Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 32:6

הלה׳ תגמלו זאת DO YOU THUS REQUITE THE LORD? — This Is an expression of astonishment: Do you mean to grieve Him Who has the power to punish you, and Who has bestowed all these favours upon you?

AM NAVAL’ (A FOOLISH PEOPLE), AND NOT WISE. “A foolish people — that has forgotten [all] the good that He has done for them. And not wise to understand the result [of their actions], that it is in His power to do them good or evil.” This is Rashi’s language. Now, Onkelos rendered [am naval]: “a people that has received the Torah, [and who are not wise],” deriving it from [the expression] navol tibol²¹Exodus 18:18. These are Jethro’s words to Moses that he will become weary in attending alone to all the people’s problems. which he translated milah thilei (“thou wilt surely become weary”). Thus the verse here states: “it is a people weary of the observance of the Torah and they are not wise [enough to realize] that it is for their eternal good.” Similarly Onkelos rendered b’goi naval²²Further, Verse 21. — “with a foolish people,” apathetic in becoming wise or people of faith. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra interpreted: “Naval (foolish) in deeds, and not wise in heart.”
In my opinion he who performs an unrequired act [of goodness or kindness] is called nadiv (generous), while he who repays his benefactor with evil is called naval (a vile person). And so it is stated, ‘L’naval’ (the vile person) will no longer be called ‘nadiv’ (generous),²³Isaiah 32:5. In other words, flattery will be extinct in Israel. for one is the opposite of the other. Therefore it was said of Nabal the Carmelite, for as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and ‘n’valah’ (vileness) is with him.²⁴I Samuel 25:25. For David did him a great favor — he guarded all his belongings — and he [Nabal] did not want to pay him any recompense; instead, he shouted at his [David’s] messengers²⁵Ibid., Verse 14. and disgraced them. And this is the sense of the verse concerning [G-d’s words to] the friends of Job: [And my servant Job shall pray for you; for him alone will I receive favorably,] so as not to do unto you ‘n’valah’ (an unseemly act) [because you have not spoken of Me properly, as My servant Job hath;]²⁶Job 42:8. The gist of Ramban’s thought is as follows: Since Job’s friends defended G-d’s providence, it would appear, in the eyes of the unlearned, as an unseemly act if they were to be punished, although they were to be blamed for having spoken certain things which were not right nor true. since they had defended the deed of the glorious and fearful Name,²⁷Above, 28:58. saying it was done justly, and if He were to punish them now, it would appear as n’valah (an unseemly act).²⁶Job 42:8. The gist of Ramban’s thought is as follows: Since Job’s friends defended G-d’s providence, it would appear, in the eyes of the unlearned, as an unseemly act if they were to be punished, although they were to be blamed for having spoken certain things which were not right nor true.
It is possible that the term naval is used [for a vile person] because he is an inferior type of a human being, just as the expression as an oak whose leaf ‘noveleth’²⁸Isaiah 1:30. which means “falls” [because it withered. Thus, the word noveleth (withers), spelled with a beth, is related to nofeleth (falls) spelled with a fei. Similarly, a person who is nofel, “falls” short of acceptable standards of conduct, is referred to as naval.] A dead animal is called n’veilah because “it falls” upon the earth and dies, just as it is said, to see the ‘mapeleth’ (carcass) of the lion.²⁹Judges 14:8. If so, Scripture states here: “Do you thus requite G-d for all the good He has done for you? It is an am naval that repays evil for good, and unwise not to know that they have wrought this evil unto themselves,”³⁰Isaiah 3:9. and not to G-d. It is similar to what is stated, If thou hast sinned, what doest thou against Him? And if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto Him? If thou be righteous, what givest thou Him? or what receiveth He of thy hand?³¹Job 35:6-7. For G-d is thy Father,³²Verse 6 before us. Who brought you forth and raised you; and He is ‘konecha,’³²Verse 6 before us. Who made you a kinyan (a possession), for He brought you forth from nothingness and you became a being, and every tangible reality can be acquired as a possession. [Therefore, the word koneh is used interchangeably to mean “make” or “create” and “acquire” as shown in the following examples.] It is similar to what is said, The Eternal ‘kanani’ (made) me as the beginning of His way;³³Proverbs 8:22. likewise, ‘Koneih’ (Maker) of heaven and earth,³⁴Genesis 14:19. as I have explained.³⁵Ibid., (Vol. I, pp. 190-191). And He created you, made thee, and established thee,³²Verse 6 before us. similar to the expression, and One fashioned us in the womb.³⁶Job 31:15.

הלה' תגמלו זאת, after G’d had planned to make you superior over all other nations, is it indeed imaginable that you would respond by frustrating His intention by desecrating His name and to thereby prevent G’d from realising His declared intention when He created man that he should reflect the image of G’d? (Genesis 1,26)

הלה׳ תגמלו זאת, "Is this the way you repay the Lord?" The reason Moses employs the term גמול, "compensation," [something that does not really apply in our relationship with G'd. Ed.] is that instead of our going out of our way by showing appreciation for what G'd has done for us we do the very reverse.

?תגמלו זאת, Moses asks rhetorically, if one repays G’d for His kindness by worshipping idols? Besides,

עם נבל ולא חכם, “a vile people, one devoid of wisdom.” Rashi explains this to refer to their having forgotten all the Good Hashem had done for them. Nachmanides, refers to Onkelos’ translation “a nation that had received the Torah and had not become wise by observing it but had treated it as if it tired them out, had exhausted them instead of uplifting them.” They failed to benefit from what was designed to ensure their enduring success. Ibn Ezra says that the word נבל refers to their deed, whereas the words ולא חכם refers to their heart. Personally, (Nachmanides continuing) I believe that when someone does good without expecting or wanting compensation by the recipient, he is described as נדיב, generous. If someone repays favours done to him with ingratitude, or worse, instead, he is described as נבל. This is the meaning of Isaiah 32,5 לא יקרא עוד לנבל נדיב , “no more shall the villain be called noble;” This is why it was said about נבל of Mount Carmel, [first husband of Avigail, a notoriously bombastic and tightfisted individual, compare Samuel I chapter 25. Ed.] ונבלה עמו, (Samuel I 25,25) that his name aptly expressed his vile character. David had protected his property at a time when he was hunted and had to survive as best he could. Instead of being grateful, Naval repaid him with animosity and disdain. Not only were the Israelites ingrates, they were also foolish by putting their trust instead of in Hashem in all kinds of impotent idols, the ones worshipped by the neighbouring peoples. Did they not even realise that by sinning they could not harm the G’d against Whom they sinned?

Base people lacking wisdom. A dead animal is called a neveila [literally “worn out,” “destroyed”] because it has lost its living spirit. Just as the word “neveila” refers to the loss of physical form and energy, so too it applies to a loss of spiritual form. Through actions which destroy a person’s splendid human form, whether he destroys his own self-respect through his actions, or destroys the honor and value of others.

Is it before Him that you cause displeasure, etc. This means that you are performing acts which are displeasing. Why is it not fitting to act in such a fashion? Because Hashem has the power to seek punishment from you. And furthermore, He has provided you with everything that is good. You should not ask from where Rashi knows that these are the two reasons that [Moshe] said to them? For you can answer, as [Moshe] continues to explain, as it is written, “A base people” who have forgotten that which was done for them, all the goodness that He did for them. And “lacking in wisdom” to understand the consequences, i.e. that He has the power to seek punishment from you, as He did to the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Dispersion [Tower of Bavel] and to the people of Sedom. From this we see that the phrase “Is it before Him [that you cause displeasure], etc.” includes both of these two reasons.

V. 6. ה לד׳ וגו׳. Das ה ist groß und als ein Wort für sich geschrieben. Also so viel als: Frage. Vergegenwärtigen wir uns, dass nach Kap. 31, 19 u. 20 die שירה zunächst bestimmt ist, dem Bewusstsein des Volkes mit dem Zeugnis der Wahrheit in solchen Zeitmomenten entgegenzutreten, in welchen bereits eine Wucht von durch seinen Abfall provozierten Leiden über es hereingebrochen, es aber, statt sich und seinen Abfall von Gott anzuklagen, seinen Gott anklagt, dass der nicht mehr wie in besseren Zeiten seine schützende und rettende Gegenwart in seiner Mitte bekundet: so haben wir wohl die Verse 4-6 im Zusammenhange also aufzufassen. In den Kreis des unter seinen Leiden seufzenden und seinen Gott ob seiner Wandelung anklagenden Volkes tritt das שירה-Wort mit der Bezeugung hin: הצור, felsenfest, unwandelbar in seinem Sein und Wollen ist euer Gott, Er ist immer derselbe und immer dasselbe ist sein Tun. Jeder Moment seiner über euch ergehenden und an euch sich vollziehenden Verhängnisse, ist eine in sich vollendete, auf Recht und Gerechtigkeit beruhende, ebenso wie euer früheres Glück nur euer und der Gesamtmenschheit Bestes erzielende Tat. Nicht Er hat sich verändert, ihr habt euch verändert, euer Geschick ist ein anderes geworden und bekundet Gottes rettende Wundermacht an euch nicht mehr, weil ihr die nicht mehr seid, weil ihr den Charakter verloren, dessen Dasein seine Gegenwart in eurer Mitte bedingt. שחת, euer alter Fehler einer mit Gottes absolutem Willen in Widerstreit ringenden Ungefügsamkeit hat euch zu solcher Entartung gebracht, dass man euch gar nicht mehr als seine Kinder erkennt. Da הַ, da gibt es nur eine Frage, da solltet ihr, statt Gott anklagen, nur an euch selber die Frage richten, und diese einzige Frage sollte in großer Frakturschrift euch stets vor Augen schweben: ?לד׳ תגמלו זאת Das sollte die ganze Frucht sein, die ihr Gott aus allem, was er für euch und an euch getan, reifen ließet?! Wie könnt ihr glauben, dass Gott deshalb für euch und an euch so Großes, so unter allen übrigen Völkern eigenartig Großes getan hätte und fortfahren würde zu tun, damit ihr am Ende allen übrigen Völkern gleich in geistige und sittliche Verkommenheit entartet?

עם נבל, “they are a people who repay benefits received with disloyalty;”

?הלה' תגמלו זאת, ”is this how you requite the Lord?” Do you repay His favours to you by worshipping other deities?

עם נבל A FOOLISH PEOPLE — i.e., a people that has forgotten all that has been done to them,

עם נבל, a contemptible nation, repaying generosity of the most lavish kind by ingratitude.

קנך, He is your owner; He acquired you when He liberated you from bondage to the Egyptians

As He took possession of you. This is a word meaning acquisition (קנין).

עם נבל ולא חכם, "a nation which is vile and unwise!" Why does the Torah contrast two characteristics which are not opposites? Vileness is not the opposite of lack of wisdom! Moses means that even though they may be a vile people by nature, if at least they possessed some wisdom they would not display their vileness vis-a-vis G'd! The vile recognises that the fact that he is vile is to his detriment and therefore he would not display such a trait.

גמל (siehe zu Bereschit Kap. 21, 8.) — נבל ,עם נבל ולא חכם (siehe zu Bereschit 34, 7 und Schmot 18, 17). Im Zusammenhange mit der Frage הלד׳ תגמלו זאת tritt die eigentliche Bedeutung von נבל in voller Prägnanz hervor. Beide bezeichnen ja ursprünglich Beziehungen des Pflanzenlebens, גמל die vollendete Fruchtreife, נבל das fruchtversagende Welken. Alles, was Gott für Israel und an Israel getan, die besonderen Führungen der Geschicke wie die Lehren und Vorschriften seines Gesetzes, alles hatte den einen Zweck, die Saaten des Lichts und des Lebens in Geist und Gemüt des Volkes zu streuen, die in Früchten der Erkenntnis und der Tat im Einzel- und Gesamtleben aufgehen sollten. Das Volk aber ist נבל, ist geistig und sittlich welk geworden. Die mit so vielen Veranstaltungen begonnene Gottespflanzung hat es noch bevor sie zur Blüte aufgehen konnte "welk" werden lassen, und steht es, statt ein mustergültiges Volksleben zu entwickeln, als עם נבל, als ein geistig und sittlich abgewelktes Volk da, ולא חכם, das keineswegs, wie es sich dünkt und wie es in der Mitte der Völker ein עם חכם ונבון (Kap. 4, 6) hätte sein sollen, "weise" ist, nicht, wie ja חכם bedeutet (siehe Schmot Kap. 25) die gegebenen Wahrheiten in sich aufgenommen, aus welchen allein wahre Erkenntnisse und richtige Grundsätze fürs Leben sich ergeben. So auch im עם נבל לשעבר ולא חכם לעתיד לבא :ספרי.

ולא חכם, “and they are not a wise nation.” They imagine that they are smart and can escape the consequences of their deeds.

ולא חכם, ”you surely are most unwise!” You have not acquired any wisdom. The word is a verb, i.e. החכים, “he became wise.” The reason why we have two vowels kametz here is on account of the phrase here terminating with the dividing cantillation sign etnachta.

ולא חכם AND NOT WISE to consider what will result from their actions, viz., that it is in His power to do them good or evil according to their actions (cf. Siphre).

ולא חכם, pursuing a policy while not considering its ultimate result.

As He settled you in a nest of rock mass, etc. The word קננך comes from קן (nest). It is written [in the Torah] as קנך which denotes “acquisition,” so how does this fit in with the term “Your Father”? The expression of “acquisition” does not apply to a father [relationship]! Therefore Rashi [initially] explains that it is related to “nest.” Then Rashi’s difficulty is that if it means “nest” there should have been a chirik under the letter koof, and the nun should have a dagesh, similar to the phrase, “Like an eagle who rouses his nest (קנו) (v. 11). Therefore Rashi explains the word as meaning “perfecting” (תקון). Do not ask how Rashi knows it is from the word תקון (perfecting) rather than from קנין (acquisition) and קן (nest), because if so it should have been vocalized with a cholem=קונך, similar to the phrase “Possessor (קונה) of heaven and earth” (Bereishis 14:22). And it cannot be explained only as meaning “perfecting” (תקון) and “settling in a nest” (קן) and not meaning “acquisition” (קננך), because if so it is missing a letter tav from תקון. Perforce it is a word derived from [a combination of] all three words.

This is more or less what Moses meant when he added: הלא הוא אביך קונך, "Isn't G'd the One Who is your father and the One Who owns you?" Moses makes 4 distinctions here. 1) Seeing that G'd created man, he calls G'd "your father." 2) He acquired all of us as His slaves when He took us out of bondage in Egypt, and revived us in the desert and brought us to the Holy Land, a land full of goodness. This then is the meaning of קנך. 3) He awarded us an additional and superior gift, i.e. His Presence amongst us and the availability of prophets in our midst. This is what Moses meant when he said הוא עשך, "He has made you." G'd has added a new element to your life, something no other living beings enjoy. 4) He has equipped us with an automatic entrance card to the hereafter, life's main arena. How could even a vile nation be prepared to jeopardise all these advantages unless they were foolish also?

הלא הוא אביך קנך, wenn er dich sein eigen nennt und über all dein Sein und Wollen, über alle deine inneren und äußeren Kräfte und Mittel in seinem Gesetze disponiert, hat er nicht ein Recht dazu und sollte dir nicht zugleich das unerschütterliche Bewusstsein inne wohnen, dass er mit allen diesen Verfügungen, mit allen Anforderungen und Versagungen nur dein Bestes will! Ist es doch dein Vater, der also über dich verfügt, bist du doch ganz eigentlich völkergeschichtlich sein Erzeugtes. Dein ganzes völkergeschichtliches Dasein ist ausschließlich sein Werk. Ohne Ihn wärst du überall nicht da. Inmitten der sich gestaltenden Völkerbildungen hat allein Er vom ersten unscheinbarsten, individuellsten Anfang grundlegend dich zum Volke erzeugt und erzogen. Was andere als Menschen sind, bist du zugleich als Volk: Gottes Geschöpf. Er hat also ein ausschließliches Recht an dich, und zugleich bürgt dieser dein ganzer Ursprung dir, dass was Er, dein Vater, von dir fordert, nur deine, seines von ihm erzeugten Kindes, Wohlfahrt bezweckt.

קנך, from תקון, healthy, in good condition. Compare Psalms 78,54: הר זה קנתה ימינו, “His right hand had acquired this mountain.”

הלא הוא אביך קנך IS NOT HE THY FATHER קנך? The last word may mean: Who has acquired (קנה) thee, or, Who has placed thee (more lit., made thee nest, קנן) in a nest of rocks and in strong ground, or. Who has fitted you out (תקן) with everything that will benefit you.

הלא הוא אביך קנך, He is not like a natural father who had no control over the type of son he had sired, but had to leave this to chance; G’d deliberately adopted the Jewish people giving them the kind of existence that would make Him proud to be called your “owner,” and made Him look forward to achieve His aim in creating mankind through you. Had He not made you into a nation you would have remained an insignificant tribe of sorts.

A nation among nations. Rashi is answering the question: How is this praise, that Hashem made them? Did He not make the entire world?! Therefore Rashi explains “a nation among nations,” means that Hashem chose you from among all the nations of the world.

הוא עשך ויכוננך (vergl. כוננו חצם על יתר Ps.11, 2 und כחצים ביד גבור כן בני הנעורים Ps.127, 3), wenn er dir, deinem ganzen Sein und Wollen, mit seinen Gesetzen die Richtung geben will, die Ziele anweist, die dein ganzes Wesen mit allem, was du dein nennst, anstreben soll, so vergiss doch nicht, dass הוא עשך ויכוננך, dass der, der dir diese Ziele anweist, dich ja gebildet hatte, ehe er dir diese Ziele anwies, er dich somit für diese Ziele gebildet hat, sie somit ganz eigentlich diejenigen sind und ausschließlich sind, die deinem Wesen und deiner Bestimmung entsprechen.

הוא עשך HE HATH MADE THEE a nation among the nations of the world,

ויכוננך, He equipped you with the basic ingredients to enable you to become the precious nation He mentioned prior to the revelation at Mount Sinai.

With every kind of basis and foundation. The word כן (foundation) is also a word meaning “basis,” but בסיס is Aramaic and כן is Hebrew.

ויכננך AND HATH ESTABLISHED THEE afterwards on every kind of firm base and foundation (כן) (i.e. made you self-contained): out of your midst come your priests, out of your midst your Levites, and out of your midst your kings — a city in which is everything (Sifrei Devarim 309:7; Chullin 56b).

Some of you are kohanim, some prophets, some kings, etc. Which is not true with other nations, who take a king from a different land.

Remember world history. Remember that the world was created in six days, and protect it so that it does not become destroyed. Study the generational epochs. This refers to two sets of ten generations; from Adam until Noach, and from Noach until Avraham. Consider that if Hashem is patient, and does not punish immediately, this may lead you to think that there is no Judge and no justice. Perhaps you will decide, as a result, to act wickedly. Know that you are trusting in lies, and understand from those generations who angered Hashem until eventually he destroyed them with the flood, and until Avraham came along and received the reward of all of them.