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Prologue
I call this class a compendium to the Torah and Talmud from a Jewish Spiritual Renewal Viewpoint. One definition of a compendium is: "a collection of concise but detailed information about a particular subject, especially in a book or other publication." In this case, the subject is the Torah and the concise but detailed information contained herein means to teach you how to properly read the Torah with spirituality.
If you have taken my other, Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, and are well on your way down the path of Jewish Spiritual Renewal, this class represents what would otherwise be the next chapter, a "how to" in reading the Torah…now that reading the Torah and the Talmud is a regular part of your life, right?
Although I put this new class together as a companion to, Jewish Spiritual Renewal, it does have value standing by itself so don't leave if you are new. This book will help you to understand what you read in the Torah regardless.
Of course, I encourage anybody to take the other class and to experience Spiritual Renewal, but that is a decision you must arrive at on your own. If you've given it some thought, but are not sure, this class may actually be a good place to start even though, technically, it follows the other class. I say this because my own Spiritual Renewal journey began with my exposure to the great texts of the Torah and Talmud with greater understanding than I had before. It was this greater understanding of Judaism that eventually led me to what we now know as Jewish Spiritual Renewal. In essence, I read the studying the second class before I did the first class…and that was years before writing either of them.
I think you'll better understand what I mean by that if I tell you the story. Before I do that, though, I need to issue a "cliché alert" for younger readers and those who may have grown up in the same era as I, but have a different perspective on the psychedelic sixties. Okay, here goes:
The 60s and early 70s was a tumultuous time in
In those days, we listened to the music and thought we could create the life that it depicted in our own world. We tried to find that life with the Summer of Love, a long Woodstock weekend of Peace and Music at Max Yasgur's farm near Bethel, New York and with be-ins, love-ins, dorm room all night rap sessions and other music festivals. While Neil Armstrong was taking a giant leap for mankind in the summer of 1969, we were starting to take a giant leap for
Max Yasgur died in February 1973 and was interred at
Already, I saw that the quest for a world filled with love, peace and kindness was leaving most of my friends' hearts. Graduation was on their minds and the Vietnam War was no longer a threat to them. Graduate schools, marriage, and economic security had become paramount in their lives. An hour to say a few prayers to the man who, just four years earlier, gave his land and had it damaged beyond repair so that we could profess our "Woodstock Nation" and its glowing ideals was not to be had. Something was amiss spiritually, and I was catching it as well.
As I grew older, I tried to find this love, (ahavah), peace (shalom) and acts of kindness (gemilut chesed) in normative Judaism. However, I found society's and my own spiritual deficiencies in the synagogues. The God being taught there, if there were adult classes at all, was a God of the Jewish Torah, one who got angry and smote. He was the God of the Hebrews, but I wasn't a Hebrew. I was a Jew.
I was also inundated with a xenophobia toward anyone who was not Jewish, because of the horrors of the Holocaust of the mid 20th Century, and taught to put my true faith into the military might of the Israeli Defense Forces. In fact, a poster that I had for a while was of a Chasidic Jew, dressed in Superman's tights and costume, coming out of a phone booth with the label "Super Jew."
Luckily, I was blessed to find mentors who introduced me to true Judaism, the Judaism as found in the books that developed Judaism from the ashes of Hebraism. This body of books is called the Talmud. While traditionally we are taught that it is the "oral Torah" and was given to Moses at the same time he received the "written Torah" on Mt. Sinai 3,300 years ago, for me and other Modern Jews it is better understood as a text of rabbis intoxicated with God.
These rabbis ("masters" in Aramaic) were in Babylonian captivity starting in 586 B.C.E. with no way of continuing Hebrew worship. Their priests could not perform animal or grain sacrifices, as Solomon's
All of the Torah can be summed up in one word, "chesed," which means kindness, and the Talmud teaches that the Torah is about loving our fellow man. The rest is commentary. The Talmud also teaches that we are to "go and study." When I learned this, to me it reflected those lyrics from the music of the 60s and it propelled me from
That's my story. Your own may be vastly different, but you nevertheless ended up in the same place. I've written these books to help you achieve the same transformation that I did.
In this book, I have taken each section of Torah, called parashat (or sometimes parasha), and by using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts, show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us. Hence the Torah now comes alive with daily relevance to the Modern Jew. It truly becomes "a tree of life (etz chayyim) to those of us who grasp onto it" (Proverbs 3:18).
Since each parasha is the weekly Torah portion, you may read each of the chapters in the book during the course of a week while also reading the actual Torah portion. By doing so, you will learn a modern Jewish Spiritual view of each Torah portion. At the same time, your world will be open to the teachings of the Talmud.
I have made everything very clear. All Hebrew words have been translated in line with the text rather than in cumbersome footnotes for easier reading. Quoted sources are cited in line as well for the same reason. You may start at the beginning with the first Parasha of Genesis, or you may start with whatever Parasha your synagogue is reading this coming Shabbat (Sabbath). Since we are not viewing the Torah as a history book it does not matter where you start. Starting, however, is important.
While many read the Torah as a history book, or a deed to land, or see it as a boring book full of legalisms and ritual for a priesthood that no longer exists, this book aims to show you the spiritual ethical lessons in each parasha. In a sense this book will hopefully help you enjoy reading and understanding the Five Books of Moses, what we call Chumash from the Hebrew word for "five." You may even discover that you want to continue your study with the Talmud and other Jewish texts.
Each chapter title includes the Torah chapters and verses of the parashat so that you may locate them in any Bible, and the Hebrew name for the Parasha, for example, Noach, which is the story of Noah and other events. Also, just for fun, I have given each chapter its own special name, mostly based on song titles or lyrics from the music that was such a part of my spiritual journey.
My Jewish Spiritual Renewal, which came from ten years of study and finally rabbinic ordination, was motivated by the words I learned in the Talmud as the sages expounded on the Torah. We have all heard the jokes about St. Peter at the Pearly Gates of Heaven. Well, the Talmud does not talk about St. Peter, but it does tell us, after going over the many rules of how to keep Shabbat, that when we reach Olam Ha Ba (the World to Come, i.e., Heaven) we are not going to be asked if we kept kosher or if we kept strict Shabbat, we will be asked how we treated our fellow man, e.g. did we keep honest scales in our business.
To illustrate the difference between my method and those of other Torah compendiums, I give you the example of Tamar, daughter-in-law of Judah, one of the heads of the 12 tribes and hence one of the sons of Jacob, also called
A leverite marriage, which pre-dates the Hebrews, is set up to keep wealth in the family. Simply put, if a man dies before having a son with his wife, his brother must marry and have relations with his dead brother's wife to produce a son. In Tamar's case, the first brother dies trying and the second (Onan) "spills his seed" on the ground out of fear that he will also die. Tamar then pretends to be a prostitute and
I use this story to teach a spiritual principal and not a legalistic one. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai commented on the silence of Tamar when she was accused of prostitution (Genesis 38). Instead of protesting as she was being taken to be burned for her iniquity, Tamar sent a covert message to her father-in-law Judah, telling him that he was the father of her children. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai concludes: "A person should allow oneself to be thrown into a fiery furnace rather than publicly embarrass another (Talmud Bavli (Babylonian) Tractate Beracoth (Blessings) 43b)."
So study of Torah teaches us how to behave towards one another. When we think about how we behave, can we truly say we have not embarrassed someone publicly? This book teaches what Judaism is truly about: treating each other with love and kindness. The Talmud therefore teaches, "Torah is great, because it brings us to good deeds" (Talmud Bavli, Tractate Kiddushin (Betrothals) 40b).
Now there are those who will say: "I know proper etiquette. I know how to behave. I do not need the Torah to tell me to be hospitable," but ask yourself if you can be loving and hospitable to those you do not like? Can you be loving and kind, when you would rather do your own will's ambition for that day? The Torah with its Talmudic commentary, and via Jewish Spiritual Renewal, teaches us how.
I know. I was there. When I ran my life according to what made sense to me, I was never truly sure of anything. As good as my mind is at finding solutions and answers, it is even better at finding questions and doubts. The path of Torah is to learn and to allow the Torah within me and you to resonate with the truths we learn, until our minds and hearts and actions are guided by a Voice that has no second thoughts.
I hope you enjoy this class and find it useful and helpful. I hope it instills in you the motivation to study not only the Five Books of Moses, but the rest of the TaNaK, the Jewish Bible. I hope that you are guided to study Talmud, Midrash and other great texts. It's a lot of work and it will take time, but there is no need to rush. Our great Rabbi Akiva was 40 years old when he began to learn the Hebrew Aleph Bait (alphabet).
"Human beings are mere breath, mortal men but an illusion; put them all on a scale, together they weigh less than a breath" (Ps. 62:10). I take no credit for this work as I am quoting the work of others. Many I am quoting are those to whom I can give a source. Some of these sources are 3,300 years old. Others have been taught to me with no source, some come from emails, letters and even printed Web pages with no source. As Rabbi Ibn Pakudah of
Please join together in prayers to God as we end Sukkoth, for Him to
shelter all of mankind in His tent of peace. May all of the children of
Abraham, Jews and Arabs, and yes, even Jews with Jews, learn to love
peace and pursue peace. Amen.
CHUMASH CANDESCENCE
HOSHANNAH RABBAH(10/20)
SHEMINI ATZERET(10/21)
SIMCHAT TORAH(10/22)
PARASHA VEZOT HA'BERACHAH
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
"Death Don't Have No Mercy In This Land"
SYNOPTIC ABSTRACT:
This is the last portion of the Chumash (the Five Books of Moses). Moses
blesses each of the tribes of Israel individually. But did Moses bless
ALL twelve? When he is through with his farewell blessings, Moses
ascends Mount Nebo, sees the land of Israel from this mountain's top, and
dies. Who buries Moses? If the entire Torah was traditionally believed
to have been given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, did he write the last verses
describing his death as well? Upon Moses's death, Joshua takes over the
reigns of leadership. To learn more, we invite you to read more.
Like Jacob centuries before him, Moses blesses each of the twelve tribes.
Like Jacob, Moses's words are both blessings and prophecies. The Hebrew
word, "v'zot,"(and this) is how Moses begins his blessings. This the same
phrase that Jacob uses to end his blessings (Gen. 49:28). The Midrash
says that this is to show continuity of the people from their earliest
times as individual sons of Jacob to the time soon to come, when they
will enter the promised land and become a nation after wandering in the
desert for 40 years. Moses used this same phrase when he began his
summation of the Torah in Deuteronomy 4:44. Ramban ( Nachmanides of
13th-century Spain) says that this symbolizes that it was the ethics of
Torah that carried Israel through its past journeys, and Torah ethics
will continue to carry Israel through its future trials.
This portion is read on Simchat Torah. As mentioned above, this is the
last portion of the Chumash. As soon as we finish it, we immediately
begin the first book the Torah (Genesis). This symbolizes that our people
can never consider the ethics taught in the Torah to be completed. Our
study, as well as our living ethically, continues year in and year out.
This Shabbat's Haftarah, taken from the first chapter of the book of
Joshua, is the book of the Holy Scriptures that follows Deuteronomy. In
this Haftarah, Joshua solidifies his leadership and the Jews pledge
loyalty to him by saying," all that you have commanded us we will do, and
wherever you send us we will go." This is reminiscent of the words said
by the Israelites in the desert to Moses: "We will do and we will
listen." While the ethics of the Torah are unchanging in a circular
pattern, Jewish history and our adaptation to the times must be linear.
Moses is called "a man of God"(Deut. 33:01). His last act on earth,
knowing that he would die, was to bless his people. Rabbi Yaakov David
says that homiletically, Moses is asking the leaders of the tribes to not
only be strong and wise, but to be honest and kind as well. Moses calls
the Torah a "heritage"(Deut. 33:04). It is to be transmitted from
generation to generation. It is not an inheritance. One can do what one
wishes to do with an inheritance. A heritage is something valuable and
special that is handed down to one's children. The rabbis in Talmud
Tractate Pesachim 49B take the Hebrew word for "heritage," change a
letter and a vowel, and read the new word as "married." The say that
Israel and the Torah are married.
Twelves tribes are blessed by Moses. Ephriam and Menassah are combined as
"Joseph," who was their father but did not have his own tribe. Simeon is
left out. Ibn Ezra, of the 12th-century, says that this is because Jacob
has castigated Simeon in Genesis 49:05 and because the sinners in the
orgy at Baal Peor were Simeonites (Num. 25:03). Ramban disagrees. He says
that the twelve tribes are always listed as twelve. Usually Levi is
deleted, as this tribe is landless. But Moses wished to bless Levi, as
their task of transmitting Torah values was extremely important. He
therefore had to omit a tribe and chose Simeon. He omitted Simeon, as
their population was small. According to the critical theory of Biblical
authorship, Simeon was incorporated into a part of Judah as early as in
Joshua's time (Josh. 19:02). By the time of Deuteronomy's writing after
the return from the exile in Babylon, this tribe was all but forgotten.
Zebulun and Issachar are mentioned together. Zebulun engaged in
successful maritime commerce and supported Issachar, who devoted time to
study and teaching Torah (I Chron. 12:32). Rashi says that this symbiotic
relationship is codified by halakah (Jewish law). A rich man, with no
time for study, can pay someone to study and they both will get "credit"
for fulfilling the commandment to study Torah. In spiritual Jewish
philosophy, this goes against the spirit of studying Torah to make us
better people. We study Torah ethics and do good deeds because it the
correct way to be, and not to garner God's favor.
In Deuteronomy 34:05, Moses dies. There are eight more verses of the
Chumash. The rabbis debate who wrote these. In Tractate Bava Batra 15B
there are two opinions: Joshua wrote these eight lines, or God dictated
these words to Moses, who wrote them with tears from his eyes, rather
than with ink. The Vilna Gaon, of 18th-century Lithuania, says both
rabbis of the Talmud are correct. Moses got the entire Torah from God.
The part that had to do with his death came as one long stream of
letters. He says that the Hebrew word "dimah" can mean "tear" or
"mixed-up." The Gaon says Moses wrote the letters, but Joshua made them
into intelligible words. I must inject a personal note here. Whenever I
read about Moses dying, I get tears in my eyes. While alive, Moses is
called a "man of God." When he dies, he is called "a servant of God"
(eved Adonai; Deut. 34:05). In death, he is completely in Heaven's realm
and "control". As a living being, he is a man, able to make choices and
able to make errors.
We are told that Moses dies "by the mouth of God"(Deut.34:05). Rashi says
that this means Moses dies by a divine kiss. The rabbis of the Talmud
discuss all the various ways one can die. They decide that this is the
best of all the ways to die. While the text says that God buried Moses,
some rabbis argue that Moses buried himself. Another tradition says that
Moses's grave was ready for him since the evening of sixth day of the
creation at precisely twilight of the first Shabbat (Pirkei Avot 5:06).
Tractate Sotah 13A says that the verse, "and no one knows his burial
place to this day," means that Moses himself did not know where it was.
No one is to know where it is even now, so as not to make it into a
shrine.
Another interesting point is discussed by the rabbis. Verse 34:08 says
that "the children of Israel bewailed" Moses's death. They juxtapose this
with how the Torah says Aaron was mourned. Numbers 20:29 says Aaron was
mourned "by the entire house of Israel." The rabbis say that Moses was
mourned by men to whom he taught the law. The sages say that all the
men, women, and children mourned for Aaron because he taught them love,
kindness and how to pursue peace. Aaron was known to go throughout the
camp transforming friends and families who had disagreements into having
loving and amicable relationships with each other again.
In Tractate Sotah 14a, Rabbi Simlai notes that the Torah ends with an act
of kindness (chesed) of God burying Moses. The Torah also begins with an
act of chesed in Genesis 3:21 when God clothed Adam and Eve. The Talmud
records that chesed is the "founding" principle of the Jewish people and
of what we call ethical monotheism. Abraham's mission was preaching
chesed toward one another.
The Talmud teaches that chesed is associated
with spiritual perfection and is the most important aspect of the Torah.
Chesed is the unifying factor of creation, says rabbi Pinchas Winston.
If one masters the trait of kindness, one masters the traits for building
relationships. Abraham and his original religious philosophy believe that
the world was created for chesed and for loving, kind relationships with
each other. King David reiterated this idea in Psalm 89:03: "A world of
chesed You created."
Imitating God is a higher spiritual experience than doing rituals or
even talking to God, as we learned when we read about Abraham stopping
his conversation with God to care for three strangers. When one makes
chesed a high priority in life, one is doing one's best to resemble God.
God says in Genesis 1:03, "Let there be light (or)." Abraham is called a
"light" in the Midrash. The Midrash also says that,"when Moses was born
he filled the house with light." We know that God calls light, "good." We
know of Abraham's many acts of kindness. But what was Moses's major act
of kindness? Moses, the Midrash says, did a "chesed shel emet" (true
kindness).
While the Jews were busy collecting gold from the Egyptians
just prior to the Exodus, Moses found the coffin of Jacob,which was
buried in the Nile River, and brought it to the surface. He carried it
with him for forty years and instructed Joshua to bury Jacob in Shechem.
Why is this called an act of "true kindness?" The sages say it is an act
that can never be repaid. Because of this one act, the Midrash says,
Moses merited burial by God Himself. It was not due to the teaching of
the 613 commandments. It was not due to bringing Israel out of slavery
and through the desert safely to the banks of the promised land. It was
not due to being "shomar Shabbat" (strictly observant of Shabbat), or
following exacting rituals of the dietary laws. Moses is called a "man
of God," and a "servant of God," and is buried by God because he did an
act of true, unrepayable chesed.
I close this last D'var of the Chumash with a quote about Moses by Elie
Wiesel: "His passion for social justice, his struggle for national
liberation, his triumphs and disappointments, his poetic inspiration, his
gifts as a strategist and an organizational genius, his complex
relationship with God and His people, his requirements and promises, his
condemnations and blessings, his bursts of anger, his silences, his
efforts to reconcile the law with compassion, authority with
integrity--no individual, ever, anywhere, accomplished so much for so
many people in so many different domains. His influence is boundless. It
reverberates beyond time."
Chazak! Chazak! Venitchazeik! Be Strong! Be Strong! And May We Be
Strengthened! Amen!!
Chag Somayach!
Shabbat Shalom.,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: CHUMASH CANDESCENCE: SUKKOTH PARASHAT
CHUMASH CANDESCENCE
SUKKOTH
SELECTED READINGS:
LEVITICUS 22:26-23:44
NUMBERS 29:12-16
ZECHARIAH 14:1-21
I KINGS 8:2-21
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
"Little Houses Made of Ticky-Tacky"
SYNOPTIC ABSTRACT:
This Shabbat we begin the celebration of Sukkoth, the feast of booths.
The special readings from Numbers and Leviticus give the laws of the
holiday. The chapter in Kings tells us how King Solomon celebrated
Sukkoth, while the chapter in Zechariah uses the "booth" as an analogy
to God's rescuing and sheltering us from warring neighbors. To read more
about this holiday and why we are commanded to spend seven days in huts
made of "ticky- tacky," please read on.
The Torah in Leviticus 23:39 says, "on the fifteenth of the seventh
month, when you gather in the crop of the land, you shall celebrate God's
festival for a seven day period: the first day is a rest day and the
eighth day is a rest day. You shall take for yourselves on the first
day, a fruit of a beautiful tree, the branches of date palms, twigs of a
plaited tree, and brook willows, and you shall rejoice before your God
for a seven day period...it is an eternal decree. You shall dwell in
booths for a seven day period; every native in Israel, shall dwell in
booths. So that your generations will know that I caused the children of
Israel to dwell in booths when I took them from the land of Egypt..."
As we can read in the above, traditionally we celebrate Sukkoth to be
reminded of how God provided shelter for us during our 40 years of
wandering in the wilderness. Sukkoth is the time to rejoice in our well
being and to give thanks to God. It is sometimes called the "Jewish
Thanksgiving." Some historians have written that the Pilgrim fathers of
our United States of America fashioned their first Thanksgiving feast
after this Biblical holiday. Sukkoth is also called "chag ha asif" (the
harvest festival). But it is the only holiday called "ziman
simchatanu"(the time of our joy). The summer's produce is gathered, so
therefore we know we can physically go on eating and living. The High
Holy days are over, and we know that our lives, traditionally speaking,
have been granted to us for another year by God.
The Midrash and Talmud, as we have seen with all holidays described in
short verses in the Torah, expand the rules. Most important to them, the
rabbis write pages on how to construct a sukkah. They discuss the minimal
number of walls, the height and thickness of the walls, the construction
of the roof, and the materials to be used. They determine that this
unspecified "fruit from a beautiful tree" must be a citron ("etrog" in
Hebrew). This is a lemon-like fruit. They say that the four species
mentioned symbolize the unity of us as individuals. The etrog symbolizes
the heart. The lulav (palm branch) is the spine. The hadasim (myrtle
leaves) are the eyes. The aravot (willow branches) are the lips. When we
hold all four together, we are reminded that all parts of us must be
integrated to lead ethical lives.
The Midrash gives another lesson. It says that the etrog, which tastes
and smells pleasant, symbolizes one who studies and does good deeds. The
lulav, whose fruit, the date, tastes good but has no aroma, is like one
who studies but does not do good deeds. The myrtle, which has no taste
but smells good, is like one who does not study but does good deeds. The
willow has neither taste nor smell. It symbolizes one who does neither
study or good deeds. The Midrash teaches that we hold these all together
to remember that everyone is beloved by God and that a loving community
is made up all of sorts of people.
When you are physically in a sukkah at night and your body lacks the
comforts you are used to inside your home, it is very easy to ask what
the crucial lesson is of being told to leave the security and protection
of our homes and go into this hut . The Talmud in Tractate Sukkah 11B
says that these booths serve to remind us of two things: either the
temporary dwellings in which we lived in the desert, or the Clouds of
Glory that protected us in the desert. By building flimsy booths covered
with roofs that one can see through made with "schach," we are reminded
of the fragility of our existence and how lucky we are to have shelter
that we sometimes take for granted. In a modern spiritual and renewal Jewish, tikun olam
(repair of the world) sense, this may be a good time of year to remember
the homeless in our cities who have no shelter and would look at our
ticky-tacky huts as luxury dwellings.
The Talmud states that the roof must be made of loose earth-grown
materials. However, the walls can be made of anything and can be
completely enclosing. Rabbi Samson Hirsch, of 19th-century Germany, says
that even though a rich man's walls may be built with metal and the poor
man's wall built with old wooden boards, they are both subject to the
same weather from above. These booths remind us that the comfortable
walls we build for ourselves, as well as the titles and material wealth
that we collect, are all just illusionary, false securities. It takes a
lot of faith for a modern, soft suburbanite Jew to sleep in a sukkah,
fending off humidity, rain, and bugs if one lives down south, or
suffering through the autumn chills of night if one lives up north.
The Talmud also teaches that one must build a new sukkah each year. This
is to remind us that the world is constantly undergoing renewal.
Everything is always new and we should never take any condition for
granted, but learn to adapt. The schach must be porous so that one can
see the stars through it. But it has to be more unporous than porous.
This is so that one does not clearly look at the constellations (mozel)
and think that luck (as in mozel tov,commonly used Hebrew-Yiddish
expression for good luck) will see him through these seven nights.
Another custom is to welcome a special guest from our past on each night
of Sukkoth. We are not only taught that in the Midrash that the Divine
Presence, the Shechina, is dwelling with us, but that She comes with
seven "faithful shepherds." These ushpizin (Aramaic for guests) come
visit us, one each night, we are traditionally taught. Who are they? They
are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and David. Each one of
these men left the comforts of their surroundings and lived in temporary
shelters. Kaballistically, each guest represents a character trait of God
on the "sepharot" tree. For example, Abraham is chesed (loving kindness),
Isaac is gevurah (spiritual strength), and Jacob is tiferet (spiritual
glory). For spiritual Jews, this is a significant custom as it reminds us of
the attributes we should try to emulate to become better partners with
God in Tikun Olam (repair of the world). Besides these spiritual guests,
it is customary to invite a different human guest to your sukkah each
night.
The rabbis in Tractate Avodah Zarah talk of living in a sukkah for a week
as being the ultimate test for modern man to show his faith in God. They
tell of the time of the "final redemption" when idol worshippers will
say, "Please, God, do not send us to Hell. If we were given the Torah, we
would have accepted it also!" The rabbis say that God makes a deal with
them. He says He will give them just one of the 613 commandments He gave
the Jews. If they fulfill this one mitzvah, they will enter "olam
haba"(the world to come). They are told to live in a sukkah for a week.
The Talmud says that when the noon sun beats through the schach, the idol
worshippers will "kick down the walls and flee in disgust." This story
is mentioned to help those of us modern Jews who see no benefit to the
sukkah mitzvoth to use it as a way of appreciating God's bounty and
gaining some insight into Jewish spirituality, even if it is for one
outside meal during the week's holiday.
Verse 23:37 of Leviticus mentions doing "a feast offering and its
libation." During the Temple time, a unique offering was brought to the
altar during Sukkoth. Each morning a water libation was poured over the
altar. This pouring of water was called "nisuch hamayim." It was
celebrated with much fanfare. Masses of people would gather and dance,
sing, perform and throw precious water on each other. Special mammoth
lamps were lit so that the party could go on all night. These lamps were
great golden menorahs set on bases fifty yards high. Each menorah had
four branches which terminated in huge cups filled with oil. Four ladders
were placed against each menorah and four young priests continually
ascended these ladders to keep oil in the cups and to keep the fires
burning. The wicks were made from worn garments of the priests. The
Talmud records that all of Jerusalem was lit up by these lamps.
This celebration was done every night of Sukkoth except for Shabbat and the
first night. The rabbis wrote in Tractate Sukkah 51A,"whoever did not see
this celebration never saw a celebration." This week-long party was known
as "Simchat Bait ha Sho'eva" (the Rejoicing of the House of the Drawing).
The prophet Amos (5:21-27) writes that he visited the Temple during
Sukkoth and the revelry that he saw made such an unfavorable impression
upon him he condemned the Temple and the entire ritual. Hosea (9:01),
another prophet, also protested the bacchanalia atmosphere. Isaiah
(28:7-8) tells us that even the priests were drunk in the sanctuary. He
writes that "they are confused because of wine, they stagger because of
strong drink." And these were the Levites and Kohanem! I leave it to the
reader's imagination to think of how the other tribes' members were
misbehaving.
Water was, and still is, a precious commodity in the Middle East. Just as
the Talmud says we are judged on Rosh Hashanah, it says the world is
judged as well (Tractate Rosh Hashanah 16A). We bring a water-offering to
ask God to give us rain for our crops. However, since we are living in
booths, it is considered a curse by God if it rains during Sukkoth
(Tractate Sukkoth 28B). During the harvest season, some farmers do
better than others. Even though Yom Kippur is only a week before Sukkoth,
some people will think they are better than others based on their wealth.
The water ceremony reminds us that we are all dependent on the same basic
things to sustain life: water, food, and shelter.
As we learn when we hold the four species, we are all interconnected and all dependent on the
same things. Even our garments that some use to separate classes were
useless during these ceremonies. People became soaking wet and frankly
their garments became see-through. As many of us know from our days in a
public high school locker room, it is very hard to act haughty when one
is naked. This is the only time the Talmud mentions that men and women
celebrated separately because of diaphanous clothing.
Rabbi Michael Cohen compares Yom Kippur with Sukkoth. He says Sukkoth
counterbalances Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is heavy and serious. Sukkoth is
light and joyous. Yom Kippur takes place on the inside. Sukkoth takes
place on the outside. We fast on Yom Kippur and on Sukkoth we feast. On
Yom Kippur we pray with our minds. On Sukkoth we build with our bodies.
On Yom Kippur we hold a book in our hands. On Sukkoth we hold a lulav and
etrog in our hands. On Yom Kippur we are serious and reflective. On
Sukkoth we are joyful.
Isaac Luria, the 16-century Kabbalist, instructed his students that their
cultivation of joy is a prerequisite for attaining mystical illumination.
When Jews come to services only on Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah, they are
missing out on the joys of Judaism. Both holidays are necessary, just as
both work and play are needed in a balanced life. Sukkoth is a time of
rejoicing and being thankful for the blessings we have. As we spend time
in our booths, let us think of ways we can liberate those who are
permanently dwelling in huts, or less. The best way of saying thank you
for God's bounty is to share it with others. This is how, in the words of
the prophet Zechariah in this week's Haftarah, we can fulfill his wish of
"And the Lord shall be King over all the earth, on that day shall the
Lord be One, and his Name One"(Zech. 14:09).
Happy Sukkoth!
Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
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