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Bread you did not eat,
And wine and strong drink you did not drink,
So that you might know that i
am the lord your god
(Devarim 29:5)
"Bread you did not eat,
and wine and strong drink you did not drink" - […] you did not eat it
in order to live from it, for your primary sustenance was the manna, "that
you know that I am the Lord your God" who sustains you miraculously. This
does not mean that they ate no bread at all, as with Moshe who "ate no
bread and drank no water", because there were occasions when Israel did
have bread in the wilderness, as is written "Food for silver you shall
sell that I may eat, and water for silver you shall give me, that I may drink....
as the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites, who dwell in Ar, did
for me" and our Sages recalled (Yoma 75b): Things
which merchants of the nations bring to them in the wilderness. And it may also
be that, from the time that manna began to fall until they reached Seir they
ate no bread at all, because they walked through a great and fearful
wilderness, but in the fortieth year they approached a settlement and they were
told "Command the people as follows: You are passing the border of your
brothers, sons of Esau, purchase food from them" and it says there "These
forty years has the Lord your God been with you, you have lacked nothing",
and from that time onwards, the Edomites and the Moabites would greet you with
bread and water and the nobles of Israel would purchase from them and they
would eat for pleasure, not for need nor for satiety, for their main source of
sustenance was the manna.
(Ramban, Devarim
29)
"Bread you did not eat, and wine and strong drink you did not drink" - This is juxtaposed with Sihon and Og sallying forth to meet you in battle (v. 6). It is known that warriors are prepared from youth to be large and courageous, to eat bread and meat to satiety, and wine to strengthen them and to make them happy, as is written "and bread that sustains man's life (Psalms 104:15), and "wine that cheers the hearts of man" (ibid), so that they will win in battle. Like those who eat swine flesh and drink from fountains of wine, and thus they are brave warriors, skilled in war. But people who are raised on eating refined foods and drinking clear water, it is appropriate that they stand in the halls of kings, serving as his courtiers and servants, but they are not fit for battle. The children of Israel left servitude broken and despondent, and they wandered through deserts, and did not eat normal bread, but fine bred suited for nobility was absorbed into their body, and they did not drink wine, but waters salted and sometimes bitter. How could they fight against enemies who drink from fountains of wine and eat bread and meat? Therefore he said to them: See how great are the deeds of God, and know that victory is not for the daring, neither with power nor with strength will man overcome, but with the spirit of God. And behold, you walked forty years in the wilderness,... 'Bread you did not eat, and wine and strong drink you did not drink as did the warriors, as is written "and Malkizedek King of Shalom brought out bread and wine" (Bereishit 14:18), and they said: This is done for the battle-weary. And despite all this, "... you came to this place, and Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of the Bashan sallied forth to meet us in battle and we struck them down", not in natural fashion. The warriors raised on bread and wine and meat fell before the weak who consume finer foods. All this because God is good to you.
(R' Avraham ben Yaakov Sava, Tsror HaMor, ibid., ibid.)
On concern for society's disadvantaged
Dror
Ehrlich
Dedicated to the memory of my beloved grandfather,
R' Yisrael Hollander, a year
after his passing
As part of the
Viduy recited upon extermination of tithes, man appeals to God "Look
down from Your holy dwelling place, from the heavens, and bless Your
The words "Look down from your holy dwelling" as interpreted by R' Meir Simcha HaCohen of Dvinsk in his commentary "Meshech Chochma", present three themes with great social-religious significance, linked together by emphasis on the premier importance of concern for the weaker members of society.
At the outset, R' Meir Simcha quotes the passage from Psalms (68:6) "Father of orphans, judge of widows, the Lord in His holy dwelling" which connects the phrase "From Your holy dwelling place" to the orphan and widow who are listed - along with the Levite and the stranger - among the recipients of tithes. This passage teaches us something about the Holy One's attitude to the orphan and the widow; He does not have mercy upon them "from afar" but in His very dwelling place, as members of His household. So, too, must be the attitude of man to the various needy. There is, of course, great convenience in distancing the weak and the unfortunate, such as the pauper, the infirm, the immigrant or varieties of the 'other'' to the margins of society. Their presence alongside us, or among us, is unpleasant, for numerous reasons, and we can feel good about ourselves when we show concern for them, individually and collectively, to the best of our ability, as long as they are 'there'. Still, their placement 'outside the encampment', physically and conceptually, clearly expresses alienation and feelings of supremacy. The model which the Holy One establishes is different: true concern for the other in general, and for the individual in particular, must receive expression also through our bringing him closer and integrating him. In his commentary on the passage "And you shall love your fellow man as yourself" (Vayikra 19:18), Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch writes: "We have here total equality for all as a guiding principle for all our actions, according to this we will seek the welfare of our neighbor as our own, we will turn egotism and self-love into love of our fellow and safeguarding of his dignity, we will learn to love and to respect every being with total equality with ourselves". Concern for the other demonstrated from a position of detachment is, of course, preferable to apathy and insensitivity, but it still contains inequality which violates the wholeness of appropriate love of the other.
The second theme
in R' Meir Simcha's commentary is based upon a
Talmudic discussion {Hagiga 12b). Resh
Lakish argues that heaven contains seven firmaments which he enumerates, from
the least important to the most sublime: vilon, rakia,
shehakim, zevul, maon, machon and areivut. In the firmament called zevul
are found
A yet sharper and more explicit formulation of this can be found in R' Saadya Gaon's commentary on Proverbs 24:27: "Thus, hearing the prefaces which are its key, there will be no benefit for man in one part of them without the second part. This means, that the mitzvoth based on revelation [mitzvoth shemiyoth], such as the fast, Shabbat, festival, and matzoth are of no benefit to their observers unless he precedes them with the mitzvoth based on reason [mitzvoth sichliyoth], such as truth, righteousness and justice, and the distancing of murder and licentiousness and theft and similar severe transgression. This is the [heart of] the matter: Repair your conduct towards people and afterwards [your conduct] between yourself and your God, and do not steal and give of it to charity, do not behave licentiously and then fast". R' Saadya regards fulfillment of man's ethical-social obligations as the sine qua non for proper fulfillment of his religious duties towards the Holy One. One hopes that this order of priorities will gain increasing acceptance in the religious outlook of contemporary individuals and groups.
The third theme is intertwined with a halachic context. The Meshech Chochma connects two different laws: (A) It is permitted on Chol HaMoed –the Intermediary Days of the Festival-- to eulogize a Torah scholar prior to burial, even though with respect to mitzvoth pertaining to joy these days are considered festival days and eulogy is forbidden. (B) Judges must give precedence to cases involving orphans over cases dealing with scholars. The connection between the two laws is based upon the fact that the mitzvah of rejoicing on the festival is Torah-mandated, whereas the prohibition of work during chol hamoed is rabbinically imposed. Therefore, since the eulogizing of a scholar takes precedence over the Torah-mandated mitzvah of rejoicing, and since the orphan takes precedence over the scholar, we may logically infer that attending to the needs of orphans takes precedence over the prohibition of labor on chol hamoed. It seems that the Rabbi of Dvinsk is proposing a broad interpretation of a law touching upon the scheduling of cases. In his view, preference of the orphan over the scholar is not just a local issue; it is a sweeping principle: "He takes preference over the scholar". There is a special importance to social sensitivity towards the weaker group, typified in this case by the orphan.
Dr.
Dror Ehrlich lectures in Jewish Philosophy in
Gentiles Who Are Gathered Beneath the
Wings of the Shechina Are the Children of Avraham
The ger brings [Bikkurim] and recites, for
Avraham was told "For I will make you a Father of a Throng of Nations";
he is the father of all the
world who gather
beneath the wings of the Shechina, and Avraham was first to receive the promise
that his descendents would inherit the land; Kohanim, Levites also bring and
recite, because they have [land in] unenclosed cities.
(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Bikkurim 4:3)
The recitation of bikkurim
"You are to take from the premier part of all the fruit of the soil" - The recitation of the Bikkurim text is also an expression of humility, because he carries the basket on his shoulder; it also expresses recognition of God's goodness and favors. The service of God includes the remembrance of difficult times and tribulations even in times of prosperity.
(Rambam, Guide for the Perplexed, III, 39)
And walk in His ways: "Clinging to God" Must not Justify Disregard for
Ethical Commandments
The Lord
will establish you as His holy people, as He swore to you, if you keep the
commandments of the Lord and walk in his ways:
If you
keep [them] in such a way that one who wishes to practice
holiness and clinging to God will not want to shun the observance of the
commandments, for sometimes they [the commandments] disturb the clinging [to
God]. In any case, it is necessary to observe the commandments, whether they be
related to Heaven or to relations between people; that is the meaning of walk in His ways - just as He is merciful, so too, you
should be merciful, etc...This admonition was already made clear in the passage
dealing with tzitzit,
that customs of holiness and piety should not detract from the observance of
commandments - even of commandments dealing with relations between
people...some commandments cannot be observed while one is in a state of
clinging [to God], including that of walk
in His ways, which deals with human concerns. Therefore one should break
one's concentration from holiness in order to act. In any case the Lord will establish you as His
holy people, and immediately after performing the deed you will again
achieve the state of holiness and clinging that you had attained earlier.
(The NeTziV Mi'Volozhin's Ha'Amek Davar on Devarim 28:9)
And you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil (Devarim 26:2): Permission to Enjoy the Fruits of the Land is connected
to Recognition that The earth is the Lord's and all the fullness
thereof
In
bringing the first fruits, I myself serve witness that it was God who gave me
the land as a portion and a gift. That is why it says you shall take
some of every first [fruit]: It does not say give of
every first, but rather take, in order to tell you that it is
by virtue of these first [fruits] which you bring to God's House, to give
thanks and honor to His Name, that you can take any fruit of the
earth. You will merit all fruits of the earth after you acknowledge that you
bring the first ones from your land which God has given to you. For
that land is not called "your land" until you bring the first
[fruits]. Upon bringing them, you will be able to take all of the fruits of the
earth. This bringing is the recitation mentioned in the verse, I
acknowledge this day (Devarim 26:3).
(Keli Yakar on Devarim 26:1)
"And the Egyptians did evil to us"
The Ohr HaHayyim on Devarim 26:6 notes that the Hebrew for "did
evil to us" may also be read as "made us evil", implying that
under the negative influence of the Egyptians, we became as evil as they.
"And
the Egyptians did evil to us - The Haamek Davar, also noting the above grammatical option,
explains: They made us evil and ungrateful, to the point where they suspected
us and said "And he too will join our enemies..." something which
No
man or group has a monopoly on the Torah
"Now Moshe and the Levitical priests spoke" - [Note: The
Hebrew for 'speak' - daber- may also be
read as davar - 'thing' or 'event'] What happened there? This comes to teach us that
(Yalkut Shimoni
Devarim 27, continuation of 1038)
And on those stones you shall inscribe... most distinctly
Most
distinctly teaches us that the words should be explained and made
understandable. They learned from this that this copy of the Torah included a
translation so that the nations of the world might understand it, since
(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch on Devarim 27:8)
Blessed
are you in the city, and blessed are you in the field: Since the foundation of individual and national life is
ethical purity and their lives will be one of observance of the mitzvoth
of charity and loving-kindness, God will bestow upon you His blessing in the
field, will bless the fruits of your womb and the fruits of your soil and your
herds; for your children are born in order to live ethical lives, just and
loyal to duty.
(Rabbi SR Hirsch, Devarim 28:3-4)
Every
blessing a person merits obligates him to share it. It is written in the Sifri: "You shall surely tithe all
the produce of your seed which grows in the field yearly" (Devarim 14:22). This
would seem to indicate that only produce of the seed requires tithing, but from
where do we know that interest and business and all other profits [are also to
be tithed]? The Torah emphasizes 'all' and we read in Devarim Rabba (7:5) "Blessed
are you in the city, and blessed are you in the field' - Said R' Yitzchak:
So that one should not say 'if the Holy One had given me a field, I would have
raised tithes from it' - but if one has no field, he should give from his possessions
in the city."
To me
it seems that one must also give of what he inherits from his father, even
though his father may have been scrupulous in his tithing, nonetheless now the
son has received this wealth, why should he not give tithe of that which the
Holy One has granted him?. It is not applicable to say the 'the son stands in
his father's place', because the son is his own legal persona, for even
during his father's lifetime one [the father] could empower his independent son
to accept the eruv on behalf of others, because 'his hand is not that of
his father' (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Hayyim 366:10), and certainly now that he is deceased, he is a separate
entity.
(Shelah, Tractate Megillah 27)
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