Pensée juive sur Le Cantique des Cantiques 1:2

The above mentioned statement is somewhat surprising, seeing that according to popular tradition Israel had heard all ten of the ten commandments, (from the mouth of G'd) and that the Torah itself states "these are the words G'd spoke to the whole assembly at the Mountain out of the fire." (Deut. 5,18) At that point no distinction is made between the first two and the remaining eight commandments. The Torah also says "G'd spoke to you out of the fire, you heard the sound of words but did not see an image. He told you His covenant which He ordered you to perform; ten words which He wrote on stone tablets." (4,12) In view of this, how can our sages say that only the first two commandments were addressed to Israel directly? (Rambam's and Ramban's answer to these problems are dealt with in the original) What our sages want to tell us is that although all the ten commadments are of basic significance, so much so that all the other commandments are dependent on them, the first two commandments are of such overriding significance because they constitute acceptance by the Jewish people of the authority of Heaven. "Anochi" teaches us that G'd is a completely free agent who does not act under any complulsion and who can turn the suffering of the oppressed into freedom at will. "Lo Yihyeh,” on the other hand, teaches that He has no partners but is unique and in complete charge, independent of any other forces in the universe. That the acceptance of the second principle was not easy, is demonstrated by the difficulty the prophet Elijah had in persuading even the believers that one could not "sit on the fence" regarding the relevance of the baalim. Only complete discreditation of the assembled priests of the Baal finally produced the unequivocal proclamation by the multitude present that "the Lord is G'd," i.e. the only primary force. (Kings I chapter 18) When one reviews chapter twenty four in the book of Joshua, and reads about the excessive severity with which Joshua exhorts the people even after they had confirmed that they would certainly serve G'd, (verses 16-17) one understands the whole chapter better if one views its first half as dealing with the anochi aspect of service to G'd, whereas the second half deals with the lo yihyeh aspect of service of the Lord. Service of the Lord does not automatically lead to abandoning the esteem in which one has held other deities. The fact that the people undertook not to serve the deities of the Emorites, a cult which had so evidently failed to protect its adherents, was equivalent to acceptance of the anochi principle; it is not yet assurance however, that the lo yihyeh principle was also being embraced by the people. Therefore, Joshua continued to insist that their undertaking must include the acceptance of the lo yihyeh principle. The Torah scroll inscribed in stone bore the inscription of the people's undertaking as evidence of the renewal of the original covenant. The special significance of the first two of the ten commandments does not lie then in their being the only ones communicated to the people directly by the mouth of G'd, but in the fundamental nature of their content. Even though there are phrases in which the name of G'd is used in the third person, suggesting that someone else is speaking, ("for the Lord will not exonerate" etc., or "the Lord has made the earth in six days," or "he who uses His name in vain,") this does not prove anything. We have similar constructions in Genesis 18,18, Exodus 3,12, et al. When Moses refers to Israel as having heard "only a voice," this does not mean that they did not hear the words clearly, but rather that the usage is employed in contrast to "image." Their eyes saw no image during the course of the revelation. From the above it appears that the mitzvot as a whole can be divided into three groups regarding their relative significance. 1) The first two of the ten commandments, heard directly from G'd, directed at the whole assembly. 2) The other eight of the ten commandments, heard by the whole people directly, but perceived by them as communicated by a disembodied voice, suggesting an intermediary, although they themselves heard the communication. 3) The remainder of the 613 commandments, which were communicated to the people only via Moses. Since the eight commandments could be included in the group communicated via an intermediary (Moses), our sages have included them in the count of Torah, i.e. 611. The first two commandments had to be considered as a group by itself. Rabbi Hamnuna, who appears to have questioned the count of Rabbi Simlai, based himself on the fact that the two commandments were perceived by a superior means of perception. This is why he calls Moses' commandments "Torah"= 611. Midrash Shir Hashirim 1, relates a dispute between Rabbi Joshua ben Levi and the other sages. The former states that Israel heard the first two commandments min hagevurah, directly from G'd, whereas the latter claim that only after having completed the ten commandments did G'd relate the other commandments via Moses. The background to this difference of opinion is the fact that the Torah reports the people's request "you speak to us and we will listen", (6,23) only after the ten commandments had been reported as all having been revealed. Rabbi Joshua bases himself on the principle that there is no chronological order of events in the Torah, and that therefore the positioning of the people's request as having occurred after the revelation had been complete, is meaningless. The opinion is based on "He kissed me with some of the kisses of His mouth," i.e. since the verse does not refer to Israel as having been kissed with all of G'ds kisses, this is proof that they heard only part of the ten commandments directly from G'd. At any rate, the sages representing the majority view, state that the ten commandments were heard from G'd directly. According to their view, the letter mem in mi-neshikot piy-hoo, "from" the kisses of His mouth, would then refer to the other 603 commandments which Israel heard via Moses according to all opinions. (Song of Songs 1,2) What Rabbi Joshua really wants to tell us is that the first two commandments were heard, as we read in the opening statement of Rabbi Hamnuna according to our view, without there being any form of go between, neither physical nor through any sensory channel. The people's capacity to receive direct signals and to comprehend them was a miracle in effect during the pronouncement of the first two commandments.

In our opening Midrash, Rabbi Meir takes the view that wine, -because it causes confusion of the mind-, is unwholesome. Rabbi Yehudah, on the other hand, holds that far from confusing the mind, wine confers blessings upon those who drink it; it improves the digestion, temperament etc. when consumed in moderation. The Bible is full of quotations attesting to the virtues of wine. As the wine cellar is open to all who wish to buy, so Sinai was open to all who wished to learn Torah, to help them control the urge to let the demands of the flesh dominate, a tendencey that has existed since the first sin in Eden. This is why the Talmud (Yevamot 103) claims that the Israelites who stood at Mount Sinai divested themselves of the impurities ingested by man in Eden, due to the serpent. For this reason too, our sages in Sanhedrin 90, say that all of Israel has a share in the world to come. If the Talmud in Sanhedrin 90, had meant that every Jew, whether religious or secular has eternal life, that would be unfair discrimination against the gentiles, and would make the life of the pious Jew unrewarding. The sinner could then look forward to the same destiny. Also, the second statement in that Mishnah, which lists a number of exclusions to the general rule, would contradict the first statement. Therefore, the correct understanding of the statement is that the term "Israelite" is not applied to someone who is merely of Jewish parentage, but to someone who lives up to the expectations of Judaism. It refers to Jews who live in accordance with the lessons learned at Sinai. Such a person is assured of eternal life. Therefore we understand the word "Israelite" as a righteous person, and conversely, "a righteous person" is an "Israelite." When the Mishnah goes on to adduce scriptural proof for its statement, the quotation "and your people who are all righteous will inherit the earth for all future times," makes perfect sense. We read in Tzefaniah 3,13, "the remnant of Israel will not commit iniquities." This seems to presuppose that it is possible to bear the name Israel, and yet commit all kinds of sins? When Tzefaniah talks about the "remnant" however, he refers to those who, though they share the Jewish tradition, are not necessarily aware of Torah. We see that Moses distinguishes between two sets of Jews. (Deut. 33,4) "Moses commanded us Torah, a hereditary tradition to the community of Jacob." The elite of the people are familiar with Torah and its details; the multitude treasures tradition handed down as such, but without deeper knowledge of same. Acquiring new habits is difficult, unless a satisfactory rationale is provided. Continuing a long established tradition does not make intellectual demands on those who practice them. The men of the great assembly may have been called such, because due to the cessation of activities by the prophets, it fell to their lot to make certain innovations to insure the continuance of Judaism as we know it. They established their claim to fame by three things. (Mishnah Avot 1) They advised moderation in the application of justice, searched for a concensus. 2) They tried to put Torah on a broad base, by enrolling many students in the academies; and once having done these two things, 3) they were able to construct "fences" around Torah, and have those "fences" respected by the people at large. If the interpretation of the Mishnah would be the standard one, i.e. that of "be circumspect before deciding legal matters," a later statement at the end of the chapter, that "justice is one of the pillars of the world," should have appeared before the statement in the name of Shimon Hatzaddik. The latter had been a member of the men of the great assembly, and was also the author of the opening statement of the first Mishnah. Having understood the function of the men of the great assembly, we can now understand the statement of the Talmud in Avodah Zarah 35, which interprets the verse "your friendship is dearer than wine" (Song of Songs 1,1) to mean that the Midrashic interpretations of Torah are dearer to Israel than the original text, even. The general order in which forbidden foods are listed, is such that the intake of animals that the Torah considers as only mildly damaging, is listed first, whereas those foods that the Torah considers as severely harmful to the development of the ideal Jewish personality, are listed later. The very fact that animals which are poisonous, or any plants that are poisonous are omitted in the list, clearly shows that the Torah's concern in this legislation is not our physical health.

"You will not cross over into it," means it is impossible for one lifetime to span the untold generations that G'd showed the mind's eye of Moses.