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Triennial Cycle (Triennial Torah Cycle) / Septennial Cycle (Septennial Torah Cycle)
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Three and 1/2 year Lectionary Readings |
Third Year of the Triennial Reading Cycle |
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Ab 02, 5778 – July 13/14, 2018 |
Third Year of the Shmita Cycle |
Candle Lighting and Habdalah Times:
Please go to the below webpage and type your city, state/province, and country to find candle lighting and Habdalah times for the place of your dwelling.
See: http://www.chabad.org/calendar/candlelighting.htm
Roll of Honor:
This Commentary comes out weekly and on the festivals thanks to the great generosity of:
His Eminence Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David and beloved wife HH Giberet Batsheva bat Sarah
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His Honor Paqid Adon David ben Abraham
His Honor Paqid Adon Ezra ben Abraham and beloved wife HH Giberet Karmela bat Sarah,
His Honor Paqid Adon Tsuriel ben Abraham and beloved wife HH Giberet Gibora bat Sarah
Her Excellency Giberet Sarai bat Sarah & beloved family
His Excellency Adon Barth Lindemann & beloved family
His Excellency Adon John Batchelor & beloved wife
Her Excellency Giberet Leah bat Sarah & beloved mother
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Her Excellency Giberet Eliana bat Sarah and beloved husband HE Adon James Miller
For their regular and sacrificial giving, providing the best oil for the lamps, we pray that GOD’s richest blessings be upon their lives and those of their loved ones, together with all Yisrael and her Torah Scholars, amen ve amen!
Also, a great thank you and great blessings be upon all who send comments to the list about the contents and commentary of the weekly Torah Seder and allied topics. If you want to subscribe to our list and ensure that you never lose any of our commentaries, or would like your friends also to receive this commentary, please do send me an E-Mail to benhaggai@GMail.com with your E-Mail or the E-Mail addresses of your friends. Toda Rabba!
Please pray for this work that it may be successful touching many lives, well financed; and that it may be for much blessing to all concerned. Amen ve Amen!
We pray for HH Paqid Adon Tsuriel ben Abraham and His beloved wife HH Giberet Giborah bat Sarah for a good and pleasant trip, travelling mercies, and safe return back home, amen ve amen!
We pray that by the grace and mercy of G-d towards His people Yisrael, that HE Giberet Leah bat Sarah be allowed speedily soon to sell her properties or rent them at a reasonable price, for the sake of her finances, health, and Torah study schedule amen ve amen!
We also pray about a litigation case in which HE Adon Ya’aqob ben David is involved in the civil courts, praying that G-d who sees all things who knows all things, and justly superintends the whole universe, bring a favorable and prompt resolution to this matter for HE Adon Ya’aqob, amen ve amen!
We pray for Her Honor Ha Rabbanit Giberet Elisheba bat Sarah who is suffering from bouts of loss of equilibrium. Mi Sheberach – He Who blessed our holy and pure Matriarchs, Sarah, Ribkah, Rachel and Leah, bless Her Honor Ha Rabbanit Giberet Elisheba bat Sarah and send her a complete recovery and strengthening of body and soul. Please G-d heal her, please. Please G-d heal her, please. Please G-d heal her, please. Cure her, strengthen her, make her healthy and return her to her original strength, together with all the sick of Yisrael. And may it be so willed, and we will say, Amen ve Amen!
We pray also for H.E. Giberet Rachel bat Batsheva who is afflicted with systemic mastocytosis. Mi Sheberach – He Who blessed our holy and pure Matriarchs, Sarah, Ribkah, Rachel and Leah, bless Her Excellency Giberet Rachel bat Batsheva and send her a complete recovery and strengthening of body and soul. Please G-d heal her, please. Please G-d heal her, please. Please G-d heal her, please. Cure her, strengthen her, make her healthy and return her to her original strength, together with all the sick of Yisrael. And may it be so willed, and we will say, Amen ve Amen!
Blessings Before Torah Study
Blessed are You, Ha-Shem our GOD, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us through Your commandments, and commanded us to actively study Torah. Amen!
Please Ha-Shem, our GOD, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of all Your people Israel. May we and our offspring, and our offspring's offspring, and all the offspring of Your people, the House of Israel, may we all, together, know Your Name and study Your Torah for the sake of fulfilling Your delight. Blessed are You, Ha-Shem, Who teaches Torah to His people Israel. Amen!
Blessed are You, Ha-Shem our GOD, King of the universe, Who chose us from all the nations, and gave us the Torah. Blessed are You, Ha-Shem, Giver of the Torah. Amen!
Ha-Shem spoke to Moses, explaining a Commandment. "Speak to Aaron and his sons and teach them the following Commandment: This is how you should bless the Children of Israel. Say to the Children of Israel:
May Ha-Shem bless you and keep watch over you; - Amen!
May Ha-Shem make His Presence enlighten you, and may He be kind to you; - Amen!
May Ha-Shem bestow favour on you and grant you peace. – Amen!
This way, the priests will link My Name with the Israelites, and I will bless them."
These are the Laws for which the Torah did not mandate specific amounts: How much growing produce must be left in the corner of the field for the poor; how much of the first fruits must be offered at the Holy Temple; how much one must bring as an offering when one visits the Holy Temple three times a year; how much one must do when doing acts of kindness; and there is no maximum amount of Torah that a person must study.
These are the Laws whose benefits a person can often enjoy even in this world, even though the primary reward is in the Next World: They are: Honoring one's father and mother; doing acts of kindness; early attendance at the place of Torah study -- morning and night; showing hospitality to guests; visiting the sick; providing for the financial needs of a bride; escorting the dead; being very engrossed in prayer; bringing peace between two people, and between husband and wife; but the study of Torah is as great as all of them together. Amen!
Shabbat: “VeChiqeritem Lakhem” – Sabbath: “And you will appoint for you”
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Shabbat |
Torah Reading: |
Weekday Torah Reading: |
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וְהִקְרִיתֶם לָכֶם |
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Saturday Afternoon |
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Reader 1 – B’Midbar 35:9-12 |
Reader 1 – D’barim 1:1-3 |
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Reader 2 – B’Midbar 35:13-16 |
Reader 2 – D’barim 1:4-7 |
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“Os señalaréis” |
Reader 3 – B’Midbar 35:17-19 |
Reader 3 – D’barim 1:8-10 |
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B’Midbar (Num.) 35:9 – 36:13 |
Reader 4 – B’Midbar 35:20-28 |
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Ashlamatah: Josh 20:1-9 + 21:3 |
Reader 5 – B’Midbar 35:29-34 |
Monday and Thursday Mornings |
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Reader 6 – B’Midbar 36:1-4 |
Reader 1 – D’barim 1:1-3 |
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Psalms: 106:40-48 |
Reader 7 – B’Midbar 36:5-13 |
Reader 2 – D’barim 1:4-7 |
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Maftir: B’Midbar 36:11-13 |
Reader 3 – D’barim 1:8-10 |
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Mk 13:3-8: Luke 21:7-11; Rm 16:21-27 |
Josh 20:1-9 + 21:3 |
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Contents of the Torah Seder
· Levitical Cities of Refuge – Numbers 35:9-15
· Distinction Between Murder and Manslaughter – Numbers 35:16-23
· Legal Procedure in the Case of Accidental Homicide – Numbers 35:24-29
· Concerning Murder – Numbers 35:30-34
· Law of Heiresses – Numbers 36:1-13
Reading Assignment:
The Torah Anthology: Yalkut Me’Am Lo’Ez - Vol 14: Numbers – II – Final Wonderings
By: Rabbi Yitzchaq Magriso
Published by: Moznaim Publishing Corp. (New York, 1983)
Vol. 14 – “Numbers – II – Final Wonderings,” pp. pp. 408-416.
Rashi & Targum Pseudo Jonathan
for: B’midbar (Numbers) 35:9 – 36:13
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Rashi |
Targum Pseudo Jonathan |
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9. The Lord spoke to Moses saying: |
9. And the LORD spoke with Mosheh, saying: |
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10. Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan to the land of Canaan, |
10. Speak with the sons of Israel, and say to them, When you have passed over Jordan unto the land of Kenaan, |
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11. you shall designate cities for yourselves; they shall be cities of refuge for you, and a murderer who killed a person unintentionally shall flee there. |
11. you will provide you cities with streets and houses of living (boarding houses), cities of refuge will they be to you, that thither the manslayer may flee who has killed a man inadvertently. |
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12. These cities shall serve you as a refuge from an avenger, so that the murderer shall not die until he stands in judgment before the congregation. |
12. And they will be to you for cities of refuge for the manslayer from the avenger of blood, that the man may not be put to death till he will have stood before the congregation for judgment. |
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13. The cities that you provide shall serve as six cities of refuge for you. |
13. And these cities which you give will be six cities of refuge for the manslayer; |
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14. You shall provide the three cities in trans Jordan and the three cities in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge. |
14. three you will appoint beyond Jordan, and three in the land of Kenaan; cities of refuge will they be. |
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15. These six cities shall be a refuge for the children of Israel and for the proselyte and resident among them, so that anyone who unintentionally kills a person can flee there. |
15. For the sons of Israel and the sojourners among you will be these six cities of refuge, that thither whoever has killed a man through ignorance may flee. |
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16. If he struck him with an iron instrument and he dies, he is a murderer, and the murderer shall be put to death. |
16. But if he smote him with an instrument of iron and killed him, he is a murderer; and the murderer will be surely put to death. |
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17. If he struck him with a fist sized stone which is deadly, and he dies, he is a murderer, and the murderer shall be put to death. |
17. Or if, filling his hand with a stone large enough to kill any one, he struck him, and killed him, he is a murderer, and the murderer dying will die. |
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18. Or with a fist sized wooden instrument which is deadly,and he dies, he is a murderer, and the murderer shall be put to death. |
18. Or if, filling his hand with an instrument of wood sufficient to kill any one, he struck him, and killed him, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. |
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19. The blood avenger shall kill the murderer; he may kill him when he meets him. |
19. The avenger of blood may himself kill the manslayer, if he meet him outside of these cities; he may kill him in judgment. |
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20. If, out of hatred, he pushed him, or threw something at him with premeditation, and he died, |
20. But if (the manslayer) had assaulted in enmity and intentionally with a club or staff, or thrown stones upon him with purpose of heart, and killed him; |
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21. or if he maliciously struck him with his hand and he died, the assailant shall be put to death; he is a murderer; the blood avenger may kill the murderer when he meets him. |
21. or cherishing enmity had struck him with his hand and killed him; he is a murderer; dying he will die. The avenger of blood may slay the homicide when he has been condemned. |
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22. But if he pushed him accidentally, without malice, or threw an object at him without premeditation, |
22. But if in ignorance, without keeping of malice, he let any thing fall upon him, having no intention to kill; |
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23. or, with any stone which is deadly, and without seeing [his victim] he threw it down at him and it killed him, but he was not his enemy and bore him no malice |
23. or if without intention he let a stone sufficient to kill any one, or any other thing, fall upon him, and kill him, without having hated, or purposed to do him harm, |
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24. Then the congregation shall judge between the assailant and the blood avenger, on the basis of these judgments. |
24. then the congregation shall judge between him who had smitten him, and the avenger of blood, according to these judgments; |
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25. The congregation shall protect the murderer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall remain there until the Kohen Gadol, who anointed him with the sacred oil, dies. |
25. and the congregation will release the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and make him return to his city of refuge whither he had fled; and he will dwell there until the time that the high priest die, whom the multitude had anointed with the oil of anointing;-because he did not pray on the Day of Atonement in the Holy of Holies concerning the three great transgressions, that the people of the house of Israel might not be smitten for strange worship, or impure connections, or the shedding of innocent blood, when it was in his power to obviate them by his prayer, and he prayed not, therefore has he been condemned to die in that year. |
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26. But if the murderer goes beyond the border of the city of refuge to which he had fled, |
26. But if, while the high priest is yet alive, the manslayer goes out indeed from the bounds, of his city of refuge whither he had fled, |
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27. and the blood avenger finds him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the blood avenger slays the murderer, he has no blood. |
27. and the avenger of blood find him without the bounds of his city of refuge, he may kill the manslayer, without being guilty of death, |
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28. For he shall remain in his city of refuge until the Kohen Gadol dies, and only after the Kohen Gadol has died, may the murderer return to the land which is his possession. |
28. for he should have abode in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; but after the high priest is dead he may return to the land of his inheritance. |
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29. These shall be for you a statute of justice for all your generations, in all your dwelling places. |
29. And these indications will be to you a decree of judgment for your generations in all your dwellings: |
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30. Whoever [namely the blood avenger] kills a person, based on the testimony of witnesses, he shall slay the murderer. A single witness may not testify against a person so that he should die. |
30. Whosoever kills a man, according to the word of witnesses fit to give testimony against him, the avenger of blood, or the house of judgment, will put him to death. But one witness only will not testify against a man to put him to death. |
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31. You shall not accept ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, for he shall be put be put to death. |
31. You may not take a ransom for the release of a murderer who is guilty of death, for dying he will die. |
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32. You shall not accept ransom for one who has fled to his city of refuge, to allow him to return to live in the Land, before the kohen has died. |
32. Neither may you take ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, so as that he may return to dwell in the land before the time of the high priest's decease. |
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33. And you shall not corrupt the land in which you live,for the blood corrupts the land, and the blood which is shed in the land cannot be atoned for except through the blood of the one who shed it. |
33. Nor do not contaminate the land in which you are,because innocent blood which has not been avenged will overflow the land, and there is no atonement made for the land upon which innocent blood has been shed, but by the shedding of the blood of him who shed it. |
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34. 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. |
34. Therefore defile not the land in which you are; for My Shekinah dwells in the midst of it; for I am the LORD whose Shekinah dwells among the children of Israel. |
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1. The paternal heads of the family of the sons of Gilead the son of Machir the son of Manasseh of the families of the sons of Joseph approached and spoke before Moses and before the chieftains, the paternal heads of the children of Israel. |
1. And the heads of the fathers of the family of the Bene Gilead bar Makir bar Menasheh, even the family of the Bene Gilead bar Joseph, came to the house of judgment, and spoke before Mosheh and the princes, the chief fathers of the Bene Yisrael, |
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2. They said, "The Lord commanded my master to give the Land as an inheritance through lot to the children of Israel, and our master was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. |
2. and said: The LORD commanded Rabboni {our master} to give the land an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel, and Rabboni was commanded before the LORD to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. |
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3. Now, if they marry a member of another tribe of the children of Israel, their inheritance will be diminished from the inheritance of our father, and it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and thus, it will be diminished from the lot of our inheritance. |
3. But if these marry into any of the tribes of the children of Israel, their inheritance will be withdrawn from that of our fathers, and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe which will have become theirs, and our lot will be diminished. |
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4. Even if the children of Israel will have a Jubilee, their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be diminished from the inheritance of our father's tribe." |
4. And at the Jubilee of the Bene Yisrael their inheritance will be added to that of their tribe in which they will be; and their possession will have been withdrawn from the inheritance of our father's tribe. |
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5. Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the Lord, saying, "The tribe of Joseph's descendants speak justly. |
5. Then Mosheh commanded the children of Israel by the Word of the LORD, saying: The tribe of the Bene Joseph have said well. |
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6. This is the word that the Lord has commanded regarding Zelophehad's daughters. Let them marry whomever they please, but they shall marry only to the family of their father's tribe. |
6. This is the thing which the LORD has commanded,-not for the generations that will arise after the division of the land, but for the daughters of Zelophehad, saying: They may be the wives of them who are proper in their eyes, only such must be of the families of their father's tribe. |
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7. Thus, the inheritance of the children of Israel will not be transferred from tribe to tribe, for each person from the children of Israel will remain attached to the inheritance of his father's tribe. |
7. That the inheritance of the children of Israel may not pass about from one tribe to another: for the children of Israel will every one keep to the inheritance of their father's tribe. |
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8. Every daughter from the tribes of the children of Israel who inherits property, shall marry a member of her father's tribe, so each one of the children of Israel shall inherit the property of his forefathers. |
8. ___ |
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9. And no inheritance will be transferred from one tribe to another tribe, for each person of the tribes of the children of Israel shall remain attached to his own inheritance." |
9. ___ |
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10. As the Lord had commanded Moses, so did Zelophehad's daughters do. |
10. As the LORD commanded Mosheh, so did the daughters of Zelophehad; |
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11. Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah married their cousins. |
11. and Mahalah, Thirzah, Hogelab, Milchah and Nohah, the daughters of Zelophehad, became wives of sons of their kindred; |
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12. They married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained with the tribe of their father's family. |
12. of the family of the children of Menasheh bar Joseph were they wives, and their inheritance was with the tribe of their father's family. |
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13. These are the commandments and the ordinances that the Lord commanded the children of Israel through Moses in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan at Jericho. |
13. These are the commandments and orders of judgments which the LORD commanded the children of Israel, by Mosheh, in the plains of Moab by the Jordan near Jericho. |
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Chazaq! Chazaq! V’Nitchazeq! Be strong, be strong, and may we be strengthened! |
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Welcome to the World of P’shat Exegesis
In order to understand the finished work of the P’shat mode of interpretation of the Torah, one needs to take into account that the P’shat is intended to produce a catechetical output, whereby a question/s is/are raised and an answer/a is/are given using the seven Hermeneutic Laws of R. Hillel and as well as the laws of Hebrew Grammar and Hebrew expression.
The Seven Hermeneutic Laws of R. Hillel are as follows
[cf. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=472&letter=R]:
1. Ḳal va-ḥomer: "Argumentum a minori ad majus" or "a majori ad minus"; corresponding to the scholastic proof a fortiori.
2. Gezerah shavah: Argument from analogy. Biblical passages containing synonyms or homonyms are subject, however much they differ in other respects, to identical definitions and applications.
3. Binyan ab mi-katub eḥad: Application of a provision found in one passage only to passages which are related to the first in content but do not contain the provision in question.
4. Binyan ab mi-shene ketubim: The same as the preceding, except that the provision is generalized from two Biblical passages.
5. Kelal u-Peraṭ and Peraṭ u-kelal: Definition of the general by the particular, and of the particular by the general.
6. Ka-yoẓe bo mi-maḳom aḥer: Similarity in content to another Scriptural passage.
7. Dabar ha-lamed me-'inyano: Interpretation deduced from the context.
Rashi’s Commentary for: B’Midbar (Num.) 35:9 – 36:13
11 you shall designate [The expression] הַקְרָיָה can mean only preparation, as it says, “Because the Lord, your God, prepared it (הִקְרָה) before me” (Gen. 27:20) -[Sifrei Massei 3, Targum Onkelos].
12 from an avenger From the avenger of the blood, a kinsman of the murder victim.-[Mak. 12a]
13 six cities of refuge [This] informs [us] that even though Moses designated three cities across the Jordan during his lifetime, they did not provide refuge until the three provided by Joshua in the land of Canaan were designated.-[Sifrei Massei 8, Mak. 9a]
14 the three cities Although there were nine tribes in the land of Canaan, and here [across the Jordan] there were only two-and-a-half, He equalized the number of their refuge cities, because Gilead had many murderers, as it says, “Gilead, a city of workers of violence, who lurk to shed blood” (Hos. 6:8). -[Mak. 10a, Sifrei Massei 6]
16 If he struck him with an iron instrument This does not refer to accidental manslaughter discussed nearby, but to premeditated murder, and it teaches us that the implement of murder has to be big enough to cause death, for regarding all the [other] cases it says, אֲשֶׁר יָמוּת בָּה , “which is deadly,” and the Targum [Onkelos] renders, “of a size capable of causing death,” except in the case of iron, since it is evident and known to the Holy One, blessed is He, that a small piece of iron can kill, even a needle (Sifrei Massei 6, Sanh. 76b). That is why [in the case of iron] the Torah did not specify a size and write “which is deadly.” If you say that Scripture refers to one who murders unintentionally, [this cannot be because], below it says, “or, with any stone which is deadly, and without seeing [his victim]...” (verse 23). This shows that in the cases mentioned before it, Scripture speaks of one who murders with intent.
17 with a fist-sized stone [A stone] large enough to fill a hand.-[Onkelos]
which is deadly Which is large enough to cause death, as the Targum [Onkelos] renders. Since it [Scripture] says, “If one of them strikes the other with a stone” (Exod. 21:18), but it does not specify a size, I might think any size? Therefore it says, “which is deadly”-[Sifrei Massei 10]
18 or with a fist-sized wooden instrument Since it says, “If a man strikes his manservant or his maidservant with a rod” (Exod. 21:20), I might think any size? That is why it with regard to wood it says, "which is deadly"—it must a size capable of causing death.-[Sifrei Massei 11]
19 when he meets him Even in the cities of refuge.
20 with premeditation As the Targum [Onkelos] renders, בְּכַמְנָא , with ambush.
22 accidentally Heb. בְּפֶתַע , by accident, but the Targum renders בִּתְכֵף , “suddenly,” [meaning] that he was next to him and he had no time to take precautions against [killing] him.
23 or, with any stone which is deadly he struck him.
without seeing He did not see him [while striking him].
he threw it down at him From here they said that the one who kills by way of a falling action is exiled, but if [he kills] by means of an upward action is not exiled.-[Mak. 7b]
25 until the kohen gadol... dies For he causes the Divine Presence to rest upon Israel and thus prolong their lives, whereas the murderer causes the Divine Presence to withdraw from Israel and thus shorten their lives. He is not worthy of standing before the Kohen Gadol [Sifrei Massei 20]. Another interpretation: Because the Kohen Gadol should have prayed that such a misfortune should not befall Israel during his lifetime [Mak. 11a].
who anointed him with the sacred oil According to the literal meaning, this is one of the elliptical verses [in Scripture], as it does not reveal who anointed him; thus, it is like saying, “who was anointed by the one who anointed him with the sacred oil.” Our Rabbis expounded it in Tractate Makkoth (11b) as a verification of the law, to teach that if before sentence was passed, the Kohen Gadol died and they appointed another one in his stead, and afterwards sentence was passed, he [the murderer] can return home only after the second one has died, as it says, “who anointed him.” Did he anoint the kohen, or did the kohen anoint him? However, this includes the [case of a high kohen who was] anointed in his days [and thus, it is as if he had anointed the Kohen Gadol, so to speak], that he frees him through his death.
27 he has no blood He is like one who kills a dead person, who has no blood.
29 in all your dwelling places This teaches that the minor Sanhedrin functions outside the Land as long as there is one functioning in the Land of Israel [namely, while the Temple stood].- [Mak. 7a, Sifrei Massei 25]
30 Whoever kills a person... The one who comes to kill him because he murdered someone.
based on the testimony of witnesses who testify that he murdered him intentionally, after he had been forewarned. [I.e., the blood avenger may not slay the murderer unless there are witnesses that he committed the murder.]-[Sifrei Massei 26]
31 You shall not accept ransom He cannot be acquitted in exchange for payment.-[Keth. 37b]
32 You shall not accept ransom for the one who has fled to his city of refuge One who has fled to a city of refuge after he killed someone unintentionally cannot absolve himself from exile through payment by giving a ransom so that he can return to dwell in the Land before the kohen dies.-[Keth. 37b]
has fled Heb. לָנוּס , is equivalent to לְנָס , “for the one who has fled.” Similarly, “those who returned (שׁוּבֵי) from the war” (Mich. 2:8). Similarly, “Those who are removed (נוּגֵי) from the appointed season” (Zeph. 3:18); “for [all the people...] were circumcised (מֻלִים) ” (Josh. 5:5). Just as you say שׁוּב in reference to one who has already returned, and מוּל regarding one who is already circumcised, so will you say לָנוּס for one who has already fled. He is called נוּס , that is to say, ‘an escapee.’ If you say that לָנוּס means ‘to flee,’ and explain it thus: You shall not accept ransom for who must flee, in order to absolve him from exile, then I do not know how it can say, “to return to live in the Land” for if he has not yet fled, from where should he return?
33 And you shall not corrupt Heb. ולֹא-תַחֲנִיפוּ , you shall not cause it to be wicked, as the Targum [Onkelos] renders, לֹא תְחַיְבוּן , you shall not make sinful."
34 in which I dwell You should not cause me to dwell amidst its uncleanness.
for I am the Lord who dwells among the children of Israel Even when they are unclean, the Divine Presence resides with them.-[Sifrei Massei 32]
Chapter 36
3 and it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe For her son inherits her, and the son’s pedigree follows his father’s tribe.
4 Even if the children of Israel will have a Jubilee From here R. Judah said: The Jubilee is destined to cease.- [Torath Kohanim 13:1]
will have a Jubilee That is to say, this is not a form of sale, which returns [to the original owner] in the Jubilee [year], for inheritance does not return at the Jubilee. Even if the Jubilee occurs, the inheritance will not return to its tribe; hence, it is “added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry.”
8 Every daughter...who inherits property Because her father had no son.
11 Mahlah, Tirzah... Here it enumerates them according to seniority over each other in age, and they were married in the order they were born. But throughout Scripture (26:33, 17:1, Josh. 17:3), it lists them in order of their intelligence and informs us that they were all equal.-[B.B. 120a]
Ketubim: Psalm 106: 40-48
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Rashi |
Targum |
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1. Hallelujah. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His kindness is forever. |
1. Hallelujah! Give thanks in the presence of the LORD, for He is good, for His goodness is forever. |
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2. Who can narrate the mighty deeds of the Lord? [Who] can make heard all His praise? |
2. Who is able to utter the might of the LORD? Who is allowed to proclaim all His praises? |
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3. Fortunate are those who keep justice, who perform righteousness at all times. |
3. Happy are they who observe judgment, those who do righteousness/generosity at every time. |
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4. Remember me, O Lord, when You favor Your people; be mindful of me with Your salvation. |
4. Remember me, O LORD, with good will toward Your people; call me to mind with Your redemption (Hebrew: פָּקְדֵנִי, בִּישׁוּעָתֶךָ – Paq’deni BiShuatekha – lit. “appoint me to Your Yeshua (salvation)”. |
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5. To see the goodness of Your chosen ones, to rejoice with the joy of Your nation, to boast with Your inheritance. |
5. To look on the plenty of Your chosen ones; to rejoice in the joy of Your people; to join in praise with Your inheritance. |
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6. We sinned with our forefathers; we committed iniquity and wickedness. |
6. We have sinned, along with our fathers; we have committed iniquity, acted wickedly. |
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7. Our forefathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; they did not remember Your manifold deeds of kindness, and they were rebellious by the sea, by the Sea of Reeds. |
7. Our fathers in Egypt paid no heed to Your wonders; they did not call to mind Your great goodness; and they rebelled against Your word by the sea, at the sea of Reeds. |
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8. And He saved them for His name's sake, to make known His might. |
8. And He redeemed them for His name's sake, to make known His might. |
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9. And He rebuked the Sea of Reeds, and it dried up, and He led them in the depths as [in] a desert. |
9. And He rebuked the sea of Reeds, and it dried up; and He conducted them through the deeps, as in the wilderness. |
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10. He saved them from the hand of the enemy, and He redeemed them from the hand of the foe. |
10. And He redeemed them from the power of the foe; and He redeemed them from the power of the enemies. |
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11. And the water covered their adversaries; not one of them survived. |
11. And the waters covered their oppressors; not one of them was left. |
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12. And they believed His words; they sang His praise. |
12. And they believed in the name of His word; they sang His praise. |
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13. Quickly, they forgot His deeds; they did not await His counsel. |
13. They quickly forgot His deeds; they did not wait for His counsel. |
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14. They craved a lust in the desert, and they tried God in the wasteland. |
14. And they made a request and tested God in the place of desolation. |
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15. He gave them their request, but He sent emaciation into their soul. |
15. And He gave them their request, and sent leanness into their souls. |
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16. They angered Moses in the camp, Aaron, the holy man of the Lord. |
16. And they were jealous of Moses in the camp, of Aaron, the holy one of the LORD. |
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17. The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan and covered the congregation of Abiram. |
17. The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. |
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18. And fire burned in their congregation; a flame burned the wicked. |
18. And fire burned in their company; flame will kindle the wicked. |
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19. They made a calf in Horeb and prostrated themselves to a molten image. |
19. They made a calf in Horeb, and bowed down to something of metal. |
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20. They exchanged their glory for the likeness of an ox eating grass. |
20. And they exchanged the glory of their master for the likeness of a bull that eats grass and befouls itself. |
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21. They forgot God, their Savior, Who wrought great deeds in Egypt. |
21. They forgot God their redeemer who had done mighty works in Egypt. |
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22. Wonders in the land of Ham, awesome deeds by the Sea of Reeds. |
22. Wonders in the land of Ham, awesome things by the sea of Reeds. |
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23. He intended to destroy them [and would have] were it not that Moses, His chosen one, stood before Him in the breech to return His wrath from destroying. |
23. And He commanded by His word to destroy them, had it not been for Moses His chosen one, who stood and grew mighty in prayer in His presence to turn aside His wrath from obliteration. |
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24. They rejected the desirable land; they did not believe His word. |
24. And their soul was repelled by the desirable land; they did not believe His word. |
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25. They complained in their tents; they did not hearken to the voice of the Lord. |
25. And they complained in their tents; they did not accept the word of the LORD. |
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26. He raised His hand to them to cast them down in the desert, |
26. And He lifted His hand in an oath because of them, to throw them down slain in the wilderness. |
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27. And to cast their seed among the nations and to scatter them in the lands. |
27. And to exile their seed among the peoples, and to scatter them among the lands. |
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28. They became attached to Baal Pe'or and ate sacrifices of the dead. |
28. And they attached themselves to the idol of Peor, and they ate the sacrifices of the dead. |
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29. They provoked [God] with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them. |
29. And they caused anger in His presence by their deeds, and a plague attacked them. |
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30. Phinehas stood up and executed justice, and the plague was stopped. |
30. And Phinehas rose and prayed, and the plague was restrained. |
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31. It was accounted for him as a merit, for generation to generation to eternity. |
31. And it was accounted to him for merit for all generations forever. |
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32. They provoked [God] by the waters of Meribah, and Moses suffered because of them. |
32. And they caused anger by the waters of Dispute, and it grieved Moses because of them. |
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33. For they rebelled against His spirit, and He uttered with His lips. |
33. For they rebelled against His holy spirit, and He had explained it clearly with His lips. |
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34. They did not destroy the peoples whom the Lord had told them [to destroy]. |
34. They did not destroy the peoples, which the LORD had commanded them to do. |
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35. And they mingled with the nations and learned their deeds. |
35. And they mingled with the Gentiles and they learned their deeds. |
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36. They worshipped their idols, which became a snare for them. |
36. And they worshipped their idol, and they became a stumbling-block for them. |
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37. They slaughtered their sons and daughters to the demons. |
37. And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons. |
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38. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters whom they slaughtered to the idols of Canaan, and the land became polluted with the blood. |
38. And they shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters that they sacrificed to the idols of the Canaanites and the land was defiled by capital crimes |
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39. And they became unclean through their deeds, and they went astray with their acts. |
39. And brought uncleanness by their deeds and went astray by their acts. |
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40. And the Lord's wrath was kindled against His people and He detested His inheritance. |
40. And the anger of the LORD was harsh against His people and He despised His inheritance. |
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41. And He delivered them into the hands of nations, and their enemies ruled over them. |
41. And He handed them over into the power of the Gentiles, and their foes ruled over them. |
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42. And their foes oppressed them, and they were humbled under their hand. |
42. And their enemies oppressed them, and they were subdued under their hand. |
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43. Many times He saved them, but they were rebellious with their counsel, and they were humbled because of their iniquity. |
43. Many times He would deliver them, but they would rebel against Him in their counsel, and they were brought low in their sins. |
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44. But He looked upon their distress when He heard their cries. |
44. And He saw when it went ill with them, when He heard their prayer. |
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45. And He remembered His covenant for them, and He relented in accordance with His abundant kindness. |
45. And He remembered His covenant in their favor, and He turned aside from His anger according to His abundant mercies. |
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46. And He caused them to be pitied by all their captors. |
46. And He made them find mercy in the sight of all who had taken them captive. |
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47. Save us, O Lord, our God, and gather us from the nations, to give thanks to Your holy name, to boast with Your praise. |
47. Redeem us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles, to give thanks in Your holy name, to boast in Your praise. |
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48. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from world to world, and all the people shall say, "Amen." Hallelujah! |
48. Blessed be the name of the LORD God of Israel, from this age to the age to come, and let all the people say, Amen, Hallelujah! |
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By the mercy of G-d we have merited to finish our studies on the Fourth Book of Psalms. |
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Rashi Commentary for: Psalm 106:40-48
41 And He delivered them into the hands of nations in the days of the Judges between one judge and another, e.g. Eglon, Cushan-rishathaim, Sisera, the Philistines, and Midian. (I found.)
43 Many times He saved them Many times they provoked Him; yet He was slow to anger and saved them.
and they were humbled because of their iniquity and they were humbled because of their iniquity.
44 But He looked upon their distress On account of prayer.
when He heard their cries On account of the merit of the Patriarchs.
45 And He remembered His covenant On account of repentance.
and He relented in accordance with His abundant kindness On account of the end, when He heard, “Save us, etc.” Moses, too, included them in one verse (Deut. 4:30): “In this distress that will befall you etc.”
47 save us now also, O Lord, our God.
48 from world to world From this world to the world to come.
Meditation from the Psalms
Psalms 106: 40-48
By: H.Em. Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David
For continuity I am repeating my intro from the first part of our psalm.
The preceding composition, Psalms 105, described the extensive wonders with which G-d mercifully redeemed our forefathers from Egypt. This psalm resumes the narrative and relates how G-d miraculously sustained the Jews as they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Then HaShem led the Israelites into the land of Canaan and empowered them to conquer their adversaries despite overwhelming odds. Throughout these great historic periods, HaShem repeatedly performed so many wonders that the Psalmist exclaims (verse 2), who can express the mighty acts of HaShem? Who can declare all of His praise?[1]
However, even while G-d was displaying unprecedented kindness to Israel, the Israelites were negligent in their duties toward G-d, and they failed to appreciate His wonders. Indeed, they defied G-d’s representative, Moshe, and rebelled against his commands. This defiance initiated the spiritual and moral decline which eventually led to the Jew’s exile from the Holy Land.[2]
The Psalmist completes his description of Israel’s infidelity and exile with a prayer for redemption (verse 47), Save us HaShem, our G-d, and gather us from among the peoples, to thank Your Holy Name and to glory in Your praise!
This psalm concludes the fourth Book of Tehillim with the declaration, blessed is HaShem, the G-d of Israel, from This World to the World to Come, and let the entire nation say, “Amen!” Praise G-d![3] This week we reach the end of the fourth book of Psalms and we also reach the end of the fourth book of the Torah, Bamidbar (Numbers).
Psalms chapter 106 ends with the summation of history, therefore, let us look a bit at how the process is playing out in our days.
In the beginning, the satan[4] came to incite man to rebellion against G-d.[5] He was Adam’s test. Adam’s only task was to ignore him, but by listening to him, Adam, so-to-speak, gave him existence. Now the task is changed. Midda-keneged-midda,[6] Adam must destroy the satan. So, what did he do? Adam cut the satan’s cable, so-to-speak, cutting him off from the flow of kedusha.[7] But the satan was smart, he quickly spliced his cut cable into Adam’s (the yetzer hara[8] was formerly outside of man, but now it resides within us). So now, the kedusha that we receive from the sefirot can be siphoned off by the satan.[9]
Adam’s task was passed on to us. Our relationship to the satan is one of combat. We have to grab all the kedusha and keep him from getting it. HaShem[10] however, put conditions on it. If a Jew does a mitzva,[11] the kedusha goes to him, but if a Jew does an aveirah (a sin), it goes to the other side, to the satan. And he turns around and gives it to the goyim[12] so that they can destroy us with it.
HaShem gave the Jews gifts and we, through the loss of the kedusha to the other side, gave them away to the goyim, deepening the exile.
Mitzvot[13] allow us to testify that the will of HaShem[14] is supreme because there is a natural tendency for us to be in-charge. We do not readily allow others to dictate our actions. Because of this tendency we are prone to stray from His word and to serve our own pleasure. When we sin, HaShem has some tools to bring us back to Him and at the same time create a tikkun, a correction, that will fix us up and fix up the world in order that we should bring the Geula, the redemption and Mashiach.[15] (It is obvious that the coming of Mashiach ben David[16] is one thing and the redemption itself is another, just as Moshe Rabbeinu came to Mitzrayim prior to the redemption, prior to the exodus from Egypt – they were two separate events.[17] It is possible that the same thing will take place in the future redemption, as stated in Midrashim, “Just as the first redeemer was revealed and then concealed … so too with the final redeemer, etc.)
Micah 7:15 'As in the days of thy coming forth out of the land of Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things.'
The primary tools that HaShem has to restore us and to effect a tikkun[18] for the damage we have brought are teshuva,[19] mitzvot, suffering, and the destruction of His House[20] whereby we are sent like a child out of his father’s house to fend for ourselves until we come to our senses. When HaShem sent us out of His House, this earth shattering change caused us to focus on what we had when we were in His House. We no longer had the nearness to HaShem that we felt when we witnessed His ten constant miracles[21] and mitzvot of the offerings which provided a near constant reminder of who we are and our place in the world.
Because man strives to replace HaShem and to put himself in that position of being in-charge, HaShem begins the corrective process by bringing pain and suffering into our lives. Suffering diminishes man’s ego to zero and brings him to understand that he is not HaShem. If we are helpless in the hospital with an illness, then our ego finds very little cause to believe that we are controlling our own destiny. The pleasures of our sins are soon forgotten in our desperation to be restored in body (and soul to our Creator, if we are very fortunate). Likewise, midda-kneged-midda, measure for measure, the suffering brought by HaShem removes the pleasure that our sin had acquired.
Tisha B’Ab,[22] when the Temple was destroyed and we were evicted, will bring the Geula[23] because we feel the lack when we are kicked out of His House and no longer have the support of our Father. The destruction of the Temple, will bring Mashiach because of the ensuing exile and suffering. This is the tikkun. The end of days will inevitably bring the Geula, redemption, but we have a choice: We can do it the easy way, or we can do it the hard way. So far, we have always chosen the hard way, hence this long and bitter exile.
Avraham’s life shows that his descendants will have many ups and downs that will be unbelievable. Consider that HaShem told him to get up and go away from his home, his family, his friends, and all that was familiar to him. When he arrives in the ‘promised land’ the first thing to happen is a terrible famine where he is forced to descend to Egypt. When he gets to Egypt, the head honcho, Pharaoh, steals his wife, and once gone she can never be restored because Pharaoh can’t be insulted by having his cast-off wives becoming the wife of another man. So, Avraham is really struggling with these awful events that all started when he obeyed HaShem. Then just when things could not possibly get any worse, suddenly his wife is returned to him along with copious quantities of wealth. His was truly a life of ups and downs! However, in HaShem’s plan, both the ups and the downs will bring the Geula. The very suffering we despised becomes the catalyst for a new beginning. However, suffering is not the only tool that HaShem uses to bring about the Geula.
As Avraham had to leave his father’s house, so also did Tisha B’Ab and the churban forced us to leave our Father’s house. Yet this churban, as we have already mentioned, is yet another way to bring the Geula.
We need to be like Avraham. We need to be obedient and at the same time try to understand the ups and downs that HaShem brings into our lives. We need to figure out what HaShem is doing because it is a catalyst for building emunah, faithful obedience, which leads us to put HaShem in-charge rather than ourselves. Part of the focus of this study is to begin to see the hand of HaShem as He brings about the Geula by bringing a tikkun for all of our misdeeds.
Now let’s begin to look at more of the cause and effect that reveals the hand of HaShem in the world. To begin, we must understand that the satan can grow or diminish based on how much kedusha, holy energy, he receives. If all Jews do mitzvot, and never sin, then the satan dies. If they sin and become lax in the performance of mitzvot, then he grows. When the satan grows it is bad news for the Jews.
History is about the balance of kedusha in the world, and who controls it. It works both to Israel’s advantage and to her disadvantage.
Rabbi Eliyahu Margolis of Mir-Yerushalayim[24] says that for every plague brought upon Mitzrayim,[25] there was a corresponding gain in kedushah to the Bne Israel.[26] The death of the firstborn, for example, brought new holiness to the firstborn of the Bne Israel. This theme recurs. In Beshalach,[27] Rashi says that the Egyptians pursued the Bne Israel “as one man with one heart.” In Yitro,[28] that phrase is used to praise the Bne Israel. HaShem planted the midda, the measure, of unity among the doomed Egyptians so that its impression would reappear for holiness among the Bne Israel.
In the Haggada,[29] the Tannaim[30] are quoted as outdoing each other to expand the number of plagues in Egypt and at the Yam Suf,[31] because the more plagues the Egyptians got, the more illnesses the Bne Israel would be protected against. The guarding, the lovingkindness, of Israel is built on the structure of the destruction of Egypt.
“The acts of the fathers are a sign for the children.”[32]
Conversely, the Torah tells us that Yitzchak,[33] our Patriarch, hinted to Yaaqob[34] that there was a disconnect:
Bereshit (Genesis) 27:22 The voice is the voice of Yaaqob and the hands are the hands of Esav.[35]
The Midrash[36] explains this to mean that as long as the voice is that of Yaaqob, which is as long as there are the ‘chirpings’ of the children studying Torah in the synagogues and the adults in the study halls, the hands will not be that of Esav. As long as the Jewish people (and their children) are engaged in Torah study, the power of Esav (Edomites) is held at bay and is incapacitated. However, if the voice of Yaaqob is silent then Esav will have the upper hand.
It is well known that Yitzchak blessed Esav after giving the major blessing to Yaaqob. The blessing of Esav was not a true blessing. It was a conditional blessing. When Yaaqob got the blessing that Yitzchak originally intended for Esav, Esav’s cry caused Yitzchak to bless Esav with an interesting blessing.[37]
Rashi[38] comments that when Israel will violate the precepts of the Torah then Esav will achieve the blessings of the physical. Thus, Isaac did not bestow upon Esav any new blessings but, rather he limited the blessing of the physical, which he had previously given to Yaaqob. If Yaaqob uses the physical as a means to achieve intellectual perfection, then he will truly merit the blessings of the physical. However, if he violates the Torah[39] and seeks the physical as an end, in and of itself, then Esav will have the upper hand and merit the blessings of the physical.
Yitzchak blessed Esav (Edom / Rome / Christianity), giving him the right to throw off the yoke of his brother, Yaaqob (Israel), whenever his brother strayed from the path of G‑d. This trait in our Patriarchs is embedded in their descendants today. Esav still hates Yaaqob and Edom still subjugates Israel whenever Israel strays from their primary mission to bring HaShem to the world through Torah study and mitzvot. This back and forth relationship is now clearly visible in the clash of nations.
Now imagine the ohr HaGanuz being revealed to the Jewish people today, who have descended so much due to our sins. We would not survive the experience. We need to be prepared first, just as Yosef, and his wisdom, his bones, prepared the Jews in the days of Moshe, so also will Mashiach ben Yosef prepare the world before the advent of Mashiach ben David.
It says in Psalms, “The stone that the builders despised will become the cornerstone”.[40] There are those who would build a society on materials other than the materials of Jewish tradition; but the stones of the ancient Temple of Jerusalem, mourned by some and despised by others, will ultimately be the cornerstone of human wisdom and peace among the nations.
When the Jews have the Shechinah they have beauty and might with wisdom. When they sinned, this great beauty and wisdom went to the goyim in the form of Greek and Eastern philosophy. The might went to the Roman republic founded in 509bce. In Eicha[41] we find our kings and princes went to the goyim after the first churban:[42]
Eicha (Lamentations) 2:9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the goyim: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from HaShem.
When the second Temple was destroyed, in 3839AM,[43] Christianity appeared. Baseless hatred and Lashon HaRa[44] caused its destruction, midda-kneged-midda[45] Christianity began using these same sins against us. Their cathedrals had much beauty, but their ‘victories’ in war, science, and the arts were astounding. They have what was ours. (Think about the ramifications when they become our inheritance).
In 5000AM, the year 1240CE, the Zohar[46] says that the Ohr Mashiach,[47] the light of Mashiach, begins to come down. This time frame corresponds to the start of the sixth day (Thursday sundown), which is Erev Shabbat.[48] This Ohr Mashiach,[49] the light of Messiah, is inner light. The Zohar[50] was discovered right after 1240. Because of our sins, the goyim are getting this light along with the Jews. So why are they not getting all of the light? The answer is that Jewish suffering is nearly complete for their sins. It is time for the light to begin returning to its owner.
What does Ohr Mashiach look like with the goyim? Science! It lets them see the inner light. If the Jews sin, then the satan receives the flow of Divine energy, twists it into a physical caricature of its spiritual form, and gives it to the nations. In this case, the light of Mashiach, a divine wisdom which gives insight into the spiritual worlds, was converted into a body of knowledge that shows the mechanics of the physical world. And what is that? Science! Certainly, we have benefited from the many advances in science, along with the rest of the world. There has been a terrible price, however. Why does the satan want the world to be filled with knowledge of science? Until science’s advent, atheism was unheard of; it had no intellectual underpinnings. Science, however, can be construed to present a form of reality that does not include HaShem. Once the satan could influence the nations into giving up their religions (which, twisted they may be, still involve an awareness of a divine being), he could then turn the nations onto the Jews and “enlighten” them.
Since all the advances in science came ultimately from the satan, who had taken the Ohr Mashiach that had been meant for us, had twisted it into a force for understanding the physical world, and had given it to the nations, we must take another attitude every time that we visit one of those big-box electronics stores to buy yet another appliance. As we gaze in wonder at the latest super-small, yet super-speedy computers (far faster than last year’s model) and marvel at the latest that technology has wrought, a sad thought must cross our minds: “All this is but a perverted shadow of what was really meant – for us!”
In the 1240’s, science began with Roger Bacon and his advocating of the scientific method. He was the connector between philosophy and science. Bacon sent the Pope his Opus Majus,[51] which presented his views on how to incorporate the philosophy of Aristotle and science into a new theology. Bacon also sent the Pope his Opus minus, De multiplicatione specierum, and possibly other works on alchemy and astrology.
So, the Jews get kabbala[52] with the Zohar[53] in 1286 CE (5046AM[54]), and its study of the inner light while the goyim get science and its inner light. The Zohar details the spiritual causes of the physical universe. We get the spiritual and they get the physical.
In 1180, sixty years before 1240, the Rambam[55] completed the Mishne Torah, which was a revolutionary re-ordering of the Torah that reassembled the broken pieces of the Gemara into a form which was easily comprehended by the common man. Maimonides intended to provide a complete statement of the Oral Law, so that a person who mastered first the Written Torah and then the Mishneh Torah would be in no need of any other book. By 1240 the Mishne Torah had achieved wide distribution that included responsum.[56]
In the late 1500’s, Francis Bacon became the first practitioner of the scientific method. This was the Ohr Rishon becoming manifest in the physical world. At about the same time, in the spiritual world, the Arizal[57] began explaining the Kabbala, which was symbolic in nature and is considered the father of contemporary Kabbala; what became known as Lurianic Kabbala. A contemporary, Moses ben Jacob Cordovero was a central figure in the historical development of Kabbalah and the leader of a mystical school in 16th-century Safed, Israel. He is known by the acronym the Ramak. As science got more physical with the scientific method, Judaism was becoming more mystical with the Kabbala. A second development in the late 1500’s, was the development of halachic literature by Rabbi Yosef Karo whose Magnus opus was the Shulchan Aruch, the Set Table. This was the first reconstruction of Torah into its application. There are various legal codes in Judaism but the Shulchan Aruch is the most widely consulted. It was authored in Safed, Israel, by Yosef Karo in 1563 and published in Venice two years later.
In the 1700’s, the great Gentile Sir Isaac Newton,[58] the father of modern science, began to affect the world. At the same time a renewal was happening in the Jewish world as this era saw the advent of most of the major Acharonim[59] and Chassidic[60] leaders, including Rabbi Moshe Chaim of Luzatto (1707 – 1747). Thus 5500A.M. = 1740 saw the rise of science in a big way as the Zohar[61] interprets along prophetical lines:
In the 600th year of the 6th millennium (i.e., in the years 5,500-5,600 in the Hebrew calendar corresponding to the years 1740-1840 CE.) the upper gates of wisdom will be opened and also the wellsprings of wisdom below (science and technology). This will prepare the world for the 7th millennium like a person prepares himself on Friday for Shabbat, as the sun begins to wane. So, it will be here. There is a hint about this in the verse “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life …all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened”.[62]
This passage,[63] from the Zohar, has been explained by the Talmudic[64] Sage-Mystics of Israel, the Chassidic masters and specifically by the Sages of Shklov,[65] as referring to the fact that from the 18th, and especially from the 19th, century onward, the Kabbalah would experience a profound renewal clarifying and rendering more accessible her own esoteric traditions.[66] Any student of contemporary mysticism cannot but be astounded by the relatively recent dramatic accessibility of the Kabbalah and its new and ever increasing popularity.[67]
With the gradual opening of the gates of wisdom above and below the messianic revelation that will begin from the year 1840 will resemble the wisdom of King Solomon in his day.[68]
Paralleling the revelations of “wisdom from above,” this prophecy necessitates revolutionary discoveries occurring simultaneously in the secular world, with regards to the “wisdom from below”. Stimulated by the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, the wellsprings of theoretical models and new technology have incessantly burst forth. A wholly new paradigm of scientific thought, and consciousness, is emerging. The year 1840 witnessed the emergence of electromagnetic theory,[69] electromagnetism,[70] which in turn paved the way for the discovery of radio waves, the harnessing of electricity, telecommunications, television, computers, and the investigation of atomic energy and the development of the atomic bomb. New psychological and neurological descriptions of the brain, ethnopharmacology,[71] black hole phenomenon,[72] genetic engineering, lasers and holography, are further examples of the changes and ideas that have taken place in our generation. Of even greater significance has been the effect of the early 19th century breakthroughs of non-Euclidean geometry, which set the stage for the 20th century theories of Einstein’s relativity,[73] quantum mechanics, and the search for the Unified Field Theory.[74] Currently, under the name of “Super Strings”,[75] this theory is being proclaimed by leading physicists as an unmistakable genesis of a new physics. Most recently, the scientific community and public at large are being initiated into a new world of fractal geometry,[76] chaos theory,[77] virtual reality,[78] and the ever accelerating, neural network[79] of the worldwide Internet.
The statement, “wellsprings of wisdom below”, is interpreted as the industrial revolution, which according to Wikipedia, had its origins in the 1780’s but was not felt until 1830’s or 1840’s. We are still feeling the effects today with all the scientific revolutions that followed.
The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production. The Second used electric power to create mass production. The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.
There are three reasons why today’s transformations represent not merely a prolongation of the Third Industrial Revolution but rather the arrival of a Fourth and distinct one: velocity, scope, and systems impact. The speed of current breakthroughs has no historical precedent. When compared with previous industrial revolutions, the Fourth is evolving at an exponential rather than a linear pace. Moreover, it is disrupting almost every industry in every country. And the breadth and depth of these changes herald the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and governance.[80]
According to the teachings of esoteric Judaism, all knowledge, both spiritual and material wisdom, originally coexisted in a seamless unity within a higher dimension. Together, these two modes of wisdom comprised a larger, all-encompassing Universal Torah.[81] A collapse, i.e., the episode of the eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil,[82] however, ensued in which the database of all knowledge split itself into “spiritual” and “material” planes of existence. Thus, we have the roots of the conflict between “religion” and “science”. Yet, any given mystical or technological truth can only be one of two sides of the same puzzle. Thus, the material world is also a mode of spirituality, only externalized and concretized. Vice-versa, the spiritual world is a mode of the material reality, only internalized and spiritualized.[83]
From both a secular and scientific perspective, as well as from a fundamentalist religious perspective, this unique synergistic re-union is very challenging, if not intimidating and appears “heretical”. Yet, this is the explicit doctrine of the Gaon of Vilna[84] and his clandestine cadre of Talmudic Sage-Mystics of Shklov. The ultimate truth is not revealed through the supra-natural alone nor is it only discovered through scientific development, it is more than both. Both forms of wisdom are destined to reunite. Perforce, this is stimulating a worldwide paradigm shift in consciousness. These stages of global evolution are aspects of the Messianic Era which is central to the teachings of esoteric as well as traditional Judaism.[85]
The greatest challenge to religion is science because science can offer an alternative to HaShem[86] and His creation. That is why the satan makes this offer to those who would choose this path. As a matter of interest, we have no record of any atheists[87] before the rise of science, and in particular the idea of evolution.
According to this tradition, our role as the “Final Generation” in the re-unification of these two modes of wisdom is achieved by matching the right tool with the right job. In other words, we must use the new maps, models, and metaphors of the “wisdom from below” in order to grasp the “wisdom from above.” In turn, the transcendent wisdom of the Torah will cast its light of clarity and direction upon the enchanting and often overpowering tools of science and technology.
The “gates of wisdom above” parallel the opening of the “wellsprings of wisdom below”. This refers to revolutionary discoveries in the sciences that would completely change our view of the world.[88] We have also seen ongoing examples of the revelations of “wisdom from above”. We can see it historically in the release and publishing of crucial Kabbalistic teachings. Although a number of the works of the Arizal[89] were circulated after he died in 1572, the most authoritative texts of Lurianic Kabbalah, the Shemone Sh’arim[90] by R. Chayim Vital,[91] remained in closely guarded manuscript until the beginning of the 20th-century. The availability of previously unpublished esoteric manuscripts of the early Kabbalists, the teachings of the Ramchal[92] and the Hasidic masters,[93] and finally the esoteric writings of the Gaon and his disciples, including Kol HaTor,[94] have given our generation increasing access to these crucial teachings.
This does not mean that our generation is more advanced than our predecessors. To the contrary, our grasp of the “inner” wisdom is decidedly more “external”. It does mean, however, that this wisdom is no longer restricted to a select few. In order to hasten the redemption, the inner wisdom has come down into the public domain, with all the inherent dangers that this “descent” suggests. This is born out, on the one hand, by the emergence of the Kabbalah as an accepted field of academic research in universities in Israel and in the world at large. This is in sharp contrast to the Kabbalah’s previous status of belonging to the “Old World” and the realm of superstition. On the other hand, this prophecy is reflected in the appearance of Orthodox Yeshivot, mainly Sephardic, which openly teach Kabbalah side by side with Talmud[95] and Halachah.[96] Further, any longtime student of the Kabbalah cannot but be staggered by the recent proliferation of classical Kabbalah literature, in Hebrew, English, and other languages, which continues to increase in momentum.
There is much more to this story, but it must remain for another time. What I have provided should stimulate us to cry out to HaShem to, “Save Us”! This look at the plan of HaShem should encourage us to renew our emunah and redouble our efforts in Torah study.
Ashlamatah: Joshua 20:1-9 + 21:3
|
Rashi |
Targum |
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1. ¶ And the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, |
1. ¶ And the LORD spoke with Joshua, saying: |
|
2. "Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'Prepare for you cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses. |
2. Speak with the sons of Israel, saying: ‘Pick out for yourselves the cities of refuge about which I spoke with you by the hand of Moses, |
|
3. To which a slayer that kills any person unawares, unwittingly, shall flee and they shall be for you as a refuge from the avenger of blood. |
3. where a killer who will kill1 someone by negligence without his knowledge may flee. And they will be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. |
|
4. And he shall flee to one of those cities, and he shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city to them, and give him a place, and he shall dwell among them. |
4. And he will flee to one of these cities, and he will stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and he will speak before the elders of that city his words, and they will gather him to the city unto them, and they will give to him a place, and he will dwell with them. |
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5. And if the avenger of blood pursue him, then they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand, because he smote his neighbor unwittingly, and did not hate him from before. |
5. And if the avenger of blood will pursue after him, they will not hand over the killer in his hand, for without his knowing he struck down his neighbor and he was not hating him yesterday and before that. |
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6. And he shall dwell in that city until he stand before the tribunal for judgment, until the death of the High Priest that shall be in those days. Then shall the slayer return, and come to his own city, and to his own house, to the city from which he fled." |
6. And he will dwell in that city until he will stand before the congregation for judgment, until the high priest in those days will die. Then the killer will return and enter his city and his house, the city from which he fled. |
|
7. And they set apart Kedesh in Galilee Mount Naphtali, and Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. |
7. And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of the house of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of the house of Ephraim and Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the hill country of the house of Judah. |
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8. And on the other side of the Jordan at Jericho eastward, they had assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. |
8. And across the Jordan which is east of Jericho, they picked Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain, from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Matnan from the tribe of Manasseh. |
|
9. These were the cities set apart for all the children of Israel and for the stranger that sojourns among them, that whosoever kills any person unawares might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the tribunal. {P} |
9. And these were the cities that were appointed for all the sons of Israel and for the sojourners who will sojourn among them, where anyone who will kill someone by negligence may flee, and he will not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he will stand before the congregation. {P} |
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|
|
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1. ¶ And the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the tribes of the children of Israel; |
1. ¶ And the heads of the clans of the Levites drew near unto Eleazar the priest and unto Joshua the son of Nun and unto the heads of the clans of the tribes for the sons of Israel. |
|
2. And they spoke to them in Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, "The Lord commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, and the open land around them for our cattle." {P} |
2. And they spoke with them in Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying: “The LORD commanded by the hand of Moses to give to us cities to dwell in and their open spaces for our cattle.” {P} |
|
3. And the children of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance, according to the commandment of the Lord, these cities and the open land around them. |
3. And the sons of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance according to the Memra of the LORD these cities and their open spaces. |
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4. And the lot went out for the families of the Kohathites; and the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had by lot, from the tribe of Judah, and from the tribe of Simeon, and from the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities. |
4. And the lot went forth for the families of Kohath, and the sons of Aaron the priest from the Levites had in the lot from the tribe of Judah and from the tribe of Simeon and from the tribe of Benjamin thirteen cities. |
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5. And the rest of the children of Kohath had by lot ten cities from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh. {S} |
5. And the sons of Kohath who were left had in the lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim and from the tribe of Dan and from the half tribe of Manasseh ten cities. {S} |
|
6. And the children of Gershon had by lot from the families of the tribe of Issachar, and from the tribe of Asher, and from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities. |
6. And the sons of Gershon had in the lot thirteen cities from the families of the tribe of Issachar and from the tribe of Asher and from the tribe of Naphtali and from the half tribe of Manasseh in Matnan. |
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7. For the children of Merari according to their families, there were twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben and from the tribe of Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun. {S} |
7. And the sons of Merari according to their families had twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben and from the tribe of Gad and from the tribe of Zebulun. {S} |
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8. And the children of Israel gave to the Levites by lot these cities with the open land around them, as the Lord had commanded through Moses. {P} |
8. And the sons of Israel gave to the Levites these cities and their open spaces, just as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses, in the lot. {P} |
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Rashi’s Commentary on Joshua 20:1-9 + 21:3
6 until he stand before the tribunal for judgment If he be freed from exile he is dismissed. If, however, he is sentenced to exile, he is remanded to his refuge city, where he must dwell until the death of the High Priest.
8 And of the other side of the Jordan at Jericho eastward, they had assigned during Moses’ time as it is stated: Bezer in the wilderness, etc.
9 set apart lit., the cities of setting apart, those set apart for this.
Chapter 21
5 And the rest of the children of Kohath They are the children of Moses, and the children of Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel.
from the families of the tribe of Ephraim These cities fell to them from the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim, for they received cities in the inheritance of each tribe, as it is stated: "From the many you shall take many, and from the few you shall take few; each tribe according to its inheritance which they inherit, shall give of its cities to the Levites."
5 And the rest of the children of Kohath They are the children of Moses, and the children of Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel.
from the families of the tribe of Ephraim These cities fell to them from the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim, for they received cities in the inheritance of each tribe, as it is stated: "From the many you shall take many, and from the few you shall take few; each tribe according to its inheritance which they inherit, shall give of its cities to the Levites."
Verbal Tallies
By: HEm Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David
& HH Giberet Dr. Elisheba bat Sarah
Bamidbar (Numbers) 35:9 – 36:13
Tehillim (Psalms) 106:40-48 F
Yehoshua (Joshua) 20:1-9 + 21:3
Mk 13:3-8, Lk 21:7-11, Rm 16:24-27
The verbal tallies between the Torah and the Psalm are:
LORD - יהוה, Strong’s number 03068.
Saying / Say - אמר, Strong’s number 0559.
Israel - ישראל, Strong’s number 03478.
The verbal tallies between the Torah and the Ashlamata are:
LORD - יהוה, Strong’s number 03068.
Saying / Say - אמר, Strong’s number 0559.
Spake / Speak - דבר, Strong’s number 01696.
Moses - משה, Strong’s number 04872.
Children - בן, Strong’s number 01121.
Israel - ישראל, Strong’s number 03478.
Jordan - ירדן, Strong’s number 03383.
Bamidbar (Numbers) 35:9 And the LORD <03068> spake <01696> (8762) unto Moses <04872>, saying <0559> (8800),
10 Speak <01696> (8761) unto the children <01121> of Israel <03478>, and say <0559> (8804) unto them, When ye be come over Jordan <03383> into the land of Canaan;
Tehillim (Psalms) 106:48 Blessed be the LORD <03068> God of Israel <03478> from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say <0559> (8804), Amen. Praise ye the LORD <03068>.
Yehoshua (Joshua) 20:1 The LORD <03068> also spake <01696> (8762) unto Joshua, saying <0559> (8800),
Yehoshua (Joshua) 20:2 Speak <01696> (8761) to the children <01121> of Israel <03478>, saying <0559> (8800), Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses <04872>:
Yehoshua (Joshua) 20:8 And on the other side Jordan <03383> by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.
Hebrew:
|
Hebrew |
English |
Torah Reading Num. 35:9 – 36:13 |
Psalms 106:40-48 |
Ashlamatah Josh 20:1-9 + 21:3 |
|
dx'a, |
one |
Num. 35:30 |
Jos. 20:4 |
|
|
rx;a; |
after, pursues |
Num. 35:28 |
Jos. 20:5 |
|
|
byEao |
enemy |
Num. 35:23 |
Ps. 106:42 |
|
|
rm;a' |
saying |
Num. 35:9 |
Ps. 106:48 |
Jos. 20:1 |
|
!Be |
children, son |
Num. 35:10 |
Jos. 20:2 |
|
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la;G' |
avenger, redeemer |
Num. 35:12 |
Jos. 20:3 |
|
|
lAdG" |
high, great |
Num. 35:25 |
Jos. 20:6 |
|
|
d['l.GI |
Gilead |
Num. 36:1 |
Jos. 20:8 |
|
|
rGE |
stranger |
Num. 35:15 |
Jos. 20:9 |
|
|
rBeDI |
spoke, speak |
Num. 35:9 |
Jos. 20:1 |
|
|
rb'D' |
what, his case |
Num. 36:6 |
Jos. 20:4 |
|
|
~D' |
blood |
Num. 35:19 |
Jos. 20:3 |
|
|
dy" |
hand |
Num. 35:17 |
Ps. 106:41 |
Jos. 20:2 |
|
hw"hoy> |
LORD |
Num. 35:9 |
Ps. 106:40 |
Jos. 20:1 |
|
!Der>y: |
Jordan |
Num. 35:10 |
Jos. 20:8 |
|
|
Axrey> |
Jericho |
Num. 36:13 |
Jos. 20:8 |
|
|
bv;y" |
remain, stay, dwell |
Num. 35:25 |
Jos. 20:4 |
|
|
laer'f.yI |
Israel |
Num. 35:10 |
Ps. 106:48 |
Jos. 20:2 |
|
!heKo |
priest |
Num. 35:25 |
Jos. 20:6 |
|
|
tAm' |
die |
Num. 35:12 |
Jos. 20:9 |
|
|
tw<m' |
death |
Num. 35:25 |
Jos. 20:6 |
|
|
hJ,m; |
tribe |
Num. 36:3 |
Jos. 20:8 |
|
|
hV,n:m. |
Manasseh |
Num. 36:1 |
Jos. 20:8 |
|
|
jl'q.mi |
refuge |
Num. 35:11 |
Jos. 20:2 |
|
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hv,mo |
Moses |
Num. 35:9 |
Jos. 20:2 |
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jl'q.mi |
judgment |
Num. 35:12 |
Jos. 20:6 |
|
|
sWn |
flee |
Num. 35:11 |
Jos. 20:3 |
|
|
hl'x]n: |
inheritance |
Num. 36:2 |
Ps. 106:40 |
Jos. 21:3 |
|
hk'n" |
kills, slays |
Num. 35:11 |
Jos. 20:3 |
|
|
vp,n< |
person, soul |
Num. 35:11 |
Jos. 20:3 |
|
|
lc;n" |
deliver |
Num. 35:25 |
Ps. 106:43 |
|
|
!t;n" |
give, gave, given |
Num. 35:13 |
Ps. 106:41 |
Jos. 20:2 |
|
rb,[e |
side |
Num. 35:14 |
Jos. 20:8 |
|
|
hd'[e |
congregation, gathering |
Num. 35:12 |
Jos. 20:6 |
|
|
ry[i |
cities |
Num. 35:11 |
Jos. 20:2 |
|
|
dm;[' |
stands |
Num. 35:12 |
Jos. 20:4 |
|
|
hP, |
testimony, mouth |
Num. 35:30 |
Jos. 21:3 |
|
|
~ynIP' |
before, face |
Num. 35:12 |
Ps. 106:46 |
Jos. 20:6 |
|
vd,qo |
holy |
Num. 35:25 |
Ps. 106:47 |
|
|
ha'r' |
seeing |
Num. 35:23 |
Ps. 106:44 |
|
|
xc;r' |
manslayer, murderer |
Num. 35:11 |
Jos. 20:3 |
|
|
hg"g"v. |
accidentally |
Num. 35:11 |
Jos. 20:3 |
|
|
bWv |
return, turn |
Num. 35:25 |
Jos. 20:6 |
|
|
anEf' |
hate |
Ps. 106:41 |
Jos. 20:5 |
|
|
%w<T' |
amid, among |
Num. 35:15 |
Jos. 20:9 |
Greek:
|
GREEK |
ENGLISH |
Torah Reading Num. 35:9 – 36:13 |
Psalms 106:40-48 |
Ashlamatah Josh 20:1-9 + 21:3 |
Peshat Mishnah of Mark, 1-2 Peter, & Jude Mk 13:3-8 |
Tosefta of Luke Lk 21:7-11 |
Remes/Gemara of Acts/Romans and James Rm 16:24-27 |
|
αἰών |
eon, age |
Ps 106:48 |
Rom. 16:27 |
||||
|
ἀκούω |
hear |
Mk. 13:7 |
Lk. 21:9 |
||||
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βασιλεία |
kingdom |
Mk. 13:8 |
Lk. 21:10 |
||||
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βλέπω |
heed |
Mk. 13:5 |
Lk. 21:8 |
||||
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δεῖ |
must |
Mk. 13:7 |
Lk. 21:9 |
||||
|
διώκω |
pursue, follow |
Jos 20:5 |
|||||
|
ἐγείρω |
rise |
Mk. 13:8 |
Lk. 21:10 |
||||
|
ἔθνος |
nations |
Psa 106:47 |
Mk. 13:8 |
Lk. 21:10 |
Rom. 16:26 |
||
|
εἴδω |
see, knowing |
Num. 35:23 |
Ps. 106:44 |
Jos 20:5 |
|||
|
ἐκχέω / ἐκχύνω |
poured out |
Num 35:33 |
|||||
|
ἐπερωτάω |
asked |
Mk. 13:3 |
Lk. 21:7 |
||||
|
ἔπω |
said, spoke |
Num 36:2 |
Jos 20:2 |
Mk. 13:4 |
Lk. 21:8 |
||
|
ἔρχομαι |
came, come |
Jos 20:6 |
Mk. 13:6 |
Lk. 21:8 |
|||
|
θεός |
God |
Psa 106:47 |
Rom. 16:26 |
||||
|
κύριος |
LORD |
Num. 35:9 |
Ps. 106:40 |
Jos. 20:1 |
Rom. 16:24 |
||
|
λέγω |
saying |
Num. 35:9 |
Ps. 106:48 |
Jos. 20:1 |
Mk. 13:5 |
Lk. 21:7 |
|
|
λιμός |
famines |
Mk. 13:8 |
Lk. 21:11 |
||||
|
μέγας |
high, great |
Num. 35:25 |
Jos. 20:6 |
Lk. 21:11 |
|||
|
ὄνομα |
name |
Psa 106:47 |
Mk. 13:6 |
Lk. 21:8 |
|||
|
ὄπίσω |
after |
Jos 20:5 |
Lk. 21:8 |
||||
|
ὄρος |
mountain, mount |
Jos 20:7 |
Mk. 13:3 |
||||
|
πλανάω |
deceives |
Mk. 13:5 |
Lk. 21:8 |
||||
|
πόλεμος |
war |
Mk. 13:7 |
Lk. 21:9 |
||||
|
σεισμός |
earthquakes |
Mk. 13:8 |
Lk. 21:11 |
||||
|
σημεῖον |
signs |
Mk. 13:4 |
Lk. 21:7 |
||||
|
τέλος |
end |
Mk. 13:7 |
Lk. 21:9 |
||||
|
τόπος |
place |
Jos 20:4 |
Mk. 13:8 |
Lk. 21:11 |
Abarbanel On
Pirqe Abot – Chapters of the Fathers
Pereq 1, Mishnah 14
His son, Shimon said: All my days I have grown up among Sages and I have found nothing better for a man [literally: body) than silence. It is not study that is the principal thing, but rather action and he who talks a lot brings sin.
The flaws in this Mishnah are obvious. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel teaches us that there is nothing better than silence. However, is it not true that in academia and in intellectual circles discussions, argumentation, rebuttals and persuasion are the essence of dialogue? Presentation and rebuttal are a sine-quanon for intellectual debate. Similarly, the only difference between humans and animals is the formers' ability to speak. How could Rabban Shimon even have thought that silence is a virtue? Furthermore, we find in the Torah that God said to Moshe, "Who· has made man's mouth?" (Exodus 4:11).
Finally, why does Rabban Shimon state that during his entire lifetime he has found no better thing for a body than silence? Would it not have been more appropriate if instead of "body" he had said "person"?
The amount of space that Abarbanel devotes to commenting on this Mishnah is surprising. He expends a great deal of effort in elucidating the comments of Rambam. In general, it can be said that one who is very verbose and garrulous is prone to say silly and stupid things. The Talmud was aware of this when it said, "The singular virtue of the Babylonian Jewish community was their propensity towards silence" (Kiddushin 71b).
Rambam proceeds to explain the anatomy of conversation and communication. He relates that a wise man was once asked why his voice was seldom heard and why he seldom participated in conversation. He replied that in his view, conversing could be divided into four categories. Firstly, the substance of the conversation can be thoroughly reprehensible, such as blasphemy and slander. The second form of chatting can be beneficial from one angle and detrimental from another. For example, when one is hired to speak and praise another who does not deserve it. The third type of conversation is one that has no special significance and could very easily be characterized as idle chatter, such as discussing current events and the like. The last type is a conversation that is serious, intellectually stimulating and spiritually uplifting. The wise old man to whom we referred above concluded his remarks by stating that when he hears talk that embrace the first three categories he remains totally silent. When he hears the fourth category, he speaks up with enthusiasm.
Rambam applies these identifications to Torah-life. According to him, there are five kinds of spoken word with which the Torah Jew should be concerned. Firstly, words which he is commanded to speak, such as prayer and, especially, the recitation of the Shema. Secondly, words that the Torah forbids the Jew to utter, such as slander and blasphemy. Thirdly, conversations that will elevate the speaker and not diminish his stature. Fourthly, talk that is unproductive such as idle chatter which is a nonsensical waste of time. Fifthly, the tête-a-tête centering around commonplace experiences, such as day-to-day occurrences which is permitted, but not encouraged.
Abarbanel uses Rambam's categories, with which he agrees, to explain the dictum in the Mishnah, but claims that the interpretation is not satisfactory. Furthermore, Abarbanel was disturbed that Rambam permitted the dictum, in the Mishnah, "I found nothing better for the body" to go unchallenged. What benefits can the organs of the body derive from silence?
Abarbanel offers alternative interpretations. Rabban Shimon agreed with his father, Rabban Gamliel, that action is more important than study. This is because a man is corporeal, he has a body and he must therefore seek his perfection in bodily actions. The dictum should, therefore, be interpreted thus: All my days I have grown up among sages and because of that I too believe that the highest level of perfection for the soul is Torah study and its wisdom. However, as far as bodily value is concerned, I have found nothing better than silence, and for corporeal man, it is not the study that is the important thing, but rather action, as both Shammai and Rabban Gamliel taught. For the body, action, even without study, is better than study without action. In a nutshell: Actions speak louder - and are also more important - than words! What purpose is there in studying the Jaws of the sukkah, if you do not erect one?
Abarbanel quotes the Talmud which asks, "Should the study of Torah be equated with a song which one sits quietly and listens to, but which one does not participate in its composition?" (Shabbat 106b, 108b). The performance of mitzvot (commandments) can never lead to sin, but a Jot of talk - even in Torah matters - can lead to sin. Therefore, whenever in Jewish literature we find any praise of speech and communication, the reference is to the perfection of a person's soul. Rabban Shimon had in mind a corporeal entity. Hence, silence is good for a person because actions are of cardinal importance. It is, therefore, a logical conclusion that those who talk a Jot increase the chances of committing a sin either by commission or omission.
Abarbanel offers another approach to our Mishnah: For a teacher, speech is good and fitting because without it he will be unable to transmit his wisdom. For the student, however, silence is fitting; he must sit and drink with thirst in his teacher's words and be formed by him. This, then, is the interpretation: When one is in the position of a student among the sages, as I have been, silence is the required approach; as I learned from Shammai and from my father, Rabban Gamliel, action is the important thing and a man must provide himself with a teacher in order to avoid doubt. To put it succinctly, the teacher is the mold into which the raw materials of the student must be poured. This is what Rabban Shimon meant when he said, "And I have found nothing better for the body than silence," i.e., it is of great value when the body - a disciple - silently permits himself to be formed in the mold of his teachers.
Abarbanel then leads us into a discussion of the psychology of a student. When the student is strongly advised, as in our Mishnah, to remain silent, he may rightfully complain that when he remains mute and docile he will make no impression upon his master who will not be aware of his capabilities and progress. The student is anxious to be acknowledged and deserves promotion. The teacher has no way of assessing and evaluating his pupil properly. (This thought can also be applied to a junior executive in industry who is looking for a promotion. Silence on his part will generate no interest in him on the part of his superiors.)
Abarbanel grants the legitimacy of this argument. However, Rabban Shimon in the Mishnah teaches that what is of paramount importance, are the deeds. The advice to the student is: Speaking does not bring admiration in the wake. What will draw people's attention to you are your deeds - your manner and your behavior. It is in this vein that the Talmud (Eduyot Sa) relates that Akavya ben Mahalalel, who was begged by his son to recommend him favorably to his colleagues, replied, "Your deeds will draw you close to people and your actions will estrange you. from them."
Furthermore, the more the inexperienced student speaks, the more he is vulnerable to error and lessens his chances of impressing his superior favorably - "He who talks a Jot is liable to 'sin with his mouth'." There is a maxim in a midrash (Leviticus Rabbah 16) which states, "A word is worth a sela; silence is worth a gem." Abarbanel clinches his line of thinking by reminding us of the fundamental tenet of Judaism, "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one."
Miscellaneous Interpretations
Rashbatz (Rabbi Shimon ben Tzemah Duran, 1361 – 1444, born in Palma de Majorca (Spain). He became a famous Rabbi and Legal Decisor, as well as a well-known and respected Medical Doctor). Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel in our Mishnah deals with the virtue of silence. This applies even when one is provoked into anger. Although it may be difficult to do, one should keep in mind that it is yet the better part of prudence.
Rashbatz augments this premise by citing an array of examples. According to several midrashic sources when the sun and the moon were created, the moon said to God, "I and the sun cannot serve on an equal basis; choose between us which will be superior to the other." Because the moon spoke boldly, its illumination was diminished and the sun dominates. So, it is with the one who remains silent in times of provocation. One who is aggressive and undisciplined is the one who suffers degradation; the one who is aggrieved is the one who will emerge with greater stature.
Another example cited: Hannah is finally blessed with a male child. Her husband goes up to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice of gratitude and invites his wife to join him. She replies that she will go, "as soon as the child will be weaned and then he will abide there forever." Because of the indiscreet use of the word forever, her son, Samuel lived only fifty years. Other dicta: "If a word is worth a sela, silence is worth two" (Megillah 18a), "The strength of the Babylonians lies in their ability to remain silent" (Kiddushin 71b).
Rabbenu Yonah (Rabbi Yonah ben Abraham Gerondi, c.1200 – 1236, a Spanish Rabbi, studied in French Rabbinical academies, and sttled in Barcelona (Spain) where he founded a famous and very prestigious Rabbibic academy. He was a prodigious author of Halkhic works and Scriptural Commentaries.) quotes Rambam almost verbatim on Rabban Shimon's preachment on the value of silence. Relative to Rabban Shimon's second statement that practice is more important than study, Rabbenu Yonah gives us a short lesson in Rabbinics. Addressing himself to the Rabbis, he urges them to teach by example not only by the word. Preaching to the layman may be effective, but personal example is far more effective.
Rabbi Mattityahu ha-Yltzbari (14th – 15th Centuries CE, a Spanish Rabbi disciple of Hisdai Crescas. Rabbi Mattityahu represented the Jewish Community of Zaragoza (Spain) in the fsmous Disputation of Tortoza (Spain) in 1413-1414, in which the Jews were required to defend Judaism against Christian criticism of Judaism as an invalid and illegal religion.): It is incredible that Rabban Shimon should urge complete silence. Man does not live in isolation and if he is to be recognized as a member of the community he must be heard. Rabbi Mattityahu interprets this Mishnah along the lines of Rabbenu Yonah. If one is to be respected and recognized as an important member of the community he must impress them by his actions and behavior not by his rhetoric.
Mldrash Shemuel (Rabbi Shemuel ben Yitzhaq de Uceda; 1540 - ?; Talmud expert, preacher and Kabbalist; born in Safed, Israel, who studied under Rabbi Isaac Luria and later founded an important Rabbinical Academy in Safed, Israel.) begins his commentary on this Mishnah by questioning its basic premises. How could Rabban Shimon advocate silence when he knows that when a man studies Torah he should do so with gusto and enthusiasm and when he prays it should be with ecstasy and fervor?
Moreover, Rabbi ban Shimon spoke about three things, the first and last of which deal with silence. If he meant to stress the importance of avoiding sinful chatter next to that of silence being better for a person's body, no other statement should have come between them.
Midrash Shemuel proceeds to interpret the Mishnah in his own fashion. "All my days I have grown up among the sages" is meant to impart the virtue of modesty and humility. Rabban Shimon was the leading scholar of his time and probably taught the other great scholars of his day. Yet, he demonstrated his humbleness by relating that his prominence was due to the fact that he was, and still is, in need of instruction by scholars.
The aphorism, "I found nothing better for the body than silence," does not apply to spiritual matters, but rather to mundane and personal matters. To cry out to God one must speak up and not remain silent. In mundane and personal affairs, the Jess spoken, the less problems. Midrash Shemuel bases this premise on a significant word in the Mishnah, “LeGuf,” (the body), which indicates that Rabban Shimon was referring to the physical world, not the spiritual.
Concerning Rabban Shimon's postulate that what is important is action and not words, Midrash Shemuel admonishes those rabbis who preach and pour down fire and brimstone on their congregants. He advises them not to attack the sinners, but rather address themselves to the cause that bring about sin.
Finally, Midrash Shemuel deals with the last of Rabban Shimon 's pronouncements, "Too much talk brings sin." There are two drawbacks to frequent and extensive rhetoric. First, if the congregants do not follow the advice of the preacher, he will have castigated them in vain and furthermore, whereas, until then the sinners acted without knowing that what they did was forbidden, they will now commit the sin knowingly. Secondly, a rabbi should defend his flock before God and not openly berate and demean them by exposing their sins extensively.
Nazarean Talmud
Sidra of “B’Midbar” (Num.) “35:9 – 36:13”
“VeChiqeritem Lakhem” “And you will appoint for you”
By: H. Em Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu ben Abraham &
H. Em. Hakham Dr. Yosef ben Haggai
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School of Hakham Shaul’s Tosefta Luqas (LK) |
School of Hakham Tsefet’s Peshat Mordechai (Mk) |
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And they asked him, saying, “Hakham, when therefore will these things happen, and what will be the sign [pass word] when these things are about to take place?” And he said, watch out (with discernment) that you are not deceived! For [the] many will come in claiming my authority, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time is near!’ Do not follow after them! And when you hear about wars and confusion, do not be terrified, for these things must happen first, but the end [goal] will not be immediate.” Then he said to them, “nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes and famines and plagues in various places. There will be terrible sights and great signs in the heavens. |
As he (Yeshua) was sitting on the Har Zeytim (Mount of Olives) across from the Bet HaMikdash, Tsefet and Ya’aqob and Yochanan and Adam bar Yona were questioning him privately (personally conversing with Yeshua), "(Will you) tell us, when these things will happen, and what will the sign [password] be when all these things are going to be accomplished?" And Yeshua answering them said, "See (watch with discernment) that no one misleads you.” "[The] Many will come claiming to have my authority, saying, 'I am he!' and mislead the many [i.e., the Gentiles].” "When you hear of wars and reports of anarchy, do not be troubled (cry out); these things must take place; but the end (goal) is yet to come.” "For nation will rise up against nation, and empire against empire; there will be earthquakes in places; there will be famines. These things are simply prominent birth pangs.” |
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School of Hakham Shaul’s Remes Romans
Now I beg you, my brothers, to beware of those who cause divisions and scandals outside of the teaching (concerning Messiah) that you have learned, that you keep away from them. For those who are like this do not serve our Master Yeshua HaMashiach, but their belly. And with smooth speech and with blessings, they deceive the hearts of the innocent. But your obedience is exemplary to everyone. Therefore, I take pride in you, and how you to be wise to good and innocent to evil. And the God of peace will soon crush the adversary under your feet. The chesed (loving-kindness) of our Master Yeshua HaMashiach be with you.
Timothy my fellow worker greets you, and so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my relatives. I, Tertius, who write this letter, greet you in the Master. Gaius, my host and to the whole congregation, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer greets you, and Quartus, the brother.
The mercy of our Master Yeshua HaMashiach be with you all. Amen.
Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my (interpretation of the) Mesorah and the proclamation of Yeshua HaMashiach, according to the revelation of the mystery, which has been kept secret (So’od) since the world began, but now is disclosed, and through the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, to bring about faithful obedience by the Gentiles, leading to their faithful obedience; to the only God of Hokmah (wisdom) be the glory, through Yeshua HaMashiach, forever. Amen. |
Nazarean Codicil to be read in conjunction with the following Torah Seder
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Num 35:9-36:13 |
Ps 106:40-48 |
Josh 20.1-9, 21.3 |
Mordechai 13:3-8 |
1 Luqas 21:7-11 |
Rom. 16:17-27 |
Commentary to Hakham Tsefet’s School of Peshat
"The many (i.e., the Gentiles) will come claiming to have my authority, saying, 'I am he!' and mislead many.”
Fear for Sale
One of the greatest travesties of our age is how many great fears and frightening conspiracies have been spread through diverse communities in the name of Messiah. Furthermore, the secular media sells fear and conspiracies with every commercial watched on the Television. The greater travesty is to sell fear in fictional accounts of fabricated myths about supermen without capes. These fictional stories are designed to “scare the hell” out of their listeners or readers. Why? So that their victims will flock to the local congregations where the local religious babbler can cash in by selling fire insurance. Amazingly, these lies have sparked a new Exodus from many congregations.
One question that remains to be asked is why we do not hear in general the Jewish people fabricating such myths when they could be making big profits from other’s fears?
The minds of the fearful need to be eased with the truth of the Torah and eased into dynamic Torah observance.
What should become evident in this collection of writings in our Nazarean Talmud is that Hakham Shaul takes his cue from Hakham Tsefet’s “Birth pains.” And in this way the Gemarah can be built upon the solid rock of the Mishnah, for the end (goal) of the Mishnah is the Remes of the Gemarah.
The Head of the Nazarean Movement
Gal 2:8—9 Hakham Ya’aqob and Hakham Tsefet and Hakham Yochanan, those who are considered to be pillars, gave to me and to Bar-Nabba the right hand of fellowship that we should work among the Gentiles and they among the circumcision.
Hakham Shaul refers to Hakhamim Ya’akov, Tsefet and Yochanan as the pillars of the Nazarean Community. For those who feel that this is a hierarchical order, we will establish the who’s who through Hakham Tsefet’s name. We would also reiterate one other point before we launch into our exposition of Hakham Tsefet’s name. The Greek word order of a text is ALWAYS subject to scrutiny. The Greek word order always requires some hermeneutic and logic, whether for poetic beauty or for emphasis. Therefore, we should not be alarmed by an apparent order of names.
Hakham Tsefet is called by three titles in English translations of the Nazarean Codicil. Shimon, Peter and Cephas. When we look at the Peshitta, Hakham Tsefet is NEVER called Cephas. We will not, at present, deal with the arguments concerning the possibility of the two names referring to two individuals. However, we will rest on the fact that the Peshitta never calls Hakham Tsefet “Cephas” as evidence of the singularity of person. And, it is not the focus of this document to argue these points. My question is what does the name Tsefet mean, and how does this relate to his being the head of the Nazarean Movement.
Yeshua makes the following statement about Hakham Tsefet.
Joh 1:42 And he brought him to Yeshua. And Yeshua looked at him and said, "You are Shimon, bar Yona. You will be called Tsefet."[97]
Hakham Tsefet must have been “Shimon,” but Yeshua says that he would be called Peter (Tsefet). Why does Yeshua call Shimon “Tsefet”? And, why is the name not found in scripture for any other individual? While the name “Tsefet” does not appear as a proper name, it does appear in the Tanakh.
2Ch 3:15 Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.[98]
We will include the Hebrew text of the cited passage for clarification.
15 וַיַּ֜עַשׂ לִפְנֵ֤י הַבַּ֙יִת֙ עַמּוּדִ֣ים שְׁנַ֔יִם אַמּ֕וֹת שְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים וְחָמֵ֖שׁ אֹ֑רֶךְ וְהַצֶּ֥פֶת אֲשֶׁר־עַל־רֹאשׁ֖וֹ אַמּ֥וֹת חָמֵֽשׁ׃ ס
The transliteration of the highlighted text reads v’ha’tzephet. The phrase v’ha’tsefet would read “and the chapiter.” The word chapiter is translated “tsefet” which is not the pillar itself. The “tsefet” is the cap or head of the pillar. Therefore, Hakham Tsefet is not only seen as a “pillar,” Hakham Tsefet is the cap or head of the pillar. The “tsefet” is the upper portion of the pillar, which supports the edifice. Consequently, Hakham Tsefet is not only the “pillar” of the Nazarean Community; he is the primary support for the whole community.
Tsefet is also the name of a Biblical and modern city in Eretz Yisrael.
Jud. 1:17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Tz’fat, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah.
Tz’fat is so titled because it is one of the highest “mountains” within Eretz Yisrael. Please note that we said “within” Eretz Yisrael. We are perfectly aware that Mount Hermon is higher than Tz’fat.
Interestingly, it is this city of Tz’fat that many So’odic revelations have taken place, and to this day Tz’fat is the So’odic capital of the land of Israel.
Commentary to Hakham Shaul’s School of Remes
Messiah as the Emissary of G-d …
Persecution and scandal have plagued Nazareans on a cosmic scale. Like all Jewish people we still remain, and we still proclaim the master’s Mesorah. Hakham Shaul declares it not only to be the Mesorah of the Master but the “Mesorah of G-d.”[99]
“Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my (interpretation of the) Mesorah and the proclamation of Yeshua HaMashiach, according to the revelation of the mystery, which has been kept secret (So’od) since the world began,”
Our studies of Remes (allegorical) hermeneutics we have studied techniques of masters such as the Ramban and Philo was a contemporary to Hakham Shaul. We have found places where it is hard to distinguish the words of Philo from those of Hakham Shaul. We have stressed the importance of the septennial reading cycle ad nauseam. In recent studies in the allegorical genre we found possible evidence that Philo may have followed the same system.
Wolfson reports, “his (Philo’s) writings have the form of sermons or homilies on verses or topics selected from Scripture Now it happens that only the Pentateuch was read serially in public at the synagogue on the Sabbath and it was usually completed in Palestine, and hence probably also in Alexandria, in cycles of three years.”[100]
Now we believe that Wolfson is speaking in terms of generalities. His generalities when taking into account festivals and other interruptions of the reading cycle would also mean that Philo made his “sermons and homilies” according to the septennial calendrical system. While the thesis waits to be proven we find it inspiring to learn that there were many sermonic materials scheduled according to the septennial calendrical system.
As such, we find an interesting parallel between one of Philo’s homilies and the present circumstance pictured in our Remes portion of the Nazarean Talmud this week. The theme of Galut (exile) and its hardships weigh in heavily on Hakham Shaul’s mind. He must be wondering how he will protect his teaching “institutions” from the ravenous Roman (Edom-Esau) wolves. Philo gives us reassurance in the most unusual place.
Philo’s homily begins very much like the Torah. Yet Philo’s homily reads very much like a Targum.
Mos 1:64 Now, as he was leading the flock to a place where the65 water and the grass were abundant, and where there happened to be plentiful growth of herbage for the sheep, he found himself at a glen where he saw a most astonishing sight. There was a bramble-bush, a thorny sort of plant, and of the most weakly kind, which, without anyone's setting it alight, suddenly took fire; and, though enveloped from root to twigs in a mass of fire, which looked as though it were spouted up from a fountain, yet remained whole, and, instead of being consumed, seemed to be a substance impervious to attack, and, instead of serving as fuel to the fire, actually fed on it. In the midst of the66 flame was a form of the fairest beauty, unlike any visible object, an image supremely divine in appearance, refulgent with a light brighter than the light of fire. It might be supposed that this was the image of Him (God) that is; but let us rather call it an angel or herald, since, with a silence that spoke more clearly than speech, it employed as it were the miracle of sight to herald future events.
In Targumaic form, Philo fills in the blanks for us.
Philo finds a messenger, most likely the “Angel of the LORD” in the midst of the burning bush. He is clear to show that what Moshe Rabbenu saw was NOT G-d or any image of G-d. Rather Moshe sees the agent and/or emissary of G-d. Here we draw on the words of Hakham Yochanan in the Revelation.
Rev. 1:12-17 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many Hakhamim (people – waters).[101] In His right hand He held seven stars (Paqidim), and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.
In a sense we might say that Philo depicts the Neshamah of Messiah as the emissary in the burning bramble. It is also noteworthy to point out that Philo makes the demesne of G-d speechless. Here is a world of images rather than words. The wise will understand.
We have pointed out on several occasions that the voices which were seen were the teachers, i.e. Hakhamim of the Jewish people. When we looked into Sinai we are in an atemporal place. Time does not exist in that dimension.
Shemot (Ex.) 19:16 So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder (the voices of the Hakhamim) and lightning flashes (the Hakhamim running back and forth to elucidate the Torah) and a thick cloud upon the mountain (governance [kingdom] of God [through the Hakhamim and Bate Din as opposed to human kings]) and a very loud voice of the shofar (Tiferet - Darshan or Magid [Prophet]), so that all the people who were in the camp (world) trembled.
Philo shows an amazing picture of Messiah. But he also shows us a daunting truth. Israel’s messiah is Israel.
Mos 1:67 For the burning bramble was a symbol of those who suffered wrong, as the flaming fire of those who did it. Yet that which burned was not burnt up, and this was a sign that the sufferers would not be destroyed by their aggressors, who would find that the aggression was vain and profitless while the victims of malice escaped unharmed. The angel was a symbol of God's providence, which all silently brings relief to the greatest dangers, exceeding every hope.
Why does the flame not consume Israel?
Mos 1:68 But the details of the comparison must be considered. The bramble, as I have said, is a very weakly plant, yet it is prickly and will wound if one do but touch it. Again, though fire is naturally destructive, the bramble was not devoured thereby, but on the contrary was guarded by it, and remained just as it was before it took fire, lost nothing at all but gained an additional brightness.
“First, the thorny bush is not just lowly, as appropriate to its representing those who suffer, but can inflict through its thorns harm to those who touch (that is, seek to harm) it. Here Philo picks up on a something previously said, almost in passing, at the end of 65, that the bush was not only unharmed by the fire (which is all that the scriptural text says), but was protected by it, fed on it, even gaining in brightness.”[102]
Yisrael’s relationship to the fire and thorns is very closely associated with the opening of the Zohar.
Zohar 1:1 Rabbi Hizkiah opened his discourse with the text: As a lily among thorns, etc. (S.S. II, 2). What, he said, “does the lily” symbolize? It symbolizes the Community of Israel. As the lily among thorns is tinged with red and white, so the Community of Israel is visited now with justice and now with mercy; as the lily possesses thirteen leaves, so the Community of Israel is vouchsafed thirteen categories of mercy which surround it on every side.
The wound is not actually our demise, it is our victory. We will conclude with one final encouraging word from the midst the voiceless burning bush.
Mos 1:69 All this is a description of the nation's condition as it then stood, and we may think of it as a voice to the sufferers: "Do not lose heart; your weakness is your strength, which can 'prick, and thousands will suffer from its wounds. Those who desire to consume you will be your unwilling saviours instead of your destroyers. Your ills will work you no ill. Nay, just when the enemy is surest of ravaging you, your fame will shine forth most gloriously:”
Hakhamim as G-d’s Emissaries
B’resheet (Genesis) 3:1 Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” 2The woman replied to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the other trees of the garden. 3It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said: ‘You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.’” 4And the serpent said to the woman, “You are not going to die, 5but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings[103]
They will elevate serpents… In a previous Tosefta Hakham Shaul’s adds the following…Behold, I have given you the authority to tread on snakes and scorpions…
What is Hakham Shaul trying to convey? How is it that we will “tread” on serpents and scorpions?
B’resheet (Genesis) 3:15 They will strike you on the head, And you shall strike at their heel.”
The allegorical interpretation of this passage will reveal Hakham Shaul’s thoughts. According to Philo, the serpent represents the “mind.”[104] The mind represents the rational character of man. The woman represents man’s ability to interact with the sensual world. When man beheld the woman, he determined that she was from his flesh the external part of man relating to the sensual world. There is NO NEGATIVITY in sensual pleasure. ONLY immoderate abuse of sensual pleasure is wrong.
The Greek uses the following terms to illustrate the serpents character. The Greek terms πανουργία panourgia and panourgos, used in the LXX and the Nazarean Codicil, mean “ready to do anything,” usually in the bad sense of tricky and cunning behavior.[105] Consequently, the behavior of the Edenic serpent was irrational. While the serpent is an icon of healing when viewed positively, the serpent of Gan Eden represented impetuous and lack of temperance.
While there are other sources which tell us that the serpent did not always crawl on his “belly,” we see that at present this is the result of his impetuous and lack of temperance per se. Therefore, immoderate temperance forms of serpent (mindset). This type of serpent (mindset) lives for the “belly” or immoderate pleasure. The mitzvoth of the Torah place everything in sensible restraint.
And if they drink anything deadly they will not be hurt… Behold, I have given you the authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the abilities of the enemy, and nothing will harm you…
This Peshat passage from Mordechai (Mark) cries out for a Remes interpretation. While it is translated as stated, I say if the Bible scholars are so convinced that the drinking of deadly poisons is the real meaning of the Markan text why not put their thesis to the test. Every hardware store carries a plethora of toxic poisons for the proof.
Because the mouth of the Sage (Hakham) is the reproductive organ capable of producing other Hakhamim, we must see that the mouth, allegorically speaking is also the receptacle for formative reproduction. This does not negate the idea of “come and hear” as a principle technique for reception of essential material.
Abot 1:4 "Let your house be a gathering place for sages (Hakhamim). And wallow in the dust of their feet. And drink in their words with gusto."
Here in the Mishnah the analogy of “drinking in words” is analogous of receiving words of wisdom from the Hakhamim. Therefore, if we were to “drink in the words” of the philosopher[106] we would be drinking in their “poison.” Remembering, the serpent represents the “mind.” The mind represents the rational character of man. If we “wallow” in the dust of the serpents[107] of Halakhic wisdom, “nothing will harm us.” This is because we have drunk in “their words with gusto.”
Abot 2:10 They [each] said three things. R. Eliezer says, “Let the respect owing to your fellow be as precious to you as the respect owing to you yourself. And don’t be easy to anger. And repent one day before you die. And warm yourself by the fire of the sages (Hakhamim), but be careful of their coals, so you don’t get burned. For their bite is the bite of a fox, and their sting is the sting of a scorpion, and their hiss is like the hiss of a snake. And everything they say is like fiery coals.”[108]
We can clearly see that the serpent represents the words of the Hakhamim. The cunning wisdom of the Torah Hakhamim is depicted as a “serpent’s hiss.” This hiss can be deadly when received the wrong way. This is much like the words of Hakham Shaul when he describes the letter that kills.
2Co 3:6 Who also has made us capable servants of the Nazarean Codicil; not of the letter, but of the breath: for the letter kills, but the breath (oral Torah – Mesorah) gives life.
The hiss of the Rabbinic Hakhamim (elucidation of the Written Torah) brings with its poison the antidote for the philosophical drink of the philosophers.
However, there are those who have already become intoxicated with the drink of pseudo-rabbinic poison. Just as there is an antidote for the snakebite in the venom of the serpent, we can find the antidote for the pseudo-rabbinic lies, in the bite and sting of the rabbinic scorpion. The venom of the serpent/scorpion of immoderate pleasure is healed by the venom of the serpent, which was created to counteract the venom of the serpent of Eden. That “serpent” that counteracts the “serpent of Eden” bears the title “Hakham.” The words/hiss “venom” of the Hakhamim heals the snakebite of the serpent from Eden. This lesson is derived from the “elevation” of the “brazen serpent” in the wilderness.[109]
Psalms 145:21 ת My mouth shall utter the praise of the Lord, and all creatures shall bless His Holy Name forever and ever.[110]
The Hakhamim utter the praise of the LORD to all the creatures of the earth. As a result, of their words the earth blesses the Name of the Lord forever.
Remembering, the “wisdom” of the serpents (Hakhamim) represents the “mind/head” the Prophetic voice of Yesha’yahu says…
Isa 1:5 Why do you seek further beatings, That you continue to offend? Every head is ailing, And every heart is sick.[111]
The Psalmist, with the praise of his mouth spreads forth the healing antidote for all creatures (mankind). The Prophets show us that the “ailing head” needs to be healed through the antidote of Torah, as it pours forth from the mouths of the Hakhamim. Moshe (Torah) lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, converting/renewing[112] the soul, and causing us to look on that serpent through the medium of the serpent (the Hakhamim), which in turn caused us to live. Only let us drink in and contemplate the Torah of the Hakhamim intellectually and we will live.
And the seventy (talmidim) returned with joy saying… The seventy talmidim represent the seventy souls the B’ne Yisrael who are to be the Kings and Priests to the nations to bring about their redemption.
G-d could have destroyed all humanity at the tower of Babel. The Torah shows us that G-d refrained from such destruction for the sake of the B’ne Yisrael who was “hidden within them [i.e., mankind].” Likewise, the B’ne Yisrael hidden in the present Diaspora are directed to “come forth.” The seventy talmidim are to go into the entire earth in search for the souls “hidden” in mankind. The healing words of the Torah are an antidote and balm to the head of those who are hidden and do not know their identity. Upon finding out the true identity of their souls these “hidden ones” in hearing the words of Torah as taught by the Hakhamim rejoice because their name are written down in the treasury of the Heavens.
Peroration
Rabbi Shmuel Yerushalmi teaches us the opening refrain from the Torah “Listen oh Heavens” and “Earth hear the words of my mouth” are references to the Soul and body. He further states that this emphasizes the importance of observing the Torah and mitzvoth. He also tells us that the root word “to take” speaks of the talmid who is to take the lesson of the Hakham.[113] Here the concept is not “evangelism,” the concept is that the talmid is to apply himself in learning the words of his Hakham. Therefore, it is not the sole duty of the Hakham to make the talmid to “stand.” It is as much the duty of the talmid to make an effort at standing, as it is the obligation of the Hakham to make the talmid to stand. The talmid who goes into the earth in search for the souls hidden in humanity can only go with the approbation and authority of his Hakham.
“Even the demons are obedient to us through your authority!”
Yisrael will “stand” firm when they enquire of the elders, “whoever consults the elders (Hakhamim) will not stumble.”[114] The talmid who asks his “Father/Elder” (Hakham) will “stand.” The talmid who arrogantly presumes to have the right to do as he pleases will fall.
Amen v’amen
Questions for Understanding and Reflection
- From all the readings for this week, which verse or verses touched your heart and fired your imagination?
- In your opinion what is the prophetic statement for this week?
Blessing After Torah Study
Barúch Atáh Adonai, Elohénu Meléch HaOlám,
Ashér Natán Lánu Torát Emét, V'Chayéi Olám Natá B'Tochénu.
Barúch Atáh Adonái, Notén HaToráh. Amen!
Blessed is Ha-Shem our God, King of the universe,
Who has given us a teaching of truth, implanting within us eternal life.
Blessed is Ha-Shem, Giver of the Torah. Amen!
“Now unto Him who is able to preserve you faultless, and spotless, and to establish you without a blemish,
before His majesty, with joy, [namely,] the only one God, our Deliverer, by means of Yeshua the Messiah our Master, be praise, and dominion, and honor, and majesty, both now and in all ages. Amen!”
Next Sabbath:
Shabbat: “Eleh HaD’barim” – Sabbath: “These [are] the words”
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Shabbat |
Torah Reading: |
Weekday Torah Reading: |
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אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים |
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Saturday Afternoon |
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Reader 1 – D’barim 1:1-5 |
Reader 1 – D’barim 2:2--4 |
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Reader 2 – D’barim 1:6-10 |
Reader 2 – D’barim 2:5-7 |
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“Estas son las palabras |
Reader 3 – D’barim 1:11-18 |
Reader 3 – D’barim 2:8-10 |
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D’barim (Deut.) 1:1 - 2:1 |
Reader 4 – D’barim 1:19-21 |
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Ashlamatah: Zech 8:16-23 + 9:9-10 |
Reader 5 – D’barim 1:22-25 |
Monday and Thursday Mornings |
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Reader 6 – D’barim 1:26-38 |
Reader 1 – D’barim 2:2--4 |
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Psalms: 107:1-32 |
Reader 7 – D’barim 1:39 – 2:1 |
Reader 2 – D’barim 2:5-7 |
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Maftir: D’barim 1:45 – 2:1 |
Reader 3 – D’barim 2:8-10 |
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Mk 13:9-13: Luke 12:11-12; 21:12-19; James 1:1 |
Zech 8:16-23 + 9:9-10 |
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Coming Solemn Fast: Fast of the 9th of Ab
Saturday Evening July 21 – Sunday Evening July 22, 2018
For Further Information See:
http://www.betemunah.org/mourning.html
&
http://www.betemunah.org/tishabav.html
Hakham Dr. Yosef ben Haggai
Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David
Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu ben Abraham