출애굽기 20:1의 Chasidut

Therefore, from the moment the Torah was given, the world is no longer solely sustained by God’s benevolence. At the giving of the Torah, God showed even greater kindness, which is called, “eating from the effort of your hands” (Tehillim, 128:2).⁴³That is, human beings were not in a give-and-take relationship with God, and the life and vitality that He bestowed upon creation was an expression of His gratuitous love. However, with the giving of the Torah, mankind could now earn God’s goodness through fulfilling the Torah – “the effort of your hands.” This allows for an even greater degree of closeness. Even though everything still comes from God’s benevolence, it was God’s desire that with the giving of the Torah man should perform actions which enable him to be conscious of God’s light and the knowledge of God’s existence in this world. This is called, “the effort of man’s hands.” The Torah is the sum-total of all of the creation. With the Torah, every person capable of arriving at the entire level of understanding that God allotted for his creation. This is as it is said in the Zohar (Yitro, 83b): All of the later generations were summoned there, and they all received the Torah at Mount Sinai, each one as befit him. Everything in the Torah is applicable to every individual person. This is as the Zohar says (ibid.): “And God spoke all of these words, saying…” (Shemot, 20:1, directly before the Ten Commandments). “Spoke all of these words,” means – all of these meanings, all of these secrets, all of these mysteries, decrees and punishments. “Saying” – means in order for it to be a uninversal inheritance, as it is written (Devarim, 33) “Moshe commanded the Torah to us as an inheritance.” A story is told in the Midrash Rabbah (Vayikra, 9:3), “Rabbi Yannai saw a man who was finely dressed in the manner of a scholar. He invited him home, and in the course of the conversation discovered that he had no Torah knowledge whatsoever, not in the Gemara, Mishnah, or the Chumash. When the man wanted to lead the Grace following a meal, as is the custom for a guest, Rabbi Yannai said, ‘You may do so by saying these words: “A dog at Yannai’s bread.’” The man seized Rabbi Yannai by the collar and said, ‘You are withholding my inheritance!’⁴⁴That is, “you are denying me a relationship to the Torah.” Rabbi Yannai said, ‘What is your inheritance?’ The man said, ‘Once I was walking past a school, and I heard the children saying, “Moshe commanded us the Torah, an inheritance of the community of Yaakov.” The Torah does not say, “An inheritance of the community of Yannai,” but rather, “An inheritance of the community of Yaakov.”’”⁴⁵The continuation of the story: “Rabbi Yannai then wanted to know in what merit this man was eating at his table. The man said, ‘In my entire life, I always kept silent upon receiving an insult, and I never saw two people arguing and did not make peace between them.’ Embarrassed, Rabbi Yannai said in shame, ‘You possess such good behavior, and I called you a dog.’”

At the time when the Torah was given to Israel, the pshat (simple meaning) and the sod (secret) were given together. Each person understood the pshat and the sod according to his particular level. This is as it is written in the Zohar (Yitro, 83b): All of the various meanings, secrets, mysteries, decrees, and punishments, were all given as an inheritance to all of Israel. This is learned from the words preceding the Ten Commandments (Shemot 20:1), “and God spoke all of these words,” (meaning the pshat and the sod, for the specific purpose,) “to say” (meaning in order to be said and given as an inheritance to all of Israel). The knowledge of the Torah increased in the generation of the desert, for we call this generation the, “dor de’ah” meaning, the generation of knowledge, or the generation of the consciousness of the Torah. With the death of Moshe Rabeynu, the light of the written Torah receded, as it is written in the Zohar (Terumah, 156a), “At the time Moshe died, the sun was darkened in the midst of the day, and the written Torah, which is the aspaclaria d’meira (illuminating mirror),⁶³אספקלריא דמאירה – “A clear lens” means a perfectly lucid source of illumination, a level of clarity unique to the prophecy of Moshe Rabeynu, as the verse says (Shemot 33:11): “And God spoke to Moshe face to face.” This is contrasted with the אספקלריא דאינה מאירה – an unclear lens, or imperfect source of illumination, which is the level of all subsequent prophets, who received their prophecies in visions and dreams, and expressed them using metaphors. Nor were they consciously aware of their own prophecy, as was Moshe. was sealed and locked.” The sanctity of the prophets is inferior to the sanctity of the Torah. This was the beginning of the illumination of the Torah She’ba’al Peh (oral tradition). The Torah She’ba’al Peh is compared to the moon which receives its light from the sun. As long as the sun is shining, we do not see the light of the moon. When the sun sets, then the light of the moon is revealed. The prophets illuminated the light of the Torah She’ba’al Peh. This is as it is written in the Zohar (Kedoshim, 82b): There is a difference between receiving from one’s master, and receiving from the messenger of one’s master. What is the difference? It is written in the beginning of the Pirkei Avot, “Moshe received the Torah at mount Sinai and delivered it over to Yehoshua.” He received it, and then afterwards, transmitted it to everyone. When one receives from another, it is like the reception of the moon from the sun. The light of the moon is entirely a received illumination of the light of the sun.