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DEUTERONOMY | 4:4 cleave — DEUT48 Now, we do not fulfill our duty to the Alm...

DEUT48 Now, we do not fulfill our duty to the Almighty merely by being fine and decent to our fellow. Justice, righteousness and loving-kindness are indeed the "foundations of His throne" (Psalms 97:2). But there is a further area of purely religious values, the depth of Divine worship and personal communion with the Almighty, which must not be overlooked. The prophet Micah remind us: "Man has told you what is good and what the Lord requires of you: only to do justice, love kindness and humbly (vhatzne'a) walk with your God (Micah 6:8. This is usually translated, "He has told you, O man…" Or, "It has been told you, O man…" But the Hebrew can be equally rendered in the present translation.) The Hatham Sofer gives this ingenious interpretation: Man can tell you what is good and what the Lord requires of you. Human reason can perceive the worth of certain moral values and urge justice and kindness as the religious life. However v'hatzn'ea: they "conceal"; they omit; they are totally incompetent to develop the concept of "walking with the Almighty." Human reason cannot generate, fathom or validate a halachah, a normative way of life in which the Almighty delights, through which man will surely "cleave to the Lord" [this verse, Joshua 23:8]. And so Rabbi Judah haNasi teaches: is it a path that is right in the sight of man and beautiful in the sight of your Creator.

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Source KeySINAI1
Verse4:4
Keyword(s)cleave
Source Page(s)119-20

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