Shavuot תרל”ג

מיו”ט שבועות בקיצור ראשי דברם שאני זוכר

התורה היא חיות וקיום מעשה בראשית. ברוך אומר ועושה הוא על מעשה בראשית שנבראו בעשרה מאמרות. וגוזר ומקיים הוא על הדברות שמקיימים העולם:
The Torah is the life force and the reason for the existence of creation. “Blessed is He that says and does” (Pesukei Dezimra). This is referring to the creation of the world that was created through (saying) the “ten expressions”.
“Who decrees and fulfills” is referring to the commandments with which the world maintains its existence. (The dibur is the revelation of HaShem’s dominion of the world)
(HaShem gives the entire world existence מהווה (without this the world will cease existing, it is required constantly) . Furthermore, even inanimate objects need a constant life force to exist from HaShem מחיה.
Furthermore there is also the קיום that connects everything together and allows that combination of physical and spiritual to coexist.)

בפסוק אל תיראו כו’ נסות אתכם כו’ תהי’ יראתו על פניכם כו’.
(When receiving the Torah, Bnei Yisrael became very fearful for their existence,and asked Moshe to speak to them instead of HaShem). The pasuk states (Shemos 20:17) “Moshe spoke to the nation and said, “Do not fear for HaShem has come to test you, and so that His fear will be upon you, so that you do not sin”
לאו רישא סיפא.
The end is incongruent with the beginning. (the beginning Moshe tells them not to fear, yet in the end of the pasuk hesays “so that His fear will be upon you)?
וי”ל כי היראה נצרך להיות ע”פ האדם כדי שלא יבוא לידי חטא.
We can answer that thefear is indeed necessary to prevent a person from sinning,
אבל מ”מ צריך האדם להתחזק לעבוד להשי”ת באהבה.
However one must strengthen himself to serve HaShem out of love.
אף שמכיר את מקומו כי נתרחק ע”י חטאים. מ”מ ע”ז נאמר ודגלו עלי אהבה. ובמד’ דילוגו עלי כו’ אף שלא בהדרגה.
Now even though one may realise that he is very distanced from HaShem, due to his sins. Nevertheless regarding this it states “ודגלו עלי אהבה” “His banner of love was over me. (SHir Hashirim 2:4) As the Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 18:3) states דילוגו עלי an expression of skipping. (That one can skip stages when it comes to love. “lechatchila ariber”)
שבאמת השי”ת אמר הטיבו כו’ אשר דברו כי היו רחוקים ממדריגת מרע”ה אעפ”כ אם היו חפצים בכל לב להתקרב הי’ מתקבל כנ”ל:
For in truth HaShem states “They have spoken correct”, for even though Bnei Yisrael were on a far lower level than Moshe Rabeinu, nevertheless if by longing with all their heart to get closer, that is accepted.

בגמ’ ויתיצבו כו’ שכפה עליהם ההר מודעא רבה כו’.
The Gemara (Shabbos 88a) explains that when Bnei Yisrael received the Torah, HaShem lifted up the mountain like a barrel above Bnei Yisrael and told them that if they do not accept the Torah then they will be buried under it. The Gemara further explains that since it was forced upon us, this acts as a major excuse for not fulfilling the Torah’s directive.
י”ל כי בשעת מתן תורה הי’ חירות כמ”ש חז”ל.
We can explain this based on the idea that our sages explained (Vayikra Rabbah 18:3), that at the time of receiving the Torah there was freedom.
והפירוש שהי’ מתגלה פנימיות החיות של הטבע ג”כ. והי’ משועבד כל הטבע להשי”ת בלבד וכמו שיהי’ לעתיד שמו אחד.
The explanation is that the inner life force of nature was revealed, and the entire nature was subjected exclusively to HaShem, just as it will be in the future when His name will be one (and everyone will recognize that there is nothing but His).
[וי”ל ששתי לחם רומז על זה] [We can explain that the two loaves brought on Shavuot hint to this idea. (The barley loaves refer to the sustenance of this world an the flour loaves refer to the sustenance of the world to come)].
כמ”ש וירד ה’ על הר סיני ומתרגמינן ואתגלי כו’. שהי’ גילוי החיות בכל הנבראים. וכ”כ אתה נגלית.
This is clear in the words “And HaShem came dow on Har Sinai” (Shemos 19:20) Onkelos explains this means that He revealed Himself.
That there was a revelation of the life force that is contained in every part of creation. Similarly it states (Musaf Rosh Hashana) “You revealed Yourself…”
וכ”כ פנים בפנים דיבר כו’ שהי’ כל הבריאה מכוון למעלה לשורש החיות ואיתא כשאמר השי”ת אנכי ה’ אלקיך היו כל פרטי הנבראים סבורין שלהם הדיבור עד שאמר אשר הוצאתיך כו’ ע”ש.
SImilarly it states “Face to face HaShem spoke (Devarim 5:4), which means that every part of creation was directed exactly to its source above, and when HaShem said “I amHaShem Your G-d” every single part of creation understood that HaShem was talking directly to it. However wehn Hashem said “who took you out of Mitzrayim”, then the rest of creation realised that HaShem was talking to Bnei Yisrael.
והפי’ כי ודאי השי”ת הוא החיות והכח של כל הנבראים. ובאמת ה’ אלקיך קאי על כל הבריאה. רק שהתגלות מלכותו ואלקותו לכל הבריאה הוא ע”י ישראל.
The idea here is that clearly HaShem is the life force and energy of the entire creation. And in truth “I am HaShem your G-d” refers to every single part of creation, however the revelation of the dominion of HaShem and his Power to all of creation is through Bnei Yisrael.
וז”ש אשר הוצאתיך כו’.
This is the idea of the words “who took you out of Mitzrayim” (That our mission is to bring this revelation to the wrold).
ונחזור לדברינו שכיון שהי’ מתגלה החיות והי’ תיקון הראוי. ממילא צריך להיות שלא יוכל האדם לחטוא. כי הטבע עצמו מעכב שלא יעבור שום אדם על דעת קונו. וזה ענין כפה עליהם ההר כו’.
To return to our original words. Since there was such a clarity of life force, and everything was repaired and properly in its place (at ht e time of the giving of the Torah), automatically there was no ability to sin. For nature itself prevented every person from encroaching on the will of his master. This is the idea of “HaShem lifted the mountain above like a barrel. (That due to the absolute revelation and clarity, there was no free choice to sin).
שהטבע עצמו נתבטל וראו והבינו כי אין להם חיות בלי חיות התורה. כי לא הי’ אז חיות מסט”א רק מסטרא דקדושה.
For nature itself was completely nullified and Bnei Yisrael saw and understood with absolute clarity, that they have no life force without theTorah, for there was no other life force from the side of impurity, there was only from the side of holiness.
וזה עצמו המודעא שלא היו יודעין שאח”כ יחזור הטבע להיות נסתר. ואז נראה להם הכל בחוש הראות שא”א לסור מהש”י חי החיים.
This in itself was the idea that there remained an excuse for us not to follow the Torah (because we were forced originally). Because they did not know at the time of receiving th eTorah (when there was absolute revelation), that this revelation would go away, (and they would subsequently be confused) and the revelation will be hidden from them.
However then they saw with clarity that it is impossible to stray from HaShem the life of all life.
ולכך מצוה לזכור יום אשר עמדת לפני ה’ אלקיך והוא ההתגלות שהי’ אז עומד כל אדם לפני ה’ ממש כנ”ל.
Therefore it is now a mitzvah to recall the day that we stood before HaShem our G-d at Har Sinai, For this is the revelation that was then, when we were literally standing in front of HaShem, as above.
והדר קבלוה כשראו הנס תוך הטבע האמינו שהוא רק הסתר אבל הפנימיות רק חיות התורה כנ”ל:
However (the Gemara above explains that even though there was an excuse not to follow the Torah) yet Bnei Yisrael reaccepted the Torah (during the time of Purim), when they then saw the miracles that took place in nature, and realised that everything in nature is just a cover, yet the inner element of everything is only the life force of the Torah. As above.

בגמ’ א”ר יוסף אי לאו האי יומא כמה יוסף איכא בשוקא.
The Gemara (Pesachim 68b) states that R’ Yosef would thouroughly enjoy the Shavuot meal, and would state “If not for this day (that makes me special) there would be many Yosef’s in the market”
וקשה אדרבה לא הי’ ר’ יוסף כזה נמצא כלל.
However his words are seemingly difficult, for if not for the Torah, there would not be aby Yosef’s at all?
וי”ל כי קודם נתינת התורה ודאי הי’ ג”כ הטוב נגנז רק שבמתן תורה נתגלה ונפרש הטוב מרע שלא יהי’ מעורב. והבן:
We can answer that before the giving of the Torah, it is clear that even the good was hidden, it was only at the giving of the Torah that there was a revelation and the good was separated from the bad, and was no longer mixed together. and understand this.
(This means that without the giving of the Torah, even if R’ Yosef would be constanly striving to better himself, and fulfiling the Torah (just as Avraham did), it would still always be limited to “Yosef in the market”. “The market” here refers to this world and the combination of good and bad. However once the Torah is given, there is the ability to completely separate and even convert, the bad to good, something that was only revealed with the giving of the Torah.)

ענין קריאת רות בשבועות. שהוא ענין תורה שבע”פ. שהקב”ה מבקש שבנ”י במעשיהן יוסיפו על התורה שבכתב כי הרי מעשה צדיקים הם תורה. ונעשה ממעשי בועז ורות מגילה שהוא ברוה”ק.
Regarding the idea of reading the book of Rus of Shavuot. This is the idea of the Oral Torah, for HaShem wants Bnei Yisrael with their physical actions to add onto the written Torah. This is evident that the actions of the tzadikim (in the story of Rus) actually became Torah, adn the actions of Rus and Boaz actually became a Megilla which was written with Ruach hakodesh.
וכ’ וידבר אלקים כו’ לאמר. פי’ שבנ”י יאמרו מעצמם כדברים האלה.
Similarly it states (when HaShem gave the Torah) “And HaShem spoke all these things saying-לאמר. (The word לאמר is usually used when Moshe was commanded to pass this on to the rest of Bnei Yisrael, yet here the entire Bnei Yisrael was at Har Sinai, so why does it say לאמר). The idea is that (the word לאמר teaches us) that Bnei Yisrael should say from themselves these words. (ie by toiling in the Torah one brings out new chidushim that become revealed)
וכ”כ אשר נתן לנו תורת אמת וחיי עולם נטע כו’. והוא תורה שבע”פ שמצד זה מיוחד התורה לבנ”י. שדעתם מיוחד להשיג סתרי התורה שנסתר ואינו מפורש בתורה.
Similarly it states (in the blessing on th Torah) “That he has given us the true Torah, and the life of the world is planted within us”. This refers to the Oral Torah which, from this element, is unique to Bnei Yisrael. For (only) their understanign is able to comprehend and undersatn dthe secrets fo the torah, that are hidden and not written explicitly in the written Torah.
וזה עצמו ענין בועז דאיתא הפי’ בו עז.
This is exactly the point of the name Boaz which can be spelt בו עז – in him is עז strength, refering to the Torah. (הי עוז לעמו יתן)
והיינו שהי’ מאמין בדברי חכמים שדרשו עמוני ולא עמונית ולא הי’ לו ספק בדבר כפלוני שאמר פן אשחית. והוא אדרבה הי’ שמח בדבר להראות שדרשת חכמים היא התורה שניתן מסיני. ואמונת חכמים הוא יסוד תורה שבע”פ.
This is becasue Boaz believed the teaching of our sages that explained that when it said an Amoni cannot marry into Klal Yisrael this was only refeerrign to the males and not the females. Boaz had absolutely no doubt in this explanation of the sages, unlike Ploni Almoni, that doubted this teaching and was concered that by marrying Rus, he would lose his inheritance.
Yet conversely, Boaz was happy to be able to demonstarte that the teaching of the sages, is true Torah from Sinai. This belief in the sagees, is the foundation of the Oral Torah.
והוא ענין אמת ואמונה. תורה שבכתב מפורש בלי הסתר. אך הרצון מבנ”י בעולם השפל הזה לבוא אל האמת ע”י אמונה.
This is the idea of אמת ואמונה – truth and emuna.. The Written Torah is clear without anything hidden, however HaShem wants Bnei Yisrael in this lowly world to come to the truth through emuna (belief in the sages)
כי היצה”ר מוסר עצמו על זה להסיר האמונה מן האדם. ושיהי’ נדמה בעיניו כמרוחק מהשי”ת ואומר לאדם שהוא גיאות להתקרב להשי”ת בתפלה שבלב וכדומה.
This (emuna is neceessary) because the evil inclination expends itself greatly to remove one’s emuna. And tries to convince the perso that they are distanced from haShem, and tells him that it is haughtiness to thing that he can become close to haShem in prayer of the heart, etc.
אבל באמת אדרבה ההתקרבות להשי”ת מביא יראת שמים. וצריך האדם לתת לב לראות איך אינו בוש לחשוב הבלי עולם אף כי מלא כל הארץ כבודו. ואיך יבוש מלהרהר מה שהוא רצונו ית’ באמת.
However in truth, it is the opposite. By getting close to HaShem, it brigns the person to fear of Heaven. And a person should pay attention (and notice that this talk about not being worthy is only from the evil inclination). For a person should (really) think that he is embarrased to think worldly matters, when the entire worldis fulfilled with the presece of HaShem, and how can one be so brazen to think thoughts that are not the will of HaShem. (Yet when it comes to not sinning a person doesn’t have thoughts of awareness of HaShem, this shows that when a person thinks it is haughtiness to come close to HaShem it is only talk of the evil inclination).
ויראה שמה”ט הוצרכו בנ”י לשמוע ב’ דברות ראשונות מהשי”ת בעצמו. כדי שיאמינו זה באמת כי השי”ת הוא החיות של כל אדם. כמ”ש אנכי ה’ אלקיך ממש כל החיות שלך.
It would seem that for this reason Bnei Yisarael needed to hear the first two commandments directly from HaShem. So that they will believe with absolut clarity tha tHaShem is the life force of each person. As it staes “I am HaShem you G-d”, literally all of your life force.
וז”ש לשון יחיד כי פנימיות החיות של כל ישראל היא נקודה אחת שנותנת חיים לכל הנבראים כמ”ש ואתה מחי’ את כולם.
For this reason it is wrtten in a singular expression אלקיך, for the innerlife force of every Yisrael is the point that gives life to the entire creation, as it states “And You give them all life”.
וכן אמרו חז”ל לעולם יראה אדם עצמו כאלו קדוש שרוי בתוך מעיו. כי הרי לאדם צדיק נתגלה השראת השכינה שבו. ואין האדם משתנה לדבר חדש ע”י המעשים. רק שנתגלה פנימיות החיות שבקרבו כדכתיב ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים כו’.
So too our sages say (Makos 24b) taht a person should always feel as if there is holiness inside of him (ie HaShem is within him).
Now a persn does not change into something else through his actions, it is really the inner life force of HaShem that is inside him that is being revealed.
וכפי מה שמאמין בזה החיות ואינו שוכח ומייגע תמיד להתדבק בשורש החיות זוכה לאמת ע”י אמונה כנ”ל.
In as much as a person believes the life force and does not forget, rather constanly strives to connect tot he source of the life, one merits to truth trhough emuna.
וצריך האדם להאמין שכמו שבמאמרו ית’ יהי אור מאיר עוד היום האור. כן במאמרו אנכי ה’ אלקיך יש חיות אלקות בכל איש ישראל:
A person must believ that just as the expression of Hashem “let there be light”, gives us light till this day, so too the words of HaShem “I am HaShem Your G-d” gives us the G-dly life force in each and every Yisrael.

קרב אתה ושמע. והלא עמהם הי’ עומד שם והם נתרחקו ומה קרב.
(When Bnei Yisrael realised that they could not hear the Torah beig given directly from HaShem theysaid to Moshe:) “You go close” (Devarim 5:24).
However this is difficult for Moshe was standign with Bnei Yisrael and they were they one’s that (according to the Midrash) left Moshe and went further back, (so why does the Midrash say that they toldMshe to go closer?)
ונראה שכשהי’ שליח מכל ישראל לשמוע עבורם הי’ צריך להתקרב יותר למעלה.
It would seem that when Moshe was acting as the messenger on behalf of Bnei Yisrael he actually had to go to an even higher (spiritual) level. (For when he was with Bnei Yisrael he dropped down to their level, therefore he had to go back up a level)
ובילקוט איתא שלא רצה ליקרב ומלאכים קרבוהו בע”כ דכ’ ומשה נגש כו’ ע”ש.
The Yalkut (Shimoni 1:301) that Moshe did not want to get close and the angels forcibly brought him closer. This is apparent in the words and “Moshe drew close” (which is written in a passive tense)
[גם י”ל כי למשה הי’ הדיבור ממקום גבוה יותר. רק ע”י שכל ישראל שמעו מקודם. לא הי’ ממקום גבוה כ”כ. ואפשר זה הי’ רצון בנ”י באמת]:
[Furthermore we can explain that when the words of Moshe directed to Moshe were from a higher level, it was only when the entire nation of Bnei Yisrael heard it together that it was from a lower place. And perhaps this indeed was really the intention of Bnei Yisrael that Moshe should gain a higher level] (see Sfas Emes Yisro תרמ”א 1)

בענין אמירת בני ישראל פן נמות.
The idea that Bnei Yisrael (that they do not want to hear the direct voice of HaShem) “For perhaps we will die” (Shemos 20:16)
אף שמסרו נפשם לקדושת שמו ית’.
Now they had already committed to forgo their life (when they said Na’aseh V’nishma (so why were they concerned they would die?)
ופי’ מו”ז ז”ל כי חששו שלא יתקיימו הדברות בידם כיון שיהי’ עפ”י נס ונס הוא רק לשעה.
The Chidushei Harim answered that (they were not concerned about their own lives, for they had already forgone them. Rather) they were concerned that the perhaps the Torah will not be able to last if they received it directly, fo the their existence now was miraculous and a miracles are temporary.
ובזה פי’ הכ’ תורה צוה לנו משה עי”ז מורשה כו’ לעולם ודפח”ח.
Regarding this it states “Moshe commanded us the Torah” and because it was through Moshe (therefore the pasuk continues) “an inheritance to the congregation of Yaakov” (Devarim 33:4). And therefore it could last forever.
ועפ”י פשוטו נראה כי היו דברות של חיים ואין מהראוי שיבואו על ידי הדברות למיתה כדכתיב וחי בהם ולא שימות. א”כ נראה מדיצאה נשמתן הוא ראי’ שאין הדיבור מיוחד להם רק ע”י מרע”ה.
According to the simple reading we can explain that being as the words of Torah are life giving, it was incongruent that these very words would cause death, as it states “And you shall live by them” (Vayikra 18:5) and not die by them. Therefore it was clear to Bnei Yisrael that as they died from this, it was proof that they could only receive the Torah via Moshe Rabeinu.
כמו שכן הי’ האמת דכ’ הטיבו כו’ אשר דברו
This indeed was the truth as HaShem Himself said “they have spoken well” (Devarim 5:25)
[ואפשר גם מרע”ה א”ל אל תיראו כו’. אבל כשהרגישו יראה בנפשותם באמת טוב עשו באמרם קרב אתה כו’]:
[Perhaps Moshe as well who said: Do not fear”, yet when he felt the fear in their souls, he realised that indeed they had spoken correctly by saying “You go close” (Devarim 5:24)