Unbreakable Love, Spiritual Anchors and More Bava Basra 72-75

Who Got Esau’s Goat?

Our Gemara on Amud Aleph continues the sugya of ayin yaffa, that certain sales and/or gifts are done with a generous spirit which implies that certain extras may be included in a sale or gift. A new wrinkle in this discussion is that when sanctifying possessions and pledging them to hekdesh, everyone agrees it is be-ayin yaffa, done with a generous spirit.

Yismach Moshe (Vayishlach 22) is puzzled by the excessive obsequiousness expressed by Yaakov when meeting Esav. We get the strategic, and even spiritual value of appeasing one’s enemies if at all possible, especially relatives, but Yaakov’s declaration (Bereishis 33:10) seems way over the top:

ויאמר יעקב אל־נא אם־נא מצאתי חן בעיניך ולקחת מנחתי מידי כי על־כן ראיתי פניך כראת פני אלקים ותרצני

But Jacob said, “No, I pray you; if you would do me this favor, accept from me this gift; for to see your face is like seeing the face of God, and you have received me favorably.

Yismach Moshe says that there is a tradition that all Yaakov gave to Esav will be returned plus more to his descendants. Yaakov gave male and female cattle in proportion to their breeding ability, so that one day Yaakov would be entitled to all those returns. This was a gift with Ayin Yaffa, generosity, including all the bells and whistles. As when staying at a luxury hotel, you have a great time but get hit with a big bill at the end, so too, Esav will have to pick up the tab.

This is why Yaakov used a language, “like the face of God”, to wryly hint that he is giving this be-ayin yaffa, like pledge to hekdesh, with all the extras. But one day, Esav will pay us back.

The Jewish people and the inspiration of the Torah, gave the gift of civilization to many parts of the world. One day, they will pay us back.

Psychological and Spiritual Anchors

Our Gemara on Amud Aleph delineates the parts of a boat that are included, and those not included in a sale. One part is the anchor, in Hebrew the word is igun. The Mishna gives a proof text from what Na’ami told Rus and Arpah, to discourage them from a quixotic return with her. She says (Rus 1:13):

הלהן תשברנה עד אשר יגדלו הלהן תעגנה לבלתי היות לאיש

[Even if I had children in old age] should you wait and be “anchored” te-ageyna for them to grow up?

This also is the linguistic root for the word “agunah” that we use for a woman who is stuck and anchored in a married state against her will such as a husband who is missing or recalcitrant in giving a divorce.

Rav Yaakov Yitschok Ruderman ZT׳L in Sichas Avodas Halevi (Ma’amar 103, “Rus and Arpah”) makes compelling observations about Rus and Arpah. Up until they split paths, and Arpah turns back and Rus continues on her path toward Judaism, they are seen as identical. They both married Jews, and both expressed loyalty and love to their mother in law and the Jewish nation.

Two people, on similar journeys, diverge completely. Arpah becomes the mother of Goliath, after descending to the lowest levels of debauchery, described in Sotah (42b). David, Goliath’s nemesis, descended from Rus. How odd is that? Rav Ruderman observed that sometimes the most imperceptible shift in attitude and beliefs can eventually take someone on a completely different trajectory. This is like two geometric rays, with only one degree of difference at the origination point can separate by light years over a distance traveled.

When I think about the trajectory of my own life, and the people I meet who share their stories, it is so clear how seemingly minor decisions or experiences have epic influence. We must choose wisely and be mindful of what we do and where it leads.

Unbreakable Love

Our Gemara on Amud Aleph describes the visions of Rabbah Bar Hanna. In one of them he sees Mount Sinai and scorpions were encircling it. He heard a Divine Voice saying: Woe is Me that I took an oath; and now that I took the oath, who will nullify it for me? When he reported this vision to the sages, they rebuked him:

You should have said to God: Your oath is nullified. The Gemara explains: Rabba bar bar Ḥana did not nullify the oath because he reasoned: Perhaps God is referring to the oath that He will not flood the earth again. But the Sages would argue that if that were so, why say: Woe is Me? Rather, this must be referring to God’s oath of exile upon the Jewish people.

Yismach Moshe (Noach 20) wonders why God needed a rainbow to “remember his oath”? God needs no reminders! However, there is a teaching that when someone who makes an oath in response to a favor, he cannot rescind that oath without the subject’s consent (see Shulchan Aruch YD 228:20.) God made the oath and rainbow in response to the fragrant offering of Noach’s sacrifice (Bereishis 8:21). Therefore, this extra rainbow represents God’s making the oath in response to Noach’s offering, it was now irreversible without the subject’s consent. (Even though Rabbah Bar Hanna thought the oath was reversible, Yismach Moshe (ibid) explains his position.)

There are some kinds of love that are unconditional. God, like a parent or a lover, and humans walking in the ways of God, when so moved, can offer unlimited and non-conditional love that will never be broken.

Much Ado About Nothing

Our Gemara on Amud Aleph teaches us about the end times:

וְאָמַר רַבָּה אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: עָתִיד הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לַעֲשׂוֹת סוּכָּה לַצַּדִּיקִים מֵעוֹרוֹ שֶׁל לִוְיָתָן,

And Rabba says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: In the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will prepare a sukka for the righteous from the skin of the leviathan.

How can we understand this aggadah? Peri Tzaddik (Succah 11) draws a comparison between this festive meal from the slaughter of the Leviathan at the end of days, and the slaughter of the Evil Inclination at the end of days, described in Succah (52a-b):

כדדרש רבי יהודה: לעתיד לבא, מביאו הקדוש ברוך הוא ליצר הרע, ושוחטו בפני הצדיקים ובפני הרשעים. צדיקים נדמה להם כהר גבוה, ורשעים נדמה להם כחוט השערה. הללו בוכין והללו בוכין. צדיקים בוכין ואומרים: היאך יכולנו לכבוש הר גבוה כזה! ורשעים בוכין ואומרים: היאך לא יכולנו לכבוש את חוט השערה הזה!

The Gemara answers: This can be understood as Rabbi Yehuda taught: In the future, at the end of days, God will bring the evil inclination and slaughter it in the presence of the righteous and in the presence of the wicked. For the righteous the evil inclination appears to them as a high mountain, and for the wicked it appears to them as a mere strand of hair. These weep and those weep. The righteous weep and say: How were we able to overcome so high a mountain? And the wicked weep and say: How were we unable to overcome this strand of hair?

To Peri Tzaddik, this slaughtering of the evil inclination is one in the same as the Leviathan.

The Leviathan is a primordial foe, representing ancient forces and archetypes that are part of the structure of the material and spiritual world. The menacing serpent that Rabbi Yochanan in Bava Kamma 117) saw was a snake with its tail in its mouth, known in the Gemara as an “Achnai”. This is an ancient symbol, called the Ouroboros, which seems to connote the eternal cycle of life: Likely this is symbolized by the tail in its mouth, and possibly also because a snake sheds its skin and goes through a rebirth of sorts. The first known archaeological representation of the Ouroboros, is on one of the shrines enclosing the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros )

The ancient tradition of this Ouroboros is also related to the Leviathan, which has connotations of a powerful force present at the time of creation which God subdued (see Yeshaiyahu chapter 27, Iyov chapter 40, Bava Basra 74b, and Rashi Bereishis 1:21 quoting a midrash.) The Zohar (Tikkunei Zohar 52:2) describes it as similar to a circular intestine in the body. Similarly, the word Akalason found in those same verses in Yeshaiyahu (27) could be translated as a twisted serpent. Thus the Leviathan, the Akalason and the Ouroboros seem to be one in the same.

The Babylonian epic of Baal also describes a primordial battle of Baal with a giant serpentine creature. Even if it became distorted with idolatrous imagery, the Ouroboros may have been part of a shared mystical tradition from many ancient sources, originally a Jewish tradition. See Rambam (Laws of Idolatry 1:1), where he characterizes the original idolaters as having descended from Adam’s progeny who worshiped God, but then distorted their teachings. We also might wonder if King Tutankhamun utilized the Ouroboros-Leviathan symbol as part of a tradition learned from Joseph. The Midrash (Sotah 36b) tells us that Yosef taught Pharaoh Hebrew; perhaps he taught him a whole lot more.

The evil inclination is an essential but twisted serpent. We need it because it represents our drives and the essence of physicality by which we cannot live. Like the skin of a snake it sheds itself and does not what it seems, like the Achnai it is circular and eats its own tail because but due to it, we cannot be fully connected to God, and are subject to entropy and death. Yet, we cannot live in this world without it. Nevertheless, like all bullies, the Yetzer Hara is both big and small, depending on your perspective, attitudes, fears and triggers.