THESE ARE THE COMMANDMENTS THAT THE LORD GAVE MOSHE

 FOR THE ISRAELITE PEOPLE ON MOUNT SINAI.

(Vayikra 27:34)

THESE ARE THE LAWS, RULES AND INSTRUCTIONS

THAT THE LORD ESTABLISHED, THROUGH MOSHE ON MOUNT SINAI, BETWEEN HIMSELF AND THE ISRAELITE PEOPLE.

(Vayikra 26:33)

THESE ARE THE COMMANDMENTS AND REGULATIONS

THAT THE LORD ENJOINED UPON THE ISRAELITES,

THROUGH MOSHE, ON THE STEPPES OF MOAB,

AT THE JORDAN NEAR JERICHO.

(Bemidbar 36:13)

 

Revelation, Tradition, and Innovation

 

"All the instruction that I enjoin upon you this day" -... Scripture, Mishnah, Halacha, Talmud, Tosafot, and Aggadot, and even that which a senior disciple will say before his mentor in the future, were all given Halacha to Moshe at Sinai.

At the conclusion of the Book of Bemidbar, we read: "These are the commandments and regulations that the Lord enjoined upon the Israelites, through Moshe, on the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho." [Elsewhere] we explained the difference between that verse and the verse at the conclusion of the Book of Vayikra, "These are the commandments which God gave Moshe for the Children of Israel at Mount Sinai". At Mt. Sinai, Israel was not yet actually granted the power to innovate; this came later, upon their arrival at the steppes of Moab, as is explained at the beginning the Book of Devarim. But now the question arises - why does it say here "the commandments and regulations"? In truth, even at Mt. Sinai it was already known that when the Tochecha (the Admonition) would materialize and Israel would be in exile, the main sources of Israel's survival would be the study of the Oral Law and innovation in every generation, and this is the meaning of "the Lord established between Himself and the Israelite people on Mt. Sinai...". Then, at the Sinai covenant, God gave a precious gift - laws and regulations which entail His providence, and coming closer to Him will be achieved as we, too, innovate new laws, as it was then, by the hands of Moshe...

( HaEmek Dvar Vayikra 26:46)

 

 

"By the hand of Moshe to the Children of Israel" - the term "By the hand of Moshe" refers to words of Kabbalah - the received wisdom - i.e., that He did not speak with him face to face, but through the abundance of divine assistance, as we have written in the past.

(Ibid, BMidbar 37:13)

 

 

"YOU SHALL FLEE THOUGH NONE PURSUE"

IMAGINED ENEMIES AND REAL ONES

Debbie Weissman

I.

Among the curses mentioned in the Admonition ("Tochecha") in Parashat Behukotay, is "And you shall flee though none pursue". This paranoid running away is considered to be a curse. A well-known rule, however, says that even one who suffers from paranoia can have real enemies. There are Jews who look for the anti-Semite in every non-Jew. Notwithstanding, anti-Semitism is a historical and actual phenomenon, and today - no less than in earlier generations - Jews must stand on guard against our enemies.

Despite this, I remember a quip by Abba Eban, z"l: "The Jews are not willing to take 'yes' for an answer." Even when members of other religions extend a hand of true friendship, many Jews react with suspicion. "Respect him but suspect him" - as advised by our Sages - would seem to indicate that we have to respect our fellow before we suspect him.

My experience of the past 25 years has shown that there are considerable numbers of lovers of Israel, mostly Christians. I am not referring to those Christians who love us because they see in us potential converts to Christianity.

The Christian churches which were, in the past, a major source of anti-Semitism, are in the vanguard of the struggle against it. Today the source has moved to the world of Muslim fundamentalism.

 

II.

Approximately 50 years ago, Prof. Avraham Yehoshua Heschel wrote: "Today Judaism is the least known religion." (Heaven On Earth in the Hebrew edition, translated by Pinchas Peli, P. 88) This may still be case, considering that most of the world's population lives in the Third World, in areas devoid of Jewish communities. For me it was a special privilege to represent Judaism before people for whom I was the first Jew they had ever met. I was privileged to cope with many stereotypes and prejudices. I was able to open the eyes of a certain group, composed mostly of clergy from Africa and Asia, to the fact that the "God of the Old Testament" is not an angry and cruel god. I showed them the "Shelosh Esreh Middot" - the Thirteen Attributes (Shemot 34:5-7), emphasizing that this is the main motif of the Days of Awe. The group was astounded at this revelation. I often have to deal with the imaginary polarity between "religion of love" and "religion of law." To illustrate, I make use of an article by Joseph Gausfield, who wrote that tradition and modernity are "misplaced polarities" (Joseph Gusfield, "Tradition and Modernity: Misplaced Polarities in the Study of Social Change," AJS, January 1967). Law and love are also imaginary poles.

One of the most interesting aspects of the interfaith meetings which I attend is the exposure of non-Jews to our literature, and - in particular - to our learning methodology. Most participants are not proficient at close reading of Biblical texts. They are fascinated, for example, by midrashic methods. I am a regular participant in a Yerushalayim dialogue group which meets semi-annually with Sisters of Zion in the Ein Karem monastery. The Christian members of the group have adopted the method of text study in chavruta - in duos - including in study of their holy scriptures. They view this method as a gift that they received from us.

Of course, not all Christian denominations are of a single cast. My experience indicates that the two churches which have taken the biggest steps towards reconciliation with Judaism and the Jewish people are the Catholics and Lutherans. The dialogue and the reconciliation are accompanied by remorse over the past, shame over the Christian roots of the Shoah, and - in many cases - regret over their silence in the face of the Shoah. In my opinion we should welcome 'baalei teshuva' - penitents - such as these, in keeping with the rule "He who confesses and gives them up will find mercy". Some years ago, a group of about 150 rabbis and Jewish scholars of all streams, mainly from North America, signed a document titled "Speak Truth". This paper constituted a Jewish reaction to changes within the Catholic Church which took place since the (second) Vatican Council in the 30's - changes far-reaching in attitudes, in declarations, and even in their liturgy. The climax was reached with the visit of the Pope to the State of Israel, which had received Vatican recognition a few years earlier. The authors of the document reached the conclusion that the organized Jewish community must respond positively to these developments. The first Israel meeting on the document took place in Yerushalayim in the beginning of 2002.

Throughout history, the Christians argued that the 'New Testament' came to replace the 'Old Testament', the covenant between the Jewish people and The Holy One, Blessed Be He. This approach taught that the suffering of the Jewish people was a punishment for their refusal to accept the truth of Jesus and his message. Today, central Lutheran theologians, especially in Germany and Sweden, are seeking to negate this approach. They claim that the Jewish covenant with The Holy One, Blessed Be He, never expired, but it continues to be valid. They believe that all attempts to convert Jews should cease, that Jews should be respected, that they should be learned from, and be engaged in dialogue, in a spirit of mutual respect (See, for example: A Shift in Jewish-Lutheran Relations?, LWF, 2002). Without question, the State of Israel plays a central role in this subject - for better and for worse. My friend, the author and journalist Yossi Klein Halevi, maintains that because of Zionism and the establishment of the State, Jews are able to relate to other religions from a position of equality, and this deeply influences the nature of he interfaith dialogue. (I heartily recommend reading his book: At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden (2001 Published by William Morrow) in which he describes 'spiritual encounters' with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land).

The establishment of the State three years after the Shoah presented a great challenge to Christian theology, which saw the Church as the historical replacement of the Jewish people. Many Christians - not only fundamentalists - see a connection between the accomplishments of the State, and the Biblical prophesies of ingathering of the exiles and the flowering of the wilderness. There is also general appreciation of the Israeli government's preservation of holy sites and of freedom of worship for different groups. Together with this, Israel's problems impede the dialogue, especially with regards to violation of the Palestinian human rights.

Learning about 'the other' can also be learning about ourselves, and can contribute to our self-understanding. I would say this is especially true with regard to the three "Sons of Avraham" faiths - Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is most important that Christians study the Jewish roots of their religion. But it is also important for us, because early Christianity was in great measure "the path we did not take", i.e., an alternative to Rabbinic Judaism. Learning about Christianity illuminates much of our culture during the first and second centuries of the Common Era. Islam contains many elements derived from Judaism, plus elements which developed as a conscious severance from Judaism (and the converse is also true) (As I was taught by Eli Stern, lecturer at the Hebrew University.). These three religions, with historic roots in the same canon and the same region, maintained mutual relations, with mutual influences, through many periods.

In my opinion, the most important element of learning about the other, in dialogue and in encounter, is the recognition of the other as a human being. The recognition that the other is a person like ourselves is the first step towards establishing an attitude of empathy. We begin to communicate with him on a human plane, out of mutual respect. This way it becomes possible to halt the processes of demonization and to return to humanization. I hope that such a process will contribute, first and foremost, to cessation of bloodshed by all parties. But the objective is to progress beyond cessation of violence towards cooperation in achievement of social goal of peace and justice. All religions carry important messages of individual and social perfection. If only we could learn to work together in these areas.

 

III

Interfaith contacts strengthen the need for re-thinking concepts such as "the election of the Jewish people" and "the Chosen People". I find the approach of the late Prof. Jacob Agus to be quite reasonable:

"As a component of faith, the feeling of being 'covenanted' should be generalized; every person should find a vocation and dedicate himself to it. So, too, the pride of belonging to a historic people should be universalized. All men (sic! - DW) should take pride in the noble achievements of their respective peoples, scrutinize their national feelings, and guard against their collective weaknesses, even as we Jews are bidden to do."

I believe that the history of the Jewish people is unique. Few are the nations whose narrative can offer a history and geography so broad as ours. Our complex amalgam of religion and nationality, the experience of 2000 years of exile, the intensity of the suffering and the persecutions which reached their peak - or, more correctly, their nadir - in the Shoah, and, together with all this, the rebirth of the State of Israel and Hebrew language and culture, and the ingathering of the exiles - all these point to a unique legacy. But this must not justify feelings of superiority. We must nurture a balance between the particularistic and the universalistic components of our culture and our identity; the achievement of this balance should set us up as an example for others. We must create a common front with believers of all religions, and even with non-believers, to fight against anti-Semitism, racism, violence, social and economic injustice, and other forms of oppression of man. These are, to my way of thinking, the real curse of humanity in our times.

Debbie Weissman directs the Kerem Institute for Humanistic-Jewish Education, and is a member of Kehillat Yedidya in Yerushalayim.

 

 

 

The Laws of the Torah Were Intended to Mold a More Ethical Person, Lest He Be Draw by His Evil Inclination

... It appears to me that with "the thing vowed and its substitute shall both be holy", as with "and if he who has consecrated his house wishes to redeem it, he must add one-fifth to the sum at which it was assessed, and it shall be his" - the Torah understood man's deepest thoughts and some of his evil inclination, for man's nature tends to increase of his possessions and safeguarding of his property, and even though he made a vow and consecrated he is liable to retract and redeem for less than real value.

The Torah ruled that if one redeems for himself, he is to add a fifth, and he consecrated the body of an animal, he is liable to regret and since cannot redeem such an animal, he might replace it with a less valuable animal, and if you permit him to exchange bad for better, he may exchange good for worse, saying "It's good". Therefore the Torah forbade exchange, and if he should so exchange he is to be fined as is written, ""the thing vowed and its substitute shall both be holy". All these are in order that one rule over his inclination and correct his ideas, and most of the Torah's regulations are but counsel from afar, from the Master of Counsel, for perfection of ideas and the straightening of acts. And so it is written "Indeed, I wrote down for you a threefold lore, Wise counsel, To let you know truly reliable words, That you may give a faithful reply to him who sent you."

 (Mishneh Torah, Rambam, Laws of Substitution 4:13)

 

Historical Processes and the Vision of the End of Days

Prior to the coming of the Messiah, falsehood will rule the world, and this is a major sign of these times that our salvation is close, and therefore falsehood gains much strength and power, even amongst people whose vocation is the search for truth. Every man is need of great reinforcement, lest he fall into the trap of falsehood... and one who is ensnared in this trap and falsehood rules his personality is to be much pitied.

 (Shem MiShemuel, Behukotai, p. 368)

 

All the days of The World to Come, will be entirely feasting and drinking, joy and holiday, rejoicing and thanksgiving, happiness, joy and laughing, praise and benediction, tranquility and security, life without sorrow, good days without grief and years without misfortune and without distress, without the Evil Inclination and the Angel of Death, without fear and without trembling, without quarrel, without trials, without crying, without alarm, without war, without controversy, for there will be peace throughout the world, as is written (Psalms 37:11) "The lowly shall inherit the land, and delight in abundant well-being"... From where do we know [that the end of days will be marked by] no war and controversy? For it is written, (Hoshea 2:20) "And I will banish bow, sword and war from the land', [And from where do we know that] all inhabitants of the world will dwell in peace? It is written (Vayikra 26:6), "I will grant peace in the land".

(Batei Midrashot, Midrash Otiyot D'Rabbi Akiva (version II), 2)

 

 

 

 

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