Sotah - Daf 37
- Rebbe Meir: Shevet Binyomin jumped first into the Yam Suf
Rebbe Meir says that when Klal Yisroel stood by the Yam Suf, the shevatim were arguing who would go in first. קפץ שבטו של בנימין וירד לים תחילה – Then the shevet of Binyomin jumped forward and descended first into the sea, as it says: "שם בנימין צעיר רודם" – there, Binyomin the youngest rules them,” which the Gemara darshens as "רד ים" – he descended into the sea. והיו שרי יהודה רוגמים אותם – The officers of Yehudah began stoning them, as that passuk concludes: "שרי יהודה רגמתם" – the officers of Yehudah stoned them. לפיכך זכה בנימין הצדיק ונעשה אושפיזכן לגבורה – Therefore, Binyomin Hatzaddik merited to be host for the Shechinah (because the Aron was in the Kodesh Hakodoshim, in his territory), as it says in Moshe’s berachah to Binyomin: "ובין כתפיו שכן" – and between [Binyomin’s] shoulders [Hashem] rests.
- Rebbe Yehudah: Nachshon ben Aminadav jumped in first
Rebbe Yehudah disputes Rebbe Meir’s account: לא כך היה מעשה – The incident was not that way.אלא זה אומר אין אני יורד תחילה לים וזה אומר אין אני יורד תחילה לים – Rather, this [shevet] was saying, “I will not descend first, and this one was saying, “I will not descend first,” קפץ נחשון בן עמינדב וירד לים תחילה – Nachshon ben Aminadav jumped forward and descended first. The Gemara quotes pessukim describing Nachshon’s desperate tefillah. Moshe, too, was davening at length, until Hashem said: ידידיי טובעים בים ואתה מאריך בתפלה לפני – “My dear ones are drowning in the sea, and you are davening at length before Me?” Moshe said: רבונו של עולם ומה בידי לעשות – Master of the World, but what is in my power to do? Hashem told him to travel forth and lift his staff and split the sea. He concludes: לפיכך זכה יהודה לעשות ממשלה בישראל - Therefore, Yehudah merited to establish sovereignty in Yisroel, as it says: "היתה יהודה לקדשו ישראל ממשלותיו" – Yehudah became [Hashem’s] sanctified one to rule over Yisroel his dominions, the reason for which is given in the following passuk: משום ד"הים ראה וינוס" – because the sea saw and fled when Nachshon jumped in.
- Machlokes about the number of covenants for each mitzvah, and arvus
A Baraisa teaches that at Har Gerizim and Har Eival, there was a general blessing (ברוך אשר יקים את דברי התורה הזאת – Blessed is he who will uphold the words of this Torah) and a general curse (ארור אשר לא יקים וגו'), as well as a specific blessing and corresponding curse for each of the mitzvos. Additionally, each mitzvah includes four commandments: ללמוד וללמד לשמור ולעשות – to learn, to teach, to guard, and to perform, for a total of sixteen. These sixteen covenants were made at two other times: in Sinai, and in the plains of Moav. נמצא מ"ח בריתות על כל מצוה ומצוה – It emerges that there are a total of forty-eight covenants for each and every mitzvah (16x3=48). Rebbe Shimon does not consider the covenants of Har Gerizim and Har Eival (he maintains that Yehoshua only said the mitzvos listed there), and inserts instead the אהל מועד, and holds that all mitzvos were repeated there. The Gemara explains their machlokes. Another Tanna quotes Rebbe Shimon as adding that every mitzvah had forty-eight covenants multiplied by 603,550, the number of adult males present, because every Jew accepted responsibility ("ערבות") for every other Jew’s observing the commandments. Rebbi goes further and says that each of these must be in turn multiplied by an additional 603,550, and the Gemara explains that Rebbi holds that each Jew was an ערבא דערבא – a guarantor for a guarantor, meaning he even accepted responsibility for every other Jew’s responsibility for each other’s mitzvos.
