A letter to my Haredi brothers, from a secular Israeli
A letter to my Haredi brothers from a secular Israeli Jew.
זכר ימות עולם בינו שנות דור־ודור שאל אביך ויגדך זקניך ויאמרו לך (דברים 32:7). בינו שנות דור בכל וגו׳. בכל ודור דור ובכל תקופה באההבנה חדשה בתורה מן השמים, שהיא מתאימה (חידושי הרי״ם, האזינו)
“Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations. Ask your father and he will recount it to you; your elders, and they will tell you” (Deut. 32:7). Each year a new interpretation of the Torah comes into being…. In every generation and in every period a new insight into the Torah descends from the heavens, suited to the generation. And the tzaddikim of each generation perceive in the Torah that which is needed to instruct that generation.” (Chidushei HaRim, Ha’azinu)
While accepting the Torah as the eternal word of The Creator, The Chidushei HaRim explains this passage from Parashat Ha’azinu as meaning that in every generation a new understanding of the Torah comes from heaven fit for those times. That’s not to suggest, G-d forbid, a break with the tradition of our sages. That’s not to suggest we stop living according to our teachers. It’s similar to a cylinder floating in the air. From one direction it will cast a circle shaped shadow, but move the light ninety degrees and it will cast a rectangular shadow – they may be different, but they both emanate from the same unchanging cylinder.
As Torah scholars it is your mission to plunge its depths, and discern how to act according to its eternal wisdom in a manner appropriate for the reality of our generation. Our reality is that Jews have the power of state in a world that functions in a nation state paradigm. The reality of the generation is that said power is shared by Jews who abide by Halacha and those who do not. So, in this context how should one view those who do not live by G-d’s commandments? Moshe Rabbeinu himself sets us a perfect example.
והאיש משה ענו מאד מכל האדם אשר על־פני האדמה (במדבר 12:3)
“And the man Moshe was very humble, more so than every other person on the face of the earth.” (Numbers 12:3)
What does the Torah mean when describing Moshe Rabbeinu as the most modest person on the planet? Did Moshe consider there to be someone more suited to the task of leading the people of Israel? Clearly not. But Moshe did ask himself whether his spiritual merits were greater than others whose shoes he had not walked in. “I wasn’t raised a slave… I had the privilege to meet G-d at the burning bush… perhaps other members of Israel would have reached greater heights had they had my privilege!”
Maimonides codifies Moshe Rabbeinu’s attitude as a legal obligation:
יש זכות שהיא כנגד כמה עונות, שנאמר: ״יען נמצא בו דבר טוב״ (מלכים א 14:13) יש עון שהוא כנגד כמה זכיות, שנאמר: ״וחוטא אחד יאבד טובה הרבה״ (קהלת 9:18)ואין שוקלין אלא בדעתו של אל דעות, והוא היודע היאך עורכין הזכיות כנגד העונות. (רמב״ם הלכות תשובה 3:2)
“There are some merits which outweigh many sins as implied by [I Kings 14:13]: “Because in him, there was found a good quality.” In contrast, a sin may outweigh many merits as [Ecclesiastes 9:18] states: “One sin may obscure much good.” The weighing [of sins and merits] is carried out according to the wisdom of the Knowing God. He knows how to measure merits against sins.” (Rambam, Laws of Repentance 3:2)
He states clearly: only G-d Himself can deliberate the merits and sins of an individual, nation, or humanity. From HIs perspective there are merits equivalent to a number of transgressions, and transgressions equivalent to a number of merits. It’s for this reason that even the Rosh Yeshiva will start his selichot saying כְּדַלִּים וּכְרָשִׁים דָּפַקְנוּ דְּלָתֶיךָ – “Needy and destitute [of merits] we knock at your door”. To understand why the Rosh Yeshiva could possibly categorize himself as needy and destitute, we can look to the law to a rebellious child.
כי־יהיה לְאיש בן סורר ומורה איננו שמע בקול אביו ובקול אמו ויסרו אתו ולא ישמע אליהם׃ ותפשו בו אביו ואמו והוציאו אתו אל־זקני עירו ואל־שער מקמו׃ ואמרו אל־זקני עירו בננו זה סורר ומרה איננו שמע בקלנו זולל וסבא. (דברים 21:18-20)
“If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown. They shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us; he is a glutton and a drunkard.” (Deut. 21:18-20)
Nachmanides explains how these passages teach us our real goal in life. The rebellious child is only liable for the death penalty if he ate kosher meat, not if he ate trief meat. At first, that seems counter intuitive. However, Nachmanides explains that a rebel who is scrupulous is the laws of kashrut is considered a נבל ברשות התורה – a disgrace within the boundaries of the Torah – by his transgressing another command of the Torah:
דבר אל־כל־עדת בני־ישראל ואמרת אלהם קדשים תהיו כי קדוש אני יהוה אלהיכם (ויקרא 19:2)
“Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” (Lev. 19:2)
We are commanded to be holy because G-d is holy. Thus, Nachmanides teaches us that a perfunctory rote performance of Mitzvot is insufficient – they must be accompanied by the intention to draw us closer to G-d – a holy attitude. The greater one’s learning, the greater the requirement for holiness with one’s performance of mitzvot. As G-d says to Isiah, His fear is that we perform His will by rote:
ויאמר אדני יען כי נגש העם הַזה בפיו ובשפתיו כבדוני ולבו רחק ממני
ותהי יראתם אתי מצות אנשים מלמדה׃ (ישעיה 29:13)
The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught”.” (Isiah 29:13)
Thus, the Rosh Yeshiva enters selichot with the feeling he is destitute of merits, contemplating the words of King David, asking himself whether he appreciates the opportunity to put on tefillin and keep shabbat, asking himself whether his fear of heaven is sufficient, whether he treats others respectfully, does he exercise responsibility to society:
כי־פשעי אני אדע וחטאתי נגדי תמיד (תהילים 51:5)
“For I recognize my transgressions, and am ever conscious of my sin.” (Psalms 51:5)
Entering the days of awe we must ask ourselves a number of questions.
- Am I protected by the yeshiva, my family and community?
On Rosh Chodesh Ellul, Moshe Rabbeinu started climbing Sinai to receive the second set of tablets. While the Torah describes the first set of tablets as follows:
והלחת מעשה אלהים המה והמכתב מכתב אלהים הוא חרות על־הלחת (שמות 32:16)
“The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.” (Exodus 32:16)
…for the second pair G-d commands Moshe to carve his own:
ויאמר יהוה אל־משה פסל־לך שני־לחת אבנים כראשנים (שמות 34:1)
“Then God said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the originals” (Exodus 34:1)
It’s hard to believe that the Children of Israel worshipped the golden calf after being spoken to directly by The Creator Himself. Rav Yehudah Halevi explains that after 40 days of sitting idle the people felt the need to act, and were sure they were on the right path. The context of glory of the Exodus was insufficient to save them. As such, G-d commanded that Moshe carve out the second tablets himself. The message is clear – one is responsible for carving out one’s own heart – one cannot expect to be saved by surroundings.
- What does it mean to be holy?
Moshe ascends the mountain for a second time, but before receiving the Torah, G-d teaches him the 13 attributes of mercy. The Talmud describes the scene as follows:
״ויעבור ה׳ על פניו ויקרא״ אמר רבי יוחנן: אלמלא מקרא כתוב אי אפשר לאומרו. מלמד שנתעטף הקדוש ברוך הוא כשליח צבור, והראה לו למשה סדר תפלה. אמר לו: כל זמן שישראל חוטאין — יעשו לפני כסדר הזה ואני מוחל להם (ראש השנה 17b)
““And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed” (Exodus 34:6). Rabbi Yohanan said: Were it not explicitly written in the verse, it would be impossible to say this, as it would be insulting to God’s honour. The verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, wrapped Himself in a prayer shawl like a prayer leader and showed Moses the structure of the order of the prayer. He said to him: Whenever the Jewish people sin, let them act before Me in accordance with this order. Let the prayer leader wrap himself in a prayer shawl and publicly recite thethirteen attributes of mercy, and I will forgive them.” (Rosh Hashanah 17b, Steinsaltz-Koren translation)
The Almighty taught the 13 attributes of mercy before giving the second commandments. The lesson is that complete atonement requires the evocation of these attributes. Though, what does R. Yohanan mean when he says “whenever Israel sins, they should do this order before me”? It is not good enough to say the words – one must live according to these attributes with his fellow man. What’s more, The Creator Himself teaches us the lesson – He came to Moshe, a mere human, wrapped as a Shaliach Tzibur – mercy requires action and empathy.
In summation, my words are a request for reflection on and empathy towards secular Israel. As Torah scholars you have a great responsibility to understand the heavenly blueprint for our generation – we live with the trappings of state in the reality of a nation state paradigm. As Torah scholars, you are responsible to be holy and demonstrate G-d’s attributes of mercy in your relations with other people. Finally, as Torah scholars, you are responsible to carve your own hearts and not be led into the false security of relying on your surroundings. This responsibility is awesome – Maimonides expresses it far better than I could:
לפיכך צריך כל אדם שיראה עצמו כל השנה כלה כאלו חציו זכאי וחציו חיב. וכן כל העולם חציו זכאי וחציו חיב. חטא חטא אחד הרי הכריע את עצמו ואת כל העולם כלו לכף חובה וגרם לו השחתה. עשה מצוה אחת הרי הכריע את עצמו ואת כל העולם כלו לכף זכות וגרם לו ולהם תשועה והצלה שנאמר )משלי י :כה) וצדיק יסוד עולם” זה שצדק הכריע את כל העולם לזכות והצילו (רמב״ם הלכות תשובה 3:4)
Accordingly, throughout the entire year, a person should always look at himself as equally balanced between merit and sin and the world as equally balanced between merit and sin. If he performs one sin, he tips his balance and that of the entire world to the side of guilt and brings destruction upon himself. [On the other hand,] if he performs one mitzvah, he tips his balance and that of the entire world to the side of merit and brings deliverance and salvation to himself and others. This is implied by [Proverbs 10:25] “A righteous man is the foundation of the world,” i.e., he who acted righteously, tipped the balance of the entire world to merit and saved it. (Rambam, Laws of Repentance 3:4)
After opening selichot declaring our lack of merits, we call G-d “The Hearer of prayer”. Why switch to the singular? At that point in the service, we stand before God who knows the truth…we are on our own. The Sanhedrin were called the Men of the Great Assembly because they restored the truth.
Finally, none of these ideas are mine. All of them were weaved from pre- selichot lectures given by Rav Yehudah Amital, the late Rosh Yeshiva of Har Etzion.
May all of Israel receive a full atonement, and may The Almighty bless us with peace between the people of Israel, as well as granting us peace with our enemies.
Jonathan Raven