Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Ezekiel 1:18

And so were their faces, and their wings were extended upward Had I not seen the cantillation sign of a “zakef gadol” [indicating a pause] punctuating “And so were their faces,” I would not know how to explain it, but the punctuation taught me to separate them [the words of the verse] one from the other and to place the word וּפְנֵיהֶם by itself. And so, [this] is its explanation: And they had faces and their wings were extended above their faces and covered them. How so? “Each had two wings joined to each other”to each face, their two wings were joined. On each one, the wing of this living being was stretched out towards the side of that living being, and this one’s towards the side of this one, and the face that was in between was covered by them. [A verse whose wording] is similar to the language of this verse appears again in this chapter (verse 18): “And they had backs, and they were very high and they were dreadful.” The word וְגֲבֵּיהֶן, “and they had backs,” stands by itself.

Behold how the sages of the Talmud made a great effort to analyze the language of the “masters of collections,” that is, the sages of the Mishnah, and [how this effort] produced many laws. [This method] is described in the common phrase found in the Gemara: “The wording of our mishnah can be used to prove [this point].”¹¹For an example see Tractate Pesachim 99a and Tractate Shabbos 154b. This means that they derived a new law, even though it was not stated explicitly and it only became known by analyzing their words. For the perception of the Sages of the Gemara was strong and so powerful that it enabled them to determine decisively the intent of the sages of the Mishnah. This [methodology] continued after the completion of the Talmud, as our masters the She’iltos, the Bahag, and the Rif were “masters of collections,” who were followed by the Rambam, the Ramban, and the like, whose perceptions were also great, and whose steadfastness provided them with success. The words of the Geonim encircled the halachic decision makers of the Rishonim, as the Spirit [directed] the Ofanim.¹²Taken from the Ma’aseh ha-Merkavah (the Work of the Chariot) described in Ezek. 1:18. The word ofanim in this context means “celestial wheels” or a type of angel. The Netziv is using this as a metaphor to describe how the Rishonim could understand the intention of the Geonim and where their words were heading, similar to the way the ofanim follow the four hayyos (creatures) of the Chariot. As it states, “As the hayyos move, the ofanim move beside them…. When they moved, they moved; and when they halted they halted… for the spirit of the hayyah was in the ofanim.” [However], after the passage of many years, the manner of inferring [insights] from the words [of the “Masters of Collections”] was forgotten by the later generations, except by chance, and in a few places that are out of the ordinary. When we now attempt to analyze their words, so that we understand the direction in which they were going, we realize that our perception is weak and that we are threading through their words in darkness. In addition, [even] when we perceive that their words do not appear very exact, we lack the strength to understand their intent.

And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. There is no rejoicing before the Lord except when they are in one group, especially since the rejoicing is specifically on this festival because it is the time of gathering, which is naturally a time of increased joy. Therefore, He warned them that the rejoicing should be specifically before the Lord, not like the rejoicing of the empty ones whose every scheme is killing cattle and slaughtering sheep (Isaiah 22:13), who drink from wine bowls and increase division in Israel. With this kind of rejoicing they destroyed both Temples and went into exile at the head of exiles, as it is written For with joy you shall go out (Isaiah 55:12). As our Sages said (Kiddushin 81a), “The most dangerous time of the year is the festival,” because when they rejoiced not for the sake of Heaven, they brought about all manner of illness and affliction, like the incident of the etrog that was thrown at King Yannai (see Sukkah 48b). Concerning this kind of rejoicing, He said, “What is this that you have done? Is it not because of this that you shall go out at the head of exiles”? However, in peace — when they are united as one group with peace between them — you will be led forth. To the land, the mountains and hills — these are the leaders of high rank who have height and are respected (Ezekiel 1:18) — they will break forth before you in singing. For they will be first in all matters of holiness as is proper, and the youth will not push aside the elders as happened with the spies. And all the trees of the field will clap their hands — these are the four groups symbolized by these four species that come from the trees of the field. They will clap their hands to rejoice before the Lord. Similarly, in another place (Vayikra Rabbah 30:4), they interpreted the verse Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy (Psalms 96:12) as referring to these four species, and it hinted at this in the word then [az] — Aleph [has a numerical value of] one, Zayin [has a numerical value of] seven — that the lulav is taken in the Temple all seven [days] and in the outlying areas for one day.