GEN934 All of us need to exercise special control over our libidos.   The difficulties rise up when people take it upon themselves to create appropriate methods to guard against untoward sexual practices. True, our tradition has long taught that some modesty must be legislated. But the pre-modern societies in general and some people today still self-righteously assume that women’s immodesty somehow causes men’s wanton and even violent sexual acts. The victim thus becomes responsible for the aggressor’s actions. Blaming the victim violates both individual male and female dignity. If generally condoned, it shows the moral bankruptcy of the greater society as well. Yet the Talmud was a product of its times, echoing the other male-dominated cultures of the Middle East. So its teachings prescribed the segregation of women as the fundamental antidote for womanly provocation. Its standard biblical justification was the verse, “The chief glory of the King’s daughter is that she remains deep within the palace” Psalm 45:14 – 15. Thus Sarah, the first matriarch, serves as a model for all women to follow: “When visiting angels asked Abraham, ‘Where is Sarah your wife?’ he answered, ‘Behold, she is in the tent.’ [this verse]. This is to inform us that Sarah was modest” Bava Metzia 87a A text from the Jerusalem Talmud at least gives those females who practiced seclusion a reward—a prominent spouse and male children [sic]: “A woman who remains at home merits marrying a high priest and being the mother of a line of high priests” Yerusalmi Yoma 4:2 Several hundred years later, the German sage Eliezer b. Samuel of Mainz counsels: “My daughters ought always to be at home, and should not even stand at the door so as to watch whatever passes by” Hebrew Ethical Wills. Yehiel b. Yekutiel also follows this Talmudic theme when he blames physically malformed children on the fact that their mother “weaves in the marketplace, speaking and gazing at all men. Weaving in a public place exposes her arms; because of her misdeeds, one of her children is lame, another blind, another a fool and evil doer” Sefer Maalot Hamiddot. True, Maimonides does grudgingly say about a man’s wife: “She is not in prison where she cannot come and go…” B hiut then he glaringly affirms his patriarchal mentality by stating: “… It is unseemly for a woman to be constantly in the streets. Her husband should not let her go out except once or twice a month, as the need may arise” Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Ishut, 13:11. Even the realm of Jewish folk literature concedes that the appropriate place for women is a private one: “The good woman knows that her kingdom is behind the house door” (Ladino proverb). BOROJMV 156-7

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GEN951 We gain a good sense of just how dear peace was to the rabbis when we read some of their exaggerated statements they made to “prove” shalom’s importance. For example, they had Adonai compromise plans for our planet’s basic structure in order to keep peace among God’s creations. “When God created people, God said, ‘If I create them as part of the heavenly world, there will be one more creation in heaven than on earth and there will be no peace in the universe. But if I create them as part of the earthly world, there will also be imbalance and controversy. So if I am to have peace in the universe, I will have to create humanity as partaking of both the heavenly and the earthly worlds.’ And so God did” Genesis Rabbah 12:8 A second instance of rabbinic hyperbole: “R. Ishmael taught: Great is peace, for we are commanded to treat God’s name with the greatest sanctity.  Look what God did for the sake of peace. If a husband suspects his wife of adultery, the Torah says that he should bring her to the Temple. There, the sacred letters of the Torah, with God’s name among them, are written on paper and ‘washed’ into a cup. The accused adulteress must then drink this portion and is proven guilty if her body becomes swollen. God allows the blasphemy of having God’s Name blotted out in water so that all the innocent women may be restored to their households in peace” Numbers 5:16-29., Hashalom 9, the Chapter about Peace, attached to the Talmudic tractate Derekh Eretz Zuta, the “smaller” version of The Way of the World. God, say some of the braver rabbis, even fudged the truth so that people might live in peace. “R. Ishmael said: Great is peace. When Sarah is told she will bear a son, she laughs, saying, “Shall I, so withered, have the joy of a child, my husband being so old?’ But when the Torah relates that God asks Abraham why Sarah laughed, God diplomatically, though untruthfully, omits Sarah’s reference to Abraham’s age, all for the sake of peace [this and preceding verse]. Bava Kamma 87a “R. Simeon b. Gamaliel said: Great is peace, since an untrue statement is made in the Torah to maintain peace between Joseph and his brothers after Jacob had died, as it is written: ‘And they sent a message to Joseph saying: Before he died, your father commanded that you forgive your brothers for the sin they committed against you’ Genesis 50:16-17 But nowhere in the Torah do we find that Jacob had so charged him” Leviticus Rabah 9:9 Bar Kapara reports a similar subtlety after an angel visits Samson’s mother-to-be: “He said to her, ‘Behold, now you are barren … but you shall conceive and bear a son’ Judges 13:3.  When she repeats this to her husband, she only says, ‘Behold you shall conceive and bear a son’ 13:7, and there is no mention of her infertility” Perek Hashalom 7. Such statements caused R. Simeon b. Gamaliel to observe: “See how much ink was spilled, how many pens broken, how many hides cured, how many children spanked—to learn in the Torah something that had never been said. Great indeed, then, is the power of peace!” Tanhuma, Buber Ed., Tzav 10. Traditional Jewish teachings cites four major areas meriting peace that touch us all: family, neighbors, community, and the hereafter. We moderns have extended shalom to two additional themes: the world of politics and our personal, inward search for meaning. BOROJMV 238-40

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GEN1049 Many of the biblical figures that our Jewish teachers want us to emulate have a strong sense of their personal insignificance. Abraham, who lived more like a sheik than a poor nomadic herdsman, refers to himself as “but dust and ashes” [this verse]. Moses and Aaron, after negotiating with Pharaoh to bring the Jews out of Egypt, ask, “Who are we?”   Exodus 16:7 David poetically disparages himself, saying: “I am a worm, less than human, scorned by men, despised by people” Psalm 22:7. Such putting oneself “in one’s place” continues as a significant theme throughout Jewish literature. The early 13th century Franco-German sage Judah the Pious counsels: “One should remember that snow begins pure white but soon turns into slush. So we, too, despite our great beauty, will one day become a small heap of worm-eaten matter” Judah Hehasid, Sefer Hasidim, 305. The Spanish mystic-philosopher Nahmanides, living about the same time as Judah, gives this advice to his children: “Let your voice be low and your head bowed; let your eyes turn earthwards—every man should seem in your eyes as one greater than yourselves” Hebrew Ethical Wills. Maimonides explains this austere attitude: “Some believe that it is forbidden to take the middle way when it comes to humility. Rather, they think people should distance themselves as far as possible from the one extreme, pridefulness, and go to the other. Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Deot 2:3. For pride, says the Bible, is the great threat to Jewish character and deserves God’s punishment: “God, see every proud man and bring him low” Job 40:11. “God says, ‘I cannot endure the haughty and proud man’” Psalms 101:5 “Adonai abominates haughty people” Proverbs 16:5   The antidote to pride is humility. For centuries, our teachers have sought ways to keep us from becoming people who “Lie back on our beds, sigh, and say in our heart, ‘How great I am’” Maimon, Sarei Meah [The century’s princes]. BOROJMV 138

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GEN1130 See [[GEN922]] Genesis 18:6 hastened BOROJMV 89-90

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GEN1135 The Hebrew root tz-n-[ayin], usually translated as “modesty,” actually means “to be private, to do something in seclusion.” For example, the Talmud records that R. Hiyya b. Abba uses the term when he wishes to differentiate between solitary and communal prayer Taanit 16a. R. Yohanan of Anatot, opposing the free-for-all atmosphere of the Talmudic academy, claims that private study enables us to retain more Yerushalmi Berachot 5:1 and cites this verse to prove it: “With the secluded is wisdom.” Proverbs 11:12. In his discussion of Jewish mourning customs, R. Yohanan rules that, while outward displays of grieving should cease on Shabbat, private sorrowing may continue even on this sacred day Mo’ed Katan 24a. We read a striking example of tzeniyut in a comment that a woman tells her daughter: “Why are you not more secretive when carrying on your sexual affairs?” Bava Batra 58a   More than a millennium later, the Hasidic sage Nahman of Bratzlav, describing how he prays, uses the same Hebrew terminology: “When everyone is around me, that is when I seclude myself with God” Mykoff, The Empty Chair. Privacy played a role in some of the most important events in the lives of our biblical patriarchs. Before Abraham made his heart-breaking climb up Mount Moriah to sacrifice Isaac, he told his two servants to wait below with the donkeys so he and his son could be alone [this verse]. During the mysterious night before Jacob’s reunion with his brother Esau, “he was left alone, and a ‘man’ wrestled with him until the coming of dawn” Genesis 32:25. As we all know, the “man” was really an angel who changed Jacob’s name to Israel.   Ever since that secluded hour, our entire people has been called Israel. BOROJMV 150-1.

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GEN1156 The Torah relates that our patriarch Abraham “Was blessed by God with everything” Genesis 24:1. His great wealth thus allowed him to perform, without financial worry, what later became a time-honored Jewish act. He bought his first parcel of land in Canaan, not as a legal ploy or as a long-term investment, but to bury his wife Sarah. Bargaining with the landowner Ephron to purchase the cave of Machpelah, Abraham accepted the very first, very high price Ephron quoted. Because he had the money, Abraham knowingly overpaid and secured is not only a burial ground but good relations with his neighbors [this verse]. Abraham was the first to perform a classic Jewish mitzvah. A long line of wealthy Jewish donors connets Abraham to the contemporary industrialist, Aaron Feuerstein. Fire nearly destroyed Malden Mills, his complex of textile factory plants located not far from Boston. Rather than retiring on the insurance money, he immediately began to rebuild his factories. He also paid the salaries and health care premiums of his 3000-personal workforce for three months, until most of his employees where once again working full time. Feuerstein saved their families from great hardship; he also saved and actually strengthened the economies of the cities of Lawrence and Methuen, Massachusetts. Only a mean-spirited individual would argue that Feuerstein, an Orthodox Jew in his seventies, did these acts to benefit his corporate balance sheet. Having been raised in the tradition of gemilut hasadim, the duty of acting with lovingkindness, he could fulfill that mitzvah because he had the means. BOROJMV 112-3

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GEN1160 See [[GEN1156]] Genesis 23:16 paid BOROJMV 112-3

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GEN1174 Mercy is so strong a part of our tradition that a substantial body of Jewish law and practice prohibits any kind of cruelty to animals, a duty that the rabbis said was commanded by the Torah Shabbat 128b The acts forbidden because they generate tzar ba’alei hayyim, the pain of living things, have their source in the narratives as well as the legislation of the Bible. Rebecca tended to Eliezer’s camels as soon as she saw that he had slaked his thirst. This so impressed Abraham’s servant that he knew she was the right woman to be Isaac’s wife [this verse]. “R. Judah said in the name of Rav: A man may eat nothing until he has fed his animals. For the Torah the first indicates, ‘I will give grass in your fields for your cattle,’ and only later says, ‘You shall eat and be satisfied’ [Deuteronomy 11:15] Berachot 40b.   A related law prohibits a person from buying an animal unless he first has enough food to feed it adequately. Yerushalmi Yevamot 15:3 “It says something about a person’s goodness when his animals are well fed and satisfied” Sifre Deuteronomy 43.  A Talmudic tale about Judah ha-Nasi, the Patriarch of the Palestinian Jewish community in the late second century C.E. and the chief compiler of the Mishnah law code, stresses the importance of these laws. “The sufferings of Rabbi came because of an act he did that lacked compassion, and left because of an act that he did that was full of compassion. One day a calf was being taken to the slaughterhouse. It broke away and hid under Rabbi’s robe.   ‘Go,’ said Rabbi, ‘for this you were created.’ Because of this hardheartedness, sickness came upon him. Sometime later, Rabbi’s maidservant was sweeping his house when he saw that she was about to sweep away a nest full of weasel pups. ‘Let them be,’ he said to her, for it is written, ‘And God’s compassion is over all God’s works’” [Psalm 145:9] Bava Metzia 85a.  The detailed laws of the kosher slaughtering of animals, shehitah, rest upon this compassion for animals, requiring that when we kill them for food, we make sure that they die instantly and painlessly. Thus we must use a perfectly sharpened knife, one free of any nicks or rough edges Aaron, Sefer Hahinukh [The book of instruction], 451. To this day the shohet must test his knife before using it. Should he find an imperfection, he must immediately sharpen it away or set it aside and use another knife. In the same spirit, citing the negative example of the biblical hunter Esau, the rabbis prohibit killing merely for sport.  Avodah Zarah 18b. BOROJMV 75-76

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GEN1190 People appeal to us all the time to trust them, hoping that we won’t dig too deeply to discover why we shouldn’t. So many scam artists abound in today’s world that we are more likely to suspect someone who comes right out and says “trust me,” then to grant that person our confidence. In most cases we base our judgment on our estimate of that person’s general character. The final arbiter often is no more sound then “gut instinct.” The Bible provides two cases of women whose wise judgment led them to put their lives in another’s trust.   Abraham’s servant Eliezer wants Rebecca to accompany him to Canaan to marry Isaac, a cousin she’s never met.   Her father Bethuel and her brother Laban want Rebecca to stay with them a while longer, so they “call the maiden and ask her to speak for herself.” In response to their question, “Will you go with this man?” Rebecca replies, “I will go” [this verse]. Rebecca thus relies on an indefinable intuition and judges Eliezer so trustworthy that she leaves her family to go with him, traveling for several hundred miles to begin a new life in an unknown land. After Naomi’s husband and two sons die in Moab, she decides to return to her people in Israel. Naomi urges her Moabite daughters-in-law to return to their father’s homes.   Orpah obeys, but Ruth will not abandon her mother-in-law: “Entreat me not to leave you or turn back   from following you. For where you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge.  Your people will be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, there will I die, and there will why be buried. Let Adonai do what He wants with me if anything but death parts me from you” Ruth 1:16 – 17 Trusting Naomi, Ruth offers to her this classic gift of self. We can’t explain why; the biblical authors provide these stories to show us that sometimes we must give ourselves to that component of emunah we call faith, as Rebecca and Ruth did. And we hope to become the kind person who deserves such trust. We can’t program ourselves with a specific set of behaviors to elicit such feelings, yet we sense that, if our basic characters are worthy enough, they will shine through and speak for themselves, as Eliezer’s and Naomi’s did.   BOROJMV 30-31

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GEN1216 Zusya became a disciple of the great Maggid, Rabbi Dov Baer of Mezritch. But instead of learning from the Maggid in his yeshivah, Zusya preferred walking in the forest, singing blessings to God. He was so simple-minded about this people applied to him the lover’s confession in Song of Songs 4:9: “My love, you have ravaged my heart.”  Lovers are so taken with their beloved that they often do foolish things. Who could forget watching (and aching for) Forrest Gump as he ran back and forth across the country, trying to numb his pain after his sweetheart left? As he ran, he slowly healed, enabling him to spread his commonsense gospel of hope—and that, despite knowing that the opposite, too, “can happen.” It’s easy to be cynical, and we smugly poke fun at the lover’s single-minded obsession. But the lover knows who is the real fool. Temimut means knowing what you truly love. The Torah describes the patriarch Jacob as an ish tam, a pure-hearted soul. The rabbis interpret this unexpected phrase as a description of his extraordinary love for learning: “No one ever labored at studying Torah as did Jacob. As it is written in [this verse]: ‘Jacob was a pure-hearted man, dwelling in tents.’ Not ‘dwelling in a tent,’ but ‘dwelling in tents.’ That implied that, having learned much, he would leave the academy of Shem and enter the Academy of Eber, then leave that school and enter the academy of Abraham” Tanhuma, Buber ed. Vayishlah 8.9  And, of course, loving Rachel as he did, Jacob willingly served her father Laban for 14 years in order to win her hand. Jacob loved Rachel enough to slave for her, wasting his youth attending the flocks of her father, Laban, a man he grew to despise. May we now ask, whom do you so long for, “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” Deuteronomy 6:5, sacrificing everything, dedicating yourself to this aspect of temimut? BOROJMV 214

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