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text: Ramban on Deuteronomy
  רמב"ן על דברים
  Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology
  
  
  Ramban on Deuteronomy
  
  Introduction
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  you shall inquire after His dwelling – You will come to Him from faraway places and ask, where is the way to the House of Gd? And each one will say to his fellow “…come, let us go up to the Lord's mount, to the house of the God of Jacob…” (Yeshayahu 2:3) Just as “They shall inquire of Zion; their faces are directed hitherward…” (Yirmiyahu 50:5) And in the Sifre (Re’eh 8) it says: ‘you shall inquire,’ this means you should inquire from the mouth of the prophet. Perhaps one should wait until the prophet speaks to them? The Torah says ‘you shall inquire after His dwelling and come there.’ Seek and find and afterwards the prophet will say to you, and so you find with David, etc… In the way of true understanding ‘you shall inquire after His dwelling’ means you shall seek His glory, ‘and come there’ to see the face of the Master, the Lord Gd of Israel. It is from here that the Sages employed the word shechina.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
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  Verse 7
  
  
  
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  Verse 10
  
  
  
  Verse 11
  
  
  
  Verse 12
  
  
  
  Verse 13
  
  
  
  Verse 14
  
  
  
  Verse 15
  
  ... In explanation of the plain meaning of the text they said “You shall set a king over you, one whom the Lord, your God, chooses…” (Devarim 17:15) and not one that the Lord your God despises. For he chose Israel, therefore the one who reigns should be from among His chosen and not from among the nations whom He hates. My opinion of the plain meaning of ‘whom the Lord chooses’ is that anyone who rules over a nation is Divinely sanctioned, as it is written “…the Most High rules over the kingdom of man, and to whom He wishes, He gives it.” (Daniel 4:29) The Sages also taught ‘even the superintendent over a well is appointed from heaven.’ (Baba Batra 91b) It says ‘you shall set a king over you,’ that is whomsoever has been decreed from heaven to reign, be he from the smallest tribe of Israel and its youngest family - but a foreigner will never be king over you. This is also the plain meaning of “…the place which the Lord your God shall choose…” (Devarim 12:5) that anywhere which the Holy Temple of God is built is from the will of God.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  
  
  Verse 7
  
  
  
  Verse 8
  
  
  
  Verse 9
  
  
  
  Verse 10
  
  
  
  Verse 11
  
  
  
  Verse 12
  
  The Lord's beloved one shall dwell securely beside Him – Benyamin is called the Lord’s beloved, and it is said of him that he is the beloved of the Lord and will dwell in his land trusting in Gd, and the Lord will protect him all his days and cause His Presence to dwell in his land. Between his shoulders – this hints at what our Rabbis expounded (Zevachim 54b). In the way of truth, the love of Gd will dwell upon Benyamin and this will be Benyamin’s surety, that he “Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah the Lord, is the Rock of eternity.” (Yeshayahu 26:4) He will protect and shield Benyamin all day and they will not be ashamed in the moment of trouble, and between the shoulders of Benyamin He will dwell forever. It is from here that Shlomo was called “…Yedidiah (beloved of the Lord) for the Lord's sake.” (Shmuel II 12:25) He built His beloved dwelling place (comp. Tehillim 84:2), just as he was also called Shlomo, in order to say that his quality was wholeness in peace and therefore it was spelled with a Hebrew letter hey at the end. It says in the midrash of R’ Nechunyah be Hakanah: The Holy One said to him ‘since your name is the same as the name of My glory, I will give you my house as it is written “And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom…” (Melachim I 5:26) but it did not explain. Where did it explain? Elsewhere, where it is written “…for they saw that the wisdom of God (was) in him to do judgment.” (Melachim I 3:28) It is correct that these three ‘dwellings’ (shechinot) hint at the three Holy Temples. It is said of the First Temple “…dwell securely beside Him…” (Devarim 33:12) just as it says “…and the glory of the Lord filled the House.” (Divre HaYamim II 7:1) It says regarding the Second Temple “…He protects him all day long…” (Devarim 33:12) because the Presence of Gd did not rest there, but rather only covered and shielded that place. Or perhaps it means literally covering, as is mentioned in the Pirke Hechalot. “…and He dwells between his shoulders." (ibid.) This refers to the days of the Messiah, because “At that time, they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord…” (Yirmiyahu 3:17) This is how the verse is expounded in the Sifre. (V’Zot HaBracha 352) 