Hassagot השגות

A profound debate about the identity of Israel

On a recent trip to Israel I saw many signs of the political conflict roiling the country: "Netanyahu is leading [the country] to civil war," "Democracy or revolt," "Don't throw democracy into the garbage," "Where were you when democracy died?", "We mustn't destroy everything we've built.  We have to solve this together!", as well as signs that read "An end to the tyranny of the supreme court" and "A new generation is not afraid.  Reform now!"

Ostensibly, the governing coalition's series of judicial reforms are technical--a few changes to the functioning of the supreme court, that's all.  Large swathes of Israel's population understand that they are in the midst of a deeper debate about the nature and future of the state of Israel.

The coalition's program of overhaul or 'reform' of the composition, functioning, and authority of the supreme court are part of a proposed transformation of the country as a whole.

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Predicating the Jews’ Security on One American President

I.    The degree to which many Orthodox Jews have predicated the security of the Jewish people on President Donald Trump is noticeable.  The degree to which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has predicated Israel’s security on Trump is also noticeable.  

In Every Generation

Pesach is a holiday of questions:  The Four Questions; “Why do we eat Matzah?”, “Why do we eat Maror?”, “Who knows one?”

Among the questions that Pesach raises, there are three basic ones:  Who, when, and where?

Who:  Who is celebrating Pesach?  The wise son, the wicked son, the father of those sons, or is it Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, ben Zoma, or Moshe Rabbenu? Who is eligible to participate in the korban Pesach?  Is the person an ezrach (born a Jew), or a ger?  Is the person circumcised?

When.  No holiday seems as focused on time.  “Or le-arba’ah asar” – we search for chametz at the beginning of the 14^th of Nisan.  When is the last time to eat chametz on erev Pesach?  The last time to dispose of chametz?  When may the seder begin?  By when must the Afikoman be eaten?  Pesach even has a second chance in time—Pesach Sheini.

Where. Pesach is focused on location.  Where am I, and where is my chametz, when Pesach is about to start?  In the time of the Beit Hamikdash, am I close enough to participate in the korban Pesach or am I “bderech rechokah”—on a distant road?  Where is the paschal lamb in relation to its eaters on seder night? 

I have been thinking about a simple statement in the Haggadah that touches on all three of these questions: Who, when, and where.    

Welcome to Chicago, IL

I had planned to leave at 7:45 AM. I figured that that would give me enough time to walk to ________ __________, a shul in Peterson Park, where shacharit would begin at 8:30 AM. I was looking forward to the bar mitzvah, but not to the heat. Peterson Park has a separate eruv from West Rogers Park. The two eruvin kiss along the short stretch of Lincoln Avenue between Peterson and Kedzie. For most of the route, I walked along smaller streets, taking advantage of the shade. As I walked, I took off my grey hat and jacket. By the time I reached the shul, I was fairly sweaty. Along Peterson Avenue, I passed a Jewish girls' elementary school. The wall separating playground from the street side is topped with sharp metal posts.

Singing at the Siyyum

Every seven and a half years or so, Agudath Israel presents public celebrations marking the siyyum or conclusion of the study of the daily daf or folio of Talmud. The most recent siyyum took place this past Wednesday, August 1, 2012, corresponding to the 12th of Av 5772. The largest celebration, bringing together ninety thousand Jews, belongs to New York. There are gathering-celebrations all over the world. I participated in one in the provinces--in Chicago. Our much smaller numbers seemed to fill the AKOO Theatre in Rosemont, Illinois. The program began at 6:45 PM and ended at close to 11:00. In between, I was not aware of the time. Sitting about six rows from the stage, I experienced the first part of the program (speeches, Psalms, prayers, words of Torah, and video presentations) as a member of the audience. At the previous siyyum, I made a commitment to 'learn the daf.' I am close to finishing, but could not participate as a "mesayyem," one who personally had learned the twenty-seven hundred odd folios and who would rise to say the special kaddish.

A happy Pesach 2012! Enjoy this engaging Seder activity!

Download Pesach Questionnaire 2012

Notes after a Prominent Rabbi's Presentation

Yesterday (Shabbat, Saturday, October 16, 2010 / 8 Heshvan 5771), I heard a shiur/presentation from a very prominent American rabbi and talmudist entitled "Lech Lecha:  The Path to Medinat Yisrael."  The talk was built not on the weekly Torah portion (Lech Lecha, Genesis 12-17, describing the life of Abraham in the promised land) but rather on Talmudic and rabbinic texts and commentaries.  I have tried to reconstruct the basic structure of the talk here.  I will refer to the presenter as RABBI in my notes below.  The outline omits many fascinating references, observations, and stories.  It does not follow the precise order of the RABBI's presentation.

When does the water get too hot?

    The proverbial frog is placed in tepid water and is comfortable.  The water is gently heated; the frog remains content.  As the temperature rises beyond the point its body can survive, the frog dies.
    Much of the Jewish world during the years immediately preceding the Holocaust was like that frog--more or less unaware of the import of the foul wind that swept through Germany and that burst upon much of the rest of Europe.  I wonder whether the position of the Jews in America is akin to that of the Jews of 1930s Europe, akin to the proverbial frog.
    Strong words, a strong reaction to recent trends and events.  Paranoid perhaps?  My view is that one must be vigilant (that is, awake, aware, on watch), serious, informed, and appropriately vocal.  I am not a brave person, but I certainly air my concerns in conversations with family and friends and in posts on this blog. 

No Yom Sylvester

The "Yom Silvester" that many Jews will celebrate is not for Jews.  With G-d's blessing, we have many "yamim" of our own.  And today, December 31, coincides with עשרה בטבת, the 10th of Tevet, a day of mourning and introspection that marks the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem leading up to the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash/Temple.    As the Bible relates: 'In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth (day) of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon came, he and all his hosts, upon Jerusalem, and he encamped upon it and built forts around it.  The city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah/צדקיהו. On the ninth of the month famine was intense in the city, the people had no bread, and the city was breached.' (II Kings 25). See  http://www.ou.org/chagim/roshchodesh/tevet/fast.htm for more information.

"Silvester" is, by the bye, the name for the New Year's Eve celebration in two countries, according to Wikipedia: Germany and Israel.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Years_Eve. 

-- H. A. Massig המשיג

Rosh Hashanah 5767 ראש השנה תשס"ז

The Torah portion of Nitzavim/נצבים (Deut. 29:9 - 30:20) is always read on the Shabbos before Rosh Hashanah.  Nitzavim contains 40 verses.  The number forty is represented in Hebrew by the letter mem/מ"ם, that is, mayim/מים/water. 

The first verses of the portion emphasize the letter מ"ם/mem and the aspect of water:

אתם נצבים היום כולכם לפני ה' א-ל-היכם ראשיכם שבטיכם זקניכם ושוטריכם כל איש ישראל.  טפכם נשיכם ... מחוטב עציך עד שואב מימיך

You stand this day, all of you,  before the L-rd your G-d--your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel, your children, your wives...from [your] woodchopper to [your] water drawer.  (Deut. 29:9-10)

The mnemonic device for the verses of a Torah portion is a word whose letters have the same numerical value.  For Nitzavim, the device or סימן is לבבו/his heart, as in the verse:

פן יש בכם איש או אשה...אשר לבבו פונה היום מעם ה' א-לו-הינו...

Perchance there is among you some man or woman...whose heart is even now turning away from the L-rd our G-d... (Deut. 29:17)

The same word reappears in the verse:

והתברך בלבבו לאמור שלום יהיה-לי...למען ספות הרוה את-הצמאה

...he may fancy himself immune (he will bless himself in his heart) thinking, "I shall be safe" (peace shall be mine)...to compound the moist with the thirsty.  (Deut. 29:18).

The Aramaic Targum of Onkelos renders the final clause:

לאוספא ליה חטאי שלותא על זדנותא

to compound sins of non-intention with [those of] willfulness

When one is watered (Rashi: drunk), one acts without evil intention.  When one is "thirsty" he acts out of intention and desire (Rashi).

Just as the letter mem/מ"ם is made up of two letters mem, so there are two intentions/hearts/לבבו, two thirsts, two waters.  All of them revolve around and center upon the middle letter of mayim/מים, that is, the letter yud/יו"ד, that is, G-d.

There is the intention that turns away/פונה...מעם from G-d (Deut. 29:17) and there is the intention that stands in the presence/נצבים...לפני ה' אלקינו of G-d (Deut. 29:9). 

There is the thirst of willful wrongdoing/לספות הרוה את הצמאה (Deut. 29:18) and there is the thirst for G-d:

כאיל תערוג על אפיקי מים, כן נפשי תערוג אליך א-ל-הים. צמאה נפשי ל-א-להים לא-ל חי

Like a hind crying for watercourses, so my soul cries for You, O G-d.  My soul thirsts for G-d, the living G-d... (Psalms 42:2-3)

There are two waters.  There is the seething water of willfulness:

אזי עבר על נפשנו המים הזידונים

Over us would have swept the seething (zeidonim) waters (Psalms 124:5.  As the Malbim explains, seething/zeidonim waters refer to willfulness and apostasy.)

And there is the water of purification of repentance, reconciliation, atonement:

וזרקתי עליכם מים טהורים וטהרתם

I will sprinkle purifying water upon you and you shall be purified... (Ezekiel 36:25)

On Rosh Hashanah, we beseech the Master of the World that He save us from the waters of wilfullness and sprinkle us with the waters of purity:

טומאה העבר והתם הזידונים, טהרה תזרוק מים הנאמנים

Take away our impurity and make innocent the seething [water/misdeeds], sprinkle purification, the faithful water (from the Selichah/penitential poem "My L-rd, G-d of Hosts" of Shlomoh bar Yitzchak [Selichah #32 in the Lithuanian Rite, recited on the Eve of Rosh Hashanah])

In order to receive the external purification, the sprinkled water, we must apply the internal purification.  To do this, we redirect our intention: We overcome the deceit of our false thirst for physical and even intellectual gratification.  We thirst for G-d:

צמאה נפשי ל-א-להים לא-ל חי

My soul thirsts for G-d, the living G-d... (Psalms 42:3)

We stand before G-d, bringing all of our letters mem, bringing all aspects of ourselves:

your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel, your children, your wives...from [your] woodchopper to [your] water drawer

that is, all of our physical and intellectual powers, all of our sensitivities and experience, and all of our good deeds, Torah, and mitzvos. 

Let us draw our water and may G-d sprinkle us with His.

-- H. A. Massig המשיג