RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:ONAIS' TEMPLE:EGYPT

 RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:ONAIS' TEMPLE:EGYPT

 

 

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.

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:FLAX:FIRE:LIABILITY

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:JERUSALEM IN RUINS:GITTEN 5:6:SIKARIKON

 

 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:

Rabbi Arthur Segal
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC;Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

 

Parasha Vayigash: Genesis 44:18-47:27

Rabbi Arthur Segal
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC;Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

"Brother, bring some lovin' here today"

 This Shabbat we read: "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). When Joseph finally removed the mask behind which he was hiding and revealed himself to his brothers his joy could not be contained. He had already forgiven them and saw that they indeed had learned compassion and tolerance by the way they were concerned about Benjamin and their father Jacob.

 

The Midrash teaches something else as well. It says that Joseph, the dreamer, wept not only tears of joy, but of sadness. He could foresee that the exile in Egypt, which his family was now beginning, would not be their last exile. He could foresee, the Midrash says, the future suffering of our people.

Our ancient rabbinic sages expound that Joseph wept over the destruction of the Temples and that he could also foresee the time when his brothers again would fight and break up into two kingdoms (after Solomon's reign). The Zohar takes this even a step further. Joseph also foresaw the scattering of ten of the brothers' tribes to be lost forever (after the Assyrian battles).

In this Parasha's Haftarah from the Book of Ezekiel (Ez 37:15-28), our prophet speaks of the reunification of the 12 tribes of Israel. Ezekiel prophesied   the first Temple's destruction and the exile of Judah to Babylon. Ezekiel was himself one of the refugees. Out of the despair of galut (exile), he said that God told him that He would "take the Children of Israel from among the nations to which they went, and I shall gather them from around and I shall bring them to their soil." (Ez. 37:21) and "I shall seal a covenant of peace with them." (Ez. 37:26).

As a people we have always been stiff-necked and quarrelsome. But we are commanded to not be like Korach, fighting among ourselves. We were at our zenith when we accepted our differences and believed that despite them, we were all Jews.

The Talmud is replete with different opinions of rabbis spanning the centuries. We can relate the story of how Rabbi Hillel wanted the Hanukah menorah lit as opposed to the way that Rabbi Shamai wished it to be done. But the rabbis accepted the fact that different groups from different areas did things differently. They jested about these groups, sometimes in unkind ways, but the minhags (traditions) were accepted.

Talmud Beracoth says that kavenah (spiritual intention and concentration) is the most important part of prayer and that praying in one's vernacular in an abridged version with true kavenah is better than rushing thru a prayer service in Hebrew and not understanding it. Talmud Kiddushin says a Torah service where just three lines are read completes the mitzvah of reading the Torah. Talmud Sanhedrin relates how Rabbi Hillel was not a believer in the messiah from scriptural references. Rabbi Akiva thought that General Bar Kochba was the messiah. And Rabbi Judah ha Nasi, the redactor of the Mishna, did not wish to codify the celebration of Hanukah into our halacha (Jewish law) as he wanted us to live in peace and not be constantly reminded of our past wars. He also wanted to do away with Tisha B'Av and Purim as well. Yet we were great and survived because we respected our differences to the point that we carefully recorded them.

There are so many ways and paths to reach God. Many gain closeness to God by doing ritual and all its minutia. Others gain a spiritual closeness by doing the mitzvoth of visiting the sick, tutoring a student in an afternoon program, helping the elderly or raising a family. Many others enjoy a festive Shabbat meal or singing joyous songs of praise to God. Still others gain spirituality by quiet study and reflection or through individual prayer.

We are all made in the image of God, and His emanations are as different as the sands on the earth's beaches. Man is equally varied. The time has come to universally realize that no one group of Jews has the right and only path (halacha) to reach God. Each of us approaches God differently, and hopefully He reaches us in different ways at different times in our lives.

An important message from this parasha it is that we are all brothers with different strengths, weaknesses, customs and traditions. Yet, like Joseph's siblings, we have the same Father. "Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us all? Why do we deal treacherously with one another?" (Malachi 2:10). Let us all strive to relish our differences, customs, rituals or lack thereof, and even modes of dress. Let us try to banish loshan ha ra from our lips and ridicule from our hearts. Let the "covenant of peace among the people of Israel" prophesied by Ezekiel come to pass. We can then "behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity." (Psalm 133:1).

Shabbat Shalom:

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC;Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
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