[Avodah] Like A Lion

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 10:16:21AM -0400, Prof. Levine wrote:
: From http://www.torah.org/learning/tefilah/lion.html
: Like A Lion
: "Arise like a lion to serve your Creator in the morning" (Shulchan Aruch 
: 1,1).

: Take a look at 
: http://www.predatorconservation.com/video/lions_wakeup.htm 
: It seems that lions do take their time getting up 
: after they have been asleep. So, Kum k"Ari must 
: not mean that one gets up very quickly!

... It's gibbor ke'ari, as already noted by others. And as Cantor
Wohlberg recently wrote WRT chodesh Av (= Sumerian "Aru", mazal aryeh),
it's probably about koveish es yitzro. Not hitting the snooze button.

However, this doesn't help the topic of doctors telling you not to get
out of bed to soon. Because there is also "ratz katzevi" and "kal
kanesher".

: In fairness, the web 
: site  http://www.torah.org/learning/tefilah/lion.html explains what this 
: means:
...
: Over two thousand years ago, our Sages recognized 
: that the urge to worship idols was too powerful 
: for the Jewish people to resist, and they prayed 
: that it should be removed. Hashem complied and a 
: fire-like lion ascended from the Holy of Holies. 
: Our Sages captured this negative inclination 
: (yeitzer hara), preventing it from having further influence (Yuma 69).
...
: From this Talmudic story, we see that this 
: negative inclination takes the form of lion. 
: Strategically speaking, if we want to defeat it, 
: we must also act like lions. For this reason, the 
: Shulchan Aruch advises us to start our day like a 
: lion (ibid. Shaarei Teshuva 1,1).
...
: When confronting the yeitzer hara, we must employ 
: similar tactics. Even though the negative 
: inclination is stronger than man, we must fight 
: it with all our might, turning to Hashem to aid 
: us in this struggle and never fearing defeat. In 
: this way, we will win the battle (Taz 1,1).

But it came from the Qodesh haQadashim! And, as R' ARYEH Kaplan notes,
this event happened in the last generation of nevi'im, with the derashah
of zu le'umas zu. I would think the implication is that the YH for
`arayos would not resemble 'arayos.

I think therefore it would be more correct to associate the gevurah
of lions with religious experience in general -- both the oveid AZ and
lehavdil the navi's. Veharaayah, the gevurah of a lion is the *kevishah*
of the yeitzer, the not the yeitzer itself!

-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Zion will be redeemed through justice,
micha at aishdas.org        and her returnees, through righteousness.
http://www.aishdas.org
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