Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Awit ng mga Awit 1:2

The Maggid begins by telling the story (of the Exodus) with the disgrace that our forefathers experienced, as the sages stated: “One begins with the Jewish people’s disgrace and concludes with their glory.”⁹⁰Mishnah Pesachim 10:4 We shall explain this. It would have been better if we began with the disgrace of Israel; why do we begin with the disgrace of the forefathers, and even more so, the disgrace of Terach (who worshipped idols). Didn’t he repent before his death?⁹¹According to the sages, Terach, father of Abraham, was not only an idolator most of his life but also ran an idol boutique. However in his latter years he came to understand the error of his ways and became a believer in God. It doesn’t seem right to mention his wickedness.
However, one might argue that since Terach committed many sins before the end of his life but died having performed repentance, it is a mitzvah to mention his disgrace. Telling his story lightens his guilt and brings atonement. This is what the sages stated: “The first report of the incident of the Golden Calf, (Ex. 32:1–20), is read and translated, but the second reported, (Aaron’s report to Moses of what had taken place Ex. 32:21–24) is read but not translated.” ⁹²BT Megillah 25a Even though we recall the sin of the Golden Calf, by doing so we bring atonement to the sinner. We do not worry about the sinners of Israel since they are received in atonement.
Similarly, we are taught, “Three kings and four commoners in the Bible have no share in the World-to-Come.”⁹³Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:2 “The three kings are: Jeroboam, son of Nebat, Ahab, both kings of Israel, and Manasseh, king of Judea. Rabbi Yehuda says: Manasseh has a share in the World-to-Come, as it is stated: “And he prayed to Him, and He received his entreaty, and heard his supplication and brought him back to Jerusalem unto his kingdom” (II Ch. 33:13). The Rabbis said to Rabbi Yehuda: He regretted his actions, and his repentance was effective to the extent that God restored him to his kingdom, but did not restore his portion in life in the World-to-Come. The four commoners are: Balaam, son of Beor; Doeg the Edomite; Ahithophel; and Gehazi.” One should not think that Menasheh did not receive a portion in the world to come! I would like to have the merit that Menasheh, King of Judah, had, since during the final days of his life were spent in complete repentance. Rather this is included in the Mishnah since it served as atonement. When we recall his actions, his words speak from the grave. So, too, when one's actions are recalled in disgrace, the dead hear it and are distressed and they ask for atonement for their sins.⁹⁴See Kiddushin 31b - “How does he honor him in his death? If he says a matter he heard from his father’s mouth, he should not say: So said Father. Rather, he should say: So said Father, my teacher, may I be an atonement for his resting soul. And this halakha applies within twelve months of his death. From this time onward he says: May his memory be for a blessing, for the life of the World-to-Come.” And Yevamot 97a. Similarly, we learn, “When Rabbi Ashi concluded his lecture by saying, ‘Tomorrow we will begin our lecture with our colleague, Menasheh,” Menashe appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘How can you call me “colleague”’ ⁹⁵Sanhedrin 102b Manasseh said to him angrily: You called me your colleague and the colleagues of your father? How dare you characterize yourself as our equal? This suggests that Rabbi Ashi did not merit to call even Menashe, his colleague. So, too, here, we recall the sins of Terach so that it would be an atonement for him.
And if the sages stated that we should not speak (poorly) about the dead, it means when we are speaking about those who did not cause others to sin. If, however, they not only sinned but caused others to sin as well, it is permissible to speak disparagingly about them with this intention, even if they repented. Or the sages meant that we should not mention the wicked in the world in which they are found because we don’t punish them for the sins they committed if they have repented.
(V’hanakhon) It is also correct to say that this statement brought here to teach, “One appoints a leader over the community only if he has a box full of creeping animals hanging behind him,” Why is that? It is so that if he exhibits a haughty attitude toward the community, one can say to him: Turn and look behind you.”⁹⁶BT Yoma 22b, i.e., he has something inappropriate in his ancestry that preceded him. The story of the Exodus reminds us to remain humble…
God chose Israel from among all the nations so they would follow His path and do so in the future when the redeemer comes, as is stated, “And nations shall walk by your light…” (Is. 60:3) and it is also written, ““Come, let us go up to the Mount of Adonai, to the House of the God of Jacob; that He may instruct us in His ways, and that we may walk in His paths.” (Is. 2:3) This was also God’s will when the Israelites left Egypt. That is why God commanded them to set up several large stones on the other side of the Jordan and to write the Torah clearly on them in seventy languages. (Deut. 27:8 See Rashi) This was so the nations would see that the ordinances and teachings of Torah are true. Then they will say, “Israel’s teachings (Torah) is truly the teachings (Torah) of God and then they will come to Israel so that they can learn the ways of God and they will come to fear them in the way that students should show reverence to their teacher. But since there was concern that Israel might become arrogant when they saw their superiority, and that God brought them close in a way that He did not do so with the other nations, therefore they were instructed to first say, “At first our ancestors worshipped idols…” That is, “Look behind you and see where you have come from…”
It is also possible to explain, “At first our ancestors worshipped idols…” as follows: when Israel left Egypt they were raised above the other nations. Israel’s ascent was their inheritance even though they were feeble. In order to keep them from becoming haughty, they were told to look back (at the past) from whence they came; at Terach, the father of Abraham. God will desire us because we humble ourselves.
The correct understanding of this passage is to begin by explaining that the descent to Egypt was meant to purify them of the idolatry assciated with Adam, the first human being and not about purifying the other transgressions and sins in the Garden of Eden. They were all included in the sin of idolatry. As the sages state, “Anyone who worships idolatry denies the Torah.⁹⁷Midrash Lekach Tov Deuteronomy 11:28 However, the passage continues, “And now He has brought us close…” because when we went out of Egypt, God brought us to the service of the divine.
(Akh) It has been said that when the Israelites left Egypt, the Omnipresent (HaMakom) brought them closer and closer to God’s service so that they cleaved to the Holy One, as is explained later, in the passage, Al achat kama v’kama, “How much do we owe thanks to God…”⁹⁸The passage after dayyenu. Sin caused them to lose their ability to cleave to God, when they said to Moses, ““You speak to us and we will obey; but let not God speak to us, lest we die,”⁹⁹The last half of this verse does not appear in the commentary but is necessary to understand its implication. (Ex. 20:16) causing the evil inclination returned to its place,¹⁰⁰The people experience Devekut, pure cleaving to God, at Mount Sinai. But when they turned to Moses and told him to act as an intermediary, they destroyed the moment of Devekut, cleaving, and this allowed the evil inclination to re enter their lives. so that only they “come near” (keiruv).¹⁰¹But not cleave to God. In order to sense what was lost, and improve their actions so that we would return the crown to its former glory through cleaving to God, we say, “And now the Omnipresent has drawn us near.” This was meant to exclude the time when we could cleave to God, as is stated, “while you, who held fast (hadevekim) to Adonai your God, are all alive today.” (Deut. 4:4) Even though this was stated after the evil inclination had returned, even so the Israelites had the ability to improve so that they would eventually cleave to God again. This was taught to them when they were commanded regarding the making of the flags.¹⁰²Midrash Bemidbar Rabbah 2:3 It is known that it is an allusion to the four camps of the Divine Presence. At first one might think that when sin occurred, Israel lost its ability to cleave to God and all that remained was the ability to come close. Therefore we say, "And now we come close…” Therefore Moses prayed and said, “Oh, let him give me kisses of His mouth,-For your love is more delightful than wine.” (Song 1:2)

A kabbalistic approach: Solomon referred to the words spoken by the wise as נכוחים, “correct,” the word having a similar meaning to Proverbs 8,9 כלם נכוחים למבין, “they are all straightforward to those that possess knowledge.” Seeing that the word ישק, “will kiss,” describes close and intimate physical contact, Solomon employs this word which is familiar to us to describe close and intimate contact on an intellectual though abstract level. Solomon used similar wording in Song of Songs when he spoke of ישקני מנשיקות פיהו, “may he (G’d) kiss me with the kisses of His mouth,” (Song of Songs 1,2). There too the word is “borrowed,” describing spiritual values couched in language applicable to matters physical. The word שפתים, instead of meaning “lips” is derived from שפת הנהר, “the banks of the river,” meaning “the boundaries of the river.” Keeping this in mind, the meaning of the whole verse quoted above is: “the wise man who is tuned in to the fundamental aspects of wisdom in the celestial domains, a wisdom which is freely available at all times without interruption, can answer all questions and questioners correctly, being always in tune with them.” He can do this as he has reached the outermost limits (שפתים) of this wisdom.
When we wish to understand the specific allure of this level of wisdom we should think of what our sages call מיתת נשיקה, “death by divine kiss,” i.e. mortal man achieving the ultimate cleaving to the divine that it is possible for a creature to achieve with its Creator.
King David referred to this elevated spiritual level of the mutual attraction between G’d and man when he said in Psalms 91,14 (quoting G’d): כי בי חשק ואפלטהו, “because he is devoted to Me I will deliver him.” Any righteous person (צדיק) who has attained the spiritual level David spoke of here will not experience death as a form of destruction of the body or other faculties, but will experience it as a direct spiritual promotion. Three famous people who experienced such a “death” were Miriam, Aaron, and Moses. When the Torah reported their deaths” it always added the words,על פי ה', “a kiss of G’d.” In the case of Miriam the Torah did not use these words as it is not in keeping with accepted rules of decorum to speak of G’d as “kissing” a woman. (Compare Numbers 33,38 — Aaron, Deut. 34,5 — Moses). We have it on the authority of Rabbi Eliezer (Baba Batra 17) that Miriam experienced the same kind of death as did her brothers as there is a גזרה שוה, a textural nuance not justifiable by the rules of syntax or grammar, which links Moses and Miriam. In connection with the deaths of all these three great personalities the Torah writes an extraneous word שם, “there.” Rabbi Eliezer sees in this a hint that they all died in a similar manner, but that the Torah wished to avoid saying this outright in the case of Miriam as we have already pointed out.
We find a similar linkage of the three patriarchs by means of the respective words בכל, מכל, כל describing the blessings each received from G’d.
Another individual who experienced this kind of “death” was Rabbi Yehudah haNassi (editor of the Mishnah). We know this as according to tradition the priests took part in his funeral. Had he died at the hands of the angel of death, the priests would not have been allowed to defile themselves by participating actively in his funeral (last rites).
According to Ketuvot 104 when Rabbi Yehudah haNassi was about to die, he raised his ten fingers toward heaven exclaiming: “Lord, You are aware that I have toiled with all my ten fingers and have not even used the smallest one to indulge in the pleasures of this world. May it be Your will that my “rest” (hereafter) will be one of undisturbed tranquility.” Thereupon a heavenly echo was heard saying: יבא שלום ינוח על משכנו, “may he come to peace and rest on his couch” (compare Isaiah 57,2).
We have a passage in the Jerusalem Talmud Berachot 3,1 according to which when Rabbi Yehudah haNassi died Rabbi Yannai exclaimed “the laws applicable to the priesthood do not apply today.” He referred to the fact that the priests must not defile themselves by touching a corpse or being under the same roof as a dead body. This is because if they did they would disqualify themselves from performing service in the Temple until such time as they had purified themselves. What Rabbi Yannai had in mind was that seeing that Rabbi Yehudah did not die the kind of death other mortals die, i.e. at the hands of the angel of death, the rule about priests not being allowed to touch his body or being in his proximity did not apply to them concerning him. This statement of Rabbi Yannai was to apply only on that day and only to that particular corpse.

While it is true that the sages in Makkot 23 say that Moses addressed the remaining eight commandments to the people, it is possible that while Moses was able to understand the entire utterance of G'd, he added his voice to that of the angel so that the Israelites heard these eight commandments from the angel and Moses simultaneously. It is quite possible that when we were told in 19,19 that Moses would speak and G'd would respond this was a reference to Moses telling the Israelites the last eight commandments. You will find a comment in Shir Hashirim Rabbah on ישקני מנשיקות פיהו (Song of Songs 1,2), according to which every single utterance was standing on top of each Israelite asking him to be accepted by him. The Israelite would respond positively in each instance. Following this the utterance would embrace and kiss the Israelite and decorate him by placing a crown on his head. If that were so, the word לאמור at the beginning of the Ten Commandments would be amply justified. The words את כל הדברים would allude to the reinforced power of G'd's voice who uttered the entire paragraph as a single utterance. G'd's giving His voice this added power enabled the words themselves to carry on communicating themselves to the Israelites after they had been revived.