ayf@erc3ba.UUCP (A.Y.Feldblum) (10/10/85)
I would like to take this space (as we are at the first Parsha
of the Torah) to make a few comments about the Dvar Torah project to
those who may have joined the net this academic year. The Dvar Torah
project is a joint effort by several individuals coordinated by myself
to put a Dvar Torah based on the weekly Torah reading on the net each
week. Anyone who has comments or questions is invited to send me email
({ATT machine}!{pruxc or erc3ba}!ayf ). I will try to respond in some
reasonable time frame.
As this is the beginning of the Torah, I thought it would be
appropriate to discuss the Ramban's introduction to the Torah. The
Ramban's commentary to the Torah is one of the classic commentaries on
the Torah, and has been translated into English by Rabbi C.B. Chavel
(published by Shilo Publishing House, 1971).
------- Dvar Torah - Bereshit --------
The Ramban in his introduction to his commentary on the Torah,
begins with the following statement concerning the authership of the
Torah:
Moses our teacher wrote this book of Genesis together with the
whole Torah from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He.
The Ramban then comments that the Torah did not begin begin by
saying 'And G-d spoke to Moses all these words, saying." Moses did not
write the Torah in the first person, as opposed to the prophets who did
(see e.g. Ezekiel 3:16, Jeremiah 1:4). The book of Deuteronomy appears
to be the exception, where Moses does speak about himself in the first
person. But if one looks at the very beginning of the book, it starts
"These are the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel". Thus Moses is
like one who narrates things in the exact language in which they were
spoken.
The reason for this is that the Torah preceded the creation of
the world, and our tradition is that it was written with letters of
black fire upon a background of white fire. Thus Moses was like a scribe
who copies from an ancient book and therefore wrote anonymously.
The Ramban then says that G-d informed Moses of all things,
starting with the creation of the world. The Sages alluded to this
saying that 49 gates of understanding were transmitted to Moses. All of
this is also included in the Torah, either explicitly or by implication
in words, in the numerical value of the letters or in the form of the
letters. The Ramban brings as illustration the following Medrash (found
in Menachot 29b):
When Moses ascended to heaven he found the Holy One, blessed be
He, attaching crownlets to certain letters of the Torah. He [Moses] said
to Him, 'What are these for?' He [G-d] said to him, 'One man is destined
to interpret mountains of laws on their basis.' Moses said to G-d, 'Show
me this man.' G-d showed him Rabbi Akiba sitting with eight ranks of
disciples. Moses sat down in the eighth rank but was not able to follow
the discussions, a fact which deeply grieved him. But then he heard the
disciples asking Rabbi Akiba, 'whence do you know this?' He [Rabbi
Akiba] answered them: 'This is a law given to Moses on Mount Sinai.' Now
Moses was content.
[Switching now from paraphrasing the Ramban to give some of my own
thoughts.]
While it is easy to sort of read this medrash as
an 'interesting' story, I think that there are some important concepts
that we can better understand from this medrash. There are two attitutes
that some people may develop toward the Masorah (tradition) and the Oral
Law that the medrash may be targeting. The first is that 'I' am smart
enough to figure everything out from the Torah by myself without the
guide of the Oral Law. The second is that the Law is outmoded and no
longer is relevant to today's world. Taking the first attitude, Rabbi
Akiba's fame was his ability to derive things from understanding. Yet he
answers his desciples that the source ('Whence do you know this?') is
the unbroken link of tradition that goes back to what Moses received on
Sinai. The second is a somewhat more speculative interpretation of the
medrash. It is based on my understanding of Moses, who was taught the
Torah by G-d, not understanding the discussions of Rabbi Akiba and his
disciples. In each period, there are issues and problems that may be
literally incomprehensible to someone of a far earlier generation. The
strength of the Oral Law is that even if a Moses cannot understand what
a Rabbi Akiba is talking about, the principles used and the source of
validity of the law is traced back to - 'This is a law given to Moses on
Mount Sinai'.
Wishing everyone a Shabbat Shalom.
Avi Feldblum
AT&T - ERC
uucp: {allegra, ihnp4}!{pruxc }!ayf
{erc3ba}