Torat Moshe (The Law of Moses)

My heart overflows inside me [see Psalms 45:2]; my heart, my heart moans [see Jeremiah 4:19], racing back and forth [see Ezekiel 1:14]; I am astounded by a voice, a voice that calls to me, saying to me: Who made you a man [see Exodus 2:14]? You are a worm, not a man (Psalms 22:7). Have you considered [see Job 1:8] setting sail on the great and fearsome sea, or setting out with the caravan of Torah commentaries? For your mind is limited, both in knowledge of verses and in your reasoning.

The anguish as of one who brings forth her first child (Jeremiah 4:31): Do not be wise in your own eyes (Proverbs 3:7); Fear God (Ecclesiastes 12:13) and set it here before your eyes when you pass through mighty, rushing waters, and you are ready to go armed [see Numbers 32:17], the taskmasters urging you [see Exodus 5:13] to spread forth like one who swims spreads forth his hands to swim [see Isaiah 25:11], then the mighty breakers of the sea (Psalms 93:4) will frighten you. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea (Proverbs 23:34), and all your wisdom will be swallowed up [see Psalms 107:27]. You will start with a pitcher and end with a barrel¹ of oarsmen going round in circles and paddling, rowing hard to get to dry land, but unable to find it [see Jonah 1:13].

So too my spirit within me [see Isaiah 26:9] arose and spoke against me, saying: Who are you, O great mountain (Zechariah 4:7) before all those who know law and judgment (Esther 1:13), those who sit on rich cloths (Judges 5:10)? Have you not known? Have you not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord (Isaiah 40:28) spoke and called? This is the Torah [see Deuteronomy 4:44], fire out of His mouth did devour [see Psalms 18:9] small coals with the large, for the Lord your God is a devouring fire (Deuteronomy 4:24), who commanded us the Torah [see Deuteronomy 33:4], it is a fiery law (Deuteronomy 33:2) for us from the fire, flashes of fire (Song of Songs 8:6); for is not My world like fire [see Jeremiah 23:29]? Who is it who will walk through the fire and will not be burned [see Isaiah 43:2]? A burn for a burn (Exodus 21:25); the very flame of the Lord (Song of Songs 8:6), for “in a place of fiery sparks and burning fires, who can bring the son of Nappaha there?” [b. Bava Meẓi‘a 85b].²

Now provide the sense (Nehemiah 8:8) and understand. Who is wise, let him understand (Hosea 14:10) the wisdom of God, the wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge (Job 37:16). Especially as now you have not learned wisdom, nor has He apportioned insight to you, will you not hide in shame [see Numbers 12:14], for do you indeed [speak as a righteous] company [see Psalms 58:2]? Sometimes you disregard,³ and you will be considered wise (Proverbs 17:28); it is a skillful work [see Exodus 26:1] [that declares] the end from the beginning [see Isaiah 46:10]. It is for this reason that I wanted beforehand [see Jonah 4:2] to inform you in a clear, concise manner; as there is not a word in my tongue (Psalms 139:4), for to You, silence is praise (Psalms 65:2).

This I recall in my heart (Lamentations 3:21): I know, my heart, I know [see Genesis 48:19]: Surely, I am brutish, unlike a man, and have not the understanding of a man (Proverbs 30:2). Nevertheless, [are Your eyes] not upon truth (Jeremiah 5:3)? Behold, my witness is in heaven and He who testifies about me (Job 16:19) that I do not aspire to things too great or too wonderful for me (Psalms 131:1), nor make the claim that I can interpret like Rabbi Akiva. Perhaps I will expound well, for God, God, the Lord, He knows, and Israel He shall know (Joshua 22:22) that I did not intend to perform His labor in that manner. For from my youth the pain of occupation with the Talmud grew with me. I increased in study [see m. Avot 2:7]. I would come in and out accompanied with the disputes of Abaye and Rava unto Hobah;⁴ in-depth study at night, and halakhah by day, with the voice of archers [see Judges 5:11], the arrows of victory [see 2 Kings 13:17], understanding the teaching [see Isaiah 28:19] every morning, and then onto the halakhic authorities until sunset. To one who asked questions on the topic, I was able to answer in accordance with the halakhah [see m. Avot 5:7].

My heart did not go [see 2 Kings 5:26] to study regularly the expositions and plain meanings of scripture, except when God prepared the opportunity for me [see Genesis 27:20]—the Lord is God, and has given me light (Psalms 118:27). This occurred when I found rest from the study of halakhah, on Fridays, as on each and every week the people would come to me to expound [see Exodus 18:15] to them, in accordance with the Torah, the holy verses which they would read at the proper time [see Leviticus 23:4], each weekly portion on Shabbat eve. I took to my heart (Ecclesiastes 9:1), with my spirit within me (Isaiah 26:9), to expound and search out the meaning [see Ecclesiastes 1:13] and explain with pleasant words, to prepare a sermon on that which they would bring [see Exodus 16:5]. As the holy King appointed for them a daily portion [see Daniel 1:5] of fruits of increase (Psalms 107:37), and I would be like one who gleans stalks [see Isaiah 17:5], the aftergrowths of the harvest, although it is but a little [see Genesis 19:20] for it has been harvested with the sickle of my intellect. But since I used this sickle and that sickle, on this Shabbat and that Shabbat,⁵ it produced the little which God has graciously given me [see Genesis 33:5] in His abundant mercies.

Now, out of a concern that the gleanings might become forgotten sheaves,⁶ I wrote them down in a book of records of these fearsome chronicles [see Esther 6:1]. I wanted to provide the sense and understanding. It became deep and large [see Isaiah 30:33] in its many general statements and details, and after a long time [see Genesis 26:8], there was found written [see Esther 6:2] on it all these words of Torah [see Deuteronomy 29:28]. But the hands of Moses [i.e., himself] were heavy (Exodus 17:12), heavy from old age [see Genesis 49:10], distresses, hardships, and misfortunes, and therefore I did not retain the strength (Daniel 10:8) to review each and every matter, to purge its dross as with lye and to remove all of its alloy [see Isaiah 1:25].

Consequently, I said: better is the little that I had before me [see Genesis 30:30], the explanations and expositions in their current state. When God will give us rest [see Deuteronomy 25:19] from our toil [see Genesis 5:29] and troubles, we will return to expound and search out, to select and whiten,⁷ and to add teachings, in accordance with the good hand of God [see Ezra 7:9], for the soul who seeks it [see Lamentations 3:25], one edition after another, the first, middle, and last. As I say I have hope [see Ruth 1:12], as God will have mercy and give us rest from our troubles and from the toil of our people. For distress will come in like a flood (Isaiah 59:19), but in all its affliction, He was afflicted [see Isaiah 63:9]. Perhaps He will favor and strengthen us, and our rest will please Him, and then I will be able to turn again and review twice over all that I have said; is it not in my book [see Psalms 56:9]? I will return to each and every idea that Moses placed (Deuteronomy 4:44), to wave them as a wave offering [see Numbers 6:20; sifted] through thirteen sifters,⁸ and I will send it to those whom He has spared in His mercies, in the eyes of all Israel [see Deuteronomy 34:12].

However, from the day that I thought of doing this, I have been caught up in calamities; she has prepared her meat, she has mingled her wine; she has also furnished her table (Proverbs 9:2). For a whole year we have seen no ease nor quiet [see Job 3:26], and we have not rested from increasing terrible disasters, joined one to another (Exodus 26:17); [we looked] for a time of healing, and behold—terror (Jeremiah 8:15). At that point I said: I have arrived [see Psalms 40:8] at old age; what is mine end, that I should be patient (Job 6:11)? When will I achieve this difficult task, these editions [mahadurot] which I said will be as lights [me’orot]. For the Lord knows that I composed this edition in the days of my youth (Job 29:4), from all that Moses expounded [see Leviticus 10:16]. But since I ceased writing, I have increased and added [see Ecclesiastes 1:16] flowers and roses on each and every stroke [of the letters of the Torah], many various ideas, in every category and subcategory, and with my lips I added the best jewelry for adornment, as a bridegroom puts on a priestly diadem (Isaiah 61:10), and these are not written in the book. Now upon the judgment, upon truth, upon the Torah, and upon the service of God, with those who deal in public matters, I would be like one who draws back his hand [see Genesis 38:29] trying to fulfill it all. I therefore decided to write down my words with a pen of iron (Jeremiah 17:1) and lead, so that anyone in whose eyes God renders the book favorable can learn from it, even though it would not provide bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding [see Ecclesiastes 9:11].

Furthermore, many of those who have heard my words copied them down in ink. Who will arise in the congregations of each and every town and country to preach to them that they have misappropriated while claiming that it is theirs? Some slaughter an animal and sell to any passer-by for the money of his grain [see Genesis 44:2], while others do business with their friend’s cow [see m. Bava Meẓi‘a 3:2], for which he did not labor or make it grow [see Jonah 4:10].

Therefore, my eyes have been opened to this occurrence as well, so that you, one who looks upon it [see Isaiah 28:4] should see the truth from the one who said it. And he should restore that which was stolen [see Leviticus 5:23], which he uttered presumptuously (Deuteronomy 18:22), and repent and be healed (Isaiah 6:10).

If health is not restored [see Jeremiah 30:17] to the additional material, which is not written in the book, I will say that the main portion is enough: until here are the words of the outer gateway, that is under all the heavens, and this is the gate of heaven [see Genesis 28:17]. Give ear, heavens, and let the earth hear [see Deuteronomy 32:1]. God Most High has wrought toward me signs and wonders [see Daniel 3:32], as He has led me in the way of truth (Genesis 24:48), to take the daughter of the holy king [i.e., the Torah], as an inheritance [morasha] to Moses, the top stone [see Zechariah 4:7] to feed in the garden and to gather [see Song of Songs 6:2] gleanings from the paths of the tender garden. He placed in my mouth (Psalms 40:4) the Torah of His mouth; I will declare it to His people [see Psalms 111:6], those who fear God and think upon His name [see Malachi 3:16]. For who am I that the people will come to me to expound [see Exodus 18:15] and explain to them? By the mouth of the Lord the children of Israel will encamp and by the mouth of the Lord they will journey [see Numbers 9:18] on their journeys (Numbers 33:2), from Him to those who listen to them.

For my tongue shall empty her pitcher into the trough (Genesis 24:20); they brought the vessels to her and she poured out (2 Kings 4:5). This was a small thing in the eyes of God [see 2 Samuel 7:19]: he performed more wonders until I entered into the sanctuary of God (Psalms 73:17) with a written scroll of a book upon me (Psalms 40:8). I beseeched the Lord (Deuteronomy 3:23): may He turn with compassion from His place and grant him favor in the eyes of His people, to drink his words with thirst [see m. Avot 1:4] and to take delight in his sayings. May He count it for them as righteousness [see Genesis 15:6] and let them receive their reward when they occupy themselves with a book that illuminates the elucidations [me’ore be’ure] of the Torah. May those lights be desired before Him, his heart and eyes, for through their merit I will forget my toil [see Genesis 41:51]. As these signs that are in his midst [see Exodus 10:1] are the Lord’s; for I and that which is mine are His, and all that I have done, it is He who performs it; He tells His words to Moses [see Psalms 147:19].

Therefore, with the name of God, when I call upon Him, they are compact together [see Psalms 122:3] for me, the Tetragrammaton [shem ha-meforash] and the name of the commentary [shem ha-mefaresh], and I have called it in the name [see Exodus 31:2] of the One who speaks and performs, Torat Moshe [The Torah of Moses]. And I declare before I begin: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable before You, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer (Psalms 19:15).