WHEN YOU BESIEGE A CITY FOR MANY DAYS TO WAGE WAR AGAINST IT TO CAPTURE IT, YOU SHALL NOT DESTROY ITS TREES BY WIELDING AN AX AGAINST THEM, FOR YOU MAY EAT FROM IT, BUT YOU SHALL NOT CUT IT DOWN. IS THE TREE OF THE FIELD A MAN, TO GO INTO THE SIEGE BEFORE YOU?

(Devarim 20:19)

 

For you may eat from it, but you shall not cut it down. Is the tree of the field a man - That the tree of the field gives life to man [translator's note: Ibn Ezra does not understand this passage as a rhetorical question, making it the tree of the field is a man]. This is similar to the verse, For he destroys the soul (Devarim 24:6), for he destroys that which sustains the soul. You shall not cut it down - this goes together with [the phrase] to go into the siege before you. You shall not destroy fruit trees which give life to man, you are allowed only to eat from them, and you are forbidden to destroy them as part of the imposition of a siege upon the city. The proof that this interpretation is correct is the verse and you cut down [trees] and built a siege.

(Ibn Ezra Devarim ad loc)

 

for you may eat from it, but you shall not cut it down - Clericus and HaKorem interpret it thus: Do not cut it down, for perhaps you may need it if the siege takes many days and the soldiers will want for food and they will need to eat the fruit of the trees. Don Yitzhak and Our Rabbi Ovadia Seforno and the author of Minha Belula explained that you shall eat of it when the city is trapped, so it is not good for you to destroy it. I do not think that the Torah was given for such purposes, i.e., in order to teach people how to plan things out for their own benefit. Rather, it was given for the opposite purpose; to strengthen in our hearts the compassion and mercy that are contrary to our own self-interest. Philo and Josephus Flavius both interpreted this rule as promoting compassion and mercy and banishing cruelty. What I see is that the main idea of the commandment is that we must not cut down the tree after eating its fruits in order to keep people from being ungrateful and to accustom them to love those who benefit them and not to cast them behind their backs once they do not expect to reap any additional benefit from them... It is strange that Elisha said in the war against Moab (II Kings3:19) And you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and you shall fell every good tree. Even if it was customary to act this way in wars Elisha should not have supported those who transgress and he should have warned them not to do this. However, according to my interpretation there is no problem; destruction [of trees] was only forbidden after [their fruits] were eaten, When you besiege a city for many days and eat the fruit of the trees in your enemy's land, do not cut down the trees whose fruit you have eaten.

(ShaDaL ad loc)

 

In memory of my father and teacher,

Michael son of Ruth and Max Marx

The Lord is his inheritance

Dalia Marx

Immediately following its presentation of the laws of the king, our parasha deals with the status of the Levites. The latter do not receive a portion of the land in the manner of the other tribes, rather The Lord's fire offerings and His inheritance they shall eat (Devarim 18:1). The Levite shall dwell in the Temple and be supported by it, thus The Lord is his inheritance (vs.2). The idea of God as inheritance comes to supply the landless Levites with an alternative kind of belonging. The Torah does not state that the Levite shall dwell with God or in His house, but rather that God Himself is the Levite's inheritance. In other words, the Levite dwells, so to speak, inside the Holy One blessed be He. A literal explanation cannot encapsulate the meaning of this formulation.

Bamidbar 35:34 describes Gods presence in the Land with these words:

And you shall not defile the land where you reside, in which I dwell, for I am the Lord Who dwells among the children of Israel.

Contrastingly, Devarim usually depicts a transcendent God who observes the world from outside of it:

A land the Lord, your God, looks after; the eyes of The Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. (11:12)

A dictum attributed to R. Ami speaks of this tension: "Why is the Holy One blessed be He referred to by the appellation Makom ["place"]? Because He is the Place of the world, and the world is not His place" (Bereishit Rabba 68:9). All of this makes the notion that God is the Levites' inheritance, the inheritance of those called upon to the holy service, who lack a geographic inheritance of their own, fascinating and thought provoking.

The unusual expressiveness of the phrase The Lord is his inheritance and its comforting tenderness seem to have prompted its choice as the expression of the hopes harbored by the living for the dead, so that it found its way into the prayer El Male Rahamim ["God, full of Compassion"].

In the next few paragraphs, I shall consider some of the scriptural and midrashic formulations that appear in the Ashkenazi burial prayer, El Male Rahamim which appears to have been composed following the anti-Semitic rampages that inflamed the Ukraine in the years 1648-9. Then I will offer an example of how, in turn, the prayer influenced Jewish and Modern Hebrew creative literature, in order to demonstrate the notion that "The words of Torah are fruitful and multiply."

Here is the prayer (in the male gender). The phrases to be discussed (without any pretense of comprehensiveness) appear in bold print:

God full of compassion, who dwells on high

Grant complete rest on [or: under] the wings of the Divine Presence,¹

Among the holy and the pure, who shine like the brightness of the sky,²

To the soul of _______ who has passed on to his eternal habitation.

For I shall - bli neder [this not being a formal vow] give charity in his soul's memory,

May his repose be in the Garden of Eden.

Therefore, the Master of Compassion shall hide him away in the secret place of His wings for eternity.³

And bundle up his soul in the bundle of life.⁴

The Lord is his inheritance,⁵ he shall rest peacefully where he lies. And let us say, "Amen."

1) Since the composition of El Male Rahamim was quite late and gained popularity throughout various Jewish communities before its formulation became fixed, it appears in several variants. The best known variation occurs in its opening lines: "God full of compassion, who dwells on high Grant rightful repose on [variant: under] the wings of the Divine Presence." Even though this is a simple switch of prepositions (al = "on" vs. tahat = "under"), the two readings present quite different pictures. Are we asking that the departed be carried upon the wings of the Divine Presence, as per the song of Ha'Azinu: it spreads its wings, taking them and carrying them on its pinions (Devarim 32:11, see Rashi there)? Or is our hope that the departed will find warmth and protection under the sheltering wings of the Divine Presence?¹ This expression is borrowed from a midrash describing Abraham's activity among the gentiles: "Abraham would convert them and enter them under the wings of the Divine Presence (Midrash Tana'im on Devarim 6:5). This, by the way, is the reason why the Holy SheLaH opposed the formulation "under the wings of the Divine Presence."² Both the verse and the midrash about Abraham speak of God's preserving life, without any special connection to death or mourning.

2) The phrase, "who shine like the brightness of the sky" is borrowed from the Book of Daniel (12:2-3): And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awaken-these for eternal life, and those for disgrace, for eternal abhorrence. And the wise will shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who bring the multitudes to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. This is perhaps the only direct scriptural reference to what will be later referred to as "the resurrection of the dead." The prayer's anonymous author saw fit to include the verse in a prayer requesting mercy for the deceased.

3) Hope that God will protect the deceased finds vivid expression in the phrase, "may He bundle up his soul in the bundle of life," which speaks explicitly of the world of the living. Abigail used it when she managed in her wisdom to convince King David not to destroy her and her family: But my lord's soul shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord your God, while the soul of your enemies, the Lord will sling it with the hollow of the sling (I Samuel 25:29). Apparently, the prayer's author did no have the biblical verse itself in mind, but rather the midrashic use to which it had been put. R. Eliezer brings it to support the notion that "the souls of the righteous are hidden away under the Throne of Glory" (Shabbat 152b); since then the phrase "bundle of life" [tzror hahayyim] has been used in this sense.³

5) The phrase "The Lord is his inheritance," which appears in our parasha is concerned with life in this world and the well-being of the Levites, but it has also been use to describe the condition of the deceased. Now that he has no inheritance in this world, the Lord is his inheritance. The picture of a God full of compassion⁴ Who protects and shows compassion, Who serves as a home for the deceased, is a theologically powerful and challenging image.

Jewish prayers do not usually concern themselves with questions regarding the afterlife, the World to Come, the Garden of Eden, and that which is hidden "behind the curtain." Our prayers deal with life in this world. El Male Rahamim is unusual on this account. It seems that the need to console mourners (even very partially) led its creators to deal with post-mortem existence. The phrase "The Lord is his inheritance" traveled a long road from being a description of the Levite's portion in this world to describing the hoped-for portion of the deceased in the World to Come.

Just as the biblical expression "The Lord is his portion" remained intact while its meaning changed as it moved into a liturgical context, a similar change has occurred in recent generations when liturgical expressions are transplanted and embedded in modern poetical contexts. Let us examine two instances in which expressions originating in the prayer El Male Rahamim (or which owe their familiarity to their presence in that prayer) are used in modern Hebrew poetry in a manner that changes their meaning while preserving their vitality.

First we shall consider Haim Nahman Bialik's well known poem which he wrote in Odessa in the year 5665 and which begins with the words:

Gather me in under your wings

And be for me a mother and sister

And let your lap be my head's refuge

Nest of my distant prayers.

These beautiful lines have invited many interpretations; here I shall understand them as speaking of love's hopelessness and despair. The speaker cannot aspire to having the addressee become his lover in the full sense of the word; at best she can be his "mother and sister." He asks for her shelter, "Gather me in under your wings" (as per our prayer's formulation) but cannot hope for reciprocal cooperation. In addition, this love can only be fulfilled in death, since only then does one enter under the wings of the Divine Presence. It is possible to claim that Bialik was not relating to the image presented by the prayer, but rather to that offered by the midrash, i.e., of converts entering and gathering under the wings of the Divine Presence. However, that interpretation smacks of a sense of alienation and loneliness that love cannot overcome.

The Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai used a phrase from the burial prayer to make a complaint against God. Here is the first part of his poem:

God full of compassion

If God were not full of compassion

There would be compassion in the world, and not only in Him.

I, who picked flowers on the mountain,

And gazed upon all the valleys,

I, who brought corpses from the hills,

Know to say that the world is empty of compassion.

In Amichai's song the liturgical phrase becomes an indictment of God, Who is "full of compassion," i.e., holds back His compassion within Himself and does not reveal it in His world. Amichai's poem describes a very Israeli experience, that of a soldier telling of the outcome of a deadly battle in which he participated. It simultaneously reflects separation and closeness, both alienation from tradition and a longing for it. Above all it demonstrates that when an Israelite wishes to express anger and perhaps lack of faith, he remains in need of language internal to Judaism. Dr. Ariel Hischfeld, a literary scholar, writes in this regard:

 [Religion] is one of the central topics [of Hebrew literature], if not its very most central topic. Faith, its contents and attending doubts, God's presence, the means of contact with Him and the forms of His revelation in the world, in the life of the individual and of the collective, religious experience both mystical and non-mystical, and love of God - these are the subject matter of the great and most decisive pages in the writings of Bialik, Agnon, Greenberg, Alterman, Bat-Miriam, Yizhar, Amichai, Guri, Zach, Horowitz, Wollach, Laskaly, Laor, Kaplun, Pediah...⁵

We have been blessed to live in a generation in which our ancestral language is alive and fresh in our mouths. Without the living relationship with Hebrew, Bialik and Amichai would not have been able to write their poems. The fact that Hebrew is alive and kicking requires us Israelis to face special challenges when approaching our people's heritage, challenges spared previous generation for whom Hebrew was not their vernacular natural language.

Happy are we that the Lord is our inheritance and that His words, which were spoken in a single utterance, are alive and are heard in myriad voices and cords.

May the words of Torah and prayer that are in or mouths be sweetened; may they be fertile and multiply and bear good and worthy fruits!

[1]. We must bear in mind the philological connection between rahamim [compassion] and rehem [womb], and the fact that the Sages some times refer to the womb as kever ["grave"]; perhaps this explains how it found its way into the prayer under discussion. I thank Pinchas Leiser, the editor of Shabbat Shalom for this comment.

2. The SheLaH writes: "It is found that the converts are placed below the wings of the Divine Presence, while Israelites are carried on its wings. Therefore, cantors who recite the memorial prayer for important people and say, "Grant rightful repose under the wings of the Divine Presence, etc." would be better off remaining silent, for they lower [the status of he deceased] downwards." (Shnei Luhot HaBrit, Hagahot le'Massekhet Shavu'ot, Torah or tzav hagoyim)

3. See, for example, the RaMBaM's Hilkhot Teshuva 8:7)

4. The depiction of God as merciful is already found in Scripture (e.g., The Lord, The Lord, God, Who is compassionate and gracious [Shemot 34:6) and the expression "full of compassion" is found in the midrash, for example: "[God] was revealed on Mount Sinai as an old man who was full of compassion" (Mekhilta BaHodesh 5).

5. A. Hirschfeld, "HaShira HaIvrit Ve'ha'Yetzer Ha'Ra," Culture and Literature supplement, Haaretz 5.6.2004. See also his article: "Al Mekomo shel Elohim BaShira HaIvrit BaDor HaAharon" in Y. Bratel, ed. Ha'Agala Ha'Melei'a (Jerusalem 5762) pp. 165-176.

Dr. Dalia Marx teaches at Hebrew Union College and at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

 

Judges and officials are you to provide for yourselves within all your gates - in every city.

For your tribal districts - Even if all in the city are of one family, appoint judges.

They are to judge the people with equitable justice - This is to teach us that both parties are treated equitably/charitably; the party favored by the verdict receives that which belongs to him, and the party found against is relieved of stolen property in his possession.

Another exposition: Equitable justice - when they [the judges] judge equitably, they are giving charity to people and saving them from misfortune, as is written (Psalms 85) Truth sprouts from the earth - when a truthful verdict sprouts from the earth, justice is viewed from heaven, The Holy One, Blessed Be He acts charitably with people and saves them from misfortune and from suffering, and goodness comes into the world.

(Tanhuma, Shoftim 6)

 

Equity, equity are you to pursue - one [equity] for law-based verdict and one for compromise. An example? Two boats alongside each other on the river; if both try to pass together, both sink; one after the other, both pass. And so it is when two camels walking alongside each other ascend the hill-paths of Beit Horon. If both try to go up together, both fall; one following the other, both go up. How [should the two cases be resolved]? If one is loaded and one is not loaded, the unloaded one grants right of way to the loaded one. If one is closer to its destination than the other, let the closer one grant right of way to the distant one. If they were equidistant, impose a compromise, and let one reimburse the other.

(Sanhedrin 32b)

 

If a slain person be found in the land which the Lord, your God is giving you to possess, lying in the field, [and] it is not known who slew him, then your elders and judges shall go forth, and they shall measure to the cities around the corpse... And all the elders of that city, who are the nearest to the corpse, shall wash their hands over the calf that was decapitated in the valley; And they shall announce and say, "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see [this crime]."

 (Devarim 21)

 

Our hands did not shed this blood, etc. Did it really occur to us that the [members of] the law court are shedders of blood? Rather, that he did not come to us and we sent him off, we did not see him and leave him.

(Mishnah Sotah 9:6)

 

The local Rabbis [i.e., in the Land of Israel] interpret the verse [and the Mishnah's subsequent explication of it] as referring to he who killed, while the Rabbis of Babylonia interpret the verse as referring to the one who was killed.

The local Rabbis interpret the verse as referring to he who killed - he did not come to us and we sent him of without killing him; we did not see him and leave him after disregarding his case.

While the Rabbis of Babylonia interpret the verse as referring to the one who was killed - he did not come to us and we sent him off without escort; we did not see him and leave him without sustenance.

(J. Sotah 9:6)

 

Moral Decline Expels the Divine Presence from Israel

R. Yohanan ben Zakkai says: When the murderers became numerous, the egla arufa [decapitated calf] ritual was revoked, since the egla arufa is only performed in doubtful cases, but now many kill openly.

When the adulterers became numerous, the bitter waters were revoked, because the bitter waters are only used in doubtful cases, but now many are seen openly...

When the whisperers in court became numerous, actions became warped, rulings were spoiled, and the Divine Presence departed from Israel.

When those who favored people in judgment became numerous, You shall not favor persons in judgment... you shall not fear any man (Devarim 1) was revoked. They removed the yoke of Heaven from themselves and took upon themselves the yoke of mortals...

(Tosefta Sota 14:1)

 

 

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