Torah Teaches Not to Sin

I wrote this at around the time the rockets began flying and Israel started its retalliation - which I hope turns to an annihilation of Hamas' infrastructure, if not the entire entity. The message is still important - the difference between us and them

Parshat Pinchas                

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Parshat Pinchas contains the Maftir readings for all of the Biblical holidays. Every holiday had a specific set of korbanot (offerings) that were brought in its honor. A similarity running across all of the holidays is a single goat which was brought as a “chatat” (sin offering) to atone for the sins of the people.

                

However, when it comes to the holiday of Shavuot, the Torah does not label the goat as a “chatat.” That word is missing from the description, when it says, “A single goat, to atone for you.” (28:30)

                

The Minchat Shai notes that the way the goat is presented here is as a “s’ir izim” and not with a vov to say “u’s’ir izim.” As only Yom Kippur has a similar formulation (every other holiday says “u’s’ir” – AND a goat), he suggests that Yom Kippur and Shavuot have in common that they are days when the Torah was given. The Tablets were finally presented to the people on Yom Kippur, and the contents of the Tablets were declared to the people on Shavuot. In order to contradict the Sadducees who suggested the Torah was not given on Shavuot, the Torah made the S’ir to S’ir comparison to make it clear that Shavuot is a day when the Torah was given.

                

A number of commentaries point to the Yerushalmi in Rosh Hashana 4:8 which explains the phenomenon as follows: Rabbi Mesharshia explained that the “chatat” not being mentioned in the context of Atzeret (Shavuot) was God’s way of saying to Israel, “Since you accepted the yoke of My Torah, I am considering you as if you never sinned [and therefore don’t need a “sin offering.”]”  

                

This, concludes the Torah Temimah, is the proof that the Torah was actually given on the same date as Shavuot.

                

Of course, in Mishpatim (chapter 24, note 36), the Torah Temimah explains that Shavuot is on the 50^th day of the Omer – which can either fall on the 5^th, 6^th, or 7^th of Sivan. (Rosh Hashana 6b) This is why when we describe the holiday, we call it “zman matan torateinu” (the time period of the giving of the Torah) and not “yom matan torateinu” (the actual day of the giving of the Torah).

                

Rashi notes in Shmot 19:1 and Devarim 26:16 that we must view the Torah as if it was given every day. Pinning the giving of the Torah to a single day, in a sense, cheapens its value – makes it as if it is to be celebrated on an anniversary, as opposed to throughout the year.

                

It is fascinating that the Torah Temimah would suggest that the missing word “Chatat” in the description of the goat offering proves that Shavuot and the giving of the Torah coincided – even as he points to his own commentary in Shmot which suggests that it’s not an exact science.

                

In truth – the matter could be one of simple semantics. The Torah may have been given on Shavuot, but since the date of Shavuot (Biblically speaking) is not always the same date (could be 5, 6, or 7 Sivan), if we celebrate Shavuot as the day rather than a specific date as the day of the giving of the Torah, then everyone is right.

                

Because the truth is that whether a missing vov proves the point (Minchat Shai) or the missing word “chatat” proves the point doesn’t matter. The point is that we have the Torah. The anniversary of its giving is perhaps noteworthy, but to a large degree it is irrelevant.

                

When news came that arrests were made over the murder of an Arab teen after the deaths of Gilad, Eyal and Naftali became known, and that the initial suspects are Jews, my sister told me she was going to attend a “Lo Tirzach” (Thou Shalt not Murder) Rally in Israel. It was postponed, ironically, because of rockets out of the Gaza Strip.

                

A life governed by the Torah’s teachings is one in which the deliberate sin has no place. We are all human, and we make mistakes. But there is a major difference between human failure and human error and descending to depths that are completely antithetical to the Torah’s teachings. [The irony of Pinchas being a vigilante is not lost, but his circumstance was VERY different.]

                

I personally have no sympathy for terrorists and murderers, and I have a very different mindset than the State of Israel generally has about how to deal with those who have Jewish blood on their hands. But if it turns out that those who murdered an Arab teenager were Jews, and that they did it because Arabs murdered Jewish teens (or whatever reason), they were operating under a Hammurabi Code, and not under a Torah code.

                

We rally for our People when our People are in need. And we must also rally for our true beliefs, distancing ourselves from those who conduct themselves in a manner that is antithetical to the Torah’s teachings.

               

If Shavuot’s goat offering was not called a “chatat” because the giving of the Torah made the people sinless, then it is the Torah’s teachings which should always guide us in being sinless.