Musar su Genesi 37:11

Why does Rabbi Yoshiah say: "Do not read Matzot, but read: Mitzvot?" Furthermore, he applies the word ושמרתם to all commandments while this paragraph has dealt exclusively with matters related to Passover and Matzot! Another difficulty is the definition of the word ושמרתם by Rashi to mean not allowing an existing condition to continue. Normally the word שמירה means that an existing condition is to be preserved. When the Torah says of Jacob ואביו שמר את הדבר, "His father kept this matter in mind" (Joseph's dream Genesis 37,11), it certainly meant that this condition would be preserved. As a rule, whenever a commentator uses the phrase אל תקרי, "do not read, etc.," there is some proof in the text that would cause us to read it differently. What is the proof in this case?

Esau was the exact opposite. He represented קנאה, jealousy, and שנאה, hatred. Jealousy is the exact opposite of truth. The attribute of truth is defined as a preparedness to admit that something is objectively so, without one denying it or misrepresenting it (even if one puts oneself in a bad light thereby). When the prophet Ovadiah in the verse quoted describes the house of Esau as becoming straw, קש, the letters in that word are the respective first letters of קנאה and שנאה. Now that the brothers had become guilty of being jealous of Joseph and hating him, as we know from 37,4 and 37,11, they became victims of Esau in this world. Since ten of the brothers were guilty of such feelings, the Romans tortured ten outstanding Jewish scholars to death, the ones commonly known as עשרה הרוגי מלכות, whom Jewish liturgy eulogized in the poem אלה אזכרה recited on the Day of Atonement. The ten scholars involved were re-incarnations of the ten brothers of Joseph who had taken part in selling him. This is stated in the book Heychalot. Rabbi Yishmael said: "The day the instructions came to torture Jewish sages to death was on a Thursday. Originally, four sages were to be arrested, Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel, Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha the High Priest, Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava and Rabbi Yehudah ben Damah. Eight thousand scholars in Jerusalem were prepared to offer themselves in lieu of these four leaders. When Rabbi Nechunyah ben Hakanah realised that the decree would not be revoked, he "lowered me" to the מרכבה, and I interceded with the שר הפנים in the Celestial Regions. The שר הפנים told me that the Supreme Court in Heaven had decreed that ten eminent scholars were to be handed over to Samael, the Celestial representative of Rome. The reason for the decree was to carry out on the bodies of leaders of Israel the penalty imposed on kidnappers as per Exodus 21,16: "If someone kidnaps a person, sells him and is found out, he shall be executed." [According to Sanhedrin 85, the words "found out" mean that there were witnesses to the deed already before the sale. Ed.]

Let us now examine in what way the different Rabbis quoted in this Midrash differ. What nuances in the verse did each Rabbi find that he based his comment on? The central theme mentioned in the verse is "ועשיתם אתם." The word אתם seems superfluous. Even the word ועשיתם, is not needed, since the Torah could simply have said ואת מצותי תשמרו ותעשו. Why did the Torah have to say: ועשיתם אתם? Rabbi Chanina seems to explain this verse in the sense that I have written, that preoccupation with Torah should be לשמה, as I have defined; he will then be considered as having done the many things that he was unable to actually perform. The word תשמרו which precedes the word ועשיתם, would refer to study of Torah just as Rashi explained in Deut. 4,6: ושמרתם refers to study, ועשיתם to performance. The word שמירה would even include someone waiting patiently for the opportunity to perform a certain מצוה to present itself.