Not One Yud Shall Pass From the Torah
(The Rest of the Story)
By
James Scott Trimm
In the Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua says:
Truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one yud or one hook will pass away from the Torah until they all be fulfilled.
(Matthew 5:18)
Here Yeshua is referring to a midrash about Solomon that must have been well known to his Second Temple Era audience, concerning the letter yud (also spelled yod). The midrash is cited three times in the Midrash Rabbah, with slightly different wording in each instance:
But Solomon arose and studied the reason of God’s decree, saying: ‘Why did God command, ” He shall not multiply wives to himself? Is it not ” That his heart turn not away “? Well, I will multiply and still my heart will not turn away. Our Sages said: At that time, the yod of the word yarbeh went up on high and prostrated itself before God and said: ‘Master of the Universe! Hast thou not said that no letter shall ever be abolished from the Torah? Behold, Solomon has now arisen and abolished one. Who knows? Today he has abolished one letter, to-morrow he will abolish another until the whole Torah will be nullified? ‘ God replied: ‘ Solomon and a thousand like him will pass away, but the smallest tittle will not be erased from thee.’ Whence do we know that He did erase it from the Torah and put it back again?
(Midrash Rabbah Exodus VI:1)
From Solomon; through his attempt at uprooting one letter of the Torah, the accusation arose against him. And who presented the accusation against him? Said R. Joshua b. Levi: The letter yod of the word yarbeh. R. Simeon taught: The Book of Deuteronomy ascended and prostrated itself before the Holy One, blessed be He, saying to Him: ‘ Lord of the Universe, Solomon has uprooted me and made of me an invalid document,’ since a document out of which two or three points are void is entirely void,and King Solomon sought to uproot the letter yod out of me: It is written, He should not multiply (lo yarbeh) horses to himself (Deut. 17:16) and he has multiplied horses to himself; it is written, Neither shall he multiply wives to himself (ib. 17) and he has multiplied wives to himself; it is written, Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold (ib.) and he has multiplied silver and gold to himself.’ The Holy One, blessed be He, answered: ‘ Go! Solomon will be eliminated and a hundred like him, but not even a single yod that is in thee shall ever be made void.’
(Midrash Rabbah Leviticus XIX:2)
BLACK AS A RAVEN. R. Alexander b. Hadrin and R. Alexander Karoba said: Were all the inhabitants of the world to come together and try to turn one wing of a raven white, they would not succeed. So if all came together and tried to remove a yod, the smallest letter of the Torah, they would not succeed. From what can you learn this? From the case of Solomon; for because he sought to remove a yod from the Torah, an accuser rose against him. Who accused him? R. Joshua b. Levi said: The yod in Yarbeh accused him. R. Simeon b. Yohai said: The book of Deuteronomy went up and prostrated itself before the Almighty, and said before Him: ‘ Sovereign of the Universe, Thou hast written in the law that a testament of which part is cancelled is wholly cancelled. King Solomon seeks to remove a yod from the Torah., The Holy One, blessed be He, replied: ‘Solomon and a hundred like him will pass away, but a yod in thee will never pass away.’
(Midrash Rabbah Song of Songs V:12)
The Torah required each king of Israel to personally transcribe a copy of the Torah for himself (Deut. 17:18).
According to this midrash, when Solomon made his copy, he dropped the yod from the phrase “and shall not multiply wives to himself” (Deut. 17:17). The phrase should read:
ולא ירבה־לו נשים
“And he shall not multiply to himself wives” However Solomon transcribed:
ולא רבה־לו נשים
Dropping the letter yod (י) the smallest letter in the Hebrew aleph-bet, making the phrase “And he dose not multiply wives to himself” meaning that no matter how many wives a king has, he has not multiplied wives to himself. Put another way, the phrase is saying that a king can’t have too many wives! In other words, Solomon rationalized his polygamy, which violated this Torah commandment, by removing the yod from the verse.
This midrash sheds new light on Yeshua’s words:
Truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one yud or one hook will pass away from the Torah until they all be fulfilled.
Truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one yud or one hook will pass away from the Torah until they all be fulfilled.
(Matthew 5:18)
So as Paul Harvey would have said, now you know the rest of the story!
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