Comentário sobre Deuteronômio 26:18

כאשר דבר לך AS HE HATH PROMISED THEE — in the words (Exodus 19:5) “Ye shall be a select portion unto Me” (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:25).

AND THE ETERNAL HATH AVOUCHED THEE. For this day is to you as the day of [the Revelation on] Sinai, and G-d exalted and magnified you by your acceptance of the Torah in order that you be His own treasure from among all peoples,⁴⁴Exodus 19:5. and that thou shouldest keep all His commandments,⁴⁵In Verse 18 before us. for, to you alone He gave His Torah and commanded you with all the commandments that are desireable before Him and to no other nation. It is similar to what is written, He declareth His word unto Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation.⁴⁶Psalms 147:19-20.

וה' האמירך היום, by entering into the covenant with you, a distinction He has not accorded to any other nation.

He (G-d) said to (Israel) to be to Him a treasured nation, that even if another nation were to come along and improve their deeds and to try to cleave to the divine presence, nevertheless, they will never achieve the level of the Jewish people, and it is this aspect of the Jewish people that is referred to as ‘treasured’, and this is the greatness of the Jewish nation…

He also האמירך, contributed His part in your becoming willing to become His people (and all that this entails). Moses refers to all the miracles G’d had performed for this people before they agreed to become His people.

וה' האמירך היום, “and Hashem on His part has distinguished you today, etc.” Moses tells the new generation that this day on which he concludes the review of the Torah for them is for them as if they themselves had participated in the revelation at Mt Sinai almost 40 years previously. G’d granted them an opportunity to consider themselves as having been present at that time when their parents had become Hashem’s “special” people.

וה' האמירך, “and the Lord reciprocated with similar sentiments towards you.” In other words, just as you accepted Him as G’d, so He performed so many miracles on your behalf that as a result you agreed to view yourself as exclusively His people. G’d confirmed this at Mount Sinai when he said in Exodus 19,5: “if you will surely hearken to My voice and be loyal to My covenant, then you will become a treasured people for Me, more so than any of the other nations.”
ולשמור את כל מצותיו, “and to observe all His commandments.” This means that the statements about Israel’s status which we just described are contingent on the people observing the Lord’s commandments. A Jewish people who fails to observe these commandments does not qualify for the distinctive title עם סגולה.

VV. 18 u. 19. וד׳ האמירך וגו׳: Und Gott hat vor aller Welt von Israel ausgesprochen, להיות לו וגו׳: dass Israel Ihm ausschließlich angehören, keine andere Macht Gewalt über Israel haben, ולשמר כל מצותיו: und Israel wie der Cherub am Wege zum Baume des Lebens, wie die Cherubim über der Bundeslade, der Wächter des göttlichen Sittengesetzes auf Erden sein solle. ולתתך עליון על כל הגוים וגו׳, hat Israel, sobald es sich als gewissenhaften Hüter seines Gesetzes bewährt, eine weltgeschichtliche Stellung verheißen, die es hoch über alle anderen von Gott gestalteten Völker hinaus heben soll, so dass die Tatsache seiner völkergeschichtlichen Erscheinung Gott auf Erden לתהלה לשם ולתפארת gereiche. Israels völkergeschichtliche Erscheinung soll תהלה werden: eine Offenbarung der Gotteswaltung inmitten der Menschheit, ja eigentlich eine "Ausstrahlung" in geschichtlichen Erscheinungen, die auf Gott, als deren Ausgang zurückführen und sein Dasein und Walten konstatieren; und mehr als dies, soll לשם werden: soll nicht nur eine unbestimmte Ahnung von einem einzigen Meister der Gänge der Natur und Geschichte, soll שם, soll, indem es mit dem Buche seiner Lehr- und Gesetzoffenbarung in der Hand, dem einzigen Quell seines Geistes- und Tatenlebens und seiner Wundererhaltung, in Mitte der Völker wandelt, eine ganz bestimmte, klar umschriebene Erkenntnis von dieses einzigen Gottes Sein und Wollen vermitteln, und — wenn es von diesem Gotte und seinem treu erfüllten Gesetze getragen, das Menschen- und Volkesglück erreicht, das Gott ihm in seinem Gesetze verbrieft, — so wird dies לתפארת, wird eine alles andere so weithin überstrahlende Verherrlichung Gottes und seines Gesetzes werden, dass "Völker zu diesem Lichte wandeln werden" und Israel ein "Kranz der Verherrlichung in Gottes Hand, ein Königsdiadem seinem Gotte wird" ׳והיית עטרת תפארת ביד ד וצניף מלוכה בכף אלקיך (Jes.62, 3). ולהיותך עם קדוש וגו׳, und während Gott es vor aller Welt ausgesprochen, dass Israel als das Volk des Gottesgesetzes ein Werkzeug der Völkererleuchtung und Völkergesittung werden solle, so hat er eben damit האמירך: zum Bewusstsein aller Menschen die Bestimmung und Erwartung von Israel ausgesprochen, dass es in allen zu ihm Zählenden ein עם קדוש, eine "heilige", nur dem sittlich Guten und Gott Wohlgefälligen zugewandte Nation sein solle, also — dass, wenn je es seiner heiligen Bestimmung untreu werden sollte, der kleinste Bube aus der übrigen Menschheit es an seine Bestimmung und seine Verpflichtung mahnen könne.

להיות לו לעם סגולה, so that He may achieve with you what He hoped to achieve with mankind when He created man, saying: “let us make man in our image, etc. (Genesis 1,26).

Alternatively, this is intended as reassurance to the Jewish people that although there would be stormy periods in their relationship with G'd, periods during which G'd would be very angry at them, G'd would never exchange them for another nation. The words כאשר דבר לך have to be understood as in Berachot 7 where the meaning of Exodus 33,16: ונפלינו אני ועמך, "and I (Moses) and Your people will be distinguished" is discussed. This was a request by Moses that G'd not allow His Presence to rest on any other nation and not to grant them prophets. We have explained in our book Chefetz Hashem that what Moses meant was that even if another nation were to qualify for such favourite treatment by G'd on the basis of its moral and ethical achievements, whereas at that same time the Israelites would be habitually violating the Torah precepts, G'd should not distinguish such a nation by making it His favourite. At that time G'd promised Moses that the Israelites would retain their status of being special to G'd.

ולשמור כל מצותיו, He accorded you an additional distinction in having chosen you to observe all of His commandments; by comparison the other nations have not been rated important enough in His eyes to warrant these commandments. Proof is the statement of our sages that if a gentile decides to observe the Sabbath legislation voluntarily as a religious act, he is guilty of death, as ever since the first sin, man had been condemned to labour in the sweat of his brow for a livelihood, and only the Jewish people have been relieved of this decree on one day of the week, i.e. the Sabbath. (compare Sanhedrin 58) All other nations have been given only seven commandments to observe.

ולשמר כל מצותיו "and to observe all His commandments." Seeing that this is a commitment undertaken by Israel vis-a-vis G'd why does the Torah write such a line in a verse which portrays G'd's commitment to Israel?

Perhaps the glory of Israel consists in the fact that G'd has seen fit to "give" this nation all His laws, something He had not seen fit to do for any nation or individual during the 2,000 years of mankind's existence prior to G'd's revelation at Mount Sinai. G'd had only given a few laws to Adam and Noach, holding back the vast majority of them until He revealed them to Israel. We must remember that the principal function of these commandments is to act as a barrier against the various abominations in our universe. Observing these commandments acts like inoculation against the danger of becoming polluted by these various spiritually negative influences which abound all around us.

A second explanation for the strange phenomenon of G'd being described as "keeping all His commandments," maybe that it is an assurance that G'd will strengthen all the forces which are active to promote the keeping of His commandments. We have to understand this verse as a gentle reminder that even with the best will in the world we would not be able to observe all of G'd's commandments unless we received a heavenly assist.

A third meaning may be based on Kohelet 8,5: "he who keeps the commandments will know no evil;" our sages in Pesachim 8 derive from that verse that anyone engaged in the performance of a commandment either himself or even as a delegate for someone else, will not come to harm while so engaged. The word ישמר in our verse then means that G'd will watch over people engaged in מצוה-performance.

A fourth meaning may be that our verse speaks of a dimension which even Moses himself had not attained, even though he too was part of this nation called עם סגולה. Our sages in Sotah 14, commenting on Moses' prayer to be allowed to enter the Holy Land, ask why Moses was so anxious to do this. Did he perhaps want to taste the produce of that land? They answer that what motivated Moses to make this request was his desire to be allowed to fulfil all the commandmnets which can only be fulfilled on the soil of that land, not in the desert or anywhere else for that matter. G'd's promise here refers to His granting the Israelites the opportunity to fulfil all the commandments, i.e. to let them live in the Holy Land. This is why the Torah emphasised the word היום when speaking about G'd's undertaking vis-a-vis Israel. He referred to the time when entry to the Holy land had become imminent. This was a distinction which had been denied even to Moses.

When you examine the two verses 17 and 18 respectively you will find that between them they describe six virtues which Israel excels in, and 6 six distinctions G'd bestows on the Jewish people. 1) "to be your G'd;" 2) to walk in His paths; 3) to observe His statutes; 4) to observe His commandments; 5) to observe His social laws; 6) to hearken to His voice. Verse 18 is G'd's response where He bestows six distinctions upon us. 1) to be His precious people; 2) to protect us when performing all His commandments. 3-5) to make Israel supreme over all the nations; to be famous and a glorious example amongst all the nations through the performance of laws given to us exclusively by G'd; 6) to be a holy nation, an achievement which is due to Torah-observance. The verse concludes with כאשר דבר לך, "as He said to you" (in Exodus 19,6) where the Torah wrote: "these are the words you are to say to the children of Israel."