<html><head><title>[Aspaqlaria] An Altar of Earth</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/wp-content/themes/twentyten/style.css" type="text/css" media="screen" /></head><body>Aspaqlaria has posted a new item, '<a href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2012/02/an-altar-of-earth.shtml">An Altar of Earth</a>'<br />
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<p>It makes a lot of sense that the first <em>mitzvos</em> the Torah teaches after the <em>Aseres haDiberos</em> would be the interpersonal <em>mitzvos</em> of <em>parashas Mishpatim</em>. And many rabbis have given sermons on this point. The only problem is — they aren’t. There is this brief interlude between the description of the national revelation and <em>Mishpatim</em> (20:18-22):</p>
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<div dir="rtl"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">יח</span> וַיֹּאמֶר ה’ אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, כֹּה תֹאמַר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל: אַתֶּם רְאִיתֶם כִּי מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם, דִּבַּרְתִּי עִמָּכֶם. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">יט</span> לֹא תַעֲשׂוּן אִתִּי אֱלֹהֵי כֶסֶף וֵאלֹהֵי זָהָב, לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ לָכֶם. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">כ</span> מִזְבַּח אֲדָמָה תַּעֲשֶׂה-לִּי, וְזָבַחְתָּ עָלָיו אֶת-עֹלֹתֶיךָ וְאֶת-שְׁלָמֶיךָ, אֶת-צֹאנְךָ וְאֶת-בְּקָרֶךָ, בְּכָל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר אַזְכִּיר אֶת-שְׁמִי, אָבוֹא אֵלֶיךָ וּבֵרַכְתִּיךָ. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">כא</span> וְאִם-מִזְבַּח אֲבָנִים תַּעֲשֶׂה לִּי, לֹא
תִבְנֶה אֶתְהֶן גָּזִית: כִּי חַרְבְּךָ הֵנַפְתָּ עָלֶיהָ, וַתְּחַלְלֶהָ. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">כב</span> וְלֹא תַעֲלֶה בְמַעֲלֹת עַל-מִזְבְּחִי, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-תִגָּלֶה עֶרְוָתְךָ, עָלָיו.</div>
<p><span style="font-size: xx-small;">18</span> Hashem said to Moshe, this is what you should tell Benei Yisrael:</p>
<p>You saw that from the heavens I spoke with you. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">19</span> Do not make alongside me gods of gold, and gods of silver do not make for yourselves. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">20</span> An altar of dirt you should make for me, and sacrifice upon it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your flocks and your cattle — in any place where I will make a memorial to My reputation, I will come to you and bless you.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: xx-small;">21</span> And if you make for me an altar of stones, do not make them hewn, for you have lifted your sword against it and profaned it.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: xx-small;">22</span> And do not go up upon steps on my altar, so that should shall not reveal your nakedness upon it.</p></blockquote>
<p>Why is it the altar, and why specifically these mitzvos related to the altar, that warrant first mention after the <em>Aseres haDiberos</em>?</p>
<p>Aside from the obligation of how to build the altar itself, three other laws are relayed in this description of the <em>mizbeiach:</em></p>
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<li>Do not make with Me gods of gold and gods of silver</li>
<li>… [D]o not make them hewn, for you have lifted your sword against it and profaned it.</li>
<li>And do not go up upon steps on my altar, so that should shall not reveal your nakedness…</li>
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<p>Notice that these are references to the three sins that we are obligated “<em>yeihareig ve’al ya’avor</em> – one must be martyred rather than violate” – <em>avodah zarah, shefichas damim vegilui arayos</em> – idolatry, bloodshed and sexual immorality [literally: revealing nakedness]. Each of these <em>mitzvos</em> takes an axe to one of the pillars upon which the world stands. As I posted a number of years ago:</p>
<p>The three pillars upon which the world standsas described by Shim’on haTzadiq (Avos 1:2) are Torah, Avodah and Gemillus Chassadim. The Maharal (Derech haChaim ad loc) writes that this is in turn because man lives in three worlds: this one, in which he interacts with other people, the world of his mind, and heaven, which gives him a connection to G-d.</p>
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<blockquote><p>Therefore, the g-dly Tanna writes that one pillar that the universe stands upon is the Torah, for the pillar completes man so that he can be a finished creation with respect to himself.<br />
After that he says “on avodah”…. For from this man can be thought complete and good toward He Who created him — by serving Him….<br />
With regard to the third, it is necessary for man to be complete and good with others, and that is through gemillus chassadim.<br />
You also must understand that these three pillars parallel three things in each man: the mind, the living soul, and the body. None of them have existence without G-d. The existence of the soul is when it comes close to Hashem by serving Him…. From the perspective of the mind, the man gets his existence through Torah, for it is through the Torah that man attaches himself to G-d. To the body, man gets his existence through gemillus<br />
chassadim for the body has no closeness or attachment to Hashem, just that Hashem is kind to all. When man performs kindness G-d is kind to him, and so gives him existence.</p></blockquote>
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<p>There are three relationships around which the Torah is structured: self-refinement, closeness to G-d, and lovingkindness toward other people. The altar here is being described in those cosmic terms, requiring attention to purity on all three levels.</p>
<p>There are two comments by Rashi on this section that each offer a pair of perspectives on the question they address:</p>
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<div dir="rtl"><strong>כי מן השמים דברתי</strong>: וכתוב אחד אומר “וירד ה’ על הר סיני” בא הכתוב השלישי והכריע ביניהם (<a title="דברים ד" href="http://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%93%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D_%D7%93">דברים ד</a>) מן השמים השמיעך את קולו ליסרך ועל הארץ הראך את אשו הגדולה כבודו בשמים ואשו וגבורתו על הארץ (מכילתא) ד”א הרכין שמים ושמי השמים והציען על ההר וכן הוא אומר (<a title="תהלים יח" href="http://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%AA%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D_%D7%99%D7%97">תהלים יח</a>) ויט שמים וירד</div>
<p><strong>From the heavens I spoke to you</strong>: And one verse says “Hashem ‘descended’ onto Mount Sinai”. A third verse comes and decides between them — “from heaven He let you hear his ‘voice, and upon the earth he showed you His great fire in heaven and his fire and might on the earth”. (<em>Mekhilta</em>)</p>
<p>Another thought: He stretched out the heavens and the heavens of heavens, and extended them onto the mountain. And so it says “He extended the heaven and ‘descended’.”</p></blockquote>
<p>How do we picture the revelation at Sinai? Did Hashem “come down to earth” or did we get a glimpse of heaven? The Mekhilta suggests the latter. But Rashi also offers a second opinion — that heavens were stretched down until heaven and earth coincided at Sinai.</p>
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<div dir="rtl"><strong>מזבח אדמה</strong>: מחובר באדמה שלא יבננו על גבי עמודים או על גבי כיפים (נ”א בסיס) (מכילתא) ד”א שהיה ממלא את חלל מזבח הנחשת אדמה בשעת חנייתן</div>
<p><strong>An altar of earth</strong>: Attached to the earth. That you should not build it upon pillars or domes [<em>another variant</em>: or atop a foundation]. (<em>Mekhilta</em>)</p>
<p>Another thought: That you filled the hollow of the bronze altar [of the <em>Mishkan</em>] at the times they camped.</p></blockquote>
<p>Two understandings of what an “altar of earth” would mean: either an altar that must be on or attached to the earth, or a reference to the earth that filled the <em>mizbeiach</em> of the <em>Mishkan</em>.</p>
<p>It is possible the two comments are two reflections of the same dispute. Note that both offer one opinion by the <em>Mekhilta</em> and then a second interpretation. For this to be true, we would have to view the concept of <em>mizbeiach</em> as a recreation of Sinai. Which would explain why this <em>mitzvah</em> in particular is explained in relation to the three pillars upon which the world stands. The <em>mizbeiach</em> is not only the place of worship, it is also the reconnection to the revelation of how to perfect the three classes of relationships in our lives.</p>
<p>The <em>Mekhilta</em> views Sinai as a glimpse of heaven from down here on earth. And so the altar of earth is one placed firmly on the ground. The gap between heaven and earth must be clear — as is the wondrousness of being able to experience Hashem across it.</p>
<p>In Rashi’s other opinion, heaven and earth met at Sinai. Therefore the recreation of it at the altar is when we take Hashem’s altar and fill it with earth.</p>
<p>Thus, this section is more about the Sinai experience itself than the beginning of the description of the other laws transmitted to Moshe there. The recitation of the laws truly does begin with the justice described in <em>parashas Mishpatim.</em></p><br />
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