RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUALITY:QUEEN HELENA'S SUKKAH:RABBI GAMALIEL
Shalom:
A few posts ago we discussed the Talmud Yerushalmi and Bavli and the relationship of Rabbi Gamaliel, aka Rabban Gamliel, and his slaves Tavi and Tavita.
The major point of the stories were that Canaanite servants, who did acts of chesed , and even performed acts set aside only for Jews, like putting on Tephillin, or even praying the Amidah or the Beracoth ha Mazon, deserved the same honor and respect of so -called righteous Jews.
The Hebrew Chumash warns Hebrews not to mingle with Canaanites. We see this beginning in the story of Abraham deciding to get a wife for Isaac, instructing his servant Eliezar to NOT bring back a Canaanite wife. But we see in the Talmud, that pure Rabbinic Talmudic Judaism is more concerned with acts and actions, than with blood lines and labels. While we have those who will deny a woman to wear Tephillin, the Rabbis allowed their Canaanites slaves to do so.
So as we see in the above linked post, Rabban Gamaliel ,aka Gamliel, was very wealthy and had a large sukkah were he entertained during the week of Sukkoth. But Rabban Gamliel wasn't the only one with a huge sukkah . Queen Helena of Adiabene had a giant sukkah as well. It was so big it had rooms.
Queen Helena was an interesting lady. Adiabene was part of Parthian Empire. Rabbi Mar Uqba had his Talmudic academy here. Talmud Bavli Tractate Kiddushin 72a says Chabor is Adiabene . Chabor is where some of Ten Lost tribes were taken according to the TaNaK.
So Helena and her son Izates became Hebrew in 30 CE, but they may have been from the Ten Lost tribes anyway. Her other son Monobaz helped the Hebrews fight the Romans in First Hebrew Rebellion in 63 CE. She died in 56 CE. Before she died, she helped with the famine in Jerusalem and brought food from Alexandra, Egypt to hungry Jews and Hebrews.
Helena helped keep Hebraism alive. Talmud Tractate Yoma 37a and b reads: "Helena had a golden candlestick made over the door of the Temple. When the sun rose its rays were reflected from the candlestick and everybody knew that it was the time for reading the Shema.''
Helena also made a golden plate on which was written the verse of the Sotah Law.[Yoma 1]. You may recall from the Chumash, that the Sotah Law was read by the Priest, when a wife was suspected of infidelity, and was brought to him by her husband. But in Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Yoma 3: 8 the candlestick and the plate are reversed in the story. Further , the rabbis of Talmudic Judaism, co -existing with Priestly Hebraism at this time, did away with the bizarre misogynist law of the Sotah. See Parasha Ki Teitzei: Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19 in (002) A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud - Rabbi Arthur Segal
Queen Helena practiced her Hebraism very strictly. We see this with many converts. In Talmud Bavli Tractate Nazir 19b it says: "Her son Izates having gone to war, Helena made a vow that if he should return safe, she would become a Nazirite for the space of seven years. She fulfilled her vow, and at the end of seven years went to Judea . Rabbi Hillel's disciples said that she must observe her vow all over again, and she therefore lived as a Nazirite for seven more years. At the end of the second seven years she became impure, and she had to repeat her Nazirite vows So she was a Nazirite for twenty-one years. Judah ha-Nasi , however, says she was a Nazirite for fourteen years only."
Well whether it was 14 or 21 years, it is still long time to be Nazirite. Samson give in to Delaiah and broke his Nazirite vows very quickly when compared to Helena.
Rabbi Judah said: 'The Sukkah of Queen Helena in Lydda [now Lod, where the Ben Gurion Airport is}, was higher than twenty cubits. [75 feet high, about 7 to 10 stories high]. The rabbis used to go in and out and make no remark about it'.'' (Talmud Bavli Tractate Sukkah 2b).
When Helena died, her sons buried her in Jerusalem in pyramid tomb about 1/2 mile north of Jerusalem. This is called Tomb of Kings and can be seen today. By the way, Helena changed her name to Sarah when she become a Hebrew.
This is another example of non-Jew, appreciating Judaism more than many born Jews. There is an interesting spiritual lesson with the stories of Helena , Tavi and Tavita for Jews who ignore the gift of being Jewish. For those who want to increase their Jewish Spirituality , to effect Jewish Spiritual or Jewish Renewal and their Jewish knowledge, I invite you to read: (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal .
Shalom uvracha:
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Renewal
Eco-Judaism
Jewish Spirituality
Hilton Head Island, SC
Bluffton, SC
Savannah, GA
