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Jewish Spiritual Renewal: Derek Eretz Zuta + Rabbah:
Shabbat 02/12/11
(aka Derech Eretz )
The JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL class list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network a service of Hebrew College/Yeshiva
Shalom my dear Chaverim, Talmidim, v' Rabbanim, friends, students and fellow rabbis:
An oneg, joy-filled, Shabbat, Sabbath, this weekend .
We continue with our exploration into the Talmudic Tractates of Derek Eretz Zuta and Rabbah. (aka Derech Eretz Zuta, aka Derech Eretz Rabbah. As was mentioned, zuta is Aramaic for 'small', and rabbah is 'large'). Remember that Derek Eretz is not about Jewish ritual. It is about how we are to treat one another and what traits of character, middot, we are to try to develop. The lessons are universal and ecumenical.
For those new to the class, Baruch ha Ba! Welcome! You can access last week's class at
http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2011/02/ra bbi-arthur-segal-jewish-spiritual_8146.html or Click here: Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL :JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: LOVE ALL CREATURES: DEREK ERETZ
From there you will find links to preceding classes in this new series (new as of Simcha Torah, the holiday of rejoicing over the giving and receiving of the Torah, circa 3300 years ago at Sinai, October 2, 2010).
So, together we continue:
TALMUD BAVLI
TRACTATE DEREK
ERETZ ZUTA
(aka Derech Eretz)
CHAPTER I.
Talmud Bavli Tractate Derek Eretz Zuta Verse 1:6
OK. As I wrote in our last class, before I show you the next verse from Talmud Bavli Tractate Derek Eretz Zuta Chapter One, which is verse 6 and the last verse of this chapter, let me advise you that it is a long one, and on first read can be a confusing one for those not intimately familiar with Jewish History, or the entire TaNaK, as well as Midrash.
I will guide you through it and it will open up some exciting doors for you, hopefully not an "Exit Door.'' 
As we have done in other long verses in this class, we will parse it sentence by sentence, or in some cases, by phrases or even words. This is the last verse in Chapter One.
''Love the Law, and respect it; love all creatures, and respect them.'' Subject your will to the will of others, as was done by Leah for Rachel and by David for Saul. But ignore your will, and even the will of others, for the will of Heaven, as we find by Jacob that he did not kiss Joseph (because he was engaged in prayer). Love doubtfulness (i.e., everything shall be doubtful to you until you convince yourself of it), and hate the expression: "And what of it?" (i.e., even of the most unimportant things you should not express yourself thus). Keep aloof from everything that may bring to sin, and from the abominable, and from what is equal to it, that you should not be suspected by others of transgression. Do not slander your neighbor, because he who does so has no remedy. Keep aloof from grumbling, for by grumbling you may come to growl at others, and it will be added to your transgressions. With seven patriarchs covenants were made, and they are: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Pinchas, and David--Abraham [Gen. xv. 18], Isaac [ibid. xvii. 21], Jacob [Lev. xxvi. 421, Moses [Ex. xxxiv. 271, Aaron [Numb. xviii. 19], Pinchas [ibid. xxv. 12], David [Ps. lxxxix. 41. Seven patriarchs are resting in glory, and worm and maggot do not affect their earthly remains, and they are: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Amram their father, and, according to others, also David, as it is written [ibid. xvi. 9]: "Therefore is rejoiced my heart,and my spirit is glad; also my flesh shall rest in safety." Nine entered the Garden of Eden when they were still alive, and they are: Enoch (Chanoch) the son of Jared, Elijah Messiah, Eliezer the bondsman of Abraham, Hirom the king of Zor, Ebed-melech the Cushi [Jer. xxxviii. 7], and Jabetz the son of R. Jehudah the Prince, Bothiah the daughter of Pharaoh and Serech the daughter of Ascher, and, according to others, also R. Jehoshua b. Levi.''
Let us work only with the second sentence today. And let us start with the first half of this: ''Subject your will to the will of others, as was done by Leah for Rachel and by David for Saul.''
Judaism teaches us that one of our highest values is shalom, peace. Gadol ha Shalom, the Midrash Rabbah teaches, great is peace. Even one of God's names is Shalom. [ Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 10a].
Using a mundane example, if my wife and I are watching TV, and she wants to watch one show and me another, it is more important for shalom byat, peace in the house, that I agree to watch her show with her, rather than she or I go to another room to each watch our own shows on our own TVs. Good relations trumps individual will and wants.
We see a great example of this with Abraham and Lot. Both of their herds have grown and Lot believes they need to split and each go to a different place. Look how Abraham handles this situation, calmly, and lovingly. Gen. 13: 8-9: '' So Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left."
On the other hand look how many of our business relations or marriages have ended. They end with strife, makloket. Avoiding strife is a Torah mitzvah when we are commanded to not be like Korach. [Num. 17:05 ,Talmud Bavli Tractate Sanhedrin 110A ].
Notice how Abraham calls Lot his ''brother.'' Lot was Abraham's nephew. But we are to treat all of our fellows as siblings. Because as Malichi says : " Have we all not one Father? Hath not one God created us? Why should we deal treacherously every man against his brother ? (Mal. 2:10).'' Yet how many of us can tell family stories of siblings no longer speaking to one another because of fights over estates.
Now Talmud Derek Eretz Zuta 6:1 uses two examples of two Biblical characters who made their wills secondary to the wills of others. And in both cases for years these two did the opposite. So their coming around to do the 'right thing,' is significant. If the Tractate used Abraham as an example with Lot, it would not ring so loudly as Abraham was full of chesed, loving kindness. But we learn about Leah and David, and both are full of ego, full of their will, and lived a life of "my way or the highway.''
Leah was continually in competition with her sister Rachel. She stole Rachel's husband and was in a dead heat (pun intended) to produce him more sons than Rachel. As we read in chapter 30 of Genesis, we get to the point where Leah has 6 sons, her maid has two, and Rachel's maid has two. And now Leah is pregnant again. Now Leah knows Jacob wants and will have 12 sons. If Leah has a 7th son, the most Rachel could have is one. That would place her in a lower status than both maids. So Leah prays to God for a miracle, and God changes the male fetus into a female fetus. Leah gives birth to Dinah for the sake of Rachel's will. Rachel goes on to have Joseph and Benjamin.
Now you won't find this in the Torah. It is from Talmud Bavli Tractate Beracoth 60a.
Continuing, David is in a war with Saul. Saul is the old king and David is to be the new king. In reality a civil war is occurring in Judea. Each one is trying to kill the other. David and his men are hiding in a cave in Ein Gedi. Saul, not knowing they are there, enters this cave, one of hundreds in Ein Gedi, to urinate. [The Torah euphemistically says ''cover his feet,'' which means to urinate per Talmud Bavli Tractate Yebamoth 103a ].
David has his chance to kill Saul. But he doesn't. While Saul is concentrating on the task in hand, David sneaks up and cuts a piece of Saul's robe. [1 Sam.24:1-6]. David put Saul's will to live, above his (David's) will to win this war against Saul.
The sentence that we are studying from verse 6:1 continues: ''But ignore your will…for the will of Heaven.'' We are taught over and over in the Talmud that living a life doing our will is a life of dread. We will constantly step on the toes of others and they will retaliate. This is not a life of Shalom. This is the life of a wild dog, constantly have to watch and mark his territory.
Our will the Talmud teaches is ego. And ego is managed (mismanaged) by our yetzer ha ra, our inclination to do ill. One of the verses of the Talmud that I use as a prayer at least 3 times a day is : ''Rabban Gamliel ben Judah ha Nasi, would also say: Make that His will should be your will, so that He should make your will to be as His will. Nullify your will before His will," [Talmud Bavli Tractate Pirkei Avot 2:4]. If I do not ask God for His help to do His will, and not do my will, with my puny wants, I will make a mess of things.
Now the sentence of this verse, as well as this week's lesson ends with: But ignore even the will of others, for the will of Heaven, as we find by Jacob that he did not kiss Joseph (because he was engaged in prayer). This is a bit troubling, for the Talmud in Bavli Tractate Beracoth 19b-20a teaches us that all negative mitzvoth get set aside for the honor or well-being of another. Further in the Torah, Gen. 18:1, we see that Abraham interrupts his prayer and meditation and conversation with God to attend to the needs of three travelers who are hot, tired and hungry. And when we study Tractate Beracoth we find many rules about not interrupting prayer, but the rabbis decide that while we cannot have a long conversation, we certainly should stop for a second to say 'shalom,' to another.
They tell the story of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perachiah, who was in prayer and a student came up to say hello and the rabbi ignored him. The student took this as a slight, left Rabbinic Judaism for Hebraism, and became an enemy of the Jews and their Rabbis. [Talmud Bavli Tractate Sotah 47a].
Judaism teaches that there are only 2 times when God's will trumps our will to live. The first is if we are asked to participate in rape or incest. We should rather die. The second is if we are told we have to kill someone. (They are not talking about war, or a rodef, stalker). The Talmud tells us that no one's blood is more red than another's. We should rather die, than kill another innocent person. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Pesachim 25b).
The early sages did teach there was a third time, and that is if one forces us to worship another God. But soon it became clear that life is more important, and if someone has a sword to our throats and tells us to convert, we say ok. The reason for Kol Nidre (all vows), our prayers on Erev Yom Kippur is to back out of these forced conversions.
What we are really talking about is when our friends say to us: "Hey, we are at the Super Bowl, are wives are back home, let's go do ………." God's will for us comes first and we say 'no.'
The story of Channah and her seven sons, each of them dying one at a time because they wouldn't eat pork, is Hebraic and not Judaic.{2 Mac 7:2}. If someone puts a gun to our heads and demands we eat pork, we eat it.
In fact, in my opinion, Jacob not kissing his son Joseph [who he hadn't seen in many years and thinking he was dead], because he was praying, is Hebraic and foolish and not Judaic and loving.
When Jacob and Joseph meet after 22 years of separation, Joseph fell on Jacob's neck and wept greatly and continuously. However, Rashi explains that Jacob did not fall on Joseph's neck and did not kiss him. Instead, he was saying Shema at that moment. (Genesis 46:29) However the RambaN disagrees and translates the Torah as having Jacob falling on and kissing Joseph's neck as a parent's love for child is greater than a child's love for a parent. Also note that the Shema is given to the Hebrews in Deuteronomy, in the last month of Moses' life and the last weeks of the Hebrews in the Wilderness. This event takes place before Joseph dies, and the Hebrews are made slaves.
Next week, Baruch ha Shem, we will continue with more of verse 6:1 of Derek Eretz Zuta.
We discuss the aspects of this verse of Derek Eretz Zuta about negating our will for our fellows' will and for God's will throughout the majority of chapters in The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew as well as in most chapters of A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud .
What are your ideas about leading a life where you are able to negate your will and not feel a loss? How has learning to do God's will, and putting your friends' and family's will above yours affected your spiritual life? How has understanding the spiritual and ethical teaching of Judaism helped you live a happier life?
Next class, Baruch ha Shem, we will continue with Derek Eretz Zuta, continuing with more of the 6th verse of Chapter One. Thank you for joining me.
For those who want a d'var Torah on Parasha Tetzaveh from A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud or http://www.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/index.html#Compendium2
please click on: Click here: Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:EXODUS 27:20 - 30:10:PARASHA TETZAVEH:"OUR RABBIS,OURSELVES" or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2008/07/rabbi-arthur-segalexodus-2720.html
Shalom:
Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
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Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
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Maker of Shalom (Oseh Shalom) help make us deserving of Shalom beyond all human comprehension!
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