Devarim 30:11 – “ki haMitzvah hazos”

So that Perek Lamed Pasuk Aleph with the Ramban.

ותעם כי המצוה הזאת הפסוק כי המצוה הזאת אשר אנכי מצוך היום לא נפלאת היא ממך ולא רחוקה היא.

So what's this mitzvah which is not hidden, which is not distant? So what does that refer to? ותעם כי המצוה הזאת על כל התורה כולה. That's the pshat that Rashi and others, you find in Chazal as well, that pshat. Vehanechon says the Ramban

כי על כל התורה יאמר כל המצוה אשר אנכי מצוך היום.

When the Torah is being referenced, so the lashon mitzvah hazot has the sense of a particular mitzvah, a specific mitzvah. Kol hamitzvah has the sense of mitzvah as a sort of a collective noun. And here the phrase is not kol hamitzvah, it's only mitzvah. And therefore the Ramban thinks that the pshuto shel mikra is אבל המצוה הזאת על התשובה הנזכרת. It's referring to the teshuvah which has been mentioned. Right? Ki hamitzvah hazot, this mitzvah, right? The aforementioned mitzvah. Ki hamitzvah hazot, the aforementioned mitzvah. So where has it been mentioned?

והשבות אל לבבך ושבת עד ה' אלהיך מצוה שיצוה אותנו לעשות כן.

Right? We'll just first read through once and then bli neder im yirtzeh Hashem and then try to process a little bit. So earlier in Pasuk Aleph

והיה כי יבאו אליך כל הדברים האלה הברכה והקללה אשר נתתי לפניך והשבות אל לבבך בכל הגוים אשר הדיחך ה' אלהיך שמה.

Pasuk Beis ושבת עד ה' אלהיך ושמעת בקולו. So ki hamitzvah hazot, this mitzvah, the aforementioned mitzvah, is referring back to the two phrases the Ramban says: vehasheivosa el levavecha and veshavta. מצוה שיצוה אותנו לעשות כן. Vehasheivosa and veshavta connote an imperative. Ay vene'emar belashon habeinoni? So why doesn't it say shuv or shuvah? Why does it say veshavta which is just a regular second person, not the tzivuy? לרמוז בהבטחה כי עתיד הדבר להיות כן. So in general, again, veshavta and vehasheivosa is avar with a vav hahipuch, so mimmela it's future. So we're talking about the future. The future tense, what we call the future tense in lashon hakodesh, so its primary sense is just that, is future. But it also has the sense of something that a person is supposed to do, something that in English we'd say you should do, you ought to do, so in or they should do, they ought to do, they must do, so in lashon hakodesh, that's also a second sense of the future. Right? In Pesukei Dezimrah יהללו את שם ה' כי נשגב שמו לבדו, it's not that they will, but they should, that they're supposed to. And that's how we quote the pasuk by hachzaras sefer Torah. Right? That יהללו את שם ה' is parallel to the gadlu l'Hashem iti when at hotza'as sefer Torah. It has the sense of what should be done, not what will be done. And it's like that in lashon chachamim also when the mishnah says in Bava Metzia that shnayim ochazin betallis, right? זה אומר אני מצאתיה וזה אומר אני מצאתיה. So the din is yachloku. What happened? Rabbeinu Hakadosh had ruach hakodesh, he saw what are they going to do? Yachloku? No, he's telling them what they're supposed to do, he's not telling them what they will do. He's telling them what they're supposed to do, right? Yachloku. So what we call the future also secondarily has the sense of something that's supposed to happen. So that's what the Ramban says. So when the Torah wants to both give us a havtachah or foretell the future as to what will be and simultaneously also impose a tzivuy, so then the Torah says it not belashon tzivuy, but rather belashon beinoni with again what we would call the regular future, because that has both meanings. Ramban says the same, he has the same idea back in Parshas Shoftim. By mitzvas minuy melech,

כי תבוא אל הארץ אשר ה' אלוקיך נותן לך וירשתה וישבת בה ואמרת אשימה עלי מלך ככל הגוים אשר סביבותיי, שום תשים עליך מלך אשר יבחר ה' אלוקיך בו.

So it’s a machlokes tannoim in the second perek of Sanhedrin whether minuy melech is mitzvah or whether minuy melech is reshus. So when you look at the psukim, you certainly understand where the view of minuy melech reshus comes from. It sounds like you’ll come to Eretz Yisrael and you will of your own initiative, you’ll say ואמרת אשימה עלי מלך. Okay, nu nu, you want to do it, so שום תשים עליך מלך. So the psukim takka seem to read that way. We pasken, the Rambam paskens, that minuy melech is mitzvah, not reshus. So why did the Torah say it this way? So the Ramban says the same vort over here, because the Torah is simultaneously telling us two things: it’s telling us that there’s a chiyuv of minuy melech, but it’s also telling us how with Shaul, how it’s going to unfold the first time that there will be a minuy melech. The way it’s going to unfold is what you’re going to say is ve'amarta. So on the one hand, yes, it’s a simple future, again past with a vov hahipuch. It’s a simple future of ואמרת אשימה עלי מלך, and you’re going to say it, the way you’re going to say it is ככל הגוים אשר סביבותיי. Simultaneously, it’s also a mitzvah because again the future has that sense in Lashon Hakodesh also, and therefore it also means and translates as emor. It’s a mitzvah that you should say ואמרת אשימה עלי מלך, not ככל הגוים אשר סביבותיי. That’s only part of the nevuah le'asid. Okay, so the Ramban has this idea there as well.

והטעם לומר כי אם יהיה נדחך בקצה השמים ואתה ביד העמים תוכל לשוב אל ה' ולעשות ככל אשר אנכי מצווך היום.

You may be scattered all over to the ends of the earth and you may be subjugated, but you’re still in a position to do teshuva. כי אין הדבר נפלא ורחוק ממך. There are no props that are needed.

אבל קרוב אליך מאד לעשותו בכל עת ובכל מקום. וזה הטעם בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו. שיודו את עוונם ואת עוון אבותם בפיהם,

that’s beficha,

וישובו בלבם אל ה' ויקבלו עליהם היום התורה לעשותה לדורות, כאשר הזכיר אתה ובניך בכל לבבך,

that’s bilvavecha. Okay. So now let’s try to understand a little bit. So again, the Ramban says ki hamitzvah hazos refers to teshuva, hamitzvah hanizkeres of teshuva. Where was teshuva mentioned earlier that ki hamitzvah hazos, the aforementioned mitzvah? So the Ramban actually mentions two phrases. He doesn’t only mention the phrase of veshavta from pasuk beis; he also mentions the vahasheivosa from pasuk aleph. Right? You see that, rabosai? The Ramban wrote so compactly that you mamash need to have it in front of you so you can look at it again and again and again and again. It takes twenty times to begin to scratch the surface of what he’s saying. So if you take a look inside in the lashon haRamban:

והנכון כי על כל התורה יאמר כל המצוה אבל המצוה הזאת על התשובה הנזכרת כי והשבות אל לבבך ושבת עד ה' אלוהיך מצוה שיצוונו לעשות כן.

So the Ramban clearly is saying that there are two phrases earlier in the psukim which already presented mitzvas teshuva. Not only veshavta from pasuk beis but vahasheivosa from pasuk aleph. Okay, so veshavta from pasuk beis, we understand what that means and represents and mandates in terms of teshuva. What's vahasheivosa el levavecha? I mean, we just haven't said what's just perush hamilos in the phrase vahasheivosa el levavecha. Vahasheivosa. Lechora is a transitive verb. But let's say you have back in in excuse me, in Parshas Va'eschanan where we say it in Aleinu, right?

וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך כי ה' הוא האלהים בשמים ממעל ועל הארץ מתחת אין עוד.

So vehashevosa el levavecha, moshiv el halev, heart, mind, what what are you moshiv el halev?

כי ה' הוא האלהים בשמים ממעל ועל הארץ מתחת אין עוד.

So vehashevosa is transitive and and the what what you're being moshiv in that pasuk in Va'eschanan, again, the Torah spells out כי ה' הוא האלהים. So what's the what's what what is it that that's the object of vehashevosa in our pasuk? So again,

והיה כי יבאו אליך, פרק ל' פסוק א', והיה כי יבאו אליך כל הדברים האלה הברכה והקללה אשר נתתי לפניך והשבות אל לבבך בכל הגוים אשר הדיחך ה' אלהיך שמה.

So just the simple pshat is the vehashevosa el levavecha are the הדברים האלה שבאו עליך, right? והיה כי יבאו אליך הדברים האלה הברכה והקללה, so then those הדברים האלה vehashevosa el levavecha. What does it mean vehashevosa el levavecha? What what does it mean? So again, let's go back to the pasuk in Va'eschanan.

וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך כי ה' הוא האלהים בשמים ממעל ועל הארץ מתחת אין עוד.

So apparently sometimes, at least, yediya isn't used in in the most I don't know profound sense of of grasp and understanding, that yediya sometimes connotes sort of an initial understanding. And vehashevosa, because that's the flow, right? Veyadata hayom, but but go beyond that, right? Go beyond the veyadata hayom to vehashevosa el levavecha. So what does vehashevosa el levavecha mean? So vehashevosa el levavecha means to let's say a person can be taught ה' אלהינו ה' אחד. And then a person can deepen his understanding of that knowledge which was imparted to him by hisbonenus, through hisbonenus. And and that's what וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך. And then misbonen in a way that that which you you knew in a more perfunctory way is misyashev al halev. And and lechora the Ramban has if you take a look at the Ramban on Anochi in Aseres Hadibros, so the Ramban writes on Anochi Hashem Elokecha, the Ramban says יורו ויצוו שידעו ויאמינו and then goes on to to to explicate, to flesh out what what everything that's compressed into Hashem Elokecha. So there too and and there's something beyond the yediya, right? Yedu veya'aminu, right? We the way we use the terms, it it should should have been in the the opposite sequence. But again, yedu can and sometimes means sort of an initial more I don't know surface level yediya and that's what the Torah says veyadata hayom vehashevosa and that's sort of what the Ramban is reflecting when he says in Anochi yedu veya'aminu. So lechora here, so let's let's come back to our pasuk.

והיה כי יבאו אליך כל הדברים האלה הברכה והקללה אשר נתתי לפניך והשבות אל לבבך.

So a person knows what's transpired. He he knows what's happened in his lifetime, maybe he knows a little bit about history, so he sort of knows on the surface what has happened. So the Torah comes and says vehashevosa el levavecha. The klala has materialized, so you have to be misbonen in understanding על מה אבדה הארץ. מה חרי האף הגדול הזה? The perfunctory knowledge of what happened isn't adequate, but the Torah says v'hasheivosa el levavecha. The v'hasheivosa el levavecha then will be me-orer ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך. Or in other words, lechora what the psukim say here the way the Ramban is explaining, maybe the divrei hakol, maybe maybe that's just the pshuto shel mikra but the Ramban is is revealing it to us is is a yesod that we find, we find in the Rishonim explicitly, we find in Chazal explicitly, that that tzara is a mechayev in cheshbon hanefesh and then the next stage is in teshuva. And that's what it means,

והיה כי יבאו עליך כל הדברים האלה הברכה והקללה אשר נתתי לפניך והשבות אל לבבך.

Don't just sort of let it wash off you. No, v'hasheivosa el levavecha, you have to be misbonen until until you have a deeper grasp of what happened, what triggered it, what's the catalyst, מה חרי האף הגדול הזה? על מה אבדה הארץ? tzara is a mechayev in that. And then the first stage is the cheshbon hanefesh, the pishpush be-ma'asim, and then that then leads to the next stage of ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך. You have in, if someone is able to get on the computer, if you have in Rabbeinu Yonah in Shaarei Teshuva in HaShaar HaSheini I think it's called HaDerech HaRishon. Rabbeinu Yonah in Shaar Sheini says that there are six either occasions or times or stages of life, he he calls them darkei hasibos which should awaken and arouse a person to do teshuva. And the first of the six is haderech it's it's ha-alef, I don't know if it's achas or echad, derech is one of those words which are both zachor and nekeiva, so I don't know. כאשר תמצאנה את האיש צרות. When a person is is visited by tzaros rachmana litzlan, yashov el libo. Notice the lashon, right? yashov el libo, v'hasheivosa el levavecha.

ישב אל לבו ויאמר אין זה כי אם דרכיו ומעלליו אשר עשו אלה לו.

Be misbonen, yashov el libo. Be misbonen. Don't don't just sort of experience it and let it pass by superficially.

ישב אל לבו ויאמר אין זה כי אם דרכיו ומעלליו אשר עשו אלה לו וחטאיו עוללו לנפשו וישוב אל ה' ברחמיו הוא.

Ke-inyan shene'emar, umtza'uhu ra'os rabbos,

רעות רבות ורעות ואמר ביום ההוא הלא על כי אין אלהי בקרבי מצאוני הרעות האלה.

And then he's he's ma'arich on he's ma'arich on this. I wonder is the Ramban also saying that the v'hasheivosa is going on the bracha as well, not just the klala? Yitachein, yes and no. No in the sense that when he's talking about teshuva he's not focused on that, but yes lechora in terms of the pshat in the pasuk that that he's saying lechora that's also the case, but yes. Yes, I think that that is very much the case, which actually segues maybe maybe... Maybe we'll just give them the mareh makom for today, and maybe you can try to bring in a copy for tomorrow, and we'll look at it together then in this light. If you take a look in the beginning of Kol Dodi Dofek in footnote three, so the footnote begins הקשר בין צרה לתשובה. So maybe we'll pick up with this tomorrow, bli neder and im yirtzeh Hashem.