RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:GOD'S EXCOMMUNICATION

 RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:GOD'S EXCOMMUNICATION

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: TALMUD YERUSHALMI BIKKURIM:AGING WITH GOD: COUNTING THE OMER

 RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: TALMUD YERUSHALMI BIKKURIM: AGING WITH GOD: COUNTING THE OMER 

 

During the season of counting the Omer, the 7 weeks between the end of the first full day of Passover and Shavuot, the sages teach us that we are to take stock of ourselves spiritually.

 

The Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Bikkurim 2:1 tells us that if one is condemned to Divine excommunication because of various types of sins, he will die at fifty years of age.  But what is someone lives beyond 50?   The Talmud Yerushalmi gives the following explanation:

''As to death at the age of 52, that is the age at which the prophet Samuel
died.
He who dies at 60 dies in the way the Torah refers to death.
Death at the age of 70 is death as an act of love.
Death at the age of 80 is true old age.
From that age onward, life is a life of pain. ''

 

Mishna Pirkei Avot 5:24 gives a different view as does the Talmud Bavli.

 

The concept of aging and the passages of our lives have intrigued our sages, and their commentaries on the first verse of parasha Chayei Sarah (Gen 23:1) parallels, in a feminine  way, the verses from Yerushalmi,  Pirkei Avot, and Bavli .'' And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah." The sages tell us that at 100 she was as sinless 20 year old, for until the age of 20, one does not suffer Heavenly punishment. And at 20, Sarah still had the wholesome beauty of a seven year old who does not use cosmetics and whose beauty is natural.

 

Why are there differences in Bavli and Yerushalmi and Pirkei concerning aging and death?

 

As always we need to read the Talmud, a 1000 year old text, through the eyes, of history of the time it was written.

 

Who was, and when did, Rabbi Judah ben Teima write, as quoted in Pirkie Avot 5:24? :''At five years old a person should study the Scriptures, at ten years for the Mishnah, at thirteen for the commandments, at fifteen for the Talmud, at eighteen for the bride chamber, at twenty for one's life pursuit, at thirty for authority, at forty for discernment, at fifty for counsel, at sixty to be an elder, at seventy for gray hairs, at eighty for special strength (Psalm 90:10), at ninety for decrepitude, and at a hundred a man is as one who has already died and has ceased from the affairs of this world.''

 

According to some sources Ben Teima was one of our ten Martyred rabbis killed horrendously by the Romans, Rabbi Avika, being one, a bit after 100 CE. Other sources say he has not among these men.

 

But it still remains that there was certainly a difference among the life style of Jews living in what is now Iraq and Iran and those living in what is now Israel. One group had relative religious freedom as well as freedom to prosper, while the other group was under constant fear of the Roman sword and harsh punishment. Death and aging could be philosophically discussed in Bavli, while in Yerushalmi it was an ever present reminder of reality. Further, if it wasn't the Romans who were killing Jews and their rabbis, a few years back the Jews own Hasmonean Priest-linked kings were doing the killing. It was said that so many rabbis were killed by the Hasmonean kings (the unkind descendents of the Maccabee heroes), that a Hasmonean king could not get a rabbinic minyon for a Birkot ha Mazon (just two other rabbis!).

 

Moded Katan 28A in Bavli speaks of death in a natural way, and of course by God's will:

Sudden Death is called "Chatufah [Snatched]" [unless he is in his 80's]:
Death after 1 day's illness is "Dechufah [Rushed]" or is from a Plague:

Death after 2 days' illness is "Dechuyah [Delayed]":

Death after 3 days' illness is "Gearah [Rebuke]":
Death after 4 days' illness is "Nezifah [Scolding]":
Death after 5 days' illness is Normal.

 

Death between the ages of 50 and 60, or just death at 50, is that of  Divine karet (excommunication) " 

Death at 60 is considered to be Divinely Ordered Death.

 

But yet the Rabbis posit in Yuma 74a, Pesachim 59a ,32a,  Makkot 13a ,13b, 14a, 14b, 23a, 23b, Megillah 7b, Shabbat 69a, 70b, 73a, Succah 41b, 42a, not only 'sins' that can bring about Divine death karet, but also ways that humans can do teshuvah for such. While some of these involved 39 lashes, and some just involved fines, they certainly did not involve the Roman  sword , being burnt alive, being nailed to a cross, or having one's skin pealed off. In other words, Jews in Bavli could control God's judgement with human intervention. Jews under Roman rule had some years where they had some autonomy, but for the most part were at Roman mercy.

 

The Talmud in Tractate Rosh ha Shana 10b-11a, says that when Rav Yosef reached the age of sixty, he made a festival for his rabbinical colleagues. Upon their questioning, he explained that he made the party because now that he reached the age of sixty years old, he can no longer be punished with divine excommunication.

 

Rabbi Reiser opines: The discussion in Talmud Yerushalmi  Bikkurim grows from a discussion about karet, someone being cut off from the community.  The setting is one of transgression, so when we read at the end of the list that beyond age 80, a life of pain, it fits with the notion of death as punishment.  In Talmud Bavli Moed Katan the discussion opens with the assertion that Miriam died with a kiss from God, the same as Moses. 

 

Then two analogies are offered to prove that the death of tzadikkim offers atonement.  A brief interlude about
sudden death (which is found lower down on the page in the Yerushalmi) is followed by the parallel to the Yerushalmi passage.  With minor changes of wording the description of death at 50, 52 and 60 is the same. Seventy is
described in the Bavli as seva, venerable old age, but in the Yerushalmi as an act of love.  Eighty in the Bavli is gevurot, strength, in the Yerushalmi, zikna, true old age or fraility.

 

The Bavli ends the section commenting on the sudden death of Rabbi Huna with the note that if one has
achieved the age of 80, they die as with a kiss of God.

The Bavli offers a more comforting portrait of death.  Aging leads to strength, not frailty or pain.  Death may come with atonement or, even better, with a Divine kiss, not as exile.

One point that I find fascinating, which I touched on once in  a d'var Torah, RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL CHUMASH CANDESCENCE PARASHAT CHUKAT+BALAK NUMBERS 19:01-25:07 is this concept: "Why is the death of Miriam juxtaposed to the laws of the Parah Adumah? This teaches that just as the Parah Adumah brings atonement, so too, the death of the righteous brings atonement." [Moed Katan 28a].

 

The Torah relates that Moshe died al pi haShem, literally "by the mouth of God," which the Midrash takes to mean by a Divine kiss. The Talmud in Moed Katan (28a) tells us that Miriam, like her brother Moshe, died a mitat neshika, with the kiss of the Almighty, but the Torah does not even hint at it in her case because ein zeh derech kavod shel Ma'alah, "it is not in God's honor." At face value, the Midrash is telling us that the Torah censored itself lest God's kiss to Miriam serve as subject matter for irreverent comments. (God could create a naked young Eve, but couldn't give a kiss of kindness on the lips of the elderly Miriam as ''people would do loshan ha ra '' about Him. ???)

 

But the concept of a Tzaddik dying for the sins of others as a Jewish concept is fascinating as it is the basis of Christianity. All of my life I have heard one of the main reasons Jews reject Christianity, is that one can not die for the sins of others.

 

Birthdays also were not a Jewish celebration time. The only birthday celebration mentioned in the Torah is Pharaoh's and that was pagan-like as he was worshipped as a god. But the Psalm that Rabbi Ben Teima quotes, 90:10, tells us to thank God, if we reach 70 or even 80. Talmud Bavli Tractate Avodah Zarah 3:1 speaks of pagan rulers birthday celebrations but is silent about Jews celebrating birthdays. Yet Talmud Bavli Tractate Kiddushin 72b gives us a list of rabbis who were born on the same day another rabbi died and suggests its good to celebrate birthdays.

 

We also need to remember that Rabbinic Judaism  was being established and just as the book of Joshua has many '' Moses parallels'' in it to make sure he is the new qualified leader (Joshua splits the Jordan, he established two tablets of the law, he does a mass circumcision paralleling  Abraham etc), the Talmud and Rabbinic literature uses age to establish their leaders to parallel those of the Torah.

 

We are not even sure that Rabbi Hillel existed. His name is derived we are taught from Hallel, to praise. Rav Levi found a scroll stating Hillel was from the Davidic line (Genesis Rabbah 98.9). But as age is concerned, we are taught by our sages, that Rabbis Hillel, Yochana ben Zakkai, and Akiva all died at 120, like Moses. And just as Moses was in Egypt for 40 years, Hillel was in Babylon for 40 years. Just as Moses served Yitro (his teacher and father- in- law) in Midean for 40 years, Hillel served his teachers for 40 years, and just as Moses led the Hebrew people for 40 years, Hillel led the Jewish people for 40 years. (Sifre Deut. 357).

 

Further, Hillel is linked to Ezra who reestablished the Temple and Torah, while Hillel established Judaism and the Oral Torah (Talmud Bavli Tractate Sukkoth 20a). Even further, Talmud Bavli Tractate Sotah 48b, has a Bat Kol (Divine voice) pronouncing that the Shekanah rests on Hillel as a pious man.

 

But the most amazing parallel come from the story of Hillel, too poor to pay for Torah study, on the roof top, who falls asleep under and blanket of snow, who is rescued by the Talmud teachers and fellow students, who is undressed, bathed, brought before a warm fire, and dressed and allowed entry to the Talmud academy. Compare that to the investment ceremony of the Hebrew priests. 

 

Rabbi Ibn Pekudah, the author of ''Duties of the Heart'', from 11th century Spain, writes that days are like scrolls, and we should only do actions that we want written down and remembered. With us counting the Omer now, bringing us in about 6 more weeks to Shavuot, where each year we hopefully have grown more spiritually, the Talmudic sages took this agricultural festival and turned it into a spiritual one. We are reminded by counting the omer, to make each day count in our lives.

 

I posit that the rabbis writing in Babylon lived in a different time and place than those writing in Judea.

 

I was invited to do some brachoth for a woman celebrating her 99th birthday a month ago.  And when at the end of the various traditional brachoth, I asked God to grant her to live to be 120 years, like Moshe Rabbanu, she said :''Excuse me Rabbi, could you please ask God to grant me to live 120 years and 3 months?''. Her nephew, in his mid- 60s, who made the party, asked her ''Why?", and she answered: "So I can enjoy my last birthday and not die on it."

 

As always, the sages are not really discussing aging, but are discussing living. Hillel and Moses were both 80 when they became leaders, and led for 40 years till they were 120. Their 80s were like others 30s. Yet we all know many who are 50, who are dead inside, as if they were 90. When we go into the texts, quoted above, and see what defects of character, drive a person, into old age, even death, even Divine excommunication, at a young age, we can see, that it is all spiritual disconnection from God and from our fellows. 

 

While many are indeed  correct that we must take care of our health and eat right and exercise, and not just sit around meditating on our navels, those who have picked up the yoke of God, find all other earthly  yokes have fallen from their shoulders, and the sages say will live long productive lives. While those who are still trying to be their own ''Adon Olam'', will find that burden too awesome, and will drive themselves out of this world. Those who have a personal relationship with God, will live a life of gratitude and not a life of self pity. As we age, we need to sage and not sag. We need to live toward life and not look towards death.

 

May God grant us all long, healthy lives to do His will.

 

Shalom and blessings,

Rabbi Arthur Segal

JEWISH RENEWAL:

JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

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SAVANNAH, GA

 

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