Transaction Transition - הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה - פרשת כי תבא
Aug 27, 2026 · 5 min · 4 segments
Source sheet here In this shiur, we analyze the phrase "this day" from the book of Devarim to…
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David SaltzmanHost
Aug 27, 2026 · 5 min · 4 segments
Source sheet here In this shiur, we analyze the phrase "this day" from the book of Devarim to…
David SaltzmanHost
Moses is standing in front of the Israelites giving this grand speech and he tells them, you know, this day God commands you.
Right.
It's completely baffling if you read it as like a literal timestamp.
But Rabbeinu Bahaya, who was a medieval Spanish scholar, he actually reads it as a psychological intervention
he points out that human memory is incredibly dependent on visuals.
At Mount Sinai, the Israelites had the ultimate visual experience, you know, splitting seas, fire on the mountain, these really tangible miracles.
And when the visuals disappear, human nature kind of dictates that the heart just forgets.
You can't really rely on the fireworks from 40 years ago to keep you going today.
Which brings us to Rashi.
He's the famous 11th century commentator, and he argues that this day is actually a psychological command to view the laws as completely brand new.
Okay, let's unpack this, though, because if the entire strategy is just us desperately pretending old commands are new, that feels incredibly one-sided to me.
It's like we're doing all the heavy lifting to keep the relationship alive while God just, I don't know, sits back as the boss.
Yeah, no, I get that.
But Ramban, a 13th century scholar, he completely flips that dynamic.
He looks really closely at two highly unusual words used in this exact same passage.
Now, these are often translated as declared or agreed, but Ramban points out this major linguistic anomaly.
These words don't actually share the typical Hebrew root for speaking or commanding.
Moses is standing in front of the Israelites giving this grand speech and he tells them, you know, this day God commands you.
Right.
It's completely baffling if you read it as like a literal timestamp.
But Rabbeinu Bahaya, who was a medieval Spanish scholar, he actually reads it as a psychological intervention
he points out that human memory is incredibly dependent on visuals.
At Mount Sinai, the Israelites had the ultimate visual experience, you know, splitting seas, fire on the mountain, these really tangible miracles.
And when the visuals disappear, human nature kind of dictates that the heart just forgets.
You can't really rely on the fireworks from 40 years ago to keep you going today.
Which brings us to Rashi.
He's the famous 11th century commentator, and he argues that this day is actually a psychological command to view the laws as completely brand new.
Okay, let's unpack this, though, because if the entire strategy is just us desperately pretending old commands are new, that feels incredibly one-sided to me.
It's like we're doing all the heavy lifting to keep the relationship alive while God just, I don't know, sits back as the boss.
Yeah, no, I get that.
But Ramban, a 13th century scholar, he completely flips that dynamic.
He looks really closely at two highly unusual words used in this exact same passage.
Now, these are often translated as declared or agreed, but Ramban points out this major linguistic anomaly.
These words don't actually share the typical Hebrew root for speaking or commanding.
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