מַגִּ֣יד דברו [דְּבָרָ֣יו] לְיַעֲקֹ֑ב חֻקָּ֥יו וּ֝מִשְׁפָּטָ֗יו לְיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
ער זאָגט זײַנע װערטער צו יעקבֿ, זײַנע חוקים און זײַנע געזעצן צו ישׂראל.
Rabbeinu Bahya
A Midrashic approach(Shemot Rabbah 2): “wherever a paragraph is introduced with the word אלה, this signifies that there is no conceptual linkage to what was written now to what had preceded it immediately before. On the contrary, what follows is a contrast to what preceded it. Examples are Genesis 2,4: “these are the descendants of heaven and earth.” Up until then the Torah had described new creatures; from this point on it describes derivatives of existing creatures. It is as if G’d had said: “the former ones I did derive satisfaction from, the ones following them I did not derive satisfaction from.” “These are the descendants of Noach (Genesis 6,9).” By writing the introduction אלה, the Torah hints that the descendants of prior generations such as those of the generation of Enosh and the people who had to be killed during the deluge did not have much in common with the descendants of Noach. We find something similar in Genesis 37,2: ”these are the descendants of Yaakov.” Here too the Torah wants to draw a dividing line between the descendants of Esau and those of Yaakov.
On the other hand, wherever a paragraph commences with the word ואלה, this indicates that what follows is sort of a continuation of what had been related previously. When the Book of Exodus commences with the words ואלה שמות בני ישראל, the Torah endeavours to pick up the thread about what we had learned about Yaakov’s sons in the Book of Genesis, a story which had been interrupted by Israel’s death and burial. The Torah wishes to describe the children of Yaakov as sharing in the virtues which distinguished their illustrious father. Here too, the words ואלה המשפטים, indicate that just as the commandments engraved on the Tablets were received at Mount Sinai, what will be related from here on in was also received from G’d by Moses at Mount Sinai.
The Torah comprises laws at its beginning, in the middle, and at the end (Shemot Rabbah 30,3). In Exodus 15,25 we were told that G’d gave laws to the Jewish people at Marah; moreover in 18,2 the Torah stated that judges were to be ready to dispense justice at all times convenient to the litigants. Now, after the giving of the Ten Commandments the Torah continues to present the Jewish people with a list of laws. The words ואלה המשפטים and what follows provide the framework for the Ten Commandments which were both preceded by pieces of legislation and followed by more pieces of legislation. This is what Solomon had in mind when he wrote in Proverbs 8,20: “I walk the path of righteousness, in the path of justice.”
Another approach (Shemot Rabbah 30,9): when David said in Psalms 147,19: “He issued His words to Yaakov, His statutes and social laws to Israel,” you have to carve up this phrase as follows: the words: “He tells His words to Yaakov” refer to the Ten Commandments; the words: “His statutes and social laws to Israel,” refer to our portion here, the one which commences with the words ואלה המשפטים; the words לא עשה כן לכל גוי ומשפטים, mean that “He did not do so” (give social laws to all other nations). However, He did give to Adam, and thereby to all of mankind, six statutes. When Noach appeared, He added a seventh commandment, אבר מן החי. [seeing that after the deluge mankind had been permitted to eat meat and to kill animals in order to provide themselves with meat, this prohibition of eating flesh taken from living tissue, from a live animal had to be given at that time. Ed.] When Avraham appeared on the stage of history an eighth commandment, circumcision of the males at eight days of age, was added to the existing range of commandments. With the advent of Yaakov, and after his successful encounter with the guardian angel of Esau, a ninth commandment, that of not eating the femoral sinew was introduced. When Israel stood at Mount Sinai they were given the Ten Commandments which symbolized the remainder of the Torah. This is the meaning of the words כף אחת עשרה זהב מלאה קטרת, (Numbers 7,14). The allegorical meaning of that phrase is: “the Torah which was given to the Jewish people from the hand of G’d to the hand of Moses is אחת, “one,” consisting of עשרה, “Ten Commandments” which in effect are מלאה קטרת, “filled with incense” a word totaling 613 (when exchanging the letter ר for the letter ד when using the system of א'ת, ב''ש etc. (compare our comments on Exodus 20,16 on the section dealing with the letter קוף being a natural alternative for the letter ד) When the Israelites stood at Mount Sinai and said: “all that the Lord has said we shall do and we shall hear,” He said to them: “here the whole Torah has been given to you.” This is what David said in Psalms 147,19 that “G’d had not given all these righteous laws to any other nation.”
Rabbi Eliezer said: “when there is justice down here on earth, there is no justice in the heaven above (i.e. there is no need to apply the attribute of Justice in the celestial regions). When there is no justice on earth, then G’d has to invoke the attribute of Justice in the celestial regions” [to compensate for the absence of justice on earth. Ed.] G’d said: “if I had been required to invoke the attribute of Justice for even a single hour, the universe would not have been able to continue to exist.” This is what Isaiah had in mind when he said (Isaiah 27,4) “if I were to have to march into battle, I would have to burn all of it.“ (the vineyard which serves as Isaiah’s simile). Isaiah explains in the following verse: “But if he holds fast to My refuge, He makes Me his friend, He makes Me His friend.” The prophet means that if man, i.e. Israel, will cleave to Torah law then all will be well. This is also what the sages (Tanchuma) had in mind when they said that Israel would not have lost its independence had they not failed to observe the laws of the Torah and the maintenance of a fair judicial system. They were punished by what is described in Job 4,20 as “shattered between daybreak and evening perishing forever unnoticed.” This is what would happen if the ordinances G’d placed before the Israelites in our portion would be ignored by them.
On the other hand, wherever a paragraph commences with the word ואלה, this indicates that what follows is sort of a continuation of what had been related previously. When the Book of Exodus commences with the words ואלה שמות בני ישראל, the Torah endeavours to pick up the thread about what we had learned about Yaakov’s sons in the Book of Genesis, a story which had been interrupted by Israel’s death and burial. The Torah wishes to describe the children of Yaakov as sharing in the virtues which distinguished their illustrious father. Here too, the words ואלה המשפטים, indicate that just as the commandments engraved on the Tablets were received at Mount Sinai, what will be related from here on in was also received from G’d by Moses at Mount Sinai.
The Torah comprises laws at its beginning, in the middle, and at the end (Shemot Rabbah 30,3). In Exodus 15,25 we were told that G’d gave laws to the Jewish people at Marah; moreover in 18,2 the Torah stated that judges were to be ready to dispense justice at all times convenient to the litigants. Now, after the giving of the Ten Commandments the Torah continues to present the Jewish people with a list of laws. The words ואלה המשפטים and what follows provide the framework for the Ten Commandments which were both preceded by pieces of legislation and followed by more pieces of legislation. This is what Solomon had in mind when he wrote in Proverbs 8,20: “I walk the path of righteousness, in the path of justice.”
Another approach (Shemot Rabbah 30,9): when David said in Psalms 147,19: “He issued His words to Yaakov, His statutes and social laws to Israel,” you have to carve up this phrase as follows: the words: “He tells His words to Yaakov” refer to the Ten Commandments; the words: “His statutes and social laws to Israel,” refer to our portion here, the one which commences with the words ואלה המשפטים; the words לא עשה כן לכל גוי ומשפטים, mean that “He did not do so” (give social laws to all other nations). However, He did give to Adam, and thereby to all of mankind, six statutes. When Noach appeared, He added a seventh commandment, אבר מן החי. [seeing that after the deluge mankind had been permitted to eat meat and to kill animals in order to provide themselves with meat, this prohibition of eating flesh taken from living tissue, from a live animal had to be given at that time. Ed.] When Avraham appeared on the stage of history an eighth commandment, circumcision of the males at eight days of age, was added to the existing range of commandments. With the advent of Yaakov, and after his successful encounter with the guardian angel of Esau, a ninth commandment, that of not eating the femoral sinew was introduced. When Israel stood at Mount Sinai they were given the Ten Commandments which symbolized the remainder of the Torah. This is the meaning of the words כף אחת עשרה זהב מלאה קטרת, (Numbers 7,14). The allegorical meaning of that phrase is: “the Torah which was given to the Jewish people from the hand of G’d to the hand of Moses is אחת, “one,” consisting of עשרה, “Ten Commandments” which in effect are מלאה קטרת, “filled with incense” a word totaling 613 (when exchanging the letter ר for the letter ד when using the system of א'ת, ב''ש etc. (compare our comments on Exodus 20,16 on the section dealing with the letter קוף being a natural alternative for the letter ד) When the Israelites stood at Mount Sinai and said: “all that the Lord has said we shall do and we shall hear,” He said to them: “here the whole Torah has been given to you.” This is what David said in Psalms 147,19 that “G’d had not given all these righteous laws to any other nation.”
Rabbi Eliezer said: “when there is justice down here on earth, there is no justice in the heaven above (i.e. there is no need to apply the attribute of Justice in the celestial regions). When there is no justice on earth, then G’d has to invoke the attribute of Justice in the celestial regions” [to compensate for the absence of justice on earth. Ed.] G’d said: “if I had been required to invoke the attribute of Justice for even a single hour, the universe would not have been able to continue to exist.” This is what Isaiah had in mind when he said (Isaiah 27,4) “if I were to have to march into battle, I would have to burn all of it.“ (the vineyard which serves as Isaiah’s simile). Isaiah explains in the following verse: “But if he holds fast to My refuge, He makes Me his friend, He makes Me His friend.” The prophet means that if man, i.e. Israel, will cleave to Torah law then all will be well. This is also what the sages (Tanchuma) had in mind when they said that Israel would not have lost its independence had they not failed to observe the laws of the Torah and the maintenance of a fair judicial system. They were punished by what is described in Job 4,20 as “shattered between daybreak and evening perishing forever unnoticed.” This is what would happen if the ordinances G’d placed before the Israelites in our portion would be ignored by them.
Rabbeinu Bahya
A Midrashic approach to the severity of violating oaths (Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer chapter 38): violation of an oath is equivalent to violation of a חרם (matters forbidden by the Torah such as the property of inhabitants of a city in Israel the majority of whose inhabitants had worshipped idols). We know this from the example of Achan Hacarmi who had appropriated to himself gold and other property from the city of Jericho which G’d had put in חרם, had placed out of bounds to any Israelite (Joshua 7,1-26). Achan’s sin became the cause of 36 righteous Israelites losing their lives in the first battle against Ai. When Joshua was dismayed at this G’d told him “Israel has sinned;” in other words the sin of one individual violating the terms of the חרם was attributed by G’d to the entire nation. Joshua thereupon looked at the names of the tribes on the breastplate of the High Priest and found that the guilty party was a member of the tribe Yehudah, seeing that the gemstone on which Yehudah’s name was engraved had lost its lustre. After that he drew lots to find out to which family of the tribe of Yehudah the sinner belonged. When it became clear that he belonged to the family Zevach, the individual responsible by the name of Achan ben Carmi was isolated and he admitted his guilt. He was executed.
We have another incident involving violating a חרם, when King Saul expressed a curse against anyone who would taste food until the evening (Samuel I 14,24). We have already mentioned that Yonatan had not heard about this חרם i.e. about the curse Saul had placed on violators of this oath. (the Book of Samuel calls this חרם oath.) We read there (Samuel I 14,27) that when Yonatan put the honey to his lips his eyes “lit up”. (the word used for “lit up,” ותאור, are the same as “he was struck by the curse.” At any rate, when the battle against the Philistines started to go badly, Saul wondered if someone had violated the oath (and thus brought a curse on the soldiers). He looked at the stones of the breastplate of the High Priest and found that the gemstone with the name Binyamin had lost its lustre. This caused him to draw lots until he found that the culprit was a member of his own family (verse 41). He condemned Yonatan to death in accordance with the terms of the חרם. It was then found that Yonatan had eaten because he had not been aware of the חרם, and the people prevailed on the King to spare him (verse 45).
We find another example of the severity of violating oaths and the comparison with violating a חרם in connection with Joseph’s brothers. They had made such a חרם amongst themselves that none of them would reveal to Yaakov what had happened during their encounter with Joseph. They had said: “we are only nine” (seeing that Reuven had been absent when Joseph was sold). A חרם is legally binding only when it involves a minimum of ten people. They had therefore made G’d Himself a partner to their חרם in order to give it legal force. This meant that G’d Himself was constrained from revealing to Yaakov what had happened to Joseph. Reuven respected the חרם and never told his father what he knew. G’d also respected the חרם as we know from Psalms 147,19 that He מגיד דבריו ליעקב, “reveals His words to Yaakov.” Clearly, He had not revealed this matter to Yaakov. The reason was that He had become partner to this חרם. Thus far Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer.
We have another incident involving violating a חרם, when King Saul expressed a curse against anyone who would taste food until the evening (Samuel I 14,24). We have already mentioned that Yonatan had not heard about this חרם i.e. about the curse Saul had placed on violators of this oath. (the Book of Samuel calls this חרם oath.) We read there (Samuel I 14,27) that when Yonatan put the honey to his lips his eyes “lit up”. (the word used for “lit up,” ותאור, are the same as “he was struck by the curse.” At any rate, when the battle against the Philistines started to go badly, Saul wondered if someone had violated the oath (and thus brought a curse on the soldiers). He looked at the stones of the breastplate of the High Priest and found that the gemstone with the name Binyamin had lost its lustre. This caused him to draw lots until he found that the culprit was a member of his own family (verse 41). He condemned Yonatan to death in accordance with the terms of the חרם. It was then found that Yonatan had eaten because he had not been aware of the חרם, and the people prevailed on the King to spare him (verse 45).
We find another example of the severity of violating oaths and the comparison with violating a חרם in connection with Joseph’s brothers. They had made such a חרם amongst themselves that none of them would reveal to Yaakov what had happened during their encounter with Joseph. They had said: “we are only nine” (seeing that Reuven had been absent when Joseph was sold). A חרם is legally binding only when it involves a minimum of ten people. They had therefore made G’d Himself a partner to their חרם in order to give it legal force. This meant that G’d Himself was constrained from revealing to Yaakov what had happened to Joseph. Reuven respected the חרם and never told his father what he knew. G’d also respected the חרם as we know from Psalms 147,19 that He מגיד דבריו ליעקב, “reveals His words to Yaakov.” Clearly, He had not revealed this matter to Yaakov. The reason was that He had become partner to this חרם. Thus far Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer.
Haamek Sheilah
However, by defining [hukim and mishpatim] as above, no question remains. For certain, one is allowed to study established laws with [non-Jews]; it is only the Talmud, the pilpul of the Torah, that is forbidden. It is “the Torah that Moshe commanded us”7God first gave the pilpul method to Moshe and his descendants, and then Moshe generously gave it to all of Israel. [the pilpul] that is betrothed to Israel. This is stated by the verse: “He relates His words to Jacob, His hukim and mishpatim to Israel. He did not do this for any other nation; such mishpatim, they know them not.”8Psalms 147:19, 20. “His words,” i.e., the Written Torah, “He relates” [communicated such that it enables the people to infer nuances from Scripture];9These words were added based on the Netziv’s statements in Harhev Davar on Lev. 18:5. The Hebrew word for “relate” is higid – which, according to the Mechilta on Yisro, means that God related the Torah in detail to the Israelites. “to Jacob,” the entire congregation of Jacob, [meaning that it was transferred exclusively to those who enter the congregation of Jacob];10In Harhev Davar, the Netziv cites Shemos Rabbah, parashah 30, regarding the convert Aquila (Onkelos), who told Caesar that he converted to Judaism so that he could understand the Torah well – as the Torah states: “He relates His words to Jacob.” “His hukim and mishpatim” – these are the [hukim], hermeneutical rules and methods of analysis [that result in the mishpatim, laws]; “He did not do so for any other nation” refers to “His words”; the [methodology which permits inferences of minutiae from] the Written Torah [were not made known to the other nations]. Even though they, [the nations of the world], know the Written Torah and [it was God’s] desire from the beginning that they should know the Written Torah, (for that is why the Torah was written in seventy languages, as stated in the seventh chapter of Tractate Sotah),1135b. He did “relate” the Torah to them [as he had done for Israel]. The phrase “Such mishpatim, they know them not” does not exclude the hukim, the analytical rules12This is why the verse does not state, “Hukim and mishpatim, they know them not.” [as the nations of the world] may study the hermeneutical rules [and understand them] at face value. However, they are unable to grasp the analysis such that they can apply them [to derive new mishpatim applicable] to daily life; thus, the Talmud was not made known to them.13Mishpatim means to apply the hukim with the result of producing practical laws. In fact, this interpretation [of hukim and mishpatim] is clearly stated in the Jerusalem Talmud,14Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Nedarim 4:3. which is also cited by the Ran on Tractate Nedarim 37a, [while discussing the scope of the prohibition for compensating those who teach Torah, states:]