(In the spirit of the message in Netvort on parshas Bamidbar, and its relevance for Shavuos, the staff has decited to send it a second time, with some revisions).

Another Extra Mile

By Rabbi Joshua (repetetively known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

Parshas Bamidbar begins with a census of the entire Jewish people, with the exception of the tribe of Levi, which God told Moshe to count separately. After recording the results of the census of the people, the Torah begins the section concerning Levi with the statement, " These are the offspring of t and Moshe on the day that God spoke with Moshe at Sinai. " ( Bamidbar, 3:1). However, the Torah goes on to mention only the sons of Aharon. Rashi, noting this, cites the Talmud ( Sanhedrin 19b) which explains that since Moshe taught Torah to the sons of Aharon, it is considered as if he gave birth to them. Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Neriah, in his LaMaor, cites this Rashi, and mentions the question of the Maharal of Prague in his commentary to Rashi, Gur Aryeh. He asks, didn't Moshe teach Torah to all of the Jewish people? Why, then, are the sons of Aharon singled out as being the children of Moshe? Shouldn't the whole Jewish people be referred to in this way?

Maharal answers that the sons of were different in that Moshe spent more time learning with them than he did with the rest of the nation. The Maharal does not explain what his source for this difference is. However, the gemara in Eruvin ( 54a) actually tells us that Moshe first taught Aharon, then his sons, then the elders, and then the entire nation. Each group remained at Moshe's side after learning the Torah the first time,so that the sons of Aharon learned the Torah from Moshe three times, while most of the nation learned it from him only once. Although each group tdid teach the next one, so that , in the end, everyone was taught four times, Moshe himself tayght Aharon's sons three times, rather than the one time that he taught the Jewish people as a whole. Rav Neriah goes on to say that the mark of a good teacher is just that, that he is willing to spend extra time with a student to make sure that he understands his lesson. This idea is also implicit in another passage in the Talmud ( Eruvin 54b)which says that Rav Preida merited long life because he reviewed his Torah lessons with a student four hundred times, until he finally understood them. I would like to suggest that beyond the dedication to his student that a teacher shows when he puts in extra time, there is another element involved, that carries a lesson for us as we approach the holiday of Shavuos.

The Talmud in Chagigah (9B) tells us that one cannot compare a person who reviews his Torah lesson one hundred times to one who reviews it one hundred and one times. In fact, says the gemara, one who reviews his lesson one hundred times is considered as to have served God, while one who reviews it only one hundred times is considered to be someone who has not served him. Rav Chaim of Volozhin, in his Nefesh HaChaim, explains that in the yeshivos of Babylonia, there were students of varying abilities, and some took longer than others to grasp what they had been taught. Even the weakest sudden, however, was able to grasp his lesson after reviewing it one hundred times. Therefore, there was a requirement for every student to review one hundred times, in order not to embarrass those students who needed to review that many times. Thus, it was a requirement of the yeshivah ti review one hundred times, and whoever did so was fulfilling his requirement. Only one who goes beyond his requirement demonstrates his love for the Torah, and, in effect, his love for God, who gave us the Torah. The teacher, then, who devotes extra time to learning with his student exhibits his love for Torah and for God, and transmits this to his student, as well. By helping to forge this loving relationship with God, he is considered as if he gave birth to the student.

The notion of doing more than the strict requirements is brought out by the prophet Yeshaya as well. In Yeshaya, 29:13, the prophet castigates the people, saying that their fear of God was like rote learning of human commands." The commentator Rav Dovid Kimchi, acronymically known as the Radak, explains that the people were being rebuked for doing the bare minimum of the mitzvah, not going beyond the requirement. Someone who only does the bare requirement, without adding anything on his own, demonstrates that he really does not really want to do it. When one truly loves and desires do carry out His will, he will go beyond the minimum requirements( provided, of course, that he does it in a way that does not violate the prohibition of adding to the mitzvos1).

There is, perhaps, another idea behind the significance of doing more than the requirements demand. The Ritva, in his commentary to the Talmud in Rosh HaShanah 15 that the device of 'asmachta,' of attaching a BIiblical verse to a rabbinic expansion of a Biblical law, actually has Biblical status itself, because the rabbis detected, in these cases, that the Torah itself made safeguards around that particular law, and therefore added safeguards of their own. Rashi on parshas Kedoshim tells us that kedusha, holiness, involves making safeguards around prohibitions related to sexual matters, and Ramban there says that holiness entails going beyond the bare requirements of the law. Holiness, then involves making safeguards around the mitzvos of the Torah.

Although God, at Sinai, told Moshe to prepare the people for two days,Moshe told them to prepare for three days, and God agreed with him. Moshe understood that in preparation for the holy encounter that the people would have with God they would need an extra day. Our practice of learning all night on the evening of Shavuos reflects this need for preparation and safeguards, as well, we were charged, before the revelation at Sinai, to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, and there is a need to make safeguards in order to achieve these goals? May we all strive to carry out this charge as we prepare to celebrate Shavuos this coming week.

The entire Netvort staff and associated afiliates wish everyone a joous Shavuos.