The Lesson of the Average Child

And she (Ḥanna) was bitter in spirit, and she prayed to the Lord, and wept. And she vowed a vow, and said: “Lord of Hosts, if You will look upon the affliction of Your handmaid, and You will remember me, and You will not forget Your handmaid and You will give Your handmaid a man-child, then I shall give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.”                          First Samuel 1:10-11

            The haftara of the first day of Rosh haShana is the opening chapter of First Samuel through the end of the prayer of Ḥanna, Samuel’s mother [2:10]. This choice is based upon our Sages’ tradition that Sarah, Rachel and Ḥanna (each of whom was barren) were remembered by God on Rosh haShana. For the same reason, the Torah reading for the day is “And the Lord remembered Sarah,” etc. [Genesis 21:1-34]

            In fact, the haftara includes two prayers of Ḥanna; the first is her request that she be blessed with a son, the second her prayer of thanksgiving after her request was granted. In truth, the verses do not specify the content of Ḥanna’s prayer of request, however, the verses we quoted, which are Ḥanna’s vow should her request be granted, convey the content of her prayer.

            Our Sages presented a variety of explanations for Ḥanna’s request to be given “a man-child:”

“And You will give Your handmaid a man-child” - What is meant by “a man-child?” Rav said: “A man among men;” Samuel said: “Seed that will anoint two men, namely, Saul and David;” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: “Seed that will be equal to two men, namely, Moses and Aaron, as it says, ‘Moses and Aaron among His priests and Samuel among them that call upon His name;’” [Psalms 89:6] the Rabbis say: “Seed that will be absorbed among men.” When Rabbi Dimi came (from Israel to Babylonia) he explained this to mean: “Neither too tall nor too short, neither too thin nor too corpulent, neither too pale nor too red, neither clever nor stupid.”

                                                      Babylonian Talmud, B’rachot 31b

            At first glance, the opinion of the Rabbis is astonishing. What mother would not want her son to be clever? Rather – Rashi explains – “Not overly clever, lest others consider him amazing and he be subject to the evil eye.” Rashi is sensitive to a psychological aspect: a woman who gives birth following a period of being barren will no doubt tend to be extremely protective of her child and fear that he be especially vulnerable to the evil eye. For this reason, Ḥanna requested having a son who’s physical and intellectual traits are average.

            A simple reading of Scripture indicates that God answered Ḥanna’s request fully; when Ḥanna brought her son Samuel to Shiloh after weaning him, she informed Eli the High Priest “I prayed for this child, and the Lord gave me what I asked Him for.” [Verse 27] Rabbi Ḥayyim Shmulevitz (1902 – 1979 head of the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem) comments:

It is thus clear that Samuel, who is equal to Moses and Aaron is “neither clever nor stupid,” teaching that even one who is “absorbed among men, neither clever nor stupid,” who does not stand out among people and who was not born clever, has the ability to become the Prophet Samuel.

The practical lesson is that “one must not say ‘I do not have the ability to accomplish great things with the wisdom that has been granted me.’ Learn from Samuel what an individual can achieve and the heights he can attain.”

            This lesson is sufficient reason for the first chapter of Samuel to have been chosen as the haftara of Rosh haShana, independent of our Sages’ tradition that God remembered Ḥanna on this day.

           

 

 

Propaganda Then and Now

And the Egyptians did us (otanu) evil, and afflicted us, and imposed on us hard labor.       Deuteronomy 26:6

                                 

            While this translation seems cumbersome, it is more faithful to the Hebrew than the standard translation: “And the Egyptians treated us cruelly and afflicted us, and they imposed hard labor upon us.”

            Indeed, Netziv comments that, if the standard translation were correct, we would expect the verse to use the word “lanu” as does the verse in Parashat Ḥukkat: “And the Egyptians mistreated us (lanu) and our forefathers.” [Numbers 20:15] Based upon the unusual wording, Netziv understands the verse to mean “The Egyptians made us evil and ungrateful;” that is, the Egyptian propaganda presented the Israelites as an evil nation which plotted against the country which welcomed them in at their time of need.

            Netziv wrote these words more than one-hundred-twenty-five years ago and the verse itself was first stated more than three-thousand years ago. The overlap between Netziv’s understanding of the verse and Nazi propaganda of eighty years ago is astounding!

 

The Mother Bird and Jerusalem

If you come across a bird's nest with fledglings or eggs, on any tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the fledglings or eggs, you must not take the mother along with the young. You shall send away the mother, and (then) you may take the young for yourself, in order that it should be good for you, and you should lengthen your days.                                        Deuteronomy 22:6-7

            Thus the Torah presents the mitzva to send the mother bird away before taking her fledglings or eggs.

            Rosh (Rabbi Asher ben Yeḥiel 1250 – 1327), in his commentary on the verses, offers a fascinating homiletic interpretation:

“You shall send away the mother” – this is Jerusalem, which is the mother of the nation of Israel. “And (then) you may take the young for yourself” refers to Israel, for when they sinned Jerusalem was destroyed and God sent them away from Him, as the verse states “and your mother was sent away because of your transgressions.” [Isaiah 50:1], and so Jeremiah said “The Lord has exhausted His wrath, poured out His burning anger; He has ignited a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.” [Lamentations 4:11] When Israel sinned, the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to destroy His entire world, as Scripture states “If not for My covenant (understood as God’s covenant with Israel that they observe Torah) with the day and the night, I would not place the statutes of heaven and earth.” [Jeremiah 33:25] Instead, God said “I will destroy My house and assuage my anger on the wood and stones of the Temple.” “That it should be good for you.”

            The mitzva of sending away the mother bird hints at God’s mercy; rather than taking out His anger on His chosen nation He took it out on the wood and stones of the Temple.

            Indeed, our Sages [Midrash Eicha Rabba 4:14] connected the verse in Psalms [79:1] “A song of Asaph: God, the nations have invaded Your inheritance, desecrated Your holy temple, and turned Jerusalem into ruins” to the verse in Lamentations which Rosh quoted:

This is what is stated “The Lord has exhausted His wrath, poured out His burning anger; He has ignited a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations;” it is written “A song of Asaph: God, the nations have invaded Your inheritance” should it not have stated Asaph cried and wept and lamented? Yet the verse says “a song of Asaph.” The parable is of a king who built a wedding canopy for his son, who then fell into bad ways; immediately the king tore the curtains and broke the poles of the canopy. The prince’s tutor took a flute and sang. Everyone said to the tutor “The king has destroyed his son’s wedding canopy and you sing!?” He answered “I sing because the king destroyed the canopy rather than taking out his anger on the prince.” Similarly, they said to Asaph “The Holy One, blessed be He, destroyed the Temple and you sing?” Asaph answered “I sing because God poured out His anger on wood and stone, and not on Israel.” This is what the verse says “He has ignited a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.”

            We may point out that what is said of the Holy City applies also to the Holy Land in general. Rabbi Moshe Ḥagiz (born in Jerusalem 1672, spent close to fifty years abroad as an emissary, returned to Israel, died in Zfat c. 1750) ) wrote that for the nation of Israel, the Land of Israel is like a mother, being struck and suffering for us, and she gives life to her sons. For this reason, she is called ‘’the Land of the Living.” [Psalms 27:13]

            In light of the approach of Maharal, that the sanctity of the Holy Land is derived from the presence within her of the Holy City, it is not surprising that both the City and the Land protect the nation of God who live within them. Truly, the City and the Land are the “mother of the nation of Israel.”

Justice, the Land and the City

Justice (ẓedek), justice shall you pursue, that you may live and possess the Land the Lord, your God, is giving you. Deuteronomy 16:20

     

While the Torah requires that we pursue justice in all places, as Rabbi Ovadya Sforno comments, our verse teaches that there is a unique connection between practicing justice and possessing the Land, in his words “The pursuit of justice is a greater imperative in the Land, for the failure to do so will prevent possessing the Land.” Indeed, Midrash Tanḥuma [Parashat Shofetim 7] states explicitly that our verse makes it clear that the pursuit of justice is the necessary condition for possessing the Land:

As the verse states: “Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may live and possess the Land” – if you do not pursue justice you will not possess the Land.

            Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch adds that the Torah teaches the connection between justice and Israel’s nationality:

Justice is the highest unique goal, and the sole goal of the national entity of Israel … The concept of justice is forming all private and public matters in accordance with God’s Torah. Israel’s one task is to pursue this goal unceasingly with all devotion, “that you may live and possess the Land;” through this Israel will have done everything to secure its physical (“that you live”) and political (“and possess the Land”) existence. Here the political security of the Land, which is based upon acknowledging and caring for right and justice, is called “possession,” even after possession of the Land has been completed. The significant truth is thereby laid down that the possession of the Land comes into question every minute, and the Land has to be taken into possession afresh every minute by the Jewish state acknowledging tribute to “right and justice” and realizing this in the Land.

We may comment that what is true of the Land in general is equally true of her capital. Isaiah [1:26] prophesies that Jerusalem will be called “The city of justice.” However, Rashi comments that this will not be a new name given to the city, but a return to Jerusalem’s beginning, as Isaiah already referred to the Holy City as “full of justice.” [1:21]

The connection between justice and Jerusalem is so strong that her early kings, well before David turned the city into Israel’s eternal capital, had “ẓedek” as a component of their names. The first king of Jerusalem mentioned in the Bible is Malki- ẓedek [Genesis 14:18], and the city’s king at the time of the conquest of the Land by Joshua was named Adoni-ẓedek. [Joshua 10:3] In fact, Rashbam [Genesis 41:10] comments that just as “Pharaoh” was the name of all Egyptian monarchs and “Avimelech” of Philistine kings, so too “Malki-ẓedek” or “Adoni- ẓedek” was the official name of the kings of Jerusalem. Ibn Ezra [Ecclesiastes 1:1] explains simply that the meaning of the royal names is the king (Malki) or master (Adoni) of the place of justice.

            (The last king of the Davidic dynasty until the arrival of Messiah was named “Ẓidkiyahu.” While the name he was given by his father King Josiah was Matanya, and Ẓidkiyahu is the name the Babylonian king gave him when he installed him as king in place of his nephew Yehoyachin, nonetheless, the Bible consistently uses the name Ẓidkiyahu.)

            It should be noted that in Psalms [110:4] King David is referred to as “Malki-ẓedek,” as ibn Ezra writes: “The simple meaning (p’shat) of the psalm is reference to David.”

            Malbim [Isaiah 1:26] focuses our attention on the fact that “justice” refers to interpersonal relations (bein adam l’ḥavero). This comment explains both our Sages’ statement [Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 9b] that the Second Temple was destroyed because of unfounded hatred and Rabbi Kook’s insight that we will merit the rebuilding of Jerusalem when we reach the level of “unbounded love.” Since justice (bein adam l’ḥavero) is an essential aspect of the definition of the Eternal City, necessarily her existence depends upon bein adam l’ḥavero.

 

 

 

 

Teaching Our Children and Their Having Great Peace

All your children will be taught by God; your children will have great peace (shalom).   Isaiah 54:13  

                                                                  

            This is the third verse of the third of the seven haftarot of consolation.

In the opinion of Rabbi Hamnuna (a second generation Talmudic sage – late 3^rd century C.E.), “Jerusalem was destroyed only because they neglected (the education of) school children;” [Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 119b] while the Sages teach in Tractate Yoma [9b] that the Second Temple was destroyed as the result of unfounded hatred.

            Rabbi Ḥayyim Yosef David Azulai (1724 – 1806) notes that our verse comforts Israel with the declaration that the redemption will surely arrive, and God promises, through Isaiah, that the causes of Jerusalem’s destruction will be removed:

“All your children will be taught by God” – the Torah education of your children will not be neglected; as well “your children will have great peace” – peace and unity will prevail among you and there will be no hatred.

            We may add that realizing “All your children will be taught by God” depends upon God and us, for if we do not take advantage of God’s readiness to teach our children, nothing will be gained. In contrast, realizing “your children will have great peace” is dependent solely upon us; God will not create the spirit of brotherhood and unity for the nation of Israel, only we ourselves can accomplish this.

            May we merit doing our part in order to hasten the arrival of the Righteous Redeemer.

The Building Blocks for the Third Temple

 

            Ḥafetz Ḥayyim wrote:

If it were possible, every Israelite would willingly spend money and invest himself body and soul in helping to rebuild the Temple for the name of God. However, it is not necessary to spend any money, or to travel to Jerusalem for this purpose; all that is necessary is to guard one’s tongue and language to prevent blemishing them.  One who does this necessarily distances himself from lashon hara, arguments and anger, and from deceiving or embarrassing one’s fellow, all of which hinder the rebuilding of the Temple. Those who accomplish this certainly have great merit and through their positive behavior, they help rebuild the Temple.

            In his booklet Avodat Yemi Bein haMeẓarim v’Tisha b’Av, Rabbi Yoḥanan Eliyahu Rosenberg quotes Ḥafetz Ḥayyim, preceding his words with the heading “Between man and fellow-man: the building blocks for rebuilding the Temple.” Since the Second Temple was destroyed because of interpersonal sins (bein adam l’ḥavero), specifically as the result of sin’at ḥinam (unfounded hatred), the remedy and therefore the building blocks for the Third Temple is within the realm of bein adam l’ḥavero.

            The words of Ḥafetz Ḥayyim provide practical expression of Rabbi Kook’s comment:

Given that we were destroyed and the entire world destroyed with us due to unfounded hatred, we shall be rebuilt and the world rebuilt with us through unbounded love.

 

Mourning, Consolation and Repentance

 

            The spiritual content of the Jewish calendar from the seventeenth of Tammuz through Yom Kippur, a period of eighty-two days, consists of mourning, consolation and repentance. This content is expressed in customs and in the haftarot which are read on the Shabbatot of this period.

            Rabbi Yehuda Leib Tzirelson (1859 – 1941, chief rabbi of Bessarabia) notes that the order is exact and meaningful. The significance of mourning lies in understanding and recognizing that which is missing, what was and is no longer. One who does not understand what is lacking cannot begin the process of repentance since he does not understand the need to repent.

            Upon completion of the three week period of mourning the destruction of the Temples, following the fast of Tisha b’Av, we commence the period of consolation. For the seven weeks until Rosh haShana, the haftarot are the “Seven of Consolation.” Consolation, explains Rabbi Tzirelson, is the ability to see the strong points which remain and to understand that these are to be used to recover from the mourning and to build anew. This perception indeed is encouraging and comforting and paves the way towards repentance.

            Repentance is the actual work of rebuilding, abandoning the path which lead to loss and destruction and choosing a new path which will facilitate rectification and rebuilding.

            Indeed, our calendar presents a graduated program for the process of repentance.