Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 11:22

שמר תשמרון [IF] YE SHALL DILIGENTLY OBSERVE [ALL THESE COMMANDMENTS] — The repetition of the verb implies an admonition to be very much on one’s guard: to be careful in respect to one’s study of the Torah that it should not be forgotten (cf. Sifrei Devarim 48:2).

AND TO CLEAVE UNTO HIM. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented: “[You are to walk in His ways so that you will merit to cleave unto Him] ultimately, this being a great secret.” But the secret is not by reason of this reference [here in the verse before us].³⁴²Ibn Ezra was of the opinion that this verse constitutes an assurance to the soul that it will ultimately cleave unto G-d. To this Ramban replies: “The secret itself is true, but the assurance is not from this verse, for the intent of the verse is an admonition,” as will be explained. See my Hebrew commentary p. 395. Perhaps he is stating: “to love the Eternal, to walk in all His ways until you become worthy to cleave unto Him in the end” [as Ibn Ezra wrote]. But in the Book of Joshua it is stated, Neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor worship them; but cleave unto the Eternal your G-d, as ye have done unto this day³⁴³Joshua 23:7-8. [thus indicating that “cleaving to G-d” was not an ultimate goal, but something they had been experiencing all along]. If so, the verse [before us] is one of the admonitions against idolatry, meaning that one’s thought should not part from G-d [and transfer] to other gods, that one should not think that there is any substance to idolatry but instead it is all nought and worthless. Thus this verse is similar to what he said, and Him shall ye serve, and unto Him shall ye cleave,³⁴⁴Further, 13:5. the intent being to warn that one is not to worship G-d [in combination] with anything besides Him, but to worship [only] G-d alone, with one’s heart and deeds.
It is possible that the term “cleaving” includes the obligation that you remember G-d and His love always, that your thought should never be separated from Him when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up³⁴⁵Verse 19. to such a degree that [a person] during his conversation with people by mouth and tongue, his [entire] heart will not be with them, but instead be directed towards G-d. With men of such excellence it is possible that even in their lifetime, their souls shall be bound in the bundle of life,³⁴⁶I Samuel 25:29. since their very being is a “residence” for the Divine Glory, as the author of the Book of the Kuzari alludes.³⁴⁷Al Khazari III. 1, by Rabbi Yehudah Halevi. I have already mentioned this matter in the section on forbidden relations.³⁴⁸Leviticus 18:4 (Vol. III, pp. 245-246). And when Joshua said as ye have done unto this day³⁴³Joshua 23:7-8. he meant, that when they were in the wilderness and the cloud of the Eternal was over them,³⁴⁹Numbers 10:34. and the manna would descend from heaven, and the quail would come up and the well was always before them, and all their requirements were provided by Heaven in miraculous ways — then their thoughts and deeds were [perforce] always with G-d. Therefore Joshua warned them that even now in the Land, when these wonderful deeds would be removed from them, their thoughts should always be with them [i.e., the wonders that G-d had done for them], to cleave unto the glorious and fearful Name³⁵⁰Further, 28:58. and their attention should not be withdrawn from Him.

כי אם שמור תשמרון לאהבה, the thrust of your preoccupation with Torah is to be that you show the acts of loving kindness G’d has performed, which in turn will ensure that you love Him.

כי אם שמר תשמרון, "For if you diligently keep, etc." Why did Moses repeat the word שמר תשמרון? Besides, what kind of observance does Moses speak about here? Perhaps he intended to warn the people to observe the "fences" around the Biblical commandments which were designed to prevent violation of the commandments proper. Moses warns the people not to disregard these "fences."

כי אם שמור תשמרון, “For if you will diligently observe, etc.” Ibn Ezra writes that this paragraph too refers to what has been written previously when Moses warned that non-observance of the commandments will lead to exile from the Holy Land. He adds here, by implication, that if these commandments are not observed, there will be no need for an exile as the people will not take over that land in the first place. If you neglect the commandments after you have established yourselves there, your tenure will be short-lived.

Rather, cling to the disciples and the sages, etc. I.e., “Cling to Him,” cannot be interpreted as, “He is merciful — you should be merciful.” For the verse already has written, “To walk in all His ways,” which Rashi interprets as, “Just as He is merciful, etc.” Rather, “Cling to Him,” [here] must be expounded differently, as Rashi explains. This explanation answers the question: Why Rashi does not comment on the verse (10:20), “Cling to Him,” and also in Parshas Re’ey on the verse (below 13:5), “Cleave to Him”? [The answer is: Because neither verse says, “Walk in all His ways.”]

V. 22 f. כי וגו׳ ist die Konsequenz aus allem Vorhergehenden für die unmittelbar anzutretende Zukunft. Über den Begriff שמירה in Beziehung auf das uns übergebene Gesetz (siehe Schmot S. 337 f. u. Wajikra S. 364 f.). Es ist dort erläutert, wie in erster Linie darunter das "Erlernen" des Gesetzes, das "Lernen" verstanden ist, durch welches allein der uns übergebene Gottesschatz und dessen Anforderungen uns gegenwärtig bleiben, und, indem hier diese שמירה wiederholt gefordert wird, שמר תשמרון, knüpft daran ספרי z. St. die Mahnung an stetes Repetieren des Erlernten, מגיד הכתוב שכשם שאדם צריך להזהר בסלעו שלא יאבד כך יהא אדם צריך להזהר בתלמודו שלא יאבד wie man über den erworbenen Groschen zu wachen hat, dass man ihn nicht verliere, so auch über das erworbene Wissen. Die Wissenschaft sei (Job 28, 17) mit Gold und Glas in Vergleich gebracht, ihre Erkenntnis sei schwer zu erwerben wie Gold und leicht zu verscherzen wie Glas קשים לקנותם כזהב ונוחים ככלי זכוכית לאבדם, und sind dort sehr zu beherzigende Regeln für das Studium der תורה-Wissenschaft gegeben (siehe daselbst).

כי אם שמור תשמרון, “for if you diligently keep all these commandments;” the word כי is used here instead of the word: אלא, “but.” ואבדתם מהרה, “if you do not keep the commandments now, you will not have to go into exile as you will not even enter the Holy land in the first place. The condition for entering is that you have a record of keeping the laws of the Torah.

ללכת בכל דרכיו TO WALK IN ALL HIS WAYS — He is merciful, be thou merciful; He bestows lovingkindness, bestow thou lovingkindness (Sifrei Devarim 49:1).

ללכת בכל דרכיו, to emulate the way in which He governs His universe, i.e. application of justice and righteousness.

ולדבקה בו, “and to cleave to Him;” Ibn Ezra sees in these words the ultimate objective of Torah observance and love of Hashem, i.e. if you will observe all the commandments in the right spirit, you will achieve the closest relationship with Hashem that it is possible for a human being to have, the relationship known as דבקות, cleaving to Him. Nachmanides understands these words as a warning, one of the types of warnings against worshipping idols. He bases this on Joshua 23,7-8 where Joshua juxtaposes pursuit of idols with cleaving to Hashem exclusively. In that paragraph of the Book of Joshua we read as follows: “and without intermingling with these nations that are left among you. Do not utter the names of their gods or swear an oath by them; do not serve them or bow down to them. But ‘hold fast,’ to the Lord your G’d, בו תדבקון, as you have done to this day.” Moses, according to Nachmanides, does not aim at what the select few are capable of achieving in the search for closeness to G’d, but he speaks about the minimum that every Jew must strive for. It is possible that the reason why Moses introduced the term דבקות here is because by striving for this kind of closeness one concentrates on G’d and what His expectations are of His creatures, so much that one does not have time or desire to explore other religions and what the nations of the world see in them that they pursue those deities. This would again be parallel to Moses’ exhortation to speak to one’s children of the Torah during all hours of the day and night, and in all localities, barring places reserved for excreting. The positive of what we are to do, is matched by the negative, as for instance in the verses quoted from the Book of Joshua. Nachmanides suggests that an ideal relationship with Hashem could be that when one speaks to fellow humans one does so only from the lips outwards, whereas one’s heart, and one’s mind is still tuned in to Hashem, simultaneously. He speculates further that possibly these elitists among us have reached a level of spirituality that can be compared to the wish we express at every funeral that the soul of the departed be enfolded by what our sages have described as צרור החיים, the bundle of eternal life. [Compare Samuel I 25,29, Avigail’s wish to David, and Maimonides’ comment in his hilchot TeshuvahEd] The words כאשר עשיתם עד היום הזה may be Moses’ way of describing the intimate relationship that existed between G’d and His people, who received a daily portion of heavenly bread, a supply of meat, apparently materializing miraculously, a well that moved with them every step of the way so that drinking water was always at hand in the desert, etc. Joshua, who speaks to the people after these miracles have ceased and the people have begun to live a “normal” life, exhorts them not to forego the intimate relationship with Hashem that had been forged during the years in the desert.

Moses may also have had in mind to reassure the Israelites that if they indeed observed the "fences" with the same determination as the Biblical injunctions, then G'd would ensure that they would be able to observe all the Biblical commandments. Failure to take the "fences" seriously would result in their observance of the Biblical commandments becomimg slipshod. The classic example is that he who conscientiously observes the Sabbath already a few minutes prior to sunset will be helped to observe the Sabbath in all its ramifications. He who waits with beginning the Sabbath until the last possible minute may find himself violating even Biblical aspects of the Sabbath legislation.

ללכת בכל דרכיו, nach dem ספרי: das Nachstreben in den Wegen der göttlichen Waltung, Ihm ähnlich an Erbarmen und Gnade, Langmut, Huld und Treue, Milde und Versöhnung zu werden und uns der Tragung seines Namens würdig zu machen.

ולדבקה בו AND TO CLEAVE TO HIM — Is it possible to say this? Is He not “a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24)? But it means: cleave to the scholars and sages, and I will account it unto you as though you cleave to Him (Sifrei Devarim 49:2).

ולדבקה בו, all your actions should strive to carry out His will, as Proverbs 3,6 בכל דרכיך דעהו!

Another thing Moses may have had in mind when repeating the word שמור תשמרון is that one should not only be concerned with personally observing the commandments but should also encourage others to keep them. A person should not say that he has done his duty by observing G'd's commandments and letting others worry about doing their duty. The first word שמור refers to personal observance, whereas the word תשמרון refers to one's encouraging others to do the same. We have been taught in Pessachim 49 that instead of merely reading Deut. 33,4 מורשה, "something to be transmitted by inheritance," we should also read the word as if it had been spelled מאורשה, "betrothed." Just as a person is responsible for the welfare of his bride-to-be, i.e. his ארוסה, so G'd has empowered him by means of the Torah not to let others despise the Torah without protesting this. When possible all legal means have to be employed to ensure that Jews do not violate G'd's law in public just as we would not let such people get away with violence against fellow human beings. Naturally, admonishing trespassers must be done in a manner which does not alienate such people from the Torah. This is why Moses speaks about לעשותה לאהבה, to "perform it lovingly, etc." Yevamot 63 explains that the person who does not only admonish others but demonstrates that he himself demands of himself at least as much as he appears to demand of others is liable to have an impact on his listeners. Something similar is stated in Berachot 6 where the Talmud says: "a truly G'd-fearing person will find that his listeners will respond to him." This is why Moses spoke first of all about לעשותה, i.e. people who had been models to others by themselves performing the commandments. When this is the case such people may plant love for G'd in others. Such people will no longer violate G'd's commandments. This is also the meaning of Midrash Mishley 2,4 that if one succeeds in making words of Torah come forth from the mouth of an uncouth person one has done the equivalent to uttering these words of Torah oneself. Sanhedrin 19 goes further and describes such a person as having created the former.

ולדבקה בו nach dem ספרי: auch im Umgang mit Menschen Gott nahe zu bleiben, den Umgang solcher Menschen zu suchen, die uns durch Lehre und Beispiel in dem Wandel mit Gott befestigen.

ולדבקה בו, "and to cleave to Him." We have already explained on several occasions that all the Jewish souls are hewn from the same celestial "quarry." This is why they are considered part of G'd and all cleave to G'd as per Deut. 4.4. Violations of G'd's commandments however, result in this bond being shattered. When man repents he has to re-establish this bond. When Moses mentions "and to cleave to Him," he speaks of people who have to re-establish this bond, this cleaving to G'd.