אף חבב עמים, Also a lover of people, etc. Our sages in Baba Batra 8 understand these words to mean that although on occasion God displayed fondness for the other nations when He exiled the Jewish people amongst them, כל קדושיו בידיך והם, the Jews who study Torah continue to enjoy special privileges such as exemption from certain taxes even while they are in exile. It appears that our verse provides the rationale for what is written in the previous verse, namely that God came to both Se-ir and Paran. He did so in order to subject them to His anger on the day of judgment when these nations would excuse their conduct by saying that they had never been given a chance to receive the Torah and had not been informed of its contents so that they could have lived by its precepts. The entire verse needs to be understood as follows: "God had also displayed His love for the other nations when He offered them the Torah at the time he gave it to the Israelites."
The words כל קדושיו may best be understood in line with Yalkut Shimoni at the end of Parshat Kedoshim item 626, on Leviticus 20,26: "and I have separated you from the other nations to be Mine." If the Torah had written: "I have separated the other nations from you," this would have meant that we do not accept proselytes. Seeing that the Torah uses the reverse order and writes: "I have separated you from the nations," this means that when Gentiles wish to convert to Judaism they are able to do so. [this is the thrust of the comment; our author has enlarged on it. Ed.] The words קדשיו בידיך mean that God reserves the right to allow those who wish to sanctify themselves by embracing the Torah to do so.
Another approach to our verses may be this. The meaning of the words אף חובב is that there remains one single fondness for the Jewish people vis-a-vis the other nations, namely that those who study Torah, the "holy ones," enjoy some privileges as I have explained. The word והם, "and they," refers to the Jewish people who are the principal subject of the verse. We are told that the Jewish people are able to maintain their sanctity or improve it because תכו לרגלך, "they planted themselves at Your feet." This is an allusion to the statement in Shabbat 146 that as a result of the revelation at Sinai the Israelites were completely cleansed of any residual pollutant dating back to the sin in Gan Eden. They achieved this status because they planted themselves at God's feet, i.e. embraced the Torah wholeheartedly. This enabled them to be addressed by God directly. Our sages in Shabbat 86 go so far as to say that at that time their souls left them (based on Song of Songs 5,6: "my soul left me when He spoke"). It was this experience which removed their pollutant. This remained an advantage of the natural born Israelites over their proselyte counterparts (compare Zohar volume three page 14).
ישא מדברותיך, accepting Your pronouncements. The word means "authority" in this instance. We find a similar meaning for דבר in Psalms 47,4: "He subjects peoples to us." The meaning is that only natural born Jews have true authority over other Jews; proselytes or their (immediate?) descendants may not become kings. Our sages in Kidushin 76 have derived this ruling from Deut. 17,15: "from amongst your brothers." This restrictive clause applies not only to kings who must be natural born Jews but also to judges and princes. The Talmud Sotah 41 relates that when King Agrippas read these words in the Torah his eyes started watering with tears as he was not a natural born Jew. The meaning of the words ישא מדברותיך here is that only a natural born Jew may arrogate to himself a position of authority over fellow Jews. The reason that the word ישא is in the singular is an allusion to Sanhedrin 8 that the Jewish people will have only a single authority, there will be no power-sharing.
An additional meaning of the word ישא מדברותיך could be that it provides the rationale for תכו לרגליך. We have been told in Shabbat 88 that the acceptance of the Torah by the Jewish people was not exactly voluntary but that God threatened to bury them under the Mountain if they would not accept the Torah. On the other hand, the acceptance of the Torah during the period of Esther and Mordechai was entirely voluntary as a result of Haman's decree against the Jews being cancelled. I have explained the reluctance of the Jews to accept the Torah in my commentary on Exodus 19,5. It did not extend to acceptance of the biblical commandments but only to the rabbinic decrees. At any rate, the words תכו לרגליך are a reference to the threat of death at the Mountain if they would not accept the rabbinic ordinances. The people accepted the biblical parts of the Torah wholeheartedly and voluntarily. They did so in order to be spiritually uplifted by it, i.e. ישא מדברותיך. When the Torah wrote in Exodus 24,7 that the Jewish people said unanimously: "we will do all that God has said and we will hear it," the word "all" refers to the rabbinic ordinances.
The word מדברותיך may also be understood as referring to the people giving guidance to the Jewish people, the ones who introduce certain new ordinances if circumstances seem to call for this. When the Jews during the time of Mordechai observed how successful the latter had been in his looking after Jewish interests, the people voluntarily embraced all such rabbinic ordinances.
Still another meaning of the words
ישא מדברותיך may be based on the
Midrash Rabbah (
Song of Songs 1,
2) explaining the words
ישקני מנשיקות פיהו, "may He kiss me with the kisses of His mouth." According to this
Midrash every single word which God spoke He communicated to every single Israelite asking if the Israelite in question was prepared to accept the law in question. The Israelite would answer in the affirmative. In response God would kiss him and place a crown on his head. This is why the Torah adds…
והם תכו ישא מדברותיך. The reason that the Torah writes
מדברותיך instead of the usual
דברותיך is because the words themselves "spoke" to the Israelites asking them if they were prepared to accept them.
The reason the word
ישא is in the future tense instead of in the past tense, is because after the episode with the golden calf the Israelites were deprived of the crowns we have mentioned (
Exodus 33,
5), whereas Moses received them (
Shabbat 88). This is based on a concept developed in
Chagigah 15 that two places are reserved for each person, one in purgatory and one in Paradise. The one who forfeits his place in Paradise leaves it for his colleague who is more deserving, and the same is true for those who vacate their place in purgatory. This is the mystical dimension of Exodus 33,8 that "the people looked after Moses." Our sages in
Sanhedrin 110 explain this to mean that each Israelite suspected Moses of committing adultery with his wife. This is not to be understood literally, of course, but it means that the Torah which was considered as betrothed to the Jewish people had become Moses' exclusive bride seeing he had taken over the parts that the people had previously been entitled to. By the Torah writing
ישא in the future tense we receive the assurance that the removal of the crowns of the Israelites after the episode with the golden calf is reversible and that the time will come when they will once more merit and receive these crowns. Our sages (a glossary in the prayer-book edited by the
Ari Zal) state that these crowns return to the heads of the Israelites on every Sabbath and that on the Sabbath Moses retains only his own crown. This is the reason that we say in the Sabbath morning prayer that Moses rejoices in his (personal) share, i.e. even though on that day he retains only this single crown.
Our verse may also be a veiled reference to the statement in Makkot 24 that the Israelites heard the first two of the Ten Commandments from God Himself whereas Moses was the intermediary for the balance of the commandments. On the other hand, the Mechilta on Parshat Yitro claims that all of the Ten Commandments were spoken by God in a single utterance. We explained this apparent contradiction by referring to the tradition that the souls of the Jewish people left them during the revelation. This occurred after they had heard the first two of these commandments. The words תכו לרגליך are a reference to this overpowering effect of God speaking to the people as a result of which their souls left them. This is further supported by the words ישא מדברותיך, i.e. that God "uplifted their souls" after they heard part of His words. They heard the balance of the Ten Commandments from the mouth of Moses after their souls had been restored to them. This is the reason why we read in the next verse תורה צוה לנו משה, "Moses commanded us the Torah," instead of "God commanded us the Torah." A close look at the word תורה reveals that its numerical value equals 611, i.e. an allusion to the number of commandments the Jewish people heard from the mouth of Moses. When you add the two words ישא מדברותיך you get the total of 613 commandments.
The words in our verse may also reflect something we have been told in Megillah 29 that the Presence of God accompanied the Israelites into exile. In this connection, the Talmud relates that the angels wanted to expel Rabbi Sheshet from the synagogue on account of the presence there of the Shechinah. Thereupon Rabbi Sheshet asked God: "if there is a person who has been subjected to insults and another who has not, which of the two deserves to be expelled?" As a result of this appeal God instructed the angels not to bother Rabbi Sheshet. This is the meaning of והם תכו לרגליך, "they have already been humbled at Your feet," i.e. the very fact that the Jews have been exiled is enough of a putdown for them so that if they use this fact as an argument ישא מדברותיך, He will uplift them when they are confronted by the angels i.e. "Your spokesmen."
Still another allusion which may be contained in our verse is based on Berachot 5 that God gave the Israelites three good gifts all of which they acquired only by means of suffering afflictions first. They are: the Torah, the land of Israel, and the hereafter. The Talmud in Berachot 63 also states (based on Proverbs 30,32: "if you have exalted yourself through acting arrogantly, etc.") that if a person is prepared to suffer disgrace for the sake of Torah he will eventually be elevated to a high position. This is the meaning of the sequence תכו לרגליך, ישא מדברותיך. "You will eventually be elevated as your disgrace was due to your humbling yourself for the sake of Torah." Torah confers high office on a person as we know from Proverbs 8,15: "kings reign through me."
Still another message contained in our verse is based on Rosh Hashanah 21 based on Psalms 8,6: "You have made him only a little less than divine." This means that God endowed Moses with 49 of a possible 50 "gateways to insight" when the latter was on Mount Sinai. The 50th gateway is reserved for God Himself. I have explained this concept in connection with Isaiah 11,9: "for the earth will be full of knowledge of the Lord." The prophet means that at that stage of the development of mankind God will hand over even the 50th gateway of insight to man, something He had not even done for Moses. This will be part of the Messiah revealing himself. In accordance with this concept the words תכו לרגליך refer to the Torah insights which had already been revealed, whereas the words ישא מדברותיך are a reference to the final degree of insight which so far had been withheld by God.
