Category Archives: Talmud

One of the most outstanding features of the Jewish tradition is its willingness to engage in self-critique and look at the failings of our greats. Though some rabbis have wanted to limit this out of concern that we might misunderstand it, the Talmud and Midrash are clearly full of such observations.

One such critique is aimed at the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva, whose death we mourn this time of year. Clearly, men of great knowledge and stature, the Talmud (Yevamot 62b) tersely informs us that they all died because they did not honor one another.

At first, this seems rather surprising. However, in order to understand it, it may be useful to look at a more extreme but paradoxically more understandable expression of the same flaw: The famous story of Rabbi Elazar ben Shimons encounter with a man the Talmud (Taanit 20b) describes as exceedingly ugly. If that description strikes us as rather sharp, it pales in comparison with our shock at this great sages reaction. When the man greets him, R. Elazar is first silent. Then he says to him, Empty one, [] are all the people of your city as ugly as you? Though many commentators point out that the ugliness here was likely not physical, the Talmud still appropriately censures R. Elazar for his response.

The Talmud focuses on how inappropriate it was for R. Elazar to call him ugly. But I believe the first term he uses empty one is perhaps even more important, in that it sets up the tone and framework for R. Elazars attitude. Like any pejorative, it was likely meant as an exaggeration. Moreover, there really was a vast chasm between one of the top (perhaps the brightest) scholars of the generation and this simple man that even the Talmud describes as ugly. Even so, it reveals a far from uncommon thought process in which we totally discount the value of someone beneath us. Rather than seeking that which there is to learn from such people, we too facilely discount them as having nothing to offer at all. This is, after all, what is implied by the term, empty one.

If we know from elsewhere (for example, Avot 4:1) that there is no such thing as an empty man, why did so wise a man as R. Elazar make this mistake? While some of the reasons are specific to him and the particular situation, he was also likely moved by the natural tendency to focus on self and resultantly consider ourselves in a more favorable light than others.

If this attitude is more easily applied towards those who are really far less accomplished or talented than us, as in the story of R. Elazar, we nevertheless find ways of applying it to our peers as well. Since it is natural to prefer ones own work, it is natural to discount that of others as not quite up to par. It is therefore rare for someone to think of his peers as truly equal to himself, rarer still to think of them as having something to teach him. With this in mind, we can go back to the students of R. Akiva. Whether their punishment occurred before or after R. Akiva become famous for his emphasis on the centrality of loving ones fellow, he was not able to have this idea overcome his students natural tendency to love themselves a little more.

Given their failure and the obvious difficulty involved, there are many who find it impossible to imagine truly loving ones neighbor as oneself. The pernicious difficulty of keeping self-love in check and not having it warp the way in which we see others is brought to our attention in the story of R. Elazar, who is the son of one of R. Akivas few surviving students, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Apparently, even after the death of R. Akivas other students, it was not completely absorbed.

Given that the plague occurred among students of Torah at a time of year when we commemorate the receiving of the Torah, the punishment comes as a stark reminder that Torah cannot be built on this type of attitude. If other disciplines can survive in spite of the arrogance of their practitioners, the same cannot be said about Torah. Indeed, that is why Moshe a man who was simultaneously the greatest and the humblest was chosen to receive it.

So in the case of R. Akivas students, it was apparently a choice between their survival and that of the Torah. Learning this critical lesson is what can turn their sacrifice into a blessing.

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The Lethal Challenge of Learning Torah from Others - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

San Diego Community College District headquarters in Downtown San Diego. Photo by Chris Stone

The San Diego Community College District has asked Alice Walker to speak at the investiture of the new chancellor, Carlos O. Cortez.

Walkers continuing popularity is not hard to explain. She won the Pulitzer for her novel, The Color Purple, back in 1983, and since then has become something of an icon in the Black community. Even though she has not produced any fiction or poetry of note for years now, she continues to receive awards, honors, and invitations to speak.

Most recently, Simon & Shuster has published the first volume of her journals to lavish reviews in The New Yorker and the New York Times. And now, she will grace the San Diego Community College with her presence.

Yet Walker has recently expressed views that make her appearance at the investiture problematic.

In 2018, Walker revealed in an interview with The New York Times that she is a fan of David Icke, whose book, And the Truth Shall Set You Free, she called a curious persons dream come true. The Times let Walkers comment go by without challenge. But Icke is, in fact, a conspiracy theorist who believes that shape-shifting lizards rule the earth. He also hates Jews.

His book draws liberally on the infamous anti-Jewish forgery, The Protocols of Zion. He considers the Talmud among the most appallingly racist documents on the planet and suggests the service organization, Bnai Brith, was behind the Atlantic slave trade. Even more weirdly, he argues that radical right wing groups are, in fact, fronts for Jews: I am told by an extremely reliable source very close to the intelligence organizations that the far Right group, Combat 18, is a front for the sinister Anti-Defamation League, the United States and of the Israeli/Rothschild secret service, Mossad.

Walker, however, thinks all this poisonous nonsense is great. Even worse, Walker wrote a poem that is equally repellent To Study the Talmud. This antisemitic bit of verse starts off denouncing Israels treatment of the Palestinians, which is finethe woman is entitled to her opinionsbut then, veers off the deep end:

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Walker seems to have suffered no consequences, no embarrassment, for holding explicitly anti-Jewish views. Instead, as part of the publicity blitz for the publication of her journals, The New York Times offers a fawning profile of her. The author, reporter Elizabeth A. Harris, admits that Walker has taken positions, including in The Times, that many have found to be antisemitic and deeply troubling. But note the qualification, many have found to be. Which says the matter is up for debate, like inflations cause.

When Harris asks Walker about To Study the Talmud, Walker deflects, asserting her criticism is not of Jewish people but of Israel, as well as of the ancient texts and practices of all religions, including Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. Harris, however, does not press further. She lets Walkers assertion stand unchallenged. She does not ask Walker for the references to Christianity, Islam and Buddhism in her poem.

The New Yorker review of her journals by Lauren Michelle Jackson, Assistant Professor of English at Northwestern University, also treats Walkers more untoward opinions with kid gloves, trying to explain away Walkers deep dive into the bizarre, antisemitic world of David Ickes: Having grown up in a place where conspiracies, racial and sexual, were daily realities to be reckoned with, Walker may have developed a belated hunger for more.

The question is why Walkers antisemitism gets a pass. You might think that a time when the slightest hint of racism will get you cancelled (recently, a philosophy professor at San Diego State was pulled from two classes for citing racially charged language), Walkers antisemitism would elicit strong and unambiguous condemnations.But apparently not.

The answer is that in todays progressive world, antisemitism is just not that big a deal. Last year, David Baddiel, wrote a book, Jews Dont Count, arguing that a sacred circle is drawn around those whom the progressive modern left are prepared to go into battle for, and it seems as if the Jews arent in it.

Even more worrisome, antisemitism in the United States continues to rise. According to the ADLs most recent survey, 2021 saw more antisemitic incidents than ever before: 2,717, a 34% increase from the previous year. And that includes San Diego.

To be clear, I am not calling for the San Diego Community College District to retract their invitation. I dont believe in cancel culture, Ive written against cancel culture, and Im not going to be a hypocrite and call for Walkers cancellation. If this is who the SDCCD wants to spend public funds to bring in for a speaking engagement, thats their right.

But the people who arranged this visit should ask themselves why, at a time when antisemitic attacks have reached an unprecedented level Weve never seen data like this before, ever, says Jonathan Greenblatt, national director of the ADL they thought Alice Walker would be an appropriate choice?

Why didnt her antisemitism matter to them? Why didnt her adherence to hateful conspiracy theories disqualify her?

They need to ask themselves some hard questions.

Peter C. Hermanis professor of English literature at San Diego State University. He has published on Shakespeare, Milton and the literature of terrorism, and has published essays in Salon, Inside Higher Ed, as well as Times of San Diego. His most recent book is Unspeakable: Literature and Terrorism from the Gunpowder Plot to 9/11 (Routledge, 2020).

With the generous support of readers like you, Times of San Diego publishes timely and accurate news coverage for a better-informed community. Helps us grow with a monthly contribution.

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Opinion: Alice Walker Is an Icon, But Her Antisemitic Views Are Problematic on Campus - Times of San Diego

Omg the daf yomi today.

This text from my daughter made me smile for many reasons. Mostly, because these five words encompass so much more than her frustration with a talmudic passage about accidental intercourse.Not only does my daughter speak languages that I dont, not only is she learning in-depth, understanding Judaism, Jewish history, and Jewish law in ways I never will, but her story of being an Orthodox Jewish woman will be so different from mine. This brings me joy, as well as some pain.Unlike me, she will be able to bring sources, and speak of sages and rabbis in ways that show a level of learning, an understanding, and familiarity that I never had. Unlike me, she wont have horror stories of bringing personal questions and intimate items to a rabbi, waiting in mortification to be told whether she can be with her husband. She will be able to seek her own sources, determine her own answers, and when she needs a higher authority, ask a woman if she prefers.God willing, she will sign a halachic prenup before she marries, recognize warning signs of abuse and red flags. She wont accept, what do you need that for, as I had to, after a serious inquiry about birth control, nor Dont worry, if he tries anything, Ill break his legs, as a replacement for a halachic prenup.

But our story isnt just about one mother and daughter; it represents the ways that women have gained independence in Orthodox Judaism in the past decades.In the courtsNow, there are women in rabbinic courts, Toanot who represent women in divorce proceedings. Having women advocating for women armed with knowledge of halacha and secular law has changed womens experiences in rabbinic courts. Thanks to government policy initiated by MKs such as Limor Livnat and Aliza Lavie, women now sit on the committee to elect dayanim another game changer, shattering the old boys club that saw family members and friends elected to these vital positions.

In the bedroom

Yoatzot Halacha women trained in the laws of intimacy and family purity have not only given women independence in a distinctly female space, but they have also enabled more women to keep these laws now that they do not need to seek information or approval from men. Women being able to immerse in the mikva according to their traditions and desires, brought about by women activists and Supreme Court cases, has strengthened womens connection to the mitzvah and freed those with trauma and reluctance to return to the mikva with joy.In the beit midrashAcross Israel, and to a lesser extent the greater Jewish world, institutions of higher learning for women abound. More and more women speak the language of halacha at high levels at a scope that has never been seen before. They own their Judaism and are part of the beautiful tradition of a living Torah.I was privileged to attend the Hadran Siyum HaShas in January 2020, led by Rabbanit Michelle Farber who teaches a womens Daf Yomi class and podcast. The deafening roars and cheers for women who had taught, learned and completed the 7.5 year cycle of learning Talmud easily competed with noise levels of rock concerts Id been to at my daughters age. Now, women all over the world have signed on to learn the daf in the thousands. And Rabbanit Michelles podcast is not the only one hosted by a woman anymore. Among others is Talking Talmud, hosted by Anne Gordon and Dr. Yardaena Osband, and weekly video episodes (Hebrew) available on Farbers Hadran. On lineOn social media, especially on Instagram, frum women rule. Many have more followers than most Hasidic rebbes do. Access to social media has given women massive platforms to speak, teach, discuss issues, and the platforms have turned women into major influences, advocating for change. Some womens organizations use social media to talk about intimacy, abuse, and the need to free agunot. Others use it to create worldwide prayer groups or discuss fertility challenges.

And yet in so many ways, we are not free and we are not independent. In marriage Every woman who marries in a traditional Jewish ceremony is a potential agunah. According to Jewish law Israeli law only a man can decide to end a marriage. Thus, while in Israel a woman can be a Supreme Court judge, she cannot be free of a man who beats her, until and unless he and the three men who adjudicate divorce, free her. She is chained to her husband and cannot move on or have children. Here in Israel, that also means legally and financially. Even if he runs away, lives with another woman, or simply plays games with the court, in Israel, his debts are her debts, dragging her down.

(courtesy)

(courtesy)

In our imagesThe erasure of women, which started as an extreme practice in small communities, has spread like wildfire, and is now not only the norm in Orthodox publications, but is being done by commercial businesses, government and municipal institutions, despite being illegal. Women often cannot advertise properly with their faces, and, worse, are often replaced with objects when listed beside men. Government officials and even MKs are blurred and victims of terror attacks, or their wives, are distorted in news stories. Bus lines exist with women and girls seated in back as policy despite this being illegal.

In representationTwo Israeli political parties again, contrary to law ban women from running on their lists. These parties, both Haredi, represent over 13% of the government. Despite claiming to represent Haredi women, they do not advocate for their womens rights or represent their concerns. They do not attend the committee meetings on womens health or domestic violence despite both being a problem in the community. In each of the areas where women have gained independence, it has been hard won. Women and men, understanding the importance of representation and independence for women not only in life, but particularly in Judaism, those who understand the difference between halacha and social or cultural norms, and the urgency for Judaism to not be static in the face of cultural changes have sought ways to include women, to add their voices and perspectives into Orthodoxy and Israeli society.

And we as a whole have gained from it.Womens voices are vital to the continuation of Judaism and Israeli society. Women being active participants in Jewish law, its development and application, brings better understanding and a more just application. Policies are more in line with reality and the way people practice, lessening tension and allowing for more alignment and comfort with practice. We, as a community and society must find more ways for womens participation and representation and fight against the incessant trends towards our exclusion. We must aim to make Judaism and Israel the very best they can be. Chag Atzmaut Sameach!

Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll is a writer and an activist. Cofounder of chochmatnashim.org She loves her people enough to call out the nonsense. See her work at skjaskoll.com

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Women's independence: We're not there yet | Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll | The Blogs - The Times of Israel

Political scientist Shlomo Avineri argues that the resilience of the democratic tradition in modern-day Israel stems from centuries of communal self-governance experienced by Jews in the Diaspora. He writes that as a result of the lack of statehood and sovereignty the communities were ruled by its own members. I think it important to add that this description also applies to centuries of post-Temple communal self-governance by Jews in the Holy Land.

While Passover is over for this year, it is still useful to point out that the Passover Haggadah is a time capsule that describes the onset of a lengthy period of Jewish self-governance in Palestine. The clues lie in the identities of the nine sages mentioned in the Haggadah.

Five of them, Rabbis Tarfon, Elazar ben Azariah, Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Yehoshua ben Hananiah and Akiva, spend a night together at the home of Akiva discussing the departure from Egypt. Additional sages mentioned in the Haggadah are: Shimon ben Zoma (who died before being ordained), Rabbi Yehudah (Yehudah bar Ilai, who provides an acronym for the ten plagues), Rabbi Yose the Galilean and Rabban Gamliel. Gamliel is credited with saying that whoever does not explain the three symbols of the Sederthe Passover offering, matzah and bitter herbshas not fulfilled his duty. This Gamliel, Gamliel II, is the second of six Gamliels who were prominent Jewish leaders in Judea/Palestine from the first to the fifth centuries of the Common Era. The honorific Rabban was given to those who served as head of the Sanhedrin.

The Sanhedrin (from the Greek synedrion, for assembly) was a Jewish legislative and judicial court that existed during the Second Temple period. While the existence of the Sanhedrin ended after the Temples destruction, a Sanhedrin (also called a Patriarchate), headed by rabbinic sages and having some political and judicial relevance, was reconstituted at Yavne and at locations in the Galilee. This court deliberated on matters of Jewish law, set the Jewish calendar and was the central body of authority of Jewish life. It was responsible for communicating with the Imperial authorities. At the end of the first century CE, for example, four of the sages mentionedGamliel II, Akiva, Elazar ben Azariah and Yehoshua ben Hananiahvoyaged to Rome to lobby on behalf of the Jews of Palestine.

Both Gamliel II and Elazar ben Azariah served terms as President (Nasi) of the Sanhedrin. Elazar ben Azariah assumed the position after Gamliel II was deposed by the Sanhedrin, for what was deemed imperious behavior. Gamliel was later reinstated. (This is not unlike contemporary politics!)

The nine sages were contemporaries. They were nine of the 120 Tannaim whose views are recorded extensively in the Mishnaic writings of the first and second centuries CE. The date of the meeting of the five sages portrayed in the Haggadah has to be between the first two (of four) Jewish revolts against Roman rule in Palestine. (A fifth major uprising, by Diaspora Jews against the Romans, the Kitos War, erupted in the years 115 to 117 CE in Egypt, Cyprus and Cyrenaica.)

The first Jewish revolt took place from 66 to 73 CE and ended with the fall of Masada. The details are well known from the writings of Josephus. It is common to describe the dispersion of the Jews and the subsequent 2000 years of wandering to the failure of this revolt. Yet, a significant number of Jews remained and prospered in the land for at least 600 years after the fall of Masada. Estimates suggest that after this first revolt the Jewish population in Palestine was two to two and one half million, about half the world total. Ironically, the same war that led to the destruction of the Temple and the end of Temple worship, also contributed to the ascendency of Rabbinic Judaism and the writing of the Talmud and Midrash.

Ironically, the same war that led to the destruction of the Temple and the end of Temple worship, also contributed to the ascendency of Rabbinic Judaism and the writing of the Talmud and Midrash.

The second rebellion against the Romans, the Bar Kochva Revolt, began in 132 CE and ended with the fall of the fortress of Betar in 136 CE. Until the 1960 discovery of correspondence between Bar Kochva and his subordinates, the main source of information about this conflict was provided by the Roman historian Cassius Dio. Significant numbers of Jews continued to live in Palestine (the name given by the Romans after the Bar Kochva rebellion) for a considerable time afterward. The reconstituted Sanhedrin was not discontinued until 358 CE (its last function contributed to establishing the Jewish calendar), and the Romans recognized a Jewish Patriarch in Palestine until 425 CE.

The intensity of post-Temple Jewish life in the Holy Land, especially in Galilee, is obvious from the number of archeological sites and synagogue ruins in evidence at sites such as Bar-am, Beit Shearim, Beit Alpha and Tzippori (the Roman Sepphoris). In Twenty Centuries of Jewish Life in the Holy Land, published in 1975 by the Israel Economist and edited by Dan Bahat, the remains of at least 80 synagogues, dating from the first to the sixth centuries CE, are mentioned. While many are concentrated in the Galilee, synagogue remains of this period have been found throughout the Holy Land, including east of the Jordan River.

There were two additional uprisings by Jews in Palestine against Roman rule. In both, the rebels tried to take advantage of Roman preoccupation with disturbances elsewhere. The Gallus Revolt, directed against Constantine Gallus, ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium), took place from 351 to 352 CE. The focal points were at Tzippori and Tiberius, but there is evidence that it extended as far south as Lod (Lydda). The senior Roman commander, Ursicinus put down the revolt, killing thousands of rebels.

The last Jewish effort to gain autonomy in Palestine before modern times, the revolt against Heraclius, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, broke out in 614 CE in the midst of a broader conflict between Heraclius and the Sasanians (Persians). Twenty thousand to 26,000 Jewish men, recruited from a Jewish population estimated to range from 150,000 to 400,000, fought in this campaign. There were heavy losses on both sides. Initial Jewish successes, including a Jewish takeover of Jerusalem, came to naught in 617 CE when the Sasanians reneged on their support for the Jews.

Each of the four revolts failed and each loss resulted in a further reduction in the number of Jews living in the Holy Land. After the revolt against Heraclius, the Jews of Palestine no longer occupied a central position in the Jewish world.

The origins of the Passover Haggadah are uncertain, but it is believed that most of the version widely used today was compiled by the end of the Talmudic period (500-600 CE). The Haggadah reminds us that communal self-governance characterized the Jewish community in Palestine for more than half a millennium after the destruction of the Second Templean important point at a time when the historical connection between the Land of Israel and the Jewish people is being widely denied.

Jacob Sivak, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, is a retired professor, School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Waterloo.

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Five Hundred Years of Communal Post-Temple Jewish Life in Palestine - Jewish Journal

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov tells us that in the month of Iyar (usually around the month of May), all medicinal plants and herbs have a greater power to heal (Likutey Moharan I:277).

In fact, the Talmud (Shabbos 147b) mentions cures that are effective only at this time of year. The Chozeh of Lublin explains that this quality is alluded to in the very name Iyar, which can be read as an acronym for Ani Hashem rofecha I am G-d, your healer (Exodus 15:26).

After mentioning the special power of healing in the month of Iyar, Rebbe Nachman also points out that the word Iyar can be read as an acronym for Oivai yashuvu yeivoshu raga My enemies will turn back and be ashamed in an instant (Psalms 6:11). As Rabbi Yaakov Meir Shechter explains, this is related to the idea that we should do good even to our enemies, because when we overcome the spiritual enemy within us our desire for revenge and our bad character traits we automatically subdue the supernal source of all evil in the world.

The nature of Hashems creation is such that when we encounter adversaries and difficulties in our lives, it is because there are accusing forces working against us in the spiritual worlds above due to our aveiros and misdeeds. But if we silence these accusing forces by engaging in teshuva and refining our characters, our human adversaries will automatically disappear.

Rebbe Nachman is telling us that since Iyar is a month of healing, it is a good time to work on healing our souls, which will in turn cause our earthly enemies to disappear automatically. This can be done by uprooting the bad traits in our personality and replacing them with good ones, for this is the truest form of spiritual healing.

The Chida, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Azulai, also writes about the importance of spiritual healing during the springtime: At the beginning of summer it is customary to engage in healing The procedure for healing those who are spiritually ill is to purge the character from the filth and mildew of negative traits, to free the mind from false and harmful beliefs, and to expand the heart with a love for G-d and an understanding of His Torah (Chadrei Beten, ch. 8:24, as quoted in the book The Scent of Eden, p. 46-47). May Hashem help us to utilize this special opportune time to engage in much spiritual healing.

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A Time For Healing Body And Soul - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

From the moment of our birth, we clamor for our wants and needs, and we spend the rest of our lives pursuing them. Clearly, God has hard-wired self-interest deep into the human psyche, so its certainly not something we view as necessarily evil. On the contrary, halachah Jewish law explicitly reflects this. The Talmud sets out the following scenario: two people are walking in the desert, and one of them has a flask of water. Theres only enough water for one of them to make it to civilization; if they share the water, they will die. The great Talmudic sage, Rabbi Akiva, rules that in such a case, your life comes first; the one who has the water drinks it. Survival of the self comes first.

At the same time, while self-interest is a powerful and unshakeable force of human nature, it can also be extremely destructive. Even self-destructive. As the Mishna in Pirkei Avot says: Jealousy, physical desires and the pursuit of honor remove a person from this world.

Jealousy, desire and honor are all self-centered forces within a person, and the Mishna is saying that a person who is self-centered ultimately brings destruction on himself. God has created the world in such a way that when a person blindly pursues self-gratification, he paradoxically does grave harm to himself. Those who are consumed with jealousy, with the pursuit of their physical desires, with acquiring honor and recognition from others at all costs, find no peace of mind and are drawn to act in ways that harm not just the people they perceive to be standing in their way they harm themselves, too.

It goes beyond that, to our ultimate calling in this world, which is a calling toward holiness. This weeks parsha, Kedoshim, opens with a clarion call to the Jewish people: You shall be holy, for I, Hashem your God, am holy. (Vayikra 19:2) What is this call to holiness? What does it mean to be holy? And what does it mean that God is holy?

Rabbi Shimon Shkop, one of the great Lithuanian sages of the pre-war years, has a fascinating explanation. He says Gods essential characteristic, as far as we can talk about such things, is His pure goodness and kindness. God is completely self-sufficient; He needs nothing, nor does He receive anything, and everything He does is therefore an act of pure, unreciprocated kindness from the creation of the universe to taking care of our smallest needs, and the needs of the smallest and seemingly most insignificant of creatures. This selfless giving is how Rabbi Shkop defines holiness, and it is this we are called on to emulate so that we, too, can become holy.

Its a beautiful idea, but the Midrash gives us pause for thought, saying God reaches a level of holiness that no human being can. Rabbi Shkop explains the Midrash: No human being can ever attain this ideal like God because we have been created with an intrinsic love of and concern for the self, which will always factor into the equation.

So, we have a dilemma: How do we attain holiness defined as acting purely selflessly when we are unable to do so? How do we reconcile the conflicting ideals of self-interest and pure giving?

Rabbi Shkop has an answer that is deep and beautiful. If the self is getting in the way of helping others, then we need to expand our definition of the self.

When we refer to I, who are we talking about? Who or what is contained in our definition of self? Rabbi Shkop explains that a lowly, coarse person sees himself, defines his I, as purely a physical body. Someone slightly more elevated sees his soul as part of his self-identity. At a higher level, ones identity encompasses ones spouse and children, and then ones community, and so it goes. An even greater person includes the entire Jewish people in his sense of I, and even beyond that the entire world. The more spiritually elevated a person, the more people included in that persons sense of I.

So, the call to holiness is not about self-denial. It is a call to become a greater person by expanding the definition of self and, in so doing, unleashing the powerful force of giving and kindness to so many more people, and in a much richer, more fulfilling, far holier way.

Of course, its not so easy; it is, indeed, a lifelong journey. Initially, life is only about meeting our own needs. Then we graduate from this survivalist state of being; we marry and start a family, assuming greater responsibility, expanding our definition of self to encompass others. And we continue expanding our world, taking on responsibility for our community, for those around us, for the Jewish people as a whole and even for the entire world. Its a cosmic journey of self-discovery and self-transformation whose destination is the souls perfection and its ultimate expression.

Essentially, the more we reach out to others, the greater we become. This is why, when a child is born, we pray: May this katan this small one, become gadol become big. We pray for this infant, so naturally preoccupied with meeting its immediate physical needs, to become an adult in the fullest sense of the word, to become someone who sees the people around him, really sees them, and has an expansive perspective of the world and an expansive definition of self.

This worldview touches on so much of Judaism. There are many mitzvot of chessed (lovingkindness): comforting mourners, visiting the sick, burying the dead, tzedakah helping those in need. So much of the Torah is about reaching out to others, about taking responsibility for community and making the world a better place.

On a personal level, it is also about building family. The act of constituting a marriage is termed by our sages as kiddushin, which comes from the Hebrew word kedusha, meaning holiness. In what way is marriage an act of holiness? Creating a marriage should be the ultimate act of giving to another. By defining marriage as an act of holiness, our sages are teaching us that marriage is all about selfless giving, and that the creation of a family is all about expanding the concept of self and reaching out to others; transcending the self to becoming a greater person.

When fulfilling each other is a priority for husband and wife, other desires and preferences become subordinate. By putting our own needs aside, we dont feel that we are sacrificing anything.

Essentially, then, through marriage a person expands his definition of self and demonstrates that his life is not only about his own immediate, personal, selfish needs, but rather the needs of another human being, to constitute a broader, greater human being. As it says in the book of Bereishit, when God gave direction for the very first marriage in history between Adam and Eve, He said: Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (2:24)

Marriage is about two people becoming one, a process of transcending the self and evolving to become a greater being. And that is why the bringing together of Adam and Eve is prefaced with the words: It is not good for a person to be alone. It is not good for us to be limited, when this expanded definition of the self, this broadmindedness, this human greatness and holiness is ours for the taking. That definition of self is further expanded as children are born.

Life is a journey toward holiness, a journey toward expanding the self and achieving the greatness that God knows we are capable of.

Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein, who has a PhD. in Human Rights Law, is the chief rabbi of South Africa. This article first appeared on aish.com.

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A Word of Torah: Is Self-Interest Incompatible with Altruism? Detroit Jewish News - The Jewish News

I read the recent essay Torah Umammon by my friend Rabbi Yitzchak Blau with great interest, as I do his writings in general. In fact, I have been enthusiastically sharing one of his previous articles, Rabbinic Responses to Communism (Tradition, Winter 2007), with my students at the Sy Syms School of Business for more than 12 years.

Part of the beauty of that richly researched and greatly valuable article is how it was able to take an issue that to many is a matter of money, income, labor and capital, and display how beneath the surface, major principles of our worldview were at stake, being honored or breached.

I am privileged to have the opportunity to attempt something similar (if not as skillfully) several times a week, in teaching multiple courses at Syms. It is true that Syms is different in many ways from Yeshiva College. However, the differences do not reflect negatively on either school; Syms is structured to best accomplish its particular mission, which is unique in the world.

The students at Syms are indeed largely headed for a world that is defined by a goal to succeed financially at all costs, as quickly and as single-mindedly as possible. Recognizing that, the leadership of the school has created a framework that is dedicated to preparing these students to encounter that world equipped with the values to navigate its challenges, the moral grounding to appreciate its implications and the internal fortitude to maintain their character throughout.

Yeshiva University as a whole is committed to both protecting and projecting its traditions and its values within the modern world. Every division of YU ideally seeks to accomplish those directives in the fashion best suited to its particular aspects. For students who will eventually be told that the dollar is everything, a program must first be provided that will teach them what it is and what it is not, what it can accomplish and what it cannot, and what must not be sacrificed in its pursuit.

Over the course of many years and with much careful attention, focus, collaboration and creativity, the Syms administration has created and recreated, refined and then refined again, a program that surrounds its top-notch preparation for business success with a deep and broad grounding in Jewish values. Courses are crafted with a deliberate, tailored approach to best fit the specific needs of the bnei Torah who will confront the modern marketplace.

Further, it is not only the Jewish Values Program that is harnessed to this purpose. The class in which I teach Rabbi Blaus communism article is The Ethical and Legal Environment of Business. It is a secular class with a secular textbook. Still, on the first day, I tell the students, a class such as this in Yeshiva University must be different than this class in any other university.

The Yeshiva this year is learning Masechet Bava Basra, and when I gave the first shiur in Elul to my students in MYP/RIETS, we introduced the first mishnah with an explanation of the foundations of halakhic ethics. It was exhilarating to realize how much overlap there was with what I would be teaching a few hours later, in the introductory Ethical and Legal class. It was of further inspiration to me that I was able to share that realization with Dean Wasserman (along with the recording of the shiur) and know just how meaningful that would be to him as well.

The Talmud teaches that a professional gambler is disqualified from testimony because he is disconnected from any productive employment (eino osek byishuvo shel olam; Sanhedrin 24b). It follows that, conversely, one who is actively involved in building up the settlement of society and does so with honesty and integrity is accorded affirmative credibility. It is not merely that he is fulfilling the imperative of supporting his family in dignity; he is making contributions to the advancement of society that ideally reflect his value system, and, through implementation, expand it further.

Rabbi Blau makes reference to the high cost of Orthodox Jewish practice, due to tuition and other expenses. This is undeniably true, and it is relevant to Syms for more than just the school's ability to train financially successful professionals. The ever-increasing problem of the affordability of Jewish life is an existential challenge practically, and a profound and underappreciated moral challenge in the priorities it creates and the decisions it provokes.

Syms did not create this problem, but perhaps it will be some of our schools students who will solve it. Perhaps our students, proficient in both the principles of business efficiency and the values of a Jewish community that cherishes family harmony, genuine spirituality and broad educational opportunity (and knowledgeable that this, too, is a sugya in Bava Basra) will have the initiative, insight and inspiration to positively remake our society.

Rabbi Blau wishes that Syms students would take a class with Rabbi Shalom Carmy. As a grateful student and tremendous admirer of Rabbi Carmy, I share that wish. However, college requirements are not the only or even the most effective way to encourage exposure to great teachers. The overall impact of the Syms educational message is to instill the students with an appreciation for Jewish practice, ideals and learning so that they will seek out inspiration and instruction throughout their lives, in and out of the classroom, during and after their college years.

I know this to be true because I see it every day. I see it in the questions I get from current students, that are not only about their final requirements or attendance records but about navigating the demands of their internships and interviews while maintaining their integrity and intensity. And I know it because so many of these questions come a year, five years, 10 years after graduation.

This past week, the yeshiva hosted a conference in which fellows of the Post-Semicha Kollel Elyon presented to the public on the themes of the values of Shemittah. I take some pride in the fact that a number of these fine young rabbis were my students in courses at the Syms School. And all of them were taught Rabbi Blaus communism article in preparation for their presentations. Together, this deepened the message that while to too many in today's world, the dollar is the goal, we know it to be a tool: a tool of kindness, to establish one's integrity and to build and perfect the world in G-ds Majesty.

It is an unavoidable reality that the demands of the business world will govern the circumstances of our students lives. A YU/Syms education can, nonetheless, govern their minds, and, most importantly, their souls. For that, we can all be grateful.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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Mammon In Light of Torah - The Commentator - The Commentator

One of my most prominent early childhood memories involves the late Prime Minister of Israel, Menachem Begin. It was the late afternoon of December 1st, 1977, and my parents suddenly appeared to pick me up from school, along with my brother Zev.

Were going to see someone very special, they told us.

Who is it? we wanted to know.

The Prime Minister of Israel hes here in London, and we are going to watch him light the Hanukkah candles.

The event was utterly overwhelming. Thousands of people crowded into St. Johns Wood Synagogue to catch a glimpse of Begin, who only a few months earlier had swept into electoral victory after 29 years as the leader of Israels parliamentary opposition and who had just two weeks earlier hosted Egypts President Anwar el-Sadat for his historic two-day visit to Jerusalem.

Londons Jewish Chronicle breathlessly described the scene in an article published later that week: Mr. Menachem Begins entry into the St. Johns Wood Synagogue this week to light the second Chanucah candle was described by an onlooker as a royal progress. His slow walk down the centre aisle was accompanied by loud applause and cheers from over 2,000 congregants watching him kindle the light.

Although I dont remember anything that Begin said that night, I still recall the hushed silence that gripped the audience as soon as he began his address, and how they all hung on his every word. Begins face was beaming, and the love for him was palpable. At just 7 years old, I knew I was in the presence of greatness long before the never-ending standing ovation erupted when he concluded his remarks.

The memory of that winter night in London so many years ago is still very fresh in my mind, but it was even more so earlier this week, when our community hosted the Los Angeles premiere of Upheaval: The Journey of Menachem Begin at the Harmony Gold Theater in Hollywood.

This kaleidoscopic documentary reveals aspects of Begins life that are not only surprising, but also brilliantly researched. No aspect of Begins long public career is omitted, and what we discover is a man who was supremely confident in his Jewish identity, and in his conviction that the future safety of the Jewish people is intimately bound up with an unapologetic Jewish identity.

But truthfully, there was one aspect of Begins incredible life that I felt was absent from the film, no doubt because of the limitations of a 90-minute movie but perhaps because the director didnt quite get the importance of this facet of who Begin was, not just as a person, but as a Jewish leader.

For Menachem Begin, Jewish traditions and observing ritual mitzvot were not just window dressing, nor merely a Zionist punchline; rather, they were a crucial component of who Jews are, and who they should be. Begin recognized that without the fabric of Jewish faith practices, Jewish identity was hollow, and ultimately unsustainable.

On one famous occasion Begin spoke passionately about the Shabbat-observant Jews of his youth, in his place of birth, Brest-Litovsk, the Belarusian city better known in the Jewish world by its Yiddish name: Brisk.

There has never been a nation like this in the world, he began, his eyes gleaming, tradesmen, cobblers, tailors, waggoneers. [And yet on] Shabbat, each man became a king a king! Children sitting around the table, the royal Sabbath while in town: no movement, no motion, no wagons, just total silence even the gentiles respect the Sabbath!

This rousing speech was part of Begins 1981 pitch to suspend El Al flights on Shabbat. How was it possible, he argued, for the Jewish states national airline to fly on Shabbat, if in Brisk the gentiles respected Shabbat, and in Salonika, Greece, the bustling port had historically closed on Friday afternoon and only reopened on Sunday, in consideration for the majority of its workers, who were Jewish?

Begins bid to change the El Al flight schedules was successful, and ever since, for over 40 years, no El Al plane has taken off or landed on Shabbat, and so it will remain in perpetuity. And while this may not have been a political achievement at the level of Begins Nobel Prize-winning role in the Camp David Peace Accords signed with Egypt in 1979, it nonetheless shines a light onto Menachem Begin the Jew, as opposed to Menachem Begin the politician, or Menachem Begin the prime minister.

At the beginning of Parshat Kedoshim, the Jewish people are instructed to be holy! and then, in the next sentence, they are told to revere their parents and to observe the Shabbat. Most of the commentaries are confounded by the correlation of these two seemingly unconnected directives one regarding an essential component of civilized society, the other a ritual law that relates to commemorating the creation narrative.

Most famously, Rashi quotes a passage in the Talmud (Bava Metzia 32a) which suggests that the association is deliberate and that the context is legal: if a father or mother tell their child to desecrate the Shabbat, the laws of Shabbat override ones filial obligations.

But I would like to offer another explanation, inspired by the profound words of Menachem Begin regarding Shabbat. No human being can deny the importance of respecting ones parents. Since the dawn of history, in every society and culture, honoring ones parents into old age is of paramount importance, recognized as a mark of human civilization.

Our father and mother are not just some random man or woman: they are very special, and they must be treated as such. And perhaps this is what the verse wants to highlight regarding Shabbat. In Jewish tradition, Shabbat is no less important than this most basic aspect of broader human culture.

For a Jew, treating Shabbat with reverence and respect, and not just like any other day of the week, is at the center of who we are indeed, it is the very essence of Jewish identity.

The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.

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Respecting Shabbat Is at the Core of Judaism - Algemeiner

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The standard printed Talmud page, as reproduced below, spans many centuries of Jewish religious scholarship, from the Bible to the beginning of the twentieth century.

In this Web page, a typical Talmud page will serve us as a port of departure on a voyage through the history of Jewish religious literature.

Click here to see a hyperlinked selection of the texts in translation (requires a frames-capable browser).

Choose an item from this menuThe Mishnah The Gemara (Talmud) Rashi Tosafot Other Commentaries Glosses Page Number Tractate Name Chapter Number Chapter Name Mesoret Ha-Sha"S Ein Mishpat-Ner Mitzvah Torah Or

Choose an item from this menuThe Mishnah Maimonides' Commentary Bertinoro's Commentary Tosefot Yom-Tov M'lekhet Shlomo Tif'eret Tisra'el Hiddushei Mahariah Tosefot Rabbi Akiva Eger Tosefot Anshei Shem Mishnah RishonahPage Numbers Tractate Names Chapter Numbers Chapter NamesCross-ReferencesVariant Readings Mishnah Numbers

Choose an item from this menuThe "Mikra'ot Gedolot" Rabbinic Bible The Torah MasorahThe "Onkelos" Targum The "Yonatan ben 'Uzziel" Targum Targum Yerushalmi Rashi's Commentary Ibn Ezra's Commentary Ramban's Commentary Rashbam's CommentarySforno's Commentary TBa'al ha-Turim's Commentary Chapter Numbers The Names of the Books of the TorahThe Sedrahs (lection divisions) of the TorahPage Number Toledot Aharon

Choose an item from this menuMaimonides' Mishneh Torah Glosses of the Ravad The Kesef MishnehThe Magggid Mishneh Lehem Mishneh Hagahot Maimuniot Migdal 'Oz Mishneh LaMelekh Page Numbers Volume NamesTopics and ChaptersCross-References to Other Codes

Choose an item from this menuThe 'Arba'ah Turim Beit YosefBayit HadashDarkhei MosheBeit Israel ("Perishah" and "Derishah")Page NumberVolume NamesParagraph TitlesParagraph Numbers

Choose an item from this menuThe Shulhan ArukhGlosses by Rabbi Moses IsserlesCommentaries on the Inner ColumnCommentaries on the Outer ColumnCommentaries on the Outer MarginCommentaries on the Outer MarginBe'ur ha-GR"ABa'er HeitevPage NumbersVolume NamesTopic NamesParagraph NumbersBe'er Ha-GolahPit-hei T'shuvah

The page format of the Babylonian Talmud has remained almost unchanged since the early printings in Italy. Some twenty-five individual tractates were printed by Joshua and Gershom Soncino between 1484 and 1519, culminating in the complete edition of the Talmud produced by Daniel Bomberg (a Christian) in 1520-30. These editions established the familiar format of placing the original text in square formal letters the centre of the page, surrounded by the commentaries of Rashi and Tosafot, which are printed in a semi-cursive typeface. The page divisions used in the Bomberg edition have been used by all subsequent editions of the Talmud until the present day.

Over the years several additions were introduced, including identifications of Biblical quotes, cross-references the Talmud and Rabbinic literature, and to the principal codes of Jewish law.

Almost all Talmuds in current use are copies of the famous Vilna (Wilno, Vilnyus) Talmuds, published in several versions from 1880 by the "Widow and Brothers Romm" in that renowned Lithuanian centre of Jewish scholarship. While retaining the same format and pagination as the previous editions, the Vilna Talmud added several new commentaries, along the margins and in supplementary pages at the ends of the respective volumes.

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A Page of Talmud - University of Calgary in Alberta

Thought nonbinary gender was a modern concept? Think again. The ancient Jewish understanding of gender was far more nuanced than many assume.

The Talmud, a huge and authoritative compendium of Jewish legal traditions, contains in fact no less than eight gender designations including:

In fact, not only did the rabbis recognize six genders that were neither male nor female, they had a tradition that the first human being was both. Versions of this midrash are found throughout rabbinic literature, including in the Talmud:

Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar also said: Adam was first created with two faces (one male and the other female). As it is stated: You have formed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. (Psalms 139:5)

Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar imagines that the first human was created both male and female with two faces. Later, this original human being was separated and became two distinct people, Adam and Eve. According to this midrash then, the first human being was, to use contemporary parlance, nonbinary. Genesis Rabbah 8:1 offers a slightly different version of Rabbi Yirmeyas teaching:

Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, He created him as an androgynos (one having both male and female sexual characteristics), as it is said, male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:27)

Said Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, He created for him a double face, and sawed him and made him backs, a back here and a back there, as it is said, Behind and before, You formed me (Psalms 139:5).

In this version of the teaching, Rabbi Yirmeya is not focusing on the first humans face (or, rather, faces) but on their sex organs they have both. The midrash imagines this original human looked something like a man and woman conjoined at the back so that one side has a womens face and a womans sex organs and the other side has a mans face and sex organs. Then God split this original person in half, creating the first man and woman. Ancient history buffs will recognize this image as similar to the character Aristophanes description of the first humans as both male and female, eventually sundered to create lone males and females forever madly seeking one another for the purposes of reuniting to experience that primordial state. (Plato, Symposium, 189ff)

For the rabbis, the androgynos wasnt just a thing of the mythic past. The androgynos was in fact a recognized gender category in their present though not with two heads, only both kinds of sex organs. The term appears no less than 32 times in the Mishnah and 283 times in the Talmud. Most of these citations are not variations on this myth, but rather discussions that consider how Jewish law (halakhah) applies to one who has both male and female sexual characteristics.

That the androgynos is, from a halakhic perspective, neither male nor female, is confirmed by Mishnah Bikkurim 4:1, which states this explicitly:

The androgynos is in some ways like men, and in other ways like women. In other ways he is like men and women, and in others he is like neither men nor women.

Because Hebrew has no gender neutral pronoun, the Mishnah uses a male pronoun for the androgynos, though this is obviously insufficient given the rabbinic descriptions of this person. Reading on we find that the androgynos is, for the rabbis, in many ways like a man they dress like a man, they are obligated in all commandments like a man, they marry women and their white emissions lead to impurity. However, in other ways, the androgynos is like a woman they do not share in inheritance like sons, they do not eat of sacrifices that are reserved only for men and their red discharge leads to impurity.

The Mishnah goes on to list ways in which an androgynos is just like any other person. Like any human being, one who strikes him or curses him is liable. (Bikkurim 4:3) Similarly, one who murders an androgynos is, well, a murderer. But the androgynos is also unlike a man or a woman in other important legal respects for instance, such a person is not liable for entering the Temple in a state of impurity as both a man and woman would be.

As should now be clear, the rabbinic interest in these gender ambiguous categories is largely legal. Since halakhah was structured for a world in which most people were either male or female, applying the law to individuals who didnt fall neatly into one of those two categories was challenging. As Rabbi Yose remarks in this same chapter of the Mishnah: The androgynos is a unique creature, and the sages could not decide about him. (Bikkurim 4:5)

In many cases, the androgynos is lumped together with other kinds of nonbinary persons as well as other marginalized populations, including women, slaves, the disabled and minors. For example, concerning participation in the three pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot) during which the Jews of antiquity would travel to the Temple in Jerusalem, the mishnah of Chagigah opens:

All are obligated on the three pilgrimage festivals to appear in the Temple and sacrifice an offering, except for a deaf-mute, an imbecile, and a minor; and a tumtum, an androgynos, women, and slaves who are not emancipated; and the lame, the blind, the sick, and the old, and one who is unable to ascend to Jerusalem on his own legs.

As this mishnah indicates, it is only healthy, free adult men who are obligated to appear at the Temple to observe the pilgrimage festivals. People who are not adult men, and men who are enslaved or too old or unwell to make the journey, are exempt.

As we have already stated, the androgynos was not the only person of ambiguous gender identified by the rabbis. Similarly, the rabbis recognized one whose sexual characteristics are lacking or difficult to determine, called a tumtum. In the mishnah from Bikkurim we cited earlier, Rabbi Yose, who said the androgynos was legally challenging for the sages, said the tumtum was much easier to figure out.

The rabbis also recognized that some peoples sexual characteristics can change with puberty either naturally or through intervention. Less common than the androgynos and tumtum, but still found throughout rabbinic texts, are the aylonit, who is born with organs identified as female at birth but develops male characteristics at puberty, and the saris, who is born with male-identified organs and later develops features recognized as female. These changes can happen naturally over time (saris hamah) or with human intervention (saris adam).

For the rabbis, what is most significant about the aylonit and the saris is that they are presumed infertile the latter is sometimes translated as eunuch. Their inability to have offspring creates legal complications the rabbis address, for example:

A woman who is 20 years old who did not grow two pubic hairs shall bring proof that she is twenty years old, and from that point forward she assumes the status of an aylonit. If she marries and her husband dies childless, she neither performs halitzah nor does she enter into levirate marriage.

A woman who reaches the age of 20 without visible signs of puberty, in particular pubic hair, is deemed an aylonit who is infertile. According to this mishnah, she may still marry, but it is not expected that she will bear children. Therefore, if her husband dies and the couple is in fact childless, his brother is not obligated to marry her, as would normally be required by the law of levirate marriage.

A nonbinary person who does not have the same halakhic status as a male or female, but is something else that is best described as ambiguous or in between, presented a halakhic challenge that was not particularly foreign for the rabbis, who discuss analogs in the animal and plant kingdoms. For example, the rabbinic texts describe a koi as an animal that is somewhere between wild and domesticated (Mishnah Bikkurim 2:8) and an etrog yes, that beautiful citron that is essential for Sukkot as between a fruit and a vegetable (Mishnah Bikkurim 2:6, see also Rosh Hashanah 14). Because they dont fit neatly into common categories, the koi and the etrog require special halakhic consideration. The rabbinic understanding of the world was that most categories be they animal, vegetable or mineral are imperfect descriptors of the world, either as it is or as it should be.

In recent decades, queer Jews and allies have sought to reinterpret these eight genders of the Talmud as a way of reclaiming a positive space for nonbinary Jews in the tradition. The starting point is that while it is true that the Talmud understands gender to largely operate on a binary axis, the rabbis clearly understood that not everyone fits these categories.

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The Eight Genders in the Talmud | My Jewish Learning