Bal Tosif

Halakhic Principles

Sources

Be careful to observe only that which I enjoin upon you: neither add to it nor take away from it.

Deuteronomy 13:1

You shall not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, but keep the commandments of your God יהוה that I enjoin upon you.

Deuteronomy 4:2

Variantly: "you shall not add to it": Whence is it derived that additions are not to be made to a lulav or to tzitzith? From "you shall not add to it." And whence is it derived that nothing is to be subtracted from them? From "and you shall not detract from it." And whence is it derived that if a Cohein began the priestly blessing, he should not say: Since I have begun to bless, I shall say (Devarim 1:11) "May the L-rd, the G-d of your fathers, add to you, etc." From (Ibid. 13:1) "All the thing (davar), etc…

Sifrei Devarim 82:4-5

40. Al Khazari: How could this be made to agree with the verse: 'Thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it?' (Deuteronomy 13:1).

Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, said: This dispute between the two baraitot is parallel to the dispute of the tanna’im, who disagreed with regard to a different matter. The blood of certain sacrifices, e.g., the firstborn and tithe offerings, is sprinkled once on the altar, while the blood of other sacrifices, e.g., burnt-offerings, is sprinkled four times. They require two sprinklings that are four, i.e., two sprinklings on opposite corners, so that the blood falls on all four sides…

Eruvin 100a:16-19

YE SHALL NOT ADD. On your own and think that it is in the service of God. You shall similarly not diminish. Now, my statement that ye may live does not require witnesses, for Your eyes have seen… (v. 3).

Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 4:2:1

YE SHALL NOT ADD [UNTO THE WORD WHICH I COMMAND YOU] — “such as placing five sections [of the Torah] in the phylacteries, five species in a lulav, five fringes [in a garment]. The same principle applies to the prohibition, neither shall ye diminish from it” [by placing three sections of the Torah in the phylacteries etc.]. This is Rashi’s language. And thus the Rabbis said in the Sifre: “Whence do we know that you are not to add to [the four species in the commandment of] the lulav, nor to the [four] fringes? Scripture therefore says, Ye shall not add…

Ramban on Deuteronomy 4:2:1

לא תוסיפו על הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם, ולא תגרעו ממנו “do not add to the words which I command you, nor subtract from it.” This is a warning for man not to try and be smarter than G’d by saying that he will do more than G’d commanded, by thinking that the addition will be considered part of his serving the Lord. This is why Moses had to point out that the Torah is perfect. Not only does it not need additions or subtractions but any addition is in fact a subtraction (Sanhedrin 29). Our sages in Sifri Re'ay 82 quote examples of what the Torah means by additions or subtractions…

Rabbeinu Bahya, Devarim 4:2:1

לא תוסיפו על הדברת ״, “do not add to the word, etc.” Moses reminds the people that when they had been told in Deut. 1,21 עלה רש “ascend and take ancestral possession,” they had added a condition of their own by requesting to dispatch spies. If they had not done so, they would have settled in the Holy Land 40 years earlier and would not have had to watch a whole generation die in the desert. Their fathers had become corpses in the desert. ולא תגרעו ממנו, “nor must you diminish any of G-d’s words as spelled out in the Torah…

Chizkuni, Deuteronomy 4:2:1-2

לא תסף עליו THOU SHALT NOT ADD THERETO — as, for instance, to place five chapters in the Tephillin, to employ five species of fruit and plants in the fulfilment of the command of Lulab, to recite four instead of three blessings in the Benedictions of the priests (Sifrei Devarim 82:4; cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 4:2).

Rashi on Deuteronomy 13:1:3

Abaye said to Rava: However, if that is so, that the fulfillment of a mitzva does not require intent, one who sleeps in a sukka on the Eighth Day of Assembly should receive lashes for violating the prohibition against adding to mitzvot, since he is adding to the mitzva of: “You shall dwell in sukkot for seven days” (Leviticus 23:42). Since, according to Rava, even if one did not intend to observe the mitzva of sukka but slept in the sukka for a different reason…

Rosh Hashanah 28b:8-24

A court has the authority to issue a decree and forbid something which is permitted and have its decree perpetuated for generations to come. Similarly, it has the authority - as a temporary measure - to release the Torah's prohibitions. What then is the meaning of the Scriptural prohibitions Deuteronomy 13:1: "Do not add to it and do not detract from it"?
The intent is that they do not have the authority to add to the words of the Torah or to detract from them, establishing a matter forever as part of Scriptural Law. This applies both to the Written Law and the Oral Law…

Mishneh Torah, Rebels 2:9

And if you wish, say instead that everyone agrees that to fulfill a mitzva one does not need intent, and here they disagree with regard to the condition needed to violate the prohibition: Do not add to mitzvot of the Torah. As the first tanna holds that one does not need intent to violate the prohibition: Do not add to mitzvot. One who dons another pair of phylacteries transgresses the prohibition against adding to mitzvot even if he does not don them with the intention of fulfilling the mitzva…

The opinion of Maimonides is that the Torah will never change in whole or in part. Hence one of his principal dogmas is the immutability of the Torah. Now inasmuch as we have found that the divine laws which existed before Moses did undergo changes in the matter of permission and prohibition, immutability would be a principle peculiar to the Mosaic law. Maimonides bases this dogma upon the scriptural passage, “Thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” The reason he gives, in the Guide of the Perplexed…

Sefer HaIkkarim, Maamar 3 14:3-9

MISHNA: With regard to the rulings of the rebellious elder the mishna states: There is greater stringency with regard to traditional rabbinic interpretations of the Torah than with regard to matters of Torah. If one states: There is no mitzva to don phylacteries, and his intention is in order to have others violate matters of Torah, he is exempt from punishment as a rebellious elder. One who disputes matters written explicitly in the Torah is not considered an elder and a Torah scholar…

Sanhedrin 88b:14-15

ועתה ישראל, after you have seen the decree of G’d to exile you if you sin, be on guard to meticulously observe His commandments without adding to them or detracting from them. An addition or a detraction will both have destructive consequences for you.

Sforno on Deuteronomy 4:1:1

Relatedראו גם

The Performance of a Commandment

High Court Authority and Insubordination to It

Jewish Calendar

Sheetsדפי מקורות

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