The Spokes of the Israelite Hub

From there (the exile brought about by Israel’s sins) you (plural) will seek the Lord your God and you (singular) will find him if you search after Him with all your heart and all your soul.                                                    Deuteronomy 4:29

          The verse begins with the plural “you” and continues with the singular.

         Meshech Ḥochma comments that, ideally, the Congregation of Israel is, as it were, one single person, with each individual Israelite as a limb of that person. This ideal state can be realized only when the individuals remain connected to the true central source of life, the Creator. At such times, the People of Israel are as spokes coming out of a central hub. Each spoke is connected to all the others through the hub. However, when Israel breaks its connection with its Divine central point, necessarily the interconnection of the Jews with each other is dissolved. Thus, our verse begins with the plural form. As the result of Israel’s sins, the unity of the People has been broken. Once the Children of Israel return to God, they once again become as the limbs of a single body, and therefore the continuation of the verse uses the singular form.