Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 5:19

ולא יסף — We render this in the Targum by ולא פסק “and He did not cease”, — [Because it is characteristic of human beings that they are unable to utter all their words in one breath (but must make pauses) and it is characteristic of the Holy One, blessed be He, that this is not so, therefore He did not pause, and since He did not pause, He did not have to resume], — for His voice is strong and goes on continuously (Sanhedrin 17a). Another explanation of ולא יסף: He did not again ever reveal himself with such publicity.

OUT OF THE MIDST OF THE FIRE, OF THE CLOUD, AND OF THE THICK DARKNESS. “The cloud and the darkness” explain the expression out of the midst of the fire, for Clouds and darkness are round about Him.¹⁷⁶Psalms 97:2.

את הדברים האלה דבר השם, "These are the words which G'd spoke, etc." Moses omitted to say "all these words," seeing that some of the words which appeared here were not G'd's words but his own, such as when he said: "as G'd commanded you, etc."

ולא יסף, according to the plain meaning of the text there was never again such an overpowering sound in the history of mankind. Whenever the word יסף appears it represents an addition of something. (compare Deut. 5,21, Psalms 73,19, and Genesis 18,23, the expression האף תספה, where the latter word is from the same root as יסף.)

ולא יסף, “which did not abate.” According to Onkelos the meaning of the expression ולא יסף is the same as ולא פסק, “it did not stop, was not interrupted.” [Such as someone catching his breath. Ed.]; neither did it weaken as it continued. The constancy of the voice showed that it was not a human voice. Nachmanides writes that the Torah had written in Exodus 19,19 that the sound of the shofar blast kept increasing in volume, and the sages explain that the reason for this was to enable the listeners to adjust to the increasingly overpowering volume. We therefore must distinguish between the sounds the people heard from the shofar, and the voice they heard from Hashem. G’d’s voice when He uttered the Ten Commandments, remained steady, even, did not rise or fall. It is fair to assume that Onkelos, who holds that the voice did not cease, bases himself on Jeremiah 48,33 ונאספה שמחה וגיל, where the same root means that “the joy over the harvest will be gone,” so that with the prefix לא the meaning would be that the joy would be continuous, never ending. [Our author quotes a couple of examples where the root יסף is also used in the manner in which Onkelos understands it in our verse. I suppose the concept that a voice is interminable is so unusual, that our author tried to justify Onkelos. Ed.]

קול גדול ולא יסף, “a powerful voice not weakening;” the sound did not stop, did not exhaust itself. This is also how Onkelos understands the words ולא יסף. If you peruse the whole paragraph you will find the word קול “sound, voice,” occurring seven times. It occurs five times as referring to G’d’s voice (verses 19,20,21,22,23 and twice in verse 25 as the voice of the Israelites.) This is what the sages in Shemot Rabbah 28,4 meant when they said that the Torah was given with seven “voices,” i.e. that one voice was split into seven sounds. We have mentioned this already near the end of our commentary on Exodus 20,1.

Because His voice is strong and eternal, etc. The first explanation is problematic, for it is obvious. Since the sound of His voice is strong [and eternal] the first time, why then would His voice pause? Therefore Rashi says, “Another explanation, etc.” But the second explanation is problematic. Why does it say יסף [which can mean “stop”]? It should say יוסיף [which clearly means, “did not continue”]! Therefore Rashi also gives the first explanation.

V. 19. קול גדול ולא יסף. Es gibt keinen eigentlichen Beleg für die Bedeutung von יסף als Aufhören, dass יסף und סוף wie יטב und טוב identisch wäre. Es heißt vielmehr sonst immer: vermehren, fortfahren. So auch V. 22. Wir vermuten, dass es auch hier ein Fortfahren, und zwar ein räumliches Weiterschreiten bedeute: die Stimme war groß und reichte doch nicht weiter, überschritt den jüdischen Kreis nicht, war außer demselben nicht vernehmbar. Sie wurde nur von denen vernommen, an die sie gerichtet war, und eben diese Beschränkung dokumentierte sie als das frei persönliche Wort Gottes und hob sie über alle Gemeinschaft mit irgend welcher akustischen physischen Erscheinung hinaus. So auch von Gottes Rede an Mosche überhaupt in ת׳׳כ zu Wajikra 1, 1 וידבר ה׳ אליו מאהל מועד מלמד שהיה הקול נפסק ולא היה יוצא חוץ מאהל מועד יכול מפני שהיה נמוך ת׳׳ל וישמע את הקול וכו׳ הקול המתפרש בכתובים קול ה׳ בכח וגו׳ א׳׳כ למה נאמר מאהל מועד מלמד שהיה הקול נפסק ולא היה יוצא חוץ לאהל.

קול גדול ולא יסף, “with a strong voice that did not weaken;” according to our sages this voice continued to be heard during the entire forty days that Moses spent on Mount Sinai, immediately after the revelation. Another interpretation of that line: the words ולא יסף mean that the Israelites did not hear anything but the Ten Commandments, so as no to distract them. This would be in line with Jeremiah 45,3: כי יסף מכאוב על מכאובי,”for He had added to my grief.”

A GREAT VOICE, ‘V’LO YASAF.’ “We render this [in the Targum Onkelos] as ‘and He did not pause.’ Because it is the nature of human beings that they cannot say all their words in one breath, but the nature of the Holy One, blessed be He, is different; He did not pause. And since He did not pause [in uttering the Ten Commandments] He did not have to resume, for His voice is strong and eternally enduring. [Thus, the words v’lo yasaf which literally mean ‘did not resume’ or ‘did not continue’ are translated by Onkelos as ‘did not pause,’ because, had He paused, He would have had to continue after the pause. Since G-d can say all the words in one breath, there was no need for a pause followed by a resumption.] Another interpretation of lo yasaf: He ‘never again’ revealed Himself in such a public manifestation.” This is Rashi’s language. But the verse states, And the voice of the horn waxed louder and louder!¹⁷⁷Exodus 19:19. This indicates that the voice was not even in pitch and in volume, thus contradicting Rashi’s opinion that the sound was constant in volume from beginning to end. And the Rabbis also said:¹⁷⁸Tanchuma, Yithro 13. This text also shows that the sound was not constant. “And why was it [i.e., the voice of the horn] soft at first [growing gradually stronger]? In order to accustom the ear with [a sound] it was able to hear.”¹⁷⁹In other words, so that the ear should not be unduly taxed at first, the sound began at a low volume and gradually increased in order that the ear should adjust to the change. — Thus, this text of the Rabbis likewise affirms that the voice was not even, in contradiction to the comment of Rashi. Perhaps this was so with respect to the voice of the horn, but the voice of G-d throughout the Ten Commandments was even. The correct interpretation is that of the Sage who says that [the meaning of v’lo yasaf is] “He did not pause,” thus deriving the translation of yasaf from the expressions: ‘v’ne’esfah’ gladness and joy,¹⁸⁰Jeremiah 48:33. ‘toseif’ their breath, they perish¹⁸¹Psalms 104:29. which signify, in his opinion, the act of taking something away. The verse here thus states that His greatness and power were “not withdrawn” until He finished all the commandments. Similarly it says, and they prophesied ‘v’lo yasafu’¹⁸²Numbers 11:25. [which Onkelos renders, “and they did not cease”]. And in line with the plain meaning of Scripture v’lo yasaf means that “there will never again be so great [a voice].” And by way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala,] the verse is stating that they heard all these words [proclaimed by] the voice of the Great One,¹⁸³This is alluded to in the beginning of the verse: These words the Eternal spoke. and He did not add anything [perceivable] to all your assembly, except for this one voice, for it was only that voice that they grasped. There I have already explained this subject as well as the whole section.¹⁸⁴Exodus 19:20. See Vol. II, pp. 283-284. In other words, only in the first two commandments did they hear the voice and understand the words, while in the other eight commandments “He did not add anything to all your assembly except that one voice,” meaning that they heard the voice but Moses explained to them the words (Abusaula). See my Hebrew commentary, p. 369.

In such a public demonstration. The word פומבי means, “a public demonstration.”