Komentarz do Wyjścia 19:13

ירה יירה HE SHALL SURELY BE CAST DOWN — From this we derive the law regarding those who are sentenced to be stoned that they have to be thrown down from the place of stoning, which was a spot of the height of twice a man’s stature (Sanhedrin 45a).

WHEN ‘HAYOVEIL’ (THE RAM’S HORN) SOUNDETH LONG, THEY SHALL COME UP TO THE MOUNT. “The Hebrew word hayoveil denotes a ram’s horn, and the horn used here was that of Isaac’s ram.”²¹⁰Genesis 22:13. Thus Rashi’s language. But I have not understood this, for Isaac’s ram was burnt as a whole-offering,²¹⁰Genesis 22:13. and horns and hoofs were completely burnt in whole-offerings.²¹¹Leviticus 1:9 and 13. Perhaps the Holy One, blessed be He, shaped the ashes of the horn [of Isaac’s ram] and restored it to what it was originally. But in my opinion, this Agadah (homily) contains a secret. Thus they²¹²Evidently, a reference to the masters of Cabala. The source of this statement, i.e., that the Voice heard on Mount Sinai was that of Pachad Yitzchak, is unknown to me. have said that this Voice [heard on Mount Sinai, as stated in Verse 16], was that of Pachad Yitzchak (the Fear of Isaac).²¹³Genesis 31:42.. See Ramban, ibid. (Vol. I pp. 388-389). And in Bachya’s commentary here (Vol. II, p. 172 of my edition): “This is the Pachad Yitzchak which they perceived at Mount Sinai.” It is for this reason that Scripture says, and all the people that were in the camp trembled.²¹⁴Verse 16. “Just as it says [in Genesis 27:33], in the case of Isaac: And Isaac trembled” (Bachya, ibid.) At this manifestation of G’vurah²¹⁵Literally: “strength.” But here it denotes one of the Ten Emanations, the one which is synonymous with Pachad Yitzchak. they did not grasp the commandment itself but only a voice.²¹⁶Deuteronomy 4:12. See also Ramban further on Verse 19.

לא תגע בו יד, anyone touching the mountain with his hands would be subject to immediate death as spelled out in verse 12. Moses was to execute people like that from a distance so that the executioner himself would not erroneously approach too closely to the mountain. This is why the Torah wrote the words לא תגע בו יד, meaning “do not lay a hand on him,” the one who ignored My command. Such violators of G’d’s command, if any, were to be shot by arrows.

לא תגע בו יד, “a hand shall not touch it” (the fence) some commentators believe that the word בו in our verse refers to the Mountain itself; and that a person doing this is liable to the death penalty, but that the execution must not involve that the person being executed be touched by a human hand in the process. Rather he should be stoned to death, by throwing the stones at him. If the victim escapes the stones by running away, he is to be shot dead by arrows.

אם בהמה אם איש לא יחיה, “whether animal or beast he shall not live.” The word בהמה in our verse does not refer to four-legged animals; it refers to the wicked people who are deemed no better than animals. The Torah tells the Jewish people that regardless of whether the person touching the mountain is an otherwise righteous person or whether he is a wicked person he will not survive touching even the edge (beyond what was fenced off) of the mountain.
When Solomon in Kohelet 3,21 wrote: מי יודע רוח בני האדם העולה היא למעלה ורוח הבהמה היורדת היא למטה לארץ, “who knows the spirit of man which ascends on high or the spirit of the animal which descends downwards, to earth,” he did not refer to actual animals. He referred to the soul of the sinner which descends just as the “soul” (abstract life-force) of an animal perishes with the body it inhabits, to the soul of the righteous which ascends when the body it had inhabited dies. Solomon’s question (rhetorical if you will) was “while both people are alive on this earth, the sinner and the righteous, how can we know what is in store for a certain person? Do we humans know who is a צדיק and who is a רשע, i.e. a בהמה?” Solomon teaches that while we are in this world מקרה אחד לכל לצדיק ולרשע כמות זה כן מות זה, “while on earth both the righteous and the wicked appear to share the same fate, i.e. death of the body.” (Kohelet 3,19-20). Verse 21 refers to verse 20 preceding it where death for every creature made of dust is described, thus placing different people on the same level. However, this changes the moment these differing personalities no longer have a body.
The same is true in our verse. In this life it makes no difference whether a person is wicked or righteous, לא יחיה, he will not live forever. The very fact that the comparison between the wicked and the just is limited to לא יחיה, neither of them escaping physical death, is what makes it plain that as soon as death of the body has occurred the fate of the righteous and that of the wicked will become radically different from one another. Whereas the words לא יחיה apply to the wicked both in this world and in the next, the same words when applied to the righteous refer only to his life on earth, not to his life after the death of his body. Proof is found in the fact that Nadav and Avihu who died for transgressing the commandment not to touch the mountain were nevertheless accorded life in the hereafter. This is why we read about their death on Yom Kippur. [This presupposes, as has been mentioned in several Midrashim, that they had been guilty of death before the day they died but that their death and the manner of their death had been delayed due to a variety of considerations culminating in their bringing incense into the Sanctuary. The words בקרבתם לפני ה’, וימותו “due to their coming close to the presence of G’d they died” (Leviticus 16,1) refer to their touching the mountain. Ed.]

From here we learn that those who are stoned. . . [Rashi knows this] because of the repetitive ירה יירה , [which teaches that “cast down” applies not just at Mt. Sinai].

לא תגע בו יד, “do not touch it with your hand;” Why did this have to be repeated when we had heard already in the preceding verse that anyone touching the mountain would be subject to the death penalty? The two verses have to be understood as follows: “when you are about to execute a person guilty of having touched the mountain, do not do so by using your hands against him but stone him to death.” The stones are to be thrown from some distance away from the culprit. If you were to approach the area where the sin was committed you would be in danger of committing the same offence, even though unintentionally. Our author thinks that the repetition was to make clear which method of execution was to be applied to the offender, as the usual method, strangulation involves touching the victim.

לא תגע בו יד, “you must not touch him;” (the offender in order to pull him back) rather he shall be killed by stoning or by shooting arrows at him, but he must not be touched by human hand in order to be brought before a court of law to be dealt with. The Torah adds therefore that his death should occur without humans touching him. This prohibition applies equally to the Israelites’ beasts. If you were to ask why ascending the mountain is a worse offense than killing such a person by stoning him while ascending? The reason is that if the offender were to be killed through human action, the party touching that body, dead or alive, would also be considered as having personally touched that Mountain, whose holiness is such that it must not be touched by human bodies. Seeing that the Torah did not even allow a beast to touch that mountain, and a beast is not ritually impure while alive, how much more would the Torah not allow a human being to touch it, seeing that a living human being is subject to being ritually defiled while alive as well as when dead; so why did the Torah have to spell out this regulation as applying also to the people?The answer to this question can be learned from matters involving a high level of sanctity, such as the Tabernacle which was completely out of bounds to non priests. As soon as Nadav and Avihu approached to offer incense not prepared in accordance with the regulations pertaining to it, they were killed by lightning descending from G-d. They were not convicted after trial by a human court. Their corpses defiled the Tabernacle, although if they had been jailed and executed after a trial, the sanctity of the Tabernacle would not have been defiled. The same thing happened when Uzziah, King of Yehudah, not a priest, ascended the altar in the Temple of Solomon, planning to offer incense; after having been warned and having ignored the warning, he was struck by the dreaded skin disease of tzoraat on his forehead, something which defiled his entire body even though he was standing on the holiest place on earth. (Chronicles II 26,16) A different interpretation of the words: כי סקול יסקל, “for he will be stoned to death;” either with stones only, or with hail (stones). The words או ירה יירה, referring to the kind of hail that was a plague in Egypt would symbolise death both by stoning and by burning. Rashi claims that we would have expected the Torah to decree death by either drowning in water, i.e. ירה יירה, as in Exodus 15,4 when the Egyptian army was tossed into the sea to drown, or if not then by stoning. He bases this on the principle stated in Sanhedrin 45, that prior to stoning, the victim is pushed down by one of the witnesses who had testified against him from a wall two stories high into a pit, and if that did not kill him the others stone him by throwing stones at him. Alternately, the word או in our verse here does not mean: “or,” but means the same as אשר, “which,” as it does in Exodus 21,6, והגישו אל הדלת או אל המזוזה, “to the door, i.e. the door post;” this line has been translated by Yonatan ben Uzziel Targum as ויקריבנו לות דשא דלוח מזוזתא “he will bring him close to the entrance which is the doorpost.” The meaning of the line accordingly, is: “for the person violating this commandment will eventually be stoned to death after first having been thrown down into the pit.”

יירה means HE SHALL BE THROWN BELOW to the ground, the word being similar to, (Exodus 15:4) “He hath cast down (ירה) into the sea”.

במשוך היובל, once the presence of G’d would withdraw and the sound of the shofars and the lightning would cease.

במשוך היובל, “upon a prolonged blast of the shofar, etc.” Ibn Ezra says that the word יובל is another word for the horn we know as shofar. It is the horn being blown in the Jubilee year, the שנת היובל. Translators generally [Bible scholars viewed as heretics by Ibn Ezra in his introduction to the Book of Genesis. Ed.] refer to יובל as a sheep, כבש. As to the allegorical explanation offered by Rashi, according to which the sound of the shofar at the revelation was the horn which had been part of the ram which Avraham had offered on the altar after G’d had stopped him from slaughtering Yitzchok, Nachmanides writes [as the plain meaning of the text. Ed.] that he does not understand that commentary, seeing that the entire ram had been offered as a burnt offering, i.e. including the horns which were burnt up at that time. He speculates that possibly Avraham or G’d had gathered up the ash from that horn and it had been resurrected to its former condition. [these speculations are pursued already in commentaries on the oldest text of Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer. Ed.]

It is a sign of the departing. This is because singers and musicians make a long, drawn-out note at the end. The ceasing of the sound signified the departing of the Shechinah, which had arrived accompanied by sounds, lightning and horn-blasts. After the Shechinah departed, they were allowed to ascend the mountain. (Re”m)

או ירה יירה, “or shot through with arrows;” according to our author as distinct from Ibn Ezra and Rashbam, the meaning of the word או here is not “or,” but “if” is that the guilty party must be thrown from a height after having been pushed. Alternately, “if throwing the victim down from a height has not killed him he must be shot subsequently to insure that he does not have to die a slow death. [Seeing that this commandment will never be applied again, assuming it even had been necessary to apply it then, it does not really matter which interpretation is the correct one. Ed.]

אם בהמה אם איש, “regardless if man or domestic fourlegged animal; the category “bird” is not mentioned seeing that the messengers of the court would have no means of bringing it to justice. It would escape by flying away as soon as chased.

במשך היבל WHEN THE RAM’S HORN SOUNDETH LONG — when the ram’s horn draws out a long sound that is a sign of the departure of the Shechina and that the Divine voice is about to cease, and as soon as “I” shall depart they shall be permitted to ascend [i. e. המה יעלו בהר is not obligatory, signifying, “they shall go up”, but it is permissive] (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 19:13:2).

המה יעלו בהר,”they may ascend the Mountain.” According to Ibn Ezra permission to ascend the Mountain after the revelation was granted only to the elders but not to the people at large. Personally, I do not understand why the ordinary people should not have been allowed to ascend the Mountain after G’d’s glory had departed from it. [I do not understand the author’s reservations, as in my edition of Ibn Ezra a very plausible case is made for the word המה being restrictive, and referring only to Aaron and the elders who already prior to the revelation had been permitted to approach more closely than the ordinary people. Ed.]

The horn of Yitzchok’s ram. [Rashi knows this] because it is written במשוך היובל , implying a certain horn. This is the horn of Yitzchok’s ram, about which it is written (Yeshayah 27:13), “On that day He will sound a great horn.” (Maharshal) The Ramban asks: Was not Yitzchok’s ram offered as an olah, thus its horns and hoofs were burnt [on the Altar]? Re”m answers: Perhaps the horns were removed while the ram was still alive, in which case they would not be burned, although they may not be used for non-sacrificial purposes. Alternatively, they were removed after the ram’s blood was cast on the Altar [but before the ram was placed on the fire], in which case they may be used even for non-sacrificial purposes.

במשוך היובל, “after the ram’s horn emits a long blast, etc.” actually, the reference is to the horn of the ram, קרן היובל, not the ram, יובל, as written here. It is not equivalent to the shofar used during the yovel year. That shofar was not used until after the Tabernacle had been built during the second year of the Israelites’ wanderings. On this occasion, Moses used a ram’s horn to signal to the people that the Revelation and all this entailed had been concluded. based on the interpretation by Rabbi Saadyah gaon. Still another interpretation: the words: במשוך היובל, mean: “when the sound of the celestial shofar the people had been hearing during the revelation had come to end.” We find the word משך used in this context also in Hoseah 7,5: משך ידו את לוצצים, “he extended his hand to scorners (instead of protecting the king).” The expression here signals that the presence of the glory of Hashem above the Mountain had come to an end.

היבל — This denotes a ram’s horn, for so do they term, a ram in Arabia — יובלא (corresponding to the Hebrew יובל) (Rosh Hashanah 26a). The horn used here was that of Isaac’s ram (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 31).

והגבלת את ההר, “and you shall fence off the mountain.” The idea is to set a boundary approximately 2000 cubits distant from the mountain to prevent accidental infraction of G’d’s command.

כל הנוגע בהר מות יומת, “whoever touches the mountain shall be executed.” Anyone actually guilty of ascending the mountain would most certainly also die.
לא תגע בו יד, “you are not to touch it by hand.” Seeing that the Torah had already said: “anyone touching it will be executed,” why did the Torah have to write these words? The meaning is that the death penalty to be administered to someone violating the commandment does not involve touching the convicted person by hand such as death administered by the sword or by strangulation as opposed to shooting arrows, but the penalty is stoning which occurs at a distance from the victim. This is why the Torah elaborates כי סקול יסקל או ירה ייראה, “he shall be stoned or thrown down.”