Imagining Torah

(1) The Rambam's Introduction to the Mishneh Torah

"Then I will not be ashamed when I gaze at all Your mitzvot"(Psalms 119:6).
All of the mitzvot given to Moses at Mount Sinai were all given together with their explanations, as implied by [Exodus 24:12]: "And I will give you the tablets of stone, the Torah, and the mitzvah."
"The Torah" refers to the Written Law; "the mitzvah," to its explanation. [God] commanded us to fulfill "the Torah" according to [the instructions of] "the mitzvah. "The mitzvah" is called the Oral Law.

(2) Moses, our teacher, personally transcribed the entire Torah before he died. He gave a Torah scroll to each tribe and placed another scroll in the ark as a testimonial, as [Deuteronomy 31:26] states: "Take this Torah scroll and place it [beside the ark…] and it will be there as a testimonial."

(3) "The mitzvah" - i.e., the explanation of the Torah - he did not transcribe. Instead, he commanded it [verbally] to the elders, to Joshua, and to the totality of Israel, as [Deuteronomy 13:1] states: "Be careful to observe everything that I prescribe to you." For this reason, it is called the Oral Law.

(4) Even though the Oral Law was not transcribed, Moses, our teacher, taught it in its entirety in his court to the seventy elders.

(1) Rabbi Hoshaya the Great began: “I1The speaker is Wisdom (the Torah) personified. was with Him as an amon, a delight day after day…” (Proverbs 8:30) –
Another matter, amon means artisan [uman]. The Torah is saying: ‘I was the tool of craft of the holy, blessed One.’ The way of the world is that when a flesh-and-blood ruler builds a palace she does not build it based on her own knowledge, but rather based on the knowledge of an artisan. And the artisan does not build it based on her own knowledge, but rather, she has [plans on] sheets and tablets by which to ascertain how she should build its rooms, how she should build its doors. So too, the holy, blessed One looked in the Torah and created the world. The Torah says: “Bereshit God created” (Genesis 1:1), and reshit is nothing other than the Torah, as it says: “YHVH made me at the beginning of [reshit] God's way” (Proverbs 8:22).

It says - "God founded the Earth with Wisdom", Wisdom is Torah. This Torah - where did it come from from and from whence its name?

... In Greek they call the external appearance theoria; that is, Torah was first hidden in the heavens before the creation of the Earth and the skies, and then it became visible and was given to Israel...

You might think it was written on a scroll - but no animal had yet been created, form which to take the skin to create parchment.

You might think it was carved on gold or silver or other metals - but none of them had been created, or processed or discovered. You might have thought it was written on a wooden board, but trees has not yet been created. Then with what was it written, and what was it written upon? With black fire upon white fire connected to the arm of the holy One, as it says - "from God's right - a fiery law to the people".

(13) (Devarim 33:2) "From His right hand (He gave) them the law of fire": When the word left the mouth of the Omnipotent, it left by way of the right hand of the Holy One and the left of Israel and encircled the encampment of Israel, twelve mil by twelve mil, and returned by way of the right of Israel to the left of the L-rd. And the holy, blessed One received it with Her left hand and engraved it into the tablet. And Her voice traveled from one end of the world to the other, viz. (Psalms 29:7) "The voice of YHVH cleaves (the tablets with) shafts of fire."

And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “His cheeks are as a bed of spices, (Song of Songs 5:13)? From each and every utterance that emerged from the mouth of the Holy One, Blessed be He, the entire world was filled with fragrant spices. And since the world was already filled by the first utterance, where was there room for the second utterance to go? The holy, blessed One brought forth wind from Her treasuries and made the spices pass one at a time, leaving room for the consequences of the next utterance. As it is stated: “His lips are lilies [shoshanim] dripping with flowing myrrh.” Do not read the word in the verse as shoshanim; rather, read it as sheshonim, meaning repeat. And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: From each and every utterance that emerged from the mouth of the holy, blessed One the souls of the Jewish people left their bodies, as it is stated: “My soul departed when he spoke” (Song of Songs 5:6). And since their souls left their bodies from the first utterance, how did they receive the second utterance? Rather, God rained the dew upon them that, in the future, will revive the dead, and He revived them, as it is stated: “You, God, poured down a bountiful rain; when Your inheritance was weary You sustained it” (Psalms 68:10).

(1) “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is better than wine” (Song of Songs 1:2).

(2) Another matter, “let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: An angel would take the utterance from before the holy, blessed One, each and every utterance, and circulate them before each and every Israelite and say to her: ‘Do you accept this utterance upon yourself? There are such and such laws in it, there are such and such punishments in it, there are such and such decrees in it, and so many commandments, and so many a fortiori inferences, there are such and such rewards in it.’ The Israelite would say to the angel: ‘Yes.’ [The angel] would then say to her: ‘Do you accept the divinity of the holy, blessed One?’ And she would say to him: ‘Yes, yes.’ Immediately the angel would kiss her on the mouth; that is what is written: “You have been shown in order to know [that the Lord, He is God]” (Deuteronomy 4:35), by means of an agent.
The Rabbis say: The utterance itself would circulate before each and every Israelite, and say to her: ‘Do you accept me upon yourself? There are such and such commandments in me, there are such and such laws in me, there are such and such punishments in me, there are such and such decrees in me, there are such and such commandments in me, and there are such and such a fortiori inferences in me, there are such and such rewards in me.’ She would say to it: ‘Yes, yes.’ Immediately, the utterance would kiss her on the mouth,

(1) 'Inscribe those words for yourself [for according to those words I have formed a covenant with you and with Israel']

When God was revealed at Sinai to give the Torah to Israel, God said [taught] to Moses the following order: Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, and Aggadah, as it says : "God spoke all these words, saying", even what a student will ask his teacher. God said to Moses, at that time.