Jonah's D'var Torah

What verses are really highlighted and with which trope mark?

Explain the Masoretic system of tropes...

Explain pazer

https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10465-masorah

This is going to get very "insider"...we're going to talk Torah tropes - the little symbols that tell us how to chant words. We're going to talk about the major CRIME of the Jewish centuries. We're going to talk about what God says to an angry Moses and what Moses says to an angry God.

I thought my parsha was a candidate for a shalshelet. Let me explain: the story of the Golden Calf is one of the MAJOR stories of the Jewish tradition. It's found right in the middle of my Torah portion.

Before studying my Torah portion, I had guessed that if my parsha did have a shalshelet it would be over the word: וישבר - to break - as in when Moshe breaks the TWO TABLETS of the TEN COMMANDMENTS THAT GOD GAVE HIM when he saw the Golden Calf.

To my surprise - no shalshelet!

Even where I thought it would be some interesting trope to highlight the moment there was the MOST BASIC TROPE mercha tipha mercha sof pasuk...(chant it) - which is at the end of almost EVERY verse of the Torah. So, the very moment Moses broke the tablets no fancy music, underplayed, and uninteresting.

שמות ל״ב:י״ט

(יט) וַֽיְהִ֗י כַּאֲשֶׁ֤ר קָרַב֙ אֶל־הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔ה וַיַּ֥רְא אֶת־הָעֵ֖גֶל וּמְחֹלֹ֑ת וַיִּֽחַר־אַ֣ף מֹשֶׁ֗ה וַיַּשְׁלֵ֤ךְ מִיָּדָו֙ אֶת־הַלֻּחֹ֔ת וַיְשַׁבֵּ֥ר אֹתָ֖ם תַּ֥חַת הָהָֽר׃

Exodus 32:19

(19) As soon as Moses came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he became enraged; and he hurled the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.

SO, where ARE the Pazers? (My four for their two)

שמות ל״ב:י״ג

(יג) זְכֹ֡ר לְאַבְרָהָם֩ לְיִצְחָ֨ק וּלְיִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל עֲבָדֶ֗יךָ אֲשֶׁ֨ר נִשְׁבַּ֣עְתָּ לָהֶם֮ בָּךְ֒ וַתְּדַבֵּ֣ר אֲלֵהֶ֔ם אַרְבֶּה֙ אֶֽת־זַרְעֲכֶ֔ם כְּכוֹכְבֵ֖י הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וְכׇל־הָאָ֨רֶץ הַזֹּ֜את אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָמַ֗רְתִּי אֶתֵּן֙ לְזַרְעֲכֶ֔ם וְנָחֲל֖וּ לְעֹלָֽם׃

Exodus 32:13

(13) Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, how You swore to them by Your Self and said to them: I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your offspring this whole land of which I spoke, to possess forever.”

שמות ל״ג:י״ג

(יג) וְעַתָּ֡ה אִם־נָא֩ מָצָ֨אתִי חֵ֜ן בְּעֵינֶ֗יךָ הוֹדִעֵ֤נִי נָא֙ אֶת־דְּרָכֶ֔ךָ וְאֵדָ֣עֲךָ֔ לְמַ֥עַן אֶמְצָא־חֵ֖ן בְּעֵינֶ֑יךָ וּרְאֵ֕ה כִּ֥י עַמְּךָ֖ הַגּ֥וֹי הַזֶּֽה׃

Exodus 33:13

(13) Now, if I have truly gained Your favor, pray let me know Your ways, that I may know You and continue in Your favor. Consider, too, that this nation is Your people.”

שמות ל״ד:ד׳

(ד) וַיִּפְסֹ֡ל שְׁנֵֽי־לֻחֹ֨ת אֲבָנִ֜ים כָּרִאשֹׁנִ֗ים וַיַּשְׁכֵּ֨ם מֹשֶׁ֤ה בַבֹּ֙קֶר֙ וַיַּ֙עַל֙ אֶל־הַ֣ר סִינַ֔י כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה יְהֹוָ֖ה אֹת֑וֹ וַיִּקַּ֣ח בְּיָד֔וֹ שְׁנֵ֖י לֻחֹ֥ת אֲבָנִֽים׃

Exodus 34:4

(4) So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as יהוה had commanded him, taking the two stone tablets with him.

שמות ל״ד:ט׳

(ט) וַיֹּ֡אמֶר אִם־נָא֩ מָצָ֨אתִי חֵ֤ן בְּעֵינֶ֙יךָ֙ אֲדֹנָ֔י יֵֽלֶךְ־נָ֥א אֲדֹנָ֖י בְּקִרְבֵּ֑נוּ כִּ֤י עַם־קְשֵׁה־עֹ֙רֶף֙ ה֔וּא וְסָלַחְתָּ֛ לַעֲוֺנֵ֥נוּ וּלְחַטָּאתֵ֖נוּ וּנְחַלְתָּֽנוּ׃

Exodus 34:9

(9) and said, “If I have gained Your favor, O my lord, pray, let my lord go in our midst, even though this is a stiffnecked people. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own!”

BIG IDEA - originally I thought it was going to be how Moshe broke the tablets and all about the sin of AM YISRAEL except when I went through and saw what was emphasized by the Masoretic system of trope, or cantillation marks, in this case pazers, I saw that these important ta'amim, the real MUSICAL parts of my parsha, were all about FORGIVENESS, REPENTANCE and SECOND CHANCES.

How does this connect to the idea(s) above?

The Masorites who recorded the trope and ASSIGNED them to words highlighted those four specific phrases, because they relate to the hidden central theme of the parsha which is FORGIVENESS - NOT THE SIN and the BREAKING OF THE TABLETS PER SE.

When I was sitting in shul and looking through the English translation of my parsha, as one does, I found one verse in particular that interested me - Shemot 32: 12

(Read it)

שמות ל״ב:י״ב

(יב) לָ֩מָּה֩ יֹאמְר֨וּ מִצְרַ֜יִם לֵאמֹ֗ר בְּרָעָ֤ה הֽוֹצִיאָם֙ לַהֲרֹ֤ג אֹתָם֙ בֶּֽהָרִ֔ים וּ֨לְכַלֹּתָ֔ם מֵעַ֖ל פְּנֵ֣י הָֽאֲדָמָ֑ה שׁ֚וּב מֵחֲר֣וֹן אַפֶּ֔ךָ וְהִנָּחֵ֥ם עַל־הָרָעָ֖ה לְעַמֶּֽךָ׃

Exodus 32:12

(12) Let not the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he delivered them, only to kill them off in the mountains and annihilate them from the face of the earth.’ Turn from Your blazing anger, and renounce the plan to punish Your people.

In the Hertz Chumash, which is the dark blue book some of you are holding, it translated וינחם as "And God repented."

I brought this up in my first study session with Rabbi Bolton, and I told him how curious I was about this verse. God repents?! It doesn't seem very characteristic of God in the Torah.

Books came flying off the shelf. Did God indeed repent? Was there another way to understand and translate my verse?

Soon we had five different chumashim on the table each with its own unique translation. As we know, the Hertz translation was "God repented." The Stone said "God relented." The Eitz Hayyim translated as, "He renounced." And a different printing of the Stone Chumash from seven years after the first printing translated וינחם as "God reconsidered."

We had to get heavier machinery! The BDB was introduced to me. That is the dictionary that every rabbinical student has to buy before going to study in seminary. The Brown Driver Briggs Lexicon of the Old Testament (thank you to our neighbors) translated the root נ,ח,ם as NONE OF THE ABOVE..."to console."

The BDB lexicon sends you to other verses in the Tanakh where the same root is used, in order to help understand the meaning of a word. So, I went to Jeremiah (Yirmiyahu) 15:6 where the root is used.

ירמיהו ט״ו:ו׳

(ו) אַ֣תְּ נָטַ֥שְׁתְּ אֹתִ֛י נְאֻם־יְהֹוָ֖ה אָח֣וֹר תֵּלֵ֑כִי וָאַ֨ט אֶת־יָדִ֤י עָלַ֙יִךְ֙ וָֽאַשְׁחִיתֵ֔ךְ נִלְאֵ֖יתִי הִנָּחֵֽם׃

Jeremiah 15:6

(6) You cast Me off
—declares the LORD—
You go ever backward.
So I have stretched out My hand to destroy you;
I cannot relent.

It also appeared in Jeremiah 20 16

ירמיהו כ׳:ט״ז

(טז) וְהָיָה֙ הָאִ֣ישׁ הַה֔וּא כֶּעָרִ֛ים אֲשֶׁר־הָפַ֥ךְ יְהֹוָ֖ה וְלֹ֣א נִחָ֑ם וְשָׁמַ֤ע זְעָקָה֙ בַּבֹּ֔קֶר וּתְרוּעָ֖ה בְּעֵ֥ת צׇהֳרָֽיִם׃

Jeremiah 20:16

(16) Let that man become like the cities
Which the LORD overthrew without relenting [BUT I THINK IT SHOULD BE: repented...and so does the DAVKA WRITER TANAKH]!
Let him hear shrieks in the morning
And battle shouts at noontide—

From Jeremiah 15: 6 God is tired and done with relenting.

Except with 20: 16 relenting makes less sense and REPENTING fits better and paints a more vivid picture of God having no regrets for destruction he caused...destruction we might call a DIVINE SIN.

This gets us to SHUV M'Heron Apekha....

שמות ל״ב:י״ב

Exodus 32:12

Moses has to explain, demand, and command God to REPENT! to turn back....to repent, relent, turn back, reconsider, console, renounce....

But now what we're focused upon is MOSES is the one taking a BIG RISK! After all that has happened, Moses knows that he has a deep enough relationship with God and he can speak with God in that way.

Moses also wants the People to have a relationship with God. What better way than to have a MERCIFUL God who is able to relent and realize the first thought about what to do with sinners was to destroy them.

שמות ל״ב:י״ד

(יד) וַיִּנָּ֖חֶם יְהֹוָ֑ה עַל־הָ֣רָעָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר דִּבֶּ֖ר לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת לְעַמּֽוֹ׃ {פ}

Exodus 32:14

(14) And יהוה renounced the punishment planned for God’s people.

We need to give GOD second chances...

If we didn't give GOD second chances we wouldn't be AM YISRAEL SEVEN times over! Maybe more.

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