Likkutei Sichos Vol. 30 – Bereishis 2
1. On the verse, "And G‑d made the two great luminaries, the great luminary … and the small luminary …," the Gemara says: "Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi pointed out a contradiction. It is written, 'And G‑d made the two great luminaries,' and it is written, 'the great luminary and the small luminary' (implying that both are great, yet it is written 'the small' — Rashi). The moon said before the Holy One, blessed be He: 'Master of the world, is it possible for two kings to use one crown?' (as a question). He said to her: 'Go and make yourself smaller.'"
The Gemara continues that the moon then argued, "Master of the world, because I said something proper before You, I must make myself smaller?" (as a question), and in response G‑d appeased the moon in several ways, as will be explained in section 3.
At first glance it is unclear whether the moon's claim ("Is it possible for two kings to use one crown?") was a just claim:
From the fact that in several places the moon's claim is called a kitrug, an accusation, against Above (as it were), which indicates something undesirable, it would seem that it was not a just claim. This would also seem to follow from the fact that the moon had to make herself smaller (which is a "punishment" for her claim — in Rashi's words, "The moon was made smaller because she accused and said, 'It is impossible …'"), rather than some other change in the sun that would involve no punishment (for if she was right in her claim, why was she punished?).
However, from the continuation of the Gemara — that G‑d appeased the moon after she argued, "Because I said something proper before You, I must make myself smaller?" — it follows that the content of her claim was "something proper" (not only in the moon's eyes, but) in the true sense.
2. The substance of the matter also needs explanation:
If we say that this claim is correct, it is very puzzling. How can one say that G‑d created the two luminaries from the start in a way that left room for a (just) claim that they had not been created properly (that two kings would use one crown)? Especially since Chazal say explicitly that "the world was created in its fullness," whereas according to the moon's words it turns out that at the very moment they were created there was something imperfect in G‑d's creation of the world.
[True, the Midrash says that "everything that was created in the six days of Creation needs to be made: mustard needs sweetening, lupines need sweetening, wheat needs grinding; even man needs rectification" — "as it is written, 'which G‑d created to make'; it does not say 'which He created and made,' but 'to make,' to tell us that everything needs rectification." Obviously, though, there is a great difference between creations that were deliberately made unrefined from the start, so that man would add to their refinement and make them ready for his use (as in the examples above, that mustard needs sweetening and wheat needs grinding), and the creation of something that G‑d Himself, as it were, immediately had to change and correct.]
We must therefore say that the creation of the luminaries as "the two great luminaries" ("two kings using one crown") involves no lack at all (on the contrary, so it should be; that is why in the time to come "the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun" once again). And the difficulty returns, as above: how can one say that the moon's claim was "something proper"?
3. On the other hand, we must understand the moon's claim, "Is it possible for two kings to use one crown?" — which implies that she wanted a greater royal crown for herself:
The sun and the moon were created by G‑d's utterance, "Let there be luminaries in the firmament of the heavens to separate between the day and the night … to give light upon the earth." Obviously the Creator's will was fulfilled in their creation, as it is written, "And G‑d saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good": everything G‑d created was made in keeping with the purpose for which it was created. It is also plain and clear that the whole purpose of every creation is only to fulfill the Creator's will. How, then, could it be, as it plainly seems, that the moon was jealous for her honor and demanded a greater crown for herself?
Even more puzzling: after G‑d said to the moon, "Go and make yourself smaller," He had to appease her, as the Gemara continues, saying to her, "Go and rule by day and by night." Not only that, but she was not appeased by this and argued, "What use is a lamp at midday?" G‑d went on to placate her further: "Go, let Israel count days and years by you." This too did not satisfy her; she argued, "The day too — it is impossible not to count the seasons by it" ("the seasons are counted by the sun, and according to the season the year is made a leap year …" — Rashi). At first glance this claim comes from the lowest kind of jealousy: why should she care that the seasons are counted by the sun, since nothing is taken away from her own share? On the contrary — most of the count of days, and its essence, depends on her. And it went so far that after G‑d said, "Go, let the tzaddikim be called by your name …," and "He saw that she was not appeased, the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Bring an atonement for Me for having made the moon smaller …"!
We must therefore say that the moon's being made smaller is part of the order and manner in which the luminaries were created during the six days of Creation. That is, from the very beginning the Creator intended that they be a great luminary and a small luminary [as the verse says, "And G‑d made the two luminaries … the great luminary … and the small luminary …," whose plain meaning is that from the start the two luminaries were created so that one would be great and the other small]. But the order of their creation had to be (so to speak) in two stages: at first G‑d made "the two great luminaries," and afterward, through the moon's being made smaller, they were divided into a great luminary and a small luminary. And since the reason and need for this change come from the nature of the moon (as will be explained), the reduction came about through the moon's "claim."
4. This can be explained by first recalling the well-known teaching, "He looked into the Torah and created the world": everything in the world has its source in the Torah (which is the "plans" from which the world was created). So too the great luminaries (the sun and the moon) exist first in the Torah, and according to their content as they are in the Torah, their nature is drawn down into the physical sun and moon in the plain sense.
Accordingly, it can be said that the way the luminaries were created — at first equally, "the two great luminaries," and afterward, through the moon's "claim," "It is impossible for two kings to use one crown," the moon made herself smaller — will be understood from the explanation of what the sun and moon are as they exist in the Torah:
The Shelah explains that the two luminaries (as they are in the Torah) are the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. This is also hinted at in the Midrash on the verse, "And he was there with G‑d forty days and forty nights": "How did Moshe know when it was day? When the Holy One, blessed be He, taught him the Written Torah, he knew it was day; and when He taught him the Oral Torah, Mishnah and Talmud, he knew it was night."
The reason the Oral Torah is called "the small luminary" is that "the Oral Torah receives from the Written Torah, as the Gemara says, 'From where do we know this? For it is written …' or 'From where are these words derived? For the verse says …'" — just as the moon receives light from the sun. [Even the "things that the Sages and prophets decreed in each generation," and the like, are themselves based on the verse, "And you shall keep My charge" — "make a safeguard for My charge" — "to make a fence around the Torah, as they heard explicitly from Moshe"; that is, they fulfill Moshe's instruction in the Written Torah to make a fence around the Torah.]
On this basis we can explain why "the two great luminaries" were created first and afterward the moon was made smaller. The Oral Torah's being a "receiver" from the Written Torah is only from the side of the Jewish people, the receivers of the Torah, to whom the laws and commandments of the Oral Torah were given to be learned from the Written Torah through the thirteen principles by which the Torah is expounded, and the like [and all the more so the "decrees, enactments and customs" that the Sages made as a fence around the Torah, which certainly depend on the Jewish people, the receivers of the Torah].
From the side of G‑d, the Giver of the Torah, however, the Oral Torah is not in the category of a "receiver" from the Written Torah; both are "great luminaries," for "all of them were given by one Shepherd." In the words of the Rambam, "All the mitzvos … were given together with their explanation" (from Above): "He would tell him the mitzvah [the Written Torah], and afterward tell him its explanation and content."
5. More deeply:
The Written Torah and the Oral Torah are called "sun" and "moon" not only because of their relationship to each other (the Oral Torah receives from the Written Torah), but (also) because in the Written Torah the role of the Giver of the Torah is emphasized (the sun, the giver), while in the Oral Torah the role of the receivers of the Torah is emphasized (the moon, the receiver).
This matches the plain difference between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. The Written Torah is exactly as it was handed down from Sinai, precisely in its letters, with nothing missing and nothing extra — which emphasizes that it is G‑d's Torah (with no human hand in it). The Oral Torah, by definition, is a person's understanding (for if one does not understand what he studies, it is not considered study at all),
to the point that Jews bring forth new insights in the Torah; that is, the matters of the Oral Torah come and are revealed through the Jewish people.
With this we can explain the precise wording of the Rambam (regarding the order of transmission of the Torah): "Moshe Rabbeinu wrote the whole Torah … and gave a scroll to each tribe … But the mitzvah, which is the explanation of the Torah, he did not write; he commanded it to the elders, to Yehoshua and to the rest of Israel … For this reason it is called the Oral Torah. Although the Oral Torah was not written, Moshe Rabbeinu taught all of it in his court to the seventy elders. Elazar, Pinchas and Yehoshua — all three received from Moshe … Many elders received from Yehoshua, and Eli received from the elders and from Pinchas." He then goes on to list, generation by generation, the details of the chain of the Torah's transmission — from whom each sage received — up to Rabbeinu HaKadosh, who compiled the Mishnah, and up to Rav Ashi, who compiled the Babylonian Talmud.
One might ask, at first glance, why in the chain of transmission of the Oral Torah the Rambam does not write as he did about Yehoshua — "to Yehoshua, who was the disciple of Moshe Rabbeinu, he handed down the Oral Torah and commanded him about it" — but in terms of one person receiving from another: he does not write that so-and-so handed it down to so-and-so, but that so-and-so received from so-and-so. This implies that the difference between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah is not only that the Written Torah "Moshe Rabbeinu wrote," while "the mitzvah, which is the explanation of the Torah, he did not write; he commanded it to the elders …," but also in this: the transmission of the Written Torah was by Moshe Rabbeinu giving it to each tribe, while the Oral Torah is by way of receiving, the sages of each generation receiving from the sages of the generation before.
It can be said that this fits the distinction above between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah: in the Written Torah the role of the giver is emphasized, and in the Oral Torah the role of the receiver.
6. This distinction between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, however, exists only from the side of the Jewish people, the receivers of the Torah. From the side of G‑d, the Giver of the Torah, the Oral Torah is G‑d's Torah just as truly as the Written Torah, with no difference at all between them in the way they were given.
That is why the Rambam begins there: "All the mitzvos that were given to Moshe at Sinai were given with their explanation, as it says, 'And I will give you the tablets of stone, and the Torah and the mitzvah.' 'The Torah' is the Written Torah, and 'the mitzvah' is its explanation. He commanded us to fulfill the Torah according to the mitzvah, and this mitzvah is called the Oral Torah." That is, the distinction above between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah — giving or receiving — exists only from the side of the Jewish people, while from G‑d's side both were given alike. In the words of my father, of blessed memory: "Everything said in the Written Torah and in the Oral Torah, whether in halachah or in aggadah, and in all the books written by wise and righteous men who studied Torah for its own sake … all of it G‑d actually said, in the very words in which they were said, exactly as it is."
But since the Oral Torah is the "explanation" of the Written Torah, then as the Torah is received when it is given below to the Jewish people — in whose grasp and understanding the "explanation" of something is lower than the thing itself, its role being only to explain its content [as when a teacher studies with his pupil and must explain what he means: the "explanation" is not the essence of the idea contained in his words (as it is in the teacher's mind); rather, the teacher contracts his idea to the pupil's level so that the pupil can receive it and understand it with his own mind] — then the Oral Torah is in the category of a "receiver" from the Written Torah, and its nature is the Jewish people's "receiving," to the point that the Oral Torah is revealed through the Jewish people, as explained at length above.
7. And just as all this is so with the "sun" and "moon" in the Torah, so it is with the sun and moon that light up the earth in the plain sense. The difference between the two luminaries — "the great luminary" (which gives light) and "the small luminary" (which receives light) — exists only as they are in the world ("from the side of the receiver"). From the side of G‑d's act, "And G‑d made," both are "great luminaries"; "they were created equal," and neither is greater than the other.
Simply put: the fact that the moon's light comes about and is formed from the sun's light is only from the standpoint of the world's bounds. From G‑d's standpoint, the moon('s light) is His creation exactly equal to the sun('s light) — "And G‑d made the two great luminaries." It is only that since the nature of the moon's light is the light of a receiver, this light actually and visibly comes by way of the sun.
[This is like what is explained about the rich man and the poor man (who are like the sun and the moon, giver and receiver). The poor man receives his food from the rich man not because he is essentially lower than him and needs him; rather, G‑d provides his livelihood by way of the rich man. Since G‑d wants there to be a mitzvah of tzedakah, He created the world in such a way that there would be a giver and a receiver, a rich man and a poor man —
and the rich man gives tzedakah to the poor man. It turns out that in truth the poor man does not receive from the rich man, but from G‑d (for "what the rich man gives the poor man is not his at all; it too is G‑d's"); only according to the bounds of the world does his food pass through the rich man.]
And this is the meaning of the moon's claim, "Is it possible for two kings to use one crown?" In terms of G‑d's intent in Creation, the very nature of the "receiver" (the moon) demands that the receiver's light come by way of the giver [as above, according to the bounds of the world the receiver is lower than the giver and receives from him]. That is why the moon had to be made smaller, so that it became "the small luminary," receiving its light from the sun.
8. However, becoming the small luminary is not the goal and purpose. Rather, through it the moon will reach its completeness, in which G‑d's act will be revealed — that there will be "two great luminaries." This will actually come about in the time to come, when "the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun."
This explains the continuation of the discussion in the Gemara: "She said before Him: 'Master of the world, because I said something proper before You, I must make myself smaller?' He said to her: 'Go and rule by day and by night.' She said to Him: 'What is the greatness in that? What use is a lamp at midday?' He said to her: 'Go, let Israel count days and years by you …'" After the moon('s light) was made smaller, the ultimate purpose of the receiver's light had to be emphasized: the intent is not that it remain with its light reduced, but that through this it come to be "a great luminary" — "the light of the moon like the light of the sun."
That is the content of G‑d's appeasement — "Go and rule by day and by night … Go, let Israel count days and years by you … Go, let the tzaddikim be called by your name." To make it openly clear that the whole purpose of the moon's reduction is only so that it will ultimately come to be "like the light of the sun," when there will again be "two great luminaries," the moon has matters of "greatness" even now ("Go and rule …," "let Israel count by you …," "let the tzaddikim be called …"). Yet even so, "she was not appeased, and the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Bring an atonement for Me for having made the moon smaller." This emphasizes that as long as the moon is "the small luminary," in a state of reduction, an "atonement" for its reduction is still needed, until the intent is openly completed in the time to come — "and the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun" — when there will be "two great luminaries," openly and in fact.
(From a talk of the second day of Shavuos, 5747)