אנכי עמד בין ה’ וביניכם בעת ההוא להגיד לכם את דבר ה’, כי יראתם מפני האש ולא עליתם בהר לאמר:
I stand between G-d and you at that time, to relate to you the Word of G-d, because you were afraid of the fire, and you did not ascend the mountain; saying:[i]
The Fire and the Framework of the Oral Torah
Rashi, comments on this verse: לאמר – מוסב על..: the word לאמר is related to the previous verse which tells us that G-d spoke face-to-face to us from the fire.
The word לאמר does not relate to the start of the verse. Instead, Moshe inserted his comment about being the go-between – because the people feared ascending the mountain – before continuing with his initial recitation of the decalogue. Rashi thus explains that there is a grammatical discrepancy in the text, but he leaves several obvious questions hanging:
- Why does Moshe insert his go-between comment?
- Why insert it right before the word לאמר?[1]
These questions are related to the grammar of the verse. But if we consider the content of the verse, we are left with a different question altogether:
Moshe rebukes the Jewish people: כי יראתם מפני האש ולא עליתם בהר – For you were afraid of the fire, and you did not ascend the mountain. But let us pause and ask a simple question. Were the Jewish people supposed to climb the mountain? During the utterance of the Ten Commandments, there was a strict, Divine prohibition against ascending! Hashem explicitly warned the people to set boundaries, lest they break through, touch the mountain and perish. Even animals were prohibited from being on the mountain.
Furthermore, Moshe himself was commanded by Hashem to descend from the mountain before the giving of the Torah, so, while Moshe was not afraid of the fire, he too did not “ascend the mountain” – so how could he rebuke the Jews for doing something he himself didn’t do.
And what is the connection between their failure to ascend and the beginning of the verse, where Moshe describes himself standing as the perpetual go-between?
The Prelude to the Oral Torah
To unravel this mystery, we must zoom out and look at the nature of Sefer Devarim itself. The Maharal[ii] provides a foundational insight: Sefer Devarim is not merely a repetition of the previous books – משנה תורה; it also serves as the transition, the prelude, to the Oral Torah.
We see this most clearly in the repetition of the Ten Commandments themselves. In Shemos, the Torah says זכור את יום השבת Remember the day of Shabbos, while in ואתחנן, Moshe switches the text to שמור את יום השבת – Guard the day of Shabbos. At the elevated level of the initial revelation at Sinai, G-d revealed the concept of remembering the Shabbos. Consequently, the very idea of actively violating the Shabbos was unfathomable. To violate Shabbos בשוגג, generally requires a failure in properly observing the זכור – forgetting it is Shabbos, forgetting this Work is prohibited, or forgetting that this action is included in a particular מלאכה. But Sefer Devarim speaks to the reality of the human condition, where the Oral Torah meets the complexities of daily life. Where people who were not physically at Sinai have the ability to “forget”. Therefore, the explicit admonition against active violation – שמור – must be articulated[2].
The Second Ascent
During the actual statement by G-d of the Ten Commandments, it is true: no one was permitted to ascend. However, after that initial revelation, there was another command[iii]. Hashem then[3] instructs a specific group to ascend: ואל משה אמר עלה אל ה’ אתה ואהרן נדב ואביהוא ושבעים מזקני ישראל – and to Moshe he said, “Ascend to G-d, you, Aharon, Nadav, Avihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel…” Here, a designated group was supposed to ascend the mountain, each according to his own spiritual level. And later[iv] G-d repeats the instruction, עלה אלי ההרה – ascend to me at the mountain.
What was the purpose of a post-revelation ascent? On the verse[v] ואתי צוה ה’ בעת ההוא ללמד אתכם חקים ומשפטים – and to me G-d commanded at that time to teach you statutes and laws, Rashi comments that ‘to teach you’ means the Oral Torah. The purpose of the ascension on the mountain was to develop the Oral Torah. The transmission of the Oral Tradition was meant to begin there, on the slopes of Sinai, with the elders and the leaders taking their rightful places on the mountain.[4]
But they failed.
Instead of holding their ground and ascending to the spiritual heights assigned to them, the elders and the people retreated. When Moshe ascended for forty (40) days, they remained the camp[vi]. Only one man went with Moshe, waiting patiently at the boundary line, refusing to retreat to the comfort of the camp. That man was Yehoshua.[vii]
Because the others failed to ascend the mountain, they paved the way for disastrous consequences. But because Yehoshua pushed himself to the absolute limit of his permitted ascent, he became the ultimate receptacle for the Oral Torah. As the Mishna[viii] states משה קיבל תורה מיני ומסרה ליהושע. Yehoshua started the chain of the Oral Torah because he was the only one who didn’t walk away from the mountain.
But what of the elders? The Mishnah continues that Yehoshua transmitted the Torah to the Elders. How could this be, if the elders had retreated? The Tanĉuma clarifies that the original seventy (70) elders, who were supposed to go with Moshe to stand up to Pharoh[ix] were the ones commanded to go up the mountain. While they did so prior to G-d’s descent onto the mountain, the brazenly gazed at the Divine, and accordingly were later killed[x]. Accordingly, there was an entirely new set of Elders that had to be chosen.
When Moshe’s approach to Pharoh caused the increased demand for straw and bricks, it was the Jewish taskmasters who were beaten, for failing to enforce impossible demands on their brethren. They in turn stood up to Pharoh, demanding to know why straw was being withheld. AND they stood up to Moshe for having caused additional hardship on the Jewish people.[xi] It was the taskmasters-turned-Elders who were granted the divine spirit, and it was to them that Yehoshua transmitted the Oral Torah.
Climbing the Judicial Ladder
While this sounds good in theory, we are faced with a textual problem, however. The Torah[xii] explicitly states that the original group did go up – at least before the decalogue. ויעל משה ואהרן, נדב ואביהוא ושבעים מזקני ישראל – And Moshe, Aharon, Nadav, Avihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel ascended. While it does not say that they ascended after the עשרת הדברות – perhaps the reason for that is because they were told not to – how do we know that when Moshe told them to stay in camp he was giving in to their fear of ascending the mountain rather than because that is where they are supposed to be.
The Gemara[xiii] addresses a fascinating point regarding this verse. The Gemara explains that the purpose of listing this unnamed group is to establish the eternal equality and authority of the Rabbinic court. The verse teaches us that every generation’s court is as authoritative as Moshe’s.
This gives us different way to understand the text. The word ‘ויעל’ does not mean “ascent” in a topographical, mountain-climbing sense. It means “ascent” in stature, in authority, and in responsibility. They were elevated for the purposes of becoming the foundational court Torah – which fundamentally requires the Oral Torah. And with that great stature came greater accountability, which is precisely why the strict standard of the death penalty hovered over them for gazing inappropriately.
The elders were meant to be different than “regular” Jews[5]. They are the transmitters of the Oral Torah, not old people reclining in camp[6], but ascenders of the mountain.
Reestablishing the Connection to לאמר
This explains Moshe’s statement. Moshe stood between Hashem and the people לאמר… In modern Hebrew, and to modern ears, the word לאמר is often read merely as a grammatical colon preceding a quote. But classical commentators[xiv], define לאמר as an active, imperative command: צאו ואמרו להם – go and make it understood to them. It is the very essence of the Oral Torah.
Moshe stood ready to initiate this active transmission of the Oral Torah. But because the elders and the nation failed to ascend the mountain – failing to ascend to their required stature and spiritual authority – they broke the natural chain of transmission. The grammatical disjointedness of the verse thus mirrors the historical reality. The people’s connection to לאמר was fractured, and therefore, the verse itself is broken into pieces.
The Unending Fire
But why did they retreat? Moshe says it was because they feared the fire. One might argue that the terrifying fire was a one-day event during the Ten Commandments. That is not the case. As the verse[xv] states ומראה כבוד ה’ כאש אכלת בראש ההר, לעיני בני ישראל – And the appearance of the honor of G-d was like a devouring fire at the top of the mountain – in the eyes of the Jewish people.[7]
The fire did not stop. It was a continuous, blazing reality for the entire time Moshe was on the mountain. When the time came for the elders to ascend and take their place in the chain of creating the Oral Tradition, they looked up, saw the devouring fire of the כבוד ה’, and were too afraid.
אשדת: The Impossible Separation
Moshe Rabeinu later describes the giving of the Torah as follows: מימינו אשדת למו – from his right hand, a fiery religion for them. Rashi explains this is a reference to the Torah being given from within the fire [that was on top of the mountain]. The words אש דת in the Torah scroll is written as a single, unbroken entity: אשדת. Yet, we read it as two distinct words: אש דת – Fire and Law/Religion.
This spelling serves to rectify the exact nature of the elders’ mistake. The Torah, written and oral, in its essence, is אשדת. The religion and precepts inherent to it is not divisible from the divine fire from which it came. It is a single, indivisible entity.
But the elders were afraid of the fire. They wanted the Halaĉic structure, the comfortable boundaries of an ordered life in the camp. But they were terrified of the ‘devouring fire’ of intimate contact with the Divine that is required to forge the Oral Torah. Their retreat was an attempt to bifurcate the inseparable. They believed they could leave the fire on the mountain with Moshe, remain untouched by it in the safety of their tents, and simply wait for him to bring down a sterilized, safe religion once he emerged from the flames.
This is why Moshe relayed to the people אנכי עמד בין ה’ וביניכם בעת ההוא – I stand (present tense) between G-d and you at that time (past tense).
Moshe is telling them: You thought you could outsource the fire. You thought I, Moshe, could stand as the go-between forever, shielding you from the fire while feeding you the religion. But the transmission of the Oral Torah – the לאמר – requires דברי כבושים – passionate fiery words. The Oral Tradition requires human beings who are willing to ascend in stature, take on the responsibility of the Divine court, and engage directly with the devouring fire of Torah study and leadership.
Yehoshua refused to leave the mountain and became the source of the Oral Torah for the next generation. But Moshe’s rebuke still stands, and accordingly Torah is still demanding of us – present tense and past tense; have all of us ascended as far as we are allowed to go? Or are we content with sitting back in the camp and leaving the fire to others. The message Moshe relates to us is that the לאמר is not a one-time event. We are constantly called upon to step up and step forth. To receive and transmit the Torah, to connect with Moshe and to become the go-between for those who haven’t yet ascended the mountain.
Step to the Mic.
[1] Incidentally, this answers a question about the hint of the number of Pesukim (118 = עזיאל) associated with this week’s Parsha. Like Parshas Yisro, the count of the Pesukim assigns ten (10) Pesukim to the decalogue. But in ואתחנן that still leaves us with an extra verse. If we combine 5:4 with 5:5, in the way that Rashi suggests as the word לאמר really completes the prior verse, this question is resolved.
[2] This doesn’t mean that שמור was not stated by G-d. Rather, when G-d said “Remember”, the possibility of forgetting was so foreign that the requirement to guard against forgetting was unfathomable. Like a person who only registers in their hearing what they can understand, the people at Sinai could not register the word שמור.
[3] Rashi states this verse was stated BEFORE the ten commandments. However, this verse sets the precedent that the people were expected to get as close as possible. Which is what is hinted at when Moshe was told to put up boundaries, and, again, to go make sure the people didn’t pass the boundaries. Instead, only Yehoshua went as far as he could, camping out at the foot of the mountain. While the elders remained in the camp.
[4] In other words, the Oral Torah by definition is the transmission orally from a person who knows firsthand to one who does not. By singling Moshe etc. to ascend the mountain, they would experience something the other Jewish people had not experienced, and they would then relate orally what happened on the mountain and what they learned there – they would transmit the Torah orally.
[5] As were the replacement Elders who received a portion of Moshe’s prophetic spirit. Perhaps this provides insight into why Moshe initially didn’t think to appoint the elders to assist him in his judicial responsibilities. The elders had abrogated their position by remaining in camp. It was only when Yisro told Moshe that he could continue alone like this, that Moshe acceded to his advice, and found replacement judges to assist him.
[6] Or in North Miami Beach
[7] This answers a different question: if the elders were in the camp, how did they know there was fire on the mountain. Since the verse states this was visible לעיני בני ישראל – that means that it was visible even back in the camp where the elders were.
[i] Devarim 5:5
[ii] See Tifferes Yisrael
[iii] Shemos 24:1
[iv] Shemos 24:12
[v] Devarim 4:14
[vi] Shemos 24:14
[vii] See Rashi on Shemos 24:13
[viii] Pirkay Avos 1:1
[ix] See Shemos 3:16, 4:29 as contrasted with Shemos 5:1 – where did the elders go? They deserted Moshe and Aharon.
[x] Shemos 24:10-11
[xi] See Rashi on Shemos 5:14
[xii] Shemos 24:9
[xiii] Gem. Rosh Hashana 25a
[xiv] See Rashi on Vayikra 1:1, where he explains that the word לאמר means Moshe was to relay דברי כבושים – captivating words; to repeat G-d’s statements to his people in a way that inflames their hearts and minds.
[xv] Shemos 24:17