Halakhah su Zaccaria 14:78

If nine who have eaten something made of grain, and one just greens, they include him for the purpose of saying “nivarekh.” And precisely just for the sake of inclusion, but in order for him to enable the majority to fulfill their obligation, we need him to eat at least an “olive’s measure” of something made of grain.²³⁹B. Berakhot 48a, and so the Tur and O.H. 197. And with three, it goes without saying that in order for him to enable the others to fulfill their obligation, even to be added in, we need him to eat at least an “olive’s measure” of something made of grain. And thus it is our custom that when a person enters to be included, that he takes at least an olive’s measure of something made from grain and eats it.

And now I shall explain to you the three meals of Shabbat. Our rabbis said:²⁵⁵B. Shabbat 119b. A person is required to eat three meals on Shabbat, as it is said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath of the Lord, you will not find it today on the plain.”²⁵⁶Ex 16:25, referring to the manna. There are three mentions of “today,” each corresponding to one of the three meals on Shabbat. And about the reward for this mitzvah they said:²⁵⁷B Shabbat 118a. Whoever fulfills the mitzvah of three meals on Shabbat is rescued from three tribulations: from the birth pangs of the Messiah, from the judgment of Gehenna, and from the wars of Gog and Magog, and for each of these three the Scripture mentions “day.” For the birth pangs of the Messiah – “before the coming of the day of the Lord.”²⁵⁸Mal 3:23: “Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the Lord.” From the judgment of Gehenna – “For lo! That day is at hand, burning like an oven” and it is written, “and the day that is coming shall burn them.” ²⁵⁹Mal 3:19: “For lo! That day is at hand, burning like an oven. All the arrogant and doers of evil shall be straw, and the day that is coming – said the Lord of Hosts – shall burn them to ashes and leave of them neither stalk nor boughs.” And from the wars of Gog and Magog: “Lo, a day of the Lord is coming.”²⁶⁰Zech 14:1, referring to the apocalyptic wars at the end of time. The reason for the three meals of Shabbat corresponds to the three higher states that the soul will have in the eternal and true life that is called “the life of the world to come” (hayye ha-olam ha-ba) and “bundle of life” (tzror ha-hayim).

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.

And now that I have explained the topic of the world of souls, which is called “Garden of Eden” among our rabbis z”l, and I have revealed to you the reason why the Torah did not mention it explicitly except to the “engaged intellectual” (la–maskil ha-nilvav), I will now expand upon for you my explanation of the matter of the pleasure that will be experienced in the measure it was originally experienced by Adam in the Garden of Eden before the sin, in that you already knew that the nature of the pleasure there was very great and deep, and that the greater part of it was the soul’s pleasure, the lesser the pleasure of the body, which had quiet, ease, and peace of mind unlike any you can imagine, and because he was all intellectual -body and soul in complete agreement to conceive of his Creator, and even the power of the Tree of Life to cause eternal life was at first not kept from him, but after the sin, when he ate from the Tree of Knowledge – it was only after this eating that he was made to follow his desires and strive for the needs of the body more than the needs of the soul, acting “all as we act now here today.”¹³¹Dt 12:8 And therefore he had to have his days limited and for death to hold sway over him. But before the sin, he could take pleasure in the Garden of Eden and delight himself as he wished, and this it what meant by, “And He placed him in the Garden of Eden to till it and tend it,”¹³²Gen 2:15. that He placed him in the Garden of Eden so that he would work the soil of the Garden, and sow in it every kind of produce, and plant all kinds of fruit trees, and his sustenance came from the trees of the Garden, and his drink from the rivers of Eden. And his clothes were “the clouds of glory,” until the ministering angels got jealous of his status, and things changed for the reasons you know.¹³³According to the story in Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 13, it was the angel’s jealousy of Adam that led them to tempt Adam and Eve through the serpent. It is to this status and to this measure of joy that the dead who are resurrected will in time to come return, to take delight in together in both body and soul, and the greater part of the pleasure will be the soul’s, the lesser part the body’s, as it was with Adam before the sin. Therefore, it will be necessary for any one among those raised from the dead to live a long or eternal life, for thus the world will return to its perfection as its Creator (may He be exalted) originally intended.

And now I shall make known to you the subject of the upper light, which I mentioned above, and that’s how I will end this Gate. Know that the upper light I mentioned above is called “day” [yom] in the story of creation, and about it the prophet said, “there shall be one day – only the Lord knows when – of neither day nor night, and there will be light at evening time.”¹⁶⁷Zech 14:7 (JSB). The explanation of this verse: “There will be [ve-hayah] one day”. The word Ve-HaYa”H consists of the same letters of God’s proper name, and so it is written “YHVH is my light and my help, whom shall I fear? YHVH, etc.”¹⁶⁸Ps 27:1. This is YHVH is “light.” “One day of light – only the Lord knows” – He alone knows where it is. As they taught in a midrash, “He hid it for Himself, He made it separate for Himself.”¹⁶⁹Ber. R. 3:7. “Neither day nor night” – that is to say, a time will come when this day shall serve for the righteous, and time won’t consist of day and night like it works now with light and darkness, but rather, “there will be light at evening time” – a great light. And “evening” [‘erev] is the secret of “the sixth aleph,” which is the evening of Shabbat, as in “yom ha-shishi” – “the sixth day.” And this is the light that Moses our Rabbi (peace upon him) earned in “the cleft of the rock,”¹⁷⁰Ex 33:22.”the reflecting mirror”¹⁷¹B. Yebamot 49b. out of which he was able to prophesy, and thus earned the “radiation from the skin of his face”¹⁷²Ex 34:29. that was as bright as “the face of the sun.”¹⁷³B. Baba Batra 75a. And in an interpretation they said, “a variety of the upper light is the globe of the sun,”¹⁷⁴Ber. R. 17:7 (as translated by Jastrow). because the light of this level is the level of Moses’ prophecy, and the globe of the sun, which is a variety of this, is the “radiation from the skin of his face.” And this is what is written, “rays [karnayyim] given off from every side, and therein His glory is enveloped,”¹⁷⁵Hab 3:4. that is, the “radiation from the skin of his face.” This came directly from the hand of the Holy One Blessed be He to Moses, and this radiation is the fruit of what was his in this world, distinct from the eternal radiance that would be his in the world to come, and that is the level of the upper light. If so, then the word “karnayyim” – “rays” -includes both the fruit and the eternal radiance.¹⁷⁶Karnayyim is the dual form of keren, which can mean either “ray”, or more ordinarily, “horn.” From this ambiguity comes the misinterpretation of Ex 34:29 that led artists such as Michelangelo to represent Moses with horns coming out of his forehead. R. Bahya is playing upon the dual form of keren, karnayyim, which is the normal plural form for body parts, like horns, which come in pairs. And all this was because of the tablets – luhot – that he was holding. And so this is hinted at in the word “LU’a”H,” which is an acronym of the words in Habakkuk 3:4: karnayyim mi-yado Lo Ve-sham Hevyon ‘uzo. And they said in a midrash, ¹⁷⁷M. Tanhuma Ki Tisa 37. “‘[They saw] the rays of the skin of his face,’¹⁷⁸Ex 34:30. all the majesty that Moses got was but temporary fruit, a gift he earned, but the eternal radiance would be his in the world to come, as it is said, ‘rays [karnayyim] from His hand to him.'”¹⁷⁹Hab 3:4, reading mi-yado midrashically as “from His [God’s] hand,” i.e., two kinds of “rays” one in this world, one in the world to come, from God’s hand to Moses. And they went on in another midrash,¹⁸⁰M. Tanhuma Ki Tisa 37. “‘I will put you in a cleft of a rock’ – from ‘the cleft of the rock’ Moses earned the radiation from the skin of his face, and thus it says, ‘rays from His hand to him, there from a secret place [hevyon] His glory.'”¹⁸¹Hab 3:4.

What brought this commentator to this difficulty was because many treated the verse “In the beginning God created (bara)” (ibid. 1:1) as if it was written “At the beginning of God’s creating (bero) the heavens and the earth, the earth was empty (tohu) and void (vohu)” – it did not exist, meaning there was no earth. Similarly, “darkness” is the absence of light, meaning there was none.¹⁰ According to this interpretation nothing existed prior to the creation of light. So the first created condition was light, followed by darkness at night. Thus a 24-hour day consists of light followed by darkness – day followed by night. But this interpretation is completely incorrect. Because why did he need to mention the heavens since it did not state that they were nonexistent like the earth? Also, from a grammatical point of view, why is there an added vav (“and”) to the word “veha’arez”? This is not the same as the extra vav found in verbs, as in “On the third day Abraham lifted (vayisa) his eyes” (ibid. 22:4), “he abandoned (vaya’azov) his servants” (Exodus 9:21). They are like the weak fe in Arabic, for Arabic forms are similar to those of the Holy Tongue (Hebrew). However, no vav is added to nouns. Also, according to this interpretation the wind and the water were not created,¹¹ No mention is made of the creation of air and water, even though they are referred to in verse 2. yet it is written in the book of Psalms with regard to both of these “for He commanded and they came to be” (148:5).¹² The verses in Psalms are: “Praise Him, heavens of heavens (the sphere of fire), and waters that are above the heavens. They should praise the name of God, for he commanded and they were created” (148:4–5). Even darkness was created, as it is written “who forms light and creates darkness” (Isaiah 45:7).

(starting at ועכשיו) We gather in shul and we say five chapters of psalms from Lechu Neranena (Ch. 95) until Hashem malach yirgezu amim (Ch. 99) because they are about the future redemptive days. Therefore (like Radak says), a person says to his friend “Let us sing to Hashem,” and then [the next chapter we sing] “Hashem reigns,” that is to say that we’ll fulfill that which is written (Zecharia 14:9) “On that day Hashem will be One and His Name will be One.” For Shabbat is a hint to this time, to “The Day that is Entirely Shabbat,” and then we’ll sing a new song (Ch. 96) to Hashem. For all songs are in the feminine, and the song of the future [redemption] will be in the masculine, like the Midrash explain. Therefore we say these chapters.

And Ramban, may his memory be blessed, answered the challenges and clarified the matter clearly, completely and nicely. And this is his language that he wrote in his commentary of the Torah: That matter which Rambam, may his memory be blessed, wrote that the commandments have explanations is something very elucidated, as in each one there is an explanation and a benefit and a refinement for a person, besides the reward for them from the Commander, may He be blessed. And they, may their memory be blessed, have already said (Sanhedrin 21b), "For why did He not reveal the explanation of the commandments, etc.?" And they, may their memory be blessed, expounded (Pesachim 119a), "'And to the clothed elegantly' (which can also be read as, 'and to the one that covers the ancient' Isaiah 23:18) - this is [referring] to the one who covers that which the Ancient of Days (God) covered. And what are they? The explanations of the Torah." And they have already expounded about the red heifer (Bemidbar Rabbah 19:6) that Shlomo said, "I have discerned everything, but the section of the red heifer, I have investigated and asked and searched - 'I said that I could fathom it, but is far from me' (Ecclesiastes 7:23)." And Rabbi Yossi Bar Chinanah said, "The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe, 'Go and I will reveal to you the explanation of the heifer, but to another, it will be a statute (that is not understood),' as it is written (Zechariah 14:6), 'In that day, there shall be neither sunlight nor cold moonlight' - things that are covered from you in this world, in the future you will gaze upon them in the world to come; like that blind man that becomes able to gaze, as it is written (Isaiah 42:16), 'I will lead the blind by a road they did not know.' And it is written (later in the same verse), 'I have done these words and I have not left them' - as I have already done them for Rabbi Akiva," meaning to say that Rabbi Akiva already knew them in this world.

He says “כתר²¹³The Keter, כתר, was an ancient beginning of the Kedushah, קדושה, or sanctification prayer. It is no longer said and Kedushah now begins with the word na'ariẓkha, נעריצך. It is part of the Sabbath and festival Musaf Service (see footnote 166).
The Kedushah said during the Musaf Amidah is different than the Sanctification recited in the Shaḥarit Amidah on the Sabbath (see footnote 17). The Musaf Sanctification dwells more sublimely on the majestic conception of the angels in heaven glorifying the Eternal King and it introduces Israel proclaiming in response to the angelic choir, the holiness, glory, unity, and sovereignity of God's name. The Shema, the congregation's confession of faith, is part of the Musaf Kedushah (see footnote 17, section (3)).
The Shema entered the Musaf Kedushah as the result of a sixth century persecution. The Byzantine Empire forbid Jews to recite the Shema in public worship. On Sabbaths and festivals government spies would enter the synagogues to make sure the Shema was not said in its regular place during the Shaḥarit Service. As a means of getting the Shema into public prayer, the reader would insert it into the Musaf Kedushah, a place where the spies would not expect it and thus not be aware of it. The Shema has remained a part of this Sanctification ever since.
The Kedushah is part of the third blessing of the Amidah and in the Musaf Service for the Sabbath it is made up of the following parts along with connecting sentences: Isaiah 6:3, Ezekiel 3:12, the Shema, Deuteronomy 6:5, and Psalms 146:10. On festivals there is an additional verse from Zechariah 14:9 following the Shema.
Hertz, op. cit., pp. 528-31; 816-19.”, “the crown”, just as in the Additional Service.²¹⁴Musaf, מוסף; see footnote 166.