parshat ki tavo answers

Ki Tavo 5717

דברים פרק כט

(א) וַיִּקְרָא מֹשֶׁה אֶל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם אַתֶּם רְאִיתֶם אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְקֹוָק לְעֵינֵיכֶם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לְפַרְעֹה וּלְכָל עֲבָדָיו וּלְכָל אַרְצוֹ:

(ב) הַמַּסּוֹת הַגְּדֹלֹת אֲשֶׁר רָאוּ עֵינֶיךָ הָאֹתֹת וְהַמֹּפְתִים הַגְּדֹלִים הָהֵם:

(ג) וְלֹא נָתַן יְקֹוָק לָכֶם לֵב לָדַעַת וְעֵינַיִם לִרְאוֹת וְאָזְנַיִם לִשְׁמֹעַ עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה:

(ד) וָאוֹלֵךְ אֶתְכֶם אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה בַּמִּדְבָּר לֹא בָלוּ שַׂלְמֹתֵיכֶם מֵעֲלֵיכֶם וְנַעַלְךָ לֹא בָלְתָה מֵעַל רַגְלֶךָ:

(ה) לֶחֶם לֹא אֲכַלְתֶּם וְיַיִן וְשֵׁכָר לֹא שְׁתִיתֶם לְמַעַן תֵּדְעוּ כִּי אֲנִי יְקֹוָק אֱלֹקיכֶם:

(ו) וַתָּבֹאוּ אֶל הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה וַיֵּצֵא סִיחֹן מֶלֶךְ חֶשְׁבּוֹן וְעוֹג מֶלֶךְ הַבָּשָׁן לִקְרָאתֵנוּ לַמִּלְחָמָה וַנַּכֵּם:

(ז) וַנִּקַּח אֶת אַרְצָם וַנִּתְּנָהּ לְנַחֲלָה לָראוּבֵנִי וְלַגָּדִי וְלַחֲצִי שֵׁבֶט הַמְנַשִּׁי:

(ח) וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת דִּבְרֵי הַבְּרִית הַזֹּאת וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם לְמַעַן תַּשְׂכִּילוּ אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר תַּעֲשׂוּן: פ

And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them: Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; the great trials which thine eyes saw, the signs and those great wonders; but the LORD hath not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink; that ye might know that I am the LORD your God. And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them. And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites. Observe therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may make all that ye do to prosper. 
Alef.

1.  Ibn Ezra. Although it took all this time until this point for you to reach a modicum of proper understanding, since HaShem is the One Who Set all of these actions in motion that eventually led to your recognition of the Truth, it is as if He has Caused your enlightenment. (There does not seem to be any blame assigned to the people. It’s just that this was how long it took for the learning curve to be completed, an experience which is attributed to HaShem’s Organization and Planning.)

     Abravanel sees the verse in question as interrogatory and therefor accusatory, i.e., Hadn’t HaShem Given you the requisite ability to understand, as well as Made Happen all sorts of events that should have led you to the proper conclusions? The fact that you didn’t reach such conclusions until this much later point is an indication of the immaturity that has plagued you until now. (This view places this section of the Tora squarely in the context of Tochecha [rebuke] with the hope that the people will walk the “straight-and-narrow” going forward, when Moshe is no longer there to guide them.)

     Bei’ur. Like Abrabanel, i.e., Hadn’t HaShem Supplied you with the abilities and circumstances for you to understand accurately where things stood in terms of your responsibility to listen to HaShem’s Will?

     ShaDaL analogizes from Pharoah to the Jewish people not drawing the proper conclusions from the miracles that their eyes have seen, as well as to Shimi ben Geira cursing King David. The commentator posits that whatever is highly illogical must be attributed to God’s Influence. If Pharoah was not influenced by the miracles and plagues, then HaShem was not Allowing him to be. By extension, the rebelliousness of the Jewish people must be of Divine Origin. And Shimi’s seemingly irrational cursing of David is suspected by the King to be emanating from HaShem because it made so little sense.

     MaLBIM suggests that the reason why HaShem in fact had not Given them understanding was because there was no desire on their parts to understand. Only when there is an initial overture from man will Siyata D’Shmaya be supplied to help him realize his desires, in this case intellectual and cognitive.

• a) Ibn Ezra, Abravanel, Bei’ur: HaShem did Give man wisdom previously. However, man did not use it.

              b) ShaDaL: HaShem Prevented man from using the innate abilities with which he had been supplied.

              c) MaLBIM: As soon as man chooses to wish to understand, he will be given the ability to do so.

2.  Concerning Abravanel’s question, i.e., man has had free choice all along, and once the Tora was given, could opt to either act in accordance with it or not,

   Group a) would say that just because man has the capacity to exercise free choice does not meand that he does.

   Group b) would say that the irrational manner in which the people acted suggests that it was in fact not within their control to exercise their free will.

   Group c) would say that while they could have had the quality of free will, since they had no desire to exercise it, they were not given it.

3.  "במוחשות הנפלאות"—the amazing experiences, i.e., the miracles, plagues, splitting of the sea, giving of the Tora.

     "שמהם ישתלמו באמונותיהם"—by means of properly reflecting and contemplating these experiences, the faith in HaShem of the Jewish people would be able to develop properly.

     "ויתר מתייחסים לקנין השלמות מזולתם" –sight and sound are two of the senses through which that which is perceived can assist in developing the heart/mind that the individual surely possesses.

4. 

שמות פרק י פסוק ב

וּלְמַעַן תְּסַפֵּר בְּאָזְנֵי בִנְךָ וּבֶן בִּנְךָ אֵת אֲשֶׁר הִתְעַלַּלְתִּי בְּמִצְרַיִם וְאֶת אֹתֹתַי אֲשֶׁר שַׂמְתִּי בָם וִידַעְתֶּם כִּי אֲנִי יְקֹוָק:

דברים כט:ב-ד

ב) הַמַּסּוֹת הַגְּדֹלֹת אֲשֶׁר רָאוּ עֵינֶיךָ הָאֹתֹת וְהַמֹּפְתִים הַגְּדֹלִים הָהֵם:

(ג) וְלֹא נָתַן יְקֹוָק לָכֶם לֵב לָדַעַת וְעֵינַיִם לִרְאוֹת וְאָזְנַיִם לִשְׁמֹעַ עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה:

(ד) וָאוֹלֵךְ אֶתְכֶם אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה בַּמִּדְבָּר לֹא בָלוּ שַׂלְמֹתֵיכֶם מֵעֲלֵיכֶם וְנַעַלְךָ לֹא בָלְתָה מֵעַל רַגְלֶךָ:

Perhaps Shemot 10:2 demonstrates that the purpose of having gone through all of these experiences was to develop a repertoire to not only convey to ensuing generations, but to develop one’s own sense of believing in God.

5.    RaMBaM in The Guide would appear to follow the lead of Ibn Ezra in the sense that he too refers to HaShem’s Involvement in human history as a First Cause. Consequently it is possible that while the terminology used is that of HaShem Causing this thing to happen, in fact it is the result of man’s exercising free will in reaction to the various scenarios that have been Placed before him. Yet if we take the RaMBaM at his word, then the issue of pure human free will is challenged. If man is reacting to circumstances, and these circumstances are predetermined by the Divine, then at least a dimension of man’s free will is really not up to him. One could imagine how a series of circumstances could back an individual into a corner resulting in his making certain choices that he perhaps otherwise would have never made.

Beit.

1.    Abravanel seemed to be wondering about the issue of human free choice which he thought man possessed a long time before Moshe’s address to the people at this point. The question that Moshe Chefetz and Meshech Chachma are addressing has to do with the taking for granted as opposed to the realization and appreciation of the miraculous conditions that had surrounded the people from the time that they had left Egypt 40 years previously.

2.   Each of these two commentators suggest that when a miraculous situation takes place repeatedly over a long period of time, people define the condition as the norm and become desensitized to the miraculous nature of it.

3.   When a great person passes away, particularly one upon whom a community or even an entire people depended, they only realize how much they depended upon him when he is no longer available to address their needs. It is an ironic feature of human nature that we often only appreciate something when it is removed from us and we no longer have access to it.