The Mystery of How the Torah Was Written - Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz

Okay, we're continuing the bit of introductory material. So, we had finished yesterday with the idea that there are 24 books that are called Kethuvim Qodesh, the holy writings. Uh and they're divided into Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim. And that's the idea of Tanakh, Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim. Uh and again, just remind you of the count of the 24, they're Hamisha Chumash Torah. Then we have what are called Nevi'im Rishonim, earlier Nevi'im, Yehoshua, Shoftim, Shmuel, Melachim, because Shmuel Aleph and Bet and Melachim Aleph and Bet are considered to be each of them is one book. Uh then Yeshayahu, Yirmeyahu, Yehezkel, and Trei Asar. Uh those are Nevi'im Acharonim. Uh and then we have the Ketuvim, which are Tehillim, Mishlei, Iyov, the five Megillot, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah. Uh but Ezra and Nehemiah count as one. And Divrei Hayamim Aleph and Bet count as one. So, if you connect all those books together, you will get a total of 24. Now, one of the very, very difficult questions is what is the differences between Torah and Nevi'im and Ketuvim. Now, Torah being different than the other two is not so difficult, but Nevi'im and Ketuvim is going to be a very, very difficult question. Let's first take the Torah. Uh all of us know that the Torah is the highest Kedusha. And we believe it's it's one of the Ikarei Emunah that every single word of the Torah was dictated by Hakadosh Baruch Hu to Moshe who wrote it down based on the exact word that Hakadosh Baruch Hu said. So, the Torah is a verbatim transcript of what Hashem told Moshe to write. Now, let's just think about that for a moment. Uh when did Moshe write the Torah? Now, Pirkei Avot says Moshe kibel Torah miSinai. Moshe got the Torah at Har Sinai. But there's a big problem with that. Har Sinai, Ma'amad Har Sinai occurs in the middle of the book of Shemot, perek chof of Sefer Shemot. There are quite a few things in the Torah that happened after Ma'amad Har Sinai. The Cheit Ha'Egel, the manna, I'm sorry, the manna is before, but the Cheit Ha'Egel, then we have Korach and the Meraglim. What do you mean that Moshe got the Torah at Sinai? And the Torah doesn't even describe Moshe Rabbeinu as coming down from Har Sinai with a Sefer Torah. It describes Moshe Rabbeinu coming down with Luchos that have the Aseret Hadibrot. So, the truth of the matter is there is a Machlokes in the Gemara itself when Moshe wrote the Torah. According to one Man De'amar, Torah Chassumah Nitnah, the Torah was given in writing in one complete package. And that actually means the 40th year of the Midbar, the last day of Moshe Rabbeinu's life. So, this was an ace. Hashem dictated the Torah from Bereishit to Le'einei Kol Yisrael. Which actually means the Jewish people did not have a Sefer Torah till the very end of Moshe Rabbeinu's life. This is Torah Chassumah Nitnah. Not only that, but according to Chazal, on the last day of his life, he wrote 13 Sifrei Torah. One to go into the Kodesh Hakodashim and the other to be given to every Shevet. So, like the Man De'amar, Torah Chassumah Nitnah, there was no Kesivah Sheb'al Peh until the very last day of Moshe Rabbeinu's life. And then there's another Machlokes, who wrote the last eight verses of the Torah? Because the last eight verses of the Torah describe Moshe Rabbeinu dying, Vayamot Moshe. So, according to one opinion, Moshe Rabbeinu wrote all of the Torah except for the last eight verses. And those last eight verses were finished by Yehoshua. But again, Al Pi Hashem, God told him what words to write. According to the other opinion, Moshe Rabbeinu wrote everything, but he wrote the last eight verses, the Lashon of the Gemara is Bidema. So, what does it mean Bidema? So, the simple meaning of Bidema is he wrote it in tears, meaning he wrote about his death. And he wrote about it he was crying as he wrote about his death. That's one meaning. But the Gra has a whole other p'shat. The Gra has a very beautiful p'shat. The Gra points out that in Mishnaic Hebrew, the word Dema does not mean tears, but it means a mixture. So, for example, when Terumah falls into Chullin, that is called Demua. So, the word Dema can mean mixture or jumble. And here's what the Gra says. Chazal tell us that the Torah existed 2,000 years before the world was created. And it was black fire on white fire. Now, the Gra explains in what form did the Torah exist before the creation of the world? Were there the stories of Adam HaRishon and Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and Yetziat Mitzrayim? So, the Gra says no, because those things didn't happen yet. Rather, the whole Torah from the beginning to the end is one long name of God, the Shem Hashem. The primeval heavenly Torah did not exist in words and pesukim. The primeval heavenly Torah existed in an unbroken sequence of letters that didn't get broken up into words till the events happened. And that's, you know, if you have if you ever look at the Bible code stuff, you know, not that I endorse the Bible codes necessarily, but they try to draw all sorts of conclusions just by looking at the unbroken letters. So, Dema refers to the idea of the following. On one hand, it's an article of faith that every letter of the Torah had to be inscribed by Moshe Al Pi Hashem. On the other hand, it should also be axiomatic that Moshe Rabbeinu was not going to lie. So, how could Moshe Rabbeinu write Vayamot Moshe? The Torah wouldn't be a a Torah of Emes at that point. So, the Gra says Moshe wrote the last eight verses as unbroken sequences of letters. The lat That's Dema. Moshe wrote the last eight verses Bidema and they were split into words only after his death. That's how the Gra learns the opinion that Moshe wrote the last eight verses Bidema. But be it as it may, if you hold Torah Chassumah Nitnah, this is Chassumah Nitnah, that means there literally was no Sefer Torah until the day of Moshe Rabbeinu's death. On that day, he wrote 13 complete Sifrei Torah. And then we have a Machlokes, however, what about the last eight verses? This is the opinion Torah Chassumah Nitnah. So, what does that mean practically? Throughout the Chumash, we read Moshe is talking to the people, Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, "Daber el Bnei Yisrael." So, throughout the 40 years, Moshe is giving them Mitzvos, but they were not written down. And the Rebbe Rash points out that actually means the oral law is older than the written law, because the we didn't have the except for the Luchos, which were not seen by people, because the Luchos were in the Aron Hakodesh. Except for the Luchos, there was no Torah Sheb'al Peh. Everything was B'al Peh. Moshe would gather people and give them commandments. Now, did people make their own notes? Maybe. You know, maybe, you know, if you were a person who lived in the Midbar, maybe you had your notes of what Moshe Rabbeinu said. That's possible. And that was Divrei Torah, but that was not Sefer Torah. Now, this is if you hold Torah Chassumah Nitnah. What it Now, there's another opinion in which the the Ramban seems to pasken like Torah Megillah Megillah Nitnah. The Torah was written down in piecemeal fashion over time. Which means that as each event happened Hashem told Mosha what to write down. So, the way it works is this. Before Matan Torah Hashem dictated to Mosha the whole Torah from Bereishit until Mayman Har Sinai. And Mosha wrote that before the Aseres Hadibros. Then as each event happened Aseres Hadibros, Cheit Ha'Egel Korach, Meraglim Hashem then told Mosha how to write it. So, the Torah was written piecemeal. Me- Meaning Please understand that means according to both opinions Mosha was not given a Sefer Torah at Mount Sinai. It was either written piecemeal over 40 years or it was written at the end of the 40 years. Now, if I say Megillah Megillah Nitnah then it's less of a miracle. Meaning to say by the time Mosha on the last day of Mosha Rabbeinu's life he does have to complete 13 Sifrei Torah, but he only has to write the very end of them. So, you don't have the great miracle of writing 13 whole Sifrei Torah the last day of his life. Yeah. Um with the Ramban's shita, wouldn't you run into a problem that the Torah's not in chronological chronological order? Yes. Yes. That That's 100% correct. So, we have to assume that at the end of Mosha Rabbeinu's life Hashem told him how to rearrange it. Meaning that's included in Hashem communicating to to Mosha. So, the Torah was written as events occurred. See, otherwise it doesn't make sense. I mean, Mosha Rabbeinu doesn't come down and tell the Jewish people, "Oh, there's going to be Meraglim. There's going to be Korach." I mean, they don't know it ahead of time. Korach, you stand here and the ground is going to open up. Yeah. Um with the Ramban's shita, would the Ramban agree? Which one didn't agree? The Ramban and the Rashba. Would they have shita with each other? Yes. Yes. They do work with each other. That's only a machlokes about the last eight verses. Yeah. Yeah. They They work with each other. Yeah. Do you say also for Sefer Devarim that every word was dictated to Mosha? Ah, so now let's talk about Sefer Devarim for a moment. The Gemara says about Sefer Devarim that unlike the rest of the Torah which is Me Pi Hakadosh Baruch Hu it is God's words the Gemara says in Megillah that the book of Devarim the last book of the Chumash is in Mosha's words. And indeed you see this in the narrative voice. In the whole Torah it says, "And Hashem spoke to Mosha." In fact, uh in literature this is called the omniscient narrator. And of course, in the case of the Torah it literally is the omniscient narrator. Quite a Right. Then it's the narrative voice. In the book of Devarim it says, "Hashem spoke to me." In other words, in the whole Torah it's God speaking as the narrator. In the book of Devarim it is Mosha speaking. And the Gemara's machlokes actually is that these are the words of Mosha, not the words of God. Now, now, now, one thing is very, very clear. Even if you took that in the most literal way, which I'll show you is not to be taken, that these are Mosha's words. Certainly when when Mosha's communicating a new mitzvah like Yibbum he didn't make it up. I mean, the most you could say is he used his words, but the but vadai God gave him the mitzvah. That's for sure. But still, what do we mean the book of Devarim is Mosha's words? Is it not a fundamental principle of the Torah that every single word of the Torah was dictated by Hashem? And anyone that says Mosha added a single word on his own actually single letter on his own is a kofer, a heretic. This is what the Rambam says is one of the 13 principles of faith. How could the Gemara say the book of Devarim is Mosha Rabbeinu's own words? So, here we have the Abarbanel in his hakdama to the book of Devarim gives a very beautiful answer. And it's such a common sensical answer that once you hear it, uh you'll wonder why the question bothered you. That's kind of the sign of, you know, a real, really good answer that you don't even understand the question anymore. In fact, as an as a little aside, the Beis HaLevi used to say that was the difference between himself and his son Rav Chaim that he was very, very proud of, understandably so. The Beis HaLevi says when someone asks me a good kasha and I give them a gevaldige teretz he says, "Everybody's happy. You're happy because you asked me a gevaldige kasha and I'm happy because I gave you a gevaldige teretz." He says, "Someone asked my son Rav Chaim a kasha. Rav Chaim shows him, 'If you really think about it, there's no question here.' If you understand the funda- So, he says, 'Nobody's happy.' He says, 'You didn't ask a question. I didn't give an answer.' He says, 'Nobody's happy because there was no question to begin with. In fact, there was nothing.' Right? So, but but but in truth, the deepest answer can take away the question altogether. And here's what the Abarbanel says. When we say every word of the Torah is from God what does that really mean? I mean, the Torah has the words of Lavan. The Torah has the words of Paroh. The Torah has the words of Korach. The Torah has the words of of Bnei Yisrael complaining. The Torah has the words of Mosha talking to God. So, in what way do we mean every word of the Torah is the word of God? So, the Abarbanel says you have to differentiate between the events and the writing. Meaning God didn't tell Paroh I mean, God knows the future, but God didn't tell Paroh what to say. God didn't tell Lavan what to say. These were decisions people made based on their free will. But everything is the word of God because God determined what should be written down. Meaning Lavan may have said a million things. Paroh said a million things. But nothing got written in the Torah until God said, "Write it. Write it. Write it. Write it." So, when we say the whole Torah is the word of God, we don't mean as those words were spoken. As those words were spoken, these were the words of individual people who had free will. Now interesting philosophical question. If they would have exercised their will in another way, how would that change the primeval Torah? You know, let's assume they would have decided not to do. But the answer is, once again, according to the Vilna Gaon, you have a beautiful explanation. The Torah is unbroken letters. Those letters would have taken a different form. In a sense, the text of the Torah was based on the bechira of human beings. If you think about it. Because Korach didn't have to do what he did. The Meraglim didn't have to do what they did. The Egel didn't have to be the cheit ha'egel. Ah, the Torah preexisted 2,000 years. Answer, the letters would have taken a different form. Okay. That's a philosophical question and it goes back to the old question really. It's just a variant of the issue that God knows the future even though we have free will. So, you you understand the Abarbanel's point. The Abarbanel's point is, when we say the whole Torah is the word of God we mean that no letter was inscribed in the Torah unless God dictated that letter. But as the events unfolded, they were human autonomy. So, now Now, he says the following. With this you can understand the idea of Devarim. When the Torah says throughout the Torah Vayedaber Hashem el Mosha leimor God speaks to Mosha saying to him there God gave Mosha the exact words that he is supposed to communicate to Bnei Yisrael. So, when Mosha gives them the mitzvah he is using the words of God. In the book of Devarim, for reasons that we don't fully understand God gave Mosha permission to paraphrase, use his own words and his own musar. But so, in a sense, the words of Devarim are Mosha's own words. They are not God's words because God didn't tell him ahead of si- ahead of time what to say. But that doesn't contradict the idea that every letter in the Torah is from God because Mosha might have said a hundred times more than that. But it was God that determined which of Mosha's words would be in the Torah. So, you see the Abarbanel's point. Meaning, these are Mosha's own words in the sense that he wasn't told ahead of time what to say as opposed to Vayedaber Hashem el Mosha leimor where he is told ahead of time what to say. But their appearance in the Torah is legamrei Me Pi Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This is a really a tremendously logical good answer to understand how the book of Devarim are Moshe's words, but it's still a PSM. Now, so you understand how the Torah was given, the safer Torah was given. So, what does Pirkei Avot mean when it says Moshe got the Torah at Sinai. Moshe didn't get the Torah at Sinai. The Torah was either written at the end of the 40 years or the Torah was written gradually. I I An interesting question is, if the Torah was written gradually, how do how do you picture that? Do you picture that like Moshe had it in his private tent or did people get it in like like magazines, you know, uh I mean, did people have these partial Torah? I don't know. It's not clear if I hold Torah Megillah Megillah Nitna whether these Megillahs, these scrolls were circulated or whether Moshe had it on his drafting table and it was not available. And that that's a bit of a question. But still, what does it mean Moshe got the Torah at Sinai? The answer is that the word Torah does not have a uniform definition. We use Torah in many many different ways and it doesn't always mean the same thing. For example, uh we say today, you're in a Yeshiva, right? So, you're learning Torah. Well, are you learning Torah? Did you learn Torah this morning seder? Well, I don't know. Did you open up a Chumash at all in morning seder? You didn't learn Torah, you learned Gemara. Elema when we say the word Torah, we're not always referring to the five books of Moses. Torah refers to all of the things that are holy that are God's wisdom. So, Torah is a bit of an ambiguous term. Sometimes it means the five books of Moses. Sometimes it it's a general idea of learning the divine teachings. Sometimes it refers to mitzvahs of the Torah. Because the word Torah actually means instruction. So, when it says Moshe got the Torah at Sinai, it does not refer to the narratives of Korach and Meraglim, but it means that Moshe got the 613 mitzvahs. That in the 40 days and 40 nights that Moshe was in Har Sinai both the first time and the second time, Hashem taught him the 613 mitzvahs along with the oral law, the Torah Shebaal Peh, and all of the interpretations. So, Moshe Kibbel Torah MiSinai does not mean he got the text of the Torah BiSinai. It means he got the mitzvahs at Sinai. And they weren't written down. Again, those were not written down until when they were written down, maybe 40 years later. Now, even So, so this is very important that you have to understand that words are not always do not always have the same meaning. Moshe Kibbel Torah MiSinai is not the same thing as Torah Min HaShamayim. Torah Min HaShamayim, the Torah comes from God, refers to every letter in the safer Torah. That's Min HaShamayim. And that was Lav Davka at Sinai. That was throughout the 40 years in the desert. However, Torah MiSinai is a reference to the mitzvahs. In other words, the word Torah, like Torah Min HaShamayim, Torah MiSinai, the word Torah does not mean the same thing in those two phrases. Okay, everyone got that. Now, even that though was there's still a question. Let's assume what God taught taught Moshe at Sinai with the 613 mitzvahs. But isn't it clear from the Chumash itself that Moshe is communicating mitzvahs at different times? After Korach, there are certain mitzvahs that are given. After the Meraglim, this week's parsha, there are certain mitzvahs that are given. There are mitzvahs in the book of Devarim that even though there's Moshe's own words, but God certainly gave him the mitzvah. He didn't make up a mitzvah. Yibbum. So, what does that mean? Didn't Moshe get it at Sinai? So, why is he giving these mitzvahs at different times? Didn't we have them already? So, here there's something very important you got to understand. And the Chazon Ish is mazbir this. The Chazon Ish in Orach Chaim has a whole siman, fascinating siman, on after Hilchos Pesach, I think, that's called Seder in the Sinai Torah, where he goes through a lot of these questions. These are These are, you know, very simple questions that people don't think about. He says you have to differentiate between when Moshe got a mitzvah and when he was told to communicate the mitzvah to Bnei Yisrael. Moshe was told 613 mitzvahs with their interpretation, the Torah Shebaal Peh, at Har Sinai for 40 days, 40 nights. Yeah. But he did not necessarily give Bnei Yisrael those mitzvahs. Hashem determined, again, for reasons that we don't always know, that certain mitzvahs would not be revealed until certain events happened. And those events unfolded over 40 years. Meaning, if you were to take a snapshot of the Dor HaMidbar at any particular point and try to ask what were they fulfilling, it wouldn't have been the whole Torah. Meaning, they fulfilled the mitzvahs they were given to that point. Other mitzvahs came later. So, you have to differentiate between when Moshe got the mitzvah and when Moshe was authorized to communicate them. Now, now again, I'm not giving you a svara why Hashem chose this, but all I'm saying is it's very clear from the Chumash, is it not, that mitzvahs were revealed to the Jewish people at different stages. And there were mitzvahs that we didn't get till the very last day of Moshe Rabbeinu's life. This is the significance, the Chazon Ish says, of the ubiquitous phrase the ubiquitous word leimor. Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe leimor. So, English, the Lord spoke to Moshe saying. What is saying adding? So, the Chazon Ish says, leimor is the green light to communicate what you already know. Leimor, say it to the people. Leimor is an extremely important word. It's not just fluff or an extra thing. Leimor is God saying it is now time to reveal this mitzvah to the Jewish people. Again, we have to go through the whole Torah to try to understand this as to why. But all I'm saying is anyone who reads the Chumash understands the Jewish people are getting mitzvahs over time. Some mitzvahs after Hakamas HaMishkan, some mitzvahs after Meraglim, some mitzvahs after Korach, some mitzvahs the last month of Moshe Rabbeinu's life. The mitzvahs are are being revealed over time, but Moshe Kibbel Torah MiSinai is when did Moshe get them? And Moshe got, as Chazal say, the the both the general principles and the details. Moshe got them all. Now, the Chazon Ish is mazbir a wonderful way that this actually explains the four cases where Moshe Rabbeinu didn't know the halacha. There are four cases in the Chumash where Moshe didn't know the din. Case number one was the Makoshesh the Megadef. There was a man who blasphemed God. His father was Egyptian, his mother was Jewish. He cursed God. Moshe didn't know what the punishment was for cursing God. So, he put him in jail, that's the reference to jail, and Hashem said the punishment for cursing Hashem is stoning. All right, so that's one case. The other case is the Makoshesh, the fellow who gathered wood on Shabbos. Moshe Rabbeinu didn't know what the punishment was for Chillul Shabbos. Hashem again told him stoning. The third case was last week's parsha in which there were people who were tamei and they could not bring the Korban Pesach. Uh they went to Moshe and said, "Why should we not have a second chance?" Moshe didn't know. He goes to Hashem and Hashem says, "Oh, if you're tamei or you're far away, you bring the Korban Pesach a month later." That's Pesach Sheini. And the fourth case, which is coming up in a few weeks, is a man called Tzelafchad. Actually, You actually say Tzelafchad was the wood gatherer, so the stories are actually connected, but Khadijah and Khadijah had no sons and we know that sons inherit and the brothers of Khadijah were saying, "Oh, he only has daughters, so we get the property in Israel." And the daughters argued if there are no sons, we should get the property. Moshe didn't know. He had to go to a sham. And a sham told him, "Oh, yeah, if there are no sons, daughters inherit." Four cases. The makosha, the magadaf, the makoshesh, pesach sheni, benay slafli. Now, let me ask you a simple question. If Moshe had got all of these mitzvahs at Sinai, and if we say not only the general rules, but even the details, didn't Moshe know a machalel shabbat gets stoned? Doesn't Moshe know there's pesach sheni? Doesn't Moshe know that daughters inherit? Are you telling me his revelation at Sinai was incomplete? That would contradict the rule that Moshe Rabbeinu got everything at Sinai. So, how do you understand Moshe not knowing these things until he asked God? Now, some learn that he forgot because he got angry, etc. Some actually learn that he he was in possession of this information, but because of anger or whatever it is, Hakadosh Baruchu caused him to forget. Yeah, there is there is such a machloket in Chazal. But here's what the Chazon Ish says. This is the Chazon Ish says an amazing thought. Moshe Rabbeinu knows all of this, but he was not yet authorized to tell Bnei Israel. It's like inside information. In other words, Bnei Israel only got pesach rishon. That was revealed in Mitzrayim that you bring the korban pesach. Bnei Israel didn't hear about pesach sheni yet. Says the Chazon Ish, Moshe knows the law of pesach sheni, but what can he do? He was not yet allowed to reveal it to Bnei Israel. So, same thing with the makoshesh, with the magadaf, with benos slafli. It's not a question of Moshe not knowing the halacha. It's a question that the moment of its revelation hasn't come yet. And therefore, he goes back to God and he says, "Am I authorized to carry out this halacha?" And Hashem says, for for reasons we don't always know, "Now is the time." In some cases, we know pesach sheni, Hashem wanted pesach sheni to be revealed by people who yearned to do the mitzvah. Hashem wanted the yerusha Shabbat to be revealed by women who loved Eretz Israel. So, there are reasons why Hashem wanted things to be revealed at different times. But you see how this is Chazon Ish says. Really Once again, it's one of those one of those very very basic ideas that people don't think about. Moshe got the answer at Sinai, but he's not authorized to use the answer until Hashem said, "Tell Bnei Israel." And Bnei Israel had not yet heard this. So, Moshe can't use it. He has to ask Hashem for permission. Is now the time? Hashem might have said, "No, now is not the time yet." Hashem could have said that too. But Hashem said, "Now is the time." Yeah? So, that's the idea of Moshe kibbel Torah miSinai. It's not that we got the Torah at Sinai. We got the Torah over 40 years. Moshe got everything at Sinai, but even what Moshe got is the mitzvahs, not the narrations. The narrations were not written down till they happened and some say at the end of everything, Torah Hashem Nitna. Okay? So, this idea of Torah min Hashamayim is is is very important, but it has to be understood. It has to be qualified in various ways. The meaning of Sefer Devarim being Moshe's words and not Hashem's words, but the bottom line though, the bottom line is still true. Every letter in the Torah was dictated by Hashem. There is no letter in the Torah that was not specifically ordered by God to be inscribed. So, that is kind of the unique feature of the Torah. Yeah. If um God told Abraham that generation that exile saying that so they're going to be in exile, um doesn't that doesn't that show us that it really already kind of was predetermined like more of like it was predetermined that they would go through the exile meaning there wouldn't have to be a rearranging of of letters if the the narrative of Abraham already Abraham already knew Jacob already knew that there would be an exile Yeah, so so so again, I mean certain certain things were predetermined. That that that's very very true. On the other hand, uh that's because, you know, God gave a specific prophecy that this is going to happen. On the other hand, the eigel is not predetermined in that sense because Hashem didn't communicate your children will sin with the golden calf. Uh that In other words, we had bechira. I mean I I mean are you going to tell me that the sin of the golden calf was predetermined by God? Now, of course, God knows the future. No question about that. But on the other hand, we believe in bechira. If there wouldn't have been bechira If the Jewish people wouldn't have had bechira, they couldn't have been punished for the chet ha'egel. If they get punished for the chet ha'egel, that means there was a possibility they wouldn't have worshipped it. Now, if they wouldn't have worshipped it, what would happen to the narrative in the Torah that there's a chet ha'egel? That would have would have had to been reconfigured in some way. Again, it's a mystery. I mean I mean it is the mystery of God knows the end of the story, but at the same time there is free will. >> making a differentiation we're saying that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob they had bechira, but they didn't they didn't know the Torah. They didn't know the Torah, but Hashem gave them some insights as to what's going on. So so here's the thing. Um What they might have known privately is what they might have known privately. They didn't they didn't necessarily pass it down meaning it could be be nevuah. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew there would be a chet ha'egel. They may have known everything. But they certainly didn't tell Bnei their their own children this, the shvatim, because that would have thrown a wrench into free will. So, there's a lot that the avos may have known that they did not necessarily pass on. Now, in terms of the mitzvahs, there is a tradition that the avos knew the whole They kept the whole Torah before it was given. But apparently, that got lost in Mitzrayim. Apparently, because you don't find the Jews in Mitzrayim were doing that. So, that became like a temporary knowledge that apparently was lost in time. Yeah. Since we received the mitzvahs in the midbar over 40 years, does that mean we were, you know, doing a bunch of averas during that time or were we not No, no. The short The short answer is exactly what you just said. Until we received a mitzvah, we were not obligated. So, therefore, it was not an avera. But yeah, we were doing things that would later have been defined as averas, but they weren't averas at the time. Because we weren't commanded yet. Moshe knew that the time would come, but we were not yet ready for that. Now, yeah. How do you understand Genesis the mitzvahs in Genesis like the writing of No, no. So so so it all depends. If if you learn Torah Hashem Nitna, on the last day of Moshe Rabbeinu's life, Hashem dictated Bereishit bara Elohim. If you say Torah Megillah Megillah Nitna, so before the 10 Commandments, Right. Hashem dictated everything from Bereishit until that point. So, according to that opinion, which the Ramban endorses in the hakdama to the Torah, Sefer Bereishit was written before the right before the Aseret Hadibrot. Yeah. And in fact, you know, the Torah mentions by Matan Torah, Moshe Rabbeinu read It refers to a book that Moshe Rabbeinu read. He read to the people Sefer Habrit. The book of the covenant. Says in Parshat Mishpatim. What is Sefer Habrit? So, Rashi says Rashi and Rabbenu were in agreement. He read them the Torah from Bereishit till that point. Meaning, Rashi also learns Torah Megillah Megillah Nitna. That was the Sefer Habrit. He read them the first installment of the Sefer Torah. Yeah. According to the one who says Torah Hashem Nitna, what what would be the book of the Sefer Habrit? Yeah, yeah. So, that's a good question. If I say Torah Hashem Nitna, what was the Sefer Habrit? So, the Ibn Ezra writes that this was a special uh tochacha. In other words, Moshe Rabbeinu did write down the klalos that appear at the end of Vayikra to pronounce it to the Jewish people if they don't keep the Torah. So, it was a not the Sefer Torah itself, although it was it was the tochacha, so that was written down earlier. Okay? So, uh yeah. You say that you say that doing averas has an effect on a person's neshama. Yeah. So, before it was in the Torah before it was a commandment, we have some instances where where uh marrying two sisters, for example, right? That wasn't a commandment, but we know that's an avera. So, is it only does it only have an effect spiritually like an effect on our neshamas as once it became a commandment or because it's a commandment, does it have an effect on our neshamas or or that act inherently is is that Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a very good question. You can learn two ways. You could say well until until God commands there's nothing wrong with it or you can say the fact that God will command to make it us or means it's spiritually against it. Now I'll bring you a little Raya that even before the commandment it's spiritually injurious. The maybe you learned this. This isn't a God of our time. I don't know if you got that far which talks about there's going to be a big meal of the great and then they're going to have to decide who gets to bench who leads the benching. So it goes through all of the different ways and you know I have can't do it cuz he had you can't do it cuz he had you can't do it because he married two sisters. Finally does it and that's the meaning in close you show I lift up the close right so it's all that is going to lead the at the end of course is also his descendant. So the interesting question is well what's wrong with marrying two sisters if there was no prohibition. So the is must be because it's something that's that's intrinsically not good. So that's a little bit of a proof to what you're saying. On the other hand you have a good point that if I'm telling you that the door didn't keep certain things but it could be the truth is you have to understand if you look at the it could be they didn't have the occasion. It's not that they were doing for example the of wasn't given until the end of life but that doesn't mean they were divorcing their wives without it just means they weren't divorcing you know so it didn't necessarily not having a didn't necessarily translate into doing an you know that again we'd have to go through each particular case in that in that way. Okay so this is kind of our basic understanding of Torah. Now the word Torah once again comes from instruction direction the purpose of the Torah is to give us direction and instruction. Obviously when you're dealing with for sure that's the obvious case but that also means as you would expect that even the stories and the narratives of the Torah are supposed to teach us things. That's why it's called Torah. Now tomorrow we'll talk about the difference in Torah and because also are supposed to teach us things and the difference between and and okay so we'll get to that but today I wanted to be a little bit with just understanding what is Torah. Thank you for listening to this awesome production. To find out more and to partner in our mission please visit ohr.edu.