ועתה ישראל מה ה’ אלקיך שאל מעמך, כי אם ליראה את ה’ אלקיך ללכת בכל דרכיו ולאהבה אתו ולעבד את ה’ אלקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך
And now, Israel, what does G-d ask from you; but only to fear G-d your Almighty, and to walk in his path, and to love him, and to serve G-d your Almighty with all your heart and all your soul.[i]
A literal reading suggests a modest request by G-d, yet the list of requirements that follows is exhaustive. What exactly does this verse mean?
The Mathematics of Gratitude
The Gemara[ii] derives a daily obligation directly from this verse. Rabbi Meir states that a person is obligated to recite one hundred (100) blessings every day. This reading, codified as practical Halaĉa by the Rambam[iii] and the Shulĉan Aruĉ[iv], establishes that G‑d is quite literally asking for one hundred (100) blessings daily.
While Rashi explains this derivation hinges on a subtle phonetic shift: do not read the word as מה – what, but as מאה – one hundred. The letter א needs to be inserted in order to read the word properly. Rabeinu Tam, as quoted in Tosafos, takes a different structural approach. He asserts that the verse itself contains exactly one hundred letters, mirroring the one hundred required blessings.
However, a manual count of the letters in the verse yields a mathematical discrepancy: there are only ninety-nine (99) letters. Where is the missing letter?
Tosafos introduces a seemingly disparate concept to bridge this gap, citing an explanation that the word מה equals the Gematria of one hundred (100) when calculated using א”ת ב”ש – the Atbash cipher – a system of Gematria where the alphabet is inverted, trading the first letter for the last, the second for the second-to-last, and so on. In this system, the letter מ is exchanged for י, and the letter ה is exchanged for צ, 10+90=100.
Immediately following this cryptographic explanation, Tosafos quotes Rashi’s interpretation, noting that some scholars view the extra Aleph added by Rashi as the very “missing letter” required to complete Rabeinu Tam’s count of one hundred.
This creates a structural mystery: why does Tosafos insert the Atbash calculation directly between Rabeinu Tam’s letter count and the utilization of Rashi’s Aleph? To answer this, we must first understand the nature of the request itself.
Fear of Heaven’s Architecture
The Gemara[v] derives a second, equally foundational lesson from this verse – Rabbi Ĉanina says, “Everything is in the hands of Heaven, except יראת שמים – Fear of Heaven.”
The implication is profound. G‑d bestows wealth, health, and wisdom unilaterally, but he does not bestow the Fear of Heaven. That must be generated by the human being. The Gemara immediately challenges the verse’s phrasing: is the Fear of Heaven such a “small thing” that Moshe can casually say, “What does G‑d ask of you, but to fear…”?
The Gemara answers: “Yes, for Moshe it is a small thing.”
While this answers the difficulty for Moshe, it leaves the rest of the Jewish people in a difficult position. The Lubavitcher Rebbe provides a Ĉassidic resolution: there is a spark connecting every Jewish soul directly to Moshe Rabbeinu. It is precisely through tapping into this internal eternal spark of Moshe that the capacity to develop יראת שמים becomes a “small thing” for G‑d to ask of all of us.
We might also look to the missing letter א itself. The “small thing” can be represented by the missing Aleph. The Aleph is a letter fundamentally associated with humility (being silent), the smallest in Gematria value, and in meaning represents the study [humility before a teacher] and teaching [humility before a student] of Torah (אאלפך חכמה, אאלפך בינה).[vi]
The Sole Possession of G-d
The narrative deepens when we encounter a variation of Rabbi Ĉanina’s teaching. Rabbi Yoĉanan states in the name of Rabbi Elazar[vii], “G-d, has nothing in his world except the Fear of Heaven alone.”[viii]
Rabbi Ĉanina implied that יראת שמים is a human achievement. What does Rabbi Elazar mean when he states that Fear of Heaven is a possession of G‑d’s in his world?
We can understand this through the mechanics of the ברכה itself. The Torah mandates only one blessing: ברכת המזון (Grace After Meals), which is fundamentally an expression of gratitude for what one has already received. However, ברכת הנהנין (blessings on benefit, like food) and ברכת המצות (blessings before performing a commandment) are Rabbinic in origin.
These Rabbinic blessings operate on a different basis. They are not merely expressions of thanks; they are requests for permission. As the Talmud states, one who derives benefit from this world without a blessing is likened to one who has stolen from G‑d.[ix] Therefore, reciting a ברכה before benefiting is the ultimate functional expression of יראת שמים —the recognition of Divine ownership.
According to Ĉassidus, the etymological root of ברכה is tied to מבריך – the agricultural term for grafting or bending a vine into the earth [to draw down] – which produces new growth.[x] When we recite a ברכה, we are not just thanking G‑d; we are actively drawing down an additional infusion of Divine light into the material realm. We are, in a literal sense, blessing G‑d.
Therefore, when Rabbi Elazar states that G‑d has nothing in this world except יראת שמים, it is a statement of legal and spiritual reality. G‑d created the world and gave it to humanity to steward. The only spiritual possessions he obtains from this physical realm is that which we actively choose to give Him—the יראת שמים expressed through our blessings.
The Missing Letter and the Returning Light
This dynamic illuminates why the verse was intentionally written in a lacking form – מה without the Aleph. The Torah, which is Divine wisdom, physically requires a missing component to leave room for human initiation. It requires the human invention of the ברכה and the יראת שמים that generates it.
Rashi views this missing element through the lens of how the text is read versus how it is written. The written text is whole and not missing anything, but our oral tradition adds an additional element not found in the text. Rabeinu Tam, however, recognizes that קרי\כתיב is a standard derivation rule of Torah, and therefore, it cannot fully represent the missing human component. For Rabeinu Tam, the “missingness” must be inherent in the physical reality of the text – the literal number of letters.
The only way we discover the missing letter is through a hint: the Atbash system. Atbash is an inverse cipher. It is the quintessential representation of אור חוזר – Returning Light. G‑d sends down the direct light, but the Atbash – the human effort – reflects the light backward and upward. Tosafos sandwiches the Atbash system into the explanation because the missing 100th letter cannot simply be handed down from Heaven; it must be generated from the bottom up, through the reflective, returning light of human effort.
The Divine Borrower
This concept helps explain the specific terminology in the verse: ‘What does G‑d ask (שאל) of you…’
The root ש-א-ל translates more accurately to “borrow.” Why use a term of borrowing rather than a term denoting a request (בקשה) or a desire (רוצה)? Because the blessings and the אור חוזר generated by the Jewish people are, in fact, only borrowed by G‑d. He receives our יראת שמים and the blessings generated thereby, and in turn, uses that new light to provide increased blessings, vitality, and life back to the world.
The Infinite vs. The Finite: The Ultimate Redemption
With this balance between human effort and Divine response, we might explain the argument between Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Eliezer regarding the ultimate redemption.[xi]
Rabbi Eliezer, relying partially on the concepts within our verse, argued that the ultimate redemption can only be brought about by Teshuva (repentance and return).
Fundamentally, Teshuva represents the human ability to alter the history of the world[1]. Through proper Teshuva, retroactive history is rewritten; intentional sins can be transformed into actual merits. Rabbi Eliezer looks at the ultimate redemption and understands that this complete paradigm shift – where thousands of years of hardship and suffering will be retroactively converted into the steps bringing about the redemption – is not within the natural order of the cosmos. It requires the human initiation of the ברכה – the missing Aleph, the drawing down of new light through the fierce, transformative power of Teshuva.
Rabbi Yehoshua disagreed. He cites various verses, and ultimately lands on the verse in Daniel[xii], where an angel swears an oath that there is a fixed time when the ultimate redemption will be enacted. Rabbi Yehoshua thus understood that regardless of human readiness – G-d will bring about the redemption.
Faced with this verse, the Talmud records: “Rabbi Eliezer was silent.”
The fulfillment of an oath is fundamentally associated with boundary, strictness, and willpower (fear). Teshuva, however, is fundamentally associated with love and the desire to [re]connect.
Rabbi Meir, who enlightened the eyes of the sages, presented our verse in Devarim with one possibility: that we can actively encourage the ultimate redemption and improve the world with the introduction of new light and life – as codified into the recital of one hundred (100) daily blessings. We can bring G‑d down into this world through our desire to connect, proving that love and human initiation are not contrary to the fear of G‑d. This empowering position – that our actions complete the Divine plan – has been codified into practical Halaĉa.
However, Rabbi Yehoshua introduces the ultimate, humbling caveat. As much light as we can accomplish through our service; our Beraĉos, and our Teshuva, human effort remains a finite measure. The ultimate redemption represents a revelation of the Infinite. Therefore, the final, absolute salvation of the world must be fundamentally independent of our service; it rests on the Divine oath.
Against the overwhelming reality of the Infinite stepping in to finish what the finite could not, even Rabbi Eliezer was silent.
[1] Personally – and ultimately cosmically, since, as the Rambam states [הלכות תשובה 3:4], every person must view himself and the entire world as completely balanced between Good and Evil. One act of Teshuva tips the balance in favor of good bringing about redemption to the entire world.
[i] Devarim 10:12
[ii] Gem. Menaĉos 43b
[iii] הלכות תפילה 7:14
[iv] Oreĉ Ĉaim 46:3
[v] Gem. Beraĉos 33b, Megilla 25a, and Nida 16b
[vi] Gem. Shabbos 104a
[vii] Gem. Shabbos 31b
[viii] based on our verse and Iyov 28:28
[ix] Gem. Beraĉos 35a
[x] Sefer הבהיר – expanded on heavily in Ĉassidic philosophy throughout Likutei Torah and Torah Ohr
[xi] Gem. Sanhedrin 98a and Yer. Ta’anis 1:1
[xii] Daniel 12:7