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Text Excerpt
״ויכסהו הענן״, להר. ״ויקרא אל משה״ — [משה] וכל ישראל עומדין, ולא בא הכתוב אלא לחלק כבוד למשה. רבי נתן אומר: לא בא הכתוב אלא למרק אכילה ושתיה שבמעיו, לשומו כמלאכי השרת.
And that which is written: “And the cloud covered him,” means the cloud covered it, the mountain, and not him, Moses. “And He called to Moses”; Moses and all of the Jewish people were standing at the foot of the mountain and listening, and if God did not mean that Moses was to climb the mountain, why did He call him? The verse comes only to accord deference to Moses, as the entire nation heard God address him. R' Natan says: Moses was in fact called to enter the cloud; however, his entrance was not for the purpose of sequestering and purifying him, rather, the verse comes only to cleanse the food and drink that was in his intestines, to render him like the ministering angels who require neither food nor drink.
רבי מתיא בן חרש אומר: לא בא הכתוב אלא לאיים עליו, כדי שתהא תורה ניתנת באימה, ברתת ובזיע, שנאמר: ״עבדו את ה׳ ביראה וגילו ברעדה״. מאי ״וגילו ברעדה״? אמר רב אדא בר מתנה אמר רב: במקום גילה שם תהא רעדה.
R' Matya ben Ḥarash says: The verse calling Moses into the cloud comes only to intimidate Moses, to instill in him a sense of awe of the Creator, so that the Torah would be delivered with reverence, with quaking and with trembling, as it is stated: “Serve YHWH with awe, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalms 2:11). Apropos the end of the verse, the Talmud asks: What is the meaning of “and rejoice with trembling”? Joy and trembling seem contradictory. Rav Adda bar Mattana said that Rav said: Where there is the joy of fulfilling a mitzva, there will be the trembling of the awe of Heaven there.
במאי קא מיפלגי רבי יוסי הגלילי ורבי עקיבא? בפלוגתא דהני תנאי, דתניא: בששה בחודש ניתנה תורה לישראל, רבי יוסי אומר: בשבעה בו. מאן דאמר בששה: בששה ניתנה, ובשבעה עלה (דכתיב: ״ויקרא אל משה ביום השביעי״). מאן דאמר בשבעה: בשבעה ניתנה, ובשבעה עלה, [דכתיב: ״ויקרא אל משה ביום השביעי״].
§ Apropos the interpretation of the verse with regard to revelation, the Talmud asks: With regard to what do R' Yosei HaGelili and R' Akiva disagree? The Talmud explains that their dispute is parallel to the dispute between these other tanna’im, as it was taught in a baraita: On the 6th day of the month of Sivan, the Torah, the 10 Commandments, was given to the Jewish people. R' Yosei says: It was on the 7th day of the month. According to the one who said that it was on the 6th, the Torah was given on the 6th, which is the day of the revelation of the 10 Commandments, and on the 7th day of the month Moses ascended the mountain, as it is written: “And He called to Moses on the 7th day” (Exodus 24:16). According to the one who said that the Torah was given on the 7th of the month, it was given on the 7th and Moses ascended on the 7th, as it is written: “And he called to Moses on the 7th day.”