In which is explained:
- That at the giving of the Torah, Moshe Rabbeinu was commanded to remain attached to his body.
- That the Torah can be learned either according to divine intellect or human intellect.
- That we received the Torah as a gift, and this allows us to implement it according to our human intellect.
- That this explains why it is a mitzvah to eat and drink on Shavuos.

It says in Parshas Yisro (Shemos 19,21):

"And Hashem said to Moshe: Go down, warn the people lest they break through to Hashem to see, and many of them will fall...And Moshe said to Hashem: The people cannot ascend to Mount Sinai, for You warned us saying: Set boundaries for the mountain and sanctify it."

"But Hashem said to him: Go, descend, and you shall ascend, and Aaron with you, but the priests and the people shall not break through to ascend to Hashem, lest he wreak destruction upon them. And Moshe went down to the people, and told them."

"And G-d spoke all these words, saying: I am Hashem, your G-d..."

Behold, these posukim are a puzzle. What did Hashem add in his second command to Moshe to answer Moshe’s question, that “the people cannot ascend, because You warned us”? Also, the changes of language require explaining - Hashem said “lest they break through to Hashem to see”, but Moshe said “the people cannot ascend to Mount Sinai”. There are also several other changes.

But it seems to me, according to what I wrote in the foreword to the sefer Mei Niddah, that Hashem commanded Moshe to remain with his body and soul connected, something which was not true for all the other prophets, who needed to shed their material body. The reason why He commanded that Moshe should do differently, was in order that through him all the people would understand the words of Hashem. Because one who is fitting to receive prophecy can impart the ability to one who is not fitting. However, if he shed his material body, then there would be too large a gap between Moshe and Klal Yisrael, but by remaining as he was there would only be a relatively small gap.

This is also the meaning of posuk 9, “Behold, I am coming to you in the thickness of the cloud”, meaning, that Moshe will be in the thickness of the cloud - in the material of the cloud, that is, in his body, “in order that the people hear when I speak with you”, because then they can also hear Hashem’s words. And this is also like what the sefer Ha’Ikkarim wrote when explaining the posuk in Psalms (68,19) “you took gifts to be among men”, that is, when he could be called a man - not when he sheds his material body, because then he is not like a man, but rather an angel. See there in detail.

Now, it is well known that which the Ran wrote in his explanation of the gemara in Bava Metzia 86a, concerning a person who has a white spot (baheress) with two white hairs in it, which, if the two hairs had turned white after the spot appeared, would be declared by a Kohen to be impure. The question arose in the Heavenly Academy about a case where it is not known which came first, the white hairs or the white spot. Hashem said that in such a case he is pure, but the Heavenly Academy said he is impure. Hashem said: “Who will decide? Rabbah bar Nachmani will decide”, and Rabbah bar Nachmani declared that he is pure.

The explanation of this gemara is that the Heavenly Academy knew that according to divine intellect he is considered pure, but the dispute was concerning what the halachah should be according to human intellect - whether according to human intellect he is also considered pure. Therefore they asked Rabbah bar Nachmani, who, being still alive, would declare the halachah according to human intellect.

Now, it says in the gemara in Chagigah - “R. Elozor ben Azariyah said: Even though these Rabbis declare a matter to be impure and these declare it to be pure, these forbid and these permit, these declare it to be unfit and these declare it to be fit, nevertheless, do not be perturbed, because one shepherd gave them all, from the Master of the world, the Master of all deeds, as it says, "and Hashem spoke all these words, saying".

It is clear that the gemara is explaining that this posuk means that all the differences of opinion were stated by Hashem, by His Holy mouth, so to speak, and so they are all valid. And from the words of the Ran, we can understand that this means that Hashem stated what would be decided according to both divine intellect and human intellect.

Now, the reason for the difference between the human intellect and the divine intellect is caused by the body being made of earthly material, and in addition eats material things, which causes a coarse nature and clouds the intellect. The ministering angels, however, who are spiritual, and do not have a turbid body, have divine intellect. I wrote in the foreword to Mei Niddah, and also in the Sefer Hachaim, that the reason why the Torah was given to Moshe whilst he was with his body, like a man, was in order that the Torah would be implemented according to the human intellect.

With this we can understand what Chazal said on the posuk in Psalms (68,19) “You ascended on high, you took captives; you took gifts to be among men” - as a reward for them calling you man, you took gifts. How can taking gifts be a measure for measure reward for being called a man? But the intention of Chazal is to show us that our being able to implement the Torah according to human intellect is because the Torah was given as a gift. Because one who receives a giftt can do with it what he wishes, but with a deposited item he can only do what the depositor wishes.

Here too, if the Torah had to be implemented according to divine intellect, that would mean that the Torah would be in our hands only as a deposit. But if the Torah is allowed to be implemented according to our intellect - even if it sometimes results in a ruling that is opposite of that which would be reached with divine intellect - it means that the Torah is considered to be ours as a gift, and therefore we are permitted to implement it according to our opinion. Therefore it says, “you took gifts to be amongst men” - they called you man and they intended to disparage you, saying that because you are human you cannot attain divine intellect, and should therefore not receive the Torah. But this argument caused you to be rewarded, so that on the contrary, because you have human intellect “you took gifts” - the Torah was given to you as a gift, so that you can implement it according to your intellect.

With this we can understand that which is written in parshas Eikev (Devarim 9,9) “and I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I did not eat bread and I did not drink water…And it was at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Hashem gave to me two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant”. What these posukim mean, is that since he had neither eaten nor drank during the forty days and nights that he was on the mountain, he had a divine intellect, and so he did not need to implement the Torah according to the human intellect. Therefore, at that time Hashem did not have to give him the Torah as a gift. But “at the end of forty days” when the time had come for him to descend from the mountain, he returned to being more material and thus had human intellect, and so the Torah had to be given to him as a gift in order that he could implement the Torah according to human intellect. Thus it says “at the end of forty days…Hashem gave me” - He gave it to Moshe as a gift.

With this we can understand the posukim that we started with. At the time of the giving of the Torah, since the impurities from the primeval serpent had been eliminated from Klal Yisrael on their arrival at Mount Sinai, and thus they had reached a very high spiritual level, they wished to rise further and  divest themselves from their material body in order that they should merit to see Hashem. Because although it says in the Torah, “a person cannot see me and live”, this is true only if he is still with his body, but by shedding the body one can see Him.

Therefore, since Hashem was concerned that they should want to do this, He commanded that they should remain with their bodies. Because if they ascend ever upwards, until they reach the level where they wish to divest themselves from their body, then on the contrary, doing this will actually cause them to fall from their lofty level. Because when they are with their body, and thus called man, they are more important than angels, as is clear from the Midrash on parshas Vayeira, (and see also the introduction to Mei Niddah a proof for this). So Hashem said to Moshe “go down and warn the people lest they break through to Hashem, to see”, that is, lest they break through and want to be divested from their physical being in order to see Hashem, and through this “many of them will fall” from their high level since they are no longer with their bodies.

But Moshe Rabbeinu did not understand Hashem’s intention, because it did not occur to him that a person attached to his body is more important than one who is detached, and that Hashem should therefore be concerned that they should not divest themselves. Therefore, he thought that Hashem’s intention concerned Mount Sinai, that they should not ascend the mountain. Therefore he argued that the people are not able to ascend Mount Sinai, because “You warned us”.

Thus Hashem replied to him that he should experience the truth himself. Right now, when Moshe was on the mountain, he was detached from his body, and so Hashem told him to descend and thereby become reattached to his body, and then he would understand that he would rise to a level higher than he was now. Because right now only he alone had ascended to Hashem, but when he will be with his body then Aharon would ascend with him from the influence of Moshe.

This is what He said to him, “Go, descend, and you shall ascend, and Aharon with you”, because this descent will actually be an ascent for you because you will then raise up Aharon with you. And then you will understand and know that a person attached to his body is more beloved to Hashem than one who is sheds his body. And from this Moshe would automatically understand that Hashem’s intention had been that he should warn the Kohanim and the people lest they break forth to ascend by divesting themselves from their bodies in order to cling to Hashem, “lest He wreak destruction amongst them”, because on the contrary, Hashem wants them to be attached to their bodies.

Now, the reason why Hashem was particular that they should stay with their bodies, was because Hashem saw that they were destined to sin and thereby cause the impurities of the primeval snake to return to them, and thus they would have human intellect, and halachic disputes would increase amongst them. Also, Hashem wanted to tell them now all the things which were forbidden and permitted, and if they were divested from their bodies and thus have divine intellect, they would not understand that human intellect taught differently. This is what happened in the Heavenly Academy where they differed with Hashem concerning the halachah according to the human intellect, and declared him impure, and they required Rabbah bar bar Channah to prove that even according to human intellect Hashem understood him to be pure.

Therefore, Hashem wanted that they should remain with their bodies, so that they will know that as Hashem says, so it is - they will know that what Hashem is saying in the name of human intellect, really is what the human intellect teaches,. This is what the posuk is saying, “and Moshe descended from the mountain, and he spoke to them”, and warned them that they should remain with their bodies. Then, “Hashem spoke to them all these things, saying” - he spoke everything, according to both human intellect and divine intellect, both the opinion of those who forbid and of those who permit, as Chazal stated in the gemara in Chagigah.

We can now understand what Chazal said in the gemara in Pesachim - “everyone agrees that on Shavuos we require ‘for you’ (everyone agrees that the festival is for us, and so requires us to eat and drink), because it is the day on which the Torah was given”. Why does the fact that it is the day on which the Torah was given require us to eat and drink?

But behold, the main significance of the giving of the Torah was not that until then they did not know the Torah, because in fact they already had the Torah before this - once they arrived at Mount Sinai their impurities were eliminated, and they sensed the Torah with their intellect by themselves, in the same way that the Avos kept the Torah. However, they did not yet merit that the Torah be given to them as a gift. It was only a deposit by them, and therefore could only be implemented according to divine intellect.

But on that day the Torah was given to them as a gift, to do with it like a person does with his own things, using human intellect. And therefore it is called the time of the giving of our Torah, the key word being ‘giving’, since this giving was the main benefit of the day, to allow us to implement it according to human intellect.

Now, a person’s intellect becomes altered only through his eating material things, and thus his intellect becomes material. But if we would eat the manna, which is spiritual food, then we would have spiritual intellect like the angels, and if we would have divine intellect, then it would make no difference if the Torah was ours as a deposit or a gift, and thus there would be no special benefit from that day, since the actual Torah we already knew, as the Alshich wrote in his talk on “if He had brought us before Mount Sinai, and He had not given us the Torah, it would have been sufficient”, see there. If so, the main benefit of the day comes from the fact that a person eats and drinks, and thus has human intellect, and so the Torah was given to us as a gift so that we can implement it according to our intellect.

Therefore, everyone agrees that on Shavuos we require also ‘for you’, because it is the day that the Torah was given to us as a gift, and the advantage of it being a gift is only because we eat and drink. Therefore it is necessary to eat and drink on that day, because from this came the great benefit of the day.