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(ה) רְאֵ֣ה ׀ לִמַּ֣דְתִּי אֶתְכֶ֗ם חֻקִּים֙ וּמִשְׁפָּטִ֔ים כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוַּ֖נִי ה׳ אֱלֹקָ֑י לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת כֵּ֔ן בְּקֶ֣רֶב הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַתֶּ֛ם בָּאִ֥ים שָׁ֖מָּה לְרִשְׁתָּֽהּ׃ (ו) וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם֮ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם֒ כִּ֣י הִ֤וא חׇכְמַתְכֶם֙ וּבִ֣ינַתְכֶ֔ם לְעֵינֵ֖י הָעַמִּ֑ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִשְׁמְע֗וּן אֵ֚ת כׇּל־הַחֻקִּ֣ים הָאֵ֔לֶּה וְאָמְר֗וּ רַ֚ק עַם־חָכָ֣ם וְנָב֔וֹן הַגּ֥וֹי הַגָּד֖וֹל הַזֶּֽה׃ (ז) כִּ֚י מִי־ג֣וֹי גָּד֔וֹל אֲשֶׁר־ל֥וֹ אֱלֹקִ֖ים קְרֹבִ֣ים אֵלָ֑יו כַּה׳ אֱלֹקֵ֔ינוּ בְּכׇל־קׇרְאֵ֖נוּ אֵלָֽיו׃
(5) Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act accordingly in the land whither you go to possess it. (6) Keep them therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, who shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. (7) For what nation is there so great, that has God so near to them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? (Koren)
כי היא חכמתכם. בה תשיבו לאפיקורוס במופתים שכליים:
כי היא חכמתכם, observance of the laws of the Torah is your true wisdom and will enable you to resist the lures and challenges by the heretics.
...Meaning to say that you shouldn't think that the Hukim which are commandments withour reasons will put you the position of fools in the eyes of the nations. As our sages have said that the Hukim, the nations of the world react to them ... what is the reason for the commandment?
Don't think like this because it is the opposite, this is your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the nations because of precicely these they consider you wise and understanding and not only because of the Mishpatim (logical laws). Because they also have laws and customs that are rational that their wise men established. But only when they hear these Hukim.. because of them they will say that only you are wise and we do not find like your wisdom in other nations and so it is for both reasons.
ושמרתם ועשיתם כי היא חכמתם וגו' ואמרו רק עם חכם וגו' יש לפרש דהנה האוה"ע בראותם תפארת תורה ומצות יעידון ויגידון שאין תורה כתורת ה׳ כמו שאמר תלמי המלך ובאמת טעמים למצות מה שסוברים האוה"ע אינם עיקר טעמם דאינם גלוים לנו רק המה מסתרי תורה אבל אם ישראל בעצמם מתכבדים בזה שהאוה"ע שבחו תורתינו יש לחוש שגם הישראל יסברו שרק הם הגלוים המה עיקר טעמי תורה ובאמת עיקר טעמם עפ"י נסתר
And they said only with a wise man, etc., that the nations of the world when are seeing in their view the glory of the Torah and the commandments of the Torah, and saying that there is no Torah like the Torah of God, as Ptolemy the King said, and in truth the reasons for the Mitzvot that the nations of the world consider are not the main point of the Mitzvot ... only they are the visible ones, what is the main flavor of the Torah, and in truth, the main flavor of the Torah is hidden
ושמרתם ועשיתם כי היא חכמתכם ובינתכם לעיני העמים, “You shall safeguard it and perform it, for it (the Torah’s laws) are what the nations perceive as your wisdom and discernment.” The verse teaches first and foremost that all the commandments only come into their own when being performed. Their integrity has to be safeguarded (against reformers) and their substance has to be carried out (when they are positive commandments) or performed by not violating them (in the case of negative commandments). All the worthwhile activities in the world are automatically part of one or more of the Torah’s commandments. The discipline of healing is part of a commandment seeing the Torah tells us that if we listen carefully to its commandments and perform all its statutes and refrain from violating them we will not experience disease, etc., (compare Exodus 15,26) “seeing the Lord is your Healer.” The message is clear: Torah observance=preventive medicine. The same applies to all other scientific disciplines.
Our sages in Shabbat 75 understand the words לעיני העמים in our verse as a reference to the people (astronomers, mathema-titians) who can calculate the movements and timing of the stars in their respective orbits. They go so far as to say that if someone possesses this knowledge and neglects to use it (for the benefit of mankind) he becomes the target of the verse in Isaiah 5,12: “they refuse to acknowledge the work of the Lord and refuse to see His accomplishments.”
This contadicts what is said that the laws that Moses enacted for the Israelites are taken from the laws of the Egyptians and other nations of his day. Didn't the people of Moses' generation know this thing better than we do here, and how could Moses be so stupid, or so bold-faced, to tell Israel that the Gentiles, upon hearing these laws, would say that Israel is a wise and intelligent people? Didn't they have to say that they are a failed and bad people, whose teachings were stolen from other peoples. And greater than this, how will he then say, "And who is a great nation that has laws and righteous judgments as righteous as this Torah, if this Torah was taken from the teachings of other nations?" At the very least, we will have to admit that the Divine Torah sorted out the food from the waste, and kept, of all the laws in use in the world in those days, only those that the supreme wisdom saw as honest, righteous and beneficial, and abolished the bad laws, or changed them and turned them from bad to good.
(כד) וַיְצַוֵּ֣נוּ ה׳ לַעֲשׂוֹת֙ אֶת־כׇּל־הַחֻקִּ֣ים הָאֵ֔לֶּה לְיִרְאָ֖ה אֶת־ה׳ אֱלֹקֵ֑ינוּ לְט֥וֹב לָ֙נוּ֙ כׇּל־הַיָּמִ֔ים לְחַיֹּתֵ֖נוּ כְּהַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה׃
(24) Then ה׳ commanded us to observe all these laws, to revere our God, for our lasting good and for our survival, as is now the case.
(יז) דְּרָכֶ֥יהָ דַרְכֵי־נֹ֑עַם וְֽכׇל־נְתִ֖יבוֹתֶ֣יהָ שָׁלֽוֹם׃ (יח) עֵץ־חַיִּ֣ים הִ֭יא לַמַּחֲזִיקִ֣ים בָּ֑הּ וְֽתֹמְכֶ֥יהָ מְאֻשָּֽׁר׃ {פ}
(17) Her ways are pleasant ways,
And all her paths, peaceful. (18) She is a tree of life to those who grasp her,
And whoever holds on to her is happy.
(יב) סוברין שלא כוונו החכמים ז"ל בכל דבריהם הישרים והמתוקנים אלא מה שהבינו לפי דעתם מהם ושהם על פשוטם ואע"פ שהנראה מקצת דבריהם יש בהם מן הדבה והריחוק מן השכל עד שאילו סופר על פשוטו לעמי הארץ כל שכן לחכמים היו תמהים בהתבוננם בהם והם אומרים היאך יתכן שיהיה בעולם אדם שיחשוב בזה או שיאמין שהיא אמונה נכונה ק"ו שייטיב בעיניו וזו הכת עניי הדעת יש להצטער עליהם לסכלותם לפי שהם מכבדין ומנשאין החכמים כפי דעתם והם משפילים אותם בתכלית השפלות והם אינם מבינין זה וחי השם יתברך כי הכת הזה מאבדים הדרת התורה ומאפילים זהרה ומשימים תורת ה׳ בהפך המכוון בה לפי שהשם יתברך אמר בתורה התמימה אשר ישמעון את כל החוקים האלה ואמרו רק עם חכם ונבון הגוי הגדול הזה והכת הזאת מספרים משפטי דברי החכמים ז"ל מה שכששומעין אותו שאר האומות אומרים רק עם סכל ונבל הגוי הקטן הזה
(12) [These people] hold that the sages, may their memory be blessed, only intended in all of their straight and sweet words what [this group] understood according to their intellect from them, and that they are according to their simple meaning - and even though that which appears in some of their words is repulsive and that which pushes the intellect away.
To the point that if it would be recounted to the unlettered - and all the more so to the wise - they would wonder in their pondering over them and say, "How is it possible that there is someone in the world that thinks like this or believes that it is a correct belief - all the more so, that it is good in their eyes?" And one should be pained about the foolishness of this group of simple-minded ones. As according to their opinion, they are honoring and raising the sages; but they are [in fact] lowering them to the lowest depths - and they do not understand this.
And as God, may He be blessed, lives, this group destroys the beauty of the Torah and darkens its splendor, and makes the Torah of God the opposite of its intention. As God, my He be blessed, said in the perfect Torah (Deuteronomy 4:6), "that they should observe all of these statutes and they shall say, 'This is certainly a wise and understanding people, this great nation.'" And this group recounts the simple words of the sages, may their memory be blessed, such that when the other nations hear it, they say, "This is certainly a foolish and silly people, this small nation."
(א) מבני אדם אנשים שיכבד עליהם נתינת סיבה למצוה מן המצוות, והטוב אצלם – שלא יושכל למצוה ולאזהרה ענין כלל. ואשר יביאם אל זה הוא חלי שימצאוהו בנפשם ולא יוכלו להגות בו ולא ידעו לומר אותו. והוא: שהם יחשבו שאם היו אלו התורות מועילות בזה המציאות ומפני כך וכך נצטוינו בהם ויהיו כאילו באו ממחשבת והסתכלות בעל שכל; אמנם כאשר יהיה דבר שלא יושכל לו ענין כלל ולא יביא לתועלת, יהיה בלא ספק מאת האלוק כי לא תביא מחשבת אנוש לדבר מזה. וכאילו אלו חלושי הדעות – היה האדם אצלם יותר שלם מעושהו, כי האדם הוא אשר יאמר ויעשה מה שמביא לתכלית אחת והאלוק לא יעשה כן אבל יצונו לעשות מה שלא יועילנו עשותו ויזהירנו מעשות מה שלא יזיקנו עשותו. חלילה לו חלילה! אבל הענין בהפך זה! והכונה כולה להועילנו – כמו שבארנו מאמרו: ״לטוב לנו כל הימים לחיותנו כהיום הזה״ ואמר: ״אשר ישמעון את כל החוקים האלה ואמרו רק עם חכם ונבון הגוי הגדול הזה״ – כבר באר שאפילו ה׳חוקים׳ כולם יורו אל כל הגוים שהם ׳בחכמה ותבונה׳ ואם היה ענין שלא תודע לו סיבה ולא יביא תועלת ולא ידחה נזק – למה יאמר במאמינו או בעושהו שהוא ׳חכם ונבון׳ וגדל המעלה ויפלאו מזה האומות?.
(ב) אבל הענין כמו שזכרנו בלא ספק, והוא שכל ׳מצוה׳ מאלו ה׳שש מאות ושלוש עשרה מצוות׳ היא – לנתינת דעת אמיתי, או להסיר דעת רע, או לנתינת סדר ישר, או להסיר עול, או להתלמד במדות טובות, או להזהיר ממדות רעות – הכל נתלה בשלשה דברים: בדעות, ובמדות, ובמעשי ההנהגה המדינית.
(1) THERE are persons who find it difficult to give a reason for any of the commandments, and consider it right to assume that the commandments and prohibitions have no rational basis whatever. They are led to adopt this theory by a certain disease in their soul, the existence of which they perceive, but which they are unable to discuss or to describe.
For they imagine that these precepts, if they were useful in any respect, and were commanded because of their usefulness, would seem to originate in the thought and reason of some intelligent being. But as things which are not objects of reason and serve no purpose, they would undoubtedly be attributed to God, because no thought of man could have produced them. According to the theory of those weak-minded persons, man is more perfect than his Creator. For what man says or does has a certain object, whilst the actions of God are different; He commands us to do what is of no use to us, and forbids us to do what is harmless. Far be this!
On the contrary, the sole object of the Law is to benefit us. Thus we explained the Scriptural passage, “for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day” (Deut. 6:24). Again, “which shall hear all those statutes (ḥuḳḳim), and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people” (ibid. 4:6). He thus says that even every one of these “statutes” convinces all nations of the wisdom and understanding it includes.
But if no reason could be found for these statutes, if they produced no advantage and removed no evil, why then should he who believes in them and follows them be wise, reasonable, and so excellent as to raise the admiration of all nations?
(2) But the truth is undoubtedly as we have said, that every one of the six hundred and thirteen precepts serves to inculcate some truth, to remove some erroneous opinion, to establish proper relations in society, to diminish evil, to train in good manners or to warn against bad habits. All this depends on three things: opinions, morals, and social conduct.
וכל שאסור לכלל מין האנושי הנאורה בחוק הנימוס אי אפשר להיות מותר לנו עם קדוש, שמי איכא מידי
דלדידהו אסור ולדידן שרי? והתורה אמרה שהגוים יאמרו: "כי מי גוי גדול אשר לו חקים ומשפטים צדיקים,
ואם המה יעמדו על המדרגה יותר גבוה בחוקים ונימוסים , הרי יאמרו עלינו , "עם סכל ונבל" ולא חכם.
Dor Revi’i, R. Moshe Shmuel Glasner, Hungary, 19th-20th c.
Anything that violates the norms of enlightened human beings cannot be permitted to us, a holy nation; can there be anything forbidden for them but permitted to us? The Torah says that the nations are supposed to say: "What a great nation, with such just laws and statutes!" But if they are on a higher level than we in their laws and norms, they will say about us: "What a foolish and disgusting nation!"
This translation and my introduction to the writings and appraoch of Rabbi Glasner I owe to Rabbi Ethan Tucker of Hadar, see:
Ethical Norms as the Foundation of Torah,
Parashat Va'Etchanan
ואני אומר דכל שמתועב בעיני האומות הנאורים אסורה לנו בלא חילול השם, מטעם המצוה דקדושים תהיו.
וכל שאסור לכלל מין האנושי הנאורה בחוק הנימוס אי אפשר להיות מותר לנו עם קדוש, שמי איכא מידי
דלדידהו אסור ולדידן שרי? והתורה אמרה שהגוים יאמרו: "כי מי גוי גדול אשר לו חקים ומשפטים צדיקים,
ואם המה יעמדו על המדרגה יותר גבוה בחוקים ונימוסים , הרי יאמרו עלינו , "עם סכל ונבל" ולא חכם.
I say that anything that is revolting to enlightened Gentiles is forbidden to us, not just because of hilul hashem,
but because of the command to be holy. Anything the violates the norms of enlightened human beings cannot be permitted to us, a holy nation; can
there be anything forbidden for them but permitted to us? The Torah says that the nations are supposed to say: “What a great nation, with such just laws and statutes!” But if they are on a higher level than we in their laws and norms, they will say about us: “What a foolish and disgusting nation!”
one need not dig too much deeper to hear that the text here is not necessarily making just a descriptive claim here, but a prescriptive one as well. The Torah and its mitzvot are supposed to evoke this sort of admiration from outsiders. If it does not, something is wrong. It is not a far leap from here to suggest that interpretations and applications of the Torah that evoke revulsion from external observers are potentially suspect and in need of deeper thought and reevaluation.
It doesn’t matter if humanity considered a certain action to be neutral for most of its history. If all
enlightened, decent, intelligent people come to abhor that action, then the Torah implicitly tells
us that Jews must abhor it as well.
Q: What happens when human norms on sexuality shift drastically and conflict with the Torah’s laws? What happens if circumcision is regarded as a barbarity? Doesn’t R. Glasner’s model just lead to the selfliquidation of Judaism in the face of external norms?
Ethan Tucker ibid.
R. Moshe Shmuel Glasner - Prgmatism - Shabbat
If it says, ~'With all thy soul," why does it say, "With all thy might"? And if it says, "With all thy might," why does it say, "With all thy soul"? It must be that if there is a man whose body is more precious to him than his wealth, it says, "With all thy soul," and if there is one whose wealth is more precious to him than his body, it says, "With all thy might" (petiha) 25b-26a).
The obligation to accept death rather than transgress a negative commandment applies only to idolatry, bloodshed, and forbidden relations. If so, then the obligation to sacrifice one's wealth rather than
transgress a negative commandment should apply only to those three commandments. How can the obligation be extended to all negative commandments?
This matter requires great contemplation (tsarikh iyyun gadol). And I have only come to object that it is diffcult to say that a man is obligated to become destitute. . . rather than save what he owns by transgressing a negative prohibition . . . . Constant poverty for all one's days, which is an unending torment, is much harsher than taking a life. I therefore say that the principle that monetary compulsion is not true compulsion (oness mamon lav oness hu) is not a general principle. Certainly, if a healthy and strong person, with a job to support himself and his family, lost all his wealth, he would suffer only the pain of losing money, which would not be a matter of life or death. However, if a weak or sick person, whose livelihood depended on his property and possessions, lost his possessions, it would destroy his life, because he could no longer support himself and his family except from charity and casting himself upon the public. In this case, his wealth is, by law, more precious to him than his life, because for him death is better than the pain of poverty. And even though this distinction is not mentioned in the posekim, nevertheless, "Its ways are the ways of pleasantness" (Id.).
The obligation to accept death rather than transgress a negative commandment applies only to idolatry, bloodshed, and forbidden relations. If so, then the obligation to sacrifice one's wealth rather than
transgress a negative commandment should apply only to those three commandments. How can the obligation be extended to all negative commandments? R. Moshe Shmuel concedes that the opinion of Ran seems to be supported by a mishna in Shabbat which states that one may not extinguish a fire on the Sabbath to prevent a house from burning down, or even take possessions from the house into a public domain.
Although Rema allows putting the fire out where Jews live among gentiles, this is only to prevent Jews from being blamed, and their lives threatened, for lettng the fire burn. "Should we merit to return
to the land of our fathers,"
R. Moshe Shmuel Glasner - Zionism
Deeply moved by the writings of Theodore Herzl, R. Moshe Shmuel enthusiastically embraced Zionism, undeterred by the nearly unanimous opposition of the Hungarian Orthodox rabbinate. When the First World Mizrahi Congress was held in Press burg in 1904, most of the leading Hungarian rabbis denounced the Congress for aiding secular Zionism. Almost the only Hungarian rabbi at the Congress, R. Moshe Shmuel, in a memorable address, defended both Zionism and Mizrahi, rebuking those who portrayed the effort to reestablish the Jewish homeland as inimical to Orthodoxy. Estranged from his colleagues in the Hungarian rabbinate, R. Moshe Shmuel endured the unbridled vilification and rage of the extreme anti-Zionists in defiant isolation- but never in silence. He spoke out ceaselessly on behalf of Zionism and Mizrahi, and shortly before his departure for Israel, he wrote a final work on Zionism and faith, arguing that it was the anti-Zionists who, in denying the national aspect of Judaism, had deviated from Orthodox principles.
David Glasner, great-grandson of R. Moshe Shmuel (Glasner, is an economist with the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C.) RABBI MOSHE SHMUEL GLASNER, TRADITION, 1997
R. Moshe Glasner on the Writing of the Oral Law
R. Moshe Shmuel explains that redaction of the Talmud drastically curtailed the opportunity for further adaptation and development of the Oral Law. No halakhic issue settled in the Talmud, whether permissively or proscriptively, was open for reconsideration. Because the Diaspora not only precluded observing commandments conditional on dwelling in the Land of Israel or on the existence of the Temple, but also robbed the Torah of one of its essential qualities, R. Moshe Shmuel saw in Zionism the means for restoring that quality. Moreover, nearly two thousand years of exile had damaged the national character of the Jewish people and impeded their spiritual and intellectual development. Jewish renewal could occur only by returning to the Jewish homeland and rebuilding Jewish national institutions.
he recognized that Orthodox hostility to Zionism stemmed from unspoken doubts about the community's abilty to maintain the loyalty of its youth once study in the beit midrash was no longer the only uniquely Jewish vocation.
Moreover, even if Zionism did threaten the religious commitment of future generations, that threat could not justify denying the Jewish people their homeland. A similar issue arose when Jews were emancipated
after the French Revolution. Some rabbis opposed emancipation, fearing that new opportunities would weaken religious observance. But that response was wrong, R. Moshe Shmuel argued, for even if we should know that emancipation held definite dangers for complete faith, this conclusion could not serve as a reason to deny or even postpone the granting of natural rights to the nation. . . . The holy One, blessed be He, does not demand of a man not to be a man, and He does not demand of him, in anticipation of dangers that are liable to weaken the completeness of his faith, that he suppress his
ambition for success. . . .
If it is so for individuals, why would the holy One, blessed be He, demand of a whole nation such a denial, which would be like deliberate selfdestrction? Even if our holy Torah demands of us not to deviate from its ways, in the face of either the persecution or the enticement of the gentiles, and even if it demands of us to give over everying dear to us, even our lives, to uphold the Torah, it would not demand what is unnatural: to forego, out of fear of ourselves, the rights and advantages that we could otherwise attain. The first demand is human and natural; the second is inhuman and unnatural (HaTsiyyonut beOr haEmuna, 74-75).
Complete listing if everythin Dor Revi’i https://mg1329.github.io/dor4/
