Commento su Deuteronomio 4:1

ועתה ישראל, after you have seen the decree of G’d to exile you if you sin, be on guard to meticulously observe His commandments without adding to them or detracting from them. An addition or a detraction will both have destructive consequences for you.

ועתה ישראל שמע אל החוקים, "And now, O Israel, hearken to the statutes, etc." Perhaps Moses referred to 2 separate incidents which had happened to him personally (when he had been remiss.) The first instance was the matter of speaking to the rock when Moses had struck the rock instead in his eagerness to fulfil G'd's instructions. The second instance was the matter of Zimri publicly cohabiting with the Midianite princess Cosbi when Moses had forgotten the ruling that anyone sincerely jealous of such a desecration of the name of the Lord is to execute the sinner forthwith without trial. On that occasion too, Moses had missed an opportunity to sanctify the name of the Lord as we have explained in that context. Even though Pinchas had articulated this halachah in front of Moses at the time (compare Sanhedrin 82) Moses had answered him: "he who reads the letter must execute what is written therein." As a result, Pinchas acquired the merit of the covenant of peace which in truth had been reserved for Moses himself.

ועתה שמע ישראל, “Now, O Israel, listen!” after Moses had concluded the words of admonition and reminded them of their various past sins, all of which had caused negative fallout for them, so much so that only the second generation had been allowed to enter the Holy Land, he hints that their entry into this land was contingent on their not copying the mistakes of their fathers. Moses especially warns the people not to tamper with G’d’s commandments by either adding or subtracting from them. [A major insult of the Creator, Who does not need us, the creatures, to edit His work. Ed.]

ועתה ישראל שמע אל החוקים ואל המשפטים אשר אנכי מלמד אתכם לעשות למען תחיו; “and now Israel hearken to the statutes and social laws I will teach you to perform in order that you shall live.” This verse teaches that learning, studying the Torah is not the main purpose of the Torah but performing the commandments one has studied. Our sages in Avot 1,17 stated this succinctly when they taught לא המדרש הוא העיקר אלא המעשה, “not the study is of the essence but the performance, the deed.” Only performance of deeds is a guarantee of life (both here and in the hereafter).

Kap. 4. V. 1. ועתה ישראל, dieses "ועתה" ist die Aufforderung, aus allem dem, was Mosche bisher aus der Vergangenheit dem Volke zu erneutem Bewusstsein hervorgehoben hatte, das Resultat für die nun anzutretende neue Zukunft zu ziehen. Aus allen gemachten Erfahrungen stellt sich ein Ergebnis heraus, dass "i>Gehorsam gegen den göttlichen Willen" die einzige so unerläßliche als ausschließliche Bedingung für das Heil seiner Zukunft bilde. Mosche geht von dannen, allein die Gesetze, die er ihnen von Gott überbracht und gelehrt, sie enthalten alles, dessen sie zum glücklichen Aufbau ihrer Zukunft bedürfen; ihre Erfüllung und die Art ihrer Erfüllung und den Ernst ihrer Erfüllung dem Volke ans Herz zu reden, bildet daher das letzte Anliegen Mosches vor seinem Scheiden.

'ועתה ישראל וגו, “and now, Israel, etc;” according to the beginning of the Sifri at the beginning of this paragraph, the words: ועתה ישראל, “and now, Israel, etc.;” are Moses’ introduction to relating laws in the Torah, after he had reminded the people why it had taken so long since the Exodus until now and the reason why they were still on the east bank of the river Jordan. He had reviewed how in spite of all the disappointments that their conduct had caused G-d, He had not stopped displaying His fondness for them in a tangible manner each day. He, Moses, would have long ago been able to enter the Holy Land had it not been for the delays caused by them, and his having exhausted the lifespan accorded to him during those years. [His having struck the rock by mistake would have been a scenario that could never have occurred but for their having been condemned to be in the desert for so many years. Ed.] It certainly was time for them now to listen to all the laws that it would be their duty to observe once they crossed the river Jordan

It is possible that Moses' reason for failing to act correctly had been that "his hands were weakened" when he had acted rashly in hitting the rock instead of speaking to it, all because he had not taken the time to reflect on what G'd's proper instructions had been. It is also possible that he felt that the rule קנאים פוגעים בו, that people jealous on behalf of G'd must execute such a sinner, applied only to someone who had seen the actual sin being performed not to someone who had heard about it second-hand. This is why he did not think he had the right to instruct Pinchas to carry out the deed. As a result "he sat on it," and did nothing contrary to his immediate response to hitting the rock when G'd had instructed him to take along his staff at the time. In view of these two failures on his part, Moses now said to the people: "hearken to the statutes, i.e. the laws which lack rationale such as the commandment to speak to the rock at the time. As far as Moses was concerned that instruction was like a חוקה for him, something he did not understand. Moses continued to speak of משפטים, social laws, i.e. the kind of laws which appear to contain an element of social justice such as the law to execute Jews who have sexual intercourse with Gentiles. Both Moses' failures related to one or the other of these types of commandments; this prompted him to warn the Israelites specifically not to become guilty of the mistakes he had made himself, though inadvertently, and which were the reason he suffered from the decree of not being allowed to enter the Holy Land.

— שמע .שמע אל, die aktive spontane Gehörtätigkeit ist eigentlich der geistige Durst (צמא), dessen Befriedigung die geistige Wachstumsfreude bringt (צמח ,שמח), wie ראה das geistige Weiden, die Befriedigung des geistigen Hungers, die konkreten Weltobjekte dem Gedanken bringt, die erst durch die lehrend befruchtende Gehörtätigkeit, zur auflösenden, scheidenden und kombinierenden Entwicklung gelangen. Da wir nur in Worten zu denken vermögen, so wird in Wahrheit allen Denken durchs Gehör vermittelt. — שמע אל ist nun das stete Hinhören auf einen Lehrinhalt, uns nicht damit zu begnügen, ihn einmal erkannt zu haben, sondern ihn uns immer und vor allem da klar und gegenwärtig zu halten, wo er zur Verwirklichung gelangen soll. — שמע אל החקים וגו׳ fordert: keinen Schritt im Leben zu tun, ohne erst die Gesetze zu befragen, welche Normen sie für die Lebenserfüllung enthalten.

למען תחיו, in order that you will continue to live;” the people who had worshipped the Peor had all been killed for having failed to keep such a basic commandment.

Moses concluded this exhortation with the plea "so that you will live and come and take possession of the land which the Lord your G'd is about to give to you." He implied that what happened to him should not happen to them. He added: לא תוסיפו על הדבר, "do not add to the word, etc." This too was a warning to the Israelites that something that happened to him should not happen to them. Torat Kohanim at the beginning of Parshat Acharey Mot (page 1138) describes Rabbi Eleazar ben Azaryah who illustrated the difference in impact between two different kinds of warnings. The first example had a doctor tell his patient not to eat cold foods nor to sleep on a cold floor. The second doctor gave the same instructions but added the warning that not heeding his advice would result in the patient's death just as another patient who had ignored this warning had died. The Rabbi pointed out that the warning of the second physician was taken much more seriously. Moses is compared to the second physician as he could tell the people from his own experience that ignoring the warning had proved fatal for him. He had deviated, i.e. exceeded his instructions by not talking to the rock but hitting it.

אל החקים ואל המשפטים. Es kann nicht genug darauf hingewiesen werden, wie in allen Ermahnungen Mosches חקים in den Vordergrund gestellt sind. Immer erst חקים und dann משפטים. Eben חקים, eben die Gesetze, die unser individuelles, leiblich sinnliches Leben umschränken, mit welchen Gott unserem individuellen leiblich sinnlichen Sein und Wollen sein Maß, sein "nicht mehr noch minder" zugemessen hat, sie bilden die nicht zu beseitigende allererste Grundlage für die Erfüllung unserer Menschen- und Volksbestimmung auf Erden. Sie, die חקים, vor allem die עריות- und מאכלות אסורותGesetze, erzeugen erst Individuen von solcher dem Geistigen und Sittlichen zugewandten Gemütsart, dass von ihnen sich eine auf der Rechtsbasis der משפטים stehende Volksgesellschaft erbauen könne (siehe zu Wajikra 18, 3-5).

ובאתם אתם וירשתם, “therefore it is up to you to inherit” by keeping G-d’s commandments. Do not think or even say, since Moses had been told by G-d that the lsraelites standing in front of Him in Numbers 26,53, who had been told that the land would be distributed to them, this was the kind of promise that could not be revoked if they would prove unworthy.

ולא תגרעו ממנו, "neither shall you diminish from it;" in this instance Moses referred to his failure to do what was required in the matter of Zimri. His failure to demand that someone execute Zimri had been equivalent to his "diminishing" from one of the social laws of the Torah. Moses said ולא תגרעו, "you must not diminish," to indicate that even if by diminishing a law of the Torah such as the בועל ארמי your intention is to save someone's life by your inaction.

אשר אנכי מלמד אתכם. Wiederholt bezeichnet Mosche die Tätigkeit, durch welche er dem Volke die Kenntnis des göttlichen Gesetzes vermittelt hat, nicht als כתיבה, sondern als למוד. Also nicht Schrift, sondern mündliches Wort, mündliche Lehre, תורה שבעל פה, war das Medium, welches das Gottesgesetz im Volke pflanzte, und Mosche gebraucht nicht den Ausdruck הוריתי אתכם ,מורה אתכם ,הורה, sondern: למד. Während הורה, Hiphil von הרה (siehe Bereschit S. 354), einen geistigen Keim in jemanden legen, vorzugsweise die Förderung geistiger Erkenntnis bedeutet, geht לַמֶד, das ja auch Gewöhnen, Üben bedeutet (und in מלמד הבקר Richter 3, 31 geradezu den das Tier zum Pflügen anhaltenden Treibstock, sowie in למודין der Mischna Kelim v, 9 zusammenhaltende Reifen bezeichnet), weit über das bloße begriffliche Erkennen hinüber und bezeichnet einen solchen Unterricht, der die praktische Erfüllung im Auge hat und dazu die vollständige Anleitung gibt. Mosches Gesetzlehre war daher im buchstäblichsten Sinne: תלמוד, und "i>Talmud" ist mosaisches Gesetz.

למען תחיו ובאתם וירשתם: der den göttlichen Gesetzen zugewandte freie Gehorsam schafft uns Leben. Nur indem wir alle unsere Lebenstätigkeiten, unser ganzes Sein und Wollen der Leitung des göttlichen Gesetzes übergeben, seine Bestimmungen in uns aufnehmen und all unser Denken und Empfinden, Reden und Handeln gestalten lassen, kommt unserem "Sein" (היה) der Name "Leben" (חיה) zu, vollendetste Verwirklichung des unserem Sein zu Grunde liegenden, in unserem Sein zu Tage tretenden, Verwirklichung suchenden "Gottesgedankens" (הגה), und nur dann können wir einst auf unseren Lebenslauf zurückblickend sagen: חיינו, wir haben den durch uns zur Verwirklichung kommen sollenden Gottesgedanken verwirklicht! Und wie der freie Gesetzesgehorsam die einzige Bedingung unseres individuellen, sich zum wahren Leben entfaltenden Daseins ist, so ist er auch die einzige Bedingung unseres auf eigenem Boden zu konstituierenden nationalen Lebens. ׳שמע וגו׳ למען תחיו ובאתם וגו.

In engerer Beziehung ist תחיו Produkt von שמע אל החקים und ובאתם וגו׳ von שמע אל המשפטים.