RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:SPIRITUAL+ETHICAL COMPENDIUM TO TORAH+TALMUD:JEWISH ETHICS

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:SPIRITUAL+ETHICAL COMPENDIUM TO TORAH+TALMUD:JEWISH ETHICS

 

Jewish Spiritual Renewal: Shabbat 8/29/09:

Torah, TaNaK, Talmud: Ethics/Spiritual View

 

Dedicated to my new Chaver on his ascension  to the Bimah of Temple Beth Yam,

RABBI BRAD BLOOM

and to his congregants, my fellow Jews and chaverim v chaverot,  on the dedication of  their Temple and  Aron Kodesh on Erev Shabbat, of 8-28-2009

 

 

Shalom dear Chaverim v Talmidim:

 

I hope you are having a good week and that you are using this month of Elul for spiritual growth. At the bottom of this class are some comments regarding the last class.

 

Some 18th Century European Jewish thought: Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov: "God makes the spiritual physical; man makes the physical spiritual.''

 

Some Talmud: Bavli Tractate Pirkei Avot 6:11: ''All that God created in His world, He did not create but for His glory. ''

 

Some Torah: Ex. 25:8 : ''And they shall make for Me a Sanctuary, and I shall dwell within them."    If we note, the verse doesn't say that we should build a Synagogue, (today's replacement for the wilderness' Sanctuary)(or even a Church)  for God to dwell ''in It''. The verse says that God wants to dwell inside of each of us. Our actions can make the mundane physicality of our reality into a spiritual realm for ourselves. We bring God into our hearts. God is not going to push His way in.

 

All of creation, including our fellow humans, are created for God's glory. He makes the spiritual physical because all was created in His mind through His Word. And what is His Word? His Holy Name gives us the answer.

 

YHWH. YaH WeH. I invite you to say it as it was meant to be ''said,'' as it is unspeakable . Take a deep breath in with YaH, and hold it, and exhale a deep breath with WeH. God is that breath of life that is in every living creature, including our trees, plants, etc., which in reality, ''breathe  in'' what we humans and animals breathe out, and we humans and animals breathe in what vegetation ''breathes out.'' All is Yah WeH.

 

We humans are bound to each other and to the Earth. How we treat each other, and how we treat the planet, is what brings God 'down from the Heavens,' into a dwelling place in our hearts.  Our synagogues need to function to help us humans be the best we can be spiritually, be open, kind, and loving to all, and help us learn to bring God into our hearts to 'dwell within' us. Without this mandate,  as the Talmud said of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, the Shechinah (God's Holy Presence ), does not abide with us. (Rabbi Resh Lakish Talmud Bavli Tractate Yoma 9b).

 

Some more Talmud Bavli Tractate Makkot 3:16: Rabbi Chananiah the son of Akashiah would say: God desired to merit the people of Israel; therefore, He gave them Torah and mitzvoth in abundance. As is stated, ``God desired, for sake of his righteousness, that Torah be magnified and made glorious.'' 

 

Many people ask me,'' What is God's will for me?," or said in other words, "What is my purpose in life?'' It is pretty simple. We do what is  "good and just in God's eyes''. (Deut. 6:18). We don't rationalize.We learn to be rigorously honest with ourselves. We don't treat someone shabbily because we can quote some man- made rule. Or as we will learn in the D'var Torah below, we don't treat someone shabbily in Judaism because of a verse we find in Hebraism.  We bemoan when we Jews are victims, whether we discuss our long history, or the 1940s, or the border  wars in Israel, or the tragedy in Mumbai. But how many of us are victimizers to other humans? As I will tell below, I discovered I am guilty of this, without intent, but Teshuvah is still owed by me.

 

Elul is the month to take stock off ourselves. None of us is completely pure. We all in the past year, myself included, have treated others, knowingly or not knowingly, unGodfully.  We Jews take stock with a moral inventory, called a Chesbon ha Nefesh. Details of how to do this are in Chapter 4 of  Rabbi Arthur Segal : (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal .

 

When we owe teshuvah, an amends, we do so as soon as we realize it. Some times we do not realize it until months later. The month of Elul gives a chance to catch-up before Yom Kippur on Ten Tishrei , 40 days after the first of Elul. In prayers and meditations this week, I realized that unknowingly I embarrassed and offended someone in the past year. Using Talmudic lessons, and my very own teachings in Chapter 7 on Selicah and Teshuvah - Making Amends, in Rabbi Arthur Segal : (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal  when I am done with this class, I will not hesitate to make Teshuvah. I will clean up my side of the street. I will not mention or allude to anything the person may have done to me, because as we do our Bedtime Shema, we ask God to allow us to forgive everyone who has hurt us that day, on purpose or by accident, to our bodies or our property or our pride.

 

The first paragraph of the Bedtime Shema is:'' Master of the universe, I hereby forgive anyone who angered or antagonized me or who sinned against me — whether against my body, my property, my honor or against anything of mine; whether he did so accidentally, willfully, carelessly, or purposely; whether through speech, deed, thought, or notion; whether in this transmigration or another transmigration. May no man be punished because of me. May it will be Your will, Ha Shem, my God and the God of my forefathers, that I may sin no more. Whatever sins I have done before You, may You blot out in Your abundant mercies, but not through suffering or bad illnesses. May the expressions of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart find favor before You, Ha Shem, my Rock and my Redeemer.''  The last line is from the TaNaK: Psalms 19:15.   THE BEDTIME SHEMA

 

 

It is only in the 3rd paragraph that we say the actual Shema acknowledging God as One. As we have shown over and over in this class on Jewish ethics and spirituality, it is our relationship with others, the man to man mitzvoth, that takes precedence over the man to God mitzvoth.

 

Teshuvah and forgiveness aren't just for the people we have harmed or who have harmed us. Many Jews, mired in Hebraism do not understand this. They think of it as weakness, or think its not part of Judaism but part of another religion born from Judaism. Teshuvah and forgiveness are for us. Why go to bed, or walk around each day, having someone in our heads, not paying rent? Why keep a grudge when its only going to be an acid eating away at the container (us)?

 

 

With Rosh Ha Shana coming soon in a lunar month, its important to remember that One Tishrei is Adam and Eve's birthday. Some Talmud Bavli Tractate  Sanhedrin 8:4: ''"Why did the Creator form all life from a single ancestor? That the families of mankind shall not lord one over the other with the claim of being sprung from superior stock … that all men, saints and sinners alike, may recognize their common kinship in the collective human family...A man strikes many coins from one die and they are all alike. The Holy One, blessed be He, however, strikes every person from the die of the first man, but no one resembles another.''

 

Some more Talmud Bavli Tractate Gitten 61a :''We are obligated to feed non-Jews residing among us even as we feed Jews; we are obligated to visit their sick even as we visit the Jewish sick; we are obligated to attend to the burial of their dead, even as we attend to the burial of Jewish dead." The rabbis base their demand on the ground that these are "the ways of peace." As I have written before we are not to be like storks (Chassida) showing Chesed , kindness, to our in- group. We are to be inclusive and not exclusive. That is bringing God into our hearts to dwell within us.

 

Ibid: "Heaven and earth I call to witness, whether it be an Israelite or pagan, man or woman, slave or maidservant, according to the work of every human being does the Holy Spirit rest upon him."  As I write in

Rabbi Arthur Segal : (002) A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud , the Ruach Kadosh, the Holy Spirit, is a Jewish concept and it is first mentioned in second verse of the entire Torah: Gen: 1:2.

 

Being that as I am writing this 40 years ago when I was covered in mud at Woodstock, indulge me as I end this class, and as I wax nostalgic, with a Psalm from that time period:

 

Love is but a song we sing
fears' the way we die
You can make the mountains ring
or make the angels cry

Though the bird is on the wing
and you may not know why

*Come on people now
smile on your brother
everybody get together
and try to love one another right now

Some may come and some may go
He will surely pass
When the One that left us here
returns for us at last
We are but a moment's sunlight
fading in the grass

 If you hear the song I sing
you will understand...listen
You hold the key to love and fear
all in your trembling hand
Just one key unlocks them both
Its there at your command

*Come on people now
smile on your brother
Everybody get together
try to love one another right now." The Youngbloods ,1967 (C)

 

Shalom v' Ahavah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

 

Parasha Ki Teitzei: Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19

Rabbi Arthur Segal
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"Bad Boy, Bad Boy, You're Such a Naughty Bad Boy. Beep Beep!"

This parasha is replete with laws to help govern society. We are given the rights of women taken captive in battle, the first born son's inviolable rights, rules of hanging and of burial, obligations to guard and protect our neighbors' property, rules about protective fences, laws for the care of a hen and her chicks, rules against defamation of a married woman's virtue, laws of adultery, rules forbidding and defining incest, rules regarding interest and pledges for loans, rights of workers, rules to protect the poor, the orphaned and the widowed, levirate marriages laws, honest business practice guidelines, and also the lashes one gets for breaking any of these laws. It would be impossible for me to list and explain each law contained in this portion. It should be read individually to be appreciated.

The middle of Autumn is when we normally read the Torah portion about Noah. We will learn about what was occurring during his time that caused God to flood the Earth. It was not a pretty sight. From the way it is described in the Midrash and Talmud, it is no wonder God was determined to flush it away. People were barbaric, amoral, and cruel to each other. Even the animals were amoral if this is possible. I went into detail in Parasha Noach, but I am mentioning it here today because the Haftarah portion for this parasha is the same portion that is read for the portion called "Noach." There is no guidepost telling us this. I recently came to discover this serendipitously. The reason for this, I decided, is that in Noah's times, the rules we will read about this week, did not exist and life was a essentially a sewer. God promised never to destroy the world again after Noah's flood. In this portion, we are taught that society needs rules and boundaries to prevent us from flushing ourselves away.

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:ECO-JUDAISM: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Timeline in Parasha Noach:Developing Ritual to Save the Earth

 Assuming that you will read the portion, I will concentrate on just one of the many commandments listed. It is called the "law of the wayward and rebellious son," and hence the title of this D'var Torah. It is found in Deuteronomy 21:18-21. "If a man will have a wayward and rebellious son, who does not hearken to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother, that they discipline him, but he does not hearken to them, then his father and mother shall grasp him and take him out to the elders of his city and the gate of his place. They shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is wayward and rebellious; he does not hearken to our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' All of the men of his city shall pelt him with stones and he shall die; you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear and they shall fear."

I picked this law because it allows us to see how our sages dealt with this harsh and strict law by developing Judaism from the ashes of Hebraism after the fall of the first Temple in 586 B.C.E. As mentioned in prior d'vrai, the Rabbis developed Talmudic Judaism in Babylon. The first thing the rabbis did with this law is to try to explain it. They said that the death penalty is not imposed for the sins the son committed, such as disobeying his parents, overeating and getting drunk. The death penalty is imposed for the deeds such a son will commit in the future. These crimes, they posit, will be more severe capital crimes. In Talmud Bavli Tractate Sanhedrin 72A, the rabbis say, "Let him die while he is innocent, and let him not die when he is guilty of capital crimes." In other words, they are doing this young boy a favor." By killing him while he is young and a rascal with only harmless sins for which to repent, he will not have the chance to get older and commit major crimes and have heavier sins on his soul.

The second thing that the rabbis do is to legally parse each requirement of the passages. It is obvious that the rabbis do not want this law enforced. But they just cannot erase a Torah law. So they develop so many legal requirements that it is virtually impossible for this commandment ever to be fulfilled. The rabbis say, in Tractate Sanhedrin 71 A, that the death penalty "never occurred and never will occur" for this situation. One mitzvah down; 612 to go.

For example, they discuss the word "son." This implies that the boy is still a child. As a child, he is not responsible for his actions and these laws and penalties cannot apply at all. A child becomes a man at bar mitzvah, but then the parents no longer have authority over the son anyway. The rabbis decide that the only time frame during which this law can apply is the first three months after a bar mitzvah ceremony (Tractate Sanhedrin 68B). More specifically, "from the time he produces two pubic hairs until the time that his public hairs grow round." Rabbi Dimi traveled from Palestine to Babylon - where the Talmud was being written - and said he read in a baraita (part of the discussion of the Talmud that was left on the editing room floor) that "it is when the pubic hair begins to grow around the base of the penis and not yet on the testicles." In this way, the window for this law being effective is shortened to just three months. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsh says that this is when a 13-year-old boy's passions become aroused and this is when parents must exert tight discipline over their son's evil inclination, as well as his raging hormones.

Nachmonides contends that one sin will lead to another. He says these verses are here to teach us that if one shows disrespect to his parents, he will disrespect the Torah. If one is a glutton with food and wine, it is an indication of a lack of self-restraint that will make it impossible to be a holy person and develop spiritual limitations. Rabbi Bachya says that these verses teach that parents' love of God must supersede the love of their own children. He sites Abraham and his willingness to sacrifice Isaac as the prime example.

The sages still try to add more into this verse to keep it from being used. They decide that the child had to have stolen money from his parents to buy enough food and wine to have become a drunkard and a glutton. This would mean that he is addicted to food and wine and will become a murderous thief in the future to continue his habit. Because the verse says that a man has this wayward son, the rabbis decree that if a minor boy has a son, this son is exempt forever from this law. They decide from their biblical research that a boy as young as nine years old can be a father. They decide that King Solomon's forbearers on his mother Bathsheba's side, procreated when they were nine years old. They also decide that Haran was nine years old when he begat Sarah, Abraham's wife. They then decide, according to Rabbi Hillel's academy, that if a boy less than nine years old fondles his mother, even to the point of having penile-vaginal penetration, it is not incest and the mother can still marry a Kohan.

The rabbis then have the problem of deciding how much a son has to drink and eat to be a glutton. They decide that if the son steals his father's money and buys meat and drink in Jerusalem, he is excused, as the money was spent like the tithe money that is to be spent in the Holy city. If the boy gets drunk and overeats at a public feast, he is excused. They decided that gluttony means eating delicacy cuts of expensive meat and no other foods. Being a drunkard means drinking only the best... rare, strong wines. And the son must be a glutton and a drunkard at the same time. The meat cannot be salted, and the wine cannot be young. The rabbis get sidetracked discussing their favorite wines and meats, and discussing why, if wine is so bad, did God make it for man? The rabbis then derive adages about the benefits of wine and the ills of its excesses.

After what reads like a wine tasting/gourmet dinner party, the rabbis decide that the boy must steal both from his mother and father; buy the meat and wine; and eat it outside of his parent's property. If he stole the money from people other than his parents; he is not a wayward son. If the boy steals the wine and meat directly, and not the money to buy them; he is not a wayward son. Since the money that his mother has belongs to her husband, it is difficult for the son to actually steal from his mother. The husband would have had to make a legal oath that certain monies belonged to his wife. If the boy's mother and father disagreed, then the boy could not be a wayward son. And if the mother disagreed with the father for any reason, the boy could not be deemed a wayward son either.

The sages also decide that, since the verse says the parents must grasp the boy and take him, they cannot be lame or have an injured hand. Since they both must talk, they cannot be mute. They cannot be deaf, as they must hear their son's rebuff. And they cannot be blind, as they must actually see their son drunk or overindulging in food. They then decide that if all of these above contingencies are met, flogging should be the penalty not stoning. But they want at least two witnesses who saw what the parents saw and who saw the parents warn the son that what he was about to do was punishable by flogging. But if the boy isn't found guilty until after the three-month window of his bar mitzvah, punishment is not allowed.

The rabbis are also unsettled by the prospect of a precedent being set which allows them to punish people for crimes they may commit in the future, like in the film Minority Report. They not only are against this, but they bring up famous people who committed crimes, but were not punished because either there were no witnesses against them, or they were doing it for good motives. They speak of Esther, who publicly co-habitated with a non-Jewish man (King Ahashverous) and was not punished. The rabbis say Esther was completely passive when she and the King had sex, so she was not breaking any law. They say she was "as passive as the soil of the earth" when the King "tilled" her.

The rabbis then throw up their hands and ask why this law was given if they cannot follow it. The rabbis mention another law that gave them the same problem in its impossibility to enforce. This is the law of the subverted city (Deut. 13:13-19) from parasha Re'eh. To review, if a city has more than half of its inhabitants worshipping idols, the entire city and all of its inhabitants are to be burned in the town square. The rabbis first decide that if the town had no square, the law could not be carried out. They eventually decide that if just one mezuzah appeared in the town, it could not be destroyed. Since every town in the land of Israel had to have at least one mezuzah, they say that this law also was never carried out and will never be carried out (Sanhedrin 71A). Two mitzvoth down; 611 to go.

They also discuss the law about the house with tzaraat (mistranslated as leprosy) in Leviticus 14:33-53. This was a house whose walls turned scaly colors. They agree that this only happened twice, as there were ruins of houses in both Gaza and the Galilee that the people there called tzaraat house ruins. But they all agree that for many reasons they could never declare a house afflicted with tzaraat and condemn it to be destroyed in the future. Three mitzvoth down; 610 to go.

The rabbis decide that all of these laws were not meant to be carried out, but were in the Torah for teaching purposes. What the rabbis do is to use the passages to give child-rearing advice. For example, they use the phraseology of both a mother's and father's voice to show that if parents do not speak in one consistent voice, a child will grow up confused and will be apt to commit sins and crimes.

As spiritual Jews today we need to look at the words of Torah and Talmud, not as divinely given, but as teachings that are divinely inspired. The laws are there not to be followed or understood literally, but to guide us in our daily trials of being ethical and good people. The ancient sages, even before the time of the two Temples' destruction, amended and bent the Torah to adapt to changing times without losing its core belief system. This adaptability is the beauty of Judaism, and it is in this spirit that Judaism must continue to evolve and amend and reconstruct and renew.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Arthur Segal
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

 

 

A Short Snap Shot of Rabbi Arthur Segal

Rabbi Arthur Segal

United States

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 trans-denominational and renewal and spiritually centered.

 I am available to perform Jewish 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.

 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.

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. 

For information on how to purchase these, please contact RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net and visit WWW.JewishSpiritualRenewal.Net.  OR CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW. 

 Todah Rabah and Shalom uvracha. 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
Click to Order	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

Welcome to Rabbi Arthur Segal's Jewish Spiritual Renewal bookstore. We invite you to create an account with us if you like, or shop as a guest. Either way, your shopping cart will be active until you leave the store.

You can purchase each book individually, but if you purchase them together as a set with the Tzadakkah Bundle, I will donate a portion of the sales price in your name to a tzadakkah of your choice, such as your synagogue.

Simply provide the donation information in the "Special Instructions" box during checkout. When doing so, please include the following:

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(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal

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.

• Price : $19.99

(002) A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud

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.

• Price : $24.99

(003) Tzadakkah Bundle

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

• Price : $44.98

Frank in RI wrote: Is it possible to write a state law covering Kosher food, that would satisfy every element of the Hebrew religion?  Should government even be crafting religious laws?  My old friend Dr. Earl Cohen used to tell me that if the last three people on earth were Jewish, two of them would gang up on the third.  

I suspect the high court will try to side step the Kosher Food Labeling Act issue by ruling that the letter "O" in orthodox is in lower case.  

"Any food sold as kosher in the state of Georgia must meet the orthodox Hebrew religious rules and requirements,"

The court may define orthodox to mean conventional, accepted, traditional, standard, and established, without any direct reference to a particular branch of the religion.  I suggest those interested in the case should be urged to file an amicus curie brief with the court, expressing their concerns.

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Some Modern Midrash from a Talmid:
"There are no pre-existent final truths in doctrine or law; the truth is the considered judgment of the majority of authoritative interpreters in each generation.''

A bit frightening, but quite likely. 

A young Moses once set out on a quest to seek the fair maiden, Truth.  Learning that she could be found high up in the Sinai Mountains, he struggled to reach its highest peak.  There - deep in a cave, he finally found her.  She was old, she was fat and she was ugly. 

He cried out, "Oh Truth!.  How can I go back and tell my colleagues that I found you like this?"

And Truth replied, "Don't.  Rather, go back and tell them that you found me young, and beautiful."

___

 

 

 

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