Commento su Esodo 19:5

ועתה AND NOW — if you will now take upon yourselves the observance of My commandments, it will be pleasant (easy) to you from now and henceforth, for every beginning is difficult (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 19:5:1).

AND YE WILL KEEP MY COVENANT. I.e., “the covenant which I have made with your fathers to be a G-d unto them and to their seed after them.”¹⁵³Genesis 17:7. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained it as referring to the covenant which Moses was to make with Israel after the Giving of the Torah, as he said, Behold, the blood of the covenant, which the Eternal hath made with you in agreement with all these words.¹⁵⁴Further, 24:8.
By way of the Truth, [that is, the mystic lore of the Cabala, the verse is to be understood as meaning] that “you should keep My covenant to cleave unto Me, for if thou shalt indeed hearken unto My voice and do all that I speak,¹⁵⁵See Ibid., 23:22. then ye shalt be Mine own ‘s’gulah’ (treasure) from among all peoples.”¹⁵⁶Here in Verse 5. This means that “you will be a treasure ‘in My hand,’” for a king does not hand over a precious object into the hand of another [for permanent possession]. The word s’gulah here is similar in meaning to the expression: ‘us’gulath’ (and treasure) such as kings and the provinces have as their own.¹⁵⁷Ecclesiastes 2:8.

ועתה אם שמוע תשמעו, And now, "if you will hearken carefully, etc." The word ועתה must be understood in accordance with what Bereshit Rabbah 21,6 teaches, in connection with Genesis 3,22 when Adam was being expelled from Gan Eden. The Midrash says there that this word always introduces the element of repentance. Inasmuch as the Israelites were still tainted by the many sins they had committed in the past as well as sins they had committed quite recently, such as when they rebelled against G'd's command in connection with the manna and the Sabbath, G'd warned them that in order to qualify for the gift of the Torah they had to undergo spiritual cleansing, a process of repentance. There is an interesting ruling in Kiddushin 49 that when a man betrothes a woman on the condition that he is righteous and it is found that he had been guilty of a number of sins this fact does not invalidate the bethrothal as it is presumed that he had confessed and repented his sins prior to the betrothal. His repentance entitled him to describe himself as righteous.

כי לי כל הארץ, all the nations are Mine, but I have only chosen you.

ושמרתם את בריתי, “you are to observe My covenant.” According to Ibn Ezra this is a reference to the covenant that would be concluded right after the revelation at the Mountain, as we read in 24,8 [part of the description of Moses spending 40 days on the Mountain. Ed.] הנה דם הברית אשר כרת ה' עמכם על כל הדברים האלה, “here is the blood of the covenant which the Lord sealed with you concerning all these matters”. (Ten Commandments) Nachmanides understands the word בריתי as referring to an existing covenant, the one entered into by G’d with the patriarchs that He was to be not only their G’d, but also the G’d of their descendants.

והייתם לי סגולה, “you shall be My treasured possession;” any treasure which is hidden is called סגולה, it is the kind of treasure which is most dear and beloved to a king and something which he constantly keeps under his personal control. They are matters which the king does not entrust even to his closest ministers or officials. Kohelet 2,8 speaks of such a situation, i.e. “and the treasure of kings and the provinces.” The reason G’d said מכל העמים in our verse is to contrast the other nations whose entire fate is being monitored by G’d’s agents rather than by G’d Himself with the Jewish people whose fate is monitored by G’d Himself. The Torah is even more outspoken about the fact that the fate of the 70 nations has been delegated to His agents in Deut. 4,19-20 “which Hashem has apportioned to all the peoples,....but Hashem has taken you and withdrawn you from the crucible of Egypt to be a nation of heritage to Him.”

If you will now accept it. . . Rashi says, “If you will now accept,” because all words that stipulate conditions, such as אם in this verse, are time related. This is why Rashi switches the order of the verse’s words, and explains it: If now, at this time, you will accept the yoke of Torah, it will be pleasant for you in the future. However, in the verse’s simple reading, the conditional word אם refers to accepting the mitzvos. Accordingly it would mean, “If you accept the mitzvos,” and thus would not convey, “It will be pleasant for you from here on” — i.e., at a future time. (Re”m)

V. 5. Und nun — ihr seid nun hierher gekommen, wohin ich euch geladen, damit תעברון את האלקי׳ בהר הזה, damit ihr an diesem Berge in meinen Dienst tretet, wenn ihr dies ernstlich wollt, wollt mir gehorchen und mein mit ,אם שמוע תשמעו זגו׳ euch begonnenes Bundesverhältnis erhalten, so ist meine Grundbedingung, dass ihr mehr als alle andern Völker mir סגולה seid. סגולה. Aus Kohelet 2, 8: כנסתי לי וגו׳ וסגלת מלכים והמדינות, sowie aus Chron. I. 29. 3: עוד וגו׳ יש לי סגולה זהב וכסף, ergibt sich, dass סגולה ein Eigentum bedeutet, das nur ein Einziger hat, eigentümliche Schätze von Königen und Ländern, einen Privatschatz an Gold und Silber, über welchen ihm allein die Disposition zusteht. Ebenso Baba Bathra 52 a. und Baba Kama 97 b.: קבל מן הקטן יעשה לו סגולה ,החובל בבניו ובבנותיו של אחרים גדולים יתן להם מיד קטנים יעשה להם סגולה, wo סגולה ebenfalls ein für ein noch unmündiges, sonst noch nicht erwerbfähiges Kind sicher gestelltes und ihm allein verbleibendes Besitztum bezeichnet. סגולה ist somit ein Gut, auf welches kein anderer ein Recht hat, das in keiner Beziehung zu einem andern steht. Die Grundbedingung, die mit diesem Worte für unser Verhältnis zu Gott gefordert wird, ist daher, daß wir in jeder Beziehung unseres Wesens, mit unserm ganzen Sein und unserm ganzen Wollen, ganz und ausschließlich sein Eigentum werden, unser ganzes Sein und all unser Wollen nur von Ihm abhängig sein, von Ihm gestalten lassen und keiner andern Macht und keinem andern Wesen einen Einfluss auf die Lenkung unserer Geschicke und auf die Leitung unserer Taten einräumen. כי לי כל הארץ: denn dies Verhältnis, in das ihr zu mir treten sollt, ist kein Ausnahmeverhältnis, ist vielmehr nur der erste Wiederbeginn des normalen Verhältnisses, in welchem die ganze Erde zu mir stehen soll; alle Menschen und alle Völker sind ihrer Bestimmung nach mein und werden von mir zu mir erzogen,

ושמרתם את בריתי, “you are to observe My covenant;” this refers to the covenant of blood discussed in Exodus 24,8, that Moses took the blood of the different types of offerings presented on the altar he had built and divided it in half, as a sign of a covenant between G-d and Israel.

ושמרתם את בריתי AND KEEP MY COVENANT which I shall make with you regarding the observance of the Torah (cf. (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 19:5:1).

FOR ALL THE EARTH IS MINE. This is similar in meaning to the verses: Which the Eternal thy G-d hath allotted unto all the peoples… But you hath the Eternal taken.¹⁵⁸Deuteronomy 4:19-20. And thus He said, “And I have set you apart from the peoples, that ye should be Mine¹⁵⁹Leviticus 20:26. [own] treasure.” It may be that the word s’gulah connotes “attachment.” [The sense of the verse would then be: “and you shall be attached to Me from among all peoples], for unto Me is the earth called kol (all),” as I have explained on the verse, And the Eternal had blessed Abraham ‘bakol’ (in all things).¹⁶⁰Genesis 24:1 (Vol. I, pp. 290-292). The student learned [in the mystic lore of the Cabala] will understand. Similarly, And ye shall be unto me¹⁶¹Verse 6. means that “you will be Mine in a special sense, and not as the rest of the peoples.” And so did the Rabbis interpret it in the Mechilta:¹⁶²Mechilta, ibid. “And ye shall be unto Me. As though it were possible to say it, [He is stating], ‘I shall neither appoint nor delegate [any power] to rule over you, but I Myself will rule over you.’ And thus it says, Behold He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep.”¹⁶³Psalms 121:4.

והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים כי לי כל הארץ, “you will be for Me a most beloved treasure, more than any other nation, for the whole earth belongs to Me.” Although the entire earth belongs to me, I have chosen you alone to relate to as exclusively Mine, i.e. I personally supervise your fates, and I have not delegated this task to various natural forces at My command, such as constellations of stars, etc. The Torah refers to the latter point in greater detail in Deuteronomy 4,19 אשר חלק ה' אלוקיך אותם לכל העמים תחת כל השמים, “which the Lord your G’d assigned to all the other nations under the entire heaven.”

כי לי כל הארץ, “for the whole earth is Mine,” and I have not chosen any other nation except you.
A kabbalistic approach: I have already discussed that the word כל is reference to an attribute of G’d in Genesis 1,1 where the terms השמים and הארץ have been discussed.

Regarding the observance of the Torah. I.e., “My covenant” does not refer to the covenant that was already established, i.e., that of Shabbos or of circumcision. [Rashi knows this] because it is evident that Scripture is speaking of the covenant of the Torah, which is the main subject in this passage.

אם שמוע תשמעו, If you will surely hearken. Why did the Torah have to repeat the expression שמוע? Perhaps the Torah referred to the two Torahs, the written as well as the oral Torah and the various rabbinic edicts promulgated throughout the ages. The people had to be told that both were equally valid. We are told this more explicitly in Deut. 17,11: "do not depart from any word they tell you either to the right or to the left. The Torah uses the word שמוע as a reference to the written Torah inasmuch as it will be revealed immediately, ועתה, whereas the word תשמעו i.e. you will hear (future) is reserved for the oral Torah and the rabbinic decrees, much of which will be formulated in the future. The expression ועתה, "and now," as a reference to what the children of Israel would be given now is quite appropriate then.

סגולה מכל העמים, “more treasured than all the other nations.” Seeing that the entire earth belongs to Me, I am able to raise your stature above that of all the other nations. The word כי in this verse is to be understood as meaning: in spite of, just as it means this in Genesis 48,14: כי מנשה הבכור, “although Menashe is the firstborn,” or the word כי in Exodus 13,17, כי_קרוב הוא, “although it is near.”

סגלה means a cherished treasure, the same as (Ecclesiastes 2:8) “and treasures (וסגלת) of kings” — costly vessels and precious stones which kings store up. In the same manner shall ye be unto Me a cherished treasure more than other peoples (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 19:5:2) . Now do not say that ye alone belong to Me and that I have no other peoples together with (besides) you, and what else, therefore, have I by which the special love I bear you can be made evident; this is not so,

And you will be a treasure among all peoples - even though all types of humans are important to me above all the lower beings, since He is represented only in them, as say Hazal (Avot): 'Humans are beloved because they were created in the Image' - still, you will be treasured among them

By writing בקולי, to My voice, the Torah emphasises that listening to the instructions of Torah scholars is equivalent to listening to G'd's voice Himself (compare Bamidbar Rabbah 14). Acceptance of rules introduced by the Torah scholars is mandatory.

כי לי כל הארץ FOR ALL THE EARTH IS MINE, but in My eyes and before Me they are as nought.

...Because Mine is all the earth - and the difference between you exists in smaller or bigger amounts, despite the fact that the whole earth is Mine, and the Righteous of the Nations are important to Me without a doubt.

Perhaps we can explain a difficult passage in Shabbat 88 according to which the words in 19,17: "they stood at the bottom of the Mountain" mean that G'd placed the Mountain in a threatening position, saying to the Israelites: "if you accept My Torah all well and good, if not, this site will be your burial place." This threat makes little sense in view of the fact that the Israelites had already declared their willingness to accept the Torah by saying in 24,7: "whatever G'd has said we shall do and listen (learn)." Tossaphot hold that the Israelites might have become so frightened at the spectacle of the burning Mountain, etc., that their souls departed from them (so that G'd had to revive them). This seems an unlikely explanation; if this perception would be correct, the very fright of the Jewish people would prevent them from reneging. We feel that our approach, that the Torah speaks here of two separate revelations, the written Torah as well as the oral Torah with the rabbinic additions, offers a far better way of explaining the statement that the Jewish people accepted whatever G'd had said. Concerning anything they would hear from G'd directly (things which would be recorded in the written Torah following the revelation), they gave G'd carte blanche, accepted it without even knowing what precisely they undertook to accept i.e. ועתה, now. Concerning what the rabbis would teach them in the future, however, i.e. additional rules, something the Torah refers to here as תשמעו, to be formulated at a later stage, the Israelites did not yet commit themselves though they did not reject this part of the Torah either. When the Talmud describes G'd as threatening the Israelites with death if they did not accept the Torah now, what is meant is only the part of the oral Torah and subsequent rules by the rabbis which were not being revealed at this point. We must not forget that acceptance of anything the rabbis throughout the ages would decree was something far beyond what the Israelites had in mind when they coined the immortal phrase נעשה ונשמע, "we shall do it, let us hear what it is that we should do." No wonder then that the Torah repeats the word שמע to tell the Israelites that they had not yet covered all the bases with their immortal acceptance. According to the Talmud, G'd did not wait to see if the Israelites would also accept rabbinic authority for innovations for all future times, but He applied psychological pressure so as to make them feel they would die on the spot if they refused to accept the part about the oral Torah also. The Jews remained under such compulsion until the period of Mordechai and Esther when they voluntarily accepted everything which they had originally accepted only under pressure. The reason they did so was that they realised for the first time that the actions of a Torah scholar such as Mordechai were responsible for their salvation from the decree of Haman. Had there not been people of the calibre of Mordechai no vestige of the Jewish people would have remained at that time. While it is true that our sages in Shabbat 88 interpret the words נעשה ונשמע in a slightly different manner and suggested that at that time the Israelites became comparable to the angels who always declare their readiness to carry out G'd's instructions even before knowing what these instructions are (compare Psalms 103,20) where David describes the angels as anticipating G'd in carrying out His will, this is merely homiletics. According to our approach the Israelites may have used the word נעשה before the נשמע as applicable only to the Torah they would hear from G'd directly, whereas they were willing to accept the rabbinic decrees as well as the so-called oral Torah after they would be informed of its details. Alternatively, the words שמוע and תשמעו may be divided as applying to two different groups of Jews. The righteous were willing to accept the Torah unheard and unseen, whereas the average Jew wanted to hear first what he was about to commit himself to. There is no reason to assume that all the Israelites were on the same level spiritually.

It is also entirely possible that in this verse we have a preview of what proved to be the fact after the Torah was revealed (compare Horiyot 4). The Israelites actually heard only two of the Ten Commandments from G'd's mouth directly, i.e. שמוע תשמעו, whereas they heard the remaining commandments through an intermediary, an angel created especially by G'd to transmit His words to the children of Israel. As a result there were two different levels of "hearing." They are alluded to by the two words שמוע תשמעון. The word בקולי instead of לקולי in connection with תשמעון, would be a clear allusion to these differences.

The wording may also contain a promise by G'd that once the Israelites would make the initial effort to listen to G'd's commandments, שמוע, then the way would be paved for them to not only listen but to await further commandments by G'd, i.e. תשמעון. This is analogous to what we read in Psalms 34,9 טעמו וראו כי טוב השם, "taste and see how good the Lord is."

The message in these words may also reflect what we have learned in Sotah 21: "when someone is actively engaged in performing a מצוה, this will protect him against impending disaster as well as save him from difficulties he finds himself in. When a person is not actively engaged in performing a מצוה, his merits will protect him against impending disasters but will not save him from troubles he is in already. When someone has not just one מציה to his credit but Torah itself (the whole range of מצוה observance), it will both protect him from impending disaster and save him if he finds himself in trouble already. The words שמוע תשמעו then mean: "if you are aware that listening to G'd's voice is useful on two levels, namely 1) to grant you life (compare Isaiah,55,4: 'listen so that your soul will live'), and 2) ושמרתם את בריתי, 'and observe My covenant,' it will protect you against the evil urge. We have expanded the meaning of G'd's דבור, speech whose function it is to be heard, to be listened to. The principal commandment described here (and in the Ten Commandments) is to absorb the meaning of the Torah by listening to it when it is presented. All the advantages of Torah are directly derived by people listening to its words. In this instance, the people would benefit by listening to the voice of the living G'd, and they would observe His commandments in order that the evil urge would not gain control over them. When the Torah adds the conjunctive letter ו before the word ושמרתם, this is to indicate that as the result of carefully listening to G'd's instructions, He would prevent the evil urge from leading them into sin. Listening to G'd's words would not only have intellectual benefits but immediate practical benefits.

There is yet another lesson contained in these words. "If you will listen carefully and thus prepare yourselves to hear My voice, I, G'd, will allow you to hear My voice, i.e. I will not address you merely through an agent." G'd also hinted that while the Israelites prepared themselves to listen to a single שמיעה, audition, they would find themselves hearing additional auditions, תשמעון, as a reward for having "tuned in" to the Lord. We find that David alluded to something along these lines in Psalms 68,12 where he said: "G'd gives a single command; the ones who bring the news tell about a host of things." As a result of the quality of one's listening, the souls of the Jewish people would "draw upon" living waters, wisdom and insights. The Torah urges the Israelites to tune in so that what they would hear would be of maximum benefit and would be retained in their memories. This is the additional dimension of the words ושמרתם את בריתי, "you will observe My covenant" as a result of having listened בקולי, to My voice directly, instead of merely to the voice of Moses or another human being. Shir Hashirim Rabbah chapter 1 on the line ישקני מנשיקות פיהו, states that any Torah one has learned from a human being is apt to be forgotten. Not so Torah which one has learned from G'd Himself.

There is still another dimension to our verse. Shabbat 146 teaches that when the Israelites stood at the bottom of Mount Sinai all the residual pollutants they still retained as a result of Adam's original sin departed from them. What the Midrash meant was that the word of G'd was so powerful that the people felt as if they had donned Royal garments (another term for man's soul). As a result, their innermost self despised all alternative attractions in the world, all the abominations which appeal to us humans under the heading of "culture." . This is what the Torah meant when it concluded ושמרתם את בריתי.

והייתם לי סגולה, "you will be a treasure for Me, etc." The term Segulah means something possessing supernatural properties as a result of which we view it as a treasure. It does not need to possess intrinsic value. There are herbs, for instance, which are cold by nature and yet are known to be an antidote to cold, something that is illogical within nature as we know it. G'd promises the Jewish people that as a result of their listening to His commandments and observing them they will become such a people for Him, a people whose history defies all accepted norms.

This promise is like a tree which has many branches. We are told in Shabbat 63 that if a Jew intends to perform a commandment and is prevented from doing so by forces beyond his control he is nonetheless given the reward applicable to a person who has fulfilled this commandment. If, however, the same Jew (or another Jew) intended to violate one of G'ds' commandments and was fortunate enough to have been prevented from doing so by forces beyond his control, he is not punished, i.e. his evil intention is not culpable. This is a halachah which defies logic. Interestingly, the same halachah rules that the very opposite holds true in the case of Gentiles. Whereas a good deed intended but not actually performed is not rewarded, the intention to commit a sin though not carried out is nonetheless punishable. Logic, or "nature" would have dictated that we either judge someone according to his intent or according to his deeds. How can one apply such a double standard? We are taught in Sanhedrin 59 that if a Cuti (non-Jew who has adopted many Jewish laws) studies the Torah and as a result observes the Sabbath (in the manner Jews do), he is guilty of the death penalty. He is not even supposed to observe the other commandments which G'd gave the Jewish people exclusively. How could this be so seeing that performance of these commandments is something G'd approves of as a good deed or He would not have commanded the Jewish people to perform such commandments? The Torah answers such questions by promising "you will be a treasure for Me from amongst all the nations," i.e. the Torah has accorded to you the key to determine which deed is a good deed based on the laws of the Torah. Seeing כי לי כל הארץ, that the whole earth is Mine, I G'd have the right to let you determine what is a good deed and what is not and under what circumstances such a deed is good. When G'd said מכל העמים, this means that should people at large claim that such special treatment of the Jewish people is totally unjust and that as long as the members of the other nations are but willing to conform to the laws of the Torah they should also be the beneficiaries of such observances, G'd says: "the whole earth is Mine," i.e. I can choose who I wish to treat as someone special. Since we know from Sifri on Deut. 33,2 that the other nations rejected the Torah when G'd offered it to them, and as a result G'd could not demonstrate that He treated us as a treasure by allowing us credit for things the Gentiles do not get credit for, how does G'd demonstrate that we are His special treasure? G'd answers this by saying: "the whole earth is Mine.," G'd indicates with these words that there are people in every nation who do recognise His being the Supreme G'd. This fact is spelled out in greater detail by the prophet in Maleachi 1,11 who describes that members of all nations from where the sun rises to where it sets, offer incense and pure gift offerings to the Lord, etc. G'd states that the members of those nations do not receive a reward from Him for doing so, their pious deeds do not make an impact on G'd. It is clear therefore that Israel's being a סגולה amongst all the nations has a great deal of practical meaning.

Another meaning of the Israelites being a סגולה for G'd more than all the other nations is that they alone serve G'd directly, whereas all the other nations who serve pagan deities such as the sun or the moon, etc., nonetheless serve G'd indirectly, not being aware that all these so-called deities are merely agents of the Lord. This concept is mentioned specifically in Deut. 4,19 where the Torah speaks of G'd "assigning" such agents as the sun and the stars to the other nations for them to serve them [at least as partners of G'd, Ed.].

When we find that such kings as Pharaoh and Sancheriv rebelled against G'd this was nothing but an error on their part. Imagine, for instance, that a king had hidden himself and paraded in front of people who did not know his identity as a commoner. It would happen from time to time that even people who had known him as a king (while he wore the uniform appropriate for a king) will now speak disparagingly of the king they once knew. Similarly, Pharaoh did not know that the one whom he insulted was in reality the Lord who controlled the deities whom he worshiped. [ the simile of the king hiding is used to illustrate that G'd is invisible and therefore the author of the parable describes Him as "in hiding" Ed.] "All of this proves that the entire universe are His servants, bow down to Him, and He chose the Israelites so that they would serve Him directly and thus became special.

I have had a closer look at the wording of the Sifri on Deut. 33,2 in which G'd is portrayed as having offered the Torah to a variety of nations prior to offering it to Israel. The wording is as follows: "Before G'd revealed Himself to Israel in order to give them the Torah, He went to the children of Esau and said to them: "are you prepared to accept the Torah?' They asked Him: 'what is written therein?' He said to them: it is written: 'do not murder.' They said to Him: 'the essence of our founding patriarch was that he was a murderer. This is why his father Isaac blessed him and said he would live by the sword.' Thereupon G'd went to Ammon and Moav and offered them the Torah. They too asked Him what was written in it. G'd told them: 'it is written that you must not commit adultery.' They said to G'd: 'the essence of all sexual permissiveness was the basis of the life of our patriarch Lot.'" Thereupon G'd went and offered the Torah to the Ishmaelites. When told that the Torah contained a clause prohibiting theft, the Ishmaelites exclaimed that this violated the basic tenet of their patriarch Ishmael and that therefore they could not accept a Torah containing such a prohibition. This whole paragraph is very strange indeed. How can man even argue with G'd and justify his immoral behaviour by claiming that it was a tradition he had inherited from his forefather? What kind of specious argument is it to say that "because my father was a criminal I am duty-bound to pursue the career of a criminal?" What is even more astounding is that G'd accepted their arguments without saying a word.

You must realise that when you look at both the positive and the negative commandments in our Torah the underlying reason for all of them is that after G'd had examined His creatures and determined that there were evil elements amongst them He wanted to separate us (the Jewish people) from such elements; He examined the good elements and decided to sanctify us by means of these good elements. In the Tikkuney Hazohar section 21 we find the following comment in connection with Isaac requesting that Esau prepare for him delicious dishes as he loved them, (Genesis 27,6). Isaac referred to the positive commandments as the delicious dishes he loved, whereas he considered the negative commandments as something he hated [designed to ward off what he hated. Ed.] There is a statement in Sifri on Exodus 15,26 "for I the Lord am your Healer," according to which G'd said to Moses to tell the people that the words of Torah He gave to them are therapeutic and are life. The repetition of "therapeutic and life" presumably refer to the positive and negative commandments respectively. The therapeutic nature of negative commandments could be the avoidance of certain diseases by abstaining from forbidden foods, whereas the performance of positive commandments is considered as a life-giving activity. When G'd commanded in Leviticus 11,43 which animals we are not to eat, the Torah stated that the reason that we should not eat such creatures was so as not to make ourselves detestable and not to defile ourselves (Leviticus 18,24). Sexual permissiveness is also described by the Torah in terms of abominations. In other words, G'd's major objective in legislating all this was to protect us and enable us to attain sanctity.

You must also remember that everything evil is rooted in the spirit of impurity. On the other hand, everything good is rooted in the realm of sanctity and purity. When G'd commanded us not to do certain things it was only because the effect of doing these things would be damaging to our bodies and souls. Robbery is rooted in evil; so is adultery. When man commits acts of adultery or robbery he strengthens the root of this evil. When he deliberately refrains from committing such acts he contributes to destroying the roots of evil. I have already explained in connection with Psalms 92,10 "Your enemies O Lord, Your enemies perish;

all evildoers are scattered," that man's deeds betray the state of his soul, such as the kind of state referred to in Deut. 29,17 as "a root that bears gall and wormwood." On the other hand, when the soul is wholesome it reflects sanctity. I have written more about this in connection with Jacob's criticising Reuben on his deathbed (Genesis 49,3). We explained there that if Reuben suffered from a character weakness this had to do with what Jacob thought about when he bedded Leah thinking she was Rachel. The arguments of Esau, Ammon and Moav, as well as Ishmael were of a similar nature. They accused G'd of having burdened them with hereditary character weaknesses which would make it difficult if not impossible for them to fulfil those parts of the Torah which G'd had mentioned to them. They did not brag about their faults. They only said that their lifestyle was proof that they had been burdened with such moral weakness as they exhibited already from birth, that the root of their collective soul was polluted. There was, however, a subtle difference between the arguments of Ammon and Moav on one side and those of Esau and Ishmael on the other. Ammon and Moav attributed their problems to an action by their forefather [or better by their respective matriarchs, Lot's daughters, seeing that Lot was unconscious at the time Ed.]. The Ishmaelites went further; they blamed G'd directly seeing that their matriarch Hagar had been told by the angel (Genesis 16,12) that the son she would give birth to would be unbridled and aggressive. The people of Edom blamed their patriarch Isaac who had encouraged Esau to live the life of a murderer by telling him: "you will live by your sword" (Genesis 27,40).

We can detect G'd's love for Israel when He was careful to tell each of those nations the very law they would find most difficult to accept as they had a valid objection. Had G'd mentioned other examples of Torah legislation the chances are that these people might have accepted the Torah. Seeing that G'd did not want these people to reap the reward of acceptance of even the first commandment He would mention to them, this is the reason He tested each of those nations by quoting a commandment to them which they would find hard to accept. The conjunctive letter ו in והייתם refers to additional reward in store for the Israelites over and above other advantages conferred upon them by being עם סגולה. The conjunctive letter ו also is a reminder that G'd does not need the Israelites for anything at all, but that the fact He confers a special status on them is entirely gratuitous. Just as kings who have all they need are sometimes desirous of owning a certain jewel, something which they could do well without, so G'd has decided to treat the Jewish people as if they were part of His jewels, though they do not perform a necessary function in G'd's palace seeing כי לי כל הארץ, the whole earth is Mine anyway. Job 35,7 expressed all this succinctly when he said: "if you are righteous, what can you give Him, or what can He accept from you?"

Another meaning of "you will be a treasure unto Me" is conveyed to us by the statement in Shabbat 146 that the residual pollutants dating back to the time Adam had sinned departed from Israel the moment they stood at the bottom of Mount Sinai.

Yet another element in this סגולה of the Jewish people is that whereas sparks of sanctity are scattered throughout the earth, they cannot be gathered together without the Jewish people and their preoccupation with Torah. Israel is perceived as being a magnet which attracts these sparks of sanctity from wherever they are to be found. These sparks of sanctity themselves are also called סגולה. The author uses a play on words, suggesting that instead of reading the word והייתם as written in the Torah, we may read it as והו־יתם, suggesting that the letter ה be understood in the nature of a command, that G'd is asking the Israelites to become something special, מכל העמים, more than any of the other nations. Whereas sanctity amongst other nations is so scattered as to be hardly noticeable, the Jewish people are urged to become a concentration of sanctity. The holy Torah is the tool enabling us to fulfil that command. When G'd adds something which we all know, namely "for the whole earth is Mine," this is an explanation of why the Jewish people are scattered all over the globe in their exile. As it is our task to gather in the scattered amounts of sanctity that exist we must gather them up wherever they are to be found. This cannot be done if we were to remain in one location. If Israel had not sinned, the magnetism that their Torah study would have radiated would have been sufficiently strong to have pulled in these various scattered little bits of sanctity; as it is we do not have that much magnetism and have to move closer to the source of these sparks of sanctity in order to attract them and fuse them together into a whole.