Rav Zev Leff is a regular columnist in Yated Neeman. His
column usually does not appear in Dei'ah Vedibur, but we are
including this one about Matan Torah.
Although this is nominally the issue for the Shabbos
following Shavuos, many readers may get it before Shavuos
because of the way that holy day falls out this year. In any
case, insights like this one into our relationship with Torah
are valuable and interesting the year round.
Reb Yosi and the Chachomim argue as to whether the date when
the Torah was given was the 7th of Sivan or the 6th of Sivan.
Many say that the halochoh is like Reb Yosi that the
Torah was given on the 7th day of Sivan. If so, this raises
the question raised by various sources, since Shavuos always
falls on the sixth of Sivan according to our fixed calendar.
Why do we say in our prayers zman matan Toraseinu, the
time of the giving of the Torah, on Shavuos, when in fact the
Torah was not given until the next day?
Although the rabbis refer to Shavuos as Atzeres,
connoting the holy convocation that accompanied the giving of
the Torah, the Torah itself does not refer to Shavuos this
way. The Seforno explains that this is due to the fact that
the result of that convocation was nullified when the
Luchos were broken by Moshe Rabbenu on the 17th day of
Tammuz. If so we can ask an even more fundamental question as
to why we celebrate Shavuos at all as the day of the giving
of the Torah even according to the opinion of the Chachomim
that the Torah was in fact given on the 6th day of Sivan,
since that giving was subsequently rescinded and nullified.
The Torah was thus not actually received until Yom Kippur.
The Torah relates the question of the wise son. "When your
son will ask you in the future: what are the testimonies and
statues and judgments which Hashem our G-d has commanded you?
You should tell your son: We were slaves unto Pharaoh in
Mitzrayim and Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim with a strong
hand. And Hashem commanded us to do all these statues for the
good, all the days, to give us life, as this day."
The Ibn Ezra explains that the son is not questioning as to
what the mitzvos are, but rather as to what the intent is.
Why were we given this yoke, in contrast to all other
peoples, who suffice with seven easy commandments? The answer
is that if G-d benefited us with redemption from Egypt, we
should trust Him that the reason for giving us the mitzvos is
for our good and not for His benefit and that benefit is
predominantly in the World To Come but also gives us life in
this world.
This echoes the words of Rav Chananya ben Akasha that
Hakodosh Boruch Hu wanted to refine and merit the
Jewish people and therefore gave us an abundance of Torah and
mitzvos.
Perhaps it is for this reason that Hashem introduced Himself
in the beginning of the Aseres HaDibros as the G-d who
took us out of Egypt -- and not the G-d who created heaven
and earth -- in order to emphasize that just like redemption
from Egypt was totally and obviously for our benefit, so too
the totality of mitzvos represented by the Aseres
HaDibros is solely for our good and not for G-d's
sake.
This concept does not contradict that which Chazal tell us
that mitzvos were not given to us to enjoy but rather as a
yoke around our neck. True the mitzvah itself may be a yoke
and its observance may not be considered an immediate
pleasure or enjoyment, but ultimately the purpose of that
yoke is totally for our benefit and good.
Perhaps this is the intent to the Haggodoh which
explains that this question represents the wise son. The
answer we give him is that we don't eat after the korbon
Pesach, so as to leave the taste of the korbon
Pesach in our mouths. The intent is that the benefit
deriving from a mitzvah such as the korbon Pesach is
that which will remain with us in the final analysis, and
hence leaves an enjoyable taste in our mouths.
Chazal point out that the Torah begins with gemilus
chassodim. It begins with Hashem clothing Odom and Chava.
It also ends with gemilus chassodim, with Hashem
burying Moshe Rabbenu. This emphasizes that the entire
foundation of Torah is chessed, G-d's total giving and
kindness to His servants and Torah is solely an expression of
kindness and G-d's desire to do good for us.
In this light, Torah is not an imposition on our life but
rather the intent of all Torah is to provide us with a
framework within which to earn eternal reward for our own
good.
Delving deeper, the impact of Torah begins with the kindness
of covering man's embarrassment over his body that
transgressed G-d's Will, giving us a modest framework with
which to utilize that body in G-d's service, to purify and
elevate it to be G-d-like.
After one achieves this by utilizing the entire Torah, the
Torah concludes with the kindness of G-d in burying the body
of Moshe Rabbenu which was so holy and G- d-like that only G-
d Himself could bury it and put it away until the
resurrection of the dead.
This is the very essence of Torah: to guide one to utilize
one's body and to elevate it from the shame of pure
materialism to the lofty level of G-dliness. In the final
analysis, Torah, although a yoke in responsibility, is really
totally and exclusively for our benefit.
In this light we can understand the words of Chazal
concerning the mitzvos from which a person receives the
benefits of their "fruits" in this world and the principle
remains for the next world. These things are basically
between man and man: visiting the sick, comforting mourners
and so on. What then is the meaning of the conclusion that
the study of Torah is equal to all of them? How does Torah
study fit with the other kindnesses?
Rav Aharon Kotler, zt"l, explains that the greatest
gift to the world is the study of Torah and that Torah itself
enables all existence. Hence, the greatest chessed is
the study of Torah.
The midrash relates that the Torah was given on the
third day of preparation to hint to the fact that just as
trees and vegetation were created on the third day of
creation and they satisfy the necessities of life, similarly
the Torah is a tree of life satisfying the spiritual
necessities of life. This is what Chazal intimate when they
tell us that tov, good, applies exclusively to
Torah.
With this idea we can explain the following verse: "And now,
Yisroel, what does Hashem your G-d ask from you, only to fear
Hashem, your G-d, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to
serve Him with all your heart and all your soul to observe
the mitzvos of Hashem and His statutes that I command you,
today, for your good." At first glance, the verse seems to
begin by implying that G-d does not ask much from us, yet it
then follows with an extensive, exhausting list that He does
demands of us.
The key, I think, is the last two words: letov loch,
for your good. In fact G-d asks nothing from us. All that He
demands of us to do is for our own good. He is giving to us,
rather than asking something from us.
This perhaps was the mistake of the nations of the world who,
when offered the Torah, asked what it contained. When G-d
informed them -- for example, to the children of Eisov that
it contained the prohibition of murder -- they questioned why
this does not conflict with the blessing they received from
Yitzchok Ovinu that they should live by the sword. Hashem
left them and went on to the next nation. Why didn't Hashem
answer their question and explain to them that in fact there
is no conflict? Why didn't He tell them that living by the
sword is not murder but mercenaries in time of war? Why did
He just abruptly leave them and go on to the next nation?
Perhaps the answer lies in the very response of the nation to
Hashem's offer of the Torah. When one asks someone to do them
a favor, he may respond by first asking what it is before he
can commit himself to comply. However when one offers someone
a present, he doesn't ask what it is but rather receives it
graciously and later determines what it is.
The nations understood that G-d was asking them for
something, hence they asked what it was. This basically
disqualified them from receiving the Torah. Only the Jewish
People understood correctly, that G-d was offering them a
present. Hence they responded na'aseh venishma, give
it and later we will find out what it entails.
An anecdote relates that the nations, when offered the Torah,
questioned what it contained. But the Jews asked how much it
costs and when G-d told them it was free they asked for two.
This anecdote reflects some truth.
The Dubno Maggid in explaining the following verse: Lo osi
koroso Yaakov ki yogato bi Yisroel, you have not called
on Me, Yaakov, for you have wearied yourself with Me, Yisroel
(Yeshayohu 43:22), gives the following parable:
A man asks his neighbor to bring home his luggage from the
train station. When he hears his neighbor huffing and puffing
and with great effort ascending the stairs to his home, he
calls out from behind the door, "Please return and get my
luggage; you have brought me the wrong luggage." The neighbor
is mystified and asks how the man could know that he brought
the wrong luggage, considering that he called to him from
behind the closed door and didn't see the luggage. The man
responds that he only had a small attache case and therefore
if the neighbor is huffing and puffing and putting such
effort into carrying the luggage it must not be his.
Similarly Hashem tells us that if the mitzvos are a burden
and toil they must not be His, for His mitzvos are relatively
easy to keep considering that they are for our ultimate
good.
In this light the Ohr HaChaim Hakodosh explains the verse in
Bilaam's prophecy: "velo ro'oh omol beYisroel, that G-
d does not see the effort and bother amongst the Jewish
People (Bamidbor 23:21), that He does not sense that
we consider the Torah and mitzvos a burden and a bother but
rather an opportunity.
This can be further be compared to a treasure map that
instructs one to travel far and dig deeply to find a
treasure. Although following the map demands effort and
expense, the ultimate treasure makes the map an opportunity
and benefit -- and not a liability.
This concept can also explain the reaction of the angels who
begged G-d to leave the Torah with them and not give it to
human beings. Yet when Moshe Rabbenu was directed by G-d to
answer their claim, he refuted their request for Torah by
saying that basically none of the Ten Commandments, and hence
the Torah in general, apply to angels who have no idolatry,
do not work, have no parents, cannot murder, have no
immorality and so on.
Perhaps the angels knew that the Torah was not applicable to
them but they wanted the Jewish people to know through Moshe
Rabbenu that if it did apply they would have desired it as a
benefit, and not that they breathed a sigh of relief that it
was not being given to them as a liability.
The medrash in fact echoes this idea. The
medrash says: Do not think that I am giving the Torah
to you as a liability for even the angels desired it.
When the Torah was given, the experience was so overwhelming
that it caused their souls to flee and they died and had to
be resurrected. Would it not have been easier if G-d gave
them the strength to receive the Torah without dying?
Perhaps Hashem wanted to show them that although Torah
demands great self- sacrifice, and even sometimes to give up
one's life for it, it is the Torah itself that revives the
person, giving him eternal life.
The rabbis relate that the dew of the resurrection of the
dead is in fact the Torah itself. He who has the light of
Torah, the light of Torah revives him, as it says Toras
Hashem temimoh, the Torah is perfect, meshivas
nofesh, it revives the soul (Tehillim 19:8).
In this light we can resolve the following question. The
rabbis relate that G-d lifted the mountain over us and forced
us to receive the Torah. This was still considered valid
since when one is coerced into buying something, the sale is
nonetheless valid.
However the question is raised that when one is coerced into
selling something, the sale is not valid. To force someone to
take something is considered in the end taken willingly, but
to force someone to give up something remains forced, and it
is invalid. When it is for one's benefit then it is valid,
but if it is a liability then it is not valid. If so, how
could the forced Torah be considered accepted willingly?
It must be that the acceptance of the Torah was a benefit
which the Jews received and not a liability which they
incurred.
There is an argument whether one must enjoy every yom
tov at a physical level fulfilling the posuk that
yom tov is a day of lochem, "for you," or if it
can be celebrated totally in a spiritual manner fulfilling
the posuk, leHashem, "a day for Hashem." Everyone,
however, agrees that Shavuos, the day the Torah was given,
must also be celebrated on a physical level.
This is to emphasize that the Torah is a very concrete
benefit on all levels.
This is one of the sources for the custom of bringing flowers
and greenery into the home and shul on Shavuos. Rav Yaakov
Emden attributes this to the mitzvah of simchas Yom
Tov, enjoying the yom Tov enhanced by aromatic
plants. But if so why do we not fulfill this on all yomim
tovim?
Perhaps the obligation to enjoy Shavuos physically is
stronger than all other yomim tovim and we must make a
point of including the enjoyment of sight and smell to
emphasize that Torah benefits all aspects of man's
existence.
The other customs of Shavuos also reflect the idea that Torah
is a benefit. We read Megillas Rus which related how
Rus accepted the Torah, recognizing the great opportunity it
provided. We eat milk products since milk is the food that
nurtures life at its inception, representing the fact that
Torah is the foundation of life. We stay up all night
Shavuos, in eager anticipation of the great occasion to occur
in the morning and to show how precious the Torah is to us.
And we recite Akdomus before reading the Torah, which
graphically describes how precious the Torah is to us and how
we resist the temptations of the nations who had wanted us to
abandon the Torah in return for promises of the physical and
material benefits of assimilation. We respond to them that
all temptations are naught compared to the beauty and benefit
of Torah.
*
This lesson that the Torah was given to us for our benefit
was made evident already on the Sixth day of Sivan. Tosafos
explains that in fact the Torah was ordained to be given,
according to everyone, on the Sixth day of Sivan. However
according to Reb Yosi, Moshe pushed it off one day.
Some explain that Moshe used his power to expound the Torah
to delay its being given, one day, for Bnei Yisroel
were not fully prepared on the Sixth day.
The implication in this can be represented as follows:
A wedding is set for a certain date. A hall, caterer, band,
photographer, etc. have all been reserved for that date. The
day before the wedding, a cousin calls and says he will not
be able to arrive on the date set for the wedding and asks if
the wedding can be delayed a day or two. Obviously this would
be impossible. However if the bride were to call and say that
it is impossible for her to arrive on the date set and asks
for the wedding to be delayed a day or two, she will
definitely be accommodated and the wedding will not proceed
without her.
If the Torah were a liability it should have been given on
the date set whether we were ready or not. But since the
Torah is a present, specifically for our benefit, so
if we were not ready, the entire timetable of creation was
changed to accommodate us. Thereby by not giving the Torah on
the Sixth of Sivan G-d revealed that the main intent in
giving the Torah was for our benefit.
Hence, it is a zman matan Toraseinu, meaning
not the day we received the Torah but rather the day it was
evident that the Torah is a matonoh, a present.
This lesson was not only not abrogated or nullified when the
Luchos were broken, but was strengthened and
intensified. This is due to the fact that the breaking of the
Luchos because the Jewish people served the
eigel only makes sense if the Torah is a present which
Moshe Rabbenu denied the Jewish people because of their sin.
If the Torah is a liability, it would be totally illogical to
remove a liability to punish a sin.
Therefore we celebrate the Sixth of Sivan as zman matan
Toraseinu, a time where the nature of the Torah as a
benefit was demonstrated to us in a most poignant manner.
