Category Archives: Talmud

In our haftara this week, Yehoshua sends spies into Eretz Yisrael, in spite of the very unfortunate episode of the spies in our parsha. These spies are almost captured in Yericho, but they are rescued by a woman called Rachav. After saving the spies, she reminds them that she could have saved only one of them but she saved them both. Accordingly, she asks them to look out for her and her entire family when Bnei Yisrael come to capture the city. Do us this kindness, she asks, and give me a true sign (Yehoshua 2:12).

The truth is the justice that is due her, as she saved them so they should save her. But in asking for kindness she is asking for more than just what she deserves. The Vilna Gaon remarks that the kindness she is requesting is that her family also be saved. There is an expectation rooted in the Oral Torah, the Vilna Gaon says, that one should always go above and beyond the just desserts or the necessary kindness that is due to another. If one feeds his fellow, with the simple, necessary food he should also provide gravy. We also learn that Hashem acts this way with us, as it says, You give truth to Yaakov and kindness to Avraham (Micha 7:20).

In the case of Yaakov, there was already a covenant with Hashem and mutual expectations. It was right and natural for Hashem to fulfill the covenant he had made with Yaakovs father and grandfather and for Yaakov to serve his part. However, when Hashem entered into a treaty with Avraham, it was a great act of kindness bestowed by Him out of a desire to do good to His creations.

In the Talmud Yerushalmi in Berachot 35a, Rabbi Yehuda says that when King Chizkiyahu wants to daven to Hashem, he gazes at the wall of Yericho where Rachav had her house. He says to Hashem, Master of the Universe, Rachav, that woman, saved two lives for you, and you saved for her who knows how many. It is part of Hashems nature that when He wishes to perform acts of kindness, He goes over and above the requirements of the situation. This is also what we ask of Him to please give us what He wishes us to have out of kindness and not what we might think we deserve.

Rachav was asking the spies whose lives she had saved to act like Hashem to perform an act of kindness that would supersede anything she deserved in her own merit. She invited them to become the agents of Hashem in bestowing His kindness. This was anyway preferable to being the agents of Hashems destruction of the wicked in Yericho which was also underway at the same time. For each of us who wishes to emulate Hashem, it behooves us to look around for opportunities to increase kindness, even and especially when it surpasses what might seem fair or just.

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Kindness And Truth - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

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What Did the Rebbe Say to the Anti-Religious Chief Justice Who Came for Simchat Torah? - A Lesson in Remaining One People Despite Our Differences -...

Long before the name Shimon HaTzaddik came to be associated with a contested neighborhood in East Jerusalem, also known by Muslims as Sheikh Jarrah, it was the name of a real person. Shimon HaTzaddik was the kohen gadol for a period of forty years, likely during the 4th century BCE. The Talmud (Yoma 39b) relates that every year, Shimon HaTzaddik would exit the Beit HaMikdash at the end of Yom Kippur with a glowing countenance and a feeling of serenity. But one year, he concluded the Yom Kippur service with a feeling of despondency. He turned to his compatriots and said, It appears this is my final Yom Kippur.

Shocked, they asked him: How do you know?

He said, Every year, an old man wrapped in white garments greets me at the beginning of Yom Kippur, accompanying me into the Beit HaMikdash and leaving with me at the end. This year, I was greeted by an old man wearing black clothes, who entered with me but didnt leave with me. And indeed, after Sukkos, he fell ill, passing away seven days later. As an expression of mourning, his fellow kohanim henceforth refused to bless the people with G-ds ineffable name.

Why was the different appearance of this strange man a harbinger of Shimon HaTzaddiks imminent demise? And why did the nature of Birkat Kohanim change thereafter?

Lets turn to the mitzvah of Birkat Kohanim, which is introduced by a blessing of its own one that has a strange phrase: Blessed are you G-d who has commanded us to bless his nation Israel with love.

There is no other mitzvah that we are commanded to perform with love, and no other blessing over a mitzvah that makes reference to this, or any other emotion. Of course, we should feel happiness and love when we put on tefillin, but we dont say to place tefillin with love. Who doesnt infuse their challah or their Shabbat candles with love? Yet when we recite blessings on these mitzvot, we dont add with love.

Our revered teacher Rav Herschel Schachter quotes his teacher, Rav Soloveitchik who says that Birkat Kohanim is different. It is not just a mitzvah moment, or a snapshot of religious inspiration. Blessing the people must be the result of an ongoing sentiment; you cannot bless the people unless you love them, and that is not a feeling that can be summoned in just a moment. In fact, the halachah is that if a kohen has a complaint against the members of a congregation or is the subject of complaints by others, if a kohen harbors hatred toward a member of the tzibbur or is reviled by someone in the community, he should excuse himself from Birkat Kohanim.

How did Shimon HaTzaddik know it was his final year on the job? Rav Soloveitchik explains that the man in white represented the way he perceived his fellow Jews as pure people who were worthy of his respect and prayer. When he no longer saw that person in his state of pristine purity, it meant that his perception of his fellow Jew had been tainted, and he no longer was fit to be kohen gadol. For forty years he had maintained unflinching love for his constituents, yet now, as he began to fixate on the less flattering aspects of their character at the time he was supposed to pray for them, he knew that his time was over.

The behavior of the kohen gadol is paradigmatic of the way we should view our fellow Jews, as well. Its been a little more than forty years since we have had Yerushalayim, and over seventy since we have reclaimed our land, but somewhere along the line the Jewish people, or part of them, have fallen out of love with their fellow Jew. A couple weeks ago, a group of rabbinical and cantorial students from institutions such as JTS, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the Hebrew Union College, among others, penned an open letter castigating Israel for its behavior in the most recent round of fighting:

As American Jews, our institutions tell stories of Israel rooted in hope for what could be, but oblivious to what is. Our tzedakah money funds a story we wish were true, but perpetuates a reality that is untenable and dangerous. Our political advocacy too often puts forth a narrative of victimization, but supports violent suppression of human rights and enables apartheid in the Palestinian territories, and the threat of annexation.

Its far past time that we confront this head on. We can no longer shy away or claim ignorance. What will it take for us to see that our Israel has the military and controls the borders? How many Palestinians must lose their homes, their schools, their lives, for us to understand that today, in 2021, Israels choices come from a place of power and that Israels actions constitute an intentional removal of Palestinians?

Let us make a few things clear: Israel isnt the monster aggressor it is portrayed to be in the mainstream media, but it certainly is not perfect. The signatories of this letter are certainly well intentioned, at least in their minds, and they do not speak for the institutions in which they are enrolled or the denomination with which they affiliate.

Make no mistake about it, though. They represent or are representative of tomorrows American Jews. The future Jewish leadership of the Jewish people is embarrassed by the actions or even the existence of the Jewish state, and is willing to extend the benefit of the doubt and the depth of their sympathy to anyone in this conflict but the Jews. And if you think that we, Orthodox rabbis, are taking denominational potshots, listen to what Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson, dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinical Studies, wrote in response:

There wasnt a word about Ahavat Yisrael a love and solidarity with our fellow Jews in Israel, with the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in our own homeland, to the very real sacrifices this experiment in Jewish national self-expression has imposed from its inception.there was no affirmation of love for the Jewish people, of which we are a part and which we aspire to lead. If a rabbi does not root their leadership in love and unity, they lose the ability to critique constructively, to encourage doing better, to inspire.

Howard Jacobson, in his 2010 novel The Finkler Question, coins an expression in reference to this sort of Jew, calling them the Ashamed Jew. In a later iteration by David Aronovitch, this became known as the Asajew. These are the kind of people who write letters to The Guardian heaping invective upon the Jewish state and finding blame in everything it does, claiming a right to do so As a Jew. As a Jew, I stand up for Palestinian rights against the ethno-nationalist State of Israel. As a Jew myself, I want Israel to stop perpetrating war crimes.

Perhaps the phrase As a Jew is meant to provide immunity against charges of antisemitism, or accusations of self-hatred. But if the only time you profess your love of the Jewish people or the Jewish state is when its actions cause you pain and embarrassment, maybe you should reexamine your so-called love. If the only time you invoke your Judaism is as a soapbox for condemning Israel or fellow Jews; If your platform As a Jew is used to rationalize antisemitic statements or kashering antisemites whether from the right or the left instead of fighting them; If you have never bothered to say As a Jew, I will speak up for many important causes, but I will speak loudest and proudest about Jewish ones, you have forfeited the right to invoke your Jewishness altogether.

When the kohanim stopped making the blessing with G-ds full name, it was because they understood that invoking G-ds name when ahavat Yisrael was incomplete was wholly inappropriate and downright insulting. Indeed, according to Rav Schachter, that is why we do not recite the Birkat Kohanim daily outside of Yom Tov since true ahavat Yisrael is so elusive and so rare, that its only at the most joyous times that a kohen can recite the blessing and actually mean it.

The Birkat Kohanim may just be a mitzvah for a select group of people, but the Torah refers to all of a Jewry as a mamleches kohanim a nation of kohanim. And so, to a certain extent, we are all obligated to uphold the standard of loving our fellow Jew enough to be able to bless them.

Therefore, we are challenged, every day, to work on this very trait. There are lots of Jews whose religious beliefs we find abhorrent, whose behaviors we find obnoxious, and whose political ideologies we believe to be dangerous. As hard as it is to love all other Jews, especially when they are not lovable, we ought to remember the burden that comes with being a kohen. Ask yourself, when you speak at kiddush or on the Internet: are you speaking from love and pain, or anger and resentment? Have you earned the right to claim as a Jew? When we envision the other, who is it that we see by our side? Do we see a man dressed in black, or is it a man donning the priestly garments of white?

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Birkat Kohanim And The Asajew Jews - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

There is a well-known custom to precede the blessing on wine, especially on Shabbat, with the words savri maranan (attention gentlemen) or birshut maranan (with your permission gentlemen), depending on ones custom.

One of the explanations offered for this practice is that, throughout Tanach, wine is found to be both a positive and negative substance. It has been the source of blessings, but also of curses. For example, the Torahs first encounter with wine is in the story of Noach, just after the flood. Noach gets drunk and, after a series of unfortunate events, he curses his son and grandson. In this instance, we see wine associated with misfortune and death. So too, wine resulted in Lot committing incest with his daughters. Therefore, savri maranan and birshut maranan are meant to declare to everyone present that we are about to drink wine, but only with the purest of intentions. Indeed, it is actually a prayer that no harm come from the upcoming drinking session. Furthermore, Sefardim customarily respond lchaim (to life) after hearing savri, as a wish and prayer that nothing negative come from the current gathering.

So too, when deciding whether a person should be sentenced to death, the judges of the Beit Din would say to those who questioned the witnesses, Savri maranan. If they thought that the person should be spared, they would reply, Lchaim. If, however, they thought that he deserved to die, they would reply, Lmita, to death. Furthermore, a person sentenced to death would be given strong wine immediately before his execution in order to lessen the pain and awareness of what was taking place.

These days, many say lchaim when drinking with others or making a toast. One reason for the custom, as mentioned, is that wine was provided to criminals prior to their execution. Therefore, saying lchaim declares to everyone present that the function of this drink is intended as a celebration of life and not as a preparation for death, G-d forbid. Another reason for saying lchaim is that we are told that Adam became drunk from the wine he drank at his wedding ceremony, which led to him and Chava eating the forbidden fruit. Indeed, there is a view that the forbidden fruit was a grape, which they made into wine. This brought death to the world forever. Saying lchaim is intended to recall and rectify this.

Although most people say lchaim before reciting the blessing on wine (or other alcoholic drink), some say it after reciting the blessing and first drinking a little bit. One should respond lchaim tovim ulshalom or lchaim ulivracha when hearing someone say lchaim. It is taught that when Jews says lchaim to one another when drinking, G-d forgives all their sins. The idea of making a toast when drinking was practiced by the Sages of the Talmud. It is noted that we say lchaim, which means to lives, in the plural. This is intended to remind us that a meaningful life is one that is shared with others. There is a view that clinking glasses with another person before drinking is a non-Jewish custom and should not be done. However, there are a number of theories on the origin of clinking glasses, none of which appear to be halachically problematic.

Shlomo HaMelech teaches us that only trouble comes from excessive alcohol consumption, as he says, Who has wounds without cause? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who sit late over wine, those who come to search for mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red; when he puts his eye on the cup, it goes smoothly. Ultimately, it will bite like a serpent, and sting like a viper. Your eyes will see strange women, and your heart will speak confusedly. It is taught that one of the reasons that the Ten Tribes of Israel were exiled from the Land of Israel was a result of their excessive alcohol consumption.

More hopefully, we are told that the world will be blessed with delicious wine when Mashiach comes.

_________________

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L'chaim And Other Drinking Customs - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

What happens if the Messiah doesnt arrive? The story is told about a pious Brooklyn shopkeeper in the 1940s, who due to financial stresses, kept his shop open on Shabbat. One day, a charismatic rabbi organized a march to greet the Messiah, and many began to believe that the redemption was near. The shopkeeper asked the local Rosh Yeshiva for advice on whether he should close his shop on Shabbat, to prepare for the Messiahs arrival. The rabbi, a graduate of one of the Lithuanian Yeshivot, told the shopkeeper that he need not worry, the Messiah wasnt coming that weekend. A student, overhearing the exchange, was puzzled by it; why was his teacher discouraging the shopkeeper from observing Shabbat? The Rosh Yeshiva responded that if the man closed his shop, and the Messiah didnt arrive, the disappointment would break his faith, and he would never entertain observing Shabbat again in the future.

Too much hope is dangerous.

Even the belief in the Messianic redemption, a foundation of Judaism, can be destructive; Maimonides cautions multiple times against speculating about when the Messiah will come. In his Letter to YemenMaimonides writes the following about a false Messianic prediction that wreaked havoc in the Jewish community in Fez: a pious and virtuous man and scholar by the name of Moses Al-Dari came from Dara to the province of Andalusia to study under Rabbi Joseph ha-Levi, of blessed memory, ibn MigashPeople flocked to him because of his piety, virtue and learning. He informed them that the Messiah had come, as was divinely revealed to him in a dream.Many people became his adherents and reposed faith in him.When the majority of the people put their trust in him, he predicted that the Messiah would come that very year on Passover eve. He advised the people to sell their property and contract debts to the Muslims with the promise to pay back ten dinars for one, in order to observe the precepts of the Torah in connection with the Passover festival, for they will never see them again, and so they did. When Passover came and nothing transpired, the people were ruined as most of them had disposed of their property for a trifling sum, and were overwhelmed with debt. Hope is intoxicating, and can blind one to reality; in this case, hope ravaged the community of Fez.

At the same time, Maimonides emphasizes that we must never lose hope in the coming of the Messiah; we are always obligated to dream of redemption. Optimism should never undermine realism, but realism should never undermine optimism either.

At the same time, Maimonides emphasizes that we must never lose hope in the coming of the Messiah; we are always obligated to dream of redemption. Optimism should never undermine realism, but realism should never undermine optimism either.

Maimonides views on redemption are a powerful guide to life. A similar idea is found in Jim Collins book Good to Great. Collins describes what he calls the Stockdale Paradox, named after Admiral James Stockdale, who was the highest-ranking United States officer held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Stockdale was a POW for eight years, and endured torture, deprivation, and horrible conditions; dozens, perhaps hundreds, of these prisoners of war died during captivity. Stockdale courageously led the POWs in resisting their captors demands, and gave strength and support to his fellow prisoners. Collins interviewed Stockdale to understand what type of mindset was needed to endure such a difficult experience.

When Collins asked who didnt make it out, Stockdale replied: Oh, thats easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, Were going to be out by Christmas. And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then theyd say, Were going to be out by Easter. And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart. Later in the same interview, Stockdale explains that he still retained his sense of optimism throughout: I never lost faith in the end of the story, I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.

Collins asked Stockdale how he could embrace a brutal reality while being so optimistic at the same time. Stockdale replied: You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the endwhich you can never afford to losewith the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. Collins writes that the paradoxical mix of optimism and realism that Stockdale exhibited is critical to building organizational excellence. And this lesson, which was first taught by Maimonides, is the healthiest way to approach all of life.

We must be optimists and realists at the very same time, both at the worst of times and in the best of times. Life demands a two-track reality.

We must be optimists and realists at the very same time, both at the worst of times and in the best of times. Life demands a two-track reality.

The Book of Bamidbar emphasizes this lesson. At the outset, there are careful and intricate plans, taking a census of the soldiers available for battle and setting up the camp to be ready to march into the land of Israel. These careful preparations culminate in a verse in this weeks Torah reading, where it describes the Ark of the Covenant being carried in front of the army, as God leads the Jews to victory.

And right in the middle of the Parsha, the plan falls apart. From here on, the Book of Bamidbar tells of complaints and more complaints. There is the fiasco of the spies, and the Jews are condemned to spend 40 years in the desert; this decree breeds frustration, leading to a rebellion. The great plans of the beginning of Bamidbar quickly dissipate.

It would be tempting to see the book of Bamidbar as a tragedy; but that would be a mistake. The turning point of the book is punctuated by two unusual signs that look like upside down letter nuns; these signs are not found anywhere else in the Torah. The Talmud offers the fascinating comment that these punctuation marks are meant to divide Bamidbar into three separate books. But what is the meaning of this strange comment, and why should we see Bamidbar as a divided book?

I would argue the Talmud is offering the insight that Bamidbar is different from an ordinary book because it does not follow a narrative arc. The other books of the Torah have a clear narrative direction. Genesis is a tragedy which begins in the utopia of Eden and ends in the dystopia of Egypt bondage; in Exodus, the Jews are redeemed from slavery and become a kingdom of Priests. But in Bamidbar, the upside-down nuns come to remind us not to impose a narrative arc on the story and read it as one of tragic failure that follows a linear progression.

Instead, we should recognize there are two themes that are meant to remain side-by-side throughout: the ideal plans and the failures of implementation. This dual vision reminds us that when we have big dreams, we will have even bigger disappointments; and despite these disappointments, there is still plenty of hope to go around. Bamidbar is not a tragedy, but an as of yet unfulfilled dream.

This is why we have a holiday, Sukkot, to celebrate the events of the Book of Bamidbar, the 40 years of wandering in the desert; because even when youre stuck in the desert and have to live in a tent, if you are on your way to a bright future, you must celebrate.

The state of Israel lives a Bamidbar reality; it has both big dreams and big disappointments. The Zionist vision, beginning with Herzl, is of a state that would enable the Jews to live in peace and prosperity. But right now, it seems that the opposite is true: in the last two weeks alone there were rocket attacks on 70% of the country, propaganda attacks against its reputation, and attacks on ordinary Jews around the world for the sin of Zionism. Israels army is repeatedly forced into the ugly arena of war, where the only choices are to kill or be killed. Everyone feels desperate for a quick solution; and some throw their hands up in frustration, saying that Israel is no longer worth the effort. But they forget that we are obligated to carry a dual vision, grabbing hold of reality while embracing optimism.

This past week I visited Israel on a UJA mission. During our visits we saw a home that was destroyed by a rocket, an apartment that was firebombed during riots, and a Kibbutz from which most of the members had evacuated. We learned about children who are so traumatized that they can no longer look at balloons, which are used by Hamas as incendiary devices; we heard people cry about their homes that had been destroyed. Reality at times felt bleak and too difficult to bear, and some of my colleagues compared our trip to visiting a shiva house.

Yet what was remarkable to me was how much optimism there was everywhere we went. We visited Kibbutz Nahal Oz, which is a 400-person community set a mere 2500 feet from the Gaza border. During the conflict, the Kibbutz was under attack from rockets, mortars, and even sniper fire. There, we had lunch with students from Kedma, a program that brings them to integrate into the Kibbutz and look after its older members; many study at a nearby college in Sderot. We spoke with Yogav, who came from Tel Aviv, and chose the Kibbutz instead of a comfortable life back home because he wanted to be a pioneer. We heard from Emily, who had made Aliyah from Austria and served in the Israeli army. She spoke to us about the difficulties during the war, of the constant sirens and the shells that landed in the Kibbutz. She told us how her parents in Austria called her constantly during the 11 days of battle, and that her mother had begged her to return home. But Emily explained that she stayed put because this is where she found her purpose, where she could help build a better future for the State of Israel. I was moved by these students optimism. Even while being bombarded by rockets, they still embraced hope.

The past two weeks have been tragic. In times like this, it is easy to lose hope; who can imagine the Messiah arriving right now? But that is the wrong way to look at things. Perhaps the Messiah hasnt arrived, but people like Emily and Yogav have. And that is true cause for optimism.

Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz is the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York.

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What if the Messiah Doesn't Arrive? - Jewish Journal

By Charles Mathewes, Ph.D., University of VirginiaRabbinic Judaism emerged out of a moment of crisis: the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the creation of the Diaspora. (Image: New Africa/Shutterstock)The Concept of Rabbinic Judaism

Rabbinic Judaism is the form of Jewish faith and practice that arose after the fall of Jerusalem in the first century and the scattering of Jews, known as the Diaspora, across the Mediterranean and Near East in the following two centuries. It flourished from the third century all the way to the 20th century. In some ways, its still flourishing today.

The third century of the Common Era is effectively the era of Talmuds composition; the Talmud is the body of literature that comments and interprets the Torah, Jewish religious law, in general.

Rabbinic Jewish tradition takes the Talmud to be a text of near-scriptural authority for interpreting the Torah; indeed, the Talmud is the textual fixing in this tradition of the Oral Law in comparison to the Written Law of the Torah.

This is a transcript from the video series Why Evil Exists. Watch it now, on The Great Courses Plus.

The rabbis were the Jewish communitys teachers and ministers. They were scholars who knew the Torah very well and the debates surrounding it in the Talmud. They were effectively walking repositories of the tradition.

They understood the height of their religious duty to be the study of Torah and Talmud, the enormously complicated sets of argumentative commentaries that previous rabbis had created to understand how to live faithfully as Jews in this very complicated world.

Learn more about the Reformationthe power of evil within.

In the wake of the Shoah or Holocaust, theres been a huge wave of Jewish rethinking of the faith, but there have been events of similar existential crises in Judaism at different moments in Jewish history. One of them is the famous Babylonian Captivity where the remnants of Israel, or a large part of them, were exiled to Babylon in the sixth-century B.C.E.

Rabbinic Judaism emerges out of another one of those moments of crisis: the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the creation of the Diaspora. This was a revolution in Jewish thinking on the scale of the Shoah (Holocaust) with enormous ongoing effects.

In the Diaspora, the Jews effectively lost the Promised Land, and they lost the central ritual place of worshipping God (namely the Temple in Jerusalem). They did not return to Israel as a people for almost 2,000 years. A new kind of religion had to be built out of the rubble and the ashes of the old, and thats what the rabbis essentially did.

In terms of evil, in particular, rabbis explored a series of alternative moral psychologies of human malice; but much of their discussion centered around the evil and the good impulses in the human heart. The evil impulse is called yetzer ha-ra and the good impulse is called yetzer ha-tov.

Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of tov and ra, good and evil. The rabbis saw God creating in humans two different and rival sources of energy, inclinations, or impulses. In fact, for the rabbis, the condition of the human, as driven by these two impulses, is signified in the scriptures themselves.

Learn more about self-deception in evil-scholasticism.

Jewish people view good and evil differently than Christians. It is rooted in the idea that the behavior of good or evil is anchored in basic human impulses existing essentially from the creation.

For Christ to have been so good, something must have been awful (that he came to remedy). The Jewish conception of these two impulses suggests an entirely different picture of how humans are organized and what motivations and struggles theyre dealing with internally.

Learn more about the Hebrew Bible and human rivalry with God.

The yetzer ha-tov, the good impulse, is basically conscience; its an inner sense that alerts the person when he/she is considering violating Gods law. It warns the person, and it develops around age 1213 when the young Jewish boy or girl first begins to become an adult.

At a boys Bar Mitzvah or a girls Bat Mitzvah for example, when the child first begins to struggle with Gods word in the Torah and the observance of the Commandments, for the rabbis, that is the true mark of a maturing Jew.

In contrast to the yetzer ha-tov, the yetzer ha-rathe evil impulseis a far more murky concept. It doesnt emerge when the person is 1213, and its part of human nature. Genesis, for example, says: The yetzer of the human heart is ra from youth, The impulse of the human heart is bad from youth (Genesis 8:21).

Learn more about Hobbes and evil as a social construct.

The evil impulse is not demonic, and its not an utterly unnatural violation of creation expressing some sort of anarchic hostility to Gods creation. The rabbis believe this is a paranoid kind of self-interest. In their view, a young child or infant sees the world as a threatening and dangerous place.

For example, think about how small children react when their parents introduce them to a stranger, often theyll hide behind their parents; in other words, the rabbis have a great deal of empirical evidence they can point to. Children are sometimes terrified of strangers, and they are scared of the world, and this seems accurate as to how children behave (at least part of the time).

After the fall of Jerusalem in the first century, a different kind of Jewish tradition arose called Rabbinic Judaism. This tradition flourished from the third century onward.

According to Rabbinic Judaism, Yetzer ha-tov, or the good impulse, is an inner sense that warns people when they are considering violating Gods law. This innate sense is also known as conscience.

According to Rabbinic Judaism, the evil impulse is part of human nature (self-interest). The evil impulse is called yetzer ha-ra in the Jewish tradition.

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Rabbinic Judaism: The View of Good & Evil in the Jewish Tradition - The Great Courses Daily News

The 14th day of Sivan, May 25, was the 200th yahrzeit of Rav Hayyim Ben Yitzhak of Volozhin (7 Sivan 550914 Sivan 5581).

Born in Volozhin, Lithuania (today Valozyn, Belarus), he studied at the age of 12 with R. Raphael Hacohen of Hamburg (who was head of the beit din in Minsk at the time), and at age 15 with R. Aryeh Leib Gunzberg, (the Shaagat Aryeh). R. Yisrael of Shklov claims that R. Hayyim finished all of Talmud with the commentaries by age 22. At age 19 he met the Vilna Gaon (Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman, the Gra) whom he visited several times a year, often for a month at a time. The Gaons sons, considered R. Hayyim to be their fathers most important student.

He founded the Volozhin Yeshiva in 1802, which became the prototype for all Lithuanian yeshivot in the 19th century and eventually for all yeshivot until today. After his death, the Volozhin Yeshiva was called Eitz Hayyim in his memory. R. Hayyim wrote one book, Nefesh Hahayyim, which his son Yitzhak had published after his fathers death in 1824. His commentary to Pirkei Avot, called Ruah Hayyim, was collected by his students and published by R. Yehoshua Heschel Levin in 1859. Another work, Hut Hameshulash, published by R. Hayyims grandson R. Hayyim Hillel Fried, contains 22 of his responsa in addition to responsa from his son-in-law and grandson. There are also few surviving letters.

In addition, there is a large collection of questions that the students of Volozhin asked R. Hayyim in the later years of his life. These questions and answers, regarding Jewish law and philosophical outlook (Halacha and hashkafa), are found in six different collections, some published and some not, the most popular of the published ones are found in a work called Keter Rosh published in 1917.

I have researched this latter material and the fruits of my labor will be published in Hebrew by Idra, in a book called Rav Hayyim Volozhins Conversations with Students of the Yeshiva.

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Our Rabbi said to one of his family members who was inclined to hassidism, at least be careful about three things:

a.) To study Talmud and its discussions and make this the main service of God in your eyes.

b.) To keep all the laws of the Talmud.

c.) For heavens sake [lemaan Hashem], to not to talk about our Rabbi, the Gra. (Sheiltot 88, Ms. London-Podro 44). This tolerance was despite R. Hayyims ideological differences. (see my article on the Polemic with Hassidism in Moreshet Yisrael, 18,2 pp. 269-298.)

2. R. Hayyim saw Torah study as the main service of God, the main way of repentance, and said that even ones prayer depended upon it.

3. R. Hayyim did not don tefillin of Rabbeinu Tam.

He [the Gra] answered: If you want to be exempt from all the opinions you must don 24 pairs of tefillin.

He [R. Hayyim] was surprised . How can one find 24 possibilities?

He [the Gra] answered: Check and see.

He checked and found them.... Then our Rabbi [Hayyim] said [to the Gra]: But in the holy Zohar it says that the tefillin of Rabbeinu Tam is [on the level] of the world to come, and the Arizal also said to put them on.

He [the Gra] responded, I do not concern myself with the world to come, and those who are mehader [concerned, or strict about] the world to come can put on Rabbeinu Tam tefillin. But the simple meaning of the Zohar is not like this. From the day that our Rabbi heard these words from the Gra he never put on Rabbeinu Tam tefillin. (Ms. London-odro 72)

4. R. Hayyim said the Zohar and the Talmud do not conflict.

Our Rabbi said in the name of the Gra of blessed memory that the Zohar never differs with the Gemara on any issue. What people say [that it does], is due to their not understanding the meaning of the Gemara or the Zohar. Only in one case do I follow the Zohar, not to pass four cubits around one who prays, whereas the Gemara mentions only in front of them, and this is not a dispute just a stringency. (Keter Rosh Maamarim uMaasiyot 15)

5. R. Hayyim told his students to study Zohar.

He [R. Hayyim] was in charge of the tzedaka [charity] money for the poor living in the Land of Israel. (Jacob Lifshitz, Dor veSofrav, Hakerem 1888 p. 180)

R. Aryeh Ben Yerahmiel, who was a member of the Kolel Haprushim (of the Gaons students) and made aliyah in 1813 wrote, In 5560 since creation, God remembered the Holy Land and aroused a pure spirit in the heart of the saint, the true genius, our rabbi and teacher Hayyim of Volozhin of blessed memory, student of our teacher and master rabbi of all the exiles Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna... and sent from among the students of the saintly Gaon, our teacher Rabbi Mendel, the memory of saints for blessing, student of the Gaon in Kabbalah, he and his son.

In a letter from R. Yisrael of Shklov to R. Avika Altschul, who was close to R. Hayyim, R. Yisrael advised him to meet with R. Hayyim before making aliyah: If you take my advice, you should not go without the agreement of the light of our eyes... our teacher and Rabbi Hayyim, may his candle continue to shed light, the Rav of Volozhin.

R. Hayyim Told R. Yisrael of Shklov that if he prays with a minyan of Sephardim (in Israel) he should not change from their custom: He [R. Hayyim] commanded his student R. Yisrael of Shklov who went to live among the Sephardim [in Safed] not to change from their custom and to pray like them. (SHaarei Rahamim 9A)

I heard from our Rabbi on the verse: She fell and will not rise again, the maiden of Israel, [Amos 9] that our sages interpreted in the Gemara [Brachot 4B] She fell and will not [fall anymore]. Arise again Oh maiden of Israel, and he [R. Hayyim] said that the maiden of Israel is called falling just like the sukkah of David which is called falling. For every day she falls further for there is no day whose curse is less than the previous one. Therefore she is referred to as the falling one, for she will continue to fall until she shall reach the lowest level and from there cannot fall anymore. And now we have reached the time of Arise oh maiden of Israel. (Keter Rosh and Sheiltot)

We know for sure from the holy mouth of the Gaon, and Rabbi Hayyim of Volozhin of blessed memory, when they asked him concerning money sent for holy purposes here [in Israel]. He said, The Torah and [Divine] service done there [in the land of Israel] even for a quarter of an hour, is more dear to God than the study of your yeshivot every day in the impure lands. (Letter of R. Yitzhak Kahana from Jerusalem on Rosh Hodesh Kislev 1858 to Rav Zvi Hirch KalisherArchive A9/55)

10. R. Hayyim ate soaked matza (sheruyah) on Passover. (Kneidelach and Farfel, Sheiltot Ms. London-Podro 70,71)

Quotes to remember

The Gra said that a persons main labor should concern [avoiding] the transgressions between man and his fellow in all its details. (London-Podro 2, 34)

If a person performs a mitzvah and their body is overly excited and enthusiastic to perform the mitzvah quickly, its probably a ploy of the evil inclination. (Commentary to Ruth 1,18)

He [R. Hayyim] said that he would exchange all of his prayers for even one new understanding [concerning Jewish law] in the Gemara. (Keter Rosh 48)

Studying Torah is the main thing, attaining knowledge is secondary. (Ruach Hayyim, 3,18)

People say that studying poskim without the Gemara is like eating fish without spicy peppers, and our Rabbi [Hayyim] said, like eating spicy peppers without fish. (Sheiltot 62)

Our Rabbi said, at the place where philosophy ends, from there begins the wisdom of Kabbalah, and from the place where the Kabbalah of R. Moshe Cordovero ends, there begins the Kabbalah of the Arizal. (Sheiltot 110).

Go here to read the rest:

Ten things you didnt know about Hayyim of Volozhin on his 200th yahrzeit - The Jerusalem Post

TheTorah columnis supported by a generous donation from Eve Gordon-Ramek in memory of Kenneth Gordon.NasoNumbers 4:217:89

As American society wrestles with its history of criminal injustice, a classic piece of rabbinic commentary on this weeks portion contains penetrating wisdom for us.

Parashat Nasso contains the beloved Birkat Kohanim (priestly blessing), that we recite in prayer and offer to our children on Friday nights. May God bless you and protect you. May God make Gods face shine upon you and be gracious with you. May God lift Gods face toward you and grant you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

The Rabbis must have loved these powerful images of divine love and blessing. But they raise a logical and moral challenge about the words lift Gods face toward you, also translated as, May God bestow Gods favor upon you.

Elsewhere in the Torah (Deuteronomy 10:17), we are told that no undue favor is to be granted to one person over another. Using the same language, one verse says, Bestow Gods favor! and the other says, Do not bestow Gods favor!

The Rabbis are essentially saying, Of course wed love to receive divine blessing. But the Torah insists that the administration of justice (and divine love?) be shared equally, without special privileges afforded to some and not to others. How do we deal with the contradiction?

The commentators offer different answers to the question. Rav Avira essentially replies, How could God not give special consideration to Israel, who are so grateful for Gods gifts? (Talmud Berachot 20b)

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananiah says that the command not to confer privilege refers to the time of a court case, prior to the verdict; the verse in which God offers special love applies after the verdict. (Talmud Niddah 70b)

Yet another answer: God offers preferential love at times of prayer, but not in the administration of justice. (Midrash Sifrei)

What is strangely missing from all of this rabbinic discussion is the context of the verse in Deuteronomy 10, which cautions against unequal treatment in matters of justice. The text says, God the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, shows no favor and takes no bribe, but upholds the cause of the orphan and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing them with food and clothing. You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:17-19)

We are told unequivocally that it is Gods essence to show no favor and take no bribe, but then we are told whom God decidedly does prefer.

God privileges the orphan, the widow and the stranger the marginalized, the oppressed, the poor and those seen as the other.

There is no pretense here about Gods partiality. God gives special favor to precisely those whom society tends to demean, hate and dehumanize. And we who were strangers in the land of Egypt must do the same.

Honestly, I am untroubled by the promise of universal love in our verse, May God lift Gods face toward you.

The God that I worship loves all of creation with an expansive and undiscriminating love. Much as parents exude passionate love for their children, God, our Creator, overflows with boundless love for us. This is a quality of love the Torah repeatedly calls us to emulate.

In the context of the justice system, the Torah actually tells us something similar: Do not favor the rich over the poor. Do not allow the justice system to be impacted by corrupt human preferences. Fashion social systems that serve as instruments of Gods love and justice in the world, applied equitably across all markers of identity.

But when you must discriminate, do so in favor of the marginalized, those whom God loves with a special love.

I see no contradiction between the call for universal love in our verse and the call for impartial justice in Deuteronomy. Both flow from the same principle that all of us are loved by the One. To make this love real in the public sphere, we must right the boundless wrongs that have been done to the impoverished, the disadvantaged and the despised.

After hundreds, even thousands, of years of differential treatment of the wealthy and the privileged in human societies, we must finally emulate the Divine model to offer compensatory favor to those who have been wronged.

We have all heard the word privilege a lot in recent years. The word may sound new and jarring. But it is ancient. Privileging the oppressed to right social wrongs is precisely what God demands of us.

Go here to read the rest:

The Torah has a lot to say about privilege J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

Now that the latest conflict between Israel and terrorist groups in Gaza has ended, it is important to look back at one of the more wrenching and unprecedented aspects of the recent conflagration.

One of the most important elements to this is how best to understand and then combat hate, incitement and violence between communities.

Jews had lived in what was variously named Babylon, Mesopotamia and Iraq for around two and a half millennia. The Iraqi Jewish academies in Sura and Pumbedita gave us the Babylonian Talmud, the compilation of texts that forms the backbone of the Jewish tradition to this day.

It witnessed the Chaldean Empire, Mongol invasion, Islamic Caliphate and the Ottoman Empire. Sometimes it thrived and contributed to society and the wider world and other times it merely survived.

Jews helped fight for Iraqs independence in the 20th century, and the authorities utilized the talents of the Jewish community and its expertise in areas such as the economic, judicial and postal systems. Iraqs first minister of finance, Yehezkel Sasson, was a Jew.

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Unfortunately, independence also provided power to some who would use malevolence, division and hatred to achieve their political goals.

During World War II, Rashid Ali al-Gaylani became prime minister and decided he would ally with Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany to win support for his government. Gaylani was the person who introduced the rabid antisemite Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini to Hitler, and Iraq became an early base for Nazi Middle East intelligence operations during World War II.

Gaylani used anti-British sentiment throughout Iraq, with the Jews as scapegoats, coupled with violent antisemitic incitement spread by the German embassy in Baghdad to foment hatred and mistrust towards the Jewish community.

The German embassy bought the newspaper Al-alam Al-arabi (The Arab world), which published, in addition to antisemitic propaganda, a translation of Mein Kampf in Arabic and supported the establishment of Al-Fatwa, a youth organization based upon the model of the Hitler Youth.

According to witnesses at the time, Nazi-like propaganda was regularly broadcast on the radio and throughout the country. Jewish businesses and homes were marked and false rumors that the Jews were helping the British in the war spread.

After Shavuot, on June 1st, 1941, Jews ventured out from the holiday to be met by mobs in an orgy of violence that lasted two days and left around 180 Jews dead, buried in a mass grave, hundreds more wounded and scores of Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues routed and burned.

It was a blow that the Jewish community never recovered from and led to the mass exodus of Iraqi Jews to the State of Israel after it was established. Between 1948 and 1951, 121,633 Iraqi Jews were airlifted, bused or smuggled out of the country, leaving only a few thousand left who fled the country after public hangings of prominent Jews in the 1970s.

Even up to the very end, many Jews and Arabs refused to be enemies and lived and worked side by side. Animosity was largely imported from outside and incitement as a tool for political goals.

Unfortunately, we see many similar worrying signs in the violence in mixed Israeli towns and cities.

There are many players in the region who seek to whip up the Arab citizens of Israel into a frenzy, whether Iran or extreme Sunni elements. They see Jewish-Arab coexistence as a challenge that needs to be dismantled and replaced with enmity and animosity.

Lies about Jewish takeover attempts to invade and destroy al-Aqsa Mosque originated with the very same Haj Amin al-Husseini a century ago. Unfortunately, it is a canard that has not gone away since and raises its head whenever necessary for those who wish to sew divisions in Israel.

It is exactly this type of incitement that Israeli politicians, religious leaders and other opinion-shapers should confront and demolish. Instead of driving communities apart, we should be investing in coexistence, collaboration and partnerships. We know that the silent minority in both communities do not seek violence and division, and we have witnessed in recent years tremendous steps in bringing Jews and Arabs together.

The creation of the State of Israel is a remarkable and unique event in Jewish history and became a refuge and a home to the hundreds of thousands of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa who had to flee their millennia-old homes.

Israel is a beacon of light in a region where there has been such a history of darkness for so many, including Jews. Now that we have reestablished sovereignty in our indigenous and ancestral homeland, we need to learn the lessons of the past and use them to create a more peaceful and secure future for all who live within its borders.

That would be the greatest memorial to the Jews murdered during the Farhud 80 years on.

See more here:

Remembering the Farhud pogrom and its lessons for today - opinion - The Jerusalem Post

For many people, especially in todays world, it is very hard to reconcile the personal suffering of good and pious people, with Divine justice and love. Believers of all religions face this challenge. There are many answers offered; from Karma to reincarnation.

Muslims and Jews have traditionally given the same answers with some variation. This is to be expected since both Jews and Muslims share the same belief in Gods oneness, goodness and justice; and both Jews and Muslims reject the doctrines of bad luck, or inherited sin from previous lives, or original sin.

The Quran tells us that just because you become, or already are, a believer doesnt mean that you are exempt from personal suffering. Do men think that they will be left alone on saying We believe and that they will not be tested? (29:2), this is not correct: Ye shall certainly be tried and tested in your possessions; and in your personal selves. (3:186)

You will be tested by fear of, and hunger for, the loss of material goods, loved ones lives, and the failure of your efforts to bear fruit. Yet if you patiently persevere all will be well Be sure We shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods, or lives, or the fruits (of your toil); but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere. (Quran 2:155)

The glad tidings might come from a reversal in your bad fortune in this world, as happened to Job: or in your life in the world to come.

Traditional Jewish sages and rabbis would have agreed with all of the already quoted verses in the Quran. The first thing you should learn from suffering, your own and that of others, is that different people react to suffering in very different ways. Our reactions to suffering rest upon the varied beliefs we hold both consciously and unconsciously.

I share a few Jewish reports about suffering along with several probing questions so that you can examine your own beliefs and those of others; and thus gain a greater understanding of one of the major challenges in life. The first story embodies the heroic perspective.

One day a young man stood in the middle of a town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and all admired his heart, for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted about his beautiful heart, which was the result of his following a path of calmness and detachment.

Then an old Rabbi named Akiba ben Yosef the convert appeared at the front of the crowd and said, Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine. The crowd and the young man looked at the old mans heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didnt fit quite right and there were several jagged edges.

In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing. The people stared. How can Rabbi Akiba say his heart is more beautiful, they thought?

The young man looked at the old mans heart and laughed. You must be joking, he said. My heart is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.

Yes, said Rabbi Akiba, yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love. I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart, which fits into an empty place in my heart. But because the pieces arent exactly equal I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared.

Sometimes I give pieces of my heart away, and the other person doesnt return a piece of his or her heart to me. These are the empty gougesgiving love is taking a chance. And then there are places where my heart is broken, reminding me of the love I have had, and lost. I then say the mourners prayer, the Kaddish, for it is better to love and lose than never to love at all.

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. Rabbi Akiba took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young mans heart.

It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from Rabbi Akibas heart flowed into his. They embraced and walked away side by side.

How sad it must be to go through life, calmly and dispassionately, without suffering and with a perfect heart. Rabbi Akiba taught that there were yesurin shell ahavah sufferings that come with love. There really are people who can accept suffering with love. Perhaps there is no gain without pain. After all, it is a Mitsvah to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.

But Rabbi Akiba did not reach this view easily. The Talmud tells the story of how Akiba came to his belief.

What is the lesson from (the life of) Rabbi Nahum the optimist? This is his story: Rabbi Nahum the optimist had bad vision, and arthritis in both his hands and his feet. Once his disciples asked Rabbi, how can it be that someone as kind hearted and good as you should suffer such misfortunes?

He replied, I brought it on myself. Once I was traveling to my father-in-laws house with 3 donkeys loaded with food and drink. A poor scabby looking man came to me and said, Rabbi, help me stay alive. I replied, Wait until I unload the donkeys. While I was unloading the donkeys he died.

I felt terrible. In remorse I said, May my eyes that didnt see his needs grow dim. May my hands and feet that cared for my wealth before his health, bring me pain. His disciples said, It is awful to see you suffer so. He said, For me it would be awful if you didnt see me suffer so.

Is Rabbi Nahum overly strict on himself? Do people with very high standards for themselves suffer more? Do you admire someone who is overly sensitive more than someone who is insensitive? Why? Which way would you want to lean?

Some time later Rabbi Akiba visited Rabbi Nahum the optimist. Akiba said, It is awful for me to see you suffer. Rabbi Nahum the optimist replied, It is awful for me to see you reject my example. (I can bear my fate why cant you? I am positive about my circumstances, why cant you see the virtue of my accepting suffering as part of life and love. If it doesnt kill you, it makes you stronger. Admire how I bear my burdens, do not pity me. Does no pain, no gain apply only to exercise? to cancer? to sudden crib death?

In the end, Rabbi Akiba came to agree with his teacher and accepted from him his way of accepting suffering with love. (Talmud Taanit 21a)

The Talmud also says, The life of an overly sensitive person is no life.(Talmud Pesach 113b). Perhaps that applies to those who are overly sensitive about themselves and not about others. Perhaps Rabbi Nahum is a saint who goes far beyond the normal requirements of our duties, and is not to be copied.

Perhaps Rabbi Nahum is an extremist on one side just as Gautama Buddha, who taught that all suffering should be avoided through detachment, is an extremist on the other side. Would you choose to suffer from too much conscience or choose others to suffer because you have too little conscience? How do you find the correct balance between If I am not for myself, who will be for me, but if I am only for myself what am I? (Talmud Avot 1:14). Is this why we need community ethical and ritual rules to set the norm

Not every Rabbi welcomed suffering as the following story shows: Rabbi Heeya was very ill. Rabbi Yohanan visited him and asked. Is your suffering of any gain for you? Heeya replied Neither it nor its reward. Yohanan said, Give me your hand. Heeya gave him his hand and felt much better. (Talmud Berachot 5b )

Those who visited Rabbi Nahum expressed pity first. Rabbi Yohanan asked first. People handle pain, their own or others, in different ways. How do you respond when seeing others in pain? Do you think others should respond as you think you would or even as you did? How can one know when Rabbi Akiba is correct or when Rabbi Heeya is? Is there a great difference between physical and emotional pain?

Written on the shirt of a marathon runner Pain is the feeling of weakness being sucked out of the body. Is life a marathon? Is running a choice? Do you have to run in every race?

Judaism teaches by questioning. What other questions do these stories stimulate? As you think about your answers to these question would it be helpful to discuss your thoughts and feelings with others, both those who are close to you and those who are not.

Read this article:

Islam and Judaism on learning from questioning suffering - The Times of Israel