BECAUSE OF THIS OUR HEARTS ARE SICK, BECAUSE OF THESE OUR EYES ARE DIMMED: BECAUSE OF MOUNT ZION, WHICH LIES DESOLATE; FOXES PROWL OVER IT.

(Eikhah 5:17-18)

 

Another time, they were going up to Jerusalem. When they reached Mt. Scopus, they tore their clothing. When they arrived at the Temple Mount, they saw a fox running out of the area where the Holy of Holies had been. They began to cry, while Rabbi Akiva laughed.

They said to him, "Why are you laughing?"

He responded, "Why are you crying?"

They said to him: "If from the place about which it is written, And the stranger who enters there, shall die, now foxes prowl over it, should we not cry?"

He said to him: "For that very reason, I am laughing. As it is written, I will bring two reliable witnesses regarding my People, Uriah the Priest and Zachariah son of Yevarech'yahu (Isaiah 8:2). What does Uriah have to do with Zachariah? Uriah lived in the time of the First Temple, and Zachariah in the time of the Second Temple! But Scripture makes Zachariah's prophecy dependent on Uriah's. By Uriah it is written, Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed under like a field. (Micah 3:12). In Zachariah it is written, Yet again, elderly men and elderly women will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, (Zachariah 8:4). Until I saw the fulfillment of Uriah's prophecy, I had some doubt as to whether Zachariah's prophecy would come true. Now that I have seen Uriah's prophecy fulfilled, I know that Zachariah's prophecy will also be fulfilled."

They spoke to him in these words, "Akiva, you have comforted us. Akiva, you have comforted us."

(Makot 24b)

 

 

What is the Difference Between the Hakham [wise] and the Navon [understanding]?

Nahem Ilan

The passage describing the appointment of judges that appears at the beginning of parashat Devarim is worthy of study from a variety of viewpoints. Here I shall comment on four of them.

A) The passage dealing with the appointment of judges is of tremendous importance because - truth be told - it deals not only with the judiciary branch of government, but also with the executive as well. One must remember that it belongs to a period that was not concerned with the separation of powers, and anyone chosen to lead wore two or three hats: he was the political leader, the judge, and also the military commander. The Book of Judges offers irreproachable testimony to this phenomenon; it could have just as well been called "The Book of Commanders." As a result, the virtues that Moses seeks in judges are the virtues to be sought in leaders in general.

B) Already at first glance the differences between the virtues sought here for the selection of judges are different from those proposed by Yitro in the book of Shemot. These differences invite a variety of interpretations - from the "Documentary Hypothesis" which attributes the passages to different sources, through the effort to harmonize the two passages by showing that their differences are a matter of rhetoric rather than content, and ending with the RaMBaM's solution, which simply combines the four virtues mentioned in Shemot with the three mentioned in Devarim into a list of the seven virtues of the ideal judge - comprised of four moral virtues and three intellectual virtues. It is precisely because the two passages invite multiple interpretations that it seems to me of vital importance to remark on the interpretive act itself, which simultaneously teaches us something about the biblical text and about the exegete's own world, his assumptions, his methods of argument, and the literary and normative form he gives these passages. In other words: every interpretation does not merely reveal something in the biblical text; it first and foremost reveals something about the world of the exegete, who, in a reflective process, roots his own views in scriptural foundations.

C) Two of the three virtues listed in parashat Devarim are wise and understanding. These two are synonyms in everyday parlance, but they should not be thought of in that way when Scripture is being explained. The common view amongst exegetes since the days of the Tannaim to the present is that there are no redundant words in the Torah. In any event, one must strive to uncover the difference between the hakham [wise man] and the navon [man of understanding]. On this point, the midrash halakhah Sifrei states:

That is what Arius asked Rabbi Yosi. He said to him: "Who is hakham?" He told him: "He who observes that which he has learned." Should not such a person be called navon? He told him: "It already said nevonim. What is the difference between the hakham and the navon? The hakham is like a wealthy money changer - he looks at what is brought to him, and if nothing is brought to him to see, he takes out his own [coins] and looks at them. The navon is like a poor moneychanger - he looks at what is brought to him, but if nothing is brought to him, he sits in perplexity. (Sifrei Devarim, Finkelstein edition, New York, 529, section 13, pg. 22)

According to this parable, the hakham excels in the knowledge he has acquired - "Sinai" as the Sages put it - and that knowledge inspires his creativity even when there is no outside challenge to stimulate him and demand that he clarify various aspects of his Torah knowledge. The navon, in contrast, is blessed solely with impressive analytic and deductive skills - an "up-rooter of mountains," as the Sages would say - and as such he requires an outside "point of support" that allows him to exercise his talents. Without outside stimulus, he "sits in perplexity," as the parable puts it. It is clear that Rabbi Yosi prefers the hakham to the understanding man.

However, when verse bring yourselves men who are wise, understanding, and famous to your tribes is explicated in the end of the tractate Eruvin (100b), it is implied that the navon is greater than the hakham. What is this - a corrupt text? A lack of understanding? A scribal error? A slip of the pen? Certainly not! Here we find an expression of a disagreement in principle between the Sages of the Land of Israel and those of Babylonia regarding the character of the ideal scholar. In the Land of Israel they valued systematic study, and the knowledge and erudition it brings, while in Babylonia they placed greater value on argumentative skills and the scholar's sharp intellect. Each region brought its own worldview to the interpretation of the text. When the sages of the Land of Israel and of Babylonia wanted to explain the difference between wisdom and understanding, they did not need lexical and semantic clarifications. They based their interpretations on their own value-scales, which they introduced into the biblical text. That is the classical midrashic method. The opposing views held by the Sages living in different places can be found in their opposing interpretations of the difference between hakham and navon.

D) Continuing to read the verse, we find Moses saying and I shall appoint them as your heads (1:13). Rashi there brings a quotation from the Talmud (Sanhedrin) that is very close to the midrash Sifrei's explication of the verse. Since Rashi's version is more accessible and better known than that of the midrash, I will bring the Sifrei's formulation:

Do not read va'asimem be'rosheikhem [and I shall appoint them as your heads] but rather va'ashamam berosheikhem [and their guilt on your heads]. This teaches us that Israel's guilt hangs on the heads of its judges. And so He said: Son of man, I appointed you a watchman for the House of Israel; and whenever you hear a message from My mouth, you must transmit My warning to them. When I say to the wicked, etc. but if you have warned the wicked man, etc. (Ezekiel 33:7-9)

This derasha depends upon the fact that the biblical text is not vocalized, and that the letter shin is more often read as sh than as s, allowing for the word va'asimem to be read va'ashimam. However, here again it is clear that the derasha does not derive from a style of reading but rather from a position of principle; it does not derive from the text but rather is brought to it: the leader is responsible not only for his own deeds and failures, but also for the deeds and failures of those he leads. It turns out that the "test of results" that serves in our day as a strict and demanding criterion of leaders and their actions is only part of an even stricter criterion set up by the Sages to measure the performance of leaders. They consider not only the deeds and performance of the leader himself, but also that of those who follow and obey him. A leader who makes great efforts - to no affect upon the public's behavior - fails the Sage's test of results.

Nearing the conclusion of this article I would like to point out that if one carefully inspects the Torah's text, one will discover that the word va'asimem is written out in a full spelling, i.e. with a letter yod between the shin and the mem. I am not saying anything new here. Medieval scholars already noticed and commented upon this. It would seem that since the spelling is full, the derasha has lost its textual basis [the alternative reading, va'ashimam, is no longer available]. But that is not true. The derasha endures, and its critique of leadership still echoes on. And what of its scriptural grounding? Regarding that it can be said that they had a variant spelling, and the change of spelling has no effect on the meaning of the verse, so that the variation is entirely insignificant; and even if they did not read the Torah that way, the idea is still good and important. Few read and study the Sifrei, many more study the tractate Sanhedrin; yet even more know Rashi. Even if what he says about va'asimem/ va'ashimam has no basis in the canonical text, it is well rooted in tradition, and it continues to inform an awareness that holds leaders to a very strict moral standard.

Prof. Nahem Ilan teaches in the MA in Jewish Studies program of Lander College in Jerusalem (associated with Touro College).

 

 

Torah's Transcription into Seventy Languages is an Expression of its Universal Message

On the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this Teaching

(Devarim 1:5)

 

To expound this teaching -- he explained it in seventy tongues.

(Rashi)

 

And on those stones you shall inscribe every word of this Teaching, explained well.

(Devarim 27:8)

 

Explained well - in seventy tongues.

(Rashi Devarim 27:8)

 

In the Tractate Sotah (32a), the Sages elucidate explain well in line with Moses undertook to expound this Teaching. Explained well, then, teaches that the words must be elucidated and understandable. From this they learned that that copy of the Torah included translation so as to facilitate comprehension by the nations of the world. Israel is far from the particularism attributed it by others; from the outset it saw its mission as bringing spiritual and moral salvation to all humanity. With the entry of the Torah into the Land of Israel, future redemption of both Israel and all nations commenced. Yet more. The Talmud (ibid.) teaches that this translation included the reason for the expulsion of the Canaanites tribes: lest they teach you to do all that... - this reason, too, was brought to the attention of these nations, and was repeated and explained in this copy of the Torah, so that this be known and understood by all the nations of Canaan; they can expect expulsion if they persist in their views and their idolatrous ways. If, however, they return to observance of the general commandments of humanity, there is no reason to deny them the right to dwell in the land.

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch, Devarim 27:8)

 

Jerusalem has sinned - Israel's Uniqueness as a Chosen People

Commenting on the passage in Lamentations - Jerusalem has sinned, therefore she became an outcast, the Midrash asks: "Jerusalem has sinned - do not other nations of the world sin?! But even though they sin, it is nothing, but Israel sinned and was punished." This indicates that the responsibility weighing upon the Jewish people is greater than that of the nations; when the nations sin, they sometimes are successful despite their sins, whereas for the Jewish people this is not so; iniquity and evil - which do not weaken the foundations of other nations' existence - have the potential to undermine the existence of the Jewish people. This is the uniqueness of the Jewish people which finds expression is the well-known phrase "You have chosen us from all the peoples," a choice which is the acceptance of obligations and their fulfillment alone; this alone is its z'chut - its privilege - as the people of God.

(From Y. Leibowitz, Sihot al Hagei Yisrael u'Mo'adav, p. 138)

 

 

 

 

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