Rashi comments:’’Listen, O heavens: that I am warning Israel, and you shall be witnesses in this matter, for I have already told Israel that you will be witnesses. And ‘let the earth hear’ is to be similarly understood. Now why did Moshe call upon heaven and earth to be witnesses, for warning Israel? Moshe said:’I am flesh and blood. Tomorrow I will die. If Israel say:’We never accepted the covenant’, who will come and refute them?’.
‘Therefore, he called upon heaven and earth as witnesses for Israel- witnesses that endure forever.
‘Furthermore, if they, Israel are meritorious, the witnesses will come and reward them- the earth will yield its produce, and the heavens will give their dews. And if Israel acts sinfully, the hand of the witnesses will be upon them first to inflict punishment: the heavens will close, and there will be no rain, and the earth will not give its produce.’
The Divrei David comments:’Rashi felt compelled to give this commentary, as the injunction:’Listen, O Heavens’, is seemingly superfluous, as the heavens had no choice but to listen, as the words are spoken in their hearing.
‘He therefore expounded that the words were by way of a ‘warning’, not the relation of a story; and that, whereas in previous parshiot Moshe had called on heaven and earth, as witnesses, those words were addressed to Israel.
‘Here, Moshe Rabbeinu’s words and warnings, were addressed to heaven and earth.’
Rav David Pardo, commenting on this Rashi, adds the following insight:’Lest Bnei Israel say that, Rabbeinu did not warn them, and that all his words were not to them, but to ‘heaven and earth’, to preclude such a specious claim, Moshe reminded them that, in earlier parshiot, he had told them that he would charge heaven and earth to be witnesses, and that, therefore, he was now only calling heaven and earth as witnesses, of the warning to Israel for all time.’.
The Maharal, in his commentary Gur Aryeh, adds:’Though Moshe had, in previous parshiot, informed Israel that heaven and earth would be witnesses to his warning, the warning had to now be repeated, as to be valid, the warning requires that the party warned knows that witnesses have been appointed to the warning.’
Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch adds:’This was the appointment of heaven and earth to be witnesses AND GUARANTORS, of Hashem’s covenant with Israel. The difference in the language of the Torah between its words to the heavens:’Listen’, as compared to earth:’’hear’, reflects their different roles in carrying out the warning: the primary task falls on ‘the heavens’, and only incidentally, on the earth, as the whole of the blessing and of the curse, of the physical outcome of what happens on earth, is totally dependent on what happens ‘in the heavens’.’
The Alsheich Hakadosh expounds this, as follows:’The main warning is by ‘the heavens’, as if rain and dew were not to fall, there would be no crops growing on earth, as the earth, of itself, cannot give its yield.
‘This, said Moshe, is why I have made the heavens the principal, and said to it by way of command:’Listen’, as all depends on it doing so, whilst the earth will ‘merely’ hear, as it is unable to give its yield, if there is no rain.’
Rav Yosef Chaim Shneur Kotler notes:’From Rashi’s commentary, this charge to heaven and earth covers two matters: First, that heaven and earth, by their very being, serve as testimony to the covenant between Hashem and Bnei Israel; and since they are eternal, so too, their testimomy is eternal- and, as Rashi commented in Parashat Nitzavim (30:19), just as they have never ‘changed their ways’, so too, this obligates Israel to also always be faithful to their role.
‘The second reason for this charge to heaven and earth, is that they, the witnesses, are themselves to be the instruments for the reward and the punishment- as Rashi comments:’the hands of the witnesses shall be the first to act’.
‘Thus, the very existence of Israel in this world, is dependent on its observance of Torah and mitzvot; and, so too, the whole of ‘nature’, like the falling of rain, and the earth giving its yield, depends upon whether Israel keep Torah and mitzvot- this is the essence of the covenant between Hashem, and Israel.
‘And this is a change in the ways of ‘nature’, as, now, heavens and earth are governed by the faithfulness, or otherwise, of Israel to Torah and mitzvot!
‘Therefore, the warning to Israel was not, in itself, sufficient; this required a new commandment to heaven and earth- to ‘nature’ itself, that from now on, its operation was to be governed by the actions of Israel.
‘This radical change, is the reason for the strong language to the main party, ‘heavens:’Listen and pay heed’, so that you carry out your new charge, faithfully’’.
Rav David Hofstedter adds:’Our Parasha differs from the previous parshiot, in which heaven and earth are noted as witnesses to the warnings given to Israel, as they are primarily concerned with reward and punishment.
‘Our Parasha adds a new dimension, that this relationship between the actions of Israel and the ways of heaven and earth, are part of Creation- that when Israel keep Torah and Mitzvot, the heavens, of themselves, will give rains, and the earth will yield its bounty; and if, chalila, Israel stray, then the heavens, of themselves will be ‘closed’ and the earth unable to yield its crops.
‘This is now ‘nature’- totally dependent on the actions of Israel.
‘And this is why Moshe Rabbeinu, in our Parasha, turns to heaven and earth, to enjoin them as to their role and task: ‘listen O heavens, and hear earth’’.
לרפואת נועם עליזה בת זהבה רבקה ונחום אלימלך רפאל בן זהבה רבקה, בתוך שאר חולי