AGADAH: The Mishnah (15b) at the beginning of the Perek mentions that there
were "thirteen prostrations" in the Beis ha'Mikdash. Whenever the Kohanim
would pass by one of thirteen specific places in the Beis ha'Mikdash, they
would bow down. The Mishnah (16b) goes on to describe where these
prostrations took place and says that they were done at the thirteen gates
in the wall of the Mikdash (four in the north, four on the south, three in
the east, and two in the west). The Gemara says that the Mishnah is going
according to the opinion of Aba Yosi ben Yochanan, who maintains that there
were thirteen gates in the wall of the Mikdash. The Rabanan, though,
maintain that there were only seven gates. According to the Rabanan, where
were the thirteen prostrations done? The Gemara answers that they were done
at the thirteen places in the Soreg (the ten-Tefach-high fence surrounding
the Mikdash within the walls of Har ha'Bayis) where the Greeks made breaches
in the Soreg, which the Chashmona'im repaired. The prostrations at those
places were instituted as a sign of gratitude to Hashem for the victory over
the Greeks (Bartenura, Midos 2:3).
The thirteen breaches the Greeks made in the Soreg, and the thirteen repairs
that the Chashona'im made, reflect the essence of the real battle between
the Greeks and the Jews at that time.
The Midrash (Bereishis Rabah 2:4) states that the word "darkness" in the
verse, "The world was chaos and void, with darkness over the face of the
deep" (Bereishis 1:2), is an allusion "to the exile imposed by the Greeks,
who darkened the eyes of Israel with their decrees." Why is the Greek
persecution of the Jews specifically represented by the word "darkness?"
Our Sages tell us that on the day that the Egyptian ruler, Ptolemy,
commissioned his translation of the Torah (the Septuagint), "A three-day
long period of darkness descended upon the world" (TUR OC 580). The
translating of the Torah, then, is the "darkness" of the Greek exile. What,
though, was the great tragedy of translating the Torah into another
language, and why should it cause the world to become dark?
The Midrash relates that Ptolemy gathered together seventy-two elders and
placed them in seventy-two separate rooms, not informing any of them the
purpose of their summons. He approached each of them and said, "Write down
[into Greek] the Torah of your teacher Moshe for me." Hashem arranged that
the same thoughts occurred to all of them and they made the same thirteen
modifications in their translations. (Sofrim 1:7-8; Megilah 9a)
When the Torah was translated, it lost of the nuances of meaning -- the
double-entendres and the various implicit insinuations in the words of the
Torah, and Gematrias, acrostics and other word-based analyses are impossible
to carry over from Lashon ha'Kodesh to another language. The entire body of
the Oral Torah which lies beneath the surface of the written text was thus
severed -- and deleted -- from the translation. That was the tragedy.
The Oral Torah is compared in the Midrash (Tanchuma, Noach #3) to a light
that illuminates the darkness. The Midrash says: "The Oral Torah is
difficult to learn and its mastery involves great hardship. It is therefore
compared to darkness in the verse, 'The people who walked in darkness saw a
great light' (Yeshayahu 9:1). The 'great light' is a reference to the great
light that is seen by the Talmudic sages (they understand matters with great
clarity), for Hashem enlightens their eyes in matters of ritual law and laws
of purity. In the future it is said of them, 'Those who love Him will shine
as bright as the sun when it rises with its full intensity' (Shoftim 5:31).'
...Reward for the study of the Oral Torah is to be received in the World to
Come, as it says, "The people who walk in darkness saw a great light.'
'Great light' is a reference to the primeval light which was hidden away by
Hashem during Creation as a reward for those who toil over the Oral Torah
day and night." Those who "shed a great light" on the Oral Torah are
rewarded with the pleasure of the "great light" of Creation.
It is now clear why translating the Torah into Greek caused a darkness to
descend upon the world. The darkness was caused by the obstruction of the
"great light" of the Oral Torah that resulted from the translation of the
Torah into a foreign language. The Chashmona'im, who defeated the Greeks and
the culture they espoused, returned to some degree the glory of the Torah to
its place, and the Chanukah candles that we light in commemoration of that
miracle represent the "great light" of the Oral Torah.
Now we can better understand the significance of the thirteen breaches the
Greeks made in the Soreg, and the thirteen repairs that the Chashmona'im
made.
The foundation of the Oral Torah is the thirteen Midos she'ha'Torah
Nidreshes ba'Hen -- the thirteen exegetical principles which are enumerated
in the introduction to Toras Kohanim. Through these principles, the Oral Law
is derived from the written text of the Torah. (This is why the Midrash
HaZohar on Bereishis teaches that the number thirteen serves as a metaphor
for the Oral Torah.)
The Elders made *thirteen* modifications in the text of the Torah when they
translated it into Greek. This number represents the fact that inherent in
the translation is the loss of the Oral Torah, which is derived through the
*thirteen* exegetical principles. The *thirteen* breaches made by the Greeks
and repaired by the Chashmona'im represent the entire focus of the
Chashmonai war against the Greeks. The Greeks sought to eliminate the
thirteen principles through their literal translation of the Torah into
Greek, with its resultant loss of the Oral component of the Torah. The
Chashmona'im succeeded in restoring the tools of Torah interpretation. In
order to commemorate and give thanks for this victory of authentic Torah
ideology over the shallow, incomplete misrepresentation of Torah, *thirteen*
bowings were instituted at the sites of the repaired breaches.
It is interesting to note that according to Rashi (Devarim 33:11), there
were *thirteen* Chashmona'im who commanded the Jewish army that overthrew
the Greeks. These thirteen men enabled the Jewish people to preserve the
Oral Torah and its thirteen principles! (Based on the explanation of Rav
David Cohen in "Bircat Yaavetz," p. 147)