And you shall make the robe of the ephod

completely of blue wool…

A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden

bell and a pomegranate, on the bottom hem of the robe, all around.

It shall be on Aaron when he performs the

and when he leaves,

so that he will not die.

(Shemot 28:31,34,35)

and its sound shall be heard when he enters

the Holy – when the [golden] bells strike and hit each

other, even though the pomegranate's bulge separates them. And since the Holy

One, blessed be He commanded that no person shall be in the Tent of Meeting

when he [the High Priest] comes to atone in the Holy until he leaves, therefore

the Holy One commanded that his [the High Priest's] noise should be heard as he

enters so that those who hear it would leave.

(RaShBaM Shemot 28:35)

and its sound shall be heard – the sound of the robe. And some say that

when he serves in these vestments the Lord will hearken to his voice to fulfill

his prayers when he enters the Holy.

(Ibn Ezra – the Short

Commentary ad loc)

and its sound shall be heard – and he will enter before his Lord as if by permission, for it is

forbidden to enter the king's hall abruptly.

(R. Yitzhak Shemuel Reggio ad

loc)

and its sound shall be heard – …It shall be on Aaron when he

performs the service can be interpreted as saying that he [Aaron] thinks of

the robe as something whose function is wholly related to the service and not

(NeTziV MiVolozhin: Ha'Amek

Davar ad loc)

R. Simon said in the name of R. Yonatan of Bet Gubrin: There were two

things for which no atonement was made [by the sacrifices], but the Torah

provided an atonement for them, namely, slander and involuntary murder. No

atonement was made [by the sacrifices] for slander, but the Torah provided an

atonement for it, namely, the bell of the robe, as it says, It shall be on

Aaron when he performs the service, and its sound shall be heard (Shemot 28:35); this sound is to come and make atonement

for the voice of slander. Nor was there atonement for one who murdered

involuntarily, but the Torah provided him with an atonement, namely, the death

of the High Priest, as it says, And he shall dwell therein until the death

of the high priest (Bamidbar 35: 25).

(Shir HaShirim Rabbah

4, based on Soncino translation)

There

is No Joy Like the Resolution of Doubts;

"A

bat kol came forth and said… "

Dalia

Marx

One of the most troubling worries nestling in

the hearts of the religious is concerned with whether they truly manage to

fulfill the obligations of their faith and the demands made by their God. Believers,

great and small and from different creeds and different eras, share this common

anxiety: perhaps their acts are unworthy, improper, or unwanted by God

There is a midrash that talks about Moses

preparing the anointing oil mentioned in our parasha (Shemot 25:6) that was used to anoint the High Priest and

the vessels of the Tabernacle service and whose private use was prohibited (see Shemot 30). Moses is worried that he might not have

carried out the command properly and he asks: "Have I, God forbid, made an

improper use of the anointing oil?" (Horayot 12b), and so does his brother Aaron. Regarding this R. Moshe Hayyim Luzzato,

the author of Mesilat Yesharim, writes: "Such is character of the

pious; even regarding a commandment which they performed they worry and say,

'Lest some tiny bit of impropriety was intermixed with it – God forbid'" (Biyur Yirat Het, 24). This is the constant anxiety which dogs

both the pious and – all the more so – the regular human beings who toil in

God's service; they want to be sure their deeds are pleasing and acceptable. People

usually never receive explicit approval of their actions, but the midrash

mentioned above tells us that a bat kol [a heavenly voice, literally

"daughter of voice," but see further explanations below] did supply

the two brothers with such confirmation:

Our Rabbis taught: It is like the precious

oil… coming down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, etc.(Psalms 133)… And concerning this matter, Moses was

anxious. He said, 'Have I, God forbid, made an improper use of the anointing

oil?'

A bat kol came forth and called out, Like

the precious oil…, like the dew of Hermon (ibid) as the law of improper use of holy objects is not applicable to the dew

of Hermon, so also is it not applicable to the anointing oil on the beard of

Aaron.

Aaron however, was still anxious. He said, 'It

is possible that Moses did not trespass, but I may have trespassed'.

A bat kol came forth and said to him, Behold

how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity (ibid) as Moses is not guilty of trespass, so are

you not guilty of trespass. (Bavli, Horayot 12a, based on Soncino translation)

Moses and Aaron worry that they might have

accidentally misused the anointing oil; perhaps they touched it unnecessarily,

or poured some on a spot that did not need anointing, or perhaps their

intentions were imperfect.¹ Their anxiety involves the human fear of

not performing deeds properly. The brothers' doubts are removed thanks to the bat

kol which grants approval first to Moses' actions and then to Aaron's.

What is this bat kol – this

"daughter of voice" – that comes forth twice in the midrash to calm

Moses' and Aaron's fears? What is her status? What can we know of her

existential essence? Comparison with two parallel traditions from the

literature of the Sages teaches us that bat kol is not an entirely

distinctive term: in the parallel Tannaitic source it is not the bat kol

who bears the calming message, but rather: "The Holy Spirit [ruah

hakodesh] answered him, 'Behold how good and how pleasant it is for

brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious oil… '"

(Sifra Shemini

1). In contrast, a later source

mentions neither the Holy Spirit nor the bat kol, but rather:

"Scripture testified for him – Behold how good and how pleasant it is

for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious oil… (Tanhuma [Vilna] Korah, 6).

What can we learn by comparing these three

traditions? The earliest Tannaitic source has the Holy Spirit speaking, while

the latest source – the Tanhuma – has Scripture itself testifying. Between the

two (chronologically speaking) is the Talmudic version, which talks about a bat

kol.

In an article which appeared in the Vayetze

5769 edition of Shabbat Shalom, I discussed some characteristic aspects

of bat kol as it is described in the literature of the Sages. Here I

shall continue investigating this fascinating phenomenon as it is described in

rabbinic literature. There are four typical ways in which the term is understood:²

A) A Heavenly Bat kol, minor prophecy – God's words or transmitted words. For instance, after Rabbi Akiva's soul

left him while his flesh was being torn with iron combs as he prolonged the

recitation of the Shema and the angels complained about his fate, God replies: Their

portion is in life and immediately we read: "A bat kol emerged

and said: 'Happy are you Rabbi Akiva, for you are destined for life in the

World to Come.'" (Bavli, Berakhot 61b). This

kind of bat kol comforts, prohibits, admonishes, decides, and promises;

it connects our world with the heavenly world. It is interesting that our

region's other ancient cultures knew of phenomena similar to this kind of bat

kol found in the literature of the Sages.³

B) An earthly bat kol to which is attributed a degree of prophecy –

There is a story about R.Yohanan and

R. Shimon ben Lakish wanting to visit Shmuel; they asked for a sign to let them

know if they should make the journey. They decided: "We shall go after

hearing a bat kol." Passing by a house they heard children calling

out a verse from their lesson: and Shmuel died (I Samuel 28). They understood from this that the Amora

Shmuel had died (J.

Shabbat 6,9; 8c). Here we see

how an ordinary utterance can be transformed into a kind of prophetic oracle

for sages who requested a sign.

C) An earthly bat kol which expresses a general human truth – That is, an epigrammatic utterance. Kohut

wrote about this kind of bat kol: "A human voice through which some

matter is revealed and clarified, becoming a universal item of speech" (note 2). For instance, in the story about the mother

whose seven sons were martyred because they refused to bow down to an idol, we

read: "After a few days that woman went mad, fell from a roof, and died…

and a bat kol came forth and said: the mother of the sons is joyful

(Eikhah Rabbah

D. A plain human voice. For

example: "And one weds [couples] by the authority of a bat kol [that

claims that the woman is widowed]. There was a case in which someone stood up

on a hill top and said: 'So and so the son of so and so from such and such a

place is dead.' They went [up the hill] but could find no one there and they

married off his [the presumably dead man's] wife" (Mishnah Yevamot 16:6). That, by the way, is the term's sole

occurrence in the Mishnah. It refers to the voice of an unseen human being

whose testimony is relied upon in a legal ruling. In medieval literature, the

term bat kol took on the additional meaning of "echo."

How can such different phenomena all be

called by the same name? The meanings of the term bat kol are so

different and varied that one might ask whether it is polysemic (one expression

bearing several related definitions) or whether it is a homonym (a single

string of letters used to designate a number of different words). I tend to

think it is polysemic; while bat kol's significations are different,

they are also related to each other and belong to the same common family of

concepts. They are all acoustical phenomena; they are all completely reliable

(perhaps making bat kol preferable in this regard to prophecy, since

there are true and false prophecies and people are left having to distinguish

between the two); they are usually authoritative or granted authority; and the

producer of the bat kol always remains unseen to those who hear it.

This polysemy actual seems to serve a

purpose; the various meanings join together to form a single continuum bridging

Heaven and earth and linking the divine voice which speaks to humans with the

human voice that goes forth into the world. There is a divine bat kol

(Shekhinah, prophecy, etc.) and there is an anonymous yet human bat kol which

lacks attribution but bears meaning for its audience. Sometimes that meaning is

halakhic, sometimes it relates to faith and feelings, and sometimes it is

simply informative. There is also a heavenly bat kol, such as that

mentioned in the story of tanuro shel akhna'i [the "Oven of Akhna'i"]

where its authority in deciding halakhic matters is rejected by the Sages

(while, interestingly enough, elsewhere the Sages are happy to accept the bat

kol's ruling in favor of Beit Hillel's halakhic positions).

And what of our generation? We have been

granted no direct prophecy and no bat kol speaks to us. We are left

having to search for "daughters of voice" [bat kol can be

literally rendered "daughter of voice"], and sometimes even

"granddaughters" and “great-granddaughters" of voice in the

deeds of our brothers and sisters; we must listen for Divinity speaking to us

through the actions of our fellow human beings. If we manage to even

occasionally succeed, perhaps it will help us a little in dealing with the

disturbing uncertainties mentioned in the beginning of this article.

1. Midrash Tanhuma makes Aaron's anxieties explicit: "Come and see the piety of Aaron

the Righteous. When Moses poured the anointing oil on his head, Aaron shivered

and was terrified and said: 'My brother Moses, perhaps I was unworthy to be

anointed with the holy oil and [thus] I misused it and have become deserving of

karet [being "cut off"]'" (Tanhuma, Vilna edition Korah

6). Rashi explains that Moses was worried that he might have misused the

anointing oil by touching it while dressing Aaron, while Aaron expresses his

anxiety in these words: "Perhaps some of the oil fell on me on a spot

unworthy of anointing and thus I misused it."

2. Several researchers and exegetes have already created taxonomies of the bat

kol phenomenon in the literature of the Sages. I have accepted and built

upon some of their ideas, while setting aside others. Their discussions

include: E.E. Urbach MeOlamam shel Hakhamim, Jerusalem 2002, pp. 23-27;

S. Lieberman, Yevanim VeYivanut BeEretz Yisrael, Jerusalem 5744, pp.

294-298; Y Kahut, Hashlamot LaArukh HaShalem, II, pp. 212-214; HaEntziklopedia

HaTalmudit, idem. Bat kol, pp. 214-215. These were all preceded by Tosafot

Yom Tov on Yevamot 16:6.

3. See: D. Sperling, "Akkadian egerru and Hebrew bt.qwl,"

JANES, 4 (1972), pp. 62-64.

Dr. Dalia Marx is spending this year as a visiting professor at Potsdam University

and at Abraham Geiger

College in Berlin.

Remember what Amalek did to you on your

forget!

(Devarim 25:

17-19)

Blot out the memory of Amalek – Israel said to the Holy One Blessed

Be He: Master of all worlds, you tell us to blot out the memory of Amalek!? We

are flesh and blood, we last but an hour – You who exist and live forever – You

remember! The Holy One Blessed Be He told them: My children, you need only read

the passage about Amalek every year, and I will count it as if you are blotting

its name out from the world.

(Pesiktah Rabbati 12)

It is a positive commandment to destroy the memory of Amalek, for it

says, You shall blot out the memory of Amalek, and it is a positive

commandment to always recall its evil deeds and waylaying in order to inflame

hatred against it, for it is said, remember what Amalek did to you.

Tradition teaches that remember is performed with the mouth, do not

forget with the heart, for it is forbidden to forget to bear hostility and

hatred towards it.

(RaMBaM, Hilkhot Melakhim,

5:5)

'Do not forget' – Do

not forget this thing if the day comes and you will want to become like Amalek,

and, like Amalek, you fail to recognize your obligation and do not know God.

Rather, you only seek opportunities, in matters small or great, to exploit your

advantage in order to harm your fellow men. Do not forget this if the day comes

and you ask to relieve your heart of its role and its mission as Israel

that you have taken upon yourself amongst humanity. Do not envy the laurels

which a foolish world throws to those happy with having destroyed the happiness

of others. Remember the tear-soaked soil which nurtures the laurels of those

wreathes, do not forget this thing when the day comes and you yourself suffer

Amalek's violence and coarseness. Keep standing straight! Preserve the humanity

and values of justice that you learned from your God. The future belongs to

them, and in the end humanity and justice will overcome coarseness and

violence. You yourself were sent in order to announce and to bring near – with

your very example – that overcoming and that future.

Do not forget – and in order that you not forget, remember

from time to time, renew in your heart the memory of Amalek and what you have

been told of its future.

(From Rabbi Samson Raphael

Hirsch's commentary on Devarim 25:19, written circa 1860!)

And the king said to Esther…: "…what is your

request, even to half the kingdom, it shall be fulfilled." Half the

kingdom and not the whole kingdom, and not something that would divide the

kingdom. What is that? The rebuilding of the Temple.

Let the King and Haman come to the wine-feast. Our rabbis

taught: Why did Esther invite Haman?

R. Eliezer says: She set a trap for him, for it is said: Let

their tables set before them be for them as a trap (Psalms

69).

R. Yehoshua says: She learned it in her father's house, for

it is said, If your enemy is hungry, feed him bread, etc. (Proverbs

25).

R. Meir says: So that he would not be able to consider his

situation, and rebel.

R. Yehudah says: So that he would not realize that she was a

Jewess.

R. Nehemiah says: So that Israel would not say, "We have

a sister in the King's house," and [feeling secure] take their minds off

of [seeking Divine] mercy.

R.Yossi says: So that he would constantly be available to her

R. Shimon ben Menasyah says: So that perhaps the Omnipresent

would take notice and perform a miracle for her.

R. Yehoshua ben Korha says: In order to show him [Haman]

favor, so that both he and she would be killed [by the king, out of jealousy].

(Megillah 15b)

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