Ramban, Parshas Terumah

כאשר דבר השם עם ישראל פנים בפנים עשרת הדברות וצוה אותם על ידי משה קצת מצות שהם כמו אבות למצותיה של תורה כאשר הנהיגו רבותינו עם הגרים שבאים להתייהד וישראל קבלו עליהם לעשות כל מה שיצום על ידו של משה וכרת עמהם ברית על כל זה מעתה הנה הם לו לעם והוא להם לאלקים כאשר התנה עמם מתחילה ואתם תשמעו בקולי ושמרתם את בריתי והייתם לי סגלה ואמר ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש והנה הם קדושים וראויים שיהיה בהם מקדש להשרות שכינתו ביניהם ולכן צוה תחלה על דבר המשכן שיהיה לו בית בתוכם מקודש לשמו ושם ידבר עם משה ויצוה את בני ישראל.

Okay maybe first to just to try Be'ezrat Hashem Beli Neder to amplify some of the details in the Ramban and then to come back to the bigger picture. Ramban says that what happened at Ma'amad Har Sinai, Chazal tell us that Ma'amad Har Sinai was Gerus. That Knesses Yisroel underwent Gerus at Har Sinai. The Gemara darshans Kechem Ka'avoseichem. מה אבותיכם נכנסו לברית במילה וטבילה ובהרצאת דמים, so Af Atem. We know what the components of Gerus are from Ma'amad Har Sinai. We know that it involves Milah, Tevilah, and as was described in Parshas Mishpatim the Haratza'at Damim, those Korban. And that's what constitutes Gerus Ledoros and it's derived from Ma'amad Har Sinai. So Ma'amad Har Sinai was Gerus. Famously the Mishneh Lamelech in the Parshas Derachim discusses whether or not the Avos Kodem Matan Torah had a Din Ben Noach or whether they had a Din Yisroel. But the Pashus is that the simple answer to that question, to that famous Safek, is neither, is that they were somewhere in between in the sense of that it was not Bnei Noach, but there certainly wasn't full Kedushas Yisroel for Bnei Avraham, Yitzchak veYaakov until Ma'amad Har Sinai, which is why Ma'amad Har Sinai was, what was a Gerus. So the Ramban says there's another when you Aseres Hadibros then should be viewed as the parallel, or not the parallel, the actual, the implementation of something that the Baraisa in Yevamos tells us that when a Ger comes to Hisgayer is מודיעין אותו מקצת מצות קלות ומקצת מצות חמורות. That the Beis Din to make sure that the Kabbalas Mitzvos is realistic, so Beis Din is supposed to apprise the prospective Ger of a representative sampling of Mitzvos, Miktzas Mitzvos Kalos and Miktzas Mitzvos Chamuros. And that's what the Aseres Hadibros represent. In this, this, this lens that the Ramban is providing for us, so the Aseres Hadibros are the representative Mitzvos Shel Torah. How so? שהם כמו אבות למצותיה של תורה. That the Aseres Hadibros are not, don't only contain individual discrete Mitzvos, but Mitzvos that also... so serve as categories for mitzvos in general. If you turn back to the end of Mishpatim, so

ויאמר ה' אל משה עלה אלי ההרה והיה שם ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצווה אשר כתבתי להורותם.

So Rashi apparently is bothered. I mean Hakadosh Baruch Hu wrote the luchos. Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't write all chamesh chumshei Torah, that Moshe Rabbeinu writes. He takes dictation from Hakadosh Baruch Hu for every every word. But Hakadosh Baruch Hu, it was המכתב מכתב אלקים הוא is only on the luchos. So what do you mean

ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצווה אשר כתבתי להורותם?

So some meforshim solve the problem as follows: that asher kasavti refers back only to luchos ha'even, it doesn't refer back to everything. But Rashi apparently did not learn such like that. So Rashi comments לוחות האבן והתורה והמצווה אשר כתבתי להורותם, so Rashi says, again, kedarko without asking the question, Rashi answers the question:

כל שש מאות ושלוש עשרה מצוות בכלל עשרת הדברות הן.

Ve'ein hachi nami, befo'al Hakadosh Baruch Hu המכתב מכתב אלקים הוא, Hakadosh Baruch Hu only wrote the Aseres Hadibros, but all taryag mitzvos are represented within, and in that sense contained within the Aseres Hadibros. Because the Aseres Hadibros, the exact same idea that the Ramban is introducing here in the beginning of Parshas Terumah, אבות למצוותיה של תורה. That they're not only discrete mitzvos, but they're categories of mitzvos. And then Rashi goes on and he says:

ורבינו סעדיה פירש באזהרות שיסד לכל דיבור ודיבור מצוות התלויות בו.

And there's a whole genre, Rashi it's not only Rav Sa'adia Gaon who wrote in this, but he's the most prominent and the greatest. So Rashi cites him. Rav Sa'adia taki authored azharos. Some once upon a time there used to be a minhag, I don't know if there still is, to say azharos on Shavuos as piyut in davening. I don't know if they said it Shabbos Shavuos. Either the caffeine that they had at four o'clock in the morning was stronger than our caffeine and they had the kochos for a longer davening Shavuos morning or in this katnut hadoros or there was more gevurah.

ורבינו סעדיה פירש באזהרות שיסד לכל דיבור ודיבור מצוות התלויות בו.

This idea is in the midrash also: that the Aseres Hadibros are mitzvos, but they're also categories of mitzvos. L'chora, this is what underlies the hava amina of the Gemara in Berachos. The Gemara in Berachos says that בקשו לקבוע עשרת הדברות בקריאת שמע. Chazal wanted to add that we should say the Aseres Hadibros as part of Krias Shema. But ביטלום מפני תרעומת המינים. Since the minim preached that only the Aseres Hadibros were mi'pi hagevurah and the rest of Chumash was not, Rachmana litzlan, so to single it out, they would have co-opted that, and it would have co-opted, it would have supported that minus. So because of that Chazal had to abandon it. But why did Chazal want to do it in the first place? Exactly for this reason: because Aseres Hadibros is something which is, on the one hand, it has no more kedusha than any other word in Chumash. Every word in Chumash is mi'pi hagevurah, but me'idach gisa, the fact that the Aseres Hadibros represent אבות למצוותיה של תורה, categories. In that sense it takeh is distinctive. So that's what our Ramban, אבות המצוות של תורה. When you do that so then it's interesting that the Ramban sort of provides a makor in Chumash for something that the Rambam writes. The Rambam writes in Hilchos Issurei Biah where he has halachos of geirus in Perek Yud Daled Hilchos Issurei Biah which begins כיצד מקבלים גרי צדק? So in Halacha Beis

מודיעין אותו עיקרי הדת שהוא ייחוד השם ואיסור עבודה זרה

umarichin bedavar zeh ומודיעין אותו מקצת מצוות קלות ומקצת מצוות חמורות. So if you look in the Baraisa I think the Maggid Mishneh already comments has this comment. So the Baraisa doesn't have this line about מודיעין אותו עיקרי הדת. It's obviously very compelling and it's not it's not really a kasha on the Rambam. Whatever reason the Baraisa isn't being misyacheis to that part of the process. But obviously just as for someone who's who's who's a Yisrael by by the privilege of birth obviously all all mitzvos have to be rooted in in proper emunah. So so it's equally true for a prospective ger. But lemaiseh according to the Ramban the makor for the Rambam is from Aseres Hadibros.

מודיעין אותו עיקרי דת שהוא ייחוד השם ואיסור עבודה זרה.

That's the way Hakadosh Baruch Hu again the Ramban says that Aseres Hadibros should be seen as as it were Hakadosh Baruch Hu is in the role of what ledoros the role that that's played by Beis Din in being mekabel gerim. So Ma'amad Har Sinai so kavyachol Hakadosh Baruch Hu is is acting in that capacity and he begins with the ikarei hadas. He begins with the ikarei hadas of Anochi Hashem Elokecha and

לא יהיה לך אלוהים אחרים על פני. עיקר החפץ במשכן הוא מקום מנוחת השכינה.

Let's just read a little bit and then and then and then and then try to discuss be'ezras Hashem.

והנה עיקר החפץ במשכן הוא מקום מנוחת השכינה שהוא הארון כמו שאמר ונועדתי לך שם ודברתי אתך מעל הכפורת על כן הקדים הארון והכפורת בכאן כי הוא מוקדם במעלה וסמוך לארון השולחן והמנורה שהם כלים כמוהו ליורו על עניין המשכן שבעבורו נעשו אבל משה הקדים בפרשת ויקהל את המשכן את אהלו ואת מכסהו לכן עשה בצלאל לפי שהוא הראוי להקדים במעשה וסוד המשכן הוא שיהיה הכבוד ששכן על הר סיני שוכן עליו בנסתר כמו שנאמר וישכן כבוד השם על הר סיני וכתיב הן הראנו השם אלוהינו את כבודו ואת גדלו וכן כתוב במשכן וכבוד השם מלא את המשכן.

So the sod hamishkan the Ramban famously explains is to perpetuate Ma'amad Har Sinai. To perpetuate Ma'amad Har Sinai. So the ikar that primarily translated into again that the kvod Hashem and hashras hashchina that existed at Sinai that that hashras hashchina that kvod Hashem should be perpetuated in the Mishkan in the Mikdash ledoros. But lechora the Ramban, I don't know if it's hard to call this secondarily, but additionally it seems the mashmaus of the Ramban is that this hagdara of Mishkan and Mikdash as perpetuating Ma'amad Har Sinai actually had a... At Har Sinai, what happened? A, tziva osam going back to the very beginning of this Ramban, צוה אותם על ידי משה קצת מצוות. So Har Sinai was, A, that there was this tremendous hashras hashchina, but it was also that at Har Sinai, Hakadosh Baruch Hu began to command the mitzvos. So that's what the Ramban says that when צוה תחילה על דבר המשכן, the Ramban makes a point of saying that שם ידבר עם משה ויצו אל בני ישראל. So that element of Maamad Har Sinai is also perpetuated, the element of tzivuy. So just a minute please. So Mishkan, A, was the place, was the abode for the kvod Hashem, for the hashras hashchina. Additionally, which was also true of Har Sinai, it was ושם ידבר עם משה ויצו אל בני ישראל. Now obviously on one level, that second element was only true of the Mishkan in the midbar because אלה המצוות אין נביא רשאי לחדש דבר. There are no mitzvos Ha-Torah after Moshe Rabbeinu. All mitzvos Ha-Torah were communicated via Moshe Rabbeinu. So in that sense, l'dorei doros, this aspect of Mishkan was limited to the Mishkan in the midbar where Moshe Rabbeinu was present. But on another level even that element remains l'doros also. The seat of the סנהדרין של עין אלף, the highest סנהדרין של עין אלף is in Mikdash. Sanhedrin, Perek Alef, Halacha Gimmel.

כמה בתי דינין קבועין היו בישראל וכמה יהיה מניינם קובעים בתחילה בית דין הגדול במקדש.

So the Rambam here records the din that the Beis Din Hagadol והוא הנקרא סנהדרין גדולה that shemkomam was bamikdash. In Hilchos Beis Habechira the end of Perek Hey, שמונה לשכות היו בעזרת ישראל. There were eight chambers in the part of the Azara that was known as Ezras Yisrael. שלוש בצפון ושלוש בדרום. Hashalosh shebatzafon, I'm skipping a little bit, the first one of those three is Lishkas Hagazis. Skipping again a little bit, לשכת הגזית שבה סנהדרין גדולה יושבת. So the Rambam tells us twice that the Sanhedrin was in Mikdash. He tells it once in Hilchos Sanhedrin, once in Hilchos Beis Habechira. So the Rav zichrono livracha used to say because there were really two kiyumim in that fact. That Sanhedrin had to be in Mikdash was a din in Sanhedrin. It was a din in Sanhedrin. V'haraya, by the parsha of Zakein Mamrei where you have the Zakein Mamrei is over the lav of לא תסור מן הדבר אשר יגידו לך ימין ושמאל, but also if he's over on that lav with specific conditions, so then he's a Zakein Mamrei who's chayav misa. One can be over that lav without these conditions, but then he wouldn't be chayav misa. So the Zakein Mamrei in order to be a Zakein Mamrei who's chayav misa, hamakom goreim. It has to be that he's mamrei against the Sanhedrin Hagadol when they're convened in the Lishkas Hagazis. Let's say the Sanhedrin Hagadol goes on a tiyul, and he meets them, he crashes the tiyul, and he meets them in the, I don't know, in harei Yehuda wherever they went jeeping, I don't know, and he meets them and he's mamrei there. So then he's over lo sasur, he's avada over lo sasur, but he's not going to be chayav misa. וקמת ועלית אל המקום, hamakom goreim. So you see that there's something in the chalos of Sanhedrin, there's a din that mekomam is in Mikdash. But then it's also a din, so that's why the Rambam records it in Hilchos Sanhedrin. But the Rambam says it's also a din in Mikdash, that Mikdash is supposed to house the Sanhedrin Hagadol. It's not just that the Sanhedrin belongs there, it's that Mikdash needs the Sanhedrin as it were. And that's why the Rambam records the din twice. So that second din, כי מציון תצא תורה ודבר ה' מירושלים, is sort of the extension of the Ramban's ושם ידבר עם משה ויצו את בני ישראל, the analog to that l'doros again is not, not nevuas Moshe Rabbeinu, not mitzvos the way it happened in the Mishkan, but even, even l'doros in Mikdash, A you have the hashras hashchina, and B you have that it's the center of Torah. That's the center of Torah. That's the center of Torah. The Ramban says, hayos that the ikar of Mishkan is the Hashraas HaShchina. That's why in the tzivui to Moshe Rabbeinu, the Aron is mentioned first because ultimately that's the essence of the Mishkan, because that's where the Hashraas HaShchina is mibein shnei hakruvim. But then the Ramban explains the hemshech of the parsha. He says,

על כן הקדים הארון והכפורת בכאן כי הוא מוקדם במעלה.

Okay, so that is, I think we understand a little bit. But what does the next line mean? וסמך לארון השלחן והמנורה. But after the tzivui on the Aron, so then the Torah proceeds to give us the tzivui of the Shulchan and the Menorah shehem keilim kmohu. Okay, it has that, we understand so far, so good. But what's the next sentence? ויורו על ענין המשכן שבעבורו נעשה. They too indicate for what goal, for what purpose the Mishkan was constructed. So how do you see that in the Shulchan? How do you see that in the Menorah? How do you see that Mishkan is about Hashraas HaShchina? So here in שבת כב עמוד ב: מחוץ לפרוכת העדות יערך, referring to the Menorah, hadlakas hamenorah.

מחוץ לפרוכת העדות יערך, וכי לאורה הוא צריך? והלא כל ארבעים שנה שהלכו בני ישראל במדבר לא הלכו אלא לאורו.

Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't need them to tell them to install lighting in the Mishkan. So what's the Menorah all about? אלא עדות היא לבאי עולם שהשכינה שורה בישראל. Mai eidus? So the Gemara famously says, amar Rav or amara Rava,

זהו נר מערבי שנותן בו שמן כמידת חברותיה ממנו היה מדליק ובו היה מסיים.

That even though you only put in the quantity of shemen that it should be able to burn all night, the ner maaravi burnt around the clock, which was, which served as עדות שהשכינה שורה בישראל. So in light of this Gemara, so then you understand half, right? Half of what we have, half the answer to our question, that the Menorah also, if we know what we're looking for in the Menorah, also indicates הענין שבעבורו נעשה המשכן because the Menorah provided עדות שהשכינה שורה בישראל as reflected in, as manifest in the ner maaravi. What about the Shulchan? So to explain without explaining, but if you take a look a little further in the parsha, so at the end of the parsha about asiyas hashulchan, kaf-hei.

ואמר ונתת על השלחן לחם פנים לפני תמיד. ואל דרך האמת כי תבין מלת לפני

what does it mean that the shulchan is lefanai?

תבין שמו וסוד שמו כי בעבור היותו כן היה מונח בצפון כי ברכת השם היא תעשיר כענין שנאמר בכל המקום אשר אזכיר את שמי אבוא אליך וברכתיך.

Earlier, one second, where is it? Elsewhere the Ramban talks about panai and shem Hashem as referring to the shechinah. Again, another al derech ha'emes which we're not able to understand. If you take a look in פרק ג פסוק ב, or maybe it's Pasuk, yeah Pasuk Beis.

ואל דרך האמת המלאך הזה הנראה אל משה מתוך הסנה הוא המלאך הגואל שנאמר כי שמי בקרבו

which refers to the shechinah. So there is some special connection what this Ramban about lefanai tamid is telling us is that the shulchan is also associated with the hashra'as hashechinah. And lechorah that's what he has in mind here in the beginning as well. This idea of the mishkan perpetuating Ma'amad Har Sinai is something Ramban has in his hakdamah to the sefer as well. The Ramban explains that the fact that the Torah is subdivided into chamishah chumshei Torah indicates that there is some kind of distinctive unity within each of the chamishah chumashim. And that's what the Ramban explains how Sefer Bereishis is Sefer Yetzirah and that Sefer Shemos is, he says is, galus ugeulah. vehinei hagalus hazeh, Ramban writes here in the hakdamah to Sefer Shemos, איננו נשלם עד יום שובם אל מקומם. and ואל מעלת אבותם ישובו. The Galus is not brought to an end until A, we return physically, geographically, to Makom Avosam, and B, spiritually, el Maylas Avosam. Right, a person can be in Eretz Yisrael and Rachmana l'tzlan still be in Galus. That's part of the reason why after the Six Day War, so there was some who wanted that the text of Nachem in Shmone Esrei Mincha on Tisha B'av should be amended. Once Yerushalayim was—again, Yerushalayim meaning the Ir Atika—was under Jewish control and sovereignty. But the Galus being manifest in Eretz Yisrael is not only manifest in terms of who has political sovereignty, who has military control, it's also manifest spiritually. Also manifest spiritually, and obviously we still have a ways to go in terms of that Galus drawing to a close.

והנה הגלות איננו נשלם עד יום שובם אל מקומם ואל מעלת אבותם ישובו. וכשיצאו ממצרים אף על פי שיצאו מבית עבדים עדיין יחשבו גולים.

Even though they were out of Mitzrayim, but they were still Golim. Why?

כי היו בארץ לא להם נבוכים במדבר וכשבאו להר סיני ועשו המשכן ושב הקדוש ברוך הוא והשרה שכינתו ביניהם אז שבו אל מעלת אבותם שהיה סוד אלוה עלי אהליהם והם הם המרכבה ואז נחשבו גאולים. ולכן נשלם הספר הזה בהשלים ענין המשכן ובהיות כבוד השם מלא אותו תמיד.

So here too you see the Ramban, the continuity between כשבאו אל הר סיני ועשו המשכן, that the Mishkan was intended to perpetuate Har Sinai. But what does the Ramban mean over here? The Ramban said initially that Galus is not nishlam until shuvam el mekomam and el maylas avosam. So nicha that through Ma'amad Har Sinai and the Mishkan they regained maylas avosam, but where was the shuvam el mekomam? They were still in the Midbar, they're not in Eretz Yisrael. The makom of the Avos is in Eretz Yisrael. So the Sefarim have an idea and lechora it's the pshat in this Ramban here. I think they say it's based on a Zohar HaKadosh. I don't remember, I think that's what they say. That in the Midbar, wherever the Mishkan was, had Kedushas Eretz Yisrael. It was sort of a roving Kedushas Eretz Yisrael in the Midbar together with the Mishkan. If you take a look in the Sefer Shevisas HaShabbos, a very important Sefer in Hilchos Shabbos, he talks about this in the Hakdama. It even plays a role l'halacha. You see the nafka minis he has based in this, even l'halacha. But the pshat is that that's pshat here in the Ramban, because the Ramban stipulated that the Geula—the Galus is einenu nishlam, the Geula doesn't happen, it also requires shuvam el mekomam. And then he says that once we had Ma'amad Har Sinai and the Mishkan, it's az nishchevu geulim. So the pshat is that's the pshat here in this Ramban. The Galus is as long as we're in Mitzrayim, but Geulah doesn't happen, it also requires shuvam el mekomam, and then he says that once we had Ma'amad Har Sinai and the Mishkan is az nacheshvu geulah. So the pshat is that's the pshat here in this Ramban. Okay, we'll stop here.