Thursday, February 16, 2012

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: DEREK ERETZ: RESPECTING RABBIS

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: DEREK ERETZ: RESPECTING RABBIS
 
 
 
 
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:
 
 JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:
 
DEREK ERETZ:
 
RESPECTING RABBIS:
 
 
 Jewish  Spiritual  Renewal:
  
  Derek  Eretz Zuta + Rabbah:
  
 Shabbat  3/10/12 
 
 (aka  Derech  Eretz, Derekh Eretz )
  
 
  
Shalom  my dear Chaverim, Talmidim, v' Rabbanim, friends, students and fellow rabbis: 
  
An oneg, joy-filled, Shabbat this coming weekend to all. Happy Purim on 3/8 eve and 3/9 day. 
 
With Ellen and I traveling in about 2 weeks to conduct a Shabbat ha Gadol Shabbaton, and then some pre and during Pesach teaching and Seder, our class will resume a bit after mid April 2012. I need the time for class and sermon preparation. Blessings for a Spiritual and Sweet Passover Holiday.
  
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. The  development of character traits and Jewish spiritual renewal  transformation is called  Mussar.
  
For  those new to the class Baruch ha Ba! Welcome! You can access last  week's class at 
 
From  here you will find links to preceding classes in this series. So, together we continue:
  
 TALMUD  BAVLI
  
 TRACTATE 
  
 DEREk ERETZ  ZUTA
  
 (aka  Derech  Eretz, Derekh Eretz)
  
Today we will continue with and complete CHAPTER 9 of Talmud  Bavli Tractate Derek Eretz Zuta Verse  9:2. 
 

CHAPTER IX.

9:2 Love modesty, that you may enjoy longevity; love the pious, in order that you may be saved from the black angel. Be careful in the reading of Shema, and prayer in general, in order that you be saved from Gehenna. Your house shall be wide open, in order that you shall never lack food. Be careful that the doors of your house shall not be closed when you take your meals, that you may not be punished therefor with poverty.
 
How does modesty keep us living longer? First what is modesty?
 

So what is modesty? There is a seemingly cute but exceedingly wise statement in the Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 100b  "If the Torah had not been given, we would have learned tzni'ut (modesty) from a cat."

While traditional Judaism places emphasis on modesty as in the way one dresses , or relates to the opposite sex, tzni'ut, in this study of derek eretz, refers to humility. 

 Moses  is referred to as "exceedingly humble, more than any man in the world" (Num.12:3). The Talmud states that humility is one of the desired characteristic traits of the Jewish people (Bavli Tractate Yevomot  79a). Humility is a sign of Godly strength and purpose, not weakness. "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (Proverbs 3:34). Humility allows us to understand that we are all connected  with notions of transcendent unity with the universe or the Divine, and of becoming egoless.

The rabbis teach that the man who thinks he can live without others is mistaken; the one who thinks others can't live without him is even more deluded. Hence humility is a desirable trait because it creates in us the capacity to truly love God and our fellows. 

It is our ego that separates us from God and our fellows. If we have a resentment towards someone, chances are, the Talmud teaches, as well as psychiatrists, that we see in that person a defect of character, that we have. We would rather shun or hold a grudge to that person, than work on that defect in ourselves.
 
"I stood between God and you" (Deuteronomy 5:5). Moses is telling Israel that he was an intermediary between God and them at Sinai.
 
But let us look at the verse literally. "I'' (ego) actually is a barrier, that stands between, God and us.
 
Anochi is the Hebrew word used for 'I."
 
While God wants us to have a healthy self esteem, that is earned by doing His will, God does not appreciate fake humility, self anointment, and vanity.  "A vain person is one I cannot bear" (Psalms 101:5).
 
Jacob said to Isaac when he was pretending he was Esau:  "It is I, Esau your firstborn" (Genesis 27:19).   Anochi was used here.
 
The sages teach that the idea of wanting to be the "big man" , being an "I," is a trait of Esau. Esau is not one of our seven shepherds, ushpizin, who visited us in our Sukkot .
 
Jacob's self-concept was expressed in his statement "I am too small (undeserving) of all the kindnesses You have done for me" (Genesis 32:11).  Jacob is Tiferet. This word symbolizes adornment, humility, even spirituality.  He was in harmony with all. Jacob went with God's flow. (paraphrased from
 
 
I'd like to leave you with a quote on Humility, by Dr. Robert Smith, of the 20th century, USA.  "Humility is having perpetual quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble. It is never to be fretted or vexed, irritable or sore; to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me .  It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised, it is to have a blessed home in myself where I can go in and shut the door and pray to God in secret and be at peace, as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and about is seeming trouble. "
 
So we can see that not being modest with over-the-top ego, can set us apart from our fellows and spirituality, with all kinds of stressful problems ensuing. And since we know that continual stress can take years off of our lives, we can understand why the sages teach that modesty ensures longevity.

'' Love the pious, in order that you may be saved from the black angel.'' What is the black angel? It is not outside of us. It is our yetzer ha ra, our inclination to ignore what is good behaviorally. The sages even let us know that God has a yetzer ha ra, and they define it as Satan.

When we love and hence spend much time with pious  spiritual people, we learn their ways. Rather than reading derek eretz, we see it practiced. It is easy to read to ignore wrongs done to us, but hard to learn how to do. When we see a spiritual person actually live this way, we truly learn. By spending time with spiritual folk who actual live what they teach, is another level of teaching us, so that it keeps us spiritually fit.

"Be careful in the reading of Shema, and prayer in general, in order that you be saved from Gehenna.'' When the Talmud discusses the Shema in Tractate Berachot, the rabbis are not just referring to the "Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One,'' but to all the paragraphs that come after it, that many call the "V'Ahavtah", aka "You shall love the Lord your God..."

Truly understanding and believing the first sentence, put our lives into perspective. The rest of the verses is a check list for us. Are we really loving  God and our fellows...at home, on the road, in work, etc? This questioning ourselves when praying  is Tephila, the Hebrew word for prayer, but meaning self judgement.

Tephila, are self-judging prayers. As King David said in Psalm 16:07: "I bless God who is my counselor, but in the night, my inmost self instructs me." We will start off a prayer of tephila , which is the prayer that the entire Talmud begins to study in its first Tractate, Beracoth.  Judge yourself with the Shema:

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.

Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.

In an undertone:

Barukh sheim k'vod malkhuto l'olam va'ed.

Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.

V'ahav'ta eit Adonai Elohekha b'khol l'vav'kha uv'khol naf'sh'kha uv'khol m'odekha.

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

V'hayu had'varim ha'eileh asher anokhi m'tzav'kha hayom al l'vavekha.

And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart.

V'shinan'tam l'vanekha v'dibar'ta bam

And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them.

B'shiv't'kha b'veitekha uv'lekh't'kha vaderekh uv'shakh'b'kha uv'kumekha

When you sit at home, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.

Uk'shar'tam l'ot al yadekha v'hayu l'totafot bein einekha.

And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.

Ukh'tav'tam al m'zuzot beitekha uvish'arekha.

And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

 

Deuteronomy 11:13-21

V'hayah im shamo'a tish'm'u el mitz'votai

And it shall come to pass if you surely listen to the commandments

Asher anokhi m'tzaveh et'khem hayom

That I command you today

L'ahavah et Adonai Eloheikhem ul'av'do b'khol l'vav'khem uv'khol naf'sh'khem

To love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul,

V'natati m'tar ar'tz'khem b'ito yoreh umal'kosh

V'asaf'ta d'ganekha v'tirosh'kha v'yitz'harekha.

That I will give rain to your land, the early and the late rains,

That you may gather in your grain, your wine and your oil.

V'natati eisev b'sad'kha liv'hem'tekha v'akhal'ta v'sava'ta.

And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle and you will eat and you will be satisfied.

Hisham'ru lakhem pen yif'teh l'vav'khem

V'sar'tem va'avad'tem Elohim acheirim v'hish'tachavitem lahem

Beware, lest your heart be deceived

And you turn and serve other gods and worship them.

V'charah af Adonai bakhem v'atzar et hashamayim v'lo yih'yeh matar

V'ha'adamah lo titein et y'vulah

And anger of the Lord will blaze against you, and he will close the heavens and there will not be rain,

And the earth will not give you its fullness,

Va'avad'tem m'heirah mei'al ha'aretz hatovah asher Adonai notein lakhem.

And you will perish quickly from the good land that the Lord gives you.

V'sam'tem et d'varai eileh al l'vav'khem v'al naf'sh'khem

Uk'shar'tem otam l'ot al yed'khem v'hayu l'totafot bein eineikhem.

So you shall put these, my words, on your heart and on your soul;

And you shall bind them for signs on your hands, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.

V'limad'tem otam et b'neikhem l'dabeir bam

And you shall teach them to your children, and you shall speak of them

B'shiv't'kha b'veitekha uv'lekh't'kha vaderekh uv'shakh'b'kha uv'kumekha.

When you sit at home, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.

Ukh'tav'tam al m'zuzot beitekha uvish'arekha.

And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

L'ma'an yirbu y'maychem vi-y'may v'naychem al ha-adamah.

Asher nishba Adonai la-avotaychem latayt lahem ki-y'may ha-shamayim al ha-aretz.

In order to prolong your days and the days of your children on the land

That the Lord promised your fathers that he would give them, as long as the days that the heavens are over the earth.

 

Numbers 15:37-41

Vayo'mer Adonai el mosheh lei'mor

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying...

Dabeir el b'nei Yis'ra'eil v'amar'ta aleihem

Speak to the children of Israel and say to them

V'asu lahem tzitzit al kan'fei vig'deihem l'dorotam

V'nat'nu al tzitzit hakanaf p'til t'kheilet.

They should make themselves tzitzit (fringes) on the corners of their clothing throughout their generations,

And give the tzitzit of each corner a thread of blue.

V'hayah lakhem l'tzitzit ur'item oto uz'khar'tem et kol mitz'vot Adonai

Va'asitem otam v'lo taturu acharei l'vav'khem v'acharei eineikhem

Asher atem zonim achareihem.

And they shall be tzitzit for you, and when you look at them you will remember all of the Lord's commandments

And do them and not follow after your heart and after your eyes, which lead you astray.

L'ma'an tiz'k'ru va'asitem et kol mitz'votai viyitem k'doshim lei'loheikhem

In order to remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God.

Ani Adonai Eloheikhem

Asher hotzei'ti et'khem mei'eretz Mitz'rayim lih'yot lakhhem leilohim

Ani Adonai Eloheikhem

I am the Lord, your God who led you from the land of Egypt to be a God to you.

I am the Lord, your God.

Ask yourself, are you really doing the mitzvoth, the duties of the heart of loving God with all your heart, with all of your soul and with all your might? Do you sincerely try to do what is right and just while at home, at work, and on the street? Are you letting your eyes go astray and worshipping other gods, like the god of money, or the god of lust, or the god of ego? Do you try to keep God in your conscience throughout the day? Do your actions make you a good teacher to others?

The above is the way to say the prayer with kavenah. Saying it aloud with fellow congregants as if it were a mantra or some pledge of Jewish allegiance is not kavenah.   Maimonides (in the Guide for the Perplexed, Part 3, Chapter 51) expresses this point directly: "Do not pray moving your lips with your face to the wall (as if you are engaged deeply in prayer) and all the while you are thinking of your business transactions . . . Do not think you have achieved anything (by doing these things)." My best prayers are not communal, but at home, in quiet, where God can hear me and I can hear Him.

You can say your tephila prayers silently if you wish. Psalm 65:2 says: "To You silence is praise." Each morning, you should consider the day ahead. If you know, for example, that you have a company office party to attend and the sin of gossip (lashon ha ra) is on your chesbon ha nefesh gadol, ask yourself how well you have been avoiding this defect and ask God to help you avoid this defect when you attend the party.

Speaking of gossip, the Chofetz Chaim, Rabbi I. Kagen teaches that lashon ha ra murders not only the subject of the gossip, but the one who gossips and those who listen as well. We have a prayer specifically for this sin in Talmud Tractate Beracoth 16b-17a: "May God guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking guile." This is also found is Psalm 34:14.

If ego and showing off are character defects of yours, ask God to "let your name be like dust to everyone." The less you concern yourself with prestige, the less you will let selfishness interfere with your service to God, to your fellows, and to daily spiritual growth and self-improvement. You will also be able to ignore barbs, snubs and insults from others, as they will mean nothing to you.

Remember, prayer is a lifelong process. You will find that the practice evolves over time. As you learn the prayers, you will find some that you like and stay with them. Others, you may not like as much and choose to not say them. This is fine, so long as you are saying your prayers with kavenah. You can pick prayers that you like from our prayer books, or from the TaNaK, especially psalms, or even other spiritual texts.

By continually self judging and striving to do better will keep us from having a life that is hell, Gehenna, on Earth.

 

''Your house shall be wide open, in order that you shall never lack food. Be careful that the doors of your house shall not be closed when you take your meals, that you may not be punished therefor with poverty.'' This is our last section of verse 9:2 of Derek Eretz Zuta and the end of today's class.

 

We have almost all heard and seen at Passover when we go to the door of our homes in the beginning of the Seder, and say in Aramaic, "Let those who are hungry, let them come and eat."

 

Many think this is just what Jews say once a year at a seder. The Talmud Bavli Tractate Ta'anit 20b teaches that Rabbi    Huna would open his door and announce: "Whoever is needy, let him come and eat."  Rabbi announced this every day.

(This is the same Rabbi Huna, who in Tractate Kiddushin stated that ''one should not walk six feet with out a kippah on his head.'')

 

As we have learned Tsadakkah is the salt, the preservative, for our own wealth and well being.

 "A man saw not his fellow, neither rose any from his place for three days" (the Plague of Darkness, Exodus 10:23). Indeed, there is no greater darkness than one in which "a man saw not his fellow" -- in which a person becomes oblivious to the needs of his fellow man. When that happens, a person becomes stymied in his personal development as well -- "neither rose any from his place." This was taught by Rabbi Yitzchak Meir of Ger (1789-1866)

 

Our doors should always be open and never shut to those in need. Neither should our hearts and wallets. When we get so jaded in life that we can ignore  the plight of others, and call those that do care, 'socialists or wealth redistributers,' we are only harming our own souls and our own wealth, even though we think foolishly that we are protecting it.

We discuss these middot, character traits, of humility, piety , prayer and tzadakkah,  throughout the majority of chapters in  ''The  Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern  Jew'' ' (http://www.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/ )  as well as in most chapters of ''A  Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud''  

  
What are your ideas about these charater traits?  How has learning Talmud's Derek Eretz helped you in your  interpersonal  relationships? How  has understanding the spiritual and ethical teachings of  Judaism helped you live a more joyous life? 
  
Next class, Baruch ha Shem, we will continue with Derek Eretz Zuta, Chapter Seven. Thank you for joining me.
 
For those who want a d'var Torah on Parasha Terumah   from '''A  Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and  Talmud'' please click on  
 
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Shabbat Shalom:

Rabbi Arthur Segal_

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Posted by Rabbi Arthur Segal at 4:12 PM