Shabbat Chol Ha-Moed Pesach 5769

Exodus 33:13-14

"Now, if I have truly gained Your favor, let me know Your ways (d’rachecha) that I may know you and continue in your favor. Consider, too, that this nation is your people.
And He said, 'I will go in the lead and will lighten your burden.' ""

The verses above are the second and third verses of the Torah reading done every year for The Sabbath of Passover. The scene occurs shortly after the incident of the Golden Calf. In the prior chapters, G-d has made it clear that despite agreeing to not annihilate the people and have the offspring of Moses be the sole inheritor of the land, all is not forgiven. G-d will no longer lead the people through the wilderness, but will send an angel to show the way. G-d is withdrawing.

Our reading this Shabbat starts with the successful attempt by Moses to have G-d reconsider and have G-d come close again and lead the people through the wilderness.

I was struck by the juxtaposition of two concepts in the same verse. What does Moses knowing G-d’s ways have to do with G-d considering “too, that the nation is your people”. Further, what was so compelling about Moses’ argument?

The Talmud in Brachot 7a discusses the components of effective prayer and examines this line as an example. It explains that by asking to know G-d’s ways, Moses is asking the ultimate question about how G-d and the world functions…What is the reason that G-d’s ways include a good life for some of the righteous and suffering of some of the righteous while granting suffering to some of the wicked but a good life to some of the wicked. The Talmud continues by offering many conflicting views of G-d’s answer.

Among these many answers, Rabbi Meir suggests that G-d gives a non-answer. He tells Moses that G-d’s Mercy and Favor are powerful, but unpredictable. We now can see that by eliciting this answer with his skillful question, Moses has given G-d an opening. Moses has in effect said ’Your WAY is at times to grant Mercy when observable indicators call for Justice. Well, “consider, too, that this nation is your people.” If any moment calls for asking your Mercy to outweigh your Justice, this one does.’

Another Talmudic master suggests that the influence of a righteous or wicked parent will often challenge the ability of a person to remain true to one’s own righteous or wicked nature. The successes or failures to meet these challenges may not be visible to onlookers, but they are powerful in shaping the future and shaping the reward or punishment.. Once again, by asking his skillful question, Moses has reminded G-d of the righteousness of the forefathers and consideration of Mercy.

The Etz Chaim Chumash points out the wonderful pun in Moses’ request. The word D’rachecha can mean WAY in the highly cosmological sense of the essence of G-d’s nature. It can also mean the WAY or physical path through the wilderness.

The Talmud discussion of the influence of family on the righteous and wicked hinted to me of the four children of the Seder. Rabbi Miriam Spitzer suggests an alternative translation to the Haggaddah verse “ Kneged arba banim dibra Torah“. She notes that the typical translation “the Torah alludes to four children” could alternatively be rendered as “the Torah speaks ‘k’neged’ AGAINST the notion that there are four children”. There is only one. We are all variations on that one child….The Righteous, Wicked, Simple, Unable child.” Applying our Torah reading to Rabbi Spitzer’s insight, we can see that our Seder traditions reach out to touch all that we are. We address our highly spiritual intellectual selves who want to know everything we can about G-d’s WAYS. We simultaneously address our simple physical selves who just need to eat and be shown the correct WAY of what to do.

We can now return to the Talmud master who spoke to the power of the influence of our ancestors. At the Seder, perhaps more strongly than anywhere else, we recognize the influence of immediate family, ancestral family, and the adopted family comprised of those sitting around our tables who help shape our righteousness and our wickedness. At our Seders we and our families will be engaging and rebellious and ask simple questions and simply observe. May we successfully use the powerful influence of our seders to seek out G-d’s path. May they help us better find the right opportunities in our lives to encourage mercy to outweigh justice.

Tzav - Shabbat HaGadol 5769

“Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Hashem. And he will cause the hearts of fathers to return to their sons and the hearts of sons to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with utter destruction.” (Malachi 3:23-24)

When we read these verses at the end of the prophetic reading on Shabbat HaGadol, our custom is to repeat the penultimate verse. According to Rashi, we do this to end the reading on a positive note. We do the same when we read the end of Isaiah (on Shabbat Rosh Chodesh), Eichah (on Tisha B’Av), and Kohelet (on Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot.)

We observe a variation of this custom at the public reading of Jonah during Mincha Yom Kippur. At the conclusion of the book we skip to the final verses of Micah, which are far more uplifting than the strange abrupt ending of Jonah.

It would seem self-evident that public readings during holidays should end on an upbeat. But on closer inspection, the reasons for re-reading the penultimate verse are not at all obvious.

Take our verse as an example. First, it is important to note that these words are the last words spoken by a prophet in the Tanakh. These final words prophesy the coming of the Messianic era. And these are the last words of prophecy that we hear before Pesach, the redemption holiday par excellence.

Perhaps the sages felt that ‘utter destruction’ (cherem) is not exactly the sentiment that we want to take with us to the seder. Under what circumstances does Hashem come and destroy the land, if fathers’ and sons’ hearts do not turn toward each other, or if Elijah does not come and cause the turnings to happen? It seems to me that if Elijah arranges the meetings, the turning of the hearts will surely follow. Therefore utter destruction is presented only as a grim alternative to utter redemption.

But what about the beginning of the verse? The prophet describes Elijah’s mission primarily as a series of reunions between estranged fathers and sons. According to Malachi, restoration of family bonds are the proximate cause of the coming of the Messiah. On the eve of Pesach, when families reunite at the seder table, this is a perfectly stunning message. The seeds of Messianic redemption are sown in every home where the door is opened for Elijah.

Vayikra 5769

“If (asher) a ruler sins, and commits one from among all the commandments of Hashem that may not be done – unintentionally – and becomes guilty.” (Vayikra 4:22)

Rashi: “If a ruler sins”: The word “asher” here is related to “ashrei = fortunately”, as if to say fortunate is the generation whose ruler sets his heart to bring an atonement for his unintentional sin. All the more so that he has regrets over his intentional sins.

Our verse appears in the course of a long list of sins and their corresponding offerings. The majority of these begin with the formula “If (im) so-and-so should sin in such-and-such a manner…” Rashi comes to explain the unique substitution of the word “asher” for “im”. Rashi’s difficulty, according to Concordantzia Chadasha, is that this is the only place in all of Tanakh where asher could be taken to mean “if.”

Rashi, citing Torat Kohanim, prefers a homiletical explanation over a grammatical one. He draws attention to the similarity between the words ‘asher’ and ‘ashrei’, implying that the Torah hints here as to one deeper meaning of the verse. Rashi often resorts to midrashic or aggadic explanations when a grammatical difficulty cannot be resolved another way.

Whereas homiletic explanations are always welcome, in our case we may have missed an opportunity to explore another deeper meaning of the verse.

Concordanztia Chadasha suggests that that asher here may also mean “in the event that”, or “when.” Now the verse begins ‘When a ruler sins…”

This changes our understanding of the verse as a whole. The Torah is no longer commanding what sacrifice a ruler must bring if he sins, the Torah is commanding what he must do when he sins, as if it is a foregone conclusion that a ruler will sin.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Torah recognizes that positions of power sets up conditions that cause rulers to sin.

Rashi understands this insight, but he soft-pedals it. Then he adds a further point regarding the relation between rulers and the people. Our verse commands that rulers bring sacrifices for unintentional sins. A ruler who follows such a commandment will surely bring sacrifices for intentional sins. Such a God-fearing ruler will never allow himself to be corrupted by power.

Vayakhel-Pekudey 5769

* Vayikhal starts with work, when it should be done (six days) and when it should not be done (on the seventh, Shabbat). We are commanded two things - to work and to cease from work. Sometimes people forget the first part - to work. The Torah frowns upon laziness.

* The practicality of the Torah is wonderful, and brings on a smile. In chapter 39 sentence 23, in the directions for the hole necessary for the head opening of a robe, we are told to put a binding around the edges of the hole so that it won't tear. Those of us who sew have taken this suggestion and we buy seam binding for this purpose; two sentences later we are told that the hem of the robe should have embroidered pomegranates with a gold bell in between each pomegranate. Just in case we didn't understand, the next sentence describes specifically: bell, pomegranate, bell, pomegranate. That's nice. Very user friendly.

* The work involved in building the tabernacle and the furniture and equipment and robes was truly a labor of love. The word "heart" (lev) is mentioned 12 times: Chapter 35, sentence 5; 10; 21; 22; 25; 26; 29; 34. Chapter 36, sentence 1; and 3 times in sentence 2.

* Those who think that the details of the building of the tabernacle and its equipment are superfluous should try to describe their work desk in words, so that it can be taken apart and reconstructed in the exact way.

* Artists play an important role in these chapters. Bezalel (which means in the shadow of God) is described as being filled with the spirit of God, and is wise of heart, and has wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. Wise of heart - courageous (French - coeur - heart). It takes courage to be an artist, to make choices, and to be confident of one's choice. This is a gift (spirit) of God given to all those who create.

* Vayikhal relates closely to our synagogue Kehillath Israel. The same root "kahal" (congregation; assembly) is in both. Hopefully just as in Vayikhal when the Israelites gave their time, and services, and donations willingly and from the heart, so too may we at Kehillath Israel give willingly of our time and donations to our synagogue and to all good causes, and may we too get to the point where we can say like Moses (36:6) Enough, Enough - we don't need any more.

Tetzaveh 5769

Children who have little patience for textbooks will happily sit in front of a computer reviewing the same lessons, and that’s often true for others who prefer looking at news on a computer screen or iPhone rather than reading a newspaper. There are several interpretations of part of this week’s Parsha, Tetzaveh, one of which appeals to the same technologically fascinated people among us, but raises some issues.

In Tetzaveh, G-d gives Moshe directions to create garments for Aaron to wear when officiating as the Kohen Gadol (High Priest). Among those quite colorful but somewhat strange sounding garments is something called a Choshen or Breastplate of Judgment. This has twelve stones mounted on it, each inscribed with the name of one of the tribes.

“Ruby, chrysolithe, beryl... turquoise, sapphire, diamond... ligure, agate, jasper.... emerald, shoham, jade.” (28:17-20)

As reported at aish.com, this English rendition is but one of several possible translations of the Hebrew "odem, pitedah, bareket, nofech, sapir, yahalom, leshem, shvo, achlamah, tarshish, shoham, yashpei." It notes that a comprehensive anthology of renditions is presented in "The Living Torah" by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (Moznaim 1985).

According to a Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 2:7), in addition to the names of the tribes, the stones also contained the words, "Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Shivtei Yeshurun (righteous tribes)," so the Breastplate contained all 22 letters of the Holy Tongue (Talmud).

When in use, the Breastplate held something extra. “And you shall put in the Breastplate of Judgment the Urim and the Tumim.” (28:30)

As confusing as this all is, it seemed to have captured the imagination of many. There are homemade and antique versions of the Breastplate of Judgment being sold these days on eBay, at flea markets, by church sisterhoods, and elsewhere.
Commentators have at least three different views of how this worked.

According to Etz Chaim’s commentary, the Urim and Tumim may have been the actual mechanism that Aaron used to make decisions, lots he drew or something similar. This may have been the equivalent in biblical times of Aaron reaching into the breastplate and seeing whether he’d drawn the short straw. Many feel that the rocks on the Breastplate were there just to remind Aaron of all the people, and to keep that reminder close to his heart.

One translation has G-d telling Moses that after he puts in the Urim and Tumim, when Aaron goes in before the Lord, he “will hear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart continually.” So in this case, it appears to be a mechanism to allow Aaron to hear G-d’s judgment.

But many others saw the entire setup as a visual display communication device for G-d to use to communicate his decisions to Aaron, possibly the computer of those days.

The Urim and Tumim ("illuminator and verifier") was an inscription of the Name of G-d. Inserted in the folds of the Breastplate, it caused the letters inscribed on its stones to light up in response to queries posed by the community leaders, as it is written (Number 27:21): "And [Joshua] shall stand before Elazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of the Urim before G-d: by this word shall they go out, and by this word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him." This is why it was called the "Breastplate of Judgment," since it decided and determined things for the people. (Rashi; Talmud)

When Aaron needed to judge a situation, some stones would light up on the Breastplate and then he would have to decide how to assemble the letters on those stones. The Urim, parchment with G-d’s ineffable name written on it and inserted by Moses each time Aaron needed to judge, would cause the stones to light up, and the Tumim would help Aaron to decide which way to assemble those letters to get the correct judgment. Amazingly, the light bulb was actually not invented until thousands of years later, first by Humphry Davy in 1860, then improved upon by several people including the best known in 1879, Thomas Alva Edison. So if the Breastplate truly worked by having letters on stones light up, the people must have marveled at seeing such a phenomenon, as miraculous as other G-d created miracles in the Torah. But just as many of G-d’s other miracles, such as the plagues, relate back to G-d’s work at Creation, perhaps we can relate this one to the first day of Creation, when G-d said “Let there be light.”

So anyone who might consider the Torah anachronistic should think again. At least one respected interpretation of this week’s Parsha makes it truly ahead of its time, with G-d providing a computer or communications aid for Aaron to use thousands of years before such technology would be discovered. Just as computers and cell phone texting devices manage to hold the attention of today’s people, especially children, it appears that G-d may have had his own way of capturing the attention of his people, B’nai Yisrael, the children of Israel. Or maybe Parsha Tetzaveh presents a time when G-d just wanted to give everyone a preview of things to come.

Terumah 5769

Parshat Truma teaches us the importance of willingly contributing to the construction and maintenance of a place of worship - today it is the synagogue. In sentence 2 of chapter 25 the Torah says specifically that it should be a donation from the heart ("libo" - his heart). The word "truma" means a contribution and it has in it a smaller word "ram" which means "high" because when one donates, one is raised to a higher level.

In this parsha we are given extremely great details of the dimensions and materials to be used in constructing the sanctuary, the ark, the menorah and all the instruments to be used in performing the various tasks. It is true that the Israelites had to build the items because God commanded them to do so, just as we must obey all of God's commandments simply because we were told to do so, but very often there is a beneficial by-product which we can understand, and in this case the by-product is the very useful one of learning skills which would be necessary when the people would enter Israel. The generation who learned these skills would pass on the knowledge to their children. Carpenters, weavers, embroiderers, goldsmiths, silversmiths, jewelers, artists, sculptors, bakers, furriers, dyers, engravers, tailors, potters, perfumers - these are all arts of a very advanced society, and would give the Israelites a good head start in settling the land. They might also use these skills during their sojourn in the desert to trade with other desert peoples.

And from the detailed instructions which God gives to Moses we can learn a lesson for our lives - that if we must pay such close attention to tangible items - how much more so should we be careful and pay close attention to the actions of our lives - and connect our acts and thoughts to the teachings of the Torah.

Mishpatim 5769

Dangerous Property

The tradition teaches us that every word of the Torah is chosen deliberately and purposefully. This rule applies even when a word’s meaning changes from one verse to the next! In this week’s parasha, words based on the root bet-ayin-resh appear in verses Shemot 22:4 and 22:5, but with different significations in each verse. What follows is verse 22:4 with all words translated into English except for those based on the root bet-ayin-resh, for reasons that will become clear further on.

“If a man shall ya-v-er a field or vineyard, or he either lets his bi-y-roh loose, or he oo-v-y-air it in another man’s field, from the best of his field and the best of his vineyard shall he pay.”

Rashi’s interpretation: “ya-v-er, b-i-roh, oo-vi-ayr: these have the sense of ‘animal’, as in Bemidbar 20:4 …we and our animals (oo-v-i-ray-nu)”

According to Rashi, a translation of verse 22:4 might sound like this: If a man shall let an animal graze a field or vineyard, or he either lets his animal run loose, or he grazes it in another man’s field…

The Talmud provides the source of Rashi’s interpretation. Much of the first chapter of Tractate Bava Kamma is derived from our verse. The ox is taken as the paradigmatic “dangerous property” that can damage another man’s field or vineyard if not properly supervised.

But this interpretation presents a difficulty: Shemot 22:4 and Bemidbar 20:4 are the only places in Tanakh where bet-ayin-resh is understood to signify ‘animal.’ Elsewhere, the root usually signifies ‘fire’, either real or metaphoric. This is the sense of the root in Shemot 22:5:

“If a fire shall go forth and find thorns, and a stack of grain or a standing crop or a field is consumed, the one who kindled (ha-ma-vir) the fire (ha-b-ay-rah) shall make restitution.”

Now read verse 22:4 using the more common signification of bet-ayin-resh:

“If a man shall kindle a field or vineyard – whether he sets the fire or allows his fire to burn another man’s field – from the best of his field and the best of his vineyard shall he pay.”

Why does the tradition hold that bet-ayin-resh means ‘animal’ when the verse makes sense with the common signification ‘fire’?

Perhaps the difficulty could be resolved by tracing the derivation of the root bet-ayin-resh. According to Brown-Driver-Briggs, the earliest Hebrew signification of bet-ayin-resh was ‘seek out, collect, glean.’ From here significations emerged meaning ‘consume’ as a fire consumes. Simultaneously, the root branched into significations for animals that seek out and consume in the same unrestrained manner as fire.

Fire and oxen share the characteristic that they go out and destroy crops and vineyards because it is their nature to do so. They both travel to damage, and both must be watched carefully. But fire and oxen differ in that the latter possess ruach chayim (the breath of life) and the former does not. Oxen inadvertently do damage in the process of natural pleasurable activities such as eating and scratching. If the Torah had taught us only fire, and not oxen, we might have thought that we are liable only for damages done by inanimate objects and not by live animals (Bava Kamma 2a.)

In these two verses, the Torah explodes bet-ayin-resh into several pieces, each of which teaches us new insights as to the nature dangerous property. The English translations of verses 22:4 and 22:5 do not permit us to understand the nature of dangerous property as deeply unless we appreciate the Torah’s deliberate choice of words based on bet-ayin-resh.

For further consideration:

On the night before Pesach, we perform the Bedikat Chametz, the search for any remaining crumbs of bread in our homes. The prayer we say is translated as follows:

“Blessed are You, Hashem, Sovereign of the universe, Who makes us holy with His mitzvahs, and commands us regarding the destruction (biur, using the root bet-ayin-resh) of chametz.”

Why is the Bedikat Chametz sanctified with a blessing over destruction, when the ritual destruction of chametz (not coincidentally, by fire) does not occur until the next day?