Thursday, May 3, 2012

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:BAMIDBAR: I-THOU RELATIONS:BUBER

  RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:BAMIDBAR: I-THOU RELATIONS: BUBER 
 
 
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH RENEWAL: BAMIDBAR: I-THOU RELATIONS : MARTIN BUBER 
 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:CHUMASH CANDESCENCE: PARASHA BA-MIDBAR: NUMBERS 01:01- 04:20

 

CHUMASH CANDESCENCE
PARASHA BA-MIDBAR
NUMBERS 01:01 TO 04:20
 

Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
facebook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA


"One Is the Loneliest Number"

This week's Torah portion brings us to the fourth book of the "Five Books
of Moses," known as the Chumash. This book takes its English name
(Numbers) from the Greek and Latin translations, as the first chapters
deal with the census of the twelve tribes and their encampment in Sinai.
In Hebrew, the name of this book and its first chapter is Ba-midbar. This
means "in the wilderness."

Shavuot usually falls around the time this parasha is read. 

This holiday commemorates the giving of the Torah
to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Some 3,310 years ago, by traditional accounting,
our people stood in the wilderness of Sinai in front of a small,
humble-looking mountain. On this mountain, Moses, who the Torah calls
"the most humble man who ever lived" (Numbers 12:03), was given the Law.


We are taught in the Chumash that we accepted the Torah by saying "we
will do and we will listen." Traditionally, this means we accepted the
Torah before we knew what it required of us. However, the Talmud in
Tractate Shabbat 82A tells us that at Sinai "the mountain was poised over
the Jews like a barrel." In other words, we Jews were forced into
acceptance.

The Midrash tells us another allegory. When God was preparing to give the
Torah, all the mountains stepped forward and declared why they thought
the Torah should be given on them. One said he was the highest. Another
said he was the steepest. In the end, God choose Mt. Sinai because it was
the most humble. To quote Rabbi Shragas Simmons, humility to Jews is
"living with the reality that nothing matters except doing the right
thing."

 

Our Jewish religion, to paraphrase Herman Melville's view of
freedom, is only good as a means; it is no end in itself. As Jews, our
humility means that we are not dependent on the opinions of others.
Sometimes doing the right thing is popular. Many times it is not. The
humble Jew will set aside his ego and consistently strive for
righteousness. Let us not confuse humility with arrogance. An arrogant
man declares that he is all that matters. A humble man believes that what
is greater than he is what counts.

Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Pshischa in nineteenth-century Europe always
carried two slips of paper. One he placed in his right pocket, the other in his left.
One piece had a quote from Tractate Sanhedrin 38A . "The entire world was
created just for me." On the other slip of paper was a quote of Abraham
in Genesis 18:27. "I am but dust and ashes." A humble man knows when to
act and when to be silent. A humble man knows when to lead and when to
follow. A truly humble person says upon awakening "Modeh Ani...Thank you
God for returning my soul for yet another day."

We were in the wilderness of Sinai when we received the Torah. We
received the Law there because a desert is empty. Also it belongs to no
nation. In order to receive God's word, we had to be in a place that had
room for it.

 

Every day we need to open our hearts and let God inside.
Every day needs to be a Shavuot for us as individuals. We were not
chosen by God, as the Midrash also says that God offered the Torah to
other nations before us who rejected it. We chose God. We need to continue to
choose God through our daily behaviors.

Not everyone at every time can achieve a higher level of contact with God
through personal search. Nor will God reveal himself to every generation.
As Martin Buber wrote, we need to develop an I-Thou relationship with God
on our own. We begin this by developing I-Thou relationships with those
around us. We cannot have object relations with our friends and loved
ones. We cannot relate to others in I-It scenarios during the week and
expect miraculously to have a spiritual I-Thou relationship with God on
Shabbat or in times of personal crisis.


While the Torah indeed was given to us on Shavuot, we must learn to
cling daily to the Torah (develikut b' Torah), as Rabbi Yehudah Loewe,
known as the Maharal, of sixteenth-century Prague has written.

The Talmud also teaches that each child is taught the whole of Torah
while in his mother's womb. An angel comes prior to birth and sucks that
knowledge out of him, causing the mark we each find above our upper lip.
The Talmud says that if we had not first known the Torah as a fetus,
albeit to later forget it, we would not be able to relate to it later as
an adults.

 

The Talmud in Tractate Shavuot  39A further states that all
Jewish souls past, present and future were at Sinai. The memory of Sinai
deep within each of us drives our continual search for God and meaning in
our lives. Perhaps this is why we ask in our daily prayers to be guided
"to know and understand, learn and teach, observe and uphold with love"
the Torah (Gates of Prayer, page 56).

I think the authors of the Chumash knew life well enough to know that we
would always be "ba-midbar."
Some are in a wilderness of their own
making. Others find themselves in a desert caused by situations out of
their control.

 

The Talmud in Tractate Shabbat 33b tells us of two men who
endured both types of situations. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was a student
of  Rabbi Akiva.


He was one of five students that survived the plague. About 1,900 years
ago he defied the Romans' ruling against study of Torah. A death
sentence was pronounced against him, and he went into hiding. Rabbi Shimon and his
son Elazer fled to a cave in the Galilee. It is said that a carob tree
and a well miraculously appeared in the cave to provide them sustenance.


Since they had only one set of clothes, they removed them so that the
garments  would not wear out, and they buried themselves in the sand except for
their heads. They studied Torah all day and did not wish to be immodest while
engaged in "God's words."

Rabbi Shimon and Elazer study and lived in this cave for twelve years.
One day Elijah the prophet appeared to tell them that Caesar had died and
the death sentence had been lifted. They left the cave but saw Jewish
farmers working. Rabbi Shimon was shocked that they were free yet were
not studying Torah. He gave them the look of the "evil eye," and the
farmers vaporized. God was upset at this and told the rabbi that His
"world is not to be destroyed and to return" to his cave.

A year later, when Rabbi Shimon and his son emerged they again saw Jews
involved in mundane worldly pursuits. He then realized that Torah study
and religious pursuits were not enough in life, but that we need to
balance them with worldly goals while still maintaining holiness. Rabbi
Shimon went on to reveal the Zohar, a Kabbalistic text showing us how to
"transform our material daily world into transcendent energy."

 

 Zohar literally means "shining light." His death is celebrated on Lag ba Omer,
which occurs between Passover and Shavuot during the 7 weeks of counting the Omer.

 My wife Ellen and I had the
occasion to visit Rabbi Shimon's tomb in Meiron, Israel, in the Galilee.

Can our humility and our justice-seeking help us through the
daily wilderness encounters in our own lives? Certainly by walking humbly
with God, as Micha suggests, will help us to avoid deserts of our own making.

 

 In Pirket Avot 4:17, which we read during the omer-counting season between Pesach and
Shavuot, Rabbi Shimon taught that "there are three crowns---the crowns of
Torah, royalty and priesthood, but the crown of a good name is above them
all."

 

While it is wonderful to study Torah and read about doing
mitzvoth, it is the actual doing of these good deeds that will lead us out of the
wilderness.

 

As the Tchortkover Rebbe, Nachum Friedman, wrote, "all of
the Torah, royalty, and priestliness in the world are worthless, if their
owner does not earn a good name as well."


Rabbi Elazer taught in Pirket Avot 3:21 that one whose wisdom exceeds his
good deeds "shall be like an isolated tree in an arid land, dwelling on
parched soil in the wilderness." As I wrote in a previous d'var Torah,
the fifty-day period in which we are now is the time to prepare for the
Revelation by taking a good hard look at ourselves.

Rabbi ibn Paquda of eleventh-century Spain writes in his Duties of the
Heart: "Are you to accept Jewish ideals on the authority of those rabbis
learned in Torah and tradition and exclusively rely on their traditions?
On the contrary! The Torah expressly bids you to reflect and exercise
your intellect on such themes. 'Know this day and lay it on your heart,
that the Lord, He is God' [Deut. 4:39]. This admonition refers to
everything in which rational methods of investigation can be used."

 

We are obliged to study and to question. We are to each seek paths to "make
our lives a blessing." We are not to waste life on the trivialities of a
modern wasteland. Regardless of what we are doing, we need to clarify our
spiritual relationship with God. Every day needs to be our Shavuot.

"Man is the creature created for the purpose of being drawn close to
God," wrote the RaMChaL, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto of eighteenth-century
Italy. As King David wrote in Psalm 6:4: "Save me if you love me God, for
in death there is no remembrance of You." "What do You gain by my death,
as I go down to the pit? Can the dust praise you or proclaim your
faithfulness?" (Ps. 30:09). David also penned in Psalm 115:17: "The
dead cannot praise God, they have gone down to silence."

 

God gave life to us humans so that we can sing His praises and work toward Tikkun Olam
(repair of the world). God needs us, in other words, to complete His plans for
the world. We have to seek God continually. God is not something you find
once and then stick in a drawer. Nor are our relationships with each
other meant to be handled in this fashion. They must be continually
nurtured. The question of "what have you done for me lately?" is a valid
one.

 

 Martin Buber in his "Instructions in Intercourse with God" quotes
the Bal Shem Tov as asking that we "Pray continually for God's Glory,
that it may be redeemed from its exile." In doing Tikkun Olam, we must
also repair the face of God. We need to be Sha'ar Elohim (portals of
God). We need to find daily ways to do "shikrur Elohim," actually
liberate God. David asks us in Psalm 105:04 to "seek God's face
untiringly."

This d'var's title is "One Is the Loneliest Number." As Jews believing in
God, we are never truly alone. Our name comes from Yehudah and means "he
will give thanks." We are Yehudim because we always thank God for all of
our blessings. Most times He has given us more than we could ever
deserve. Everything we have, including life itself, are undeserved gifts
from God.

 

Who would wish human companionship when no human could compare
to God's benevolence? Yet God Himself declared in Genesis 2:18 that it is
"not good (lo tov) for man to be alone." This is the first thing in the
universe that God created that was not "tov." It was "lo tov" to be
alone.

The Oneness of God is crucial to our understanding of God. We declare
God's Oneness multiple times each day in our "Shema" prayer. Maimonides
wrote that the highest level of wisdom that a human can attain is to comprehend
God's Oneness. By doing so, we then know that everything is God. This
includes all of humankind and even both good and evil.

 

 The yetzer ha ra is our
self-destructive inclination to move away from God and goodness.
God gave us free will. And God gave us the yetzer ha ra. It is our task
to harness this energy and use it for goodness. Luzzatto, quoted above,
says in his Path of the Just that creation's purpose is to earn us
pleasure. He writes that the ultimate pleasure is attaching to God. So
although the evil inclination (yetzer ha ra) seems to be leading us away
from God, it provides us opportunities to come closer to God.

 

We get pleasure and satisfaction when we do not give in to our "bad" impulses.
There is joy in not trapping ourselves in our self-made wildernesses.

Yet we as humans can feel isolated when we are not in relationships with
others. We are not meant to live in a cave like Rabbi Shimon and his son.


On Shabbat in the Mincha service, we traditionally praise God by
saying , "You are One, Your Name is One, and who is like your people Israel." We
are not only blessing God, but in the same breath blessing ourselves as a
people. This prayer is part of the Menuchat Shalom (total peace). It
implies that while we need to be one with God, we are not supposed to be
one, solitary, like a lonely number.

Rabbi Tzadok taught in chapter 4, Mishna 7, "Do not separate yourself
from the community." We are taught to seek out loving, friendly
relationships with others. In the Talmud's Tractate Ta'anit 22A, the
story is told of Rabbi Beroka who would visit the market in Bei Lefet. He
would often have visions of the prophet Eliyahu. Once the rabbi said to
the prophet, "Is there anyone in the marketplace who is destined to the
World to Come?" Eliyahu pointed to two men. The rabbi asked them what
they did. They replied that they were comedians and cheered up those who
were depressed. They also said that whenever they saw two people involved
in a quarrel, they strove hard to make peace between them. Rabbi Hillel
said, "Be among the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace,
loving people and bringing them closer to Torah" (Pirket Avot 1:12).

In ending this d'var Torah on this week's parasha, I will quote from its
Haftorah from Hosea 2:21-22. This prophet gives us a broad clue on
surviving wildernesses that we get trapped in along life's path. He
describes God speaking to Israel. It is also a formula for us to speak to
God and to each other in our relationships. "I shall marry you to me
forever. I shall marry you to me with righteousness, and with justice,
and with kindness, and with mercy. I shall marry you to me with
fidelity." Certainly if we allowed ourselves to work toward
relationships with our spouses, families, friends and also with God within this
framework, we would never be a lonely number Ba-midbar.

Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL

Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
facebook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal
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!
 
 


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THE PATH AND WISDOM FOR LIVING AT PEACE WITH OTHERS: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD TRACTATES DEREK ERETZ ZUTA AND RABBAH: VOL. 1

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Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
facebook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 
Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
facebook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
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Posted by Rabbi Arthur Segal at 12:09 PM

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:BAMIDBAR: I-THOU RELATIONS:BUBER

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:BAMIDBAR: I-THOU RELATIONS: BUBER 
 
 
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH RENEWAL: BAMIDBAR: I-THOU RELATIONS : MARTIN BUBER 
 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:CHUMASH CANDESCENCE: PARASHA BA-MIDBAR: NUMBERS 01:01- 04:20

 

CHUMASH CANDESCENCE
PARASHA BA-MIDBAR
NUMBERS 01:01 TO 04:20
 

Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
facebook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA


"One Is the Loneliest Number"

This week's Torah portion brings us to the fourth book of the "Five Books
of Moses," known as the Chumash. This book takes its English name
(Numbers) from the Greek and Latin translations, as the first chapters
deal with the census of the twelve tribes and their encampment in Sinai.
In Hebrew, the name of this book and its first chapter is Ba-midbar. This
means "in the wilderness."

Shavuot usually falls around the time this parasha is read. 

This holiday commemorates the giving of the Torah
to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Some 3,310 years ago, by traditional accounting,
our people stood in the wilderness of Sinai in front of a small,
humble-looking mountain. On this mountain, Moses, who the Torah calls
"the most humble man who ever lived" (Numbers 12:03), was given the Law.


We are taught in the Chumash that we accepted the Torah by saying "we
will do and we will listen." Traditionally, this means we accepted the
Torah before we knew what it required of us. However, the Talmud in
Tractate Shabbat 82A tells us that at Sinai "the mountain was poised over
the Jews like a barrel." In other words, we Jews were forced into
acceptance.

The Midrash tells us another allegory. When God was preparing to give the
Torah, all the mountains stepped forward and declared why they thought
the Torah should be given on them. One said he was the highest. Another
said he was the steepest. In the end, God choose Mt. Sinai because it was
the most humble. To quote Rabbi Shragas Simmons, humility to Jews is
"living with the reality that nothing matters except doing the right
thing."

 

Our Jewish religion, to paraphrase Herman Melville's view of
freedom, is only good as a means; it is no end in itself. As Jews, our
humility means that we are not dependent on the opinions of others.
Sometimes doing the right thing is popular. Many times it is not. The
humble Jew will set aside his ego and consistently strive for
righteousness. Let us not confuse humility with arrogance. An arrogant
man declares that he is all that matters. A humble man believes that what
is greater than he is what counts.

Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Pshischa in nineteenth-century Europe always
carried two slips of paper. One he placed in his right pocket, the other in his left.
One piece had a quote from Tractate Sanhedrin 38A . "The entire world was
created just for me." On the other slip of paper was a quote of Abraham
in Genesis 18:27. "I am but dust and ashes." A humble man knows when to
act and when to be silent. A humble man knows when to lead and when to
follow. A truly humble person says upon awakening "Modeh Ani...Thank you
God for returning my soul for yet another day."

We were in the wilderness of Sinai when we received the Torah. We
received the Law there because a desert is empty. Also it belongs to no
nation. In order to receive God's word, we had to be in a place that had
room for it.

 

Every day we need to open our hearts and let God inside.
Every day needs to be a Shavuot for us as individuals. We were not
chosen by God, as the Midrash also says that God offered the Torah to
other nations before us who rejected it. We chose God. We need to continue to
choose God through our daily behaviors.

Not everyone at every time can achieve a higher level of contact with God
through personal search. Nor will God reveal himself to every generation.
As Martin Buber wrote, we need to develop an I-Thou relationship with God
on our own. We begin this by developing I-Thou relationships with those
around us. We cannot have object relations with our friends and loved
ones. We cannot relate to others in I-It scenarios during the week and
expect miraculously to have a spiritual I-Thou relationship with God on
Shabbat or in times of personal crisis.


While the Torah indeed was given to us on Shavuot, we must learn to
cling daily to the Torah (develikut b' Torah), as Rabbi Yehudah Loewe,
known as the Maharal, of sixteenth-century Prague has written.

The Talmud also teaches that each child is taught the whole of Torah
while in his mother's womb. An angel comes prior to birth and sucks that
knowledge out of him, causing the mark we each find above our upper lip.
The Talmud says that if we had not first known the Torah as a fetus,
albeit to later forget it, we would not be able to relate to it later as
an adults.

 

The Talmud in Tractate Shavuot  39A further states that all
Jewish souls past, present and future were at Sinai. The memory of Sinai
deep within each of us drives our continual search for God and meaning in
our lives. Perhaps this is why we ask in our daily prayers to be guided
"to know and understand, learn and teach, observe and uphold with love"
the Torah (Gates of Prayer, page 56).

I think the authors of the Chumash knew life well enough to know that we
would always be "ba-midbar."
Some are in a wilderness of their own
making. Others find themselves in a desert caused by situations out of
their control.

 

The Talmud in Tractate Shabbat 33b tells us of two men who
endured both types of situations. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was a student
of  Rabbi Akiva.


He was one of five students that survived the plague. About 1,900 years
ago he defied the Romans' ruling against study of Torah. A death
sentence was pronounced against him, and he went into hiding. Rabbi Shimon and his
son Elazer fled to a cave in the Galilee. It is said that a carob tree
and a well miraculously appeared in the cave to provide them sustenance.


Since they had only one set of clothes, they removed them so that the
garments  would not wear out, and they buried themselves in the sand except for
their heads. They studied Torah all day and did not wish to be immodest while
engaged in "God's words."

Rabbi Shimon and Elazer study and lived in this cave for twelve years.
One day Elijah the prophet appeared to tell them that Caesar had died and
the death sentence had been lifted. They left the cave but saw Jewish
farmers working. Rabbi Shimon was shocked that they were free yet were
not studying Torah. He gave them the look of the "evil eye," and the
farmers vaporized. God was upset at this and told the rabbi that His
"world is not to be destroyed and to return" to his cave.

A year later, when Rabbi Shimon and his son emerged they again saw Jews
involved in mundane worldly pursuits. He then realized that Torah study
and religious pursuits were not enough in life, but that we need to
balance them with worldly goals while still maintaining holiness. Rabbi
Shimon went on to reveal the Zohar, a Kabbalistic text showing us how to
"transform our material daily world into transcendent energy."

 

 Zohar literally means "shining light." His death is celebrated on Lag ba Omer,
which occurs between Passover and Shavuot during the 7 weeks of counting the Omer.

 My wife Ellen and I had the
occasion to visit Rabbi Shimon's tomb in Meiron, Israel, in the Galilee.

Can our humility and our justice-seeking help us through the
daily wilderness encounters in our own lives? Certainly by walking humbly
with God, as Micha suggests, will help us to avoid deserts of our own making.

 

 In Pirket Avot 4:17, which we read during the omer-counting season between Pesach and
Shavuot, Rabbi Shimon taught that "there are three crowns---the crowns of
Torah, royalty and priesthood, but the crown of a good name is above them
all."

 

While it is wonderful to study Torah and read about doing
mitzvoth, it is the actual doing of these good deeds that will lead us out of the
wilderness.

 

As the Tchortkover Rebbe, Nachum Friedman, wrote, "all of
the Torah, royalty, and priestliness in the world are worthless, if their
owner does not earn a good name as well."


Rabbi Elazer taught in Pirket Avot 3:21 that one whose wisdom exceeds his
good deeds "shall be like an isolated tree in an arid land, dwelling on
parched soil in the wilderness." As I wrote in a previous d'var Torah,
the fifty-day period in which we are now is the time to prepare for the
Revelation by taking a good hard look at ourselves.

Rabbi ibn Paquda of eleventh-century Spain writes in his Duties of the
Heart: "Are you to accept Jewish ideals on the authority of those rabbis
learned in Torah and tradition and exclusively rely on their traditions?
On the contrary! The Torah expressly bids you to reflect and exercise
your intellect on such themes. 'Know this day and lay it on your heart,
that the Lord, He is God' [Deut. 4:39]. This admonition refers to
everything in which rational methods of investigation can be used."

 

We are obliged to study and to question. We are to each seek paths to "make
our lives a blessing." We are not to waste life on the trivialities of a
modern wasteland. Regardless of what we are doing, we need to clarify our
spiritual relationship with God. Every day needs to be our Shavuot.

"Man is the creature created for the purpose of being drawn close to
God," wrote the RaMChaL, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto of eighteenth-century
Italy. As King David wrote in Psalm 6:4: "Save me if you love me God, for
in death there is no remembrance of You." "What do You gain by my death,
as I go down to the pit? Can the dust praise you or proclaim your
faithfulness?" (Ps. 30:09). David also penned in Psalm 115:17: "The
dead cannot praise God, they have gone down to silence."

 

God gave life to us humans so that we can sing His praises and work toward Tikkun Olam
(repair of the world). God needs us, in other words, to complete His plans for
the world. We have to seek God continually. God is not something you find
once and then stick in a drawer. Nor are our relationships with each
other meant to be handled in this fashion. They must be continually
nurtured. The question of "what have you done for me lately?" is a valid
one.

 

 Martin Buber in his "Instructions in Intercourse with God" quotes
the Bal Shem Tov as asking that we "Pray continually for God's Glory,
that it may be redeemed from its exile." In doing Tikkun Olam, we must
also repair the face of God. We need to be Sha'ar Elohim (portals of
God). We need to find daily ways to do "shikrur Elohim," actually
liberate God. David asks us in Psalm 105:04 to "seek God's face
untiringly."

This d'var's title is "One Is the Loneliest Number." As Jews believing in
God, we are never truly alone. Our name comes from Yehudah and means "he
will give thanks." We are Yehudim because we always thank God for all of
our blessings. Most times He has given us more than we could ever
deserve. Everything we have, including life itself, are undeserved gifts
from God.

 

Who would wish human companionship when no human could compare
to God's benevolence? Yet God Himself declared in Genesis 2:18 that it is
"not good (lo tov) for man to be alone." This is the first thing in the
universe that God created that was not "tov." It was "lo tov" to be
alone.

The Oneness of God is crucial to our understanding of God. We declare
God's Oneness multiple times each day in our "Shema" prayer. Maimonides
wrote that the highest level of wisdom that a human can attain is to comprehend
God's Oneness. By doing so, we then know that everything is God. This
includes all of humankind and even both good and evil.

 

 The yetzer ha ra is our
self-destructive inclination to move away from God and goodness.
God gave us free will. And God gave us the yetzer ha ra. It is our task
to harness this energy and use it for goodness. Luzzatto, quoted above,
says in his Path of the Just that creation's purpose is to earn us
pleasure. He writes that the ultimate pleasure is attaching to God. So
although the evil inclination (yetzer ha ra) seems to be leading us away
from God, it provides us opportunities to come closer to God.

 

We get pleasure and satisfaction when we do not give in to our "bad" impulses.
There is joy in not trapping ourselves in our self-made wildernesses.

Yet we as humans can feel isolated when we are not in relationships with
others. We are not meant to live in a cave like Rabbi Shimon and his son.


On Shabbat in the Mincha service, we traditionally praise God by
saying , "You are One, Your Name is One, and who is like your people Israel." We
are not only blessing God, but in the same breath blessing ourselves as a
people. This prayer is part of the Menuchat Shalom (total peace). It
implies that while we need to be one with God, we are not supposed to be
one, solitary, like a lonely number.

Rabbi Tzadok taught in chapter 4, Mishna 7, "Do not separate yourself
from the community." We are taught to seek out loving, friendly
relationships with others. In the Talmud's Tractate Ta'anit 22A, the
story is told of Rabbi Beroka who would visit the market in Bei Lefet. He
would often have visions of the prophet Eliyahu. Once the rabbi said to
the prophet, "Is there anyone in the marketplace who is destined to the
World to Come?" Eliyahu pointed to two men. The rabbi asked them what
they did. They replied that they were comedians and cheered up those who
were depressed. They also said that whenever they saw two people involved
in a quarrel, they strove hard to make peace between them. Rabbi Hillel
said, "Be among the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace,
loving people and bringing them closer to Torah" (Pirket Avot 1:12).

In ending this d'var Torah on this week's parasha, I will quote from its
Haftorah from Hosea 2:21-22. This prophet gives us a broad clue on
surviving wildernesses that we get trapped in along life's path. He
describes God speaking to Israel. It is also a formula for us to speak to
God and to each other in our relationships. "I shall marry you to me
forever. I shall marry you to me with righteousness, and with justice,
and with kindness, and with mercy. I shall marry you to me with
fidelity." Certainly if we allowed ourselves to work toward
relationships with our spouses, families, friends and also with God within this
framework, we would never be a lonely number Ba-midbar.

Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL

Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
facebook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal
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!
 
 


BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS


Click on the book titles below for more information:

THE HANDBOOK TO JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: A PATH OF TRANSFORMATION FOR THE MODERN JEW

A SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL COMPENDIUM
TO THE TORAH AND TALMUD 

THE PATH AND WISDOM FOR LIVING AT PEACE WITH OTHERS: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD TRACTATES DEREK ERETZ ZUTA AND RABBAH: VOL. 1

LOVE PEACE AND PURSUE PEACE: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD TRACTATES DEREK ERETZ ZUTA AND RABBAH: VOL. 2



THE HANDBOOK TO JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: A PATH OF TRANSFORMATION FOR THE MODERN JEW


Click here for more information

A SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL COMPENDIUM TO THE TORAH AND TALMUD


Click here for more information

THE PATH AND WISDOM FOR LIVING AT PEACE WITH OTHERS: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD TRACTATES DEREK ERETZ ZUTA AND RABBAH: VOL. 1


Click here for more information

LOVE PEACE AND PURSUE PEACE: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD TRACTATES DEREK ERETZ ZUTA AND RABBAH: VOL. 2


Click here for more information

VISIT MY BLOG

SOCIAL MEDIA

© Dr. Arthur Segal, Inc., DBA Rabbi Arthur Segal - All pages, images, photographs - rights reserved. - Design by 7com7 Marketing & Media




 
Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
facebook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 
Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
facebook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
Bookmark and Share
Posted by Rabbi Arthur Segal at 12:04 PM

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:LOVE PEACE,SHUN DISCORD: DEREK ERETZ

 RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: LOVE PEACE, SHUN DISCORD: DEREK ERETZ  
 
 Jewish  Spiritual  Renewal:
  
  Derek  Eretz Zuta + Rabbah:
  
 Shabbat  5/26/12 
 
 (aka  Derech  Eretz, Derekh Eretz )
  
 
  
Shalom  my dear Chaverim, Talmidim, v' Rabbanim, friends, students and fellow rabbis: 
  
An oneg, joy-filled, Shabbat and Shavuot this coming weekend to all.
 
  
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 the last chapter of Talmud Bavli Tractate Derek Eretz Zuta, Chapter Ten verses 10:3-5.   
 

CHAPTER X

THE CHAPTER ON PEACE   

 
10:3: R. Joshua said: Great is peace, for at the time Israel arose and said [Exod. xxiv. 7]: "All that the Lord hath spoken will we do and listen," the Holy One was pleased to give unto them His Torah and blessed them with peace, as it is written [Ps. xxix. 11]: "The Lord will bless his people with peace."
 
10:4: Hezekiah said: Great is peace, for at every commandment in the Torah it is written "if," as, for instance, Exod. xxiii. 4, "If thou meet," etc., which means, if such a thing occurs to you, you must do the commandment; but concerning peace, it is different, there it is written [Ps. xxxiv. 15]: "Seek peace, and pursue it," which means, seek peace at the place where you are, and if you do not find it, seek it in other places.
 
10:5: Great is peace: about all the journeys of Israel it is written, "And they removed . . . and . . . encamped," which means they removed in strife and encamped in strife, but when they came to Sinai there was no more strife, and they encamped in peace, as it is written [Exod. xix. 2]: "And Israel encamped opposite the Mount" (i.e., all Israel were united). The Holy One, blessed be He, then said: "Because Israel hates discord and loves peace, and all are united, this is a favorable time that I should give them my Torah."

 

Let us begin with: ''R. Joshua said: Great is peace, for at the time Israel arose and said [Exod. xxiv. 7]: "All that the Lord hath spoken will we do and listen," the Holy One was pleased to give unto them His Torah and blessed them with peace, as it is written [Ps. xxix. 11]: "The Lord will bless his people with peace...''

Now we have learned in the Talmud and Midrash that while the Torah says the Hebrews were going to accept the laws of the Torah unconditional, by blind obedience to them (will do), and later study them (will listen), our rabbis teach that God had to threaten the Israelites by holding Mount Sinai over their heads, threatening to drop it on them, if they didn't accept Torah. {Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 88a}.

Regardless, by sticking with the spiritual and ethical lessons of the Torah we will live a life of peace, as it is said: "Its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace,(Prov. 3:17). ''

As I have taught in Jewish Spiritual Renewal. most of us have control over our own thoughts, speech and actions. We have the ability to control these only if we keep our yetzer ha ra, our selfish ego and will, at bay. We have control over nothing else. If we think we do, we are being delusional. We have free will as do others. 

God has told Israel, "My children, I have created the Evil Inclination, and I have created the Torah as an antidote against it. I wrote in My Torah: 'If you do good, you will be more powerful. If you do not do good, sin awaits crouching at the door; it desires to control you, but you can overpower it' (Gen. 4:7).

"As long as you are engrossed in the Torah and doing its mitzvot, you will not be controlled by the Evil Inclination. This is why the Torah says: 'If you do good, you will be more powerful'. But when you are not engrossed in the Torah, you will be under the control of the Evil Inclination, as the verse continues, 'If you do not do good, sin awaits crouching at the door.'

"Not only that," God said, "but the Evil Inclination will spend all its time and energies trying to make you sin, which is why the verse says 'it desires to control you.'

"If you want to, you can overpower the Evil Inclination, as it says, '...it desires to control you, but you can overpower it.' ( Talmud Bavli  Kiddushin 30b).

If we choose to live in peace, we must negate our selfish will and align it with God's will. Our inner peace, our integration, our shlema, wholeness, comes from our self esteem understanding that this is our true purpose in life. We have  inner peace, peace in the home, and peace in the community. How? By us understanding that living by Torah means all of our derekim, paths, are towards peace.

Let us continue with: 10:4: Hezekiah said: Great is peace, for at every commandment in the Torah it is written "if," as, for instance, Exod. xxiii. 4, "If thou meet," etc., which means, if such a thing occurs to you, you must do the commandment; but concerning peace, it is different, there it is written [Ps. xxxiv. 15]: "Seek peace, and pursue it," which means, seek peace at the place where you are, and if you do not find it, seek it in other places.''

Hezekiah was one of Judea's better kings and witnessed the Assyrian destruction of Israel and the beginning of the Babylonian siege of Judea and Jerusalem. The Talmud (Bava Batra 15a) credits him with overseeing the compilation of the biblical books of Isaiah, Proverbs, Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes.

Most of our mitzvot are time bound or situational. If it is Shabbat, we do or do not do certain things. If it is Purim, we read the Megillah Esther, and do other rituals. If we are in business, we must have honest scales. If we see our enemy's donkey having trouble with what it is carrying, we are to help upright it. However with peace, as well as justice, we are to seek out places that are without peace and justice, and work toward establishing a peaceful and just environment. We are to be like the disciples of Aaron, loving peace, pursuing peace, and bringing people closer to Torah and to each other. (Talmud Pirkei Avot 1:12).

 Let us end today with: 10:5: Great is peace: about all the journeys of Israel it is written, "And they removed . . . and . . . encamped," which means they removed in strife and encamped in strife, but when they came to Sinai there was no more strife, and they encamped in peace, as it is written [Exod. xix. 2]: "And Israel encamped opposite the Mount" (i.e., all Israel were united). The Holy One, blessed be He, then said: "Because Israel hates discord and loves peace, and all are united, this is a favorable time that I should give them my Torah."

We are being taught again as found many times in Talmudic Judaism that peace is the most important aspect of Judaism. Without peace life is not full of joyousness, freedom and happiness. God would not give Israel the Torah until they were at peace with one another.

When we have makloket, strife, within a synagogue, among synagogues, among rabbis, among different sects of Judaism, among individual Jews, God weeps. His Holy Torah leaves our hands, as we become undeserving of it. "If Israel will accept the Torah, the universe will continue to exist. If not, I will return the world to empty void it was at first" (Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 88a).

Allow me to put this in modern terms. There are about 15 million Jews on Earth.Our global population is six billion. Jews make up just 0.25% of the population of the world.  Amazingly, 99.75% are not Jewish.

We are an endangered species. As a Rabbi I have observed Jewish people with 'Save the Whales' bumper sticker on their cars, treat fellow Jews horridly. I have seen Jews at Yom ha Shoah or Israel Independence  Day events, wail over dead Jews they have never met, yet snub Jews at the receptions that follow.

Every time we label a sect, and compartmentalize Jews, the statistic  of 0.25% becomes smaller. When we say 10% of Jews are "orthodox", we've now made a sub-species, if you'll allow me to stay with my metaphor, that is 0.025% of the globe's population.

The  Midrash tells us that God created the Torah and the idea of Jews two thousand years before He created the universe (Beresheit  Rabbah  8).    He didn't think of creating Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, Reform, Orthodox, Belzers,  Satmars, Chabadniks ,Mitnagdim,  Humanists, Conservatives, Reconstructionists,   Renewalists,  Litvaks, Galitzianers, Ashkenazis, Sephardim,  or Karaites.

Every time we define and group and re-group ourselves, we make ourselves more and more insignificant.  The statistical reality is every time we divide and sub divide ourselves into groups, and have makloket, strife among ourselves, we make ourselves more and more insignificant.

In the Creator's eyes, we are all connected as One People. God cried out to us through his Prophet Malachi 2:10 :  ''Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?"

Any synagogue or society where one puts his petty will above what is good and just in God's eyes, so that there is ego bumping into ego, causing strife and no shalom, is due to fail, no matter how wealthy in material things they have. They become morally bankrupt.

Judaism is the first ethical monotheistic religion. Love of God without love and peace with our fellows is like a restaurant with a menu and no food.  "J = ME2", ''Judaism equals Monotheism times Ethics Squared."

We discuss the middah, character trait, of living in shalom, 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''  (http://www.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/index.html#Compendium2 ) .

  
What are your ideas about living in peace?  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 Chapter Ten. Thank you for joining me.
 
For those who want a d'var Torah on Parasha BaMidbar  from ''A  Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and  Talmud'' please click on   Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH RENEWAL: BAMIDBAR: I-THOU RELATIONS : MARTIN BUBER  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2011/05/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-renewal_20.html .
 
 
 https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvdDlXFp4w94KkRvKN7nfovkdGh7MD2OqlsjPGIgZVOr9hncXirnC_9XHGy1Y1mtwlrDP0cGaOljhaDO6HNrUkfkRsQlMGtDnYItD7MOdKFmsRMpLn6Uag5CUFU2s4G30rH8pTiSoGCJQ/s1600/coverimage-771342.jpg
 

Shabbat Shalom:

Rabbi Arthur Segal_

 www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org_ (http://www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org/ ) 

Jewish Renewal_ 

www.jewishrenewal.info(http://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!!
Bookmark and Share

BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS


Click on the book titles below for more information:

THE HANDBOOK TO JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: A PATH OF TRANSFORMATION FOR THE MODERN JEW

A SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL COMPENDIUM
TO THE TORAH AND TALMUD 

THE PATH AND WISDOM FOR LIVING AT PEACE WITH OTHERS: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD TRACTATES DEREK ERETZ ZUTA AND RABBAH: VOL. 1

LOVE PEACE AND PURSUE PEACE: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD TRACTATES DEREK ERETZ ZUTA AND RABBAH: VOL. 2



THE HANDBOOK TO JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: A PATH OF TRANSFORMATION FOR THE MODERN JEW


Click here for more information

A SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL COMPENDIUM TO THE TORAH AND TALMUD


Click here for more information

THE PATH AND WISDOM FOR LIVING AT PEACE WITH OTHERS: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD TRACTATES DEREK ERETZ ZUTA AND RABBAH: VOL. 1


Click here for more information

LOVE PEACE AND PURSUE PEACE: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD TRACTATES DEREK ERETZ ZUTA AND RABBAH: VOL. 2


Click here for more information

VISIT MY BLOG

SOCIAL MEDIA

© Dr. Arthur Segal, Inc., DBA Rabbi Arthur Segal - All pages, images, photographs - rights reserved. - Design by 7com7 Marketing & Media

 
Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
facebook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
Bookmark and Share
Posted by Rabbi Arthur Segal at 12:04 PM
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