Commento su Deuteronomio 4:29

ומצאת, even though you will not have a Temple at your disposal once you are exiled, not any of its sacred vessels.

ובקשתם משם….בכל לבבך, "and you will seek (G'd) from there with all your heart, etc. Verses 29 and 30 require analysis. [Basically, the author tries to explain why repentance is mentioned only after exile, and why exile by itself does not appear to be classified as an affliction. Ed.] Remember there are two types of penitence. There is the kind of repentance which is self-induced when people become aware they have sinned and want to rehabilitate themselves to be in good standing with their Creator. The second type of repentance is only the result of the sinner first having suffered severe afflictions at the hands of his enemies, etc. The words: "you will seek from there the Lord your G'd" refer to the people whose repentance was not due to their first having suffered persecution, but was motivated by their fondness of G'd. Moses promises "you will find Him because you seek Him with all your heart" even though you may have committed the most serious sins, such as idolatry, as detailed in verse 28. The fact that you found your way back to G'd will save you from having to experience afflictions.

ומצאת, “and you will find.” Seeing that the previous verses addressed the people en masse, as a plural, we would have expected Moses to write this verse also in the plural instead of switching to the singular, “you (individually) will find.” Had Moses continued in the plural the impression would have been created that the needs of the Jewish people of which he speaks are due only to the fact that they are in exile. It would have sounded as if G’d responds only to communal prayer, communal requests and not to that of the individual. There would have been a precedent for this seeing our sages in Berachot 8 have said that G’d does not despise communal prayer, i.e. that the prayer of a congregation is more effective than that of a mere individual. The Talmud there quotes Job 36,5: “Surely He is mighty, is not contemptuous,” as the source of its message.
For these reasons Moses made a point of telling us that G’d does respond to individuals who seek Him out.

V. 29. ובקשתם משם. Aus diesem Gegensatz wird euch die erhebende, frei machende Nähe des einen Einzigen, wahrhaftigen lebendigen Gottes, der Israels Weltanteil als ה׳ אלהיו geworden, erst recht im Herzen aufleuchten, "ihr werdet ihn suchen und werdet ihn finden", werdet seiner erleuchtenden, sittigenden und frei machenden, seiner euch sittlich adelnden und beglückenden Nähe selbst als Heloten einer heidnischen Welt inne werden, wenn ihr בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, mit allem euren "Wollen" und allem euren "Sein" תדרשנו nur Ihn um seinen Willen befragen und nur Ihn um seine Hilfe angehen werdet. Beides heißt ׳דרש את ה. Israels ganze Galuthgeschichte mit seiner siegreichen Ausdauer nach außen, mit seinem beglückenden Streben nach Erleuchtung und Veredelung im Innern, ist eine fortgesetzte Offenbarung des lebendigen Gottes im Gegensatz zu dem toten und tötenden Heidentum. —

כי תדרשנו בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך בצר לך, the reason why you will be able to find your way to G’d is that your conditions in exile will be so tough that you will turn to G’d sincerely with all your heart and all your soul.

Concerning the people who become penitents only after having experienced severe afflictions, Moses says: "when you are in dire straits and all the retributions G'd has warned you of have found you at the end of days, you will return to the Lord your G'd and hearken to His voice." Moses makes clear that this repentance is not self-induced and that is why he does not characterise this repentance as being בכל לבבך, "with all your heart." The only reason you decided to become penitents is to escape the afflictions and persecutions. These penitents will have to compensate for their lack of whole-heartedness when they decide to rehabilitate themselves by absorbing more afflictions before their account with G'd is finally settled. This is the precise opposite of what happens to their counter-parts who adopted the path of penitence before they had become victims of afflictions. In their case their very penitence protects them against the afflictions which they had been in line for because of the sins they had committed. According to this interpretation the words בצר לך in verse 30 belong to what preceded them. The meter of the verses then is as follows: "When you seek out the Lord you will find him because you strive for Him with all your heart;" alternatively (the second scenario), "when you are in trouble and as a result become a penitent, even though not with your whole heart, these afflictions will still find you because you have not become a true penitent. In either event, G'd will not destroy you as He is a merciful G'd, etc."

These three verses may also be explained in the following fashion. ובקשתם משם, "You will seek from there," i.e. once you find yourselves in exile amongst other nations and you pray for your daily needs. The Torah does not speak about the exiled Israelites praying for deliverance from their exile; they only pray to make their existence tolerable. The Torah goes on ומצאת, "and you will find," i.e. G'd is approachable even in exile. Otherwise you would perish in exile. The Torah uses the singular, i.e. "you (singular) will find," as not every Jew who prays on foreign soil, in exile, will find Him responding to him. The reason only selected individuals will find that G'd responds to them even when they are in exile is that they seek G'd with their whole heart. Prayer in exile has to be far more intense than prayer on holy soil in order for G'd to respond favourably.

When Moses mentions בצר לך, "when you are in trouble," this is an assurance that there will come a redemption, i.e. at a time in exile when things appear totally intolerable, "when all these afflictions have found you and you have been reduced to greatly diminished numbers." This will be a sign that the end of days is at hand and that what you experience are the birthpangs of the Messiah. The Torah promises that at least at that time G'd will encourage the exiled Jews to do תשובה. This is the promise contained in the words ושבת עד ה׳ אלוקיך ושמעת בקולו, "and you will return to the Lord your G'd and hearken to His voice." The Torah explains the reason for this promise by saying that "the Lord your G'd is merciful."

Perhaps this is the argument of the angel Michael about whom the Zohar Chadash page 30 writes "here the end of days has already arrived and G'd has still not encouraged the hearts of the Jews to become penitents!" I have explained that passage elsewhere in a different context. Meanwhile our eyes are trained on G'd and we anxiously await that He will open His treasure of pure spirit to open blind eyes and to incline our hearts in order for us to appreciate how invaluable it is to enjoy His friendship.