By Rabbi Joshua (laconically known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
In this week's parsha, God tells Moshe that after he dies, the nation will
stray after the gods worshipped by the people in the land that they will
enter, and forsake Him and annul the covenant He made with them. God then says that
His anger will flare against them when that happens, and "I will forsake
them, and I will conceal My face from them and they will become prey, and many
evils and distresses will encounter it. It will say on that day, 'Is it not
because My God is not in my midst that these evils have encountered me? And I will
surely conceal my face on that day because of all the evil that it did, for it
had turned to the gods of others." (Devorim 31: 17-18). Many commentators
find difficulty with these verses, because they seem to say that God will punish
the people even after they have acknowledged their sin, which would seem to
constitute some degree of repentance. Why, then, does God continue to conceal
His presence form them after this acknowledgment?
Ramban, in his Torah commentary, explains that although the people admitted
that they had sinned when they said the reason all these evils befell them
was because God was not in their midst, it was not a complete act of repentance.
God's further concealment of His presence among them, he says, was actually
part of a process of redemption carried out in a concealed manner. This
measured response was designed to lead the nation to complete repentance through
which they would merit a revealed redemption, and thereby more clearly experience
God's presence in their lives. This explanation of the Ramban has often been
invoked as a means of encouragement to the Jewish people in the face of
suffering, to try to discern God's presence behind His concealment. However, other
commentators have pointed out that the simple reading of these verses does not
seem to indicate a reduction of the suffering coming as a result of the
admission of the people. Rather, it seems to imply a continuation of divine
concealment coming either despite of, or even as a result of this admission. Why should
this be so?
Rabbi Reuven Katz, in his Degel Reuven, explains these verses on the basis
of the Rambam's remarks in Hilchos Teshuvah (Laws of Repentance), chapter six,
that it is possible to commit a sin that is so great, that part of the
punishment for it is that teshuvah will be rejected. This is what the Torah means
when it says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Here too, says Rabbi Katz, in
the verses we are examining, God is saying that the sin of the people in
rejecting Him and straying after the gods of the people in their land was so great
that He will not accept their repentance. Based on this understanding, continues
Rabbi Katz, we can understand the Torah's assurance to us, in parshas
Nitzovim, that the nation ultimately will do teshuvah. After all, he asks, doesn't
man have free will? How can there be an assurance that the people will
eventually repent, if their repentance depends on their own decision to correct their
ways? The answer, says Rabbi Katz, is that God will, at some point in the
future, remove the hindrance to teshuvah described in our verse as His refusal to
accept the people's teshuvah. At that time, the redemption, which is dependent
on that teshuvah, will come. Following this explanation, God's further
concealment of His presence from the people, described in verse 18, comes despite
their efforts to do teshuvah. However, the flow of the verses seems to suggest
that this concealment comes as a result of their attempt at teshuvah. How can
this be explained?
Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, in his commentary Meshech Chochmoh, explains that
the statement of the people that God is not in their midst was in itself a
sin. Even when God hides His presence from us, He is still among us. The rabbis
tell us that this was the message God was conveying to Moshe when He appeared
to him from within a burning bush. God was thereby saying, " I am with you in
your distress." In truth, Rav Meir Simcha writes, the distress suffered by the
nation is brought about by God in order to arouse them from their spiritual
slumber and bring them back to Him. Because the people denied this fundamental
principle, then, God further concealed Himself, as a punishment for this
denial. However, I believe that the verse immediately following this description
of divine concealment contains an assurance that even within this further
concealment of His presence, God is still among us. In this verse, God says, "And
now write this poem for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel,
place it in their mouth, so that this song will be for me a witness against the
children of Israel" (Devorim 31:19). Which poem is being referred to here? Some
commentators explain it to refer to parshas Ha'azinu, which is written in the
form of a poem, but the Rambam, based on the Talmud (Sanhedrin 21b), says it
is a reference to the entire Torah, and says it is the source of the
obligation of every Jew to write a sefer Torah. Rabbi Shlomo Kluger, in his responsa
Tuv Ta'am VeDa'as (volume one, no. 263, as cited in volume eight of Torah
LaDa'as, pages 236-237), albeit in a different context, notes that a Torah scroll
only attains its status as a holy object when a Jew writes God's name in it with
proper intent. The fact that every Jew is obligated to write a sefer Torah
thus tells us that every Jew has a spark of divine holiness within him which he
is able to transfer on to the Torah scroll. This commandment, therefore,
serves as a refutation of the people's conclusion, from their suffering, that God
is not in their midst, and a call to them to reactivate the divine spark within
them, achieve complete teshuvah, and thereby merit redemption.
