Torah Sheb’ksav & B’al Peh

Good morning Reb Bassan. Let's take a look here in the beginning of the Hakdamat Perush HaMishnayot.

דע אמר הרמב"ם כי כל מצוה שנתן השם למשה רבינו לא נתנה לו אלא עם פירושה. היה השם אומר לו את הנוסח ושוב אומר לו את פירושה ומדרשה וכל מה שכולל אותו הנוסח המוצק.

In the Hakdamah to Mishneh Torah, the Rambam begins on the same note if you take a look. The Rambam writes similarly that כל המצות שניתנו לו למשה בסיני בפירושן ניתנו. Are you able to hear? Okay, thank you.

כל המצות שניתנו לו למשה בסיני בפירושן ניתנו. שנאמר ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצוה. תורה זו תורה שבכתב ומצוה זו פירושה. וציוונו לעשות התורה על פי המצוה ומצוה זו היא הנקראת

תורה שבעל פה. So how is the Rambam learning pshat in this pasuk? Again, the pasuk says that where's that at the end of Ki Tisa that Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu:

עלה אלי ההרה והיה שם ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצוה אשר כתבתי להורותם.

So the Rambam says תורה זו תורה שבכתב ומצוה זו פירושה. So how is the semantics of how does mitzvah imply the Torah Sheba'al Peh of each mitzvah? Right, the Rambam is saying that the word mitzvah refers to the peirush on the Torah Shebichtav. So maybe just before we try to speak about this, let's just skip a little bit here in the Hakdamah where the Rambam gives an example. You see where it says v'omar lecha mashal after he quotes the Toras Kohanim in the beginning of Parshas Behar? After he then quotes the Gemara in Eruvin how Moshe Rabbeinu taught everything four times. And then he says v'omar lecha mashal. Do you see where that is, Reb Bassan? V'omar lecha mashal.

הנה אמר לו השם בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים. וכן הודיעו יתעלה...

So Hakadosh Baruch Hu taught him the pasuk. The pasuk in Parshas Emor: בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים. So that's what... that's an example of that first היה השם אומר לו את הנוסח in this translation, the Torah Shebichtav.

וכן הודיעו יתעלה שהסוכה הזאת חובה על הזכרים ולא על הנקבות.

So to whom is teshvu addressed? Who is the subject of teshvu? ואין חייבין בה החולים ולא הולכי דרכים. What constitutes a sukkah?

ושלא יהיה סכך אלא בדבר שגידולו מן הארץ ואין מסככין אותה לא בצמר ולא במשי ולא בכלים ואפילו הן מן הגדל בארץ כגון המחצלאות והבגדים.

So it has to be gidulei karka. On the other hand, it can't be a davar hamikabel tumah. What does it mean to be yoshev basukkah? שיהיו האכילה והשתייה והשינה בה במשך כל... What are the dimensions of a sukkah, how big is a sukkah

ושלא יהיה בחלל פחות משבעה טפחים אורך ושבעה טפחים רוחב ולא יהיה בגובה פחות מעשרה טפחים ואחר שבא משה רבינו עליו השלום ניתן לו מצוה זו ופרושה.

So this is an example the Rambam says of how all the Taryag mitzvos were given. Hakadosh Baruch Hu taught Moshe Rabbeinu the relevant pesukim in Torah she-bikhtav and then he gave him basically it amounts to the basic essential details of the mitzvah, the essential klalim and pratim of the mitzvah. Again, what the klal is that s'chach has to be from mechubar, something which was mechubar, which is gidulei karka, excuse me, no longer mechubar, which is originally gidulei karka, a klal. Whether it means a prat such as what the dimensions of the sukkah are. So this is an example of how Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave and taught Torah to Moshe Rabbeinu. That's what the Rambam is referring to here in these opening lines of the hakdama to Peirush Hamishnayos as well as in the opening lines of the hakdama to Mishneh Torah. Re-reading those few lines again in the hakdama to Mishneh Torah

שכל המצות שניתנו לו למשה בסיני בפירושן ניתנו שנאמר ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצוה.

Torah זו תורה שבכתב ומצוה זו פירושה. Okay, fine. So now we have a little bit of a feel, a little bit of a sense for what the Rambam is describing. So the word mitzvah again in the pasuk of ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצוה, mitzvah refers to the Torah she-ba'al peh, the Torah she-ba'al peh. And we generally translate mitzvah as commandment. So where does it come from that here mitzvah means the Torah she-ba'al peh? So as follows. Just in the peshuto shel mikra that there is a basic question as follows.

ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצוה אשר כתבתי להורותם.

Torah consists of mitzvos. So what does it mean when the pasuk speaks of mitzvah as something distinct from Torah? So that's what the Rambam says the peshat is that Torah refers to ain hachi nami, Torah consists of mitzvos, it refers to the Torah she-bikhtav of mitzvos and mitzvah refers to the Torah she-ba'al peh of mitzvos which make the mitzvah actionable. If a person doesn't know what materials are kosher for s'chach, if a person doesn't know who's chayav in the sukkah, what to do in the sukkah, so the mitzvah's not actionable, it's not practical, it's not. So ממילא מצוה אין הכי נמי if you would see the word mitzvah in a different context, the stam mashmaus of the word mitzvah obviously isn't Torah she-ba'al peh, it's not that that's sort of the ikkar mashmaus of the word. No, mitzvah is a commandment. Ela mai when you see it alongside the word Torah which means mitzvos, Torah consists of mitzvos,

לא היה צריך להתחיל אלא מהחודש הזה לכם שהיא מצוה ראשונה שנצטוו בה ישראל,

Torah means mitzvos. So what does mitzvah mean in the same breath as Torah? So that's where the Rambam says that mitzvah means those essential klalim u-pratim which make the mitzvah practical in the sense of that one can immediately fulfill it. Itakhen itakhen that there's even more of an indication in the pasuk that the Yeah, so itachen that the pshat in the pasuk according to the Rambam is even more compelling, that that mitzvah here means Torah she-ba'al peh. There's a din, I think it's a mishna towards the end of Sanhedrin. It's a mishna pe-chet amud-bet and then the gemara on the mishna in pe-chet amud-bet in in in Sanhedrin. I'm I'm reading the gemara on the mishna here, pe-chet amud-bet. Amar Oshia:

אינו חייב אלא על דבר שעיקרו מדברי תורה ופירושו מדברי סופרים.

A zaken mamre will only qualify as such if the subject of dispute between him and the Sanhedrin Hagadol is something which is עיקרו מדברי תורה ופירושו מדברי סופרים. So for instance, if he'll say there's no such thing as Shabbos, he'll say that Shabbos is on on the sixth day of the week, on the first day of the week, so that's not peirucho midivrei sofrim, that's meforash bachumash that there's Shabbos and that Shabbos is beyom hashvii. So he wouldn't become a zaken mamre for that, which is not to say that it's mutar for him to say such a thing. But in terms of having the technical dinim of zaken mamre who's going to get skila and need hachraza for skila and and and that whole parsha, he's not a zaken mamre. Or in other words, the zaken mamre is chayav for horaa. Something is only considered horaa when it relates to Torah she-ba'al peh. Right, to say that to say that that Jews have to keep Shabbos and the Shabbos is on the seventh day is not a horaa. That's Torah she-bichtav. To explain a prat of meleches Shabbos is a horaa, that's Torah she-ba'al peh. To explain something about meleches tzeida, that that's ikaro midivrei Torah, Shabbos, but peirucho midivrei sofrim. Again, this as as the Nosei Keilim point out, this is one of the mekoros for for the Rambam's use of the term divrei sofrim, that it doesn't mean only derabbanan, it means anything which the chachamim tell you, but sometimes it's the chachamim telling you what the what the Torah she-ba'al peh says. So a zaken mamre, excuse me, a zaken mamre is chayav for horaa and horaa means davar which is peirucho midivrei sofrim. So when you come back to our pasuk in Ki Sisa. of Hakadosh Baruch Hu invites Moshe Rabbeinu,

עלה אלי ההרה והיה שם ואתנה לך את לחת האבן והתורה והמצוה

and and what's the end of the pasuk? What's the final phrase of the pasuk? Asher kasavti lehorosam. So the pshat according to the Rambam is is beautiful that asher kasavti is is coordinated with Torah and lehorosam is coordinated with mitzvah. ואתנה לך לחת האבן I'm going to give you the luchos. Okay good. I'm also going to give you the Torah, Torah shebichtav, mitzvah, the Torah sheba'al peh. Asher kasavti meaning the Torah shebichtav asher kasavti and lehorosam the and the mitzvah, the Torah sheba'al peh because that's referred to as hora'ah. Hora'ah is is again is is the oral the oral directive that that accompanies. So that's according to the Rambam how we see in the pasuk that mitzvah means Torah sheba'al peh. A, what what is mitzvah as distinct from Torah? What is Torah as distinct from mitzvah? B, and that's reinforced by the seifa of the pasuk of asher kasavti lehorosam. Asher kasavti the Torah, lehorosam the mitzvah, the Torah sheba'al peh. And as you see by the zaken mamre who's only chayav for hora'ah that hora'ah means where there's where it's perusho midivrei atzmo and where there's a Torah sheba'al peh element to the to the understanding. Then the parsha says once we know in this pasuk that mitzvah sometimes has that mashma'us of Torah sheba'al peh so then mimmela even where the context doesn't independently dictate it, we know to carry over this understanding of mitzvah. So for instance if you continue a little further here in the hakdama to Mishneh Torah so the Rambam writes that hamitzvah and hamitzvah excuse me excuse me just one second. The Rambam writes here a little bit further in the hakdama vehamitzvah just a few lines four five lines further

והמצוה שהיא פירוש התורה לא כתבה אלא צוה בה לזקנים וליהושע ולשאר כל ישראל שנאמר את כל הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם אתו תשמרו לעשות לא תספו עליו ולא תגרעו ממנו.

So it's clear that the Rambam is saying that this pasuk where is it in Parshas Re'eh? That this pasuk in in Parshas Re'eh that אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם means ba'al peh. I I don't know that there's necessarily an inherent mashma'us here, but it carries over from the pasuk of והתורה והמצוה אשר כתבתי להורותם. That pasuk והתורה והמצוה אשר כתבתי להורותם establishes that that tzivuy means tzivuy ba'al peh so then mimmela this pasuk now becomes the prooftext for the fact that the perush HaTorah was not written down. Similarly the Rambam has take a look the beginning of Hilchos Shechita. I think it's the beginning. In פרק א הלכה ד in Hilchos Shechita take a look rabosai if you have פרק א הלכה ד in in Hilchos Shechita.

זבחה זו האמורה בתורה סתם צריך לפרש אותה ולדעת באיזה מקום מן הבהמה שוחטין.

Where in the animal do you shacht? In the Torah it says v'zavachta but zveicha means shechita. Where in the animal do you do the shechita?

וכמה הוא שיעור שחיטה ובאיזה דבר שוחטין ומתי שוחטין והיכן שוחטין וכיצד שוחטין ומהם דברים המפסידין את השחיטה ומי הוא השוחט ועל כל הדברים האלו צונו בתורה ואמר וזבחת מבקרך ומצאנך כאשר צויתיך ואכלת בשעריך שכל הדברים האלו על פה צוה בהן.

So ka'asher tzivisicha, which is also in Parshas Re'eh, when Hakadosh Baruch Hu says וזבחת מבקרך כאשר צויתיך, it means you carry out the shechita as I explained to you ba'al peh. shekol hadvarim ha'eilu, all these crucial questions, all these crucial details listed above, על פה צוה בהן. Hakadosh Baruch Hu addressed all those questions to Moshe Rabbeinu ba'al peh

כשאר תורה שבעל פה שהיא הנקראת מצוה כמו שביארנו בתחלת חבור זה.

And basically here what we just said before I think the Rambam is saying meforash that it's in light of the pasuk in Ki Sisa of haTorah v'hamitzvah, that's how we know that elsewhere for instance v'zavachta ka'asher tzivisicha

את כל הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם שהמצווה היא בעל פה

that the mashma'os of mitzvah is ba'al peh. Okay. Of everything the Rambam listed when he gave the example of mitzvas sukkah to give us a feel for how Moshe Rabbeinu learned mipi hagevurah, so the one example that the one halacha that the Rambam mentions which is very confusing as to why he mentions it is when the Rambam says what the area of a sukkah is. The Rambam says

שלא יהיה בחללה פחות משבעה טפחים אורך על שבעה טפחים רוחב.

So now it's certainly true that that's how we pasken, that the shiur of a sukkah ktanah is zayin tefachim by zayin tefachim. The problem is that it's a machlokes tanna'im as to what the shiur of a sukkah is. So for instance Rebbi is of the opinion that a sukkah has to be dalet amos on dalet amos. And the Rambam then concludes and says

וכל מה שקבל ממנו הוא או אחד הזקנים אין בו דין ודברים ולא נפלה בו מחלקת

that there was never any machlokes about peirushim mikubalim. So that's a question. So everything else ein hachi nami, everyone agrees that sukkah can't be davar mekabel tumah, everyone agrees it has to be gidulei karka, everyone agrees it's only chov al hazacharim, everyone agrees that a mista'er is patur from the sukkah, and everyone agrees teishvu k'ein taduru, every other din that the Rambam gave. Okay. Fine. So Ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu taught Moshe Rabbeinu the pasuk, the relevant pasuk, the pesukim in Chumash. Then he taught him the basic Torah Sheba'al Peh on that mitzvah. Then the Rambam describes how, the Rambam describes how based on the baraita in Masechet Eruvin, how Moshe Rabbeinu gave the same shiur four times. And then Aharon would give the shiur, and then Elazar ve-Itamar would give the shiur, and the zekenim would give the shiur. So everyone, everyone heard the shiur four times. Okay. Good. The Rambam then writes right before he gives the example of Sukkah, right before that, the Rambam says

נחלקו ראשי העם בין כל ישראל ללמד ולדרוש עד שילמדו או עד שילמדו אותו הלשון וידעו את קריאתו ומלמדים אותם גם כן את פירוש אותו הלשון הנתן מאת ה'.

So then, after the shiurim were finished, so then there were chazarah shiurim given throughout kol Yisrael on the material. Right? That they would, the rashei ha'am would divide up amongst kol Yisrael and they'd be giving chazarah shiurim to all of kol Yisrael. And the Rambam said והיו כותבין את הלשון ומשננין על פה את הקבלה. And they would write down for themselves, let's say, בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים, so that everyone would write down on parchment and then ba'al peh they would review again and again all the Torah Sheba'al Peh

שהזכרים חייבים ולא נקבות וכולו. וכך אומרים חכמים עליהם השלום תורה שבכתב ותורה שבעל פה.

So le-chora you see from the Rambam's description that the din of devarim she-biktav—the din of devarim she-ba'al peh, at least—אי אתה רשאי לאומרם בכתב is a din d'Oraisa. The Gemara in Gittin at the end of the fifth perek darshens כי על פי הדברים האלה that devarim she-ba'al peh אי אתה רשאי לאומרם בכתב is a din d'Oraisa. And yet the Rambam doesn't quote this din le-halacha. So you'll say it's because of the eis la'asos that Rabbeinu HaKadosh said, that we have to write down Torah Sheba'al Peh. But the emes is there seems to be—that only seems to be part of the explanation according to the Rambam. If you take a look in the hakdamah again, once more to the hakdamah to Mishneh Torah, you see something fascinating. The Rambam writes that Rabbeinu HaKadosh chibber ha-Mishnah. Rabbeinu HaKadosh is the one who compiled the Mishnah.

ומימות משה רבנו ועד רבנו הקדוש לא חברו חיבור שמלמדין אותו ברבים בתורה שבעל פה אלא בכל דור ודור ראש בית דין או נביא שיהיה באותו הדור כותב לעצמו זכרון בשמועה ששמע מרבותיו והוא מלמד על פה ברבים.

So interesting. The Rambam says people were allowed to take notes for themselves, but they couldn't share their notes. They had to teach ba'al peh. Then the Rambam continues—I'm skipping several lines—ולמה עשה רבנו הקדוש כך? Why did Rabbeinu HaKadosh introduce this chibbur biktav? ולא הניח הדבר כמו שהיה? לפי שראה שהתלמידים misma'atun veholechin. There were fewer and fewer talmidim in the yeshivos. vehatzaros mitchadshos uva'os. And extra external circumstances were becoming were in were were impinging more and more upon the masorah. וממשלת הרשעה פושטת בעולם. And the Roman Empire was taking over the world. umisgaberes. וישראל מתגלגלין והולכין לקצוות. And we were being scattered and dispersed.

חיבר חיבור אחד להיות ביד כולם כדי שילמדוהו במהרה ולא ישכח.

So the Rambam explains the historical circumstances that necessitated Rabbeinu Hakadosh writing the Mishna. Now what’s interesting is that if you then continue in the hakdama to here to Mishne Torah, so then the Rambam traces the masorah through the time of the Amoraim, and he tells you that

רבינא ורב אשי הם סוף חכמי התלמוד, ורב אשי הוא שחיבר התלמוד בבלי בארץ שנער

meaning bavel,

אחר שחיבר רבי יוחנן התלמוד הירושלמי בארץ ישראל כמו מאה שנה.

The Rambam doesn't tell you what the historical circumstances were that necessitated writing down gemara. He tells us what the historical circumstances were that necessitated writing down Mishna. He doesn't tell us what the historical circumstances were that necessitated writing down gemara. Why not? So the teretz is because for the Rambam, the din of דברים שבעל פה אי אתה רשאי לאומרם בכתב is a din that the masorah, torah shebe'al peh, should be nimseres be'al peh. And that's why the Rambam said all along it was muttar to take notes. You just couldn't lend your notes out. You had to teach be'al peh. But a person could take notes for himself because if a person took notes for himself, the rebbi, he was hearing from from his rebbi be'al peh, he would then teach to his talmidim be'al peh. So the masorah was be'al peh. A person could take notes to help him remember. But the masorah was still 100% be'al peh. So for the Rambam the din of דברים שבעל פה אי אתה רשאי לאומרם בכתב is that the masorah of mitzvah of beferusha nitnu was a masorah be'al peh. Once Rabbeinu Hakadosh was compelled to convert that masorah into a masorah bichtav, so then mimeila the din just doesn't apply anymore. Because it's not it's not it's not a din that oh if this is torah shebe'al peh so you're not allowed to write it down. No, the din is if this is torah shebe'al peh the masorah should be be'al peh. Once historical circumstances required that Mishna be written down, so at that point the masorah was no longer be'al peh. The masorah was no longer be'al peh so then the din is no longer applicable because it the din lechatchila always referred to the act of masorah. It it didn't refer to the to the cheftza of Torah as much as it did to the act of masorah. Once the masorah had to be converted into into into bichtav, so then mimeila the din didn't apply anymore. So that's why initially again the Rambam is describing that it was a din d'oraisa again back to here to the hakdama to peirush hamishnayos, היו כותבים לעצמם ומשננים בעל פה את הקבלה. So initially initially they were it's clearly a din d'oraisa, but it's a din d'oraisa which is no longer applicable because it's a din d'oraisa that a masorah be'al peh should be preserved be'al peh. Once circumstance and that's why the Rambam doesn't have to tell us what the overwhelming need was to write down gemara because there didn't have to be an overwhelming need. The same way we don't have to have an overwhelming need to justify every time we write something from torah shebe'al peh down, it doesn't have to be justified. Because once the masorah is no longer ba'al peh, so then the whole din doesn't apply. Okay, maybe we'll stop here for now, mazel tov.