RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:CHUMATZ:YETZER HA RA
Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 4/4/09:Torah,Talmud,TaNaK,Ethical+Spiritual View
Shalom Talmidim v Chaverim:
Allow me to wish you all a happy Rosh Chodesh Month of Nissan. Every day this month is considered to be a Yom Tov, not just the 8 days of Passover. The reasoning is that for the 14 days leading up to the holiday of Pesach and for the week after, so much chesed was being done for us, that it is impossible to recount it all.
The Shabbat of 4/4/09 is also Shabbat Ha Gadol, the Great Shabbat before Passover.
IF ANY ONE OF YOU, OR IF YOU KNOW OF ANYONE ,WHO DOES NOT HAVE A PLACE TO PARTAKE IN THE FIRST NIGHT OF SEDER, EMAIL ME AT
RABBIASEGAL@AOL.COM AND WE WILL HAVE THEM TO OUR HOME.
CONVERSELY, IF ANYONE KNOWS WHERE ELLEN AND I COULD HAVE A LOCAL SECOND NIGHT SEDER, PLEASE LET US KNOW. ALL OF THE FOLKS WE USUALLY DO SECOND NIGHT WITH ARE GOING OUT OF TOWN. COMMUNAL SEDERS ARE DIFFICULT FOR US SPIRITUALLY.
Some Talmud Bavli Tractate Rosh Hashanah 11a: "Rabbi Yehoshua said, 'In Nissan the world was created. In Nissan the Patriarchs were born, in Nissan the Patriarchs passed on. On Passover Isaac was born… In Nissan they [i.e. the Jewish people] were redeemed, in Nissan they will be redeemed again in the future."
What does it mean the world was created in Nissan? We celebrate the Birthday of the World in the 7th Month of Tishrei on one of our four Rosh Ha Shana's. The rabbis postulate that God decided to create the world in Nissan, but did it in Tishrei. This is why the calculation, as discussed last week, for the 28 year cycle for the blessing of the Sun, occurs in the spring and not in the fall, as the rabbis started counting with Nissan, that pre existed before the creation in the month of Tishrei. We all know about negative numbers, but our sages dealt with negative pre-time.
We all know the many rules and traditions about Passover and the Seder. Read a non- abbreviated Hagaddah and you will learn, and not eat until about 11:55 PM. That is ok, as the Seder is about learning and not about eating. In fact, when we look at what we are commanded to eat in the Hagaddah, some matzah, some bitter herbs, some salt water, some charoset, some more matzah and four glasses of wine, with more matzah for dessert, we can understand why the Talmud tells us not to eat matzah before Passover, so we will have an appetite for it on the Seder.
The Talmud deletes the Pascal Lamb from the menu of the Seder. We have a symbolic shank bone but its not for eating. If you are jonesing for BBQ lamb on Pesach find a Karaite community in Turkey, Israel or the USA.
So let us delve a little bit into some spiritual and ethical lessons of Passover.
Some Midrash: ''No Jew was permitted to leave his home that evening while the Almighty struck the firstborn of Egypt. This was so that the Jews should not witness the downfall of their enemies and rejoice in it.'' Schudenfreude is not a Jewish concept.
Some Torah: The Torah tells us that Passover occurs during the Month of Aviv, literally the spring time month. Aviv is Hebrew and many of our months names that we use now are Babylonian in origin. A special mitzvah, which can be fulfilled only once a year, is to recite the berachah ("blessing" or prayer) made upon seeing a fruit tree in bloom: Blessed are you Lord our God, King of the universe, who left nothing lacking in His world, and created within it good creatures and good trees with which He gives pleasure to people.''
Some Talmud: The sages talk of the four cups of wine as of the four ways God redeemed us from Egypt. Bring; deliver; redeem; take. God told Moses, "And I will bring you out ("V'hotzeti") from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you ("V'hitzalti") from their bondage, and I will redeem you ("V'gaalti") with an outstretched arm and with great judgment. And I will take you ("V'lakachti") to Me for a people..." (Exodus 6:6-7) To commemorate these four expressions, we drink four cups of wine.
But the Talmud goes further. As usual, our holidays become spiritual and ethical lessons.
The spiritual aspects of Passover are many and much too numerous to fully explore in a few paragraphs. Some have been alluded to in this class. We put ourselves into bondage of ego with our narrowness, our Mitzraim (Egypt). Passover teaches about freedom. Most people are still enslaved with ego and all of the behaviors that stem from it. Passover teaches us to rid ourselves of chumatz (leavening). Chumatz makes bread puff up. The rabbis equate this with ego. "Leaven represents the evil impulse of the heart (Talmud Bavli Tractate Beracoth 17a)." We must get ego out of our lives. We strive to be as humble as a flat piece of unleavened matzah. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Pesachim). Hence we are to work on bringing, delivering, redeeming, and taking ourselves out of our own Mitzraim. Check out The Handbook for Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, for doing just this. Rabbi Arthur Segal : Home
In fact the whole spiritual context of the Talmudic Tractate of Pesachim (Passover) is about Jewish Spiritual Renewal. Biblically there is a second Passover, a month from the first, for those who were ritually impure to be allowed to accept the Pascal offering. The Rabbis say this proves that God is always giving us second chances to change from our egotistical selves doing our will, to spiritual Jews doing His will. "He and I cannot dwell in the same world," says a Talmudic Tractate quoting God speaking about the egocentric person.
Even the Four Sons in the Hagaddah are said to be just one person. Today we would call it spiritual schizophrenia. The four actually represent different aspects of the same person who is not integrated. We were like this before our Jewish Spiritual Renewal. We prayed to God, calling Him "Oseh Shalom" (Maker of Peace) and then managed to become the cause of discord.
The Talmud tells us that our Yetzer ha Ra never leaves us. Good is not the absence of Bad. One can be righteous and wise while the evil inclination persists in trying to dominate him. The Kabbalah takes the Gemetria numerical equivalent of Echad (one) son, which is 13, and multiplies it by four to arrive at 52. Fifty-two is the Gemetria numerical equivalent of Ben (son). Passover's story of the four sons is a lesson in becoming integrated and not being spiritually schizophrenic any longer.
Even Charoset which we have been taught represents mortar for the bricks the Hebrews built cities for Pharaoh, is given a totally different take in the Talmud, and represents the love God has for us and the love we need to have for each other. Indeed the Charoset recipe is in Solomon's Song of Songs which is read on the Sabbath during the week of Passover, and is in full Hagaddahs. RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:THE REAL REASON FOR CHAROSET ON PASSOVER IS THE SONG OF SONGS
Now, those of us who are married, and lived close to two set of parents, remember going through the angst of which parent do we have first night of seder with and which night do we have the second night with. And I can remember the angst with my first wife in our first year, and her homesickness, and that we were definitely traveling 300 miles to spend the Passover week with her family.
While the rituals of Passover are many, the ethical and spiritual aspects of the Holidays, especially to open our doors to anyone who is 'hungry' (and not just for food...for companionship, community, spirituality, learning), is most important.
I will leave you with this. During our seders we will discuss miracles, signs and wonders, and God. And there will be those who will challenge us, [who have a daily experience with God], as to His existence. The other day I was asked by an adult, thinking he was clever, with a question that we discussed in 4th grade. "Can God Create a Rock That's Too Heavy for Him to Lift?''
Some attribute the question to the Islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd, others to the Rambam and still others to Thomas Aquinas. I first heard it in 4th grade by my friend David, and the teacher hit him on the head with a ruler. Just as the story of the four sons teaches us that some Jews at our seder will be smart- alecks, even they deserve an answer.
I replied Talmudically : "Sure God can create a rock so heavy that even He cannot lift it. God can do anything. And He could even lift that rock that He cannot lift as well." And this true! Because God indeed created such a 'thing.' It is us!! It's called our human free choice to muck up His world. And in our prayers, we ask God to rid us from our Yetzer ha Ra. We ask God to lift the rock that He cannot lift because He made it unliftable. The Yetzer ha ra is always part of us. But God will help us negate our Yetzer Ha Ra a situation at a time as long we are doing the lifting.
So open your doors this Passover. Many people are suffering. Words do not suffice. Telling someone that others have the same problems does not help.
Some Talmud: Avot D'Rebbe Nassan 14:6: Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai's son died. His disciples tried to console him by telling him that Adam, Job, Aaron, and David had lost children, yet they survived and functioned. Rabbi Yohanan said, "Isn't my distress enough? Must you add to it the distress of Adam, Job, Aaron, and David?"
Open your doors and your chesed. Folks need it. Many are afraid to ask.
God loves us very much. We must love each other as well.
Shabbat Shalom:
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC;Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
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A Short Snap Shot of Rabbi Arthur Segal
- Rabbi Arthur Segal
- United States
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- I am available for Shabbatons, and can speak on various aspects of Jewish history, (from the ancient past to modern day, and can be area specific, if a group wishes), Spirituality, developing a Personal Relationship with God, on the Jews of India and other 'exotic' communities, and on Talmud, Torah and other great texts. We have visited these exotic Jewish communities first hand. I adhere to the Mishna's edict of not using the Torah as a ''spade'', and do not ask for honorariums for my services. I am post-denominational and renewal and spiritually centered.
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- I am available to perform Jewish weddings, and Jewish inter-marriages (Jewish intermarriage, Jewish inter-marriage, Jewish interfaith weddings) and other life cycle events, ONLY IF, it is a destination wedding and the local full time pulpit rabbi is unavailable, or if there is no local full time pulpit rabbi, or it is in my local area and all of the full time pulpit rabbis are unavailable.
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- My post-doc in Psych from Penn helps tremendously when I do Rabbinic counseling. My phone number and address will be made available once I am sure of one's sincerity in working with me.
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- Rabbi Segal is the author of three books and many articles on Torah, Talmud and TaNaK and Jewish history. His books are : The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud, and Spiritual Wisdom of our Talmudic Sages. The first two are published by Amazon through their publishing house, BookSurge.
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- For information on how to purchase these, please contact RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net and visit WWW.JewishSpiritualRenewal.Net. OR CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW.
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- Todah Rabah and Shalom v' Beracoth. Rabbi Arthur Segal ,( Dr. Arthur Segal )RabbiASegal@aol.com .
Click to Order
| THE HANDBOOK TO JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:
A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew
Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal distills millennia of sage advice into a step-by-step process to reclaim your Judaism and your spirituality in a concise easy-to-read and easy-to-follow manner.
If you find yourself wishing for the strength to sustain you through the ups and downs of life; if you want to learn how to live life to its fullest without angst, worry, low self-esteem or fear; or if you wish that your relationships with family, friends and co-workers were based on love and service and free of ego, arguments, resentments and feelings of being unloved...this book is for you.
Price: $19.99
254 Pages
Published by: Amazon's BookSurge |
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| A SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL COMPENDIUM
TO THE TORAH AND TALMUD
Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal dissects each of the Torah's weekly sections (parashot) using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts to show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us. This companion to The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew brings the Torah alive with daily relevance to the Modern Jew.
All of the Torah can be summed up in one word: Chesed. It means kindness. The Talmud teaches that the Torah is about loving our fellow man and that we are to go and study. The rest is commentary. This compendium clarifies the commentary and allows one to study Torah and Talmud to learn the Judaic ideals of love, forgiveness, kindness, mercy and peace. A must read for all Jews and deserves a place in every Jewish home.
Price: $24.99
494 Pages
Published by: Amazon's BookSurge |
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In The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal distills millennia of sage advice to reclaim your Judaism and your spirituality.
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A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud dissects each of the Torah's weekly sections (parashot) using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts to show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us.
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The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal and A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud. Purchase both books as a set, and I will donate a portion of the sales price in your name to the tzadakkah of your choice. -- Rabbi Segal
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