RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:DIRECTIONS FOR CHESBON HA NEFESH

 RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:DIRECTIONS FOR CHESBON HA NEFESH

 

Shalom Talmudim and Chaverim:

 

We have mentioned the  chesbon ha nefesh--an inventory of our souls .(It is sometimes spelled cheshbon ha nefesh). It is a vital step in reclaiming Judaism for ourselves and working on the path of Jewish Spiritual Renewal. This week will give concrete directions on doing it, and the class assignment will do to being to do yours.

 

If we were to be all sitting together, relaxing at a ocean side restaurant in Tel Aviv, when our meal was over, our waiter would give us the chesbon, the bill, an accounting of what we ordered, and amount that we owed. It would be itemized and we would study it for a minute or two to make sure it was correct.

 

Judaism teaches us that in order to attain Jewish Spiritual renewal and to keep it going, we must do an accounting of our souls, a large moral inventory of our past, a chesbon ha nefesh ( an accounting, or inventory, of our soul) gadol (large), and then nightly, do a smaller chesbon ha nefesh katon (small), of our days events and interactions. The rabbis teach that if a person sincerely does this chesbon katon 80 times, he will emerge as a new person with a new ruach (spirit). We can regain our sanctity regularly. We do not have to wait for the cloud to lift and be given an invitation to reach God. We have the ability to do so regularly. If we only use this ability, our lives would benefit immensely.

 

But Jewish Spiritual Renewal takes work, and a  Chesbon Ha Nefesh is serious work. Our lives will not change over night, but they will change.

 

Leon, a car salesman, was tired of standing around on the empty floor of his American automobile franchise staring longingly at all of the traffic at the foreign car dealerships lining the street. Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Volvo, Kia, Lexus, Acura, BMW--- all of them seemed to have plenty of customers, while Leon had any. Day after day his frustration grew. Finally Leon could not stand  it anymore. He went into his back office, locked the door, and began to pray.

 

"Dear God," he prayed, "You know that I am basically a good Jew. I do not cheat on my wife much.  I spend time with my kids. I even tell most of the truth about the cars I sell. I am active in the Temple  and eat bagels and lox every Sunday with the Men's Club. I buy Israel bonds. I call Mom and Dad in Miami  every week. I have never asked you for anything before. But my life is at a dead end. No one wants the cars I sell. Please , please God, couldn't You just arrange for me to have a foreign car dealership?"

 

All of  a sudden there is a puff of smoke, a crash of thunder, and a bolt of lightening. When the smoke cleared, Leon's wish had been granted. There he was in downtown Tokyo the proud owner of a Chevy dealership.

 

 

We do a chesbon ha nefesh so that we can learn specifically about ourselves and our defects. Without clear knowledge of ourselves, we do not know where we are, and hence we end up, like Leon the car salesman,  in places we do not wish to be.  Our defects keep us from being spiritually connected and keep us from a conscious contact with God. Because  Jews rarely do chesbon's because no one is teaching us how to specifically do them, our penitential prayers during the Rosh ha Shana ,Tashlich , Yom Kippur services, rarely work. We leave services with the same defects with which we walked into Synagogue. We throw our sins into moving water at Tashlich and somehow they pop back into our pockets. Our rabbis just have not being teaching us the needed steps we must do before these prayers. But they will sell you tickets to High Holy Day services and tell you to ''keep coming back.''

 

We will first discuss the Chesbon ha Nefesh Gadol.

 

Martin Buber tells the story of Chaim of Zanz who at 20 want to reform his entire country morally. When he reached 30, he did not succeed at all. So at 30, he decided to reform his province and by 40, he realized that program was a failure as well. So at 40, he decided to morally reform his own town and at 50 he saw that morally his town was the same. So at 50, he finally realized that he had to first spend the time repairing his own soul.

 

Jewish Spiritual Renewal is not about proselytizing to the many Jews who need it, its about helping those individual Jews who want it. It is about saving the world, so to speak, by starting with our own souls. We need to look deeply into ourselves, turn words of confession into action, and have faith that living a life that is happy, joyous and free, begins with repairing ourselves, with God's aid.

 

Let us start with our fears.

All of us have fears. Some of them can actually paralyze us and keep us from enjoying a full life. This life is not a dress rehearsal. Nor are we on an audition for anyone.

As we mentioned, the Mishna Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers, 4:1 teaches : "Who is wise?  He who learns from every person."

The sages, to explain the advantage of learning from others and coming up with one's own ideas, compares  the bee and the spider.  Both produce something; the bee produces honey and the spider produces a web. 

The honey, which the bee produces, is sweet and delightful to eat; but the web, which the spider manufactures, doesn't have these wonderful properties.  Why?

"The difference is that the bee's production is a result of what it collects from  others.  This is why it's so sweet and delicious.  But the spider produces its  web from itself and that is why all it does is serve its own purpose to trap other insects.''

None of us are born with all of the answers. We all have to learn. It is not an embarrassment to say:  "I do not know, please teach me." In fact its liberating. Its human. And its the beginning of knowledge.

Rabbi Akiva from circa 100 C.E. didn't know his Hebrew Aleph Bait, and only began to study when he was 40 years old.

Everyone is our teacher, which means you are a teacher to someone. But there are two types of teachers. There are those who show us what to do,  and those who show us what not to do.

So let us start our Chesbon ha Nefesh Gadol by picking  up pen and paper and write the fears that we have or had. Fears of not being loved, fears of not being accepted, fears of not being good enough, fears of failure, fears of success, etc

 

Sadie goes to see her rabbi and complains about her fears which cause her terrible headaches. She whines, cries, and talks about fears of almost everything for hours and hours. 
All of a sudden, Sadie shouts, overjoyed, "Rabbi, your holy presence has cured me! My fears are all gone! My headache has left me!"
To which the rabbi replies, "No Sadie, the headache is not gone. I have it now."

 

Just as the chesbon in the restaurant was written, so must this chesbon be written. A loose leaf 8 inch by 11 inch pad of paper is sufficient, and pen or pencil both will work fine.

 

Most of us all have the same fears as we are human. We fear living. We fear dying. List all of them. Those you have now, and those you have had.

 

List them in  a column on the left hand side of your paper. Make that column about a fourth of the size of your paper. Be rigorously honest.

 

As you have probably noticed, 99% of your fears are based on irrationality, and on things you have no control over. Worse yet, many of them, like a fear of not having enough money, will lead to the chet (sin, defect) of coveting. Coveting soon leads to resentments. Holding grudges is a sin.  And resentments leads us to taking actions against those who we envy, which leads us to more sin.

 

So fear is a process in our minds that can be ruinous  in our lives and hurt those around us.

 

Of course we may see that we have some fears, few, that are rational.

 

Solomon is out in the woods when he comes across a bear. Frightened for his life, Solomon runs as fast as he can to escape the bear and manages to hide in a cave. But he is horrified and fearful to find that the bear has run after him into the cave and now Solomon is trapped. He closes his eyes, in fear, and begins to recite "Sh'ma Yisrael" in anticipation of his final moments. When he is finished, he opens his eyes and is surprised to see the bear in front of him with his eyes closed--also praying in Hebrew. Solomon thinks to himself,  "How lucky am I to be cornered by what must be the only Jewish bear in the area! We're mishpocheh (family)--I'm saved!" And then he listens more carefully to the bear's prayer: "...HAMOTZI LECHEM MIN HA'ARETZ," (The Jewish blessing before meals).

 

 

 

As Jews, the most successful way of dealing with fear is believing in, trusting in, and having faith in God. If we truly do, and if we find our fears objectionable to us, along with the thoughts of coveting and the actions that keep us separated by those we envy, we can ask God to remove these fears and our behaviors, and He will, with our doing the work. That 'removal step' will come later.

 

Now next to each fear, in the next column, write down, why you have this fear. Where did you get it from? Where were you taught it? Did a trauma occur? Write it down. Again, make this column a quarter width of the page.

 

For example, we may have a fear of being poor, because we heard our parents, who lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s, always talk about it. We may have a fear of the opposite sex because at some point someone told us we were sexually inadequate. We may fear in our deepest hearts of hearts, that we are not good enough, and hence get scared of others that we see as being better than we are, so our behavior  is to be jealous of them, undermine them, and gossip about them. Skip no fear. Skip no reason. If while doing this second column, you remember a fear, add it to the first column.

 

In the third column next to each fear, list what behaviors you do, because you have this fear. For example, if you have a fear of being without money, you may horde money and never give to charity. Or perhaps you may shoplift or pad your expense account. Do not be ashamed. This Chesbon is about getting back to God and Spirituality. If you were already there, you would not need to do this Chesbon Gadol. Again be rigorously honest.

 

In the fourth column, which will be the last for fears, ask yourself, if you trusted in, had faith in, and believed in God, as we defined Him previously, could you let go of these fears and the behaviors that follow from them? And answer ''yes'' or ''no'' in the fourth column.

 

 ''And the Lord went before them in a pillar of cloud by day' (Ex. 13:21) "  There were seven clouds, four on the four sides of them, one above them, one beneath them, one before them to prepare the road before them, raising the depressions and lowering the elevations to make for them a plain, as it says: 'Every valley should be lifted up and every hill and mountain shall be made low and the rugged shall be made level, and the rough places a plain' (Isaiah 40:4) The sages teach that these verses  teach that God will always raise valleys and flatten mountains during times of troubles, and that belief in God gives us a life free of fears. 

 

On a new page, make four more columns.

 

In the first column list everyone, starting  from the present, and working back to your kindergarten years, you have ever had a resentment to, held a grudge against, or to whom you have been angry. Again be honest, I have never seen a truly done chesbon  gadol  that  did contain both parents, all siblings, and many cousins and aunts and uncles. They have bosses, spouses, kids, teachers, cops, waiters, unknown folks on the highways or in the supermarket lines. They have roommates, class mates, and kindergarten play ground buddies. List them all, even if the resentment or grudge or anger has long past. Include dead people that you were mad at, or to who you are still mad.

 

A Rabbi, a cantor, and a synagogue president were driving to a seminar when they were kidnapped. The hijackers  asked the three of them to hand over all of their money and jewelery . When they replied that they hadn't any, the hijackers told them that immediately after their last wishes were fulfilled, they would be killed.
"My last wish," began the Rabbi, is to give a fascinating, complicated, long sermon that I have always wanted to but never been allowed to give."
"We will grant your wish," the hijackers replied.
"My last wish," said the cantor, "is to sing a beautiful, Yemenite style song, one of my own compositions lasting two hours. I have never been allowed to sing it."
"We'll let you sing it," replied the hijackers.
"What is your last wish," the hijackers asked the shul president.
"Please, please shoot me now!" the resentful shul president yelled.

 

List also institutions with which we were or are upset, and principles.

An example of an institution may be your synagogue. You can have the synagogue on the list, as well as your rabbi.

An example of a principle might be "If you grow up and marry a nice Jewish doctor your life will be perfect." Or "If you join the Army and serve in Viet Nam, you will be respected and get a free college degree, a great job, and a good life."

 

A cruise liner goes down in the Pacific and Benny is the only survivor. He manages to swim to an uninhabited island.
Many year's later, when a search party finally comes to rescue him, they see that he has constructed two synagogues on his tiny island.
"Why the two synagogues?" the leader asks Benny.
Benny points to the nearest one and replies, "That's the one I go to every Saturday. The other one, I wouldn't go inside if you paid me!"

 

In the next column, also a 4th of page in width, write down, briefly what these people did to you for you to have been mad at them. It may be Benjie took my bicycle or  Benjie took my wife. When it comes to family, you may need more space.

 

In the third column list how this affected you. Did it lower your self esteem? Did it make you feel insecure? Did it get in the way of your goals? Did it ruin or dampen an interpersonal relationship? Did it cause you to be afraid? You can list one, some, or all of these in this third column.

 

Abe goes to see his Rabbi.
"Rabbi, something terrible is happening and I have to talk to you about it."
The Rabbi asked, "What's wrong, Abe?"
Abe replied, "My relationship with my wife is horrible. My self esteem is at an all time low. I think my  wife is even trying to poison me."
The Rabbi was very surprised by this and asks, "How can that be?"
Abe then pleads, "I'm telling you, I'm certain she's poisoning me, what should I do?"
The Rabbi then offers, "Tell you what. Let me talk to her, I'll see what I can find out and I'll let you know."
A week later the Rabbi calls Abe and says, "Well, I spoke to your wife. I spoke to her on the phone for three hours. You want my advice?"
Abe anxiously says, "Yes."
"Take the poison," says the Rabbi.

 

 

 

Now before we go further, we want to look at this page of ours. We have a list of people and  a list of things done to us. Now there may be some horrid things on this page. There may be molestation or abuse. But for the most part, most ills were petty in nature. Yet we gave power to so many people in our lives. We allowed them to let ourselves be angry, bitter people. Remember that holding a grudge is a sin in Judaism. Its a sin not because it hurts 'them' but because it hurts us.

 

As I have taught before, a life full of resentments is no life. Its draining. We hear statements, non-Judaic, that ''success is the best revenge.'' So we struggle to be successful and get our names in the paper, and instead of felling good about doing God's will, we think "did those sons of guns read this and get jealous?" And when we find out our so called enemies don't give a darn, our successes mean nothing to us. This is fatal futility

 

So before going on we must be rid of these resentments. Judaism believes in responding to hate or detraction with love. We do not have to wait until someone asks us for forgiveness to forgive. So here and now, with the entire list in our minds, hearts and souls, we ask for God's aid in forgiving everyone of them. If there is someone on the list that we are having trouble forgiving, continue to ask God for help. Pray for this person. If he or she has hurt you this much, he or she is spiritually ill. You would not treat a sick person cruelly. So don't treat this person cruelly.  Pray for them the same way you would for someone with a fatal disease. Spiritual illness is fatal. When we are disconnected from God, its a living death.

 

 "Forgive thy neighbor the hurt that he hath done unto thee, so shall thy sins also be forgiven when thou prayest," says rabbi  Ben Sira (Ecclus. [Sirach] 28: 2). "To whom is sin pardoned? To he who forgives injury" (Derek Ereẓ Zuṭa 8: 3; Talmud Tractate Rosh Ha Shana 17a)

 

Morris and Lenny are strolling home from shul one Saturday morning. Suddenly a cab speeds past, and their friend, Irving, is running frantically behind it, flailing his arms wildly.
"Well," said Lenny, "I never imagined our good friend Irving was a Sabbath violator! Look at him running for that taxi."
"Wait a minute," Morris replied. "Didn't you read that book I lent you, 'The Other Side of the Story', about the command to judge other people favorably? Don't you know we Jews shouldn't judge, gossip or hold grudges. I'll bet we can think of hundreds of excuses for Irving's behavior."
"Yeah, like what?"
"Maybe he's sick and needs to go to the hospital."
"Come on! He was running 60 miles an hour after that cab - he's healthier than Arnold Schwartzeneger."
"Well, maybe his wife's having a baby."
"She had one last week."
"Well, maybe he needs to visit her in the hospital."
"She's home."
"Well, maybe he's running to the hospital to get a doctor."
"He is a doctor."
"Well, maybe he need supplies from the hospital."
"The hospital is a three minute walk in the opposite direction."
"Well, maybe he forgot that it's Shabbat!"
"Of course he knows it's Shabbat. Didn't you see his tie? It was his paisley beige 100% silk Gucci tie from Italy. He never wears it during the week."
"Wow, you're a really observant! I didn't even notice he was wearing a tie."
"How could you not notice? Didn't you see how it was caught on the back fender of the taxi?"

 

If you are still having problems with one or two on your list, each night pray to God to give them every thing you wish God to give you and your family. Do it sincerely. I guarantee within two weeks, you will be ready to forgive. Forgiveness is the opposite of holding a grudge and hating. It is not saying the person has been given a  pass on doing teshuvah, making amends. But that is now between him and God. it is out of your head. Why keep someone in your head who is taking up room and not paying rent?

 

Q: What's the definition of chutzpah?
A: A boy who kills his parents and then begs the court for mercy - because he's an orphan.

 

Now we are ready to the last column. We have now put out of our minds the ills that others have done to us. Now look at the names in column one and write in column four what you have done negatively to them. We gave you a hint to behaviors that we have when we are not God connected. Write down if you have been selfish to them. Write if you have been self-seeking to them. Write if you have been dishonest to them. Dishonesty doesn't necessarily mean that you took money from their wallets. It means did you always tell them the truth and never lied by commission or omission. Many time we do not tell folks our true feelings, and expect them to know. Then when they do not do what we want because they are not mind readers, we get angry and hold resentments. These are called unwritten contracts and destroy relationships. Were you fearful around this person. As we saw above, in YOUR own handwriting, when we have fears, we do untoward behaviors.

 

Lastly, on a third piece of paper, although if you are doing this chesbon ha nefesh gadol correctly, your fear inventory is most likely ten pages, and your resentment inventory, if you are middle aged, is about 20 pages, start to list basic defects of character, or sins if you wish, that you have. White lies, lies, gossip, stinginess, speeding, procrastination, controlling behaviors, perfectionist expectations, et.al.

 

Three friends were at the bar talking, and after many rounds of beer, one of them suggests that everyone admit something they have never admitted to anyone.
Okay," says Peter, "I've never told anybody I'm a gay!"
John confesses, "I'm having an affair with my boss's wife."
Moishe, begins, "I don't know how to tell you...."
"Don't be shy," said Peter and John.
Well," says Moishe, "I'm a compulsive gossip."

 

Review it for completeness and honesty.

 

Your chesbon ha nefesh gadol is complete.

 

Beginning then tonight, we start to do a chesbon ha nefesh katan so we never need to do a gadol (large one) again.

This is much simpler. We ask ourselves before going to bed, do we owe anyone an amends from our actions this day? Where we in any way un-Godful by being dishonest, fearful, selfish, self-seeking, angry or resentful? Did we truly love our fellows as ourselves? If we do owe an amends, we write the person's name down, and the next day we make the amends. Unless of course its our spouse or children and they are still awake. If any of the rest is a 'yes' we will discuss what to do when we get to the chapters on spiritual growth and meditation .

 

Next class we will discuss how we confess these defects to God.

 

Hymie enters a Catholic church and confronts the priest. "I am 93 years old. My wife is 91. We have been happily married for 64 years. Last week I had crazy, joyous sex with a 27-year-old super-model."
The priest is aghast. "Why don't you go to confession, old man?"
Hymie replies, "Why should a Jewish man such as myself go to confession?"
The priest is confused. "If you're Jewish, why then are you telling me this story?"
Hymie replies, "I'm telling everyone!"

 

Below is a d'var Torah for this week's Shabbat and next's.

 

Shalom,

Rabbi Arthur Segal

Hebrew College

Newton Centre, MA, USA

via Shamash Org on-line class service

 

Hilton Head Island, SC

Bluffton, SC

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:CHUMASH CANDESCENCE:PARASHOT MATOT+MASEI: NUMBERS 30:02-36:13

 RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: CHUMASH CANDESCENCE: PARASHOT MATOT + MASEI: NUMBERS 30:02-36:13

CHUMASH CANDESCENCE
PARASHOT MATOT AND
MASEI
NUMBERS 30:02-36:13
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL

"Gimme Shelter"

SYNOPTIC ABSTRACT:
This double portion (some times it is doubled, and this particular Shabbat July 26.08, it is just Matot)  ends the Book of Numbers. Borders of Israel are given
as well as rules to prevent blood feuds by the establishment of
safe-haven towns. If we can have cities of refuge 3,400 years ago,
perhaps today we can have cities for refugees. This may help us end our modern
blood feud in the Middle East. To learn more about this week's Torah
portion, you are invited to read on.

During some Shabbats we again will read from two Torah portions. These two
portions are the last two sections of the Book of Numbers. During the
following week we will begin the fifth and final book of the Chumash
(the Five Books of Moses). This last  book is Deuteronomy.

Parasha Matot begins with the rules of vows and oaths. Matot means
"tribes" as these rules were given to the heads of the 12 tribes. A man
must keep his word but a woman's word can be annulled by her father or
husband. Then the Israelites battle against Midian. It is a blood bath.
All the Midianite men are killed. Yet Moses rebukes his generals for
allowing the women Midianites to live. The Israelites then kill all the
non-virgin women and all the male children. Laws about purifying the
spoils of war are listed and from this the Talmudic rabbis learn the
rules for koshering cooking utensils.

Numbers 31:21-24 refers to methods by which the utensils and garments
taken in the Midianite war could be used by the Jews. The Talmudic
rabbis, by pilpul extension, say these same laws apply to any vessel
acquired from any non-Jew.

 

 If they are new utensils a simple emersion
into the mikvah is sufficient. If they were used in cooking, or in
today's parlance, either were kosher and had non-kosher food on them making them
unkosher and now need to be made kosher, more needs to be done.

 

Since these utensils now have "absorbed the taste" of non-kosher food or may
still have milk on the meat dishes or vice versa, they must be "purged"
through fire. Rashi notes that these laws should have been transmitted by
Moses as supposedly they are another commandment from God. But the Torah
says "Elazar, the Kohen" taught these rules. The rabbis decide that Moses
was upset and angry (see verse 31:14). Moses was too preoccupied to hear
God speak. Therefore Elazar heard God giving these new "kitchen-religion"
laws and transmitted them to the Israelites.

The parasha continues by dividing the spoils of war. Reuben and Gad wish
to live outside of Israel in what is now Jordan. Moses compromises with
this idea as long as they help the other tribes conquer the land first.
It is from the wording of this compromise, that the Talmudic rabbis learn
the rules of business contracts.

Parasha Masei begins with a summary of the Israelites wandering in the
desert for 40 years. The Hebrew word masei means "journeys." Forty-two
locations are listed. In a traditional synagogue these 49 verses are
chanted quickly and without pause. There were 14 moves during the first
year. There were 8 during the last year. During the middle 38 years the
Israelites moved only 20 times, which is an average of two years between
each journey. Moses gives them the rules for conquering Canaan. The
boundaries of Eretz Israel are delineated. Lots are drawn for tribal
territories and tribal leaders are announced.

 

 Special cities are set aside and maintained for the Levites. Special cities of refuge (Ir
Miklat) are set aside for unintentional murderers. Laws distinguishing
between the different types of shedding of human blood are given.
Inheritance rules in relation to tribal intermarriage are listed.

The cousins of the daughters of Zelophehad appeal Moses's decision to
allow them to inherit their father's estate because they have no
brothers. The cousins are afraid that if they marry outside of their
tribe, the estate would belong to their new husbands of a different
tribe. Moses amends his ruling from Parasha Pinchas.. He
declares that these daughters can only keep their inheritance if they
marry cousins within their tribe. The Book of Numbers concludes.

Numbers 35:09-15 tells how six cities are to be set aside in Israel so
one could escape to there if one kills another by accident. This person
could live in this special city and be safe from the wrath and vengeance
of the dead person's family. The Torah's authors did not want to see
blood feuds. This rule applied to both Israelites and foreigners. The
unintentional murderer lived in this city under what we would call today
house arrest until the Kohan Gadol, the high priest, died. At that time
he could leave and remain unharmed within the general population.

In Talmud Tractate Makkot we are told that the Kohan Gadol's family were
worried that these unintentional murderers would pray for the high
priest's death so that they could leave the city of refuge. It became
customary for the mother of the Kohan Gadol to visit these six cities.
She would distribute food and clothing and hope that these gifts would
deter the inmates from praying for her son's demise.

 

The Talmudic rabbis taught that these cities were not jails or detention camps. They were
places where the reckless and careless could learn not to repeat their
life-taking actions. They were under the constant influence of their
neighbors, the Levites, who also lived in special cities. The Levites
would visit these cities of refuge and teach. The Talmud states that when
these unintentional murderers saw the love and care that the high
priest's very own mother showed to them, as well as the Levites kind
actions, they developed into kinder, gentler, and more careful people.

Numbers 34:01-12 outlines the borders of Israel. The Torah uses a general
term to describe the "southernmost point" as "the wilderness of Zin." It
then describes the southern border from "the edge of the Salt Sea to the
east." It then tells of places where the border will "pass" and "go
around." It mentions the "stream of Egypt." Most of these locations, like
the places mentioned in the wanderings in the beginning of Parasha Masei,
are unknown to us today.

 

The "great sea" and "Kinneret sea" are
mentioned, and we know these today as the Mediterranean and the Sea of the Galilee.
The Salt Sea is what we call the Dead Sea today. Mount Hor is mentioned
as the northern border but we are not sure today which mountain this is.
We do know that the borders listed take us into modern Egypt, Syria, and
Jordan. Borders are also given in Genesis 15:18 and Deuteronomy 1:07.
These sets of borders are different from the ones set in Numbers. The
eastern border in these sets is listed as "the Euphrates River" in what
is now in Turkey or Iraq.

The rabbis of the Talmud in Tractate Gittin 8A and Sotah 14A as well as
later sages such as the Totafot, Sforno, Rashi, Rashbam, Vilna Gaon,
Aderet Eliyahu, Hersh Goldwurm, B'chor Shor, Gur Aryeh, and the Ramban
write and argue over what these borders were. They can reach no
conclusion that all will accept. Certainly, there are no suggestions or
hints to Jerusalem. as a capital city.

 

 What we do know from history is that
the land of Canaan as part of the Egyptian dominion had different
boundaries than the land that Joshua conquered, the Kingdom of David, the
empire-sized Kingdom of Solomon, the divided lands of the Northern and
Southern Kingdoms, as well as the land when under Babylonian, Persian,
Greek, and Roman control.

"Oh, a storm is threat'ning my very life today.
If  I don't get some shelter, oh yeah I'm gonna fade away.
War, children, it's just a shot away. It's just a shot away."

These lyrics were sung by the Rolling Stones in their hit "Gimme
Shelter." We are faced today with another "last chance" for peace in the Middle
East. When I first taught this parasha to my Torah class in 2000,  no good news had been heard from the
Camp David peace talks between Chairman Arafat and Prime Minister Barak.
Barak had proposed dramatic concessions. He had agreed to Muslim
sovereignty over the mosques and holy places in Jerusalem with exclusive
Muslim access to them. The Palestinian flag would fly over these sites
in Israel. He said Israel would allow the Palestinians ultimate control
over the strategic Jordan valley. Barak stated he would dismantle dozens
of Jewish settlements on Arab land. Barak also agreed to expanded
Palestinian municipal authority in East Jerusalem. Thousands of Muslims
would be guaranteed jobs in Israel, and billions of dollars would be
spent to resettle Palestinians in refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan. Arafat
wants part of Jerusalem as his capital.

Israel wanted to keep East Jerusalem. It has agreed to grant municipal
powers to the Arabs there. Barak did suggest he would hand over some Arab
neighborhoods around Jerusalem to full Palestinian control. Arafat wanted
control of all of East Jerusalem. He said he would allow Israelis access
to Jewish holy sites.

The Palestinians wanted Israel's borders to return to before the Six-Day
War of 1967. Israel wants to annex formally parts of the West Bank and
Gaza. Three million Arabs live on those lands. Some 170,000 Jews live
with them in about 145 settlements. Israel has offered Arafat 80 percent
of  the West Bank and Gaza and says it wishes to annex or even rent the other 20
percent where these Israeli settlements are located. Barak said that Arafat can
have an independent state on this 80 percent. Arafat calls the Jewish
settlers "illegal" and does not want Israeli citizens living in his country. He
has said the Jews can remain there as loyal citizens of his new Palestinian state.

Four million Palestinian refugees live is squalor in Syria, Jordan,
Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank. Arafat wanted UN resolution 194
enforced. This would allow them to return to their homes and land that
are now in Israeli possession within the prewar borders. Compensation was
to be paid for those who do not wish to return and live under Israeli
sovereignty. Arafat insisted that Israel was responsible for displacing
these refugees in the 1947-1948 war of Israeli Independence. The
Palestinians call this war the "Naqba" or "Great Catastrophe." Israel
refuses to accept responsibility for the refugee problem but says it
would put money into a fund to compensate the refugees for land that they
lost.

In Camp David's Laurel Cabin the two sides of 21 American, Israeli, and
Palestinian negotiators were arguing over the control of the City of
David. Barak slept in Dogwood Cabin, where 22 years ago Egypt's Anwar
Sadat stayed. Arafat stayed in the Birch Cabin, which Menachem Begin
occupied. Barak left Israel with three right-wing partners in his
coalition government defecting at the time of his departure. Some of the
Shas rabbis were quoting the boundaries of Israel as described in this
week's parasha. Rallying behind Barak were 28 retired Israeli generals
who said "Go in peace Ehud Barak...and bring about an end to the historic
conflict between us and the Palestinians." At the same time Ephraim Sneh,
the new deputy defense minister, ordered Israeli positions in the West
Bank fortified and sandbagged in preparation for fire fights with the
Arabs.

 

So much has happened since then. September 11th, the death of Arafat, total unilateral Israeli pullout in Gaza, a month long war lost by the Israelis in Lebanon, and still the suicide bombers come into Israel. President Bush made his first trip to Israel in his last year of his 8 year presidency.

What can our Tanach, our Holy Scriptures, teach us about this
situation? In the Book of Judges in Chapter 11 we read of Yiftach who
was a leader of Israel. The Talmudic rabbis called him "as great as Samuel."

In haste he made a vow to sacrifice to God the first thing that he saw upon
his return from a victorious battle. Unfortunately, upon his return he
first saw his daughter.

 

We read in this week's Parasha Matot about vows
and how to annul them. All Yiftach had to do was go to Pinchas and have
his vow annulled through the vehicle of "hatarat nederim" (undoing of
vows). The Midrash says that Pinchas, the high priest, was waiting for
Yiftach to come to him. Yiftach, the chief political and military
leader, was waiting for Pinchas to come to him. Each was trying to
protect his honor. In doing so, the life of Yiftach's beloved daughter
was lost.

Both Yiftach and Pinchas were punished by God for this. Yiftach died from
a disease where his limbs fell off one-by-one. He was buried in "the
cities of Gilead," a limb here and a limb there. Pinchas no longer could
receive the Ruach ha Kodesh (the Holy Spirit).

 

The Talmud warns that many times people do things because their kavod (honor) was slighted.
They will do these things, the rabbis teach, even though doing so is
clearly a detriment not only to them, but to their families. People will
put their egos and honor irrationally before their own welfare and the
welfare of their children. The rabbis warn that one would literally let
his children die over loss of kavod.

We as rational modern Jews cannot continue to read the Torah as if it
were an exact deed to the land of Israel. The ancient sages could not
decide on where the borders were from the Torah's text, and we certainly
know Israel is not in modern Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, or Jordan, as
some commentators have suggested. For the sake of Torah itself we need
to wrestle with its problems and not stand firm on issues because of
irrational kavod.

 

The Torah wants us to follow it on paths that lead us
to peace. There will be parts, like the slaughter of the Midianites, that
we cannot accept and that actually go against the Torah's own laws of
warfare that we will read of in  chapter 20 of Deuteronomy.
The beauty of Torah is that we are challenged by one part to reinterpret
another part.

 

 If we believe that we were given a deed of Israel with
boundaries defined, and we are also mandated to seek peace, then we have
the choice to decide to trade land for peace. We can decide to emphasize
the humanistic parts of Torah and not the militaristic or fundamentalist
portions. The Torah is ours. As we learned a few weeks ago, it is no
longer in the hands of Heaven.

The Torah found it necessary to protect accidental killers from a blood
feud with protection in six cities of refuge. The Torah clearly did not
want to see more blood spilled on the soil of Israel. These accidental
murderers did not need to stay in these towns for the rest of their
lives. They only stayed until the Kohan Gadol died and a new one became
invested. The Torah allowed the grieving relatives a period of time to
think of revenge and to actually carry it out if the accidental murderer
left his city of refuge. But the Torah also placed a time limit on
revenge and brooding about blood feuds. If we could set aside and
maintain six cities of refuge 3,400 years ago, could we not set aside
some of East Jerusalem for a city as a capital for today's refugees?

The status of Jerusalem is a sticking point in the peace process even today. The two
sides have agreed on economic issues, religious site issues, and refugee
issues. Jerusalem has been expanded to include its West Bank suburbs, where
Arabs are living now.  If Israel  gave this area to them for
their capital, the Palestinians would have a capital in East Jerusalem
and the Israelis would have lost nothing.

 

The Israel Knesset Parliament
building is not in the Old City at the Wailing Wall (Kotel) and the
Palestinian government building does not need to be in the Old City at
the Dome of the Rock. The Palestinian  can have a piece of East
Jerusalem, which the Arabs call Al-quds, as its capital. Beit Hanina and
Abu Dis are adjoining suburbs of East Jerusalem, which are Arab
neighborhoods. The Palestinian authority has already begun to operate in
Beit Hanina unofficially. These are already called East Jerusalem. They can be
ceded to the Palestinians, and could restore kavod to them.

 

It is my opinion, that the real struggle in the Middle East will be over water,

not over the neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.

When we read this Shabbat's parashot we can come away remembering to do
genocide to our enemies, keep hateful vows for prideful reasons, think of
the immutable God-given boundaries of Greater Israel, and sit outside the
gates of those that harmed us waiting to seek vengeance when they leave
through them. Or we can learn to fight strongly but fairly, release
ourselves from prideful vows, understand that Israel's borders have never
been unchanging in 3,400 years, and give up feelings of vengeance and
hatred for those with whom we have been fighting.

When the poet wrote in Psalm 137: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my
right hand forget her cunning," it was written during captivity, "by the
rivers of Babylon." This is not a vow for Jews never to give up some of
the city, that Jews never lived in anyway, for peace. The Song of Ascents
of King David in Psalm 122 records the Jewish belief about our Holy City
more accurately.

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
May they prosper that love thee.
Peace be within thy walls,
and prosperity within thy palaces,
for my brethren and companions' sakes,
I will say:'Peace be within thee.'
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek thy good."

David's brethren were clearly his fellow Jews. His companions were those
with whom he shared meals (com=with, panis=bread). There is no halakah
forbidding us to share bread with our Palestinian fellows in peace. Once
we eat with them we can share with them the peace and prosperity of
Jerusalem and of the Middle East.

To quote the Rolling Stones again from "Gimme Shelter":
"I tell you,
Love, sister, it's just a kiss away, it's just a kiss away,
It's just a kiss away. It's just a kiss away."

I pray that so is Shalom. Amen.

Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC

BLUFFTON, SC
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