The Sukkah

of Peace – Dream and Reality

They offer healing offhand

"Peace, peace," but there is no peace (Jeremiah 6:14).

Saying "Peace, peace,"

but there is no peace – They say "peace" but behold; there is

no peace, for the enemy comes daily.

(ReDaK ad loc)

R. Mani of Sha'ab

and R. Yehoshua of Sakhnin

said in the name of R. Levi: Great is peace, for all of the blessings, and

goodly things, and condolences that the Holy One blessed be

He brings to Israel

are sealed with peace:

In the reading of the Shema – "Spread Your sukkah of peace"; in [the Amidah]

prayer – "He who makes peace"; in the priestly blessing (Bamidbar 6) – and

place peace upon you. These are only blessings – what about the sacrifices?

This is the law of the burnt offering and of the meal offering and of the

of the peace offering. This is a generalization, where is it

mentioned specifically? This is the law of the burnt offering, this is the

offering. These are only sacrifices offered by the individual, what of

communal sacrifices? It learned from the verse You

shall perform these for the Lord on your festivals (Bamidbar 29), and it concludes with

peace offerings. These only refer to this world, what of the world to come?

I will turn peace to you like a river (Isaiah

66).

The rabbis said: Great is

announcing peace (Isaiah 52).

(Vayikra Rabba 9:9)

Ours won! Ours won!

Pinchas Leiser

During the Sukkot festival, we are commanded to take the Four Species.

It would seem that the minimalist halakhah requires

us merely to take up the etrog, lulav, myrtle and willow branches and recite the

appropriate blessing. However, already in the Mishnah

(Sukkah 3:9) we

find mention of the practice of shaking them. The Gemara

(Sukka 37b)

explains the manner in which they should be waved,

citing, inter alia, the words of R. Hama bar Ukba:

In the West

said in the name of R. Yossi son of R. Hanina: [One shakes it] back and forth – in order to

stop foul winds, up and down – in order to stop foul dew.

In the "studies" section of his

commentary, R. Adin Steinsaltz

brings an idea in the name of the Jerusalem Talmud: Why is it shaken? In order to shake the power of the accuser.

That is to say: we shake the Four Species in

order to overcome certain forces of nature and other forces that could hurt us.

The struggle between those evil forces which

might harm us and the possibility of overcoming them is also described in the

following midrashic tale:

Abba Yosi of Tzitor would always sit and study by a certain spring. A

spirit that was found there revealed itself before him and told him: Do you not

know that I sit in your company these many years and have never done you evil,

great or small? Your wives also come here each morning and evening to draw

water and they are unharmed, but now you should know that there is an evil

spirit [here] which harms people.

Abba Yossi asked

the spirit: What shall we do?

The spirit told him: Go warn the townspeople

and tell them: Anyone who has a hoe or a rake should come here tomorrow "when

the day grows," they should look at the surface of the water and when they

see a whirl in it they should strike it with an iron tool and say: Ours won! Ours won! They should not leave until they see a drop

of blood on the surface of the water. So did Abba Yossi.

(Vayikra Rabba 24:3)

Can the concepts appearing in this midrash involving evil spirits and

the Four Species and find in them significance for Jews of our generation?

Modern people are also sometimes threatened

by various and sundry threats. Sometimes the physical survival of the

individual and the security of the public, the community or the nation face a

real threat.

It seems that there exist many strategies for

judging the balance of power, gathering needed intelligence, and choosing the

most effective means for the neutralization and achievement of "victory"

over real threats. For instance, a strategic assessment can consider the

chances of beating the enemy in battle, the cost to be paid for victory, and

first and foremost it must define the meaning of "victory" in the

particular case, i.e., to determine what is to be gained by battle and what are

the chances of its achievement.

Similarly, it may happen that when all

options are considered, intelligence and strategic assessment will lead to the

conclusion that military action has no advantage over other means

(negotiations, mediation, and international pressure) for the removal or

mitigation of the threat.

It should be supposed and hoped for that if

the events of the recent war are investigated seriously by an independent body,

we will know to what extent those in charge assessed the threat accurately,

clearly defined the goals of realistic "victory," considered all

available options, and chose the best and most effective course of action to

achieve their defined goals. In light of the calls for the establishment of a

state commission of inquiry, it may be assumed that much of the public feels

that the conduct of the war was flawed. Beyond the real and present danger, one

sometimes feels threatened by a demonic force which floods him with potentially

paralyzing fear. In contrast to the actual threat, here the source of the

danger is undefined, making it impossible to develop a rational strategy for

vanquishing the threat based on the assessment of information.

In the midrash

quoted above, Abba Yossi of Tzitor asks the "good

spirit" what should be done in order to overcome the "bad spirit"

that might hurt the townspeople. The good spirit suggests something that sounds

like a magical rite. However, the story can bear a different reading.

Abba Yossi of Tzitor sat by the spring and studied. It is not surprising

that he was connected to the "good spirit." A person who studies is

in touch with the positive and constructive parts of his soul; through study

and observation of the spring he can find the way to overcome his destructive

elements, his "evil spirits." The "weapons" needed for

doing battle against the evil spirit are not really instruments of war; it

seems that the cry "Our's

won!" is what decided the outcome of the struggle. Here we have an inner

conflict with the forces of evil that can overcome a person or a society. Such

evil elements can be beaten by emphasizing the good, by cultivating faith in

the ability of the good to gain victory over evil, and by struggling for that

faith.

I think that Agnon's story "From Foe to

Friend" suggests an interesting way to conduct this struggle.

In the beginning of the story, the author

finds himself in a desperate conflict with a wind [ruah

– which also means spirit]. He tries various means to deal with it, but "I

saw that I cannot conduct a discussion with someone stronger than me, so I

left." Thus, the story continues with an endless and Sisyphean struggle

against the wind that has been designated as his enemy. Finally

I took some strong boards and beams and large

stones and plaster and cement, and I hired good workers and oversaw them day and

night. My wisdom endured, and I deepened the foundations. The house was built.

When the house was standing, the wind came

and knocked on the shutters.

I asked: "Who is knocking on my window?"

It calmed and said: "A neighbor."

I said to it: "What does one neighbor

ask another on such a stormy night?"

He laughed and said: "A neighbor comes

to congratulate his neighbor on his new house."

I said to him: "Is it his custom to

enter through windows like a thief? Come, knock on my door."

The wind said: "I am your neighbor."

I said: "You are my neighbor, come

inside."

He said: "But the door is locked."

I said to him: "The door is locked; it

seems I locked it."

The wind answered, saying: "Open up."

I said: "I am afraid of the cold, wait

until the sun comes out and I shall open it for you…"

I took a hoe and tilled the earth…not many

days passed before the seedlings I had planted became trees with branches. I

made a bench for myself and sat in their shade.

One night the wind came and hurled itself

against the trees.

The trees hurled themselves against the wind.

The wind became dispirited, he turned and

left.

From then on, he brings a nice fragrance from

the mountains and from the valleys… and I love him with a complete love. It

is even possible that he loves me as well.

This story

contains an echo of the definition of the valiant in Avot

De'Rabbi Natan (chapter 23):

Who is the

him.

I think that

while shaking the Four Species this year, we should reflect upon the deeper

meaning of the difficult internal battle which can help us overcome the evil

spirit of hatred, bigotry, and aggressiveness which can gain control of us. We

should change "a foe into a friend" and then we shall be able to

announce whole-heartedly and with great conviction: "Our's

has won" – our original faith and values have won.

Pinchas Leiser, the editor of Shabbat Shalom, is a psychologist

Readers respond

The ideas which Ronen Ahituv

brought up in his "In Praise of Galutiyut – and against

Normalcy" (Issue number 464, Nitzavim-Va'Yelekh, 5766) deserve to be grappled with; while containing worthy and correct theses,

they also undermine the essential-existential foundation of mainstream

religious-Zionist thought. I shall limit myself to two philological comments

that speak to the central idea:

1. "The

Jewish People came into existence in the Land of Israel" is stated in the opening sentence of Israel's

Declaration of Independence. I would say that the word kam

straight [komimiyut] in its own land. Ronen's

interpretation – that the Jewish People was born or created in the Land of Israel – is incorrect in the context of

the Declaration.

2. The term moledet [homeland] cannot be understood in its biblical

usage as referring to a country, as Ronen would suggest. The verse says to

my land and to my moledet (Bereishit 24:4), and the Holy One blessed be

He says to Abraham: Go from your land and from your moledet

and from your father's house (12:1). These imply that one's land and one's moledet are two different things! Esther pleaded:

How can I see the evil that has befallen my people, and how can I see the loss

of my moledet (5:6). Esther was certainly

not worried here about Haman's attacking the Land of Israel!

Many more biblical examples of this can be found. Moledet

refers to one's extended family, the tribe into which one is born (as the Arabs

would say: a hamula). The fact that moledet has been adopted by moderns to refer to

refer to one's land demonstrates the strength of the connection between the

people and its land!

With blessings for the New Year,

Yohanan

Ben-Ya'akov – Kfar Etzion

Ronen Ahituv,

author of the article, replies

Yohanan's

comments are interesting, but they are limited to the philological realm and do

not change the article's conclusion that, for the better and for the worse,

there is in the heritage and very essence of Judaism an elemental foundation of

galutiut.

Perhaps the article did not give

sufficient emphasis to the following point, so I will state it here clearly: my

thesis does not call for abandonment of the land or denial of the great miracle

of the state's creation. It does not at all detract from our loyalty to the

state. The point was merely that even while we live in the land – which is

certainly the realization of the people's hopes and purpose – we should

remember that the people does not depend upon the land, and neither is the land

dependent upon the people. Their combination is a difficult and demanding

mission. It is not natural or easy for us – but it is worthy and important.

On to Yohanan's

comments:

As for the word moledet – his comment seems correct. Moledet does refer to one's original family in

biblical Hebrew. However, that does not contradict the notion that Abraham's

land is to be found elsewhere.

As for the

exegesis of the Declaration of Independence. Anyone who checks the

Declaration will find it difficult to accept Yohanan's

interpretation. The context of the phrase, "The Jewish People came into existence in the Land of Israel"

speaks to the origins and founding of the people, and not to its history in the

20^th century.

With blessings of a joyous Harvest Festival,

Yohanan Ahituv – Mitpeh Netufa

I enjoyed Ronen Ahituv's interesting and

beautiful article, which appeared in the Nitzavim-VaYelekh

issue.

Ahituv wrote "in praise of galutiyut."

I wish to add two points:

1. In the early 1990s Amnon Raz-Kirkotzkin wrote two important articles on this topic

in Teoria u'Vikoret

(Van Leer Institute, publisher). He claimed that a different approach to our

experience in galut could increase our empathy

and sensitivity towards our Palestinian neighbors.

2. I would like to add a point "in praise of Religious Zionism."

That movement, at least until recently, never completely accepted the classic

Zionist idea of the negation of the galut. That

stance is impossible for a religious Jew who lives his life in accordance with

books and rabbis who were mostly products of the Diaspora. I believe that the

movement learned in its day to find a correct balance between Zionism and Galutiut.

Debbie Weisman – Jerusalem

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