Sefat Emet - Kedoshim - 1871

Chapter XXV (KEDOSHIM)

I. AND WHEN YE SHALL COME INTO THE LAND, AND SHALL HAVE PLANTED ALL MANNER OF TREES FOR FOOD (XIX, 23). This bears on the text, She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her (Prov. III, 18). R. Huna in the name of R. Aha said: This verse implies that the words of the Torah must not appear to you like a girl who has become marriageable and whose father wishes to marry her off to any one whom he can find, but My son, if thou wilt receive my word, and lay up my commandments with thee (ibid. II, I); that is to say: if you have merit receive My words.

R. Huna in the name of R. Benjamin b. Levi said: The matter may be compared to the case of a king who said to his son: 'Go out and do business.' Said the son to him: 'Father, I am afraid of robbers on the road and of pirates on the sea,' What did his father do? He took a staff, hollowed it out and placed an amulet inside it. He gave it to his son and said to him: 'Let this staff be in your hand and you need not be afraid of any creature.' So also did the Holy One, blessed be He, say to Moses: 'Tell Israel: "My children! Occupy yourselves with the Torah and you need not be afraid of any nation."' If the text had read, 'She is a tree of life to them that toil in her' Israel's enemies [i.e., Israel] would have been unable to survive. What it says therefore is not that, but: ‘To them that lay hold upon her.’ If the text had read, 'Cursed be he that learneth not the words of the law’ Israel's enemies [i.e., Israel] would have been unable to survive; but the reading is, That confirmeth not the words of this law (Deut. XXVII, 26). Accordingly, it says, 'She a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her.’ R. Huna observed: If a man has been undone by transgression, he incurs the penalty of death at the hands of heaven. What should he do so as to live? If he was accustomed to read one page of the Scripture let him read two pages, and if he was accustomed to study one chapter of Mishnah let him study two. But if he was not accustomed to read the Scriptures or to study Mishnah, what is he to do so as to remain alive? Let him go and get himself appointed a communal leader or an administrator of charity and he will remain alive; for if the text had read, 'Cursed be he that learneth not' he would have been unable to survive, but the wording is, ‘Cursed be he that confirmeth not'; if the text had read: 'A tree of life to them that toil in her' he would have hem unable to survive, but the reading is, ‘She is a tree of life to those that lay hold upon her'. For wisdom is a defence, even as money is a defence (Eccl. VII, 12).

R. Aha expounded in the name of R. Tanhum son of R. Hiyya: Though a man has learned Torah and has taught, observed, and performed it, yet if he was able to protest against wrongdoing and did not protest, or was able to maintain scholars and did not maintain them, he is included in the term 'cursed': hence it is written, 'Cursed be he that confirmeth not.'

R. Jeremiah said in the name of R. Hiyya: If a man has not learned Torah, and has neither performed, observed, not taught it to others, but, though he had not the means to maintain scholars, yet did maintain them, and though not strong enough to protest yet protested, he is on this account included in the term 'blessed'.

3. R. Judah b. Simon began his discourse with the text, After the Lord your God shall ye walk (Dent. xiii, 5). But can a man of flesh and blood walk after the Holy One, blessed be He, the One of whom it is written, Thy way was in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters and Thy footsteps were not known (Ps. LXXVII, 20)? Yet you say, 'After the Lord your God shall ye walk' ! And unto Him shall ye cleave (Deut. loc. cit.). But can flesh and blood go up into heaven to cleave to the Shechinah, the One of whom it is written, For the Lord thy God is a devouring fire (ib. IV, 24), and of whom it is written, His throne was fiery flames (Dan. VII, 9), and of whom it is further written, A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him (ib. 10)? Yet you say, 'And unto Him shall ye cleave' ! But in truth the Holy One, blessed be He, from the very beginning of the creation of the world, was before all else occupied with plantation, as is proved by the text, And the Lord God planted a garden in the first instance [generally “to the East”] in Eden (Gen. II, 8), and so do you also, when you enter into the land, occupy yourselves first with nought else but plantation; hence it is written, AND WHEN YE SHALL COME INTO THE LAND, THEN YE SHALL PLANT.​