בס”ד

A THOUGHT ABOUT PARSHAT NITZAVIM – VAYEILECH 5786

One of the greatest misconceptions about G-d’s commandments is the idea that He asks human beings to do what they are incapable of doing. Yet the Torah teaches exactly the opposite. G-d never commands the impossible. He knows the people He created and asks only what lies within their ability.

This is not merely a comforting thought—it is one of the fundamental principles of Judaism.

The Torah Is Not Too Difficult

As Moses addresses Israel before they enter the Promised Land, G-d declares:

“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away.”
(Deuteronomy 30:11)

The Torah continues:

“It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.”
(Deuteronomy 30:12–14)

The message is unmistakable: G-d’s commandments are not hidden, unreachable, or beyond human capability. They are accessible and intended to be lived.

How the Jewish Sages Understood These Verses

The classical Jewish commentators explain these verses in different ways, yet they all arrive at the same conclusion: G-d’s commandments are within human reach.

Ibn Ezra explains that the commandments involve the three essential dimensions of human life: thought, speech, and action. God commands only what human beings are capable of fulfilling.

Rabbeinu Bachya notes that the Torah mentions “your mouth,” “your heart,” and “to do it.” Some commandments are fulfilled through speech, others through the heart, and still others through physical action. Together they encompass the whole of religious life.

Nachmanides (Ramban) understands these verses primarily as referring to teshuvah (repentance). Returning to G-d is not an impossible task requiring someone to ascend to heaven or cross the sea. It requires only a sincere heart and honest confession. Repentance is available everywhere.

Rashi explains that the Torah is near because G-d gave both the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, making His instruction understandable and accessible.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz likewise emphasizes that the Torah is neither too lofty nor too distant. Its words are in our mouths to speak and in our hearts to understand, enabling us to observe G-d’s commandments.

A Fundamental Rabbinic Principle

From these verses the rabbis derive a broader theological principle: G-d does not ask of His creatures more than they are able to give.

Maimonides (Rambam) illustrates this principle concretely in his discussion of Noachide law. In Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Melachim 10:1–2, he rules that a Noachide who unwittingly transgresses one of the seven Noachide commandments is exempt from punishment — with the sole exception of manslaughter, where the court still withholds execution even though the automatic mechanisms of blood-vengeance and asylum in a city of refuge no longer apply. But this leniency is reserved for a genuine error made without any trace of culpable intent — as when a man sleeps with a woman believing her to be his own wife. Rambam is careful to draw the line: if the person knew the basic facts of the situation but was simply unaware, or mistaken, that the act was forbidden, he is treated as though he sinned deliberately, “for he should have learned the obligations incumbent upon him and did not.” Ignorance of the law itself is not the kind of blamelessness the law protects — only ignorance of fact is.

Rambam goes further still: a Noachide who is coerced by another person into violating one of his commandments — even the prohibition against idolatry — is permitted to transgress rather than suffer death, since Noachides, unlike Jews, are not commanded to sanctify G-d’s name through martyrdom. And a minor, a deaf-mute, or a person lacking rational capacity bears no liability at all, since none of them is bound by commandments in the first place.

What emerges from this is a finely calibrated doctrine of responsibility: G-d’s law tracks genuine human capacity — factual ignorance, external coercion, and the absence of a functioning rational will are all grounds for exemption, while willful ignorance of the law one was obligated to learn is not. The same sensitivity appears, in more general form, in the Talmud:

“The Holy One, blessed be He, does not make unreasonable demands of His creatures.”
(Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah 3a)

Jewish law also recognizes the principle:

Ones Rachmana Patrei — “The Merciful One exempts a person who is prevented by circumstances beyond his control.”

In other words, when someone is genuinely unable to fulfill a commandment, G-d does not hold that person accountable for what was impossible.

This principle reflects G-d’s justice as well as His mercy.

Does This Mean People Never Sin?

Certainly not.

Judaism has never taught that human beings are perfect.

People fail. They make mistakes. That is precisely why the Torah provides the path of teshuvah (repentance), forgiveness, and—during the time of the Temple—the sacrificial system.

The issue is not whether someone lives a flawless life.

The issue is whether a person sincerely seeks to serve G-d and returns to Him after falling.

There is a profound difference between saying that human beings sometimes fail and saying that G-d’s commandments are impossible to keep.

A Contrast with a Common Theological Claim

Here we encounter a significant difference between classical Judaism and a view found in much of Christian theology: the idea that human beings are, in principle, incapable of achieving righteousness before G-d through obedience to His commandments and sincere repentance — that some form of failure is inevitable and that this failure permanently forecloses the path of Torah and teshuvah as a means of standing justified before G-d. On this view, only faith in an external atonement can bridge the gap that human effort, however sincere, can never close on its own.

But this claim rests on a premise the Torah itself rejects. G-d’s commandments are “not too difficult” — not because human beings never fail, but because the path He gave includes a way back when they do. As Ramban teaches, the “nearness” described in these very verses refers above all to teshuvah: a sincere heart and honest return, available at all times and in all places, without need for ascent to heaven or crossing the sea. Failure is not, on the Jewish view, a permanent disqualification. It is the very occasion for which teshuvah exists. A person who stumbles and returns has not proven the commandments impossible; he has fulfilled exactly what G-d asks of him — imperfect obedience joined to sincere return.

To claim, then, that human beings cannot be justified through mitzvot and repentance is to claim something the Torah explicitly denies of itself. The commandments were given to be lived by real people, who fail and return, not by beings incapable of failure.

What Does This Mean for the Bnei Noah?

This principle is deeply encouraging for Bnei Noah.

The Seven Noahide Laws are part of the same Torah that G-d gave through Moses at Mount Sinai.

If G-d tells Israel that His commandments are not beyond human ability, then non-Jews may also trust that the Seven Noahide Laws are intended to be lived and are within human capacity.

This does not mean perfection.

Even within the 613 commandments, not every commandment applies to every Jew. Some apply only to priests, some only to kings, some only to men or women, and many only when the Temple stands.

G-d never expects someone to do what they genuinely cannot do.

He expects faithfulness in what they are able to do.

Naaman: A Beautiful Example

The story of Naaman beautifully illustrates this principle.

Naaman, commander of the Syrian army, suffered from leprosy. The prophet Elisha instructed him to wash seven times in the Jordan River.

At first Naaman was offended by such a simple command. His servants said:

“If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he simply says, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”
(2 Kings 5:13)

Naaman obeyed and was healed.

Afterward he confessed:

“Now I know that there is no G-d in all the earth except in Israel.”
(2 Kings 5:15)

Then he presented Elisha with a remarkable question.

As an officer serving the king of Aram, he would have to accompany his master into the temple of Rimmon, where the king would lean upon him while bowing. Although Naaman himself no longer believed in Rimmon, his official duties required his physical presence.

Therefore he asked:

“May the L-rd forgive your servant in this one matter…”
(2 Kings 5:18)

Elisha simply answered:

“Go in peace.”
(2 Kings 5:19)

Naaman’s heart belonged entirely to the G-d of Israel. G-d knew his circumstances.

Once again we see the same biblical principle: G-d knows what a person is truly capable of and judges people with perfect justice and mercy.

Conclusion

The message of Deuteronomy 30 is both simple and profound.

G-d did not hide His will in heaven or beyond the sea.

He brought it near.

The rabbis consistently understood this to mean that G-d never commands the impossible. He does not make unreasonable demands, nor does He hold people accountable for what lies beyond their ability.

For Bnei Noah, this should be a source of great encouragement.

G-d does not demand perfection.

He asks for faithfulness.

When we fail, He calls us—not to despair—but to return to Him, repent, and continue walking in His ways.

Angelique Sijbolts
With thanks to Rabbi Tani Burton for the feedback

Sources

Tanakh

Classical Jewish Commentaries

Rabbinic Literature

 


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