"They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it." -Confucius

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Jews do not proselytize

Isaiah (Yeshayahu) 42:2:

"[Jacob/Israel] will not cry out nor lift [his voice], nor will he make his voice heard outside."

Rashi: "He will not need to reprove or prophesy to the nations, for they themselves will come to learn from them (the Jews), as it says: 'Let us go with you for we have heard that G-d is with you' (Zachariah 8:23)."

Liturgical poems (piyutim), halachic rulings from heaven

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 112:2:

"One should not recite liturgical poems during [the shemoneh esreh] prayer."

Mishnah Berurah, ad loc:

"In the responsum of Radvaz, v. III, responsum 532, [Radvaz] wrote at length to permit this (and he wrote that he has in his hand some inquiries that one of the rishonim asked of heaven via meditative seclusion (hithbodeduth) and prayer and invocation of names, and they responded to his inquiries, and he asked also about this [matter of liturgical poems] and they answered him that it is permitted). See there that [Radvaz] cautions strongly not to alter the [accepted] custom [to recite them]."



Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Of Songs and Shepherds

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov writes that the origin of music is the earth. Each blade of grass, he writes, plays a particular note, and somehow, the shepherd, who dwells in the fields as his sheep graze, subconsciously absorbs these notes and plays a unique tune, based on the notes of the grass of the area that he inhabits at any particular time.

Since discovering this idea, I "noted" the relationship between many words relating to plants and music. Some examples:

GaN = garden; niGuN = melody

ZeMuRah = vine; ZeMiRah = pruning, song

ShaRon = lush pasture (Metzudath Tziyon, Isaiah 35:2); ShiR = song

Thursday, May 9, 2013

"Is God With You?"

Ruth 2:4:
"And behold, Boaz was coming from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, 'God be with you,' and they said to him, 'May God bless you.'
I translated the verse according to its usual understanding, that Boaz blessed his workers with the phrase, "God be with you," which was the traditional greeting, and they responded likewise with a traditional blessing, "May God bless you."

However, the Rabbi Eliyahu ("the Gaon") of Vilna (ad loc) explains differently:
The Zohar teaches that when two Jews unite, the Divine Presence joins them, but this so long as they engage in Torah matters, but if they do not that which pleases God, the Divine Presense abandons them, as is written in the Torah: 'Let no unseemly thing be seen among you lest [the Divine Presence] abandon you.' So too here when [Boaz] saw a maiden among [his reapers], he said: 'Is God with you?' In other words, 'Have you stumbled [in holy matters] because of her, causing the Divine Presence to abandon you?'