Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 28:12

יפתח ה׳ לך את אוצרו הטוב, "G'd will open for you His store of goodness, etc." From this point on until the end of verse 13 the Torah describes the reward for fulfilling the positive commandments. This is why verse 13 concludes with the words "if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your G'd." The channels which G'd employs to direct the outpourings of His goodness to earth are activated through performance of commandments rather than through the passive refraining from violating negative commandments.

V. 12. יפתח וגו׳, darum lässt Gott selbst die deine Bodenblüte bedingenden Witterungserscheinungen mit einer Regelmäßigkeit eintreten, die Sein unmittelbares Einwirken konstatieren, und gibt dir einen solchen Überfluss, dass, wenn anderwärts Mangel ist, du mit deinem Überfluss aushelfen musst, nie aber in die entgegengesetzte Lage kommst, und so

והלוית גוים רבים, “and you will lend to many nations;” to nations who were plagued with crop failures or storage problems in their barns.

יפתח ה׳ לך; "G'd will open for you." The pronoun "for you" is important as it indicates G'd's special providence for the Jew who observes these commandments. The new element in this promise is that although there may be many people whose conduct would preclude G'd from opening these channels of His bounty, G'd will not let this interfere with His special providence for the subject in our verse. The word הטוב in our verse is the mystical dimension of the "river" or "channel" of G'd's goodness we have referred to. It is what Solomon referred to in Proverbs 10,25 וצדיק יסוד עולם, "that the righteous is the foundation of the world." את השמים, "the heavens," this is a reference to the source of this input, a concept familiar to Kabbalists.

והלוית גוים רבים ואתה לו תלוה, "and you will lend to many nations but you will not have to borrow." It is a well known phenomenon in our literature that as long as the Jewish people observe G'd's laws the good the Gentiles experience in this world reaches them only via the Jewish people. Should the Jewish people, G'd forbid, not live in accordance with Torah precepts their פרנסה, livelihood, would consist only of scraps the Gentiles have left over. Moses illustrates this concept here by presenting both the positive side of the picture, i.e. "you will lend, etc.," and by implication, the negative side of the picture "and you will not have to borrow. If Moses had not presented the alternative we would not have recognised that the first half of the verse is a blessing as it is an accepted norm that the wealthy borrow from one another at different times, not because they are in need of sustenance.

ונתנך השם לראש, "and G'd will place you as a head, etc." Moses means that the fortunes of the people of Israel will be guided directly by the "head" i.e. G'd Himself, not an intermediary; ולא לזנב, "and not as a tail." This is a reference to the various "ministers" in the celestial regions which G'd has appointed to be in charge of the different nations of the world. The Israelites will always be on a "higher" level than these nations being cared for by G'd Himself. והיית רק למעלה ולא תהיה למטה; "you shall only be above and you will not be below." We may understand this best by referring to Yalkut Shimoni Jeremiah item 312, who explains Jeremiah 30,10: "and you My servant Jacob do not fear, etc." When Jacob had the dream with the ladder he observed angels ascending and descending. He assumed the angels to be the "ministers" of the various nations whose role in history would be ascents followed by descents. He was afraid that the same would happen to his descendants. Jeremiah reassures Jacob on that score. In our verse Moses tells us: "you will not be below," i.e. the fortunes of the Jewish people will not parallel those of the Gentiles whose place in the sun will be of brief duration. כי חשמע…לעשות, "when you hearken to carry out, etc." The Torah refers to the carrying out of positive commandments. Why did the Torah not write specifically what it is that we are to carry out, i.e. the commandments? The reason is that there are numerous commandments which most people can never carry out. Concerning these commandments all we can do is תשמע "to hear, i.e. to be prepared to fulfil these commandments if the opportunity arises and to study them meanwhile. Why does the Torah mention once more לשמר, seeing this is a description of how we relate to negative commandments, whereas these two verses speak about positive commandments? The Torah wanted to remind us that the reward for the carrying out of positive commandments can only be expected after one has first made a point of observing all the negative commandments. This is what the prophets meant when they described the sacrificial offerings of many Jews as an abomination. These Jews wanted to ingratiate themselves with G'd and reap rewards for fulfilling positive commandments while ignoring the negative commandments of the Torah. Positive commandments performed by sinners bear no fruit.