A Thought on Parshas Ki Tavo

"...es HaShem he'emarta...v'HaShem he'emircha..." (27:17-18) "...you have e'emeered HaShem...HaShem has e'emeered you..." I know full well that my failure to translate these two related puzzling words seems odd. The only precedent I can find for this is in some of the contemporary English translations of the Torah which use the Hebrew when they are not sure of the correct English equivalent. My decision, however, has nothing to do with what those other publications do. My use of the Hebrew words, in transliteration, is to make a point, namely, that the commentaries disagree about what the root "emir" means. Some link it with the word for speech, others for the word for distinguish, others say that it means to elevate, and so on. Whatever each source decides, it means that we have done something relative to HaShem, and He has reciprocated or even preceded us in doing the same type of thing, kavayachol. So the two verses can be understood as meaning "we elevated HaShem, and He elevates us" or "we distinguish Him and He distinguishes us" and so on. There are a number of possibilities. The Gan is among a very small group of commentaries who find a different angle here. He notes that another conjugation of this "emir" shows up in Tehillim (94:4) where the verse says "yis'amru kol poalei aven." Apparently, the wicked also do this "emeer" thing. So, we Jews do it, HaShem does it, and the wicked people also do it. What could it be? The Gan suggests that the word is related to the word "temura". We know this term from the Talmud, where it is the name of a tractate which discusses an exchange which is made when a person needs to substitute an offering for one that had become invalid or blemished. To make a temura is to make an exchange, removing something inferior and replacing it with something better, for example. We also know this word-concept from the song "Yigdal" which we (should) say each morning and we (might) sing in shul after davening on special days. We chant that HaShem will never be machalif (change) or alter His doctrines - v'lo yameer Dato. (That use of the word actually shows up in the Torah too.) So, wicked people are prone to exchanging what they say they are going to do, and they will end up doing something else. They cannot be trusted to keep to their word. They "emeer" in a negative way. In contrast, our verses proclaim that we Jews exchanged all of the world's other "religions" and belief systems, and took on instead the One religion, that of adhering to HaShem's Torah. In turn, HaShem, Who created every individual and every nation, exchanged all of those people for His one nation, when He chose to give only us the Torah. Good Shabbos. D Fox