Комментарий о цитате к Шмот 34:23

והראיון – That a person is obligated to appear in the Temple court on the three Pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot), as it is written (Exodus 34:23), “Three times a year all your males shall appear [before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel,”(see also, Exodus 23:20 and Deuteronomy 16:16) for virtually identical language)” and this appearance in the Temple has no fixed measure, for whenever that he (i.e., that person) wishes to, he goes up and appears and then leaves. Another interpretation: The burnt offerings of “appearing” and the peace offerings [brought] as the festive offering of the visitors of the Temple on the festivals which [a person] is obligated to bring as it is written (Exodus 34:20) “…None shall appear before Me empty-handed” (see also Deuteronomy 16:16 for an identical command)., have no [fixed] measure from the Torah, as it is written (Deuteronomy 16:17), “but each with his own gift, [according to the blessing that the LORD your God has bestowed upon you],” but the Sages gave them a measure (see Mishnah Hagigah 1:2 in a dispute between the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel), the burnt offering is one m’ah silver and the festival offering is two silver pieces.

First we have to understand why G’d repeated the word צור in His instructions to Moses in Exodus 17,6 when all He had to say was והכית בו, “strike it,” seeing that He had already told Moses that the צור was the object he was to concentrate on. This hints that the words והכית בצור, may refer to a different “צור.”
The attribute כבוד we have been mentioning repeatedly is the one that said to Yaakov (Genesis 31,13) אנכי האל בית-אל, seeing that it was this attribute which had been described earlier as the G’d of his father when we read of G’d (introducing) revealing Himself to Moses (Exodus 3,6) saying אנכי אלו-הי אביך אלו-הי אברהם, אלו-הי יצחק, ואלו-הי יעקב, ויסתר משה פניו כי ירא מהביט אל-האלו-הים. ”I am the G’d of your father, the G’d of Avraham, the G’d of Yitzchak, and the G’d of Yaakov; Moses averted his face as he was afraid to look at Elohim.” [The common denominator in the last two verses quoting G’d is the word אנכי coupled with Elohim. Ed.] According to Hoseah 12,5 בית אל is an attribute by means of which G’d addresses human beings. The verse in Hoseah, clearly a reference to Yaakov, reads as follows: וישר אל מלאך ויכל, בכה ויתחנן לו, בית אל ימצאנו ושם ידבר עמנו “He wrestled with an angel and prevailed; he (the angel) cried and pleaded with him. At Bet-El He would meet him, and there He would speak with us.” [The next verse continues (not quoted by our author) “But the Lord, the Lord of Hosts must be invoked as “the Lord.” Ed.]. When G’d said to Moses (Exodus 33,19) אני אעביר כל טובי על פניך, “I shall let all My goodness pass before you,” He referred to His capacity as the attribute כבוד. In Exodus 34,6 this is described as “Hashem passed before him.” I shall explain the apparent anomaly in this verse when we get to it. The verse in Ki Tissa refers to the attribute which is meant in verse 23 of the same chapter where the Torah speaks of the pilgrims presenting themselves את פני האדון י-ה-ו-ה- אלו-הי ישראל.

UNTO HIS HABITATION SHALL YE SEEK. The meaning thereof is that you are to come from distant countries asking, “Where is the road leading to the House of G-d?,” and you should say to one another, ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Eternal, to the House of the G-d of Jacob,’²³Isaiah 2:3. similar to the expression, They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces hit herward.²⁴Jeremiah 50:5. And in the Sifre it is stated:²⁵Sifre, R’eih 62. “Ye shall seek — seek [the place where G-d intended that His House be built] through the command of the prophet. I might think that you are to wait until the prophet tells you [when and where to build it]; Scripture therefore states, unto His habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come — seek and find [the place], and afterwards the prophet will tell you [whether your choice is the correct one]. And so you find it in the case of David etc.”²⁶“As it is said, O Eternal, remember unto David all his affliction, how he swore unto the Eternal, and vowed unto the Mighty One of Jacob, ‘Surely I will not come into the tent of my house … Until I find out a place for the Eternal, a dwelling-place for the Mighty One of Jacob’” (Psalms 132:1-5). And whence do you know that he did it only by command of the prophet? Because it says, And Gad [the prophet] came that day to David, and said unto him: ‘Go up, rear an altar on the threshing-floor of Aravnah the Jebusite.’ (II Samuel 24:18) (Sifre, R’eih 62).
And by way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala], l’shichno (unto His habitation) shall ye seek means that you are to inquire after His Glory [that abides there]; and thither thou shalt come to appear before the Lord, Eternal G-d, the G-d of Israel.²⁷Exodus 34:23. It is on the basis of this expression here [l’shichno — unto His habitation] that the Sages have spoken of the Shechinah (“Divine Presence”).