[Avodah] Fables and Lies

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, November 29, 2007 4:59 pm, Rabbiner Arie Folger wrote:
 Not all sources agree on this. Only some of the midrashim mention that
: there were ten martyrs to atone for Ypssef's sale, and not all link
: those ten with any known list.

On Sat, December 1, 2007 6:38 pm, Rt Chana Luntz wrote:
: I think it is more than poeticising.  Ten is a minyan.  And what
: happens in a prayer minyan? ...

Less well known than the Bavli's proof that a minyan is 10 mechuyavim
is the Yerushalmi's (Berakhos 7:3). There the gezeirah shavah is not a
2-step from the eidah of the meraglim, but from the brothers being
"besokh haba'im" to get food from Yoseif (Bereishis 42:5) directly to
"veniqdashti besokh benei Yisrael".

And so there is a real link between the 10 brothers who sold Yoseif
and the concept of minyan.

RAF, continued:
: The most prominent source linking the 10 martyrs to an atonement for
: Yossef's sale AND providing a listing of the martyrs, is Heikhalot
: Rabbati, a mystical text. The mere appearance of that interpretation
: in that work should suffice to make us guess that the composition
: wasn't necessarily meant to be taken as chronologically coherent,
: but rather unified on a mystical level.

For that matter, the story of the shoes doesn't really imply all 10
were there at the time. It could be that Lupinus Caesar was setting up
a "tab" of 10 martyrs, and didn't have any specific ones in mind yet.
Then R' Yishmael could be asking mei'achorei hapargod about himself
and R' Shimon -- and the 8 who follow, perhaps not even knowing the
follow through wouldn't happen until Hadrian y"sh.


Interesting is that the Ariza"l (Shaar haGilgulim haqdamah 34) does
not say the 10 harugei malkhus were gilgulim of the 10 brothers. In
fact, R' Yishmael Kohein Gadol of the extreme beauty is identified as
a gilgul of Yoseif. Thus R' Yishmael had the job of repairing Yoseif's
ill speech -- both in how he bragged about his dreams and in his LH
about his brothers. It also explains R' Yishmael's beauty, as per
midrashim about Yoseif, both of which had gotten Adam's beauty. And
so, Mes AZ (11a) tells of Edom having a parade once every 70 years in
which they dressed an ill man and a man in good health, dress the two
in the garments of Adam haRishon -- the ones that end up in Nimrod's
posession, stolen by Esav, and end up given by Yaaqov to Yoseif -- and
have the healthy one ride on the ill one. Thus representing Rome's
alleged victory over Yisrael. AND, the the skin from R' Yishma'el face
was worn as a mask by the healthy rider.

You can see the rich tapestry of ideas being woven together. There is
enough information there without insisting history really worked out
that way. It's clear we're being taught something fundamental about
morality and beauty, and the flaws in the foundation of humanity and
Benei Yisrael in particular caused by confusing the two. Not stories
about R' Yishma'el.

Thus the fall of the Jewish people, which happened in two stages
lasting from Churban bayis to Hadrian causing the end the generations
of tannaim and the loss of Torah to the shift in Israel, is associated
with the quantum of Jewish peoplehood, the minyan, and its founding,
the shevatim. That Yaaqov's rise over Esav is about a community
founded on a unique moral calling, one that places aesthetics in
service of Truth rather than making an end out of the pursuit of
beauty. To Esav, the soup is about its color, and the culinary
experience a fair exchange for a place in heaven.

I always thought that saddest part was the demise of his children.
That R' Yishma'el's suffering didn't even end with his petirah. And
that too was about their choosing morality over complying to Roman
slaveowners who wanted to breed them for their beauty (Gitin 58a).

SheTir'u baTov!
-micha

-- 
Micha Berger             One who kills his inclination is as though he
micha at aishdas.org        brought an offering. But to bring an offering,
http://www.aishdas.org   you must know where to slaughter and what
Fax: (270) 514-1507      parts to offer.        - R' Simcha Zissel Ziv