Shabbat Parashat Shoftim - 5782

Shabbat Parashat Shoftim - 5782

Rabbi Hal Miller

You shall be tamim with Hashem your God. [Devarim 18:13]

We are commanded to be something here. What is tamim and how do we

become this?

The dictionary definitions of the word tam include innocent, simple, honest,

artless, naive, unsophisticated, complete, perfect, whole, pure and various

similar words. In parashat Noach [Bereshit 6:9] we have the well-known verse,

"Noach was a righteous man, perfect in his generations" where the word is

translated as 'perfect'. What does it mean for us in our verse?

Rashi's explanation is "Walk with Him with wholeheartedness. Look ahead to

Him and do not delve into the future. But rather, whatever comes upon you

accept with wholeheartedness and then you will be with Him and of His portion."

Rav Moshe Feinstein expands on Rashi, agreeing with the word wholehearted

and adds that it "also refers to a flawless faith in God. The verse thus means that

one should walk in flawless faith with God." He emphasizes that our verse is a

command to not divine the future, and that we may not be astrologers or similar

sorcerers. Malbim says tamim means a pure heart with a single focus. He explains

that Rambam understands the verse, not as a command, but as a condition, that if

you are wholehearted, then your portion is with Hashem as your God.

Chafetz Chaim says it has to do with trust. We must trust completely in God, but

not trust the same way in other people. One should question other people's

motives, but not question God. Rav Hirsch calls this "completeness of devotion."

Onkelos gives us, "You must be wholehearted in fear of God." Abarbanel says this

means "possessed of a complete character, not inclined by his nature to indecent

things like the people of his generation."

Whether it applies to trying to look into the future or to the dedication of faith, our

verse seems to be, as Nechama Leibowitz says, an implementation of the verse

that commands we must love God "with all your heart and with all your soul and

with all your might". She says that the opposite of tamim is disharmony, whether

applied to relationships between man and himself, man and man, or man and God.

It has to do with being true in word and deed.