Tuesday, October 25, 2011

A Thought On Parshas Noach

A Thought On Parshas Noach

"...va'yomer arur Kanaan eved avadim....baruch HaShem
Elokei Shem......yaft Elokim l'Yefes..."

"...and Noach said Cursed is Kanaan, a slave's slave...Blessed be G-d
the Lord of Shem...May G-d expand Yefes..." (9:25-27)

I have known some people in my lifetime who have had unusual first names. I worked with a woman named Place once. I knew a Jewish man named Yad (hand). I met a child named Levy, not Jewish, whose hillbilly father chose the name because "he was soft like my best pants."

In Biblical times, our tradition relates, names were chosen with purpose, precision and at times with prophetic vision. How did Noach come up with the name Shem, which simply means "name"?

When Noach addresses his three adult sons and forecasts their descendant's destinies, there are some striking parallels between each forecast and the respective names that he had earlier chosen for those sons.

The Bechor Shor comments: the third son mentioned is Yefes. His name means to expand. The blessing later given to him is also one of expanding - yaft Elokim le'Yefes - HaShem will expand his borders so that his domain will encompass many lands. There is an audible linguistic parallel between Yefes and Yaft.

The first son mentioned is actually not a son but a grandson of Noach. Our tradition states that both that grandson, and his father, were guilty of a grave misdeed in disrespecting their father Noach. The grandson was Kanaan and the father was Cham. The dismal forecast began with how each of Cham's sons would become Kanaan-like, "a slave to slaves." The linguistic parallel with his name Kanaan is that the word nichnaa means to submit or to be subservient. The concept of "a slave to slaves" meant that his descendants would be a lowly nation who would seek slaves from among their own relatives. The Bechor Shor observes that, as an illustration of this, we see that MItzrayim (Egypt) was a son of Cham and brother of Kanaan. In various places, we find Egypt referred to as "bais avadim", the house of bondage or slavery. One would assume that this means that the Jews were slaves there (for example, we say "u'mi'bais avadim pidi'sanu" - You redeemed us from Egypt, the house of slavery"; in the Book of Shoftim (6:8) we also read v'otzie eschem mi'bais avadim - I brought you out of Egypt, the house of slavery.) The Bechor Shor suggests that an accurate reading of that expression is that Egypt is called a "house of slavery" because it was a home to slaves who took other slaves to serve them. This was the curse given to Cham that his descendants might subjugate other people but they would always remain lowly and under-civilized themselves.

The second reference is to Shem. The blessing is "blessed is HaShem the Lord of Shem." That seems like a reflexive blessing. Who is getting blessed, Shem, or G-d? The Bechor Shor suggests that the word parallel here is that the name Shem is actually a name of HaShem. Apparently, Noach named his son Shem as a means of bestowing honor to G-d Himself. We find that in the Book of Shmuel (II 6:2) it is written "asher nikra shem Shem HaShem." One way of understanding that verse is that it means a name of HaShem is "the Name". The veritable play on words in our verse, then, is that the blessing of HaShem is a blessing of the son who is also named Shem.

The mystique of that blessing is that, in contrast with Cham, the only One who is above Shem is G-d. There is no master who lords over Shem in the manner that masters and slave-masters subjugate the descendants of Cham. In that way, under any conditions, those who are still authentic Semites - the Jewish people - will always be a free nation when they and the world accept that the only master whom we honor and acknowledge is the One Above us all.

We've got a name to live up to, and a Name to live up to. Good Shabbos. D Fox

Monday, October 17, 2011

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

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

A Thought On Parshas V'zos HaBracha

A Thought on Parshas V'zos HaBracha

"...vi'yihi misav mispar..."
"...and may his men be numbered..." (33:6)

Moshe salutes the tribes with his farewell blessing, offering words of praise and of hope as he alludes to their roles in centuries to come. The lead-off blessing to the tribe of Reuven is interesting at many levels. One feature of intrigue is the above clause - may his men be numbered.

We know that the Torah prohibits us from counting our ranks. We do not take a conventional census. If anything, numbering Reuven's men would be the opposite of a blessing. We like to think of our people as being innumerable as the stars and the sand. Why would Moshe set a limit on the members of this tribe?

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel offers a selection of ideas. First he suggests that the atypical word misav does not mean men (which it sometimes does) but comes instead from the word mais, a dead body. Moshe Rabbeinu is blessing this tribe with limited casualties. In other words, it is almost like what we would call a Jewish compliment - "he shouldn't have many deaths" which is intended to say "his tribe members should live long lives."

A second idea is that the preceding clause ("yichi Reuven v'al ya'mus" - may Reuven live and not die) contains the word v'al - "and not." Grammatically, this prefacing word can extend to both the ensuing clause and the one which follows it. Hence, we could understand our verse as "v'al ya'mus v'al ye'hi mispar" - may he not die and may his men not be numbered.

A third idea is that the word misav means warriors, as it is written (2:34) kol ir misim - all of the city's warriors. Our verse would then mean "when Reuven's warriors go to battle, the same number will return." It is a blessing that none of our soldiers will perish in battle.

With this trio of interpretations, the term "number" can mean "a limited number", "without number", or "the identical number." This is an example of the originality and versatility of our master Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel whose writings I have now completed for this year. I feel that this quality, his broad and original versatility, has been unparalleled and unmatched by any of the great Rishonim whose works I have studied to date. He is a master of elucidating pshat, the essential meaning of the verses; he introduces remez and sod - deeper allusions and profound essences within and beneath the words; and he also presents us with ample drash - homiletics drawn from the Torah lessons. He was bold in addressing some of the Christian misconstruing of Torah verses, engaging in subtle dispute with his oppressive host culture. Although I seldom addressed it, he also spends much energy on halacha in demonstrating how legalistic rulings can be traced to the wording of many passages. I shall miss Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel for he has fascinated me greatly, and I am struck by his relative anonymity within the yeshiva community.

Farewell, my master and teacher who has explained so much to me. I add you to my list of great Rishonim - the challenge for this new year of 5772 is selecting the next Rishon. We have merited the study of Rashi, Ibn Ezra (short version), Ibn Ezra (long version), Rav Saadia Gaon, Chezkuni, Rabbeinu Bachya, Rabbeinu Yona, Rabbeinu Avraham ben Rambam, Recanati, Radak, Seforno, Rashbam, Rabbeinu Efraim, Ralbag, Rosh, Rambam, Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel... Sadly, there are few remaining published rishonim whose writings might illuminate our study of Torah. Let us see what parshas Bereishis brings to our weekly parsha emails with the loving help of HaShem.

Good Shabbos and good yom tov. Gmar Chasima Tova. D Fox