וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה רֵ֖ד הָעֵ֣ד בָּעָ֑ם פֶּן־יֶהֶרְס֤וּ אֶל־יְהוָה֙ לִרְא֔וֹת וְנָפַ֥ל מִמֶּ֖נּוּ רָֽב׃
און גאָט האָט געזאָגט צו משהן: נידער אַראָפּ, װאָרן דאָס פֿאָלק; זײ װעלן זיך חלילה דורכרײַסן צו גאָט צו קוקן, און עס װעלן פֿאַלן פֿון זײ אַ סך.
Kedushat Levi
Exodus 19,21. “Hashem said to Moses: ‘descend and warn the people lest they break through towards G’d, etc.’” Exodus 19,23: “Moses said to G’d: ‘the people cannot ascend the mountain, etc.” 19,24: G’d said to
[The reader will no doubt have noted when reflecting on this dialogue between G’d and Moses that for Moses to –so to speak- countermand G’d’s instruction to him- sounds mind-boggling. Ed.]
Rashi’s commentary on verse 24, based on the Mechilta, focuses on the word מזרזין, the urgency of repeating warnings in order for these warnings not to be ignored.
It appears to me that Moses had full faith in G’d’s words,-not as it would appear at first glance- and seeing that he did, he immediately carried out G’d’s instructions and descended. At the same time, Moses took it for granted that just as it would not occur to him to question G’d’s instructions, so it would not occur to any member of the Jewish people to do so either. G’d corrected him by explaining that not only must a warning be issued prior to a prohibition, but it must be repeated at the time when there is evidence that the prohibition is about to be ignored. Moses was too humble to believe that seeing that he had merited to converse with G’d on a “mouth to mouth” bases repeatedly, that this had been possible only because his level of faith in G’d was high above that of the average Israelite. Whereas the average Israelite did have great moments of religious inspiration from time to time, Moses was on that level on a 24/7 basis. Hence he was able to say to G’d: “seeing that You have warned us once we cannot possibly entertain the thought of ascending the mountain.” (verse 23) When Gd repeated the instructions to Moses to descend forthwith and to warn the people again this was a great compliment to Moses, not an expression of G’d’s displeasure for Moses not having carried out instructions.
[The reader will no doubt have noted when reflecting on this dialogue between G’d and Moses that for Moses to –so to speak- countermand G’d’s instruction to him- sounds mind-boggling. Ed.]
Rashi’s commentary on verse 24, based on the Mechilta, focuses on the word מזרזין, the urgency of repeating warnings in order for these warnings not to be ignored.
It appears to me that Moses had full faith in G’d’s words,-not as it would appear at first glance- and seeing that he did, he immediately carried out G’d’s instructions and descended. At the same time, Moses took it for granted that just as it would not occur to him to question G’d’s instructions, so it would not occur to any member of the Jewish people to do so either. G’d corrected him by explaining that not only must a warning be issued prior to a prohibition, but it must be repeated at the time when there is evidence that the prohibition is about to be ignored. Moses was too humble to believe that seeing that he had merited to converse with G’d on a “mouth to mouth” bases repeatedly, that this had been possible only because his level of faith in G’d was high above that of the average Israelite. Whereas the average Israelite did have great moments of religious inspiration from time to time, Moses was on that level on a 24/7 basis. Hence he was able to say to G’d: “seeing that You have warned us once we cannot possibly entertain the thought of ascending the mountain.” (verse 23) When Gd repeated the instructions to Moses to descend forthwith and to warn the people again this was a great compliment to Moses, not an expression of G’d’s displeasure for Moses not having carried out instructions.
Kedushat Levi
Exodus 19,21. “Hashem said to Moses: ‘descend and warn the people lest they break through towards G’d, etc.’” Exodus 19,23: “Moses said to G’d: ‘the people cannot ascend the mountain, etc.” 19,24: G’d said to
[The reader will no doubt have noted when reflecting on this dialogue between G’d and Moses that for Moses to –so to speak- countermand G’d’s instruction to him- sounds mind-boggling. Ed.]
Rashi’s commentary on verse 24, based on the Mechilta, focuses on the word מזרזין, the urgency of repeating warnings in order for these warnings not to be ignored.
It appears to me that Moses had full faith in G’d’s words,-not as it would appear at first glance- and seeing that he did, he immediately carried out G’d’s instructions and descended. At the same time, Moses took it for granted that just as it would not occur to him to question G’d’s instructions, so it would not occur to any member of the Jewish people to do so either. G’d corrected him by explaining that not only must a warning be issued prior to a prohibition, but it must be repeated at the time when there is evidence that the prohibition is about to be ignored. Moses was too humble to believe that seeing that he had merited to converse with G’d on a “mouth to mouth” bases repeatedly, that this had been possible only because his level of faith in G’d was high above that of the average Israelite. Whereas the average Israelite did have great moments of religious inspiration from time to time, Moses was on that level on a 24/7 basis. Hence he was able to say to G’d: “seeing that You have warned us once we cannot possibly entertain the thought of ascending the mountain.” (verse 23) When Gd repeated the instructions to Moses to descend forthwith and to warn the people again this was a great compliment to Moses, not an expression of G’d’s displeasure for Moses not having carried out instructions.
[The reader will no doubt have noted when reflecting on this dialogue between G’d and Moses that for Moses to –so to speak- countermand G’d’s instruction to him- sounds mind-boggling. Ed.]
Rashi’s commentary on verse 24, based on the Mechilta, focuses on the word מזרזין, the urgency of repeating warnings in order for these warnings not to be ignored.
It appears to me that Moses had full faith in G’d’s words,-not as it would appear at first glance- and seeing that he did, he immediately carried out G’d’s instructions and descended. At the same time, Moses took it for granted that just as it would not occur to him to question G’d’s instructions, so it would not occur to any member of the Jewish people to do so either. G’d corrected him by explaining that not only must a warning be issued prior to a prohibition, but it must be repeated at the time when there is evidence that the prohibition is about to be ignored. Moses was too humble to believe that seeing that he had merited to converse with G’d on a “mouth to mouth” bases repeatedly, that this had been possible only because his level of faith in G’d was high above that of the average Israelite. Whereas the average Israelite did have great moments of religious inspiration from time to time, Moses was on that level on a 24/7 basis. Hence he was able to say to G’d: “seeing that You have warned us once we cannot possibly entertain the thought of ascending the mountain.” (verse 23) When Gd repeated the instructions to Moses to descend forthwith and to warn the people again this was a great compliment to Moses, not an expression of G’d’s displeasure for Moses not having carried out instructions.
Kedushat Levi
Exodus 19,21.“lest some of the people will break through in their intense desire to see and many of the people will fall victim.”This was the negative commandment G’d had uttered in connection with the giving of the Torah. In his comments on Song of Songs 2,7 אם תעירו ואם תעוררו את האהבה עד שתחפץ, ”do not wake or arouse love until it please!,”
According to our author, Nachmanides comments that when man attains the level of loving the Creator, or being in awe of Him, he will feel the need to immediately express this by performing a commandment. [None of the sources at my disposal have this comment by Nachmanides, especially not in his commentary on Song of Songs, annotated by Rav Chavell and published by Mossad Harav Kook. Ed.]
As a result of this mitzvah performance by the person in the grip of religious enthusiasm either through love for G’d or through awe of Him and reverence for Him, G’d will practice צמצום, a form of condensation of G’d’s Omnipresence to allow for the creatures in the physical world to develop without experiencing constant tension between the good and the evil urge. The commandment performed by the person who had experienced an overwhelming religious impetus may then be seen as a vessel within which the awakening love for G’d reposes. The Talmud in Kidushin 39 states that anyone sitting idle, reposing, and not being guilty of committing a transgression of a law in the Torah is considered as if he had performed a positive commandment. What is meant is not idleness per se, but idleness in face of the evil urge trying to get him to commit a transgression. Seeing that during the days preceding the giving of the Torah the Israelites all restrained themselves by not trying to break down the fence, they acquired the merit of having performed a positive commandment. This is also the reason why one of the names of the Shavuot festival is עצרת, “festival of restraint.” The root of that word, i.e. עצור, means to stop, restrain oneself) (intransitively), There are two types of כבוד, honour, glory. One type is original, i.e. the honour bestowed on His worlds by the Creator, and the reflected glory, כבוד נאצל the reflected glory. The creatures, i.e. the universes who have had bestowed glory on them by the Creator had received this from the Creator in His capacity of limiting Himself, “downsizing” Himself in order to give more “freedom” to them.
כבוד, “honour or glory, exists on two levels. 1) It can be “original” i.e. emanating from the Creator directly, or it can be secondary, נאצל, in the parlance of the Kabbalists. Original “honour” is what the various “worlds” have received from the Creator Who has already downsized Himself in order to give more “freedom” to His creatures. This “downsizing” of G’d vis a vis His creatures occurs both in the celestial spheres as well as in the terrestrial regions. In the celestial spheres G’d did not “downsize” Himself as much relative to the חיות, the highest ranking group of angels, as He did vis a vis the שרפים, a lower raking group of angels. Similarly, on earth, G’d’s “downsizing” is more pronounced vis a vis the common people, and least pronounced vis a vis Moses. This is why we find the Torah (verse 24) allowing Moses to ascend the mountain, the elders and Aaron to accompany him all the way to the base of the mountain, whereas the people at large had to stop a greater distance away from the mountain. Any “honour” shown by His creatures to G’d during the weekdays is perceived as directed at the part of the Creator which has voluntarily “downsized” itself. Secondary “honour,” is the honour bestowed by G’d’s creatures on Him on the Sabbath days or on the festivals when it is aimed at the Creator in His more manifest glory prior to His having downsized Himself. Due to our preoccupations on weekdays with mundane tasks, unavoidably, we cannot bestow the kind of “honour” or “glory” on the Creator that we are able to on days when we are predominantly preoccupied with the needs of ours souls, with spiritual concerns. On the day when G’d gave us the Torah, we were able to give Him this “glory” more so than on any previous or subsequent day, as through the three days of preparation for that revelation we had been transported to a higher spiritual level. This is the meaning of the opening line in the section known as zichronot in the Mussaph prayer on Rosh Hashanah, אתה נגלית בענן כבודך, “You have been revealed in the cloud of Your glory, etc.” The term ענן, “cloud,” describes something that cannot be found, as one cannot locate something shrouded in darkness.
[At this point the author refers to a concept known Iss כ'ד קישוטי כלה, “24 bridal decorations.” (the “bride” alluding to Israel as G’d’s bride when it received the Torah) The subject has been written up by Rabbi Moshe Chayim Luzzato, Pdua, Italy, (1707-to Acco, 1747) author of the world famous mussar sefer מסילת ישרים, “the path of the Just,” and many other books. It appears that the well known book Tikkun leyl Shavuot, read on the night of Shavuot, by many people who spend the whole night studying in preparation for a re-enactment of the day the Torah was given, is patterned on this concept. Briefly, it is a text comprising the first three verses of any of the 24 books of the Bible, as well as the last three verses, also the first and last Mishnah of each tract of the Talmud. It also contains portions of the sefer yetzirah and the Zohar. The number “24” does not only refer to the 24 books of the Bible, but also to the Hebrew alphabet (22 letters) and two vowels that are spelled in different ways, and accordingly may be added as part of the alphabet. (if I understand correctly.) By devoting that whole night to Torah study we are bestowing glory on Hashem in the most appropriate and profound manner, a כבוד that is comparable in quality to the כבוד נברא, “the original” glory bestowed by G’d on His creatures. For more on the subject of these vowels and their deeper significance, see: http://ramhal.net/]
Our author draws our attention to Zecharyah 10,8 where he understands the words ¬אשרקה להם as a derivative of the vowel שורוק, meaning calling out loudly to someone, whereas the vowel kametz, would indicate the reverse, i.e. something withheld, hidden, locked in.? Be that as it may, on the festival of Shavuot, symbolizing the giving of the Torah the Jewish people are on an abnormally high spiritual level, and they demonstrate this by studying the entire holy texts in an abbreviated version.
According to our author, Nachmanides comments that when man attains the level of loving the Creator, or being in awe of Him, he will feel the need to immediately express this by performing a commandment. [None of the sources at my disposal have this comment by Nachmanides, especially not in his commentary on Song of Songs, annotated by Rav Chavell and published by Mossad Harav Kook. Ed.]
As a result of this mitzvah performance by the person in the grip of religious enthusiasm either through love for G’d or through awe of Him and reverence for Him, G’d will practice צמצום, a form of condensation of G’d’s Omnipresence to allow for the creatures in the physical world to develop without experiencing constant tension between the good and the evil urge. The commandment performed by the person who had experienced an overwhelming religious impetus may then be seen as a vessel within which the awakening love for G’d reposes. The Talmud in Kidushin 39 states that anyone sitting idle, reposing, and not being guilty of committing a transgression of a law in the Torah is considered as if he had performed a positive commandment. What is meant is not idleness per se, but idleness in face of the evil urge trying to get him to commit a transgression. Seeing that during the days preceding the giving of the Torah the Israelites all restrained themselves by not trying to break down the fence, they acquired the merit of having performed a positive commandment. This is also the reason why one of the names of the Shavuot festival is עצרת, “festival of restraint.” The root of that word, i.e. עצור, means to stop, restrain oneself) (intransitively), There are two types of כבוד, honour, glory. One type is original, i.e. the honour bestowed on His worlds by the Creator, and the reflected glory, כבוד נאצל the reflected glory. The creatures, i.e. the universes who have had bestowed glory on them by the Creator had received this from the Creator in His capacity of limiting Himself, “downsizing” Himself in order to give more “freedom” to them.
כבוד, “honour or glory, exists on two levels. 1) It can be “original” i.e. emanating from the Creator directly, or it can be secondary, נאצל, in the parlance of the Kabbalists. Original “honour” is what the various “worlds” have received from the Creator Who has already downsized Himself in order to give more “freedom” to His creatures. This “downsizing” of G’d vis a vis His creatures occurs both in the celestial spheres as well as in the terrestrial regions. In the celestial spheres G’d did not “downsize” Himself as much relative to the חיות, the highest ranking group of angels, as He did vis a vis the שרפים, a lower raking group of angels. Similarly, on earth, G’d’s “downsizing” is more pronounced vis a vis the common people, and least pronounced vis a vis Moses. This is why we find the Torah (verse 24) allowing Moses to ascend the mountain, the elders and Aaron to accompany him all the way to the base of the mountain, whereas the people at large had to stop a greater distance away from the mountain. Any “honour” shown by His creatures to G’d during the weekdays is perceived as directed at the part of the Creator which has voluntarily “downsized” itself. Secondary “honour,” is the honour bestowed by G’d’s creatures on Him on the Sabbath days or on the festivals when it is aimed at the Creator in His more manifest glory prior to His having downsized Himself. Due to our preoccupations on weekdays with mundane tasks, unavoidably, we cannot bestow the kind of “honour” or “glory” on the Creator that we are able to on days when we are predominantly preoccupied with the needs of ours souls, with spiritual concerns. On the day when G’d gave us the Torah, we were able to give Him this “glory” more so than on any previous or subsequent day, as through the three days of preparation for that revelation we had been transported to a higher spiritual level. This is the meaning of the opening line in the section known as zichronot in the Mussaph prayer on Rosh Hashanah, אתה נגלית בענן כבודך, “You have been revealed in the cloud of Your glory, etc.” The term ענן, “cloud,” describes something that cannot be found, as one cannot locate something shrouded in darkness.
[At this point the author refers to a concept known Iss כ'ד קישוטי כלה, “24 bridal decorations.” (the “bride” alluding to Israel as G’d’s bride when it received the Torah) The subject has been written up by Rabbi Moshe Chayim Luzzato, Pdua, Italy, (1707-to Acco, 1747) author of the world famous mussar sefer מסילת ישרים, “the path of the Just,” and many other books. It appears that the well known book Tikkun leyl Shavuot, read on the night of Shavuot, by many people who spend the whole night studying in preparation for a re-enactment of the day the Torah was given, is patterned on this concept. Briefly, it is a text comprising the first three verses of any of the 24 books of the Bible, as well as the last three verses, also the first and last Mishnah of each tract of the Talmud. It also contains portions of the sefer yetzirah and the Zohar. The number “24” does not only refer to the 24 books of the Bible, but also to the Hebrew alphabet (22 letters) and two vowels that are spelled in different ways, and accordingly may be added as part of the alphabet. (if I understand correctly.) By devoting that whole night to Torah study we are bestowing glory on Hashem in the most appropriate and profound manner, a כבוד that is comparable in quality to the כבוד נברא, “the original” glory bestowed by G’d on His creatures. For more on the subject of these vowels and their deeper significance, see: http://ramhal.net/]
Our author draws our attention to Zecharyah 10,8 where he understands the words ¬אשרקה להם as a derivative of the vowel שורוק, meaning calling out loudly to someone, whereas the vowel kametz, would indicate the reverse, i.e. something withheld, hidden, locked in.? Be that as it may, on the festival of Shavuot, symbolizing the giving of the Torah the Jewish people are on an abnormally high spiritual level, and they demonstrate this by studying the entire holy texts in an abbreviated version.