Chasidut su Esodo 19:10
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֤ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה֙ לֵ֣ךְ אֶל־הָעָ֔ם וְקִדַּשְׁתָּ֥ם הַיּ֖וֹם וּמָחָ֑ר וְכִבְּס֖וּ שִׂמְלֹתָֽם׃
Indi il Signore disse a Mosè: Va al popolo, e fa ch’essi si santifichino oggi e domani, e si lavino le vesti.
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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Kedushat Levi
Moses had lived in an atmosphere so different from that of his people, being attached to G’d, whereas his people were mired in the deepest mud of an apparently hopeless purely physical existence, that while he was consumed with fear and awe of G’d, they were forever consumed with fear and awe of Pharaoh. Moses was forever consumed with the knowledge of the greatness of the Creator, observing how all the phenomena in the universe meticulously obeyed the will of their Creator, that he could not understand how the people would fail to believe the words of the Creator to him that He would redeem them from their misery. The gulf between Moses’ and the people’s relations to G’d is best demonstrated in Exodus 19,21 when G’d told Moses to go down from the Mountain and to warn the people once more not to approach too closely to the edge of the Mountain. He had done so already once, and could not imagine that anyone would require a second warning that their lives would be in danger if they disobeyed. He told G’d (verse 23) that the people could not disobey Him seeing that they had been warned already. Similarly, he could not imagine that having told the people in His name that He would forthwith take them out of Egypt that they would not believe the message. Having been challenged by the people with the words: “may G’d judge who of us is more righteous, we who do not believe the tidings or you who insists that in spite of an initial reverse G’d is true and will keep His word,” (Exodus 5,21) he turned to G’d in frustration at the lack of faith by the Jewish people. [not because he did not believe G’d’s promise. Ed.] Moses could simply not understand that there is a human being who could doubt the word of G’d.
When Moses asked G’d a question which sounded as if he himself had developed doubts about the success of his mission, the real thrust of his words was: “why did You, G’d give the people such a strong evil urge that that they do not believe Your promise?” The Talmud, B’rachot 32, using somewhat different words, uses a similar approach in interpreting Moses’ question. In the above cited question, Moses also added that he, personally, could not stand having to watch his people’s misery for another minute, so that he failed to see why G’d had sent him at a time when the people were clearly not ready to be redeemed seeing that they lacked the necessary merit.
When Moses asked G’d a question which sounded as if he himself had developed doubts about the success of his mission, the real thrust of his words was: “why did You, G’d give the people such a strong evil urge that that they do not believe Your promise?” The Talmud, B’rachot 32, using somewhat different words, uses a similar approach in interpreting Moses’ question. In the above cited question, Moses also added that he, personally, could not stand having to watch his people’s misery for another minute, so that he failed to see why G’d had sent him at a time when the people were clearly not ready to be redeemed seeing that they lacked the necessary merit.
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