(ו) וְאַתֶּ֧ם תִּהְיוּ־לִ֛י מַמְלֶ֥כֶת כֹּהֲנִ֖ים וְג֣וֹי קָד֑וֹשׁ אֵ֚לֶּה הַדְּבָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר תְּדַבֵּ֖ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
(ז) וַיָּבֹ֣א מֹשֶׁ֔ה וַיִּקְרָ֖א לְזִקְנֵ֣י הָעָ֑ם וַיָּ֣שֶׂם לִפְנֵיהֶ֗ם אֵ֚ת כׇּל־הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֔לֶּה אֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוָּ֖הוּ יְהֹוָֽה׃
(ח) וַיַּעֲנ֨וּ כׇל־הָעָ֤ם יַחְדָּו֙ וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ כֹּ֛ל אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה נַעֲשֶׂ֑ה וַיָּ֧שֶׁב מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶת־דִּבְרֵ֥י הָעָ֖ם אֶל־יְהֹוָֽה׃
(1) ועתה AND NOW — if you will now take upon yourselves the observance of My commandments, it will be pleasant (easy) to you from now and henceforth, for every beginning is difficult.
(2) ושמרתם את בריתי AND KEEP MY COVENANT which I shall make with you regarding the observance of the Torah.
(3) סגלה means a cherished treasure, the same as (Ecclesiastes 2:8) “and treasures (וסגלת) of kings” — costly vessels and precious stones which kings store up... Now do not say that ye alone belong to Me and that I have no other peoples together with (besides) you, and what else, therefore, have I by which the special love I bear you can be made evident; this is not so,
(4) כי לי כל הארץ FOR ALL THE EARTH IS MINE, but in My eyes and before Me they are as nought.
(1) ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים AND YE SHALL BE UNTO ME A KINGDOM OF כהנים — i. e. princes, just as you say, (II Samuel 8:18) “And the sons of David were princes (כהנים)”, which cannot denote priests since his sons were of the tribe of Judah and not of Levi, the priestly tribe.
(2) אלה הדברים THESE ARE THE WORDS — these neither fewer nor more.
(1) וישב משה את דברי העם וגו׳ AND MOSES RETURNED THE WORDS OF THE PEOPLE [UNTO THE LORD] on the next day, which was the third of the month, for he never ascended the mountain to God except early in the morning (Shabbat 86a). But was it really necessary for Moses to deliver the reply to God; God is Omniscient! — But the explanation is that Scripture intends to teach you good manners from the example of Moses: for he did not say, “Since He who sent me knows the reply there is no need for me to report it”.
והגאון רב סעדיה אמר כי וישם לפניהם כמו שימה בפיהם (דברים לא יט) ואיננו אלא כמו שפירשתי. וכן טעם ויענו כל העם יחדיו, כי משה קרא לזקני העם שהם חכמיהם ושופטיהם, כי להם הבחירה, ושם לפניהם כל הדברים האלה במעמד כל העדה, כי על כלם צוה כה תאמר לבית יעקב ותגיד לבני ישראל (שמות י״ט:ג׳), והם לא המתינו לעצה ובחירה, ויענו כל העם יחדו ויאמרו למקטון ועד גדול כל אשר דבר ה' נעשה, וכן אמר עוד (שמות כ״ד:ג׳) ויען כל העם קול אחד ויאמרו: (א) וישב משה את דברי העם אל ה' ששב לפניו אל ההר עם מענה העם. והנה הכל גלוי לפניו ולא שאלו מה ענה לך העם הזה, וכענין שכתוב וישמע ה' את קול דבריכם בדברכם אלי. ובבאו לפניו אמר ה' יתברך הנה אנכי בא אליך בעב הענן בעבור ישמע העם בדברי עמך וגם בך יאמינו לעולם, ואז הגיד לפניו ואמר רבונו של עולם בניך מאמינים הם ומקבלין עליהם כל אשר תדבר, וכן וישיבו אותם דבר ויראום את פרי הארץ (במדבר יג כו), שובם אליהם עם הדברים שראו, כי אח''כ אמר ויספרו לו ויאמרו ואין צורך לדברי ר''א בזה:
(1) AND YE WILL KEEP MY COVENANT. I.e., “the covenant which I have made with your fathers to be a G-d unto them and to their seed after them.” Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained it as referring to the covenant which Moses was to make with Israel after the Giving of the Torah, as he said, Behold, the blood of the covenant, which the Eternal hath made with you in agreement with all these words.
By way of the Truth, [that is, the mystic lore of the Cabala, the verse is to be understood as meaning] that “you should keep My covenant to cleave unto Me, for if thou shalt indeed hearken unto My voice and do all that I speak, then ye shalt be Mine own ‘s’gulah’ (treasure) from among all peoples.” This means that “you will be a treasure ‘in My hand,’” for a king does not hand over a precious object into the hand of another [for permanent possession]. The word s’gulah here is similar in meaning to the expression: ‘us’gulath’ (and treasure) such as kings and the provinces have as their own.
(2) FOR ALL THE EARTH IS MINE. This is similar in meaning to the verses: Which the Eternal thy G-d hath allotted unto all the peoples… But you hath the Eternal taken. And thus He said, “And I have set you apart from the peoples, that ye should be Mine [own] treasure.” It may be that the word s’gulah connotes “attachment.” [The sense of the verse would then be: “and you shall be attached to Me from among all peoples], for unto Me is the earth called kol (all),” as I have explained on the verse, And the Eternal had blessed Abraham ‘bakol’ (in all things). The student learned [in the mystic lore of the Cabala] will understand. Similarly, And ye shall be unto me means that “you will be Mine in a special sense, and not as the rest of the peoples.” And so did the Rabbis interpret it in the Mechilta: “And ye shall be unto Me. As though it were possible to say it, [He is stating], ‘I shall neither appoint nor delegate [any power] to rule over you, but I Myself will rule over you.’ And thus it says, Behold He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep.”
(1) A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS. This means that you shall be a kingdom of My servants.
(2) AND A HOLY NATION. I.e., to cleave unto the Holy G-d, just as He said, Ye shall be holy, for I the Eternal your G-d am Holy. Thus He has assured them [of life] in this world and in the World to Come.
And all the people answered together. This also means that Moses called together the elders of the people, who are their wise men and their judges, for theirs is [the power of] choice. And he set before them all these words in the presence of the whole congregation, since it was with reference to all the people that G-d had commanded, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel.
But they did not wait for the counsel and decision [of the elders, but readily], all the people answered together — both small and great — and said, All that the Eternal hath spoken will we do. And so it says again, and all the people answered with one voice, and said: All the words which the Eternal hath spoken will we do.
(1) VAYASHEV MOSHEH’ THE WORDS OF THE PEOPLE UNTO THE ETERNAL. This means that Moses returned before Him to the mountain with the people’s answer. Now everything is revealed to Him, and He did not inquire of him, “What did this people answer you?” It is similar in meaning to the verse: And the Eternal heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke unto me. And when Moses came before Him, the Holy One, blessed be He, said, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and may also believe thee forever. Then Moses said before Him, “Master of the universe, your children are people of faith, and they accept upon themselves whatever You will speak.”
(1) ועתה אם שמוע תשמעו, And now, "if you will hearken carefully, etc." The word ועתה must be understood in accordance with what Bereshit Rabbah 21,6 teaches, in connection with Genesis 3,22 when Adam was being expelled from Gan Eden. The Midrash says there that this word always introduces the element of repentance.
Inasmuch as the Israelites were still tainted by the many sins they had committed in the past as well as sins they had committed quite recently, such as when they rebelled against G'd's command in connection with the manna and the Sabbath, G'd warned them that in order to qualify for the gift of the Torah they had to undergo spiritual cleansing, a process of repentance.
(2) אם שמוע תשמעו, If you will surely hearken. Why did the Torah have to repeat the expression שמוע? Perhaps the Torah referred to the two Torahs, the written as well as the oral Torah and the various rabbinic edicts promulgated throughout the ages. The people had to be told that both were equally valid.
We are told this more explicitly in Deut. 17,11: "do not depart from any word they tell you either to the right or to the left. The Torah uses the word שמוע as a reference to the written Torah inasmuch as it will be revealed immediately, ועתה, whereas the word תשמעו i.e. you will hear (future) is reserved for the oral Torah and the rabbinic decrees, much of which will be formulated in the future. The expression ועתה, "and now," as a reference to what the children of Israel would be given now is quite appropriate then.
(3) By writing בקולי, to My voice, the Torah emphasises that listening to the instructions of Torah scholars is equivalent to listening to G'd's voice Himself (compare Bamidbar Rabbah 14). Acceptance of rules introduced by the Torah scholars is mandatory.
(4) Perhaps we can explain a difficult passage in Shabbat 88 according to which the words in 19,17: "they stood at the bottom of the Mountain" mean that G'd placed the Mountain in a threatening position, saying to the Israelites: "if you accept My Torah all well and good, if not, this site will be your burial place." This threat makes little sense in view of the fact that the Israelites had already declared their willingness to accept the Torah by saying in 24,7: "whatever G'd has said we shall do and listen (learn)."
Tossaphot hold that the Israelites might have become so frightened at the spectacle of the burning Mountain, etc., that their souls departed from them (so that G'd had to revive them). This seems an unlikely explanation; if this perception would be correct, the very fright of the Jewish people would prevent them from reneging.
We feel that our approach, that the Torah speaks here of two separate revelations, the written Torah as well as the oral Torah with the rabbinic additions, offers a far better way of explaining the statement that the Jewish people accepted whatever G'd had said.
Concerning anything they would hear from G'd directly (things which would be recorded in the written Torah following the revelation), they gave G'd carte blanche, accepted it without even knowing what precisely they undertook to accept i.e. ועתה, now.
Concerning what the rabbis would teach them in the future, however, i.e. additional rules, something the Torah refers to here as תשמעו, to be formulated at a later stage, the Israelites did not yet commit themselves though they did not reject this part of the Torah either.
When the Talmud describes G'd as threatening the Israelites with death if they did not accept the Torah now, what is meant is only the part of the oral Torah and subsequent rules by the rabbis which were not being revealed at this point. We must not forget that acceptance of anything the rabbis throughout the ages would decree was something far beyond what the Israelites had in mind when they coined the immortal phrase נעשה ונשמע, "we shall do it, let us hear what it is that we should do."
The Jews remained under such compulsion until the period of Mordechai and Esther when they voluntarily accepted everything which they had originally accepted only under pressure. The reason they did so was that they realised for the first time that the actions of a Torah scholar such as Mordechai were responsible for their salvation from the decree of Haman.
Had there not been people of the calibre of Mordechai no vestige of the Jewish people would have remained at that time.
According to our approach the Israelites may have used the word נעשה before the נשמע as applicable only to the Torah they would hear from G'd directly, whereas they were willing to accept the rabbinic decrees as well as the so-called oral Torah after they would be informed of its details.
(5) It is also entirely possible that in this verse we have a preview of what proved to be the fact after the Torah was revealed (compare Horiyot 4). The Israelites actually heard only two of the Ten Commandments from G'd's mouth directly, i.e. שמוע תשמעו, whereas they heard the remaining commandments through an intermediary, an angel created especially by G'd to transmit His words to the children of Israel.
As a result there were two different levels of "hearing." They are alluded to by the two words שמוע תשמעון. The word בקולי instead of לקולי in connection with תשמעון, would be a clear allusion to these differences.
(6) The wording may also contain a promise by G'd that once the Israelites would make the initial effort to listen to G'd's commandments, שמוע, then the way would be paved for them to not only listen but to await further commandments by G'd, i.e. תשמעון.
We have expanded the meaning of G'd's דבור, speech whose function it is to be heard, to be listened to. The principal commandment described here (and in the Ten Commandments) is to absorb the meaning of the Torah by listening to it when it is presented. All the advantages of Torah are directly derived by people listening to its words. In this instance, the people would benefit by listening to the voice of the living G'd, and they would observe His commandments in order that the evil urge would not gain control over them.
When the Torah adds the conjunctive letter ו before the word ושמרתם, this is to indicate that as the result of carefully listening to G'd's instructions, He would prevent the evil urge from leading them into sin. Listening to G'd's words would not only have intellectual benefits but immediate practical benefits.
(8) There is yet another lesson contained in these words. "If you will listen carefully and thus prepare yourselves to hear My voice, I, G'd, will allow you to hear My voice, i.e. I will not address you merely through an agent." G'd also hinted that while the Israelites prepared themselves to listen to a single שמיעה, audition, they would find themselves hearing additional auditions, תשמעון, as a reward for having "tuned in" to the Lord.
As a result of the quality of one's listening, the souls of the Jewish people would "draw upon" living waters, wisdom and insights.
The Torah urges the Israelites to tune in so that what they would hear would be of maximum benefit and would be retained in their memories. This is the additional dimension of the words ושמרתם את בריתי, "you will observe My covenant" as a result of having listened בקולי, to My voice directly, instead of merely to the voice of Moses or another human being. Shir Hashirim Rabbah chapter 1 on the line ישקני מנשיקות פיהו, states that any Torah one has learned from a human being is apt to be forgotten. Not so Torah which one has learned from G'd Himself.
(9) There is still another dimension to our verse. Shabbat 146 teaches that when the Israelites stood at the bottom of Mount Sinai all the residual pollutants they still retained as a result of Adam's original sin departed from them. What the Midrash meant was that the word of G'd was so powerful that the people felt as if they had donned Royal garments (another term for man's soul).
As a result, their innermost self despised all alternative attractions in the world, all the abominations which appeal to us humans under the heading of "culture.".
This is what the Torah meant when it concluded והייתם לי סגולה, "you will be a treasure for Me, etc." The term Segulah means something possessing supernatural properties as a result of which we view it as a treasure.
G'd promises the Jewish people that as a result of their listening to His commandments and observing them they will become such a people for Him, a people whose history defies all accepted norms.
(15) You must realise that when you look at both the positive and the negative commandments in our Torah the underlying reason for all of them is that after G'd had examined His creatures and determined that there were evil elements amongst them He wanted to separate us (the Jewish people) from such elements; He examined the good elements and decided to sanctify us by means of these good elements.
The conjunctive letter ו in והייתם refers to additional reward in store for the Israelites over and above other advantages conferred upon them by being עם סגולה. The conjunctive letter ו also is a reminder that G'd does not need the Israelites for anything at all, but that the fact He confers a special status on them is entirely gratuitous. Just as kings who have all they need are sometimes desirous of owning a certain jewel, something which they could do well without, so G'd has decided to treat the Jewish people as if they were part of His jewels, though they do not perform a necessary function in G'd's palace seeing כי לי כל הארץ, the whole earth is Mine anyway. Job 35,7 expressed all this succinctly when he said: "if you are righteous, what can you give Him, or what can He accept from you?"
(20) Yet another element in this סגולה of the Jewish people is that whereas sparks of sanctity are scattered throughout the earth, they cannot be gathered together without the Jewish people and their preoccupation with Torah.
Israel is perceived as being a magnet which attracts these sparks of sanctity from wherever they are to be found. These sparks of sanctity themselves are also called סגולה.
Whereas sanctity amongst other nations is so scattered as to be hardly noticeable, the Jewish people are urged to become a concentration of sanctity. The holy Torah is the tool enabling us to fulfil that command. When G'd adds something which we all know, namely "for the whole earth is Mine," this is an explanation of why the Jewish people are scattered all over the globe in their exile.
As it is our task to gather in the scattered amounts of sanctity that exist we must gather them up wherever they are to be found. This cannot be done if we were to remain in one location.
If Israel had not sinned, the magnetism that their Torah study would have radiated would have been sufficiently strong to have pulled in these various scattered little bits of sanctity; as it is we do not have that much magnetism and have to move closer to the source of these sparks of sanctity in order to attract them and fuse them together into a whole.
The word ואתם was designed to convince the Israelites that G'd did not speak about something which would occur at some time in the future when soul and body would be separated after death, but it would occur right now, i.e. ואתם, "to you" who are still body and soul combined. We have found that the righteous amongst Israel actually achieved this level, that they are called both "angels, and holy." Sanhedrin 93 teaches that man's ability to rise to lofty spiritual levels by means of the Torah is such that he can attain levels even superior to that of the celestial angels.
(3) There is another aspect to the meaning of being a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. We have explained in connection with the meaning of סגולה that there are sparks of holiness scattered throughout the globe and that it is the task of the Jewish people to attract these sparks and fuse them into a solid body of holiness. The Jewish people themselves have also been described as עם סגולה.
(4) אלה הדברים אשר תדבר, "These are the words you are to say, etc." G'd tells Moses and Aaron that they should not think the words: "you will be for Me a kingdom of priests" were addressed only to them; Moses was to address these words to the whole people inasmuch as they had attained this lofty spiritual level.
(5) The meaning of אלה הדברים is for Moses to communicate these words to the people of Israel word for word without any commentary. The reason G'd was so concerned about this was because these words contained elements designed to evoke both fear of the Lord and love for G'd.
G'd was worried that Moses might add words of his own designed to make the Israelites love G'd more or to make them fear Him more. This is why He warned Moses not to add any words of his own at this stage. If Moses were to tell the people things which would make the people fear the Lord more, they would wind up accepting the Torah because of fear, whereas G'd had alluded to the element of fear only in the manner a chef adds seasoning to a dish which is excellent even on its own.
G'd was only interested in sufficient fear to stop a person from ignoring certain minor aspects of מצוה fulfilment by consoling himself that G'd loved him so much that He would not mind a minor infraction.
(6) G'd may also have intended to subject the Israelites to a kind of test by limiting Himself to the minimum number of words possible in urging the people to accept the Torah. Should these words prove insufficient for that purpose it would prove that the people were still far from ready to accept the Torah with a pure heart. Anything Moses would add to G'd's words, even if causing the Israelites to accept the Torah, would negate G'd's test of the people.
What happened, however, was that all the people simultaneously declared their readiness to accept the Torah before either they or the elders had a chance to hear what was written in it. 600,000 people accepted the Torah unconditionally and simultaneously. This is why the prophet Jeremiah 2,2 paid Israel the great compliment in the name of the Lord: "Thus says the Lord, I remember the kindness you have displayed for Me in your youth, your love for Me as a young bride, etc." The prophet used the word כלולתיך, as a double entendre, referring to the fact that כלל ישראל, the entire Jewish nation, had simultaneously displayed this love for G'd and His Torah.
I will further elaborate on this in due course. Alternatively, Moses reported the people's answer after being asked by G'd to do so (Mechilta.) According to this view the word וישב, he replied, means that Moses complied with G'd's request to report to Him on the people's answer. If G'd had not specifically asked him he would not have dared tell G'd the answer as it would have looked like an insult, as if G'd did not already know.
(2) את דברי העם, the words of the people. This does not mean that Moses told G'd what the people had said; rather Moses told G'd how they had said it. Moses used the opportunity to praise the Jewish people by pointing out their many virtues. He referred to the uniqueness of the Jewish people as described by King David in Chronicles I 17,21: "who is comparable to Your people Israel a unique nation on earth?"