parshaמפרשי הפרשה

רמב"ן — לא תנסו את ה' אלהיכם כאשר נסיתם במסה

What exactly does the תרי"ג מצוה of "לֹא תְנַסּוּ אֶת ה' אֱלֹהֵיכֶם" prohibit?

אין ראוי לעבוד השם על דרך הסתפק או שאלת מופת ונסיון, כי אין רצון השם לעשות נסים לכל אדם ובכל עת, ואין ראוי לעבדו על מנת לקבל פרס, אלא אולי ימצא בעבודתו ולכתו בדרכי התורה צער ואסון וראוי שיקבל הכל במשפט צדק.

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רמב"ן

רמב"ן על דברים ו׳:ט״ז

Ramban on Deuteronomy 6:16

Vaetchanan

Q — What exactly does the תרי"ג מצוה of "לֹא תְנַסּוּ אֶת ה' אֱלֹהֵיכֶם" prohibit?

A — Ramban: the model is מסה — where Bnei Yisrael conditioned their service on whether Hashem would provide water in the wilderness ("אם יש ה' בקרבנו לעשות לנו נסים... נשמור תורתו"). The mitzvah for all generations is the prohibition of serving Hashem ON CONDITION. One may not say "if Hashem succeeds me I'll keep Torah; if not I won't" — אין רצון ה' לעשות נסים לכל אדם ובכל עת. Often the עובד ה' suffers צער ואסון and is obligated to accept it במשפט צדק. This is Malachi's polemic against "אוילי עמנו" who said "ומה בצע כי שמרנו משמרתו." But Ramban balances it: faithful עדות-keeping DOES bring a good end — "האמינו בתורתו ותאמינו בנביאיו והצליחו" — just not necessarily an immediate one.

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