Liberation from Egypt - Liberation from the first concentration camp!
Past as Prologue in Passover.

The first time the Jewish people, the Children of Israel, were liberated from bondage was when they were liberated from the slavery of Ancient Egypt over 3,300 years ago.

A historian has said that "while it is true that some say history repeats itself, but it is never exactly" so that while, as in our case, the Children of Israel have suffered bondage at various times as a people, as when the Ten Tribes were taken into captivity -- and were lost -- by the ancient Assyrians, and the kingdom of Judah was taken captive by the ancient Babylonians about 2,500 years ago, and Judea exiled by the Romans 200 years ago, yet each phenomenon was unique, although it did hark back to an earlier blueprint.

The classical Jewish sages teach an important principle of "ma'aseh avot siman lebanim" that the "deeds of the forefathers serve a sign/plan for their descendants” so that while subsequent events take place in circumstances unique to themselves yet in all cases of national catastrophe and later liberation, the roots and precedents for those events were already pre-determined and pre-ordained and set in place in blueprint form connecting all later similar events with the master-plan event usually explicitly described in the Torah.

In the case of the miraculous liberation of the Children of Israel from the clutches of the Pharaoh and his minions, and the unheard of event of one nation breaking loose in the name of Freedom and Serving the One and Only True God, the events of the Exodus were historical groundbreaking events, a huge ma’aseh avot siman labanim.

Seventy years ago, in 1939 the Nazi Germans unleashed World War Two and the Holocaust against the Jews that came with that. The Nazis had already officially commenced persecuting, robbing and enslaving German Jews in the days following Kristallnacht in November, 1938 and a little under one year later they unleashed the same terror and worse across all of Europe.

It does not take much imagination to see and understand that the persecutions the Jews suffered during the Holocaust as a people is based on the same pattern that their ancestors suffered in ancient Egypt. There too Pharaoh as Hitler fretted and was paranoid about the growth and loyalty of the Jews accusing them of being a fifth column and ready to ally with Egypt’s enemies (all fabricated lies reflecting his megalomania, egomania, paranoia and xenophobia), he stripped the Jews of the high offices they had known, he used psychological warfare against them by ordering them to build bricks without straw, and he started a full infanticide genocide strategy by ordering that all Hebrew male infants be tossed into the Nile. He not only defied God but taunted Him and he was convinced that he was endowed with abnormal super-human powers that he could get away with crushing and annihilating a defenseless people under the yoke of his powerful slave state with its frightening chariot-powered army.

Yes, all that came to be "bayamim hahem bazman hazeh" -- "in those days at this time, meaning in this Hebrew calendar month of Nissan, but there is also the connection within connecting the thought that what happened then, in Ancient Egypt, also happened "now" in the Twentieth Century under the Nazi German Holocaust against the Jews, and each event was linked with and mirrored the other.

How is such a connection to be made real?

It occurred to me when thinking about the matzah we eat on Pesach that is called "lachma anya" "the bread of poverty/affliction" that the classical rabbis teach is literally “the bread of a poor man” as it’s ingredients consist of only water and wheat baked in a hot furnace in a big a rush and having a simple appearance and flavor.

Today, most Jewish people are VERY comfortable. Thank God, the Iron Curtain has fallen and the Jews of the former USSR are free. Likewise the Jews who lived in Muslim lands are almost all free. The vast majority of Jews all over live in open societies and in great democracies and have risen to the heights of political, economic and social influence (not always being the best personal examples of Judaism), the point being that Jews are currently riding the crest of a wave materially if not spiritually.

So how then can today’s high-flying and high-living Jews ever be "brought down to Earth" so to speak and made to "eat humble pie"?

The Yom Tov of Pesach has the answers from the Torah as prescribed by God. Jews are commanded to eat simple things at the Passover Seder: Matzah. A little bitter vegetable. A boiled potato. A hard boiled egg dipped in salt water as reminiscent of the tears shed. And so on.

So the thought occurred to me that when the survivors were liberated from the Nazi's concentration and death camps in Europe they were almost all gaunt as scarecrows. Those who gorged themselves on food died from their stomach's shrunken and weakened inability to digest food for so long. They had no choice but to eat SIMPLE foods until they could become healthy again. A few crumbs of this and that, a little to sip, and slowly they gained some weight.

On Pesach we healthy Jews REVERSE the above process. Our stomachs are thank God in good working order. Gastronomic Judaism is king. So what does the Torah instruct? In order to "feel liberated" you must subject yourself to a program of “re-enslavement” as it were, and in that vein you must eat the food of slaves, especially the matzah and when you do that with "kavanah" the "right intention" you will be transported, transposed and transformed into a veritable ancient Hebrew belonging to the Children of Israel who ate such food in Egyptian bondage and as they fled from that horrid place, then you too will begin to hopefully get that feeling (oh ever so minutely perhaps, hopefully) of what it means to be freed and liberated, be it from ancient Pharaonic slavery or from a 20th century concentration camp.

Ending on a humorous note, there is the famous parable about the starving gentile beggar who had heard about the great Passover Seder the Jews enjoyed on Passover night and only wanted to join one to eat some great food. So he posed as a Jew and got himself invited by a Jewish family. Expecting a great and luscious repast he found himself being frustrated. First they keep on going on and on and on and on in Hebrew reading and singing from a book called the Hagada which he could not read. Then they brought out some cold boiled potatoes and dipped that in salt water and they were all happy. This really made him more frustrated. Then they brought out matzah which was dry and tasteless and they munched and ingested volumes of that. He was fed up by now. Next they brought out bitter herbs and started feasting on that. At this point he lost his patience and fled the mad Seder he had joined. When he got back to his friends they asked him how he enjoyed the meal. He told them all that happened and that he lost his patience and had fled in frustration. They laughed at him and told him, "fool, had you waited a few more minutes you would have seen and enjoyed that they also serve a magnificent full course meal with all the trimmings."

The moral being that often people are too hasty and make judgments based on unfinished events. The Children of Israel themselves still had a slave mentality and were afraid to enter the Land of Israel, but they missed the point that the land would be a fruitful and bountiful land and good to them. Modern-day people get upset about the Holocaust and reject God and Judaism, but they also shut their eyes to the fact that after the bitterness of the Holocaust the Jews witnessed to see great success for themselves in the lands of the West and that they would soon live in freedom as in the ancient past in their own Land of Israel once again.

May we all merit to live in the Land of Israel soon in the spirit of the Hagada's closing words: "leshana haba'ah be'Yerushalayim" -- next year in Jerusalem!

Labels: Ancient Egypt, concentration camp, Exodus, Hagada, Holocaust, Nazi Germany, Passover, Pesach, Seder

- posted by Izak @ 5:13 AM (0) comments

 
17th of Tammuz – The Day That Wasn’t
Probing a "minor" fast day of Judaism.

The half-day Jewish fast of the 17th of Tammuz is observed on Thursday July 13th, 2006.

But what EXACTLY is this day? In truth, this day should have been one of unimaginable rejoicing! Why? Because that day was to have been the day on which Moses finally brought down the first set of tablets with the divine Ten Commandments inscribed on them 3,318 years ago – a true Simchat Torah, rejoicing with the Torah on a global scale! That would have been forty days after God had spoken the Ten Commandments (the Decalogue) at Mount Sinai, celebrated on the holiday of Shavuot.

The Children of Israel were supposed to have waited patiently for Moses to descend from Mount Sinai but instead they lost their cool and their nerve at the last moment and were diverted from expecting Moses’ imminent arrival to worshipping a Golden Calf in place of God. The day Moses descended was the 17th of Tammuz and when he saw the scene before him, he was enraged and smashed the first tablets (in the Midrashim, God thanks Moses for doing this) destroying a literal God-given opportunity for the Children of Israel to turn Earth into Heaven. Instead, “all hell broke loose” on Earth and many of the Children of Israel died by Moses’ decree and a day that should have been only full of joy, became “a day that will live in infamy” on the Jewish calendar until today, with worse to follow. The evil of the Sin of the Golden Calf ultimately begot the evil of Tisha Be’Av (the worst day on the Jewish calendar)!

Could the tragedy have been avoided? Why does the Torah tell us about a generation in the wilderness that could witness God’s miracles at the time of the Exodus yet fall victim to such subsequent catastrophic miscalculation?

As is true about all events in the Torah, the lessons are many, but one classical lesson comes breaking through again and again: (1) The need for Faith and Trust and (2) There will always be Freedom of Choice in the world as we know it. Even a generation as great as the one that lived through the terror and highs of the Exodus, and one would imagine they would therefore be immune to any sort of challenge to their faith and beliefs, can and must be tested by God so that it can truly be known if that faith is derived from the outside (from having witnessed awesome events performed by God himself) or if the faith that anyone is supposed to have is something that is rooted deeply within what happens inside the hearts and minds of the believers regardless of what they may have or have not witnessed.

Even God’s chosen Children of Israel, standing as they were 3,318 years ago at the foot of Mount Sinai waiting for Moses to re-appear at the foot of the mountain, were tripped-up at the finishing line when they inexplicably reverted to idol worship of a golden statue of a Golden Calf. Admittedly how and why they failed is a deep mystery, but it is safe to say that according to the most basic tenets of Judaism, they were expected to keep cool heads and have brave hearts full of faith yet they simply failed to focus on what should have been emanating from WITHIN them: Strong faith and trust (Emunah and Bitachon in Hebrew) and discerning the illogic of worshiping an image of a “calf” (cow’s steaks are for eating and its milk for drinking – but here the Israelites literally “lower themselves” to worship an animal’s image in statue form.)
A comparison with Holocaust survivors might help to illustrate this point. Studies have shown that during the Holocaust of World War II, most of those Jews who had deep faith and trust in God as a well-imbedded mechanism deep inside their hearts, were able to retain their faith and if they were lucky enough to survive the Holocaust were able to rebuild healthy strong religious lives after the war. Not so for most who lacked strong faith before the Holocaust, they were usually the ones who lost all their faith and often rejected Judaism after the war.

The events that happened on that day so long ago, and 3,318 years is a long time ago, spun out of control and instead of it being a day of joy it wasn’t.

With more consistent faith that emanates from a deep inner sanctum hidden within each and every one of us, from the holy Neshama which is the Soul that God implants within us at birth, there are reservoirs of faith and trust in God that should enable us to pass whatever challenges may confront us. Simultaneously, Judaism teaches that there will always be Freedom of Choice, Bechira Chofshit, and that in addition to an awareness of the faith and trust in God that should radiate from within our innermost selves, there also needs to be an equally strong utilization of our brainpower to recognize and think-through the choices and challenges in front of us so that we make decisions that will leave us sitting on the right side of the fence and not leave us on the outs with God who is our spiritual source.

Sure, mistakes happen, but some mistakes can be like a little spilled milk over which we wouldn’t cry whereas others may cause us to shed bitter tears leaving us sorry for 3,318 years and still waiting for the 17th of Tammuz to become a happy day instead of a monstrous fiasco!

Shabbat Shalom!

Dedicated in Memory of my Parents.
- posted by Izak @ 3:46 AM (0) comments

 
Passover: Festival of the Mouth
(A fun essay I wrote a number of years ago for Jewish college students, hope it tickles your intellectual pallet!)

PASSOVER: FESTIVAL OF THE MOUTH.

Have you ever noticed how much of Passover revolves around the mouth?

Maybe you could even call this article, “The Mouth As Symbol of the Month (of Nisan)”...?

Ah, the mouth...that delectable vehicle of pleasure. It drinks, eats, kisses, and talks. It even serves as a lifeline when its partner, the nose, backs up.

But wait a minute. What could all of this have to do with Passover of all things?

Okay, I'll let you in on a bit of cumulative Torah wisdom that took me over ten years to piece together.

The Hebrew word for Passover is PESACH which literally means “PASSED OVER” or “skipped”. That was because according to the Book of Exodus, God acted like a “smart bomb” at “E’ (for Exodus) Hour on the night of the Israelites’ liberation. His precision-guided attack, on his predetermined targets of Egyptian firstborn, needed the safe targets to cooperate. In His low altitude pass over Egypt, He “PASSED OVER” Jewish homes with their signature protective shield of lambs’ blood (run off the Paschal lambs and smeared on all Jewish doorposts, as they were instructed to do).

Enemy targets eliminated. Friendly forces spared, PASSED OVER, that is.

And now for another way of looking at the word “PESACH”: try splitting it. See anything yet? How about a little bit of poetic imagination?

Well, you see, the “PE” (the first part of “SACH”) looks and sounds like “PEH”, the Hebrew word for MOUTH. And “SACH” means simply “to speak”. Get it? “PE” plus “SACH” equals “MOUTH SPEAKS”.

Now for the really serious stuff:

Isn’t it interesting to note how much of PESACH (PASSOVER) revolves around, into, within, and out of the mouth?

We eat matzah and bitter herbs.

We drink four cups of wine.

We read the Song of Songs (which says, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth”).

And we recite the HAGGADAH (which means "SAYING" - because God commanded us to say it to our sons and daughters).

Somehow or other, we are expected to internalize and externalize the symbols of the festival - with our mouths. Why?

The answer is both simple and complex: Complex, because these ideas probably have a mystical origin; Simple, because it can be studied in the Bible.

Here is a four-step “crescendo”:

First step: God creates man. He blows into man's nostrils the “SOUL OF LIFE”, and lo and behold, “THE MAN BECAME A LIVING SOUL” (Genesis, chapter 2, verse 7). This is translated by Onkelus (c. 100 C.E.) as “The living soul became in Adam a TALKING SPIRIT”, meaning that the mouth as the vehicle of speech, reveals God’s divinely implanted SOUL. Furthermore, the famous commentator, Rashi (1040 -1105 C.E.), says that all living creatures have some form of soul, but only man, via Adam, was given INTELLECT and SPEECH. (Yes, animals communicate, but only man has a mouth that speaks).

Second step: God tells Adam that he can EAT from all of the trees of the Garden of Eden except the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam doesn’t listen to the advice with fatal consequences.

Third step: The failure of Adam necessitates a “tikun”, or “perfection”, and that is a role played by the Jews. At the time of the Exodus, the children of Israel recreate the goals of the first man, Adam. They must perfect the failings of the first mouth in history. They will be, and are, the ones to reconnect God with his creation. At the very point of exodus, it is as if Adam is reborn to both SPEAK the praises of his Maker, and to EAT the diet of health, life, and freedom: PASCHAL LAMB, MATZAH, AND BITTER HERBS. (Animal, vegetable, and mineral combine in our mouths for the greater glory of God!)

Fourth step: Not only are we commanded to eat the items outlined above, but we are also instructed to:

(a) Recite the HAGGADAH, which is written in a question and answer style in imitation of human conversation.

(b) Drink four cups of wine at the Seder eve, in remembrance of four expressions of how God redeemed us.

(c) Sing King Solomon’s Song of Songs on the Sabbath of Passover; some even say it at the conclusion of the Seder. In this song, the love relationship between God and the Jews is allegorized as a love relationship between two human lovers. Hence its talk of kisses, hugs, bosoms, necks, and all the tantalizing symbols of the most intense lovemaking - all as a symbol of God’s intense love for the Jewish people, and hopefully, vice-versa!

(Who would have thought that all of this could be packed into a Pesach package?!)

End of crescendo.

The lesson is that on Pesach, we were born as a nation. The ultimate sign of life is the capacity to speak, and the ability to eat and drink. Life is continued through love; hence, we unite, first via kisses with our spouse in the holiness of marriage. For all of these, a mouth is a must!

The matzah that we eat, the wine that we drink, the Haggadah that we read, the songs that we sing, all are a unique testimony to the bond of intimacy we have with our Maker on Passover - via our mouths!

Have a Wonderful Passover Holiday!
- posted by Izak @ 4:56 AM

 
#24: Everlasting Sacrifices: Mystery and Purpose
Everlasting Sacrifices: Mystery and Purpose

(Hi, hope your preparations for Passover are going well. Related to the Torah portion for this week, starting Leviticus – “Vayikra”, chapter 1, verse 1 – chapter 5, verse 26. See English text and commentary of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan at http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=3&CHAPTER=1
About the Hebrew month of Nisan closely tied to Passover, see http://www.ou.org/chagim/roshchodesh/nisan/default.htm Dedicated to my parents.)

Everlasting Sacrifices: Mystery and Purpose

This Parsha commences with what is probably the toughest book for modern Western people to comprehend, let alone accept: The book of Leviticus with its myriad laws and instructions concerning the sacrificial rituals and commands that needed to be performed in the Tabernacle – “MISHKAN” that God had commanded Moses and the Israelites to build in the wilderness after they escaped from ancient Egypt during the Exodus over 3,300 years ago. The sacrifices were continued when they reached the Promised Land and in the Two Jewish Temples, during a total time frame of about 1,300 years.

Most people do not give the subject a moment’s intelligent thought. In some people’s imagination, the animal sacrifices of the ancient Israelites is as archaic and irrelevant as the mystifying habits of the Aztecs and Incas or the obscure rituals of some primitive tribes in far away places. Yet smack-dab in the middle of the Torah is its third book, called LEVITICUS because it deals with the duties of the Tribe of LEVI in the Tabernacle and Temples, entailing many sorts of sacrificial laws of varieties of animals, foods, incense, for all sorts of reasons ranging from the daily and holiday offerings, sin offerings, purification laws and offerings, as well as many related commandments.

Amazingly close to 250 of the Torah 613 permanent commandments – ‘MITZVOT” are enumerated and described in the book of Leviticus. This means that in some sense ALMOST half of classical Judaism’s core commandments are to be found in a very strange primary source.

Now some have been tempted to just “chuck” the whole notion of animal and other related sacrificial offerings “overboard” and prefer, if at all, to look for Judaism’s eternal moral and spiritual teachings un-attached from any cumbersome and hard to explain ancient rituals. After all, the argument goes, for two thousand years the Jews have been in exile and have not had any temple to practice what the Torah preaches in Leviticus, so what counts are the humanistic and moralistic and even spiritual lessons of Judaism. This view is very shortsighted because it suffers from “historical myopia”. Anyone who would care to take a very close look at classical Judaism throughout time, will find that the Jewish People, as a self-described Torah Nation, NEVER DISCONNECTED or ABANDONED THEIR ATTACHMENT TO THE RITUALS OF THE SACRIFICIAL OFFERINGS.

The great mystic, philosopher, and Talmudic genius, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (Latvia, England, Israel, 1864 – 1935) the first official Chief Rabbi of then British Palestine now Israel, wrote about this subject in great depth.

For your enjoyment and enlightenment, here are some brief passages as translated and quoted by Chanan Morrison:

“The Purpose of Sacrifices”
http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/ravkook/AHAREI63.htm

“Why did God command Israel to serve Him through sacrifices?”

“ Maimonides [Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, (Spain, North Africa, Egypt, 1135 –1204)] known as The ‘RAMBAM’ (with an ‘M’ at the end) gave a controversial explanation in his ‘Guide to the Perplexed’ (III: 32,46). He wrote that the purpose of sacrifices was to wean the Israelites away from idolatry. Having grown accustomed to this form of worship in Egypt, it was impossible to draw them away from idolatry without a service of sacrifices to God.”

“Other [rabbinical] authorities such as Nachmanides [Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Spain, North Africa, Israel, 1194 – 1270) known as The ‘RAMBAN’ (with an ‘N’ at the end)], and Rabbeinu Behayei [(Rabbi Bachya ben Joseph ibn Pakuda (Spain, c.1050 – c.1120)] categorically rejected this idea. Yet there appears to be a supporting source for Maimonides in the Midrash. After describing the unique Temple service of Yom Kippur, the Torah states, ‘Then the Israelites will stop sacrificing to the demons’ [Leviticus, chapter 17, verse 7). The Sages explained this unusual verse via the following parable: ‘This is like the case of an unrefined prince who would eat un-slaughtered meat. The king said: let him always eat at my table, and automatically he will become accustomed to avoid from such foods. So too, the people of Israel were enthralled with Egyptian idolatry. Therefore God said: let them always bring their offerings before Me.’ [Vayikra Rabba 22:8]”

“The Midrash indicates that God commanded the Jewish people to offer sacrifices in order to wean them from Egyptian idolatry - just like Maimonides! Yet if we examine this Midrash carefully, we will see that it does not truly correlate to Maimonides' explanation for sacrifices.”

“The king requested his son join in the royal meals in order to correct his unruly habits. Yet eating at the king's table is not just a method of discipline. Simply being present at the royal table is in itself a wonderful thing. The true thrust of the parable is this: the prince, due to his inappropriate behavior, did not deserve to eat at his father's table at all meals. The king requested his presence at all times in order to refine his eating habits. Above and beyond its educational value, however, participation in a royal meal is a great privilege.”

“Similarly, the service of God through sacrifices is a truly wonderful matter. Through this form of divine service one merits experiencing sublime holiness. It is like ‘eating at the table of the king’, where one benefits the illuminating favor of the King of life. This Midrash does not refer to the Temple service in general, but rather to a specific situation immediately following the Exodus from Egypt. During their 40-year sojourn in the desert, the Israelites were not allowed to eat meat unless it came from a sacrifice offered in the Tabernacle (see Deuteronomy, chapter 12, verse 20 allowing them to eat meat when they get to the Land of Israel). This was a temporary measure for that generation alone.”

“Why was non-sacrificial meat forbidden to them?”

“Having just left Egypt and its idolatrous culture, it was necessary to stop the Israelites from worshipping foreign gods. Therefore God commanded that generation to eat only meat from sacrifices offered in the Tabernacle, insuring that none would privately continue the idolatrous practices of Egypt. This is precisely the point of the Midrash. The requirement to eat only sacrificial meat was a special decree for the generation leaving Egypt, weaning them from idolatry. Yet the fundamental concept of offering sacrifices in the prescribed times and situations as set down by the Torah - this has its own sublime goal.”

“Perhaps this was also the intention of the prophet Jeremiah, who tried to discourage the people from offering unwanted sacrifices: ‘So said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, [it would be better that] you eat the meat. For I did not speak nor command your fathers concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices when I took them out of Egypt. This is the thing I commanded them: Listen to My voice, and I will be your God and you will be My people.’ (Jeremiah, chapter 7, vs. 21-23)”

“How could the prophet say that God did not command sacrifices?”

“The people of Jeremiah’s day wanted to emulate the holy practices of the Israelites in the desert, only eating sacrificial meat. The prophet therefore explained to them that the special decree at that time was not for reasons of spiritual elevation, but in order that the newly freed Israelites would abandon idolatry and listen to God's voice. [(Translated from Rabbi Kook’s) ‘Midbar Shur’ pp. 158-9]. [1]

So what is “The Goal of Sacrifices?”
http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/ravkook/VAYIK62.htm

“Sacrifices are not an innovation of the Jewish people.”

“Noah also offered sacrifices to God. Yet not all offerings are of the same quality. As the Midrash illustrates: ‘There was once a king who had two cooks. The first cooked a meal that the king ate and enjoyed; and the second also cooked a meal that the king ate and enjoyed. How do we know which meal the king enjoyed more? When the king subsequently commanded the second cook, ‘Make for me again the dish you prepared’, we know the second was the king’s preferred dish.’ According to the Midrash, the very fact that the Torah commands the people of Israel to offer sacrifices indicates that God prefers their offerings to those which Noah initiated on his own accord.”

“How do we evaluate the relative worth of different sacrifices? What distinguishes the service of Israel from that of Noah?”

“We can assess offerings according to their ultimate goal. The more elevated the goal, the more acceptable the offering. Noah’s objective differed greatly from that of the people of Israel. Noah sought to preserve the physical world. He wanted to protect it from Divine retribution. ‘God smelled the sweet fragrance and said in His heart, ‘I will no longer curse the land because of man’. (Genesis, chapter 8, verse 21).”

“The offerings of Israel had a far more sublime goal. They sought to establish divine providence amongst mankind. Their goal was to uplift the individual to levels of divine inspiration and prophecy. ‘Make for Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell in their midst.’ (Exodus, chapter 25, verse 8). This distinction between the objective of Noah’s offerings and those of Israel is reflected in the unique phrases the Torah uses to describe them. Noah’s offerings had a ‘sweet fragrance’, while those of Israel are referred as ‘My bread’ (Numbers, chapter 28, verse 2).”

“What is the difference between a fragrance and bread?”

“When an animal eats vegetation, the plant life is absorbed and transformed into part of the animal. In this way the plant has achieved a higher state of being. When an animal is consumed by a human, the animal is similarly elevated as it becomes part of that human being. This transformation to a higher state through consumption corresponds to an offering which strives towards a higher state of existence. The offerings of Israel are appropriately called ‘My bread’, as the change to which they aspire - perfection as prophetic beings - is similar in magnitude to the transformations of plant to animal and animal to man.”

“The offerings of Noah, on the other hand, had only a ‘sweet fragrance'’. They gave off a wonderful smell and appealed to the natural senses, but did not attempt to effect a change in nature. Their purpose was to maintain the natural world, to perfect man within the framework of his normal intellectual capabilities. In fact, the offerings of the Jewish people encompass both of these goals. Therefore they are described both as ‘sweet fragrance’ and ‘My bread’, as we aspire to perfection in two areas: natural wisdom and divine prophecy. [(Translated from Rabbi Kook’s) ‘Midbar Shur’ pp. 155-158] [2]

WILL THERE BE ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN THE THIRD TEMPLE?
http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/ravkook/VAYIKRA58.htm

Here is Rabbbi Kook’s fascinating, partial, reply: “[(Chanan Morrison says that) ‘Rabbi Kook’s views on the Temple service are sometimes misunderstood. A superficial reading of a passage in (Rabbi Kook’s work) ‘Olat Ri'iah’ (I, p. 292) indicates that only grain offerings (‘menachot’) will be found in the reinstated Temple service. To properly understand Rabbi Kook’s opinion on the matter, it is necessary to examine his essay on the sacrificial order in ‘Otzarot Hari'iah’, pp. 754-6.’]”

“In the future, the Cabalists teach, the entire world will be elevated. Even the animals in that future era will be different; they will be similar to people nowadays. [In the work: ‘Shaar Hamitzvot’ of the Ari, Rabbi Isaac Luria (Yitzhak ben Solomon Ashkenazi), (Egypt, Israel, 1534 – 1572)]. Obviously, no sacrifice could be offered from such a humanlike animal. It is about this period that the Midrash states, "All sacrifices will be annulled in the future" [Tanchuma Emor 19, Vayikra Rabbah (9:7)].”

“The prophet Malachi similarly predicted a lofty world in which the Temple service will only consist of grain offerings, replacing the animal sacrifices of old: ‘Then the grain-offering (‘MINCHAH’) of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to God as in the days of old, and as in ancient years’. (Malachi, chapter 3, verse 4).”

“In the current state of the world, however, when man is both physically and ethically weak, the time for dealing with animal rights has not yet arrived. We still need to slaughter animals for our physical needs. In addition, man needs moral boundaries to distinguish between the distinct sanctity of human and animal life. At this point, to advocate protection for animals in God’s service would be both wrong and dishonest. What sort of morality would permit man to be cruel to animals for his own physical needs, yet forbid their use for his spiritual service, in his sincere recognition and gratitude for God's kindnesses?”

“If, on the other hand, one’s moral stance against the slaughter of animals stems not from weakness of the spirit and cowardice of the heart, but rather from recognition of the issue’s fundamental divine justice - then the first step towards its fulfillment should be to stop animal slaughter for food. If we feel an emotional discomfort with the slaughter of animals, it is not because the time for full animal rights has already arrived. Rather, it comes from our anticipation of the future, already ingrained in our souls, like many other spiritual aspirations.” [3]

Finally, HOW ARE “SACRIFICES” ACHIEVED TODAY WITHOUT A TEMPLE?

“Sacrifices vs. Fasting”
http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/ravkook/VAYIKRA59.htm

“When the Talmudic scholar Rav Sheshet fasted, he would add the following request to his Amida (Standing) prayer: ‘Master of the Universe! You know that when the Temple stood, a person who sinned would bring a sacrifice. The fat and blood would be offered on the altar, and the person would be forgiven. Now I have fasted, and my fat and my blood have shrunk. May it be Your Will that the lessening of my fat and my blood should be considered as if I offered them on the altar, and my sacrifice was accepted.’ [(Talmud, Tractate) Berachot, 17].”

“Rav Sheshet's prayer is inspiring, but it raises a few questions:”

“Why bother bringing sacrifices if we can achieve the same atonement through fasting?”

“Why were the fat and blood of the sacrifices the only parts offered on the altar (for sin and guilt offerings)?”

“Rabbi Kook writes that there are two major categories of transgressions. The first type are sins which are the result of excessive involvement in sensual pleasures, luxuries, etc. These sins are atoned via the fats of the offering. The second category of transgressions are motivated by actual need: hunger, poverty. Such physical or financial pressures can persuade one to lie, steal, even murder. The atonement for such sins is through the blood of the offering.”

“By fasting, we can imitate the sacrifice of fat and blood in the Temple. However, there is an important difference. An actual sacrifice served to humble the negative traits and desires. Fasting, on the other hand, weakens the entire body. Just as chemotherapy poisons other parts of the body as it fights the cancer, so too the fast serves to sap both positive and negative emotional energies. The desire to help others, to do ‘mitzvot’ – commandments, to study Torah, etc, are also reduced by the fast. Therefore Rav Sheshet used to pray that his fasting would achieve the redemptive value of an offering in the Temple, without the negative side-effect of sapping positive energies and desires. (Translated from Rabbi Kook’s) Ayn Aya I: 82].” [4]

The magnificent teachings of the great Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook cover some of the most important dimensions of the relevance of the subject of Sacrifices for our times!
May we merit to internalize and rejoice with his holy words!

Have a great Shabbat, and please let me know what you think!

[1] Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, as quoted and translated by Chanan Morrison, http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/ravkook/AHAREI63.htm
[2] Ibid., http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/ravkook/VAYIK62.htm
[3] Ibid., http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/ravkook/VAYIKRA58.htm
[4] ibid., http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/ravkook/VAYIKRA59.htm
- posted by Izak @ 11:44 PM

 
#22-23: Seeing Double: Perfect Ideal - Imperfect Reality
Seeing Double: Perfect Ideal - Imperfect Reality

(Related to the DOUBLE Torah portions of Vayakhel-Pekudei (“Assembled”-“Instructions”), Exodus, chapter 35, verse 1 – chapter 40, verse 38, concluding the Book of Exodus. Dedicated to my parents. English text and commentary at http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=35 )

“What’s in a number?” is a famous colloquial question with pretty much very wide usage! I tried doing a Google search on the origins and usage of this trite English expression, and so far, from what I can tell, it can be used any time anyone has a question to do with numbers of any sort, see http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=What%27s+in+a+number%3F+&btnG=Google+Search

It’s taken humanity thousands of years to reach the point today, when only relatively recently, has the significance of “numbers” come forth as a force in the D I G I T A L AGE we live in now. Of course, from the dawn of human creation there has been the existence of “bean counters”, wall scratchings, and abacus usage. But we are talking about a more powerful and potent sublime essence that lies within the whole construct of the concept of a “number”, when WE ask “What’s in a number?”

Why do I mention “numbers” and how is it related to this week’s Torah readings?

Firstly it is fascinating to note that the first time the usage of a “DOUBLE TORAH PORTION OF THE WEEK” appears, is with this week’s two portions of “Vayakhel – Pekudei”. Perhaps there is a “signal” here that sometimes it is VITAL to be prepared to “SEE DOUBLE”! A single telescope is great for a “telescopic” view! Yet BINOCULARS are far more fascinating because you use BOTH eyes and instead of “SEEING DOUBLE” you paradoxically get ONE UNIFIED VIEW, AS THE TWO LENSES MERGE THEIR IMAGES INTO A SINGLE BROADER VIEW THAN THE TELESCOPE’S ONE LENSE COULD EVER CAPTURE! It may well be that it is NO co-incidence that there are times when the Torah calls out to us to see things “WITH WIDE RANGING BINOCULARS” and leave aside the limitations of a “narrow view” of things.

There are several points in the Torah when it becomes necessary to “double up” the Torah portions on an individual Shabbat. One reason is that the Torah-Five Books of Moses-Chumash-Pentateuch is traditionally divided into 54 portions, two more than the available weeks. Another reason is that whenever a major festival coincides with a Shabbat, then the regular weekly Torah portions are not read and instead passages dealing with the festival are read. The Jewish calendar also has “leap years” when basically an extra month is added every three years, and then the “extra” portions are all used individually.

In addition, and most significantly, there is something seemingly REDUNDANT and extremely unusual that is described in this week’s Torah portion/s concerning the “MISHKAN” – TABERNACLE, the portable Sanctuary, when God instructed the Israelites to build it. The Torah seems to “repeat itself” when first, in earlier portions, it gives copious commands and details for everything that is to go into the making of the Tabernacle and the attire and functions of its Priests, the “KOHANIM”, and now it doubles up and repeats all the details again as to how everything was finally built and put together:

WHY DOES THE TORAH “REPEAT” THE SUBJECT OF THE TABERNACLE IN GREAT DETAIL TWICE?!
THIS IS A GREAT PUZZLE BECAUSE THE TORAH IS VERY ECONOMICAL AND MEASURED WHEN USING ANY LETTERS OR WORDS!
SO WHAT IS THE MEANING AND POSSIBLE EXPLANATION FOR ALL THE “TALK IN DUPLICATE”?
IN A NUTSHELL: WHY IS THE TORAH “SEEING DOUBLE” AT THIS POINT? DOES IT FIT IN WITH TORAH TOPICS THAT ARE SIMILAR?

Judaism believes that everything is ultimately derived from the Torah.

(For example, the great Sage of Vilna in Lithuania, the VILNA GAON [“GENIUS”], Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman Kramer (Lithuania, 1720 – 1797) is reputed to have mentioned that each and every Jew that has ever lived has letters or words that allude to him ONLY in the Torah. When asked where he, the GAON, was alluded to in a verse, he is reported to have cited Deuteronomy, chapter 25, verse 15: (in Hebrew) “Even Sh`leimah [Vatzedek Yiheyeh Lach…]” – “STONE OF ‘COMPLETION’ [of Honest Weight] AND RIGHTEOUSNESS YOU MUST HAVE…”. The Hebrew word “EVEN” means “stone”, but its letters equal: “E” for “Eliyahu”, “VEN” means “son of”, and “Sh`leimah” has the exact same letters as “SHLOMOH” – Solomon.)

So what is the significance of the two great descriptions about the Tabernacle?

There are a number of directions to go in answering these questions. I will mention more later, but here are what are probably vital avenues of understanding:

In Genesis, there are actually TWO seemingly separate narratives about the Creation of Adam and Eve and what happened to them. The famous Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik (Poland, Germany, USA, 1903 - 1993), the greatest head of Yeshiva University, called it the “ADAM ONE” and “ADAM TWO” dichotomy. From Genesis, chapter 1, verse 1 till chapter 2, verse 3, all of Creation proceeds smoothly culminating with the creation of ADAM described as being BOTH MALE AND FEMALE: “God [thus] created ADAM with His image. In the image of God, He created him, MALE AND FEMALE He created them” (Genesis, chapter 1, verse 27), and then concludes with a climax of the Sabbath which is Sanctified. That is “ADAM ONE” before his downfall. The Torah then mystifyingly seems to “backtrack” and “ruminate” with another scenario seemingly dealing with the same period, from Genesis, chapter 2, verse 4 going into details of why and how Adam needed Eve and how the two of them botched up their positions and got themselves expelled from Eden ending with Genesis, chapter 3, verse 24. This is the saga of “ADAM TWO” after the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and bringing suffering and death into the world, thus ruining the ideal Utopia that God had in mind.

As far as Adam and Eve are concerned, in some ways they are the SAME and in some ways they are different. There is an IDEALISTIC beginning of the way things “should have been”, and then there is the way things turned out in “REALITY”.

But, the “IDEAL” is not “dead”, and “REALITY” need not be accommodated! The whole thrust of the Torah will be to point to the ways in which somehow or other people can clamber over the world of their shattered dreams, and a world broken by all sorts of “downfalls” and inch back to the highest peeks of bygone ideals! This is probably the essence of Judaism, that this imperfect world of ours can and will be overcome and humanity will yet return to a state of “PERFECTION”. Thus Judaism’s approach is to REJECT an acceptance and compromise with an abominable “REALITY” and declare that it is the so-called previously desired “fairy tale ending” of “living happily ever after” that is the ideal that must be accepted and lived as “REALITY”!

This pattern is repeated at the time of the Tabernacle. There is the significance of the Tabernacle BEFORE the SIN OF (WORSHIPING) THE GOLDEN CALF and the purpose of the Tabernacle AFTER the SIN OF (WORSHIPING) THE GOLDEN CALF.

Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum at http://www.azamra.org/Universal/TERUMAH.htm introduces this subject as follows:
“ABOVE SHALL BE BELOW, BELOW ABOVE:
From the portion of TERUMAH
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=25
onwards until the end of the book of Exodus – five portions, -- the central theme is the Sanctuary – ‘MISHKAN’ built by the Children of Israel in the Wilderness. The Sanctuary is the prototype of the Holy Temple destined to stand eternally in Jerusalem.
In TERUMAH it explains the design of the Sanctuary and its vessels, while the portion of TETZAVEH
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=28
explains the garments that were to be worn by those who were to minister in that Sanctuary -- Aaron and his sons. TETZAVEH also explains the sacrificial rituals that were to inaugurate the Sanctuary and its priests.
After TETZAVEH comes KI TISA,
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=30
which continues the explanation of the form of the Sanctuary vessels and the sacrifices. When this explanation is complete, KI TISA goes on to narrate the sin of the Golden Calf and how Moses secured atonement for the people through the 13 Attributes of Mercy.”

“Then come the last two ‘parshahs’ of Exodus, VAYAKHEL
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=35
and PEKUDEY
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=38
which explain how Bezalel and the other craftsmen actually constructed the Sanctuary and made the priestly clothes. VAYAKHEL and PEKUDAY repeat practically word for word some of the corresponding passages in TERUMAH and TETZAVEH.
PEKUDEY then concludes the book of Exodus with the account of the inauguration of the Sanctuary and the priests on the New Moon of the first Nissan after the Exodus. This was exactly one year to the day since Moses received the first commandments while still in Egypt: the law of the New Moon and the Pesach sacrifice, prototype of Temple sacrifice.”

“At the close of TETZAVEH and Exodus, we read how God's Cloud of Glory dwelled constantly over the Sanctuary. Leviticus opens immediately with the Voice of God emanating to Moses from between the mouths of the Cherubs in the Holy of Holies, giving him the detailed laws of the Temple sacrifices.
From this overview of the remaining five portions of Exodus, we see that the subject of the Sanctuary -- central to the Torah and to the whole world -- is introduced in ‘sandwich’ form. TERUMAH and TETZAVEH explain the intended form of the Sanctuary and priestly garments BEFORE they were executed, when they were in the ‘mind’ and will of God. In the middle of the ‘sandwich’ is the account of the sin of the Golden Calf and it's atonement through the 13 Attributes of Mercy. Then on the other side of the ‘sandwich’ come VAYAKHEL and PEKUDEY, which tell how the Sanctuary IDEA was brought from POTENTIAL TO ACTUAL through the thirty-nine labors of the craftsmen who made it.”

“At the very center of this ‘sandwich’ structure is the account of the sin of the Golden Calf -- which changed everything for the Children of Israel. In the heady days of the Exodus and the Giving of the Torah, the Children of Israel were elevated to the greatest heights. Then suddenly, forty days after hearing the Voice of God at Sinai, in one single orgy they sank to the lowest depths of degradation. From then on they had to learn the terrible pain of retribution, suffering and contrition. This was a loss of innocence parallel to the eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.”

“But God had already prepared the remedy before the illness. Indeed, we might even say that the illness was sent with the very purpose of revealing the great power of the remedy. The remedy for sin is repentance, which saves man from himself and brings him back to the One God, bringing him atonement -- AT-ONE-MENT. The penitential ‘system’ of the Torah is contained within the Sanctuary and its sacrificial rituals, which are a teaching to mankind about how man draws close (‘KaRoV’) to God through his ‘KORBAN’ (‘sacrifice’) -- literally, his ‘coming close’. As the way of repentance for having elevated wealth to the status of a god, man is commanded to take gold, silver, copper and the richest fabrics in order to glorify and magnify the One True God. Man is taught how to configure the materials of this world so that instead of separating him from God through idolatrous uses and configurations, they will serve to draw him ever closer, until God Himself ‘dwells’ with man.”

“TERUMAH and TETZAVEH present us the Sanctuary and sacrificial IDEA before we have even learned about sin. The lesson of the Golden Calf in KI TISA is harsh. But it is sweetened, because immediately after Moses secured atonement for Israel through the 13 Attributes of Mercy, the very next day he assembled the people and told them to bring gifts of materials and to get busy making the ACTUAL sanctuary, as told in VAYAKHEL and PEKUDEY. Thus the bitterness of sin in KI TISA is ‘sandwiched’ between the sweetness of TERUMAH and TETZAVEH (the ‘Teshuvah’ IDEA [‘Return’ to God, i.e. REPENTANCE] in all its innocent purity) and VAYAKHEL and PEKUDEY (the ACTUALIZATION of ‘Teshuvah’ in the Sanctuary in this world.) [This ‘sandwich’ is reminiscent of how in Temple times, Hillel would eat his Pesach sacrifice with the bitter herbs in a ‘sandwich’ with his Matza.]”

“The Torah never wastes a word or a single letter. It is therefore a great wonder that many of the passages about the Sanctuary, its vessels and the priestly garments that we read this week and next in TERUMAH and TEZTAVEH are, as mentioned, repeated almost word for word in VAYAKHEL and PEKUDEY. The ‘mirroring’ of the explanation of the IDEA in the account of its ACTUALIZATION comes to communicate something that is at the very core of the Temple-Sanctuary idea. The Temple or Sanctuary are a ‘replica’ and ‘mirror’ of the Heavenly Sanctuary, which is in the ‘mind’ or will of God. They are a ‘replica’ in which the materials of this world -- metals, wood, fabrics, etc. -- are used to bring a ‘reflection’ of heaven into the minds and consciousness of ordinary people.”

“In this way, what is ‘above’ – ‘in heaven’ -- actually dwells and exists in material form in this world ‘below’. And through this, ‘below’ becomes ‘above’. ‘And they will take for Me an offering… And they will make Me a Sanctuary, and I will dwell WITHIN THEM’ (Exodus, chapter 25 vs. 2, 8).” [1]

Continuing at http://www.azamra.org/Universal/VAYAKHEL.htm Rabbi Greenbaum says:
“PRAXIS:
The greater part of our portion, of VAYAKHEL is devoted to a detailed description of how Bezalel and his fellow craftsmen made the sanctuary vessels and its structural components in accordance with the plan whose details are studied three portions earlier in TERUMAH. While TERUMAH taught how they were to be made when they were still on the level of thought, ‘BE-KOACH’, in POTENTIALITY -- our portion of VAYAKHEL teaches how they came to made ‘BE-PHO'AL’, in ACTUALITY, on the level of ‘ASIYAH’, action.” [2]

And at http://www.azamra.org/Universal/PEKUDEY.htm Rabbi Greenbaum concludes :
“THE CENTRAL IMPORTANCE OF THE TZADDIK:
The ‘accounts’ of the Sanctuary project include blue, purple and scarlet dyes, one of the most important uses of which was in the garments of the High Priest. This leads us into the detailed account contained in our portion of how these garments were actually made by Bezalel and his fellow craftsmen. This description of the making of the priestly garments in ACTUALITY, on the level of ‘ASIYAH’, parallels the description in the portion of TETZAVEH of the form of the garments when they were in POTENTIAL, in the Divine Will. [Similarly, the description of the actual making of the Sanctuary and its vessels in the portion of VAYAKHEL, parallels the description of their form in TERUMAH.] The world of ‘ASIYAH’ [ACTION] attains its perfection when we take its best materials -- gold, precious stones, rich, colorful fabrics -- and use them to make the Sanctuary and priestly garments, which give expression to eternal truths about God's relationship to the Creation, and how man draws close to God. The description of the making of the priestly garments puts the spotlight on Aaron. It is the Cohen-priest, the archetypal ‘Tzaddik’ – ‘RIGHTEOUS PERSON’, who secures atonement through the Sanctuary services and through his very garments.” [3]

Perhaps the fact that the Torah has TWO descriptions of the Tabernacle is a major historical allusion (NOT illusion :-} ) to the TWO HOLY TEMPLES that eventually stood in Jerusalem for a little over 400 years each later in time. There would be an IDEAL beautiful “PERFECT” FIRST TEMPLE - “BAYIT RISHON” built of the most exquisite materials by King Solomon and untarnished by sin. It contained all the contents of the original ark plus more things that King Solomon added to it. However, after a period of 400 years the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah would succumb to the same ills that befell the Children of Israel at the time of the Golden Calf: Idol Worship; Sexual Immorality; and Shedding of Innocent Blood (Murder).

The destruction of the First Temple is also analogous to the downfall of Adam and Eve AND to the destruction of the FIRST SET OF TEN COMMANDMENTS. Then began the upward climb of rehabilitation. That the Children of Israel are forgiven and are granted a SECOND SET OF TEN COMMANDMENTS, analogous to God pardoning Adam and Eve and allowing them to live on in order to permit them to work towards rectifying their sin, AND to the rise of a later SECOND TEMPLE – “BAYIT SHENI”, that was not as holy as the first but was instead an embodiment of the forgiveness that had been granted.

The goal of the Torah and Judaism is to ultimately combine the BEST OF BOTH Temples, and merge them into ONE PERFECT, THIRD TEMPLE – “BAYIT SH`LISHI” that will be built by the Jewish Messiah at the end of time. In a way, this is comparable to synthesizing the “Perfect Ideal” world of Adam and Eve BEFORE they sinned with the “Imperfect Reality” of the world they had to function in afterwards, and somehow “harmonizing” the two so that instead of there being a split in all of Creation, there should rather be a unity between a mundane world raised to a supreme spiritual standard overlapping with a spiritual world transplanted on Earth. This is the ultimate “Acharit Hayamin” – END OF DAYS and the “Olam Haba” – FUTURE WORLD that will be ushered in by the “Yemot HaMashiach” – DAYS OF THE JEWISH MESSIAH, with the Third Temple being BOTH a combination of the essence of the first two as well as an “embodiment” of God’s HEAVENLY TEMPLE – “Mikdash Shel Ma`alah” above brought “down to Earth”. A total unification of all the “visions” woven into one unified and indivisible whole.

There is also the amazing fact that the Hebrew letter “BET”, the SECOND letter in the alphabet, and which also denotes TWO, also SOUNDS like the Hebrew word for HOUSE or HOME: “BAYIT” making for a direct connection between “BET” and “BAYIT”: “Indeed the Torah refers to the Sanctuary as the ‘BAYIT’ of God: ‘Bring your first fruits to the HOUSE – ‘BEIT’ of God your Lord…’(Exodus, chapter 23, verse 19), the dwelling place of the Divine Presence – ‘SHECHINAH’, God’s presence on Earth, where all of Israel experienced the proximity of God and which will in future days become the UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF PRAYER. As the prophet Isaiah says; ‘Ki BEITI, BEIT Tefilah Yikarei Lechol Ha`amim’ – ‘For my HOUSE will be called THE HOUSE OF PRAYER for all the nations’ (Isaiah, chapter 56, verse 7). THUS, IN THE BIBLE AND RABBINIC LITERATURE THE HOLY TEMPLE IS SIMPLY CALLED ‘BAYIT’ – HOUSE. As in Haggai, Chapter 2, vs. 8 - 9: ‘…build the ‘BAYIT” – Temple…My Temple – ‘BEITI’ which is ruined…’. After the Temple was destroyed, the proximity of God concentrates, albeit to a lower degree, in the ‘BEIT Hamidrash’ – HOUSE of Torah Learning, and in the ‘BEIT Hakneset’ - HOUSE of Prayer. The prophet Ezekiel terms each of these a ‘MIKDASH ME`AT’ – MINIATURE SANCTUARY (Ezekiel, chapter 11, verse 16). BOTH of these institutions are guaranteed to exist forever, even in the exile (as in Zechariah, Chapter 9, verse 7).” [4]

It is the great “BAYIT”, the “BEIT Hamikdash” – Temple that STOOD TWICE. In its very name is inherent its own DESTINY that it will stand TWICE, a characteristic that is connected to it being the embodiment of TWO in the Hebrew letters. Interestingly, a WIFE is also called a “BAYIT” – HOME as she is her husband’s partner and together, as a COUPLE, as TWO people functioning as ONE unit they work towards their mutual Torah family goals. It can therefore be said that the TWO Temples were somehow TWO FACETS OF ONE WHOLE. There are teachings that tie the Temples to the three Jewish forefathers. The First Temple is associated with Abraham. The Second Temple with Isaac, and the ultimate last Third Temple, which will a combination of the best of the first two is associated with Jacob!

Something else also came to mind when I was trying to arrive at a deeper source for “numbers” in Judaism. Let’s dive in on the “deep end” of Jewish teachings: Taking a glance at the mysterious and enigmatic “Sefer Yetzirah” – “The BOOK of CREATION”, see http://www.sephardicsages.org/SEFER-YETZIRAH.html#a classical Judaism’s oldest mystical text traditionally attributed to the Jewish forefather Abraham. It is obviously impossible for us to even begin to imagine, let alone understand, what this book really teaches at its core, but for our purposes it’s worth noting that the concept of NUMBERS, represented by the HEBREW LETTERS is at its CENTER. It teaches that “reality” and the “world” as we know it, be it the tangible “physical world” or the abstract idealistic “theoretical world” are all indeed derived from “Divine Words” that are ABSTRACT NUMBERS. In the Torah this is all wrapped up in the actual words and narratives that are used in the text, all based on the original Hebrew alphabet. From why the Torah starts with the second letter “BET”, for “BRESHIS” – “IN THE BEGINNING” till why it ends with the last letter “LAMED” of “YISRAEL”, every iota is loaded with powerful lessons, and even more importantly, foundations of the world itself.

Looking at Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan’s well-known translation for example, in the second chapter of “The BOOK of CREATION”, when introducing the subject and origins of the Hebrew alpha-bet it states that there are:

“TWENTY TWO FOUNDATION LETTERS…

HE [GOD] ENGRAVED THEM, HE CARVED THEM, HE PERMUTED THEM, HE WEIGHED THEM, HE TRANSFORMED THEM, AND WITH THEM, HE DEPICTED ALL THAT WAS FORMED AND ALL THAT WOULD BE FORMED…

HE ENGRAVED THEM WITH VOICE, HE CARVED THEM WITH BREATH, HE SET THEM IN THE MOUTH…

HE PLACED THEM IN A CIRCLE LIKE A WALL WITH 231 GATES.
THE CIRCLE OSCILLATES BACK AND FORTH…

HOW? HE PERMUTED THEM, WEIGHED THEM, AND TRANSFORMED THEM,

‘ALEF’ [THE FIRST LETTER] WITH THEM ALL, AND ALL OF THEM WITH ‘ALEF’,

‘BET’ [THE SECOND LETTER] WITH THEM ALL, AND ALL OF THEM WITH ‘BET’.

THEY REPEAT IN A CYCLE AND EXIST IN 231 GATES.

IT COMES OUT THAT ALL THAT IS FORMED AND ALL THAT IS SPOKEN EMANATES FROM ONE NAME…

HE FORMED SUBSTANCE OUT OF CHAOS AND MADE NONEXISTENCE INTO EXISTENCE.

HE CARVED GREAT PILLARS FROM AIR THAT CANNOT BE GRASPED.

THIS IS THE SIGN, [‘ALEF’ WITH THEM ALL, AND ALL OF THEM WITH ‘ALEF’].

HE FORESEES, TRANSFORMS AND MAKES ALL THAT IS FORMED AND ALL THAT IS SPOKEN: ONE NAME.

A SIGN FOR THIS THING: TWENTY-TWO OBJECTS IN A SINGLE BODY. [5]

See some commentary (written 932 C.E.) of SA`ADYA GAON, Rabbi Sa`adya ben Joseph Fayyumi (Babylonia [Iraq], 882 – 942) http://www.sephardicsages.org/SEFER-YETZIRAH.html#a

The great rabbis teach that there are a small number of extremely extraordinary Torah sages endowed with the requisite credentials of being truly God fearing men and possessed of supreme Torah knowledge who are actually capable of utilizing this knowledge to CREATE their own “spiritual worlds” emanating and radiating greater Torah and spreading Holiness throughout God’s world (starting here on our own “little” planet Earth,) and that is why the work is called “The BOOK of CREATION”.

Yet what we can see even on a very superficial plane is the centrality of “ALEF” (the “A” and the source for the Greek and Latin “alpha”) that is ONE, and “BET” (the “B” and the source of “beta”) which is two. There is a “level” before “one” and “two” called “zero” the “0” of “nothingness” from which “sprang” the Act of Creation – “Ma`aseh Breishis” of the Universe by means of the LETTERS of the Torah, starting with the very first letter in it, the “BET” of “BREISHIS”.

Why did the Torah start with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet and not the first?

In his masterwork “The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet”, Rabbi M. L. Munk explains that the Hebrew letter “BET” with its numerical value of “TWO”: “Symbolizes our world, SINCE EVERYTHING EARTHLY IS EMBEDDED IN PLURALITY…All that was created for man’s use came in PAIRS: The Torah – WRITTEN and ORAL; The Commandments – ‘Mitzvot’ – POSITIVE and NEGATIVE precepts; The Intermediaries – MOSES and AARON; The World – HEAVEN and EARTH; The Luminaries – SUN and MOON; Human – MALE/ADAM and FEMALE/EVE;…Two Tablets – BETWEEN MAN and GOD and BETWEEN MAN and his NEIGHBOR;…Two Drives and Two Hearts – The EVIL Inclination and the GOOD Inclination;…Two Worlds – THIS WORLD – ‘OLAM HAZEH’ and THE WORLD TO COME – ‘OLAM HABAH’ [6]

If you look at the way our own human bodies are constructed, on each side of the torso is an arm and leg. Two arms, and two hands, and two legs with two feet are attached to the central core. Even internally, most of the organs come in doubles: The lungs, kidneys, and the inner chambers of the heart and the brain spread on two sides. The head has two eyes, ears, and nostrils. Yet all are rooted in the one, which brings the focus back on the first letter, the “ALEF” which was the FIRST LETTER ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS when God sates “ANOCHI [HASHEM ELOKECHA]” – “I [AM THE LORD YOUR GOD] (Exodus, Chapter 20, verse 2).

Rabbi Munk says that the “ ‘ALEF’, ‘A’, symbolizes the ONE and ONLY, the Eternal, the Omnipotent God. IT IS THE SYMBOL OF GOD as the Creator and Master of the universe. Its numerical value is ONE…The Midrash teaches that God Himself addressed the ‘A’, saying that it stands at the head of the ‘ALEF-BET’ like a KING. ‘YOU ARE ONE, I AM ONE, AND THE TORAH IS ONE,’ God said, and He pledged to use it as the first letter of the Ten Commandments…As the initial of many of the Attributes and Names of God, ‘A’ also represents Divinity: ‘A’lokim’ – The Names that describe God’s Attribute of Judgment; ‘k‘A’l’ – The Name that describes God’s attribute of Mercy; ‘k‘A’heye’ – Represents God’s Timelessness…; ‘A’d`nai’ – Lord or Master; ‘A’don Olam’ - Master of the Universe; ‘A’dir’ – Mighty One; and ‘A’chad’ – ONE!…GOD IS ONE…; GOD, TORAH, AND ISRAEL ARE ONE…; TORAH IS ONE…;ISRAEL IS UNIQUE…; ‘A’ is for ADAM…; ‘A’BRAHAM IS ONE…WHO DEVOTED HIS LIFE TO SPREADING KNOWLEDGE OF THE ALMIGHTY…” [7]

The subject, like numbers themselves, is seemingly infinite!

Best wishes for a wonderful and relaxed Shabbat and please let me know what you think!

[1] Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum at http://www.azamra.org/Universal/TERUMAH.htm
[2] Ibid., http://www.azamra.org/Universal/VAYAKHEL.htm
[3] Ibid. http://www.azamra.org/Universal/PEKUDEY.htm
[4] The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet, Rabbi M. L. Munk, pp. 67 – 68.
[5] Sefer Yetzirah – The Book of Creation, English translation, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, pp. 95 – 136.
[6] The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet, Ibid., pp. 55 – 65.
[7] Ibid., pp. 43 – 49.
- posted by Izak @ 12:51 AM

 
#21: “Murphy’s Law” Downs the Israelites with a Golden Calf
“Murphy’s Law” Downs the Israelites with a Golden Calf

(Hi, hope this is helpful. Related to the Torah portion Ki Tisa (“When Counting”) read in synagogue. Exodus, Chapter 30, verse 11 – Chapter 34, verse 35. English translation and commentary at http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=30
Dedicated to my parents.)

If you have ever had the opportunity to read and study some of William Shakespeare’s plays, you will know that they are categorized into three groups: Histories, tragedies, and comedies. Histories are dramatizations of famous people and events. Comedies are meant to be amusing and titillate. But what is a tragedy? It seems so open to interpretation. Yet scholars and critics agree that what Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote a tragedy was, in a nutshell: Someone who definitely had the potential to be very great was UNFORTUNATELY possessed of a TRAGIC FLAW OR FAULT, that “jinxed” them from fulfilling their true potential and instead it is TRAGICALLY wasted and destroyed with the result that the TRAGIC HERO eventually lands in a situation that is the opposite of greatness and famous, thereby becoming pathetic or infamous.

“In the plays of Shakespeare, the tragic hero is always a noble man who enjoys some status and prosperity in society but possesses some moral weakness or flaw which leads to his downfall. External circumstances such as fate also play a part in the hero's fall. Evil agents often act upon the hero and the forces of good, causing the hero to make wrong decisions. Innocent people always feel the fall in tragedies, as well. The four most famous Shakespeare tragedies are King Lear, Hamlet, Othello, and Macbeth. Hamlet (who senses correctly that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark”) is an emotionally scarred young man trying to avenge the murder of his father, the king…Othello (who "loved not wisely, but too well") is a Moor serving as a general in the military of Venice, victimized as a result of his love for Desdemona, the daughter of a Venetian statesman…Macbeth (with “an ambition that does over leap itself”) is a noble warrior who gets caught up in a struggle for power. Supernatural events and Macbeth's ruthless wife play a major role in his downfall…King Lear is a tragic story of an old man's descent into madness as his world crumbles around him (“a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse”). It is also a tale of Lear's pride and his blindness to the truth about his three daughters and others around him…Although the main characters of these tragedies possess different traits, they all can be described as tragic Shakespearean heroes: they are basically good and noble men whose tragic flaw leads to their destruction.” [1]

The events in this week’s Torah portion contain the GREATEST FOLLY EVER COMMITTED BY THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL-THE JEWISH PEOPLE: The worship of a “hand made” Golden Calf, after having heard God SPEAK the TEN COMMANDMENTS, known as THE DECALOGUE, and as they were waiting for Moses to come down with the TEN COMMANDMENTS inscribed on the Tablets of Sapphire Stone, they fall victim to an evil impulse and turn to worshipping an idol of all things! When Moses descends he smashes the Ten Commandments and gets rid of the troublemakers. During the commotion, Moses pleads on behalf of the Children of Israel begging God not to destroy them. Subsequently God grants Moses a SECOND SET OF TABLETS, and because Moses had begged to witness God’s Glory, while Revealing of Himself God teaches Moses the profoundest secrets of forgiveness, which in the Torah is embodied in the recitation and acceptance of THIRTEEN HOLY AND SPECIAL DIVINE ATTRIBUTES OF MERCY.

On the surface there are definitely quite a number of chronological and factual events and personalities that co-join to create a very combustible combination of contributing factors to the culminating chaos and confusion of the cursed calf. But ask yourself: were the Children of Israel really that immature that they suffered from a bad case of national “impulse disorder” and couldn’t hold on a little while longer for Moses to appear? How could such a special nation that had witnessed awesome miracles and the very revelation of God at Mount Sinai not do a “reality check” on themselves and stop themselves going overboard with such foolishness? Surely there is more to the narrative, that can place events into a deeper and more spiritually comprehensive level so that we can reach the forces driving the upheaval and not just glance at the “exterior symptoms”?

When I was thinking about a title for this essay, I couldn’t resist thinking of the almost simplistic, yet somehow profoundly true “Murphy’s Law”: “If anything can go wrong, it will.” In fact there are a number of other such “Murphy’s Laws” that in their plebian way, force us to focus on “What went wrong?”: Here is a listing of those telling truisms, from
http://www.murphys-laws.com/murphy/murphy-laws.html
“Murphy's Laws:
1.) If anything can go wrong, it will.Corollary: It can.MacGillicuddy's Corollary: At the most inopportune time.
2.) If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.
3.) If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
4.) If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.Corollary: It will be impossible to fix the fifth fault, without breaking the fix on one or more of the others.
5.) Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
6.) If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
7.) Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.Corollary: The hidden flaw never stays hidden for long.
8.) Mother nature is a (‘female dog’). 9.) Things get worse under pressure. 10.) Smile . . . tomorrow will be worse. 11.) Everything goes wrong all at once. 12.) Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value” [2]

All of these “laws” seem so very true about the “CHET HA`EGEL” – THE SIN OF THE (GOLDEN) CALF.

SO WHAT WENT WRONG?!

Here is an outline derived from a variety of classical Jewish sources: Everything in the Torah comes back to the first narrative in Genesis when Adam and Eve are created by God and commanded not to eat from a mysterious and mystical Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve were meant to live eternally as they were the Apex of all Creation. They had wonderful minds and the power of human speech because God had breathed into Adam a Divine Soul, making Adam capable of mirroring in reality God’s presence on Earth. Once Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit they automatically brought Death and Suffering into this world. They gave Evil a home whereas it had previously not had a foothold, existing as an external abstract entity.

After many other generations of humankind fail to improve the world and in fact make things worse by driving the Divine Presence further away, it becomes the job of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and then the Children of Israel-The Jewish People as a NATION after the Exodus to finally bring the world back to the level of Adam and Eve to where they were BEFORE they sinned. This was almost achieved at Mount Sinai. But as they say, “almost” doesn’t count. All those dastardly “MURPHY”S LAWS” kicked in and went into high gear and everything that could go wrong went wrong! Why is that? Simply put, THE FORCES OF EVIL AND DARKNESS WENT TO WORK OVER-TIME TO DO ALL THEY COULD TO PREVENT THE CONSUMMATION OF GOD’S UNION WITH THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL THROUGH THEIR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TORAH FROM BECOMING PERMANENT.

IT IS THE TORAH THAT IS CALLED “THE TREE OF LIFE” which in fact was that “OTHER TREE” in the Garden of Eden that God feared Adam and Eve would eat from, and “live forever”, as God Lives Forever. In fact, the classical Jewish teachings say that the Children of Israel did attain a level of ETERNAL LIFE when they WITNESSED THE REVELATION OF GOD AT MOUNT SINAI and HEARD THE TEN COMMANDMENTS SPOKEN BY GOD. This indicates that they were in fact already on that level of eternal life, meaning that EVIL HAD BEEN BANISHED, and that DEATH WAS NO LONGER A FACTOR (IN LIFE), and that they must have then been very near to the Tree of LIFE, if only they could have just held on a little longer!

Note, each time the Torah is returned to the ark, be it weekdays, holidays, or Sabbaths, we actually try to “relive” those past glorious moments of fleeting “eternal life” when we say about the Torah that we hold up and then hold so tight in our right bosom and then carefully replace it in the ark: “LENGTH OF DAYS IS AT ITS RIGHT; AT ITS LEFT, WEALTH AND HONOR. ITS WAYS ARE PEACE. IT IS A TREE OF LIFE TO THOSE WHO GRASP IT, AND ITS SUPPORTERS ARE PRAISEWORTHY.” (Proverbs, Chapter 3, vs. 16 –18).

There are all sorts of descriptions of what went wrong on that horrible day. Some say it was a Divine Test by God to see if the Children of Israel could hold fast and abide by the teachings of the Ten Commandments and have faith until Moses arrived to “seal the deal”. Others say that the “Satan” (the arch-angel of all evil) projected an image of Moses’ body which was seemingly “life-less” at the top of Mount Sinai as his Soul had left its body and “transmigrated” to be with God in the Celestial Spheres of Heaven to receive the Torah. The Children of Israel thus thought that Moses had perhaps “died” and so they became hysterical with despair clutching even at an idol. There are those that say that the Golden Calf was patterned after images of God’s Throne which also has “animal-like” depictions which they thought was “kosher” to imitate. A great deal of blame is laid upon the “mixed multitude” – “eruv rav”, of people who had previously been idol worshipers and all sorts of gentiles in Egypt and when Moses’ strong hand of leadership was absent, they took a chance and tried a “coup d'etat” in a plot to take over and subvert the newly established Israelite Nation. Even in our own times, we find that when the newly established State of Israel came into being in 1947 – 8, it had to fight for its survival against Arabs (“eruv”? “rav”?…funny how both these words seem to sound like the Hebrew word for Arab: “aravi”) who wanted to throttle the first Jewish State in 2,000 years.

One of the best teachings that I have come across over the years explaining what it was that really “triggered” the rebellion and the establishment of the Golden Calf is by Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler (Lithuania, England, Israel, 1891 – 1954) in one of the Hebrew volumes of his work “Michtav Me`Eliyahu”. He explains that the catastrophe of the Golden Calf is actually PHARAOH’S VICTORY. It is the point at which all the efforts of the Egyptian sorcerers and of the culture of the idol-worshipping slave empire of ancient Egypt FINALLY managed to strike out and score a home run against not just the Israelites but against God’s Will for the world, sad to say.

Rabbi Dessler proves his point when he points to specific words in this week’s portion that are the spelling of PHARAOH when describing Moses’ reactions when he saw what had happened when he finally returned:Let’s say the verse in Hebrew first: “Vayar Mosheh Et Ha`Am Ki PHARUA Hu, Ki PHERAOH Aharon LeShimtzah Bekameihem” (Exodus, Chapter 32, verse 25): You clearly see that Moses is describing what he is seeing as something in terms of “PHARUA” and “PHERAOH” with the exact Hebrew spelling and pronunciation of the name Pharaoh in Hebrew. So what does it mean that here, at the site of the Israelites dancing around the abomination of the Golden Calf idol, Moses sees and identifies the tell-tale “FINGERPRINTS” and the “CALLING CARD” of none other than his own arch-rival, Pharaoh? The English translation for this verse reads: “Moses realized that the people had actually been ‘PHARUA’. Aaron had ‘PHERAOH’ them…” Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan cites different interpretations of this “PHARUA’ – “PHERAOH” word: “restrained” (by Aaron from doing worse); “exposed” [without cover]; “exposed to harm”; “undisciplined”; “unrestrained”; “going the wrong way”. [3]
Rabbi Dessler says that this is precisely the point, that the word PHARAOH is connected to the Hebrew word to “EXPOSE” and “EXPOSE TO HARM” to be “UNDISCIPLINED” and be “GOING THE WRONG WAY.” It is in Pharaoh’s “spirit” that all the damage is done. What this means in somewhat more esoteric terms is that, that same ancient Serpent that SEDUCED EVE away from the path of following God’s Will, now comes embodied as a cavorting wild mob of mixed multitude – “eruv rav” devotees whose natural instinct is only one of destruction of what should have been a climactic holy spiritual high, but ends as VAST NATIONAL TRAGEDY as we see the Children of Israel cast as heroes who withstood so much anguish and suffering in their rise from Egypt only to see it TRAGICALLY washed away through their folly.

There is actually an interesting Oral Law Teaching Medrash that says that at the time the Golden Calf was being “designed”, among the mixed multitude there were:“The two Egyptian sorcerers, Yanus and Yambrus (Bilam’s sons [Bilam was the ‘greatest’- most notorious, sorcerer of that time]), now put their power of magic to work. One of them seized two thirds of the gold, and the other, the remaining third. By means of the IMPURE ENERGY FORCES – ‘ruach hatumah’, they were able to draw the radiance of the image of the ox of the DIVINE CHARIOT – ‘merkava’ towards them. Another man, Micha (who as a child had been cemented into a wall in Egypt and was saved by Moses), assisted by casting into the fire a tablet containing the inscription EMERGE OX – ‘alay shor’. This was the same tablet Moses had cast into the Nile to bring up Joseph’s [hidden submerged] coffin. Subsequently, a live calf emerged from the fire, bleating and moving around. God had given Satan permission to entice the Children of Israel. God said to Aaron, ‘You stumbled because of the deeds of the two wicked ones, Yanus and Yambrus; therefore, your sons’ lives will be taken’…In addition to the original image which was pronounced the major one, the mixed multitude – ‘eruv rav’ fabricated another twelve calves, one for each Tribe. Pointing to them, the mixed multitude called out: ‘These are your gods [hence the use of the plural ‘gods’], Israel, that took you out of Egypt.” (Exodus, Chapter 32, verse 4). [4]

This was all on the dark side. There was however also a bright side. Firstly all the commentators agree that the WOMEN DID NOT PARTICIPATE. The men literally ripped off their gold jewelry. Secondly, the Tribe of Levi refused to partake and DID NOT JOIN IN the idol worshiping and general mayhem. Thirdly, there were even those who resisted with force of arms against the mob’s madness. The commentators say that Hur and the Seventy elders defied the demands of the mixed multitude and that they were actually killed by the mob and so are considered as having died as martyrs – “al kiddush Hashem” – Sanctifying the Name of Heaven by not following the dictates of an evil gathering of idol worshippers. And finally, there are quite a number of great benefits and “counter measures” that arose as a result of the great mistakes that were made.

One such example is the derivation of THE THIRTEEN HOLY AND SPECIAL DIVINE ATTRIBUTES OF MERCY:
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=34
“Moses carved out two stone tablets like the first. He then got up early in the morning and climbed Mount Sinai, as God had commanded him, taking the two stone tablets in his hand. God revealed Himself in a cloud, and it stood there with [Moses]. [Moses] called out in God's name. God passed by before [Moses] and proclaimed, ‘God, God, Omnipotent, merciful and kind, slow to anger, with tremendous [resources of] love and truth. He remembers deeds of love for thousands [of generations], forgiving sin, rebellion and error. He does not clear [those who do not repent], but keeps in mind the sins of the fathers to their children and grandchildren, to the third and fourth generation’.” (Exodus, Chapter 34, vs. 4 – 7). [5]

So something eternal and positive does come out of this complex episode that we practice to this very day, especially on the holiest days of the Jewish calendar, from the Jewish New Year – “Rosh Hashanah” and the Ten Days of Repentance till the Day of Atonement – “Yom Kippur”:

“At the time when Moses asked God to reveal to him His Glory, God taught him how the Jewish people should pray in order to achieve forgiveness for their sins. ‘Had you not mentioned the merit of their forefathers after the Sin of the Golden Calf, I would have consumed them. I will therefore teach you MY THIRTEEN ATTRIBUTES OF MERCY. WHENEVER THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL APPEAL TO ME BY THESE, THEIR PRAYERS SHALL FIND A RESPONSE.’ God, as it were, wrapped Himself in a PRAYER-SHAWL (‘TALIT’) functioning as a public emissary of prayer (the ‘Chazan’- ‘cantor’), and taught Moses His Thirteen Attributes of Mercy.” [6]

Rabbi Ezra Bick, a contemporary rabbi in Israel, [7] asks:“It is still true that the ‘selichot’ (penitential prayers), and the ‘Thirteen Attributes of Mercy’ that lie at the heart of them, are central to the understanding of Yom Kippur. This is felt most clearly in the waning moments of the day, during ‘Ne'ila’, when they are repeated over and over again (seven times in most versions). The basis for reciting the Thirteen Attributes of mercy is found in (the Talmud, Tractate) Rosh Hashanah 17b.
‘God passed by him and called...’ (Exodus, 34,verse 6) Rabbi Yochanan said: ‘Were this not an explicit verse, we could not have said such a thing. It tells us that the Holy One, blessed be He, wrapped Himself (in a ‘talit’) like the prayer leader (‘chazzan’) and showed Moses the order of prayer. He said to him: ‘Whenever Israel sins, let them perform this order and I shall forgive them. ‘HaShem’ (God), ‘HaShem’ (God) - I am He before man sins; I am He after man sins and repents’ ... Rav Yehuda said: ‘A covenant is made over the Thirteen attributes, that they are never ineffectual, as is written, ‘Behold I am making a covenant’.’” (Exodus, Chapter 34, verse 10).

Rabbi Bick goes on to ask: “There are a number of perplexing points about this Gemara (Talmud). Why did God have to demonstrate to Moses how to recite the Thirteen Attributes? Why did he ‘dress up’ like a ‘chazzan’ and pretend to be one who prays? Why are the thirteen attributes guaranteed to succeed more than any other prayer, and what is the meaning of the ‘covenant’, which is the basis of that success? Finally, examining the Thirteen Attributes, we find that they are merely names and descriptions of God, not a prayer at all. Nothing is actually requested. What is the significance of reciting attributes of God? Surely a plea from the heart for forgiveness should be more effective!”He answers: “How do the Sages know that the thirteen attributes, conveyed to Moses in a mysterious and powerful revelation after the sin of the golden calf (Exodus, Chapter 34, vs. 5-7), are a means of obtaining forgiveness? The answer to this question is found in a later incident in the Torah. When the Jewish people, after hearing the report of the spies concerning the Land of Israel, seek to return to Egypt, God tells Moses that He is planning to destroy them. Moses pleads and argues with God, finally saying, ‘And now, the strength of God shall increase, as You have spoken, saying: HaShem (God), long-tempered and great in mercy, who bears sin and iniquity, and shall cleanse but not cleanse....Forgive the sin of this people by the greatness of your mercy, as You have borne this people from Egypt unto here.’ And God said, ‘I have forgiven by your words’.”

“THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD, IN JUDAISM, ARE NOT THEOLOGY. They are revelations, manifestations of God's presence in the world. But God does not impose His presence on the world. God is found where people, created in the image of God, call on His name. Every day, at every prayer, Jews declare: ‘Yitgadel ve-yitkadesh shemei raba’ – ‘His Great Name shall be Sanctified and Increased’! This is precisely the meaning of COVENANT – ‘A covenant is made over the Thirteen Attributes, that they are never ineffectual.’ A covenant is not a promise; it is a two-sided agreement. It creates something which exists only in partnership. The Thirteen Attributes exist in covenant, because God has agreed that His presence in the world will depend on the free-willed calling of humans, who shall be the bearers of His name, His presence, His glory.”

“This then is the meaning of the Gemara (Talmud) quoted above. God appeared to Moses wrapped in a ‘talit’ – ‘prayer shawl’, as the leader of the prayer, because the Thirteen Attributes are not a prayer TO God. He is not listening, receiving, considering. He is part of the prayer itself. The words are not TO Him, they are about Him. They, as it were, create the Presence of God Himself. God is changing Himself (‘rising from the throne of judgment and sitting on the throne of mercy’). He is as much part of the recitation as we are. Properly speaking, before the creation of the covenant, ONLY God could have ‘recited’ the Thirteen Attributes. God has to show Moses how this is to be done, for He is giving over to Moses and the Jewish people something which belongs to Him alone. He is making the Jewish people the bearers of God's Presence in this world.”

“The Gemara (Talmud) states that there are Thirteen Attributes of mercy found in Exodus, Chapter 34, verse 6, but does not actually enumerate them. There are various opinions found in the commentaries. The most widely accepted is that found in Tosafot (Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 17b):
1. ‘HaShem’ - God (before the sin)
2. ‘HaShem’ - God (after the sin)
3. ‘Kel’ -Lord (power)
4. ‘Rachum’ (merciful)
5. ‘Chanun’ (grace)
6. ‘Erech apayim’ (long-tempered)
7. ‘Rav-chesed’ (great in mercy)
8. ‘(Rav) emet’ (great in truth)
9. ‘Notzer chesed l'alafim’ (keeps mercy for a thousand generations)
10. ‘Nosei avon’ (bears iniquity)
11 ‘(Nosei) pesha’ (transgression)
12. ‘(Nosei) chata'a’ (sin)
13. ‘Nakei’ (cleanse).
The meaning of and difference between each attribute is a subject worthy of extended discussion, which will have to await a later date.” [8]

Best wishes, and have a wonderful Shabbat. Please let me know what you think!

[1] Shakespeare's Tragedies, http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/shaktragedies.html
[2] http://www.murphys-laws.com/murphy/murphy-laws.html
[3] The Living Torah, English translation, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, p. 452- 453.
[4] The Midrash Says, Book of Sh`mos – Exodus, English translation, pp. 319 –320.
[5] The Living Torah, Ibid. p. 459
[6] The Midrash Says, Ibid., pp.339 – 440.
[7] The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, Rabbi Ezra Bick,
http://www.vbm-torah.org/roshandyk/13-eb.htm
[8] Ibid.
- posted by Izak @ 10:06 AM

 
#20: The (De)Construction of (Wo)Man: Holy Clothes, Purim, Adam & Eve
The (De)Construction of (Wo)Man:
Holy Clothes, Purim, Adam & Eve

(Related to the weekly Torah portion of Tetzaveh (“Command”) read in synagogue. Exodus, Chapter 27, verse 20 – Chapter 30, verse 10. English text and commentary at http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=27
Dedicated to my parents.)

“The Emperor has no clothes” is an old English expression that tells us that a real “Emperor” without royal clothing, or a feeble pretender who may even seem like an “emperor”, are powerless when they don’t have the necessary wherewithal to be real “Emperors”. In other words, they don’t have what it takes to be in a leadership position because they are vulnerable and weak due to their “lack of clothing”, meaning nothing to back them up, and are in effect “naked” and humiliated, (what else does “has no clothes” mean?)

Another well know expression is that “Clothes Makes the Man (and Woman)”, because as we all know, the concept of what one wears is considered to be a “fashion statement”. Powerful leaders wear “power ties”. Women set on gaining attention “dress to kill”. Pin- striped suits bespeak corporate status. For the fashion conscious there are Spring and Fall fashion shows to be followed with oohs and aahs, and followed up with purchases: The more expensive the item, the greater its symbol of elite status. For those who remember, Imelda Marcos had thousands of exquisite shoes that she hardly wore, but which were an expression of her and her husband’s absolute rule in the Philippines.

Then there is the other end of the spectrum. The power that flows from negative attention when people “take it all off”. Famous actors and actresses feel it’s their “ticket to fame and fortune” only when they “let it all hang out” in front of millions of viewers. Most are just unknown bores, but a few suddenly get catapulted to the headlines sections with their personal online orgies. What’s THAT all about?

The bulk of this week’s Torah portion describes the commands Moses receives from God about how to DRESS UP THE PRIESTS (“KOHANIM”), particularly the extra-ordinary garments that Moses’ brother, Aaron the newly appointed High Priest (“KOHEN GADOL”) was to wear when performing the SERVICE (“AVODAH”) in the SANCTUARY – “MISHKAN” and then later to be continued when the Jewish Holy Temples were to be erected in Jerusalem: “MAKE CLOTHES OF HOLINESS (VESTMENTS) – ‘BIGDEI KODESH’ FOR AARON YOUR BROTHER FOR HONOR AND FOR GLORY” (Exodus, Chapter 28, verse, 2).
These opening words set the theme for this week’s portion as well as at the end of Exodus, in the final Torah portion of Pekudey (“Accounts”) there is a detailed description of the completion of these items, see Exodus, Chapter 39 http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=39

What is the immediate context as well as the greater context for this entire subject of elevating the clothing of select individuals to such high levels of holiness and what does it teach the rest of us in general terms about the power of clothing?

Can we pinpoint specific episodes and events in the Torah that focus directly on this issue of clothing generally and what it means to the human race?

Fascinatingly, there is a custom to DRESS UP IN COSTUMES AND DISGUISES ON PURIM DAY, so what is the connection, if any, with the over-all (no pun meant) subject of getting dressed?

I would like to outline the sources in the Torah for the delicate subject of humans and clothes, how it comes to be that the High Priest – “Kohen Gadol” must wear a “Divine Uniform”, and a direct connection to the entire Purim saga as it first happened to the Jews under the Persian Empire about 2,400 years ago, and some lessons for our modern age.

In Genesis we are told that Adam and Eve, before they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil – “Etz Hada’at Tov Vera”, were totally NAKED, and were not ashamed about it. After they ate from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil they suddenly become aware and ashamed of their nakedness:
“The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not embarrassed by one another…The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and desirable to the eyes, and that the tree was attractive as a means to gain intelligence. She took some of its fruit and ate [it]. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate [it]. The eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked. They sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves loincloths.”

“They heard God’s voice moving about in the garden with the wind of the day. The man and his wife hid themselves from God among the trees of the garden. God called to the man, and He said, ‘Where are you [trying to hide]?’ ‘I heard Your voice in the garden,’ replied [the man], ‘and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’[God] asked, ‘Who told you that you are naked? Did you eat from the tree which I commanded you not to eat?’…”

“…God made leather garments for Adam and his wife and He clothed them.”

“God said, ‘Man has now become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now he must be prevented from putting forth his hand and also taking from the Tree of Life. He [can] eat it and live forever!’ God banished [man] from the Garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove away the man, and stationed the cherubim at the east of Eden, along with the revolving sword blade, to guard the path of the Tree of Life.” (Genesis, Chapters 2 – 3) [1]

Classical Judaism teaches that the need and entire purpose of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants, the Children of Israel-The Jewish People is for them to RECTIFY the wrongs in the world, make a “TIKKUN OLAM”, and the notion of Adam and Eve’s nakedness stands as a great sign for the direction to follow. On the intimate level of husband and wife, a man and woman can and do revert to the level of Adam and Eve as they join in nudity to love each other and to become partners with God in the creation of new life. This is only on the private and personal miniscule microcosmic level. On a greater scale, the vast macrocosm of the totality of civilization, nudity cannot just be “FORBIDDEN” like a minor traffic offense because it is not just totally impractical due to climactic and aesthetic reasons, it is also going in the opposite direction that people should go in according to the Torah’s trustworthy guidelines, which is to aspire to that level of civilization that acknowledges that “clothing, like manners, makes the man and the woman.”

It was God Himself that dressed Adam and Eve in “garments of leather” to give them a level of self-respect that their own self-made skimpy fig leaves could never do for them.

Our Torah portion comes on the heels of the giving of the Ten Commandments. They were to be preserved in a SANCTUARY called the “MISHKAN” which with all its Divine Furnishings was meant to preserve and continue the fact that God had now given the Divine Law to the People of Israel for them to preserve, as they worshiped God and retained their Covenant with Him.

Simultaneously however, what had also happened at Mount Sinai with the giving of the Ten Commandments, was that the Jewish People had been transformed from slaves into free people. This is not just something “political” that happened to them. Something far deeper occurred as well: They were like new “converts” - “geirim” to the true Monotheistic faith as they were privileged to not just WITNESS God reveal Himself at Mount Sinai, but they also entered into a “COVENANT” – “BRIT” with Him meaning that they now became a completely new SPIRITUAL ENTITY, they received JEWISH S O U L S which meant they were now like new born, “Born Again”, members of the Covenant. This newly granted high level of holy Jewish spirituality needed a “home” as much as the Ten Commandments. The Jewish High Priest who is referred to as the “Heart of the Nation”, like the Jewish Kings would be later as well, became this special person: A public persona that could personify, maintain and preserve the HUMAN SIDE of the Revelation at Mount Sinai.

The Ten Commandments had their Ark of the Covenant as a Divinely ordained repository. For the newly arisen and established Jewish People, endowed with that EXTRAORDINARY DIVINE NATIONAL SOUL, a High Priest was consecrated to carry and care for the core super special spiritual legacy and essence of the true “Yiddishe Neshamah” – “The Jewish Soul”, AND HIS EXTERNAL APPEARANCE OF HOLY CLOTHING WAS DESIGNED BY THE ULTIMATE FASHION DESIGNER, GOD HIMSELF, TO REFLECT THAT SPECIAL ROLE THAT THE HIGH PRIEST FULFILLED.

As we know from History, the Jews have had their highs and lows many times over. The Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah, over 3,300 year ago was a great HIGH. From that point on, the Children of Israel went on to conquer Canaan, build up the Land of Israel, establish a monarchy, and BUILD a permanent Jewish temple in Jerusalem. However, the people began to show signs of “ wear and tear” as they lost the vision of why God had brought them out of Egypt: To be a guiding moral light to the nations of the world. Finally about 2,500 years ago, the wicked and cruel Babylonians appear and destroy the First Jewish Temple, placing the Jews in seemingly permanent exile. This is where and when the story of PURIM takes place, after Persia takes over Babylonia, and a King by the name of Ahasuerus arises, with a queen named VASHTI, and an evil advisor from the Nation of Amalek, by the name of Haman who steps forth to collude with the King against the Jews, by accusing them of disloyalty to Persia, and asking that they be exterminated (sounds like Spain of the Inquisition, or Nazi Germany and Europe during the Holocaust).

Now as Divine Fate / PROVIDENCE would have it, the entire plot becomes unraveled and turns into an upside down turnaround where the Jews go from being “Target Number One” designated for annihilation, to becoming a protected class of citizens with their own leaders saving them and guiding the fate of the Persian Empire.
And how does this all come about?Through the wiles and machinations of TWO WOMEN: VASHTI the Queen, first wife of Ahasuerus who loses her throne and her life, and the surprising selection of the JEWISH ESTHER who becomes the new Queen of Persia and savior of her people with the advice of her wise uncle MORDECHAI.

Now what was it that brought Ahasuerus to the point of ridding himself of his first beautiful wife?

Soon after he became king, he chose to throw a huge banquet and made a demand: That his wife VASHTI appear in the nude with only her crown on, in front of all the assembled “dignitaries”. She refused, and in a rage, the king ordered her execution that in turn opened the door to Esther who was chosen after many others had been rejected.

Classical Judaism has a very fascinating perspective on these events, and not all of them are recorded in the actual Megillah-Scroll Of Esther:
Why was Vashti confronted by such a challenge to appear in the nude in public? More specifically, why was God doing this to her? The answer that’s given is that because she had enslaved Jewish girls who had come from the Babylonian exile and MADE THEM WORK IN THE NUDE, so she was repaid in kind when she herself was challenged to appear in the nude PUBLICLY by her own husband the King.

Here is how the Oral Law MIDRASH RABBAH on ESTHER describes some of the behind the scenes goings on: “The subject of discussion among the guests was which nationality had the most beautiful women. This one claimed Median women are the most beautiful, and that one claimed Persian women are the most beautiful. Ahasuarus said to them, ‘The vessel which that man Ahasuerus uses is neither Median nor Persian, but a Chaldean. Do you want to see it?’… ‘Yes’, they said, ‘we want to see her, but only if she is undressed, except for her crown.’ As the verse indicates, the Queen was summoned to appear in her crown, and only that. He said to them, ‘All right’. And he agreed that she should come undressed. Ahasuerus asserted that Vashti was beautiful in her own right, not because of her regal finery or other external enhancements. Therefore, he accepted their challenge…”

“She offered to come dressed in no more than lingerie, unashamed to display herself in front of these men, since she was also immodest. Still, they did not allow her to do so. They insisted to her that she must come undressed… ‘I will come in without a crown’ Vashti argued. They objected, ‘the guests will claim that a maidservant had appeared in place of the queen…You must wear royal clothing (the crown) and enter.’…Vashti’s retort that it was improper to treat her so shamefully actually ignored the routine practice of the Babylonian monarchs to STRIP AND HUMILIATE THEIR CAPTIVES…Her contemptuous attitude, conveyed through the chamberlains, inflamed his anger…
We find other examples where the wicked suffer their condemnation undressed…The exaggerated outrage shows that this was Divine wrath rather than human anger. God was so enraged by the spectacle of a feast celebrating the destruction of the Jewish Temple and the cancellation of its construction that He incited Ahasuerus against Vashti. This was THE King-The Heavenly King, that is, who controlled these events.” [2]

Some of the commentators actually say that on some primal level, Ahasuerus and Vashti WERE in agreement. They had a mutual self-aggrandizing goal of “living it up” and “lapping it up” with wild parties and romps. With dark evil intuition they may have aspired to be rid of the limitations placed on Adam and Eve a long time ago, and just wanted to “let loose” without the “moral baggage” that came from the fallout from eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. But such dark schemes are bound to flounder and fail, just as Haman fails in his plans to kill out the Jews, because there is an almost automatic mysterious hidden guiding hand or “mechanism” that somehow pushes all the trash into the garbage can of history. Wild parties featuring nudity, as Ahasuerus and Vashti learned bitterly, can turn out to be absolute catastrophes, as God pushes them “back into their box”. THE WORLD AND ITS PEOPLE ARE NOT “FAIR GAME”!

As a sign of Esther and Mordechai’s victory, they are dressed in royal garments declaring their higher status as worthy human beings. Conversely, during the Holocaust in Europe, 1939 – 1945, the German and European Nazis forced their Jewish victims to strip before executing them.

Thus it may seem that God “APPEARS” to be “HIDDEN” during tough times in History, which is actually what happens during the entire saga of PURIM in Persia. In fact, the name Esther, we are taught, is connected to the word “HESTER” in Hebrew, meaning “HIDDEN”.

WHY DO WE WEAR DISGUISES ON PURIM?
See http://www.ou.org/chagim/purim/disguises.htm :
“The custom to wear disguises on Purim in general is based on God's hiding His identity in the Megillah of Esther. The salvation of the Jewish People seems to be accomplished through the actions of people alone, and God's Name doesn't appear once. The custom to wear disguises on Purim and to appear as non-Jews is related to Jacob’s wearing of Esau's clothes when he received the blessings that were due him. It is as if we announce that just as Jacob only had the outer appearance of Esau, but was inwardly holy and pure, so are all appearances of evil in Israel only external, and inwardly we remain a holy people.”
“Israel and Amalek are two extremes in the history of the nations. They are furthest apart from each other, but as is sometimes the case with extremes, at times they seem similar to each other. It is the way of Esau, and of Amalek his descendant, to disguise himself in garments that are not his; to talk smoothly, to pretend to be pious and just, while inwardly harboring only evil, deception and cunning. You thus find it said of Esau: ‘For there is hunt in his mouth.’ His mouth and his heart are not equal. The same trait, but totally inverted, is found among the righteous of Israel. You thus find of David, King of Israel, who he appears like a sinner, whereas in truth he excelled in piety. The same trait characterized Jacob, whose righteousness was so much concealed from all eyes, that even his father Isaac failed to recognize his true self until Rebecca revealed his hidden traits and caused the blessings to be given to Jacob who alone was worthy of them.” [3]

In contradistinction to the shame of Adam and Eve, the humiliation of Vashti, the masks and disguises of Purim, and the childish exhibitionism of modern day “celebrities” who flash flesh faster than flies on a fresh fruit at high digital speed, comes along the Torah and teaches the meaning of ENNOBLING HUMANITY through the influence, power, and EXAMPLES TO OTHERS of the Priesthood, the “Kohanim”.
Aaron the High Priest is to have EIGHT SPECIAL ITEMS OF CLOTHING. See a general picture: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/mishkan/26.htm Let us list the items on this picture in order, top to bottom, (note, this is only a rough “artist’s depiction”, it is obviously NOT the order in which the High Priest got dressed, and there are varying opinions among the sages as to the details of each of these eight garments):

According to the Talmud (Tractate Zevachim, 88b), each the eight items of clothing were endowed with spiritual powers that ATONED FOR SERIOUS SINS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE [4]: “Rabbi Inyani Bar Sason said: WHY ARE THE SECTIONS ON SACRIFICES AND THE PRIESTLY VESTMENTS CLOSE TOGETHER? TO TEACH YOU: AS SACRIFICES MAKE ATONEMENT, SO DO THE PRIESTLY VESTMENTS MAKE ATONEMENT.”

1) TURBAN / MITRE - “MITZNEFET”: “You shall make a linen TURBAN…” (Exodus, Chapter 28, verse 39):
Sketch: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/mishkan/32.htm

The TURBAN atoned for the sin of arrogance. Said Rabbi Hanina: “Let the headdress that is worn high up [on the PRIEST’S head] atone for the sin of holding the head too high.”

2) HEAD-PLATE – “TZITZ”:
Sketch: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/mishkan/32.htm
“You shall make a HEAD-PLATE of pure gold, and you shall engrave upon it, engraved like a signet ring, ‘HOLY TO GOD’…It shall be on Aaron’s forehead so that Aaron shall bring forgiveness for a sin…and it shall be on his forehead always, to bring them favor before God.” (Exodus, Chapter, 28, vs. 36 – 38):

This atoned for BRAZENNESS – “CHUTZPAH” described by Jeremiah as “…you had the ‘METZACH’ (denoting both the ‘FOREHEAD’ as well as ‘BRAZENNESS’/ ‘BOLDNESS’) of a harlot, you refused to be ashamed” (Jeremiah, Chapter 3, verse 3). Another opinion states that it atoned for blasphemy.

3) BREASTPLATE – “CHOSHEN”:
Sketch: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/mishkan/29.htm
“Make a DECISION / JUDGMENT breastplate…Set it with four rows of mounted [precious] stones…The stones shall contain the names of the twelve sons of Israel…to represent the twelve tribes…Aaron will thus carry the names of Israel’s sons on the DECISION / JUDGMENT over his heart when he comes to the sanctuary. It shall be a constant remembrance before God. PLACE THE ‘URIM AND THUMIM’ (Lightings and Perfections – Parchments with God’s Holy Names written on them) in the decision / judgment breastplate, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he comes before God. Aaron will then carry the decision-making device for the Israelites before God at all times.” (Exodus, Chapter 28, vs. 15 – 30). [5]

The “CHOSHEN” was worn over the High Priest’s heart and atoned for the sin of perverted judgment, since false judgment can originate from improper impulses coming from a tainted heart (emotions and prejudice).

4) APRON (CAPE) – “EPHOD”: (Exodus, Chapter 28, vs. 6 – 12),
Sketch: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/mishkan/30.htm
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan says:“There are several opinions as to how the ephod was made. Some say that the ephod was essentially like a half-cape. Others agree that it was a long garment, but say that it was more like a skirt, from the waist to the heels, covering the high priest in front and back. Still others also agree that it was long, but maintain that it
was much simpler in construction. They see it as a kind of cape made of a single rectangular piece of cloth, draped over the shoulders like a large ‘Talit’, there are, however, a number of authorities who maintain that it was not a long garment at all, but rather like a vest with a belt around its lower edge, tied in front. Others see it as a kind of backwards vest.” [6]

The “EPHOD” – APRON / ROBE, atoned for the transgression of idol worship, as idol worshippers used to wear apron-like robes as described in the book of Judges: “… ‘Did you know that in these buildings there are an ‘EPHOD’ and icons, a carved image and molten image?’” (Judges, Chapter 18, verse 14).

5) MANTLE (ROBE) – “ME`IL”: (Exodus, Chapter 28, vs. 31 – 35).
Sketch: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/mishkan/28.htm
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan says: “Some say that it had sleeves, while others maintain that it was sleeveless. According to many it was a closed robe that was slipped over the head. It was woven as a single garment without seams and had an opening parted along the chest and back for the head. Others say that it was a simple robe, open down the front. Others, however, maintained that it was open in front like a large sleeveless cape, and only closed at the neck. According to another opinion it was a long rectangular piece of cloth with a hole in the middle for the head, very much like a long ‘Talit Kattan’. According to some, it hung in front and back, while others maintain that it hung on both sides. It came down to the priest's feet.” [7]

A fascinating feature of the MANTLE – “ME`IL” is that the Torah says that around its hem it should have little BELLS!: “You shall make on its hem [tiny] pomegranates of turquoise…on its hem all around, and GOLD BELLS BETWEEN THEM, all around. It must be on Aaron in order to minister. Its SOUND shall be heard when he enters the SANCTUARY before God and when he leaves, so that he not die.” (Exodus, Chapter 28, vs. 33 – 35).

The MANTLE – “ME`IL” with its little jingling bells (A POSITIVE BLESSED SOUND) ATONED FOR PUBLIC SLANDER (A NEGATIVE SOUND), for “LASHON HARA” – “EVIL SPEECH” spoken in public, as Rabbi Hanina said: “Let an article of sound come and atone for an offence of sound”.

6) KNITTED TUNIC / COAT / SHIRT – “KETONET TASHBETZ”: “Knit the tunic out of linen” (Exodus, Chapter 28, verse 4 & verse 39).
Sketch: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/mishkan/27.htm
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan says it had a “patterned weave that could best be attained by knitting. Some write that it had a pattern of depressions, like settings for precious stones. Others say that it was a diamond-shaped pattern, like an array of small eyes. According to another opinion, it was a hexagonal pattern, like a honeycomb. It had arm-length sleeves that were made separately and sewn on. It sat close to the body, and came down to the feet. The sleeves were tied at the wrists.” [8]

The sages of the Talmud teach that this “KETONET” atoned for MURDERS that were not punishable by a Jewish Court of Law – “BEIT DIN”, because of the absence of two witnesses. If such an event took place all of Israel were liable in God’s eyes as it were. The “KETONET” was chosen to atone for the sin of this “guilt” since its states in Genesis that Joseph’s brothers dipped HIS SHIRT - “KETONET” into goat’s blood to fool their father Jacob into believing that he had been killed. (Genesis, Chapter 37, verse 31).

7) BELT / SASH – “AVNET”: “An embroidered sash” (Exodus, Chapter 28, vs. 4 & 39 – 40) Sketch: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/mishkan/31.htm Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan says: “This is described as being 3 fingerbreadths (2 1/4') wide and 32 cubits (48') long. Some say that it went twice around the body. It was made of linen embroidered with colored wool. Although this is normally forbidden (Leviticus, Chapter 19, verse 19), it was permitted for the priestly garments. Josephus describes the sash as being worn over the heart, slightly above the elbows. It was four fingers wide and loosely woven, so that it appeared like the skin of a snake. Its main body was linen, and it was embroidered with a floral design of linen and blue, dark-red and crimson wool. When it was worn, its ends were allowed to hang down to the ankles, except during the service, when the ends were thrown over the left shoulder.” [9]

The “AVNET” was worn over the heart and therefore atoned for improper thoughts of the heart. This has also probably been the source for the custom that some Jews have of wearing a “GARTEL”, which mean “BELT” in Yiddish, when they pray as a sign of placing a barrier between the heart and any impure thoughts (“ERVA”).

8) LINEN PANTS / BREECHES – “MICHNESEI VAD”: “Also make linen pants to cover their nakedness, reaching from their waste to their thighs.” (Exodus, Chapter 28, verse 42). The PANTS are not really seen at this sketch: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/mishkan/26.htm Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan says that “these were closed pants, reaching from the waist to the knees. They had laces around the knees where they could be tied. Others, however, maintain that it was tied at the waist. The common priest thus had a total of four vestments, and the High Priest eight (Rashi).” [10]

Rabbi Inyani Bar Sason in the Talmud says: “the breeches ATONED FOR LEWDNESS, as it is said: ‘…Make LINEN PANTS – ‘MICHNESEI VAD’, TO COVER THEIR NAKEDNESS / NAKED FLESH – ‘B`SAR ERVAH’.(Exodus, Chapter 28, verse 42).”

Have a wonderful Shabbat and a happy Purim.
Best wishes, and please let me know what you think.

[1] The Living Torah, English translation, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, pp. 7 – 17.
[2] The Midrash Rabbah - Esther, English translation and commentary, pp. 123 – 126.
[3] http://www.ou.org/chagim/purim/disguises.htm
[4] The Midrash Says, Book of Sh`mos, Exodus, pp. 280 - 282.
[5] The Living Torah, Ibid., pp. 421 – 427.
[6] “Ephod”, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=28#C1657
[7] “Me`il”, Ibid.,
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=28#C1706
[8] “Ketonet Tashbetz”, Ibid.,
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=28#C1716
[9] “Avnet”, Ibid.,
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=28#C1718
[10] “Michnesei Vad”, Ibid.,
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=28#C1725
- posted by Izak @ 11:50 AM

 
#19:The House That Stands Forever
The House That Stands Forever

(Related to the weekly Torah portion Terumah (“Offering”) read in synagogue. Exodus, Chapter 25, verse 1 – Chapter 27, verse 19. English text and commentary at
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=25
Dedicated to my parents.)

Somebody gives you a few million dollars, now what do you do with it? Do you stuff it into your mattress? Do you share it with the world? Do you stop functioning and go on vacations? The savvy advisors will say you have to “make it work for you”, to “make it last” and “make it grow” through smart “investing” so that it “grows” and that you can “live off it” for the rest of your life and even “hand it over” as a thriving inheritance to your descendants!

That is precisely what happened after God gave the Ten Commandments, the entire Torah in essence, to the Children of Israel. It was the GREATEST TREASURE ever revealed and the Jews became the eternal custodians of it. So how was it to be preserved then?

There are many ways to answer this question. The Torah itself contains many passages that warn that the key to “happy” Jewish history hinges on the best observance of the Torah’s TEACHINGS and its COMMANDMENTS – “MITZVOT”.

The establishment, construction, and endurance of the first portable religious spiritual SANCTUARY, which metamorphosed into the permanent TEMPLES which in turn shaped the rise and endurance of the system of multiple SYNAGOGUES (roughly meaning “bring together” in Latin or Greek) known as a House of Prayer - “Beit Tefilah”, or a House of Gathering – “Beit Knesset”, or a House of Learning – Beit Midrash, ALL OF WHICH WERE DIRECTLY BASED ON THE TORAH’S BLUEPRINT as outlined and detailed in this week’s Torah portion. It was THROUGH THESE STRUCTURES THAT THE MANNER AND STYLE OF JEWISH WORSHIP OF GOD WAS PRESERVED AND TRANSMITTED THROUGH ALL THE AGES. They provided the framework for the “transmission” of the spiritual “wealth” of the Torah, much like great fortunes are preserved and transmitted by wealthy families. Just in this case the “families” included all Jewish families committed to Torah life, and the “banking houses” are NOT savvy financial institutions, but HOLY INSTITUTIONS OF JEWISH WORSHIP – “AVODAH” (DIVINE SERVICE).

I would like to quote the famous teaching from the Mishnah Oral Law Teaching of Ethics of the Fathers – “Pirkei Avot” at the outset: “MOSES RECEIVED THE TORAH FROM (AT MOUNT) SINAI AND TRANSMITTED IT…TO THE MEN OF THE GREAT ASSEMBLY…RABBI SHIMON THE RIGHTEOUS WAS AMONG THE SURVIVORS OF THE GREAT ASSEMBLY. HE USED TO SAY: THE WORLD DEPENDS (STANDS) ON THREE THINGS – ON TORAH STUDY, ON THE SERVICE (WORSHIP) [OF GOD], AND ON KIND DEEDS (ACTS OF LOVING-KINDNESS)” (Ethics of the Fathers, Chapter 1, Mishnah 1 - 2).
Torah “includes the Written Law and the Oral Law in its entirety and expounded by successive generations of Sages.” [1]

Rabbi Shimon, (who lived over 2,000 years ago), of this Mishnah, is not giving a “personal” opinion. He is stating a UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE OF JUDAISM: That the very FOUNDATIONS of the world are built FIRST on the TORAH! That is the foundation that is embodied by the GIVING OF THE TORAH – “MATTAN TORAH” and is symbolized by the physical Ten Commandments on the two tablets of “sapphire” stone. Where do they go? Into the “HOLY ARK” which is placed into the Holy of Holies within the Sanctuary. Surrounded by all the other holy objects, such as the TABLE, ALTAR, and “MENORAH” which have a variety of functions or “SERVICES”, known as the “AVODAH”. And this is what Rabbi Shimon states that the world rests on this SERVICE – “AVODAH” too: “The SERVICE of God, i.e. the SACRIFICIAL SERVICE in the Temple and, IN THE ABSENCE OF THE TEMPLE, STUDY OF THE LAWS REGARDING THE SERVICE. IN ITS BROADER SENSE, SERVICE REFERS TO PRAYER AND THE PERFORMANCE OF THE COMMANDMENTS.” [2]

So we have two foundations of the world in place right here in the Sanctuary, where does the third component of KIND DEEDS – “GEMILUT CHASADIM” come into the picture? The answer, as we shall explain later, is that the entire process of building, maintaining and supporting both the TORAH and the AVODAH of not just the sanctuary, but of the entire world is built upon the KINDNESS and GENEROSITY that people give of their wealth, efforts, know-how and SELFLESSNESS towards maintaining the entire EDIFICE of Torah - religious, communal and social, material and physical needs. The world rests on the Torah, the Service – “Avodah”, and Kind Deeds.

Why the need for a special “HOUSE OF or FOR GOD” or “RELIGIOUS EDIFICES or BODIES” in the first place? What motivates the need for such things?

In many instances, the more precious something is, the greater its need for an outer casing. The most expensive jewels and valuables are stored in massive secure vaults. Historical books and items of great importance are preserved in professional libraries. Great paintings and works of art are guarded in museums and private collections. The vegetables and fruits we eat grow in peels and shells awaiting the right (ripe) minute for our mouths. Chocolates and gifts are no fun if they are not wrapped in fancy paper and boxes. Fine wines and liquors come in exotic bottles and canisters designed to beguile the eye and lure the palate as they flatter the contents. In the animal kingdom many have skins and furs that not only give them natural, and beautiful, insulation, but are also prized for the same protection and elegance they can convey upon men and women as clothes and fashions.

On a human level, an infant is protected from the outside world first by its mother’s body and is then swaddled by layers of warm clothes and covers. Children are protected from harm with fences and alarms and by being watched and cared for at home and school. Most civilized people cannot survive even moderate changes in climate without any clothing or physical shelter. Human beings have an innate need to be housed and protected. For work purposes, all sorts of structures are erected to enable business and commerce to take place within them, from the computer cubicle to the convention center. Societies and states with populations and resources to protect from outside threats and dangers, must shield their people and assets militarily from fortifications and posts to missile “shields and umbrellas”.

It goes even deeper than that, as Judaism believes that the body HOUSES and HOSTS an indefinable ethereal abstract entity called the “SOUL” (“NESHAMAH” in Hebrew), that is in fact its original SPARK OF LIGHT rooted to the SOURCE OF LIFE which provides an ongoing connection to LIVING and ultimately is linked to the Divine: “NER HASHEM NISHMAT ADAM” – “(THE) LIGHT OF GOD (IS THE) SOUL OF MAN, which searches the chambers of ones innards,” says the book of Proverbs (Chapter 20, verse 27) and as Rabbeinu Yonah (Rabbi Yonah ben Avraham of Gerona. Spain, c. 1200 – 1263) explains: “BY MEANS OF THE SOUL, GOD SEARCHES MAN’S INNERMOST THOUGHTS AND SCRUTINIZES HIM”. [3] Thus the SOUL is compared to LIGHT which is inside the special “LIGHTHOUSE” within each and every one of us, casting a glow on the darkness and instinctively, intuitively, almost imperceptibly guiding us to safe harbor as our frail bodies, like battered ships (the “houses” of the sea) sail across the stormy oceans of life praying not to be sunk before our time has come to leave the world in peace.

If we take a close look at the Torah’s description of the first man’s creation, it says that: “God formed man out of dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils a ‘BREATH (SOUL) OF LIFE’ – ‘NISHMAT CHAIM’” (Genesis, Chapter 2, verse 7). “Breath” and “Soul” in Hebrew have the same root origin. The Hebrew word for “breath of” is “nishmat”. The “BREATH” is the “N E S H I M A H”. The Hebrew word for the SOUL is the “N E S H A M A H”, because the SOUL – “NESHAMAH” is the source of LIFE –“CHAIM” which is manifested by the obvious fact that a person has BREATH – “NESHIMAH”. So we see clearly that the SOUL comes from God since He is the one who “breaths” it into Adam having made him from the “dust of the ground”. Therefore, the material, physical, corporeal earth and dust-like vessel that is the human body, is the REPOSITORY for the Divine Soul. The body “houses” the soul, as much as our homes “house” us. Furthermore, the world, meaning the totality of our planet and universe, is a grand-scale home for all of humanity that is “housed” upon the face of the globe.

Judaism also teaches that just as the soul is “housed” or “clothed” by the body, and the body in turn is literally dressed by clothes, it is a metaphor for the Torah which has a spiritual “soul” as in its esoteric mystical teachings and the Oral Law – “TORAH SHE-BEAL PEH”, which are housed in the body of the Written Torah – “TORAH SHE-BICHTAV”, which in turn is “clothed” by the COMMANDMENTS – “MITZVOT” and the Codes of Law relating to life in the everyday “real” world, all of which are studied and practiced by the House of Israel – “BEIT YISRAEL”.

Can we point to any root source for these concepts in the Torah and Judaism?

What is the real “truth of the truth” as to why the more sophisticated people are, the greater the value and stress they place of the centrality of “housing” in their lives?

After all, for thousands of years billions of people lived in carved out caves, scraggly tents, primitive mud or thatched huts, and even under the natural shades of the trees and vines without needing a special place to “call their own”, so why the need for something more?

What is the hidden essence of any structures that makes them special to people, whereby a house is not necessarily a “home”, and my home can be my “castle”, and a castle can become a “ruin” but could also become a wondrous “castle in the sky”, and my dull little town turns into a shining “city on a hill”?

What is the essence of the PRIVATE Jewish home, the place where each family contributes to the foundation, stability, growth, variety, and strength of the Jewish People – Nation (Children) of Israel – Hebrews?

Taking a quantum leap, what defines a “House of Worship” as it is called on common parlance?

What are the roots and explanations of those uniquely Jewish PUBLIC holy places: The Tabernacle - “MISHKAN” of the Exodus and early Israel; The First, and Second, Holy Temple – “BEIT HAMIKDASH” that stood in Jerusalem; and the rise of the SYNAGOGUE – “BEIT HAKNESET” for prayers and worship and the Yeshiva and Study Hall – “BEIT HAMIDRASH” for learning, studying and teaching Torah?

This week’ Torah portion of TERUMAH, refers to the “OFFERINGS” or “GIFTS”, “CONTRIBUTIONS”, “DONATIONS” that God requests from the Children Israel (Exodus, Chapter 25 vs. 1 – 9):

This is to provide the materials to enable the construction of the FIRST PERMANENT , albeit portable, RELIGIOUS SANCTUARY to get underway. The core purpose of these contributions is so that: “THEY SHALL MAKE ME A SANCTUARY (‘MIKDASH’ – ‘A HOLY PLACE’), AND I WILL DWELL (‘SHOCHANTI’) AMONG THEM. YOU MUST MAKE THE TABERNACLE (‘HAMISHKAN’) AND ALL ITS FURNISHINGS FOLLOWING THE PLANS THAT I AM SHOWING YOU.” (Exodus, Chapter 25, vs. 8 – 9) [4]

(Note that the rabbis point out that the verse is seemingly “misdirected”, meaning that it should state: “make me a sanctuary and I will dwell IN IT (i.e. the sanctuary)” and NOT “AMONG THEM”. Why is that so? After all doesn’t God want a “dwelling” here on earth to live in? And the answer is uniquely Jewish in that God has no “interest” in “dwelling” in a “place of worship” if the people in it have not let God into THEIR PERSONAL SELVES FIRST! This is the classical mistake of superficiality in religious life that so many people make, placing God into a neat “two by four” (ok, maybe a bit bigger than that) “enclosure”, and “arranging” to “meet” with Him at pre-appointed times as if He were the “ultimate executive” to be found in “the office” 9 to 5 so to speak, like “the doctor is in” now during services. This is blatantly childish as the verse here teaches that sanctity is created when God is constantly in our PERSONAL lives, and NOT WITHIN THE HOLLOW PHYSICAL STRUCTURES. After all, at one time God saw fit to allow the complete destruction of the ancient Temples because of this kind of misunderstanding and abuse, and that is why we mourn on the Ninth of Av – “Tisha BeAv”.)

What goes into a SANCTUARY / TABERNACLE / TEMPLE / (and eventually a SYNAGOGUE)?

These that follow are to be among the crucial and necessary “FURNISHINGS” for God’s HOLY PLACE. All the elements to be enumerated as necessary for the SANCTUARY would continue FOREVERMORE, either literally or symbolically, as the Jews traveled through time. All the features would be place into the permanent Temples and even enhanced. When these would be destroyed, first by Babylonia and then by Rome, the Jewish People would RECREATE and REESTABLISH them within each and every formal SYNAGOGUE and YESHIVA structure, as soon as they found the freedom, and place to settle down. Resources, time and money were never held back to establish the needed core of any COMMUNITY – “KEHILLAH” during over 2,500 years of exile:
An “ARK OF THE COVENANT” (Exodus Chapter 25, vs. 10 – 22):
(Diagram: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/mishkan/23.htm )

Also known as the “ARK OF THE TESTIMONY”, a square box made of special wood with an outer and inner layer of gold boxes, with two golden “KERUVIM” – dramatic and mysterious “male-child~female-child, cherub-like, bird-winged, figures” facing each other, on top of the Ark, into which will be placed, “REST”, the TEN COMMANDMENTS inscribed on the two tablets of stone. This will be placed in the inner sanctum to be called the “Holy of Holies” – “KODESH HAKODASHIM”.

Perhaps it may be said that this is analogous to the most private part of any home, the BEDROOM that is the place where the husband and wife dwell together in HOLINESS, as the Jewish marriage is called “KIDDUSHIN”. The mission of the Jewish home is to produce God-fearing good children and Judaism teaches that this comes about when the mother and father join to produce the body and God joins them to provide the soul. Hence the expression in classical Judaism that there are “Three partners to [creation] of man; the Holy One, the father and mother” (Talmud, Tractate Niddah). From the mother and father comes the body and from God comes the SOUL”.

In any SYNAGOGUE, this remains the HOLIEST spot. It is the ARK where the Torah scrolls are permanently stored. To this day, when the doors of the ark are opened, the congregation rises and the level of holiness present is considered to be higher than usual.

The special TABLE (Exodus Chapter 25, vs. 23 – 30):
(Diagram: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/mishkan/18.htm )

Also known as the “TABLE OF THE SHOW (or “SHEW”) BREAD”, made of wood and overlaid with gold, upon which were placed TWELVE LOAVES of specially baked bread, which is the origin for the concept of a “DOZEN”. This is representative of man’s need for basic nourishment and for elevation and dedication of the eating act to one of holiness.

It is symbolic of the “kitchen” and dining room of the Jewish home that places great emphasis on holiday and Shabbat meals with bread being on the “highest level’ of any mundane food requiring the most serious Blessings and Grace after meals.

Perhaps one may surmise that these are the tables or “pews” in synagogues, at which congregants sit and pray, or follow along with the Torah readings, placing their prayer books upon the tables, “taking in” the words of the services and having faith and trust that God will answer their prayers for daily bread and success in dealings with our fellow man.

The GOLDEN LAMP, SEVEN-CUPPED CANDELABRUM - “MENORAH” (Exodus, Chapter 25, vs. 31 – 40):
(Diagram: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/mishkan/16.htm )

In order to provide and symbolize LIGHT on all levels. No house or home can exist without basic lighting and the TABERNACLE and TEMPLE were no different. Probably aside from the Star (Shield) of David , the “MAGEN DAVID”, no item better symbolizes the whole essence of Judaism and Godliness than the “MENORAH” from which shone forth light. It is symbolic of the first “LIGHT” of Creation, to the “LIGHT” of the Torah, and the “HIDDEN LIGHT” – “OR HAGANUZ” of the End of Days. The great mystical text of Judaism is called the “ZOHAR” which means “SHINING’ as its teachings “SHED LIGHT” upon hidden mysteries in the Torah.

Most amazingly, modern science has “discovered” that “LIGHT” is the “BUILDING BLOCK” of all “existence” as everything in the universe is nothing but energy in the form of light.

The Jewish people has a role as a “LIGHT UNTO THE NATIONS” and the Jewish home is the custodian of all the “LITTLE LIGHTS” of its precious children as they grow up to become great shining bastions of the right kind of “en-LIGHT-enment” (hopefully!) Every synagogue has an “ETERNAL LIGHT” – “NER TAMID” near the front above the Ark where the Torahs are kept. There is a custom in some places to light a candle, and obviously to TURN ON THE LIGHTS, before services begin, as to pray in darkness is a sign of mourning, and one should be happy when facing God in prayer. The greatest symbol of light is the Torah, and its fusion with the Jews as a symbol of LIGHT in all its positive connotations.

The ALTAR – “MIZBEIACH” (Exodus, Chapter 27, vs. 1 – 8):
(Diagram: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/mishkan/14.htm )

Upon which would be offered SACRIFICIAL slaughtered KOSHER ANIMALS. It was also referred to as the “ALTAR OF EARTH”, the “OUTSIDE ALTAR”, or the “BRASS ALTAR”. From the dawn of time God desired the institution of animal sacrifices both as an “ATONEMENT” – “KAPARAH” (as for example on the DAY OF ATONEMENT, know as “YOM KIPPUR”) for man (rather the animal than the person) and as a “GIFT” from man and as a “SPECIAL AROMA” to God.

By symbolic extension to the Jewish home we are talking about the oven and grill upon which are cooked and roasted all the delicious kosher meats, and much else of course, which we should consider as being a form of our own “SERVING” of God as we eat meat NOT as frustrated “cannibals” but as people who can serve God through the fine foods we cook and consume with the proper Blessings and intentions to serve God.

This makes the despicable practice of human “sacrifices” totally unnecessary and evil, as people should transfer their sins upon the beasts of the field that will please God sufficiently.

On a far more tragic note, we must remember that during the Holocaust (1939 – 1945) over SIX MILLION JEWS perished, and many of them had to face death by FIRING Squads and if they were gassed to death THEIR BODIES WERE BURNED TO ASHES IN THE CREMATORIA of “en-LIGHT-ened” Europe, by Nazis who were MORE merciful to animals and cared nothing for their fellow humans whom they sent up in SMOKE!

In a synagogue, the “Altar” is the “BIMAH”, meaning an “ELEVATED PLACE”, as an ancient altar was referred to as a “BAMAH”. Whenever the Torah is taken out of the Ark it is brought to the “BIMAH” which is like an ALTAR UPON WHICH ARE PLACED HOLY OFFERINGS. Since we cannot and do not offer any form of “living” sacrifices, we often-times read, especially on each and every Holy Day – “YOM TOV”, those PORTIONS and SECTIONS from the Torah that describe the ancient offerings. This is in lieu of the “real thing” and because there is no Temple standing in Jerusalem, the Torah readings on the “BIMAH” are considered as if they had been offered on the original ALTAR.

The body of the SANCTUARY, (Exodus, Chapter 26, vs. 1 – 36; Chapter 27, vs. 9 – 19):
(Diagram: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/mishkan/1.htm )

It is called a HOLY PLACE - “MIKDASH”. This is not yet the full and permanent Temple that will be built in Jerusalem hundreds of years later. It is to be its core and will be a “PORTABLE STRUCTURE” to be called THE TABERNACLE – “MISHKAN”. The SANCTUARY is to be made with beams, crossbars, held together with special fasteners, covered with special woven sheets and skins that will create a roof, walls, enclosures and partitions. There are many details. The “MISHKAN” literally means “DWELLING PLACE” because God designates it as His “HOME AWAY FROM HOME” for His Divine Presence known as the “SHECHINAH” , which is connected to the same Hebrew root as “MISHKAN”.

The “S H E CH I N A H” known as God’s “‘Feminine’ PRESENCE” can also mean “THAT WHICH DWELLS”. For example, in Hebrew, a street or a neighborhood is called a “SH` CH U N A H”, a neighbor is a “SHACHEN”, (“SHECHENIM” in plural), and a “SHICUN” is a small house or cottage.

This “Tabernacle” is NOT to be confused with the portable “hut” known as a “SUKKAH” which has its own festival called “SUKKOT”, or “TABERNACLES” in English, commemorating the miracle that God preserved and protected the Children of Israel in “huts”/Sukkot/Tabernacles after the Exodus in the 40 years of the wanderings in the wilderness. In English though, the word “tabernacle ”, is derived from “tabern” which means “hut” and “cule” means “small” in Latin, probably related to the word “tavern” maybe even to “barn”. Interestingly, a “tavern” is the ancient concept of a “hotel” where one can find rest and food on a journey far from home, and a “barn” is a place where grain, foodstuffs, and animals are kept for the benefit of people, especially in the ages before deep freeze and mass containers.

The concept of the “SUKKAH” as a portable structure is endowed with its special religious aura somehow hinting at the future permanent Third Temple which is described as “SUKKAT DAVID” – THE SANCTUARY OF DAVID. It also hints at a future wondrous mystical structure, THE SKIN OF THE LEVIATHAN (FISH) – “ORO SHEL LIVYATAN”, that will HOUSE the righteous at a final Grand Banquet.

Let us look at that third component of the world’s foundation, KINDNESS, as mentioned by Rabbi Shimon in Ethics of the Fathers, Chapter 1, Mishnah 2.

The Torah records that God required that HOW all of this was to become possible is the foundation for WHAT was to happen. Meaning, that now the Children of Israel were called upon to make a PERSONAL SACRIFICE, assuming their natural KINDNESS – “CHESED”, and give up something that they may have held to be of “PERSONAL VALUE” as a CONTRIBUTION to the “COMMUNAL NECESSITY” for a “PLACE OF WORSHIP”.

Amazingly, wherever Jews have gone to live, one of the first things they do is build a “SHULL” (Yiddish for Synagogue). Money is always found to do it, and when the community eventually leaves, the “SHULL” will be the last communal structure to close down. Jews have always excelled at philanthropy. Per capita they are probably the most generous and giving nation in human history. In the United States Jews have contributed untold BILLIONS of dollars each YEAR to all sorts of HUMANITARIAN causes over the past fifty years out of all proportion to their relatively tiny numbers in the general population. Secular assimilated Jews have HAPPILY given away their hard earned billions to universities, hospitals, foundations, medical research, employment training, education, scholarships, community centers, democratization of societies, and countless positive needs. Where has this wonderful “philanthropic gene” come from? You don’t have to look far to know that it comes from, firstly the kind Jewish hearts of the Jewish people during the ages, and secondly from the religion and commandments of Judaism as outlined in the Torah and voluntarily practiced with great joy by Jews for millennia.

A few days ago I happened to witness a telling incident. I was at a synagogue after the conclusion of morning services that is attended by some very astute professional people. There were perhaps about twenty of them lingering to say “Mazel Tov” (congratulations) to a congregant whose wife had just given birth to a girl, so they were distracted and even anxious before trotting off to work; businessmen, accountants, brokers, teachers and some others. Suddenly out of nowhere a hassled young man appears, not a member of the community and never seen before, who approaches the center of the synagogue in a rushed and urgent manner. In a fairly loud, unprofessional, yet coherent manner he states, talking to no-one and everyone at the same time, that he is on a self-appointed mission to collect funds for a family that recently came from Israel and is living on the other side of town. The father is very ill and needs to have several serious surgeries but that the family does not have medical coverage, (sadly this is common for so many people in America too). In the course of his pitch the young man does mention the name of some rabbis who know the family and endorse the appeal and the name of some non-profit organization that will provide the needed receipts for donations if need be. I do not think anybody really noted the names of the “endorsing” rabbis. I for one had never heard of them. No one even bothered to ask the guy his name nor the name of the sick person. But what did come across was that this was a sincere religious young man deeply concerned about a suffering fellow Jew crying out for help. From what I could tell, by the time the young fellow left, he had collected a few hundred dollars, some in cash, mostly in personal checks, all unexpected and “out of the blue”. He left as “mysteriously” as he arrived. The synagogue had already done its own daily minor voluntary collection earlier, and not everyone gives to blank strangers, and I am sure some in the crowd had doubts whether to give for THIS “appeal”. But what came across loud and clear was the warm welcome, openness and generosity of the majority of those present.

The above is not some “isolated freak occurrence”. It is typical of the natural generosity that is inherent in every Jewish heart, and hopefully in all humanity. Classical Judaism teaches that in fact the ENTIRE WORLD IS BUILT ON GOD’S OWN IMMENSE KINDNESS – “OLAM CHESED YIBANEH” (Psalms, Chapter 89, verse 3). It is this very QUALITY of KINDNESS, so close to God’s true essence, when people overcome their tendencies towards parochial selfishness, that actually signals and “triggers” God to “ENTER INTO” our world such as when he asks us to make a SANCTUARY for Him: “Take My offering from everyone WHOSE HEART IMPELS HIM TO GIVE” (Exodus, Chapter 25, verse 2). (Probably this is the first and most major instance of a “CAPITAL CAMPAIGN”, as it’s known in today’s fundraising parlance, for a “religious institution” stated in the Torah by God Himself, no wonder fundraisers many times have that air of …. well, you fill in the blanks yourself, as hopefully your experiences have been positive.): “God spoke to Moses, saying: speak to the Israelites and have them bring to me an offering. Take my offering from everyone whose HEART IMPELS HIM TO GIVE…gold, silver, copper, blue wool,…lines, skins, acacia wood, oil for the lamp, …incense, …precious stones…” [5] And as classical Judaism teaches “(THOSE GOOD) THINGS THAT GO OUT FROM (YOUR) HEART, ENTER (INTO ANOTHER’S) HEART” – “DEVARIM HAYOTZIM MIN HALEV NICHNASIM EL HALEV”, so it’s so to speak from God’s Heart to your heart and then back again to God’s Heart that makes the OFFERING – “TERUMAH”, also called the “NEDAVAH” – “GIVING” significant and valuable from God’s perception.

So we come full circle as we see that foundations of both the world and the Tabernacle were based on KINDNESS and GENEROSITY. The gentile nations of the world were also welcomed to give appropriate offerings. This is all derived from the original forefathers, Abraham who embodied KINDNESS, Isaac who embodied SELF-SACRIFICING SERVICE, and Jacob who was the embodiment of TRUTH the “seal” of God and the definition of Torah. “On Three things the World Stands: On Torah; and On Service (‘Avodah’); and On Kindness (‘Gemilut Chasadim’)”!

Have a great Shabbat, and please let me know what you think!

[1] Pirkei Avos – Ethics of the Fathers, Artscroll English prayer book, p. 544 – 545.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Book of Proverbs, Tanach – 24 Books of the Bible, Artscroll English translation, p. 1597.
[4] The Living Torah, English translation by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, p. 382 – 383.
[5] Ibid.
- posted by Izak @ 2:37 AM

 
#18:Judaism and Law: The Greatest Constitution
Judaism and Law: The Greatest Constitution

(Related to the weekly Torah portion of Mishpatim (“Judgments”), read in synagogue. Exodus, Chapter 21, verse 1 – Chapter 24, verse 18. English text and commentary at: http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=21
Dedicated to my parents.)

Most people are not conscious of the fact that they live in a society that is governed by laws that essentially protect them and their human, religious, political, and civil rights. In the United States children are educated about the written Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and a Bill of Rights. They are taught how the system of government is based on “checks and balances” between the three branches of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. But once out of the classroom, nobody gives a second thought to the legal system that makes all the freedom possible.

The United States’ Declaration of Independence from its mother country of Great Britain was written in 1776, two and a quarter centuries ago, and is considered to be a revolutionary document “ahead of its time” in modern history. It preceded the famous French Revolution of 1789 that in time brought Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity to its citizens. The Russian Revolution that overthrew the Czarist system took place in 1917 was supposed to bring more freedom to the people. It was only after the Second World War (1939 – 1945), after the crushing defeats of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, that the rest of the world was able to obtain freedom from the remaining colonial powers, such as Israel and India from Britain in 1948. All of these movements of national liberation and freedom were inspired by the “American Experience” and unfolded in relatively recent times.

The question arises: What was the hidden volatile powerful explosive and dynamic SPARK, the special root source, for the very concept of declarations of freedom, constitutions, bills of rights and balancing governmental powers between an executive leader and counterbalancing powers as in a judiciary and a legislature?

Classical Judaism would say, hey, that’s an easy question, because the greatest of humanity’s laws is rooted in the Torah, because after all, humanity itself is rooted in the Torah, and in fact all of existence and reality, all the knowable and unknowable dimensions are rooted in the Torah. Why is that? Because in classical Judaism, the Torah is so-to-speak in abstract terms GOD’S MIND as it were. Obviously God is unknowable and inscrutable. However, classical Torah sources teach that GOD, THE TORAH and ISRAEL are ONE – “YISRAEL, VE’ORAYTA, VEKUDSHAH BRICH HU CHAD HU”. It is through the Torah that God “reveals” His Mind, Intentions, Goals, Expectations, Demands, and Predictions for us as well as for all humankind! God is the ultimate CONTINUUM in ABSOLUTE TERMS. Then the Torah is a CONTINUUM of teachings, laws, and judgments and the source of all TRUE KNOWLEDGE no matter what kind, be it mathematics, biology, history, philosophy or religion, what have you, nothing in the fields of human knowledge and experience, ideas or phenomena, can “knock down” the Torah’s teachings and narratives.

On the contrary, with the passage of time, it is the Torah’s worldview that has permeated the world, be it through its main HIDDEN conduit of Judaism, or through its “surrogates” such as Christianity and Islam as the famous RAMBAM (with an “M”), Rabbi Moses Maimonides (Spain, North Africa, 1135 – 1204), teaches. (This does NOT mean to say that classical Judaism “endorses” these other alien faiths that it considers to be flawed and false. Just that the founders of the faiths expropriated from the Jewish Bible and so unwittingly also transmitted some core teachings to the pagans of the world who would have otherwise remained completely ignorant to “Biblical” concepts such as Monotheism, the Decalogue and much else.)

Humanity too IS a solid CONTINUUM from Adam and Eve until the time God will see fit to conclude the current cycle of civilization as we know it and Creation will have reached its original purpose. And starting with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Jewish People are a WONDROUS CONTINUUM all of their own encapsulating and symbolizing the heart of all the other CONTINUUMS. Hence the expression: THE INDESTRUCTIBLE JEWS. Finally, as time will draw to a close with the dawn of the SEVENTH Jewish millennium, the one connected to all the concepts of the SABBATH, a new era will awaken. We cannot know what it will be like, but Judaism does teach about the times of the JEWISH Messiah, a place called “Gan Eden” (Garden of Eden in Hebrew), the END OF DAYS – “ACHARIT HAYAMIM”, and a FUTURE WORLD the “OLAM HABAH”, AND THEY ALL STRESS THAT IT WILL BE AN ERA OF PEACE AND HOLINESS AND THE TORAH WILL BE AS CENTRAL AS EVER ALL THE TIME. Thus, there are no “pit stops” and/or detours to exotic islands of escapes in time, such as the fictions of movies and books create in the minds of the masses, from God, as Jonah tried, or flights of fancy from the TRUTH of the UNIFIED CONTINUUM of world history that is moving in one direction only whether we want it to or not. Just as Pharaoh could not fight the will of God when he saw that nature was nothing but a straw puppet, similarly, the modern Naturalists cannot escape to their ivory towers and gilded TV cages as they note that their beguiling intellects and hidden passions were ensnared by false gods with clay feet.

Thus we are not just looking at some ancient “religious code” of laws when we look at the “dry facts of the law” in this week’s Torah portion. The comprehensive CIVIL LAWS with over FIFTY (out of the “613”) applicable Commandments – “MITZVOT” are all part of a greater human and spiritual CONTINUUM of the “TORAT CHAIM” – TORAH OF LIFE of an “ELOKIM CHAIM” – A LIVING GOD, as observed by the “AM YISREAL CHAI” – THE LIVING NATION OF ISRAEL:

Freedom for the slaves; Punishing a murderer; Penalties for injuries and damages; Dealing with the thief and robber; Damaged property; Judging between a plaintiff and a defendant; Laws of guardianship; Cases of borrowers and lenders; Eliminating seduction; Lending money to the poor; Prohibition of “loan sharking”; Not charging interest; Not to curse the judges or rulers; Paying tithes from crops on time; Ignoring false rumors; Do not follow a wicked majority; Judges need to be learned and clear; Following a majority in good Torah laws; Impartiality in court; Relieving the burden of another; Rejecting circumstantial evidence in capital cases; No bribery; Observing a Sabbatical year. And then follow a few more laws concerning the Sabbath, not swearing by an idol’s name, sacrificial offerings, first fruits, not eating meat and milk together, dealing with enemies in Israel, removing evil gentile influences from Israel. These are the great laws in this week’s Torah portion, going well beyond what we can deal with comprehensively.

These are all revolutionary milestones in the establishment of a world order based on the revealed Torah Law that emanated from Mount Sinai. Judaism believes that it was because these laws were Divine in origin, that they were rooted in the MOST POWERFUL FORCES OF ALL, that are in fact an expression of God’s Will in this world that the laws of the Torah have continued to be trailblazing pathways that have carved out the roads and highways for all subsequent MORAL, JUST, and HUMANE legal systems that respect the fact that there is a God in the Universe and that He is in fact the final Judge! As Abraham pleaded with God to show mercy to even the wicked people of Sodom: “…SHALL THE WHOLE WORLD’S JUDGE NOT ACT JUSTLY?” (Genesis, Chapter 18, verse 25). http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=18

Indeed, Judaism celebrates its HOLIEST DAYS OF THE YEAR the Ten Day Period from the JEWISH NEW YEAR – “ROSH HASHANAH” to the DAY OF ATONEMENT – “YOM KIPPUR” as a process of God sitting in Judgment over each individual and nation. It is the time when people and events are JUDGED by God as to WHO WILL LIVE AND WHO WILL DIE in the coming year. So Judaism views the entire cosmos as being enveloped within God’s Judicial system with the Torah being its Constitution and the Ten Commandments being its core heart and soul. It applied then, it applies now, and it will always apply, no matter what the Social Sciences may teach about the nebulous functions of “Social Systems” and the “rise and fall” of personalities, psychologies, tastes, trends, fashions, institutions, societies, civilizations and universes.

(Remember any of these?: The “theory” that “meteor showers” killed out the bumbling dinosaurs billions of years ago as they foraged for food in swamps that sucked them under forever? The destructiveness of the “Social Darwinism” “philosophy” that has been linked to the rise of Fascism? The actual fact that the “moon rocks” were no different to your own garden variety of stones? Walt Disney’s animated “Jiminy Cricket” regaling you with the song “You ARE A ‘Human ANIMAL’” in biology class? Putting time capsules in the ground with everyday items in them so that a million years from now (then) people, very “evolved” by then no doubt, will know what we ate and did for fun? Famous musicians took on names of “beetles” and “stones”? And why the relentless drive wasting trillions of dollars in the unsuccessful push to find even one measly under-nourished itsy-bitsy amoeba in space someplace that is obviously MIA in space and “out to lunch” down here on earth in everyone’s kitchen sink??? Such is the magnificent scientific and sociological trivia search we live with as we have evolved to the stage of TV “reality shows” where people eat garbage under the hot sun, and couples go on national television for an “intimate” date. Our society shows no signs of letting up on its own determination to make itself outlandish and out of the ball park, scientifically, sociologically and psychologically speaking.)

In this week’s portion the Torah makes a huge quantum leap when it introduces a flood of “MISHPATIM” which means JUDGMENTS / STATUTES / LAWS / RULINGS /. A “SHOFET” is a JUDGE, a “MISHPAT” is a RULING /ADJUDICATION / LAW / JUDGMENT. A “BEIT MISHPAT” is a COURT. And of the four Codified Sections of the Jewish Code of Law – “HALACHAH”, the “SHULCHAN ARUCH’, one Sections is called the “CHOSHEN MISHPAT” – Which deals mainly with matters of Civil Law: Laws and guidelines relating to appointment of Judges; Laws of Testimony and Witnesses; Business Law of Lending and Borrowing; Monetary Claims and Adjudication of Financial Disputes; Guarantors and Underwriting; Property Disputes; Partnerships; Representatives; Sales and Purchases; Wrongful Purchase; Gifts; Lost and Found; Theft and Robbery; Monetary Damages; Personal Injury and Claims of Compensation. These laws are discussed and analyzed in great depth in Talmudic Tractates – “MASECHTOT” such as Baba Kamma, Baba Metzia, Babba Kama, Sanhedrin and others way beyond the scope of this essay. What they all have in common is that everything in Jewish Law is derived from the verses and statements in the Torah such as we learn in this week’s Torah portion. And these are not “college courses”, they have been the staples of classical Torah and ‘yeshiva’ (Torah and Talmudical school) education for thousands of years. The Talmud itself begins as a mature system over two thousand years ago.

Secular Legal scholars share the confusion of secular scientists and of the Social Science and Humanities scholars, when they just cannot get past the historical smoke screen of modernity’s cultural propaganda that blinds them to an understanding of the origins of Law as it is understood in the Western world. They follow dead ends and dark alleys rather than take a look at what is in front of their noses. Some start with the Middle Ages, and others look at English Common Law and Roman Law or fiddle with some obscure illegible cracked codex scribbled on clay deemed to be the starting points of the great legal heritage. The Nazis invoked Nordic and ancient Persian myths to buttress their racist “laws” made for their new cruel race of “supermen” - “ubermentschen”. Murderous Jihads, justified by some Moslems as based on a law that seems to have its origins in hallucinations in the over-heated Arabian deserts still fires up fanatics to kill innocent men, women and children without any recourse to minimal humane legal due process. The Czars of Russia were just a “law unto themselves” from Ivan the Terrible To Nicholas the Last. In France, the Kings were absolute monarchs who believed like Louis XIV that “I am the State”.

In the Oral Law teachings of the Ethics of the Fathers – “Pirkei Avot” the Talmud’s own source of JURISPRUDENCE, the very first teaching deals with the REVELATION OF THE LAW AND ITS TRANSMISSION: “ Moses received the Torah from [Mount] Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua; Joshua to the elders; the Elders to the Prophets; and the Prophets transmitted it to the Men of the Great assembly. They [the Men of the Great Assembly] said three things: BE DELIBERATE IN JUDGMENT; DEVELOP MANY DISCIPLES; AND MAKE A FENCE FOR THE TORAH.” (Ethics of the Fathers, Chapter 1, Mishna 1) [1] We see from this the centrality of the concept that the LAW of the Torah, in its ENTIRETY was handed down by Moses through the generations and in fact they were encouraged to protect it with making additional “laws”, i.e. “FENCES”, to protect the original body of laws. The first bit of GREAT legal advice that is stated unequivocally here is to “BE DELIBERATE IN JUDGMENT”, this means: “Do not give hasty decisions, but analyze each question in depth. Rendering a fair judgment is one of the highest forms of Torah study (Rashi, Rambam, Rabbeinu Yonah –[Three classical Torah commentators]).” [2] The first chapter concludes with the following famous statement: “RABBAN SHIMON BEN GAMLIEL SAYS: THE WORLD ENDURES ON THREE THINGS – JUSTICE, TRUTH, AND PEACE, AS IT IS SAID: ‘TRUTH AND THE VERDICT OF PEACE ARE TO ADJUDICATE IN YOUR GATES’ (Zechariah, Chapter 8, verse 16)” (Ethics of the Fathers, Chapter 1, Mishna 1) [3]. Justice is “DIN” in Hebrew and it is related to the Name for God that Jews use for God: “ADONAI” meaning “My Lord”, the One Who applies “DIN” to me, hence also being consistent with the English language origins of the word “law” in the name “Lord”.

So here is another question that deserves some of your intellectual curiosity: HOW DO YOU SQUARE OFF AND RECONCILE THE BASIC PREMISES OF A GREAT LEGAL SYSTEM AND CONSTITUTION WITH ACCEPTANCE AND BELIEF IN THE MEANINGS AND RAMIFICATIONS OF THE POPULAR THEORY OF EVOLUTION?

Essentially what I am asking is how do you reconcile two contradictory philosophies of life and living? A study of the Law in America will lead you to its roots in Biblical Moral Spiritual Divine Law, with its belief in One God and the foundations of Humanity’s Godliness and Holiness. Life assumed along the lines of the popularly held views of Evolutionary Theory, and the fact that so many scientists are “devoted” to Atheism and Agnosticism, influences society’s and people’s self-image as connected to vegetables and animals, and derived from Neanderthals and now related and perhaps even resembling Orangutans.

I am NOT saying that the laws of the United States of America were derived “directly” from the Ten Commandments or from this or that aspect or detail of Biblical laws. The Ten Commandments are Moral Laws that apply to human society as originally “legislated” by God according to classical Judaism. I am talking about the notion of “law” to begin with. What are its origins in its present common forms? One may say that the ancient societies of the Pharaohs or the Babylonians had “codes”, but those ancient archaic blood-thirsty kingdoms slave and feudal systems were geared for the benefit of an oligarchy, a few powerful people who ruled as god-kings and ruthless absolute monarchs brooking no dissent and usually deposed violently. We are certainly not referring to the “laws of the jungle” or of “might makes right” either. The ancient Persians, Greeks and Romans, and even the English kings, developed a modicum of democracy and representation for their inner circles, whereas the American Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are SWEEPING DOCUMENTS that herald a new modern era of “equality before the law”, democratic republican government, and a host of promises still coming into full force for hundreds of millions of people. This has put America into a breathtaking leadership position in democratization and freedom. Fascinatingly, the Oxford dictionary says that the origin of the word “law” is from the Old English “lag” meaning “laid down” or “fixed”, it also says it is a variant of “lo” or “lor`” for “Lord”. It may be said that this was a sign of the rest of the world taking over THIRTY THREE HUNDRED YEARS to catch up with what the Torah had intended all along and which Jews had actually benefited from internally, before the events of modern times preached the most ancient demand by God of Pharaoh: Let My People Go So That They May Serve Me! Celebrated by Jews as Passover – The Festival of FREEDOM from bondage!

We do NOT agree with the following lengthy quote, but let’s give the “other side” their chance to speak, since we are talking of “justice” and “judgments” after all. You may choose whichever opinions you feel best represent your views, obviously, but remember, honestly ask yourself is it what Judaism represents or expects?

So here goes: We will turn our attention to the famous controversial naturalist and anthropologist Charles Darwin (Britain, 1809 – 1882), a very complex scholar with deep set eyes and a long majestic white beard, who at one time studied for the Christian ministry, but instead was recruited for an around the world voyage of nature research by the British Royal Navy {THEY are the REAL “culprits” `: - } . The few years he spent at sea, looking at all sorts of life forms, gave him the time to rethink life and formulate and organize “theories” that would reshape the way modern men of science viewed life. He had plenty of time to read as well, and was also influenced by the thinking of one Thomas Malthus (Britain, 1766 – 1834) of the “Malthusian” philosophy alarmed by population explosions and advocating “birth control” for the working classes.

I came across the following by Peter Landry at http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Science/Darwin.htm#fn8
which seems pretty representative. Again, I do NOT agree with this information, but I cite it in order to “round out the picture”:
“DARWIN, directly on account of his early adventures (with his evidence and his conclusions: zoological, botanical, geological and paleontological), COULD NO LONGER SUBSCRIBE TO THE TEACHINGS OF GENESIS, viz., that every species had been created whole and have come through the ages unchanged. Of course, Darwin's theory, at first blush, is at odds with the whole notion that there exists a Supreme Being, which brought into existence all things. As to the Primary Cause and more generally the existence of a God: ‘I [Darwin] cannot pretend to throw the least light on such abstruse problems. The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I FOR ONE MUST BE CONTENT TO REMAIN AN AGNOSTIC.’ All the evidence supports (and none exists that disproves) the proposition that life on earth has evolved; life started out slow and small, and our current state of existence is as a result of some process working upon natural materials throughout a period that consists of millions and millions of years…In 1859, Darwin's shattering work, The Origin of the Species, came out (‘a sell out in one day’); it is now recognized as a leading work in natural philosophy and in the history of mankind. Simply stated, Darwin's theory is that things, and, in particular, life, evolves by a process which Darwin called ‘natural selection.’…(H. Alfvén, professor of Plasma Physics at the University of Stockholm Atom, Man, and the Universe) states: ‘We are beginning to see that the awesome wonder of the EVOLUTION FROM AMOEBA TO MAN - for it is without a doubt an awesome wonder - was not the result of a mighty word from a creator, but of a combination of small, apparently insignificant processes. The structural change occurring in a molecule within a chromosome, the result of a struggle over food between two animals, the reproduction and feeding of young - such are the simple elements that together, in the course of MILLIONS OF YEARS, created the great wonder. This is nothing separate from ordinary life. The wonder is in our everyday world, if only we have the ability to see it.’ … We will let Julian Huxley (Britain, 1887 - 1975) (Humanist, ATHEIST and science popularizer, a Professor of Zoology, brother of Aldous Huxley and grandson of Thomas H. Huxley) sum up Darwin's place in the history of science: ‘DARWIN’S WORK…PUT THE WORLD OF LIFE INTO THE DOMAIN OF NATURAL LAW…Man is not a finished product incapable of further progress. He has a long history behind him, and it is a history not of a fall, but of an ascent. And he has THE POSSIBILITY OF FURTHER PROGRESSIVE EVOLUTION BEFORE HIM. Further, in the light of evolution we learn to be more patient. The few thousand years of recorded history are nothing compared to the million years during which man has been on earth, and the thousand million years of life's progress. And WE CAN AFFORD TO BE PATIENT WHEN THE ASTRONOMERS ASSURE US OF AT LEAST ANOTHER THOUSAND MILLION YEARS AHEAD OF US IN WHICH TO CARRY EVOLUTION ONWARDS TO NEW HEIGHTS’…Julian Huxley was the grandson of Thomas H. Huxley (1825 - 1895) an English biologist, teacher, and a defender of Darwin. Darwin was not a conversationalist and he only very rarely appeared in public to defend his theories himself; he was fully represented by Thomas H. Huxley, ‘Darwin's Bulldog.’ It is interesting to note what Thomas H. Huxley said about his topic when confronted with the opposition in the form of Bishop Wilberforce of Oxford. Both Huxley and Bishop Wilberforce were on the same stage when during a conference which had as its theme, Darwinism. The Bishop, in a sarcastic manner called out: ‘I would like to ask Professor Huxley whether it was on his grandfather's or his grandmother's side that the ape ancestry comes in.’ (Darwin) after whispering to his dinner companion, ‘The lord hath delivered him into my hands,’ took the podium:‘A MAN HAS NO REASON TO BE ASHAMED OF HAVING AN APE FOR HIS GRANDFATHER. If there were an ancestor whom I should feel shame in recalling, it would be a man of restless and versatile intellect, who, not content with success in his own sphere of activity, plunges into scientific questions with which he has no real acquaintance, only to obscure them by an aimless rhetoric, and distract the attention of his hearers from the point at issue by eloquent digressions and skilled appeals to religious prejudice’.” [4]

End of the long above citation. Here is MY partial reaction to some of it, and the conclusion to this essay:

From the foregoing we see that Darwin remains one of the world’s most important and accepted “philosophers” as many millions of people “believe” in his school of thought and “theories” even though the majority have no clue how he “invented” them. Darwin’s views and attitudes and his own life’s history are very typical of the “modern scientific” man: Rejecting Biblical Teachings of the Creation of the Universe by God during the Six Days of Creation; Accepting the notion that life evolved over “millions” of years from amoebas; Defining the origins of life by new “scientific” slogans of “Natural Selection” and “Evolution”; A false notion that somehow to “believe” that people are “evolving” is a “progressive” idea because to believe that God created the complete Adam and Eve means that they cannot “progress” (the word “progress” may be relative, of course); Equating humanity with the “animal kingdom” especially the apes; Celebrating that “finally” an alternative “explanation” could be provided for life’s development on Earth; Traditional views of God could not be accepted so it is acceptable to be an Agnostic and an Atheist; The world exists primarily within the parameters of Natural Law; An amazing display of arrogance – “CHUTZPAH” by the newly-minted “Evolutionists”, who defend their views with ideological ferociousness, as they refuse to accept even simple LOGICAL questions, critiques or criticism as if their ideas were the “holy” words of a new civil “secular scientific religion” that must not be questioned but just accepted as “facts”, and they will of course decide for the rest of the world which facts are “politically correct” and which are not; Since the Bible is now relegated to secondary place (at best, or to the incinerator most likely) behind the new “bibles” of biology and zoology tomes, there is no longer a role for that type of morality associated with the same beliefs that gave you Creation and God in the first place in Biblical books; An amazing hold on the popular imagination with the academic world and the media and entertainment industries reinforcing Evolutionary philosophy, continuing to enshrine and worship Darwin as a modern day “saint, prophet and law-giver”.

It is therefore remarkable to remember that Judaism already had a “Declaration of Independence” from Natural Law in ancient Egypt when nature specifically was shattered by Ten Plagues recorded in the Torah and recited at Passover in the Haggadah, and a “Bill of Rights” as embodied in the Ten Commandments (“The Decalogue”), and a comprehensive “Constitution” of the Torah (“The Bible”) with a complete, sophisticated and trustworthy system of government that protected the rights and status of both its adherents and those who lived within their society beginning with the REVELATION and the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai in the Hebrew year 2448 (1312 B.C.E.) more than 3,300 years ago!

Our Torah portion is way AHEAD of mere human-centered Natural Law theories. It’s called “MISHPATIM” which means laws, judgments, and ordinances taken from the first verse of the portion: “And these are the laws that you must set before them [the Israelites]” (Exodus 21, verse 1), in a real world, of real time with real flesh and blood human beings demanding JUSTICE – “TZEDEK”.
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=21
The classical Torah scholars zero in on the very first words of this verse which in the Hebrew are actually combined into one: “AND THESE” – “VE-EILEH”. The famous rabbinical commentator RASHI, Rabbi Shlomoh ben Yitzchaki (France, 1040 – 1105) teaches: “Wherever ‘these are’ - ‘eileh’ is used it cuts off the preceding section from that which it introduces; where, however, ‘VE-eileh’ - ‘AND these’ is used it adds something to the former subject (i.e. forms a continuation of it). So also here: ‘AND these are the judgments (i.e. these, ALSO)’: what is the case with the former commandments (THE TEN COMMANDMENTS)? THEY WERE GIVEN AT SINAI ! SO THESE, TOO, WERE GIVEN AT SINAI ! If this be so, why is this section dealing with the ‘civil laws’ placed immediately after the commanding the making of the ALTAR? To tell you that you should seat (i.e. provide quarters for) the SANHEDRIN in the vicinity of the TEMPLE (or near the ‘mizbeach’ - ‘altar’) in one of the chambers in the Temple court (i.e. the ‘lishkat hagazit’ - ‘chamber of stone’).” RASHI cites his sources for this as the Oral Law’s Mechilta, Midrash Rabbah, and Tanchuma, all classical texts of reliable scholarship. [5]

Dr. Russell Jay Hendel (creator of the extensive site devoted to studying Rashi at http://www.rashiyomi.com/ ) notes on the above Rashi comments that: “Again Rashi by way of pun notes that the Parliament (Sanhedrin) sat IN the temple and ‘therefore the altar is mentioned near the Judicial code (judgments)’ But Rashi is not connecting JUST two chapters but rather Rashi is connecting a whole sequence of chapters dealing with laws that enable us to live a just and good life…Some highlights are as follows: While Exodus, Chapter 23 deals with the laws for HOLIDAYS and the 7th YEAR (Sabbatical) nevertheless the emphasis in Exodus, Chapter 23 is on letting the STRANGER and POOR have a respite (e.g. Exodus, Chapter 23, verse 9; Exodus, Chapter 23, verse 12). FURTHERMORE THE ALTAR WAS AN INTRINSIC PART OF THE JUDICIAL CODE – FOR ALL LAW IS BASED ON THE BACKUP OF COURT PROCEDURES WHICH IN TURN IS BASED ON THE OATH. IF A PERSON TOOK AN OATH FALSELY HE HAD TO BRING A SACRIFICE (Leviticus, Chapter 5).
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=3&CHAPTER=5
SIMILARLY IF A PERSON ROBBED A CONVERT WHO HAD NO CHILDREN THEN HE NEEDED A SACRIFICE TO ATONE (Leviticus, Chapter 6).
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=3&CHAPTER=6
THUS THE ALTAR WAS AN INTRINSIC PART OF THE JUDICIAL CODE. [6]

Thus Rashi’s words prove the concept of the TOTALITY and UNITY of all aspects of Jewish Law: The necessity of faith in God and rejection of other false gods as set out in the first of the Ten Commandments are connected to its moral and humanistic teachings governing human relationships and behavior, which is connected to the spiritual days and observances like the Sabbath and Holidays. They are all connected to a system of worship and rituals with sacrificial offerings that would become part of the Jewish Temple worship. Of course this all takes place within the Torah’s original framework of Creation and the flow of world history, and ultimately even prophecies of doom that would befall the Children of Israel should they falter and renege on their covenant with God. These prophecies also include optimistic predictions about Jewish survival, return and redemption as there is always the note of future affirmation, validation and triumph of the Jews and the Torah that binds them to God.

Here is what is written in the Artscroll commentary, explaining the connections:
“The juxtaposition of this ‘Sidra’ [Portion in Hebrew] (dealing primarily with CIVIL and TORT LAW) with the Ten Commandments and the laws of the Altar provide a STARTLING INSIGHT INTO JUDAISM. To God, there is no realm of ‘religion’ in the colloquial sense of the word. Most people think of religion as a matter of ritual and spirituality. Western man differentiates between Church and State. The Torah knows NO SUCH DISTINCTION. To the contrary, all areas of life are intertwined and holiness derives from ‘halachically’ (Jewish Torah Law) CORRECT BUSINESS DEALINGS no less than from piety in matters of ritual. The sages teach that one who wishes to be a ‘chassid’, or a devoutly pious person, should be scrupulous in matters of civil and tort law [‘mili denizikin’, Talmud Bava Kamma, 30a] for in Judaism the concept of ‘temple’ is in the courtroom as well as in the synagogue. This is the significance of the (Torah’s) juxtaposition of chapters. From this proximity, the Sages derive that the seat of the Sanhedrin, the seventy-one member court that is the supreme authority on ‘halachic’ (legal) matters, should be on the Temple Mount, near the Temple itself, for both the Temple and the Sanhedrin are expressions of holiness and worship of God. A judge who rules correctly is considered a partner in Creation, and one who rules corruptly is a destroyer of God’s world. It is quite natural, therefore, that immediately after carrying us through the recognition of God’s power, through the miracles of the Splitting of the Sea, and the Revelation at Sinai, the Torah commences with laws that SEEM almost mundane. THEY ARE AS MUCH EXPRESSIONS OF GOD’S GREATNESS AS THE FIRST COMMANDMENT, WHICH PROCLAIMS GOD’S EXISTENCE AND SOVEREIGNTY…[Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (Spain, North Africa, Israel, 1194 – 1270), known as the] RAMBAN (with and ‘N’) comments that the CIVIL LAW IS AN EXTENSION OF THE TENTH COMMANDMENT, WHICH FORBIDS COVETOUSNESS. In order to know what he may NOT covet, ONE MUST KNOW THE RIGHTS AND PROPERTY OF OTHERS. Elaborating on this concept, [Rabbi Obadiah ben Jacob (Italy, 1470 – 1550) known as the] SFORNO comments that the above commandment states that one may not covet anything that belongs to his FELLOW; so the Torah now goes on to begin defining what it is that belongs to others.” [7]

What is YOUR opinion? Please let me know!
Best wishes and have a wonderful Shabbat!

[1] Ethics of the Fathers in the Artscroll Prayer book, English translation, p. 544.
[2] Pirkei Avos, The Wisdom of the Fathers, English translation and commentary, Rabbi A. Davis, p. 7.
[3] Ethics of the Fathers, Ibid, p. 548.
[4] http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Science/Darwin.htm#fn8 , by Peter Landry.
[5] Pentateuch with Rashi’s commentary, Exodus, English translation, M. Rosenbaum and M. Silberman, p. 107.
[6] http://www.rashiyomi.com/nu20-01z.htm , Dr. Russell Jay Hendel.
[7] The Torah - The Chumash, The Artscroll Stone Edition, English translation and commentary, p. 416.
- posted by Izak @ 7:46 PM

 
#17: Changing Eras: The Power of Ten
Changing Eras: The Power of Ten

(Related to the weekly Torah portion of Yitro read in synagogue. Exodus, Chapter 18, verse 1 – Chapter 20, verse 23. English text and commentary at http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=18
Dedicated to my parents)

The central event in this week’s Torah portion is the depiction and presentation of the granting of the Ten Commandments in the Hebrew year 2448 from Creation (1312 B.C.E.) over 3,300 years ago! The granting of these ten moral laws and the additional ones that followed as laid out in the Torah, have continued to revolutionize and change the world. It was the dawn and beginning of a completely new era for humankind.

What previous era was it that was being changed by the arrival of the Ten Commandments? Why did the world need to change; was there something wrong with it? What era arrived on the scene of human history with the Ten Commandments? Why are they so controversial, and even rejected and misunderstood to this day by so many people?

Without thinking, millions of people are convinced that the major way of understanding the rise of civilization is to accept prior ages and stages of life’s growth over billions of years, and that’s it! However, they are making a serious error, because the various ages are actually considered to be “pre-historic”, as human “history” requires first-hand human written records. History only actually begins “officially” with the “invention” of CUN(E)IFORM , a type of writing with a stylus onto wet clay that preserves an intelligent human record of events at the time:

“The earliest attested documents in cuneiform were written in Sumerian, the language of the inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia and Chaldea from the 4th until the 2nd millennium B.C.(E). Discovered at the site of the ancient city of Uruk (biblical Erech), they were in a pictographic type of cuneiform in which objects were represented by pictures, numbers were represented by the repetitional use of strokes or circles, and proper names were indicated by combinations of pictures used according to the rebus principle; i.e., the pictures were to be interpreted according to their usual pronunciations rather than according to the objects they depicted.” [1]

“In ancient times writing was done on papyrus, parchment, potsherds, and clay tablets. The latter were made of clean-washed, smooth clay. While still wet, the clay had wedge-shaped letters (now called ‘cuneiform’ from Latin ‘cuneus’, ‘wedge’) imprinted on it with a stylus, and then was kiln fired or sun dried. Tablets were made of various shapes - cone-shaped, drum-shaped, and flat. They were often placed in a clay envelope. Vast quantities of these have been excavated in the Near East, of which about a half million are yet to be read. It is estimated that 99 percent of the Babylonian tablets have yet to be dug. The oldest ones go back to 3000 B.C.(E). They are practically imperishable; fire only hardens them more. Personal and business letters, legal documents, books, and communications between rulers are represented. One of the most famous is the Code of Hammurabi, a Babylonian king who lived long before the time of Moses. The tablets reveal intimate details of everyday life in the Near East and shed light on many obscure customs mentioned in ‘Old Testament (times)’. Some tell the story of the Creation, the Fall, and the Flood.” [2] Thus this is actually an example where ARCHEOLOGY PROVES THE TRUTH AND VALIDITY OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS. Some have speculated that Abraham and Hammurabi lived in the same era and that they may either be one and the same or arch rivals, but the general accounts of ancient Sumeria and the Torah’s story do mesh perfectly!

Fascinatingly the previous article also states that: “ Cuneiform was the language of politics until the fifth century B.C.(E). It died out and was replaced by the 22 Letter Aramaic in about 900 B.C.(E).” In fact ancient Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic are twin languages and so therefore it is a momentous example of how the tide of Hebraic influences swept away the old world orders. When observing this era in history, one gets the feeling that there is always something vastly different and threatening, yet eerily familiar that “lurks” beneath the surface of real history and what Judaism tries to teach all along. Modern perspectives have created a whole new range of intellectual and emotional, academic, media, literary, and cultural “filters” or lenses from which to view the past and make sense of humanity’s origins and direction. The current hot-button apt phrase “POLITICAL CORRECTNESS” works “backwards” and shapes perceptions of the past as well as pointing to some kind of vaguely defined punitive invisible global censor ready to pounce, even within the recesses of people’s private minds, upon any doubts that may enter about redefining the world in alternative, and in our case, truly Judaic terms.

From the purely secular perspective, as the ages get closer to our times, they go through a “Stone Age” (from “two million” years ago up to 4,000 – 2,500B.C.E.), a “Copper Age” (4,500 – 2,000 B.C.E.), a “Bronze Age” (2,400 – 450 B.C.E.), the “Iron Age” (500 – 1 B.C.E.). Over 2,000 years ago, the Romans even began to use tough steel for their weapons, an early start for the “Steel Age”, which culminated in 1855 when Henry Bessemer in England designed and built the first massive industrial converter (furnace) for processing steel, marking the start of the “Industrial Age”. In the West we have now actually entered into the “Information Age” with its concomitant “Leisure Age”. [3]

One may wonder why it is that the “stages” are pegged and known primarily by inanimate MINERALS in people’s minds? Yes of course, you may say, it’s because it was like the “technology” of that time. But that would be an unconscious projection of modern day intellectual pursuits of the highest order, whereas the nomenclature “stone, bronze, and iron” implies a primitive BARBARIC level of existence of the
“CAVEMAN”. And that is precisely the point, that the underlying assumptions of those who created the notions of pre-historical ages of ape-like ‘cavemen’ homo-sapiens who then evolve into more ‘advanced’ yet brutal Romans is that life in its origins is PRIMITIVE, and therefore early civilizations are ‘primitive’ too. But we, who have TVs, jets and Jacuzzis, are somehow creatures of modern perfection and gentility.

Classical Judaism teaches that the world was created and is constantly re-created through the power of TEN GODLY “COMMANDS”: WITH TEN UTTERANCES THE WORLD WAS CREATED -“BA’ASARAH MA’AMAROT NIVRA HA’OLAM”, (Ethics of the Fathers – Pirkei Avot, Chapter 5, 1) through which God originally created the world and universe OUT OF NOTHING / E X N I H I L O – “YESH ME’AYIN” in the first place at the time of Creation something which few mortal minds have ever been capable of grasping.

The TEN UTTERANCES include the nine times “And God SAID” as mentioned in Genesis, Chapter 1, vs. 1 – 29 http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=1 plus the word/s “BEREISHIT (BARA ELOKIM)” – “IN THE BEGINNING (GOD CREATED)” (rabbinic commentators differ on this, as mentioned in the Talmud, Tractate Rosh Hashanah, 32a) as this too is probably considered THE most important “UTTERANCE” as it says in the book of Psalms, Chapter 33, verse 6: “By the WORD of God were the Heavens made.” [4] It must be noted that: “In later times, the Jewish Mystics spoke of creation as a series of TEN EMANATIONS - “SEFIROT”, from (GOD) THE INFINITE – “EN SOF” (Literally in Hebrew: “Without End”). The “EN SOF” and the EMANATIONS, however, were conceived as an ABSOLUTE UNITY, even as the colors of the flame and the flame itself are latent in the coal.” [5]

The MAHARAL (Rabbi Judah Loew, Prague, 1525 – 1609) teaches that: “These utterances are God’s statements for creation…There are, in fact only NINE such utterances by which the different parts of Creation were brought into being. The TENTH UTTERANCE is ‘THE LORD CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH’ (1st verse in Genesis). IT IS NOT INTRODUCED WITH THE WORDS ‘AND THE LORD SAID’ BECAUSE IT IS AN ALL-EMBRACING DECLARATION OF C R E A T I O N. The (FIRST) ‘TENTH STATEMENT’ is the SINGLE DIVINE COMMAND THAT BROUGHT ABOUT THE WORLD THROUGH THE (SUBSEQUENT) NINE DETAILED STATEMENTS. It blended the nine fragments of Creation into a harmonious whole that embraces and reflects God’s HOLINESS…What can be learned from the fact that the world was created with ten utterances? We learn that the world was created with SANCTITY, for the number TEN IS THE SYMBOL OF SANCTITY. Ten resonates with the glory of God’s presence. God truly enhanced the world’s importance by creating it with ten statements and demonstrating that He imbued the world with HOLINESS. A world without sanctity would indeed have been created with only one utterance.” [6]

What emerges at this point is that according to Judaism God is the Creator of both the WORLD OF NATURE and of NATURAL LAW with both directly derived from within God’s own essence. Nature and Natural Law do have a latent connection with Holiness. However, due to the UN-HOLY actions of people, starting from Adam and Eve, then continuing for TEN GENERATIONS (according to Ethics of the Fathers, Chapter 5) till the time of Noah when the world “flooded” itself with “CRIME” - “CHAMAS” which denotes “decadence, perversion, destruction, damage and especially sexual immorality and idolatry” so that: “God
said to Noah, ‘the end of all flesh has come before Me. The world is filled with [man’s] CRIME (‘CHAMAS’). I will destroy them with the earth.’” [7]

According to the SFAS EMES (Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter, Poland, 1847 - 1905, second Gerrer Rebbe), this descent of mankind is described as follows: “The ‘MISHNAH’ (of Ethics of the Fathers), discussing the TEN GENERATIONS from Adam to Noah, is not just the historical sequel to the previous ‘MISHNAH’, but also describes the COMPLETE REVERSAL OF THE PROCESS OF CREATION INITIATED THROUGH THE TEN STATEMENTS (UTTERANCES). Every generation, through its amoral behavior and its complete IGNORANCE OF THE DIVINE WILL, had the effect of ‘reversing’ (i.e. obscuring) one of the DIVINE STATEMENTS (UTTERANCES).” [8]

Then there was a further plunge of ANOTHER TEN GENERATIONS from Noah to Abraham who had to “discover” ETHICAL MONOTHEISM for himself and begin the process of teaching it to the world, primarily through his descendants. But even these changes in the eras BEFORE the giving of the TEN COMMANDMENTS at Mount Sinai was not enough to really and truly alter the course of destiny YET! Humanity’s connection to Nature and Natural Law was so strong that it needed a CATALYST to change the world. That catalyst was the TEN PLAGUES that BROKE down Nature and Natural Law and readied it for the new structure of REVEALED MORAL LAW as manifested in the Ten Commandments.

The world of NATURE is not only crass when it becomes the staple for a cult, it is mostly beautiful, sublime, and awesomely magnificent. It’s a supremely masterful work of art by the ultimate supreme master Artist. In all its moods, varieties and phases, Nature has served and serves as a conduit for “messages” from God in almost all human cultures. Pagans unfortunately created many mythological gods, so for them it was “the gods (plural, like a god and his mother in law maybe) are angry”! In time nature itself became “god” to many, so that people worshiped the nature object of their choice, all the way from the sun to the snake, and anything in between. Among animals, the cat, crocodile, cobra and the cow were some favorites that the ancient Egyptians worshiped.

Unfortunately, today there are still some major world religions that incorporate animal worship, covering it with the deceptive veneer of benign vegetarianism. I ask you, according to that, why should the vegetables suffer just because someone has elevated the animal kingdom over and above the vegetable kingdom? And for those who may still worship bushes, shrubs and trees, why not also include the inanimate world of rocks, crystals, and minerals? There is actually no end to this vicious-cycle of false and even destructive beliefs such as polytheism, animism, animalism, and such like. Is that what drives people to become spiritualists, atheists, agnostics? What about Satanists, why would they want to sell themselves into the bondage of Hell? Who knows? These are all the FALSE GODS that the TEN COMMANDMENTS come to assault and remove, no wonder people don’t like the demands of the Torah’s Monotheism.

Nature’s good weather and pleasant climates, needed rains, abundant crops, fattened fowl, herds of animals roaming grassy plains and abundant fish filling the oceans are all Blessings for humans and animals that God is feeding them well. Clear skies, calm oceans, and moderate climates allow for the Blessings of daily life, travel, transport, communication and commerce so that humanity can grow economically and materially. Deep ocean currents, vast atmospheric trade winds and cosmic magnetic and radiation belts ensure balance and equilibrium on God’s Earth and the other planets. The wonderful cycles of day and night as the Earth spins reliably and predictably on its own axis from west to east, the rotation of the moon around the Earth and the fact that the fiery sun does not destroy us with its periodic solar eruptions is a Blessing all its own.

Frighteningly, when Nature gets distorted or disrupted, through violent death and diseases or tornados, hurricanes, tidal waves, icebergs, earthquakes, eruptions, droughts, poisons, plagues, storms and floods, even the animals seem to know that it is God’s wrath as they stare Heavenwards with heavy teary darkly-glowering eyes beseeching God “Up There” to stop the madness and return things to “normal”.

Judaism teaches that it is this very Nature that is yet rooted in Holiness because it was created by God whose essence is HOLINESS: “ God spoke to Moses, telling him to speak to the entire Israelite community and say to them: YOU MUST BE HOLY, SINCE I AM GOD YOUR LORD [AND] I AM HOLY.” (Leviticus, Chapter 19, vs. 1 - 2). I AM HOLY – “KADOSH ANI”.

Then there is NATURAL LAW, which has been defined, on “The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy”, as: “The term ‘natural law’ is ambiguous. It refers to a type of moral theory, as well as to a type of legal theory, despite the fact that the core claims of the two kinds of theory are logically independent. According to natural law ethical theory, the moral standards that govern human behavior are, in some sense, OBJECTIVELY DERIVED FROM THE NATURE OF HUMAN BEINGS. According to natural law legal theory, the authority of at least some legal standards necessarily derives, at least in part, from considerations having to do with the moral merit of those standards. There are a number of different kinds of natural law theories of law, differing from each other with respect to the role that morality plays in determining the authority of legal norms.” [9]

Thus NATURAL LAW is “DERIVED” from the “NATURE” of HUMAN BEINGS.

Now ask yourself these questions:

If human beings according to modern understanding are nothing but a highly developed species of evolved Neanderthal-like apish “homo sapiens”, then does that mean that Natural Law is in fact a glorified version of “The Law of the ‘Apes’”, and that we may well be living on a “Planet of the ‘Apes’” (like in those classical movies, which was governed by its own “natural laws” not unlike our own here)?

How could Natural Law be “OBJECTIVELY DERIVED” from the NATURE of human beings who are notoriously prone to violent and selfish mass SUBJECTIVITY? After all, human beings are the ones who wage war, enslave, exploit, torture, manipulate, and victimize each other to the degree that the means of the day allows them to. In ancient times they knew how to make chains to enslave and swords to fight, in modern times humanity has invented technology to track and exploit people and Weapons of Mass Destruction that can annihilate the planet, so how can there be any claim that human nature is “OBJECTIVE” when it is clearly not?

When it says above that: “There are a number of different kinds of natural law theories of law, differing from each other with respect to the role that morality plays in determining the authority of legal norms” we must wonder why they cannot agree on the “ROLE” that MORALITY “PLAYS” “in determining the authority of legal norms”? After all we are talking about “LEGAL STANDARDS” and if we can’t agree on what “role” morality has in legal standards then we are in fact setting the stage for the “relativity” of law, as each culture has its own definitions of what is and is not moral for its members. For the women of ancient mythological Lesbos it was “moral” that women should use men only to become pregnant and if either a baby boy was born or a male dared set foot on their island it was only “moral” that they be put to death as Lesbos was only for women which is obviously not a standard of a society where men and women are allowed to live side by side. Were the Nuremberg Laws valid “legal norms” of the Third Reich and its cohorts in Europe, which classed Jews as deadly parasites deserving extermination as it became a German “moral” standard to live and fight for?

One can go on and on to show that “NATURAL LAW” is like a “well structured” sifter, with apparent shape, form and coherence, and even usefulness in some instances, yet fatally FILLED WITH HOLES through which passes everything within it back to where it came from, depending on the size of the holes it contains. A vast “natural law” theory is unfortunately so big that the entire world just goes right through it without much having really happened.

The TEN PLAGUES that hit the Egyptians must be understood in the context of God perfecting His world. It was as if God took hold of a crooked, rounded, natural world and began to bend it straight so that it would become a built up structure guided by a Director’s ram-rod straight baton and accurate measuring stick, with the Torah finally providing the measurements and guidelines, rather than people just relying on instincts and “what comes naturally” as a natural outgrowth of nature and its seasonal changeable patterns.

A very learned rabbi once told me, in the name of another un-named learned rabbi, that THE MARK OF NATURE IS THE CIRCLE. In nature things grow, move and function in CYCLES. Trees have rings in them. Ocean currents move in mammoth cycles, the planets are round, the galaxies are spirals, and water flows down a drain in a circle. There is also a profound lesson within this CYCLICAL world in that everything is always ultimately connected with its source. When you have a circle it has neither a beginning nor an end it is just an ongoing CONTINUUM. The Jewish custom of dancing in circles is part of this concept whereby Jews rejoice by re-connecting with their source. However, according to this same rabbi, CIVILIZATION, meaning the way MAN projects and builds things around him is the STRAIGHT LINE. Whether it be the square, the triangle, the rectangle or the cube, and many other possible STRAIGHT lines, protrusions and LOCI. Thus your current house and room, the computer in front of you, the ancient pyramids, the modern skyscraper, the Roman aqueduct, or Pythagoras’ geometry, are all built on straight lines. The notions of East-West, North-South and Up-Down, which are embodied in the way LINES of LONGITUDE and LATITUDE run, place planet Earth’s round globe into a straightjacket of artificial linear quadrants covering the surface, without which no vehicle on the surface or in space would know ACCURATELY where anything is on the face of the planet.

Yet both the world of NATURE’S CYCLES and CURVES, and the world of CIVILIZATION’S COLUMNS and LINES are actually TWO SIDES OF ONE COIN! This is actually probably one of the great unknown, yet very obvious, “secrets” of the Jewish “STAR OF DAVID” also called the “SHIELD OF DAVID” – “MAGEN DAVID” (supposedly it was King David’s chosen emblem) which consists of TWO TRIANGLES wedded “up-side-down’ to each other. Now, the sum of the three inside ANGLES of ANY triangle is 180 degrees. The sum of two triangles is 360 degrees. And so in actual fact the two triangles actually equal the 360 degrees of any CIRCLE. So the CIRCLE which is the symbol of God’s Natural World is also reflected in the two triangles of the Jewish “Star of David”, who very interestingly was meant to be the BUILDER of the ULTIMATE HUMAN BUILDING, the Jewish TEMPLE in Jerusalem which was built by King David’s son, King Solomon.

Let us look at how the TEN PLAGUES served as the literally explosive catalyst for change from the Natural World of the Ten Utterances to the Torah World of the Ten Commandments. The SFAS EMES (Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter, Poland, 1847 – 1905. Second Rebbe of the Ger Chasidim) quotes his grandfather, the CHIDUSHEI HARIM (Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, Poland, 1799 - 1866, the first Rebbe of Ger): “ ‘The TEN DIVINE STATEMENTS (UTTERANCES) – ‘ASARAH MA-MAMAROT’ were transmuted into the TEN COMMANDMENTS – ‘ASERET HADIBROT’, THROUGH the TEN PLAGUES – ‘ESER MAKOT’.’ It was only the TEN PLAGUES, which demonstrated Hashem’s (God’s) might in full public view, that convinced a skeptical mankind that indeed He had created the universe through the TEN STATEMENTS (UTTERANCES). Fortified by its newly found faith in Hashem (God), the UNIVERSE was now ready for Hashem (God) Himself commanding them ‘I AM HASHEM, YOUR GOD’ - ‘ANOCHI HASHEM ELOKECHA’, the first of the TEN COMMANDMENTS, one of the most glorious manifestations of His DIVINE PRESENCE – ‘SHECHINAH’.” [10]

Classical Judaism teaches in some of its profoundest sources that the Torah is actually the “BLUEPRINT” for the world. There are teachings that the original ABSTRACT Torah, was written by the hand of God with mysterious “BLACK FIRE” Letters upon “WHITE FIRE” Parchment “two thousand” abstract years before the world was created itself. When God undertook Creation, the teachings say that GOD LOOKED INTO THE TORAH AND CREATED THE WORLD – “HISTAKEL BE-ORAITA UBARA ALMA”. Thus all of Creation from first to last is contained within the Torah itself. The first Man who God Created was called ADAM, the name comes from the Hebrew for EARTH or GROUND or SOIL – “ADAMAH”. Man was created from the material physical finite earth and then God BREATHED into him the spiritual spark of Godliness the SPIRIT or SOUL – “NESHAMAH” of LIFE: “God formed man out of dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils a BREATH (SOUL OF - “NISHMAT”) OF LIFE. Man thus became a living creature.” (Genesis, Chapter 2, verse 7). The mission of Man was to be a partner with God and teach the superiority of Godliness and hence harmonize
physical and material with the spiritual and Holy.

It became the mission of the Hebrews Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and then Jacob’s Twelve Sons – The Twelve Tribes-The Children of Israel-The Jewish Nation to ACTUALIZE the mission of ADAM. Ancient Egypt is called the FURNACE OF IRON – “KUR HABARZEL” because it forms and purifies the rough product that comes out of it. The Exodus is compared to BIRTH PAINS – “CHEVLEI LEIDAH” as the moment draws near for the BIRTH OF ONE NATION (ISRAEL) FROM WITHIN ANOTHER (EGYPT) – “GOY MIKEREV GOY”. The TEN PLAGUES are NOT a “personal vendetta” that God is running against some ancient folks, it’s a process of MELTING DOWN AND PURIFYING and bringing NATURE, with Israel as its “apotheosis”, back to a PURER HIGHER LEVEL WITHOUT DROSS.

The SPLITTING OF THE SEA is like an actual NATIONAL BIRTH, with the “breaking of the ‘mother`s’ (nature`s) water” with the Egyptians and Nature working willy–nilly in unison together with the SEA and WIND (“huffing and puffing”) and “PUSHING” the “BABY – ISRAEL” OUT INTO FREEDOM !!! And so once they cross over into the wilderness of Sinai, they are cared for with “baby food”, the “MANNA” from Heaven, the special water well (of Miriam), a protective PILLAR OF LIGHT (FIRE) – “AMUD HA-ESH” for lighting at night and a PILLAR OF CLOUD – “AMUD HE-ANAN” as covered protection during the day, and even fresh delivery of meat from the quails. So the physical material nature of the TEN UTTERANCES of Creation have now been NEUTRALIZED AND REFINED by the TEN PLAGUES and now the way is open for the INSERTION OF THE TORAH, THE SOUL OF ISRAEL INTO ITS BODY POLITIC WHEN THEY ACCEPT THE TEN COMMANDMENTS BY SAYING “WE WILL DO AND WE WILL LEARN (HEAR)” - “NA-ASEH VENISHMAH”.

With the appearance of God at Mount Sinai, known as the REVELATION, God’s ORIGINAL plan for the world’s destiny comes into full force as the details of the Torah are taught by God to Moses and the Children of Israel over the next FORTY YEARS, before they will be expected to be ready and enter, conquer and claim the HOLY LAND that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the Children of Israel in several covenants.

The TEN COMMANDMENTS commence a new unambiguous very tough road of a DIVINELY GRANTED GOD-GIVEN MORAL LAW not subject to SUBJECTIVITY, or any form of human manipulation, corruption, or trickery. IT IS A HIGHLY DEMANDING UNAMBIGUOUS MORAL CODE THAT CANNOT BE ABROGATED BY THE WHIMS OF MAN. (Through the religions of Christianity and Islam over half of humanity’s six billion people know of BIBLE teaching and of the centrality of the DECALOGUE – THE TEN COMMANDMENTS!) For Jews to live up to its teachings has proven to be a complex and uneven process. No wonder! Just see what’s required as we look at just two of the TEN COMMANDMENTS from the perspective of classical Judaism:

Judaism teaches that God’s “opening statement and introduction” of Himself: “I am God your Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, from the place of slavery” (Exodus, Chapter 20, verse 2), is in actual fact the FIRST OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS that commands every Jew to BELIEVE and have absolute FAITH in God.

The famous Rabbi Dr. Samson Raphael Hirsch (Germany, 1808 – 1888) notes that the Hebrew word for “I”, which normally should be “ANI”, is here said as “ANOCHI”. Why is that? He says that “ANI”, the simple “I” emphasizes the speaker rather than the listener. But, the complex “I” of “ANOCHI” proclaims the Speaker as the one who is INTIMATELY near the listener and who has great responsibility for protecting and preserving the listener and from whom the listener derives his existence and standing… “Nothing is more overwhelming than the thought of how, in the midst of all the commotion, and out of the turmoil of the universe quaking in its very foundations, God proclaims Himself the ‘ANOCHI” - THE COMPLEX ‘I’ of the universe, through Whom alone all other existence receives the possibility and the actuality of existing, and then immediately turns to each individual Jew and says: ‘I am your ‘ANOCHI’: ‘I AM GOD YOUR LORD’ – ‘ANOCHI HASHEM ELOKECHA’. As this verse is NOT to be taken as a declaration, but as a COMMANDMENT – ‘MITZVAH’, as ONE OF THE COMMANDMENTS, it does NOT mean ‘I, Hashem (God) am your God’ BUT ‘I, Hashem (God) AM TO BE your God’. This makes the foundation of our whole relation to God to be that demand which our sages express in the term ‘KABALAT OL MALCHUT SHAMAYIM’ – TAKING ON ONESELF THE DUTIES WHICH ARE INVOLVED BY CONSIDERING GOD AS ONE’S KING…The so-called ‘belief in the existence of God’…is miles away from what this verse demands…NOT the fact that there is a God, also NOT there is only One God, but that THIS ONE, UNIQUE, TRUE GOD, IS TO BE MY GOD, that He created and formed me, placed me where I am, and goes on creating and forming me, keeps me, watches over me, leads and guides me; NOT THAT MY CONNECTION WITH HIM SHOULD BE THROUGH TEN THOUSAND INTERMEDIARIES AS A CHANCE PRODUCT OF A UNIVERSE WHICH HE BROUGHT INTO BEING AEONS AGO…in a word, NOT the knowledge of the existence of God, but the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of God, as MY God, as the exclusive One in Whose hands is my fate…it is only with the acceptance of this TRUTH that I can lay the foundation of a Jewish Life. To the DEMAND of ‘I am God” - ‘ANOCHI’ there is but one corresponding reply YOU ARE MY GOD – ‘ATAH ELOKAI’.” [11]

Finally, as another example of the depth of the application and scope of any of the commandments let’s take a look at the SEVENTH COMMANDMENT: “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY” which in Hebrew is just TWO WORDS: “LO TINAF” (Exodus, Chapter 20, verse 13.) In strict Legal-Halachik Torah Law, the act of “adultery” is defined as taking place when a man, either married or single, willingly has completed (penile vaginal penetration) sexual intercourse with a MARRIED woman and was potentially a capital offence in the times of the Sanhedrin Court over 2,000 years ago:
“If a man commits adultery with a married woman, [and] she is the wife of a fellow [Israelite], both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death” (Leviticus, Chapter 20, verse 10), this requires that two adult “kosher” – Sabbath-observant Jewish male witnesses warned them beforehand and actually witnessed the actual sex act take place, which in any case would be a practical rarity, so that it’s nearly impossible to “convict” an offending couple, yet the risks are frightening indeed. Sex between a man and an UNMARRIED woman is also a severe moral sin in the Torah, which may also be included in the Torah’s broader prohibitions of adultery and immorality, and carries its own penalties for both parties, short of capital punishment.

The Oral Law Midrashic Commentaries bring an example of how one commandment can actually comprehensively encompass far more than first meets the eye or hits the mind: “Our Sages taught in the name of Rebbi Chanina (a sage from about 2,000 years ago), ‘An adulterous person transgresses all TEN COMMANDMENTS.’ Some people (sages) were troubled by this statement and approached Rebbi Chanina for clarification. They said, ‘We agree that an adulterer and adulteress are guilty of having violated the following NINE COMMANDMENTS:

‘I AM YOUR GOD,’ because an adulterer or adulteress denies and negates God (since it was God Who forbade adultery in the first place, or by given into one’s physical lusts, one is denying that God demands that one desist. Or, they simply ignore God as if He did not exist altogether as in atheism which claims that there is no God at all of any kind);
‘YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS’, Her act is likened to idol-worship. Just as she forsook her husband for the sake of another man, or the man forsakes his wife for another married woman, so they are liable to forsake the Almighty and serve idols, (or by indulging in physical attractions they are worshiping the human body over God);
‘YOU SHALL NOT SWEAR IN VAIN IN GOD’S NAME’, for the adulterers will surely swear that they are innocent, (or they may come to mock God’s Name during their escapades together);
‘HONOR YOUR FATHER’, since the adulterer will impregnate, and the adulteress will bear a child who will not know his real father and therefore will be unable to honor him, (they also dishonor their Father in Heaven);
‘YOU SHALL NOT MURDER’, an adulterer is determined to kill or be killed, should he be caught in his act;
‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’, (also understood as the prohibition of IMMORALITY of any kind in the widest sense, as noted in the Talmud, Tractate Nidda 13b, see Rabbi Hirsch, Exodus, p. 277);
‘YOU SHALL NOT STEAL’, he steals another man’s wife. She steals another woman’s husband, (both are stealing “forbidden fruits” and tasting the stolen fruits of their moral laxness);
‘YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS’, since the adulteress will testify to her husband, ‘I am pregnant by you’. And the adulterer will swear that he did not do it;
‘YOU SHALL NOT COVET’, because he covets what belongs to the woman’s husband. (Adulterers covet the spouses and loved ones of others).”

“ ‘We thus see how an adulterous person transgresses NINE COMMANDMENTS. We do not understand, though, in what way he disregards the COMMANDMENT,
‘REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY TO SANCTIFY IT (KEEP IT HOLY)’?”

“Rebbi Chanina replied, ‘Take the case of a NON -‘KOHEN’ (NON PRIEST) who commits adultery with the wife of a ‘KOHEN’ (PRIEST). The child will then be unwittingly claimed as a ‘KOHEN’ (PRIEST). (The status of ‘KOHEN’ is determined by the FATHER, unlike the ‘religion’ that is determined by the mother. The child will therefore be a NON -‘KOHEN’ to whom the holy Temple Service is forbidden by the Torah). He will then perform the special service in the TEMPLE – ‘BEIT HAMIKDASH’ even on the SABBATH – ‘SHABBAT’. For example he will arrange the wood on the altar and kindle its fire, which is only permissible to the PRIEST – ‘KOHEN’. SINCE HE IS AN OUTSIDER, HOWEVER, HE THEREBY DESECRATES THE SABBATH (as it is forbidden for anyone else to light any fires on the Sabbath, one of the 39 categories of forbidden work for an Israelite).” [12]

In societies with sky high divorce rates, and where infidelity is put on center stage on TV, movies and books, can there be any wonder that there exists hostility to the basic tenets of the Ten Commandments? In an age when “sexual freedoms” are taken for granted there should be no amazement that the Torah’s very clear-cut guidelines should be scorned. So then it is a great miracle of huge proportions that in spite of the prevailing anti-religious trends in the world, there are still millions of Jews, and many more good moral non-Jews, who strive to learn and live by the oldest moral code of them all, the Ten Commandments, that seeks to undo the glamorization of trends that connect directly with “world’s oldest profession” of disrepute with its very real diseases, failings, and moral bankruptcy. Let us hope that humanity will learn the lessons that will help it improve for the better.

Have a wonderful and great Shabbat and let me know what you think!

[1] http://www.crystalinks.com/cuneiformtablets.html
[2] Ibid.
[3]
*“Stone Age”: http://www.bergen.org/technology/stone.html ;
*“Copper Age”: http://www.comp-archaeology.org/Central_European_Neolithic_Chronology.htm ;
*“Bronze Age”: http://odur.let.rug.nl/arge/Work/chrono.htm ;
*“Iron Age”: http://www.beloit.edu/~museum/logan/paleoexhibit/ironage.htm ;
*“Roman Steel”: http://www.mri.on.ca/steel.html ;
*“Steel History”: http://www.fantasysteel.com/steelhistory.html ;
*“Information Age”: http://photo2.si.edu/infoage/infoage.html ;
*“Leisure Class (Age)”: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1899veblen.html
[4] Pirkei Avos, The Wisdom of the Fathers, English translation, Rabbi Avraham Davis, p.149.
[5] Pirkei Avot, Sayings of the Fathers, English translation, Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz, p. 84.
[6] Maharal of Prague Pirkei Avos, English commentary and translation, Rabbi Tuvia Basser, pp. 292 – 294.
[7] The Living Torah, English translation, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, p. 27.
[8] Pirkei Avos, Ideas and Insights of the Sfas Emes, English translation and commentary, Rabbi Yosef Stern, p. 313.
[9] Natural Law, (Dr. Kenneth Einar Himma Ph.D.), The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/n/natlaw.htm
[10] Sfas Emes, Ibid., p. 311.
[11] The Pentateuch, Exodus, Commentary of Rabbi S.R. Hirsch, English translation, Isaac Levy, pp. 257 – 258.
[12] The Midrash Says, The Book of Shmos – Exodus, English commentary, pp. 194 – 195.
- posted by Izak @ 10:40 AM