No one interpretation TB Shabbat 116

One of the things I love about Torah study is the multitude of interpretations. The commentators across generations and centuries argue with each other. Judaism preserves all these interpretations to teach us that there is no one correct answer or approach. We get to choose which answer and approach we like best after the hearing each commentators interpretation. Today’s daf TB Shabbat 116 provides a wonderful example.

We learned in yesterday’s daf TB Shabbat 115 a Torah scroll needs at least a minimum of 85 letters to maintain its sanctity in order that it should be saved from a burning building. The rabbis based this decision on the smallest complete portion found in the Torah. It is “And when the Ark traveled- ויהי בנסֹע” (Numbers 10:35–36). On Shabbat and holidays at the very beginning of the Torah service when the ark is opened, the congregation stands and sings these verses.

Daf TB Shabbat 116 continues this discussion beginning at the very bottom of daf TB Shabbat 115. “And when the Ark traveled,” the Gemara cites that which the Sages taught in a baraita. It is stated: “And when the Ark traveled and Moses proclaimed: Rise up, God, and Your enemies will scatter and those who hate You will flee from before You.” And The Holy One, Blessed be He, made signs in the Torah for this portion, above and below, i.e., before and after it” (Sefaria.org translation) Look in any Hebrew version of the Torah and you will see that this portion is separated by a backward Hebrew letter “Nun” before and after it. And looks something like this:

נ   לה וַיְהִ֛י בִּנְסֹ֥עַ הָֽאָרֹ֖ן וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֑ה קוּמָ֣ה ׀ יְהֹוָ֗ה וְיָפֻ֨צוּ֙ אֹֽיְבֶ֔יךָ וְיָנֻ֥סוּ מְשַׂנְאֶ֖יךָ מִפָּנֶֽיךָ: לו וּבְנֻחֹ֖ה יֹאמַ֑ר שׁוּבָ֣ה יְהֹוָ֔ה רִֽבֲב֖וֹת אַלְפֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל:   נ   

The Gemara explains why God section off these verses. “…in order to say that this is not its place, as the previous portion does not discuss the nation’s travels. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says: It is not for that reason that signs were inserted. Rather, the signs are there because this portion is considered a book unto itself. Who is the tanna who disagrees with Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi? It is Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel. As it was taught in a baraita that Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: In the future, this portion will be uprooted from here, where it appears, and will be written in its proper place. And why was it written here, even though it discusses the travels of the children of Israel, and the portion before it does not? It is in order to demarcate between the first punishment and the second punishment. What is the second punishment that appears immediately afterward? It is the verse: “And the people complained wickedly in God’s ears, and God heard and became angry, and the fire of God burned in them and it consumed the edge of the camp” (Numbers 11:1). What is the first punishment? It is the verse: “And they traveled from the mountain of God [mehar Hashem] for three days” (Numbers 10:33), and Rabbi Ḥama, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: That they turned from after God [me’aḥarei Hashem] and hurriedly fled Mount Sinai. The Gemara asks: And if so, where is the proper place for this paragraph? Rav Ashi said: In the portion of the flags, where there is a description of the manner in which the Jewish people traveled through the desert.” (Sefaria.org translation)

We now know that this is not the correct spot where “And when the Ark traveled- ויהי בנסֹע” should have been written in the Torah. We also know that it separates the first punishment and the second punishment. There is much disagreement what sins and punishments does “And when the Ark traveled- ויהי בנסֹע” actually separate. I’ll share with you for different interpretations

Rashi explains that the first sin that the Israelites committed three days after they left Mount Sinai was “The riffraff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving; and then the Israelites wept and said ‘If only we had meat to eat!’” (Numbers 11:4) We can accept this interpretation because Rashi holds the principle that there is no “earlier” or “later” (no chronological order) and the events related in the Torah (אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה). Even though the verses are placed here, the events described happen much earlier.

Tosefot disagrees saying that Israel fled Mount Sinai like a student flees school. They were fleeing Mount Sinai for three full days because they had learned a lot of Torah (i.e. all the mitzvot with all the prohibitions and they were afraid that there were more still to come). The Holy One Blessed be for He didn’t want one punishment to follow on the heels of another so he demarcated with “And when the Ark traveled- ויהי בנסֹע”

Ramban in his commentary on these verses in the book of Numbers expands Tosefot’s interpretation and gives it a new twist. “But the meaning of this interpretation (of the Rabbis that they set from the mount of the Eternal indicates a punishment, is based on that which) found in the Agadah, that ‘They set forward from Mount Sinai with joy, like a child who runs away from school saying: ‘Perhaps He will give us more commandments if we stay!)’ This then is the sense of the expression, ‘And they set forward from the mount of the Eternal,” meaning that their intention was to remove themselves from there because it was the Mount of the Eternal. This is the first ‘punishment’ (i.e. the first sin, as explained further on), and then He interrupted (with the section of the ark) in order that there should not be three punishments one after the other, so that it would not have established a basis for further punishment. (A repetition of three similar events establishes a legal presumption of recurrence a חזקה) He called the (first) sin ‘punishment’ even though no actual punishment occurred to them because of it, (but since they deserved to have been punished, is called a ‘punishment’). Perhaps were not for the sin of theirs He would have brought them into the Land immediately (and so there was indeed a ‘punishment.’ (Translated by Rabbi Dr. Charles Chavel, page 95) Ramban as a third sin to the mixture to teach us of God’s love of Israel for he did not want to create a presumption of punishment.

The Natziv, Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin, in his introduction to the book of Numbers quotes our sugiyah. He says that “And when the Ark traveled- ויהי בנסֹע” separates two periods of Israelite history. In the wilderness Israel was sustained by miracles that were above the laws of nature. Once Israel entered the land of Israel they were subjected to the laws of nature. The second half of Israel history began when the riffraff started their complaints which follows immediately “And when the Ark traveled- ויהי בנסֹע.”

Which one makes the most sense to you?