Roads and Cities

(This is a second angle on the same topic as my earlier Semitic Perspective post, as well as Mesukim MiDevash for parashas Behar.)

Do roads exist to connect cities, or do cities exist to serve the roads? We naturally assume the former, that roads are built to allow people and goods to travel from one center to another.

However, historically speaking, it's usually the reverse. Medina, in Saudi Arabia, grew from the crossroads of trading routes. Canaan was at the crossroads of three continents, and its very name comes from the word for "traders". This is why the Israel of Na"kh was so often crossed by the soldiers of Assyria and Egypt, en route to the other to battle. And being at a traffic center placed us in the ideal situation to influence world thought. Because of the centrality of shipping, New York, Baltimore and Boston all grew around their harbors, and many European cities are on rivers -- London, Paris, Budapest, Frankfurt, etc...

This is illustrative of a basic issue of perception, one which may not be the most central to Judaism, is perhaps most fundamental. It shapes the framework in which Jewish tradition looks at the world and frames its questions and answers.

Western Thought is based around the notion of "things", devarim in the biblical sense -- davar as object, dibrah as statement or idea. These are primary, and the relationships between them are seen as a consequence of the essence of those objects.

Our Mesorah seems to pretty clearly be based on the idea that "cities are defined by their roads", in other words, that the essence of an object is in the roles it plays. And therefore, the word "boneh" means both "is building" and "builder". While someone is building, he is a builder. The difference between a present tense verbs and active participles (a builder, a fisher, a watcher, a guard, a guide, etc..) is not meaningful from this perspective. (See also part II of the entry on tenses in Hebrew.)

Morally, Western Civilization places rights more central than duties. "Live and let live." As long as no one else is harmed, an action should not be prohibited.

Jewish morality is founded on the opposite principle. As I wrote earlier:

Moshe Rabbeinu lacked his full prophetic gift from the time of the Golden Calf until the rise of the next generation. The Or haChaim explains that this is because "Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh" (Shevu'os 39a), which is usually translated "All Jews are guarantors one for another". That's consistent with another version of the quote, which ends "lazeh" (for this). However, "ba-", in, implies a different meaning of the word "areivim", mixture. All Jews are mixed, one into the other. Moshe's soul did not stand alone, it is connected and overlaps those of the rest of the nation. When they lowered themselves with the calf, Moshe's soul was diminished.

(The "bazeh" version is found in the Ein Yaaqov, which in general is considered more accurate than the Vilna edition of Shas.)

The notion of "areivim zeh bazeh", or even "zeh lazeh", is diametrically opposed to the west's "live and let live". We are not asked to respect the individuality of others; instead our attention is called to our need to relate to them. Giving someone space is appropriate in many situations, but not if it means one could stop self-destructive behavior but doesn't.

A person is defined by the relationships he maintains. As I wrote on Pesach, those relationships are generally grouped by the internal one he has with himself, the one we maintains with G-d, and his relationship with other people -- Torah, Avodah and Gemillus Chassadim. The ideals of Da'as, Rachamim and Tif'eres are the essence of the ideal self because they are the ideals of each of those relationships.

The Structure of the Seder

Most of us have many divrei Torah on various points in the seder, but since the very name of the meal, "seder", points us to pay attention to its order, I thought I would layout the overall structure, as I see it. We can divide the seder into four parts if we pay attention to when we fill and drink each cup of wine.

I - First Cup (primarily reenacting the initial servitude)
1- Kadeish; 2- Urchatz; 3- Karpas; 4- Yachatz
This proposed structure places Ha Lachma Anya as part of Yachatz. We break the matzah, and discuss the "bread of suffering". The cup is refilled after it, before Mah Nishtanah.

II Second Cup (retelling the story of redemption)
5- Maggid
There are three opinions amongst tana'im about what is required for Maggid. Rav and Shemu'el both say that Maggid should begin with describing the suffering, and end on a happier note. The difference between them is that Rav says that this is on a spiritual level, starting with Bitechilah ovdei avodah zarah -- in the beginning, our ancestors were idolators. Shemu'el says it on a physical level. Avadaim hayinu -- we were slaves, but now we are free. Rabban Gamliel doesn't operate within that model at all. Instead, he requires that Maggid must discuss the three mitzvos of the evening: Pesach, Matzah, and Marror. We include all three haggados in our seder.

a- Introduction
This includes Mah Nishtanah, and Avadim Hayinu (Shemu'el's haggadah). The introduction ends by noting that this mitzvah is retelling the story of the Exodus, beyond the usual requirement to remember it "kol yimei chayecha -- all the days of your life".

Rav Chaim Brisker asks how the mitzvah of retelling the story at the seder differs from the daily requirement to it. The next three sections provide elements that he considers unique to the mitzvah of the night.

b- The obligation to tell the story to others in Q&A format: This includes the four sons through Yachol meiRosh Chodesh.

c- The chain of events: Rav's haggadah -- the spiritual redemption from "Bitechilah", through the plagues, crossing the Red See, and the miracles in the desert.

d- Reasons for the mitzvos of the night: R' Gamli'el's haggadah

Then, after fulfilling the specific retelling of the evening as per Rav Chaim, we conclude with
e- Expressions of praise -- the first part of Hallel

III Third cup (we just retold the story verbally, here we reenact it)
6- Rachtzah; 7- Motzi; 8- Matzah; 9- Maror; 10- Koreich;
11- Shulchan Oreich; 12- Tzafun; 13- Bareich;

IV Fourth cup (now that we were redeemed, we are in a position to praise Hashem)
14- Hallel; 15- Nirtzah

There were 15 semicircular steps up to the last courtyard before the Temple. The levi'im would stand on them and sing. When ascending them for certain ceremonies, they would pause at each step and sing the 15 chapters of Tehillim that begin Shir haMaalos (a song of ascents) or Shir laMa'alos. 15 then is a number by which we sing G-d's praises, and speak of his loftiness. For this reason there are 15 things that Hashem did for us in the Exodus which we count out in Dayeinu -- any one alone would justify the seder night. And there are therefore 15 steps in the seder.

Pesach, Matzah, Maror

AishDas's motto is lifted from the motto of HaOlim, founded by Dr. Nathan Birnbaum which existed from the 1910s through the 1930s, ending with the decimation of European Jewry.

"Da'as, Rachamim, Tif'eres"

Knowledge of G-d coming from an intimate relationship with Him, mercy toward others, and harmony of mind and emotion. The idea is an understanding of the three pillars upon which the world stands, described by Shim'on haTzadiq (Avos 1:2).

Torah is the study of Torah. It is the shaping of the mind and personality. In the ideal, the Torah one learned is inseparable from the rest of his thinking; so that even his choice of an end table for his living room is affected by his Torah self. The Alter of Slabodka once heard a student boast about having completed all of gemara. His retort, "It's not how many times you go through sha"s, it's how many times sha"s goes through you!" Tif'eres.

Avodah is service of G-d. It's having a relationship with Him. Seeking His Will, and to express that Will in the world. The same biblical term for knowledge is used for marital intimacy. Da'as.

Gemillus Chasadim, supporting others through kindness and generosity, can not only be an activity. It must flow from empathy, from maternal-like care for another. Rachamim.

Shim'on haTzadiq is teaching us that the world stands on three things because all human activity centers around how he acts in three relationships: with G-d, with other people, and internally with himself. The Maharal (Derech haChaim ad loc) writes that this is in turn because man lives in three worlds: this one, in which he interacts with other people, the world of his mind, and heaven, which gives him a connection to G-d.

Therefore, the g-dly Tanna writes that one pillar that the universe stands upon is the Torah, for the pillar completes man so that he can be a finished creation with respect to himself.
After that he says “on avodah”.... For from this man can be thought complete and good toward He Who created him — by serving Him....
With regard to the third, it is necessary for man to be complete and good with others, and that is through gemillus chassadim.
You also must understand that these three pillars parallel three things in each man: the mind, the living soul, and the body. None of them have existence without G-d. The existence of the soul is when it comes close to Hashem by serving Him.... From the perspective of the mind, the man gets his existence through Torah, for it is through the Torah that man attaches himself to G-d. To the body, man gets his existence through gemillus
chassadim for the body has no closeness or attachment to Hashem, just that Hashem is kind to all. When man performs kindness G-d is kind to him, and so gives him existence.

Rabban Gamliel requires we mention and explain three things in order to fulfill the mitzvah of the seder: Pesach, Matzah, uMaror.

Pesach is described as " zevach pesach hu -- it is a praise-offering of pesach." There is no avodah clearer than that of the beis hamiqdash, and the pesach is in praise of our Creator, an expression of our awareness of His Grandeur. Da'as.

Rabban Gamliel says that matzah as something we eat because "lo hispiq betziqam -- there wasn't sufficient time for their dough to rise". A lesson in zerizus: haste, alacrity and zeal. Matzah is also a lesson in anavah, modesty, not being "puffed up" like normal bread. It is "lecham oni -- the bread of affliction". And last, in its guide as "lechem oni, she'onim alav devarim harbei -- 'oni' because we answer 'onim' over it many things", it teaches us to find these ideals in learning Torah. The perfection of one's internal self. Tif'eres.

Last, we each maror because "vayimararu es chayeihem -- they embittered their lives". Maror is sharing the pain of another. Rachamim.

And so, Rabban Gamliel is not only requiring that we relate the mitzvos of the evening to the telling of the story of the exodus, but he is making that retelling an all-encompassing experience. The exodus gave us a mission to support the world on all three pillars, torah, avodah and gemillus chassadim.

What is Judaism?

Since Mosheh received the Torah in the Sinai, the Torah has evolved. It evolved according to the rules set out in the Torah itself, but still, halakhah has grown, courts of greater number and wisdom have overruled the precedent of inferior courts, etc... As the famous story goes (Menachos 29b):

When Mosheh ascended to the Heavens, he found Haqadosh barukh Hu (HQBH) sitting and tying crowns onto the letters [in the Torah]. He said before Him, "Ribono shel olam -- Master of the universe! What could compel You (lit: who holds back Your 'hand') [to do this]?"
He answered him, "There will be a man in the future after many generations and Aqiva ben Yosef will be his name. In the future, he will clarify every point and mounds of law [from them]."
He said before Him, "Ribbono shel olam, show him to me."
He told him, "Turn around."
He turned around and went and sat at the back of eight benches [at Rabbi Aqiva's academy]. When Moshe had no idea what they were discussing, he became distressed until the students asked, "Rebbe, from where do you learn that?"
Rebbe Akiva answered them, "It is a halakhah that goes back to Moshe from Sinai."
At that time, [Moshe's] mind became settled, and he returned to HQBH.
He said before Him, "Ribbono shel olam, You have one such as he and You wish to give the Torah through me?!" He answered him, "Silence! This is what occurred before Me!"
He said before Him, "Ribbono shel olam, You showed me his Torah, now show me his reward!"
He told him, "Turn around."
He turned around and saw them weighing his flesh in the market place, and he said before Him [in horror], "Ribbono shel olam! This is Torah and this is its reward?!"
He answered him, "Silence! This is what occurred before Me!"

(Side note, the comment about deriving "mounds of laws" from the serifs and crowns on the letters probably has something to do with the difference between Rabbi Aqiva's school of derashah (derivation from the Torah) and Rabbi Yishma'el's. See my earlier blog entry on this subject. In short, there is a theory that Rabbi Aqiva's school (from which we have Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehudah haNasi, and thus the mishnah) saw derashah as being about syntax. Rabbi Yishma'el is the one who coined the idiom "the Toreah speaks in the language of man", and it's unsurprising that his rules of derashah focus on semantics. Rabbi Aqiva's school literally derived "mounds of halakhos" from the presence of specific words and letters in the Torah.)

Note that although Mosheh Rabbeinu didn't know this law outright, Rabbi Aqiva said it comes from him. Many rishonim take this to mean that it derived from Mosheh's teaching. (A notable exception is Rashi, who says that it was simply a law Mosheh learned later, after receiving this vision.)

With the power to evolve comes the possibility that in different communities and schools of thought it halakhah evolves in different ways. And so, "These and those are the words of the 'Living' G-d, but the halakhah is according to Beis Hillel." As we lived together, to coexist the Sanhedrin found consensus, and since then we have other means of reaching uniform ruling on issues that become contentious or pragmatically impact Jewish unity. (Such as laws of conversion, marriage and divorce.)

Picture how life was for the typical person in the days of the first Beis haMiqdash. Land was divided once, by sheivet and beis avos (tribe and clan). When, Yehoshua's generation passed away, it inherited by their children, and then again by their children, etc... Women moved off to their husband's beis av, but for men -- you lived next door to your brother, two doors down from your uncle, and most of your other neighbors were relatives. The sole exceptions being tenants of your relatives.

I think much of what drives the Torah's laws of inheritance is Hashem's desire for each sheivet to have a distinct derekh avodah, and each beis av to have its own subspecies. Without that, there is little rationale for choosing one gender over the other, and from Chazal until today we find ways to avoid being obligated to do so.

In fact, most questions must not have gone forward to the central beis din in Yerushalayim, the Sanhedrin. Each sheivet had their own judicial system as well, and their own high court. Israel was much bigger then than once the Greeks and Romans brought more modern means of harnessing, modern roads, etc... There was opportunity for much greater variety of opinions than those of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel. Each sheivet had the opportunity to forge very distinct implementations of the covenant of Sinai. Each evolved according to the rules of halakhah, (in addition to the idolatrous and irreligious amongst us) and therefore all within the covenant, all of them "the words of the living G-d", but with much less frequent need to impose "but the law is according to..."

The 12 nesi'im, the heads of the tribes, each gave the same gift for the inauguration of the Mishkan. And yet, for each day the Torah lists the items in the gift again, repeating the same text (or nearly so) twelve times. (Bamidbar 7:12-83) The Ramban explains that even though the items given were identical, a silver platter, a silver sprinking bowel, fine flower mixed with oil, a gold pan, a bull, a ram, a lamb, a goat, and shelamim offerings, the intent was distinct. And he goes through the gift of each nasi, explaining how he related it to his own tribe's history, talents, and culture.

It's mind-stretching to think how different their expressions of Torah would be. Perhaps they would even seem like different religions.

We are called Yehudim, Jews, because we are the descendents of the Kingdom of Judea, a population numerically dominated by members of the tribes of Judah. The first time we find the word "Yehudi" is in the megillah, describing Mordechai, "A Yehudi man was in Shushan, and his name -- Mordechai the son of Ya'ir the son of Shim'i, a descendent of Kish, a Benjaminite." Of all of the expressions of the covenant, only Judah's survived. Just as within that tradition, we usually follow Beis Hillel over Beis Shammai. Rabbi Aqiva's position is not the only one Mosheh Rabbeinu could see as a child of his own.

Yissachar was well known for their Torah study; despite living in the more idolatrous northern kingdom. I sometimes wonder what Isaacarism would have been like, as opposed to Judaism. Yehudah was more open to contemporary society. That's how they merited to rule -- they were known for he ability to admit wrongdoing (such as the story of Judah and Tamar, or David and Bethsheba), were spiritually committed, and were in touch with the facts on the ground. Yisachar were more isolected. Supporting their sheivet was a project of the sheivet of Zevulun, who tended to be seafaring traders and dye-makers. (Zevulun had a monopoly on techeiles for tzitzis and kohanic uniforms, as well as royal purple -- both made from sea creatures.) A common model invoked for contemporary kollel is called "a Yissachar - Zevulun arrangement" for this reason. Would Isaacarism necessarily be ascetic, a religion of hermits and nezirim, with many gezeiros fencing in our physical desires from any taint of prohibition? Or is that too much speculation on too little data?

It's interesting that the word for a halachic decision is a pesaq, a word meaning a break or an interruption. To pasqen is not to find a new position as much as to narrow down the set of permissable halachic rulings.

What is Judaism? Only one of the many possible expressions of the covenant of Sinai. Through the laws of halachic evolution and the forces of history, the only such expression that is still valid. But not the only one that could have been. Had we evolved differently as a people, the expression of the Torah that would address who we are would have been different as well.