5 Menachem Av 5768 – Parshas Devarim 6 August 2008

Trei Asar Series - Amos

Fortunately, over the last year I studied the Book of Amos relatively in depth as one of the set texts for my Biblical Hebrew A-level. This has not only speeded up my learning of the daily perek recently but has also given me a deeper insight into some of Amos’ prophecies. In truth, my studying of Amos for Biblical Hebrew was more focused on the linguistic and imagery aspects of the text and less-so on the religious messages emanating out of the nevuos. But fear not, as I am not going to bore you with a ramble about Amos’ use of the ‘lite motif’ or how the political situation of the time affected the economic conditions. Rather, I wish to share with you some of my thoughts from these perokim in view with that which I feel, that the purpose of these sheets is to try and extract from the Navi something relevant and meaningful to us. Therefore, please don’t expect an academic analysis of the Book as all I can offer are a few snippets of inspiration that lie within the Godly words of our Nach.

Although only a small sefer of nine chapters, Amos is considered one of our greatest prophets and according to Chazal he is also one of the eight greatest human beings to have ever walked the earth. Sefer Amos is surprisingly well known, even amongst those who do not study Nach This prophecy is structured as a pattern where Hashem addresses nation by nation with the infamous rebuke of, “For the three sins of [name of nation] I can forgive but for the fourth sin I cannot forgive.” The first six recitals of this reproach are only a prelude to the two main ones which come in chapter 2 and are directed at Yehuda and Yisrael. Amos, like Yeshaya his talmid, is a universal prophet and is God’s messenger to the nations of the world as well as to the Jews. However, his primary objective is to bring God’s chosen people, the Jews, to repent from their evil ways and therefore even though he prophesises to the other nations, this is also part of his message to the Jews themselves. (and yes unfortunately that are still many of those around), mainly because of his first prophecy of chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2.

There is discussion amongst the meforshim about exactly what the three forgivable sins are. Metzudos Dovid explains that they are the three cardinal sins and that the fourth sin is only to rubber stamp the already impending punishment. Whereas Rashi and Radak are of the opinion that God is willing to forgive the first three sins, whatever they may be, due to His compassionate ways however the fourth sin is one step too far for Him to let off lightly. Saying this, what I really wish to explore is the exact nature of this ‘fourth sin’ that each time it merits such severe calamities to befall its perpetrator. The answer to this, I think, is the word אכזריות.

All eight peoples spoken about here committed different sins (with perhaps the exception of Azza and Tzur) but all invoke the same explosive reaction from Hashem. This is because, even though in practicality their sins differ, what lies at the root of all these sins is the same. Hashem This evil trait which lies at the root of all these sins is אכזריות. It is the unreserved cruelty in which man displays his inhumane capability to destroy in the most gruesome ways. In a world full of diversity, where each race struggles to overcome their competitors; conflict, war and even cruelty is understandable. But אכזריות is when man goes beyond this and brutally inflicts horrors to rob another person of their basic human dignity. This, Hashem cannot allow to go unpunished as it is a direct threat to the very existence of His world. is not looking at the externalities of these sins but rather what He is punishing them so severely for is what caused them all to sin.

If we take a look at the ‘fourth sin’ of each nation, it is blatantly obvious how it oversteps the label of cruelty and enters into the far more sinister realm of אכזריות. To ‘plough’ fellow men like one ploughs a field using instruments with metal spikes is not cruelty, its אכזריות. To hunt down and capture the few remaining escapees of a terrible exile is not cruelty, its אכזריות. To split open the wombs of pregnant women just to gain a meagre bit of land is not cruelty, its אכזריות. To burn to dust the bones of Royalty is not cruelty, its אכזריות. In all these cases, it’s the supposed elevation of man which has been utterly debased and replaced by the mostly lowly of animalistic behaviour. Therefore even though Hashem is willing to forgive time after time, even the worst of sins, but when it comes to אכזריות, in any form it may be, Hashem has no choice but to blot it out and hence, “But for the fourth, I cannot forgive.”

With possuk 6 of perek 2 starts the haftora for Parshas Vayeishev. It is chosen due to the tenuous link between the brothers selling Yosef and a hint to this in the possuk in Amos. After rebuking all the other nations the Navi finally turns to Yisrael and proclaims that the ‘fourth sin’ of Yisrael for which Hashem cannot forgive is “for the selling of a righteous person for silver and a poor man for a pair of shoes.” Chazal explain that the poor man is Yosef and that the brothers sold him for the small sum of two silver pieces each – enough to buy a pair of shoes. But where is the אכזריות in selling a person for the small value of a pair of shoes? What is so bad about this sin that Hashem deems it the one step too far for which He cannot forgive? Furthermore, the brothers’ sin of selling Yosef, which this possuk is in some way referring to, had major repercussions throughout Jewish history. The ten spies, whose sin caused us this everlasting galus, correspond to the ten brothers who sold Yosef. The climax of these repercussions was the terrible deaths of the legendary עשר הרוגי מלכות who were tortured to death in part, as an atonement for the ten brothers who sold Yosef. What was in their selling of Yosef for ‘a pair of shoes’ that such tragedies befell Klal Yisrael because of it?

Shoes represent the exalted status of man over the rest of the entire creation. The shoes on our feet separate us from the ground and raise us up above the earthliness of everything else. The Kuzari famously explains that there are four levels within creation and in a pyramid fashion each ascending level is greater than the one it rests on. The first and most basic level in creation are the inanimate objects, דומם, like stones and earth. The next level up is צומח, the most basic of life forms such as vegetation and trees which grow on top of the inanimate ground. Above that is the level of the animal kingdom, חיה, which sustains itself by consuming the vegetation. The fourth and loftiest level of creation is man himself who puts the lowest point of his body, his foot, into a shoe made from the leather hide of an animal. By wearing shoes we show that we are the pinnacle of creation and that all else is only there to service us.

But on the flip side, that is also why when Moshe is confronted by Hashem at the burning bush he is immediately commanded to remove his shoes as the possuk says, “של נאליך מעל רגליך”. This is because when man comes in front Hashem, his Maker, he can no longer boast his exaltedness over the rest of creation and therefore is required to remove his shoes, to show his true lowliness in the face of God. This also why in the Beis HaMikdash the Kohanim went around bare foot, as in the House of God there is no place for us to demonstrate our greatness. Similarly, at any time when the prominence of the human being is lost we remove our leather shoes. The אבל who is mourning the death of his close family member removes his shoes during shiva to show the loss of an exalted human life and to make him aware of his vulnerability. On Tisha B’Av as well, we remove our leather shoes to show that however great the human being is, we still are not immortal, we still can befall tragedy. On Yom Kippur when we enumerate all our shortcomings and beg for our lives in front of the Master of the Universe we remove our shoes to demonstrate our fallibility.

Our shoes represent our human dignity, our special status. Our shoes tell the story of our exaltedness. Now we can understand why the fourth sin of Yehuda falls under the category of אכזריות. Why the brothers’ sin of selling Yosef for ‘a pair of shoes’ is the catalyst for so much of our suffering. What it means, “For the selling of... a poor man for a pair shoes” is to rob another person of their humanity, to deny them of their basic right to their human exaltedness. This is first class אכזריות and is no different in essence to the unreserved cruelty of the other nations’ ‘fourth sin’. Yehuda may be Hashem’s chosen child, but like the other children when he thwarts the very bedrock of human existence by eradicating the human race’s predominance over the rest of creation, he too must be punished. When the brothers sold Yosef for a pair of shoes they were revealing a desperate lack of appreciation of man’s royalty and dignity and therefore merited the most severe of punishments for this אכזריות.

For many people the most moving experience when visiting the concentration camps is seeing the mountains of shoes. Whether it be the 80,000 shoes in Majdanek or the infamous mass of shoes in Auschwitz, it is hard not to be moved to tears. But why is it that the shoes more than anything else affect us so emotionally? The answer is because when you see these shoes, which represent human dignity and the human exaltedness, they are a testimony to how the Nazis robbed us of that. They represent the אכזריות of the Nazis who totally disregarded the dignity of man, who overstepped any marker of acceptable human behaviour. These shoes tell us the story of what man is capable of doing and more importantly what there is to lose when man loses his humanity.

We find ourselves learning Amos in a difficult time of the year and when we remove our shoes this Motzei Shabbos we can remember the possuk we learned last Wednesday. But it is not all despair, as Chazal tell us that on Tisha B’Av itself the Moshiach will be born and as we move into learning Ovadiah, the message of our impending redemption is clear. May this day of tragedy be transformed into a day of simcha like the finishing words of Amos, “And I will return the remnant of my people Yisrael... They will be firmly settled on their land and they will never again be displaced from their land that I have given to them, says Hashem your God.”

Shmuli

25 Tammuz 5768 – Parshas Massei 28 July 2008

Trei Asar Series - Yoel

In this Sefer, Yoel prophesies about a devastating plague of 4 different types of locusts. With this alarming prophecy, he hopes to persuade the nation to do teshuva. Rabbi Berel Wein suggests that the messages from these 4 chapters can be applied to our lives today.

In the time of Yoel, the people were aware of the reasons for the plague. The prophet warns them of the failure in national behavior and they were thus able to correct their ways and return to Hashem. Yoel explains to them the way in which they should repent and describes what will happen when they follow his pleas. The commentators bring out some valuable ideas from the words he uses:

וקרעו לבבכם ואל בגדיכם – Tear your hearts and not your garments (2: 13)

Mezudat David explains this verse to mean that it is the heart that should be ripped, not one’s external clothes. Rashi comments that the important thing to do is to ’rip one’s heart’; Hashem does not really concern Himself with one who just rips their clothes.

Teshuva has to be complete and genuine. If someone shows remorse on the outside but does not really internalize the message, then they cannot be accepted by Hashem as having truly repented. In this section Hashem wants the nation to turn away from the falsehood mentioned in Hoshea, and repent sincerely.

In 2:20 the Radak interprets Yoel’s description בדרך הדרוש-(not in simple meaning of the words). The Radak compares the leaving of the locusts to the leaving of the yetzer hara when the Jews will heed Yoel’s petition and return to Hashem:

ואת הצפוני ארחיק מעליכם

This is understood by Chazal to be the yetzer hara – the evil inclination which is hidden (tzafoon) in a person’s heart. It will be thrown far away. (Radak)

והדחתיו אל ארץ צייה – And I will banish it (the locust) to an arid and desolate land

Hashem will banish the evil inclination to a place from where it won’t be able to influence people negatively. (Radak)

Thus, the book of Yoel ends on a positive note – the people have a chance to do teshuva, Hashem will accept them if they are genuine and the plague of locusts will cease.

Nowadays however, we do not know the true reason for natural disasters. We do not have a prophet telling us that a disaster is arriving and that if we repent in a certain way then Hashem will stop it. When a plague of locusts attacked Egypt in 2004, the most they could do was to spray them with poison without understanding the actual cause. As Jews, we do not believe in random events, even ones which are seemingly natural. Although the reasons for things are not clear to us today, we should at least take on the message from Yoel about national and personal improvement in faith and behaviour. As mentioned above, ‘it is no use tearing our clothes; we should tear our hearts instead.’ When these ‘natural disasters’ occur, rather than looking shocked and then forgetting about it, perhaps we could think more about Who sent this event and why.

Our country, Israel, is always open to ‘natural disasters.’ It is susceptible to earthquakes and is often in danger of a lack of water as illustrated by the Kinneret line at the moment. It is also vulnerable to sandstorms, and as seen from 2004, to swarms of locusts. This situation can serve as a reminder for us of Who is in control and the weaknesses of humans before Him. All the technology and inventions of the 21^st century cannot overcome the natural forces that Hashem has implanted in this world. These events are therefore a humbling reminder of our place in this world and the necessary faith we should have. We may not have the clarity and prophets of Yoel’s time, but we still have a responsibility to listen to the messages and correct our ways.

As I move on to Sem, I would like to thank the organisers of this programme for all their efforts, and I am sure that this learning has and will continue to enable all of us to gain a deeper understanding of the Jews’ lives at during the times of Nach and to have a greater clarity towards our connection with Hashem.

By Naomi Ebert

22 Tammuz 5768 – Parshas Mattos 24 July 2008

Trei Asar Series - Hoshea

As consistent with other parts of Navi, the Book of Hoshea opens by telling us the time period in which the prophet lived. In our case we are told, that Hoshea prophesised during the reigns of Uzzia, Yosam, Achaz and Yechizkiya who were all Kings of Yehuda which was during the period when Yerovom ben Yoash was King over the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Hence, we know that Hoshea was a contemporary of the prophets Amos, Yeshaya and Michah, who all prophesised at some point during these Kings’ reigns. Like his fellow Nevi’im, Hoshea’s message is one of rebuke and condemnation for the way the Jewish people have strayed from the path of Hashem However, he is not a social reformer like Amos, nor is his prophecies laced with comforting images about The Time To Come as are Yeshaya’s. Rather his fourteen short, jammed packed chapters of nevous deal heavily with the unstinting love Hashem has for us, His people, despite our betrayal. and put their faith and energy into other gods.

As we race quickly through large chunks on Nach, we are not afforded the chance to delve deeply into the richness of each chapter and verse, to enjoy the linguistic beauty and individuality of each prophet but what we must strive to do, is to glean the overarching message and theme of the Book. I cannot boast to have a deep understanding of the Book that we have just been learning, but what shouted out to me in nearly every perek is this one underlying theme. It is the message that even though we strayed far away from G-d and sinned terribly, specifically by the worship of idolatry, Hashem could not bring Himself to detach us from Him but rather brings us back to Him, even closer than before. Many of the chapters take on the form where the chapter begins by Hashem detailing our betrayal to Him and just as it seems like we could be no more distant and unwanted to Him, the chapter invariably ends with Hashem’s unwavering commitment to us.

Hoshea’s portrayal of this relationship between G-d and Jew takes on a more intimate and loving form than many of the other prophets. We have already learnt in Yechezkel the long, beautiful and poetic chapters which describe the love and affection Hashem has for us and how in our redemption from Egypt He took us as His young wife. The intensity of this relationship is again revealed here in Hoshea, exemplified by the famous possuk at the end of chapter 2 which says, “And I have betrothed you to me forever.” Here Hashem is telling us how personally and seriously He is affected by our sin and depravity. But at the same time, His unstinting love which causes Him to ‘feel’ this way, is what also drives Him to “overcome this bitter disappointment” and still bring us back to Him, closer than before. Whereas before, as Yechezkel describes to us, we are His betrothed, now we are His ETERNAL betrothed, never to be forsaken again.

These words from the possuk 21 of chapter 2, ”וארשתיך לי לעולם” are the words we say every weekday morning as we wrap the teffilin straps around our finger. The strap of the teffilin is the like the engagement ring and every day we in affect rekindle the eternal bond between us and Hashem as we show that we are His betrothed. Just like the incredible love and deep affection a groom has for his bride on the day of marriage, so too is the love and commitment Hashem has for us, His people, every day and forever.

Moving on to the main part of this piece on Hoshea and what I really wanted to share with you. In perek 10 which we learnt on Sunday, there is a very interesting possuk which I feel has much to be elaborated on. As discussed before, this possuk 12 is already nearing the end of chapter 10 and therefore deals with the more positive aspect of the prophecy in which Hashem is expressing, through the Navi, His favouritism for us. The possuk reads as follows, “זרעו לכם לצדקה קצרו לפי חסד נירו לכם ניר ועת לדרוש את ה' עד יבוא ויורה צדק לכם” literally translated as, “Plant for yourselves in righteousness, harvest in accordance of kindness, plough for yourselves. And it is a time to seek Hashem until He comes and sends charity for you.”

Rashi explains on the words “נירו לכם ניר” that what the possuk is telling us is that first and fore mostly in our lives we need to ‘plough out the weeds’ i.e. overcome our יצר הרע, and the way to achieve this is by learning Torah, as the possuk carries on by saying “ ועת לדרוש את ה'”. This is the same idea as we say in Tehillim 34, “סור מרע ועשה טוב” that in order to live on that higher spiritual plane and to do what’s good in the world we must firstly remove the evil and badness that dwells inside of us. But this is something easier said than done. We all know too well how potent and convincing the evil is, so therefore Hashem granted us the tool with which to combat it. This is as the Gemoro in Kiddushin tells us that every single day our יצר הרע strengthens itself and if it were not for Hashem’s help we could never overcome it. This tool He granted us is Torah, as the Gemoro there quotes, “I created the הרע יצר” says Hashem “and I created Torah as the antidote to it!”

Rashi gives an alternate explanation to this possuk which is similar to his interpretation of a possuk in Yirimiya 4 which also uses this expression of “נירו לכם ניר”. Rashi explains here that the possuk is telling us to do kind deeds, as it says “זרעו לכם לצדקה”, before the trouble comes, just like one ploughs the field before he does anything else to it - “נירו לכם ניר”. Then using this merit, it is legitimate for him to beseech Hashem, “לדרוש את ה'”, and hopefully He will hear the cry and bring the salvation, as the possuk ends “ויורה צדק לכם” – “and He will bring charity upon you”. I think the idea being brought out here is that Hashem is not simply a panic button that only when tragedy strikes do we turn to Him, but rather we can only expect His help when we’re in a long term relationship with Him. Only when our track record is one where we are ‘sowing the seeds of kindness’ can we then expect Hashem to jump in to save us from our troubles.

Metzudos Dovid makes a couple of powerful remarks on this possuk where he explains that the first half of possuk is telling us what we must do so that we merit to receive the reward that the end of the possuk tells us of when it says, “ויורה צדק לכם” – “and He will bring charity upon you”. Metzudos Dovid explains that the non literal phrase “נירו לכם ניר” is telling us that we must uproot all foreign ideologies and philosophies from our mindset, in a similar way that the farmer uproots the weeds in the field when he does the ploughing. If the farmer would leave the weeds in the field they would harm the crops, similarly if we let non-Torah ideologies and philosophies occupy our minds we are harming our capability for true greatness. Another pre-requisite for the blessings that the possuk ends with, says the Metzudos Dovid, is the “ ועת לדרוש את ה'” that the possuk mentions. The Metzudos Dovid picks up on the word עת – time, and stresses the point that our learning and davening, i.e. the times we “seek out Hashem”, have to be something fixed and concrete and not be a case of when we can fit it in or get round to it. It’s the idea of being קובעה עתים לתורה and of fixing a time and place where we daven each day as the Gemoro in Berochos which extols the virtue of having a fixed מקום for Tefilla.

As said before, this possuk is a fully loaded one and the Radak adds another dimension to these same words which we have been discussing. By focusing on the choice of words the Navi uses, the Radak in his typical style brings out a beautiful idea. In the first phrase of the possuk, when it describes us sowing the seeds, it uses the word צדקה however when it talks about harvesting which Hashem gives us, it uses the word חסד. The Radak quotes the Chazal which tells us that “גדולה גמילות חסדים יותר מן צדקה” that acts of Kindness i.e. חסד are greater than צדקה. What the possuk is telling us is that when we do good, the reward we will receive will far surpass that which we strictly deserve. Interestingly the Rabbeinu Yona in Avos 1:2 explains this teaching of Chazal of why חסד is greater than צדקה. Furthermore the Radak brings out the idea of not resting on ones laurels from the continuation of the verse. After telling us that if we sow in righteousness we will reap in kindness the possuk then says, “plough for yourselves a ploughing”. Surly if we have just harvested what is the need to plough again? Says the Radak that the message is, that even though we have done well we cannot afford to stop, but rather need to continue to sow the seeds of righteousness.

We have discussed many ideas already and there is much here to keep our minds busy but I would still like to share with you one more thing. As you all know, but unfortunately weren’t all able to attend, we had a siyyum a few weeks ago to celebrate completing Nevi’im and nearly a year of this awesome learning programme. At the siyyum I told over a story that I had heard only a week earlier when standing in Majdanek concentration camp in Poland. For me, as someone learning my way through Nach, this story took on particular potency and I am sure that it will also add a certain emotional level to your future learning of Nach, as it has done for me. If you don’t mind, I am going to quote you basically what I said.

“I spent last week on a whirlwind trip around Poland and my mind is totally occupied by thoughts on these experiences at the moment. Last Thursday afternoon we were at Majdanek concentration camp in Poland. In truth it is insulting to call it a concentration camp or even a death camp because Majdanek was affectively a torture camp in which thousands of Jews were treated in the most brutal and cruel ways of which our innocent imaginations can hardly comprehend. As we stood in a barracks which is now filled with over 80,000 shoes of men, women and children, young and old, rich and poor; our guide Reb Tzvi Sperber recounted a story from that camp which really hit home with me specially because of our Daily Nach programme. There were two young men, boys really, who managed to smuggle into the camp a Tanach. Smuggling was a crime punishable by death of course however the Cappo /Sondercommando of these two boys’ barracks saw their devotion to the Tanach and let them keep it. In most cases, if you were going to have the dare to smuggle something into the camps you would at least try to bring in something that might save your life. Perhaps a piece of bread so you wouldn’t die of starvation, maybe a warm coat so you wouldn’t freeze to death in winter or even simply some water to save you from dehydration. But for these two kedoshim it was the words of Nach that would keep them alive. After an exhausting day of work with beatings and the like, these two boys would come back at night to their bed of wooden planks and start to learn from their Tanach by the light of the moon. You know what, they were there doing Daily Nach before us. There in the depths of hell, they learnt the same perokim of Nach as we do and hoped to find within it the hope end encouragement that would keep them going to live another day. I can’t stop thinking and wondering, what pesukim would they have learn to give them strength? What perokim did they find interesting and exciting? Maybe it was the possuk we learnt in Yeshaya, “ובאו האובדים מארץ אשור והנדחים מארץ מצרים והשתחוו לה' בהדרת קודש מירושלם....” They hoped and longed that they would be the remnant and remainder that the Navi is talking about here, who would return to Yerushalayim. It doesn’t really matter what exactly they were learning but it is the fact that in the throws of death these two holy boys were determined to show the Nazis that ‘you may be able to crush our bodies but you will never ever be able to crush our souls.’ This surely must give us the strength and the merit to be able to learn the same pages of Torah in more peaceful and comfortable conditions.”

As I expected, writing this piece has been of greater benefit to me than it will be to you the reader but either way I hoped that you have enjoyed it and if you have any thoughts or comments I would be very interested to hear them.

Wishing you Mazel Tov on completing this mini sefer and a good shabbos!

Shmuli

shmulisagal@gmail.com