RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: With God, all of our acts can be made holy :MISHPATIM

      RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: With God, all of our acts can be made holy :MISHPATIM

 

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:EXODUS 21:01 TO 24:18:PARASHA MISHPATIM:"LAW AND ORDER"

 

PARASHA MISHPATIM
EXODUS 21:01 TO 24:18
RABBI ARTHUR L. SEGAL

Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

  

 

 

 

"LAW AND ORDER"

There are many times when I remember to be proud of being Jewish and of
our vast traditions. Reading this parasha brings me to one of those
exceedingly proud moments. Only two or so months have passed after our
first  Pesach, and we are taught by Moses rules of societal behavior in the
middle of the Sinai wilderness

As modern Jews we harken back to the original late 1800 Pittsburgh platform of the first liberal movement
making the ritual laws of ''man to God'' optional, but keeping and doing the
mitzvoth of the ''man to man'' laws. While debate is certainly open to whether one should or should not obligate him or herself in all of God's mitzvoth, there is no doubt that our anthromorphic mitzvoth were far ahead of their time.  In an electric letter received from
Rabbi Fred Davidow of Atlanta, he states, "As a general rule, Reform
Judaism would consider all the mitzvoth involving ethics and morals to be
binding." This parasha is chock full of these ''man to man'' laws. Most of
them today, in one form or another, form the basis of Western
democracies. We as modern Jews therefore might do well to study this
portion carefully.

All of these laws today are studied and discussed in our Talmud. I urge
you to read through a tractate or two. Perhaps you will obtain the desire to  study Talmud. You will see that
Judaism was always a living religion and a way of life subject to
interpretation and adaptability over time and place. Many of these pasuks
(verses) are discussed in volumes in our great rabbinic literature.

Questions pondered in the Gemora section of the Talmud are intense.
In Ex 21:23-24, does "life for a life, eye for an eye" mean that
literally or do we mean monetary compensation? In Ex 22:24, when the
Torah says we should not charge interest for our loans, and not to pay
interest on loans, is it "kosher" to invite your loan officer to your
home for dinner? If there are so many laws that have the death penalty
as punishment, why does the Talmud say that a court that issues a death
penalty more than once in seventy years is a "bloody" court?

Before one can even begin to understand these laws or to undertake an
acceptance of these man to man ethical laws, we need to ask "why." Why
"should" we do good to our fellow man? Why can't we steal if we can
overpower another? Why aren't our individual lives more important than
another's? The answer lies subtly in the parasha of last week,
specifically in the order of the Ten Utterances.

Before we can do good to our fellow man, we must accept God as the
creator and true judge of all. If good and evil are separated from God,
they become no more than personal opinion. We have seen too often in
history that God without ethics and ethics without God has led to evil.
So the first three commandments command us to know and love God.

 

In the 1,000-year-old text "Duties of the Heart," which reads as new today as
any self-help book, Rabbi Bachya Ibn Paquda, of Spain, develops his logical syllogism on
the belief in God as the creator of all. Hence we are all His children,
and by doing good with our trained hearts, we are doing God's will.
Without God, no act is holy. With God, all of our acts can be made holy
and can help us get closer to God and develop our own spirituality.

The fourth commandment is about Shabbat. It is a gift  from God. Granted,
historically, we know that the Babylonians set aside special days of the
month on their lunar calendar (the 7th, 14th, 19th, 21st, and 28th
days). They could not cook foods, ride in a chariot, discuss work or
politics, reveal oracles, or heal the sick. These were not Shabbats, not
days of rest, but unlucky days to do the above mentioned tasks. If we do
not love and accept God, we will not accept this gift of our Jewish
Shabbat. And if we do not love ourselves to take time out for rest and
our OWN soul's nourishment, how can we love another and do good for
another?

The fifth commandment is to honor our parents.

Can a person with self-hate, who doesn't believe in God,

truly honor his mother and father? And can a
person, who has no love for his parents, truly love strangers and see
them as brothers and sisters of the same Holy Parent? Is this why these first
five commandments are presented before the last five, which deal with
relations  between man and man?

Rabbi Samson Hirsh, a Frankfurt nineteenth-century scholar (and no friend
of the German Reform movement), wrote that Torah (tav, vav, reish, hey)
comes from the root word "to conceive" (hey, reish, hay). He says that the goal
of Torah is to plant God's words in our minds and hearts so that we can
cultivate them and manifest them in our good deeds. He says we must
accept God outwardly and bring Him inside of us so that we can produce
good deeds outside. He was in battle with the ethical humanists of his
time, who cast off God given proscribed behaviors, and wanted to develop
moralistic personalities from inside.

The role of Mishpat, from our parasha Mishpatem, is the performance of
justice. The performance of justice is not just a divine occupation. The
world without justice (tzaddakah) is rebelling against what Locke called
Natural Law. When we perform acts of justice, we become a partner with
God in doing Tikun Olam (repairing the world). We therefore are all
elohim (dispensers of justice). "Every judge who judges with complete
fairness even for a single hour, is as though he had become a partner to
the Holy One, in Creation" (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat  10A).

When we do good deeds to our fellow man, and follow the ethics in the
Torah that we as liberal Jews embrace, we help bring the Shechinah (God's holy Presence)  into
the world, a Midrash teaches. Man has the capability of bringing the
divine presence of God into each of our hearts by treating our fellow
humans justly and with love.

The writers of the Kabbalah (Isaac Luria et al.), described ten sefirot
(countings, levels) of God's nature that if would be nice if we achieved
for ourselves. The sefirah of judgment (din), also called gevurah
(power), represents the fearsome powers of divine punishment and wrath in
the world. This power, it is posited, is needed to maintain control over
the universe. This power also contains the seeds of demonic evil, also
known as the "other side" (sitra ahra). God's name when He dispenses din
is Elohim. It appears on the left side of the kabbalistic "map." The
sefirah of chesed (loving kindness or compassion or love), also called
gedullah (greatness) ,represents the generous, benevolent side of God,
best shown in man by Abraham. God is known as El or El elyon when he
shows chesed, and this trait appears on the right side in kabbalistic
terms. Luria says there are seventy-two bridges of chesed.
The right side represents attributes of chakmah (wisdom), chesed (love),
and nezah (eternity), while the left side represents binah
(understanding), din (justice), and hod (glory). We can see how the left
side without balance from the right can lead to evil, while the right
side without the left can lead to weakness.

 

Wisdom seeking, like a cave-dwelling monk without real life understanding,

 is not a Jewish concept. Knowledge without wisdom can lead to disaster. Too much mercy without
justice leads to anarchy, while too much justice without mercy leads to
totalitarianism. The middle column brings us tiferet (beauty) with a
strong foundation (yesod) , leading to a divine crown (keter), and a
oneness with the Godhead, the Ein Sof, the Unknowable Infinite. This
middle represents the ideal balance of mercy and justice. This harmony
the Kabbala teaches is important for the survival of the universe.

The beauty of this week's parasha is in its combining of everyday
societal problems with a relationship with God. Judaism takes the
everyday and makes it holy. We take what some religions consider profane
and make it divine. The Talmud teaches that it is a sin to be offered a
new fruit you have never tasted before and refuse it. Our religion
glorifies relations between husband and wife. And we make holy our
relationships with one another, when we truly are a Keneset Yisroel, the
people of Israel, the children of the One God.

 

We need, as the saying goes, to think globally but to act locally.

Let's keep our eyes on our own
behaviors instead of judging our fellow congregants, officers, rabbis, and cantors, and
let's work to make our own temples, shuls, and synagogues places where
the  Shechinah  would be happy to dwell.

Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL

 

Shalom :

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

 

If visiting SC's Low Country, contact us for a Shabbat meal, in our home by the sea, our beth yam.

 

Maker of Shalom (Oseh Shalom) help make us deserving of Shalom beyond all human comprehension!

 

The SPIRITUALRENEWAL mailing list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network.
Join Shamash's Groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.

 

To unsubscribe from the SPIRITUALRENEWAL list, email: SPIRITUALRENEWAL-unsubscribe-request@SHAMASH.ORG
For other options go to: http://listserv.SHAMASH.ORG/

 

ORIGINAL VERSION WRITTEN WHEN SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE AT CONGREGATION TEMPLE MICKVE ISRAEL, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: With God, all of our acts can be made holy :MISHPATIM

    RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: With God, all of our acts can be made holy :MISHPATIM

 

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:EXODUS 21:01 TO 24:18:PARASHA MISHPATIM:"LAW AND ORDER"

 

PARASHA MISHPATIM
EXODUS 21:01 TO 24:18
RABBI ARTHUR L. SEGAL

Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

  

 

 

 

"LAW AND ORDER"

There are many times when I remember to be proud of being Jewish and of
our vast traditions. Reading this parasha brings me to one of those
exceedingly proud moments. Only two or so months have passed after our
first  Pesach, and we are taught by Moses rules of societal behavior in the
middle of the Sinai wilderness

As modern Jews we harken back to the original late 1800 Pittsburgh platform of the first liberal movement
making the ritual laws of ''man to God'' optional, but keeping and doing the
mitzvoth of the ''man to man'' laws. While debate is certainly open to whether one should or should not obligate him or herself in all of God's mitzvoth, there is no doubt that our anthromorphic mitzvoth were far ahead of their time.  In an electric letter received from
Rabbi Fred Davidow of Atlanta, he states, "As a general rule, Reform
Judaism would consider all the mitzvoth involving ethics and morals to be
binding." This parasha is chock full of these ''man to man'' laws. Most of
them today, in one form or another, form the basis of Western
democracies. We as modern Jews therefore might do well to study this
portion carefully.

All of these laws today are studied and discussed in our Talmud. I urge
you to read through a tractate or two. Perhaps you will obtain the desire to  study Talmud. You will see that
Judaism was always a living religion and a way of life subject to
interpretation and adaptability over time and place. Many of these pasuks
(verses) are discussed in volumes in our great rabbinic literature.

Questions pondered in the Gemora section of the Talmud are intense.
In Ex 21:23-24, does "life for a life, eye for an eye" mean that
literally or do we mean monetary compensation? In Ex 22:24, when the
Torah says we should not charge interest for our loans, and not to pay
interest on loans, is it "kosher" to invite your loan officer to your
home for dinner? If there are so many laws that have the death penalty
as punishment, why does the Talmud say that a court that issues a death
penalty more than once in seventy years is a "bloody" court?

Before one can even begin to understand these laws or to undertake an
acceptance of these man to man ethical laws, we need to ask "why." Why
"should" we do good to our fellow man? Why can't we steal if we can
overpower another? Why aren't our individual lives more important than
another's? The answer lies subtly in the parasha of last week,
specifically in the order of the Ten Utterances.

Before we can do good to our fellow man, we must accept God as the
creator and true judge of all. If good and evil are separated from God,
they become no more than personal opinion. We have seen too often in
history that God without ethics and ethics without God has led to evil.
So the first three commandments command us to know and love God.

 

In the 1,000-year-old text "Duties of the Heart," which reads as new today as
any self-help book, Rabbi Bachya Ibn Paquda, of Spain, develops his logical syllogism on
the belief in God as the creator of all. Hence we are all His children,
and by doing good with our trained hearts, we are doing God's will.
Without God, no act is holy. With God, all of our acts can be made holy
and can help us get closer to God and develop our own spirituality.

The fourth commandment is about Shabbat. It is a gift  from God. Granted,
historically, we know that the Babylonians set aside special days of the
month on their lunar calendar (the 7th, 14th, 19th, 21st, and 28th
days). They could not cook foods, ride in a chariot, discuss work or
politics, reveal oracles, or heal the sick. These were not Shabbats, not
days of rest, but unlucky days to do the above mentioned tasks. If we do
not love and accept God, we will not accept this gift of our Jewish
Shabbat. And if we do not love ourselves to take time out for rest and
our OWN soul's nourishment, how can we love another and do good for
another?

The fifth commandment is to honor our parents.

Can a person with self-hate, who doesn't believe in God,

truly honor his mother and father? And can a
person, who has no love for his parents, truly love strangers and see
them as brothers and sisters of the same Holy Parent? Is this why these first
five commandments are presented before the last five, which deal with
relations  between man and man?

Rabbi Samson Hirsh, a Frankfurt nineteenth-century scholar (and no friend
of the German Reform movement), wrote that Torah (tav, vav, reish, hey)
comes from the root word "to conceive" (hey, reish, hay). He says that the goal
of Torah is to plant God's words in our minds and hearts so that we can
cultivate them and manifest them in our good deeds. He says we must
accept God outwardly and bring Him inside of us so that we can produce
good deeds outside. He was in battle with the ethical humanists of his
time, who cast off God given proscribed behaviors, and wanted to develop
moralistic personalities from inside.

The role of Mishpat, from our parasha Mishpatem, is the performance of
justice. The performance of justice is not just a divine occupation. The
world without justice (tzaddakah) is rebelling against what Locke called
Natural Law. When we perform acts of justice, we become a partner with
God in doing Tikun Olam (repairing the world). We therefore are all
elohim (dispensers of justice). "Every judge who judges with complete
fairness even for a single hour, is as though he had become a partner to
the Holy One, in Creation" (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat  10A).

When we do good deeds to our fellow man, and follow the ethics in the
Torah that we as liberal Jews embrace, we help bring the Shechinah (God's holy Presence)  into
the world, a Midrash teaches. Man has the capability of bringing the
divine presence of God into each of our hearts by treating our fellow
humans justly and with love.

The writers of the Kabbalah (Isaac Luria et al.), described ten sefirot
(countings, levels) of God's nature that if would be nice if we achieved
for ourselves. The sefirah of judgment (din), also called gevurah
(power), represents the fearsome powers of divine punishment and wrath in
the world. This power, it is posited, is needed to maintain control over
the universe. This power also contains the seeds of demonic evil, also
known as the "other side" (sitra ahra). God's name when He dispenses din
is Elohim. It appears on the left side of the kabbalistic "map." The
sefirah of chesed (loving kindness or compassion or love), also called
gedullah (greatness) ,represents the generous, benevolent side of God,
best shown in man by Abraham. God is known as El or El elyon when he
shows chesed, and this trait appears on the right side in kabbalistic
terms. Luria says there are seventy-two bridges of chesed.
The right side represents attributes of chakmah (wisdom), chesed (love),
and nezah (eternity), while the left side represents binah
(understanding), din (justice), and hod (glory). We can see how the left
side without balance from the right can lead to evil, while the right
side without the left can lead to weakness.

 

Wisdom seeking, like a cave-dwelling monk without real life understanding,

 is not a Jewish concept. Knowledge without wisdom can lead to disaster. Too much mercy without
justice leads to anarchy, while too much justice without mercy leads to
totalitarianism. The middle column brings us tiferet (beauty) with a
strong foundation (yesod) , leading to a divine crown (keter), and a
oneness with the Godhead, the Ein Sof, the Unknowable Infinite. This
middle represents the ideal balance of mercy and justice. This harmony
the Kabbala teaches is important for the survival of the universe.

The beauty of this week's parasha is in its combining of everyday
societal problems with a relationship with God. Judaism takes the
everyday and makes it holy. We take what some religions consider profane
and make it divine. The Talmud teaches that it is a sin to be offered a
new fruit you have never tasted before and refuse it. Our religion
glorifies relations between husband and wife. And we make holy our
relationships with one another, when we truly are a Keneset Yisroel, the
people of Israel, the children of the One God.

 

We need, as the saying goes, to think globally but to act locally.

Let's keep our eyes on our own
behaviors instead of judging our fellow congregants, officers, rabbis, and cantors, and
let's work to make our own temples, shuls, and synagogues places where
the  Shechinah  would be happy to dwell.

Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL

 

Shalom :

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

 

If visiting SC's Low Country, contact us for a Shabbat meal, in our home by the sea, our beth yam.

 

Maker of Shalom (Oseh Shalom) help make us deserving of Shalom beyond all human comprehension!

 

The SPIRITUALRENEWAL mailing list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network.
Join Shamash's Groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.

 

To unsubscribe from the SPIRITUALRENEWAL list, email: SPIRITUALRENEWAL-unsubscribe-request@SHAMASH.ORG
For other options go to: http://listserv.SHAMASH.ORG/

 

ORIGINAL VERSION WRITTEN WHEN SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE AT CONGREGATION TEMPLE MICKVE ISRAEL, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:oneness with the Godhead, the Ein Sof, Unknowable Infi...

  

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:oneness with the Godhead, the Ein Sof, Unknowable Infinite

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:EXODUS 21:01 TO 24:18:PARASHA MISHPATIM:"LAW AND ORDER"

 

PARASHA MISHPATIM
EXODUS 21:01 TO 24:18
RABBI ARTHUR L. SEGAL

Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

  

 

 

 

"LAW AND ORDER"

There are many times when I remember to be proud of being Jewish and of
our vast traditions. Reading this parasha brings me to one of those
exceedingly proud moments. Only two or so months have passed after our
first  Pesach, and we are taught by Moses rules of societal behavior in the
middle of the Sinai wilderness

As modern Jews we harken back to the original late 1800 Pittsburgh platform of the first liberal movement
making the ritual laws of ''man to God'' optional, but keeping and doing the
mitzvoth of the ''man to man'' laws. While debate is certainly open to whether one should or should not obligate him or herself in all of God's mitzvoth, there is no doubt that our anthromorphic mitzvoth were far ahead of their time.  In an electric letter received from
Rabbi Fred Davidow of Atlanta, he states, "As a general rule, Reform
Judaism would consider all the mitzvoth involving ethics and morals to be
binding." This parasha is chock full of these ''man to man'' laws. Most of
them today, in one form or another, form the basis of Western
democracies. We as modern Jews therefore might do well to study this
portion carefully.

All of these laws today are studied and discussed in our Talmud. I urge
you to read through a tractate or two. Perhaps you will obtain the desire to  study Talmud. You will see that
Judaism was always a living religion and a way of life subject to
interpretation and adaptability over time and place. Many of these pasuks
(verses) are discussed in volumes in our great rabbinic literature.

Questions pondered in the Gemora section of the Talmud are intense.
In Ex 21:23-24, does "life for a life, eye for an eye" mean that
literally or do we mean monetary compensation? In Ex 22:24, when the
Torah says we should not charge interest for our loans, and not to pay
interest on loans, is it "kosher" to invite your loan officer to your
home for dinner? If there are so many laws that have the death penalty
as punishment, why does the Talmud say that a court that issues a death
penalty more than once in seventy years is a "bloody" court?

Before one can even begin to understand these laws or to undertake an
acceptance of these man to man ethical laws, we need to ask "why." Why
"should" we do good to our fellow man? Why can't we steal if we can
overpower another? Why aren't our individual lives more important than
another's? The answer lies subtly in the parasha of last week,
specifically in the order of the Ten Utterances.

Before we can do good to our fellow man, we must accept God as the
creator and true judge of all. If good and evil are separated from God,
they become no more than personal opinion. We have seen too often in
history that God without ethics and ethics without God has led to evil.
So the first three commandments command us to know and love God.

 

In the 1,000-year-old text "Duties of the Heart," which reads as new today as
any self-help book, Rabbi Bachya Ibn Paquda, of Spain, develops his logical syllogism on
the belief in God as the creator of all. Hence we are all His children,
and by doing good with our trained hearts, we are doing God's will.
Without God, no act is holy. With God, all of our acts can be made holy
and can help us get closer to God and develop our own spirituality.

The fourth commandment is about Shabbat. It is a gift  from God. Granted,
historically, we know that the Babylonians set aside special days of the
month on their lunar calendar (the 7th, 14th, 19th, 21st, and 28th
days). They could not cook foods, ride in a chariot, discuss work or
politics, reveal oracles, or heal the sick. These were not Shabbats, not
days of rest, but unlucky days to do the above mentioned tasks. If we do
not love and accept God, we will not accept this gift of our Jewish
Shabbat. And if we do not love ourselves to take time out for rest and
our OWN soul's nourishment, how can we love another and do good for
another?

The fifth commandment is to honor our parents.

Can a person with self-hate, who doesn't believe in God,

truly honor his mother and father? And can a
person, who has no love for his parents, truly love strangers and see
them as brothers and sisters of the same Holy Parent? Is this why these first
five commandments are presented before the last five, which deal with
relations  between man and man?

Rabbi Samson Hirsh, a Frankfurt nineteenth-century scholar (and no friend
of the German Reform movement), wrote that Torah (tav, vav, reish, hey)
comes from the root word "to conceive" (hey, reish, hay). He says that the goal
of Torah is to plant God's words in our minds and hearts so that we can
cultivate them and manifest them in our good deeds. He says we must
accept God outwardly and bring Him inside of us so that we can produce
good deeds outside. He was in battle with the ethical humanists of his
time, who cast off God given proscribed behaviors, and wanted to develop
moralistic personalities from inside.

The role of Mishpat, from our parasha Mishpatem, is the performance of
justice. The performance of justice is not just a divine occupation. The
world without justice (tzaddakah) is rebelling against what Locke called
Natural Law. When we perform acts of justice, we become a partner with
God in doing Tikun Olam (repairing the world). We therefore are all
elohim (dispensers of justice). "Every judge who judges with complete
fairness even for a single hour, is as though he had become a partner to
the Holy One, in Creation" (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat  10A).

When we do good deeds to our fellow man, and follow the ethics in the
Torah that we as liberal Jews embrace, we help bring the Shechinah (God's holy Presence)  into
the world, a Midrash teaches. Man has the capability of bringing the
divine presence of God into each of our hearts by treating our fellow
humans justly and with love.

The writers of the Kabbalah (Isaac Luria et al.), described ten sefirot
(countings, levels) of God's nature that if would be nice if we achieved
for ourselves. The sefirah of judgment (din), also called gevurah
(power), represents the fearsome powers of divine punishment and wrath in
the world. This power, it is posited, is needed to maintain control over
the universe. This power also contains the seeds of demonic evil, also
known as the "other side" (sitra ahra). God's name when He dispenses din
is Elohim. It appears on the left side of the kabbalistic "map." The
sefirah of chesed (loving kindness or compassion or love), also called
gedullah (greatness) ,represents the generous, benevolent side of God,
best shown in man by Abraham. God is known as El or El elyon when he
shows chesed, and this trait appears on the right side in kabbalistic
terms. Luria says there are seventy-two bridges of chesed.
The right side represents attributes of chakmah (wisdom), chesed (love),
and nezah (eternity), while the left side represents binah
(understanding), din (justice), and hod (glory). We can see how the left
side without balance from the right can lead to evil, while the right
side without the left can lead to weakness.

 

Wisdom seeking, like a cave-dwelling monk without real life understanding,

 is not a Jewish concept. Knowledge without wisdom can lead to disaster. Too much mercy without
justice leads to anarchy, while too much justice without mercy leads to
totalitarianism. The middle column brings us tiferet (beauty) with a
strong foundation (yesod) , leading to a divine crown (keter), and a
oneness with the Godhead, the Ein Sof, the Unknowable Infinite. This
middle represents the ideal balance of mercy and justice. This harmony
the Kabbala teaches is important for the survival of the universe.

The beauty of this week's parasha is in its combining of everyday
societal problems with a relationship with God. Judaism takes the
everyday and makes it holy. We take what some religions consider profane
and make it divine. The Talmud teaches that it is a sin to be offered a
new fruit you have never tasted before and refuse it. Our religion
glorifies relations between husband and wife. And we make holy our
relationships with one another, when we truly are a Keneset Yisroel, the
people of Israel, the children of the One God.

 

We need, as the saying goes, to think globally but to act locally.

Let's keep our eyes on our own
behaviors instead of judging our fellow congregants, officers, rabbis, and cantors, and
let's work to make our own temples, shuls, and synagogues places where
the  Shechinah  would be happy to dwell.

Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL

 

Shalom :

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

 

If visiting SC's Low Country, contact us for a Shabbat meal, in our home by the sea, our beth yam.

 

Maker of Shalom (Oseh Shalom) help make us deserving of Shalom beyond all human comprehension!

 

The SPIRITUALRENEWAL mailing list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network.
Join Shamash's Groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.

 

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ORIGINAL VERSION WRITTEN WHEN SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE AT CONGREGATION TEMPLE MICKVE ISRAEL, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH LIFE CYCLE EVENTS: CO-OFFICIANT: HILTON HEAD, SC

    

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH LIFE CYCLE EVENTS: CO-OFFICIANT:  HILTON HEAD, SC

 

 

 (Many thanks to those many of you that sent me emails of prayer of rfua shlema for my mother. I passed them to her and she was very appreciative. She is out of the hospital and on the mend, Baruch ha Shem.)

 

 Jewish Spiritual Renewal: Derek Eretz Zuta + Rabbah:

Shabbat 01/29/11

 

(aka Derech Eretz )

 

The JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL class list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network a service of Hebrew College/Yeshiva

 

 

Shalom my dear Chaverim, Talmidim, v' Rabbanim, friends, students and fellow rabbis:

 

An oneg, joy-filled, Shabbat, Sabbath, this weekend .

 

We continue with our exploration into the Talmudic Tractates of Derek Eretz Zuta and Rabbah. (aka Derech Eretz Zuta, aka Derech Eretz Rabbah. As was mentioned, zuta is Aramaic for 'small', and rabbah is 'large'). Remember that Derek Eretz is not about Jewish ritual. It is about how we are to treat one another and what traits of character, middot, we are to try to develop. The lessons are universal and ecumenical.

 

For those new to the class, Baruch ha Ba! Welcome! You can access last week's class  at 

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:love is going to have the last word or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2011/01/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-spiritual_4569.html

 

From there you will find links to preceding classes in this new series (new as of Simcha Torah,  the holiday of rejoicing over the giving and receiving of the Torah, circa 3300 years ago at Sinai, October 2, 2010).

 

So. together we continue:

 

TALMUD BAVLI

 

TRACTATE DEREK

 

ERETZ ZUTA

 

(aka Derech Eretz)

 

CHAPTER I.

 

Talmud Bavli Tractate Derek Eretz Zuta Verse   1:5:

 

An ordinary man shall be considered to your eyes great, if you have insulted him, until you shall have asked him to forgive you. This passage may also be so rendered: If others say something bad about you, though it be of a serious nature, treat it as insignificant. But, on the other hand, if you say something bad about others, although it be insignificant, you should regard it as serious and have no rest until you beg pardon. Your behavior shall not be bad, for this is no praise for the Torah ,which you possess, but let your behavior be good, for this is a praise for the Torah.

 

 

The above verse is one of the main nuggets of Tractate Derek Eretz Zuta. It clearly tells us that we humans haven't changed much in 2500 years. The Rabbis had Jews, and others, who were insulting to them, in some of the harshest ways. And Rabbis admitted they were human, and indeed hurt others as well. And of course this lesson applies not only to Rabbis, but in all human interpersonal relationships.

 

As humans it is almost impossible to get through life without having some disrespect us, and even try to harm us.  It is equally impossible  to live life, even if we pray each day to do God's will and not our will, to not slip, and allow our egos , our yetzer ha ra, to rule us and hurt someone else.

 

Let us look at the last sentence first: ''Your behavior shall not be bad, for this is no praise for the Torah ,which you possess, but let your behavior be good, for this is a praise for the Torah.''

 

We have been taught that every lesson in the Torah,[ and by Torah, the Talmud means all of our Holy texts], is to teach us avavath chesed, loving kindness. As Rabbi Hillel circa 100 BCE said, to paraphrase, all of Torah, all of Judaism, is to teach us that what is hateful to us, we should not do to another. [  Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 31a.] And Rabbi Akiva, circa 100 CE, said  paraphrasing, that the  love of our fellows, is the most important mitzvoth in the Torah. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Kidoshim 4). Akiva further said : "He who esteems himself highly on account of his knowledge is like a corpse lying on the wayside: the traveler turns his head away in disgust, and walks quickly by." [ Avot de-Rabbi Nathan]. Learning Torah is one thing, but it is our actions of ahavath chesed that determine the type of person we are.

 

As taught in Talmud Bavli Tractate Pirkei  Avot 3:17 : where there is no Derek Eretz, there is no Torah: and where there is no Torah, there is no Derek Eretz. One can quote the Torah from the last letter in Deuteronomy, Lamed, to the first letter in Genesis, Beit, and if one doesn't have a loving heart (Lamed-Beit, Leb or Lev), one hasn't learned anything from his Torah studies. In fact, our verse says, he does worse.

 

When we hurt another, we do chillul ha Shem, we hollow out God's Holy name. Here we are with Torah (literally ''instructions,'') to teach us how to behave, and we misbehave.  And when we do so, we curse Torah as well as God.

I would like  you to consider this lesson from the Talmud Bavli Tractate Yoma 8a : If one has been guilty of profaning God's name, (chillul ha Shem), then penitence has no power to suspend punishment nor Yom Kippur to procure atonement, nor suffering to finish it, but all of them together suspend the punishment and only death finishes it. As it is said: "And the Lord of hosts revealed Himself in my ears; surely this iniquity shall not be expiated by you until you die" (Is. 22:44). 

 

The Gemora continues: "You shall love the Lord your God" (Deut. 6:5) - that the name of Heaven shall become beloved through you.  But as for one who learns [Scripture], studies [Mishna] and serves Torah scholars, and but his business transactions are not conducted faithfully, and whose manner of speaking with people is not pleasant - what do people say about him? "Woes unto his father who taught him Torah; woe unto his teacher who taught him Torah. See how perverse are his deeds and how ugly are his ways." Regarding him Scripture says: "They came among the nations… and they profaned My holy name when it was said of them, These are the people of the Lord, but they departed His land". (Ez. 36:20).

 

Judaism takes the mistreating of others extremely seriously. One never sees part of the Talmud damning someone to hell for not eating kosher or not keeping the Sabbath.

 

It is ironic that we are discussing this verse this week as there is a connection with Parasha Mishpatim of this Shabbat.   Why is the beginning of Parashat Mishpatim, which is about the mitzvoth between one person and another, immediately after Parashat Yitro where we read about the Giving of the Torah? 

 

The Talmudic sage Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa put it best, "If the spirit of one's fellow is pleased with him the spirit of God is pleased with him; but if the spirit of one's fellow is not pleased with him the spirit of God is not pleased with him." [Talmud Tractate Pirkei Avot 3:15 ]. Thus, the Mishpatim appears right after the Giving of the Torah to emphasize the importance of these mitzvoth which stress proper conduct [derek eretz]  and love amongst ourselves.

 

Rabbi Yechezkel of Kuzmir said, "People are compared to a box full of glass dishes.  If the dishes are packed tightly, the box can be moved about and transported and none of the dishes will break.  But if the dishes are packed loosely and bang into each other, they will easily break. So it is with  people."

 

Parashat Mishpatim, which deals with proper conduct between one person and another, was written in the Torah right after Parashat Yitro, the Parasha of the Giving of the Torah, to teach us that in order to preserve the Torah  we must carefully observe the mitzvoth which affect each other.

 

So our behavior must not only be good, so that we aren't hurting someone else, (and as we have learned hurting ourselves in the process), but in order to show praise to Torah and God, and the way of life that Judaism teaches.

 

 

The rest of the verse is so important in leading our lives: ''If others say something bad about you, though it be of a serious nature, treat it as insignificant. But, on the other hand, if you say something bad about others, although it be insignificant, you should regard it as serious and have no rest until you beg pardon.''

 

This is another lesson in living with humility. When we are told "We only go around once," this doesn't mean that the purpose of living is: "All about me.'' No matter how good we live our lives, others will still be nasty. In fact, the more spiritual we are, the more folks become scared of us and want to see us fail. This is because they know that the way we are living spiritually, is the way that they should be living. The media loves it when an  evangelical TV preacher or a group of Ultra Orthodox rabbis get busted in some scandal. Folks use this as an excuse to paint all clergy or spiritually connected people as potentially dishonest. As is quipped, just because you are  a vegetarian doesn't mean the bull won't charge at you.

 

So as we learned last week, we are to ignore folks who say negative things about us. They are jealous, fearful, selfish, arrogant, and detached spiritually. Pray for them. But for we who are trying to live spiritually with derek eretz, if we God-forbid, do lashon ha ra about another, even if it be a small remark, we shouldn't rest until we have made amends, teshuvah.

 

This verse 5:1 was sage wisdom 2500 years ago, and is sage wisdom today, especially with electronic instantaneous social media networks. Please let us resolve to be good to one another.

 

We discuss the aspects of this verse of Derek Eretz Zuta about proper behavior, including proper speech, and dealing with those who try to harm us, through out the majority of chapters in  The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew  as well as in most chapters of A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud  .

 

 

What are your ideas about leading a good life, not just for ourselves, but as a billboard, so to speak, for God and His ways ?  How has learning to ignore cruel insults affected your spiritual life? How has understanding that regardless of what others say about us, we need to only say kind loving words, helped you live a happier life?

 

Next class, Baruch ha Shem, we will continue with Derek Eretz Zuta,  with the 6th verse of Chapter One. Thank you for joining me.  

 

For those who want a d'var Torah on Parasha Mishpatim  from A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud  or http://www.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/index.html#Compendium2 

please click on:   Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:EXODUS 21:01 TO 24:18:PARASHA MISHPATIM:"LAW AND ORDER" 

 or

http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2008/07/rabbi-arthur-segalexodus-2101-to.html

 

Shalom :

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

 

If visiting SC's Low Country, contact us for a Shabbat meal, in our home by the sea, our beth yam.

 

Maker of Shalom (Oseh Shalom) help make us deserving of Shalom beyond all human comprehension!

 

The SPIRITUALRENEWAL mailing list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network.
Join Shamash's Groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.

 

To unsubscribe from the SPIRITUALRENEWAL list, email: SPIRITUALRENEWAL-unsubscribe-request@SHAMASH.ORG
For other options go to: http://listserv.SHAMASH.ORG/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The SPIRITUALRENEWAL mailing list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network.
Join Shamash's Groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.

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