Commento su Deuteronomio 18:13

תמים תהיה עם ה' אלהיך THOU SHALT BE PERFECT WITH THE LORD THY GOD — walk before him whole-heartedly, put thy hope in Him and do not attempt to investigate the future, but whatever it may be that comes upon thee accept it whole-heartedly, and then thou shalt be with Him and become His portion (Sifrei Devarim 173:3).

THOU SHALT BE WHOLE-HEARTED WITH THE ETERNAL THY G-D. The meaning thereof is that we are to direct our hearts to Him only, and believe that He alone does everything. It is He Who knows the truth about all future events, and from His prophets, or from His pious ones, in other words the Urim and Thummim¹⁹³Exodus 28:30 (Vol. II, pp. 480-483). — are we to inquire about future events. We are not to inquire of the astrologers or from anyone else, or by any means to trust that their words will be fulfilled. Instead, if we hear any prediction [of the diviners] we should say, “Everything is in the hands of Heaven,¹⁹⁴Berachoth 33b. for He is the G-d of gods¹⁹⁵Above, 10:17. Who is supreme above all, the Omnipotent One over everything, Who changes the set order of the stars and constellations at His Will, Who frustrateth the tokens of the imposters, and maketh diviners mad,”¹⁹⁶Isaiah 44:25. and we are to believe that future events will occur according to man’s drawing closer to His service. Therefore after the warning against inquiring about future events from diviners, and of seeking on behalf of the living to the dead,¹⁹⁷Isaiah 8:19. he stated that you are to be whole-hearted with G-d in all these matters and not be afraid of those who tell of things to come. Rather, you should inquire of His prophet and to him shall you hearken.¹⁸⁵Verse 15. And this is the opinion of Onkelos who translated, “You shall be whole-hearted in the fear of the Eternal your G-d,” meaning that you should not be deficient in the fear of Him, for tamim (whole) indicates perfection in a thing, just as ‘seh tamim’ (a lamb that is perfect)¹⁹⁸Exodus 12:5. means one that is without blemish and any deficiency. This verse [before us] constitutes a positive commandment.¹⁹⁹So also mentioned by Ramban in his notes to Rambam’s Sefer Hamitzvoth. See my translation of “The Commandments,” Vol. I, p. 264, Commandment 8. I have already mentioned this in connection with the verse, and be thou whole-hearted.²⁰⁰Genesis 17:1 (Vol. I, p. 217).

תמים תהיה, whole-hearted to the extent that you will not even try and gain information about future events except through an authentic prophet.

Whole-hearted: The letter 'Tav' is large, indicating that if you go whole-heartedly, it is as if you have fulfilled from 'Aleph' to 'Tav' ("from A to Z").

תמים תהיה עם ה׳ אלוקיך,"You shall be wholehearted with the Lord your G'd." Inasmuch as the previous verses dealt with people who engage in a variety of magic mixed with their religious tenets, the Torah has to emphasise that our relationship with G'd must be predicated on mutual exclusivity. The difference between Judaism and other religious beliefs is that those beliefs are based on a variety of terrifying phenomena in nature. As a result of the Gentiles' fears and traumas they resort to means which would foretell them what to expect and to try and take precautions against any disaster the stars foretell. We, who are convinced that G'd always has our best interests at heart, do not need to be terrified [except of our sinful conduct, Ed.]. You may therefore best translate this verse as meaning: "you will be complete i.e. תמים and at ease with the Lord your G'd provided תהיה עם השם אלוקיך, that you are on the same wavelength as the Lord your G'd. Any evil in store for you which you would find by consulting your horoscope is not bound to happen anyway. Our patriarch Abraham is the best example of this. He thought that because his horoscope told him that he would not have any children that G'd could not give him a meaningful reward; G'd taught him that he could overcome what he thought would happen (Shabbat 156). The word תהיה belongs both with the word תמים as well as with the words עם ה׳ אלוקיך. "You will be whole when you are on the side of your G'd."

'תמים תהיה וגו, and you are only to consult Him, not the dead. Seeing that the existence of necromancers is a form of G’d’s testing the faith of the people in Him, He enabled the spiritually negative elements in this world, the demons to possess some apparent powers to reveal the future. (compare author on 13,4 and on Exodus 32,4)

תמים תהיה עם ה' אלוקיך, “You are to be wholehearted with the Lord your G’d.” Our hearts need to be trained exclusively on Him, and we must believe that He is the ultimate source of all that happens and that therefore reliable knowledge of future events can be obtained only from Him. If we have justified reason to try and obtain knowledge of some future events, especially as it relates to the people as a whole, the venue is through the prophet or the breastplate of the High Priest in which is contained the urim vetumim, a device that can be activated by the High Priest to get responses to his enquiries from heavenly sources. [During the period of the second Temple there no longer was such a device. Ed.] Astrology as a means to divine the future is strictly forbidden, and has been so since chapter 15 in Genesis when G’d showed Avram that he was mistaken in relying on that venue as to his fathering children.

Walk with Him in utter trust, in anticipation of Him, etc. I.e., do not do like the idolaters [who explore the future], but “walk in perfect trust,” [meaning] that “you should walk with Him in utter trust, in anticipation of Him, etc.”

V. 13. תמים תהיה וגו׳. Wir haben bereits im Wajikra S. 9 f. und S. 465 f. bei der Forderung des symbolischen תמים-Charakters für Opfer und Opfernde die Forderung der Ganzheit unserer Hingebung, die Hingebung des ganzen Menschen mit allen seinen Beziehungen an Gott als unmittelbarste Folgerung aus dem Gotteinheitbewusstsein, als Verwirklichung der עם סגלה-Bestimmung, der Bestimmung eines ausschließlich Gott angehörenden Volkes entwickelt. Diese Forderung tritt hier in konkretester Bedeutung an uns heran. Wir sollen nicht die geringste Faser unseres Geschickes- und Tatenlebens von Gott ablösen, sollen in unserer Ganzheit mit Gott sein. Damit ist das ganze im Vorhergehenden geschilderte heidnische Unwesen aus dem jüdischen Bereiche gebannt. Gott, der alleinige Lenker unserer Geschicke und Leiter unserer Taten, Er ist es allein, der unsere Zukunft bestimmt, und dessen Wohlgefallen allein den Maßstab für das bietet, was wir zu tun und zu lassen haben. Nicht ein blindes Schicksalsmolech waltet über uns und unsere Kinder, nicht die Toten, nicht der Stab und das Wiesel usw. usw. wissen, was uns bevorsteht, nicht krankhaft verzückter Aberwitz etc. hat uns den Spruch für unser Tun und Lassen zu sprechen, oder das Gewicht eines Staubkorns der Schale unseres Geschickes zu geben und zu nehmen. Nur Gott hätten wir um unsere Zukunft zu befragen, wenn das Wissen seiner Zukunft überhaupt dem $Bedürfnis wäre, und nur von Gott hätten wir uns einen Ausspruch für תמים unser Tun und Lassen uns zu erbitten, wenn uns Gott nicht diesen Ausspruch für unser Tun und Lassen längst bereits in seinem Gesetze gesprochen. In der Tat geht auch der תמים mit seinem Geschickes- und Tatenleben also ganz in Gott auf, dass er nur in dem Gedanken an die in jeder Gegenwart zu erfüllenden Aufgaben lebt, den Erfolg aber mit seiner ganzen Zukunft Gott anheim stellt. Mit der Erfüllung seiner Pflicht hat für ihn sein Tun und Lassen bereits sein höchstes Ziel erreicht; er hat seinem Gotte den Zoll treu erfüllter Pflicht geleistet; für alles, was darüber hinausliegt, ist er — wie die Lautverwandtschaft דמם und טמם lehrt — ruhig und unzugänglich.

תמים תהיה עם ה' אלוקיך, “be wholehearted with the Lord your G-d.” The expression תמימות, means “to have an exclusive relationship with either man or G-d.” One does not flirt with any alternatives. The opposite of this occurred with the nations that were made to live in Israel as exchange for the Ten Tribes which the Assyrians had exiled. They professed to worship the Jewish way of life, but without abandoning their own religion. As a result, they became victims of the lions invading their part of the Land of Israel. (Compare Kings II 17,33)

Then, you will be with Him, [He will take you] as His portion. This is how you should explain the verse: “Walk in perfect trust,” meaning that you should “wait for Him and you should not explore the future, etc.,” and then [you will be] “with Adonoy, your God.” I.e., “you will be with Him and as His portion.”

Die positive Forderung תמים תהיה וגו׳ reicht daher weiter, als das negative Verbot des in den vorangehenden Versen untersagten heidnischen Unwesens und erwartet die Unterlassung jeglicher sonstiger Art vermeintlicher Zukunftserforschung (siehe תוספות Schabbat 156 b ד׳׳ה כלדאי).

Zum dem Ausdrucke תמים וגו׳ עם וגו׳, vergl. והיה לבבכם שלם עם ה׳ אלקינו וגו׳ (Kön. I. 8, 61).