The **Maharsha** explains a profound difference between a commandment and a transgression. A commandment, he teaches, precedes a person into the World to Come, while a transgression envelops him like a garment, dragging him to judgment. To illustrate this, the **Maharsha** offers a parable: Imagine a man invited to a royal wedding. The king's emissaries walk ahead, confidently leading the way, for they have no fear that the honored guest will flee from such a joyous occasion. The guest willingly follows. However, if a person is summoned to the king for sentencing, perhaps even to the gallows, the emissaries cannot simply walk in front and expect him to follow. Fearing he might escape, they must walk behind him, ensuring he proceeds to his fate. Similarly, commandments guide a person towards God, and he follows without fear. Transgressions, however, must encircle and push a person to Gehenna, for no one willingly walks towards such a destiny.
The **Gemara** relates a powerful teaching: One should give thanks to our forefathers who worshipped the **Egel**. This seems counterintuitive, yet the reasoning is profound. Before the Jewish people worshipped the **Egel**, they were on an extraordinarily high spiritual level, likened to angels, completely detached from worldly desires. Had they remained in this state, they would not have engaged in procreation. The sin of the **Egel** brought them back to a human state, making them susceptible to worldly desires and enabling them to have children. Thus, we owe our very existence to their transgression. As the verse states, "You are like angels... but your deeds caused you to sin, now you have returned to man and you will die like man." This implies that had they remained angelic, they would not have had children.
The **Tosafot** raises a question on this concept. The Sages famously decided that it would have been better for a person not to have been created at all. So why should we be thankful for our creation, which stems from the sin of the **Egel**? The **Baharcha** explains that the odds of a person failing spiritually are greater than the odds of succeeding. There are 248 positive commandments and 365 negative commandments, meaning more opportunities to err. Therefore, initially, it is better not to be created. However, if a person ultimately becomes a righteous person, then it is indeed fortunate for him and his generation that he came into the world. Thus, the gratitude is for the opportunity to become righteous and enter the World to Come.
The **Gemara** continues, asking: "Are you telling me that if the Jewish people had not worshipped the **Egel**, they would not have had children?" But the commandment "Be fruitful and multiply" was given in **Parashat Bereshit** to **Adam HaRishon**. The **Gemara** answers that at **Matan Torah**, God told the people to return to their tents, implying they should resume marital relations. This could be interpreted as a command for conjugal relations, but not necessarily for procreation. However, another verse states that God would do good for them and their children, implying future generations.
The **Gemara** then introduces the concept of the celestial box called **Guf**, which contains all the souls destined to come into the world. **Mashiach** will not arrive until all these souls have been dispatched. This demonstrates that there is a predetermined number of souls that must descend. Therefore, the Jewish people would have had children regardless of the **Egel**. The **Gemara** resolves this by explaining that had the **Egel** not occurred, the Jewish people would have remained on such a high spiritual plane that any children born would have been so dwarfed by the spiritual giants of that generation as to be "invisible," as if they had not come into the world at all. Their existence would have been entirely overshadowed.
A further **Tosafot** asks: If a certain number of souls must come down, why must they come down specifically to the Jewish people? Let God send them to the nations of the world! The answer is that there are different categories of souls; those destined for Jews are distinct from those destined for gentiles. There is one box of souls until the coming of **Mashiach**, and another box for after **Mashiach** arrives.
The **Gemara** then raises another challenging statement: If they had not worshipped the **Egel**, they would not have died. This implies eternal life. But the **Torah** contains laws of inheritance and levirate marriage, which explicitly deal with death. This suggests death was always a reality. The **Gemara** explains that these laws were conditional. They would apply *if* death occurred, but not necessarily that death *must* occur. Indeed, at **Matan Torah**, God made a condition with creation: if the Jewish people accepted the **Torah**, the world would continue; otherwise, it would be destroyed. Similarly, the **Torah**'s laws regarding death were conditional on whether death would remain a part of the human experience.
The verse "Who will give that their heart should be this for them, to fear Me and keep My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their children forever" is then examined. This verse, spoken after **Matan Torah**, expresses God's wish for the Jewish people to maintain their spiritual level eternally. Does "forever" imply the removal of the angel of death? One **Tana** holds that at **Matan Torah**, the Jewish people were indeed relieved from the angel of death, becoming like angels. Their sin of the **Egel** brought death back. Another **Tana**, **Rabbi Yosef**, maintains that death was always in the world from the time of **Adam HaRishon**. According to this view, the promise of "forever" meant that no nation would have dominance over them, not that they would live eternally. The **Gemara** clarifies that according to **Rabbi Yosef**, the "good" promised was not the absence of death, but rather a life free from the subjugation of other nations. However, the **Gemara** then suggests that the greatest good is indeed the absence of death, as it allows one to be like an angel.
The **Gemara** then explores the meaning of "death" in a broader sense. It cites sources that consider a poor person, a blind person, a leper, or one without children as akin to being dead. For example, when God tells **Moshe Rabbeinu** to return to Egypt because "all the men who sought your life are dead," it refers not to physical death but to their loss of influence and wealth. **Zatan and Abiram**, who had previously caused **Moshe Rabbeinu** trouble, were not physically dead but had lost their money, and thus their power. This illustrates that a loss of influence, often tied to financial status, can be considered a form of "death." The **Tosafot** debates whether it refers to blindness or leprosy, but ultimately concludes that loss of wealth is the most logical interpretation, as money enables one to exert influence even with other physical ailments.
The **Tosafot** then points out that the simple meaning of the verse about those who sought **Moshe Rabbeinu**'s life being dead refers to **Paroh** and his men, not **Zatan and Abiram**. This resolves the difficulty of their continued presence in the desert later on.
The verse "If you fulfill My statutes" is interpreted as God pleading with the Jewish people, begging them to keep His commandments. It is not a conditional statement but an expression of divine desire, as in "My nation should listen to Me, and I would subjugate their enemies." God wishes for them to maintain the level of fear of Heaven they achieved at **Matan Torah**, for themselves and their children.
The **Pasuk** "Who will give that their heart should be this for them" prompts a rebuke from the Sages: "You ingrates, sons of ingrates!" When God expressed this wish, the Jewish people should have responded, "You give it to us!" Their failure to ask for this divine gift of sustained fear of Heaven demonstrated a lack of appreciation for what God was offering. This ingratitude is further exemplified by their complaint about the manna, which they called "light" food, meaning it was so perfectly absorbed that it produced no waste, leading them to desire regular food that would allow them to relieve themselves. This ingratitude, the **Gemara** suggests, was inherited from **Adam HaRishon**, who blamed God for giving him **Chava** when she caused him to eat from the forbidden tree.
**Moshe Rabbeinu** rebuked the Jewish people for this ingratitude, but only after forty years. **Rashi** explains that it takes forty years for a student to truly understand the mind of his rabbi. **Moshe Rabbeinu** himself did not fully grasp the depth of God's disappointment until then. The **Tosafot** offers an alternative explanation: **Moshe Rabbeinu** understood immediately but waited forty years to give the Jewish people a chance to comprehend and rectify their mistake. Since they still did not ask for the fear of Heaven, he then rebuked them.
The **Gemara** then praises those who engage in **Torah** study and acts of kindness, stating they "plant on the water" and "send the leg of the ox and the donkey." "Planting on the water" refers to giving charity, which yields benefits like planting seeds. **Torah** study and acts of kindness allow one to control the evil inclination, which is likened to a "wayfarer" who comes by foot. The "ox" symbolizes the responsibility and burden of **Torah** study, while the "donkey" represents the great effort and diligence required.
Returning to the **Mishnah**, we learn that it is forbidden to do business with gentiles three days before their holidays. This is a precaution, lest they purchase an animal from a Jew and offer it as a sacrifice to their deities, or attribute praise to their gods because of the transaction. The **Gemara** questions why three days are necessary, as a person usually buys food closer to a holiday. **Rashi** explains that while Jews buy animals for immediate consumption, gentiles require three days to inspect an animal for blemishes before offering it as a sacrifice. Thus, the three-day rule accounts for their sacrificial process.
The **Gemara** then discusses the prohibition of slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same day. There are four specific times a year when a seller must warn a buyer if they have sold the mother or daughter of an animal, as immediate slaughter is common. These days are **Erev Shemini Atzeret**, **Erev Pesach**, **Erev Shavuot**, and **Erev Rosh Hashanah**. **Rabbi Yosef** in the **Galil** adds **Erev Yom Kippur**. These are days when people traditionally slaughter animals for festive meals. The **Tosafot** explains that on **Erev Shemini Atzeret**, many are making up for unfulfilled sacrifices from **Sukkot**. On **Erev Pesach**, it is for the **Korban Pesach**. On **Erev Shavuot**, it is for the **Korban Chagigah** and **Olat Re'iyah**. On **Rosh Hashanah**, it is to have a festive meal to start the year well. And on **Erev Yom Kippur**, in the **Galil**, it is for a large feast.
The **Tosafot** further questions why only **Erev Yom Kippur** is singled out for concern regarding slaughtering on **Shabbat** if it falls on a Sunday. If people are eating large meals on all these days, they might slaughter on **Shabbat** if the eve of the holiday falls on a Sunday. The **Gemara** explains that on the other holidays, people typically eat large animals, which require significant preparation and thus remind them of **Shabbat**. However, on **Erev Yom Kippur**, people in the **Galil** would eat lighter foods like fowl and fish, which are easier to slaughter quickly, leading to a greater concern about violating **Shabbat**.
Finally, the **Gemara** discusses the laws of sacrifices for **Bnei Noach**. It derives from the verse "from all the living... two of each" that **Noach** was to bring animals with their "main organs" intact, meaning they could not be missing limbs. This is learned from the word "living." The phrase "to preserve offspring" teaches that the animals cannot be a **Terefah**, as a **Terefah** is assumed not to be able to procreate. However, if one holds that a **Terefah** *can* procreate, then the exclusion of a **Terefah** must be derived from "like you," implying that just as **Noach** was perfect, so too should the animals be. The phrase "to preserve offspring" then serves to exclude old or castrated animals, which, while not **Terefah**, cannot procreate. The **Tosafot** clarifies that the prohibition for **Bnei Noach** to bring a blemished sacrifice is a positive commandment to bring a perfect one, rather than a negative commandment against bringing a blemished one, which is why it is not counted among the seven Noachide commandments, which are all negative prohibitions.