Commento su Deuteronomio 10:20

That is that He commanded us to believe in His awe, may He be exalted, and to be afraid of Him. And we should not be like the heretics who walk brazen-heartedly and heedlessly, but should be scared with the fear of His punishment at all times. And that is His saying, "And you shall fear the Lord, your God." And in the Gemara (Sanhedrin 56a), they said by way of give and take about His saying, "And if he pronounces (nokev) the name, Lord, he shall be put to death" (Leviticus 24:16) - "Say that [nokev] is to mention, as it is stated (Numbers 1:17), 'who were mentioned (nikvu) by name,' and its prohibition is from, 'And you shall fear the Lord, your God.'" That is to say, maybe His saying, "And if he pronounces," is only that he mention [God's] name [even] without cursing. And if you will say, "What transgression is there in that" - we will say that it is because he neglected fear. For included in the fear of God is not to mention His name gratuitously. The answer to this question, and its rejection, was, "First, you need the name with the name" - as they said, "Yossi should smite Yossi" - "and also, that this is [only] a prohibition of a positive commandment. And any prohibition of a positive commandment is not called a prohibition" - for it is a command and a positive commandment, and we cannot prohibit with a positive commandment. Behold it has been made clear to you that His saying, "And you shall fear the Lord, your God," is a positive commandment. (See Parashat Ekev; Mishneh Torah, Foundations of the Torah.)

That is that we are commanded to serve Him. And this command is repeated several times: His saying, "And you shall serve the Lord, your God" (Exodus 23:25); and His saying, "and you shall serve Him" (Deuteronomy 13:5). And although this command is from the inclusive commands - as we explained in Principle Four (Sefer HaMitzvot, Shorashim 4) - it nevertheless has specificity, since it is the command to pray. The language of the Sifrei is, "'And to serve Him' (Deuteronomy 11:13) - that is prayer." And they also said, "'And to serve Him' - that is [Torah] study." And in the Mishnah of Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Rabbi Yose HaGelili, they said, "From where [do we know that] the essence of prayer is a commandment? From here - 'You shall fear the Lord, your God, and you shall serve Him' (Deuteronomy 6:13)." And they said, "Serve Him through His Torah; serve Him in His Temple." This means, direct [yourself] towards it, to pray [towards] there, as Shlomo, peace be upon him, explained. (See Parashat Mishpatim: Mishneh Torah, Prayer and the Priestly Blessing 1.)

That is that He commanded us to associate with the sages, to gather with them and to constantly be involved with them in all manner of work and interaction - in eating and drinking and business, so that it comes to us to imitate their actions and believe the truth of their words. And that is His, may He be exalted, saying, "and to Him shall you cling" (Deuteronomy 10:20). And this command has also already been repeated - "and to cling to Him" (Deuteronomy 11:22). And in the Sifrei (Sifrei Devarim 49:2), it appears, "'And to cling to Him' - cling to the sages and their students." And they accordingly brought a proof about this obligation of a person - to marry the daughter of a Torah scholar, to feed Torah scholars and to give them business - from His saying, "and to Him shall you cling": And they said, "And is it possible for a person to cling to the Divine Presence? And behold, it is written (Deuteronomy 4:24), 'For the Lord, your God, is a consuming fire!' Rather, anyone who marries his daughter to a Torah scholar, or who marries the daughter of a Torah scholar or who benefits a Torah scholar - Scripture considers it as if he clung to the Divine presence." (See Parashat Ekev; Mishneh Torah, Human Dispositions 6.)

That is that He commanded us to swear by His name when it is necessary to ratify something or to deny it. For there is aggrandizement, glory and exhalation through this. And that is His, may He be blessed, saying, "and by His name shall you swear" (Deuteronomy 10:20). And in the explanation, they said, "The Torah said, 'Swear,' and the Torah said, 'Do not swear' - meaning to say, just like it prohibits an oath for which there is no need, and it is a negative commandment; so too is there a commandment [to make] an oath when it is needed, and it is a positive commandment. And as a result, it is not permitted to swear by any of all the creatures, such as the angels or the stars, except by way of nullifying what is attached. This is like one who swears by the sun, but he means to say, the Master of the sun. And in this way, our nation swears by the name of our teacher, Moshe - how glorious is his name - as if the one swearing was swearing by the Master or by the One who sent him. But so long as the one who swears is not intending this, but is swearing by one of the creatures, to believe in it - that it has intrinsic truth, to the point that he swears by it - he has already transgressed and associated something else with the name of the Heavens. About this comes the explanation (Sukkah 45b), "Anyone who associates the name of the Heavens with something else is uprooted from the world." And this is matter that the verse, "and by His name shall you swear," intended - meaning that only about Him should you believe that there is truth by which it is appropriate to swear. And they already said at the beginning of Temurah (Temurah 3b), "From where [do we know] that we may swear to perform the commandments? As it is written, 'and by His name shall you swear.'" (See Parashat Ekev; Mishneh Torah, Oaths 11.)

את ה׳ אלוהיך תירא THOU SHALT FEAR THE LORD THY GOD, and serve Him and cleave to Him; and after you possess all these qualities, then you may swear by His Name (cf. Rashi on 6:13 and Note thereon).

After having acquired all of these attributes then swear in His Name. Rashi clarifies several matters. He writes ותעבוד (and serve) instead of אותו תעבוד (serve Him). For the word אותו is not necessary; instead the verse should say תירא ותעבוד (fear and serve.) Also Rashi writes ותדבק בו (and cling to Him) instead of ובו תדבק (and to Him, cling), in order that all the verbs should follow one another [i.e., they should be grouped together] — “Fear, serve, and cling.” Also, by adding the word אז (then) Rashi indicates that, “Swear by His Name,” is not a positive commandment, as [might be] understood from the verse. And [Rashi writes בשמו to indicate] the ו of ובשמו is superfluous. [The meaning of the verse is] as if the word אם (if) is added and the verse said, “If you fear, serve, and cling to Him, then swear.” I.e., then you are permitted to swear, but not that it is a commandment to swear, as [might be] understood from the verse.

V. 20. ׳את ד׳ אלקיך וגו. Die Akzentuierung fasst entschieden את ד׳ א׳ תירא אתו תעבד zu einem Gedanken zusammen. Dieser Vers ist Schlusssatz der mit V. 17 eingeleiteten יראה-Gedanken. Deinen Gott, wie Er dir eben in seiner nur das Menschliche im Menschen achtenden Waltungsgröße geschildert worden, halte dir immer gegenwärtig, so dass dies Bewusstsein, daß du Ihm nur mit deiner sittlichen Persönlichkeit ein Genüge leisten kannst, dich ganz in seinen Dienst aufgehen lasse. ובו תדבק, dieses Aufwenden aller deiner Kräfte in Erfüllung Seines Willens, werde das Bindemittel zwischen dir und dem אל גדול גבור ונורא, "dienend wirst du ihm nahe;" und ובשמו תשבע; indem dein ganzes Leben Zeuge dafür ist, dass dir Sein Name das absolut Höchste gilt, sei "dein dich Unterstellen unter Seinen Namen" die höchste Wardeiung deines Wortes (siehe zu Kap. 6, 13).

את ה' אלוקיך תירא, “You shall fear the Lord your G-d;” This is a warning not to transgress negative commandments.

אותו תעבוד, “Him you shall serve!” This refers to observance of the positive commandments.

ובו תדבק, “and to Him you shall cleave!” With your heart;Another interpretation of this phrase: seeing that Moses had earlier told the people about some of G-d’s ways of doing things, he adds now that we should emulate what we have learned about how G-d does things. In the portion of Vaetchanan he had not said anything about specific ways in which G-d operates, (Deut. 6,13) this is why he elaborates here.

ובשמו תשבע, “and by His name you shall swear.” This refers to your mouth, as opposed to your heart. If you were to ask that the third commandment of the Ten Commandments had indicated that oaths should be used very sparingly, that is quite true; however, if the need to swear an oath arises you must make sure to swear only by His name. Such situations are primarily when you are tempted to commit a transgression, and you use your oath to stop yourself from giving in to that temptation. (Compare Ruth 3,13 where Boaz did so according to the Talmud in tractate T’murah folio 3)