Parashat Nitzavim: Commentary
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Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת

Here’s a pretty mysterious pasuk that appears in our parashah.
דברים כ״ט:כ״ח
הַנִּ֨סְתָּרֹ֔ת לַיהוה אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ וְהַנִּגְלֹ֞ת לָ֤ׄנׄוּׄ וּׄלְׄבָׄנֵ֙ׄיׄנׄוּ֙ׄ עַׄד־עוֹלָ֔ם לַעֲשׂ֕וֹת אֶת־כׇּל־דִּבְרֵ֖י הַתּוֹרָ֥ה הַזֹּֽאת׃
Deuteronomy 29:28
The hidden things are for God our Lord, but the revealed things are for us and our children forever, to do all the words of this Torah.
What are these “hidden things” that are for God?
Rashi (following the Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 43b) thinks that “hidden things” are bad things that people do in private or in their thoughts, and “revealed things” are bad things people do that are public and known.
רש"י על דברים כ״ט:כ״ח:א׳
וְאִם תֹּאמְרוּ מַה בְּיָדֵנוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת? אַתָּה מַעֲנִישׁ אֶת הָרַבִּים עַל הִרְהוּרֵי הַיָּחִיד… וַהֲלֹא אֵין אָדָם יוֹדֵעַ טְמוּנוֹתָיו שֶׁל חֲבֵרוֹ!
אֵין אֲנִי מַעֲנִישׁ אֶתְכֶם עַל הַנִּסְתָּרוֹת, שֶׁהֵן לַה' אֱלֹקֵינוּ, וְהוּא יִפָּרַע מֵאוֹתוֹ יָחִיד, אֲבָל "הַנִּגְלוֹת לָנוּ וּלְבָנֵינוּ" לְבָעֵר הָרָע מִקִּרְבֵּנוּ.
Rashi on Deuteronomy 29:28:1
But if you say, “What can we do? How can God punish the community for a person’s bad thoughts... Isn’t it true that people don’t know what their friends do in private?!”
God answers: “I will not punish you for hidden things,” — those are for God our Lord, and God will be the One to punish that individual. But “the revealed things are for us and our children,” — it’s up to us to remove that kind of evil from among us.
According to Rashi, our pasuk is letting us know what our job is to be responsible for. The “hidden things” are people’s private behavior, and we’re not responsible for those things.
  • If we’re not responsible for people’s private behavior, what are we responsible for?
  • There’s a talmudic saying that כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל עֲרֵבִים זֶה בָּזֶה (every Jew is responsible for every other Jew). Why are we sometimes responsible for things other people do? What does this mean about how we’re supposed to relate to every Jew?
  • Why aren’t we responsible for each other’s private behavior? Why is that up to God?
    • Ha’amek Davar (the Netziv) thinks this pasuk is talking about something else. It’s not about people’s private behavior but about questions we have about how God runs the world, especially why the Jewish people have been in such a long גָּלוּת (galut, exile).
    Ha’amek Davar (Germany, 150 years ago)
    …There is a purpose that is known to God… and we have to have faith that God has a hidden reason…
    העמק דבר
    ...הוּא בְּכַוָּנָה יְדוּעָה אֵלָיו יִתְבָּרֵךְ... יֵשׁ לָנוּ לְהַאֲמִין שֶׁיֵּשׁ בְּזֶה טַעַם נִסְתָּר ליהוה
    • According to the Ha’amek Davar, our pasuk is letting us know what our job is to understand about the world. The “hidden things” are the reasons God knows for why things happen in history, and it’s not our job to worry about those things.
    • Why do you think there might be things God knows that are hidden from us? Why can’t we just know everything?
    • When have you had to accept that there are things that happen to you or in the world that you can’t explain? How did that make you feel? How did you deal with that?
    • According to this interpretation, what is the pasuk telling us that we should be trying to understand?