Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 32:11

כנשר יעיר קנו AS AN EAGLE STIRRETH UP ITS NEST — He guided them with mercy and pity like the eagle which is full of pity towards his young and does not enter its nest suddenly — before it beats and flaps with its wings above its young passing between tree and tree, between branch and branch, in order that its young may awake and have enough strength to receive it (Sifrei Devarim 314:1).

כנשר יעיר קנו, may it be His will that just as at Sinai it had been His intention to make you immortal, and He would have succeeded if the sin of the golden calf had not intervened, He will do so once more in the future, when Israel/Moses’ prayer in this respect will be granted. This is what Zecharyah 10,8 spoke about when he said: אשרקה להם ואקבצם כי פדיתים, “I will whistle to them and gather them, for I will redeem them.”

כנשר יעיר קנו, "He was like an eagle rousing its nest, etc." Our sages in the Sifri pursued their own path in interpreting this verse; we ourselves also pursue our own path based on Vayikra Rabbah 17,4 discussing the affliction of Tzoraat. As long as the Israelites serve the merciful judge (in a general way), G'd does not immediately afflict the persons but rather the קן, property, such as the houses of the Israelites. If this proves ineffectual, G'd affflicts the clothing, and only as a last resort does He afflict the body of the sinner. Moses uses the simile of the eagle to show that just as the eagle rouses its young first, so G'd rouses the children of man to warn that man has to put his spiritual house in order. Any afflictions are in keeping with the victim's ability to endure them. Compare Bereshit Rabbah 55,2 that G'd never subjects man to a trial which is beyond his capacity to survive intact spiritually.

יעיר קנו, who awakens his nestlings and moves them from its nest in order to carry them on its wings; ישאהו על אברתו, the expression יעיר for rousing also occurs in Isaiah 41,25 הערותי מצפון ויאת, “I have roused him from the north and he has come;” it also occurs in Isaiah 13,17הנני מעיר עליכם, “here I am about to stir up against you, etc.” Transferring someone or something from one location to another is called הערה, “pouring out,” in modern parlance. Awakening the one to be transported is a precondition to the transfer.

כנשר יעיר קנו, “Like an eagle arousing its nest;” Moses compares G’d’s attribute כבוד to the eagle, the king of the birds. Similarly, the attribute כבוד is perceived as the “king” of all the disembodied spirits. Just as the eagle takes its young, carrying them on top of its wings, guiding them to various places, so G’d alone, guides the Jewish people (in the desert). He did not employ the help or assistance of any other deity. We have a similar verse in Psalms 73,25: “Whom else do I have in heaven except You?” Assaph means that we rely neither on angels nor any other celestial forces but only on G’d directly. He goes on saying: “having You I want no one on earth.” Furthermore, elaborating on the comparison with the eagle, “just a the eagle renews itself from time to time, so Israel does renew itself from time to time.” The author cites Isaiah 40,31 יעלו אבר כנשרים as meaning that the eagle produces new wings from time to time. He quotes Psalms 103,5 as confirmation of the verse in Isaiah.

He directed them with compassion and sympathy, etc. From here onwards [Moshe] returns to speak of the good things that He [Hashem] did for them from the time they left Egypt, and yet they had forgotten everything.

V. 11. כנשר וגו׳. Das Bild ist: Wie der Adler seine Jungen nicht schlafend und nicht passiv zum hohen Flug empornimmt, vielmehr sein Nest erst weckt und dann seine Schwingen nicht unter, sondern über seine Jungen ausbreitet, auf dass diese mit wachem, munterem Auge zu dem ihrer wartenden Schwingensitz auffliegen und mit freiem, bewusstem, mutigem Entschlusse sich ihm zu dem Emporflug in die Höhen anvertrauen — die jungen Adler müssen aus dem Neste auffliegen, sich selbst auf die Schwingen setzen —: so hat Gott sein Volk erst geweckt und zu dem Mute geübt, mit freiem Entschlusse und wachem Bewusstsein sich seiner Führung anzuvertrauen. Dieses bewusste freie Vertrauen war die Vorbedingung der ganzen Weiterführung und sollte sich dieser erst fähig und würdig machen. Nur ein junger Adler hat den Mut, das feste, warme, bergende Nest zu verlassen und sich zum Emporflug in die isolierende Höhe den väterlichen Schwingen anzuvertrauen. Und es gehörte Mut dazu, während überall Menschen und Völker — um in dem Bilde zu sprechen — nur in dem von dem Granitfels der Menschenmacht und Kunst getragenen Bau des Daseins und Behagens sich sicher fühlten und diesem Bau materieller Menschengröße und seinen vermeintlichen Schutzmächten alles opferten, in ihn alles Geistige und Sittliche der Menschenbestimmung aufgehen ließen, es gehörte Mut dazu, dieser Natur- und Menschenvergötterung zu entsagen und für den Höhenflug zur geistigen und sittlichen Menschenbestimmung, von allen die übrigen Menschen und Völker tragenden Genien entfernt, ganz allein mit seinem Gotte sich den Allmachtschwingen des Einzig-Einen zu überlassen — und zu diesem Mute, der nur in dem felsenfesten Vertrauen zu der Führung des Einzig-Einen zu finden war, sollte die ganze Wanderung durch die Wüste mit allen dort gegebenen Erfahrungen und Belehrungen das Gottesvolk wecken, erziehen und üben. Denn wie die Schwungkraft des Adlers allein die Jungen mit sich hinauf in die isolierenden Höhen trägt, so:

יעיר קנו means, AWAKENS ITS YOUNG (i.e. קן, “nest” is a term for young birds).

על גוזליו ירחף, as we read I Isaiah 49,22 הנה אשא על גוים ידי, ועל עמים ארים נסי, והביאו בניך בחצן, “I will raise My hand to nations, and lift up My ensign to peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosoms, etc.”

Between one tree and another, between one branch [שוכה] and the next. The meaning of the word שוכה is a branch of twigs.

יפרש כנפיו יקחהו, "spreading its wings and taking it." We may understand this as being analogous to Sifri Devarim 3,29 that G'd's right hand is stretched out to welcome the repentant sinners. The previous arousal described in our verse leads to G'd stretching out His hand to those who have responded to the arousal. Moses uses the future tense when saying יפרש, "He will spread out," to indicate that the "whole reason G'd spreads out His wings" in the first place is in order to be able to "catch" the penitents. Were it not for the fact that He hopes for the Israelites to return to Him in penitence, He would not indulge in the gestures described here by Moses.

על גוזליו ירחף IT HOVERETH OVER ITS YOUNG — it does not press heavily upon them, but hovers above them — touching them and yet not touching them. So too, the Holy One, blessed be He, (Job. 37:23) “The Almighty, we did not find Him to be too powerful in strength”: when He came to give the Torah to Israel, He did not reveal Himself from one side, (thus concentrating His power at one point), but from four sides, as it is said, (Deuteronomy 33:2) “The Lord came from Sinai, and shone forth from Seir unto them; He appeared from Mount Paran"; also (Habakkuk 3:3) “God came from Teman” — this is the fourth side (Sifrei Devarim 314:1).

יפרוש כנפיו יקחהו, as per Isaiah 27,12 ואתם תלוקטו לאחד אחד בני ישראל, “and you shall be picked up one by one, O Children of Israel.”

“Shaddai — we did not find the Almighty at full power, etc.” Rashi says this, and this is its meaning: The Almighty, i.e. the Holy One, Blessed Is He, we do not find Him great in power. In other words, although He is strong, He does not act with this power with His creations.

ישאהו על אברתו, "He will carry it on His pinions." This may be understood by reference to the Zohar volume one page 92 explaining Kohelet 10,20: "some winged creature may betray the matter." According to the Zohar there is a class of angels known as בעלי כנפים, "winged creatures." It is their task to relate to the heavenly regions every worthwhile thing a Jew has uttered and to use its wings for that purpose. Moses referred to G'd, i.e. His messengers, carrying such words which please the Lord to the celestial regions.

יפרש כנפיו יקחהו [AS AN EAGLE …] SPREADETH ABROAD ITS WINGS, TAKETH IT — When it comes to remove them (the young) from one place to another, it does not take them with its claws, as other birds do: because other birds are afraid of the eagle that soars so high and flies above them, therefore they carry them (the young) by their (the mother’s) claws for fear of the eagle. But the eagle is afraid only of an arrow, therefore it carries them (the young) on its wings, saying, “It is better that the arrow pierce me than that it should pierce my young”. So, too, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, (Exodus 19:4) “I bare you as on eagles wings” (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 19:4:3): when the Egyptians marched after them and overtook them at the Red Sea, they threw arrows and stone missiles at them, whereupon at once “The angel of God moved … and came between the camp of Egypt [and the camp of Israel]” that it might receive the arrows etc. (Exodus 14:19—20 And Rashi thereon).

ישאהו על אברתו, as in Isaiah 60,8 מי אלה כעב תעופנה, “who are these who fly like a thick cloud?”

As it is stated, “Hashem came from Sinai, radiated forth to them from Se’ir, etc.” “He came from Sinai” is not one of the four directions, rather it means that He came from Sinai towards the Jewish people. The following are the four directions: “He radiated [to them] from Se’ir, [He] appeared from Mount Paran, He came with part of the sacred myriads.” “Hashem came from Teiman” (Chavakuk 3:3). Some challenge [this explanation] because earlier Rashi explained that the verse “He radiated forth to them from Se’ir” refers to the idolaters who did not wish to accept the Torah upon themselves. And Rashi explains similarly later, in parshas Vezos Habracha (33:2). Yet here he explains the verse as referring to the world’s four directions. One can answer that the verse contains both meanings. For if the verse was written solely for the four directions, why does it use these [unusual] names for these directions? These directions are never referred to by these names anywhere else in the Torah. Perforce it refers also to the non-Jewish nations. And if Scripture comes solely to teach about the idolaters, why then does it not explicitly mention them by their names? Rather one must say that both meanings are contained within the verse. And earlier in the verse, “He found them in a wilderness country” which speaks in praise of the Jewish people, Rashi brings the reason that they elucidated [the verse] as referring to the idolaters who did not wish to accept the Torah. And on the verse, “like an eagle who rouses his nest” which speaks of the goodness that Hashem did for the Jewish people, Rashi brings the second reason.