From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2004 1:29 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Yisro, 5764




                                          Once Is Not Enough

              By Rabbi Joshua (voluntarily known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


As part of the preparation for their receiving of the Torah, God directs the nation, through Moshe, to set boundaries around Mt. Sinai, to prevent their ascent during the revelation : "And you shall set bounds around it for the people, saying, 'Guard yourself from ascending the mountain or touching its edge ; whoever touches the mountain shall surely die…' (Shemos 19:12). Moshe fulfills his mission, and reports back to God, Who proceeds to tell him to again instruct the nation not to ascend the mountain. Moshe points out that this is not really necessary, because he already set up boundaries and told the people not to pass beyond them, and, thus, they would not ascend in any case. God then tells Moshe, "Go descend. Then you shall ascend, you, and Aharon with you, but the kohanim and the people - They shall not break through to ascend unto God…" (Shemos 19:24). What is the meaning behind this enigmatic conversation between God and Moshe, and what was, indeed, the purpose of warning the nation a second time?

Rabbi Avrohom, son of the Rambam, writes that there was a reason for the people to believe that the prohibition of ascending the mountain had been lifted since it had first been given, because God now told Moshe to bring Aharon with him as went onto the mountain. Therefore, they needed to be told again that they could not do so. This explanation was also given by the Netziv, in his Ha'amek Davar, and Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin, in his Oznayim LeTorah, without having seen the comments of Rabbi Avrohom.

Rabbi Mordechai Gifter, in his Pirkei Torah, cites this explanation, as articulated by the Netziv, and says that it does not seem to accord with the remarks of the Mechilta, cited by Rashi to verse 24. The Mechilta explains that we learn from the second warning to the people that a person should be urged to act properly both at the time of instruction, and at the time of the event itself. Rabbi Gifter understands this to mean that there was no additional reason to warn the people, but, rather, it was just a repeated effort to arouse them to obey God's word. Rabbi Gifter points out that according to the Targum, Moshe told God that the nation is not able to ascend the mountain, meaning that it had become impossible for the people to even imagine ascending the mountain. Rabbi Gifter explains that the people had accepted God's command to such an extent that it had become their personal desire, as well, so that they were not able, psychologically, to do otherwise. God then merely told Moshe to repeat the warning to inculcate the lesson that a person should be aroused repeatedly to conform to God's will. It is, however, difficult to understand the purpose behind this lesson, according to Rabbi Gifter's explanation, since the people had gone as far as possible in accepting God's warning and incorporating it into their collective consciousness. I believe that it is possible to accept both the explanation of Rav Avrohom within the context of the Mechlita as well as Rabbi Gifter's approach, with a minor modification in the latter's formulation.

My teacher, Rav Aharon Soloveichik, zt"l, explained the need for the second warning on the basis of a distinction made by the masters of the Mussar movement. They point out that there are two kinds of boundaries, or restraints, that can keep a person within the scope of deportment that the Torah bids him to follow. There is a natural boundary - a gevul tivi - which consists of warnings of punishments, similar to a barbed-wire or electrified fence designed to keep people out of restricted areas, and there is an inner boundary - a gevul retzoni - based on a person's inner consent and understanding of the restrictions he must place on his own activities. The first time Moshe told the people not to ascend the mountain, he set up boundaries, and thus used the device of the gevul tivi, the natural kind of restraint. The second time he warned them, however, he used the approach of the gevul retzoni. Although Rav Aharon did not mention the explanation of R. Avrohom, the Netziv and Rabbi Sorotzkin, I believe the two explanations are compatible. As R. Avrohom explained, the circumstances had already changed with Aharon being allowed to ascend the mountain, and perhaps the people would think that they, too, could do so. Therefore they needed to be urged again, so that the prohibition would become incorporated within their own personal desires, thus erecting an inner form of restraint.

Rav Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev in his Kedushas Levi, cites the Mechilta brought in Rashi, and explains that when God told Moshe. "Go down," He was telling him to go down from his heightened level of spirituality and relate to the reality of the nation's situation. Moshe's level of faith in God was so high that he felt no personal need to be told by Him more than once what he was obligated to do. The nation, however, God told him, was not on his level, and one warning was not enough for them. He needed to tell them another time, to ensure that they heeded the divine warning. Following R. Aharon's explanation, in the light of Rav Levi Yitzchok's insight, we can now explain the conversation between God and Moshe in a new way. When God told Moshe to warn the people a second time, Moshe replied that this was not necessary, because the people had already developed a gevul retzoni, making God's command their own inner desire. This was, in fact, how Moshe himself felt in regard to God's commands, and, in his humility, he felt that the nation, too, felt this way. Therfore, as Rav Levi Yitzchok explains, God told Moshe to descend from his lofty spiritual level to understand where the people were, and realize that they had not yet reached the level of attaining a gevul retzoni. Therefore, when they would hear of Aharon's approaching ascent to the mountain, they may think that all of them could do so, as well. Because of this, there was a need to warn them again, so that they would, in fact, incorporate God's desire into their own mind-set, and reach the level which, as Rabbi Gifter explains, Moshe thought they had already achieved after the first warning.


Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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