לזכות גילה שושנה בת נעכא גיטל
Says the Rambam in his preface to the Yad Hachazaka:
כל המצוות שניתנו לו למשה בסיני – בפירושן ניתנו, שנאמר (שמות כד יב): "ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצוה" – "תורה" זו תורה שבכתב, ו"מצוה" זו פירושה. וצונו לעשות התורה על פי המצוה, ומצוה זו היא הנקראת "תורה שבעל פה".
All mitzvos that were given to Moshe at Sinai, were given with their commentary, as it says "I will give you the tablets of stone, the Torah and the mitzva" "Torah" is the written law. "Mitzva" is the commentary. and we were commanded to follow the Torah based on the mitzva and this mitzva is called the Oral Law - תורה שבעל פה.
תורה שבעל פה is the way we absorb תורה שבכתב. The תורה שבכתב is in the heavens and we have no relationship to it. Our entire תפיסה, perception of Torah, is via תורה שבעל פה.
It emerges that תורה שבעל פה is the חלות [actualization] of תורה שבכתב on our perception. We still have to understand why תורה שבעל פה is called מצוה.
The superficial understanding distinguishes between Torah and Mitzvos and understands Torah as a מהלך, path, within which Mitzvos were given. But there is more to it. If it were true then we wouldn't say that any Mitzva, even a מצוה מדרבנן, overrides the Mitzva of Talmud Torah. If Mitzvos were just an sub-element of Talmud Torah it wouldn't be that way. The nature of Mitzvos is the "חלות התורה במקבלים עד למעשה" - application of Torah on the receivers until it takes on a practical form.
The explanation: Torah is a מציאות that OBLIGATES us. Deeper: "איסתכל באורייתא וברא עלמא"- Hashem looked in the Torah and created the world. The Torah is an absolute reality. "לא תוכל לאכול בשעריך" - You may not eat it [Maaser Sheni] in your gates. The Targum says "לית לך רשו" - meaning, you have no permission! But the pasuk frames it in terms of ability. לא תוכל - You are unable.
That is the secret of נעשה ונשמע. We will do because it can't be otherwise. We MUST do. לא תרצח means that not only may we not kill but we just CAN'T do it. Impossible. That is the מציאות.
Then came חטא העגל. After מתן תורה we had returned to the days BEFORE the sin of אדם הראשון. We weren't supposed to ever die again. Then we sinned and lost it. Once again good and evil were mixed together. We returned to a world that lacked moral clarity. We were back in a state of a מציאות מחייבת - a reality that OBLIGATES US which will pave the way to a world that is once again a מציאות מוחלטת - absolute reality. Where the lines between good and evil are clearly delineated. Where we will see a fulfillment of the pasuk:
כֵּן יִהְיֶה דְבָרִי אֲשֶׁר יֵצֵא מִפִּי לֹא יָשׁוּב אֵלַי רֵיקָם כִּי אִם עָשָׂה אֶת אֲשֶׁר חָפַצְתִּי וְהִצְלִיחַ אֲשֶׁר שְׁלַחְתִּיו
So shall be My word that emanates from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, unless it has done what I desire and has made prosperous the one to whom I sent it.
Absolute reality!
The word "פרע" means the opening of a closing [as in פריעה במילה]. Chazal use this term in the context of repaying a loan "פריעת חוב". The word חוב is related to the words מחבוא and חבוי - hidden. פרעון is the גילוי - revealing of what was hidden. The money that Shimon owed to Reuven belonged to Reuven all along. Just until now it was "hidden" with Shimon and now it is "exposed" and "revealed" when returned to Reuven. [The Nesivos 344-1 says that פרעון doesn't require a קנין. It belonged to the lender all along...].
So too, a חוב - obligation, in halacha is an absolute reality. It was just hidden that that is the way it HAD to be. Fulfilling the חוב brings out in to the open this absolute reality.
לא תרצח means that you CAN'T kill. After we sinned and lost our moral clarity we hear that we MAY NOT kill - but we also have an alternative option of we choose. It is a מצב חבוי - hidden situation of you CAN'T kill and that is the nature of the חיוב.
That is the secret of all of the punishments in the Torah. Uprooting everything that goes against true reality that have no independent existence.
Mitzva is the actualization of the Torah. It gives the Torah a מציאות in our world.
[עפ"י זה השער]
