A Thought On Parshas Bereishis
A Thought On Parshas Bereishis
This year, I have chosen another great Rishon whose works on Chumash are less well known. He was one of the Baalei Tosfos, a colleague of those great European scholars who were associated with Rashi's great grandsons. He lived in the eleven hundreds and his comments often surface in the writings of the Tosafists throughout the Talmud. Some believe he was actually the person known by the title "R'Y (pronounced "Ree" in the yeshiva world) of Orleans, which would make him a resident of north central France. The R'Y of Orleans is frequently cited by the Rishonim as a Talmudic authority. The question is, what does the "Y" in R'Y stand for, given that the "R" stands for Rabbeinu, our master and teacher?
According to the above opinion, the "Y" stands for the name Yosef, meaning that the R'Y was actually Rabbeinu Yosef of Orleans. Others question whether or not the Rishon whom I selected this year was actually one and the same as the R'Y of Orleans. Regardless, this author did go by the first name Yosef, and seems to have called his work or even his surname Bechor Shor - the first born ox, or mighty ox. He is often cited as Rabbeinu Yosef Bechor Shor. Those words show up in the last parsha of the Torah, which many of us hear over and again on Simchas Torah, where the Biblical Yosef is called by Moshe Rabbeinu "Bechor Shoro hadar lo" - His firstborn ox is His splendor, referring to Yosef's prominent role among the Jewish tribes and their early history.
Come with me now and study the commentary of the Bechor Shor this year, whose works seem to focus on direct interpretation of the verses with somewhat of a psychological bent. I will begin this year's study by taking a number of his thoughts on a few verses so that we can begin to sample his style.
* * * * * * *
"...be'tzelem Elokim..."
"...in the Lord's image..." (1:27)
"...va'yipach b'apav nishmas chaim..."
"...and He infused man with the spiritual life..." (2:5)
"...b'yom achal'cha mimenu mos tamus..."
"...on the day you eat from it you will die..." (2:15)
"...eh'seh lo ezer k'negdo..."
"...I will make for him a corresponding partner..." (2:18)
Many ideas have been put forth in trying to explaining the bold statement that HaShem made man in His image. Concretely, HaShem has no image, in that an image is a material concept. With no physicality to imitate, human beings cannot take on or imitate His non-image. The Bechor Shor offers a novel yet obvious interpretation, focusing more on the word "Lord" than on the word image. He observes that Elokim is also used Biblically as a synonym for judge. One of the words for judge is elokim. When the Torah says that HaShem made man in the judges' image, this refers to the higher human capacity to view the word critically and to form judgements and thoughtful decisions. That quality seems to be a uniquely human one, and obligates us to study our world, be self aware, and to take responsibility for our decisions and deeds. We are created in a judging form.
____________
The "spiritual life" of the second cited verse refers, says the Bechor Shor, to the G-d given capacity to accumulate knowledge, to communicate through intelligent speech, and to comprehend the world. Whereas those skills are definitely psychological ones, they have a spiritual source, given to us from Above. It is the spiritual nature of those capacities which is destined to account to HaShem for our actions, psychological and behavioral, in the World to Come. The Bechor Shor's concept seems to emphasize that the neshama has its sacred quality not only because of its Heavenly origin, but because it is destined to ascend again after this life. Rather than viewing our transcendent self as our psychological self, the Bechor Shor contends that the self which must face the Divine court is our spirit. It seems that our spirit is responsible for the effects of our earthly behavior and will have to account for them.
______________
Adam was forbidden to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life, with the advisement that "on the day you eat from it you will die." The Bechor Shor explains that the fruit was not poison and would not kill people on the spot. Rather, HaShem was advising Adam that existence in Eden was perfect and life would not end as long as that perfection was preserved. Should man attempt to alter that perfect world, and eat a forbidden fruit, he would no longer merit eternal existence in Eden. He would retrogress to a mortal status and would then have a limited life span. This is what the verse means that by violating this one commandment, man would live a limited and terminal life. "You will die" means the ultimate reality that humans are fated to die.
________________
Adam was to view Chava as his ezer kenegdo, his partner and helper, in an exclusive way. We tend to view our spouses as, among other things, the co-parents of our children. The Bechor Shor understands that ezer kenegdo was not one of Chava's roles; it was her only role. In Eden, the Divine plan was for the two human creations to live forever and to need nothing and no one but each other. There were not going to be descendants, since the couple would live forever, together. He explains that "as long as their is no death, there is no reason for additional generations." A role of offspring is to carry on the tradition when one is gone. We plan for the future of our race and our world through our decision to have children.
May HaShem who has been good to me this last year now grant me the merit of learning much Torah, and may I learn from the Torah of Rabbeinu Yosef Bechor Shor. Good Shabbos. D Fox
This year, I have chosen another great Rishon whose works on Chumash are less well known. He was one of the Baalei Tosfos, a colleague of those great European scholars who were associated with Rashi's great grandsons. He lived in the eleven hundreds and his comments often surface in the writings of the Tosafists throughout the Talmud. Some believe he was actually the person known by the title "R'Y (pronounced "Ree" in the yeshiva world) of Orleans, which would make him a resident of north central France. The R'Y of Orleans is frequently cited by the Rishonim as a Talmudic authority. The question is, what does the "Y" in R'Y stand for, given that the "R" stands for Rabbeinu, our master and teacher?
According to the above opinion, the "Y" stands for the name Yosef, meaning that the R'Y was actually Rabbeinu Yosef of Orleans. Others question whether or not the Rishon whom I selected this year was actually one and the same as the R'Y of Orleans. Regardless, this author did go by the first name Yosef, and seems to have called his work or even his surname Bechor Shor - the first born ox, or mighty ox. He is often cited as Rabbeinu Yosef Bechor Shor. Those words show up in the last parsha of the Torah, which many of us hear over and again on Simchas Torah, where the Biblical Yosef is called by Moshe Rabbeinu "Bechor Shoro hadar lo" - His firstborn ox is His splendor, referring to Yosef's prominent role among the Jewish tribes and their early history.
Come with me now and study the commentary of the Bechor Shor this year, whose works seem to focus on direct interpretation of the verses with somewhat of a psychological bent. I will begin this year's study by taking a number of his thoughts on a few verses so that we can begin to sample his style.
* * * * * * *
"...be'tzelem Elokim..."
"...in the Lord's image..." (1:27)
"...va'yipach b'apav nishmas chaim..."
"...and He infused man with the spiritual life..." (2:5)
"...b'yom achal'cha mimenu mos tamus..."
"...on the day you eat from it you will die..." (2:15)
"...eh'seh lo ezer k'negdo..."
"...I will make for him a corresponding partner..." (2:18)
Many ideas have been put forth in trying to explaining the bold statement that HaShem made man in His image. Concretely, HaShem has no image, in that an image is a material concept. With no physicality to imitate, human beings cannot take on or imitate His non-image. The Bechor Shor offers a novel yet obvious interpretation, focusing more on the word "Lord" than on the word image. He observes that Elokim is also used Biblically as a synonym for judge. One of the words for judge is elokim. When the Torah says that HaShem made man in the judges' image, this refers to the higher human capacity to view the word critically and to form judgements and thoughtful decisions. That quality seems to be a uniquely human one, and obligates us to study our world, be self aware, and to take responsibility for our decisions and deeds. We are created in a judging form.
____________
The "spiritual life" of the second cited verse refers, says the Bechor Shor, to the G-d given capacity to accumulate knowledge, to communicate through intelligent speech, and to comprehend the world. Whereas those skills are definitely psychological ones, they have a spiritual source, given to us from Above. It is the spiritual nature of those capacities which is destined to account to HaShem for our actions, psychological and behavioral, in the World to Come. The Bechor Shor's concept seems to emphasize that the neshama has its sacred quality not only because of its Heavenly origin, but because it is destined to ascend again after this life. Rather than viewing our transcendent self as our psychological self, the Bechor Shor contends that the self which must face the Divine court is our spirit. It seems that our spirit is responsible for the effects of our earthly behavior and will have to account for them.
______________
Adam was forbidden to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life, with the advisement that "on the day you eat from it you will die." The Bechor Shor explains that the fruit was not poison and would not kill people on the spot. Rather, HaShem was advising Adam that existence in Eden was perfect and life would not end as long as that perfection was preserved. Should man attempt to alter that perfect world, and eat a forbidden fruit, he would no longer merit eternal existence in Eden. He would retrogress to a mortal status and would then have a limited life span. This is what the verse means that by violating this one commandment, man would live a limited and terminal life. "You will die" means the ultimate reality that humans are fated to die.
________________
Adam was to view Chava as his ezer kenegdo, his partner and helper, in an exclusive way. We tend to view our spouses as, among other things, the co-parents of our children. The Bechor Shor understands that ezer kenegdo was not one of Chava's roles; it was her only role. In Eden, the Divine plan was for the two human creations to live forever and to need nothing and no one but each other. There were not going to be descendants, since the couple would live forever, together. He explains that "as long as their is no death, there is no reason for additional generations." A role of offspring is to carry on the tradition when one is gone. We plan for the future of our race and our world through our decision to have children.
May HaShem who has been good to me this last year now grant me the merit of learning much Torah, and may I learn from the Torah of Rabbeinu Yosef Bechor Shor. Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 8:20 PM
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