פרשת כי תבוא תש"ה - נאום "היום הזה"

This day the LORD thy God commandeth thee to do these statutes and ordinances; thou shalt therefore observe and do them with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.

היום הזה, that You entered into the covenant with him. The “covenant” comprised the undertaking by Israel to keep G’d’s statutes as something that would ensure their welfare, something He had not done for any other nation.

This day the LORD thy God commandeth thee to do these statutes and ordinances; thou shalt therefore observe and do them with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.

"Bechol Levavcha" according to the midrash (Sifri), the heart is mentioned here because it is the force that desires (lit.), as it is written [in Tehillim 21:3], "the desire of his heart You gave to him," [and also is written in Mishlei 6:25], "do not covet her beauty in your heart." If so, "bechol nafshecha" - the "nefesh" is [the organ that] reasons, as it is written [in Shmuel 1 25:29] "the Nefesh of my master shall be bound up in the binding of life." It is also like the words of our sages who expound in the Gemara [in Brachot 54].

בכל לבבך, you must embrace these laws with all your heart, without mental reservations or doubts about their authenticity. Your sole motivation must be to carry out His will.

ובכל נפשך, you must not allow yourself to be distracted, sidetracked, by the evil urge, i.e. temptations, because you are so firm in the belief of the superiority of the Lawgiver.

Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and that thou wouldest walk in His ways, and keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His ordinances, and hearken unto His voice.

He declareth His word unto Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation; And as for His ordinances, they have not known them. Hallelujah.

Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and that thou wouldest walk in His ways, and keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His ordinances, and hearken unto His voice.

האמרה, האמירך are words for the meaning of which there is no decisive proof in Scripture. It seems to me, however, that they are expressions denoting “separation” and “selection”: “You have singled Him out from all strange gods to be unto you as God — and He on His part, has singled you out from the nations on earth to be unto Him a select people”. [As far as this meaning is concerned I have found a parallel (lit., a witness) to it where it bears the meaning “glory”, as in (Psalms 94:4): “All wrongdoers glory in themselves”].

The Hebrew word bespoke carries connotations of exaltation. Compare, “in the top of the uppermost bough” [Isaiah 17: 6]. The Spaniard Rabbi Y e hudah HaLevy — may he be for us a light from above! — cleverly explained how the word is related to the verb “to say”: the sense of the passage is that you have done all that is proper, to the point that you cause other people to say “He will be your God”; and He will likewise act toward you so as to cause you to say that you will be His treasured people. According, the verb “to bespeak” takes both a direct and an indirect object.

את ה' האמרת היום, you have become as if betrothed to G’d Who had said “I will be your G’d,” for this is something which depends primarily on Him. He will be your Saviour as a result of your observing His commandments which you accepted.

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.

In this respect, את ה' האמרת היום, when you accepted upon yourself to become a party to this sacred oath, which puts at risk every physical goodness on earth in the event that you desecrate this oath האמרת, by doing so you elevated the image of the Lord, Who, as a result, will be even more honoured in your eyes than before you entered into this reciprocal covenant with Him. You have thereby demonstrated that it is more important for you to do His will than to enjoy any of the transient pleasures of this life.

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).

And you will be a treasure among all peoples - even though all types of humans are important to me above all the lower beings, since He is represented only in them, as say Hazal (Avot): 'Humans are beloved because they were created in the Image' - still, you will be treasured among them

And you will be a treasure among all peoples - even though all types of humans are important to me above all the lower beings, since He is represented only in them, as say Hazal (Avot): 'Humans are beloved because they were created in the Image' - still, you will be treasured among them ...Because Mine is all the earth - and the difference between you exists in smaller or bigger amounts, despite the fact that the whole earth is Mine, and the Righteous of the Nations are important to Me without a doubt.

ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים, this will make you special for only you will be a kingdom of priests, something that will be understood by all of mankind. This is because all of you will call on the holy name of G’d and serve Him simultaneously. This was to be a forerunner of what will happen in the distant future as predicted by the prophet Isaiah 61,6 “and you will be proclaimed ‘priests’ of the Lord.” This is also the true meaning of כי מציון תצא תורה, “the Torah emanates from Zion.” (Isaiah 2,3) [This statement is attributed to the nations of the world at that time.

האמרה, האמירך are words for the meaning of which there is no decisive proof in Scripture. It seems to me, however, that they are expressions denoting “separation” and “selection”: “You have singled Him out from all strange gods to be unto you as God — and He on His part, has singled you out from the nations on earth to be unto Him a select people”. [As far as this meaning is concerned I have found a parallel (lit., a witness) to it where it bears the meaning “glory”, as in (Psalms 94:4): “All wrongdoers glory in themselves”].

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak continues: Is the Holy One, Blessed be He, glorified through the glory of Israel? Rav Ḥiyya bar Avin answered: Yes, as indicated by the juxtaposition of two verses; as it is stated: “You have affirmed, this day, that the Lord is your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His laws and commandments, and listen to His voice.” And the subsequent verse states: “And the Lord has affirmed, this day, that you are His treasure, as He spoke to you, to keep His commandments” (Deuteronomy 26:17–18). From these two verses it is derived that the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Israel: You have made Me a single entity [ḥativa] in the world, as you singled Me out as separate and unique. And because of this, I will make you a single entity in the world, and you will be a treasured nation, chosen by God.