Commento su Deuteronomio 30:1

AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, WHEN ALL THESE THINGS ARE COME UPON THEE. I have already mentioned⁴⁷See Leviticus 26:12, and above, 4:25; 19:8. that this chapter refers to the future, for all its subjects have not happened and have not been created, but they are destined to take place.

והשבות אל לבבך, you will be able to distinguish the truth between apparently contradictory phenomena. When you become the victim of what has been predicted for the sinners, you will realise how far you had strayed from G’d’s Torah, i.e. from G’d Himself.

והיה כי יבאו עליך כל הדברים, "It will be when all these things will come upon you, etc." Why did the Torah speak about "all these things," instead of merely writing: "when the blessing or curse will come upon you?" ...

Kap. 30. VV. 1 u. 2. והיה וגו׳. Hier folgt nun das große Ziel, zu welchem die ganze prüfungsreiche oft dunkle Reihe der jüdischen Leidensjahrhunderte führen wird. ׳והשבת וגו. Wir haben oben zu וידעת היום והשבת אל לבבך וגו׳ (K. 4, 39) geglaubt, השב אל לב heiße: etwas sich wieder zum Bewusstsein und zur Beherzigung bringen, wenn es entschwunden war, oder entschwinden will. Allein Stellen wie hier und so auch ולא ישיב על לבו (Jes.44, 19). זאת אשיב אל לבי (Klagel. 3, 21) dürften doch für eine andere Auffassung sprechen. Es scheint: die Tätigkeit des Erkennens außer uns gegebener Tatsachen wird als eine nach außen gehende Richtung des Geistes begriffen. Die Tätigkeit aber, die das so Erkannte nun vor das Forum des urteilenden und folgernden Nachdenkens bringt, wird als eine zurückbringende, von außen nach innen gerichtete, das in der Außenwelt Erkannte, an das Innere zurückbringende Tätigkeit gefasst, für welche השיב אל לב der geeignete Ausdruck ist. Ähnliches liegt ja dem Ausdruck: Reflexion zu Grunde. So Jes.: חציו שרפתי usw. sind dem Geiste sehr wohl bekannte äußere Tatsachen. Aber er bringt das Erkannte nicht seinem Innern zurück, um darüber nachzudenken und das daraus sich Ergebende zu folgern. Klagel.: חסדי ד׳ כי לא תמנו usw. sind äußere geschichtlich erfahrene Tatsachen, die er aus der äußeren Erfahrung in sein Inneres zurückbringt, um daraus Tröstliches zu folgern. Auch oben ׳וידעת וגו׳ והשבת וגו ist die Aufforderung, den erkennenden Geist auf die in dem Vorhergehenden aufgeführten geschichtlichen Tatsachen zu richten (וידעת) und sie sodann vor das Forum des urteilenden und schließenden Verstandes und des sich entschließenden Wollens zurückzubringen (והשבת אל לבבך).

בכל הגויים, while you are still in exile.

Perhaps we can understand this better in light of Berachot 54 that "one must recite a benediction when he experiences something he perceives as a blessing as well as when he experiences something which appears to him as evil." The Talmud there on folio 60 goes so far as to say that even when we experience something which we perceive as evil we must accept it joyfully. ...

So auch hier: Wenn erst alles, was an Segen und Fluch über die Gestaltung deiner Zukunft Jahrtausende voraus in diesem Buch des Gesetzes für dich ausgesprochen ist, sich an dir erfüllt hat, dann wirst du die Summe dieser tausendjährigen Erfahrungen deiner äußeren Schicksalsgänge zum Nachdenken in dein Inneres zurückbringen, und das Resultat davon wird sein, dass du mit ganzem Herzen und ganzer Seele zu deinem Gotte und seinem Gesetze zurückkehrst und deine Kinder zur gleichen Treue an Gott und seinem Gesetze gewinnst. Denn die Erfahrung deiner Jahrtausende wird dir endlich "Gott" und die "Göttlichkeit deines Gesetzes" für immer besiegelt haben.

This is what the Torah has in mind when it introduces this verse with the word והיה which always has a joyful connotation. Moses could not have made this point if he had written only: "when the blessing or the curse come upon you." I would then have read the words "the blessing" as referring to the word והיה, which implies something joyful. The words: "or the curse," I would have understood as belonging to what follows, i.e. something that might lead to penitence but not something that the Israelite would acknowledge as being meant for his own good.

...We have learned from that which it states, "and cast them away to another land," that the exile will be in this manner of casting out only until they reach the other land; but in the lands of the nations, it was only in the manner of of driving away... And there is a difference between "casting away" and "driving away" in three things: A) In that one who casts [something] away and throws [it] makes the thing distant from him; B) that by being cast away, the thing spoils; and C) he shows that he does not want to know where it lays. But one who drives [something] away needs to be close to the thing the whole time he is driving it away; and by driving it away, the thing does not spoil; and he knows the place of that thing. So it is possible to explain, "and you shall take it to heart amidst the various nations" - when you dwell among the nations, you shall put into your heart, "that which the Lord your God has driven you out" - that He has driven you out to a special place. It is like someone who drives something from one place to another until he finds a place where it can rest properly. And this is a proof that the eyes of the Lord your God are upon you for the good.

בכל הגוים וגו׳ unter allen Völkern, wohin dich Gott zerstreut, bleibst du trotz aller Wandlungen bis ans Ende der Jahrtausende das "Gottesvolk mit dem Gottesgesetze in Händen", und das ermöglicht und bewirkt, zusammen mit der Erfüllung deines Geschickes, deine endliche Umkehr und Aufkehr und Rückkehr zu Gott und seinem Gesetze. —ושבת עד וגו׳, nicht — ושבת אל, welches auch nur eine rückkehrende Richtung zu Gott hin bedeuten könnte, sondern — עד, du wirst nicht auf halbem Wege stehen bleiben, sondern deine Umkehr so vollständig vollbringen, dass du ganz wieder zu Gott hin gelangst.

When having a second look at our verse I have realised how much G'd's fondness for the Jewish people is reflected here. When referring to the blessing the Torah writes: כי יבאו עליך, when the blessing will come upon you," whereas when writing about the curse the Torah writes: והקללה אשר נתתי לפניך, "the curse which I have presented before you." This is another reason why the introduction והיה כי יבאו עליך כל הדברים האלה is necessary. ...

Had Moses not used this formulation we would have interpreted the word לפניך as applying both to the blessing and to the curse in equal measure. Only the introductory words enable us to realise that the nature of the curse will be different from the blessing. Do not worry about the fact that the Torah writes הדברים "the things" in the plural, whereas the blessing is mentioned in the singular. There are many examples in the Torah of constructions such as this.

הברכה והקללה, "the blessing or the curse, etc." There is no need for the Torah to tell us that G'd will welcome Israelites with open arms if they sin and return in penitence before G'd has withdrawn the blessings they have become used to. The message of our verse is that even if the Israelites sinned so much that G'd has brought the curses upon them, He will still assist them in their penitence though it is due only to the afflictions the people have experienced.

We have to explain the need for the Torah to mention the blessing at this juncture altogether. It would have sufficed to write the word הקללה, "the curse," as this is the catalyst that sparks repentance. Perhaps the Torah describes some of the thought processes which preceded the penitence of the Israelites. As long as the Israelites had not sinned and had experienced blessings in abundance they had not attributed it to their lifestyle. They had taken such blessings for granted, considering them as their due. Only after being deprived of these blessings do the Israelites begin to perceive that the lifestyle they used to enjoy was due to G'd bestowing special blessings on them.

והשבת אל לבבך, "and you will take it to heart, etc." The Torah uses this expression because sinners are misled by their hearts.

The Torah refers to an additional error the exiled Jew makes before he becomes a penitent. Even when he considers for a moment that the troubles he finds himself in are due to his having disobeyed G'd, the evil urge will tell him that this is not so. He will try and convince the Jew that they are not the only people who have experienced exile from time to time. The Torah counters this argument by writing בכל הגוים, "amongst all the nations." When other nations are exiled they are exiled to one or two countries. No nation has ever been scattered to the four corners of the earth as have the Jews.