Cytowanie Komentarza do Powtórzonego Prawa 11:19

Introduction Tractate Berakhot begins by discussing what time the Shema (only two paragraphs were recited at night, Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21) is recited in the evening. It probably begins by discussing the evening Shema because in rabbinic thought the day begins at night. This is also the order reflected in Deuteronomy 6:7 and 11:19, “Recite them…when you lie down and when you get up.” In our mishnah the sages debate what the halakhic meaning of the words “when you lie down” really are.

והיה אם שמוע נוהג בין ביום ובין בלילה – As it is written (Deuteronomy 11:19), “and teach them to your children” and the study of Torah is practiced both during the daytime and during the nighttime.

The reason the word חקותי, "My statutes," is in the plural is an allusion to the two aspects of Torah, i.e. the oral as well as the written Torah. We have a tradition not to spell the word חקתי with the letter ו between the ק and the ת (which would normally indicate that the word is in the plural) in order to emphasise the essential unity of the oral and the written Torah. Another allusion in the plural ending of the word בחקתי is to the instruction G'd gave Joshua in Joshua 1,8 to study (review) Torah by day and by night. We must allocate time to Torah study both by day and by night. This makes Torah-study a dual activity. According to the traditional spelling the study occurs on the same day (date) (i.e. the day following the night) so that essentially we study Torah twice daily. Moreover, the plural hints at the fact that in order to observe G'd's commandments two elements are essential. One has to study Torah and teach it to others as the Torah says in Deut. 11,19: "teach them (the words of Torah) to your children, etc." The word בחקתי therefore refers to both of these activities forming part of walking in G'd's statutes. Moreover, there is the aspect of performing positive commandments and not violating negative commandments. These latter two activities are covered by the words את מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם.

ואל ישעו בדברי שקר AND LET THEM NOT REGARD VAIN WORDS — let them not think and speak always about “words of wind” saying, “Let us go and sacrifice”. Of similar meaning is, (Psalm 119:117) “And I will speak of (ואשעה ב־) thy statutes continually”. The phrase (Deuteronomy 28:37) למשל ולשנינה “[thou shalt become] a proverb and a byword” we translate in the Targum by “a topic of conversation (שועי)”, and the word ויספר (Genesis 24:66) “and he related” by ואשתעי “and he spoke about”. One cannot possibly say that the word ישעו has the same meaning as the verbs in (Genesis 4:4) “And the Lord turned (וישע) to Abel” and in (Genesis 4:4) “but to Cain and his offering he did not turn (שעה)”, and that we must translate אל ישעו by “Let them not turn”, for if this were so Scripture should have written אל דברי שקר or לדברי שקר (instead of בדברי) for so is the construction in all such cases. Examples are: (Isaiah 17:7) “A man shall turn to (ישעה אל) his Maker”; (Isaiah 17:8) “and he shall not turn to (ישעה על) the altars”; (Isaiah 31:1) “they turn not unto (שעו על) the Holy One of Israel”. I do not find the construction of a ב following these verbs in the sense of “turning to”, but after an expression of דבר “speaking” — as when one intently directs his conversation upon a matter — the construction with כ is quite an appropriate one. For instance: (Ezekiel 33:30) “those who intently direct their conversation (הנדברים) upon thee (בך)”; (Numbers 12:1) “And Miriam and Aaron directed their speech (ותדבר) upon Moses (במשה)”; (Zechariah 4:1) “And the angel who directed his conversaion (הדובר) upon me (בי)”; (Deuteronomy 11:9) “To turn your conversation (לדבר) intently upon them (בם)”; (Psalm 119:46) “And I will direct my speech (אדברה) upon thy testimonies (בעדותיך)”. So, too, here: ואל ישעו בדברי שקר means “let them not always be conversing about vain and idle matters”.

"And it will be that if you listen" our practice is both by day and by night -- for it discusses the teaching of Torah, for it is written: "and you will teach them to your sons."

ונצלתם render it as the Targum does: and ye shall empty out Egypt. Similar are: (Exodus 12:36) “And they emptied out (וינצלו) Egypt”; (Exodus 33:6) “And the children of Israel stripped themselves (ויתנצלו) of their ornaments” The נ in it is a root-letter. Menachem ben Seruk placed it (this word ויתנצלו) in section צ (taking the root as צל not as נצל) together with, (Genesis 31:9) “And God took away (ויצל) your father’s cattle”, and with, (Genesis 31:16) “which God hath taken away (הציל) from our father”, but his view cannot be sustained. For if the נ is not a root-letter, then seeing that it (the word ונצלתם) is vowelled with Chirik, it cannot be used in the sense of “and ye shall do something” (the active voice, which is required here since את מצרים can only be the object of the verb), but in the sense of “and ye shall have something done to you” (the passive — “Niphal”), as (Deuteronomy 28:63) “And ye shall be plucked up (וְנִסַּחְתֶּם) from off your land”; (Leviticus 26:25) “and ye shall be given (וְנִתַּתֶּם) into the hand of the enemy”; (Leviticus 17) “And ye shall be smitten (וְנִגַּפְתָּם) before your enemies”; (Ezekiel 22:21) “And ye shall be melted (וְנִתַּכְתָּם) in the midst thereof”; (Jeremiah 7:10) “And ye say, נִצַּלְנוּ” — which expresses the idea “we have had something done to us” (the Niphal: we have been delivered). Then again, every נ which sometimes appears in a word and sometimes is omitted, as e. g. the נ of נוגף and נושא and נותן and נושך, when the word expresses the sense “and ye shall do something” (the Kal), it is pointed with vocal Sheva (חטף a “snatched” sound), as, for instance, (Genesis 45:19) “and ye shall bear (וּנְשָׂאתָם) your father”; (Numbers 32:29) “And ye shall give (וּנְתַתֶּם) them the land of Gilead”; (Genesis 17:11) “And ye shall circumcise (וּנְמַלְתֶּם) the flesh of your foreskin”. Consequently I am of the opinion that this letter נ which is vowelled with a Chirik is one of the root letters, and the grammatical form of the noun of the same root is נִצּוּל which is of the strong (dageshed) forms, just as דִּבּוּר and כִּפּוּר and לִמּוּד. When, in the case of verbs formed from these roots one expresses the idea of “and ye shall do something” (active voice) the נ has the vowel Chirik (i. e. it is the Piel conjugation), as (Numbers 20:8) “And ye shall speak (וְדִבַּרְתֶּם) unto the rock”; (Ezekiel 45:20) “And ye shall atone (וְכִּפַּרְתֶּם) for the house”; (Deuteronomy 11:19) “And ye shall teach (וְלִמַּדְתָּם) them unto your children”.