In last week’s parsha, Moshe said that he would call on the heavens and the earth to be witnesses to the brit between ה׳ and Bnei Yisrael:
הַעִדֹתִי בָכֶם הַיּוֹם אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ הַחַיִּים וְהַמָּוֶת נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ הַבְּרָכָה וְהַקְּלָלָה; וּבָחַרְתָּ בַּחַיִּים לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה אַתָּה וְזַרְעֶךָ׃
I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you…
And in this week’s parsha, he actually does call on them:
הַאֲזִינוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וַאֲדַבֵּרָה; וְתִשְׁמַע הָאָרֶץ אִמְרֵי פִי׃
Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
How can the heavens and the earth be “witnesses”? Rashi gives two reasons in this week’s parsha:
וְלָמָּה הֵעִיד בָּהֶם שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ? אָמַר מֹשֶׁה: אֲנִי בָּשָׂר וָדָם, לְמָחָר אֲנִי מֵת…לְפִיכָךְ הֵעִיד בָּהֶם שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ, עֵדִים שֶׁהֵן קַיָּמִים לְעוֹלָם.
וְעוֹד, שֶׁאִם…יִתְחַיְּבוּ תִּהְיֶה בָהֶם יַד הָעֵדִים תְּחִלָּה (דברים יא:יז): וְעָצַר אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְלֹא יִהְיֶה מָטָר וְהָאֲדָמָה לֹא תִתֵּן אֶת יְבוּלָהּ.
Why did he designate to testify against them heaven and earth? Moshe said, “I am only flesh and blood, and tomorrow I may die…” He therefore designated, to testify against them, heaven and earth, witnesses who endure forever.
Furthermore, so that…if they are blameworthy, the hand of the witnesses may afflict them first—“He shall curb heaven, so that there will be no rain, and the earth shall not give forth its produce.”
Now, those are two requirements for being good witnesses: they have to be available to testify (עֵדִים שֶׁהֵן קַיָּמִים לְעוֹלָם), and the witnesses have to inflict the punishment:
יַד הָעֵדִים תִּהְיֶה בּוֹ בָרִאשֹׁנָה לַהֲמִיתוֹ וְיַד כָּל הָעָם בָּאַחֲרֹנָה; וּבִעַרְתָּ הָרָע מִקִּרְבֶּךָ׃
The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.
But that doesn’t answer the question. How can the heavens and the earth, inanimate objects, testify that ה׳ made a covenant with Bnei Yisrael?
Rashi gives a another answer in last week’s parsha:
אָמַר לָהֶם הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְיִשְׂרָאֵל: הִסְתַּכְּלוּ בַשָּׁמַיִם שֶׁבָּרָאתִי לְשַׁמֵּשׁ אֶתְכֶם, שֶׁמָּא שִׁנּוּ אֶת מִדָּתָם? שֶׁמָּא לֹא עָלָה גַּלְגַּל חַמָּה מִן הַמִּזְרָח…? הִסְתַּכְּלוּ בָאָרֶץ שֶׁבָּרָאתִי לְשַׁמֵּשׁ אֶתְכֶם, שֶׁמָּא שִׁנְּתָה מִדָּתָהּ? שֶׁמָּא זְרַעְתֶּם אוֹתָהּ וְלֹא צָמְחָה אוֹ שֶׁמָּא זְרַעְתֶּם חִטִּים וְהֶעֶלְתָה שְׂעוֹרִים?
The Holy One, may He be blessed, said to Yisroel: Gaze at the heavens, which I created to serve you: have they, perhaps, altered their prescribed functions? Perhaps the sun failed to rise in orbit from the east…? Gaze at the earth, which I created to serve you: has it, perhaps, altered its prescribed functions? Perhaps you planted it, and it failed to produce, or perhaps you planted wheat, and it produced barley?
The fact that the heavens and the earth—the created universe—obey the laws of physics is in fact testimony, proof, that ה׳ made a covenant with us. The entire purpose of creation was the brit of the Torah.
שהתנה הקב״ה עם מעשה בראשית ואמר להם: אם ישראל מקבלים התורה אתם מתקיימין ואם לאו אני מחזיר אתכם לתוהו ובוהו
G-d made a condition with the act of creation and said to it, “If Israel accepts the Torah, you will exist; if not, I will return you to chaos.”
גְּדוֹלָה תּוֹרָה, שֶׁאִילְמָלֵא תּוֹרָה לֹא נִתְקַיְּימוּ שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ירמיהו לג:כה): אִם לֹא בְרִיתִי יוֹמָם וָלָיְלָה חֻקּוֹת שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ לֹא שָׂמְתִּי.
Great is the Torah, for if not for Torah, heaven and earth would not have been established, as it is stated (Jeremiah 33:25): “If My covenant [would not be kept] day and night, I would not have set the laws of heaven and earth”.
Babies love dropping things from their high chairs, over and over again, because it is so fun that gravity works, every single time. We are old enough to take those things for granted. But we need to be able to look at the fact that the laws of physics—חֻקּוֹת שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ—work consistently, and learn from that that ה׳'s covenant with us still applies, and we have to do our jobs in keeping the universe running.
שבת שלום