Who was Ezra haSofer?

Thursday, December 28, we will observe the Tenth of Tebet, a fast day which remind us of three tragic events (see here ). One of those events was the passing of Ezra haSofer, which occurred on a 9th of Tebet.

Seventy years after the destruction of the first Bet haMiqdash, about the year 516 before the common era, many Jews returned to Erets Israel with the blessing of the Persian Emperor Cyrus (Koresh). A total of 42,360 Yehudim returned to Israel, led by Zerubabel (see Book of Ezra 2:64).

Years later, in 457 before the common era, more Jews made Aliya led by Ezra the Scribe, who was appointed by Artaxerxes, the Persian emperor then. Ezra became the spiritual leader of the Babylonian Jews who came to Yerushalayim. And he had a very difficult mission. The Jews returning from Babel, where they had been exiled for four or five generations, had forgotten the Tora and its laws, and had adopted the values and culture of Babel. Many did not even know to speak or read Hebrew.

In Jerusalem, Ezra established the Anshe Kneset haGedola, the first Jewish Parliament, composed of 120 men, sages and prophets. With them, Ezra set a number of resolutions to revive the study and fulfillment of the Tora and reeducate the Jewish people. Ezra and his court, increased the times of public reading of the Tora; he composed the text of the Amida (main prayer) because people had forgotten how to pray properly; he implemented that the Tora reading be translated into Aramaic; he adapted the names of Hebrew months and changed the letters (=fonts) of the Biblical text (from ketab ‘ibri to ketab ashuri) to facilitate the study of Tora, etc.

Ezra also had to make important decisions, such as the exclusion of Samaritans, a semi-pagan mixed population living in Israel since the days of the exile of the 10 tribes (722 bce), who intended to be considered part of the Jewish people and partake of the services in the Bet haMiqdash. Ezra also had to deal with the issue of mixed marriages of many Yehudim who came from Babylon. This last dramatic event is narrated in chapters 9 and 10 of the book of Ezra.

Thanks to the wisdom and courage of Ezra, the Jewish people was able to survive and restart again in Israel its life as the nation of God.

Ezra HaSofer was considered by our rabbis as a second Moshe Rabbenu, and the historical link between the written Tora and the oral Tora. The Tora, our rabbis explained, was forgotten in the long Babylonian captivity, and it was recovered by Ezra haSofer.

Who is exempted from fasting on the 10th of Tebet?

Minors: boys under 13 and girls under 12 years old are exempt from fasting.

Nursing women: According to the Sephardic Minhag, after giving birth women are exempted from fasting for 24 months, even if they are not actually nursing their baby. In some Sephardic communities and in all Ashkenazi communities, nursing mothers are only exempt while they are actually nursing their babies.

Pregnant women are exempt from fasting.

A person who feels ill or who experiences symptoms of flu or fever, or a person with a chronic disease, such as diabetes, should not fast.

Elders should consult with their physicians if the fast will not affect their health. If it will, they are exempted (or prohibited) from fasting.

The fast is observed tomorrow from daybreak till nightfall. In NY from 6.11am to 4.52 pm. (Some communities have different times. See your community’s calendar and / or see this).

YOSEF, and his success. # 4. HOW TO SEE THE FUTURE?

No. 4. HOW TO SEE THE FUTURE?

During the last days, I wrote about Yosef and the secrets of his success. We mentioned his patience, his self-esteem and his proactivity. Today I’m going to write about his vision of the future. Later on, we will explore two more elements: Yosef’s integrity and ultimately Yosef’s Emuna. These six personality traits made of Yosef a role model for us all, his descendants.

What does a Jewish “vision of the future” mean?

I think this is one of the least appreciated elements in the story of Yosef. Let’s see…

Pharaoh dreamed of seven fat cows being devoured by seven skinny cows. But the skinny cows remained skinny, even after having devoured the fat cows. And so happened with seven ears of wheat as well. Pharaoh sought someone to interpret his dream, and the Torah says ואין פותר אותם לפרעה “And there was no one who interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams.” Does this mean that no one was able to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams? This is what most people think.

But there is another possibility. Actually, the interpretation of the dream of the Egyptian monarch was more than obvious. Egypt’s cattle industry, cows, and Egypt’s agriculture, ears of wheat, will collapse. But, if the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream was so obvious, why none of the court’s wizards approached Pharaoh and interpreted his dream?

Perhaps what happened was not that no one was able to interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams, but no one wanted to bring Pharaoh the bad news: that after seven years of wealth, Egypt will end in bankruptcy. Who would dare giving these horrible news to Pharaoh?

First, because Pharaoh could react very badly and “shoot the messenger”.

But there’s more. Something much deeper. The court’s soothsayers understood that Pharaoh’s prophetic dreams conveyed an inevitable fate awaiting Egypt. The soothsayers were futuristic-fatalists, and thought that the future cannot be altered.

Here comes the genius of Yosef and his “Jewish wisdom”. For Yosef the future is not written in stone. The future is not static, it is dynamic. It can be changed. When the prophets of Israel spoke to the people about the future, and for example, prophesied that the Bet haMiqdash was going to be destroyed, they were not transmitting an unchangeable prophetic vision, they were warning about the future consequences of the misdeeds of the people of Israel. And thus, they called the people to do Teshuba, repentance, because they knew that “the future” is in men’s hands. The realization of that bad prophecy could be avoided.

The same happened with King Hizquia, who despite the prophecy of Yesha’ayahu Hanabi, saying that the King would die, prayed to HaShem and was cured.

Unlike Jewish society, where it is understood that the future can be changed by God or by men, in pagan society omens, prophetic dreams and oracles convey an “unalterable” vision of the future. For the diviners of Pharaoh, the seven years of famine would be hopelessly seven years of famine that will destroy Egypt. So, it is better to say nothing ….

But where others saw a big problem, Yosef, with his Jewish vision, saw a great opportunity. If during the seven years of wealth Egypt stores grain abundantly, Egypt not only will survive the famine, Egypt (and Pharaoh ) could end up becoming the richest country in the region, since everyone else will come to Egypt to buy grain.

The difference between Yosef and Pharaoh’s soothsayers had to do with a fatalistic vs. a creative vision of the future.

I think Yosef’s approach to the future characterized (and characterizes) deeply the Jewish view of the future, even in the professional or a commercial field. We Jews do not have a static or fatalistic vision of the future. As my grandfather, z”l, who came from Syria to Buenos Aires without a penny in his pocket, said. “If today I work mopping floors, it does not mean that I will have to do this for the rest of my life”. He saw the possibilities of the future as wide open.

This is also the message conveyed by Tefila, prayer: If the future is already determined, why would I pray to Hashem and ask Him to cure a loved one who is dying? We pray because we do not believe in fate or destiny. We pray because we know that the future is God’s hand. It depends on His Will.

The future is not limited by a destiny. And Yosef understood this very well.

Yosef, his secrets for success. # 3. PROACTIVITY

פתחו לי פתח כחודה של מחט ואני אפתח לכם כפתחו של אולם

Yesterday we explained that one of the keys of Yosef’s success was his self-esteem. Yosef, despite having lived very traumatic experiences, always maintained a healthy dose of self-worth, which at the end helped Yosef to appear before Pharaoh and change his life. Self-esteem should not be confused with vanity and arrogance. In fact, as we shall see later on, Yosef was extremely humble. When he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, Yosef could have attributed it to his own wisdom, his superpowers, etc. However, Yosef repeated again and again that it was HaShem who reveled the interpretation, not him.

There is another very important element that helped Yosef to succeed: his proactivity.

When Pharaoh tells Joseph his dream, Yosef immediately explains that cows represent Egypt and wheat represent food. Pharaoh’s dream announces that seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of famine.

Now, once Yosef explained the dreams to Pharaoh, his mission was over. Yosef was called solely fro that. However, after Yosef explained to Pharaoh his dream, he went on, almost without pausing to breath, and out of his own initiative he presented Pharaoh with an ambitious action plan to save Egypt’s economy (Gen. 41:33-35) “And now Pharaoh should find an intelligent and experienced man, and put him in charge of Egypt. And Pharaoh should assign officials to take 20% of the crops of the years of plenty. And gather a grain supply for the years of hungry.”

Yosef was proactive.

There are two kinds of people: reactive and proactive individuals. Reactive people do nothing until something happens. They act by reaction. And when nothing happens, they stand still, passive waiting for something to happen. If Yosef had been reactive, after finishing the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams he should have gone. Most probably, he would have been taken back to the dungeon. But Yosef did not wait for an opportunity. Yosef created it. Being proactive means to actively take control of a situation and decide what to do, anticipating events. A reactive person is a “victim” of what happens to him and her. While a proactive person feels he is empower to change what happens, to make things happen.

Yosef did not wait for Pharaoh to ask him, “And in your opinion, young man, what should we do about this prophetic dream?” . Yosef knew that if he did not bring his proposal, Pharaoh would not have asked for his opinion. Yosef created the opportunity. And he was right.

Sometimes business is tough, for example, because customers do not come to buy. “Reactive” businessmen would continue waiting for customers, and would be ready to declare bankruptcy because no one comes to buy. “Proactive” businessmen, on the other hand, when there are no customers they would go and look for them. And if they do not find customers, as the book “Who Moved My Cheese” explains, they might change their line of business. Proactive people will never be passively waiting for opportunities to arise. The would be looking for opportunities. Or try to create them. Proactive people would develop new ideas and try new things. They are never idle. This applies to virtually all areas, our professional life, our family relationships, and even in the area of Shiddukhim (finding a spouse).

Also in spiritual matters it is expected of us to be proactive. For example, regarding Teshuba, when we seek to restore our relationship with God, we cannot be passive. Our Hakhamim told us that HaShem expects us to take the initiative. We should take a first step, even a small step. “If you open up for Me a small little door, even as small as the eye of a needle, I’ll open a huge gate for You.”

Do not wait for the gates of glory and success to be opened for you. Go and open every good door you can. Even if, at the beginning, these doors look insignificant. That is a Jewish definition of proactivity

YOSEF, and the secrets of his success. # 2. SELF -ESTEEM

# 2. SELF ESTEEM

Yesterday we mentioned that by studying in depth the story of Yosef we can easily identify what were the characteristics that allowed Yosef to succeed, despite the challenging circumstances he lived. Yosef reached the top, coming from the lowest level. He was a former slave, sentenced to life imprisonment for a sexual offense he did not commit. And yet, he reached the highest peak: to be the second most important person in the mighty Egypt.

How did Yosef succeed?

We mentioned that Yosef had to cultivate his patience. And take the time to discover that many “bad” things that happen or “good” things that do not happen to us, may eventually result for our own good.

Another reason for Yosef’s success was Yosef’s self-esteem.

Yesterday we said that one of Pharaoh’s stewards returned to the court. He did not want to remember Yosef. Rather, he erased Yosef from his memory. Until one day Pharaoh had a mysterious dream that left him confused. The Egyptian monarch sought a solution, but no one among his soothsayers and counselors was able (or willing) to decipher Pharaoh’s dream. Now the steward did remember Yosef! And he told Pharaoh about the young Hebrew that had successfully interpreted his dream. Pharaoh sends for Yosef and brings him to his court. In the next scene, Yosef stands before Pharaoh, as equals. He listens to the dream of the monarch. And unhesitatingly interprets it. Next, on his own, he offers Pharaoh an action plan to save the economy of Egypt in the coming years.

Fascinating!

Just a few hours ago Yosef was in prison, probably cleaning the floors and bathrooms of the dungeon. Before that, Yosef was sold from one master to another. He was enslaved for many years. Forced to perform any job asked of him. For years Yosef was abused and humiliated… Most individuals, in less challenging situations would probably feel demoralized. With no pride, dignity and, not to mention, self-esteem. I know people who lived humiliating situations which affected their self-esteem tremendously. I have a friend who was out of work for several months. And I remember how much it took for him to find another job. Why? Because every time he went to a job interview he looked defeated, humiliated, and without a minimum dose of self esteem. And nobody wants to hire such a person … My friend had fallen into a self-destructive vicious circle. Those months without work had a very negative impact on his character, and that new “character” prevented him from progressing and moving forward.

What did Yosef do to maintain his self-esteem in the extreme circumstances he lived? What was his secret?

For Yosef, and for a Jew in general, self-esteem does not depend on “success” but on the effort involved. As Rabbi Noah Weinberg says, a Yehudi knows (or should know) that our personal responsibility is to do our best to achieve our goals. But the end results, if we did or did not achieve our goals, does not depend on us. It depends on God’s will. It is this EMUNA, knowing that there is Someone above me and above my endeavors, that determines the ultimate success of what I undertake, what sustains my self-esteem, regardless of the success I have or have not achieved. In the case of Yosef, ironically, his success did not facilitate his self-esteem. Rather, his self-esteem facilitated his success.

There are two elements that can destroy our self-esteem. First, when we think as they think in a materialistic and success-oriented society: that my own value depends on the success I have achieved, regardless of the quality of the effort I invested in the process. Only if and when I achieve my ambitious goals, I can feel good about myself. In this scenario, of course, 99% of people would suffer from very low self-esteem.

Secondly, what can destroy my self-esteem is when I know that I did not do enough. I was lazy. I did not act with integrity, etc. This feeling creates a “real” problem (which should be solved by changing course): real “guilt”. And there is probably nothing that destroys our self-esteem as much guilt ….

But when I know that I did my best to achieve my goals and I know that I acted with integrity, I should feel very good about myself, regardless of the final results. For years, Yosef was able to maintain his self-esteem because he judged his own value for the effort he invested in everything he did. He knew that he had acted with integrity and honesty. He was a hard worker. He did everything in his power to succeed. And although he was a slave or a prisoner, that knowledge, that feeling about his own efforts, helped him to maintain his self-esteem at a high level. Yosef knew that success is never guaranteed. It is a divine prerogative. וכל אשר הוא עושה, ה’ מצליח בידו. The end results, Yosef knows, ultimately, depends on HaShem’s will.

Rabbi Isaac Arama (1420-1494) and the Spanish inquisition

Rabbi Isaac Arama was born in the city of Zamora, in Castile, Spain, in 1420. for a while he was the head of the Yeshiba in Zamora until he was called to lead the Jewish community of Tarragona, and later the city of Fraga, in Aragon. In order to counteract the effects of the Christian preachers sermons to which the Jews of Aragon were compelled to listen, Rabbi Arama delivered his lectures focusing on the principles of Judaism. These lectures became the basis of his later works and contain interesting data on the history of the Jews in Spain, prior to their expulsion. Rabbi Arama engaged in several public disputations with Christian scholars. Finally he settled in the city Catalayud until 1492, the year of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. That year he escaped to Naples, Italy, together with his son Meir. He was contemporary and friend with the famous Rabbi Don Itshaq Abarabanel, who use to come very often to the house of Rabbi Arama.

Rabbi Arama was a great Talmudist and a brilliant philosopher, he particularly admired and defended the philosophical ideas of Maimonides. Following Maimonides, Rabbi Arama sought to demonstrate the superiority of human reasoning over imagination, and the superiority of divine revelation (or nebu-a) over human reasoning. Reason, ultimately, should be subordinated to Scripture whenever the two are in conflict. Rabbi Arama explains than in the time of Abraham Abinu, besides idol worshipers there were also philosophers, i.e., people who were guided solely by reason and denied revelation. In their opinion reason and logic was the highest possible intelectual level a human being can access. Moreover, since reason and logic were given by God, all a person needs to follow the will of God is to follow the calls of his own logic and reasoning. “Revelation”, therefore, was unnecessary. Rabbi Arama explains that the binding of Ytshaq is the farthest one can go from logic. Killing one’s own son defies human basic reasoning. This is the reason God tested Abraham, to see if Abraham would be willing to follow God’s call, his private revelation, instead of his own logic. Abraham by following God instead of human logic, became yere Eloqim, “A God fearing individual” which is a level above that of the philosopher. Thus, when the test is over and God commands Abraham not to kill his son, God tells Abraham: ‘ata yadtati ki yere Eloqim ata… Now, I know, that you are a God fearing [individual]. It is possible that in this analysis of the binding of Ytshaq, comparing logic with revelation, rabbi Arama is also criticizing the Christian doctrine of natural law. According to Thomas Aquinas, the natural law is nothing else than the rational creature’s participation in the eternal law. For Aquinas God’s eternal law human wisdom, inasmuch as it is the directive norm of all movement and action.

The philosophical ideas of rabbi Arama had a double purpose. One the one hand, to explain Judaism in light of the new radical rationalism, represented by Aristotelian philosophers, who believed in the superiority of reason over revelation. And on the other hand, Rabbi Arama like his predecessors, had to articulate very clearly the cardinal Jewish principles. His writings against the Christian dogmas aimed to equip the Jews with the right arguments to withstand the missionary sermons of the Church, to which, under the laws then prevalent, the Jews were compelled to listen. These writings are often the summary of oral disputations between Rabbi Arama and Christian scholars.

HIS WORKS AND IDEAS

The most famous book of Rabbi Isaac Arama, which trascended his own age and time, is undoubtedly “Aqedat Yitshaq” (The Binding of Isaac). Rabbi Arama is frequently spoken of as the “Ba’al haAqeda” (author of the Aqeda).

The book is written as a commentary to the Pentateuch. It consists of chapters or portals (she’arim). Each sermon is divided into two parts: 1. “derisha” (“analysis”), and 2. “perisha” (“exposition”). In the “derisha” part, the author examines a philosophical idea in light of biblical or rabbinic sources. In the “perisha”, he exposes the difficulties which seem to appear in the text and solves them with the aid of a central idea. Thus, the gap between the two parts of the sermon is skillfully closed, and they merge into one harmonious whole.

Aqedat Ytshaq exercised a great influence upon Jewish thought, it is still much read and it is considered by many the classical work of Jewish homiletics, i.e., the art of building a religious sermon, which, modeled after the old petihtaot of the Rabbis of the midrash, begins with the exposition of a Biblical text, and evolves into philosophic disquisitions and interpretations.

In this book he deals with the most relevant philosophical issues of Judaism.

One example: Rabbi Arama examines in which circumstances we could or should understand a Biblical story as a prophetic vision rather than as an historical event. At one point he declares that even when we are allowed to interpret a passage as allegorical, this interpretation of Scripture should not deny its literal meaning. The commandants, however, can never be interrupted allegorically. This matter was very relevant in light of the Christian vision of the Old Testament commandments as allegorical, and what is popularly known as replacement theology, by which, for example, circumcision is replaced by baptism.

Rabbi Arama also deals with subjects such as Divine Providence and the dynamics between God’s omnisciency (that everything is known to Him) vs. man’s free will (If God knows what I’m going to do, was I free to chose what I did?).

Rabbi Arama also analyzes the lists of articles of faith drawn up by Maimonides (13), and he presents his own list which include only six principles. This summary might have been done in order to facilitate his contemporaries to comprehend what are the beliefs that stand in complete opposition to Christianity.

This is why, for example, the principle of the Messiah was left out, because although Jews reject Jesus, Judaism does not reject the idea of a Messiah.

They are:

1. The belief that God is the Creator of the world.

2. The belief that God possesses the power to suspend the laws of nature and perform miracles at will.

3. The belief that God revealed Himself to our patriarchs in Mt Sinai and to our prophets.

4. The belief in providence, i.e., the God knows our actions and rewards or punishes.

5. The belief in freedom of choice and repentance (teshuba).

6. The belief in the immortality of the soul.

Rabbi Arama also wrote a commentary on the five Megilot ; a commentary on Mishle, the Proverbs, called Yad Abshalom (“The Hand of Absalom” or “A Memorial for Abshalom) in memory of his son-in-law, Abshalom, who died shortly after his marriage.

Rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca (1605-1693), first rabbi of the Americas

Rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca was born in 1605 in the town of Castro Daire, Portugal. His birth name was Simão da Fonseca. His parents were “marranos”, Jews who had been forcibly converted to Christianity. When Isaac was seven, the family moved to Amsterdam. Many Portuguese Jews who for a century lived as Jews in secret to escape the Inquisition, emigrated to Amsterdam, where freedom of worship was declared in 1596, something inconceivable until then in Christian Europe. There, they created a community that became very prosperous in every way. Arriving at Amsterdam, the Aboab family was finally able to practice their religion openly. Simão renamed Isaac, with its ancient Jewish last name: Aboab (also spelled Abohab). In Amsterdam, Rabbi Aboab studied with one of the few rabbis who at the time were in the city: Rabbi Isaac Uziel, a native of the city of Fez in Morocco. At eighteen Rab Aboab was ordained as a Rabbi (hakham) of the Beth Israel community, one of three Sephardic communities that existed at that time in Amsterdam. In 1638 he was named as one of the four Rabbis in the main community of Amsterdam: “Talmud Tora”.

In those years the Dutch colonized several parts of Brazil. And many Jews from Amsterdam, who were prominent in international trade, moved to the city of Recife, in Pernambuco, Brazil. In 1641, Rabbi Isaac Aboab was sent to Recife as the rabbi of “Kehal Zur”, the new congregation in Recife, the first Jewish community in the Americas. Rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca was therefore the first official rabbi in the Americas. Most European citizens of this city were Jews from Amsterdam. In Recife Rabbi Aboab developed a beautiful congregation, modeled after the Jewish community in Amsterdam. “Kehal Zur” had a synagogue, a Mikve and a Yeshiva, where Rabbi Aboab taught Torah, particularly Talmud.

Rabbi Aboab da Fonseca enjoyed a few years of prosperity in Recife. In 1645 the Portuguese began to attack the Dutch colonies in Brazil. The long history of these battles is too extensive to be discussed in these few lines. What we can say is that the Portuguese, when achieved victory, allowed an honorable surrender to all Dutch, but not to the Jews, who were ordered to convert. Several Jews escaped, among them the 24 Jews who in 1654 would reach the city of New Amsterdam, now “New York”.

On 26 January 1654 the Portuguese occupied the city of Recife in 1654. Rabbi Aboab escaped to Amsterdam. Back in Amsterdam, he was appointed as the chief rabbi of the Sephardic community in that city. In 1656, he was one of the rabbis who excommunicated Spinoza.

During the years 1664-1666 began a messianic movement around Shabbetai Zevi. Back then, most rabbis of the world, Sepharadim and Ashkenazim, believed that Shabbetai Zevi was the Messiah. And although he was not militant, Rabbi Aboab was no exception. In 1666 when the Turkish Sultan gave Shabbetai Zevi the choice between death and conversion to Islam, he decided to convert. Jews understood then that they had been victims of a huge hoax, with devastating consequences for the global Jewish community.

Despite all these difficulties, the Jewish community in Amsterdam flourished under the Rabbinate of rabbi Aboab and it produced, among other things, hundreds of Talmide Hakhamim who served the community and wrote thousands of books in Spanish and Portuguese.

In 1647 rabbi Aboab wrote a Hebrew grammar book that has not yet been published “melekhet ha-Diqduq. He also translated from Spanish to Hebrew (sic) a Qabbala book written by Abraham Cohen Herrera, called ” Las puertas del Cielo” in Hebrew “Shaar HaShamayim”.

Rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca died in Amsterdam on April 4, 1693, at the age of 88 years.

13 PRINCIPLES: The right way of thinking about God

שהבורא יתברך אינו גוף, ולא ישיגוהו משיגי הגוף ואין לו שום דמיון כלל

Last week we began to study the third of the 13 principles of the Jewish faith: “God has no body, and we should not attribute to God human characteristics or conditions.”

In antiquity, this belief was as , or perhaps more, revolutionary than monotheism. Since for the pagan world gods were represented with human figures. The gods were born, died, fought, had insatiable appetites and a tremendous thirst for power. In a way, these gods were conceived at the imagine and likeness of those who worshipped them. For the pagan mind, an invisible god was an inconceivable god.

Now, the Tora repeatedly speaks of God in human terms. For example, the hand of God; God’s arm, God’s eyes, etc. Jewish tradition explains, however, that these are merely metaphors, expressions which’s purpose is to make Biblical ideas accessible even to the simplest human minds, for whom is very difficult to grasp abstract concepts.

There are many translations of the Tora into all languages. Do you know what is the official translation of the Tora, according to Jewish tradition? It is the Aramaic translation written by Onkelos haGuer (“Onkelos the proselyte” 35-120 of the Common Era), made under the supervision of one of the greatest rabbis of the Talmudic period, Rabbi Eliezer HaGadol. This translation is called “Targum” (“the translation”, par excellence), “Targum Onkelos” or “Targum Didan”, this latter name means “Our official translation”.

The Targum’s first objective is to debunk anthropomorphism, that is, explaining what those expressions, which apparently attributed to God a human image, really mean. For example, the arm of God can refer to His power; the hand of God, to His miracles; the eyes of God, to His permanent supervision on humans, etc. In this way, and through the Targum, our rabbis taught us to refrain from attributing to God images, or any human likeness, despite the apparent Biblical references.

Another important point: in the Tora says that God created man “in His image and likeness.” Loyal to its rejection of anthropomorphism, Jewish tradition explains that the image and likeness of God which man possesses, is no the human body. It means that human beings, unlike other living creatures, are endowed with free will. We have impulses, but we can dominate them. We can choose between doing good and doing evil. This power, our moral freedom, is what makes us similar to God, Who is the epitome of freedom (“Almighty”= the One Who can do anything).

Before ending this topic, I would like to briefly refer to a question that I have been asked many times: If God does not have an image, how can I think of God when I pray to Him? Is it wrong to “imagine” God?

Imagining or visualizing God like an angel, an old man or a giant, is typical of paganism. Personifying God is a misleading reflection of our imagination, which projects into God human attributes, in a superlative level. What to do then when you communicate with God, when you pray to Him, and somehow you need to hold on to an image in your mind? I think the answer is simple. When we Jews refer to God, we say “HaShem”, which in Hebrew means “The Name”. (As if saying “He, whose name is ineffable.”). Hence, if it is impossible to abstract, or concentrate while talking to God, without bringing a specific image into our minds, we could visualize the name of HaShem, i.e., the Hebrew letters of His name.

In short, it is a fundamental principle of the Jewish faith to know that God has no body, image, or any human likeness. Human attributes described in the Tora are mere metaphors, expressions, that make ideas about God more accessible to the most basic levels of human understanding.

Such is the distance between the human and the Divine reality that the way in which we Jews refer God is by calling Him, “The Name”. When we pray, we should abstain from projecting any images or figures that would ח”ו personify God. However, visualizing in our minds the name of HaShem, the Hebrew letters of His Name, is an acceptable way of thinking about God.

TEHILIM Psalm 19: Who protects us from solar radiation?

1. Psalm of David

2. The heavens bear witness to the Glory [= existence, presence] of God, and the firmament declares the work of his hands.

3. Day after day they bear witness of His command, night after night they announce His wisdom.

4. There is no utterance, no words, their voices are not heard

5. [Yet] their testimony resounds through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the planet. “For the sun, He [the Creator] set a tent for them.”

6. [the sun] like a groom from his wedding canopy [=huppa] comes, like a warrior running his course.

7. Going out from the ends of heaven, and its circuit to their ends end, nothing escapes its heat.

This Mizmor, Tehillim 19, is recited every Shabbat morning as part of our weekly Tefila. Composed by David, King of Israel, this Psalm explores two issues. The heavens and the Tora. Of the 16 verses of this psalm, 6 are dedicated to “heavens” (2-7), and 8 (8-16) to “the Tora”. (This Mizmor is so beautiful and profound that I can not devote the attention it deserves in a single email. Today we will only study the first part).

Of the six verses devoted to heaven, three are dedicated to heaven itself, and three, specifically the sun.

King David says the heavens are a testimony of the existence of God (pasuq / verse 2). This means that when we observe heavens, the magnificence of the universe, its perfect harmony, the planets’ and the stars’ movements, we perceive that the Cosmos is a intelligently organized structure. It has a design. We do not see chaos but predictability. The universe would not work as it works just randomly, without Anyone in charge of it.

The celestial testimony is not only oral but visual (pasuq 3). This testimony is an invitation to discover the Designer behind the design. King David (pasuq 4) noticed something that I think most of us do not. The heavens, all the planetary and celestial motions, the rotation of the earth, etc. do not generate a deafening noise, as you might expect (or perhaps that permanent background noise is what we perceive as “silence” … ). Either way, King David used this literary motif to emphasize that without words, the heavens declare the existence of God, for whoever wants to “listen”.

In the next pesuqim 5, 6, 7, our Psalm continues to refer to the heavens, but particularly to the sun. It is important for David HaMelekh to speak of the sun as a mere witness of the existence of the Creator, since for virtually all civilizations of antiquity, the sun was seen as a god. In this Psalm, David ascribes to the sun all its importance, although no more than a divine “instrument”. It is not a deity, it has no independent power, but a witness of the true God. HaShem is the One that makes the sun to rise every morning, and its energy (= heat, verse 7) to reach the remotest corners of Earth [=”nothing escapes its heat”]. Today we know that the darkest places of our planet, the depths of the oceans, could not have sustained life without solar energy, although this energy gets there indirectly.

One more point about the way this Psalm describes the sun, which I find fascinating. There is an expression in pasuq 5, the first reference to the sun, which at first seems confusing. “For the sun, He [the Creator] set a tent for them.”

What is the meaning of “tent” and who is “them”?

Two thousand years ago, our rabbis explained that this “tent” refers to a special protection provided by the Creator. The Sages of the Midrash (Bereshit Rabba 6: 6) called this protection “nartiq” (sheath, cover) and explained that in this Psalm is called “tent” (or tent, in Hebrew אהל) because, like a tent in the desert the nartiq’s function is to protect those who live under the it against the sun’s rays.

They also said that the word “for them” should be understood as “for their own good”, that is, for the sake of human beings, living under the sun. In other words, the rabbis explained this pasuq as: “God covered the sun with a tent [a layer, a screen] for the sake of the people who inhabit this world.”

Rabbi Yehoshua bar Abin, a rabbi of the second century, said that without this protection, direct sunlight would burn human beings.

Did our Hakhamim, or David HaMelech, know of the existence of an invisible shield (ozone, atmosphere, etc.) that protects us, filtering out the devastating ultraviolet sun’s rays, gamma rays, X-rays, etc.? It looks like they did….

Rabbi Yehoshua bar Abin also said that humans will eventually realize –by looking at the sun and understanding how dangerous it would be if the Creator had not contained it with an “invisible shield”– the wisdom and compassion of Creator of the World. We will understand then that there is not just “something” but “SomeOne” who protects us, and allows us to live. At that time, once again, the heavens will become a testimony of the existence of the Creator.

Rabbi Abraham Saba (1440-1508) and the Island of Alligators

Rabbi Abraham Saba was born in Castile, Spain, in 1440. When the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, there was no safe place to go. No route was safe from pirates, hunger and the ever present threat of plagues and epidemics. 120,000 Jews fled to Portugal. At that time, Portugal appeared as the most reliable place. No sea to cross, a very similar language and an Iberian culture. Rabbi Abraham Saba was one of those Jews who left Portugal pursuing a new beginning. But the poor Jewish refugees from Spain soon discovered that the horrors and tragedies they were living, were not over.

The Portuguese king John II, eager to increase his treasure, approved the admission of Jews requiring them to pay a large sum of money, 100 Cruzados. Those who could not pay that amount, could reside in Portugal for a maximum of eight months, for a smaller sum, 8 Cruzados a head. Most Jews, including Rabbi Saba, moved to the city of Oporto, Portugal’s main port, hoping to navigate soon to a new destination in Italy, Turkey, Greece or North Africa. But the shortage of ships made their exit impossible. And after the eight months ended, King John proclaimed that those who could not renew their residence paying for 8 additional months, should convert to Christianity or would be automatically considered his slaves. No one had money to pay. The refuges had left Spain with empty hands. The families who refused conversion witnessed one of the worst tragedies ever suffered by Sephardic Jews. King John ordered separating the children from their parents, something not even the cruel Spanish Inquisition dared to do. Thousands of young children were swept into the convents to be raised as Catholics. 700 adolescents boys and girls were sent on a ship to Sao Tome and Principe, a remote island off the coast of Guinea, recently colonized by the Portuguese explorers, famous for the abundance of carnivorous alligators. According to reports from that time, most of these children died, some eaten by the large reptiles, and others by hunger or neglect.

Rabbi Saba describes this terrible event in his book Tseror Hamor, parahsat ki Tabo.

זאת היא קללה אחרת שקרה לנו בעוונותנו בפורטוגאל, שלקח המלך את הבנים ואת הבנות הקטנים ושלחם בספינות לאיי הנחשים כדי לעשות שם יישוב

“This is the great tragedy that befell us in Portugal, the King took the children and sent them in boats to the islands of alligators, to populate that place”

Two of Rabbi Saba’s children were taken from him in these circumstances, and rabbi Saba never saw them again. Searching for his children, he tells, he dressed as a Gentile and visited numerous convents. In each convent he recited aloud the Shema Israel. Hearing the voice of Rabbi Abraham, attracted by the sweet and familiar melody of the Shema, the Jewish children would came to him and cried inconsolably.

In 1495 King John II died and King Manuel ascended to the throne. The situation of the Jews did not improve. He married the Spanish Princess Isabel, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabel יש”ו, hoping to bring the entire peninsula under a single monarchy The Spanish kings agreed to this marriage with one vicious condition: Manuel had to expel the Jews from Portugal. In December 4, 1496, Manuel stipulated that by November next year no Jew could reside in Portugal. Those who do not want to convert should abandon their possessions and leave the country. When Manuel saw that the Jews were willing to risk their lives and go, leaving everything behind instead of converting, he realized that the departure of the Jews would negatively affect the economy of Portugal, as it was happening in Spain. He decided then to make a mass conversion “by decree”. In other words, instead of expelling the Jews from Portugal, he decided to expel the Judaism from the Jews. And declare all of them new Christians de facto.

There was a group of 20,000 Jews in Lisbon, including Rabbi Saba, desperately waiting for some boat that could take them out of Portugal. But the King ordered to forcibly baptize them and he said: “You can leave, if you wish, but your children are already baptized, and they must remain here” The poor Jews had to choose between their children and their faith …. These Yehudim were the bravest, those who fled Spain, leaving everything behind, to keep their faith intact…

Rabbi Saba was taken to prison. And there he saw the chief Rabbi of Portugal, Ribbi Shimon Maimi (or Meimi) זצ”ל. He, his wife, his daughters and his sons in law were tortured by the Inquisition, hoping to force them to convert, and thus serve as an example for the other Jews. But the elder Rabbi Maimi and all his family chose to suffer the terrible tortures, and died al qiddush haShem, rejecting conversion.

After spending six months in a prison Saba Rabbi was sent with a group of Jews to the city of Arcila or Assilah, in Morocco, a fortified prison. After a few months, Rabbi Saba miraculously escaped and came to Fez, a city with a large Jewish community. It took a few years for rabbi Saba to recover from his physical and emotional deterioration. After a long convalescence, he became one of the Rabbis of the city, and began to rewrite his books.

Six of his books remained in Portugal. One of the most famous books of Rabbi Saba, where the story I presented today is written, is “Tseror Hamor,” a commentary on the Tora. He also wrote Eshkol ha-Kofer, a commentary on Megillat Ruth and Megillat Esther. These two are the only books of Rabbi Saba we have today. Some of the manuscripts which were left in Portugal were Tseror haKesef, a rabbinical responsa on issues related to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Tseror haHayim, a commentary on the treatise Pirqe Abot. A commentary on the Psalms, a commentary on the Gemara Berakhot and a qabbalistic book in which he explained the ten Sefirot.

From Fes Rabbi Saba traveled to Adrianopoli (now the city of Edirne in Turkey). He died on the 9 Tishri 5269 (1508) on a boat. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Verona, Italy.

The granddaughter of Rabbi Abraham Saba married Rabbi Yosef Caro, author of the Shulhan Arukh

13 PRINCIPLES: How many idols did Abraham destroy?

We are learning the 13 principles of the Jewish faith. Previously, we analyzed Principle 1: God exists and 2: God is one . Today we will learn Principle 3: God does not have a body.

The famous text ANI Maamin says: “The Creator, blessed be His name, has no bodily form or bodily conditions that affect Him. He cannot be compared with [or represented by] anything [human] at all “.

Our first patriarch, Abraham, not only formulated the idea that God is “one”. He also understood that HaShem is “invisible”, i.e, that He has no body or image. And that His existence is categorically different from ours. This revelation was perhaps more revolutionary than the idea of the unity of God. To better understand the magnitude of the amazing revolution carried out by Abinu Abraham, I will describe very briefly how pagan civilizations viewed their gods and idols.

To attribute to God an image, a figure or even a human condition is called “anthropomorphism”, and is one of the most characteristic features of pagan religions. The pagan gods have bodies of human forms. They are born and die. They have desires and passions, and they fight against each other. These gods, in every way, were created in the image and likeness of the men who conceived them.

The pagan gods did not give away anything for free to humankind. They did not care at all about the fate of humanity. They had excessive human passions and boundless cruelty by which, among other things, parents were able to kill their own children and children their own parents. The main affair of the gods was “conspiring against each other”, guided by an insatiable thirst for power. Take, for example, Zeus, the supreme god of the Greeks, a “very advanced” civilization. His father, Cronus had six children, but he was warned that one of them would dethrone him. Cronus ate (sic.) his own children one by one. When the turn of the sixth, Zeus, arrived, Cronus’ wife Rhea deceived him and wrapped a stone in a blanket, which was swallowed by Cronus thinking he was destroying his threatening son. When Zeus grew up, he decided to avenge his brothers killing his father. But before killing him, he made him drink a poisonous potion that made him disgorge his siblings. Zeus was a very promiscuous god, with unbridled passions which he could not control. He even had children with human-women (many women who were afraid to admit an act of infidelity or rape, claimed that they had become pregnant by a god). Zeus spent his time constantly fighting against those who aspire to take his power, who were not few. Zeus, like all pagan gods, was so busy in his adventures, wars and the satisfaction of his urges, that he had no time, and absolutely not interest in the affairs of humans. If Zeus unleashed a storm, it was not because he had compassion for humanity and sent them the much needed rain. It was because Zeus had to fight his own enemies, and attacked them with lightning, or deafened them with thunders.

These gods were a (superlative) reflection of the appetites, and the lowest and suppressed instincts of the humans who conceived them (usually men of power). These gods were not worshipped out of love, but strictly for convenience. The pagan priests said for example, that if ten warriors were sacrificed to Zeus, Zeus would absorb their spirit and thus he will be better prepared to fight against his enemies, the Titans. In exchange for this useful sacrifice, Zeus would made rain in Athens or would unleash his lightnings upon the enemies of the Greeks.

This brief illustration tries to show the reader what ABODA ZARA was all about, and help us understand a little better the magnitude of the revolution that Abinu Abraham carried out, among people who were, they and their gods, much more primitive and savages than the Greeks.

Abraham Abinu’s fight against anthropomorphism was certainly the most important revolution in the history of human thought. And, as expected, it caused many reactions against him and his descendants.

We all know the Midrash that says that Abraham physically destroyed the idols of his father Terah. But we must also understand that the iconoclastic mission of Abraham went much further than that. A single man, with one single idea–the belief that HaShem, the true God, has no image, no human needs, no human traits, nor human likeness–disrupted the lies of the idol-worshippers, unmasked their deceiving leaders, and dissolved the foundations of all pagan civilizations, from the time of Abraham until today.