Blessings and Curses – Over Which Commandments/1/en
Blessings and Curses – Over Which Commandments?
Introduction
Mt. Sinai vs. Ohel Moed
Prior to the building of the Tabernacle, most if not all of the received commandments were conveyed to Moshe on Mt. Sinai. Once the Tabernacle was constructed at the end of Sefer Shemot, however, the locus of Divine revelation naturally shifted to the Holy of Holies.1 Thus, Sefer Vayikra opens with:oscillates back
Toward the end of Sefer Vayikra, Chapter 26 presents lengthy lists of blessings and curses which will befall the Children of Israel, depending on whether or not they observe Hashem's commandments.
(ג) אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ וְאֶת מִצְוֺתַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם. (ד) וְנָתַתִּי גִשְׁמֵיכֶם בְּעִתָּם וְנָתְנָה הָאָרֶץ יְבוּלָהּ וְעֵץ הַשָּׂדֶה יִתֵּן פִּרְיוֹ...
(יד) וְאִם לֹא תִשְׁמְעוּ לִי וְלֹא תַעֲשׂוּ אֵת כׇּל הַמִּצְוֺת הָאֵלֶּה. (טו) וְאִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תִּמְאָסוּ וְאִם אֶת מִשְׁפָּטַי תִּגְעַל נַפְשְׁכֶם לְבִלְתִּי עֲשׂוֹת אֶת כׇּל מִצְוֺתַי לְהַפְרְכֶם אֶת בְּרִיתִי. (טז) אַף אֲנִי אֶעֱשֶׂה זֹּאת לָכֶם...
(3) If you walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them; (4) then I will give your rains in their season, and the land shall yield her produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit...
(14) But if you will not hearken unto Me, and will not do all these commandments; (15) and if ye shall reject My statutes, and if your soul abhor Mine ordinances, so that you will not do all My commandments, but break My covenant; (16) I also will do this unto you...
These verses speak of the observance of "כׇּל הַמִּצְוֺת" and might
וַיִּקְרָא אֶל מֹשֶׁה וַיְדַבֵּר י"י אֵלָיו מֵאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד לֵאמֹר.
וַיִּקְרָא אֶל מֹשֶׁה וַיְדַבֵּר י"י אֵלָיו מֵאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד לֵאמֹר.
And the Lord called unto Moses, and spoke unto him out of the tent of meeting, saying:
And the Lord called unto Moses, and spoke unto him out of the tent of meeting, saying:
appear to refer to all of the commandments given in the Torah until this point. However, the concluding verse of this chapter appears to limit the scope to only the commandments given on Mt. Sinai:
(מו) אֵלֶּה הַחֻקִּים וְהַמִּשְׁפָּטִים וְהַתּוֹרֹת אֲשֶׁר נָתַן י"י בֵּינוֹ וּבֵין בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּהַר סִינַי בְּיַד מֹשֶׁה.
(46) These are the statutes and ordinances and laws, which the Lord made between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.
This summation takes us back to Mt. Sinai and to refers specifically to commandments given on Mt. Sinai. ssion of the chapterding verse of It is unclear, however, which specific commandments are included in the rebuke and why they warranted. The chapter ends with a summary statement:
