Myśl Żydowska do Powtórzonego Prawa 34:12

Some problems in the text of our story. 1) Why does the Torah make it appear that Moses arrived at Mount Chorev merely by coincidence? How did this mountain come to be called "the Mountain of G-d?" 2) Why does the verse read "why will the bush not burn," when we had already been told that the bush was already burning? (3,2-3) 3) Why was Moses told to take off both shoes, whereas Joshua at a similar occurrence was told to remove only one shoe? 4) Why all the repetitions in verse 7? 5) Why would Moses describe himself with the words "who am I,” as if insignificant, when in fact he had been a leading figure, not subject to the demeaning experience of bondage, had been educated as a prince, came of superior parentage etc? Why would he take a chance on delaying the redemption of the people by making G-d wait till He would find someone even more suitable? 6) The sign that G-d told Moses as proof that the redemption of the Jewish people would indeed take place and be justified, should have occurred prior to Moses consenting to assume his function as leader! Especially when the sign was to identify the leader, not the One who appointed him! 7) Why did Moses assume and anticipate the reaction of the Jewish people, if he were to appear and claim to be the redeemer? He had said to G-d they would ask him "what is His name"? G-d had not yet even asked him to say one word to the Israelites! Compare verses 7-13. Had Moses waited until he had received G-ds instructions, no question would have been necessary at all! 8) Why does the sequence of the two instructions "when you will say to the children of Israel,” and "go and assemble the people," appear in the reverse order of the events? 9) Why did Moses employ subterfuge, asking for a leave of absence for three days? How could such lack of forthrightness reflect glory on the name of the Lord? Again, the instruction to borrow valuables from the Egyptians at the time the Israelites left Egypt, seems dishonest, since there obviously was no intention to return these valuables? 10) Why did G-d tell Moses in advance that Pharaoh would refuse the request made of him? 11) How could Moses have the effrontery to say to G-d "they will not believe me nor listen to me," when G-d had already said "they will obey you?!" (verse 18) 12) Since Moses had already tacitly agreed to accept the mission by saying "here when I come to the children of Israel etc., how could he say afterwards "I am not a man of words etc.?" 13) How did G-ds reply to Moses "Who gave man a mouth?", help answer Moses’ss question implying that he had obviously not been equipped for such a mission? Why do our sages read into G-ds reply an expression of anger, when in fact the words appear most civil and conciliatory? 14) Why did the angel want to kill Moses? Do we not have a rule that anyone on a mission of a mitzvah will not be harmed either on the way to his destination or on his return? The mitzvah of circumcision did not apply during the journeys of the Israelites for forty years, so why kill Moses for being remiss in the same way? 15) What exactly did Tzipporah mean by her statement? Why is the line "when you go back to Egypt" (4,21) inserted at that point in the story? It seems totally out of place there! 16) Why did Pharaoh say to Moses "I do not know G-d that I should listen to Him and send off the Israelites?" He had already denied G-ds existence! Why did Moses harp on a vision from that very G-d to legitimize his request, when Pharaoh had already denied that such a G-d exists? ‘ 17) What is the meaning of such terms as shotrim, nogssim, shotrey beney yisrael? 18) Why did Moses complain? G"d after all, had told him in advance that Pharaoh would refuse to release the Israelites! 19) Why did G-d say that His name hashem had not yet been made known, when in fact He had identified Himself in this fashion already to Abraham at the first covenant in Genesis 15,1-6? 20) What was the logic in Moses’s argument that if his own people would not respond to him, surely neither would Pharaoh? His own people were under a great strain, forced labour etc.; they had an excuse not to listen to Moses. What excuse did Pharaoh have? 21) Why did the Torah list the ancestry of only the first three tribes in chapter 6,14-27?

And in the Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Shekalim, Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said: The Tablets were six handbreadths in length and six handbreadths in width; Moses grasped two handbreadths, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, grasped two handbreadths, with a space of two handbreadths in the middle. When Israel committed that act, the Holy One, Blessed be He, sought to snatch them away, but Moses’s hands prevailed and he snatched them from Him. This is why the Holy One, Blessed be He, praises him, stating (Deuteronomy 34:12), “and for all the strong hand”—peace be to the hand of the man that prevailed over the Right Hand. End of quote. And through this matter, they come to explain to you that at that specific hour, they were poised to sin, precisely when the Torah was given to them. According to logic, the very opposite should have been true, for at the hour the Torah was given, it would have been fitting for them to be at their most righteous, yet it was at that very moment that they came to commit the great sin. All of this is because the Satan, who is the Evil Inclination, was provoking Israel on account of the supreme spiritual level that Israel had acquired at that hour, a level than which there is none higher. This is why it says that the Tablets were two handbreadths in the hand of the Holy One, Blessed be He, two in the hands of Moses, and two a space in the middle, for this matter represents the perfect connection and the perfect cleaving that Israel has with the Holy One, Blessed be He, because it is through the Torah that Israel cleaves to Him. Had the Tablets not yet been given, there would be no connection here, for since they were not yet given, Israel did not yet have this connection. And if the Tablets had already been given in their entirety, the cleaving of the Lord, may He be blessed, would not be present in the same way, for the essence of the cleaving is in the very act of His giving it to them, for through this He connects Himself to them. But when there were two handbreadths in the hand of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and two in the hand of Moses who was receiving the Torah for Israel, and two handbreadths of empty space, this is the perfect connection. For these two empty handbreadths between them are shared by the Giver and the Receiver together, as we have established the principle (Bava Metzia 7a) that when two are holding a garment, one takes up to where his hand reaches and the other takes up to where his hand reaches, and the remainder they divide between them as if they are partners; this is the perfect connection and partnership. It is impossible for there to be a more supreme spiritual level than this, for through the Torah which the Lord, may He be blessed, was giving to Israel, with Israel as the recipients, the Torah itself becomes the intermediary that forges a perfect connection and cleaving. Had there been simply a portion in the hand of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and a portion in the hand of Moses, this would have been like a division, as if part of the Torah belongs to God and part belongs to the recipient. But when there are two empty handbreadths between them, this represents a connection to the Lord, Blessed be He, and to Israel; this is a perfect connection and the most supreme spiritual level, and it was then that the Satan prevailed against them to nullify this level from them.