Parshat Mishpatim - Don't Say It

No shiur at the Bubble this week. By Wednesday evening all of Jerusalem was covered with snow which continued until well into Thursday. These pictures show the view from our apartment Thursday morning. You can see our patio table is covered with snow. I stuck in a ruler. The hole is at the six inch mark, so we had about five inches of snow on the table!

I still thought I would post an idea about the parsha.

This week's parsha, Mishpatim, discusses a large number of diverse topics. Then in Chapter 23 is a discussion of Shemittah, Shabbat, and Festivals. Here is the Judaic Press translation:

Shemot Chapter 23
10 Six years you may sow your land and gather in its produce.
11 But in the seventh [year] you shall release it and abandon it; the poor of your people shall eat [it], and what they leave over, the beasts of the field shall eat. So shall you do to your vineyard [and] to your olive tree[s].
12 Six days you may do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, in order that your ox and your donkey shall rest, and your maidservant's son and the stranger shall be refreshed.
13 Concerning all that I have said to you you shall beware, and the name of the gods of others you shall not mention; it shall not be heard through your mouth.
14 Three times you shall slaughter sacrifices to Me during the year.
15 You shall observe the festival of unleavened bread; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread as I have commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of springtime, for then you left Egypt, and they shall not appear before Me empty handed.
16 And the festival of the harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you will sow in the field, and the festival of the ingathering at the departure of the year, when you gather in [the products of] your labors from the field.
17 Three times during the year, all your males shall appear before the Master, the Lord.
18 You shall not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice with leaven, and the fat of My festive sacrifice shall not stay overnight until morning.
19 The choicest of the first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the Lord, your God. You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk.

I want to focus on verse 13. Why specifically in this context does the Torah forbid the Jewish people to mention the gods of other nations (avodah zarah)? Although there is a prohibition against serving avodah zarah, why is the prohibition against mentioning them here? What is the relationship between mentioning avodah zarah and Shabbat and Yom Tov?

I have found a midrash that answers part of this question. Midrash Rabbah (Shemot 31:16) quotes this verse and then explains why Hashem established each of the festivals:

Passover is because of the miracles that Hashem did for the Jewish people in Egypt.

Shavuot is because Hashem gave the Torah to the Jewish people. The Jewish people eat of the fruits of Torah even in this world, as the verse (Proverbs 8:19) says, "My fruits are better than fine gold, even choice gold, and my produce is choicer than silver."

Sukkot is because at that time of year (as the harvest is gathered in) Hashem fills our houses with His material blessing.

The point of the Midrash seems to be that we must not even mention idols because everything that we have is from Hashem. Only due to His miracles were the Jewish people saved from Egypt and formed into a nation. Hashem gave us the Torah which provides us with spiritual nourishment in this world and He gives us everything that we need for physical sustenance. That would seem to explain why in this listing of the festivals they are related to the agricultural cycle which is the paradigm of Hashem fulfilling our physical needs.

The Midrash does not discuss why the celebration of Shabbat and Shemittah are the subject of the verses preceding the prohibition against mentioning avodah zarah. I would like to suggest an answer. We know that Shabbat reminds us that Hashem created the world in six days and "rested" on the seventh day. We begin the Friday night kiddush by quoting verses from the end of the Torah's account of creation. Then, in the bracha itself, we say that Hashem "took pleasure in us, and with love and favor gave us His holy Sabbath as a heritage, a remembrance of creation." When we refrain from forbidden labor on Shabbat (and Shemittah) we acknowledge that Hashem created the world.

Even though Hashem gave the Jewish people Shabbat as a gift for us to observe, the knowledge that Hashem created the world belongs to everyone, Jew and non-Jew. The Jewish people can't even mention idols because those who acknowledge the idol are denying Hashem. We have two reasons to acknowledge Hashem: Shabbat and Shemittah which testify that Hashem is creator and our Yomim Tovim which testify that Hashem took us out of Egypt and sustains us everyday physically and spiritually. Granted, the non-Jews do not have these festivals, however, they still should acknowledge Hashem as creator. I want to suggest that this is the reason for the ordering of these verses. First, the verses about Shabbat and Shemittah - Hashem as creator, a concept for all creation to accept. Then the prohibition against mentioning avodah zarah - the denial of Hashem. Last, the verses about the festivals - Hashem in His unique relationship with the Jewish people.

I would appreciate any comments that you may have on this essay.

At the Bubble - Parshat Yitro

The highlight of this week's parsha is Matan Torah, the giving of the Torah, on Har Sinai. Just prior to giving the Torah, Hashem called Moshe up to the mountain. This is recorded in Shemot 19:20-21 (Judaica Press translation):

20 The Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, to the peak of the mountain, and the Lord summoned Moses to the peak of the mountain, and Moses ascended.
21 The Lord said to Moses, Go down, warn the people lest they break through to the Lord, and many of them will fall.

Let's ask two questions about these verses. 1) What does it mean that "Hashem descended?" Hashem is everywhere so how could He descend onto Har Sinai. 2) Why did Hashem ask Moshe to come up to the peak of the mountain and then immediately tell him to go down?

An answer to the first question is found in Rabbeinu Bechaya's commentary on verse 20. The word "descend" in relation to Hashem always means "reveal" to the intellect. If so, then why does the Torah use the word "descend" when "reveal" would be more appropriate? He explains that the revelation of the Shechinah to humans is always a descent compared to Hashem's loftiness. We should not think that it is possible that when Hashem reveals Himself to a person that there can ever be true seeing. Even Moshe Rabbeinu was not able to see Hashem. As Hashem said to Moshe (Shemot 33:20) "You will not be able to see My face, for no human can see My face and live."

We can find an answer to the second question in the Shem MiShmuel Parshat Yitro 5678 / 1918 (in the paragraph that begins אך לפי דרכנו ). The Gemara (Yevamot 105b) asks rhetorically, "Was Moshe fit to learn Torah directly from Hashem?" Of course, the answer is "No." Therefore, Hashem called Moshe to ascend to the mountain peak, to the place where Hashem had already descended. In this way Hashem elevated Moshe to the necessary spiritual level so that he would be fit to receive the Torah. Even if this would not be a permanent elevation, it would be sufficient for that time to make him fit to receive the Torah.

But now that Moshe had been elevated to such an exalted level, there is a concern that the people will not be able to properly distinguish between the speech of Hashem and the speech of Moshe. Therefore, Moshe can't be on Har Sinai when Hashem speaks to the people. That is why Moshe is told to descend and only after he returns to the base of the mountain and joins the rest of the Jewish people does Hashem speak. (See the last few verses of Chapter 19 and the beginning of Chapter 20.) The Shem MiShmuel concludes by pointing out that Moshe's descent was also of benefit to the Jewish people. When Moshe came down he was still at this exalted spiritual level and yet he had joined himself to the rest of the people. This gave anyone who wanted the opportunity to attach themselves to Moshe and actually share in this exalted level and thereby make themselves fit to learn Torah directly from Hashem.

Tu B'Shvat - Season of Dried Fruit

You will find lots of other blogs describing the message of Tu B'Shvat. That is not our point tonight.

Just a stroll through the shuk Machane Yehuda tells the story. This is the holiday of dried fruit. We went there this evening about 7:30 pm. Most of the stalls were closed except for the stores selling nuts and dried fruit. All of these stores were busy selling tons of dried fruit. Lisa proposes that everyone gets all their fiber for the month in one day!

We made two discoveries this year: dried kiwi and dried mango.

I'm not sure about the dried kiwi. They look beautiful. There is no doubt that they are from the delicious kiwi. But that's where the comparison ends. They don't taste bad, but they don't have the right taste. The texture is a bit too pasty and the flavor just isn't strong enough.

On the other hand, the dried mango tastes great. The dried fruit is in chewy strips about 3 or 4 inches long and an eight of an inch thick - authentic mango jerky. Also, they are really ugly. We never would have bought any based on sight, but they came in a mixture of dried fruits. How good is dried mango? So good that the only reason we went to the shuk this evening was replenish our supply! If you have chance, buy some dried mango!

The kiwi picture is from here. The mango picture is from here.

Parshat BeShalach

This parsha records the final escape of the Jewish people from Egypt with the splitting of the sea. The Jews are traveling on foot while the pursuing Egyptians are riding chariots. Then Chapter 14 verse 25 records (Artscroll translation): He removed the wheels of their chariots and caused them to drive with difficulty. Egypt said, "I shall flee before Israel, for Hashem is waging war for them against Egypt."

This verse always leaves me with my mouth hanging open. Who did the Egyptians think was fighting for the Jewish people? The Egyptians have just endured 10 plagues which have shown that Hashem controls every aspect of nature. Even before the plagues began Hashem told Moshe that the result of the plagues would be (chapter 7 verse 5) "And Egypt shall know that I am Hashem, when I stretch out My hand over Egypt; and I shall take the Children of Israel out from among them."

So how can it be that in Shemot 14:25 it seems as if only now the Egyptians realize that Hashem is fighting for His people?

Rabbi Moshe Alshich in his commentary Torat Moshe explains that the Egyptians had thought the plagues were the result of Paro's failure to show proper respect for Hashem. When Moshe and Aaron first appeared before Paro, he said (Shemot 5:2) "Who is Hashem that I should heed His voice to send out Israel?" Then, when the Egyptians saw the Jews apparently trapped between the sea and the wilderness (Shemot 14:3), they thought that Hashem had abandoned the Jewish people. It was only now, as they pursued the Jewish people into the sea and their chariots began to fall apart that the Egyptians realized that everything that had happened in Egypt and what was happening now was the Hashem fighting for His people.

Kissing Frogs

We've been kissing frogs, as in, "You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince."

The frogs we've been kissing are in the form of apartments for sale in Jerusalem. Somehow, we thought finding an apartment to buy might be easy. In fact, there are a lot of apartments for sale. Even in our very minuscule price range there are a lot of apartments for sale. However, actually making a deal has been hard.

I think this was our first frog. We emailed an agent about a particular apartment that we saw advertised on his website. Two or three days later he finally called us. That was ok, except when he reached us were sitting in the terminal at Ben Gurion ready to board our flight to the States. Ten days later we returned from the States. I called the agent to ask about the apartment. "No problem," he said, "I'll call the owner and set up a viewing." Two days later he called to say the apartment, unknown to him, had been sold.

Next frog. I told the agent in some detail what we were looking for. He said, "Oh, I have a great apartment in that price range." Two days later Lisa and I went to see the apartment. It was lovely. A well cared for apartment on a quiet street but close to bus transportation. And the price was right. On the bus ride home we talked about the apartment and how great it would be. As soon as we were home I called the agent and told him we wanted to buy. "Great," he said, "I'll have my manager call you."

Later that afternoon I got the call from the manager. He explained that he had talked to the owner, a widow who was interested in moving into a retirement home. He explained that there was only one problem. When they had first listed the apartment as being for sale, the exchange rate of the dollar was about $1 = 4.25 NIS. Now, however, the exchange rate had dropped below 4, but she still wanted a shekel price based on the old exchange rate. This was the equivalent of asking for roughly another $15,000!!! Ribit. Ribit.

More frogs later...

(BTW, the frog picture is from http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillyfrog/)

At the Bubble - Parshat Bo

This week's Torah reading begins:ויאמר השם אל משה בא אל פרעה כי אני הכבדתי את לבא ואת לב עבדיו למען שתי אתתי אלה בקרבו

The Lord said to Moses: Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order that I may place these signs of Mine in his midst.

The question that everyone asks concerns the word "come." Why does Hashem tell Moshe to "come to Paro" when it is clear that Moshe will be required to "go to Paro"?

One commentator (R. Yosef Bechor Shor) explains that Hashem is giving Moshe an assurance. When Moshe goes before Paro, he will not be alone. Hashem Himself will accompany Moshe. And not only that, Moshe need not fear that his mission is in vain. It is true that Paro's heart is hard, but it is Hashem who has hardened Paro's heart. Without that hardening, Paro would have sent the Jewish people away. However, Hashem has hardened Paro's heart so that all of the plagues can be brought on the Egyptians and then the Jewish people will learn about Hashem and be able to proclaim to their offspring what they experienced.

Rabbeinu Bachaya (Spain 1263 - 1340) uses the beginning of this week's parsha to explain the structure of the 10 plagues. With an understanding of the structure we then understand why the word "come" is used.

The plagues can be divided into three sets of three plagues followed by the final, tenth plague. The sets are (each row is one set):

blood	frogs	lice
wild beasts	pestilence	boils
hail	locusts	darkness
death of firstborn

The first two plagues in each set were preceded by a warning given by Moshe to Paro. The third plague in the set was not preceded by a warning. Furthermore, the warnings were given in different places. Before the first plague in each set Moshe was told to go and stand before Paro. Then the warning was delivered to Paro outdoors. Before the second plague in each set Moshe was told to "come before Paro." According to Rabbeinu Bachaya this indicates that these warnings were given to Paro inside Paro's palace. In other words, the intent of the word "come" is that Moshe was being commanded to enter into Paro's palace.

Why were the warnings given in different places? Rabbeinu Bachaya explains that this is because of Paro's excessive pride and conceit. He was proud of the Nile River and conceited about the extent of his kingdom and the palace that he dwelt in. Therefore, the warnings were given in these places so that Paro's punishment could come the very place where he sinned.

Rambam and Annulling Decrees

Here is a brief statement of the Rambam on the subject of annulling decrees from an earlier generation. It includes both the Rambam in Hebrew and my translation of the text. It is clear from the Rambam that it is very difficult to annul decrees, even if it seems that the reason is no longer valid.

(I don't know how to make the Hebrew text be right justified! Oh, well, it's still readable)


רמב"ם הלכות ממרים פרק ב

הלכה ב
בית דין שגזרו גזרה או תקנו תקנה והנהיגו מנהג ופשט הדבר בכל ישראל, ועמד אחריהם בית דין אחר ובקש לבטל דברים הראשונים ולעקור אותה התקנה ואותה הגזרה ואותו המנהג, אינו יכול עד שיהיה גדול מן הראשונים בחכמה ובמנין, היה גדול בחכמה אבל לא במנין, במנין אבל לא בחכמה, אינו יכול לבטל את דבריו, אפילו בטל הטעם שבגללו גזרו הראשונים או התקינו אין האחרונים יכולין לבטל עד שיהו גדולים מהם, והיאך יהיו גדולים מהם במנין הואיל וכל בית דין ובית דין של שבעים ואחד הוא, זה מנין חכמי הדור שהסכימו וקבלו הדבר שאמרו בית דין הגדול ולא חלקו בו.

הלכה ג
במה דברים אמורים בדברים שלא אסרו אותן כדי לעשות סייג לתורה אלא כשאר דיני תורה, אבל דברים שראו בית דין לגזור או לאסור אותן לעשות סייג אם פשט איסורן בכל ישראל אין בית דין גדול אחר יכול לעקרן ולהתירן אפילו היה גדול מן הראשונים.

Rambam Laws of Insurgents Chapter 2
Halacha 2
A beit din that promulgated a decree or regulation or custom that spread throughout the Jewish people and there arose after them another beit din and wanted to annul the decrees of the first one or to uproot their decrees, regulations or customs, they are not able to do so unless they are greater than the first one in wisdom and multitude. If they were greater in wisdom but not in multitude or in multitude but not in wisdom, they are not able to annul their words. Even if the reason that the first beit din made the decree or regulation is no longer valid, the later ones are not able to annul unless they are greater than them. How will they be greater than them in multitude since every beit din has seventy one members? This is the number of the sages of the generation who agreed to and accepted the statement of the great beit din and did not disagree with it.

Halacha 3
What situation were we discussing [in Halacha 2]? That they did not forbid something in order to make a fence for the Torah, rather like other laws of the Torah. But things that the beit din saw fit to decree or to forbid to make a fence, if their prohibition spread throughout all the Jewish people, another beit din is not able to uproot and permit them, even if it is greater than the first one.

A Place for Us

So why isn't this guy posting more often?

There is a very simple answer. We've just been too busy. In fact, most of our time these days is devoted to searching for an apartment to buy. We haven't found it yet, but we're still trying. Since we returned from the States in October we've seen at least 20 apartments. We've spent hours on the phone with real estate agents, lawyers and mortgage brokers.

We've also found some neat resources on the internet to search for apartments in Israel.

By far the most useful is Lagur. It has lists of apartments all over Israel in every price range. Searching is simple and some times there are pictures of the apartments. The apartments are listed by real estate agents, so it's up to them how much detail they give any apartment. The downside to Lagur is that Firefox does not display it well. (In fact, Firefox has trouble displaying a lot of Israeli websites.) That meant we were using IE, a browser that I prefer to avoid. Just in the past week I discovered that Opera will correctly display Lagur, so that is now my browser of choice for searching Lagur.

Another useful site is called Shiran. The listings here are also provided by the real estate agents. It doesn't seem to be as popular with agents as Lagur, but we did find some interesting properties listed there. Shiran also has a list of agents and their email addresses and websites. Like Lagur, Shiran works best with IE or Opera.

I'll mention one other site. It has the strange name of Homeless. This site allows real estate agents and owners to list properties. They maintain separate lists depending upon who posted. Once again, this site is best seen with IE or Opera.

So that's what we've been doing. We've had some real adventures in home buying during the last three months, but it's too early to tell those stories.

Stay tuned for updates, as we search for a place for us!