פרשת ואתחנן תש"ב - נאום משה בפרק ד'

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

You shall not add i.e., you shall not add your own ideas, thinking that you thereby serve God. Likewise, you shall not diminish.

רק השמר לך … פן תשכח את הדברים ONLY TAKE HEED TO THYSELF … LEST THOU FORGET THE THINGS — But only then when you do not forget them but will do them in their correct manner, will you be accounted wise and understanding men, but if you do them in an incorrect manner through forgetfulness, you will be accounted foolish.

Only watch yourself Even if you forget everything else, do not forget the day when you stood at Mount Sinai.

רק השמר לך, even though I have said that you are wise people in the eyes of the gentile nations, be careful not to absorb the views of the wise men of those nations who deny the existence of G’d the Creator and His ability and His supervision of the universe He has created. They may try to convince you with all kinds of intelligent sounding theories.

יום אשר עמדת THE DAY THAT THOU STOODEST — This is to be connected with the preceding verse thus: [The things] which thine eyes saw … on the day that thou stoodest … at Horeb, — where thou didst perceive the thunder and lightning.

He brought you out to be for Him a chosen people in the land wherein you will serve Him; however, God was angry with me, and I shall not see this benevolence.

כי שאל נא, the proof of what I said that G’d will not forget the covenant made with your forefathers is that at Mount Sinai during the revelation all of you had been elevated to the level of prophecy. When I took you to be My people this did not mean that each and everyone of you by their own merits had deserved to be elevated to that spiritual status. I did this on account of the patriarchs. The difference between you and the gentile nations is that although the exceptional gentile may have experienced prophetic insights, there never has been a nation who have experienced something similar as a whole nation as you did at Mount Sinai.

neither see, nor hear… Scripture mentions four senses, and omits the fifth, because it is less refined than the others. The sense of touch also differs from the others, by being coextensive with all living tissue. Don’t be puzzled at the contrast in number between you [plural] will seek and you [singular] will find. First the verse addresses a group, and then it addresses the nation as a unit, or each individual.

And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

ועבדתם שם אלהים AND THERE YE SHALL SERVE GODS — Understand this as the Targum does: And there ye shall serve peoples who serve idols, for since you serve those who serve them (idols) it will be as though you serve them.

Due to the horrible troubles, many of them will leave their faith and worship forms of the stars of the heavens, “human handiwork.” They do not believe them, because they know that in their knowledge and their recognition they are “wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.” They will only perform this service in order to escape death… and they will keep God’s Torah in their midst, while they serve the nations’ gods out of fear. This is not mentioned here to portray a sin, but rather a punishment: this was the greatest of evils, recognizing and feeling the belief of the true God in their hearts while they serve idols with their mouths, and their tongues will betray them, and they will be killed for this. About this it is said (Devarim 28:64), “And you shall serve there other gods.”

But from thence ye will seek the LORD thy God; and thou shalt find Him, if thou search after Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

Or hath God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before thine eyes?

הנסה אלהים which means, HAS ANY GOD DONE MIRACLES (לבוא לקחת לו גוי וגו׳ ,(נס TO GO AND TAKE HIM A NATION [FROM THE MIDST OF A NATION] etc. — All these letters ה are interrogative prefixes, and therefore they are vowelled with Chataph Patach: הֲנהיה, הֲנשמע, הֲשמע, הֲנסה.

has God ever attempted Some people have claimed — perish, perish the thought! — that the word “God” is meant here in a secular sense (i.e., “have gods ever attempted…”).

או הנסה אלוקים, even though G’d from time to time may have seen to it that certain people among the gentiles escaped what seemed like imminent disaster, such instances were limited to a few select individuals;