23:1 VA YEDABER YHVH EL MOSHEH LEMOR
וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר
KJ (King James translation): And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
BN (BibleNet translation): Then YHVH spoke to Mosheh, saying:
23:2 DABER EL BENEY YISRA-EL VE AMARTA AL'EHEM MO'ADEY YHVH ASHER TIKRE'U OTAM MIKRA'EY KODESH ELEH HEM MO'ADAI
דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם מוֹעֲדֵי יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר תִּקְרְאוּ אֹתָם מִקְרָאֵי קֹדֶשׁ אֵלֶּה הֵם מוֹעֲדָי
KJ: Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
BN: Speak to the children of Yisra-El, and say to them: The appointed seasons of YHVH, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my appointed seasons.
For the umpteenth time we have to ask: we have already been given these commandments, so why the repetition? Yet again the Redactor having documents that he did not want to leave out?
23:3 SHESHET YAMIM TE'ASEH MELA'CHAH U VA YOM HA SHEVIY'I SHABAT SHABATON MIKRA KODESH KOL MELA'CHAH LO TA'ASU SHABAT HI LA YHVH BE CHOL MOSHVOTEYCHEM
שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תֵּעָשֶׂה מְלָאכָה וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ כָּל מְלָאכָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ שַׁבָּת הִוא לַיהוָה בְּכֹל מוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם
KJ: Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
BN: On six days work shall be done; but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no manner of work; it is a Sabbath to YHVH in all your dwellings.
As we have understood from several previous occasions, this is employment law, a day off for the hard-toiling, and nothing more than that; though there are exceptions. The Rabbi, for example, and the synagogue cantor, as well as the security guard outside the synagogue, and the shobbas goy looking after the chulunt at the congregant's home, may continue to do their daily work, even on the Sabbath.
23:4 ELEH MO'ADEY YHVH MIKRA'EY KODESH ASHER TIKRE'U OTAM BE MO'ADAM
אֵלֶּה מוֹעֲדֵי יְהוָה מִקְרָאֵי קֹדֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר תִּקְרְאוּ אֹתָם בְּמוֹעֲדָם
KJ: These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
BN: These are the appointed seasons of YHVH, the holy convocations, whose times and ceremonies you shall now announce.
23:5 BA CHODESH HA RI'SHON BE ARBA'AH ASAR LA CHODESH BEYN HA ARBA'IM PESACH LA YHVH
בַּחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר לַחֹדֶשׁ בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם פֶּסַח לַיהוָה
KJ: In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover.
BN: In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month, at dusk, is YHVH's Pesach.
BA CHODESH HA RI'SHON: Here is the first contradiction. The first month is self-evidently the start of the new year, which is Rosh ha Shanah; but (see verse 24 below), Rosh ha Shanah is scheduled for the first day of the seventh month, the month in question being Tishrey. But here we have Passover in the first month (Nisan, as it happens - click here for the full calendar), and it does not make forgood divine logic to celebrate the New Year in the seventh month! How do we reconcile this conflict? By the historical knowledge that the Yisra-Eli calendar did indeed begin in Nisan at the time of Mosheh, but that the Babylonian calendar was adopted at the time of the exile,requiring multiple alterations when the Torah was Redacted in the time of Ezra. Originally, it would seem from this verse, Passover was the New Year, and Nisan the first month - much more logical than our January too, because this is when the sun is reborn at the end of Winter. Does this text then precede the Exodus? It seems most definitely to precede the Redaction.
BEYN HA ARBA'IM: is probably an error by those who added the vocalisation much later; it should read BEYN HA ARAVIM, which is the Yehudit equivalent of our notion of twilight. This issue has been explored several times before in my commentaries.
PESACH: See the link. Also see my notes at Genesis 41:46 for the earliest significances of the name, and the Spring festival.
PESACH: See the link. Also see my notes at Genesis 41:46 for the earliest significances of the name, and the Spring festival.
23:6 U VA CHAMISHAH ASAR YOM LA CHODESH HA ZEH CHAG HA MATSOT LA YHVH SHIV'AT YAMIM MATSOT TO'CHELU
וּבַחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה חַג הַמַּצּוֹת לַיהוָה שִׁבְעַת יָמִים מַצּוֹת תֹּאכֵלוּ
KJ: And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
BN: And on the fifteenth day of the same month is YHVH's feast of unleavened bread; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
The fifteenth of any lunar month is theoretically honoured in the name of Yah, the moon-goddess, and not YHVH, the sun-god (you will notice as this list continues that the major festivals are all moon festivals, linked either to the first or the fifteenth of the lunar month, and all of them pre-existed Mosheh). In post-Temple Judaism, and possibly earlier, the number 15, which is correctly comprised of 10 (י - Yud) + 5 (ה - Hey) and thereby spells her name, is in fact comprised of 9 (ט - Tet) + 6 (ו - Vav) in order to avoid saying her name. It is surprising that the Psalms have not been amended for the same reason, so that we end our songs of praise by saying HalleluTav.
This presents Pesach and the Festival of Unleavened Bread as two separate Mo'adim - and on reflection, not to mention the opening chapters of Exodus, it is clear that they were originally.
Seven days: eight, if you live in the Diaspora, a Talmudic resolution to the problems (described in detail below) of determining exactly when a Shabat or festival begins and ends.
23:7 BA YOM HA RI'SHON MIKRA KODESH YIHEYEH LACHEM KOL MELE'CHET AVODAH LO TA'ASU
בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם כָּל מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ
KJ: In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
BN: On the first day you shall hold a holy convocation; you shall do no manner of servile work.
Why the change from MELA'CHAH to MELE'CHET? And why does the translator make the former mean "work" but the latter "servile work"? (see my detailed explanation at verse 30). Either way it confirms and endorses that this is employment law, not general behavioural law.
23:8 VE HIKRAVTEM ISHEH LA YHVH SHIV'AT YAMIM BA YOM HA SHEVIY'I MIKRA KODESH KOL MELE'CHET AVODAH LO TA'ASU
וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם אִשֶּׁה לַיהוָה שִׁבְעַת יָמִים בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ כָּל מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ
KJ: But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
BN: And you shall bring a fire-offering to YHVH on each of the seven days; on the seventh day you shall hold a holy convocation; you shall do no manner of servile work.
23:9 VA YEDABER YHVH EL MOSHEH LEMOR
וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר
KJ: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
BN: Then YHVH spoke to Mosheh saying:
23:10 DABER EL BENEY YISRA-EL VE AMARTA AL'EHEM KI TAVO'U EL HA ARETS ASHER ANI NOTEN LACHEM U KETSARTEM ET KETSIYRAH VE HAV'E'TEM ET OMER RE'SHIT KETSIYR'CHEM EL HA KOHEN
דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם כִּי תָבֹאוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לָכֶם וּקְצַרְתֶּם אֶת קְצִירָהּ וַהֲבֵאתֶם אֶת עֹמֶר רֵאשִׁית קְצִירְכֶם אֶל הַכֹּהֵן
KJ: Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
BN: Speak to the children of Yisra-El, and say to them: When you come into the land which I am giving you, and when you reap its harvest, then you shall bring the sheaves of your first-fruits of that harvest to the Kohen.
The second of the pilgrim festivals - Shavu'ot.
Laws of the Omer. Remarkably similar to the practices in Mitsrayim, where one of the principal roles of the priesthood was the collection and distribution of the grain, as witnessed in the story of Yoseph (Genesis 41:35 ff)
23:11 VE HENIPH ET HA OMER LIPHNEY YHVH LIRTSONCHEM MI MACHARAT HA SHABAT YENIYPHENU HA KOHEN
וְהֵנִיף אֶת הָעֹמֶר לִפְנֵי יְהוָה לִרְצֹנְכֶם מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת יְנִיפֶנּוּ הַכֹּהֵן
KJ: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
BN: And he shall wave the sheaf before YHVH, so that your offering may be accepted; the Kohen shall wave it on whichever day comes after the Sabbath.
LIRTSONCHEM: As noted many times before, the offering is not being "accepted for you"; it is you whose offering is being accepted. This is what caused the problem that led Kayin (Cain) to murder Havel (Abel) in Genesis 4:3 ff.
I have slightly extended my translation of the latter part of this, because lunar festivals will start on different days each year, unlike solar festivals, which can be fixed in the calendar. So the first day may well be a Sunday, or a Wednesday, in the solar calendar, but the offering will be waved on the Sunday (or one of the two Sabbaths on some occasions) no matter what.
23:12 VA ASIYTEM BE YOM HANIYPHCHEM ET HA OMER KEVES TAMIM BEN SHENATO LE OLAH LA YHVH
וַעֲשִׂיתֶם בְּיוֹם הֲנִיפְכֶם אֶת הָעֹמֶר כֶּבֶשׂ תָּמִים בֶּן שְׁנָתוֹ לְעֹלָה לַיהוָה
KJ: And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.
BN: And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a yearling he-lamb without blemish as a burnt-offering to YHVH.
23:13 U MINCHATO SHENEY ESRONIM SOLET BE LULAH VA SHEMEN ISHEH LA YHVH REYACH NIYCHO'ACH VE NISKOH YAYIN REVIY'IT HA HIN
וּמִנְחָתוֹ שְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים סֹלֶת בְּלוּלָה בַשֶּׁמֶן אִשֶּׁה לַיהוָה רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ וְנִסְכֹּה יַיִן רְבִיעִת הַהִין
KJ: And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.
BN: And its meal-offering shall be two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil, a fire-offering to YHVH for a sweet savour; and its drink-offering shall be wine, the fourth part of a hin.
For an explanation of the ephah and the hin, click here.
I love the idea that YHVH recognises the need for a good glass of wine to wash down the meat. Red or white? House or vintage? He certainly isn't drinking any - or maybe he likes the aroma, and the sound of the popping cork.
23:14 VE LECHEM VE KALI VE CHARMEL LO TO'CHLU AD ETSEM HA YOM HA ZEH AD HAVIY'ACHEM ET KARBAN ELOHEYCHEM CHUKAT OLAM LE DOROTEYCHEM BE CHOL MOSHVOTEYCHEM
וְלֶחֶם וְקָלִי וְכַרְמֶל לֹא תֹאכְלוּ עַד עֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה עַד הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת קָרְבַּן אֱלֹהֵיכֶם חֻקַּת עוֹלָם לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם בְּכֹל מֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם
KJ: And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
BN: And you shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor fresh ears, until this selfsame day, until you have brought the offering of your god; it is a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
KALI: This will require an essay, and now is not the time to write it. In brief, the word KALI has not appeared in the Tanach until this moment, and rarely appears again afterwards: קָלוּי - KALU'I in Joshua 5:11, נִקְלֶה - NIKLEH in Psalm 38:8 (38:7 in some translations), and קָלָם - KALAM in Jeremiah 29:22 are the only others, and meanings there are obviously variable, because they are different uses of the same root. That root is KALAH, which suggests "parched" but more strongly "roasted" (in the Psalms reference it appears in the Huphal, or passive causative form, as an "inflammation"). However, for the same meaning, there is also KALACH (ְקָלח), which yields KALACHAT for a "pot" or "kettle", or even possibly a "cauldron", in 1 Samuel 2:14 and Micah 3:3, and is more likely the correct root, with the Hey ending a scribal error. This was the easy part; now for the complex, about which I shall simply invite you to look up the Hindu goddess Kali and draw your own conclusions (which may well include "there are no conclusions to be drawn)…
LO TOCHLU: "Until" is not very helpful; we know to know "from when". The last time bread was prohibited was at Pesach, precisely fifty days ago, and we have been counting the Omer on each one of those days. At no point were we told we could resume eating bread - so is it to be understood from this verse that there has only been matzah between Pesach and Shavu'ot, and only now, when the grain is being harvested, can we resume eating bread? That has never, as far as I am aware, been the understanding in the Jewish world.
And the next verse will make this both more complex and more certain, because it will place the first waving of the sheaf at the start of the fifty day period.
LO TOCHLU: "Until" is not very helpful; we know to know "from when". The last time bread was prohibited was at Pesach, precisely fifty days ago, and we have been counting the Omer on each one of those days. At no point were we told we could resume eating bread - so is it to be understood from this verse that there has only been matzah between Pesach and Shavu'ot, and only now, when the grain is being harvested, can we resume eating bread? That has never, as far as I am aware, been the understanding in the Jewish world.
And the next verse will make this both more complex and more certain, because it will place the first waving of the sheaf at the start of the fifty day period.
samech break
23:15 U SEPHARTEM LACHEM MI MACHARAT HA SHABAT MI YOM HAVIY'ACHEM ET OMER HA TENUPHAH SHEVA SHABATOT TEMIYMOT TIHEYENAH
וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת מִיּוֹם הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת עֹמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת תְּמִימֹת תִּהְיֶינָה
KJ: And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
BN: And each person shall make the count for himself, starting on the day after the day of rest; from the day that you brought the sheaf to be waved, seven weeks shall be completed...
We are in a much earlier epoch than the Mosaic. These are the ancient rites of the corn god - Tammuz, Osiris, Adonis. But they have become Yisra-Elised, with the sacred number 7 attached. The 7 week period also parallels the 7 year period of Jubilee (see my note in the previous chapter).
But note that the period is NOT 7 weeks, but quite specifically 7 Shabatot; so the day of the week on which the first day falls is significant, and the total period from the 8th day of Pesach to Shavu’ot could in fact be more than 50 days; a problem recognised and resolved in the next verse.
Note that the counting of the Omer starts from the day after Shabat; Judaism today counts from the second day of Passover, but takes its ruling from the verses here, and their parallels in Deuteronomy 16:9-10. Does Shabat here then mean the first day of Pesach, which has been ordained the equivalent of a Shabat? And what if the first day of Pesach happens to fall on a Shabat?
TEMIYMOT: The feminine plural (Temiymim, which is the masculine, occurs in verse 18 below). I point it out only because I am taken by surprise to discover that Shabat is a feminine word (and yes, there are many masculine words which happen to have an OT rather than IM ending, but the accompanying adjective still follows the gender of the noun, so that "long tables" would be "shulchanot aruchim" - שולחנות ארוכים - because shulchan is masculine, despite taking a feminine ending).
And how does TEMIYMOT get to mean "completed" here, but TEMIYMIM "without blemish" in verse 18? The notion of things being "perfect" on each occasion.
TEMIYMOT: The feminine plural (Temiymim, which is the masculine, occurs in verse 18 below). I point it out only because I am taken by surprise to discover that Shabat is a feminine word (and yes, there are many masculine words which happen to have an OT rather than IM ending, but the accompanying adjective still follows the gender of the noun, so that "long tables" would be "shulchanot aruchim" - שולחנות ארוכים - because shulchan is masculine, despite taking a feminine ending).
And how does TEMIYMOT get to mean "completed" here, but TEMIYMIM "without blemish" in verse 18? The notion of things being "perfect" on each occasion.
23:16 AD MI MACHARAT HA SHABAT HA SHEVIY'IT TISPERU CHAMISHIM YOM VE HIKRAVTEM MINCHAH CHADASHAH LA YHVH
עַד מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת הַשְּׁבִיעִת תִּסְפְּרוּ חֲמִשִּׁים יוֹם וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם מִנְחָה חֲדָשָׁה לַיהוָה
KJ: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
BN: You shall count fifty days until the day following the end of the seventh week; and then you shall present a new meal-offering to YHVH.
The number 50 is also significant. We have seen it repeatedly through these laws, usually associated with sin. Why? Something to do with mercy and compassion I suspect - as we have seen elsewhere, the word for womb (RECHEM) also gives the word for mercy, while the word for the intestines (RACHAMIM) also gives the word for compassion; CHAMASH (CHAMESH = 5, CHAMISHIM = 50) also gives the word (CHOMESH) for either the rib or the abdomen (2 Samuel 2:23, 3:27 et al), though the Talmud, using Aramaic, switches the Sheen (ש) for a Tsade (צ), rendering it as חימצה - CHIYMTSA; a switch I only mention because a similar switch, between Psalm 105:9, and Genesis 22:1, renders Av-Raham's son Isaac as Yischak rather than Yitschak.
(Probably the switch is for the same reason as the change of Yah to Tav, for which see my notes at verse 6. Chavah in Genesis 2:21 was created from one of Adam's ribs, and the Go'el, when carried out by Asah-El against Av-Ner in 2 Samuel 2, was in the same place that the javelin was poked into Jesus (John 19:34): beneath the fifth rib, HA CHAMASH HA CHAMISHAH).
(Probably the switch is for the same reason as the change of Yah to Tav, for which see my notes at verse 6. Chavah in Genesis 2:21 was created from one of Adam's ribs, and the Go'el, when carried out by Asah-El against Av-Ner in 2 Samuel 2, was in the same place that the javelin was poked into Jesus (John 19:34): beneath the fifth rib, HA CHAMASH HA CHAMISHAH).
Does this mean that no meal-offerings have been presented during the intervening 50 days? The answer is no, they have been; but a special meal-offering is required on this occasion.
Is this also the origin or Lent (or one of its origins at least)? The answer is yes, but it was already in place long before Mosheh.
23:17 MI MOSHVOTEYCHEM TAVIY'U LECHEM TENUPHAH SHETAYIM SHENEY ESRONIM SOLET TIHEYEYNAH CHAMETS TE'APHEYNAH BIKURIM LA YHVH
מִמּוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם תָּבִיאּוּ לֶחֶם תְּנוּפָה שְׁתַּיִם שְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים סֹלֶת תִּהְיֶינָה חָמֵץ תֵּאָפֶינָה בִּכּוּרִים לַיהוָה
KJ: Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.
BN: You shall bring out of your dwellings two wave-loaves of two tenth parts of an ephah; they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baked with leaven, as first-fruits to YHVH.
BIKURIM: CHAG HA BIKURIM is one of the other names by which this festival is known. Generally it is called SHAVU'OT, or "Weeks" - literally "sevens", because a week has seven days, and 49 days constitutes a week of weeks.
23:18 VE HIKRAVTEM AL HA LECHEM SHIV'AT KEVASIM TEMIYMIM BENEY SHANAH U PHAR BEN BAKAR ECHAD VE EYLIM SHENAYIM YIHEYU OLAH LA YHVH U MINCHATAM VE NISKEYHEM ISHEH REYACH NIYCHO'ACH LA YHVH
וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם עַל הַלֶּחֶם שִׁבְעַת כְּבָשִׂים תְּמִימִם בְּנֵי שָׁנָה וּפַר בֶּן בָּקָר אֶחָד וְאֵילִם שְׁנָיִם יִהְיוּ עֹלָה לַיהוָה וּמִנְחָתָם וְנִסְכֵּיהֶם אִשֵּׁה רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ לַיהוָה
KJ: And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.
BN: And with the bread you shall present seven yearling lambs without blemish, and one young bullock, and two rams; they shall be a burnt-offering to YHVH, with their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings, a fire-offering of a sweet savour to YHVH.
23:19 VA ASIYTEM SE'IR IZIM ECHAD LE CHATA'T U SHENEY CHEVASIM BENEY SHANAH LE ZEVACH SHELAMIM
וַעֲשִׂיתֶם שְׂעִיר עִזִּים אֶחָד לְחַטָּאת וּשְׁנֵי כְבָשִׂים בְּנֵי שָׁנָה לְזֶבַח שְׁלָמִים
KJ: Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
BN: And you shall offer one he-goat for a sin-offering, and two yearling he-lambs for a sacrifice of peace-offerings.
23:20 VE HENIPH HA KOHEN OTAM AL LECHEM HA BIKURIM TENUPHAH LIPHNEY YHVH AL SHENEY KEVASIM KODESH YIHEYU LA YHVH LA KOHEN
וְהֵנִיף הַכֹּהֵן אֹתָם עַל לֶחֶם הַבִּכֻּרִים תְּנוּפָה לִפְנֵי יְהוָה עַל-שְׁנֵי כְּבָשִׂים קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיוּ לַיהוָה לַכֹּהֵן
KJ: And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.
BN: And the Kohen shall wave them, with the bread of the first-fruits, as a wave-offering before YHVH, with the two lambs; they shall be holy to YHVH for the Kohen.
The text has used MELA'CHAH repeatedly, avoiding the word AVODAH, because AVODAH means "work", in the sense of labour, but it is also means "worship", in the sense of "prayer", "sacrifice" etc, and "slavery" in the sense of "we were slaves in Egypt", and the author clearly wanted to avoid any such confusion. But it also does so for a secondary reason, which becomes significant in this verse. Below, I have repeated the verse, but replacing MELA'CHAH with AVODAH, which is how modern Ivrit would say it:
23:31 KOL MELA'CHAH LO TA'ASU CHUKAT OLAM LE DOROTEYCHEM BE CHOL MOSHVOTEYCHEM
KJ: Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
BN: You shall not undertake any manner of work; this is an eternal statute, throughout your generations, in all your dwellings.
And yet again, as I keep reiterating, this is employment law, not personal behaviour.
23:32 SHABAT SHABATON HU LACHEM VE INIYTEM ET NAPHSHOTEYCHEM BE TISH'AH LA CHODESH BA EREV ME EREV AD EREV TISHBETU SHABAT'CHEM
KJ: It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.
BN: It shall be a Shabat of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month, in the evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your Shabat.
As we know from the Creation story in Genesis 1, the Jewish day is lunar, not solar, "and it was evening, and then morning". So too the months are lunar, with the word for month, CHODESH, meaning "new", because each month starts with the new moon. So too the year is lunar, with the word for year, SHANAH, meaning "change", because the ancients believed there was a brand-new planet up there in the sky at the end of each annual cycle of twelve constellatory months. So too all festivals begin at evening - but evening is not a definable point in time. Evening is, quite literally, that moment at which the amount of light and the amount of darkness in the sky becomes "even" - but this is going to be different every day, and in every place, because it is determined by the strength of the sun at different times of year, and even by the amount of cloud in the sky, which can be different over my village, where we have some nasty nimbus that has gone orthographic and is chucking it down No'achically, while your village, just a mile away, is sitting outside, perfectly dry, watching the most gloriously orange sunset.
So in Biblical times the astronomer-priests in Yeru-Shala'im would light a fire on the hilltop, triggering a relay of beacons across the hills, to announce the start of the Shabat, or the festival, and would do so when they regarded light and dark as being "even". So, in Talmudic times, the rising of the moon was not sufficient, because moonrise varies through the year and across geography, and so the Rabbis insisted that... interestingly, if you type "how do we know when the Sabbath starts" into a search engine, you will find hundreds of Jewish and non-Jewish websites that will tell you everything you might want to know about Shabat, but none of them will provide this piece of information; the nearest you will get is the modern superstition of lighting the candles 18 minutes ahead of the designated start, because of a misguided mysticism about the number 18, which only spells "Chai", meaning "life", is you are dyslectic and get the letters the wrong way around; and anyway, so what if it did spell life? Why is there no information about the actual start of Shabat? For the reasons I have given above - it is impossible to work it out in theory, because the theory will never work in practice. All you can do is be the Kohen in charge on that day, in Yeru-Shala'im, and make the judgement with your eyes, and with the vast amounts of data about planetary and constellatory movements which had been recorded since King David's time; and know that your rival Kohanim in the northern kingdom of Ephrayim are going to ignore your fire and decide their own correct time, because that dialectic of disagreement, from Kayin and Havel at the beginning to Orthodox and Reform today, by way of Hillel versus Shamai and Chasid versus Mitnaged, has always been the main dynamic of the tribe.
When Shabat ends is a different story, and generally we use the rules for the end to predict the beginning, in all the modern digital calendars, in every Jewish community around the world. For this, as we know from the Shulchan Aruch (293,2) three stars, even small stars, need to be visible; which of course is no use to me, under my orthographic cloud. And "It is correct to wait until there is no more red in the western sky" as Mishna Brurah informs us, just as uselessly I'm afraid, in the midst of the monsoon in Kolkata. And what does my cousin in Finland do, when it's dark for twenty-four hours at a time? Or my uncle in England, on summer evenings, when it's still light enough to play cricket at 9pm? Well, there are answers, but they are being disputed even now. My Internet trawl has found, for example, a Rav Tukachinkski, about whom I can find nothing except the claim (click here for the source) that "he calculated that these three stars (and the absence of red in the western sky) occurs 32 minutes after sunset in winter, and up to 38 minutes in summer" - (but is that universally applicable, or just the case in his shtetl?). "This is when the sun is 8 degrees below the horizon. This calculation of 8 degrees below the horizon is used in many (most?) countries - and comes out to 50-60 minutes in Europe and America. It gets longer as one goes north." "There are other opinions" - this is Judaism, so of course there are other opinions; Rav Tukachinkski probably had at least three of his own, even before other people begged to disagree with him, and then themselves - "such as the Chazon Ish who fixed it at 45-50 minutes after sunset. Or those who act according to Rabbenu Tam, who wait 72 minutes." I can't resist pointing out that 72 is 4 x 18, and use that data to wish Rabbenu Tam not one but four long lives.
And if you want to know when Shabat or the Chag (festival) comes in for your community, try hebcal.com or myzmanim.com, or the website of your local synagogue.
"They shall be kept separate for the Kohen" - meaning he gets to eat them, not you.
23:21 U KERA'TEM BE ETSEM HA YOM HA ZEH MIKRA KODESH YIHEYEH LACHEM KOL MELE'CHET AVODAH LO TA'ASU CHUKAT OLAM BE CHOL MOSHVOTEYCHEM LE DOROTEYCHEM
וּקְרָאתֶם בְּעֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם כָּל מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ חֻקַּת עוֹלָם בְּכָל מוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם
KJ: And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall bea statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
BN: And you shall make proclamation on the selfsame day; you shall gather for a holy convocation; you shall not undertake any manner of servile work; this is an eternal statute, in all your dwellings, throughout your generations.
23:22 U VE KUTSRECHEM ET KETSIR ARTSECHEM LO TECHALET PE'AT SAD'CHA BE KUTSRECHA VE LEKET KETSIYRCHA LO TELAKET LE ANI VE LA GER TA'AZOV OTAM ANI YHVH ELOHEYCHEM
וּבְקֻצְרְכֶם אֶת קְצִיר אַרְצְכֶם לֹא תְכַלֶּה פְּאַת שָׂדְךָ בְּקֻצְרֶךָ וְלֶקֶט קְצִירְךָ לֹא תְלַקֵּט לֶעָנִי וְלַגֵּר תַּעֲזֹב אֹתָם אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
KJ: And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.
BN: And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shalt leave them for the poor, and for the stranger: I am YHVH your god.
Amid the stonings and the burnings and the other barbarities, so many laws of immense humanity. This is one. It is reflected in the corn-goddess legend of Rut (Ruth), the "grandmother" of "king" David. It is precisely this verse, more than any other, which defines the "altruism" so despised and rejected by the "second-handers" of Ayn Rand, the acolytes of the ideology of "Objectivism" which has become the mantra of the right wing in contemporary US politics. This verse more than any other is the one that makes the distinction between capitalism as "dog-eat-dog", and the potential for a capitalist system that is enshrined in morality and ethics. And it makes the case that one cannot be both a Jew and a Republican, a Christian and a Republican.
Who on this occasion is the "ger"? Does any non-Yisra-Eli passing through count, even if he's already a rich man? We need to go back to the previous chapter, where ZAR and GER had already started some discussion. Is this the founding-law for "Pick Your Own Strawberries"?
pey break
23:23 VA YEDABER YHVH EL MOSHEH LEMOR
וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר
KJ: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
BN: Then YHVH spoke to Mosheh, saying:
23:24 DABER EL BENEY YISRA-EL LEMOR BA CHODESH HA SHEVIY'I BE ECHAD LA CHODESH YIHEYEH LACHEM SHABATON ZICHRON TERU'AH MIKRA KODESH
דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם שַׁבָּתוֹן זִכְרוֹן תְּרוּעָה מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ
KJ: Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
BN: Speak to the Beney Yisra-El, and tell them: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall gather for a holy convocation; it shall be counted as a Shabat by you, a memorial proclaimed with the blast of horns.
This is Rosh ha Shana, the New Year. As with Pesach above, the dates do not coincide with the calendar we now have. Rosh ha Shanah is now the first month, though here is it stated as the seventh.
Which is not an obvious problem, except that these are understood by the orthodox to be laws given by the deity, chukat olam, an eternal statute; and therefore immutable. So the fact that they got changed becomes an issue.
Which is not an obvious problem, except that these are understood by the orthodox to be laws given by the deity, chukat olam, an eternal statute; and therefore immutable. So the fact that they got changed becomes an issue.
Yom Teru'ah, the day of the blowing of the shofar, is one of the names by which Rosh ha Shana is still known.
23:25 KOL MELE'CHET AVODAH LO TA'ASU VE HIKRAVTEM ISHEH LA YHVH
כָּל מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם אִשֶּׁה לַיהוָה
KJ: Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
BN: You shall undertake no manner of servile work; and you shall bring a fire-offering to YHVH.
Try to imagine this as a historical event: the slaves of Mitsrayim (Egypt) have come to Sinai and received a set of laws for their new-found freedom. First it reprimands them for all their sins and their wickednesses; then it prohibits all the things they most want to do. Not a good start if you, their leader, want to avoid complaint, protest, rebellion, open mutiny. But then, then, Mosheh does what all politicians do - holidays, and food; more holidays, more food. Freedom is given real meaning!
samech break
23:26 VA YEDABER YHVH EL MOSHEH LEMOR
וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר
KJ: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
BN: Then YHVH spoke to Mosheh, saying:
23:27 ACH BE ASUR LA CHODESH HA SHEVIY'I HA ZEH YOM HA KIPURIM HU MIKRA KODESH YIHEYEH LACHEM VE INIYTEM ET NAPHSHOTEYCHEM VE HIKRAVTEM ISHEH LA YHVH
אַךְ בֶּעָשׂוֹר לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי הַזֶּה יוֹם הַכִּפֻּרִים הוּא מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם וְעִנִּיתֶם אֶת נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם אִשֶּׁה לַיהוָה
KJ: Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
BN: However, the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonements; you shall gather for a holy convocation, and you shall afflict your souls; and you shall bring a fire-offering to YHVH.
But after the holiday, more sins and wickednesses, more affliction - this time do-it-yourself affliction, which is preferable to having the Egyptians impose it on you.
Note that it is correctly called YOM HA KIPURIM, plural, and with the definite article. I have therefore translated it here as the Day of Atonements.
INIYTEM: Note that the text does not specifically say "fast", but this is how "afflicting your souls" is understood. But it raises a challenge. To a person on a serious diet, a day of fasting doesn't afflict the soul, so should they do something else – non-stop food-bingeing for example, would achieve the required affect.
The fire-offering is hugely important, to the extent that I believe the founding Rabbis of Judaism made a profound error, a significant diminution, when they laid out the strategic plan for the substitution in this case. A day of fasting, and yet you still have to bring the animals for slaughter, and they still have to be sacrificed, on the barbecue, with the herbs-and-spices that make up the incense. But you can't eat it until sunset - which really does give a new meaning to the Greek myth of Tantalus! But in Judaism, no parallel. We fast. Which is difficult. But imagine fasting, all day in shul, with the aromas pouring out of the synagogue kitchens where the chulunt (alright, cholent, if you insist) with which you are going to break the fast is slowly cooking. Now that would seriously afflict the soul!
27:28 VE CHOL MELA'CHAH LO TA'ASU BE ETSEM HA YOM HA ZEH KI YOM KIPURIM HU LECHAPER ALEYCHEM LIPHNEY YHVH ELOHEYCHEM
וְכָל מְלָאכָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ בְּעֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה כִּי יוֹם כִּפֻּרִים הוּא לְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
KJ: And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.
BN: On this day you shall undertake no manner of work; for it is the Day of Atonements, to make atonement for you before YHVH your god.
KIPURIM: not Selichot or Mechilot, but specifically Kipurim. There are three levels of forgiveness in the Yisra-Eli/Jewish cult. Selichot are the expression of regret, "I'm sorry" and "You are forgiven", which are included in the Vidu'i and Tachanun prayers every day. The Mechilot run deeper, but do not have a specific prayer or ceremony or day, because they are really the mental and spiritual process of forgiveness, rather than the words or the actions. Deepest of all are the Kaparot, or Kipurim, two versions of the same word with nuances of difference so small they would require a lengthy essay to explain them. For those who want to read that essay, Rabbi Irwin Kula has made a pretty good stab at it in his book "Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life", for which an over-review and link is available here.
23:29 KI CHOL HA NEPHESH ASHER LO TE'UNEH BE ETSEM HA YOM HA ZEH VE NICHRETAH ME AMEYHA
כִּי כָל הַנֶּפֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר לֹא תְעֻנֶּה בְּעֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה וְנִכְרְתָה מֵעַמֶּיהָ
KJ: For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
BN: For any soul that does not afflict itself on that day, he shall be cut off from his people.
23:30 VE CHOL HA NEPHESH ASHER TA'ASEH KOL MELA'CHAH BE ETSEM HA YOM HA ZEH VE HA'AVADETI ET HA NEPHESH HA HI MI KEREV AMAH
וְכָל הַנֶּפֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר תַּעֲשֶׂה כָּל מְלָאכָה בְּעֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה וְהַאֲבַדְתִּי אֶת הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַהִוא מִקֶּרֶב עַמָּהּ
KJ: And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
BN: And any soul who undertakes any manner of work on that day, that soul I will obliterate from among his people.
The text has used MELA'CHAH repeatedly, avoiding the word AVODAH, because AVODAH means "work", in the sense of labour, but it is also means "worship", in the sense of "prayer", "sacrifice" etc, and "slavery" in the sense of "we were slaves in Egypt", and the author clearly wanted to avoid any such confusion. But it also does so for a secondary reason, which becomes significant in this verse. Below, I have repeated the verse, but replacing MELA'CHAH with AVODAH, which is how modern Ivrit would say it:
VE CHOL HA NEPHESH ASHER TA'ASEH KOL AVODAH BE ETSEM HA YOM HA ZEH VE HA'AVADETI ET HA NEPHESH HA HI MI KEREV AMAH
וְכָל הַנֶּפֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר תַּעֲשֶׂה כָּל עבודה בְּעֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה וְהַאֲבַדְתִּי אֶת הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַהִוא מִקֶּרֶב עַמָּהּ
Now let me analyse it, as I would if this had been the actual verse. I would write: English is incapable of translating the double-pun on AVODAH and HA'AVADETI. In Yehudit, like modern Ivrit, it is a familiar play on a grammatical construction, in which a root is used first in one "binyan" (declension) - here the Pa'al or active - and then in a different binyan - here the Hiphil or causative. However, in this instance, it is not the same root, though orally-aurally there is nothing besides meaning to distinguish them. The first word is (ע-ב-ד) Ayin-Bet-Dalet, the second (א-ב-ד) Aleph-Bet-Dalet, and their meanings are entirely different. The first is "work", the second is not simply "destruction" or "excommunication" (as in NICHRETAH in the previous verse), but complete "obliteration" - the sort the Nazis meant when they spoke of making the world Judenrein, the sort described by Hamas in the opening paragraph of their charter (and coincidentally HAMAS means "violence").
So MELA'CHAH avoids any confusion between "work" and "worship" in the form of "fire-offerings"; but it also avoids any confusion between "work" and "destruction" in the form of "Holocaust".
And when AVODAH is used for "work", as in verse 35 below, and on many other occasions, it is always stated as MELE'CHET AVODAH, so that, once again, there can be no confusion.
23:31 KOL MELA'CHAH LO TA'ASU CHUKAT OLAM LE DOROTEYCHEM BE CHOL MOSHVOTEYCHEM
כָּל מְלָאכָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ חֻקַּת עוֹלָם לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם בְּכֹל מֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם
KJ: Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
BN: You shall not undertake any manner of work; this is an eternal statute, throughout your generations, in all your dwellings.
And yet again, as I keep reiterating, this is employment law, not personal behaviour.
23:32 SHABAT SHABATON HU LACHEM VE INIYTEM ET NAPHSHOTEYCHEM BE TISH'AH LA CHODESH BA EREV ME EREV AD EREV TISHBETU SHABAT'CHEM
שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן הוּא לָכֶם וְעִנִּיתֶם אֶת נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם בְּתִשְׁעָה לַחֹדֶשׁ בָּעֶרֶב מֵעֶרֶב עַד עֶרֶב תִּשְׁבְּתוּ שַׁבַּתְּכֶם
KJ: It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.
BN: It shall be a Shabat of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month, in the evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your Shabat.
As we know from the Creation story in Genesis 1, the Jewish day is lunar, not solar, "and it was evening, and then morning". So too the months are lunar, with the word for month, CHODESH, meaning "new", because each month starts with the new moon. So too the year is lunar, with the word for year, SHANAH, meaning "change", because the ancients believed there was a brand-new planet up there in the sky at the end of each annual cycle of twelve constellatory months. So too all festivals begin at evening - but evening is not a definable point in time. Evening is, quite literally, that moment at which the amount of light and the amount of darkness in the sky becomes "even" - but this is going to be different every day, and in every place, because it is determined by the strength of the sun at different times of year, and even by the amount of cloud in the sky, which can be different over my village, where we have some nasty nimbus that has gone orthographic and is chucking it down No'achically, while your village, just a mile away, is sitting outside, perfectly dry, watching the most gloriously orange sunset.
So in Biblical times the astronomer-priests in Yeru-Shala'im would light a fire on the hilltop, triggering a relay of beacons across the hills, to announce the start of the Shabat, or the festival, and would do so when they regarded light and dark as being "even". So, in Talmudic times, the rising of the moon was not sufficient, because moonrise varies through the year and across geography, and so the Rabbis insisted that... interestingly, if you type "how do we know when the Sabbath starts" into a search engine, you will find hundreds of Jewish and non-Jewish websites that will tell you everything you might want to know about Shabat, but none of them will provide this piece of information; the nearest you will get is the modern superstition of lighting the candles 18 minutes ahead of the designated start, because of a misguided mysticism about the number 18, which only spells "Chai", meaning "life", is you are dyslectic and get the letters the wrong way around; and anyway, so what if it did spell life? Why is there no information about the actual start of Shabat? For the reasons I have given above - it is impossible to work it out in theory, because the theory will never work in practice. All you can do is be the Kohen in charge on that day, in Yeru-Shala'im, and make the judgement with your eyes, and with the vast amounts of data about planetary and constellatory movements which had been recorded since King David's time; and know that your rival Kohanim in the northern kingdom of Ephrayim are going to ignore your fire and decide their own correct time, because that dialectic of disagreement, from Kayin and Havel at the beginning to Orthodox and Reform today, by way of Hillel versus Shamai and Chasid versus Mitnaged, has always been the main dynamic of the tribe.
When Shabat ends is a different story, and generally we use the rules for the end to predict the beginning, in all the modern digital calendars, in every Jewish community around the world. For this, as we know from the Shulchan Aruch (293,2) three stars, even small stars, need to be visible; which of course is no use to me, under my orthographic cloud. And "It is correct to wait until there is no more red in the western sky" as Mishna Brurah informs us, just as uselessly I'm afraid, in the midst of the monsoon in Kolkata. And what does my cousin in Finland do, when it's dark for twenty-four hours at a time? Or my uncle in England, on summer evenings, when it's still light enough to play cricket at 9pm? Well, there are answers, but they are being disputed even now. My Internet trawl has found, for example, a Rav Tukachinkski, about whom I can find nothing except the claim (click here for the source) that "he calculated that these three stars (and the absence of red in the western sky) occurs 32 minutes after sunset in winter, and up to 38 minutes in summer" - (but is that universally applicable, or just the case in his shtetl?). "This is when the sun is 8 degrees below the horizon. This calculation of 8 degrees below the horizon is used in many (most?) countries - and comes out to 50-60 minutes in Europe and America. It gets longer as one goes north." "There are other opinions" - this is Judaism, so of course there are other opinions; Rav Tukachinkski probably had at least three of his own, even before other people begged to disagree with him, and then themselves - "such as the Chazon Ish who fixed it at 45-50 minutes after sunset. Or those who act according to Rabbenu Tam, who wait 72 minutes." I can't resist pointing out that 72 is 4 x 18, and use that data to wish Rabbenu Tam not one but four long lives.
And if you want to know when Shabat or the Chag (festival) comes in for your community, try hebcal.com or myzmanim.com, or the website of your local synagogue.
pey break
23:33 VA YEDABER YHVH EL MOSHEH LEMOR
וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר
KJ: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
BN: Then YHVH spoke to Mosheh, saying:
23:34 DABER EL BENEY YISRA-EL LEMOR BA CHAMISHAH ASAR YOM LA CHODESH HA SHEVIY'I HA ZEH CHAG HA SUKOT SHIV'AT YAMIM LA YHVH
דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי הַזֶּה חַג הַסֻּכּוֹת שִׁבְעַת יָמִים לַיהוָה
KJ: Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.
BN: Speak to the children of Yisra-El, and tell them: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of Sukot, for seven days to YHVH.
So many holidays! So much freedom! Yes, but why does so much of it have to fall in the same month? Why not spread it out a little wider? To which, of course, there is an entirely logical answer - seven is the number of resting, of the Shabat, of the completion of Creation, so no other month but the seventh could be more appropriate; and in this order: renewal (Rosh ha-Shanah), reconciliation (Yom Kippur), and the harvesting of the new fruits (Sukot).
It strikes me that the comingling of the 15th of the month for the start, and 7 days for the extent, allows the full pantheon of the gods to be honoured within the festival, the moon at the outset, the seven planetary deities each getting their day, the sun-god having the circumference. The pattern of Creation! And the first hint of an understanding of why both YHVH and Elohim are spoken of in these texts – the Elohim absorbed into the unity of YHVH in this manner. However, see my commentary on Sukot later in this chapter.
23:35 BA YOM HA RI'SHON MIKRA KODESH KOL MELE'CHET AVODAH LO TA'ASU
בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ כָּל מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ
KJ: On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
BN: On the first day you shall gather for a holy convocation; you shall do no manner of servile work.
If MELE'CHET AVODAH is correctly translated as "servile work", and is as such a reaction to the years of servitude, then are other forms of work permitted on those days? The answer is, alas, that the translation is not accurate. Servile work can be any form of labour, paid or unpaid, zero hours or tenured, including internships and volunteering. Talmud lists 39 MELACHOT, which are prohibited on any Shabat, but actually these are not strictly accurate to the meaning of MELE'CHET AVODAH either; they are simply the name given to the 39 things that are prohibited on Shabat.
23:36 SHIV'AT YAMIM TAKRIYVU ISHEH LA YHVH BA YOM HA SHEMIYNI MIKRA KODESH YIHEYEH LACHEM VE HIKRAVTEM ISHEH LA YHVH ATSERET HI KOL MELE'CHET AVODAH LO TA'ASU
שִׁבְעַת יָמִים תַּקְרִיבוּ אִשֶּׁה לַיהוָה בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁמִינִי מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם אִשֶּׁה לַיהוָה עֲצֶרֶת הִוא כָּל מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ
KJ: Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.
BN: On each of the seven days you shall bring a fire-offering to YHVH. On the eighth day you shall gather for a holy convocation, and you shall bring a fire-offering fire to YHVH. It is a day of solemn assembly; you shall undertake no manner of servile work.
ATSERET: Much dispute in the modern world, especially among Reform Jews, as to whether this "convocation" - Shemini Atseret its full name - is a separate festival, or the eight day of this one, and where Simchat Torah (not listed here, it is one of the Rabbinic festivals added later) comes in as the third part of the event, and whether they occur on the same day, or consecutively. The first link on Simchat Torah took you to an orthodox answer; the one in this sentence takes you to the Reform opinion.
23:37 ELEH MO'ADEY YHVH ASHER TIKRE'U OTAM MIKRA'EY KODESH LEHAKRIV ISHEH LA YHVH OLAH U MINCHAH ZEVACH U NESACHIM DEVAR YOM BE YOMO
אֵלֶּה מוֹעֲדֵי יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר תִּקְרְאוּ אֹתָם מִקְרָאֵי קֹדֶשׁ לְהַקְרִיב אִשֶּׁה לַיהוָה עֹלָה וּמִנְחָה זֶבַח וּנְסָכִים דְּבַר יוֹם בְּיוֹמוֹ
KJ: These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:
BN: These are the appointed seasons of YHVH, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to bring a fire-offering to YHVH, a burnt-offering, and a meal-offering, a sacrifice, and drink-offerings, each on its own day.
DEVAR YOM BE YOMO adds weight to my assertion above – the festivals are given here together, so they are to be understood as interconnected, but they are also integral to themselves. The month in question is called Tishrey, which is a Yehuditisation of the Akkadian "tašrītu" which means "beginning", from the root "šurrû" = "to begin"; it was the first month in the civil calendar of the Babylonians from the time of the Akkadian empire (3rd millennium BCE) until the exile of the Yehudim in Babylon. Given that it wasn’t the first month in Av-Rahamic times, we can reasonably safely conclude that the change was made at the time of the exile, between 586 and 536 BCE, and then applied retroactively through Torah. The Egyptian new year fell in the middle of summer.
23:38 MILVAD SHABATOT YHVH U MILVAD MATNOTEYCHEM U MILVAD KOL NIDREYCHEM U MILVAD KOL NIDVOTEYCHEM ASHER TITNU LA YHVH
מִלְּבַד שַׁבְּתֹת יְהוָה וּמִלְּבַד מַתְּנוֹתֵיכֶם וּמִלְּבַד כָּל נִדְרֵיכֶם וּמִלְּבַד כָּל נִדְבֹתֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר תִּתְּנוּ לַיהוָה
KJ: Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD.
BN: These are in addition to YHVH's sabbaths, and to your gifts, and to all your vows, and to all your freewill-offerings which you give to YHVH.
KOL NIDREYCHYEM: Kol Nidre is also the name of the special judicial process which is required to take place in post-Temple Judaism, before the start of the prayers and supplications of Yom Kippur itself. See my book "Day of Atonement".
23:39 ACH BA CHAMISHAH ASAR YOM LA CHODESH HA SHEVIY'I BE ASPECHEM ET TEVU'AT HA ARETS TACHOGU ET CHAG YHVH SHIV'AT YAMIM BA YOM HA RI'SHON SHABATON U VA YOM HA SHEMIYNI SHABATON
אַךְ בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בְּאָסְפְּכֶם אֶת תְּבוּאַת הָאָרֶץ תָּחֹגּוּ אֶת חַג יְהוָה שִׁבְעַת יָמִים בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן שַׁבָּתוֹן וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁמִינִי שַׁבָּתוֹן
KJ: Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.
BN: Therefore, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall keep the feast of YHVH for seven days; the first day shall be a solemn rest, and the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.
It is most unusual for a Yisra-Eli festival to last eight days - one beyond the normal seven. One explanation may be that, at its origin, before it became a festival of the Beney Yisra-El, it was an honouring of a pantheon of eight gods - the Ogdoad of Hermopolis (Khmunu) in Mitsrayim (Egypt) being the logical assumption - and the custom had become so deeply embedded in culture that it was maintained when Ezraic proto-Judaism, and later when Talmudic Judaism, evolved. Another option is that, starting on the full moon of the fifteenth and lasting eight days, this leaves precisely one seven-day week in the month of Tishrey to complete the cycle of renewal, reconciliation, celebration - and the return to normal life. The third option is the more likely however, that Sukot itself was actually only the seven days detailed in the next verse and confirmed in the one that follows, while the eighth day, Shemini Atseret, and/or Simchat Torah depending on whether you are an Orthodox or Reform Jew, was an entirely different festival that was tagged on by the Redactor in this verse, but failing to make the correction in the next two.
The only other instance of an 8-day festival is the Rabbinic festival of Chanukah, likewise an ancient festival adopted and then adapted by the Beney Yisra-El, an equivalent of the 5-day Diwali festival of Hinduism and the 12-day mid-winter festival of western Europe, which Christianity later modified into Michelmas, and then Christmas. Chanukah even has its own eight-branched Menorah, properly called a Chanukiah, so that a candle may be lit on each day, and an entirely apocryphal and fictitious miracle-tale to justify the usage of a Menorah to a pagan pantheon.
Why the difference? The answer lies in the matter of ends and beginning, and takes us back to the change in the calendar. Why did the New Year move from the Spring to the Autumn? In all the ancient cults, the divine symbol of rebirth, Tammuz-Adonis-Christ-David, or by whatever name, is conceived when the first seeds are sown in the earth, in the spring, whence the outcome of the Easter-Ishtar-Astarte-Esther-Isis fertility rites, the egg and rabbit symbols etc: the birth takes place 9 months later, in deep mid-Winter, when the sun is reborn at the winter solstice – properly December 21st, but the Christians took the festival with them when they adjusted the calendar by 4 days in the late Middle Ages (which is also why Michelmas is now on December 29th; it, not Christmas, was originally on the 25th); so also did Halloween become Guy Fawkes Night in the UK (Guy Faux night, to give him back his correct spelling).
At some stage, the Beney Yisra-El, or possibly the Yehudim later, began to follow this tradition, with Purim and Passover, the Persian and Egyptian versions of the spring rites, incorporated; but in this chapter we have seen the new year move. In part it was to break away from the "paganism" of their neighbours, in part it was a recognition that the human year is different from the divine year, or that of Nature; the human year begins at the moment that the last harvest of the year has been gathered in, the corn-fields burned and stubbled (Guy Fawkes is really this, the Wicker Man of the pagan world), and preparations are made to fertilise and ready the land for the coming year. This too is why Yom ha Kipurim is here – last year's vows are annulled, new vows made; last year's sins atoned (the human equivalent of stubbling the corn), and a clean page presented in the book of life like a field now ready to be sown. Each stage of the process requires its own form of ceremony, its own focus, whence the four festivals: New Year, Atonement, Harvest, Shemini – with the latter in fact the completion of the first, which has taken a full 23 days – precisely one full week short of a month - in exactly the same way that the period of mourning ends one month before the full year - though no one ever seems to notice this important fact.
At some stage, the Beney Yisra-El, or possibly the Yehudim later, began to follow this tradition, with Purim and Passover, the Persian and Egyptian versions of the spring rites, incorporated; but in this chapter we have seen the new year move. In part it was to break away from the "paganism" of their neighbours, in part it was a recognition that the human year is different from the divine year, or that of Nature; the human year begins at the moment that the last harvest of the year has been gathered in, the corn-fields burned and stubbled (Guy Fawkes is really this, the Wicker Man of the pagan world), and preparations are made to fertilise and ready the land for the coming year. This too is why Yom ha Kipurim is here – last year's vows are annulled, new vows made; last year's sins atoned (the human equivalent of stubbling the corn), and a clean page presented in the book of life like a field now ready to be sown. Each stage of the process requires its own form of ceremony, its own focus, whence the four festivals: New Year, Atonement, Harvest, Shemini – with the latter in fact the completion of the first, which has taken a full 23 days – precisely one full week short of a month - in exactly the same way that the period of mourning ends one month before the full year - though no one ever seems to notice this important fact.
SHABATON: As opposed to the Shabat itself; the word tends to be used rather colloquially today, to describe any event that takes place over the weekend, starting before Shabat and ending after it. In its proper usage - such as here - it can be any day of the week, and does not need to include the Shabat: it is a mini-Shabat in its own right, a retreat, a recess, a break, a vacation, but one with the same goal of rest and renewal as the actual Shabat.
23:40 U LEKACHTEM LACHEM BA YOM HA RI'SHON PERI ETS HA DAR KAPOT TEMARIM VA ANAPH ETS AVOT VE ARVEY NACHAL U SEMACHTEM LIPHNEY YHVH ELOHEYCHEM SHIV'AT YAMIM
וּלְקַחְתֶּם לָכֶם בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר כַּפֹּת תְּמָרִים וַעֲנַף עֵץ עָבֹת וְעַרְבֵי נָחַל וּשְׂמַחְתֶּם לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם שִׁבְעַת יָמִים
KJ: And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.
BN: On the first day you shall gather for yourselves the fruit of fertile trees, the fronds of palm-trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows from the brook, and you shall rejoice before YHVH your god for seven days.
All these are pre-Yehudi rites, to other gods and goddesses, here being assimilated into the monotheistic cult.
SHIV'AT YAMIM: Seven days, not eight.
The use of the word CHAG differentiates this from other festivals. YOM HA KIPURIM was for "solemn affliction", but this is intended to be joyous. The word CHAG really means "pilgrimage", and Pesach, Shavu'ot and Sukot, the three harvest festivals, are also known as the "the pilgrim festivals" for this reason. The Arabic equivalent is HAJJ - الحج.
23:41 VE CHAGOTEM OTO CHAG LA YHVH SHIV'AT YAMIM BA SHANAH CHUKAT OLAM LE DOROTEYCHEM BA CHODESH HA SHEVIY'I TACHOGU OTO
וְחַגֹּתֶם אֹתוֹ חַג לַיהוָה שִׁבְעַת יָמִים בַּשָּׁנָה חֻקַּת עוֹלָם לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי תָּחֹגּוּ אֹתוֹ
KJ: And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
BN: And you shall keep it as a pilgrimage and feast to YHVH, for seven days every year; it is an eternal statute throughout your generations; you shall keep it in the seventh month.
Once again, seven days, not the eight given in verse 39. Shemini Atseret and Simchat Torah are separate, and afterwards - at least, according to this contradictory version.
23:42 BA SUKOT TESHVU SHIV'AT YAMIM KAL HA EZRACH BE YISRA-EL YESHVU BA SUKOT
בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים כָּל הָאֶזְרָח בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשְׁבוּ בַּסֻּכֹּת
KJ: Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:
BN: You shall dwell in booths for seven days; all who are home-born in Yisra-El shall dwell in booths;
SUKOT: does indeed mean "booths"... the intention is "temporary housing", rather than anything you might find at a fairground or a flea-market.
However the text presents a problem. First, because "home-born in Yisra-El" implies a future event, and not one the desert-wandering "Habiru" can keep. Second, because the festival will be ordained much later, at the end of the 40 year journey, specifically to commemorate the second giving of the law at a place that happened to be named Sukot - a desert caravanserai for the wandering Bedou rather than a town or village - though of course the journey also began at a place that happened to be named Sukot (Exodus 12:37), albeit not the same Sukot - isn't that interesting though, and never commented on by any scholar that I have ever come across, Jewish, secular, other faith: that after leaving the city of Rameses the epic wilderness-journey began at, and ended at, two places that bore the same name. And what literary name do we give to such epics? A cycle!
Cf Exodus 23:16, where the festival has already been given, and Deuteronomy 16:13, where it will be given again.
King Shelomoh (Solomon) dedicated the Temple in Yeru-Shala'im on Sukot (1 Kings 8; 2 Chronicles 7). Sukot was the first sacred occasion observed after the resumption of sacrifices in Yeru-Shala'im following the Babylonian captivity (Ezra 3:2-4). The Book of Nehemiah describes how, after the Babylonian captivity, Sukot was celebrated by making and dwelling in booths, a custom maintained to this day. Nechem-Yah (8:13-17) reports that "the Beney Yisra-El had not done so since the time of Yehoshu'a (Joshua)", a statement disputed by the Talmud (Erkhin 32b), which simply regards such a loss of Keva as impossible.
23:43 MA'AN YED'U DOROTEYCHEM KI VA SUKOT HOSHAVTI ET BENEY YISRA-EL BE HOTSIY'I OTAM ME ERETS MITSRAYIM ANI YHVH ELOHEYCHEM
מַעַן יֵדְעוּ דֹרֹתֵיכֶם כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
KJ: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
BN: That your generations may know that I made the Beney Yisra-El live in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Mitsrayim: I am YHVH your god.
Which seems to infer that the Beney Yisra-El were living in booths throughout their journey in the wilderness, and not just when they got to Sukot at the end; which is highly implausible for the nomadic stages of the journey, highly plausible for the times when they stopped for days at a time at the desert shrines. The statement also makes Sukot another Exodus memorial; and yet it was clearly denoted as the harvest festival above.
But at the same time, coming where it does in the fragment, it feels like an add-on by the Redactor to give a Yisra-Eli justification for a festival that really had no roots in proto-Judaism - in the same way that Christianity has managed to transform the ancient spring and mid-winter rites into the birth and death of Jesus.
23:44 VA YEDABER MOSHEH ET MO'ADEY YHVH EL BENEY YISRA-EL
וַיְדַבֵּר מֹשֶׁה אֶת מֹעֲדֵי יְהוָה אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
KJ: And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.
BN: And Mosheh announced the appointed seasons of YHVH to the Beney Yisra-El.
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