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Osniel ben Kenaz

Posted: 03 Mar 2009 01:37 PM PST
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Aspaqlaria/~3/pUBAYaq4xW0/osniel-ben-kenaz.shtml


אמר רב יהודה אמר רב בשעה שנפטר משה רבינו לגן עדן אמר לו ליהושע שאל ממני כל  
ספיקות שיש לך אמר לו רבי כלום הנחתיך שעה אחת והלכתי למקום אחר לא כך כתבת בי  
(שמות לג) ומשרתו יהושע בן נון נער לא ימיש מתוך האהל מיד תשש כחו של יהושע  
ונשתכחו ממנו שלש מאות הלכות ונולדו לו שבע מאות ספיקות ועמדו כל ישראל להרגו  
אמר לו הקבה לומר לך אי אפשר לך וטורדן במלחמה שנאמר (יהושוע א) ויהי אחרי מות  
משה עבד ה ויאמר ה וגו במתניתין תנא אלף ושבע מאות קלין וחמורין וגזירות שוות  
ודקדוקי סופרים נשתכחו בימי אבלו של משה אמר רבי אבהו אעפכ החזירן עתניאל בן  
קנז מתוך פלפולו

Rav Yehudah said that Rav said: At the time that our teacher Moshe was  
released to gen eden, he said to Yehoshua, Ask me about any uncertainty you  
may have. [Yehoshua said, "Have I ever left your side, even for a moment?  
You have written about me, 'and his assistant, the young Yehoshua, did not  
stir from the ohel MO (Modern Orthodox)'eid.' " Immediately, Yehoshua's  
strength waned and he forgot 300 halakhos and 700 doubts were born to him.  
All of Israel got up to kill [Yehoshua]. Hashem said to him, It is  
impossilbe for Me to [let Myself] tell you. Go, distract Israel with war.  
As it says, and it was, after Moshe, Hashems servant, died . . . God said,  
Go and cross the Jordan . (Yehoshua 1)
- Temurah 16a
אמר רבי יוחנן שעורין ועונשין הלכה למשה מסיני עונשין מכתב כתיבי אלא הכי קאמר  
שיעורים של עונשין הלכה למשה מסיני תניא נמי הכי שיעורין של עונשין הלכה למשה  
מסיני אחרים אומרים בית דינו של יעבץ תיקנום והכתיב (ויקרא כז) אלה המצות שאין  
נביא רשאי לחדש דבר מעתה אלא שכחום וחזרו ויסדום

Rabbi Yochanan said: Measures and punishments are [all] laws given to Moshe  
from Sinai. Punishments? They are written [and thus wrong to classify them  
as orally given to Moshe]! Rather, this is what was said: The measures over  
which one is punished were given to Moshe from Sinai. Other say the court  
of Yaavetz established them. But doesnt it say These are the mitzvos  
(Vayiqra 27)  that no prophet is worthy of adding anything from now on?  
Rather, they forgot them, and they went back and reestablished them.


- Yuma 80a


תנא הוא עתניאל הוא יעבץ


Mishna: Asniel is Yaavetz.

- Temurah (ibid)



Today, the 7th of Adar, not only marks the birth and death of Moshe. I want  
to point out another significant event. Until Moshes death, one could  
resolve halakhah by turning to Moshe to ask Hashem. However, we see in this  
gemara that the moment Moshe died, lo bashamayim hi  it [the Torah] is not  
in heaven took effect. Hashem couldnt restore the lost Torah to Yehoshua,  
thats not what Torah is supposed to be.

Osniel ben Qenaz did something new. He was the first rabbi in the sense of  
the halachic give-and-take we find in the mishnah, gemara, codes,  
commentaries, responsa and lomdus. The era of Rabbinic Judaism begins with  
Osniel, even as Yehoshua carries on the prophetic inspired approach to  
Torah.

Osniel prefigures another event in Jewish history. Note the phrase שכחום  
וחזרו ויסדום  they forgot [the laws], and they went back and reestablished  
them.

דאמר רבי ירמיה ואיתימא רבי חייא בר אבא מנצפך צופים אמרום ותיסברא והכתיב  
(ויקרא כז) אלה המצות שאין הנביא רשאי לחדש דבר מעתה אלא מה הואי, מידע לא הוה  
ידעין הי באמצע תיבה הי בסוף תיבה, ואתו צופים תקנינהו. -ואכתי, אלה המצות -  
שאין הנביא רשאי לחדש דבר מעתה! - אלא: שכחום וחזרו ויסדום

Rabbi Yirmiyah said and others believe it was Rav Chiya bar Abba:  
Menatzpakh [an acronym listing the letters that have final forms] were said  
by the seers. Is this logical?  But doesnt it say These are the mitzvos  
(Vayiqra 27)  that no prophet is worthy of adding anything from now on?  
Rather, they are from Hashem, but they didnt know which went in the middle  
of the word and which at the end of the word, and the seers came and fixed  
it. But again These are the mitzvos (Vayiqra 27)  that no prophet is worthy  
of adding anything from now on! Rather, they forgot them, and they went  
back and reestablished them.


- Shabbos 104a, Megillah 3a


And similarly the Ashuris script is described as restored,  as well as many  
other things forgotten during the Babylonian Exile. This same using reason  
to restore what was forgotten was a key part of the job of the Anshei  
Kenesses haGdolah. Theirs was not only an era after much Torah was  
forgotten during the pressures and assimilation of exile, but also the end  
of a prophetic alternative. The Great Assembly included the last of the  
prophets. One couldnt feel for the right answer as reliably, and halachic  
reasoning came to the fore.

I fell in love with one of the central ideas in Professor Moshe Koppels  
book, Metahalakhah. There are two ways to learn a language: The native  
speaker doesnt learn rules of grammar before using them, he just knows what  
sounds right. In contrast, an immigrant builds his sentences by using  
formalized rules, learning such terms as past imperfect and memorizing the  
forms that fit each category. R Koppel notes that the rules can never  
perfectly capture the full right vs wrong. A poet has to know when one can  
take license.

He argues that halakhah is similarly best transmitted by creating native  
speakers. It is only due to loss of our progressive loss of the Sinai  
culture with each generation that we need to rely on transmitting codified  
rules. In each of our cases, there was a major cultural shift.

With Moshes death, we not only lost Moshes level of prophecy. Note the  
words spoken by Yehoshua. I have no doubts; I never left your side.  
Overconfidence, in contrast to Moshes anavah. And therefore there was a  
shift from knowing by having a prophetic feel for whats right to formal  
rules of derashah, of qal vachomer and gezeira shava.

Similarly the reestablishment of numerous laws by Anshei Keneses haGedolah  
when their prophecy was waning, and they needed to restore the Torah  
forgotten by our being mingled among the nations by Sancheirev.

The 7th of Adar therefore also represents Torah in our generation. Were  
still reeling from the cultural dislocation caused by the Holocaust and the  
shift of Torah centers from Europe to Israel and the United States. From  
Sepharadim being forced out of century old communities. Were still  
rebuilding. And again we see a focus on formal rules, on halachic guides.

However, there is a next step. Osniel was from the tribe of Yehudah and  
later became the first of the Judges, but he is not the one with whom  
Hashem established the kingship. Its not until a leader emerges who is not  
only king, warrior and sage, but also the author of Tehillim  David.

Perhaps this is what it means when we say in the birkhas ahavah, the second  
blessing before the morning Shema, lishmor velaasos ulqayeim  to guard, to  
do, and to make permanent. Shemirah, guarding, is a term used for  
prohibitions, mitzvos lo saasei. Asiyah obviously refers to duties, mitzvos  
asei. However, after watching to refrain from the prohibited and to do the  
mandatory, one has to allow them to make a permanent impact on ones soul.  
This is qiyum hamitzvos making the permanence of the mitzvos.

An Osniel can reestablish a mitzvah. Yasdum, literally  he gave them a  
foundation. But we still had Yehoshua giving us a building atop that  
foundation. We are now rebuilding our foundations. Now we need to  
Davidically stand upon them and sing.
(See also Halachic Process - part I.)



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