[Therefore] keep all the commandments that I command you this day,

 in order that you may be strong and come and possess the land to which you are crossing, to possess it,

. And in order that you may prolong your days on the land that the Lord swore to your forefathers to give to them and to their seed a land flowing with milk and honey...

a land the Lord, your God, looks after; the eyes of Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

(Devarim 11)

 

The land is good, it is in accordance with the intended intellectual spiritual and moral development of the nation, and it is also roomy, so that it can also develop numerically therein.

flowing [zavat] with milk and honey It is very characteristic that the description of abundance of produce by zov only occurs in reference to the Land of Israel, is never used with this meaning elsewhere, but it is the constant expression used of the Land of Israel. In Scripture the word zov never means overflowing. It occurs mainly to describe a human pathological condition, and otherwise as a flowing forth caused by miraculous power He struck the rock and water flowed forth (Psalms 78:20) or by violence stabbed, their blood gushed forth (Lamentations 6:9). Taking all this into consideration, a land flowing with milk and honey does not seem to describe a land that develops this abundance in accordance with its natural fertility, but a land that only does this under special conditions. The Land of Israel is a hard land: ha'artzot ha'el [those lands, but also hard lands] (Bereishit 26:3). We saw it repeatedly visited by famine, and also after Israel left it, it lay barren. Absorbs water from the rains of heaven is said of it. A land which, unlike Egypt, does not offer its inhabitants simply to take advantage of its natural conditions of fertility, but which can blossom and flourish only when the eyes of Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. When it gets water, it blossoms out luxuriously. But it only gets this water from above. It is a land that makes it necessary for its inhabitants to be good. For a hard people, as we were, a hard land is fitting.

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch Shemot 3:8, based on Levy translation)

 

What does the Lord, your God, demand of you?

Gavriel Birnbaum

For Shlomi and Etti

Upon their marriage

With love

And now, O Israel, what does the Lord, your God, demand of you? Only to fear the Lord, your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to worship the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes, which I command you this day, for your good. (Devarim 10:12-13)

This passage has puzzled many throughout the generations. They understood it as having God say (translated into modern lingo): "What's the big deal? I am not asking for much, just to fear, to love, to worship... with all your heart and with all your soul!" Is that which God demands from us not a "big deal"? The Gemara already asked: "Is fear a small thing?!" (Berakhot 33b). The NeTzIV formulates the problem well in his commentary, Ha'Amek Davar on our verse:

The verse is bewildering, since everything within human power is included within the request, what else is there to ask for?

This question gave rise - so to speak - to an instructive and amusing dialogue between God and the People Israel:

I asked one thing of the Lord (Psalms 27:4) - The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "First you said, I asked one thing of the Lord - to dwell in the Lord's house. But then you spoke again: To see the Lord's pleasantness and to visit in His hall!" He said to Him: "Master of the Universe! Shouldn't a servant be like his master? Didn't You first come to us with one [request], for it is said: And now, O Israel, what does the Lord, your God, demand of you? Only to fear, but then You began listing many commandments, for it is said: to walk in all His ways, to cleave to Him and to keep His commandments? That is to say: it is sufficient for the servant to be like his Master." (Midrash Tehillim [Shoher Tov] 27:5)

After citing this midrash, the author of Ha'amek Davar comments with some audaciousness: "But this is no more than flowery language [lashon melitzi]." However, the plain meaning of the text seems to show that the request must be understood in context. The exegete H. Tigay¹ understands God's request against the background of the previous sections of Moses' speech: Moses warned the People Israel of the rebelliousness and stiff-neckedness they displayed both before and after the sin of the Golden Calf. Then he says, and now, introducing a kind of conclusion drawn from the preceding account, that "The history of your rebelliousness proves that you lack the basic qualities that shall be listed presently, and in the future you will be required to take upon yourselves to fear and love God in order to prevent further such incidents between yourselves and the Holy One, blessed be He."

Another important aspect of the plain meaning of Scripture is mentioned by ShaDaL is his commentary on our passage: "It is not that He is asking an easy thing of you, but rather that he is not demanding anything for His own sake, but rather for your own good."² Of course, his interpretation is based upon the end of verse 13, quoted above. Actually, RaMBaN had written similar thoughts much earlier:

what does the Lord, your God, demand of you? - connects with for your good. That is to say: He asks nothing of You for His own sake, but rather it is for your sake, as expressed by [the verse], If you are righteous, what shall you give Him? (Job 35:7); all of it is completely for your own good. And he explains: For the Lord your God has the heavens and the heavens' heavens, the earth and all that it contains - and they all glorify His name; He does not need you.

Let us try to dig a bit deeper into the significance of the idea that God asks for nothing to satisfy His own needs. Is it even possible to speak of God having needs? Is the statement "God needs something" meaningful? Every novice philosopher understands that it is a contradiction in terms to say that God needs something. The Psalmist expressed this poetically: For all the beasts of the forest are Mine, the behemoth of the thousand mountains. I know all the fowl of the mountains, and the creeping things of the field are with Me. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are Mine (Psalms 50:10-12).

Not only that - doesn't this turn man into the final end, making all of God's essence and the commandments he orders, means for the good of humans? Doesn't this interpretation bring us dangerously close to the figure of the Christian god who sacrifices himself to redeem humanity?

It is common to say that man is the "crown of creation" (albeit, this is a very late formulation). That is to say, simply understood: the entire universe was created for humanity's sake. Consider this parable:

The ministering angels to the Lord: "Sovereign of the Universe! What is man, that You are mindful of him, and the son of man, that you think of him? (Psalms 8:5). This trouble, for what has it been created?" "If so," said He to them, "Sheep and oxen, all of them (ib. 8), why were they created; why were The fowl of the air and the fish of the sea (ib. 9) created? A tower full of good things and no guests-what pleasure has its owner in having filled it?" They said to Him: "Sovereign of the Universe! O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is Your name in all the earth (ib. 10). Do what pleases You!" (Bereishit Rabbah 8:7, based on Soncino translation)

Rabbi Saadia Gaon had this to say:

Even though we see that the creatures are many in number, nevertheless, we need not be confused in regard to which of them constitutes the goal of creation. For there exists a natural criterion by means of which we can determine which one of all the creatures is the end. When, then, we make our investigation with this criterion [as a guide], we find that the main goal is man... Upon further investigation of all its parts we note that the earth and the water are both inanimate, whereas we find that the beasts are irrational. Hence only man is left, which gives us the certainty that he must have unquestionably have been the intended purpose of creation. (Saadia Gaon: The Book of Beliefs and Opinions, 4: introduction Rosenblatt Translation)

RaMBaM attacks this view and its corollaries with his customary vigor and courage. He claims that the question "What is the goal of existence" cannot even be answered by saying "We do not know." Rather, the question itself is meaningless:

Intelligent persons are much perplexed when they inquire into the purpose of the Creation. I will now show how absurd this question is, according to each one of the different theories. (Guide for the Perplexed 3:13, Friedländer translation)

One of the attempted solutions to this question mentioned by RaMBaM claims that human existence is the purpose of existence more generally. Everything exists so that we can serve God; everything that happens, happens for our sake - even the heavenly spheres rotate for our sake and in order to produce the things we need. If the heavenly spheres were created for man, surely that is true of animals and plants. However, RaMBaM rejects this view:

Even if the Universe existed for man's sake and man existed for the purpose of serving God, as has been mentioned, the question remains, What is the end of serving God? He does not become more perfect if all His creatures serve Him and comprehend Him as far as possible; nor would He lose anything if nothing existed beside Him. It might perhaps be replied that the service of God is not intended for God's perfection; it is intended for our own perfection, - it is good for us, it makes us perfect. But then the question might be repeated, What is the object of our being perfect? We must in continuing the inquiry as to the purpose of the creation at last arrive at the answer, It was the Will of God, or His Wisdom decreed it; and this is the correct answer. (ibid)

From here he reaches a conclusion that is very unusual for his historical period:

I consider therefore the following opinion as most correct according to the teaching of the Bible, and best in accordance with the results of philosophy; namely, that the Universe does not exist for man's sake, but that each being exists for its own sake, and not because of some other thing. (ibid)

And so, we began our journey with a difficulty in interpretation that is perhaps no difficulty at all, and now RaMBaM has delivered us from our excessive self-centeredness and brought us to the boundary of the furthermost knowledge of God possible for human beings.

1. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation (Jewish Publication Society: Philadelphia, 1996) p. 107.

2. Perush ShaDaL R. Shmuel David Luzzato al Hamisha Humshei Torah, P. Shlezinger, ed., (Jerusalem 5726) pg. 524.

Dr. Gavriel Birnbaum is a linguist

 

And the Lord said to Moses: I have seen this people. What is meant by, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people? R. Yehuda ben Poloya said in the name of R. Meir: They deserve to be beheaded. R. Yakim said: Three are the undaunted: among beasts, it is the dog; among birds, it is the cock; and among the nations it is Israel. R. Yitzhak ben Redifa said in the name of R. Ammi: You think that this is said disparagingly, but it is really in their praise; for it means: "Either be a Jew or be prepared to be hanged."

R. Abin said: To this very day Israelites in the Diaspora are called the stiff-necked people.

(Shemot Rabbah 42:9, based on Soncino translation)

 

And you shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt - the Proper Moral Lesson of the Exile

And you shall love the stranger - Resemble God in love of the stranger who accompanies you from alien lands; by your acceptance of the stranger you will realize that pure humanity is the supreme quality in your view. Equality before the law and the love with which Israel relates to the stranger characterize the nation and the Land as the Nation of God and the Land of God. In other circles, man's status depends upon his ancestry and his property; in the Nation of God and the Land of God only pure humanity, subservient to God, determines the status of man.

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch, Devarim 10:19)

 

For you were strangers - All of your misfortune in Egypt was that you were strangers there; as such, local custom denied you land, birthplace, livelihood; the natives were free to do with you as they saw fit. As strangers, you were denied rights in Egypt, and this was the root of the servitude and the persecution you underwent. Therefore, watch yourselves - this is the terminology of the admonition - lest you establish human rights in your state on any foundation other than pure humanitarianism, which rests in the heart of every man as a man. Any depravation of human rights will open the door to arbitrariness and to abuse of man - this is the root of the abomination of Egypt.

(Rabbi S. R. Hirsch, Shemot 22:20)

 

My own power and the might of my own hand: the Danger of Megalomania

The temptation mentioned here (Devarim 8:12-17) is not one that could trap Israel in its net immediately upon their arrival in the land and during their first acquaintance with its landscape. Rather, it is a temptation that comes later, after the land is well in their control and they have settled it, after they become rooted in the land and reap success in productive work. It is a temptation that springs from a feeling of My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me. It is a temptation which replaces the worship of the Creator of the world not with nature and the worship of nature-gods, but with man and his pride. The Torah opposes man's confidence in his own powers with the memory of the great and terrible wilderness with its seraf serpents and scorpions, a parched land with no water in it, the sojourn through the wilderness in which man sustained his own existence.

(Prof. Nehama Leibowitz z"l, Iyyunim b'Sefer Devarim pg. 95)

 

He will hear the cry of the poor and save him

Who does justice: Although He is lofty, He does justice for the orphan and the widow for there is none who aids them, as in the expression Father of orphans (Psalms 68:6). And so too regarding the stranger - He provides for him when he depends on Him; and since the Lord loves the stranger, you are [also] required to love him.

(Ibn Ezra Devarim 10:18)

 

And place these, My words upon your hearts

Next to your hearts, as in the verse and place it as a cover with it upon the Ark, and place upon the covering. From this our Rabbis learned that it [the tefillin] should be placed in juxtaposition to the heart.

(Hizkuni Devarim 11:18)

 

Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kotzk used to say: Why is it written upon your hearts and not in your hearts? Because sometimes the heart is closed up and cannot open itself to certain words, so in the meantime they shall rest upon your hearts, so that one day, when the heart opens up, they will be able to enter...

 

Readers respond

We thank Dov Barak for sending us the following passage from Birkat Yosef - Pardes al Hamisha Humshei Torah by R. Yitzhak Shvinger, ztz"l:

And I said to interpret that which the Alshikh had written, that every place where the blessing of peace is mentioned, that it means there should be no conflict between body and soul, but rather the body should be subservient and obey the soul, and My heart and flesh shall sing to the living God. Torah scholars increase "peace" in the world through their Torah and their righteousness makes peace in their bodies. Since Pinchas prevented many from sinning when he stabbed the adulterer and adulteress, he was given a pact of peace, that he would not sin again and there would be a pact of peace between his body and his soul, for the merit of the many depended upon him and no sin would be caused by him. That is why the midrash was correct to say that he would rightfully collect his reward, since the Holy One, blessed be He, guaranteed him a pact of peace as understood by the Alshikh, and He would certainly not rescind it, and he would be able to receive his reward in this world.

 

 

 

 

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