Shabbos Parashas Ki Savo - 5778

Shabbos Parashas Ki Savo - 5778

Rabbi Hal Miller

But God did not give you a heart to know, or eyes to see, or ears to hear until

this day. [Devarim [29:3]

Taken at face value, this verse does not make sense. We all have all the body

organs. We must assume the Torah is speaking metaphorically. So, what do these

expressions mean?

Rashbam gives us the most simple explanation. The verse means "you don't get

it", that Moshe was telling the people that they just did not understand what was

going on before them. Rashbam adds, "Even though you have witnessed all His

great deeds." Saadiah Gaon gets a little more specific: "You did not learn the lesson

from the Egyptian experience that people suffer the consequences of their acts.​"

Straightforward enough, so are we done? Well, no.

The next verse begins, "I led you for forty years in the wilderness." Moshe is trying to

explain our verse in context. "This day" refers to the end of those forty years. The

book is closed on the past. Now something different is ahead. But what?

Rashi tells us that this closing book refers to the people not recognizing their Creator.

Despite all the miracles we saw first hand, nothing stuck. We forgot each miracle

shortly after the occurrence, under the label, "well, what have You done for me lately?"

The people here are complaining that Moshe is handing the Torah off to the tribe of

Levi for safekeeping, but that all the nation were present at Sinai, all accepted the

Torah, and therefore all should have an equal ownership interest in it. For this, Moshe

recognized a change in the people. They now began to act as a nation, one that is

dedicated to God.

Abarbanel raises an interesting question. Our verse seems to indicate that God did

not give the people the ability to succeed before this point in time. If so, then how

could they have merited any punishment for the rebelliousness they displayed all

along? He answers that the people in fact did have this ability all along, but refused

to implement it. They witnessed all the miracles, but did not fully believe, nor fully

integrate that belief into their lives. Moshe here is telling them to wipe the slate

clean and start again now that they are about to enter the land. They must learn

from their mistakes, and accept God from here forward.

This brings us to the difference between fear and awe. To be afraid of something is

to accept that it is more powerful than you in some form, a possibly reversible

situation. To have awe is to have respect, to accept that something is irreversibly

more powerful than you. Those who witness miracles have a fear, which tends to

dissipate shortly after the dust settles. Those who gain understanding have awe,

which is permanent. Moshe noted that the hearts, eyes, and ears of the people,

which had been working on a physical level, were now working on a spiritual

level as well. The people had just achieved awe.