Pisqa’ 233¹

1

“Do not wear garments of wool and linen fibers mingled as one . . .

Tassels shall you make for yourself” (Dt.22:11-12)—

[If one may not mingle fibers how can one make tassels]?

Both of these commandments were given in a single utterance.

[So, too,] “Remember the Sabbath Day” (Ex.20:8)

and “Preserve the Sabbath Day” (Dt.5:12)

were both given in a single utterance.²

“Who defiles it will quickly be put to death” (Ex.31:14)
and “On the Sabbath Day, two yearling lambs” (Nu.28:9)

were both given in a single utterance.

“Do not reveal the shame of your bother’s wife” (Lv.18:16)

And “Her brother-in-law shall consort with her” (Dt.25:5)

were both given in a single utterance.

“Every daughter claiming an inheritance among the tribes of Israel shall be taken as a wife

by a man from a clan of her father’s tribe” (Nu.36:8)

and “The inheritance shall not shift from one tribe to another” (Nu.36:9)

were both given in a single utterance.³

[Now this proves that the Torah is from Heaven,]

for it is clearly impossible for flesh and blood

to say two things with a single utterance.

As it is said:

“God has spoken once, but these two things have I heard” (Ps.62:12).⁴

1. H:242-243;JN2:148.
2. Mechilta Ishmael, bakhodesh, 7.
3. See the supplentary material to Sifre Nu., 42.
4. The entirety of Pisqa’ 233.1, and much of 234.1, are lacking in many mss. Finkelstein notes that the material before us here is attested as part of Sifre no earlier than the Tosafists (e.g., B. Men.41b, s.v., beit shamm’ai), who cite it with other well-attested passages of Sifre. See F:266, n. 6 and RH’s text.