Cytowanie Komentarza do Wyjścia 32:35

It is clear that the straight path is the good actions which we have elucidated in the fourth chapter (Eight Chapters 4), and they are the virtues of moderation. As through them a person acquires a fine disposition and he will have a good way with people. And he said it is "praiseworthy for the person adopting [it], And praiseworthy to him from [other] people." And afterwards, he said that he needs to be careful with a commandment that he thinks is light - like rejoicing in the holiday, and study of the Holy Tongue - as with a commandment the great weightiness of which is clear to you - like circumcision and tsitsit (fringes) and slaughtering of the Pesach sacrifice. And there the reason for this is for you do not know the reward given [for the fulfillment] of [the respective] commandments. And the elucidation of this matter is as I will say. And it is that the entire Torah has positive commandments and negative commandments. It is true that Scripture elucidated the punishment of each negative commandment except for a few of them. And one is obligated the death penalties for some of them and excision and death at the hand of the Heavens and lashes for some of them. And we know from all of the punishments of the negative commandments which of the prohibitions are great and which ones of them are below them. And they are eight levels: The first level - and it is the greatest of them - are those things for which one is obligated stoning. And the one below it are the ones that obligate burning. And the third are the ones that obligate killing (decapitation). And the fourth are the ones that obligate strangling. And the fifth are ones that obligate excision. And the sixth are ones that obligate death at the hand of the Heavens. And the seventh are ones that obligate lashes. And the eighth are negative commandments for which we do not give lashes. And from these levels we can know what is the weightiness of a sin or its lightness. But what is the reward from God, may He be blessed, of each of the positive commandments is not elucidated. And all of this is so that we do not know which commandment requires that we keep it much and which commandment is below it. Rather He commanded to do matter x and y and He did not make known the reward of which one of them is greater from God, may He be blessed. And because of this one needs to be careful about all of them. And because of this principle, they said (Sukkah 25a), "One who is engaged in a commandment is exempt from [another] commandment," without comparing [the weight of] the commandment that he is involved in to the other one from which he is refraining. And for this, they also said (Pesachim 64b et. al.), "We do not skip over commandments," meaning to say that when you chance upon the performance of a commandment, do not skip over it and leave it to do another commandment. And afterwards he said that even though the [relative] desirability of each commandment is not elucidated, there is an angle of comparison. And that is that every positive commandment wherein you find that one who transgresses it is obligated a great punishment, know that there is also a great reward in doing [the commandment]. And the example of this is that circumcision, slaughtering the Pesach sacrifice, resting on the seventh [day] and the making of a parapet are all positive commandments. Yet the obligation of one who does work on Shabbat is stoning, but the one who refrains from circumcision or the sacrifice on the holiday is obligated [only] excision and the one who 'places blood in his house' (by refraining from setting up a parapet) violates a negative commandment [without a tangible punishment], and that is that which is stated (Deuteronomy 22:8), "do not place blood in your house." And from here you know that the reward of Shabbat is greater than the reward of circumcision and the reward of circumcision is greater with God, may He be blessed, than the reward of making a parapet. And that is the matter of his saying, "Also, weigh the loss [that may be sustained through the fulfillment] of a commandment against the reward [that may be obtained] for [fulfilling] it." And he also said "the gain of a transgression," when you do not do it - this too is not elucidated. However you can learn it from the punishment of the sin. When the sin for which the sinner was punished is great, the reward for his refraining from it is according to that level of greatness, as is elucidated in Kiddushin 39b in their saying, "Anyone who sits and does not commit a sin is given a reward like the one who does a commandment" - and we have already explained it there. And the expression of the Torah of actions being known to Him, may He be blessed, is like that when our teacher Moshe, peace be upon him, stated (Exodus 32:32), "from Your book that you have written."

Take for yourself a calf of the cattle for a sin offering. Some question why Aaron’s calf is brought as a sin offering while Israel’s calf is brought as a burnt offering. They explained that in the sin of the Golden Calf, Aaron did not sin in thought, as he certainly did not intend it for idolatry at all. His main sin was in the deed — that he actually made the calf, as it is written: And the Lord smote the people because they made the calf which Aaron made (Exodus 32:35). Why does it add which Aaron made? It comes to teach that Aaron sinned only in making the calf, but not in thought. Therefore his offering was a calf for a sin offering, which atones for sins of action. But Israel, who sinned also in thought, as they certainly intended it for idolatry, therefore their offering was a calf for a burnt offering, which comes to atone for sins of thought. What is difficult with this explanation is that Israel also sinned in deed, as they bowed down to it and sacrificed to it, so why didn’t they bring a calf as a sin offering for atonement? It seems to me that for the sin of sacrificing, they brought the goat for atonement, because it is said: And they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to demons (Leviticus 17:7). Where do we find that Israel sacrificed to goat-demons, that Scripture says no more? Rather, it certainly refers to what was said about the calf: and they sacrificed to it, because this sacrifice was certainly to goat-demons, to demons [that are] no-gods, as that entire incident was the work of Satan, and goat-demons dance there (Isaiah 13:21). Therefore it says, Take a young goat for a sin offering. But Aaron, who did not sacrifice to it at all, brought a calf as a sin offering to atone for making the calf.

ויאמר אל אהרן: קח לך עגל בן בקר לחטאת, “He said to Aaron: “take yourself a young bull for a sin-offering, etc.” This was intended to atone for the affair of the golden calf, of which the Torah had written that Aaron had made it (Exodus 32,35).

ונתת אתו על עבדת אהל מועד AND THOU SHALT GIVE IT FOR THE SERVICE OF THE APPOINTED TENT — From this statement you may learn that he (Moses) was commanded to take their census when they began to contribute towards the building of the Tabernacle, after the incident of the golden calf, because the pestilence had befallen them, as it is said, (Exodus 32:35) “and the Lord plagued the people”. A parable: To what may this be compared? To a flock that is dear to its owner upon which there fell pestilence. As soon as it ceased he said to the shepherd, “I beg of you, count my sheep and ascertain how many of them are left”. He did this to show that it (the flock) was dear to him (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 9). — It is, however, impossible to say that the census mentioned here is identical with that spoken of in the Book of Numbers (1:1), for there (in Numbers 1:1) Scripture states, “[And God spake to Moses …] on the first day of the second month … [Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel etc.]”, whilst the Tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month as it is said, (Exodus 40:2) “On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up [the Tabernacle etc.]”, and from this census (that mentioned in this paragraph) — from the shekels obtained by it — the sockets used for its boards were made, for it is said, (Exodus 38:27) and of the hundred talents of silver were cast [the sockets of the sanctuary]”. Consequently you learn from this that two censuses were taken, viz., one at the beginning of their contributing towards the Tabernacle, after the Day of Atonement (when Moses first commanded the people to engage in the construction of the Tabernacle; see Rashi on Exodus 33:11, last sentence), in the first year, and the other in the second year, in Iyar, after the Tabernacle had already been set up. If you ask, however: is it at all possible that on both of these occasions the number of the Israelites was exactly the same, viz., 603,550, for in the account of how the silver of those that were numbered of the congregation was used (Exodus 38:27) it is so stated, and in the Book of Numbers (1:46) exactly the same is stated, “Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty”; were not these censuses taken in two different years, and surely it is impossible that there were not at the time of the first census people nineteen years old who accordingly were not counted and who became twenty years old in the second year when the second census was taken and this must have added to the total?! The reply to this question is: As far as the years of men’s ages are concerned they were counted in the same year, but reckoning from the time of the exodus from Egypt they were two different years in which the censuses were held. For when we speak of a period beginning with the exodus from Egypt, which took place in Nisan, we calculate from Nisan, as we have learned in Treatise Rosh Hashanah 2b. Consequently the Tabernacle was being built in the first year and was erected in the second year, because a new year began on the first of Nisan following the exodus. The years of people’s ages, however, were counted according to the era of the creation of the world which begins with Tishri, consequently from this point of view both censuses took place in the same year: the first in Tishri after the Day of Atonement when the Omnipresent became reconciled with Israel to grant them His pardon and when they received the command regarding the construction of the Tabernacle, and the second on the first of Iyar, so that those who were only 19 years old after the Day of Atonement when the first census was taken, were not yet regarded as twenty in Iyar when the second census was held even though they were born between Tishri and Iyar.

וישק את בני ישראל AND HE GAVE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL TO DRINK OF IT — He intended to put them to the test as faithless wives were tried (cf. Numbers 5:12—31) (Avodah Zarah 44a). Three different death-penalties were inflicted there: It there were witnesses to the act of idolatry and a legal warning had preceded the deed the offender was put to death by the sword (cf. vv. 27, 28) as was the regulation regarding the inhabitants of an apostate city (Deuteronomy 13:13—18) when there were many (as was the case here; a single idolator, however, was subject to the death by stoning; cf. Deuteronomy 17:2—5). If there were witnesses but there had been no caution, they were destroyed by the plague, as it is said, (v. 35) “And the Lord plagued the people”. In cases where there were neither witnesses nor warning they were punished by dropsy — for the water which Moses gave them to drink put them to the test and if they were guilty their bellies swelled (cf. Yoma 66b).