049 Rav Twersky 900AM Mussar Rav Hutner Letter 25 June 25 2020

Good morning. I hope you are well. We're going to take a look in Michtav Kaf Hey this morning, but we're going to begin in the middle. We're going to begin with Os Beis of Michtav Kaf Hey. So this letter is also reacting to something that we've seen in the previous letters, the discussion apparently in one of the ma'amorim how taryag mitzvos are necessary to bring a person to shleimus and that's reflected in the symmetry between ramach mitzvos ase שס"ה מצוות לא תעשה with the ramach evarim shasa gidim and that in fact Adam haRishon on some level also was nistava in taryag mitzvos. So now the shoel posed the following question: Hincha kosev. So we're there in Os Beis.

שישה דברים שנצטוו להם אדם הראשון נלמדים הם בגמרא מפסוק ויצו ה' אלהים על האדם.

The gemara in Sanhedrin darshans that this pasuk of ויצו ה' אלהים על האדם for the

שבע מצוות בני נח. הפסוק הזה הרי הוא נאמר באדם של קודם החטא.

This pasuk is still by אדם הראשון קודם החטא. So the shoel asked, if in light of that chazal that we saw that Rav Hutner quoted in the previous in Michtav Kaf Daled as well,

ואם היה האדם מצווה ברמ"ח ושס"ה מה צורך עוד לחייבו מחדש בשש.

Sheva mitzvos or six, if Adam doesn't have אבר מן החי, is for someone who's not metzuve in taryag. Someone who's metzuve in taryag, so just what meaning does it have to say that he's being nistava on sheva mitzvos?

דע לך כי נגעת בנקודה יסודית המחייבת בירור וליבון כי קושטא דמילתא גם לדידי המאמר שלמדנו נמצאת קושיא עומדת בגמרא הנ"ל. במימרא דגמרא הנ"ל. דהרי דבר פשוט הוא דמעלת תרי"ג גדולה היא על מעלת הזיין.

Right? It's clearly that taryag is geared towards a higher level. Ve-hine ro'im. And yet, on the other hand, והנה רואים עכ"פ שחז"ל מפליגים במעלת מעמד הר סיני. When the chazal want to talk, when chazal depict for us the extraordinary level of kedusha ve-tahara that was attained by ma'amad Har Sinai, so how do chazal depict it? הרי פסקת הפלגתם היא. The peak, the summit, the ultimate of what one can say, which is what chazal say כי הגיעו למדרגה של קודם החטא. That when we stood at the foot of Har Sinai, we attained once again that pristine exalted state that Adam had kodem ha-cheit. כידוע מאמר חז"ל על הפסוק paska zuhamasam. That when the nachash was ba al Chava so hitil ba zuhama. That through the cheit of Chava and Adam, so then this spiritual filth came into the world and when we stood at the foot of Har Sinai, so then paska zuhamasam. So then we were, there was a catharsis and we were cleansed from that.

והביא על זה את הפסוק אני אמרתי וגו' בני עליון כולכם.

Achen ke-adam temusun. Ve-harei Rav Hutner says again reinforcing the kasha of the shoel במעמד הר סיני בודאי שעמדו אז על מדרגת תרי"ג. What is it that we attained by ma'amad Har Sinai? Again that higher level of shleimus ha-adam which comes from having taryag mitzvos. Ve-im kein. And that and what and that madrega of ma'amad Har Sinai is lauded, is depicted as being oh how great that mayla is, it was the same as Adam kodem ha-cheit.

ואם כן כיצד אפשר לומר דאדם הראשון קודם החטא נצטווה בשש מצוות?

So how can we be darshaning from the pasuk? How can the fact be that Adam haRishon nistava be-sheish mitzvos?

ומעתה צא ופרנס דברי הגמרא סנהדרין דאלפינן שש מצוות לאדם הראשון מפסוק שנאמר לפני החטא. קושיא זאת צריך עיון.

Here's a very nice line: לגזול את מנוחתו של האדם המעמיק. This should, this should disturb a person. This should not allow a person to rest until he, until he gets a handle on this kushya. ועתה אבוא לגלות אוזנך בביאור פירושו של החתם סופר. I'll tell you pshat. מצינו בתנ"ך הרבה עונשים שבאו לרשעי אומות העולם. Tanakh also accounts of punishments which had to be meted out to evil people of the umos ha'olam.

וכל דברי הנביאים מלאים מזה. וגם בתורה מצינו מאורעות כסדום ועמורה וכדומה.

And lechora גם מאורע המבול יכול לשמש דוגמה לזה. And lechora one could include the Mabul in this list of instances in which Hashem as it were bleizbeire punishes. אבל אין זה אלא לכאורה, for the kushya de'milsa in truth,

עונש המבול עומד הוא בודד לעצמו בין כל המאורעות של עונשין מדברי ימי העולם.

But in truth there's something unique and the uniqueness isn't in its magnitude. The magnitude is a reflection of its uniqueness. There's something unique about the punishment of the Mabul.

והבדל זה בין עונש המבול לשאר עונשים מפורש הוא בחומש. כי המקרא צווח ואומר

nichamti ki asisim. Kavyachol Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, kavyachol, I regret having created Adam. Again, as the Ibn Ezra and the Radak comment there, דיברה תורה כלשון בני אדם. Obviously Hashem doesn't have, doesn't have regret. What it means is that Adam has forfeited his right to exist. Let's say when a person has regret, so what does it mean when we have regret? It means oh, I made a mistake. What I did yesterday, what I did a month ago, I regret having done it. I made a mistake. So דיברה תורה כלשון בני אדם, when the Torah expresses the idea that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is saying that humanity has forfeited its right to exist, so then it's expressed as nichamti ki asisim. But obviously it doesn't mean Hashem has charata.

ופירש בתורה שעונש המבול מהלך של חרטה יש בו. כל חרטה,

again, all this is talking on the level of

דיברה תורה כלשון בני אדם. כל חרטה פירושה הוא שאם היה סופו של דבר גלוי בהתחלתו של דבר היה בזה מניעה מעשיית אותו דבר.

Again, when a person has a charata mei'ikar, let's say when you make a hatarat nedarim and with a charata mei'ikar, so I regret ever having taken the neder.

והנה עונש המבול בא לעולם מפני שעברו שש מצוות שנצטווה בהן אדם. ומכאן אנו למדים שקיומם של שש מצוות הללו היה מעין תנאי ביצירת האדם.

The שבע מצוות בני נח are not simply mitzvos that were commanded, but it's a sine qua non, it's a tnai kodem lama'aseh that Hakadosh Baruch Hu says I'm interested, as it were, in creating Adam, in creating humanity. But to be human, to be human means to comply with the שבע מצוות בני נח. It's a tnai kodem lama'aseh, a sine qua non.

ביטול תנאי ביטול מעשה. והיינו נחמתי כי עשיתי את האדם.

Ume'ata nimtzeinu l'medim as it were, the briah in terms of Adam is two-tiered. The higher tier is that בשעה שנברא האדם היה עומד לחי בני אלמות. Adam HaRishon was created to be nitzchi, right? כי ביום אכלך ממנו מות תמות, but had Adam not been, had Adam not violated the tzivui, had Adam not eaten it, so Adam would have been nitzchi. He was poised. He was on track for eternal life l'chayei nitzchi. Now, however, the second tier of beriyas HaAdam is והיתה חופפת עליו אזהרה מתחת לאזהרה. But there was a second lower tier on which there was a mitzva also. אזהרה ראשונה שאכילת עץ הדעת גרם לו מיתה. So first Adam HaRishon is given the azhara of the eitz hadas and as we saw in yesterday's letter, on some level, in some way that we don't understand, but that azhara of the eitz hadas encompasses within it taryag mitzvos. Then Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the second tier, says that azhara shniya, which is that if you, Adam, are going to, are going to drop off of this higher level, this higher tier, so then you should know that the the bottom tier, ואזהרה שניה שביטול שש מצוות יגרום לחרבתו. Violating the eitz hadas will make you no longer, will make you mortal, but violating the שבע מצוות בני נח, you'll forfeit your right to exist in the first place. So the higher tier, Adam HaRishon, is given taryag mitzvos, and on that level he's told that if you violate this azhara of the eitz hadas, again, this encompassing azhara which encompasses the taryag mitzvos, so then you'll go from being nitzchi to being mortal, from immortal to mortal. And then you should know that when you drop down to the second tier, so then you have שבע מצוות בני נח and the punishment for that, you're already mortal, the punishment for that is again, this is also sort of a level in the beriya, in the creation, that you forfeit your right to, to exist.

ואזהרה שניה שביטול שש מצוות יגרום לחרבתו. והיינו שלומדים חז"ל קיום שש מצוות לא רק מפסוק כי נאמר לפני החטא אלא מאותו הפסוק עצמו שבו נתפרשה אזהרת עץ הדעת.

It's not only that you find the sheva mitzvos after the cheit, but it's mamash the same posuk.

כלומר אזהרת שש מצוות ואזהרת עץ הדעת נמצאות הן בציור של זו למטה מזו.

They're compressed as two levels of meaning in the same posuk because both of them go to the heart of beriyas HaAdam. It's not stam mitzvos. No, but, but the mitzvos which are intrinsic to beriyas HaAdam. For Adam to exist as a yetzur nitzchi, so on that level he has the azhara of lo sachal mimeno from the eitz hadas. For Adam to exist, to be created even as, as a yetzur who is a bar misa, who is mortal, but there too there's, there's a stipulation in the beriya that even on that level there's a stipulation of, of compliance with the sheish mitzvos. So it's a, it's, it's a fascinating and so, so fundamentally important notion. We sort of bifurcate, right? And and we think of, okay, we, we exist and then we have mitzvos. משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say on a physical level, let's just look at human life on a physical, mechanistic level. You can't say we exist and we also breathe. No. You can say we exist and we also play tennis. You can't say we exist and we also breathe. Breathing is, is essential to the existence. It's, it's not something that, that one can separate out and distinguish between the fact of existence and, and breathing, again, we're talking now on a purely natural, mechanistic level, a person, a person's existence consists ests of his breathing. The breathing again is essential and integral and a precondition and indispensable to the existence. What kimedomeh what Rav Hutner is teaching us in this letter is that Adam Harishon again as Hashem creates him so right away Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells him you can exist on either level. You can exist on a level of chayei nitzchiim but you should know that on that level the taryag mitzvos, the Etz Hada'as again is not just sort of an hashlamah that asos lehochiach that you exist here's something to guide you. No, it goes that that is part of the core of your existence and therefore you remove that you can't exist that way anymore. And even when Adam Harishon drops down to that lower tier so there too and davka right away with the briah Hakadosh Baruch Hu says here too it's not that mitzvos are something additional. It's not that it's something you do you comply with but again it's part of the definition of humanity. The same way that taryag mitzvos are not something it's the definition of a shleimusdike existence so the sheva mitzvos are the definition of a human existence. It's not pshat that we exist and then we have sheva mitzvos. We exist and then we have taryag mitzvos.

אלא שמכיון שאזהרת עץ הדעת היתה נוגעת ממש למעשה לפי המצב שאז

at the time when Hakadosh Baruch Hu spoke to Adam Harishon which is obviously kodem hacheit. So he was on that higher level so it was the azharah of Etz Hada'as which was immediately relevant to him and directly applicable. On the other hand

ואזהרת שבע מצות לא היתה נוגעת אלא באפשר שלעתיד אם יעבור על אזהרת עץ הדעת לכן באה אזהרת עץ הדעת בפשוטו של מקרא ואזהרת שבע מצות בדרשה של מקרא.

That's a beautiful beautiful ma'amar.

מפני שאזהרת עץ הדעת היתה נוגעת בפשוטו של אדם הראשון לפי מצבו אז ואזהרת שבע מצות לא היתה נוגעת אלא בדרשו של אדם הראשון.

Umikol hanal this is the answer to your question taskil vavinna you'll understand

כי אזהרת עץ הדעת ואזהרת שבע מצות לא שמשו מעולם בזמן אחד.

At no point was Adam Harishon governed by both because they define different types of existence. Taryag defines one type of existence and the sheish the שבע מצות בני נח define a different type a different level of existence. שתי אזהרות הללו אינן אלא צד אחרי צד step after step biridas erech ha'adam in the lowering of the value of Adam ביטול הראשון הוא קיום המיתה. When Adam Harishon violates Etz Hada'as again so then he no longer exists on that level because the mitzvos again they define the existence he no longer exists on that level he becomes mortal uvitul hasheini and then when ten generations later things have culminated and you have this bitul of even the second definition of existence of the שבע מצות בני נח hu kiyum hacharatah that's what precipitates again the

כביכול חרטה מצדו של הקדוש ברוך הוא. הדברים הנ"ל נאמרו בקיצור מופלג ואתה השתדל נא לקנות הדברים האלו בעמל וביגיעה והעיקר בכל ישמע חכם ויוסף לקח אבל לקושטא דמילתא נכונים הם דברינו במכתב הקודם שבמצוה זו דעץ הדעת כפולה היא כל הקומה כולה דרמ"ח ושס"ה.

Okay so we'll stop here. Okay so bli neder im yirtzeh Hashem we'll reconvene around 12:00 for Avos bli neder im yirtzeh Hashem. Have a good productive morning rabosai be well be safe.