1)

Why does the Torah need to mention the date that Yisrael arrived in Desert Sin?

1.

Rashi, Ramban (citing the Mechilta), Rashbam and Targum Yonasan: To teach us the miracle that the 'cakes' that they took with them out of Egypt lasted until now (sixty-one meals), and the Manna fell on the sixteenth, which was a Shabbos. 1


1

Shabbos, 87b: Which we know, since Moshe told them, in Pasuk 7 that the Manna would fall the following ,morning - which must have been Sunday, since, in Pasuk 27, Hashem told Moshe - - "Sheishes Yamim Tilketuhu, u'va'Yom ha'Shevi'i Shabbos, Lo Yih'yeh bo".".

2)

Why does the Torah add the words "Bein Eilim u'Vein Sinai"?

1.

Ramban: In order to distinguish it from Midbar Tzin where they arrived in the fortieth year. 1


1

See Bamidbar, 20:1. Ramban: In fact, before entering Midbar Sin, they first encamped at the Yam-Suf, and after they arrived there, they went first to Dafkah and then to Alush, where the episode with the Manna took place, only the Torah did not bother to mention those details here (See Ramban). And it is in order to distinguish the location there from the current one that the Torah stresses in Chukas "Vayachanu Sham be'Midbar Tzin Hi Kadeish".

3)

The Torah writes that Yisrael arrived in Midbar Sin on the fifteenth of Iyar, which, as the Gemara states in Shabbos 87b, was a Shabbos. How will we reconcile this with the opinion that they were commanded the Mitzvah of Techumim at Marah?

1.

Refer to 15:25:151:2 and note.

2.

Riva (citing Tosfos Tuch): They actually arrived before Shabbos and complained the night after Shabbos (even though the Pesuklim suggest that both occurred on the fifteenth.

3.

Based on Shabbos 87b: The one who holds that they were commanded on Techumim 1 holds that they did not travel from Refidim on Shabbos (and that the fifteenth did not fall on Shabbos but on Sunday, like the opinion of the Seider Olam - PF). 2

4.

Mizrachi: They left Eilim on Friday, and arrived in Midbar Sin on Shabbos. 3

5.

Divrei David: The Torah forbids only outside the Techum of 12 Mil (and Desert Sin was within 12 Mil of Eilim. The Techum of one Mil is mid'Rabanan. 4 )

6.

Nachalas Ya'akov: Even if Moshe already told them about Shabbos, they were not commanded to observe it until after the Manna fell.


1

Tosfos (87b DH a'Techumim): 'Techumim' includes the Isur of carrying in Reshus ha'Rabim. Ritva (87b DH Ka'asher) - the animals carried their Kelim. This opinion holds that likewise, they were not commanded about making animals work on Shabbos.

2

Iyar had only twenty-nine days that year and the Torah was given on the sixth of Sivan, on Shabbos (PF).

3

They arrived shortly after Shabbos came, and during that short time, no one left the T'chum which they were received at the start of Shabbos.. There was no Torah prohibition of carrying or Mechamer (making animals work), because the Akirah (uprooting from its place) took place before Shabbos.

4

Even though elsewhere (Taz YD 117:1), he himself wrote that the Chachamim would not decree about something that the Torah explicitly permits, here it was not explicit (PF).

QUESTIONS ON RASHI

4)

Rashi writes that the Manna began to fall on the sixteenth of Iyar. But in Pasuk 35, he writes that it began to fall on the fifteenth!

1.

Riva #1: Some commentaries explain that it fell Bein ha'Shemashos - between the fifteenth and sixteenth. 1

2.

Riva #2: In Pasuk 35, Rashi means that the Manna fell when fifteen days remained in the month. This concurs with what he explained there, that it ceased on the fifteenth of Nisan, "mi'Mocharas ha'Pesach" - on the sixteenth, when fifteen days remained in the month. .


1

Riva: This is wrong. In Pasuk 8, Rashi writes that they received the bread (Manna) in the morning, as is evident from the Pesukim. Furthermore, they ate the last remnant of dough that they took out of Egypt on the night of the sixteenth, and, if the Manna had already fallen, why did they complain? Moreover, the fifteenth was Shabbos, as the Gemara states in Shabbos 87b, and the Manna fell the next morning. (Rashi ha'Shalem - all old texts of Rashi here say the sixteenth. Some recent texts read the fifteenth; but this is a mistake).

Sefer: Perek: Pasuk:

KIH Logo
D.A.F. Home Page
Sponsorships & DonationsReaders' FeedbackMailing ListsTalmud ArchivesAsk the KollelDafyomi WeblinksDafyomi CalendarOther Yomi calendars