AMIDA, ELEVENTH BERAKHA: The End of a Broken Judicial System

השיבה שופטינו כבראשונה 

 

Restore our judges as at the beginning, and our political leaders as in the [good] old times,
And [so You will] remove from us suffering and anguish, 
And reign over us, soon, You, HaShem, only You, with kindness and mercy, with righteousness and justice

Blessed are You, HaShem, the King who loves righteousness and justice.

To understand this Berakha (blessing) we must understand its context. First, let us remember that in this section, and for the next four berakhot, our requests are made not as individuals but as the “People of Israel”. Secondly, that these requests (to return to Israel, to see Jerusalem rebuilt, etc.) are our highest national, we might say “messianic”, aspirations. Third, it is possible that these blessings are presented in the order in which these events are to occur in messianic times: for example, first we will return to Israel, then Yerushalayim will be rebuilt, etc.
Let us now return to our Berakha.
Restore our judges as at the beginning, and our political leaders as in the [good] old times … 

Like the previous Berakha, the text and ideas of this blessing is taken from the prophet Yesha’ayahu. In the first chapter of his book Yesha’ayahu explicitly states that the destruction of Yerushalayim and of the Bet haMiqdash, and the exile of the Jewish people, will come as a result of: oppression, theft, scam, crime and the corruption of judges and political leaders. This is what the Prophet of Israel said in 1:23:  “The judges [of Jerusalem] are corrupt, they are friends of thieves. In exchange for money and gifts they declare the innocent guilty, they mistreat the orphan, and deny aid to the widow.” Toward the end of this text (1: 26-27), Yesha’ayahu concludes with a message of hope, which has to do with our future redemption. “I [HaShem] will restore Your judges as in the days of old, and Your rulers as in the beginning. Once that happens, [Jerusalem] will be called [once again] the city of righteousness, the City of honesty. 27 Sion [Yerushalayim] will be redeemed by justice, and those who repent [will be redeemed for practicing] righteousness. “

And so you will remove from us suffering and anguish  …
Now we understand better that the suffering this Berakha refers to, is that of the victims of a corrupt system of justice: the deprived and the unprotected, the poor, the widows, the orphans. Corruption kills,  and injustice brings uncountable suffering. Unlike the corrupt judges, the true judges and leaders of Israel, such as King David, knew that, according to the Tora, their first mission was to assist the poor and the needy, and to defend those who have no one to defend them .
And reign over us, soon, You, HaShem -only You!- with kindness and mercy, with righteousness and justice…
What do we mean by “Reign over us … only You (לבדך)”? In the Tora the “King” (melekh) also fulfilled the role of Judge; he was the Supreme Judge, the last judicial instance.  In this blessing we are asking to have the merit of being judged by honest judges and ruled by leaders with integrity. In other words: Humans! How is it then that we ask to be governed exclusively by HaShem, to be our King and Supreme Judge? It is almost as saying: YOU judge us, without proxies! This Berakha teaches us a very important lesson: that when our judges and political leaders are guided by the Laws of the Tora, as in the time of King David, it is as if we are governed “directly” by HaShem, since by observing the Tora, we are following His will And His words.

 

Summary: The previous Berakha deals with the return of the Jewish people to our land, while this Berakha refers to the return of justice to the People of Israel. It also teaches us that as long as we do not have a system of justice guided by the Tora, we will not have attained our complete Geula (redemption) even if we are living in the land of Israel. Only when the Divine system of justice is restored, we can speak of a true normalization of the Jewish people. As we mentioned yesterday: עם ישראל, בארץ ישראל, על פי תורת ישראל. “The people of Israel, living in the Land of Israel, ruled by the Tora of Israel.”

 

 לעילוי נשמת 
David ben Yehezqel 
and 
Yosef ben Reuben

.



AMIDA, TENTH BERAKHA: Jewish People or Jewish Religion?

תקע בשופר גדול לחרותינו
Let the great shofar which will announce our freedom be heard.
And raise a mast to gather our exiles. 
And make us return, united, from the four points of the planet, to our land, Israel.
Blessed are You, HaShem, who brings back the displaced of Your people Israel.
[Non-literal translation. YB]
As we have already explained, the ‘Amida is divided into three sections. The first section, which includes three blessings, consists in praising HaShem. The third section, also with three blessings, is about thanking God. And the second section, with thirteen blessings, contains our petitions to God. This section is divided into two main themes: 1. Personal requests, where we ask God to grant us: intelligence, forgiveness, good health, means of subsistence, etc. And 2. National requests, that is, what we ask HaShem to do for us, not as individuals, but as a “nation.”
Our Berakha, teqa beshofar gadol,  inaugurates this sub-section of the ‘Amida, which deals with our national aspirations.
“Let the great shofar, which will announce our freedom, be heard.”
The first thing we ask of God as a nation is to gather all of us from the four corners of the Earth and bring us back to our land, Israel (קבוץ גלויות). The rabbis who wrote the Amida relied for the wording of this phrase on a verse from the prophet Yesha’ayahu (27:13) where it says that the return of the people of Israel to their land, and our independence from the nations (חרותינו), will be announced with the voice of the Shofar.
“And raise a mast to gather our exiles.” 
This phrase is also taken from Yesha’ayahu (11:12). This mast or banner raised high, will show the “refugees” of Israel, the way back home. And so, united in our land and independent, we will return to our “normality” as a people: עם ישראל, בארץ ישראל, על פי תורת ישראל. “The people of Israel, living in the Land of Israel, ruled by the Tora of Israel. “
NATION OR RELIGION? This Berakha, incidentally, clarifies to us a very important and absolutely relevant point for our days. The enemies of Israel justify their rejection of the Jewish State by saying that Israel is a country that discriminates against members of non-Jewish religions. In 1975, the United Nations voted for a resolution that equated Zionism with racism. Why? Because Israel established the “law of return” by which Israel grants citizenship to any Jew. From the point of view of the United Nations, it is as if, for example, Japan would grant citizenship only to people who practice Buddhism, or something like that. That would be considered racism! Now, a very important lesson we learn from our berakha, and from the next five blessings, where we address HaShem as a Nation, is that defining Judaism as a religion might create some confusion.  Judaism is originally viewed in the Tora as the spiritual but especially “legal” legacy (the Constitution) of the People of Israel. It is more accurate to say that we belong to the Jewish Nation, rather than to the Jewish “religion.”   Israel’s law of return then, makes sense, and it is as racist as if Japan would establish a law saying that “Japan grants citizenship to all  Japanese, and their descendant” living in exile.
Our Berakha explicitly mentions the terms “exile”, “return from exile”, “displaced” (or “refugees”), i.e., those Jewish citizens who were expelled from Israel, and their descendants.
Being Jewish is a “nationality”, inherited by the mother’s side, which does not expire even when a Jew lives in exile for centuries. In this sense, Judaism cannot be compared to other religions. There is no “Christian Nation”. Christians do not have a land of reference. Christian do not aspire to return to Rome,  or to reestablish a Christian State in the Vatican where all Christian should eventually live. There are no Christian national aspirations, on the contrary, the State and the Church are deliberately disconnected. The same can be said of Islam. There is no specific land to which all Muslims aspire to return. (Farrakhan’s “Nation of Islam” is the name of his religious movement, not the way Islam sees itself, as can clearly be seen in the concept of League of Arab Nations).
Judaism, as we learn from this Berakha, does not make sense without the Land of Israel, and the aspiration to return to it.
We, Jews who live outside Israel, are proud citizens of the country in which we live, we are absolutely grateful and respectful of their laws of the countries where we live. But at the same time, we are part of the Jewish nation (nation = history in common, language in common, law in common). And as we say in this Berakha, our hope is that one day we will “normalize” our situation as a Jewish people, returning to our land Israel, from all the corners of the planet, thus fulfilling the vision of our prophets, and the Sages who established this Berakha.


AMIDA, NINTH BERAKHA: The Benefits and Risks of Material Abundance

ברך עלינו…את השנה הזאת
 
Bless HaShem our God, [the harvest] of this year and all the produce [of the earth] for good.
Grant the dew and the rain for blessing, on the whole face of the earth.
Satiate [with rain] the face of the planet, [so] that everyone may be satisfied, thanks to Your goodness.
Fill our hands with Your blessings and with the abundance of the gifts of Your hands.
Protect it and save it, [the crop] of this year, from all kinds of pests and all kinds of [natural] disasters.
Help it [our harvest] arrive to a good term and allow us to conclude our year in peace.
Have compassion and mercy on it, [this year’s crop] and on all its produce and fruits.

And bless it with desirable rains; [rains] of blessing and abundance

And may the end of this year be [beneficial] for life, prosperity and peace, like the best years of blessing.
Because You are a kind and a generous God, who blesses the crops.
Blessed are You, HaShem, who blesses the harvest.
We are exploring the ninth berakha of the Amida, barekh alenu, which is the blessing in which we ask HaShem to grant us our sustenance (parnasa). In today’s Halakha we will analyze the Sephardic version of this blessing (the Ashkenazi version is much shorter. but its ideas are somehow implicit in the Sephardic version). We will also focus on the text that is said during the winter, when we ask for  rain.
As we can see, this blessing focuses explicitly on requesting rain (or “dew” in summer); a good harvest (the Hebrew word “shana”, which is usually translated as “year”, meaning “annual harvest” or “crop”) and a successful production of fruits of the earth. In other words, we ask HaShem to grant us sustenance, so that we do not suffer poverty or starvation.
In particular, we ask God to send rain. One of the most disastrous scenarios for Israel’s economy, still true today, is a year of drought. Rain, in due time and in good measure, is the blessing of HaShem for His people Israel, as it is explicitly stated in the Shema Israel, where we also affirm that the rain in the land of Israel is conditional upon the Jewish people keeping its covenant with God. The Tora describes an interaction of cause and effect  between the behavior of the people of Israel and the behavior of the heavens of Israel. Divine Providence rewards Israel’s loyalty with rain in abundance (and vice versa).
Although this Berakha refers exclusively to the agricultural aspects of the economy, because it was formulated at the time the Yehudim lived in Israel, when we dedicated ourselves to work the land, it also alludes to our economic success in general. When we say this blessing we should think, or we can explicitly ask HaShem,  to bless our businesses, our endeavors and our professional life, and not allow us to suffer economic hardship.
Something very important that we learn in this Berakha is implied in the word “leToba” (bless [the harvest] of this year and all the produce [of the earth] “for good”). Sometimes the abundance of money can have a negative effect on a person, for example, causing him or her to be arrogant or to move away from the Tora  (וישמן ישורון ויבעט ). Sometimes abundance can be counterproductive. Material excess can become a psychological or moral disorder, popularly known in English as “Affluenza”, consisting of: (1) The feeling of permanent dissatisfaction and frustration when trying to keep up with the Joneses. (2) Excessive dedication to work, not to have what we need but to elevate our material social image,  at the expense of our spiritual dedication and growth. And (3) a compulsive addiction to consumerism.
May HaShem bless us all materially, providing us with everything we need, and protecting us from “Affluenza” .


AMIDA, EIGHTH BERAKHA: A Prayer for Good Health and Healing

רְפָאֵנוּ ה’ וְנֵרָפֵא, הוֹשִׁיעֵנוּ וְנִוָּשֵׁעָה, כִּי תְהִלָּתֵנוּ אָתָּה
Heal us, HaShem, and we will be healed, save us and we will be saved, because You are our praise.
And grant health and relief for all our diseases, all our pains and all our wounds,
Because we trust that You are the one who heals us with compassion,
Blessed are You, HaShem, who heals the sick of Your people Israel.
This berakha deals with a very specific subject: our health. In it, we ask HaShem to heal us of our ailments and diseases, physical or mental, and we recognize that ultimately our physical well-being depends on Him.
Heal us, HaShem, and we will be healed, save us and we will be saved, because You are our praise.
In the text of this blessing we say: “Heal us, and we will be healed.” Does this mean that when we are sick we should just pray to HaShem and we should not go to a doctor?
This Berakha, and the subject of being sick and get cured, is a great example of the complex dynamics between man’s freedom choice and Divine intervention.
First,  the way one gets sick. In many cases a disease may be the result of our wrong choices, in terms of unhealthy eating habits, physical inactivity or carelessness. The Rabbis expressed this aspect of our responsibility for our own health in the Gemara Ketubot 30a:  הכל בידי שמים חוץ מצינים ופחים  “Everything is in the hands of God, except for colds and heat exhaustion .” In other words, if I deliberately expose myself to extreme cold or heat  I cannot expect HaShem to miraculously protect me from the consequences. Taking care of my health is my responsibility. On the other hand, certain diseases (perhaps most of them or the most serious) are not a consequence of our behavior or our bad habits, but an adversity beyond our control. In any case, we ask HaShem to help us and cure us of all illnesses, regardless of their origin.
Secondly, we must know that the Tora forbids a person to entrust himself to HaShem for healing without going to a doctor. We are obligated to seek the intervention of a physician (verapo yerape). We cannot expect the disease to disappear just by praying. However, what this Berakha makes clear is that when we visit the doctor, we know that it is ultimately HaShem who heals us. We believe that it is HaShem who inspires the doctor’s recommendation for our cure. We believe that it is HaShem who guides or holds the hands of the surgeon in the operating room. We know that ultimately, and through a myriad of human agents – doctors, researchers, nurses – it is HaShem who grants healing and relieves the sick. Doctors are the privileged agents of HaShem in the art of healing.
In short, we must do everything we can to avoid getting sick, and we must do everything humanly possible to heal ourselves. Including praying and asking HaShem to protect us from all sickness and to prolong our lives, recognizing that it is ultimately He who has the last word.
“And grant health and relief for all our diseases, all our pains and all our wounds…”
At this point I want to share something I learned from the Mr. Nessim Bassalian (who is now, BH, the great grandfather of two of my grandchildren). We had a small discussion among a few rabbis about praying for a person with a terminal illness. She was already in the last moments of her life, and one of the rabbis suggested that we should not pray for this person anymore, because that Tefila could be considered a prayer in vain, since the end of that woman was inevitable and imminent. I consulted with Hakham Bassalian and he told me something very interesting, which I believe is implicit in the above mentioned  sentence : “When we pray and we ask HaShem for Refua (health), we are not only asking HaShem to heal us; we are also asking HaShem to relieve us from pain, and prevent us from suffering, even as we die…”. Thus, we decided to continue praying for this person, for her relief. We pray that, if she has to go, that may HaShem spare her from pain and suffering in the final hours of her life.
May HaShem bless us all with good health and may He heal all those who need it. AMEN!


AMIDA, SEVENTH BERAKHA: Goel, our next of kin

ראה נא בענינו וריבה ריבנו
1. Please [HaShem] see our oppression, defend us in our struggle, and rescue us
2. Grant us a complete salvation, by Your name, for You are a Mighty Redeemer.
3. Blessed are You, HaShem, the Redeemer of Israel.
In this berakha we ask HaShem to help us and free us from oppression.
This berakha (blessing) lends itself to confusion. Let’s see why. In each of the blessings before and after this berakha, the subject at hand is very simple to identify: we ask for wisdom, forgiveness, absolution, health, sustenance … but, what are we asking for in this Berakha?

 

Let’s start with what we are NOT asking HaShem here. Evidently the key word of this blessing is, as expected, at the end of it: “goel Israel,” which we translated as “the Redeemer of Israel.” But what redemption are we referring to here? In modern Hebrew the concept of redemption (in Hebrew גאולה) is associated with the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel and the messianic times. But these subjects are fully developed explicitly later, when we speak of the needs of the Jewish people as a nation. We have already explained that the berakhot in which we ask HaShem for our needs are divided into two very distinct groups: personal and national. The first six berakhot of this section deal with our personal needs and the next six, with of our needs or longings as a nation. And that is where we ask for our return to Israel, the rebuilding of Yerushalayim, the arrival of the Mashiah, etc. In this berakha, as Rabbi Israel Ya’aqob Algazi (1679-1756) explains, we are asking HaShem for help to free us from personal constraints and difficulties. What kind of difficulties? The Hebrew word this berakha uses is ONYENU, which means “oppression”: when we are under the yoke of an oppressor. For example, when we are slaves, prisoners or captives, something that in ancient times was not al all uncommon. “Oppression” could also be applied in circumstances of political or religious persecution or in any other scenario of physical abuse, or illegitimate deprivation of liberty. In all these cases, our problem is not lack of means, health or food, etc. but the oppression we suffer at the hands of an individual, a tyrant, a corrupt society, etc.

 

Now that we have understood what the theme of this Berakha is, let us review what are we really asking of HaShem.

 

1. “Please [HaShem] see our oppression,” that is, do not ignore our suffering.“Defend us in our struggle,” we ask Your intervention to rescue us from our oppressors.
2. “Grant us a complete salvation by Your name, for You are a Mighty Redeemer.” We ask HaShem to act promptly and rescue us in a definitive and total way from the oppressor. “For Thy Name,” because you promised it in the Tora, and also because You, HaShem, are Almighty, and there is nothing that is impossible for You.

 

3. “Blessed are You, HaShem, the Redeemer of Israel.”
We must explain this important word “redeemer”, in Hebrew “goel”.
In the earlier berakhot we spoke, for example, of Teshuba, something for that, although we might need Divine help or inspiration, we can (and must) do it ourselves. The idea of Geula refers to scenarios in which one does not have or has already exhausted the possibilities of saving himself, and needs external help from a “goel”. 
In biblical Hebrew “Goel” means “next of kin,” a technical and legal term that appears many times in the Tora. According to Jewish law, it is the duty of that ‘nearest relative’ or ‘goel’ to help and rescue his or her relative in times of imperative need.
Some illustrations.

 

1. In ancient Israel, if a person lost all that he had, he was forced to sell himself as a slave. And it was the duty of the next of kin, his “goel”, to help, pay the debts and rescue this person from captivity.

 

2. Boaz, a relative of Elimelekh, acts as a “goel” and assists Naomi, the widow of Elimelekh and takes care of her and their daughter-in-law Rut. He supports them and rescues them completely from the situation of misery in which they were.
3. Another example of the idea of “Goel” in similar contexts is the expression we say in Tefilat Arbit: וגאלו מיד חזק ממנו, that when HaShem freed us from slavery in Egypt “he rescued Israel from the hands of an oppressor, who was more powerful than the Jewish people. “
In this berakha, then, we address HaShem as “our closest relative,” our “father” (or in some poems and metaphors “husband”) asking Him, our “goel” to listen to us or to our brothers who suffer, and free us from oppression and rescue us.



AMIDA, SIXTH BERAKHA: How Many Times Will God Forgive Me?

סלח לנו אבינו כי חטאנו
(1) Forgive us, our Father, because we have sinned;
(2) Absolve us, our King, because we have rebelled [against You],
(3) For You, God, are Kind and forgiving.
(4) Blessed are You, HaShem, who is compassionate and generous in forgiving.
In the previous berakha (blessing) we have asked HaShem for help to repent. And once we repent, in this Berakha, we are asking HaShem to forgive us, to absolve us and not punish us for our transgressions.
Transgression impacts us negatively on two levels.
אבינו: First, it affects us on a personal level. Sin, transgression leaves harmful consequences and sequels in our personality. For example: Maintaining Kashrut, the Jewish diet or other similar restrictions, trains us to control our appetites and refine our character. However, when we totally give in to our basic instincts we expose ourselves to falling into other vicious and addictive circles, as we have giving up control of our drives and desires. In a certain way, when we sin, we are acting against our own good. When a young man disobeys his parents and smokes, who is harmed by this disobedience? The young man who smokes! After all, the parents forbade their child to smoke for his own good.
מלכנו: Secondly, when we sin we have also committed “a crime”. Let me explain: The Tora is not a manual of religious ritual. The Tora is a book of Laws. Perhaps the best way to understand the Tora is defining it as “The Constitution of the Jewish People.” Thus, when we transgress the Tora, we are violating the Constitution, and as such, our actions deserves a penalty. Today, we do not have rabbinical courts to judge and penalize crimes, all transgressions to our Constitution are judged by the Celestial Court, i.e., God. HaShem is the King, that is, the supreme Judge who judges and sanctions our actions.
Now we can better understand what this berakha is saying:
(1) Forgive us, our Father, because we have sinned;
First, we ask HaShem, calling him “OUR FATHER”, to forgive us for our sins. In Hebrew, HATAIM, which are the transgressions that we commit for lack of conscience. As that young man who smokes because he is not fully consciously aware of the danger of smoking for his health. In this first sentence we refer to HaShem as “Our Father”,  implicitly recognizing that all the restrictions He imposed on us are ultimately for our own good.
(2) Absolve us, our King, because we have rebelled [against You],
Then, in the second sentence, we refer to the “legal” aspect of our transgression. We have violated our Constitution, our covenant with HaShem. In Hebrew this level of transgression is called PESHA, crime, when someone consciously rebels against an authority. That is why in this sentence we call HaShem “OUR KING”. We are not asking now for simple forgiveness. We are asking God, our King to absolve us of the punishment we deserve.
(3) For You, God, are good and forgiving.
We appeal to the goodness of HaShem as Father and to His compassion as King.
And finally we declare:
(4) Blessed are You, HaShem, who is compassionate and generous in forgiving.
What does “generous in forgiving” (המרבה לסלוח) mean?
Many times we commit a transgression, and then we repent. We ask for HaShem’s forgiveness, and beg Him to erase our rebellion. In our supplication, we also assure Him that He does not need to punish us, because we have learned our lesson, and we will NEVER sin again. We feel good because we are sure that HaShem, with His great compassion, has forgiven us. But then, after a short time, we forget the whole process of repentance, and we again commit the same transgression … at this point, we would not normally dare to start the whole process again and ask forgiveness of HaShem … it seems like a bad joke, or a rebellious act of CHUTZPA. How am I going to have the nerve to ask HaShem “again” for His understanding, His forgiveness and His absolution?
That is why this berakha tells us that HaShem is “HAMARBE LISLOAH”,  infinitely “generous in forgiving”. And only when I become aware of HaShem’s infinite indulgence I can I arm myself with courage and ask forgiveness again, even for the same sins for which I have repented previously. It is as if our endless CHUTZPA (nerve) is balanced with the infinite generosity of HaShem to forgive us.
These final words invite us to avoid the yeush, the desperation to think that there is no second (or third, etc…) possibility of return. And it teaches us that HaShem, as a loving Father, is always ready to accept the sincere repentance of his children.


AMIDA, FIFTH BERAKHA: Coming back to You

 השיבנו אבינו לתורתך
וקרבנו מלכנו לעבודתך
והחזירנו בתשובה שלמה לפניך
ברוך אתה ה ‘, הרוצה בתשובה
“Bring us back, our Father, to your Tora; bring us closer, our King, to Your service;
And make us [help us] return to You, in complete repentance.

Blessed are You, HaShem, who desires [our] repentance.”

We are in the section called in Hebrew, baqashot (requests). In this section, we beg HaShem to grant us our requests. In the previous blessing, we asked for wisdom. But what are we exactly asking for in this singular berakha that is about repentance? What do we expect HaShem to do here for us? After all, if it is a matter of repentance, is something we have to do ourselves… not God!

1. Let us first look at the order of this blessing. Is there any connection between this Berakha and the previous blessing, where we have asked God to grant us wisdom? The Rabbis define sin as a temporary state of insanity … אין אדם בא לידי חטא, “a person would not sin unless he is possessed by a [temporal] spirit of dementia.” To sin, to disobey God, is not a logical thing, it is not a wise decision. Quite the opposite. We are only capable of disobeying God when we are psychologically “possessed” by ambition, anger, lust, passion, etc. In these scenarios, our mind is clouded and we lose our common sense. The wisdom and intelligence that we have asked for in the previous Berakha, is the best guarantee to avoid impulsivity. Animals are carried away by their instincts, but we humans are able to dominate our passions with our intelligence. In the previous blessing, we have asked for wisdom. In this blessing, we realize that the less wisdom we have, the more exposed we are to sinning, and vice versa.

2. “Bring us back, our Father, to your Tora; and bring us closer, our King, to Your service.”

Now, once we acknowledge our wrongdoing and we repent, we want to repair our mistakes. But the transgression we committed left sequels. It affected nothing less than our relationship with God. This connection develops on two different planes: First, HaShem is our Creator, He gave us life. He is our “Father”. Secondly, He gave us laws and we are His subjects. Thus, HaShem is also our King. By violating His commandments we have broken our relationship with our Father and with our King. That is why in this Berakha we appeal to HaShem as Father and King. Something else: coming back to HaShem begins by returning to the observance of His Tora. We serve HaShem by applying the teachings of the Tora in our lives, and by not deviating from them. That is why we first mention studying Tora, which will lead us to serve HaShem properly.

3. “And make us return to You”

When we say, “Make us return to you,” we do not mean literally that we expect God to “make us repent”, while we remain passive. We, human beings, were granted freedom of choice, and we are completely responsible for our moral actions. What we are asking HaShem here is His help and His inspiration to return to Him and His Torah. We are encouraged to ask for His help because the Sages taught us הבא להיטהר מסייעין אותו, when a Yehudi wants to purify himself, repent of his or her transgressions, HaShem helps him, assists him to make his way back easier and to find the least amount of moral challenges (נסיונות) in his path.

4. Barukh Ata HaShem, haRotse bitshuba. “Blessed are you, HaShem, who desires (our) repentance.”
We affirm now that HaShem “wants” us to return to Him; He “desires” us to repair our bond. And since this relationship is personal, it can not be repaired by our unilateral decision to repent. As in every other relationship, here too it is necessary that the other party, in this case HaShem, accepts our apologies. How do we know that HaShem will accept our repentance? One of the most important principles of Judaism is knowing that HaShem loves us as a parent loves his children. There is no greater desire for a parent than feeling his or her children close to him. As a good father, HaShem does not take pleasure in punishing His children when they misbehave. All HaShem wants from us, His children, is to return to the right path, “for our own good.” Therefore, knowing that He also wants our closeness, we dare to ask Him to help us finding our way back. HaShem “desires” our repentance because He loves us, and because He wants what is good for us.


AMIDA, FOURTH BERAKHA: The Miracle of Human Intelligence

אתה חונן לאדם דעת ומלמד לאנוש בינה

“You grant humans knowledge, and You teach mortals understanding. Grant us from Yourself wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. Blessed are You, HaShem, Who grants knowledge.”

After finishing the section devoted to praising (שבח), we begin the second section of the ‘Amida with this blessing , the first blessing of “requests” (בקשה).

In these blessings, we ask God to grant our material needs. And in this first berakha we ask God to grant us “wisdom” and “intelligence”. But why asking for “wisdom” before anything else?

Firstly, wisdom is different from every other request. We say in this berakha that HaShem is the “direct” source of the wisdom and intelligence bestowed upon us (אתה חונן לאדם דעת), something we do not pronounce in any other blessings. To stress this important point, we also assert וחוננו מאתך, which means something like “and give us FROM YOURSELF”, an expression we do not use in any other berakha, or for any other request! Why is wisdom something we describe as coming “directly” from God? Because wisdom (da’at) is not an element created by HaShem; it is an attribute of HaShem! As Maimonides explains (Yesode haTora 2:10): אבל הבורא הוא ודעתו וחייו אחד “[unlike humans, that we ‘acquire’ knowledge from an external source] the Creator, Him, His existence and His knowledge, they are all one.” In a sense, we are not asking HaShem to grant us knowledge, we are requesting Him to “partake” of His knowledge.

Second, this blessing teaches us a very important principle about the nature of man. Intelligence/wisdom is God’s special gift to the human species. Our brain is remarkably similar to that of monkeys. Yet, we humans are endowed with “intelligence” which is not an extension of our biological make-up and cannot be justified in evolutionary terms. Intelligence is not a biological natural feature like sight, hearing or a digestive system. Intelligence is not an evolutionary gift by which chimpanzees became humans. Apes are perfectly able to survive without intelligence. But without intelligence, we humans would not be able to connect with God, to learn or teach His Tora, or to distinguish and choose between right and wrong. Intelligence is what make humans unique among all living species. In this berakha we assert that intelligence is a God-given, miraculous, super-natural gift, humans are exclusively endowed with.

This berakha describes three levels of “wisdom”, as they apply to our human experience.

HOKHMA: This refers to creativity. The capacity a person has to see or discover something new. When everyone is looking at the same things, the man with this wisdom is able to see deeper, or further or differently. It is the ability to develop a new idea, a Hiddush of Tora or a new invention. This is also, we say, a gift from HaShem

BINA: Once a new idea is discovered we need “bina”, practical wisdom to articulate this new idea or to effectively apply the new discovery. Some people may be gifted with “bina” but not “hokhma”, or vice-versa.

DA’AT: Da’at, knowledge, as it applied to us, refers to the good judgment that we acquire by our life-experience. People differ in what or how they learn from experience. Some people are so gifted in their da’at that they have the ability to learn from other people’s experiences. Some can learn only from their own experience. And others have a hard time to learn even from their own experiences.

Finally, we need all this wisdom to identify the gifts and blessings that we already got from God, which is essential for knowing what do we really need to request from God. We need wisdom to differentiate between what we “need” and what we just “want” or “wish”. Moreover, without wisdom, we will not even know “what” to ask from God. Or what to do with the blessings that God would eventually grant us. We might think that we need urgently money or success. But without wisdom, money and success might be counterproductive.

Wisdom is a prerequisite for all other requests.


Rabbi Hayim Ben Attar (1696- 1743) and the power of the Grandparents

Rabbi Hayim ben Attar (or Benattar), also known as the Or HaHayim haQadosh, was born in the city of Salé on the west coast of Morocco, in 1696. His father was Moshe ben Attar, a great Tora scholar. From the age of 9 Rabbi ben Attar studied with his grandfather. The Rabbi wrote that every night he studied Gemara with him, and then his grandfather prayed and cried, begging HaShem to end our exile, to bring us back to Israel, and to see in our days the building of the Bet HaMiqdash.
The family of Rabbi ben Attar enjoyed a very good economic situation, and that allowed Rabbi Hayim to devote himself fully to the study of Tora. Over time Rabbi nen Attar grew in his knowledge of Tora and transformed his house into a Bet Midrash, a Tora academy, where anyone who wanted could come and study at any hour of the day or night. Rabbi Ben Attar also helped the needy, the poor, the widows and the orphans. Every Thursday, Rabbi ben Attar would do Shehita and would distribute the meat among the students of his Bet Midrash and the poor, so that everyone would have meat to eat during Shabbat.
Rabbi ben Attar lived in Morocco for 40 years. It was not always easy. The King of Morocco became antagonistic to his family and confiscated all their fortune. This caused that rabbi ben Attar had to leave of Salé towards the city of Fes, where he lived during the year 1738. That year, a great famine struck the city, and generated an epidemic, and the Rab had to take refuge in the North in the city of Tetuan. Being there, he made a critical decision for the rest of his life: he decided to go and live in the land of Israel. His ambitious plan was to found a Yeshiba in Yerushalayim, and he already had more than ten students who would travel with him. In those times, life for the Yehudim in Yerushalayim was very difficult. There was no food or work, and epidemics often hit the city. The Yehudim also suffered from perpetual persecutions and abuses from the gentiles who ruled the city.
The only possibility to found a sustainable Yeshiba in Yerushalayim was to have the assistance of Jews living in Europe. Rabbi ben Attar then traveled to the city of Livorno, Italy, where there was a prosperous Jewish community, very generous with all that had to do with helping Yehudim to emigrate and settle in Israel, and particularly in Yerushalayim.
Rabbi ben Attar spent almost three years in Italy. He taught Tora classes and attracted crowds with his knowledge and charisma. The community of Livorno implored him to stay there and establish himself as Rab of Livorno. They offered him to establish his Yeshiba in Livorno and promised that he won’t lack anything. But Rabbi ben Attar renounced these privileges and confirmed that his destination was Erets Israel. Personally, I think that what inspired Rabbi ben Attar to want to live in Erets Israel and to give up all the comfort they offered him in Livorno were the nights he spent with his grandfather, watching him cry for the rebuilding of Yerushalayim and the Bet haMiqdash. The melodies and cries of his grandfather, must have inspire a great love and longing for Erets Israel, in the heart of the young Rabbi Hayim …
In 1741 Rabbi ben Attar left for Israel with 30 students and their families. The majority of his disciples were from Morocco, others from Algeria and some from Italy. Among the latter was Rabbi Abraham Ishmael Hay Sanguineti, who wrote the diary of the journey from Italy to Israel, and everything that happened until they reached Yerushalayim. At first the contingent arrived and settled in the city of Acco (Acre), near Haifa. Yerushalayim was going through very bad times in terms of sanitary conditions, many people died victims of plagues and epidemics.
In 1742 conditions at Yerushalayim improved , and in the month of Tammuz the rabbi Ben Attar and his disciples arrived and settled in Jerusalem. There the Rabbi ben Attar fulfilled his dream and founded his Yeshiba, which he called “Keneset Israel”, the same name of the community of Livorno that helped them economically. Rabbi ben Attar became the most important rabbinic leader in the city, and apart from teaching Tora, he was also involved in assisting those in need. In a very short time and with the help of his followers from Italy, he succeeded in making the Jewish community of Yerushalayim to grow in size and prosperity. Some sources indicate that many Chassidim who arrived from Europe to Yerushalayim, students of the Ba’al Shem Tob, were very close to Rabbi ben Attar, and it was they who called him “HaOr haHayim haQadosh” (the saint).
Rabbi Ben Attar wrote three main books:
1. Or HaHayim, a commentary on the Tora that has a particularity. This book is read and highly valued by Sefaradim and Ashkenazim alike, something that was not very common, especially in those times.
2. A book on the Talmud: Hefets HaShem
3. A book on Yore De’a, Peri To-ar. He had brilliant pupils, the most famous among his student was rabbi Hayim Yosef David Azulay,  החיד”א  .
Rabbi Ben Attar only lived in Yerushalayim for short time, a little more than 11 months. He died on the 15th of Tammuz (July 6) of 1743, when he was just 47 years old. His soul surely rose to the heavenly Yerushalayim, and his remains were buried in the Mount of Olives (Har haZetim), Jerusalem.

                שבת שלום

 



AMIDA, THIRD BERAKHA: How Much Can We Know About God?

The third blessing of ‘the ‘Amida is also the shortest blessing of  this Tefila. In this berakha we declare that HaShem is “qadosh”, that His name is “qadosh” and that those who praise Him every day, the people of Israel, are “qedoshim” (plural of qadosh).
HaShem, His Name and His people are: “qadosh”. What does this refer to? Understanding the word “qadosh” would help us solve this puzzle.
It is impossible to translate this Hebrew term with a single word in English. “Qadosh” has a very broad semantic field, that is, it has several meanings that somehow relate to each other. Depending on the context, “qadosh” might mean “special”, “unique”, “different”, “consecrated for a mission”, “exclusive” and sometimes means “inaccessible” or “out of reach”.
An example containing almost all the meanings of “qadosh”: in Hebrew  קידושין  “quiddushin” (of the same root as “qadosh” קדש) means “marriage”. When a man marries, he “consecrates” a woman as his wife. For him she is now מקודשת “unique”, “special” and “different” from the rest of the women. At the same time, being consecrated to her husband, this woman is now in terms of marriage, “inaccessible” and “out of reach” for any other man.
Let’s go back to our Berakha. When we say “qadosh” in reference to HaShem, we refer to this latter meaning of “qadosh”. We are recognizing our limitations to perceive “the reality of God” (so to speak).
אתה קדוש. By saying “[HaShem] You are Qadosh” we affirm that God is beyond our intellectual reach. “God ad intra remains hidden to us. Why do we emphasize this message here, at the end of these blessings of” praise “? During the two previous berakhot of praise, we have naturally referred to the intervention of HaShem in history to protect Israel, we have affirmed that He is Great, Mighty and Revered, etc. In the second Berakha we described how HaShem directs His Planet, humanity and His People.  We have praised His power, His actions, His blessings and His miracles. Now, by saying ATA QADOSH, we are transmitting a very important message: a (epistemological) disclaimer, recognizing that no matter how much we have spoken of His actions, we can not presume that we really “know” HaShem. ATA QADOSH is a declaration of humbleness. Our admission of smallness and limitations before the Creator of the universe
ושמך קדוש And “Your Name is qadosh”. We also recognize that although we have articulated and pronounced His name several times during the ‘Amida, we are unable to grasp the nature of His Name. HaShem’s name of four letters conveys the idea of infinity and eternity, concepts that are definitelybeyond our intellectual capacities. And something else: we recognize that despite praising Him and His name, we have not done it “exhaustively” (= leaving nothing out). What we have just said about HaShem refers only to the little we understand about Him, from our very narrow human perspective. An almost identical message constitutes the core of the “qaddish” (also of the same root קדש). In the Qaddish, after praising HaShem with no less than eight different adjectives, we say לעלא מן כל ברכתא “Your praise is still beyond any praise that can be said of You.”
וקדושים בכל יום יהללוך סלה. The people of Israel are called “qedoshim”. In this context “qadosh” or “qedoshim” is not referring to as our inaccessibility to the knowledge of HaShem or to our limitations. Here “qedoshim” means: “consecrated”, “different from the rest, as to one’s mission”. Qedoshim refers to “us”, the individuals of the Jewish people, who consecrate ourselves to HaShem, and praise Him every day, as much as we are able to do so.