פרשת נצבים - וילך תש"ט - "אתם נצבים..."

אתם נצבים YE ARE STANDING THIS DAY [ALL OF YOU BEFORE THE LORD] — This teaches that Moses assembled them in the presence of the Omnipresent on the day of his death, in order to initiate them into a covenant with Him.

זקניכם ושטריכם YOUR ELDERS AND YOUR OFFICERS — The more prominent were in front (i.e. they stood before the Lord in the order of their rank), and afterwards: “all the men of Israel”.

מחטב עציך FROM THE WOODCUTTER [UNTO THE DRAWER OF THE WATER] — This teaches that some of the Canaanites came in Moses' days to become proselytes just as the Gibeonites came in the days of Joshua, — and this is the meaning of what is stated of the Gibeonites, (Joshua 9:4) “And they also acted cunningly”; — and Moses made them woodcutters and drawers of water (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Nitzavim 2).

היום THIS DAY — like the “day” which endures for ever, for though it becomes dark for a period it shines again, (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Nitzavim 1, Sanhedrin 110b); so has He made you shine (i.e. given you periods when you have had nought but happiness) and will again make you shine; and it is just the curses and the sufferings that give you permanence and stability (נצבים) before Him. — So, too, the section preceding this (1 ff. which follows immediately after the curses) consists of comforting words: “Ye have seen all the Lord did [before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, etc.]”. — Another explanation of אתם נצבים: Because the Israelites were now passing from one leader to another, from Moses to Joshua, therefore he (Moses) made them stand in ranks (מצבה) that he might address admonitions to them. Similarly did Joshua (cf. Joshua 24:1) and similarly did Samuel, who said, (I Samuel 12:7): “Now therefore take your stand (התיצבו) that I may reason with you before the Lord”, when they were leaving his hand (leadership) and were coming under the hand of Saul (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Nitzavim 1).

lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

שרש פרה ראש ולענה [PERHAPS THERE IS AMONG YOU] A ROOT THAT IS FRUITFUL IN POISONOUS HERB AND WORMWOOD — i.e. a root that brings forth herbs bitter as wormwood-plants, which are very bitter. The meaning is: Lest there be a man or woman or family or tribe that fruitfully produces and increases wickedness in your midst.

and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying: ‘I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart—that the watered be swept away with the dry’;

that it be included [Hebrew: sefot] 1) Rabbi Y e hudah HaLevy — may he be for us a light from above! — said that this word has the meaning of “termination” (as in “will you destroy…” [Hebrew: tispeh] [Genesis 18: 23]). The man engaged in blessing himself intends to nullify the words of the righteous — here denoted by the word moist — by means of the words of the “thirsty” (the righteous man is called moist, along the lines of “like a tree planted by the water” [Jeremiah 17: 8], whereas a wicked man is called thirsty, along the lines of “like a juniper bush in the desert” [Jeremiah 17: 6]). Likewise, he thinks that by blessing himself, he can cancel out the malediction. All this would have been a fine explanation — were it not for the fact that moist is an adjective; the verse would have to read “…moisture with thirst”. 2) The grammarian Rabbi Yona ibn Janaḥ explained the verse to mean: Since he sees that the innocent are destroyed the same as the wicked, he decides in his heart to be wicked. This cannot be right, though, on account of the phrase all will be well with me. In my opinion, the word included [Hebrew: sefot] denotes an accretion, as in “that sin be added [Hebrew: sefot]” [Isaiah 30: 1]. The meaning is: “all will be well with me, even though I follow the evil impulses of my heart, because I will survive through the merit of the righteous; they are many, whereas I am just a single sinner”. For this reason, Scripture immediately says, God will not consent to pardon him — that is, he will be instantly destroyed. The image is of something wet adding moisture to something parched. Scripture compares the righteous man to land that is watered (as in, “like a tree planted by streams of water” [Psalms 1: 3]) and the wicked man to land that is parched (as in “like a juniper bush in the desert” [Jeremiah 17: 6]). Evidence for this interpretation is provided by the beginning of the passage: “a root developing into hemlock and worm-wood” [: 17] — which only occurs in a dry area.

Although (ki) it is a stiff-necked people. The usual meaning of ki is “because,” but this makes no sense in this context. Therefore Rabbi Marinus renders it “although,” similar to the usage in Tehillim 41:5, “Heal my soul although (ki) I have sinned to You.” Alternatively, in both instances the meaning is, “for I acknowledge that, etc.”

ילך נא אדני בקרבנו LET MY LORD, I PRAY THEE, GO AMONG US as Thou hast promised (cf. Exodus 33:14), since Thou forgivest iniquity. And even if it be a stiff-necked people and they have rebelled against Thee and Thou didst on that account say, (Exodus 30:3) “lest I consume thee in the way” — yet pardon Thou our iniquity etc. — כי is sometimes used in place of (in the sense of) אם, “if”.

ונחלתנו. AND TAKE US FOR THINE INHERITANCE — make us a special inheritance unto Thyself. This is the same request as that contained in (Exodus 33:16) “that we should be different, I and thy people [from all other peoples]” — which means that You should not let Your Shechinah rest upon the other peoples of the world (cf. Rashi on this verse).