English translation — בראשית ב

Talk <pg>8</pg>

A.

On the verse<sup>1</sup>

"And God made the two great lights, the great light etc. and the small light etc." It is said in the Gemara<sup>2</sup>

: "Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi raised a contradiction: it is written 'And God made the two great lights' and it is written 'the great light and the small light'

(Implies both are great and it is written 'the small' — Rashi),

The moon said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe, is it possible for two kings to use one crown?

(In wonder)

He said to her: Go and diminish yourself"<sup>3</sup>.

And he continues,

about this the moon argued: "Master of the Universe, since I said before You a proper thing, I will diminish myself"

(with a question mark)

etc.⁴,

and about this the Holy One, blessed be He, appeased the moon in several ways,

as below section 3.

And now, seemingly it is not clear if the moon's argument

("Can two kings use one crown?")

was a justified argument:

From this that the claim of the moon is called in several places by the name "prosecution"⁵

upward

(as it were),

which indicates something undesirable,

it seems superficially that it was not a justified claim.

And so it implies superficially from this that the moon needed to diminish itself

(that this is a "punishment" for its claim,

in the language of Rashi⁶

"The moon was diminished because it prosecuted and said, 'It is impossible, etc.'"),

and not another change from the sun that in the change there is no punishment

(for it could be said that it was right in its claim,

why was it punished?).

But from the continuation of the words of the Gemara,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, appeased the moon after it claimed, "Since I said before You a proper thing, I will diminish myself,"

it implies,

that the content of its claim is a "proper thing"

(not only in the eyes of the moon,

but)

according to the truth of the matter⁷.

2.

Also in the content of the matter, explanation is needed:

If you say that this claim is correct — it is most perplexing: How can it be said that from the outset the Holy One, blessed be He, created the two luminaries in a way that there is room for the claim

(justly)

that their creation is not proper

(that two kings should use one crown)?

And especially that it is explicit in Chazal⁸

that "the world was created in its fullness,"

and according to the words of the moon it is found,

that immediately at the time they were created there was an imperfect thing in the creation of the world by the Holy One, blessed be He.

[And although it is brought in the Midrash<sup>9</sup>

that "everything that was created in the six days of creation needs improvement, such as mustard needs sweetening, lupines need sweetening, wheat needs grinding, even man needs correction" — "this is what is written<sup>10</sup>

that God created to make; 'which He created and made' is not written here, but rather 'to make'<pg>9</pg>

to say that everything needs correction"<sup>11</sup>

— it is simple that there is a great difference between the creations that were created from the outset in an unperfected state intentionally and with the intent that man should add to their perfection in order that they be prepared for him

(as in the above example that mustard needs sweetening and wheat for grinding)

— and between the creation of something that the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself needed, as it were, immediately to change and correct it].

And it must be said that the creation of the luminaries in the manner of "the two great luminaries"

("two kings using one crown")

has in it no deficiency

(and on the contrary,

so it must be,

therefore in the future again will be "the light of the moon like the light of the sun"¹²).

And it is difficult,

as above — how can it be said that the claim of the moon is "a proper thing"?

3.

And on the other hand — one must understand the claim of the moon "is it possible for two kings to use one crown" — which means that she wanted for herself a crown of greater kingship:

The sun and the moon were created by the utterance of G‑d: "Let there be luminaries in the firmament of the heaven to separate<sup>13</sup>

between the day and the night etc. to give light upon the earth"<sup>14</sup>

— and it is obvious that the will of the Creator was fulfilled in their creation,

and as it is written<sup>15</sup>

"And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good",

that everything that the Holy One, blessed be He, created was made in accordance with its purpose for which it was created<sup>16</sup>

; and also it is simple and clear that all creatures have no purpose and aim other than to fulfill the will of the Creator,

and if so, how is it possible,

as is implied simply,

that the moon was jealous for its honor and demanded for itself a greater crown?

And even more perplexing: after the Holy One, blessed be He, said to the moon "Go and diminish yourself",

He had to appease it,

as the continuation of the Gemara's words that He said to it "Go and rule by day and by night"; and not only that, but it was not appeased by this and argued "What benefit is a lamp at midday",

and the Holy One, blessed be He, added to appease it further: "Go, let Israel count by you days and years"; and even this was not sufficient for it, with the argument "It is also impossible that they not count by it the seasons

(seasons are counted by the sun, and based on the season they intercalate the year etc. — Rashi)

etc."! — For at first glance this argument stems from the bad trait of jealousy,

for what does it matter to it that the seasons be counted by the sun,

since from its rule nothing is diminished,

and on the contrary,

specifically upon it depends the majority and the essence of the counting of days<sup>17</sup>

— and to such an extent,

that after the Holy One, blessed be He, said "Go, let the righteous be called by your name etc." and "He saw that its mind was not set at ease, the Holy One, blessed be He, said 'Bring an atonement for Me for having diminished the moon etc.'"!

And it must be said that the diminution of the moon is part<pg>10</pg>

Of the order and manner<sup>18</sup>

Of the creation of the luminaries in the six days of Genesis<sup>19</sup>,

That is: even initially the intention of the Creator was that they should be in the manner of the great luminary and the small luminary

[And as the language of the verse "And God made the two great luminaries etc. the great luminary etc. and the small luminary etc.",

That the plain meaning of the verse is<sup>20</sup>,

That from the outset the two luminaries were created with the intention that one of them should be great and one of them small],

But rather the order of their creation was supposed to be

(As if it were said)

In two stages,

That initially God made "the two great luminaries",

And afterwards through the diminution of the moon they were divided to be the great luminary and the small luminary<sup>*20</sup>

; But since the reason and need for this change is due to the existence of the moon

(As will be explained below),

Therefore the diminution came about through the "claim" of the moon<sup>21</sup>.

4.

And we must explain this with the prior known introduction that "He looked into the Torah and created the world"²²,

that every single thing in the world,

its source is in the Torah

(which is the parchments²³

from which the world was created),

so too is it regarding the great luminaries

(the sun and the moon),

that they exist first in the Torah,

and according to their content as they are in the Torah,

their matter is drawn and descends into the sun and moon in physicality in their simple sense.

And according to this we can say,

that the manner of the creation of the luminaries — that at first they were created equally,

"the two great luminaries",

and afterwards through the "claim" of the moon "it is impossible for two kings to use one crown" the moon diminished itself — will be understood through the explanation of the content of the matter of sun and moon as they are in the Torah:

Explained in the Shelah²⁴,

that the two luminaries

(as they are in the Torah)

are the Written Torah and the Oral Torah,

and as hinted also in the Midrash²⁵

on the verse²⁶

And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights,

"From where did Moses know when it was day? Rather, when the Holy One, blessed be He, would teach him the Written Torah, he knew it was day, and when He would teach him orally the Mishnah and Talmud, he knew it was night."

And the reason for the matter that the Oral Torah is called "the small luminary",

because "the Oral Torah receives from the Written Torah, and as it is said in the Gemara: From where do we derive?<pg>11</pg>

as it is written etc. or from where? that the verse says etc."²⁷,

like the moon which receives light from the sun

[and also the "things that the sages and prophets in every generation decreed"²⁸

and the like,

behold also they have their foundation in Scripture²⁹

"And you shall guard My guard — make a guard for My guard" — "to make a fence for the Torah as they heard explicitly from Moses"³⁰,

that is, the fulfillment of Moses' instruction in the Written Torah to make a fence for the Torah³¹].

And according to this, one can explain that which initially were created "the two great luminaries" and afterwards the moon was diminished: that the Oral Torah is "recipient" from the Written Torah,

is only from the side of the children of Israel,

the recipients of the Torah,

that the laws and commandments that are in the Oral Torah were given to them to learn from the Written Torah by means of the thirteen principles through which the Torah is expounded and the like

[and also "the decrees and enactments and customs"³²

that the sages made as a fence for the Torah etc.,

which certainly depend on the children of Israel,

the recipients of the Torah³³]

;

But not so from the side of the Holy One, blessed be He,

the Giver of the Torah,

the Oral Torah is not in the category of "recipient" from the Written Torah,

and both of them are in the category of "the great lights",

for "all of them were given from one Shepherd"³⁴,

and in the language of the Rambam³⁵

"all the commandments etc. were given with their explanation"

(from above),

"He would³⁶

tell him the commandment

[the Written Torah³⁷]

and afterwards tell him the name of its explanation and its content"³⁸.

5.

More deeply:

That the Written Torah and the Oral Torah are called by the name "sun" and "moon" is not only from the aspect of their relationship to each other

(that the Oral Torah receives from the Written Torah),

but

(also)

because in the Written Torah the aspect of the Giver of the Torah is emphasized

(sun,

influencer),

and in the Oral Torah the aspect of the recipients of the Torah is emphasized

(moon,

receiver).

And according to the simple distinction between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah,

that the Written Torah is as it was transmitted from Sinai,

exactly in its letters, neither lacking nor extra — in this it is emphasized that it is the Torah of God

(and there is no grasp of human hand in it)

; but the Oral Torah, its definition is — the understanding of man

(for when he does not understand what he learns it is not considered learning at all³⁹),

<pg>12</pg>

And when Bnei Yisrael innovate in the Torah,

that is, that matters of the Oral Torah come and are revealed through Bnei Yisrael.

And with this we can explain the precise language of the Rambam⁴⁰

(regarding the order of the transmission of the Torah)

: "The entire Torah was written by Moshe Rabbeinu etc. and he gave a book to each tribe and tribe etc. and the commandment which is the explanation of the Torah he did not write, but commanded it to the elders and to Yehoshua and to the rest of all Israel etc. And because of this it is called the Oral Torah.

Even though the Oral Torah was not written, Moshe Rabbeinu taught all of it in his court to the seventy elders.

And Elazar and Pinchas and Yehoshua, all three received from Moshe etc. and many elders received from Yehoshua and Eli received from the elders and from Pinchas",

and he goes on to enumerate the details of the transmission of the Torah from generation to generation,

each sage from whom he received,

until Rabbeinu HaKadosh who compiled the Mishnah,

and until Rav Ashi who compiled the Babylonian Talmud etc.

And seemingly one must be precise: why did the Rambam state in the chain of transmission that the Oral Torah [is transmitted] not as it is written regarding Joshua, that "to Joshua, who was the student of Moses our teacher, he transmitted the Oral Torah and commanded him about it"⁴¹,

but rather in the manner of "so-and-so received from so-and-so",

that he did not write that so-and-so transmitted to so-and-so, but rather that so-and-so received from so-and-so.

And it is implied from this,

that the difference between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah is not only in that the Written Torah "Moses our teacher wrote it" and "the commandment which is the explanation of the Torah he did not write but commanded it to the elders etc.",

but also in this matter,

that the transmission of the Written Torah is in a manner that Moses our teacher gave it to each and every tribe,

and in the Oral Torah it is in the way of receiving,

that all the sages in each generation receive from the sages of the generation before them.

And one could say,

that this corresponds to the aforementioned difference between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah — that in the Written Torah the aspect of the giver is emphasized,

and in the Oral Torah the aspect of the receiver is emphasized.

6.

However,

This distinction between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah is only from the perspective of the Jewish people,

the recipients of the Torah,

but from the perspective of the Holy One, blessed be He,

the Giver of the Torah,

indeed, the Oral Torah is also the Torah of God exactly like the Written Torah,

without any distinction between them in the manner of their giving.

And this is that the Rambam prefaces there⁴⁰

"All the commandments that were given to Moses at Sinai were given with their explanation, as it is said⁴²

And I will give you the tablets of stone, and the Torah and the commandment; Torah, this is the Written Torah; and the commandment, this is its explanation; and He commanded us to do the Torah according to the commandment; and this commandment is called the Oral Torah",

that is,

that the aforementioned distinction between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah,

giving or receiving,

is only from the perspective of the Jewish people,

but from the perspective of the Holy One, blessed be He, both were given equally.

And in the language of my master, my father, my teacher, of blessed memory⁴³

"That everything that is said in the Written Torah and in the Oral Torah, both in halacha and in aggada, and in all the books that the righteous sages who studied Torah for its own sake composed...

all of them are truly the word of God and in that same language exactly⁴⁴

that they were said, as it is exactly"⁴⁵.

<pg>13</pg>

But since the subject of the Oral Torah is the "explanation" of the Written Torah,

therefore,

as the Torah is received in the giving below to the Children of Israel — that in their comprehension and perception, the "explanation" of a thing is lower than the essence of the thing,

and its purpose is only to explain its content

[And like a teacher learning with his student and needs to explain the content of his words,

that the "explanation" is not the essence of the intellect hidden in his words

(as it is by the teacher),

but rather this is what the teacher contracts his intellect to the level of the student so that the student can receive it and understand it in his intellect]

— then the Oral Torah is in the category of "receiver" from the Written Torah,

and its subject is — the "receiving" of the Children of Israel,

to the extent that the revelation of the Oral Torah is through the Children of Israel&lt;sup&gt;*45&lt;/sup&gt;

as above at length&lt;sup&gt;46&lt;/sup&gt;.

7.

And behold, as all these matters regarding "sun" and "moon" in the Torah — so too is it regarding the sun and moon that illuminate the earth simply,

that this that there is a difference between the two luminaries,

"the great luminary"

(influencer of the light)

and "the small luminary"

(receiver of the light),

this is only as they are in the world

("from the side of the receiver"),

but from the side of the deed of the Holy One, blessed be He,

"And God made",

both of them are in the category of "great luminaries",

"equal were they created"&lt;sup&gt;47&lt;/sup&gt;,

and there is not one of them greater than its fellow.

And simply: that the light of the moon is generated and created from the light of the sun,

is only as it is from the side of the boundaries of the world,

but from the side of the Holy One, blessed be He,

behold

(the light)

of the moon is the creation of the Holy One, blessed be He, equally exactly as the

(light)

of the sun — "And God made the two great luminaries"⁴⁸

; except that since the definition of the light of the moon is — light of a receiver,

therefore,

this light comes into actuality and revelation through the medium of the sun⁴⁹.

[And along the lines of what is explained regarding the matter of a rich man and a poor man⁵⁰

(who are analogous to sun and moon,

an influencer and a receiver)

— that this that the poor man receives his sustenance from the rich man,

is not because in essence he is lower than him and needs him,

but rather that the Holy One, blessed be He, arranges his livelihood for him through the medium of the rich man; and this is, that since the Holy One, blessed be He, wants that there be the commandment of charity⁵¹,

therefore He created the world in such a way that there be an influencer and a receiver,

a rich man and a poor man —<pg>14</pg>

And the rich man gives charity to the poor,

and it is found that in truth the poor man does not receive from the rich man but from the Holy One, blessed be He

(because "what the rich man gives to the poor is not at all his own, but it is also of the L-rd"⁵²),

and only from the side of the limitations of the world does his sustenance pass through the rich man].

And this is the explanation of the claim of the moon: "Is it possible for two kings to use one crown?" — from the side of the intention of the Holy One, blessed be He, in creation,

behold the existence of "the receiver"

(moon)

is itself that which requires that the light of the receiver come by means of the influencer

[And as above,

that from the side of the limitations of the world,

behold the receiver is below the influencer and receives from him],

and therefore there must be a diminution of the moon,

in a manner that it becomes "the small luminary",

which receives its light from the sun.

8.

However, that it was made from the lesser light is not the purpose and goal,

but rather that through this it will reach its perfection,

that His making by the Holy One, blessed be He, will be revealed in it,

that they will be "the two great luminaries",

and this will be actualized in the future,

that then will be "the light of the moon like the light of the sun"¹².

And this is the explanation of the give-and-take in the words of the Gemara — "She said before Him: Master of the Universe, since I said before You a proper thing, I will diminish myself. He said to her: Go and rule by day and by night. She said to Him: What greatness is there in a lamp at noon? What benefit does it provide? He said to her: Go, let Israel count by you days and years, etc."; after the diminution

(light)

of the moon — one must emphasize the ultimate intention in the receiving light,

that the intention is not that it remain in the diminution of its light^*52,

but rather that it will come and arrive through this to be "the great luminary",

"the light of the moon like the light of the sun".

And this is the content of the matter of the appeasement of the Holy One, blessed be He — "Go and rule over day and night, etc. Go, let Israel count by you days and years, etc. Go, let the righteous be called by your name" — that in order that it be emphasized in a revealed way that the entire purpose of the diminution of the moon is only so that through this there will ultimately come to be "like the light of the sun,"

that again there will be "the two great luminaries,"

there are in it even now matters of "greatness"⁵³

("Go and rule, etc. Let them count by you⁵⁴

etc. Let the righteous be called, etc.")

: And nevertheless "her mind was not appeased,

the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Bring an atonement<pg>15</pg>

for Me, for I diminished the moon,"

and this is to emphasize that as long as it is in the category of "the small luminary,"

that the moon is in a category of diminution,

they still need an "atonement" for its diminution,

until the intention is completed in a revealed way in the future to come,

"and the light of the moon shall be like the light of the sun"¹²,

that there will be "the two great luminaries" in a revealed and actual way⁵⁵.

(From the talk of the second day of Shavuos 5747)