שמות לב,א: וַיַרְ א הָעָם כִּי־בֹשֵׁש מֹשֶׁה לָרֶׁדֶׁת מִּן־הָהָר
“And the people saw that Moshe was late in descending from the mountain (מן ההר), and the people gathered against Aharon, and they said to him: Arise, make for us a god who will go before us, because this Moshe, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
Rashi explains that the people made an error. On the 7th of Sivan Moshe ascended the mountain to receive the Torah. He told the people that he would return at the end of 40 days before the sixth hour. The people assumed the count started with that day, the 7th of Sivan. Forty days later (24 remaining days in Sivan) they calculated his return to be on the 16th of Tamuz. Moshe intended that the 40 days had to be days that included the prior night, and thus, the 7th day of Sivan was not included, and he would return on the 17th of Tamuz.
Questions:
- The Torah does state that Moshe was on the mountain “forty days and forty nights” (Shmos 24,18). How is that reconciled with Moshe’s statement that he would return prior to the end of forty complete days?
- How did Moshe know the receiving of Torah would take until the 17th of Tamuz?
- Why the statement made in such a manner that indicated that the 16th of Tamuz was important?
The following is possible assistance to understanding one of the most significant events in the history of mankind:
Understanding the dates:
One opinion is that the Torah was given on the 6th of Sivan. And the next day Moshe ascended the mountain in the morning. (There is an opinion that the Torah was given on the 7th of Sivan and Moshe ascended on the 8th of Sivan). The month of Sivan was full (thirty days long).
Therefore, Moshe was on the mountain slightly longer than 40 consecutive days (the vast part of the day of the 7th of Sivan and the partial day until the sixth hour of the 17th of Tamuz). This period included 40 nights. Moshe understood that to include 40 nights required returning the day after that 40th night.
Understanding the time needed to learn the Torah:
The Gaon from Ostorvitze (Rabbi Meir Yechiel Halevi Holstok 1851-1928) explains the calculations of Moshe. First he refers to a Gemara (Avodah Zara 4) that describes the day of HaShem. For the first third of the day HaShem sits in judgement and the second third of the day he learns Torah. Another Gemara (Eiruvim 54b) relates that Moshe taught the Torah he learnt from HaShem four times and the Marhasha explains that Moshe learnt everything from HaShem four times (once new and repeated three times). Further, the Gemara (Kiddushim 30a) specifies that a person should divide his learning into three portions: a third for Scripture, a third for Mishnah and a third for Gemara.
Based on this the Gaon could determine how much Moshe would learn each day from HaShem in order to complete the learning of the entire Scripture. Since the daytime was 12 hours long and HaShem divided His day into three portions of 4 hours each. The second 4-hour portion was spent in learning the three portions of Scripture, Mishnah and Gemara. HaShem would learn Scripture with Moshe for a third of the four-hour period, which equals one and third hours. Since HaShem taught a new portion and then reviewed it an additional three times, that means that period of learning the new information (4/3 of an hour divided by 4) was 1/3 of an hour.
How does one determine how much is it possible to be taught in this 1/3 of an hour? We find in the Gemara (Berachos 7a) that a moment (רגע) of time that one is able to say a three-letter word (Bilaam was able to say a three-letter curse) was 1 part of 8,888th of an hour (according to one reading of the Gemara). Therefore, when HaShem learnt for a third of an hour, Moshe would hear 8,888 letters (3 letters per each 8,888th portion of an hour for a third of an hour).
Next one needs to determine how many days Moshe actually learned with HaShem during the 40-day period. Another Gemara (Yuma 4b) explains that according to one opinion the verses (Shmos 24, 15-16) describes the period that the Clouds covered Moshe for six days in preparation to accept the Torah. These six days started on the 7th of Sivan until the 12th of Sivan and were included in the forty days that Moshe was on the mountain. Thus, Moshe was with HaShem receiving the Torah from the 13th of Sivan until the 16th of Tamuz or a total of 34 days.
Therefore, Moshe learnt a new portion of 8,888 words for 34 consecutive days which totals a letter count of 302,192. Since the standard count of letters in the Torah is 304,805 (others list up to 304,840) there is a portion left over of at least 2613 letters for the final day of the 17th of Tamuz, approximately 30% of the regular daily-learning schedule of HaShem and Moshe (which occurred during the fifth to eighth hours). Thus, their learning for the final day would be approximately an hour and a fifth (30% of 4 hours). Therefore, Moshe could predict in advance that he would return at the sixth hour of the 40th day (beginning with the 8th of Sivan).
Understanding the importance of the 16th of Tamuz or “Heads Up”
Why did the Torah write the seemingly superfluous words “from the mountain” מִּן־הָהָר - what difference does it make if he was coming down from the mountain or from some other place? But there is a different way to understand the phrase מן ההר, as we will explain.
Chazal understood that the acceptance of the Torah involved great drama. They explain the pasuk Shmos19:17 “And they stood at the foot of the mountain” teaches that the mountain was uprooted from its place, and inverted over them like a barrel; that is that the mountain was raised up and suspended over them. Quite literally they stood under the mountain. “If you accept the Torah – well and good; if not this will be your grave (Shabbos 88a)
Most people imagine that the mountain was held over their heads for a moment as an ultimatum and they people wisely agreed and the mountain returned to its original place.
However, Rabbi Kruger (Imrei Sheref) explains differently that the matter was somewhat protracted. As long there existed the possibility that the Jews would rescind their agreement, the threat remained. Thus, he teaches that since the receiving of the Torah lasted forty days, the mountain was raised up and suspended over them all forty days, in case they did not accept the Torah and then Hashem would drop the mountain onto them.
Therefore, the mountain remained suspended for the entire forty-day duration. But once the tablets came to the hands of Moshe (as the agent of the Jews) the receiving of the Torah was now finished, and they could no longer back out. Thus, on the fortieth day the mountain descended to its original place.
But Moshe Rabbeinu did not descend until the next day, and this created a difficulty for Klal Yisrael. As long as they saw that the mountain was still suspended they knew that the receiving of the Torah has not yet concluded. But since the mountain had already descended and returned to its place, it was clear that the receiving of the Torah was completely finished, and so they wondered why Moshe had not yet come down.
This is what the pasuk is saying, “And the people saw that Moshe was late in descending more than (מן) the mountain”. That the mountain had already descended to its place, but Moshe had not yet descended, and therefore they wondered, and said: “this Moshe...we do not know what has become of him”.
