avakesh

New Yorker on Jewish denominations

Overheard in shul

The Choshuve Chosid and the Middle Aged Guy are standing by the Coffee Pot Shavuos morning.The Chassidishe Yungerman walks over.

Yungerman (pointing to the overturned cups, spilled cream and strewn coffee, with irony): See, the tsaddikim were here.

Guy (intones): Vameich kulom, tsaddikim (..all your people are tsaddikim)

Yungerman (a littlle embarassed): I also want to be a tsaddik. But my yetser hara says: "Not yet. You are not ready. In twenty years, maybe".

Guy: My Yetser Hora says "Go ahead, be a tsaddik".

Yungerman: Wow, really???

Guy: Yea, it says - "Go ahead,... and I will help you!".

Chosid: You know what mine tells me?

Guy and yungerman ( both turning to him); What??!

Chosid: It says: "You are a tsaddik already".

Cafe Midrash

On a hot Thursday night, the hall's already mobbed an hour before show time. Waitresses snake between patrons sitting at candlelit, round tables. A selector at the door checks to see if there's still room for latecomers, and extra chairs are brought in. Twenty- and 30-something couples and groups of friends anxiously wait for the star of the evening to take the stage.

Tel Aviv dance club? Nope. Jerusalem jazz spot? Not quite. Welcome to Petah Tikva's Cafe Midrash, a self-described "spiritual bar-cafe," where the tables are surrounded by walls full of religious texts, a holy ark and a memorial plaque, and tonight's star performer is a rabbi who does card tricks, cracks jokes and leads his secular audience to spiritual places most have never been before.

While everyone may not know your name here, there are plenty of regulars, and the team behind the establishment is glad you came, as the secular stop in for a cup of nourishment for the soul, a shot of enlightenment through exploring Jewish texts and a chaser of Torah-based advice that could even help them make things right with their significant others.

Tonight's star of the evening, Rabbi Yitzhak Fanger, who has rapidly created Thursday night fever here, is a Herzliya boy who once, according to an interview in Hamodia, called for running over anyone religious, and was a world Reiki master before giving up a million dollar career for the sake of touching other until now nonbelieving Jewish souls. Even Cafe Midrash - which opened three years ago in the smaller, original cafe, where liquor bottles on shelves stand past a divider, set up to provide privacy for a men's class being held when we show up - evolved from something else.

Starting out as a Minha minyan for employees in the mostly industrial area eight years ago, its dynamic founder Rabbi Binyamin Shachar and his almost all volunteer staff established the Psagot Center for Lectures and Gatherings, and began offering classes on various aspects of Judaism. "To our amazement and joy, people started bringing one and then another" to hear charismatic lecturers like Fanger, with funding from "private contributors," notes Shachar in his office, the crowd still filing into the larger hall now used for study during the day and events like this one at night.

IT WAS three years ago that "people who were coming said there was a large slice of people who would never come to hear a Torah lesson because of stereotypes and fears and all kinds of prejudice, but if the concept was based on a night out - and everyone wants a night out once in a while - and if we can add to it some added value of spiritual content, that could be a catalyzer that would bring them," Shachar says.

The center, which focuses on "the individual's spiritual side," as its Web site declares, also offers more advanced men's and women's study programs. The cafe hosts other nightly events, from separate-sex study of texts to mixed ones on relationships, one on graphology and a mixed one led by Shachar Wednesday nights on "developing your personality," and "dealing with difficulties" all billed as "based on the wisdom of Judaism and our sages." On order are grilled cheese sandwiches, pizzas, salads, baguettes, hot cakes, alcoholic drinks, coffee and more.

Shachar laughs at how a coffee house or beer hall, once forbidden to Jews by the rabbis, has become a center for spiritual growth and the teaching of mitzvot. While such places are off limits to observant Jews if they're meant to just pass the time away, he says, "I've never seen anyone leave our place of entertainment without some kind of internal enlightenment. He feels good, and generally thanks us. I don't drink beer myself, but if God created it in the world, it must also have a spiritual purpose."

The formula is obviously working. A look around reveals men and women dressed for a night out, Tel Aviv style, in the height of "sport elegant," hair well attended to. Shachar describes his clientele as mostly having "no connection to anything Jewish, kibbutzniks, people who come for the good time out." A note left by five women aged 25 to 30 who attended recently read: "This is our first Torah class ever," he notes proudly.

The evening is strictly for secular Israelis, Shachar says, explaining that the observant have other alternatives for learning and that the fear is the secular clientele will be put off by having observant Jews present. Plus, he says, there's just not enough space for the throngs coming, particularly Thursday nights.

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Yechezkel's vision

The following video is an interesting attempt to visualize Yechezkel's vision. It is, unquestionably faulty. The producer, having no benefit of the Jewish perspective fails to realize the underlying message of Yechezkel's vision, that it is a procession, a chariot that bears upon it Hashem's Glory that is driven from the Land of Israel and now makes its way to Bavel, to dwell with the exiled remnants of Israel (R. Yoseph Carlebach, Die drei grossen Propheten Jesajas, Jirmija und Jecheskel). I think that this also explains why the vision was on the river of Kevar, since following the course of the river spares the Divine chariot from passing over uncleanliness inherent in Chutz La'aretz, or Jewish bodies that may be haphazardly buried within it (see Gittin 7b). The video does not see "the big picture" and is excessively literal, visualizing the Ofanim, for example, as free standing wheels, rather than the wheels of the Merkaba (of course the wording is obscure and different interpretations can be offered) . This is a good example of how loosing track of the larger context results in an excessively literal, and therefore incorrect, interpetation. The same goes for the other video that I post, a model of keruvim, which, as the carriers of the Merkaba should have the body of a human but be shaped more like a beast of burden. However, there is nothing like having to construct a model that forces one to deepen his understanding of all the details. Despite the caveats, I think that these videos are very interesting and make us think about what Yechezkel actually saw, withotu having to consider the underlying meaning, and so, I share them with the readers.

Do not unto others...

Lists and exceptions.

As we discussed in the past, making lists of similar cases in both Written and Oral Torah appears to have been an activity that engaged the generations before Tannaim. These teachers were called Sofrim because they made lists that "counted" and organized received laws into categories. They received many laws but they were not organized into categories. These lists became the basic backbone of both the Mishna and Midrash. We have also seen that subsequent generations labored to understand and explain the omissions of one or two examples from some of these lists. Additional layers of interpretations were overlaid over the original lists in order to clarify, limit or particularize in an attempt to explain these omissions.

This introduction has methodologic significance for it guides us to take no list as final without looking for such omissions. If we find that there are really, say, five examples and the passage cites only three, understanding the passage requires addressing the similarities of the examples included in the list and how they are different from the examples not included. This work was compelted by the Massoretes centuries later. We now have a powerful tool to uncover the original intent of the passage. Let us look at an example of how this may work.

Three set out for ground and profaned themselves. These are Cain, Noah and Uziah.

Cain, as it says, "and Cain worked the earth (Gen. 4)". What does it state afterwards? "A stranger and sojourner shall you be in the land".

Noah, as it says, "And Noah, the man of the earth started and planted a vineyard…..

Uziah, as it says, ""for a lover of earth was he (Chronicles II, 26)". He was a monarch and he gave himself over to earth and did not connect to Torah. Once he happened to be at a Torah gathering and he asked them, "Where are you holding?" They said: "The stranger who approaches to sacrifice, he shall die (Num. 1)". He said: "He is a King and I am a king; it is fitting that a king serves before Him and sacrifices to the King." Right away he went in to offer incense…."and leprosy shined from his forehead". At that moment the Heichal cracked apart 12 by 12 mil and they rushed him from there… What caused this? That he did not study Torah and joined himself to the earth (Tanchuma Noah 13; see Gen. Rabba 36, 5 for a more concise version).

The passage lists three individuals who "lusted after the ground and there was nothing good that came of them".[1] At first glance this appears to be a simple and complete list of three cases in which an individual was identified with ground to his detriment. This is not the case, however, for there are other examples. While these examples do not identify specific individuals, it is wholly within the midrashic style to use such passages in midrashic exposition, as long as the actual words are similar.

Zecharia 13, 5

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be brought to shame every one through his vision, when he prophesieth; neither shall they wear a hairy mantle to deceive;

but he shall say: 'I am no prophet, I am a man of earth ; for I have been made a bondman from my youth.'

Why does the Midrash not say something like this: and the false prophets, as it says "I am no prophet: I am a man of the earth"?

Isaiah 24, 21

And it shall come to pass in that day, that HaShem will punish the host of the high heaven on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

This passage uses an unusual expression "kings of the earth" rather than "kings of nations"' yet, our passage does not cite it.

How are Cain, Noah and Uziah different from these other cases? Careful consideration of the local context of these three cases reveals an unexpected similarity - all three have descriptions of their earthiness juxtaposed to offering of sacrifices and the other two cases do not. This is most prominently and explicitly stated in case of Uziah; however, it is also the case with Cain and Noah as well.

Cain - but Cain worked the earth.

And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto HaShem (Gen. 2-3).

Noah - And Noah builded an altar unto HaShem; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar (Gen. 8, 20). And Noah the man of teh earth began, and planted a vineyard (Gen. 9,20).

Uziah - And be built towers in the wilderness, and hewed out many cisterns, for he had much cattle; in the Lowland also, and in the table-land; and he had husbandmen and vinedressers in the mountains and in the fruitful fields; for he loved the earth. 

But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against HaShem his G-d; for he went into the temple of HaShem to burn incense upon the altar of incense (Chronicles II, 26:10-16).

The similar context of these three cases and not of the others, must of resonated with the audience who were undoubtedly intimately acquainted with their Scripture. These three were pulled down by their earthiness and crushed to the ground at the very pinnacle of their spirituality, as they sacrificed to Hashem. The unstated lesson of the Midrash may be exactly that earthiness is an impediment that pulls an individual down even as they soar to the heights of Divine Service. One cannot fly while wedded to earthiness. It must inexorably pull him down and subvert all spiritual progress. This idea is expressed in the following Midrash about Noah, one of the three who "of the earth"..

Once he joined to the ground he became profaned. R. Yehuda Bar Shalom said: In the beginning "righteous men in his generations" and now "man of the earth" (Tanchuma ibid)".

R. Berachia said: Moses is more precious than Noah. Noah after he was called "righteous man "was called "man of the earth". Moses after he was called "Egyptian man" was called "man of G-d) (Gen. Rabbah ibid, 6)[2]".

The technique of finding similar expressions in Tanach and then looking for similarities of situations to derive therein insight has recently become common among certain circles of Tanach students in Israel and United States . It may be that once again the Sages were there first.

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1 Language of Gen. Rabbah

2 For an interesting explanation of this midrash in mussar vein see the section on R. Dovid Bliacher in, M. Levin (1996). Novarodok: The Movement that Lived in Struggle and its Unique Approach to the Problem of Man, Jason Aronson, Northvale , NJ .

Modern Hebraish and Tanach Ram

Linguists know, and do not hesitate to point out that Modern Hebrew is compound language with  Semitic words but Indo-European syntax. Those who revived it, people who spoke Yiddish, German, Russian and other European languages have given it a distinct non-Semitic flavor. Word order, formation of tenses and idiomatic expressions of Ivrit are European and not Semitic. However, it is not only that  the syntax is not, well, Jewish, many words take on meanings in modern Hebrew that are not the same as the original meanings of the same words in Tanach.

An interesting example is discussed in an article in the most recent issue of Jewish Bibilical Quarterly (XXXVII:2), And Dinah the Daughter of Lea went out: The meaning of Yatzanit in Rashi's commentary, by Gilad J. Gevaryahu. Rashi uses this term twice, both based on the same passage in Bereshis Rabba 8:12. Rashi uses it in his commentary to Gen.34:1 to explain why Dina was called, the daughter of Lea.

...because of her going out, she is called the daughter of Lea, for she also was a yatzanis.

The other place is in Gen. 1:28, where Hashem blesses man to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and conquer it. Here Rashi says: "...to teach that man conquers woman so she should not be a yatzanis".

Yatzanis is probably a term that I think means someone who spends too much time in the street and is excessively friendly, especially with men, not a virtue for a modest Jewish woman. Similarly, Rashi brings the following etymology of the name of Shlomis bas Divri (Lev.24:11)-this Shlomis chatted with everybody and so attracted the attention of an Egyptian taskmaster who ultimately had a son with her, the Danite man who argued with the Israelite man and "blessed" the Divine Name. 

Whatever yatzanis means, it does not mean what it means in modern Hebrew, where it means a woman of ill repute. The Biblical Quarterly article shows how an otherwise astute journalist in Yediot Acharonot, misread this term to mean exactly that and wrote a column making much ado about nothing. This example shows how modern meanings interfere with the even educated Israeli's understanding of the language of Tanach.

Here are some other examples from Prof. Zuckerman:

"Israelis might understand the very basic meaning of bereshit bara elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz (In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth) rather than, say, hatzvi yisrael al bamotekha alal (II Samuel 1:19: The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places). But how many Israelis can really fathom tohu vavohu or tehom (Genesis 1:2), the Israeli misleading senses being "mess" and "abyss"? How many Israelis know that an egla meshulleshet (Genesis 15:9) is not a triangular cow but "a heifer of three years old"? If they studied the RAM Bible, they would know because it is translated as such: egla bat shalosh.

Most Israelis misunderstand yeled sha'ashuim (Jeremiah 31:19) as "playboy" rather than "pleasant child." Ba'u banim ad mashber (Isaiah 37:3) is misinterpreted by Israelis as "children arrived at a crisis" rather than as "children arrived at the mouth of the womb, to be born." Adam l'amal yulad (Job 5:7) is taken to mean "man was born to do productive work" rather than "mischief" - an accusation of the inherent wickednessof mankind. One could give thousands of examples, and from post-biblical Hebrew too: for instance, how many Israelis can follow the meaning of

the Hanukka hymn "Ma'oz Tzur Yeshu'ati"?

ISRAELIS ARE INCAPABLE of recognizing fine points of aspects and tenses in the Bible. I remember in my IDF basic training, the commander ordered us "od hamesh dakot hayitem kan!" (Within five minutes you will have been here), hayitem referring to an action in the future. In the Bible, heyitem regularly refers to an action that has been completed, independently of whether or not it is in the past or future. Such a biblical mind-set is in strong contradistinction to the weltanschauung of the Homo sapiens sapiens israelicus vulgaris and to the way Israelis read the Bible.

Ask Israelis what avanim sha'aqu mayim (Job 14:19) means and they will tell you that the stones eroded the water. On second thought, they might guess that it would make more sense that the water eroded the stones. Yet such an object-verb-subject order is ungrammatical in Israeli today. "

Taking note of this fact, the Tanach has now been translated into....Hebrew.

 

There are those who do not approve:

"That is the problem - lack of reverence. The RAM Bible conveys a message: The Bible is nothing special; it's not important enough to learn the sometimes difficult language so we are converting it to child-talk. It is not a cosmic experience. Children in the non-religious school system won't be privileged to hold an authentic Bible in their hands at an impressionable age.

A second problem is that widespread use of RAM will exacerbate the fragmentation of Israeli society into those in touch with the Jewish book shelf, and those cut off from our wellsprings. Not only are traditional Jewish texts informed by the Bible, but the script of modern Jewish and Israeli life is suffused with Scripture. In his novel Black Box, Amos Oz expresses the disappointment of a pioneer crestfallen when he comes on aliya to the Promised Land, by using the phrase from Genesis 29:25 "Vayehi vaboker vhinei hi Leah" (And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah!). I was crestfallen when I read the RAM version, which flattens and overtranslates this poetic exclamation: "Uvaboker hitgaleh l'Ya'acov shehinei zu Leah v'lo Rahel." (In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah and not Rachel.) "

However, while more education can avoid the gross kinds of errors, the ability to fully understand the Biblical idiom comes with many years of study and application. It is not realistic to expect even the educated Israelis to possess instinctive recognition of the fine points of Biblical Hebrew. The example of yazsanis shows that even a well-educated woman whose craft is Hebrew words is liable to substitute the modern meaning of the word for it true meaning. In this way, those of is who study Tanach without the knowledge of modern Hebrew may actually have an advantage over native Israelis.

Tsnius in Lubavitch

Tsnius has suffered an intersting fate in recent time. In the Litvishe community it has become a litmus test of belonging. In Modern Orthodxy  it is barely remembered and among the Chassidishe it is a non-issue because it does not need to be. Chabad, has suffered a wide lattitude in what is accepted because it is a modern Orthodox chassidus. By this I mean that contains many professionals and secularly educated indivduals, people who came to observance late in life and are still struggling with it, and many persons whose Jewish knowlege is minimal, akin to modern Orthodox communities. On the other hand, it is still a chassidic, chareidi group and so different adherents go in different directions. It is the only Chareidi group that as a matter of course allows photographs and images of women, tsniusdige though they may be, in its publications and videos. On the other hand, there are some within it that are struggling to turn the clock back to the way Chabad used to be decades ago, and to re-focus on study, contemplation, avodas hatefillah and careful performance of mitsvos. Among such efforts are attemts to center on tsnius.

Here is a file of one such effort. Download Tsnius campaign

Here is another.

Liberation from lust

This is very important. I have seen men who had heroically torn themselves away from their families, communities and friends, who have gone thorugh incredible challenges to become frum and eidel yidden to then be brought down by the internet. I have seen respectable families destroyed by this evil.  Christians have been dealing with this issue for years and now, B"H, there is a resource for Frum people as well.

From Jerusalem Post:

But for "Ya'acov" - an observant computer programmer living in the Jerusalem area who two years ago singlehandedly established a virtual "community" to help haredi men fight their addiction to porn - it brought only sadness. A happily married man with several children, Ya'acov had "personal experience among some family members" with this specific addiction and wanted to help sufferers.

His free English-language project, called Guard Your Eyes (at www.guardureyes.com and www.guardyoureyes.org), has already helped thousands.

THE WEB sites include 250 pages of information, all composed or collected by its founder. ....The project, says Ya'acov, has received the blessings of leading haredi rabbis who are aware of the problem in their communities. The project continues off tax-deductible donations and without help, but the man behind it says that despite the uncertainty, he is determined to reach more religious men and their families. ....

THIS IS a "promiscuous generation," says Ya'acov, although he concedes that there is plenty of promiscuity mentioned in the Bible. "But the religious - and especially haredi - communities see the subject of sex as taboo and don't offer sex education to the younger generation until they are engaged. Many haredi youths have no idea how babies are made, even though their mothers are frequently pregnant. Sex is part of life, but Judaism recognizes it as kosher only in a holy context."

He says he "tries to use the power of the Internet against itself." So far, more than 700 people have become anonymous members of the "community" and automatically receive daily support (called hizuk in Hebrew) on how to cope with their addiction and eventually free themselves of it. About half of them are Israeli, with the rest from the US and other English-speaking countries. Ya'acov says he aims to make the information and support available in Hebrew and other languages. "We are building a forum in Hebrew for producing material for a Web site."

As the Web sites cater to the religious community, many of the "treatment" techniques are based on the wisdom of Jewish sages and the desire to get closer to God. ...

 

Interesting new books

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Several new books of interest have been reviewed in Haaretz recently. Haaretz is a liberal, left-wing and anti-religious paper that, like so many liberal Jews that are its audience, has a love-hate relationship with Judaism. Like the New York Times, it is fascinated, may I say obsessed, by Judaism in all its manifestations.  Reviewing books is one way of staying connected but without the committment demanded by a vibrant relationship, and so, the reviews in Haaretz are often fascinating. Haaretz selects reviewers who are knowledgeable in the topics that they review and often add value. Here are links to a few recent book reviews:

A Scapegoat for All Seasons
The Donmes or Crypto-Jews of Turkey
by Rifat Bali, Isis Press, 418 pages, $45

Nehama Leibowitz
Teacher and Bible Scholar, by Yael Unterman
Urim Publications, 607 pages, $33

Emmanuel Levinas: Biografia
by Shlomo Malka (Emmanuel Levinas: La vie et la trace, by Salomon Malka; translated into Hebrew by Daniel Yoel), Resling, 312 pages, NIS 94
(Published in English in 2006 as Emmanuel Levinas: His Life and Legacy, translated by Michael Kigel and Sonia M. Embree; Duqu esne University Press, $21.50)