Shabbat 88a (פח.) — the Talmud in English

According to the Rabbis, eight

months

are deficient, and they worked

and there was no difference between the two first days of Nisan in the first year and in the second year except for two days בלבד. The first day of Nisan in the first year fell on Friday, and in the second year it fell on Sunday. Whereas the first day of Sivan in the first year fell on Monday.

Come and hear: As it was taught in Seder Olam: In the Nisan in which Israel left Egypt, they slaughtered their Paschal offerings on the fourteenth, they left on the fifteenth, and that day was the eve of Shabbat.

And we infer:

And since the first day of Nisan was the eve of Shabbat,

it follows that

the first day of Iyyar was Sunday

and

the

first day of

Sivan was Monday.

it was.

This is difficult for Rabbi Yosei!

And we answer:

Rabbi Yosei could have said to you: Whose opinion is this?

It is that of the Rabbis.

Come and hear:

It was taught:

Rabbi Yosei says:

On the second

of Sivan,

Moses ascended

and heard: “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests,”

and he descended

and told the people.

On the third

of that month,

he ascended

and heard the mitzva of setting boundaries,

and he descended

and told it to the people.

On the fourth

he descended

and told them the mitzva of separation.

And he did not ascend again

until the giving of the Torah.

And we raise an objection:

And since he did not ascend

on the fourth day -

from where did he descend?

And we answer:

Rather,

say:

On the fourth day he ascended and descended.

And he did not ascend again.

And the baraita continues:

On the fifth day he built

Moses

an altar and offered a sacrifice upon it.

As it is written: “And he built an altar beneath the mountain.”

On the sixth day he did not have time

to ascend.

And we infer:

Is it not because of the Torah

that he did not have time to ascend—that is, all Israel then ascended to receive the Torah?

But this is difficult, as one statement of Rabbi Yosei contradicts the other statement of Rabbi Yosei in our passage, as he said that the Torah was given on the seventh of the month.

And we answer:

No!

Rather,

because of the exertion of preparing for Shabbat

he did not have time to ascend on the sixth; but in fact the Torah was given on the seventh.

A certain Galilean expounded

a Galilean man

before Rav Ḥisda,

before Rav Ḥisda [since Rav Ḥisda was seated while the preacher stood, it appeared as though the one standing was above the one seated]:

Blessed is the Merciful One, Who gave a threefold Torah,

namely, Torah, Prophets, and Writings,

to a threefold people,

priests, Levites, and Israelites,

through a third-born,

Moses, who was third in birth after Miriam and Aaron,

on the third day

of separation,

in the third month,

Sivan.

And we say:

According to whom

did he expound?

According to the Rabbis,

for according to their opinion, Israel separated on Friday and the Torah was given on Shabbat, which was the third day of separation. Whereas according to Rabbi Yosei, they separated on Wednesday and the Torah was given on Shabbat, which was the fourth day of separation.

It is written:

“And they stood at the bottom of the mountain.”

This implies that they stood directly beneath the mountain.

Rav Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Ḥasa said: This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, overturned the mountain above them like a tub,

a barrel of beer,

and said to them: If you accept the Torah, excellent; but if not, there will be your burial.

Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: From here there is a substantial legal claim

against the Torah!

For if the Holy One, blessed be He, were to summon them to judgment for failing to fulfill the Torah that they had accepted upon themselves, they could answer that they had accepted it under compulsion.

Rava said: Nevertheless, the generation

again

accepted it

willingly

in the days of Ahasuerus,

out of love for the miracle that had been performed for them.

As it is written

in the Scroll of Esther:

“The Jews established and accepted”

“Established”

now, when they willingly accepted upon themselves

what they had already accepted

at the giving of the Torah, under compulsion.

Ḥizkiya said: What is the meaning of that which is written

in Psalms:

“From heaven You sounded judgment

that is, the giving of the Torah

the earth feared and was still”?

If it feared, why was it still?

And if it was still, why did it fear?

Rather, at first,

before Israel said, “We will do and we will hear,”

the earth feared,

lest Israel not accept the Torah and the world return to chaos and disorder.

And in the end,

when they accepted it,

it was still.

And why did it fear?

As in the exposition of Reish Lakish.

For Reish Lakish said: What is the meaning of that which is written, “And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day”? What is the purpose of the extra letter heh

in “the sixth”

?

It teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, stipulated with the works of Creation and said to them: If Israel accept the Torah, you will continue to exist.

But if not, I will return you to chaos and disorder.

And “the sixth” refers to the particular sixth day, which was the sixth of Sivan.

And the meaning of the verse is: “And there was evening and there was morning” of the completion of the works of Creation depended upon the sixth day of the giving of the Torah.

Rabbi Simai expounded: When Israel declared, “We will do” before “We will hear,” six hundred thousand ministering angels came, one for each and every Israelite, and they tied two crowns for him

from the radiance of the Divine Presence,

one corresponding to “We will do” and one corresponding to “We will hear.”

And once Israel sinned

with the Golden Calf,

one hundred

and twenty thousand destructive angels descended and removed them.

For each angel took one crown.

As it is stated: “And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb,”

which implies that they had ornaments from Mount Horeb.

Rav Ḥama, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: At Horeb they received

the crowns

! At Horeb they removed them!

At Horeb they received them: As we said.

At Horeb they removed them: As it is written, “And the children of Israel

stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb,” which also implies that they removed them at Mount Horeb.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: And all of them,

all the crowns,

were obtained by Moses, and he took them.

For it is juxtaposed

to the verse “And they stripped themselves”

the verse: “And Moses would take the tent.”

And we expound: “And Moses would take” those crowns.

Another explanation: “The tent” is an expression related to “when His lamp shone,” meaning light and joy; Moses merited the radiance of the skin of his face.

Reish Lakish said: In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will return them to us,

these crowns.

As it is stated: “And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with song, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.”

And this implies that the crowns, which are

joy from eternity,

will be

upon their heads.

Rabbi Elazar said: When Israel declared, “We will do” before “We will hear,” a Divine Voice emerged and said to them: Who revealed to My children this secret

of placing “We will do” before “We will hear,”

which the ministering angels use?

[And Maran Rabbi Elazar Menachem Man Shach explains that when an angel receives an assignment, he fulfills it with the aspiration that, upon completing his mission, he will receive another, more exalted assignment. This was likewise Israel’s acceptance of the Torah: They did not merely accept upon themselves to perform it; rather, they expressed that the purpose of their “We will do” was that it should lead to “We will hear”—that they should merit to hear more and more. For the purpose of performing the mitzvot is to advance and ascend in order to receive [“to hear”] additional spiritual levels and to hear more exalted matters.]

As it is written: “Bless the Lord, His angels, mighty in strength, who perform

His word,

to hear the voice of His word.” At first

“who perform,” and afterward “to hear.”

They are prepared to perform before they hear, unlike ordinary servants, who first hear the matter in order to know whether or not they can accept it upon themselves.

Rav Ḥama, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: What is the meaning of that which is written, “Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest”? Why were Israel compared to an apple tree?

To tell you: Just as this apple tree’s

fruit formation

precedes

the growth of

its leaves,

unlike other trees, whose leaves come first,

so Israel placed “We will do” before “We will hear.”

A certain Sadducee saw Rava studying a passage,

and his fingers were resting

beneath

his feet,

under his feet,

and he was pressing them

pressing them without noticing, because of his concentration,

and blood was spurting

from his

fingers.

He said to him,

the Sadducee to Rava:

Impulsive people!

You are an impulsive nation,

for you placed your mouths before your ears,

as you made the declaration of your mouths, “We will do,” precede what your ears heard. And

you still remain in your recklessness!

You still persist in your recklessness, like you, who pay no attention to what is happening to you.

At first you should have listened, to see whether you could

whether you were able to withstand it,

and then accepted

the Torah.

And if not, you should not have accepted it!