WHEN THE ASS NOW SAW THE ANGEL OF THE LORD,

SHE LAY DOWN UNDER BIL'AM;

AND BIL'AM WAS FURIOUS AND BEAT THE ASS WITH HIS STICK.

THEN THE LORD OPENED THE ASS'S MOUTH, AND SHE SAID TO BIL'AM, "WHAT HAVE I DONE TO YOU

THAT YOU HAVE BEATEN ME THESE THREE TIMES?"

BIL'AM SAID TO THE ASS, "YOU HAVE MADE A MOCKERY OF ME!

HAD I A SWORD WITH ME, I'D KILL YOU."

THE ASS SAID TO BIL'AM. "LOOK, I AM THE ASS

THAT YOU HAVE BEEN RIDING UPON ALL ALONG UNTIL THIS DAY! HAVE I BEEN IN THE HABIT OF DOING THUS TO YOU?

AND HE ANSWERED "NO".

THEN THE LORD UNCOVERED BIL'AM'S EYES,

AND HE SAW THE ANGEL OF THE LORD STANDING IN THE WAY,

HIS DRAWN SWORD IN HIS HAND;

THEREUPON HE BOWED RIGHT DOWN TO THE EARTH.

(Bemidbar 22:27-31)

 

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - From the Torah

"Why have you beaten your ass?" - He said to him: I have come argue the ass's case. [The purpose of this was] to teach him the following: If this ass - who has neither right/merit/privilege nor the covenant with the fathers - makes her rightful demand of you, then certainly this nation which you plan to uproot [has a case against you]! Said Rabbi Yochanan: "Prevention of animal suffering is a Torah injunction, as is written "Why have you beaten your ass?"

 (Midrash Hagadol, Bemidbar 22)

 

Their ruling that "Animal suffering is a Torah injunction" - derived from "Why have you beaten your ass" - is intended to bring us to perfection, so that our qualities not be those of cruelty, that we not cause harm needlessly, without benefit. Our intentions should be to pity and have mercy - even upon some animal which appears at random, [we slaughter an animal] only in an hour of need, - "Should you have the urge to eat meat" - We will not slaughter cruelly or for sport.

 (Guide for the Perplexed, Maimonides. 3:17)

 

           

Secular Zionism has completed its function"... (From the press)

"Rejoice greatly, Fair Zion; Raise a shout, Fair Yerushalayim! Lo, your king is coming to you. He is victorious, triumphant, yet humble, riding on an ass, on a donkey foaled by a she-ass." (Zechariah 9:9)

 

THE DONKEY OF THE MASHIACH

Chayim Rubenstein

I follow the boys, on the dusty path, my glance skipping from rock to stone. My foot steps on crackling thorns, squashing the hyssop alongside the trail. My donkey mind has no idea where the path leads. Are the boys walking ito [= "with him"] or are they walking imo [also "with him" - The Sages taught that "ito" means simply to accompany physically; "imo" implies accompaniment with shared intent]. My horizon is blocked at the turn in the path, by the fence of gathered rocks. My burden lies heavy upon me. I know not what it is, only that its weight is oppressive. Is it the slaughter knife, or perhaps the offering? Kindling for the offering, a small child, or gold and silver to fill his house? My path is blocked, limited, my way is clear before me, a little boy leads me. Step after step, my direction is forward, without rest, without relaxing, steady. I am saddled, from early morning. Already the heat of the Middle East is oppressive.

I am a donkey, from the land of the donkeys. Land of physical matter and clay. (The letters het, mem, and resh are the root letters of the Hebrew for donkey, physical matter, and clay.) I am a donkey, mother to sons who carry the bricks for building up the land. My ancestors came from the wild forest of nations, and with hard labor, with clay and with bricks, with daily toil, in the furnace of summer, enervated by long workdays, we carried baskets of soil, and piles of blocks. Handbreadth after handbreadth, brick upon brick was it built. Parched land, scorching sun, dunam after dunam.

Our donkey soul is not necessarily headed for the Mount of Mor, my donkey soul sees it from afar. Our donkey soul sees one of the mountains, for us to sit here. Our donkey soul loves the pounding of the hooves and the hammers, but not the sharpening of slaughtering knives, the glitter of swords.

Avram left me behind and went alone to cope with the slaughter knife blade. He stood alone, on his feet, and the messenger of God revealed before his eyes. Avraham, thus I read, lifted up his eyes. Avraham called the place Hashem Yir'eh - meaning both "the Lord will see" and "the Lord will fear".

 

* * *

 

The donkey-she ass accompanies the main characters like a shadow. He is there - but is inconsequential. He sees but is not seen. He participates in the story, but is not the star. The donkey was near the Akeida; the ass carries Bil'am. Achsa alights from him when she approaches Caleb, her father. The jawbone of the donkey was a weapon in the hands of Samson. The concubine of Giv'ah was carried by the donkey. Shmuel and Moshe remonstrate: Whose donkey did I confiscate? Yishai takes a donkey, bread and a skin of wine, and sends it with David. Abigail rides on the donkey, and behold, David and his men come down to meet her. And so on. A passive participant, a minor actor. Without splendor, without elegance. His behavior is earthy. He carries, is saddled, is reined. He represents simple earthiness. Reality. In contrast to the splendor of kings, golden robes, marble and purple - simplicity, routine, gray.

His look is somewhat sad, rather tired; he represents the factory worker, the peddler, the working farmer who rises early to his day's work and the seller who comes home after dark, bent beneath the burden of desolate, routine life, the drab reality.

This ass is not blind. This ass is smarter than its rider. The ass sees what is before it in all its clarity. Imagination does not distort its perception. Visions do not appear before it mid-day, not dreams in the dark of night. He does not speak with God. He is realistic. He experiences the day to day happenings.

What differentiates between the donkey of Avraham and the ass of Bil'am? The rider. The donkey is left with his earthy attributes. Avraham understands his task. Avraham and his donkey act in harmony. Bil'am is full of fury at his ass. His leg is crushed. Very unpleasant. We did not settle in the heart. He does not see that which the donkey's simplicity sees. Reality. Bil'am has an exalted task, and important assignment. He is on a sacred mission. He climbs to mountain peaks. Inflated with his own importance. His eyes cannot see. The ass has one task only - to carry him.

I am not the donkey of Avraham. I am a she-ass. Bil'am - "swallower of a nation" rides upon me, and his two boys accompany him. His boys skip on the hills. My path is not to the peak of Pe'or, not to Bamoth Ba'al. I did not aspire to the summit of Pisgah. Bil'am prods me on. Towards the ever-turning sword.

What did we do to you that you beat us three times? I see the drawn sword before me and the messenger of God confronting us. On the path through the vineyards, fence on this side, fence on the other side. His sword-wielding image stands clearly before us, like the sun at noon. The sword's blade flashes in the sunlight. The path leads us to Saul's destiny. , "I am the ass that you have been riding upon all along until this day! Have I been in the habit of doing thus to you?" Why you endanger me? And why, when I swerved from the road, did you say "If I had a sword in my hand..."

The time has come for the ass to open its mouth. That mouth which exists from the time of creation. A mouth whose echo is heard from one end of the world to the other. The time has come to open the eyes of Bil'am. To see that which every ass sees. And perhaps the she-ass is not a donkey, and Bil'am is not a magician. And the sword spins around. And perhaps on the mountain stands an Ashera, a sacred post. ‘If he was riding his donkey and the time for prayer arrived... in any case - let him remain seated and pray, because he cannot concentrate [if he stands, because he fears someone may steal his donkey]' (Berachot 30a) and let him say: Please, O Lord, open his eyes, and perhaps he will bless: "How goodly are your tents, O Yaakov, your dwelling places, O Israel".

 

 

"Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moshe" - But among the nations such a one did arise. And who was that? It was Bil'am son Be'or.

 (Sifrei, V'zot Haberacha 357)

 

A great moral is to be inferred from these words. According to this, what determines one's level is not his natural character traits, nor the talents granted him from above, not even the gift of God, the greatest of all gifts - prophecy - none of these can transform him into a tzaddik against his will, or without his own effort. Man's desire to exploit his attributes, his abilities, and even the power of prophecy granted him - his will alone will determine whether he will employ all these for a blessing or - Heaven forbid - for a curse. His free will alone will make him a tzaddik like Moshe or a rasha like Bil'am.

 (From Studies In The Book Of Bemidbar, Prof. Nechama Leibowitz z"l, p. 319)

 

Five things occurred to our ancestors on the 17^th of Tammuz... On the 17^th of Tammuz the tablets were broken and the daily offering was cancelled and the city was breached and Apostomos burned the Torah and placed an image in the sanctuary.

(Mishna Taanit 4:6)

 

"The tablets were God's work, and the writing was God's writing, incised upon the tablets." (Shemot 32)

"Before the eyes of all Israel" - His spirit moved him to smash the tablets before their eyes, as is written "I smashed them before your eyes" and The Holy one, Blessed Be He, assented, as is written (Shemot 34:a) "Which (asher) you broke" - Yasher kokacha (may your strength continue) for smashing them.

(Rashi, Devarim 34:12)

 

... Do not imagine that the Mikdash and the Mishkan are - forbid - holy in themselves. The Name, May He Be Blessed, dwells in the midst of his children, and if they behave as one who has transgressed the covenant, all holiness is removed from them, and they are like a vessel of sand which ruffians have defiled; Titus entered the Holy of Holies with a harlot and yet he was not harmed, because the holiness had been removed.

Yet more, the tablets are "the writing of the Lord"; they, too, are not inherently holy, but are such only for you, and when the bride is unfaithful under the canopy, they are considered as an earthen pot with no intrinsic sanctity, only for you who watch over them.

In summation: There is nothing holy in the world deserving of service and submission, only the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is holy in his inevitable existence, for him is glorious praise; all holinesses derive from the commandment which the Creator commanded to build a mishkan to offer sacrifices and offerings to The Name, Be He Blessed, alone.

 (Meshech Chochma, Shemot 32:19)

 

 

Readers Write:

In reaction to Shammai Leibowitz's interpretation:

 

"Love distorts the line" - So do political leanings distort commentary. It is difficult to attribute to the author of the "Meshech Chochma" your literal interpretation to the effect there is no sanctity to land at all; there are passages which explicity contradict such a position.

This forum does not permit lengthy exposition, so I will make do with one explicit passage "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground." (3:5), which, along with many other passages, indicates attribution of sanctity to earth, persons, etc. The words of the Meshech Chochma are to be understood as meaning that the sanctity of a place is "conditional sanctity", meaning that the holiness can be profaned, just as a cohen can ‘profane' his descendents by improper behavior.

Similarly, the midrash about the first murder can be understood contrary to your understanding. This holy place is worth one's sacrificing his life for it because of its sanctity. True, murder is a most heinous act, but all the same, it "can be understood" , just as we find that the blood redeemer who accidentally kills the murderer is not subject to a death penalty.

And finally, regarding your conclusions from the passage in Chronicles, "Much blood have you spilled and great wars did you wage, you shall not erect a house to my name, for much blood have you spilt on the ground before me." Perhaps your eye skipped over the words of the Pesikta D'Rav Kahana, loc. cit., which say that were David have to have built the Beit Hamikdash, it would never have been destroyed, because of David's great devotion and the spilling of his blood. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, wanted, as it were, to have the option of destroying the Temple, and therefore He prevented David from building it. Thus, your political views led you to "coerce" the passages to conform to you views

                                                                        Respectfully,

                                                                        Dr. Aryeh Bachrach

                                                                        Beit El

                                                                        Mobile Post East Binyamin

                                                                        90631

 

Response to the reaction:

 

I thank Dr. Bachrach for his remarks, but it seems that he did not understand what I was saying. In my article, I did not nullify the concepts of sanctity of place and time, which are central to the world of Judaism, but I demonstrated that it is necessary to totally separate between the idea of a holy place and the idea of sovereign rule over that place; the latter is a nationalistic-secular concept, which has no connection whatever to Jewish holiness.

Yet more: Sanctity of place is, in many ways, the exact opposite of nationalism. The holiness of such a place is expressed by the very prohibition of entering such a place, and rule by us should not be maintained. Davka the passage about the burning bush quoted by Dr. Bachrach offered incontrovertible proof: The place where the bush burned was holy, and therefore it was forbidden for Moshe to enter there; it remained outside his rule. And similarly with Mt. Sinai - its holiness is expressed through the command: "Beware of going up the mountain or touching the border of it." Because the place is holy, no signs of sovereignty may be shown.

It seems to me that the tragedy of religious Judaism in the State of Israel is the mixing up of the concepts of holiness and of nationalism, which has caused desecration of the Name, has extinguished the light of religion, and has caused needless spilling of blood. We have an obligation, first and foremost, to make total separation between holiness and nationalism. Then we will understand that what we really have here is a dispute over land, one which rational people could have resolved long ago.

Shammai Leibowitz

 

 

 

 

Editorial Board: Pinchas Leiser (Editor), Miriam Fine (Coordinator), Itzhak Frankenthal and Dr. Menachem Klein

Translation: Kadish Goldberg

This weekly publication was made possible by private donors

 

If you enjoy Shabbat Shalom, please consider contributing towards its publication and distribution.

• Hebrew edition distributed in Israel $1000
• English edition distributed via email $ 100

Issues may be dedicated in honor of an event, person, simcha, etc. Requests must be made 3-4 weeks in advance to appear in the Hebrew, 10 days in advance to appear in the English email.

Tax exempt contributions to Oz VeShalom may be made through the New Israel Fund or PEF.

Contributions should be marked as donor-advised to OzVeShalom/Netivot Shalom, Shabbat Shalom project.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE NEW ISRAEL FUND IS NO LONGER ACCEPTING DONATIONS UNDER $50. FOR DONATIONS BETWEEN $50 AND $999 THEY ARE CHARGING A $50 SERVICE CHARGE. DONATIONS ABOVE $1000 ARE CHARGED A 5% FEE.

New Israel Fund, POB 91588, Washington, DC 20090-1588, USA

New Israel Fund of Great Britain, 26 Enford Street, London W1H 2DD, Great Britain

PEF will also channel donations and provide a tax-exemptions. Donations should be sent to P.E.F. Israel Endowment Funds, Inc., 317 Madison Ave., Suite 607, New York, New York 10017 USA

 

About us:

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom is a movement dedicated to the advancement of a civil society in Israel. It is committed to promoting the ideals of tolerance, pluralism, and justice, concepts which have always been central to Jewish tradition and law.

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom shares a deep attachment to the land of Israel and it no less views peace as a central religious value. It believes that Jews have both the religious and the national obligation to support the pursuit of peace. It maintains that Jewish law clearly requires us to create a fair and just society, and that co-existence between Jews and Arabs is not an option but an imperative.

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom's programs include both educational and protest activities. Seminars, lectures, workshops, conferences and weekend programs are held for students, educators and families, as well as joint seminars for Jews, Israeli Arabs and Palestinians. Protest activities focus on issues of human rights, co-existence between Jews and Arabs, and responses to issues of particular religious relevance.

9,000 copies of a 4 page peace oriented commentary on the weekly Torah reading are written and published by Oz VeShalom/Netivot Shalom and they are distributed to over 350 synagogues in Israel and are sent overseas via email. Our web site is www.netivot-shalom.org.il

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom's educational forums draw people of different backgrounds, secular and religious, who are keen to deepen their Jewish knowledge and to hear an alternative religious standpoint on the subjects of peace and social issues.

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom fills an ideological vacuum in Israel's society. Committed both to Jewish tradition and observance, and to the furthering of peace and coexistence, the movement is in a unique position to engage in dialogue with the secular left and the religious right, with Israeli Arabs and with Palestinians

Our activities are funded by donations and volunteer efforts.