tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63378875558626623502024-03-13T06:35:38.103-07:00The Second SonG*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.comBlogger224125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-58442729015929385582023-09-22T19:04:00.000-07:002023-09-22T19:04:17.208-07:00The Sugya of Dr. Watson's First Name<p> <span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sherlock Holmes fans have been playing something they call “The Great Game” since the 19th century. They pretend that Holmes and Watson were real people; that the stories really were written by Watson, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Arthur Conan Doyle was Watson’s literary agent. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-a2cdeb88-7fff-6af5-bbc8-90f5d9dda5b0"><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In reality, the </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">stories originally appeared episodically in a magazine, and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Doyle wrote them </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">for a paycheck on a tight deadline. He considered them throwaway work, something he was doing to support himself while he pursued his more literary aspirations. Consequently, the Holmes stories are full of inconsistencies and plot holes. For someone playing the Great Game, though, there have to be explanations for all of those “seeming” inconsistencies. The fun of the game is finding clever solutions.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For instance:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">From where do we know that Dr. Watson’s first name is John? From a story A Study in Scarlet,” Where it says, “Being a reprint from the Reminiscences of JOHN H. WATSON, M.D.” The Sherlokian raises a contradiction to this conclusion based on a story "The Man with the Twisted Lip." The story says his wife Mary Watson calls him “James.” How could Mary call him James if his name is John? Sherlokian said: Come and hear a solution to this dilemma. Dr. Watson’s full name is John H. Watson. Some say that the “H” must stand for Hamish, which is the Scottish equivalent of James.</span></p><div><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-51787861603881244582022-12-19T04:12:00.002-08:002022-12-19T04:12:53.036-08:00Chanukah<p> It's deeply ironic that Chanukah, which ostensibly celebrates the victory of Jewish fundamentalists,</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Started as a Hellenistic-style military victory commemoration holiday.</li><li>Incorporated pagan solstice light-kindling which was meant to bring back the sun through sympathetic magic.</li><li>Has dreidel as one of its iconic celebratory activities, which was adopted whole from the popular Christmastime game T-totum (the story of the Jews playing dreidel while hiding from the Yevanim first shows up in writing in 1898!).</li><li>Adopted gift-giving from the American version of Christmas in the '50s.</li></ul><p></p><p>And most <i>frum </i>people think that all these things are authentically pure Torah-True traditions.</p><p>That said, I think Chanukah can be interpreted as a celebration of Jewish culture. It has it's origins in the last gasp of Jewish national independence (until the mid-20th century). It's thoroughly syncretistic, which Jewish culture has always been. And today, it's one of the things that differentiates Jews from everyone else, a small bulwark against the Christian hegemony that so thoroughly pervades Western culture that people think there is something inherently, qualitatively different about this time of year.</p>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-3615477600471718092022-08-27T21:06:00.000-07:002022-08-27T21:06:57.745-07:00Hand in the car(riage) door<p> Something interesting I just discovered.</p><p>"Why is a Victorian carriage door prominently displayed on a wall at Hughenden, the country home of Queen Victoria’s friend and Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli? The Prime Minister himself removed it from the carriage and preserved it as a tribute to his wife, Mary Anne. One evening the ambitious politician and his doting wife set off from his London house to Parliament, where he was to deliver a very important speech. When the carriage door was closed, it slammed shut on Mary Anne’s thumb. What did she do? She suffered in silence, all the way to Westminster. She didn’t want to upset the man before his speech. A placard next to the carriage door explains that Mary Anne said not a word until Disraeli was safely out of the carriage and on his way into the corridors of power. The placard remarks drily that her words when her thumb was released were not recorded."</p><p>[<a href="https://castlesandcoffeehouses.com/2016/02/02/mary-anne-disraeli-the-woman-behind-the-man/">source</a>]</p><p><br /></p><p>Sounds familiar, no? I a quick Google search found two versions of a similar story starring R' Moshe Feinstein that's popular in the frum world.</p><p><br /></p><p>"On another occasion a talmid of Reb Moshe took him home in his car. He opened the door of the passenger seat and Reb Moshe got out, whereupon the talmid slammed the door on his hand. The pain was unbearable, but Reb Moshe contained himself with superhuman control in order not to alert the talmid, who would surely be mortified by his mistake." [<a href="https://matzav.com/rabbon-shel-kol-bnei-hagolah-rav-moshe-feinstein-ztl-on-his-26th-yahrtzeit-today-13-adar/">source</a>]</p><p><br /></p><p>"When Reb Moshe Feinstein ztl. was asked why he felt he had merited a long life he is reputed to have answered, “I tried never to hurt another person.” It may sound like a light and maybe even a trite matter, that is, until we factor in the following story which is recorded in his biography: The elder Reb Moshe was getting into a car in front of the Yeshiva surrounded by students. When he was seated, the car door was closed and the driver pulled away from the curb. After driving a few blocks away, Reb Moshe asked the driver if he would not mind pulling off to the side of the road. When the driver stopped the car Reb Moshe opened the door and removed his frail hand from where the door had just been slammed on his aged fingers. The driver was mortified and asked Reb Moshe why he did not say something way back there when the door was closed. Reb Moshe told the driver that he did not want to say anything immediately because it would have caused a terrible upset to the young man that closed the door. He would never have forgiven himself. So Reb Moshe remained silent till the car had traveled a safe distance away." [<a href="https://torah.org/torah-portion/dvartorah-5768-shemos/">source</a>]</p><p><br /></p><p>Similar incidents can happen, of course. What's interesting is that the story about Mrs. Disraeli is specific about the people involved and where they were going, while the versions about R' Feinstein have the vague qualities of an urban legend, (and disagree with each other). The Disraeli's story is also earlier.</p>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-50966763938256004702022-07-03T09:39:00.015-07:002022-12-23T08:09:58.219-08:00Ignorant Experts and “Shelo Asani Isha”<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">There’s an old joke about a rabbi who
meets a </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">maskil</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> that ends with the
rabbi saying, “You're not an </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">apikores</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">,
you’re an </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">am ha’aretz</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">!” [You can find
my take on that joke <a href="https://2nd-son.blogspot.com/2018/02/youre-ignoramus-no-youre-ignoramus.html">here</a>.] We (by which I mean people who are no longer </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">frum</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">) hear this sort of thing a lot. If
only we knew more, we’d recognize that </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">frumkeit</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
is the truth.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">A couple of weeks ago my daughter
showed me a </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">siddur</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> she had gotten as
a prize for coming on time to </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">davening</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
all year. It’s meant for teens, and has notes in the margins and appendices in
the back that are supposed to answer questions that the author says he’s
frequently heard from his students over his decades of teaching.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">When I first read his siddur, I thought he was <i>stam </i>a <i>rebbe </i>who had a nice little project producing a <i>siddur </i>based on his experience. When I looked him up, I was surprised to find that he had a leading role at several different <i>kiruv </i>organizations, including serving as <i>mashgiach ruchini </i>at one. He really is someone the <i>frum </i>world looks to for expertise on answering "questions."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">There’s a lot I can say about it - his
attitude towards people who have gone OTD is terrible, for one - but here I
want to highlight one of the appendices. In it, his answer to an often-asked
question shows that he has no idea of either the historical context in which
the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">teffilos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> he discusses there
developed or the time in which they were written. The answer also doesn’t
address the serious problems with the explanations he offers, but to be fair,
he does say that it’s only meant to be a brief placeholder for a much longer
conversation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The appendix begins with the question
it’s going to answer: “Is it so bad to be a woman that men thank Hashem that
‘You did not Create me a woman?’ And were men NOT created ‘according to Your
will?’”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">After a disclaimer about how this is a
complex subject that needs more discussion than he can provide in a couple of
pages at the back of a </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">siddur</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> (It’s
not. The answer is one word: misogyny.) he writes,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“‘So why did you include the question?’
To show you that it is a good question! </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chazal</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
were careful how they worded things, so if they worded the two brachos the way
they did, there was a reason or many reasons, and the topic deserves study.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">This premise is foundational to the
rest of his answers. Without the assumption that the <i>brachos </i>are the deliberate
work of the greatest Jewish sages of the past, the theological answers he
provides don’t work. If the explanations he provides weren’t the intention of
those who instituted the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">,
then they’re just excuses dreamed up later to justify the inexcusable.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">We’ll see in the rest of this essay
that:</span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"></p><ul><li><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Chazal</span></i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> did not originate either of the
brachos.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
wording of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">brachos</i> was not fixed
until relatively late (in contrast to the assumptions that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chazal</i> carefully worded the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">brachos</i>
and it is their words that we have in our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">siddurim</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bracha</i> “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shelo asani isha</i>” is part of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">davening</i>
due to historical happenstance. <o:p></o:p></span></li><li><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">She’sheasani kirtzono</i>” was a much later
response to the men’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bracha</i>, and
became standard because of more historical happenstance.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
apologetics typically offered to explain how the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">brachos</i> aren’t misogynistic despite obviously being so (apologetics
which are repeated in the appendix we're discussing) are historically and/or
logically incoherent. <o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Shelo
asani isha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">” is part of a trio of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
thanking Hashem for not creating one a gentile, a slave, or a woman. These
three </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> have identical wording:
“Blessed are You, Hashem our God, King of the Universe, Who did not make me a
[gentile/slave/woman].” While now part of the larger set of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> that make up </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">birchas hashachar</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, the trio were originally
unrelated to it. They first appear in Jewish sources in the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Tosefta</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">.</span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> The
version that is in our </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">siddurim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> is from
a </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">gemara</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> in </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Menachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">,</span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
while the rest of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">birchas hashachar </i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">appears
in </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, </span><span style="font-size: 14px;">[3]</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> an entirely different </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mesechta</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">.</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> We first see the trio attached to </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">birchas
hashachar</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> in </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Sefer Halakhot Gedolot</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">,
around two hundred years after the period of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chazal</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> had ended.</span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The writing of the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">gemara</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> is firmly within the period of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chazal</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, but the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">amoraim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
did not originate the “</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">shelo asani</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">”
brachos. The trio of blessings was extant in the Greco-Roman culture most of the
Jews of the time were immersed in.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Diogenes Laertius, a contemporary of the <i>Taanaim</i>, writes,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The story … is told by some of
Socrates, namely, that he used to say there were three blessings for which he
was grateful to Fortune: "First, that I was born a human being and not one
of the brutes; next, that I was born a man and not a woman; thirdly, a Greek
and not a barbarian."<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Diogenes </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px;">Laertius</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> lived </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">about three hundred years before the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
that gives us the version that is now in our </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">siddurim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. His work is contemporary with the <i>tosefta </i>that is our first Jewish source for the trio, and his attribution puts it much earlier. While the attribution doesn't prove that it originated with Socrates, it does show that it was a part of the larger Greco-Roman culture </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 16.1px; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Diogenes </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px;">Laertius and the <i>Taanaim </i>shared in </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">the first centuries CE, and not something specifically Jewish.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Compare the quote from Diogenes </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px;">Laertius</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">to
the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">gemara</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. After
quoting several sayings of R’ Meir, the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">gemara</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
says,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It is taught in a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">baraita</i> that Rabbi Meir would say: A man is obligated to recite
three blessings every day praising God for His kindnesses, and these blessings
are: Who did not make me a gentile; Who did not make me a woman; and Who did
not make me an ignoramus.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Two of the blessings are identical: not
a woman and not an outsider (“barbarian” meant anyone who wasn’t Greek, and is
functionally a synonym for how Jews use the word “gentile'' to mean anyone who
isn’t Jewish). Perhaps it isn’t too much of a stretch to say that “brute” and
“ignoramus” are also conveying the same message: thank you for making me
someone who has understanding, and not an [animal/ignoramus].<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The first two </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> are familiar to us. The third of the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> we’re familiar with comes from the next few lines of the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">gemara</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Rav A</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">ḥ</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">a bar Ya’akov heard his son reciting
the blessing: Who did not make me an ignoramus. Rav A</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">ḥ</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">a bar Ya’akov said to him: Is it in
fact proper to go this far in reciting blessings? Rav A</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">ḥ</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">a bar Ya’akov’s son said to him:
Rather, what blessing should one recite? If you will say that one should
recite: Who did not make me a slave, that is the same as a woman; why should
one recite two blessings about the same matter? Rav A</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">ḥ</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">a bar Ya’akov answered: Nevertheless, a
slave is more lowly than a woman, and therefore it is appropriate to recite an
additional blessing on not having been born a slave.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The “ignoramus” blessing was changed,
likely after the original source of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">brachos</i>
had been forgotten and new reasons developed for saying them. It’s interesting
that the content of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">brachos</i> were
in flux, but they had to be a trio. Rather than drop the “did not make me an
ignoramus” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bracha</i> and leave the other
two as a duo, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i> substitutes
“did not make me a slave” to complete the trio. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">While the formulation we use first
appears in the above </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">gemara</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, it
wasn't the fixed standard until long after the time of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chazal</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. Evidence that the exact wording of the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> were in flux comes from the Cairo Genizah. Fragments from the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Tosefta</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Talmuds</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> (</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Bavli</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> and </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Yerushalmi</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">), and </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">siddurim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> found in the Cairo Genizah have various formulations of
the trio. It wasn’t until the invention of the printing press that the
availability of cheap, identical printed </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">siddurim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
established the printers’ chosen version as standard.</span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[8]</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Tellingly, fragments from the Genizah
also preserve elements of the Greek blessings quoted by Diogenes </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px;">Laertius</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. For instance,
some have the positive formulation (“I was born a man”) found in Socrates'
version, as opposed to the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">gemara’s</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
negative-only formulation (“did not make me a woman”). Some fragments also
include Socrates' third blessing, “that I was born a human being and not
one of the brutes,” and not either of the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">gemara’s</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
substitutes, the “ignoramus” or “slave” </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">.</span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[9]</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
This supports the conclusion that the <i>Taanaim </i>borrowed the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> from the Greek blessings, and not the other way around. It's likely they were neither
created nor carefully worded by </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chazal</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">At least the trio of “did not create
me…” </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> entered Jewish prayer
during the time of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chazal</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. The other </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">bracha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> discussed in the appendix, “</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">shesheasani kirtzono</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">,” first appears in
the 14th century <i>Ba’al Haturim</i>, seven hundred years after the period of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chazal</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> had ended. Even then, the
formulation “</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">shesheasani kirtzono</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">”
was not universal. There are 14th century </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">siddurim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
that have the women's </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">bracha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> as “who
made me a women and not a man,” “Who did not make me a man,” or “Who made me a
woman.”</span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[10]</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">We've seen that the author of our </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">sidder</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> was mistaken when he said about </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">shelo asani isha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> and </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">asani kitzono</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, “</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chazal</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> were careful how they worded things, so if they worded the
two </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> the way they did, there
was a reason,” with the implied assumptions that </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chazal</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> originated the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
and that the version of the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
we have now is one that </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chazal</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> carefully
worded. Now we’ll turn to the explanations he offers for why the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> aren’t the misogynistic
statements they appear to be.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">He writes that we are all Hashem's
beloved children, but different children have different jobs to do. He says
that men and women are different. Men do better with structure, and so are
given </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mitzvos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> to do with specific
objects at specific times. Women are more intuitive, more in touch with </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">kedushah</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. Intuitively serving God is the
ideal, but this is the more difficult path. It’s easier to have the way to
properly serve God laid out for you. Women take this harder path, and aren’t
obligated in the highly structured </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mitzvos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
because that would interfere with their free-flowing intuitive service of God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">When men thank God that they weren't
created women, they are thanking Him that they have the easier, structured
path. The equivalent women’s </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">bracha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
can't say that they were happy not to have been made men, because that would
imply that they're happy to have fewer </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mitzvos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">.
Instead, they say that they were made in accordance with God's will, able to
intuitively serve Him.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">All of his points are debatable: that men </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px;">do better with structure and that women are more intuitive,</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> that
intuitive service is more difficult, that women are more in touch with
spirituality, that intuitive rather than structured service is God's ideal, and
that the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> accurately reflect
any of these ideas.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Knowing as we now do the origin of
these </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, we can see that these explanations
are clearly post-hoc apologetics. Socrates (or Diogenes </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px;">Laertius</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> attributing the blessings to the famous Socrates</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">) did not thank Fortune for being a
man and not a woman because he preferred to do </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mitzvos aseh she’hazman grama</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Shesheasani
kirtzono</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> was not instituted along with the men's blessing as a balance to
it, and it wasn’t phrased that way because women had to avoid offensively
saying that they were happy to have fewer </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mitzvos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">.
A women's blessing to complement the men's didn't show up for around 900 years
after the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">gemara</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> from which we get
our current trio of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, and 1,100
years after “</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">shelo asani isha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">” first
appears in the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Tosefta</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. When a
women’s </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">bracha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
appeared in the 14th century, there were versions that said “Who did not make
me a man,” the exact thing that the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">siddur’s</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
author says women couldn't possibly say! The reason that </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">shesheasani kirtzono</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> became standard is historical happenstance. The
</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Ba’al Haturim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, where “</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">shesheasani kirtzono</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">” first appears, became
the basis for the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Shulchan Aruch</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, and
the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Shulchan Aruch</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> became the arbiter
of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">halacha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. Had the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Ba’al Haturim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> lived in a place where one
of the other </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px;">formulations</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px;"> of the </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">women's </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">bracha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">was standard, that other formulation would be
in all of our </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">siddurim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Let's ignore all of that for a moment
though, and examine these explanations on their own merits. There are
essentially three threads of apologetics typically offered (and repeated in the
appendix we're examining) to explain what are on their face an incredibly
misogynistic pair of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">1. Women are more in touch with </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">kedusha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> (and therefore don’t need as
many </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mitzvos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">brachos</i> are about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i>,
not the relative worth of men and women.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3. Women are how Hashem ideally wanted
people to be.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Before we address each of these individually,
I want to note that the source in which “</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">shesheasani
kirtzono</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">” first appears has a very different explanation. The </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Ba’al Haturim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> writes,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“And the custom of the women is to
recite “That You have made me according to Your will.” And it could be that
this custom arouse because it is like someone who accepts upon themselves the
righteousness of the evil judgment"<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In other words, it's not about having
fewer <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i> or about being the
ideal form of humanity. Just the opposite! It is resigned acceptance of the
unfortunate fact that they were created women and not men.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1.
Women are more in touch with </span></i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">kedusha<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> (and therefore don’t need as many </i>mitzvos<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">).<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">This apologetic shows up often in
discussions around women and </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">frumkeit</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">.
It's used not only to explain and justify </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">shelo
asani isha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> / </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">she’sheasani kirtzono</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
and why women are exempt from </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mitzvos
aseh shehazman grama</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, but also to explain in general that, despite being
excluded from any influence in the public life of the community, from participating
in shul, from serious Torah learning, from being </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">poskim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, and so on, it isn't true that women are second-class
citizens in Judaism! You see, in fact women are better than men! They’re holier
than men! And that's why women don't need to be involved in all these things
that are men's domain (and just happen to be all of the positions of participation,
influence, and authority).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The truth is it's just a platitude, a
meaningless statement that costs authorities in </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">frum</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> communities nothing to repeat and which does women no
practical good.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Let's take it to its logical
conclusion. What would it really mean if people believed that women are more in
touch with </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">kedusha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> than men? What are
the implications, and what would it look like if people acted on the belief?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">For one, we would expect </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">poskim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> and community leaders to consult
women when making decisions in order to take advantage of their intuitive grasp
of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">avodas Hashem</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. Instead, we see
that it has been a struggle to even get authorities in </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">frum</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> communities to allow specially trained women to decide questions
about </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">niddah</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, and even that is only
allowed because many women feel more comfortable taking these questions to
another woman. For other questions of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">halacha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
and community policy, women are often excluded completely. They certainly
aren't sought out for their unique intuition into what God wants of us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">For another, what would this say about
men? How could we allow men to be decisors of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">halacha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> when they lack an intuitive grasp of the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">ratzon Hashem</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">? Wouldn’t it make more
sense to have women shape </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">halacha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">?
Don't we want </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">halachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> that will best
help us be in touch with </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">kedusha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">? And
yet, all </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">poskim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> since forever that
are recognized by the <i>frum </i>world have been men. The reason is, as Saul Berman,
then Chairman of the Department of Judaic Studies of Stern College, wrote fifty
years ago, this only works if “it were understood, as it indeed is, that the
suggestion is not really to be taken seriously but is intended solely to
placate women.”</span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[12]</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Let's consider the argument by which we
arrive at the conclusion that women are more in touch with </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">kedusha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. It can be formally written as follows.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Premise 1: The purpose of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i> are to help those who need the
guidance to connect with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kedusha</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Premise 1a: If </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px;">group A </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px;">are obligated in </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px;">fewer </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> than group B</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">,</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px;"> it's because group A is </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px;">more in touch with </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kedusha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 14px; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> than group B.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Premise 2: Women are obligated in fewer
</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> than men.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Conclusion: Women are more in touch
with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kedusha</i> than men.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The conclusion follows from the
premises, but those who use this logic to placate women may not like what it
implies. Let's plug different groups into premise two, and see what happens. We
can try it with non-Jews.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Premise 2: Non-Jews have fewer <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i> then Jews - 7 to our 613.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Conclusion: Non-Jews are more in touch
with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kedusha</i> than Jews.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Or with an animal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Premise 2: Cats are obligated in fewer <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i> than humans. In fact, they are
obligated in no <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i> at all!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Conclusion: Cats are more in touch with
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kedusha</i> than humans.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bolstering the contention that “women
are more in touch with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kedusha</i>” is
just a platitude that no one takes seriously and is meant only to placate
modern-minded women is that it first appears in the 19th century. Earlier
commentators say the exact opposite.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The Magen Avraham (17th century) writes,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Women should not wear white on Yom
Kippur because they can't be like angels. As it states in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Misheli</i> (21:22), ‘A wise man scales the city of the mighty men.’
[This refers to Moshe going to heaven to be with the angels] It refers to the
Heaven as the ‘city of the mighty <i>men</i>.’ Thus, only men are capable of being
like angels.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So much for women being more in touch
with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kedusha</i> than men.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Why then are women not </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mechuyiv</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> in </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mitzvos aseh she’hazman grama</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">? If it's not that they intuitively grasp
the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">ratzon Hashem</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> and therefore need
less guidance from </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mitzvos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, why do
they have fewer </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mitzvos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">? The </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Sefer Abudarham</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> (14th century) gives us
a traditional Jewish answer.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Woman is exempt from Positive Precepts
dependent upon a set time because she is bound to her husband, to attend to his
needs. Were a woman obliged to perform such <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i>,
her husband might bid her to do something at the precise moment that she is
fulfilling one of these <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvoth</i>.
Should she fulfill the bidding of her Creator and neglect her husband’s
demands, she faces her husband’s wrath. On the other hand, should she fulfill
her husband’s demands and neglect the bidding of her Creator, she faces the
wrath of her Creator. Consequently, the Creator exempted her from these
obligations in order to promote harmony between husband and wife.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to this explanation, not only
is women’s exemption from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos aseh
she’hazman grama</i> not because of their superior spiritual status, it’s
because of their inferior social status. They are servants to their husbands,
and God has magnanimously ceded some of His claims on them to their masters.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">These sources show us that
traditionally, Judaism held that women are inferior to men, both spiritually
and socially. So where did the idea that women are more in touch with </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">kedusha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> come from?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">It developed in the 19th century in
reaction to modernity. Women were no longer content to be second-class
citizens, and the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">haskalah</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> saw the
traditional position of women in </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">frum</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
society as backwards. Orthodoxy would not change its practice, but it was okay
with inventing apologetics to make traditional practices palatable. The world
was (slowly) moving away from rampant misogyny and was replacing it with
romantic notions of femininity, and Orthodoxy adjusted its </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">hashkafa</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> accordingly.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The Romantic movement swept across
Europe in the early 19th century, and the Romantic novel became a popular new
literary form. </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Haskalah</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> writers borrowed
the form for Yiddish novels, and with it came the genre’s heroine archetype.
This character was pure, intuitive, and in touch with nature and emotion. She
was weaker than the men around her, and required their protection. In return,
she supplied emotional strength. The men left the home to earn a living, and
she provided domesticity and an emotional center for them to return to.</span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[15]</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
Translated into a religious idiom, the Romantic heroine became an </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">eishes chayil</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, pure, intuitive, and in
touch with </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">kedusha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. The men around
her took care of public worship and positions of authority, and ceded to her
spiritual strength and building a </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">bayis
ne'eman b’yisroel</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. It is ironic that Orthodoxy employed an archetype
invented in modernity and popularized in Jewish circles by </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">maskilim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> to placate and keep within the fold those women who,
influenced by modernity and the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">haskalah</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">,
were bothered by their secondary role in their religion and community.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The explanation that women are holier and
therefore don't need time-bound </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mitzvos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
as men do was first articulated by R’ Samson Rafael Hirsch. R’ Hirsch writes in
his </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Commentary on the Torah</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Clearly, women's exemption from
positive, time-bound [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvot</i>] is not
a consequence of their diminished worth; nor is because the Torah found them
unfit, as it were, to fulfill these <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvot</i>.
Rather, it seems to me, it is because the Torah understood that women are not
in need of these <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvot</i>. The Torah
affirms that our women are imbued with a great love and a holy enthusiasm for
their role in divine worship, exceeding that of man. The trials men undergo in
their professional activities jeopardize their fidelity to Torah, and therefore
they require from time to time reminders and warnings in the form of time-bound
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvot</i>. Women, whose lifestyle does
not subject them to comparable trials and hazards, have no need for such
periodic reminders.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Notice that R’ Hirsch’s description of
women parallels that of the Romantic archetype from European and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Maskilic</i> literature. “Women are imbued
with a great love and a holy enthusiasm,” a trait of the Romantic heroine who is
a font of emotional strength. And it is “trials men undergo in their
professional activities [that] jeopardize their fidelity to Torah.” Just as in
the Romantic novel, the men take on the difficult role to protect women, they
leave the house to earn a living, and come home to women who are pure, “whose
lifestyle does not subject them to comparable trials and hazards.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Note also that R’ Hirsch writes “it
seems to me…” This is his </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">chiddush</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">.
From the time the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">bracha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> “</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">shelo asani isha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">” appears in the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Tosefta</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> until R’ Hirsch presented his </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">chiddush</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> that women are more in touch with
</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">kedusha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> was 1,600 years. To suggest that
this was the intent of those who adapted the blessing into </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">davening</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> would suggest for 1,600 years, nobody thought to mention
it, and when it was finally mentioned in the 19th century, the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">talmid chacham</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> who wrote it down thought
it was a </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">chiddush</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. This is absurd.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2.
Women are how Hashem ideally wanted people to be<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">This too is an explanation that fits
poorly with traditional Jewish sources. Abarbanel (15th century) addresses
directly the question of how Hashem ideally wanted people to be and expresses the
traditional view well, so I'll just let him explain it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Even though Man was created as male
and female, they were not both equally perfected. And even though they were the
same species they were not equally in the image of God. That is why the verse
states, “In the image of God He created him (singular), male and female He
created them.” In other words, only Man was created in the image of God, because
he was the reason and purpose for Creation. It was only for the necessity of
procreation that Man was created as male and female. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">… The Torah doesn't say “man according
to his species,” but it does say that Adam was created male and female ... That
is because man is different than other animals in which the female is on the
same level as the male and is fully equal to him in nature. … That is why it
says about them “according to his species” without giving the male any
superiority to the female. However, it is different concerning man because the
male is the reason for creation of humans and he alone was created in the image
of God. Thus, the Torah states in the singular grammatical form, in the image
of God He created him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">…The male is the one who comprehends
mysteries of wisdom and not the female, about whom our Sages (Yoma 66b) said,
“There is no wisdom in a woman except for the spindle.” That is because the
creation of the female was only an afterthought to provide the man with a
helper and for the purpose of procreation, as the Torah states later. So, in
summary we see that man was originally created alone in perfection while she
was made afterwards in order to serve him…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, that understanding seems to be
inconsistent with the view (Eiruvin 17a) that male and female were in fact
created at the same time as two entities joined together back to back. [See my
discussion of that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i> <a href="https://2nd-son.blogspot.com/2016/05/platos-midrash.html">here</a>.] However,
in fact, our assertion that woman lacks the image of God and is inferior to the
male is also consistent with the view that Adam was created as a hermaphrodite.
In other words, man was created with an additional form from which woman was
made…Adam was in fact a male in reality while the female aspect was only
subordinate and an appendage to the male entity in order to make a woman from
it later. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thus we can explain that when it says Adam
was created male and female, it means that since the dominant concern was to
create an intelligent being whose purpose was intellectual, for that purpose
there was no need for the female and thus it was not proper to create the
female with him . … this verse of “male and female He created them” teaches
that … God wanted that man would be created not only with the intellect but
also with a non-intellectual material aspect … So even … according to this
second view … the two aspects were not equal in perfection but rather it was
the male aspect – the primary one - which was created with the image of God.
Man was created as male and intellectual and only secondarily as female to
enable the making of a second subordinate entity to serve the male.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to Abarbanel, the truth is
the exact opposite of the apologetic claim that “women are how Hashem ideally
wanted people to be.” He says “man was originally created alone in perfection,
while she was made afterwards in order to serve him.” Women were not how Hashem
ideally wanted people to be! They were an afterthought. They were created only
because they were necessary for procreation. They aren’t even created <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">b’tzelem Elohim</i>, let alone as the ideal
form of humanity. “The male is the reason for creation of humans, and he alone
was created in the image of God.” Abarbanel also refutes the first of our three
apologetics, the idea that women are more in touch with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kedusha</i>. He says, “The male is the one who comprehends mysteries of
wisdom and not the female.” Women exist only as a “subordinate entity to serve
the male.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Abarbanel is not the last word on the
relative worth of men and women in Judaism, but traditional Jewish sources
align with his views far more closely than they do with those of R’ Hirsch. And
it is striking how very different modern apologetics like those in the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">siddur’s</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> appendix are from the views of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">rishonim</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> like Abarbanel.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3.
The </span></i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">brachos<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> are about </i>mitzvos<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, not the
relative worth of men and women.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">This is the only one of the three lines
of apologetics that has support in the traditional sources. The </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">tosefta</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> where the trio of </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> first appears has explanations
for why each is said, and includes the explanation that </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">shelo asani isha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> is about </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mitzvos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">”[The reason for saying a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bracha</i> for not making him] a gentile is
because it says ‘All nations are like nothing to Him. He considers them to be
empty and void.’ (Isaiah 40:17) [The reason for saying a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bracha</i> for not making him] a woman is because women are not
obligated in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvot</i> [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">aseh shehazman grama</i>].” [The reason for
saying a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bracha</i> for not making him] a
boor is because a boor is not afraid of sin.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In contrast, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i> implies that it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i>
about the relative worth of men and women. As we saw above, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i> relates that Rav Acha Bar Yaakov
told his son to say a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bracha</i> for not
being created a slave instead of not being created an ignoramus. The son points
out that “a slave … is the same as a woman,” so saying a </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">bracha</span></i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">about
not being made a slave seems redundant. When read through the lens of the
apologetic, it seems that the son is saying that slaves and women have the same
number of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i>. But Rashi explains
that the son's question is about status, because “a woman is to her husband as
a slave is to his master.” Rav Acha Bar Yaakov’s answer is also about status,
not mitzvos. He tells his son that slaves are “lesser” than women.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">We might say that the third apologetic
is half true. It is true that in the earliest Jewish source we have for these </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, the reason given for saying “</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">shelo asani isha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">” is about </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mitzvos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. But in subsequent sources, it
is also about status and the relative worth of men and women.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">So we see that the apologetics the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">siddur’s</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> author gives to justify what are
on their face blatantly misogynistic </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">brachos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">
are, with the exception of one early mention of it being about </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">mitzvos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">, recent inventions that are
contradicted by earlier sources and/or don't hold up logically. And we see that
he is apparently unaware of the provenance or history of “</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">shelo asani isha</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">” and “</span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">sheasani
kirtzono</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The author is a professional <i>kiruv </i>rabbi with an illustrious career, someone
who is held up as an expert in providing questioning teens with answers to help them stay
on the </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">derech</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. Is it really so hard
to believe that someone who believed the expert and built his or her </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">emunah</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> on his answers might leave </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">frumkeit</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> when they find out he doesn't
know what he’s talking about? How many such experts must one consult - and be
disappointed by - before they can be deemed an </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">apikores</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> and not an </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">am
ha’aretz</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">=======================<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m starting a new venture. It’s been
three years since I finished my book on the Kuzari Argument, “Reasonable
Doubts: Breaking the Kuzari.” Since then I’ve been working on other planned
books in the series, and for the last year and a half I’ve been focused on a
book I’ve tentatively titled “Reasonable Doubts: Orthodox Myths.” It goes
through the central claims that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>
makes about itself and deconstructs them one by one. It’s slow going, and I
think it will be a long time before it’s finished. In the interest of making it
available sooner (and motivating myself to devote more time to working on it),
I’m starting a weekly newsletter where I will regularly post excerpts. The first
post is the first few pages of the book, the next will be the next few pages,
and so on. If you’d like to read the book as I write it, check it out here: <a href="http://the2ndson.substack.com">the2ndson.substack.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tosefta, Berachot 6:23</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><a href="file:///D:/shrag/Projects/Writing/My%20Blog/Shelo%20asani%20isha%20post.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></a><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BT Menachos 43b</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BT Brachos 60b</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rainbow Tallit Baby. (June 17, 2015). It’s not about the
extra mitzvot: Mansplaining the Morning Blessings [Blog post]. Retrieved from
https://rainbowtallitbaby.wordpress.com/2015/06/17/its-not-about-the-extra-mitzvot/</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 1:33</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BT Menachos 43b. Translation from Sefaria.org</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BT Menachos 43b Translation from Sefaria.org</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jacobowitz, T. Book review of: Kahn, Y. (2011). The Three
Blessings: Boundaries, Censorship, and Identity in Jewish Liturgy. Oxford
University Press.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jacobowitz, T. Book review of: Kahn, Y. (2011). The Three
Blessings: Boundaries, Censorship, and Identity in Jewish Liturgy. Oxford
University Press.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rainbow Tallit Baby. (June 17, 2015). It’s not about the
extra mitzvot: Mansplaining the Morning Blessings [Blog post]. Retrieved from
https://rainbowtallitbaby.wordpress.com/2015/06/17/its-not-about-the-extra-mitzvot/</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tur, Orach Chayyim 46. Translation from Sefaria.org</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Berman, S.J. (1973). The Status Of Women In Halakhic
Judaism. Tradition 14(2). Retrieved from
https://www.lookstein.org/professional-dev/status-women-halakhic-judaism</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mogen Avraham, Orech Chaim (610:5)</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sefer Abudarham, Third Gate; Blessings on Commandments 28.
Translation from Sefaria.org</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Seidman, N. (2016). The Marriage Plot Or, How Jews Fell in
Love with Love, and with Literature, Stanford University Press. P 178</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Samson Rafael Hirsch, Hirsch Commentary on the Torah
(Brooklyn: Judaica Press, 1989), Lev. 23:43</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn17" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Abarbanel (Bereishis 1:27)</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn18" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tosefta, Berachos 6:23, Translation from sefaria.org</span></p>
</div>
</div>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-70237864967574096122022-06-28T09:12:00.003-07:002022-06-28T09:12:29.925-07:00Measuring Morality<p> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Something that bugs me is when I see people decry “today's” degenerate culture, and wax nostalgic about how much more moral the world used to be. In the frum world, this often manifests as rhetoric along the lines of, “In the alte heim, even the goyim were tznius!” Whereas now, boys have to leave the city during the summer, because there’s pritzus everywhere you look.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-93728c15-7fff-966d-fd69-1f1b251f3a1a"><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oddly, when people talk about “morality” and how terrible the world is “these days,” they’re always only talking about sex. Specifically, how much easier it is now than in the past to see things they find erotic, and how it is now acceptableto talk about sex in public. “People today have no shame!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whether or not a guy seeing a woman in short sleeves (or in a bikini on the beach) is a moral issue at all is debatable, as is whether it really is easier to see or talk about erotica than it was in most of the past, but let's grant it arguendo. Even so, why is that the measure of morality “today?” Why are all other moral categories excluded? What about grift, or theft, or violence, or murder? Surely murder is a more serious moral issue than whether it’s okay for people to wear t-shirts and shorts when it’s hot out.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I saw an interesting statistic. In Europe in the 21st century, the murder rate is approximatly 1/100,000. Contrast that with tribal societies, where about half of men are murdered over one thing or another - honor, women, property, etc. (The reasons for this mostly have to do with the state claiming a monopoly on violence, not something inherent to tribal people vs. urban people.) If we assume that men are about half the population of these tribal societies, and ignore any murders of women that may occur (in order to give these societies as favorable a standing as we can) that gives us a muder rate among tribal societies of about 25,000/100,000.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If we use murder rates instead of bare skin as a measure of morality, people in the modern cultures the moral guardians think are so much worse than in the past are 25,000 times more moral than tribal societies. We’re also 100 times more moral than medieval Erope, which had a murder rate of about 100/100,000. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 1.5pt 0pt 1.5pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It doesn’t seem like we’re so immoral after all.</span></p><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-27443998402931062762022-06-11T09:17:00.001-07:002022-06-12T08:10:35.669-07:00The Jewish Zoroastrian Afterlife<p>Here's something fun. Well, something I find fun. </p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">Professor of Rabbinics Dr. Candice Levy gives a description of Zoroastrian beliefs about the afterlife that, by
changing a few words, could be a description of current Jewish beliefs. To make
the point about how closely Jewish beliefs about the afterlife align with Zoroastrian
beliefs of antiquity, let's do exactly that.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, Dr. Levy’s description of Zoroastrian
beliefs.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">"Zoroastrianism includes a belief in the
afterlife, where the person survives death and transforms into the urvan (soul
or self) to be judged and recompensed for their actions in this life. Upon
death, the soul remains around the body for three days and then travels to the
heavens for judgment and reward. All persons have the potential to enter
heaven, where access is granted based upon the moral and ethical conduct of the
individual. Passage into heaven requires crossing the Chinvat bridge where the
deeds of a person are weighed and the good person is rewarded with entry into
the “House of Good Thought” with Ahura Mazda while the wicked go to the “House
of the Lie” or “House of the Worst Thought.” Eventually, the souls will be reunited
with a more perfected body at the time of the resurrection. In Zoroastrianism,
the resurrection was a collective one, where the Saoshyant will reunite the
dead bodies with souls. The Bundahishn details the unification of the body and
soul as well as the process of refinement that follows it, which is a painful
process for the wicked while the righteous pass through easily. Nonetheless,
all persons emerge purified and free from sin to enter into the “newly
reconstituted earth.” The Bundahishn imagines a completely transformed
existence and world following the resurrection. Ahura Mazda will come into the
world to offer a final sacrifice, of which the righteous will partake and as a
result, their bodies will become eternally young and immortal. Angra Mainyu
will be forced to retreat and the world will be devoid of evil. The earth will
be flattened by a fiery flood that will leave the earth as a perfect
environment where people will be reunited with their families and live in
harmony as a unified community." <span style="text-indent: 0.25in;">[1]</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">Now, let's swap out a few words
and see how well this describes <i>frum </i>beliefs.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><s><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Zoroastrianism</span></s><span style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Frumkeit includes a belief in the afterlife, where the person survives death and </span><s style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">transforms into</span></s><span style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the </span><s style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">urvan</span></s><span style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">neshama </i>(soul or self) [is] to be judged and recompensed for their actions in this life. Upon death, the soul remains around the body for three days* and then travels to the heavens for judgment and reward. All persons have the potential to enter heaven, where access is granted based upon the moral and ethical conduct of the individual. Passage into heaven requires </span><s style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">crossing the Chinvat bridge</span></s><span style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"> coming before the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beis Din Shel Ma’aleh</i> where the deeds of a person are weighed and the good person is rewarded with entry into </span><s style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">the “House of Good Thought”</span></s><span style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gan Eden </i>with </span><s style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ahura Mazda </span></s><span style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hashem while the wicked go to </span><s style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">the “House of the Lie” or “House of the Worst Thought.”</span></s><span style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gehenom</i>. Eventually, the souls will be reunited with a more perfected body at the time of </span><s style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">the resurrection </span></s><span style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">techiyas hameisim</i>. In </span><s style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zoroastrianism </span></s><span style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Frumkeit</i>, the resurrection was a collective one, where </span><s style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">the Saoshyant</span></s> <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Hashem will reunite the dead bodies with souls. The </span><s style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bundahishn</span></s><span style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i> details the unification of the body and soul as well as the process of refinement that follows it, which is a painful process for the wicked while the righteous pass through easily.** Nonetheless, all persons emerge purified and free from sin to enter into the “newly reconstituted earth.” The </span><s style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bundahishn</span></s><span style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Midrashim </i>imagines a completely transformed existence and world following the resurrection. </span><s style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ahura Mazda</span></s><span style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Hashem will come into the world to [be] offer[ed] a final sacrifice [of the Levyasan], of which the righteous will partake*** and as a result, their bodies will become eternally young and immortal. </span><s style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Angra Mainyu </span></s><span style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Satan will be forced to retreat and the world will be devoid of evil. The earth will be </span><s style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">flattened by a fiery flood that will leave the earth as</span></s><span style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"> a perfect environment where people will be reunited with their families and live in harmony as a unified community.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>*Also a Jewish belief, see <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bereishis Rabbah</i> 100:7 and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vayikra Rabbah</i> 18:1<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">** One example of a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i> that says something similar is BT
Sanhedrin 91b, which says that the soul will be reunited with the body for
judgment.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">***Several <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">midrashic</i> sources say that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Levyasan</i>
will be a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">korban</i> and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tzadikim</i> will eat it.[2]</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;"><br /></p>[1] <span style="text-indent: 24px;">Levy, C.L. (2013). Arbiters of the Afterlife: Olam Haba, Torah and Rabbinic Authority. UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations.</span><p></p><p><span style="text-indent: 24px;">[2] </span><span style="text-indent: 24px;">Y.D. Eisenstein, Otzar Midrashim, Vol. 1 (New York: Nobel Offset Printers, 1915), pp. 217-222, in Noegel, S.B. (2015). JONAH AND LEVIATHAN Inner-Biblical Allusions and the Problem with Dragons.</span></p>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-50718702477943185902022-04-13T09:49:00.001-07:002022-04-13T09:49:16.613-07:00From the Wicked son to the Clueless Father<p>This is a stream-of-consciousness line-by-line response to a “letter” that appeared
<a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/an-open-letter-to-the-wicked-son/?fbclid=IwAR1qVMGJAcl-wPsCku9tkweSFX2w7afMkImjeFI-F7Qjc9ZVNitLO073WVU">here </a>and has been floating around the frum/ex-frum internet for the last day or
two.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The letter is in italics.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Credit for the post title goes to someone on facebook (whose
name I’m not including because it was in the private OTD group.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">An Open Letter to the
Wicked Son<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dear Son,<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Your mother and I are
so glad that you’ll be with us for Seder again. I know that you don’t believe
the same as we do and I know you don’t typically observe the way that we do,
but every year you come home for Seder. I want you to know that Mommy and I
notice that, and so do your brothers, and we’re all very grateful. We know that
it takes a lot for you to be here, and that this whole service isn’t really
your thing, but here you are every year and we appreciate it so much.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I don’t know if I ever
told you this, son, but your voice is really a critical one at the Seder.
Without you, our Pesach night would be incomplete! I can’t even imagine if your
voice were missing from our conversation. I know that your questions sometimes
come off a little sharp, but If I’m going to be honest, sometimes my responses
are a little sharp too. But you manage to see the love I have for you, even
within my critical retorts. And you deserve no less. I know that beneath your
biting comments is love. (And if it’s not yet a love for Hashem or Torah or
Jewish practice, it is at least love for your family.)</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Yet? Because of course eventually we’ll see the
that frumkeit is the truth after all? This is in the same vein (and probably
lifted from) the kiruv shtick of calling the 90% of Jews who aren’t Orthodox “not
yet frum.” As though that’s inevitable. Or as if that’s the value of people who
aren’t frum: that they might become frum. Worst of all, it’s a way of
humanizing non-Orthodox people. They’re not like “us” – yet. They’re not frei,
that’s not their identity, they’re “not yet frum.” With just a little work,
they can be just like “us.” The corollary is that if someone is not like “us,”
and isn’t potentially going to become like us, then they’re not really a
person. (Sorry for the tangent.)</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></i><!--[endif]-->“At
least?!" Because love for your family isn’t really important compared to love
for Hashem? I’m going to give the author the benefit of the doubt, and assume
that this is an artifact of awkward wording. That he meant to say something
like, “It would make me happy if you loved Hashem and the Torah and, and it
makes me happy that [at least] you love our family.” But I can’t be sure that’s
what he meant, and the article says what it says.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In the past you have
come to Seder always ready to jump on the same question, “What is this work for
you?” You know, in different years your questions have echoed different
accusations. Sometimes I assumed that you meant that you found no meaning in
our most cherished and holy traditions because you called it all just “work.” <br />
<br />
</i>This is wonderfully pedantic. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don’t think even the frummest person would argue that
Pesach isn’t work. They might enjoy the work, they might find profound meaning
in it, but cleaning and cooking are still work.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br />
<br />
Sometimes, I figured that you meant that you didn’t feel yourself part of our
faith community at all because you said, “for you,” and that means you were
excluding yourself from your heritage. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There is something to this. In the mishnah, the rasha says “you”
and the chacham says “we,” though their questions are otherwise similar. The
implication is that the rasha is a rasha because he’s othering the rest of the
Jewish people, and removing himself from the group. The response, though excessively
violent, is to tell him, essentially, “You don’t want to be part of us? Fine.
Had you been there during yetzias Mitzrayim, and separated yourself from our
ancestors, from the group that left Mitzrayim, you wouldn’t have been part of
the group that left Mitzrayim.” This is a tautology.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the Hagadah, though, the chacham and rasha both say “you,”
so focusing on it here in the context of the arbeh banim of the Hagadah is less
meaningful.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I’ve spent a lot of
years and a lot of discussions with my rabbinic colleagues trying to understand
what your problem is. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why assume there’s a problem? Because everyone who<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>leaves frumkeit is broken? That’s the frum narrative,
but it’s not true. Lots of people leave because it’s not for them: they don’t
find it meaningful, or it doesn’t work for them, or they conclude that the
costs are not worth the benefits, or that the underlying structure of frumkeit
isn’t true. I suppose one could read “problem” here as “reason you left,” as
in, “my problem with frumkeit is that its tenets are not true.” But I don’t
think that’s what it means here. The implication, and the wider context of frum
beliefs about those who go OTD, makes it more likely it means “trying to
understand what’s wrong with you that caused you to leave what is obviously the
most true and best way to live.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But it’s possible I
never took a chance to ask you directly. What do you mean? What’s bothering
you?<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why is treating his child like a person an epiphany? Talking
to his son about what’s “bothering” him should have been the first step, not
the last. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The reason that I ask
is because I realize now that none of my responses seem to have hit the mark. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, you know, you
could have been a good parent to begin with and had a conversation with your
son about his feelings and beliefs instead of lecturing the kid with responses
meant to “hit the mark” and convince him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I admit that in the
first years, I was really worried what impression your question would leave on
your brothers. (Especially little Tom.) I was worried that your skepticism
would infect them too. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Infect,” like it’s a disease. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In my first ever post, I wrote about how when I was in high
school, the principal told me to stop asking questions in class because he was
worried the other boys would be bothered by my questions, and why should they
be bothered by questions they would never think of themselves? The implication
is that questions are bad. Better to have emunah peshutah, to suppress any curiosity
about the underpinnings of the frum system. Just shut up and do as you’re told.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was in high school in the late ‘90s. Twenty-five years,
and nothing’s changed. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That’s why I felt the
need to take the teeth out of your argument. I realize that I never really
addressed your issues. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Because the system is more important than the person – or more
precisely, keeping other people from questioning the system is more important
than any pain you might cause a curious teenager.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rather, I sidestepped
them because I wanted to make sure that everyone else realized that the Jewish
People as a Faith Community or as a Family or as an Existential Reality were
all taken out and saved from Egypt, but that doesn’t mean that each of Jacob’s
descendants were. Redemption meant connection to our Peoplehood, and those
disconnected weren’t saved. And son, to be honest, I worry about that now too.
Perhaps only Jewish people who feel connected to the rest of Jewish people in
brotherhood will be saved on that Great and Awesome Day. That’s not the whole
reason, or even the main reason, I’m glad you’ve stayed connected all these
years. But it is a reason!<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Huh? “Saved?” “Great and Awesome Day?” What are we,
Evangelicals waiting for the Rapture? I know the frum community has been
identifying more and more with Evangelicals in the last couple of years, but
describing what I assume is the yemai hamoshiach in such blatantly Christian
terms is odd.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Son, what’s really
bothering you? I want to know. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Have you never listened before? Or is the “really” meant to
imply that his son’s questions aren’t real questions, they’re teirutzim – and he
wants to know the underlying reason for the questions. In other words, does he
want to discuss theology and sociology, or does he want to know which of the
usual culprits is “really” at the bottom of the questions: abuse, mental
illness, or unbridled taivos?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I’m not asking because
I want you to believe what I believe or practice the way the way that I do. (I
wouldn’t mind obviously, but that’s not the reason.) I just want to know you
better and I want to know what’s on your mind. If you feel comfortable talking
about it with everyone, we certainly can discuss it at the Seder.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Because it’s been so
many years that you have been asking the same question, and because I have so
long worried that your question demonstrated a lack of faith, I feel like I
have something I need to tell you. I would never talk about this with your
brothers. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Didn’t you just say we could talk about it at the seder? And
didn’t you say earlier “I want you to know that Mommy and I notice that [you
come to the Seder], and so do your brothers, and we’re all very grateful.” Maybe
expecting internal coherence in an article like this is too much. I get that
this is a print version of a vort. But it would be nice.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I feel like they
wouldn’t understand (but maybe for opposite reasons.) I also struggle with
faith from time to time. I don’t know if that comes as a surprise or not. I
know that I’m The Dad and I’m supposed to be the one with all the answers, but
that’s not the way life is. Not really. Sometimes I have questions too. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Great! Let’s talk about those questions – and not take for
granted that your beliefs are correct no matter how many questions one might
have.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Unfortunately, given the following lines, when he says “questions,”
I think he means things more along the lines of “Why would Hashem allow bad
things to happen to good people like our friends,” and not, “how can we believe
in a tri-omni God when such a Being is logically impossible given the evil we
see in the world,” and certainly not, “how should we understand the story of
yetzias Mitzrayim given all the evidence that it didn’t happen?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Look, you’re our son.
You grew up in this house and you’re not an idiot, so you knew when things were
rough, when money was super tight. You knew when terrible tragedy struck our
friends. You were always the most sensitive soul in our care, and maybe you
were affected the most by those hard times. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ah, there’s the “real” “problem!” You poor sensitive thing,
you were traumatized by bad things that happened during your childhood. You don’t
really have questions, you’re just overly emotional! </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When you’re in the
middle of all of that it’s not easy to say, “it’s all for the good,” and even
if you can say it, it’s hard to feel it, really. In those moments, I didn’t
understand what the Creator wanted from us. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">See, I was right. These are safe, within-the-system questions:
“How is this terrible thing I’m experiencing really be for the good?” and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What does Hashem want of us?” Not
about-the-system questions. I wonder if the writer gets that there’s a
difference, and that his son has likely moved past questions that assume the
system is true, and are just asking for clarification to questions about how
the system itself is incoherent.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It felt like the sun
would never shine on us again. Like we would never be able to take a full
breath of air without the weight of stress and sadness making it hard to
inhale. In those moments I felt really disconnected. I worry that maybe my
actions at those times have impacted your thinking today. Maybe we’ll never
really know that.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Again, blaming his son going OTD on trauma. Even including a
mea culpa – maybe I inadvertently did or said something during a tough period
that hurt you. Which is noble and all, but still missing the point. It really
is possible for your son to really, truly and reasonably disagree with you. It’s
possible that your wrong. It’s not true that people who go OTD are all broken.
Which makes the mea culpa less noble. It’s less taking responsibility for a
mistake than it is a defense against the possibility that his belief system is
mistaken.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Son, it’s so clear
from your question that you don’t find joy in our traditions. I agree with your
essential observation – if something feels like a giant burden, why bother
doing it? I agree! There are plenty of things at work that I “just have to do”
and I hate them and push them off to the last minute. They bring me no joy and
no job satisfaction. I just do them because I have a boss and I like being
employed. If you were experiencing joy and satisfaction in mitzvot then you
never would have asked that question. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That’s not necessarily true. I genuinely enjoy a lot of
Jewish traditions. I enjoy the seder. And I love learning the real reasons why
we do things – which are rarely “because God commanded it,” as the chacham’s
question assumes. It’s usually more prosaic, pragmatic, and interesting than a belief
that God ordered it ex nihilo from the sky.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A lot of the stuff we do is objectively weird (and not just
the Jewish stuff). Asking why in the world we do it is a natural question, and
the answer often involves an exploration of our history.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You’re an adult so this
is really your responsibility now, but like any parent, I wonder if we could
have or should have done something different. Was our Shabbos table fun enough?
Did Shabbos feel like something we do or did it feel like a list of things we
don’t do? Was school a good fit? Did it feel like a place you enjoyed being
with people who understood you? We can’t go back, obviously, but I want you to
know we tried our best. We always loved you. We still do. Our greatest nachas
is having all four of our boys at the Seder.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Probably in a few
years, son, you’ll be married and raising a family of your own. Your mom and I
talk about this a lot. I don’t think this is the time or place to have the
whole conversation, but let me just say, I hope that you and your special
someone and your family will always feel welcome at our Seder. But realize you
have a role in that too.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And that role is…? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don’t know what the author intended, but too often, the answer
is that the OTD person should “compromise” by behaving as the frum person
thinks he should, while the frum person “compromises” by not kvetching too much
when the OTD person does something the frum person thinks he shouldn’t.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Son, I want to end how
I began. Mommy and I are so grateful that you will be at Seder. I just want to
make sure you know that you are welcome home all the time. Come sit in our
succah! Come for Shabbos dinner. (You always loved Mommy’s challah!) Come for a
barbecue on Sunday. Whenever you want to come, we want to have you.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love always,<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tatty<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dear Reader,<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I want to make it
clear that this is not about any of MY sons. Yes, I have 4 sons. But none of
them are the Wicked Son of the Haggadah. My Chief Advisor and Most Trusted
Editor thought I should clarify that. Because, the internet.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chag Kasher V’Sameach.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">R’M.S.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ah. I understand. You wouldn’t want us to think that chas v’shalom
one of your kids is an awful OTDer. Which kind of undermines the whole
accepting tone you were going for.</p>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-69411525626549446892022-04-03T14:19:00.001-07:002022-04-03T14:19:12.173-07:00Our Experience of Matzah<p><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;">The following is an excerpt from my current work-in-progress, a
book that examines the claims that Orthodoxy makes about itself. This is a
section from a chapter about Orthodoxy’s claim to be essentially synonymous with
the way that pious Jews have practiced in all times and places. I was
proofreading it today, and decided to post it because it’s topical.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">===========<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The crisp <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> that Ashkenazim
eat on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pesach</i> is another example of a
change to how we experience one of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shalosh
regalim</i>. Our ancestors from most times and places would not recognize as “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>” the cracker-like food which we associate
with that word. To them, matzah was a type of bread that was visibly
indistinguishable from other types of bread. It wasn’t a cracker.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Thin crisp <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> is one
of those things that more moderate <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>
people might acknowledge is different from the past, but will say is not a
significant change. While the exact form that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> takes has changed, the rules according to which it is
prepared, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">halacha</i> which is its
essence, is the same. They're right that from a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">halachic</i> perspective this is an aesthetic rather than an essential
change, but it is a change that illustrates two important points. The first is
that those who take the more extreme position are incorrect, and it is not true
that all pious Jews from all generations would recognize each other's
practices. The second is that while our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>
may be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">halachically</i> the same as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> our ancestors ate, our experience
of eating <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> is very different.
Just like with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shavuos</i>, we would not
recognize our ancestors' experience and they would not recognize ours.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The thin, crisp, cracker-like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>
that we know, with its perforations, its crunch, its often burnt edges, and its
shelf-stability is a nineteenth-century invention.<span style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span> We
ritualistically call this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>
“bread,” but it isn't really. If you didn't know what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> was and someone handed you a piece, you would call it a
cracker. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Typical bread that we think of as such, whether loaves like white
or rye bread or flatbreads like pita and tortilla have a softer part inside,
called the crumb, and a relatively harder crust on the outside. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> our ancestors knew was also like
this. It really was bread. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If one were to mix flour and water, roll the dough into sheets,
and pop it in the oven, all in less than eighteen minutes, the result is not
the dry crackers that we call <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>.
It's a soft bread similar to other flatbreads.<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span> This is the stuff our ancestors ate, right up until when <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> baking was industrialized a few generations ago. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The products of modern <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>
factories are made by mixing flour with the least amount of water that will
still make a dough, a recipe that is the result of historical trends that we
will discuss momentarily. This creates a very dry dough that is then baked at
very high temperatures. Where bread is typically baked between 350<sup>o</sup>F
and 475<sup>o</sup>F,<span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span> depending on type, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> is baked
between 600<sup>o</sup>F and 800<sup>o</sup>F.<span style="font-size: xx-small;">4</span> This dries out the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> all the way
through and produces a cracker-like product. The same historical trends that
led to using very dry dough occurred among both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ashkenazim</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sephardim</i>,
and even the soft matzos that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sephardim</i>
use today are dryer than the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i>
our ancestors ate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">References to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>
throughout traditional rabbinic sources support the contention that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> most Jews throughout history
would recognize was indistinguishable from other breads:<span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 110%; margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara<span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></i> discusses a case where someone finds a moldy loaf in a bread bin and isn't sure
if it’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chometz</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>. Hard <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i> both do not become moldy and would not be confused with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chometz</i> breads. We can infer that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i> the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">amoraim</i> were familiar with were indistinguishable from regular
bread.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Historically, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hagaddos</i> have been the most commonly illustrated Jewish books. Some
of the surviving <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hagaados</i> are as much
as seven hundred year old, and many of their illustrations realistically depict
various <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pesach</i> activities. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hagaados</i> from the 15th century show <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i> that vary in thickness from a
finger to a hand's breadth, much too thick to be the cracker-like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzo</i> we know now, and too thick to chew
were they hard. A soft <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> a
hand's breadth thick would be indistinguishable from other types of bread, and
completely unlike the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i> we are
familiar with. Other illustrated <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hagaados</i>
from over the centuries show similar <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Maharshal, who lived in the 16th century,
is quoted<span style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span> as saying that one should keep the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">afikoman</i>
under one’s pillow. If one did this with hard matzos, there would be nothing left
but crumbs. With dense, unrisen, soft <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i>,
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> would be fine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chayei
Adam</i>, written in the early nineteenth century, recommends<span style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span> that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i> be made thin, but notes
that in some places the custom is to make thick <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 110%; margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As recently as 1884, the Chofetz Chaim wrote
that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> should be “soft as a
sponge.” This implies that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>
that he knew was bread, not a cracker.<span style="font-size: xx-small;">9</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The thin hard <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i>
that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ashkenazim</i> use today developed
over several centuries among people seeking to be more <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chumor</i>. There are references to some people making very thin <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i> as early as the 16th century,<span style="font-size: xx-small;">10</span> but as the above sources show, this was not typical. It is likely that
cracker-like matzah became standard when industrialized production in the 19th
century created the need among producers for shelf-stable <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i>. This way of making <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>
originated as a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chumrah</i> with people
who wanted to bake all of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> they
would need for the entire <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yom tov</i>
before <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pesach</i> started. They were
concerned that during baking there might be some bits of unbaked flour that
could later become <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chometz</i>. They
wanted to be sure that this would happen before <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yom tov</i>, when <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chometz</i>
would be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">batul</i>. If the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> was baked during <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pesach</i>, when <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chometz</i> is not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">batul</i>,
they would run the risk of eating <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chometz</i>
on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pesach</i>, of which even a tiny bit
is prohibited. The regular thick, soft <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i>
people were accustomed to making would, as bread does, go bad after a couple of
days. To make the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>
shelf-stable, those who were baking all of it before <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pesach</i> would make their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i>
thin and dry. These thin <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i>
existed alongside the soft, thick, bread-like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> still being made daily by the majority of people who kept <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pesach</i>. As is often the case with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chumros</i>, as time passed the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chumrah</i> to bake all of one’s matzah before
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pesach</i> became more severe, mandating
ever thinner and dryer <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i>. With
the advent in the 19th century of industrialized production and of machines
that could mix very dry batter, cracker-like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i> reached the final stage in their evolution and became the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i> we're familiar with today. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Once the thin <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> was
widely available, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rabbonim</i> moved to
make it mandatory. We see here again the beginnings of the change from the
mimetic tradition, passed on through experience from one generation to the
next, to the textually based tradition that would become dominant by the
mid-twentieth century. The Chasam Sofer, who was responsible for so much of the
roots of that change, wrote that most <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ashkenazi</i>
communities had banned thick <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i> -
but those bans were often ignored. In the mid-19th century, the mimetic
tradition still ruled. A hundred years later, the textual tradition, and
cracker-like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i>, became
ascendant. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To us, the relatively new thin, hard version IS <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>, and most people are only dimly
aware that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> used to be recognizably
bread. Our experience of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> is
very different than that of thousands of year’s worth of pious Jews, from the
time Jewish people started eating <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>
on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pesach</i> right up until two
centuries ago. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ashkenazim</i> eat on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pesach</i> and which is widely available for sale in kosher stores has
been the standard for only about 5% of the time Judaism has existed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As we said, moderates might argue that technically <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> hasn’t changed: it is and always
has been bread that has not been allowed to rise. And so, they can argue,
Judaism hasn't changed. But this argument is itself something that only makes
sense in the new textually-dominated Orthodoxy. To our ancestors, devotees of
the mimetic tradition, the experience of Judaism was as or more important than
the technicalities of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">halacha</i>. How
comfortable would they have been eating our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>?
Would someone from a thousand years ago have even recognized it as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>? To them, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> was bread, not a cracker that we ritualistically refer to as
bread. Their experience was completely different than ours. It’s not true that
what we do is the same as what our ancestors did, and it's not true that any pious
Jew from any time would find Orthodoxy familiar and be comfortable in any <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> community. The technicalities of
what makes something <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hlachically</i> “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>” matter much less than what it is
like to sit at a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">seder</i> and eat <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">More than just a difference in experience in that the texture of
our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> is different, the
significant difference is that for our ancestors, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pesach</i> was less at odds with the rest of their lives than our
experience of it is today. Once upon a time, Hillel was eating what amounted to
a wrap made with dryish pita, roasted lamb, and salad. We've gone from what was
once a perfectly normal meal to, on the other end of the spectrum, those who
chew up two <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kzaysim</i> of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>, (according to the biggest <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shiur</i>, of course,) hold it in their
cheek, and swallow it as quickly as possible in order to make sure that they
eat it “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kdei achilas pras</i>.” Imagine
the difference in experience between someone who does that and the experience
of our ancestors in antiquity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tannaim</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">amoraim</i> had their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">seder</i> meal,
they were experiencing a perfectly normal thing. Eating a wrap is dinner, not a
ritual. Today, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvah</i> of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">achilas matzah</i> is divorced from everyday
experience. It has become strange and ritualized, an obligation to eat a
prescribed amount of a food that is different from what we normally eat and to
eat it within a prescribed amount of time. This isn't a dinner, it's a ritual. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In the comments under one of the articles I used as a source for
this section someone pointed out that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">korech</i>
as Hillel ate it was essentially shawarma on pita with salad. Another commenter
protested that this was “trivializ[ing] the holy and sacred.” This is a perfect
illustration of what we've been talking about here. It shows the profundity of
the changes to Judaism, the difference between the version of Judaism that is
current Orthodoxy and versions of Judaism that have existed in the past. To
many <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> people to point out that
Hillel ate a normal sandwich is to trivialize it, whereas the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">korech</i> of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">seder</i>, with its patina of ritual, is holy and sacred. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The way our ancestors experienced eating <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i> is analogous to the way that Americans experience eating
turkey on Thanksgiving. Eating turkey is mundane, but eating it on Thanksgiving
in the way that has become traditional in the United States imbues that mundane
dinner with cultural meaning. Eating shawarma on pita with salad is mundane,
but eating it on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">seder</i> night in fulfillment
of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvah</i> as is traditional
among Jews imbues that mundane dinner with cultural and religious meaning. Now
that is no longer enough. Now <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> people
expect their experience of eating <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>
to be mysterious and ritualized, and to point out that it was once experienced
as a mundane thing, albeit used for a special purpose, is to trivialize it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The change in what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>
is, from a bread to a cracker, is a change in Judaism, albeit a minor one. The
change in the experience of eating <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>
is significant. We do not experience Judaism the way our ancestors did. In fact
it seems some people would dismiss our ancestors' experience of Judaism as
trivial because it is not removed enough from everyday experience to seem
mystical and sacred. Our experience is fundamentally different from that of our
ancestors, and our ancestors would think that the way we fulfill the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvah</i> of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>, and more broadly, the way we relate to our Judaism, is
strange. They would not be comfortable in our communities, nor would we be
comfortable in theirs. The differences are too great, for all that we may share
the technical <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">halachic</i> definition of
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzah</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1 Most of the discussion in this section draws on Zamkanei, S. (2013, March 18). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Why Your Ancestors Never Ate Matzos</i>. The
Times of Israel. Retrieved from
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/why-your-ancestors-never-ate-matzos/; and
Otofsky, A.Z. & Greenspan, A. (2014). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Thick and Thin of the History of Matzah</i>. Ḥakirah 17. Retrieved from
https://hakirah.org/Vol17Zivotofsky.pdf<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2 Rainbow Tallit Baby. (March 28, 2014.). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Matzah
And How Authoritarianism Is Crumby</i> [Blog post]. Retireved from
https://rainbowtallitbaby.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/matzah-and-how-authoritarianism-is-crumby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">3 Amit. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What is the Ideal Oven Temperature
for Baking Bread?</i> [Blog post]. The Bread Guide. Retrieved from
https://thebreadguide.com/what-is-the-ideal-oven-temperature-for-baking-bread<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">4 Siegel, R., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Matzah Baking, an 18-Minute
Project</i>. Myjewishlearning.com. Retrieved from
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/recipe/matzah-baking-an-18-minute-project<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">5 An often cited proof is that the word “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">korech</i>”
memes “to wrap,” something that is impossible to do with cracker-like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i>. I do not cite it here because
the word can be understood as “surround.” While it seems more likely that it
meant “wrap” in the context of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">seder</i>,
the possibility of an interpretation that would work with hard <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matzos</i> means that this line of argument
is not useful to use with the traditionalists who might insist that the way
things are now are the way they have always been.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">6 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Babylonian Talmud</i>, Pesachim 7a<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">7 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Be’ir Haitev</i> (OḤ473:19)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">8 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chayei Adam</i> (128:25)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">9 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mishna Berura</i>, Orach Haim 486<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">10 Rema, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim</i>,
460:4. “there are those who make the Matzot wafer-thin and not a thick loaf
like other breads, for wafers do not leaven as quickly.” Translation from Sefaria.org<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-52072815460351563642022-01-25T06:25:00.000-08:002022-01-25T06:25:03.999-08:00A Skeptic's D'var Torah<p> I made a bas mitzvah for my daughter this past weekend - the same daughter whose birth I wrote about <a href="https://2nd-son.blogspot.com/2010/02/little-miracle.html">here</a>. The following is the speech I gave at the event. I don't know if he was right, but a friend of mine told me afterwards that if my yeshivish family had any idea what I was talking about, they would have been upset. Which is, among other things, an indicator of how far I've come from where I was as a teen and young adult.</p><p><br /></p><p>---</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">Thank you everyone for being here to celebrate with us.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">A <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bas mitzvah</i>
is, among other things, a celebration of the continuation of Judaism. It marks
the transition from childhood to young adulthood, of another generation
carrying on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mesorah</i>. But what,
exactly, makes something “Judaism?” Some things are clearly not Judaism.
Birthday parties, for example. Most Jewish people celebrate their birthdays,
but that celebration isn’t “Judaism.” It’s just a nice thing that people like
to do. And some things clearly are Judaism. Celebrating <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bar</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bas mitzvahs</i> are
“Judaism.” Why, though? Why are these particular birthday celebrations
“Judaism,” while any other birthday celebration is not? What is the difference
between something that is a part of Judaism and something that isn’t?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">The easy answer is that everything that is purely
Jewish without influence from outside sources is Judaism, while everything else
is not. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bar</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bas mitzvahs</i> are “Judaism” because they come from Jewish sources, like
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pirkei Avos</i>, while birthday parties
are not because they’re a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>late 19<sup>th</sup>
century product of Western culture. But this is simplistic, and ignores the
historical reality that Judaism has always been syncretistic. Jewish people
have never lived in a bubble, and we have always influenced and been influenced
by the cultures we’ve found ourselves living among.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">We find syncretism everywhere. Even the Torah uses
stories that are also found in the mythological traditions of other peoples of
the Ancient Near East. Perhaps the most well-known example of syncretism in the
Torah is the story of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mabul</i>.
There were several near-identical flood stories in circulation, the oldest of
which is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian epic poem that is at least
4,000 years old. In that version of the story, the survivor of the great flood,
named Utnapishtim, is warned by a god of an upcoming a flood that will wipe out
all life, is told to build a boat and gather all the animals, and rides out a
flood that wipes out all life not on the boat. His boat stops on a mountaintop,
and he sends out birds three times to see if it is safe to leave. When it’s
safe to go outside, he brings a sacrifice to the god who warned him. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">Lots of cultures from around the world have flood
myths, because people tend to live near water, and that water tends to flood
every now and then. Pittsburgh is here because this is what used to be called
the “forks of the Ohio,” where the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela rivers meet.
The first year the British spent here, in Fort Pitt, the river flooded. Water
got into the storage rooms and ruined all of their food. The Flood myths from
around the world tend to have little in common beyond revolving around a big
flood, and share maybe one or two other points in common with the story of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mabul</i>. But the stories of Utnapishtim
and Noach are almost identical. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">There is one notable difference between the stories:
the reason for the flood. In Gilgamesh, it's because people were noisy and
annoying the gods, so the gods decided to get rid of them. While I can
sympathize with that – people can be noisy and annoying – this isn’t exactly
edifying. In the Torah, the Flood happened for moral reasons, and the story
teaches us a moral lesson. The people were doing bad things, and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mabul</i> was their punishment. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">Torah takes cultural elements that were common in
the Ancient Near East, the stories that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bnei
Yisroel</i> would have been familiar with as part of the sort of general
cultural knowledge that everyone just kind of knows, and uses them for Jewish
purposes. Where the stories were used in Mesopotamian or Egyptian mythology etiologically,
to explain how those societies came to be the way they were and how they were
supposed to function, in the Torah they carry the moral lessons that have shaped
the Jewish people.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">For anything we find in the Torah, the question “is this
“Judaism” is easy to answer. Of course it is. But syncretism in Judaism is
found also in later eras. That the Torah might have chosen to be syncretistic
is one thing. The influences of the wider cultures in which they lived on
Jewish people of later generations might be different. Are those influences
foreign intrusions, or are they also “Judaism?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">There are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">midrashim</i>
that are adaptations of Greek legends. Greek or Greco-Roman Empires had been ruling
Judea for 600 years when the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i>
was written, and Hellenistic culture left an imprint on Judaism. For instance, in
Plato’s Symposium, Plato has his characters discussing the nature of love. He
puts a story in the mouth of a comedian about humanity having started as two
sided creatures, one side male and one side female, which were then separated.
He says that love is when the separated of one of these original two-sided
people find each other again. Eight hundred years later the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i> repeats this story of the origin
of humanity, and says that the word “rib” in the story of the creation of Chava
should be understood as “side” - that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hashem</i>
separated off one side of the androgynous Adam, and in doing so, made men and
women separate creatures.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned
about the two-sided <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adam Harishon</i> as
a kid when I was learning <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bereishis</i>.
Is this story, the earliest record of which is from Plato, “Judaism?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">I think it's safe to say that anything that's in the
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i> is Judaism. Just like the
Torah did, we find here that something that was also in circulation in the
wider culture is being used for a specifically Jewish purpose. In the Symposium,
this story is meant to silence the philosophers who were pontificating about
love. The point was that all of their elaborate ideas weren't necessary. It was
simply two halves coming together to form a whole. In the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i>, the same story is part of a discussion about how to
understand the way the Torah describes the creation of humanity. It is an
element of the wider culture in which the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">amoraim</i>
lived, filtered through a Jewish lens and adapted for a Jewish purpose. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">This sort of adaptation has happened throughout
Jewish history. It happens with small-scale, relatively inconsequential things.
For instance, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dreidel</i> comes from a
Christmas-time children’s game called T-totum. The game originated in England
in the Middle Ages, where it was played with a top that had letters indicating
the actions of the game written on it: T for take, N for nothing, H for half,
and P for put in. It became popular in Germany, and then was picked up by
Jewish children. The words indicating the game’s actions were the same in
German and Yiddish, which made for an easy transition from German Christmastime
game to Jewish Chanukah game, and the top acquired Hebrew letters and a Yiddish
name. In time, it also acquired a Jewish interpretation. The story about Jews
hiding from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yevanim</i> to learn
Torah and pretending to be gambling with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dreidels</i>
if they were discovered is first recorded in a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sefer</i> published at the very end of the 19th century.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">This sort of adaptation also happens on a large
scale, with entire approaches to Judaism. In the 1700s Chassidus, which is now an
accepted part of Judaism, began as the Jewish version of Pietism. Pietism was a
Christian movement that was reacting to the application of then-new scientific
principles to religion, and was deliberately trying to bring back a more
mystical and emotional version of religion. The movement started in Western
Europe, was picked up by groups in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and became
popular in the area around the Carpathian Mountains, where the Baal Shem Tov
began his career. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bar</i> And <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bas Mitzvah</i> celebrations are also
examples of influence and adaptation. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bar
Mitzvah</i> celebrations are relatively late. There's no reference to them in
antiquity or in the Middle Ages, either in formal works or in records of day to
day life like those discovered in the Cairo Geniza. The major life cycle event
for boys between their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bris</i> and their
wedding was a now defunct ceremony on their first day of school. The boy was carried
in a procession from his home through the streets to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cheder</i>, where he was given special foods and was ceremoniously read
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">alef beis </i>forwards and backwards.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">Ideas about childhood and personal responsibility
were changing in late medieval Europe. People came to feel that one should
voluntarily take on religious convictions as a conscious choice, and that young
children are incapable of making such a choice. One consequence of that
conceptual shift was that Christian monasteries stopped allowing parents to
decide that their infant sons would be monks. A boy now had to be old enough to
choose to become a monk before he could move into a monastery. Another
consequence of the shift was the phasing out of the then nearly
thousand-year-old first day of school ceremony in favor of a new importance
given to and celebration of a boy becoming a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bar mitzvah</i>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bas Mitzvah</i>
is even later, and is a product of early 20th century feminism. The first Bas
Mitzvah celebration on record was in 1922, only a year-and-a-half after women
in the United States won the right to vote in federal elections. It was
explicitly about recognizing that women are as important as men, and so girls’
life cycle events deserve the same recognition as boys’. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">Are these celebrations “Judaism?” Despite being
relatively late, and regardless of the influences that lead to their creation,
they are, in a way that typical birthday parties are not. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">So what is it that makes something a part of
Judaism? It's not that it’s been considered a part of Judaism since the
beginning of time, nor is it that it comes from purely Jewish sources, with no
influence from other cultures. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">I think the answer is that whether something is
“Judaism” depends on its purpose, not its pedigree. Something that is shared by
another culture or was influenced by another culture becomes “Judaism” when it
disappears into its role. That the depiction of Adam as a two-sided creature or
the importance of understanding to religious conviction didn’t have their
origins in purely Jewish sources is irrelevant to the role they currently play.
Today they play a role in our understanding of our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mesorah</i> and our experience of Jewish practice, and this makes them “Judaism.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">Judaism continues to change and grow, its <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mesorah</i> shaped by the people who
transmit it from generation to generation and the circumstances in which they
find themselves. It is my hope that [redacted], too, will continue to grow, both
personally and as a member of the Jewish people; that she will take the best
from whatever circumstances she finds herself in and be enriched by it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">Thank you again to everyone for coming.</p><br /><p></p>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-87978842546850041832022-01-07T07:05:00.002-08:002022-07-27T18:37:27.563-07:00All About Me<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The following is a lightly edited and updated version of a bio I first
wrote in 2018. I’m posting it now because I thought it would be useful to have
it to link to. It has a narrow focus, and is a narrative of my
"OTDness." With the caveat that it probably wasn't as coherent a
story as it looks in hindsight.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">---</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I took <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i>
very seriously, right up to the point that I stopped believing in it. That's
not quite right. I take Judaism very seriously. Before I stopped believing in
it, I thought it was an accurate description of the world. Now I don't.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I remember sitting at my desk in first grade, listening to
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rebbe</i>, who had a side job as a
professional storyteller, tell us about Yaakov lifting the rock off the well. I
imagined myself as the hero in the story, as I often did when daydreaming, and
it struck me that there once was a real person named Yaakov who lifted a real
rock off a real well. That sense of the reality of the things I learned about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i> stayed with me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In high school, I had a discussion with one of my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rabbeim</i> about the rocks that Yaakov used
as a pillow. If each rock had a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">malach</i>,
and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">malachim</i> were fighting over
whose rock the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tzadik</i> would rest his
head on, what happened when the rocks fused together? Did the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">malachim</i> also fuse? If I broke a rock in
two, was I creating a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">malach</i>? If I
melted two distinct objects together, was I destroying a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">malach</i>? How far down does the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">malach</i>
representation go? Dos every molecule have its own <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">malach</i>? Every atom? Every quark?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I wanted my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i>
to make sense in the everyday world I experienced. I wanted it to fit in with
everything else I knew was true. Too often, it didn't. I got a reputation for
asking "questions." One day, the principal called me into his office
and told me that while <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i>
encourages questions, I should stop asking my questions in class. Why should
the other <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bochurim</i> be bothered by my
questions, he said, when they would probably never think of them on their own?
The principal arranged for me to meet once a week with a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rebbe</i> from another yeshiva who specialized in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hashkafa</i>. Some of what the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rebbe</i>
told me, like prophecies that had come true, seemed impressive. Others, like
the unbroken chain of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mesorah</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matan
Torah</i> to ourselves, seemed a little off. Wasn't there an incident in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Navi</i> when all of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bnei Yisroel </i>had forgotten the Torah? My
questions didn't go away.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After high school I went to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">beis medrash</i>, on my father's advice that if I didn't, I would never
be able to find a girl to marry. I was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yeshivish</i>
enough that I left the first <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">beis medrash</i>
I tried after a week, when I overheard one of the guys talking about how he was
going that evening to pick up his girlfriend from the airport. I found a place
I was comfortable in around the corner from my parents' house, and I went there
for three and a half years. As it turned out, I stopped going years before I
met my wife, and she wouldn't have cared either way.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">beis medrash, </i>at
my job, in college, I was the guy whose favorite topic of conversation was
religion and all of the problems with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>.
One of my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rabbeim</i> in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">beis medrash</i> told me that of all of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bochurim</i>, I was the one who believed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i> the most. I took it
seriously as something that was as real as anything I experienced. And I was
learning that most other people didn't. They would give theologically correct
answers when asked directly, what a Christian woman I met on a message board around
that time called "Sunday school answers." But their more instinctual
reactions revealed their real beliefs.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This was driven home for me during a conversation I had in a
college writing class. I went to Touro for college. The other guys in the class
were all <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>, and spanned the spectrum
from Modern Orthodox to Chassidish. I forget exactly what sparked the
conversation. I said that the world is a lousy place, and one of my classmates
asked me, if the world is so bad, why don't I kill myself? I replied that my
life in particular wasn't bad, it was the world in general. And besides,
killing myself wouldn't accomplish anything. I'd just be dead, and in a lot of
trouble.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The class laughed. They instinctually found it funny that a
dead person could be in trouble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'd
learned that suicide is a terrible <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">averiah</i>,
and coming before the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">beis din shel
maaleh</i> with that on my record was way more trouble than I'd ever been in.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Despite all of my questions, I was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>. I didn't like everything about being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>, but I really believed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit.</i>
Anyway, it wasn't really possible that I was right. Everyone around me agreed
that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i> was the truth. It
seemed more likely that I was the crazy one than that everyone else was. I
found answers, mostly based on the Cosmological Argument, to convince myself
that it was more reasonable to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>
than not. Besides, I couldn't imagine living any other way. Going OTD was never
a live option.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then in 2008 I discovered the Jewish skeptic blogosphere. I
stumbled on it purely by accident. I somehow came across Frum Satire. From his
blogroll, I found <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>-but-dissident
bloggers like<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wolfish Musings and
DovBear. And from them, the rest of the skeptic blogs. Baal Habos, Orthoprax,
XGH, Daas Hedyot, Hasidic Rebel, On The Main Line, and many others. Here were
sane, intelligent people who thought the same way I did, and who wrote about
all the things I had been thinking for years. I discovered that all of things I
had been thinking had been given formal names and exhaustively explored by
people with impressive credentials. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I had been a history buff for years. I mostly stopped
reading fiction after high school, and instead read history. Now I branched out
into philosophy and theology, social psychology and the psychology of religion,
Biblical Criticism, mythology, and the history of religion. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I had finished a masters in school psychology in August of 2008,
but the country had just entered the Great Recession, and jobs, especially
school jobs, were hard to come by. My wife, who had also just graduated, found
a job first, and by default, I became the stay-at-home parent. I had a lot of
time for reading. And for writing. In 2009, I started my own blog, The Second
Son. The title was a riff on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">arbah
banim</i> of the Hagaddah. The rasha of the Hagaddah isn't an evil person. He's
a skeptic. His crime is asking why everyone is doing these strange things
without assuming, as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chacham</i>
does, that it's because God commanded it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In early 2016, I came across an ad in a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> paper my parents had brought with them while visiting. It was
for a book by Rabbi Sapirstein, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rebbe</i>
from the other yeshiva who had tried to convince me that Judaism was true two
decades earlier. It promised to disprove the claims of the
"evolutionists" and prove that Judaism is true. I said to my wife that
I should write a book disproving <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>
claims and showing that it's reasonable to conclude that Judaism isn't true.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It started as a joke, but the more I thought about it, the
more it seemed like something I should really do. I started gathering notes,
going through all of the old blogs and books that I remembered as being
influential. I sought out additional books on relevant subjects.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By then the blogosphere had nearly died. Blogs had always
come and gone, but when one person had finished their blogging career, a new
one would replace them. Now new blogs were rarer and rarer. I decided to become
more active on Facebook, partly to replace the blogs it had killed, and partly
to find an audience for my project. I joined a few groups, and I discovered
where all of my old online "friends" had gone.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The original omnibus book I had planned grew too long, and I
decided to split it up into a series. The first volume, a dissection of the
Kuzari Argument titled “Breaking the Kuzari,” was finished in 2019. Sales have
been modest, but, I like to think, not bad for a book on such a niche topic and
which had no advertising budget. After its release, I worked for a while on one
of the planned books in the series, then switched to another. It’s coming
along, bit by bit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That brings us to the present. I still take Judaism very
seriously, but I no longer believe it's true. It's important to me as the
heritage of my people, but the myths of the Torah are not history. There was no
Yaakov, no stone, no well.</p><p></p>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-84519032309874236022021-04-25T08:13:00.004-07:002022-10-15T08:48:32.468-07:00The Taivos Canard Installment 3: The Taivos Canard in Practice<p> </p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%;">If to be frum is be normal and healthy, and conversely to
go OTD is to be broken, then it follows that leaving <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i> is not a reasoned, reasonable decision. People don't leave
because they conclude that Judaism isn't true, because they don't find <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> life fulfilling, or because of
problems in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> community.
People leave because they are delinquents, weak-willed hedonistic cretins who wickedly
throw off the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ol haTorah </i>so that they
can wallow in their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taivos</i>, in all of
the material pleasures the world outside the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> community has to offer. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%;">Perhaps the most strident example of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taivos</i> Canard in an authoritative source
is R' Elchonon Wasserman in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kovetz
Maamarim</i>. He says that anyone who isn't an idiot can see that God must have
created the world, and so the only way one would come to deny God is if he is
blinded by his desires.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
In a comment thread on Yeshiva World News, a popular <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> news site, community members echo this view of those who go
OTD. One commenter writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 10pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;">It is NEVER an "informed" position to go
"OFF THE DERECH" … they know in their hearts it IS THE BEST, it is
just a reminder … Any reasoning person would not think leaving Torah and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i> to be in any way justifiable -
therefore the one who does has not thought “reasoned” but has taken an
emotional step.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%;">Another commenter tries to be understanding, but
expresses the same conviction that something must have blinded those who go OTD
to the truth and beauty of Orthodoxy. He also imagines that those who leave
know they are wrong, and are rebelling. He cannot seem to wrap his head around
the idea that someone might have come to the conclusion that being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> was not for them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 10pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;">While I can't imagine the pain and suffering you must
have gone through, and which must have helped drive you to make the decision
you did, …I still do not understand how you can be "at peace" where
you are if that involves any sort of intentional neglect of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">halacha</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 10pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;">How does one who was religious and understands laws of
this system, even if deprived of its beauty, consider one's self to
legitimately be "not religious any more" as if such a thing were
possible?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 10pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%;">I understand if a teen or even an adult rebels out of
pain, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CH"V</i>, and I do sympathize
even if I believe there has to be a better way than dropping one's faith
practices. But even in this case they still understand that their abandonment
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i> is simply their rebellion,
not an alternate valid path…<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%;">The sentiment the second commenter expresses is the
kinder version of the Canard. Rather than attributing leaving <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i> to uncontrolled desire, he
attributes it to trauma, to some pain which has blinded the person who has left
to the truth and beauty of Orthodox Judaism. As we’ve seen, this is the
dominant form of the Canard today.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%;">In an unsolicited email sent to someone who had gone OTD,
a want-to-be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kiruv</i> activist also
assumes that the person left because of some trauma.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 10pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I
heard your story, and I am intrigued. It seems that "something"
happened to you that was so powerful, that it made you decide (or someone
convinced you) that it is no longer possible for you to live your life as
before. Now you need to change your lifestyle 180 degrees. I don't know
everything, but there is a 90+percent chance that it is not as life altering as
you think. The world is full of billions of people. Among them are many that
experienced whatever you did, and for many the experience was much worse, but
they continued living their lives, and prayed to G-d for forgiveness, or
closure. I'm not saying it wasn't traumatic, but I am saying that from here it
looks like you are being way too hard on yourself. I wonder why you passed
judgment on yourself, and why you and decided to walk away from 3000 years of
Judaism.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Is
the Canard true? Is it true that the only reason that people go OTD is because
they are broken delinquents? We will briefly review the arguments here, and
then explore each in detail in its own article.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The
meaner version, the accusation that people convince themselves that Judaism
isn't true so that they can wallow in their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taivos</i>,
is at odds with reality. People don't leave <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>
because they are enticed by the outside world. They leave because they find
being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> intolerable.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">For
many people, especially teens, staying </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">frum</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
is easier than going OTD.</span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
Would someone really give up the love of their family, their friends, their
community, and in some cases, even their children in order to eat cheeseburgers
and drive on </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">Shabbos</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">? For teens,
going OTD can destroy their relationship with their parents, the people they
are dependent upon for everything. In the worst cases, it can mean being thrown
out of their home. If anything, the ulterior motives that might blind people to
the truth are on the side of staying </span><i style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">frum</i><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">.
</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-spacerun: yes; text-indent: 0.25in;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Perhaps
the assumption is that those who go OTD are just terrible people who don't care
about any of that. My experience interacting with people who have left
Orthodoxy has not shown this to be the case. People agonize over the costs of
leaving <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>. Losing
relationships with family and friends is traumatic, and OTD parents who are
denied a relationship with their children are devastated. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">What
about the softer version of the Canard? Perhaps the fleshpots of the outside
world are not enough to offset the painful costs of going OTD, but might some
trauma poison a person's perception of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>?
There is some truth to this. A traumatic experience can push someone to
reevaluate whether being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> works
for them. But trauma alone cannot account for people going OTD. There are many
people who experience trauma, yet stay <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>.
Conversely, the number of people who go OTD is too large to be reasonably
accounted for by traumatic experiences. Thirty-three percent of children who
attend Orthodox schools are not Orthodox as adults.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Can a third of all Orthodox children be experiencing trauma severe enough to
make them reject the only world they've known? This seems unlikely. And if it
were true, what would that say about the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>
world? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Even
more unlikely is that the non-Orthodoxy of those Jews who were never <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> can be explained by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taivos</i> or trauma. Ninety percent of all
Jews aren't Orthodox.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
While someone who was not raised Orthodox might be considered a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tinok shenishba</i>, and their non-Orthodoxy
dismissed as them not knowing any better, all of today's non-Orthodox Jews are
descended from people who were religious. It might be argued that the pervasive
discrimination against Jews created traumatic associations with Judaism, but
most Jews retained their identity as Jews, and a large portion retained Judaism
as their religion. It was Orthodoxy that they rejected. Did ninety percent of
our great-great-grandparents have traumatic experiences associated with
Orthodoxy? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Another,
more dismissive variation of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taivos</i>
Canard is the accusation that people leave <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>
for solely emotional reasons. While this version doesn't accuse the person
going OTD of being a weak-willed hedonist or suggest that trauma has pushed
them to leave, it similarly tries to assert that people don't leave because
they have a good reason, but because of some ulterior motive. But it is
unreasonable to dismiss someone's intellectual reasons for not believing in
Orthodoxy because he has emotions, because he is human and not an emotionless
computer. It also misunderstands the relevance of emotion to the arguments of
the disbeliever. While negative emotions towards Orthodox Judaism might
motivate one person to find and examine its flaws, and positive emotions
towards Orthodoxy might motivate another person to defend it, the respective
motivations of either side have nothing to do with who is correct. The truth is
impartial. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There
is also the implication that only purely intellectual reasons are a good
justification for leaving Orthodoxy. The corollary would be that only purely
intellectual reasons are a good justification for becoming or staying <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>. Yet people are religious for a
host of emotional as well as intellectual reasons. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kiruv</i> workers introduce potential <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">baalei teshuva</i> to Orthodoxy through <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shabbos</i> meals precisely because of their emotional impact. People
stay <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> as much because of the
emotional attachment they have to Orthodoxy and to the Orthodox community as
because of intellectual arguments. Religious experiences are themselves
profoundly emotional. If positive emotional reasons can justifiably motivate
people to become and to stay <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>,
then negative emotional reasons, or the lack of positive ones, can justifiably
motivate people to leave.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taivos</i> Canard, and its softer
siblings, are what allow people like the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rav</i> in the story that opened the first article in this series to
dismiss questions as "excuses." They deflect arguments against
religion not by addressing the arguments, but by attacking the character of the
questioner: People who go OTD are swayed by their desires or "rebel"
against religion for emotional reasons, and all of their intellectual arguments
are just excuses. Their biases blind them to the truth. If they were honest and
committed to intellectually exploring religion, as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> people are, they would come to the obvious conclusion that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i> is true and being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> is the only proper way to live. It’s
the person who left that’s broken and not, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chas
v’shalom</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Wasserman, E. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">An Essay on Faith. </i>In<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Kovetz Maamarim.</i> Yeshivat Ohr Elchanan.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/topic/otd-phenomenom
Ellipsis in original.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/topic/otd-phenomenom
To be fair, there were commenters on the same thread who disputed those points,
but it does show that this attitude is present in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> world.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> P<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">osted to Facebook
by the recipient of the email, November 30, 2016. Used with the recipient's permission.
The recipient assured me that he had never experienced any trauma, and had gone
OTD for intellectual reasons. He suspected, due to the generic nature of the
email and some portions that looked as though they had been sloppily edited,
that this was a standard email that the sender sent to anyone he thought was a
kiruv prospect.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Margolese,
F. (2005). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Off the Derech</i>. Jerusalem,
Israel: Devora Publishing Company. P. 37.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Ibid<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. P. 36.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Ibid. <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">P. 62.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn8" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Ibid. <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">P. 23.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn9" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Ibid. <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">P. 23.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn10" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Ibid. <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">P. 151.</span></p>
</div>
</div>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-60624575430385867042021-04-11T12:48:00.013-07:002022-10-15T08:43:34.312-07:00The Taivos Canard, Installment Two: Questioning Orthodoxy<p style="text-align: left;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; mso-tab-count: 1; text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; mso-spacerun: yes; text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">It is often said that Judaism encourages
questions. The Talmud, the foundational text of Rabbinic Judaism, is composed
of questions and answers. The commentaries are structured the same way. When
learning Rashi, the medieval commentator on </span><i style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-style: normal; text-align: justify;">Tanach</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
and the Talmud, children are taught to ask, "What's bothering Rashi?"
In other words, "What is Rashi's question?" Questioning is such a
fundamental part of Judaism that it's a stereotype that Jewish people answer
questions with another question.</span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It's true that it's a Jewish trait
to ask questions, but the Talmud only asks certain types of questions. Concepts
are refined through a series of questions and answers, but the questions serve
only to clarify the point under discussion. The questions never examine the
assumptions that underlay the discussion.</span><span style="line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Jacob Neusner writes in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Talmud</i>, "In Talmudic dialogues, people registered dissent
in accord with the rules governing the iron consensus of the whole."<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
</span><span style="line-height: 110%;">The
same is true in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> world today.
</span><span style="line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Questions are
encouraged, but, just like in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i>,
questions are only encouraged within certain parameters, with the understanding
that everyone accepts without question the framework within which the
discussion is taking place. </span><span style="line-height: 110%;">One may only ask questions within the
system, questions that don't </span><span style="line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">challenge the fundamentals of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>.
Woe to he or she who asks questions about the system, who questions the
framework.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 110%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It's okay to ask for clarification.
To ask for instructions on how to properly perform a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvah.</i> Or to ask how what it says in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pasuk</i> over here can be reconciled with what it says in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pasuk</i> over there. Or to ask how to
understand something in the Torah that "seems" to contradict what we
know to be true about the world. It's never okay to question the underlying
assumptions that it is worthwhile to perform <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i> or that everything can be reconciled. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 110%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It's okay to ask an isolated
question, like, "How could the plants have been created before the sun,
when plants need sunlight to live?" as long as you ask it of someone, like
a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kiruv</i> worker, who is trained to
answer such questions, and as long as you accept the answer without too much
resistance. (As a Facebook friend once said, "Judaism loves questions. It hates follow-up questions.") It is not okay to systematically question everything you're taught,
to look for counterarguments against which to measure the arguments for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i>. It's not okay to scrutinize
the answers you get from the approved sources, and to try to see if they have
any holes. Asking for clarification is okay, even praiseworthy. Examining the
underlying assumptions, and worse, risking not coming to the approved
conclusions, is forbidden.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In an online conversation I once had on
this subject, one person declared, "</span><span style="line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Questions are allowed. Answers that are
considered <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">apikorsis</i> are not."
In his mind, one may ask any question he wants. It's only the answers that are
circumscribed. But as soon as you declare an answer <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">apikorsis</i>, you are not allowing real questions. You're only
allowing rhetorical questions that act as props to the accepted dogmas. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 110%;">There was a philosophy
professor named H. D. Lewis who told a story about a woman who asked him what
philosophy is. He answered her, and she said, "Oh, I see, theology."
She was right that philosophy and theology often address the same subjects, but
unlike the theological "questions" acceptable in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> world, in philosophy one is
supposed to come to whichever conclusion the arguments lead him to find most
likely.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yeshiva</i>, boys quickly learn that one
isn't allowed to say, "this doesn't make sense," only, "I don't
understand."<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
It's unlikely that when a kid says a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mishna</i>
or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i> doesn't make sense that
he's challenging its validity. He's more likely expressing his frustration with
it. Yet even this is not allowed. One must always phrase his questions so that
it's obvious that the proper obsequiousness in being paid to the Talmud.
Nothing else in the world is treated this way. If a kid expresses a similar
sentiment about, say, his math class, the teacher might show him why it's a
foolish statement, or (more likely) might tell him that now isn’t the time to
prove everything from the bottom up, but he wouldn't demand <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a priori</i> acceptance of the material.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 110%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yeshivos</i>
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bais Yaakovs</i> are not places where
one may examine the underpinnings of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>.
There are no classes on theology in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yeshiva</i>.
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hashkafa</i> classes, which claim to
occupy that slot, are shallow talking points and inspirational stories, not any
kind of rigorous philosophical exploration of the tenets of Judaism. Even those
who do study classical works of Jewish philosophy are not likely to really
understand them. The average <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yeshiva
bochur</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bais Yaakov</i> girl who
might have a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">seder</i> in a sefer like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chovos Halevavos</i> doesn’t have the
background to recognize – and aren’t taught about – the neoplatonic model that
is the basis for the book’s entire approach to Judaism. They may or may not
know who Plato was, and almost certainly have never heard of Plotinus, the man
who invented the ideas on which <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chovos
Halevavos</i> is premised.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Those students who might be
interested in theology have nowhere to turn. If they take their questions to
their teachers, at best, they get shallow answers which they are expected to
accept. At worst, they get labeled as troublemakers. Rabbeim are concerned with
teaching the minutia of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sugya</i>,
not with exploring why they should bother learning <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i> in the first place. If a student does have questions, and persists
in asking them, they might be sent to talk to a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kiruv</i> professional. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Questions
about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i> have no place within
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> community. They are
outsourced to those who deal with people <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">outside</i>
the community. </span><span style="line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Teachers attack questions and
questioners for challenging Orthodoxy's truth. There is an assumption that good
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> kids from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> homes shouldn't be asking such questions. This is not just my
experience, but the experience of the majority of people who have gone through
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> education system and had the
audacity to question the party line.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
It’s not one or two <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rabbeim</i> in over their
heads. It’s endemic to the system. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rabbeim</i>
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Roshei Yeshiva</i> are Talmudists,
not theologians, and beyond some basic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hashkafa</i>
sound bites, most have no idea what to tell a kid that questions their world’s
assumptions. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 110%;">Faranak Margolese, the author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Off the Derech</i>, writes that while in seminary she had decided to
participate in the advanced class, but found to her dismay that her
philosophical questions were not welcomed there as they had been in the
beginners' class. Like my high school principal had done, the head of the
program took her aside and told her that she had to stop asking such questions
in class. Another woman reported that when she asked about-the-system questions
in class, her teachers told her, "You're such a nice girl, such a sweet
girl. Why are you going crazy asking all these questions?"<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Shraga/Documents/Shragy's%20articles/Apikorsus%20magazine/Tavios%20Canard%20series/Articles/Installment%202%20Questioning%20Orthodoxy.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></a><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
The message is clear. Such questions could be tolerated from new <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">baalei teshuva</i> who don't know any
better. Someone who is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Frum</i> From
Birth or an established <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">baal teshuva</i>
is not supposed to ask such things.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 110%;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: inherit; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is partly the logical
consequence of the beliefs that the Torah is perfect and Judaism is obviously
true. A parable is told of a man who stood with a crowd of people before a
painting. The other people marveled at how beautiful the painting was, but the
man insisted that it was covered with ugly splotches. Then he realized that his
glasses were dirty. When he had cleaned them, he too saw that the painting was
beautiful. The </span><i style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nimshal</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, the moral, is
that just as the painting was beautiful, and it was a problem with the observer
that kept him from seeing its beauty, so too, the Torah is beautiful and
contains matchless wisdom and truths. If one can't see that, the problem is
with the person, not with the Torah.</span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I've experienced this attitude
firsthand, when relatives or teachers expressed surprise and dismay that a boy
who had been brought up <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> would
ask the unacceptable sort of questions. "Why would you ask that?"
they wondered. People who question the foundational beliefs of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i> are not seen in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> world as intellectual searchers.
They're seen as broken. There's something wrong with a person who would ask
such questions. </span><span style="line-height: 110%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Doubts, even sincere doubt from someone who is committed to being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> and is looking for solutions to his
dilemmas, is perceived in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>
community as rebellious,<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
</span><span style="line-height: 110%;">and
teenagers who are questioners are lumped in with delinquents under the label,
"Kids At Risk."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 110%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Awareness in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> community of the phenomenon of what
would come to called "Kids At Risk" began with the November 1999
issue of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jewish Observer</i>, the
monthly magazine formerly published by Agudas Yisroel of America. Titled
"Children on the Fringe… and Beyond," the entire November issue
focused on troubled teens. These were kids who were on drugs or engaged in
other illegal and communally unacceptable activities and who were going
"Off the derech (OTD)," leaving the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> community in which they had grown up. The issue sold out, and
there was a second printing, as well as another issue on the same subject. By
focusing on teenagers with delinquent behaviors, the magazine ignored adults
and kids who left for other reasons, including intellectual reasons. It
perpetuated the stereotype that going OTD is one more maladaptive behavior
among the many exhibited by the delinquent teens. Experts quoted in the
magazine claimed that by becoming <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>
again, the teens could overcome their drug use and other problem behaviors. The
impression left on readers was that to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>
was to be normal and healthy, while to go OTD was to be delinquent, to be
broken.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p style="height: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br clear="all" /></span></p><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" /><p></p><div style="mso-element: footnote-list; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><!--[endif]-->
</span><div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Winston-Macauley,
M. (2011, March 5). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jews Love Questions</i>.
Retrieved from http://www.aish.com/j/fs/Jews_Love_Questions.html</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Nuesner,
J. (2006). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Talmud</i>. Lanham, Md.:
Rowman & Littlefield. page 124-125</span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Robinson,
R. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Religion and Reason</i>; in Angeles,
P. (1976). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Critiques of God</i>. Buffalo,
NY: Prometheus Books. P. 118</span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Margolese,
F. (2005). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Off the Derech</i>. Jerusalem,
Israel: Devora Publishing Company. p. 236</span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Of the
respondents to the web survey conducted as research for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Off the Derech</i>, 51% felt they couldn't ask questions in class, and
64% felt that when they did ask questions, the answers were not satisfactory. Margolese,
F.(2005). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Off the Derech</i>. Jerusalem,
Israel: Devora Publishing Company. p. 234</span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span>Davidman, L.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and Greil, A.L. (2007) Characters in Search
of a Script: The Exit Narratives of Formerly Ultra-Orthodox Jews. Journal for
the Scientific Study of Religion, 46(2), 201-216.</span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Katz, M.
(2000). Understanding <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Judaism: A Basic
Guide to Jewish Faith, History, and Practice</i>. Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah
Publications. p. 70-71</span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn8" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Margolese,
F. (2005). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Off the Derech</i>. Jerusalem,
Israel: Devora Publishing Company. p. 136</span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn9" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Finkelman,
Y. (2011). Strictly Kosher Reading. Brighton, MA: Academic Studies Press. P.
173-174</span></p>
</div>
</div>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-89114662735158991762021-04-09T09:24:00.001-07:002021-04-09T10:27:18.205-07:00Bais Yaakov “Chessed” Programs<p>I first encountered Bais Yaakovs’ “<i>chessed</i>” requirements about 20 years ago, when my sister started
high school. I remember being angry about it. Their “<i>chessed</i>” assignments were typically helping out women in the
community by babysitting or cleaning their homes. This might technically be “<i>chessed</i>,” I protested, but it seemed
much like a scheme to provide the community with a free
housekeeping service than a way to teach the girls kindness and compassion. Wouldn’t
it be better to have the girls come up with their own projects? A group of them
could volunteer at a hospital, or a homeless shelter, or for one of the
community’s many <i>tzedaka</i> organizations. These
were places of real <i>chessed</i>, which
might awaken in them compassion for and kindness towards others.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Later, my wife would tell me how she was required to do “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chessed</i>” in seminary in Israel. She told
me how she and her friend went to a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kollel</i>
family’s apartment and tackled a towering pile of smelly laundry. Another woman
once told me how in her seminary the “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chessed</i>”
program was her and her friends cleaning the faculty’s homes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was sorting through
some notes today and came across one of these accounts that I had written down.
And I had an epiphany - one that seems obvious now. The “<i>chessed</i>” programs In Bais
Yaakovs and seminaries weren't really about teaching <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chessed</i>, about teaching the girls compassion and kindness that
would motivate them to help out people in need. The “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chessed</i>” programs consisted of caring for children and performing household
chores because in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> community,
implicitly, that’s what women are *for.* That’s what it was really teaching
them. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> ====</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The context of this epiphany was that this morning I was reading a book that was discussing the traditional halachik view of marriage. It went through a bunch of sources that see women's purpose in marriage was/is to serve her husband.</p>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-41270506078117300792021-04-05T06:37:00.001-07:002021-04-24T08:26:01.149-07:00The Taivos Canard, Installment One: The Infuriating Canard<p> </p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: justify;">This post was originally written as an article for my magazine, <i><a href="http://Apikorsus.com">Apikorsus</a>!</i> (now on indefinite hiatus), and is longer than my typical posts. It was meant to be the first installment of a series about the <i>Taivos </i>Canard. I'm posting it here because I think it's an important topic, and I intend to continue the series. I hope to post weekly until I've finished the series, but we'll see what life allows for.</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: justify;">I've discussed aspects of the Canard here before, and the first third or so of this article is a lightly-edited version of a post from a few years back.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> ********</o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This article is the first in a series
exploring and deconstructing the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taivos</i>
Canard: the accusation that we all went OTD because we’re broken.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Moshe sat
in the waiting room, a little nervous, a little hopeful. In many ways, he was a
typical <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yeshiva</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bochur</i>. He dressed the same as the other <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bochurim</i> in his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yeshiva</i>,
listened to the same <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> music that
they did, went to the same events, and kept all of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i>. Yet, in one important way, Moshe was different. He was
plagued by questions of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">emunah</i>. He
wanted to know the reasons for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i>;
to understand how many things accepted by his community, like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">segulos</i>, worked; and to square
statements <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tanach</i> and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i> made about the world with what he
knew about reality. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">When Moshe
had been a teenager, the principal of his high school had called Moshe into his
office one day and told him that, while <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i>
allowed one to ask questions, even encouraged it, he should stop asking his
questions in class. These questions didn't occur to the other <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bochurim</i>, the principal said, and why
should their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">emunah chas v'sholom</i> be
weakened by Moshe's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kashas</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Moshe was
a good kid, and he did as the principal asked. But keeping quiet about the
questions didn't make them go away. If anything, the more he learned about the
world, the stronger they became. Moshe sought out and read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kiruv</i> books that promised to answer questions of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">emunah</i> and prove that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i> was correct, but they were
disappointing. Every now and then Moshe would come across something that seemed
convincing, that seemed like it could be the idea on which he could rebuild his
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">emunah</i>. Inevitably, as he thought
about the exciting new concept, he would sadly realize it was full of holes. It
relied on logical errors, or it didn't match up with real-world experiences, or it contradicted other things Moshe had learned in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yeshiva</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moshe's interest in his religion blossomed
into an interest in the history of Judaism, in comparative religion, in
philosophy and mythology and academic biblical scholarship. The more he
learned, the less tenable <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i>
seemed, until one day Moshe realized that he couldn't avoid the obvious
conclusion. Judaism wasn't true, and there probably wasn't a God. The
realization upset him, and he felt a deep sense of loss, but there it was.
Still, he thought to himself, maybe this is all just the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yetzer hara</i>, trying to convince me not to keep the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i>. He continued to meticulously keep
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i>, just in case.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A year went by. Keeping the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i> while not believing in Judaism
in order to make sure it wasn't the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yetzer
hara</i> planting thoughts in his head was starting to feel faintly ridiculous.
It would soon be time for Moshe to start dating, but how could he in good
conscience go out with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bais Yaakov</i>
girls when he didn't believe? In a last-ditch effort to regain his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">emunah</i>, he had a friend put him in touch
with a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kiruv</i> guy. The rabbi came
highly recommended, and Moshe met with him a few times to discuss his issues
with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i>. The rabbi was
friendly and seemed genuinely concerned about Moshe, but like the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kiruv</i> books, his answers were
disappointing. A week ago the rabbi had called Moshe with exciting news. He had
gotten Moshe an appointment with a big <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rav</i>,
a real <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">talmid chacham</i> who would be
able to answer Moshe's questions and help him to see that Torah and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i> were the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">emes</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At last
Moshe was ushered into the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rav's</i>
presence. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rav</i> asked Moshe why he
had come. Moshe explained that he had questions of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">emunah</i> that bothered him, and gave a few examples. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rav</i> listened, and then gave Moshe a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bracha</i> that his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">emunah shelaima</i> should return.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"I
was hoping that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rav</i> could answer
some of my questions." Moshe said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rav</i> quoted the Brisker Rav and said
"I answer questions, not excuses." He explained, "You have
decided to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">porek ol</i>, since you did
not control your <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yetzer haras</i>, and
you found an excuse that you had 'questions,' and I don't answer excuses!"
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rav</i> gave Moshe another <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bracha</i> that he would merit <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">teshuva</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shelaima</i>, and Moshe was ushered back to the waiting room.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The above
is a composite story, combining my experiences and those I have read or been
told by others who have had the misfortune to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> and skeptical. Elements of it would be recognized by anyone
who has been in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yeshiva</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bais Yaakov</i> and questioned <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ikkarei emunah</i>. I thought about theology
(though I didn’t yet know the word) a lot in high school, while none of my
fellow students did. I was told by my high school principal to stop asking
questions in class. I wanted to understand how Judaism works and how religious
ideas square with the world I experience. And I found that the more I learned
about the world, about history, theology, philosophy, and science, the less
tenable <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i> seemed. I have
read accounts by people who continued to keep the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i> for years after losing their faith because they were
worried that their questions might be the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yetzer
hara</i> trying to fool them into giving up the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvos</i>.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Many people have related the sadness and sense of loss they felt when they
realized that Judaism wasn't true and there probably wasn't a God. And many
people have talked about how maddening it was after years of searching for
answers to have their sincere questions dismissed as excuses to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">porek ol</i>. The conversation between Moshe
and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rav</i> is lifted nearly verbatim
from an account of an encounter between three questioning <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bochurim</i> and Rav Chaim Kanievsky.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Many <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> people believe that Judaism is
obviously correct. After all, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">midrash</i><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
tells us that Avraham Avinu figured out that Hashem was the Master of the
Universe when he was only three years old! It's obvious even to a child that
Hashem is the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Borei Olam</i>! Yet if it's
so obvious, how could anyone go off the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">derech</i>?
How could anyone disbelieve when the truth is staring him in the face? <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chazal</i> answer, "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black;">lo
uvdo avodas kochavim ela l'hatir lahem arayos</span></i><span style="background: white; color: black;">,"<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span>
"[People] don't worship idols except to permit to themselves sexual
licentiousness." The person wants to do <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">aveiros</i>, the reasoning goes, but he can't because he knows Hashem
will punish him. So he comes up with "questions" that allow him to
convince himself that Hashem won't punish him after all, and he can do whatever
he wants.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This is
what I’ve taken to calling the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taivos</i>
Canard: the accusation that those who question the fundamental truths of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i> and/or go OTD are hedonistic
cretins who look for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kashas</i> that are
really <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">teirutzim</i>, excuses to allow
themselves to throw off the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ol hatorah</i>
and wallow in their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taivos</i>. It’s
infuriating. It substitutes insults for answers. But then, it’s not meant for
the person who is questioning. It’s meant for the person who is still a devout
believer, and who might be swayed by the questioner. It’s an excuse not to have
to even consider the questions. And, as we’ll explore in this series of
articles, it’s wrong, in every way it’s possible to be wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">While the
accusation has been around at for at least 1500 years, since the time of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i>, it has changed significantly in
the last two decades. It has evolved softer versions in response to what the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> world calls the “OTD Crisis.” As a
community, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> people can't accept
that someone might legitimately disagree with Orthodoxy. That would threaten
their belief that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i> is
obviously and objectively The Truth. But they also can’t simply label everyone
who leaves as an evil, disgusting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">baal
taiva</i>. Not when the current advice of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rabbonim</i>
and psychologists is to maintain contact with people who have left. You can’t
maintain a relationship with an evil person. So a solution developed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Modern
psychology – the clinical/therapeutic field – has penetrated deeply into the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> world.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
This has created both the need for a new interpretation of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taivos</i> Canard, and the interpretation
itself. Psychology takes a more nuanced view of human behavior than “good” and
“evil.” This has led to a change in the perception of someone who leaves <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>; from seeing them as an evil
person who should be avoided to seeing them as someone acting out who can be
brought back to the “right path” by loving family and friends. This creates a
problem: if they aren’t evil, if they aren’t being mislead by their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taivos</i>, if in fact they are good people
who have gone astray and with whom one should maintain a good relationship,
then why did they leave <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>? The
solution is that they’re teenagers acting out and rebelling, something that’s
normal for teenagers; or they were abused, associate <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i> with the abuse, and are understandably trying to distance
themselves from what they perceive as the source of their pain; or they are
mentally or emotionally unstable, are suffering from a psychiatric disorder,
and so deserve help and pity, not condemnation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Somehow,
this new version of the Canard is both better and worse than the traditional
one. On the one hand, at least it doesn’t accuse those of us who have left <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumekeit</i> of being evil degenerates. On
the other, it reduces our worldviews and choices to rebellion, a reaction to
victimization, or a symptom of a psychiatric disorder. Most importantly, it is
still insulting, still a deflection from the real issues we bring up, and still
a way to avoid addressing those issues by attacking the character of the person
who brings them up. It still denigrates the questioner as a way to protect the
believer from having to examine their beliefs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">While
popular in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> world, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taivos</i> Canard is not limited to it.
Other religions often use the same “reasoning.” The Canard is so widespread and
so entrenched that the names of atheistic groups from antiquity that were
dedicated to living a good life through moderation are used today as synonyms
for wanton hedonism. The Epicureans of Ancient Greece and the followers of Carvakas,
an Indian philosopher who lived 3,500 years ago, believed in wisdom, justice, and
human dignity. The best life was to be achieved by avoiding pain and seeking
pleasure, but this didn’t mean wallowing in food and drink and sex.
Overindulging has painful consequences, and avoiding pain was part of the
equation. The goal was to balance pleasure and pain and so achieve a pleasant
life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Today
their names are adjectives, used for things like epicurious.com – a recipe site.
Their nuanced philosophies have been reduced to their atheism and their nuanced
hedonism misunderstood as unbridled lusting after pleasure. The message is
clear. The only reason someone disbelieves in religion is to justify spending
their days filling their bellies with rich foods.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
The only reason anyone leaves <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>
is because they can’t control their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taivos</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Of course,
the religion that Epicureans were accused of leaving because of their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taivos</i> was Greek paganism. They can’t be
accused, to paraphrase the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i>, of
worshipping idols to justify following their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taivos</i>. Worshipping idols was an integral part of the religion they
were rejecting! In fact, the same culture that accused the Epicureans of
rejecting the gods because of their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taivos</i>
would likely have leveled the same accusation at Jewish people who rejected
those same gods. So who is right? Are the Greeks right that people who reject
Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Demeter, and all the rest only do so because they want to
wallow in their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taivos</i>? Or is the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gemara</i> right that people who worship
such gods, who leave traditional Jewish practice, only do so because they want
to wallow in their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taivos</i>? They can’t
both be right.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This gets
to one of the main problems with the use of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taivos</i> Canard: its myopia. Those
who use it fail to recognize that they too can be accused of being blinded by
their desires and biases. Are people <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>
because of existential dread? Does believing that the universe doesn't care
about them and that their lives have no cosmic significance too depressing, and
so they convince themselves that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>
is the truth? Is their fear of insignificance blinding them to the obvious
flaws in their worldview? Is the nice lifestyle that being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> can facilitate biasing them so that they can't see the truth? No
doubt a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> person would be
indignant - and rightfuly so! - if they were accused of being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>
for such reasons, yet they fail to recognize that those who are OTD or
otherwise non-Orthodox feel the same way about having their experiences and
philosophies dismissed as merely an excuse to throw off the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ol haTorah</i> because it’s convenient to
their lifestyle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Canard
is used all the time against people who go OTD. Ayala Fader’s recent book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital
Age</i> provides many examples:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A woman whose doubts were attributed by the
male authority figures in her life to, “emotional problems, dissatisfactions,
or sexual promiscuity,” an experience shared by many women who have expressed
religious doubt.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A woman whose husband, upon discovering she no
longer believed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>,
expressed surprise because she seemed “normal” – i.e., not mentally or
emotionally disturbed, not a drug addict, etc,<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
and a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> man who blamed his wife’s
doubt on a personality disorder – though she had never been diagnosed with one.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A letter to the Hamodia in which a young man
says that he has questions – and assumes there must be a psychological reason.
A <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> psychiatrist responds that
people have questions because of their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yetzer
hara</i> or because of a mental disorder, and suggests that the young man is
suffering from OCD. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A conference for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> mental health professionals is described as having “many
panels and posters on "kids at risk" and the "OTD crisis,"
as though going OTD were a mental disorder.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A man who was forced to go to a therapist for
his religious doubts, on pain of his kids being expelled from their school,
because his community believes that doubting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i> is a sign of a mental disorder.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
The medicalizing of doubt and attributing it to a clinical psychiatric disorder
is something that is common today in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>
communities, and is done with the full participation of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> psychotherapists.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Sadly, this means that someone who is still in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> community and seeks<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>help to deal with the social and emotional fallout of losing their faith
has a high chance of their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>
therapist seeing their doubts as a symptom of a psychiatric disorder. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It goes on
and on, one story after another of people being subjected to various forms of
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taivos</i> Canard. Perhaps the worst
case of the Canard described by Fader is a woman who was diagnosed as bipolar
because of her doubts. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i>
therapist she saw interpreted the depression caused by the issues her doubts
were causing as the depressive end of bipolar, and her friendships with men at
work – because, he told her, “when men and women are friends, they're having
sex” – as the sexual promiscuity often associated with mania. This is the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taivos</i> Canard taken to its logical,
absurd, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dangerous</i> extreme: people
are being given psychotropic drugs because they expressed doubts about the
truth of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>!<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
This can’t help but make one think of drapetomania, the “mental disorder” that
doctors in the antebellum South theorized caused enslaved black people to want
to escape from their masters. As though questioning the system you were born
into is itself pathological.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There are
many, many other examples of the Canard, found informally throughout the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> world and formally in its
publications. One particularly upsetting example comes from a panel at the 2016
Agudah Convention titled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Diving Off The
Derech - The Emerging Adult At Risk Phenomenon</i>. A speaker told a story
about a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yungerman</i> who slowly lost his
belief in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumekeit</i>. He emphasized
that the man was a good husband and father. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yungerman’s</i> wife went to his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rosh
Yeshiva</i>, who told her it was just a phase, and she should ride it out. Then
one <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yom Kippur</i> she got the kids ready
for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shul</i> and came downstairs to find her
husband eating breakfast. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Motzei yom tov</i>
she took the kids and left. The speaker characterized this as the guy
"walking out on his family." She left him, but apparently failure to conform
to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> norms is tantamount to going
out for cigarettes and never coming home. In the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> world, doubts are never legitimate. They’re always subject to
the Canard, always a sign that the person who has doubts is broken, an idiot, a
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">menuval</i>, mentally ill, the type of
person who leaves his family so he can wallow in his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taivos</i> – and never mind if he’s a good person, or if it’s his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> wife who left him. It’s his fault
for being a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rasha</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In a 2011
article in Ami Magazine, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The imposters
Among Us</i>, people who disbelieve in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i>
are described as having, “a sickness;” justifying their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taivos;</i> and of having a “superficial grasp” of Judaism and of the
theological issues which lead to their doubt. The article cites a senior figure
at Discovery who said that he has found that, “emotional problems are behind
almost all <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kefira</i>. ‘In addition to
many other things, to stop believing is inconvenient.’ Immersed in a religious
world, they are suddenly cut off from their entire milieu. ‘Why would they do
it if they didn’t have some emotional issues?’” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">That
someone might conclude <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frumkeit</i> isn’t
true isn’t even considered. Which, of course, is the point of the Canard. It
tells those within the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">frum</i> world,
and those who are questioning, that there are no real questions, nothing at all
that might lead one to reasonably conclude that the tenets of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yiddishkeit</i> aren’t true. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taivos</i> Canard is a trick to keep people
from having to examine their beliefs and to make those who do examine their
beliefs literally question their own sanity. It’s pervasive, pernicious, and
dangerous. It’s condescending and infuriating, and it needs to be challenged,
deconstructed, and debunked. In this series of articles, we’ll do just that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> An
account of one such person’s experiences appeared in the July 2020 issue of
Apikorsus! magazine under the title, “Orthoprax at Home.”</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Bruer, P. (2010, October 21). Al teirutzim ani lo onah teshuvos. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">HaShavua </i>Retrieved from: http://shiltonhasechel.blogspot.com/2010/11/excuses-not-questions.html</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Sefer Ha-Yashar 9:13-19 This is a polemic against idolatry rather than an
argument for God's existence or the truth of Judaism.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 63b. This textual source for the Taivos Canard
will be discussed in detail in a later article in this series.</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Finkelman,
Y. (2011) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Strictly Kosher Reading</i>.
Brighton, MA: Academic Studies Press. P. 45-53</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Epstein,
G. (2009). Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe.
William Morrow. P. 45</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Fader,
A. (2020). Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital Age. Princeton
Univer-sity Press . P. 13-14</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn8" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ibid. P. 106</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn9" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Ibid</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. P. 113</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn10" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Ibid</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. P. 4</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn11" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Ibid</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. P. 6-7</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn12" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Ibid</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. P. 138</span></p>
</div>
</div>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-57188310692997969572021-02-05T08:14:00.003-08:002021-02-07T13:14:25.638-08:00Syncretism in Judaism<p> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was taught as a kid that </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yiddishkeit </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mesorah </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">were pure reflections of God’s will as expressed in the Torah, with no adulterations from outside influences. In cases where it seemed like we did the same thing as “the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">goyim</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,” we were told that they got it from us. To suggest that we got it from them was more-or-less heresy.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7d1cf310-7fff-968f-61ea-7b748550e69d"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I now understand that this belief is a product of Orthodoxy's struggle against modernity, and the consequent need to put up high walls between “us” and “them.” It’s only natural that a movement whose raison d’etre is resisting influences from outside itself would promote the narrative that everything it does arose strictly from Torah sources, with no influence from the unholy outside world.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve also learned that, far from being pure and uninfluenced, Judaism has always been a syncretistic religion. Huge swaths of Jewish beliefs and practices had their origins in other cultures. From where I now stand, I don’t see that as problematic. There’s no reason for us to have to reinvent the wheel, and syncretism has allowed Judaism to benefit from the good ideas not just of Jewish people, but of everyone. Judaism has picked up bits and pieces of other cultures it’s come in contact with and adapted them to Jewish purposes, and Jewish culture is richer for it. But I remember a time when I would have found it shocking.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I discovered a perfect example of how syncretism is viewed in (at least some parts) of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">frum </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">world several years ago when I learned that the sefer “</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cheshbon HaNefesh,” </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a classic of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mussar</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> movement, was written by a </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">maskil </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and was adapted from a system for self-improvement invented by Benjamin Franklin and detailed in his autobiography. I wrote a post about it, and someone in the comments told me that there is a 73 page pamphlet called "Bo'u Cheshbon" whose purpose is to argue that the ideas in </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cheshbon HaNefesh </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">didn’t originate with Franklin and that its author wasn’t a </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">maskil</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This is a perfect example of why I think this list is meaningful.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Writing such a pamphlet is something that would only have occurred to someone with the point of view of the community I grew up in. It's only a community concerned about the purity of its ideas, a community which needs its ideas to come from "pure'' authentic Jewish sources untainted by outside ideas or by heresies, that needs to defend the purity of those works and ideas it has accepted as authoritative. It's only in such a community that the pamphlet would be necessary. Otherwise, if </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cheshbon HaNefesh</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> describes a useful, productive method for self improvement, what does it matter if the method comes from an American intellectual or from classic Jewish sources? If the author demonstrates in his work that he's a </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">talmid chacham</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and his methods work, what does it matter if he was also a </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">maskil</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The following is a non-exhaustive, “bullet-point” (that is, mostly quickly listed without going into details or sources) list of things that younger-me and the community I come from assume are pure Jewish ideas, learned out from the Torah or instituted by </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rabbonim </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ruach hakodesh</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but which in fact are adaptations from other cultures. They range from the relatively unimportant to the crucial. In every case, the thing on the <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">right</span> precedes the thing on the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">left</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">, often by centuries.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Syncretism in Judaism</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a work in progress. It needs expansion with details and citations and needs work on the aesthetics. It’s not meant as a direct challenge to </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">frum </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">people, and no one should feel they have to “answer” any of the points, let alone all of them.</span></p><br /><br /><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 0pt;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="294"></col><col width="66"></col><col width="294"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td colspan="3" style="background-color: #999999; border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Contemporary influences</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Popular frum music </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Contemporary musical styles, mostly pop. A sizable minority of songs on albums by Orthodox artists are note-for-note the same melodies as pop songs, with lyrics taken from a pasuk swapped in for their original words.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(The most popular post I’ve ever written discussed this phenomenon and has quite a few examples. See http://2nd-son.blogspot.com/2010/07/jewish-music.html)</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Orthodox self-help books </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Parrot pop-psychology and teach people how to be themselves, express themselves, and find personal happiness, values drawn from American individualism, while claiming to be texts on self-improvement in the mold of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mussar seforim</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Yet traditional Jewish works of self-improvement emphasize the flawed nature of humanity and the conflict between desires and the will.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">frum </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">books on healthy eating </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">claim to flow from the writing of </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rishonim </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">while citing contemporary medical (and often, the pseudo-science of "alternative medicine") methods. </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">frum </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">parenting guides</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pass off as "ancient wisdom" parenting advice that parrots contemporary secular experts and sometimes contradicts the bits of parenting advice scattered through traditional Jewish sources. </span></p><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">frum </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">books on marriage advice </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">detail ways to achieve an optimal companionate marriage, promoting the kind of marital relationship that became the accepted norm in much of the world during the twentieth century, despite the traditional Jewish marriage (like most marriages in the past) being about socio-economic advantage, not love. These books write about shared values, expectations, and emotional compatibility as the foundations of a marriage. Yet in the not-so-distant past when young people would occasionally marry for love, the Jewish community saw this as a rebellion, not a fulfillment of communal expectations for what marriage should be. </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">White bridal dresses</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The custom of white wedding dresses started when Queen Victoria wore a white dress at her wedding to Prince Albert in 1840. A photograph of the couple was widely published, and brides around the world imitated the young queen. By 1849 white wedding dresses had become ubiquitous</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rebbe pictures </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">icons of saints</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td colspan="3" style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(more congruent evolution than a borrowing)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2012, I stumbled across a blog by a former Baptist Fundamentalist. So many of the social quirks he discussed about his former community could have been about the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">frum </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">community. My favorite was a picture of a skirt with a slit in it and a pile of safety pins. The caption was, "If you know how these two things go together, you might be a Fundamentalist Baptist." Or a Bais Yaakov girl.</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 0pt;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="294"></col><col width="66"></col><col width="294"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 24pt;"><td colspan="3" style="background-color: #b7b7b7; border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Modern influences</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 94.6436pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the sefer “</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cheshbon HaNefesh” </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">by Menachem Mendel Levin, an Eastern-European rabbi and early maskil, which was enthusiastically adopted by R' Yisroel Salanter and the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mussar</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> movement. </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A system for self-improvement invented by Benjamin Franklin and detailed in his autobiography.</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 0pt;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="294"></col><col width="66"></col><col width="294"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td colspan="3" style="background-color: #999999; border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Islamic Influences</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rationalist Jewish philosophy and metaphysics, such as that of Saadia Gaon</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kalam and Falsafah, Islamic metaphysics and philosophy</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This chassidishe story:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"The story is told of Rabbi Aaron of Karlin, a favorite disciple of the Maggid of Mezritch, who died young. A fellow disciple on his way home from Mezritch came to Karlin about midnight and desired to greet his friend. He went at once to his house and knocked on the lighted window. "Who are you?" asked a voice from within, and, certain that Aaron would recognize him by his voice, he answered, "I." No reply came, and the door did not open even though he knocked again and again. Finally he cried, "Aaron, why do you not open to me?" Then he heard from within, "Who is it who presumes to say 'I,' as it is fitting for God alone to do!" He said in his heart, "I see then that I have not yet finished learning," and returned immediately to the Maggid.”</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Islamic collection of mystical parables "Masnawi" of the Persian poet Jalal-ud-din Rumi. </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The concept for the Rambam’s ikkarim</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lists of required beliefs composed by Islamic theologians</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 0pt;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="294"></col><col width="66"></col><col width="294"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td colspan="3" style="background-color: #b7b7b7; border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Christian / European Influences </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cherem Rabbeinu Gershom </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the then-new norm for monogamous marriages in the Christian West.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The concept of the Shulchan Aruch, to provide an easy-to-reference authoritative code for halacha </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Jus Novissimum,” the first Catholic law code to compile all of the extent codes in an easy-to-reference authoritative work.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dreidel</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Teetotum, a popular Christmas game.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reconciliation of the belief in an afterlife with reward and punishment with the belief in the resurrection of the dead in the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">yimai hamoshiach</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Christian theology, by way of Augustine and Aquinas, based on the New Testament story of Lazarus</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chassidus - a deliberately mystical, populist movement that revolves around charismatic holy men</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">17th century Pietism</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chassidic practices such as dressing in white, whirling dances, feasting on the anniversary of a parent's death, and allegiance to a deeply spiritual leader</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Raskol Chrsitianity (a splinter of the Orthodox church) which was popular in the regions of Poland where chassidus first started and spread.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The idea that you have to be a slave to something, so you might as well be a slave to God</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Paul, in Romans 6:16-18</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Heard in a </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">drasha</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"R' Yisroel Salanter, the great </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mussar </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">teacher, taught that 'What comes out of your mouth is more important than what goes in' " </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A "</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ma'amar Chazal</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">" that '</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ein Navi b'Iro</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">' </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These quotations are from the New Testament:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Matthew 15:11 and Luke 4:24, respectively</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shabbos morning </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">drashos</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Homiletic Sunday-morning church sermons in the 1800s. As late as 1865, Hungarian orthodox rabbis proscribed entry into any synagogue that adopted this custom</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">braided challah</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the 1400s Austrian and southern German Jews began braiding their Shabbat loaves in the style of “berchisbrod,” a German bread named after the berches (braids) of a malevolent demon, the witch Holle. They twisted and braided the dough to resemble a sacrifice of braided hair to ward off her wrath. (As well as other braided breads used on special occasions, such as French brioche.)</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chassidic courts</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Explicitly emulated royal or noble households, including elaborate furnishings, servants, and carriages.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The methods of the tosafists </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scholasticism</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">yeridos hadoros</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The scholastic view that reconciled the honor due to earlier generations with the greater knowledge of their own time; later scholars did not consider themselves as great as their predecessors but believed they could see further because, in the words of a Christian scholastic proverb , they were “dwarves standing on the shoulders of giants.”</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rote recitation of tehillim as a way to earn Heavenly points and change God's mind</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benedictine monks </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chassidish music</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Hasidic music is an excellent venue for observing the relationship between Jewish culture and its non-Jewish surroundings. Many of the melodies that emerged from Hasidic courts were deeply influenced by the local musical environment. These influences can even be discerned by the untrained ear, since one can easily detect Slavic, Balkan, and even Middle Eastern styles that form the background of Hasidic melodies. At times, songs and melodies were adapted in their entirety from the non-Jewish environment and became an integral part of the Hasidic musical repertoire. In some cases they were stripped of their former words and given new ones, or left as now-wordless </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">niggunim</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Some songs, however, were incorporated into the Hasidic canon "as is" and their words were interpreted metaphorically or allegorically.”</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 0pt;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="294"></col><col width="66"></col><col width="294"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td colspan="3" style="background-color: #b7b7b7; border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greco-Roman Influences</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Format of the codification of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mishnah </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Twelve Tables of Roman Law, the first recording of procedural law </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Purim’s Costumes/Drinking/</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vinahapachu</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Roman and medieval Carnival</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fox fables in the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">gemara</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fox fable genre popular in Greco-Roman culture</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The format of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seder</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, including things like dipping vegetables, reclining, cups of wine, singing songs, discussion, and ending the discussion with mnemonics.</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Roman symposium</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Matrilineal descent</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Roman law concerning who is a citizen</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Midrash </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that visitors to Sodom would be shown to an inn and made to lay down in a bed. Those that were too tall to fit in the bed would have their legs cut off, and those that were too short would be stretched to make them fit.</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greek legend of Procrustes, a bandit who had a bed in which he made his victims lie. If the victim was too short, Procrustes stretched him until he fit. If he was too tall, Procrustes cut off his legs. </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Midrash </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that man was created as an “androgynous” (it uses this word) two-sided creature, one side male and the other female.</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plato's Symposium, in which the Greek comedic playwright Aristophanes says that the gods first created people as round, “androgynous” creatures that were essentially two people stuck together back-to-back. </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">gemara’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">story of Yosef moker Shabbos</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A story recorded by Herodotus about King Polycrates of Samos</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The story of R’ Yochanan ben Zakai sneaking out of Yerushalyim in a coffin, predicting Vespasian would become Emperor, and being granted favors.</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Josephus’s “War of the Jews,” in which he records an identical story about himself. </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The analogy in the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">gemra </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in Sanhedrin about the body and soul working together like a blind and a lame man</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Epigrams in the Greek Anthology concerning cooperation between a blind man and a lame man</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mishnah which says, "His father brought him into this world, while his rabbi, who taught him wisdom, brings him to the world to come,” and therefore the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rebbi </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is more important than the father.</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aristotle: "Teachers who educated children deserve more honor than parents who merely gave them birth.”</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pointing at the Torah in shul and saying “This is the Torah that…”</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pointing at the Roman emperor as he passed and saying, “This one is the good one!" </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Various admonitions in Pirkei Avos </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stoic aphorisms</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The concept of a mesorah, as recorded in Pirkei Avos with it’s 14 links of passings-on</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greek philosophical schools’ legitimization of a new head of a school by establishing a lineage from the founder of the school to the new head with 14 links of passings-on</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Story of R' Akiva seeing water dripping on stone</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A widespread idiom, the earliest recorded instance of which is attributed to Choerilus of Samos.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The gemara’s discussion of the viability of 7, 8, and 9 month old babies (which we now know to be incorrect)</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An identical belief recorded by Hippocrates</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The concept of a </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">moshiach </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that that cures the world’s ills</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plato’s Republic</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">God looked into the Torah to create the world</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Gnostic belief that Sophia, the Greek personification of Wisdom, aided in the creation of the world, by way of the identification of the Torah with Wisdom.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The idea that this world is a shadow of the “true” world</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Neoplatonism</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 29.4082pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the practice of sending </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">teshuvot</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the Roman practice of official jurists who had the right to issue responsa on behalf of the Emperor. </span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><br /><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-1c4a1e77-7fff-1ee7-aa18-25a48f6bdf4c"><br /><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 0pt;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="294"></col><col width="66"></col><col width="294"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 21pt;"><td colspan="3" style="background-color: #999999; border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Persian era Influences</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ksav Ashuri</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, (the Hebrew alphabet we’re familiar with)</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Assyrian alphabet in which the Aramaic used by imperial Babylon and Persia was written. The script is named for the city of Assur, the capital of the Assyrian kingdom.</span></p><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Purim Story </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Likely a Persian myth about the defeat of the Elamite god Humman by the Babylonian gods Marduk and Ishtar, symbolic of the Persian supersession of the Elamite empire.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mishloach manos </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Zoroastrian (Persian) spring solstice holiday during which children would visit their neighbors to give and receive candy</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The belief that cut fingernails must be carefully disposed of, because they are dangerous to pregnant women </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> an identical Zoroastrian belief</span></p><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lighting a pair of candles before Shabbos and Yom Tov</span><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">im</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zoroastrian custom to light a pair of candles on the eve of a festival</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Belief in reward and punishment in the afterlife, as opposed to the bleak nothingness of Sheol </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zoroastrian belief that one would be judged for his actions after death and rewarded or punished accordingly</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></span></div><br /><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 0pt;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="294"></col><col width="66"></col><col width="294"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 21pt;"><td colspan="3" style="background-color: #999999; border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) Influences</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the beginning of creation, there is the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">tehom</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the chaotic water</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Enuma Elish, in which the god Marduk creates the world from the body of Tiamat, a water goddess/chaos monster</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Splitting the water at </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Krias Yam Suf</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The legend of the Pharaoh Namor’s magicians splitting the Nile</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seven days of creation, with Man created on the sixth day, and rest on the seventh</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Enuma Elish, in which seven generations of gods create various things. The sixth generation of gods created man, completing creation, so that the seventh generation of gods could rest.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The idea that God uses foreign nations as His tools to punish the Bnei Yisroel, and this is how the Babylonians were able to destroy the Beis HaMikdash</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The explanation given by the priests of Marduk in the Cyrus Cylinder for why a foreign power was able to conquer the city protected by their god </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gan Eden</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">/</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Etz HaDass</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">/creating woman from Adam’s rib</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Sumerian myth in which the god Enki eats sacred fruit from the goddess Ninhursag’s garden. When she discovered him, she cursed him, and he became deathly ill. She took pity on him, and created goddesses to heal his failing body, including Ninti, the lady of the rib.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The myth of Enki and Ninhursag explains why Chava, who is called the mother of all living things, was made from a rib and not some other body part. The goddess who healed Enki's rib is named Ninti. In Sumerian, "ti" can mean, "rib," or it can mean, "to make live." It's a pun in Sumerian. This pun was carried over to the story of Chava's creation, even though the Hebrew words for "rib" and "to make live" are not homonyms. That the pun works in Sumerian but not in Hebrew strongly suggests that the latter borrowed from the former. </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mabul</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ANE flood myths such as Gilgamesh and Atrahasis. Flood myths from the ANE share many points of similarity, while flood myths from other parts of the world share at most two or three points of similarity with Noach’s story.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Circumcision</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The practice of Egyptian priests</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Several laws of the Covenant Code in parshas mishpatim</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Code of Hammurabi, in some instances almost word-for-word</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">klalos</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ANE suzerainty treaties, right down to the consequences described for breaking the treaty.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moshe being placed in a basket sealed with tar on the Nile by his mother</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Legend of Sargon, who was placed in a basket sealed with tar on the Euphrates by his mother</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The idea of </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">malachim </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that are attached to / represent specific nations, people, natural phenomena, etc.</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pagan deities that were attached to / represent specific nations, people, natural phenomena, etc. (We kept the concept, and demoted the heavenly beings involved from gods to angels.)</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Creation begins with light, which exists before day, and which God speaks into existence</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Theban creation myth, in which the god Atum, a sun-god, is spoken into existence, and which says, “</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> [The one (i.e., Amen)] that came into being in the first time when no god was [yet] created, when you [Amen-Re] opened your eyes to see with them and everybody became illuminated by means of the glances of your eyes, when the day had not yet come into being.“</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rakia</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mesopotamian cosmology, which conceived of the world as a snowglobe in a fishtank. The Earth is the flat floor of the snowglobe, and the firmament is the glass globe.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mankind was created </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">b’tzelem elohim</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and God breathed life into Adam’s nostrils.</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Egyptian mythology, as recorded in </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Instruction Book for Merikare:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well tended is mankind—gods cattle.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He made sky and earth for their sake</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He subdued the water monster,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He made breath for their noses to live.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They are his images, who came from his body. “</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cain and Hevel</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Mesopotamina myth of Dumuzi and Enkimdu. A shepherd (Dumuzi) and a farmer (Enkimdu) sought the favor of the goddess Innana, and she made her decision based on the importance of the respective produce. Innana chooses Dumuzi as her husband.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yaakov gets the birthright and the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">brachos </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">from Eisav</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Egyptian myth of Horus and Set, as recorded in </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Contendings of Horus and Set</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Horus gets the birthright from Set by way of a bowl of porridge, and it is orchestrated by his mother Isis, just as Yaakov getting the brachos is orchestrated by his mother Rivkah.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yosef and Potiphar's wife</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The story of a young hero rejecting the wiles of a jealous woman was a frequent theme in ancient myths. The Egyptian “Tale of the Two Brothers” tells of two brothers, Anubis, the older one, and Bata, the younger. The younger lived with his brother and brother's wife. The story describes Bata as “a perfect man" who performed most of the household and field chores. One day, Anubis's wife came upon him and confessed her desire for carnal knowledge. He rejected her advances, saying she and the brother were like parents to him. He promised to say nothing of her actions. The wife, afraid of being found out, arranged to look as if she had been assaulted and accused her brother-in-law of the act. </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shimshon</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hercules. Both have divine super-strength, kill a lion and wear its skin, use unusual weapons, are betrayed by their wives which leads to voluntary death, were extremely thirsty and drunk water which poured out from a rock, tore down the gates of a city</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Beis HaMikdash’s design as a tripartite temple</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Temples to Canaanite gods</span></p><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">aron </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">keruvim</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ANE winged god-thrones</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">kiyar </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bronze water basins that represented the Canaanite god Yam</span></p><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two forty-foot free-standing pillars in the Beis HaMikdash</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The fertility cult of the Canaanite goddess Asherah</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The scapegoat “l’Azazel” </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Babylonian New-Years ritual</span></p><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tzitzis </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The ANE custom of wearing tassels on one’s clothes which had great spiritual significance</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hebrew calendar of the months.</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Babylonian calendar. The Babylonians were the first people to figure out how to sync a lunar calendar with the solar year, and was adopted from them in its entirety, even retaining the Babylonian names of the months.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Large parts of </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">davening </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">are devoted to praising God</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Priests in ANE temples would sing songs of praise and flattery to the divine beings in order to win them over</span></p><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The idea that the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">aron </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">didn’t take up any space in the</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> kadosh kadashim </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The belief that the giant gods of the pagan pantheons could at will inhabit small statues (idols) made in their likeness because the gods don’t take up physical space</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Neviim </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">who speak on God’s behalf and entreat the people to return to piety </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The ubiquity of such figures among many cultures in the ANE</span></p><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Devarim 25:11-12 - When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the testicles; then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall have no pity. Adapted From </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An Assyrian law: "If a woman should crush a man's testicle during a quarrel, they shall cut off her fingers.” 11 5MAL A 1 4</span></p><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tehillim, Psalm 29 Adapted From </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Canaanite hymn to Baal</span></p><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tehillim, Psalm 104</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An Egyptian hymn to Aton </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mishlei 22:17-23:11 </span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Wisdom of Amenemope</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sukkah</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adapted From</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A custom to erect huts on the (flat) roofs of houses to honor the gods during the harvest</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-86219937656935025772020-12-02T07:18:00.002-08:002020-12-02T07:56:19.355-08:00We're all in the Same Boat<p><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">You all know the
allegory about the boat for “kol Yisroel areivim zeh l’zeh,” right? We have to
worry about what other people are doing for the same reason we have to worry if
we’re in a boat and someone is drilling a hole under their seat. If water comes
into the boat through their hole, the boat sinks and we all drown. And so too,
if another person is doing aveiros, we’ll all suffer.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">During WWI Germany
invaded Belgium as part of the Schlieffen Plan, which called for the German
army to quickly reach the sea and then swing through France like a closing
door. The German government told the Belgians that they had no interest in
Belgium itself. All they wanted was to pass through the country. If the
Belgians let them pass, they would leave the Belgians unmolested. Belgium
refused. Germany crushed the Belgian army in a month, and occupied the country.
But Belgian resistance didn’t end. Belgian civilians took potshots at German
soldiers as they walked through the streets of towns and cities. The situation
was untenable for the Germans, so they imposed harsh measures. For every German
soldier who was shot, they would round up ten Belgians at random from that town
or neighborhood –men, women, and children - and execute them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">After all, if one Belgian
drills a hole under their seat, the boat sinks and they all drown.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The world called
the German’s draconian measures “The rape of Belgium,” and it inspired
propaganda posters like these.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 14px;">Were the Germans wrong for subjecting the Belgians to collective punishment for individual's actions? If you think they were - as most people did and do - then so too, God subjecting Klal Yisroel to collective punishment for individual's aveiros.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QmPPZD7UNTU/X8ewAoAbY9I/AAAAAAAABE4/-t52qjIDgNYZj4uTwh_pdjb9u89DK2pSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/102559.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="427" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QmPPZD7UNTU/X8ewAoAbY9I/AAAAAAAABE4/-t52qjIDgNYZj4uTwh_pdjb9u89DK2pSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/102559.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i3mOOuaOAn0/X8ewAim4BtI/AAAAAAAABE0/G5lqwUMPR6QF0Z0EhFzQLQOcwWhh_yfVACLcBGAsYHQ/s602/destroy%2Bthis%2Bmad%2Bbrute.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i3mOOuaOAn0/X8ewAim4BtI/AAAAAAAABE0/G5lqwUMPR6QF0Z0EhFzQLQOcwWhh_yfVACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/destroy%2Bthis%2Bmad%2Bbrute.jpg" /></a></div><p></p>G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-37984473755375931322020-07-23T09:58:00.002-07:002020-07-23T09:58:24.777-07:00Hashkafa with a Heretic: Mesilas Yesharim, Chapter 6<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Translated text of Mesilas Yesharim in this font.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My
commentary in this font.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4; line-height: 115%;">CHAPTER
VI </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: #548dd4;">CONCERNING THE TRAIT OF ZEAL </span></b><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">AFTER WATCHFULNESS comes Zeal,
Watchfulness pertaining to the negative commandments and Zeal to the positive,
in accordance with the idea of "Depart from evil and do good (Psalms
34:15)." "Zeal," as the name implies, signifies alacrity in the
pursuit and fulfillment of mitzvoth. As expressed by our Sages of blessed
memory (Pesachim 4a), "The zealous advance themselves towards
mitzvoth." That is, just as it requires great intelligence and much
foresight to save oneself from the snares of the evil inclination and to escape
from evil so that it does not come to rule us and intrude itself into our
deeds, so does it require great intelligence and foresight to take hold of mitzvoth,
to acquire them for ourselves, and not to lose them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If
it’s true that it requires “great intelligence” to avoid aveiros and to do
mitzvos, then the vast majority of people, who are, by definition of average intelligence,
have no hope of keeping the mitzvos properly. I get that this has a certain
elitist appeal, but it doesn’t fit at all with a Torah that was given to the
entire Jewish people.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">For just as the evil inclination
attempts, with the devices at its command, to cast a man into the nets of sin,
so does it seek to prevent him from performing mitzvoth, and to leave Him
devoid of them. If a man weakens and is lazy and does not strengthen himself to
pursue mitzvoth and to hold onto them, he will certainly lack them. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">A person's nature exercises a strong
downward pull upon him. This is so because the grossness which characterizes
the substance of earthiness keeps a man from desiring exertion and labor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While
one can easily find “grossness” in physical existence, one can also find beauty
and the sublime. As I’ve noted several times, this disparagement of the
physical has a distinctly Christian flavor to it.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">One who wishes, therefore, to attain to
the service of the Creator, may His Name be blessed, must strengthen himself
against his nature and be zealous. If he leaves himself in the hands of his
downward-pulling nature, there is no question that he will not succeed. As the
Tanna says <b>"Be fierce as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer
and strong as a lion to do the will of your Father in heaven."</b> Our
Sages of blessed memory have numbered Torah and good deeds among those things
which require self-fortification (Berachoth 32b). And Scripture plainly states
(Joshua 1:7), "Strengthen yourself and be very courageous to observe to do
according to all the Torah which Moses My servant commanded you." One who
seeks to transform his nature completely requires great strengthening. Solomon
repeatedly exhorts us concerning this, recognizing the evil of laziness and the
greatness of the loss that results from it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why
this assumption that laziness is people’s default state, that we have to
struggle against? While people like to relax, most people are not lazy. Just
look around. People put effort into things they think are important. Society
isn’t crumbling because people can’t be bothered.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">He says (Proverbs 6:10), "A little
sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep and your
poverty is suddenly upon you and your want as an armed man." The lazy man,
though not actively evil, produces evil through his very inactivity. We read
further (Proverbs 18:9), "Also he who slackens in his work is a brother to
the Destroyer." Though he is not the Destroyer who commits the evil with
his own hands, let him not think that he is far-removed from him - he is his
blood-brother. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">A portrayal of a daily occurrence
furnishes us with a clear idea of the lazy man's wickedness (Proverbs 24:30.).
"I passed by the field of a lazy man and by the vineyard of a man without
sense and it was overgrown with thistles; its face was covered with nettles...
And I beheld; I put my heart to it; I saw; I took instruction, a little sleep,
a little slumber ... and suddenly your poverty is upon you ..." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This
is not a “daily occurrence.” It’s a made-up tableau in a polemic against
laziness.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Aside from the surface description,
whereby we are provided with an unquestionably true account of what happens to
the lazy man's field, a very beautiful interpretation has been put forth by our
Sages of blessed memory (Yalkut Shimoni Mishlei 961): " `and it was
overgrown with thistles' - he seeks the interpretation of a passage and does
not find it; ,its face was covered' - because of his not having labored in the
Law, he sits in judgment and declares the pure, unclean and the impure, clean,
and he breaches the fences of the Scholars. What is this man's punishment?
Solomon tells us (Ecclesiastes 10:8) : `One who breaches a fence will be bitten
by a snake.' " That is, the evil of the lazy man does not come all at
once, but little by little, without his recognizing and sensing it. He is
pulled from evil to evil until he finds himself sunk in evil's very depths. He
begins by not expending the amount of effort which could be expected of him.
This causes him not to study Torah as he should; and because of this, when he
later does come to study it, he lacks the requisite understanding. It would be
bad enough if his evil were to end here, but it does not. It grows even worse;
for in his desire, notwithstanding, to interpret the section or chapter under
consideration, he adduces interpretations which are not in accordance with the
law, destroys the truth and perverts it, trespasses upon ordinances, and
breaches the fences. His end, like that of all who breach fences, is
destruction. Solomon continues (Ibid.), "And I beheld; I put my heart to
it" - I thought upon this thing and I saw the terrible nature of the evil
in it; it is like a poison which continues to spread, little by little, its
workings unnoticed, until death results. This is the meaning of "A little
sleep ... and suddenly your poverty is upon you as an armed man ..." </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">We see with our own eyes how often a
person neglects his duty in spite of his awareness of it and in spite of his
having come to recognize as a truth what is required for the salvation of his
soul and what is incumbent upon him in respect to his Creator. This neglect is
due not to an inadequate recognition of his duty nor to any other cause but the
increasing weight of his laziness upon him; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I
think he’s wrong here. Like I said above, people regularly expend effort on
things they think are important. I think it’s much more likely that people don’t
do what the Ramchal thinks is “required for the salvation of his soul” because they
don’t really think that it’s required, don’t think it’s the truth, than because
they’re “lazy.” People do what they do because, at least in the moment, it
seems like a good idea. </span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">so that he says, "I will eat a
little," or "I will sleep a little," or "It is hard for me
to leave the house," or "I have taken off my shirt, how can I put it
on again?" (Canticles 5:3). "It is very hot outside," "It
is very cold," or "It is raining too hard" and all the other
excuses and pretenses that the mouth of fools is full of. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Again,
these likely aren’t “pretenses.” They just don’t think that whatever it is that
the Ramchal thinks they should be doing is more important than their comfort.
This is different from laziness, where someone knows that they should do
something, but can’t be bothered. And there is a difference between “should” in
an idealistic sense and “should” in a practical sense. No one ever thinks to
themselves, “I should go do X or I’m going to die, but my bed is too comfy and
I can’t be bothered.” If they’re staying in bed, it’s because they don’t believe
that not doing X right now is going to kill them.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Either way, the Torah is neglected,
Divine service dispensed with, and the Creator abandoned. As Solomon said
(Ecclesiastes 10:18), "Through laziness the roof sinks in, and through the
hands' remaining low, the house leaks." If his laziness is held up to him,
the lazy man will doubtless come back with many quotations culled from the
Sages and from Scripture, and with intellectual arguments, all supporting,
according to his misguided mind, his leniency with himself (and all allowing
him to remain in the repose of his laziness). He fails to see that these
arguments and explanations stem not from rational evaluation, but from his
laziness, which, when it grows strong within him, inclines his reason and
intelligence to them, so that he does not pay heed to what is said by the wise
and by those who possess sound judgment. It is in this connection that Solomon
cried (Proverbs 26:16), "A lazy man is wiser in his own eyes than seven
sages!" Laziness does not even permit one to attend to the words of those
who reprove him; he puts them all down for blunderers and fools, reckoning only
himself wise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You’re
nogeah b’davar! You’re misled by your taivos! All of your kashas are really
teirutzim!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh
please. This is nothing more than a way to dismiss someone’s arguments out of
hand by attributing them to a negative desire. You can’t just wave your hand
and make arguments disappear. Even if it were true that the arguments were
motivated by laziness, they stand or fall on their merits. You still have to
counter the quotations (assuming that, like the Ramchal does, you find such
quotations authoritative) and address the argument. They don’t go away just because
you ascribe non-intellectual or even nefarious motives to the person presenting
them.</span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">A principle that experience has shown
to be of central importance to the work of Separation is that whatever tends to
lighten one's burden must be examined carefully. For although such alleviation
is sometimes justified and reasonable, it is most often a deceitful
prescription of the evil inclination, and must, therefore, be subjected to much
analysis and investigation. If, after such an examination, it still seems
justified, then it is certainly acceptable. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">In fine, a man must greatly strengthen
himself, and power himself with Zeal to perform the mitzvoth, casting from
himself the hindering weight of laziness. The angels were extolled for their
Zeal, as is said of them (Psalms 103:20), "Mighty in power, they do His
word, to listen to the voice of His word," and (Ezekiel 1:14), "And
the living creatures ran and returned, as streaks of lightning." A man is
a man and not an angel, and it is therefore impossible for him to attain to the
strength of an angel, but he should surely strive to come as close to that
level as his nature allows. King David, grateful for his portion of Zeal, said
(Psalms 119:60), "I was quick; I did not delay in keeping Your
mitzvoth." </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-13691173488956011992020-07-22T12:51:00.002-07:002020-07-22T12:51:24.530-07:00Hashkafa with a Heretic: Mesilas Yesharim, Chapter 5<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Translated text of Mesilas Yesharim in this font.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My
commentary in this font.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">CHAPTER V </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: #548dd4;">CONCERNING THE FACTORS WHICH DETRACT
FROM WATCHFULNESS AND THE WITHDRAWING OF ONESELF FROM THEM</span></b><span style="color: #548dd4;"> </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">THE FACTORS which detract from this
trait and withdraw one from it are three: The first is worldly occupation and
involvement, the second, laughter and levity, and the third, evil
companionship. We will discuss each one individually. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Laughter?!Sigh.
Reminds me of the old line, “A fundamentalist is someone who’s scared that
someone, somewhere, is having fun.”</span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">We have already discussed worldly
occupation and involvement. When a man is involved in worldly affairs, his
thoughts are bound by the chains of the burden that weighs upon them and it is
impossible for them to become concerned with his deeds. The Sages, may Peace be
upon them, said, in their awareness of this fact (Avoth 4.10), "Minimize
your occupations and occupy yourself with Torah." A person must occupy
himself to a certain extent for the sake of a livelihood, but not to the extent
where his Divine service is interfered with. It is in respect to this that we
were commanded to set aside times for Torah study. We have already mentioned
that it is such study which is the prime requirement for Watchfulness; as
stated by R. Pinhas, "Torah brings one to Watchfulness." Without it,
Watchfulness will not be attained. As our Sages of blessed memory have stated
(Avoth 2.6), "An ignoramus cannot be a saint." This is true because
the very Creator, Blessed be His name, who invested man with an evil
inclination, created the Torah as an antidote to it (Kiddushin 30b). It is
self-evident that if the Creator has fashioned for this affliction only this
remedy, it is impossible under any circumstances that a person be cured of it
through any other means. One who thinks to save himself without it is mistaken,
and will recognize his mistake only in the end, when he dies in sin. For the
evil inclination exerts great force against a person, and, without his being
aware of it, grows and waxes stronger, and comes to dominate him. A man may
resort to all the devices imaginable - if he does not adopt the remedy which
was created for him, namely, the Torah, as I have written, he will neither
recognize nor feel the intensification of his illness until he dies in sin and
his soul is lost. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">To what is this analogous? To the case
of a sick man, who, consulting doctors and having his sickness correctly
diagnosed and prescribed for, nevertheless, possessing no previous knowledge of
medicine, abandons their prescription and takes instead whatever medicine he happens
to think of. Is there any doubt that he will die? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That
sounds like a certain rosh yeshiva from Philadelphia.</span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">The same is true in our case. No one
understands the disease of the evil inclination and the potentialities inherent
within it but the Creator who fashioned it. And He Himself cautioned us that
the only antidote to it is Torah. Who, then, can abandon it and take anything
else and expect to live? The darkness of earthiness will advance upon him
degree by degree without his sensing it, until he finds himself sunk in evil
and so far removed from truth that it will not even occur to him to seek it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This
is demonstrably untrue. There are lots of people who have never learned Torah
in their entire lives, and yet have not “sunk in evil.” </span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">If, however, he occupies himself with
Torah, then, when he sees its ways, its commandments and its warnings, there
will awaken within him responses which will lead him to the ways of good. As
our Sages of blessed memory have said (Yerushalmi Chagigah 1:7), "Would
that they left me and kept my Torah, for the radiance within it would return
them to good." </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Also included in this category is the
setting aside of times for consideration of one's deeds, with an eye towards
their correction, as I wrote above. In addition to this, he who is wise will
not permit any time that may remain from his affairs to go lost, but he will
immediately seize it, and not let it go, in order to employ it towards
self-improvement and the betterment of his Divine service. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">The deterrent that we have been
discussing, though more common than the others, is the easiest to escape, for
those who wish to escape it. The second deterrent, however, laughter and
levity, is very severe. He who is immersed in it is as one who is immersed in a
great ocean, from which it is extremely difficult to escape. For laughter
affects a person's heart in such a manner that sense and reason no longer
prevail in him, so that he becomes like a drunkard or a simpleton, whom,
because they cannot accept direction, it is impossible to advise or direct. As
was said by King Solomon, may Peace be upon him (Ecclesiastes 2:2), "About
laughter I have said, `It is silly,' and about happiness, `What does it
do?"' <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And
the pointlessness of laughter – in a text that points out the pointlessness of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everything</i> – is supposed to support the
idea that laughter makes one leave reason behind and become a simpleton? That
doesn’t follow. It’s like he went looking for any negative statement about laughter
he could find, and this is the best he could do.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">And our Sages of blessed memory have
said (Avoth 3.13), "Laughter and lightheadedness motivate a man towards
illicit relations." For even though every reasoning individual recognizes
the gravity of this kind of sin and his heart is afraid to approach it because
of the vividness of the impression that has stamped itself into his mind, of
the truly terrible nature of the offense and the severity of its punishment,
still laughter and lightheadedness draw him on little by little and lead him
closer and closer to the stage where fear leaves him little by little, degree
by degree, until finally he reaches the sin itself and commits it. Why is this
so? Just as the essence of Watchfulness involves applying one's heart to
things, so the essence of laughter is the turning away of one's heart from
just, attentive thinking, so that thoughts of fearing God do not enter one's
heart at all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This
also doesn’t say what he wants it to say. Nor is he right that the “essence” of
laughter is turning away from attentive thinking – that is, that laughing will
lead one to make poor decisions. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Consider the great severity and
destructive power of levity. Like a shield smeared with oil, which wards off
arrows and causes them to fall to the ground, not permitting them to reach the
bearer's body, is levity in the face of reproof and rebuke. For with one bit of
levity and with a little laughter a person can cast from himself the great
majority of the awakenings and impressions that a man's heart stimulates and
effects within itself upon his seeing or hearing things which arouse him to an
acconting and an examination of his deeds. The force of levity flings
everything to the ground so that no impression whatsoever is made upon Him.
This is due not to the weakness of the forces playing upon him, nor to any lack
of understanding on his part, but to the power of levity, which obliterates all
facets of moral evaluation and fear of God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In
other words, ridiculing the rebuke robs it of its power to make one feel small
and guilty. This is probably true, but isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as he
paints it here. Appeals to others to improve themselves should be reasoned, not
based in guilt. One can certainly ridicule a reasoned argument, but if the
argument is valid, it’s valid no matter how much it’s ridiculed. Guilt, on the
other hand, only works if one takes it seriously. </span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Touching this the Prophet Isaiah
"screamed like a crane," for he saw that it was this which left no
place for his exhortations to make an impression and which destroyed all hope
for the sinners. As it is stated (Isaiah 28:22), "And now do not engage in
levity lest your bonds be strengthened." And our Sages have pronounced (Avodah
Zarah 18b) that one who is given to levity brings suffering upon himself.
Scripture itself explicity states (Proverbs 19:29), "Judgments are
appropriate for the light-headed." Indeed, this is dictated by reason; for
one who is influenced by thought and studies does not require bodily
punishment, for he will leave off sinning without it by virtue of the thoughts
of repentance which will arise in his heart through what he will read or hear
of moral judgments and exhortations. But the light-headed, who because of the
force of their levity are not influenced by exhortations cannot be corrected
except through punitive judgments. For their levity will not be as effective in
warding off these as it is in warding off ethical appeals. In accordance with
the severity of the sin and its consequences is the True Judge severe in His
punishment. As our Sages of blessed memory have taught us (Avodah Zarah 18b),
"The punishment for levity is extremely severe; it begins with suffering
and ends with destruction, as it is said (Isaiah 28:22), `Lest your bonds be
strengthened, for I have heard destruction and cutting off..." </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This
sounds a lot like bad parenting. Someone who can’t get their child to behave
through teaching them proper behavior has to resort to brute force. Worse, the
abuse is here blamed on the one who is being punished – it’s made out to be his
fault for laughing at the ridiculous, not the fault of the teacher for being
ridiculous.</span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">The third deterrent to Watchfulness is
evil companionship, that is, the companionship of fools and sinners, as
Scripture states (Proverbs 13:20), "And the friend of fools will be
broken." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This
seems right. Peer pressure and social norms are influential, and the people one
associates with do affect his behavior.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Very often we see that even after the
truth of a man's responsibility for Divine service and Watchfulness has
impressed itself upon a person, he weakens or commits certain trespasses in
order not to be mocked by his friends or to be able to mix freely with them.
This is the intent of Solomon's warning (Proverbs 24:21), "Do not mix with
those who make changes." If someone says to you (Kethuvoth 17a), "A
man's mind should always be associated with his fellow men," tell him,
"This refers to people who conduct themselves as human beings and not to
people who conduct themselves as animals." Solomon again warns (Proverbs
14:7), "Withdraw yourself from a fool." And King David said in this
connection (Psalms 1: 1), "Happy is the man who did not walk...... upon
which our Sages of blessed memory have commented (Avodah Zarah 18b), "If
he walked he will eventually stand, and if he stood, he will eventually
sit." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What?
He really should have quoted the whole passage, which makes the reasonable case
that one who has casual association with sinners may come to be more and more
involved with them, until he reaches the point where he too will sin. It’s odd
that he cut off the quote before the punchline.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">And again (Psalms 26:4), "I have
not sat with false men ...I despised the society of the wicked ..." What a
person must do, then, is to purify and cleanse himself, and keep his feet from
the paths of the crowd who are immersed in the foolishness of the time, and
turn them to the precincts of God and His dwelling places. As David himself
concludes (Ibid. 6), "I will wash my hands in cleanliness, and I will go
round Your altar, O God." If there are among his companions those who
subject him to ridicule, he should not take it to heart, but, to the contrary,
should ridicule them and shame them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do
you like flame wars? Because that’s how we get flame wars.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Let him consider whether, if he had the
opportunity of acquiring a great deal of money, he would keep from undertaking
what such acquisition entailed so as to avoid the ridicule of his companions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes,
he probably would. Of course, it depends on how much money and how much
ridicule, and we have to factor in that the more money someone has, the less
likely others are to ridicule them. Generally, though, people tend to value
respect over money. It’s why “Employee of the month” exists.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">How much more averse should he be to
losing his soul for the sake of sparing himself ridicule. In this connection
our Sages of blessed memory exhorted us (Aroth 5.23), "Be fierce as a
leopard to do the will of your Father in heaven." And David said (Psalms
119:46), "And I will speak of your testimonies before kings and I will not
be ashamed." Even though most of the kings of his time occupied themselves
with, and were wont to converse upon grandiose schemes and pleasures, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unlike
Dovid himself, of course, who never schemed for pleasures. *cough* Batsheva
*cough*</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">and we would, therefore, tend to expect
that David, himself a king, would be ashamed, while in their presence, to speak
of ethical questions and Torah instead of discussing great feats and the
pleasures of men such as they <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sure,
because it’s not like kings in antiquity were ever devotees of gods or
interested in such things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We
can excuse the Ramchal for not knowing any better in the mid-18<sup>th</sup>
century, but his ignorance of psychology and history that he displays in this
chapter should keep anyone from taking the Mesilas Yesharim at face value in
the 21<sup>st</sup>.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">- in spite of all this, David was not
in the least perturbed, and his heart was not seduced by these vanities,
because he had already attained to the truth. He states explicitly (Psalms
119:46), "And I will speak of your testimonies before kings and I will not
be ashamed." Isaiah, likewise, said (Isaiah 50:7), "1 therefore made
my face like flint and I knew that I would not be ashamed." </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-47273882465362810442020-07-21T09:13:00.001-07:002020-07-21T09:13:11.821-07:00Hashkafa with a Heretic: Mesilas Yesharim, Chapter 4<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Translated text of Mesilas Yesharim in this font.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My
commentary in this font.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">CHAPTER IV </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: #548dd4;">CONCERNING THE MANNER OF ACQUIRING
WATCHFULNESS</span></b><span style="color: #548dd4;"> </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">THAT WHICH, in general, brings a person
to Watchfulness is Torah study. As R. Pinchas stated in the beginning of the
Baraitha, "Torah brings one to Watchfulness."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There’s
no discussion of any mechanism. Just the assertion that, magically, learning
leads to watchfulness.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">That which leads to it in particular,
however, is reflection upon the demanding nature of the Divine service that a
man is responsible for and the severity of the judgment which it involves. This
understanding may be gained by analyzing the incidents that are related in the
sacred writings and by studying the statements of the Sages of blessed memory
which awaken one to it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This
makes more sense, but he says that “in particular” studying these sorts of
things make one watchful. That, along with the first two sentences in the chapter,
still implies that learning – any learning – magically makes one watchful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">In this process of understanding, there
are various levels of ideas, applying respectively to those with wholeness of
understanding, those of lesser understanding and the general populace. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Those with wholeness of understanding
will be primarily motivated towards Watchfulness by their coming to see clearly
that only perfection and nothing else is worthy of their desire and that there
is no worse evil than the lack of and removal from perfection. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I
guess I’m not a member of this rarified elite, because I don’t think this is at
all self-evident, or that it’s true. As the saying goes, “Don’t let the perfect
be the enemy of the good.” There are lots of worthwhile things in life that
aren’t perfect, but are nonetheless good. Nor is a lack of perfection “evil.”
Thinking that one needs to seek perfection and that a lack of perfection is
evil is a path toinsanity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">For after this has become clear to
them, as well as the fact that the means to this end are virtuous deeds and
traits, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not
being perfectly virtuous isn’t evil. It’s human. This is awful black-and-white
thinking, where one is either perfect or evil.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">they will certainly never permit
themselves to diminish these means; nor will they ever fail to make use of
their [the means'] full potential. For it would already have become clear to
them that if these means were reduced in number or not employed with complete
effectiveness, with all of the energy that they called for, true perfection
would not be attained through them, but would be lacked to the extent that
sufficient exertion was lacking in relation to them. There is no misfortune nor
any evil that those with wholeness of understanding deem greater than this lack
of perfection. They will, therefore, choose to increase the number of these
means and to be rigid in relation to all of their aspects. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This
is a perfect justification for today’s chumrah-chasing frum culture, which was
born out of the ivory-tower yeshivah and the break in mimetic tradition caused
by the Holocaust. It’s interesting to see it here already, relatively early. It’s
also what allows behaviors that are clearly symptoms of mental disorders to be
reframed as signs of piety. For example, a biography of the previous Satmar
Rebbe published several years ago recounts that as a child, the rebbe spent
inordinate amounts of time in the bathroom making sure his body was clean,
going back over and over. This sort of exaggerated concern with cleanliness is
a common symptom of OCD, but the biography framed it as a sign of his gadlus
even at a young age. As the Ramachal puts it here, they framed it as the rebbe
seeking perfection and exerting himself to the greatest extent to achieve it.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">They will find no rest or peace from
the worry that they possibly lack something which might lead them to the
perfection that they desire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yeah,
this is not healthy.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">As was said by King Solomon, may Peace
be upon him (Proverbs 28:14), "Happy is the man who always fears."
Our Sages (Berachoth 60a) interpreted this statement as applying to the realm
of Torah. The trait to which this degree of attainment leads is the one which
is termed "Fear of Sin," a trait which constitutes one of the highest
levels of achievement. Its intent is that a man constantly fear and worry lest
he be harboring a trace of sin which might keep him from the perfection that he
is dutybound to strive for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The
person who actually lives this way is insane, or very soon will be. A constant “fear
and worry” that he might have a “trace of sin” is an anxiety disorder, not a
sign of piety.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Relatedly,
it does seem that many “inspiring” stories in circulation in the frum world
feature people who behave in ways that we would find crazy were they not the
heroes of an inspiring story. I’ve written about this phenomenon in the past. [LINK]</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Concerning this our Sages of blessed
memory said by way of analogy (Bava Bathra 75a), "This teaches us that
everyone is burned by his neighbor's canopy." It is not jealousy which is
the operative factor here (for jealousy as I will explain further with the help
of Heaven, is encountered only among those who lack understanding), but rather
the fact that he sees himself as lacking a level of achievement towards
perfection, a level that he could have attained just as his neighbor had. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Comparing
ourselves to others is never a good idea, even when done in this kind of
inspirational, aspirational way. Everyone is different, with different
personalities, circumstances, and person strengths and weaknesses. To suppose
that you could be just like your neighbor if only you tried hard enough is to
ignore that we all live with and are influenced by many things that are beyond
our control. Each of us can only do <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">our</i>
best, not our neighbor’s best.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">If he who possesses wholeness of
understanding engages in this thought process, he certainly will not fall short
of being watchful in his deeds. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Those of lesser understanding, however,
will be motivated towards Watchfulness according to their particular level of
discrimination, so that their quest will be for the honor that they desire. It
is evident to every man of faith that the different stations in the World of
Truth, the World to Come, vary only in relation to one's deeds; that only he
who is greater in deeds than his neighbor will be elevated above him, whereas
he who is lesser in deeds will occupy a lower level. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How
is this “evident” at all? How does he know that there are different stations in
Olam HaBoh, or how one achieves a given station is there are?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">How, then, can a man blind his eyes to
his actions or slacken his efforts, if afterwards, when he can no longer
straighten out what he has made crooked, he will unquestionably suffer? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unquestionably?!</span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">There are some fools who seek only to
lighten their burden. They say, "Why weary ourselves with so much
Saintliness and Separation? Is it not enough for us that we will not be
numbered among the wicked who are judged in Gehinnom? We will not force
ourselves to enter all the way into Paradise. If we do not have a large
portion, we will have a small one. It will be enough for us. We will not add to
our burdens for the sake of greater acquisitions." There is one question
that we will ask these people -could they so easily, in this transitory world,
tolerate the sight of one of their friends being honored, and elevated above
them, and coming to rule over them-or, more so, one of their servants or one of
the paupers who are shameful and lowly in their eyes? Could they tolerate this
without suffering and without their blood boiling in them? Is there any
question that they could not? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I
can only speak for myself, of course, but I’ve never been particularly
concerned with status. Nor do I share the Ramchal’s feelings that servants and
paupers are beneath me. I’m fine with others being honored above me. Getting honored
myself would be nice and all, but it genuinely doesn’t bother me in the
slightest to see other people honored.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">We witness with our own eyes all of the
labors of a man to elevate himself above everyone he can and to establish his
place among the exalted. This is a man's jealousy of his neighbor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He
seems to be using the base middah of jealousy to motivate people to do mitzvos.
I guess that sublimating negative emotions is a good thing, but still, this
seems off. What theory of mitzvos makes this a useful approach? Not the one
where we do mitzvos because it’s God’s will. An omniscient God would know that
you’re only doing mitzvos so you can one-up your neighbor, and it seems like
that would significantly reduce the value of the mitzvah. Nor can it be the
Rambam’s theory of mitzvos, in which mitzvos are meant to refine the
individual. Doing mitzvos motivated by jealously seems to be the opposite of
refinement. So we’re left with the magic theory of mitzvos, where mitzvos are
spells and magic rituals that “work” regardless of intention. Maybe that really
is what mitzvos are, but to me, that seems to cheapen the whole enterprise.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">If he sees his neighbor elevated while
he remains low, what he tolerates will be what he is forced to tolerate because
of his inability to alter the situation: but his heart will brood within him.
If it is so difficult, then, for them to abide being on a lower level than
others in respect to qualities whose desirability is illusive and deceitful,
qualities in relation to which a man's being designated as lowly is but a
surface judgment, and his being elevated, vanity and falsity, then how could
they tolerate seeing themselves lower than those same persons who are now lower
than they? And this in the place of true quality and everlasting worth, which,
though they might not give heart to it now because of their failure to
recognize it and its value, they will certainly recognize in its time for what
it is, to their grief and shame. There is no question that their suffering will
be terrible and interminable. This tolerance, then, that they adopt in order to
lighten their burden is nothing but a deceitful persuasion of their evil
inclination, with no basis whatsoever in truth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oy.
That’s always what it comes down to. “If you disagree with me, it’s because of
your yetzer hara.”</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they saw the truth, there would be no room
for such deception, but because they do not seek it, but walk and stray
according to their desires, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s
always about taivos. This gets tiring. Like so many religious people, he paints
anyone who doesn’t think like he does as a menuval.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">these persuasions will not leave them
until such a time when it will no longer avail them, when it will no longer be
in their hands to rebuild what they have destroyed. As was said by King
Solomon, may Peace be upon him (Ecclesiastes 9:10),<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A
side point, but Shlomo HaMelech didn’t write Koheles.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Whatever your hand finds to do with your
strength, do it, for there is no deed, nor account, nor knowledge..." That
is, what a man does not do while he still has the power that His Creator has
given him (the power of choice that is given to him to employ during his
lifetime, when he can exercise free will and is commanded to do so) he will not
again have the opportunity of doing in the grave and in the pit, for at that
time he will no longer possess this power. For one who has not multiplied good
deeds in his lifetime will not have the opportunity of performing them
afterwards. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sort
of? That’s not really what Koheles means. Koheles is saying to live your life
to fullest, because that’s all that matters. He’s not saying that we should do mitzvos
now because we won’t have the opportunity after death. But I can see how
someone could take just that pasuk, ignore the larger context, and interpret it
the way the Ramchal does.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">And one who has not taken an accounting
of his deeds will not have time to do so later. And one who has not become wise
in this world will not become wise in the grave. This is the intent of (Ibid.)
". .. for there is no deed nor account nor knowledge nor wisdom in the pit
to which you are going." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No,
that’s not the intent. Sheol, which here is translated as “pit,” was
conceptually very different from Olam HaBoh. It wasn’t a place of reward and
punishment. It was just a featureless somewhere that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>stored dead people. Koheles is saying you
should live your life to the fullest, to, in the words of this pasuk and the
one before, “Enjoy happiness with a woman you love all the fleeting days of
life … For that alone is what you can get out of life. … Whatever it is in your
power to do, do with all your might.” He is not saying do mitzvos now because you
won’t have the opportunity in Olam HaBoh. He’s saying enjoy your life, because that’s
the only thing that matters, and there is nothing to look forward to after this
life, “no action, no reasoning, no learning, no wisdom in Sheol.” Just
featureless nothingness forever.</span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">But the general populace will be
motivated towards Watchfulness through a recognition of the depth of judgment
in relation to reward and punishment. In truth, one should continuously tremble
and shiver, for who will abide the Day of Judgment, and who will be deemed
righteous before his Creator, whose scrutiny dissects all things, small and
great. As our Sages of blessed memory have said (Chagigah 5b), " `And He
relates to a man his conversation' (Amos 4:13). Even a casual conversation
between a man and his wife is related to him at the time of judgment."
And, similarly, (Yevamoth 121b), " `And around Him it storms violently'
(Psalms 50: 3). This teaches us that the Holy One Blessed be He judges His
saints to the degree of a hair's-breadth" [an inference derived from the
structural relationship between "storms" and "hair" in the
Hebrew]. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Abraham - the same Abraham who was so
beloved by his Possessor that Scripture (Isaiah 41:8) refers to him as
"Abraham, my beloved" - Abraham did not escape judgment for a slight
indiscretion in his use of words. Because he said, (Genesis 15:8), "With
what shall I know," the Holy One Blessed be He said to him, "Upon
your life, you shall surely know, for your children will be strangers..."
(Vayikra Rabbah 11:5). And because he entered into a covenant with Avimelech
without having been commanded by God to do so, the Holy One Blessed be He, said
to him, "Upon your life, I shall delay the rejoicing of your sons for
seven generations" (Bereshith Rabbah 54:5). </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Jacob, because he became angry with
Rachel upon her saying to him (Genesis 30:1), "Give me sons," was
told by God (as related in the Midrash), "Is this the way to answer those
who are oppressed? Upon your life, your sons will stand before her son"
(Bereshith Rabbah 71: 10). And because he placed Dinah in a chest so that Esau
would not seize her, even though his intentions in doing so were unquestionably
worthy ones, we are told in the Midrash (Ibid. 80:3) that the Holy One Blessed
be He said to him, because he withheld kindliness from his brother, " `Who
keeps kindliness from his neighbor' (Job 6:14) - Because you did not wish to
wed her lawfully, she will be wed unlawfully." </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Joseph, because he said to the one
appointed over the drink (Genesis 40:14), "But remember me in relation to
yourself," had two years added to his imprisonment, as we are told by our
Sages of blessed memory (Bereshith Rabbah 89:2). Also, because he embalmed his
father without God's permission, or, according to a second opinion, because he
heard, "Your servant, our father" and kept still, he died before his
brothers (Bereshith Rabbah 100:3). </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">David, because he referred to words of
Torah as "songs," was punished by having his joy dampened through
Uzzah's indiscretion (Sotah 35a). </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Michal, because she admonished David
for dancing in public before the ark, was punished by dying in childbirth,
having had no other children in her lifetime (II Samuel 6:20 f ). </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Hezekiah - because he revealed the
treasure house to the officers of the Babylonian king, it was decreed that his
sons serve as eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylonia. (II Kings 20:12
ff ). </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">There are many more instances of this
nature. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I
think the point is to demonstrate the seriousness of our actions, and to
thereby motivate people to be “watchful.” What this really is, though, is a demonstration
of how petty and cruel God is. This is the God whose mitzvos we should strive
to do? Maybe out of fear of the cruel tyrant, but not out of any sense that
doing so is “virtuous,” which is the message the Ramchal is trying to convey.</span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">In the chapter "All are
Liable" (Chagiga 5a), our Sages of blessed memory told us, "Rabbi
Yochanan cried when he came to the following verse (Malachi 3:5): `And I will
draw near to you in judgment, and I will be a quick witness...' Is there any
remedy for a servant against whom lesser offenses are weighed, as grave ones
are?" It is certainly not the point of this statement that the punishment
is identical for both, for the Holy One Blessed be He pays measure for measure.
It is rather to be understood that in relation to the weighing of deeds, those
which are less weighty are placed upon the balance just as the weightier ones
are; for the latter will not cause the former to be forgotten, nor will the
Judge overlook them, just as He will not overlook the weighty ones. But He will
consider and attend to all of these equally, judging each one of them and
meting out punishment for each one according to its nature. As was said by King
Solomon, may Peace be upon him (Ecclesiastes 12:14), "For God will bring
every deed into judgment." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There
are good arguments to be made that this last pasuk of Koheles, along with
several that precede it, were later additions to what is otherwise a gloriously
nihilistic text. The original text would have ended with pasuk ches, “Utter
futility—said Koheleth— All is futile!” The next few pesukim, which begin with,
“A further word,” are of a different tone than the rest of the megillah, and
were probably added at some point to make it into a properly God-oriented text.
Those last pesukim are also probably the reason that Koheles was included in
Tanach.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Just as the Holy One Blessed be He does
not allow any good deed, small as it may be, to go unrewarded, so does He not
permit any bad deed, however small, to go unjudged and unpassed upon, contrary
to the thinking of those who wish to talk it into themselves that the Lord
Blessed be He, will not review the lighter things in His judgment and will not
call them into account. It is an acknowledged principle (Bava Kamma 50a):
"Whoever says that the Holy One Blessed be He overlooks things will have
his life `overlooked.' " And our Sages of blessed memory have also said
(Chagiga lba), "If the evil inclination says to you, `Sin and the Holy One
Blessed be He will forgive you,' do not heed it." All this is obvious and
clear, for God is a God of truth. It is this idea which is embodied in the
statement of Moses our Teacher, may Peace be upon him (Deuteronomy 32:4),
"The Rock-His work is whole; for all of His ways are just. He is a God of
faithfulness, without wrong. . ." Since the Holy One Blessed be He desires
justice, ignoring the bad would be as much of an injustice as ignoring the
good. If He desires justice, then, He must deal with each man according to his
ways and according to the fruits of his acts, with the most minute
discrimination, for good or for bad. This is what underlies the statement of
our Sages of blessed memory (Yalkut Ibid.) that the verse "He is a God of
faithfulness, without wrong; He is righteous and just" has application to
the righteous and to the wicked. For this is His attribute. He judges everything.
He punishes every sin. There is no escaping. </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="589825"></a><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">To those who might ask at this point,
"Seeing that whatever the case may be, everything must be subjected to
judgment, what function does the attribute of mercy perform?" the answer
is that the attribute of mercy is certainly the mainstay of the world; for the
world could not exist at all without it. Nevertheless the attribute of justice
is not affected. For on the basis of justice alone it would be dictated that
the sinner be punished immediately upon sinning, without the least delay; that
the punishment itself be a wrathful one, as befits one who rebels against the
word of the Creator, blessed be His Name; and that there be no correction
whatsoever for the sin. For in truth, how can a man straighten what has been
made crooked after the commission of the sin? If a man killed his neighbor; if
he committed adultery-how can he correct this? Can he remove the accomplished
fact from actuality? </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">It is the attribute of mercy which
causes the reverse of the three things we have mentioned. That is, it provides
that the sinner be given time, and not be wiped out as soon as he sins; that
the punishment itself not involve utter destruction; and that the gift of
repentance be given to sinners with absolute lovingkindness, so that the
rooting out of the will which prompted the deed be considered a rooting out of
the deed itself. That is, when he who is repenting recognizes his sin, and
admits it, and reflects upon his evil, and repents, and wishes that the sin had
never been committed, as he would wish that a certain vow had never been made,
in which case there is complete regret, and he desires and yearns that the deed
had never been done, and suffers great anguish in his heart because of its
already having been done, and departs from it for the future, and flees from
itthen the uprooting of the act from his will is accredited to him as the
uprooting of a vow, and he gains atonement. As Scripture states (Isaiah 6:7),
"Your wrong will depart, and your sin will be forgiven." The wrong
actually departs from existence and is uprooted because of his suffering for
and regretting now what had taken place in the past. This is certainly a
function of lovingkindness and not of justice. In any event, however, it is a
type of lovingkindness which does not entirely negate the attribute of justice.
It can be seen as according with justice in that in place of the act of will
from which the sin arose and the pleasure that it afforded, there is now regret
and suffering. So, too, the time extension constitutes not a pardoning of the
sin, but rather God's bearing with the sinner for a while to open the door of
repentance to him. Similarly, all of the other operations of lovingkindness,
such as "The son benefits his father," (Sunhedrin 104x) and
"Part of a life is like the whole life" (Kcheleth Rabbah 7:48),
mentioned by our Sages, are aspects of lovingkindness wherein small amounts are
accounted large. But these considerations do not militate against nor actually
negate the attribute of justice, for there is good reason to attach importance
to them. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This
whole discussion of justice vs mercy, and mercy being an act of chesed, reminds
me of the “God is making do” line of argument. Really, Justice would compel God
to act one way, but in His Mercy, as an act of chessed, He gives sinners the
opportunity to do teshuva.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nonsense!
If God created everything, then He created the concepts of Justice and Mercy,
too. He set up the system. He’s not working within the system, holding off
Justice out of chessed. If the system would require immediate Justice, it would
only be that way because He made it that way. And if He set up the system to allow
for teshuva, that’s not chessed. It’s the way He set it up, for inscrutable
reasons of His own.</span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">But for sins to be pardoned or ignored
would be entirely contrary to the concept of justice, for then there would be
no judgment and no true law in relation to things. It is, therefore, impossible
for such a situation to obtain. And if the sinner does not find open to him one
of the avenues of escape that we have mentioned, it is certain that the
attribute of justice will not emerge empty-handed. As our Sages of blessed
memory have said (Yerushalmi Ta'anith 2:1), "He withholds His wrath, but
He collects what is His." </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">We see, then, that the man who wants to
open his eyes to the truth can offer himself no possible argument for not
exercising the maximum of Watchfulness in his deeds and subjecting them to the
most thorough analysis. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">All of these are observations which, if
one approaches them with sensitivity, will certainly lead him to the
acquisition of Watchfulness. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-40595712478945664852020-07-19T09:33:00.001-07:002020-07-19T09:33:09.708-07:00Hashkafa with a Heretic: Mesilas Yesharim, Chapter 3<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Translated text of Mesilas Yesharim in this font.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My
commentary in this font.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">CHAPTER Ill </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: #548dd4;">CONCERNING THE DIVISIONS OF WATCHFULNESS</span></b><span style="color: #548dd4;"> </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">ONE WHO WISHES to watch over himself
must take two things into consideration. First he must consider what
constitutes the true good that a person should choose and the true evil that he
should flee from; and second, he must consider his actions, to discover whether
they appertain to the category of good or to that of evil. This applies both to
times when there is a question of performing a specific action and to times
when there is no such question. When there is a question of performing a
specific action, he should do nothing before he weighs the action in the scale
of the aforementioned understanding. And when there is no such question, the
idea should take the form of his bringing before himself the remembrance of his
deeds in general and weighing them, likewise, in the scales of this criterion
to determine what they contain of evil, so that he may cast it aside, and what
of good, so that he may be constant in it and strengthen himself in it. If he
finds in them aught that is evil, he should consider and attempt to reason out
what device he might use to turn aside from that evil and to cleanse himself of
it. Our Sages of blessed memory taught us this in their statement (Eruvin 136),
"It would have been better for a man not to have been created... but now
that he has been created, let him examine his deeds. Others say, `Let him
"feel" his deeds.' " It is to be seen that these two versions
constitute two sound beneficial exhortations. For "examination" of
one's deeds refers to an investigation of one's deeds in general and a
consideration of them to determine whether they might not include certain
actions which should not be performed, which are not in accordance with God's
mitzvoth and His statutes, any such actions to be completely eradicated.
"Feeling," however, implies the investigation even of the good
actions themselves to determine whether they involve any leaning which is not
good or any bad aspect which it is necessary to remove and to eradicate. This
is analogous to a person's feeling a garment to determine whether its material
is good and sturdy or weak and rotted. In the same respect he must
"feel" his actions by subjecting them to a most exhaustive
examination to determine their nature, so that he might remain free of any
impurities. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In
general, yes, people should be aware of what they are doing and of what is good
and what is bad. But this, minutely examining even your good deeds to keep
oneself “pure,” seems like a recipe for insanity and depression. One will never
be good enough, never stop second-guessing himself.</span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">To summarize, a man should observe all
of his actions and watch over all of his ways so as not to leave himself with a
bad habit or a bad trait, let alone a sin or a crime. I see a need for a person
to carefully examine his ways and to weigh them daily in the manner of the
great merchants who constantly evaluate all of their undertakings so that they
do not miscarry. He should set aside definite times and hours for this weighing
so that it is not a fortuitous matter, but one which is conducted with the
greatest regularity; for it yields rich returns. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Our Sages of blessed memory have
explicitly taught us the need for such an evaluation. As they said (Bava Bathra
78b), "Therefore the rulers say, `Let us enter into an accounting'
(Numbers 21:27). Therefore the rulers over their evil inclinations say, 'Let us
come and compute the world's account, the loss entailed by the performance of a
mitzvah, against the gain that one secures through it, and the gain that one
acquires through a transgression against the loss that it entails... ' " <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Quoting
bits of Tanach out of context is an annoying habit of the gemara, but this is
particularly egregious. That’s just not what the pasuk says. It’s talking about
a city names “Cheshbon.” Yes, the name in Hebrew means “accounting,” but using
the pasuk this way is absurd.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">This true counsel could not have been
given, nor its truth recognized by any except those who had already departed
from beneath the hand of their evil inclination and come to dominate it. For if
one is still imprisoned by his evil inclination, his eyes cannot see this truth
and he cannot recognize it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How
clever. If you disagree with him, it’s because you’re evil.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">For the evil inclination literally
blinds his eyes and he becomes as one who walks in the darkness, where there
are stumbling blocks before him which his eyes do not see. As our Sages of
blessed memory said (Bava Metzia 83b), " ` You laid down darkness and it
was night' (Psalms 104:20). This refers to this world which is similar to
night." How wondrous is this truthful commentary to him who concentrates
upon understanding it. For the darkness of night can cause two types of errors
in relation to a man's eye: it may either cover his eye so that he does not see
what is before him at all, or it may deceive him so that a pillar appears to
him as a man, or a man as a pillar. In like manner, the earthiness and
materialism of this world is the darkness of night to the mind's eye and causes
a man to err in two ways. First it does not permit him to see the stumbling
blocks in the ways of the world, so that the fools walk securely, fall, and are
lost without having experienced any prior fear. As Scripture states (Proverbs
4:19), "The path of the wicked is like pitch darkness; they do not know
upon what they stumble," and (Proverbs 22:3), "The wise man sees the
evil and hides, and the fools pass on and are punished," and (Proverbs
14:16), "And the fool becomes infuriated and is secure." For their
hearts are steadfast and they fall before having any knowledge whatsoever of
the existence of the stumbling block. The second error, which is even worse
than the first, stems from the distortion of their sight, so that they see evil
as though it were goodness itself, and good as if it were evil, and, because of
this, strengthen themselves in clinging to their evil ways. For it is not
enough that they lack the ability to see the truth, the evil staring them in
the face, but they also see fit to find powerful substantiations and empirical
evidence supporting their evil theories and false ideas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Those
evil people, with their empirical evidence! How dare reality disagree with the
Ramchal!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On
the one hand, to be fair, this has a basis in reality. People do find ways to justify
what they already believe. On the other, dismissing people who disagree with
you out of hand as evil, and adding that they nefariously use reason and
evidence to bolster their evil beliefs, is boilerplate response to non-believers.
The reasonable response to someone who (politely) disagrees with you and offers
reasons for his disagreement is to show him where he’s mistaken – and to be
open to the possibility that you’re the one who’s mistaken. Not to vilify the
other person and dismiss his arguments and evidence out of hand.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">This is the great evil which embraces
them and brings them to the pit of destruction. As Scripture states (Isaiah
6:10), "The heart of this nation has become fatted, and its ears have
become heavy, and its eyes have turned aside, lest..." All this because of
their being under the influence of the darkness and subject to the rule of their
evil inclination. But those who have already freed themselves from this bondage
see the truth clearly and can advise others in relation to it. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">To what is this analogous? To a
garden-maze, a type of garden common among the ruling class, which is planted
for the sake of amusement. The plants there are arranged in walls between which
are found many confusing and interlacing paths, all similar to one another, the
purpose of the whole being to challenge one to reach a portico in their midst.
Some of the paths are straight ones which lead directly to the portico, but
some cause one to stray, and to wander from it. The walker between the paths
has no way of seeing or knowing whether he is on the true or the false path;
for they are all similar, presenting no difference whatsoever to the observing
eye. He will not reach his goal unless he has perfect familiarity and visual
acquaintance with the paths through his having traversed them and reached the
portico. He who occupies a commanding position in the portico, however, sees
all of the paths before him and can discriminate between the true and the false
ones. He is in a position to warn those who walk upon them and to tell them,
"This is the path; take it!" He who is willing to believe him will
reach the designated spot; but he who is not willing to believe him, but would
rather trust to his eyes, will certainly remain lost and fail to reach it. </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="327681"></a><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">So too in relation to the idea under
discussion. He who has not yet achieved dominion over his evil inclination is
in the midst of the paths and cannot distinguish between them. But those who
rule their evil inclination, those who have reached the portico, who have
already left the paths and who clearly see all of the ways before their eyes -
they can advise him who is willing to listen, and it is to them that we must
trust. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This
sounds good, but really it boils down to, “trust authority without any way to verify
their trustworthiness.” How are we to know who has conquered their yetzer hara?
And, again, this is an argument from analogy. The truth is that there are many
different challenges people face in life, and having overcome one’s yetzer hara
(if that’s even possible – I don’t think it is) doesn’t automatically give
someone insight into someone else’s moral dilemmas.</span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">And what is the advice that they give
us'? - 'Let us enter into an accounting.' Let us come and compute the world's
account." For they have already experienced, and seen, and learned that
this alone is the true path by which a man may reach the good that he seeks,
and that there is none beside this. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">What emerges from all this is that a
man must constantly - at all times, and particularly during a regularly
appointed time of solitude - reflect upon the true path (according to the
ordinance of the Torah) that a man must walk upon. After engaging in such
reflection he will come to consider whether or not his deeds travel along this path.
For in doing so it will certainly be easy for him to cleanse himself of all
evil and to correct all of his ways. As Scripture states (Proverbs 4:26),
"Consider the path of your feet and all of your paths will be
established," and (Lamentations 3:40), "Let us seek out our ways and
examine them, and we will return to God." </span></div>
<br />G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-72274247801918288432020-07-17T10:15:00.001-07:002020-07-17T10:15:07.305-07:00Hashkafa with a Heretic: Mesilas Yesharim, Chapter 2<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Translated text of Mesilas Yesharim in this font.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My
commentary in this font.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">CHAPTER II </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: #548dd4;">CONCERNING THE TRAIT OF WATCHFULNESS</span></b><span style="color: #548dd4;"> </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">THE IDEA OF WATCHFULNESS is for a man
to exercise caution in his actions and his undertakings; that is, to deliberate
and watch over his actions and his accustomed ways to determine whether or not
they are good, so as not to abandon his soul to the danger of destruction, God
forbid, and not to walk according to the promptings of habit as a blind man in
pitch darkness. This is demanded by one's intelligence. For considering the
fact that a man possesses the knowledge and the reasoning ability to save
himself and to flee from the destruction of his soul, is it conceivable that he
would willingly blind himself to his own salvation? There is certainly no
degradation and foolishness worse than this. One who does this is lower than
beasts and wild animals, whose nature it is to protect themselves, to flee and
to run away from anything that seems to endanger them. One who walks this world
without considering whether his way of life is good or bad is like a blind man
walking along the seashore, who is in very great danger, and whose chances of
being lost are far greater than those of his being saved. For there is no
difference between natural blindness and self-inflicted blindness, the shutting
of one's eyes as an act of will and desire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On
the one hand, I think the overall point is a fair one: that people should
examine why they do what they do. On the other hand, the language is hyperbolic
and insulting to those who don’t – and those who don’t are the vast majority of
people. Most people just aren’t interested in examining why they do what they
do. Most people are just trying to live their lives, to get by as best they can
and try to get some joy from the world. If anything, this is even more true of the
average religious person, who has ready-made, all-encompassing explanations for
everything in the life, and so has less motivation than they might have
otherwise to examine their habits. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Jeremiah complains about the evil of
the men of his generation, about their being affected with this affliction, the
blinding of their eyes to their actions, their failure to analyze them in order
to determine whether they should be engaged in or abandoned. He says about
these men (Jeremiah 8:6), "No one regrets his wrongdoing, saying... They
all turn away in their course as a horse rushing headlong into battle." He
alludes here to their running on the impetus of their habits and their ways
without leaving themselves time to evaluate their actions and ways,, and, as a
result, falling into evil without noticing it. In reality, this is one of the
clever devices of the evil inclination - to mount pressure unrelentingly
against the hearts of men so as to leave them no leisure to consider and
observe the type of life they are leading. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s
unclear what he means by “pressure,” and what his conception of the yetzer hara
is. Does he imagine it to be some sort of demon, orchestrating events so that
most people have to spend most of their time on surviving and daily chores,
with what little time they have left after that devoted to recreation so that
they don’t go crazy from unrelenting work? Or does he mean that the yetzer hara
is innate part of the human psyche, the part which inclines us to be lazy, to
busy ourselves with various pastimes and not bother thinking about why we do
what we do? </span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">For it realizes that if they were to
devote even a slight degree of attention to their ways, there is no question
but that they would immediately begin to repent of their deeds and that regret
would wax in them until they would leave oft sinning altogether. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Maybe,
maybe not. People are very good at justifying what they do. The Ramchal couldn’t
have known this, of course, but there is now a significant body of research
that shows people usually do things first and then come up with reasons for why
they did those things later. Cognitive dissonance is also a factor. Holding the
ideas, “X is bad” and “I do X” together causes dissonance. The dissonance may
be resolved as, “I will no longer do X, and never should have,” but it may also
be resolved as, “X isn’t bad after all.” In fact, this is the core of the
taivos canard, the accusation that people go OTD because they want to throw off
the ol hatorah, and so convince themselves that the Torah is false. I don’t
know if the Ramchal repeated the canard, but it is widely accepted as truth in
the frum world, and cannot be reconciled with this statement here.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">It is this consideration which underlay
the counsel of the wicked Pharaoh in his statement (Exodus 5:9),
"Intensify the men's labors..." His intention was not merely to
deprive them of all leisure so that they would not come to oppose him or plot
against him, but he strove to strip their hearts of all thought by means of the
enduring, interminable nature of their labor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That’s
a nice vort. Almost certainly not what the story originally meant, but still, a
nice vort.</span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">This is precisely the device that the
evil inclination employs against man; for it is a warrior and well versed in
deception. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Again,
I can’t tell if he means this metaphorically or if he thinks the yetzer hara is
a devil sitting on our shoulder.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">One cannot escape it without great
wisdom and a broad outlook. As we are exhorted by the Prophet (Haggai 1:7),
"Give heed to your ways." And as Solomon in his wisdom said (Proverbs
6:4), "Give neither sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids. Rescue
yourself as a deer from the hand..." And as our Sages of blessed memory
said (Sotah 5b), "All who deliberate upon their paths in this world will
be worthy to witness the salvation wrought by the Holy One Blessed be He."
Clearly even if one superintends himself, it is not within his power to save
himself without the help of the Holy One Blessed be He.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Grace
through God alone? Or an iteration of the idea that people are incapable of achieving
anything meaningful without God’s intervention? Neither are great.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the evil inclination is extremely
tenacious, as Scripture states (Psalms 37:32), "The wicked one looks to
the righteous and seeks to kill him; God will not leave him..." If a man
looks to himself, the Holy One Blessed be He helps him, and he is saved from
the evil inclination. But if he gives no heed to himself, the Holy One Blessed
be He will certainly not superintend him; for if he does not pity himself, who
should pity him? This is as our Sages of blessed memory have said (Berachoth
33a), "It is forbidden to pity anyone who has no understanding," <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After
looking at the gemara, I think what’s translated here as “understanding” is
really “wisdom” in the sense the word was used in antiquity: as something with
its own ontology, something that was often anthropomorphized, that someone
could “have.” In any case, the gemara is horrifying. If one doesn’t have
wisdom, according to the gemara, one shouldn’t have compassion for them! The
gemara isn’t talking about someone who lives an unexamined life and whose
yetzer hara distracts him from contemplation, as the Ramchal is using it here.
That would be bad enough. The gemara is discussing brachos, and goes off on a
tangent about wisdom. According to the gemara, one <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">should </i>not have compassion for someone who doesn’t have wisdom <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in the abstract</i>. This is not something
that will help people who have questions about Yiddishkeit come back to
frumkeit, as the Mesilas Yesharim is often used, nor is it something that will
refine one’s behavior, as the Mesilas Yesharim was written to be used.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">and (Avoth 1:14), "If I am not for
myself, who will be for me?" </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-8220990638293191342020-07-16T09:23:00.003-07:002020-07-16T09:23:15.232-07:00Hashkafa with a Heretic: Mesilas Yesharim, Chapter 1<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Translated text of Mesilas Yesharim in this font.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My
commentary in this font.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">CHAPTER I </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: #548dd4;">CONCERNING MAN'S DUTY IN THE WORLD</span></b><span style="color: #548dd4;"> </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">THE FOUNDATION OF SAINTLINESS and the
root of perfection in the service of God lies in a man's coming to see clearly
and to recognize as a truth the nature of his duty in the world and the end
towards which he should direct his vision and his aspiration in all of his
labors all the days of his life. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Our Sages of blessed memory have taught
us that man was created for the sole purpose of rejoicing in God and deriving
pleasure from the splendor of His Presence; for this is true joy and the
greatest pleasure that can be found. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And
we’re just going to take their word for it?</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">The place where this joy may truly be
derived is the World to Come, which was expressly created to provide for it; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Funny
then that God never bothered to mention it in the Torah.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">but the path to the object of our
desires is this world, as our Sages of blessed memory have said (Avorh 4:21),
"This world is like a corridor to the World to Come." </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">The means which lead a man to this goal
are the mitzvoth, in relation to which we were commanded by the Lord, may His
Name be blessed. The place of the performance of the mitzvoth is this world
alone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How
do you know that?</span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Therefore, man was placed in this world
first - so that by these means, which were provided for him here, he would be
able to reach the place which had been prepared for him, the World to Come,
there to be sated with the goodness which he acquired through them. As our
Sages of blessed memory have said (Eruvin 22a), "Today for their [the
mitzvoth's] performance and tomorrow for receiving their reward." </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="131073"></a><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">When you look further into the matter,
you will see that only union with God constitutes true perfection, as King
David said (Psalms 73:28), "But as for me, the nearness of God is my
good," and (Psalms 27:4), "I asked one thing from God; that will I
seek - to dwell in God's house all the days of my life..." For this alone
is the true good, and anything besides this which people deem good is nothing
but emptiness and deceptive worthlessness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The
prooftext doesn’t say what he wants it to say. It doesn’t follow from that
Dovid saw being close to God as good or that it was all he asked of God that
everything else is “worthless” or even that being close to God is the greatest
good. </span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">For a man to attain this good, it is
certainly fitting that he first labor and persevere in his exertions to acquire
it. That is, he should persevere so as to unite himself with the Blessed One by
means of actions which result in this end. These actions are the mitzvoth. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">The Holy One Blessed be He has put man
in a place where the factors which draw him further from the Blessed One are
many. These are the earthy desires which, if he is pulled after them, cause him
to be drawn further from and to depart from the true good. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The
assumption here seems to be that there is an obvious dichotomy between “earthly
desires” and Godliness. This is both a very Christian concept – as opposed to,
say, chassidus, which sees the potential for holiness in everything – and is
just not obvious at all. There’s no logical reason that mitzvos and “desires”
are mutually exclusive. While mitzvos put some restrictions on desires, one can
be a glutton, can spend all his time amassing wealth, even, for a man, can
sleep around (as long as he avoids women married to other men), and he hasn’t
violated any mitzvos.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">It is seen, then, that man is veritably
placed in the midst of a raging battle. For all the affairs of the world,
whether for the good or for the bad, are trials to a man: Poverty on the one
hand and wealth on the other, as Solomon said (Proverbs 30:9), "Lest I
become satiated and deny, saying, `Who is God?' or lest I become impoverished
and steal..." Serenity on the one hand and suffering on the other; so that
the battle rages against him to the fore and to the rear. If he is valorous,
and victorious on all sides, he will be the "Whole Man," who will
succeed in uniting himself with his Creator, and he will leave the corridor to
enter into the Palace, to glow in the light of life. To the extent that he has
subdued his evil inclination and his desires, and withdrawn from those factors
which draw him further from the good, and exerted himself to become united with
it, to that extent will he attain it and rejoice in it. </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="196609"></a><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">If you look more deeply into the
matter, you will see that the world was created for man's use. In truth, man is
the center of a great balance. For if he is pulled after the world and is drawn
further from his Creator, he is damaged, and he damages the world with him. And
if he rules over himself and unites himself with his Creator, and uses the
world only to aid him in the service of his Creator, he is uplifted and the
world itself is uplifted with him. For all creatures are greatly uplifted when
they serve the "Whole Man," who is sanctified with the holiness of
the Blessed One. It is as our Sages of blessed memory have said in relation to
the light that the Holy One Blessed be He stored away for the righteous
(Chagiga 12a): "When the Holy One Blessed be He saw the light that He had
stored away for the righteous, He rejoiced, as it is said (Proverbs 13:9), `The
light of the righteous rejoices.' " And in relation to the "stones of
the place" that Jacob took and put around his head they said (Chulin 916),
"R. Yitzchak said, `This teaches us that they [the stones] gathered
themselves into one spot, each one saying, "Let the righteous one lay his
head upon me." Our Sages of blessed memory drew our attention to this
principle in Midrash Koheleth, where they said (Koheleth Rabbah 7:28) - 'See
the work of God...' (Ecclesiastes 7:13). When the Holy One Blessed be He
created Adam, He took him and caused him to pass before all the trees of the
Garden of Eden. He said to him, `See how beautiful and praiseworthy are my
works; and all that I have created, I have created for your sake. Take heed
that you do not damage and destroy my world.' " <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Argument
from prooftexts. To be fair to the Ramchal, this was the common way of arguing
in his time. But for anyone who doesn’t already accept that the Torah (in the
maximalist sense) is authoritative because it’s the Torah, this isn’t
convincing. As a book to help someone who already accepts the whole framework
to come close to God, the Mesilas Yesharim might work. As a book to give to
people who have “questions”… this is not helpful. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">To summarize, a man was created not for
his station in this world, but for his station in the World to Come. It is only
that his station in this world is a means towards his station in the World to
Come, which is the ultimate goal. This accounts for numerous statements of our
Sages of blessed memory, all in a similar vein, likening this world to the
place and time of preparation, and the next world to the place which has been set
aside for rest and for the eating of what has already been prepared. This is
their intent in saying (Avoth 4:21), "This world is similar to a corridor
...," as our Sages of blessed memory have said (Eruvin 22a), "Today
for their performance and tomorrow to receive their reward," "He who
exerted himself on Friday will eat on the Sabbath" (Avodah Zarah 3a),
"This world is like the shore and the World to Come like the sea ..."
(Koheleth Rabbah 1:36), and many other statements along the same lines. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">And in truth, no reasoning being can
believe that the purpose of man's creation relates to his station in this
world. For what is a man's life in this world! Who is truly happy and content
in this world? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This
assumes that 1. There is a purpose, and 2. That the purpose involves being
happy and content. Perhaps we’re God’s playthings, and our “purpose” is to live
lives of pain and drama, because He finds that entertaining? True, I have no
particular reason to think that’s the case, but there’s also no particular
reason to think that our “purpose” involves being happy, or to extrapolate from
that unsubstantiated premise to the assertion that “no reasoning being” could
think that this world is an end in itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He
should have stuck to prooftexts. His logic here is lousy.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">"The days of our life are seventy
years, and, if exceedingly vigorous, eighty years, and their persistence is but
labor and foolishness" (Psalms 90:10). How many different kinds of
suffering, and sicknesses, and pains and burdens! And after all this - death!
Not one in a thousand is to be found to whom the world has yielded a
superabundance of gratifications and true contentment. And even such a one,
though he attain to the age of one hundred years, passes and vanishes from the
world. Furthermore, if man had been created solely for the sake of this world, he
would have had no need of being inspired with a soul so precious and exalted as
to be greater than the angels themselves, especially so in that it derives no
satisfaction whatsoever from all of the pleasures of this world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How
do you know that there is such a thing as a soul, and if there is, how do you
know its attributes, such as that it derives nothing from this world? And how
do you know that it’s not necessary? We could easily come up with a reason we
need a soul that has nothing to do with any other world. Perhaps a soul really
is the answer to the question of where consciousness comes from, and perhaps
God gave us consciousness to make His soap opera – our world – more entertaining.
That’s no less plausible than what the Ramchal is suggesting, and has the
virtue of not needing to groundlessly speculate about the attributes of a soul
we can’t know anything about.</span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">This is what our Sages of blessed
memory teach us in Midrash (Koheleth Rabbah), "'And also the soul will not
be filled' (Eccelesiastes 6:7) What is this analogous to? To the case of a city
dweller who married a princess. If he brought her all that the world possessed,
it would mean nothing to her, by virtue of her being a king's daughter. So is
it with the soul. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Analogies
are popular in frum (and Jewish – the Ramchal predates frumkeit) thought, but
they’re terrible as arguments. The things being compared in an analogy are not
in fact the same, and so we can’t extrapolate from one side of the analogy to
the other. They’re useful to illustrate a concept, but no more. </span><span style="color: #548dd4;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">If it were to be brought all the
delights of the world, they would be as nothing to it, in view of its
pertaining to the higher elements." And so do our Sages of blessed memory
say (Avoth 4:29), "Against your will were you created, and against your
will were you born." For the soul has no love at all for this world. To
the contrary, it despises it. The Creator, Blessed be His Name, certainly would
never have created something for an end which ran contrary to its nature and
which it despised. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This
argument might have worked in the Ramchal’s time, when people assumed that
animals were unconscious automata that only gave the appearance of emotion.
Today, when we understand that animals do experience pain, this argument no
longer holds. If God created animals, and created them so that some must eat
others, then He does create things for an end which it despises.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">Man was created, then, for the sake of
his station in the World to Come. Therefore, this soul was placed in him. For
it befits the soul to serve God; and through it a man may be rewarded in his
place and in his time. And rather than the world's being despicable to the
soul, it is, to the contrary, to be loved and desired by it. This is
self-evident. After recognizing this we will immediately appreciate the
greatness of the obligation that the mitzvoth place upon us and the
preciousness of the Divine service which lies in our hands. For these are the
means which bring us to true perfection, a state which, without them, is
unattainable. It is understood, however, that the attainment of a goal results
only from a consolidation of all the available means employable towards its
attainment, that the nature of a result is determined by the effectiveness and
manner of employment of the means utilized towards its achievement, and that
the slightest differentiation in the means will very noticeably affect the
result to which they give rise upon the fruition of the aforementioned
consolidation. This is self-evident. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">It is obvious, then, that we must be
extremely exacting in relation to the mitzvoth and the service of God, just as
the weighers of gold and pearls are exacting because of the preciousness of
these commodities. For their fruits result in true perfection and eternal
wealth, than which nothing is more precious. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">We thus derive that the essence of a
man's existence in this world is solely the fulfilling of mitzvoth, the serving
of God and the withstanding of trials, and that the world's pleasures should
serve only the purpose of aiding and assisting him, by way of providing him
with the contentment and peace of mind requisite for the freeing of his heart
for the service which devolves upon him. It is indeed fitting that his every
inclination be towards the Creator, may His Name be blessed, and that his every
action, great or small, be motivated by no purpose other than that of drawing
near to the Blessed One and breaking all the barriers (all the earthy elements
and their concomitants) that stand between him and his Possessor, until he is
pulled towards the Blessed One just as iron to a magnet. Anything that might
possibly be a means to acquiring this closeness, he should pursue and clutch,
and not let go of; and anything which might be considered a deterrent to it, he
should flee as from a fire. As it is stated (Psalms 63:9), "My soul clings
to You; Your right hand sustains me." For a man enters the world only for
this purpose - to achieve this closeness by rescuing his soul from all the
deterrents to it and from all that detracts from it. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4;">After we have recognized the truth of
this principle, and it has become clear to us, we must investigate its details
according to its stages, from beginning to end, as they were arranged by R.
Pinchas ben Yair in the statement which has already been referred to in our
introduction. These stages are: Watchfulness, Zeal, Cleanliness, Separation,
Purity, Saintliness, Humility, Fear of Sin, and Holiness. And now, with the aid
of Heaven, we will explain them one by one. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-27142867226074059072020-07-15T12:21:00.000-07:002020-07-15T12:21:14.629-07:00Hashkafa with a Heretic: Mesilas Yesharim, Part 1<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mesilas
Yesharim</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (the Ramchal) published in 1738 is,
I think, the most popular </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">hashkafa sefer</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
in the </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">frum</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> world. For years now, I’ve
been meaning to go through </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">hashkafa
seforim</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> and write a running commentary. Now, with the pandemic, I find that
I finally have the time. I figured I’d start with the most popular.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ll quote the text being commented on –
in this case the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mesilas Yesharim</i> –
in full, with my comments interpolated, like this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Translated text of
Mesilas Yesharim in this font.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My commentary in this font.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Commentary on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mesilas Yesharim</i>, part 1: The
Introduction<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<b><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION </span></b><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The writer says: I have
written this work not to teach men what they do not know, but to remind them of
what they already know and is very evident to them, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A reference to the often-repeated idea
that everyone knows that God is real and Judaism is obviously true?</span><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">for you will find in most
of my words only things which most people know, and concerning which they entertain
no doubts. But to the extent that they are well known and their truths revealed
to all, so is forgetfulness in relation to them extremely prevalent. It
follows, then, that the benefit to be obtained from this work is not derived
from a single reading; for it is possible that the reader will find that he has
learned little after having read it that he did not know before. Its benefit is
to be derived, rather, through review and persistent study, by which one is
reminded of those things which, by nature, he is prone to forget and through
which he is caused to take to heart the duty that he tends to overlook. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m sure the author is sincere, but
that’s a heck of a marketing ploy. “You need to read my book over and over to
get the benefit from it! Read it so much, you wear it out – and then buy
another!”</span><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">A consideration of the
general state of affairs will reveal that the majority of men of quick
intelligence and keen mentality devote most of their thought and speculation to
the subtleties of wisdom and the profundities of analysis, each according to
the inclination of his intelligence and his natural bent. There are some who
expend a great deal of effort in studying the creation and nature. Others
devote all of their thought to astronomy and mathematics, and others to the
arts. There are those who go more deeply into sacred studies, into the study of
the holy Torah, some occupying themselves with Halachic discussions, others
with Midrash and others with legal decisions. There are few, however, who
devote thought and study to perfection of Divine service - to love, fear,
communion and all of the other aspects of saintliness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Right here is the biggest problem with
the Mesilas Yesharim as the most popular hashkafa sefer. It’s not really about “hashkafa.”
Well, it is, in the frum sense of the word as inspiration. But it’s much less
about theology than it is about “perfecting Divine service.” Which makes it an
odd choice to give to people who have theological questions about Judaism, and
yet, during my decade-long questioning phase, it was the sefer most recommended
to me to answer my questions.</span><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">It is not that they
consider this knowledge unessential; if questioned each one will maintain that
it is of paramount importance and that one who is not clearly versed in it
cannot be deemed truly wise. Their failure to devote more attention to it stems
rather from its being so manifest and so obvious to them that they see no need
for spending much time upon it. Consequently, this study and the reading of
works of this kind have been left to those of a not too sensitive, almost dull
intelligence. These you will see immersed in the study of saintliness, not
stirring from it. It has reached the stage that when one sees another engaging
in saintly conduct, he cannot help but suspect him of dullwittedness. This
state of affairs results in evil consequences both for those who possess wisdom
and for those who do not, causing both classes to lack true saintliness, and
rendering it extremely rare. The wise lack it because of their limited
consideration of it and the unwise because of their limited grasp. The result
is that saintliness is construed by most to consist in the recitation of many
Psalms, very long confessions, difficult fasts, and ablutions in ice and snow -
all of which are incompatible with intellect and which reason cannot accept. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I wonder if here he’s referring to chassidus,
which was in its early years when the Mesilas Yesharim was published and whose early
adherents were known for this kind of piety. Though it was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">very</i> early in the history of chassidus – only four years after the
Baal Shem Tov became an established figure – so maybe not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Truthful, desirable
saintliness is far from being conceptualized by us, for it is obvious that a
person does not concern himself with what does not occupy a place in his mind.
And though the beginnings and foundations of saintliness are implanted in every
person's heart, if he does not occupy himself with them, he will witness
details of saintliness without recognizing them and he will trespass upon them
without feeling or perceiving that he is doing so. For sentiments of
saintliness, fear and love of God, and purity of heart are not so deeply rooted
within a person as to obviate the necessity of his employing certain devices in
order to acquire them. In this respect they differ from natural states such as
sleep and wakefulness, hunger and satiety, and all other reactions which are
stamped in one's nature, in that various methods and devices are perforce
required for their acquisition. There is also no lack of deterrents which keep
saintliness at a distance from a person, but then again there is no lack of
devices by which these deterrents may be held afar. How, then, is it
conceivable that it not be necessary to expend a great deal of time upon this
study in order to know these truths and the manner in which they may be
acquired and fulfilled? How will this wisdom enter a person's heart if he will
not seek it? And since every man of wisdom recognizes the need for perfection
of Divine service and the necessity for its purity and cleanliness, without
which it is certainly completely unacceptable, but repulsive and despised -
"For God searches all hearts and understands the inclination of all thoughts"
(I Chronicles 28:9) - what will we answer in the day of reproof if we weaken in
this study and forsake that which is so incumbent upon us as to be the very
essence of what the Lord our God asks of us? Is it fitting that our
intelligence exert itself and labor in speculations which are not binding upon
us, in fruitless argumentation, in laws which have no application to us, while
we leave to habit and abandon to mechanical observance our great debt to our
Creator? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That’s interesting. It’s an implicit
criticism of learning gemaros that have no practical application – going so far
as to call it “fruitless argumentation.”</span><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">If we do not look into
and analyze the question of what constitutes true fear of God and what its
ramifications are, how will we acquire it and how will we escape wordly vanity
which renders our hearts forgetful of it? Will it not be forgotten and go lost
even though we recognize its necessity? Love of God, too - if we do not make an
effort to implant it in our hearts, utilizing all of the means which direct us
towards it, how will it exist within us? Whence will enter into our souls
intimacy with and ardor towards the Blessed One and towards His Torah if we do
not give heart to His greatness and majesty which engender this intimacy in our
hearts? How will our thoughts be purified if we do not strive to rescue them
from the imperfections infused in them by physical nature? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why the assumption that “physical
nature” infuses us with imperfections? This seems awfully Christian: the notion
that the physical world, the world of the flesh, is corrupt. That physicality limits
us in relation to God is a common idea in Judaism, too, but this goes further
than that, saying that we need to “purify” our thoughts, “rescue” them from physicality.
God created physicality (l’shitaso). Why assume it’s something we need to be “rescued”
from – again, an idea with a strong Christian flavor – and not something that
God created <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">for</i> us and wants us to
embrace and enjoy? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">And all of the character
traits, which are in such great need of correction and cultivation -who will
cultivate and correct them if we do not give heart to them and subject them to
exacting scrutiny? If we analyzed the matter honestly would we not extract the
truth and thereby benefit ourselves, and also be of benefit to others by
instructing them in it? As stated by Solomon (Proverbs 2:4), "If you seek
it as silver and search for it as treasure, then you will understand the fear
of God." He does not say, "Then you will understand philosophy; then
youwill understand astronomy; then you will understand medicine; then you will
understand legal judgments and decisions." We see, then, that for fear of
God to be understood, it must be sought as silver and searched for as treasure.
All this is part of our heritage and is accepted in substance by every devout
individual. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Again, is it conceivable
that we should find time for all other branches of study and none for this
study? Why should a man not at least set aside for himself certain times for this
speculation if he is obliged in the remainder of his time to turn to other
studies or undertakings? Scripture states (Job 28:28), "Hen fear of God -
this is wisdom." Our Sages of blessed memory comment (Shabbath 31b),
" `Hen' means `one,' for in Greek `one' is designated as `Hen' (Ev).
" "We see, then, that fear, and only fear, is accounted wisdom. And
there is no doubt that what entails no analysis is not considered wisdom. The
truth of the matter is that all of these things require great analysis if they
are to be known in truth and not through imagination and deceitful supposition.
How much more so if they are to be acquired and attained. One who thinks into
these matters will see that saintliness does not hinge upon those things which
are put at a premium by the foolishly "saintly," but upon true
perfection and great wisdom. This is what Moses our Teacher, may Peace be upon
him, teaches us in saying (Deuteronomy 10:12), "And now, Israel, what does
the Lord your God ask of you, but that you fear the Lord your God to walk in
all His ways, and to love Him and serve the Lord your God with all your heart
and all your soul, to observe the mitzvoth of God and His statutes. .. "
Herein have been included all of the features of perfection of Divine service
that are appropriate in relation to the Holy One Blessed be He. They are: fear
of God, walking in His ways, love, wholeheartedness, and observance of all of
the mitzvoth. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">"Fear of God"
denotes fear of the Majesty of the Blessed One, fearing Him as one would a
great and mighty king, and being ashamed at one's every movement in consequence
of His greatness, especially when speaking before Him in prayer or engaging in
the study of His Torah. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">"Walking in His
ways" embodies the whole area of cultivation and correction of character
traits. As our Sages of blessed memory have explained, "As He is merciful,
be also merciful..." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This reminds me of a conversation I
once had. Someone said (paraphrasing), “I think about God, how great He is, So
much greater than any human being. And I think about the people He’s created: R’
Moshe Feinstein, R’ Aharon Kotler, people like Ghandi and Mother Theresa, and I
think, if these people are so kind, how much kinder must God be!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To which I responded, “I also think of
all the people God has created: Stalin, Thomas de Torquemada, Ghengis Khan, and
I think, if these people are so cruel, how much crueler must God be!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The essence of all this
is that a person conform all of his traits and all the varieties of his actions
to what is just and ethical. Our Sages of blessed memory have thus summarized
the idea (Avoth 2.1): "All that is praiseworthy in its doer and brings
praise to him from others;" that is, all that leads to the end of true
good, namely, strengthening of Torah and furthering of brotherliness. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="393217"></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Notice here how he pairs two things,
one of which everyone would agree is a true good – the furthering of
brotherliness – and one which only a tiny segment of the world’s population
agrees is a “true good,” – strengthening of Torah. In this way, he sneaks strengthening
Torah into the moral realm and into the category of something that is
universally recognized as a good. Yet the two have little to nothing to do with
each other.</span><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">"Love" - that
there be implanted in a person's heart a love for the Blessed One which will
arouse his soul to do what is pleasing before Him, just as his heart is aroused
to give pleasure to his father and mother. He will be grieved if he or others
are lacking in this; he will be jealous for it and he will rejoice greatly in
fulfilling aught of it. "Whole-heartedness" - that service before the
Blessed One be characterized by purity of motive, that its end be His service
alone and nothing else. Included in this is that one's heart be complete in
Divine service, that his interests not be divided or his observance mechanical,
but that his whole heart be devoted to it. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">"Observance of all
the mitzvoth," as the words imply, is observance of the whole body of
mitzvoth with all of their fine points and conditions. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">All of these principles
require extensive interpretation. I have found that our Sages of blessed memory
have categorized these elements in a different, more detailed formulation, in
which they are arranged according to the order necessary for their proper
acquisition. Their words are contained in a Baraitha mentioned in different
places in the Talmud, one of them, the chapter "Before their
festivals" (Avodah Zara 20b): <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">"From this R.
Pinchas ben Yair adduced:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">`Torah leads to
Watchfulness;<br />
Watchfulness leads to Zeal;<br />
Zeal leads to Cleanliness;<br />
Cleanliness leads to Separation; <br />
Separation leads to Purity;<br />
Purity leads to Saintliness;<br />
Saintliness leads to Humility;<br />
Humility leads to Fear of Sin;<br />
Fear of Sin leads to Holiness;<br />
Holiness leads to the Holy Spirit,<br />
and the Holy Spirit leads to the Revival of the Dead.</span></b><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="458753"></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A lot of these are non
sequiturs. One that stands out is “Purity leads to saintliness.” Isn’t that
exactly what the Ramchal was complaining about earlier, that attempts at purity
- fasting and ablutions - are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> the
path to saintliness?! </span><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">It is on the basis of
this Baraitha that I have undertaken to write this work, in order to teach
myself and to remind others of the conditions for perfect Divine service
according to their gradations. In relation to each one, I shall explain its
nature, its divisions or details, the manner of acquiring it, and its
deterrents and the manner of guarding against them, so that I and all those who
are pleased to do so may read therein in order to learn to fear the Lord our
God and not forget our duty before Him. That which the earthiness of nature
seeks to remove from our hearts, reading and contemplation will summon to our
consciousness, and will awaken us to what is incumbent upon us. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">May God be with our
aspirations and keep our feet from stumbling, and may there be fulfilled in us
the supplication of the Psalmist, beloved of his God (Psalms 86:11),
"Teach me, O God, Your ways; I shall walk in Your truth. Make one my heart
to fear Your Name." Amen, so may be His will. </span><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Next up: Chapter I, Concerning
Man's Duty In The World. Where we should be getting into the meat of the
Mesilas Yesharim. What fun!</div>
<br /><br />
<br />
G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-27264232809399926962020-04-02T14:55:00.002-07:002020-04-02T14:55:21.701-07:00The “You Owe Me Money” Test<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I would like to propose what I’m going to call the “you owe
me money” test. It's a test for arguments for religion that can help us decide
if they're worth serious consideration. It's very simple. If you would take the
argument seriously if someone made it for you owing them money, then it deserves
consideration as an argument for religion. If you would not take it seriously if
someone used it as an argument for you owing them money, then it doesn't
deserve consideration as an argument for religion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In this test, “money” stands in for “belief in and/or obligation
to” a religion.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let's look at some examples.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Last Thursdayism<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Argument for religion:
<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The world is really only 6000 years old and not as old as it
looks. God made the world look older than it is, and implanted false memories
of a history going back thousands of years before He created the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mabul</i> really
happened, was really a devastating worldwide flood, and God planted evidence of
uninterrupted civilizations and implanted false memories of those civilizations
in people's heads.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You owe me money:<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I know you don't remember owing me anything, but that's
because you've had false memories implanted in your head. Not just you, but
everybody (except for me). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Would you pay me if I made that argument?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Prayer<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Argument for religion:
<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You owe gratitude to God because He always answers your
prayers. Sometimes He answers yes, and He makes things work out so that you get
what you want. Sometimes He answers no or not now, and so you don't get what
you ask for. But He's always listening and always gives you the answer that He knows
is best for you.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You owe me money:<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You need to pay me for my request-fulfilment service.
Whenever you ask for something, or wish for something really hard, I hear, and I
always answer you. Sometimes I answer yes, and I arrange things behind the scenes
so that things work out and you get what you want. Sometimes, I know that you
what you’re asking for isn't good for you, so I answer no, and you don't get
what you want. But I’m always listening and I always give you the answer that I
know what's best for you. So you need to pay me my service fee.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Would you pay me if I made that argument?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And so on.</div>
<br />G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6337887555862662350.post-46812169714587273422020-02-11T16:48:00.001-08:002020-02-11T16:48:19.306-08:00No Self-Awareness<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m reading through <i>Kedushah - The Abstinence of Married Men
in Gur, Slonim and Toldos Ahron </i>by Benjamin Brown, and I came across this spectacular case of a lack of self-awareness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
R’ Avrom Yitshok Kohn,the <i>Rebbe </i>of Toldes Aaron, wrote in his pamphlet,
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Divrei Kedushah</i>, that,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The difference between the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>chasid
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and the ordinary person is that the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hasid <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>says: “That which is forbidden is certainly
forbidden, while that which is permitted—I nevertheless do not have to do it.”
The ordinary person, on the other hand, says the opposite:“That which is
permitted is certainly permitted, while that which is forbidden—I can
nevertheless seek permission to do it.”</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Apparently there was an incident years ago concerning a
<i>chassid </i>who left Toldos Aharon for Ger because he felt that the Toldos Aharon
restrictions on sex weren’t stringent enough. Toldos Ahraon permits sex between
married couples three times a month to Ger’s one to two times, and permits
couples to hug and kiss during sex, while Ger does not.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In an unpublished letter to the <i>chassid</i>, <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">R’ Kohn
wrote,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Now let us consider the crux of the matter. Even if, by means of
this self-sacrifice, he appears to be committed to maintaining him-self in
holiness and purity, and his intention [appears to be] good, it is nevertheless
clear from the addenda of R. Tsvi Elimelekh of Dynów to the book <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turn
Aside from Evil <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[ and Do Good <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>... ] 70
that if a person adopts stringencies and departs from the ways of the world
[i.e., strays from the accepted norms of conduct], he draws upon himself
accusations [from Heaven] [ ... ], and who knows whether he would be able to
withstand them.</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So which is it? Should one not do what is permitted, and take on
stringencies, or should one avoid stringencies and “depart[ing] from the ways
of the world” so that he won’t draws upon himself accusations [from Heaven]?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He also writes in an earlier letter concerning the same
incident, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">He has made a mockery [ leitsanut <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>] of me, and a mockery of our whole community,
including his own father, as if whoever wanted to bea [good] Jew had to run
away from us.</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As though his community didn’t do the same in regard to everyone
to their left.</span></div>
<br />G*3http://www.blogger.com/profile/06104739087560005056noreply@blogger.com0