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PARASHAT
HASHAVUA ********************************************************* In loving memory of Sol
Okon, z"l, on the occasion of his yahrzeit. May his love of yiddishkeit, tefilah,
Torah and family be an inspiration to us all. ********************************************************* PARASHAT YITRO Moshe Rabbeinu and Matan
Torah by Rav Yair Kahn A Strange Debate In this week's parasha, immediately
prior to the Asseret Ha-dibbrot (Ten Commandments), an enigmatic dialogue
is recorded (19:21-25). Hashem orders Moshe to warn the
nation not to attempt to catch a glimpse of Hashem. Moshe argues that this is unnecessary,
since Har Sinai was already placed out of limits to Bnei Yisrael. Nevertheless, Hashem overrules Moshe and insists
that the nation be warned. Moshe
complies and warns the people.
Suddenly, directly following this warning, while Moshe is still among the
people, Am Yisrael experience the revelation of the Asseret
Ha-dibbrot. Some obvious
questions arise. Why did Hashem insist on repeating the
warning to the people? What is so significant about this strange debate that it
is recorded in the Torah? Is there any connection between this warning or debate
and the mass revelation that followed? According to R. Yossi (Shabbat
87a), Hashem and Moshe
differed, as it were, regarding another issue as well. While Hashem demanded two days of
preparation prior to matan Torah, Moshe decided to add a third day
(see also Rashi, Shemot 19:15).
Although the Almighty accepted Moshe's modification, we must attempt to
understand the significance of this episode. Furthermore, we cannot avoid pondering
the relationship between this incident and the mysterious debate mentioned
above. We will return to these
issues later, after a short discussion of the Asseret
Ha-dibbrot. Ten Commandments or
Two It is commonly assumed that all Ten
Commandments were issued directly from Hashem to the children of
Israel. This was not, however, the
assumption of our Sages. We are all
familiar with the tradition that there are 613 commandments (see Makot
24a). This number is derived from
the verse, "Torah tziva lanu Moshe" – “Moshe commanded us
Torah.” The numerical value, known as gematriya, of the word Torah is
611. This is the number of
mitzvot commanded by Moshe.
The additional two – the first two commandments of the Asseret
Ha-dibbrot – were issued directly by Hashem. This tradition is supported by the
switch from first person of the first two dibbrot (“I am Hashem your God) to the third person in the
remaining eight (“Do not take Hashem’s name in
vain”). The Ibn Ezra (20:1) argues that all ten
dibbrot were given directly from Hashem. He supports this position by quoting
pesukim that clearly attribute the Asseret Ha-dibbrot in their
entirety to Hashem (see
Devarim 5:19). The Ramban (20:7), disturbed by this
seeming contradiction, suggests a compromise. All Ten Commandments were spoken by
Hashem directly to the children
of The Experience of
Sinai Moshe Rabbeinu warned the Jewish People
never to forget the day that they received the dibbrot at Har Sinai: Be careful and diligently guard your
souls, lest you forget those things which you witnessed with your own eyes and
they be removed from your hearts all the days of your life. And you should inform these events to
your children and you children's children – the day you stood before the Lord
your God at Chorev..." (Devarim 4:9-10) The Ramban writes that this pasuk
is the source for a biblical mitzvat lo ta'aseh (negative commandment),
one that the Rambam omitted in his Sefer Ha-mitzvot. The Ramban maintains that there is an
issur de-oraita against forgetting the experience of Har Sinai. Memory and awareness of this great
encounter between Am Yisrael and the Infinite must be passed down to
future generations as a basic part of the great Massoretic tradition. It is this living tradition that Am
Yisrael personally experienced Divine revelation that upholds our faith in
absolute terms.
This distinction between comprehension of
the dibbrot, as opposed to the experience of ma’amad Har
Sinai, is accepted by the Rambam as well. In his Guide (II:33), the Rambam denies
that the Jewish People as a whole could have directly received the word of God
at Har Sinai. (The reason has to do
with the Rambam's theory of prophecy; II:32). Therefore, the Rambam claims, only Moshe
comprehended the content of the dibbrot, whereas the Jewish People only
heard the "great voice" without comprehending the meaning, or even actually
hearing the words. It is clear that the significance of the
revelation of the Asseret Ha-dibbrot is not limited to the specific
content of the commandments. The
experience of the Divine revelation and its theological and religious
implications are the crucial components of Ma'amad Har Sinai. As a matter of fact, this was the stated
purpose of the revelation:
And Hashem said to Moshe, “I am hereby
coming to you in the midst of a cloud in order that the nation should hear as I
speak to you and in you they should believe forever." (Shemot
19:9) In fact, according to the Rambam
(Hilkhot Yesodei Ha-Torah, ch. 8), our faith in Moshe and the Torah is
not based on miracles. Rather, it
is rooted in ma’amad Har Sinai, which was experienced by the
entire nation. The Rambam states:
They did not believe in Moshe Rabbeinu
because of the miracles that he did, for one whose belief is based on miracles
has doubt in his heart that the miracle may have been done by magic or sorcery…
Based on what did they believe in him? On ma'amad Har Sinai, that
our eyes saw and not a stranger's, our ears heard and not another's; the fire
and the sounds and the torches, and he [Moshe] entered the fog and the divine
voice spoke to him and we heard … In fact, the previously mentioned Ramban
on Sefer Ha-mitzvot echoes this Rambam in explaining the significance of
the prohibition not to forget ma'mad Har Sinai. Based on the above, it is no longer
perplexing that incomprehensible commandments were recited by Hashem at Har Sinai, since it is not
necessarily the content of the mitzvot that was critical, but the
experience of divine revelation.
However, we have not yet explained the distinction between the first two
dibbrot and the remaining eight.
Study of the people's reaction to
Ma'amad Har Sinai is instructive. After experiencing the divine
revelation, Am Yisrael requested that the remainder of the Torah be
received by Moshe Rabbeinu, and subsequently transmitted to them. This request, while mentioned only
briefly in our parasha, is recorded in greater detail in Parashat
Vaetchanan: On this day, we have witnessed that Hashem can speak to man and he can
survive. And now, why should we
perish... if we continue to listen
to the voice of Hashem our God
any longer we shall die. For who is
of flesh that has heard the voice of a living God speaking from amidst the fire
as we have and lived? You approach and hear all that Hashem our God shall say, and speak
to us all that Hashem our God
shall say to you. (Devarim
5:21-24) At first glance, this argument seems
somewhat contradictory and inconsistent.
After reaching the conclusion that one can survive divine revelation, the
people paradoxically avoid further revelation lest they
perish. The solution, however, is simple. The experience at Sinai was a dual
one. Primarily, it brought about a
profound awareness of the absolute and infinite nature of Hashem's existence. Through the Sinaitic revelation, Am
Yisrael realized that the essence of true objective existence is only the
existence of the Almighty. However,
there was a secondary aspect of the Sinai experience which resulted from this
awareness – the people in their finitude were enveloped by the infinity of the
divine encounter. They became
acutely aware that, aside from Hashem, nothing else really
exists. They therefore realized
that their own finite lives were actually meaningless and insignificant. Although Am Yisrael survived
matan Torah, they felt overwhelmed and erased by the awareness that only
Hashem exists in absolute
terms. This idea is expressed in Pirkei
De-Rabbi Eliezer (ch. 41) in midrashic style. The midrash states that the literally
breathtaking experience of Ma'amad Har Sinai actually caused the demise
of the children of We have already established that it was
the experience of Sinai, as opposed to the content of the commandments, that was
of critical importance.
Furthermore, we claimed that the content of this experience was of the
absolute nature of Hashem's
existence and the negation of the existence of all else. Based on these two premises, we can
return to the distinction between the first two dibbrot and the remaining
eight. After all, the first two
dibbrot reflect the Sinai experience; "Anokhi" expresses the
absolute existence of Hashem,
while "lo yihiyeh lekha" refers to the negation of the existence
of all else. Although Am
Yisrael did not manage to comprehend the content of the Ten Commandments,
they profoundly experienced the divine revelation. "Anokhi" and "lo yihiyeh
lekha" were experienced deeply by the nation. Hashem was pleased
with the reaction of the people:
"And Hashem said unto
me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken
to you; they have done well all that they have spoken’" (Devarim
5:25). It is interesting, however,
that according to Chazal, Moshe was not pleased at all (see Rashi,
Devarim 5:24). Perhaps we can suggest that Moshe
Rabbeinu, who had a singular and unique relationship with Hashem, perceived the purpose of the
dibbrot as an opportunity for the entire nation to elevate themselves to
his level and to fully comprehend the infinite word of God. In his characteristic humility, Moshe
saw no reason to differentiate between himself and others. He was therefore disappointed when the
people rejected this opportunity, preferring that the Torah be transmitted
indirectly. Hashem, on the other hand, knew that
this was not the main purpose of the Sinaitic revelation. The Divine plan was that Am
Yisrael should collectively experience Sinai and develop a collective
awareness of the essential messages of the revelation. Am Yisrael must become profoundly
aware of "anokhi" and "lo yihiyeh lekha." We can at this point return to the
previously mentioned differences between the approach of Moshe and that of Hashem to matan Torah. The addition of the extra day of
preparation described by the gemara is symbolic of Moshe’s attempt to
prepare the people to comprehend the infinite word of God. The Almighty, while accepting Moshe's
proposal of an additional day, insisted on frightening the people with a stern
warning immediately prior to the dibbrot. Moshe Rabbeinu was reluctant to warn the
people, for he perceived Sinai basically as a learning experience. He correctly assumed that to frighten
the nation immediately prior to matan Torah would be educationally
counterproductive, since it would be difficult for the people to comprehend if
they were terrified. Hashem, on the other hand, was
primarily concerned with the EXPERIENCE of revelation – that Am Yisrael
should become acutely aware of "anokhi," the all-encompassing, absolute
nature of the existence of God.
Hashem was interested in
the nation discovering the frightful truth of "lo yihiyeh lekha" – the
negation of the existence of the entire finite order. Hashem realized that the people had
already been warned, but demanded nevertheless that the dibbrot be issued
specifically within the context of the frightening Divine warning. Both the argument as described by the
peshat and that described by the gemara revolve around the same
point of disagreement. Moshe wanted
the Jews to understand God's word, to relate to the contents of revelation, and
to have an intellectual learning experience of Torah. (That is why, after all, he is Moshe
Rabbeinu). Therefore, he wants
additional preparation time and objects to increasing the emotional stress. God viewed Sinai as being primarily
experiential, rather than intellectual. After the dibbrot, when the people
rejected further direct revelation, Moshe Rabbeinu was distraught. He felt that he had failed in his
mission. Hashem responded that the divine
revelation at Sinai had, in fact, achieved its purpose. "O that their hearts would remain such
to fear me and guard all the commandments all their days" (Devarim
5:6). It is incumbent upon us to pass on the
tradition of Sinai throughout the generations. This obligation is not limited to the
details learned at Sinai, but includes the profound experience of
"anokhi" and "lo yihiyeh lekha." This awareness must not be lost,
and it must be transmitted as a living tradition throughout Jewish history: "And
you shall inform your children and your children's children" (Devarim
4:9). |