AND THE PRIEST SHALL TAKE SACRED WATER IN A CLAY VESSEL AND THE PRIEST SHALL TAKE SOME OF THE DUST FROM THE FLOOR OF THE TABERNACLE AND PLACE IT IN THE WATER.

 (Bamidbar 5:17)

 

Sacred water - i.e., water that has become holy through being in the laver, because it was made of the mirrors of the women who assembled at the entrance of the appointed tent, and this woman deviated from their ways. They used to have sex with their husbands under the apple tree, but this one disgraced herself with another man, and so she will be tried by that laver.

(Rashi on Bamidbar 5:17, based on Silbermann translation)

 

When murderers became numerous, the ceremony of the broken-necked heifer was abolished; when Eliezer ben Dina'i arrived he was called Tehinah ben Perishah, but they went back to calling him "Son of the murderer."

When adulterers became numerous, the bitter waters stopped working and Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai ended their use, for it is said I will not punish your daughters for fornicating, nor your daughters in law for committing adultery. For they themselves turn aside with whores and sacrifice with prostitutes, and a people that is without sense must stumble (Hosea 4).

(Mishnah Sotah 9:9)

 

When adulterers became numerous, the bitter waters stopped working, and Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai ended their use for it is said I will not punish their daughters, and it is written, and the man shall be clear of guilt - when the man is clear of guilt, the water tests his wife; if the man is not clear of guilt, the water does not test his wife.

(Yalkut Shimoni Hoshea 519)

 

[If one only has enough money to buy one of them and] the lamp of his home and the lamp of Hanukah are set before him, or the lamp of his home and the [wine for the] Kiddush of the day [are set before him], the lamp of his home takes precedence because of [the importance of] domestic peace, since God's own Name is erased in order to make peace between man and wife. Great is peace, for all of the Torah was given in order to make peace in the world, for it is said It's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all of its paths, peace.

(RaMBaM Hilkhot Megillah ve'Hanukah 4:14)

 

 

"If I do not address the women first, they will annul the Torah"

Yael Levine

The idea that the women were asked to accept the Torah before the men were asked already appears in the Tannaitic literature. In Mekhilta De'Rabbi Yishmael, we read: "So you shall say to the House of Jacob (Shemot 19:3) - speak gently, tell the women the main points; and tell the sons of Israel (ibid), be strict with them and tell them."¹

Some midrashic sources cite additional explanations. One of those offered by Shemot Rabbah states: "R. Tahalifa of Caesarea said: The Holy One blessed be He said: When I created the world I only commanded the first man. Afterwards Eve was commanded and she transgressed and spoiled the world. Now, if I do not address the women first they will annul the Torah."²

In connection with the idea that Eve was not immediately commanded, but rather only after Adam, one might mention the story from the midrash Yelamdeinu that relates how R. Abahu was once walking along the road, accompanied by gentiles:

They said to him: It is written in the Torah, and the Lord [God] commanded Adam (Bereishit 2:16) - Adam was commanded, but Eve was not commanded not to sin. He said to them: Why is it written, commanded Adam, saying? What does saying tell us? That he should say it to the parts of his body, and from whence was she formed? From his ribs.³

Several comments from the school of the Ba'alei HaTosafot mention that this command was actually given prior to Eve's creation; Adam was commanded to relay the commandment to her, and he did so after her creation.⁴

The words of the Amora of Eretz Yisrael, R. Tahalifta of Caesarea, express the view that past experience taught that only if the Divine speech addresses both women and men directly and simultaneously can there exist the possibility that the practical observance of the Torah will be accepted as binding, at least from the point of view of those receiving the commandments.⁵ According to this approach, reception of the Torah is not an event which is completely detached from the past and independent of it. Rather, it draws upon the way of life and experiences depicted in Bereishit. The tendency to first address the women, placing them before the men, is clearly positive: it reflected an attempt to learn from the past and rectify an early distortion. The death which Eve brought to the world finds a kind of rectification and a certain recompense in that the women were the first to accept the Torah of life.

While Shemot Rabbah claims that Eve was commanded not to eat from the tree of knowledge some time after Adam was, Midrash HaGadol (by R. David HaEdni, a leading Yemenite scholar of the 13^th and 14^th centuries) states that Eve never received the command, a fact which led her to confuse Adam, eventually leading to his transgression of the prohibition:

And why were the women commanded before the men? Because the Holy One blessed be He said, "When I created My world I commanded the first man, but not his wife Eve. She went and confused him and he transgressed My command. It is worthwhile to command the women first..."⁶

It should be noted that another passage in Midrash HaGadol also mentions that Eve was not commanded, and implies a criticism of Adam for not having managed to avoid sinning:

And you ate from the tree regarding which I had commanded you saying, "Do not eat from it (Bereishit 3:17). I commanded you, I did not command her. You should have observed my commandment.⁷

Rashi adopts the ideas of Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael in his comments on the verse, So you shall say to the House of Jacob; and tell the sons of Israel. In his supercommentary on Rashi, R. Natan Shapira (d. 1577) addresses the view of R. Tahalifta of Caesarea mentioned in Shemot Rabbah. He points out that if the Holy One blessed be He had wanted to command the men first, the women could have reasonably claimed later that they had not accepted the Torah freely, but rather only in order to appease their husbands. He adds that, "a mishap of this sort [had already] occurred when He commanded Adam - but not Eve - regarding the tree of knowledge, and she enticed him to transgress God's command. Therefore, the Holy One blessed be He commanded that the women be spoken to first, rather than the men."⁸

In his commentary on the Torah, R. Yaakov ben HaRosh (circa 1269-1343) explains the verse, So you shall say to the House of Jacob; and tell the sons of Israel:

He put the women before the men because Eve, as a result of not having been commanded by the Holy One blessed be He regarding eating from the tree of knowledge, ended up eating it and feeding it to her husband. Therefore, He preempted [that difficulty] when giving the Torah by addressing them first. It was also in order to honor the women by giving them priority since they had not wanted to remove their [golden] nose rings to make the calf.⁹

It is worth pointing out that R. Yaakov ben HaRosh in Tur Orah Hayyim¹⁰ continues the line taken by Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer,¹¹ saying that since the women did not want to give their nose-rings to their husbands in order to make the calf, the Holy One blessed be He repaid them by having them observe Rosh Hodesh more strictly than men do. He adds to this and mentions in the name of his brother R. Yehudah (1270-1349), who served as the Rosh Yeshiva following the Rosh's death, another reason: The holidays parallel the patriarchs, and the twelve New Moons parallel the twelve tribes. But after they sinned with the calf, the New Moons were taken from them and given to their wives as a commemoration of their abstention from that sin.¹²

R. Yaakov ben Harosh's statement in his commentary on Shemot considers the sin of the calf from the women's perspective, and claims that they were addressed first because of their abstention from that sin, and offer a reason for their exclusion from that failure. However, that interpretation is not at all required in order to explain why the men so quickly subdued to sin. One might expand upon the view offered by Shemot Rabbah regarding the women's having been addressed first: the theophany at Sinai involved a kind of reverse discrimination for the community of women. Another experience awaited the men. Since they were second to receive the commandments, after the women, they did not have the fortitude to avoid sin for very long after the giving of the Torah. Thus we learn that only when the Divine command and revelation are offered simultaneously and in the same status to all members of the nation, men and women alike, can God's will be realized in a world full of His majesty, splendor, and light.

Dr. Yael Levine authored the prayers, "A Women's Supplication Before Torah Study" and "Prayer for the Daughters of Israel Who were Murdered by their Spouses."

 

1. Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, H. S. Horowitz and Y.A. Rabin edition, Jerusalem 1970, second edition, Yitro Masekhta DeBahodesh, 2, pg. 207.

2. Shemot Rabbah from Midrash Rabbah I, Vilna 1878, 28:2:40a.

3. See Rabbeinu Shimon HaDarshan, Yalkut Shimoni, Bereishit, VaYeira, D. Heiman and Y Shiloni, editors, Jerusalem 1973, Bereishit 47, pp. 166-167. This idea is also mentioned in Tosafot HaShalem - Otzar Peirushei Ba'alei Hatosafot Y Gellis, editor, Jerusalem 1982, Bereishit 2:16:3, pg. 105. See there also Bereishit 3:14:2, pg. 132.

4. See Tosafot HaShalem, Bereishit 2:16:3 and 5, pg. 105.

5. See the commentary Matnot Kehunah on Shemot Rabbah 28:2 (cited in ftn. 2), paragraph beginning "And she spoiled it": "For it was wrong in her eyes that He had not commanded her first."

6. R. David HaEdni, Midrash HaGadol, Sefer Shemot, M. Margoliot, editor, Jerusalem 1957, 19:3, pg. 377. R. Yaakov ben HaRosh's commentary on Shemot 19:3 also claims that Eve never received the prohibition. See the discussion below.

7. Op. cit. Bereishit 3:17, pg. 106. The editor there writes that the source of the passage has not been found (loc. cit., note 2).

8. R. Natan of Haradnah, Biurim al Ha'Eshel HaGadol Rashi z'l, Venice 1593, BeShalah, 77a-b.

9. R. Yaakov ben HaRosh, Perush al HaTorah, Zalakavi 1706, Shemot 19:3, pp. 53a-b.

10. Arba'ah Turim HaShalem, Tur Orah Hayyim 4, 345-494, Jerusalem 1993, section 417, pp. 264-5.

11. See Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, M. Heigger, editor, Horev 10 (1948), Chapter 44, pp. 230-1.

[1]2. See also Beit Yosef on loc. from note 10, beginning veshamati mei'ahi.

 

 

The Torah Deals Strictly with Theft from Converts

And if there is no man to redeem: This means that the claimant who put him to the oath died and left no heirs...Our Rabbis asked: But can you find anyone in Israel who has no kinsman whatsoever, neither a son nor a brother nor other relative near akin to him from his father's family, going back as far as Jacob? But this person referred to is a proselyte who died and has no heirs.

(Rashi on Bamidbar 5:8, Silbermann translation)

 

And he heard the voice speak to him

What is the meaning of And he heard the voice speak [midaber]to him? (It should be pointed out that this conjugation of the verb occurs only once again in Scripture, in Ezekiels Account of the Chariot). Here is what Rashi says about speak to him:

Midaber is the same as mitdaber - He heard the voice uttering itself - it was out of reverence for the Most High God that Scripture speaks thus: The Voice was speaking to itself, and Moses of himself heard it. (Silbermann trans.)

That is to say, the first to him, the voice midaber to him, refers to the speaker Himself, God. Moses heard God speaking to Himself, heard it within himself. This was not an acoustic event in which the sound reached Moses, but rather a process occurring in Moses' own consciousness, which, in Rashi's bold formulation, speaks to itself. He achieves acquaintance with that which is taking place within the Divinity. He captures the meaning and direction that is within God, and he hears it from within himself.

(From Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz z"l, He'arot le'OParshiyot HaShavua)

 

Reception of the Torah: Forced or Freely Taken?

And they stood beneath the mountain: R. Avdimi bar Hama bar Hasa said: This teaches us that the Holy One blessed be He held the mountain over them like a basin and told them, "If you accept the Torah, all is well, but if not here shall be your graves." R. Aha bar Yaakov said: This implies a great claim against [the validity of the acceptance of] the Torah. Rava said: Even so, the generation received it [again] in the days of Ahashveirosh, for it is written, the Jews observed and accepted (Esther 9); they observed what they had already accepted.

(Shabbat 84a)

 

The Torah Should be Accepted through a Personal Decision, "Not in order to receive a reward."

...That is why Israel was not given the Torah immediately after the splitting of the Red Sea, because if they had received it after the splitting of the Red Sea, it would have looked as if they accepted the Torah in order to receive a reward, as a result of the great miracles that had just been performed for them. That is why God waited a bit - meanwhile they could partially forget the miracles performed for them, as it says, there was no water for the community, and they complained. Afterwards, they received the Torah, saying that they would do it and hear it, which proves that they accepted the Torah solely out of love for the Torah.

(From Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev's Kedushat Levi)

 

 

 

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