בס''ד
Why are we called Sheva Tiheyenoh?
The amazing discovery of what the Chinuch really meant:
הביאור הלכה בסימן א' מביא דברי החינוך בהקדמתו : 'שש מצות שחיובן תמיד לא
יפסקו מעל האדם אפילו רגע אחד כל ימיו וכל זמן וכל רגע שיחשוב בהן קיים מצות עשה ואין קץ למתן שכר המצות'
The sefer HaChinuch in his hakdomoh, in the 'Igeress Hamechaber' and quoted by the Biur Halochoh writes ''There are six constant mitzvos that we are chayev to think about every waking second. A person should not stop thinking about them for even one moment. Every second and every moment he thinks of them he is mekayem a mitzvah from the Torah and there is no end to the reward for doing mitzvos''
They are: Lo Sosuru, LeHaamin, Leyached, Leyirah, Lo Na'amin bezuloso, and Le'ehov Hashem. The Biur halochoh in siman aleph, quotes this whole section of the Chinuch at length, however, the Chofetz Chaim when quoting the Chinuch in the Biur halochoh, leaves out an important line of the Chinuch that appears at the end. The Chinuch writes at the end:
''סימנם שש ערי מקלט תהיינה לכם''
''Simanam -shesh orey miklot tiheyenoh lochem".
What could he possibly mean?
This enigmatic line has famously baffled many talmidey chachomim for generations. When I asked HaRav Zvi Kushelevsky shlita why the Biur Halocho had omitted this line at the end of the Chinuch, he told me "The Chofetz Chaim didn't quote it- because he didn't understand it!"
Interestingly, the Pri Megadim explains that the Chinuch seems to mean that the six constant mitzvos are to be done continuously and one must run to do them - just like someone who runs to an 'ir miklot' and has to stay there constantly.
Similarly, the Apter Rav ztzt''l says the Chinuch means that keeping the six constant mitzvos will protect a person just like an Ir Miklot protects those who flee there. However, the explanations of the Pri Megadim ztz''l and The Apter Rav ztz''l don't tell us why this is a 'siman'. As Rav Kushelevsky shlita told me ''A siman is usually a way of remembering something!''
However, with Siyyatah DiShmayah I realised what the Chinuch meant! The six letters of the word ''TIHEYENOH'' each represent one of the six mitzvos! The second syllable after the 'lamed' in each mitzvah spells TIHEYENOH!
Taf- Lo Sosuru
Hey- LeHaamin
Yud- leYached
Yud- LeYiroh
Nun- Lo Naamin bezuloso
Hey- Le'eHov
(You may ask that in the mitzvah "Le'ehov" -an aleph is the second syllable! However see Rashi in parshas Bo- (Ch.10' 21') on the word "Vayamesh". Rashi says it's as if the Torah wrote Vayeyamesh, but since the pronunciation of an 'aleph' is so weak (unlike an 'ayin') the Torah wasn't makpid to even write the aleph here!
Because a siman is always the way something sounds, it is entirely understandable that in Le'ehov, the 'hey' is really the second syllable, not the aleph!
Also see Tiferes Yisroel Eruchin 4' mishnah 1. He explains there that because every mishnah had its own tune to remember it, sometimes the Tannah had to cut off some words - hence we have 'chisurey mechsarah' and sometimes the tune would only fit if they added words hence we have a 'zu ve'en tzorech lomar zu'. So we see that the way something sounds is the way we remember it! Thus the 'hey' is the second syllable after the 'lamed' in Le'ehov.)
Of course the Pri Megadim and Apter Rav are correct in their explanation, however I believe the siman to remember the six mitzvos is the word TIHEYENOH!
Now, I did have a problem with the 'nun' of TIHEYENOH. If you look at the girsa of the Chinuch- then you will see he writes the mitzvah as 'Lo LeHaamin bezuloso'. How is the 'nun' of TIHEYENOH a siman for this mitzvah? But then I looked at the girsah of the Biur Halochoh who quotes the text of the Chinuch for this mitzvah as "Lo Naamin bezuloso! - That was the real girsah of the Chinuch!
My son-in-law Rav Shimon Hafner asked me- Why did the Chinuch finish with the word 'lochem' - if the siman was TIHEYENOH? I initially answered that the chinuch simply quoted the whole possuk. But then I found the Chidah ztzt''l also brings this siman and he writes ''Simanchoh: shesh orey miklot TIHEYENOH'' - The Chidah does not bring the word 'Lochem'!
Let's remember, the sefer HaChinuch was first printed at least 140 years after this holy rishon had died. I think the printer changed two things! He thought that if the Chinuch wrote 'Le Haamin' for the first mitzvah, then 'Lo Naamin' is a mistake- so he changed the text to 'Lo Lehaamin'- so as to have the same grammar as 'lehaamin'.
The printer also thought the Chinuch had forgotton to write the last word of the possuk- so he added 'lochem' himself!
It is also fascinating to note that the loshon of the chinuch quoted by the Biur Halochoh is 'Shesh mitzvos shechiyuvan tomid' If the siman is indeed 'TIHEYENOH' Then it would logically follow that 'TIHEYENOH' which includes all six mitzvos- is a 'CHIYUV TOMID' . The gematriah of 'CHIYUV TOMID' IS 480. The gematriah of 'TIHEYENOH' is also 480!!
Rav Zvi Kushelevsky shlita responded to my pshat in the Chinuch: 'Well that's definitely a possibility!'' Rav Avrohom Gurvitz shlita responded "It's very possible that was the kavanah of the Chinuch, but even if it wasn't, you have been mechadesh a tremendous chiddush from his words- letoeless godol!" I responded: "The rosh yeshivah means to say that if the Chinuch wasn't mechaven to this, The Rebono Shel Olam was 'mechaven' to it!''
I sent my pshat of the Chinuch to Hagaon Rav Chaim Kanievsky shlita. All I asked was if TIHEYENOH was the siman as explained above. I received a letter back from him two months later. Two days before I received this letter I had an argument with a rosh yeshivah. He told me: "You have discovered this with Siyyatah Dishmayoh, it is your tafkid to go around the world and teach all the Jews the shesh mitzvos temidious through the siman TIHEYENOH! I will even pay for the plastic 'TIHEYENOH CARDS' you will distribute!"
I argued saying "If I teach every single Jew in the world the shesh mitzvos temidious, I will have a tremendous zechus, however the zechus I have in learning but one tosafos in shas- is greater!"
Two days later the letter arrived from Rav Chaim shlita. He wrote two lines of text. In the first line he wrote "Siman lizkor".("it is a siman to remember") Then on the second line he wrote "shev vetilmad behasmoddoh" ("sit and learn with diligence!") It seems that Rav Chaim Kanievsky shlita holds that I should not take time off from learning tosafos in order to teach the shesh mitzvos temidious!
The reason why we chose 'Sheva' is because as the Chinuch himself writes, in parshas Behar- mitzvah 329- the word and the inyan 'Sheva' carries with it berochoh and haztlochoh.
From the sefer Meshorey Kitrin, authored by Rav Doniel Hool:
