Halakhah su Genesi 8:25

And of these five senses, two are physical, three are spiritual. We have found them in the Holy One Blessed be He: “And the Lord saw;” “and the Lord heard;” and “the Lord smelled;”³⁷⁹Gen 5:5, Nu 11:1; Gen 8:21, respectively.but not so the other two. We were given five senses to correspond to the five books of the Torah, and to the five references to “light” in the first chapter of Genesis,³⁸⁰Gen 1:3 (2x), 4 (2x), 5. and the five names of the soul.³⁸¹According to Bereshit Rabbah 14:11, they are nefesh, ruah, neshamah, yehidah(“unity”), and hayah (“animal”). Indeed they are the body’s perfection because they are the palace of the soul, and the soul reveals its actions through them. And the natural scientists said that it was from the wisdom of the design of nature that human beings were created with five fingers on each hand to serve the five senses. Each and every finger has its own sense to serve. The biggest (the thumb) is for wiping the mouth, the index finger for the nostrils, the middle finger for the sense of touch to feel all the parts of the body because it is the longest of all (and can reach everywhere), the ring finger to wipe the eye, and the pinky, which is the smallest of all, to clean the ear. So it is from the wisdom of nature that each and every finger goes to its proper sense organ instinctively and unconsciously. About the order of the fingers our sages z”l said:³⁸²B. Ketubot 5b.”This pinky [is for…], this ring finger [is for…], this middle finger [is for…], this pointer [is for…], this thumb [is for…].” And they already explained at the beginning of tractate Ketubot that each of these five fingers had their own mitzvah: This pinky for measuring the hoshen – the High Priest’s breastplate; this ring finger for the priest’s meal-offering, this index finger [amah –‘the cubit measure’] for building and tools; this index finger [ha-‘etzba’] for sprinkling (the blood of the sin offering)– “he shall sprinkle it with his finger [be-‘etzba’o],”³⁸³Lev 16:14.and this ‘biggest’ which is the widest of all of them, namely, the thumb of Aaron’s hand for purifying someone stricken with skin rot.³⁸⁴These explanations of the purpose of each finger are not the ones the Gemara brings, but are brought by Rashi in his commentary to this passage in b. Ketubot (Chavel). So you find yourself learning that the five fingers on the human body meet the needs of both the individual and of God. And you will find among the wonders of human being’s design that the ability to feel is extended throughout the whole body, and the sense of smell is extended outside the body, and that the sense of hearing is extended even further than smell to the extent that humans need it more, and that the sense of sight is extended even further than hearing because humans need it more. So behold how great a matter this is to all who look into it, for it instructs us about the perfection of human beings with their five senses, for “these are the work of God!”³⁸⁵An allusion to Ex 32:16, referring there to the tablets of the covenant, and hence hinting at R. Bahya’s previous association of the five senses with the five books of the Torah.

Since the sun inclines north and south, the year is divided into four seasons, namely “winter and spring and summer and autumn” (Genesis 8:22). For “planting” is the half year when the sun is in the southern signs (autumn and winter), and “reaping” is when the sun is in the northern signs (spring and summer).¹⁷ The verse reads: “Forever, all the days of the earth, planting and reaping, and winter and spring and summer and autumn, and day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). Ibn Ezra understands that four of these terms refer to the four seasons, while “planting and reaping” is an alternative division of the year into two halves, when the sun is in the southern signs and when it is in the northern signs. See Ibn Ezra’s commentary to that verse. The verse began with the winter days. This season commences when the sun is at its southern extremity (winter solstice). Then the days begin to lengthen and the nights to shorten. This season has cold and wet days. When the sun reaches the point of intersection (vernal equinox), then day and night are equal throughout the earth. This season (spring) has hot and wet days. From its commencement the days begin to be longer than the nights, for the sun bends towards the north. This season ends when the sun reaches its northern extremity (summer solstice). Then the next season (summer) begins. The sun recedes from the north and the days begin to shorten and the nights to lengthen. These days, which are the days of summer, are hot and dry. When the sun reaches the second point of intersection (autumnal equinox) the day and night are of equal length. From then on the days begin to be shorter than the nights, which grow longer. This season (autumn) has cold and dry days. Since the summer and autumn seasons are dry, Scripture states “this will be in summer and in autumn” (Zachariah 14:8).¹⁸ The verse reads: “It shall be on that day that fresh water will come forth from Jerusalem, half flowing to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, this will be in summer and in autumn.” For at those times the rivers diminish, except for the Nile which originates from springs in the Mountains of the Moon to the south.¹⁹ The Mountains of the Moon are a mountain range in central Africa. They were believed to be the source of the White Nile.

Judah the Persian also said that the years referred to in the story of Noah were solar years, since he found that the Deluge commenced “in the six-hundredth year of Noah’s life” (Genesis 7:11), and it subsequently states “in the six-hundredth and first year” (ibid. 8:13).²² The duration of the flood is measured relative to the age of Noah, and a person’s age is based on solar years, as are all living things (cf. note 69). Therefore the years referred to in the story of Noah must be solar years. For this reason an additional ten days were added to the number of months,²³ The Deluge commenced on the seventeenth day of the second month (Genesis 7:11). The earth dried and Noah exited the Ark one year later on the twenty seventh day of the second month (ibid. 8:14). Thus Noah remained in the Ark one full year and an additional ten days. for this number is approximately the excess of a solar year over a lunar year.²⁴ A solar year is approximately 365 days while an ordinary lunar year (12 months) is approximately 354 days, a difference of about eleven days. But this figure contradicts Judah the Persian’s own words, since he now admits that a month is based on the moon. He also said that the Ark came to rest after five months,²⁵ The rain began on the seventeenth of the second month (Genesis 7:11) and the Ark came to rest on Mount Ararat on the seventeenth of the seventh month (ibid. 8:4), a span of five months. a total of “one hundred and fifty days” (ibid. 8: 3). ²⁶ From this Judah the Persian again derived that the years enumerated in the Noah story are solar, because in a lunar calendar five months would consist of approximately 5 ׳ 29.5 = 147.5 days, less than 150 days. Because of this problem, the Gaon (Rabbi Saadia)²⁷ Rabbi Saadia ben Yosef Al-Fayyumi (892–942) was Gaon of the academy at Sura. was forced to set Tishre as the beginning of Noah’s years.²⁸ Rabbi Saadia Gaon disagreed with Judah the Persian and was of the opinion that the months recorded in the Noah story were lunar months. To resolve the seeming contradiction between five months and 150 days, Rabbi Saadia said that the months used in the story of Noah were numbered from Tishre, and the year of the Deluge was a leap year with Marheshvon and Khislev both full months. Hence we have 14 days of Marheshvon, 30 days of Khislev, 29 days of Tevet, 30 days of Shevat, 30 days of Adar i, and 17 days from Adar ii, a total of exactly 150 days. In his Alternative Commentary to Genesis (7:11), Ibn Ezra criticizes Rabbi Saadia’s solution by claiming that a year cannot have so many consecutive full months of thirty days. But this is not necessary,²⁹ Such a solution is not necessary to counter Judah the Persian. for even according to the months of a solar year (1⁄12 of 365 days), the count would be two days longer than what is recorded in Scripture.³⁰ 5 ׳ (1⁄12 ׳ 365) = 152+ days, more than the 150 days stated in Scripture. Ibn Ezra’s resolution of the seeming contradiction (150 days verses five months) is given in his Alternative Commentary to Genesis (7:11): The months in the story of Noah are solar, but based on a calendar similar to that of the Egyptians, where eleven months of the year are thirty days long and one month has 35 days. So five standard months would be 5 ׳ 30 = 150 days. Even if Noah counted by solar years, it would be of no consequence.³¹ It is of no importance how Noah calculated the year, for our laws are based on the teachings of Moses. Hence, we must search for the Torah’s year from Moses (the Pentateuch) or from the holy scribes (the Rabbis). We will begin with them.

R. Jehoseph Schwartz bases his opposition to the ruling of R. Asher Lemel upon these midrashic comments. Moreover, contends Rabbi Schwartz, were the convert to have been forbidden to refrain from "labor" on the Sabbath day, he should not have been directed to write on Shabbat but should have been instructed to perform some other act of labor. Rabbi Schwartz advances the novel view that a gentile who performs no forms of "labor" on the Sabbath other than writing is in violation of his obligation to desist from observing the Sabbath as a day of rest. The Gemara, Sanhedrin 58b, derives this prohibition from the verse "day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22) which in talmudic exegesis is rendered "day and night they shall not rest."⁸For reasons that elude this writer, R. Moses Schick, Teshuvot Maharam Shik, Oraḥ Ḥayyim, no. 145, contends that a literal reading of the verse which begins “all the days of the earth” would indicate that the reference is to natural phenomena rather than to human activity and, accordingly, the concluding phrase should be understood as meaning that day and night shall not cease all the days of the earth. However, comments Maharam Schick, if that were the meaning of the verse, the verse should properly read lo yishbetu. Since, however, the verse reads lo yishbotu, Maharam Schick argues that the phrase must be understood as referring to people rather than days even though people are not previously mentioned in the verse, and, accordingly, the verse must be rendered “they shall not cease [from labor].” Noting the context in which the verse appears, Rabbi Schwartz understands the talmudic statement as requiring gentiles to engage in acts contributing to "settlement of the world" every day of the week, i.e., acts relating to agriculture or manufacture that are productive in nature.⁹This analysis follows Rashi’s interpretation of the talmudic discussion and is an interpretation and refinement of that position. See infra, note 19. In his opinion, acts such as writing, erasing, or even dyeing, do not satisfy that requirement. Thus, according to Rabbi Schwartz, forcing the convert to write on the Sabbath was both unnecessary and, if necessary, of no avail.

Subsequently, R. Akiva Eger had occasion to qualify and defend his exhortation. In a short item included in a series of addenda appended to later editions of his responsa collection, R. Akiva Eger, addendum to responsum no. 121, reports that "a long time" after his original note was published there appeared in print the work of R. Pinchas ha-Levi Horowitz on the Pentateuch, Panim Yafot. In a comment on Parashat Noaḥ, that scholar remarks that the "day" which a non-Jew is forbidden to observe as a day of rest is not a "day" of the Jewish calendar which begins in the evening and ends the following evening but consists of a twenty-four hour period beginning and ending at daybreak as indicated by the order of the words of the verse "day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22). Panim Yafot elaborates upon this thesis in explaining that the "day" of the pre-Sinaitic era referred to in early sections of the Bible is consistently a day beginning with daybreak and concluding with the ensuing night. The identical thesis is reiterated by R. Pinchas ha-Levi Horowitz in his talmudic commentary, Ha-Makneh, Kiddushin 37b. Accordingly, the talmudic rendition of the verse "day and night they shall not rest" should similarly be understood as positing a prohibition against observance of a twenty-four hour period of rest beginning with daybreak. Since Sabbath restrictions commence on Sabbath eve and continue until the next evening, a non-Jew who performs an act of "labor" during daylight hours on Friday and also on Saturday after nightfall has refrained from desecration of the Sabbath without violating the admonition not to rest for the span of an entire "day." If this thesis is accepted, observes R. Akiva Eger, it follows that his earlier admonition regarding Sabbath observance by non-Jewish maids was misplaced.

In addition, a number of sources, including the Palestinian Talmud, Berakhot 8:6; Bereishit Rabbah 11:2, 12:6 and 82:17; Midrash Tehillim 92:4; and Pesikta Rabbati 23:6, record that there was no period of darkness during the very first Sabbath which came after the six days of creation; rather, there was a period of thirty-six hours of daylight followed by nightfall marking the conclusion of the Sabbath day. Yet that thirty-six hour period included a "day" deemed to be the Sabbath and was followed by a day deemed to be the first day of the following week.³³R. David Spira, Teshuvot Bnei Ẓion, III, Kuntres Midot ha-Yom, sec. 21, cites these aggadic sources as evidence that the length of a day is determined on the basis of twenty-four clock hours. Again, it may be postulated that terrestrial time was temporarily transcended rather than suspended³⁴Cf., however, Bein ha-Shemashot, p. 54. Rabbi Tucatzinsky suggests that even on the first Shabbat the sun set at its normal time and that the illumination that was perceived was provided by the primordial light that was created before the sun. That explanation is supported by a comment found in Bereshit Rabbah 11:1. and that, when normal time patterns based upon alternating periods of light and darkness marked by sunrise and sunset resumed, time continued as if it had not been interrupted.³⁵For a discussion of calculation of time during the period of the Deluge when, according to one opinion recorded in the Palestinian Talmud, Pesaḥim 1:1, as well as in Bereshit Rabbah 25:2 and 34:15, the constellations did not move in their orbits, see Siftei Ḥakhamim, Genesis 8:22, Teshuvot Minḥat Elazar, IV, no. 42; R. Jonathan Eibeschutz, Tiferet Yonatan, Genesis 6:18; and Divrei Yaẓiv, no. 108, sec. 6, and no. 109. See also Rav Pe‘alim, II, Sod Yesharim, no. 4, who cites that source in support of the position that days are calculated in terms of twenty-four hour periods.

We were commanded in all of these things, such as the table, the menorah, the bread of display and the sacrifices, from the angle of the receivers (people), and like the matter that I wrote. There is no doubt or qualm to anyone who understands, or student that is not lacking in comprehension in the world who would think that with the arrangement of bread in the Temple upon the table, which we place complete and we take [away] complete, that there is any benefit (enjoyment) accrued by the Above, God forbid - not in its appearance, not in its smell and not from any angle. Rather, He commanded us like this in His desire, blessed be He, that we be blessed from Him, in His great trait of kindness. And [this is] also [true about] the frankincense that comes with the bread, about which it is written, "a burnt offering to the Lord." And [when] some of the commentators (Rashi on Leviticus 24:7) said that there is nothing from the bread that is for the Above except for the frankincense, their intention was not, God forbid, that there be any distinction between the frankincense and the bread for the Above. And the fulfillment of the commandment of God is the same with the bread and the frankincense: As just like God, blessed be He, commanded to arrange the bread in front of Him, so too is His will done, with the frankincense that He commanded to burn, and they burned it - one standard for all. Rather, all of these matters were written from the angle of those involved [in them]. As it cannot be written about the bread - that we feed the priests - that it is all for God; as others have a portion in it. But with anything that man does not have any benefit in it at all, and it is completely consumed in the commandment - with that we can say about it that it is completely for God. [That] means to say that all of it is included in the commandment - no man ate from it, nor enjoyed any physical benefit from it at all. And since smell is not from the pleasures of the body, but rather from the pleasures of the spirit - as the body only receives tangible pleasure - the matter of smell is always attributed to God, blessed be He. [This is] even though He, blessed be He and blessed be His name, is not - due to His supernal level and His greatness - connected to these matters at all; as He is not a body, and not the attribute of a body. This is known to all that understand. And they, may their memory be blessed, already explained (Rashi on Zevachim 46b, s.v. hanachat ruach) [that] every place that it is stated, "a pleasing smell to the Lord" (for example, Leviticus 1:9), [it means] "I said something, and My will was done." And so [too,] "And the Lord smelled the pleasant smell" (Genesis 8:21), [should be understood] in this way. This is what appears [correct] to us regarding the matter of the arranging of the bread in the House of God. And Rambam, may his memory be blessed, wrote (Guide for the Perplexed 3:45), and this is his language: But I do not know a reason for the table and the bread always being put upon it; and to this day, I do not know to what thing to ascribe it.

One does not decree two bans in one day, as it is written,¹Sanhedrin 45b. “I will not again curse anymore … neither will I again smite anymore” (Gen. 8:21). It is written in the Twelve Minor Prophets, in the book of Malachi (3:6) “For I, the Lord, change not” and near to it is written, “Ye are cursed with the curse” (Mal. 3:9) which has the numerical value of “ban.” And it is written “Trouble shall not rise up the second time” (Nah. 1:9). We do not decree a ban except during the day, for it is written “And cursed his day” (Job 3:1) “Cursed be the day” (Jer. 20:14).