Chapter 1                  Mishna 1                  Essay 1

 

Introduction

 

Moshe Ki'bel Torah M'Sinai:

 

MOSHE RECEIVED (ki'bel) TORAH FROM SINAI AND TRANSMITTED IT (u'm'sa-ra) TO JOSHUA, AND JOSHUA TO THE ELDERS, AND THE ELDERS TO THE PROPHETS, AND THE PROPHETS TRANSMITTED IT TO THE MEN OF THE GREAT ASSEMBLY.

 

A.                 The beginning of the first Mishna begs for some understanding.  If the purpose of the statement above is to tell us the location it should have said AT or ON Sinai, a very definable place.  Why the use of the word FROM?

 

We are not interested in  location  here; our concern is a relationship, which the word 'from' connotes.  We are emphasizing the source  from whence these ethics derive.  They are G-d given; they stem from the same source as all the other religious laws.  They have the same validity as the laws of Shabbos, Kashrus, Family Purity (Taharas Hamishpa-cha) because they were given to Moshe by G-d on Sinai.  This is fundamental!

 

True, the human mind is rational and one can argue that even if we were not given the ethical laws on Sinai, a decent human being would perforce observe them nonetheless. Who could justify killing?  Who could justify stealing, cheating?  Who cannot see the 'morality' of honoring father and mother or helping the poor?  It's axiomatic!

 

            We offer two responses:

 

1.                  The Torah view is that even what we accept axiomatically as 'good' and 'evil' is something that Hashem implanted in us.  This idea is expressed in the Midrash  (B'rayshis Rabbah 2:5)

 

Rebbe Abavhu said:  At the beginning of the world's creation, The Holy One, Blessed be He, gazed at the deeds of the reighteous and at the deeds of the wicked. ...The world was 'tohu v'vaohu' (Brayshis 1:3) refers to the deeds of the wicked.  "and G-d said Let there be light" refers to the deeds of the righteous.  But still I would not know which of them He desires....the deeds of these of the deeds of those.  However, once Torah writes..."And G-d saw the light that it was Good (Brayshis 1:4)...it is the deeds of the righteous that He desires and He does not desire the deeds of the wicked.

 

 

2.                  Who could justify killing?!?  Look at the holocaust. It happened.  A society created a new 'morality' where genocide became acceptable, where selection based on racial qualities was the ideal, and where dishonor to parents, by spying and reporting on them to authorities became the norm.  Look at the Socratian concept of 'Justice is in the interest of the stronger'  and Hobbes'  'dog eat dog' pessimism about human nature, and you question how inviolate some of our basic concepts of 'good' and 'evil' are.

 

The Mishna establishes that ethics are from Sinai, and are absolute.  Man has no authority to tamper with it lest he destroy himself and the world.

 

The messages and the codes of conduct what will be henceforth taught are not arbitrary, man-made rationalizations.

 

 

B.                 As a corollary, having acknowledged G-d's authorship of Ethics, it follows that Fear of Heaven must precede the study of Torah.  Later in the Mishna we  learn that...he whose fear of Heaven and fear of sin precedes his study of Torah...his Torah will be sustained. But he whose study of Torah is not predicated on fear of Heaven, his Torah will dissipate.

 

There are teachers of ethics in the universities whose lives have double standards.....one in the classroom and the other on the outside... both in opposition.  One who is truly enveloped by Torah is a whole personality and his life by example as well as precept is the message.

 

C.                 There is an interchange of terms in the Mishna. It speaks of Moshe  receiving and then  transmitting  to Joshua, to the elders, the prophets, etc. 

 

Why the change in format?  It could have stated either that each one received or each generation transmitted.

 

 

1.                  The message here is that the Torah that Moshe received from Hashem, by its very nature of having been given by G-d, is infinite in quantity and depth.  No human can fathom its intensity.  Notwithstanding what Hashem was prepared to transmit to Moshe, Moshe could only receive what he, as a human, was capable of receiving.

 

Having received the Torah from Hashem, Moshe could then transmit it to the next generation, ad infinitum.

 

The Torah recognizes the finiteness of man and suggests that the understanding  of Torah is something that each individual will attain in different measure according to his capacity.  The fulfillment of the Mitzvohs of the Torah, however, are independent of a complete understanding of their infinite nature and value.  Can a finite mind comprehend the infinite wisdom?

 

 

2.                  The term kibayl (received) suggests something which he earned.  Indeed, this is hinted at by the use of this word.  There is a famous Midrash which describes Moshe's ascent onto Mt. Sinai, and engaging in a debate with the angels about Hashem's granting the Torah to Israel.  The angels argued before G-d:  Who is Man that you find him worthy to receive such a Divine document? How can You give such a G-dly document to flesh and blood?

 

Moshe parried their argument:  Do you have need of a Torah?  You are angels; by definition, you have no desires, no lusts no avarices.  What would you do with the commands “Do not steal,” “Do not murder,” “Do not commit adultery?”  You don’t need Torah!  The function of Torah is to purify man and to elevate him out of the flesh and blood mentality.  The function of Torah is to show man that his soul is a part of Hashem, and to strive for communion with Hashem – by living in an ethical and G-d fearing way.

 

Moshe won!  He received  the Torah.

 

(Question:  What was the presumption of the angels in claiming the Torah for themselves?  They knew its contents could never apply to them)

 

 

D.                 Moshe received Torah from Sinai.  The chronology of that event is as follows:

 

After having heard the Asseres Hadibros, the Ten Commandments from Sinai, Moshe ascended onto the mountain and remained there for 40 days and nights.  The Torah describes that he ate no bread nor drank no water.

 

What Did Moshe Do on Sinai for 40 Days and Nights ???

 

He received the Torah on Sinai.  Now this can't be the Written Torah, as we know it as the Five Books of Moses, since we know that some mitzvos, like Shabbos, were given prior to Sinai, and most were recorded after the event at Sinai.  There is a debate in the Talmud as to whether the Torah was written all at one time by Moshe, or section by section throughout the 40 year trek through the desert.

 

But one thing is certain that the text of the Written Law was  not  given on Sinai, with the exception of the Ten Commandments, which were oral and which were then given to Moshe engraved by Hashem in stone.  So, the question what  was given to Moshe on Sinai during those 40 days?

 

Moshe received the Oral Law on Sinai.  The Oral Law is the basis for the Written Law.  Without the Oral Law, the Written Law, that what we all see in the Holy Ark in the synagogue, is meaningless.  The Written Law is merely a set of cryptic notes, symbols, shorthand abreviations for a more expansive, fundamental and complete sytem of a blueprint for the world and life.

 

Let me illustrate.  The basis for our liberty in these United States is the Constitution.  Can a short concise document like the Constitution contain all the laws that cover every facet of a nation's life?  It is absurd to think so. It is a compendium of all the values upon which our freedoms and rights are built.  It abstracts the values of the Torah, the Magna Carta, and the vision of our founding Fathers.  It is a blueprint which guides the designers and the builders of the nation in each generation.

 

In effect, then, the Written Torah is an abstract of a fuller expanded gift that Hashem gave Israel, the Torah sh'b'al Peh, the Oral Law.  The Oral Law is the underpinnings of the Written Law and by its very nature of being a Weltanschaung, it could not be frozen in stone or parchment.

 

The Written Law can understood only in conjunction with the Oral Law:

 

 

1.                  The Torah says: “V'za-vach-ta ka-ahser  tsee-vee-see-cha” (You shall slaughter [the animal] as I commanded you). Nowhere in the Torah do we find G-d commanding Moshe about the laws of Schita (slaughter).

 

2.                  The Torah says: “Hachodesh Ha-zeh La-chem rosh cha-da-shim” (This month [Nissan] is the head of all the months.”

 

When G-d uses the term “zeh” (this), which is a demonstrative word, what does he refer to?  How did Moshe know the basis for the calculation of the month?  What determined it?  It is nowhere written in the Torah.

 

 

3.                  The Torah says: “Ayin ta-chas ayin.  Shayne ta-chas shayne” (An eye for an eye. a tooth for a tooth).

 

Torah Law at all times meant that as monetary compensation;  never literally.  Where can see find that in the written Torah?   It's not there.

 

4.                  The Torah says: “Seven days shall you dwell in a succah.”

 

Where is the source of how to build the succah, it's height, its size, the acceptable materials that may be used  and the definition of the essential parts of the succah?  The Written Torah is silent on all this, and yet every Jew knows what a succah should look like.

 

 

5.                  The Torah says: “And you shall take for yourselves the fruit of a beautiful tree.”

 

What fruit does the Torah mean?  Where is there any reference in the Torah to the citron, the Esrog?  There is none, and yet Jews the world over know what an esrog is!

 

It is the Torah sh'b'al Peh, the Oral Torah that supplies the details.  These are but a few examples of why, without the Oral Law, the Written Torah has no meaning.

 

Moshe spent those 40 days and nights receiving the Oral Law, in its entirety, with all the details and nuances, so that in future generations, should there be an outstanding scholar who might extrapolate and infer from what he has received by the Messorah, (the transmission of the Torah) – that, too, was what Moshe learned on Sinai from G-d.