AND YOU SHALL ERECT THE TABERNACLE IN THE FASHION THEREOF, AS YOU HAVE BEEN SHOWN ON THE MOUNTAIN.

(Shemot 26:30)

 

As you will have been shown on the mountain - the Divine and the Human

R. Joshua of Sakhnin said in the name of R. Levi: When the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded Moses, Make Me a Tabernacle, he should have just put up four poles and spread out the Tabernacle over them! We are therefore forced to infer that the Holy One, blessed be He, showed Moses on high, red fire, green fire, black fire, and white fire, and said to him: And you shall erect the Tabernacle in the fashion thereof, as you have been shown on the mountain (Shemot 26: 30). R. Berekiah in the name of R. Bezalah likened the matter to a king who, possessing an exquisite robe worked in precious stones, said to a member of his house: "Make me another like it," and the latter said to him: "My lord, the king! Am I able to make one like that?" Said the king to him: "I with my glory and you with your dyes [will make a worthy robe]." In the same way did Moses say to the Holy One, blessed be He: "O God, am I able to make such as these?" Said He to him: Do it according to the fashion which I am showing you, etc., with blue, with purple, with scarlet, and with fine linen. "If," said the Holy One, blessed be He, to Moses, "you will make below the same as that which is above, I shall leave My counselors on high and, coming down below, will accommodate My Shekhinah to the confined space in their midst below."

(Bamidbar Rabbah 12, Soncino translation)

 

Who saw the king's face. Two families used to have the right of going in to see Rabbi, one the family of R. Hoshaia and the other that of R. Yehudah b. Pazzi. When R. Yehudah b. Pazzi became connected with Rabbi by marriage, they wanted to take precedence, but R. Ammi would not let them. He said to them: It is written, And you shall erect the Tabernacle in the fashion thereof [kemishpato - literally "according to its judgment"], as you have been shown on the mountain (Shemot 26). Is there then judgment for pieces of wood? What it means, however, is that the beam that once chanced to be placed in the north should always be placed in the north, and the beam that once chanced to be placed in the south should always be placed in the south.

(Esther Rabbah 4, based on Soncino translation)

 

Halakhah Uproots Scripture

Binyamin Salant

In memory of my father and teacher, Rabbi Yeshaya Salant

who died on the third day of Adar Bet

And you shall make the boards for the Tabernacle R. Abin said: It can be compared to a king who possessed a beautiful appearance, and gave instructions to a member of his household to make a bust exactly like him. "But your majesty,"--exclaimed the other—"How can I possibly make one exactly like you?" The king replied: "You shall [paint it] with your materials, but I will appear in my own glory." This is what God said to Moses: And see that you make them after their pattern,' etc.

Moses said to Him: "Lord of the Universe! Am I a god that I should be able to make one exactly like it?"

He told him: "Make after their pattern in blue, purple, and scarlet; as you have seen above, copy the pattern below," for it says, of acacia wood, standing up, that is, just as it appears in the heavenly precincts. If you will make below a replica of that which is above, I will desert My heavenly assembly and will cause My Shekhinah to dwell among you below." Just as the Seraphim stand above, so do the acacia boards stand below; and just as there are stars above, so are there stars below.

R. Hiyya b. Abba said: This teaches that the gold clasps in the Tabernacle looked like the glittering stars in heaven. (Shemot Rabbah 35, following Soncino translation)

This midrash and others of similar content express the gulf dividing the "Heavenly Temple" from its humanly built version. This gap can be compared to the contrast between the Written Torah - plain Scripture - and the Halakhah that is founded upon the authority of the Sages of the Oral Torah to explicate it in each and every generation.

There is often a break between Halakhah and the plain meaning of Scripture. A clear example of this can be found, among other places, in parashat Mishpatim.

This gap is often mentioned in the commentary of RaShaBaM, the great master of peshat [plain interpretation].¹ He concentrates on two principles: the first, that "Halakhah is more important [than the plain meaning of Scripture], and the words of our Rabbis are honest and true." The second is that "Scripture does not desert its plain meaning,"² by which he means to tell us that despite the existence of a gap between Halakhah and the plain meaning of Scripture, it does not imply a contradiction. Rather, the plain meaning of Scripture exists on a separate plane from that of Halakhah. True, Halakhah does rely on the plain meaning and is sometimes inferred from it, but at other times the halakhah journies to other precincts, sometimes even changing the plain meaning. RaShBaM repeatedly cites Rav Kahana's dictum from Shabbat 63a: "When I was eighteen years old, I had already learned all the Talmud, but until now I did not know the principle that Scripture does not desert its plain meaning." RaShBaM explains that the halakhot and derashot are learned from changes and superfluous words in the formulations of Scripture. He writes (on Shemot 21:1):

All those who are knowledgeable of mind know and understand that, despite their being of first importance, I have not come to explicate halakhot, as I explained in Bereishit that haggadot and halakhot spring from [attempts to explain] the superfluous words of Scripture, and some of these can be found in the commentaries of our Rabbi Shelomo, (Rashi) my mother's father ztz"l. However, I came to explain the plain meaning of Scripture, and I shall interpret the laws and halakhot in accordance with general custom. Nonetheless, the halakhot are the most important thing, as our Rabbis said: Halakhah uproots Mishnah.

 

Halakah leMoshe MiSinai (HLMM)

The phrase Halakah leMoshe MiSinai ("a law received by Moses on Mount Sinai") denotes legal validity and power having wide implications throughout the halakhic realm. This phrase occurs many times and serves to legitimate rabbinic dicta. The following wonderful midrashic story is well known:

Rav Judah said in the name of Rav, When Moses ascended on high he found the Holy One, blessed be He, engaged in affixing coronets to the letters. Moses said, "Lord of the Universe, Who stays your hand?" He answered, "There will arise a man, at the end of many generations, Akiva ben Yosef by name, who will expound upon each title heaps and heaps of laws." He said to Him, "Lord of the Universe, permit me to see him." He replied, "Turn around." Moses went and sat down behind eight rows [and listened to the discourses upon the law]. Not being able to follow their arguments he was ill at ease, but when they came to a certain subject and the disciples said to the master "Whence do you know it?" and the latter replied "It is a law given unto Moses at Sinai." He [Moses] was comforted. (Menahot 29b, based on Soncino translation)

One may ask in the light of the above why Moses was suddenly comforted. Just a moment earlier he could not follow the discussion, but when HLMM (halakhah l'Moshe miSinai) was mentioned he was comforted. It appears that the midrash wants to teach us that Moses understood that the significance of HLMM is that the authority to study and to teach, to explicate and give rulings, had passed into the hands of the Sages - not the precise details of Halakhah, but rather the principles, the principles through which Halakhah may be learned.³ R. Yehoshua ben Levi's drasha can be understood along the same lines: "Scripture, Mishnah, Talmud and Aggadah, even that which a senior student will tell his teacher in the future, was already spoken to Moses on Sinai" (Y. Peah 2:6). The significance of the words "spoken to Moses on Sinai" is that authority is granted to every novel interpretation that might be offered by a senior student.

The famous story of tanuro shel akhna'i ["the oven of akhna'i"] (Bava Metziya 59a) offers a further example of rabbinic authority. There, in the midst of the debate between R. Eliezer and R. Yehoshua there appears the colossal verse: It is not in heaven. This dictum of R. Yehoshua is based on the verse from Devarim (30:12), and R. Yirmiya explains its meaning: "The Torah was already given at Sinai, and we pay no attention to a voice from heaven (bat kol), because it was already written in the Torah at Sinai: follow the majority." This very statement is itself an example of the Halakhah's power, as we shall see further below.

 

Halakhah uproots Scripture

Matters come to another climax in Sotah 16a, were we read:

R. Yohanan said in the name of R. Yishmael: In three places the Halakhah holds back [okevet] the Scriptural text: the Torah states with dust, whereas the Halakhah allows [the blood to be covered] with anything; the Torah states no razor, whereas the legal decision is [that a Nazirite may not shave] with anything; the Torah states a book, whereas the legal decision [allows] any [form of document].

Rashi explains that okevet means okeret [uproots]. There Rashi also adds the concept of HLMM to the dictum: "In three places HLMM comes and uproots the verse..."⁴

A similar formulation can be found in Yalkut Shimoni (Parashat Mishpatim 317), where the dictum is prefaced by a comment attributed to R. Yohanan ben Zakkai: "The Torah says with an awl, and the Halakhah says anything can be used." The editor of Yalkut Shimoni⁵ lists several alternative versions of the word in his notes: "Okevet - okeret, and in the Jerusalem Talmud okeret, and in Sifri okemet [makes crooked]." It is reasonable to assume that the word okeret was changed because of its severity. Perhaps this same worry led the RaShBaM in his comments cited above to write "Halakhah uproots Mishnah," a saying not found in any earlier text.

The Gaon MiVilna, an expert on manuscripts, went even farther. Referring to the piercing of the Hebrew slave's ear in parashat Mishpatim, he writes: "The plain meaning of Scripture is that the doorpost can also be used but the Halakhah uproots Scripture, and so it is in most of this parasha, and in some other parshiyot of the Torah; these are of the great things of our Oral Torah, i.e. HLMM, that it changes [the meaning] like clay under the seal."⁶

In order to emphasize the power and authority of the Sages, the Gaon later cites Makkot 22b, which marvels at how foolish people are when they stand up before a Torah scroll but do not stand up before the rabbis, who are empowered to change that which is written. The Gaon brings an example from the Torah, where it is written forty [lashes], do not add [to the number] (Devarim 25:3), and the rabbis came and subtracted a lashing [the rabbis said only thirty-nine lashes should be given]. The Gaon adds: "And so it is with pigul [an invalid sacrificial offering] and in most of the Torah. Therefore, one must know the plain meaning of the Torah in order to know the seal..."

The Gaon does not mention the opening line from Sotah, "In three places" for the simple reason that the quoted section itself contains more than three examples. The expression changes like clay under the seal is a verse from Job (38:14), and its meaning is that the inscription engraved in a seal is the reverse - mirror writing - of the intelligible message it leaves in the clay. Similarly, the Oral Torah sometimes reverses the words of Scripture. Like the RaShBaM, the Gaon points out that despite the chasm between the plain meaning of Scripture and the Halakhah, "One must know the plain meaning of Scripture in order to know the seal."

 

A soul for a soul

The gap between the plain meaning of Scripture and the Halakhah can also be found in the words of RaMBaM and Rashi.

The RaMBaM makes a very interesting comment on this matter:

But the person whose property has been damaged should be ready to resign his claim totally or partly. Only to the murderer we must not be lenient because of the greatness of his crime; and no ransom must be accepted of him. And the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it (Bamidbar 35:33). Hence even if the murdered person continued to live after the attack for an hour or for days, was able to speak and possessed complete consciousness, and if he himself said, "Pardon my murderer, I have pardoned and forgiven him," he must not be obeyed. We must take life for life, and estimate equally the life of a child and that of a grown-up person, of a slave and of a freeman, of a wise man and of a fool. For there is no greater sin than this. And he who mutilated a limb of his neighbor, must himself lose a limb. As he has caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again (Vayikra 24: 20). You must not raise an objection from our practice of imposing a fine in such cases. For we have proposed to ourselves to give here the reason for the precepts mentioned in the Law, and not for that which is stated in the Talmud. I have, however, an explanation for the interpretation given in the Talmud, but it will be communicated vivâ voce. Guide for the Perplexed, 3:41, Friedländer translation)

RaMBaM's promised statement on the gap between Halakhah and the plain meaning of Scripture remains unknown to us. When Yeshayahu Leibowitz⁷ cites RaMBaM's statement, he mentions that RaMBaM's son, R. Avraham, said, "My father and teacher never explained his theory to me." Rashi on parashat Mishpatim brings the Sages' controversy (in Sanhedrin 79a and Bava Kama 84a) regarding the phrases a life for a life, an eye for an eye. Does it refer to an actual life or to a monetary payment? Rashi (on Shemot 21:23-24 - Rashi translations based on Judaica Press edition) writes: But if there is a fatality with the woman and you shall give a life for a life. Our Rabbis differ on this matter. Some say [that he must] actually [give up his] life, and some say [that he must pay] money, but not actually a life, and if one intends to kill one person and kills another, he is exempt from the death penalty and must pay his [the victim's] heirs his value, as [it would be if] he were sold in the marketplace. an eye for an eye - If [a person] blinds his neighbor's eye, he must give him the value of his eye, [which is] how much his price to be sold in the marketplace has decreased [without the eye]. So is the meaning of all of them [i.e., all the injuries enumerated in the following verses], but not the actual amputation of a limb, as our Rabbis interpreted it in the chapter entitled Hahovel, he who assaults.

As has been mentioned, the mentioned passages from the Gemara discuss the subject and the ruling (as RaMBaM also mentions) is that in both cases only a monetary payment is called for.

 

Aharei rabim lehatot

The famous rule Aharei rabim lehatot [follow the majority] is itself a classic example of the power of the Halakhah to change the plain meaning of Scripture. The phrase appears in parashat Mishpatim (23:2) and constitutes a negative statement.

You shall not follow the majority for evil [comma] and you shall not respond concerning a lawsuit to follow many to pervert [justice]. Scripture is announcing two prohibitions, but the Sages derive from this verse a rule that does not appear in Scripture, the positive rule: "Follow the majority"! When deciding the law, the Sages detached this phrase from the prohibition that precedes it, making it into an important halakhic principle. Rashi was aware of how problematic this is, and comments on the verse: "There are [halakhic] interpretations for this verse given by the Sages of Israel, but the language of the verse does not fit its context according to them." Later, he writes: "I, however, want to interpret it according to its plain meaning," and Rashi explains why it is wrong to pervert justice, even if those who pervert it are the majority. RaShBaM later adopts this explanation.

 

In conclusion:

Although the dictum: "Halakhah uproots Scripture" is a rare and extreme statement, and there are those who are cautious regarding it, Rashi himself cites it, using the word okeret [uproots] rather than okevet [holds back]. Similarly, Rashi adds the notion of HLMM to the dictum. The Gaon MiVilna deliberately leaves off the introduction "in three places" to the dictum "Halakhah uproots Scripture." He, like Rashi, adds the concept of HLMM ; by doing this they intend to grant the dictum a foundation and increase its legal legitimacy.⁸

[1] Bereishit 1:1, s.v. Bereishit bara; Bereishit 1:5, s.v. vayehi erev; Bereishit 37:2, s.v. eleh toldot; Shemot 13:9, s.v. le'ot al yadkha; etc.

2 On the meaning of this expression, see Prof. E. Tviyto, Hapshatot hait'hadoshot bekhol yom pp. 53-4, Bar Ilan Univ. Press 5763.

3 See Sifra Behukotai chapter 8, 113c.

4 See Encyclopedia Talmudit, idem. Halakhah, pg. 382.

5 Mossad HaRav Kook edition, edited by Rabbi Dr. Dov Heiman, with additional notes by Rabbi Yitzhak Shiloni.

6 Aderet Eliyahu on Vayikra, first edition, Dubravana 5564.

7 Sheva shanim shel sihot al parashat hashavu'a, parshat Mishpatim, beginning on page 341, Keter Publishing 5760.

8 All boldface emphasis in the quoted material is my own - B.S.

Binyamin Salant is a member of Kibbutz Saad

 

 

Have them take for Me an offering: To me - dedicated to My name.

(Rashi on Shemot 25:2)

 

Have them take for Me: The offering will not be given to God in an unmediated fashion, rather each and every individual will give his offering to the community so that it can be transferred to the Lofty. From here we learn that it is for the community rather than the individual to carry out the mission commanded by God. It is not for individual donors, but for the entire community that the divine mission has been set.

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch ad loc)

 

"The commandments were given solely in order to chasten people"

Hearken, my son, and take my words, and years of life will increase for you: I commanded you many times to take something; this was in order to grant you merit. I told you: And take to yourself a red heifer. Was that for Me? It was not for Me but rather to purify you. I told you take for Me an offering - was it not in order for Me to dwell among you? It does not [merely] say take, but rather take for Me; it is Me that you are taking. And take for yourself olive oil - in order to protect your souls, which are compared to a lamp, for it is said, The lamp of the Lord is the soul of man. And also, And you shall take for yourselves on the first day - but isn't that the fifteenth [day of the month]? Rather, the Holy One blessed be He says: I excuse your earlier sins and now begin a new accounting.

(Yalkut Shimoni Mishlei 4, 935)

 

Charity is Greater than all of the Sacrifices

There is a positive commandment to give charity in accordance with one's ability. One should be extremely careful about it - more so than with any other positive commandment - because it can lead to blood shed if one does not give it immediately and the poor man dies, as in the incident involving Ben Zoma. We have been commanded several times regarding it as a positive commandment, and it also involves the prohibition not to ignore it, as it is said: You shall not harden your heart, and you shall not close your hand from your needy brother. Anyone who ignores it is considered worthless and similar to an idolater, and anyone who is careful about it demonstrates that he is of the seed blessed by the Lord, for it is written, For I have known him because he commands his sons and his household after him, that they should keep the way of the Lord to perform righteousness [tzedaka - which also means "charity"] and justice. The throne of Israel is founded and the true religion stands only through charity, for it is said: You shall be established in tzedaka (Isaiah 54). Only through charity will Israel will be redeemed, for it says: Zion shall be redeemed through justice and her penitent through tzedaka, and it says, Keep justice and practice tzedaka, for My salvation is near to come, and My benevolence to be revealed. And charity is greater than all of the sacrifices, since Rabbi Eliezer said: charity is greater than all of the sacrifices, for it is written, Performing tzedaka and justice is preferred by God to a sacrifice. Rabbi Eliezer said: Anyone who performs tzedaka and justice, it is as if he filled the world with loving-kindness, for it is said: Lover of tzedaka and justice, the Lord's loving-kindness fills the earth.

(Tur Yoreh De'ah 247)

 

 

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