MAN, TORAH, AND NESHAMA

Torah and Man are connected by God's lamp on earth; the Torah is a flame which leaps from the spark of He who sits in heaven; Man, with both his components (body and soul) is a torch which draws its light; his back - a twisted wick, and his soul - pure olive oil. When they are in accord and are together, the entire house is filled with light.

(Malbim, Commentary on Shemot 21:20)

 

 

"FOR KINDLING LAMPS REGULARLY"

This expression for kindling lights occurs only in reference to the service of the menorah. It is the precise description of the demand to keep the kindling flame against the wick until the latter "burns by itself". The work of a Torah teacher is to make himself superfluous! Not to keep the "laity" in lasting dependence on the teachers or priests. At the same time it is an admonition to enduring patience for teacher and pupil.

(Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, Shemot 27:21)

 

 

BELL AND MELODY

George Savran

 

            "On its hem make pomegranates of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, all around the hem, with bells of gold between them all around: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe. Aharon shall wear it while officiating, so that the sound of it is heard when he comes into the sanctuary before the Lord and when he goes out - that he may not die."

(Shemot 28: 33-35)

 

At the end of the instructions regarding Aharon's ephod, there appears a short description of the set of bells, which seems ostensibly to be a minor decorative ornament within the resplendent outfit of priestly garments. Each detail of the of the service garments has symbolic and ceremonial significance, most of which receives expression in the chapter. So, for example, the Breastplate of Judgement is to serve "for remembrance before the Lord at all times." (28:29). The purpose of the frontlet of gold is "to win acceptance for them before the Lord." (28:38). They provide a reminder before The Holy One, Blessed Be He, of his closeness to the Children of Israel at the time of Aharon's performance of the holy service. The presence of the bells was considered to be indispensable to the work of the priest in the Mishkan, for in their absence an express threat of death hovered. But beyond this, there is no rationale for the task.

           

For Whom Do These Bells Toll?

For the God of Israel? For the Children of Israel? For Aharon himself? Study of this question raised important aspects about man's condition as he stands before God in prayer.

In Rashi's opinion, death threatened was the punishment not only for dereliction in the matter of the bells, but also for all shortcomings regarding the vestments and utensils employed in the Mishkan service: "Should he enter lacking one of these garments, he is deserving of death by the hands of Heaven."

This position is buttressed by a similar warning regarding the linen garments (28:43), which is intended to serve as a general rule. Rashi interprets the passage not in accordance with its plain meaning in order to enlighten a basic principle - the wholeness of the priest. Just as the priest must be complete in body, without any blemish whatever (Vayikra 21) so must his clothing be complete in all its details and accessories.

This general rule is in itself a exalted one, but it would seem that the passage's syntax emphasizes that the threat of death is tied specifically to the sound of the bells. Because every activity in the Mishkan is directed towards God, it is reasonable to assume that here too the sound is intended for The Holy One, Blessed Be He, as the Ramban explains:

"Therefore He said that He so ordained in order that his voice will be heard in the holy place, he must come before his master - as it were - only with His permission, for royal protocol decrees that one who enters the hall of the king unexpectedly deserved death, as in the case of Ahasuerosh."                                      

According to this explanation, the ringing of the bell is a signal to The Holy One, Blessed Be He, that the priest wishes to approach in order to serve Him;d as a faithful and obedient servant he requests permission before entering, lest the hour be inappropriate or should the king not desire his presence.    

Here too, however, the explanation does not conform to the realia in the Mishkan; the priest is not required to request permission before entry. If such were the case, one would expect such a request by means of prayer or a verbal entreaty, not by the indirect means of a bell's ringing. If so, we must try to identify the object "and its sound will be heard" from among those present, i.e., human beings. In this spirit Abarbanel suggests that the sound was heard by the people outside the Mishkan, in order to inform them as to the situation of the priest inside:

It might be said that the sounding of the bells was to inform the people outside that the priest was still alive; if he had died, they would not be heard, and this is the meaning of "And its sound will not be heard... and he shall not die". As Chazal said: If they [the priests] had improper beliefs in their hearts, they would have died upon entering the Mikdash, and when they would not hear their footsteps, they would know that he died because of his sin.

Approaching holiness entailed great danger, as is described in the story of Nadav and Avihu (Vayikra 10:1) and in the instructions for the dismantling of the Mishkan by the Levites (Bemidbar 4). Since the priest - when he entered the Mishkan - was the representative of all the Children of Israel, this concern reflected real anxiety on the part of the community, and his exit unharmed was cause for relief. (Yoma, 7:4)

In addition to the fear for the welfare of the priest, the Hizkuni - in his rationale for the ringing of the bells - stressed the role of the nation when Aharon entered for the holy service: "So that they know the hour of the service, and thus they will direct their hearts to their father in Heaven."

Even though the Cohen performed the ritual in the Mishkan in physical isolation from the rest of the nation, the Children of Israel participated in the ritual through their internal identification with the priest. They were conscious of the Cohen's ritual actions, especially those which he performed twice daily, as he entered the Mishkan in full attire in order to light the golden menorah and to burn the incense. In light of this participation by the Children of Israel in the activity of the Cohen, we can consider the ringing of the bells as a call to prayer, as a means for focussing the hearts of the nation upon the Cohen's Mishkan service and its meaning. True, God was the primary addressee of the service, but the nation was not apathetic to the activity inside, even though the Cohen's actions were hidden from their eyes. The tintinabulation of the bells sharpened the awareness of the Children of Israel, encouraging their identification with the Mishkan activity.

Rabbi Yaakov Zvi Meklenburg, in his commentary "Haketav Ve'hakaballah" goes even further, suggesting that the phrase object "and its sound will be heard" relates to the Cohen himself:

It is my opinion that the commandment regarding the bells is similar to the mitzvah of tsitsit. The latter mitzvah serves as a reminder via the sense of sight; the former is a reminder via the sense of hearing... for upon hearing the sound of the robe's bells he will be aroused to concentrate his mind and heart upon Him before whom he wears these garments. . . and to what purpose he alone is charged to wear such clothes. So he will suit all his thoughts and ideas to the service of the Supreme King, Blessed be He. And not only while he is engaged in the divine service, but also upon his exit from the sanctuary to his home and in the streets, the bells will loudly ring in his ears to remind him... that he not forget that he is constantly standing before God, and that he not divert his attention from holiness for even a second...

 

OUR RELATION TO THESE BELLS, HAVING NEITHER

MISHKAN, HIGH PRIEST, NOR RITUAL VESTMENTS

A Jew praying to God is part of the Kingdom of Priests, coming to divine service in his 'miniature Mikdash'. The sound which accompanies his divine service is the niggun, the melody. In the light of Rashi's words, one can see this niggun as a complement to his verbal prayer; the prayer 'is attired' in the niggun - without it his prayer is incomplete. Or, following the Ramban, the sound is directed to God, as a petition to enter, as a cry for help, or as a song of praise. Or perhaps, as per the Hizkuni, the prayer's melody is the main means of communication between the supplicants, as they call to each other in prayer. Or perhaps, as suggested by the Ketav VeHakaballah, the niggun is a method of concentration for the supplicant himself, to help focus his attention and to concentrate his thought. In all these ways, the sound of the bells is heard during our prayers in the form of the niggun.

 Dr. George Savran teaches Bible in Machon Shechter for Jewish Studies

 

 

"REMEMBER - DO NOT FORGET"

The Sages of the Midrash see in Amalek the archetype of the enemy who deviates from the accepted rules of warfare behavior, who - without cause - exploits a situation which seems to him to be easy and convenient, starting a war which does not bring glory to its warriors, choosing a tactic of "attacked the stragglers at the rear" - particularly those who are feeble, weak, and unprotected...

It should be emphasized that in its broader significance, "the War Against Amalek" is the war against wrong and evil in the world, traits which existed from time immemorial in all human nature without exception, and in this respect Jews are no different from the rest of the peoples of the world and the nations of the lands... from this it follows that this is not a milhemet mitzvah - an obligatory war - commanded upon Israel alone, but it is even "a war of God against Amalek", and as such in its very essence it is an eternal struggle.

 (From Y. Leibowitz, Seven Years of Discussions on the Weekly Parasha, pp. 875-877)

 

WHEN IS THE MEGILLA READ - AND WHY?

"Megilla is read on the eleventh, the twelfth, the thirteenth, the fourteenth, no less and no more..." (Mishna, Megilla 1:1). That which we explained regarding the Megilla reading on these particular dates, is valid only when the Bet Hamikdash is in existence, and the times are normal, with no nations decreeing religious persecution, and it is possible to sanctify the months and to dispatch messengers to all the lands, and there is no chance of error. But in these days, when the masses look to the Megilla reading in order to count thirty days to Pesach, we read only in its ordained time... and some explain that the reason is because the poor look forward to the Megilla reading in order to receive Purim contributions - something which did not exist in the times of the Bet Hamikdash, when the years were normal without high prices and drought, and poverty was not common, but today, when poverty is widespread, if they do not collect on the day of the reading, the poor despair and leave.

 (Commentary of the Meiri to Megilla 2:1)

 

 

 

 

Readers Write:

 

REFUSAL TO OBEY AN ORDER AS AN

EXPRESSION OF RELIGIOUS-MORAL COMMITMENT

 

While serving in the territories, we witnessed with our own eyes how Tzahal daily oppresses a population of three million people, an entire nation under our control, without human rights. With our own eyes we saw that we perpetrate cruel collective punishment. We deny people such basic rights as the fight to freedom, the right to make a living, the right to move freely, and even the right to evacuate its wounded in an ambulance. We say: No more.

The most terrible of the atrocities is the killing of innocent people. Every month we hurt children, women, and the elderly. All this is accidental, unintentional. For example, in the week between 19/10/01 - 25/10/01, Tzahal killed, in the Bethlehem area alone, fifteen Palestinians, eleven of which were civilians, including two minors and three women. If this is not a violation of "You shall not murder" - which appears in the Ten Commandments which we read two weeks ago - I know not what is. Service in the territories inevitably leads to transgression of commandments appearing in the Ten Commandments, and to unprecedented moral decline in the history of the Jewish nation.

The prohibition against hurting and punishing innocent people is a foundation stone of Judaism. It was our father, Avraham, the first conscientious objector in the world, who rose up against this phenomenon. When God was about to destroy Sodom, Avraham said to Him:

Far be it from You to do such a thing, to bring death upon the innocent as well as the guilty, so that innocent and guilty fare alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?" (Bereishit 18:25)

The prohibition against punishing the innocent is repeated again and again in the Torah. When Yaakov's two sons - Shimon and Levi - committed the massacre in Shechem in revenge for the rape of Dinah, he cursed them until the end of their days. He spoke of them in terms unparalleled for their harshness:

Shimon and Levi are a pair, their weapons are tools of lawlessness... Cursed be their anger so fierce, and their wrath so relentless. (Bereishit 49:5-7)

Obedience to the laws of the state were never a supreme value in Judaism. The prophets of Israel and their prophesies serve as archetypes of vigorous and uncompromising criticism against the regime which basely exploited its might and power against a weak population lacking rights. They decried the thievery and the depredation, the killing and the denial of rights. They did not hesitate to call for disobedience to governmental orders when the government had corrupted its ways.

The black flag need not relate particularly to the order to commit a specific act in a specific place. It waves over all of Tzahal's actions in the territories; the imposition of collective punishment, the punishment of innocent persons, the killing of women and men, children and infants. This is the result of extended rule over another people.

A soldier sent to the territories receives an order which sounds approximately like this: Go and fight a civilian population, steal its property, take over its homes, starve its sons, encircle its villages, deny its people the right of travel, and embitter their lives until three million people agree to be conquered and submissive. This is an immoral order; it corrodes the army because it affects Tzahal's moral power and the justice of its ways.

Above the order to serve in the territories there waves a black flag of illegality and immorality, written in the giant letters of Kiddush Levana. Therefore, we commit ourselves to continued service in Tzahal, as long as it remains loyal to its purpose, but not when it breaks faith with its historic and Zionist destiny.

                                                                                    Shammai Leibowitz, Lawyer

 

Editorial Board: Pinchas Leiser (Editor), Miriam Fine (Coordinator), Itzhak Frankenthal and Dr. Menachem Klein

Translation: Kadish Goldberg

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