Libations by Night and the Warning Against Writing the Oral Torah

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 481:1

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

"And their meal offerings and their libations" - even at night. But are libations offered at night? Was it not taught: I would know only of things whose manner is to be offered at night, and so forth, and at any rate it teaches that the meal offering of libations is by day? Rav Yosef said: Strike out "libations" from here. When Rav Dimi went up, he found Rabbi Yirmeya sitting and saying in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: From where do we learn that libations coming with a sacrifice are offered only by day? Scripture teaches, "for your libations and for your peace offerings" (Numbers 29:39) - it likens libations to peace offerings: just as peace offerings are by day, so libations are by day. He said: Who will provide me a man to write a letter? - send word to Rav Yosef that he should not strike "the meal offering of libations" from that teaching, for there is no difficulty: here the case is libations coming with a sacrifice, there it is libations coming on their own. And if he could find a man to write a letter - but did not Rabbi Abba, son of Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba, say in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: Those who write down the [oral] traditions are like those who burn the Torah, and one who learns from them receives no reward? For Rabbi Yehuda bar Nachmani, the interpreter of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, expounded: One verse says, "Write for yourself these words" (Exodus 34:27), and one verse says, "for according to the mouth of these words" - to tell you that words given orally you are not permitted to recite in writing, and those given in writing you are not permitted to recite by heart. They said: A new matter is different, for Rabbi Yochanan and Resh Lakish would study books of aggadah on the Sabbath and would expound thus: "It is a time to act for the LORD; they have voided your Torah" (Psalms 119:126) - better that one letter of the Torah be uprooted than that the Torah be forgotten from Israel. Rav Pappa said: Now that you have said that libations coming on their own are offered even at night, if libations came his way at night, he sanctifies them at night and offers them at night. Rav Yosef, son of Rav Shemaya, said to him: A teaching supports you: This is the rule - whatever is offered by day is sanctified only by day, and whatever is offered at night is sanctified whether by day or by night. Rav Adda bar Ahava said: The break of dawn disqualifies them, as it does the limbs.

Themes

Oral TorahSacrificeStudy

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