Shabbat 89 - Isaac the Jewish Stereotype Hero!

More of these wonderful midrashim about G-d giving the Torah to the Israelites through Moses - including a fun scene of Moses arguing with the angels - who had been arguing with G-d that the Torah should remain in Heaven rather than be wasted on humans. Oh, and a guest appearance of Satan, who horrified at the Torah's disappearance from Heaven and goes searching for it - only to have Moses outwit him.

Come on, you know you love this.

But I'll share this Midrash in some detail - because it is too much fun. It is based on an interpretation (via R. Samuel b. Nahmani who recounts in the name of R. Jonathan) of the verse:

"For Thou art our Father; for Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us"; (Isaiah 63:16)

The story is told that when the Israelites sinned through the Golden calf, G-d goes looking for someone to plead their defense. G-d goes to Abraham, who after all defended Sodom and Gomorra, and complains: ‘Thy children have sinned against Me.’ Abraham responds, ‘Let them be wiped out for the sanctification of Thy Name.’

Thanks, Abe.

Then G-d goes to Jacob (Israel) with the same statement. After all, Jacob had some rebellious children! But Jacob answers 'Let them be wiped out for the sanctification of Thy Name.’

Knew we could count on you, Jake!

So, G-d goes to Isaac and says: ‘Thy children have sinned against me.’

At first Isaac responds like an insulted spouse: when they are good they are your children. Now when they sin it's suddenly 'thy children'?

But then Isaac continues - with math!

"How many are the years of man? Seventy. Subtract twenty, for which Thou dost not punish,"

Sorry for the interruption, but that needs explanation - according to Num. 14:29, at the incident of the spies, G-d did not punish the Israelite children under 20 years old.

Ok, back to our story:

"Subtract twenty, for which Thou dost not punish, [and] there remain fifty. Subtract twenty-five which comprise the nights, (they don't sin while they are sleeping!) [and] there remain twenty-five. Subtract twelve and a half of prayer, eating, and Nature's calls (!), [and] there remain twelve and a half."

"If Thou wilt bear all, ‘tis well; if not, half be upon me and half upon Thee."

Nice way to share the burden.

And just in case that doesn't work, Isaac has his trump card:

"And shouldst Thou say, they must all be upon me, lo! I offered myself up before Thee [as a sacrifice]!’ "

I love this - redemption through argumentation, math, and Jewish guilt! Comedy's Jewish stereotype, in our Patriarch!

Shabbat 88 – Under the Mountain

Some favorite midrashim (rabbinic stories) around Revelation at Sinai. Among the best known is an interpretation of Exodus 19:17 - And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with G-d; and they stood at the lower part of the mount.

“lower part” or “foot of the mountain” - b’tachtit ha-har - means literally “under the mountain.” Thus the midrash that as they gathered there, G-d lifted up the entire mountain and held it over the Israelites'  heads saying “If you accept the Torah, all well and good. If not, this is where you will be buried.”

Nice midrash.

Of course, as the rabbis note, this set up a problem: as R. Aha b. Jacob notes “This furnishes a strong protest against the Torah” – that acceptance was coerced.

Raba answers:

Yet even so, they re-accepted it in the days of Ahasuerus, for it is written, [the Jews] confirmed, and took upon them [etc.]: (Esther 9:27)

[that is] they confirmed what they had accepted long before.

Nice answer. Made even more powerful when we look at more of the sentence:

The Jews confirmed, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all who joined themselves to them. . .

It is an agreement binding on future generations – and explicitly includes converts! Clearly speaking to the realities of their time.

And I love that it is the story of Purim, that fairy-tale of the Diaspora with its grave dangers and unlikely opportunities, which ultimately confirms the agreement of the people to the covenantal relationship. G-d saves us from genocide and the response is a voluntary recommitment to that divine relationship throughout the generations. 

Shabbat 87 – Moses the Story-teller

Moses gives the law to the people and they respond: All that the Lord has spoken we will do. . .

Great answer! Dutifully, he communicates their response in the conclusion of the same verse:

. . .and Moses reported the words of the people unto the Lord (Ex. 19:8)

But wait, there is a problem. Because after G-d then replies by explaining to Moses that G-d will appear in a thick cloud before the people so that they will believe him forever, the next verse concludes

. . .and Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord (Ex. 19:9)

Virtually the same as in the verse before!

So, the rabbis here ask:

Now, what did the Holy One, Blessed be He, say unto Moses, what did Moses say unto Israel, what did Israel say to Moses, and what did Moses report before the Omnipotent?

That is to say, what happened between these two verses that Moses had to report to G-d twice?!

It seems that even though they initially responded positively, there was some hesitation. And maybe, it was Moses’ fault for the way he communicated:

Rabbi said: At first he explained the penalties [for non-observance], for it is written, 'And Moses reported [va-yashev]', [which implies] things which repel [meshabbebin] one's mind.

Rashi says this means they were threatened with the penalties for disobedience. Evidently this didn't go over so well.

But subsequently he explained its reward, for it is said, 'And Moses told [va-yagged]', [which means,] words which draw one's heart like a story [aggadah].

So there are two lessons of pedagogy:

1.       threats are not effective in getting buy-in,

2.       narrative stories are!

Shabbat 86 – Revelation: Its a Shabbat Thing

Fixing the day and date of the Revelation at Sinai. There is some disagreement about whether it took place on the sixth or seventh of the Hebrew month Sivan. However, the day of the week is known:

all agree that the Torah was given to Israel on the Sabbath.

Now this is not just wishful thinking – it is determined by a textual analysis:

[For] here it is written [in the Ten Commandments given at Sinai], Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (Ex. 20:8) and elsewhere it is written, And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day (Ex. 13:3).

Comparing the similarity of the phrase: zachor et yom haShabbat and zachor et hayom haze

Just as there (the second phrase relating to Exodus), [G-d spoke] on that very day, so here too (the first phrase relating to Shabbat) was on that very day.

Therefore – the law of Shabbat (along with all the others) was given on Shabbat!

Shabbat 85 – Illustrations

From reading Torah text, we are accustomed to long prose passages describing physical items – forcing the reading to create a mental image. For example the texts on construction of the Tabernacle in the wilderness.

The Talmud also contains descriptions such as the this one delineating the construction of seed-beds contained a variety of plants and how to keep them separate (so as not to defy the law of “mixed seeds” – see previous post):

R. Assi said: The internal area of the seed-bed must be six [handbreadths square], apart from its borders. It was taught likewise: The internal area of the seed-bed must be six [handbreadths square]. How much must its borders be?

Or

R. Kahana said in R. Johanan's name: If one desires to fill his whole garden with vegetables, he can divide it into bed[s] six [handbreadths] square, describe in each a circle five [handbreadths in diameter], and fill its corners with whatever he pleases.

Interestingly, the commentary contains several diagrams – illustrations of various layouts of seed beds, six handbreaths square. Here is an image of page 85a with the illustrating diagrams:

Ill

Shabbat 84 – Garden Plot

The Torah contains a prohibition against planting diverse seeds in the same plot (Deut. 22:9). The Mishnah tries to define a minimum size which would be considered a “mixture” (kil’ayim) by imagining this scenario:

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT IF A SEED-BED IS SIX HANDBREADTHS SQUARE, WE MAY SOW THEREIN FIVE KINDS OF SEEDS, FOUR ON THE FOUR SIDES, AND ONE IN THE MIDDLE?

Imagine a square only six handbreaths long on each side with a row of plantings on each length, but not reaching the corners (so there is no mixing) and not reaching the middle. Each side of the square has a different species planted on its length and a fifth one planted in the middle. Again, making sure no species touches another.

How do we know that this kind of arrangement (or something like it) is permissible?

BECAUSE IT IS SAID, “FOR AS THE EARTH BRINGETH FORTH HER BUD, AND AS THE GARDEN CAUSETH ITS SEEDS TO SPRING FORTH” (Isa. 61:11) NOT “ITS SEED”, BUT “ITS SEEDS” IS STATED.

This “proof text” while not specific in its image, implies that there must be a way to sow multiple kinds of plants in one “garden.” The rabbis then try to figure out how.

The prohibition is clear. But a solution can be found. That's rabbinic imagination.

Shabbat 83 – Always Study

The page contains extended discussion on the analogies of idol worship. For example, what is the minimum size of an idol which contaminates? Evidently there was a fly-sized idol of the Phoenicians, Baal Ekron (or Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron (II Kings 1:2) which was commonly carried about. A reptile (sherez) which contaminates is the size of a lentil. But a corpse which contaminates is the size of an olive (we are talking, of course, about parts – not the whole). The more lenient ruling applies.

The Mishnah also explains that ships are not subject to being ritually unclean. The gemara contrasts it to a sack which can be carried both full and empty – but a ship cannot be carried, it carries! Fine but what about a canoe which can be carried both full and empty? Ah… there is a digression:

Rab Judah said in Rab's name: One should never abstain from [attendance at] the Beth Hamidrash even for a single hour, for lo! how many years was this Mishnah learnt in the Beth Hamidrash without its reason being revealed, until R. Hanina b. Akiba came and elucidated it.

The answer is less important than the lesson: one never knows when an opportunity for learning, for enlightenment, may arise. This is learned from the text:

This is the Torah, when a man dies in a tent . . .(Num. 19:14).

[That is to say,] even in the hour of death one should be engaged in [the study of] the Torah.

This was a rabbinic ideal – there is always an opportunity to learn. And learning is valuable for its own sake.

Keep studying!