TBE Torah Study 2/19/2022 Parshat Ki Tisa 5782

The Israelite people shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time:

SHALL KEEP. They shall keep count of the days of the week so that they do not forget which day is the Sabbath. One shall set his affairs in order and take care of his needs on the sixth day so that he will keep the Sabbath and not desecrate it.

The meaning of la’asot (to observe) in la’asot et ha-shabbat (to observe the Sabbath) is thus similar to the meaning of la’asot (to dress) in and he hastened to dress (la’asot) it. (Gen. 18:7).

ושמרו במי ישראל את השבת, in this life, לעשות את השבת, on a day that is totally Shabbat. [the afterlife. Ed]

ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת, "The children of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, etc." Why did the Torah add another "observance?" Besides, why does the Torah use the verb לעשות, "to do," which expresses an activity when the meaning seems to be that the children of Israel are to observe the Sabbath by "abstaining" from a number of activities? Our sages have pursued their own path in explaining this wording.

Perhaps the Torah employs the word ושמרו to teach the authorities to surround the basic Sabbath legislation with a סיג, a fence, or a framework, which is designed to prevent a person from not knowing which day is the Sabbath. The words לעשות את השבת would mean some action designed to ensure that we know which day is the Sabbath. It is to avoid situations where one recites kiddush when the day in question is not the real Sabbath such as the example we mentioned when discussing the last verse.

Alternatively, the verse addresses itself to someone who had lost track of time in circumstances we have described. Such a person is obligated to establish his own count so that he does not fail to make one day in seven his own personal Sabbath. Even though in this instance the Torah called that seventh day יום השבת, when in reality it is only that person's "seventh day," the Torah wanted to impress on the individual the absolute need to sanctify the seventh day. The first "seventh" day in such a person's count assumes the designation שבת.

The verse may also reflect a conversation between the Sabbath and G'd reported in Bereshit Rabbah 11,8 according to which the Sabbath complained to G'd that whereas all the other days had been given a בן זוג, a mate, only the Sabbath was left "unattached" so to speak. G'd reassured the Sabbath by assigning Israel as its "mate." The meaning of the story is that at its inception the Sabbath lacked a detail to make it complete. G'd provided this missing detail when He commanded the Jewish people to observe it. לעשות then means "to complete it."

(Exodus, Ibid. 16) "And the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath for their generations, etc." This is as R. Nathan says: Profane for him (one whose life is in danger) one Sabbath so that he will keep many Sabbaths. R. Eliezer says (Ibid.) "to observe the Sabbath … an eternal covenant (to perform on Sabbath) that which seals the covenant — circumcision. R. Elazar b. Prata says: If one keeps the Sabbath, it is as if he made it, it being written (lit.,) "to make the Sabbath." Rebbi says: If a man keeps one Sabbath as ordained, Scripture accounts it to him as if he kept (all of) the Sabbaths from the day the Holy Blessed be He created the world until the resurrection of the dead, it being written (Ibid. 17) "It is a sign forever."

The Gemara cites a further statement with regard to the gift of Shabbat to the Jewish people. Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai: All the mitzvot that the Holy One, Blessed be He, gave to the Jewish people, He gave to them in public [parhesya] except for Shabbat, which he gave to them in private. As it is stated: “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever” (Exodus 31:17), meaning that in a sense, it is a secret between God and the Jewish people.

ויאמרו אלה אלהיך ישראל, they said: "these are your gods O Israel." Why did G'd tell Moses about the Israelites sinning by speech, i.e. by acknowledging the deity of the calf with their lips, only after He had already told Moses that they had worshiped it by offering sacrifices to it? The order should have been the reverse! According to Shemot Rabbah 42,6 that it was the mixed multitude who made tha calf and that the Israelites had no share in this, the verse has to be interpreted as describing different stages of the sin committed by the Israelites, not by the mixed multitude. As to the first stage of what the Israelites themselves were guilty of G'd said: "the mixed multitude made the golden calf for themselves, but the Israelites did not protest. Next, the mixed multitude prostrated themselves before the calf and offered sacrifices to it, and the Israelites again did not protest. Failure to protest this time was already a sin of a much graver dimension than not having protested the mere making of the calf. When the mixed multitude declared (addressing Israel this time) "these are your gods O Israel," and the Israelites even now did not protest, this was the culmination of their sins.

The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing, incised upon the tablets.

[GRAVEN.] Some say that the word charut means charush (graven). Others invert the letters and come up with the word chatar (dig) (Ezek. 8:8). Actually, the word has no counterpart [is a hapax legomenon]. It is possibly similar in meaning to the word patu’ach (engraved).

Rabbi Tachanah said: The tables (of the Law) were not created out of the earth but out of the heavens, the handicraft of the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "And the tables, the work of God were they" (Ex. 32:16). They are the tables which were of old, "and the writing" was divine writing; that was the writing which was of old, "graven upon the tables." Do not read Charuth, "graven," but (read) Chêruth, "liberty." When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: "Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first" (Ex. 34:1), a quarry of sapphires was created for Moses in the midst of his tent, and he cut them out (thence), as it is said, "And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first" (Ex. 34:4). Moses descended with the tables, and spent forty days on the mountain, sitting down before the Holy One, blessed be He, like a disciple who is sitting before his teacher, reading the Written Law, and repeating the Oral Law which he had learnt.

You may say that there were those who were persecuted. This is a decree from above, such as the one for Rabbi Akiva and his companions and so it came to mind. Studying Torah usually means freedom from the Angel of Death, who cannot have sway over him. Assuredly this is so. If Adam had cleaved to the Tree of Life, which is Torah, death would not have been brought upon him and the whole world. It was "engraved upon the tablets" (Shemot 32:16) when the Holy One, blessed be He, gave Torah to Yisrael. This has already been explained. Do not pronounce it "engraved" (Heb. charut), but freedom (Heb. cherut), because there was freedom from the Angel of Death. If it were not for Israel committing the sin of the Golden Calf and leaving the Tree of Life they would not have brought death back to the world. And the Holy One, blessed be He, said, "I had said, 'You are angels, all of you sons of the most High'" (Tehilim 82:6). You defiled yourself, "therefore, you shall die like a man" (Ibid. 7). Therefore, the evil serpent which darkened the world cannot have power over anyone occupied in the study of Torah.

"AND the tables were the work of God" (Exod. 32:16), that is to say, they were the product of nature, not of art; for all natural things are called "the work of the Lord," e.g., "These see the works of the Lord" (Ps. 107:24); and the description of the several things in nature, as plants, animals, winds, rain, etc., is followed by the exclamation, "O Lord, how manifold are thy works!" (Ps. 104:24). Still more striking is the relation between God and His creatures, as expressed in the phrase, "The cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted" (ib. 16); the cedars being the product of nature, and not of art, are described as having been planted by the Lord. Similarly we explain, "And the writing was the writing of God" (Exod. 32:16); the relation in which the writing stood to God has already been defined in the words "written with the finger of God" (ib. 31:18), and the meaning of this phrase is the same as that of "the work of thy fingers" (Ps. 8:4). this being said of the heavens; of the latter it has been stated distinctly that they were made by a word; comp. "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made" (ib. 33:6). Hence you learn that in the Bible, the creation of a thing is figuratively expressed by terms denoting "word" and "speech" The same thing which according to one passage has been made by the word, is represented in another passage as made by the "finger of God." The phrase "written by the finger of God" is therefore identical with "written by the word of God"; and if the latter phrase had been used, it would have been equal to "written by the will and desire of God?" Onkelos adopted in this place a strange explanation, and rendered the words literally "written by the finger of the Lord"; he thought that "the finger" was a certain thing ascribed to God; so that "the finger of the Lord" is to be interpreted in the same way as "the mountain of God" (Exod. 3:1), "the rod of God" (ib. 4:20), that is, as being an instrument created by Him, which by His will engraved the writing on the tables. I cannot see why Onkelos preferred this explanation. It would have been more reasonable to say "written by the word of the Lord," in imitation of the verse "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made?" Or was the creation of the writing on the tables more difficult than the creation of the stars in the spheres? As the latter were made by the direct will of God, not by means of an instrument, the writing may also have been produced by His direct will, not by means of an instrument. You know what the Mishnah says, "Ten things were created on Friday in the twilight of the evening," and "the writing" is one of the ten things. This shows how generally it was assumed by our forefathers that the writing of the tables was produced in the same manner as the rest of the creation, as we have shown in our Commentary on the Mishnah (Aboth, 5:6).

And the tables were the work of the Lord, and the writing was the Lord's writing, inscribed and manifested upon the tables.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi further advised: And be careful to continue to respect an elder who has forgotten his Torah knowledge due to circumstances beyond his control. Even though he is no longer a Torah scholar, he must still be respected for the Torah that he once possessed. As we say: Both the tablets of the Covenant and the broken tablets are placed in the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple. Even though the first tablets were broken, their sanctity obligates one not to treat them with contempt. An elder who forgot the Torah knowledge he once possessed is likened to these broken tablets.