Chag HaShavuos – The festival of Shavuos

The Rebbe says:

1. The Talmud tells us that when Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) ascended to the Heavenly heights to receive the Torah the ministering angels asked Hashem (G-d) why He was giving the precious and coveted Torah “which has been stored by Hashem for two thousand years before the creation of the world” to people of flesh and blood and not “bestowing His glory upon the Heavens”. Hashem then told Moshe Rabbeinu to answer the angels.

Moshe said, “Master of the Universe, the Torah that You are giving me, what is written in it? ‘I am Hashem your G-d Who has taken you out of the land of Egypt’”. Moshe then said to the angels, “Did you descend to Egypt? Were you enslaved to Pharaoh? Why should the Torah be your?
What else is written in the Torah? ‘There shall not be unto you gods of others’. Do you live among the nations who worship idols?
What else is written in it? ‘Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it’. Do you engage in any labor from which you would need to rest?

What else is written in it? ‘You shall not take the name of Hashem, your G-d, in vain’. Are there any business transactions among you that might lead to oaths taken in vain?
What else is written in it? ‘Honor your father and mother’. Do you have a father or mother?
What else is written in it? ‘You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal’. Is there envy among you? Is there an evil inclination among you?”

Upon hearing this, the angels immediately conceded to Hashem.

2. The Rebbe begins discussing this conversation:

Many commentaries explain that the crux of the angels’ argument for Hashem to “bestow His glory upon the Heavens” was based on the Halachah (Jewish law) of “Bar Metzrah”.
The law of “Bar Metzrah” is that when someone is selling his field, his neighbor (the Bar Metzrah) has the rights to buy it first because it is good for him to have two of his fields right next to each other and the Torah says, “You shall do what is fair and good in the eyes of Hashem”. The neighbor even has the right to take away the field from someone who already bought it before he had a chance.

The angels were saying that since they are “neighbors” to the Torah which had been stored in the Heavens till now, by law they should be the ones receiving the Torah.

As a rebuttal (“Upshlug”) to this argument we find many answers in the commentaries. Here are some:

Answer One: The law of “Bar Metzrah” only applies to land, not moveable property. Therefore, since the Torah is not land, there is no law of “Bar Metzrah” and the angels do not have a valid argument.

Answer Two: The law of “Bar Metzrah” only applies when someone is selling something, not when they are giving it away as a gift. Therefore, being that the Torah is a gift, there is no law of “Bar Metzrah” and the angels do not have a valid argument.

Answer Three: The law of “Bar Metzrah” does not apply if the buyer is a relative to the seller. Therefore, being that the Jewish people are relatives of Hashem, and even more so, they are children of Hashem, the law of “Bar Metzrah” does not apply and the angels do not have a valid argument.

Answer Four: The Torah calls Moshe Rabbeinu “A man of G-d” and our Sages comment, “From his waist and down he was “a man”, and from his waist and up he was “of G-d”. Consequently, Moshe Rabbeinu was also a Bar Metzrah (a neighbor) to the Torah and the angels had no more of a valid claim than he did.

Answer Five: The law of “Bar Metzrah” does not apply if the buyer is a business partner with the seller. Therefore, since Moshe Rabbeinu was a partner with Hashem in the act of creation, as the Talmud tells us, “Because Moshe Rabbeinu rendered judgments which were absolutely true he became a partner with Hashem in the creation of the world”, the law of “Bar Metzrah” does not apply here and the angels did not have a valid argument.

Answer Six: The law of “Bar Metzrah” does not apply if the buyer is buying the seller’s entire portfolio whereas the neighbor (the Bar Metzrah) only wants that one field. Therefore, being that the angels only wanted one part of the Torah, the “Sod – the secret, mystical dimension” of Torah, whereas the Jewish people were going to receive the entire Torah, the rule of “Bar Metzrah” doesn’t apply here and the angels do not have a valid claim.

Answer Seven: The law of “Bar Metzrah” does not apply if the neighbor merely wants the field to gain more profit while the other buyer absolutely needs it to feed his family for example. Therefore, being that the Torah is the life of a Jew and an absolute need for the Jewish people, as the Talmud says, “Hashem says, ‘I have created the evil inclination and I have created the Torah as it’s antidote’”, while the angels only want the Torah for more profit, the law of “Bar Metzrah” doesn’t apply here and the angels don’t have a valid claim.

3. The Rebbe now brings up a possible question and answers it:

Question: Seemingly we can ask on answers four and five, “Moshe Rabbeinu was not receiving the Torah for himself; he was receiving it on behalf of the Jewish people. If so, it doesn’t matter if Moshe Rabbeinu was a “G-dly man” and therefore a neighbor to the Torah (which was the fourth answer)! It doesn’t matter if Moshe Rabbeinu was a partner with Hashem (which was the fifth answer)! The Torah was for the Jewish people!?

Answer: Our Sages tell us that in fact every single Jew is a Bar Metzrah (a neighbor) to the Torah because “we are hewn from under Hashem’s Throne of Glory”, and therefore the fourth answer still stands.

Also, we know that the Jewish people received the Mitzvah (commandment) of Shabbos (Sabbath) even before they received the Torah and our Sages tell us that “Whoever says the prayer entitled “Vayechulu” before Shabbos becomes a partner with Hashem in the act of creation”. Therefore, every single Jew is really a partner with Hashem and the fifth answer still stands.

4. The Rebbe now challenges every one of the abovementioned seven answers:

These are all indeed beautiful answers to the angels’ argument; however the (main) problem is that Moshe Rabbeinu did not say any of this!

[Editor’s Note: The Rebbe now went on to bring up other technical problems with each of the answers; however for brevity purposes this is not quoted here].

Therefore we are left to understand how Moshe Rabbeinu answered their claim of “Bar Metzrah”.

5. The Rebbe now explains how Moshe Rabbeinu answered their claim of “Bar Metzrah”:

The function and purpose of the Torah is so that through it the Jewish people can fulfill Hashem’s “desire to have a dwelling place for Him in this world” (by following the Torah and performing its Mitzvos). As our Sages explained, the word, “dwelling place (Dirah)”, teaches us that just like when a human being is in his home his entire essence and being is in his home (and we can’t say that only his intellect is in the home, or his emotions are in the home), so too Hashem desires that His entire essence and being have a dwelling place in this world, and the Torah enables us to do this.

Bearing this in mind we can understand why the argument of the angels falls away:

The law of “Bar Metzrah” does not apply if the neighbor wants to use the field to plant produce while the other buyer wants to use the field to build a home. Therefore, being that the Jewish people were going to use the Torah to build a dwelling place, a home, for Hashem, while the angels were not, the law of “Bar Metzrah” does not apply and the angels did not have a valid argument.

This is exactly what Moshe Rabbeinu was telling the angels when he said, “Did you go down to Egypt? Do you live among the nations? Do you do any work? Do you do business? Is there an evil inclination among you? …”: The Torah is for Jews who live in the physical world and they must make a dwelling place there, not for angels who cannot fulfill Hashem’s desire of having a dwelling place in the physical world.

Translated and adapted by Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Likutei Sichos volume eighteen, first Sicha on Shavuos.