לזכות רפואה שלימה אחינו כל בית ישראל הנתונים בצרה ובשביה
Parshat Va’Eschanan contains an essential generalized founding principle of the Torah; Chapter 4’ Possuk 2’ states:
“Do not add to the matter that I command you, and do not detract from it; to guard the commandments of Hashem your G-d that I command you.”
Rashi explains, according to pesha’at [simple interpretaion], with this verse, the Torah is prohibiting any doctoring of the Mitzvot; for example, the Torah commands us to take the four species on Sukkot-adding a fifth would be in violation of this Possuk.
In the Midrashic sense, Da’at Zekeinim [ad. Loc.] explains that the Possuk can be read as communicating that one who adds to the Torah, will, as a result, ultimately detract from the Torah. This point is brought home at the beginning of humanity’s existence on the earth, for Adam tells Chava, “Do not TOUCH the tree of knowledge”---when, Hashem’s commandment, in reality, was “Do not EAT from the tree of knowledge”; upon touching the tree, and witnessing no ill effects, Chava concluded that no harm would come from her eating from the tree either—the rest is our history, for once she succumbed to temptation and ate from the tree, the nature of existence changed and death came to the world. Thus, Adam, by adding to the commandment of Hashem, was at least partially the catalyst for Chava’s sin.
Rabbeinu Bachye [ad. Loc.] wonders, if adding to the Torah is forbidden [as expressed in the Possuk here], how can the Torah itself [Devarim 17’ 11’] command: “Do not Veer [from that which the Torah sages] tell you right or left”? The great Torah scholars who authored the Mishna and Talmud, along with Jewish kings and prophets [indeed, some Rabbinic decrees were incorporated by Moshe himself] enacted numerous additions to the corpus of the Torah based on the above quoted Possuk “Do not veer etc.” [blowing the Shofar 100 times on Rosh Hashanah, far more than the Biblical Mitzvah would have required, is a classic example], which would seem to contradict the ideal of not adding to the Torah?
Rabbeinu Bachye explains, that for the most part, any additions or enhancements to the commandments of the Torah promulgated by Moshe on down were never meant to be independent commandments, which should then be considered a violation of the principle of adding to the Torah. Rather, their decrees were meant to function as protective measures to ensure full commitment to the Torah’s ideal—hence, the Rabbi’s decreeing that chicken cannot be eaten with milk [for example], is not viewed as a fully independent addition to the Torah, which would be problematic; rather it is viewed as a protective measure that ensures that one does not come to eat beef and milk, which would, in fact, be a Biblical violation.
In this vein, Rabbeinu Bachye explains how the two verses quoted above can coexist in the vast majority of Rabbinic decrees; however, there are still examples that require further study-Chanukah and Purim, for example, at face value, are not Rabbinic enactments designed to safeguard Biblical obligations, and therefore, the Rabbinic ability to craft and obligate the Jewish people in those commandments requires further analysis. [The reader is encouraged to look into the Gemara in Megillah 14A that explores some of these difficulties; see Ra”n and Sefat Emet ad. Loc. for further analysis].
Dedicated in memory of all those who have perished and sacrificed for Am Yisrael.
Have a Great Shabbas.