English translation of his commentary on the Mishnayos of the Rambam, but the Mishneh Torah, the Yad HaChazakah, and the Teshuvos to the Chachmei Lunel, everything else that the Rambam wrote was was written in Judeo-Arabic. The Rambam writes in a Teshuvah that he had Charatah that he did that, and that in retrospect he wished he'd written them in Loshon HaKodesh. כל מצוה שנתן הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה רבנו נתנה לו בפירושה. היה הקדוש ברוך הוא אומר לו המקרא ואחר כך אומר לו פירושו וביאורו וכל מה שכלל אותו המקרא המוסכם.
Just skipping for a minute, the Rambam then presents the Gemara in Eruvin about how Moshe Rabbeinu then transmitted this to Klal Yisrael. If you're looking in the Rav Kapach edition on page Beis in the left-hand column: והנה לך משל אמר לו השם בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים וגם הודיע השם יתעלה שסוכה זו חובת הזכרים ולא הנקבות ואין חובה על החולים ולא על הולכי דרכים ואין מסככין אותה אלא בדבר הצומח מן הארץ ואין מסככין אותה לא בצמר ולא במשי ולא בכלים ואפילו מן הצומח בארץ כגון המחצלאות והבגדים.
Right, it has to be Gidulei karka, but it can't be Mekabel tumah. ואכילה ושתיה ושינה יהיו בה כל שבעת הימים ולא יהיה חללה פחות משבעה טפחים אורך על שבעה טפחים רוחב.
And the area enclosed by the Dapanos of the Sukkah has to be seven by seven Tefachim. ולא יהיה גבוה פחות מעשרה טפחים. The minimum height of the Schach is Asara tefachim above the ground level of the Sukkah. וכאשר בא השליח עליו השלום, meaning Moshe Rabbeinu, קיבל המצוה הזאת וביאורה וכך כל השש מאות ושלש עשרה מצות הם ופירושיהם המקרא כתוב במגילה והפירוש על פה.
So one of the very interesting things, and the question is how to understand it, it's quite clear that the original, and this is Mamash the original style of learning, where HaKadosh Baruch Hu taught Moshe Rabbeinu and then the way Moshe Rabbeinu came and transmitted to Klal Yisrael is not the way we learn today, but is much more along the lines of Sifra, Sifrei, De-hainu that the way one learns is not that the Halachos of Torah She-ba'al Peh are arranged and you learn a Mishnah which tells you about the Dinim of schach and you learn a Mishnah that tells you about the Dinim of what the height of the Sukkah is, but that everything is the springboard is the Torah She-bichsav and all the Torah She-ba'al Peh was learned in conjunction with the Torah She-ba'al Peh, with the Torah She-bichsav, with the Torah She-bichsav as the point of departure, so then the Torah She-ba'al Peh was learned in conjunction with that. Right? If we know all these Dinim of Sukkah, so we know it from Mishnayos Sukkah, we don't know it in conjunction with the Pesukim of בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים and the other Pesukim. And Be-emes again, that's the difference, the earliest compilations that we have of Torah She-ba'al Peh, the Sifra, the Sifrei, Tucky are that way. That is the style, not the style that we have today. So the question is why it why it changed. So Yaakov Kamenetsky has a very, very kedarko bakodesh, a very original and fascinating suggestion. In the - it's at the end of Parshas Mishpatim. The one here in the beis medrash is one of the earlier editions, and the later editions, it was elaborated. I don't know if they found an extra manuscript or or they integrated some some notes. It's it's more elaborate there. And basically what Reb Yaakov suggests is that he says this isn't the only change in the tzura of mitzvas talmud Torah. He says perhaps the most basic change is the Gemara in Gittin tells us that דברים שבכתב אי אתה רשאי לאומרם על פה. That Torah she-bi-ksav you always have to learn mitoch haksav. And ודברים שבעל פה אי אתה רשאי לאומרם בכתב, and conversely, that Torah she-Baal Peh, keshemo ken hu, is is supposed to be oral. And Reb Yaakov says, and today we're holding by, aderaba, writing a sefer is a mitzvah, and and and you're medayek whether or not you make a shehecheyanu. But so what happened to ודברים שבעל פה אי אתה רשאי לאומרם בכתב? So for whatever reason, he doesn't quote the Gemara in Gittin about that. He does not quote the Gemara in Gittin of עת לעשות לה' הפרו תורתך. So maybe we'll come back to that, but he he isn't, certainly not in this version, I don't think in the later version either, he apparently was not misyaches to that on on that occasion. And then he says, Reb Yaakov, then then he quotes other things. The Gemara has in Bava Basra, in the second perek, the Gemara also traces a sort of development. That it says initially everyone used to be taught by their father. Everyone's talmud Torah was ולמדתם אותם את בניכם. So everyone's father taught him taught him. No yeshivos, no no chadorim. And then the Gemara says, so then they made a takanah because the problem was מי שיש לו אב היה למד מי שאין לו אב לא היה למד.
So the original takanah was that that they would bring the children up to Yerushalayim and and they would learn in Beis Hamikdash. And then after that, then they made a takanah שיהיו מושיבין מלמדי תינוקות בכל מדינה ומדינה. So Reb Yaakov says what what's going on? All the - and then he says, so he suggests as follows. He says ולמדתם אותם ושמרתם לעשותם. This again, very very creatively. He says the Torah says ולמדתם אותם ושמרתם לעשותם. That the din is that talmud Torah is - the mitzvah of talmud Torah, the tzura of the mitzvah of talmud Torah is however it will be accomplished most effectively. However the ולמדתם אותם ושמרתם לעשותם, that however the talmud Torah will be accomplished most effectively, so then that's the the tzura of of the mitzvah. He says initially, when there was an understanding of how to apply מדות שהתורה נדרשת בהן and in concert with that, the tradition about chaseiros vi-yeseiros was still intact. So then it was possible and therefore most desirable, again the original tzura which the mitzvas talmud Torah had, that again, the the Torah she-Baal Peh wasn't again arranged by masechtos in in units of mishnayos, but the Torah she-Baal Peh was was anchored, be it in the words of the Torah she-bi-ksav, be it in the chaseiros vi-yeseiros, be it for Rabbi Akiva in in the tagin of the Torah she-bi-ksav. He said as we lost our again understanding of how to. so then things were nisgalgel, so then the most effective way to teach the Torah She-ba'al Peh was to organize it the way we have organized in Mishnayos. And when there was concern for shich'cha, so then it was written down. That's the tamtzis of Rav Yaakov's approach. Why doesn't he at least in terms of the דברים שבעל פה אי אתה רשאי לאמרם בכתב, so why doesn't he integrate that into his whole mahalakh? Isn't it a meforesh in the Gemara daf samekh in Gittin that the Gemara attributes that to eis la'asos? Lema'aseh, I don't know, I honestly don't know for sure. The simple reading of the Gemara is this, right? The Gemara says that רבי יוחנן וריש לקיש מעייני בספרא דאגדתא בשבתא. So sifra de-aggadata means Torah She-ba'al Peh. So they were learning Torah She-ba'al Peh mitoch haksav. So the Gemara says how is that possible? Gemara says כיון דאי אפשר עת לעשות להשם הפרו תורתך. Again, so we learn pshat in the Gemara that ein hachinami, it really is assur me-ikar hadin and it's an eis la'asos. Some say, I'm not sure exactly, I don't know who was the first to have said it, that maybe that's why the Gaon wrote so much biktzar because heyos she- the whole thing is not really muttar to write Torah She-ba'al Peh then. So if you can write it in two words you shouldn't write it in three words, kal vachomer in twenty words. So that's the normal, the regular understanding of this Gemara. Rav Schechter has margala befumei that based on there's a Rashi in the beginning of on the Mishnah in the last perek of Maseches Brachos where you'll look up the Rashi. But there's a line in Rashi where Rashi says עת לעשות להשם הפרו תורתך is that you do something which is nireh ke-over. Not actually over. And in that line Rashi seems to say that sometimes we invoke עת לעשות להשם הפרו תורתך not that we're actually again that it's some kind of hora'as sha'ah to be mattir something that's actually assur but Rashi's lashon is that it's nireh ke-over. Rav Schechter thinks that that's the case here also, that this was never mamash an issur, it was a din lechat'chila, it was never mamash an issur and that's the way he understands this Gemara in Gittin. And again, was that Rav Yaakov's understanding as well? I don't know. If it is, then it would explain why he doesn't, why it's not mesiach da'as to it, I don't know. That Rav Yaakov uses that to explain also how again the fact that mitzvas talmud Torah was given that it should be that we should go about talmud Torah in the most effective way, he says, so the same way originally if the focus is on the halacha, on the yedios, so originally as long as they had command of the yud gimmel מידות שהתורה נדרשת בהן and they had the traditions of chaseros ve-yeseros and even knew what to do with tagin, so the most effective way to learn the halacha again was to have it anchored in the psukim, so he uses that to explain why bizman hazeh again there's much less attention paid to mikra, he said the centrality of mikra was as long as we knew how to elicit and thereby anchor the Torah She-ba'al Peh within their mikra. Once we became less proficient at that, so then it was always the Torah Shebaal Peh which was central, and he says and that's what he thinks is the justification for the fact again that our Ikar Limud that hasn't changed. It's just that how the Ikar Limud, how the primary focus is on Torah Shebaal Peh, how we go about that has changed, but that was always the focus. Okay. Kachenu misham. Rambam continues, he's quoting a Gemara in Eruvin וכך היה סדר לימודו לישראל. This is how Moshe Rabbeinu would teach Klal Yisrael. היה בא לאוהל נכנס אצלו אהרן תחילה והוא מסדר לו המקרא שקיבל פעם אחת ומלמדו פירושה. נסתלק אהרן ובא לימין משה רבינו. נכנסו אחריה אלעזר ואיתמר בניו
masder lahem Moshe כמו שהסדיר אהרן ומסתלק. בא אחד מהם לשמאל משה רבינו והשני לימין אהרן. נכנסו אחריה שבעים זקנים ומלמדם משה גם כן כמו שלימד אהרן ובניו. ואחר כך נכנסו המון העם כל מבקש השם ומסדר גם להם כדי שישמעו כולן ממנו. נמצא שאהרן שמע אותו מקרא ארבע פעמים ממשה ובניו שמעו ממנו שלוש פעמים והזקנים פעמיים ושאר העם פעם אחת ומסתלק משה מהם.
So Moshe taught four times, Aharon was present for all four, Elazar and Itamar for three, the zekenim for two, and everyone else who came was present for one. וחוזר אהרן ומסדר אותם המקרא ששמע ממשה ארבע פעמים. So then Aharon would say the shiur once. So now Elazar and Itamar also heard it four times, three from Moshe Rabbeinu once from Aharon. Then Aharon would leave, then Elazar and Itamar would say the shiur. So that way the shivim zekenim heard it four times, twice from Moshe Rabbeinu, once from Aharon, once from Elazar and Itamar. Then Elazar and Itamar would leave, then the shivim zekenim would give what would be the fourth shiur for the hamon ha'am. So the hamon ha'am heard from Moshe, then heard from Aharon, Elazar, Itamar, and the shivim zekenim. And then they would go back to their tents and they would chazer and they would teach each other vekhulu. It's a fascinating thing if you get the first volume of the Rambam maybe. Get the first volume of the Rambam. In the Hakdama to Mishneh Torah. So where the Rambam describes the Shalsheles HaKabbalah from Moshe Rabbeinu all the way down to חתימת הגמרא רבינא ורב אשי. So again the Rambam begins כל המצוות שניתנו לו למשה בסיני בפירושן ניתנו. שנאמר ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצווה. תורה זו תורה שבכתב והמצווה זו פירושה וציוונו לעשות התורה על פי המצווה. ומצווה זו היא הנקראת תורה שבעל פה.
Fine. Then the Rambam writes אלעזר ופנחס ויהושע שלושתן קיבלו ממשה. וליהושע שהוא תלמידו של משה רבינו מסר תורה שבעל פה וציווהו עליה.
So the fascinating thing is right in the Gemara in Eruvin Yehoshua is not mentioned. I don't know, maybe he's one of the shivim zekenim? I don't know, is Yehoshua one of the shivim zekenim? Maybe he's one of the shivim zekenim, but he's certainly not there for the private shiur with Aharon. He's not there for the for the second shiur which is Aaron, Elazar, and Itamar. So Yehoshua emerges as the as the next link in shalsheles hakabbalah, again not because of any not because of any head start necessarily that that he has in having Moshe Rabbeinu at least on the initial it's based on the יהושע בן נון נער לא ימיש מתוך האוהל that that's the way Yehoshua emerges as the as the next link in the chain of messorah. And so there's a famous vort that's it's printed in the Hagahos in Nefesh Hachaim from Itzela. The Gemara says in in Bava Basra that when Moshe Rabbeinu after Moshe Rabbeinu's petirah and Yehoshua assumes the role of leadership, so the Zekeinim shebador say פני משה כפני חמה ופני יהושע כפני לבנה אוי לה לאותה בושה.
That Moshe Rabbeinu he radiated his face glowed he radiated like a like a sun and Yehoshua is אוי לה לאותה בושה. So Itzela says the pshat is is not that they were denigrating Yehoshua, aderaba. Itzela says he says the moon right doesn't have its own source of light. The moon just reflects the light from the sun. Itzela says the pshat is like this that אוי לה לאותה בושה is not אוי לה לאותה בושה look look at the look at the yeridas hadoros we used to have Moshe Rabbeinu now we have Yehoshua. No, says that's not what it means at all. He says aderaba אוי לה לאותה בושה אוי לה לאותה חרפה says we all had that same opportunity. We all we all we all lived, the Zekeinim shebador, Yehoshua he was our classmate, we sat next to him in cheder. He says we were all exposed to the same chamah. Yehoshua became a levanah and we didn't become a levanah. That's what it means אוי לה לאותה בושה אוי לה לאותה חרפה. So bemeth this Gemara in Eruvin really drives home that point. The Gemara in Eruvin describing again the four times Yehoshua is man d'lo hashmei. He wasn't given any any any any any preferential any preferential treatment there. You find I think Rav Kook has it in his letters, I think the Steipler has it as well. I'm not sure if they cite the Gemara in Eruvin that the Rambam is quoting here or not, but but even if they don't cite it explicitly they clearly have it in mind when when asked for hadracha in terms of learning, so they both write both Rav Kook and and the Steipler they both write that minimum minimum minimum you gotta learn four times. You have to go through the sugya four times, minimum, l'chol hapachos. Less than that there's nothing to talk about. And they take that this that this takeh is basis for the Gemara in Eruvin is there's a halacha to be to be inferred. Rambam says that after the shiv'im zekeinim gave what was the fourth shiur for for the people, so מתפזרים העם ללמוד זה מזה מה ששמעו מהשליח וכותבים המקרא במגילות ומתפזרים השרים בכל בית ישראל ללמוד ולשנות עד שידעו אותו מקרא וישכילו קריאתו ומלמדים אותם ביאור אותו המקרא שניתן מאת השם ואותו הביאור הוא כללי עניינים.
Okay so then. And then after this, then they would go back and not everyone had necessarily been there, and even those who were there to review, to master it. והיו קוראים את המקרא וזוכרים את הקבלה על פה. Torah she-b'chsav, Torah she-ba'al-peh. V'amru aleihem ha-shalom, this is the Toras Kohanim the Rashi quotes at the beginning of Behar. בברייתא וידבר השם אל משה בהר סיני מה תלמוד לומר בהר סיני והלא כל התורה כולה נאמרה מסיני אלא לומר לך מה שמיטה נאמרו כללותיה ופרטותיה ודקדוקיה מסיני אף כל המצוות נאמרו כללותיהן ופרטותיהן ודקדוקיהן מסיני.
Then the next paragraph the Rambam gives the example from Mitzvas Sukkah, how Hakadosh Baruch Hu taught Moshe Rabbeinu the pasuk in Sukkos, בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים. What yedi'os he gave him. It's interesting that in that context that the Rambam gives the example שלא יהיה חללה פחות משבעה טפחים אורך על שבעה טפחים רוחב.
Because the Gemara in Sukkah actually has a machlokes tanna'im about what the minimum dimensions of a sukkah are. שבעה טפחים על שבעה טפחים is how we pasken, but the Gemara says that Rebbe is of the opinion that the minimum area of a sukkah has to be דלת אמות על דלת אמות. Rebbe holds that a sukkah's a diras keva and not a diras arai. The same way the minimum shiur for a house is דלת אמות על דלת אמות. In order to be chayav to put a mezuzah on a room, you don't have to put a mezuzah on a closet unless it's a big walk-in closet because the shiur of a bayis is דלת אמות על דלת אמות. Rebbe has the same shiur by sukkah and we say no, a sukkah's only a diras arai. For diras arai is rosho v'rubo v'shulchano and that translates into seven tefachim by seven tefachim. Check exactly how to read this line in the Rambam, ayin aleph. Okay, וכאשר הגיע סוף הארבעים שנה בראש חודש שבט הקהיל אותם עליהם השלום ואמר להם הן קרבו ימי למות וכן מי ששמע ממני איזה קבלה ושכחה יבוא ונבררנה לו ומי שנסתפקה לו איזה שאלה יבוא ונבארנה לו. אמר הכתוב הואיל משה באר את התורה הזאת לאמור. וכן אמרו חכמים בספרי כל מי ששכח הלכה אחת יבוא וישנה וכל מי שיש לו לפרש יבוא ויפרש וביררו מפיו הקבלה ולמדו הפירושים כל אותו הזמן מראש חודש שבט עד שביעי באדר.
That was those thirty-seven, thirty-eight days or so, Moshe Rabbeinu again tried to ensure that the masorah was complete, that there hadn't been any doubts, no forgetfulness. ולפני מותו נתעסק בכתיבה וכתב שלושה עשר ספרי תורה כולם גוילים מבית בראשית עד למד ישראל.
Moshe Rabbeinu wrote thirteen Sifrei Torah. ונתן ספר לכל שבט שיתנהג על פיו והשלושה עשר נתנו ללווים ואמר להם לקוח את ספר התורה הזה.
And that became the Sefer Torah she-ba'azarah, right? Moshe says, put it מצד ארון ברית השם and later that's the Sefer Torah she-ba'azarah. ויעלה על ההר בחצי יום שביעי באדר בעצם היום הזה.
He goes on Zayin Adar. כמו שנתבאר בקבלה והיה זה מותו ביחס אלינו שנפקד מאתנו.
Vis-a-vis us, it was death for Moshe Rabbeinu. וחיים ביחס אליו במה שנתעלה אליו. But for Moshe Rabbeinu it was a segue to different life. וכך אמרו עליהם השלום משה רבינו לא מת אלא עלה ומשמש במרום. ודברים בעניין זה ארוכים מאד מאד ואין זה מקומם.
That we mentioned before in conjunction with what Reb Yaakov has in Emes L'Yaakov about how we how the tzurah of how we learn has been affected by the fact that we no longer know how to darshen, we no longer have the traditions and chaseros v'yeseiros. So you take a look, there is a very very famous passage in the Rosh where Sefer HaChinuch talks about it also, where where the Rosh says that bizman hazeh one is m'kayeim the mitzvah of ksisvas Sefer Torah by buying seforim. Buying a Shas, a Rambam, v'chulu. So there is a major major major machlokes amongst the early gedolei acharonim what the Rosh means. Does the Rosh mean that it's also a kiyum in מצוות כתיבת ספר תורה to buy seforim? Or the Rosh means no, that bizman hazeh is b'chlal not a mitzvah d'oraisa to write a Sefer Torah, only to buy seforim. Mamash a machlokes the earliest acharonim oves olam, the Bach and the Shach and and the Prisha. זה אומר בכה וזה אומר בכה. So the Prisha kemedumani if I'm not confusing the sides, the Prisha on the bottom of the Tur is of the opinion that what the Rishonim were mechadesh is that bizman hazeh the mitzvah of ksisvas Sefer Torah is only fulfilled by buying again buying a Shas, buying a Rambam, buying a Mishnah Berurah and it's no longer fulfilled by writing a Sefer Torah pshuto k'mashmao. That's one of the tzdadim that for the majority of us who don't ever write or commission a Sefer Torah, that's one of the tzdadim as to why we don't do it. There are other tzdadim as well but that's one of the tzdadim. But the way the Prisha explains it is very strange. He says what are we going to bother writing a Sefer Torah for he says. We're going to write a Sefer Torah he says and then what are you going to do with it? You'll give it to the shul and you'll and you'll make a whole hachnasas Sefer Torah and people don't even learn from the Sefer Torah and and so why are you going to write a Sefer Torah for? So it's a strange argument. So tell people don't give it away. Taka the poskim do talk about that if you write a Sefer Torah and you give it away you you undo the mitzvah. So and tell people they should be ma'avir sedra from the Sefer Torah. Instead of instead of sort of bemoaning the fact that we don't learn from the Sefer Torah and and seemingly drawing conclusions from that, so tell people that they should learn from the Sefer Torah. So if you look carefully, so the the Prisha also talks about we don't know chaseros v'yeseiros and we don't know tagin. So it seems quite clear that what the Prisha understood the Rosh to be saying was the following. That the mitzvah of ksisvas Sefer Torah was really all along initially the mitzvah is to preserve the masorah. Preserve the masorah of Torah she'ba'al peh. Now kol zman that we had the traditions of chaseros v'yeseiros, we knew how to darshen the chaseros v'yeseiros and the tagin, so then the way one would preserve, the way Torah she'ba'al peh was preserved is because it was encoded with the exception of the pure halacha l'moshe misinai, it was encoded in the chaseros v'yeseiros in the tagin. So that's what the that's what the Prisha is saying. Avada you can tell people they should be ma'avir sedra from the Chumash but that's not going to that's not going to restore things, that's not going to be chadish yameinu k'kedem. It's not going to mean that writing the Sefer Torah is a way again of recording and preserving the masorah of Torah she'ba'al peh. And he said all along that was the mitzvah. Based on this Prisha there's a mamash an unbelievable unbelievable explanation in a lashon hagemara. The Gemara has in in a few places, it comes up in a few places, ich veis in the first perek of Sanhedrin it comes up and other places as well. The Gemara says what what happens when a when a word in the Chumash is written one way but it's vocalized it's read another way. So which is the sort of more determining in terms of our darshening, is it the way you read it or is it the way it's written? Okay, so the view that The view that says look at the way it's written says yeish eim lamasores. The view that says look at the way, excuse me, the view that says look at the way the word is read is called yeish eim lamikra. That's the way the Gemara presents it. The view that says look at the way the word is written, so what does the Gemara call that? Yeish eim lamasores. Aderaba, masores is something we always associate with תורה שבעל פה. So vos epes that the way the word is written the Gemara describes as yeish eim lamasores? So take a look. It's in the beginning of Sanhedrin, the beginning of Sukkah, it's in different places. Yeish eim lamikra is that the kri should be, should determine the drashos and that the ktiv should determine the drashos the Gemara calls yeish eim lamasores. So ela mai according to this Prisha it's gevaldig because the truth is that again the תורה שבעל פה is all the masora is all encoded, it's all encoded in the chaseros veyiseiros, the tagin, it's all encoded there. That's the masora. That's the masora is encoded there and that's where the Gemara refers to how it's written as yeish eim lamasores. That's what the Prisha said. So the mitzvah of ksivas sefer Torah was always to write down, to preserve that masora. Again, originally that's the way the masora was preserved and we lost our tradition chaseros veyiseiros, so then the way תורה שבעל פה is preserved for us is in Mishnayos, is in the Gemara, is in the Rambam, is in the Mishnah Berurah. That's the way תורה שבעל פה is preserved. It's not that the mitzvah changed. The mitzvah all along was that everyone has an achrayus for the preservation of the תורה שבעל פה.