Exodus 18,1. “Yitro, the priest of Midian, heard all that G’d had done for Moses and His people Israel, etc.” What Yitro had “heard” was that what G’d had done to Egypt had not been triggered by the Egyptians having transgressed G’d’s will, but for what they had done to Moses and the Israelites. Proof of this is found in the words uttered by the Egyptians on the point of death (Exodus 14,25) אנוסה מפני ישראל כי ה' נלחם להם במצרים, “I will have to flee on account of Israel for Hashem is battling on their behalf against Egypt.” Exodus 18,11. “now I know that Hashem is greater than any deity, by reason of His making the punishment fit the crime.”
We have to try and understand what precisely Yitro meant with these words. When war is fought and one party is victorious, the victory may become manifest in a number of ways. In one type of war the victorious side merely killed a great number of the troops of the opposing armies without there being any changes in the boundaries between the two kingdoms that fought one another. In the eyes of the world the victor has not become mightier by reason of his victory.
Both Kings remain on their respective thrones. In a second scenario, the victor may capture the opposing king and his armies, and annex the lands of his former opponent. This type of victory is, of course, more imposing and enhances the stature of the victor considerably.When G’d wished to save the Israelites from the yoke of the Egyptians, He chose to defeat them by means of water, as Rashi explained in Sh’mot, G’d could have used fire in order to dry out the water.
Had He done so He would not have demonstrated His superiority over water, [only fire’s superiority over water] as it would not have demonstrated how the waters first obeyed the command to split and provide passage for the Israelites, and, subsequently, how they reverted to their normal condition and in the process drowned the Egyptians. Not only did G’d thereby impress all those who saw it or heard about it, but He also made the point that the Egyptians who had considered the waters, i.e. the river Nile, as a kind of deity, and their special god as it provided them with their economic well being, that water had now become their undoing, much more so than when the waters turned into blood for a week.When Yitro correctly realized that Hashem is more powerful than any other force in nature that has been deified, the word מכל is of special significance, i.e. that it is appended to the word כל instead of Yitro saying: מן כל.
Had he said: מן כל האלוקים, “more than any other deity,” we would have understood this quantitatively, i.e. other deities are able to lift weights of 500kg, whereas G’d is able to lift weights of a ton. By saying: מכל האלוקים, Yitro made clear that he referred to G’d’s qualitative superiority, His being in a class by Himself. Being able to turn what the Egyptians had believed to be the source of their blessings, water, into the source of their destruction, demonstrated to one and all the nature of Hashem’s power. Exodus 18,12.
“Aaron and all the elders of Israel joined in breaking bread with Yitro, etc.” At this point G’d’ rewarded Yitro for inviting Moses into his house (Exodus 2,2) and offering him a meal. He was doubly rewarded as he enjoyed eating a meal in the presence of G’d, לפני האלוקים, (verse 13) Exodus 18,14. “why are you alone seated while all the people have to stand in attendance in your presence?” Moses explains to his father-in-law what his function is, i.e. to arbitrate quarrels and to teach G’d’s laws.Yitro explains that he objects to the manner in which Moses carries out his duties, saying that it contributes to both his becoming tired and the people becoming frustrated.
He points out that the present arrangement is counterproductive on both counts.Our author may also have hinted at a metaphysical aspect of the spectacle he had witnessed. Man, whether Israelite of high caliber or of modest stature, must constantly; strive to advance spiritually, and come closer to the highest level he is capable of attaining considering the attributes that had been granted to him at birth.
By referring to Moses “sitting” and the people “standing,” Yitro hints that the present arrangement interferes with the people concerned being able to progress spiritually through this tiresome arrangement. Moreover, if the tzaddik, righteous, spiritually superior person, conducts himself in a manner that shows that he considers himself superior, the people on a lower level will only confuse him as they resent such behaviour.
When someone is an outstanding tzaddik towering far above his peers, he may succeed in elevating his peers to his level by speaking to them in the appropriate manner. Yitro was under the impression that Moses had initiated this system, thereby causing resentment. Moses explained that the opposite was the case; the people had come to him begging him to adjudicate their problems. By using words judicially, he, Moses was doing his best to elevate them spiritually.
Upon hearing this, Yitro told Moses that in his opinion Moses was assuming a greater burden than he would be able to carry single-handedly. Exodus 19,1. “In the third month after the Israelites having departed from the land of Egypt, (on the first of the month), on this day, they came to the desert of Sinai.” You may be familiar with the “nickname” given by his contemporaries to Rav Yoseph, who called him סיני, Sinai. (B’rachot 64) The reason why this Rabbi was given this title, was that he had a photographic memory concerning halachot, and could recall them at will at any time.
A closer look at the word סיני reveals that it is a term used for expressing the entire range of the Torah in all its ramifications. According to our author we are all aware that קול, “sound,” is a composite of several components, i.e. fire, water and wind, (air). When speaking of דבור אלוקים, “G’d’s speech,” or utterance, this is something beyond man’s ability to define and analyze. The terms קול, דבור, “sound” and “speech” respectively, are indistinguishable when applied to G’d.
The two commandments at Mount Sinai, אנכי and לא יהיה לך, which the entire Jewish people heard with their ears directly from G’d’s ‘mouth,’ actually combined within them the entire Torah, something that the mouth of a mortal person is certainly unable to express simultaneously. Our limited powers of perception do not even enable us to express two different subjects simultaneously, how much less so the entire Torah.
Studying the written Torah handed down to us by Moses, shows us [according to the popular expression:שבעים פנים לתורה , “the written Torah comprises 70 facets.” Ed.] that something similar is true of the sayings of our sages in the Talmud, i.e. every saying has more than one meaning, the reason being that the root of all these sayings is based on the Torah.We read in psalms 125,2: ירושלים הרים סביב לה וה' סביב לעמו, “Jerusalem is enfolded by hills, and the Lord enfolds it.”
The word ירושלים there is a simile for the collective soul of the Jewish people, known also as כנסת ישראל. The words: וה' סביב לעמו, mean that seeing that everything in the universe revolves around the Jewish people, Hashem, naturally, is intimately involved in the fortunes of this people. The הרים, hills, mentioned in that verse refer to the three patriarchs, who personify the roots of holiness in the celestial regions.
These patriarchs “surround” the collective soul of the Jewish people. It is therefore incumbent upon every individual Israelite to attach himself to this “root” of holiness. The function of this “root” is to illuminate the path of the “branch,” (the descendants) without any screen being interposed, or intervention by any spiritually negative, sinful forces. Man’s function in this world, vis a vis his fellow man, is to dispense loving kindness; however, the most important aspect of this “doing good,” is that it be based on the spiritual values of the “root,” the patriarchs who have shown us the way.While it is clear that doing kind deeds is morally positive, the definition of what is a good deed is not up to man, but up to G’d and His Torah.
Unfortunately many people, including leaders of the Jewish people, have failed in this regard, performing what they thought were “good” deeds, expressions of pity and mercy, but wasted on unworthy individuals. Our sages on Kohelet Rabbah 7,16 אל תהי צדיק הרבה, ואל תתחכם יותר, “do not be overly righteous, and do not try to be too smart,” have said in explaining this: כל הנעשה רחמן על האכזרים, ”showing mercy to the cruel people,” suggest that what Solomon had in mind was King Sha-ul who, when asked to wipe out Amalek including children and livestock, questioned G’d’s instructions (through the prophet Samuel) by asking what the children had done wrong and how the livestock had sinned.
As a result of his misguided sense of when to practice mercy and when to be steadfast, he allowed the king of the Amalekites Agog to survive with historically terrible consequences for the Jewish people, whereas he killed a city of Jewish priests, Nov, merely on suspicion and the accusation by a single prejudiced general. He, personally, paid for it with not only his own life, but the lives of three of his sons.
Leading the kind of life the Torah has taught us, requires among other virtues, that one does not allow one’s personal prejudices to influence one’s decisions. When one reaches such a level one is surrounded in all three dimensions by the protective emanations of the patriarchs, first and foremost among their virtues being the virtue of אמת, truth. Making truthfulness, also versus one’s own self, the focus of one’s virtues, enables a person to distance himself from nearly all evil influences.When the Torah stresses the fact that the month when the Children of Israel entered the desert of Sinai was the “third” month after they had left Egypt, the number “three” symbolizes “truth”, as it does in the letter ש which has three “lines” symbolizing the emanations חסד, גבורה, and תפארת, harmony.When a person has attained the domain, environment, of אמת, truth, and made it his permanent spiritual abode, he has truly left behind יצא, all aspects of evil, רע, as well as the seducers luring him into committing evil.
The Israelites in the desert at this point had finally graduated from their slave-mentality, and all the temptations that are part of the daily lives of slaves. The Torah emphasizes this aspect by repeating: ביום הזה באו, on this day they “had arrived.” The Torah’s choosing to refer to this day as יום הזה, “this day”, rather than יום ההוא, “that day,” proves how completely clear the experiences about to be accumulated by the people were to them.
Coming back to the word סיני also being a word describing someone’s perfect memory, (page 413), the arrival in the desert called [afterwards, I presume, Ed.] “Sinai,” was given this name as the Israelites’ memory absorbed all the lessons they were going to learn (revelation, Moses’ ascending the Mountain and returning with the Tablets, etc.) while around that area and around Mount Chorev which dominates that area.
Everything experienced by the Israelites during their stay in that area for over eleven months, had to be internalized and to be imprinted on their memory. The vast majority of their experiences in that region were connected to the spoken word, words which had to be committed to memory. Exodus 19,3. “meanwhile Moses had ascended to G’d, [lowest of the celestial domains, Ed,], and Hashem called out to him from the Mountain, saying: ‘thus you shall speak to the house of Yaakov and tell in detail to the Children of Israel.’”We need to analyze a number of points in this verse (paragraph). 1) What precisely is the meaning of the word כה? Why could the Torah not simply write: ויקרא אליו ה' לאמור לבית יעקב, “Hashem called to him to say to the house of Yaakov, etc.?” 2) Why, in verse 4, does G’d refer only to the Exodus from Egypt as examples of what He had created? 3) What is the meaning of the line (verse 5) והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים, “you have become more precious to Me than any of the other nations,” after the condition: "if you will surely listen to My voice and observe My covenant?“ Are we to assume, G’d forbid, that if we had not been given the covenant and had accepted it enthusiastically, that we would not be superior to the other nations?
Does G’d love us only on account of our being loyal to the covenant? Moreover, G’d should have said that if we observe the covenant we are also dearer to Him than all the angels, as when we –who are free to choose- observe the covenant, we are on a spiritually higher level than the angels, even?It appears to me that the answer to all these questions can be found already in the Midrash. [I have not found this Midrash.
Ed.] which describes Moses’ reception in the lowest of the seven layers of the celestial regions. When Moses arrived at that level he found himself surrounded by many thousands of different categories of angels, including the holy seraphim, all of whom were standing in awe and reverence [before the Lord, I assume, Ed,] so that he was overcome by a great fright and was trembling not knowing with whom he should commence to speak.
He remained in this condition until G’d Himself spread some of the brilliance of His Presence over him.We find numerous occasions when other prophets when addressed by G’d, stood in awe and trembling before G’d so much so that their normal senses became totally disoriented and dysfunctional.On Leviticus 1,1 ויקרא אל משה אליו מאהל מועד, “G’d called to Moses from the Tent of Meeting,” Rashi comments that the words following: וידבר אליו, “He spoke to him,” might be understood as a repetition as at first G’d’s voice was not loud enough, therefore the Torah writes both in Numbers 7,89 and Deuteronomy 8,20, את הקול, “the ‘well known’ voice.”
G’d’s voice was powerful but could not be heard outside the confines of the Tabernacle. The Bible repeatedly refers to the powerful voice of G’d being such that it felled cedars. (psalms 29) If a human being is fortunate enough to hear the voice of G’d proclaim the words: אנכי ה' אלוקיך אשר הוצאתיך וגו', “I am the Lord your G’d Who has taken you out, etc.;” each Shavuot, this is proof of how one must prepare oneself in order to hear the Lord’s voice. [Alas, none of us has been found meritorious enough to hear that voice. Ed.]
We have a tradition that the tens of thousands of angels were overcome with trembling whenever they heard the voice of G’d. How much more so must we mortal human beings be overcome with such tremors if even the angels are described as being in such a state of terror? The three days of preparation described in the Torah as preceding G’d’s revealing Himself to the people at Mount Sinai are totally inadequate.
Even if we were to prepare ourselves for a whole year this would not suffice for us to tolerate G’d’s voice without becoming seriously disoriented. Our verse indicates that although Moses had prepared himself for the encounter with G’d that he would face, and he had assumed that what G’d had to say to him was on a level that the people could not comprehend, G’d told him that this was not necessary, as what He had to say to him was intended for him to teach to the people.
This is the meaning of “Moses ascended to meet with G’d,” (verse 3) as if that was to be an exclusive “summit meeting.” G’d, however, preferred for Moses to remain on a level that enabled him to speak to the people as if they were his equal. This is why He immediately told him:כה ,תאמר אל בית יעקב וגו' “thus you shall speak to the house of Yaakov, etc.” When the Torah writes: ויקרא אליו ה' מן ההר לאמור, “Hashem” called out to Moses from the Mountain,” this was a hint that instead of G’d expecting the people to try and elevate themselves to His level, He had decided to “lower Himself” to their level.
When He specified “the house of Yaakov,” G’d hinted to Moses that the message Moses was to teach the people was one that even the women would not have any difficulty in understanding.When G’d tells Moses in verse 9: הנה אנכי בא אליך בעב הענן בעבור ישמע העם בדברי עםך, “here I will come to you enfolded in the thickness of the cloud so that the people will be able to hear Me speak with you,” the term עב הענן, is to be understood as עביות, something gross, i.e. the opposite of a lofty level.
G’d tells Moses to what extent He will “descend” to the level of the people, in order for the people to be able to hear Him speak with Moses.Now we will explain the deeper meaning of the verse: (19,4) אתם ראיתם אשר עשיתי למצרים וגו', “you have witnessed with your eyes what I have done to (for) Egypt, etc.” We must not try and deny that sometimes our own eyes see things that make it very difficult even for the righteous to serve the Lord, things that causes many of us puzzlement, or worse.We will try to use a parable in order to make this phenomenon easier to understand.
A king has a very loyal servant who serves him with utter devotion. The king is desirous of providing this servant with a special pleasure. He presents this servant with a relatively minor task, before demanding of him a more difficult task. The effect is that the servant derives repeated satisfaction from having been able to carry out the task the king has set him.
If G’d appears to “test” the righteous person again and again, His objective is to ensure that this person’s delight after having performed the last “test” will be so much greater than if his path had been smooth all the time. This is also a reason why from time to time, G’d appears to “withdraw” from the righteous, as a string of uninterrupted pleasures, i.e. feelings of accomplishments, diminishes the value of each little accomplishment.This was also the point the Talmud Shabbat 88 was trying to make when it stated that every utterance of Hashem filled the whole world with a fragrant perfume. [The subject is the Ten Commandments given at Mount Sinai.
Ed.] The Talmud there queries how this can be if G’d had already filled the whole world with such fragrant perfume at His very first utterance when He said: “I am the Lord Who has taken you out of Egypt, etc.?” What happened with G’d’s second utterance, where did the perfume have to go to? [According to Rabbi Moshe Alshich this means that G’d’s words spiritually purified the people and prepared their souls for what was to follow.]
The Talmud answers that G’d took the wind out of His treasure chamber and made it blow, gradually disseminating the fragrance. Anyone reading this statement by Rabbi Joshua ben Levi must be somewhat puzzled, to say the least.According to our interpretation that the word בושם “perfumed fragrance,” in the verse in Song of Songs quoted may be understood as תענוג, a pleasurable experience, the words in the Talmud appear really inspired.
The Talmud’s question if the world was already filled with pleasure, what else could G’d add by making further utterances, makes excellent sense, as does the answer that these relatively minor pleasures were diluted when the wind blew so that G’d had an opportunity to gradually increase the pleasure of the righteous until at the end they enjoyed a truly satisfying תענוג, “pleasure.” The word רוח, used in the Talmud must be understood as נחת רוח, pleasure of the soul, the spirit.
Seeing that the source of this spiritual pleasure had been G’d’s treasure chamber, it is an especially cherished kind of pleasurable experience.When we mentioned that the righteous sometimes experiences difficulty in serving the Lord with a full heart, this did not mean that every righteous person undergoes such periods of puzzlement at G’d’s providence for him. The spiritual development of the righteous varies from individual to individual; some, in order to continue their development as something fresh every morning, need to regress temporarily in order to recapture the sensation of making spiritual progress, whereas others, according to their temperament, do not need to experience what seems like spiritual regression at all.
Another factor influencing this development of the righteous is that he sees the wicked being punished for his wickedness. Such an experience can fill the righteous with a great sense of satisfaction, pleasure. He will be doubly happy that he has chosen to be a loyal servant of the Lord, instead. He will be inspired by such experiences to redouble his efforts at serving the Lord to the best of his ability. Exodus 19,4.
“I carried you on the wings of eagles.” The author refers to a Midrash that claims that the reason that the eagle is called נשר in Hebrew is that it sheds its wings every 10 years, dropping them to the earth. [The root נשר does refer to fruit falling from trees, of course, but I have not found anywhere that eagles shed their wings. No doubt our author was aware of this also, and that maybe why he preferred to understand this Midrash which I have been unable to locate, allegorically.
Ed.] A different approach to the verse commencing with: אתם ראיתם אשר עשיתי למצרים, “you have seen what I have done to (for) Egypt, etc.” At first glance the word אתם, “you,” appears superfluous as G’d, through Moses, was addressing the people directly. A look at Rashi on this verse will show us that he too tried to deal with the need for this word. He suggests that the word was meant to emphasize the directness of the Israelites’ experience in contrast with later generations who would only hear about this second hand.
Although the revelation at Mount Sinai had not yet occurred, G’d had already brought the people close to Him, i.e. ואבא אתכם אלי, “I have brought you to Me.” (Compare Mechilta on this verse) We may understand the word אתם better when comparing with Exodus 14,4 “I have reinforced Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue you, etc.” You will note that during the entire song of thanksgiving after the drowning of the Egyptians, in spite of frequent repetitions of the many aspects of this miracle, Moses did not for a single time refer to the fact that the Israelites had been saved, although he extols the annihilation of Egypt’s armed might. This was in spite of the fact that the major aspect of the miracle was the saving of the Israelites who had been between a “rock and a hard place,” completely helpless before that miracle.The Talmud in Pessachim 118 is at pains to point out that the Israelites of that generation were very weak in their level of faith in G’d, so much so that they reasoned that just as they themselves had been able to climb out of the sea bed on one side, the Egyptians might have been able to do the same on the opposite side of the shore.
Why would such a thought be justification to describe the Israelites as lacking in faith? Furthermore, what does the Talmud mean by the words: כשם שאנו עולים, “just as we climbed out, etc.?” How could they compare their situation to that of the Egyptians? Besides when had they posed a threat to the Egyptians? In order to understand this better we must remember that there are two different levels of faith.
The first and highest level is called אמונה שלמה, “absolute unshakable faith.” It includes that one believes absolutely without reservation in the G’d of our forefathers, reveres Him and loves Him. The second level of “faith,” is not “self generated,” but is the result of experiencing mind-boggling events, such as the miracles the Israelites had experienced both in Egypt and in even greater measure at the sea of reeds.
A look at what the Sifssey chachamim has to say on Rashi’s explanation of Yitro’s words in Exodus 18,11 עתה ידעתי כי גדול ה' מכל האלוקים, “now I know that Hashem is greater than any other deity.” Rashi had interpreted this line to mean that in the past Yitro had not left any religion untried until he had found it wanting. The Sifssey chachamim points out that Rashi had come to this conclusion from the apparent contradiction of the word עתה, ”now,” and the word ידעתי, “I was familiar with,” in the past tense.
Yitro therefore meant that although in the past he had been familiar with every deity, by now he had convinced himself of Hashem’s absolute superiority.However, the Egyptians, far from reacting positively to the performance of G’d’s miracles reacted negatively by becoming ever more obstinate. This is indicated clearly in Exodus 15,4 when Moses describes the choicest of the Egyptians’ captains being flung into the sea to drown. (15,4) The expression ובמבחר, “and from the choice(st)” instead of ומטוב “and from the best,” is a double entendre, and hints at the choice the Egyptians had made to rather drown than acknowledge the superiority of Hashem.
Watching G’d perform miracles had left open the choice for them to do teshuvah even though G’d had performed one or two acts designed to give them confidence that they could defeat the Israelites and their G’d. The same miracles which had brought the Jewish people closer to G’d, had the opposite effect on the Egyptians, confirming them in the belief that their deity Baal Tzefon had proved superior to the Jewish G’d. Exodus 19,6. “and you will be for Me a kingdom of priests.”
This statement can best be understood in connection with a statement in the Talmud Moed Katan 16 where the rhetorical question of: “who rules over Me, (G’d) is answered with the word: צדיק, “the righteous, the Just.” The Talmud reveals that G’d’s people comprise people of the stature of Royalty, people who are able by their very stature to overturn evil decrees made by G’d in heaven and turn their effect into blessings. [The major function of the priests is to channel blessings to the Jewish people either by their words or by their sacrificial service on behalf of the people.
Ed.]. The exact wording in the Talmud is: לי דבר צור ישראל וגו', “concerning Me the Rock of Israel said, etc.” The Talmud understands the wordלי : there as עלי, “over Me,” implying that someone has “power” to overrule Gd. The word עלי implies overturning, superseding Me.” Just as G’d’s function as Patron of the Jewish people is to overturn evil decrees by the gentiles in our favour, so the function of the righteous amongst us is to overturn G’d’s evil decrees aimed at the Jewish people.
The power of the righteous does not extend however, to an ability to overturn G’d’s decrees that are favourable to us. In other words, the concept of ממלכת כהנים, “a Kingdom of priests,” emphasizes the limitation of that “kingdom.” Another way of understanding the verse: ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים. We have a tradition according to which there are three “crowns” that can be worn by select people. (Avot 4,17) They are: 1) the crown of the Torah; 2) the crown of the priesthood. 3) the crown of kingship.
The only one of these “crowns” that can be handed down through inheritance from father to son is the crown of the priesthood. In our verse the concept of holiness through inheritance is expanded to include the entire Jewish people as a whole. G’d assures Moses that as a result of our performing His commandments we have all acquired a hereditary claim to holiness. In Moses’ parting speech to his people, Deuteronomy 32,9, he expands on this theme by saying: כי חלק ה' עמו עקב חבל נחלתו, “for the Lord’s portion is His people, Yaakov His own inheritance.”
Moses implies that G’d has chosen the Jewish people on account of the holiness transmitted to them by their patriarchs which had become part of their genes. This is the deeper meaning of the expression ממלכת כהנים. Exodus 19,8“Moses brought back the people’s response to G’d.” A look at the Or Hachayim will show that the author did not understand this verse to mean that Moses brought G’d the people’s “answer,” as G’d was aware of this answer and did not need Moses to report this to Him.
Moses “told” G’d of the people’s response in order to make them more beloved in His eyes. He emphasizes especially that the people had not said: נשמע ונעשה, “we will listen to G’d’s commandments and then perform them,” implying that they would listen conditionally, but that they had said: נעשה ונשמע, “of course we will carry out the commandments, only let us hear them, so that we will know what to do.”Another aspect of this verse is that Moses in reflecting on the people’s response, realized that this response must have been forthcoming as the result of Divine inspiration as there are simply no normal people who would write such a “blank cheque”, not knowing the amount that would be filled in.
This thought is also expressed in the Talmud Shabbat 88 where the Talmud reports that at the moment when the Jewish people said: נעשה ונשמע, a heavenly voice was heard asking: ‘who told these people the secret of this formula that is reserved for the angels?’ (compare psalms 103,20) where the psalmist quotes them saying “Bless the Lord, all His hosts, His servants who do His will; etc.” In that verse too the angels are described as doing G’d’s “word”, עושי דברו, before having heard G’d issue the command, לשמוע בקול דברו.
The reason the angels did so was that they wanted to parallel, to equal what the Israelites had done. Moses realized upon reflecting on this that if the Israelites had responded with a similar reaction to the message Moses had brought them from the celestial regions, that they must have had a heavenly assist, i.e. have been inspired by G’d to do so. The verse describing Moses as “bringing the people’s response to G’d,” meant that he told G’d that he knew that the people had been inspired by Him to respond in the manner that they did.
Expressed differently, Moses told G’d that he was aware that it had been G’d’s wish that they respond in the manner that they did. Exodus 19,9.“and they will also have enduring faith in you.” Rashi understands the word: וגם, “and also,” as referring to the people having faith in the prophets in future generations.I believe, that this conforms to what Nachmanides has written in his commentary on Parshat Mishpatim on Exodus 23,20, commencing with:הנה אנכי שולח מלאך לפניך...ועשית כל אשר דבר אליך, “Here I shall send an angel ahead of you and you shall do all that I will tell you to do,” to tell us that “you must not listen and do what the angel (prophet) tells you unless it conforms to what I tell you,” i.e. you must not listen to prophets when they tell you to violate any of the commandments G’d has revealed in the Torah.
The word בך “within you,” are the key to understanding this verse. [The difficulty appears to be also the word לעולם, which normally is understood to mean “forever,” but is a term that cannot be applied in that sense to mortal human beings. Ed.] The Torah hints that if and when future prophets will tell the people what to do and this conforms to what Moses during his lifetime had told them to do, then the people’s faith in such prophets will be not only justified but they are commanded to obey such prophets.
Rashi hints at this with the word אחריך, “after you,” which in his commentary is not to be understood as a time frame, i.e. after Moses has died, but as a reference to prophets who would “take after you,” i.e. teach the same Torah without perverting any of it. The Israelites’ duty to have faith in prophets after Moses’ death, is contingent on the loyalty of these prophets to Moses’ Torah.If we need to look for proof that this interpretation of the word אחריך, is linguistically correct, the Talmud B’rachot 61 refers us to Judges 13,11 וילך מנוח אחרי אשתו, normally translated as “Manoach walked behind his wife,” instead it translates it as “Manoach followed the advice of his wife.”
Similarly, here, the Jewish people are to follow that advice of their outstanding leader Moses during all future generations, i.e. לעולם.Incidentally, we find that in the Zohar the מצות are also referred to as עצות when the author speaks of עיתין דאורייתא, “the Torah’s suggestions.” [I have found עיטין in the Zohar 7 times, only as describing either good or bad advice, never as referring to the Torah.
Ed.]In Maimonides’ hilchot Temurah, near the end, the author the author refers to his having interpreted the word שלישים in Exodus 14,7, normally translated as “captains” to refer to advisors, experts, men who recognize the truth, מועצות. Prophets who do not hand down to their people their true tradition and urge them to abandon some of the laws of the Torah could certainly not qualify for the term “prophet.”What we have written answers the question asked by many how a “prophet” who performs a miracle or more than one miracle to legitimize himself in the eyes of the people could have been allowed to do so by G’d?
The answer is simple. The Torah commands us not to believe the “prophet” on the basis of any so-called miracles he performs unless he does not suggest that the people do anything that contradicts what is their collective tradition since the time of Moses.The Torah repeats this theme in greater details in Deuteronomy 13,1-5.The author proceeds now to explain the word לעולם according to a method of exegesis he calls: דרך חדוד אמת.The Talmud Yevamot 90 states, and this is accepted as a halachically valid conclusion by Maimonides in his introduction to his monumental work Mishneh Torah in the section entitled yessodey hatorah, “fundamental principles of the Torah,” (chapter 9,2) that if a prophet commands violation of a negative Biblical commandment temporarily, when circumstance demand this, as for instance when the prophet Elijah offered sacrifices on Mount Carmel after repairing a defunct altar in violation of the commandment that the only place where this may be done is in the Temple in Jerusalem, the people are not only permitted to obey his command but are obligated to do so on pain of the death penalty.
The same principle does not hold true when said prophet commands, even temporarily, to violate a positive commandment of the Torah. Positive commandments of the Torah are never to be abolished, not even temporarily. This is what G’d had in mind when He had Moses write in the Torah that the people would have faith in Moses as a prophet, לעולם, “forever,” (for want of a better word.). 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. 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. Exodus 20,2 I am the Lord your G’d Who has taken you out of the land of Egypt from the house of slavery.”On the expression מבית עבדים “from the house of slaves,” Rashi, quoting the Mechilta, says that it refers to Pharaoh’s palace where they were slaves.
The basis for this exegesis appears to be that G’d did not give the Torah to the Jewish people until after the Exodus from Egypt because there is a difference between keeping the Torah out of fear (of punishment) and keeping the Torah out of love for G’d. People who keep the Torah out of a feeling of love for G’d are called: בן, “son,” as in בני ישראל, “the Children of Israel,” whereas people keeping the Torah out of fear are still considered עבדים, “slaves.”
Had the Israelites received the Torah prior to their redemption from Egypt they would have accepted it out of fear, so that G’d could not have taken them out of Egypt legally, as they “belonged” to the Egyptians, having been their slaves. Having received the Torah after the Exodus, when they were free men, they certainly had not been under duress in accepting it, but had done so out of love for the G’d Who had redeemed them.
G’d therefore is explaining in the verse above that the time had come now when He was able to give them the Torah in their capacity of their being His children. Another angle of the words: אנכי ה' אלוקיך. Our sages in Shabbat 105 state: “the word אנכי in this verse is an acronym, i.e. composed of the respective first letters in the statement: אמירה נעימה כתיבה יהיבה, “a pleasant and benevolent utterance was enshrined in written form.”We have a rule first postulated by David in psalms 16,8 that a person should at all times consider himself as facing the Lord, i.e. שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד, “I am ever mindful of the Lord’s presence;” it is difficult, or even impossible to formulate this rule as an imperative, as it is impossible for mortal man to constantly live up to such a lofty ideal.
The rule of which we spoke therefore means that when a person serves the Lord in order to provide the Lord with pleasure and satisfaction, the fact that he has done so awakens in him the feeling that G’d is all-present at all times.The word אמירה we have quoted from the Talmud in Shabbat 105 is another word for the word דבור, speech, word, which by definition is not something that is ongoing without interruption, i.e. תמיד.
On the other hand, once words have been written down they assume constancy as they are constantly available to be referred to. This is what the Talmud alluded to when saying: אמירה נעימה, “the words spoken by people worshipping Hashem are pleasant as they are intended to cause Him pleasure;” the word נעימה being an alternate for the word תענוג. The words ”כתיבה יהיבה” that form the second part of that saying, refer to the constancy of the impression left by these words being due to their arousing the feeling in the worshipper that G’d’ is all present at all times. Another way of understanding the words: אנכי ה' אלוקיך, can be understood after a look at Rashi, who says that the fact that G’d appears in different facets is no reason to assume that each facet belongs to a different Being, (based on Pessikta rabbati 21; where we are told that whereas when G’d appeared to the Israelites as a Warrior battling the Egyptians, their perception of Him was as His being a young man at the height of His vigour, whereas at the revelation at Mount Sinai they perceived Him as an aged scholar).
The reason is that Torah emerges from the mouth of the mature, as we know from Job 12,12, בישישים חכמה ואורך ימים, “wisdom is in the aged and understanding in the long lived.” Seeing that G’d was aware that the Israelites at the bottom of Mount Sinai viewed Him from a different perspective than how they had viewed Him at the time of the Exodus, He reassures them by saying that He is the same G’d Who had taken them out of Egypt.However, when the father studies a subject requiring intelligence with his son, instead of the father adjusting to his son’s level, the father must try and raise his son’s level to that of his own.
The easiest way to achieve this is for the father to adopt the mien of an aged experienced scholar, whose life experience qualifies him to be the mentor of a son many years his junior. This is what the author of Pessikta rabbati had in mind when describing G’d as a young vigorous warrior at the time of the Exodus, but appearing as an aged sage at the revelation at Mount Sinai.The above quoted statement that G’d appeared to the Israelites as a young and virile warrior at the time of the Exodus, whereas He appeared as mature sage at the time of the revelation at Mount Sinai, can also be understood differently, in terms of the different degrees of צמצום “downsizing,” that G’d resorts to depending on which of His creatures He is dealing with. At the sea of reeds, when G’d did not wrap Himself in protective “clothing” in order for the brilliance of His manifestation in the world not to become intolerable for His creatures, the result was the destruction of Pharaoh and his armies.
This is usually the result when G’d works supernatural miracles.At Mount Sinai, during the giving of the Torah, G’d draped Himself in “cloud” so as to ensure that the people present would not come to harm through this experience.This interpretation is hinted at in Mechilta B’shalach 2, when the author writes that while at the sea of reeds a lowly maidservant was able to experience prophetic insights not granted to one of the greatest prophets, Ezekiel.
Clearly, the implication is that Ezekiel and the elders of his generation were only granted prophetic insights of the kind described by our sages as seeing a manifestation of G’d through the prism of His worlds, not directly. At the sea of reeds, the Israelites, all of them were granted a glimpse of the glory of G’d while He was not wearing “protective” clothing, to shield His subjects from coming to harm.
If G’d were to have appeared to the people in a similar manner at the time of the revelation at Mount Sinai, they would not have understood the words of the Torah. This is what the liturgist had in mind when he wrote: אתה נגלית בענן כבודך, “You were revealed in a cloud masking Your glory.” [The composer of this פיוט, liturgical poem, lived before Maimonides already as Maimonides knew it as an integral part of the Mussaph prayer on Rosh Hashanah.
Ed.] Another attempt at explaining the line commencing with אנכי ה' אלוקיך אשר הוצאתיך וגו'; when the Talmud compared G’d as in a state of youth at the time of the Exodus and as resembling an old man at the time o the giving of the Torah only seven weeks later, the expression “youth,” may have been used to remind the reader of when he himself was young, i.e. had not yet formulated for himself a mature philosophy of life, vacillating between different enticements life seemed to offer.
At the time of the splitting of the sea, G’d employed two different and opposing approaches to man at the same time. He related to the Jewish people with מדת החסד, the attribute of loving kindness, whereas to the Egyptians he related with His attribute of Justice. The attribute called זקנה, “old age,” is another name for the attribute we know as the attribute of loving kindness, חסד. At the time when the Torah was being given to the Jewish people- according to the Talmud, Shabbat 88, the entire universe is reported to have been bathed in pleasant fragrances.
G’d wishes us to know that even when He was forced by circumstances to resort to employing His attribute of Justice, as when He punished the Egyptians, this too was an aspect of the attribute of loving kindness as when G’d took the Jewish people out of Egypt. Another exegesis of why G’d commenced the Ten Commandments with the declaration that He had taken the Jewish people out of Egypt, instead of first telling them that it was He Who had created the universe, a question Nachmanides has already raised.
Perhaps the answer to this question is related to the overriding rule governing Judaism is that we must believe in two Torahs, the written and the oral Torah, the Torah that had been communicated to Moses orally The written Torah was transmitted to us by Moses, G’d’s trusted servant. It is referred to by our sages as a “letter engraved on the Tablets in black fire on white fire.” The oral Torah that had also been given to Moses is comprised of the “explanatory notes” Any mature scholar who is able to “reveal” a new aspect of the Torah, one that had been forgotten by one and all for some reason, is entitled to feel that he has had a direct part in revealing the Torah to our people. (Compare Jerusalem TalmudPeyah 2,6) This is a tremendous power that G’d has granted to us, i.e. that the righteous people who will in different generations reveal these “new” aspects of the Torah will become an integral part of the Torah.
The fact that G’d gave us (the representatives of Torah exegesis) this power is evidence of how much He loves His people, according to the degree of love they have shown for His Torah. This is also the meaning of the Talmud in Moed Katan 16 where G’d is described as issuing various decrees, but the tzaddik in his generation “annulling” such decrees. There are two different categories of serving Hashem.
One is based on the creature being aware of the supremacy of the Creator as alluded to by the Pessikta rabbati we quoted that at the time of the revelation on Mount Sinai, G’d appeared to the people as a venerable sage, whereas at the time of the Exodus He appeared to them in the guise of a youthful but powerful warrior. If one serves the Lord because of one’s recognition of His superiority in all things, then any largesse of G’d one experiences on earth is so meaningless to the servant of Hashem that it does not influence the worshipper at all; this attitude is described variously by our sages as serving and worshipping G’d with מוחין דגדלות, “a mature intellect.”The second category of servants of the Lord are the ones motivated by awareness of G’d’s largesse for His creatures, by proof of G’d’s rescuing His servants from dangerous and intolerable situations.
Examples of this kind of serving the Lord are the Children of Israel at the sea of reeds, or whenever they were in need of something that could be expected to be supplied only by supernatural means, by a miracle orchestrated by the Creator. People serving G’d from such motivations are described as serving Him due to מוחין דקטנות, “immature intellectual development.” The interesting fact that during the entire paragraph dealing with the giving of the Torah, the letter ט, an allusion to טובות G’d’s largesse, does not even occur once, serves as a reminder of the lofty intellectual and spiritual level of the people at that time, a level that enabled them to relate to their Creator without the slightest concern for their physical needs. Anyone serving the Lord based on מוחין דגדלות, “intellectual maturity,” also does not fear any phenomenon in the universe considered threatening by other inhabitants of our universe. Such people have so much confidence in their Creator that they can concentrate exclusively on trying to please Him without petitioning Him for anything.
This is in total contrast to people serving the lord based on less lofty motivations; such people, as soon as they perceive any development in their habitat that appears threatening to them personally, or to their families, become filled with fear; as soon as they have given way to such feelings, the evil urge can target them with a chance of success seeing that they have not attained the spiritual level that would make them immune to the efforts of the evil urge to make them turn to more visible symbols of succor, although there are none such unless they had been pointed as such by the Creator. [If Esther and Mordechai turned to King Achashverosh for help, they had prayed that this man would prove to be G’d’s instrument of the Jewish people’s salvation.
Ed.] When David in psalms 118,11, part of the hallel hamitzri, repeats the words סבוני גם סבבוני בשם ה' “they beset me, they surround me; by the name of Hashem I will surely cut them down;” the word: גם, “also,” seems problematic. According to what we have just explained, David’s wording is quite easily understood. When David (verse 10) first spoke about all the nations surrounding him being his mortal enemies, he dismissed this threat more or less, as it was only an external threat; his own personality not having succumbed to fear.
At that point he had been certain that G’d would take care of him as he had considered himself a loyal servant of the Lord. This is why he had added the words: בשם ה', “by the name of the Lord;” he had considered himself as having served the Lord with a mature intellect. Upon reflecting further, he had realized that he had not always served the Lord on such a lofty level, but from time to time had had a relapse to a lower intellectual level, that of מוחין דקטנות.
On such occasions he had experienced “real” fear. This is what he had in mind when he repeated the words סבוני גם סבבוני, i.e. he had really filled encircled, not knowing how to escape the fate that appeared to threaten him. If, as we see from the lines following this, G’d had miraculously extricated him from all the dangers threatening him, he realised that he had every reason to be especially grateful for an escape that he may not have merited due to his own accumulated merits.The considerations just described may have provided the background to a custom mentioned in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 430 that the Sabbath preceding the Passover festival is called שבת הגדול, “the great Sabbath,” in commemoration of the great miracle that occurred during the four days between when the Israelites set aside the paschal lamb in preparation of slaughtering it on the 14th of the month, as per the Torah’s instructions in Exodus 12,6.
They had been instructed to keep watch over each person’s lamb to be sure that it was not physically blemished, but even more so to demonstrate their faith in G’d that although slaughtering a lamb which was a deity for the Egyptians and therefore a provocation of their “masters,” they were not deterred by the physical danger they were exposing themselves to by doing this. Each Jewish household tied their respective lamb to their beds, daring the Egyptians to do something about this after they had told the Egyptians who enquired about the meaning of this that this lamb would be slaughtered at the command of the Jewish G’d on the evening of the 14th of the month.
In the event the Egyptians gnashed their teeth but did not dare to take any countermeasures. One may be tempted to ask what was such a great miracle about this, so much so that a day has been “named” in commemoration of it? How could this miracle be compared to G’d’s splitting the sea to enable the Jewish people to traverse it dry footed, whereas the Egyptians in pursuit of them were drowned one and all?
The answer is that on these four days the Jewish people served the Lord from considerations that we have described as מוחין דגדלות, an intellectual maturity, i.e. totally fearless, not motivated by selfish considerations at all, not like at the sea of reeds when they were all afraid for their lives. If we needed proof of the “maturity” of the Jewish people at that time we need only look at Exodus 8,22 where Moses and Aaron in response to Pharaoh expressing willingness to let the Israelites sacrifice to their G’d inside Egypt, responded by saying: הן נזבח את תועבת מצרים לעיניהם ולא יסקלונו?, “Surely if we are to sacrifice a deity of the Egyptian people before their very eyes they will stone us to death?”
Clearly, even Moses was convinced that at that stage the Jewish people would not be prepared to follow such instructions even if he -were to issue them, as they would fear for their lives. We have proof of how much the people had matured between chapter 8 when they had not yet experienced the Egyptians undergoing one plague after another. Clearly, from this verse it is evident that the Israelites at the time Moses had been appointed felt that they were under constant supervision by the Egyptians and they would not have dared to do what is described in Exodus 12.It is not unreasonable to speculate that the reason why G’d commanded them to take the intended paschal lamb already on the 10th of the month and to do so publicly, was to enable them to acquire the merit of this lofty level of faith in G’d.
This brings us to a better understanding of the meaning of Yitro’s words reported in Exodus 18,9-11 ויחד יתרו על כל הטובה אשר עשה ה' לישראל אשר הצילו מיד מצרים.ויאמר יתרו ברוך ה' אשר הציל אתכם מיד מצרים ומיד פרעה אשר הציל את העם מתחת יד מצרים. עתה ידעתי כי גדול ה' מכל האלוהים כי בדבר אשר זדו עליהם., “Yitro rejoiced about all the good Hashem had done for Israel, that He had saved them from the power of Egypt.
Yitro said: “blessed the Lord Who has saved you from Egypt and the hand of Pharaoh. Now I know that Hashem is the greatest of all deities, as He punished the Egyptians in a manner befitting their sins.” Careful analysis of Yitro’s words will show that he spoke of two separate acts of “saving” the Jewish people. Yitro had heard not only about the physical salvation the Israelites had experienced but also about the manner in which the spirit of the Jewish people, a people downtrodden by many years of slavery, had been transformed in a short space of time to being the most steadfast people, afraid of no human force on earth.This brings us to another nuance in the exegesis in Shabbat 105 according to which the word אנכי is an acronym for the words אנא נפשי כתבית יהבית, “I Myself have written it and handed it over.”
We know that another meaning of the word נפש is רצון, will, desire, as in Genesis 23,8: אם יש את נפשכם, “if it is your desire, etc.” The word אנכי accordingly sums up G’d’s message that by committing the Torah to writing, He had expressed His will, and desire. By handing over this document to the Jewish people, He had authorized them to interpret it and to guide their lives by means of these interpretations.Upon hearing this daring exegesis some people might consider that G’d had taken a great chance that His people would exploit this authority to pervert the Torah by “being victorious” over Him.
The reverse is true, however. G’d is pleased when as a result of our delving more deeply into the hidden parts of the Torah we discover heretofore unknown aspects of it. We have it on the authority of Baba Metzia 59 where in a halachic discussion among the various sages one of them called upon G’d to demonstrate that his opinion was the correct one, and he wanted the wall to collapse to prove this and the wall really began to bend, that the opposing scholar quoted Deuteronomy 30,12 where the Torah is described as not being a possession of heaven, i.e. לא בשמים היא, to stop the wall from falling.
A heavenly voice was heard by the people present exclaiming that נצחוני בני מצחוני, “My children have triumphed over Me, My children.” [Students of that episode in the Talmud will find that that there are also other interpretations of that episode. Ed.] Another quotation from the Talmud Pessachim 119 reads as follows: the opening words in psalms 4 למנצח בנגינות מזמור לדוד, translated literally, as “a psalm to the victor by David,” that the point David is making is that whereas in interpersonal relations the loser in a competition is downcast, not so when the contestants are man and G’d respectively.
It is G’d’s nature to rejoice in His children having prevailed over Him.” As proof of this interpretation the Talmud there quotes: psalms 106,23 ויאמר להשמידם לולי משה בחירו עמד בפרץ לפניו להשיב חמתו מהשחית, “He had already said that he would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen, confronted Him in the breach to avert His destructive wrath.” This reflects another interpretation on Shabbat 105 where the introductory words of the Ten Commandments are described as אמירה נעימה כתיבה יהבה, (compare page 431) When a son wins a game of chess against his father for the first time, the father derives great satisfaction of having taught his son so well.
Similarly, if during a discussion on the meaning of a certain verse in the Torah, the “son,” i.e. one of the Torah scholars, has shown outstanding skill and understanding of the Torah’s deeper meaning, the author, G’d, derives great satisfaction from this.Coming back to why G’d did not introduce the Ten Commandments with reminding the listeners that He was the Creator and therefore had preceded every other phenomenon in the universe, but stressing that He had taken the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, G’d did so because he wanted to be on record concerning His love for His people.
He was certain that by doing this He would reinforce the people’s enthusiasm to serve Him rather than any other so-called deities. By using a play on words [in the Hebrew language, Ed.] our author considers the whole episode between slavery-physical redemption, and now spiritual redemption of the Jewish people, as turning צרה into רצה, “suffering and distress into joy and happiness.” Henceforth the Jewish people are always referred to as G’d’s children [even when errant children, Ed.] This factor is an overriding consideration in our relationship to G’d.
This also explains that G’d chooses to “live,” i.e. be at home among the Jewish people after they build a Sanctuary for Him here on earth. If, in spite of this, the Israelites were ever to turn to idolatry, this sin would be ever so much harder to atone for. Yet another way of understanding the line אנכי ה' אלוקיך וגו', also based on Pessikta Rabbati, 21 portraying G’d at the sea of reeds as appearing to the people in the guise of a young warrior, whereas portraying Him as an aged venerable scholar seven weeks later, might have given rise to the thought that two different deities had appeared to the people on these two occasions.
By emphasizing the word אנכי, rather than what He had done, G’d wants the people to know that He Who appears to them at Mount Sinai is none other that he Who had taken care of them at the sea of reeds.This can be understood more easily by referring to the writings of the Ari z’al, who writes that on (the original) Passover the people related to G’d as immature intelligences, מוחין דקטנות, whereas at the revelation at Mount Sinai they already related to Him with מוחין דגדלות, mature intelligence.
I will endeavour to explain to you, the reader, what precisely is the difference between these two kinds of intelligence.There are two types of righteous, just people, both of whom popularly referred to as צדיקים. One type of צדיק serves the Lord because he wants to assure himself of his place in the world to come. This type of צדיק is referred to by Maimonides in his ספר המדע as not serving G’d for its own sake.
The second type of צדיק is one who serves the Lord for its own sake, i.e. he has no ulterior motives in serving the Lord at all, as he knows that the very fact that he is free to serve the Lord is a wonderful experience and opportunity. His purpose is to give satisfaction to the Creator for having created the universe and the creatures therein, especially the ones to whom He gave a free will.In the event that you were to think that serving the Lord in order to secure one’s place in the world to come is something worthless, you would be quite wrong.
It is possible to serve the Lord for its own sake and at the same time consider that he invests in his future life beyond the death of his body.Let us look at a parable demonstrating the situation. A father has a son, a minor; this son does not have much intelligence as yet. When his father presents him with a smart set of clothes, he will show off this suit to his father not because he wants to please his father, but because he is vainglorious, feeling more important now that he possesses fashionable clothing.
The same father also has an older son, one who has acquired more intelligence; when this older son shows off his new suit to his father he has more than one purpose in doing so. Of course he is proud of possessing a new suit, but he also wants the father to enjoy that he is so happy with this new suit. He is well aware that his father derives pleasure from his son’s pleasure in the suit that he bought for him.In our situation of how to serve the Lord, there is a great is similarity.
A “smart” son is able to serve the Lord initially not for its own sake, i.e. לשמה, i.e. in order to secure for himself an honorable place in the hereafter. This will still be considered serving the Lord לשמה, as his desire to earn a place in the hereafter is motivated by his overriding desire to please his Creator. He is aware that his Father in heaven would not want to share the suffering of His children if they were condemned not to have a share in the world to come.This is the deeper meaning of the famous line: מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה, “through having initially done something good accompanied by ulterior motives, eventually such a person will continue to do good for the sake of its being good.”
In other words, G’d will endow people doing good even though their intelligence is limited by expanding their intellectual horizons to the point when they will do good for its own sake. [It may not be too daring to suggest that it is in G’d’s own interest to “assist” the person who starts out serving Him with an ulterior motive to overcome this initial immaturity so that he will eventually serve Him for the “right” reason. i.e. לשמה. Ed.] The truth that service of the Lord by the Jewish people commenced on the lowest of levels is clearly stated in the Torah in Exodus 3,7 when G’d told Moses that He had heard the outcry of the Israelites to Him, and that He kept in mind that it was induced by their terrible state of suppression.
The author of the haggadah shel Pessach reflects the same sentiment when he writes מתחלה עובדי עבודה זרה היו אבותינו במצרים, “at the beginning our forefathers were idol worshippers in Egypt, etc.” The author did not mean to say that the Israelites had become indistinguishable from idolaters who believed in the power of the man made deities to whom they offered food, etc; he meant that service of the Lord by the Jewish people did not begin with lofty spiritual ideals, such as a recognition of the all embracing power of G’d and His love for His creatures, but that they were motivated by dreams of relieving their plight, i.e. their worship was interwoven with self-serving interests.
By the time the redemption took place, they had already progressed somewhat to the stage of what we called מוחין בקטנות, whereas in the interval between then and the revelation at Mount Sinai they could be described as מוחין בגדלות. When they proclaimed acceptance of the Torah with the words: נעשה ונשמע, “we will do, so let us hear the details,” this proclamation came from the throats of people who served the Lord without concern for personal advantage to be gained through this. From all the foregoing it follows that the 49 days of counting the Omer, the days leading up to the revelation at Mount Sinai and the giving of the Torah were in the nature of לבוש, “clothing” designed to hide the essence of the personality underneath these garments.
We may view them as the מוחין דקטנות, which hides the מוחין דגדלות, the immature intellect behind which is found the mature intellect. The process of our intellect maturing occurred during these 49 days so that the לבוש, the “clothing” or sheath, could be removed by the time the Israelites stood at the bottom of Mount Sinai.The practice of not letting our children grow their hair indefinitely, and what is worse, making plaits of it to show it off, may have its origin in the awareness that hair is a cover hiding the essence.
By emphasizing the cover at the expense of hiding the essence we provide the evil urge with a tool that makes it easier for him to pervert our orientation which was toward G’d the essence, and divert it to that which is שולי, secondary, making the secondary into the primary, or, in the words of our sages: making the טפל into the עיקר, the subordinate into the essence. Ultimately, such an attitude will end up diverting the Jewish people from pursuing the “gates” to holiness, and get stuck in the “gates” of טומאה, impurity. Exodus 20,5.
“Who, while remembering the guilt of the fathers to the children if the children continue to hate Him, while at the same time showering thousands of generations of those who have loved Him with His loving kindness.” The essence of these words is that on the one hand, by exacting retribution for sins G’d minimizes the impact of these sins, i.e. the residue of the guilt.The word פקד, in the sense of diminishing, is familiar to us already from Samuel I 20,25 when on the occasion of the festive meal on the New Moon David’s chair was vacant, and the King remarked on this as something lacking.
The opposite is the case when people are rewarded for meritorious deeds by G’d. Paying them a reward does not detract from the good deeds they had performed, so that they should consider themselves as having been “paid off,” but, on the contrary, is a stimulus to such people adding more meritorious deeds in the future. This idea is expressed by the words עשוה חסד, i.e. G’d does not only “repay” the just and the pious, but He adds a “bonus.,” known as חסד. Exodus 20,8 “keep remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”
In the review of the Ten Commandments by Moses in Deuteronomy 5,12 the Torah writes: שמור את יום השבת לקדשו, “observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”[Moses there adds the apparently unnecessary words: כאשר צוך ה' אלוקיך, “just as the Lord your G’d has commanded you.” Apparently, aware of the slight variation in the text from our verse, Moses reassures the people that this is not a deviation. Ed.][Most students in elementary school are already familiar with the line in the hymn of לכה דודי that שמור וזכור בדבור אחד השמיענו א-ל המיוחד, “shamor and zachor the One and only G’d has let us hear as a single word.”
Ed.] The source of the words in the hymn are found already in the Talmud Rosh Hashanah 27. The deeper meaning of this somewhat enigmatic statement is that the commandments of the Torah may be divided into two parts; 1) the actual physical performance of the commandment; 2) awareness at the time of performance of the underlying intention of the Creator when He gave us this commandment.. The qualitative difference between these two aspects of the commandment is that only the performance is of the essence, the underlying intention of G’d when formulating the commandment is secondary.There is, however an exception to this rule, and this exception is the commandment of keeping the Sabbath holy.
In this instance the Torah clearly spelled out what our thoughts must be when observing the Sabbath properly, i.e. the fact that it is a testimonial of G’d having created the universe in the 6 days preceding the first Sabbath. When a Jew refrains from doing any of the activities which are forbidden on the Sabbath but he fails to reflect on the fact that the sanctity of this day is due to G’d having bidden us to remember that he created the universe in the 6 days preceding the original Sabbath, such a Jew has not observed the commandment of “keeping the Sabbath.”
Seeing that the זכירה, “the remembering,” primarily by reciting the Kiddush is an integral part of the Sabbath is cited first shows that as opposed to the other positive commandments where the performance by the body is the primary element, this is not the case in respect of the commandment of the Sabbath. The very expression זכר למעשה בראשית, “in commemoration of the process of creation,” (on several occasions (in both the shacharit and mussaph prayers) is proof that our sages viewed this element of the Sabbath day as an essential part thereof, no less so than the abstention from the type of work that G’d “rested” from, i.e. וינפש, on the original Sabbath of creation. The Sabbath is the symbol of our faith that G’d preceded the universe and therefore is the only Being in the universe deserving to be worshipped as Deity. The author of the central paragraph in the mussaph prayer on the Sabbath, which commences with the words: תכנת שבת...צוית פירושיה עם סדורי נסכיה, refers to the fact that the Torah in the Sabbath legislation not only spelled out the commandment of how to observe this day with one’s body, by allowing the body to “rest” (constructively), but also spelled out how to observe it with our soul.When referring to the creative acts that G’d abstained from on the seventh day of creation on account of which we are asked to sanctify the Sabbath, both in connection with the word: זכור in our portion, and again in Deuteronomy 5,12 in connection with the word: שמור, we must remember that the “light” which is described in the Torah as G’d’s first act of intervention in the condition of the “world” before G’d created order from chaos, was “direct” light, i.e. an emanation from the Creator, a light which expands in all directions of the universe, performing its function commensurate with the needs of the region or domain which it reaches.
It then assumes a character germane to that region or domain. In other words, this אור ישר, will assume a different intensity in the regions inhabited by the highest ranking angels, the שרפים, from the intensity it assumes in the celestial regions inhabited by a lower ranking group of angels known as חיות. The same is true when this אור ישר, arrives in the regions of the terrestrial parts of the universe, the region known as עולם העשיה. At the same time arrival of this “light” also resulted, as an unavoidable consequence, in “reflected” light, a response by the creature who had received it from the Creator. [Compare pages 364/365 where this subject has been discussed previously. Ed.]
Each region of the universe receives the amount and intensity of this אור הישר appropriate to its needs.In kabbalistic parlance the nature of the אור החוזר, the “reflected light,” is perceived as the remnant of the original light which did not remain in the universe as the various universes were unable to ”digest” it so that they could not make use of it as it was too intense and would have destroyed these worlds.
Upon the return of this “light” to the Creator, the אין סוף, it will be condensed, i.e. its power will be restrained, but in a manner that in the words of Michah 7,18 make it “digestible” only for the holy Jewish people-as described in connection with Exodus 14,21, see pages (364-366).-Our sages in Rosh Hashanah 17 alluded to this idea when they explained the term לשארית נחלתו, “to the remnant of His inheritance,” (His own people) in Michah 7,18, as those Jews who transform themselves into truly G’d fearing personalities. Concerning these types of people my sainted teacher Dov Baer has said that the expression שארית נחלתו applies only to those צדיקים who spend almost all of their lives trying to elevate themselves to the level of sanctity of their Creator.The root of the concept of sanctity, קדושה, holiness, sanctity, is found where the צמצום, the voluntary restriction G’d imposed upon His essence occurs, so that He would not be a destructive force in His own universe. [If we in our parlance, following Rashi, translate holiness as “something apart,” this is no contradiction, but a reflection of the difficulty of translating celestial terminology into language used in the terrestrial part of the universe, the part we humans inhabit.
Ed.]When the Jewish people sanctify themselves by means permitted to them, and in that process separate themselves from the pleasures of this terrestrial world, they do so because they are aware that the so-called pleasures of this terrestrial world are intrinsically worthless, so that they try to elevate themselves to a region outside the domain of the terrestrial, physical universe. These “regions” are beyond our ability to define and therefore we are unable to describe them adequately.
Seeing that the nations of the world have none of them been found worthy of being שארית נחלתו “a residue of His inheritance,” it cannot be expected of them to show the least bit of understanding of this subject.Suffice it to say that the subject matter we called אור חוזר is the unabsorbed part of the אור ישר, the “direct” light that had left the Essence of G’d and dispersed in different regions of His universes, any “excess,” making a “return journey” in preparation for further use by its Dispatcher, the Creator.This inability of the nations of the world to comprehend the nature of the Sabbath is the reason that while they understand the concept of the Sabbath being a day that symbolizes that the Creator had refrained from overt creative activity, they selected for themselves on an arbitrary basis a different day of the week, one that had not been sanctified by the Creator for that purpose. When the Torah, both in our portion and in Deuteronomy, stresses the element of the sanctity of this “Day of rest,” for the Jewish people, it alludes to the unbroken connection between the Jewish people and the celestial regions, in spite of the fact that our bodies (and, temporarily our souls) inhabit the terrestrial part of the universe. [I have used some of my own wording in the foregoing, for reasons of simplicity.
Ed.] Exodus 20,9.“during six consecutive days you are to labour , (in the mundane sense of the word) and carry out all your activities, and the seventh day shall be a Sabbath for the Lord your G’d;” this verse may be understood best with the help of B’reshit Rabbah 2,2 on the words: ויברך ויקדש אותו (Genesis 2,3) who explains the word ויברך אותו, “He blessed it,” as referring to the double portion of manna that descended on the eve of the Sabbath, and the word ויקדש, “He sanctified it,” as referring to the absence of the manna on that day.It is common knowledge that different people act differently when they have something to say.
Some, in order to get what they have to say, “off their chest,” say whatever they have to say without pauses, others insert pauses where appropriate during which time they mentally phrase what they will say next. This is reflected in how we relate to the 6 workdays of the week and to the Sabbath. During the six working days we try to accomplish whatever it is that we wish to accomplish without allowing for pauses, which we consider a waste of time.
Not so, on the Sabbath, a day on which our “work” if it may be described as such, is primarily performed by the mind, i.e. the formulating of thoughts. This is why the manna could not descend to the physical world, עולם העשיה on the Sabbath, seeing that the Sabbath, intrinsically, is not part of that “world.” It is devoted to maintain our unbroken connection to the אין סוף and with other segments of the celestial worlds.
The inhabitants of these regions, by definition, cannot appear, i.e. reveal their true nature, in our domain, so that even when an angel “visits” the terrestrial regions, this is not to be understood as a התגלות, revealing its nature to us. These “semi-revelations can occur only on weekdays.” On the Sabbath the means of communication with the celestial domains is restricted to our brain, i.e. through the appropriate thoughts.
The statement quoted above i.e. ברכו במן וקדשו במן “He blessed it through the manna and sanctified it through the manna,” therefore must be understood as: the blessing descending on the manna (which had fallen on the previous day). The מחשבה, thought, is the precursor of the דבור, the word, i.e. benediction recited over wine on the Sabbath gives meaning to the manna on that day. Without it the manna on that day would not be an expression of G’d’s blessing.
The Sabbath being “a Sabbath for the Lord,“ therefore means that we His creatures give meaning to this day by sanctifying it. The manna, i.e. the concept of manna, having been blessed by the Jewish people observing the Sabbath by mouth and by deed, prepares the conditions during the six days of the week for the manna to descend on earth again as G’d’s expression of His largess for His people.
Proper observance of te Sabbath conveys to us emotionally that the day is one on which we reconnect with our spiritual origin, the אין סוף, the eternal essence of the Creator. Exodus 20,17. “for G’d has come only in order to test you.” Moses refers to the reason why G’d decided to address the first two Commandments to the people directly, not using him as His intermediary. He intended to deeply engrave on the people’s hearts and consciousness he fact that even the most humble of them had heard these words directly from the mouth of G’d so that should the occasion arise each one of them would find it easier to offer his life for the sanctification of G’d’s name. Having undergone the experience they had at Mount Sinai, would make it easier for them to stand up to future tests. Exodus 20,19.“You have seen that I have spoken with you from the heavens.
Do not make in addition to Me a deity of silver, etc.” G’d tells the people that just as He conducts the fortunes of the universe by glorifying in His people Israel exclusively, by having given His Torah only to them, after having introduced the Decalogue with the words: “I am the Lord, your G’d, etc.;” although the Torah could have found in the universe complementary partners more outstanding than the Israelites, He chose the Jewish people as the most appropriate partner for the Torah to demonstrate His love for this people.
One of the reasons was that He had found in the Jewish people a nation yearning for guidance from heavenly sources rather than from mortal human sources. Seeing that this is so, G’d warns the people not to commit a fatal error by treating any other deity as if it were on a par with Him. It would be the greatest insult to Hashem to be compared by His people to any other phenomenon in the universe.