The Land I Will Show You, sec. 7, chapter 5
Hashem’s Vision in Contrast to Man’s Vision
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5: Hashem’s Vision in Contrast to Man’s Vision
What does Hashem see when He looks upon the land? Meaning: If we would liken His providence to sight, how would this sight be described? What does He look at? What, so to speak, interests God in the land?1
This is made clear in the parashah of “And it shall be, if you indeed heed my commandments” (Deuteronomy 11:13). The eyes of Hashem are constantly upon Eretz Yisrael to see whether its inhabitants are good or evil. This is the Hashem’s concern in His world – the good and the evil. In that light, it is written elsewhere about the eyes of Hashem, “The eyes of Hashem are everywhere, beholding the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3). The same notion informs the parashah of Bereshis: Initially, God saw His creation as “good” (Genesis 1:4 and following) and “all that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (ibid 31), but eventually, He saw that “the evil of man was great in the earth” (ibid 6:5), and He regretted having made man on earth.
What interests God is the absolute and eternal good. The cosmic and universal good is what is called “good in the eyes of Hashem,” in which He takes an active interest. He created His world to promote this good, and when He saw a disparity between the deeds of humanity and His work, He regretted having made man and blotted him out from the face of the earth.
When Hashem looks upon the land, He sees one thing: what is good and what is evil, and in truth. Thus, attaining the spiritual level of “I will show you” is learning how to look at the world from this viewpoint, to specialize in seeing not the multitude of specific things that attract man’s interest by virtue of his animal nature, but rather the deep root of things, to grasp and know whether each thing matches its existential purpose, that is, the divine good, the absolute and true general good. Naturally, man is drawn toward what interests him – meaning his body – as an individual. Anything pleasant or beneficial to him, particularly, is categorized as “good,” and the opposite as “evil.” This is how man processes everything presented to his eyes. If he wouldn’t constantly think about this but rather about the divine good – everything being categorized as good or evil in his eyes according to its realization of the most absolute and general good – then he sees through the eyes of God, from the viewpoint of God. This is the tremendous promise of “I will show you” – that lowly man can indeed ascend to such a lofty level of sight, to always consider and act in accordance with the most eternal and true ideals.
Come and see the difference between Abraham’s sight and Lot’s sight. Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the things ordinary humans see: wealth and security and great tranquility, every human good. Like most people, he took this as the entire truth, meaning all that he felt the need to know. Nothing more than that drew his interest. But he did not grasp the broader truth that is only visible to the eyes of Hashem: “And the people of Sodom were wicked and sinners before Hashem exceedingly” (Genesis 13:13). Lot’s power of sight was narrow and limited, and he could not see the broader, truer picture. It was hidden from his eyes, such that he didn’t grasp what is evil to Hashem as truly evil. The broadest and most general picture is the picture that appears before the all-seeing eyes of God and also to the righteous man invited to be His confidant; to percieve this same picture is the invitation of “I will show you,” a kind of perception achieved by Abraham only after Lot had separated from him.
This is the essence of seeing through the eyes of God and humanity's participation in that seeing. What a tremendous blessing for mankind! Imagine being able to perceive things according to their deepest truth and understand what is truly good and evil, and how. This is undoubtedly a divine trait, and it is attainable to man. How can we be sure of this? Because it is written in the Torah: “I will show you.” This is the sublime blessing that began to materialize through the actions of our father Abraham and continues with his descendants who follow in his ways.
The mitzvah of “I will show you” is to cultivate divine vision. Abraham was commanded in this broad mitzvah that is the root of all human goodness, all closeness to God. He was given a command to always consider the divine vision, to specialize in it, and to establish a land consecrated to this notion, along with the message that he could not achieve this spiritual level and promulgate it in his homeland and his father's house: “Go for yourself from your land and from your birthplace and from your father’s house to the land I will show you.” What then is the suitable place to establish this idea? In which land could a people live with this orientation to being? Abraham set out to discover this in his journeys, and he found the land of Canaan.
The uniqueness of the land of Canaan is, as explained, that it is susceptible to famine. Due to its unique topography, it contains the elements needed for a mechanism of immediate, tangible and identifiable reward and punishment. Our father Abraham found this point important – even essential – for cultivating the trait of seeing in the eyes of Hashem among the wider public, across all social strata. In a land where such a mechanism does not exist, the good in the eyes of Hashem is very far from the concerns of an ordinary person. It is simply irrelevant to their lives. A land like Egypt provides its inhabitants with the human goods whether their actions align with the eternal good or not, and therefore if a great tsaddik who thinks about and preaches about the true and eternal good would roam in such a land and call people to this teaching, his teaching wouldn’t stand the test of time. It is challenging for ordinary people to rise above the reality that hits them in the face in their day-to-day lives and to focus on something distant and abstract that seemingly doesn’t affect them personally. The truth is that the divine good and the human good are completely identical, because there is really only one good, but most people do not grasp this; such a tsaddik would be considered a madman who always talks about a perfect world visible before his eyes that no one else is aware of. At best, they would pity him as a poor lunatic; at worst, they would imprison him or try to kill him because of his madness.
Only in a place where a tangible and noticeable correspondence between the imagined human good and the divine good can be developed might this teaching be accepted among the masses, enabling ordinary people to always consider the divine good and guide their actions accordingly. If they see with their own eyes that engaging in the absolute good leads to business success, whereas violating the demands of the true good leads to suffering and bodily harm, they will be open to accepting the teaching of the divine good and will be ready to dedicate their thoughts entirely to God and His goodness. This is the purpose of a system of immediate reward and punishment: It serves as a sign and a proof of a correspondence between the imagined good and the true good, a clear link between human welfare and divine welfare, which is very beneficial for every human being who is drawn to the call of the eternal good. The passage of “And it shall be, if you indeed heed” enables a successful meeting between heaven and earth, between God and man, between the eternal and the transient. It serves as a sign that strengthens the supreme importance of the divine good in the eyes of the masses.
In the land of Canaan, the masses can see as Hashem sees, through the sign detailed in the passage of “And it shall be, if you indeed heed” – a sign that the divine viewpoint matters also for human affairs, as it truly does. This mechanism serves as a testament to the importance of the divine goodness; anyone always aware of it will be impressed by the relevance of the good in the eyes of Hashem.2
This land was discovered by our father Abraham and in it he founded and established this method of seeing in the eyes of Hashem. There he found a suitable place for the success of his method. The experiences of his journeys led him to the conclusion that achieving “I will show you” would be possible for the entire nation in the land of Canaan, a land that became dear to him since he discovered it, through the sign of divine providence that responds to the specifics of human actions by giving forth the rain of heaven or withholding it. He went forth and traveled and received reward for every step, planting heavens and establishing earth and saying to Zion, “You are my people.”
Our father Abraham established this land to be the place of seeing in the eyes of Hashem, and in this way, we – his descendants who continue his path – can also walk in this holy land. Certainly, the method of “I will show you” is possible to execute outside the Land as well, and every person should strive to begin achieving this method as much as possible wherever they are, but it will not be fully achieved except in Eretz Yisrael. That is its main place; there our father Abraham did it, and only there will the nation that our great father founded be able to follow in his literal and metaphorical footsteps. For we cannot start religion anew; would that we continue in the way of our fathers! If we succeed in achieving this spiritual level, it will happen only through the inspiration of our father Abraham, by reflecting on his actions and following in his footsteps, in his land, our land. The great father planted the seed for a holy nation that considers divine matters, and the tsaddikim and prophets continued in his way and did so as well, aided by the sign of the rains, as promised in the section of “And it shall be, if you indeed heed.” Thus, they succeeded in causing the sacred idea to take root in the nation, to direct the attention of the holy nation to matters of God, and this land became the land of the realization of the ancient grand vision. We must merely continue the enterprise.
In this way – and only in this way – can a person be without sin. There is no other way. If he always considers the divine good, and all his actions stem from this consideration, he will naturally be capable of being entirely perfect in his actions; otherwise, he will surely sin, without exception. “For there is not a righteous man upon earth who does good and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20) – there is no escape from sin unless man brings heaven down to earth by always considering divine matters.
Imagine a nation constantly caring deeply for the divine good, general and eternal. Picture this and reflect well. This is the Torah of Zion.
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This is all said metaphorically. I will not constantly repeat this. I rely on the wise and understanding reader – nay, I implore him! – to translate all metaphorical expressions into the language of abstract reason.
About the section “And it shall be, if you indeed heed” is necessary specifically for the masses, while a perfect person aware of the goodness of God being identical with the goodness of man does not need the sign of the rains, see Mishnas Yaakov, essay “A Taste of Matzah,” section 5, and essay “The Tsaddik will Flourish like a Palm Tree," sections 1-4; see also the Guide of the Perplexed, 3:30, and Emunos ve’Deos, essay 5, end of chapter 1.