פרשת וזאת הברכה תשכ"ו - הברכה לכלל ישראל

There is none like unto God, O Jeshurun, Who rideth upon the heaven as thy help, And in His excellency on the skies.

בטח בדד [THEREFORE ISRAEL DWELT] IN SAFETY, ALONE — This means, every individual dwelling “each under his vine and under his fig-treeבטח) ״; cf. 1 Kings 5:5 where the words Rashi quotes are preceded by לבטח), separated one from another (בדד, “alone”), because after the enemy was driven out, as stated in the preceding verse, they had no need to come together and to dwell in company on account of the enemy.

בטח בדד [THEREFORE ISRAEL DWELT] IN SAFETY, ALONE — This means, every individual dwelling “each under his vine and under his fig-treeבטח) ״; cf. 1 Kings 5:5 where the words Rashi quotes are preceded by לבטח), separated one from another (בדד, “alone”), because after the enemy was driven out, as stated in the preceding verse, they had no need to come together and to dwell in company on account of the enemy.

עין יעקב — The word עין has the same meaning here as in (Numbers 11:7) “And its appearance (עינו) was as the appearance (עין) of crystal” (i.e., the word עין is used as a term of comparison, “as”, ”like”). The meaning is: And Israel dwelt alone like the blessing with which Jacob blessed them (cf. Targum); not like the בדד which Jeremiah used, (Jeremiah 15:17), viz., “I sat alone (בדד) [because of thy hand, for thou hast filled me with Thy indignation]”, but like the assurance which Jacob gave them, (Genesis 48:20) “And God shall be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers” (cf. Sifrei Devarim 356:6).

Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee? A people saved by the LORD, The shield of thy help, And that is the sword of thy excellency! And thine enemies shall dwindle away before thee; And thou shalt tread upon their high places.

אשריך ישראל HAPPY ART THOU, O ISRAEL — After he had recited unto them all these blessings in detail, he said to them. “Why should I detail everything to you? Everything is yours.

אשריך ישראל HAPPY ART THOU, O ISRAEL — After he had recited unto them all these blessings in detail, he said to them. “Why should I detail everything to you? Everything is yours. אשריך … מי כמוך HAPPY ART THOU … WHO IS LIKE UNTO THEE! Thy help is in God (נושע בה׳), Who is מגן עזרך THE SHIELD OF THY HELP and חרב גאותך THE SWORD OF THY EXCELLENCY;

And he said: The LORD came from Sinai, And rose from Seir unto them; He shined forth from mount Paran, And He came from the myriads holy, At His right hand was a fiery law unto them.

אשדת (lit., “fire, Law”, or “fire of Law”) — i.e. the Law which had been written before Him from olden times in black fire upon white fire (Midrash Tanchuma, Bereshit 1). The meaning of the verse is: He gave to them (למו) upon the Tablets the writing of His right hand (cf. Talmud Yerushalmi Shekalim 9:1). Another explanation of אש דת: Understand this as the Targum has it: a law which was given them from the midst of the fire (cf. Exodus 19:18).

אשדת (lit., “fire, Law”, or “fire of Law”) — i.e. the Law which had been written before Him from olden times in black fire upon white fire (Midrash Tanchuma, Bereshit 1). The meaning of the verse is: He gave to them (למו) upon the Tablets the writing of His right hand (cf. Talmud Yerushalmi Shekalim 9:1). Another explanation of אש דת: Understand this as the Targum has it: a law which was given them from the midst of the fire (cf. Exodus 19:18).

a fiery law i.e., the Torah, which had been given among fire and lightning. Sa‘adya Gaon said further that God came on Sinai is an invocation, as if to say: “O, You Who descended upon Sinai, and bequeathed the Torah, may Reuven live etc. ”. But this is all farfetched, because in that case it would have to employ the second person masculine singular imperative, “grant life” and “do not kill”. Those who lack belief have said that Seir denotes the religion of Edom, while Paran denotes the religion of Ishmael. But these people are befuddled. Did they not see that he set out to bless Israel alone? — as it is written, “which Moshe, the man of God, bestowed upon the Children of Israel” [: 1], and then continues with shone to them from Seir . The correct interpretation, in my opinion, is that this section is a general benediction, covering all Israel, followed by the specific blessings for each individual tribe, after which he once again includes them all (in the passage, “Jeshurun, there is none like God” [: 26]). We find elsewhere that Deborah said, “God , when you came forth from Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom” [Judges 5: 4], where clearly “the field of Edom” does not denote a mountain, although Sa‘adya Gaon claims that our verse describes three mountains that adjoin one another, or that face one another. Also, from the book of Psalms: “God, when You went forth before Your nation, when You marched through the wilderness” [Psalms 68: 8], following which we have “the earth shook” [Psalms 68: 9]; and the abovementioned “march of the Divine Presence through the wilderness” did not occur on the day of the giving of the Torah, for they entered the desert upon leaving the wilderness of Paran. Moreover, Habakkuk said, “God came from Teyman ” [Habakkuk 3: 3] (the latter being one of the descendants of Edom — see “Teyman, Omer, …” [Genesis 36: 11]) meaning the same as “from the field of Edom” [Judges 5: 4]. These verses all speak about wars, as evidenced by “let God arise, let His enemies be scattered” [Psalms 68: 2]. Scripture likens God ’s rescuing of His servants to help “descending” from God , and to the earth trembling, and to mountains melting, and to the heavens clamoring. Further evidence can be found in the song of David: “the earth shook and trembled” [Psalms 18: 8]. I have explained “Sinai itself” [Psalms 68: 9] in its place [comment on Psalms 68: 9], but I shall repeat myself here: “God came” — denotes the entry of the Glory among Israel Sinai was the beginning of that entry. shone from Seir — during all the years that Israel was in the wilderness, God did not display His might among the nations, until Israel came to the field of Edom. From the verse “their Mount Seir, as far as El-Paran” [Genesis 14: 6] we see that Seir was near Paran. Clearly, then, the meaning of our verse is: from the place of Seir (i.e., from the time that Israel arrived at Seir), at that point the Glory shone upon Israel. appeared from Mount Paran — this is a parallelism, repeating the idea that here was the point at which He displayed His splendor.

and came from the holy myriads In my opinion, this phrase is governed by at His right. In other words: A fire came from holy myriads, from the right hand of God , to surround Israel (like the fiery horses and fiery chariot surrounding Elisha [II Kings 6: 17]), and the word law means that it is constant, permanent.