THE SYSTEM OF HALACHAH JEWISH LAW I - Morasha Syllabus

The SySTem of halachah – JewiSh law: i
1. Bamidbar (numbers) 7:89 Commentary of Rashi (citing Sifri 7:164) – God spoke to Moshe
from within the Ohel Moed.
Whenever Moshe came into the Ohel Moed
to speak with [God], he would hear the Voice
speaking to him from above the cover that was
upon the Ark of Testimony, between the two
cherubs. [God] thus spoke to him.
Rashi: You might suggest that the Voice was
quiet. The Torah therefore writes, “the Voice” –
it was the same [powerful] Voice that spoke to
him at Sinai. But when it reached the entrance, it
ceased and did not carry out of the tent.
The System of Halachah - Jewish Law 14
לוקה תא עמשיו ותא רבדל דעומ להא לא השמ אבבו
ינש ןיבמ תדעה ןרא לע רשא תרפכה לעמ וילא רבדמ
:וילא רבדיו םיברכה
רמול דומלת ,ךומנ לוק לוכי - לוקה תא עמשיו :י”שר
עיגמשכו ,יניסב ומע רבדנש לוקה אוה ,לוקה תא
.להאל ץוח אצוי היה אלו ,קספנ היה חתפל
God would call Moshe to the Ohel Moed to dictate the Torah to him. God dictated each passage of the Torah
to Moshe, and Moshe repeated it aloud before writing it down. (See the Morasha class on the System of
Halacha II which explains that both the written and oral Torahs were taught to Moshe in the Ohel Moed. He
subsequently taught them both to the entire nation [Eruvin 54b]). There is some disagreement, however, as
to when Moshe wrote the passages of the Written Torah.
2. Talmud Bavli, Gittin 60a – when did Moshe write down the Torah?
Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi
Bana’ah: The Torah was given (to the people in
written form) piecemeal, in separate scrolls (i.e.,
Moshe would write down each passage of the
Torah when it was related to him; then at the
end of the forty years, when all the sections were
completed, he sewed them together with sinew
thread – Rashi), as it says, “Then I said, ‘I have
now come, with the Scroll of the Book that is
written for me” (Tehillim/Psalms 40:8).
Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: The (written)
Torah was given in complete form (i.e., nothing
was written until all passages had been related,
at the end of the forty years. The passages told to
him in the first and second years he memorized
until he wrote them down – Rashi), as it says,
“Take this book of the Torah” (Devarim 31:26).
הנתינ הליגמ הליגמ - הרות :האנב יבר םושמ ןנחוי ר”א
הנש ’מ ףוסבלו הבתוכ היה השמל השרפ הרמאנשכ(
,)י”שר – ןרפתו ןידיגב ןרביח תוישרפה לכ ורמגנשכ
רפס תליגמב יתאב הנה יתרמא זא ’מ םילהת :’אנש
.ילע בותכ
הבתכנ אל( הנתינ המותח - הרות :רמוא שיקל ןב ש”ר
תורמאנהו ןלוכ תוישרפה לכ ורמאנש רחאל ’מ ףוס דע
דע הפ לע ול תורודס ויה הינשו הנושאר הנשב ול
רפס תא חוקל )א”ל םירבד( :רמאנש ,)י”שר – ןבתכש
.תאזה הרותה
This passage seems to suggest that according to Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, Moshe did not write any of the
Torah until the last day of his life. But as explained above (Section III, Part C), the Torah states that even
before the revelation at Sinai, Moshe had written the part of the Torah recounting the events from Creation
until that time, and that he recited it for the people. This would seem to accord only with the opinion of
Rabbi Yochanan in the name of Rabbi Bana’ah and refute that of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish.
Several Talmudic commentators seek to resolve this discrepancy by slightly altering our understanding of the
view that the Torah was given “in its entirety.” We will cite one such resolution.