A Thought on Parshas Bereishis

A Thought on Parshas Bereishis

This year I have selected the commentary of Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel for study. Little is known of this rishon and his writings have come to light rather recently. I first learned of Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel in a discussion with an old friend of mine, Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Cohen, who learned with me years ago in the yeshiva of HaGaon Rav Moshe Feinstein zt'l. Rabbi Cohen now lives in Lakewood, New Jersey and is a known expert on Torah manuscripts. He recommended this commentary because of its frequent original views of the lessons in our parshios.

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel appears to have been one of the Ba'alei Tosafos and lived at the end of the thirteenth century. He was a contemporary, and likely a disciple, of the great Rabbeinu Meir of Rottenberg (MaHaRam) who was the major teacher of the Rosh, whose commentary we studied last year in these Parsha Thoughts. He may have served as a rabbi in the German city of Magdeburg. He sometimes quotes or references some of the earlier rishonim whose works are already familiar to us from our Parsha Thoughts. Please join me now on our journey through the Torah through the writings of Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel. May HaShem guide me in presenting his ideas and views as clearly and accurately as they were intended.

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"...bora Elokim..."
"...bora Elokim la'asos..."
"...l'ovda u'l'shomra..."

"...the Lord created..." (1:1)
"...the Lord created to make..." (2:3)
"...to work it and to guard it..." (2:15)

The Torah begins with the account of genesis. The Lord created the world. Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel notes that the Divine name of Elokim is employed here. In fact, he observes, this is the only Name which surfaces in the entire description of the Creation! Later on, when the world begins to operate and each species begins to regenerate, we are told about how HaShem Elokim made heaven and earth. What is the lesson to be learned here? The name HaShem is absent from the creation and appears only with the earth becoming activated.

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel explains that the celestial creation was the forming of inanimate entities with no autonomy, no choices, no challenges and no struggles. Hence, that dimension of the universe operates with precision and predictability. Hence, there is no role in such a creation for the Divine quality of mercy. It is the "Lord", or how we understand the Divine name Elokim, who rules the world with justice and precision, who was "manifest" in genesis. Only with the advent of man, who struggles with choice and challenge and who errs and makes mistakes, do we learn about of the Divine quality of rachamim (HaShem of Mercy). This Name is only introduced in the dimension where mercy is a relevant, and necessary, concept.

This thought takes a tangent in the second verse cited. What does it mean that HaShem created the world "to make it"? Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel offers that once genesis reached its completion following the sixth day, it is the task of humanity to "make the world." It is man the created being who is given that freedom to make choices and decisions, and who therefore helps shape the direction which the rest of the world takes. We create the world which was originally created for us.

The third verse focuses on man's first entry into the world of doing and creating. We were placed in the Garden "to work it and to guard it." Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel is troubled by the grammar. In the Holy Tongue, "garden" is a masculine word. The suffix at the end of the words "to work it" and "to guard it" is a feminine suffix. If the verse meant that we were to work and guard the garden, it should have written l'avdo u'l'shamro.

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel writes that the suffix does not refer to the garden, but rather refers to the human soul which is mentioned in verse 7. We were placed in the Garden to work the soul and to guard the soul. Although man is given the power to choose and the gift of directing his own fate, we are nonetheless given the charge and mission to safeguard our sacred soul within. The choice is ours to make, but we are bidden to remain mindful of what is good and wholesome for the neshama. In our longing for Divine mercy, we must first explore our actions and deeds. Are we doing our job? Are we serving our role? The choices are ours to make, and it is our world which we create.

Wishing you a good Shabbos and a good new year of learning Torah together. D Fox

A Thought on Parshas V'zos HaBracha

A Thought on Parshas V'zos HaBracha

"...ashrecha Yisroel mi ka'mocha am nosha ba'HaShem..." (33:29)
"...fortunate are you Israel, who is like you, a nation delivered by HaShem..."

Moshe praises his nation and rejoices in their fortune. We are a nation unlike others. We are saved and delivered by Divine intervention.

The Rambam (Moreh HaNevuchim 2:29) explains that we Jewish people do not fear when we see our foes perish and disappear. We do not chalk up our victories to chance nor to our momentary surge of strength or strategy. If that was our premise, we would still fear the outcome of battle, always worried that the next encounter might result in our defeat. Our faith is in the One Above. It is His victory. With this trust - knowing that we are "delivered by HaShem" - there is no other nation like us.

The Rosh understands Moshe's exultation in a very similar fashion. "HaShem is our sword." When the Jewish nation must engage in battle, the weapon which we bear is the knowledge that when we march beneath the banner of Heaven, the Divine Presence leads the way. It is not our victories nor our might nor our cunning which separate us from the other nations. It is this faith - our trust in His word - which elevates the Jewish people in the eyes of the world.

According to the Rambam, we are like no other nation when we attribute our successes to HaShem. According to the Rosh, we are like no other nation when the rest of the world can see that we Jews remain steadfast in our faith in times of strife.

According to the Rambam, the battles we encounter are won by the Highest Power. We must know this. According to the Rosh, the battles we encounter are fought by the Highest Power. Everyone should know this.

When I studied under HaGaon Rav Moshe Feinstein zt'l, the Yom Kippur War broke out in Israel. This was perhaps the first and only time when I saw this great Rosh Yeshiva agitated. He literally ran into the Bais Medrash and demanded that we stop our break-the-fast and cry out Tehillim. After the war ended, we learned in the Yeshiva that one perspective for better understanding what happened in that tragic encounter was that during the Six Day War, there were many, many miraculous victories and events which defied rational understanding. For many, it was a sign that HaShem was our sword, and that it was His victory over His foes. For others, it was a sign of the superiority of Israeli military might. The suggestion was made, therefore, that the Yom Kippur War served to humble that mistaken view. It was not our might or tactics which determined the outcome, and if anyone assumed that, their mistake became evident in that follow-up encounter. Whether in Israel or in exile, the Jew needs to maintain the perspectives of the Rambam and the Rosh.

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This is the final parsha of the Torah. I have drawn on the holy words of these two exalted Rishonim this year, selecting nuggets of wisdom and insight from their many writings. I shall miss the Rambam and the Rosh. With the help of HaShem, I shall begin Parshas Bereishis
with my study of yet another Rishon. Good Shabbos and good Yom Tov. D Fox

A Thought on Parshas Ha'azinu

A Thought on Parshas Ha'azinu

"...v'oiveinu fil'il'im..."
...our enemies judge us..." (32:31)

The Song of Ha'azinu forecasts the events and times which will befall the Jewish nation throughout history. The Torah describes the consequences of our straying from the laws of the Holy Land. It details in cryptic and poetic form our exiles and painful sojourns among the nations of the world, and how our lives will be affected by their religions and governments. This verse depicts how we will feel, and will realize time and again, how the desolation of exile will bring us to the brink of despair. We will recall our better times, and contrast the wholesome governance of Divine law in our homeland with that of nations who either despise us or who beckon to assimilate us and absorb us. The words of our verse are a wringing of hands as the Torah laments (in advance) for us how we will cry over how they judge us.

The Rambam (Igeres Teiman 4) uses this verse to explain a verse in Psalms (120:5) "woe unto me in drawn-out sojourn, dwelling within the tents of Kedar." He writes that Dovid HaMelech had a prophetic vision of the Jews in exile. He foresaw that of all the nations whom we would encounter, it was the 'tent dwellers' - the kingdoms of Yishmael - who would hate us the most. "They will scheme and plot against us in creative ways, looking for more ways to harm us and new things to hate us for. "

He writes further: "the Jews have not had to face any other people who have assailed us more than the Yishmaelim. No one has gone to such extremes to humble us and degrade us with such intense hatred towards us. It is only the Yishmaelim whom Dovid King of Israel has wailed over."

The Rambam wrote this in his celebrated letter known as the Epistle to Yemen, in trying to offer encouragement to the Jews of that region who were threatened with annihilation by the Moslems there. He asserts that it was about that era of genocide and persecution which Dovid cried in the psalm. Moreover, the Rambam contends that the Biblical allusion to that historical and enduring reality is in our above verse. "Our enemies judge us" hints at the status quo of Islamic condemnation of the Jewish people, the Jewish homeland and Jewish identity. They judge us, sentence us, rule against us, and rally others to vote against us.
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The Rosh did not live in the regions familiar to the Rambam. As I have written early this year in my introduction to the Rambam and the Rosh (parshas Bereishis), the Rosh resided in Germany and later in Spain. Much of his life, he had to confront the threats of Christianity, a dominant presence which had taken his own teacher captive for life (MaHaRam Rabbeinu Meir of Rottenberg) and which had persecuted him and his family until they fled Europe.

The Rosh depicts a different form of tragedy besetting his brethren in their European exile. He takes a Talmudic analogy of the wasp and the scorpion. The remedy for a wasp sting will irritate the wound left by a scorpion bite, and by treating a scorpion bite, one interferes with their healing from a wasp sting.

This is what the Jew faces in exile: when we are oppressed, we are afraid to scream out for sympathy and mercy because we will be branded as trouble makers for drawing attention to ourselves. Yet, when we are oppressed and we fail to protest, we invite more attacks against ourselves. This is how the nations scrutinize and judge the Jew in exile. We cannot win and we lose face no matter how we react to persecution.

This is the first Shabbos of 5751. We have emerged from the Day of Judgement by the One King. We continue to pray that He looks at our merits. We yearn for Him to decree that our exiles are over, and that we may return to our homeland. The Jewish nation will be one again when we have reunited there and are committed to marching solely under the banner of Torah.

May that day come speedily. Good Shabbos and gmar tov. D. Fox

A thought on Parshios Nitzavim-VaYelech

A Thought on Parshios Nitzavim-VaYelech

"...l'maan safos ha'raveh es ha'tzam'ea...ha'nistaros l'HaShem..."
"...let me add moisture to the dry...the hidden is for HaShem..." (29:18,28)

Our Torah reading addresses each individual's struggle with adhering to the Divine wisdom and the sacred commandments. The above verses portray some of the internal narrative which people entertain in making choices about following or forsaking HaShem's rules.

The verse cited first is almost poetic in revealing the rationalization which some of us use in ignoring the warnings about dabbling with sin. The latter verse tells us the obvious: HaShem knows what goes on in our "hidden thoughts."

What is this "adding moisture to the dry" metaphor?

The Rambam (Shemoneh Perakim 3) interprets the phrase as a reference to those who struggle with temptation. They rationalize that they are seeking to nourish their painful thirst for fulfillment and merely seek to taste the forbidden waters to settle their existential distress. The Torah declares that people fool themselves. Their temptation is not curiosity; it is lust. By feeding their lust, they will long for further forays into compromise and immorality. This is the idea behind one claiming that "I just want to quench my parched soul." It is not soul fulfillment but rather psychological authenticity that they need to grapple with. The Torah is urging us to be honest with ourselves about ourselves.

The Rosh interprets the "moisture" as "sated". It refers to those forbidden sins which most of us have no urge to try. The "dry"ones are those which most people thirst for and struggle with. The former ones are moist, meaning that we look at them as theological issues which we are supposed to accept without really understanding them. We do not thirst for them at any psychological or biological level. The latter are those which seem more morally sensible to us, as if we understand why we must avoid them. Nonetheless, we still desire the benefits or pleasures which we attribute to acting on them.

The mind tormented by its passion and self-justification may give in to the "dry" longings and indulge in the forbidden. One may view one's self as merely giving in to impulse and fail to acknowledge the theological gravity of his straying. By failing to appreciate how even the "dry and thirsty" sins are also Divinely ordained, he fails to repent at a more spiritual level. Before long, says the Rosh, he will blend his indulgence in the thirsty sins with his venturing into the more overtly spiritual transgressions. He will join the moist with the dry.

The second verse emphasizes that "the hidden things are for HaShem and the revealed are for us." The Rambam (see Rabbeinu Bachya - Kad HaKemach who cites the lost commentary of the Rambam on Chumash) says that people sometimes believe that they have figured out why one thing or another is forbidden by the Torah. This does not justify one saying that he or she can disregard the actual behavior (the "revealed" facet of the commandment) as long as he respects its deeper "hidden" theological meaning. We must keep the commandments whether or not we believe that we have comprehended their intent. That is the hidden material and it is known only to HaShem. We have to occupy ourselves with performing the mitzvos regardless at the revealed or overt level.

The Rosh interprets this verse very differently. The hidden things are those deeds which a person tries to get away with secretly. HaShem will deal with him privately. The revealed things are those things which a person does in front of others. Those are not left up to HaShem, but rather are "lanu u'l'vaneinu ad olam" - they are for us to deal with. When we see another Jew behaving without regard to his effect on others, we need to intervene. We cannot keep the matter "hidden" or ignore it. If we do not intervene, writes the Rosh, then the consequence will also be "revealed". It will affect us and our children forever. Our failure to act will signal acceptance and complicity. That is not right and will then become a matter of Divine retribution r'l.

This is the last week of 5770. With HaShem's help we will cover next week's parsha next year. A good Shabbos. A Kasiva v'Chasima Tova. D. Fox