Midrash su Deuteronomio 4:11

“Who is that ascending from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I roused you; there your mother was in travail with you; there she who bore you was in travail” (Song of Songs 8:5).
“Who is that ascending from the wilderness” – [Israel’s] ascent was from the wilderness, its decline was from the wilderness, and its death was from the wilderness. That is what it says: “In this wilderness they will expire, and there they will die” (Numbers 14:35). “Leaning [mitrapeket] upon her beloved” – Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Because it will resolve sections of the Torah and issues of kingdom in the future.⁵Mitrapeket when rearranged is a portmanteau of matir perek – resolves a section. In the future, Israel will resolve all questions relating to Torah, and will reestablish its monarchy. “Under the apple tree I roused you” – Pelatyon of Rome expounded and said: Mount Sinai was detached and positioned in the supernal heavens, and Israel was situated beneath it, as it is stated: “You approached and stood beneath the mountain” (Deuteronomy 4:11).
Another matter: “Under the apple tree I roused you” – this is Sinai. Why is it likened to an apple tree? Just as the apple tree produces fruit in the month of Sivan, so too, the Torah was given in Sivan. Alternatively, “under the apple tree I roused you” – why not a nut tree or a different tree? Each tree typically grows its leaves first and then its fruit, but the apple tree grows its fruit first and then grows its leaves. Similarly, Israel put performing before hearing, as it is stated: “We will perform and we will heed” (Exodus 24:7).⁶Although translated here as “heed,” the term nishma can be translated “hear.” The point here is that Israel committed to following God’s commands even before hearing what they were. The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘If you accept My Torah upon yourself, fine, but if not, I will lower this mountain upon you and kill you.’ “There your mother was in travail with you” – was it there that she was in travail? Rabbi Berekhya said: This is analogous to one who went to a dangerous place and was saved. His friend encountered him and said to him: ‘Did you pass through that dangerous place? How much danger you experienced! It is as though you were now borne by your mother. How much suffering you experienced! Now it is as though you were created as a new creation.’
Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: “There [your mother] was in travail [ḥibela]” and there she had collateral taken from her [ḥubela]; “was in travail” – at the moment that they said: “Everything that the Lord spoke we will perform and we will heed” (Exodus 24:7). She had collateral taken from her – at the moment that they said to the calf: “This is your God, Israel” (Exodus 32:4), they had collateral taken. Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai taught: The weapon that was given to Israel at Ḥorev had the ineffable name etched upon it.⁷This is stated in explanation of the adornment mentioned in the verse: “The children of Israel were stripped of their adornment from Mount Ḥorev” (Exodus 33:6). When they sinned it was taken from them. Rabbi Aivu and the Rabbis: Rabbi Aivu said: It was peeled on its own. The Rabbis say: An angel descended and peeled it. Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta said: Wretched is the bride who sins under the wedding canopy. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: They lost the good counsel that was given them at Sinai, as it is stated: “You hollowed all my counsel” (Proverbs 1:25), and counsel is nothing other than Torah, as it is stated: “Counsel and resourcefulness are mine” (Proverbs 8:14).
Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin [said] in the name of Rabbi Levi: It is written: “At Ḥorev you provoked [hiktzaftem] the Lord” (Deuteronomy 9:8). The Holy One blessed be He said: I came to bless you and found your palate pierced and unable to hold a blessing, as it is stated: “Moses saw the people that it was parua (Exodus 32:25), and parua means nothing other than hollowed, just as you say: “You hollowed [vatifre’u] all my counsel” (Proverbs 1:25). Rabbi Levi said: You made the Holy One blessed be He as though He was mourning over you. There are places that call the house of mourning the house of wrath [beit ketzofa].

“Stay tonight, and it will be, in the morning, if he will redeem you, good, he will redeem; but if he will be unwilling to redeem you, I will redeem you, as the Lord lives, lie until the morning” (Ruth 3:13).
“Stay tonight” – tonight you are lying without a man, but you will not lie another night without a man. “It will be in the morning, if he will redeem you, good, he will redeem; but if he will be unwilling to redeem you…” Rabbi Meir was sitting and expounding in the study hall in Tiberias, and Elisha his teacher was passing through the marketplace riding a horse on Shabbat. They said to Rabbi Meir: Elisha your teacher is coming and passing in the marketplace. He emerged to him. [Elisha] said to him: ‘In what were you engaged?’ He said: ‘“The Lord blessed the latter period of Job more than his beginning”’ (Job 42:12).’ [Elisha] said: ‘What did you say in its regard?’ He said: ‘“Blessed” [indicates that] He doubled his property for him.’ [Elisha] said to him: ‘Akiva your teacher did not say so; rather, the Lord blessed the latter period of Job due to his beginning, thanks to the repentance and good deeds that he had to his credit initially.’
[Elisha] said to him: ‘What else did you say to them?’ [Rabbi Meir said:] ‘“The end of a matter is better than its beginning”’ (Ecclesiastes 7:8). [Elisha] said to him: ‘What do you say in its regard?’ He said to him: ‘There can be a person who purchases merchandise in his youth and he loses, and [he purchases again] in his old age and he profits. Alternatively, “the end of a matter is better than its beginning,” there can be a person who performs evil deeds in his youth and in his old age he performs good deeds. Alternatively, “the end of a matter is better than its beginning,” there can be a person who studies Torah in his youth and forgets it and he reviews it in his old age; that is: “The end of a matter is better than its beginning.”’ [Elisha] said to him: ‘Akiva your teacher did not say so; rather, “the end of a matter is good,” when it was good from “its beginning.”
‘There was an incident involving me. My father Avuya was one of the prominent leaders of the generation. When he came to circumcise me, he invited all the prominent residents of Jerusalem, and he invited Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua among them. When they had eaten and drunk, some began to sing songs and others recited alphabetical poems. Rabbi Eliezer said to Rabbi Yehoshua: ‘These are engaged in theirs, but we are not engaged in ours.’ They began with Torah, and from Torah to Prophets, and from Prophets to Writings, and the matters were as joyous as when they were given from Sinai. Fire began burning around them. During their actual giving at Sinai, were they not given in fire? As it is stated: “The mountain burned with fire until the heart of the heavens” (Deuteronomy 4:11). [Avuya] said: Since the power of Torah is so great, this son, if he endures, I will devote him to Torah. Because his intention was not for the sake of Heaven, my Torah did not endure in me.’
[Rabbi Meir said to Elisha:] ‘What do you say regarding [the verse]: “Gold and glass cannot equal it” (Job 28:17)?’ He said to him: ‘What do you say in its regard?’ [Rabbi Meir] said to him: ‘These are matters of Torah that are as difficult to acquire as gold vessels and are as easily lost as glass.’ [Elisha] said to him: ‘Akiva your teacher did not say so. Rather, just as vessels of gold and glass, if they are broken, can be repaired. So, too, a Torah scholar who forgot his learning can recover it.’
[Elisha] said to [Rabbi Meir]: ‘Go back.’ [Rabbi Meir] said to him: ‘Why?’ [Elisha] said to him: ‘The Shabbat boundary extends [only] to here.’ [Rabbi Meir] said to him: ‘How do you know?’ [Elisha] said: ‘From the [number of] steps my horse [has taken, I can tell] that it has already gone two thousand cubits.’ [Rabbi Meir] said to him: ‘You have all this wisdom and yet you do not repent?’ [Elisha] said to him: ‘I do not have the strength.’ [Rabbi Meir] said to him: ‘Why?’ [Elisha] said to him: ‘I was riding my horse and sauntering behind a synagogue on Yom Kippur that coincided with Shabbat, and I heard a divine voice thundering and saying: “Repent wayward children” (Jeremiah 3:22), “Return to Me and I will return to you” (Malachi 3:7), except for Elisha ben Avuya, who was aware of My might but rebelled against Me.’
From where did he adopt this course of action?²¹³Why did Elisha abandon his religious observance? They said: One time, he was sitting and studying in the Geinosar Valley and he saw a certain person who climbed to the top of a palm tree and took the mother bird and the fledglings, and he climbed down unharmed. After Shabbat, he saw a certain person who climbed to the top of a palm tree, took the fledglings and sent away the mother bird. He climbed down and was bitten by a snake and died. [Elisha] said: ‘It is written: “Send away the mother and take the fledglings for yourself, so it will be good for you and you will prolong your days” (Deuteronomy 22:7). Where is the goodness for this one? Where are the prolonged days for this one?’ But he did not know that Rabbi Akiva had publicly expounded on it: “So it will be good for you,” in the world that is entirely good; “and you will prolong your days,” in the world that is entirely long.²¹⁴The World to Come.
Some say, it was because he saw the tongue of Rabbi Yehuda the baker in the mouth of a dog. He said: ‘If for the tongue that toiled in Torah all his days it is so, for a tongue that does not know and does not toil in Torah, all the more so.’ He said: ‘If so, there is no reward given to the righteous and no revival of the dead.’ Some say, it was because when his mother was pregnant with him, she passed houses of idol worship. She smelled [the offering they had sacrificed in their idolatrous rite] and they gave her from that food and she ate it. It was seething in her stomach like the venom of a serpent.²¹⁵Because Elisha’s mother had eaten from the idolatrous sacrifice, Elisha had an ingrained desire for sin (Etz Yosef).
Years passed and Elisha ben Avuya fell ill. They came and said to Rabbi Meir: ‘Elisha your teacher is ill.’ He went to him. [Rabbi Meir] said to him: ‘Repent.’ [Elisha] said to him: ‘Is [repentance] accepted even in such [circumstances]?’ Rabbi Meir said to him: ‘But is it not written: “You turn man to contrition [daka] [and say: Return, son of man]” (Psalms 90:3) – until his soul is crushed?’²¹⁶The term daka can mean contrition or crushed. Thus, the verse is interpreted to mean that God wants man to repent even if it is at the very end of his life. At that moment Elisha ben Avuya cried, and he died. Rabbi Meir was joyful. He said: ‘It appears that my teacher departed in repentance.’
When they buried him, fire came to burn his grave. They came and said to Rabbi Meir: ‘The grave of your teacher is burning.’ He emerged and spread his garment over it. [Rabbi Meir] said to [Elisha]: “Stay tonight,” (Ruth 3:13) in this world that is entirely night. “It will be in the morning, if he will redeem you, good, he will redeem” (Ruth 3:13). “It will be in the morning,” – in the world that is entirely good. “If he will redeem you, good, he will redeem,” – this is the Holy One blessed be He, as it is stated: “The Lord is good to all” (Psalms 145:9). “But if he will be unwilling to redeem you, I will redeem you, as the Lord lives, lie until the morning” (Ruth 3:13).²¹⁷Rabbi Meir is requesting that Elisha be allowed to rest in peace as long as he himself is alive. When Rabbi Meir dies, he will advocate on behalf of Elisha. [The fire] subsided.
They said to [Rabbi Meir]: ‘Our teacher, in the World to Come, if they say to you: What do you request,²¹⁸For whom would you request protection from punishment. your father or your teacher, what will you say?’ [Rabbi Meir] said: ‘My father and then my teacher.’ They said to him: ‘Will they listen to you?’ He said: ‘Is it not a mishna: “One may rescue the casing of a scroll with the scroll, and the casing of phylacteries with the phylacteries” (Shabbat 16:1)? They will rescue Elisha due to the merit of his Torah.’²¹⁹Just as the casing is saved from fire on Shabbat due to the scroll, Elisha should be saved due to his Torah. Years later, [Elisha’s] daughters came and demanded charity from Rabbeinu.²²⁰Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi He said: “Let no one extend kindness to him; and let no one be gracious to his orphans” (Psalms 109:12). They said: ‘Rabbi, do not look at his actions, look at his Torah.’ At that moment, Rabbi wept and decreed that they should be supported. If one whose Torah was not for the sake of Heaven produced such,²²¹Produced such a disciple as Rabbi Meir; alternatively, produced daughters with such wisdom and modest comportment (Etz Yosef). one whose Torah is for the sake of Heaven, all the more so.
Rabbi Yosei said: There are three whose evil inclination came to attack them, but each and every one of them outdid it with an oath. These are Joseph, David, and Boaz. Joseph, as it is written: “How can I perform this great wickedness [and sin to God]?” (Genesis 39:9). Rabbi Ḥunya in the name of Rabbi Idi: Is this verse lacking? “I will sin to the Lord,” is not written here, but rather, “I will sin to God [Elohim].”²²²The Bible generally refers to sinning before the Lord rather than sinning before God. Elohim appears as an expression of oath in the language of the Sages. . and said: ‘By God! I will not sin, and I will not perform this great wickedness.’
David, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “David said: As the Lord lives; rather the Lord will smite him” (I Samuel 26:10).²²³The verse is David’s response to the suggestion of Avishai ben Tzeruya that he kill Saul. Saul had come with an armed force to kill David, but David and Avishai had sneaked into their camp and could easily have killed Saul. To whom did he take an oath? Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman, Rabbi Elazar said: He took an oath to his evil inclination. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: He took an oath to Avishai ben Tzeruya. He said to him: ‘As the Lord lives, if you touch him, I will mix your blood with his blood.’
Boaz, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “As the Lord lives, lie until the morning” (Ruth 3:13). Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Ḥunya, Rabbi Yehuda says: That entire night his evil inclination was agitating him and saying: ‘You are single and seeking a wife and she is single and seeking a husband. Arise and consort with her and she will become your wife.’ He took an oath to his evil inclination and said: ‘As the Lord lives, I will not touch her.’ He said to the woman: “Lie until the morning… if he will redeem you, good, he will redeem.” Rabbi Ḥunya said: “A wise man is strong [baoz]” (Proverbs 24:5), a wise man is Boaz. “And a man of knowledge increases strength” (Proverbs 24:5), but he outdid his evil inclination with an oath.

Another interpretation (of Gen. 28:12): THEN HE DREAMED THAT HERE WAS A LADDER PLACED ON EARTH. R. Eleazar ben Azariah said: He showed him Jonah, as stated (in Jonah 2:7 [6]): I WENT DOWN TO THE ROOTS OF THE MOUNTAINS…. (Gen. 28:12, cont.:) WITH ITS TOP REACHING TO THE HEAVENS. He showed him Elijah, as stated (in II Kings 2:11): AND ELIJAH WENT UP IN A WHIRLWIND INTO THE HEAVENS. Another interpretation (of Gen. 28:12): THEN HE DREAMED. R. Simeon ben Johay said: He showed him Sinai (SYNY). This is a symbol. S = sixty, Y = ten, N = fifty, Y = ten. The sum is one hundred and thirty. LADDER also is a hundred and thirty.²¹In the MT LADDER is SLM (S = 60, L = 30, M = 40, for a total of 130); but the Buber text spells LADDER SWLM for a total of 136. It is stated here (in Gen. 21:12, cont.): PLACED ON EARTH WITH ITS TOP REACHING TO THE HEAVENS. It is also said of Sinai (in Deut. 4:11): {AND BEHOLD, IT WAS} [AND THE MOUNTAIN WAS] BURNING WITH FIRE UP TO THE HEART OF THE HEAVENS.