יום שישי, 27 בדצמבר 2013

לבני משפחתנו, חברותינו וחברינו היקרים,

בתחילת  הפרשה שנקרא מחר מספרים לשנו שההתגלות לאבות (אברהם יצחק ויעקב) היתה בעלת אופי שונה מאשר ההתגלות למשה.
ואולי בא הדבר ללמדנו שיש יותר מדרך אחת לחוות רגעים של התגלות, לחוש מימד רוחני; לעתים רגעים אלו הם רגעים של מצוקה. לפעמים יש תחושה עילאית של שמחה והכרת תודה כשקורה לנו משהו משמח; מפגש מרגש עם אדם אחר יכול "לעשות לנו את זה" ולפעמים הפתח ל"שמימי" הוא בעל אופי אינטלקטואלי ופילוסופי. ואולי מייצגים הבדלים אלו בינינו  גם את  האופן בו אנחנו  בד"כ יוצרים קשרים עם אחרים.
שבת שלום לכולכם,
פנחס , ציפי ומשפחתם

http://pinchaspeace.blogspot.com  




ear Family and Friends,
In the beginning of the Torah section we'll be reading tomorrow, there is a distinction between the nature of Divine revelation to our Fathers (Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov) and to Moshe.
I guess that teaches us that there is more than one pathway to experience Divinity or Spirituality; sometimes people feel close to It  in moments of distress; sometimes they are grateful when they experience joy. Others  relate to that Dimension through intellectual and philosophical quest. Maybe these differences between people characterize their approach to all relations they establish.
Shabbat Shalom to all,
Pinchas, Tzippie & Family

Shabbat Shalom from the Leiser family

יום שישי, 20 בדצמבר 2013

הזר כאיום - The stranger as a threat

לבני משפחתנו, חברותינו וחברינו היקרים,
מחר נתחיל לקרוא בספר שמות.
אחרי מות יוסף, קם דור חדש (מלך חדש או מלך המתנכר לעבר - "שנתחדשו גזירותיו") המשעבד את ה"זרים", את "בני ישראל"
לעתים, הזרים נתפסים כאיום על ידי ה"ילידים", אזרחי המקום1; לעתים יכולים מנהיגים  לשלוט בעם ע"י הפחדה מה"איום הדמוגרפי", כדי לטשטש מחלוקות פנימיות ולחזק את הלכידות השבטית ע"י הפניית הזעם והתסכול כלפי ה"זרים".
ואולי זהו אחד הלקחים החשובים שיש ללמוד מגלות מצרםי
שבת שלום לכולכם
פנחס, ציפי ומשפחתם 
http://pinchaspeace.blogspot.com 




Dear Family and Friends,
Tomorrow, we start a new Book; Shemoth -Exodus.
After Yossef died, a new generation of Egyptians started oppressing the  "strangers", the "sons of Israel".
Apparently, very often foreigners are considered a threat by the "natives" or sometimes  leaders can very easily manipulate people and arouse anxiety about a "demographic problem", in order to avoid internal dissidence and strenghten tribal cohesion and channel people's aggression towards the "strangers".
Maybe that's one of the important lessons we can learn from the formative exile in Egypt.
Shabbat Shalom to all
Pinchas, Tzippie and Family.
http://pinchaspeace.blogspot.com 

יום שלישי, 10 בדצמבר 2013

Revealing the sealed


"WHY IS THIS PARASHA 'SEALED'?"

PINCHAS LEISER

Rashi, in the footsteps of Midrash Bereishit Rabba (Tsav, 1) opens his commentary on this parasha with a homiletic explanation of the traditional transcription of this parasha:
Yaakov lived - Why is this parasha 'sealed'? (The Masoretic text of the Bible is divided into parshiot. (The division into chapters was a later innovation of Christian scholarship). There are 'open' parshiot (petuchot), the ends of which are indicated by an open space extending to the end of the line, and there are 'sealed' parshiot (s'tumot), which are followed by a space of nine letters.) When Yaakov died, the eyes and the hearts of Israel were sealed because of the distress of the servitude which had begun. An alternate explanation: He wished to divulge the end to his children but it was concealed from him." (Rashi, Bereishit 47:28)
Rashi chose to explain not the words, but rather the absence of open space between the parshiot, seeing in the 's'tumot' an allusion to two types of 's'tumot'of 'sealings': the sealing of the eyes and hearts of the people enslaved after the demise of our father Yaakov, and the sealing of Yaakov's ability to reveal the end to his sons.
True, there is no explicit evidence in the Bible that the bondage began with Yaakov's death, for it is only at the beginning of the Book of Shemot, after Yosef's death, that there arises a new king over Egypt "who did not know of Yosef", and therefore we should perhaps understand the words of the Midrash in the sense of the Midrashic explication (also adopted by Rashi) to "Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years" i.e., the exile begins from the moment of Yitzchak's birth. (Rashi, Bereishit 15:13)
Another hint at the commencement of the period of bondage was found by Rabbi Yissachar Katz (author of "Matnot Kehunah", a commentary on Midrash Rabba) in the word "Vayechi", the opening word of this parasha; a number of midrashim claim that "Vayechi is a term indicating distress."
A number of commentators relate to the Midrashic determination that the bondage began with Yaakov's passing (Baalei HaTosafot, Chizkuni, "Kli Yakar"). Rabbi Efrayim of Lunchitz (author of "Kli Yakar") explains, on the basis of an exact reading of Midrash, that the lack of a space between verse 27 - "Thus Israel settled in the country of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; they acquired holdings in it, and were fertile and increased greatly" - and the opening passage of our parasha teaches us that only during the lifetime of our father Yaakov did Israel dwell in Goshen in ease and in tranquillity; afterwards the bondage began. Two possibilities are suggested:
(1) As long as Yaakov lived, the bondage was delayed in his merit and (2) The Holy One, Blessed Be He, shortened Yaakov's life span so that he not witness the enslavement of his children.
In any case, regardless of how we understand the connection between Yaakov's death and the commencement of the bondage, we must consider what happens when a people is enslaved: "The eyes and hearts of Israel were sealed." A nation that is not free, which is enslaved to another nation, loses the ability to see and the ability to feel. The master nation also loses its ability to see and feel. Blindness and insensitivity do not fall upon a nation or a person suddenly; they are the result of an extended process - the beginning stages are not felt, but the end of the process is the sinking into the 49 levels of impurity. History records many processes of gradual and inconspicuous enslavement of one nation by another; at the beginning, neither the enslaving nation nor the enslaved people is aware of the change. Whoever studies the history of the previous century and visits the Museum of the Shoah in Washington discovers that the rise of the Nazis to power caused, at the beginning of the process, blindness which succeeded in anaesthetizing the German people, a significant part of the Jewish world, and the world at large for a long time, until the overt persecutions began. Bondage seems to begin with the blindness and insensitivity of both oppressor and victim.

WHAT WAS THE "END" THAT YAAKOV WAS PREVENTED FROM REVEALING?

The "end" in this context may possibly be the end of the bondage in Egypt. Yaakov, who internalized God's promise to our father Avraham, understands that his going down to Egypt because of the famine symbolizes the beginning of the exile in Egypt; he feels a need, before his death, to equip his sons with a spiritual bequest which contains a message of hope - there will be bondage, but there will come an end. An allusion to this is his request to be buried with his fathers, and also the later request by Yosef, who assimilated the message, (Bereishit 50:25): "Yosef made the sons of Israel swear, saying, "When God has taken notice of you, you shall carry up my bones from here."
Yaakov wanted to enable his sons to rely on a specific date, thinking that perhaps a defined time for liberation would lighten the yoke of slavery.
According to the "Kli Yakar", revelation of the end would have resulted in the loss of hope and in the Children of Israel's assimilation into a foreign land. It is possible, on the other hand, that the exile and the bondage were, in a certain sense, a test of their faith and hope and their willingness to be redeemed even when the appointed time for redemption is not clearly known in advance.
In most Chazal literature, however, "revelation of the end" refers to the end of days, to the Messianic era, and therefore Rashi and the author of the midrash relate to Yaakov, the father of the Jewish people in all generations, and not to the real Biblical figure who, according to a plain-reading of the text, takes leave of his children and grandchildren; "Yaakov our father did not die" (Bavli, Taanit 5b), he lives in our midst.
Our father Yaakov wanted to reveal, to his children and to us, the end of days, but he was prevented from doing so. Sometimes, in a situation when the end is revealed and has a definite "date", there exists the danger that
"such knowledge will bring with it much damage, as they will not call upon Me, and will not consult earlier generations, and they will desire to dwell permanently in the lands of the nations, on own estates in their adopted lands as residents and as those who have despaired of redemption. Therefore God hid and sealed the final end, so that in every generation they will seek the face of God and of David their king, and will not wish to be residents in the lands of the nations, and they will constantly anticipate the end of His salvation."
 ("Kli Yakar" 47: 28)
This danger, as described by the ""Kli Yakar"", exists when the Jewish people is in exile, under the impression that the end is known, but irrelevant to its life, and therefore establishes itself in foreign lands.
There exists, however, an opposite danger, a danger which may be more actual for the nation living today in Zion; the revelation of the end, i.e., interpretation of contemporary history in messianic terms. Not only is there presumption to understand the hidden ways of God - constituting impertinence towards Heaven - it is also liable to seal hearts and eyes.
It is possible, therefore, to homiletically expound the two midrashim quoted by Rashi in another fashion: As long as "Yaakov our father did not die", i.e., as long our moral compass (the image of Yaakov which prevented Yosef from sinning, Yaakov who condemns the acts of Shim'on and Levi) lives within us, we are not enslaved and we do not enslave others. When the Yaakov inside us dies, eyes and heart are sealed because of the tribulations of the bondage. The sorrows of the bondage are liable to lead to "the speeding up of the end" as an illusory solution and as a substitute for challenging and obligating faith. Similarly, the consciousness of the end of days is liable to pervert perception of reality, of the value of the daily coping with faith and hope in an unredeemed word, while striving to repair the world with the Kingdom of God. In this sense, this "sealed parasha" makes possible a life of challenge and faith.
Pinchas Leiser, editor of Shabbat Shalom, is a psychologist

יום שישי, 6 בדצמבר 2013

מיעקב ישראל

לבני משפחתנו, חברותינו וחברינו היקרים,
המעבר  בין הפסוקים  בראשית מה, כז, ל-מה, כח הוא מעניין ביותר: 
(כז) וַיְדַבְּרוּ אֵלָיו אֵת כָּל דִּבְרֵי יוֹסֵף אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֲלֵהֶם וַיַּרְא אֶת הָעֲגָלוֹת אֲשֶׁר שָׁלַח יוֹסֵף לָשֵׂאת אֹתוֹ וַתְּחִי רוּחַ יַעֲקֹב אֲבִיהֶם
(כח) וַיֹּאמֶר יִשְׂרָאֵל רַב עוֹד יוֹסֵף בְּנִי חָי אֵלְכָה וְאֶרְאֶנּוּ בְּטֶרֶם אָמוּת.
 אחרי ש"רוח יעקב" קמה לתחיה מחדש, הוא נהיה שוב "ישראל". הפעם הראשונה בה הוא נקרא ישראל  היתה כאשר ניצח את "שרו של עשיו", דהיינו ה"שדים" הפנימיים שלו שכללו רגשי אשמה ואיבה. ואלי גם כאן הרוח קמה לתחיה כאשר היא גובר על רגשות האבל והאשמה שלו, אחרי ששלח את יוסף אל אחיו, ביודעו  את שנאתם אליו.
ואולי, יש בכל אחד מאיתנו "יעקב" פנימי, המכיל שדים של חרדה ורגשי אשם והאתגר העומד לפתחנו הוא להשתנות ולהיות "ישראל", על ידי התגברות על הדים הפנימיים שבתוכנו ולפגוש את העולם עם כוח ואמונה
שבת שלום לכולכם
פנחס, ציפי ומשפחתם







Dear Family and Friends,
There is an interesting transition between Bereishit 45, 27 and 45, 28:
27. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said untthem; and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived.
28 And Israel said: 'It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die.

After the spirit of Jacob has revived, he becomes Israel again; the first time he is called Israel is after overcoming Esav's spirit or inner ghosts ,maybe  connected to his guilt feelings and projection of hostility. Maybe here again his spirit revives after he overcomes his grief and guilt feelings, after he sent Joseph to meet his brothers, knowing how much they hated him.
Maybe each of us has some of Yaacov in himself, with his inner ghosts of anxiety and  guilt feelings and the challenge is to become Israel, after overcoming and mastering these inner ghosts and approach the world with strength and faith.
Shabbat Shalom to all,
Pinchas, Tzippie and Family

יום ראשון, 1 בדצמבר 2013

From the place where we are right Flowers will never grow In the spring.

Al tiragzu baderekh
Pinchas Leiser
After Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers and asked them to bring their father he equipped them with wagon loads of food and clothing and sent them off, telling them, Do not become quarrelsome[al tirgzu] on the way.
The biblical commentators of various generations have attempted to explain the meaning of this send off.
Following the RaMBaM, Rabbi Yitzhak Shemuel Reggio, a 19th century Italian exegete writes:
al tirgzu - this refers to fear, and it says that the fact that they are carrying grain, bread, and food during a draught should not lead them to be afraid of bandits on the road, and similarly during their return [to Egypt] when they will be taking all of their possessions with them. They should remember that he is the governor of all the land of Egypt and he holds the life of all those lands in his hands. All will be in dread of his fearfulness, and therefore they [Joseph's family] will come and go in peace.
RaShBaM interprets the word tiragzu similarly, but gives a different explanation of why they need not fear:
al tirgzu - do not be afraid at all of bandits on the road, because I am at peace from every direction.
Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch takes a similar approach:
Go on your way in good spirit and do not worry about the future.
What can assuage fear? Joseph's fearfulness? Peaceful relations? Faith and hope?
Perhaps each commentator chose the calming factor with which he was acquainted. In contrast to these, Ibn Ezra writes:
The meaning of al tirgzu - lest each one be angry with his brothers because of his [Joseph's] having been sold.
Rashi and others think that this is the plain meaning of the text, but Rashi mentions two midrashic explanations found in the tractate Ta'anit (10b) before explaining the plain meaning:
Do not quarrel on the way - Do not engage in a halakhic discussion lest the way cause you to stray.
Another explanation: Do not walk with large steps, and enter the city while the sun is shining.
According to the simple meaning of the verse, we can say that since they were ashamed, he (Joseph) was concerned that they would perhaps quarrel on the way about his being sold, debating with one another, and saying, "Because of you he was sold. You slandered him and caused us to hate him." (Judaica Press translation)
ShaDaL (Italy, 19th century) surveys the uses of the root ragaz throughout Scripture and chooses Rashi's plain reading of the verse.
If we consider the Joseph's words in their broader context, we can find that the emotions aroused in the brothers when Joseph made himself known to his brothers fall into a certain sequence. First:
...but his brothers could not answer him because they were startled by his presence. (45:3)
The initial shock and panic arose, perhaps, from a combination of anxiety, confusion, and guilt feelings. Joseph feels the need to address these feelings of guilt and calms them:
But now do not be sad, and let it not trouble you that you sold me here, for it was to preserve life that God sent me before you.
For already two years of famine [have passed] in the midst of the land, and [for] another five years, there will be neither plowing nor harvest.
And God sent me before you to make for you a remnant in the land, and to preserve [it] for you for a great deliverance.
And now, you did not send me here, but God, and He made me a father to Pharaoh, a lord over all his household, and a ruler over the entire land of Egypt. (45:5-7)
Joseph is telling his brothers: In fact, my sale was organized "from Above"
Perhaps we may therefore perceive the shock and panic that develop into feelings of guilt. The feeling of guilt can certainly arouse fear of punishment, and the need to ward off strong feelings of guilt over the sale of Joseph might generate reciprocal accusations amongst the brothers. Therefore it is possible to view the various interpretations, beyond their philological content, as relating to different points upon a continuum of emotions.
It is interesting to note that Rashi chose the midrashic gloss, "Do not engage in a halakhic discussion" as his first and preferred interpretation.
True, Rashi (on Bereishit 37:17) states that "a Biblical verse never loses its plain sense, but sometimes - here, for example - he mentions a midrashic interpretation before giving the plain interpretation of a verse. Apparently, he does so because he believes that here the Sages' midrash has something of great importance to teach us.
On the one hand, we are left with the task of understanding Rabbi Elazar's dictum (from Ta'anit 10b) that Rashi cites; on the other hand, we must think about the significance of the exegetical choices Rashimade in connection with our verse.
What is the connection between engagement in halakhic conversation and rogzat ha'aretz ["the way leading you to stray"]?
In their commentaries on the Talmud, Rashi and others (e.g., the Meiri) point out the need to pay attention to the route of one's journey and warn that engagement in halakhic conversation might cause one to lose one's way. The authors of the Tosafot mention an opposing derasha which points out the dangers of ceasing to engage in halakhic discourse, and they write: "Do not desist from halakhic discourse." The Gemara itself first brings a statement in the name of Rabbi Elai that appears to contradict Rabbi Elazar's dictum and then attempts to strike a compromise between the two opposing positions.
The MaHaRaShA, and Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz in his wake, point out the possible danger of halakhic disagreements leading to quarrels. Indeed, one should not discount the possibility of a halakhiccontroversy coming to take on a personal dimension; it may be affected by irrelevant factors and influence the relationship between the parties to the disagreement. The Talmud offers us explicit literary descriptions of this phenomenon, telling us how the lives of Rabbi Yohanan and Resh Lakish ended in tragedy and how the great Rabbi Eliezer was placed under a ban in the story of Tanuro shel Achnai'i.
True, we are all familiar with the braita that is employed as a prayer and introduction to the Kaddish DeRabbanan, which proclaims that "Torah scholars increase peace in the world," but it may be assumed that this describes an ideal that is not always realized. That is why Rabbi Elazar (perhaps the same Rabbi Elazar [ben Pedat?] who set up the ideal of "Torah scholars increase peace in the world" and who tried unsuccessfully to reconcile and calm Rabbi Yohanan after the death of his beloved student-colleague, Resh Lakish) said: while on the way - do not engage in halakhic discussion. Journeying requires that people walk together, and the unnecessary tension that halakhic discourse can generate should be avoided. The tensions could harm the possibility of walking together and accomplishment of the shared goal.
If so, what is the connection between this midrashic dictum and the instruction Joseph gives his brothers? Did the Sages really think that Joseph's brothers were yeshiva students who wrangled over a difficult passage of Tosafot?
I think that Rabbi Elazar understood that in every generation the greatest dangers arise from debates over "matters of halakha," that is to say, a discussion in which each side is convinced that its position is correct and is unable to listen to and accept any other position, especially when the issue involved is thought of as a matter of principle that is beyond compromise.
That is why Rashi gave a midrashic explanation that, while apparently removing Joseph's instructions to his brothers from its "concrete" historical context, converts the possible quarrel between the brothers into a calculus of ascribed guilt "in accordance with Torah law."
We know that "Jerusalem was destroyed only because they settled court cases according to [the strict letter] of Torah law." People who debate over "justice" cannot walk together or solve a shared problem when each party to the conflict is certain of the absolute justice of his cause, especially when the conflict involves religious aspects.
As the poet Yehuda Amichai put it (in his poem, "In the Place Where We are Right")
From the place where we are right
Flowers will never grow
In the spring.
The place where we are right
Is hard and trampled
Like a yard.
But doubts and loves
Dig up the world
Like a mole, a plow.
And a whisper will be heard in the place
Where the ruined
House once stood.
(Chana Bloch & Stephen Mitchell, translators)

יום שני, 25 בנובמבר 2013

Oמ Otherness

Your Other Brother, In another Year, Another Place

Pinchas Leiser


Despite his hesitation and qualms, at the end of the day our Father Jacob had to send his son Benjamin with his brothers to Egypt.  Jacob hoped that all his sons, Simeon included, would return safely home.  However, Jacob did not mention the captive Simeon by name: That he may send away your brother, the other one, and Benjamin (43:14).  RaMBaN on that verse explains:

In line with the literal interpretation of Scripture, it would seem that Simeon was not a favorite of his father because of the Shechem affair.  This was why he did not say, My son Simeon, and Benjamin, as he would not mention him by name, and as he left him in Egypt for a long time.  Indeed, had there been food in his house, he would not yet have sent Benjamin, and he would have left him [Simeon] in Egypt.
Now Rashi wrote, "the other one: the spirit of prophecy was enkindled within Jacob so as to include Joseph."  In Bereishit Rabbah they also said: "That he may send away your brother: this refers to Joseph; the other one: this refers to Simeon."  This is correct, for at the moment of prayer, Jacob directed his heart to pray in a general manner for the other one [Joseph] also, for perhaps he is still alive. (Chavel translation)

There are many aspects to the "other."  The meaning considered literal by RaMBaN relates to the "other" in a negative light.  This is reminiscent of Rabbi Meir's teacher, the Tanah Elisha Ben Avuyah, who turned bad, and became Aher the "Other," a name given him by "another" woman (Hagiga 15a). Simeon is an "other" because his father disfavored him.  Simeon had adopted the ways of Esau (instruments of violence are their swords) and so Jacob declared at the end of his life, my soul, come not you into their secret deliberation, unto their assembly, my glory, be not you united.  By his actions, he excluded himself from the congregation of Israel and became "other." This otherness is reminiscent of an interesting comment on the expression "other gods" that appears in the Tannaitic Midrash Sifri on parashat Ekev (chapter 43): "And why were they called "other gods"? That they make their worshippers become other." Other gods change their worshippers into "others". "Otherness" here means ‘alien-ness’. The midrashic meaning of other chosen by Rashi to explain the word aher relates to a hidden, unconscious level of communication between Jacob and his sons. The mysterious, and hidden other is Joseph, who Jacob desired to see alive. Joseph was also other (And the boy was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah), the other, hidden brother, which reminds us of Mordecai's words to Esther in the Book of Esther: Relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place. Balak suggests that Balaam go to another place where he might succeed in cursing Israel (Bamidbar 23). The other place is hidden and mysterious like the hidden and mysterious other brother who exists in Jacob's secret hopes (Rashi brings the midrashic dictum in his comments on Bereishit 37:35: "But he refused to comfort himself - A person does not accept consolation for one still living whom he believes to be dead").

The Holy One, Blessed be He, announced to Abraham that in another year Sarah will give birth to Isaac. When Adam (Avodah Zara 8a) understood that the world continues in its way, and that there exist cycles in the world of nature, he instituted festivals "in another year."  The holiday of Hanukkah was proclaimed to be observed as a festival of thanksgiving "in another year" (Shabbat 21b), a year after the miracle took place. The "other" year is a year for maturation, for gaining perspective, and for fulfilling the potential which leaves room for faith. The potential of "otherness" can sometimes be missed and the "other" year allows us to test the meaning of processes for the long run, together with faith in "another place" that recognizes the possibility of change. Simeon is an "other" because his actions changed him into another, Joseph is an "other" because he was made so by his brothers and also because he represents yearning and the hope for a different world that is unseen of yet. His dreams changed him to an "other" and his ability to adduce the meaning of dreams, to listen to the dreams of others, brought him to the high office he reached in Egypt for the good of Egypt, of his family, and of the entire region.

The holiday of Hanukkah enjoys great popularity in the Zionist myth because the "New Hebrew" (the "other"?) saw himself as heir to the Maccabaeus. The strong and fighting Israeli stands in contrast to the Galut Jew; he identifies with the Maccabeans.  Generations of Israelis have been inculcated with the ethos of "the few against many." This extreme glorification of military power may haves served a necessary motivational and functional role in the first years of Israeli sovereignty. However, the unchanging focus on force and on the holiday's military aspects turns Hannukah into a festival that glorifies Simeon, the "other," instead of turning our attention to the other, more exalted significance of the return to Zion.

The extreme opponents of Zionism in the Haredi world from the school of the Satmar Rebbe, saw in it a rebellion against the nations of the world that could not contain the aggressive elements of Jewish society because it contradicts the four oaths that the Holy One Blessed be He made Israel swear to (Ketuvot 111a). The Zionist movement wanted to return the Jewish People to history and was willing to play according to the accepted rules of every movement of national freedom. The danger of glorifying "Simeon," the "other" brother, and turning the Zionist dream into "other" gods, who make their worshippers other, by "cutting down the saplings" (kitzutz ba'nitiyot – heresy, as was committed by Aher, who presumed to understand the ways of Heaven)  is a real danger and must not be disregarded.

The needed "otherness" is an "otherness" which leaves room for the realistic faith that accompanies hope with doubts and fear. True, the Halakhah rules according to Beit Hillel and we are commanded to add light and hope, but we should not forget the Gemara's explanation of why Halakhah rules according to Beit Hillel (Eruvin 13b):  "Why was Beit Hillel worthy of having the Halakhah set according to them? Because they are easygoing and modest and recite their dicta together with the words of Beit Shammai, and even recite the dicta of Beit Shammai before their own."  In a beit midrash run in accordance with Beit Hillel, room is given to Beit Shammai to say that "fewer and fewer" lamps are lit with each new Hanukkah eve.  Such a beit midrash is prepared to accept and respect the other.

Joseph's realistic take on the vision of the future allows him (the "other" brother according to the midrash) to dream, to listen to the dreams of others, and to understand them - but also to translate them into action (and now let Pharaoh find an understanding and wise man).

I feel that we are still in "the other year" in which we can hope for a better world, in which we can overcome the dangers of "Simeonian otherness," in which we can learn to treat others (minorities, aliens, converts, other peoples) with respect.
And in Ehud Manor's phrasing:

I have no other country, even if my land is ablaze.
Only a Hebrew word can penetrate my veins, my soul
In a pained body and hungry heart
This is my home.
I will not be silent when my country changes face
I will not concede to her,
I shall remind her, and here I will sing into her ears

Until she opens her eyes.

יום חמישי, 21 בנובמבר 2013

לבני משפחתנו, חברותינו וחברינו היקרים
לחלום או לא לחלום...
כבר בתחילת הפרשה שנקרא השבת, מספרת לנו התורה על חלומות מגלומניים של יוסף.
איכשהו, באופן פרדוקסלי, אחרי חלומות אלו הוא מוצא את עצמו בבור, ולאחר מכן בכלא מצרי, שם הוא מקשיב לחלומות של אחרים. ואולי הוא מבין שגם לאנשים אחרים יש חלומות ושההקשבה לחלומות אלו מלמדת אותו משהו על שאיפותיהם המורכבות של בני אדם.
ואולי, ניתן ללמוד מזה שכדי שחלק מחלומותינו יתגשמו, עלינו להיות מסוגלים להקשיב גם לחלומותיהם של אחרים ולקחת אותם בחשבון.
שבת שלום וחנוכה שמח לכולכם






Dear Family and Friends,
To dream or not to dream…
The Torah section we'll read on Shabbat  tells us quite at the beginning about Joseph's  2 dreams of grandeur. Eventually and paradoxically after these dreams he finds himself in a pit and afterwards in an Egyptian  jail where he listens to the dreams of others and maybe understands that other people dream as well and that listening to these dreams teaches something about the complexity of human aspirations.
Maybe in order to have some of your dreams realized, you have to be able to listen to the dreams of others and take them into consideration.
Shabbat Shalom and Hanukkah Sameach to all

יום שישי, 8 בנובמבר 2013

הסולם - The Ladder

לבני משפחתנו, חברותינו וחברינו היקרים,
אנשים גדולם חולמים חלומות גדולים.
מחר נקרא על חלומו של יעקב אבינו אחרי שיצא מבית הוריו. כידוע, הוא ראה "סולם מוצב ארצה וראשו מגיע השמימה".
ב"סולם" זה  המחבר בין הארץ לשמים ראו חכמים את ה"מזבח" או את "סיני"; הדימוי של "מזבח" מייצג אולי את החלקים בתוכנו המוכנים להיאבק וגם לשלם מחיר עבור ערכים בהם אנחנו מאמינים; "סיני" הוא מקום של התגלות  המאפשר לנו להיות במגע עם "השמים שבתוכנו" באמצעות מאמץ אינטלקטואלי ואתי מתמשך.
שבת שלום לכולכם
פנחס, ציפי ומשפחתם 

הפעם: גם שיר על סולם יעקב, כתב: יהורם טהר לב, הלחינה ושרה: נורית הירש




Dear Family and Friends,
I guess many great men had a significant dream, related to their vision.
This Shabbat we'll read that Yaacov, after leaving home, on his way to his mother's homeland, had a dream about a "ladder between Heaven and Earth".
Our Sages used 2 metaphors in order to conceptualize that "ladder"; the Altar and Mount Sinai, where the Revelation took place.
Maybe the Altar symbolizes a place, inside us related to our readiness to struggle and sacrifice for the sake of values important to us and "Mount Sinai" would represent our ability to be in touch with Divine and Spiritual dimensions through consistent intellectual and moral endeavor.
Shabbat Shalom to all,
Pinchas, Tzippie and Family 

And a nice song on Jaacob;s ladder, written by Yehoran Tehar Lev, composed and sung by; Nurit Hirsch


Shabbat Shalom from the Leiser family
        

                      

יום רביעי, 6 בנובמבר 2013

ladders, bridges and dreams

“He had a Dream; a Stairway was set on the Ground and its Top Reached the Sky”


On Dreams and Reality
Pinchas Leiser

The ladder in Jacob’s dream is perceived, starting with rabbinic literature, as a significant symbol that depicts two different worlds, and this is the language of the Midrash in Breishit Rabah (part 68):
Here is the stairway - - This is the ramp “set on the ground” –This is the altar (Exodus 20) “You shall make an earthly altar” And its top reached the sky – these are the sacrifices whose scents ascended to the sky. “And here are God’s angels.” These are the high priests “ascending and descending, etc...They ascend and descend the ramp.”(Amos 9:1) “I saw the Lord standing by the altar.”
Our sages deciphered the symbol of the ladder in the dream, as Sinai, “And he dreamt and here was a stairway”- This is parallel to Sinai, “was set on the ground” “And they encamped at the base of the mountain (Exodus 19) and the mountain was on fire up to the heart of the sky” (Deut. 4). Another interpretation is gematria –sulam=Sinai, both equal 130. (Baal Haturim)
The Midrash actually describes two possibilities for a connection between “the ground” and the “sky”:
The world of the altar, the temple and the sacrifices, and the world of revelation at Sinai.
On the one hand, it can be seen that these two images are signs that connect to the historical possibilities. While in the eyes of the sages who lived after the destruction of the temple, they do not have the chance to experience the connection with the spiritual world through the temple and altar, but also the world of prophetic revelation is also not open to them..
It could be that specifically because both the “altar” and “Sinai” are not concrete terms for our sages, it is necessary to interpret their metaphoric meaning of these images.
The altar is a factor that is a part of the elements that atone for man’s sins. “Atonement altar” is presented by our sages (Bavli Berachot, 5:2) in the context of the trials and tribulations that man is subjected to. The Zohar compares fasting to the altar of atonement. It could be that when man is confronted with hardship and suffering, by choice or by circumstance, he is given a chance for closeness (and maybe here is the linguistic kinship of (קירבהandקורבן). Or maybe here we see the explanation that sees in suffering, relinquishing possessions, pleasures and needs as a way to bring man closer to his God.
Sinai is certainly the place in the wilderness where the revelation of God is established, but the expression also serves as a metaphor for renewal and development of the tradition of revelation.i A scholar who served as abundant                                                                         and reliable source of information, in an era where there were no available libraries or computerized information resources, is called Sinai by our sages.
In addition, we are reminded of the Midrash in Viyikra Rabah (parasha 32):  “And even what an advanced student will say to his teacher, has already been said at Sinai.”
That is to say, enlightenment and newness are included in the tradition and is part of the revelation.
And Rabbi Haim from Vilozhin (a student of the Vilna Gaon, 1749-1821) expresses similar thoughts in his book “Ruach Haim,”, and this is what he says:
“Our sages come to teach us that we should not think we are made from crass raw materials, we are not worthy of being building blocks. On this it is said, “and the stairway was set on the ground” –that is Sinai and its top reaching the sky” –The essence of life and being is that they come from above. There are god-fearing souls that are higher than God’s angels, and that is why the soul is worthy to join with the Torah. The complete person is like a tree planted upwards and its body below—this is the body attached to the upper roots.
Rabi Haim from Velozhin, the undisputed representative of the world of Lithuanian Torah, sees in the study of Torah “Sinai”, which is the ladder that connects between the sky and the earth, where it is possible to ascend and descend, and those who are ascending these stairs are likened to angels and even surpass them in virtues.
Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995), sees in the ethical dimension, the stairway to revelation, and he writes:[i]
“I said this from the start: My work has endorsed   the fact of revelation, to attribute it to what is external to man (my emphasis-P.L.), that he emerges himself with the knowledge. He does not become simple content of internalization, but remains “not able to contain,” eternal, but still in a relationship with it. The thought that this relationship, that is first and foremost, paradoxical, can be found in the model, impassivity to the other, responsibility  to him, that, exactly in this relationship, man becomes “I”: appointed without an opportunity to opt out, chosen, special, irreplaceable and in this sense, a free agent – freedom meaning answerability to a cause that I am the only one who can  respond to it; or I can respond to the place I am called to-[ii] This is  the way I have chose to resolve the paradox of revelation: Ethics are the model for the transcendental dimension, and as an ethical message ,(kerygme ethique) the Bible is the revelation.
It seems to me that Levinas, in translating revelation to ethics, has “laid down” the ladder and has transformed it from vertical to horizontal. The “sky” is not above but in relation to the other who I am committed to.
It seems to me that each of us can dream his own spiritual dream of “a stairway … set on the ground and its top reached the sky,” to delineate for himself the defining experiences that “altar” and  “Sinai” mean to him, to think about the ascending  as an opportunity for internal introspection and commitment, whether personal or social, and on the descending, as an opportunity to transform the real world, the earth  and the human environment that he lives in, to a better and more beautiful one, as in the words of  Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kotzk: “The heavens are the heavens of God, and the earth was given to man” – to make the earth into heaven.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Notes
 iThe Revelation in Jewish Tradition, in Beyond the Sentence,” p. 194, translated by Dr. Elizabeth Goldwein, Shocken, 2007

ii Or maybe here there is a translation to modern philosophical language of traditional ideas of our sages, like sworn before Sinai, One is not a free man until he studies Torah, If I am not for myself, who is for me, and when I am for myself what am I, You are not obligated to finish the work, but you are not free to desist from it, etc…

סולם או גשר

"ויחלֹם והנה סֻלם מֻצב ארצה וראשו מגיע השמימה"

על חלומות ומציאות


פנחס לייזר

הסולם בחלום יעקב נתפס, החל מספרות חז"ל כסמל משמעותי המייצג עולמות שונים, וזו לשון המדרש בבראשית רבה (פרשה סח):

"והנה  סולם' -  זה  הכבש,  'מוצב  ארצה' - זה מזבח (שמות כ) 'מזבח אדמה תעשה לי', 'וראשו מגיע השמימה' - אלו הקרבנות שריחן עולה  לשמים 'והנה מלאכי אלהים' - אלו כהנים גדולים 'עולין  ויורדין  בו' - שהם עולים ויורדים בכבש, 'והנה ה' נצב  עליו' -  (עמוס  ט) ראיתי  את  ה'  נצב על המזבח.
 רבנן  פתרין  ליה (פותרים את סמל הסולם בחלום)  בסיני  'ויחלום  והנה סולם' - זה סיני 'מוצב   ארצה'   (שמות   יט) 'ויתיצבו  בתחתית  ההר' 'וראשו מגיע השמימה' (דברים ד) 'וההר בוער באש עד לב השמים' דבר אחר 'והנה סולם' - זה סיני; אותיות דדין הוא אותיות  דדין (הגימטריאות שוות: השוו בעל הטורים – גם סֻלם וגם סיני = 130) ."

המדרש מתאר בעצם שתי אפשרויות של חיבור בין "ארץ" ל"שמים":
עולם המזבח, המקדש והקורבנות ועולם ההתגלות בסיני.
מצד אחד, ניתן לראות בשני דימויים אלו סמלים המתחברים לאפשרויות היסטוריות. כאשר בעיני חז"ל, שחיו לאחר חורבן הבית אין את האפשרות לחוות את הקשר עם עולם רוחני דרך המקדש והמזבח, אך גם עולם ההתגלות והנבואה כפשוטו איננו דבר זמין עבורם .
ייתכן שדווקא מכיוון שגם ה"מזבח" וגם "סיני" אינם מושגים קונקרטיים אצל חז"ל, יש לדרוש את משמעותם המטפורית של דימויים אלו.
המזבח הוא גורם המהווה חלק מהאלמנטים המכפרים על חטאי האדם. המושג "מזבח כפרה" מובא בחז"ל (בללי ברכות ה, ע"ב) בהקשר לייסורים ולנגעים הבאים על האדם. הזוהר מדמה את התענית למזבח כפרה. ייתכן שכאשר האדם נפגש עם סֵבל ועינוי, מרצון או בתוקף הנסיבות, ניתנת לו הזדמנות של קירבה (ואולי מכאן הקשר הלשוני בין קירבה לקורבן). ואולי יש כאן פירוש הרואה בייסורים ובוויתור על רכוש, תענוגות וצרכים דרך המקרבת את האדם לאלוהיו.
סיני הוא בוודאי המקום במדבר בו התקיים האירוע המכונן של התגלות הא-ל , אבל הביטוי משמש גם מטפורה למסורת מתחדשת ומתפתחת של התגלות. תלמיד חכם המשמש מאגר מידע אמין ועשיר, בתקופה שבה לא היו ספריות זמינות או מאגרי מידע ממוחשבים, מכונה סיני בפי חז"ל.
בנוסף, זכור לנו המדרש בויקרא רבה (פרשה כב): "ואפילו  מה שתלמיד ותיק עתיד לומר לפני רבו כולן נאמרו למשה".

כלומר, החידוש כלול בתוך המסורת והיא חלק מההתגלות.

ורבי חיים מוולוז'ין (תלמידו של הגאון מווילנא; 1749-1821) מבטא דברים ברוח זו בספרו "רוח חיים", וזו לשונו:

"חז"ל באו ללמדנו, לבל נחשוב שמאחר היותינו מלובשים בחומר הגס, לכן אנו נבזים באמת כחומר וכטיט חוצות, לזה אומר "סֻלם מצב ארצה" – זה סיני, "וראשו מגיע השמימה" – דעיקר חיותינו מנשמותינו שהן משמי מרום; ויש נשמות יראי אלוהים שהן גבוהות הגבהה למעלה יותר ממלאכי השרת, בזכות זה הנשמה יכולה להתקשר בתורה. האדם השלם הוא כאילן הנטוע למעלה, וגופו יורד למטה הוא הגוף ומדובק בשורשו העליון."

רבי חיים מוולוז'ין, נציגו המובהק של עולם התורה ה"ליטאי" רואה בלימוד התורה את "סיני", שהוא הסולם המחבר בין שמים וארץ, בו ניתן לעלות ולרדת והאנשים העולים במדרגות אלו נדמים למלאכים ואף עולים עליהם במעלתם.
עמנואל לוינס (1906-1995) רואה במימד האתי את "סולם ההתגלות", וכך הוא כותב[1]:
"אמרתי זאת מהתחלה: המחקר שלי מוסב לעובדת ההתגלות, ליחס עם מה שמחוץ לאדם (ההדגשה שלי – פ.ל.), שהוא מקיף את עצמו בו בידיעה, אינו הופך לתוכן פשוט של הפנימיות, אלא נותר "בלתי ניתן להכלה", אינסופי ובכל זאת ביחס אתו. המשחבה שיחס זה, שהוא בראש וראשונה פרדוקסלי, יוכל למצוא דגם באי-אדישות לאדם האחר, באחריות כלפיו, שבדיוק ביחס הזה האדם נעשה "אני": ממונה בלי אפשרות להשתמט, נבחר, מיוחד, בלית ניתן להחלפה, ובמובן זה בן חורין – החירות משמעה לפיכך היענות לשליחות שאני היחיד שיכול להיענות לה; או יכולתי להיענות במקום שבו אני נקרא - [2] זה הנתיב שאני נוטה לבחור בו כדי לפתור את פרדוקס ההתגלות: האתיקה היא הדגם לממדי הטרסצנדנציה, ובתור בשורה אתית (kerygme ethique), התנ"ך הוא התגלות. "
נראה לי שלוינס, בתרגום ההתגלות לאתיקה,  "השכיב" את הסולם והפך אותו מאנכי לאופקי. ה"שמים" אינם למעלה, אלא ביחסיי עם האחר אליו אני מחויב.
דומני שכל אחד מאתנו יכול לחלום את חלומו הרוחני על ה"סולם שמוצב ארצה ומגיע השמימה",
להגדיר לעצמו את החוויות המעצבות שהן בגדר "מזבח" או "סיני" עבורו, לחשוב על העליות כהזדמנות לעבודה פנימית ולמחויבות בין אישדית וחברתית, ועל הירידות כאפשרות להפוך את העולם המציאותי , את הארץ ואת הסביבה האנושית בתוכה בוא חי, לטובה ויפה יותר, כדברי רבי מנחם מנדל מקוצק : "השמים שמים לה' , והארץ נתן לבני אדם" – לעשות ממנה (מהארץ) שמים.



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[1] ההתגלות במסורת היהודית, בתוך "מעבר לפסוק", עמ' 194 בתרגום  דר' אליזבט גולדווין, הוצאת שוקן 2007
[2] ואולי יש כאן תרגום לשפה פילוסופית מודרנית של  מושגים מסורתיים  מספרות חז"ל  כגון: מושבע ועומד מהר סיני, אין לך בן חורין אלא מי שעוסק בתורה, אם אין אני לי  מי לי , וכשאני לעצמי מה אני , לא עליך המלאכה לגמור ואי אתה בן חוירן להיבטל ממנה ועוד.