Sunday, March 25, 2007

A rational understanding of Al Tiftach Peh Lasatan.

Although Y.K. and his fellow commenters do not exactly enhance Kevod Shamayim, sometimes their questions can make one think and clarify a perplexing issue. Rambam does not legislate Al Tiftach Peh Lasatan and the first reaction is that he disagrees with it. However one may wonder did he read and understand it differently? Did he see this as a theological issue which is not something that can be legislated? I believe that it is so.

When we say that something is evil we are really referring to the absence of good. When we say that a person is dead, which is the ultimate evil that we humans can conceive, we are saying that there is an absence of the biological mechanisms that keep us alive. Those biological mechanisms that were set into motion when a baby was conceived have stopped working and have shut down. There is no positive action in death. It is the absence of life. The same applies to all things we consider evil or bad; they are all the absence of a good thing which is existence. (See MN3:10 – an important chapter that I intend to discuss at length at another time).

Death is therefore evil only as it relates to our physical existence. It is the absence of life in our physical body that is seen as evil. There is however one thing that our physical existence does not allow us to have; knowledge of God.

כ וַיֹּאמֶר, לֹא תוּכַל לִרְאֹת אֶת-פָּנָי: כִּי לֹא-יִרְאַנִי הָאָדָם, וָחָי.
20 And He said: 'Thou canst not see My face, for man shall not see Me and live.'

It is only at the moment of death that a person who has spent a lifetime searching for God and developing his rational faculties can possibly attain a level of understanding beyond what he could attain during his life. It is almost like saying that such a person has worked all his life to prepare himself for that last moment of life. This kind of death is no longer seen as evil. Although no one has come back to tell us about it nor do we really understand it other than by inference, we call it Olam Haba or life after death. It is not a physical state but a fusion of the knowledge we acquired in a lifetime with the universal knowledge that is out there about HKBH. It is the fusion with a Jungian type of collective unconscious, the repository and source of all reality and existence. The understanding one gets is dependent on the level of knowledge a person attained during his life. Rambam in MN3:51 describes this as follows:

“The philosophers have already explained how the bodily forces of man in his youth prevent the development of moral principles and all the more pure thought which man attains through the perfection of those ideas that lead him to an intense love of God. Man can by no means attain this so long as his bodily humors are hot. The more the forces of his body are weakened, and the fire of passion quenched, in the same measure does man's intellect increase in strength and light; his knowledge becomes purer, and he is happy with his knowledge. When this perfect man is stricken in age and is near death, his knowledge mightily increases, his joy in that knowledge grows greater, and his love for the object of his knowledge more intense, and it is in this great delight that the soul separates from the body. To this state our Sages referred, when in reference to the death of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, they said that these three died by a kiss. They say thus: We learn from the words, "And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab by the mouth of the Lord" (Deut. xxxiv. 5), that his death was a kiss. … The meaning of this saying is that these three died in the midst of the pleasure derived from the knowledge of God and their great love for Him. When our Sages figuratively call the knowledge of God united with intense love for Him a kiss, they follow the well-known poetical diction, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth" (Song i. 2). This kind of death, which in truth is deliverance from death, has been ascribed by our Sages to none but to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. The other prophets and pious men are beneath that degree: but their knowledge of God is strengthened when death approaches. Of them Scripture says, "Thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward" (Isa. lviii. 8). The intellect of these men remains then constantly in the same condition, since the obstacle is removed that at times has intervened between the intellect and the object of its action: it continues for ever in that great delight, which is not like bodily pleasure.”

I understand this as what the Gemara means when it says that “Yaakov Avinu lo Met”, Yaakov did not die.

The Gemara in Ketubot 8b tells of Resh Lakish who in his Birkat Aveilim, the blessing which one says at the house of a mourner and which should contain words of condolences, talked about death being a universal state. People have died in the past and will continue to die in the future. Abaye commented on this that saying that people will die in the future is incorrect because it is “Al Tiftach peh Lasatan” one should not give Satan an opening. Rambam in MN 3:22 quotes Resh Lakish as saying that Satan, Yetzer Hara and the angel of death are synonyms, different names for the same state. I understand Abaye’s comment that by assuming that everybody will die one eliminates the possibility that a righteous person may not die. To such a person physical death may not be death at all but just the opportunity for real life. [1] One is therefore assuming that Satan, Death, Yetzer Hara are unbeatable; one gives them more credence than necessary and in a way deny freedom of choice.

My point here is to show that what seems to be a superficial statement by Abaye, in reality contains much depth and thought. Not reading it literally gives us a much deeper appreciation of Chazal and how great our Torah sages were.


[1] Similarly the proof text the Gemara quotes from Yeshayahu shows that a negative attitude reinforces negativity. That could be another aspect of the same idea.

11 comments:

  1. David, keep fighting the good fight....

    That was a nice compliment XGH gave you the other day :)

    BTW, I'm sure you've read my posts on Spinoza and his differences with Rambam...I plan to add to that series after Pesah.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RJM thanks and you are no small fry either. You singlehandedly made him a BT!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am not sure he would agree that I played a major part in his transformation...But if I did, it certainly makes the countless hours I invested in his blog seem worthwhile in retrospect.

    Not to mention the other people, especially the silent "observers" who have corresponded with me, who I know drew some "hizzuq" from my involvement there.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You did put in a lot of time and I am sure the silent ones are the majority.

    It is interesting how many people are interested.

    I do a lot of my writing as a way of clarifying issues. If I have to write it up for consumption I cannot do it without having it clear in my head. It is gratifying though when people get something out of it and come back to read.

    ReplyDelete
  5. YK: I don’t know if you’re still out there reading this, but I hope you are.

    I really feel sorry for you. Not because of what you wrote, since I believe that every one of your arguments is 100% on target. Rather, it’s because of your being used as a doormat of sorts here. Instead of really trying to debate you, the owner of this blog uses your scholarship as a springing board for his posts and avoids either rebutting or admitting to what you argue.

    Take heart, YK. It’s not your fault. What you’re doing is like trying to sell sunscreen to the Eskimos. They don’t need it, and the owner of this blog couldn’t care less about Halacha as Jews have understood it for a millennia. But worry, not. Torah True Judaism has been around for ages and we’ll be around for ages. These pseudo-philosophers and their newfangled offshoot of Judaism will blow over, and they’ll eventually be placed in the dustbin of history.

    Here’s my advice to you: Do to them as they do unto you. Ignore them. Don’t hold your breath waiting for them to “see the light” or engage in any honest discussion. Use your substantial knowledge of Torah where it’s appreciated more and never come back here to check the posts.

    And don’t take their snobbishness and name-calling to heart. It’s not your problem. It’s theirs.

    I hope this is the last comment you read on this blog.

    ReplyDelete
  6. YK and Anonymous,

    I don't necessarily agree with everything David writes on his blog. In fact, I don't think David expects or even wants his readership to assent to every statement he makes.

    That being said, however, I do believe that his sincerity and humility in the search for truth are beyond reproach. It is these qualities that bring people back to read his posts, again and again.

    YK, on the other hand - whether he had reasonable points to make or not - was extremely disrespectful in style and tone. His aggressive manner discredited whatever content he may have contributed to this forum.

    What Chaim B. wrote on that thread was right on target - we are not bound by every statement of gedole Torah, past or present. The process of learning and applying halacha is ongoing.

    Rabbi Aqiva Eiger was once asked why he didn't spend more time studying aharonim and focused all his energy on the rishonim. His basic answer was that we are aharonim, so what makes our analysis and conclusions inferior to that of other scholars?

    Again, this is not to say we are equal in greatness or depth of knowledge to the gedolim of past or present. But it does mean that we all have the capacity and responsibility to reason out the issues for ourselves and arrive at Torah-based conclusions.

    This is exactly what David does on this blog, following the lead of Morenu V'Rabbenu Hanesher Hagadol Rabban Shel Kol Bene Hagolah Harav Hagaon Moshe ben Maimon, zichrono livracha. You follow your gedolim and we will follow ours.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I’m not sure that I understood all the Hebrew, but the part I could make out was that David was disrespectful to some Rabbis in an earlier post. Actually, I myself was also more than a bit taken aback by the language he used. Then, it seems that Rabbi Maroof is justifying that disrespect by saying that an earlier commentator was disrespectful to him. That doesn’t make sense at all. What’s the big deal? Why can’t David just say that he’s sorry and move on? In my eyes, both David and Rabbi Maroof lose points for being so petty.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jeff:

    Exactly my impression, too. And Rabbi Maroof’s analogy where he somehow justifies David’s calling ancient Jewish customs “superstition” by comparing it to Rabbi Aqiva Eiger’s not studying Achronim is so far fetched that a response is totally unnecessary.

    Far worse in my eyes is the way David avoids either rebutting or admitting to YG’s arguments, and then Rabbi Maroof praises him for his “sincerity and humility in the search for truth”. Sort of reminds me of Colorwar in Camp, when the team that would scream louder usually won. Everybody should scream after me: “David is honest! David is Truthful! Louder!!

    I think that what they’re doing is an insult to the intelligence of the readers of this blog. Do these guys really think that we don’t understand English? They’re assuming that they could pull the wool over our eyes and confuse us enough, so that not being “bound by every statement of gedole Torah” somehow gives us free reign to call their directives superstitious?

    I agree with you, Jeff. Both David and Rabbi Maroof should stop politicking and face the music. And when it comes to being respectful, they should practice what they preach!

    Another funny thing: Rabbi Maroof ends his post by saying, “You follow your Gedolim and we will follow ours.” That doesn’t exactly jive with what David said earlier, “It would so much nicer if we had Gedolim to really look up to and who led us instead of what we unfortunately have nowadays.” So I wonder which Gedolim he Does believe in (besides for the Rambam).

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous and Y.K., you are both being remarkably unfair. David is extremely passionate about his approach to Judaism and thus those approaches which are the diametric opposite of his legitimate understanding of the Emes cause him great pain. I know this since I have had many polite and constructive debates with him on various topics of hashkafa.

    If in a moment of frustration, he strongly criticizes a Rabbi who holds differently, it is only because he feels such views distance Jews from their Father in Heaven - not c"v because of any hatred. I am confident that his comment regarding not following the psak of such a rabbi was said in such a vain.

    If you like it or not, people who dedicate their life to the study of Jewish thought will always be at odds with much of what is popularly believed in the contemporary mainstream. This is true whether one finds themselves in the rationalist camp such as david or whether one finds themselves on the mystical side such as myself.

    Rav Kook once wrote that there are people who were his contemporaries which were gedolei olam in halacha but amei aretz in hashkafa. If it was true for his generation, it is doubly true for our own. This reality often leads to extreme discomfort for serious students of Jewish thought when things are said which offend the depth and profundity which are the true legacy of our messorah.

    The manner in which you communicate brings no honor to your point of view. I have often disagreed with David and found that honest and polite debate always gets results for all sides. What you have done is attack for no constructive purpose. I hope you reconsider your approach to tochacha - I doubt that it meets the lofty demands of halacha.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous and Y.K., you are both being remarkably unfair. David is extremely passionate about his approach to Judaism and thus those approaches which are the diametric opposite of his legitimate understanding of the Emes cause him great pain. I know this since I have had many polite and constructive debates with him on various topics of hashkafa.

    If in a moment of frustration, he strongly criticizes a Rabbi who holds differently, it is only because he feels such views distance Jews from their Father in Heaven - not c"v because of any hatred. I am confident that his comment regarding not following the psak of such a rabbi was said in such a vain.

    If you like it or not, people who dedicate their life to the study of Jewish thought will always be at odds with much of what is popularly believed in the contemporary mainstream. This is true whether one finds themselves in the rationalist camp such as david or whether one finds themselves on the mystical side such as myself.

    Rav Kook once wrote that there are people who were his contemporaries which were gedolei olam in halacha but amei aretz in hashkafa. If it was true for his generation, it is doubly true for our own. This reality often leads to extreme discomfort for serious students of Jewish thought when things are said which offend the depth and profundity which are the true legacy of our messorah.

    The manner in which you communicate brings no honor to your point of view. I have often disagreed with David and found that honest and polite debate always gets results for all sides. What you have done is attack for no constructive purpose. I hope you reconsider your approach to tochacha - I doubt that it meets the lofty demands of halacha.

    ReplyDelete