Chasidut su Deuteronomio 30:12
לֹ֥א בַשָּׁמַ֖יִם הִ֑וא לֵאמֹ֗ר מִ֣י יַעֲלֶה־לָּ֤נוּ הַשָּׁמַ֙יְמָה֙ וְיִקָּחֶ֣הָ לָּ֔נוּ וְיַשְׁמִעֵ֥נוּ אֹתָ֖הּ וְנַעֲשֶֽׂנָּה׃
Non è in cielo che dovresti dire: 'Chi salirà per noi in cielo, ce lo porterà e ci farà sentire, affinché possiamo farlo?'
Kedushat Levi
(Exodus 19,20) “The Lord descended on Mount Sinai;”
The statement by our sages in B’rachot 5 that the yardsticks we apply to actions of human beings must not be applied when the Torah appears to apply them also to actions by G’d, is well known. The example quoted by the Talmud, describes the average person selling some of his belongings as feeling saddened that circumstances forced him to do so, while the buyer is overjoyed to have come into possession of what had been offered for sale. Not so with G’d. When He “sells” something, both the buyer and the seller rejoice. When G’d “sold” His Torah to Israel, He was happy that He had found someone worthy of receiving that exclusive “merchandise.”
In Baba Metzia 59 there is an interesting statement in connection with an ingenious construction of a certain baking oven, the builders of which had found a way of protecting that oven against contracting ritual pollution. In spite of the fact that Rabbi Eliezer, the outstanding sage of the time, gave his blessing to this oven, the majority of the sages outvoted him and declared it as requiring the same procedures for purification that was required for ordinary ovens if the latter had become polluted. When Rabbi Eliezer invoked support for his opinion from celestial sources and a heavenly voice proclaimed him as being correct in his ruling, the other sages ignored that voice, saying that ever since the Torah had been given to man, i.e. Moses and the Jewish people, heaven no longer had a legal standing in how to interpret it. This is also a practical example of the ability of the righteous to override or reverse heavenly decrees. In the parlance of the sages: צדיק מושל ביראת אלוקים. There is a somewhat enigmatic statement in Moed Katan 16 which reads as follows, based on Samuel II 23,3 (David speaking) אמר אלוקי ישראל לי דבר צור ישראל מושל באדם צדיק מושל יראת אלוקים. On the face of it, the translation would go something like this: “the G’d of Israel has spoken, the Rock of Israel said concerning me; He who rules men justly, He who rules in awe of G’d.”
The Talmud, i.e. Rabbi Abahu after a short discussion, explained the verse as follows: “the Rock of Israel spoke to me, saying: “I rule man.” To the question of who “rules” G’d? David was given the answer: “the tzaddik.” G’d then elaborated by saying that the tzaddik’s “rule,” meant that whereas He, G’d, formulates decrees, the tzadddik by dint of his relationship to G’d, ביראת אלוקים, can reverse it.
Rabbi Abahu may have been inspired by our verse when the Torah describes G’d as “descending” onto Mount Sinai, i.e. as giving us the Torah, this may be understood as Israel, i.e. the elite of Israel, the righteous having scored a victory over “Him.” In commemoration of this the Talmud describes Moses as adding an additional day to the preparations for receiving the Torah (Compare Shabbat 87) Ordinarily, we would have presumed that when G’d decreed two days of preparation i.e. היום ומחר, “today and tomorrow,” (Exodus 19,10) how could Moses arrogate to himself the right to delay the giving of the Torah by an additional day? Does G’d’s subsequent statement that He would descend on the Mountain on the third day not signify that He had accepted Moses’ addition of an extra day of sanctification? (Exodus 19,11)
The answer is that Avraham had observed all the laws of the Torah even in his own lifetime, without the Torah having been revealed to him. (Compare Yuma 25) The Torah had been in existence, according to Pessachim 54 and other midrashim (2000 years) before G’d created the universe and its letters had served G’d as “building blocks” for the universe. If an Avraham could divine the contents of the Torah without having had it revealed to him, Moses felt that if even at this stage the Jewish people could only qualify for the giving of the Torah after segregating themselves from their wives, that in order for the Torah to become firmly ours, so that we could ignore the interference of a heavenly voice if our interpretation of the Torah would be challenged, an extra day of sanctification might ensure this. By being able to do this, we would demonstrate that the Torah is indeed not in heaven, as Moses told the people in Deuteronomy 30,12. When G’d said that He would descend on Mount Sinai only on the third day, He did not mean that He would delay giving the Torah [after all we observe Shavuot on the 6th day of Sivan Ed.] but that the Torah would become truly the property of the Jewish people only on that day. This is also what G’d had meant when He told the people to be prepared “for three days.” (Exodus 19,15)
The statement by our sages in B’rachot 5 that the yardsticks we apply to actions of human beings must not be applied when the Torah appears to apply them also to actions by G’d, is well known. The example quoted by the Talmud, describes the average person selling some of his belongings as feeling saddened that circumstances forced him to do so, while the buyer is overjoyed to have come into possession of what had been offered for sale. Not so with G’d. When He “sells” something, both the buyer and the seller rejoice. When G’d “sold” His Torah to Israel, He was happy that He had found someone worthy of receiving that exclusive “merchandise.”
In Baba Metzia 59 there is an interesting statement in connection with an ingenious construction of a certain baking oven, the builders of which had found a way of protecting that oven against contracting ritual pollution. In spite of the fact that Rabbi Eliezer, the outstanding sage of the time, gave his blessing to this oven, the majority of the sages outvoted him and declared it as requiring the same procedures for purification that was required for ordinary ovens if the latter had become polluted. When Rabbi Eliezer invoked support for his opinion from celestial sources and a heavenly voice proclaimed him as being correct in his ruling, the other sages ignored that voice, saying that ever since the Torah had been given to man, i.e. Moses and the Jewish people, heaven no longer had a legal standing in how to interpret it. This is also a practical example of the ability of the righteous to override or reverse heavenly decrees. In the parlance of the sages: צדיק מושל ביראת אלוקים. There is a somewhat enigmatic statement in Moed Katan 16 which reads as follows, based on Samuel II 23,3 (David speaking) אמר אלוקי ישראל לי דבר צור ישראל מושל באדם צדיק מושל יראת אלוקים. On the face of it, the translation would go something like this: “the G’d of Israel has spoken, the Rock of Israel said concerning me; He who rules men justly, He who rules in awe of G’d.”
The Talmud, i.e. Rabbi Abahu after a short discussion, explained the verse as follows: “the Rock of Israel spoke to me, saying: “I rule man.” To the question of who “rules” G’d? David was given the answer: “the tzaddik.” G’d then elaborated by saying that the tzaddik’s “rule,” meant that whereas He, G’d, formulates decrees, the tzadddik by dint of his relationship to G’d, ביראת אלוקים, can reverse it.
Rabbi Abahu may have been inspired by our verse when the Torah describes G’d as “descending” onto Mount Sinai, i.e. as giving us the Torah, this may be understood as Israel, i.e. the elite of Israel, the righteous having scored a victory over “Him.” In commemoration of this the Talmud describes Moses as adding an additional day to the preparations for receiving the Torah (Compare Shabbat 87) Ordinarily, we would have presumed that when G’d decreed two days of preparation i.e. היום ומחר, “today and tomorrow,” (Exodus 19,10) how could Moses arrogate to himself the right to delay the giving of the Torah by an additional day? Does G’d’s subsequent statement that He would descend on the Mountain on the third day not signify that He had accepted Moses’ addition of an extra day of sanctification? (Exodus 19,11)
The answer is that Avraham had observed all the laws of the Torah even in his own lifetime, without the Torah having been revealed to him. (Compare Yuma 25) The Torah had been in existence, according to Pessachim 54 and other midrashim (2000 years) before G’d created the universe and its letters had served G’d as “building blocks” for the universe. If an Avraham could divine the contents of the Torah without having had it revealed to him, Moses felt that if even at this stage the Jewish people could only qualify for the giving of the Torah after segregating themselves from their wives, that in order for the Torah to become firmly ours, so that we could ignore the interference of a heavenly voice if our interpretation of the Torah would be challenged, an extra day of sanctification might ensure this. By being able to do this, we would demonstrate that the Torah is indeed not in heaven, as Moses told the people in Deuteronomy 30,12. When G’d said that He would descend on Mount Sinai only on the third day, He did not mean that He would delay giving the Torah [after all we observe Shavuot on the 6th day of Sivan Ed.] but that the Torah would become truly the property of the Jewish people only on that day. This is also what G’d had meant when He told the people to be prepared “for three days.” (Exodus 19,15)
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Sha'ar HaEmunah VeYesod HaChasidut
In God’s great mercies, He established Torah scholars in every generation to seek the knowledge of God, and open the gates of Torah knowledge according to the needs of the times. The Zohar (Bo, 2b) quoted above makes mention of this idea, how the prophecy of Yehezkel was suited to the needs of his generation. In the same way God sent a redeemer to Israel, whose splendor was as the Holy One of Israel,136This is a play on words, the Baal Shem Tov, whose name was Israel, was a redeemer for the nation of Israel. our master and teacher, whose name pleasant and whose pleasantness fit his name, Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov. God opened the gates of wisdom, understanding, and consciousness for the Baal Shem Tov. He sought out the knowledge of God’s perfect Torah, and prepared his heart to explicate and discourse on the hidden realms of wisdom. In his days, he managed to bring the sublime secrets of wisdom down into the boundaries of human understanding. He succeeded in making the Torah accessible to the masses of Israel. For the Torah was not given to God’s holy angels, but to the seed of Yaakov whom God had chosen,137This is referring to the famous story in the Talmud that relates and angel’s complaint, when God gave the Torah to Israel. In defence of God’s decision, Moshe asked the angels, “What is written in the Torah? ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt.’ Did you go down to Egypt? Were you enslaved to Pharaoh? Do you worship idols, kill or steal? Why then should the Torah be yours?” From here, concludes the Midrash, we see that the Torah is meant for man, not for angels. In R. Gershon Henokh use of the image, he means to say that even the highest realms of Torah – the secrets of Kabbalah – is meant for the masses, and not merely elite scholars. and it is essential for every soul of Israel to reach everything that is written in the Torah and bring it within the boundaries of his mind’s grasp and knowledge. And even for our generation, a generation of lowly status and little knowledge, did God send him with the perfect language necessary to teach, understand, and come close to even the most sublime of the Torah’s mysteries. The Baal Shem Tov opened up an inner gate that had been closed until his days. He opened it before the entire community of Yaakov, for the Torah is not in Heaven,138See Devarim 30:12. BT Bava Meziah 29b. but the birthright and fiancée139See BT Berachot, 57a: “If one dreams he has intercourse with a betrothed maiden, he may expect to obtain knowledge of Torah, since it says (Devarim 33:4): “Moses commanded us a law [Torah], an inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. Read not morashah [inheritance], but me’orasah [betrothed].” of every Jew. Everyone who seeks God with a full heart will find in the Baal Shem Tov’s words the way of understanding and clear path for the upright in order to understand, discern, hear, learn, teach, guard, perform, and uphold all the words of the Torah.140Weekday morning liturgy, blessing preceding the recitation of the Shema Yisrael. All of the Divine attributes and Sefirot, whether mentioned or hidden, contain the whole order of God’s governance of everything, from the highest heights of the spiritual world down to lowliest of levels, and man is capable of receiving them within the limits of his mind. And all of the events recounted in the Torah are experienced by every one of Israel in every generation, in general and in particular. The Torah is the essential teaching for every Jew to enable him to conduct all his affairs justly.141See Tehillim 112:5. The Baal Shem Tov opened a gate in the brilliant light of the firmament, the holy teachings of the Zohar and the writings of the Arizal, explaining all their words in clear and straightforward language, the language of wisdom. In this way the Divine abundance of the mysteries may drip into the heart of man, so that he may behold God from his very flesh.142See Iyov 19:26. From the days of the Baal Shem Tov and onward, the gate to the garden of God and the paradise of wisdom had been opened, inviting man to enter. From his days, the spring has begun to flow from the House of God,143See Yoel 4:18. and with the passage of time, it only grows stronger and stronger. The Baal Shem Tov established many students, all geniuses and holy servants of God.
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Kedushat Levi
Careful analysis of Yitro’s words will show that he spoke of two separate acts of “saving” the Jewish people. Yitro had heard not only about the physical salvation the Israelites had experienced but also about the manner in which the spirit of the Jewish people, a people downtrodden by many years of slavery, had been transformed in a short space of time to being the most steadfast people, afraid of no human force on earth.
This brings us to another nuance in the exegesis in Shabbat 105 according to which the word אנכי is an acronym for the words אנא נפשי כתבית יהבית, “I Myself have written it and handed it over.” We know that another meaning of the word נפש is רצון, will, desire, as in Genesis 23,8: אם יש את נפשכם, “if it is your desire, etc.” The word אנכי accordingly sums up G’d’s message that by committing the Torah to writing, He had expressed His will, and desire. By handing over this document to the Jewish people, He had authorized them to interpret it and to guide their lives by means of these interpretations.
Upon hearing this daring exegesis some people might consider that G’d had taken a great chance that His people would exploit this authority to pervert the Torah by “being victorious” over Him. The reverse is true, however. G’d is pleased when as a result of our delving more deeply into the hidden parts of the Torah we discover heretofore unknown aspects of it. We have it on the authority of Baba Metzia 59 where in a halachic discussion among the various sages one of them called upon G’d to demonstrate that his opinion was the correct one, and he wanted the wall to collapse to prove this and the wall really began to bend, that the opposing scholar quoted Deuteronomy 30,12 where the Torah is described as not being a possession of heaven, i.e. לא בשמים היא, to stop the wall from falling. A heavenly voice was heard by the people present exclaiming that נצחוני בני מצחוני, “My children have triumphed over Me, My children.” [Students of that episode in the Talmud will find that that there are also other interpretations of that episode. Ed.] Another quotation from the Talmud Pessachim 119 reads as follows: the opening words in psalms 4 למנצח בנגינות מזמור לדוד, translated literally, as “a psalm to the victor by David,” that the point David is making is that whereas in interpersonal relations the loser in a competition is downcast, not so when the contestants are man and G’d respectively. It is G’d’s nature to rejoice in His children having prevailed over Him.” As proof of this interpretation the Talmud there quotes: psalms 106,23 ויאמר להשמידם לולי משה בחירו עמד בפרץ לפניו להשיב חמתו מהשחית, “He had already said that he would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen, confronted Him in the breach to avert His destructive wrath.” This reflects another interpretation on Shabbat 105 where the introductory words of the Ten Commandments are described as אמירה נעימה כתיבה יהבה, (compare page 431) When a son wins a game of chess against his father for the first time, the father derives great satisfaction of having taught his son so well. Similarly, if during a discussion on the meaning of a certain verse in the Torah, the “son,” i.e. one of the Torah scholars, has shown outstanding skill and understanding of the Torah’s deeper meaning, the author, G’d, derives great satisfaction from this.
Coming back to why G’d did not introduce the Ten Commandments with reminding the listeners that He was the Creator and therefore had preceded every other phenomenon in the universe, but stressing that He had taken the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, G’d did so because he wanted to be on record concerning His love for His people. He was certain that by doing this He would reinforce the people’s enthusiasm to serve Him rather than any other so-called deities. By using a play on words [in the Hebrew language, Ed.] our author considers the whole episode between slavery-physical redemption, and now spiritual redemption of the Jewish people, as turning צרה into רצה, “suffering and distress into joy and happiness.” Henceforth the Jewish people are always referred to as G’d’s children [even when errant children, Ed.] This factor is an overriding consideration in our relationship to G’d. This also explains that G’d chooses to “live,” i.e. be at home among the Jewish people after they build a Sanctuary for Him here on earth. If, in spite of this, the Israelites were ever to turn to idolatry, this sin would be ever so much harder to atone for.
This brings us to another nuance in the exegesis in Shabbat 105 according to which the word אנכי is an acronym for the words אנא נפשי כתבית יהבית, “I Myself have written it and handed it over.” We know that another meaning of the word נפש is רצון, will, desire, as in Genesis 23,8: אם יש את נפשכם, “if it is your desire, etc.” The word אנכי accordingly sums up G’d’s message that by committing the Torah to writing, He had expressed His will, and desire. By handing over this document to the Jewish people, He had authorized them to interpret it and to guide their lives by means of these interpretations.
Upon hearing this daring exegesis some people might consider that G’d had taken a great chance that His people would exploit this authority to pervert the Torah by “being victorious” over Him. The reverse is true, however. G’d is pleased when as a result of our delving more deeply into the hidden parts of the Torah we discover heretofore unknown aspects of it. We have it on the authority of Baba Metzia 59 where in a halachic discussion among the various sages one of them called upon G’d to demonstrate that his opinion was the correct one, and he wanted the wall to collapse to prove this and the wall really began to bend, that the opposing scholar quoted Deuteronomy 30,12 where the Torah is described as not being a possession of heaven, i.e. לא בשמים היא, to stop the wall from falling. A heavenly voice was heard by the people present exclaiming that נצחוני בני מצחוני, “My children have triumphed over Me, My children.” [Students of that episode in the Talmud will find that that there are also other interpretations of that episode. Ed.] Another quotation from the Talmud Pessachim 119 reads as follows: the opening words in psalms 4 למנצח בנגינות מזמור לדוד, translated literally, as “a psalm to the victor by David,” that the point David is making is that whereas in interpersonal relations the loser in a competition is downcast, not so when the contestants are man and G’d respectively. It is G’d’s nature to rejoice in His children having prevailed over Him.” As proof of this interpretation the Talmud there quotes: psalms 106,23 ויאמר להשמידם לולי משה בחירו עמד בפרץ לפניו להשיב חמתו מהשחית, “He had already said that he would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen, confronted Him in the breach to avert His destructive wrath.” This reflects another interpretation on Shabbat 105 where the introductory words of the Ten Commandments are described as אמירה נעימה כתיבה יהבה, (compare page 431) When a son wins a game of chess against his father for the first time, the father derives great satisfaction of having taught his son so well. Similarly, if during a discussion on the meaning of a certain verse in the Torah, the “son,” i.e. one of the Torah scholars, has shown outstanding skill and understanding of the Torah’s deeper meaning, the author, G’d, derives great satisfaction from this.
Coming back to why G’d did not introduce the Ten Commandments with reminding the listeners that He was the Creator and therefore had preceded every other phenomenon in the universe, but stressing that He had taken the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, G’d did so because he wanted to be on record concerning His love for His people. He was certain that by doing this He would reinforce the people’s enthusiasm to serve Him rather than any other so-called deities. By using a play on words [in the Hebrew language, Ed.] our author considers the whole episode between slavery-physical redemption, and now spiritual redemption of the Jewish people, as turning צרה into רצה, “suffering and distress into joy and happiness.” Henceforth the Jewish people are always referred to as G’d’s children [even when errant children, Ed.] This factor is an overriding consideration in our relationship to G’d. This also explains that G’d chooses to “live,” i.e. be at home among the Jewish people after they build a Sanctuary for Him here on earth. If, in spite of this, the Israelites were ever to turn to idolatry, this sin would be ever so much harder to atone for.
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