Ramban on Parshat Haazinu - The History of the Jewish People

Ramban’s comments on verse 26 of Chapter 32 have a great deal of meaning in terms of understanding Jewish History. Ramban focuses on the word af’eihem, which, he argues, is a compound word meaning “However, where are they”? The verse comes in the midst of the Song of Haazinu, at a point where Israel has abandoned God. God is angered and the people are to be punished with exile.

God has “initially” proposed that there is to be no remnant or memory amongst the nations. But what does this mean? Ramban posits, 500 years before political nationalism and the Zionist movement, that the meaning of the verse is that the Jews will not have their own national identity while they are dispersed among the nations. According to the attribute of strict judgement, this fate should have been eternal. As it is, the Ramban believes that the “merit of the forefathers” (Zekhut Avot) has been all used up in Exile.  But for the sake of God’s Great Name—for the sake of Kiddush HaShem- the lack of Jewish political status and national identity will not last forever, and the song conveys that the Jewish people will be a nation again.

Other biblical and midrashic sources are used to delve further into the ideas about the reasons for creation of humanity and the meaning of Kiddush HaShem.