Parashat Yisro

Before Mattan Torah, Hashem instructs Moshe to relate a few preparatory instructions to the Bnei Yisrael. Moshe is to tell them to do their laundry, not sleep with their wives (Rashi on ViKibsu Simlosam and ViHayu Nichonim), and not touch or ascend Har Sinai. Moshe comes down and says over these instructions, though Moshe’s warning regarding touching Har Sinai, what the Torah calls “making a boundary around the nation” (19:12), isn’t explicitly recorded in the Torah. Nonetheless, we know Moshe did instruct them not to touch the mountain based on a later Rashi (19:23). But the question remains: why doesn’t the Torah record this warning? What makes it any different from the other preparatory instructions?

On the day of Mattan Torah, Hashem again instructs Moshe to go warn the nation not to ascend the mountain (19:22). The question is obvious; didn’t Hashem already have Moshe warn the people? This isn’t the mifarshim’s question, however; rather, it is the question of Moshe Rabbeinu himself (19:23). In response to Moshe’s challenge, Hashem seems to repeat His original instructions from two pasukim earlier; there are a few minor changes in the words, but the message is almost identical. And somehow, Moshe accepts Hashem’s argument and descends to warn the nation in the last pasuk of perek 19.

We are not used to seeing Moshe lose an argument with Hashem. What though could be cause of this gross misunderstanding? If Hashem tells Moshe to warn the people, why would Moshe doubt Hashem’s instructions and point out that he already warned the nation? Doesn’t Hashem know that Moshe warned the nation?! Didn’t Hashem tell him to do so?! Rashi explains that Hashem responds to Moshe that a second warning is needed because this is the moment of Mattan Torah, the Sha’as Ma’aseh, and the previous warning would only suffice prior to Mattan Torah, but not for the moment of Mattan Torah itself. But couldn’t Moshe figure this out, that a new warning was needed because of the extra desire to see Hashem at the moment of Mattan Torah? The Mizrachi answers that Hashem’s response that Moshe and Aharon and the Bechorim should ascend the mountain was Hashem’s way of explaining to Moshe that the moment of Mattan Torah had arrived, but still, shouldn’t Moshe have simply figured this out from the fact that Hashem wanted him to warn the nation again?

The only way to avoid the conclusion that Moshe misunderstood Hashem’s command to warn the nation a second time is to assume that Moshe did not follow Hashem’s command perfectly the first time, which may also eventually come to explain why the Torah strangely omits Moshe’s original warning not to touch the mountain. Had Moshe followed Hashem’s instructions, there would be no reason to question Hashem over the need for a second warning. But perhaps Moshe somehow went beyond Hashem’s request when he warned the nation; therefore, when Hashem requested a second warning, Moshe pointed out that no such warning was necessary.

Moshe’s initial response to Hashem in pasuk 23, many mifarshim point out, proves that there was some sort of misunderstanding or misinterpretation, for while Hashem had earlier instructed a boundary be made around the nation, Moshe responds Ki Atta Ha’eidosa Banu Leimor Hagbeil Es HaHar. Clearly, Moshe didn’t understand Hasehm’s initial instructions and therefore misunderstood why he would need to warn the Bnei Yisrael a second time. The Admor Dovid MiKutsk proposes that while Hashem had instructed for a prohibition on the nation, the “gavra,” Moshe misinterpreted Hashem’s instructions and prohibited the mountain, the “cheftza,” a much stronger prohibition according to the Ran in Nedarim. However, since Aharon the Zekeinim and the Bechorim were to ascend the mountain, the people may become confused since the “cheftza” was apparently not forbidden. Therefore Hashem instructed Moshe to go warn the nation a second time and make sure they clearly recognized the “gavra” prohibition and that it still applied, lest they move too close to the mountain.

However, there is a small difficulty with this answer. Why would Moshe ever think to prohibit the mountain as a “cheftza” if he himself was going up and down? If Moshe warned about the “cheftza,” he should be able to recognize, because he’s standing on the mountain, why Hashem was requesting a second warning. The answer does manage to explain many facets of this confusing story, but it doesn’t cover all the issues, and it certainly isn’t what Rashi tries to explain since it doesn’t recognize any difference between the time of preparation and the moment of action (19:24).

In order to understand what Rashi believes Moshe changed from Hashem’s original instructions, we must look back at those original instructions. First Hashem tells the people to prepare for three days and do their laundry in preparation for the third day, Mattan Torah, because on that day Hashem will come down to Har Sinai in the nation’s midst. Then in the next pasuk, Hashem instructs for a boundary and ends His instructions with BiMishoch HaYoveil Heimah Ya’alu BaHar, permission for anyone to ascend the mountain once the Shchinah has departed, Rashi explains. It is clear that the reason the Bnei Yisrael can’t ascend the mountain is because Hashem’s Shchina is there, and it’s also clear that the Shchinah isn’t there until the third day. Therefore, the only day that the Bnei Yisrael, by Hashem’s command, couldn’t touch the mountain was the day of Mattan Torah.

By Hashem’s instructions, it’s apparent that Moshe did not need to warn the Bnei Yisrael regarding Har Sinai until the third day; therefore, Moshe’s warning to make a boundary was not intended by Hashem as part of his speech to prepare the nation three days in advance. Yet Rashi informs us in pasuk 23 “Moshe argued to Hashem that he did not need to warn the nation again because they had been in a state of being warned for three days prior to Mattan Torah,” so Moshe clearly warned the nation as a preparatory measure three days in advance. Now we can speculate as to why Moshe’s initial preparatory warning was omitted; the command as Hashem instructed was only intended as a one-day rule, but Moshe said it as a three-day preparation by his own cheshbon and not by Hashem’s command.

On the day of Mattan Torah, Hashem instructed Moshe to go tell the nation not to touch the mountain; this was the day Hashem originally wanted Moshe to perform this command. Moshe’s response to Hashem was simple: “I understand you want me to go warn the people now because this is the day you have descended upon the mountain and the day you originally told me to warn them. But you and I both know that a warning at this time simply isn’t necessary because I warned the nation three days ago on my own. Now they have a chazakah of staying away from the mountain, and no matter what they see – your Shechinah, Aharon and the Zekainim and the bechorim ascending – they will never break their chazakah. They aren’t able, they have no reshus over the matter.” It’s as if there’s a strict prohibition on the mountain, on the “cheftza,” because they have spent three full days not touching it.

The Mechilta takes note of pasuk 24, specifically when Hashem says “Leich Reid.” Had Hashem commanded Moshe to speak to the people, the pasuk would have said “Dabeir.” Because of the odd lashon, Rabbi Yehuda Bar Ila’i deduces that Hashem is really admitting that Moshe’s argument was in fact correct, that he in no way misunderstood Hashem and in fact did fully understand the purpose of the warning! Nonetheless, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi adds, Hashem wanted the nation to be warned on the day of Mattan Torah, “BiSha’as HaMa’aseh,” and Moshe wanted the nation to be warned well in advance, “Kodem HaMa’aseh,” and we try not to credit the desire of one above the other, even if Hashem admitted that Moshe argued well. Therefore, Rashi quotes Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi in his peirush, we nowadays warn people of prohibitions both in advance and at the time of the action/prohibition.

And why must we warn people twice? What benefit might it serve? This the Mechilta nor Rashi nor the mifarshim explain, but perhaps we can offer a possible understanding. Within the three-day warning, the Bnei Yisrael develop a habit not to touch the mountain, no matter what they see. When Hashem first says to Moshe to warn them again, He explains “Pen Yehersu El Hashem LiRa’os, ViNafal Mimenu Rav.” Rashi explains on the word Rav that even if a single individual died because of coming too close to the mountain, it would be considered an enormous loss in His eyes because of His care for the nation. Moshe therefore responded “I know how much you love every individual and don’t want to risk any of them dying. That’s why I told them three days ago not to ascend the mountain. Now there’s nothing to worry about.” But within the nation’s newly developed habit, Hashem felt that a little was lost from His connection to the Am, for they no longer listened to their orders out of consideration for Hashem’s word, but rather out of pure habit. Hashem, therefore, ordered the second reminder no longer to tell people not to ascend the mountain, but instead to remind them why they weren’t allowed to ascend, to remind them that touching the mountain wasn’t forbidden for the same reason it was forbidden the previous two days. The day of Mattan Torah was about regard for the Shchina’s presence, not about practicing good habits.

And this is the lesson we commemorate every time we warn each other a second time. We constantly remind each other, and ourselves, why things are forbidden. Not because of good habit or good practice, but because of our endearment and regard for Hashem’s commandments. As effective and correct as Moshe’s argument may have been, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi reminds us that we would never consider Moshe great just because Hashem conceded to him unless we first consider Hashem Himself to be great; there’s always greatness to be regarded in HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

Good Shabbos.