Hi folks,
More on Sefer Yehoshua coming in the next few days; Today, Tuesday November 29th, was Chapter 6.
In the meantime, someone sent me this fantastic speech by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. I highly recommend it. It went by very quickly and was inspiring.
Visit Jewish.TV for more Jewish videos.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Some Questions-- Yehoshua Chapter 2 and Introductory Questions
A few questions to keep in mind when learning any book of Tanach:
1. What is the purpose of this book?
There were many, many true prophets who spoke in God's name during Jewish history, but most of their words were either not recorded, or their books were not canonized. Chazal tell us that the works that were canonized were those that had a message for future generations, an eternal message (albeit rooted in the historical context in which they were delivered.)
A few years ago, I listened to a number of shiurim of Rabbi Menachem Leibtag (and I highly recommend his shiurim on Tanach--more on that later). One of his central questions is: What is the purpose of this book? What is its prophetic message?
With a book like Yehoshua, we can easily just read it as a narrative, but not work on figuring out the message and themes of the book.
2. Specific to chapter 2: Why did Yehoshua send spies into Israel? Did he not remember the debacle of the spies Moshe sent (in which only Yesoshua and Kalev proved honorable)?
3. More generally, to what extent is Yehoshua guided by God in the details of what he is supposed to do (as opposed to the general mandate to conquer Eretz Yisrael)?
4. On Chapter 2, when the spies go to the house of the prostitute Rachav, Rachav tells them that the Canaanites are struck with fear, because they heard of how God split the sea for the Jewish people. My wife asked: But this occurred 40 years earlier, and the Jews have been wandering in the desert, and had an entire generation die since then! Why are the Canaanites so scared?
4a) A related question (and perhaps the beginning of the answer that seems simplest and most cogent): What did the events of the Jews' experience from Keriat Yam Suf to Har Sinai to wandering 40 years in the desert look like to the non-Jewish nations in Canaan and the surrounding areas? How did they experience and interpret these events? (Bear in mind Moshe's concerns about God's reputation in pleading for the survival of the people after the sin of the golden calf).
Thursday, November 24, 2011
The implications of "Be Strong"--Joshua, chapter 1
I should probably do my first post on some sweeping, thematic introduction to Navi in general, or to the book of Yehoshua in particular. But the following thought came to me first. Introductions and themes will have to wait.
In our chapter, we have two qualified votes of confidence: First, God says to Yehoshua: I am with you, so long as you follow the Torah. Then, the people say: We'll follow you, Yehoshua, so long as God is with you like He was with Moshe.
What a vote of confidence! How can they doubt that Moshe's main disciple could even have the possibility of falling away from God and the Torah?
This is actually a fundamental principle of Torah, as we learn in Pirkei Avot: "Do not believe in yourself until the day you die."
The Talmud in Berachot 29a illustrates the teaching of Pirkei Avot with the example of Yochanan the Kohen Gadol. He served as Kohen Gadol for 80 years, but in the end became a Saduccee. Even he could slip.
Righteousness and holiness are not attained and put in the bank; they are lived constantly, and require constant attention.
The first time I remember seeing this principle in action in my own life was about 15 years ago. By nature, I have quite a temper. When I was in my early twenties, it reached its peak, and I exerted great efforts to bring my anger under control. And I succeeded. Things that would have set me off previously would not even bother me. Things that did bother me, I responded to with calm and self-control. I finally had conquered my anger!
So, like a dieter whose diet was successful, I let down my guard. I stopped working on my anger, and many months, or even a year later, I discovered that I was more easily angered, more easily frustrated.
Moshe's great disciple, Joshua, needed the lesson. So, it seems, do we:
In our chapter, we have two qualified votes of confidence: First, God says to Yehoshua: I am with you, so long as you follow the Torah. Then, the people say: We'll follow you, Yehoshua, so long as God is with you like He was with Moshe.
What a vote of confidence! How can they doubt that Moshe's main disciple could even have the possibility of falling away from God and the Torah?
This is actually a fundamental principle of Torah, as we learn in Pirkei Avot: "Do not believe in yourself until the day you die."
The Talmud in Berachot 29a illustrates the teaching of Pirkei Avot with the example of Yochanan the Kohen Gadol. He served as Kohen Gadol for 80 years, but in the end became a Saduccee. Even he could slip.
Righteousness and holiness are not attained and put in the bank; they are lived constantly, and require constant attention.
The first time I remember seeing this principle in action in my own life was about 15 years ago. By nature, I have quite a temper. When I was in my early twenties, it reached its peak, and I exerted great efforts to bring my anger under control. And I succeeded. Things that would have set me off previously would not even bother me. Things that did bother me, I responded to with calm and self-control. I finally had conquered my anger!
So, like a dieter whose diet was successful, I let down my guard. I stopped working on my anger, and many months, or even a year later, I discovered that I was more easily angered, more easily frustrated.
Moshe's great disciple, Joshua, needed the lesson. So, it seems, do we:
רַק חֲזַק וֶאֱמַץ מְאֹד, לִשְׁמֹר לַעֲשׂוֹת כְּכָל-הַתּוֹרָה--אֲשֶׁר צִוְּךָ מֹשֶׁה עַבְדִּי, אַל-תָּסוּר מִמֶּנּוּ יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאול: לְמַעַן תַּשְׂכִּיל, בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר תֵּלֵךְ.
"Only be strong and extremely courageous, to keep and do according to the Torah that Moshe My servant enjoined you-- do not turn aside from it to the right or left, in order that you will succeed wherever you go." (Joshua 1:7, Hebrew text from Mechon Mamre, translation mine).
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Starting Nach Yomi--Chazak Chazak v'Nitchazeik
On Thursday, Thanksgiving day, we start Nach Yomi again, beginning with Sefer Yehoshua, The book of Joshua, Chapter 1.
A brief thought before we start:
At the end of each book of the Torah that we read in Shul, we say, "Chazak Chazak, v'nitchazeik". Be strong, be strong, and may we be strengthened.
Why do we say this at the end of the book? It would seem that we don't need the strength, now that we're finished!
I think we say it not because of the conclusion, but because of the new beginning that follows. It's easy to finish when you're half way through, and it's even easier when the finish line is in sight. But when you have a whole new book of Torah to get through, it looks like a tall mountain to climb. It's daunting. So we say, to each other, "Be strong! Be strong!" And then we pray, "May we be strengthened!"
We start an endeavor of Torah learning with 1) togetherness and 2) prayer to God.
As we start Nach Yomi, it seems like a big, big project. But I think if we start it right, with blessing each other with strength and praying to God for the strength to do it each day (and catch up immediately if we fall behind), then the mountain will only yield its greatness to us.
So let's start. Chazak, Chazak, v'nitchazeik!
A brief thought before we start:
At the end of each book of the Torah that we read in Shul, we say, "Chazak Chazak, v'nitchazeik". Be strong, be strong, and may we be strengthened.
Why do we say this at the end of the book? It would seem that we don't need the strength, now that we're finished!
I think we say it not because of the conclusion, but because of the new beginning that follows. It's easy to finish when you're half way through, and it's even easier when the finish line is in sight. But when you have a whole new book of Torah to get through, it looks like a tall mountain to climb. It's daunting. So we say, to each other, "Be strong! Be strong!" And then we pray, "May we be strengthened!"
We start an endeavor of Torah learning with 1) togetherness and 2) prayer to God.
As we start Nach Yomi, it seems like a big, big project. But I think if we start it right, with blessing each other with strength and praying to God for the strength to do it each day (and catch up immediately if we fall behind), then the mountain will only yield its greatness to us.
So let's start. Chazak, Chazak, v'nitchazeik!
Like The Seeds of a Pomegranate
"Even the empty in you are full of mitzvot like a pomegranate"
אפילו ריקנין שבך מלאים מצות כרמון Berachot 57a.
Two great, righteous Jewish kings held Passover celebrations as a means of renewing the covenant between the Jewish people and God. The first was Chizkiyahu, the second, a few generations later, Yoshiahu.
Chizkiyahu's celebration/organization of Passover had a very strange element. He had sent out invitations to all of the Kingdom of Judah, and also to the Jews in the Northern kingdom, that everybody should come and celebrate Pesach. Not in the month of Nissan, because everyone was impure (tamei), but rather in the month of Iyar, so people could bring the Korban Pesach on Pesach Sheni in a state of purity. But lo and behold, the people from the North did not have time to get there in time and purify themselves. What were they to do?
Well, what they did do is bring the korban Pesach in a state of impurity, which I believe is, halachically, an issur karet (a prohibition bearing the punishment of being cut off from the Jewish people). Then, Chizkiyahu prayed for them. Here's his prayer in II Chronicles Chapter 30:
For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying: 'The good LORD (MM-- The Compassionate One) pardon 19 every one that setteth his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, though [he be] not [cleansed] according to the purification that pertaineth to holy things.' {S} 20 And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people. {S} (JPS 1917 translation, bolding is mine)
It seems that Chizkiyahu (Hezekiah) allowed them to do this (after all, they had a whole system set up for the slaughtering of the Korban Pesach for the people who were impure). But he said, "God, please forgive them, their hearts are in the right place."
This is astounding! It seems (especially from the balance of the chapter) that two things are happening here: 1) Chizkiyahu asks, and God grants, forgiveness, to the people for their sin; and 2) God considers it as if the people had actually done the mitzvah! I understand forgiveness, but how can #2 be possible?
To understand the difficulty, look at this counter-example: Imagine that this afternoon I discovered that my tefillin, which I have been wearing for many years, including this morning, are not kosher. I did everything correctly--I bought them from a reputable Sofer, I had them checked, I took care of them properly. Have I fulfilled this mitzvah?
Certainly I have not fulfilled the mitzvah in a technical sense. If my tefillin, which I wore in the morning, are found to be not kosher, I would be obligated to put on a new pair of tefillin in the afternoon, because I didn't really do the mitzvah today.
If so, how could the people be considered as if they brought the Korban Pesach properly?
Perhaps it is possible to reconcile Chizkiyahu's example and the example of the tefillin. Perhaps there is no contradiction because from God's perspective, God is looking at our intent. God forgave the people because their intent was good. They did the wrong thing halachically, but they thought they were doing the right thing. This kind of sin God not only forgives, but considers it as if the person actually did the mitzvah.
Same thing with the tefillin. Certainly, a person who does everything right and still fails in the performance of the mitzvah has done everything in his power. Here, presumably God looks at intent and credits us, as it were, for having done the mitzvah. But if we discover that there was a problem, and we are able to fix the problem, then we must fix it, because from our perspective, we have not yet fulfilled our obligations. If we were then remiss in fixing it, that would be flaw in the purity of our intentions.
Perhaps this is an application of the verse in the end of Devarim, "The hidden things are for the Lord our God, and the revealed things for us and for our children forever, to do all the words of this Torah" (Deuteronomy 29:28).
It is for us to "do all the words of this Torah," to the absolute best of our ability. But the hidden things remain for God, and ashreinu, mah tov chelkeinu, how fortunate are we and how good is our lot that we are in the hands of God, The Compassionate One, who, even when our own best efforts leave us empty, fills us up with mitzvot in abundance, like the seeds of a pomegranate.
אפילו ריקנין שבך מלאים מצות כרמון Berachot 57a.
Two great, righteous Jewish kings held Passover celebrations as a means of renewing the covenant between the Jewish people and God. The first was Chizkiyahu, the second, a few generations later, Yoshiahu.
Chizkiyahu's celebration/organization of Passover had a very strange element. He had sent out invitations to all of the Kingdom of Judah, and also to the Jews in the Northern kingdom, that everybody should come and celebrate Pesach. Not in the month of Nissan, because everyone was impure (tamei), but rather in the month of Iyar, so people could bring the Korban Pesach on Pesach Sheni in a state of purity. But lo and behold, the people from the North did not have time to get there in time and purify themselves. What were they to do?
Well, what they did do is bring the korban Pesach in a state of impurity, which I believe is, halachically, an issur karet (a prohibition bearing the punishment of being cut off from the Jewish people). Then, Chizkiyahu prayed for them. Here's his prayer in II Chronicles Chapter 30:
For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying: 'The good LORD (MM-- The Compassionate One) pardon 19 every one that setteth his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, though [he be] not [cleansed] according to the purification that pertaineth to holy things.' {S} 20 And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people. {S} (JPS 1917 translation, bolding is mine)
It seems that Chizkiyahu (Hezekiah) allowed them to do this (after all, they had a whole system set up for the slaughtering of the Korban Pesach for the people who were impure). But he said, "God, please forgive them, their hearts are in the right place."
This is astounding! It seems (especially from the balance of the chapter) that two things are happening here: 1) Chizkiyahu asks, and God grants, forgiveness, to the people for their sin; and 2) God considers it as if the people had actually done the mitzvah! I understand forgiveness, but how can #2 be possible?
To understand the difficulty, look at this counter-example: Imagine that this afternoon I discovered that my tefillin, which I have been wearing for many years, including this morning, are not kosher. I did everything correctly--I bought them from a reputable Sofer, I had them checked, I took care of them properly. Have I fulfilled this mitzvah?
Certainly I have not fulfilled the mitzvah in a technical sense. If my tefillin, which I wore in the morning, are found to be not kosher, I would be obligated to put on a new pair of tefillin in the afternoon, because I didn't really do the mitzvah today.
If so, how could the people be considered as if they brought the Korban Pesach properly?
Perhaps it is possible to reconcile Chizkiyahu's example and the example of the tefillin. Perhaps there is no contradiction because from God's perspective, God is looking at our intent. God forgave the people because their intent was good. They did the wrong thing halachically, but they thought they were doing the right thing. This kind of sin God not only forgives, but considers it as if the person actually did the mitzvah.
Same thing with the tefillin. Certainly, a person who does everything right and still fails in the performance of the mitzvah has done everything in his power. Here, presumably God looks at intent and credits us, as it were, for having done the mitzvah. But if we discover that there was a problem, and we are able to fix the problem, then we must fix it, because from our perspective, we have not yet fulfilled our obligations. If we were then remiss in fixing it, that would be flaw in the purity of our intentions.
Perhaps this is an application of the verse in the end of Devarim, "The hidden things are for the Lord our God, and the revealed things for us and for our children forever, to do all the words of this Torah" (Deuteronomy 29:28).
It is for us to "do all the words of this Torah," to the absolute best of our ability. But the hidden things remain for God, and ashreinu, mah tov chelkeinu, how fortunate are we and how good is our lot that we are in the hands of God, The Compassionate One, who, even when our own best efforts leave us empty, fills us up with mitzvot in abundance, like the seeds of a pomegranate.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
Warning: I don't have a good answer to the question raised in this post. I welcome suggestions.
The city of Sedom features prominently in last week's and this week's parshiot. About Sedom, we read last week:
וְאַנְשֵׁי סְדֹם, רָעִים וְחַטָּאִים, לַיהוָה, מְאֹד.
The men of Sedom were extremely bad and sinful to God. (Genesis 13:13)
It sounds like "bad" and "sinful" are two different things. What's the difference between them?
Targum Onkelos explains it as having to do with the method of sinning:
וְאַנְשֵׁי סְדוֹם, בִּישִׁין בְּמָמוֹנְהוֹן וְחַיָּבִין בְּגִוְיָתְהוֹן, קֳדָם יְיָ, לַחְדָּא.
The men of Sedom were extremely bad with their money(property?), and guilty with their bodies to God.
"Ra'im" means bad (in a moral sense) with their money or property. Chata'im means sinning with their bodies. What is the rationale for making such a distinction? Isn't evil just evil, regardless of its mode of implementation? (Read on, but this is the unanswered question of the post!)
There's another famous passage where we see such a distinction. In the Shema, we read:
וְאָהַבְתָּ, אֵת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, בְּכָל-לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל-נַפְשְׁךָ, וּבְכָל-מְאֹדֶךָ.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your "meod".
What is your "meod"? Says Onkelos, "your possessions." Rashi also cites this explanation:
בכל ממונך יש לך אדם שממונו חביב עליו מגופו לכך נאמר ובכל מאדך.
With all your money; there is a man whose money is more precious to him than his body, therefore it says "with all your money"
You might ask: If I love God with all my soul, isn't it obvious I would dedicate all my possessions to Him? Rashi answers that there is such a person who is so sick, so twisted in his outlook, that his life is not as important as his possessions. To such a person, the Torah commands to love God as much as he loves his possessions.
So here's a follow-up question: Why would the Torah give us a mitzvah specifically for someone who is so twisted in his perceptions? Meaning, love God with all your heart and soul--I get it. But if you're so messed up that you value your possessions more than your life, how can you even think about loving God? And why would the Torah command a person like this to love God? Get your priorities straight, and then love God with all your soul!
Conclusion:
We have the same distinction made between one's self and one's property being made both in the realm of evil and in the realm of good. On the bad side, the people of Sedom were wicked with their money and their bodies (presumably through which they act out the desires of their souls). God commands us to love Him with our selves and with our money.
What is the purpose of this distinction? Does Rashi on the Shema shed light on Onkelos' commentary about Sedom? Any thoughts?
The city of Sedom features prominently in last week's and this week's parshiot. About Sedom, we read last week:
וְאַנְשֵׁי סְדֹם, רָעִים וְחַטָּאִים, לַיהוָה, מְאֹד.
The men of Sedom were extremely bad and sinful to God. (Genesis 13:13)
It sounds like "bad" and "sinful" are two different things. What's the difference between them?
Targum Onkelos explains it as having to do with the method of sinning:
וְאַנְשֵׁי סְדוֹם, בִּישִׁין בְּמָמוֹנְהוֹן וְחַיָּבִין בְּגִוְיָתְהוֹן, קֳדָם יְיָ, לַחְדָּא.
The men of Sedom were extremely bad with their money(property?), and guilty with their bodies to God.
"Ra'im" means bad (in a moral sense) with their money or property. Chata'im means sinning with their bodies. What is the rationale for making such a distinction? Isn't evil just evil, regardless of its mode of implementation? (Read on, but this is the unanswered question of the post!)
There's another famous passage where we see such a distinction. In the Shema, we read:
וְאָהַבְתָּ, אֵת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, בְּכָל-לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל-נַפְשְׁךָ, וּבְכָל-מְאֹדֶךָ.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your "meod".
What is your "meod"? Says Onkelos, "your possessions." Rashi also cites this explanation:
בכל ממונך יש לך אדם שממונו חביב עליו מגופו לכך נאמר ובכל מאדך.
With all your money; there is a man whose money is more precious to him than his body, therefore it says "with all your money"
You might ask: If I love God with all my soul, isn't it obvious I would dedicate all my possessions to Him? Rashi answers that there is such a person who is so sick, so twisted in his outlook, that his life is not as important as his possessions. To such a person, the Torah commands to love God as much as he loves his possessions.
So here's a follow-up question: Why would the Torah give us a mitzvah specifically for someone who is so twisted in his perceptions? Meaning, love God with all your heart and soul--I get it. But if you're so messed up that you value your possessions more than your life, how can you even think about loving God? And why would the Torah command a person like this to love God? Get your priorities straight, and then love God with all your soul!
Conclusion:
We have the same distinction made between one's self and one's property being made both in the realm of evil and in the realm of good. On the bad side, the people of Sedom were wicked with their money and their bodies (presumably through which they act out the desires of their souls). God commands us to love Him with our selves and with our money.
What is the purpose of this distinction? Does Rashi on the Shema shed light on Onkelos' commentary about Sedom? Any thoughts?
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