Rashi on Prophecy - A pre- Maimonides Maimonidean!

Rashi is generally seen as not philosophical. I have seen some argue that he believed in a corporeal God. I am no great specialist in Rashi on Chumash but I have traced several of his seemingly innocuous comments and found in them incredible philosophical insights. What is even more amazing is that he shares these deep thoughts in a few words and unless we pay attention, we miss them. Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz AH in one of his articles or books, noted Rashi's approach to prophecy which is definitely much more sophisticated than the one currently accepted in the general Yeshivish world.

In Shemot 33:9 we read

ט וְהָיָה, כְּבֹא מֹשֶׁה הָאֹהֱלָה, יֵרֵד עַמּוּד הֶעָנָן, וְעָמַד פֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל; וְדִבֶּר, עִם-מֹשֶׁה.

9 And so, when Moshe would come into the Tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stand at the entrance of the Tent; and it was spoken[1] with Moshe.

רש"י שמות פרק לג

ט) וְדִבֶּר עם משה - כמו ומִדַּבֵּר עם משה. תרגומו ומתמלל עם משה שהוא כבוד שכינה, כמו (במדבר ז פט) וישמע את הקול מדבר אליו, ואינו קורא מדבר אליו. כשהוא קורא מִדַּבֵּר פתרונו הקול מדבר בינו לבין עצמו, וההדיוט שומע מאליו, וכשהוא קורא מדבר משמע שהמלך מדבר עם ההדיוט

אונקלוס שמות פרק לג

ט) והוי כד עליל משה למשכנא נחית עמודא דעננא וקאים בתרע משכנא ומתמלל עם משה

Rashi notes the curious Nikud וְדִבֶּר which connotes that something was spoken without being directed at anyone specifically. He confirms that interpretation with Onkelos who uses the Hitpael tense ומתמלל עם משה. Rashi also notes that the same curious Nikud is used in Parshat Naso. Rashi therefore concludes that the prophetic content is being broadcast so to say, and anyone that pays attention and is worthy hears it. In other words, unlike R. Yehuda Halevi and many other thinkers in his school who believed that, prophecy is a gift rather than something one has to earn; Rashi believed that the worthy gets the information rather than receiving it.

וְדִבֶּר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה פָּנִים אֶל-פָּנִים, כַּאֲשֶׁר יְדַבֵּר אִישׁ אֶל-רֵעֵהוּ

And God spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaks unto his friend (Shemot 33:11)

רש"י שמות פרק לג

ודבר ה' אל משה פנים אל פנים - ומתמלל עם משה

:

אונקלוס שמות פרק לג

ומליל יי עם משה ממלל עם ממלל כמא דימליל גוברא עם חבריה ותאיב למשריתא ומשומשניה יהושע בר נון עולימא לא עדי מגו משכנא:

In this verse, the Onkelos editions we have translate וְדִבֶּר in the regular Piel tense. Rashi apparently had a different text having Onkelos use the Hitpael tense. He prefers it as it is consistent with his earlier interpretation and notes it to bring it to our attention.

פט וּבְבֹא מֹשֶׁה אֶל-אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, לְדַבֵּר

אִתּוֹ, וַיִּשְׁמַע אֶת-הַקּוֹל מִדַּבֵּר אֵלָיו מֵעַל הַכַּפֹּרֶת

אֲשֶׁר עַל-אֲרֹן הָעֵדֻת, מִבֵּין שְׁנֵי הַכְּרֻבִים; וַיְדַבֵּר,

אֵלָיו. {פ}

89 And when Moses went into the tent of meeting that He might speak with him, then he heard the Voice speaking unto him from above the ark-cover that was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and He spoke unto him.

רש"י במדבר פרק ז

מדבר - כמו מתדבר, כבודו של מעלה לומר כן מדבר בינו לבין עצמו, ומשה שומע מאליו

Again, we have Rashi explaining that prophecy is out there and must be heard.

Sforno sees this Rashi as Maimonidean. He explains that to God there is no potential and in-actu (see MN 1:68). Therefore, the flow of goodness, the cause of existence, that emanates so to say from God, is constant. The potential recipient of this flow receives it automatically when ready and prepared. Prophecy is the ability to read and understand that flow and it requires perfection on the part of the prophet.

Rashi makes a similar comment in Yechezkel 2:2

רש"י יחזקאל פרק ב

(ב) את מדבר אלי - את המתדבר עמי וכבוד הוא לכתוב מדבר כלפי מעלה שהאומר מדבר בשו"א נשמע כאדם המדבר לחבירו פונה אליו פנים אל פנים והאומר מדבר (בחיר"ק) משמעו שהשכינה מדבר בפני עצמו בכבודו ושלוחיו ישמעו בורפאלי"ן בלע"ז:

Rashi would have to be quite inconsistent if he was literal about God’s corporeality and have this understanding of prophecy.

Shabbat Shalom.

---

[1] My tentative translation based on Rashi and Targum Onkelos.

The Role of the Imaginative Faculty in Prophecy - Ikkarim 6 and 7.

In my last post, I touched on Ikarim 6 and 7 that respectively deal with prophecy itself and with the prophecy of Moshe. Ikar 7 states that the prophecy of Moshe was in a category of its own. Rambam enumerates four differences between the two prophecies. I will analyze each one in upcoming posts and I believe we will gain insights into Rambam’s understanding of prophecy.

As I explained, prophecy is a natural human capability that certain people acquire by perfecting themselves both intellectually through knowledge and by improving the traits they were born with, their Midot. As a person meditates on transcendental issues which are non-material and non-physical he cannot truly picture these concepts in his mind, as they have no relations to his daily life. For example, even if one contemplates the existence of God, fully aware that He is not knowable and “existence” is equivocal when used in this context, man as a human being cannot escape visualizing “existence” in his mind. The mind translates the incomprehensible by attaching and superimposing it onto past experiences that are closest to the abstract concept in question. When we try to grasp the abstract idea that God “exists”, we append that concept onto how our mind understands what “to be” means. The same applies to all Metaphysical meditation about God and the laws and rules that He put in place to bring continuity to the universe and our existence. The concepts that dictate how nature operates, the ideas that underlie nature – not the forces themselves – are visualized as angels or God’s messengers thus Yeshayahu and Yechezkel saw winged beings. That process of allegorizing is what Rambam refers to as the involvement of the imaginative faculty in prophecy. The prophet as he reaches the deeper levels of cogitation about metaphysics translates those insights into his past experience.

The things that the prophet is told in the prophetic vision are in the form of an allegory and the interpretation of the allegory is simultaneously embedded in his mind. (Hil Yesodei Hatorah 7:3).[1]

What we have is a process of apprehension of an abstract concept which is translated by the prophet’s mind and presented to his listeners in its allegorical form. At times, the prophet will interpret the allegory to his listeners at others, where the interpretation is beyond being understood by the masses, not. This type of prophecy is inevitably contaminated by the prophet’s subjective state of mind and experiences. It is the word of God in an indirect way. And here is the first difference between run of the mill prophecy and Moshe’s. Moshe was able to dispense with the imaginative faculty, the need to allegorize. By having transcended his material self, he was able to grasp abstract concepts as he saw them. There was no need for him to translate them. His prophecy was therefore uncontaminated by human frailty and subjectivity. That is the meaning of Peh el Peh.

All the prophets [prophesize] through an angel therefore their vision is in the form of allegory and riddle. Moshe Rabbeinu[‘s vision] is not through an angel because it says “I will speak with him Peh el Peh[2] [mouth to mouth]” and it says “and God speaks to Moshe face to face” and it says “he sees the likeness of God”. Namely, there was no allegory. [Moshe] saw it as it was without a riddle or allegory. That is what the Torah attests about him [Moshe], “in a vision and not in riddles”, that he does not prophesize through a riddle but in a vision. He sees things as they are.[3] (Yesodei Hatorah 7:11)

To understand the meaning of prophesying through an angel we turn to MN 2:6 where Rambam explains this based on a Midrash.

“We may find a confirmation of the opinion that the natural and psychical forces of an individual are called angels in a statement of our Sages which is frequently quoted, and occurs originally in Bereshit Raba (chap. 78): "Every day God creates a legion of angels; they sing before Him, and disappear."… In Midrash-Kohelet (on Eccles. x. 7) the following passage occurs: "When man sleeps, his soul speaks to the angel, the angel [speaks] to the cherub." The intelligent reader will find here a clear statement that man's imaginative faculty is also called "angel," and that "cherub" is used for man's intellectual faculty. How beautiful must this appear to him who understands it; how absurd to the ignorant!”

When we say that the prophecy came to the prophet from an angel, it means that he translated it internally using his imaginative faculty. Angel is the word used when we want to describe concepts underlying the laws and forces of nature. Those concepts are the early cause and precursors of every action in the universe.

“Consider how clearly they say that the term "angel" signifies nothing but a certain action, and that every appearance of an angel is part of a prophetic vision, depending on the capacity of the person that perceives it.”(MN2:6)

To “see” these abstract concepts, a normal human has to engage his imaginative faculty. Moshe, because of his ability to transcend his material self, having subjugated his sensory perceptions completely to his rational mind, was able to apprehend abstract concepts without superimposing them onto his imaginative faculty. That ability is metaphorically described as seeing through a “cherub” instead of through an angel.

וּבְבֹא מֹשֶׁה אֶל-אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, לְדַבֵּר

אִתּוֹ, וַיִּשְׁמַע אֶת-הַקּוֹל מִדַּבֵּר אֵלָיו מֵעַל הַכַּפֹּרֶת

אֲשֶׁר עַל-אֲרֹן הָעֵדֻת, מִבֵּין שְׁנֵי הַכְּרֻבִים; וַיְדַבֵּר,

אֵלָיו.

89 And when Moshe went into the tent of meeting that He might speak with him, he would hear the Voice being spoken unto him from above the covering that was upon the ark of covenant, from between the two cherubim; and He would speak to him. (Bamidbar 7:89)

The ability of a human being to attain prophecy as described above is not beyond the limits of our comprehension. The ability to employ all our mental capabilities from the rational to the imaginative and intuitive is something that anyone with a healthy body and mind should be able to develop. Prophecy in its most common and basic sense is a personal state of development that is really very private and internal. When we say that such and such is a prophet, we are saying that he is a human being that we estimate has arrived at a level of advanced development. However, an observer can only conjecture. The individual in question is the only one who knows that he has reached that level if he does not delude himself. It is only when the prophet cannot contain himself and feels the uncontrollable urge to share his prophecy with others, (the story of Yonah describes this urge), that the question of authenticity arises. I will leave that for another discussion. The prophecy that Moshe experienced however is not something that we as normal humans can even try to comprehend. We only know it because the Torah tells it to us. Unlike prophecy itself, it is a belief based on tradition and acceptance thereof. That is why I said in my last post that the sixth Ikar is knowable while the seventh has to be taken on faith partially. That part that Moshe was able to visualize transcendental concepts without the involvement of the imaginative faculty is incomprehensible to us and must be taken on faith. It is that ability that makes Moshe’s prophecy immutable when he gave us the Torah and also is the basic concept that underlies the next Ikar Torah Min Hashamayim.

The difficulty in understanding this type of prophecy is described in the Torah through the story of the interaction of Aharon, Miriam and Moshe at the end of Beha’alotcha. It is also the underlying reason for the conflict with Korach. That is however for another time.

---

[1] הדברים שמודיעין לנביא במראה הנבואה--דרך משל מודיעין לו, ומיד ייחקק בליבו פתרון המשל במראה הנבואה, ויידע מה הוא

[2] It is fascinating to note that Peh el Peh and dying through a kiss, Missat Neshikah, which was the death described by Chazal for Moshe, Aharon and Miriam, connote a similar imagery.

[3]

כל הנביאים, על ידי מלאך; לפיכך רואין מה שהן רואין במשל וחידה. ומשה רבנו, לא על ידי מלאך, שנאמר "פה

אל פה אדבר בו

, ונאמר "ודיבר ה' אל משה פנים אל פנים

ונאמר "ותמונת ה', יביט

כלומר שאין שם משל, אלא רואה הדבר על בורייו בלא חידה בלא משל; הוא שהתורה

מעידה עליו, "ומראה ולא בחידות, שאינו מתנבא בחידה אלא במראה, שרואה

הדבר על בורייו

Existence of God and Prophecy - Beliefs Based on Reason.

Not all beliefs are equal. Some beliefs are based on rational concepts that one can arrive at through reasoning, deduction or induction. Others are based on faith and acceptance. Knowing how to categorize them and to which category each belief belongs is most important for a person that wants to internalize Judaism in a rational way. Rambam in his listing of the Ikkarim and his other writings has done a lot in clarifying this issue. In this post, and probably a few more thereafter, I will try to address this important issue. Though I have written about it in the past, I feel there is much more to be said.

The existence of God is a belief that stems from the problem of contingency. I believe this has been formulated well by Isaac Franck and my post on this, way back in 2006 http://yediah.blogspot.com/2006/02/negative-knowledge-essential-doctrine.html.This does not translate into a belief of a personal God, just that there must be a non-contingent entity. We really cannot even use the words “is”, “out there”, “somewhere” or even the word “exist” other than equivocally when talking about this entity which we call God. All these words connote physical existence in time and place and there cannot be such an “existence” for a non-contingent entity. This insight, the “existence” of such an entity, does not say anything about the essence of God. It tells you what this entity is NOT. God is not physical, multiple, time-bound and cannot really be known at all. The word that most closely describes God is “transcendent” in the sense of “being beyond the limits of experience and hence unknowable”. This makes Him unique. There can only “exist” one non-contingent, transcendent entity.

All of the above is covered in the first four Ikkarim: God’s existence, uniqueness, non-physicality and timelessness. These are not beliefs based on acceptance and faith but philosophically rational answers to the problem of endless contingency. That is why Rambam uses the word “to know” rather than “to believe” when he discusses the Mitzvah of believing in the existence of God. This is not something one has to believe but rather know and understand rationally. We accept it on authority but spend a lifetime to apprehend it as much as we can.

יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות, לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון

(Hil Yesodei Hatorah 1:1)

The fifth Ikar is a natural segue from the first four. Considering that there is only one such non-contingent entity, one may only worship Him and not anything else. If one wants to apprehend as much as possible God, which is what worship in this context means, that should be the sole concern and not anything else. This Ikar is the natural conclusion and practical application that stems from the first four Ikkarim. Like with other Mitzvot, Judaism is not satisfied with apprehension and concepts but requires action. Here the action is worship.

The sixth and seventh Ikarim deal with prophecy and also belong to the category of beliefs that are knowable rather than taken on faith and acceptance, the sixth all the way while the seventh partially as we will see. Rambam’s prophecy unlike Rabbi Yehudah Halevy’s is a natural human capacity. I will paraphrase/translate the way he presents the sixth Ikar in his introduction to Chelek.

The sixth foundation is prophecy. That is to KNOW that within this human species there are people with very developed capabilities and talents and great perfection. Their mind is prepared to the point that it accepts the Form of the intellect and this human intellect joins with the Active Intellect. [1]

I have written about this many times at great length so I will just summarize. Medieval thinkers described the acquisition of knowledge as a process of binding the human mind with the science and general information that is out there. It is the way they visualized the absorption of knowledge into the human mind. The information is always out there waiting to be apprehended. Scientific observations and theories explaining them are only discovered by man at some point in time. This totality of information is the Active Intellect (AI). It is assumed that if one were to absorb or connect with that AI he would know all there is to know about the world past, present and future. A prophet is such a human being at an advanced stage of development. As this AI contains not only physical but also metaphysical truths, the latter can only be apprehended once personal perfection is developed whereby the material part of man is controlled. A person that wallows in materialism cannot apprehend immaterial and non-physical concepts. The greater control a person has over his materialism, the greater is his ability to apprehend these truths. Moshe Rabbeinu’s separation from materialism is symbolized by his separation from his wife. His ability to apprehend transcendental truths was therefore higher than that of any other prophet’s commensurate with his lack of materialism[2]. The fifth Ikar is therefore completely understandable and does not require any acceptance – it requires knowledge or Yediah. The sixth, when dealing with Moshe’s capabilities is also something we can understand logically namely that a person may reach such a high level of knowledge. It takes on the aspect of acceptance and faith when it adds that there never was nor never will be a prophet as great as Moshe. Past can be explored and demonstrated but to say that for the future is a matter of acceptance and faith. (I have an aversion to the word Faith, as it is such a large component of Christianity, so I always try to couple it with another word that is not so obvious hence acceptance). However, the belief in the uniqueness both past and future of Moshe is essential for the immutability of the Torah. There was, is and will be only one lawgiver forever and ever. That portion of this Ikar must be accepted – it cannot be demonstrated.

There is a very important aspect in Rambam’s understanding of prophecy, the fact the prophet learns and knows about physics and metaphysical truths but is only an observer in that sense. He can take advantage of those truths when necessary just as Moshe took advantage of certain events like the splitting of the sea et al. but he does not change the course of nature. Unlike idolatry’s shamans and priests, the prophet does not endeavor to change God’s mind or influence Him. He rather wants to know God’s mind, apprehend God’s will and act accordingly. That is the message in this week’s Parsha where Bile’am is taught and his story teaches that lesson. Bile’am is that mixture of prophet and shaman. Although he learned and understood many of the metaphysical truths to the point that he was considered a prophet, which BTW teaches that one does not have to be Jewish to attain that level, he did not absorb the fact that knowledge does not give license to change God’s mind. He was operating with the shamanistic idea that somehow one can bribe God and change the course of history through “spiritual” manipulation. The Rabbis see the story of the talking ass as an allegorical teaching of that point. They list the talking ass as something created at dusk on the sixth day of creation. In other words, Balaam’s vision of the talking ass came with the realization that even such an abnormal and “miraculous” occurrence is embedded in nature. That is why he wants to turn back but is compelled to continue to teach the important lesson that prophecy means apprehension of God’s will and not its manipulation. In his final prophecy, he comes to the full realization of this fact and this is how he describes it:

טז נְאֻם, שֹׁמֵעַ אִמְרֵי-אֵל, וְיֹדֵעַ, דַּעַת עֶלְיוֹן; מַחֲזֵה שַׁדַּי יֶחֱזֶה, נֹפֵל וּגְלוּי עֵינָיִם.

Word of him who hears God’s speech, who obtains knowledge from the Most High and beholds visions from the Almighty, prostate, yet with eyes unveiled:

He no longer has ambitions to change God’s mind but rather obtain knowledge from Him.

In upcoming posts, I will expand on this issue of beliefs and the categorization thereof. I want to develop further this issue of prophecy especially how it relates to Moshe and Torah. This post has reached and surpassed my limit for length.

---

[1] . והוא שידע אדם, שזה מין האדם ימצא בהם בעלי

טבעים ממידות מעולות מאוד ושלמות גדולה, ונפשותיהם נכונות עד שהן מקבלות

צורת השכל אחד. כן ידבק אותו השכל האנושי בשכל הפועל, ונאצל ממנו עליו

אצילות נכבד. ואלה הם הנביאים. וזו היא הנבואה וזו עניינה.

Please note that I translate from Rabbi Kafih’s edition/translation while the text I append here is from the traditional one found in the Gemarot available at http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/mahshevt/rambam/hakdamat-2.htm

[2] וכי הוא עליו השלום הגיע התעלותו מן האנושות עד המעלה המלאכותית, ונכלל

במעלת המלאכים, לא נשאר מסך שלא קרעו ונכנס ממנו. ולא מנעו מונע גופני,

ולא נתערב לו שום חסרון בין רב למעט, ונתבטלו ממנו הכוחות הדמיונות

והחושיות והשגותיו, ונבדל כוחו המתעורר המשתוקק, ונשאר שכל בלבד. ועל

העניין הזה נאמר עליו שהיה מדבר עם השם יתברך בלא אמצעיות מן המלאכים.

We Can Hear the Footsteps of Mashiach

Who can question now that we are getting close to the Mashiach era!

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1000644.html

Peres to get hotel in Olympic village so he can keep the Sabbath

_{By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent}

The Chinese government has agreed as a goodwill gesture to house President Shimon Peres in a hotel within the Olympic complex so he will not desecrate the Sabbath when he attends the games' opening ceremony on Friday, August 8.

The Chinese government, which has invited Peres to the ceremony, said that in contrast to other heads of state, Peres will be staying in accommodations just 200 meters from the stadium.

The President's Residence on Wednesday informed the Chinese Olympic Committee that the President Shimon Peres would be attending the ceremony, which will also be attended by other world leaders.

Staff members of the President's Residence, the Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Olympic Committee have been working with the Chinese Embassy on the details of Peres' visit to Beijing.

The Israeli Embassy in Beijing sent a communique to the President's Residence stating that the Chinese government views Peres' presence at the opening ceremony as very important "because he is the honorary president of the Israel-China Friendship Society and one of the architects of relations between the two countries."

Chinese President Hu Jintao has invited several world leaders to the opening ceremony and will reportedly be holding an international conference at the same time as the games.

Religious and Observant - The Unifiers of Committed Judaism.

As a follow up to the previous post, I take exception with the labeling - TuM, TIDE, Chareidi and Modern Orthodox as well as with all the other labels that are used in general. I think that there are only two groups in the Jewish religious and observant community; those that understand that the goal is to find and get close to HKBH by learning His ways and emulating them and those that keep the Mitzvot as part of society and emulate their fellow coreligionists. For convenience, I will refer to the first group as “Religious and Observant - RO” and to the latter group as “Just Observant – JO”.

The O component in both groups, the observance, is pretty much the same. Although there may appear to be an endless amount of different opinions about how exactly to perform a mitzvah, the core of a particular Halacha is universal – the way it is presented in the Gemara and the rules of Psak therein.

There is however a great variation in the composition of the RO. People are different. Some are more intellectual while others are more emotional and there is a need for a variety of approaches to allow these different personalities to reach their goals. Some people are action oriented and their need to worship HKBH, their Avodat Hashem is manifested through keeping HKBH’s Mitzvot to their minute detail. Others accomplish that by focusing on their intellect or their emotions. The different approaches are at the core of the different Chassidic and Misnagdic groups that existed in Europe and that have survived, at least in form if not always in content, in our contemporary society as well as among the Sephardic Jews. However, all have one goal, discovering as much as a human being can, about HKBH by observing the results of His actions and emulate Him by doing their part in achieving God’s goals, as they understand them. This verse in Devarim 11:22 summarizes it very well.

כִּי אִם-שָׁמֹר תִּשְׁמְרוּן

אֶת-כָּל-הַמִּצְוָה הַזֹּאת, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה

אֶתְכֶם—לַעֲשֹׂתָהּ: לְאַהֲבָה אֶת-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, לָלֶכֶת

בְּכָל-דְּרָכָיו--וּלְדָבְקָה-בוֹ

For if, you shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do it, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave unto Him,

We do the Mitzvot so that we get to love HKBH. They are a tool that HKBH gave us by commanding us to do them. That awareness itself, that they are God’s commands, is a constant reminder that the goal is to use the Mitzvot as a tool to get close to HKBH thinking of Him at all times. That is why we make the Bracha “Asher Kideshanu Bemitzvotav” whenever we do a Mitzvah. As humans, we need physical acts to keep us focused on a goal. We do not do well with intellectual or emotional connections only. We tend to get distracted. That is where Mitzvot come into play, especially the ones that are rituals. Love connotes intimate knowledge of the other person. To love HKBH means getting to know Him. The only knowledge we as humans can achieve is by looking at His creations, the result of His “actions” so to say, His ways. The way we cleave unto Him is by emulating those ways. That is the closest we, as humans, can get to Him. To me that is what I hear every time I read that verse.

That is the goal that RO Jews see and develop methods that fit each person’s character and personality to help them reach that goal. The JO group just emulates these people externally without even wanting to understand the why and how, just do so that they belong. The polarization we see in the community stems from the JO groups which are unfortunately the majority. They include some of the leaders, those regarded as Gedolei Torah and Gedolei Hador. However when one reads the writings of the real ideologues of the different groups of RO, the thinkers of the different sects of Chassidus, TuM, Tide, Ashkenazim, Sephardim etc… it comes through loud and clear that all of them have one goal only – Yediat Hashem, loving and fearing Him. People who have one common goal cannot be polarized!

We see the same thing when we learn the Torah of the Rishonim. Although we find sometimes quite sharp language by one towards the other’s position. That is because they cared and were committed to the truth as they saw it. Ultimately, they all respected each other and saw themselves as partaking in the same endeavor – finding HKBH. One only has to learn Ramban when he argues with Rambam or Ibn Ezra[1], Ibn Ezra against some of his predecessors such as R. Shmuel ben Hofni, Rambam in his undertone of disagreement with Rav Sa’adyah Gaon or R. Hasdai Crescas in his Or Hashem against Rambam to see this phenomenon. We see sharp words but respect and admiration for a fellow traveler.

My point here is that there is no polarization among those that seriously are working towards the common goal. Modern Orthodox, Orthodox, Chareidi etc… are not contradictory and exclusive approaches but personal preferences to arrive at a common goal. In fact I have a hard time with the concept that if one’s parents and family belong to one group, they should remain within it. It is not a matter of heritage but personality – Chanoch Lana’ar Al pi Darko.

Shabbat Shalom.

---

[1] See Ramban’s introduction to his Pirush al Hatorah

רמב"ן הקדמה לתורה

ועם רבי אברהם בן עזרא. תהיה לנו תוכחת מגולה ואהבה מסותרה.

Is There a Conflict Between Torah and Science?

What is Torah? Is it just the corpus that we customarily refer to as such, Tanach, Mishna, Gemara (Bavli and Yerushalmi) and the commentaries on them followed by the Possekim and their writings? Is that “Torah” an independent kind of knowledge that creates its own reality? Or is Torah a fully integrated system of Halacha, Kiyum Mitzvot, science, philosophy and a way of life and thinking? If we were to ask this question and poll Bnei Yeshivot in Lakewood, Bnei Brak and Yerushalaim, the majority would answer that it is the former. They will say that learning Torah is limited to Gemara, Rishonim, Acharonim and Halacha while science and all general knowledge of the world we live in is “secular”, relative and questionably true. There will be nuances in the exact understanding but generally, the argument will be that whatever Chazal say about the world and its science, verbatim as they say it without any interpretation, is how the world is. When confronted by contradicting empirical evidence, the assumption is that the data is wrong and Chazal knew better or that we are dealing with two different universes or existences, the physical here and now and the “spiritual” which is the “real” existence. Attempting to reconcile Chazal with reality by reinterpreting them or when that is impossible, assuming that they were telling us a philosophical idea based on the knowledge of their time which needs to be rethought and adapted to our current understanding, is considered blasphemy and Kefirah.

I believe that this position is a distortion of what Torah is and is at the root of most ills of our contemporary frum society. It puts people in a state of mind where the Torah and Halachot they learn and their way of life are at odds. We have to live in a physical world that operates on scientific principles which to these poor people are anathema. They therefore build a wall between these two worlds, they become schizophrenic and we therefore witness religious people who do not see that Torah is a way of life. To them all religion is a ritual that has nothing to do with how they live and operate in the outside world. They are two separate and different universes. Mashgichim in Yeshivot and Rabbanim in the community preach, focus on the symptoms which they cannot avoid seeing and reacting to, knowing instinctively that there is something wrong in the behavior of their flock but they themselves do not see the real problem. How many times have we heard the pronouncement that Torah and Yisrael are above or outside nature – Lema’alah min hateva? As long as they will educate, insisting on this flawed understanding of what Torah teaches, they are missing the point and misleading one or more generations. Without integrating the two worlds, seeing them as one, the malady will persist.

I was following a private email list discussion on the subject of the Torah Umaddah (TuM), Torah Im Derech Eretz (TIDE) and Chareidi philosophies, and one of the participants, Dr. Noam Stadlan, made the following extremely lucid and clear statement about what Torah is that I believe needs to be publicized. I post it here with his permission.

“I am sorry to say that I had to take a lot of TUMS when I read the discussion [on the thread by one member] of TuM. Nature is Hashem's way of making His world understandable to man. Without the laws of nature (and by definition the science that is necessary to explicate, understand, and apply those laws), we would not know that the apple that fell down off the tree yesterday will still fall down off the tree today, and tomorrow, etc. There would not be any dependable consistency in the world.

There is no inconsistency in believing in evolution to some extent [I am not sure why limit it by “to some extent” – DG] and also in Orthodox Jewish dogma. TuM means believing that there is intrinsic value to science, art, literature, and to many other fields of human endeavor. That understanding the laws of nature is a way to understand HKBH, because He created those laws. TuM mean believing that Torah and nature are all part of what Hashem created, and there do not have to be inconsistencies or conflicts. We may look at nature differently than Chachmei haTalmud, but if they had modern science, they also would look at nature differently than they recorded in Shas. … is finding conflicts where TuM does not find them. This is not a 'science first' approach. It is a belief that they do not conflict, and if they seem to conflict, it is because we do not know enough to realize they do not. It does not mean that we throw out the science, or throw out the belief. We can wait for more information. As they say, no one ever died from a kasha.

The Rambam in Hilchot Yesodei Hatorah (second Perek I think) discusses how to achieve belief in God, and he begins not by recommending Talmud Torah, but by looking at the world. He could be thought of as a TuM kind of person. He studied science, astronomy, philosophy, and tried to apply what he knew of nature. He realized there was value in all of that, to the point he incorporated it in his approach to Yddishkeit. (Obviously Aristotle and Moslem philosophers are prominent influences. Platonic astronomy figures prominently in Hilchot Yesodei Hatorah as well as discussions of spheres, etc)

Finally, if one is viewing TuM, it makes no sense to look at a population of people who barely know the term, much less have an idea of what it means and stands for. Being Modern Orthodox does not automatically mean that one is an advocate of Torah Umaddah. One can be Modern Orthodox and not really have a thought-out philosophy (like me not too long ago). One can legitimately be concerned that a philosophy is not retained by a community, or is not propagated, but the reality is that those who think about TuM, and are advocates of TuM, are likely to produce children who are TuMnicks.

On the other hand, those who are MO in practice but do not think deeply about the philosophy behind their actions, are probably less likely to produce practicing children. Lumping every MO person into the TuM category just because it may be the closest to what he or she practice is not an accurate way of measuring the success or failure of the philosophy.”

Dr. Stadlan has presented what to me is a most lucid description of what Torah and Avodah means. Torah is everything we know about God, starting from His Mitzvot to His world and the existence He gave us. It is the goal of Yddishkeit to integrate all this information, knowledge and actions and use it to worship God – Avodat Hashem – by emulating His ways.

Why Belief in Resurrection Is Only Mentioned by Daniel During the Babylonian Exile?

Rambam in MN 3:32 discusses Korbanot explaining that they were necessary developmentally. As the Jewish people exiting Egypt, a culture that taught that there is a need to placate the gods with offerings to prevent them from harming us, the Korbanot were a method of weaning them from this dependency. By diverting the worship from idols to the one God and focusing their attention on Him, they eventually developed an understanding of Unity and transcendence. To drive home the point that, unlike the offerings to idols which were seen as bribes where the more the merrier, Korbanot were a very defined and circumscribed service or worship – Avodah. There are more rules on how to precisely bring and offer a Korban than for any other Mitzvah, where the slightest deviation may invalidate the offering. Korbanot became a paradigm for all Mitzvot, the positive commandments, which inherently have the same problem, especially those that are rituals – bein Adam lamokom. Our rituals cannot have an impact on a transcendental God and are meaningless from God’s perspective. Just like Korbanot, they are a form of service, defined and circumscribed by exacting rules that keep us focused on God, the source of the rules. These exact rules on how to perform them are necessary to remind us that they are not bribes but service and worship. We get not physical benefit in return when doing them other than the greatest good of all, a step closer to knowledge of God and hopefully, if we are diligent enough, an understanding of our role in His universe and how to fulfill that role of ours. Unlike idolatry, the Torah teaches that we cannot change God’s mind with our offerings nor can we change anything else in nature through manipulating the “spiritual” realm. We can try to understand God, try to discover His will and our role and act accordingly, making an impact on our physical existence. It is in the physical world that our actions have consequences. Those consequences are the “miracle” of reward and punishment – the blessing and curses – of the Torah.

This quest for understanding of God and our role in His world is not simple. It is quite complicated and difficult and people have had varying degrees of success in that endeavor. It involves not only understanding the world, the science that underlies it, it also entails knowing how to act on that knowledge and the impact those actions will have not only in the short term but also over time and generations. The most successful people, those who acquired this knowledge and acted responsibly, are referred to as prophets and their unique connection with the so to say, “mind of God”, the blueprint of existence, is called prophecy. Unlike the magical “knowledge” of the idol worshipper, this knowledge is based on reality and a realistic understanding of God and His world. It understands that everything operates according to laws of nature put in place by God, laws that are wisdom and not whimsy. This realization came first to Avraham Avinu and he transmitted it to his children and grandchildren. It was further reinforced (rather reintroduced) by Moshe Rabbeinu and the Torah and Mitzvot he gave us, whose aim it is to over time wean the Jewish people and through them the world, from the erroneous idolatrous beliefs. Those myths and beliefs are so deeply embedded in the human psyche that they are still present today, even in our community, even after several millennia of Torah. Clearly, this educational process is lengthy, drawn out and multigenerational.

As we can see, prophecy is central to this Torah worldview. It is through its medium that we can apprehend God’s will. One of the features of prophecy, indeed a test of its veracity especially when used to guide others, is its ability to foresee future events. Not only does it foresee normal natural sequences of events but also the anomalies in nature that I talked about in my last post. It is through this kind of insight, a result of deep study of the world and meditation on the metaphysical issues that pertain to its existence, that the prophets took advantage of these anomalies in what were seen as “miracles”, the same “miracles” that also demonstrate that God’s will was responsible for creation. The transition from believing that the vagaries encountered by man in his daily life are the result of magical forces to understanding a world run by God’s laws of nature and the ability of man to apprehend that and eventually acquire prophecy took a long time. Rambam in the Treatise on resurrections explains that at the time of Matan Torah, it would have been futile for God through Moshe to tell us about a future anomaly such as Techyat Hametim – the resurrection of some dead people - will occur at some point in the future. The people could not have accepted it and needed almost a thousand years of indoctrination before this concept could be accepted as plausible.

. ואיך יסופר למי שלא התבארה אצלו

הנבואה בדבר שאין ראוי עליו אלא האמנת הנביא, והוא גם כן נמנע אצלם לגמרי

לפי אמונתם בקדמות העולם,

כי לולי המופתים לא הייתה אצלנו תחיית המתים מכת

האפשר

“Why would one tell someone who has not yet accepted prophecy, a subject that depends on belief in prophecy? Furthermore, [prophecy] was impossible according to their understanding that the world is eternal [a parte ante]. For without miracles [signposts] Techyat Hametim would not be possible in our minds. [See my last post for an in depth discussion of this statement].

It took years of educating and teaching, experiencing the great “miracles” the Torah teaches us, those that were signposts that HKBH created and willed this world, for this lesson to sink into the people’s psyche. It is only after this long process, at the time of Daniel, when the long-term consequences of the stubborn belief in idolatry brought them into exile again, that the prophet could predict the future anomaly of Techyat Hametim and be believed. It is only after going through short and long-term cycles of actions and their “miraculous” consequences, of “miraculous” anomalies that occurred at propitious times, that this revolutionary and new understanding really took hold.

וכאשר רצה השם יתעלה לתת תורה לבני אדם, לפרסם בהם מצוותו ודתו ואזהרתו על

ידי הנביאים בכל העולם, כמו שאמר "ולמען ספר שמי בכל הארץ". חידש המופתים

הגדולים הכתובים בכל התורה, עד שהתאמת בהם נבואת הנביאים וחידוש העולם. כי

המופת האמיתי ראיה ברורה על חידוש העולם כאשר בארנו ב"מורה הנבוכים

והתמיד העניין כן, עד שנתחזקו אלו הפינות והתאמתו בהמשך הדורות, ולא נשאר

ספק בנבואות הנביאים ובחידוש המופתים. ואחרי כן ספרו לנו הנביאים מה

שהודיעם ה' יתעלה מעניין תחיית המתים, והיה קל לקבלו

When God wanted to give Torah to humankind, to make His commandments, religion and warnings [that there are consequences to our actions] known in the whole world, as it says, “so that My name is told in the whole earth”, He brought about the great miracles [signposts] that the Torah reports. This verified that there is prophecy and the world is created. For the true “miracle” [signpost] is clear proof that the world is created as we explained in MN. This continued until this fundamental belief was strengthened and verified over generations so that there was no longer any doubt that prophecy exists and “miracles” [signposts] occur. It was only then that the prophets told us what God told them about TH, and they accepted it with ease.[1]

To summarize, Rambam sees TH as one more anomaly among many. These anomalies, when they occur under the conditions Rambam enumerated, are signposts that HKBH has will and willed this world into existence with wisdom and omniscience. They teach that this world has embedded in it a system of actions and consequences that is incumbent on humankind to learn and discover. In this process of discovery, humankind will understand what its role is in the promotion of continuity of the whole of existence as will each individual who takes his responsibility seriously find his own role in that great whole. This belief in TH is therefore one of the fundamental cornerstones of Judaism.

What I find exhilarating and beautiful about Rambam’s approach is that he gives us a great vision, an optimistic and positive vision, of what Torah’s goals are for the Jewish people and the whole of humankind. He shows us how all the pieces fit together and ultimately are stepping-stones in the fulfillment of that great goal. As we say in our daily prayer ותלמדם חוקי חיים – when God gave the Jewish people the Torah, He taught them the “laws of life”. To me these few words say it all.

---

[1] It is noteworthy that Rambam uses here the same justification he used for explaining the reasoning behind Korbanot. He compares it to the reluctance on the part of God to use a direct route from Egypt to Israel that ran through the land of the Philistines for fear of a war disheartening the newly freed slaves.

ואתה תמצא כמו התחבולה הזאת בעצמה עשה השם יתברך עם ישראל, אמר עליהם

ולא נחם אלהים דרך ארץ פלשתים כי קרוב הוא כי אמר אלהים" וגו'. ואם

הורגלו בענייני העולם מפני שחשש עליהם שישובו למצרים ויבוטל מהם המכווין

בהם, כן חשש עליהם עוד שלא יקבלו זה הדעת, רצוני לומר התחייה, ויבוטל בו

התכלית המכוון בהם ומהם

Reward and Punishment in the Torah Teaches Humanity To Take Their Fate Into Their Own Hands.

In my last post, I discussed “miracles” and focused on those that are “naturally impossible”. Rambam also lists another category of “miracles” – the “naturally possible”. Examples are:

Occasional occurrences - the plagues of locust, hail and plague (dever) in Egypt

Common Occurrences –that can happen in all lands and times. Examples of such are the splitting of the altar while Yerovam was on it (Melachim 1:13:3) which is common for newly built structures. The torrential rains brought about by Shmuel during the harvest (Shmuel 1:12:17).The blessings and curses in the Torah.

As discussed in the last post, “miracles” are like flag posts that point out and teach a lesson. For common occurrences that are usually seen as normal and even occasional occurrences that are rarer, something more has to be added to make them stand out and teach something. They therefore have to have an additional component to make them stand out. They therefore have to have one or more of the following conditions:

They happen when predicted by a prophet, as was the case with Shmuel and Yerovam.

They come in exaggerated form, greater than usual such as the plagues in Egypt mentioned above לְפָנָיו לֹא-הָיָה כֵן אַרְבֶּה כָּמֹהוּ, וְאַחֲרָיו לֹא יִהְיֶה-כֵּן. (Shemot 10:14 also see Shemot 9:24 and 9:6).

They are constant as the blessings and curses in the Torah were.

The first condition, prediction of the prophet, is quite obvious. The second one, where the occurrence is in an exaggerated form, apparently also requires the first condition, the prediction of the prophet to make it stand out. Interestingly, the cases Rambam brings as examples, the plagues in Egypt, also had Moshe predict them. I cannot think of a case where the second condition alone was enough to make the occurrence stand out. (The locust at the time of Yoel was also predicted). But the third condition, the one that is generally referred to as Schar Ve’onesh - reward and punishment - needs to be fleshed out much more.

To really understand Rambam’s view of reward and punishment and its relationship with Torah we have to take a step back and look at humanity from an historical perspective. We live in an era where the scientific method is part of our normal thinking and there are very few who still question it. That was not so for much of human history. At the time Torah and Judaism came into existence, when Moshe Rabbeinu brought us the Torah, man was completely dependent on the vagaries of nature without any hope to take his fate into his own hands. He saw the world as populated by good and evil spirits who controlled the physical world and the only recourse was to placate them. It would take millennia to overturn this mindset. It is a gradual process that is still ongoing. It teaches that man has to learn and understand his environment and take his fate into his own hands. That is what the Torah teaches us. We can take control of our fate and there are consequences to our actions. It is the first commandment the Torah gives to humankind and sets it as its general goal and purpose.

וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם, אֱלֹהִים, וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם

אֱלֹהִים פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וְכִבְשֻׁהָ; וּרְדוּ

בִּדְגַת הַיָּם, וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם, וּבְכָל-חַיָּה, הָרֹמֶשֶׂת

עַל-הָאָרֶץ.

28 And God blessed them; and God said unto them, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creeps upon the earth.'

The way for humanity to exit the dark ages of superstition and helplessness is a long process. It teaches man that there are no spirits, just one God, the First Cause, and that everything He caused into existence is logical and sensible imbued with a great wisdom that is incumbent on us to learn and discover. It is this revolution in thinking that slowly is taking humanity on the long road to

כִּי-מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ, דֵּעָה אֶת-יְהוָה, כַּמַּיִם, לַיָּם מְכַסִּים.

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. {S} (Yeshayahu 11:9)

This educational process includes the idea that there are consequences to our actions. They are not always immediately apparent. Some actions have an immediate impact others may take some time for results to be seen, but ultimately we are responsible for our own fate. Those are the blessings and curses of the Torah – reward and punishment. Rambam in Hilchot Ta’aniyot 1:2-3 teaches –

ודבר זה, דרך מדרכי התשובה הוא: שבזמן שתבוא צרה ויזעקו לה

ויריעו, יידעו הכול שבגלל מעשיהם הרעים הרע להן--ככתוב "עוונותיכם, הטו

אלה לכם, וזה הוא שיגרום להם להסיר הצרה מעליהם.

אבל אם לא יזעקו, ולא יריעו, אלא יאמרו דבר זה ממנהג העולם

אירע לנו, וצרה זו נקרוא נקרית--הרי זו דרך אכזרייות, וגורמת להם להידבק

במעשיהם הרעים, ותוסיף הצרה וצרות אחרות: הוא שכתוב בתורה, "והלכתם עימי,

בקרי. והלכתי עימכם, בחמת קרי" (ויקרא כו,כז-כח),

כלומר כשאביא עליכם צרה, כדי שתשובו--אם תאמרו שהוא קרי, אוסיף עליכם חמת אותו קרי.

This [type of prayer] belongs to the ways of repenting. When a disaster occurs and they cry out for it and blow trumpets, all realize that this came about as a result of their misdeeds as it says, “Your sins brought this about upon you”. This [realization] will cause the disaster to lift.

Should they not cry out or blow trumpets, saying that this thing happened in normal ways of the world, that this disaster is just a serendipitous occurrence, this [kind of thinking] is cruel for it encourages them to stick to their errant ways bringing more disasters. That is the meaning of the verse “should you walk with me serendipitously, I will walk with you in the wrath of serendipity”. In other words, when I bring down a disaster upon you, so that you repent, and you will attribute it to serendipity, I will add to you the wrath of that serendipity.

In a letter to the sages of Marseilles, which I quoted in the past, Rambam blames the destruction of the temple on the Jews turning to spirits rather than arming and defending themselves while engaging in diplomacy! Repentance in this context is making ourselves aware that it is up to us to figure out how to prevent a disaster. We have to accept responsibility for our actions or inactions and take our fate into our hands.

The “miracle” of the blessings and curses of the Torah are seen as teachings when they are constant. When the Jews followed the path of Torah, abandoned the ways of superstition and idolatry, acting on their convictions and consequently lived peacefully on their land, they taught humanity that our actions have consequences. They taught that unlike the other nations who rely on spirits and therefore are dependent on the vagaries of nature, we Jews take our fate into our own hands, because we believe that HKBH created the world with wisdom. It is up to us to understand it and act accordingly. Coming back to our treatise on Resurrection and the verse in Devarim 4:19, we read –

וכבר זכר בתורה שהוא מופת מתמיד, ר"ל תיקון העניינים

עם העבודה, והפסדם עם המרי. אמר "והיו בך לאות ולמופת ובזרעך עד עולם"

ומפני זה אמרו "אין מזל לישראל", רצו לומר שתיקונם והפסדם אינם לסבה טבעית

ולא על מנהג המציאות, אלא נתלה בעבודה ובמרי. וזה אות יותר גדול מכל אות.

וכבר בארנו שזה בדין צבור ובדין יחיד כמו שיראה מן המעשה ההוא והוא נאות

לאומרו ובזרעך עד עולם.

ומן המאמר המפורסם באומה "ראה אדם ייסורין באים עליו יפשפש במעשיו".

והוא העניין בעצמו הוא המכוון ג"כ באומרו "אשר חלק ה' אלהיך אותם לכל

העמים תחת כל השמים, ואתכם לקח ה'.. להיות לו לעם נחלה כיום הזה". ר"ל

שענייניהם אינם נוהגים עניין מנהג שאר האומות, אבל ייחדם השם בזה המופת

הגדול שיהיו פעולותיהם תמיד נקשרות בתיקון ענייניהם או בהפסדם.

It is already mentioned in the Torah that the fact that things work out [for the Jews] when they act [correctly] and do not work out when they transgress is a permanent sign [that we are not dependent on the vagaries of nature]. That is the meaning of the Rabbi’s saying “Yisrael do not depend on luck”. That is their well-being or mishaps do not depend on natural events or vagaries of existence but rather on their [correct] actions or transgressions. That is a greater sign than any other sign [that there are consequences to our actions]. We already explained that this applies to both the public and the individual. (I cannot translate the end of the sentence, as I do not understand it. See R. Sheilat in note 90 that he suspects the text is corrupt). That is also seen from the famous saying “When a person sees suffering coming upon him he should look at his deeds”. [IOW we are to blame for our own suffering and should not shift the blame to others]. That is also the meaning when he says “אֲשֶׁר חָלַק יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֹתָם, לְכֹל הָעַמִּים, תַּחַת כָּל-הַשָּׁמָיִם - which the LORD thy God has allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven –

וְאֶתְכֶם לָקַח יְהוָה - But you hath the LORD taken”. Meaning that their [the Jewish people’s] matters are not like those of other nations [who rely and depend on vagaries of nature]. God has particularized them with this great sign [teaching to others] that their actions are intimately tied to their well-being or the mishaps.

Rambam disagrees with commentators and Rishonim who read this verse as affirming that Jews are different and under the influence of HKBH while the rest of the world is under the auspices of the stars. He understands that Jews are a paradigm for the world as a people who understand that HKBH has given the world to humanity to conquer and thus control his fate. Unlike the beliefs of the nations who believed, that man depends on outside forces like the stars and the vagaries of fate.

This post is already much too long. I will come back to this in my next