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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:YOM KIPPUR:TESHUVAH
Jewish Spiritual Renewal: Shabbat 10/11/08 Hebrew College,MA,USA
Shalom Chaverim v'Talmudim:
I hope your Rosh Ha Shana was spiritual and that you are using these ten day of awe and wonderment to utilize all that we have discussed in our steps toward Jewish Spiritual Renewal.
This past weekend's Shabbat was called ''Shuvah'', as in return. So many Jews get burnt out on Rosh Ha Shana and the upcoming Yom Kippur services, that many pulpit rabbis, which Baruch Ha Shem I am not, call the Shabbat the "Sabbath of no return.''
It is not by chance that from Selicoth thru Simchat Torah, every step we have learned in detail, is integrated into these holidays and into our readings and liturgy.
And it was not by chance that our tutorial ended last week when it did. For those interested in reviewing these steps, or who have come into the class late, you can access all classes on shamash.org or email me and I can copy and paste classes to. The Book of Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path for Transformation for the Modern Jew is in the process of being published.
Ok. With Yom Kippur beginning on the eve of October 8th, one of the biggest chets that the Talmud, over and over, wants us to try to amend, and repair, are our poor relations with others. We all have them. I earnestly beg you with all the humility in my heart, that if you have any ill will toward any human, for any reason, to pocket your pride and make shalom with that person.
We are taught repeatedly that we are all related not just via DNA, or because we have one set of human parents, but because we all have one Divine Parent. We are all made from the same 'stuff.' There is no part of another, that is not part of us. Hating another, holding a grudge toward another, is actually self hatred.
We cannot be integrated and have shlema, wholeness, true shalom and serenity, if we harbor jealousy or any ill will toward another. The true test of having belief, trust, faith and experience with God, is knowing that God gives us everything we need. Hence another person cannot take anything from us, if we have negated our egos, and our puny wills, to do God's.
One cannot even hold a grudge to one's ex wife or the fellow she left with, because we do not own people or their emotions. As the Talmud tells us on the 5th page of its very first book (Beracoth), when bad things happen, we are to look inside ourselves to the answer and not blame others. If we were better spouses, most likely, our wives and husbands wouldn't be looking elsewhere.....or if we married for non-selfish reasons, we wouldn't have a spouse who also is selfish, who has decided we have outlived our usefulness.
Hence it is we, due to our ego, and our self, that makes decisions out of self, that leds to problems later on, that we created. As we discussed, we are our own jailors. We schlep ourselves back to Mitzraim. And we hold the key, with God's aid, to our salvation and release from bondage.
In reality, as we have learned, there are no human relations- ill-affairs that are caused in a vacuum, and we all play some negative role. We may have only played 5% to someone's 95% but we do owe amends for that 5% withOUT mentioning the other parties 95% role.
Hence the sages ask us, if we have set things right, with another, to please do so now.
I would like to share a bit of Talmud of two great sages, who with all of their years of doing wonderful mitzvoth, and great debates, and Talmudic conclusions, are remembered for a stupid feud and a ruination of a life-long friendship. This is not how God wants us to behave, and no one is immune to this behavior, whether a Talmudic scholar, a rabbi, a congregant, etc. But we do have a way out, via Teshuvah. Please try to bring shalom among you and anyone, especially family members, before Yom Kippur.
You will be glad that you did.
(below, will be our usually d'var torah for our Shabbat this weekend, and also a Q and A from a Talmid.)
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:YOCHANAN+LAKISH
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:YOCHANAN+LAKISH
Talmud Discourse: A Wasted Friendship
One of Judaism's highest values, besides life itself, is Shalom. Without peace, both inside us and about us, we cannot even enjoy the gift of life that G!D has granted us.
Yet as flawed humans, we will continue to find ourselves in situations that detract from our serenity. At those times, it is imperative to draw upon the strength and wisdom that G!D provides us not to make matters worse, and to remember the teachings of our sages, and learn from their errors.
The Talmud tells the story of two friends who let an argument get in the way of their friendship. It is sad tale. It is from Tractate Bavli Bava Metzia 84 A.
Rabbi Yochanan who was becoming a respected Talmudic scholar and would eventually help redact the Yerushalmi Talmud was swimming in the Jordan River near his home in the Galilee. The Talmud relates many times how handsome Yochanan was.
Another fellow jumps into the Jordan. Yochanan recognizes him as Shimon ben Lakish, a gladiator and a bandit, as well as a Jew. Yochanan says to this muscular man : "Your strength was meant for Torah!"
"And your beauty was meant for women!" replied the robber.
"Do Teshuva, return to the Torah of your youth and you can marry my sister, who is even more beautiful than I !" countered Rabbi Yochanan.
The bandit, Shimon, agreed, and for 70 years these two men, now brother-in-laws, become Talmud study partners. The great Yochanan called Shimon his "right hand."
They argued about every Mishna but they were true friends.
Until the fateful day arrived. The question being discussed was : When can a sword, SAYIF , knife, SAKIN , a long knife, PAGYON , spear , ROMACH , a hand sickle, MAGAL YAD, sickle for harvesting ,MAGAL KATZIR , become ritually unclean,(tamay)?
All the rabbis agreed that these items can become ritually unclean when the smith is finished making them.
The question then was asked: " when is the manufacturing process complete?"
The younger rabbis turned to the elder rabbis Yochanan and Shimon for the answers.
Sure enough, an argument ensued. Rabbi Yochanan said, "They can become ritually unclean from the time they are shaped by fire in the furnace." MISHE'YETZARFEM B'CHIVSHAN
Rabbi Shimon said, "They can become ritually unclean only after they have been polished with water." MISHE'YETZACHTZECHEN B'MAYIM
For those of us blessed to have studied and continue to study Talmud, we note an error in both rabbis' opinions. The Mishnah on vessels and utensils (Kaylim) states when the manufacturing process is considered completed for each kind of knife or bladed object. Yochanan and Shimon's opinions disagree with the Mishna.
"Well, a bandit surely knows banditry!" LISTA'AH B'LISTEYUSEI YADA exclaims Rabbi Yochanan, in response to Rabbi Shimon's answer. He brings up Rabbi Shimon's past for which he has certainly has done teshuvah (amends).
"What good have you done for me?" queries Rabbi Shimon. "Before, they my fellow robbers - called me, Rebbi, and here in the Yeshiva - they call me, Rebbi." (When Shimon was a bandit, he was the head of a tribe of bandits).
"The good I have done for you," replied Rabbi Yochanan, "is that I have brought you under the wings of the Shechinah."
Rabbi Yochanan became so upset that he could not think straight
Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish became deathly sick from this argument. CHALASH REISH LAKISH
While Shimon lay dying, his wife ran to her brother. She begged Yochanan to pray for his friend Shimon. Rabbi Yochanan refused.
"Do it for his children so they will not become orphans."
Rabbi Yochanan answered by quoting the prophet, Jeremiah (49:11), "She has left orphans, I will support them." AZVAH YESOMECHA, ANI ACHAYEH.
Yochanan's sister, Shimon's wife, yelled "Do it so I will not become a widow!"
Again her brother replied with a quote, the remainder of the verse from Jeremiah, "Your widows will trust in me." V'ALMENOSECHA ALAI TIVTACHU.
Raish Lakish died. NACH NAFSHEI D'REBBI SHIMON BEN LAKISH .
Rabbi Yochanan was very remorseful.HAVAH KA MITZTA'ER REBBI YOCHANAN BASREI TUVA. He had difficulty studying. Rabbi Elazar, the brightest student was sent to study with him. Every time Rabbi Yochanan would say something, Rabbi Elazar would quote a bit of Mishna material to support it. He was the ultimate ''yes man."
Yochanan, enormously frustrated, said to Rabbi Elazar, "Are you like Shimon? Shimon would give me 24 questions and I'd give 24 answers. This is how Talmud grows. All you do is support my opinion.'' Rabbi Yochanan turned away and began to cry. "Where is Shimon ben Lakish? Where is Shimon ben Lakish?" He asked over and over again, screaming, HAVAH KA TZAVACH, until he became totally confused and lost his mind. AD D'SHAF DA'ATEI MINEI.
The Rabbis prayed that God have mercy and compassion for their colleague, Rabbi Yochanan. As a result, he, too, died.
What is the Talmud trying to teach us? The story of a fight, literally to the death, is absurd. But when we look at our own lives, haven't we have arguments with people, even family members, over similar stupid things?
These two rabbis are not arguing over knives. They are arguing over Teshuvah, repentance, forgiveness.
You see, a knife cannot not become ritually impure. Only something that is considered ritually pure (Taharah) can become impure.
The question therefore is when does someone who returns to G!D, what we call a Ba'al Teshuvah, finish the process of amends making? When does a Ba'al Teshuvah become "taharah" so that this person can do something so profane to make themselves back to the way they were before they changed from their misguided ways?
The Teshuvah process is completed, according to Yochanan, when the past life has been burnt away making a new person.
The process is completed, according to Shimon, (the Ba'al Teshuvah) when the person has been cleaned by water. Water is one of the Talmudic symbols for Torah. Even if the Ba'al Teshuvah still has elements of his past days, if he has adopted the yoke of Torah, and Mitzvoth, his Teshuvah is complete.
Yochanan bringing up Shimon's old knowledge of knives after all of these years is cruel. He is saying to Shimon that with all of his Torah and Talmud study,with all of his being a good husband to his sister, and with all of his mitzvoth, he is still a bandit.
Yochanan believes there is no life but a life ''of Torah''. He taught in Mishna Pirkie Avot (5:22), "Turn the Torah over again and again, for everything is in it." Anything outside the world of Torah is unclean and impure. Yochanan lives in a world of white and black. Torah or not Torah. Pure or impure.
Rabbi Shimon lived a life "with Torah." Being a Jew, in modern terms, does not mean giving up the arts, or sports, or having non-Jewish friends (as long as they respect our religion and are not trying to covert us). We can live in a world of black and white, but that is mostly in shades of gray, using Torah and prayer to help us do what is right and just in G!D's eyes. Shimon's knowing about knives after 70 years of Talmud study, no more made him a bandit, then a Rabbi telling a mildly ribald joke to a group of adults makes him a pervert.
Yochanan's lament of "Oh, Shimon ben Lakish! Oh, Shimon ben Lakish! Where are you now?!" is too little, too late. It is too late to say, "I am sorry." It is too late to say," I was wrong." It is too late for Yochanan to do teshuvah, to make amends, to Shimon as he is dead.
Seventy years of Talmud study, along with being an author of the Yesushalmi Talmud, and an angry moment is for what Yochanan is remembered. Anger is an issue that the Sages discuss quite thoroughly. The Talmud [Bavli Tractate Nedarim 22 A,B] offers a number of varied teachings about anger: The Shechinah is of no importance to those who get angry; one who gets angry forgets that which he has learned; all types of Gehinnom (Hell) rule over a person who gets angry. Elsewhere in the Talmud [Bavli Tractate Pesachim 66B], Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish taught that if a chacham (wise person) gets angry, his wisdom will leave him. Little did he know that he was forecasting his own death from the harsh words of his friend and brother-in-law, Rabbi Yochanan.
We can quote all of the Torah, Talmud, Midrash, Bible, we want. We can teach it to our children, or visit folks in hospitals and old age homes, and read Bible stories to them. We can even do an appointed time bound mitzvoth, like cooking and serving food to the needy, on a specific day and time. We can write checks to charity (tzadakah) or to our synagogues. But if we truly do not live a life ''with Torah", and are just living a life "of Torah," or ''using Torah'', we are only fooling ourselves.
Let us not make the errors of Yochanan and Shimon. Let us heal wounds with friends and family. Let us be like the Talmudim (disciples) of Aaron, loving peace, (ahavath shalom), pursuing peace (rodef shalom) and bring people closer to Torah ,G!D, and to one another.
Shalom v'brachoth:
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
via Shamash on-line class service
JEWISH RENEWAL:
JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
HILTON HEAD ISLAND,SC
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Ok, the question from Talmud Ben: is it proper when davening alone to also recite aveinu malkeinu? selichot?
My Answer: Ben: Your asking questions of halakah and loosing all spirituality. Do you think God cares if you are alone and you with true kavenah, spiritual intention, call upon his as Your Father, Your King, and make penitential prayers?? Please read the class on praying and meditating again. and if you still have this question, then we need to discuss what kavenah means, vis a vis, ritual minutia and minhag.
Our d'var:
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:CHUMASH CANDESCENCE PARASHA HA'AZINU DEUTERONOMY 32:01-32:52
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:CHUMASH CANDESCENCE PARASHA HA'AZINU : DEUTERONOMY 32:01-32:52
CHUMASH CANDESCENCE
PARASHA HA'AZINU
DEUTERONOMY 32:01-32:52
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
via Shamash on-line class service
JEWISH RENEWAL:
JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
HILTON HEAD ISLAND,SC
BLUFFTON,SC
SAVANNAH, GA
"Comin' Around, Comin' Around Again"
SYNOPTIC ABSTRACT:
In the Torah portion two weeks ago, Moses is commanded by God to write a
poetic song to the Israelites. I hated, when as a kid, my class was
assigned a poetry-writing lesson. But Moses, ever faithful to God's
orders, writes this 47-verse poem which makes up 90% of this week's
parasha. When he is done, God tells him it is time to die. Was this poem
out of rhythm or meter? Was there too much or not enough onomatopoeia or
alliteration? To find out some short (in deference to the days we have
spent in synagogue on Rosh Ha shanah and the long day of Yom Kippur to
come) insights into this parasha and its Haftarah, please read on.
Moses's song begins,"Give ear"(ha'azinu). This is where the name of this
week's parasha is derived (Deut. 32:01). The theme is that Israel will
sin, will suffer, will repent, and will be saved by God. Traditionally,
it is believed that this song is prophecy. As per the critical theory of
Biblical authorship, which was discussed in Deuteronomy's first D'var
Torah in this series, this chapter was written after the return from the
Babylonian exile. It is therefore putting a divine meaning of punishment
onto their exile, as well as a meaning of divine intervention for
Israel's return to their land. It ignores, therefore, the historical
realities of the day. Big nations were conquering little nations. But
Judaism is more than a nation. It is a philosophy of ethical living, and
hence is borderless.
Israel and Judah were taken captive not because God
punished the Jews. Israel and Judah were taken captive because they were
militarily weaker than other nations around them. Judah returned to the
"promised land" because the Persians conquered the Babylonians. Persian
King Cyrus, who felt the Jews were loyal to him, wanted them in this
territory, and not the people that the Babylonians imported to live
there in the Jews' absence. The Jewish people stayed alive under
Babylonian and Persian rule because they kept their core beliefs, but
adapted to the new environment. Ironically, when the call was given to
return to the land of Israel, most Jews stayed in what is now Iraq and
Iran.
There are some interesting points that we can glean from this portion.
Talmud Tractate Berachot 21A derives the rule of saying a prayer before
Torah study from verse 32:3-4. It also decree that when three or more eat
together, one should call upon the others to recite the "Grace after the
Meal" (birkat hamazon). This is why you hear Grace begin with, "chaveirim
va chaveirot n'vareich"(friends {male and female}, let us praise).
Traditionally, the call is "rabbotie n'vareich" which is asking men, or
rabbis, to praise God.
A timeless bit of truth ,to those who are students of history, is
included in Moses's song. He says in verses 32:15-18, that Israel became
fortunate and lost her moral compass. People are prone to "indulge their
lusts when they have the resources to do so," says rabbi Nosson
Scherman. Israel, like other nations before it, and other nations after
it, failed the test.
As the modern Jewish poet and song writer Bob Dylan
writes,"the first one now will later be last." Israel, called "Jeshurun"
became "fat, thick and corpulent." Jeshurun, in Hebrew, means upright,
straight and unbending. Orthodox means the same thing. Yet, even though
they followed the ritual and brought sacrifices to God, they succumbed.
Why? Their morals and ethics were forgotten. They did not take care of
the poor in their land. They treated each other horribly. Their very
nation, rich and powerful under King Solomon split in two a generation
later. Jews fought with Jews. Rituals were done, but hatred and pride
were in their hearts. Moses is warning us, and all nations, that is it
important not to forget the ethics, morals, and man-to-man laws when we
become successful. This admonition is great advice not only to the
leaders of our country, but to us as individuals.
Because this is the High Holy Day season, the days of Awe between Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Moses's song promises redemption to the sinning
nation and to sinning individuals. But Moses himself does not spare
punishment for his transgression when he hit the rock, instead of
speaking to it, in the wilderness. God tells Moses to climb Mount Nebo,
look at the promised land that he will not be allowed to enter, and die
there. This parasha, the second to the last of the Chumash, ends here.
This Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is called Shabbat
Shuvah, the Sabbath of Return. It gets it name from the first word of
this week's Haftarah. The Haftarah is made from three sections from three
different prophetic writings: Hosea 14:2-10, Joel 2:11-27, and Micah
7:18-20. Hosea 14:02 begins, "Return oh Israel, to God." Because of the
busyness of the two holidays, our synagogues are sometimes not quite full
on this Sabbath, giving it another name, "Shabbat of No Return."
The theme of these three prophets which make up this Haftarah is that
"the gates of repentance are always open"(Mishna Deut. Rabbah). No matter
how much we have sinned, if we make a sincere effort to change, we are
not lost. "Who , oh God, is like You, Who pardons iniquity and overlooks
transgression?"(Micah 7:18).
At our Tashlich service, after the Rosh
Hashanah service, we "cast bread upon the waters." This symbolizes our
desire to get rid of our bad habits and strive to be better people. "Cast
into the depths of the sea, all your sins"(Micah 7:19). And what does the
Micah say God wants from us on this last Shabbat before we traditionally
believe our fate is sealed on Yom Kippur?? Is he browbeating us to keep
the dietary laws, or pray three times a day? No. "He (God) desires
kindness!"(Micah 7:18). The word "chesed" (kindness or mercy) appears
often during this most holiest time of the year. We ask God for chesed
when we say "grant kindness to Abraham"(Micah 7:20). In return, God asks
us for chesed to each other.
Many Jews have asked me why their Tashlik does not work. They cast all of their sins upon the water and walk back to their cars and the sins hop back unto them. Their rabbis or temple lay leaders have not explained the Talmudic Teshuvah process.
First one must accept God. There really is no getting around this.
Secondly one must accept the fact that we have a yetzer ha ra, an evil inclination, and without God's help, to turn our will to be aligned with His, we will continue to do our will.
Thirdly, we must decide once and for all to put our lives and will into God's loving hands. The mishnah says that when we pick up the yoke of God, all other yokes fall from our shoulders.
Fourth, we must do a chesbon ha nefesh, and written complete moral inventory of our soul, and honestly list our defects of character and those to whom we hold grudges.
Five, we must do vidui, confession, to God and to our rabbi or Talmud or Torah study partner,... someone who knows us well, to make sure we are not holding back.
And sixth, and here is the catch all, we must find the fact that we have these 'sins' and these grudges objectionable and abhorrent to us. It is not enough that our nagging spouse finds them horrid. We must.
Adding this 6 steps together, we then can do the 7th step and ask God to take these sins and resentments away from us by doing tashlik. But the work still is not done.
When we walk back up the hill from the moving body of water, we must immediately begin to seek out those we have harmed with our sins and resentments, putting aside what they have done to us, and make face to face teshuvah, amends, to them. If they refuse to see us, we try three times. If they are dead, we go with another, to their grave and make teshuvah. And each day there after, we ask God to keep us from these defects and from anger, so we don't sin again or develop new resentments.
The Midrash says that we know God has forgiven us our sins, when we are faced with the opportunity to sin, and we do not. The Talmud tells us that anyone who comes away from prayer, Tephelia, self judgement, not being a bit of a better person, has not prayer properly.
May we all on this Shabbat of Return vow to return to the ethics, values,
caring, and compassion that sustains our people and great nations. May
we pray that we, as well as our leaders, use our personal and nation's
resources to help those in need. May we all inscribe ourselves and each
other into the "Book of Life" this year. La Shana Tova! Amen.
Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
via Shamash on-line class service
JEWISH RENEWAL:
JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
HILTON HEAD ISLAND,SC
BLUFFTON,SC
SAVANNAH, GA
Shalom Chaverim v'Talmudim:
I hope your Rosh Ha Shana was spiritual and that you are using these ten day of awe and wonderment to utilize all that we have discussed in our steps toward Jewish Spiritual Renewal.
This past weekend's Shabbat was called ''Shuvah'', as in return. So many Jews get burnt out on Rosh Ha Shana and the upcoming Yom Kippur services, that many pulpit rabbis, which Baruch Ha Shem I am not, call the Shabbat the "Sabbath of no return.''
It is not by chance that from Selicoth thru Simchat Torah, every step we have learned in detail, is integrated into these holidays and into our readings and liturgy.
And it was not by chance that our tutorial ended last week when it did. For those interested in reviewing these steps, or who have come into the class late, you can access all classes on shamash.org or email me and I can copy and paste classes to. The Book of Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path for Transformation for the Modern Jew is in the process of being published.
Ok. With Yom Kippur beginning on the eve of October 8th, one of the biggest chets that the Talmud, over and over, wants us to try to amend, and repair, are our poor relations with others. We all have them. I earnestly beg you with all the humility in my heart, that if you have any ill will toward any human, for any reason, to pocket your pride and make shalom with that person.
We are taught repeatedly that we are all related not just via DNA, or because we have one set of human parents, but because we all have one Divine Parent. We are all made from the same 'stuff.' There is no part of another, that is not part of us. Hating another, holding a grudge toward another, is actually self hatred.
We cannot be integrated and have shlema, wholeness, true shalom and serenity, if we harbor jealousy or any ill will toward another. The true test of having belief, trust, faith and experience with God, is knowing that God gives us everything we need. Hence another person cannot take anything from us, if we have negated our egos, and our puny wills, to do God's.
One cannot even hold a grudge to one's ex wife or the fellow she left with, because we do not own people or their emotions. As the Talmud tells us on the 5th page of its very first book (Beracoth), when bad things happen, we are to look inside ourselves to the answer and not blame others. If we were better spouses, most likely, our wives and husbands wouldn't be looking elsewhere.....or if we married for non-selfish reasons, we wouldn't have a spouse who also is selfish, who has decided we have outlived our usefulness.
Hence it is we, due to our ego, and our self, that makes decisions out of self, that leds to problems later on, that we created. As we discussed, we are our own jailors. We schlep ourselves back to Mitzraim. And we hold the key, with God's aid, to our salvation and release from bondage.
In reality, as we have learned, there are no human relations- ill-affairs that are caused in a vacuum, and we all play some negative role. We may have only played 5% to someone's 95% but we do owe amends for that 5% withOUT mentioning the other parties 95% role.
Hence the sages ask us, if we have set things right, with another, to please do so now.
I would like to share a bit of Talmud of two great sages, who with all of their years of doing wonderful mitzvoth, and great debates, and Talmudic conclusions, are remembered for a stupid feud and a ruination of a life-long friendship. This is not how God wants us to behave, and no one is immune to this behavior, whether a Talmudic scholar, a rabbi, a congregant, etc. But we do have a way out, via Teshuvah. Please try to bring shalom among you and anyone, especially family members, before Yom Kippur.
You will be glad that you did.
(below, will be our usually d'var torah for our Shabbat this weekend, and also a Q and A from a Talmid.)
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:YOCHANAN+LAKISH
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:YOCHANAN+LAKISH
Talmud Discourse: A Wasted Friendship
One of Judaism's highest values, besides life itself, is Shalom. Without peace, both inside us and about us, we cannot even enjoy the gift of life that G!D has granted us.
Yet as flawed humans, we will continue to find ourselves in situations that detract from our serenity. At those times, it is imperative to draw upon the strength and wisdom that G!D provides us not to make matters worse, and to remember the teachings of our sages, and learn from their errors.
The Talmud tells the story of two friends who let an argument get in the way of their friendship. It is sad tale. It is from Tractate Bavli Bava Metzia 84 A.
Rabbi Yochanan who was becoming a respected Talmudic scholar and would eventually help redact the Yerushalmi Talmud was swimming in the Jordan River near his home in the Galilee. The Talmud relates many times how handsome Yochanan was.
Another fellow jumps into the Jordan. Yochanan recognizes him as Shimon ben Lakish, a gladiator and a bandit, as well as a Jew. Yochanan says to this muscular man : "Your strength was meant for Torah!"
"And your beauty was meant for women!" replied the robber.
"Do Teshuva, return to the Torah of your youth and you can marry my sister, who is even more beautiful than I !" countered Rabbi Yochanan.
The bandit, Shimon, agreed, and for 70 years these two men, now brother-in-laws, become Talmud study partners. The great Yochanan called Shimon his "right hand."
They argued about every Mishna but they were true friends.
Until the fateful day arrived. The question being discussed was : When can a sword, SAYIF , knife, SAKIN , a long knife, PAGYON , spear , ROMACH , a hand sickle, MAGAL YAD, sickle for harvesting ,MAGAL KATZIR , become ritually unclean,(tamay)?
All the rabbis agreed that these items can become ritually unclean when the smith is finished making them.
The question then was asked: " when is the manufacturing process complete?"
The younger rabbis turned to the elder rabbis Yochanan and Shimon for the answers.
Sure enough, an argument ensued. Rabbi Yochanan said, "They can become ritually unclean from the time they are shaped by fire in the furnace." MISHE'YETZARFEM B'CHIVSHAN
Rabbi Shimon said, "They can become ritually unclean only after they have been polished with water." MISHE'YETZACHTZECHEN B'MAYIM
For those of us blessed to have studied and continue to study Talmud, we note an error in both rabbis' opinions. The Mishnah on vessels and utensils (Kaylim) states when the manufacturing process is considered completed for each kind of knife or bladed object. Yochanan and Shimon's opinions disagree with the Mishna.
"Well, a bandit surely knows banditry!" LISTA'AH B'LISTEYUSEI YADA exclaims Rabbi Yochanan, in response to Rabbi Shimon's answer. He brings up Rabbi Shimon's past for which he has certainly has done teshuvah (amends).
"What good have you done for me?" queries Rabbi Shimon. "Before, they my fellow robbers - called me, Rebbi, and here in the Yeshiva - they call me, Rebbi." (When Shimon was a bandit, he was the head of a tribe of bandits).
"The good I have done for you," replied Rabbi Yochanan, "is that I have brought you under the wings of the Shechinah."
Rabbi Yochanan became so upset that he could not think straight
Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish became deathly sick from this argument. CHALASH REISH LAKISH
While Shimon lay dying, his wife ran to her brother. She begged Yochanan to pray for his friend Shimon. Rabbi Yochanan refused.
"Do it for his children so they will not become orphans."
Rabbi Yochanan answered by quoting the prophet, Jeremiah (49:11), "She has left orphans, I will support them." AZVAH YESOMECHA, ANI ACHAYEH.
Yochanan's sister, Shimon's wife, yelled "Do it so I will not become a widow!"
Again her brother replied with a quote, the remainder of the verse from Jeremiah, "Your widows will trust in me." V'ALMENOSECHA ALAI TIVTACHU.
Raish Lakish died. NACH NAFSHEI D'REBBI SHIMON BEN LAKISH .
Rabbi Yochanan was very remorseful.HAVAH KA MITZTA'ER REBBI YOCHANAN BASREI TUVA. He had difficulty studying. Rabbi Elazar, the brightest student was sent to study with him. Every time Rabbi Yochanan would say something, Rabbi Elazar would quote a bit of Mishna material to support it. He was the ultimate ''yes man."
Yochanan, enormously frustrated, said to Rabbi Elazar, "Are you like Shimon? Shimon would give me 24 questions and I'd give 24 answers. This is how Talmud grows. All you do is support my opinion.'' Rabbi Yochanan turned away and began to cry. "Where is Shimon ben Lakish? Where is Shimon ben Lakish?" He asked over and over again, screaming, HAVAH KA TZAVACH, until he became totally confused and lost his mind. AD D'SHAF DA'ATEI MINEI.
The Rabbis prayed that God have mercy and compassion for their colleague, Rabbi Yochanan. As a result, he, too, died.
What is the Talmud trying to teach us? The story of a fight, literally to the death, is absurd. But when we look at our own lives, haven't we have arguments with people, even family members, over similar stupid things?
These two rabbis are not arguing over knives. They are arguing over Teshuvah, repentance, forgiveness.
You see, a knife cannot not become ritually impure. Only something that is considered ritually pure (Taharah) can become impure.
The question therefore is when does someone who returns to G!D, what we call a Ba'al Teshuvah, finish the process of amends making? When does a Ba'al Teshuvah become "taharah" so that this person can do something so profane to make themselves back to the way they were before they changed from their misguided ways?
The Teshuvah process is completed, according to Yochanan, when the past life has been burnt away making a new person.
The process is completed, according to Shimon, (the Ba'al Teshuvah) when the person has been cleaned by water. Water is one of the Talmudic symbols for Torah. Even if the Ba'al Teshuvah still has elements of his past days, if he has adopted the yoke of Torah, and Mitzvoth, his Teshuvah is complete.
Yochanan bringing up Shimon's old knowledge of knives after all of these years is cruel. He is saying to Shimon that with all of his Torah and Talmud study,with all of his being a good husband to his sister, and with all of his mitzvoth, he is still a bandit.
Yochanan believes there is no life but a life ''of Torah''. He taught in Mishna Pirkie Avot (5:22), "Turn the Torah over again and again, for everything is in it." Anything outside the world of Torah is unclean and impure. Yochanan lives in a world of white and black. Torah or not Torah. Pure or impure.
Rabbi Shimon lived a life "with Torah." Being a Jew, in modern terms, does not mean giving up the arts, or sports, or having non-Jewish friends (as long as they respect our religion and are not trying to covert us). We can live in a world of black and white, but that is mostly in shades of gray, using Torah and prayer to help us do what is right and just in G!D's eyes. Shimon's knowing about knives after 70 years of Talmud study, no more made him a bandit, then a Rabbi telling a mildly ribald joke to a group of adults makes him a pervert.
Yochanan's lament of "Oh, Shimon ben Lakish! Oh, Shimon ben Lakish! Where are you now?!" is too little, too late. It is too late to say, "I am sorry." It is too late to say," I was wrong." It is too late for Yochanan to do teshuvah, to make amends, to Shimon as he is dead.
Seventy years of Talmud study, along with being an author of the Yesushalmi Talmud, and an angry moment is for what Yochanan is remembered. Anger is an issue that the Sages discuss quite thoroughly. The Talmud [Bavli Tractate Nedarim 22 A,B] offers a number of varied teachings about anger: The Shechinah is of no importance to those who get angry; one who gets angry forgets that which he has learned; all types of Gehinnom (Hell) rule over a person who gets angry. Elsewhere in the Talmud [Bavli Tractate Pesachim 66B], Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish taught that if a chacham (wise person) gets angry, his wisdom will leave him. Little did he know that he was forecasting his own death from the harsh words of his friend and brother-in-law, Rabbi Yochanan.
We can quote all of the Torah, Talmud, Midrash, Bible, we want. We can teach it to our children, or visit folks in hospitals and old age homes, and read Bible stories to them. We can even do an appointed time bound mitzvoth, like cooking and serving food to the needy, on a specific day and time. We can write checks to charity (tzadakah) or to our synagogues. But if we truly do not live a life ''with Torah", and are just living a life "of Torah," or ''using Torah'', we are only fooling ourselves.
Let us not make the errors of Yochanan and Shimon. Let us heal wounds with friends and family. Let us be like the Talmudim (disciples) of Aaron, loving peace, (ahavath shalom), pursuing peace (rodef shalom) and bring people closer to Torah ,G!D, and to one another.
Shalom v'brachoth:
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
via Shamash on-line class service
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Ok, the question from Talmud Ben: is it proper when davening alone to also recite aveinu malkeinu? selichot?
My Answer: Ben: Your asking questions of halakah and loosing all spirituality. Do you think God cares if you are alone and you with true kavenah, spiritual intention, call upon his as Your Father, Your King, and make penitential prayers?? Please read the class on praying and meditating again. and if you still have this question, then we need to discuss what kavenah means, vis a vis, ritual minutia and minhag.
Our d'var:
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:CHUMASH CANDESCENCE PARASHA HA'AZINU DEUTERONOMY 32:01-32:52
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:CHUMASH CANDESCENCE PARASHA HA'AZINU : DEUTERONOMY 32:01-32:52
CHUMASH CANDESCENCE
PARASHA HA'AZINU
DEUTERONOMY 32:01-32:52
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
via Shamash on-line class service
JEWISH RENEWAL:
JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
HILTON HEAD ISLAND,SC
BLUFFTON,SC
SAVANNAH, GA
"Comin' Around, Comin' Around Again"
SYNOPTIC ABSTRACT:
In the Torah portion two weeks ago, Moses is commanded by God to write a
poetic song to the Israelites. I hated, when as a kid, my class was
assigned a poetry-writing lesson. But Moses, ever faithful to God's
orders, writes this 47-verse poem which makes up 90% of this week's
parasha. When he is done, God tells him it is time to die. Was this poem
out of rhythm or meter? Was there too much or not enough onomatopoeia or
alliteration? To find out some short (in deference to the days we have
spent in synagogue on Rosh Ha shanah and the long day of Yom Kippur to
come) insights into this parasha and its Haftarah, please read on.
Moses's song begins,"Give ear"(ha'azinu). This is where the name of this
week's parasha is derived (Deut. 32:01). The theme is that Israel will
sin, will suffer, will repent, and will be saved by God. Traditionally,
it is believed that this song is prophecy. As per the critical theory of
Biblical authorship, which was discussed in Deuteronomy's first D'var
Torah in this series, this chapter was written after the return from the
Babylonian exile. It is therefore putting a divine meaning of punishment
onto their exile, as well as a meaning of divine intervention for
Israel's return to their land. It ignores, therefore, the historical
realities of the day. Big nations were conquering little nations. But
Judaism is more than a nation. It is a philosophy of ethical living, and
hence is borderless.
Israel and Judah were taken captive not because God
punished the Jews. Israel and Judah were taken captive because they were
militarily weaker than other nations around them. Judah returned to the
"promised land" because the Persians conquered the Babylonians. Persian
King Cyrus, who felt the Jews were loyal to him, wanted them in this
territory, and not the people that the Babylonians imported to live
there in the Jews' absence. The Jewish people stayed alive under
Babylonian and Persian rule because they kept their core beliefs, but
adapted to the new environment. Ironically, when the call was given to
return to the land of Israel, most Jews stayed in what is now Iraq and
Iran.
There are some interesting points that we can glean from this portion.
Talmud Tractate Berachot 21A derives the rule of saying a prayer before
Torah study from verse 32:3-4. It also decree that when three or more eat
together, one should call upon the others to recite the "Grace after the
Meal" (birkat hamazon). This is why you hear Grace begin with, "chaveirim
va chaveirot n'vareich"(friends {male and female}, let us praise).
Traditionally, the call is "rabbotie n'vareich" which is asking men, or
rabbis, to praise God.
A timeless bit of truth ,to those who are students of history, is
included in Moses's song. He says in verses 32:15-18, that Israel became
fortunate and lost her moral compass. People are prone to "indulge their
lusts when they have the resources to do so," says rabbi Nosson
Scherman. Israel, like other nations before it, and other nations after
it, failed the test.
As the modern Jewish poet and song writer Bob Dylan
writes,"the first one now will later be last." Israel, called "Jeshurun"
became "fat, thick and corpulent." Jeshurun, in Hebrew, means upright,
straight and unbending. Orthodox means the same thing. Yet, even though
they followed the ritual and brought sacrifices to God, they succumbed.
Why? Their morals and ethics were forgotten. They did not take care of
the poor in their land. They treated each other horribly. Their very
nation, rich and powerful under King Solomon split in two a generation
later. Jews fought with Jews. Rituals were done, but hatred and pride
were in their hearts. Moses is warning us, and all nations, that is it
important not to forget the ethics, morals, and man-to-man laws when we
become successful. This admonition is great advice not only to the
leaders of our country, but to us as individuals.
Because this is the High Holy Day season, the days of Awe between Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Moses's song promises redemption to the sinning
nation and to sinning individuals. But Moses himself does not spare
punishment for his transgression when he hit the rock, instead of
speaking to it, in the wilderness. God tells Moses to climb Mount Nebo,
look at the promised land that he will not be allowed to enter, and die
there. This parasha, the second to the last of the Chumash, ends here.
This Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is called Shabbat
Shuvah, the Sabbath of Return. It gets it name from the first word of
this week's Haftarah. The Haftarah is made from three sections from three
different prophetic writings: Hosea 14:2-10, Joel 2:11-27, and Micah
7:18-20. Hosea 14:02 begins, "Return oh Israel, to God." Because of the
busyness of the two holidays, our synagogues are sometimes not quite full
on this Sabbath, giving it another name, "Shabbat of No Return."
The theme of these three prophets which make up this Haftarah is that
"the gates of repentance are always open"(Mishna Deut. Rabbah). No matter
how much we have sinned, if we make a sincere effort to change, we are
not lost. "Who , oh God, is like You, Who pardons iniquity and overlooks
transgression?"(Micah 7:18).
At our Tashlich service, after the Rosh
Hashanah service, we "cast bread upon the waters." This symbolizes our
desire to get rid of our bad habits and strive to be better people. "Cast
into the depths of the sea, all your sins"(Micah 7:19). And what does the
Micah say God wants from us on this last Shabbat before we traditionally
believe our fate is sealed on Yom Kippur?? Is he browbeating us to keep
the dietary laws, or pray three times a day? No. "He (God) desires
kindness!"(Micah 7:18). The word "chesed" (kindness or mercy) appears
often during this most holiest time of the year. We ask God for chesed
when we say "grant kindness to Abraham"(Micah 7:20). In return, God asks
us for chesed to each other.
Many Jews have asked me why their Tashlik does not work. They cast all of their sins upon the water and walk back to their cars and the sins hop back unto them. Their rabbis or temple lay leaders have not explained the Talmudic Teshuvah process.
First one must accept God. There really is no getting around this.
Secondly one must accept the fact that we have a yetzer ha ra, an evil inclination, and without God's help, to turn our will to be aligned with His, we will continue to do our will.
Thirdly, we must decide once and for all to put our lives and will into God's loving hands. The mishnah says that when we pick up the yoke of God, all other yokes fall from our shoulders.
Fourth, we must do a chesbon ha nefesh, and written complete moral inventory of our soul, and honestly list our defects of character and those to whom we hold grudges.
Five, we must do vidui, confession, to God and to our rabbi or Talmud or Torah study partner,... someone who knows us well, to make sure we are not holding back.
And sixth, and here is the catch all, we must find the fact that we have these 'sins' and these grudges objectionable and abhorrent to us. It is not enough that our nagging spouse finds them horrid. We must.
Adding this 6 steps together, we then can do the 7th step and ask God to take these sins and resentments away from us by doing tashlik. But the work still is not done.
When we walk back up the hill from the moving body of water, we must immediately begin to seek out those we have harmed with our sins and resentments, putting aside what they have done to us, and make face to face teshuvah, amends, to them. If they refuse to see us, we try three times. If they are dead, we go with another, to their grave and make teshuvah. And each day there after, we ask God to keep us from these defects and from anger, so we don't sin again or develop new resentments.
The Midrash says that we know God has forgiven us our sins, when we are faced with the opportunity to sin, and we do not. The Talmud tells us that anyone who comes away from prayer, Tephelia, self judgement, not being a bit of a better person, has not prayer properly.
May we all on this Shabbat of Return vow to return to the ethics, values,
caring, and compassion that sustains our people and great nations. May
we pray that we, as well as our leaders, use our personal and nation's
resources to help those in need. May we all inscribe ourselves and each
other into the "Book of Life" this year. La Shana Tova! Amen.
Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
via Shamash on-line class service
JEWISH RENEWAL:
JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
HILTON HEAD ISLAND,SC
BLUFFTON,SC
SAVANNAH, GA
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