English translation — ואתחנן ב

Talk page 32

A.

On the verse

(In the portion of Shema¹)

"And these words which I command you today shall be upon your heart" it is stated in the Sifri: "Why was it said? Because it says²

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, I do not know³

in what manner one loves the Holy One, blessed be He; the verse teaches, saying: 'And these words which I command you today shall be upon your heart, and⁴

these words shall be upon your heart, so that from this you recognize the Holy One, blessed be He, and cleave to His ways.'"

The words of the Sifri are brought in Rashi on the Torah and also in the Sefer HaMitzvot of the Rambam — but we find a difference between them:

Rashi in his commentary on the verse brings the content of the words of the Sifri,

and this is his language: "And these words shall be, etc.,

and what is the love? And these words shall be, for through this you recognize the Holy One, blessed be He, and cleave to His ways."

But the Rambam in Sefer HaMitzvos in the mitzvah of loving Hashem⁵

wrote: "And the language of the Sifri: Because it is said 'And you shall love Hashem your God,' I do not know⁶

how to love the Omnipresent; therefore it is said 'And these words which I command you today shall be upon your heart,' so that through this you come to know the One who spoke and the world came into being."

Behold, while Rashi did not copy the lengthy language of the Sifri⁷,

he brought

(at least)

all the content of the Sifri's explanation; but the Rambam, who is precise "And the language of the Sifri",

and copies the language of the Sifri almost in its form⁸,

omitted the conclusion of the Sifri's words "and cleave to His ways"⁹.

2.

At first glance it appears that Rashi and the Rambam disagree in the definition of love of G-d according to the words of the Sifri — whether that which is "cleaving to His ways" is a detail and part of this commandment: Rashi holds that the commandment of love of G-d is not

(only)

the emotion of love in the heart of man for the Holy One, blessed be He,

but also includes

(its result)

— the cleaving¹⁰

to G-d by cleaving to His ways of the Holy One, blessed be He; and the order of things is — that through "these words"

(words of Torah¹¹)

he recognizes the Holy One, blessed be He and His ways and through this — cleaves to His ways,

for it is impossible to cleave to the Holy One, blessed be He except through the fulfillment¹²

of His commandments¹³

<pg>33</pg>

(cleaves to His ways¹⁴).

But the Rambam wrote there

(at the beginning of the explanation of the commandment of love)

"And this that we think and contemplate His commandments and His words and His actions until we apprehend Him and delight in His apprehension with the ultimate delight, and this is the love that is obligatory&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;..

(And he brings the Sifri,

and continues)

behold we have explained to you that through contemplation you will attain apprehension and you will reach delight and love will come necessarily",

that he holds that the action of the commandment of the mitzvah of loving Hashem is — contemplation

(in His commandments etc.),

and it brings a person to the feeling of love in the heart&lt;sup&gt;16&lt;/sup&gt;.

And therefore the Rambam omitted what the Sifri said "and cleave to His ways",

because he holds&lt;sup&gt;17&lt;/sup&gt;

that the intention of the Sifri is not that this is a part of the body of the commandment of love&lt;sup&gt;18&lt;/sup&gt;,

but rather this is an additional matter that comes as a result of love; and the main point of the words of the Sifri are&lt;sup&gt;19&lt;/sup&gt;

about the command to a person how to arrive at love,

and about this he says that it is through contemplation of "these things etc.'",

"that through this you recognize the One who spoke and the world came into being".

And based on this, one can explain several differences between the language of Rashi and the language of the Rambam:

a)

Rashi explains the language of the Sifri "In what manner does one love etc." — "And what is the love"²⁰,

meaning that it refers

(not to the path to come to love,

but)

to the essence of love,

how and in what manner the love of the Holy One, blessed be He, should be; in contrast, the Rambam explains the language of the Sifri — "How does one love the Omnipresent",

meaning what is the path to reach love of the Omnipresent,

and as it is written in the Book of the Hand²¹

"And what is the path to His love and His fear, at the time when a person contemplates etc., immediately he loves".

b)

Rashi writes "because from this you recognize the Holy One, blessed be He",

and the Rambam in Sefer HaMitzvos wrote according to the version "because from this you recognize the One Who spoke and the world came into being" — because according to Rashi, love in this matter is the recognition of the Holy One, blessed be He, through the Torah²²,

and attachment to His ways — through commandments; whereas according to the Rambam, who explains that "we will think and contemplate His commandments and His words and His actions"

(and as he elaborated in the Yad HaChazakah there "what is the way to love Him, etc. when a person contemplates His works and His creations, the great and wondrous, and sees from them His wisdom, etc."),

the contemplation is about the Holy One, blessed be He, as the Creator of the world,

"the One Who spoke and the world came into being",

and not only about His commandments and His words,

the Giver of the Torah and Commander of the commandments — the Holy One, blessed be He

(simply).

c.

However, according to this understanding of the Rambam's view

(that the commandment of love is the contemplation that brings about a feeling in the heart),

one must understand several differences between his language there and his language in the Yad HaChazakah²³

:<pg>34</pg>

In the Sefer HaMitzvos he wrote

(as above)

"And this that we will think and contemplate His commandments and His sayings and His actions",

which also includes the contemplation "of His commandments and His sayings"²⁴,

And in the Sefer HaYad he wrote "at the time that a person contemplates His actions and His creations, the great wondrous ones, and sees from them His wisdom which has no measure nor end",

which mentions only the contemplation of His actions and His creations

(and that is His actions that he wrote in the Sefer HaMitzvos),

and not "His commandments and His sayings".

The Ra'ah²⁵

writes on the words of the Rambam in the Sefer HaYad

(the above)

: And these words are not according to the midrash of our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, who said in the Sifri that through these words which I command you today, which are the commandments, you will recognize the Creator and love Him, and not through His actions and His wondrous creations. And perhaps one can say that in the performance of the commandments his heart will incline to investigate that He who commanded is the Creator of the world, and he will set his heart from this to contemplate His actions and His wondrous creations, and see from them His wisdom, blessed be He, and immediately he will love Him and desire to know Him and comprehend Him. And this is what our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, hinted at in the Sifri in the statement that from this you recognize the Holy One, blessed be He.

However, from the words of the Rambam in Sefer HaMitzvot,

who includes contemplation of His actions with contemplation of His commandments and His statements

(and concludes with the language of the aforementioned Sifri),

it implies,

that contemplation of His attributes and His statements is one matter with contemplation of His actions

(and not only that through this "he will incline his heart to investigate etc.")²⁶,

and if so, it is difficult why did the Rambam not mention in the Yad HaChazakah contemplation of His commandments and His statements²⁷?

And furthermore: at the end of the aforementioned halachah,

when he explains the way to love Him etc.,

the Rambam brings the words of the aforementioned Sifri²⁸

and omits that it is through this that "and these words shall be...

upon your heart" that through this he recognizes etc.

<pg>35</pg>

4.

And behold, there is yet another change in the Book of the Hand — an addition in the definition of the commandment of love — relative to what is said in the Sefer HaMitzvot:

In the Sefer HaMitzvot, only the action of the commandment is explained,

the contemplation and feeling of love through it; however, in the Book of the Hand it implies,

that the essence of the commandment of love is

(not only the attribute and feeling in the heart,

but rather)

also that "his soul is bound in the love of G-d"

(as the Rambam's language in the Laws of Repentance²⁹)

through knowledge and comprehension,

as the Rambam says³⁰

"one does not love the Holy One, blessed be He, except through knowledge by which he knows Him",

and also in the Laws of the Foundations of the Torah there he specifies "at the time that he contemplates etc. he loves etc. and yearns..

to know the great Name",

and from his words it is found that knowledge of G-d is not only a cause that brings to love of G-d,

but rather also that it is part of the content of the commandment³¹.

And according to this, one could say,

that also the Rambam holds

(in the manner of Rashi's view)

that the content of the commandment of love is not only a feeling in the heart of man,

but also attachment

(cleaving)

to the Creator,

only that he holds that this attachment is not through attachment to His ways

(as Rashi explains)

but through knowledge³²

of Hashem — the recognition of the Holy One, blessed be He.

And in truth it is explicit and precise also in the language of the Rambam in Sefer HaMitzvot there, where he wrote: "That we think and contemplate His commandments and His words and His actions until we apprehend Him and delight in His apprehension with the ultimate delight.

And this is the love that is obligatory."

And that is,

that the definition of the commandment is — when his contemplation brings him to apprehension and he delights in His apprehension,

that is — recognition of the Creator.

And based on this, it is understood,

that this that he quotes "and the language of the Sifri: 'Because it is said, "And you shall love the Lord your God," I do not know how to love...'

(and he concludes)

that through this you recognize the One who spoke and the world came into being",

his intention is not to explain the way to reach love through contemplation

(as above in section 1),

but rather to define the content of the matter of love — "you recognize the One who spoke and the world came into being".

And this is that he continues "behold we have explained to you that through contemplation you will attain comprehension and you will reach pleasure and love will come necessarily",

that it is possible that the intention in "and love will come necessarily" is not for another action and matter,

but rather this is the explanation of his words "you will attain comprehension and you will reach pleasure".

And based on this it was explained elsewhere³³

that the Rambam elaborated in the book Yad HaChazakah, the book of laws — in "great principles"³⁴

regarding matters of contemplation that lead to love of G-d and fear of Him,

that according to its simple meaning it is puzzling: matters of contemplation are only a preparation for the commandment of love, and why the lengthy explanation of them in a book of law?

The law is that one must contemplate His deeds and actions,

but the explanations of His wondrous deeds and creations,

seemingly,

are they not part of the law of love of G-d?

And according to the above it is understood,

that the lengthy explanation in the Rambam regarding the Work of the Chariot and the Work of Creation<pg>36</pg>

The foundation of the Torah,

is not only for contemplation to arrive through it to love of G-d,

but it is a part of the commandment of love of G-d itself,

that the content of the commandment — the recognition of He Who spoke and the world came into being].

5.

However, the reason for the above change has not yet been explained,

that in Sefer HaMitzvos he mentioned "and we will contemplate His commandments and His words" and in Sefer HaYad he did not mention this contemplation³⁵.

Also it requires explanation: In Sefer HaMitzvos there he continues that "this commandment also includes that we call to all human beings to His service, may He be exalted, and to believe in Him. And this is that when you love a person you recount his praises etc., so too when you love Him, may He be exalted, truly, when you have attained from the comprehension of His truth, you call without doubt the fools and the simple to know the knowledge of the truth which you know." And the language of the Sifri: "And you shall love the Lord your God, love Him for the sake of the creatures, like Avraham your father etc."

And it is puzzling why he did not bring this matter in Sefer HaYad when he explained the commandment of love of God,

and behold, generally in Sefer HaYad he elaborates and specifies more in the details of the laws of the commandment than in Sefer HaMitzvos,

which writes only the general point,

and chapter headings of the laws of the commandment?

6.

And this will be understood with an introduction of the precise wording of the Rambam in the book Yad there³⁶

When he begins to explain the commandment of loving Hashem: "This honored and awesome G-d, it is a commandment to love Him and to fear Him, as it is said 'And you shall love Hashem your G-d,' and it is said³⁷

'You shall fear Hashem your G-d.'"

And at first glance, several difficulties in the matter:

a)

Why did the Rambam specifically say "the G-d, the great and awesome",

and not use the usual phrase "the Name, the great and awesome"

(and as he writes immediately afterwards

(in Halacha 2)

"to know the great Name")?

And moreover,

this is the language of the verse³⁸

"to fear the great and awesome Name"

(and as it is also brought in the Rambam in the Laws of the Priestly Blessing³⁹

(regarding the caution in saying and studying the explicit Name)

"all this is greatness for His great and awesome Name").

b)

From the Rambam's language "the G-d, the great and awesome, commands to love Him and fear Him" it implies,

that the two epithets "the great and awesome" correspond to the two commandments of "to love Him",

"and to fear Him",

that this that the G-d is "great" brings a person to love Him

(and as the Rambam writes in the following halacha

(as above)

"at the time that a person contemplates His deeds and His wonderful, great creations and sees from them His wisdom which has no measure and no end, immediately he loves and praises and glorifies etc.",

that when he grasps the greatness of the wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, this also brings about that he honors Him and praises Him and glorifies Him),

and "fear" comes from this that the G-d is "awesome" simply.

And seemingly in the above verse it is stated

(only)

"to fear the great and awesome Name",

so it implies that both epithets belong to and cause fear⁴⁰?

7.

And one must say the explanation of all this:

Love and fear, these are two commandments

(and the Rambam counts them as two commandments in the count of the commandments),

And furthermore — that they are two different attributes, even to the point of opposites,

as is understood simply, that love is a movement of closeness to the beloved,

and fear and dread is distance from the awesome&lt;pg&gt;37&lt;/pg&gt;

And the nullification to Him,

And according to this, one must understand why the Rambam included them in the book Yad in one category,

And seemingly it should have said like regarding all the commandments: a positive commandment to love Hashem, as it is stated "And you shall love Hashem your God,"

A positive commandment to fear Him, as it is stated "You shall fear Hashem your God"⁴¹.

And it must be said that the Rambam in the book Yad speaks of a love that is not opposite to fear, but rather it is of the same type^*41.

And the explanation of this — according to the precise wording of the Rambam in this halacha,

And this is his language: "And what is the way to [attain] love of Him and fear of Him? At the time that a person contemplates His actions and His wonderful and great creations, and sees from them His wisdom which has no comparison and no end, immediately he loves and praises and glorifies and desires a great desire to know the great Name, as David said&lt;sup&gt;42&lt;/sup&gt;

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God",

From this that he adds "and desires a great desire to know the great Name, as David said, My soul thirsts for God, for the living God",

it is understood,

that the main essence of love is this that "he desires a great desire to know the great Name",

for since he recognizes the greatness of Hashem

("he sees from them His wisdom which has no comparison and no end"),

he feels his distance from Hashem and this brings him to thirst and longing.

[And similarly he wrote below at the end of the topic after he explained the details of the Work of the Chariot and the Work of Creation&lt;sup&gt;43&lt;/sup&gt;

: At the time that a person contemplates these things and recognizes all the creations etc. and sees the wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, in all the creatures and all the creations, he adds love for the Omnipresent and his soul thirsts and his flesh yearns to love the Omnipresent, blessed be He].

And that is, that the definition of love here is not a feeling of attachment and closeness,

but rather the desire and thirst,

which is the feeling and movement of distance,

that he is far from God and desires Him.

And this is precise in the language of the Rambam "and he desires a great desire to know the great Name" that knowledge of the great Name is something impossible for a human being composed of matter and form,

as the Rambam elaborated in the continuation of the chapter⁴⁴

regarding the level of the angels,

that even the lowest level of the ten levels of angels

(those who speak with the prophets,

and appear to them in a prophetic vision)

"also knows the Creator with a knowledge that the power of human beings composed of matter and form cannot attain and know like it" and also "the level

(among the levels of angels)

above which there is no level except the level of God blessed be He",

"cannot grasp the essence of the Creator as He is, but its knowledge is too limited to grasp and know".

[And beyond this, the Rambam elaborated in ch.1&lt;sup&gt;45&lt;/sup&gt;,

that even Moshe Rabbeinu could not grasp the truth of His existence as it is,

and his language: What is this that Moshe Rabbeinu sought to grasp when he said&lt;sup&gt;46&lt;/sup&gt;

Show me, please, Your glory,

he sought to know the truth of the existence of the Holy One, blessed be He..

The existence of the Holy One, blessed be He, is separate in his heart from other existences until he would know the truth of His existence as it is,

and the Blessed One answered him that there is no power in the intellect of a living human, who is composed of body and soul, to grasp the truth of this matter clearly,

and the Blessed One made known to him what no man before him knew and no man after him will know etc.].

&lt;pg&gt;38&lt;/pg&gt;

8.

And based on this, it is understood why he includes together love and fear at the beginning of the halacha: "It is a mitzvah to love Him and fear Him",

and likewise when he explained "What is the way to love Him and fear Him at the time when one contemplates etc.'"

(in halacha 2)

— the contemplation that brings that "immediately he loves etc.'",

he continues with this: "And when he thinks about these same things, immediately he recoils backward and fears and knows that he is a small, lowly, dark creature, standing with slight, meager intellect before the Perfect Knowledge",

for this fear is utter self-nullification — nullification of intellect,

and it is precisely what comes in the wake of the movement of distance that is felt in the thirst of love — "he greatly desires to know the great Name".

And this is what the Rambam emphasizes immediately at the beginning of his words: "This glorious and awesome God commands to love Him and to fear Him, as it is said 'And you shall love the Lord your God' and it is said 'You shall fear the Lord your God',"

that he wrote two attributes, the glorious and the awesome, regarding love and fear,

even though in the verse both are stated in connection with fear — "to fear the glorious and awesome Name",

because the "commandment to love Him" in the Rambam is not entirely different in its essential nature from the commandment of fear,

because also the "love" in the Rambam here belongs

(in its definition and content)

to the movement of self-nullification etc. that is in fear,

and as above,

therefore both belong to the two attributes "glorious" and "awesome".

9.

And according to this we learn yet another great novelty in the words of the Rambam,

that even though a person's contemplation is "in His deeds and His wonderful, great creations, and he sees from them His wisdom etc.",

namely in that which a person can know and understand and comprehend of the Creator,

nevertheless the love is for God as He is beyond knowledge and human comprehension,

therefore the love is from afar.

And it can be said,

that this matter the Rambam emphasizes in that he begins "this awesome and revered G-d commands to love Him and fear Him",

and concludes "as it is said 'And you shall love the L-rd your G-d etc.'",

that he is precise to write "the G-d" not "the Name" or Hashem and the like

(for this is unlike what is stated in the verses that he brings immediately "And you shall love the L-rd your G-d",

"You shall fear the L-rd your G-d")

:

In explaining the superiority of the name Havayah relative to the other names,

the Rambam writes in his book Guide for the Perplexed⁴⁷,

that "all⁴⁸

His names, may He be exalted, that are found in the books are all derived from actions,

and this is what is not hidden,

except for one name,

and it is Yud Hei Vav Hei,

which is a name unique to Him, may He be exalted,

and therefore it is called the explicit name,

its meaning is that it indicates His essence, may He be exalted,⁴⁹

a clear indication without any association,

but the rest of His holy names indicate with association because they are derived from actions that are found with us similar to them."

And he continues,

"This name

(the explicit name)..

indicates His essence, exalted, in a way that no creature shares in that indication,

as our Sages, of blessed memory, said about it&lt;sup&gt;50&lt;/sup&gt;

My unique name,

but all the other names indicate attributes,

not essence alone,

but the One who possesses attributes."

And he concludes,

"All these derived names were only innovated after the creation of the world..

for they are all names that were established according to the actions that exist in the world,

but when you contemplate His essence, stripped and abstracted from all action,

He will have no derived name

(from action)

at all,

but only one unique name to indicate His essence."

And therefore the Rambam wrote "the honored and awesome God commands to love Him and fear Him,"

for the name El is the first of His names&lt;pg&gt;39&lt;/pg&gt;

of the Holy One, blessed be He, that indicate the "attributes" of the Holy One, blessed be He, "according to the actions found in the world"

[as they come in the order of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy&lt;sup&gt;51&lt;/sup&gt;,

for the first name that indicates "the One possessing attributes"

(unlike the names "Havayah Havayah")

is the name

א­ל⁵²]

—

to emphasize that even though contemplation and comprehension and recognition of the Creator pertain only to His actions,

or

(in the language of the Rambam)

as the Holy One, blessed be He, is a "possessor of attributes,"

not in His essence

(for which the Name Havayah indicates,

the explicit name, the unique name, and the essential name),

nevertheless,

the love itself is for His essence,

the truth of His existence⁵³,

which is beyond actions and attributes.

10.

And from all the above, the distinction is understood in the definition of the commandment of love of Hashem between the Sefer HaMitzvos and the Yad HaChazakah:

In the Sefer HaMitzvos, he explains the general matter of love,

therefore he explains that it is the recognition of Hashem,

that this is a movement of closeness,

and as he emphasizes "until we apprehend Him and delight in His apprehension with the ultimate delight",

and therefore he brings that the contemplation includes also the contemplation "of His commandments and His utterances",

because they too are included in the recognition of the Creator,

since they are His commandments and His utterances of the Creator.

[And therefore the Rambam brings there

(as above)

that "this commandment also includes that we call all human beings to His service, may He be exalted..

When you love a person, you will tell of his praises and multiply them, and call people to love him" — because this matter of love is connected to attachment to God,

the matter of closeness in love,

for when a person recognizes the Holy One, blessed be He, and draws near to Him,

this brings him to call people to love Him]

;

But not so in the Book of the Hand&lt;sup&gt;54&lt;/sup&gt;

his intention is to explain and detail the particulars of the matters of love of God and fear of Him&lt;sup&gt;55&lt;/sup&gt;

&lt;pg&gt;40&lt;/pg&gt;

that come in sequence and as a result of knowledge of God

(the foundation of foundations⁵³)

that were explained there in the first chapter of the Laws of the Foundations of the Torah⁵⁶,

and therefore it details this matter in the commandment of love

(which is equal to the commandment of awe)

which pertains to the category of distance from the truth of His existence

[and not the contemplation of His commandments and His utterances which pertains to closeness — the knowledge and recognition of the Holy One, blessed be He,

and likewise the calling of people to His service and to love Him, which is a result of the feeling of closeness and enjoyment from the recognition of the Creator]

— that this that a person cannot "comprehend" through the matter of knowledge

(for there is no power in the human intellect to comprehend the essence of His existence as it is),

as explained at length in the first chapter — now through these two commandments,

love and awe,

a person "becomes bound" to the essence of His existence,

and as above,

that love is the thirst and desire to know the great Name.

(From the talk of Shabbat Parshat Mishpatim 5747)