Комментарий к Дварим 1:10

והנכם היום ככוכבי השמים AND, BEHOLD, YE ARE THIS DAY AS THE STARS OF THE HEAVEN — But were they that day as the stars of the heaven? Were they not, indeed, only sixty myriads? What, then, is the meaning of “And, behold, ye are this day (היום lit., the day)"? It means: Behold ye may be compared to the day (the sun), existing for ever just as the sun and the moon and the stars (cf. Sifrei Devarim 10:1).

ה׳ אלוקיכם הרבה אתכם, "The Lord your G'd has multiplied you, etc." This sounds peculiar as we have not read anywhere that the Jewish people had multiplied and become more numerous than the number of people who had participated in the Exodus. Neither did the Israelites increase since the census in the second year of their wanderings. Our sages in the Sifri understood the reference as meaning: "He has made you greater than your judges." Perhaps another thing which Moses had in mind with these words is something we have been taught in the Zohar volume 3 page 211 that when one mentions the abundance of good, its power is increased when it comes to warding off evil influences. The Zohar writes there that whenever one mentions G'd's name as the supreme G'd, the spiritually negative influences lose their power to exercise dominion. Seeing that Moses had first complained that he himself could not handle the Jewish people by himself, he felt it necessary to invoke this Name to counteract any negative influences he might have awakened by his comment.

ה' אלו-היכם הרבה אתכם, “the Lord your G’d has multiplied you, etc.” Moses referred to the increase of the Jewish people during their sojourn in Egypt. They had arrived there comprising only 70 persons, whereas by the time they left Egypt they numbered over 600,000 fighting men. As of the time when Moses was addressing them they were so numerous they could not be counted. It is also possible to understand the words הרבה אתכם as not referring to quantitative increase in the people of Israel but to the qualitative increase; they had developed into a powerful nation. The word רבי המלך in Jeremiah 39,13 means the distinguished people of the King, גדולי המלך.

What then does “you are today” mean? You are compared to the day. I.e., the term כיום [in Rashi] is the same as כהיום (like the day).

V. 10. ככוכבי וגו׳. Wie man beim Anblick des gestirnten Himmels nur den Eindruck der Unermeßlichkeit gewinnt und nicht daran denkt, die einzelnen Sterne zu zählen, den Eindruck macht auch ihr, wenn man euch in eurer Gesamtheit überblickt. Hat doch auch die Geschichte der Menschheit nicht viel Gelegenheit geboten, ein ganzes Volk, sechsmalhunderttausend Männer, an drittehalb Millionen Seelen in einer Örtlichkeit zusammen zu überblicken. Die Veranschaulichung der ungezählten Volksmenge durch die vergleichende Hinweisung auf die ungezählte Sternenmenge dürfte jedoch auch zugleich der irrigen Auffassung vorbeugen sollen, als ob das Volk in seiner Gesamtheit also als eine ungezählte Masse begriffen werden sollte, innerhalb deren der einzelne seine Bedeutung verlöre. Wie bei der ungezählten Sternenmenge, behält gleichwohl jeder einzelne seine selbständige Bedeutung, ist "eine Welt für sich", in eigenem Werte Augenmerk der göttlichen Sendung und Waltung (siehe zu Bereschit 15, 5).

As the sun, the moon, and the stars. Meaning, “like the day.” Although the moon and stars do not reign during the day, it is not called a “day” without including the night with it, as it is written (Bereishis 1:5), “And it was evening, and it was morning, [it was] day one.” If so, it is fine that the verse says [according to Rashi’s explanation] “like the day” [and then mentions the stars]. (In the name of Maharitz). The phrase לרוב (as numerous) means: In the future, you will also be as numerous as the stars. Now, however, you are eternal like them (the sun, moon and the stars), but you are not as numerous as them (Re”m).

והנכם היום, "and here you are as of this day, etc." Moses was very careful to say היום, "today," to alert us to the fact that the statement is to be divided into two separate time frames. The first time frame related to the period during the second year of their wanderings when he had told G'd that he was unable to bear the burden of leadership all by himself. Concerning that period, he had said "G'd has mutiplied you, etc." The second time frame concerned the present, i.e. the fortieth year of their wanderings as he pointed out "as of today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky."

ככוכבי השמים, "as the stars in the sky." When Moses said these words he referred to something we have learned in Sanhedrin 26 that אין מנין לרשעים, "that the wicked do not really have a number." What the Talmud means is that though from a numerical point of view the wicked may appear to number a great many, their increase in number does not imply an increase in importance. The very reverse is true of the righteous. Though, numerically speaking, they may appear as insignificant, their influence is totally disproportionate to their actual number. This is precisely what Moses had in mind when he compared the "number" of the Israelites to the stars in the sky. Just as each of the stars is an important unit in its own right, so each one of the Israelites contributed to the importance represented by their collective רבוי, multiplicity.