Chasidut su Esodo 19:19
וַיְהִי֙ ק֣וֹל הַשּׁוֹפָ֔ר הוֹלֵ֖ךְ וְחָזֵ֣ק מְאֹ֑ד מֹשֶׁ֣ה יְדַבֵּ֔ר וְהָאֱלֹהִ֖ים יַעֲנֶ֥נּוּ בְקֽוֹל׃
Il suono (come) di buccina andava facendosi oltremodo forte. Mosè parlava, e Dio rispondevagli ad alta voce.
Mevo HaShearim
Because of all this, he did not sense the mind and will of God only with his mind or emotions but also with his physical senses, as his body had become sanctified, becoming a soul. He would see visions of God and hear the voice of God.200That is, with his physical senses. What is more, from within himself the Master of masters, the Almighty, would speak; as the Sages said about Moses, regarding the verse “ God would reply with a voice,”201Exodus 19:19. JPS translates the Hebrew kol as “thunder.” that is, the voice of Moses.202Vide Jacob Joseph of Polnoye, Toledot Yaakov Yosef, ad locum.
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Kedushat Levi
It is possible, however, to interpret our verse by keeping in mind that Moses’ quality of prophetic visions was superior to that of other prophets. This expressed itself in the rule that whereas other prophets were duty bound to relate the messages they had received in accordance with the way in which they had understood it from G’d without adding, detracting, or changing one iota. People who had heard the message delivered by the prophets were not allowed to alter any part of it. Moses, on the other hand, seeing that G’d’s voice was uttered by his throat, (Zohar III 232) so that people hearing it actually heard G’d’s voice, were understood by the people according to the intellectual capacity of each individual. The word וירד, “He (G’d) descended”, should therefore be translated as “it descended,” i.e. when G’d’s voice was received by the people who “heard” it from Moses’ throat it underwent a “descent,” i.e. it was understood by each individual according to his perceptive powers.
When we understand our verse in this manner the question raised by Tossaphot in B’rachot 45 on the words: (Exodus 19,19) משה ידבר והאלוקים יעננו בקול, usually translated as “Moses would speak and G’d would respond audibly,” can be answered.
[The Talmud there had used this verse to ”prove” that the person who translated every word read by the Reader from the Torah in Hebrew must not raise his voice to a level louder than that of the reader. Assuming our translation of that verse was correct, Tossaphot argue that we should derive the very opposite from this, namely that the Reader should not raise his voice above the level of the translator! Tossaphot, based on Alfassi, attempt some forced explanation. Ed.]
Our author translates the verse simply as telling us that although it appeared to the listener that Moses was speaking, actually seeing that G’d’s voice was speaking through his throat, he was in the position of the translator, i.e. communicating what G’d had already initiated.
When we understand our verse in this manner the question raised by Tossaphot in B’rachot 45 on the words: (Exodus 19,19) משה ידבר והאלוקים יעננו בקול, usually translated as “Moses would speak and G’d would respond audibly,” can be answered.
[The Talmud there had used this verse to ”prove” that the person who translated every word read by the Reader from the Torah in Hebrew must not raise his voice to a level louder than that of the reader. Assuming our translation of that verse was correct, Tossaphot argue that we should derive the very opposite from this, namely that the Reader should not raise his voice above the level of the translator! Tossaphot, based on Alfassi, attempt some forced explanation. Ed.]
Our author translates the verse simply as telling us that although it appeared to the listener that Moses was speaking, actually seeing that G’d’s voice was speaking through his throat, he was in the position of the translator, i.e. communicating what G’d had already initiated.
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Kedushat Levi
Genesis 27,30 “it was that as soon as Yitzchok had concluded blessing Yaakov, etc.;” we need to understand why Yitzchok had not wanted to bestow a blessing on Yaakov, originally. Nachmanides writes: (not found in Torah commentary) that Yitzchok preferred Yaakov to remain unaware of the blessings bestowed upon him. [Perhaps he felt that way seeing that his own father, Avraham, also had not bestowed a blessing upon him, and left it for G’d to do so after he had died. Compare. Genesis 28,4 where Yitzchok makes it plain to Yaakov that he had not received this blessing from his own father. Ed.] This seems difficult to understand. Perhaps we may understand it better in conjunction with what the Talmud B’rachot 45 states that the person translating the public Torah reading must not raise his voice to be louder than the voice of the person reading the Torah from the original scroll. The reader represents G’d, Who has given us the Torah, whereas the translator only represents the reader. The Talmud cites Exodus 19,19 as the source for this ruling. Anyone reading that verse will be astounded, as it sounds as if G‘d, responding to Moses spoke louder than Moses, when repeating what Moses had told Him. (Compare Tossaphot on that folio) However, the point is, as we learned in B’rachot 12, that any benediction that does not contain a reference to G’d as King, is not considered a benediction in the full meaning of the word. Similarly, any benediction which follows immediately after another benediction also does not rank as a (separate) benediction in the full sense of the word so that it does not need to include another reference to G’d as “King”.
It appears that Avraham had a “claim” on the word א-ל as a name of G’d, as G’d uses this name when bestowing acts of loving kindness on His creatures. Yitzchok, on the other hand, had a similar claim on the word אלוקים for G’d, as this name represents Justice or judgment. This is why his son Yaakov in Genesis 31,42 speaks of פחד יצחק “He Who Yitzchok was in awe of and Who assisted me,” when describing Yitzchoks’ G’d.” Yaakov, had a “claim” on the tetragram, i.e. י-ה-ו-ה, the name of G’d representing primarily the attribute of Mercy. In order for the attribute of Justice to be “sweetened” somewhat, it needs to be applied in conjunction with the other two attributes we mentioned.
The Ari z’al said that the word אתה when used in the beginning of each benediction is an allusion to the attribute א-ל, so that when one commences the benediction with the words ברוך אתה י-ה-ו-ה, the word ברוך signifying continuation, or conduit, meaning that G’d continuously dispensing loving kindness by means of both His names אתה א-ל י-ה-ו-ה. Through His continuing to do so, G’d automatically “sweetens,” i.e. softens the impact of the attribute of Justice, the one referred to as אלוקינו in every benediction we pronounce. It follows that when one benediction follows on the heels of another benediction, there having been no prayer or psalm interrupting the two, that there is no need to acknowledge G’d once more as being King, as the full impact of the attribute of Justice has already been softened so that we do not need to appeal to G’d as a benevolent ruler, i.e. King, to soften the attribute of Justice once more.
It appears that Avraham had a “claim” on the word א-ל as a name of G’d, as G’d uses this name when bestowing acts of loving kindness on His creatures. Yitzchok, on the other hand, had a similar claim on the word אלוקים for G’d, as this name represents Justice or judgment. This is why his son Yaakov in Genesis 31,42 speaks of פחד יצחק “He Who Yitzchok was in awe of and Who assisted me,” when describing Yitzchoks’ G’d.” Yaakov, had a “claim” on the tetragram, i.e. י-ה-ו-ה, the name of G’d representing primarily the attribute of Mercy. In order for the attribute of Justice to be “sweetened” somewhat, it needs to be applied in conjunction with the other two attributes we mentioned.
The Ari z’al said that the word אתה when used in the beginning of each benediction is an allusion to the attribute א-ל, so that when one commences the benediction with the words ברוך אתה י-ה-ו-ה, the word ברוך signifying continuation, or conduit, meaning that G’d continuously dispensing loving kindness by means of both His names אתה א-ל י-ה-ו-ה. Through His continuing to do so, G’d automatically “sweetens,” i.e. softens the impact of the attribute of Justice, the one referred to as אלוקינו in every benediction we pronounce. It follows that when one benediction follows on the heels of another benediction, there having been no prayer or psalm interrupting the two, that there is no need to acknowledge G’d once more as being King, as the full impact of the attribute of Justice has already been softened so that we do not need to appeal to G’d as a benevolent ruler, i.e. King, to soften the attribute of Justice once more.
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Kedushat Levi
With trumpets and the voice of the Shofar, sound out before Adonai the King (Psalms 98:6). Let us explain in the manner of parable and metaphor - that of a moral king who traveled to a great forest to amuse himself in hunting animals and birds. He came to a valley in the forest and couldn't find the path straight, true path of the king to return home. He saw villagers in the forest and asked them about the path but they didn't recognize the king and they don't know how to answer him. Because they'd never known the straight, true path of the king! Finally, he found a wise and understanding man and asked him about the path. The wise man understood that this was the king and he became shocked and drew back. He heard him and immediately showed him the path, because in his great wisdom he knew the straight, true path of the king, and he took the king to his palace and sat him down upon his throne. He found favor in the eyes of the king, who lifted him up among the ministers of the kingdom, and dressed him in fine clothing, and appointed him to his treasury. After some time, the man sinned against the king and the king became angry and ordered the highest ministers in the kingdom to judge the man according to his transgressions against the king's commandments. The man suffered much because he knew the judgement would go extremely bad for him, according to the manner that he had sinned against the king. He threw himself down before the king and begged for his life and implored him that before the verdict was passed that he might grant a request in one matter: to dress him in his original clothes that he was wearing at the time he took the king from the woods. The king agreed to do so. And so it was that when he dressed the man in those clothes, the king remembered the great kindness the man did did for him in returning him to his palace and sitting him on his throne. His compassion was stirred and he forgave the sin against him and restored the man to his place. Now this has been a parable: so too with us, the people of the House of Israel - that at the time of the giving of the Torah, the Holy Blessed One offered every nation in every language that they might accept the Torah, but they did not want it. But us, the people of the House of Israel, accepted the Torah with great joy and gladness, and we preceded understanding with action. We accepted upon ourselves the yoke of Heavenly Rule and made it our King over us and accepted God's commandments and holy Torah. And now we have trespassed and rebelled against God. And on Rosh Hashanah, we are afraid of the day of judgement, of the hidden verdict against each person according to their deeds. Therefore, we sound the shofar and dress in the clothes we wore at the time of the giving of the Torah, when we accepted the Torah and raised God as our King with the shofar, as it is written, "the voice of the shofar grew louder," (Exodus 19:19). This is in order that God will remember us according to that merit and forgive us our sins and trespasses and exempt us from judgement and write us for a long, good life, amen, may it be God's will.
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