8th PRINCIPLE: Understanding Rabbinical Laws

Today we will finish our brief explanation about the Oral Tora, and in doing so we will end our presentation of the Eighth Principle, which states that the Written Tora and the Oral Tora are of divine origin.

We mentioned so far three categories of laws, or explanations of Biblical laws: 1. The Perush. 2. Halakha leMoshe MiSinai and 3. Dinim Muflaim (see below).

There are 2 more categories which we will explore today:

4. Gezerot (prohibitions). and 5. Taqanot uMinhaguim (decrees).

These are two rabbinical categories, that is, laws that were enacted by rabbinical courts in the times of Talmud. The main rabbinical court, or Bet Din HaGadol, had the authority to enact new laws, when they saw fit. This Bet Din was like the Supreme Court of the Jewish People. Once the Talmud was closed in the year 500 of the Common Era, this “national” rabbinical court disappeared. Since then and until today, there is no central Court that can legislate new decrees for “all” Am Israel, or revoke decrees issued by those Talmudic courts.

Since the Talmud was closed, the lawmakers Rabbis (or posqim) might rule new cases by deriving or comparing them with Talmudic legal precedents, as it was shown yesterday with the case of hatsitsa. However, in the absence of the “Supreme Court of Am Israel”, the authority of Rabbis is limited to the confines of their own communities, which is why there are numerous differences in some details of the commandments between the different communities.

Some examples of these two categories:

4. Gezerot: the rabbis of the time of the Mishna (10-200 of the Common Era), experienced the exile of the Jews, which began with the destruction of the Bet haMiqdash (68 CE). One of the dangers of this new situation was the risk of assimilation with other nations. The rabbis then decided to limit the interaction with the gentile society in social contexts. And they enacted some restrictions, or “barriers to limit socialization” (in rabbinic Hebrew משום חתנות או משום בנותיהם). They banned for example, the consumption of wine produced by non-Jews (סתם יינם), homemade bread, and cooking some meals (עולה על שולחן מלכים), even when all elements were Kosher, etc. All these laws, as we explained, were established to limit socializing with gentile society and remind the Jews in exile that they must make every possible effort to live in peace and behave with great respect with their gentile neighbors, but they must avoid socializing, which could lead to intermarriage.

5. Taqanot and Hanhagot (decrees and customs). These are, for example, the Rabbinical “mitsvot” , like lighting candles before Shabbat, reading Megillat Esther on Purim, lighting the Hanuka candles etc. “Customs” means rabbinical decrees which began from the people’s practice, and later on were enacted into law by the rabbinical courts. For example, celebrating two days of Yom Tob outside Israel.

A very important point: in Parashat Shofetim the Tora says that when any doubts arise about a Biblical law of any kind, the case must be referred to a Bet Din or rabbinical court. Thus, the Supreme rabbinical court was actually acting as an extension of the Biblical authority, and as such had the authority to interpret the law (Dinim Muflaim) and enact new restrictions (gezerot) and decrees (taqanot). That’s why, for example when lighting the Shabbat candles, which is a mitsva established by the Rabbinical Courts, we say the Berakha: “Blessed are You HaShem … that You have commanded us to kindle the Sabbath candles” as if HaShem had commanded us this commandment directly in His Tora. Maimonides explains that the words of this Berakha must be understood in this way: “Blessed are You Hashem … that You have commanded us to ‘obey the rabbinical courts which ordered us to’ light the Shabbat candles.

We conclude now this brief overview of what is and what covers the Oral Tora,inviting again the avid reader who wishes to know this issue in more detail to study the book MATE DAN, by Rabbi David Nieto

IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION

My son, Rabbi Yaaqob Bitton, wrote yesterday a comment to my brief, and perhaps imprecise, explanation of DINIM MUFLAIM, which I am sure will serve to clarify some doubts that the reader advanced reader might have. See here

8th PRINCIPLE: The journey from the Written Tora to the halakhic practice

Last week we explained that the first category of laws of the Oral Tora is the PERUSH, that is the basic definition of each Biblical precepts and its extension (see this).

The second category is called Halakha leMoshi MiSinai. Briefly, this category also defines the details of the mitsvot, perhaps more specific details than the first category, such as: the color of Tefillin, the size of a mikveh, the amount of matsa to be eaten on Pesah, etc. What is the difference between these two categories?

While for the category PERUSH there is always some biblical allusion or source, the specifications classified as Halakha is leMoshe miSinai do not have a Biblical source.

What do they have in common, these two categories? The details of the mitsvot included in both categories (1) were received by Moshe Rabbenu and (2) there is no disagreement on them.

Let’s clarify this last point: Many times there is no consensus among the rabbis about certain laws. This rabbinical dissent is known as “mahloqet” (lit. debate, discussion, disagreement).

Let’s continue with the example of Tefilin:

The WRITTEN TORA says: “You shall bind them as a sign on your arm.” No further specification in the text about how to “binding words to the arm”.

The PERUSH, says: this is the arm’s Tefilin, which should have four biblical texts, inside a leather box, which should be placed in the weakest (usually the left) arm, etc.

HALAKHA LEMOSHE MISINAI: The box of Tefilin must be square, the leather straps: black, the knot should be done a certain way, etc.

On all these and many other details there is a complete consensus among the Rabbis. Which, according to Maimonides, “It is evidence that these details and explanations were received by Moses at Sinai.”

For Maimonides, every detail of the Oral Law upon which there is disagreement, was not received by Moses at Sinai.

This brings us to the third category. DINIM MUFLAIM These are the details of the laws, the largest of the five categories in terms of the items it covers, that although they define a biblical commandment, are not considered of biblical but rabbinical origin and status. As Maimonides says, they were not received “directly” by Moses at Sinai. Rather, they were defined by the rabbinical courts or by the rabbis of each generation.

A modern example of a “DIN MUFLA”

Can I put the Tefilin strips over my watch? Or should I remove my watch first and placed the leather straps directly on my skin?

The answer to this Halakhic question was not transmitted “directly” to Moshe at Sinai. But there is indeed an ancient Halakhic concept that encompasses this and other similar cases: to concept of “hatsitsa”, that is, when something interrupts between the body and the element with which we perform a mitsva.

There cannot be a hatsitsa, for example, when we wash our hands ritually, netilat yadayim. That is, I cannot have traces of clay, ceramic or any other physical element in my hands when I do netilat Yadayim. I must wash my hands first, remove the hatsitsa, and then proceed to do netilat yadayim. Something similar happens in the case of the mikve: a woman must wash her body first, and verify that no foreign element is on her skin when immersing in the mikve.

Now a watch, evidently, is a “hatsitsa”, an element that stands between the Tefilin and my skin. The question is whether the law of hatsitsa for Tefilin applies to the arm, forearm and hand or applies only to the arm, where the straps are holding the actual Tefilin.

Rabbi Obadia Yosef explains that the prohibition of having hatsitsa in Tefilin is learn from a pasuq (על ידך). That is, this law is not Halakha leMoshe MiSinai but rather a law of the highest category, that is: PERUSH.

Then Rabbi Yosef brings a short discussion on the reach of hatsitsa. According to most Rabbinical opinions hatsitsa only applies where the Tefilin box is placed, in the arm, (מקום הקשירה). According to other opinions, it would also apply thru the forearm until the wrist. Rabbi Yosef concludes that technically hatsitsa law does not apply to the wrist, where the watch is worn, and therefore there is no problem in wearing the tefilin’s straps over the watch (but he also clarifies that conceptually, it is best to remove the watch when using the Tefilin, והמחמיר תבוא עליו ברכה).

We can see in this typical case how the different categories of laws included in the Oral Tora work in the development of an halakhic conclusion.

Rabbi Yosef Bittón

Ohel David UShlomo Congregation

710 Shore Blvd, Manhattan Beach

SURPRISE!!!

My dear friend, Dr Daniel Banilevy from Great Neck, N.Y., found and sent me a translation of the Mate Dan in English,”THE ROD of JUDGEMENT”, the first dialogue, by Dr Loewe, London, 1842. Kindly uploaded by Google books.

Download here .

Thanks so much Dr Dani

8th PRINCIPLE: Presentation of the book Mate Dan, by rabbi David Nieto

The subject of the Oral Tora was explained by many of our sages. One of them was Maimonides, who expanded on this theme in his Mishne Tora and in his commentary on the Mishna. It is this last text which we are using to analyze the different categories of laws including in the Oral Tora.

However, even if we would write for two or three weeks on this issue, I believe that it will not be enough for the reader who really wants to learn about the Oral Tora. That’s why today I’m presenting a book, which unfortunately is little known, called MATE DAN, written by Rabbi David Nieto (Venice, 1654 – London, 1728). MATE DAN was written in a bilingual edition Hebrew and Spanish. What is the book MATE DAN about? This is a book about the nature of the Oral Tora, which Rabbi Nieto, following the Sephardic custom, called in Spanish “Mental Law”. The book MATE DAN was virtually impossible to get, even in special libraries, up to 3 or 4 years ago. Nowadays, we have the great merit of having access to this book online public. And this is the link to find and download Mate Dan in the original bilingual edition, London, 1714.

Mate Dan was recently reprinted by “The Spanish and Portuguese Congregation of London” and “Mechon Haktav”. I have the book, which has an impecable English translation done by Louis and Raphael Loewe, Jerusalem, 5768. (I have the English edition “The Rod of Judgement” which was given to me as a gift by my friend Rabbi Abraham Levy, when visiting London. I don’t really know if and where this English edition can be purchased…)

Rabbi Nieto wrote this book for the BENE ANUSIM of his time, that is, for those Jews that after the Inquisition and the Expulsion from Spain (1492) and Portugal (1496), lived as Christians for generations, and now they were looking into their roots to start again living as Jews in Amsterdam, London and the Americas. These descendants of ANUSIM knew the Bible because of their Christian past, but almost completely ignored the Oral Tora and its principles.

Mate Dan is divided into five chapters, which the author calls “dialogues”, because Mate Dan was deliberately written as imaginary dialogues between a rabbi, the Hakham, and a Gentile king whom the author calls “the Cuzari” the king of the Khazars, who converted to Judaism in the 8th century. Rabbi Nieto took the model of the famous book “The Cuzari” by Rabbi Yehuda Halevi (1075-1141). Because, as he himself explained, “In the Cuzari the author demonstrated the truth of the Written Tora, and in this book, which will be also called ‘the second Cuzari’ I will prove the truth of the Oral Tora.”

Let us review this book, chapter by chapter.

1. In the first dialogue Rabbi Nieto shows that the Oral Tora existed even before the written Tora. And that an oral tradition is always necessary to understand a written law.

2. In the second dialogue, in my opinion the most original of all, Rabbi Nieto demonstrates with logical arguments and using principles of psychology, that the Oral Tora could not be “fabricated” by the Rabbis, it was transmitted to them by previous generations.

3. The third chapter talks about the different categories of laws including in the Oral Tora, which is the subject we started to analyze last week. It also explains on what kind of laws exists consensus between the rabbis and in what not.

4. The fourth chapter demonstrates that our Sages of the Mishna and the Gemara (חז”ל) had very deep knowledge of sciences, like medicine, physics, biology, etc.

5. The fifth chapter deals almost exclusively with the Hebrew calendar. Knowledge of the Jewish calendar involves a very profound knowledge of sciences related to astronomy, physics, mathematics, etc. This issue is very complex because in the Hebrew calendar combines the lunar calendar with the solar, and for this combination to be possible, one must know very very precisely (a number followed by 4 or 5 decimals) the exact duration of the moon and sun cycles. To demonstrate that this data is not easy to get, Rabbi Nieto brings the example of Pope Gregory XIII, who in 1582 had to adjust the Christian calendar: that year the calendar jumped from October 4th to October 15th in 24 hours, because they did not have an accurate information about the solar cycle. This is perhaps the most technical chapter of the book, and I think that is a must reading for those who want to know about the details of our lunar-solar calendar, and to understand the role that the Oral Tora plays in this and in many other cases.

Maté Dan should be a required reading for any student who wants to study Mishna and Gemara, or for any Yehudi who wants to know the basic principles of orthodox rabbinical Judaism.

FOR THOSE of YOU WHO WOULD DARE TO READ MATE DAN IN SPANISH

I think the modern Spanish reader will not have major problems in understanding the content of this book, as the vocabulary, although with a style that today is outdated, it is very similar to ours.

From my own experience I think the only difficulty a beginner reader will have is to identify the letter “S” when it is written at the beginning or in the middle of the word. In old Spanish (or English) the “S” in this position was “taller” than today, and the modern reader often confuses between the “S” and the “F”. Beyond that, I think, it is very easy to read this book, and the advantages of studying a book of this category and this authority in the original are, I think, priceless.

To further facilitate the reading in Spanish, I will copy a short paragraph of the book and re-write it in a more modern version.

Pruebase que todos los preceptos y estatutos que mando Dios a los patriarcas del Mundo y a los Nuestros, tanto afirmativos como negativos fueron mentales, hasta que se escribieron en nuestra santa ley. Página 2

Que tanto en tiempo de nuestro legislador Moshe, como de los otros Profetas y Justos, autores de la Biblia, había Ley mental. Página 4

Que aun para los preceptos que parecen claros en la ley, es necesaria Ley mental. Página 17

לע”נ שלומית קריגמן, ,23 הי”ד

8th PRINCIPLE: The Divine origin of the Oral Tradition

We are analyzing the eighth principle of the Jewish faith (see previous halakhot here). The eighth principle includes another key element. As we all know, apart from the written Tora, we also received the Oral Tora, that is, the oral tradition that explains the written Tora.

The eighth principle assets that the Oral Tora is also of divine origin, and was transmitted by God to Moshe rabbenu.

I think Jewish Oral Tora or Oral Tradition is a fundamental issue and I believe we should spend a few days to explain it in detail. There are at least three subjects that we need to know in greater depth

1. The elements included in the Oral Tora.

2. The history of the transmission of the Oral Tora.

3. The methodology of the halakhic process. That is, how do we get from the Biblical precepts of the written Tora to the daily halakhic practice?

Let’s start with what constitutes the Oral Tora.

According to Maimonides, in his introduction to the Mishna, the Oral Tora is divided into five categories.

1. Perush (the ancient sephardic pronunciation was “pirush”). This category is also called by Maimonides “qabbala”, which does not refer to the mystical aspects of the Tora.

2. Halakha leMoshe MiSinai.

3 Dinim Muflaim.

4. Gezerot

5. Taqanot and Minhagim.

We will explain today the first category.

1. PERUSH: In the introduction to Mishne Tora Maimonides says: “Every commandment given to Moses on Mount Sinai was given together with its explanation (perush)”, this is, the basic instructions –the definition of each commandment– which were not written by Moshe but were received and transmitted orally for generations.

Illustration: The written Tora mentions the precept of Tefilin. But the written Tora only says: “And these words which I entrust you today … you shall bind them upon your arm (or hand) … and they should be place on your forehead.” Now, out of this short text, how would we be able to know what the Tora is referring to by commanding us to “bind words upon the hand”? How do we suppose to “bind” words? Should we write them first? And once written, where exactly do we have to bind them?, and how? These are some of the many questions we might ask ourselves, and not be able to answer, if we would only had before us the written Tora. And we will have the same problem with absolutely all the mitsvot. Even with those commandments that seem easy to understand and fulfill. For example, if I only had before me the words “You shall not kill”, how would I know the definition and especially the scope of this commandment? What is included and is not included in it? Does the prohibition to kill includes the killing of animals or just people? What about killing in self-defense, to stop someone from killing me? And what about euthanasia (killing a dying person who is suffering) or abortion (is abortion considered killing?) What about “suicide” (perhaps “You shall not kill” would not include “You shall not kill yourself”), or killing in war or applying the death penalty? etc.

There is no way to know only from the text what includes and what does not include “YOU SHALL NOT KILL” .

This is why, as we explained, every biblical precept was given with its PERUSH. That is, the basic definition and description of each of the 613 commandments of the written Tora.

For instance:

The Oral Tora, the PERUSH indicates the basic way to fulfill the commandment of Tefillin:

1. Writing in small scrolls the words of the four biblical texts in which the mitsva of Tefilin is mentioned.

2. Placing these scrolls in leather boxes.

3. Performing a small hole at the end of the boxes, and introducing there leather strips.

4. Placing one of those boxes in the arm and the other box on the forehead, adjusting the boxes with leather strips. Etcetera.

Now that we understand what the Oral Tora is, we shall return to the eighth principle of Judaism. The eighth principle asserts that these oral instructions were not invented by Moses or by the rabbis. Their origin is divine. They are an integral part of what we call “TORA”, and were received by Moses on Mount Sinai.

8th PRINCIPLE: Is our Sefer Tora reliable?

The eighth of the thirteen principles of the Jewish faith says that the Tora we have today is the same as the one given to Moshe Rabbenu (Moses) in Sinai.

Today we will explore the meticulous method used by the Sages of Israel to transmit the text of the Tora in a way that unintentional errors would be avoided.

We know that mistakes in the transmission of texts was something quite common, especially before the invention of printing. We believe that the Sefer Tora (a Tora scroll), as we have it today, contains exactly the same words that God transmitted to Moses. The biblical text has been preserved for centuries with great care. Our sages were well aware they were transmitting a unique text: the word of God. Therefore they did not allow the possibility of having inadvertent errors in the transmission or in the process of copying from one text to another.

What did the Sages do to avoid copyists’ mistakes?

Our Scribes were called in Hebrew “Soferim”. They were the Sages responsible for copying the Biblical text from one Tora scroll to another, keeping intact the text. To understand the transmission system that our sages have used to preserve the integrity of the text, we need to learn first why were they called “Soferim”. The word “Sofer” or plural “Soferim” is a term used in reference to the individual who writes Tefillin, Mezuzot and scrolls of the Tora. But it is curious that the word “sofer” literally means “counter” (=accountant) not “writer” or “scribe” … So, why would the rabbis who copied the Sefer Tora be called Soferim? Our sages explain that they were called Soferim because “they counted all the letters of the Tora”, that is, they knew exactly how many letters the Tora has, how many letters had each Parasha has, and even how many times each of the 22 letters of the hebrew Alphabet appears in each Parasha or in the Sefer Tora. And every time they copied the text, they did not just wrote and read the words: they also counted the words and the letters they wrote, to verify the accuracy of the text and ensured that there were no more or less letters.

For example: It was known from time immemorial that the Sefer Tora, the five books of Moses, contains exactly 79,847 words and a total of 304,805 letters. The Soferim also knew, for example, how many letters each of the five books of the Tora contains: Bereishit: 78,064, Shemot: 63,529, Vayqra: 44,790, Bamidbar: 63,530, Debarim: 54,892. Thus, when a Sofer wrote a new Sefer Tora he counted the letters to make sure that nothing was missing.

A simple personal example to demonstrate how knowledge of the number of letters ensures the accuracy of the transmission of a word. My personal email is “rabbibitton@yahoo.com”. When I dictate someone the first part of my email address I always clarify that “rabbibitton” is one word, with 11 letters. Many times people tell me that they were able to realize my last name is spelled with double “T” because I told them “11 letters”. If I had not given them the number 11, many would have written “biton”, or “rabi” if they don’t know English.

The number of letters guarantees an accurate transmission > copying of a word or a text.

The eighth principle of our faith says that the Torah we have today is the same exact Tora we received at Sinai. This principle of faith is essentially about the faith we have in our ancestors. We are completely confident that they copied and transmitted us each letter of our holy Tora with absolute fidelity and accuracy. They developed a method, counting letters, which ensures that the “chain of custody” of the world’s most important text was and is absolutely reliable.

B’H Tomorrow we will see that this eighth principle also includes our belief that the oral Tora we have today is the one transmitted by HaShem to Moshe Rabbenu.

7th PRINCIPLE: Moshe’s Prophecy

Previously, we analyzed the Sixth principle of the Jewish faith which asserts our belief that God communicates with men through prophecy . We explained who could be a candidate to prophecy and the nature of prophecy (see here).

The Seventh Principle is also about prophecy. But it discusses the particulars of one Prophet: Moshe Rabbenu. The Seventh principle says that Moshe was the greatest prophet, and more importantly, than no man or prophet would be ever able to attain his level of prophecy.

First, we will discuss in which ways Moshe’s prophecy was higher than that of any other prophet. And second, why is relevant for us Jews to assert Moshe’s superiority.

Our Rabbis explained that the level of prophecy of Moshe Rabbenu was higher than the level of all others. For example: all other prophets received their prophetic message by the means of a vision, in a sort of trance, or in a dream. Moshe Rabbenu, however, was able to receive God’s message while conscious and awake, not in a prophetic trance. This is what the Tora calls: panim el panim, literally: “face to face”, which means that Moshe Rabbenu could listen to God’s words in the same way that a man listens to another man.

The possibility of being conscious allowed Moshe Rabbenu, first of all to be a perfect recipient of the Tora. In other words, the Tora is not Moshe’s interpretation of a prophetic vision. It is not written by Moshe by God’s “inspiration”. We Jews believe that Moshe was indeed the writer of the Tora, but the Tora was dictated to him verbatim by God. God talked to Moshe without any intermediation. This way of “direct communication” which is above prophecy, was possible because Moshe was fully awake and aware while listening to God, “in full possession of his faculties, he did not receive God’s message not in visions and not by parables” ( R. Hayim Pereira Mendes)

Being awake while receiving God’s communication also allowed Moshe to talk back to God and to initiate a communication with God. Something no other prophet ever did. Although we do have texts which describe dialogues between other prophets and God, we believe that these dialogues took place in a prophetic vision, not in real life. Moshe Rabbenu could communicate with God at will. “Whenever he wished, he could be enveloped by divine inspiration, and prophecy will descend upon him” (Yesode haTora 7:6) enabling him to be in constant contact with God.

Thus, Moshe was able, for example, to ask God a question. After the sin of the golden calf, a close encounter took place between God and Moshe. Moshe prayed to HaShem to forgive the Jewish people. At one point Moshe Rabbenu said to God: “Show me Your glory”. Our Hakhamim explained that Moshe was asking God a poignant question: “Why do You allow bad things to happen to good people?” Perhaps on behalf of all humankind, Moshe conveyed to God the question that so often troubles the mind of so many believers. God’s answer to Moshe is a matter for a long analysis. But as it refers to our subject, God taught Moshe (and us) that the answer to that question was beyond man’s understanding (כי לא יראני האדם וחי), in other words, that this question (and other questions as well) was beyond Moshe’s comprehension. This teaches us that even the greatest prophet, Moshe, was still a limited mortal-man, not a human-god.

Now, why is so important to emphasize that Moshe’s Prophecy was superior to that of any other prophet, in the past or in the future?

Because, the Tora was given to us through Moshe’s intermediation. And, as we will learn in the next principle, the Tora is eternal and unchangeable. Conceiving that another prophet might ever achieve the level of Moshe Rabbenu, would open the possibility for considering that our Tora could be ח”ו changed or challenged by such a prophet, as biblical other religions claim.

6th PRINCIPLE: God communicates with prophets

The 6th principle of Jewish faith says that God communicates with man through prophecy.

The Prophets of Israel were exceptional human beings, called by God to inspire the Jewish people to return to God and His law. In order to be credible preachers, the Prophets had to be role models individuals, possessing an extremely refined character.

Maimonides explains that not every person could become a prophet. There were three key character-traits which were a prerequisite to become a candidate to prophecy and eventually, if God’s so wished, to be called by Him (=prophecy).

An individual who wished to be called by God had to be strong, wealthy and wise.

“Strong” is a person with the ability to control himself, his body, his appetites and the words he or she utters form his mouth. The highest level of strength is achieved when an individual is also able to control his emotions and thoughts. ‘Strength’ is not measured by the ability to control other people, but by the ability to overcome one’s own impulses and appetites.

“Wealthy” is the person who feels that he or she already possesses all the material things he needs. In Judaism, wealth is not measured by quantity but by contentment and appreciation. One person could feel wealthy with 100 dollars, because he does not need more than a 100 dollars, while another person would be considered “poor” even if he has 1 billion, if he needs or wants to have 2 billion dollars. Richness is not measured by what onehas but by what one needs. The correct formula is not: the more you have the richer you are, but the less you need the richer you are.

“Wise”, is not the person who thinks that knows everything, but the one who is constantly growing in his or her thirst to know more. “Jewish Wisdom” focuses particularly in knowing more about God, His wisdom and His will. As our life’s experience become richer, we get to discover new levels of understanding on matters we thought we already knew. The knowledge of God and God’s way is obviously endless. Jewish wisdom is the opposite of intellectual stagnation.

These are the three prerequisites for a person to aspire getting prophecy. Besides being a God fearing Jew, the prophet had to adjust his mind to God’s reality, leaving aside the conventional worldly reality. Being “behaviorally” wealthy, for example, meant that a person had to reach a level of complete lack of interest for material possessions. A mind that expects to receive God’s words could not be distracted with material pursuits.

Paraphrasing rabbi Hayim Pereira-Mendes: “The prophets were prayerful men. It was the habit of this spiritual communication with God, and constant meditation upon His words and ways, combined with right conduct, that qualified the inspired men and women of the Bible to receive Divine inspiration or Divine messages. Just as physical and mental exercise result in greater physical and mental development, and consequently greater physical and mental possibilities, so spiritual exercises result in greater spiritual development, and consequently greater spiritual possibilities.”

According to our tradition there were schools for the training of prophets, like the one established by Shemuel one of the earliest prophets. These apprentices were called bene hanebi-im. In that school they would train to attain behavioral wealth, strength and wisdom and, according to some Geonim, they will also train themselves in meditation techniques, which would mentally prepare them to cope with the overwhelming experience of getting a vision coming directly from HaShem.(If the reader is interested in the fascinating subject of prophecy, I would recommend Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, z’l, marvelous book Inner Space: Introduction to Kabbalah, Meditation and Prophecy ).

If a person attained such a perfection of character, he will be considered a candidate for Prophet, but he or she would not necessarily receive prophecy. From this point of view ,prophecy could be compared with getting a phone call from God. And having attained perfection of character is like having a cell phone. It enables you to be a potential receiver of God’s phone call. But still, God might or might not call you. That is His prerogative.

5th PRINCIPLE: Praying exclusively to HaShem

The fifth principle of the Jewish faith says that we should only pray to God, and we cannot pray to anyone but Him. We should not pray to an angel, a star, a constellation or a dead person, even if that person was a great Tsadiq. We must pray exclusively and directly to God. Praying to something or someone else, other than God, is considered idolatry.

It is also forbidden to pray to God through intermediaries. Imagining that these intermediaries would carry our prayer to God. For example, in other religions one would pray to a minor god, to an angel, to a saint or to a dead religious leader, so this minor god, or this angel or the spirit of this leader would take his or her prayer to a greater god. In Judaism this is also considered idolatry (‘aboda zara).

According to Maimonides, the mistake of the generation of Enosh (= the civilization that developed after Adam, and withdrew from God) was the following reasoning: Since God created the heavenly bodies (the sun, the moon and the stars) to serve the world, and these creations are “the servants of the King”, it would be appropriate praising and honoring them because by doing so we would be indirectly honoring the King (I think that perhaps it must have been also tempting for those individuals to pray to the “servants of God” because they were visible and so they seemed more accessible than the “unseen” God). These individuals, Maimonides says, started building temples and pyramids to the sun and to moon, offering them sacrifices, thinking that they were honoring the true God. At the end, Maimonides asserts, they ended up forgetting that they were serving HaShem, and they just worshipped the stars ….

As I’ve already explained, when one prays to any entity or intermediary, human or nonhuman, real or imaginary, even though one thinks and declares that his purpose is to pray to God, it is considered idolatry.

Often, people mistakenly believe that if their intentions are correct, their actions will not be considered sinful. But given the severity of the prohibition of ‘aboda zara (idolatry), a God fearing Jew must be extremely careful in these matters, and pray solely and directly to HaShem. One of the best ways to avoid making these serious mistakes is to studying the laws of ‘aboda zara and its details.

Now, do not confuse the prohibition of praying to God throughout an intermediary, with someone praying for me or I praying for someone else. Praying “for” someone else is not the same as praying “to” someone else. Praying for each other is praiseworthy. In fact, we Jews always pray to God in an inclusive way: in the first person of the plural (=WE), praying collectively. This kind of “intermediation” is an integral part of our liturgy.

The Talmud also records many cases of Talmide Hakhamim who had many merits, especially for excelling in acts of Hesed (compassion, benevolence) as Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa, or unimpeachable integrity, like Abba Hilqiya and his wife. The rabbis would come to them and ask them to pray, generally for a public matter like asking for rain, by the virtue of their enormous merits.

To be continued…

Dedicated to the memory of IDF Capt. Ishay Rosales, 23 years old, z”l

4th Principle: God is Eternal

As we have previously discussed since God is not and has not a body, therefore, nothing associated with the physical realm can apply to Him. Sleep, wakefulness, anger and laughter, joy and sadness, do not apply to Him. Whenever the Tora or the Prophets speak about God in this way (anthropomorphism) , they do so in a metaphorical way or describing a prophetic vision. Similarly, we cannot apply to God concepts such as birth or death. God does not exist in time, or He exist independently of time. Beginning, end, age do not apply to Him.

Asking ourselves, “If God created the world, who created God?” is like asking: “If the baker baked the bread, who baked the baker?” The concept of ‘baking’ cannot be applied to the existence of the baker, only to his actions. Similarly, the concept of creation cannot be applied to the existence of God. God is eternal. He was not born or created. In the beginning, God alone existed. Other than God , everything had a beginning and was created by God. Even time itself is among the things created by God.

Jews never believed in the eternity of the universe. The Fourth principle of our faith asserts that only God is eternal. Maimonides (1165-1204) wrote: “A fundamental principle of the Law of Moses is that the World was created anew and that God formed it and created it from absolute non-existence. That which you observe, that I repeatedly argue against the eternity of the world according to the view of the philosophers, is to demonstrate the absoluteness of the miracle of His existence as I have explained and clarified in the Guide for the Perplexed.”

Why Maimonides emphasized this belief? Beginning probably with Aristotle (384- 322 BCE), philosophers and scientists denied a beginning of the Universe. They thought that the universe was never born or created. In their opinion, the universe was eternal (‘olam qadmon). This solid idea started to change only in 1930, when Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe was expanding. And if the cosmos was expanding, and not moving in circles as it was previously thought, then it must have a had a point of beginning. A few years later many scientists came with a simple inductive formula which affirmed that tracking back the movie of the universe’s expansion one will inevitably find a moment of beginning. The most famous hypothesis that asserts the beginning of the universe is the Big Bang theory reaffirms the Biblical idea of beginning. It is the first scientific theory that postulates a beginning of the universe, after 25 centuries of denying it.

Now, when scientist assert that the world had a beginning out of an “initial singularity of infinite density which contained all of the mass and spacetime of the Universe” they need to address where that singularity came from, without a Supernatural Power intervention. While by definition God is eternal, in scientific terms you definitely need to explain how something would come out of nothing. This question is, undoubtedly, the Aquiles heel of the Big Bang theory.

The belief in God’s eternity also touches upon the question of theodicy. According to Rabbi Hayim Pereira-Mendes, God’s eternity has also implications in our expectations for justice. Since God is eternal, punishment for the wicked or reward for the righteous, might take place beyond the time-limits of our lives. “The knowledge that God is eternal, especially when coupled with the knowledge that He is omnipotent reconciles us with our trials and sorrows, and solves the puzzles of earthly life and its many seeming difficulties and contradictions. Thus, we observe that the good often suffer misfortune or trial, and the wicked are successful and apparently happy. But God is Eternal, and will, in His own time and in His own way, in this life or in the Future or Eternal Life, show us the meaning and benefits of the sorrows and trials, the difficulties and contradictions.”

Dedicated to the memory of IDF Capt. Ishay Rosales, 23 years old, z”l

The beginnings of Antisemitism: DEMONIZATION

The origins of anti-Semitism can be traced back to Ancient Egypt. The anti-Jewish attitude of Pharaoh was not directly related to something the people of Israel had done wrong. Pharaoh’s antagonism to Jews had to do with a new political situation: Pharaoh’s opposition to the previous government, which was friendly to the Jews, especially because of Yosef.

This is the first example of an incredible paradox that repeated itself numberless times in Jewish history. Being loyal to a present local government leaves Jews exposed to the whims of a new government, coming from the opposition. Let me explain: In exile, Jews were always very loyal to the local government. And thus, for example, when the son of the previous king succeeded his father, Jews were respected by the new monarch, for the loyalty Jews had shown towards his father. But if the previous King was not succeeded by his son, if the previous King, for example, was dethroned or overthrown by the opposition, now the Jews would have to pay for their loyalty to the previous government.

Is this what happened in Egypt when a new Pharaoh came to power? Everything seems to indicate so. And based on the plain narrative of the Biblical text (peshat) now the new Egyptian King inspired in the heart of the masses a new antagonism to the Jews. And this when, for the first time, we will find a very distinctive element of anti-Semitism: anti-Semitic propaganda.

In Parashat Ki-Tabo the Tora refers in one word, to this type of anti-Semitism. It tells us that before torturing us with hard labor the Egyptians yare’u otanu (וירעו אותנו המצרים ויענונו). This sophisticated Hebrew word vayare’u is usually translated as “damaged us” or “they did bad to us” . But there is another possible reading of this word, without forcing the delicate semantics of this term. Rather than translating “they did bad to us” this verse might be telling us something deeper: the Egyptians “made us bad”, i.e., “made us look bad” or in one word, “demonized us.” They spoke ill of us and falsely accused us of horrible acts. Pharaoh demonized us suggesting that Jews became rich by robbing the Egyptians. Or that because Jews are a separate people, their loyalty to Egypt is questionable…. This fake propaganda was necessary to justify their case for persecuting, killing and destroying us.

The demonization of the Jews was, and unfortunately still is, the first step in any Antisemitic campaign. For centuries Jews were falsely blamed for the most heinous crimes: poisoning wells of water (in the time of the Bubonic plague, 1350), killing a god, killing children to eat their blood in the Matza, etc. Some of these ridiculous allegations, incredibly, are still spread until today. The “demonization” of the Jews was, is and will remain a prerequisite to pursue and condemn the Jews.

Pharaoh continues his inflammatory speech:

הבה נתחכמה לו: “The Jews are smart, let us outsmart them” The Jews had a reputation for being smart, studious, a people who appreciate the value of education. Pharaoh does not deny this. But in his anti-Semitic rhetoric Pharaoh “demonize” the intelligence of the Jews and presents it as a kind of negative and evil “cunning” which will eventually lead them to betrayal.

ונוסף גם הוא על שונאניו ונלחם בנו ועלה מן הארץ

“They will join our enemies, they will fight against us and abandon the land”. Pharaoh’s speech is a typical demagogic discourse of a dictator. Note that Pharaoh does not address his court or his cabinet (‘abadav) as he does when threatened by the plagues. He speaks directly to the people (on national TV).

Pharaoh ends his speech with the most popular, harmful and unfounded anti-Semitic accusation. “The Jews will betray us, they will join our enemies and take our wealth with them.” Pharaoh is trying to sow fear in the Egyptian population, and like many other tyrants he used the essential characteristic of the Jewish people, their sense of community and unity, to demonize them. The greatest strength of the Jewish people is used by the anti-Semite as their greatest vulnerability. Thus, even it is a lie, it is credible to accuse of disloyalty a people that resists assimilation ….