Moving On...

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The Final Farewell?

I sort of figured that after sporadic posting over the course of two years and no posting at all for some months now, people would realize that I was retiring from the world of blogging completely. However, my counter tells me that I still have quite a number of recurring visitors...
My decision to stop one of my favorite activities was motivated on many counts - being otherwise occupied, no longer recognizing the person who started this blog, and being entirely unconvinced that I have anything novel to say.
But, of course, someone of my disposition can be removed from their soapbox for only so long before they, not to mention those around them who have to hear their incessant raving, begin to feel its loss. And so, I have come to rethink my decision.

No conclusions yet...

Satire in Yonah

Although it is after Yom Kippur I did write this beforehand and even posted it in my shana bet facebook group. Not that I need to defend posting Torah which isn't inyanei diyoma...

Yonah lived during the time of Yeravam ben Yoash, a king who ruled over Yisrael during the first Bet Hamikdash. The era is one in which the Prophets urge the people to end their iniquity or else destruction would be imminent. Sefer Yonah is included amongst these other nevi’im in Trei Asar despite its very different style – it seems to not address the Jewish people at all, and is written mostly in prose unlike the other books which are composed largely of poetry. So what is Yonah doing in Trei Asar? This is a question that has bothered me for the longest time.
Perhaps the key to understanding how the story of Yonah relates to those of the other nevi’im is by exploring the method of satire that seems to be utilized in the book. Satire is a literary method which holds up a specific act, idea, or society up to ridicule through exaggeration, irony, and other subtle means.
Our protagonist boards a ship headed for the city of Tarshish in order to escape his charge by God to urge the people of Ninveh to repent. During the journey, a fierce storm encroaches threatening to capsize the ship. Through a series of turns of event the people on the ship are made aware that Yonah is the reason for the storm, and that it is his god, “YKVK” who is targeting him. They proceed, at Yonah’s own behest, to throw him overboard. Following which, the storm immediately quiets. All those who are on board the ship immediately begin to serve “YKVK:”
"וַיִּירְאוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים יִרְאָה גְדוֹלָה, אֶת-יְהוָה; וַיִּזְבְּחוּ-זֶבַח לַי-וָ- וַיִּדְּרוּ נְדָרִים"
Translation: ‘And the people awed a great awe of YKVK and they sacrificed sacrifices to YKVK and vowed vows.’
Eventually Yonah does reach Ninveh to warn them that they will be destroyed if they do not stop their wickedness. As opposed to other nevi’im acharonim whose rebukes come in the form of poetry, Yonah addresses the entire “עִיר-גְּדוֹלָה לֵאלֹ-ים” (Translation: ‘Large city before God’) with a simple five word statement:
“עוֹד אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם וְנִינְוֵה נֶהְפָּכֶת”
Translation: ‘Another forty days and Ninveh will be turned over.”
The reader is struck by, not only the lack of poetry, but the generic nature of the statement – the words instantly recall the Flood (forty days and forty nights) and Sdom and Amorah (turned over). And yet, in contrast with the lengthy, poignant, and poetic rebukes of the other Prophets, this message does not fall on deaf ears. The people of Ninveh immediately repent; donning sackcloth and fasting – from king to animal.
It appears that everyone that Yonah comes in contact with will engage in fervent teshuva with very little prompting. How stark of a contrast is this to the other nevi’im who beg and implore all for naught? Sefer Yonah is placed here in Trei Asar as a message - sent through satire - to the Jewish people that they have had enough warnings and that it is time to act, not unlike the characters of Sefer Yonah, who are not even Jewish and have still managed to internalize the message of the navi.

Hope everyone had a meaningful and easy fast. Shana tova.
TM

Shtetilization at its Best

I don't know whether to laugh or cry!
"New Doll Family that Reinforces a Torah Lifestyle"

My favorite features:
- The lady and girl dolls have subtly feminine features (not like the immodest "fashion" dolls)" - i.e. Did you know that it's not tznius to have breasts?
- The men come in your choice of socio-political affiliation - you choose: hat, streimel and bekasha, and beard or no beard (no kippa sruga option).
- The women all wear turtlenecks and wrist-length sleeves.
- The girl's skirts are so long you can't see their feet, except "bubbie" who is wearing bullet-proof tights
- The females are all half an inch shorter than the men because part of a "Torah Lifestyle" is showing the girls who's boss.
- The bedroom set comes with an option of two beds or one...

Because you know what happens to good frum kids when they find out there are people in the world who aren't like them...

Of Slaves and Ears

I haven’t posted in a long time because of the many demands on my time. Now that I’m back from camp and school is so far in the future, I think posting will pick up.

Let’s play the game of weirdest mitzvah in the Torah...(Good game. Played it late Friday night in the Bet Midrash in camp. Possibly better than the Halakhic Man game.) I pick piercing the ear of an eved ivri who won’t go free after 7 years. What is that?!

If one reads through The Code of Hammurabi they will probably notice that most of the punishments are pretty repetitive - drowning, burning, etc. However, there is one punishment that appears only twice in the entire corpus that is accessible to us and that is the punishment of having an ear cut off. It happens only if a slave tells a master that he is not his master, or if he cuts of the privates of a free-born man.
If you think about it, that is actually the best punishment for a slave.Killing him wouldn't do because he is not even alive in the classic sense of the word - he is a piece of property. His death is the loss of property to his owner. Cutting off any other appendage - like for example the hand by which he cut a man’s privates, which would be very fitting for the quid proquo theme of the Code - would detract from his value as a tool. An ear is perfect - he has another one so he can still hear commands, and he is not impaired from his work as a slave by the loss.

The correlation between the ear as punishment and slaves comes up in the New Testament - Paul cuts off the ear of Malchus, the slave of the Kohen Gadol who has Jesus arrested. Assumedly the typical punishment for a slave who steps out of line.

Everyone knows the drash of Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai in Kiddushin (22b):

רבן יוחנן בן זכאי היה דורש את המקרא הזה כמין חומר מה נשתנה אזן מכל
אברים שבגוף אמר הקב"ה אזן ששמעה קולי על הר סיני בשעה
שאמרתי (ויקרא כה) כי ליבני ישראל עבדים ולא עבדים לעבדים והלך זה
וקנה אדון לעצמו ירצע

Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai would explain the text like a "chomer" (machlokes rishonim regarding what this means - ayen sham). Why is the ear different than any other organ in the body? Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, "The ear - that heard at Har Sinai when I said 'Because to me Bnei Yisrael are slaves' and not slaves to slaves, and he acquired a master for himself - should be pierced."

What always bothered me was the fact that in theory, according to this, any sin should be punished by ear piercing since any mitzvah was heard at Sinai through the ear. Furthermore, is ear piercing such a punishment? I personally think its really gross, but a lot of my friends have pierced ears and they like it. Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai explains that the slave who stays in his human masters house is actually rebelling against the mastery of Hashem.
To teach him that that is what his actions mean we pierce his ear - reminiscent of the means through which we punish a slave who tells his master that he is no longer master over
him, and how we punish a slave in general. The Torah seems to be using a symbol of a societal norm to send this very potent message.

Also, I haven't really given this enough thought - but in Yirmiyah when he talks about ears that are "arel," read: need circumcision, could he be referring to this slavery-ear connection as well? Or is that readin too much into it?

The Amish

This week I got to go to the home of an Amish family for a little while. Besides for being a fascinating expirience in its own right, it was also very educational for me Jewishly. A few points of interest:

(1) I find it fascinating that most religions with an old tradition have women covering their hair. Coincidence? I think not.

(2) It was getting dark when we got there and a teenage girl was making a quilt with a flashlight. Basically, halakhic development at its best - we all re-read sources when certain situations present themselves, it's just a question of whether or not we admit to doing it.

(3) I like to think that I'm a pretty tzanua person. And yet, amongst two women wearing all black and with covered hair and covered legs, etc. I felt not tzanua. Not objectively, but I felt uncomfortable being in the same room as a teenage boy who is used to only seeing women who dress to a very different standard. Minhag hamakom anyone?

I guess that's it for now. Mifkad is in 4 minutes...

An Eventful Shul Experience

I spent this past Shabbos in Riverdale, and therefore had the opportunity to daven in a shul I have heard much about - HIR. Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, is an "open Orthodox" shul. The Rabbi, Avi Weiss, is also known for his position as President and founder of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah.

When discussing the possibility of this post with my friend, the idea was to document and reflect, and indeed I apparently got the "full HIR experience," and therefore have a lot to document. Besides for the singing and dancing at convenient intervals over the course of the Tfilah, there was also a Bar Mitzvah for a boy who's family is clearly completely unaffiliated - so much so that his father had to be called up to the Torah to be give him a Jewish name before being called up in honor of his Bar Mitzvah, there was a graduation of a "Jewish Jurisprudence" course given by the "Madricha Ruchanit" of the shul, and along with that ceremony came the Bat Mitzvah of a woman who looked to be in her mid-70s.

And yet, despite all that there is to document and reflect on, there is really one thing that struck me in a much more profound way. There was one very obvious theme that ran through the course of the entire service...and it wasn't God. Remarkably enough it was Ahavat Yisrael.

I'm a bit ambivalent about this.
On the one hand - I'm a fan. It's about frieking time that someone in Orthodox leadership shows any concern for the greater Jewish community. In my opinion, and I'm pretty sure that in God's as well, being a good religious Jew means being dedicated to klal yisrael as a WHOLE - not just the frum folks. Rabbi Weiss makes me feel proud and optimistic about what the Orthodox community might accomplish if we put our minds to it.
However, a wise man (the wisest ever) once said, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." Is it possible there is a time and place for Ahavat Yisrael too? Call me a radical, but something about infringing on the tfilah/avodah shebalev experience with statements of solidarity and shows of inclusiveness and diversity just rubbed me the wrong way. Klal Yisrael is one of my foremost concerns, even more than the global community, but that is only because I have God in common with each member of it. Once my relationship with Him is downplayed, what worth is my relationship with you? This is not at all to imply that the shul is not full of yarei shamayim who are very focused and passionate about their relationship with God, but rather a bit of a hodge podge attitude about when and how to show it.
I don't know. I'm sort of torn in both directions.