Yoma 4b — the Talmud in English

And what the verse says

“and the cloud covered it”

—its meaning is that the cloud covered

the mountain

, for during those six days Moses was ascending and descending to bring the words of the Lord to the people and to return their words to Him.

And what it concludes,

“and He called to Moses

on the seventh day,” applies only to the Ten Commandments, during which

Moses

and all Israel were standing

to hear them from the mouth of the Mighty One.

And the verse did not come

to say that there was here a special calling for Moses to enter the camp of the Divine Presence,

but

in order

to grant honor to Moses

, the calling was directed to him alone.

Rabbi Natan says: The verse did not come

to say

but

with regard to Moses, who required separation in order

to purge the food and drink in his intestines

before he entered to be among the angels,

to make him like the ministering angels

.

And he holds in accordance with the view of Rabbi Yosei the Galilean regarding the essential meaning: that this occurred after the Ten Commandments, and indeed there was separation for Moses. However, he holds that one cannot learn from this that everyone who enters the camp of the Divine Presence for later generations must require separation.

And likewise

Rabbi Matya ben Heresh

explains and

says

: There is here no law of separation for the other entrants. For

the verse did not come, but

to separate Moses in order

to inspire awe

in him

, so that he would turn his heart to come to the Holy One, blessed be He, out of fear,

so that the Torah would be given

through him

with awe, trembling, and quaking!

As it is stated: “Serve the Lord with awe, and rejoice with trembling.”

”

And we interpret this verse:

What is “and rejoice with trembling”?

”?

Rav Adda bar Mattana said in the name of Rav: In the place of rejoicing

at the giving of the Torah—for it is stated concerning it, “The precepts of the Lord are upright, gladdening the heart”—

there shall be

present

trembling

.

And now the Gemara supports the view of Reish Lakish from the words of Rabbi Yosei the Galilean, who learned the law of separation for later generations from the separation at Sinai.

And we inquire concerning this beraita:

By what

does this dispute depend, for

they disagree

in it,

Rabbi Yosei the Galilean and Rabbi Akiva

, with one expounding the verse before the giving of the Torah and the other after the giving of the Torah—what is the source of their proof?

And we explain: They disagree

in the dispute of these tannaim

, who disagreed regarding another matter.

As it was taught: On the sixth of the month

of Sivan

the Torah was given to Israel.

.

Rabbi Yosei says: On the seventh of it

it was given.

From this point on,

Rabbi Yosei the Galilean

, who explained the verse concerning the covering of the cloud as referring to the six days after the Ten Commandments,

holds like the first tanna, who says

that

the Torah was given on the sixth of the month

.

Therefore

, it is necessarily necessary to explain that

this event occurred after the Ten Commandments

. And he explains the verse,

“And the glory of the Lord rested upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days

”— for Moses

,

who separated during these days as preparation for his entering to be forty days with the Lord. And then it was said:

“And He called to Moses on the seventh day” \-

to receive the rest of the Torah.

to receive the rest of the Torah.

For the first tanna cannot explain like Rabbi Akiva, that the covering was for the mountain and that the event occurred before the Ten Commandments.

For if it enters your mind

to explain like Rabbi Akiva, that

“and the glory of the Lord rested”

means

from the beginning of the month

, and consequently that which is written,

“and the cloud covered it”

, does not refer to Moses, who was ascending and descending, but

to the mountain

of Sinai. And afterward,

“and He called to Moses on the seventh day” \-

”—

was to receive the Ten Commandments

themselves.

But

he holds that Israel

received them

the Ten Commandments

from the sixth

of the month

! And

also,

but

already

the cloud had departed

from

the cloud

immediately after the giving of the Ten Commandments, on

the sixth

.

And

if

Rabbi Akiva,

who explained that the covering was for the mountain before the Ten Commandments,

held like Rabbi Yosei,

that

the Torah was given to Israel on the seventh of the month

.

And therefore the verses are understood according to their plain meaning: after the mountain was covered with the cloud for six days from the beginning of the month, the Holy One, blessed be He, called Moses on the seventh day of the month in order to give the Ten Commandments.

And we raise an objection: It is explicitly stated in the Torah that Moses was on the mountain for forty days, and when he descended at their end, he broke the tablets that were in his hand.

And if so,

granted according to

the calculation of

Rabbi Akiva, this is how you find

that which we learned in Taanit 26a, that

the tablets were broken on the seventeenth of Tammuz

.

For the beginning of the count of the forty days that he spent on high was from the seventh day of Sivan, after the giving of the Ten Commandments. And if so, there remained

twenty-four

days

of

the month

of Sivan, and

another

sixteen

days

of

the month of

Tammuz

, and with this

they completed

[they completed]

the forty days that

Moses

was on the mountain

.

And

the next day,

on the seventeenth of Tammuz he descended

he descended from the mountain

and came

to the camp of Israel,

and

when he saw the calf—

he broke them

and broke

the tablets

of the covenant.

But, according to

the calculation of

Rabbi Yosei the Galilean, who says

that after the Ten Commandments there were

six

days

of separation.

And

when you add to these six days another

forty

days

that

Moses stayed

on the mountain

, you will find that

until the twenty-third of

the month of

Tammuz

Moses did not descend, and

the tablets were not broken

.

And we answer:

Rabbi Yosei the Galilean can say: The forty

days specified in the Torah

that

Moses was on the

mountain,

we count them

together with

all of them also including the

six

days

of separation

. And they were completed on the seventeenth of Tammuz.

The master said: “And He called to Moses

”—

Moses and all Israel were standing

, the words of Rabbi Akiva.

And the Gemara says:

It supports

Rabbi Elazar

.

For Rabbi Elazar said: “And He called to Moses

”—

Moses and all Israel were standing

. And since all Israel heard together with Moses as one,

the verse did not come

to make the calling specifically for Moses,

but

only in order

to grant honor to Moses

.

It raises an objection

: It is stated in the verse, “And he heard the voice speaking to him.” And from the fact that it does not say, “the

voice

speaking

to him

,” but

a voice

speaking

to him

, we expound that the voice extended only to

Moses

. And only he

heard, whereas all Israel

did not hear!

And how did you say that all Israel heard?

And we answer:

This is not difficult.

.

This

where we say that all Israel heard

in

the voice of

Sinai

is referring to.

And that

from which we derive that all Israel did not hear is only

in

the speech that was addressed to Moses

from the Tent of Meeting

.

And if you wish, say

to answer in another way:

This is not difficult.

.

This

where we say that all Israel heard together with Moses refers only to a speech that was stated

in

the language of

calling

.

And

that

which is taught, that all Israel did not hear, speaks of a case where it is written

in

the language of

speech

. [According to Maharsha.]

Rabbi Zerika raises

two

verses

below

before Rabbi Elazar: And

there are those who

say it

: that

Rav Zerika said :

that

Rabbi Elazar

himself

raised

[this objection]:

It is written

in the section of Pekudei [Exodus 40],

“And Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, for the cloud rested upon it.”

And

whereas in the section of Mishpatim [Exodus 24]

it is written, “And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud.”

And we answer:

It teaches

that even there Moses could not enter on his own. Rather,

the Holy One, blessed be He, seized Moses and brought him into the cloud

.

But

the school of Rabbi Ishmael taught

[the verse in another manner]:

It is stated here

“And Moses entered

within

the cloud.” And it is stated there,

“And the Children of Israel entered within the sea.”

Just as there

at the splitting of the Reed Sea they did not enter into the sea itself, for

a path was made for them

within the sea,

for

it is

written

there,

“and the waters were a wall for them,” so here

a

path

was made for Moses within the cloud, and Moses entered only along that path.

It is stated in the Torah:

“And He called to Moses and spoke

the Lord to him.”

And we explain:

Why did

the Holy One, blessed be He, precede

calling to speech?

It taught

here

proper conduct

to a person:

A person should not say something to his fellow unless he calls him

—he calls him first.

And this exposition

supports Rabbi Hanina.

For Rabbi Hanina said: A person should not say something to his fellow unless he calls him.

They further learned from this verse, in which it is stated,

“And the Lord spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying,”

said Rabbi

Rabbi said

Musia bar bar of Rabbi Musia in the name of Rabbi Musia

Rabba:

:

From where is it derived that one who tells something to his fellow

casually,

is subject to

the prohibition of

“He shall not say”

to others what he was told,

until he is told

explicitly by the one who related it:

Go and say!

From that

which is stated, “And the Lord spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying.”

.

And now the Gemara returns to that which Reish Lakish challenged Rabbi Yohanan: according to his words, since he learned from the inauguration, separation should be indispensable even on Yom Kippur.

And we prove:

By implication

of their words,

that both of them

[Rabbi Yohanan and Reish Lakish] evidently

hold that

everything written in the section of

the inauguration—

everything written in it is indispensable in it.

For

this

was stated

: The laws of

the inauguration

were disputed by

Rabbi Yohanan and Rabbi Hanina

.

One

of them

said:

Everything

that is

written

that applies

to them—

is indispensable in them.

.

And one said that only

the

matter that is indispensable

as it is even

for later generations

is indispensable in them; but a matter

that

is like it

is not indispensable

in other sacrifices

for later generations is not indispensable

even

in them

.

That is, even in the inauguration, no greater indispensability was newly instituted than in sacrifices for later generations; and below we explain regarding which matters they disagreed.

And now we explain:

It follows

, prove

that it is Rabbi Yohanan who said: Everything written in it is indispensable in it

, while Rabbi Hanina is the one who disagrees. For from the fact that Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish challenged and said to Rabbi Yohanan:

Ведь когда рабби Шимон бен Лакиш возразил рабби Йоханану и сказал ему:

If

he learns the law of separation from the inauguration, we should also learn that it is indispensable, because

just as in the inauguration everything written in it is indispensable in it

, so with regard to Yom Kippur let us say that separation should be indispensable. And Rabbi Yohanan conceded to him, for he was silent

and did not answer him anything at all

.

And this implies that he does not disagree with him regarding his premise that in the inauguration separation is indispensable. Yet for later generations it is not indispensable, as Reish Lakish proved from that which we learned: “They prepare another priest for him,” and it is not mentioned that he must be separated.

And we conclude: Indeed,

it follows

, this is indeed proven!

And we inquire concerning this dispute:

What is the difference between them

, in what did they disagree in practical law?