THIS IS THE RITUAL LAW THAT THE LORD HAS COMMANDED: INSTRUCT THE ISRAELITE PEOPLE TO BRING YOU A RED COW WITHOUT BLEMISH, IN WHICH THERE IS NO DEFECT AND ON WHICH NO YOLK HAS BEEN LAID.

(Bamidbar 19:2)

 

Respect for the Dead, the Impurity of the Dead, and the Cult of the Dead and their Graves

Or a human bone or a grave - The Torah is stricter regarding the impurity associated with a dead human than it is regarding any other form of ritual impurity, making it the "father of the fathers of impurity," in order to keep people from remaining with their beloved departed, which would overly increase their distress; or in order to keep them from trying to communicate with the dead and practice necromancy; and also out of respect for human dignity, in order to keep people from using the skin from corpses to make mats and water-bags and from using human bone to make implements. Our Sages said: Why is human skin unclean? So that one will not make mats out of the skin of his father and mother. Why are human bones unclean? So that one will not make a spoon out of the bones of his father and mother. (Mishnah Yadayim 4:6) The more they are beloved - the greater their impurity.

(Hizkuni Bamidbar 19:16)

 

...It may be said that if the intention of the Torah was to distance the cult of the dead from Israel, all of the halakha's rules and customs of burial were reasonably successful. However, it did not succeed in uprooting supplication of the dead. 3,000 years after the Torah explicitly prohibited it, the disgusting cult of holy graves remains alive, people still make pilgrimage to prostrate themselves upon them, and the accompanying pagan obscenities are still practiced. It would seem that these pagan rites stem from the hidden fears that people harbor towards death and the dead. Despite the Torah's stiff opposition, to this very day it has not managed to uproot such practices from among the masses.

(Y. Leibowitz, Sheva Shanim Shel Sihot al Parashat Hashavua, pg.700)

 

 

And Aaron was silent

Nahem Ilan

How did Aaron react to the sudden deaths of his two sons after they offered incense to God? The answer is seemingly clear. The verse plainly states: And Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord meant when He said: Through those near to Me I show myself holy, and gain glory before all the people, and Aaron was silent (Vayikra 10:3). It is customary to explain that Aaron was silent, making him especially praiseworthy. Indeed, most commentators of all stripes - literalists, darshanim, and mystics - share this view. Therefore, it behooves us to take note of an entirely different interpretation of the word vayidom [and he was silent].

Researchers have already expressed their opinions regarding the meanings of the verb-roots DW"M, DM"H, and DM"M in biblical and rabbinical Hebrew. The amount of attention that has been directed to this question demonstrates how complicated it is. Moshe Zeidel mentions the translations "spoke" and "sang" along with "was silent." Yehezkel Kutcher claims that DM"M can mean both "whisper" and "be silent" in Hebrew as well as in Aramaic. He also mentions "to lament in a voice of DMM"H; "to groan" in Ugaritic and Acadian. Elsewhere he translates DMM"H as "majesty." Shaul Lieberman mentioned the translation "whispered." Shaul Efrayim Levinshtom and Yehoshua Blau translate it as "finished, ended, was silent" (as well as "struck dumb with ear" and "calmed down"), "was destroyed", "spoke in a soft voice", "mourned", "wailed," "cried"; and they mentioned Ugaritic and Acadian parallels as well.

Rashi on Sotah 27a offers a definition of the word domah: "Praise [kalsah] and speech, as it says in Nidah (66a) ‘The town's evil gossip [dimat ireikh] has risen against you' And kalsah means exaggerated speech, so that it can be either praise or defamation, as when it is said: shemekalsim oto."

The Torat Hayyim edition of the humash was produced by Mossad HaRav Kook fifteen years ago, and it gives Onkelos's gloss on the words vayidom Aharon as and Aaron praised [veshibe'ah]. This differs from other editions of Onkelos, including those of Berliner and Sperber. The other Aramaic targums - Naofiti 1 and that attributed to Yonatan ben Uziel - use the expression "and he was silent." The Torat Hayyim version seems to be based upon the Yemenite Taj (R. Saddia Gaon's translation of the Torah). I shall clarify the circulation of this version and its peculiarity to the Yemenite tradition.

Rabbi Netanel ben Yeshayahu's (1329) midrash, Me'or Ha'Afelah attributes the translation "praised" to the Targum Yerushalmi. Here is a translation R. Netanel's Arabic:

Vayidom Aharon: - Targum Yerushalmi translates it veshibe'ah Aharon [and Aaron praised]; a kind of still, small voice. That is to say that he thanked God for what had transpired. See his expression, and they died before the Lord (Vayikra 10:2), and other similar instances. That was the cause of their death - breaking through to Divine matters which were beyond their comprehension, making them deserving of death by the divine word. (Pg. 315)

According to this interpretation, Aaron did not remain silent. Not only that; despite the terrible emotional difficulty involved, he still found the strength to thank God for the manner in which He killed his two sons. R. Amram Korah, the last Chief Rabbi of Yemen in the 20^th century, mentions this interpretation in his Neveh Shalom, a commentary on R. Saadiah Gaon's Tafsir (completed in the year 1939), printed in the margins of the Taj.

However, the Yemenite texts I have mention do not really hold the key to the preservation of the special translation tradition veshibe'ah. Rather, we shall find it in the RaMBaM's commentary to the teaching of Pirkei Avot, "From where do we know that someone who sits and instructs is considered as if he observed the Torah? For it says, Let him sit alone vayidom when He has natal alav [laid it upon him] (Lamentations 3:28) (Avot 3:3). The RaMBaM writes:

Vayidom means the hidden speech, as in [kol] demamah dakah - a still small [voice] that is the basis for translating vayidom Aharon as veshibe'ah Aharon. The proof for it is that he was like someone who had taken all of the Torah, the expression natal alav means it is as if the entire Torah was just for him alone.

As I have said, there are two traditions regarding Onkelos's translation of the word vayidom - "was silent" and "praised." On the one hand, "praised" seems preferable because it is "more difficult," as R. Yihye Korah, the father of Amram Korah, pointed out in his commentary, Marpe Lashon on Onkelos. As usual, the more "difficult" version is usually considered to be preferred in terms of textual criticism and comparison with other variants. On the other hand, it must be remembered that it appears quite late and only in a small number of texts. During the middle ages, both "was silent and "praised" flourished. Only Kutcher mentions the definition "grandeur" for the word demamah in connection with the root DM"M (and to the related roots, DW"M and DM"H), and it is quite uncommon and not equivalent to "praised." Where did the variant "praised" come from?

The data I have collected here suggest that the RaMBAM played a crucial role in transmitting this tradition. It appears mostly in Spain from the end of the thirteenth century (in the commentary of R. Yisrael Yisraeli of Toledo on Avot, and in Anshlomoh Ashtruk of Toledo's Midrashei Torah), in Provence (the commentary of R. Menahem HaMeiri), Italy (R. Ovadia MeBartenuro's commentary), North Africa (R. Moshe Alashkar's commentary, Markevet HaMishnah), and in the Land of Israel (R. Shmuel di Ozida's commentary, Midrash Shemuel), for the most part in commentaries on Avot, but also in relation to the scriptural passage in question. The common denominator of all these scholars is that they all knew the RaMBaM's commentary and made use of it. There is also an argument from silence; none of them brought in evidence Rashi's above-mentioned comments on Sotah. The many citations and quotations do not point to an independent and widely published alternative tradition, but rather they simply repeat the RaMBaM's statement.

The RaMBaM's comment is brief, and he failed to explain whether his interpretation was founded upon philological or theological considerations, and to what extent he deemed it traditional or innovative. It seems easy to answer the second question. Since he based his interpretation upon the Targum, it would seem that even if the RaMBaM believed there was something original in his comment, it was still based upon a source which had existed for hundreds of years. If it was an innovation, it was innovative in reviving an abandoned tradition.

Why did he need this version of the Targum? I cautiously suggest that the motivation is not purely philological; as far as that goes, the first part of his comment would have sufficed, that the meaning of vayidom is "whispered" or "murmured." The evidence of the Targum adds an additional dimension to the philological explanation, as is pointed out by some of the scholars who quoted the RaMBaM.

The version "and he praised" sets up an alternative view of Aaron's response to his sons' deaths. It implies that he quietly spoke murmured words of praise and thanks for the manner of their death. Even in his hour of distress, Aaron understood that this was no regular death, but rather something special. Indeed, he was immediately assured that this was so by his brother Moses, who brought him God's word that Through those near to Me I show myself holy, and gain glory before all the people. God Himself found an aspect of holiness and honor in the unique manner of Nadav and Avihu's deaths.

The expression "and he praised" does not merely teach us something about variant readings of Targum Okelos. More importantly, it tells us something about the different ideas and views associated with it. The two responses attributed to Aaron as textual variants also represent two different types of response in psychological and ethical terms.

Prof. Nahem Illan teaches in the MA program in Jewish Studies at the Lander Institute in Jerusalem (attached to Touro College).

 

 

Reality follows its Usual Course - a Person's Fate is not Indicative of his Moral Worth

After the death of Aaron's two sons - Rabbi Shimon opened his discourse: For the same fate is in store for all: for the righteous and for the wicked[; for the good and for the pure, and for the impure; for him who sacrifices and for him who does not; for the good and for the sinner...] (Kohelet 9:2). For the righteous - that is Noah, who is called a righteous man (Bereishit 6). R. Yohanan said in the name of R. Eliezer, the son of R. Yossi HaGalili: When Noah exited the ark, the lion bit him and broke him, and he was no longer fit to offer sacrifices, so his son Shem sacrificed in his stead.

For the wicked - That is Pharaoh Nekho, when he tried to sit on Solomon's throne he did not know its ways, and a lion bit him and broke him - they both died with limps, as it is written: For the same fate is in store for all: for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good and for the pure, and for the impure.

For the good: That is Moses, for it is said and she saw that he was good (Shemot 2); R. Meir says that he was born circumcised.

And for the pure - That is Aaron, who was occupied with the purification of Israel, for it is said: He walked with Me in peace and integrity, returning many from sin (Malachi 2)

And for the impure - Those are the spies; these praised the Land of Israel and those degraded it, neither group entered the Land, as it is written, for the good and for the pure, and for the impure...

For the good and for the sinner - the good - that is David, for it is said, and he sent and brought him, and he was good to look at (I Samuel 16). R. Yitzhak said: Good to look at for halakhah, anyone who looked at him would recall the material he had studied.

For the sinner - That is Nebuchadnezzar, for it is said, redeem your sins (Daniel 4:24), this one built the Temple and reigned forty years, that one destroyed the Temple and reigned for forty years - that is one fate... Another opinion: One fate - That is Aaron's sons, for regarding them it is written, in peace and integrity (Malachi 2).

For the wicked - That is Korah's congregation, of whom it is written move away. These entered to sacrifice in controversy and ended up being burned, while those entered to sacrifice without controversy and also ended up being burned.

(Vayikra Rabbah 20)

 

The Limitations set by the Rules of Impurity of Animals and the Laws of Slaughter are Steps to a Higher Spiritual Ascent

This is the animal that you shall eat: It starts by permitting those which may be eaten, as we find with [the lists of] fish and grasshoppers, implying that it would be proper not to eat living things at all, and so it had to begin: Speak unto the Israelites and say: "This is the animal that you shall eat" since the granting of permission is itself the innovation there.

(From the HaTaM Sofer's commentary, Torat Moshe, as quoted by

Prof. Nehamah Leibowitz in her Iyyunim Hadashim BeSefer Vayikra, pg. 127)

 

A Torah scholar, a spiritual man, and at the same time he is regularly employed in the slaughter of animals and the taking of their souls - this does not agree with the heart's pure emotions. Even though slaughter and the eating of animals in general must still be practiced in the world, in any case it would be preferable that this work be performed by people who have not yet achieved emotional refinement. Learned, ethical people, who are knowledgeable and religious, are appropriate to serve as overseers who guarantee that animals not be killed in a barbaric fashion, and that the whole matter of flesh-eating should be infused with a noble light which may, in its own time, light up the world. This is truly contained in the laws of slaughter and forbidden meat.

(From Rav Kook ztz"l's Igrot HaRAYaH, vol. 1, letter 178)

 

Forbidden Foods: the Chicken and the Egg

The section before us contains no hint of the notion that the Jewish People should observe these laws in order to isolate itself from the other nations; to the contrary, here it says the opposite, that since God separated Israel from the other nations they are required to observe the commandments given them by God which came to distinguish between the clean and unclean animals, just as they are responsible - for the same reason - to observe all of the other commandments given to them. Notice that while the Torah offers clear warnings to be careful of Egyptian practices and customs (Vayikra 18:3), it does not do so in order to appear externally different from them, but rather because the practices of those nations were abominable and their customs disgusting (VaYikra 18:24, passim, 20:23, passim)

 (From R. David Hoffman's commentary on Vayikra, as quoted in

Prof. Nehamah Leibowitz in her Iyyunim Hadashim BeSefer Vayikra)

 

 

 

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