Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 26:17

האמרה, האמירך are words for the meaning of which there is no decisive proof in Scripture. It seems to me, however, that they are expressions denoting “separation” and “selection”: “You have singled Him out from all strange gods to be unto you as God — and He on His part, has singled you out from the nations on earth to be unto Him a select people”. [As far as this meaning is concerned I have found a parallel (lit., a witness) to it where it bears the meaning “glory”, as in (Psalms 94:4): “All wrongdoers glory in themselves”].

THOU HAST AVOUCHED THE ETERNAL THIS DAY. The meaning thereof is: “Since you have accepted the entire Torah upon yourselves with all its interpretations, details, and new promulgations, you have thus magnified G-d and exalted Him, that He alone will be your G-d; you will in no way avow another god.”

In this respect, את ה' האמרת היום, when you accepted upon yourself to become a party to this sacred oath, which puts at risk every physical goodness on earth in the event that you desecrate this oath האמרת, by doing so you elevated the image of the Lord, Who, as a result, will be even more honoured in your eyes than before you entered into this reciprocal covenant with Him. You have thereby demonstrated that it is more important for you to do His will than to enjoy any of the transient pleasures of this life.

1. To YHVH you are to declare today. The numerology of this phrase is equal to the phrase "the recitation of the Shema"

את ה׳ האמרת היום להיות, "You have distinguished Hashem this day to be a G'd for you, etc." The reason the Torah added the word היום, "this day," may be understood in conjunction with what we learned in Ketuvot 110 that "anyone who lives in the diaspora is considered as if he did not have a G'd." The words את ה׳ האמרת היום apply only to people who are in the Holy Land. Even though at that precise moment the Israelites were still on the land that used to belong to Sichon and Og, this was considered part of the Holy Land seeing that it had been conquered by the whole nation at the command of their prophet Moses. We have discussed and proved this point in connection with our commentary on Numbers 32,3. Seeing that the land in question was no longer part of the diaspora, the Israelites could truly claim to have adopted the Lord as their G'd, and G'd in turn adopted them as His exclusive people.

את ה' האמרת היום, you have become as if betrothed to G’d Who had said “I will be your G’d,” for this is something which depends primarily on Him. He will be your Saviour as a result of your observing His commandments which you accepted.

את ה' האמרת, “You have exalted Hashem,” by accepting the entire Torah in all its details you have exalted Hashem this day; you have adopted Him as your exclusive G’d, eschewing all others.

את ה' האמרת היום, “You have distinguished Hashem today, etc.” The word האמרת means “to elevate, to distinguish” (Ibn Ezra). It is found in this context in Isaiah 17,6 בראש אמיר, “on the topmost branch.” Onkelos also understands the word in that sense when he renders it as חטבת, similar to Proverbs 7,16: חטובות אטון מצרים, “colored sheets of Egyptian linen, (excellent linen).” It is reported in the name of Rabbi Yehudah Halevi that he understood the word האמרת as a derivative of ויאמר, “he said,” in which case the meaning would be that “you have done the right thing in the eyes of the Lord by accepting His Torah until you turned around and proclaimed that He was to be your G’d.”

You have distinguished Him, from the alien gods, etc. This is the explanation of, “You have distinguished today, etc.”

V. 17. אמר .את ד׳ האמרת kommt nur hier und in dem folgenden Verse im Hifil vor. In dieser Form heißt es nichts anderes, als: veranlassen, machen, dass ein anderer etwas sage. Nun lässt der ganze Inhalt dieses und der folgenden Verse es zu, ׳את ד׳ האמרת וגו zu verstehen: du hast Gott zu sagen veranlasst: und ד׳ האמירך ׳וגו: Gott hat dich zu sagen veranlasst; denn offenbar enthalten Vers 17 die Zusage Israels an Gott, sowie Verse 18 und 19 Gottes Zusage an Israel. Es ist nun an sich nicht ungewöhnlich, dass der Gegenstand, von welchem man etwas ausgesagt, im Akkusativ zu אמר steht. So: הוא הבאר אשר (Bamidbar 10, 29), אל המקום אשר אמר ד׳ אותו ׳אתן לכם אמר ד׳ למשה וגו (daselbst 21, 6), אמרו צדיק כי טוב (Jes.3, 10). את ד׳ אמרת להיות לך לאלקים würde somit heißen: von Gott hast du es ausgesagt, dass er , dir Gott sein solle, und ebenso ד׳ אמר אותך להיות לו לעם סגלה: Gott hat von ausgesagt, dass du ihm ein nur ihm angehöriges Volk sein sollst. האמרת und האמירך heißt aber: du hast veranlasst, dass man von Gott sagt, er solle dir Gott sein, und Gott hat es veranlasst, dass man von dir sage, du sollest Gott ein עם סגולה sein etc. Das heißt: Israels Gelöbnis an Gott und Gottes Zusage an Israel ist kein so zu sagen privates geblieben, es ist ein weltkundiges, in das Bewusstsein der Menschheit eingegrabenes geworden. Man bezeichnet fortan Gott als Israels Gott und Israel als Gottes Volk.

את ה' האמרת היום להיות לך לאלוקים....וה' האמירך היום להיות לו לעם סגולה, “You have affirmed this day that the Lord is your G–d.....and the Lord has affirmed to you this day that you are His special people, etc.” Concerning the precise meaning of these two verses, we read the following in the Talmud tractate B’rachot, folio 6: “The Holy One blessed Be He said: “you have declared Me as unique in the universe, by declaring “hear o Lord the Lord our G–d the Lord is unique.” Therefore I have reciprocated by declaring you as a unique people for Me.” (Compare Chronicles 1 17,21: ומי כעמך ישרך גוי אחד בארץ, “and who is comparable to Your people Israel, a unique nation on earth.” An alternate interpretation of our two verses: The word האמרת, means: “an exchange of something.” G–d credits the Jewish people with having traded in any other deities in favour of the invisible Creator, Who had revealed Himself to them at Mount Sinai. In response to that act, the Creator traded all the other 70 nations on earth as His potential favourite, and chose us instead. This would be similar to what Moses said in Psalms 94,4 יתאמרו כל פועל און, “for how long will the ones mouthing falsehoods (against Israel) be allowed to get away with it?” Still another interpretation of these unusual verses: The word אמיר occurs in Isaiah 17,6, שנים שלשה גרגרים באמיר, “two or three berries on the topmost branch;” here we would have to understand the word האמרת as meaning that Israel had elevated the Lord G–d to the topmost branch, and the Lord responded by elevating the Jewish people to the highest ranking nation. The expression יתאמרו כל פועלי און, corresponds to the psalmist describing the wicked people describing themselves (reflexive mode) as the most advanced and important in the world.

את ה׳ האמרת היום, “you have avouched the Lord this day;” you have singled out the Lord today; by accepting G-d’s commandments you, Israel, have adopted the Lord your G-d as your only deity. He has reciprocated by making you His special people, as He demonstrated by all the miracles He performed for your sake.

להיות לך לאלוקים, that He will be the most exalted of all disembodied phenomena, powers; you are aware that all that occurs in your life is the result of His guiding fate and history, in your case, without resorting to deputies, agents, any intermediaries who carry out His commands. Seeing that this is so, it would be inconceivable that in your religious rites you were to turn, even only as an auxiliary, to any other phenomenon purporting to be His agent. You bow and humble yourself only before Him, directly.

וללכת בדרכיו, “and to walk in His ways.” To not only perform His commandments to the letter, but also to model yourself according to what He has revealed about Himself, i.e. to go beyond the letter of the law and to honour the spirit upon which the law has been based.

And He set you aside, for Himself, from the peoples of the earth, etc. This is the explanation of, “And Adonoy has distinguished you, etc.”

Another meaning of this verse may be based on the Zohar volume one page 108 according to which the other countries on earth have been assigned by G'd to a respective שר, minister, who is in charge of them on G'd's behalf. The land of Israel and its people on the other hand are not subject to any delegate of G'd but are ruled over directly by G'd Almighty. In Psalms 17,2 David phrased it thus: "My judgment will proceed from directly in front of Your eyes." In other words, we are not subject to the authority of any of G'd's deputies.

AND THAT THOU WOULDEST WALK IN HIS WAYS — to do the good and the right, and do kindness one to another. And keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His ordinances. He [Moses] singles out the statutes and ordinances [for the reason] I have explained,⁴²Above, 6:5. and he includes in the expression and His commandments all the commandments — positive and negative. And hearken unto His voice — this refers to whatever He will command you concerning other deeds through me or through the rest of the prophets, as I have explained.⁴³Ibid., 13:5. It is possible that the expression His commandments refers to the positive commandments, and hearken unto His voice means the avoidances, that is to say, the negative commandments.

את ד׳ האמרת: Israel hat vor aller Welt von Gott gelobt, ׳להיות לך וגו: dass es sein Geschick und seine Tat Gottes Lenkung und Leitung unterstellt, וללכת בדרכיו: dass es nur in den von Ihm gewiesenen Wegen seine Ziele anstreben, ולשמר חקיו ׳ומצותיו וגו: die von ihm gegebenen Gesetze, Aufgaben und Ordnungen hüten (siehe oben) und gehorsam erfüllen wolle.

וללכת בדרכיו, to try and emulate His characteristics to the extent He has seen fit to reveal these to you.

ולשמוע בקולו, “and to hearken to His voice.” Any other matters He will command you through me, even if they are not part of the basic 613 commandments.

It denotes glory, etc. Thus האמרת means “you glorified,” as in “All evildoers glorify themselves.” They glorify themselves that their [evil] way is successful (Rashi, Chagiga 3a).

Still another thought which may be concealed in our verse is that Hashem, the attribute of Mercy, will participate in judgment of the Jewish people. While it is true that G'd judges everyone and every nation according to their just deserts, i.e. להיות לך לאלוקים, in your case, G'd the merciful will cause the Israelites to say (to acknowledge) that His judgment is fair, i.e. they will bless the Lord even when they experience what appears to them to be a harsh judgment.

ולשמוע בקולו, as is fit for His servants.

וללכת בדרכיו, "and to walk in His ways, etc." Moses compliments the Jewish people that they walk in G'd's paths even in matters G'd has not specifically commanded. As soon as they have divined what it is that He would want them to do, they do so of their own accord. Specific examples are such good practices as visiting the sick, burying the dead. The Israelites learned from G'd visiting Abraham or burying Moses that these were virtues He wants us to practice though there is no specific commandment ordering us to do so. Israel's walking in the paths of G'd extends both to חוקיו, His statutes, the laws that appear to have no rationale, as well as מצותיו ומשפטיו, His other commandments and His social laws, i.e. the laws governing inter-personal relationships, relationships which are to be administered by terrestrial courts. ולשמע בקלו, "and by listening to His voice;" this is a reference to Torah study. The reason the Torah describes this as G'd's "voice" may be understood with reference to Sifri, 115 where the author asked: "how do we know that if one studies Torah from the mouth of a minor scholar this is equivalent to one's hearing the Torah from G'd's own mouth? Answer: it says in Deut. 15,5 אם שמע תשמע בקול ה׳ אלוקיך (compare Rashi on that verse). Why did the Torah mention Torah study as the last of the virtues Israel is to practice? This is to inform us that even if a person has mastered all the disciplines of Judaism, is thoroughly familiar with all the laws and precepts, he is still obligated to make study of the Torah part of his daily program. It is a commandment all by itself. As long as man lives he has never fully discharged his obligation to engage in the study of Torah as we know from Numbers 19,14: זאת התורה אדם כי ימות באהל. We may translate this as: "this is the obligation to study Torah. It extends until man dies while engaged in its study."