I am reading Moshe Greenberg's translation of Yehezkel Kaufmann's work, Religion of Israel. Part of Kaufmann's thesis is that the Jewish Bible contains within it a strong anti-pagan polemical element. I have found an excellent example of this motif in the aftermath of Avraham's battle against the four kings. I hope to be able to verify the following (someday, when I have more time), but in the meantime, I leave it as a strong possibility.
A curious literary dance occurs as Malki Zedek, the king of Shalem, priest to El Elyon, comes out to greet Avraham. The Torah emphasizes the god of Malki Zedek three times in three sequential verses, as El Elyon, translated roughly as god-most-high:
"Malki Zedek, king of Shalem, brought bread and wine (he was priest of El Elyon); He blessed him and said, 'Blessed be Avram by El Elyon, founder of heaven and earth; and blessed is El Elyon, who delivered your enemies into your hands,' and offered a tithe of everything." (Gen. 14:18-20)
The Torah first describes the king as priest to El Elyon, and twice, the king himself blesses Avraham in El Elyon's name. Now, the midrash identifies Shalem with Jerusalem, and Malki Zedek with Shem, son of Noah. Additionally, El Elyon is identified as an appelation for God, the God of the Bible. 'Shalem' is actually present in the name ירושלם, Yeru-shalem, and, as this is the most imporant city-state in Canaan, the association seems to work well.
However, the matching of El Elyon with the Jewish conception of God seems less convincing. For, one short verse later, Avram responds: "'I raise my hand to God [the tetragrammaton], El Elyon, founder of heaven and earth...'" If it were true that Malki Zedek's 'El Elyon' refers to the same God as that of Avraham, what need would Avraham find in repeating verbatim, in the same conversation, the preamble of Malki Zedek? Avraham seems to be correcting a mistake; he seems to be making a point pregnant with theological significance.
'El', while used as a general name for any god in Semitic languages, was also the proper name for the chief god of the Canaanite pantheon (citation). With this fact in mind, it becomes quite possible that this primary god would be the special representative and protector of the most important city-state of Canaan. Thus Malki Zedek, as king of Shalem, would become closely associated with El Elyon (literally, El, the most high god), as high priest of El Elyon's cult. In line with Malki Zedek's statment, El was seen as the god who fashioned heaven and earth. (In general, pagan mythologies view the world as being created by a god who fashions it out of one of various primordial materials (depending on the specific myth). Paganism is essentially a monistic world-view in which both gods and mankind function under an overarching backdrop of a spiritual-mystical rule-set which functions autonomously within matter, separate from gods and man. Kaufmann defines paganism as, "...the idea that there is no supreme divine will that governs all. The rule of the gods is ultimately grounded on the mysterious forces that inhere in matter, in a realm which lies outside them." (Religion of Israel p 32) The gods are controlled by fate and magic, operating directly upon the fabric of the universe, which is outside the realm of the gods. Monotheism breaks with this view by positing the Creator as one who functions completely independently and is in total control of everything.)
If we accept the foregoing, it becomes evident that Malki Zedek (whom we will no longer identify with Shem, obviously), after seeing the victory of Avraham, comes as high priest of the most high god of the land, to praise his god and, through him, Avraham. He declares that the victory stemmed from the aid and divine influence of El Elyon, a proper noun, literally the name of his patron high god.
Avraham immediately understands Malki Zedek's speech as praise for the pagan cult of El Elyon. Avraham recognizes the friendliness and brotherhood extended by Malki Zedek, but also the implicit and explicit invocation of the pagan dogma. He transforms this moment into yet another chance to gain a victory in his war against idolatry and his evangelism of monotheism in the form of the one God. Immediately notable in Avraham's speech is that he qualifies the name of the deity, pre-pending to it the name of the Abrahamic God. He says, 'I swear not by the proper noun, not by the god named 'El Elyon', but rather by the tetragrammaton, the God who is the creator of everything, and the only God. I use the term 'El Elyon' as an adjectival phrase, describing the only God - the God who is highest over everything, and who is (in the words of Kaufmann) subject to no powers that transcend him.'
Avraham's critique is subtle, precise and appealing. In just a few words, it sums up an entire world-view, and at the same time, provides an eloquent example of the general anti-idolatry motif in the book of B'reshit.
However, this lesson is not a simple one. Even the father of monotheism at times struggles with it, so steeped is the world around him in paganism. For in the very next chapter, 15, Avraham learns from God himself the lesson of God's complete control over the fabric of the universe.
Before discussing the content of chapter 15, it is important to recognize by what right we relate two separate chapters, divided by אחר הדברים האלה, ostensibly a division and mark of a new topic. Upon closer examination, however, the end of chapter 14 and the beginning of chapter 15 are linked linguistically by the use of the Hebrew root מ.ג.נ. Malki Zedek uses this root in 14:20 in the piel form when he declares that El Elyon 'delivered - מיגן' Avraham's enemies into his hands. In 15:1, God uses it in the qal form to assure Avraham that God 'protects - מגן' over Avraham. This root appears only one other time in all of the Torah, in D'varim. Its use in such close proximity in our chapters, four short verses apart, with only the vowelization differentiating the two divergent meanings, is undoubtedly meant to link the two chapters and events in a reader's mind. (This is a literary technique used by the Torah to couple divided narratives, as we discussed here.)
While bemoaning his childlessness, Avraham says to God, "What can you give me? I go childless..." (v 2). It seems almost as if Avraham is resigned to a world in which he is doomed to be barren. Avraham describes his lack of progeny as a passive fate. It is not necessarily God who has decided that he be without, but perhaps the fateful realm above the pagan deities. In the next verse, Avraham recants somewhat, evidently remembering his monotheism, saying, "to me, You have not given seed." Avraham admits that God is the source of the curse. However, he still does not make a request that God change his fate; he still accepts as a fact that he will not have children. Perhaps he does not yet recognize that God can change this. His despair places Avraham in a depressed, myopic state, and these verses exude gloom.
They dynamic, active and all-powerful God shakes Avraham out of his melancholy. In verse 5, "God took him outside, and said, 'look to the sky and count the stars!'". God calls Avraham to an active role, and in doing so, dispels the notion of blind fate actively running things against a passive deity or man. Avraham's depression and belief in fate is tied by the midrash to paganism: God castigates Avraham: "צא מאצגננותך - Leave your astrological divinations!" Perhaps through your pagan tools to divine your fate, you see that you are destined to be without children. However, I am God, in total control of the world, and I promise you children as numerous as the stars of the heaven!
Thus the beginning of chapter 15 acts as a fitting end to the story in chapter 14. Connected by a rare Hebrew root, the stories beg to be read together. And what is the message of chapter 15? That even Avraham, he who reached monotheism on the strength of his intellectual powers alone, still struggles with the vestiges of the pagan creed on an emotional level. It takes God to arouse him out of his attempts to divine the future through magic and omens. It takes an actual experience, an actual encounter with God, to cleanse the pinnacle of mankind of traces of idolatry. Perhaps even if we accept R' Saadia Gaon's opinion that the truth can be reached by reason alone, we are left with the emotional dimension of man that can only be set completely straight by revelation.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Anti-Pagan Motif in B'reshit
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Against a Submissive Attitude in Torah Learning
Since a post at Cross-Currents, extolling the idea that the rishonim were on a higher plane than we are, spiritually and scholastically, and that anyone who does not submit to them, but dares to imply that we have the capacity to decide between them or judge their opinions, is no longer engaged in תלמוד תורה. This precipitated a heated debate, mostly moderated. Ultimately, a misreading, by the editor, of the original points of the author led me to realize that perhaps the editor realizes the fact that we may and should disagree when necessary with rishonim and acharonim, and that although the original poster held one idea, the moderating editor held one much more inline with the sources, and simply wanted to clarify that disagreement should be done with respec?t (something I believe most ideas are entitled to).
However, it is probably useful to have localized some germane quotes for future reference. The following are some quotes by Torah giants indicating that disagreement and even rejection of earlier sources is desirable in Torah discourse.
Rav Kook (Orot Hakodesh pp. 537,547):
“תורת ההתפתחות, ההולכת וכובשת את העולם כעת, היא מתאמת לרזי עולם של הקבלה, יותר מכל התורות הפילוסופיות האחרות…אנו מוצאים בו את העניו האלקי מואר בבהירות מוחלטת…וזאת היא עליתה הכללית, ששום פרט לא ישאר חוצה, שום ניצוץ לא יאבד מהאגודה, הכל מתוקן לסעודה.”
And then, in 2:24 (pg 647): “כל אותן ההרצאות והדרכים המביאים לדרכי מינות הם בעצמם ביסודם מביאים, כשמחפסים את מקורם, לעומק אמונה יותר עליונה, ויותר מאירה ומחיה, מאותה ההבנה הפשוטה שהאירה לפני התגלות הפרץ…ובזה הגודל האלקי מתפאר, וכל המגמות האמוניות מתאשרות ביותר, ומקום האמונה, הבטחון, והעבודה האלקית מתרחב…ויש בשכלולו של האדם ארת עצמו ואת עולמו גם כן כדי להעלות מדרגות, הרי הוא עושה בזה ממש את רצון קונו. והמעלה הרוחנית המתעלה מעל כל מתראה היא ליותר מרכזית ביסוד ההויה…וכל ערכי המוסר מתעלים בעילוי אלקי…”
Rav Kook (Shemona Kevatzim 3:8):
"ועם זה לא נעלמה ממנו גדולתם של הראשונים, ואפיסתנו לעומתם, ואנו אומרים, אם הראשונים כמלאכים אנו כבני אדם. אבל האם על מלאכים עצמם, עם כל הודאתנו בתקפם וחוסן קדושתם, גדלם ואימתם, “וגובה להם ויראה להם”, וכי עליהם עצמם אין אנו באים בכח הסוד, והאגדה בכלל, להתגדר ולומר, שמה שלא יוכלו להגיע אליו עם כל כבודם, אנו מגיעים אליו עם כל שפלותנו? החשבונות שונים הם. יש לנו עילוי של הליכה ושל בחירה, של התקבצות הדרגות השונות בחטיבה אחת, לגבי מעמד של עמידה, של הכרח, של טפוסיות מיוחדה למקצוע אחד, שאנו מרשמים את המלאכים…. כמו כן בחשבונות אחרים לא יעכבונו ראשונים. אם אנו באים למגמה, שמסיבות נמנעה מהם, בין שהיא שכלית בין שהיא מוסרית, אמונית או לאומית, וכבודם וגדלם, ומיעוט ערכנו וקטננו, במקומו מונח, אבל לא נפסוק משום כך מכל שאיפת עליה שרוחנו הומה אליה, ושיד הזמן מורה אותנו שהננו יכולים לתופסה. שם ד’ אנו קוראים בהתגלות החיים והרוח שבכל דור ודור, ופגם הכתוב כבודו של צדיק בקבר מפני כבודו של צדיק חי…"
"אבל על כל פנים החשבון מתמצה, שההשתפלות שלנו לעומתם לא תבטלנו משאיפות רוממות ערך, ודליגה על גביהם, נגד האלילות הרוחנית, שהרבתה לה אלילים מכל דרי מעלה. ואנו הננו עולים בגאותנו ואומרים, מי לי בשמים. רק האמת המולטה, רק הגודל לבדו, רק המקוריות בעצמה, רק עז אלהים, דורשים אנו ונדרוש. כמו כן בחשבונות אחרים לא יעכבונו ראשונים. אם אנו באים למגמה, שמסיבות נמנעה מהם, בין שהיא שכלית בין שהיא מוסרית, אמונית או לאומית, וכבודם וגדלם, ומיעוט ערכנו וקטננו, במקומו מונח, אבל לא נפסוק משום כך מכל שאיפת עליה שרוחנו הומה אליה, ושיד הזמן מורה אותנו שהננו יכולים לתופסה …"
Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (Epistle 34):
"זאת היא תפיסת הגאון החסיד על ספר ליקוטי אמרים ודומיו, אשר מפורש בהם פי’ ממלא כל עלמין ולית אתר פנוי מניה כפשוטו ממש, ובעיני כבודו היא אפיקורסות גמורה לאמר שהוא ית’ נמצא ממש בדברים שפלים ותחתונים ממש
…
הנה עיקר העלאת מ”ן זה של העלאת נצוצין לא נזכר אלא בקבלת האר”י ז”ל בכללה, ולא במקובלים שלפניו וגם לא בזוהר הק’ בפירוש. וידוע לנו בבירור גמור שהגאון החסיד ז”ל, אינו מאמין בקבלת האר”י ז”ל בכללה, ושהיא כולה מפי אליהו ז”ל."
Ramban (Introduction to Rambam's Sefer Hamitzvot):
" לראשונים תלמיד, לקיים דבריהם ולהעמיד, לעשות אותם לצוארי רביד ועל ידי צמיד, לא אהיה להם חמור נושא ספרים תמיד. אבחר דרכם ואדע ערכם. אך באשר לא יכילו רעיוני אדון לפניהם בקרקע אשפוט למראה עיני. ובהלכה ברורה לא אשא פנים בתורה. כי י"י יתן חכמה בכל הזמנים ובכל הימים. לא ימנע טוב להולכים בתמים"
Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits (Towards A Renewed Rabbinic Leadership):
"We may go still further and say that Jewish knowledge can even be deepened today, firstly through our ability to point out previously unseen significance in Jewish conceptions by contrasting them with related ideas in non-Jewish thought; and secondly by applying to the study of the traditional literature of Judaism modern methods of research."
(I add the following in a paranthetical comment, since it is a possible explanation of the Kuzari's words, which he does not make perfectly explicit. In the Kuzari (5:2), Rabbi Yehuda Halevi states:
"לא אנהג על דרך הקראים, אשר עלו אל החכמה האלקית מבלי מדרגה"
I believe his point here is that the Karaites treated the Torah as given once, and completely static, unchanging. They rejected the notion of an oral Law, תורה שבעל פה, repudiating the very concept of a Divine Law that is revealed through the creative power of Rabbinic authority, in evolutionary stages. Rabbinic Judaism holds differently from the Karaites. Rabbi Berkovits makes this point in Not in Heaven (p 139), stating:
"In essence, R Abraham [son of Rambam] was warning against a new form of Karaism, against becoming Karaites of the written-down Oral Torah.")
Rav Soloveitchik (Emergence of Ethical Man, p. 6):
"It is certain that fathers of the Church and also the Jewish medieval scholars believed that the Bible preached this doctrine. medieval and even modern Jewish moralists have almost canonized this viewpoint and attributed to it apodictic validity. Yet the consensus of many, however great and distinguished, does not prove the truth or falseness of a particular belief. I have always felt that due to some erroneous conception, we have actually misunderstood the Judaic anthropology and read into the Biblical texts ideas which stem from an alien source. This feeling becomes more pronounced when we try to read the Bible not as an isolated literary text but as a manifestation of a grand tradition rooted in the very essence of our God-consciousness that transcends the bounds of the standardized and fixed text and fans out into every aspect of our existential experience. The sooner Biblical texts are placed in their proper setting - namely, the Oral tradition with it's almost endless religious awareness - te clearer and more certain I am that Judaism does not accent unreservedly the theory of man's isolationism and separatism within the natural order of things."
ביאור הגר"א לספר משלי ו:ג
אם אין אני לי מי לי...כלומר שאם אין אני אחשוב בשבילי, מי יחשוב בשבילי?
The Gra, as quoted by his student R' Chaim in חוט המשולש, סימן י"א:
שלא לישא פנים בהוראה אף להכרעת רבותינו בעלי השולחן ערוך...בתורה דכתיב בה אמת, בלתי אל האמת עינינו.
Rav Chaim of Volozhin in רוח החיים, א:ד:
הלימוד נקרא מלחמה...ואסור לו לתלמיד לקבל דברי רבו כשיש לו קושיות עליהם, ולפעמים יהיה האמת עם התלמיד...כי מלחמת מצווה היא...ולא לישא פני איש, רק לאהוב את האמת.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Twice Offended and Thereby Praised
Rav Neriyah used to say that we live in a world of b'diavad, a post factum, imperfect, vitiated world where we cannot expect to find ourselves in ideal situations. Usually, this type of thinking is considered a pessimistic world-view. If only we could live in an ideal position, but alas, we wring our hands, we must deal with the unfinished, unpolished realia of practical existence.
A trademark of Rav Kook's thought is that he does not only take stock of reality and fit it into a framework with which we can manage, but that his transformative creativity is able to find the supernal good even in the most base and spiritually desolate aspects of circumstance. This potential is brought to fruit by the beginning of the Hagadah, where the Talmud teaches (Pes. 116a) that in retelling the story of the Exodus, we begin with the shameful and end with the praise. The Talmud points to two ways in which we do so: the first is by telling the story of ארמי אובד אבי, understood by Rashbam as describing Avraham as an Aramean, descendent of idolators1, who wandered from home at the command of God. The second is the reminder that עבדים היינו לפרעה במצרים, we were slaves, the lowest of the low, at one time.
Now, prima facie, both these stories seem to point to the low beginnings of the Jewish nation. Avraham was the son of idolaters, which, from a moral and religious point of view, is a low place to plant the seeds of the people destined to spread the light of monotheism. By the same token, a free nation, in its own land, would be shamed indeed to recall the disgrace and humiliation of an epoch of servitude to the Egyptian master. On the face of things, these shameful, humble beginnings are overcome by the praise, that in the end, God brought us out of slavery into the fresh air of freedom, and from the mire of paganism to the intellectual clarity of monotheism. These beginnings are something about which we might feel, "Thank God we're over that", something which, were it not for our yearly story-telling, we would be quite happy to forget.
Rav Kook2, however, takes slavery not as something to be brushed aside in embarrassment, but a beginning which was critical in its formative powers for the Jewish People. "To be able to submit the independent will and personal tendency in order to accept the yoke of Heaven, at which Israel excels, through which they have and will bring exceedingly great good to themselves and the world, this potential was acquired during the slavery and subservience..." Rav Kook sees our ability to submit to the will of God and faithfully bear his word to the world around us as a talent conditioned in the crucible of the Exile in Egypt. Furthermore, when a person is "so free that he is able to, through his own independent choice, subjugate himself in the appropriate situation...this is true freedom. 'Do not fear, my servant Ya'akov'..." Rabbi Carmy comments on the use of this reference from Tehilim that even though Ya'akov is referred to as a servant, he is described as possessing the attribute belonging only to the most free person, fearlessness.
So, it is precisely the exile in Egypt and Israel's slavery there which prepared it to accept the yoke of Heaven. It is only through this shame or offense of slavery that the praise of Israel, the chosen people of God, is possible.
Rav Kook continues: The lessons of monotheism essentially abstract theology to the extent that it is hard to attach to on an emotional level. Indeed, the further rarefied the philosopher's idea of God was, the less applicable He became to humanity, the less he was part of a vibrant tapestry of human life. The epitome of this is the First Cause conception of God. Even though Judaism certainly contains checks so that monotheism does not dry up into this kind of deism, it is still true that, to paraphrase Rabbi Carmy again, holiness has the potential to stifle the imagination. It is for this reason, Rav Kook says, that the progenitors of Israel began as idolaters. Idolatry, for all its base aspects, lends itself to physical, imaginative and creative talents. This exposure ended up benefiting the nation of Israel, providing the potential capacity to incorporate into the service of the true God the richness of their creative and vivid abilities. The bravery and physical fortitude, the imaginative elements of their personae are all able to shine forth when serving God, in their rightful, prescribed place.
Thus Rav Kook transforms what may seem to be a shy embarrassment regarding low beginnings into important, contributing factors to the essential qualities of Israel. Our very history is an example of מתחיל בגנות ומסיים בשבח, beginning in a shameful way, but through and because of this shame, becoming a nation worthy of praise. May the light of Israel shine, and help the world attain the perfection of messianic times.
--------------------------------------------
1 In fact, this can help us understand, tangentially, the uplifting, and yet disturbing, story of עקדת יצחק. How can it be that God would even pretend to demand something of Avraham which goes against all that the ethic of the Torah repudiates so strongly? Perhaps the request, from the point of view of Avraham (and his contemporary readers and witnesses), was not so disturbing as our century's tempered, Judeo-Christian minds see it. It was common in those times to sacrifice the first, the best, in pagan rituals, and this undoubtedly extended to children and other humans, such as the cult of Molech. Thus, the initial request in the עקדה was not outside the normal religious experience of the time.
Furthermore, and this gets to the point of Rav Kook, pagan ritual was able to evoke a passion and vividness that is often lacking in monotheistic service. Abstracted, intellectualized spirituality tempers the raw emotions of Man, and can stifle creativity and excitement. Perhaps herein lay the test for Avraham - are you able to maintain the willingness to engage, heart and soul, in My service? Can you match the intense fervor of the idolators around you? And Avraham's הנני, Here I am - his immediate and unquestioning willingness - answers this question in the affirmative. (See also Rabbi Soloveitchik's Kierkgaardian summation in Emergence of Ethical Man (note on pp 156-157), "Abraham was great in his acting in accordance with the logic of the absurd.")
Beyond this, the ultimate lesson in this story regarding child sacrifice is clear - and in this, עקידת יצחק stands as a shining example of the morality God intends the world to learn from the light of the Jews, far above the pervailing morality of the times - "Do not set your hand against the boy, neither shall you do anything to him!" In no uncertain terms, the God of Avraham rejects completely the concept of child, or any human, sacrifice, as an acceptable method of divine service. The story of the עקדה certainly drives this lesson home in stark detail.
Of course, that which was seen as a positive action for the forefather, would be seen as a sin to us presently, and rest assured, God would not demand this of us. However, the story of the binding of Yitzchak becomes one full of moral lessons for the nascent Jewish People, and for the world, of loyalty to God even to the extreme, tender love between family members, passion and feeling in the service of the one true God, and a rejection of pagan practices.
Thanks go to Netanel Livni for a shabbat morning discussion which precipitated this footnote.
2 Thanks to Rabbi Carmy whose lecture on this subject pointed me to look at the הגדה של פסח of Rav Kook, עולת ראייה, Introduction to Maggid, which is the source for this essay.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Major Events of Jewish History
In this post, I will list a skeletal timeline of Jewish History, from the exile of the ten tribes through the twentieth century. Please feel free to make use of this admittedly rough timeline, and please mark your corrections or additions in the comments section.
The hand of God is evident in the pages of Jewish history. As Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits writes (On Jewish Sovereignty, 1973): "It is difficult for a Jew to detect the presence of God in the history of the nations or religions - unless it be in the history of Israel, and, only through that history, in the history of man as well. Eliminate Israel from history and there is no need for any reference to God. Without Israel, everything is explainable and expected. Economics, power, politics and psychology will explain everything. Without Israel, man is self-explanatory. Only the reality of Israel resists explanation on the level of manmade history. Because of Israel, the Jews knows that history is messianism - that God's guidance, however impenetrably wrapped in mystery, is never absent from the life of nations."
719 BCE - Exile of 10 tribes of Israel to Assyria
586 BCE - Destruction of the first Temple & Exile of Judea to Babylon
- 423 according to Seder Olam
- Begin Babylonian Exilarch (Jewish leader)
- from Davidic dynasty (which lasted past 1000 CE)
624-546 BCE - Days of Micha the Prophet
- Thales of Miletus
537 BCE - Babylon conquered by Persia
516 BCE - King Cyrus offers Jews return to Judea
- begin second commonwealth
500 BCE - Cyrus, Ezra, Nechemia
446 BCE - Pythagoras, Heraclitus (dated as per Seder Olam)
400-300 BCE - Xenophanes of Ionia, Yoshiyahu, Yirmiyahu, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
- (dated as per Seder Olam)
334 BCE - Persian Judea conquered by Syrian-Greeks
- Alexander the Great, Hellenization
200 - 150 BCE - Macabees
190 BCE - Book of Ben-Sira (list of heroes, evidence
- of Neviim as corpus of scripture)
200 - 100 BCE - Dead Sea Scrolls - Evidence of Biblical
- Canon and sectarian writings
165 BCE - Hanukah
- Later Hasmoneans, Hasmonean dynasty
- Hycran, Queen Salome, Aristobulos
135 BCE - Judeans conquer Edom
- Political/religious parties of Pharisees, Sadducees
75 BCE - In Parthia (Persian Empire, Babylonia), Hillel leads
67 BCE - Rome annexes Judea, Idumeans (formerly ruled
- by Judea) become Kings of Israel
40 - 30 BCE - Herod
37 BCE - Rome rules Judea through procurators, eg. Pontius Pilate
100 BCE - 100 CE - Apcocalyptic books - Pseudopygrapha
- Philo
- John the Baptist
- Jesus of Nazareth
70 CE - Destruction of second commonwealth, Temple
- Massada
- 1 million Jews in Persia at this time
135 CE - Mishna
- First citation of Ketuvim, discuss re: Kohelet, Shir Hashirim
- Canon
132 - 134 CE - Judea: Hadrian reneges on promise to rebuild Temple.
- Judea: Rebellion against Rome. Akiva, Bar Kosba
- Judea: Betar. Rebellion crushed. Rename J to AC
- Judea: Yavneh and Sanhedrin destroyed
135 CE - Judea: Christianity parts ways forever with Judaism. ולמלשינים
150 CE - Judea: Bet Din restarts with Shimon II
100 CE - 300 CE - Jews follow Roman army to future France, Germany
- Spain, Portugal inhabited by Jews also
- (perhaps from times of King Solomon)
200 CE - Parthia: Rav in Sura, Shmuel in Pumpedita
260 CE - Parthia: Naharda'a destroyed because of Roman-Persian war
300 CE - Constantine turns Rome Christian
325 CE - Council of Nicea Separations between Jews and Christians
429 CE - Judea: Abolition of Patriarch in Judea/Palestine
400 CE - 470 CE - Parthia: R Ashi collates learning: Babylonian Talmud
- Parthia: Mazdaism tries force the Jews to immorality
470 CE - 500 CE - Parthia: Mar Zutra, Reish Galuta, rebels, is executed
412 CE - 700 CE - Spain: Jews forced to convert or leave
500 CE - Parthia: Begin Saboraim notes, order, editings to text of Talmud,
- which they no longer added to
600 CE - Judea: Persians briefly take Palestine, Rome reconquers soon
622 CE - Mohammed, Islam. Destroys Jews of Arabia or exile them
until 450CE - Northern Europe: Jews were farmers
until 650 CE - Become merchants from oppressive
- laws in France, Spain, Italy
650 CE - 700 CE - Islam conquers Persia, Palestine, North Africa
711 CE - Mohammedans from North Africa conquer Visigothic Spain
- Pact of Omar invoked
760 CE - Parthia: Karaism: Anan Ben David and Chanania rebel
- against Talmud and Geonim.
800 CE - Pact of Omar - Jews allowed to live in Islamic-controlled
- areas with reduced rights. Yellow patch
850 CE - Central Europe: Rabbeinu Gershom & Takkanot in Mayence
860 CE - Parthia: Geonim
- Parthia: Siddurim: Rav Amram Gaon's, Rav Saadia Gaon's, Geonic responsa
875 CE - First appearance of Sambatyon & Eldad the Danite story
500 CE - 900 CE - Judea: Cantillation
- Judea: Vowel system (Tiberian massorah)
- Judea: Midreshei Agada, Piyyutim
500 CE - 1100 CE - Europe: General goodwill between Jew and Christian.
- Laws against Jews but not practically enforced.
- Jews were merchants, government functionaries,
- eg. Charlamagne
750 CE - 1240 CE - Khazars led by Jewish convert king
900 CE - Parthia: Rav Saadia Gaon saves Judaism
- from disintegration from Karaites, among others.
- Unifies Jews, becomes Gaon of Sura
970 CE - 1038 CE - Rav Sherira and Rav Hai Gaon
- Decline of Babylonian community's leadership role
1000 CE - Our earliest extant Torah Scrolls date from around this time
1040 CE - France: Rashi made knowledge the rule
- and ignorance the exception for Jews. Emphasis on study
- Fez: Spanish School of Talmudism
- Rif. Emphasis on halacha
1096 CE - Central Europe: First Crusade
1144 CE - Central Europe: Second Crusade
1189 CE - Central Europe: Third Crusade
- York becomes a second Massada
900 CE - 1200 CE - Spain: Golden Age for Jews
1092 CE - Spain: Ibn Eztra, Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, R' Bahya ibn Pekuda
1135 CE - Spain: Rambam comes from North Africa to flee persecution
1200 CE - 1400 CE - Western and Central Europe:
- Slow process of Expulsion of Jews
1144 CE - Norwitch - first blood libel
1200 CE - Rabbi Yehuda Hachasid - Sefer Chasidim
1239 CE - France: Talmud burned publicly by wagonload
1290 CE - Jews expelled from England
1306 CE - Jews expelled from France
1200 CE - 1400 CE - "Silver Age" of Spain
1212 CE - Moors lose Spain to Christian armies
- Cultural center of Jews moves to Provence
1232 CE - Clash between Philosophers and Traditionalists
- Appeal to Catholic Church who burned Guide and other texts
- Rashba - ban under 25 learning Kabala
1250 CE - Spain: Zohar introduced by Moses de Leon
1263 CE - Spain: Disputation between Ramban and Pablo Christiani
1264 CE - Boleslav the Pious
1306 CE - Controversy ends with Jews being expelled from France
1344 CE - Casimir the Great, both create Jewish Charter for Poland
1394 CE - Jews expelled from France for good
- Germany: Black plague - Jews murdered by thousands
1300-1350 CE - Ralbag book of navigation translated by Pope
1350- 1400 CE - Germany restricts Jews living in towns and length of time they could stay
- Jews live in Ghettos
1420 CE - Murder of Jews and Expulsion from Vienna
1411 CE - Riots in Spain lead Jews to convert
1400-1500 CE - Germans followed by Jews migrate East
1453 CE - Turkish J community grows from refugees but not to stature of P
- Jacob Ibn Chabib
- Joseph Nasi - plan to settle Tiberias fails
1496 CE - J expelled from Lithuania
1492 CE - Inquisition in Spain, Torquemada against newly converted Christians
- Abravanel
- Crew of Columbus made up of Morranos
1497 CE - Inquisition in Portugal
- Mendes, Nasi family
1500 CE - L & P under one Grand Duke
1500 - 1600 CE - Pilpulism, the kahal, education, intellectualism
- J culture of intelligence in Poland rivals Babylonian Amoraim
- Tzena Ur'ena in Yiddish published
1480-1520 CE - Renaissance in Western Europe
- Rome, Italy, enlightened ideas spread - medicine, science, art
- Hebrew studied in Universities
- Jews from S and P permitted in R
- Reuchlin (against) - Pfefferkorn (for) book burning controversy
- liberalism is good for tolerable Jewish life
1520 CE - Martin Luther - Lutheranism - eventual advocate extermination of J
1525 CE - Jewish pseudo-Messiahs - David Reubeni, Solomon Molcho.
- burned at stake
1530 CE - Renaissance ends with liberal promises not fulfilled
1540 CE - Previously kind Italy expels Jews except from Rome & Ancona
- Refuge in Turkey - Ottoman Empire
- Sefad, rebuild semicha quarrel - and failure
1488-1575 CE - Karo - Shulchan Aruch, Spain to Sefad
- 1492 and on Spanish Jews turn to Kabala
1530-1572 CE - Rema
1519 CE - Germany expells Jews from some towns
1519-1670 CE - Germany & Italy - Ghetto for Jews
- Homes of Catechums for converts
1534-1572 CE - Luria, ARI, saw self as Messiah son of Joseph
- He was a German in Sefad
- Leader of movement of kabalists and imagination
- Transmigtration of souls, Gilgulim
- Student was Rabbi Chaim Vital, spread Kabala in Europe
- Small population of Palestine subsisted on charity
1558 CE - Holland seeks freedom from Spain
1559 CE - Printing press, Italy center of Jewish press
- Azariah de Rossi, davidic ancestry - historian - מאור עניים
- Western European J expelled or Ghettoized
- despite contributions to very foundations of WE civilization
- Center of J life shifts from S & G and moves to Poland
1530 CE - Polish Jews organize semi-autonomous self government
1572 CE -Jagello dynasty ends, Poland has monarch only as figurehead
- Real power in Nobles in their own territory (feudalism)
- Jews overseers of serfs
1623 CE - Lithuanian J withdraw to own council
- Polish Jews have Va'ad Arba Aratzot
- Rabbinic & Political committees exist within it
- Shtadlan
- Taxes to Poland collected by Va'ad
1648 CE - Chmelnitzky
1648-1658 - Sabbatai Zevi
1618-1648 CE - 30 Years War -German states and Holy Roman Empire
- Jews suffered also
- Jews participated as court purveyors
- In Prague Samuel Bassevi made a noble for services to state
1612-1616 CE - Frankfurter Purim, Fettmilch
1600 CE - Marranos move from Iberian peninsula to Holland for religious freedom
- Jews from Germany escape to Holland - 2 J communities
1609 CE - Maharal dies
1640 CE - Uriel de Costa writes against detailism of J, commits suicide
1632-1677 CE- Benedict Spinoza
1650 CE - Menashe ben Israel - claims 10 tribes are NA Indians
1290-1660 CE - No Jews in England. MBI tries to convince Cromwell who balks
- Soon Jews come to England and are de facto accepted
1492-1612 CE -Jews in new world - North America, South America
1657 CE - New Amsterdam (later NY)
- Stuyvesant denied, Dutch Co permitted J full rights in New World
1660 CE - Lithuania interested in reason/learning
- South Poland interested in mysticism, Ba'alei Shem
1700-1760 CE -Ba'al Shem Tov - Hassidism
- Jews take on Polish noble dress - capotte, long beard
1707 CE - Ramchal mistaken as Sabbatean
1720 CE - GRA - no piyutim, pilpul, positive about secular study
1729 CE - Mendelsohnn born
1740 CE - Jacob Frank - all sins must be done for Messiah to come - orgies
1750 CE - Emden/Eibushitz controversy
- Amulets, Sabbateanism
1753 CE - PM Pelham (England) Jews given full rights, subsequently repealed
1760 CE - Maggid of Mezhrich taught next generation, was more scholarly than Besht
1772 CE - Excommunicated Hassidim (GRA)
1796 CE - Death of GRA
1600-1776 CE - Jews find freedom and equality in USA
- George Washington, Hayim Solomon
1789 CE - French Revolution
1800 CE - Poland split between Hassidim and Mitnagdim - difficulties
1791 CE - French Jews full citizenship
1799 CE - Napoleon
- Sanhedrin (propoganda, get Jews to submit)
- Infamous decrees - 40 yr moratorium on J debts
- Jews cannot escape conscription as a Gentile could
1810 CE - German states still oppressive to Jews
- Vienna conference: after defeat of Napolean retract rights given to J
- Spurs J to work for equality in German lands
1816 CE - Jacob Herz Baer - first reform Prayer meeting
- Reform - attempts by Jews to be less "queer"
1827 CE - Russia Czar Nicholas I - pale of settlement
- Cantons
- Russia opens J schools with Russian subjects
- Realizing the real purpose, head of schools, Lilianthal leaves for US
1830 CE - Crimieux J in France forught for rights, member of provisional gov't
1844-1846 CE - Conferences to give Reform a set of dogma, what they believe
1860-1880 CE - Holdheim - J is dead institution - developed by man and must adjust
- Hirsch - Torah is from God, no changes
- Geiger - Judaism is living institution sacred, must change ceremonies to express spirit
- Frankel - Change must occur organically "Historical Judaism"
- Geiger encapsulated European Reform, Frankel, US Conservative movement
- Hoffmann, Hildesheimer "Science of Judaism", critical work in Judaism and use modern methods
1848 CE - French Revolution II against king
1850 CE - Nationalism awakens in Europe and Jews are more-so than Gentiles
1855 CE - Russia: Czar Aleksandr II liberal, stops cantons, Jews allowed out of pale
- Seeming liberalization in Russia
1840 CE - Renewal of hate
- Damascus Affair, Morau Affair (Italy)
1860 CE - Crimieux - Jewish Universal Alliance to help Jews worldwide
1880 CE - Eastern Eurpoe hostile, Jews need solution
- Jews more loyal to Germany than Germans
1870 CE - Napolean III overthrown, F true republic
1880 CE - France gives J full rights, Crimieux dies
1880 CE - Germany - Zunz, Graetz, Science of Judaism
- Western Jews have negative opinion of Eastern European Jews
1750-1880 CE - Eastern Europe Haskala, Hebrew literature
- As opposed to history, philosophy, theology of Western European Aufklaerung
- Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer - German Philosophers
1867 CE - Rappaport (Shir), Krochmal, Shadal, biblical and philosophical studies
- Viewed Judaism as offering more to secular culture than it took
1870 CE - Russian, German J uncomfortable
- Haskala did not provide adequate solutions
- Modernization is tantalizing
1820-1860 CE - US expands, Jews head west
- Leeser advocated J unified leadership
- Rebecca Gratz - Sunday school system
1820-1892 CE - Belarus - Beis Halevi - RYDS
- Son R Chaim Brisker, begins Brisker dynasty
1860 CE- US Civil War - Jews on both sides
1889 CE - Isaac Wise - Pittsburgh Platform went further in Reform than Europeans
- Hebrew Union College, Union of American Hebrew Congregations
1894 CE - Antisemitism, scientific Jew hatred
- France: Dreyfus affair
- Some are still liberal, but tide turns to hate J
- Russia still feudal, Jew hatred rampant
1880-1900 CE - Liberalism - revolutions and change sweep Europe
- Jews participate but still there is antisemitism
- Jews leave Russia in large numbers to US
1818-1883 CE - Russia: Marx, the Bund
1873 CE- Chovevei Zion, Rabbi Kalischer
1860-1904 CE - Herzl, Zionism, Nordeau
1882-1903 CE - First Aliyah
1904-1914 CE - Second Aliyah (largely failure, many left Palestine before WWI)
1878 CE - BILU, Petach Tikva
1902 CE - JTS, Solomon Shechter, US
- Catholic Israel, Unity, Tradition and Scholarship
1909 CE - Kehilla experiment in US fails
1917 CE - Revolution in Russia, Communism
1914-1918 CE - WWI
1918-1923 CE - Third Aliyah
- Tel Aviv, Haifa, renewal of Land - desert blooms
- Jewish settlements dot the land, and Israel returns to her land
1924-1928 CE - Fourth Aliyah - urban development of Tel Aviv
1920 CE - Sir Herbert Samuel, British Jewish comissioner to Palestine civil administration
- Tel Hai, Jews fight back against Arab attacks - Trumpledor "Hagidem"
1929 CE - Hebron riots and other Arab riots against Jews
- British largely passive unless Jews are attacking
1918 CE - League of Nations, Mandate Commission, Human Rights
1917 CE - Balfour Declaration, British Mandate
- Bolshevik Revolution in Russia -- USSR
1860-1948 CE - Hebrew revived as spoken language, Ben Yehuda
1901-1906 CE - Jewish Encyclopedia published in US
1915 CE - Revel reorganizes RIETS (1896) into Yeshiva University - New York
- R Yosef Dov Soloveitchik
1917 CE - JPS translates Hebrew Bible into English in US
1922 CE - Hebrew Theological College - Chicago - R Eliezer Berkovits
- US Jewry independent of European religious guidance
1920-1930 CE - US rise in anti-semitism, Henry Ford (later admits to being mislead)
- Obstacles to Jews in Universities, etc
- American Jews donate hugely to Palestinian, European Jews
1922 CE - Congress passes strict anti-immigration laws over veto of President
1921 CE - British White Paper - restricts Balfour promises to "part" of P
1925 CE - Hebrew University opens in Jerusalem, Magnes
- German refugee professors (eg Scholem) make it intellectual center
1933 CE - Hitler
- Albert Einstein relocates to US from Germany
- Fifth Aliyah
1937 CE - Columbus Platform recognizing place for tradition, Jewish homeland
- Replaces Pittsburgh Platform for Reform
- Reconstructionist Judaism appears
1883-1946 CE - Rabbi Isaac Breuer - Der Neue Kusari
1937-1943 CE - Universal Jewish Encyclopedia published in US
1938 CE - Kristallnacht
- Evian conference - world turns back on Jews
- Some Jews allowed into some countries only with money
- Germany would not let Jews out with money
- British continue policy to keep Jews out of Palestine
- Jewish refugee ships sink, explode, sent back to port of origin
1939 CE - Death of Freud in Germany
1939 CE - In face of Arab riots, British issue second White Paper
- Declares building of Jewish homeland in P complete
- Allows small number of Jews in over five years, afterwards, only with Arab consent
1939-1945 CE- WWII
1943 CE - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
1945 CE -United Nations
- Post-war pogroms and violence against Jews in Eastern Eruope
- Prove Jews have no homes left, must emigrate
- Jews revive Haganah, Etzel, Lechi
1948 CE Israel declares Independence
1956,1967,1973,1976 CE - Israel fights for its life against Arab armies
1948-2000 CE - Operation Magic Carpet (Yemen, Iran), and like operations
- Extraction of Jews from lands previously little-known
- Refuseniks in USSR, eventual USSR collapse
- Development of Israeli military alongside peaceful hopes
- Israel blossoms, economic, religious, artistic life flourishes
Monday, March 12, 2012
Knesset Members Eat Their Words
Before the Disengagement from the Gaza Strip, the following MK's mocked the idea that this would lead to rockets on Ashkelon: Meir Sheetreet (Likud --> Kadima), Ran Cohen (Meretz), Orit Noked (Labor), Shaul Mofaz (Likud --> Kadima), Ofir Pines-Paz (Labor).
Aside from this, let us not forget the politicians who supported the disengagement against their better judgement: Slivan Shalom, Limor Livnat, Bibi Netanyahu.
Those of us who saw clearly back then knew then the dangers posed by the disengagement. Now, the whole world can watch these politicians make fools of themselves with the benefit of hindsight and video recording.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
"Get Over" the Holocaust?!
In response to a disrespectful, shameful opinion piece in the Beacon:
The truth is, Weinreich does not advocate "forgetting" the Holocaust, he simply advocates allowing it to become part of the historical record, doing away with the visceral reaction it evokes in most people. As people rail against "forgetting", Weinreich may sit and smirk in self-righteous contentment, thinking that he never advocated that, and "can't people read?" However, he is still wrong, and the amount of common sense Weinreich ignores leads one to the conclusion that the purpose of this ill-conceived piece is primarily to create a stir and promote the visibility of the author and publication as "cutting edge".
First of all, I doubt the author would ever have the temerity to publish such a piece about the Armenian Genocide. Much as the proverbial Jewish bus driver deriding the haredi he meets for being so "different", and t...hen apologizing profusely upon learning that the man is Amish, Weinreich probably feels a certain comfort level with the material of the Holocaust, and his familiarity has bred a certain level of casual disrespect and, yes, even perhaps some contempt.
In reply to Weinreich's substance: historical events are slowly scabbed over and eventually scar at their own pace. Indeed, the destruction of the Temple, the massacres at Massada, York, Medina, the Crusades and Inquisition, the Chmielnicki Massacre, all these atrocities are remembered by the Jews. However, given time and rebuilding, the acuteness, or freshness, as Weinreich calls it, of the memories, is replaced by historical context and often, religious meaning. This is a natural process that we can witness as occuring in relation to our own personal tragedies and troubles. It is also a psycho-social reality on a national level. So, the very process Weinreich so coldly suggests happens on its own.
However, the crucial difference between Weinreich's proposal and the natural occurrence I describe above is as follows: When this process occurs naturally, it is part of a healing process that gives perspective and comfort. But when it is demanded before its natural process has barely begun, it is inflammatory, self-promotional and repugnant. As a writer who (to be most charitable to Weinreich) hopes to help the national consciousness of the Jews on the road to recovery, he ignores the needs of the nation and the magnitude of the damage done. The very fact that many read his piece as suggesting that we "forget", shows just how untimely his writing is. It is an obscenity.
Parenthetically, it is important to remember that Jewish tradition is full of rites and rituals whose purpose is to assist in this process. The shock element of the laws of Aninut (one whose close relative has just died) leads to Shiva, a period of mourning, which leads to progressively less intense periods of remembrance and sadness. It is important to remember however, that Judaism keeps personal and national days (Tisha B'av for example) to revive and freshen the memory of tragedy and evil in our minds. We are never to allow the events of our personal and national lives to become desiccated history. Even with the natural process in place, we are supposed to break out of that from time to time, each year, to remember the events in a real, fresh, immanent way. So Jewish tradition and religious imperative recognizes the scarring and healing process, and supports it, even as it sets aside certain times to recall the events memorialized in the full color of their experience.
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Intra-Religious Violence
Just reported on Ynet, a haredi family has complained to police that their eleven year old boy was attacked in Jerusalem by secular thugs.
Whether or not this story proves true, it is imperative that all Jews recognize that violence directed against children, or indeed, any non-threat, is antithetical to Torah values, and antithetical to secular ethical systems as well. It must be publicly stated that such Jew-on-Jew violence is horrifying and must be stopped.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
A School in Beit Shemesh
The Agudath Israel of America released a statement concerning the violence in Beit Shemesh. Read it here. Here is my response:
many charedi Jews, men and women alike, see a need to take special steps – in their own lives and without seeking to coerce others – to counterbalance the pervasive atmosphere of licentiousness, so as to avoid the degradation of humanity to which it leads.
If increased modesty is expressed by individuals' attempts to avoid situations they feel are improper, that is one thing. If a man feels unable or uninterested in walking on the same sidewalk as a woman, and he switches sides, no one will complain. If a woman chooses to not speak with a man out of a sense of modesty, again, no one will complain (although people may question the motives, value and repercussions these types of behavior have on the individual and on the community).
However, if "special steps" taken include gender-segregated buses, signs asking women to walk on the other side of the street, and an unwillingness to vociferously reject the more radical embodiment of these strictures (such as assault (insults and taunts against adults and, more horrifically, children) and battery (spitting, brick throwing, etc)), then, far more than the "atmosphere of licentiousness" the charedi community wishes to avoid, they contribute to the degradation of humanity.
The true irony is found when considering the very concept stated above in my first paragraph: the idea that as long as one does not impact others with his "special steps" in modesty (or other strictness), one should be allowed to take them. This idea of personal autonomy and freedom comes not from the Torah, but from liberal philosophy.In the past, the danger posed to society from overly strict individual behavior was viewed as damaging no less than overly lax individual behavior. One who deviated too far off the golden mean, the societal norm, in either direction, was herded back to the norm. It is ironic that only in the context of modernity and the liberalism it engenders that the charedi world can support "special steps in their own lives", steps that have no basis in normative Halacha and derive their validity from modernity's "individual freedom".
Finally, while Aguda's condemnation of the violence is welcome, it comes belatedly, at a time when the media has picked up on an old story in Beit Shemesh. This has been going on for months, the segregated buses (and violence in their defense) has been going on for years. Why is the vast majority silent? Why is it only when the media pick up a story that the leaders of the charedi world in Israel feel the need to begin to condemn? Was there nothing to condemn months ago, when the heckling of little girlds started? Was there nothing to condemn years ago, when women were assaulted on buses for not moving to the back?
Could it be that the majority supports the goals of the violence, and therefore, they ignore the means?
Finally, I want to point out that there is a troubling view of today's society as extremely licentious. Judaism has existed and survived in cultures far more explicit and licentious than today's. Just think about ancient Greek or Roman culture, or the 18th century dress and behavior across Western Europe.
Later, Rabbi Yaakov Menken posted a comment responding in part to me. I fisked it, and this comment has yet to be approved by Cross-Currents, even though Yaakov Menken has commented since. Here is the unapproved comment from me:
"
"
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Rav Soloveitchik and Historical Positivism
In this post on TorahMusings, Rabbi Wurzburger is quoted as saying: "The Rav’s objection to the employment of modern historic and textual scholarship to ascertain the meaning of halakha reflects not naive traditionalism but highly sophisticated post-modern critical thought. He insists that halakha operate with its own unique canons of interpretation. According to R. Soloveitchik, scientific methods are appropriate only for the explanation of natural phenomena but have no place in the quest for the understanding of the normative and cognitive concepts of halakha, which imposes its own a priori categories, which differ from those appropriate in the realm of science. It is for this reason that the Rav completely ignores Bible criticism and eschews the “positive historical” approach of the “Science of Judaism.”"
Perhaps the use, in the passage quoted above, of the term 'post-modern' is to simply refer to a category of thought that is "after" modernism. After all, Rav Soloveitchik is clear in Halachik Mind that (as pointed out in the passage), to the extent anything can claim the title "true" or "valid" in a post-Kantian world, there are many parallel systems of cognition, which are valid for their field of application. A key element of this is that, within their fields, these systems are valid. This is far from the standard definition of post-Modernism, that apparent realities are nothing more than social constructs, and that narratives take the place of the search for truth.
In fact, Halachik Mind ends up vouching for a methodology of religion and by extension, Halacha, which is essentially scientific: "...it would be fallacious to apply the method of independent philosophy in the field of religion. It would inevitably result in a labyrinth of mysticism. If modern philosophy, in it quest for "independence", has become arbitrary, then religious thought, which is particularly prone to abstruseness, needs be all the more wary of such an alignment. The student of religion, starting from the principle of cognitive pluralism, would act wisely in taking his cue from the scientist rather than the philosopher. The structural designs of religion cannot be intuited through any sympathetic fusion with an eternal essence, but must be reconstructed out of objective religious data and central realities. The uniqueness of the religious experience resides in its objective normative components." (62) We must go from the objective to the subjective, and not the other direction.
However, the scientific method wielded in Halacha must be based on different data points than in common scientific inquiry: legal ones. In Part Four, Rabbi Soloveitchik explains that the very data points of the scientific exploration of religion must be the normative objective components, the legal rules themselves. We start not from an ethical question of "why" but the descriptive question of "what". Instead of putting Halcha up to be constructed out of extra-religious considerations, he claims that Halacha contains the data from which we reconstruct our subjective activity. We blow the shofar, not because it (and only it) reminds us of teshuva; rather, we do teshuva because we recognize that as the subjective origin (and a non-necessary result which we are expected to glean) of the objective commandment (94-96).
This view of Rav Soloveitchik is not, to my mind, necessarily at odds with historical positivism. Nothing in this view fundamentally eschews the historical approach to legal theory and Halacha. Rav Soloveitchik's unwillingness to engage in the "science of Judaism" is much more a function of the prevailing mood in Weimar Germany against historicism. See Gordon's Rosenzweig and Heidegger: Between Judaism and German Philosophy 195n5, and see his reference to David Myers' Historicism and Its Discontents in German-Jewish Thought. This tendency is aptly summed up: "By the late nineteenth century and into the Weimar period, historicism was seen by many as a grinding force that corroded social values and was emblematic of modern society's gravest ills." (I am not here judging the merits of historicism or the dangers articulated by its critics.) Additionally, the realization that historical positivism would be a tremendous innovation and revolution in standard yeshiva study, to wit, the controversy over Wissenschaft des Judentums, probably also tempered the willingness of many rabbis to engage in it (as commenters point out on the post) . Thus it is not at all his post-Kantian view of reality that led Rav Soloveitchik to reject the historical positivist approach to Halacha, but, ironically, historical, sociological and cultural considerations.
UPDATE:
After discussion with two friends, I realize that there is a need to differentiate between historical positivism as a theory, and historical necessity as an explanation of data points. Historical positivism as a theory states that the historical realities results in the creation of legal principles. For example, the shortage of wood leads to the creation of the Halachik concept of lavud, and the reticence of lenders leads to the creation of the concept of prosbol. The very concept is created out of historical necessity, and Halacha is in a large sense, a function of reactions to socio-historical events instead of a unified legal theory.
On the other hand, even one who rejects these theories on the grounds that Halacha is an objective, conceptual system which is unchanging at its core, would still accept historical data as explanations, not for the creation, but for the development (or discovery) of latent halachik principles into halachik tools or takanot. For example, the concepts at the root of lavud were part of the core halachik system from the beginning. The rule that loans owned by the courts are not subject to cancellation in the sh'mitta year, and the idea that one can pay a partner a certain amount and thus purchase the responsibility for fluctuations (up or down) in the business venture (the foundation of the heter iska), are concepts that are not groundbreaking; they existed in halacha from the very beginning. However, this viewpoint would not discount that the process of the development of halacha is historically contingent. Socio-historic necessity is valid as an explanation as to why the Rabbis decided to innovate the idea that one can give his personal loans to the courts, thus turning them into court-held loans which are not cancelled. The innovation lies in the willingness to turn a personal loan into a court-held one. Once this development is accomplished, application of the age-old idea that court-held loans are not subject to shemitta cancellation is non-controversial. Similarly, once social changes necessitated the chiddush that we may view interest on a loan as a business venture in which a partner purchases responsibility for fluctuations in the business venture's profitability in exchange for a fixed percentage, the application of the heter iska becomes non-controvesial as well.
Thus, historical considerations play a part in the development of the application of core halachik ideas, but they do not engage in the creation of these ideas. This is the point at which Rav Soloveitchik and historical positivists would diverge in principle, ideologically.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
R Judah Halevi and Asceticism
Rabbi Yehuda Halevi (turn of 11th century in Spain) wrote the Kuzari, a work of original and traditional Jewish philosophy. Rabbi David Cohen (הרב הנזיר), in the middle of the 20th century, gave a series of lectures upon this book in the Merkaz Harav yeshivah. His notes were edited and have been printed as a three volume commentary on the Kuzari. In this edition of the Kuzari, Rabbi Cohen points out that in his earlier years, Rabbi Yehuda Halevi tended towards asceticism. It is clear from the Kuzari (2:56), however, that the author changed his mind.
The Kuzari makes a passionate case against asceticism or פרישות, when he states: "It is not proof of the Godly [within a person] when he is overly careful about pronunciation, or lifts his eyebrows and squeezes his eyes shut, or engages in profligate pleadings, prayers, gesticulations and pronouncements which have no action backing them up. Rather the pure conscience is proven by actions whose commitment is hard for a person to accomplish, but he nevertheless acts upon them with motivation and love, with a goal of closeness to God..."
He goes on to describe the details and minutia of practical commandments not only which lead a person to ethical life and performance of loving-kindness towards others, but also allow a person the ability to become intimate with the Creator through עבודה, service as commanded by God. The choosing of one's own path towards closeness to God is the foundation of idolatry, for Rabbi Yehuda. It is only through meticulous performance of commandments from God, active physical expressions of closeness to God on his terms, that we are able to serve Him.
Centuries after Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, Rabbi Dr Eliezer Berkovits would write in God, Man and History, that, "the task of relating the physical component of the human being to God can be accomplished only by a divine law...the body is not accessible to logical reasoning. One can only teach it by making it do things. One does not learn to swim by reading books on swimming technique, nor does one become a painter by merely contemplating the styles of different schools. One learns to swim by swimming, to paint by painting, to act by acting. One learns how to do anything by doing it. This applies nowhere more strictly than in the realm of ethical action. The only way of educating the biophysical instrument of action is by making it perform."
The ascetic drive in Man can only bring him so far upon the path of service of the Divine. It is only physical, God-commanded, theonomic practice which allows the whole being of a human to serve God. The pre-occupation with asceticism is to engage in a never-ending enterprise which, if allowed, will easily prevent the whole human from accomplishing his religious and God-ordained goals.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Isaiah I
The book of Yeshaya starts during the reign of Judean kings, when Jerusalem sits secure and physically safe. However, the prophet looks to the moral state of Israel and finds the nation terribly wanting. The complaints listed by Yeshaya are all of the moral and ethical type. In fact, the language he employs makes it clear that the practice of the Jewish ceremonial-religious service has not lagged. By asking, למה לי רוב זבחיכם, Yeshaya admits that the sacrificial service in the temple is uninterrupted. When he says, חדש ושבת קרא מקרא, he implies that the societal structure is one which still maintains outward practice of the law of Moses.
Yeshaya complains, though, that the nation has lost its sense of social justice. The judges of Israel are corrupt; they do not seek justice. Halacha, instead of having as its goals good and "ways of pleasantness", has been turned into a tool for everything but that. The judges, those who are charged with the direction of the courts and halacha, have become corrupted. They do not judge correctly for יתומים, and they ignore the plight of widows (v 23). This corruption is the necessary and sufficient cause for the destruction of Jewish society. Courts no longer dispense justice, they contribute to injustice.
Moreover, Judean society has placed a premium on religious activity and piety, and has allowed expressions of these to overcome and hide the sins of the judiciary (and the judicial conscience within each individual). For example, in v 4: נאצו את קדוש ישראל נזרו אחור. Radak and Ibn Ezra bring as an explanatory verse on the word נזרו, the verse וינזרו מקדשי בני ישראל. The verb נ.ז.ר means to withdraw, to remove oneself. In the context of the Pentateuchal verse, this is a desirable action. The priests are exhorted to withdraw from taking קדשי בני ישראל, and doing so is right. The very commandment of נזיר, in which a person withdraws from worldly pleasure to focus on inner, spiritual development, is generally seen as a good thing (even if according to some the very need to do so is a negative). However, Judean society in the times of Yeshaya had perverted this concept of holy withdrawl, נזירות של קדושה, and twisted it into נזירות של רשעות, withdrawl from קדוש ישראל Himself. They have removed themselves from intimate and immanent communion with God through their didactic observance of details, while allowing themselves to ignore the injustice and evil of כלו אהב שחד ורדף שלמנים (v 23).
From this, comes the thesis of the prophets in general: החפץ ה' בזבחים ועולות כשמוע בקול ה'? Does God really want your offerings and automaton service in His Temple, if that means you ignore the moral and ethical spirit of His commands? Torah and Mitzvot are supposed to make us moral people, Halacha should make us cringe at injustice and in its face, burn with the fire of justified rage. The commands of God are supposed to make us better people. If they do not, then the result is exile and punishment.
The promise of God in v 25-26 is clear. Which enemies will God take vengeance upon? The judges and politicians, and those elements within indviduals that allowed injustice and perversion of social norms. Those who are charged with social justice are the ones who will be corrected, along with a society that allowed their perversion. Only upon justice will the righteous city be so called, and the returnees will enjoy צדקה (v 27).
When Israel returns to God, it begins by returning to the orphan and the widow. When halacha does not countenance the undue suffering of the innocent, then can Israel be redeemed.
Thursday, September 01, 2011
Torah and Truth
(UPATE: In response to feedback from a reader, I decided that this post probably deserves a disclaimer. The topic it addresses is always a difficult topic to approach. It seems to border on a grey area which for many, may tread on ground thought of as Reform. First, let me say that the main problems with Reform Judaism are its antinomianism and its willingness to reject the giving of Torah by God directly to Moshe at Mt Sinai. I certainly deny both these stances: First, the Laws of the Torah (and the Oral Law and Rabbinic Traditions) are in force and every Jew is religiously obligated to follow them. Second, the Jewish people's collective experience at Mt Sinai is a crucial article of faith that I have no intention of denying or discussing in this present post.
Finally, allow me to draw a comparison to the present essay's discussion of the stories of the book of Genesis and parts of Exodus, and the midrashic discussion of the book of Job. There is ample support for the notion that the entire book of Job is an allegory; it does not purport to present a historical discussion of the life of a man named Job; rather, it tells a story with moral and ethical lessons. Additionally, keep in mind that the Rambam is willing to take various stories of the forefathers as prophecies rather than literal occurences (for example, the three angels appearing to Avraham after his circumcision). It is in the above light and the above vein that the following discussion of Genesis and Exodus should be taken.)
As science and the studies of history and archeology continue to progress, the Torah seems under attack from many different directions. Was the world created in six days? Is it really only 5,767 years old? Was there a global flood? These questions and many others like them have caused many to doubt the authenticity of the Torah. They have spawned countless apologetic re-interpretations and explanations, trying to resolve the apparent problems in our tradition1.
Some quite sophisticated mathematic acrobatics have been produced reconciling the six days of creation with different time-lines proposed by theoretical scientists. Heated debate raises questions on these types of work. While it is sometimes exciting to observe the ingenuity of such interpretations, they are unnecessary2.
As Rashi makes clear in his commentary on the first verse in B'reshit, the Torah is not a book of history. The purpose of God's word is not to tell us what was, but what shall be in our realm of thought and action. Torah is a book of ethical instruction. It is to teach us how to act, and how to live. And so, Rashi states that the purpose of the story of creation is to impress upon us the absolute dominion God has over creation, and explain that Jewish rights to the land of Israel are divine. The question of exactly how the world was created, while of possible esoteric value, is not the thrust of the creation story.
Indeed, the concept that the Torah existed before the creation of the world, and served as its blueprint, is certainly not to be taken literally. A basic tenant of Judaism is that God imbued Man with free will. The Torah could not have 'destined' our nation to the stories of the spies or the golden calf written within it. Even the concept of Adam's sin being predetermined would raise problems.
A Rabbi (זצ"ל) who taught me during my semicha studies agrees and quotes midrashim to the effect that the Torah is a unified, pure ray of light. It is the kernel and essence of truth in this world. It is in this regard that, 'אורייתא וקודשא בריך הוא חד הוא'. When exposed to the physical world God created, this light is refracted, much as sulight is broken up by a prism. The more complex the world, the more refraction occurs. In the world of Eden, the essence of truth was broken into one positive and one negative commandment. After the flood and the sins of humanity, it was broken into seven commands. Finally, it settled in our present situation of 613 commandments. The important point here is that the practical form of the divine Torah, in a different reality, could conceivably be different.
My teacher mentions in his writings the possibility that the book of B'reshit and parts of Sh'mot was written by the forefathers (he bases this on Psikta Rabati Chapter 3). It was the material studied by the Jews in Egypt. When the nation gathered at Mt. Sinai, God canonized the teachings of the forefathers and made it part of the divine Torah he imparted to Moshe3. It is certainly clear that our forefathers were not historians or scientists. Just as the people around them, they took for granted certain versions of the history of the world, and used them to teach moral lessons to their children. They even took laws from surrounding cultures (such as yibbum and certain civil and criminal laws) and, with certain changes, made them part of their teachings. These teachings and rules were canonized at Mt. Sinai for the ethical and legal lessons they contained. This was a natural way to teach these truths to a nation that was used to being taught lessons based on stories from the past.
Thus, the questions of historicity or science and Torah really are non-issues. The Torah's purpose is not to teach history or science. One might even say that the Canonical genre transcends the concepts of truth and falsehood. God utililzed the universal stories, the world's wisdom and the common idioms to convey to the Jews the eternal essence of truth that is that unadulterated ray of Torah. It is a generalized version of Rabbi Yishmael's "דברה תורה כלשון בני אדם", that the Torah is written in the lyric of the time in which it was given. (If one thinks about it, it is impossible to imagine otherwise; how, then, would the people receiving it understand it?!)
In the first book of his Guide, Rambam states that the Torah does, in fact, say things that are not true, in order to allow the people who received it to more readily understand it. He brings as an example the phrase 'the hand of God'. This anthropomorphic statement, implies the Rambam, was not naturally understood by most Jews to be an allegory. On the contrary, the majority took it literally! And although it is false that God has a hand, says Rambam, it is written in the Torah in order to make it easily understood.
In the same way, we may say that the Torah contains stories that may not have literally, historically, happened. There is not even a need (nor desire) to allegorize a story if it is proven to be unfounded. Although our forefathers may have believed in their literal truth, we do not have to in order to gain the true point that they are meant to teach. They are there to teach lessons in an approachable way to the Jewish nation that received it from God. The actual facts are simply vehicles to drive home the main thrust, which is the moral lesson and divine command. (This is not to say that we must or even should deny the literal historical occurence of these stories. Rather, what it means is that if they are ever somehow proven to have not historically have occurred in the way the Torah describes, this would not shake one iota of their import, lessons and ultimate truth value. The truth value of these stories lies not in their historical accuracy but in the lessons and molding of Jewish and global values. This remains in effect whether or not the stories in their literal form occurred. With this in mind, the goal of the stories shifts from literal historicity to moral teaching; this is perhaps a deeper understanding of Rashi's statement that Torah is not a history book. In addition, it causes the stories to transcend the binary dichotomy of truth and falsehood; the truth value of these stories no longer rests on their literal historical accuracy. They are transcendentally true (and valuable) even if they did not occur, by virtue of the noble and ennobling lessons they plant in the spirit of their audience.)
This view creates a theological foundation that is more flexible and thus more powerful than others. Science and history may lay claim to evidence that contradicts parts of our tradition. However, with our thesis in mind, these questions from fact become non-questions, ones that attack the outer garments of our faith as if these attacks are aimed at the beating heart. However, the heart continues to beat, and the stories themselves maintain their vitality, for their purpose is not historical accuracy but moral education.
While I cannot ensure that this essay will not be misinterpreted anyway, allow me to point out one caveat immediately. This post in no way denies the divinity of the Torah; on the contrary, it strengthens it. The practical laws of the Torah are certainly not under discussion here. They are the commands of God to His world. Also, the authority of the Oral Law is certainly not attacked. This discussion is limited to a study of how God chose to couch His teachings to the world at the time He revealed them.
This approach obviates the need to harmonize the literal word of the Torah with the latest scientific or archeological find. The Torah's lessons are ethical and theological, not scientific or historical. The more we internalize this, the faster we will find peace of faith in our modern world.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Many thanks to S. His input was invaluable for this post.
2 Dr Wolowelsky's note at Tradition Online has recently come to my attention (after writing this essay). See footnote 9 at the end of his article at Tradition Online for expansion on this point, and the article in general, which agrees in large part with my essay here.
3 Also post-publication of this essay, see an explanation of Rabbi Emanuel Rackman's Bibilical theology, here. Also, see אגרות ראיה חלק א אגרת קל"ד which agrees with the thrust of this essay.