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§ In any event, everyone agrees that where these verses are written, it is with regard to idol worship that they are written. The Gemara asks: As the verse does not mention idol worship explicitly, from where is this inferred. Rava said, and some say it was Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi who said, and some say that the statement is unattributed, that the verse states:
“And when you act unwittingly, and do not perform all these commandments [kol hamitzvot] that the Lord spoke to Moses” (Numbers 15:22). Which is the mitzva that is the equivalent of all the mitzvot? You must say: It is the prohibition against idol worship.
The school of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi taught that the verse states:
“That the Lord spoke to Moses” (Numbers 15:22), and it is written:
“That the Lord has commanded you by the hand of Moses” (Numbers 15:23). Which isthe mitzva that was introduced in the speech of the Holy One, Blessed be He, heard by the Jewish people, and which He commanded in the Torah by means of Moses? You must say: This is idol worship, as Rabbi Yishmael taught concerning the first two commandments:
“I am the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:2), and: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3): We, the Jewish people, heard them from the mouth of the Almighty.
We examine the fundamental theological paradox embedded within Talmudic discussions of divine revelation, specifically focusing on the tension between direct divine speech and mediated prophetic transmission. The Talmudic passage from Horayot 8a, attributed to the school of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, highlights a critical interpretive problem: while Scripture presents Moses as the mediator of divine law, it simultaneously suggests that Israel heard certain commandments directly from God.