The Highest Praise: Pesachim 117a

Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi said: The book of Psalms was recited using ten words of praise... and Hallelu-yah is greater than the rest, for it simultaneously includes praise and G-d's name.

Where Does the Divine Dwell? Pesachim 117a

The Divine Presence does not dwell in the midst of laziness, nor sadness, nor sillness, nor a lack of seriousness, nor in the midst of things that are a waste of time. The Divine Presence only dwells in the the midst of words of joy in divine service... Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav - 'The Divine Presence also dwells in words of Jewish Law.' Rav Nachman said, 'Also in good dreams.'

"Group" sex: Pesachim 112a

When a divorced man marries a divorced woman, there are four opinions in the bed.

The danger of pairs: Pesachim 110b

I learned part of an extremely long section on superstitions regarding pairs. Things in twos (for example, having two beers rather than one or three) was considered dangerous. It made you vulnerable to both demons and witchcraft. That's right, the Rabbis of the Talmud believed in both.

I found the length and detail of this section a bit tedious (and, well, embarassing), but found it worthwhile when I came upon this statement. 'The general rule is, anyone who is strict [about the superstitions related to pairs], they [the demons and witches] will be strict with him. For anyone who is not strict, they [the demons and witches] with not be strict with him.' Essentially, these things have only the power you give them, or as a someone I know used to say, you live in the world you create.

Havdalah, the Expanded Version: Pesachim 104a

Here is an expanded version of the Havdalah prayer said at the end of the sabbath. I was excited to read this last sabbath, because I was already planning to propose to J., my fiance, right after Havdalah that evening. I felt like reading this was a little 'thumbs up' from the Gemara. Departures from the standard text are bolded.

The order of Havdalah is as follows: "[Praised are you G-d, King of the Universe] who distinguishes between holiness and unholiness, light and darkness, Israel and other nations, the Seventh Day and the six days of creation, purity and impurity, the sea and dry land, the upper water and lower water, between the family of Cohenim, the tribe of Levi, and the rest of Israel. Praised are you G-d, who orders nature." Others close the prayer with, "who forms creation."

Staying Faithful: Pesachim 100A

There is a moment in the story of Esther when Haman, the evil villian, knows he is doomed. The moment takes place in Queen Esther's quarters. Queen Esther has just revealed to the King that Haman's evil plan to destroy the Jews would doom both Esther and her entire family. The King, in a fury, stepped out into the garden. Haman threw himself on Esther's bed to beg for mercy. The King returned, spotted Haman on the bed, and thinks Haman's intention while lying on Esther's bed is less than honorable. The King says, "Does he [Haman] want to conquer the Queen, and with me here in the palace!"

Rabbi Yose, generations later, re-used the King's statement in a rather different context. Before we get to the re-use, here is some background: Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Yehuda had a disagreement over whether, in the case when one is eating a meal on Friday afternoon and the beginning of the sabbath occurs while the meal is ongoing, whether one must stop, cover the bread on the table and make kiddush. Rabbi Yose thought this unnecessary, while Rabbi Yehuda thought it obligatory to do so.

One day, in Acco, Rabban Shimon Ben Gamiliel and Rabbi Yose were having a meal on Friday afternoon, and the beggining of the sabbath arrived. Rabban Shimon Ben Gamliel asked Rabbi Yose, "Shall we interrupt our meal and make thereby respect the words of our colleague Rabbi Yehuda?" Rabbi Yose replied, "Each and every day you prefer my position on questions of Jewish law to that of Rabbi Yehuda. Now you want to prefer Rabbi Yehuda's position on this issue? Will you try to conquer the Queen while I am in the house!"

Netivot Shalom on Parshat Noah

Here is a lesson I will teach this week at DC Beit Midrash. Enjoy!

Torah: Noah was a perfectly righteous man in his generation; Noah walked with the L-rd.”

Rashi: Some interpret this verse as praise of Noah; Noah would have been even more righteous had Noah been in another generation. Others interpret the verse as criticism, that Noah would have been nobody had he been born in the generation of our father Abraham.

Scripture states of Abraham, “Abraham walked before G-d.” Noah needed support walking while Abraham was self-supporting and walked in his own righteousness.

Netivot Shalom: It is difficult to understand, if we can interpret the verse as being in praise of Noah, why we would interpret it as criticism. Furthermore, the Torah itself testifies that he was a perfectly righteous person, that is, righteous in complete and total; how could that be criticism? … We must also understand the emphasis on ‘in his generation.’ Scripture also states further on, ‘I see that you are righteous before me in this generation.’ Whether this is in praise or criticism [why emphasize it?] For the purposes of the story, it would have been sufficient to state that Noah was a perfectly righteous person and thus was saved from the Flood. We must also understand the phrase, ‘’Noah walked with L-rd.” Again, it would have been sufficient to know that Noah was a perfectly righteous man… we must also try to understand why scripture uses ‘L-rd’ with Noah and ‘G-d’ with Abraham.

One can understand this matter by starting with the comprehension that the foundation of divine worship has two aspects, love of G-d and awe of G-d. This is hinted at by the verse ‘Bereshit Bara Elokim,’ – Bereshet=B’Reshit,/ two authorities, that is the two foundations of fear and awe. It states in the introduction to the Zohar, ‘The first commandment is awe of G-d, the second commandment is love of G-d.’ How can we understand that the first commandment is to be in awe of G-d, even though love is greater than awe? We can understand this through an analogy to one who builds a palace. The first thing one must do is build a healthy foundation, and only after this foundation is built may one construct a great building that will not shudder and fall. So to is divine worship. A person has bad forces within, as it is written, ‘A person’s nature is bad from his youth.’ Uprooting this evil is the foundation of a life of divine service. Any time a person does not purify the evil desires that person cannot arise to the level of loving G-d and clinging to G-d, which are the ultimate purposes of the Torah.

The counsel to uproot the evil power within, this is the first commandment, of awe of G-d. The beginning of wisdom is to awaken simple awe, that there is judgment and a Judge, and that the Creator, G-d, Bless His Name, knows all of a person’s deeds and thoughts. As the Shulchan Aruch says, ‘When a person concentrates on the fact that the Great King, the Holy One Praised be G-d, whose glory fills the whole earth, stands by a person and perceives all deeds, immediately awe descends upon a person.’ Only by means of this awe can one purify the evil desires that one has from youth, and after building this foundation from simple awe may one rise ever higher, to construct a building of love and clinging to G-d, which is the Torah’s entire purpose. Without such a foundation, it is impossible to build such a structure, to rise up to the level of loving G-d .

As in the case of an individual, so too with the entirety of generations, the first commandment is awe of G-d. The task and designated responsibility of the first generations, before the Time of Repair, before the arrival of our father Abraham with whom the Time of Repair began, was awe of G-d. It was only possible after this foundation was established to begin the construction of the World of Repair through the means of our father Abraham, whose character was Love. The Holy Arizal stated that, each and every day since Creation has a special designated purpose, as does each individual and every generation. The goal of Noah’s generation, which preceded the Time of Repair, was awe, the first commandment. This was the task of the perfectly righteous Noah, to serve G-d with awe. This is how Noah fulfilled the will of G-d completely for his generation.

…This is why the Torah states that Noah was a perfectly righteous man ‘in his generation.’ … He fulfilled perfectly the task assigned to his generation. This is why Noah ‘walked with the L-rd,’ for ‘the L-rd’ is the divine aspect of awe and might, and Noah’s ‘walking’ means that his path was, as its is written, ‘G-d dwells before me always.’ … Had Noah busied himself with love of G-d he would not have fulfilled the designated task of his generation.

… Thus we find that scripture states that ‘Noah walked with the L-rd,’ while of Abraham it states that he walked before ‘G-d,’ for G-d is the name for the divine attribute of kindness. This is the distinction between Noah’s divine service of awe and Abraham’s divine service of love. This is the reason why we find that our Father Abraham was active among those of his generation, as it states in the Midrash that he made converts, while Noah was not active in this way. Awe’s character is withdrawal, rather than expansion. …This is why Abraham, whose work involved divine love, tried to bring other in his generation under the wings of the Divine Presence, while Noah, whose work involved divine awe, did not do so.

I hate eating with Harry.... Pesachim 89b

The gemara discusses a very practical issue on this page. Eating the Passover sacrifice was a communal meal. What if one person tends to be a bit, well, piggish with the Paschal lamb? How do you make sure everyone gets a share? Maimonides summarizes the issue nicely:

In the case of a communal group where one member eats a tremendous amount habitually, the rest of the group has the right to tell that member, 'Take your entire share [now] and go eat it by yourself. '

Some things don't change: Pesachim 91b

There's a pattern that is so common that it is the stuff of jokes. The gentile half of an interfaith couple converts to Judaism, and becomes much more strict than the Jewish-from-birth half, sometimes to the point of tension in the relationship. Converts in the time of the Babylonian Talmud showed great, perhaps excessive piety, as is shown by the below passage:

Rabbi Ya'akov says in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: One may not make a group [that shares a Passover sacrifice offering] which is wholly composed of converts, lest they be very particular and improperly determine the sacrifice is flawed.

Got milk? Pesachim 87A

One of the stranger lines in the erotically charged Song of Songs is (Song of Songs 8:8) "We have a little sister who has no breasts." The Talmud interprets this in a novel way:

Rebbe Yochanan said, 'This is the city of Elam, which merited to learn Torah, but not to teach it. 'I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers.' [Song of Songs 8:10]. Rebbe Yochanan said, 'I am a wall,' refers to Torah. 'My breasts are like towers,' refers to the sages.

Rabbi Varon, who gives a lesson on this page, says that just as a woman's breasts share the life within it, so too teachers of Torah share life with their students. Just as a woman without breasts doesn't nourish other life, so too those Jews who learn but don't share their learning are not nourishing others. Also, a wall offers some protection, but a wall with towers is much more formidable as a means of defense.

Souls and Words: Nefesh HaChaim 2:16

It is known that a person's soul has three levels, known as Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama, that are connected to three aspects of existence: actions, speech, and thought. These three aspects are the complete human being.

So too each word has three aspects related to deed, speech, and thought, as well as Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama. They are the letters, the letter, vowels, and cantilation marks. As it is said in the introduction to Tikunim (a mystical work), the cantillation marks are the Neshama, the vowels Ruach, and the letters are Nefesh.

The letters have the aspect of action, for the letters can only come into existence by means of action, such as writing. such as writing a Torah scroll without the vowels. A word cannot come from the mouth without the vowels. Thus letters alone, without vowels, relate to the soul's aspect 'Nefesh,' and with regard to existence, letters relate to the aspect action.

Vowels relate to Ruach, for vowels come with letters by means of words from a person... A person lives by means of the Ruach within him or her, and when the Ruach leaves the person is dead, and when a portion of the person's Ruach is left the person still lives. So too the essence of the life and motion of letters is the vowels, for without them letters cannot come out of the mouth...

The cantillation marks of words are related to the thought and the heart's intention, which are the Neshama. They move the vowels and letters.

How Will Heaven Look?

Here's a beautiful midrash courtesy of my teacher Rabbi Mordechai Silverstein.

We find ten things which the Holy One, blessed be He, will renew in the Time to Come. The first is that He will illuminate the whole world, for it says: The sun shall be no more thy light by day . . . but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light (Isa. 60:19). Is there a man able to look at God? But what will God do to the sun ? He will make it give forty-nine times as much light, as it says: And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold (ib.30:26).' When a man shall be sick, God will order the sun to heal him; as it says: But for you that fear My name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings (Mal. 3:20). The second thing is that He will bring out living water from Jerusalem and heal with it all those who have a disease, as it says: Every living creature wherewith it swarms, where the rivers comes, shall live ;. . . for these waters are come here, that all things be healed (Ezek. 47:9). The third is that He will make trees yield their fruit each month, and when a man eats of them he will be healed, for it says: And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, . . . it shall bring forth new fruit every month, because the waters issue out of the sanctuary ; and the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for healing (ib. 12). The fourth is that they will rebuild all the destroyed cities so that not a single place will remain destroyed; even Sodom and Gomorrah will be rebuilt in the Time to Come, as it says, And thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate (ib. 16:55). The fifth is that He will rebuild Jerusalem with sapphire stones, as it says: Behold, I will set thy stones in fair colors. .. And I will make your pinnacles of rubies (Isa. 54:11-12). These precious stones will shine like the sun, and the heathens will come and see the glory of Israel, as it is said: And nations shall walk at thy light (ib. 53:3). The sixth is that The cow and bear shall feed (ib. xi, 7).' The seventh is that He will bring all the wild beasts, birds and creeping things and make a covenant with them and with all Israel, for it says: In that day, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air (from this week's haftarah). The eighth is that there will be no more weeping or wailing in the world, for it says: And the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying (Isa. 65:19). The ninth is that there will be no more death in the world, for it says: He will swallow up death for ever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of His people will He take away (ib. 25:8). The tenth is that there will no longer be any sighing, wailing or anguish, but that all will be rejoicing, for it says: And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion (ib. 35:10). (adapted from Ex. Rabbah 15:21)

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Rewards: Pesachim 50b

It is always fun to see a famous line in context. In the middle of discussion as to whether there is a reward for good deeds, we find the following:

Rabbi Yehuda says in the name of Rav: A person should always involve himself in Torah and good deeds, even if he is not doing the Torah or good deeds for their own sake. For by means of doing them not for their own sake, he comes to do them for their own sake.

Jewish Civil War: Pesachim 49b

The Talmud makes an major distinction between learned and unlearned Jews. Unlearned Jews are known as 'Am HaAretz,' or 'Land People.' This page of Pesachim makes it clear how big the divide was.

Our Rabbis taught: A man should [even] sell everything he has [in order to] marry the daughter of a great scholar.

If he can't find the daughter of a great scholar, he should marry the daughter of one of the great people of the generation (who concern themselves with charity and community needs).

If he can't find the daughter of one of the great people of his generation, he should marry the daughter of a community leader.

If he can't find the daughter of a community leader, he should marry the daughter of a local charity official.

If he can't find the daughter of a local charity official, he should marry the daughter of a schoolteacher.

However, he should never marry the daughter of an unlearned Jew, for they are slimy reptiles, and their daughters are slimy reptiles, and of them it is said, 'Cursed be the one who has relations with a reptile.' (Deut. 27:21).

[The Talmud details the ignorant Jews' hatred of learned Jews through a recollection of Rabbi Akiva, who started out life without any learning.] Rabbi Akiva said, "When I was ignorant, I used to say, 'Oh, let someone give me a learned Jew and I will bite him like a donkey!'" Rabbi Akiva's students asked him, "Rabbi, why not bite him like a dog, rather than a donkey?" Rabbi Akiva replied, "[The donkey] breaks bones when he bites, while [the dog] does not break bones when he bites."

... It was taught, Rabbi Elizer said, 'If we (scholars) were not necessary for their [the ignorant Jews'] livelihood, they would kill us.