Pemikiran Yahudi Ulangan 4:12: Akeidat Yitzchak, Derekh Hashem, Derashot HaRan & Duties

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.

The prophecy of [all of] Israel at the giving of the Torah: Behold just as all of the prophets grasped the image of [God's] glory that was formed for them, as we mentioned, and grasped the secret of the image and its content - meaning, the secret of the existence of this matter that the glory be illustrated, and how this would be brought down and what the intention was of all this - and would grasp secrets of His greatness, may He be blessed, through this image; so too would they grasp the truth of the thing that He, may He be blessed, has no image at all and that this image was only made for the eyes of the prophet according to His will, may He be blessed, for the reason that is known to Him. And it was stated to Israel about this thing (Deuteronomy 4:12), "And you did not see a picture, but rather a voice"; and likewise (Deuteronomy 4:15), "for you did not see any picture." As behold that they truly grasped two things: They first grasped that there is no image at all whatsoever to His existence, may He be blessed, and that He is completely devoid of any likenesses. And after this information, a certain prophetic picture was also revealed to them, about which it was stated (Exodus 24:10), "And they saw the God of Israel, etc." And the Sages, may their memory be blessed, called this (Sifrei Bamidbar 103), a vision of speech. For it does not truly show [God's] glory, but is rather a vision that is formed by the power of speech - which is like the image that is formed with the lens that we mentioned before. For through it, we may grasp specific matters about the secrets of His divinity, may He be blessed, His creation and His direction [of the world], as we have explained.

And "Only take heed to yourselves and heed your souls exceedingly" is stated in yet another connection, viz., the conclusion (Deuteronomy 4:12): "…but you saw no form, only a voice," and, similarly (Ibid 15): "and heed your souls exceedingly, for you saw no form…" The connotations of "Only take heed to yourselves and heed your souls exceedingly" and "And heed your souls exceedingly" are the same. It is as if one were to say to his neighbor: "Take great care lest you fall into the hole that you are in danger of falling into." This is the intent of the aforementioned phrases. That is: In the beginning it was stated: "For where is there a nation so great whose god is so close to it as the L-rd our G-d in all our callings to Him?" Now one might be caused to err by this and to impute some link or bond to the Blessed One and so come to attribute to His Divinity some corporeal elements. For this reason it is stated: though you witness this [G-d's closeness to you] always, take heed to yourselves, and heed your souls exceedingly, lest you forget that exalted encounter in which the Blessed One came closer to His creations than He had ever come before or than He will ever come thereafter, and still, this did not result in your witnessing any form that you could attribute to Him (for He does not have one); but you heard only "a voice of words" alone, which was a created voice [and not a voice emanating from G-d Himself].