And you shall rejoice in your Festival - you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are within your gates. (Devarim 16:14)

 

Rabbi Yehudah bar Simon says: The Holy One, blessed be He, said - "If you have four householders, you have And you shall rejoice in your Festival - you, and your son, and your daughter, manservant, and your maidservant. I also have four householders of My own: the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow. They all appear in one verse, and if you cause both Mine and yours to rejoice at home during the holidays I have given you, then I will cause Mine and yours to rejoice in the Temple, for it is said: And I shall bring them to My holy mountain and I shall cause them to rejoice in My house of prayer - Amen, so may it be."

(Tanhuma [Warsaw edition] Re'eh 18)

 

And the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow who are in your midst - The explanation of this is that during Atzeret [Shavu'ot] they spread across the fields in order to collect the leket, shikheha, and pe'ah as Ruth did; therefore it says in your midst. However, the Sukkot holiday occurs during the harvest season and then they are in your gates. This is obvious.

(Meshekh Hokhma 16:11)

 

 

Cyclical Time and Linear Time

Yehonatan Chipman

Conventional wisdom has it that Judaism is a historical religion, celebrating the ever-forward progress of human history from the Creation of the Universe through the Revelation at Sinai, and anticipating the Final Redemption with the coming of the Righteous King Messiah, speedily in our days (albeit, with many stumbling blocks and obstacles along the way - certainly in the history of the Jewish people). This is contrasted invidiously with pagan cults that see life as an endless series of cycles, constantly returning to the starting point without any real change: a kind of fatalistic, static view of human life and history.

Certainly, even a cursory look at many of the major and minor festivals of the Jewish year - Pesah, Shavuot, Purim, Hanukkah, and, lehavdil, Tisha b'Av - suggests that they are solidly rooted in historical occasions and historical consciousness.

But an examination of Sukkot - and perhaps of all the festivals of Tishrei - suggests a different picture. True, Sukkot is seen in a general way as commemorating the forty years of wandering in the desert, and the Almighty's protective hovering over the Jewish people, "leading you through this great and awful wilderness, [a place of] fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirst without water; He took for you out of the flint stone" (Deut 8:15). Yet it is difficult to see it as commemorating a specific event in quite the same way as Pesah does the Exodus or Shavuot the Epiphany at Sinai. Indeed, in several Torah passages the emphasis is primarily on Sukkot as the festival of "gathering the produce from the field" concluding a natural annual cycle "when the year goes out" or "at the turning point of the year" (Exod 23:16; 34:22).

The puzzle grows deeper as we examine the rituals associated with Sukkot. The quintessential mitzvah of the Hag, from which it takes its name - dwelling in the Sukkah - is more a static state of simply being in a particular place, "sitting" in the festive booth, rather than requiring any specific action (albeit by way of analogy to Pesah, Hazal required one to eat a certain minimum quantity of bread, kezayit or kebaitzah, in the Sukkah on the first night). If you will, it celebrates "being" rather than "becoming." Similarly, the na'anu'im, the taking of the fruit and branches of four species and shaking them in the six directions of the cosmos, seems to celebrate a certain orientation or relation to the world of space rather than any trans-natural, historical process in time. Finally, the Hakafot - the circular procession around the Bimah with lulav and etrog on each of the first six days, and seven times on Hoshana Rabbah - seems to express whatever is symbolized by the circle, a shape that forever returns to its beginning, as opposed to the line, the vector that is history. (This ritual already originated in the Temple, with processions around the altar; tannaim disagree as to whether it was performed while holding the Four Species, or with especially tall willow branches then used to adorn the altar; see Mishnah Sukkah 4.5; Bavli 43b).

This same ritual is repeated on Simhat Torah, in terms of its basic structure, but with Torah scrolls rather than with lulav and etrog. (The joyous dancing, the main "attraction" of the holiday today, is a kind of elaboration of the basic ritual: circling the synagogue seven times; in any event, it too involves the circle form). As Rav Soloveitchik ztz"l once commented: during Sukkot Jews march in a circle holding an object of mitzvah, with the Torah scroll in the center; on Simhat Torah, Jews carry the Torah scrolls with them along the circumference of the circle - it is God Himself who is in the center!

These things are reminiscent of the aggadah at the end of Ta'anit (31a):

Rabbi Eleazar said: In the future, The Holy One blessed be He shall make a dance for the righteous, and He will sit among them in the Garden of Eden, and each one will point with his finger, as is said: "And they shall say on that day: Behold, this is our God whom we have hoped for that he might save; this is the Lord for whom we have hoped; let us rejoice and be happy in His salvation." (Isa 25:9)

Incidentally, this verse is among those found in the series of verses known as Atah horeta with which the Hakafot open.

Indeed, the very etymology of the word hag which, while used to refer to all three pilgrimage festivals, is used in Rabbinic language to designate Sukkot in particular, is derived from the word for "dance", "circle" or "circle dance." (It is a close cognate to the word 'ag עג, from which are derived such words as מעגל, "circle," and עגול, "round," and even the title of the miracle working Honi Ha-Ma'agel, "Honi the Circle Drawer." Ugah means both "circle" and "cake," from the fact that cakes were originally baked in round tins, such as the famous sir pele, wundertopft, found in every Israeli home during the early decades of the State, and much as kugel derives from the German for "circle" or "sphere."

I once suggested, in a different context,¹ that the two kinds of Hallel found in our liturgy - Hallel ha-Mitzri recited on festival days, and the "Hallel" of Pesukei de-Zimra recited every day - reflect two paradigmatic moments in history, around which all biblical and Jewish thought revolve: the Creation and the Exodus. It seems to me that the same typology could be applied to the contrast or tension between Pesah and Sukkot, between the linear-historical and cyclical-eternal modes of thinking. To celebrate the Creation means: to recognize God's presence in all places and all times, to see Him as the "ground of being" (to use the language of the Germanic theologians). To celebrate the Exodus means to see Him first and foremost as the God of History, and to see history itself as a process leading towards the third great moment: Redemption.

A Creation-oriented theology celebrates the regular, cyclical ordering of the universe, each year returning to the same point where it was in previous years: the regular cycles of day and night, the seven-day cycle of weekday and Shabbat, the phases of the moon, the rhythm of spring and autumn, summer heat and winter rain - and even the life cycle of the human being, from birth, through maturity, to death, repeated endlessly, with each new generation taking the place of its parents and continuing human - and Jewish - civilization and tradition through all eternity (this is one plausible reading of the imperative, "you shall tell them to your children," which lies at the heart of the Seder). Indeed, the blessing given to Noah after the flood: "summer and winter, sowing and harvest, heat and cold seasons, day and night will not cease" (Gen 8:22) are no more than that simple promise: life will continue in its natural course, without dramatic disruptions and upheavals. A celebration of "the day of small things."²

The sub-text of this dispute, within the contemporary scene, relates to Zionism. Zionism has been seen as the exemplar par excellence of the Jewish return to history, and the attempt to achieve redemption of the Jewish nation in actual history (Gush Emunim and other post-'67 settler ideologies represent the fusion of this with traditional religious messianism). The alternative, more "a-historical" view, sees our historical moment more in terms of olam keminhago noheg, "the world goes on its usual way," and our task as religious people as the same as it was 100 or 500 or 1000 years ago: to perceive the Divine presence within the seemingly mundane, secular world, dominated by human greed and passions and at times violent, Hobbesian struggle - and to somehow sanctify that world. Or perhaps Zionism itself, in another reading, may be seen as a "Creationist" typology: leaving the insecurity of Galut existence, to return to the "earthliness" of a people dwelling on its own land, living a life close to these same natural cycles.

1. On my blog, Hitzei Yehonatan for Shevi'i shel Pesah. See http://hitzeiyehonatan.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html, under the heading "Two Types of Song."

2. It has been claimed that a respectable group of thinkers, including Franz Rosenzweig, Leo Strauss, Yitzhak Breuer, and Hermann Cohen, represent a school that has been called the "rejection of history" (or at least historicism) - that is, the perception that that which is most significant about Jews and Judaism exists outside the vagaries of history, in a kind of sub species eternitae (see David N. Myers, Resisting History).

Rabbi Jonathan Chipman is a translator by profession, and a scholar in Jewish studies. He writes a weekly sheet (in English) on the portion of the week and the Haftara, titled "Hitsei Yehonatan". (Anyone interested in ordering a sample of subscription can write via email to: yonarand@internet-zahav.net.

 

And the Lord showed him the whole land

This vision was a miraculous thing, since it is not naturally possible to view all of the land of Canaan from that spot, and so they said in a midrash: "The Holy One, blessed be He, said - I will pass it before you as a woman-servant passes before her master." In the Sifri they explained these verses as saying that He showed him all of the future events that would occur in the Land of Israel until the last of the generations. That is the plain meaning of the text, since He did show him - before it was conquered - how the land would later be apportioned to the tribes.

(Rabbi S. R. Reggio ad loc)

 

You shall not cross there... You shall not enter there

That is to say, it is not that you are unworthy of gaining the Land of Israel. Rather, it is because I am giving it to the Israelites - that is why you will not be able to enter it as well. The main punishment [you received] was meted out measure for measure; you will not teach Israel rules for living in the Land of Israel. All of the preparations which the Holy One, blessed be He, made concerning the rock [out of which water flowed] were in order to teach the Israelites how to comport themselves during a drought, and since our Teacher Moses spoiled it [by hitting the rock instead of talking to it], his punishment was that he would not teach them there [in the Land of Israel].

(The NeTziV Mi'Velozhin's Ha'Amek Davar on Devarim 32:52)

 

No man has knowledge of the site of his burial place

God did this because, were the site of his [Moses'] burial to be known, future generations might err and make a god of him [i.e., worship at his grave] because of the wonders he performed. Indeed, we see how some of the Israelites erred with respect to the copper serpent that Moses made, because of the greatness of its creator (II Kings 18:4), but since God buried him in miraculous fashion [without human involvement which would have revealed the burial place], no one ever touched his grave.

(RaLBaG, Devarim 34:6)

 

...and the cemetery is marked off, and a memorial stone is erected over the grave, and the righteous have no stone erected to their memory, for their words are their memorial, and people will not turn to visiting gravesites.

(RaMBaM, Hilkhot Avel 4:4)

 

Readers Respond

Do not forget the Shoah!

I read Deborah Weissman's article about parashat Nitzavim-VaYelekh and her visit to Germany. The devar Torah was fine, but the part about Germany was uncalled for. So long as survivors of the horrors of the recent Shoah are still with us, the time has not yet come to forgive Germany. There are plenty of anti-Semites all over Europe and in Germany. The governments of Europe are not innocent either. So long as they pressure the little State of Israel to establish and recognize a Palestinian state as demanded by the Arabs, they are not concerned with our wellbeing. They are interested in "black gold" - oil - and not in the security of the State of Israel. It was reported just this week how the Libyan terrorist who had downed an American plane and murdered hundreds of innocents was freed from his British prison because of oil deals between Libya and the UK. Thus European states - including Germany - are not to be trusted; we should learn from the past Chief Rabbi Lau who has refused to this day to sleep overnight on German soil. I personally have no interest in visiting the European states, not even Poland, where several members of my family are buried.

Shemaryahu Beckerman, Chairman of Idiyal, Jerusalem

 

Pinchas Leiser, editor of Shabbat Shalom, replies:

I thank Mr. Beckerman for his letter.

I do not think that it is now necessary to link remembrance of the Shoah - including our inability to forgive those who perpetrated horrible acts in Germany and other countries during the Shoah - to our relations with Germans and people of other nations who are no less shocked than we by those grievous crimes against humanity.

Are we to consider all the nations of the world anti-Semites? I doubt it.

Of course, various interests are at play in international relations, but the need to recognize the right of the Palestinian people to an independent state does not exactly indicate hatred of Israel. After all, the Prime Minister of Israel has proclaimed his readiness to recognize a Palestinian state.

Willingness to visit Germany, Poland, or other countries is essentially an emotional matter and I suppose that each of us finds the appropriate means to deal with the memory of the Shoah, while all of us hope that there will be no additional Shoah.

 

At the Completion of Our Eleventh Year of Publication...

With this issue we complete twelve years of Shabbat Shalom's publication. From the very start we have felt that Shabbat Shalom expresses a Torah and Zionist ordering of priorities that is different from that found in many of the leaflets distributed in synagogues. Israeli society contends with a very difficult diplomatic, security, and social situation. Perhaps because of this our society is less tolerant of different opinions. This complex situation is a serious challenge for the community of Zionists who are loyal to the Torah of Israel.

We are pleased that our readers show interest in the divrei Torah we publish and frequently reply to them whether in agreement or in "disagreement for the sake of Heaven" - which is destined to endure.

With the completion of this issue, we would like to thank all those who made possible the production and circulation of Shabbat Shalom this year. I would like to thank Miriam Fine, for her dedicated efforts in distribution and fund-raising both inside and outside of Israel, Harry Langbeheim and Dov Abramson for their pictorial midrashim which grace the cover-pages of Shabbat Shalom, Daniel Lazare, who attends to the graphic editing and online publication, to our devoted English translator, who prefers to remain anonymous and whose efforts allow many Anglophone readers to be exposed to our message, to our printer, Graphos Print in Jerusalem, to all our supporters in Israel and abroad whose contributions make Shabbat Shalom possible, and to all of our authors and readers across the world.

Hazak hazak ve'nit'hazeik

Pinchas Leiser, Editor

 

 

 

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