[Aspaqlaria] Aspaqlaria

Tue Dec 23 11:00:18 PST 2008

Aspaqlaria

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A Tzadiq Will Flower Like a Date-Palm

Posted: 23 Dec 2008 10:45 AM CST
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Aspaqlaria/~3/493280059/tzadiq-katamr.shtml

I had this thought while saying Qabbalas Shabbos this week. Its a Chassidishe Vort in style, intentionally stretching the meaning of a quote in order to create a mnemonic for an important point  but with a mussar message.

צַ֭דִּיק כַּתָּמָ֣ר יִפְרָ֑ח, כְּאֶ֖רֶז בַּלְּבָנ֣וֹן יִשְׂגֶּֽה׃

A righteous person will flower like a date-palm,

Will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
-Tehillim 92:13

So, as Im saying these words, my mind was wandering through the parashah. (Not advising this. As Tamars descendent wrote for everything there is a proper time [Qoheles 3:1) And it hit me

What is it we laud about Tamars actions? She forced Yehudahs hand to do the right thing, and then even though he had to be tricked into fulfilling his duty, Tamar was still willing to absorb a lot of personal risk rather than shame him.

וַיְהִ֣י ׀ כְּמִשְׁלֹ֣שׁ חֳדָשִׁ֗ים וַיֻּגַּ֨ד לִֽיהוּדָ֤ה לֵאמֹר֙ זָֽנְתָה֙ תָּמָ֣ר כַּלָּתֶ֔ךָ וְגַ֛ם הִנֵּ֥ה הָרָ֖ה לִזְנוּנִ֑ים וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהוּדָ֔ה הֽוֹצִיא֖וּהָ וְתִשָּׂרֵֽף׃ הִ֣וא מוּצֵ֗את וְהִ֨יא שָֽׁלְחָ֤ה אֶל־חָמִ֨יהָ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר לְאִישׁ֙ אֲשֶׁר־אֵ֣לֶּה לּ֔וֹ אָֽנֹכִ֖י הָרָ֑ה וַתֹּ֨אמֶר֙ הַכֶּר־נָ֔א לְמִ֞י הַחֹתֶ֧מֶת וְהַפְּתִילִ֛ים וְהַמַּטֶּ֖ה הָאֵֽלֶּה׃ וַיַּכֵּ֣ר יְהוּדָ֗ה וַיֹּ֨אמֶר֙ צָֽדְקָ֣ה מִמֶּ֔נִּי כִּֽי־עַל־כֵּ֥ן לֹֽא־נְתַתִּ֖יהָ לְשֵׁלָ֣ה בְנִ֑י וְלֹֽא־יָסַ֥ף ע֖וֹד לְדַעְתָּֽהּ׃

And it was at about three months, and it was told to Yehudah saying, Tamar your daughter-in-law had promiscuous sex! And also, she is pregnant from this promiscuity! Yehudah said, Bring her here, and she shall burn.

She is brought out, and she sent message to her father-in-law saying, To the man who these belong I have gotten pregenant. And she said, Please recognize, to whom are these signet ring, the cords, and the staff?

Yehudah recognized, and said, She is more righteous than I. For as much as I did not give her to my son Sheilah. And he wasnt again intimate with her.
- Bereishis 38:24-26

There are many stories told of Rav Yisrael Salanter that share a common theme. For example:

One of his disciples had invited him for Friday night dinner. R. Israel had stipulated that he would not dine anywhere till he had satisfied himself that the kashrut was above reproach. The disciple informed R. Israel that in his home all the Halachos were observed with utmost stringency. He bought his meat from a butcher known for his piety. It was truly glatt - free of any Halachic query or lung adhesion (sirchah). His cook was an honest woman, the widow of a Talmid Chacham, daughter of a good family, while his own wife would enter the kitchen periodically to supervise. His Friday night meal was conducted in the grand style. There would be Torah discussion after each course, so there was no possibility of their meal being as if they had partaken of offerings to idols. They would study Shulchan Aruch regularly, sing Zemiros and remain seated at the table till well into the night.

Having listened to this elaborate account of the procedures, R. Israel consented to accept the invitation, but stipulated that the time of the meal be curtailed by two full hours. Having no alternative, the disciple agreed. At the meal, one course followed another without interruption. In less than an hour, the mayim acharonim had been passed around in preparation for the Grace after Meals.

Before proceeding with the Grace, the host turned to R. Israel and asked: Teach me, rabbi. What defect did you notice in my table?

R. Israel did not answer the question. Instead he asked that the widow responsible for the cooking come to the room. He said to her: Please for give me, for having inconvenienced you this evening. You were forced to serve one course after another - not as you are used to do. Bless you, rabbi, the woman answered. Would that you would be a guest here every Friday evening. My master is used to sit at the table till late at night. I am worn out from working all day. My legs can hardly hold me up, so tired do I become. Thanks to you, rabbi, they hurried this evening, and I am already free to go home and rest. R. Israel turned to his disciple. The poor widows remark is the answer to your question. Indeed your behavior is excellent, but only as long as it does not adversely affect others.
- From Tenuas haMussar, by R Dov Katz, as translated in The Mussar Movement by R Zalman Ury

Another, from the same source:

Or consider this true story. Once, in Salanty, he could not be present to supervise the baking of his matza shemura (observance matza). His disciples who undertook the supervision asked him what they were to guard against. He replied that he asked of them only one thing: that in their zealousness they were not to scold the woman kneading the dough for being slow: Bear in mind, he said, she is a widow and one ought not to grieve a widow.

A true tzadiq flowers like Tamar, only at her own expense. Never assuming piety to the determinent of others.

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The True Hero of Chanukah

Posted: 23 Dec 2008 09:54 AM CST
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Aspaqlaria/~3/493246212/hero-of-chanukah.shtml

No, the title of this post doesnt refer to HQBH, although clearly it could. (Or can it: Can we define heroism with respect to One for Whom there are no risks to take?) Nor Yehudah haMakabi, nor Matisyahu, nor Chana or any of her sons, nor Yehudis

The Beis Yoseif famously asks why we celebrate the first day of Chanukah. After all, the oil burning on the first day wasnt miraculous, was it? It was only the additional seven that constituted the miracle. There are many answers to this question. When I was in grade school, a rebbe told of a seifer that was entirely a collection of 100 answers. Some show why the first day was a miracle  they only put 1/8 of the oil in each day, they put it all in, but at the end of the day the cup was 7/8 (or entirely) full. Or, one day to celebrate even finding the oil, or perhaps the military victory.

I want to give the Alter of Slabodkas answer, but I want to present  it on top of my own thought.

The miracle of the oil is an odd reason for Chanukah. In fact, its not mentioned in either of the books of Makabiim, not in Megilas Taanis, not in Josephus, not until the gemara. But what makes it odd is that its not a neis in the traditional meaning of the Hebrew term. A neis is a banner, a standard or a flag. When used to refer to miracles, it refers to the fact that nissim call G-ds Presence to our attention. But the oil burning for 8 days could only have been witnessed by the Chashmonaim and the few believers who made it into the heichal (the Temple building itself) with them. Celebrating private miracles is common in other religions. However Judaism is proud of standing on the notion of national events, public miracles  nissim.

I would therefore suggest that when the gemara asks Mai Chanukah? it wasnt because Ravina and Rav Ashi thought that anyone learning the gemara needed a remedial lesson in what Chanukah was about. Rather, its because Chanukah had to shift in meaning. Gone were the days of the Beis haMiqdash. Jewish autonomy was by that point ancient history. The authors of the gemara were living in a Babylonia where it, not Israel, contained most of the worlds Jews. Everything G-d gave us back from the Saleucids, He had since took away in the hands of the Romans. The question wasnt What was Chanukah made to be about? But What does Chanukah mean to us in the hear and now? Chanukah was not made to be about the oil; as I argued last paragraph, we dont make holidays for private miracles. But the miracle of the oil, and what it meant, is all that remained.

Now for the Alter

The Alter of Slabodka says that the miracle of the first day of Chanukah is that oil itself burns. This is reminicent of the story of Rav Chanina ben Dosas daughter, who accidentally filled the Shabbos lamps with vinegar instead of oil one week. This was tragic, as Rav Chanina was so poor he lived off a qav of carob from Shabbos to Shabbos. (Carob grew untended, and was available for free.) Rav Chaninas daughter was distressed by this mistake, perhaps because of their inability to afford wasted oil or vinegar. Rav Chanina answered her, “He Who made oil burn can make vinegar burn.” And the vinegar burned. (Taanis 25a) Similarly, the miracle that oil burns at all, as it did on the first day, is no less a wonder than it burning on the other 7!

Going back to my own edifice Rav Chanina  saw the supernatural burning of vinegar no more proof of G-d’s existence than he saw everyday within nature.

Similarly there was a heroic kohein who, back in the days when everything was falling apart around him, took a sealed jar of oil and hid it. He saw G-d within the natural course of events, even when they were flowing in the direction away from holiness. And that kohein, with full bitachon, trust in the Almighty, that this too shall pass, another generation would arise, and someone was going to need it. His bitachon made the first day possible, and according to the Alter of Slabodka, it is seeing the world as he did which underlies its observance.

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