פסל לך שני לוחות אבנים כראשונים וכתבתי, “carve for yourself two stone tablets similar to the original ones and I shall write, etc”. When G’d said: וכתבתי, “I will write,” the meaning is “with a finger,” just as we had been told of the first Tablets that they had been written “with the finger of G‘d” (32,18). When G’d spoke of the second Tablets being כראשונים, “like the first ones,” the reference was to the writing not to the material they were made of. The first Tablets were made of material provided by G’d, not material provided by man which Moses carried all the way up the mountain.

Shemot Rabbah 46,2 states that the instruction to Moses to carve for himself two stone tablets is an illustration of what Solomon had in mind in Kohelet 3,5 when he said: “there is a time to throw stones away and another time to assemble stones. He first referred to Moses who had smashed the first set of Tablets, whereas in the second half of his statement he referred to G’d’s instruction to Moses to carve for himself two stone tablets as mentioned in our verse. The latter statement was an illustration of the verse (Proverbs 10,23) “the blessing of the Lord makes people wealthy.” The blessing Solomon had in mind when he wrote that was the wording chosen by G’d here i.e. פסל לך, as if G’d had said: “the פסולת, “discarded (slivers of stone) used to carve out these tablets will remain your personal property.” G’d showed Moses a kind of large sapphire from which to carve the tablets. This made Moses a wealthy individual and enabled him to act as king over Israel. This also teaches you that anyone who makes Torah his vocation will find that his livelihood will somehow be provided by the Torah. This is the meaning of the words (Joshua 1,8) “for then (if you preoccupy yourself with Torah on an ongoing basis) you will succeed in your path and will be successful.” Such a person will not experience pain or anguish in the process of securing his livelihood and will not have to leave his home even in order to work for his livelihood. Another meaning of the words: “carve for yourself!” The matter can be illustrated by means of a parable. A king took a trip abroad, overseas, leaving his wife and the various female servants of the palace behind. The queen now became the subject of the same kind of cheap gossip as is invariably spread about such servants. When these tales reached the ears of the king he wanted to execute his queen. When a companion of the queen who had been a witness to the marriage heard about this he tore up the marriage settlement which had been given to him for safe-keeping. He reasoned that if the king were to accuse his wife of misconduct he would tell him that she was not his wife anymore (seeing she had no marriage settlement). The king examined the reports that had reached him and did not find any substance in them. Only accusations against the maid servants could be substantiated. He immediately changed his mind and his wife became very dear to him again. Thereupon the witness who had previously torn up the marriage contract said to the king: “please write a new marriage contract for your wife.” The king responded that seeing that it was the witness who had torn up the original it was up to him to provide the means to write a replacement. The king was willing, however, to do the writing on the replacement contract. This is the reason G’d said to Moses: “carve for yourself!”

והיה נכון לבוקר ועלית בבוקר אל הר סיני, “Be prepared in the morning; ascend Mount Sinai in the morning.” The wording we would have expected should have been והיה נכון לבוקר ועלית אל הר סיני. Why did the Torah have to use the word בבוקר, “in the morning,” a second time? The Torah wanted to allude to the attribute בוקר, another synonym for the attribute of Mercy. This attribute is usually evident in the morning [as opposed to the attribute of Justice. Ed.] An example of the attribute of Mercy being in the ascendancy in the morning is found in Psalms 5,4 ה’ בוקר תשמע קולי בוקר אערך לך ואצפה, “Lord, hear my voice at daybreak; at daybreak I plead before you and wait.” David prayed for the attribute of Mercy which is the strength of the morning that He should listen to his plea.

ואיש לא יעלה עמך, “and no one is to ascend together with you.” This wording caused our sages (Tanchuma Ki Tissa 34) to say that the second set of tablets was given to the people without fanfare, in relative secrecy. It is meant to teach you the power of the evil eye. The evil eye is potent even in matters which are being orchestrated by a miracle of G’d. This is why they wound up being broken. The second set never were broken because the evil eye did not have something to focus on.

ויעבור ה’ על פניו ויקרא ה’ ה’ אל רחום וחנון ארך אפים ורב חסד ואמת, נוצר חסד לאלפים נושא עון ופשע וחטאה ונקה, “Hashem passed before him and proclaimed: ‘Hashem, Hashem, G’d, Compassionate and Gracious, Slow to anger, and abundant in Kindness and Truth; Preserver of Kindness for thousands of generations, Forgiver of Iniquity, Willful sin, and Error, and Who cleanses.” According to the plain meaning of the text these attributes are the ones a king practices in his dealings with his people. All of these attributes are subsumed under the heading חסד ואמת, “kindness and truth.” A king needs to employ these attributes when dealing with his people and his officials, i.e. not to insist on the application of absolute justice, but tempering justice with mercy. On the other hand, there are situations in which the king has to exert his full authority and employ the harshest measures of justice. This is why Solomon said (Proverbs 20,28) “mercy and truth preserve the king; he upholds his throne by loving kindness.” A judicious application of these two attributes ensures the stability of the king’s throne. You have to appreciate that everyone who properly understands these thirteen attributes and invokes them in his prayers meticulously will never experience that his prayers went totally unheard (Rosh Hashanah 17). The only reason that his prayer would go unheard would be certain specific sins which are not subject to G’d’s forgiveness. In our times, when we are bereft of the priests, the holy Temple, the altar and the sacrifices, all of which were meant to assure us of atonement for our sins, the only thing left for us with which to appeal to G’d are our personal prayers and the invoking of these thirteen attributes (nuances) of G’d’s Mercy. By knowing of these thirteen attributes of Mercy our sages were able to properly edit our prayers so that they will enjoy maximum effectiveness.

Know that mention of the tetragrammaton, i.e. Hashem, for the first time is not an attribute but a reference to the very essence of the Lord. The second time this word appears it is used as an attribute, i.e. the invoking of the attribute of Mercy when the sinner has not previously confessed his sin and has repented it. G’d is appealed to as our father, someone who naturally extends his mercy to his children; just as the father is aware of his children’s needs, so G’d, our collective father, is aware of our needs. Such a father will not wait until his son asks for what he needs but will supply it even without being asked to do so. G’d therefore responds to the needs of even the wicked sinner as he too is one of His children. G’d employs this attribute even in His dealings with idolaters as we know from Sanhedrin 39 where G’d is telling the angels to suppress their songs of praise at a time when His creatures are drowning in the sea. He grieves over the need to exact this kind of retribution from them. In fact, G’d’s Mercy extends even to the animals as we know from Psalms 36,7: “Man and beast You deliver, O Lord. The attribute אל is the one dealing with forgiveness in response to the sinner’s request. This is what is meant in Psalms 99,8 אל נושא היית להם, “You have been a forgiving G’d for them.” The attributes רחום וחנון are two attributes applied in response to requests for forgiveness when such forgiveness is granted in connection with the sinner experiencing afflictions and having repented properly. We find that these terms always appear in connection with afflictions such as in Deut. 4,31 כי אל רחום ה’ אלו-היך לא ירפך ולא ישחיתך, “for Hashem, your G’d is a merciful G’d He will not abandon you nor destroy you.” The expression השחתה is found in connection with afflictions such as in Isaiah 52,14 כן משחת איש מאיש מראהו, “so his appearance is like that of a man who has suffered afflictions.” An even more outspoken verse describing the connection between afflictions and השחתה is Job 33,24 ויחננו ויאמר פדעהו מרדת שחת מצאתי, “then He has mercy on him and decrees: “redeem him from descending to the pit.” The attribute known as ארך אפים applies to both the righteous as well as to the habitual sinners. Moses said to G’d concerning the application of this attribute: ”You have to forgive the people on account of Your having told me that this is one of Your attributes, i.e. to hold back with venting Your anger.” “You explained to me that the reason for calling it ארך אפים instead of ארך אף means that even the sinners qualify for the application to them of this attribute.” Moreover, Moses added, assuming that the people concerned have already used up this attribute, ‘You are also רב חסד, abundant in kindness, a fallback position for people who have exhausted their claim against You on the basis of Your being ארך אפים.’ Moses reminded G’d that as long as the Torah had not been given, during the first 26 generations of man’s existence on earth, You fed them due to Your attribute of רב חסד. If You were to say that the very absence of the Torah was a factor in Your applying the attribute of רב חסד, because they did not violate any of its commandments, Moses said that due to G’d’s attribute of חסד i.e. an attribute of undeserved kindness known as “true kindness,” He would still have to extend forgiveness to the sinners. If even that nuance of the attribute of Mercy would not suffice to obtain forgiveness for a sin (such as that of the golden calf) then the next fallback position would be the nuance called נוצר חסד לאלפים, “preserver of kindness for thousands of generations,” i.e. what is popularly known as zechut avot, the accumulated and unexpired portion of the merits of the patriarchs. In the event that G’d were to reply that even this aspect of the attribute of Mercy had already been exhausted by the people (compare Shabbat 55), Moses would appeal to the nuance described here as נושא עון, G’d’s attribute of being “a forgiver of iniquity,” a reference to sins committed knowingly. The word פשע which follows the attribute of נושא עון, refers to sins committed with the express intent of asserting man’s independence vis-a-vis legislation perceived as decreed by G’d. The word וחטאה is applicable to sins committed erroneously, unwittingly. Finally, the word ונקה, refers to sins one did not even find out one had committed, sins for which one cannot ask forgiveness as they cannot be spelled out, be confessed. This is what David had in mind when he appealed to G’d (Psalms 19,13) מנסתרות נקני “cleanse me from the guilt I bear for hidden sins, sins unbeknown to me.” Actually, logic dictates that the sequence of the last few categories of sins which are subject to G’d’s attribute of Mercy should have been חטאה, עון, פשעi.e. if G’d invokes forgiveness for sins committed as an act of rebellion the Torah surely did not have to tell us that He forgives sins committed unintentionally! Our sages in addressing this problem (Yuma 36) explained the existing sequence by saying that Moses prayed that the intentional sins be raised to the level of unintentional sins which are easier to forgive. This is the reason why the word וחטאה appears at the end of that sequence. Another reason for the inverted sequence is the fact hat the sin of the golden calf began as something relatively harmless, i.e. unintentional, as I have explained on 32,4. Moses did not want to mention the need to forgive unintentional sins first, as he then would have drawn attention to the sin of the golden calf specifically.

A Midrashic (Rosh Hashanah 17) approach: The words ויעבור ה’ על פניו were a lesson by G’d how to act as a counsel of defense on behalf of the Jewish people. Moses asked G’d: “if the people did not have some merit going for them would You have destroyed them? Remember the merits of the patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov Your servants!” This is what is meant by the words ה’ ה’ אל רחום וחנון ארך אפים, “the Lord, the Lord, is merciful and gracious slow to anger.” Moses suggested that it was in order to destroy those sinners who had absolutely no claim on G’d’s consideration. G’d explained that His attribute included both the righteous as well as the wicked, and that Moses himself would soon need to have recourse to that nuance of the attribute of אל ארך אפים. We find that after the sin of the spies who caused the entire people to refuse to march to the Holy Land and to prefer to return to Egypt (Numbers 14, 17-18), Moses invoked this very attribute אל ארך אפים on behalf of the people (he had learned the lesson G’d taught him here). At that time he prefaced his plea with the words: “and now let Your power be great O Lord as You have said.” He referred to the need to extend the attribute of Mercy also to the wicked [seeing that all (except Joshua and Calev) had become wicked, as distinct from the graduated involvement by different sections of the people in the sin of the golden calf and the total innocence of the entire tribe of Levi. Ed.]

It is appropriate for you the reader to pay attention to the words of Onkelos on our passage. Onkelos translates the words ארך אפים as מרחיק רגז, “keeping destructive anger away.” This is a reference to the tradition that G’d had already instructed certain angels to proceed to destroy the people as they were now considered “distant” from the parameters of the Divine establishment.

You will find a passage in the Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 2,1 which describes a similar phenomenon. Rabbi Levi, when asked the meaning of the expression ארך אפים, said it meant “to keep destructive anger at a distance.” The whole matter can be illustrated by a parable.” A king had two heavily armed divisions of troops at his command. He reasoned that if he were to allow the soldiers of these divisions to dwell in his proximity this would have dire consequences for his citizens in the event that those would commit acts angering their ruler. The soldiers would take immediate drastic steps against such disobedient citizens. The king therefore decided to station his troops some distance from his capital so that in the event the people became guilty of a misdemeanour they would have time to repent before falling victim to the wrath of these soldiers in their fierce loyalty to their king. Here G’d informed Moses that He had stationed His agents (who would act as executors of His decrees) far enough away to afford the errant sinners an opportunity to repent in time. There are some Biblical verses which appear to support this idea, such as Isaiah 13,5: “they come from a distant land, from the end of the sky; the Lord with His weapons of wrath, to ravage the earth.” [In other words, retribution, though on its way, is some time away. Ed.] Rabbi Yitzchak goes further, basing himself on Jeremiah 50,25: “the Lord has opened His armory and brought out the weapons of His wrath;” he interprets these verses as describing how much time will elapse between the sin causing the wrath of the Lord and the enactment of punitive decrees against the sinners in question. During all this time the attribute of Mercy may be activated through prayer and repentance. Rabbi Meir interprets the word יוצא, “comes forth,” in Isaiah 26,21: ”the Lord shall come forth from His place to punish the dwellers on earth,” as G’d leaving (forsaking) the attribute of Justice in favor of the attribute of Mercy. [The prophet speaks about the Gentiles who will become the object of G’d’s wrath thus affording the Jewish people a breathing space, i.e. treatment by the attribute of Mercy. Ed.] Thus far the quote from the Jerusalem Talmud in Taanit 2,4. Our sages in Rosh Hashanah 17 also mention that the covenant G’d made with Moses concerning these thirteen attributes includes the promise that the people who invoke them will not return empty-handed from their prayer. They base this on the wording in verse 10 הנה אנכי כורת ברית נגד כל עמך, “here I enter into a covenant with you in the presence of all your people, etc. Nonetheless, if the sins of the people are too numerous and have accumulated, G’d will reverse the attributes of Mercy mentioned here; this is what was meant by Isaiah 1,4 when he said: ‘they have forsaken the Lord, spurned the Holy One of Israel, turned their backs on Him.” The words נזורו אחור in that verse describe that the behavior of the Jewish people caused G’d to reverse the attributes with which He relates to them. Concerning the words: “they have abandoned the Lord,” G’d asks rhetorically: “I who have been known as the compassionate and gracious G’d have now been forced to reverse My attributes and have appeared to them as the cruel G’d.”

A rational/investigative approach: the words ויעבור ה’ על פניו ויקרא ה’ ה’ אל. These words contain three references to the tetragram. The balance of the words in that whole sequence are names for attributes of the Lord. In other words, the Torah here lists a total of ten attributes.The word מדות, “attributes” applies also to the names of G’d. The reason that the name of the Lord appears three times in this verse is to hint at the fact that the Lord is the G’d is unique and in charge in all three worlds, the world of the angels, the world of the planets, (outer space) and our terrestrial universe. Regarding the two worlds which are of infinite duration, i.e. the world of the angels and that of the planets, the Torah used the two names of G’d which do not undergo any changes. [They are not used as different attributes on different occasions. Ed.] The Torah used the name אל in connection with the terrestrial world which is subject to a metamorphosis. We find these views reflected in Psalms 148,6 “He made them endure forever, establishing an order that will never change.” David had already referred to the world of the angels in the opening verses of the same Psalm when he said: “Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him all His angels, praise Him all His hosts.” In respect of the “lower” world, the part of the universe we humans inhabit, a universe which is subject to renewal, to destruction in its present form, the Torah uses the name אל, which is actually the name of an adjective. It is the attribute which can change from being the attribute of Justice to becoming the attribute of Mercy and vice versa. This is reflected in Psalm 22,2 אלי, אלי, למה עזבתני, ”My G’d My G’d, why have You abandoned me?” Clearly, this was a reference to the attribute of Mercy as one does not complain about being abandoned by G’d’s attribute of Justice. At any rate, we are left with ten attributes used by the Creator to run His universe. The attributes רחום וחנון are two attributes which apply to the guidance of our fates by what is known as השגחה כללית, “G’d’s general system of supervising our fates,” and השגחה פרטית, “G’d’s specific supervision of the fates of individuals. The former refers to the השגחה כללית, as we are reminded in Psalms 145,18: “His רחמים extends to all His works.” The word חנון describes the attribute which supervises individual fates. You will never encounter this attribute mentioned in connection with any creature which is not a human being. In the book of Job (33,24) Elihu refers to it when he says ויחוננו ויאמר פדעהו מרדת שחת מצאתי כפר, ”then He has mercy on him and decrees ‘redeem him from descending into the Pit.’” We also encounter the word חנון in Genesis 43,29 where Joseph blesses his brother Binyamin commending him to the special attention of G’d. Seeing that man is the most accomplished of all of G’d’s creations, it is no more than natural that G’d should relate to him with special attention. Man therefore rates an attribute of G’d which is exclusive to his species. The attribute ארך אפים is an attribute everyone is in need of, regardless of whether they are G’d-fearing, Torah-observant people or not. After all, we have been told by Solomon in Kohelet 7,20 “that there is no single individual alive on earth who does good only and does not commit a sin on occasion.” We do not need to mention that the habitual sinners are in need of this attribute of G’d. This too is an attribute reserved for the human species and relates to the dispensation of reward or punishment respectively, a concept unique to the relationship between man and his G’d. This leaves us with seven more attributes, three of which basically favor man while four discriminate against him. The attributes רב חסד, ואמת basically work in man’s favor, whereas the attributes נושא עון, ופשע וחטאה as well as the attribute ונקה basically are attributes which man has to be afraid of. The attribute of נושא עון refers to G’d considering sins committed in thought only, whereas פשע וחטאה are attributes activated by actually committed sins, the former referring to deliberately committed sins whereas the attribute חטאה refers to unintentionally committed sins. Concerning the attribute ונקה, the Talmud Yuma 86 claims that it is an attribute reserved for penitents. It is certainly inconceivable that G’d should completely exonerate anyone who did not even repent his sins. A sinner who maintains his rebellious posture against G’d does not qualify for G’d’s favorable consideration as if G’d did extend such consideration to him the result would contradict a long-standing principle that sinners must not be perceived as actually benefiting from their sins (Yevamot 92). The institution of purgatory as an instrument of punishment was invented for the sake of the unrepentant sinner.

A kabbalistic approach holds that all these thirteen attributes derive directly from the emanation כתר, the highest emanation downwards. The very word מדות represents vessels, recipients. The mystical dimension of these attributes must be viewed in the following order: the attributes ה’, ה’, represent the emanation חכמה ובינה; the attributes אל, רחום represent the emanation גדולה. The attributes חנון וארך אפים represent the emanation גבורה; the attributes רב חסד ואמת represent the emanation תפארת; the attributes נוצר חסד לאלפים represent the emanation נצח. The attributes פשע וחטאה represent the emanation הוד, whereas the attribute ונקה represents the emanation יסוד. Everyone of the emanations [exclusive of the emanation מלכות which has none, Ed.] has been allocated two attributes except for the emanation יסוד which has been allocated only one attribute. [The reader who is familiar with the currently accepted table of emanations is reminded that this table was not in use during the author’s time. Ed.] The holy name of the Lord who passed in front of Moses was the one reciting this list of attributes as they derive from the highest emanation כתר.

The view of Nachmanides and his interpretation of the thirteen attributes is that the word י-ה-ו-ה when it appears here for the first time refers to the highest emanation, whereas the second and third time the tetragrammaton appears here it refers to the emanations תפארת and כבוד respectively. All of these three appearances of the tetragrammaton between them comprise the essence of G’d, i.e. His holy name. This is followed by the remaining ten attributes. The attributes רחום, חנון, ארך אפים are part of the term generally known as אל עליון, and this is the reason that such words as מרחם, מחונן or מאריך (i.e. verbalized versions of these attributes) do not appear in that list. They are, after all, only the practical application of these attributes. The attributes רב חסד, אמת, נוצר חסד are allocated to the emanation תפארת, whereas the attributes נושא עון ופשע וחטאה ונקה are allocated to the emanation כבוד. It is well known that when reading these attributes, one is to make a comma between the first and second mention of the tetragrammaton. Anyone who fails to make this separation will have to account for his mistake.

There is still another method of relating to this list of thirteen attributes, a method employed by a minority of the Kabbalists, (a method mentioned by the Zohar). With the exception of the first-mentioned attribute, the attributes appear in four groups of three each thus alluding to the four carriers of the throne of G’d. The reason that three attributes may be perceived as forming a self-contained group is that they represent the three patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. Concerning these patriarchs we say in the opening paragraph of the עמידה prayer “האל הגדול, הגבור, והנורא.” All these thirteen attributes are subsumed in these three words (adjectives) applied to G’d in the opening lines of the עמידה. When mentioning the word הגדול in that benediction it includes the four attributes of חסד, whereas the word הגבור includes the four attributes comprising the attribute of Justice. Finally, the word הנורא includes the four attributes of Mercy, רחמים, (applicable to people who have at least some claim to milder treatment. The reason that we find that the letters of the words ה’ in the sequence ויעבור ה’ על פניו are decorated with two tagim (crown-like decorations) on top as distinct from the attributes ה’,ה’, in the middle of the list of attributes shows that the sages who arranged these tagim wanted to draw our attention to the fact that the compliment which G’d paid Moses by revealing to him His thirteen attributes was in the nature of granting him additional spiritual insights and powers. These tagim always are a reminder to the reader that careful study of the text of the Torah yields additional insights for the reader. Such insights, i.e. whether they will indeed be attained depend on the attitude of the reader rather than the fact that G’d has made available to us the knowledge that these nuances of G’d’s attributes exist.

Rabbi Hai Gaon points out that though there are thirteen attributes and we have said that they parallel the ten emanations, and the expression “emanation” and “attribute” appears to be used interchangeably, the fact is that they are clearly interrelated deriving from the same source although their numbers do not coincide. The reason for this apparent discrepancy is the fact hat he three levels of the עולם האצילות “regions” beyond the “highest” emanation כתר have no clearly defined beginnings as they are so closely interwoven with the root of roots. Rabbi Hai Gaon, if pressed, named these three “super-emanations” אור קדמון, אור מצוחצח, אור צח — the three nuances of the original light. Our sages sometimes referred to this as the קוצו של יוד, something alluded to in our world by the little point-like tip of the letter י. I have referred to this already in my commentary on Genesis 1,1 “a kabbalistic approach.” May the Lord pardon us and enlighten us with ever more insights when we apply ourselves to the study of the Torah.

פוקד עון אבות על בנים, ועל בני בנים, על שלשים, ועל רבעים. “recalling the iniquity of the parents upon children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. This verse occurs in the Torah on four separate occasions. We find it in both versions of the Ten Commandments, and twice again when G’d’s attributes are listed, once here and once in connection with the sin of the ten spies and the people who believed their words (Numbers 14,18). When this verse appears in the Ten Commandments the word פוקד עון is to be understood negatively, i.e. G’d will not forget the iniquity of the parents, etc. This is made clear by the Torah adding the words לשונאי, “to those who hate Me,” at the end of the respective line (Exodus 20,5, and Deut. 5,9). The Torah warns that failure of subsequent generations to resume a lifestyle acceptable to G’d makes such generations liable to be destroyed even if their personal guilt is not sufficient to bring such a tragedy upon themselves. The same words when mentioned as part of G’d’s list of attributes indicates merely that G’d will add afflictions to successive generations for sins committed by earlier generations in order to bring about repentance and to have an excuse to save those generations. By suffering these afflictions, sins and guilt incurred previously even by their progenitors would be atoned for. The afflictions would result in the eventual good that the later generations would experience.

There are problems to be explained in connection with G’d visiting the sins of the fathers on their children. Such an interpretation appears to contradict what is written in Deut. 24,16 that “parents shall not be executed for the sins of the sons nor sons for the sins of the parents. Each (individual) generation is to be executed only for its own sin.”

However, our sages (Berachot 7) have already explained how to reconcile what is written in these verses. The verse threatening that he sins of the fathers will be visited upon their sons or later generations presumes that the sons or grandsons will continue in the evil path their parents had walked before them. When this is the case G’d will not feel unjustified in applying His retribution to the sons or grandsons of the original sinners. The reason that the Torah limits such retribution to four generations after the original sin has been committed is explained in Job 42,17 where the blessing Job received is that he lived to see the fourth generation of his descendants. The Torah (Genesis 50,23) also reports that Joseph was blessed to see the fourth generation of his offspring. In other words, biological relationships are presumed to be meaningful up to and including the fourth generation, not beyond that. Seeing that a person may live to see his great-great grandchildren, their death may remind him of his being punished for his original sin. If the fifth generation were to be punished for that sin it would have absolutely no impact on the original sinner. When in a patriarchal society the senior member of the family is concerned about his offspring, he does not include in such concern the fifth and subsequent generations. If a wicked person has observed that his father, his grandfather and his great-grandfather had been guilty of similar sins and had not been punished to the best of his knowledge, it is important that he be punished and that he bear the collective responsibility . Upon hearing such an explanation any intelligent son is bound to ask that if this is indeed so why did the Torah write (in Exodus 32,34) “on the day when I make My account, I shall bring their sin to account against them?” Our sages (Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 4,5) have stated that there is not a single generation in history which has not accumulated a small measure of the sin of the golden calf in its own time. Elsewhere, (Rashi) this statement is understood to mean that whenever a generation of Jews is being punished for their transgressions, a small amount of afflictions are added to reduce the outstanding guilt of the generation which made and worshipped the golden calf. Whichever is the correct interpretation, how is this delayed punishment compatible with the limitation to four generations which we read about in our verse? The answer provided by our sages is that the meaning of the verb פוקד in 32,34 is not “settles accounts” but merely “He remembers.” Whenever the Jewish people in any generation commit any sin, such a sin reminds G’d of their original collective sin, the sin of the golden calf. He no longer has to settle an account with us as that account has been paid in full when the Temple was destroyed. We find (Ezekiel 9,1) that the prophet quotes G’d as saying קרבו פקודות העיר ואיש כלי משחיתו בידו, “bring near those appointed over the city, each with his weapon of destruction in his hand!” The Torah in 32,34 refers to what the prophet Ezekiel referred to, i.e. an imperative to G’d’s agents to liquidate the Temple, etc.

We also have a statement in Midrash Eicha (Eicha Rabba 2:3) in which the time when the guilt of the sin of the golden calf expired is discussed. One scholar said that it expired at the time when King Jerobam made new golden calves which he placed on the road to Jerusalem. He based this on this verse in Ezekiel. Another sage, Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmeni said that hat the remnants of the guilt of that sin did not become wiped out until the Temple was destroyed. Even though it was no longer subject to retribution, G’d did continue to mention it on occasion. This is what is meant in Chagigah 13 that as of the time when the Temple was destroyed the wingspan of the chayot which were to cover the feet of the chayah described as possessing the feet of a calf in Ezekiel 1,9 was diminished so that the lower part of these feet remained exposed. Unless the wingspan of this chayah had been diminished, how would Ezekiel have known that its feet were like the feet of a calf? It is possible that in his vision of this chayah it had briefly raised its wings so that its feet and their shape became visible. If we were not to accept this possibility, how would Ezekiel have been able to identify the faces of the chayot in his vision? Surely the explanation must be that the wings moved momentarily to reveal what was hidden behind them. The Midrash rejects this kind of reasoning out of hand. It considers it as normal that the wings momentarily exposed the faces, as faces are to be revealed by definition. If a face were not to be visible and therefore identifiable, it would simply not qualify for the definition “face.” Feet, however, are not subject to being exposed. Hence the fact that the feet of this particular chayah looked like that of a calf is proof of something unusual, i.e. that the wingspan of the chayah was shortened so that it was unable to cover the feet with its wings. The purpose of all this was to remind the prophet and through him the Jewish people of the sin of the golden calf and that though G’d no longer had an account to settle with us, He had not “forgotten” about it having occurred. Such a mention, remembrance, of that sin, while not producing retribution, does make the application of the attribute of Mercy more difficult, “weakens” that attribute when we invoke it. I will discuss this subject when discussing the law of ציצית, the wearing of which is meant to remind us of G’d’s commandments (Numbers 16,38).

A Kabbalistic approach: The words פוקד עון אבות על בנים are a reference to the mystical dimension of what is known as סוד העבור, “the mystery of the transmigration of souls.” G’d may allocate (impose the need) of a second and even a third repetition of physical life on earth to the soul of the sinner to give him a chance to rehabilitate himself in those lives on earth in different bodies. When combined with the original life on earth this makes a total of up to four lives on earth experienced by some people. This aspect of G’d’s retribution was mentioned by the woman from Tekoah to David (Samuel II 14,14) when she spoke about certain מחשבות, calculations which G’d makes in His administering His Justice. G’d calculates all this in order to ensure that as few souls as possible will be consigned to eternal oblivion.

It is important to understand a very important saying found in the Sefer HaBahir (item 16, Margolies edition) on this subject. Rabbi Rechumai is quoted as saying the fact that light was created before the universe was created is documented in Genesis 1,3 where G’d said: “let there be light and there was light.” G’d’s advisors said to G’d: “before You create Your son Israel (or man) make a crown for him.” G’d responded positively. He said to them that the matter was comparable to a king who was very anxious to have a son. He found a beautiful crown whose beauty he praised by saying: “this crown will be fit for my son.” They said to him: “does he know that the son will be worthy of such a crown?” The king retorted (angrily) ‘be silent,’ this is what I have in mind.” To this they applied the verse from Samuel II 14,14 which we quoted that “He made plans so that no one may be kept banished.” Thus far the quotation from Sefer HaBahir. The saying is an illustration of the חסד of the Lord Who created a mechanism designed to forestall the permanent loss of a Jewish soul. This idea is spelled out in Sahedrin 90 where the Talmud states that all Israelites are entitled to a share in the world to come. In support of this the Talmud quotes Isaiah 60,21 “and Your people, all of them righteous, shall possess the land for all times. They are the shoot I planted, My handiwork in which I glory.” Solomon referred to this mystical dimension when he said (Kohelet 1,9) “whatever has been that shall be, etc.” He also said: “a generation departs and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever the same” (Kohelet 1,4). Had Solomon meant what the superficial reader believes he meant he should have said: “a generation comes and a generation departs, etc.” The fact that he employed the reverse sequence, i.e. speaking of those who have departed the earth as if they had never made an appearance on earth first, indicates that he refers to the dead who will be reincarnated in order to ensure that no one will be lost permanently. In fact, the word דור used by Solomon, a word we usually translate as “generation” is closely related to כדור, “ball, globe,” i.e. something that has neither end nor beginning. The word indicates that the people of whom Solomon speaks will resurface at a time when it pleases the Lord.

וימהר משה, “Moses hastened;” According to the plain meaning of the words Moses’ prostrating himself promptly was an expression of his gratitude for G’d’s attribute of grace and Mercy which had been applied to him. We must not believe G’d forbid what the shallow-minded people believe, that Moses used this act of prostrating himself before G’d in order to forestall G’d from enumerating more attributes which could serve as ways of punishing Israel. Ibn Ezra quotes such opinions in his commentary, attributing them to shallow-minded people. The idea of Moses daring to interrupt G’d while He was speaking is quite intolerable. Seeing that one does not even dare interrupt a king of flesh and blood while he is speaking, how much more unthinkable is it to try and interrupt G’d when He is speaking as Ibn Ezra correctly counters.

The true meaning of the verse is that after G’d had completed His words Moses promptly bowed and prostrated himself before the attribute of כבוד which had passed before his face. He acted much like the subject of a king upon whom the king had bestowed a rare distinction. Before leaving the king’s presence one prostrates oneself before him.

A Midrashic approach (Sanhedrin 111) What did Moses perceive that made him hasten, i.e. וימהר, to prostrate himself at this point? Rabbi Chanina ben Gamliel said that he saw the attribute ארך אפים; the other scholars said that he saw the attribute אמת, “truth.” This interpretation of the Midrash (Psalms 93) corresponds to the plain meaning of the text. Rabbi Chanina who said that Moses saw the attribute ארך אפים meant that Moses acknowledged gratefully that G’d revealed to him the existence of this attribute as it is an attribute which both the righteous and the sinners are in need of. Unless G’d extended this attribute to the Jewish people both habitual sinners and the righteous who rarely sin would perish as the result of their guilt before they have time to repent their errors. The opinion expressed by the other scholars, i.e. that Moses acknowledged the attribute אמת, truth, is also in line with the plain meaning of the text. They understood the significance of that attribute to be that G’d would not only be slow to anger but that He would eventually annul the sin altogether. They therefore felt that Moses acknowledged an even greater attribute, i.e. truth, when he prostrated himself at this point. Moses acknowledged the fact that G’d would never again bring up the subject of the sinner’s previous guilt. [The assumption is that the sinner had repented, confessed, etc. in the interval. Ed.]

A Kabbalistic approach: The meaning of the statement by the different Rabbis that Moses either acknowledged the attribute of ארך אפים or the attribute of אמת is not to be misunderstood. The two Rabbis quoted by the Midrash are not in disagreement with one another. Both view the attribute of ארך אפים as the decisive attribute. They agreed that the attribute originates in the emanation גבורה and as such is part of the attribute of Justice. Seeing that Rabbi Chanina perceived the list of attributes mentioned by the Torah as proceeding in an ascending manner, he concludes with the attribute ארך אפים. The other scholars who perceived the list of attributes as proceeding from the top down, conclude with the attribute popularly known as אמת, as they view it as decisive. In their view the expression אמת is more appropriate to express the decisiveness of that attribute’s impact on the sinner and his future.

There is another comment in the Midrash concerning which attribute triggered Moses’ prostrating himself. Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov is quoted as favoring the attribute ארך אפים, whereas the other scholars spoke of the attribute רחמים. From all this we conclude that it was the attribute called אמת as its very name indicates that it is of decisive influence as it indicates that in the final analysis considerations of mercy prevail.

וסלחת לעונינו ולחטותינו ונחלתנו, “and forgive our iniquity and error and make us Your inheritance.” Seeing Moses was so humble he included himself in the list of people needing forgiveness. By rights he should have said: “forgive them their iniquities and their errors.” The prophet Jeremiah, who was also a member of the tribe of Levi (a priest) learned from Moses when he said: (Jeremiah 14,7) “though our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for the sake of Your name.” He too did not refer to the sins of the Jewish people as “their iniquities.” When Moses said ונחלתנו instead of ותנחילנו as is found elsewhere, especially in our liturgy, the reason may be that that he meant for G’d to make us G’d’s heritage. We find this idea reflected in Deut. 32,9 “for His people are part of G’d, Yaakov is the measure of His inheritance.” We also have a verse (Lamentations 3,24) where the prophet Jeremiah describes the relationship of the Jewish people to G’d in those terms, saying: “the Lord is my portion, my soul says with full heart, therefore I will hope in Him.” The meaning of the verse is that the Jewish soul is aware of G’d being its only true share. This is why the only hold on life on this earth Israel has is its service to the Lord.

אשר לא נבראו בכל הארץ ובכל הגוים, “the like of which have not been created anywhere on earth nor amongst any of the nations.” G’d referred specifically to the arrest of the sun and moon in their respective orbits by Joshua and regarding the radiation of rays of light from Moses’ forehead. This is why G’d added the words: “which I perform with you.” Seeing that in this verse G’d promised Moses that he would experience miracles which had never been performed before, he was encouraged to request such a miracle when his legitimacy as a leader was challenged by Korach and company in Numbers chapter 16. Moses requested that the unrepentant Korach be swallowed up live by the earth (Numbers 16,29-30). I shall discuss that decree of G’d further when commenting on the episode in question.

אלוהי מסכה לא תעשה לך, “do not make for yourself a cast image as deity.” The meaning is: “such as you have made up until now when you constructed the golden calf.” This had been an error because the people had wanted to counter (find means to frustrate) G’d’s attribute of Justice The reason this warning is appended to the commandment to observe the Passover rituals is that this festival is a reminder of G’d’s attribute of Mercy in action. Once the people remember the attribute of Mercy in action they will not feel the need to devise means to counter the attribute of Justice. Please reflect on how the Torah presents the Passover rituals here, i.e. the prohibition of chametz. The wording לא תשחט על חמץ דם זבחי, “do not slaughter My blood-offering while in the possession of leavened food,” is certainly most enigmatic [even after we have made it intelligible already by translating its meaning rather than its precise wording, Ed.] I believe that the Torah wishes to hint to us that both חמץ and מצה in this verse represent basic attributes of G’d, i.e. דין ורחמים. The same applies to the laws about mixing milk and meat at the end of this paragraph (verse 26). This is the reason that this whole passage appears in the paragraph in which the 13 attributes (nuances) of G’d are listed. If you find something similar in Exodus 22,24 where the legislation about not mixing milk and meat also appears, the reason is that that paragraph also dealt with the Sabbath legislation (Exodus 23,12) and mention of the six days we are to work and the seventh day on which we are to rest. It is similarly a reference to G’d expressing different attributes of His on the weekdays from those displayed primarily on the Sabbath. To sum up: the subjects of בשר וחלב, חמץ ומצה, שבת וימי חול, all are allusions to G’d’s different attributes at work in His relationship with man.

כל בכור בניך תפדה ולא יראו פני ריקם. “You shall redeem every firstborn of your sons. They shall not appear before Me empty-handed.” If someone has the good fortune to be a firstborn this is a true distinction. To some degree he shares this distinction with G’d Himself Who is also “a first in the universe.” The offering of sacrifices prior to the sin of the golden calf was always performed exclusively by the respective firstborn of the family. This is why Yaakov was envious of his twin brother Esau who had this privilege. The wicked Esau sold his privilege, thereby displaying his contempt for service of the Lord. After the sin of the golden calf the firstborn were disqualified seeing they had participated in that sin instead of acting as true priests restraining the other Jews from worshipping the golden calf. Their function was taken over by the tribe of Levi, some of whom became priests, others performing tasks allocated to the Levites in the Book of Numbers. Although the firstborn were no longer accorded the privilege of performing priestly functions, they did retain the distinction of being firstborn, a distinction vis-a-vis people who are not firstborn. Our sages (Vayikra Rabbah 2,2) state that whenever the Torah speaks of someone being לי, “for Me,” i.e. for G’d, the meaning is that such a status is accorded permanently both in this world and in the world to come. The Jewish people who are described as being set aside for G’d with the words ואבדיל אתכם מן העמים להיות לי, “I have separated you from the other nations to belong to Me,” are an example of what we just said. Another example is Numbers 3,45 והיו לי הלוים, “the Levites will remain Mine.” The same expression occurs in connection with the earth seeing G’d says in Exodus 19,5 כי לי כל הארץ for the entire earth is Mine. The Torah also writes of the firstborn that they belong to the Lord, i.e. כי לי כל בכור. This means that the firstborn does not forfeit this status either in this life or in the world to come. Thus far the Midrash. The commandment involving the firstborn applies exclusively to male firstborns This is what is meant when the Torah wrote כל פטר רחם בבני ישראל, “every opening of the womb amongst the sons of Israel” (Exodus 13,2). The Torah also writes וכל בכור אדם בבניך תפדה, “and every firstborn human amongst your sons you shell redeem” (verse 13 in that chapter). It is incumbent upon a firstborn to devote himself to Torah and G’d’s commandments more than other people who do not share this distinction with him. His father must perform the duty to redeem him as this commandment devolves in the first instance on the father. Should the father have failed to perform this redemption the firstborn son must redeem himself when he comes of age (Kidushin 29). If the redemption is neglected both by his father and himself he is subject to being punished for our sages write that the reason that this legislation is written in connection with the duty to perform the pilgrimage to the Temple is to remind people to redeem the firstborn as the firstborn who have been redeemed will experience the privilege of welcoming the Shechinah and will live to see the Temple rebuilt. Those who have not been redeemed will not see the rebuilding of the Temple.

ששת ימים תעבוד וביום השביעי תשבות, “You shall labour for six days and rest on the seventh day.” Here the Torah mentions the Sabbath legislation in the very middle of the laws of the Passover and those concerning the firstborn seeing that all of these three commandments are a reminder of the act of creation. The reason the Torah adds that the Sabbath rest must be observed both during the harvest season and the ploughing season is that these are the seasons when the farmer is most concerned with performing his tasks without delay to ensure success. The Torah therefore reminds the farmer that the Sabbath legislation overrides otherwise important duties connected to his daily labour. The word תשבות emphasises the need to abstain from work-like activity on the Sabbath (Nachmanides).

יראה כל זכורך, “everyone of your males shall appear, etc.” The females are exempt from this commandment (Chagigah 2).The blind and the lame are also exempt from this commandment. The mystical dimension of all these exemptions is related to the cloud of G’d’s attribute of כבוד which accompanied the Jewish people and which was so bright and pure that it reflected the image of the beholder much as a mirror reflects it and these images were seen by all the Israelites. Whatever was inside the cloud could not be seen outside it. Seeing that it is not seemly for the image of the pilgrims which were afflicted with the handicaps we mentioned to be seen as reflected by the cloud, they were exempted from this legislation. This is the meaning of the peculiar wording in verse 24 “when you go up to see the face of the Lord your G’d, etc.” Although the spelling of the word is לראות, “to see,” it is read as if it had the vowels of le-ra-ot, i.e. “to be seen.” Our sages (Chagigah 2) rule that even a one-eyed person is exempt from the requirement to make this pilgrimage. They base this on the word יראה in verse 23 which is understood to mean that the person who comes to be seen must also be able to see.[the spelling of the text allows for either vocalisation. Ed.] Just as a person comes to be seen by the Shechinah which has two eyes (is not defective), so he himself is subject to this legislation only if he has two serviceable eyes. Avraham already used this expression יראה after his Mount Moriah experience when he proclaimed that at that mountain of G’d man is seen by the Shechinah (which has two eyes) compare Genesis 22,14.

כתב לך את הדברים האלה כי על פי הדברים האלה כרתי אתך ברית. “Write down for yourself these words as these words are the ones for the sake of which I have sealed a covenant with you.” According to the plain meaning of these words the instruction “write it down for yourself” means that Moses should record the conditions which form the basis of the covenant between G’d and Israel. This includes recording the conditions under which they accepted the Torah saying נעשה ונשמע, i.e. volunteering to observe whatever G’d would tell them to do. The conditions which applied before they had received the first set of Tablets would also govern their receiving the second set of Tablets. G’d commanded Moses to write this in book form. When G’d repeated: “for on the basis of these words, etc.,” implying that the oral instructions were the binding ones, when He could simply have said על פיהם, “in accordance with them,” our sages (Gittin 40) point out that this was a reference to the oral Torah. G’d said that laws communicated to Moses only orally may not be committed to writing. On the other hand, words (laws) which I commanded you to commit to writing must not become material to be studied and quoted only by word of mouth. The meaning of the whole verse then could best be summarized as follows: “if you observe the commandments which I commanded you to write down and you observe the commandments which I gave you only orally, then the covenant I have made with you remains operative. If, however, you made any changes to the conditions of the covenant I shall not be bound by it.”

A Midrashic approach (Tanchuma Vayera 5): “Rav Yehudah son of Shalom said that Moses requested that the Mishnah (collection of the oral Torah) should also be committed to writing.” G‘d told him: “I shall write down for you רובי תורתי, most of My teachings but they will be considered as something alien” (based on Hoseah 8,12). What was all this conversation about? The oral Torah represents mystical dimensions of Torah not accessible except to G’d-fearing individuals. If such parts of the Torah were to be accessible to everybody (by being available in book form) their impact is likely to be counterproductive. G’d does not reveal His secrets to anyone other than those who fear Him as we know from Psalms 25,14. Thus far the Midrash.

If I understand this Midrash correctly the words משנה מסתורים “Mishnah of secrets” means that the Mishnah reveals mysteries hidden in he written Torah. Study of the oral Torah will make the meaning of the written Torah much clearer to the student. The “secrets” are in reality the parts of the written Torah which the reader has difficulty with. [The Mishnah, dealing with halachah, is or appears to be quite straightforward. Ed.] You are already aware that the Mishnah corresponds to the second letter ה in the tetragrammaton which is the explanation of the mystical, the hidden name of the Lord. The name of G’d we are not to utter is representative of what is contained in the Mishnah. It is also the key to understanding the written Torah properly and the written Torah receives its authoritative interpretation only by means of the Mishnah. [In other words, the written text of the Torah cannot serve as the basis of halachah, rulings governing normative Judaism. Ed.] This was the reason that G’d wanted the oral Torah to be engraved on the ‘tablets’ of our hearts rather than merely on a parchment. This is the meaning of what G’d said to Moses “if the Mishnah were to be committed to writing it would be considered as alien.”] If all parts of the Torah, written and oral, were available in book form then the advantage which the Jewish people enjoyed over the Gentiles as a result of accepting the Torah at Mount Sinai would disappear. This is the meaning of the words in Hoseah 8,12 כמו זר נחשבו, i.e. that the Jewish people would be considered as just like the Gentiles. There is yet another reason why the oral Torah was meant to remain only “oral.” It was meant to deny the Gentiles an argument they could use on the day of Judgment. Let me illustrate what I mean by means of a parable. A king sent a sealed letter to his sons, employing a trusted servant to deliver the letter. In that letter he issued instructions to his sons how to conduct themselves both with him and with the rest of the world. In addition he issued oral instructions to his servant which formed the postscript to what was written in the letter itself. This “postscript” included the promise of a great reward for all those who would enter into a covenant with him and observe all that was written in the original letter. What did the people of that country do? They made themselves a copy of what was written in the letter, claiming that they too had a written document from the king promising them such a reward. They claimed that they too observed what was written in the letter. When the time came for the king to hand out the reward all the people of his kingdom lined up as potential recipients (not just the king’s sons). The king asked them if they had observed all that they had been instructed to observe. As the citizens were unaware of the postscript they were in no position to list the instructions contained in the postscript. The king, realising, that someone had tampered with his letter, said: “may their souls perish.”

This is what the Talmud alluded to at the beginning of Avodah Zarah (folio 2) when it says that in the future G’d would bring a Torah scroll and deposit it in His lap and say: “Is there anyone amongst you who can tell Me זאת? [a reference to Isaiah 43,9 where the Torah is referred to as זאת. Ed.] Upon hearing this all the citizens realized that they had been found out. They left the proximity of the Lord in fear of their lives.

This leaves us with the problem of why Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi, who decided to edit and publish the oral Torah in written form (some 1600 years after the revelation at Mount Sinai), decided to contravene what had been sacred instructions not to commit the oral Torah to paper. He was motivated by a very real fear that unless this were done the whole oral Torah was about to become forgotten as the circumstances of the Jewish people at his time and the dispersal of the people all over the world made it impossible for large parts of the people to memorise all that material. The venerable Rabbi based himself on the verse in Psalms 119,126 עת לעשות לה' הפרו תורתך, “at a time when they have violated Your Torah it is time to act on behalf of the Lord,” [actions which violate the Torah and which are decreed in defence of Torah must be temporary by definition. Ed.] Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi proceeded to edit the oral Torah as what is known today as the Mishnah, seeing it is like a second version of the written Torah and most of it is in clear and unsmistakable Hebrew similar to the written Torah. In the course of the centuries after Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi, the people’s ability to absorb Torah learning declined further so that Ravina and Rav Ashi saw fit to commit the Talmud, the commentary on the Mishnah, to writing also. During the era of Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi most people of his generation (scholars?) were still thoroughly conversant with the meaning of the Mishnah, so that it did not need to be elaborated on. This situation had undergone a drastic change in the few centuries between the era of Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi and Rav Ashi and his contemporaries. We find that in the Talmud the sentence: “something is missing in the text of the Mishnah and it should read as follows, etc.” occurs quite frequently. This does not mean that the text of the Mishnah had been handed down incorrectly. It means that matters which were clear from the text to people in the generation of its editor, Rabbi Yehudah, were no longer clear to the people of the generation of Rav Ashi so that in order to clarify them for the people of his time the text was emended. (Compare Zohar Tzav edition by Reuben Margolies folio 27 note 12) The word אתך in our verse means “for your sake,” meaning that G’d had made the covenant with the people for the sake of Moses.

ויהי שם עם ה', “He remained there with the Lord, etc.” The expression “with the Lord” means that Moses’ nourishment during these forty days was provided by the attribute חסד and the radiation of supernatural light. We base this on the words כי עם ה’ החסד in Psalms 130,7 and on Daniel 2,22 ונהורא עמיה שרא, “and (supernatural) light dwells with Him.” This is the same source that will provide the righteous with their nourishment in the world to come. It is the meaning of Psalms 36,8-10: “How precious is Your faithful care, O G’d! Mankind shelters in the shadow of Your wings. They feast on the rich fare of Your house; You let them drink at Your refreshing stream. With You is the fountain of life; by Your light do we see light.” לחם לא אכל ומים לא שתה, “he ate neither bread nor drank water, etc.” It is well known that bread and water are sources of nourishment for the body. It is also true that the soul is maintained alive thanks to the body functioning as a result of its intake of the necessary nutrients. It is no more than logical that if a body can keep an abstract soul alive that the celestial food, i.e. abstract food can do so no less. Seeing that the source of Moses’ food were such celestial abstract nutrients it is not surprising that he could remain on the mountain for forty days without need for physical food. When we consider the function of food on a more fundamental level, the truth is that the food necessary for maintaining the body is composed of a number of interrelated causes and ingredients. The various causes originate in celestial domains, in the domain where G’d creates life itself. When Moses was given the celestial kinds of nutrients we mentioned, this merely means that while on Mount Sinai Moses was able to eliminate some of the root causes which enable physical food to keep the body functioning. He was able to take a shortcut compared to ordinary individuals on earth. This is also the meaning of our sages (Vayikra Rabbah 20,10) on Exodus 24,11 “they saw G’d and they ate and drank.” Rabbi Yochanan interpreted the words to mean that these people ate “true” food, i.e. אכילה ודאית. He based this on Proverbs 16,15 באור פני מלך חיים, “in the light of the king’s face there is light.” [Rabbi Yochanan understood the vision which the people mentioned in that verse saw as being the celestial light which translates into nutrients for our bodies. Ed.]

A Midrashic approach (based on Tanchuma Ki Tissa 36) “seeing that Moses remained on the mountain for 40 days and forty ‘nights,’ how did he know when it was day and when it was night? When G’d taught him the written Torah he knew it was day whereas when G’d taught him the oral Torah he knew it was night.” In G’d’s domain there is no difference between day and night as we know from combining the contents of the verses in Daniel 2,22 and Psalms 139,12 i.e. “there is light with Him, and even when it is dark (on earth) it is not dark for You. The night shines as brightly as day.” The sages (in that same paragraph) also explain that when Moses observed the stars and the planets bowing down before the Lord, Moses knew that it was night; this is the meaning of Nechemyah 9,6: “the hosts of heaven bow down before You.”

ויכתוב על הלוחות, “He wrote on the tablets, etc.” The subject of these words is G’d, of course, not Moses, G’d forbid! G’d had already made clear in verse one of our chapter that He Himself would do the writing on the Tablets when He said: “I will write just as on the original ones.” Actually, at the time (verse 1) all the Torah had to write were the words וכתבתי על הלוחות הדברים, וגו’. Why did the Torah add the word את? This was in order to draw our attention to the fact that the text on the second set of Tablets included the letter ט in the words למען ייטב לך as apart from the reward for observing the commandment to honour father and mother. The text in Exodus chapter 20, while promising long life for keeping this commandment, does not promise that one will enjoy a good life. The letter ט does not appear anywhere in the wording of the first Tablets. I have already drawn attention to this fact in my commentary on Parshat Yitro at the end of Exodus 20,17. Our sages explain further that the sequence of: “he remained there for forty days, etc.,” followed by “He wrote on the Tablets” mean that G’d inscribed the second set of Tablets in Moses’ presence.

The forty days of which our verse speaks were the third time that Moses spent forty days on the mountain. During the second period of forty days on the mountain he had devoted all his time to obtaining forgiveness for the sin of the golden calf, as he said in Deut. 9,25: “I threw myself down before Hashem for the forty days and forty nights that I threw myself down, for Hashem wanted to destroy you.”

והנה קרן עור פניו, “and behold! the skin of his face had become radiant.” We know of the light which represents wisdom and we know light which emerges out of darkness. The former kind of light is the light G’d employed to create the universe. Concerning that light our sages have said that it preceded the first directive of G’d in the Book of Genesis, i.e. “let there be light.” This light which was employed as a tool in G’d’s work of creation is known as ראשית. Moses attained this light in his heart, and it was this light which separated him from all other prophets making him superior to all of them. The light which emerges out of darkness is the essence of fire, it is known as אור מוגרש, ”light which has been expelled.” This is the light which was applied to Moses, the light which is here called as radiating from the face of Moses. He acquired this ability to radiate light as a result of obtaining the second set of Tablets whereas he had not achieved this ability when he received the first set of Tablets when he was described as “turning and descending from the mountain” (32,15). During the period when the first set of Tablets was being prepared the people had still been under the spiritually uplifting experience of the revelation, everyone of them having been a party to insights never before granted to man. Now that they were no longer on that spiritual level and G’d had even warned them that “no one will ascend (spiritually) with you” (34,3), they would not have credited Moses with continuing to be on such a level had there not been some visible evidence of that. G’d provided this when he made Moses’ skin emit rays of light. Another way of looking at the absence of this phenomenon when Moses received the first set of Tablets is that seeing his stature of G’d’s prophet had been established beyond all doubt he had not had any need to provide the Israelites with visible evidence of that. Seeing that in His wisdom G’d had been aware that Moses was going to smash the first Tablets, He had delayed equipping him with this power to emit rays of light until he had been given the second set of Tablets.

וייראו מגשת אליו, “they were afraid to approach him.” Bamidbar Rabbah 11,3 comments that here we find evidence of the effect of sin. As long as the people had not been guilty of the sin of the golden calf they had been able to see the attribute of כבוד penetrating seven different kinds of fire in doing so without becoming unnerved. We know this from Exodus 24,17 that “the appearance of the attribute of כבוד of the Lord was like fire consuming the top of the mountain, visible to the eyes of the Children of Israel.”

This verse has seven words, matching the seven מחיצות, “dividing” domains which the eyes of the Israelites had to penetrate in order to behold that attribute of the Lord with their eyes. Now, after the sin, they were unable to even look at the intermediary (Moses) of even a single one of these מחיצות. This is the meaning of the words וייראו מגשת אליו.

Moses merited these rays of light as a result of having stood in the cave when the glory of G’d passed by (33,22). This idea is confirmed in Chabakuk 3,4 קרנים מידו לו ושם חביון עזו, ”it is a brilliant light which gives off rays on every side- and therein His glory is enveloped.” The Torah’s wording here also suggests that the immediate source of this light which Moses’ face emitted was the writing of G’d on the Tablets. It is not unlike what Solomon wrote in Kohelet 8,1 “that the wisdom of man lights up his face.”

A Midrashic approach (Tanchuma Ki Tissa 36) to the words “Moses’ face emitted rays of light, etc.” All of the glory Moses had achieved in this world represented only the “fruits,” the dividends of his true reward. The real reward was reserved for him in the world to come. This statement is based on the verse in Chabakuk that the rays of light emanate from Him. Thus far the Midrash.

I believe the way to understand this somewhat enigmatic statement is that the emission of rays is to be considered as the “dividend” whereas the “real thing” is the actual source of light, not merely the emissions we perceive as emanating from its source. Rays of light are comparable to fruit falling from a tree. The real source of the fruit is the tree itself. In the world of the future Moses would experience the source of this light from which he emitted only rays in this world.

ויכל משה מדבר אתם ויתן על פניו מסוה, “Moses finished speaking with them and placed a mask on his face.” The meaning of this verse is that while Moses was teaching the people the commandments he did not wear a mask or anything else which separated his face from the people he addressed. The same applied when Moses spoke to G’d. When the Torah writes: “and when Moses would come into the Tent of Meeting in order to speak with Him he would remove the mask until he left the Tent,” (34,34) the Torah describes a routine which Moses had followed ever since the Torah had been given at Mount Sinai. When he addressed the people, communicating what G’d said to him, he never wore a mask. Moses would not put on the mask until he had completed speaking to the people about instructions he had received from G’d. He did so in order that they should not feast their eyes on holy matters when not engaged in receiving instruction of a sacred character.

Moses retained the facility to emit these rays described here for the remainder of his life on earth. He retained it even on the day he died as we know from Deut. 34,7 that “his eye did not weaken nor did he lose his vitality.”

וראו בני ישראל את פני משה, “When the Children of Israel saw the face of Moses, etc.” We need to understand why the name of Moses is mentioned three separate times in this verse. The Torah could simply have written: כי קרן עור פניו והשיב את המסוה, “as soon as the skin of his face emitted rays of light he put the mask back on.” According to the plain meaning of the text we may understand the fact that the Torah bothers to mention Moses’ name three times as corresponding to the three times 40 days which Moses had spent on the mountain. It is a fact that during each of his stays on the mountain Moses achieved a greater degree of forgiveness from G’d. The radiations of light from Moses’ face may well have intensified each time he had achieved part of his purpose. This is why not only the name Moses but also the word פנים appears here three times. We may conclude that the very name משה assumed a greater significance in terms of his spiritual achievements during every visit on the mountain. The name had originally been derived from Pharaoh’s daughter saying that she had pulled him from the water. At that time the “water” referred to was physical water. In the interval Moses had graduated to Torah, otherwise known as the Jewish people’s “spiritual water,” their lifeline. Moses’ spiritual progress may reflect the saying of the sages in in Baba Kama 17 that אין מים אלא תורה, “the only water which is a true source of life is the Torah.” Moses’ very name contains within it an allusion to the fact that he would be able to hear the Shechinah speak to him at some time in the future. (The name משה is an acrostic of the respective first letters in the words מבין שני הכרובים, “from between the two cherubs” the angel-like figures on the lid of the Holy Ark from where G’d’s voice appeared to speak to Moses.)

A Kabbalistic approach to why Moses’ name appears three times in our verse: The fact that both the word משה and the word פנים is mentioned here three times is in order to pay a great compliment to Moses. The word פנים as we have seen repeatedly is a substitute for an attribute of the Lord. The Torah which is intrinsically G’d’s Torah has been called such on occasion such as when David says תורת ה' תמימה, “the Lord’s Torah is perfect.” On the other hand, the prophet Malachi 3,22 refers to it as Moses’ Torah when he said: “remember the Torah of Moses My servant, etc.” Just as we find that in that instance G’d paid honor to Moses by describing His Torah also as Moses’ Torah, so in our verse G’d paid Moses a compliment showing that He accorded him as much honor as had been accorded to Him. There were occasions in the Torah when Moses invited G’d (the Torah which was contained in the Ark) to rise or to repose, such as Numbers 10,35, and 36. According to a variety of Midrashim we are dealing with only one of numerous examples where G’d reciprocates by honoring Moses.

[The author lists many more examples. The interested reader is referred to Torah Shleimah by Rabbi M. Kasher on Va'eira 7,1 for a broader discussion on the subject. The common denominator of all of this is the use by the Torah of the same expressions for things performed by G’d and Moses respectively. Ed.]

עד באו לדבר אתו, “until he came to speak with Him.” Actually, the Torah should have written עד באו לדבר את ה'. Why is it that the same verse which mentions the name of Moses again and again when a pronoun would have sufficed, does not accord G’d the courtesy of referring to Him by name? We again have to fall back on the statement we have already made that the entire verse is an example of the great compliment the Torah pays to Moses. Once we understand by means of such examples- how great was the esteem in which G’d held Moses, it is easier to understand that Moses as distinct from other prophets conducted a dialogue with G’d much as when people speak to each other. The informal manner in which the Torah describes Moses as communicating with G’d by even omitting to mention G’d by name, reflects this intimate relationship which existed between G’d and Moses. At the very end of the Torah (Deut. 33,11) this is spelled out for us once more when the Torah describes this unique and never repeated phenomenon of the communications between G’d and Moses, and Moses and G’d respectively, by comparing it to כאשר ידבר איש אל רעהו, “just as a man speaks to his fellow.”