Commentaire sur L’Exode 20:1

וידבר אלהים AND GOD SPAKE — The word אלהים is a term for a judge. Since there are chapters in the Torah of such a character that if a person observes the commands contained therein he will receive a reward and if he never observes them at all) he will not receive punishment on their account, one might think that the Ten Commandments are also of such a character (that no punishment will follow upon the infringement of them); therefore Scripture expressly states, “God spake” — God Who is Judge, exacting punishment (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:1:1).

וידבר אלוקים, after Moses had completed warning the people G’d proceeded to utter all these commandments, as we know from the testimony of Moses in Deuteronomy 5,18 את כל הדברים האלה דבר ה' אל כל קהלכם בהר, “all these words the Lord spoke to your assembled ranks from the Mountain.”

וידבר אלוקים את כל הדברים האלה, G'd spoke all these words, etc. The reason we find the attribute of Justice, i.e. אלוקים mentioned at this point is that G'd gave the Torah to the Jewish people in His capacity as the attribute of Justice as well as in His capacity as the attribute of Mercy. The words וירד אלוקים reflect the attribute of Justice, whereas the words אנכי השם reflect the attribute of Mercy. By saying אנכי ה׳ אלוקיך, G'd also revealed the mystical dimension of both attributes being part of the same essence, something we repeat twice daily when we recite the first line of קריאת שמע prayer.

Elohim refers only to Judge. . . Although it says: “In the beginning Elohim created” (Bereishis 1:1), and: “Elohim said to Noach” (ibid. 8:15), and: “Elohim called to him from the midst of the thorn-bush” (Shemos 3:4), see Re”m here and in 6:2 [for an explanation of these verses].

Kap. 20. V. 1. Vergl. Jeschurun (III. Jahrgang S. 439).

את כל הדברים האלה לאמר, “all of these words.” The word לאמר teaches that the entire Ten Commandments would be part of a single utterance, something that it is impossible for the mouth of a human being to do. Seeing that this was so, why does the Torah write it as if it had been a number of separate utterances, i.e. אנכי ה' אלוקיך, לא יהיה לך, etc.? This shows that Moses repeated each of the commandments. (Mechilta, Yitro bachodesh, section 4) This appears hard to understand, how did the author of the Mechilta think that Moses contributed to our understanding the Ten Commandments by repeating, or trying to repeat what G–d had done? What was meant is that Moses by adding the cantillations, enabled the people to understand every word. A different interpretation of this Mechilta by Rabbi Baruch: Moses in his repeating the utterance separated between what is the first verse in our chumashim, and the second verse by taking a breath, although basically the two verses are part of the same commandment. Proof of that is the fact G–d is speaking in the first person repeatedly, i.e. “I have taken you out of Egypt; My presence; I am the Lord your G–d; “the ones who hate Me.” “The ones who love Me.” All the other parts of the Ten Commandments are addressed to “you.” This is why the Talmud in tractate Makkot folio 24 states that the first two Commandments were uttered by G–d personally. The Talmud explains that although G–d uttered all Ten Commandments, the people could only hear and understand G–d as speaking the first two commandments. [They had asked Moses to interpret the remainder for them. Ed]

וידבר אלוקים את כל הדברים האלה, The reason for this introduction is that the Torah wishes to show that G-d organises His words just as human beings organise their words prior to expressing them to outsiders. Hence: “G-d spoke all these words:”The word: וידבר here is to indicate that G-d said these words to Himself, in a preparatory manner; subsequently, the word: לאמור, refers to the final draft of this address by G-d to the people.“I am the Lord your G-d;” this is what Job meant when he said: (Job 28,2728) אז ראה ויספרה, הכינה וגם הקרה ויאמר לאדם, “then He saw and gauged it; He measured it and probed it and said to man etc.:” the Torah teaches you what are good manners, i.e. that even if you are an erudite scholar do not be arrogant enough when facing a crowd until after you have weighed carefully every word that you are going to say. You will do well to practice what you are going to say two or three times before actually addressing your words to an assembly of people. It happened once to Rabbi Akiva in a synagogue (Tanchuma item 15 on our verse) that the sages called upon him to read publicly from the Torah scroll, i.e. to accept an aliyah. He declined the honour. When his students asked him why he had declined, quoting that he had taught them a verse in Deuteronomy 30,20, according to which reading from the Torah in public is one of the highest achievements in your life, so how could he refuse such a request? He answered them that indeed this was so, but that he had declined to do so as he had not previously reviewed this particular portion and it would be an insult to the congregation to presume to read to them unprepared as he had been. He should have first gone over that text at least two or three times. He quoted our verse from the Torah as the source of his reticence. If G-d had not addressed the Jewish people before having marshaled His thoughts first, how could he permit himself to do less?

את כל הדברים האלה ALL THESE WORDS — This statement (that God spake all these words) tells us that the Holy One, blessed be He, said all these words in one utterance, something that is impossible to a human being to do — to speak in this manner. Now if this be so, why does Scripture again say the first two Commandments, אנכי and לא יהיה לך? But the explanation is that He repeated and expressly uttered each of these two commandments by itself (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:1:1).

But if he does not fulfill them he does not receive . . . This applies when it is not a time of [Hashem’s] anger. But in a time of anger, Hashem punishes for any mitzvah that is not fulfilled. This is evident from Menachos 41a; see there.

We are told in Menachot 41 that an angel criticised Rabbi Ketinah for not having Tzitzit on his nighgown. The latter retorted angrily: "since when does Heaven punish a person for sins of omission?" The angel told him that at a time when a person is being judged for other errors even sins of omission are also accounted against him. We learn from here that ordinarily a person is not punished for neglecting to observe a positive commandment. G'd indicated here that when He exacts retribution this will also include the positive commandments in the Ten Commandments, i.e. the commandment to believe in Him, to observe the Sabbath by sanctifying it, as well as the commandment to honour father and mother. The words וידבר אלוקים are a reminder that the attribute of Justice deals with both positive and negative commandments.

את כל הדברים האלה, according to Rashi, G-d uttered all these words as a single utterance, something no human being is able to do. If so, why did He repeat the first two commandments a second time? The second time He spelled out each of these commandments separately word by word. This explains why the first two commandments were written in direct speech whereas parts of the remainder were written in indirect speech. The Israelites found it too overwhelming to have to listen to all of this without collapsing, and this is why they interrupted by asking Moses to act as their go between, as related by Moses in verse 16. They had been literally afraid of dying before hearing the end of the commandments.(Rashi bases himself on the Mechilta on our portion) According to the Talmud in tractate Makkot folio,24, the last 8 commandments were each addressed to the Israelites one by one and relayed to the people by Moses. This is hinted at by the numerical value of the letters in the word תורה in the line: תורה צוה לנו משה, “Moses commanded the Torah to us.” The combined numerical value of the word Torah is 611, the other two commandments of the 613 commandments had been communicated to the people by G-d directly, without an interpreter. This interpretation seems reasonable as a close look at the first two commandments creates the impression that the author was speaking about Himself, as opposed to the third and fourth commandment which sound as if the author is addressing an audience, although referring to Himself in the third person. According to Rashi’s commentary, all of the commandments were spoken twice, once by G-d and once by Moses.

לאמר lit., TO SAY — This expression teaches us that they answered to that which required the reply “Yea” (אנכי) by “Yea” and to that which required the reply “Nay” (לא יהיה) by “Nay” (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:1:1).

Why does the Torah repeat: “I am Hashem” and “You must not have”. . . Rashi means as follows: Since they were all said in one utterance, why does it say in Tehillim 62:12: “Elohim spoke one utterance, and I heard two”? This implies that only “I am Hashem” and “You must not have” were said in one utterance, but actually all of them were said in one utterance. Rashi answers, “Because He explicitly repeated. . .” Rashi is saying that they all were said in one utterance, but when Hashem repeated [i.e., explained] them we heard only [the first] two directly from Him. The rest were repeated by Moshe.

When the Torah writes: את כל הדברים, this is a reminder that one cannot accept Torah piecemeal. Anyone who accepts all of the Torah's commandments bar one is considered as having rejected the whole Torah (Bechorot 30).

“Yes” to a positive command. . . Rashi is answering the question: Wherever וידבר is written it always speaks in general, while לאמר introduces the specifics. But here, the specifics are clearly stated: “All these words.” If so, why does it say לאמר afterward? Perforce, to teach us [that they replied “Yes. . .”]. (Re”m)

I have explained in my introduction to פרשת בראשית that when G'd speaks in His capacity as אלוקים, He utters words which are so exalted that a human mouth cannot utter these words or comprehend them. I postulated that the entire Ten Commandments were a single utterance. There were many such utterances by G'd in His capacity as אלוקים during the directives He gave while creating the universe. We may therefore view the revelation at Mount Sinai and the Ten Commandments as a re-enactment of the creation of the universe.

The word לאמור will become intelligible when we examine the format of the Ten Commandments. You will find that sometimes G'd addresses the Jewish people directly, whereas other times, such as in the latter half of verse seven, He speaks of them in the third person, i.e. "the Lord will not hold him guiltless, etc." We find that in the middle of the Sabbath legislation G'd switches from direct speech to "for the Lord created the Heavens and the earth and all that is found therein during six days and rested on the seventh day, etc." Why did G'd switch to indirect speech in those instances?

We have been told in Makkot 24 that Israel was able to comprehend the first two commandments, i.e. their capacity to understand G'd's utterances was enhanced during the time it took to hear this part. Nonetheless, according to the Midrash Shir Hashirim Rabbah section five, the Israelites' souls departed from them when G'd spoke and came to that part and they could not understand anymore. According to the Midrash the remainder of the Ten Commandments remained engraved in fire on top of Mount Sinai until G'd had revived the Israelites with the dew of life. These words then addressed themselves to each one of the Israelites. It is clear then why the first two commandments remained engraved in direct speech, G'd Himself having addressed the Israelites directly. From that point onwards G'd's voice must be perceived as speaking through an angel. It was an angel who said: "it is a Sabbath for the Lord your G'd," or "for during six days He created Heaven and earth, etc.," or "this is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath, etc." G'd's voice was not able to say "it is a Sabbath for Me, etc., or I have made Heaven and earth."

While it is true that the sages in Makkot 23 say that Moses addressed the remaining eight commandments to the people, it is possible that while Moses was able to understand the entire utterance of G'd, he added his voice to that of the angel so that the Israelites heard these eight commandments from the angel and Moses simultaneously. It is quite possible that when we were told in 19,19 that Moses would speak and G'd would respond this was a reference to Moses telling the Israelites the last eight commandments. You will find a comment in Shir Hashirim Rabbah on ישקני מנשיקות פיהו (Song of Songs 1,2), according to which every single utterance was standing on top of each Israelite asking him to be accepted by him. The Israelite would respond positively in each instance. Following this the utterance would embrace and kiss the Israelite and decorate him by placing a crown on his head. If that were so, the word לאמור at the beginning of the Ten Commandments would be amply justified. The words את כל הדברים would allude to the reinforced power of G'd's voice who uttered the entire paragraph as a single utterance. G'd's giving His voice this added power enabled the words themselves to carry on communicating themselves to the Israelites after they had been revived.

There is another element to the meaning of the word לאמור here, similar to the meaning of Deut. 26,18: וה׳ האמירך, i.e. that there was a mutual bond being created between the Israelites and G'd by their acceptance of the Ten Commandments.

We have learned in Tanchuma Toldot that G'd does not associate His name with a person who is still alive because it would be unseemly if such a person were later to become a heretic We know this from Job 15,15 where G'd is described as not even placing His faith in the angels. This was the only reason G'd did not describe Himself as the G'd of Abraham while the latter was still alive. If G'd had not added the word לאמור in our verse it would have appeared as if He associated His name with all of the Jewish people the moment He said: "I am the Lord your G'd, etc." The reason G'd made the Israelites hear His amplified voice was in order to discipline them and to remove the residual pollutants they still suffered from as a result of Adam's sin. Once they were free of this זוהמא, this pollutant, the Israelites became fit to hear G'd's voice and G'd could justify associating His name with the people of Israel.

According to Shabbat 88 where we are told that the Israelites' souls departed from them when they heard the first two commandments, G'd justified associating His name with them as they were no longer alive in the ordinary sense of the word.

Another meaning of the word לאמור is that it refers to secondary messages not spelled out in the text of the actual Ten Commandments. Some of these were in the nature of general rules, others in the form of allusions. We may also perceive the two commandments G'd addressed to the Israelites while they enjoyed a heightened ability to hear and comprehend as the basic roots of all commandments, i.e. the positive and the negative commandments. The commandment commencing with the word אנכי is the basic example of all positive commandments, whereas the commandment commencing with the words לא יהיה לך is the root of all negative commandments. This was the reason G'd was so anxious that all the Israelites should both hear and comprehend these two commandments directly from His mouth. Having heard these commandments from the mouth of G'd would be insurance against the Torah ever being uprooted totally from the Jewish people.