Torah Before
By Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)
In this paper I would like to examine the existence of the
Torah before it was presented to Israel, by Moses,
on
The Midrash asserts that although
they lived long before the Torah was given to us at
The patriarchs taught these mitzvot to their children, the twelve tribes. They, in turn, also kept all of the mitzvot of the Torah.[2] And not only were our forefathers mindful of future biblical commands, they even heeded future rabbinic ordinances.[3]
HaShem revealed to our forefathers the mitzvot that he was going to give to the Jews at a later time. The forefathers, out of their profound love to do the will of HaShem, voluntarily accepted upon themselves to perform these mitzvot "ahead of schedule." It is an accepted principle that even if one is not subject to a given commandment, it is nevertheless considered meritorious for him to observe that mitzvah. He is even rewarded for doing so.[4]
The Hebrew word for commands is mitzvot (plural). The word mitzvot means more than commands, it also carries the meaning of good deeds. In other words, when we obey the mitzvot we are performing the work of HaShem, which, by definition, is always a good deed.
So lets begin our study of the mitzvot that our forefathers
kept. I would like to work back words from
Shemot
(Exodus) 19:1-17 In the
third month after the
Israelites left Egypt--on the very day--they came to the
The Torah was given on the sixth day of the third month, the month of Sivan. We can discern this by counting the days, in the above passage, from the first day of the third month, Sivan one. Sivan six is exactly fifty days after Passover. Passover occurs on the fifteenth day of the first month, the month of Nisan. Because the Torah was given fifty days after Passover, Sivan six is one of the Lord's feasts, and is known in Hebrew as Hag Shavuot, and in Greek as Pentecost. Nisan is the first month, Iyar is the second month, and Sivan is the third month.
Moses taught HaShem's laws and
decrees days before the Torah was give on
Shemot
(Exodus) 18:13-16 The next day
Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him
from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing
for the people, he said, "What is this you are doing for the people? Why
do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning
till evening?" Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to
seek God's will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I
decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws."
Moses is telling the people about HaShem's laws and decrees before the written Torah is given. The written Torah will be given in Exodus chapter 20, in a few days from this passage.
One of the mitzvot that our forefathers kept before the Torah was given on
Shemot (Exodus) 16:1-30
The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and
came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and
Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after
they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole
community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them,
"If only we had died by HaShem's hand in
On the sixteenth day of Iyar, the
second month, HaShem began sending His people the bread from heaven. As part of
His provision, HaShem commands His people to rest on the Sabbath, and not to
collect the manna. This Sabbath mitzva was given more than two weeks before the
Torah was given on
Three weeks before the manna was given with the mitzva of Sabbath, another interesting incident occurred:
Shemot (Exodus) 15:22-26 Then
Moses led
The crossing of the
Before the events at Marah, HaShem gave a very special mitzva to His firstborn, His people. HaShem gave His people the mitzva of Passover:
Shemot
(Exodus) 12:1-12 HaShem said to Moses and Aaron in
We don't know the exact day that this mitzva was given, but
we know that it took place in Nisan some time before the tenth day of the
month. This is more than fifty-five days before the Torah was given on
Joseph demonstrated that he knew and obeyed the Torah more than two hundred years before it was given to Moses:
Bereshit
(Genesis) 39:7-9 And after a
while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with
me!" But he refused. "With me in charge," he told her, "my
master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns
he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My
master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How
then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"
Since sin is defined as disobedience to the Torah, we know that Joseph and Potiphar's wife were both aware that adultery was forbidden; and this was known more that two hundred years before the Torah was given to Moses.
More than two hundred years before the giving of the Torah
on
Bereshit
(Genesis) 38:6-10
How did
Devarim
(Deuteronomy) 25:5-6 If brothers
are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not
marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her
and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears
shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be
blotted out from
So, in a couple of hundred years, from
Notice also, in Bereshit (Genesis) 38:6-10, that what Onan did was wicked in the HaShem's sight, so He killed Onan. This would not be very fair if Onan did not already know that it was wicked for him to do such a thing. Thus we see that HaShem had revealed His Torah to Judah and to Onan more than two hundred years before the Torah was revealed to Moses.
Isaac knew the Torah that was given to Moses more than two hundred years before Moses. We see this in his command to his son Jacob:
Bereshit
(Genesis) 28:1 So Isaac called
for Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: "Do not marry a Canaanite woman.
Moses quoted HaShem when he gave a similar command, some two hundred years later:
Shemot
(Exodus) 34:14-16 Do not worship
any other god, for HaShem, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. "Be
careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they
prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you
and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters
as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods,
they will lead your sons to do the same.
Thus we see that Isaac had Torah insight more than two hundred years before the Torah was given.
More than two hundred years before the Torah was given on
Bereshit
(Genesis) 26:2-6 HaShem appeared
to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to
More than two hundred years before Sinai, Abraham is obeying all of HaShem's requirements, commands, decrees and laws. This is the first time we see mitzvot being obeyed when it is not apparent when HaShem revealed His mitzvot. We do not know whether He made a special revelation to Abraham, or whether Abraham was taught by someone else. The Talmud also noticed that Abraham kept the whole Torah:
Yoma
28b Rab said: Our father Abraham kept the whole Torah, as it is said:
Because that Abraham hearkened to My voice [kept My charge, My
commandments, My statutes, and My laws].[5] R. Shimi b. Hiyya said to Rab: Say,
perhaps, that this refers to the seven laws?[6] — Surely there was also that of circumcision![7] Then say that it refers to the seven laws
and circumcision [and not to the whole Torah]? — If that were so, why does
Scripture say: ‘My commandments and My laws’?
Raba
or R. Ashi said: Abraham, our father, kept even the law concerning the ‘erub of
the dishes,’[8] as it is said: ‘My Torahs’:[9] one being the written Torah, the other the
oral Torah.[10]
The Talmud teaches that Avraham kept the entire Torah
before it was given to the Jewish People at Sinai. The
Midrash says that Isaac
kept the laws of shchitah (kosher slaughtering), and Yaakov
the laws of Shabbat, before the giving of Torah at
Sinai. Truthfully, Isaac and Yaakov kept all
of Torah, just as Avraham did.
Why, then, is only
Avraham mentioned as having kept all 613 mitzvot?
Torah's goal is to create a world of chesed,
a world of giving and of kindness. Avraham's defining character trait was the
same: loving-kindness (chesed).
Things being so,
Avraham had an innate connection to Torah.
Avraham, by his nature, was closer, more similar, to the laws
of Torah than were the other Patriarchs. Avraham, specifically, was bound to
Torah, in a way that left him alike one commanded to keep all of Torah.
HaShem appreciates more a mitzva accomplished by a person commanded to fulfill that mitzva, than when accomplished by someone not so instructed. [The reason HaShem instructs the person that He does, is because He more desires that person's doing it!] Thus, Avraham's observance of Torah was of more significance than its being kept by Isaac or Yaakov. And thus: Avraham, specifically, is mentioned as having kept all of Torah![11]
Nearly four hundred years before the
Torah was given on Mount Sinai, Lot was judging the inhabitants of
Bereshit
(Genesis) 13:13 Now the men of
In addition, Avraham and Lot both kept Passover! Notice the unleavened bread in the following passage:
Bereshit
(Genesis) 19:2-7 "My
lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You can
wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the
morning." "No," they answered, "we will spend the night in
the square." But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and
entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread
without yeast, and they ate. Before they had gone to bed, all the men
from every part of the city of
How could
Abimelech also knew the Torah before it was given:
Bereshit
(Genesis) 20:3-7 But God came to
Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him,
"You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman." Now Abimelech had not gone
near her, so he said, "Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he
not say to me, 'She is my sister,' and didn't she also say, 'He is my brother'?
I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands." Then God said
to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience,
and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not
let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return
her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die."
HaShem could not accuse Abimelech of sinning unless he knew the Torah which defines sin. He also obviously realized that the sin, in this case, was the sin of sleeping with another man's wife, that is adultery. Abimelech lived more than three hundred years before the Torah was given to Moses.
This same logic also applies to the Amorites:
Bereshit
(Genesis) 15:12-16 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a
thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then HaShem said to him, "Know
for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own,
and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred
years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they
will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in
peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation
your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has
not yet reached its full measure."
It would not be fair for HaShem to judge and punish the
Amorites for sin unless they had
already been told the requirements of the Torah. We see, again, that the Torah
was known more than four hundred years before it was given to Moses on
After the flood, Noah demonstrated knowledge of Torah, and obedience to it:
Bereshit
(Genesis) 8:18-21 So Noah came
out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. All the animals
and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds--everything
that moves on the earth--came out of the ark, one kind after another. Then Noah
built an altar to HaShem and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean
birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. HaShem
smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I
curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is
evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I
have done.
HaShem will command His people to bring burnt offerings, when He gives His Torah to Moses in about a thousand years, from the days of Noah. Yet, a thousand years before the Torah was given, Noah is obeying it! Notice that Noah even knows about the requirement to offer clean animals. This is another requirement which the Torah will spell out in a thousand years.
A hundred years before the flood and more than a thousand years before the Torah was given, HaShem was grieved because men were greatly disobeying the Torah:
Bereshit
(Genesis) 6:5-8 HaShem saw how
great man's wickedness on the earth had
become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
all the time. HaShem was grieved that he had made man
on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So HaShem said, "I will
wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the
earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of
the air--for I am grieved that I have made them." But Noah found favor in
the eyes of HaShem.
Evil and wickedness have no meaning unless HaShem
had already revealed His Torah to the people. Thus, we know that the Torah was
known more than fifteen hundred years before it was revealed to Moses on
At the dawn of time, Cain and Abel demonstrated that HaShem had clearly communicated the Torah's sacrificial requirements:
Bereshit
(Genesis) 4:1-7 Adam lay with his wife Eve,
and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help
of HaShem I have brought forth a man." Later she
gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.
In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an
offering to HaShem. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. HaShem looked with favor on
Abel and his offering, But on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.
So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then HaShem said to Cain,
"Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right,
will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin
is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master
it."
Here we see several parts of the Torah revealed. We see that both Cain and Abel knew that they were to bring offerings to HaShem. We also see that Cain knew that his offering was not correct because HaShem clearly indicated this. We also see that sin is an understood concept in the days of Cain and Abel. Remember the definition of sin:
I
Yochanan (John) 3:4 Everyone who
sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
The sacrifice that Abel brought, corresponds with what the Torah will command as the proper sacrifice for Passover! This also gives us a clue as to what was wrong with Cain's sacrifice: It was brought one day too early. Firstfruits are to be brought, beginning the day AFTER Passover.
Here, at the dawn of time, we see that the Torah was being obeyed. The Torah will not be given to Moses for more than two thousand years.
Since there were no Jews before Jacob, then we can see that we have
several examples of the Torah being understood and obeyed, before there were
any Jews. To put it another way: Cain, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Lot, and Isaac were Gentiles who obeyed
the Torah before it was given to God's people on
* * *
Thoughts from Mordecai Kornfeld:
[Yaakov] sent Yehudah ahead to Yosef
in
"He sent Yehudah before him" -- to set up a House of Study before Yakov's arrival, where Yakov would teach the words of the Torah and where his twelve sons and their families could study the Torah. This teaches us that wherever Yaakov went he studied the Torah, just as his fathers had. The Torah had not yet been given, yet we are told concerning Avaraham, "He kept My safeguards, My commandments, My decrees and My teachings" [Bereshit (Genesis)] 26:5. [Avraham] kept all the minutiae of the Torah, teaching them to his children as well, as it says, "I chose him because he will command his children and his household after him to follow in the ways of HaShem; to carry out righteousness and justice"[12]
Upon further investigation, however, there would seem to be scriptural and Midrashic evidence that contradicts the assertion that our forefathers kept all the mitzvot of the Torah. In the specific area of marital laws, it would seem that they did not keep the laws of the future Torah:
Rashi tells us in Bereshit (Genesis) 46:10, that Shimon married his sister Dinah. This marriage would seem, in fact, to contravene not only the laws of the Torah given to the Jews, but even Noachide laws! This system of law, which the Torah expects all human beings from the beginning of time to adhere to, includes laws against incest. There is, however, an opinion[13] that asserts that the Noachide laws against incest do not prohibit marital relations with a sister. Apparently, the Midrash that Rashi quotes is also of that opinion. However, our original question -- that as one who observed the mitzvot of the future Torah, Shimon should not have married Dinah -- remains.
Another Midrash[14], posits that all of the twelve tribal ancestors were born with twin sisters, whom they susbequently married. This presents the same problem as the previous question. If the sons of Yaakov kept the Torah of the future, how could they have married their own sisters?
The Torah tells us specifically[15] that Amram married his father's sister -- Yaakov's granddaughter. This is an explicit violation of Torah law[16]. Although a Gentile may marry his father's paternal sister[17], how could the Midrash assert that the forefathers kept the laws of the future, Jewish, Torah.
As Rashi explains[18], Yehudah married his daughter-in-law Tamar. Even if such a relationship is permitted for a Gentile, isn't this is a violation of Torah law for Jews?[19]
Yaakov married two sisters[20], which is in violation of Torah law[21]. We find, in fact, in the words of Chazal [our Sages] in various places that Yaakov's marriage of two sisters is frowned upon[22].
Why didn't our ancestors keep the future marital laws of the Torah in the above-mentioned cases? This question has been raised by numerous commentators throughout the ages.[23] Many commentators have discussed, at length, possible ways to deal with these difficulties. Let us take a brief look at some of their suggestions.
The Ramban is among the earliest of the commentators to
address this issue. In his commentary on the Torah[24],
the Ramban suggests the following rule. The Midrash only means to assert that
our forefathers kept all the mitzvot of the Torah while
they were in Eretz Yisrael. Out of Eretz Yisrael,
however, they did not make a point of keeping all the mitzvot of the future
Torah. Yaakov's marriage of two sisters took place in Charan, which was outside
of Eretz Yisrael. Similarly, Amram married his aunt in
My rebbi, Hagaon Rav Yisroel Zev Gustman of blessed memory, explains the Ramban's reasoning in his work "Kuntresei Shiurim" on Gemara Kiddushin (20:6):
There are two facets to the fulfillment of any mitzvah in the Torah, Rav Gustman explains. The first is, that we benefit directly from keeping the mitzvot. We derive personal gain, whether physical or spiritual in nature, or both, from the performance of each and every mitzvah. The second aspect to keeping the mitzvot, is that we have obeyed a Divine commandment -- an order decreed by HaShem which we must follow, regardless of any benefit derived.[26]
The Midrash tells us that when we are outside of Eretz
Yisrael, we keep the mitzvot only "in order to retain our familiarity with
them so that we may perform them as prescribed when we eventually return to
Eretz Yisrael".[27]
The Ramban[28]
explains this to mean that the main purpose of the mitzvot is accomplished only
in
In the days of our forefathers,
there was not yet any Divine commandment to keep the mitzvot
of the Torah. Their observance of the Torah was only in order to reap the great
spiritual benefits that come from mitzvah observance. Hence, when they were
outside of Eretz Yisrael there was no longer any point at all in their
following the Torah's commandments. The first aspect -- that of personal
benefit -- does not apply outside
A number of early commentators suggest another approach to
our question[30].
These commentators were actually preceded in this suggestion by the Radbaz
[14th cent.
In Chagigah 3a, the Gemara refers to Avraham as "the first proselyte." This can be understood in a figurative sense -- Avraham was not technically a proselyte and he never underwent any formal process of conversion. The Gemara merely means to say that Avraham severed his ties with idol-worship and idol-worshippers, and began to serve HaShem[31]. However, it is also possible to take the comment of the Gemara literally, and to assert that Avraham was considered to be a proselyte in the strict sense of the word.
According to Jewish law, when a proselyte adopts the Jewish religion he is considered to have been "born afresh" at that time. He is no longer considered to have familial ties with his former, non-Jewish, family, at least as far as marital laws are concerned. He may therefore marry his own biological mother, sister, or daughter, if they later convert to Judaism[32].
With this in mind, we can understand how the forefathers married what would seem to have been forbidden relatives according to Jewish law. The two "sisters" that Yaakov married were actually not sisters at all. After they adopted Yaakov's way of life (which they certainly did before Yaakov married them), they were halachically considered to be converts.They thus became "reborn," losing all familial relationships that they had previously had.
Similarly, Yaakov's sons and their sisters were technically not related to each other. Before the giving of the Torah, each individual had to accept upon himself the service of HaShem on his own, even if his father already had done so. Thus, the sons and daughters of Yaakov were themselves considered to be converts, and to have lost all familial ties to each other in the process. Amram's aunt was not prohibited to him because of their familial relationship, either. (Problem [3], of Yehudah marrying his daughter-in-law, is not resolved by this approach. Tamar presumably "converted" before marrying Yehudah's son, so she was by any account his full, halachic daughter-in-law.)
Some commentators suggest that the Midrash does not mean to say that the forefathers kept all the mitzvot of the Torah unequivocally. Rather, that they did so in general -- provided that there were no circumstances that called for them to refrain from keeping them. For instance, when Shimon married Dinah, Rashi[33] explains that there were very specific reasons that compelled him to do so. Because of these reasons, he was willing to forego his usual habit of observing all the future mitzvot of the Torah. The same may perhaps be said of the other cases in question.
What circumstances prompted the other transgressions of Jewish marital law? Some commentators suggest that Yaakov, and perhaps his children too, had Kabbalistic reasons for marrying the people they married[34]. Alternatively, perhaps when it came to finding partners in marriage, they did not accept upon themselves to necessarily adhere to the mitzvot of the future Torah. Appropriate mates are always difficult to find (and they were especially so at that point in time), so once a fitting wife was found they could not afford to pass up the opportunity to marry her[35].
The Maharal[36] proposes a very original approach. The forefathers, suggests the Maharal, kept only the positive commandments of the Torah, not the negative ones. The forefathers kept the mitzvot as one who is not commanded to, yet takes it upon himself to keep the mitzvot anyhow. Such a course of action is praiseworthy, and indeed rewarded, only if it is done through positive actions. Refraining from transgressing what one is not prohibited from doing, though, is not an act that is rewarded, the Maharal asserts. The laws of marriage that were abrogated by the forefathers were, of course, all negative commandments. Thus, these laws were not relevant to them![37]
* * *
This study was written by Hillel ben David
(Greg Killian).
Comments may be submitted to:
Greg Killian
227 Millset Chase
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address:
Web page: http://www.betemunah.org
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[1] See e.g. Yoma 28b; Rashi to Bereshit (Genesis) 26:5; Rashi to Bereshit (Genesis) 32:5 -- "Yaakov said, 'I dwelt by Lavan, yet I kept all of the 613 Mitzvot'"
[2] Tanna D'vei Eliyahu Ch. 6
[3] Yoma 28b
[4] Rambam, Melachim 10:10
[5] Gen. XXVI, 5
[6] Obligatory upon ‘The sons of Noah’, i.e., upon all civilized nations and individuals. They include the commandment to promote justice, and the prohibitions of idolatry, immorality, blasphemy, murder, cruelty to animals, and theft.
[7] Which Abraham observed.
[8] Lit., ‘mixing of dishes’. One may not prepare food on a holy day, which falls on Friday, for the Sabbath immediately following it. But one may start on the eve of the holy day to prepare such food for the Sabbath, the cooking on the holy day being but a continuation of this weekday work. This provision is not Biblical.
[9] Taking the word Torah in its sense as the sum-total of Jewish Law.
[10] The written Law, i.e., the Five Books of Moses; the Oral Law, which Moses received on Sinai, handing it down to Joshua, the latter handing it down to the elders, the latter to the prophets, these to the Men of the Great Synod (Aboth I, 1).
[11] Maharal: Tiferet Yisrael; Chapter 20.
[12] ibid. 18:19, Bereshit Rabba 95:3
[13] Sanhedrin 58a
[14] quoted by Rashi to 46:26
[15] Shemot (Exodus) 6:20
[16] Vayikra (Leviticus) 18:12, 20:20
[17] Sanhedrin 58b
[18] Bereshit (Genesis) 38:26
[19] Vayikra (Leviticus) 18:15
[20] Bereshit 29:16
[21] Vayikra (Leviticus) 18:18
[22] See Pesachim 119a, end of Midrash Ruth Rabbati
[23] See especially Perashat Derachim ibid.; Pardes Yosef to Bereishit [Bereshit (Genesis) 26:5.
[24] Bereshit (Genesis) 26:5 and Vayikra (Leviticus) 18:25
[25]
This approach does not seem to help for problems [1] and [3], however, since
Yehudah, and presumably his brothers too, married their wives in
[26] See also Kovetz He'arot, Chiddusei Agadot 3:2.
[27] Rashi to Devarim [Devarim (Deuteronomy)] 11:18
[28] Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:10
[29] Gur Arye to Devarim (Deuteronomy) loc. cit.
[30] Yefe Toar on Bereshit Rabba, 16:6; Mizrachi to Vayikra (Leviticus) 20:17; "the opinion of some" quoted by Maharal to Bereshit (Genesis) 46:10; Levush Ha'ora to Bereshit (Genesis) 32:5
[31] See Tosafot loc. cit.
[32] Yevamot 97b
[33] Bereshit (Genesis) 46:10
[34] See Rashba, responsa, vol. 1, #94; Radbaz, responsa, vol. 2, #696; Ohr HaChaim to Bereshit (Genesis) 49:3; Midrash Talpiot, Anaf Yaakov
[35] Maharal to Bereshit 46:10
[36] To Bereshit (Genesis) 46:10 and Vayikra 20:17
[37] See also Chidushei HaGriz, stencil edition, Parashat Lech Lecha, for another interesting approach to our subject.