Commentaire de citation sur Les Psaumes 19:11

Solomon also addresses apparent contradictions which man could expect if he were to make Torah-principles his sole guidelines such as giving charity generously. He explains that contrary to human logic “giving” does not impoverish the giver but enriches him (Proverbs 11,24). A similar thought is voiced in Proverbs 28,27 i.e. “he who gives to the poor will not be in need.” It is important to realize that all such parables need to be based on life’s experiences, matters man experiences with one or more of his five senses. Unless the parable is something with which we are familiar it cannot hope to achieve its purpose, i.e. to convey the moral lesson it is meant to convey. The meaning of this statement is also that just as the body derives physical gratification from the consumption of honey, so the soul derives spiritual gratification from the absorption of words of wisdom. This is one of the meanings of Exodus 24,11: “they saw G’d and ate and drank.” In other words, just as eating and drinking provided physical gratification, so a vision of the divine provides man with spiritual gratification. One of the reasons Moses could spend 40 days on Mount Sinai going without bread or water, i.e. physical food, was that the divine visions he beheld during that time did more for his soul, his spiritual essence, than even the vision described as being had by the אצילי בני ישראל, ‘the nobles of Israel” in Exodus 24,11. Moses drew on this spiritual food-reservoir for practically 120 days seeing that the brief time he spent in the camp between his three sojourns on the mountain amounted to less than a full day each time. [The author had already explained the logic that if physical food which originally derived from the celestial regions can sustain our bodies on earth, then spiritual food, i.e. food at its source, not diluted by various detours before it reaches man, such as soil, trees, etc., would most certainly not do any less for the person absorbing it. In our day and age the best illustration is probably to compare that celestial, “pure” food to patients on earth who have to be fed intravenously. These patients do not suffer by their food by-passing the mouth, the stomach, and the intestines which are the body’s primary organs for food intake. Ed.]
The author demonstrates that when Moses ascended the mountain on the first of Elul (the third time) this was a Monday so that his return on Yom Kippur occurred on Thursday. This is why the sages determined that courts were to sit on Mondays and Thursdays of each week. This is the allegorical meaning of the words דרשו ה' בהמצאו, “seek out the Lord when He is liable to be found” (Isaiah 55,6). The days which have proved particularly propitious are Mondays and Thursdays. The commandment to construct the Tabernacle was issued on the morrow of Yom HaKippurim, hence this is where our portion begins.

Everything you cherish they will put in their hands and take. Were not the first [things] cherished things? What, then, is the meaning of “[everything] you cherish”? [This means] a treasure within a treasure, referring to the Torah Scroll, about which it is stated, “more desirable than gold, even more than quantities of fine gold.”¹Tehillim 19:11. Achov said to himself, “He demands a great thing, but this is not mine alone; it belongs to the elders of Yisroel.”²He therefore could not give away the Torah without consulting the elders. Therefore, he “called all the elders of the land,”³Below v. 7. for even though they worshiped idols, they honored the Torah.⁴See Maseches Sanhedrin 102b. Despite all his sins, Achov believed in the Torah and refused to give it up. He was ready to go to war if necessary, to defend it. God therefore rewarded him with a reign of 22 years corresponding to the 22 letters of the Alef Beis with which the Torah is written.

And the golden bowl is shattered. These are the words of Torah, as it is stated, “They are to be desired more than gold.”⁴³Tehillim 19:11.

And the light is sweet. The light of Torah is sweet.²²In Tehillim 19:11, Dovid describes the Torah as “sweeter than honey and drippings from the combs.”

Over all her treasures. The Torah scrolls, which are spoken of as, “they are more desirable than gold.”⁴¹Tehilim 19:11. All [the other nations] turned to plunder silver and gold, but they [i.e. Ammon and Mo’av] turned upon the Torah scrolls in order to burn them, because it is written in them, “an Ammonite [or a Mo’avite] shall not enter, etc.”⁴²Devarim 23:4. Concerning whom You commanded,