<html><head><title>[Aspaqlaria] Shaarei Yosher, sec. 4: Connecting – Conclusion</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/wp-content/themes/twentyten/style.css" type="text/css" media="screen" /></head><body>Aspaqlaria has posted a new item, '<a href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2011/12/shaarei-yosher-04-07.shtml">Shaarei Yosher, sec. 4: Connecting – Conclusion</a>'<br />
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<td valign="top"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times;">With this idea one can understand how charity has the effect of enriching the one who performs it, as the sages say on the verse “‘<em>aseir ta’aseir</em> – you shall surely tithe’ – tithe, so that you shall become rich – <em>shetis’asheir</em>” . Someone who is appointed over a small part of the national treasury who does a good job guarding at his appointment as appropriate will be next appointed to oversee a sum greater than that, if he is not promoted in some other way. If they find a flaw in his guard duty, no fine qualities to be found in him will help, and they will demote him to a smaller task. Similarly in the treasuries of heaven which are given to man. If he tithes appropriately, he satisfies his job of disbursement as he is supposed to conduct himself according to the Torah, giving to each as is appropriate according to the teachings of the Torah, then he will become wealthy and b
e appointed to disburse a greater treasure. And so on, upward and upward so that he can fulfill his lofty desire to do good for the masses through his stewardship of the treasury. In this way a man of reliable spirit does the will of his Maker.</span></td>
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<div style="text-align: right;" dir="rtl">ועל פי דעה זו יובן סגולת הצדקה שמעשרת את בעליה, כמו שדרשו חז״ל על הכתוב “‘עשר תעשר’ – עשר בשביל שתתעשר” (תענית דף ט.), שכמו שהממונה על אוצרות הממשלה באוצר קטן, אם ישמור תפקידו כראוי אז יתמנה להיות גזבר על אוצר גדול מזה, אף אם לא יצטיין במעלות אחרות, ולהיפך, אם יתגלה חסרון במשמרתו, לא יועילו לו כל מעלות שימצאו בו, ויורידוהו למשרה קטנה מזה, כל כך באוצרות שמים הנתנים לאדם, אם מעשר כראוי ממלא תפקיד הגזברות שלו כראוי ליטול לעצמו כפי דרכי התורה, ומחלק למי שראוי כל כך על פי הוראת התורה, אז יתעשר ויתמנה לגזברות על אוצר ג
ול מזה וכן הלאה למעלה למעלה, למען יתקיים רצון העליון בהטבת הכלל על ידי שמירת האוצר, ובזה איש נאמן רוח עושה רצון קונו יתברך.</div>
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<p>In the previous portion, Rav Shimon advised us to see ourselves not as possessors, but as the part of the Jewish People that happens to be holding something on behalf of the whole. Here Rav Shimon explains a causal connection between giving to others and getting reward. Someone who shares Hashem’s bounty plays his role with what he is given, and thus it furthers Hashem’s goals to share with him even more. And even though a person only gives a percentage of his wealth, Hashem will still increase his entire wealth in order to increase that percentage.</p>
<p>This is why Rav Yochanan (Taanis 9a) homiletically explained “<em>aseir ta’aser</em>” (Devarim 22:41) ias “<em>aseir bishvil shetis’asheir</em> — tithe so that you will become rich.” This isn’t merely testing G-d — that would be prohibited. It’s not even a promise of personal reward, offering a selfish reason to do the right thing. It is a fundamental expression of “<em>m ein ani li, mi li — </em>if I am not for myself, who will be for me?” Become rich, because the broader, fully developed “<em>ani</em>” of someone connect well beyond himself could use the wealth.</p>
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<p>With this concluding portion of what I’m calling the section on Connecting (the climax of the essay), I wish to share assorted thoughts on the topic.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>A</strong></p>
<p>I <a title="Aspaqlaria: Brisk and Telz" href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2011/01/brisk-and-telz.shtml">posted on the central difference</a> between <em>Brisker Derekh</em>, the mode of analyzing <em>halakhah</em> developed by Rav Chaim Brisker, and his student, Rav Shimon Shkop’s, <em>derekh.</em> Rav Chaim analyzes <em>halakhah</em> on the level of “what”, of the law in legal terms. Rav Shimon added the level of “why”, grounding the analysis in philosophy, the psychology of those commanded, and the world around us.</p>
<p>But there is a second distinction… Rav Chaim would explain an apparent contradiction by finding “the <em>chiluq</em>“, the distinction between two cases that we initially thought ought to be the same, or the distinction between the viewpoints in two sides of a dispute. Rav Shimon also invokes <em>hitztarfus</em>, fusion or connectedness.</p>
<p>Rarely does an event only have one cause. Similarly, there is no reason to assume that it takes one cause to create an obligation or prohibition rather than a combination of them. From the Greeks until the 20th century, science focused on explaining things by explaining their parts. In the mid-20th century started the development of studying how things are connected. It turns out that networks of many sorts share the same math, whether we’re talking real communities, Facebook ones, links between web pages, neurons, etc… This is the notion of emergent properties, studying features that come from how parts are combined rather than being attributable to the parts themselves.</p>
<p>So the emphasis here on trying to become a critical part of the engine, to be indispensable in the interaction of parts while preferably avoiding standing out from the whole, fits Rav Shimon’s general worldview in other ways.</p>
<p><em>Hitztarfus</em>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>B</strong></p>
<p>I took this holistic – connectionist approach even further in <a title="Aspaqlaria: The Semitic Perspective" href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2005/12/semitic-perspective.shtml">an early essay on this blog</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p>Another difference can be seen by contrasting the style of Aristotle with that of Rav Yehudah haNasi. Aristotle catalogues. He divides a subject into subtopics, and those subtopics even further, until one is down to the individual fact. Greek thought was focused on reductionism. To understand a phenomenon, break it down into smaller pieces, and try to understand each piece. This is typical of the Yefetic perspective….</p>
<p>As opposed to the way Rav Yehudah haNasi redacted the first mishnah. The beginning of the mishnah could have said that the time for evening shema is from sunset until 1/3 the night. But instead it uses referents involving kehunah, taharah and ashmores. This is not to confuse the issue, but because from the Semitic perspective the key to understanding one mitzvah is from its connections to everything else.</p>
<p>Yefes is reductionist, believing the world can be understood as the sum of its smallest pieces. Sheim is holistic, looking at the interconnections between those pieces, and the pieces only gaining meaning from the relationships in which they partake.</p>
<p>This is not only true statically, but also over the course of time. We get used to identifying “the cause” of something. Why did he hurt his foot? Because a can fell on it. Why did the can fall? Because someone else accidentally kicked it. And so on… However, it’s equally true that he hurt his foot because even though he usually wears iron toed hiking boot, he chose not to wear them that that day.</p>
<p>I would instead suggest that every event is like “the perfect storm”, every one has combinations of factors that come to a head at the same point….</p>
<p>Des Cartes famously said, “Cogito ergo sum — I think therefore I am.” A true skeptic can’t be sure of much. Even “1 + 1 = 2″ might be a delusion caused by insanity or a malevelent deity. The only thing one can be sure of is that there is an “I” doing the thinking, being sure. He then tried to prove the existence of other things, including G-d, with just this one given.</p>
<p>But even the Cogito is subject to this distinction. Are we individuals who interact, or only defined as individuals by the set of interactions we have with others? Moshe Rabbeinu lacked his full prophetic gift from the time of the Golden Calf until the rise of the next generation. The Or haChaim explains that this is because “Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh” (Shevu’os 39a), which is usually translated “All Jews are guarantors one for another”. That’s consistent with another version of the quote, which ends “lazeh” (for this). However, “ba-”, in, implies a different meaning of the word “areivim”, mixture. All Jews are mixed, one into the other. Moshe’s soul did not stand alone, it is connected and overlaps those of the rest of the nation. When they lowered themselves with the calf, Moshe’s soul was diminished.</p>
<p>Even the “I” is not reductionist, but defined by its connections.</p>
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<p>From this relation-based orientation comes a second distinction, a basically different approach to logic. The West never formalized the notion of reality having gray areas…</p></blockquote>
<p style="text-align: left;">“<em>Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh</em>”, the Jewish People are a unit.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Since the Babylonian exile, the remaining Children of Israel, the descendents of the Kingdom of Judea, have been called “Jews”, from “Yehudah”.</p>
<blockquote><p>What does “<em>todah</em>” mean? As it stands, it means “thanks”. The same root conjugated as “<em>vidui</em>” means to “confess”. Last, when the <em>mishnah</em> wants to stress that something is outside of a dispute, “<em>hakol modim</em>” — “all agree”. What do thanks, confession and agreement have in common?</p>
<p>When I thank someone, I acknowledge his actions had an impact on me. When I confess, I am admitting that my actions had an impact on him. And when we are <em>modim</em>, we realize that an idea isn’t mine or yours, but ours. The point in common in the three uses of the root is a realization of connectedness. <a title="Aspaqlaria: Roads and Cities" href="../2006/04/roads-and-cities.shtml">I wrote a few years ago</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Do roads exist to connect cities, or do cities exist to serve the roads? We naturally assume the former, that roads are built to allow people and goods to travel from one center to another.</p>
<p>However, historically speaking, it’s usually the reverse. Medina, in Saudi Arabia, grew from the crossroads of trading routes. Canaan was at the crossroads of three continents, and its very name comes from the word for “traders”. This is why the Israel of <em>Na”kh</em> was so often crossed by the soldiers of Assyria and Egypt, en route to the other to battle. And being at a traffic center placed us in the ideal situation to influence world thought. Because of the centrality of shipping, New York, Baltimore and Boston all grew around their harbors, and many European cities are on rivers — London, Paris, Budapest, Frankfurt, etc…</p>
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<p>We are called Yehudim because only the descendants of the Kingdom of Judea returned after the Babylonian Exile, and of those tribes, Yehudah’s perspective dominated. We are Jews because, as Leah said upon naming her son, “<em>Hapa’am odeh es Hashem</em> — this time, I will thank G-d”. To be a Jew is to be a thanker, to acknowledge the connection.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Note that this implies a strong connection between Yom Kippur as a day of <em>vidui</em>, and <em>Sukkos</em>, the holiday of <em>hoda’ah</em> and consequent <em>simchah</em>…</p>
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<p style="text-align: left;">This is why the <em>bareisa </em>in Avos says that whomever says something in the name of the person who originally said it brings redemption to the world. By standing as part rather than being a whole.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Thus Rav Shimon’s notion of the greater “<em>ani</em>” is what being a Jew and Judaism are all about.</p><br />
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