With The Commentary of the RABAM
Rabboisai,
Many of my talmidim have asked me about the current situation in Eretz Yisroel. And my typical response has been, "stop annoying me already, I am trying to figure out whether or not one is allowed to eat M&Ms on Shabbos koidesh. If they melt in your mouth but not in your hands, does that constitute an issur of Noilad?" Or "I'm busy at the moment, was it the left shoe I put on, which is the Aimishteh's right, or the other way around?" Or some other critical halachic shayla.
Current situation in Eretz Yisroel = While whatever happens is, in the best of lands, always gam zu le tova, there is confusion.
Issur of Nolad = A disallowment of something, like an egg or fresh yoghurt, which has come into being on the Sabbath. Nolad literally referes to a process of being born. The halachic term is also occasionally applied to something which has melted on the Sabbath.
Shoes = Tying laces is melacha, and hence issur on shabbes. But loafers are acceptable. Many self-styled Chasidim think they do enough if they only have two pairs (Rabbeinu Tam and Rashi), but Yochanan ha Sandlar opines that one should start with two pairs, bedi'eved, but at add at least one more pair for each child and each new member of the family, thus ending up with many pairs – and a community that does so will live forever.
Stout hiking boots are only shabbesdik if put on before shkiya on Friday, and worn through till Motzei Shabbes.
Halacha also addresses, as a matter of course, what is the preferred order for donning footware in the morning, in order prepare oneself for proper service of the Divine.
Loafers = You should preferably get the type with fringes and tassels upon the tongue, as it is written: “U reitem oto u zechartem et ha tzitzit” (…that you may look upon it, and remember …..).
Well, after much deliberation, I have decided to speak out. I can no longer sit back as our Jewish Brethren are asked to take actions that may stand in direct contrast to the will of the Reboinoisheloilum. So here, now, I must break my silence.
Deciding to speak out - in the spirit of ‘Milsa d’lo shechi lo gazru ba Rabbanan’ (our Rabbis do not extend their decrees to rare cases).
I will share with you a Maiseh Shehoya: Last night, as I was davening Tikkun Chatzois, I heard a loud voice speaking to me. At first I thought that the commercial was over and Letterman was back on. But as I put my siddur down, I heard a voice speaking DIRECTLY to me through my new HDTV….err…AM radio. "Reb Pinky, Reb Pinky" the voice said.
Tikkun Chatzos = Rectification at midnight. Prayers which express sorrow over the exile of the divine presence, mourning over the destroyed temple and the hope that it will be rebuilt, and pity for the troubles of the world. Very Chassidish, yet also very Kabalistic – but, as a chossid might say to a kabalist, ‘bnei ish achad nachenu’ (we are sons of the same man, from Parshas Masei).
Siddur = Prayer book.
"Here I am," I responded.
I stepped closer to the screen. "Wait!" the voice said. And the voice continued: "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."
‘Draw not nigh yada yada yada’ = “va yomer al tikrav ha lom shal nealeicha me al ragleicha ki ha makom asher ata oimed alav admat koidesh hu”, as in Shmos (Exodus), psook 3:5. Why was this said? Because the television is as a burning bush, in the same manner that the shul is a stand-in for the Beis HaMikdosh.
"Can you please say that again?" I asked, "I have no idea what you just said."
No idea etc. = Because of the peculiar Elizabethan leshoin. Our Yeshivos do not teach Shakespeare’s English much anymore.
"You worthless Minuval," the voice continued. "I am the Hakadoshboruchhu of thy father, of Avraham, of Yitzchak, and of Yankif." It was the Aimishteh Himself! I could not believe my unique privilege. He went on, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in the Promised Land, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows."
“I have surely seen…” = "va yomer Aimishteh rao raiti et oni ami asher be ha'aretz asher noten lach, ve et tsa'akatam shamati mi'pnei nogsav ki yadati et machovav."
Promised Land = As it says in Devarim (Deuteronomy), in psook 34:4 “"va yomer Adonai elav 'zot ha eretz asher nishbati le Avraham, le Yitzhak, u le Yakov, lemor 'le zaracha et nena heriticha ve eineicha ve shama...''" (And the Aibishter said to him 'this is the land which I promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying 'I will give it to your seed; I have let you see it with your own eyes, but....).
"Right!" I answered. "What do you expect me to do about it? It's almost 12:30 at night."
"Go forth and tell the soldiers of the Israeli army that they should refuse all orders" the Reboinoisheloilum said. "If they are asked to evacuate citizens of Israel, they must put down their weapons."
"I will tell people that right away!" I declared. "I will join the chorus of some of my Rabbinic colleagues!"
Chorus of Rabbinic colleagues = Who aspire to be counted amongst the gedolei ha dor (greats of the generation). Gedolei Hador are often recognition of their marvelous ability to all come up with EXACTLY the same opinions while being separately engaged in independent thought and intellectual activity, precisely like the seventy scholars who worked independently on scripture during Greek times (in compiling the biblical translation known as the Septuagint), whose translations deviated from each other by not one word (according to rabbinic legend and the National Enquirer)..
Truly this is the age of miracles! We are blessed by the utter unanimity of their unique individualities!
Be-emmes!
This is what Torah discourse should be – absolute agreement, unquestioning achdus.
"Shut Up!" He yelled. "I am not through yet! Also tell the soldiers that they must put down their weapons, wherever they are. They must not oppress the Arab resident of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, for the Palestinians are my children too. They must step back from the border with Syria, and withdraw all tanks and fighter jets, because they are intimidating Israel's neighbors and creating their own enemies. They must abandon their patrols along the Lebanese and Jordanian borders, because their time would be better spent studying Toirah. And they must close the facility in Dimona, and convert it into an amusement park."
Dimona = A non-existent place, even the name sounds invented. Who told you about Dimona? Was it a European? It was a Goy, wasn't it?
"Err… Aimishteh, if the army stops following orders, how will we defend our State?" I asked in my most respectful voice.
"How can you defend the State without a well functioning army?" the Reboinoisheloilum asked rhetorically. "Hmmm, I hadn't thought of that one. Let me get back to you."
A well functioning army = The state of Israel can be likened to a courtyard with many residents. It says in Chosen Mishpot 161:1 that all who own a house in a courtyard must pay their share for the common gate, indicating that what is for the common good is the responsibility of all who have a part in it.
In Kiddushin 42a we are told “zachin le adam shelo be fanav” – If it benefits a person to acquire something, his explicit consent for the acquisition is not essential. But if it is not a benefit to the person, his consent is necessary.
We are told in Emek HaMishpot (volume 3, 48:16) that he who neglects his fence is in fact harming his neighbor.
Dimona = There is no such word in Ivrit. It sounds French. Or possibly Amalekian.
So ended my first hand encounter with Hakadoshboruchhu. For a few minutes I stared at the screen, blank faced, in awe, unable to move.
But, thankfully, I was revived, as my absent minded flipping of the channels found "G String Divas" on HBO, already in progress. So what did I learn from this encounter, and what can I impart to you, my beloved talmid?
HBO = Hebrew Broadcasting Organization? Voss iz gevehn G-String Divas? A small chamber ensemble? Kultur adds polish to the person, so improve yourself, by all means watch.
Dimona = I do not know what this word means.
First off – the message from the Aimishteh was less than clear. On the one hand, if the Reboinoisheloilum wanted us to leave Gaza, He wouldn't have put us there in the first place. The land was captured legitimately in war. And Hakadoshboruchhu knows, we cannot rely upon the Palestinians to have peaceful intentions. On the other hand, maybe it is our sacrifice that makes us whole: perhaps Gaza is our Orla, and it is the act of territorial sacrifice, of circumcision, that ensures our identity and our cultural completeness.
Orla = Foreskin, which must be removed in emulation of Avrohom Avinu, who removed his to show his covenant with the Aybichter.
I advise you to stop thinking about this word Dimona, you sonay Yisroel.
Second -- Da Lifne Mi Ata Omed. The Aimishteh is with us, always.
When we are at work. When we are at home. When we are standing. And when we are lying down. We are told this in the Toirah, in the Gemarrah and in the Zoihar. But never did I believe it until last night.
Da Lifne Mi Ata Omed = Rabbi Eliezer said: “Know before whom you stand” (da lifnei mi etc). Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said ‘consider three things and you will not sin – above you an eye that sees, an ear that hears, and a book in which all that you do is written.’
At all times consider yourself to be lifnei Hashem (in the presence of the deity), and, as it says in Shmos (Exodus) in psook 23:7 “Distance yourself from a false matter, and the innocent and righteous do not strike, for I will not uphold the wicked” (Midevaro sheker tirchak ve naki ve tsadik al taharog ki lo atsdik rasha).
This is a point that makes me particularly uncomfortable. After all, in a Gemarrah in Menuichois, there is a famous machloikess between Abaye and Rava. According to Abaye, the Reboinoisheloilum is a man, since we read in Shir Hashirim about how Klal Yisroel is wife to Hakadoshboruchhu the husband. But according to Rava, the Aimishteh is a woman, for as the giver of life, the Aimishteh must be female.
Abaya and Rava = Them again!
Shir HaShirim = The Song of Songs, asher liShlomo (which is Solomon’s). One of the most splendid examples of erotic poetry to come down to us from the ancient world, filled with innocently depraved imagery that even through the prism of translation excites the mind.
Many have sought to portray this most splendid of all ancient lust-poems as an allegory of the relationship between the Aibishter and Yisroel, including the great Akiva - that is not only a stretch, but probably also a misrepresentation of the zestiness of the ancient Israelites.
The two main characters are a naughty young lady (who has not guarded her ‘arbor’), and her incredibly studly lover.
In asides to the audience, she praises her lover “tseror hammor dodi-li bein shadei yaliyin” (a bundle of myrrh is my sweetheart to me, between my breasts at night). [Psook 1:13]
And she tells us, unashamedly (2:4) “hebiyani el beit ha yayin ve diglo alayi ahavah” (He took me to the wine-shop, and his banner over me was love), which is followed, in mittn drinnen, with one of the much quoted lines of the poem, “sammekuni ba ashishot, rappeduni ba tapuchim, ki cholat ahabah ani” (Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick with love). [Psookim 2:4 & 2:5]
The, saucily, she eggs him on, “ad sheyapuach ha yom ve nasu hatselelim sov demehlecha dodi, litsvio le ofer ha ayalim al harei Beyter” (until break of day and the shadows fade, stay oh sweetness, and be like the deer or a young buck in the hills of Bether). [Psook 2:17)
Enraptured, her lover echoes the deer metaphor, telling her “ shenei shadeyich kish’nei oferim te'omei tseviyah ha royim ba shoshanim” (your breasts are like two young deer, twins, which feed among the lilies). [Psook 4:5]
Further on in the poem it gets steamy beyond belief, and graphic: “Dodi shalach yado min ha chor u meahamu aleyi” (my lover put his hand on the opening of my gate, and I quivered in anticipation), “gamti ani l’iftoach le dodi ve yadei nateifu mor ve etz beyotei mor oiver al kappot ha manol” (I rose up to open to my lover, and my hands dripped with myrrh and sweet-smelling resins on the handle of the lock….). [Psook 5:4 – 5]
If this weren’t scripture, it would’ve been burned centuries ago.
I’m having such trouble breathing.
The young man is all appreciation, as is evident: “Ma yofe amayich ba neyalim bat nadib chamukey yerechayich ke mochalayim ma’aseh yedei amman!” (How like a drinking vessel is your navel which lacks no liquor, your belly like a pile of wheat bordered by flowers!). [Psook 7:2]
Butter-tongued little fellow, isn’t he?
Strangely, her older brothers are blitheringly oblivious to what’s going on virtually under their noses – “Achot lanuketanah ve shadayim ein lah – ma naseh la achoteinu ba yom she yeduver bah? (We have a little sister, who has no breasts – what shall we do for our little sister, on the day that she be spoke for?). [Psook 8:8]
They’re dense.
Their little sister makes good use of the blindness of her brothers, however, as she sends messages to her lover, “berach dodi, u demelecha l’itzbiyo le ofer ha ayyalim al harei bsamim!” (hasten, big boy, and act like a stag or young buck upon the mountain of intoxicants!). [Psook 8:14]
Shoyn.
But okay, if Chazal want to claim that this is an innocent metaphor for the relationship between the Aibishteh and Yisroel, sure, I can see that. Not gonna disagree.
We’re His bitch.
This is quite disturbing: If the Reboinoisheloilum is with me at all times, and He is a guy, then He is also in the same room with me and my Bashert, Feige Breinah, during our most intimate moments. And, frankly, that's pretty gay. This may be perfectly fine for others, gezunte heyt, but not really my speed.
Dimona = It isn’t the Beis Hamikdash – stop obsessing about it already!
But if Hakadoshboruchhu is a chick, and She is in the same room with Feige Breina and me, well – I've lived out my lifelong fantasy! What bruchah should I make! Will Hallel suffice? Should I bring a Karban Toidah? How about a nice charitable donation?
What brucha? = Several are possible, few are perfect for the occasion. Chazal has not left us their thoughts on this matter, and we may therefore create our own tradition.
The question we must ask is: "Do I personally recognize an obligation to say a blessing?", and also "can the message of this blessing be re-valued or transvalued for all time?" ("the present has a vote but not a veto"). Then immediately afterwards engage in hisbodiddus (spontaneous unstructured prayer while swaying back and forth), and shuckel till you drop.
Regardless, I return to the notion of the redeployment from Gaza. If I were to apply the teachings of the RAMBAM, he holds that the notion of Milchemes Mitzvah was only relevant to the conquest of Eretz Yisroel in the time of Yehoishua. Consequently, we are not compelled to live in a constant state of war in order to redeem the land. Rather, we must use wisdom and political judgment. The RAMBAN, however, believes that Milchemes Mitzvah applies in every generation, whenever we have the opportunity to establish and extend a Jewish Presence in Eretz Hakoidesh.
RAMBAM = Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon (1135 – 1204), a scholar who was born in Spain but died in Africa. His writings form a small library, spanning several subjects, which he treats in breadth and in depth.
Milchemes Mitzva = A war that is a commandment, a righteous and just war, in which we are obligated to engage. A war which Hashem has commanded. But al pi Rambam, a milchemes mitzvah requires the din of a Melech, which implies that the struggle over Gaza may perhaps be merely a milchemes reshus (a war over domain). Parshas Ki Setzei, in the example of the son of a woman captured in combat, warns us against such wars.
Yehoishua = Joshua, the leader of the conquest of the holy land, who succeeded Moishe. From Shittim, the tribe goes to the Jordan river, crossing in a miracle, and stopping at Gilgal to circumcise the uncut ones. Then Jericho is besieged, and taken in seven days of very gay marching, followed by an attack on Ai which is repulsed, disheartening the minuvals I mean Israelites. The Israelites are told that it was sin that prevented their victory. After stoning to death Achan from the tribe of Judah, whose guilt was indisputably proven by mumbo jumbo, they storm Ai and capture it, massacring twelve thousand inhabitants. The Gibeonites, who do not oppose the Israelites, get turned into second-class citizens.
Five local kings opportunistically attack Gibeon, are trounced by Joshua, and the hill country is taken. The city of Hazor is slaughtered, the natives of several places are expelled, and the tabernacle is established at Shiloh (not Yerushalayim, which at that time is still the ‘daughter of Jebus’. Kill kill kill, eat eat eat.
Much land is divided up in the years that follow, the Israelites quarrel among themselves (what a surprise!), and Joshua, like Moishe before him, speechifies on his deathbed. His people bury him in Shechem.
Ramban = Rabbi Moishe Ben Nachman Gerondi (1194 – 1270), a scholar who was born in Spain but died in Eretz Yisroel. Because of an argument with a converso who had the backing of the Dominicans, he fled Spain in 1267. His commentary on the Toire is most marvelously worth reading, even in translation.
There is no such place as Dimona.
Well, who do we hold like? To be honest – I hold like neither RAMBAM nor RAMBAN. Let's face it – they were both Rice Eaters, if you know what I mean, so I am not sure if they were even Jewish. I mean: they lost the tradition that was preserved by the great Ashkenazic sages, who studied Toirah from morning until night. They lived amongst the Moslems, and studied their literature and science. While MY ancestors were busy with lumdishe inyunim, the RAMBAN and RAMBAN were busy making house calls, and undoubtedly eating traifus and worshiping Yushka.
Rice eaters = We do not eat kitniyos during Peysach, but for some inexplicable reason they (you know who I mean!) have chosen to ignore our fine example and invent their own tradition. I am reminded of Koirach, and of Moishe’s two nephews Nadav & Abihoo.
Lundishe inyunim = Di tiefe sheiles voss zeinen in unsere Talmud.
So, using my best judgment of the situation, I declare that soldiers may refuse to follow orders. I base this less on Halachic sources – which are inconclusive -- than on my reading of the security situation, based upon my deep strategic experience and insights. After all, I once read a book about military strategy…well, it was actually an introduction to coaching peewee football. But I also used to play Risk every Shabbos afternoon, and that has to count for something.
Halachic sources which are inconclusive = Gamzu le tovah (everything is for the good, this too is for the best).
Where you thinking about Dimona AGAIN!?!!?
Damn hippie!
