HISTORY AS DESTINY

by Jacques Abourbih

Although our sacred shrines and even our sacred cities were destroyed, our nation was not. And unlike other nations whose loss of homeland signaled a loss of national identity, Israel remained the people of the Torah, alive and returning to its mission and its land. No other people, separated from its homeland for 2,000 years, ever remained intact as a separate ethnic and cultural entity.

Yohanan ben Zakai felt the fall of our people deeply. But—and in this lies his historical importance—he did more than any one else to prepare the way for Israel to rise again.

He was a younger student of Hillel (110BCE-10CE), and as such his lifespan straddles the period just preceding the destruction of the 2nd Temple (in 70 CE) and the earliest rabbinical tradition.

With the destruction of the Temple, normative Judaism based on the Temple worship became impossible. R. Yochanan understood that the crisis of 70 CE forced a more rigorous reformulation of Judaism if Judaism were to survive. He interpreted the words of the prophet (Hosea vi. 6), “I desire mercy [hesed], and not sacrifice,” to mean that acts of loving-kindness were equivalent to the sacrificial service. Essentially he explaining that until the Temple is rebuilt Tefillah (prayer), Teshuvah (repentance) and Tzedakah (acts of mercy) were to replace the sacrifices.

Perhaps his greatest accomplishment is that he recognized the immense value of teaching and learning in preserving Jewish tradition. Shortly before the besieged city of Jerusalem fell he had himself carried to the Roman camp in a coffin, faking his own death. Like Josephus, R. Yohanan prophesied imperial honors for the general Vespasian, quoting the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Lebanon [that is, the sanctuary] shall fall by a mighty one” (Isa.x. 34). For this prophecy he sought and obtained permission from Vespasian to build a school in Yavneh. In this school Yochanan and his followers slowly rebuilt Judaism from the ashes of the destroyed temple.

The synagogue had already been a tradition in Israel since the return from the exile to Babylon.  It had developed as local gathering places of prayer alongside the established sacrificial service in the Temple. From these humble beginnings Rabbi Yochanan transformed the synagogue into a formal place of study and worship-a role of central importance to Jews throughout history and to this day. So successful was the synagogue as an institution that Christianity and Islam modeled the concept of church and mosque after the synagogue.

At Yavneh he established a Bet Din (tribunal) to replace the Sanhedrin which by then could no longer exist after the Destruction outside of the Temple precinct. The Bet Din became the building block of the legal system in Israel for centuries and was transferred to the Diaspora. This institution continues to this day, and decides on religious matters and civil matters and arbitrations between Jewish parties agreeing to mediation by a Bet Din.

At Yavneh started the final process of canonization of the TaNaCh as it is known today. The Torah and Nevi’im, the two first divisions of the TaNaCh were already fairly well established earlier. The content of the third division, Ketubim (the Writings, which include Psalms, Job, Esther, Song of Songs, etc…) remained somewhat fluid in Judaism until after the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in 70 CE. By the end of the 1st century, the Rabbis of Yavneh had established the final list as we know it today.

R. Yochanan marks the historical divide between Biblical and Rabbinical Judaism. He and the generations after him for the next 200 years became known as Tannaim (Rabbis of the Mishnah). They claimed authority through the transmission of the Oral tradition all the way back to Moshe Rabbenu to the prophets, and the last of the Zugot (pairs) Hillel and Shammai (See Pirke Avot I).

Jacques

Ve-limadtem, ou-limadtem (You shall teach and you shall learn.)

by Jacques Abourbih

I had an interesting discussion with Scott last Shabbat on Friday evening at kabbalat Shabbat service at the Synagogue.

I had not seen Scott since they arrived back in Canada. It was a freat pleasure to meet again an opld friend. It also brought back memories of times we had studied and argued about Torah and Halachah. Hopefully we will in due course resume these sessions in a more formal setting.

The commandment ve-limadtem (and you shall teach) is found in the Shema passage we recite twice daily: “ And teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (D’varim 11:19)

This is one of the the obligations of the father towards his son. In the Gemara Rabbi Yehuda says: “What is the meaning of  Mizvot ha-av al ha-ben? (Obligations of the father to his son) …The father is obligated with respect to his sonto circumcise him, teach him Torah, take a wife for him, and teach him a craft…”. (Kiddushin 29a).

Within this Genara is also a fundamental principle “Whoever is commanded to study is commanded (also) to teach.

(And) Because it is written ve limadtem u limadtem: The one wom others are commanded to each is commanded to teach himself.” (Kiddushin 29b)

The logical principle behind ve limadtem u limadtem (you shall teach and you shall learn) is based on the fact that the key word in Devarim 11:19 can be read to mean You shall teach or You shall teach yourself (learn). The word ve limadtem literally means “and to cause others to learn”, whereas u limadtem “and you shall teach yourselves”. In English the act of learning and the act of teaching are expressed by two different words. In the language of the Torah this is done by using the same root word (L’M’D) in two different forms to express two different meanings.

This linguistic shift gives way to the logical progression:

The one who are commanded to teach must also teach himself.

The one who must teach himself must teach others.

Discovery of the seal of King Zedekiah

by Jacques Abourbih

The haftarah to parasha Matot that we read last week continues with the second installment of the three special Haftarot of Admonition corresponding to the three weeks between the 17th of Tammuz and Tisha b’Av, and pick up from where we left off last week on Sabbat Tammuz 17. The haftarah is taken from Jeremiah 2:4-28. In this last encounter with the Prophet Jeremiah for this year his plaintive cry of Eich (Jer. 2:23) the opening ‘Eichah’ of Lamentations we read on 9th of Av.

Unlike the most outlandish TV cop tools on CSI Luminol is an actual chemical that glows greenish-blue when it comes into contact with blood even traces that are years old. To be exact, it reacts to hemoglobin, an oxygen-carrying protein in red-blood cells. Luminol is so sensitive, it can detect blood at 1 part per million. In other words, if there is one drop of blood within a container of 999,999 drops of water, luminol will glow.’

Bloodstains certainly have a way of indelibly marking one’s guilt. No matter how hard Lady Macbeth scrubs, she can’t get her hands clean. “Out, damn’d spot.” (Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act I:V).  Jeremiah uses a similar washing metaphor: “Though you wash yourself with lye (neter), and use more and more soap, the stain of your guilt remains before Me, says Your Lord G-d” (Jer. 2:22). Incidentally the word nitrate or nitrite in English is derived from the Hebrew term Neter.

Having committed a transgression neither neter nor washing in water will cleanse that damn spot of blood. The trouble is there will always be G-d’s Luminol to show the blood of guilt.  By contrast, Jeremiah understands that bathing physically and spiritually in the living waters of Mikveh Yisrael provides the fountain of Living Waters that has offered a gateway to purity ever since the creation of Man.

The covenant with the Fountain of Living waters, the Mikveh,  is individual. Yet because of it Jeremiah promises this blessing to the Jewish people: “Nations shall bless themselves by you and praise themselves by you” (Jeremiah 4:2).

The book of Jeremiah depicts a remarkably introspective prophet, a prophet struggling with and often overpowered by the role into which he has been thrust. He remains an  overwhelming Biblical figure brought to life again from history with the discovery in Jerusalem yesterday (July 31st 2008) of a seal impression belonging to a minister of King Zedekiah which dates back 2,600 years. It has been uncovered completely intact during an archeological dig in Jerusalem’s ancient City of David.

The seal impression, or bulla, with the name Gedalyahu ben Pashur, who served as minister to King Zedekiah (597-586 BCE) according to the Book of Jeremiah, was found just meters away from a separate seal impression of another of Zedekiah’s ministers, Yehukual ben Shelemyahu, which was uncovered three years ago. They were found outside the walls of the Old City near Dung Gate known as Sha’ar Ha’ashpot. ( The name Sha’ar Ha’ashpot appears in the Book of Nehemiah 3:13-14. It is probably named after the residue that was taken from the Temple into the Valley of Hinnom, where it was burned. Bodies of criminals and animal carcasses were also burned there—hence the word Gehinnom, or Hell. The Valley of Hinnom  became  metaphorically identified with the entrance to the underworld of punishmen (Gehinnom)t in the afterlife.)

In the beginning of the reign of Yehoiakim, the enmity of the people against the prophet was expressed with persecution against him. By the time Zedekiah became king the enmity grew further. Both ministers are mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 38 1-4) along with two other ministers when they came to King Zedekiah demanding the death of the prophet Jeremiah for preaching to the besieged city to surrender.

Amen Brother! Or an indelicate silence?

by Jacques Abourbih

Prayer is an act of sublime surrender. People who privately serve Hashem, away from the public eye act out of pure motives. Prayers uttered in silence are not to satisfy societal pressures and their deeds can truly be for G-d alone.

According to Halakha, a minyan is required for many parts D’varim SheB’Kedusha (“Holy utterances”) of the communal prayer service, including Barechu, Kaddish, repetition of the Amidah, the Priestly Blessing, and the Torah and Haftarah readings.

Participants in  minyan answer “Amen” to prayers led publically. On a basic level, amen is one person’s affirmation that he or she believes what another has just said. It becomes a paideic  expression which has as an objective to form a knowledgeable and mature mind by affirming belief and understanding of what is said in public worship. When we recite the Shema we call upon all Israel to “Hear O’ Israel”. From a Jewish perspective it seems that it is not the eyes that are important, it is the ears.

Yet it is not so. When Billy the Bard has his Shylock say: “Hath not a Jew eyes?” he is mistaken. In Devarim (Deuteronomy 11:26), we read “Re-eh Ani Ki Noten lifnekhem…” (Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse).

But here is my point. If Billy the Bard knew Hebrew, he would notice the grammatical problem in this verse. The first word re’eh (“see”) is in the singular, but the word for “before you” lifneykhem, is plural.

The 11th century scholar Bachya ibn Paquda offers this insight that I want to share with you. He explained that the commandments were placed before the entire people, hence the plural; but the choice of fulfilling the mitzvot is left to the individual’s free will. Re-eh in the singular then is clearly intended in the Torah to shift the focus from physical insight using the senses toward inward perception, which is the essence of prayer, whether as a private expression or communally in a Minyan.

According to our Rabbis there are seventy-two ways of praying. One of them is through silence.

Shabbat Shalom.

Jacques