Rabbi Benny Feldman is a Torah Mitzion Shaliach in Kansas City Hezekiah ben Manoah, also known as Chizkuni ha-Chizkuni, who lived in the 13th century in the region of France/Provence, in his commentary on the Ten Commandments, mentions a practice we know today as the "טעם עליון” (Upper accentuation) and "טעם תחתון" (Lower accentuation): “In most of the Ten Commandments we find two cantillation marks per word (as opposed to only one on a word.) The symbolism that is represented by that fact is a reminder that we have two versions of the Ten Commandments in the written Torah. When the Torah is read in public on the festival of Shavuot, which is the anniversary of the revelation on Mount Sinai, we read the second commandment לא יהיה לך as well as the whole commandment commencing with the word: זכור using the major cantillation marks in order that each one of them be understood as a single verse. The 6th - 9th commandments are read on that occasion by using the minor cantillation marks, in order to understand them as separate verses. "The reason is that although we never find a verse that has only two words, in this instance the Rabbis decided to remind us that we are dealing with separate commandments. When the Torah is read on an ordinary Shabbat in the month of Sh’vat, however, and the Ten Commandments are read as part of the portion known as Yitro, we read the entire Ten Commandments using the minor cantillation marks as a result of which we make four verses of each one of them.... also in the commandments 'I am the Lord your God' and 'You shall not have' there is a major cantillation to make them both one verse for the memory that they were said in one utterance..." (Exodus 20:14) Summary of Chizkuni's Commentary: • During his time, there were two traditions regarding the trops (or in Chizkuni's words, melodies) of the Ten Commandments which had an impact on the division of the verses. • One tradition was used on the festival of Shavuot and the other during the Torah reading in the weekly Shabbat portions. • At the end of his words, Chizkuni mentions another possibility for the division of the verses. According to this possibility, the entire first section from the words "אנוכי ה' אלוקיך" (I am the Lord your God) to "למצוותי" (My commandments) is one verse consisting of 59 words. In Chizkuni's commentary, we find two traditions for the division of the verses between the first and second commandments ("אנוכי ה' אלוקיך" (I am the Lord your God) and "לא יהיה" (You shall have no)). The first is the division of the commandments into two verses before the words "You shall have no". The second does not divide between the commandments at all. The reason for this is the "memory that they were said in one utterance," as Chizkuni puts it (referring to the statement of Rabbi Simlai in Makkot 23b-24a – "I am the Lord your God” and: “You shall have no other gods” (Exodus 20:2, 3), the first two of the Ten Commandments, that we heard from the mouth of the Almighty, for a total of 613). However, there is another, third tradition for the division between the commandments (for example, in the Horeb Bible). The first verse in the first section begins with the words "אנוכי ה' אלוקיך" (I am the Lord your God) and ends with "על פני" (upon My face), and the second verse begins with "לא תעשה לך" (You shall not make for yourself). Why are there three traditions regarding the division of the first verses in the ten commandments? Which of them belongs to the "טעם עליון” (Upper accentuation) and which to the "טעם תחתון" (Lower accentuation)? Rabbi Wolf Heidenheim (RWH) - a German Masoretic scholar from the 18th century, understood from Chizkuni's commentary that there is no difference between the "טעם עליון" and the "טעם תחתון" in relation to the division of the first verses in the ten commandments. The first verse ends with “עבדים” (slaves) and the second verse begins with "לא יהיה" (You shall have no) (according to the tradition we counted as the first). The additional tradition that Chizkuni mentioned at the end of his words (the tradition we counted as the second) is merely a tradition intended to "remember" that the Israelites heard the first two commandments directly from God. This tradition is intended for "memory" and should not be used, neither in the Torah reading on the festival of Shavuot nor during the weekly Shabbat readings. RWH added that the tradition we counted as the third also serves as a "memory" that the Israelites heard the first two commandments directly from God (see below for the basis of the dispute between those to last traditions). Another approach, based on manuscripts and the verse counts found at the end of each parsha and book, was stated by Rabbi Breuer and Rabbi Luyfer. According to their approach, the tradition we counted as the first (the division of the verses between the first and second commandments before the words "לא יהיה" (You shall have no)) is the "טעם עליון", where each commandment appears in a separate verse. The "טעם תחתון" is the tradition we counted as the third, which mixes between the commandments and in which the first verse ends with the words "על פני" (upon My face) and includes part of the second commandment ("לא יהיה" (You shall have no) to "על פני" (upon My face)). This mixing is intended to emphasize the fact that the Israelites heard the first two commandments directly from God, as mentioned. The tradition we counted as the second (where the entire first section of the ten commandments is one verse) does not appear in manuscripts and does not match the verse counts at the end of each parsha and book (according to this tradition there are only nine verses in the Ten Commandments). These different approaches have implications on the way the Ten Commandments are read during the weekly Shabbat (portions of Yitro and Vaetchanan) as well as the reading on the festival of Shavout. However, the Biur Halacha 494:1 ruled that the "טעם עליון" is according to the tradition we counted as the second, which Chizkuni mentioned as "memory." Finally, it is important to clarify the basis of the dispute between the second and third traditions. RWH attributed this to the dispute between Maimonides (Rambam) and Nachmanides (Ramban) regarding the count of prohibitions in the second commandment (according to the explanation of Megilat Esther). Maimonides counts four prohibitions in the second commandment ("לא יהיה" (You shall have no), "לא תעשה לך" (You shall not make for yourself a graven image), "לא תשתחווה" (You shall not bow down to them), "לא תעבדם" (You shall not serve them)). Nachmanides objected, as we learned from the teaching of Rabbi Simlai in Makkot that the Israelites heard only two commandments directly from God, "אנוכי ה' אלוקיך" (I am the Lord your God) and "לא יהיה" (You shall have no). Nachmanides argues, therefore, that according to Maimonides it turns out that the Israelites heard five commandments directly from God. Megilat Esther reconciles, that according to Maimonides the Israelites heard directly from God only "לא יהיה" (You shall have no), but the rest of the prohibitions in the second commandment were heard from Moses. Nachmanides, on the other hand, believes that the second commandment the Israelites heard from the mouth of God is from "לא יהיה" (You shall have no) to "למצוותי" (My commandments). The tradition we counted as the second, follows the opinion of Nachmanides that the Israelites heard the entire first section of the Ten Commandments, which includes two commandments ("אנוכי ה' אלוקיך" (I am the Lord your God) and "לא יהיה" (You shall have no)) directly from God. On the other hand, the tradition we counted as the third follows the opinion of Maimonides, therefore only the words from "לא יהיה" (You shall have no) to "על פני" (upon My face) are in the same verse with the first commandment. Shabbat Shalom! For comments: benjush90@gmail.com
