[Avodah] P'ru Ur'vu

[Micha Berger]

On Sat, Oct 22, 2011 at 08:21:49PM -0400, cantorwolberg at cox.net wrote:
: We are taught that the first mitzvah given us comes from the command
: given first to Adam and Chava and then in the next
: parsha, to Noach. My question is: Neither were Jewish. How then,
: can we say that the first mitzvah is incumbent on us since
: it was not given to Avraham Avinu...

The same is asked of milah and gid hanasheh, since Avraham and Yaaqov
also weren't Jewish. Judaism was born at Sinai.

In Peirush haMishnayos (Chulin 7, nr the end), and in his Igeros (Shilat
ed vol I pg 410) the Rambam writes that these mitzvos are not obligatory
from the original command, but from when the command was repeated in
Sinai. (I say "in Sinai" rather than "at Sinai". Apparently the Rambam
holds that Rosh Chodesh, given in Marah, didn't need to be repeated. So,
"Sinai" apparently refers to the midbar, not Har Choreiv.)

Only Mosaic Prophecy can create a mitzvah. Normal prophecy only "creates"
a devar nevu'ah.

There is a difference between those mitzvos explicitly repeated as part
of the covenent in later books, and those only re-given in Sinai when
Moshe was given sefer Bereishis. Those repeated twice in the chumash
(such as the issur AZ) are both universal and included in the beris
Sinai. Those which only appear in bereishis (milah, peru urvu, and since
we don't hold like R' Yehudah, gid hanasheh) were limited to Jews once
the concept existed.

R' Noach Witty (former list member) asked me in shul on Simchas Torah
why, according to this, is the berakhah we make at a beris "lehakhniso
bivriso shel Avraham avinu", if the Abrahamic covenant was *replaced*
(rather than enhanced) by a later one at Sinai and not currently in force?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The thought of happiness that comes from outside
micha at aishdas.org        the person, brings him sadness. But realizing
http://www.aishdas.org   the value of one's will and the freedom brought
Fax: (270) 514-1507      by uplifting its, brings great joy. - R' Kook