Introduction: Transmitting the Tradition from Generation to Generation
We continue in Chapter 78, "A Maskil of Asaph," which is devoted entirely to the obligation of transmitting the accounts of Divine Providence and the Torah to our children. Following the psalmist's opening introduction, he reaches the fundamental core of the matter: it is not enough merely to recount the wonders; one must also bequeath to future generations the testimony and the Torah that the Holy One, blessed be He, established in Israel.
וַיָּקֶם עֵדוּת בְּיַעֲקֹב וְתוֹרָה שָׂם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה אֶת אֲבוֹתֵינוּ לְהוֹדִיעָם לִבְנֵיהֶם׃ - He established a testimony in Jacob and set a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to make known to their children.
The Radak explains: Just as one must recall the wonders and make them known to the children, so too must one make known to them the Torah and the testimony that Hashem established and placed in Israel - that is, the Giving of the Torah. There is an explicit commandment in the Torah regarding this. Just as it says, "That you may recount in the hearing of your son and your son's son how I made a mockery of Egypt," so too it says, "And make them known to your children and your children's children - the day that you stood before Hashem your God at Horeb." There is an obligation to transmit the Giving of the Torah to our children.
The Foundation of Faith - The Giving of the Torah
The Rambam writes: Know that our faith is not based on the Exodus from Egypt. For even though there were signs and wonders there, a person could claim they were performed through sorcery or illusion. At the Giving of the Torah, however, our own eyes saw and not a stranger's, our own ears heard and not another's. There, everyone became a prophet, and Hashem revealed Himself to all - a direct perception of the Divine without any intermediary. It was not that Moshe told us what Hashem said; rather, we ourselves received the first two commandments directly, and had we not surrendered, we would have received all Ten Commandments directly from Hashem. Instead, the people turned to Moshe: "Speak with us yourself, and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die." Thus, the foundations of our faith are rooted in the Giving of the Torah - a Divine revelation before millions of witnesses. Regarding this, the Torah emphasizes repeatedly: "You have been shown to know that Hashem is God" - you were shown, not someone telling you tales, not mere history, but rather: I revealed Myself to you. Therefore, the psalmist says, everything we describe here consists of matters our ancestors witnessed with their very own eyes, and the Torah commands us to make them known to our children.
The Narratives of the Torah Are Testimony
The Malbim explains: In their straightforward sense, the narratives of the Torah are called "testimony" because they bear witness to real, historical events. Creation is testimony that Hashem created His world. The Flood is testimony that there were generations that provoked Him and Hashem washed them away. The destruction of Sodom, the Generation of the Dispersion, the narratives of the Patriarchs, the redemption from Egypt - all of these were actual historical realities.
Incidentally, today many of these accounts find corroboration from external sources. We do not rely on them, yet the nations of the world recognize them as well. First, the documentation of the Flood: virtually no civilization lacks records of a deluge - the Maya, the Aztecs, ancient Egypt - all tell an identical story of a cataclysmic flood that submerged the entire world. Archaeology has likewise uncovered remarkable findings; one can consult Rabbi Zamir Cohen's work on archaeology and Tanach. It is astonishing how names recorded in the Torah appear in archaeological records: Avraham appears, documented as an esteemed figure in his region in Charan; there is documentation of Egyptian kings mentioned in the Torah; of deities worshipped during the Exodus; and of the geographical locations mentioned throughout the Exodus and the wilderness journey.
A striking example: a depiction found in Egypt shows a king promoting a man to high office - placing a chain around his neck, while the newly elevated minister extends his hand and the king places a ring on his hand. The details are exceedingly precise, for regarding Yosef it is written, "He placed a gold chain around his neck" and "put it on Yosef's hand" - literally on his hand, just as seen in those depictions. Consider this: if someone today were to invent a tale about life four hundred years ago, he would not know how people dressed, what they ate, or how kings were installed without rigorous historical study. Had the Torah been fabricated centuries after the fact, how could it accurately capture the finest details, customs, names, and places?
"Truth will sprout from the earth" - so it has been said of archaeology. Excavating from the ground reveals that the kings recorded throughout Tanach truly lived and ruled. Contemporary attempts to deny Jewish history and claim that Jews never lived here, or that Jerusalem was never ours, have no basis in reality. There is a recorded account of an Arab qadi who candidly remarked: How foolish can one be? If our religion was founded 1,400 years ago, while Judaism arose 3,300 years ago, how could we possibly have preceded them? One does not need advanced mathematics to realize this is impossible. If the question is who was first in Jerusalem - Jerusalem has existed as a Jewish capital for over 3,000 years, while our presence spans only 1,400. Even baseless claims, he noted, require some semblance of logic.
Beneath the Narratives - Sublime Matters
The Malbim adds: the lessons derived from these narratives are also called Torah, and beneath the surface of the stories lie concealed sublime matters, foundations of creation and Divinity, from the mysteries of Ma'aseh Bereishit (Creation) and Ma'aseh Merkavah (the Divine Chariot), and the like. The holy Zohar is extremely strict about this: anyone who thinks that the Torah merely came to tell stories is considered a heretic. For if so, there are far more interesting stories and more gripping novels. Perish the thought of anyone who thinks the Torah came to tell stories; rather, every single verse without exception is Torah.
We have cited the example in the past: "And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Children of Israel" - Bela the son of Beor, the name of his city, and the name of his wife Mehetabel the daughter of Matred - who cares about such details? But my friend, you have not even begun to peel away the layers; what you see is only the surface of the literal level. Yet the holy Zohar reveals, and the holy Ari elaborates and details, how the entire secret of the creation of the worlds, the descent of the lights, and the shattering of the vessels (Shevirat HaKeilim) are alluded to right there. All those names that appear to be names of kings are actually the names of the lights that descended, how they entered vessels that could not contain them, and how the vessels shattered and fell into the lower worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah (BY"A) - it is all contained within these verses. When you read the verses with this understanding, you suddenly have an entirely different dimension, a completely different map to understand them. And this is just one passage revealed to us by the Zohar; in the very same way, every single passage in the Torah alludes in its inner depth to sublime and tremendous secrets.
"A Testimony in Jacob" and "A Torah in Israel"
The Malbim explains: "Israel" always denotes people of high spiritual stature, associated with rulership and princehood (sararah); whereas when speaking of the simpler segments of the nation, or when the Jewish people as a whole are in a diminished state, they are referred to as "Jacob" (Yaakov), from the word eikev, heel, and ikvah (lowliness). Therefore, "He established a testimony in Jacob" refers to the masses, who learn the Torah according to its literal meaning; while "and appointed a Torah in Israel" refers to the great sages, who comprehend the inner essence of the Torah and not merely its outer surface. And these matters He commanded our ancestors to make known to their children, not concealing anything from them, so that the tradition would continue from generation to generation, for there is profound benefit in transmitting this message.
לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דּוֹר אַחֲרוֹן בָּנִים יִוָּלֵדוּ יָקֻמוּ וִיסַפְּרוּ לִבְנֵיהֶם׃ - "So that the last generation might know, children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell their children."
And what is the benefit? The Malbim explains: "So that the last generation might know" - whether from the narratives themselves or from the testimony regarding the punishments Hashem inflicted upon the generation of the wilderness, the assembly of Korah, the spies, and even earlier, the generation of the Flood. Through this, future generations will know to follow a path of perfection and not stray from the way - seeing clearly what happens when one defies the word of Hashem. Through this testimony, which bears witness to Divine Providence and retribution, a future generation will arise that safeguards the testimony and will not act unfaithfully toward Hashem. And as we mentioned, this refers to the generation of David and Solomon, a far more upright and fitting generation. And by what power did they reach this? By virtue of these stories, for by passing them down, you proclaim Hashem's Providence and the reality of reward and punishment, leading them to refine and rectify their deeds. Furthermore, children will yet be born who will rise up and recount the testimony and the Torah to their children - therefore, you must tell and transmit this message for future generations.
"Appointed a Torah in Israel" - The Elixir of Life
Midrash Shocher Tov expounds: The Torah that the Holy One, Blessed is He, gave to Israel is a healing medicine: "It will be health to your navel and marrow to your bones"; "be intoxicated always with its love." If one feels pain in his head, let him engage in Torah; if he feels pain in his stomach, let him engage in Torah. The Torah is a cure for everything. "Appointed (sam) a Torah in Israel" - as though it were written with the letter samech (sam, medicine): the Torah is the healing potion of Israel. There is no need for narcotics; you have the potion of Torah, an elixir of life (sam chayim). Those worldly drugs are an elixir of death, but here, it is the elixir of life.
There was once a yeshivah bachur whom the mashgiach could not find in the beit midrash during the study session. He went to search for him in the dormitory and found him lying in bed. He asked him: "What happened?" The student replied: "I have a headache." The mashgiach said to him: "One who feels pain in his head should engage in Torah study; go to the beit midrash!" The bachur replied: "There is an ancient ban (cherem hakadmonim) against healing oneself with remedies written in the Talmud, since we no longer know the exact dosages or how to apply them - so please, do not prescribe me a remedy from Shas!"
Three Generations - And the Torah Never Ceases
The Radak explains: "So that the last generation might know" - that the children should likewise make it known to their children, until the final generation; and the children who will be born will recount it to their children, and so on from generation to generation. The Me'am Loez explains based on the words of Chazal: Whenever a Torah scholar's son is a Torah scholar and his grandson is a Torah scholar, the Torah will never depart from his descendants. And from where is this derived? As it says, "And as for Me, this is My covenant with them, says Hashem... they shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, nor from the mouth of your seed's seed, says Hashem, from now and forever." "From now" - that is you, your children, and your grandchildren; and from that point onward, it endures "forever." This is what the verse states here: "Which He commanded our ancestors" - one generation; "to make them known to their children" - a second generation; "so that the last generation might know" - a third generation; and from then on, "children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell their children" - it continues forever. Therefore the text continues, "That they might place their hope in God," for there have already been three generations, and from then on it continues indefinitely.
And some say that it was with this very attribute that the holy Forefathers began - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - and from then on, Torah never ceased and the yeshivah never ceased from our ancestors forever; there has never been a moment in history when the Jewish people were not engaged in Torah.
Why Isn't Everyone a Talmid Chacham? - The Torah Seeks Out Its Own Inn
And if you ask: If so, why isn't everyone a talmid chacham, given that three generations of righteous ancestors have already passed? The answer lies in a parable found in the holy books: A man was accustomed to lodge in a particular inn. Every time he arrived in town, the homeowner would welcome him and bring him into his house. One day he arrived, knocked and knocked, but no one opened the door for him, so he went and lodged elsewhere. People asked him: "You always lodge with so-and-so, what happened?" He replied: "I came, but he did not open the door." This is the meaning of the principle that Torah seeks out its own lodging. The Torah comes and knocks - "The voice of my Beloved knocks" - but free choice remains in your hands to open the door. What did you think, that if the Sages said three generations ensure that Torah will not depart from his descendants, a person can go to a nightclub and the Torah will chase after him against his will? No. When you seek it, the Torah comes to you; if you open the door, the Torah says: "I have a permanent dwelling with you." But if you insist on keeping the door locked, the Torah will not break it down. This does not mean one becomes a talmid chacham against his will, but rather that if you seek it, it will be easier for you, because the Torah is already seeking out the inn where it is accustomed to being welcomed.
וְיָשִׂימוּ בֵאלֹהִים כִּסְלָם וְלֹא יִשְׁכְּחוּ מַעַלְלֵי אֵל וּמִצְוֺתָיו יִנְצֹרוּ׃ - That they might place their trust in God, and not forget the deeds of God, and keep His commandments.
"Kislam" means their hope, as in, "If I made gold my hope [kisli]" (Iyov 31:24), meaning that in which I place my trust. Radak explains: When they hear of the wonders Hashem performed for our ancestors, they will place their trust in Hashem and will not forget what they learned; rather, they will remember it always and recount it to their children after them. Through this, they will believe in Hashem and His Torah, and also "keep His commandments" - they will fulfill the mitzvos.
The Malbim explains that several concepts are presented here: Trust in Hashem and faith in Him is one matter; and second, that they not forget "the deeds [ma'alei] of God," which are the actions testifying to His attributes - gracious, merciful, and slow to anger. Here lies a fundamental principle that the Malbim explains in several places: ma'alim always refers to an action stemming from character traits. If a person went to chop wood in the forest, his hand swung the axe, the iron slipped from the handle and killed someone, this would not be called his ma'alim, since he did not act out of cruelty. But "I had mercy on you" is a ma'alal, stemming from the trait of mercy; "I acted cruelly toward you" is a ma'alal, stemming from cruelty. Likewise, "and not forget the deeds of God" refers to actions that testify to the Creator's attributes. And as a consequence of this, "and keep His commandments."
וְלֹא יִהְיוּ כַּאֲבוֹתָם דּוֹר סוֹרֵר וּמֹרֶה דּוֹר לֹא הֵכִין לִבּוֹ וְלֹא נֶאֶמְנָה אֶת אֵל רוּחוֹ׃ - And not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart, and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
Rashi explains: "Like their fathers" who were in Egypt and in the wilderness. Radak explains that their fathers did not place their trust in Hashem and were "a stubborn and rebellious generation" - this is the generation of the wilderness, concerning whom it is said, "and have tested Me these ten times." They were constantly testing Hashem: He gave manna - but can He also provide meat? He gave meat - and water from a rock, we have not seen that yet, let us see. "A generation that did not prepare its heart" - they did not prepare their hearts for God, blessed is He. "And whose spirit was not faithful to God" - their spirit was not steadfast with God, nor did their soul, thought, and will endure with God. For "ne'eman" denotes endurance and permanence, as in, "And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure [ne'eman] place" (Yeshayahu 22:23); emunah means to verify and establish a matter as true, and "amen" signifies truth. In other words, their spirit did not remain steadfast with God.
The Malbim enumerates three ways in which the future generation must not be like their ancestors: First, "a stubborn and rebellious generation" - who know their Master and deliberately intend to rebel against Him. Second, "a generation that did not prepare its heart" - it did not prepare its heart to seek Hashem and did not strive to know Him. Third, "and whose spirit was not faithful to God" - and the spirit [ruach], as the Malbim consistently explains, is the inner faculty that paints mental images upon the heart. For every sin begins with an inner desire, and in most cases with the imagination: before a person commits a sin, he imagines it - how delicious this food will taste, whether kosher or not, but listen, it is delicious. First of all, he imagines it. This is why today everything operates visually - to stimulate the imagination, to activate the digestive juices, so you imagine putting it in your mouth and chewing it. This is the meaning of "its spirit": the inner spirit that projects images upon the heart. And that generation - its spirit did not project positive images of serving Hashem and closeness to God, but only fantasies of transgression.
"Did Not Prepare Its Heart" - Holiness Requires Preparation
In the sefer Tehillos Mahari"tz, the verse is explained with a wonderful moral insight. How is it possible that the Jewish people, in such a short time, descended to what Chazal describe as "a bride being unfaithful under her wedding canopy"? The canopy poles had not even cooled off yet. Just forty days earlier they received the Torah in a divine revelation - and immediately they make a Golden Calf? Had years passed, and they had deteriorated and settled into the routine of physical life, it could be understood. But forty days, while the mountain was still smoking, with the remnants of the Giving of the Torah right before their eyes - how did they backslide so quickly?
On this, the Tehillos Mahari"tz says in the name of the commentators: They reached that exalted level in haste and speed, and therefore they fell from it with equal haste and speed. This means that holiness requires preparation. One cannot simply stumble into holiness; and if you fall into holiness, you will fall out of it just as quickly as you fell into it. A maidservant saw divine visions at the Red Sea, yet she did not change at all and remained a maidservant, because there had been no inner labor. The Jewish people arrived at Mount Sinai after only fifty days; can one take an idolater in fifty days and transform him into an exalted holy person? These are processes; this is work, and it takes time. Here, everything occurred rapidly, and suddenly, in a single moment, a nation heard the voice of God. Therefore, complete faith had not taken deep root within them, and when they faced a trial, they did not withstand the test and retreated. This is what the verse hints at: "A generation that did not prepare its heart" - they lacked the necessary preparation; fifty days was not enough time to prepare the heart from an idolater to a receiver of the Torah. Therefore, "whose spirit was not faithful to God" - their spirit had not yet properly absorbed the faith.
This is comparable to a ba'al teshuvah at the beginning of his journey. When people have just become observant, even though you hear their enthusiasm, they will suddenly ask questions reflecting their former secular mindset. "Haven't they already answered that for you? You already attended a seminar and heard it!" Yes, but tell me why, what is happening? Some things require a process; it is not instantaneous. One does not press a button and suddenly change his outlook and become a completely different person. Technically it is often very easy: someone explains how to put on tefillin, and he puts them on. But now one must also improve and transform his character traits, and the way he interacts with others. Otherwise, one can remain a secular person wearing a kippah: speaking like a secular person, behaving like a secular person, with impudence and chutzpah - only now with a kippah and a beard. And a beard, as has often been noted, grows on its own without any effort. He then remains secular in Haredi garb, which is even more severe because it involves a chillul Hashem: previously he did this without a beard, but now he lashes out at people with a kippah, a beard, and perhaps long peyos, leading people to say: "Look at how such a person behaves." Yet the truth is that with this person, "his spirit was not faithful to God"; he has merely begun a process, and it takes time. One cannot fault him, but he must genuinely go through the process: study Torah, and acquire a rav. For when a ba'al teshuvah reaches the full perfection of repentance, it is no longer recognizable that he was once non-observant - not externally, but in his conduct, his derech eretz, and his Torah study; he no longer carries the traces of his former ways. And that takes time. Here, too, "it did not prepare its heart" - in a single moment the Torah was received, and in a single moment it was abandoned, because the preparation was missing.
The Riddle of the Sons of Ephraim
בְּנֵי אֶפְרַיִם נוֹשְׁקֵי רוֹמֵי קָשֶׁת הָפְכוּ בְּיוֹם קְרָב׃ - The sons of Ephraim, armed and shooting bows, turned back on the day of battle.
This is a riddle. The difficulty is not linguistic - the commentators easily navigate the meaning of "armed and shooting bows" - rather, the question is what event this refers to. "Turned back on the day of battle" means they fled on the day of war; but which war was this? What historical episode is the Psalmist depicting here?
Our Sages (Sanhedrin 92b) expound this as referring to the sons of Ephraim who left Egypt by force before the appointed time had arrived. They calculated that the redemption was already due, left Egypt, and trusted in their might and their arrows; and in the end they "turned back on the day of battle" - they turned their backs to their enemies and were forced to flee, and the men of Gath who were born in the land slew them. This is stated explicitly in I Chronicles 7:21-22, as we learned there; and there too, the verses require interpretation, and the commentators disagree as to which period is being discussed.
And what is the meaning of noshkei romei kashet ("armed and shooting bows")? Romei means casting or throwing, as in "horse and its rider He cast [ramah] into the sea"; and similarly in Aramaic, when the Gemara presents a contradiction between two sources, it says reminhu - casting one against the other. That is to say, they shot and cast arrows from a bow. Radak explains that this is a compound construct: just as "Pharaoh's wise men" or "Pharaoh's counselors" are constructs, whereas "the wise of Pharaoh's counselors" has "wise" in construct with "counselors," which is itself in construct. So too here: noshkei derives from neshek (weapon) - armed with weapons, and romei kashet - shooters of the bow.
Radak also explains that this relates an actual historical event, but in his view, it took place in the Wilderness. Although it is not mentioned in the Torah, it is recorded in I Chronicles 7:21-22, where it says that the men of Gath who were born in the land slew them because they went down to take their cattle, "and Ephraim their father mourned many days." Radak writes: We have already explained in Chronicles that this event took place in the Wilderness, and there were approximately eight thousand slain in that battle; for they went to Gath without Hashem commanding them, but rather against His word, since Hashem had decreed that they would remain forty years in the Wilderness - they rebelled against His spirit and were struck down. According to this, it does not refer to an event in Egypt prior to the redemption, but rather to those in the Wilderness after the forty-year decree was issued, who declared: We will arise and go up to the Land of Israel, and Moshe told them they would not succeed.
Radak adds: "Armed and shooting bows" means they went with their bows and weapons of war and did not trust in Hashem; and how could they claim to trust in Him when Hashem had told them not to go up and that they would not succeed? Therefore, "they turned back on the day of battle" - they turned their backs before their enemies on the day of war. Radak also cites the exposition of Chazal in Sanhedrin, which explains that this refers to those who left Egypt before the appointed time; however, in his view, the subsequent verses prove that this does not refer to the period in Egypt, but rather after the Exodus, for it states that they saw the deeds and wonders that they forgot, and the covenant and the Torah that He gave them and they abandoned - so perforce this must be after the Giving of the Torah.
Why, then, do some still place this story back in Egypt? Because they understood that "and Ephraim their father mourned" refers to Ephraim himself, the patriarch. And Ephraim was no longer alive at the Exodus, for only when that entire generation died, the last of the sons, did the servitude begin - some eighty-six years before the Exodus. Yet as noted, this is difficult to maintain, because the remainder of the chapter speaks of people who left Egypt and witnessed the Giving of the Torah, yet nevertheless lost their trust in Hashem.
Ibn Ezra explains that this refers to the destruction of Shiloh, since the Tabernacle of Shiloh stood in the territory of Ephraim, and on the day the Ark was captured, many from Israel were killed and Shiloh was destroyed. Radak remarks on this interpretation as well that it is far-fetched, because the Psalmist mentions the destruction of Shiloh later on, in the context of the entry into the Land; so how could he jump to the destruction of Shiloh before the descriptions of what transpired in the Wilderness? Chronologically it does not fit, as the order of the verses implies an earlier event. Furthermore: if it is as Ibn Ezra interprets, why mention the sons of Ephraim specifically? After all, in that battle, when the Ark fell into the hands of the Philistines, all of Israel fought, not only the sons of Ephraim; why, then, recount that the sons of Ephraim died and their father mourned them?
The Malbim explains that following the introduction, the Psalmist begins his narrative here, opening with Hashem's rejection of the Tabernacle of Shiloh. That is, he interprets in line with Ibn Ezra, that the verse refers to the Tabernacle of Shiloh, which stood in the territory of Ephraim, where Hashem rejected the sons of Eli; and although the sons of Ephraim were "armed and shooting bows," trained warriors and archers, on the day of the battle with the Philistines "they turned back on the day of battle" - they turned their backs. According to the Malbim, one can resolve why they specifically are singled out: first, the brunt of the battle fell upon them, since the Tabernacle stood in their territory. And second, because they were distinguished warriors, "armed and shooting bows," Scripture highlights their defeat in particular - that even these mighty men of war fell and were broken.
In Summary:
The verses before us teach the obligation to transmit the tradition: not only the tales of wonders, but the testimony and the Torah itself - which bear witness to actual historical events, beneath which sublime secrets are concealed. "A testimony in Jacob" for the masses in its literal sense, and "a Torah in Israel" for the great in its inner depth; and once transmitted across three generations, the Torah no longer ceases - provided that a person opens the door to the Torah seeking its lodging. The purpose of the account is that the final generation place their trust in Hashem, remember His deeds, and guard His commandments, and not be like a stubborn and rebellious generation that did not prepare its heart and whose spirit was not steadfast - which, due to a lack of preparation, fell as swiftly as it had arisen. And the conclusion of this section, the downfall of the sons of Ephraim, "armed and shooting bows," stands as proof that all might and weaponry are of no avail to one who does not walk according to the word of Hashem and does not place his trust in Him.