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14 โ[1] ** ืืื ืื ืชืฉืืขื ืื, "And if you will fail to hearken to Me, etc."** We need to know where obedience to G'd ever was something optional at the beginning of our portion so that the Torah would be justified in introducing this paragraph with the conditional "if." The paragraph should simply have commenced with the words: "If you despise My statutes, etc." Apparently, the wording of the Torah in this verse shows that the meaning of the opening paragraph of the portion "if you will walk in My statutes" refers to precoccupation with Torah study and not to performance of any specific commandmments. This is why the Torah is able to consider the alternative in our verse as something which is related to one's hearing. It is similar to Isaiah 55,3: "**listen** so that you will live," or Proverbs 1,5 "the wise will **listen** and increase learning." Inasmuch as the Torah intended to convey so many different lessons with the words ืื ืืืงืชื ืชืืื as I have demonstrated, the failure to exercise these options are at the root of all the misfortunes which will befall the Jewish people if they ignore such glorious opportunities as offered by the Torah in the opening verse of our portion.
โ[2] Furthermore, seeing that the Torah is about to discuss the result of not carrying out G'd's wishes the Torah pinpoints the root of such non-observance as being the failure to listen to the Torah's instructions by not studying the Torah. Concerning this we learned in *Kidushin* 30 that G'd told the Jewish people that the only antidote to the danger of succumbing to the temptations by the evil urge is Torah, i.e. study of Torah and performance of its precepts.
โ[3] Our paragraph is also concerned with awakening sleeping hearts. If someone pursues a path which is not good this is only proof that he has not acquired knowledge about G'd and the good he would derive by serving the Lord. We may therefore understand the conditional "if you will not listen" in the sense of "if you fail to understand." Failure to understand the advantages of serving the Lord may result in someone refusing to do so. The prophet Isaiah summed it up when he said that Israel went into exile as a direct result of lack of knowledge (Isaiah 5,13).
โ[4] Another message contained in our verse is derived from the Torah's emphasis on the words ืืื ืชืขืฉื **ืืช ืื ืืืฆืืช**, "and you will not perform **all the commandments,** etc." Seeing we have explained on the words ืื ืืืงืชื ืชืืื that one's preoccupation with Torah protects one against and saves one from the evil urge (*Sotah* 21), the Torah here spells out the condition both positively and negatively, i.e. what will happen if you study Torah for My sake, and what will happen if you do not study for the right reasons. G'd reminds us that even if we study Torah as long as we do not do so for the sake of G'd and perform the commandments, Torah will not act as a shield for us against the evil urge.
โ[5] Another nuance contained in our verse is the message that even preparedness to perform all the commandments is of not much use by itself; unless one has studied Torah in depth one simply is not able to perform all its precepts properly. As a result such performance cannot protect one against temptation by the evil urge. We may also understand this pronouncement along the lines of *Menachot* 110 on the verse "This is the Torah of the burnt-offering (Leviticus 6,2)." If one studies the details of the legislation of the sacrifices nowadays when there is no chance to translate one's knowledge into practice, he has fulfilled the commandment better than when the Temple stood and one performed the actual sacrificial rites without knowing all its details.
โ[6] The word ืื in our verse reminds us that failure to heed the words of Torah is similar to someone refusing to listen to his king when he wants to speak to his subject. The words ืื ืื ืชืฉืืขื **ืื** are G'd's way of saying that He, personally, will feel insulted by our failure to study Torah.
โ[7] You may also understand the verse as conveying a message similar to that in Jeremiah 16,11: "and Me they have forsaken and My Torah they have not observed." Rabbi Moshe Alshech explains this verse by means of a parable. He warns that the Israelites should not think that because they studied Torah this would neutralise their abominations including idol worship as proved by the fact that the Temple had not been destroyed while idol worship was going on for hundreds of years. The Torah explains here what the parameters are to be. "If you do not listen to Me this will lead to non-performance of My commandments and eventual destruction." If, however, you listen to Me, i.e. your attitude to G'd is positive, even if you do not fulfil **all** the commandments, this will not bring about catastrophe either on a personal or national level.
โ[8] Another way of justifying the opening words of our paragraph is that G'd is aware of how man's mind and heart functions and of the machinations of the evil urge which exploits man's psyche. G'd therefore decided to address the very first stage of any seduction planned by the evil urge. We have explained repeatedly that Satan is well aware of the intimate relationship between G'd and Israel as a result of which he never counsels that a Jew commit acts of outright rebellion against G'd and His Torah. Satan works far more insidiuously. He will ostensibly agree that everything written in the Torah is, of course, binding on a Jew but that all the additional ordinances with which the sages have surrounded Biblical Law are not really of significance and may be ignored without peril to oneself. Once a person begins to consider if there is merit to that argument he has already been entrapped by the evil urge.
โ[9] In our verse the Torah addresses two kinds of seductions. 1) "If you do not hearken to Me;" this is a reference to G'd having authorised the Torah scholars to make ordinances. This authority is based on Deut. 17,12; "Any man who deliberately fails to listen to the priest who stands to minister to the Lord your G'd, that man shall die." The reason the Torah insisted on writing the word ืื in our verse is to remind us that anyone who questions the authority of the rabbis is as if he questioned G'd Himself (compare *Sanhedrin* 110). The word ืื means: "it concerns Me." Moreover, the sages are considered as the "Sanctuary" of the Lord.
โ[10] Concerning the second kind of seductive tactic by Satan namely his trying to convince us that the number of positive commandments is unnecessarily large, the Torah writes: "and you will not perform all these commandments." The Torah also implies here that if someone fails to believe in the authority of the sages to interpret the law he most certainly will not fulfil **any** commandment. The reason is simple. The definition of the 613 commandments (ืื ืื ืืืฆืืช) is something which the sages of former generations have determined. Anyone who does not accept that principle is not considered as having observed **any** of the commandments. When the Torah speaks of ืืื ืชืขืฉื this is merely the result of not listening. [The letter ื is not meant as an alternative to the words ืืื ืื ืชืฉืืขื. Ed.]
Version: Or Hachayim, trans. Eliyahu Munk
Source: http://www.urimpublications.com/or-hachayim-commentary-on-the-torah-5-vols.html
License: CC-BY