RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:Obadiah:Edom:Esau:
Comments re class for Shabbat 12/13/08 Hebrew College, MA, Spiritual Renewal, Torah, Talmud, TaNaK
Shalom Talmidim v' Chaverim:
I hope the middle of the week is going well for everyone. We have had some interesting comments that I am posting for the class, that was posted this past Sunday, for this coming Shabbat. That post is at the bottom for those new to the class. To access past classes, go to the web site, shown at the bottom of this post, and then go to SpiritualRenewal's (one word) archives .
One of our new members, a wonderful rabbi, had his post come with much computer lingo, interspersed with the verbiage, making it difficult to read. For example, at the end of every line he had an equal sign and the numeral twenty. I referred him to
help@shamash.org and they were able to fix his situation. If any of you experience this, please email
help@shamash.org and cc me. Thanks.
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Ben wrote:
Rabbi,
I have enjoyed learning about Jacob and what an unsaintly life he led. The most interesting thing to me is how he was led by his fears. We all need to understand that our fears are a product of our yetzer ha ra and they will destroy us without confrontation, understanding and work. All the best .
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Sharon wrote:
Dear Rabbi:
You are so spot on!
It hurts when I see people behaving badly, especially those in our Temple who know better. But as you have taught, we cannot judge them. I think it is in Pirkei Avot where it says to be a teacher you must have a lot of patience.
I don't know if I could have been so nice to these arrogant folks asking over and over '''where was God if there was a Mumbai'', and insinuated you are a fool for having faith in God. We have to work on ourselves and be the best we can be. There is only one way to bring people closer to Torah. It is not with rebuke, but by drawing them with love, as you do, and as I try to do.
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Marty wrote:
Your d'var talks about the Talmud warning us to spend as little time with non-Jews as possible and to be very careful when negotiating with them. And they use their proof text as Esau.
You of course do not subscribe to this xenophobic way of living. Thank God.
You mentioned Obadiah, and his entire Haftarah is a prophesy against Edom, who as you pointed out, among Amalek and Rome, the Talmud says are derived from Esau. Edom was a thorn to Judea in the second Temple period and the Hasmoneans, post Hanukah times, absorbed them into the Jewish people.
But as you know, Edom gets to be used as the symbol for non-Jews, both Romans and Catholics and hence Obadiah gets to be used by the Talmudic sages as a book on how to deal with non-Jews.
Obadiah prophesied that God would knock-off Edom. "In that day, declares the Lord, I will make the wise vanish from Edom, understanding from Esau's mount. Your warriors will lose heart, O Teman, and not a man from Esau's mount shall survive the slaughter." (Ob.: 8-9)
Now this is an interesting verse because even though God is going to rid Edom of its wisdom, the TaNaK admits non-Jews have wisdom.
"Should a person tell you there is wisdom among the nations, believe it; as it is written, 'In that day, declares the Lord, I will make the wise vanish from Edom, understanding from Esau's mount'". (Lamentations Rabbah 2:13) .
Hence the rabbis further teach in Talmud Bavli: "Our rabbis taught: One who sees someone wise from among the nations of the world should say the blessing –Blessed be the One who granted wisdom to flesh and blood.' (Tractate Beracoth 58a)
However when Rabbi Ibn Pakudah of Spain quoted Plato and Aristotle in his Duties of the Heart 1000 years ago he got major grief. When Rabbi Rabbi Moshe Isserles (the Rema) of 16th century Poland, quoted the same, his fellow rabbis harshly criticized him. The Rema believed, as you do Rabbi Segal, that one must interact. Truth's advancement demands it . Anyone serious their traditions cannot avoid the real world and other people in it.
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Deb wrote:
It is amazing how some of us Jews can be so intolerant of Jews who have found Spiritual Renewal. What are they afraid of?
It is intolerance of the existence of another human. This human somehow takes away space in this vast universe from the intolerant person. It is such a deep spiritual sickness born from ego and selfishness. I actually see Rabbis who have this intolerance. It floors me!!
The only way to 'cure' it ,as you have taught us, is to respond to every act of intolerance with compassion. If some one dislikes us because we exist, be ultra compassionate to them because they do exist.
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Werner wrote:
Shalom:
You mention the yetzer ha ra and I have to struggle with mine each day.
The parasha has the verse: "And Jacob sent angels before him to Esau his brother, to the red fields of the country Seir." (Gen. 32:4) Rabbi Yehuda used this verse : "For He will give command of His angels to you, to look after you wherever you will go". (Ps. 91:11) to couple with the first verse. Yehuda states that this means that when we are born, the Yetzer Ha ra is waiting for us.
The Talmud says the Yetzer Ha ra is always trying to lure someone into sinning. And then in Olam Ha Ba, the Yetzer Ha Ra, in the role of Satan, prosecutes him. I think in one of your essays, you called this ''cosmic entrapment.'' This is the meaning of the verse "Sin crouches at the door, ready to pounce." (Gen. 4:7)
"And my sins are always before me" (Ps. 51:5). Our better angels need to struggle every day with our evil inclination, and thank God for prayer, meditation, and Torah study and other Jewish Spiritual Renewal techniques. It makes the struggle, easy.
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Marco wrote:
Hello. When I hear a negative report about another Jew, even if I do not know the individual, it pains me also. Either one or two things are off: If it is true, then he is spiritually defective; and if it is false, then the gossiper is spiritual defective. Either way, I need to pray for someone.
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Yosef wrote:
Shalom!!
Did anyone notice that the word vayishakeihu in Gen. 33:4 has dots all above it in the Hebrew? It means "and he kissed him," and dots are telling us that Esau is kissing Jacob, but its not a normal loving brotherly kiss. The Midrash gives two reasons. Esau is trying to kill Jacob by biting his throat. Or Esau kissed Jacob with all his heart. The Midrash goes on tell us that this is abnormal because we know Esau hates his brother Jacob.
Why does Esau hate Jacob. Well the Kaballah almost bases its whole purpose of life on this question.
The Kabbalist say that before God created this world, He created another one first, called Tohu, Chaos. It must have looked liked my computer desk top. This was a world of "much light'' and ''few vessels.'' So the light escaped. The God created our world, called Tikkun, Correction, with not a lot of light but big vessels.
Kabbalistically, light is Divine energy and the vessels control the energy. The soul is light and its body is a vessel.
Our job in this Tikkun world is to find those sparks from the Tohu world, and capture the Holy sparks putting the light of Tohu into the vessels of Tikkun.
The Kabbalists see Esau as pure , untamed, destructive energy and hence Tohu. Jacob is a powerless but orderly world. Their job, our job, is to bring Jacob and Esau together in peace, (they were fighting in the womb). Combining Esau and Jacob the Kabbalists teach us to try to bring Edom and Israel together, symbolized then by Rome and Judea. Kabbalistically it is an ongoing battle between material and spiritual, lust and law, and our yetzer ha ra and our yetzer ha tov.
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Thank you everyone for wonderful comments!
Shalom!
Many Blessings,
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
Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Torah:Talmud:TaNaK:Hebrew College,MA
Shalom Talmidim v' Chaverim:
Shavuah Tov. And welcome always to those new comers joining us. If you want past classes you can get them on archives by using the shamash.org web site at the bottom of this class, or if you are having difficulty navagting, please email me, at
rabbiasegal@aol.com and i can copy and paste past classes to you. Just tell me which classes you're missing, if possible, by using the parashot's names. If you are not familiar with them, (and my first class was a class on how to read the Torah, haftarot and Talmud), just tell me what your earliest class is, and I can figure it out for you. Thanks.
Our parasha for this coming Shabbat in the Torah has a view of world of Jew (i.e literally Israel and the children of Israel) versus everyone else. Their protective God is the Hebraic one. The Haftarah of the prophet Hosea deplores this type of outlook and says that the universal Judaic God is not pleased with this thought process nor the behaviors that stem from it.
The Gemora of the Talmud written over a span of 1000 years can advise Jews to be xenophobic and untrusting of anyone but Jews, or being loving, kind and open to all, depending on whether, the Rabbis doing the writing were under harsh oppression or under relative freedom.
Quotes from the Torah, TaNaK and Talmud of the above are in the D'var Torah below.
But what I would like us to focus on today is how God wants us to live happy, joyous and free and not be hung up with petty rivalries and jealousies. When we are constantly looking into the 'plate' of another, worrying about what he or she is doing, or how he or she is doing, we are in effect saying we have no trust or faith in God, as our Divine Parent, to know what is best for us. Jealousy, and trying to undermine someone else, especially when rabbis do it to other rabbis, is only a sign that the undermining individual, for whatever rationalization he or she gives, is spiritually disconnected from God, and shouldn't be a rabbi anyway. Believe me, when I see this, it hurts me terribly, and I add these folks name to my mishaberach list.
As I mentioned in another class, there seem to be two types of people in the world. One group who think there in a limited amount of 'pie,' and those who think there is an unlimited amount of 'pie.' For the first group, if another has a piece, they covet. They want it. And they will do what they can to undermine you to get it from you. And if they ever get a piece of pie, they won't share it. They will protect it. They haven't a clue that all 'pie' is a loan from God.
The second group of folks is happy if they see a person get some pie. They don't covet. They have faith that by doing what is right and good in God's eyes, pie will eventually come. And when it does, they can share it. Because they know it is only a loan, and more will come to them.
God doesn't want us being so silly. He wants us to enjoy this corporal life while we have it. He doesn't want us giving into our yetzer ha ra, but he doesn't want us sitting around like monks either. Or like fighting warlords.
"Therefore the Sages commanded that a person not deny himself other than that which the Torah denies him. Nor should he forbid permissible things by way of oaths. So did the Sages say: 'It isn't enough that which the Torah forbade that you want to forbid upon yourself other things?!" (Jerusalem Talmud Tractate Nedarim 9:1).
Likewise, people who fast constantly are not following the proper path. The Sages forbade a person from afflicting himself through fasting. Regarding all such matters King Solomon commanded: 'Do not be overly righteous, and do not be too smart. Why should you become desolate?' (Ecclesiastes 7:16)."
In addition, the Talmud writes that there is nothing forbidden in this world for which God did not provide a permissible equivalent (Talmud Bavli Tractate Chullin 109b). Denial is not for the sake of making us suffer. It is because the God who created this world knows that some things are spiritually harmful for man. But He graciously offered us a permissible alternative. {Be careful of Turkey sausage as it actually has pork casings.)
The Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 34:3) writes that the great sage Hillel once excused himself from his students, saying that he needed to go perform a mitzvah. When his students inquired which mitzvah, he responded: going to the bathhouse. His students asked further, what kind of mitzvah is that? He explained that ''when the king places his statue in public places, the fellow who is appointed to wash and clean it is paid wages and accorded honor. And all the more so I, formed in the very image of God, as the verse states "For in the image of God did He make man" (Genesis 9:6).''
Hillel taught us wisely circa 100 BCE that what is hateful to ourselves, do not do to our fellows. We are not only created in the image of God, we are all part of God, having that Divine spark inside of all of us. When we do hurtful things to one another, we are only harming ourselves.
The parasha for this coming Shabbat teaches us that we can be like Jacob, a conniving heel, or be like his other name Israel, and wrestle for God. Our sages seek to explain the nature of the yetzer ha ra, the evil inclination that diverts us from the path of righteousness. According to one view the yetzer ha ra is comparable to a fly that sits between the two gateways of the heart (Talmud Bavli Tractate Beracoth 61a). To support this, the TaNaK is used: ''Flies of death fester and putrefy perfumed oil (Ecclesiastes 10:1).'' "If that despicable character, the yetzer ha ra, attempts to harm you, drag it to study. If the yetzer ha ra is like a stone, the Torah will wear it away; if the yetzer ha ra is like iron, the Torah will smash it to smithereens" (Talmud Bavli Tractate Kiddushin 30b).
My prayer for everyone this week, as the newspapers give more bad news, is not to cannibalize one another. Now is the time for kindness, love, and sharing, not coveting, jealously, and undermining.
Enjoy the d'var Torah on the parasha below.
Many Blessings,
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
"Strummin' on Her Ol' Banjo"
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
Most of the commentary on this portion is deeply shaded by the times in which they were written. Talmudically, these were times under Roman conquest. The period of Rashi's time, circa 1060 C.E., was under church domination and relentless persecution. Even up to the twentieth century commentaries are overshadowed by the Shoah and anti-Semitism. In all of these, Esau is painted as being evil. Esau is called Edom (blood red). The Torah states that one of the many descendants of Esau is Amelek (Gen. 36:11). The Talmud records that Esau's descendants are the product of incest and adultery.
The Talmudic rabbis say that Esau is the father of the Romans. They say he stuck a stick into the Mediterranean Sea and that sand began to collect around it. Within time, the Italian peninsula was formed. The Church replaced the Roman Empire, and therefore, indirectly, as one reads between the lines of the rabbinic writings of the Middle Ages, Esau is embodied in the anti-Semitic practices of the Church. But let us peel back 2,000 years of layers, as we have done so many times in this series, and see what the Torah is really teaching.
We first need to remember that it was Jacob who stole from Esau. When Jacob heard that Esau was coming toward him with 400 men, he became frightened. He did not know Esau's intentions at the time, but assumed they were bad, so he prepared militarily. Jacob strategically divided his camp and prepared a tribute for Esau. When Jacob saw Esau, he walked toward him, bowing seven times. Esau on the other hand, ran toward Jacob and, "embraced him, fell upon his neck, and kissed him, and they wept." (Gen. 33:04). Jacob's emotion was fear, but Esau felt love and joy. Jacob begged Esau to accept his gifts, but Esau said that he that he already had plenty.
Esau wanted to help Jacob by assigning him some of his people. Esau wanted to ride along with Jacob, hoping that they would become brothers once again, but Jacob lied to Esau, telling him that his caravan was slow and that Esau should go on ahead. Jacob's group would catch up with Esau at Seir. Esau agreed. Jacob however, took a different direction and went to Succoth, and eventually to Shechem.
The Torah is clear that Esau harbored no bitterness toward Jacob, yet Jacob projected his belief system unto Esau. In Jacob's world, if you cheat someone, there would be payback. Laban cheated Jacob with the wife-swapping episode and Jacob retaliated by tricking Laban with a bit of genetic animal husbandry. Jacob assumed that Laban would be upset, so he sneaked way from Laban, never allowing Laban's four daughters and grandchildren to say goodbye. Laban then came after Jacob. Jacob once again became afraid (Gen. 31:31).
The rabbis of the Roman Diaspora parse the words of this portion to make sure that Esau is 100 percent bad. They place dots over the words for kiss to tell us that the kiss was insincere. They say that Esau, when he fell on Jacob's neck, was really planning on biting Jacob's jugular vein and killing him. The rabbis write that when Esau said he had plenty, he was boasting. Jacob said that he had everything (Gen. 33:11). The rabbis posit that a righteous man always has everything, as he trusts in God, but an evil man has plenty because he continually counts his possessions.
They say that because the Torah does not say that Jacob and Esau kissed when Esau left before Jacob. The implication is that Esau's intentions were evil. The Midrash says that Jacob gave Esau annual tribute to appease Esau. The Talmud says that when he refused Jacob's gifts, Esau was being insincere.
The Midrash records that before the Rabbis would negotiate with the Romans, they would read this parasha first. They said it taught them to pray to God for strength and guidance, to act obsequiously, to give tribute, to keep apart from the Romans, and be secretive. The rabbis used this same technique for two millennia after. The Talmud records how Rabbi Yannai went to negotiate with the Romans and forgot to read this portion before he went. His trip was a dismal failure.
The Midrash blames Jacob for the eventual Diaspora. The rabbis write that Jacob should have taken the long way around Edom and avoided Esau, because no good ever comes from meeting and negotiations with non-Jews. They cite how when two Hasmonean brothers were having a power struggle over the control of the Second Temple, the weaker brother invited the Romans to help him. This is how the Romans gained a foothold in Israel, which eventually lead to the Diaspora. The rabbis of the middle ages say the same rules apply to the new Romans – the Church. Even discourse with Christians on any matter of substance was disallowed. The church-demanded debates between their clerics and the Jews' rabbis almost always ended in tragedy for the Jews.
Jacob and his family settled in Shechem. Dinah, "the daughter of Leah...went out to look over the daughters of the land." (Gen. 34:01). The Talmud says we are reminded that she was the daughter of Leah because Leah also "went out." In Genesis 30:16 Leah is described as going out to meet Jacob to tell him that it was her turn to have sex with him that night. The Talmudic rabbis say that this behavior is appalling and call Leah "she who is fond of going out." They say, regarding Dinah, "like mother like daughter," and blame the rape on Dinah's behavior. We still see this thinking in some courtrooms today. Some Arab tribes today will kill family members who are raped, as it brings shame to the family.
The men of Shechem wanted to live in peace with Jacob's family. They offered Jacob land to live among them and to trade and intermarry. The brothers told the Shechemites that they must be circumcised. This is the Hebrew method of conversion. The Shechemites, though, did not convert for sincere reasons. They thought it would be good for trade, as well as for a source of wives for them, and husbands for their daughters.
The sons of Jacob deceitfully accepted them into the covenant of Abraham, only to kill them three days later. The rabbis say that this is allowed, as the men of Shechem were not going to be sincere Jews and accept Torah values. Are they reading the same Torah we are today? What values did Jacob and his sons possess? Jacob is a master of deceit. He learned this well from his mother and his uncle Laban. Even two of his wives, Leah and Rachel, were in cahoots with Laban; because how else would Leah have tricked Jacob into thinking she was Rachel on the wedding night?
The Talmud says that Rachel was under the bed, talking to Jacob, while he was having sex with Leah, so that he thought he was with Rachel. The rabbis say that Jacob's sons were justified in killing all of the men of Shechem, as rape is one of the seven prohibited Noahide laws. But 400 years later, we learn in the Torah that if a man rapes a virgin, he has the option of marrying her or paying her father a fine. There is no death penalty for rape of a virgin. If you rape another man's wife, it is adultery and therefore punishable by death.
We also learn in the Torah that before a war is fought, your enemy must be given a sincere chance to make peace. Further, when a Jewish army attacks, it must leave open an avenue of escape for the enemy. When is it a Torah value to condemn an entire nation for the sin of one man? Jacob's only concern about this annihilation was not based on Torah morality. It was based only on his fears. His only concern was that friends of the Shechemites would "band together and attack" him. (Gen. 34:30).
What is the Torah trying to teach us? Are we being taught that xenophobia and deceit are admirable traits? Are we being taught that wholesale slaughter is good? Of course not. If anything, we will learn in a few portions later that this behavior against neighbors will eventually turn brother against brother. In the Sephardic Haftarah, Obadiah says, "As you did, so will be done to you." (Ob.1:15). Obadiah prophesized during the reign of King Ahab and his Queen Jezebel.
In the Askenazic Haftarah, the 8th-century B.C.E. Hosea says that Jacob's sons lie, deceive, and were "wayward toward God." (Hos. 12:01). Hosea accused Jacob of stealing from Esau while they were still in the womb by "taking his brother by the heel" (Hos. 12:04). The prophets deplore this behavior and agree that the ends do not justify the means.
We are taught in this parasha that Jacob wrestled until dawn with a man (Gen. 32:25). When dawn broke and the fight was over, Jacob asked the man for a blessing, and Jacob was given the new name of Israel. Israel means, "prevailed or struggled with God." The Talmud says that this man was really the guardian angel of Esau and was Satan himself. They see Israel as the champion of good, and Esau as the leader of bad.
Remember, the rabbis of this time assign evil to Rome, and to the Church that follows Rome, as a direct descendant of Esau. Later in the Torah portion, in Genesis 35:10, we read that God also renames Jacob to Israel. But the Torah says that this will not be a permanent name change. The rabbis posit that when Jacob is involved with mundane things, the Torah calls him Jacob. When Jacob is involved in spiritual affairs, he is called Israel.
When Abram received the new name of Abraham (father of nations), he is never referred to again as Abram. Abraham's new name is permanent, but Jacob does not get a permanent name change. This is because Jacob did not wrestle with the guardian angel of Esau, or with Satan. Jacob wrestled with himself. Jacob wrestled with the spark of God that is inside each of us. All of us have the potential to be "heels" and therefore deceitful (as the name Jacob means in Hebrew). Yet all of us have the power to be Godlike as well. We have to continually struggle and wrestle to be truly Israel.
What we learn from this Torah portion is not how to behave like our Talmudic rabbis thought, but how not to behave. The fight is never over. It is never over internally nor externally. Someone will always try to be "in the kitchen with Dinah, strummin' on her ol' banjo." We cannot control others' behavior. We cannot control outside forces. We can control our attitudes and responses to events over which we have no control. It is up to us to find ways of dealing with life's tragedies in ways that do not pull us spiritually down, along with the physical or emotional pain we experience. This is our eternal struggle. Jewish Spiritual Renewal helps with this spiritual process. This is why we are the Children of Israel.
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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