Category Archives: Talmud

The Oral Law is a legal commentary on the Torah, explaining how its commandments are to be carried out. Common sense suggests that some sort of oral tradition was always needed to accompany the Written Law, because the Torah alone, even with its 613 commandments, is an insufficient guide to Jewish life. For example, the fourth of the Ten Commandments, ordains, "Remember the Sabbath day to make it holy" (Exodus 20:8). From the Sabbath's inclusion in the Ten Commandments, it is clear that the Torah regards it as an important holiday. Yet when one looks for the specific biblical laws regulating how to observe the day, one finds only injunctions against lighting a fire, going away from one's dwelling, cutting down a tree, plowing and harvesting. Would merely refraining from these few activities fulfill the biblical command to make the Sabbath holy? Indeed, the Sabbath rituals that are most commonly associated with holiness-lighting of candles, reciting the kiddush, and the reading of the weekly Torah portion are found not in the Torah, but in the Oral Law.

Without an oral tradition, some of the Torah's laws would be incomprehensible. In the Shema's first paragraph, the Bible instructs: "And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart. And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes." "Bind them for a sign upon your hand," the last verse instructs. Bind what? The Torah doesn't say. "And they shall be for frontlets between your eyes." What are frontlets? The Hebrew word for frontlets, totafot is used three times in the Torah always in this context (Exodus 13:16; Deuteronomy 6:8, 11:18) and is as obscure as is the English. Only in the Oral Law do we learn that what a Jewish male should bind upon his hand and between his eyes are tefillin (phylacteries).

Finally, an Oral Law was needed to mitigate certain categorical Torah laws that would have caused grave problems if carried out literally. The Written Law, for example, demands an "eye for an eye" (Exodus 21:24). Did this imply that if one person accidentally blinded another, he should be blinded in return? That seems to be the Torah's wish. But the Oral Law explains that the verse must be understood as requiring monetary compensation: the value of an eye is what must be paid.

The Jewish community of Palestine suffered horrendous losses during the Great Revolt and the Bar-Kokhba rebellion. Well over a million Jews were killed in the two ill-fated uprisings, and the leading yeshivot, along with thousands of their rabbinical scholars and students, were devastated.

This decline in the number of knowledgeable Jews seems to have been a decisive factor in Rabbi Judah the Prince's decision around the year 200 C.E. to record in writing the Oral Law. For centuries, Judaism's leading rabbis had resisted writing down the Oral Law. Teaching the law orally, the rabbis knew, compelled students to maintain close relationships with teachers, and they considered teachers, not books, to be the best conveyors of the Jewish tradition. But with the deaths of so many teachers in the failed revolts, Rabbi Judah apparently feared that the Oral Law would be forgotten unless it were written down.

In the Mishna, the name for the sixty-three tractates in which Rabbi Judah set down the Oral Law, Jewish law is systematically codified, unlike in the Torah. For example, if a person wanted to find every law in the Torah about the Sabbath, he would have to locate scattered references in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. Indeed, in order to know everything the Torah said on a given subject, one either had to read through all of it or know its contents by heart. Rabbi Judah avoided this problem by arranging the Mishna topically. All laws pertaining to the Sabbath were put into one tractate called Shabbat (Hebrew for "Sabbath"). The laws contained in Shabbat's twenty-four chapters are far more extensive than those contained in the Torah, for the Mishna summarizes the Oral Law's extensive Sabbath legislation. The tractate Shabbat is part of a larger "order" called Mo'ed (Hebrew for "holiday"), which is one of six orders that comprise the Mishna. Some of the other tractates in Mo'ed specify the Oral Laws of Passover (Pesachim); Purim (Megillah); Rosh haShana; Yom Kippur (Yoma); and Sukkot.

The first of the six orders is called Zera'im (Seeds), and deals with the agricultural rules of ancient Palestine, particularly with the details of the produce that were to be presented as offerings at the Temple in Jerusalem. The most famous tractate in Zera'im, however, Brakhot (Blessings) has little to do with agriculture. It records laws concerning different blessings and when they are to be recited.

Another order, called Nezikin (Damages), contains ten tractates summarizing Jewish civil and criminal law.

Another order, Nashim (Women), deals with issues between the sexes, including both laws of marriage, Kiddushin, and of divorce, Gittin.

A fifth order, Kodashim, outlines the laws of sacrifices and ritual slaughter. The sixth order, Taharot, contains the laws of purity and impurity.

Although parts of the Mishna read as dry legal recitations, Rabbi Judah frequently enlivened the text by presenting minority views, which it was also hoped might serve to guide scholars in later generations (Mishna Eduyot 1:6). In one famous instance, the legal code turned almost poetic, as Rabbi Judah cited the lengthy warning the rabbinic judges delivered to witnesses testifying in capital cases:

"How are witnesses inspired with awe in capital cases?" the Mishna begins. "They are brought in and admonished as follows: In case you may want to offer testimony that is only conjecture or hearsay or secondhand evidence, even from a person you consider trustworthy; or in the event you do not know that we shall test you by cross-examination and inquiry, then know that capital cases are not like monetary cases. In monetary cases, a man can make monetary restitution and be forgiven, but in capital cases both the blood of the man put to death and the blood of his [potential] descendants are on the witness's head until the end of time. For thus we find in the case of Cain, who killed his brother, that it is written: 'The bloods of your brother cry unto Me' (Genesis 4:10) that is, his blood and the blood of his potential descendants.... Therefore was the first man, Adam, created alone, to teach us that whoever destroys a single life, the Bible considers it as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a single life, the Bible considers it as if he saved an entire world. Furthermore, only one man, Adam, was created for the sake of peace among men, so that no one should say to his fellow, 'My father was greater than yours.... Also, man [was created singly] to show the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, for if a man strikes many coins from one mold, they all resemble one another, but the King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, made each man in the image of Adam, and yet not one of them resembles his fellow. Therefore every single person is obligated to say, 'The world was created for my sake"' (Mishna Sanhedrin 4:5). (One commentary notes, "How grave the responsibility, therefore, of corrupting myself by giving false evidence, and thus bringing [upon myself the moral guilt of [murdering] a whole world.")

One of the Mishna's sixtythree tractates contains no laws at all. It is called Pirkei Avot (usually translated as Ethics of the Fathers), and it is the "Bartlett's" of the rabbis, in which their most famous sayings and proverbs are recorded.

During the centuries following Rabbi Judah's editing of the Mishna, it was studied exhaustively by generation after generation of rabbis. Eventually, some of these rabbis wrote down their discussions and commentaries on the Mishna's laws in a series of books known as the Talmud. The rabbis of Palestine edited their discussions of the Mishna about the year 400: Their work became known as the Palestinian Talmud (in Hebrew, Talmud Yerushalmi, which literally means "Jerusalem Talmud").

More than a century later, some of the leading Babylonian rabbis compiled another editing of the discussions on the Mishna. By then, these deliberations had been going on some three hundred years. The Babylon edition was far more extensive than its Palestinian counterpart, so that the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli) became the most authoritative compilation of the Oral Law. When people speak of studying "the Talmud," they almost invariably mean the Bavli rather than the Yerushalmi.

The Talmud's discussions are recorded in a consistent format. A law from the Mishna is cited, which is followed by rabbinic deliberations on its meaning. The Mishna and the rabbinic discussions (known as the Gemara) comprise the Talmud, although in Jewish life the terms Gemara and Talmud usually are used interchangeably.

The rabbis whose views are cited in the Mishna are known as Tanna'im (Aramaic for "teachers"), while the rabbis quoted in the Gemara are known as Amora'im ("explainers" or "interpreters"). Because the Tanna'im lived earlier than the Amora'im, and thus were in closer proximity to Moses and the revelation at Sinai, their teachings are considered more authoritative than those of the Amora'im. For the same reason, Jewish tradition generally regards the teachings of the Amora'im, insofar as they are expounding the Oral Law, as more authoritative than contemporary rabbinic teachings.

In addition to extensive legal discussions (in Hebrew, halakha), the rabbis incorporated into the Talmud guidance on ethical matters, medical advice, historical information, and folklore, which together are known as aggadata.

As a rule, the Gemara's text starts with a close reading of the Mishna. For example, Mishna Bava Mezia 7:1 teaches the following: "If a man hired laborers and ordered them to work early in the morning and late at night, he cannot compel them to work early and late if it is not the custom to do so in that place." On this, the Gemara (Bava Mezia 83a) comments: "Is it not obvious [that an employer cannot demand that they change from the local custom]? The case in question is where the employer gave them a higher wage than was normal. In that case, it might be argued that he could then say to them, 'The reason I gave you a higher wage than is normal is so that you will work early in the morning and late at night.' So the law tells us that the laborers can reply: 'The reason that you gave us a higher wage than is normal is for better work [not longer hours].'"

Among religious Jews, talmudic scholars are regarded with the same awe and respect with which secular society regards Nobel laureates. Yet throughout Jewish history, study of the Mishna and Talmud was hardly restricted to an intellectual elite. An old book saved from the millions burned by the Nazis, and now housed at the YIVO library in New York, bears the stamp THE SOCIETY OF WOODCHOPPERS FOR THE STUDY OF MISHNA IN BERDITCHEV. That the men who chopped wood in Berditchev, an arduous job that required no literacy, met regularly to study Jewish law demonstrates the ongoing pervasiveness of study of the Oral Law in the Jewish community.

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The Oral Law -Talmud & Mishna - Jewish Virtual Library

Rabbi Shai Cherry

By Rabbi Shai Cherry

Parshat Bereshit

When teaching midrash, I enjoy showing how paintings are just as much midrash as classical rabbinical texts.

A Renaissance painter, Bacchiacca (1494-1557), depicted Eve lovingly holding Abel aloft, while Cain, vying for her attention, tugs at her hem. The Torah gives us no indication that Cain murdered Abel due to Eves maternal favoritism, but that is what Bacchiacca suggests. Blame the woman!

Earlier, in the Garden, Eve was punished by God for her transgression: Your desire will be for your man, and he will rule over you (Gen. 3:16). The traditional commentators try to determine if the husbands rule over his wife is general or limited to the beginning of the verse, which references her desire. In either case, patriarchy is planted in the garden.Bruria is among the few women mentioned explicitly in the Talmud. Rivka Lubitch, an Israeli rabbinic advocate for women, imagines what is found in Brurias Torah: Your desire will be for your woman, and she will rule over you. Lubitchs midrash explains that whoever desires someone is ruled by them; but the Torah of Moses spoke in the language of humans, which is to say, males.

Lubitchs midrash is offered in a newly translated volume of the Israeli womens midrash, edited by Tamar Biala, entitled Dirshuni. Biala unpacks each midrash for those unfamiliar with rabbinic literature.

Bruria, Biala explains, is the wife of Rabbi Meir who is known for having variant readings in his Torah! Moreover, since Hebrew is a gendered language, bnei adam, the words we translate as humans, is literally, the sons of Adam. The recognition that the Torah (of Moses) is written in the language of humans is found frequently in the Talmud where it is used to neutralize a hyper-literal reading of grammatical conventions or common idioms.Lubitch reinterprets this common rabbinic notion to destabilize and uproot the Torahs patriarchal origin story of both gender and sexual orientation. In our world of power and politics, whoever possesses what another desires enjoys the advantage. Lubitch, Biala and the other writers in Dirshuni have appropriated the traditional method of midrash and written themselves into the tradition. For those of us familiar with rabbinic literature and supportive of their efforts, the result is breathtaking

At Congregation Adath Jeshurun, we are celebrating this year 5783 as the Year of the Woman. A series of distinguished female authors, scholars and Torah teachers will lead many of our educational programs. For regular Shabbat services, we are highlighting female voices whose wisdom is now enriching our tradition.

The first female rabbi, Regina Jonas, was ordained in Berlin in 1935. In 1972, Sally Priesand became the first American woman to be ordained.

In the 50 years since then, we have benefited as a community from the insights and perspectives of the other half of our people. We will, of course, continue to bring the widest range of Jewish talent after the Year of the Woman, but we wanted to begin the second half of this century of womans rabbinic leadership with a year explicitly devoted to womens voices.

Feminism has also generated midrash by men now able to see Torah differently from our male ancestors. Years ago, I noted that the language of human creation in Genesis One (verse 27), for example, is not how it is usually translated, male and female. Our verse in Genesis One says God created humanity masculine and feminine (zakhar unkevah). (When God instructs Noah to bring male and female animals onto the ark, the Hebrew is ish vishah [Genesis 7:2].)

One of our congregants, Mikayla Fassler, astutely noted that such an expression is not necessarily binary, masculine and/or feminine. Like day and night, the expression might be a merism, one that is inclusive of everything in between like twilight.

Just as the divine image in which all humans are created is neither exclusively masculine nor feminine, the Torah may be suggesting that human gender identity is also not exclusively binary.

Rabbi Shai Cherry is the rabbi of Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park, the featured lecturer for The Great Courses Introduction to Judaism and author of Torah through Time: Understanding Bible Commentary from the Rabbinic Period to Modern Times and Coherent Judaism: Constructive Theology, Creation, and Halakhah. The Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia is proud to provide diverse perspectives on Torah commentary for the Jewish Exponent. The opinions expressed in this column are the authors own and do not reflect the view of the Board of Rabbis.

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Creating Humanity and Midrash in the Divine Image - Jewish Exponent

All Jews are responsible forone another.Babylonian Talmud,Shevuot 39a

We are one.Former United Jewish AppealCampaign slogan

The Jewish Federations role is to support and engage the Jewish community internally and externally. Internally through meeting the needs of Jewish members of the community and meaningful Jewish moments; and externally as responsible members of our communitybuilding relationships with other communities and striving to help those in need.

The Jewish Federation is fortunate to partner with many Jewish organizations throughout our community. Sometimes, the Jewish Federation is the lead agency on a program and sometimes we serve as a partner at the table where another organization is in the lead role. Our goal is always focused on how we can best serve our community; we understand that we are always better working together towards shared goals.

We are glad to help our community through tough times, but we are here to support the Jewish community through all times. Our ongoing efforts include:

Bringing security resources and trainings to Jewish organizations.

Supporting the PJ Library program serving 160 children.

Connecting over 70 students to each other and to their growing Jewish identities via Stockton Hillel.

Engaging 200 young leaders in our Jewish community through NextGen programs.

Partnering with Jewish Family Service to help fund the KAVOD SHEF program meeting emergency needs of Holocaust survivors in our community.

Providing generous grants for our Jewish teens to participate in life-changing Israel experiences.

Creating community-wide programs around holiday celebrations.

Partnering with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation to bring the LIFE & LEGACY program to our Jewish community, confirming over 500 legacy gifts to date.

Our Jewish Federation is a member of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), representing 146 independent Jewish Federations and a network of 300 smaller communities across the continent. Together we work to protect and enhance the wellbeing of Jews worldwide through meaningful contributions to community, Israel, and civil society.

Locally, over the last year we have worked to enhance relationships with the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, other Jewish Federations in our region, Atlantic City Boys & Girls Club, NAACP, Stockton University, as well as local, state and federal law enforcement agencies throughout our area. These relationships give us the opportunity to develop new collaborations to serve the community at-large and increases the Jewish Federations visibility as a resource.

Weve reached out to our community to encourage people to give generously to those in needincluding helping those suffering from the war in Ukraine and those impacted by Hurricane Ian.

In recent months, we provided our community with a mens health program focusing on mental health and featuring Lane Johnson of the Philadelphia Eagles; and a special womens Havdalah program with Cantor Jacki Menaker and Rabbi Abby Michaleski of the South Jersey Board of Rabbis and Cantors, and featuring Rabbi Menachem Creditor,

Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar in Residence at UJA-Federation New York, facilitating a study session on Jewish perspectives of the recent Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court ruling.

Your generosity is what allows the Jewish Federation and Jewish Community Foundation to provide funding, resources, and programs to members of our Jewish community and to those served by Jewish organizations throughout our community. As shown in our annual video: jewishbytheshore.org/?news=do-goodthat goes-everywhere you help do good that goes everywhere. Your support of the Jewish Federation is a critical investment in our Jewish communitys success.

If you have already made a 2022 Annual Campaign gift to the Jewish Federation, THANK YOU for your generosity. If you have yet to make this years campaign gift, please consider making your pledge today either via our web site (jewishbytheshore.org/?product=make-a-donation), a phone call to our office (609-822-4404), an email to me (roberta@jewishbytheshore.org) or by mail (501 N. Jerome Avenue, Margate, NJ 08402). Note that payment is not due until December 31, 2022.

Byahad, together, we will continue to support our Jewish community 365 days of the year.

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Help Jewish Federation do good that goes everywhere - Jewish Community Voice

ANTAKYA, Turkey (JTA) Jews have lived in the city of Antakya, known in ancient times as Antioch, for over 23 centuries. And the city wants visitors to know that.

A symbol composed of a Star of David entwined with a Christian cross and Islamic crescent has practically become the citys logo, as its plastered all over town, especially on restaurants peddling the southern Hatay provinces patently spicy cuisine.

I was born in Antakya and I will die in Antakya, said Selim Cemel, a Jewish clothing merchant with a shop in the citys famed Long Bazaar a snaking maze of Ottoman Era caravanserais and even older shops, rivaling Istanbuls Grand Bazaar or Jerusalems Arab Shuk. In it, one can find everything from textiles to spices to some of the best hummus in Turkey.

The Star of David imagery is so prevalent that one would be forgiven for thinking Jews were a significant portion of the citys 200,000-strong population. In reality, barely more than a dozen Jews remain.

A vendor speaks with a customer in a shop in Antakyas famed Long Bazaar. (David I. Klein)

The youngest member of the local Jewish community is over 60, and many are talking about joining their children elsewhere in the world.

Like many cities in Turkey, Antakya has been losing its youth of all faiths and ethnicities over the past century to the metropolises of Istanbul and Ankara. Today one in four Turks live in Istanbul.

For Antakyas Jews, the exodus began in the 1970s, when Turkey experienced a period of particular political instability. The first half of the decade saw Turkey embroiled in a civil war in Cyprus, and in the second, a breakout of sectarian violence across the country between Turkish nationalists and Kurdish separatists culminated in a 1980 military coup.

Some have died, some moved to Istanbul, and the youth left one by one. This is the way they dispersed, explained Daoud Cemel, a relative of Selim and another Jewish merchant in the Long Bazaar who sells towels and other textiles.

Daoud lives in Antakya with his wife Olga, a Syrian Jew who moved to the city from Damascus 25 years ago. Like many in Antakya, which had long been associated more closely with bordering Syria than Turkey, they speak Arabic at home.

Their children, like so many others in Antakya, have long since left. Before Shabbat dinner at her home, Olga proudly showed off a picture from a granddaughters birthday in Tel Aviv, and one of a son who is a doctor in Germany.

Daoud had tried living in Israel and even enrolled in an ulpan course to learn Hebrew, but he found the lifestyle there too different and making a living difficult. Still, he, Olga and even his 90-year-old mother Adile hope to make the move there permanent some day.

Olga stands with her husbands 90-year-old mother, Adile, in Antakya. (David I. Klein)

Despite his proud statement at the beginning of our discussion, Selim ultimately opened up to explain that he too was considering other options.

I have three daughters. Each of them are in separate countries. One is in Holland, one in America, one in Canada, he said. We have already been thinking about leaving for a long time. We are preparing the foundation.

Jews were present in Antioch since its founding around 300 BCE by Seleucus I, one of the Diadochi Alexander the Greats generals and leaders of his successor states. However, the city first pushed itself into the crosshairs of Jewish history with a boom that reverberates to this day. During the Seleucid era, it was the capital base for Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who is most remembered today as the villain of the Hanukkah story. The Talmud later recorded visits to the city from Jewish sages, including the famed Rabbi Akiva, and generally uses Antioch as a standard for a metropolis. The Jewish presence in Antakya has since far outlived Antiochus and his Seluecids, not to mention the Romans, Byzantines, Crusader states, Mamluks, Seljuk Turks, Ottomans and every other empire that ruled over the city in the past two millennia. The Jews who remain are strongly attached to the Jewish traditions they can practice in such a small community.

Though they do not have enough observant members to make a regular minyan, or prayer quorum of 10 men, all of the local Jews have keys to the citys sole synagogue and stop by often. Since Antakya is almost a straight shot north of Jerusalem, the synagogue is one of few still functioning that was built to have its ark on the southern wall, rather than the east.

All but three of the 14 Jews refrain from non-kosher meat, eating only fish and vegetarian food for most of the year.

I am not very religious, Azur Cenudioglu, who claims his family has been living in Antakya since antiquity, told Turkeys Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Mendy Chitrik over the summer. But I do my part. I pray in the morning and say the evening prayers and we do what we can.

Stars of David can be seen all around the city. (David I. Klein)

Even just a few decades ago, the city and region were entirely different.

Daoud is the son of the citys old kosher butcher and cantor. He said his father traveled often to Aleppo (today only two hours by car) back in the days when it was a major center of Jewish scholarship. It was home to at least 6,000 Jews, along with many synagogues and religious schools. He went to learn the slaughtering trade, as well as Hebrew to serve the community in Antakya. At the time, Antakya was not a part of Turkey, but the French Mandate that included Syria and Lebanon.

There were 450 Jews here, Daoud Cemel recalled about his youth in Antakya. During holidays we wouldnt be able to find places to sit in the synagogue.

Back then there was Shabbat, holidays, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, all observed properly, Selim Cemel said. Purim with Megillah reading, we were observing all of it.

By now, it is business more than nostalgia that ties the community to the city.

Why do I stay here, you ask? Because I was born here. All my business and commerce is here. Due to the work I do, I stay here, Selim said.

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On the Turkish-Syrian border, a citys last Jews watch the ending of an epoch - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

TR begins with a declaration of principles. Adam Gopnik is interviewing Lydia Tr (Cate Blanchett) a famous conductor and maestro of the Berlin Philharmonic for the New Yorker Festival. He asks what she learned from her mentor, Leonard Bernstein (whom she calls Lenny). Lydia lands on the Talmudic notion of midrash, an interpretive method of reading into the past that he taught her about.

That idea is the key to TR, Todd Fields first movie since 2006s Little Children, as triumphant a return as can be had. Essentially, this film is interested in the violent collision of past and present, a lofty idea it handles with grace and intelligence. The character of a conductor is a particularly fruitful way to explore this idea since Lydia chooses in each swing of the baton whether to leave a given symphony in the past, playing as its composer intended, or reimagine it, hurling a sometimes centuries-old piece into the now. Of course, in the notion of midrash, the present is as essential to interpretation as the past.

Take the guest lecture Lydia gives at Julliard, during which a self-described BIPOC pansexual student professes their distaste for the historical figure of Bach. Lydia pushes them on this, ambushes them really, and they storm out. It sounds cruder on the page than it does in the film I can not translate into words how Fields decision not to cut for the entirety of the scene, which enraptures; nor his probing camera, which subtly captures some of the less apparent dynamics going on here; nor can I convey the power of Blanchetts performance, which may be her best in a career of great performances. Its rare that actors can command attention as completely as she does.

What we see is a collision of interpretationthough its force, confident as Lydia is, is more like an asteroid smashing into a planet. Yes, as you might be able to tell, this film has to do with cancel culture. Instead of the Manichean framing of the culture wars, though, Field seems interested in examining the phenomenon as a broader difficulty in interpretation. Its as hard as sitting on a train, looking out at the landscape, trying to stay in motion while keeping the perfect frame of your window frozen in place. At some point, something has to give. Sublimate your identity is Lydias answer. Clearly she does not recognize that on the level the Talmud is talking about. Her identity, her place in history, is indispensable to this exchange of interpretation. Either that or she is a narcissist who identifies with that planet, who takes her loftiest for granted, and whose gravitational pull naturally leads to concussion with those little things.

The films structure seems indebted to the fugues Bach famously pioneered. We are introduced to a theme, given an exposition and bounce between elaborations on the theme until reaching the coda. We learn more about Lydias past through this structure, not through flashbacks but a slow seeping, like liquid soaking through a wood thought impermeable. It is a drawn-out affair, but the 158-minute running time is paced with exquisite precision until her past is there puddled on the ground, and that solid patina has been irreparably ruined. TR recalls a line Kubrick liked to say Kubrick who directed Field in Eyes Wide Shut and whose influences looms large that film should be more like music than like fiction, a progression of moods and feelings.

The progression of moods is subtle until it happens all at once, like the opening movement of Mahlers 5th Symphony. Lydia practices with the Philharmonic, politics with the orchestra, takes charge of the affairs at home with her wife Sharon (Nina Hoss) and adopted daughter (Mila Bogojevic), flies between Berlin and New York City. Mahlers apt notation for that movement is that it be played at a measured pace. Strict. Like a funeral procession. As it were, Lydia is conducting Mahlers 5th for a Deutsche Grammophon recording.

There are about a dozen times Lydia uses robot as an epithet to describe those who do not please her, personally or aesthetically. She means that they sublimate their voices, offer none of themselves to their art or vocation, and understand these intellectually but not in their heart. Theres a delicious irony there as it becomes clear she can not understand other people including her wife and child as anything but fodder for her own mechanical advancement. She is not innocent by any means, but moralistic questions of innocence and guilt are secondary to Field.

Instead, TR is a character study in the least tortured sense. The film is well-composed and brimming with ideas, its structure and form so intelligently thought out, its performers like Sophie Kauer as a young Russian cellist whose manner is hilariously at odds with Blanchetts self-fashioned courteousness so captivating, this is a truly great film. Its the kind of movie Id say they dont make em like anymore if it werent coming out this month.

TR opens in Montreal theatres on Friday, Oct. 21.

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Cate Blanchett gives what might be her best performance ever in TR - Cult MTL

Welcome back to campus! Now that youve had your fall semester orientation, our magazine is offering up an alternative education: The New Voices Disorientation Guide, where Jewish student activists and organizers give the low down on todays hot-button campus issues, including the tips and tricks that university administration might not want you to know. Read more Disorientation Guide articles here.

In 2018, a group of student activists were advocating for racial justice at the University of Wisconsin. Theyd known that the universitys policies had been historically discriminatory against students of color and that the administration had made racist statements, but needed specifics, as well as some examples of effective organizing from Black activists of the past. When they turned to their schools archives, they found materials about the UW Black Student Strike of February, 1969. After reading the list of demands from previous generations of student organizers and even articles about state violence perpetrated by the University against protesters, these modern-day activists found the inspiration they needed to tighten their demands, pointing to the real history of these campus issues and building a reparations platform to rally the student body.

As Jews, we have an oral tradition of stories, wisdom and teachings that have been passed down from generation to generation; communal memory is the name of the game. From that perspective, colleges are strange places: a large group of people arrives, and four years later, theyre gone. Maintaining memory within the student body is incredibly difficult due to constant turnover every semester. That also means that when issues arise on campus (and they always do), administrators can afford to wait a few years for an entirely new population to wash away the memory of whatever problems theyd rather not address, and watch student movement momentum fizzle out and forget as each class graduates while issues persist. Administrators can play a long game that student organizers cant afford.

Just like Jews have turned to Torah and Talmud and centuries of commentaries when we need advice or context for the diaspora world we find ourselves in, Jewish student organizers should put another wisdom tool into their toolbox: the college archives.

Whats an archive? Most see archives as shelves and shelves of boxes filled with old papers. But the truth is that archives are an often semi-secret repository of documents, materials, items, and stories that have been kept for decades, waiting for you to make meaning from them.

Colleges can have archives related to particular subjects in history, such as second-wave feminism, the civil rights movement or American Jewish novelists, but they all have archives related to the history of the institution itself, such as old school newspapers and yearbooks. For a student organizer, these histories are personal, local, and immediate. Knowing what happened on campus before you got there can be the difference between making your campus a better, more equitable place or surrendering the issue to the next generation of students who either accept the status quo or feel they must entirely reinvent the wheel to change it.

The School Archive and You

Almost every major institution, whether a school or a business, will keep an archive. At larger universities, archives will have entire staffs who maintain the collections and can point curious students in the direction of the materials theyre looking for. Archives are usually housed under your schools library system. Most campus archivists will be extremely excited to see you they usually interact with administrators or researchers working on high-tower dissertations. You dont have to be a history major to find a home here. Before you reach out, try doing an online search for archives and the name of your college, and see what resources immediately pop up.

Entering the Archives

Figure out where your schools archives are housed and what their hours are. Some may be by appointment only. Calling or sending an email ahead of time with information about your quest can give the receptionist or archivists time to gather some materials to help you find what youre looking for.

There will probably be a reading room where theyll bring up materials for you to look through, while elsewhere in the building are shelves filled with boxes. At many schools, archives are underfunded, so searching systems may still be analog. Materials arent always cataloged or digitized; dont expect most of what youre looking for will be viewable online (that costs money your archive doesnt have). That also means it may take a few different searches to find the kinds of history youre looking for but it also means you might find some things that surprise you, even pieces of history that havent been seen since they were accessioned, or brought into the archives. Give yourself at least an hour or two to dig around. Think of it as a treasure hunt. Who knows you may unearth something fascinating and long forgotten.

Learning About The History of A Campus Problem

Knowing how long a problem has persisted on campus can be key to fighting for a solution. Whether by learning about the ways earlier generations of students dealt with or tried to change the issue or what things looked like before the issue began, archives can get you that information and help you and your comrades brainstorm next steps in your fight.

If you attend a school with a campus newspaper, your archive might have a collection of old editions. Read through the front pages and see what the hot-button issues were back then. Student newspapers are often rich with details about campus struggles.

Some prescient history students have also occasionally gathered and donated protest materials to school archives, especially at schools that have long histories of organizing during the anti-Vietnam War era or Black Power movement. Asking archivists to view materials related to these general periods in history can lead to finding materials addressing other more specific campus issues. Just like broad social issues like racism, misogyny and ableism affect every part of the world, you may find that larger social movements focus on specific details like campus housing, dining halls, academic discrimination, hate crimes and more.

You may even want to ask for a book that someones written about the history of your campus and see if the topics youre looking for are listed in the index. Once you find some dates and specific moments in history, you can go back to the newspapers, lists of clubs and courses, oral histories, photographs or even administrative files.

Digging up Dirt On Your Administration

When youre angry at your campus administration, theres nothing more vindicating (and upsetting) than finding proof of their unfixed apathy or malignance dating back decades or even centuries. Historically, archives have been used by the powerful to make a record of their power. But that also means that all of their mistakes, prejudices and unjust decisions are just sitting in boxes, waiting to be read.

You can find campus budgets to see how long something was underfunded or understaffed. If you know the dates when a particular issue was heating up, you can often find board meeting minutes or administrative notes discussing the topic (and occasionally, punishments for pesky students speaking out against it). Youre going to want an archivists help, but these documents are eminently findable and can be shared with school newspapers.

If youre a protest organizer, it may also be useful to use archives to find information about the history of campus policing. If youre worried that police will show up to your actions, its good to know if your campus or local police have a violent streak and to prepare accordingly for those outcomes, especially to protect students of color involved in your movement.

Share Your Findings

Using history and precedent in your arguments to change policy can be an extremely effective rhetorical tool, especially in speeches, town halls and editorials in your campus or local newspaper. Its important to let your school community (and its alumni) know that this has gone on for too long and demonstrating that the administration knew about it the whole time? If you make enough noise about your issue, maybe some big donor will stop giving them money until they fix it!

Gaps In The Archives & Reading Between The Lines

Since school archives are usually maintained for the purposes of the administration, you may find that the materials tend to have an ideological slant: they serve the people in power, and all of the social identities that come along with them. The field of archival justice has a lot to say on this, but on the campus level, that also means there will be fewer materials from student perspectives. Administrators rarely care what undergraduates think, so most of what has historically been documented may not necessarily be by or for students, with the exception of school newspaper catalogs and other student publications that may have a more official history. Given that student perspectives are rare to begin with, marginalized student voices are exceptionally hard to find.

Even so, one can understand the absences in the archives as proof and information itself. Calling your school out for ignoring Black student cries for housing justice in the 1990s by refusing to document them in the university archives might be one more rallying point on for your anti-racist dormitory platform. Whose voices are not present in the archives can speak just as loudly as whose are, and a thoughtful student researcher can use those clues as tools and even begin gathering todays materials to do teshuva, or make reparations for the absence of student voices in eras past.

Documenting Your Movement

Even if your school archive lacks the juicy details youre craving, you can be that historian for future generations of students and those generations are only a year or two away! Gathering posters, flyers, articles, editorials, photographs and even memes can go a long way to transmit your own campus organizing history to future students who may inherit versions of the same issue. Folders like these can be donated to your schools archives. Ldor vdor, from generation to generation, isnt just a Jewish concept. Student organizing causes historical change. Documenting how you did it makes history.

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Revisiting The Campus Archives - New Voices

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Opinion | Wood column: Reliever Larry Sherry went from obscurity to fame in a moment - The Daily Advance

These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frands Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly portion: #1133 Bracha of Elokai Neshama SheNaasaata Be. Good Shabbos!

In the beginning of Parshas Bereshis, the Torah says that the Ribono shel Olam created two big luminaries in the heavensthe sun to rule by day and the moon to rule at night. There is a well-known teaching of Chazal (Chulin 60b) that the moon complained to the Ribono shel Olam that it is not practical for two kings to share one crown. The Talmud says that the Almightys response to the moon was You are right. Go ahead and make yourself smaller. As a result, the moon downsized. It made itself much smaller and became the smaller luminary that ruled at night. Not only did it make itself much smaller, but originally, at the time of Creation, it had its own source of light. After downsizing, the moon accepted a status of only being able to reflect the light of the sun, forgoing being a source of light on its own.

The Gemara says that the moon felt bad about its diminished status, and therefore the Almighty consoled it, saying, Dont feel bad about being the small luminary because Tzadikim will be called small as we see Yaakov is called Katan, Shmuel is called Katan, and Dovid is called Katan. Then the Ribono shel Olam consoled the moon even further. The Medrash says, Since this luminary diminished herself to rule at night, I decree that she shall be accompanied by innumerable stars and galaxies. The moon received a consolation prize of many billions of stars. When the moon becomes visible at night, the stars become visible as well.

The question must be asked: Where do we ever find that the Ribono shel Olam punishes someone and then seemingly reconsiders and says, You know, I feel bad that I am punishing you, so I will give you a consolation prize to compensate you for the punishment. The moon acted improperly by complaining about the two co-rulers. Hashem commanded her to minimize herself. The Ribono shel Olam is not a parent who has second thoughts Maybe I punished my child too severely so I am now going to give him a treat. The Ribono shel Olam does not act like that. What He does is Just. If it is proper that the moon had to make itself smaller, then there was no need for any consolation prize!

Rav Leibel Heiman offers an interesting observation in his sefer Chikrei Lev: The Almighty told the moon to make itself smaller. How much smaller? He left that up to the moon. The moon did not need to reduce itself to a fraction of what the sun is. The moon could have said, Okay. Three percent. Five percent. Ten percent. The sun is so many times bigger than the moon. In addition, who said the moon had to give up its own source of light? The moon could have even reduced itself by fifty percent but held onto its own source of light. Becoming merely a reflection of the sun was not part of Hashems instruction. That was not part of the punishment.

When the moon greatly reduced its size and changed its entire naturegoing far beyond what was decreed upon itthe Ribono shel Olam saw a tremendous teshuva in that.

We are talking about the moon, but this is a metaphor. This is a lesson for all of us. It is a lesson that when we do something wrong, real teshuva is demonstrating our sincere regret by doing much more than we need to do. If someone insults another person or hurts the persons feelings, he needs to apologize. Im sorry. That is required. But when a person really tries to make it up to the other person and goes out of his way to demonstrate his sincere regret, that is a true teshuva.

The Ribono shel Olam provided all this consolation by saying that Yaakov, Shmuel and Dovid are all called Katan and by providing billions of stars, because the moons action demonstrated tremendous contrition. Ribono shel Olam, You were right. That was no way for me to talk! To prove it, the moon goes lifnim mshuras haDinso much further than was necessary. The moon was rewarded with consolation prizes for that sincere teshuva!

The Garments of Adam and Chava Were Made from the Skin of the Nachash

The pasuk says that when the Nachash (snake) seduced Adam and Chava into eating from the Etz HaDaas, they realized they were naked, and G-d made for them garments of skin and dressed them. (Bereshis 3:21) The Medrash says that these garments of skin came from the Nachash. The Ribono shel Olam skinned the Nachash (which was a huge animal), took his hide and made it into clothing for Adam and Chava. What is this Medrash trying to teach us?

These are metaphors. Chazal say that jealousy prompted the Nachash to try to entice Adam and Chava to eat from the Tree of Knowledge and change the world. Rashi quotes the Medrash that the Nachash observed them engaging in marital relations and he lusted for Chava. He was jealous of Adam and hatched this plot to bring them down. Jealousy was the root cause that prompted the Nachash to change the world.

What caused the Nachashs jealousy? He saw them engaging in private activity that is supposed to remain private between a man and a woman. He looked where he was not supposed to look, and he wanted what he was not supposed to want. The root of Midas HaKinah (the Attribute of Jealousy) is that someone looks where he is not supposed to look, and as a result, wants that which is really off limits to him. If someone restricts his eyes and his thoughts to his own four amos (cubits), there is no jealousy. That is the way it is.

I see my friend or my neighbor driving a better car. I want that car. I see that my friend remodeled his kitchen. I need to remodel my kitchen. He has granite counter tops. I also want granite counter tops. Why are you going around looking at his kitchen? His kitchen is his kitchen! Your kitchen is your kitchen. Maybe you cant help seeing a car. But kinah stems from me looking into the private affairs of someone else where I have no business looking.

This is perhaps why a famous Gemara in Maseches Taanis (8a) equates the Baal Lashon HaRah to the Nachash. The Gemara asks what pleasure does either get from their destructive actions? Lashon HaRah is also an aveira of revealing information which should be hidden. What is Lashon HaRah? I know something about someone that others do not know. I spread it. Again, I am looking at that which should remain hidden. I see it and I share it with others. It is the same aveira as the Nachashlooking where you should not look, wanting what you should not want, and going where you do not belong.

The Tolner Rebbe explains the reason why the Ribono shel Olam punished the Nachash by taking its skin and making garments of hide for Adam and Chava. What is skin? Skin is the most basic covering of a being. It keeps hidden that which should be hidden. The Nachash failed to understand that. There are things that should remain closed, should remain behind the screen, behind the skin. They should be hidden. Do not look where you are not supposed to look.

By taking the skin of the Nachash, the Ribono shel Olam was teaching us that this Nachash did not respect the privacy of a human being and looked where he should not look. As a result, the Ribono shel Olam took off his skinuncovered himand used that skin to cover the human beings.

Transcribed by David Twersky; Jerusalem [emailprotected]

Edited by Dovid Hoffman; Baltimore, MD [emailprotected]

This weeks write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissochar Frands Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly Torah portion. A listing of the halachic portions for Parshas Bereshis is provided below:

A complete catalogue can be ordered from the Yad Yechiel Institute, PO Box 511, Owings Mills MD 21117-0511. Call (410) 358-0416 or e-mail [emailprotected] or visit http://www.yadyechiel.org/ for further information.

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The Moon Provides an All-Star Example of Sincere Repentance - Torah.org

Browse > Home / Featured Articles / Was the fruit of the Tree of Life from which Adam and Eve ate really an apple? J-Wire

October 19, 2022 by Rabbi Raymond Apple

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Ask the rabbi.

WAS IT REALLY AN APPLE?

Q. Was the fruit of the Tree of Life from which Adam and Eve ate really an apple?

A. The text (Gen. 2:7) doesnt say a word about apples. All it speaks about is the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Whatever fruit it was, Adam was warned not to eat it. He disobeyed, as did Eve, and their punishment was expulsion.

Now was it literally a piece of fruit that they ate, or was the fruit allegorical?

How, after all, could eating a physical piece of fruit be wrong? And why should anyone think the text is talking about an apple when apples are regarded so highly later on in the Bible?

Surely the verse is teaching a moral lesson, and the word fruit is not to be taken literally.

As an analogy, remember that we have common idioms such as the fruit of ones deeds, which no one takes literally as a reference to apples, oranges or any other specific fruit category.

The lesson the Torah is teaching is that there are some kinds of indulgence (hence the word eat) that are out of bounds.

In this case, there is a clear sexual implication; when Adam and Eve replaced purity and holiness with sensuality and lust, their Garden of Eden was over.

However, the belief that there was an actual apple must have come from somewhere.

In the Midrash, there are suggestions that the fruit that symbolised the forbidden indulgence could have been a fig, grapes, wheat, quince, pomegranate, nuts or the apple of paradise, i.e. the etrog (citron).

This last view is promoted in the Septuagint and elsewhere, and Nachmanides, in fact, sees the name etrog as deriving from an Aramaic root denoting passion or desire.

In time, the word apple may have come to be the general term for any fruit, and when Biblical and post-Biblical writers said (e.g. Song of Songs 2:5) that apples were good for ones health, they may have been thinking of fruit in general.

It was early Christian writers (e.g. Jerome) who identified Adams sin with an actual apple, perhaps because they misconstrued the Greek references to the apple of paradise or possibly because the shape of the apple suggested a sexual connotation.

RABBIS IN THE WORKFORCE

Q. How is it that some rabbinically qualified people take on jobs outside the rabbinate?

A. This was always the case.

Because of the principle, Do not make the Torah a spade to dig with (Avot 4:5), Talmudic rabbis practised a variety of professions; one was even a gladiator.

The concept of the rabbi was quite different from the modern idea of a congregational minister. The rabbi was no more (or less) than a learned layman. Certain professions became particularly common among rabbis, especially medicine.

The modern spread of yeshivah learning has created thousands of rabbis who work in industry, commerce and the professions. Indeed, when the Lubliner Rav, a great rosh yeshivah, was asked where he was going to find congregational posts for his 300 students, he said he expected only one would be a community rabbi but hoped the other 299 would be learned enough to appreciate their congregational colleague.

Rabbis who work in other areas ought to be able to exert a subliminal spiritual and ethical influence and to raise the quality of society from within.

Whatever the profession he chooses, a rabbi must always ensure he is a role model of morality and decency.

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Was the fruit of the Tree of Life from which Adam and Eve ate really an apple? J-Wire - J-Wire Jewish Australian News Service

Large numbers of Israeli settlers raided the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque this morning, coinciding with the Israeli Occupation forces preventing the entry of worshipers and Al-Murabitoun.

One of the guards at Al-Aqsa Mosque confirmed that "the Occupation forces stationed at the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque prevented those under the age of 40 from entering to pray in Al-Aqsa Mosque. They have crackdown even further."

The guard, who preferred to be anonymous, told Arabi 21, that "there aren't many worshipers or Murabitoun inside Al-Aqsa," adding that "the Mosque is empty; only about 60 worshipers remained after dawn prayer."

He stated that a number of Israeli officers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque at dawn today, and filmed inside it, in preparation for the storming of Israeli extremists, while large forces of the army were deployed outside Al-Aqsa Mosque and at its doors.

Shortly after seven o'clock, the Occupation forces opened the Mughrabi Gate, and Israeli settlers began storming Al-Aqsa Mosque in large numbers.

Some of the settlers storming Al-Aqsa were continuously performing Talmudic rituals and prayers inside and at the gates of Al-Aqsa, in addition to carrying out provocative tours.

The Islamic Endowments Department in the occupied city of Jerusalem were quoted by Arabi21 issuing warnings of the dangers arising from the escalation of violations by the Israeli occupation authorities against the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, especially during the period of Jewish holidays, particularly on the Sukkot.

These massive stormings into Al-Aqsa Mosque come on the second day of Sukkot, in response to the calls issued by the Israeli settlement temple associations. This holiday will continue until 17th October.

The extremist Jewish groups worked to mobilise the largest number of settlers to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque in the form of large groups, and the extremist Temple groups demanded that the storming crowds read the Torah loudly inside Al-Aqsa. Some texts were circulated to them.

On this holiday, extremist Temple groups try to bring plant offerings into the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the incursions, in addition to continuing to perform Talmudic prayers and rituals in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa.

All of this coincides with the escalation of confrontations and tension inside the occupied city of Jerusalem, due to the escalation of the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian citizens. They have also closed some areas as they search for the person who carried out the Shuafat operation on Saturday evening, which led to the killing of a female soldier and the injury of two other soldiers, one of whom was seriously wounded.

READ: Jerusalem activists mobilise against settlers storming Al-Aqsa Mosque

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Major raids into Al-Aqsa and the Occupation prevents worshipers from entering - Middle East Monitor