The fast of Tish’a beAb should be observed by all those who are in good health. There are some exceptions, as explained below, almost all related to health issues.

PREGNANT AND NURSING WOMEN

 Similar to Yom Kippur, pregnant and nursing women should observe this fast. In cases of complicated pregnancies or physical weakness, or if the pregnant mother is worried that fasting will affect her health or her baby’s health, she should ask her doctor before the fast-day and proceed as the physician recommends. If during the fast a pregnant woman feels sick, especially if she is vomiting or having any signs of dehydration, she should break the fast and drink or eat immediately. However, mild dizziness and nausea that can be coped with by lying down on a couch or a bed are considered normal.

YOLEDET

During the first 30 days after birth or a miscarriage, a woman is exempted from fasting on the 9th of Ab.

CHOLE SHE-EN BO SAKANA

People with a chronic disease like diabetes or patients under treatment or someone with high fever or with any symptoms of dehydration should not observe the fast. In some cases, when is not possible to fast for 24 hours it would recommended to fast from dawn until the end of the day, as we do on the 17 of Tamuz or the 10 of Tebet.

ELDERLY

Elders should consult with their doctors to ensure that fasting will not affect their health. If fasting can affect their health, they are exempt from (or are forbidden to) fasting.

MINORS

In many Ashkenazi communities, children fast for a few hours during Tish’a beAb once they reach nine years of age , because is important to make them share the experience of national mourning.  According to Rabbi Obadia Yosef, howsever, the Sephardic custom it is that children under 13 and girls under 12 are totally exempted from fasting. His reasoning is that, unlike Yom Kippur, there is no need for children to fast for a few hours because while fasting on Yom Kippur is part of the process of Teshuba (= repentance, improving our behavior), fasting on Tish’a beAb is done because we are mourning for the destruction of our Bet haMiqdash. And while we definitely want to educate and train our children to do Teshuba, many Sages understood that we are not required to train our children to mourn, before they have a formal obligation to do so (12 or 13 years old ,קטן פטור מאבלות). Hoping that B”H this will the last year we would cry for not having our Bet-haMiqdash, and that next year,  mourning for the Bet haMiqdash will not be necessary.

HOW TO PROCEED WHEN YOU NEED TO EAT ON TISHA BEAB?

On Yom Kippur, when one is allowed to eat for health reasons, food should be eaten in small portions. Tish’a beAb is different, because unlike Yom Kippur, it is not a Biblical commemoration. Therefore, when one is allowed to eat during Tish’a beAb for health reasons, one can eat normally. However, when eating in Tish’a beAb, one should not eat delicious food or in excess, but only what is needed to feel well.

Tonight we begin a special Shabbat called:  “Shabbat Chazon” , the Shabbat previous to the 9th of Ab.

From Saturday night, we begin a period of mourning that goes in-crescendo until Tish’a BeAb — the Jewish National Day of Mourning. In addition to all the restrictions we kept since the 17 of Tamuz, as of Saturday night we stop shaving, refraining from taking hot baths or showers, refraining from washing our clothes or even wearing a freshly washed cloth.

Saturday morning we read a special Haftara, CHAZON YESHA’AYA, which gives the name to our Shabbat. This text, Isaiah 1:1-27 , is a prophetic vision of Yesha’ayahu haNabi in which he rebukes the people of Israel, and particularly the citizens of Yerushalayim, for their lack of integrity and their corruption. This Haftara describes the sins that made HaShem ignoring people’s prayers and eventually allow His Bet haMiqdash (the First Bet haMiqdash) to be destroyed. By reading and remembering what our ancestors did wrong, we can reflect on our own behavior, change and improve our actions and merit to seeing our Bet haMiqdash built again.

Among the many points he raised, the prophet discussed religious hypocrisy.

Logically, I am still affected by the passing of my dear mother. And during these days of mourning I was thinking a lot about the meaning of life and the immortality of the soul. I would like to share with you some insights on this topic.

RAB ARYEH KAPLAN
One of my favorites authors is Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, z “l, and one the books that had a great impact in my life is his work “If You Were God “. Rabbi Kaplan was a genius —both in the rabbinical area and in science, specifically physics — and tragically passed away in 1984 at a very young age.
This fascinating book consists of 3 essays.

The first part analyzes the role of the Jewish people in the world, and explains how God tries to “civilize” humanity through his representatives: the Jews.

The third essay is about the meaning of life, but not from the human point of view but from a Divine perspective. In other words, why did God create the world and particularly human beings.

The second essay, the shortest, concerns the immortality of the soul.

THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION
The first question that one must confront when one wants to seriously examine the subject of the immortality of the soul is: “What is the soul?”. And to define what the soul is, we must first identify what or who is the “I”?

Rabbi Kaplan says thus:

“Look at your hand. What do you see? A part of your body…. you can open and close your hand. It obeys every command that your mind sends to it. It is yours – a part of you”. But, is your hand the real “you”?
“Now point a finger at yourself. If you are an average person you will point your finger at your chest. You think of yourself as your body. But is your body your real you? “

And so,step by step, Rabbi Kaplan methodically help us understand via negativa what it is that we are NOT. We are not our body and not even our brain. So, what it is that really defines us? Or, to formulate the same question with my own words: Are we a body with a soul or a soul with a body?

WHO AM I?
A metaphor that can help visualize the body / soul relationship is that of a car and a driver. The car is the body, and the driver is the soul that drives the body. Or perhaps it is more accurate to talk about a taxi, (or an Uber …) instead of a private car. The car is our body, the driver is our brain, and the soul is the passenger. The taxi driver knows how to drive the car, and how to take the passenger in the best possible way to its destination, etc. but the driver does not decide what the destination is! It is “the passenger” who makes that decision and determines the direction of the trip. The brain is not the “I”. Since although it is a very sophisticated element, it is still physical, material. The “soul” however, is beyond the physical realm: it is supernatural, Divine. And as such, the soul is responsible for a type of action that is also supernatural (that does not exist in the natural or the animal world), that is, free will: the exclusively human (supernatural) ability to say “no” to my body’s instincts; the possibility of choosing where I am going; and to decide what to do with my life, with my time, etc.

RIDERS OR CENTAURS?
There is a metaphor that is better than that of an automobile and a driver, because it includes a fundamental point not covered by the previous one: the horse and the rider. The body has, to put it in some way, its “own life”, its needs, its whims, its desires and even its objectives, which are related to what belongs to the material world. The body is the horse. And the soul is the rider. Similar to the car driver, the rider also aims to direct his horse toward a destination that he, the rider, aspires to (the horse does not have a “conscious destination”. Its final destiny is a grave). Rider and horse should interact in perfect harmony. The rider knows that the horse has its material needs and does not neglect them. Well aware of the importance of his horse to reach its destination, a good rider takes good cares of his animal, takes it periodically to the vet, and makes sure that his horse has everything it needs to be healthy and satisfied.

QUO VADIS?
But there are other possible scenarios: What happens when the rider cannot control his horse, lets go of the reins, and abandons himself? What if the rider does NOT know that there is a destination to be reached or a path to follow? Or, the worst possible scenario: What happens if the rider doesn’t realize that he is a rider, an entity independent of his horse? What if he or she never discovers his true identity, and lives his entire life as an appendage to his horse? Unlike a car that will not move on its own , the horse has a life of its own. When the rider is “passive” the horse will not stand still waiting for his orders!. Rather, the unguided horse is going to dedicate itself to do what horses are supposed to do: eating, drinking, resting, running after mares, and trying to run faster than other horses in a race without destination.

When the rider abandons the reins of his horse, and surrenders to it, he ends up living the life of his horse.

“Am I a body with a soul or a soul with a body?” is probably the most important, and time sensitive, question you have to address in your life.

To be continued

Today, Thursday, July 9, 2020, we commemorate the 17 of Tamuz, a day of public fasting, in memory of five tragedies that occurred on that day. Previously we mentioned two of these tragedies (see below) and today we will mention the other three

APOSTOMUS BURNED A SEFER TORAH
A Jewish command attacked an expedition of Romans bringing weapons and supplies to the invading army. The Roman governor, Komanos, besieged the city of Bet Horon, from where the Jewish attack had been organized, and ordered that the attackers be arrested. Roman soldiers complied with the governor’s orders but a Roman officer, named Apostomus, took a Sefer Torah and publicly burned it. This happened on the 17 of Tamuz 17. Upon hearing of this great tragedy –which had never happened before, but unfortunately it happened many times after that– the Jews started a great revolt, which was only placated when they executed the roman officer that committed this aberration.

THE DAILY SACRIFICE WAS CANCELLED
Every day at the Bet haMiqdash two sacrifices were offered, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The daily sacrifice was so important that it was also offered on Shabbat and even on Yom Kippur. This Mitsva was fulfilled uninterruptedly from the time Moshe Rabbenu until the 17th day of tammuz in 586 BCE, that is, every single day for around 700 years.
When the Babylonian army invaded Jerusalem the city’s walls were destroyed on the 9th day of Tamuz. But the Bet haMiqdash, which was protected by other internal walls, continued to operate, and the daily sacrifice was the best proof of this. The Gemara tells that on the 13th of Tamuz the Cohanim, the priests who were in charge of the public sacrifices, could not find any animals left. Then, they tried to bribe the invading army soldiers and get animals at any cost. This worked for four days, until the 17th of Tamuz. That day, for the first time in 700 years, the daily sacrifice was not offered. And so the Bet haMiqdash, while still standing for three more weeks, virtually ceased to operate as such.

THE WALLS WERE DESTROYED
In the time of the Second Bet haMiqdash the Jews rebelled against the Romans and they recover the control of Jerusalem for a few years, defending the city protected by strong walls. These walls were originally built in the days of King Solomon. The people fought with all their might and ingenuity to survive and repel the powerful enemy and they knew that as long as the walls stood, they could be safe.
The Romans, the most powerful world-power at that time, had very advanced military technology. They used catapults with which they threw very heavy rocks of up to 25 kilograms that impacted and broke the stones of the walls. They also used towers through which the soldiers climbed the walls and attacked the Jewish fighters. The Romans attacked with “ram’s heads”, huge logs with an iron ram’s head to knock down the city walls and gates.

On the 17th day of Tamuz one of the walls of Yerushalayim, the fortress of Antonia, built by Herod 40 years ago in honor of the emperor Marc Antony, collapsed, and a breach was opened through which Roman soldiers began to enter the city. This was the beginning of the end of the city of Yerushalayim.

The Jews fought valiantly from within the walls, but as our Sages explained, they were not united but separate. Our strength and survival depends on HaShem, and He is with us when we are united. This does not mean that all the Jews of the world should think alike (that is impossible!) but it does mean that we should make our maximum effort to accept and tolerate each other and feeling not only part of the same people but part of the same family .

There is a very interesting letter that Maimonides writes for one of his students, Shemuel Ibn Tibon, who was translating “The Guide of the Perplexed” from Arabic to Hebrew. Ibn Tibon lived in Provence, France, and wrote to Maimonides in 1199, stating his intention to travel to Egypt to visit him, study with him for a few days, and asking him some questions regarding certain difficult passages of his Guide. Maimonides replied with a famous letter where he reveals his complex life and his extraordinary kindness.

“I live in Fostat and the sultan resides in Cairo…my obligations to the Sultan are many. I visit him every day, early in the morning; and when he or any of his sons, or any of the women in his harem are indisposed … I stay in the palace most of the day. It also often happens that one or two court officials become ill, and I must attend to them and heal them. Therefore, I usually arrived in Cairo very early in the morning and do not return to Fostat until late in the afternoon.

In our last article we discussed this aspect of Maimonides’ daily life, his work as a court physician of the famous Sultan Saladin.

DOCTOR WITHOUT BORDERS
What follows is less known. Maimonides relates in this letter what he did once he returned home, and after having worked all that day; today we would say: “in his free time”.

[Upon arriving at my house in Fostat] I’m starving… I find the hallways of my house full of patients, both Jews and Gentiles, nobles and common people, judges and bailiffs, friends and enemies, a mixed crowd waiting for the moment of my return. I dismount my animal, wash my hands, approach my patients and beg them to be patient with me while I take a light snack, the only food I eat in twenty-four hours. Then I go out to see my patients and write prescriptions and instructions for their various ailments. Patients come and go until nightfall, and sometimes, I solemnly assure you, up to two hours or more once night falls. I talk to them [about their ailments] and prescribe their medicines while I lie down from exhaustion and when night falls, I am so tired that I can hardly speak.

Maimonides had a “free” medical clinic at his home, where he cared for all kinds of patients: Jews, Gentiles, friends and enemies, poor and rich.

THE UNFINISHED WORK
Maimonides did not have extra time to waste. In fact, his literary work was still unfinished. Among his plans was to devote himself to writing a commentary on the Babylonian Talmud.
He also wanted to write a book on the Midrashim and Hagadot of the Talmud, where he would explain the logic behind the rabbinic metaphors and the Talmudic stories that seem to be fictions (something his son, Rabbenu Abraham, did briefly in his Ma-amar ‘al Hagadot Chazal)
But the most urgent thing he had to do was to protect the credibility of his most important work, “Mishna Tora”, the book that presents exhaustively all the articles of Jewish law. Some contemporary rabbis in Europe criticized this work because although it presented the final law, it did not show the specific sources from which there author had drawn his verdicts. And although leaving the sources out, and presenting the settled law was the deliberate intention of Maimonides’ code, he thought that the acceptance of his book by European Jews depended on quoting the sources of his Halakhot, and he intended to do so.
Now we can better appreciate the following point: how is it that with so much work left to do, Maimonides dedicated his free time to medicine instead of writing his books?

Because Maimonides decided that it was time to put into practice all that he had learn and taught in his innumerable writings. His precious time would now be devoted to something he could do better than any other man of his time: healing the sick.

HOW DID MAIMONIDES DIE?
Maimonides lived the final days of his life doing this monumental work of kindness, which costed him his life. Most of Maimonides’ biographers do not go too far explaining what the cause of Maimonides’ death was and merely indicate the exact date of his departure: December 13, 1204. Although a historian of the early twentieth century, De Goeje, points out that Maimonides died of “physical exhaustion”.
Hakham Yosef Faur z”l in his class on“ The Four Giants of Sepharad” reveals a very important detail, that today, in times of COVID19, we can appreciate better than ever: it is documented that Maimonides died as a result of an epidemic. Maimonides refused to stop caring for his patients, he became infected with a disease and after a while died for this reason (listen here, 1.17m)

Our Rabbis explain that the Tora begins with Chesed (benevolence) and ends with Chesed. And the examples of benevolence that the Sages bring are not acts of kindness performed by human beings, but by the Creator himself. In its beginning the Tora tells us that HaShem provided clothing for Adam and Eve, and providing cloths for those who do not have what to wear is indeed an act of Chesed, and the Tora ends by telling us that the Almighty buried Moshe Rabbenu. Burying the dead is another act of Chesed.

In the last years of his life, Maimonides reinvented himself. And he went from the studying to practicing the Tora, imitating God’s Chesed with His creatures.

I present below the “PRAYER FOR A DOCTOR” attributed to Maimonides . Thousands of doctors, Jews and Gentiles, in Israel, the United States and the rest of the world, recite this prayer every day, before beginning their medical work.

Master of the Universe, before I begin the sacred task of healing Your creatures, I express my plea before You, and beg You to grant me the courage and strength to do my medical work with integrity, and that the desire to accumulate wealth or gain fame won’t be guiding my work or blinding my eyes.

Master of the Universe, it is known by all Your subjects that You are the One who inflicts suffering to those who deserve it, and You are the One who takes pity on those who suffer. And with Your infinite Wisdom, You wanted me, Your humble servant of flesh and blood, made of dust and ashes, with my limited knowledge and my poor intellect, to have learned about the body and the mind of the human being that You created in this material world.

And behold, following Your orders and Your commandments and counting on Your help, I’m preparing myself to heal, according to the scope of my knowledge and knowing that ultimately, life, death and the cure of diseases are in Your hands and that it is You who determines the success or failure of my healing.

Lord of Heaven, Eternal King, may it be Your will to grant Your servant the strength and ability to continue learning the art of healing for the rest of my life from those who know more than I do.

Help me so that I never cease to feel compassion for all who suffer, and grant me the wisdom to assist those who come to consult my medical advice, without differentiating between the rich and the poor, the friend or the enemy, the good man and the bad man, so that when someone needs my help, that I only see the human being who suffers sickness and pain.

May my love for the art of healing give me the courage so that the truth may be the light that guides me, because I am aware that my negligence in my medical work can result in the suffering or death of the work of Your hands.

I beg you, Oh God, You compassionate and merciful, to grant strength to my body and courage to my mind, and implant in me a spirit of integrity.

Blessed are You, Master of all works, Creator of all living beings.

Apart from being one of the most important Talmudists and jurists in the history of the Jewish people, Maimonides was also a famous doctor. His father, Ribbi Maimon, was probably the one who introduced him into medicine, which was a very common profession among Spanish Jews until the time of the expulsion in 1492.
At an early age, Maimonides had to leave Cordoba, Spain, due to the religious persecutions of a fundamentalist Muslim group: the Almohades. Maimonides’ family arrived in the city of Fes, Morocco and remained there for seven years. In Fes Maimonides had the opportunity to deepen his medical knowledge by training with Jewish and non Jewish experienced physicians. In 1165 he arrived in Egypt. Maimonides always opposed practicing the rabbinate professionally, and for many years he supported himself thanks to his bother and business partner David, who traveled the world for this purpose. But after his brother tragically died when his ship sank, Maimonides dedicated himself to practicing medicine for a living. And he was extremely successful.

In Egypt, he was called to work as the main doctor at the court of Sultan Saladin the Great (1138-1193 , famous for his wars against the crusaders and for having reconquered Jerusalem. Upon the capture of Jerusalem, Saladin summoned the Jews and permitted them to resettle in the Holy city). Being the court physician was not an easy job. In addition to examining and taking care of the Sultan Maimonides also had to take care of his entire family – his wives and children – and the officials of the royal court.
Maimonides was the most respected physician in all of Egypt. And many of Saladin court sages and advisers were very jealous of him and many times tried to conspire against him.

Many years ago my uncle Hakham Yosef Faur z ”l told me a few stories of Maimonides and the constant harassment he suffered from the envious sages of the court. I remember five stories. Let me share with you one of them.

In his medical books, Maimonides stated that blindness from birth could not be cured. The court sages and advisers challenged him and said that they had developed a surgical operation that could restore sight to the blind, and that they were ready to demonstrate their claim. They arranged for a special session where the Sultan and Maimonides were present. When the day came, the advisers brought a patient with his face and eyes covered and claimed that he was blind from birth, and had just undergone surgery. The bandage was removed and the man began to shout: “I can see, I can see! These sages have cured me! ” The sages then demanded the Sultan to expel Maimonides from the court for his ignorance and stubbornness. Maimonides asked the Sultan for permission to examine the patient. He asked him: “Sir, is it true that you are blind from birth?” And the man replied: “Yes! I was never able to see, since I was born until this very moment” Then Maimonides took a red handkerchief from his pocket and asked: “If you can really see, could you tell me what color is this cloth?” . “Red!” said the patient with great enthusiasm. “This cloth is red!”. Maimonides then told the Sultan : “Your majesty, a person who sees for the first time does not know the colors, and cannot possibly identify or describe them: this man is an impostor!”

Some of Maimonides’ medical works

1. “Excerpts from Galen or the art of healing”, a summary of the extensive writings of the famous Greek physician.
2. “Commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates,” which Maimonides combines with his own views.
3. “Medical Aphorisms of Moses”, 1,500 guidelines describing various medical conditions.
4. “Treatise on Hemorrhoids” also discusses the mechanism of digestion.
5. “Treatise on Cohabitation” recommendations for a healthy sex life.
6. “Treatise on Asthma”, where he discusses how climate and diet affects asthma.
7. “Treatise on Poisons and Their Antidotes”, this toxicology book remained popular for centuries.
8. “A healthy regime” a discourse on healthy living and the mind-body connection.
9. “Discourse and explanation of moderation”, advocates for a healthy life and teaches that one of the fundamental principles of preventive medicine is to avoid excesses.
10. “Glossary of drug names” presents a pharmacopoeia with the names of a large number of drugs in Arabic, Greek, Syrian, Persian, Berber (Moroccan dialect) and Spanish.

As many of my readers might have noticed, in these last days I am writing in honor of my uncle the Hakham Yosef Faur haLevi z ”l, commenting on one of his classes called “Four Giants of Sepharad”. So far we have mentioned Rabbi Ibn Paquda, Rabbi Yehuda haLevi and Rabbi Abraham Eben Ezra. And now, in this last presentation, we will write about the “giant among the giants”: Maimonides.

Ribbi Moshe ben Maimon, also known as HaRambam or Maimonides, was born in the city of Córdoba, Spain, in 1135 and died in Egypt in 1204.

It is impossible and absolutely unfair to dedicate a simple email to describe the life and work of one of the most important rabbis of all time. Aside from being a great rabbi and community leader, Maimonides was also a famous philosopher, a great doctor – the pioneer of preventive medicine – and had a vast knowledge of mathematics and astronomy. But today we will focus on a different angle of his personality: Maimonides as a jurist and legislator.

THE TALMUDIC OCEAN
It is not possible to appreciate the monumentality of Maimonides’ work if one does not have a clear idea of ​​what the Talmud is (and vice versa).
The Babylonian Talmud, with its 63 treatises and 2,711 pages, records the Jewish oral tradition and is the basis of biblical and rabbinical jurisprudence. The Talmud or Gemara, cites the Mishna, the oldest edition of Jewish oral law, and then registers a large number of debates in which that Mishna is exhaustively analyzed in terms of its authorship, language, scope, application , its exceptions, etc. It is necessary to develop a special way of reasoning (which is acquired as one immerses himself in the Talmud) to understand the Talmudic thinking . And although today we have many good translations and explanations, it is not easy to keep up with the Talmudic methodology and rhetoric. Apart from that, a topic that has to do, for example, with the laws of Shabbat can be found or redefined not only in the tractate of Shabbat but also in a completely different treatise as the Talmud analyzes a case of damages or perhaps ritual sacrifices. And in order to establish what the law is, which is not normally presented in the Talmud, one not only needs to understand the specific text but to know the Talmud exhaustively, since, as we explain, the references might be in multiple texts. Maimonides, who had a superb memory and an exhaustive knowledge of the Babylonian Talmud (and the Jerusalem Talmud, and Tosefta, and Baraytot, and Midrashe Halakha, and Geonim, etc.) identified all the laws, formulated them in perfect and very clear Hebrew, and reorganized them in 14 treatises, with 1,000 chapters with an average of 16 Halakhot, or “articles of the law” in each chapter.

WAS MAIMONIDES AN ELITIST ?
In my own words, the Talmud is like a vast sea with tens of thousands of beautiful pearls that are very difficult to collect. The pearls, which are at the bottom of the sea, sometimes under layers of sand, are also scattered many kilometers apart. Maimonides did the impossible and the unimaginable. He dedicated his life to diving at the bottom of the vast ocean of the Talmud and he collected one by one “all the pearls of the Talmudic sea”. He brought them to the surface, processed them, examined them with extreme care, classified them by colors, size, shape, weight, etc. and finally presented us with a beautiful 14 volumes catalog with 1,000 categories and more than 16,000 specimens of the precious pearls.

One of the aspects that Hakham Faur discusses in this class, is Maimonides’ supposed “elitism”. When in fact it was the opposite. For centuries the common Jew had no direct access to Jewish law. There was no way to know the details of the Law that he or she so much wanted to observe and fulfill, because access to the Talmud was very limited and even if you would understand the Talmud, you still someone to delve into it and brought from the depth even the simplest Halakha. Maimonides, far from perpetrating what might be perceived as “elitism”, i.e., that only the Talmide Hakhamim ‘elite’ had access to the knowledge of the Halakha, , he codified and presented the law in a style and language that was accessible to ALL people, even to the simplest Jew. You cannot be less elitist than that!

WHAT DOES RATIONALIST MEAN?
Hakham Faur also demonstrates the fallacy behind Maimonides’ supposed “rationalism”. In his book “Homo Mysticus”, where Hakham Faur exposes Maimonides ideas and beliefs as per his “Guide for the Perplexed”, he explains this topic in detail.

There are 3 levels of “thought” or intellectualism. .

IMAGINATION

The vast majority of human beings are carried away by their imagination, impressions, feelings, irrational fears, impulses, herd culture, popular opinions, etc. Very few people stop to think in order to act strictly following their common sense. How many people, for example, eat using strictly common sense? Consuming “only” what is good for them and avoid eating anything that is not beneficial for their health?

RATIONALISM

On the next level, superior to the first, we find intelligent, rational people, who only do, say and act according to their intellect and reason. Not only do they “know” what is right: they also acquire the discipline to improve their character, control their impulses, and be guided by their reasoning. A person who is guided by his or her reason is a “rationalist”. The epitome of a rationalist was Aristotle.

REVELATION

But for Maimonides, although reason is a higher level than that of the imagination, it is not the highest level that a human being can reach. There is something above human reason, that is, Divine Revelation. The Creator’s Wisdom is revealed in the Tora. Divine Wisdom is not determined or limited by reason. Proof of this is that we Jews guide ourselves by commandments that we understand but also by Divine commandments that are beyond our limited reasoning. Maimonides was not a rationalist, he was post-rational man or a “revelationist” . In medieval Hebrew: “Torani” (guided by the Tora).

It is quite possible that those who imagined Maimonides as a rationalist were based on the fact that Maimonides strongly rejected all kinds of nonsensical “superstitions”, including religious superstitions, very fashionable in his time (some of which, incredibly, persist to this day). For Maimonides astrology, necromancy, divination, and other superstitions were vestiges of the ‘aboda Zara (idolatry) and represented the thinking of the most primitive, pre-rational man.

We continue with the presentation of the class “Four Giants of Sepharad” by Hakham Yosef Faur z”l, about four rabbis that deeply impacted the character and content of the Sephardic tradition.

HIS LIFE

Ribbi Abraham Eben Ezra was born in the city of Tudela, in Navarro, in northern Spain, in 1089. Ibn Ezra was very close to Ribbi Yehuda Halevi, who was about 14 years older than him, and his son Isaac married the daughter of Yehuda haLevi (or according to others, Ribbi Abraham married his daughter). He refused to accept money from others and materially, he was always very poor. He tried to engage in commerce but was never successful in his business. He wrote in. one of his poems that he was so unfortunate in business that if he would “starts selling shrouds, people will stop dying.”  Rabbi Eben Ezra traveled the world for more than three decades. First he visited North Africa: Morocco, Algeria, Tunes. Then he visited Europe: Italy, France and England. Then the Middle East: Egypt, Persia, Iraq. During his many trips he always visited and stayed in the local Jewish communities, that upon recognizing his great knowledge of Tora treated him with great respect. His journeys were not an impediment for his writing. Quite the opposite, it seems that Ribbi Abraham wrote particularly during his travels, and more than once dedicated his works to local communities or their patrons. It is said that in France he met Rabbenu tam (1100 – 1171) and in Egypt he met Maimonides (1135 -1204). He died in 1164 and according to Rabbi Abraham Zakuto in his Sefer haYohasin, he was buried in the land of Israel.

COMMENTARY TO THE TORA

Rabbi Eben Ezra wrote more than 60 books on many different subjects. His best known work is his commentary on the Tora (the Pentateuch). This work was innovative for its methodology. Analyzing the “peshat”, that is, the literal meaning of the text based on a rigorous linguistic analysis of the words. Rabbi Eben Ezra avoided the permanent reference to the Midrashim in his explanations, as Rashi does when he explains the Tora, since he considered that it was not necessary to repeat in a commentary what the reader can find in the Midrash. He also criticized some allegorical comments that, in his opinion, “go around the point in circles instead of focusing on the point itself”, that is, in the literal and grammatical sense of each word. The literal meaning should be carefully considered and should be examined not only by analyzing the root of the word but also the context, the location of the term in the verse, and the other instances in which that word appears in the Bible. This literal interpretation was an innovation. The Rabbi clarified that his (new) methodology did not apply to the words of the Tora that refer to any precept or commandment, since the interpretation in these cases is exclusively that which we received in the oral Tora and is recorded in the Talmud.

ASTRONOMYWhat is less known is that Rabbi Eben Ezra also wrote dozens of books on scientific subjects. For example, “The book of the foundations of the astronomical tables” a work that Rabbi Abraham originally wrote in Latin. This indicates that he had a very deep knowledge of this language, in which scientific wisdom was transmitted at that time. Rabbi Eben Ezra also belonged to the scientific community of his time.

NAVIGATIONHe also wrote a treatise on the astrolabe, an instrument that allows to muse the position of the stars for orientation, and which was essential for navigation. The astrolabe was in the Middle Ages what a GPS is today. The photo we posted above is an illustration showing Rabbi Eben Ezra (in the middle) with an astrolabe in his hands. The book was called in Hebrew: Keli HaNechoshet, “the copper instrument,” which was the metal used to build the astrolabe.

MATHEMATICS.He also wrote several books on mathematics, such as “The Book of Numbers,” which deals with arithmetic. In this work he presents the decimal system and the way it is used, anticipating by several decades the famous Italian mathematician Fibonacci (1170 -1240). It should be noted that thanks to his numerous trips around the world, Rabbi Eben Ezra became one of the main contributors to the popularization of the decimal system in the Jewish communities and in the Western world. He was also one of the first to present and explain the number “zero”, which he drew with a circle and called in Hebrew “galgal” (circle or wheel).
In his lecture on the giants of Sepharad the Hakham Faur z”l explained that for Eben Ezra the Tora and scientific knowledge are not contradictory: on the contrary, they complement each other and necessitate each other in order to appreciate the Wisdom of Creator. The fact that the universe can be understood and explained mathematically with predictable and unchangeable formulas and laws that are accesible to our God-designed mind reveals the existence of the Intelligent Creator of the Cosmos. Maimonides explored this idea in depth in Yesode HaTora, chapter 2, where he shows how this observation brings us closer to love and fear God. For more on the fascinating topic of mathematics /physics and the intelligent fine tuning of the Universe, I recommend the book “Just six numbers” by Martin Rees .

POETRYFinally, Rabbi Eben Ezra is also known as one of the great Jewish poets of all times. Some of the poems he composed 800 years ago are still well known to us and we continue to sing them to this day. For example, AGADELKHA ELOQE KOL NESHAMA. KI ESHMERA SHABBAT and LEKHA ELI TESHUKATI, a very profound poem with which we inaugurated the Yom Kippur liturgical service and which was also used to be recited as a Viduy in the last moments of life.

I continue sharing with you one of the classes of my dear uncle, Hakham Yosef Faur, z”l. Rabbi Faur had a passion for history and particularly the history of the Jews of Spain. In this class he referred to “Four Giants of Sepharad”. Previously, we spoke about Rabbenu Bahiya. Today we will talk about Ribbi Yehuda haLevi, born in Toledo (or Tudela), Spain, 1075.

THE CUZARI

Ribbi Yehuda was a prominent philosopher, and his most famous book is the Cuzari. A work written in the form of a dialogue, questions and answers, between King Bulan, from the Khazar empire and Rab Isaac haSangari. King Bulan, who did not practice any religion, summoned an Imam, a Christian priest, a rabbi and a philosopher (equivalent today to an atheist thinker) and asked each one to present their arguments. In the end, King Bulan thought that the rabbi’s arguments were the most convincing, and he decided to convert and convert the subjects of his empire to Judaism. The historical and philosophical principles that the Jewish Sage transmitted to King Bulan constitute the content of the book of “The Cuzari”. This widely documented mass conversion took place in the 8th century. And the Jewish empire of the Khazars (the first “independent Jewish state” after the destruction of the second Bet haMiqdash, sic.!) continued for around 200 years after this event.

POETRY AND THEOLOGY

Apart from his philosophical work, Ribbi Yehuda haLevi is also known for his poetic work. To understand the importance of poetry in 11th century Spain we need a brief introduction. For the Arabs the Quran is the most revered book. And the proof of the superiority of the Quran (and Islam over other religions) is the perfection of the Arabic language. “There is no Arabic more perfect than the Arabic of the Quran, and there is no language more perfect than the Arabic language.” But how can anyone prove that one language is superior to another? In the Middle Ages the answer was: “poetry”. The Arabic language has a certain plasticity, which Western languages, for example, ​​do not have. This allows to create a type of “metric” poetry, where the verses are written with mathematical precision.

A four words verse may be written, for example, in this way:

FIRST WORD (two syllables): 1. Half vowel, open syllable. 2. Long vowel, closed syllable.

SECOND WORD (two syllables): 1. Open syllable, long vowel. 2. Closed syllable, long vowel.

THIRD WORD (two syllables): 1. Half vowel, open syllable. 2. Short vowel, closed syllable.

FOURTH WORD (two syllables). 1. Long vowel, open syllable. 2. Short vowel, closed syllable.

In this type of Arabic poetry, the art is to write all verse maintaining the same structure. But to preserve this sophisticated structure, which among other things facilitates the adaptation of these poems to a wide variety of melodies, something had to be sacrificed: the content of the poem. In any case, this metric, impossible in other languages ​​such as Spanish, Latin or Greek, demonstrated the superiority of Islam.

DUEL OF THE POETS

Rabbi Faur explains that the Rabbis of Spain, then under Muslim rule, responded to this challenge that threaten the credibility of Judaism. The famous sages Yona Ibn Jannah, Hasday Ibn Shaprut, and many other grammarians of the Hebrew school of Córdoba (X and XI century) began formulating the grammatical rules of Biblical Hebrew and made it possible to compose metric poetry in Hebrew, something that until then was not very common. The Jewish Sages composed Hebrew poems that were as elaborate as the poems in Arabic. But with one advantage: Arabic poetry sounded very good, but it said nothing, since it was extremely difficult to force content into such closed structures. Hebrew poetry, however, in addition to preserving the sophisticated metric structure, was extremely rich in content. In fact, the four words example of metric poetry that I mentioned above corresponds to the first stanza of “A-don o-lam a-sher ma-laj,” a poem adaptable to a wide variety of melodies thanks to its perfect metric, with a very profound theological content (It was composed, according to some opinions, by the famous poet Ribbi Shelomo Ibn Gabirol, 1028 -1051).

A JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF RIBBI YEHUDA HALEVI

Rabbi Faur ends his exposition on Yehuda haLevi explaining that he developed a new genre of poetry (in Spanish is called: género sionida) that is, the poetry that expresses the love of the Jewish people for Zion, and the desire to return to Yerushalayim. Rabbi Faur says that in this way Ribbi Yehuda haLevi became the pioneer of modern Zionism.

One of Ribbi Yehuda haLevi’s most celebrated poems is “My heart is in the Orient”.

Let’s see one stanza of this beautiful and famous song.

לִבִּי בְמִזְרָח וְאָנֹכִי בְּסוֹף מַעֲרָב אֵיךְ אֶטְעֲמָה אֵת אֲשֶׁר אֹכַל וְאֵיךְ יֶעֱרָב אֵיכָה אֲשַׁלֵּם נְדָרַי וֶאֱסָרַי, בְּעוֹד צִיּוֹן בְּחֶבֶל אֱדוֹם וַאֲנִי בְּכֶבֶל עֲרָב יֵקַל בְּעֵינַי עֲזֹב כָּל טוּב סְפָרַד, כְּמוֹ יֵקַר בְּעֵינַי רְאוֹת עַפְרוֹת דְּבִיר נֶחֱרָב

«My heart is in the East [Israel]; while I am at the end of the West [Spain].

How could I feel the taste of what I eat; how could I enjoy sweetness [on my palate, while I’m not in the Land of Israel]?

How am I to fulfill my promises and vows [in the Bet haMiqdash] while Zion is under the yoke of Edom [= Christendom. During the first crusade, in 1099, Christians conquered Jerusalem], and I am here, trapped in the bonds of Arabia?

How easily I would abandon all the pleasures of Spain, to delight my eyes seeing the dust of the ruins of the destroyed Sanctuary… ”.

At the end of his days, and after a very difficult journey, Rabbi Yehuda haLevi fulfilled his dream and arrived in Jerusalem. It is said that as soon as his eyes finally saw the ruins of the Bet haMiqdash, he was killed by an Arab rider, near the Western Wall. It is for this reason that the stairs leading down from the Old City to the Kotel are named in his honor “Ma’alot Rabbi Yehuda haLevi” .