Aligned sentence by sentence
I think I should also append to this maamar twelve matters, any one of which, if I do not address, might inflame the hearts of the people and corrupt their faith.
When I clarify them, the force of their apparent difficulties will dissolve and hearts will be purified of them, as they were purified of those others.
I say: perhaps some people are reluctant to hold to this book, thinking that it does not contain many developed explanations of the commandments.
, , ,
I say: this book is not our only source in our religion — we have two other sources alongside it: the first, which precedes it, is the wellspring of reason; the second, which follows it, is the treasury of transmission.
, ,
The second: perhaps another person is put off because he finds apparent contradictions, such as: Samuel says 'all Israel was eight hundred thousand valiant men' (2 Sam. 24:9), and Chronicles says 'all Israel was one million one hundred thousand men' (1 Chr. 21:5).
, ,
I say: approximately three hundred thousand were registered in the royal rolls, and twenty-four thousand rotated each month. One version omitted them; the other included them.
Aligned sentence by sentence
The third: perhaps what leads him to this is a suspicion of false chronology — that a son is two years older than his father.
, ,
I say: the count of twenty-two years refers to his own age, while the forty-two years refers to his mother's age — and the reason is that it was through her that he perished.
The fourth: perhaps a rebel will rebel because of the laws of sacrifice — either for slaughtering animals, or for the shedding of blood and fat.
, , , ,
I come to the point and say: the Creator has decreed death for every living creature and set a lifespan for every soul. He made the lifespan of animals extend to the time of their slaughter, and placed slaughter in the position of death.
, ,
As for the suffering borne, and the pouring of blood and fat — the Torah clarifies that He made this a reminder for us: blood is the dwelling of our souls, as it says: 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood' (Lev. 17:11).
Aligned sentence by sentence
The fifth: perhaps someone wonders how the Creator made His presence dwell among people while leaving behind the pure angels.
, ,
We say: how do you know the angels are without light? For it is possible He placed among them light that is many times greater than what He placed among people.
The sixth: perhaps he marvels at the making of the Tabernacle and says: what does the Creator have to do with a canopy, a curtain, an oil lamp burning, a sound sounding, incense offered, a pleasant scent —
, , ,
We say — and in God we seek help — that all of these are forms of worship, not from the standpoint of need, since reason has established that He needs nothing, but rather all things need Him.
,
Rather, He intended that His servants worship Him from the finest things they possess — and the finest things they possess are meat, drink, music, incense, grain, oil, and delicacies.
,
They bring a small amount of it according to their capacity, and He recompenses them with much according to His power.
Aligned sentence by sentence
,
The seventh: one might wonder about the designations of the law — how a man, as long as his body is in its complete natural form, is not considered whole, yet if something is removed from it he becomes whole — I mean circumcision.
,
I clarify: the complete thing is that which has neither excess nor deficiency. The Creator created this portion as an excess on man's body — when it is removed, the excess is gone and the person remains in completeness.
The eighth: one might wonder about the case of the red heifer — how it was established to purify the impure and to defile the pure.
, , ,
We say: there is nothing astonishing about one thing producing two opposite effects relative to the body it contacts. We see fire melt lead and solidify milk; we see water moisten pine wood and dry out sycamore wood.
Aligned sentence by sentence
,
The ninth: the offering made to Azazel on the Day of Atonement, which some people have associated with the name of a demon.
,
We say: Azazel is the name of a mountain — like the verse 'He seized the rocky crag in battle and called its name Joktheel' (2 Kgs. 14:7); similarly Jabneel, Irpeel, and Jeruel are all place names.
,
One of the two goats was offered for the priests in the sanctuary, since most of their sins occur in the sanctuary; the other was offered for the people outside, since most of their sins occur outside.
, ,
The tenth: one asks about the heifer whose neck is broken — how it atones for a community concerning a sin they did not know of. I say: just as a person incurs penalty for doing what he must not do, so too he incurs penalty for neglecting to do what he must do.
Aligned sentence by sentence
The eleventh: he sees this nation that clings to this law as humiliated and degraded.
,
We say: if He had given those who follow His law perpetual dominion, the infidels would say they only worship their Lord as a safeguard for their prosperity — as indeed we know they said about Job.
,
The twelfth: one finds in the Torah no explicit reward or punishment in the World to Come — only worldly recompense.
I say: I have devoted a separate maamar to this matter — Maamar Nine — where I shall explain all that is needed on this topic with the help of the Merciful.
The Third Maamar is complete, with praise to God and by His assistance.