The מי השלוח's answer to the question posed yesterday: (see ד"ה ה' ילחם לכם)
We believe that הכל בידי שמים חוץ מיראת שמים = "All is in the hands of Heaven (re: G-d), except for the fear of Heaven (i.e. how/when/where one serves G-d)". In other words Providential Determinism and human free will are compatible with one another.
In their historical opposition to and antagonism towards the Bnei Yisrael the nations of the world are incompatibilists holding that these two concepts are mutually exclusive. Some take the absolutist position in favor of human free will, essentially declaring that אין הכל בידי שמים not everything (i.e. NOTHING) is in the hands of heaven while others take the absolutist position in favor of Divine Providence eliminating the "khutz" and maintaining that הכל בידי שמים ואפילו יראת שמים "All is in the hands of Heaven (re: G-d), INCLUDING the fear of Heaven (i.e. how/when/where one serves G-d)". Mitzrayim is the paradigm for the former weltanscahung while Amalek is the trailblazer for the latter worldview. Prayer as "the service of the heart" represents the ultimate in divine service where human are at their most autonomous and wield the freest exercise of their free will.
When the opponent/ antagonist declares "G-d is not in charge" i.e. the Egyptians at the Sea of Reeds, we wage battle against them by desisting from praying. When the opponent/ antagonist declares "G-d is in charge of EVERYTHING. Free will is an illusion, everything is pre-determined and we are no more than puppets on strings" i.e. Amalek at Refidim, we we wage battle against them by praying.
Qedusha Havdala. Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
To Pray or not to Pray???
When the Bnei Yisrael confronted the Egyptian enemy near the Sea of Reeds G-d tells Moshe: וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, מַה-תִּצְעַק אֵלָי; דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִסָּעוּ.="Why shout unto Me?Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." Rashi ad locum explains this to mean that now is not the time for prayer. (scroll down to verse 15)
Yet, at the end of the Parsha when the Bnei Yisrael confronted the Amalekite enemy the Torah tells us that וְהָיָה, כַּאֲשֶׁר יָרִים מֹשֶׁה יָדוֹ--וְגָבַר יִשְׂרָאֵל; וְכַאֲשֶׁר יָנִיחַ יָדוֹ, וְגָבַר עֲמָלֵק= "And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed." Which the Targum Yonoson renders "And it came to pass, when Moshe spread out his hand in prayer, that Israel prevailed..." (see verse 11)
So the question is; when confronting our enemies it is best to pray or desist from prayer?
From the מי השלוח
Next up...perhaps I'll post his answer, in the meantime discuss amongst yourselves.
Yet, at the end of the Parsha when the Bnei Yisrael confronted the Amalekite enemy the Torah tells us that וְהָיָה, כַּאֲשֶׁר יָרִים מֹשֶׁה יָדוֹ--וְגָבַר יִשְׂרָאֵל; וְכַאֲשֶׁר יָנִיחַ יָדוֹ, וְגָבַר עֲמָלֵק= "And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed." Which the Targum Yonoson renders "And it came to pass, when Moshe spread out his hand in prayer, that Israel prevailed..." (see verse 11)
So the question is; when confronting our enemies it is best to pray or desist from prayer?
From the מי השלוח
Next up...perhaps I'll post his answer, in the meantime discuss amongst yourselves.
The Havdala of Altruism
Baby "Israel"- first baby delivered in Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquakeThe demands of faith require not only that we believe in an unseen and empirically unprovable G-d but that we believe in unseen and empirically unprovable innate differences of inner Qedusha. And whereas Theodicy wrestles with overt evidence that belies our theology of benevolence, incontrovertible examples of human goodness and self-sacrifice belies our belief in the innate malevolence, or at least self-serving motivations, of much of humanity.
A striking case in point is the massive outpouring of humanitarian aid to the victims stricken by the 7.0 Richter scale earthquake in Haiti. In the face of thousands of nurses and Doctors pouring into the country, offering pro-bono services and operating around-the clock MASH-like in a dangerous and lawless atmosphere, and millions of dollars of foodstuffs and pure water delivered by sundry first world governments how are we to hold fast to our beliefs in what Khazal reveal to us about non-Jewish altruism? To wit; that we interpret the verse צְדָקָה תְרוֹמֵם-גּוֹי; וְחֶסֶד לְאֻמִּים חַטָּאת = "Righteousness exalts a nation; but loving-kindness is a sin to the nations" to delineate an innate difference between Jews and non-Jews i.e. that whereas charity צְדָקָה exalts and uplifts the Jewish People acts of altruism,חֶסֶד , serve as just another iteration of sin for the other nations of the world! (see Bava Basra 10 B).
Jewish hearts the world over were right to swell with pride over the IDF setting up the first field hospital in the quake area. (Well, ALMOST every Jewish heart*.) But most fair minded Jews would discern no qualitative difference on the psycho-spiritual, subconscious-motivational level, between the first such hospital established by Israeli Jews and subsequent ones set up by Americans, Frenchmen et al. Yet, per Khazal (channeling Hugo Chavez???) yet another subcutaneous Havdala obtains. While the motivations of the Jewish soldiers nurses and doctors were assumed to be selfless and pure what brought the Americans and Frenchman et al to Port-A-Prince was a desire to aggrandize themselves, to improve their geopolitical reach and grasp and/or to put down and demonize Jews!
And while the KJV translation of the Pasuk eludes me entirely there is an opinion in Rishonim (Khazal???) cited by Rabenu Bakhya in Kad HaKemakh (scroll to the bottom of the page. Per the mageeha, in the Mosad HaRav Kook edition, this reading is sourced in a Ramban in two places) that interprets the verse in a way that avoids these unflattering portrayals of Goyisha Khesed as follows: צְדָקָה תְרוֹמֵם-גּוֹי;=acts of charity exalt ANY Nation וְחֶסֶד לְאֻמִּים חַטָּאת = whereas [the LACK] of loving-kindness is a sin / deficiency for all nations. In other words there is a poetic couplet/redundancy at work in this pasuk that requires a parenthetical insertion i.e. "the LACK]".
Qedusha-Havdala...Is it giving you indigestion today??? Hmmm???
__________________________________________
* As Jamil points out the op/ed minds of Ha'Aretz got it the other way around ascribing pure motivations to Haiti missions of every nation besides Israel.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
A Semi-Rational Segulah
Twice yesterday I recited the Parshas haMon and it's targum once. Doing so on Tuesday of Parshas B'Shalakh is , per Rav Mendeleh Rimanover, a segulah for livelihood.(EDIT: according to Rafi G. over on the Blog that banned me, his descendants deny that he is the source of this segulah and it is only "a sefer that quotes someone who quotes Rav Shalom of Stropkov, who supposedly said in the name of Reb Menachem Mendel of Rimanov that it is a segula to say it on this day") Over the past several years this segulah has been popularized through viral emails and at least two web pages to call it's own. Along with Chai Rotel Mashkeh and Tefilas haShelah on erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan it is among the darling segulos of the World Wide Web.
Now segulos are SUPPOSED to be irrational, at least to those not in the know of the highways and byways of Qabbalah. The old ironic joke that a segulah for parnossa is א סגולה פאר פרנסה??? קויף ביליג און פארקויף טייער= "buy low sell high" illustrates the received wisdom that if it makes rational sense it's no segulah. AAMOF the basic principle of Havdala Consciousness, that Bnei Yisrael are intrinsically different from, and more beloved by G-d than, the balance of the human race has been described by one great Khasidic master (I forget which) as a kind of segulah. As the pasuk says: ...וִהְיִיתֶם לִי סְגֻלָּה מִכָּל-הָעַמִּים...וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ-לִי מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים, וְגוֹי קָדוֹשׁ . However, yesterdays segulah has a veneer of rationality to it and unlike other segulos both famous and obscure there is at least a scintilla of rhyme and reason to Parshas haMon.
Learning this Parsha sensitizes the learner /reader to the mirage of causality i.e. that ones sustenance derives from haShem and that not only does He theoretically possess the power but that he has exercised the power to sustain people absent any discernible efforts on their parts. There is always a tension between Bitakhon=faith in and reliance upon G-d and Hishtadlus= our own efforts. But Seforim haQedoshim explain that everyone has the ability to insinuate themselves more and more into the "order" of direct Divine providence and extricate themselves from the "order" of causality and the "Protestant work ethic".
And so, learning the Parsha of the Torah, accompanied with the appropriate liturgy before and after, that conveys HaShems total control over our sustenance and His ability and willingness to sustain us miraculously seems like a very reasonable way to augment our faith in this reality and to transcend the sensibility of working hard/smart is what will sustain us. It also makes sense that this parsha of the Torah shines it's light forth more brightly during the week preceding the Shabbos on which ALL of K'lal Yisrael learns/ reads it publicly.
As for the part of it being done on Tuesday davka... I can only hazard a guess that it has something to do with Tuesday being the יום שנכפלה בו כי טוב . Of course that is a total boikh sevara but hey, if it were totally rational it wouldn't be much of a segulah in the first place. In the meantime for the rest of us there's always; א סגולה פאר פרנסה??? קויף ביליג און פארקויף טייער
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Now segulos are SUPPOSED to be irrational, at least to those not in the know of the highways and byways of Qabbalah. The old ironic joke that a segulah for parnossa is א סגולה פאר פרנסה??? קויף ביליג און פארקויף טייער= "buy low sell high" illustrates the received wisdom that if it makes rational sense it's no segulah. AAMOF the basic principle of Havdala Consciousness, that Bnei Yisrael are intrinsically different from, and more beloved by G-d than, the balance of the human race has been described by one great Khasidic master (I forget which) as a kind of segulah. As the pasuk says: ...וִהְיִיתֶם לִי סְגֻלָּה מִכָּל-הָעַמִּים...וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ-לִי מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים, וְגוֹי קָדוֹשׁ . However, yesterdays segulah has a veneer of rationality to it and unlike other segulos both famous and obscure there is at least a scintilla of rhyme and reason to Parshas haMon.
Learning this Parsha sensitizes the learner /reader to the mirage of causality i.e. that ones sustenance derives from haShem and that not only does He theoretically possess the power but that he has exercised the power to sustain people absent any discernible efforts on their parts. There is always a tension between Bitakhon=faith in and reliance upon G-d and Hishtadlus= our own efforts. But Seforim haQedoshim explain that everyone has the ability to insinuate themselves more and more into the "order" of direct Divine providence and extricate themselves from the "order" of causality and the "Protestant work ethic".
And so, learning the Parsha of the Torah, accompanied with the appropriate liturgy before and after, that conveys HaShems total control over our sustenance and His ability and willingness to sustain us miraculously seems like a very reasonable way to augment our faith in this reality and to transcend the sensibility of working hard/smart is what will sustain us. It also makes sense that this parsha of the Torah shines it's light forth more brightly during the week preceding the Shabbos on which ALL of K'lal Yisrael learns/ reads it publicly.
As for the part of it being done on Tuesday davka... I can only hazard a guess that it has something to do with Tuesday being the יום שנכפלה בו כי טוב . Of course that is a total boikh sevara but hey, if it were totally rational it wouldn't be much of a segulah in the first place. In the meantime for the rest of us there's always; א סגולה פאר פרנסה??? קויף ביליג און פארקויף טייער
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Ambivalence Over Aish PR
The putative "Tefilin Bomber" is a story I hope to have multiple posts about. For now allow me to share my ambivalence over a piece published on the Aish website about him.
While the article is well written and does an admirable job of spinning the story with a lot a positive PR it manifests much "Kiruv Klownishness" as well.
First, it posits a homiletic symbolism to Tefilin that TTBOMK the writer not only manufactured out of whole cloth but that is, as an original piece of homiletics, nonsensical as well. While the author, correctly, points out that the Aseres HaDibros=Decalogue are divided between בין אדם למקום= ritual Mitzvos (lit: between man and G-d) and בין אדם לחברו= interpersonal mitzvos (lit: between man and man) he then goes on to assert that this same divide applies to the head and hand Tefilin:
"And where else other than in the two tablets is this message repeated, indeed on a daily basis? Of course in the very mitzvah of tefillin. The box to be placed on our head symbolizes our aspirations to be connected with the One above. It corresponds to the first tablet and all of its injunctions relating to our responsibilities to God. The box we are taught to place on our arm with the strings wound round our hand remind us to reach out to others, to fulfill all those religious obligations that mark our humanity in our relationships with others. It is the symbolic link to the message of the second tablet which is just as important in the eyes of Law Giver of Sinai."
Not only is this unattributed and, I presume, original, as I have always understood the head tefilin to bind our intellects to G-d and the arm tefilin to bind our hearts/emotions to G-d, it is plainly wrong and woolly-headed. For it strips the ritual mitzvos of their emotional content and the interpersonal ones of their compelling rational/intellectual ta'amim (where applicable). He makes it sound as though one may only relate to G-d (directlty) with his/her mind and to ones fellows with their hearts. This is not a havdala but a dismemberment.
Far more egregious is his "No true Scotsman" argument misrepresentation of the Torah ethos when he writes:
"Which is why no Jew true to his name and his mission could ever be guilty of endangering the lives of innocents in the name of his religious beliefs."
How any Jew, a Rabbi interviewed for his expertise by the mass media no less, could tell such a lie is beyond me. Has he never heard of the Mitzvos of erasing Amalek? Of genocidal wars against the seven indigenous nations of Canaan? Of massacring every last JEWISH soul in the idolatrous Ir HaNeedakhas? Of Samson, histories first suicide bomber? Of Qedoshim=holy martyrs of the first crusade when parents slew their children before committing suicide, realizing that apostasy into X-tianity was a fate worse than death? Of course, as a scholar, he is aware of all this and many more halakhic cases and historical precedents when the Torah demands, not only the endangering, but the proactive taking of innocent lives in the name of our religious beliefs.
So why would he dissemble like this? Apparently , like many Kiruv Klowns, he has taken the ethical shortcut in which the ends of good PR and, presumably ecumenical good vibes and possible Kiruv, justify the means of distorting and even lying about the Torah.
And while there are profound differences distinguishing Samsons shouting תָּמוֹת נַפְשִׁי עִם-פְּלִשְׁתִּים='Let me die with the Philistines' immediately prior to pushing the pillars apart and sundry Shahidis shouting Allahu Akhbar before detonating their terrorist bombs, it does the cause of Havdala and Qedusha consciousness a disservice to deny the surface similarities. Havdala is seldom apparent to the naked eye, Qedusha NEVER is.
It also lays the groundwork for BT disillusionment as they advance in their Torah IQ and realize that they were lied to by "Big Kiruv" in order to get them hooked on Judaism. I think that not volunteering off-putting information about the Torah to novice and non-Jew is OK. But lying about the letter and spirit of the Torah is not OK.
Just to end on a positive note the Aish article contained this money quote from an early American X-tian clergyman, Cotton Mather, that pithily and eloquently might serve as a great slogan for the entire Salanterian Mussar movement or for the Khasidic movement of the Berditchever or Sassover variety:
"Woe unto those who pray unto the Lord on Sundays and prey on their fellow man throughout the rest of the week."
Qedusha-havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
While the article is well written and does an admirable job of spinning the story with a lot a positive PR it manifests much "Kiruv Klownishness" as well.
First, it posits a homiletic symbolism to Tefilin that TTBOMK the writer not only manufactured out of whole cloth but that is, as an original piece of homiletics, nonsensical as well. While the author, correctly, points out that the Aseres HaDibros=Decalogue are divided between בין אדם למקום= ritual Mitzvos (lit: between man and G-d) and בין אדם לחברו= interpersonal mitzvos (lit: between man and man) he then goes on to assert that this same divide applies to the head and hand Tefilin:
"And where else other than in the two tablets is this message repeated, indeed on a daily basis? Of course in the very mitzvah of tefillin. The box to be placed on our head symbolizes our aspirations to be connected with the One above. It corresponds to the first tablet and all of its injunctions relating to our responsibilities to God. The box we are taught to place on our arm with the strings wound round our hand remind us to reach out to others, to fulfill all those religious obligations that mark our humanity in our relationships with others. It is the symbolic link to the message of the second tablet which is just as important in the eyes of Law Giver of Sinai."
Not only is this unattributed and, I presume, original, as I have always understood the head tefilin to bind our intellects to G-d and the arm tefilin to bind our hearts/emotions to G-d, it is plainly wrong and woolly-headed. For it strips the ritual mitzvos of their emotional content and the interpersonal ones of their compelling rational/intellectual ta'amim (where applicable). He makes it sound as though one may only relate to G-d (directlty) with his/her mind and to ones fellows with their hearts. This is not a havdala but a dismemberment.
Far more egregious is his "No true Scotsman" argument misrepresentation of the Torah ethos when he writes:
"Which is why no Jew true to his name and his mission could ever be guilty of endangering the lives of innocents in the name of his religious beliefs."
How any Jew, a Rabbi interviewed for his expertise by the mass media no less, could tell such a lie is beyond me. Has he never heard of the Mitzvos of erasing Amalek? Of genocidal wars against the seven indigenous nations of Canaan? Of massacring every last JEWISH soul in the idolatrous Ir HaNeedakhas? Of Samson, histories first suicide bomber? Of Qedoshim=holy martyrs of the first crusade when parents slew their children before committing suicide, realizing that apostasy into X-tianity was a fate worse than death? Of course, as a scholar, he is aware of all this and many more halakhic cases and historical precedents when the Torah demands, not only the endangering, but the proactive taking of innocent lives in the name of our religious beliefs.
So why would he dissemble like this? Apparently , like many Kiruv Klowns, he has taken the ethical shortcut in which the ends of good PR and, presumably ecumenical good vibes and possible Kiruv, justify the means of distorting and even lying about the Torah.
And while there are profound differences distinguishing Samsons shouting תָּמוֹת נַפְשִׁי עִם-פְּלִשְׁתִּים='Let me die with the Philistines' immediately prior to pushing the pillars apart and sundry Shahidis shouting Allahu Akhbar before detonating their terrorist bombs, it does the cause of Havdala and Qedusha consciousness a disservice to deny the surface similarities. Havdala is seldom apparent to the naked eye, Qedusha NEVER is.
It also lays the groundwork for BT disillusionment as they advance in their Torah IQ and realize that they were lied to by "Big Kiruv" in order to get them hooked on Judaism. I think that not volunteering off-putting information about the Torah to novice and non-Jew is OK. But lying about the letter and spirit of the Torah is not OK.
Just to end on a positive note the Aish article contained this money quote from an early American X-tian clergyman, Cotton Mather, that pithily and eloquently might serve as a great slogan for the entire Salanterian Mussar movement or for the Khasidic movement of the Berditchever or Sassover variety:
"Woe unto those who pray unto the Lord on Sundays and prey on their fellow man throughout the rest of the week."
Qedusha-havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Friday, January 15, 2010
Heard in Shul this Week
from a survivor... after some mindless chit chat about how cold the winter has been:
"In the winter of 44 we were in a Camp near Vienna. I was 16. It was freezing and we were made to labor barefoot. Sometimes to blunt the pain we'd take off our striped prison uniform caps and wrap it alternatively around one of our feet to warm up.
If the Nazi guard was a "mensch" (sic) he'd look the other way. But sometimes we'd get an akhzor who'd force us back barefoot shouting 'STOP stepping on Reich property!' "
And we think that we have rough lives!
די אידען וועלען שוין קיין גיהנם נישט זעהו. זיי האבען עס שוין דורעך געלעבט אויף דער וועלט
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today???Hmmm???
"In the winter of 44 we were in a Camp near Vienna. I was 16. It was freezing and we were made to labor barefoot. Sometimes to blunt the pain we'd take off our striped prison uniform caps and wrap it alternatively around one of our feet to warm up.
If the Nazi guard was a "mensch" (sic) he'd look the other way. But sometimes we'd get an akhzor who'd force us back barefoot shouting 'STOP stepping on Reich property!' "
And we think that we have rough lives!
די אידען וועלען שוין קיין גיהנם נישט זעהו. זיי האבען עס שוין דורעך געלעבט אויף דער וועלט
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today???Hmmm???
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
One Picture
worth a thousand chucked cookies.
The juxtaposition of the Khasidisha Levush, something I hold very dear and the ekkelhoftig checkered qefiya of Jewish-genocidal Palestinian Nationalism, something I hold reeks of treachery and my brothers blood is beyond-words repulsive.
Hey NK khevra... does your insane shita negate all the Khasidisha Toireh about not wearing Goyisha Levush???
In case you need more stunning visuals click here and here.
Which of the two Satmar Rebbes are going to step up to the plate and take some responsibility for promulgating a shitta whose logical conclusion is this type of treacherous madness? Don't hold your breath.
What Were You Thinking?
That I had taken off to yenna velt? That I was , kholila, sick or incapacitated? That I had writers block? That, burning with green rage at the many J-bloggers who garner more hits in 5 minutes than I do in 5 days, that I just threw in the towel?
You've gotta admit that after my rather prolific December the literary output here in January has slowed to a snails pace.
We chameleonymous bloggers do try and maintain a certain air of mystery about us. Just call me the Mystique of Fundie.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
You've gotta admit that after my rather prolific December the literary output here in January has slowed to a snails pace.
We chameleonymous bloggers do try and maintain a certain air of mystery about us. Just call me the Mystique of Fundie.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Cutting TKs more Slack
Of all the scandals that have rocked the frum world in recent years the most disillusioning ones are those that involve sleazy ethics or actual Aveiros on the part of Talmidei Khakhomim. It's kind of like discovering that the leading suspect for the wave of arson in your town was a member of the volunteer fire department or that the local elder-care physician has been channeling his inner Kevorkian. We cluck our tongues in shock and consternation and ask in dismay: "Who ought to be upholding Halakha, Mussar and the Jewish prophetic tradition if not the TKs?!?"But are we really shocked and disillusioned? And even if we are, are we doing right by the TKs?
Much of the wailing and scandalization that one reads on the J-Blogosphere strikes me as disingenuous affectations. It's as if these professional snark-purveyors ,who cast a skeptical cynical eye on just about everything, just now discovered the existence of the Yetzer HaRa= inclination to evil. I hate to break this to them but moral failings have been with us since time immemorial. And some of the greatest moral failures were great men and TKs e.g. Korakh, 10 of the 12 spies, Yeravam ben Nevat, Akhitofel, Elisha ben Abuyah/Akher, Shabbetai Tzvi, the author of the bogus Yerushalmi to name a few. The Responsa literature is full of case histories of financial chicanery, family and communal feuds and lurid indiscretions, so why pretend that these are the invention of early 21st century Jewry? And while the standard MO of these bloggers is to scoff at the notion of "Yored Dorot"(sic, the proper expression being either hiskatnu HaDoros or Yeridat HaDorot) they certainly would be in an untenable position to argue that the current generation is somehow morally or ethically superior to our ancestors. For argument sake let's presume equality. But on what evidence should we base superiority?
I also think that this yellow-journalistic streak running down the back of the J-Blogosphere is predicated on the Havdala-challenged notion (borrowed from Catholicism) that "the clergy" represents a different "class" playing by different and higher rules. We don't have monastic orders or a celibate Rabbinate. TKs, by dint of their scholarship, certainly ought to observe more Halakhic minutiae because they are aware of and familiar with such details. But ultimately they are Jews like you and I, albeit more mature and developed Jewishly speaking.
Another shallow and moronic mistake (hoax) perpetrated by the scandal mongers is that every person with a beard and peyos and/or having the prefix "Rabbi" attached to their name is an actual bona fide TK. Hogwash! The Remuh paskins that the Halakhic category of TK refers to one who can be נושא ונותן ברוב סוגיות הש"ס = one who knows the ins and outs of the majority of the Talmud. How many of those caught in recent scandals, even those clad in zaidheneh yuhpitzas and or Kapoteh-frock coats rise to this threshold?
Finally even if none of this mitigates the recent scandals and supposing we caught a true Talmid Khakham red handed committing a coarse sin should we then declare him a hypocrite and/or fraud and throw him under the bus forever? Not according to Khazal (Brakhos 19 A) who teach us that :תנא דבי ר' ישמעאל אם ראית תלמיד חכם שעבר עבירה בלילה אל תהרהר אחריו ביום שמא עשה תשובה שמא סלקא דעתך? אלא ודאי עשה תשובה= "If see a TK trangressing a sin at night do not be skeptical of him the next day for he has CERTAINLY repented." There is something about being a TK that runs counter to everything we know about human free will and about Khazokos= the laws of status quo, that guarantees repentance after the commission of a sin. The חפץ חיים leans towards paskening that this guarantee exempts the observer form the Mitzvah of Tokhakha= chastising evildoers and exhorting them to change their ways.
So pick your poison: if the perpetrators of recent scandals are not true TKs, just your rank and file Jews with some over-the-top haberdashery, then except for the naive children among us we ought not to be shocked over their failings and even the Khilul HaShems that they caused. Tremendously disappointed and saddened yes, but shocked and scandalized? No way. If , OTOH, we presume them to be "the real deal" then Halakha requires that they be rehabbed and restored to their pre-sin pristine status in our minds and hearts, NOT that they be disgraced and shunned forever and a day.
We are, after all, a forgiving people and we do in the final analysis practice a religion whose holiest time is the Day of Atonement.
Qedusha-Havdala. Have you had YOURS today??? Hmm???
Much of the wailing and scandalization that one reads on the J-Blogosphere strikes me as disingenuous affectations. It's as if these professional snark-purveyors ,who cast a skeptical cynical eye on just about everything, just now discovered the existence of the Yetzer HaRa= inclination to evil. I hate to break this to them but moral failings have been with us since time immemorial. And some of the greatest moral failures were great men and TKs e.g. Korakh, 10 of the 12 spies, Yeravam ben Nevat, Akhitofel, Elisha ben Abuyah/Akher, Shabbetai Tzvi, the author of the bogus Yerushalmi to name a few. The Responsa literature is full of case histories of financial chicanery, family and communal feuds and lurid indiscretions, so why pretend that these are the invention of early 21st century Jewry? And while the standard MO of these bloggers is to scoff at the notion of "Yored Dorot"(sic, the proper expression being either hiskatnu HaDoros or Yeridat HaDorot) they certainly would be in an untenable position to argue that the current generation is somehow morally or ethically superior to our ancestors. For argument sake let's presume equality. But on what evidence should we base superiority?
I also think that this yellow-journalistic streak running down the back of the J-Blogosphere is predicated on the Havdala-challenged notion (borrowed from Catholicism) that "the clergy" represents a different "class" playing by different and higher rules. We don't have monastic orders or a celibate Rabbinate. TKs, by dint of their scholarship, certainly ought to observe more Halakhic minutiae because they are aware of and familiar with such details. But ultimately they are Jews like you and I, albeit more mature and developed Jewishly speaking.
Another shallow and moronic mistake (hoax) perpetrated by the scandal mongers is that every person with a beard and peyos and/or having the prefix "Rabbi" attached to their name is an actual bona fide TK. Hogwash! The Remuh paskins that the Halakhic category of TK refers to one who can be נושא ונותן ברוב סוגיות הש"ס = one who knows the ins and outs of the majority of the Talmud. How many of those caught in recent scandals, even those clad in zaidheneh yuhpitzas and or Kapoteh-frock coats rise to this threshold?
Finally even if none of this mitigates the recent scandals and supposing we caught a true Talmid Khakham red handed committing a coarse sin should we then declare him a hypocrite and/or fraud and throw him under the bus forever? Not according to Khazal (Brakhos 19 A) who teach us that :תנא דבי ר' ישמעאל אם ראית תלמיד חכם שעבר עבירה בלילה אל תהרהר אחריו ביום שמא עשה תשובה שמא סלקא דעתך? אלא ודאי עשה תשובה= "If see a TK trangressing a sin at night do not be skeptical of him the next day for he has CERTAINLY repented." There is something about being a TK that runs counter to everything we know about human free will and about Khazokos= the laws of status quo, that guarantees repentance after the commission of a sin. The חפץ חיים leans towards paskening that this guarantee exempts the observer form the Mitzvah of Tokhakha= chastising evildoers and exhorting them to change their ways.
So pick your poison: if the perpetrators of recent scandals are not true TKs, just your rank and file Jews with some over-the-top haberdashery, then except for the naive children among us we ought not to be shocked over their failings and even the Khilul HaShems that they caused. Tremendously disappointed and saddened yes, but shocked and scandalized? No way. If , OTOH, we presume them to be "the real deal" then Halakha requires that they be rehabbed and restored to their pre-sin pristine status in our minds and hearts, NOT that they be disgraced and shunned forever and a day.
We are, after all, a forgiving people and we do in the final analysis practice a religion whose holiest time is the Day of Atonement.
Qedusha-Havdala. Have you had YOURS today??? Hmm???
Monday, January 4, 2010
Homosexuality as an Assault on Havdala Consciousness
Disclaimer this post, nay series of posts, is neither for the prudish, the squeamish nor the politically correct. If you are a frum Jew unaware of such discussions in Shas as a homosexual literally having sex with himself with a flaccid penis or the learned, albeit euphemistic, discussion about “finger” size and prowess (this despite eidelkeit and Lashon Nekiya) then turn back now. Similarly, if you are a liberal Jew who beliefs every dogmatic "orthodoxy" of the gay rights/ “pride” and /or Feminists movements I’m sure you will find these posts retrograde and offensive. Don’t say that you haven’t been warned.
The J-Blogosphere is ablaze with posts and comments threads in the wake of the Homosexuality Conference at Y.U. וגם אני אענה חלקי with a series of posts that I hope will add new points to ponder to the conversation.
The Pasuk in the Torah prohibiting male homosexual intercourse reads as follows: וְאֶת-זָכָר--לֹא תִשְׁכַּב, מִשְׁכְּבֵי אִשָּׁה: תּוֹעֵבָה, הִוא= "Thou shalt not lie with a male, the layings of a woman; it is abomination." Before modifying it with the pejorative Toevah the Torah DEFINES the act of male homosexual intercourse as “the layings of a woman.” The act unmans the males who do it. They have done mishkav not as a man does with a woman but as a woman would herself. And while there are myriad of innate differences that distinguish men from women on anatomical, biological, cognitive and spiritual levels the very identity of men and women derive from the diverse anatomies designed by their Creator for sexual intercourse and reproduction. Males are convex penetrators while women are the concave penetrated. Men who inject biological matter into women are acting as a משפיע while the women who receive and nurture it are filling the role of a מקבל.
Homosexual intercourse belies these innate differences in a violent and dramatic way. The act, speaking louder than 1000 words, declares that A. men need not be a משפיע and that B. nurturing and bringing forth new life are unnecessary to the role of the מקבל. That is the explicit "message" of the act. Its implicit message and logical conclusion is that if men need not be משפיע in order to be defined as men, then women need not be מקבל, anatomical plumbing to the contrary be dam**ed, in order to be defined as women.
I.e. despite the principle in Torah Judaism that from the גזירת מיתה = the punishment of mortality decreed on the first humans until תחיית המתים =the resurrection of the dead the closest that we mortals can come to approximating eternity is by bringing forth new generations, the Torah got it all wrong, that isn't what sex is for. Men's penis' were not meant for impregnation and women's uterus' were not designed to house conception and gestation, their breasts? merely decorative...not functional.
This blurring of the distinctions between men and women and between masculinity /male-ness and femininity/female-ness is to the detriment of all. I for one do not believe that the fact that so many Gays see themselves as part of the larger LGBT community is an accident. Te LGBT community is basically a confederation of the gender confused and confusing whom, while ostensibly having all carved out a little niche for themselves in terms of identity and identification, are, in fact, just raising the volume of the din of a modern day Babel where the cacophony of identities melts into the white noise of identity confusion in which NO identity is distinct, much less innate. In the Bizarro world of LGBT everyones gender and role in sex and every sexual act becomes interchangeable and fungible.
Up until this point I have based the post on a few clipped words of the Ibn Ezra on V'Yikra 18:22:
ואחר שהזכר נברא לעשות והנקבה להעשות הזהיר הכתוב שלא תהפוך דברי השם
I would now like to go an independent step further. I find it striking that in the parsha of Arayos the Torah interrupts it's description of sexual morality with an arbis in vahnt prohibition against Molekh worship. Why discuss idols now? Perhaps the Torahs message here is that there is a qualitative difference between the sin of male homosexual intercourse and all the other prohibited forms of intercourse that preceded it. Those others have nothing to do with erasing Havdalos through role reversal whereas male homosexual intercourse does. It is "grouped" , as it were, with the bestiality that follows it, another overt assault on identity havdala, this time between species, or more precisely between מדבר = human and בעל חי = animal rather than with adultery that immediately precedes it.
Qedusha havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
The J-Blogosphere is ablaze with posts and comments threads in the wake of the Homosexuality Conference at Y.U. וגם אני אענה חלקי with a series of posts that I hope will add new points to ponder to the conversation.
The Pasuk in the Torah prohibiting male homosexual intercourse reads as follows: וְאֶת-זָכָר--לֹא תִשְׁכַּב, מִשְׁכְּבֵי אִשָּׁה: תּוֹעֵבָה, הִוא= "Thou shalt not lie with a male, the layings of a woman; it is abomination." Before modifying it with the pejorative Toevah the Torah DEFINES the act of male homosexual intercourse as “the layings of a woman.” The act unmans the males who do it. They have done mishkav not as a man does with a woman but as a woman would herself. And while there are myriad of innate differences that distinguish men from women on anatomical, biological, cognitive and spiritual levels the very identity of men and women derive from the diverse anatomies designed by their Creator for sexual intercourse and reproduction. Males are convex penetrators while women are the concave penetrated. Men who inject biological matter into women are acting as a משפיע while the women who receive and nurture it are filling the role of a מקבל.
Homosexual intercourse belies these innate differences in a violent and dramatic way. The act, speaking louder than 1000 words, declares that A. men need not be a משפיע and that B. nurturing and bringing forth new life are unnecessary to the role of the מקבל. That is the explicit "message" of the act. Its implicit message and logical conclusion is that if men need not be משפיע in order to be defined as men, then women need not be מקבל, anatomical plumbing to the contrary be dam**ed, in order to be defined as women.
I.e. despite the principle in Torah Judaism that from the גזירת מיתה = the punishment of mortality decreed on the first humans until תחיית המתים =the resurrection of the dead the closest that we mortals can come to approximating eternity is by bringing forth new generations, the Torah got it all wrong, that isn't what sex is for. Men's penis' were not meant for impregnation and women's uterus' were not designed to house conception and gestation, their breasts? merely decorative...not functional.
This blurring of the distinctions between men and women and between masculinity /male-ness and femininity/female-ness is to the detriment of all. I for one do not believe that the fact that so many Gays see themselves as part of the larger LGBT community is an accident. Te LGBT community is basically a confederation of the gender confused and confusing whom, while ostensibly having all carved out a little niche for themselves in terms of identity and identification, are, in fact, just raising the volume of the din of a modern day Babel where the cacophony of identities melts into the white noise of identity confusion in which NO identity is distinct, much less innate. In the Bizarro world of LGBT everyones gender and role in sex and every sexual act becomes interchangeable and fungible.
Up until this point I have based the post on a few clipped words of the Ibn Ezra on V'Yikra 18:22:
ואחר שהזכר נברא לעשות והנקבה להעשות הזהיר הכתוב שלא תהפוך דברי השם
I would now like to go an independent step further. I find it striking that in the parsha of Arayos the Torah interrupts it's description of sexual morality with an arbis in vahnt prohibition against Molekh worship. Why discuss idols now? Perhaps the Torahs message here is that there is a qualitative difference between the sin of male homosexual intercourse and all the other prohibited forms of intercourse that preceded it. Those others have nothing to do with erasing Havdalos through role reversal whereas male homosexual intercourse does. It is "grouped" , as it were, with the bestiality that follows it, another overt assault on identity havdala, this time between species, or more precisely between מדבר = human and בעל חי = animal rather than with adultery that immediately precedes it.
Qedusha havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
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