In parshas Yisro, the Torah describes how Hashem gave the Torah to the Jewish people. The Sages explained to us that first Hashem said all the Ten Commandments at one time, but no one could understand this “statement.” Then Hashem repeated the Ten Commandments one at a time. Hashem said the first two of the Ten Commandments directly to the Jewish people. For the last eight of the Ten Commandments, Hashem said them over to the Jewish people through Moshe Rabeinu. Hashem gave Moshe the power to speak so loudly that the entire Jewish people heard every single word he said loud and clear.
Chapter 1
(א)
“Moshe would speak, and Hashem would ‘answer’ him with [amplifying the volume of his] voice.” (Yisro, 19:19).
Rashi explains: When Moshe would say over the last eight of the Ten Commandments, Hashem would “answer him” regarding the need to make his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. In other words, according to the simple meaning of the verse, Hashem did not answer back to Moshe’s statements like in a conversation. Rather, Moshe needed Hashem to make his voice very loud and powerful to reach everyone, and Hashem “answered” that need by providing him with the power to project his voice throughout the entire camp of the Jewish people.
In fact, Hashem was the One telling Moshe what to say, and Moshe was just repeating Hashem’s words to the people. So, in fact, Moshe was responding to Hashem’s message to him by saying it over to the Jewish people; while Hashem “answered” his need for voice amplification.
However, according to the following Gemara, the explanation of the verse would be very different:
On the word for “בְקו ל-with voice” the Gemoro says that Hashem spoke “ב ְקו לו ַׁש ֶׁלַׁמ ש ֶׁהַׁ-With the same voice level as Moshe,” (Berachos, 45a).
The Gemara there explains the verse as follows: “Moshe would speak, and Hashem would answer him back in the same tone of voice and volume of loudness as Moshe.”
The Gemara uses this as a proof for the following: When the Torah reader recites a verse in the public Torah reading, the person translating it into Aramaic for the people to understand cannot speak louder than the one who read the verse in the original Hebrew.
This Gemara implies that first Moshe spoke, and then Hashem responded by “translating” it and saying it over again in simpler words to the Jewish people. This is a very puzzling explanation of the verse.
We need to understand the above explanation on the verse from the Gemara. For, the verse did not specify what Moshe said and what Hashem answered him.
According to the Gemara that the verse means that Moshe would speak and Hashem answered back according to the voice of Moshe, it isn’t clear what Moshe said that Hashem answered him back.
What is certain is that it is not referring to the Ten Commandments, since, as is says in the Gemara (Makos 24a): “the first commandment, which is to believe and know that “אָּנ כִי-I am Hashem who took you out of Egpyt,” and the second commandment which is “ל אַׁיִהְיֶׁהַַׁׁ ַׁ ןָּ ךְל-You must not have any other Deities besides for Me,” we heard directly from the Almighty Hashem himself.”
So, we know that we didn’t hear the first two of the Ten Commandments from Moshe at all, rather, from Hashem directly.
And it is written regarding the last eight of the Ten Commandments: “I [Moshe] stood between Hashem and you [the Jewish people] ... to tell you the words of Hashem,” (Devarim, 5:5).
The simple meaning of this verse is that during the last eight of the Ten Commandments, Hashem would tell Moshe what to say, and Moshe would say it over to the Jewish people.
So, it does not say anywhere in this passage of the Torah describing the Ten Commandments that Moshe was the one who spoke first and afterwards Hashem repeated his message.
The first two commandments were said directly by Hashem, without Moshe saying anything at all. The last eight of the Ten Commandments, Hashem spoke first to Moshe, telling him what to say. Thus, according to the simple reading of the verses, we don’t anywhere in the process of the Giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai that Moshe spoke first and Hashem answered him verbally.
So how can the Gemara (in Brachos) interpret the verse to mean that Hashem answered back to Moshe’s words? How can we understand the verse according to this Gemara?
And we also need to understand:
Why does the verse say that Moshe “יְדַבֵּר-would speak,” and that Hashem “יַעֲנ נּוּ -would answer him” i.e., Moshe’s words, which is the language of future-tense or present-tense?
It should have said, “Moshe ר בִ ד-spoke and Hashem ַׁ והָּנָּע-answered after him,” in past tense?
Since this is something that already happened in the past, at the time of the Giving of the Torah, why is it written in present or future tense?
The idea through which we will understand the answers to the above questions is:
It says in the Gemara (Pesachim 68b) that Rav Yosef said, “If not for this day of Shavuos, which caused me to become spiritually great, I would be like any other Yosef in the marketplace.”
We need to understand the special quality of “this day” of Shavuos specifically, which is referring to the day of Matan Torah, (the Giving of the Torah).
And in general, we need to understand: what is the idea of the accomplishment of Matan Torah?
Is it not clearly stated in the Gemara (Yoma 28b) that: “Avraham our forefather fulfilled the entire Torah, even before it was given, and this included even the laws of Eruv Tavshilin,
He was able to do this because he learned the entire Torah before it was given.
As it is written (Bereishis 26:5, see Rashi), that Hashem said He would reward Avraham “because he [Avraham] kept My ‘safeguards’ (enacted to distance oneself from sin, i.e., the Rabbinical enactments), My commandments (that are logically understood), My decrees (that are not logically understandable), and My Torahs (i.e., both the Written and the Oral Torah).”
We see from this verse, as explained in the Gemara Yoma (quoted in Rashi) that Avraham knew all the laws of the Torah, even the future Rabbinical enactments, and kept all of them, hundreds of years before the Torah was given.
He certainly also taught these laws to Yitzchak, his son; and Yitzchak certainly taught it to Yaakov and his children.
So, concluding the question, what novelty was acquired through the Torah being “given” to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai that they did not have already?
Now, to answer this question, we need to explain that it is known regarding the idea of mitzvos, that, “The 248 mitzvos are the 248 ‘limbs’ of the King”.
The expression “limbs” is seemingly not understood — for we know that “He (Hashem) does not have any bodily form whatsoever,” so what is meant by calling the mitzvos “limbs” of Hashem, as it were?
The answer to this will be understood based on what is written in the Zohar, that all actions of mitzvos are done in order “To establish the revelation of the secret inner dimension of His ‘Name,’ i.e., Sefiros,” — that through a specific mitzvah, he draws down the secret essential Light of Hashem into this specific Name (Sefira) of Hashem associated with this mitzvah, and through another mitzvah, he draws down this this revelation into a different Name (Sefira) of Hashem.
And the idea (explanation) of this is:
Preface: The Sefiros and Divine Interaction
The way Hashem interacts with creations is through the Sefiros of Atzilus. These Sefiros have two aspects, the Keili-Vessel, and the Or-Light. The “Keili” is the specific method of interaction Hashem uses, such as Wisdom, Kindness, Severity etc. The “Light” is the power and Life-force from Hashem that becomes manifest through that method of the Keili. In other words, Hashem’s True Light is Infinite and undefinable. For Hashem to interact with us at our level, He contracts and filters out the “infinite” aspect of the Light so that a “Kav/single ray” of His Light can be limited into specific definable expressions. This Light of the Kav is still too lofty to actually reach us without becoming limited in the Keili of each Sefira, bringing the Light into a limited expression that the worlds can handle and interact with.
For example, when Hashem gives kindness to a person, by giving them a child, for example, there are several aspects involved: 1- There is Hashem as He is Infinite, the source of all blessings, 2- then He limits Himself into a His Kav of a ray of Light that comes into Atzilus, 3- then His Kav of Light comes into the Keili of the Sefira of Chesed-Kindness of Atzilus, 4- then this kindness produced in Chesed of Atzilus desenceds through Malchus of Atzilus and the Sefiro of Beriah, Yetzira, and Asiya, until it comes down into the physical world as physical baby that is born.
On the one hand, Hashem Himself is personally involved of every detail of the process from the Infinite Light until the maternity ward. So, you can say that a child is just “a gift from Hashem Himself.” But the question is, which of those stages of the process that Hashem used are completely united with Hashem and are therefore essentially holy, and which are merely “messengers” of Hashem, but are not themselves Divine, per se.
All the levels described that are in Atzilus or higher are considered not merely messengers of Hashem, but as Hashem extending Himself towards us, as it were, and are therefore essentially holy.
But even in those levels of Atzilus, there is a difference between the Keilim (plural of Keili) of the Sefiros and the Light of the Sefiros. The Light of Hashem directly shows on its absolute connection to Hashem Himself. The Keilim do not have that obvious connection, and only because the Light comes into them do we see their connection to Hashem Himself.
It is this Light that binds the Keilim of the Sefiros with Hashem Himself, so that they are considered an extension of Hashem, as it were, so that it is Hashem Himself who relates to us in way of Wisdom and Kindness etc. through the Keilim of the Sefiros.
This Light is referred to as the “the Seven Names of Hashem that may not be erased.” A name allows you to relate to someone in a certain context, e.g., by calling him doctor so and so you relate to him in terms of medical knowledge, and by calling him Rabbi so and so you relate to him in terms of Torah knowledge. So too, the Names of Hashem allow us to relate to Hashem in certain contexts, in this case, these Seven Names allow us to relate to Hashem in the context of the seven “emotional” Sefiros through which Hashem is more directly involved in interacting with creations than He is when He is expressed in the three “intellectual” Sefiros.
(Actually, there are really Ten Name of Hashem that may not be erased, corresponding to the His Light that comes into the Keilim of all Ten Sefiros. But we usually refer to Seven out of those Ten Names, since the seven Sefiros of Ze’eir Anpin and Malchus are more directly involved with the creations than the higher Sefiros of Chochma, Bina, and Daas, which are a step removed from the creations.)
For example, the Name “א-ל” represents the Light of Hashem that comes into the Sefira of Chesed-Kindness, enabling us to relate to Hashem in a way of Kindness, so that it is “Hashem’s Kindness,” i.e., Hashem as manifest in kindness. The Name “אלקים ” represents the Light of Hashem that comes into the Keili of Gevura-Severity, so that we can relate to Hashem in way of Gevura.
This is true of all interactions between Hashem and people, that Hashem puts Himself, as it were, into His Light, and with that, into His Keilim of the Sefiros of Atzilus, so He can relate to us on our level, as it were.
However, as the maamar will explain, when we do mitzvos, this process takes place on a deeper level. When a Jew does a mitzvah, they bring down into the Sefiros a deep, hidden, and essential Light of Hashem that is above and beyond all the limitations of the world of Atzilus, and of all worlds and levels.
This deep Light is called “the secret” part of His Name. Since “His Name” refers to the His Light that he expresses in the Keilim of Atzilus, the “secret part of His Name” refers to the secret hidden dimension of this Light, the ultimate essence of this Light that is usually not revealed in the Sefiros.
For example, when a patient goes to a doctor and calls him “doctor Ploni,” that causes Dr. Ploni to turn to him and relate to him with all his medical knowledge and experience. But if the son of Dr. Ploni calls him “tatti/daddi.” Then Dr. Ploni turns to his son with his entire essence, a level far deeper than he is as just “Dr. Ploni.” When we do a mitzvah, it brings from Hashem’s Essence into the Sefiros, on a level far deeper than it was previously bound up with Hashem.
Even though this process is true in general, that all mitzvos connect all the Sefiros to the Essence of Hashem, but, more specifically, each mitzvah has a special connection a different Sefira, and elevates it to the Essence of the Hashem through the fulfillment of that specific mitzvah.
For the Names of Hashem are “Seven names that may not be erased” after written, for they are very holy.
Now, these seven Names are the expression and flow of Life-force from Hashem that brings into existence the seven ‘Emotional’ Attributes of Hashem, as it were, through which He creates the worlds, which are hinted to in the verse, “Yours, Hashem, are greatness, might, splendor, triumph, and majesty, yes, all that is in heaven and on earth; to You, Hashem, belong kingship and preeminence above all,” (Divrei Hayomim I, 29:11),
which are only like the idea of a name — like the idea of a name for us humans, that it is only needed for someone else so he can call him by his name, and the person himself can exist “by himself” without a name at all.
Just as a name is only used to call to someone other than yourself, Hashem’s “Names” are His expression that allow us to relate to Him in finite ways, such as “Hashem who does kindness,” or “Hashem who punishes the wicked.” This is the idea of the seven Names of Hashem than cannot be erased: Hashem’s Light and Life-force that He expresses Himself to us with through the seven Sefiros of Ze’eir Anpin and Malchus, which are referred to as “His attributes.”
For Hashem Himself is “High and lofty etc.”, (Yeshaya, 57:15), and as it is written in the introduction of the Tikunei Zohar, “He is not comprised of any of these ‘Emotional’ Attributes at all,” and that “You have wisdom, but not the type of wisdom that is knowable to creations.”
I.e., by Himself, Hashem is beyond being related to in terms of emotional attributes that we have, or in terms of wisdom that we can understand.
For, “wisdom that is knowable” refers to wisdom that creations possess — which we call “wisdom” since it is the intellectual power to comprehend things that are understandable to humans.
But regarding Hashem Himself, it is not possible to describe Him as possessing this limited type of wisdom relating to things of the physical world.
In other words, without Hashem limiting Himself to come down to the level of the Sefiros, we could not relate to Him even with our highest faculty of wisdom, since His Wisdom is of an altogether different category of wisdom then the comprehension of any creation.
For, even Hashem’s “thoughts,” which are lower than His Wisdom, are beyond our comprehension, and it is said regarding this “For My thoughts are not in the realm of comprehension of your thoughts.” (Yeshaya, 55:8).
