Shabbat 88a — the Talmud in English

According to the Rabbis, eight

months

are deficient,

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

Come and hear: For it was taught in Seder Olam: In the Nisan in which Israel went out from Egypt, on the fourteenth they slaughtered their Passover-offerings; on the fifteenth they went out, and that day was the eve of Shabbat.

And we infer:

And since the beginning of the month of Nisan was the eve of Shabbat

it was. If so,

the beginning of the month of Iyar was Sunday

it was.

And

the beginning of the month of

Sivan was Monday

it was.

This is difficult for Rabbi Yosei!

And we answer:

Rabbi Yosei could say to you: Whose opinion is this? —

It is the Rabbis’.

Come and hear:

It was taught:

Rabbi Yosei says:

On the second

of Sivan

Moses went up

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

and he went down

and told it to the people.

On the third

of it

he went up

and heard the mitzva of setting boundaries,

and he went down

and told it to the people.

On the fourth —

he went down

and told them the mitzva of separation.

And he did not go up again

until the giving of the Torah.

And we object:

And since he did not go up

on the fourth day —

from where did he go down?

And we answer:

Rather,

say:

On the fourth he went up and went down.

And he did not go up again.

And the beraita continues:

On the fifth he built

Moses

an altar and offered an offering upon it.

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

On the sixth he had no time

to go up.

And we infer:

Is it not because of the Torah

that he had no time to go up, meaning that then all Israel went up to receive the Torah?

And this is difficult: from Rabbi Yosei here against Rabbi Yosei of our sugya, who says that on the seventh of the month the Torah was given?

And we answer:

No!

Rather,

because of the exertion of Shabbat

he had no time to go up on the sixth, but in fact the Torah was given on the seventh.

A certain Galilean expounded [

a man of the Galilee ]

before Rav Hisda,

before Rav Hisda [because Rav Hisda was sitting and the preacher was standing, it appeared as though the one standing was above the one sitting]:

Blessed is the Merciful One, who gave a threefold teaching,

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 words they separated on Friday and the Torah was given on Shabbat, which was the third day after the separation. For according to Rabbi Yosei they separated on Wednesday and the Torah was given on Shabbat, which was the fourth day after the separation.

It is written:

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

This implies directly beneath the mountain.

Rabbi Avdimi bar Hama bar Hasa said: This teaches that the Holy One, blessed is He, overturned the mountain above them like a tub,

a barrel of beer,

and said to them: If you accept the Torah, well; and if not, there shall be your burial.

Rav Aha bar Yaakov said: From here there is a great claim of coercion

against the Torah!

For if the Holy One, blessed is He, summons them to judgment for not fulfilling the Torah that they accepted upon themselves, they have an answer: They accepted it under coercion.

Rava said: Nevertheless, the generation

again

accepted it

willingly

in the days of Ahasuerus,

out of love of the miracle that was performed for them.

As it is written

in the Scroll of Esther,

“The Jews established and accepted” —

they established

now, for they willingly accepted upon themselves

what they had already accepted

at the giving of the Torah, under coercion.

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

in Psalms,

“From heaven You made judgment heard [

that is, the giving of the Torah ]

the earth feared and was quiet”?

If it feared, why was it quiet?

And if it was quiet, why did it fear?

Rather, at first,

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

the earth feared,

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

And ultimately,

when they accepted it,

it was quiet.

And why did it fear?

As Resh Lakish expounded.

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

of “the sixth”

why do I need it?

It teaches that the Holy One, blessed is He, stipulated with the work of Creation and said to it: If Israel accept the Torah, you shall continue to exist.

And if not, I shall return you to chaos and desolation.

And “the sixth” means the special sixth day, which is the sixth of Sivan.

And the explanation of the verse is: “And there was evening and there was morning” of the completion of the work of Creation depended on the sixth day of the giving of the Torah.

Rabbi Simai expounded: At the time when Israel preceded “We shall do” to “We shall hear,” six hundred thousand ministering angels came, for each and every Israelite, and tied two crowns for him

from the radiance of the Divine Presence,

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

And once Israel sinned

with the calf,

one million

and two hundred 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”

This implies “ornaments” that they had from Mount Horeb.

Rav Hama son of Rabbi Hanina said: At Horeb they received

the crowns

! At Horeb they removed them!

At Horeb they received them: As we have said.

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

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

Rabbi Yohanan said: And all of them,

all the crowns,

Moses merited, and took them.

For it is adjacent

to the verse “And they stripped themselves”

“And Moses would take the tent.”

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

Another explanation: “The tent” is in the language of “when His lamp shone,” which is light and joy; Moses merited the radiance of the skin of his face.

Resh Lakish said: In the future the Holy One, blessed is 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 head.”

And this implies that the crowns, which are

joy from everlasting —

will be

upon their head.

Rabbi Elazar said: At the time when Israel preceded “We shall do” to “We shall hear,” a heavenly voice went forth and said to them: Who revealed to My children this secret

of preceding “We shall do” to “We shall hear,”

which the ministering angels use? [

And the revered Rabbi Eliezer Menachem Man Shach explains that when an angel receives an assignment, he fulfills it with an aspiration to receive, upon completing his mission, another assignment, more elevated. And so was the acceptance of the Torah by the people of Israel: they did not merely accept upon themselves to perform it, but expressed that the purpose of their “We shall do” is that “and we shall hear” should follow it—that they should merit to hear more and more. For the purpose of performing the mitzvot is to advance and rise, 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, those who do

His word —

to hear the voice of His word.” At first

“those who do,” and afterward “to hear.”

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

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

To tell you: Just as this apple

the formation of

its fruit precedes

the growth of

its leaves,

unlike the other trees, whose leaves precede,

so Israel preceded “We shall do” to “We shall hear.”

A certain Sadducee saw Rava studying the teaching.

And the fingers of his hand were sitting

his fingers were resting

beneath his foot,

beneath his feet,

and he was pressing them

pressing upon them and not paying attention to it because of his concentration,

and they were flowing

dripping

his fingers with blood.

He said to him

the Sadducee to Rava:

Impulsive people!

You are an impulsive people,

for you preceded your mouths to your ears,

for you preceded the utterance of your mouths, “We shall do,” before the hearing of your ears. And

you still remain in your rashness!

You are still standing in your rashness, like you, who pay no attention to what is happening to you.

At first you should have listened, whether you were able

if you were able to endure it

you should have accepted it,

the Torah.

And if not, you should not have accepted it!