Letter 13: Edos
Category 5 — Symbolic mitzvos
So far, Rav Hirsch has covered fundamental truths (Toros) and commandments of justice (Mishpatim, Chukkim) and love (Mitzvos). Now, he turns to the Edos, category, mitzvos with symbolic meaning. In addition to what he writes here and in Horeb, an entire volume of his Collected Writings (Vol. 3) is dedicated to the topic, as well. It contains a deep dive into milah, tzitzis, tefillin, and the components of the Mishkan (he actually references this volume at the start of his commentary on Terumah, saying to look here for the real analysis of the materials used in building the Mishkan and the messages contained in the different keilim).
In his introduction to that volume, he writes: “The purpose of the present study is to draw up guidelines for a science which, if properly understood, might perhaps provide the basis for solving one of the most complex problems of Jewish knowledge.”
Essentially, mitzvos in the Edos category are meant to reinforce essential truths through consistent actions that call them to mind. “The basic life-dispensing truths must be reiterated and impressed upon the mind and the emotions in daily life as concretely as possible, preferably by signs and practices giving symbolic expression to the underlying ideas.”
Benefits of Symbols in Mitzvos
What are the benefits of symbolic practice? Rav Hirsch lists a few:
Concepts are conveyed as unified wholes, rather than fragmented by verbal presentations
The entire community engaging in the symbolic act together (picture a shul full of daled minim) demonstrates “one common thought and one common resolve,” rather than every individual reinforcing the idea on their own.
By attaching repeated action to ideas, they are imprinted on the soul rather than just repeated by the mouth (same as the Sefer Hachinuch’s “Acharei ha’peulos nimshachim ha’levavos”).
The fundamentals concepts:
God is Creator and Lord of the universe
everything in it belongs to Him
man is its custodian, meant to act according to His Will
Yisrael is the bearer of this doctrine about the function of mankind.
The related symbolic mitzvos are:
bechor
challah
orlah
chadash
Shabbos
yovel
shemittah
terumah
bikkurim
All of the Moadim are Edos, as well, each one carrying a specific message. From Horeb:
Tefillin, milah, mezuzah, and tzitzis are in this category as well.
Rav Hirsch uses the issur melachah of Shabbos as an example of a symbolic mitzvah conveying an essential idea — that we exist as stewards of God’s world, rather than masters of our own destiny. Every Shabbos, the anniversary of when the completed world was first given to humanity, we give the world back to Hashem by refraining from creative labor (some of you may recognize this as the “CEO mashal” and “closing the office”).
Do you not see that in every moment in which you refrain from doing melachah on Shabbos, you attest to the fact that God is the sole Creator and Lord, and you remind yourself that you are His servant? Do you not see that even the slightest and least arduous productive activity on Shabbos spells denial of God as Lord and Creator of the world, means that you usurp God’s throne, and implies repudiation and misrepresentation of the entire mission of man and Yisraelite?
Reasons for Mitzvos
In his Foreword to Horeb, Rav Hirsch addresses the potential tension between two seemingly contradictory ideas: the importance of understanding the ideas behind mitzvos, especially Edos, and the binding nature of mitzvos regardless of whether we understand them.
Such meditation over the Divine precepts is particularly required in the case of those commands most of them expressly stated, though some are derivative the object of which is in part to awaken in us certain trains of thought; those, that is to say, which prescribe for us a certain course of action in order that certain truths may thereby be given expression. In performing such commands we shall feel ourselves called upon to look for the relation in which the outward action prescribed for us stands to the thought which is to be expressed, and equally to consider and ponder on this thought in all its scope and consequences. Such commands are those especially which we have thought it right to group under the heading of Edoth. In the performanceof these commands this deeper penetration into their significance and the interrelation of all their parts might well be regarded as an essential requirement and as adding not a little to their proper fulfilment. For in view of their particular character these commands demand reflection, and reflection along definite lines of thought much more than is the case with other sections of the law.
But the question, “Why should I perform the commands ofthe Torah?” can never wait for an answer to be provided by your inquiries. You can never raise the question, “Am I then under an obligation to perform this commandment?” without thereby excluding yourself from the pale of Judaism; for with every such question you deny the Divine origin of the commandment concerned. Within the circle of Judaism the Divine law must be the soil out of which your intellectual and spiritual life is to grow, not vice versa : you must not from your intellectual and spiritual life produce the basis on which to establish a Divine law.
On the one hand, Rav Hirsch writes that investigating and reflecting on the reasons of Edos is even more important than it is with the rest of the mitzvos (this calls to mind the comment of the Bach regarding the essentiality of keeping the reason in mind during the practice of tefillin, sukkah, and tzitzis — the l’maan mitzvos, all three of which are Edos). On the other hand, even for Edos, we are bound to perform these mitzvos not because of the understanding we attach to them, but because Hashem commanded us to do them.
Importance of Details
Rav Hirsch stresses in a few places the importance of the details of every mitzvah in establishing its character and meaning. This is against the Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim, who writes that certain details in mitzvos, such as characteristics of certain korbanos, are basically arbitrary. One of the best illustrations of this approach is in the four sections in Volume Three, where Rav Hirsch analyzes every detail of milah, tzitzis, tefillin, and the Mishkan, showing how the minutiae of those mitzvos translate into the ideas that we are meant to call to mind through their practice. By extension, this serves as a critical expression of Rav Soloveitchik’s stated goal of developing a “worldview” out of the “sources of Halachah” from the end of Halachic Mind (which, of course, was the inspiration for Halachic Worldviews).
Shortcut Tip
The Feldheim edition of Horeb contains a massive Introduction by the translator, Dayan Grunfeld, which really serves as a comprehensive introduction to the thought of Rav Hirsch. One of the sections is Rav Hirsch on Symbolism, which summarizes much of what he writes in the third volume of the Collected Writings.
One more letter on mitzvos — Avodah, coming up next — and then Rav Hirsch returns to Letter 1 and shows how everything we’ve discussed so far actually allows us to respond to Benjamin’s questions.