himmelskörper, deren wirklicher und vermeintlicher Einfluss auf die Gestaltung der irdischen Dinge wohl die vornehmlichste Quelle der Abgötterei gewesen. Der Anblick des Gesamthimmels, des als das "Doppel dort" die Erde allseitig umspannenden Weltenraums, und darin "der Sonne" (nach ihrem hebräischen Namen schon untergeordnet als erster "Diener", als "Küster" in Gottes großem Weltendome sich ankündigend) und des Mondes und der Sterne, der ganzen großen Himmelswelt, die trotz ihrer zahllosen in größter Mannigfaltigkeit der Größe und des Glanzes, der Entfernung und des Laufes dem denkenden Menschen doch als צבא, als ein einheitliches, einem Einzigen unterstehendes, von Seinem einheitlichen einzigen Willen regiertes Heer sich darstelle — der Anblick könnte dich gedankenlos hinreißen, du könntest statt deiner נפש, deinen Sinnen folgen und in ihnen selbstherrliche Mächte deines Geschickes erkennen, והשתחוית להם denen gegenüber du dich machtlos hinzuwerfen, ותעבדם und deren vermeintliche Gunst du durch ersonnenen Huldigungsdienst zu erwerben hättest. — אשר חלק ה׳ אלהיך וגו׳. Es heißt nicht: אשר חלק להם ה׳ את כל העמים וגו׳, dann wäre damit gesagt, Gott habe ihnen eine Herrschergewalt über die Völker eingeräumt, so aber sagt es das Gegenteil: sie sind der Völker Anteil, auf sie sind die Völker angewiesen, sich die Wirkungen ihrer physischen Kräfte durch die Herrschaft des Menschengeistes für den Aufbau und Ausbau ihres Einzel- und Volkslebens dienstbar zu machen, und es ist Gott, dein Gott, der sie für diese ihre Lebenserfüllung den Völkern zugeteilt, dessen Wohlgefallen sie daher durch den sittlichen Pflichtgebrauch dieser ihrer Weltstellung zur glücklichen Lösung derselben allein zu suchen hätten, den sie aber vergessen haben und dadurch von der Hoheit der ihnen bestimmten sittlichfreien Weltherrscherstellung in die Unfreiheit eines physischen Naturgötterdienstes hinabgesunken sind. In der reinen Weltstellung sind die Naturgewalten der Anteil der Menschen, in der Verirrung sind die Menschen der Anteil der Naturgewalten.

לכל העמים, “unto all the peoples;” the luminaries shine for all of mankind, regardless of their religious orientation. They shine equally for the dumb and the intelligent, the righteous or the evil doers. Anyone who worships such phenomena which do not distinguish between different categories of creatures, must surely consider himself as having been greatly humiliated by such “gods.”A different interpretation about the words: לכל.....אשר חלק העמים, “which He has assigned to all the nations.” According to this approach, the phenomena in the sky are indeed intended to exert a degree of awe for all the other nations, barring the Jewish people. You, the Jewish people whom G-d has chosen as His inheritance on earth, it behooves not to bow down to any power but to Him. They need not be in awe of any other phenomena in nature.

אשר חלק ה׳ WHICH THE LORD ASSIGNED to give light to them (to all peoples) (Megillah 9b). — Another explanation: which God assigned to them as deities; He did not prevent them from going astray after them, but He allowed them to err (to slip) through vain speculations, in order to drive them out from the world. Similarly it states, (Psalms 36:3) "He (God) made him err (slip) through his eyes (i.e. through what his eyes behold) until his iniquity be found and he be hated” (Avodah Zarah 55a).

וראית את השמש ואת הירח, “and you will see the sun and the stars.” The words ואת הכוכבים do not refer to the multitude of the stars in the sky but to the 7 basic planets (pre-Copernicus astronomy) The word כוכבים (pl) means the minimum plural i.e. 2; the letter ה at the beginning adds another 5, making a total of 7 stars or planets. Add the words צבא השמים, and you have the 12 zodiac signs, the horoscopes. The word כל includes the ministering angels. The reason the Torah adds the words ונדחת before writing והשתחוית להם, “you will bow down to them,” is to remind us that anyone doing that will automatically be נדחה, cast out, much as one casts out a person from a certain location so that he falls and dies.

To provide them with light. Rashi is answering the question: It is written, “And worship them ... has made them available, etc.” But did the Holy One Blessed Is He make them available for all the peoples to worship them?

Another explanation: [He made them available] as deities. He did not prevent them, etc. Hashem did not make them available as deities, for He did not create them for this purpose. However, He did not prevent them, etc. Rather, He caused them to slip with matters of nonsense, for it appears to them that the benefit they get is attained by worshipping the stars. But in reality they are bad, [and their purpose is] to banish the people.

From blundering after them, etc. The first explanation is problematic, for why does it say, “to them”? Do the stars shine only for them? Therefore, Rashi says, “Another explanation.” Yet, the second explanation is problematic, for why did Hashem create something in the first place that will cause people to err? Is it not written, “The world was built with kindness (Tehillim 89:3)”? Therefore, both reasons are necessary.