Chasidut su Esodo 14:7
וַיִּקַּ֗ח שֵׁשׁ־מֵא֥וֹת רֶ֙כֶב֙ בָּח֔וּר וְכֹ֖ל רֶ֣כֶב מִצְרָ֑יִם וְשָׁלִשִׁ֖ם עַל־כֻּלּֽוֹ׃
Prese seicento cocchi eletti oltre a tutti gli altri cocchi d’Egitto; e tutti portavano forti guerrieri.
Kedushat Levi
Exodus 19,9.“and they will also have enduring faith in you.” Rashi understands the word: וגם, “and also,” as referring to the people having faith in the prophets in future generations.
I believe, that this conforms to what Nachmanides has written in his commentary on Parshat Mishpatim on Exodus 23,20, commencing with:הנה אנכי שולח מלאך לפניך...ועשית כל אשר דבר אליך, “Here I shall send an angel ahead of you and you shall do all that I will tell you to do,” to tell us that “you must not listen and do what the angel (prophet) tells you unless it conforms to what I tell you,” i.e. you must not listen to prophets when they tell you to violate any of the commandments G’d has revealed in the Torah. The word בך “within you,” are the key to understanding this verse. [The difficulty appears to be also the word לעולם, which normally is understood to mean “forever,” but is a term that cannot be applied in that sense to mortal human beings. Ed.] The Torah hints that if and when future prophets will tell the people what to do and this conforms to what Moses during his lifetime had told them to do, then the people’s faith in such prophets will be not only justified but they are commanded to obey such prophets. Rashi hints at this with the word אחריך, “after you,” which in his commentary is not to be understood as a time frame, i.e. after Moses has died, but as a reference to prophets who would “take after you,” i.e. teach the same Torah without perverting any of it. The Israelites’ duty to have faith in prophets after Moses’ death, is contingent on the loyalty of these prophets to Moses’ Torah.
If we need to look for proof that this interpretation of the word אחריך, is linguistically correct, the Talmud B’rachot 61 refers us to Judges 13,11 וילך מנוח אחרי אשתו, normally translated as “Manoach walked behind his wife,” instead it translates it as “Manoach followed the advice of his wife.” Similarly, here, the Jewish people are to follow that advice of their outstanding leader Moses during all future generations, i.e. לעולם.
Incidentally, we find that in the Zohar the מצות are also referred to as עצות when the author speaks of עיתין דאורייתא, “the Torah’s suggestions.” [I have found עיטין in the Zohar 7 times, only as describing either good or bad advice, never as referring to the Torah. Ed.]
In Maimonides’ hilchot Temurah, near the end, the author the author refers to his having interpreted the word שלישים in Exodus 14,7, normally translated as “captains” to refer to advisors, experts, men who recognize the truth, מועצות. Prophets who do not hand down to their people their true tradition and urge them to abandon some of the laws of the Torah could certainly not qualify for the term “prophet.”
What we have written answers the question asked by many how a “prophet” who performs a miracle or more than one miracle to legitimize himself in the eyes of the people could have been allowed to do so by G’d? The answer is simple. The Torah commands us not to believe the “prophet” on the basis of any so-called miracles he performs unless he does not suggest that the people do anything that contradicts what is their collective tradition since the time of Moses.
The Torah repeats this theme in greater details in Deuteronomy 13,1-5.
The author proceeds now to explain the word לעולם according to a method of exegesis he calls: דרך חדוד אמת.
The Talmud Yevamot 90 states, and this is accepted as a halachically valid conclusion by Maimonides in his introduction to his monumental work Mishneh Torah in the section entitled yessodey hatorah, “fundamental principles of the Torah,” (chapter 9,2) that if a prophet commands violation of a negative Biblical commandment temporarily, when circumstance demand this, as for instance when the prophet Elijah offered sacrifices on Mount Carmel after repairing a defunct altar in violation of the commandment that the only place where this may be done is in the Temple in Jerusalem, the people are not only permitted to obey his command but are obligated to do so on pain of the death penalty. The same principle does not hold true when said prophet commands, even temporarily, to violate a positive commandment of the Torah. Positive commandments of the Torah are never to be abolished, not even temporarily. This is what G’d had in mind when He had Moses write in the Torah that the people would have faith in Moses as a prophet, לעולם, “forever,” (for want of a better word.).
I believe, that this conforms to what Nachmanides has written in his commentary on Parshat Mishpatim on Exodus 23,20, commencing with:הנה אנכי שולח מלאך לפניך...ועשית כל אשר דבר אליך, “Here I shall send an angel ahead of you and you shall do all that I will tell you to do,” to tell us that “you must not listen and do what the angel (prophet) tells you unless it conforms to what I tell you,” i.e. you must not listen to prophets when they tell you to violate any of the commandments G’d has revealed in the Torah. The word בך “within you,” are the key to understanding this verse. [The difficulty appears to be also the word לעולם, which normally is understood to mean “forever,” but is a term that cannot be applied in that sense to mortal human beings. Ed.] The Torah hints that if and when future prophets will tell the people what to do and this conforms to what Moses during his lifetime had told them to do, then the people’s faith in such prophets will be not only justified but they are commanded to obey such prophets. Rashi hints at this with the word אחריך, “after you,” which in his commentary is not to be understood as a time frame, i.e. after Moses has died, but as a reference to prophets who would “take after you,” i.e. teach the same Torah without perverting any of it. The Israelites’ duty to have faith in prophets after Moses’ death, is contingent on the loyalty of these prophets to Moses’ Torah.
If we need to look for proof that this interpretation of the word אחריך, is linguistically correct, the Talmud B’rachot 61 refers us to Judges 13,11 וילך מנוח אחרי אשתו, normally translated as “Manoach walked behind his wife,” instead it translates it as “Manoach followed the advice of his wife.” Similarly, here, the Jewish people are to follow that advice of their outstanding leader Moses during all future generations, i.e. לעולם.
Incidentally, we find that in the Zohar the מצות are also referred to as עצות when the author speaks of עיתין דאורייתא, “the Torah’s suggestions.” [I have found עיטין in the Zohar 7 times, only as describing either good or bad advice, never as referring to the Torah. Ed.]
In Maimonides’ hilchot Temurah, near the end, the author the author refers to his having interpreted the word שלישים in Exodus 14,7, normally translated as “captains” to refer to advisors, experts, men who recognize the truth, מועצות. Prophets who do not hand down to their people their true tradition and urge them to abandon some of the laws of the Torah could certainly not qualify for the term “prophet.”
What we have written answers the question asked by many how a “prophet” who performs a miracle or more than one miracle to legitimize himself in the eyes of the people could have been allowed to do so by G’d? The answer is simple. The Torah commands us not to believe the “prophet” on the basis of any so-called miracles he performs unless he does not suggest that the people do anything that contradicts what is their collective tradition since the time of Moses.
The Torah repeats this theme in greater details in Deuteronomy 13,1-5.
The author proceeds now to explain the word לעולם according to a method of exegesis he calls: דרך חדוד אמת.
The Talmud Yevamot 90 states, and this is accepted as a halachically valid conclusion by Maimonides in his introduction to his monumental work Mishneh Torah in the section entitled yessodey hatorah, “fundamental principles of the Torah,” (chapter 9,2) that if a prophet commands violation of a negative Biblical commandment temporarily, when circumstance demand this, as for instance when the prophet Elijah offered sacrifices on Mount Carmel after repairing a defunct altar in violation of the commandment that the only place where this may be done is in the Temple in Jerusalem, the people are not only permitted to obey his command but are obligated to do so on pain of the death penalty. The same principle does not hold true when said prophet commands, even temporarily, to violate a positive commandment of the Torah. Positive commandments of the Torah are never to be abolished, not even temporarily. This is what G’d had in mind when He had Moses write in the Torah that the people would have faith in Moses as a prophet, לעולם, “forever,” (for want of a better word.).
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Baal Shem Tov
"Make an opening (tzohar) in the ark (teivah)" (Genesis 6:16) --My grandfather, the Baal Shem Tov, may he rest in Eden, illuminated this passage. He said that teivah actually means 'word', and the meaning of making an opening for the word is that you should be careful to bring light into the words that come from your lips. The verse continues: "Make bottom and second and third floors." This seems to be what my grandfather related to me, saying that in every word are worlds, souls, and divinities. This is what is meant by teivah, speech, which also has at its most basic level worlds. The second level is also known as mishneh, secondary, which has the same letters as neshamah, soul - this is the level of souls. And the third level (shelishim) is divinities, which is hinted at in the verse (Exodus 14:7), "Officers (shalishim) [ruling] over all of them," like the Divine who rules over all things. All of these levels you should "Make" - the speech and the word coming out of your mouth should have this intention and be in complete faithfulness, knowing that in each act of speech there are bottom and second and third levels, the worlds, souls and divinities --- Understand this!
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Kedushat Levi
While the Israelites were in Egypt they had not attained more than the first virtue (attribute) i.e. אמונה, “faith,” as the Torah testifies in Exodus 4,31ויאמן העם, “The people possessed faith.”
We have already explained that the feet (legs) symbolize faith and that is why at the Exodus, (12,37) the Torah describes the Jewish people leaving Egypt by referring to them as כשש מאות אלף רגלי, “approximately 600,000 pairs of feet.” The other virtues that the Israelites did not yet possess at the time of the Exodus, they would acquire at the “foot” of Mount Sinai, seven weeks later, at the time when G’d gave them the Torah. This progress of the Israelites’ spiritual development is hinted at in the details with which the Torah describes the Passover offering. The sequence of the words: ראשו על כרעיו ועל קרבו, suggests that at that time the virtues other than faith, כרעיו, were still as hidden as are the entrails. When we keep this in mind, we can understand a statement in the Talmud Menachot 65, where the verse וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת, ”you shall count for yourselves starting from the day after the Sabbath,” is understood to refer to the day after the first day of the Passover festival. This contradicts the interpretation of the Sadducees who understood the word השבת in that verse as referring literally to the first Sabbath day during that festival.
We have already explained that the feet (legs) symbolize faith and that is why at the Exodus, (12,37) the Torah describes the Jewish people leaving Egypt by referring to them as כשש מאות אלף רגלי, “approximately 600,000 pairs of feet.” The other virtues that the Israelites did not yet possess at the time of the Exodus, they would acquire at the “foot” of Mount Sinai, seven weeks later, at the time when G’d gave them the Torah. This progress of the Israelites’ spiritual development is hinted at in the details with which the Torah describes the Passover offering. The sequence of the words: ראשו על כרעיו ועל קרבו, suggests that at that time the virtues other than faith, כרעיו, were still as hidden as are the entrails. When we keep this in mind, we can understand a statement in the Talmud Menachot 65, where the verse וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת, ”you shall count for yourselves starting from the day after the Sabbath,” is understood to refer to the day after the first day of the Passover festival. This contradicts the interpretation of the Sadducees who understood the word השבת in that verse as referring literally to the first Sabbath day during that festival.
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