Be Fruitful and Multiply

"The reason for this commandment ('Be fruitful and multiply') is in order that the world be inhabited, for Ha-Shem (G-d), be He blessed, desires its inhabitance... This is a great commandment that is the cause of the fulfillment of all the other commandments in the world, for the Torah was given to mankind and not to the ministering angels. Therefore, [a man] must leave after him someone that will fulfill the Torah and the commandments and will recognize that there is an omnipotent watchful Creator, and [ensure] that this matter not cease to be among Israel. This is the intent of our Sages of blessed memory in that which they said, 'The principal offspring of the righteous is their good deeds.' This means that the principal intent of the righteous in siring [future] generations is to bring beings into existence that will fulfill the commandments and engage in good deeds."

-Rabbi Yeshayah ha-Levi Horowitz, Sheney Luchoth ha-Berith, "Torah she-biKhthav," B'Reshith

Jealousy Incarnate

“All of the assembly in its entirety are holy and Ha-Shem is among them!” shouted Korach, poised at the head of the mob of rebels who had gathered to challenge Moshe and Aharon. “Why do you exalt yourselves over the congregation of Ha-Shem!” (B’Midbar 16:3).

The Talmud records that Korach’s attacks against Moshe were not merely political, but far sharper and more personal. According the Talmudic account, among other criticisms, Korach actually accused Moshe of the crime of adultery!

While attacking Moshe on the basis of his position of authority seems understandable, to malign a man of Moshe’s inimitable character and reputation with intimations that he had committed adultery enters the realm of the ridiculous! What is the meaning of this strange Talmudic teaching?

The answer to this mystery, as with many mysteries of the Torah, lies at the core of the history of Man.

“Let Us make Man…” (B’Reshis 1:26). Ha-Shem consulted with his council of spiritual ministers before creating Mankind. Our tradition teaches that these heavenly ministers objected to the Almighty’s plan, explaining that Man, as a being with physical elements, may succumb to material temptation, polluting the universe with sin. Man, therefore, deserves not any place in the kingdom of the Almighty. Ha-Shem overrides the opinion of his ministers and proceeds with the creation of Adam. Thenceforth, throughout history, as mankind failed to live up to the course of holiness prescribed for them by the Almighty, the angels would continually remind the Lord of their initial objection and His failure to heed their counsel.

Subsequent to Adam’s fall from grace, the Torah describes how Adam’s sons Kayin (Cain) and Hevel (Abel) vie for the Almighty’s favor. While Hevel brings an offering from the fattest of his flock, Kayin offers only the cheapest of his crop. The Almighty favors Hevel’s offering, and in a fit of jealousy, Kayin murders his brother Hevel.

“Ha-Shem said to Kayin, ‘Where is Hevel, your brother?’ [Kayin] said, ‘I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’ [Ha-Shem] said, ‘What have you done! The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the earth! And now you are accursed from the earth that opened its mouth to take your brother’s blood from your hand!’” (ibid 4:9-11).

Our tradition further teaches that Kayin’s jealousy of Hevel stemmed not only from Ha-Shem’s reaction to their offerings, but from a number of other factors as well. Among them, Kayin was born together with a twin sister who would become his wife, while Hevel was born with two twin sisters who would become his wives. Kayin thought, “Should the younger have two while the elder has but one?”

Subsequent to Hevel’s murder, the Almighty’s heavenly ministers seize the opportunity to brag that they were right once again about mankind. “Look how this one murdered because of jealousy over such material desires!” Ha-Shem replies to them that so long as they, as spiritual beings, cannot be tempted by physical desire, they have no right to criticize those who suffer from such temptation. The Lord’s ministers, disgusted at the suggestion that something so lowly as the material could offer any allure to beings so pure as themselves, urge Ha-Shem to offer them the opportunity to prove themselves. Ha-Shem obliges, sending two of these spiritual beings to earth in physical form.

What follows? “The Sons of Eloh-im saw that the daughters of Man were good, and they took for themselves wives from whomever they chose” (ibid 6:2). According to Rashi, these “Sons of Eloh-im” were, “the ministers who act in the agency of the Lord,” i.e. Ha-Shem’s spiritual ministers who had been sent to the earthly realm. According to mystical tradition, the “daughters of Man,” here mean not merely women of the human persuasion, but the actual daughters of Adam, i.e. the two sisters of Hevel. Ha-Shem tests those spiritual ministers who criticized Kayin’s actions with the exact same stimulus that led Kayin himself to commit his jealous murder. These spiritual beings too, now susceptible to material temptation, succumb to their newfound urge to take these woman as wives.

The visitors from the spiritual realm solicit the daughters of Adam for marriage. These holy women, not wanting to enter such an ill-conceived relationship, but knowing these beings hold the power to force the issue, concede, but on condition. The daughters of Adam stipulate that as these spiritual visitors hold the option to return to the heavenly realm at any time, they must teach these women the Name of G-d that would allow them to do the same in such an eventuality. The spiritual beings comply, teach them the Name, and immediately the daughters of Adam use the Name to ascend to the heavenly realm before any union can be realized. While the spiritual ministers remain below, wreaking the havoc that the Almighty predicted, these holy women remain above, seeking asylum from these destructive creatures.

According to mystical tradition, many generations later, during the ascendance of the Pharaohs of Egypt, these two women are brought back into the earthly realm, one as Bisyah, daughter of Pharoah, the other as Tziporah, daughter of Yisro. At that time as well, the souls of Kayin and Hevel are brought back into the world as Korach and Moshe, respectively. The daughter of Pharoah, one of Hevel’s former wives, rescues Hevel, now Moshe, from the Nile River and raises him as a son. Moshe later marries Tziporah, also his wife during his previous incarnation.

As Moshe achieves ascendency over Israel, the soul of Kayin, now Korach, undergoes the same trial of spirit to overcome his jealousy that he failed during his first incarnation. Ha-Shem has granted Korach the opportunity to achieve rectification for his tainted soul, yet Korach tragically allows his millennia-old jealousy to overwhelm him, mounting a rebellion against the man that Ha-Shem has favored once again.

But how does this help us understand Korach’s shocking accusation against the humblest of all men?

According to Torah law, if a man dies childless, his brother should marry the widow in order to grant continuity to the deceased brother’s legacy. In the case of Kayin and Hevel, since Hevel died childless, the rights to marry Hevel’s wives belonged to Kayin. This was the substance of Korach’s accusation. As the reincarnation of Kayin, these rights now belonged to him! Tziporah, then, formerly the wife of Hevel, should be the rightful wife of Korach, not Moshe. Ergo, Moshe’s marriage to Tziporah constituted an adulterous relationship!

Korach erred in his calculation, however, his raging jealousy blinding him to the elementary precept that, “one cannot fulfill a commandment through transgression of another commandment.” Since Kayin’s obligation to marry Hevel’s wives only came about through the murder of Hevel, no such obligation actually took effect! In this case, Kayin had no legitimate claim to Hevel’s wives, nor did Korach have any legitimate right to marry Tziporah. Moshe escapes any calumny laid upon him by Korach, while Korach must face the consequences of his missteps once again.

We can now gain a deeper appreciation of Korach’s bizarre demise. “The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them” (B’Midbar 16:32). Why was this the form of Korach’s destruction? Remember the words of the Almighty to Kayin after the murder of Hevel: “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the earth! And now you are accursed from the earth that opened its mouth to take your brother’s blood from your hand!” Just as the earth opened its mouth to absorb Kayin’s original sin, so would the earth open its mouth again to claim the perpetrator of that sin. And indeed, according to mystical tradition, the place where the earth “opened its mouth” to swallow Korach was the same exact spot where Kayin had murdered Hevel millennia earlier.

The Torah instructs us not to be like Korach and his assembly. Korach’s character flaws plagued him not only through two lifetimes, but for all eternity. Our Sages teach us that Korach remains forever suspended in the endless chasm born of his reticence to accept reproof for his recalcitrance, eternally declaring his regret. Learning not from his errors, he doomed himself to repeat them. Let us not be like Korach. Let us assert ourselves in a genuine effort to perfect our character, and instead of the legacy of strife left behind by Korach, may we merit to bring a legacy of everlasting peace to our world, to our posterity, and to all Israel.

Chizkiyah was a Vegetarian!

We read in Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 38:1-5:

"In those days, Chizkiyahu (Hezekiah) became deathly ill. Yeshayahu ben Amotz the prophet came to him and said to him, 'Thus said Ha-Shem, 'Command your household, for you shall die and you shall not live.'' Chizkiyahu turned his face to the wall ('el ha-kir') and prayed to Ha-Shem. He said, 'Please, Ha-Shem, remember, please, that I walked before You truthfully and wholeheartedly, and I did that which was good in Your eyes!' Chizkiyahu cried a great cry. The word of Ha-Shem came to Yishayahu saying, 'Go and say to Chizkiyahu, 'Thus said Ha-Shem, the G-d of David your father, 'I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. I hereby add to your days fifteen years.'''"

The Talmud (Berachoth 10B) discusses the relevance of Scripture relating that Chizkiyahu turned "to the wall" in prayer. Would it not have been sufficient to relate simply the nature of his prayer and not his orientation? The Talmud offers a number of explanations, including that the meaning is that he prayed "from the walls (i.e. depths) of his heart." Rabbi Yoseph Chayim of Baghdad (1832-1909), in his classic commentary Ben Yehoyada, adds an additional explanation:

"The word 'kir,' meaning 'wall,' is comprised of the same Hebrew letters as the word 'yerek,' meaning, 'vegetables.' King Chizkiyah (may he rest in peace) ate vegetables every day instead of meat. He therefore turned himself to the wall and prayed for himself so that the Holy One Blessed is He would remember this pious act of eating vegetables ('yerek'), which has the same letters as 'kir' ('wall') and He would answer his prayer."

So not only did Chizkiyahu's "piety" of vegetarianism save him from deathly illness, it added fifteen years to his life! This is one point I have not yet seen the in the literature of the vegetarian lobby.

Pesach: A New Beginning

The prophet Yechezkel (Ezekiel) declared:

“And as for you birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to smooth [your skin], nor were you salted, nor were you swaddled… Then I passed you and saw you wallowing in your bloods, and I said to you, ‘By your bloods shall you live;’ I said to you, ‘By your bloods shall you live.”[1]

Rashi explains “the day you were born” to refer to “when I (Ha-Shem) chose you in Egypt,” when Israel had yet no merits to warrant their redemption, like a new-born child not yet groomed. However, “by your bloods shall you live” – by two acts of shedding blood was Israel redeemed from Egypt, the blood of the Pesach sacrifice and the blood of circumcision.[2]

Why did the prophet choose the metaphor of birth to describe the events of the Exodus from Egypt? Was the choice merely poetic, or do the prophet’s words reveal a deeper reality? Furthermore, why specifically do these two merits form the impetus for the Redemption?

R. Shimshon Pincus z”l,[3] explains that the order of Jewish holidays forms a spiritual ladder that the Jew climbs over the cycle of the year from lowest to highest level of spiritual growth and closeness to the Almighty. This ladder parallels the lifecycle of the human being. Each successive festival, or rung on the ladder, corresponds to a different stage of life, from the earliest and least developed, to a stage of full maturity that is the climax of spiritual development.

Pesach, then, as the first rung on the ladder,[4] corresponds to the birth of the human being. Shavuos, the time our people received the Torah and became bound by its commandments, corresponds to the time of the bar mitzvah, when the individual becomes bound by the commandments. Sukos, the time we remember the Almighty’s act of surrounding our people with protective clouds, corresponds to the time of one’s marriage, when a bride comes under the chupah, the protective canopy of her groom. Purim, the final festival of the Jewish year, corresponds to the apex of one’s spiritual development and closeness with the Almighty.

Let us examine how Pesach parallels the birth of a human being:

• Yaakov (Jacob) and his sons descend to Egypt as a small nomadic group of a mere “seventy souls.”[5] There this seeding of Israelites takes root and begins a rapid multiplication until it reaches the critical mass of a whole nation.[6] Similarly, an introduction of human seed into the nurturing environment of the womb catalyzes a process of rapid cellular reproduction resulting in the formation of a new and independent life. In fact, the Torah describes Egypt as “the private part of the earth,”[7] the place the seed must enter to produce new life.
• Shir ha-Shirim (the Song of Songs) describes Egypt as the “mother” of Israel.[8]
• Prior to the Exodus, Egypt experiences its own set of “birthpangs” as ten devastating plagues rack the mighty empire, each bringing the fledgling nation of Israel closer to its ultimate freedom, when the new nation would burst forth from its “mother” country.
• The Ten Plagues take place over the course of nine months, as each plague lasts one week, with Moshe warning Pharaoh for three weeks before the onset of the next plague. The tenth plague, the Slaying of the First-born, takes place in a single night, hence from the onset of the plague of Blood to the ultimate Exodus, the day following the midnight slaying of the first-born, nine months transpire, the same as the gestation period of a human child!
• The final plague itself, the final contraction that ejected the nation of Israel from its host mother, revolves around the birth event - the Plague of the First-born!
• Just as a new-born Jewish child undergoes circumcision, the new-born Jewish nation underwent a mass circumcision upon their Exodus from Egypt.[9]

Indeed Jewish ritual law also reflects this new-born quality of Israel. The Almighty issues to the Children of Israel their first national commandment with the onset of Nisan, the month of the Exodus. “This month is for you the first of months; it is first for you for the months of the year.”[10] With the Exodus, we mark the beginning of a new national clock. Like a new-born child, time for us begins now.

In the terminology of our Sages, chametz euphemistically represents the Evil Inclination.[11] With the arrival of a new-born baby, a family will thoroughly clean and sterilize its home to protect the baby from elements against which its yet undeveloped immune system remains vulnerable. Similarly, in the wake of Pesach we thoroughly clean and sterilize our homes, eliminating this spiritually harmful element, chametz, from the environs of our fledgling nation.

Likewise, a new-born eats a highly specialized type of food containing the essential nutrients for its early growth and development (mother’s milk). So too the special food of Pesach, the matzah, contains the most essential nutrient for a Jew’s early stages – as the opposite of chametz it constitutes the antithesis of the Evil Inclination – indeed a valuable spiritual vitamin to feed the Jew from his earliest days.

The commandment to Israel to redeem their first-born, issued at this time,[12] like the Plague of the First-born mentioned above, further highlights the issue of birth in a great declaration by the Almighty that, “My son, My first-born, is Israel!”[13]

But did the Exodus merely mark the birth of something “new” as in young in age, or did it bring about the creation of a nation completely unique and distinct from any nation that had come before? Indeed our tradition teaches that this birth was not merely generative but transformative, an evolution in the annals of mankind. What was the nature of this transformation?

Let us examine the commandment of the Pesach offering for a clue. In the past, such as during the time of the Patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, all sacrifices offered to the Almighty were burnt-offerings (olos), meaning offerings completely burned upon the altar, with no part left over for human consumption. After all, this animal, as a gift to G-d, certainly held too much sanctity for benefit by mere mortals! For a lowly human being to partake of such a lofty offering would constitute an insult to the Almighty!

However, the commandment to offer the Pesach sacrifice introduces a shocking change – the owner of the animal must eat from the sacrifice! Not only must one eat, but should one not eat, one incurs the harshest penalty offered for any crime in the Torah – spiritual excision (kares), the expurgation of one’s soul from among the Jewish people!

While many transgressions in the Torah carry this penalty, only two positive commandments carry this punishment for their non-performance – the Pesach offering and circumcision. What is the meaning of this sudden change? What is the connection between these two strict commandments?

The novel mandate to share in an offering to the Divine demonstrates that with Pesach our nature has altered. With the consumption the Pesach sacrifice and performance of circumcision the Jew undergoes a spiritual and physical transformation. We are no longer human; we are something greater. “And I said to you, ‘By your bloods shall you live;’ and I said to you, ‘By your bloods shall you live.’” Without these two merits, one has not graduated from mundane humanity to the exalted status of the Israelite, of a nation attached to the Divine.

Of course, today, in the absence of the Holy Temple in which to offer the Pesach sacrifice, we offer our Pesach Seder in its place, concluding with the words, “As we have merited to arrange it [in facsimile], so may we merit to perform it [in actuality].” Let us seize the opportunity that Pesach affords, realize our special potential as Jews, and begin anew our journey to reach the highest of spiritual heights and closeness to the Almighty.

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[1] Yechezkel 16:4-6. Translation based on Artscroll Stone Edition Tanach.

[2] Rashi ad loc. See also Rashi to Shemos (Exodus) 12:6

[3] Lecture on Purim

[4] Rosh ha-Shanah 4A explains that Pesach is the “rosh ha-shanah,” or “beginning of the year” regarding the cycle of festivals.

[5] Shemos 1:5; see also B’Reshis (Genesis) 46:27

[6] Shemos 1:7; see also B’Reshis 47:27

[7] B’Reshis 42:9, 12

[8] Shir ha-Shirim 1:6, Rashi ad loc.

[9] Rashi to Shemos 12:6, Yehoshua (Joshua) 5:2 and Yechezchel 16:6

[10] Shemos 12:2

[11] See Berachos 17A and Rashi ad loc s.v. “seor she-ba-isah"

[12] Shemos 13:2,11-15

[13] Ibid 4:22

Shavuoth: Be Counted with the Kollel

The army platoon marched over the hilly terrain. At the foot of one hill sat an old Jewish man. Before the platoon could continue past him, he called out to the officer in command. “I vouldn’t go dat vay if I vas you!”

“Why not?” asked the commander.

“Because dere’s a bacon tree just over dat hill!”

“A what?”

“A bacon tree! A bacon tree!”

“What are you talking about? There’s no such thing as a bacon tree!”

“I’m telling you, dere’s a bacon tree over dere!”

“You senile old man, you don’t know what you’re talking about!” And with that, the commander waved his men onward, and the platoon marched over the hill.

A short while later, the soldiers came screaming back over the hill, broken, bloodied and far fewer in number than when they had first passed. When the commanding officer saw the old man still sitting there he yelled, “Why didn’t you warn us there was an ambush waiting for us?”

“I did varn you!”

“You told us there was a bacon tree, not an ambush!”

“Bacon tree, ham-bush, vat’s de difference?”[1]

Many are familiar with the traditional albeit much misunderstood method of Hebrew textual analysis known as “gimatriya.” In its most basic application, the numerical values of Hebrew letters, words or phrases are calculated in order to reveal hidden layers of meaning. Likewise, if different Hebrew words or phrases have equal numerical values, this equation indicates a conceptual connection.[2]

Some examples of basic gimatriya: Yaakov (Jacob) commands his sons to descend (“redu”) to Egypt.[3] The word redu consists of the letters resh (200), daleth (4) and vav (6), equaling 210. This word thereby alludes to the ultimate sojourn of Yaakov and his descendants in Egypt until the Exodus, which equaled 210 years.[4] Another example: the word “ha-teva,” meaning “nature,” equals 86, the same numerical value as the word “Elo-him” (G-d). This alludes to the truth that although there appears to be a force that we call Nature that allows the world to proceed automatically, this appearance of Nature is in fact none other than the Divine Providence of the One Who guides all affairs from the most cosmic to the most infinitesimal.[5]

Another less common and even less understood application of gimatriya is known as “counting with the kolel.” (No, this does not mean that one need consult with a local gathering of Torah scholars to help one tally up the numbers.) The Hebrew word “kolel” means “inclusive.” Counting with the kolel means that sometimes, when two words or phrases have similar numerical values, but differ by a value of 1, one can “include” into the value of the lesser word or phrase a value of 1 that does not appear in the tally of letters, bringing the value of that word or phrase to equal the other, thus facilitating the resultant cross-reference of conceptual content.

A famous example of this is Yaakov’s promise to Yoseph (Joseph) that his children will each inherit a portion equal to the other sons of Yaakov: “Menasheh and Ephrayim shall be to me as Reuven (Reuben) and Shimon (Simon).”[6] The Baal ha-Turim comments that this equality between Yaakov’s sons and Yosef’s sons is reflected in the gimatriya of their names, as “Menasheh” plus “Ephrayim” together equal “Reuven” plus “Shimon.” However, when one does the math, one finds that the names “Menasheh” and “Efrayim” together tally 726, while “Reuven” and “Shimon” equal only 725. Only with the addition of the kolel are these numbers reconciled.[7]

But any intelligent person, upon encountering this bizarre methodology of adding an imaginary 1 to make things add up, must ask, “What’s going on here? What kind of cheap trick is this?” 725 and 726, although certainly close in value, are completely different figures! Any student of elementary mathematics who writes as an answer on his math test a number that is off by 1 from the true solution will receive no credit for such an answer as it is absolutely wrong! An error of but 1 can make all the difference between the successful re-entry of a NASA space-shuttle into the earth’s atmosphere or its catastrophic and fiery destruction along with the lives of all astronauts on board. The difference between a bacon tree and a ham-bush can turn the tides of war, as demonstrated above. There is no such thing as “close enough” or “just about” when determining an absolute figure in mathematics, and the Torah, the hallmark of Truth, can be no less demanding in its standards of exactness! What then is the meaning of “counting with the kolel” and how can it function as a legitimate tool of Torah-study?

I heard the following explanation from Rav Yaakov Hillel, shlita, one of contemporary Jewry’s most eminent Torah scholars.[8] If one visits a shipyard, one finds the facility brimming with materials of varying type and size – wood and metal beams, nuts and bolts, nails and screws, rope, material for sails, etc. Ask one of the workers to describe the present items and he replies that they are building materials, perhaps even specifying the identity of each component. “This is the rigging, here are the sails, there is the rudder, and there, the steering wheel.” Some weeks later a visit to the dock reveals there the same materials, now in a new configuration. Ask any passerby to describe the present structure and he undoubtedly replies, “Why, it is a ship of course!” Why does the worker at the shipyard identify the individual parts while at the dock the same pieces, merely rearranged, project the title of “ship”?

The answer, of course, is obvious. Although these are the exact same pieces, down to the very last nail, that lay at the shipyard just weeks earlier, as separate components each projected its own identity, but once combined, no one can deny that something “new” has been created, even though no new material has been introduced. The same material, rearranged, contains new properties not before present, e.g. it can float on water, sail in the wind, house a crew and transport passengers and cargo. In a more contemporary example, water (H₂O), a liquid, demonstrates properties not present in either hydrogen (H) or oxygen (O), its composite gases, even though its atomic weight and number indicate that nothing other than hydrogen and oxygen are present. In other words, the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

So too in gimatriya. Counting with the kolel means to view the word or phrase not as its distinct components but as an inclusive whole that contains properties not present in the original letters alone. This “enhancement” or new property is assigned a minimum value (1) and calculated together with the rest of the letters.

Rav Hillel further explained that the concept of the “kolel” is not limited to gimatriya or inanimate objects, but is true of the Jewish nation as well. The Mishnah in Avoth (3:6) teaches, with Scriptural support, that when a group of Jews join together in a sacred endeavor such as learning Torah, the Shechinah (Divine Presence) manifests with them. The Mishnah proceeds to demonstrate that this is true not only for large groups of Jews (10), but is true for smaller numbers of Jews as well, bringing a Scriptural verse to demonstrate each example, down to a partnership of two, and ultimately even a lone Jew.

This teaching is curious. If Scripture indicates that the Shechinah manifests for even one Jew engaged in Torah study, certainly then it manifests for two! And all the more so for 10! What need is there for further Scriptural sources, or even for any teaching regarding the manifestation of Shechinah for a group? Let the Mishnah demonstrate that the Shechinah manifests for a single Jew engaged in Torah study and be further silent!

The answer is that the Mishnah speaks not of a quantitative increase in Shechinah with the addition of Jews, but of a qualitative increase! There is a new quality of Shechinah that manifests with the “inclusion” of Jews, as more Jews unite in a sacred undertaking. A partnership of Jews is greater than one plus one, as is a quorum of ten Jews more than five and five, the whole becoming more than the sum of its parts. As Jews increase in quantity, the manifestation of Shechinah increases in quality.

This is the secret of the Revelation at Sinai. The Torah tells us that, “Israel encamped (vayichan) there opposite the mount.”[9] The word “vayichan” literally means “he encamped,” even though it refers here to a nation of millions of individuals. Rightly, the verse should have utilized the word “vayachanu” meaning “they encamped.” Rashi explains that this means that the nation encamped “like one man with one heart.” The entire nation of millions of Israelites united in the firmest of unities for the purpose of receiving the Torah. In keeping with the above principle, this massive, unprecedented and all-inclusive unity of the entire nation of Israel generated an explosive manifestation of the Shechinah so powerful as to facilitate the Divine Revelation at Mount Sinai! In other words, the unity of the Nation of Israel at Sinai was not merely incidental and quaint – it was a necessary catalyst!

It is from this concept that the phenomenon known as a “kollel” – a society of men gathered to study Torah – gets its name, as Jews unite to explore the Divine wisdom of the Torah and bask in the “inclusion” of Shechinah thereby generated. For this reason Jews of all walks of life will gather, on Shavuoth night, in synagogues and Houses of Study around the world to engage in Torah learning, forming a global kollel, recreating in miniature the Sinai experience and reliving the Shavuoth of yore.

In the wake of Shavuoth, may we all unite in the service of the Almighty and the study of His Torah, “like one man with one heart,” and thereby merit a revelation of the Divine in fulfillment of the verse,[10] “And the Almighty shall be King over all the Earth; on that day the Almighty shall be One and His Name [shall be] One.”

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[1] Special thanks to the David Weiss, CPA humor factory.

[2] It is important to note that the usage of gimatriya is far less arbitrary than popularly believed. Knowing how and when to invoke gimatriya requires a sensitivity and nuance not available to just any layman or enthusiastic neophyte with a calculator, but possessed only by a minority of great Torah scholars with a tradition from previous generations of like scholars as to the implementation of this delicate technique. In other words, it may make for a cute sheva brachos speech, but leave the real thing to the experts.

[3] B’Reshith (Genesis) 42:2

[4] Rashi ad loc.

[5] Heard from Rabbi Akiva Tatz, shlita.

[6] B’Reshith 48:5

[7] The Beney Yisaschar (Maamarey Chodesh Kislev-Teves, Maamar 2:2) takes this one step further and says that this verse is in fact the source for this method of gimatriya. The Torah, by explicitly stating that “Menasheh and Efrayim (726) shall be for me as Reuven and Shimon (725),” stamps its approval on equating two figures despite their difference of 1.

[8] Rav Hillel cited the work Meor ha-Shemesh as the source for this explanation.

[9] Shemoth (Exodus) 19:2

[10] Zecharyah 14:9

Early Detection is the Best Protection

A secular Israeli taxi driver once told the following story to a religious passenger:

While a soldier in the IDF, a member of his unit went missing during a routine patrol. They hadn’t heard from the soldier for a number of hours and a search party, of which the taxi driver was a member, was dispatched to find the missing soldier. They found him alive, but in a precarious situation. He stood frozen, face to face with a venomous desert snake that threatened to strike at the slightest provocation. He had been standing in the same position for hours, rightly afraid to move, but was losing his poise and feared the end was near. Upon seeing his comrades he called to them, “What should I do?” They knew not what to answer him, nor would they dare approach lest they cause the snake to strike the trapped soldier and thereby bring about his early demise. Finally, one soldiered called back, “Say Shema Yisrael!” Although these secular Jewish soldiers knew not much of the Jewish way of life, they knew how a Jew was meant to meet his death. Accepting his fate, the soldier cried out, “Shema Yisrael, Ha-Shem Elokenu Ha-Shem Echad!” Suddenly, the snake dropped its threatening stance and slithered quickly away. The Jew was saved.

“After that miracle, he became a very religious man,” the taxi driver concluded to his religious passenger.

The passenger quizzically replied, “And what about you? Why didn’t you become religious after that?”

“What do you mean?” answered the secular man, “Weren’t you listening? The miracle happened to him, not to me!”

Tazria-Metzora speaks of three types of tzaraas: tzaraas of one’s body, tzaraas of one’s clothing, and tzaraas of one’s home. Tzaraas manifests as a physical discoloration, but tradition teaches that although it appears as a physical affliction, it in fact reveals a malady of the soul. Tzaraas on one’s body then makes sense, as the person guilty of a spiritual misstep suffers a personal consequence. But why are inanimate objects such as clothing and houses afflicted with tzaraas? What spiritual shortcoming could be present in a heap of bricks or an admixture of thread?

Rabbi Avigdor Miller זצ"ל explains that one of the chief purposes of suffering is to rehabilitate an evil-doer, motivating him to abandon his perverse ways and return to the proper path. But the Almighty is merciful, and to the extent that He can limit retribution He will. Therefore, if but a small measure of suffering would serve to motivate reform, only a small measure is invoked.

For some people, merely hearing news of another’s suffering motivates them to reevaluate the meaning of life and take steps to improve themselves. For example, if such a person sees a man walk down the street with the aid of a seeing-eye dog or a seeing cane, the viewer immediately realizes the great kindness bestowed upon him that he has eyes that see, and this appreciation motivates him to serve the Almighty more enthusiastically in thanks for His beneficence toward them.

For others, such motivation cannot be achieved without at least a fear that calamity may befall them. Once while living in Jerusalem, I was bitten by a cat at a time when authorities warned that a number of street cats had been found to have rabies. My medical insurance had just expired and I was sure I was to meet an early and rather unsavory end. You can be certain that in those first few minutes as I ran home as fast as I could and thoroughly cleaned the wound while searching the Web for home remedies for rabies I did way more teshuvah than a whole day in shul on Yom Kippur had ever accomplished. Thank G-d, the cat was clean and I didn’t actually have rabies, but it still took a personal scare to get me moving up the spiritual ladder.

Still others cannot be moved until they heave under the weight of their own genuine suffering. I heard from Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky שליט"א that once when he taught this idea, someone asked, “Why couldn’t G-d just make me stub my toe then instead of getting into a car accident and breaking my arm?” Rabbi Orlofsky replied, “The last time you stubbed your toe, did you stop to think, ‘What’s G-d trying to tell me?’” Even small doses of inconvenience can be tools for change if we would think to utilize them.

This is the lesson of tzaraas of the home or of one’s clothing. If one sees tzaraas on his home, one should interpret it as “the writing on the wall” and understand that although the affliction is yet far removed from one’s person, a positive spiritual reaction is mandated. The next step is for the tzaraas to encroach closer to the person, manifesting in his clothing. This is a more urgent warning of necessary change. Finally, the tzaraas afflicts the body itself, leaving the victim with no recourse but to rectify his deeds.

Let us learn the lesson of tzaraas, and by quickly identifying and rectifying our internal flaws, may we merit the visitation of no external symptoms.

Shir ha-Shirim 1:1 - Give Peace a Chance

1:1: "The song of songs that is of Shelomoh (Solomon)."

The first verse here seems to indicate nothing more than authorship. We are informed that this song is that of King Shelomoh, i.e. that it was composed by him. However, a number of questions arise. Firstly, many biblical works do not begin by telling us who wrote them, yet we know who their authors are by tradition. Why was it necessary for Shelomoh to put to writing that he is the writer? Secondly, what does it mean that this is the song "of songs"? Why not just "the song of Shelomoh"? To what other songs are referred here by the words "of songs." Of which songs? Although the Tanach (Hebrew Bible) includes other works by King Shelomoh, such as Mishley (Proverbs) and Koheleth (Ecclesiastes), neither are called songs.

Rashi grants us our first glimpse beyond the surface of the text. He comments here: "Our Sages have taught us that every mention of the name Shelomoh in Shir ha-Shirim is a divine name (i.e. an allusion to G-d Himself): 'The King to Whom peace belongs' ('Melech she-ha-Shalom Shelo')."

In Hebrew, the Shelomoh (and its equivalent non-proper noun "shelomo") is actually a contraction of the words "ha-shalom shelo," meaning "his peace" or "peace is his." Our Sages of blessed memory understood that within the metaphoric text of Shir ha-Shirim, even mentions of the author's name allude to more than a mere reference to the author himself. This inference is of course is necessary, as the author inserting his own name into a work not about himself is otherwise completely inappropriate! It just wouldn't make sense. What is novel here is that even in the introductory verse, that appears to do no more than indicate the author of the work to follow, is seen as part of the larger metaphor of the entire work. In context with all the other mentions of Shelomoh that are to be understood metaphorically, this one is no different. Drawing on the intrinsic meaning of the name, together with how it fits into the metaphor in context (which we shall explore, G-d willing) as well as the fact that King Shelomoh himself, as king of Israel, was none other than G-d's agent of rulership of His people, "Shelomoh" is regarded throughout this work, including the present verse, as a reference to the divine. Therefore the word is understood to refer to the King to Whom peace belongs. Not only does this reflect the literal translation of the name Shelomoh as mentioned above, but the word Shelomoh can be seen as an abbreviation of the Hebrew words "she-ha-shalom shelo") meaning "to whom peace belongs."

Additionally, this title describes the Master of the Universe quite fittingly. Of course, all things belong to G-d, as it were, and it may seem incorrect to imply that any one thing belongs to Him as opposed to any other, however, a bit of thought shows the brilliance in this name. All things in this world are made up of parts, sometimes acting in harmony with each other, and sometimes not. This is true for people within a society, different societies between one another, cosmic forces, or even elements within a single being. However, only G-d is totally singular and united with no disharmony or dichotomy in His Being whatsoever. Moreover, in Torah thought, G-d's unity means that since He is absolutely one, there is nothing else other than him. All of existence is none other than an extention of His own existence. The universe exists, as it were, within G-d. That is why G-d is sometimes called, in Torah sources, "Ha-Makom," meaning, "The Place," as our Sages have explained that "He is The Place of the universe, but the universe is not His place." As such, all things are part of a unified whole that is the ultimate of all possible unity. By definition, although not necessarily obvious to us, all elements of our world, from the most microscopic to the most cosmic, form a harmonious structure that itself is but part of the unified harmony of the Existence of the One G-d. The word "shalom," meaning "peace," is closely related to the Hebrew word "shalem," meaning "whole" or "perfect." All things are at peace with one another, part of the whole, within the One Perfect G-d. He is the King to Whom Peace Belongs.

That considered, if the description of this song as that "of Shelomoh" is not a reference to the book's authorship, what does it mean that this is the "Song of Songs that is of G-d?" Indeed, "Shelomoh" is no long the author of Shir ha-Shirim, but the book's subject. In this light, the meaning of the opening verse becomes: "This is the song of songs -- of all the songs ever sung about G-d, this one tops them all -- this is the greatest song of all songs ever sung to the Master of the Universe." With an introduction like that, aren't you curious to know what the song is? What it means?

Stay tuned...