Pemikiran Yahudi Kejadian 18:18: Akeidat Yitzchak

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.

While it is a truism that G'ds love for man preceded man's love for Him,- since without the ability to recognise certain truths man could never hope to become a servant of the Lord,- such demonstration of G'ds love for man did not prejudice man's freedom of choice. When we read in Genesis 18, 18, "I have loved him...so that he will command his sons and his household after him to observe the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice," G'd means that He has created man in a manner that would insure that man would instruct his offspring to observe traditional values. By the same token, however, man has also been equipped in a manner that enables him to reject the ways of G'd so that he can enjoy true freedom of choice.

This reasoning is based on Kohelet 10,17. "hail to the country whose king is truly free," meaning that the king is obedient to the Torah's commandments, and humbles himself before G'd, as is explicitly required of him. (Deut. 17,18-19) "When he sits on the throne, he must write for himself a copy of the Torah, which shall reside with him, and in which he shall read throughout his lifetime in order to revere the Lord His G'd, to keep all the commandments of this Torah and all its statutes to carry them out, so that his heart shall not become haughty above his brethren and so that he will not depart from the commandments of this Torah either to the right or to the left; in order that his reign should be long; both his and that of his sons." In other words, the Torah tells us that the king is truly free when he does not give in to the temptation to amass women, money and horses. His freedom is due to his attitude towards his Master (G'd) being similar to the attitude of his subjects towards him. We find throughout the Bible that ministers are referred to as "servants of the king." The more dedicated to the service of the king, the more truly free is the minister in question. For this reason, alternate descriptions of such ministers are chorey Yehudah, "the freemen of Yehudah." (compare Jeremiah 27,20) This is also the meaning of Psalms 116,16, "G'd, when I am Your servant, I Your servant, the son of Your handmaid, then You have truly loosened my bonds." David says that his bonds have been loosened by his having become G'ds servant. The Jewish nation's stature as a princess amongst the nations of the world, flows directly from its subservience to its G'd. (Deut. 26, 17-18) "You have acknowledged G'd this day...and the Lord in turn has acknowledged you." Our greatness is due to our having enthroned G'd as our Sovereign. There are four areas in which subservience to G'd has to express itself. 1) Since everyone has a tendency to want to be his own master, irrespective of the benevolence of any authority he may find himself under, the Torah states that "you have expressed the wish that the Lord be with you." (26,17) 2) Man does not like to be thought of as a carbon copy of someone else, nor to imitate someone else, robot like. He feels that by doing that he deprives himself of all originality and that he will never be thought of as an independent individual. Man desires to receive credit for action stemming from his own initiative. The book of Kohelet is full of emphasis of the originality of its author's thinking. "I thought," "I did," I concluded" etc. The desire to "do one's own thing," is so natural that already the Torah refers to it. (Deut 29,18) "For in the autonomy of my heart I will walk." When these tendencies are given up voluntarily by our following the ways of the Lord, (26,17) this is a further expression of the true freedom found in disciplining oneself by recognising the superior wisdom of the Lord. It is not our task to boast about our own way of life, but we are to pursue a way of life in accordance with G'ds instructions. When we read in Genesis 18,18, about Abraham commanding his descendants to perform acts of righteousness, this transforms what would otherwise have been a spontaneous act, an impulsive gesture, into a way of life that serves as a model for the Jew. Denying oneself pork should not stem from a distaste for the product, but should be rooted in G'ds injunction. (Torat Kohanim 9, Parshat Kedoshim) Similarly, in the confession we recite when we offer the tithes for the poor, (Deut 26,14) we emphasize "I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my G'd, and have done all You have commanded me." 3) It is natural for man not to accept suggestions, instructions etc., when these suggestions do not make sense to him. A classic example is that of Yoav, David's commander-in-chief, who was ordered to conduct a headcount of men eligible for army service. He reacted by demanding a reason for this order, (seeing it was contrary to Torah law) Yoav never carried out the full task, and was involved in what must be considered intentional inaccuracies, (compare different results given in Samuel II chapter 24 and Chronicles I chapter 21) Yoav also failed to count the tribes of Levi and Benjamin. Presumably, lack of adequate performance stemmed from lack of interest in a task that seemed senseless and even counterproductive in Yoav's eyes. When the Torah demands obedience also to statutes that defy our understanding, it says "and to observe His statutes, commandments and social laws," to emphasize that it is the source of the instructions that matter, not their content. 4) Lastly, there are things which run counter to human instinct, and which if performed are seen as inviting hazards to one's health or one's property. A case in point, is the outrage expressed by Navot, when king Achav wants him to trade his ancestral vineyard. In all such situations, the Torah stresses "and listen to His voice," meaning that even when the instructions are completely contrary to our instincts, our freedom expresses itself when we discipline ourselves to listen to G'ds wishes. In these four ways we crown G'd as king over ourselves. But, more than anything, in this way G'd crowns us as king over the remainder of the nations. "To place you supreme over all the nations." (26,17) This latter promise goes beyond the one when Israel became the Lord's "precious nation and holy people" at Mount Sinai. The part of the verse saying "to walk in His ways and to observe His statutes," is part of the covenant in return for which Israel was promised to be the highest ranking nation. This makes the Jewish people custodian of "the way of the Lord,," something not entrusted to anyone else. In Psalms 147,19, G'd is described as "He reveals His words to Jacob, His statutes and social laws to Israel,...He has not done so to any other nation." David described the nature of the mutual covenant there.