RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL : GAMALIEL : TAVI : DERECH ERETZ
This class is dedicated to the life, sacred music, and memory of debbie friedman , z'l, who passed on January , 9, 2011.
May her name be for an eternal blessing.
Jewish Spiritual Renewal: Derek Eretz Zuta + Rabbah:
Shabbat 01/15/11(aka Derech Eretz )The JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL class list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network a service of Hebrew College/YeshivaShalom my dear Chaverim, Talmidim, v' Rabbanim, friends, students and fellow rabbis:A oneg, joy-filled, Shabbat, Sabbath, this weekend .We continue with our exploration into the Talmudic Tractates of Derek Eretz Zuta and Rabbah. (aka Derech Eretz Zuta, aka Derech Eretz Rabbah. As was mentioned, zuta is Aramaic for 'small', and rabbah is 'large'). Remember that Derek Eretz is not about Jewish ritual. It is about how we are to treat one another and what traits of character, middot, we are to try to develop. The lessons are universal and ecumenical.For those new to the class, Baruch ha Ba! Welcome! You can access last week's class atorFrom there you will find links to preceding classes in this new series (new as of Simcha Torah, the holiday of rejoicing over the giving and receiving of the Torah, circa 3300 years ago at Sinai), October 2, 2010).So. together we continue:TALMUD BAVLITRACTATE DEREKERETZ ZUTA.(aka Derech Eretz)CHAPTER I.Talmud Bavli Tractate Derek Eretz Zuta Verse 1:4: ''If you have sustained a loss of your property, remember that Job lost his property, children, and health. Be careful about all that you see with your eyes, for the principal deception is by the eye. Be careful with your teeth that you should not eat too much. Do not discuss with the Sadducees, that you shall not fall into the Gehena . When you hear others insult you, do not answer them. If people are praising you for having done a great thing, you shall nevertheless consider it of no importance. ''Today we will discuss the third and fourth sentences of verse 1:4. The third is: '' Be careful with your teeth that you should not eat too much.''
At first reading it appears that the rabbis are giving us advice to not be a glutton. And there is definitely truth to this as throughout the Talmud, we are told to do all things in moderation. The Talmud even goes into details on what foods to eat and when, and even gives recipes on preparing them. Indeed Rabbi Hillel, circa 100 BCE, advises: ''One who increases flesh, increases worms'' [Talmud Bavli Tractate Pirkei Avot 2:7].
But I believe there is a deeper spiritual lesson here also. Throughout rabbinic literature the teeth have been called the guardians of the tongue. And the tongue is an organ that the rabbis spend much time discussing.
Rabban Gamaliel said to Tavi his servant: ' Go and get me good food from the market.' He went and bought him tongue. He said to him: 'Go and get me bad food from the market.' He went and bought him tongue. Said he to him: 'What is this? When I told you to get good food you bought me tongue, and when I told you to get bad food you also bought me tongue! '
Tavi replied: ' Good comes from it and bad comes from it. When the tongue is good there is nothing better, and when it is bad there is nothing worse.'
Rabban Gamaliel made a feast for his disciples and placed before them tender tongues and hard tongues. They began selecting the tender ones, leaving the hard ones alone. Said he to them:'' Note what you are doing! As you select the tender and leave the hard, so let your tongues be tender to one another .''
Tavi teaches Gamaliel about Lashon ha ra, literally bad tongue, and Gamaliel passes the oral teaching to his students. (Midrash Leviticus Rabbah 33:1 )
[for more on the fascinating relationship of R' Gamaliel and his servant Tavi, please read: Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:GAMALIEL II:TAVI:TAVITA:GOODNESS ]
Just as the sages are telling us not to believe everything we see with our eyes,as we discussed last week, they are telling us not to 'swallow' everything we hear and see as well.
We need to use our teeth, our intellect, to be careful what we allow into ourselves. And we need to use our teeth to make sure that what our tongue speaks, are words of truth always tempered with kindness.
When we surround ourselves with hate speech, whether it be gossip at Oneg Shabbats, or from so-called news-entertainment TV stations, this effects us. Hate speech can lead to hateful thoughts, which can lead to hateful action. It appears but is far from proven, that we may have another sad example of this with the assassination attempt of Arizona congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords,[ a Jewess, a grand daughter of a rabbi,] and the killing of a Federal judge, John Roll, standing near her, along with others killed or wounded. Certainly we had it with the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin of Israel.
Judaism recognizes this connection when it teaches that when one does lashon ha ra, literally using the tongue for evil, one not only kills the subject, but kills the listener and himself as well.
I believe the rabbis also, in the 4th verse of Derek Eretz, asking us to use our teeth, as a wall, to guard our tongues from swallowing evil and speaking it.
The fourth sentence of verse 4 will need a bit of historical review from one of my prior classes with Hebrew College/Yeshiva's Shamash on-line program. ''Do not discuss with the Sadducees, that you shall not fall into the Gehena .''
So what is Gehena? We can simply say that it is Hell, but in fact, since Judaism teaches that all Israel has a share in the World to Come (as well as the righteous of all nations and religions), Gehena is a 12 month [at most] re-training boot camp for our souls to finally learn to get it 'right.' [Talmud Bavli Tractate Sanhedrin Ch.11].
For those who got rid of many of their character defects while alive, they will have less spiritual laps to run in Gehena. For the rest of us, well, I hope the spiritual song of ''All God's Chillin' Got Shoes,'' is true because we will wear out a pair of Nikes per week.
So who are the Sadducees and what is so bad about talking with them? As mentioned we discussed this in detail 2 years ago. The short version is that the name is derived from the first high priest of Solomon's Temple, circa 950 BCE. His name was Zadok.
Sadducees are practicing the religion of Hebraism. Hebraism believes only in the Five Books of Moses, which discards the Prophetic texts, and all of the Rabbinic texts, such as the Talmud. They do not believe in corporal resurrection, or in an afterlife, or in a messiah. They do believe in a punishing God, who is not the universal God of Judaism, but the cult God of the Hebrews. And they don't believe in direct prayer to God, but in animal and grain sacrifices, done by the priesthood.
When the Hebrews of the two remaining southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin were taken into captivity to Babylon and their Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE, they could not worship as Hebrews any more. Within time Talmudic Rabbinic Judaism was developed. And this split, this separation, had them labeled Pharisees. Pharisees comes from the Hebrew word '' to separate.''
While the Rabbis were in what we call Iraq and Iran today, and the Hebraists, with their Temple by Ezra, were in what we call Israel today, there wasn't much clash between these two religions. But after the Hashmonian - Maccabean revolt, circa 165 BCE, both groups became prominent in various parts of Israel.
And to say they didn't get along is an understatement. The rabbis said in the Talmud: '"A learned mamzer {bastard} takes precedence over an ignorant High Priest."[Talmud Bavli Tractate Horayot 3:8]
They disagreed on almost everything. An example of this differing approach is the interpretation of, "an eye in place of an eye". The Pharisaic-Rabbinic understanding was that the value of an eye was to be paid by the perpetrator [Talmud Bavli Tractate Bava Kamma Ch. 8 ]. In the Sadducees' view the words were given a more literal interpretation, in which the offender's eye would be removed.
The Hashmonean Hebrew kings and priests, the descendants of the Maccabees, were Sadducees who slaughtered Jews and their rabbis. A few days ago, on
January 7, 2011, Shevat 2, 76 BCE, we Jews used to celebrate a holiday of the death of the Hebrew Hashmonean King Alexander-Yannai (Jannaeus). He was an avowed enemy of the Jewish sages and people. So great was his cruelty and the ruthlessness with which he persecuted the Rabbis and those loyal to them (some 50,000 were killed in the years 82-76 BCE), that the day of his death was declared a holiday in Judaism.
King Yanni was not a Roman nor a Greek puppet . The Romans didn't come into Judea until 63 BCE (13 years after Yanni died, and the Greeks were expelled circa 165 BCE). Yanni was 100% Hebrew and practiced Hebraism.
So, I hope you can see why the Rabbis advised folks when Derek Eretz was written not to have discussions with Sadducees. It could lead to death. The descendants of the Sadducees are called Karaites. They get along well with the Jews of Israel and Turkey, where most of them live.
To end, this rabbinic injunction of not debating religion with those that want to kill us, extended into the middle ages when rabbis were forced in Disputations in Catholic Europe. Usually the rabbi lost, and the rabbi and his congregation suffered. The story of Nachmanides (the Ramban) of Girondi, Spain, in 1263, and how he won a debate, and a case of gold, with King James as judge, and how the Pope forced James to change his ruling and sentence the Ramban to exile in Palestine, is fascinating.
Thank God, in America and other parts of the globe, we can have gentle discourse with those of other religions and emphasize our similarities and not our differences.
So the spiritual lesson for us is that everyone has opinions. We don't have to argue, debate and respond to every one. As we discussed so many times, our actions here, make our own hell, here.
We discuss the aspects of this verse of Derek Eretz Zuta: of the defects of character of gossiping, and arguing, through out the majority of chapters in The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew as well as in most chapters of A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud .
What are your ideas about gossiping and arguing? How has 'letting go and letting God' effected your spiritual life? How has loving all and accepting people as they are, including their opinions, helped you to live without arguments, continual debating, and then gossiping out of anger and frustration?
Next class, Baruch ha Shem, we will continue with Derek Eretz Zuta, with concluding the fourth verse. Thank you for joining me.
For those who want a d'var Torah on Parasha Bo from A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud or http://www.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/index.html#Compendium2
please click on:Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: CHUMASH CANDESCENCE PARASHA BESHALACH EXODUS 13:17 TO 17:16 / Tu B'Shevat or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2008/02/chumash-candescence-parasha-beshalach.html
Shabbat Shalom :
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