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Rabbi Arthur Segal’s love of people, humanity, and Judaism has him sharing with others “The Wisdom of the Ages” that has been passed on to him. His writings for modern Jews offer Spiritual, Ethical, and eco-Judaic lessons in plain English and with relevance to contemporary lifestyles. He is the author of countless articles, editorials, letters, and blog posts, and he has recently published two books:

The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew

and

A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud

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Sunday, January 6, 2008

Talmud Discourse 25 'Yerushalmi',"Kiddush cup"

 
 Happy New Year R. Abrams and Talmudim:
 
May 08 be a year of Shalom from G!D surpassing all understanding.
 
Thank you for bringing us into Talmud Yerushalmi, or more accurately the Palestinian Talmud, or Talmud Eretz Israel.
 
In the book, Kol Ha'Tor, written by a disciple of the celebrated Vilna Gaon, the importance of studying the Jerusalem Talmud is emphasized. The author reports that the Vilna Gaon told him that in the initial stages of Messianic Redemption there would be a renewed interest in the study of both Kabala and the Jerusalem Talmud.
 
Rashi found this version of the Talmud to be on a higher spiritual plane as well. ''Rav said: As soon as man goes forth from Halachic to Scripture study he no longer has peace. And Shmuel said: It means one who leaves Talmud for Mishnah. And Rav Yochanan said: Even from Talmud to Talmud. Talmud Bavli, Chagigah, 10a ". Rashi explains, ''from Talmud to Talmud: from Talmud Yerushalmi to Talmud Bavli, since the former one is deeper'', i.e. Yerushalmi is deeper spiritually and intellectually than Bavli is. (Rashi on Chagigah 10a, d.h from Talmud to Talmud )
 
The question is posed about kiddush cup design and usage.
 
Working with the assumption, for a moment, that  the kiddush cup in question is one used for Shabbat, we can see why the rabbis asked that it be decorated, clean and full.
 
In Yerushalmi Berachot 1, Shabbat carries the same weight  as all the 613 Mitzvot. Our Chachamim explain that the 613 Mitzvot compare to the 613 limbs in a persons body. The mitzvah of Shabbat refers to a person's soul, without which all other parts of the body would be mundane. Thus Shabbat is the center of our spiritual universe, and it is of the utmost importance that we guard it well and take oneg, rejoicing in it.
 
Our kiddush cups cannot be some earthen ware mug from the cabinet, or a used jelly jar.The cup must be something special, set aside, literally, from the Hebrew root kadosh. It is decorated, as we are to wear our finest clothing on Shabbat, as well. While many Jews think that Yom Kippur is the holiest day on the Jewish Calendar, in reality, our weekly Shabbats are. Each Shabbat is like one 60th of Olam Ha Ba, the world to come, and the sages teach, that if all Jews, guard and remember, Shabbat, two weeks in a row, the Messianic age will arrive. ( I am not sure if the sages were saying that this would mean all Jews were deserving of this Age because they finally became spiritually connected, or if we just stopped our infighting, and agreed to all do something, without having rancorous board meetings).
 
The cup must be clean just as we, men and women both, were obligated to be ritually and spiritually clean, before Shabbat, by going for a dip into the mickvah. Just as the rabbis decreed that our tables that we serve our guests on, replace the sacrificial altar of the Temple (s), our Shabbat foods hence become more important than our foods on our other 6 days of the week. This harkens back to the special Shabbat sacrifices.  The sages suggested that during the week, we actually buy items that we are to use for Shabbat, making sure, that even in the poorest of households, that the Shabbat meal is something 'extra.' Hence our wine glasses are filled to the brim, as G!D's gifts to us, are always over flowing.
 
As Jews, from the name Yahudah, grateful, we are not to look at the world as a kiddush cup half empty, nor as one half filled, but as one over flowing with G!d's bounty, chesed and rachmonet for us.
 
As with all Berachoth, we are to say them with spiritual intention, kavenah. Hence, we are not to be side tracked while saying the blessing that thanks G!D for the fruit of the vine,  and immediately drink it, upon finishing the blessing.
 

(Between the recital of the benediction before eating and ingesting the food, we do not interrupt with idle chatter. Such a disruption would require the recitation of a new blessing, for the benediction previously said is rendered invalid by the interlude, according to the Talmud.

Our sages explain that certain pertinent phrases may be said in the interim, since they are not considered a digression of thought (B. Berachot 40a). Thus one who pronounced the benediction over bread but is yet to taste the food, can pass a piece of bread to someone else and say: "Take, recite the blessing." According to another sage, even if the one who recited the blessing said: "Bring salt, bring relish," the initial blessing is not rendered null. The final opinion brought in the talmudic passage allows one to even say "Mix the food for the oxen," without voiding the initial blessing. It is a commandment in Judaism to feed our animal before ourselves.)

The cup was held high, the same way the priests would hold the sacrifice high, acknowledging G!D in His heavens and for the people to see. It elevates the mundane grape and wine, into a holy act.

I will end with the why the use of the right hand.

As we have learned and studied, the Talmud, redacted in its Mishna from circa 200 CE and in its Gemorah additional form in circa 500 CE was a 1000 year old text derived from oral tradition, predating in some areas, back to Torah, perhaps. Each rabbis opinions were recorded, none were censored, and even when they were angry at each other and called each other names, this was included. In times of peace, since rabbis are humans, we read peaceful wisdom, and in times of tribulation, we can sense the bitterness in the pages.

Rabbi Aha was one of the Savorai Rabbeinu, who lived near the end of the 4th century CE. Jerusalem was vanquished by the Romans 300 years before, and Christianity, was now the state religion of Rome, who controlled what was left of Eretz Israel. Rabbi Aha loved life. The rabbinic rule forbidding dancing was ignored by him  [Bava Betsa 30] but the immodesty of concentric male and female circles, carried the day. Ignored was Ketubbot 17a, which described Rabbi Aha dancing with a woman on his shoulders. Kiddushin 82 teaches that intent and not the fact of contact, when between male and female who are not married or dating, determines propriety. This point tends to be lost on some of our Jewish sects today.

Rabbi Aha was no fan of Rome nor of Christianity, as both were oppressive  to Jews.  Rabbi Aha  declared: "there was a man, the son of a woman, who would rise up and seek to make himself God, and cause the entire world to err . . . . If he says that he is God, he lies; and in the future he will cause to err - that he departs and returns in the end. He says, but will not do . . . . Alas, who shall live of that people that listens to that man who makes himself God?" (Yal. Simeoni on Num. 23:7).

Hence the use of the right arm to raise the Shabbat Kiddush cup was significant to Rabbi Aha.  "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy" (Psalm 137). By remembering Jerusalem, which he could walk by and view in ruins, and by using his right arm, he helped make each Shabbat a reminder of the world to come, when the Temple would be rebuilt, in Jerusalem, and the exiled Jews, would be gathered together in 'the land.'

For liberal Jews echoing the words of Rabbi  Gustavus Poznanski , of 1841 Charleston, SC, USA,  who was moved to say "This synagogue is our Temple, this city our Jerusalem, and this happy land our Palestine," we can still find meaning in Rabbi Aba's ritual as Shabbat is a spiritual mystical time, and a time when we can step out of the secular, into the holy, and prayer and direct ourselves to do Tikun Olam, to repair the world, as G!d's human partners, for Shalom, tsadakah and chesed.

L'Chaim!!

Shavuah Tov,

Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal

 

 The Yerushalmi, the Talmud produced in the Land of Israel, is something like
the ugly sister who never gets any attention when compared with the Bavli
,
the Talmud of Babylonia. So this new year, well attempt to address that
wrong.  The Yerushalmi has glories to rival the Bavli's ,so let's get
started! (She ends up being quite as pretty as her sister!)
We'll begin with something that just about every Jew owns:  a Kiddush cup.
Whether you got it when you were 13 or when you were getting married or you
collect them, the Yerushalmi has this to say about it:
The earlier sages asked:  Can the left hand help the right hand hold the
Kiddush cup when we are saying the blessing? We learn from this question
three things:
You must hold the cup in your right hand.
You must hold your hand up at least a handbreadth above the table.
You must pay attention to the cup while saying the blessing it (i.e., you
don't set it down to check the oven, for instance).
Said Rav Aha: Three things were said concerning the Kiddush cup:
It must be full.
It must be decorated.
It must be clean. (Y. Berachot 7:5)
Discussion Questions
First some words on the Yerushalmi.  There are two versions:  the Venice
edition which has all the tractates in one volume and the P'nei Moshe
edition in 7 volumes.  The latter looks more like a page of Bavli.  However,
always, in the Yerushalmi, a mishnah is called a halachah, so if you're
looking into the actual text itself, don't let that trip you up.

The only complete translation of the Yerushalmi into English is edited by
Jacob Neusner, entitled, The Talmud of the Land of Israel, in 35 volumes
from University of Chicago Press. You can buy individual volumes, so you
can
go for the tractates which most interest you.  Finally, the Yerushalmi has
Talmud on Mishnah tractates that the Bavli does not so we're in for a
fun ride!
Now, to the questions:
1. How does your cup stand up to these standards?  (I was appalled, thinking
how much silver polishing I'm going to have to do to bring ours up to
snuff!)
2. Why do you think the cup had to be decorated?
3. Why must you hold the cup in your right hand?  Why do you have to hold
it up?Enjoy! R. Abrams





Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

Reader Comment on ''Koufax'' from ''Talmudic Discussion on Business Ethics ''

note: Mr. Appel's firm represents the Israeli Baseball league in  Public Relations. Visit him at www.appelpr.com
Shalom Mr. Appel:
 
Thank you for your below email.
 
Yes. It was indeed honorary, and Mr. Koufax  was the last player picked.
 
Koufax, 71, was picked by the Modi'in Miracle in the draft conducted by former major league general manager Dan Duquette, who heads baseball operations for the league and is a former general manager of the Boston Red Sox. "His selection is a tribute to the esteem with which he is held by everyone associated with this league," said former big leaguer Art Shamsky, who will manage the Miracle. "It's been 41 years between starts for him. If he's rested and ready to take the mound again, we want him on our team."
 
The Talmudic discourse, juxtaposing Koufax's ethics with many who seem not to have them, was written soon after his pick, but was posted, along with all of the posts, on my web site after Havdallah last evening, January 5, 08.
 
Thank you for letting me know that he did not play. I was a bar mitzvah lad during the baseball season of '65, and living in the NE, where my Jewish suburban neighborhood, abutted next to the town's "Christian Country Club" with its ''No Dogs, Jews, Negroes, Catholics" allowed sign. Koufax was a hero to us kids being taunted, daily, walking from the public school, to our Hebrew school classes, with anti-Semitic slurs being hurled at us.  In my mind's eye, Koufax has never really left that mound.
 
Mozel tov on your tenth anniversary in your business. May G!d continue to bless you and keep you.
 
Many Blessings,
Arthur Segal
 
 
 
Hello Rabbi; not sure what your source was, but just so it's clear, Sandy Koufax did not pitch in the Israel Baseball League this past year.  He was 'drafted' by Modi'in, but it was an honorary gesture; he was never expected to really play, and he didn't.  He said he was touched by the gesture and appreciative.
 
Marty Appel Public Relations
Celebrating 10th anniversary in 2008

100 W. 57 Street
New York NY 10019
212 245-1772
212 245-6353 (fax)
www.appelpr.com
 




Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.