avakesh

Elul

Avos on temporary suspension

I am temporarily suspending the series on Avos because I am trying to get a book out to the publisher and Avos requires a great deal of research. Please God, it will return in a few weeks.

You, You and only You...

You, You and only You,

In what is old and what is new,

In what I know of what You do,

Of color, artifice and hue

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In what is new and what is old,

Of what You do and I behold,

Of what You scatter, shape, and mold,

Nuggets of silver, specks of gold.

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Yours is the Power and the Might,

You have apportioned day and night,

You dwell in darkness and delight,

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All this is Yours and what is Mine?

Perception of the things Divine

When new comes in and old declines!

*veritas

The Dark Night of the Soul

Letters Reveal Mother Teresa's Secret

Mother Teresa had a calling, she told CBS News in a rare interview, based on unquestioned faith.

"They are all children of God, loved and created by the same heart of God."

But now, it emerges that Mother Teresa was so doubtful of her own faith that she feared she was being a hypocrite, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips. In a new book that compiles letters she wrote to friends, superiors and confessors, her doubts are obvious.

Shortly after beginning work in Calcutta's slums, the spirit leaves her.

"Where is my faith?" she writes. "Even deep down … there is nothing but emptiness and darkness. ... If there be God — please forgive me." ...

Eight years later, she's still looking for the belief she's lost.

"Such deep longing for God," she writes. "… repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, no zeal."

As her fame increased, her faith refused to return. Her smile, she says, is a mask.

"What do I labor for?" she asks. "If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true."
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According to her letters, Mother Teresa died with her doubts. She had even stopped praying, she once said.

More on the Letters: 'The Silence and the Emptiness Is so Great'

Animal-Men

: "…people who know not their right hand from their left, and many beasts  (Yonah 4:11)".

Who are these people who do not know their right hand from left and who are the beasts?

Some commentators assumed that the first clause refers exclusively to minor children who know not what is right and what is wrong and who do not, therefore, deserve to die with the adults (Rashi, Rashbam to Num. 23.9, Ibn Ezra, Radak). Similarly, Rashi suggests that "many bests" should be translated as "mature (rather than 'many') animals" and that the second part of the phrase refers to adults.

Nineveh was populated by children and animal-men, who did not possess a monotheistic religion and were simply unable to tell good from evil. In the century that just passed we have unfortunately encountered ideologies that called evil good and good evil and encouraged great crimes in confusion of values. Whole countries were filled with men who were like beasts, sometimes in what they did, at all times in what they didn't know, didn't understand, did not care to understand. "The soul of the wicked is called animal soul, for it tends after physical desire, like that of an animal, as it says, "and many beasts" (Shaarei Teshuva 2, 19, see also Chullin 5b)". What kind of Justice applies to men who do not know? Medieval philosophers suggest that such people are not subject to individual providence; instead, they are governed under the rules that pertain to animal species - group justice, not individual justice (See Guide 3:17-18, 22-23; Ramban Commentary to Bereishis 18:19; Vayikra 26:11; Devarim 11:13; Iyov 36:7).

How should we view such primitive men? Does their success provoke in us a sense of jealousy and resentment? It naturally would if we think of them as being the same as we are. But this is not correct, for those who seek Good and those who do not are entirely not in the same class. "Do not lust after wicked persons, do not be jealous after evildoers…For the wicked shall be cut out but those who long for God, they shall inherit the earth (Psalms 37)". Very simply - we and they are different species, we live and function in different moral universes and, of course, we are subject to different rules. Can one say that the Chofetz Chaim and Hitler belonged to the same species, even if they overlapped in time and space? Just as a person takes no offense when a dog barks at him, so should he not pay heed at the onslaught of animal-men. One must pray to God for deliverance but not take personal offense at being held to a higher standard.

Let us look a bit closer at Psalm 37. In it, evildoers are compared not even to animals but to plants.

" For like grass they will quickly be cut down and like herb of the field they will dry out. (But you) trust in God and do good, dwell in the land and perform faithfulness". Like Yonah's plant, the wicked may spring up and prosper for a while but they will eventually go down in defeat. Their ups and downs should not concern us. The good men must do what is good and pay no heed to the wicked, their temporary dominion, their petty wraths. There will always be evildoers upon this earth, they will sprout up and be gone, and others will take their place. They are the flora and fauna of human landscape; sometimes God allows them time and at other times he permits their deeds to extract their own consequences. In either case, He has reasons; the important point is that we are not in the same category and their success should not offend us.

Does this mean that the pious should not care what happens to the wicked? Clearly, the Bible teaches differently. Hashem has mercy on all His creatures and we should also try to draw all men near with love and kindness (when safe) and teach them His ways of compassion, mercy, morality and goodness. Human animals also have the potential to grow great and within them sits undeveloped the image of God. Yet, at the same time it is important to remember that the wicked are not like us in many important respects and we must not be tempted to draw after them. The righteous and the wicked inhabit the same physical world but in spiritual dimensions they are far apart.

Certainly it is not easy to balance identification and caring with emotional distancing but such are the imperatives of religious life. The last sentences of the book of Yonah tell us how to relate to those "who do not know their right hand from their left" and even to "great beasts".

A striking image of "animal-man", http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_half_human.htm

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For a paradoxical chassidic view on animal within man, see Likkutei Torah, beginning of parshas Eikev

Words of Torah are poor and rich..

There is a famous saying, ""the words of Torah are poor in one place and rich in another" (JT Rosh Hashanah 3:5)". It is based on the verse from Mishlei 32 that we all know so well, "she was like a merchant ship, from far she will bring her wares". This means that many statements are difficult to grasp if one stays on the daf and  can only be understood when compared to  other passages. Here is an good example, in my opinion:

Brochos 20a tells us that Rav Gidal used to sit by the gates of the mikvah and instructed the women about how they should immerse. Other Rabbis asked him: "Are you not afraid of the Evil Impulse" (on other words, does this not provoke forbidden thoughts)? He answered in justification, "They appear to me like white geese".

This is, of course, difficult to understand. What do white geese have to do with this. It might seem that R. Gidal  condescends to call these women, who are after all engaged in the performance of a mitsva, white geese. We would expect that he on the contrary would praise them.

The solution may come from Gittin 73. It says there that two amoraim contracted with with shippers to ship some seasame for them. However, the river then dried up. They attempted to get a ruling that the shippers are responsible to deliver the product anyway, over land, since they undertook to deliver it.  They came to adjudicate in front of Rovo. He called them, "White geese who take clothing off people", on other words, who seek to unjustly make others poor. Why does he call them "white geese"? Because, explains Rashi,  these two amoraim were elderly and they were grey, or, in Arameic, white. Ah, this explains it! R. Gidal was not being condescending. What he meant that these women looked to him like old women and they, therefore did not arouse any forbidden thoughts in him.

Sources:

רב גידל הוה רגיל דהוה קא אזיל ויתיב אשערי דטבילה; אמר להו: הכי טבילו והכי טבילו.

אמרי ליה רבנן: לא קא מסתפי מר מיצר הרע?

אמר להו: דמיין באפאי כי קאקי חיורי (אווזים לבנים).**************************************************

רב פפא ורב הונא בריה דרב יהושע זבן שומשמי (לקחו שומשמין) אגידא דנהר מלכא; אגור (שכרו להם) מלחי (ספנים) לעבורינהו (להוליכם לביתם); קבילו עלייהו (המוכרים) כל אונסא דמתיליד (עלייהו בדרך); לסוף איסתכר נהר מלכא (ולא יכלו ספינות לעבור שעשו בו סכר שקורין אישקלוש"א). אמרו להו (רב פפא ורב הונא למוכרים): אגורו חמרי אפקעינהו ניהלן דהא קבילתו עלייכו 'כל אונסא דמיתליד'!אתו לקמיה דרבא , אמר להו: קאקי חיורי (אווזים לבנים לפי שהיו זקנים) משלחי גלימי דאינשי (מפשיטין בגדי אנשים כלומר פוסקים עליהם דין להנאתן)! אונסא דלא שכיח הוא.************************************************

Compare regarding Avigail in megilla 14b

אמר רב נחמן: היינו דאמרי אינשי: איתתא בהדי שותא – פילכא (עם שהאשה מדברת - היא טווה; כלומר: עם שהיא מדברת עמו על בעלה - הזכירה לו את עצמה: שאם ימות - ישאנה).

איכא דאמרי: שפיל ואזיל בר אווזא ועינוהי מיטייפי (צופין למרחוק [אות צ בעברית מתחלף עם אות ט בארמית, כמו: צבי = טביא]; ודוגמתו במסכת כתובות (דף ס,א) 'נטוף עיניך').

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Perek Shira: Creation's Song

Emuna Outreach's 4-minute glimpse of how all of creation sings songs of praise

Arichas Yomim

"Study: Going to synagogue leads to longevity

By Ofri Ilani

Adults who attend synagogue regularly live longer than their peers who do not attend synagogue, according to a recently published study carried out by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem... Litwin said that there is no clear-cut explanation for the synagogue attendance effect, but there are two main possibilities: "One explanation is spiritual - that is, the individual faith factor. A series of studies that have been conducted in recent years, especially in the United States, argue that faith helps people deal with psychological pressure. People who believe and pray apparently survive longer." Another explanation is the connection between attending synagogue and belonging to a supportive community. According to Litwin, "in late old age, the main problem that many people have is the loss of one's social function. A person who goes to synagogue has a function: He is called to the Torah, and he has a network of social ties in the community." http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/895550.html For more along these lines... http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06094/679237-51.stm

Trailer for Paul Mazurksy's documentary on Rosh Hashanah in the Ukraine

"Famed Hollywood director Paul Mazursky traveled to Uman, Ukraine to make his first feature-length documentary, YIPPEE. Paul is there as 25,000 Hasidic Jews from around the world come to celebrate Rosh Hashanah as the grave of Rabbi Nachmann. " Comment: We see Uman though Paul Mazursky's eye, a very limited picture. To him it's folksy, it's quaint. Just think about how differently it could have been made. This is a good example of  "who you are is what you see".

Legacy

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is roots; the other, wings.

Hodding Carter