Chasidut su Esodo 19:20
וַיֵּ֧רֶד יְהוָ֛ה עַל־הַ֥ר סִינַ֖י אֶל־רֹ֣אשׁ הָהָ֑ר וַיִּקְרָ֨א יְהוָ֧ה לְמֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶל־רֹ֥אשׁ הָהָ֖ר וַיַּ֥עַל מֹשֶֽׁה׃
Quando il Signore fu sceso sul monte Sinai, alla cima del monte, il Signore chiamò Mosè alla cima del monte, e Mosè salì.
Mevo HaShearim
As a brief addendum regarding the two types of prophets: when the prophets drew down lights from Beriyah and Yetzirah to this world, they had to also raise up the world of Asiyah so that it could receive these lights. “And God came down on to Mt. Sinai.”230Exodus 19:20. The Talmud (Sukkah 5a) teaches that in fact that divine presence only came within ten handbreadths of the mountain (the Throne descended down further). The physical place [i.e. the mountain] reached high and the throne of glory descended; a drop does not descend from heaven until two arise from the earth.
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Sha'ar HaEmunah VeYesod HaChasidut
It is said of the giving of the Torah (Shemot, 19) that, “God descended on Mount Sinai.” This is as it is said in the Zohar (Yitro, 82a): We have learned that at the time God revealed himself at Mount Sinai, all of Israel saw as one would see with a lantern, and in this light, each one saw even that which the prophet Yehezkel did not see. What is the reason? It is because these supernal voices were revealed as one, according to our explanation of the verse in the account of the giving of the Torah, “all of the people saw the voices.”
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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
Another aspect of why the Torah tells us that Yitzchok chose to stroll in the field, is provided by the additional detail of the time of day when this occurred, i.e. shortly before sunset, i.e. לפנות ערב. Our sages (Pessachim 119) give some examples of how G’d’s viewing matters differs from the way His creatures, human beings, view the same matters. Example: When one of G’d’s creatures suffers a defeat, he reacts by being saddened and becoming depressed. G’d, on the other hand, is overjoyed when one of His creatures prevails in a discussion with Him. When G’d had originally suggested that Moses become a substitute for the Jewish people whom He intended to destroy after the episode with the golden calf, and Moses pointed out to him that this would not be a good idea, as the chances of a new Jewish people with only one founding father, himself, being better than the previous Jewish people who had three founding fathers were very slim, G’d was overjoyed to accept Moses’ argument as superior to His own. (Compare psalms 4,1 where David alludes to this) The Midrash (Tanchuma Ki Tavo 1) takes this thought even further by generalizing that ”G’d issues decrees and the righteous on earth cancel these decrees.”
When G’d was guiding His universe before having created man, He did so all by Himself. He did not need to take into consideration how His creatures would view His actions, i.e. His will reigned supreme. Once He had created free willed human beings, He had to seriously consider how the righteous among them would view His actions. Our sages allude to this when they said: (Bereshit Rabbah 19,7 עקר שכינה בתחתונים, (loosely translated) “G’d’s presence is occupied primarily with His creatures in the ‘lower’ part of the universe,” [i.e. He has to justify Himself to the righteous people on earth. Ed.]
This principle of G’d’s involvement in man’s pursuits not merely being restricted to viewing it from the celestial regions, is documented in Exodus 19,20 וירד ה' על הר סיני, “Hashem descended on Mount Sinai., etc.” What was the reason that G’d saw fit to leave the lofty spheres of heaven? He prepared to act in accordance with what the צדיקים, the righteous expected from Him. Being able to set the minds of His righteous at rest is the greatest satisfaction that G’d, their Creator, can experience.
In our portion, this is alluded to when the Torah describes Yitzchok as meditating in “the field,” or, [in the words of our sages ] “Avraham viewed G’d as ‘a mountain;’ Yitzchok viewed Him as a ‘field,’ whereas Yaakov viewed Him as a ‘house;’ this is why he promised to build a “house for Him.” The tzaddikim learned to become progressively more familiar with G’d. [The anecdotes about our author that are appended to his commentary on the Torah, reflect the fact that the author was no exception to this rule. Ed.] Being able to feel close to G’d, i.e. on the field, enabled Yitzchok, whose very name symbolized joy, laughter, to become more intimate with his Creator. The word שדה is also known as חקל, “(as in חקלאות the pursuit of agriculture.) [The author describes the righteous as being described as שדה חקל, but I have not been able to find the source for this.
When G’d was guiding His universe before having created man, He did so all by Himself. He did not need to take into consideration how His creatures would view His actions, i.e. His will reigned supreme. Once He had created free willed human beings, He had to seriously consider how the righteous among them would view His actions. Our sages allude to this when they said: (Bereshit Rabbah 19,7 עקר שכינה בתחתונים, (loosely translated) “G’d’s presence is occupied primarily with His creatures in the ‘lower’ part of the universe,” [i.e. He has to justify Himself to the righteous people on earth. Ed.]
This principle of G’d’s involvement in man’s pursuits not merely being restricted to viewing it from the celestial regions, is documented in Exodus 19,20 וירד ה' על הר סיני, “Hashem descended on Mount Sinai., etc.” What was the reason that G’d saw fit to leave the lofty spheres of heaven? He prepared to act in accordance with what the צדיקים, the righteous expected from Him. Being able to set the minds of His righteous at rest is the greatest satisfaction that G’d, their Creator, can experience.
In our portion, this is alluded to when the Torah describes Yitzchok as meditating in “the field,” or, [in the words of our sages ] “Avraham viewed G’d as ‘a mountain;’ Yitzchok viewed Him as a ‘field,’ whereas Yaakov viewed Him as a ‘house;’ this is why he promised to build a “house for Him.” The tzaddikim learned to become progressively more familiar with G’d. [The anecdotes about our author that are appended to his commentary on the Torah, reflect the fact that the author was no exception to this rule. Ed.] Being able to feel close to G’d, i.e. on the field, enabled Yitzchok, whose very name symbolized joy, laughter, to become more intimate with his Creator. The word שדה is also known as חקל, “(as in חקלאות the pursuit of agriculture.) [The author describes the righteous as being described as שדה חקל, but I have not been able to find the source for this.
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