출애굽기 33:15의 유대 사상

(1,2,3) Just as man is not allowed to enjoy nature's blessings without first reciting an appropriate benediction acknowledging G'd as the source, so the priests remind people of that fact when they say "may the Lord bless you." Constant reminders that G'd is the source of all blessings and well being are important. This too is the purpose of "they will place My name on the children of Israel and I will bless them." The priests' function is to keep Israel aware of this cardinal fact. The function of the priest in relation to G'd, is parallel to the aggadah about Moses assisting G'd in His task of tying the crowns to the letters of the Torah, that we mentioned earlier. The first part of the priests' blessing is essentially material in nature. The additional word "and may He preserve you," is the difference between human and Divine blessings. The former, however generous in nature, does not carry with it the guarantee that it will endure. G'ds blessings however, includes the blessing that it will endure. The second blessing revolves essentially around spiritual matters, the important feature being that the attitude of others towards you will be positive, generous, acknowledge your worth. The third section, "Peace," is relatively the most important of the blessings, as documented by many of the sayings of our sages. They teach that even in death, shalom, peace, is an indispensable attribute. "You will join your fathers in peace." (Genesis 15, 15) See also Jeremiah 34, 4, concerning the death of king Tzidkiyahu. We find a somewhat puzzling statement by Rabbi Eleazar Hakappor, who is quoted as saying "peace is great because even if Israel worships idols, as long as they have harmony, Satan does not touch them.” He bases himself on the verse in Hoseah 4, 17, "as long as the idol worshipping Ephrayim live in unity, leave them alone;" but it continues in chapter 10, 2, "when their heart is divided, now they will receive their punishment." How strange that those who destroy the fabric that binds them to their Creator by worshipping idols, should not also burst the fabric of harmony, peace? But the lesson is that the merit of maintaining harmony gives even sinners an extension before G'ds justice is executed. The three blessings then are 1) Provision of material needs including a healthy body. 2) Provision of the needs of the spirit and soul. 3) Assistance in establishing harmony between man and his Maker, which is true harmony. The tabernacle represents the totality of this world, a microcosm. The beriach hatichon, the central bolt joining all forty eight boards comprising the walls, are the thread shalom, i.e. "peace" that bonds everything together in harmony. When the Midrash says that when G'd created the world, He desired a dwelling down here, just as He has in the Heavens, the meaning is none other than that He wished to supervise and assist man's activities, just as He supervises all that goes on in Heaven. To that end, He endowed the world with blessings. Adam, unfortunately forfeited that relationship through his sin, and until the arrival of Abraham on the stage of history, the broken thread did not begin to mend. Finally, at the completion of the tabernacle, this thread had been fully restored. This is the reason the Torah records the blessings at this juncture. For this reason also, the Midrash talks about Moses hearing three voices. He called the first voice hadar, to paraprase material well being. He called the second voice naeh, to parapharase spiritual and mental well being. The third voice he called meshubach, "choice," since it is the crowning achievement of all. Moses was anxious to have G'ds message spelled out. G'd obliged, saying "I speak shalom, I harbour no ill feelings against My children." (Psalms 85,9.) Rabbi Joshua ben Levi says that there is no need at all to quote a verse from the book of Psalms, since the verse in the Torah is perfectly adequate. Since the Torah tells us about blessings, and continues with the line "it was the day the tabernacle had been completed," the word va-yehee, it was, always refers to the reestablishment of a situation that had existed at one time, but had been interrupted.

The answer: That sin which is cause for apprehension on the Blessed One's part as potentially resulting in the destruction of the Jews is idol worship, to which the sin of the golden calf was similar in character. For the other transgressions do not arouse the Blessed One's wrath to such a great extent; idol worship is to be much more feared in this regard. And there is more reason for apprehension of this sin in the desert than in the land of Israel. For the Jews knew that the other lands were under the ordinance of stars and constellations, as our sages state (Kethuboth 110b): "All who live in the land of Israel, it is as if they have a G-d; all who live outside the land of Israel, it is as if they do not have a G-d." This is because the other, gentile lands are under the ordinance of heavenly plenipotentiaries, an ordinance which cannot be changed except through miraculous, Heavenly intervention (this being the intent of "for he will not forgive your sins"). Therefore, if one lives outside the land of Israel, because he is under the ordinance of a star or of a constellation, his prayer is not so readily accepted as it would be if he lived in the land of Israel, which is not under the dominion of a chief, an officer, or a ruler, but of the Blessed One Himself, as it is written (Deuteronomy 31:16): "and they go astray after the strange gods of the land" — indicating that all gods, except the Blessed One Himself, are strangers in that land. And because the Jews knew this, they would be more apt to stray into idol worship outside the land of Israel, the province of other powers (as they, indeed, said [Exodus 32:1]: "Arise and make us a god which will go before us") than they would in the land of Israel itself. Add to this the fact that they would more likely cleave to the Holy One in the holy land than outside it and that there is more reason for apprehension that rebellion against the word of G-d would result in destruction in the desert than in the land of Israel in that the desert is a place fraught with the danger of "snakes, serpents, scorpions, and drought, no water being there" (Deuteronomy 8:15), so that destruction is more of a possibility there than in other places. This is not as the pseudo-pious would have it, that the power of G-d is constant in all places, for good or for evil. This is not so, but the Blessed One has stamped it into the nature of things that loss is more likely to result in dangerous places than in others, so that if He is not constantly providential of one in such places but abandons him to the vicissitudes of time, then evil will certainly befall him, unlike the case in other places, where there is not cause for such apprehension. Therefore, the Blessed One said to Moses: This does not require My apprising you of My ways, for I have no intention of separating Myself from you, but My presence will go in your midst when I grant rest to you — and them (what is stated of Moses applying to all of Israel, as in "to heed you on the way," where the meaning is obviously not to heed Moses alone). But this did not suffice for Moses, who answered (Exodus 33:15): "If Your presence does not go, do not take us up from here." That is, if Your presence does not go, we should not move from this spot at all. For how will it be known that we have been singled out from the other nations if not by Your going with us now? For when we are in the land of Israel, they will attribute our fortune not to us but to the land, seeing that when we were not in the land You did not walk in the midst of our camp. And the Blessed One acknowledged this, saying (Ibid 17): "This thing, too, that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in My eyes and I have known you by name." He elaborated here, saying "for you have found favor in My eyes" in response to Moses' first having said (Ibid 12): "and You said: 'I have known you by name and you have also found favor in My eyes'" — indicating thereby that He was doing so by virtue of Moses' having found favor in His eyes. And He added "and I will know you by name," in response to "and You said: "I have known you by name,'" not as Moses said (Ibid 16) "so that I and Your people be singled out from all the peoples," but "because you have found favor in My eyes." And this is also by way of intimating that His acquiescing in walking in their midst and not governing them through an angel would be limited to the days of Moses alone; but afterwards, in the days of Joshua, the aforementioned angel would lead the Jews until they came "to the rest and to the inheritance," as we shall explain.