Sotah 37b (לז:) — the Talmud in English

Behold

here

four

covenants for each and every mitzva.

Four

covenants—[“Blessed” in general and in detail, and “Cursed” in general and in detail]—concerning “to learn,”

and four

covenants concerning “to teach”;

that makes eight

covenants for each mitzva.

And you have two further components: “to observe and to perform”; thus you have

eight

covenants, by virtue of “to learn and to teach,” for each mitzva,

and eight

covenants for each mitzva, by virtue of “to observe and to perform”;

that makes sixteen

covenants for each and every mitzva.

Likewise,

covenants like these were concluded

at Sinai

as will be explained below: From where do we know this?

And likewise at the Plains of Moab,

as it is stated [Deuteronomy 1:3]: “On the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this Torah, saying.”

And from where do we know that covenants like these were also concluded at Sinai?

As it is stated

at the end of the section of the curses [Deuteronomy 28:69]: “

These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded

Moses

to conclude with the Children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant that He concluded with them at Horeb [at Sinai]”; thus, covenants like these were also concluded at Sinai.

There are therefore forty-eight [

three times sixteen ]

covenants concerning each and every mitzva.

Rabbi Shimon excludes

from the calculation the covenants at

Mount Gerizim and

at

Mount Ebal,

because these were not concerning all the mitzvot, but only several mitzvot,

and includes the Tent of Meeting in the wilderness,

because after the Tabernacle was erected, the Holy One, blessed be He, spoke with Moses and taught him the entire Torah, as it is written [Leviticus 1:1]: “And the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying.”

And

the first tanna and Rabbi Shimon disagreed

in the dispute between these tannaim

[in their dispute].

As it was taught:

Rabbi Yishmael says: Only general principles

were

stated at Sinai, and

the

details

were stated only

at the Tent of Meeting,

meaning: There are laws that were stated to Moses at Sinai only in general terms, without specifying all the laws contained in them.

For example, what was stated at Sinai: “An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice upon it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings.” The burnt offerings and peace offerings are mentioned only in general terms, but this passage does not contain the details of the laws, such as the manner of applying the blood on the altar, and the flaying, dismembering, and burning entirely upon the altar of the burnt offerings, and the application of the blood and offering of the fats of the peace offerings; whereas the details of the laws were stated to Moses later, at the Tent of Meeting, in the Tabernacle, as it is stated at the beginning of the Book of Leviticus, which deals with the laws of sacrifices: “And He called to Moses, and the Lord spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying.”

And according to Rabbi Yishmael’s approach, it is impossible to count Sinai and the Tent of Meeting as two separate occasions.

Rabbi Akiva says:

Both the

general principles and

the

details were stated

all to Moses

at Sinai;

even those mitzvot that were written in general terms were not stated to him that way, but with all their detailed laws—only they were not written down.

And they were repeated

by the word of the Lord to Moses

at the Tent of Meeting.

And they were expounded

by Moses from his own mouth to Israel

at the Plains of Moab.

And according to his approach, Sinai and the Tent of Meeting should indeed be counted as two separate occasions.

And there is no mitzva whatsoever written in the Torah concerning which forty-eight covenants were not concluded,

as was explained.

Rabbi Shimon ben Yehuda of Kefar Akko said in the name of Rabbi Shimon:

There is no mitzva whatsoever written in the Torah concerning which forty-eight covenants were not concluded, corresponding to the six hundred thousand, three thousand, five hundred and fifty.

Meaning: Forty-eight covenants were concluded with each and every Israelite concerning each mitzva, corresponding to each and every one of the six hundred thousand, three thousand, five hundred and fifty Children of Israel who were counted in the wilderness of Sinai [Numbers 2:32], because each person became a guarantor for every Israelite, and he himself therefore has forty-eight covenants.

Rabbi said:

According to Rabbi Shimon ben Yehuda, a man of Kefar Akko, who said in the name of Rabbi Shimon, there is no mitzva and mitzva in the Torah concerning which forty-eight covenants were not made, of six hundred thousand and three thousand five hundred and fifty: [

it follows, for each and every Israelite] [

and in each one there are]

six hundred thousand and three thousand five hundred and fifty,

and it will be explained shortly what Rabbi came to add.

What is the difference between them

between the first tanna according to Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi according to Rabbi Shimon?

Rav Mesharsheya said:

A guarantor, and a guarantor for a guarantor

[mutual responsibility for the mutual responsibility]

is the difference between them.

Meaning: Their dispute is whether each Israelite became a guarantor only for his fellow’s obligations, which is the position of the first tanna; or whether each person became a guarantor for his own mitzvot as well as for the mutual responsibility of each person, which is Rabbi’s position. Thus, according to the first tanna, the number of covenants for each person is multiplied, according to Rabbi, by the number of Israelites.

Rabbi Yehuda ben Naḥmani, Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish’s interpreter,

[one who hears the discourse and conveys it to the public]

expounded: The entire passage

of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal,

all of it, was stated only with regard to an adulterer and an adulteress

[“adultery” refers only to relations with a married woman]:

As it is stated: “

Cursed is the man who makes a graven or molten image,”

but is it really the case that one who denied the fundamental principle

is sufficiently dealt with by a curse

[is a curse sufficient for him]!?

Rather, this refers to one who engages in intercourse with a forbidden woman

[a married woman]

and fathers a son, and

because of his shame, since the son is forbidden to enter the congregation and cannot find a wife,

he went among the gentiles and worshipped idols; cursed are this child’s father and mother, for they caused him

to make a graven or molten image.

Likewise, that which is stated, “Cursed is he who degrades his father and mother,” is interpreted with regard to an adulterer and an adulteress: One who has intercourse with a married woman shows contempt for his father and mother, who raised children badly in their home. “

Cursed is he who moves his fellow’s boundary marker”: For one who has intercourse with his fellow’s wife has moved his boundary marker. “

Cursed is he who misleads the blind on the way”: This refers to one who seduces a married woman, who is blind with regard to the matter, since she does not know the punishment for the transgression as he does. “

Cursed is he who perverts the judgment of the stranger, orphan, and widow”: This refers to one who has intercourse with a married woman and fathers a mamzer by her. Because he is a mamzer, he goes to live in another city, in a distant land, wherever he can find a place, and he is thereby like a stranger and an orphan: like a stranger who has no father, because the man who fathered him does not acknowledge that he is his son; and his mother is also like a widow, since she is forbidden to her husband and sits abandoned, like a living widow. “

Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife”: If she was also a married woman, he violates two curses. “

Cursed is he who lies with any animal”: This refers to a married woman who acts like an animal by mating with one who is not her mate. “

Cursed is he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father and the daughter of his mother”: If she was also a married woman, he violates two curses. “

Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law”: If she was a married woman, he violates two curses. “

Cursed is he who strikes his fellow in secret”: He causes his wife, through the whispered disclosure of his secrets, to die through the test of the bitter waters. “

Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person”: He accepts a bribe to pursue the adulterer and seduce a married woman for him, thereby causing the adulterer’s death.

The Sages taught:

It is written in the section of Re’eh [Deuteronomy 11:29]: “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land to which you are coming to take possession of it,

you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse

on Mount Ebal”;

what does this teach?

If it is to teach that the blessing is to be on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal, it has already been stated

in the section of Ki Tavo: “

These shall stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim,”

and it is already written

: “

And these shall stand for the curse on Mount Ebal”!?

Rather, it comes to teach that the blessing precedes the curse,

because the section of Ki Tavo contains only curses, and the verse teaches that a blessing must precede a curse.

One might have thought that all the blessings precede the curses,

meaning: They would first complete the order of the blessings, and afterward begin the curses?

The verse therefore states: “See, I am placing before you today

a

blessing and a curse

[in the singular]”; we learn from this that

one blessing

alone

precedes the curse, but not all the blessings precede the curses.

And

for this reason it further states, “a blessing and a curse,” in order

to juxtapose the blessing with the curse

with regard to all the laws derived from the passage of curses stated in Ki Tavo,

and to tell you:

Just as the curse is recited by the Levites,

so

the blessing is recited by the Levites.

is it stated.

And just as the curse is recited in a loud voice, so the blessing is recited in a loud voice.

And just as the curse is recited in the Holy Tongue, so the blessing is recited in the Holy Tongue.

And just as the curse is stated in general and in detail,

as it says: “Cursed is he who does not uphold the words of this Torah,”

so the blessing is stated in general and in detail,

as it says: “Blessed is he who upholds the words of this Torah.”

And just as the curse: these

on Mount Gerizim

and these

on Mount Ebal

answer and say, “Amen,”

as it is stated: “And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen,’”

so with the blessing, these and these answer and say, “Amen.”

Mishna:

a. Our Mishna continues explaining the mitzvot mentioned in the first Mishna of this chapter, which are recited in the Holy Tongue.

b. The Torah commanded [Numbers 6:23]: “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying: Thus shall you bless the Children of Israel; say to them: May the Lord bless you and safeguard you. May the Lord illuminate His countenance toward you and grant you grace. May the Lord lift His countenance toward you and grant you peace. And they shall place My Name upon the Children of Israel, and I shall bless them.”

c. The Torah further stated [Deuteronomy 10:8]: “At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him and to bless in His Name [the Priestly Blessing], to this day.”

d. We also find a blessing given by Aaron on the eighth day of the inauguration [Leviticus 9:22]: “And Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them [‘May He bless you,’ ‘May He illuminate,’ ‘May He lift,’ according to Rashi’s interpretation there; but according to Ramban, it was a different blessing], and he descended after performing the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings.”

e. This blessing, with which the kohanim were commanded to bless the Children of Israel, was recited in the Temple at the conclusion of the service of the daily morning offering and the daily afternoon offering, and with the additional offerings—according to Tosafot in our discussion; Rambam’s opinion [Prayer 14:4] is that they raised their hands only with the daily morning offering; and throughout the country they raised their hands at every prayer.

The Priestly Blessing—

which consists of “May He bless,” “May He illuminate,” and “May He lift”—

how

is it recited?

Outside the Temple: He recites it

[the three verses]

as three

separate blessings, because the people answer “Amen” between one blessing and the next.

And in the Temple:

He recites it as

one blessing,

because they do not answer “Amen” in the Temple, as will be explained further in the Gemara.