Jewish Spiritual Renewal: Shabbat 01/02/09: Hebrew College:Torah:TaNaK:Talmud
Shalom Talmidim v' Chaverim:
Shavuah Tov! Happy last- two- nights of Chanukah. And Happy Rosh Chodesh Tevet.
And by the time this coming Shabbat arrives, we will have celebrated another secular New Year, bringing us into 2009 CE.
May 2009 bring us a Shalom beyond our deepest human comprehension.
We have discussed how the wondrous Macabees of the Miracle of Hanukah soon turned into the embarrassing Hasmoneans, who were so anti-Talmudic Judaism, rabbis were being slaughtered and many had to flee to Egypt. They took over the priesthood and the kingship, even though the were not from the correct lineage. One priest, Onais 4, escaped their wrath, and establish what the rabbis considered to be the ''true Temple'' in Leonitopolis, which lasted into the Common Era, more than 240 years. Leontopolis is near modern Cairo, Egypt.
His father, the brother of Onais 3, took the Greek name Menaleus and it was he who defiled the Temple. He was a Benjaminite and not a Cohan. Remember this was civil war between Hellenized Jews and zealot Jews (Macabees). Antiochus intervened on the side of the Hellenized Jews, but the Macabees killed both Greek and Jew.
We also discussed in a prior class how so many rabbis were killed, that the Hasmonean king could not get 3 rabbis to join him in the Beracoth ha Mazon, the blessings after the meals, in which a minyon need only be three.
One of our students, quoting me, sent the following: ''At one point the Talmud relates a Hasmonean king killed so many rabbis, he could not get enough for a minyon for the Beracoth Ha Mazon (only 3 men were needed).
I was just reading the version of this story in Talmud Bavli Tractate Berachot 48a and it amazed me. According to Josepus, Alexanderda Yanni had 800 Pharisees crucified and as they were dying he gave the order to have their wives and children slaughtered before their eyes . While he and his friends and feasted.
How do the Rabbis deal with these horrors?
Talmud Bavli Tractate Beracoth 48a ...King Yannai and his Queen were eating bread together. And since he had massacred the Rabbis he did not have anyone to recite Beracoth Ha Mazon.
What a gentle way to mention the horrors that King Yannai committed. Of course the lesson is those you kill today will not be able to bless G-d for you tomorrow.
Of course there are other ways to destroy your blessings, gossip, greed, a cruel word to spouse or just never taking the time to spend with your children. can some time do damage that can not be repaired. We all must try to cherish are blessings and not destroy them.
Hag Samaech and Shabbat Shalom
Meir ''
Now this of course lends more light while the sages did not want to celebrate Hanukah as a military victory and wished to down play the role of the Macabees.
While we make mention of the Beracoth ha Mazon, remember this is a Torah commandment to bless after we eat. It is a rabbinic commandment to bless before we eat as well.
The rabbis hence had to make a prayer for this Grace After Meals. In doing so in Talmud Bavli Tractate Beracoth 50a they have the words: "From one's recitation of blessings, it is discernable whether the person is a Torah scholar or not." The passage continues: "If the one reciting the zimun says, 'Blessed is the One, of whose we have eaten and through His goodness [u'vetuvo] we live' - this is an indication of wisdom. If an ever so slightly different wording concludes the statement - 'and from His goodness [u'mituvo] we live' - this is a sign of an ignoramus." What is the difference between the two phrases: "through His goodness we live" as opposed to "from His goodness we live"? In Hebrew it is a difference of only one letter: What does this one-letter variation tell us about the reciter?
The first phrase suggests God's unlimited goodness to us. The second phrase shows that God is limiting His goodness just to feed us. The sages teach: When thanking the Almighty for His goodness, as in the case of the zimun, we should not limit our praise.
Now if the rabbis call someone an 'ignoramus' who gets one letter wrong in the Hebrew version, the rabbis go on to say that one who eats and doesn't thank God, is a thief. The spiritual implications of this statement are many. How many of us have been to so-called Jewish functions, with a rabbi present, and watch folks eat, yet not blessed after the meal? When a certain rabbi circa 1960 years ago, called the Temple a ''den of thieves,'' while he wasn't referring to Jews eating and not blessing, our Talmudic rabbis would be placing the same label, albeit kindly, on many a congregation, and their rabbis leading them astray, from the very Jewish spirituality which they so badly need.
Anyway, the fighting Hasmoneans, Jew v Jew, leads into the theme of our parasha. Peace with our brothers, peace with our fellows.
From the Torah: " ....then he (Joseph) fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. He then kissed all his brothers and wept upon them" (Gen 45:14-15).
From the TaNaK: ''behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity." (Psalm 133:1).
From the Talmud: ''Hillel said: Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah.'' (Talmud Bavli Tractate Pirkei Avot)
Note the wording in the Talmud. While 99% of our positive mitzvoth are done when the opportunity presents itself, .e.g: we eat matzah when Passover arrives, we don't do things to make Passover come sooner, and if we eat matzah a week early, its nothing more than a dry cracker to us. We visit someone when they are sick. We don't make them sick so we can visit them.
But with shalom, we are to pursue it. Just as we are commanded to pursue justice. There is so much injustice and the opposite of peace all around us, that we are not to wait until it lands on our door steps to speak out, but to go and pursue opportunities to make peace and secure justice.
So, if there are brothers, sisters, family members, friends, where relationships are not the best, even if they are 99% wrong and you are just 1% wrong, apologize to them for your role. Don't mention theirs. Shalom ha Gadol the Talmud says. Peace is the greatest of our virtues. Without peace, all of our wealth, our health, means nothing.
Shabbat Shalom:
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