DEUT1569 Unity gives strength. The Midrash comments on this verse, "When are the Jewish people standing? When they are together ("all of you"). Even a young child can break a single reed. But a bunch of reeds together is strong and cannot be broken. The Midrash continues: The Jewish people will not be redeemed until they are a unified group." (Yalkut Shimoni)

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DEUT1570 Conditions of undertaking not to repeat the offense. The conditions of undertaking not to do so again what the Creator has forbidden are also five in number. ... 3. One should consider the days he turned away from God and disregarded His service, despite the steady favors that God bestowed upon him throughout that period, as it says: “For for long ago I [God] broke your yoke and burst your bands, and you [Israel] said, לא אעבר״” (Yirmeyahu 2:20). לא אעבר״” in this verse means, “I [Israel] will not assume Your service nor enter into Your covenant”-- as though it had said, לא אעבר בבריתך, as in לעברך בברית י-י אלקיך , “To enter into the covenant of Hashem your God” (Devarim 29:11).

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DEUT1571 "alah" is an oath, as it is written (Numbers 5:21): "Then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of the alah." And from here [the fact that we do not find Israel swearing, but only answering Amen] it is derived that answering Amen to an oath is the equivalent to taking the oath itself (Yerushalmi Sotah 2:5)

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DEUT1572 As in other Western religions, for Judaism God is central not only to defining the good and the right, but also to creating the moral person. God does that in several ways. First, acting in God's judicial and executive functions, God helps to ensure that people will do the right thing. God is the infallible Judge for He knows "the secrets of the world," as the High Holy Day liturgy reminds us. Nothing can be hidden from God, and God cannot be deceived. Moreover, God holds the power of ultimate reward and punishment. To do the right thing just to avoid punishment or to gain reward is clearly not acting out of a high moral motive, but such actions may nevertheless produce good results. Moreover, the Rabbis state many times over that even doing the right thing for the wrong reason has its merit, for eventually correct moral habits may create a moral person who does the right thing for the right reason. (B. Pesachim 50b; B. Sanhedrin 105a; B. Arakhin 16b; B. Sotah 22b, 47a; B. Horayot 10b; B. Nazir 23b.) God also contributes to the creation of moral character in serving as a model for us. The underlying conviction of the Bible is that God is good, and God's actions are, as such, paradigms for us. The Bible itself raises questions about God's morality, for there are times when God appears to act arbitrarily and even cruelly; but for all that, Jewish texts trust that God is good. We, then, should aspire to be like God: "As God clothes the naked ... so you should clothe the naked" [etc.] (B. Sotah 14a). (Continued at [[DEUT1453]] Deuteronomy 25:13 not with us DORFFLOV 321-1).(By Elliot N. Dorff and Jonathan K. Crane)

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DEUT1573 See [[EXOD913]] Exodus 24:7 do SPERO 81-3

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DEUT1574 "And if I am for myself, what am I?" [Avos 1:4]. Even when I am for myself, trying with all my might to right my soul, and constantly contemplating wisdom--what am I? For man's reach is limited and lacking. Through effort and improvement he can still only achieve a small degree of virtue. [As such,] see who I am and what my life is [worth] when I am not for myself--[refusing] to make the effort and bother to mend my soul. [Man] is comparable to a field possessing poor soil; with all the effort to improve it and with all the toil in cultivating it, the field will [still] produce [only] a small amount of grain. Yet, if no effort is put into its improvement, it will not sprout or raise up any sort of vegetation; only thorns and thistles will grow. [This verse, Bereishis 3:18].

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DEUT1575 See Deuteronomy 25:13 not with us DORFFLOV 321-1 and OXFORD 12-3

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DEUT1576 A further reason [that Scripture does not elaborate on reward and punishment in the World-to-Come] is that the practice of goodness is of two kinds. One of these is concealed; none but the Creator observes it—e.g., duties of the heart, and the like. The other kind is observable in physical movements and is not concealed from other people. These are the active precepts, performed with the limbs. For the fulfillment of observable duties, the Creator bestows a visible reward in this world. For the fulfillment of inner, hidden duties, He gives a hidden reward, i.e., the reward of the World-to-Come. David therefore referred to it in language that gives expression to this, as he said, “How great is Your good that You have hidden away for those who fear You” (Tehillim 31:20). The manner of punishment--visible and hidden--is like that of reward. Proof of this is God's promise to His people that for visible service there will be visible, immediate reward in this world--as explicitly stated in parashas Im B’chukkosay (Vayikra 26)-- and that for visible, external transgression there will be visible, immediate punishment in this world (ibid.). This is because the people, as a community, are responsible only for external acts, not for what is hidden, as it says: “The hidden things belong to Hashem our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever” (Devarim 29:28); “If the people of the community in any way hide their eyes from that person... then I will set My face against that person and his family” (Vayikra 20:4-5). In regard to the inner service and transgression of the heart, however, the Creator, may He exalted, is responsible for requiting them, in this world and the next. That is why Scripture does not elaborate on reward in the World-to-Come.

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DEUT1577 All this is Divine justice because, in your hidden thoughts and secret intentions, you chose either to rebel against Him rather than serve Him, or to serve Him rather than rebel against Him. For your outward appearance and inward disposition are equally known to Him, and He will repay you for all that He observes in you, even if it remains hidden from other people. Do you not see that a judge decides according to what has been established before him as fact, whether by witnesses or by his own senses? If he could establish what was in the mind, he would also take that into account in his decision. Since the Creator, may He be exalted, knows everything equally, it follows that He judge according to His knowledge. As it says in Scripture, “The hidden things belong to Hashem our God” (Devarim 29:28).

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DEUT1579 The acts that, to be perfected, must be wholly devoted to God when they are performed are the acts of worship, through which we hope to attain God's favor, namely, all the observable duties, performed with the limbs. In these, one’s aim in doing them might be something other than for the sake of God. One’s aim might be to adorn himself with them before other people, and to be honored and praised by people for having performed them. It is impossible, however, to curry favor or gain honor and praise by fulfilling any of the duties of the heart, because people do not know what is in one's heart. Rather, one intends them for the sake of the One Who observes, namely, the Creator alone, as it says: “I, God, search the heart and test the mind” (Yirmeyahu 17:10); “The hidden things belong to Hashem our God” (Devarim 29:28).

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