Rabbi Kook

The Ten Commandments were given to Israel on the sixth of the month [of Sivan]. Rabbi Yossi says: on the seventh of the month.

Moshe went up [to Sinai to receive the Torah] in the beginning of the morning, and he came down from the mountain [with the Torah] early in the morning. The fact that he went up early is learned from that which it says: “Moshe woke up early in the morning and he ascended to Mt. Sinai” (Shemot 34:4). The fact that he came down early is learned from the pasuk, “Go, come down, and you shall go up, you and Aharon with you” (ibid. 19:24). The descent is connected to the ascent – just as the ascent was early in the morning, so too the descent was early in the morning.

How do we know that they would tie a strip of bright red fabric to the head of the sa’ir hamishtale’ach (the goat that was sent to the desert)? It is in line with the pasuk: "If their sins will be like scarlet, they will be whitened like snow (Yeshayahu 1:18).

How do we know that we should wash the wound of mila (circumcision) on the third day even if it is on Shabbat? It is based on the pasuk, “It was on the third day [since the circumcisions of the people of Shechem], as they were in pain” (Bereishit 34:25).

Rav Acha bar Yaakov said: “Chori” – that represents that they became bereft of their property.

What does it mean, “…that the first ones gave the boundaries” (Devarim 19:14)? Rav Shmuel bar Nachmani said: That which it says, “These are the sons of Se’ir the Chorite, the settlers of the land” – does it mean that others sit in the sky?! Rather it means that they were experts in settling the land, for they would say that the place where this measuring stick is found is good for an olive tree; the place of this stick is for grapes; the place of this stick is for a fig tree.

A person should never refrain from being in the beit midrash (study hall) for even a moment, for this halacha [above] was learned in the beit midrash for many years without its reason being revealed until Rav Chanina bar Akavia came and explained it.

R. Chanina ben Akavia said: Why did they say that the boats of the Jordan River are impure? It is because they are loaded on dry land and taken down to the river.