One of the big misconceptions about the Talmud is that it is merely arguments over the laws and their application. This could not be more wrong.
It is full of stories, legends, imagined scenarios, and… well, also arguments over laws and their application.
We’re going to look at one of the most interesting stories that begins on Shabbat 88b that takes place on Mount Sinai. It begins when Moses has climbed to the top of the mountain.
And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: When Moses ascended on High to receive the Torah, the ministering angels said before the Holy One, Blessed be God: Master of the Universe, what is one born of a woman doing here among us? The Holy One, Blessed be God, said to them: He came to receive the Torah.
Our story begins as Moses is transported to the heavens from atop Mount Sinai to receive Torah. Upon arrival, the angels are confused about why he would be there.
They ask, what is a mere mortal doing here?
The angels said before God: The Torah is a hidden treasure that was concealed by you 974 generations before the creation of the world, and you seek to give it to flesh and blood? As it is stated: “The word which God commanded to a thousand generations” (Psalms 105:8). Since the Torah, the word of God, was given to the twenty-sixth generation after Adam, the first person, the remaining 974 generations must have preceded the creation of the world.
“What is man that You are mindful of him and the son of man that You think of him?” (Psalms 8:5). Rather, “God our Lord, how glorious is Your name in all the earth that Your majesty is placed above the heavens” (Psalms 8:2). The rightful place of God’s majesty, the Torah, is in the heavens.
Let’s pause before we break down the text.
What do we mean by Torah?
I want you to think of Torah in two ways:
Torah as the document received by Moses on Mount Sinai and brought down to the people and passed down to us. (Note: If you wish not to take this story literally, you are not alone.)
Torah as the fundamental blueprint of the universe that preceded its creation.
Throughout our telling of this story, the Torah is used in both ways. Ok, back to our breakdown:
The angels reject the idea that Moses and humanity are deserving of receiving the Torah. They say that Torah is a hamudah genuzah, a precious hidden thing. I love that they call the Torah hamudah since that is also what we call children, precious.
Not only is it hidden, it has been hidden for “974 generations before the creation of the world.” Rabbi Steinsaltz helps us understand this phrase by telling us that in Psalms it talks about God’s word lasting for a thousand generations.
Since we’ve only experienced about 26, according to the text of the Torah itself, where are the rest of the thousand generations? In this telling, they preceded creation.
What does this mean? How does this work? Honestly, I have no idea. But here’s what I think we should understand: The Torah is ancient and mythical, beyond understanding, and its value is immeasurable. Hidden for a thousand generations would be tens of thousands of years. We’re talking about something really important.
The angels go on to say, “what is man that You are mindful of him?” from Psalms. Effectively, the angels say humans are barely more than specks of creation, barely worthy of consideration. These creatures do not deserve Torah, which has its home in the heavens.
So what do God and Moses say in response?
The Holy One, Blessed be God, said to Moses: Provide them with an answer as to why the Torah should be given to the people.
God hands the opportunity to respond to the angels to Moses. Already, we’re in fascinating territory. The angels had just explained how mortals are barely worthy of consideration, and God gives said mortal a chance to respond.
Moses said before God: Master of the Universe, I am afraid lest they burn me with the breath of their mouths. God said to him: Grasp My throne of glory for strength and protection, and provide them with an answer. And from where is this derived? As it is stated: “God causes him to grasp the front of the throne, and spreads God’s cloud over it” (Job 26:9), and Rabbi Naḥum said: This verse teaches that God spread the radiance of God’s presence and God’s cloud over Moses.
Moses responds with fear.
He is afraid that the angels will harm him for speaking in their presence. God says that God will protect Moses from destruction, and we get a proof text from Job to explain it.
Moses said before God: Master of the Universe, the Torah that You are giving me, what is written in it?
God said to him: “I am the Lord your God Who brought you out of Egypt from the house of bondage” (Exodus 20:2).
Moses said to the angels: Did you descend to Egypt? Were you enslaved to Pharaoh? Why should the Torah be yours?
Moses turns to God and asks, what is in Torah?
God responds with the first of the Ten Commandments, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt.” What is the essential part of this? The “brought you out of Egypt” part.
Moses then turns to the angels and asks, does this apply to you? Did you experience this thing described in Torah? He turns back the argument of the angels by asking them if they are worthy or deserving of Torah.
This is an incredible rhetorical move by Moses.
He highlights, using Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi’s imagination, that Torah is not describing a relationship between heavenly beings, God and the angels, but rather, one with humans.
It is the shared experience between humans and God that the Torah documents.
But Moses doesn’t stop there. He makes a series of arguments, each drawing from the Ten Commandments.
Idolatry:
Again Moses asked: What else is written in it? God said to him: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). Moses said to the angels: Do you dwell among the nations who worship idols that you require this special warning?
Shabbat:
Again Moses asked: What else is written in it? The Holy One, Blessed be God, said to him: “Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it” (Exodus 20:8). Moses asked the angels: Do you perform labor that you require rest from it?
Swearing oaths:
Again Moses asked: What else is written in it? “Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Exodus 20:7), meaning that it is prohibited to swear falsely. Moses asked the angels: Do you conduct business with one another that may lead you to swear falsely?
Honoring parents:
Again Moses asked: What else is written in it? The Holy One, Blessed be God, said to him: “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12). Moses asked the angels: Do you have a father or a mother that would render the commandment to honor them relevant to you?
Murder, adultery, and theft:
Again Moses asked: What else is written in it? God said to him: “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal” (Exodus 20:13) Moses asked the angels: Is there jealousy among you, or is there an evil inclination within you that would render these commandments relevant?
In each of these, progressively, we can recognize how Torah describes our relationships with each other and God. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, using Moses, reminds us how deeply human Torah is, how it speaks in human terms, and deals with human concerns.
This teaches us that Torah is part of our inheritance as human beings.
Immediately they agreed with the Holy One, Blessed be God, that God made the right decision to give the Torah to the people, and as it is stated: “God our Lord, how glorious is Your name in all the earth” (Psalms 8:10), while “that Your majesty is placed above the heavens” is not written because the angels agreed with God that it is appropriate to give the Torah to the people on earth.
Moses wins the day, and the angels retract their suggestion that humans are not deserving of Torah.
But then, the story takes a bit of a turn.
The angels become enamored with Moses and provide him with gifts. They admire him.
Immediately, each and every one of the angels became an admirer of Moses and passed something to him, as it is stated: “You ascended on high, you took a captive, you took gifts on account of humans, and even among the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell there” (Psalms 68:19). The meaning of the verse is: In reward for the fact that they called you human, you are not an angel and the Torah is applicable to you, you took gifts from the angels.
With a proof text from Psalms, we apply this idea that “took gifts” means that the angels each provided Moses with something. His humanity made him precious too.
And even the Angel of Death gave him something, as Moses told Aaron how to stop the plague, as it is stated: “And he placed the incense, and he atoned for the people” (Numbers 17:12). And the verse says: “And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped” (Numbers 17:13). If it were not that the Angel of Death told him this remedy, would he have known it?
One gift is from the Angel of Death, with whom the people are already familiar from their time in Egypt. This is our connection to the Torah portion, Korach, as this story comes to explain why Moses “stood between the dead and the living” and prevented the further spread of the plague.
As the Talmud says, “Would he have known” how to stop the plague without the gift?
The Talmud continues with a fascinating story of the Satan seeking Torah on earth, in the sea, and among the depths, and Moses expressing his humility before God once again.
You can read that part of the story here. This is immediately followed by a text we explored a few weeks ago in Behar when Moses time travels.
So what do we learn from all of this?
I think this story, among others, is a reminder that Torah is meant to be navigated by us mere human beings.
It is our mortality, our fallibility, and our ability to grow and improve that makes us uniquely capable of drawing wisdom from the Tradition. At the same time, Torah is written in such a way that our humanity is central to the story.
The Torah does not describe the complex angelic and heavenly hosts, and it does not spend that much time talking about how the universe works, but it centers its story on the interactions between humans and with God.
This is a lesson that we should remain focused on the actual people we encounter, not an afterlife, an underworld, or some metaphysical thing. Those things have value, too, for sure, but not more than our daily encounters with other human beings.