Bar-Ilan University
Parashat Hashavua Study Center
Parashat Re'eh 5771/ August 27, 2011
Lectures on the weekly Torah reading by the faculty of Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan,
Israel. A project of the Faculty of Jewish Studies, Paul and Helene Shulman Basic Jewish
Studies Center, and the Office of the Campus Rabbi. Published on the Internet under
the sponsorship of Bar-Ilan University's International Center for Jewish Identity.
Prepared for Internet Publication by the Computer Center Staff at Bar-Ilan University.
Inquiries
and
comments
to:
Dr.
Isaac
Gottlieb,
Department
of
Bible,
Isaac.Gottlieb@biu.ac.il.
Dr. Dror Ehrlich
Department of Philosophy
On Religious Mediocrity
See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the
commandments of the Lord your G-d that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if
you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your G-d, but turn away from the
path that I enjoin upon you this day and follow other gods, whom you have not
experienced. (Deut. 11:16-18)
Below we shall briefly discuss the interpretation of Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno (Italy, 15-16th
century) on these opening verses of this week's reading, and the relationship between his
interpretation and the social and spiritual realities of his time and place. We shall also
address its applicability to contemporary Israeli Jewish society. First we cite his
interpretation:
See. Look and observe, so that your ways not revolve around mediocrity, as in the
rest of the nations, for indeed, He "sets before you blessing and curse." These are
two extremes, for blessing means to succeed more than that which would suffice,
on the better way, and curse is a malediction that detracts, so that one does not
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achieve that which would suffice; and both are before you, in your reach, according
to the way which you choose.1
In accord with his concise style, in this exegetical remark Sforno unequivocally presents an
entire religious world view. According to his interpretation, the Torah teaches us an
important principle, namely that although the middle road in general is natural for human
beings to follow (as do the other nations of the world), and is even to be commended, when
it comes to worshipping the Lord the middle way is not an option. Indeed, in the secular
realm of human life, following the middle road will lead to sufficiently satisfying our needs,
no more and no less, as Maimonides notes in the introduction to his commentary of Tractate
Avot, ch. 4, where he recommends that persons generally take the middle road and refrain
from adopting extreme positions in their morality and behavior.
According to Sforno, however, in the Jew's spiritual world it is not possible to settle for that
which is "sufficient" and to follow the middle, or the mediocre, path. Quite the contrary,
Jews are faced with only two possibilities, the two extreme points: obeying the Lord's
commandments (=blessing) or disobeying them (=curse), or in other words, following the
way of the Lord's Teaching or leaving this way and following another, following other gods.
In the case at hand there is no third way, no middle way and no vacuum. This is a necessary
dichotomy, offering us the choice of one of these two options. The middle road, serving G-d
partially, half way, or a third of the way, or a quarter of the way, or as he put it, revolving
around mediocrity, is not an option.2
From a slightly different angle, one could argue that in his interpretation Sforno takes an
assertive stand against religious mediocrity. This position should be understood in the
context of the historical reality in which he lived – Italian Jewish society of the Renaissance.
This society was in many respects integrated into the general Christian society and had
absorbed external cultural influences, leading to a spiritual decline among the Jews, which
found expression in religious skepticism and a decline in observance of the Jewish
commandments.3 Sforno's commentary on the Torah was apparently written in an effort to
cope with this socio-religious problem. He sought to write a commentary that would be
1
Be'ur al ha-Torah le-Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno, ed. Z. Gottlieb, Jerusalem 1980, p. 329.
2
One can hardly miss the striking similarity between these remarks of Sforno's and Rashi's
commentary on v. 28: "From this you learn that whoever engages in idolatry thereby leaves
entirely the way that Israel was commanded; hence it has been said that whoever admits to
idolatry is as one who rejects the entire Torah." One can hardly fail to be impressed by the
similarity between this totally dichotomous position and the founding principle of the religious
philosophy of Yeshayahu Leibowitz, namely the distinction between sacred and profane,
between altruistic worship of the Lord and idolatry.
3
For example, cf. M.A. Shulwass, The Life of the Jews in Italy during the Renaissance, New York,
1955 (Heb.), 175-176, 180-183. Schulweiss lists observing the Sabbath and praying in the
synagogue with a minyan as examples of commandments that the masses became lax about
observing, and reports their practice of drinking wine made by non-Jews (ibid., p. 182).
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relevant to the Jews of his time and would help strengthen them in their faith at a time
when they faced the choice of being faithful to the commandments or abandoning them
altogether. Embedded in his commentary are ideas attesting to this bias and comprising a
wealth of anti-Christian polemics.4 Thus the passages cited above should be seen not only as
reflecting a doctrinal theological position, but also as criticism of the superficial religiosity
that characterized the Jewish society in which he lived.
Superficial religiosity, or religious mediocrity, did not disappear from the world and
continues to exist to this day. In my opinion, the main problem it presents is not
quantitative, observing fewer practical commandments, rather qualitative, characterized by
a decline in consciousness of standing before G-d, of loving and fearing G-d and being bound
by His commandments. As a result, religion has become shoved off from its proper place at
the center of human existence to the peripheral realms of our being, as the prophet Isaiah
complained (Is. 29:13): "… that people … has kept its heart far from Me, and its worship of
Me has been a commandment of men, learned by rote."
As Maimonides wrote at the end of his commentary on Tractate Makkot:
It is a fundamental tenet of the Torah that if a person has properly performed one of
the six hundred and thirteen commandments of the Torah, without having any other
motive such as one might have in this world, but has done it purely for its own sake
and out of love, as I have explained, then this deed merits the person life in the
world to come.5
Here Maimonides emphasized the centrality of human awareness that accompanies
observance of the commandments and argued its supremacy over the number of
commandments a person observes.
One of the figures who painfully noticed this development in our time and cautioned against
its dangers was my mentor, Rabbi Yehudah Amital, z"l, head of the Har Etzion Yeshivah, who
passed away just slightly over one year ago. Rabbi Amital maintained that when the inner
aspect of serving G-d becomes weaker, and instead emphasis is placed on the outer aspect
of practical observance of the commandments, we have cold, technical religiosity, devoid of
4
For an analysis of Sforno's commentary on the Torah in the light of the social realities of his
time and place, see M. Rahimi, Perush Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno la-Torah – Kelalim u-Magamot,
doctoral dissertation, Bar Ilan University, 2006. On what motivated him to write the
commentary, see ibid., pp. 19-21, 116, 162-169.
5
Mishnah `im Perush Rabbenu Moshe ben Maimon, Y. Kapah edition, Seder Nezikin, Jerusalem
1965, p. 165. Maimonides further develops the distinction made by R. Bahya ibn Pekudah
between the duties of the body and the duties of the heart, concurring with him in the matter
of the latter taking preference over the former. The notion of meriting a place in the world to
come on the basis of properly observing a lone commandment – the interpretation of which
was a subject of controversy among commentators on Maimonides – was developed further
by R. Yosef Albo in Sefer ha-Ikkarim (Article 1, ch. 23, and Article 2, ch. 19), who viewed it as
true faith that all who see themselves as belonging to the Teaching of Moses must accept.
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any spirituality and sense of elation.6 As with many graduates of the Har Etzion Yeshivah,
deeply engraved in me is the memory of the tisch which Rabbi Amital would occasionally
hold on the Sabbath eve, at which he would sing in his warm voice the words from the
Sabbath and festival amidah, "Ve-taher libbenu le-ovdekha be-emet" (=Purify our hearts to
serve You truly), of which he wrote in one of his books:
Doing things naturally is of value not only in opposition to observing the
commandments out of coercion, but also in opposition to observing them artificially.
The importance of worshipping the Lord naturally is included in the petition we
make in our prayers, "Purify our hearts to serve you truly." Artificiality puts a
blemish on "true" worship of the Lord. The thrust of this request is that there be a
correlation between our performance of the commandments and our inner sense of
loving the Lord, fearing Him, and seeking His closeness, without a lack of proportion
between the quantity of deeds and the inner value.7
May these words be a tribute to his memory.
6
Rabbi Yehudah Amital, "Tevunah ve-Regesh ba-Torah u-va-Tefillah," Alon Shevut Bogrim 14
(2001), p. 17.
7
Rabbi Yehudah Amital, Ve-ha-Aretz Natan li-Vnei Adam: Pirkei Hagut ve-Hinukh, Alon Shevut
2005, p. 71.
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