Ramban: Parshas Nitzavim

אתם נצבים היום כלכם לפני ה' אלקיכם שאתם עומדים ומזומנים לפני ה' כדי לבוא בבריתו כדי לקבל התורה בביאור הנס עליו. או שהיו עומדים לפני הארון והברית השבועה והאלה אשר יזכיר ועברך בברית ה' אלקיך ובאלתו.

On one level, we're always lifnei Hashem. So clearly when the lifnei Hashem is highlighted, that there's something, it's true in an intensified sense, it's true on an additional level as well. So the Ramban suggests, he suggests two pshatim, either the lifnei Hashem means that hayos that this is the culmination of the הואיל משה באר את התורה הזאת. It's the culmination of the kabbalas hatorah, so kabbalas hatorah is something which is lifnei Hashem. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the nosein hatorah, so kabbalas hatorah is something which is lifnei Hashem in that intensified, added, added sense. It's interesting me'inyan le'inyan, the Rav points out, I think it's in one of the drashos that's summarized in Al HaTeshuva, that the lashon of Rambam in the beginning of Hilchos Teshuva is

כל מצות שבתורה בין עשה בין לא תעשה אם עבר אדם על אחת מהן בין בזדון בין בשגגה כשיעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו חייב להתוודות לפני האל ברוך הוא.

The viduy is also something which, again, in this added, intensified sense is lifnei Hashem. To maybe a little bit amplify the difference between the two levels. Again, on one level, we're always lifnei Hashem, but the lifnei Hashem doesn't necessarily define the content of what a person's doing. A person's a farmer, so he's out in the field, he's working the land. So the reality of course is lifnei Hashem. The goal is שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד to be aware of that, but the lifnei Hashem doesn't define the content of what he's doing. He's farming the land. By contrast, when a person davens, so then it's not just that he's lifnei Hashem, again, in this existential sense, but it also defines the content and the essence of what he's doing. That's true of teshuvah b'chlal and the viduy b'frat that the essence of what the person is doing. It's the essence of it is lifnei ha-Kel in in different senses. In in more than one way, the essence is lifnei ha-Kel. Every chet, leaving aside the tinok shenishba category of chet, but every chet to to varying degrees represents, again to varying degrees, an element of meridah and the teshuvah is that kavyakhol a person has to come face to face and and be mitvadeh. The essence of teshuvah and viduy again is lifnei ha-Kel in terms of the content and the essence, and in another sense, that every chet, again leaving aside the category of tinok shenishba, a person is at least temporarily unaware of and oblivious to the presence of Hakadosh Barukh Hu and hence the essence of the teshuvah and the viduy is to have this acute awareness of being lifnei ha-Kel. So when when something is described as lifnei Hashem, it it means that it's not only the permanent existential state of of affairs, but it it's the content and and the essence of what's being done. So that's the Ramban's first peshat is that Kabbalat HaTorah is lifnei Hashem. Kabbalat Torat Hashem is is something which is lifnei Hashem. Alternatively, the Ramban says no, maybe lifnei Hashem here has a different sense. Maybe lifnei Hashem means before the aron. Since there's a hashra'at hashkhinah associated with the aron, so mimaila to be in the presence of the aron, the Torah describes as being lifnei Hashem. The Ramban suggests also that the peshat in the berit here is not the berit of Kabbalat HaTorah, but the berit is the the shevuah and the alah, the the curse, the imprecation which are being added.

ויתכן שכרת עוד עמהם ברית כברית הראשונה שכרת אתם בהר סיני שהקריב עליהם עולה ולקח חצי הדם לזרק על המזבח וחצי הדם זרק על העם.

So the Ramban suggests maybe there was a hakravat korbanot the same way the Torah describes in Parashat Mishpatim with the same division in terms of the zerikat hadam that hatsi hadam was nizrak al hamizbe'akh and חצי הדם על העם. Just to follow up a little bit on on berit.

כי אתם ידעתם וגו' ותראו את שקוציהם לפי שראיתם את האומות עובדי עבודה זרה.

You've encountered, you've interacted with those nations ושמא השיא לב אחד מכם ללכת אחריהם. Maybe you've been convinced to follow their ways.

פן יש בכם וגו' לפיכך אני צריך להשביעכם לשון רש"י ויפה פירש. והטעם לומר אני צריך להביאכם באלה ובשבועה עתה בברית הזאת.

What is it that necessitates this additional Bris?

מיראתי אולי נפתה לב קצתכם לשקוצי מצרים כאשר עשיתם בעגל או לשקוצי עמון ומואב אשר ראיתם בדרך כאשר היה לכם בבעל פעור כי בברית הראשונה של הר סיני לא היו שם אלות וקללות.

So the Ramban says that what's added in this Bris is the Shvua, the Ala, the Klala. Then the question is the Peshat of a Bris is that a Bris is a bilateral agreement. Right, what's sort of represented in the fact that

חצי הדם לזרוק על המזבח וחצי הדם זרק על העם?

What's what is it that's represented by Bris Bein Habesarim, vayivater otam batovech, and then and then and then the fire passes through the two halves? So each half the way the same way each of the two halves is only a whole together, so that's what what's that's the covenant that the Ba'alei Bris are forging. That they they no longer as it were function independently of each other, but the same way the two halves only when you combine them come together. So that's what it means a Bris. A Bris is something is a bilateral relationship, a bilateral agreement. And because that's what the Peshat in a Bris is, so there's there are bilateral obligations. So in Parshat Yitro, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says ואתם שמור תשמרו בקולי ושמרתם את בריתי. If you'll accept that set of obligations, so I will reciprocate, my obligation will be

והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים כי לי כל הארץ ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש.

So a Bris is is always something bilateral. That's what a Bris means. So what's Peshat in in the Bris here in Arvot Moav? So we accepted the Shvua, we accepted לעברך בברית ה' אלוהיך ובאלתו. But what what did Hakadosh Baruch Hu commit to, as it were? What what's his side of the Bris? So the Pasuk continues, right? So Pasuk Yud-Aleph,

לעברך בברית ה' אלוהיך ובאלתו אשר ה' אלוהיך כורת עמך היום.

Pasuk Yud-Bet,

למען הקים אותך היום לו לעם והוא יהיה לך לאלוהים כאשר דיבר לך וכאשר נשבע לאבותיך לאברהם ליצחק וליעקב.

But at first glance the Pasuk only compounds the question rather than answering the question because it's already ka'asher diber lach. והוא יהיה לך לאלוהים is not new, it's already ka'asher diber lach, and it's already ka'asher nishba. So what's what's Hakadosh Baruch Hu's side of of this Bris? So maybe the pshat is like this. משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say parents make certain demands on the of young children. I don't know, the father or the mother says bring me a cup of tea. Okay. So that that's one type of demand that they could make. Or they can demand that the child go bathe. So in the first case, it really is a one-sided obligation that the child is being obligated to do something for the parent, but there isn't really any reciprocity. In the second case, where what the parent is demanding is for the child's welfare, what will help preserve and sustain and nurture the child's health, so then that what on the one hand seems like an obligation being imposed on the child itself really is something two-sided, it really is something reciprocal. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says in order for all of you, as many of you as possible, to flourish within the original bris of Sinai, so we need this additional krisas bris with the ala u'shvua because that will allow the original bris of Sinai as as you see in the psukim after the egel. It could be mekuyam by one individual surviving, two individuals, one couple surviving, and that would be the continuity for זרע אברהם יצחק ויעקב. ואעשה אותך לגוי גדול. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu says but that's not, that's kaveiyachol, that's not the way I want it to be. I want it to be למען הקים אותך היום לו, all of you. And therefore לפיכך אני צריך להשביעכם, so your taking the shvua on the one hand is your side of the bris, but my giving you the shvua that will be l'tovaschem is simultaneously my side of the bris, and the shvua itself reflects both sides of the bris. Well, let's reread those lines we just read here. V'hatam lomar, what's the need again commenting on the pasuk on the psukim at Shlishi:

כי אתם ידעתם את אשר ישבנו בארץ מצרים ואת אשר עברנו בקרב הגוים אשר עברתם. ותראו את שקוציהם ואת גלוליהם עץ ואבן כסף וזהב אשר עמהם. והטעם לומר

says the Ramban

אני צריך להשביעכם באלה ובשבועה הזאת מיראתי אולי נפתה לבב קצתכם לשיקוצי מצרים כאשר עשיתם בעגל או לשיקוצי עמון ומואב אשר ראיתם בדרך כאשר היה לכם בבעל פעור.

Maybe your heart has strayed because of the exposure you had in Mitzrayim, because of the exposure you had in Ammon. with Baal Peor, the concern for the future is well-founded. There seems to be a little bit of a disconnect here between the concern and the description of the avodah zarah. Right? The Torah couldn't be describing avodah zarah in more derogatory terms. ותראו את שקוציהם ואת גלוליהם. Golo means dung. That's what the word means literally. Gilulei behema. So maybe the pshat in the pasuk is, Rashi quotes this, that it's sort of the Torah is integrating and contrasting two different perspectives. There's one perspective of you'll find it attractive, you'll see it to be something good, and the Torah is telling us that by Hakadosh Baruch Hu's standards it's shikutzayhem and gilulayhem. And that is true and that pshat remains. But there's, it runs deeper than that. The Torah says it in Parshat Acharei Mot:

כמעשה ארץ מצרים אשר ישבתם בה לא תעשו וכמעשה ארץ כנען אשר אני מביא אתכם שמה לא תעשו ובחקתיהם לא תלכו.

So don't, don't imitate, don't reproduce maseh eretz mitzrayim or maseh eretz kena'an. Rashi quotes from Chazal those nations were mekulkallim mikol ha'umot. Why does the Torah need to identify Mitzrayim, כמעשה ארץ מצרים אשר ישבתם בה? Otherwise we would have had to Google Eretz Mitzrayim to find out where it is, what it is. Why does the Torah have to identify Eretz Kena'an אשר אני מביא אתכם שמה? We know what Eretz Kena'an is. So clearly the pshat in the pasuk is that the Torah is alerting us, it's sensitizing us to the fact that no matter how objectively reprehensible certain types of behaviors are, a person, human nature is such that a person is susceptible to picking up those forms of behavior and being influenced because of his exposure. So kemaseh eretz mitzrayim and you should know don't think that you don't need to be on guard to comply with this lav, no, because it's asher yeshavtem bo. And kemaseh eretz kena'an, don't think that this is something which is easy and automatically gonna happen on its own without care and caution, no, it's אשר אני מביא אתכם. You're gonna be living and exposed to them. And it's the same thing that the Torah is depicting here: אשר ישבנו בארץ מצרים, and the context of that prolonged exposure. So despite the fact that objectively it's all reprehensible, it's shikutzayhem ve'et gilulayhem, a person is still very, very susceptible to societal influence just by virtue of exposure. Even if there's no veneer of good, of morality, of anything. Even absent that veneer. A person should never underestimate our susceptibility to societal influence, to what we're exposed to. So in posuk Yud Ches

והיה בשמעו את דברי האלה הזאת והתברך בלבבו לאמר שלום יהיה לי כי בשרירות לבי אלך למען ספות הרוה את הצמאה.

So Rashi says bishrirut libi is bemarut libi. I'll do as I see fit, ka'ashurennu velo karov, מה שלבי בא לעשות. The Ramban:

והתברך בלבבו לאמר כשישמע האחרים מתקללים באלות האלה הוא יתברך במחשבתו ויאמר בלבו שלום יהיה לי מכל אלה כאשר אלך בתאות לבי.

So the first pshat in ki is ka'asher, when. והשם לא יסלח לו. Contrary to what this person entertains,

והשם לא יסלח לו אבל יעשן בו אף ה' אז כשיחטא לדור או לדורות.

Or, alternately, yeheh ta'am ki, not when, lomar what it means is שלום יהיה לי בעבור. Now here's understood, shalom yeheh li because this next clause is implied and understood in the posuk, because this individual will think to himself, אינני מקבל עלי השבועה. I'm opting out. I'm not accepting hashvua. Ki, rather, בשרירות לבי אלך כל ימי וכל חפצי אעשה. And so ki lashon ella, rather than accept hashvua, so bishrirut libi elekh. I'm going to follow my heart's desire. We'll see, not milashon ashurenu according to the Ramban.

ולא יאבה ה' בעבור שאיננו מקבל האלה לסלוח לו אבל יעשן עליו אפו כיון שבא בברית לפני כל עם ישראל ולפני דפני עם כל ישראל.

So the shvua was imposed, the shvua and the alah were imposed upon us collectively, on the tzibbur. A person didn't have, doesn't have the option of opting out. Agav, the pshat says it that you see from the psukim, the Ramban just sort of corroborate, you find in Chazal the לשון מושבע ועומד מהר סיני. So for instance if a person is נשבע לקיים את המצוה, so the shvua is not chal because אין שבועה חלה על שבועה and we're already מושבע ועומד מהר סיני. So the pshat is that the shvua was in Arvos Moav and the lashon Har Sinai is lav davka.

התאוה הגוברת ומתחזקת בלב תקרא שרירות כלשון חכמים שורר וקים וכן בשירי בטנו.

Shorer means something that's strong. Something that shorer vekayam means that it's strong in that it's, like you say nowadays in Hebrew machzik ma'amad, it can hold its own, it can stand firm, it's strong. So bishrirut libi means

התאוה אשר היא גוברת ומתחזקת בלב. ופירוש למען ספות הרוה את הצמאה.

Lehosif, so ravah means that... which is sated or saturated,

להוסיף השבעה עם המתאווה. כי נפש שבעה תבוז נופת, כענין ורויתי נפש כהנים דשן. ועמי את טובי ישבעו. והיתה נפשם כגן רוה.

And the mis'aveh tikarei tzemayah, Tzama'ah lekha nafshi. Okay, so raveh es hatzemayah, so es sometimes means im, right? The first pasuk in Sefer Shemot,

ואלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים מצרימה את יעקב איש וביתו באו,

it means with Jacob, right? These are the names of the ones who came with. So often es means im. So haravah es hatzemayah, Ravah means sated, svei'ah, and es means im according to the Ramban's understanding. Now maybe that's also what underlies that es is lerabbot, the fact that es means im. Maybe that's also reflected in that es is lerabbot. So כבד את אביך ואת אמך, with someone else, they're supposed to be mekhabed as well. The ta'am

כי נפש האדם הרוה שאיננה מתאוה לדברים הרעים רע. כאשר תבא בלבו קצת התאוה

ve-hu yemalei ta'avaso,

אז יוסף בנפשו תאוה יתירה ותהיה צמאה מאד הדבר ההוא שאכל או שעשה יותר מבתחלה.

We'll just read a few lines and then try to assimilate bli neder im yirtze Hashem.

ותתאוה עוד לדברים רעים שלא היתה מתאוה להם מתחלה. כי המתאוה לזמת הנשים היפות,

keshe-yeshoteif be-zimusun,

תבער בו תאוה לבוא על הזכר ועל הבהמה וכיוצא בו בשאר התאוות.

U-khe'inyan she-hizkiru khakhamim masbi'o re'eiv, mar'ivo sovei'a.

ולכך יאמר הכתוב בשרירות לבו, שהוא אם ימלא נפשו בתאוות השרירות והחזקות עליו אשר היא צמאה להם, יוסף נפשו הרוה עם הצמאה. כי יתאוה ויצמא למה שהיה שבע ממנו ולאשר השביע נפשו בו.

So the Ramban here is giving us a very fundamental insight into our psyche, a very fundamental principle of human behavior. Maybe if we would reflect in a way where we would detached from human experience and not have any empirical evidence, so maybe we would think that if a person has a taiva and then he indulges that taiva, so then he will have sated himself. And the Ramban says, Chazal say it in a different context, Chazal say it with regard to money, but the Ramban says it's the same yesod over here, that אין אדם מת וחצי תאותו בידו. A person who is a ba'al taiva never achieves his goal. יש לו מנה רוצה מאתים. And it continues. The reality is that taiva can never be satisfied. So that if a person instead of disciplining himself, if a person caters And that's what the posuk is saying, a person who will live כי בשרירות לבי אלך. I will indulge shrirut libi. I'll indulge, I'll cater to taivat libi. The effect of that is not that he will now be content. He'll now be satisfied. The Torah is telling us that's not, that's not the dynamic of human behavior. But it's rather lema'an sfot harava. What was previously a person was content, so now is going to be added onto that all kinds of new taivas. And the Ramban clearly says in a double sense. A, he'll have an even stronger taiva than he had initially in the same area. And B, the taiva strengthens in that he'll progress or deteriorate from natural taiva to unnatural taiva. So the tzimei'on is in two ways. The tzimei'on is in the sense of

תהיה צמאה מאד לדבר ההוא שאכלה או שעשה יותר מבראשונה.

That's one aspect of the tzimei'on. But the second aspect of the tzimei'on because it's the nature of taiva never to be satisfied, that's the nature of taiva, ותתאוה עוד לדברים רעים שלא היתה מתאוה להם מתחלה. The Ramban is telling us, the posuk is telling us, Ramban is amplifying beyond what a person is supposed to partake of as part of a normal balanced life. But going beyond that, a person can't make a pshara with taiva. Again, within the parameters of what a person is supposed to partake, that's not what we're referring to as taiva. But beyond, going outside those boundaries, the Ramban is saying there's no such thing as satisfying taiva, no such thing as making a pshara because the nature of it is that it's like the tzfardei'a. You hit it, it doubles. You think that a person is just this one thing, that will, that will satisfy the yeitzer hara, that will satisfy the taiva. That's not the way we function. That's not the way we react. That's why when you have these individuals around whom a scandal emerges, so when the accusations are true—sometimes they're not true—but when the accusations are true, so it's invariably and inevitably there are going to be other accusations because it's pashut that if the person did it once, he did it more than once because it's mamash this Ramban. כשתבא בלבו קצת התאוה again beyond the boundaries which the the Torah established. והוא ימלא תאותו אז יוסף בנפשו תאוה יתירה. When the first accuser, if the first accuser is telling the truth, it's pashut that there are going to be other other other accusations as well. Other truthful accusations as well. It's true in other contexts as well, maybe not with the same velocity as here. But whatever we do is is doubly important. It's important because every moment of life is precious. So what we do in any moment is important. But whatever we do is important and significant for another reason as well because whatever we do creates a momentum. It's not isolated or compartmentalized. There's momentum from what we do. Again in this context the momentum is even greater. It's with even with a even a greater velocity. If only we could keep that in mind, it would be a tremendous chizuk to to make to make the right decision and and to and to take the right step. Okay we'll we'll stop there.