Parashat Reeh

THERE SHALL BE NO NEEDY AMONG YOU - SINCE THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL BLESS THE LAND THAT THE LORD YOUR GOD IS GIVING YOU AS A HEREDITARY PORTION.

(Devarim 15:4)

 

FOR THERE WILL NEVER CEASE TO BE NEEDY ONES IN YOUR LAND, WHICH IS WHY I COMMAND YOU: OPEN YOUR HAND TO THE POOR AND NEEDY KINSMAN IN YOUR LAND.

(Devarim 15:11)

 

 

As Sons, as Servants - Human Obligation to Social Justice and the Improvement of the World

And this is the question which the wicked Tornosrofus asked Rabbi Akiva: If your God is a lover of the poor, why does He not support them?

He answered him: To save us from punishment in Gehinnom.

He answered him: On the contrary, it makes you liable to punishment in Gehinnom! I will offer you a parable: What is this like? A mortal king became angry with his servant and locked him up in prison, ordering that he should not be fed nor given drink. One man went and fed him and gave him drink. When the king heard, was he not angry with him? You are called servants, for it is said the Israelites are servants to Me (Vayikra 25:55)!

Rabbi Akiva answered him: I will offer you a parable: What is this like? A mortal king became angry with his son and locked him up in prison, ordering that he should not be fed nor given drink. One man went and fed and gave him drink. When the king heard, did he not send him a gift? We are called sons, for it is written: You are sons to the Lord your God (Devarim 14:1).

He answered: You are called sons and are called servants. When you do God's will you are called sons, and when you do not do God's will you are called servants. Now you are not doing God's will!

He answered: Behold, he said: It [the fast sought by God] is to share your bread with the hungry, and to take the wretched poor into your homes (Isaiah 58:7). When should you take the wretched poor home? Now, and as it says, share your bread with the hungry.

(Bava Batra 10a)

 

 

JERUSALEM: CITY OF HOLINESS AND CITY OF CONTROVERSY

Jonathan Chipman

There is a strange phenomenon in the Bible regarding Jerusalem: this city, that is so central to Jewish experience, is not mentioned by name even once in the Torah. Instead, it is alluded to indirectly, most frequently in this week's parsha, by a circumlocution: "the place which the Lord your God has chosen to put his name there" (Deut 12:11; and in parallel or with minor variations in vv. 14, 18, 21; and in 14:23, 24; etc.). Many explanations have been offered for this fact: according to the simple straightforward sense, in the context in which it is mentioned here, in the time of Moses our Teacher, Jerusalem simply had not yet been chosen as the holy city. But to this, I would suggest adding a homiletical, quasi-mystical explanation: that there is something mysterious, concealed, unknown in the very concept of holiness, embodied in the essence of the earthly reality of the city Jerusalem. If Jerusalem is the dwelling place of the Shekhinah, that "no human thought can comprehend at all" - then there is something about Jerusalem as well that calls for hiddenness and concealment.

But it is not this issue I wish to address here, but rather the question: what is the essence of Jerusalem? I shall propose two answers: one from a halakhic sugya in the Talmud, another from Rambam.

 

The Holiness of Jerusalem in Halakhah

A well-known Talmud passage, that appears in parallel in Arkhin 32a and Shevuot 16a, discusses the origin of the holiness of the Land of Israel. The conclusion reached is that "Its first holiness sanctified it for its time but not for the future; the second holiness sanctified it both for its time and for future time." That is, the original sanctification of the Land, effected by Joshua's conquest of the land, did not last permanently, but only for the duration of the rule of the Israelite monarchy over the Land in actuality; once they were taken into exile in Babylonia, its holiness was nullified. It was only the "second holiness," that created by the settlement activity by Ezra and the other exiles who came up from Babylonia, effected a lasting holiness.

We shall leave aside the moral lessons about the relative merits of military conquest and civilian activity implied by the above. In any event, all of this only applies to the Land of Israel in the broad sense - to the "hinterland" of Jerusalem, to the wide and broad territories intended for human settlement, as a homeland on which people would built houses and plant vineyards and raise families. The "sanctity of the land" on this level was expressed primarily through the agricultural mitzvot: the requirement to bring gifts to the priests and Levites from a portion of what grew thereon, the separation of certain portions for the poor, the leaving of the land fallow every seven years, etc.

But the sanctity of Jerusalem was different. It was metaphysical: it was that which made the place fit to be a site for the Divine service in the Temple. Jerusalem and the Temple were the earthly home for the Divine Presence. As such, its holiness was expressed through mehitzot - partitions separating it off from the realm of the mundane. It is the earthly dwelling place of the Divine Presence - Kedushat Shekhinah, as I often heard it phrased by the late Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik ztz"l. As such, it was not intended for human ownership; indeed, it is logically absurd and a contradiction in terms to speak of any kind of human sovereignty over the Temple Mount. Even the kohanim were mere custodians of the place (gizbarim) - guarding it, protecting its holiness, offering the daily and other sacrifices, and so forth. The various gifts they received - animals, money, or miscellaneous goods - were given in the name of hekdesh, the Divine "bank account," so to speak. As such, ay trespass or appropriation of things belonging to hekdesh was an extremely grave offense, with severe sanctions attached.

 

Rambam's Interpretation

At the very beginning of Sefer Avodah, Maimonides enumerates the laws of constructing the Temple. But as soon as he reaches the subject of the altar, he leaves aside the dry, technical description of the contents of the Temple and its various implements, and turns toward the realm of aggadah. Thus, in Hilkhot Beit ha-Behirah 2.1-2, we read:

1. The location of the altar is most precise, and one is never ever to change its place. As is said, "this is the burnt-offering altar for Israel" [1 Chr 22:1], and Isaac was bound on the Temple [site], as is said, "Get thee to the Land of Moriah" [Gen 22:2]; and it says in the Book of Chronicles, "And Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, which was shown to David his father, at the place which David had prepared on the threshing floor of Arnon the Jebusite" [2 Chr 3:1].

2. And there is a tradition known to all that the place where David and Solomon built the altar on the threshing floor of Arvanah was the very place where Abraham built the altar and bound Isaac thereupon. And it is the place where Noah built [an altar] when he left the ark. And it is the altar upon which Cain and Abel offered. And there Adam offered an offering when he was created, and from there he was created. Our Sages said that Adam was created from the very place of his atonement.

This is an extraordinary passage, based upon a mélange of midrashim. He begins by drawing a direct connection between the altar in the Temple and the Binding of Isaac (this may be the reason why many people recite the chapter of the Akedah daily, as a kind of introduction to the Korbanot, the section of prayers devoted to recalling the Temple worship). But then he takes us back even further into hoary antiquity: to Noah, to Cain and Abel, and to Adam himself! As if to say: the system of offerings in the Jerusalem Talmud is linked, by the place itself, to these biblical paradigms: to Abraham's heroic act of unhesitating obedience to his Creator; to Noah's gesture of gratitude after the harrowing ordeal of the Flood, and the beginning of a new life on the desolate earth; to the artless sacrifice of the first two brothers (with its disastrous aftermath), as a simple sign of gratitude to God for the fruits of their labors.

All these are mentioned in the biblical text; but the notion mentioned last - that one of Adam's first actions after his creation was to make an offering to God is not (its source is midrashic: Genesis Rabbah 14.8 and Yerushalmi Nazir, Ch. 7). It is a striking image, as if the midrash wishes to say: the primal religious impulse, the impulse to offer to God, is fundamental to the very nature of man as such.

But there is more. The statement that "Adam was created from the place of his atonement" is not merely a halakhic description, but is invoked to express two fundamental ideas. First, that the human being is created with a certain inclination or tendency to sin, to follow his "Evil Urge," so that his existential situation is one of being in constant need of atonement, of seeking a restoration of his relationship with God. He is always striving to do good, but is always to one or another degree failing, and hence always engaged in repentance, always living in a kind of post-Edenic, "second consciousness" - and, it would seem, he was somehow always destined to do so.

But secondly, the fact that he was "created from the place of his atonement" also implies that God, because He loves humankind and has compassion for its inevitable shortcomings and failures, prepared in advance the means for its atonement, through "the site of the altar." Hence, the altar was a living symbol of God's love. It was for that reason that the Jews of the Second Temple promenaded around the altar during the festival of Sukkot, adorning it with willow branches and shouting, "Beauty to you, O altar" (Mishnah Sukkah 4.5) - because it was the fount of Israel's atonement.

* * * * *

In our own day, we are accustomed to various celebrations and demonstrations of "identification and "Jewish presence" in Jerusalem, especially around such occasions as Tisha b'Av or, lehavdil, Jerusalem Day. But what connection is there between flag waving, triumphant street marches, and commemoration of military victories, and "the dwelling place of the Shekhinah" or "the source of Adam's atonement"? There are those who speak of the Temple Mount as a national symbol, or as an essential source of national inspiration; politicians compete in making solemn declarations that it is "the rock of our existence" or "the heart of the nation," without which our national existence is somehow diminished. There are those who see ascent to the Temple Mount as a gesture of national pride, rather than as an act of submission and humbling of the self before the Master of All. (Incidentally, the gesture of hishtahavayah, of prostration in the Temple precincts, was an integral part of every visit of an individual to the Temple, even to bring a personal korban. Its symbol was precisely that mentioned - of abnegation of the human self before the Infinite).

 In its deepest roots, Jerusalem - and certainly its heart of hearts, the Temple Mount and the site of the altar - cannot abide, by its very nature, subjection to any form of human rulership.

Rabbi Jonathan Chipman is a professional translator, who specializes in Jewish studies. He writes an English-language parashat ha-shavua sheet called "Jonathan's Arrows." Those interested in subscribing or receiving a sample copy may write to yonarand@internet-zahav.net.

 

 

You shall be holy, for I am holy...(Vayikra 19:2) You shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I the Lord am your God (Vayikra 20:7). These are supremely exalted commands and goals, yet at the same time, no other verses, expressions, or formulations are as dangerous from the standpoint of faith. They can be interpreted - and they have been interpreted –sometimes innocently and sometimes maliciously - as if they are saying that by its very nature, there is something in the Jewish People which infuses it with holiness. This conception frees Jews from responsibility, and grants them confidence in things that a person must never be confident about, because they are matters of goals, purposes, obligations, missions, and program, rather than givens. The transformation of the concept of holiness from being thought of as the role and mission imposed upon the Jewish People to being an intrinsic and inherit trait of the Jewish People - this is a transformation of faith to idolatry...We are commanded to be a holy people, but we not already a holy people.

(Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz, He'arot le'Parshiyot Ha'Shavua, pp. 77-78)

 

Limits Upon the Place [of sacrifice] and Precise Rules were Intended to Minimize the Sacrificial Cult

For one kind of worship - I mean the offering of sacrifices - even though it was done in His name, may He be exalted, was not prescribed to us in the way it existed at first; I mean to say in such a way that sacrifices could be offered in every place and at every time. Nor could a temple be set up in any fortuitous place, nor could any fortuitous man offer a sacrifice...On he contrary, He forbade all this and established one single house [as the temple]...so that sacrifices should not be offered elsewhere...Also only the offspring of one particular family can be priests. All this was intended to restrict this kind of worship, so that only the portion of it should subsist whose abolition is not required by His wisdom.

(RaMBaM, Guide for the Perplexed III:32, Pines translation)

 

And He shall grant you mercy (Devarim 13:18) - The Psychological Consequences of the Punishment of the Inhabitants of the Ir Ha-Nidahat

A case of ir ha-nidahat [a town subverted by idolatry] causes three evils to Israel:

a) The act of killing a person makes one cruel. When an individual is killed by a court, an emissary of the court is chosen [to execute the sentence]. However, when an entire town [is sentenced to death], we are forced to accustom a number of people to killing and to cruelty.

b) It increases hatred within Israel, because there cannot be even one person in the town who does not have relatives in other towns.

c) It leaves an empty spot and diminishes Israel. That is why Scripture made sure that you would engage in this without benefiting from the booty in any way, that God might turn back from His anger.

(Ha-NiTziV me-Volozhin, Ha-Amek Davar on Devarim 13:18)