Shabbat Parashat Vayakhel Pekudei 5786

Parashat Hashavua: Torah from the Heaven, and the Reuniting of Broken Pieces

The rule is that all members of Bnei Yisrael have a part in the World to Come, but one exception is one who says that “the Torah does not come from Heaven” (i.e., is not of Divine Origin) (Mishna, Sanhedrin 10:1). There is a Talmudic custom that incorporates this into the language of the beracha on Torah, “… Who gave Torah from the Heaven” … (Sofrim 13:6). The gemara (Sanhedrin 99a) calls a denier of Torah from the Heaven, one guilty of “He disgraces the word of Hashem and forsook his precepts” (Bamidbar 15:31), and the Rambam codifies this concept (Mamrim 3:2).

What is included in the principle of Torah from the Heaven, and how does it connect to other principles of the Torah? Realize that the nature of the Torah has great impact on how we learn it and fulfill it. If it is of divine origin, from the Creator, Who is not part of creation, and it is transcendental, we must come to the following conclusions:

A. We will not find a logical reason for every commandment of the Torah. Our most famous example is the laws of the Red Heifer. The existence of some such mitzvot is the logical outcome of receiving the Torah from a power that transcends mankind. In some ways, modern science has a similar outlook to the rules of the particles of atomic physics or the attempt to fathom the vast universe and all its galaxies. As the Rabbis said, “The goal of knowledge is to know that we do not know.” Scientists have a similar concept called uncertainty.

B. Since Creation is under the dominion of time, moving only forward, we must live in recognition of this phenomenon. In contrast, in Tanach, which was Divinely given (each section in its own way), the order that is written need not be chronological, which is why we often use the rule that “there is no earlier and later in the Torah” (Pesachim 6b). The Exodus is also not presented in exact order. As we have discussed, the charge to Moshe in chapter 6 preceded that of chapters 3 & 4 (the burning bush). This should be remembered when telling the story on seder night.

C. When the Torah came down from Heaven to the physical world, it was figuratively “smashed into small pieces” and then recomposed through the work of the Men of the Great Assembly, who canonized Tanach. The prophet Yirmiyahu expresses it, “My Word is like fire, says, Hashem, and like a hammer that shatters a stone” (Yirmiyahu 23:29). When we study Torah, we need to locate all of the Torah’s “pieces” and unite them, to receive a clear picture. Note that the building of the Mishkan appears in five portions of Shemot, as well as in Vayikra and Bamidbar. If you study the topic in only one of the sections, you will get only a partial picture.

So too, the Exodus from Egypt, appears in four of the sections of the Torah – all but Bereishit. Even to that we need to add that which appears in the Prophets, such as Yoel, and in Tehillim. These complete our picture.

These ideas serve as one more manifestation of the importance of unity, which connects sections of the Nation, as the Torah sources need to be. We must gather elements that appear to be distant.

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