At the end of this week’s parsha, Moshe Rabbeinu reminds us that we saw all of God’s wonders and miracles yet, “וְלֹא־נָתַן ה' לָכֶם לֵב לָדַעַת וְעֵינַיִם לִרְאוֹת וְאָזְנַיִם לִשְׁמֹעַ ... /And God did not give you a heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear …” (Devarim 29:3) Experiencing miracles is an obvious Godly revelation. To what then, is Moshe Rabbeinu referring when he says that we were not given a heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear?
The Midrash[1] on this pasuk, addressing this question, quotes God at the time of the giving of the Torah, “מִי־יִתֵּן וְהָיָה לְבָבָם זֶה לָהֶם .../Would that their hearts be like this …” (Devarim 5:26) The Midrash says that, upon hearing this, the nation should have asked God to help them so that their hearts would be open to Him always. Since they did not, Moshe Rabbeinu said that God did not give us a heart to know, etc.
This Midrash does not seem to answer the question. At the time of the giving of the Torah, we were on the same level of prophecy as Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe himself testified, “פָּנִים בְּפָנִים דִּבֶּר ה׳ עִמָּכֶם בָּהָר מִתּוֹךְ הָאֵשׁ/God spoke to you face to face on the mountain from within the fire.” (Devarim 5:4) Furthermore, Chazal[2] teach us that at the giving of the Torah, all the blind and deaf were healed. The physical presented no barrier between us and God. We apparently were given a heart to know, etc. What then, does Moshe Rabbeinu mean when he says that we were not and how does the Midrash answer this question?
The Sfas Emes explains. Certainly at the time of the giving of the Torah the nation was on a very high level of prophecy. At this level, we were able to see the Godliness hidden in everything. When God said to Moshe, “Would that their hearts be like this,” He was referring to what would happen after the giving of the Torah. God said, “Would that the nation see Me in everything afterwards, like they see Me in everything now. Would that they continue to realize that the physical is simply the external shell to an underlying spiritual reality. Would that they continue to see Me behind their evil inclination.”
Significantly, the letter “ב” appears twice in the word “לְבָבָם/their heart, instead of once – “לִבָּם/their heart.” Chazal[3] teach us elsewhere that the heart is the abode of our inclinations. The pasuk, by using the letter “ב” twice, alludes to both the inclination that encourages us to good and the evil inclination. At the giving of the Torah, even the evil inclination, which acts as a shield to hide Godliness from us, presented no barrier. We saw the Godliness in the evil inclination as well.
We were at this level at the giving of the Torah because of a one time Godly revelation. How could this skill of seeing God in everything become second nature? The answer is that without God’s help, it could not. We need the ability to distinguish between the external physical and internal spiritual. We can “attach” to the spiritual when we have the ability to experience it, to feel it.
When we can “feel” the spiritual in things and within ourselves, we know without a doubt that it exists. This certain knowledge based on our feeling is what Moshe Rabbeinu was referring to when he said, “וְלֹא־נָתַן ה' לָכֶם לֵב לָדַעַת .../God did not give you a heart to know …” And the reason God did not give it to us, as the Midrash above states, is because instead of responding to God’s statement, “Would that their hearts be like this …” with a decisive plea for it, we were quiet.
Thus, the Midrash answers the question. At the time of the giving of the Torah we were given a revelation that allowed us to see past the physical. For this to continue even afterwards we would need da’as/knowledge. God did not give us this level because when He mentioned it, we did not ask for it.
With this concept of da’as/knowledge we can understand the continuation of the previous Midrash which explains this pasuk, “וְלֹא־נָתַן ה' לָכֶם לֵב לָדַעַת .../God did not give you a heart to know …” The Midrash says that with this statement Moshe Rabbeinu hinted to the nation that they did not ask God to allow him to enter the land with them. What is the connection between this pasuk and Moshe Rabbeinu entering the
We find a significant connection between Moshe Rabbeinu and da’as/knowledge. The Arizal teaches that Moshe Rabbeinu represented the level of da’as/knowledge for the nation of
The Midrash makes this connection and declares that Moshe Rabbeinu was actually hinting at this when he told us, “וְלֹא נָתַן ה' לָכֶם לֵב לָדַעַת .../God did not give you a heart to know …”
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