Ki Tavo: How We Know It’s a Mitzvah to Have Good Middos (and Why We Should Care)

Is it a mitzvah to be a nice person? Yes. But how do we know? In this article we examine Rambam and R' Avraham ben ha'Rambam's answer to this question and its ramifications for our practice of Torah.

Sep 20, 2024

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Ki Tavo: How We Know It’s a Mitzvah to Have Good Middos (and Why We Should Care)

Ask a Jew whether Judaism teaches us to be merciful, gracious, and kind, and they’ll likely respond, “Of course!” Ask them if it’s a mitzvah to cultivate and practice these good middos, and they’ll probably say, “Yes!” But ask them which mitzvah, and they might hesitate. If they answer with, “ve’ahavta le’rei’acha kamocha – you shall love your fellow like yourself” (Vayikra 19:18), you can clarify: “I meant, is it a mitzvah to be merciful, gracious, and kind in general—not just in dealings with fellow Jews?”

If they’re familiar with Rambam, they might point to “ve’halachta bi’drachav – you shall walk in His ways” (Devarim 28:9) from this week’s parashah, which Rambam counts as a mitzvah in the Sefer ha’Mitzvos: Aseh #8:

The eighth mitzvah is the commandment to emulate Him to the best of our ability, as He (exalted is He) said: “and you shall walk in His ways” (Devarim 28:9). This command has been repeated, as it is written: “To walk in all His ways” (ibid. 11:22). The explanation of this statement [from the Oral Torah] is: “Just as Ha'Kadosh Baruch Hu is called merciful, so you shall be merciful; just as Ha'Kadosh Baruch Hu is called gracious, so you shall be gracious; just as Ha'Kadosh Baruch Hu is called righteous, so you shall be righteous; just as Ha'Kadosh Baruch Hu is called kind, so you shall be kind” (Sifrei Devarim 11:22 Piska 49). This command is repeated again in another form: "After Hashem, your God, you shall walk” (Devarim 13:5). It has also been explained (Sotah 14a) that this refers to emulating the good actions and noble middos (attributes) by which He is metaphorically described (may He be exalted above all).

For some, the investigation might stop here. Rambam says it’s a mitzvah and quotes Chazal’s unchallenged interpretation to support it. End of story, right? Wrong! We can still ask: How does the Rambam know to count this as a mitzvah? The Rambam prefaces his Sefer ha’Mitzvos with fourteen principles that define what qualifies as a mitzvah. Does ve’halachta bi’drachav meet these criteria?

This question was posed to Rambam’s son, R’ Avraham (Tshuvah #63). The questioner raised two objections to counting ve’halachta bi’drachav as a mitzvah. The first objection is based on the context in which the phrase appears in the Written Torah:

Hashem shall curse your enemies who rise up against you to be struck down before you; on one road will they go out toward you and on seven roads will they flee before you. Hashem will command the blessing for you in your storehouses and in your every undertaking, and He will bless you in the Land that Hashem, your God, gives you. Hashem will establish you for Himself as a holy people, as He swore to you—if you observe the mitzvos of Hashem, your God, and you walk in His ways. Then all the peoples of the earth will see that the Name of Hashem is proclaimed over you, and they will revere you. (Devarim 28:7-10)

In isolation, the phrase “ve’halachta bi’drachav” sounds like a mitzvah, but in context, it reads more like a condition: “if you observe the mitzvos and if you walk in His ways, then He will establish you for Himself as a holy people, as He swore to you.” But conditional statements do not necessarily imply commands.

The second objection raised to R’ Avraham is based on Rambam’s fourth principle, which states that we do not count “universal commands”—statements in the Torah urging us to observe all the mitzvos. The questioner writes:

And even if [ve’halachta bi’drachav] were a mitzvah, it seems to be a universal command [that urges us to keep all mitzvos], as is evident from other similar verses. For example: “On all the path which Hashem, your God, has commanded you shall you walk” (ibid. 5:29); similarly, “If you keep this whole commandment to do it ... to walk in His ways all the days” (ibid. 19:9); and similarly, "And now, Israel, what does Hashem, your, God ask of you? [Only to fear Hashem, your God, and to walk in all His ways, etc.]" (ibid. 10:12). Our master, of blessed memory (i.e. the Rambam), already explained in the fourth principle [of the Sefer Ha’Mitzvos] that it is not appropriate to count universal commands among the individual mitzvos.

R' Avraham responds to the first objection by noting that the condition for receiving the blessings in the parashah is the observance of all mitzvos, as the opening verse states: “And it shall be, if you listen... to what I command you today” (Devarim 28:1). While it is true that ve’halachta bi’drachav is singled out as a condition for receiving Hashem’s blessings, this element of conditionality does not disqualify it from being counted as a mitzvah. After all, if the presence of a condition were enough to exclude a commandment from being considered a mitzvah, we wouldn’t be able to count any mitzvos, since they’re all conditions for receiving Hashem’s blessings!

R' Avraham responds to the second objection with two answers:

As for what you said—that even if it were a mitzvah, it seems to include all mitzvos—this is something we need to analyze. There are two responses that refute this claim. The first, and this is a major principle in our religion, and it is in this that we, the Rabbinic community, differ from the Karaite sect: the principle that we do not rely solely on the pshat (plain meaning) of Scripture, but on the combined interpretation of both the text and the mesorah (Oral tradition) … Even if the pshat of this verse indicated that it refers to fulfilling all the mitzvos, we are still obligated to believe that it is a specific mitzvah, because the mesorah explains it, [saying]: “Just as Ha’Kadosh Baruch Hu is called merciful, etc.” This is the first answer, and it is a fundamental principle that should never be overlooked.
This is the second answer: If this verse, "and you shall walk in His ways," were a universal command, it would not have been phrased this way. Rather, it would have said: "if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in all His ways," just as it says in the section, "And now, Israel, what does Hashem, your God, ask of you?"

R’ Avraham’s primary answer is that regardless of what the Written Torah seems to say, we always follow the Oral Torah’s interpretation. His secondary answer is that if ve’halachta bi’drachav in our verse were intended to refer to keeping all the mitzvos, it would have said, “if you keep the mitzvos of Hashem, your God, to walk in all His ways,” instead of “if you keep the mitzvos Hashem, your God, and walk in all His ways.”

The two objections have been answered, but another question can be raised: Why does the Torah present ve’halachta bi’drachav as a condition for receiving Hashem’s blessings? Why single out this mitzvah from among all the others? Furthermore, why does the Torah follow this with the statement, “Then all the peoples of the earth will see that the Name of Hashem is proclaimed over you, and they will revere you”? What is the causal connection between following the mitzvah of ve’halachta bi’drachav and the Name of Hashem being proclaimed over us, causing the nations of the world to revere us?

R' Nahum Eliezer Rabinovitch (Yad Peshutah, Hilchos Deios: Preface) answers based on the Rambam’s presentation of this mitzvah in Hilchos Deios 1:5. Rambam writes:

We are commanded to follow these “middle paths,” which are the good and upright paths, as it is stated, “ve’halachta bi’drachav.” This is what we learned from the [Oral Torah’s] explanation of this mitzvah: just as He is called “Gracious,” so should you be gracious; just as He is called “Merciful,” so you should be merciful; just as He is called “Holy,” so you should be holy. In this way, the prophets referred to God by all of these kinuyim (“appellations,” “titles,” or “nicknames”): “Slow to Anger,” “Abundant in Kindness,” “Righteous,” “Upright,” “Perfect,” “Strong,” “Powerful,” etc.—to teach us that these are good and upright paths, and a person is obligated to conduct himself in accordance with them and to emulate them according to his ability.

According to Rambam, the reason why the Torah refers to God by these kinuyim is to teach us the good middos we are commanded to emulate. R’ Rabinovitch explains that when we, as a nation, embody these middos by which God Himself is called, the nations of the world will revere us as representatives of Hashem, and by extension, they will revere Him. While our national observance of all the mitzvos certainly contributes to this admiration, the mitzvah of ve’halachta bi’drachav has a unique power to represent Ha’Kadosh Baruch Hu to humanity. Through the fulfillment of this mitzvah, we act as ambassadors of Hashem’s Name on the world stage, showing the nations Who God is by emulating His ways. The blessings we receive from Hashem are especially contingent on this mitzvah because its fulfillment is central to our national mission to be “as a light unto nations” (Yeshayahu 42:6).

To appreciate what this might look like, consider what Jews already have a reputation for, and imagine if people associated these positive qualities with Hashem. Jews are known for being intelligent. What if the nations of the world regarded us as “a wise and discerning people” (Devarim 4:6) because we worship a God Who “possesses wisdom and might, counsel and understanding” (Iyov 12:13)? Jews are known for being charitable. What if the nations saw this as a reflection of, “Hashem is righteous in all His ways, and kind in all His deeds” (Tehilim 145:18)? By living in accordance with Hashem’s mitzvos and following His ways, we would truly succeed in establishing Hashem’s Name throughout the world.

I’ll conclude by addressing the question I parenthetically alluded to in the title of this article: “Who cares?” This arose as I investigated whether ve’halachta bi’drachav is indeed one of the 613 mitzvos. I imagined a reader growing impatient with my line of inquiry, asking in an exasperated tone, “So what? Who cares? We know that the Torah wants us to emulate Hashem, and that’s all that should matter! Why should I care whether this formally counts as a mitzvah? What difference does it make? It’s just a technicality!”

My answer, which I hope has been demonstrated throughout this article, is that analyzing whether to count a Torah directive as a mitzvah sheds light on the character and purpose of that directive within the system of the 613 mitzvos, enabling us to implement it as Hashem intended. Rambam (Mishneh Torah: Introduction) writes that the Written Torah is Hashem’s “teaching” to the Jewish people, while the Oral Torah is His “commandment,” and “we are obligated to enact the teaching through the commandment.” If we fail to understand the relationship between the Written and Oral Torah—between the "teaching" and the "commandment"—we risk misunderstanding God’s will, even if we know what we are expected to do and not do.

To what may this be likened? To the servant of a human king. The servant hears the king proclaim a new law for his kingdom: “Each and every citizen will pay a tax of one gold coin annually to support the poor and downtrodden members of the kingdom.” After issuing this law, the king instructs his servant to clean the throne room. From a technical standpoint, both of the king’s statements—the new tax and the order to clean the throne room—represent the king’s will, but only an ignorant servant would equate the two. One statement reflects the king’s righteousness and his desire to benefit his citizens. The other is something the king wants, but it carries less significance in the grand scheme of his rulership. Similarly, if a person only focuses on their technical obligations without discerning the difference between mitzvos of the Torah, Rabbinic laws, customs, values, and ideas, they will inevitably distort the will of the God they claim to follow.

Understanding ve’halachta bi’drachav may not be necessary for fulfilling our technical duty, but it is critical for accomplishing what Hashem seeks to achieve in this world through the nation that bears His Name.

What do you think of this analysis: the insights into this mitzvah and the meta-point about analyzing mitzvos in general? Let me know in the comments!

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