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Rabbi Arthur Segal

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

You can learn more about these books at:

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
ALL ENTRIES ARE (C) AND PUBLISHED BY RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL, INC, AND NOT BY ANY INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEE OF SAID CORPORATION. THIS APPLIES TO 3 OTHER BLOGS (CHUMASH, ECO, SPIRITUALITY) AND WEB SITES PUBLISHED BY SAID CORPORATION.
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Friday, July 3, 2009

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:ZEKHUT:FAVORABLE JUDGEMENT:ISRAEL'S merit ascribed to Moses

 
 
Shabbat Shalom : 
 
With the fast day of the 17th of Tammuz coming on July 9, 2009, let us delve a bit into what Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Ta'anit (fasts) speaks about, and how the Rabbis saw fasting, and how they saw mitzvoth, vis a vis troublesome times.
 
The concept of Zekhut is one that Talmud Yerushalmi is used as a proof text. Zekhut of course is the idea of a treasury of merit to be used for good later during  times of crisis, such as a drought. The idea of whether the Zekhut of one's ancestors,  for example the Patriarchs, could help the Hebrews or Jews, in times of troubles is debated in the Rabbinic texts.
 
Zekhut is discussed in detail in Talmud Bavli Tractate Sanhedrin 4:1, 5:4, 5, 6:1 and in a strict definition means a favorable judgement, an acquittal, a right, or merit. However in Judaism, it came to be used to mean freely chosen good conduct that goes above and beyond what the law demands of us. At some point people began to believe this merit could be used in their favor on the Day of Judgement in the Heavenly Court. Then Jews began to think of Zekhut as being able to be used to get God to grant them favors in their lives on this earthly plane. This concept of Zekhut as a Parker Brothers "Get Out of Jail Free" Card is found in Talmud Bavli Tractates Kiddushin 4:14 and Sotah 3:4-5. But this concept was cemented in the below passages in Talmud Yerushalmi circa 350 CE.
 
The Talmud Yerushalmi lists examples of Zekhut as spending extra time praying or studying, speaking words of Torah, never taking pleasure if one sees another being  embarrassed, never asking for money from someone in the market, or never loosing one's temper (Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Ta'anit 3:11). But it seems it is acts of giving away one's possessions to the needy, that really seems to please God as an act of Zekhut, according to the rabbis.
 
We see the concept of Zekhut stated in Talmud Bavli Tractate Pirkei Avot 2:2: "Let all who occupy themselves with communal affairs do so for Heaven's sake, for then the merit of their fathers sustains them and their righteousness endures forever. And as for you, God will then say: I count you worthy of great reward as if you had done it all yourselves."
 
And we see how in the Midrash Genesis Rabbah 56.2.5 has Abraham's total obedience to God during the Akidah, the binding of Isaac, that future generations of Abraham's descendents will be redeemed from Egypt, given Torah, Hannah (the mother of Samuel , the future  Judge), was remembered, some exiled returned from Babylon, the Temple was rebuilt, and even the dead will be resurrected. Rabbi Isaac in this Midrash specifically states that the  bodily resurrection of the dead, a Talmudic Jewish concept, is owed to Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son.
 
We see also, in Pirkei Avot, 5:21, how Moses'  Zekhut is passed on to the Children of Israel." Thus Moses was virtuous and he led the masses in the right path, and their merit is ascribed to him, as it is written (Deuteronomy 33:21) "He executed the justice of the Lord, and His ordinances for Israel.".''
 
As we will see in the Talmud, while a man may be extremely sinful by rabbinic standards, a single act of zekhut makes him acceptable to God. This single act of zekhut, which suffices to God even if done only once, has the strength to overpower a life of sinning. In a real sense, the concept of zekhut is the opposite and even the mirror view of character defects.
 
Zekhut tends not to be just any mitzvah but tends to be those that care for the needy, and do major acts of righteousness, like releasing a prisoner. We see this spelled out for us in Isaiah 3:15 "What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?" declares the Lord, God Almighty." or in Amos 5:11 "You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine." Detachment of material possessions, the idea of doing away with mammon, (wealth in Talmudic Aramaic),  and living a life of helping others is shown in the Talmudic story of Hanina ben Dosa . (Talmud Bavli Tractate Beracoth 34b, 33a). And his prayers for rain and other necessities were answered (Talmud Bavli Tractates  Ta'anit 24b,  25a, Shabbat 112b, Pesachim 112b, Bava Kama 50a).
 
As mentioned above Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Ta'anit, in this case 2.4.1, sites the case of the rabbis speaking to a man who prayed during  a drought, and the rains came.
 
The rabbis asked him his profession, and he answered he was a mule driver. They asked how he conducted his business.
 
He said that one day he rented his mule to a woman and she was crying. He asked what was wrong and she said her husband was in debtor's prison, and she wanted to figure out what to do to free him. So the mule driver sold his mule. He gave the money to the woman, and told her to go and free her husband, but he warned her not to sin by becoming  a prostitute to raise more funds.
 
The rabbis said his zekhut was worthy of praying and having his prayers answered.
 
To put this in context,  mule drivers at that time had reputations lower than tax collectors, so it is assumed that he was living  a life of sin.
 
Talmud Yerushalmi continues. Rabbi Abbahu dreamed  that Pentakakos prayed that rain would come, and it did rain.  Rabbi Abbahu summoned him and asked him: What is your trade? He said to him: I do five sins every day: (Pentakakos means 'five evils.') hiring prostitutes, cleaning up the theater, bringing home their garments for washing in the bath house, strut and dance and play my flute for them.

Rabbi Abbahu asked: What good deed have you done?

He said:  One day I was cleaning the theater and a woman came and stood behind a pillar and cried.  I said to her:  What's the matter?  She said: My husband is in prison and I wanted to see what I can do to free him.  So I sold my bed and cover and gave the proceeds to her. I said:  Here is your money:  free your husband, but do not sin, (become a whore.)

Rabbi Abbahu said to him:  You are worthy of praying and having your prayers answered.  (Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Ta'anit 5a-b)

 
Aside from Rabbi Honi the Circle Maker who could ask God for rain and even control the amount, and Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa who we discussed above,  the Rabbis of the Talmud, humbly admitted they were powerless to bring rain. They could call the community to fast, (which is what Ta'anit is about, fasting), during times of drought. But they show that a true act of ahavath chesed, even by a chronic sinner, can trump a life time of Torah study, and get God's attention and bring rain.
 
But there is a bit more occurring in Talmud Yerushalmi in these passages, and it has to do with the financial and social status of women in the Roman Diaspora.
 
When the Reform movement added the Four Matriarchs to the Amidah there were shouts of joy from many people who felt this was a victory for women's rights. In reality, it did not go far enough, and our rabbis in the Talmud addressed the issue better than the rabbis in the Reform movement.
 
They left out Zilpah and Bilhah, handmaidens of Leah and Rachel.  Handmaidens is the nice word. Slaves, including  their wombs, is the proper term. And they are the mothers of almost half of the sons of Jacob, who were to become the Children of Israel. When we discuss women's rights and the right to their bodies, Zilpah and Bilhah, like Hagar before them, had no rights.
 
 
Each year over 3000 women, many still teens, are smuggled into Israel and sold for prostitution. Many come through the Egyptian border where Israel security, on guard for Gazan terrorists and weapons, turns a blind eye to helpless females.
 
These women are modern day slaves.They are beaten, raped, abused, and exploited. They are forced to have sex 14 to 18 hours a day. They receive no medical services and cannot get to the police because they are afraid as they are told they entered Israel illegally.
 
The two above instances of men saving women from having to become whores to survive and to redeem their husbands, shows the state of women then, and the continual state of women now in much of the world. Without first  a father to obey and be feed and housed by, and then a husband, a women starves, or makes money begging or via prostitution.  The point of the sugya (discussion) in the Gemora of Talmud Yerushalmi is that a low-life sinner , or in this case two of them, saving two women from becoming prostitutes, are worth an academy full of rabbis debating halachic minutia. What is clear is that the husbands' releases from prison takes priority over the safety, well being, and self esteem of their wives. In fact, without their husbands' release, they cannot remarry, have no one to feed them, and are in a perpetual state of being worse than an agunah.
 
The Talmud again speaks of prostitution in Talmud Bavli Avodah Zarah 16b-18b. It is about Rabbi Hananiah ben Tradion of Sikhnin in the Galil. He is martyred by the Romans because he and his wife taught Torah. He is one of Judaism's Ten Rabbinic Martyrs. His wife is executed, and his daughter is forced to be a prostitute in Rome. The daughter is identified as the sister of Rabbi's Meir's wife Beruriah, who plays important roles in the Talmud.
 
Rabbi Meir is one of the 5 students of Rabbi Avika (also martyred) who receives for the first time, one-to-one semikah-rabbinic ordination circa 135 CE, starting a tradition of learning and studying to become a rabbi, which continue to this day (Talmud Bavli Tractate Sanhedrin 14a).
 
Beruriah is a remarkable woman and learned 300 halachot in one day (Talmud Bavli Tractate Pesachim 62b). She could debate with the best of rabbis and Rabbi Joshua says to Rebbi Tarfon, who she was debating "Beruriah has spoken correctly." (Tosefta Keilim Bava Metzia 1:3). Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvim 53b relates how she scolded Rabbi Jose for breaking the Talmudic injunction of not  speaking unnecessarily to women when he asked "Which way to Lod?" instead of using two words and asking "Where's Lod?"
 
Anyway, Beruriah  says to her husband, Rabbi Meir, that it ''is a disgrace that my sister has to sit in a prostitute's booth." (If you have been to Amsterdam or Hamburg not much has changed in 1900 years).
 
Rabbi Meir went to Rome dressed as an official with a tarqeva [7 quarts ] of dinars. He said to his wife Beruriah, if your sister is still a virgin, a miracle will occur and if she is not a virgin, a miracle will not occur.
 
Rabbi Meir found her and in his disguise, he said to her, ''Submit to me." And she said "I cannot. I am menstruating. " He says he can wait. She says to go to another as the other girls are more beautiful than she is. From this rabbi Meir decides she is still a virgin.
 
He bribes a hesitant guard to let him have the girl, and the guard, concerned for his life if he gets caught, is told 'the God of Rabbi Meir will protect you.'
 
Rabbi Meir proves that God will protect him by throwing mud at man eating dogs, and God keeps them from killing the rabbi.
 
So the guard is caught and crucified, and calls upon the God of rabbi Meir, and is let free. But he did tell the Romans of rabbi Meir and the escaped girl.
 
So the Romans put the equivalent of a modern day wanted poster of Rabbi Meir's face on the gates of Rome.
 
And a Roman saw rabbi Meir and Meir ran into a brothel. He dipped a finger into traif and sucked on a different finger making it look like he was eating non-kosher food. He embraced a whore, but it was really Elijah come back disguised as a female whore.
 
The Roman didn't pursue any more because he said Rabbi Meir would never eat non-kosher food, embrace a prostitute, or even go into a brothel.
 
Rabbi Meir fled safely to Babylonia. The rabbis say it was because of  the zekhut he earned saving his sister-in-law from prostitution.
 
Troubling of course in this tale is the notion that a virgin-in-a-brothel in Rome can remain one during the time it would take  for Rabbi Meir to make the journey to Rome. How many 'johns' with whom she could  have played the 'I have my period' game, and for how many days? Is this chesed  on the part of Meir or God?
 
But the fact remains, that the rabbis abhorred forced prostitution and certainly found it horrid that their society was set up in such a way to force women without means, without  a husband, [or with one in jail],  to have to choose this job, as a way to keep from starving.
 
Freeing the captive is a long standing Jewish mitzvah. What Zekhut can we do to pursue the Hagaddah's plea of  ''Now we are enslaved. Next year may we all be liberated.''?
 
Shabbat Shalom and easy fast on the 17th of Tammuz (July 9, 2009).
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC
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Savannah, GA
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Posted by Rabbi Arthur Segal at Friday, July 03, 2009