To the Reader * The introduction to the first volume of this work, 1 which you already have,

Transcription

1 [Introduction to Meam Loez on the Book of Numbers] To the Reader * The introduction to the first volume of this work, 1 which you already have, explains that one [must] know what mitzvot God commanded us to perform, and what he obliged us not to do and avoid, and find out what sinful things one has done unknowingly. [We must] also learn more about the miracles God performed for our fathers, because in the weekly Torah portions and the Prophets, they are described very briefly, and, for the reason explained in the commentary on Exodus, many miracles are not related in the Law. 2 One should also know about wars and battles that happened in the times of the kings of Israel and the prophets; the words they said to one another, why some people were killed, and what happened when. And one should also understand the allegory of our holy and blessed Law, for you must not think that stories found in the Bible, and especially in the Torah, are there for the sake of telling tales, God forbid. Instead, it was the [divine] intention to couch all the secrets of the Law in the form of stories for the reason explained in the aforementioned introduction. Praise God, blessed be he, Jews, being children of a good father and [sharing] a good root, are great friends of our holy Law and eager to hear new things from it, because the sanctity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is upon them. 3 And thus, every hour and every minute they ask when the rest of the Bible [Meam Loez] will be printed. Some wish to learn better the precepts of Judaism, while others want to know about the miracles God performed for our fathers. * Translation and notes by Olga Borovaya. An abridged version of this translation was published by The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization (Volume 6). Translation copyright 2016 by the Posen Foundation. Used with permission.

2 And you will see that with God s help, we will print an infinite number of new books. The reason we have not yet published the rest of the Bible [Meam Loez] is a lack of money. Our intention was to print Leviticus first and then Numbers, using the money made from the sales of Leviticus to print the rest. But Leviticus was a failure; we lost a lot of money, and many copies of the book disappeared. Some of them, for our sins, perished because of fires, and others because of patrons who at first purchased a few installments but then changed their minds and returned them. Those who returned their installments looking as if they had just been purchased did not cause much damage. But some brought back their installments ruined by rats, while others claimed they had lost theirs and wanted replacements. As a result, there was a great number of incomplete books that could not be sold and were sent to the geniza. But now praise God, blessed be he he inspired the hearts of some good pious people... whose names will be listed in the introduction [to this volume] when it appears, with God s help. They made donations to support this endeavor, may God bless them. But because it involves great expense due to the high cost of printing, it is essential that everyone contribute each week toward the publication of the installments that will be distributed weekly, and there will be two or three of them. This is why I ask everyone, rich and poor, men and women, to make an effort and spend two or three para less on provisions to pay for those installments each week. And everyone must know that patrons share in the mitzvah of publishing these books because without their weekly payments this press would cease to print. And I also ask those who start buying these installments to continue doing so until the whole book is printed and to pay for them each week and not postpone till the following one, because it is difficult to pay five or six para in one week, and because the

3 printer wants his expenses to be covered every week. And do not think that buying these installments is a small mitzvah, because one does more than just read, gain knowledge of the world, learn the precepts of Judaism, and thus save one s soul from the pains of Gehenom. In addition, one gets another great advantage: as a result of paying two or three para per week, this person is marked as one who does virtue for many during his whole life and after his death, since it counts as if he finished printing this book. And when someone reads it, or learns about a precept of Judaism from it, or performs a mitzvah of which he did not know before, it is considered that this person [who supported the printing] participated in this mitzvah, because the Mishna says: If one does virtue for many, the virtue of many hangs upon him [Pirke Avot 5:21]. This means that if one performs mitzvot for others, the mitzvot of those people hang on him, that is, count as if he performed them himself. And we learn this from our master and teacher Moses, peace be upon him. He was virtuous and did virtue for many by teaching the Law to the Jews. 4 The verse says, "He executed the justice of the Lord, and His ordinances with Israel" [Deut 31:21]. This means that the justice of all Israel who performed the mitzvot depended on him. And all those who get this book and read their Torah portion every week, either to learn the rules of Judaism or to understand the kantor when he reads the Torah on the Sabbath, in the coming world will understand the profound secrets of the Law, which they do not know now, because they have strived in this world to read what they knew 5 and what they were obliged to read. And now you will understand what Prophet Jeremiah means in Chapter 31: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah [Jer 31:31]. This means, "Here is coming said God, and... with the company of

4 Israel and the company of Judah a new covenant." You must ask why he said, "the house of Israel and the house of Judah," and not "the children of Israel and the children of Judah," as it has already been explained in the commentary on the priest Jethro [parasha] that "the house" refers to women. In the verse, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel [Ex 19:3], "the house of Jacob" is women and "the children of Israel" are men. And another verse says: "Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins [Isa 58:1]. The Gemara says that "my people" refers to Torah scholars. Hence, in the verse [Jer 31:31] "the house of Jacob" refers to the common people who are illiterate [in Hebrew]. Thus, it follows from what has been said here that the words "the house of Israel and the house of Judah" refer to the women and the common people who are illiterate [in Hebrew]. But you must know that [the words] "a new covenant" in the verse do not express an intention to introduce a new law, God forbid, because surely this holy and blessed Law, which God gave us on Mount Sinai, will never be changed, not a single word of it, as the verse says: "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel" [Malachi 4:4]. The prophet says, "Remember the law of my servant Moses which I commanded him on Mount Horeb. "This means that in the future world everyone will become knowledgeable, both women and common people, who today know only Ladino. Then, all the secrets that appear to them to be stories, because they do not understand their depth and the terms in which they are couched, will become easily comprehensible as if they were written in plain language, because in this world they have strived to read what they understood. And for this reason the Law will be called a new covenant. And this name will... a lot because the difference between the knowledge of then and that of

5 today will be so great and [cause] such great fear that the Law will appear to be a new one. But for all of this to happen, in this world everyone must strive to read what one is able to understand, the least of which is the weekly Torah portion from Meam Loez, because reading it means reading all kinds of lessons, namely, the biblical verse, its interpretation, the Talmud, the halakhah, 6 and the aggadot, 7 because all of them are compressed in this book. And if in the other world you are asked, "Have you read this or that lesson?" you will be able to say that you have read all of them, because, as was already said, this book contains everything. And those who read and do everything as was explained here will receive the blessings of the Law. "He who listens to us will dwell in safety, untroubled by the terror of misfortune" [Proverbs 1:33]. Amen, may it be so. 1 A reference to Jacob Huli's General Introduction to Meam Loez. It is also cited and paraphrased below. 2 Apparently, a reference to Magriso's own volume on Exodus. 3 This sentence, except for the mention of the good root, is taken verbatim from Huli's introduction. 4 A paraphrase of Pirkei Avot 5:16. 5 I.e., Ladino (as opposed to Hebrew). 6 The Jewish law. 7 Non-legal rabbinic writings.