סברה ושכל אנושי בתורת ה' - שבועות תשפ"ה

Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.

(1) Ho, all who are thirsty, Come for water, Even if you have no money; Come, buy food and eat: Buy food without money, Wine and milk without cost. (2) Why do you spend money for what is not bread, Your earnings for what does not satisfy? Give heed to Me, And you shall eat choice food And enjoy the richest viands. (3) Incline your ear and come to Me; Hearken, and you shall be revived. And I will make with you an everlasting covenant, The enduring loyalty promised to David. (4) As I made him a leader of peoples, A prince and commander of peoples, (5) So you shall summon a nation you did not know, And a nation that did not know you Shall come running to you— For the sake of the ETERNAL your God, The Holy One of Israel who has glorified you. (6) Seek GOD while you can, Call out while [God] is near. (7) Let the wicked give up their ways, The sinful, their plans; Let each one turn back to GOD So as to be pardoned; To our God, Who freely forgives. (8) For My plans are not your plans, Nor are My ways your ways —declares GOD. (9) But as the heavens are high above the earth, So are My ways high above your ways And My plans above your plans. (10) For as the rain or snow drops from heaven And returns not there, But soaks the earth And makes it bring forth vegetation, Yielding seed for sowing and bread for eating, (11) So is the word that issues from My mouth: It does not come back to Me unfulfilled, But performs what I purpose, Achieves what I sent it to do. (12) Yea, you shall leave in joy and be led home secure. Before you, mount and hill shall shout aloud, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. (13) Instead of the brier, a cypress shall rise; Instead of the nettle, a myrtle shall rise. These shall stand as a testimony to GOD, As an everlasting sign that shall not perish.

The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Azazel is so called because it atones for the actions of Uzza and Azael. These are the names of “sons of God” who sinned with “daughters of men” (Genesis 6:2) and thereby caused the world to sin during the generation of the Flood. The Gemara cites another baraita related to the scapegoat. The Sages taught with regard to the verse: “You shall do My ordinances, and you shall keep My statutes to follow them, I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 18:4), that the phrase: My ordinances, is a reference to matters that, even had they not been written, it would have been logical that they be written. They are the prohibitions against idol worship, prohibited sexual relations, bloodshed, theft, and blessing God, a euphemism for cursing the Name of God. The phrase: And you shall keep my statutes, is a reference to matters that Satan and the nations of the world challenge because the reason for these mitzvot are not known. They are: The prohibitions against eating pork; wearing garments that are made from diverse kinds of material, i.e., wool and linen; performing the ḥalitza ceremony with a yevama, a widow who must participate in a levirate marriage or ḥalitza; the purification ceremony of the leper; and the scapegoat. And lest you say these have no reason and are meaningless acts, therefore the verse states: “I am the Lord” (Leviticus 18:4), to indicate: I am the Lord, I decreed these statutes and you have no right to doubt them.

(II Sam. 22:31 = Ps. 18:31 [30]:) AS FOR GOD, HIS WAY IS PERFECT…; for all the ways of the Holy One are perfect. What does the Holy One care whether one ritually slaughters cattle and eats < the meat > or whether one slaughters cattle by stabbing and eats it? Will some such thing benefit him (i.e., the Holy One) or harm him? Or what does he care whether one eats what is unclean or eats what is clean? It is simply that (according to Prov. 9:12) IF YOU ARE WISE, YOU ARE WISE FOR YOURSELF; [AND IF YOU SCOFF, YOU WILL BEAR IT ALONE]. Thus, the commandments were given only to purify (rt.: TsRP) [mortals] through them, as stated (in II Sam. 22:31 = Ps. [18:31 [30], cont.): THE WORD OF THE LORD IS PURE (rt.: TsRP). Why? So that he might be a shield over you, [as stated] (ibid., cont.): HE IS A SHIELD FOR ALL WHO TAKE REFUGE IN HIM. Ergo (in Lev. 11:2:) THESE ARE THE CREATURES THAT YOU MAY EAT.

Concluding the laws of prayer in this tractate, the mishna raises several prayer-related matters. This mishna speaks of certain innovations in the prayer formula that warrant the silencing of a communal prayer leader who attempts to introduce them in his prayers, as their content tends toward heresy. One who recites in his supplication: Just as Your mercy is extended to a bird’s nest, as You have commanded us to send away the mother before taking her chicks or eggs (Deuteronomy 22:6–7), so too extend Your mercy to us; and one who recites: May Your name be mentioned with the good or one who recites: We give thanks, we give thanks twice, they silence him. This mishna and the next one deal with the communal prayer leader. (If one says: “May the good bless You,” this is a path of heresy.) One who is passing before the ark, as prayer leader, and erred, another should immediately pass in his place, and at that moment, this replacement should not refuse in the interest of courtesy. The Amida prayer was interrupted and he should replace him as quickly as possible. From where does the replacement commence? From the beginning of the blessing in which the former had erred.

GEMARA: Our mishna cited three instances where the communal prayer leader is silenced. The Gemara clarifies: Granted, they silence one who repeats: We give thanks, we give thanks, as it appears like he is acknowledging and praying to two authorities. And granted that they also silence one who says: May Your name be mentioned with the good, as clearly he is thanking God only for the good and not for the bad, and we learned in a mishna: One is required to bless God for the bad just as he blesses Him for the good. However, in the case of one who recites: Just as Your mercy is extended to a bird’s nest, why do they silence him? Two amora’im in Eretz Yisrael disputed this question; Rabbi Yosei bar Avin and Rabbi Yosei bar Zevida; one said that this was because he engenders jealousy among God’s creations, as it appears as though he is protesting the fact that the Lord favored one creature over all others. And one said that this was because he transforms the attributes of the Holy One, Blessed be He, into expressions of mercy, when they are nothing but decrees of the King that must be fulfilled without inquiring into the reasons behind them.

“If a bird's nest will happen before you on the way, on any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs, and the mother is crouching on the fledglings or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the offspring” (Deuteronomy 22:6). You shall surely send away the mother, and then take the offspring for yourself, so that it will be good for you, and you will have length of days (Deuteronomy 22:7). Ki Tetze. “If a bird's nest will happen before you” – halakha: A baby who was born circumcised, what is the ruling, is it permitted to circumcise him? This is what the Sages taught: A baby who is born circumcised, one must draw covenantal blood from him, because of the covenant of Abraham. From where can you derive this from the Torah? It is as it is stated: “You shall surely circumcise [himol yimol] those born in your house, or those purchased with your money” (Genesis 17:13). Another interpretation, himol yimol – read it only as two acts of circumcision, circumcision and peeling back. Rabbi Levi said: Himol yimol – from here we learn that the circumciser must himself be circumcised, as it is written: “Himol yimol.” Rabbi Yudan ben Pazi said: What is written regarding Tzippora, Moses’s wife? “Then she said: A bridegroom of blood [because of circumcisions…]” (Exodus 4:26). “Because of circumcision” is not written here, but rather, “circumcisions” – from here we learn about circumcision and from here we learn about peeling back. Why is a baby circumcised at eight days? It is because the Holy One blessed be He extended mercy towards him, to wait for him until he has his strength. Just as the mercy of the Holy One blessed be He extends towards people, so does His mercy extend over animals. From where is this derived? It is as it is stated: “From the eighth day on, [it shall be accepted as a fire offering to the Lord]” (Leviticus 22:27). Moreover, the Holy One blessed be He said: “It and its offspring you shall not slaughter on one day” (Leviticus 22:28). And just as the Holy One blessed be He extended mercy towards animals, so did He become filled with mercy towards the birds, as it is stated: “If a bird's nest will happen before you.”

As Theologians are divided on the question whether the actions of God are the result of His wisdom, or only of His will without being intended for any purpose whatever, so they are also divided as regards the object of the commandments which God gave us. Some of them hold that the commandments have no object at all; and are only dictated by the will of God. Others are of opinion that all commandments and prohibitions are dictated by His wisdom and serve a certain aim; consequently there is a reason for each one of the precepts: they are enjoined because they are useful. All of us, the common people as well as the scholars, believe that there is a reason for every precept, although there are commandments the reason of which is unknown to us, and in which the ways of God’s wisdom are incomprehensible. This view is distinctly expressed in Scripture; comp. “righteous statutes and judgments” (Deut. 4:8); “the judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether” (Ps. 19:10). There are commandments which are called ḥuḳḳim, “ordinances,” like the prohibition of wearing garments of wool and linen (sha‘atnez), boiling meat and milk together, and the sending of the goat [into the wilderness on the Day of Atonement]. Our Sages use in reference to them phrases like the following: “These are things which I have fully ordained for thee: and you dare not criticize them”; “Your evil inclination is turned against them”; and “non-Jews find them strange.” But our Sages generally do not think that such precepts have no cause whatever, and serve no purpose; for this would lead us to assume that God’s actions are purposeless. On the contrary, they hold that even these ordinances have a cause, and are certainly intended for some use, although it is not known to us; owing either to the deficiency of our knowledge or the weakness of our intellect. Consequently there is a cause for every commandment: every positive or negative precept serves a useful object; in some cases the usefulness is evident, e.g., the prohibition of murder and theft; in others the usefulness is not so evident, e.g., the prohibition of enjoying the fruit of a tree in the first three years (Lev. 19:73), or of a vineyard in which other seeds have been growing (Deut. 22:9). Those commandments, whose object is generally evident, are called “judgments” (mishpatim); those whose object is not generally clear are called “ordinances” (ḥuḳḳim). Thus they say [in reference to the words of Moses]: Ki lo dabar rek hu mi-kem (lit.” for it is not a vain thing for you, “Deut. 32:74); “It is not in vain, and if it is in vain, it is only so through you.” That is to say, the giving of these commandments is not a vain thing and without any useful object; and if it appears so to you in any commandment, it is owing to the deficiency in your comprehension. You certainly know the famous saying that Solomon knew the reason for all commandments except that of the “red heifer.” Our Sages also said that God concealed the causes of commandments, lest people should despise them, as Solomon did in respect to three commandments, the reason for which is clearly stated. In this sense they always speak; and Scriptural texts support the idea.

Any person who does not carry out their directives transgresses a negative commandment, as Ibid. continues: "Do not deviate from any of the statements they relate to you, neither right nor left."Lashes are not given for the violation of this prohibition, because it also serves as a warning for a transgression punishable by execution by the court. For when a sage rebels against the words of the court, he should be executed by strangulation, as the following verse states: "A person who will act deliberately...."We are obligated to heed their words whether they:a) learned them from the Oral Tradition, i.e., the Oral Law,b) derived them on the basis of their own knowledge through one of the attributes of Biblical exegesis and it appeared to them that this is the correct interpretation of the matter,c) instituted the matter as a safeguard for the Torah, as was necessary at a specific time. These are the decrees, edicts, and customs instituted by the Sages.It is a positive commandment to heed the court with regard to each of these three matters. A person who transgresses any of these types of directives transgresses a negative commandment. This is derived from the continuation of the above verse in the following manner: "According to the laws which they shall instruct you" - this refers to the edicts, decrees, and customs which they instruct people at large to observe to strengthen the faith and perfect the world. "According to the judgment which they relate" - this refers to the matters which they derive through logical analysis employing one of the methods of Biblical exegesis. "From all things that they will tell you" - This refers to the tradition which they received one person from another.