I
Take heed and guard your soul exceedingly lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen and lest they be removed from your heart all the days of your life, and make them known to your children and your children's children, the day that you stood before Hashem at Chorev, when Hashem said to me "Gather the people to me and I will let them hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live on earth and teach their children accordingly" (Devarim 4:9,10).
The critical and everlasting message of these pesukim is noted by our greatest Torah commentators, medieval and modern alike. Their prescient words resonate in troubled and turbulent spiritual eras.
The Ramban writes that one violates a lo ta'ase, a Torah negative commandment, if he forgets ma'amad Har Sinai (the revelation at Sinai) or fails to transmit it to his children and grandchildren. On his list of lavim that the Rambam omitted in Sefer Hamitzvos (no. 2), he cites the words of the Rambam (Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah 8:1), "We believe in the Torah because we witnessed the revelation." Hashem said (Shemos 19:9) to Moshe "Behold I am coming to you in a thick cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak to you, and then they will believe in you forever." Any prophet who denies the words of Moshe is known to be a liar (8:3). So, too, one who says that the mitzvos are no longer binding is a false prophet, because he denies the eternity of the words of Moshe (9:1). The Ramban agrees, and adds that the Gemara (Kiddushin 30a) which reads "You should teach your children and grandchildren" as referring to teaching Torah, does not contradict his interpretation, as "teaching the belief in Torah is teaching Torah."
In our parsha (Devarim 4:9) the Ramban explains that before Moshe repeated the Ten Commandments that were given at Sinai (5:6-18), he forbade us from forgetting the revelation and removing it from our hearts forever. Moreover, he commanded a mitzvas aseh to tell our descendants in every generation all that transpired at Sinai, that we saw and heard. As it is not counted separately, it is presumably part of the mitzvah to teach Torah, as the Ramban explained in Sefer Hamitzvos (R. Chavel). After citing the idea of the Rambam (fn 43), he adds: when we tell our children, they will know that it (the revelation) is undoubtedly true, as if they saw it, in every generation. For we would not testify falsely to our own children or bequeath to them vain and useless ideas. They will not doubt at all our testimony. Rather, they will believe for sure that all of us saw with our own eyes all that we told them.
In sum, the Rambam and the Ramban teach that the revelation is the proof of the divinity and immortality of the Torah. The unbroken transmission from generation to generation is a mitzvah which is indispensable for the eternal faith in, and observance of, the mitzvos as given by Hashem to Moshe at Sinai.
II
The rapid secularization of European Jews in the nineteenth century impelled intrepid and inspired Torah leaders and commentators to reiterate these themes. Rav S. R. Hirsch writes (4:9):
"Everything rests upon this one basic fact: that the nation itself witnessed the Divine revelation of the Law. Thus, the nation has a direct guarantee that this Law is indeed Divine and that God is a personal and supernatural Being. Hence it is, before all else, this basic historic fact, the revelation of the Law at Sinai, proven by the evidence of our own physical senses, that must remain alive forever in our hearts and minds and must be handed down to our children so that they, too, may take it to heart and pass it on to future generations. A personal experience, perceived simultaneously by an entire nation, is an unparalleled, unique foundation for the historicity of the revelation, and the fact that the entire nation communicated it from one generation to the next represents a similarly unique, unparalleled preservation of that experience in the basic awareness of all future generations.
In the midst of a world caught up in notions developed from incomplete premises, you are to maintain your own spiritual independence. If you were to accept their notions, which are erroneous because they are founded on defective premises and therefore yield false conclusions, you would run the risk of forgetting that very personal experience of those realities from which alone the truths of life and existence can be derived. Therefore, take heed lest you forget the facts that your own eyes have beheld.
But above all, "guard your soul exceedingly...". The un-Jewish view of nature and history may all too easily gain a dangerous advocate within your own heart. Once God has vanished from nature, man's physical life, the sensual aspects of his existence will be deified, and once the historic significance of God's Law is denied, the seat of sovereignty is prepared for self-seeking human brutality. Both these notions will appeal only too readily to your nefesh, to your sensual and intellectual nature and aspirations. They hold out the promise of liberating the sensual aspects of your life from their subordination to the standards of moral sanctity, and the historical aspects of your existence from their subordination to the demands of justice and loving-kindness that the Law has brought to you, on Mount Sinai, from God. Therefore, even as you must guard against un-Jewish influences from without, so, too, above all, guard your own inner being against insinuations that may appeal to your sensuality and your selfishness so that you don't forget the facts that vouch for the existence of God and the authenticity of His Law. And above all, guard the spiritual aspect of your nature, so that you do not lose sight of the facts that your own eyes have beheld.
And make them known to your children and your children's children. You must now see to it that the truths which you have come to know through your own experience and which, by virtue of this personal experience, have become the granite foundation for all of your thoughts and actions, become the "knowledge" - not merely the "belief" - of your children and your children's children. Let your children know what you yourself have seen. Hand it down to them with all the resoluteness and certainty born of personal experience, in such a manner that this experience of yours will become the basis for the knowledge attained by all your descendants. Such is the tradition received by an entire national entity and handed down by each generation to an entire national posterity. This is the only way in which historic fact can remain authentic even in the minds of the remotest descendants. For in the final analysis, the authenticity even of written records rests on the facts that their contents have been handed down collectively by all the fathers to all the sons and are therefore considered true beyond doubt."
Rav Hirsch wrote in Germany at a time when most Jews had abandoned scrupulous Torah observance. He recognized the danger to his observant readers of the non-Jewish influences. Without spiritual independence, based on remembering the revelation's divinity and immortality, we can succumb to the non-Jewish zeitgeist. This can lead to apologetics, or worse, abandonment of Torah law.
The prescient reference to "liberating the sensual aspects of your life from their subordination to the standards of moral sanctity" has played out in our time and place in a manner that even Rav Hirsch did not anticipate. In the last 60 years, intermarriage increased from a single digit rarity to a significant majority of American Jews. Apologetics for, or denial of, the Torah's view of sexuality and marriage, have, sadly, been espoused even by some Orthodox Jews.
The faithful must take up the call of Rav Hirsch for unapologetic "spiritual independence" based on the unbroken tradition passed through the generations from Sinai. We must teach our children, emphatically and continuously, that the Torah's laws and values are certainly divine and eternal, notwithstanding what they hear and read from non-Jewish or non-strictly Orthodox sources.
III
The Malbim fought a similar battle against secularism and Bible criticism in Eastern Europe. In his commentary (4:9), he refers to the attribution of non-Jews of the Torah's brilliant laws to the Jewish intellect and wisdom (4:6). Such a thought endangers both body and soul, the dual warning in 4:9: "hishamer lecha u'shmor nafshecha me'od." A non-Torah lifestyle can harm one's body, but a greater shemirah (me'od) is needed to guard the soul from harm.
We may not forget what we saw, as what we see remains in our memory longer than what we hear. Even if we don't forget, it can be removed from our hearts if we think that the Sinaitic commandments are only temporary and changeable.
The Malbim (4:10) adds that the ability of the masses to apprehend the revelation without the extensive preparation needed for prophecy was itself a great miracle, comparable to the creation of heaven and earth ex nihilo. This great miracle was necessary to prove that Hashem, the Creator, is still in direct contact with mortal human beings, an idea others considered impossible. "So that they may learn to fear Me" required this direct revelation, a proof of Providence (Hashgacha), the deniers of which have no fear of a Creator who they believe has no knowledge of their misdeeds.
Secondly, it was necessary in order to assure that their children will maintain loyalty to the Torah in future generations and disregard those who deny its divinity or eternity. Hashem appeared to us face to face, despite our lack of preparation so that we overcome challenges to our faith for all generations (Shemos 20:17, Devarim 12:2-4).
These challenges have claimed many souls in our time, including, sadly, some who affiliate as Orthodox. The words of the Malbim, Rav Hirsch, and the Ramban are our only way to overcome the challenges for ourselves and our children and grandchildren.
IV
"Console, console, My people" (Yeshayahu 40:1), thus begins the eponymous Haftorah of Shabbos Nachamu, this year following hard on the heels of Tisha B'av. One reading the valiant battles of Rav Hirsch and the Malbim, and their many illustrious successors, against secularism and assimilation can become despondent as these phenomena have only increased despite their best efforts.
In the absence of prophets, Rabbinic leaders must console Hashem's people. Do not despond! Hashem has promised that even in a generation that mocks Him and violates His covenant, the Torah will never be forgotten (Devarim 31:20,21).
Indeed the proliferation of secularism, assimilation and even intermarriage in American Jewry has been matched by the exponential growth of Yeshivos and Chassidic institutions. Hashem has made one corresponding to the other (Koheles 7:14). This, together with the parallel flourishing in Eretz Yisroel since World War Two, is a measure of consolation for Hashem's people after the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust.
The vanishing American Jew, who assimilates and is lost to the Jewish people is not without precedent. Even in our first national redemption, only twenty percent of Bnei Yisroel went out of Egypt (Rashi, Sehmos 13:18). This minority experienced the revelation and their progeny has observed and transmitted the Torah despite numerous difficulties over the generations, to this very day.
As we read the recounting of the revelation at Sinai, we must emphasize, internalize, and transmit to our children and grandchildren the certainty, divinity, and eternity of the Torah. As Rav Hirsch wrote: "Everything rests upon this one basic fact." It is not only a mitzvah as the Ramban teaches. It is the only way to preserve our holy heritage forever.
As we begin the seven Haftorahs of consolation, let us strengthen our resolve to remain among the faithful to Hashem and His Torah, together with our children and grandchildren. May we merit the fulfillment of the final Haftorahs of consolation, the final redemption and the next revelation.
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