והמיצוה שהיא פירוש התורה לא כתבה אלא ציווה בה לזקנים וליהושע ולשאר כל ישראל שנאמר את כל הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם אותו תשמרו לעשות לא תוסף עליו ולא תגרע ממנו.
You know, in Yiddish folklore, the story is told about the person who built Noach with seven mistakes, נח מיט זיבן גרייזן. So not lefanu with ten mistakes, but this is one line in the Rambam with so many kashyas. So many kashyas. Now when the Rambam says V'hamitzvah, so we know what he means, right? He's referring to the pasuk of ואתנה לך את לחת האבן והתורה והמצוה and he told us, again in line three in the Frankel d'fus, he told us that u'mitzvah zeh perushah. So we know that the mitzvah is the perush haTorah. If the Rambam would have said hamitzvah, there would have been no ambiguity as to what he was referring to. So why does he say again shehi perush haTorah? The pasuk said אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם, right? Metzaveh es. But God says to Adam HaRishon, המן העץ אשר צויתיך, right? Tziviticha is tziviti otcha. So why does the Rambam say lizkeinim? Now the Rambam makes a statement here about Torah Sheba'al Peh, right? והמצוה שהיא פירוש התורה, which is נקראת תורה שבעל פה, as he told us over here and is about to amplify shortly. So the Rambam is telling us something about the Torah Sheba'al Peh and he quotes this pasuk. So this pasuk is talking about Torah Sheba'al Peh and that seems like a pretty reasonable inference. Now keseder, keseder, if you take a look, the closest one is if you take a look here in the Minyan HaMitzvot HaKatzer at the beginning of the Yad. If you take a look at mitzvas lo ta'aseh shin-yud-gimmel, in the mitzvas lo ta'aseh. So the Rambam writes שלא להוסיף על מצות התורה בין תורה שבכתב ובין בפירושה שקיבל על פה,
agav, that phrase exactly encapsulates what we spoke about last week, right? That Torah Sheba'al Peh doesn't define the chefetz. The chefetz is peirush. Torah Sheba'al Peh defines the ofen hamessirah, the ofen hakabbalah. That's exactly the phrases here: בין תורה שבכתב בין בפירושה שקיבל על פה, שנאמר את כל הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם אותו תשמרו לעשות לא תוסף עליו
and then mitzvas shin-yud-daled shelo ligroa mimenu. So the Rambam says mefurash that the pasuk is talking about Torah Shebiksav and Torah Sheba'al Peh. So how is the pasuk mashma that it's purely ba'al peh if it's talking about Torah Shebiksav and Torah Sheba'al Peh? The issur of Bal Tosif is a person, a navi, anyone can't come and add a pasuk to the Torah Shebiksav. You can't add a word to the Torah Shebiksav. You can't add a letter to the Torah Shebiksav. Also no one, neither a navi nor any other individual can come and and add a perush hamikubal and say that the Ribbono shel Olam gave me this perush hamikubal as to what a pasuk means. So the pasuk is clearly talking about both Torah shebiksav and Torah sheba'al peh. And it's meforesh, right? Both Torah shebiksav and Torah sheba'al peh. So how is the Rambam in the hakdama saying that there's a mashmau't here in the pasuk that lo kasava? There can't be a mashmau't that it's only Torah sheba'al peh when the Rambam himself many times, once obviously, but multiple times the Rambam is going to quote this pasuk about lo tosif and lo tigra as both Torah shebiksav and Torah sheba'al peh. The first time he said it was if you look in the yud gimmel ikarim in the hakdama to Perek Helek, he also quotes this pasuk. He's going to quote it again later in Perek Tes of Yesodei HaTorah. דבר ברור ומפורש בתורה שהיא מצוה עומדת לעולם ולעולמי עולמים אין לה לא שינוי ולא גירעון ולא תוספת שנאמר את כל הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם אותו תשמרו לעשות לא תוסף עליו ולא תגרע ממנו.
Again in Hilchos Zmanim, Perek Tes, K'Seder. K'Seder. And the last kasha, again והמצוה שהיא פירוש התורה לא כתבה אלא צוה בה. It should have been tziva otah. He commanded it. But what's bah? So most of these questions are interrelated. I'm not sure that they all are, but most of them are. The one that kemeduma might sort of be a separate question and touch upon a separate sugya. And then the other question is that there are two psukim of bal tosif in the Torah. Right? In Parshas Va'eschanan and Parshas Re'eh. And Parshas Va'eschanan and Parshas Re'eh. The Rambam keseder is quoting the second pasuk. את כל הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם אתו תשמרו לעשות לא תסף עליו ולא תגרע ממנו
is in Parshas Re'eh. Earlier in Parshas Va'eschanan, the pasuk says: לא תספו על הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם היום ולא תגרעו ממנו לשמר את מצות ה' אלהיכם.
How's it go? לא תספו על הדבר Perek Daled in Devarim. לא תספו על הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם היום ולא תגרעו ממנו לשמר את מצות ה' אלהיכם,
something like that the pasuk? לשמר את מצות ה' אלהיכם אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם היום.
Okay, good. So why does the Rambam bypass the pasuk in Parshas Va'eschanan? Why does he always opt for the pasuk in Parshas Re'eh? Again, that question, again, itachen that that question touches upon a separate sugya, and that's why the question is not just here in the Hakdamah, it's everywhere when the Rambam is quoting the psukim, he goes for the pasuk in Parshas Re'eh. So perhaps as follows: Again, there's, we'll see, this isn't, I don't know, could be this is pshat, it's not pashut for other reasons, but could be it's pshat nonetheless. One difference between the two psukim is that the pasuk in Parshas Re'eh is לא תספו על הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם and here the pasuk is es kol hadavar. Kol. Itachen that the Rambam learns pshat that kol hadavar refers to the Torah as a whole. And that's certainly the context in which the Rambam is always citing the pasuk. He's talking about the Torah as a whole, right? המצוה שהיא פירוש התורה לא כתבה אלא צוה בה לזקנים ולבית דין,
talking about all of Torah. Kol hadavar. Kol hadavar refers to the entire corpus of Torah. Again, הן בכתב הן בפירושה שקבלנו בעל פה. Now, the emes is Bal Tosif on the whole Torah and Bal Tosif on a particular mitzvah is really hainu hach. If you make Bal Tosif, if you have chamesh parshiyos b'tefillin, if you have a fourth bracha in Birkas Kohanim, if you have chamesh tzitzis, so it's Bal Tosif in a particular mitzvah, but if you have Bal Tosif in a particular mitzvah, it's also Bal Tosif in kala Torah kullah. So Bal Tosif in kala Torah kullah is not just if bada mitzvah milibo, he invents a new mitzvah, but it's also anytime there would be Bal Tosif in a mitzvah peratis, it's also Bal Tosif in kala Torah kullah. But that notwithstanding, there is lichora a din of Bal Tosif which relates to Bal Tosif within a mitzvah peratis. What does that mean? So for instance as follows: I mean this is the Gemara in Menachos, but we'll look at it from the Rambam, but it's the Gemara in Perek Hakometz in Menachos. So the Rambam quotes the din in Hilchos Tzitzis Heitil tzitzis. Meaning you have your arba kanfos, which is metzuyetzes, you have a tallis, which is metzuyetzes kehalachasoh. And then you go ahead and you put on on one of the kanfos, it could be more than one of the kanfos, but on one of the kanfos, so you put next to the tzitzis you have, you put another set of the tzitzis. Hetil lemutalos. So הטיל ציצית על ציצית. What's the din? אם נתכוון לבטל את הראשונה, אם נתכוון לבטל את הראשונה,
if you intended all along that this is going to be a replacement for the one that's there. I don't know, the one that's there is getting old, it's yellowed, whatever. So you you want to replace it with fresh tzitzis. Whatever his whatever his reason is, whatever his kavanah is. אם נתכוון לבטל את הראשונה, so מתיר את הראשונה או קוצה, you either untie it or you cut it off, ukesheirah. And and the tallis is a kesherah tallis. However, veim niskavern lehoseif, but what do you know? When he put when he was matil lemutalos, his kavanah was no, he's going to have two two sets of tzitziyos on on one of the one of the arba kanfos. So then אף על פי שחתך אחת משתיהן, even though subsequently he does the same thing and he does cut one of the two off, harei zu pesulah. Why? שהרי כשמוסיף פסל הכל, since when he did with the kavanah of hosafah, so bal toisif is not only an issur, bal toisif is also a posel. Right, it's not only that a person is over an issur through bal toisif, it's also a posel, a posel even in the cheftza shel mitzvah. So then since שהרי כשמוסיף פסל הכל וכשהתיר או חתך התוספת נמצא הנשאר נעשה מן העשוי,
so then you're left with a psul of תעשה ולא מן העשוי. Right? You can't be machshir the tzitzis by doing other things, anything other than putting tzitzis on it. So for instance, you can't put tzitzis on the beged before it has arba kanfos. You can't in the sewing process, if if right now you only have three corners, you can't put tzitzis on it because that's not that's not putting tzitzis on on a beged. So then when you'll add the fourth corner, and then by adding the fourth corner, then that makes these meaningful, so that's veasu lahem tzitzis, so it has to be an asiyah, not תעשה ולא מן העשוי. So here too, since the bal toisif is posel, so when he'll then cut off one of the the extras, so it will be left with a psul of תעשה ולא מן העשוי. So the point is that that agam that bal toisif again is refers to the Torah becholalusah, and in referring to the Torah becholalusah, it means both macro and micro. It means adding a mitzvah entirely. The Ramban al haTorah says that, Rashi in Rosh Hashanah says it. The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah quotes from the Toras Kohanim that shitas Rabbi Yehuda is that דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן לה' וסמך ידו על ראש העולה,
then דבר אל בני ישראל וסמך ידו על ראש העולה. So the Toras Kohanim says at the very beginning of Toras Kohanim, the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah quotes it, that בני ישראל סומכין ואין בנות ישראל סומכות. And Rabbi Yosei says no, בנות ישראל סומכות ברשות. So the question is, what's Rabbi Yehuda's objection to nashim somchos? So Rashi says it's bal toisif. Rashi says because if they're patur from the mitzvah, so for the ishah to do it means she's adding a mitzvah. Okay, so most of the rishonim say that we pasken like Rabbi Yosei, which is why even if you learn that pshat in Rabbi Yehuda. And and the Ra'avad in Toras Kohanim says no, no one thinks that's bal toisif, she's not making up a mitzvah, she's volunteering for a mitzvah that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created. It's bal toisif if you make up a mitzvah, not bal toisif if you volunteer for a mitzvah from which you're patur. And Rashi thinks no, Rashi thinks that point is a machlokes Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yosei. But either way you see from Rashi what's shonah bamachlokes is whether or not it's bal toisif when when someone who's patur is volunteering for the mitzvah, but that the yesod that adding a mitzvah is also bal toisif, so you see that clearly from Rashi. And you see it from the Ramban al haTorah says it also. I think maybe the Ramban is in Parshas Va'eschanan and he says it בדה חג מלבו בדה יום טוב מלבו. He says it's. is bal tosif and the Rashba in Rosh Hashanah zayin says it also because the Rashba in Rosh Hashanah says that every gzeira d'rabanan why isn't that bal tigra? So it's not just if you have three parshiyos in tefillin or three minim in the lulav, but when you uproot a mitzvah entirely, so bal tosif and bal tigra are parallel. Fine. So bal tosif bal tigra is on the macro level: you add a mitzvah, subtract a mitzvah to the Torah bichlalus. It's also on the micro level: again, chamesh parshiyos bitefillin, chamesh minim balulav etc., but that's really hainu hach because if you change mitzvos balulav or bitefillin, so bal tosif on the macro level, on the Torah as a whole. But then, and you've taken that all of that is in Parshas Re'eh according to the Rambam because kol hadavar because kol hadavar is referring to the Torah Torah as a whole. לא תוסיף על הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם is telling us that no, there's also a din of bal tosif in terms of how it affects the mitzvah pratis. That as a mitzvah pratis, the bal tosif is a chisaron in the mitzvah pratis also, in that again, minimally, that it's a posul, right? That's a different dimension of the parsha of bal tosif. That's what lichora would appear from the Rambam. To be aware of, I don't know, one has to decide whether to label this a question or just to be aware of. The Gr''a in Aderes Eliyahu basically says the opposite. The Gr''a in Aderes Eliyahu says the way he explains the fact that you have, again, he's not commenting on the Rambam, the way he explains the fact that you have two psukim is he says that in Parshas Va'eschanan the Torah is referring to the issur to add a mitzvah to mitzvos hatorah, to have a 614th or to reduce it to 612. And in Parshas Re'eh the Torah is talking about adding within a mitzvah. And he says that's mashma from Chazal because the drasha about not having chamesh tzitziyos, not having chamesh minim balulav etc. is in the Sifrei in Parshas Re'eh, not in the Sifrei in Parshas Va'eschanan. One of the klalim, again, so is that a question on what we said or is that just to be aware of? I don't know, one of the klalim, again, obviously, if it was the Gr''a's own, so then of course it wouldn't be a question, so the Gr''a says one thing, the Rambam says another thing, that's not a question. But the Gr''a points out how that works out in the Sifrei. So is that a question on what we're saying? But maybe not. One of the klalim which the acharonim point out in the Rambam is that the Rambam will if it doesn't make a difference ledina, the Rambam will quote a different pasuk than Chazal quote as a makor for a din. If it doesn't, again, if it doesn't happen nafkumina ledina, and there are many, many examples where the Rambam does that, where he'll quote a different pasuk than Chazal quote. So that's why maybe what the Gr''a says in Aderes Eliyahu, maybe that isn't a question on what we're saying in the Rambam. Okay, that's in terms of, again, the broader question of why the Rambam always opts for the pasuk in Parshas Re'eh. What about, again, the various questions just here? In some ways the, I don't know, sort of the most vexing question is the fact that everywhere else the Rambam says that bal tosif bal tigra, again, from this pasuk, is both Torah shebiksav and Torah sheba'al peh. So how are you saying pshat over here that this is proving something about what Moshe Rabbeinu did with Torah sheba'al peh when the pasuk is talking about both Torah shebiksav and Torah sheba'al peh? So perhaps as follows. The word tziva so we define and translate as commanded which is obviously correct but on the other hand it's also 100% clear that's not the only meaning of the word. The word tziva has multiple meanings. So a closely related but distinct meaning, very closely related but distinct. So let's say you find the Gemara in Berachot actually quotes this pasuk earlier when in the story with Chizkiyahu HaMelech and Yeshayahu HaNavi. So something like ba-yamim ha-hem chala Chizkiyahu or chala Chizkiyahu la-mut and Yeshayahu comes and tells him you know you're gonna die you're not getting better. And what Yeshayahu HaNavi tells him is tzav le-veitekha. The lashon ha-pasuk is tzav le-veitekha. Not tzav et beitekha as in tzav et Benei Yisrael אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם מן העץ אשר צויתיך it's tzav le-veitekha. So there the idiom is not tzav et but it's tzav le. What's the peshat? Because clearly what it means is that Yeshayahu is telling Chizkiyahu you're going to die so now's the time to give a tzava'ah. Don't postpone any longer now's the time ki mot tamut you're going to die. So why so how did that explain why it's tzav le-veitekha not tzav et beitekha? Because if you look in someone was melaket I think I think it was more than one volume. I'm only familiar with one volume but I think he has more than one volume. Someone was melaket tzava'ot of gedolei Yisrael. I think he calls it asher yetzaveh, I think the title of the sefer is asher yetzaveh. So one of them is I think tzava'ot of gedolei Lita. So obviously tzava'ot do contain instructions directives that the person is leaving for his children grandchildren. But they're not only that. In tzava'ot you have sometimes the one writing the tzava'ah there's a reflection on life or on his particular life. It's more than just you know do this don't do that. I mean it is that also but it's more than do this don't do that. A tzava'ah is not commanding someone but it's giving a tzava'ah to someone. Because it's more than it's so what what is it? And in particular even those elements which are taka instructive and instructions and directives. So what so I don't think any of the tzava'ot say you know in the morning when you fall Tachnun so you have your tefillin on your left on your left arm so make sure you'll do the netilat yadayim with the right arm and at mincha you'll do it on the left arm. So you'll say what that's because the gedolei Lita followed the Gra. The Gra used to do it on the left arm in the morning also when he was wearing his so no I don't think that. It's not talking about minutiae, it's talking about yesodos. It's as it were, the metzaveh is transmitting a legacy. That's what a tzava'ah represents. And and that's why what even again, even those directive elements and those directive components, but they're bigger than than a tzivui. It's a tzivui in the sense of of orchos chayim like the Gemara in the fourth perek of amdeinu orchos chayim. It's a it's a statement of of a legacy that is bequeathed to as opposed to commanding in the accusative, lashon accusation, lashon grammar, accusative. So yitachen like this. So hear this from us. The Rambam again, we asked והמצוה שהוא פירוש התורה. Why did the Rambam repeat it? It's quite clear there's nothing ambiguous if the Rambam just says hamitzva because he just quoted the pasuk, he just told us. So the Rambam says hageh atzmecha. It's true, if you look at the pasuk of עלה אלי ההרה ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצוה,
it's clear in context that mitzva refers to the peirush again, which is נקרא תורה שבעל פה. That's clear. But hageh atzmecha, why did the Torah just say, what's the significance of the fact the Torah the word bi'ur is lashon Mikra, right? Ba'eir heiteiv in Sefer Devarim, Moshe Rabbeinu explains everything ba'eir heiteiv. So why what what's the significance of the fact that Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't say ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והביאור? So lichora it's clear that the fact that the Torah chooses mitzva which means peirush in this context but also means more than peirush. Right, that's whenever Chazal darshan multiple meanings and and they're telling so what the point is that yes, the word the simple meaning of the word is this but you could have also expressed the simple meaning maybe in a simpler fashion which tells you that there's that there are ever levels which this word encapsulates which maybe the simpler word didn't encapsulate. Says the Rambam והמצוה שהיא פירוש התורה. If the Rambam would have just said hamitzva, I would have thought that's shorthand for peirush hatorah which is the way the Torah says it. Or if he would have just said peirush hatorah, he would have just peirush hatorah. The Rambam is saying like think about it, why is the why what's the significance of the fact that the peirush hatorah is is referred to as mitzva because it's telling us again both about the cheftza as well as the way it's supposed to be transmitted. The torah shebe'al peh again, it's the tzava'ah lecha. It's what's transmitted from generation to generation. Again, in again, in a in the most personal again, obviously the mashal of writing the tzava'ah obviously the mashal stops there, but that's not a kasha. And it yitachen as follows. How did the Rambam read the pasuk? את כל הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם. So yitachen the Rambam reads it as follows, hear this from us. וידבר אלקים את כל הדברים האלה לאמר. אלה הדברים אשר דבר משה אל כל ישראל.
Davar again obviously lashon dibbur refers to a davar mesuyam. Torah she-b'chsav is a dovor mesuyam. It's the words of the Torah she-b'chsav. את כל הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם metzaveh means two things here. It means that I'm commanding, hence eschem, but it also means that I'm interpreting. So the Et kol hadavar is Torah she-b'chsav and the Asher anochi metzaveh is תורה שבעל פה. אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם again, it doesn't mean that I'm commanding you, yes, but it also means more than that. It also means, it also means that I'm interpreting the dovor that I'm interpreting. Asher anochi metzaveh as in HaTorah veHamitzvah, as in ve-zavachta ka-asher tzivisicha. את כל הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה, so it's that I'm commanding, hence eschem, צו את בני ישראל. But it also means, it also means that I'm interpreting. Et kol hadavar Torah she-b'chsav, Asher anochi metzaveh is תורה שבעל פה. And the sense again of it being a tzava'ah that's that's transmitted, the sof hapasuk, oso sishmeru la'asos. So what's pshat in oso sishmeru la'asos as opposed to oso taasun? So when you have tishmeru, there has to be a drasha. So for instance, in Parshas Hatamid, obviously it's not going to be the same drasha. In Parshas Hatamid you have צו את בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם את קרבני לחמי לאשי ריח ניחחי תשמרו להקריב לי במועדו.
So it should have said takrivu li b'moado. So Rashi quotes from Gemara in Taanis, no, there has to be a drasha for tishmeru because it should have said takrivu li b'moado. So Rashi quotes Gemara in Taanis, tishmeru, that's how you know that you have to have ma'amados, you have to have someone who's standing watching over, but the point is tishmeru is telling you that we're talking about something beyond the basic asiyah. Again, what the tishmeru will mean will vary from context. So over here, lichora the tishmeru means to safeguard because the pasuk is also talking about the תורה שבעל פה. So tziva means to command. Tziva also means to, because it's used to represent the תורה שבעל פה, it means to interpret. It means to interpret. But also as in tzav l'veisecha, it also means something which is a a legacy transmitted from generation to generation. And the Rebbe is is operating with all those all those layers of meaning and that's what he's calling attention to when he's saying והמצוה שהיא פירוש התורה. Right, the fact that the peirush HaTorah is referred to as mitzvah and not any other way is telling you something more than just the fact that it's the peirush HaTorah. Right, the fact that the peirush HaTorah is mitzvah tells you something about how it's to be transmitted as in tzav l'veisecha, which is what the pasuk talks about oso sishmeru la'asos. Where's the תורה שבעל פה in the pasuk? It can't be that the whole pasuk is תורה שבעל פה because of all the other Rambams, so that's what we're suggesting that את כל הדבר אשר אנכי are two different things. Es kol hadovor is a dovor mesuyam as in וידבר אלהים את הדברים האלה, eileh hadvarim. And Asher anochi is that I am interpreting, not just that I am commanding, but also that I am interpreting, which is Torah she-b'chsav and תורה שבעל פה. Okay, let's stop.