In Parshat Nitzavim, Perek 29 Passuk 28, it says, “The hidden are for Hashem, our God, but the revealed are for us and our children forever, to carry out all the words of this Torah.” What does the Torah mean when it says “The hidden are for Hashem"? Rashi, explains it refers to Bnai Yisrael’s future sinning through idolatry and ignoring their brit with Hashem but that “the hidden sins” that are committed by an individual personally or privately are between him/her and Hashem, but no other person will be held responsible. answer, however, may be inferred from the second part of the pasuk which says, “…the revealed” meaning the public sins are the responsibility of the whole nation. Is there more meaning to the phrase “The hidden are for Hashem…”???
Rashbam explains that the Torah wrote "hidden for Hashem" because even though the court cannot prosecute for hidden sins, do not think that you will get away with it. I think this is an important lesson because many times we think, "Oh nobody will see it if I steal one tiny cookie," but Hashem sees. I think this is a important idea to keep in mind especially during the עשרת ימי תשובה.
ReplyDeletehe Rambam says that this means that the Torah's secrets are hidden. Only Hashem knows the meaning of the mitzvot. If a man has the merit to understand the source of the mitzva, he should not lessen his performance of the mitzva because the mitzva is for our children and us to do.
ReplyDeleteIn Sanhedrin 6:5 it talks about the whole pasuk as if it is referring to sinning (in secret vs. in public). R. Juda. R. Nechemiah says that Sins that were public and known were punished only once they passed over the Yarden, but what about the sins done in secret?R. Juda. R. Nechemiah says claims that they were punished after they crossed the yarden for their public sins, and this works the same way for the sins that were kept secret. This is to show that no matter how much you try to hide from God he knows all and will punish you just as severely as he would for a public crime. The truth is that the only way to help a situation where you have sinned is to pray to Hashem and try to do anything you can to make things better. Keeping it a secret will not prevent anything from happening to you.
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Aish.com comments on rashi’s explanation on what does “the hidden for Hashem” mean. It explains that when a Jew does a sin, it affects not only that one person but also the whole nation. However, how can a Jew be responsible for a sin another Jew did if he did not know about it. If a Jew cannot prevent his fellow Jew from doing another sin then he is not responsible for that sin. That is what “hidden” means and therefore the “hidden” sin is only for Hashem and not for the responsibility of another Jew.
ReplyDeleteThe Ramban says that the Pasuk of "the hidden are for Hashem" is referring to the following. Everything hidden is revealed to Hashem. Even If you try to hide all your sins, the creator of the world will obviously know what you are trying to hide. I think the Ramban makes total sense because although sometimes we try to hide our deepest and darkest secrets, Hashem will always know and be there for us.
ReplyDeleteOU Torah explains that there are 2 types of sins:
ReplyDelete1 is the sin in our hearts - that is for Hashem to judge.
2 is the sin that is open, and out for everyone to know. That requires our judgement as well.
OU then explains that "hidden" and revealed sins in the first passuk are sins that are hidden and revealed
message: as klal yisrael we have responsibility for one another, but at the same time there are private things. We have to monitor our lives, but some things are for hashem only.
Liat Silver:
ReplyDeleteLast week on his Facebook blog, Rabbi Amnon Bazak noted the juxtaposition between this Passuk and the curses on Bnei Yisrael at Har Eival. Its very serious business to single out a list of sins that people will be cursed for and one would expect for them to be very dramatic sins. Instead there are 11 curses there that all have in common the fact that they can be done without society knowing that its occurring. They are either sins in regard to private relationships or sins that involve secretly tricking or stealing from other people. These sins G-d takes very seriously even though human courts cant necessarily prove or punish for the crimes. The main idea is that G-d comforts us by saying that He doesn't expect us to be able to give out consequences with our limited human abilities. However G-d tells us that clearly he hates that people like this are picking at the foundation of our nation and He says that He will take care of the situations that we can't fairly judge.
Liat Silver:
ReplyDeleteLast week on his Facebook blog, Rabbi Amnon Bazak noted the juxtaposition between this Passuk and the curses on Bnei Yisrael at Har Eival. Its very serious business to single out a list of sins that people will be cursed for and one would expect for them to be very dramatic sins. Instead there are 11 curses there that all have in common the fact that they can be done without society knowing that its occurring. They are either sins in regard to private relationships or sins that involve secretly tricking or stealing from other people. These sins G-d takes very seriously even though human courts cant necessarily prove or punish for the crimes. The main idea is that G-d comforts us by saying that He doesn't expect us to be able to give out consequences with our limited human abilities. However G-d tells us that clearly he hates that people like this are picking at the foundation of our nation and He says that He will take care of the situations that we can't fairly judge.
Rebecca Malech
ReplyDelete"The ramban minute says that the reasons for the mitzvots are hidden. (Torahs secrets). The mitzvots are for us and our children to do and if we know the reason behind them then we might not do the mitzvah to our fullest ability. So if a man is able to understand the reason behind a mitzvah, he shouldn't stop following the mitzvah to his fullest ability".
Rashi explains that the hidden sins are between an individual and Hashem. These sins are hidden because they only apply to the individual, and we don't want someone's individual sins to apply to the entire community. So Hashem will only punish the community for the "revealed" things, but not for the hidden sins of individuals.
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