Not everyone merits to attain the upper part of the Torah, the concealed Torah which is in the hands of Hashem - however, every Jew is obliged to engage in the other two ‘lower’ parts of the Torah - the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, which are in alluded to as 'saying’ and ‘speaking’.
Our Parasha opens with the psukim (1:1-2):ויקרא: And He called to Moshe, and וידבר: Hashem spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, לאמר: saying:דבר: Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them:When a man among you brings an offering to Hashem: from animals - from the cattle or from the flock shall you bring your offering.’
Chizkuni comments:’As we read at the end of the previous Chumash, that:’the glory of Hashem filled the Tent, and Moshe could not enter it’, it was necessary to call to him’ - to Moshe - and to give him permission to enter.’
The Siftei Kohen brings a Midrash, as to the seemingly ‘superfluous’ ‘saying’, in the Passuk:’Moshe said: I have already completed my mission: I took them out of Egypt, I split the sea, I brought down the manna, I raised the well of water for them, I supplied them with the slav, I surrounded them with the clouds of glory, I erected the Mishkan for them, what then is left for me, from now on, to do for them ? - and sat down.
‘Said Hakadosh-Baruch-Hu to him, by your life, you have a greater task than all that you have done till now - to teach them about impurity and purity, and to warn them how to offer offerings before Me.
Therefore, He said to Moshe: all that you have done till now, was easy - you still have a greater task to perform.’
The Netziv, expounds :’In the Torat Kohanim, the word לאמר: ‘saying’, is understood to mean:’say to Israel - that only because of them, Hashem speaks to Moshe.
However, clearly not in all instances, can it be expounded in this way, as it can bear other meanings, according to the context in which it appears.
‘In the Yerushalmi (Sanhedrin, 4:2), Rabbi Yanai says:Had the Torah been given ‘cut and dried’, as to what the halakha was, there would be no existence to the world’, as the Torah needs to be expounded in different ways’ - this being the meaning of:’And Hashem spoke to Moshe’.
‘We need, therefore, to say, that the word לאמר: ’to say’, which is open to exposition, as it is superfluous, is that there is here a commandment’ to the generations after Moshe: expound the halakha and the teaching, and this is called אמירה’, unlike its primary meaning, as in ‘ויאמר ה׳ אל משה׳: and Hashem said to Moshe’.
‘We find that אמירה, is the teaching of the Torah, as in Mishlei:(7:1)בני שמור אמרי: My son, keep my sayings’, and (4:20)נוקשת באמרי פיך:’incline your ear to My sayings’.
More familiarly:(Ps 12:7)אמרות ה׳ אמרות טהורות:’The sayings of the Lord are pure sayings.’
‘The Petichta Rabbati, on Eicha, thus expounds the passuk(Isaiah 5:24): כי מאסו את תורת ה׳ צבאות ואת אמרת קדוש ישראל נאצו:’They have rejected the law of the Lord of Hosts, and have despised the sayings of the Holy One of Israel’: ‘’the law of the Lord’ alludes to the written Torah, and ‘the sayings’, to the oral torah.
‘The words in our passage:’Speak to the Children of Israel saying’, are a duplication’ - as ‘speak’ means ‘say’ - to me, Moshe Rabbeinu is commanded to first ‘speak’ the written Parasha, and afterwards to expound the acceptances on it, that is the Oral Torah - that the sages of all generations, are to extract and expound the teaching.
‘This is why the Sages of the Talmud are called אמוראים’ - from אמירה׳ ‘as their task is to explain the mishnayot, and give practical instruction as to observing the teaching.’
The Panim Yafot adds:’The simple meaning of לאמר, is that Hashem spoke to Moshe - the Written Torah as written - and said to him orally, the expositions and details , being the explanation of what was written.
The language of ‘speaking’ is used when describing what is said ‘mouth to mouth’, as we read:(Beehaalotcha12:8) ‘mouth to mouth אדבר: I will speak to him’; whereas אמירה:‘saying’, alludes to the understanding of the heart, as in (Vaetchanan 8:17)’ואמרת בלבבך: and you say in your heart, my strength and the might of my hand…’
‘This is that which is written in our passage:’’And Hashem spoke to him’, meaning the things as written in the Torah, which we are not to add to, nor derogate from, and explained to him the expositions and details so that he would understand them in his heart.
‘So, too, Hashem commanded that, when Moshe spoke to Bnei Israel, he would say them as the things as they are, without addition or derogation, as Rashi says in Parashat Yitro (19:6)’These are the things that you shall speak to Bnei Israel - not to add to, or derogate from them’ - this being the written Torah and afterwards to expound them, orally, their expositions and meanings.’
Rav Yosef Chaim Kotler brings the Midrash that the Siftei Kohen cited, and comments: ’Hashem was telling Moshe that all his wondrous achievements, through which Bnei Israel ascended lofty peaks, do not reach the level of teaching Torah to the masses, which is a greater labor and more important in Hashem’s eyes, than all that Moshe had done till now.
Included in this remaining task, was to teach them how to conduct their lives according to the Mitzvot of the Torah, and to beware of the sin and impurity which lurks at every corner, to trap the unwary.
‘Also included, is to teach them the laws of how to make the offerings to Hashem, which includes separating from the affairs of this world, and coming closer to Hashem.’
The Chatam Sofer comments:’We find in our passage, the three languages in which the Torah was given- קריאה: ‘called’, דיבור: ‘speaking’, and אמירה: ‘saying’.
‘These three languages have their roots in three different matters:קריאה alludes to חיבה: affection, as Rashi comments:’ויקרא: He called to Moshe’, to all the talking, and saying, and all the commandments, קריאה : preceded them, the language of חיבה: affection.
‘We find these three languages at Matan Torah, where it is written,’And Moshe ascended to the Lord, and Hashem called him from the mount, saying - and after this we read:’And Hashem spoke all these things, saying’, all three: קריאה, אמירה and דיבור are mentioned.’
Rav Pinchas Friedman brings the wondrous words of the Chatam Sofer, and comments:’Now we are obligated to expound his words: what is the meaning of Hashem giving us the Torah in these three languages: affection, דיבור: speech (alluding to harshness), and אמירה: alluding to softness?
To understand the purport of his words, we need to bring the Midrash:’The Luchot were six tefahim in length: two were in the hands of the One who said:’Let there be the world’, two tefahim in the hands of Moshe, and two tefahim separated the two hands.’
‘The Nezer Hakodesh comments:’On the face of it, it is wondrous that Hashem gave the Luchot, in this manner - clearly this was by design.’
‘He elucidates: the Luchot, which are the root of all the Torah, was indeed divided into three divisions.
‘The bottom third - which was in the hands of Moshe - is the pshat section - the literal meaning - of the written Torah, which is revealed and given to all: the upper third, which was in the hands of Hashem, not all who want to acquire it, succeed - but rather, Hashem decides in his good graces, who merits, to receive them - as it says:(Ps’ 28:14) ’The secret of Hashem, to those who fear Him and His covenant, to reveal to them.’
The middle third, which separate the other two thirds, is the section of pilpul in the oral Torah, which is not given in the manner the written Torah was given, but, also, is not concealed in the manner of the concealed part of the Torah - but is in the nature of an intermediary between the written Torah which was in the hands of Moshe, and the concealed Torah in the hands of Hashem.’
Adds Rav Friedman:’We can now understand the division of the Torah into three divisions, in the Luchot that Hashem gave to Moshe - they are in the way of upward to downward - against these divisions, above are the two tefahim in the hands of Hashem, against the concealed part of the Torah, which contains all the secrets of the Torah, its principles and its details, that are beyond our understanding.
‘From there, Hashem צמצם: ‘reduced’ the Torah into the two tefahim that separated the two tefahim in the hands of Hashem, and the two tefahim which were in the hands of Moshe - which is the oral Torah in all its elucidation and discoursing by the Sages if all the generations.
From there, Hashem ‘reduced’ the Torah a further time, to the two tefahim that were in the hands of Moshe, against the written Torah which contains in it all the secrets and all the discourses of the oral Torah, but which is accessible to all.
‘We find, therefore, that the written Torah, from its own side, is closed and sealed, but that Hashem ‘reduced’ it by way of allusion, both the revealed and the concealed parts - as our Sages say:(Taanit 9)’There is nothing that is not alluded to in the Torah’.
‘We can now say that the three levels mentioned in Parashat Breishit 2:10) :’A river flowed from Eden to water the Garden’, allude to our three divisions of the Torah:’Eden’, the loftiest, is against the concealed Torah which remains in the hands of Hashem; ‘River’ which flows out, alludes to the Oral Torah, which is accessible to each sage, according to his merits; ‘Gan’: numerical value נ׳ג, is against the written Torah, which has 53: ג׳ן parshiot.
‘This is the meaning of our Passuk:’River’ is the Oral Torah , which flows from ‘Eden’, from the concealed Torah which Hashem ‘reduced’ to the Oral Torah, the purpose being to ‘water’ the 53 parshiot - the ג׳ן - in the Written Torah.
We can now understand the wondrous words of the Chatam Sofer, that the three languages mentioned in the passuk of our Parasha:’קריאה: ‘He called to Moshe’, language m of affection; second, דיבור: וידבר אליו‘ And he spoke to him’, severe language, and, third, אמירה, soft language - the three languages in which the Torah was given.
‘We learn from this, that when Hashem addressed Moshe in our Parasha, Moshe, in his great holiness, merited all three parts of the Torah, into which the Luchot were divided.
‘He called to Moshe’: language of affection, against His invitation to Moshe, to ascend upwards, upwards, to the upper two tefahim of the Luchot, which were in the hands of Hashem, representing the concealed wisdom, to teach him all the secrets of the Torah.
‘וידבר: And he spoke to him׳, harsh language, against the two middle tefahim, that requires great toil to extract, ‘מאהל מועד לאמור׳: soft language, against the twio tefahim which were in the hands of Moshe, the written Torah which is given to all who want to engage in it.
We learn that not everyone merits to attain the upper part of the Torah, the concealed Torah which is in the hands of Hashem - however, every Jew is obliged to engage in the other two ‘lower’ parts of the Torah - the written Torah and the oral Torah, which are in alluded to as ׳saying’ and ‘speaking’.
‘This is what Hashem said to Moshe:’דבר:speak to Bnei israel ואמרת אליהם׳ : saying’ - Hashem only mentioned the languages of ‘speaking’, and ‘saying’, alluding to the two parts of the Torah which are applicable to every
‘However, Hashem adds: When a man among you brings an offering to Hashen, from animals..shall you bring your offering’ - meaning, a person who is not satisfied with the two ‘lower’ levels of Torah - the written Torah and the oral Torah - but yearns to come closer to Hashem, by attaining the concealed part of the Torah, which is in the hands of Hashem, the advice to do so, is ‘to offer from the animal part’, to sacrifice and offer the animal part in him, by distancing himself from the physical world, and thereby he will merit to attain the third, concealed part of the Torah.’
Parsha Vayikra of Reb Ginsbourg: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/406325
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