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LEVITICUS — 18:5 laws

LEV209 Elisha b. Abuyah, a contemporary of R. Akiba and R. Tarfon, is chiefly remembered as the scholar who eventually became an apostate. Nevertheless, his accepted teachings are duly recorded in the Talmud: "A man who has good deeds to his credit and has also studied much Torah, is like one who builds a structure and lays stones below it as its foundation, and clay bricks above it for the structure. Then even should much water collect, the building will not wash away. But a man who has no good deeds to his credit, though he has also studied much Torah, is like one who builds a structure and lays down a foundation of clay bricks and puts the stones above that. Then even a little water will undermine the building" (Avot deRabbi Natan 24). Using language that belies the timidity we often associated with mystics, the thirteenth-century Franco-German adept, Judah the Pious, boldly states: "Better is a little done out of awe for God than a pack of rascals who sits all day studying but does not do much else" (Judah Hehasid, Sefer Hasidim, 17). For "doing Torah" forms the basis of Jewish character, shaping our lives by guiding our actions: [this and preceding verse]. The next chapter in Leviticus deals with stealing and defrauding, with respecting laborers, not taking advantage of the deaf or blind, showing no partiality in a court of law, and calling for love, not grudges, between neighbors. These injunctions are not solely for analysis or intellectual musing. They demand doing. "Wherever you go, mitzvot accompany you. 'When you build a new house, make a railing for your roof' (Deuteronomy 22:8). When you make a door for it, a mitzvah accompanies you. 'And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house' (Deuteronomy 6:9) When you go to cut your hair, a mitzvah accompanies you. 'Do not round off the corners of your head' (Leviticus 19:27). And so with plowing, sowing, and harvesting, and so with everything! (Deuteronomy R. 6:3). Nahmanides, the great medieval Spanish commentator, directs us to learn so as to observe mitzvot: "Take care to study Torah always so that you will be able to fulfill its commands. When you rise from study, ponder carefully what you have learned; see what there is in it which you can put into practice" (Letter of Nahmanides in Feuer, A Letter for the Ages). (Continued at [[EXOD191]] Exodus 13:19 bones BOROJMV 258-9.)

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LEVITICUS — 18:5 laws

LEV210 In Judaism, generosity, nedivut, is as much concerned with "how" as "how much." Thus, "R. Yohanan b. Zakkai told his five disciples to find the chief characteristic a person should cultivate. R. Eliezer said, 'A friendly eye.' R. Joshua said, 'A good friend.' R. Yose said, 'A good neighbor.' R. Simon said, 'Seeing the consequences of one's acts.' R. Elazar b. Arakh said 'A good heart.' R. Yohanan responded, 'I prefer Elazar's answer because it will lead to all the rest" (Avot 2:9). R. Yohanan understood that, with the proper intention, the correct "how," other positive behavior follows almost automatically. So too, the hasidic master Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotsk taught: "The Torah, speaking of God's commands, says, '… which you shall do, and live thereby' [this verse]. That means, perform them with liveliness and enthusiasm'" (Elkins, Melodies from My Father's House). From Yohanan b. Zakkai to the Kotzker Rebbe, our sages stressed the value of nedivut as referring to quality, not quantity, because rich Jews were such a tiny minority (though an important one) among us. Much of what they said also applies to us, a generation blessed with sufficient means to elevate shopping to a seriously pursued avocation. Our tradition instructs us to guard against such selfishness and greed, teaching us that sharing ourselves is every bit as important as sharing our funds. So Francie [co-author Frances Weinman Schwartz] remembers how "Jewish" a song from her NFTY camping days seemed: "Love is nothing till you give it away.…" Indeed, most of us have found ourselves fervently agreeing with the prayer of our Yiddish ancestors: "May God save me from the stingy of heart!"

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LEVITICUS — 19:14 stumbling-block

LEV427 Hypocrisy intensifies deceit, for the hypocrite pretends to believe one thing while intending to act quite differently. Thus the rabbis warned: "The Holy One, blessed be He, hates a person who says one thing with his mouth and another in his heart" (Pes. 113b). Hypocrites are one of the four kinds of deceivers who may not come into God's presence" (Midrash Psalms 101:7). "There are seven sorts of thieves. The first comprises people who deceive their neighbors by urging them to be their guest when they don't really want them, or those who push a gift when they know the neighbor won't accept it" (Baba Kama 7:8). "The law, 'you must not set a stumbling block before the blind,' [this verse], include the sanction, 'you must not hide a part of your intention in giving someone advice.' You must not say 'sell your field and buy a donkey,' when you are really manipulating things so that you can buy his field" (Sifra Ked. 88). ... People lie for various reasons. Some convince themselves that they should tell only what they think we need to know. Others believe that a sin of omission--giving an incomplete version of the truth--is a lesser vice than a sin of commission--saying and doing whatever they think they can get away with ... Our sages reject such convenient rationalizations. They have always demanded scrupulously high standards, especially of our leaders. Scam artists who pray on the poor, the lonely, and the elderly are particularly reprehensible.

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LEVITICUS — 19:14 stumbling-block

LEV430 The Bible tells us not to place a stumbling block before the blind [this verse].… Today's strangers are often those who have just moved into a new neighborhood or are making the first visit to our synagogue.… mentoring those who do not "know the ropes" (as if we still had great sailing ships) is a small but significant part of our practice of lovingkindness.

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LEVITICUS — 19:18 love

LEV660 If we have derekh eretz, we're polite and affable and don't go around bumping into others, either physically or emotionally. But that's not so easy. We regularly can see the truth in the Yiddish maxim: "It's harder to stay on good terms with people then with God." Too often we witness a hurtful behavior Barukh of Medzibezh has in mind when he says that people are very careful not to swallow an insect, but not at all careful about devouring a person (Elkins, Melodies from My Father's House). Common courtesy, the everyday concern that flows from "Love your neighbor as yourself" [this verse], too often gets lost as we engage in conduct that Gluckel of Hameln describes in her memoirs in 1690: "Nothing pleases a person more than ruining his neighbor" (The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln). Hillel counsels a tamer but more ethical realism, recommending: "Anything you hate having done to you, don't do to your neighbor" (Shabbat 31a). Few things are more commonly irksome today than trying to negotiate city streets when people double- or triple-park, so we try not to be guilty of it ourselves. And walking from a distant parking place, we can't stand those who are clearly physically fit yet insist on zooming into a parking place plainly reserved for the handicapped.

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LEVITICUS — 22:28 same

LEV892 Biblical law provides for sparing the feelings of animals: No animal may be slaughtered on the same day as its young [this verse]; do not take away a young bird from its nest until you first shoo the mother away (Deuteronomy 22:7). This is traced to God in the story we read each Yom Kippur. When God does not destroy the city of Nineveh because the people repented for their evil, Jonah is angry at the compassion God shows. God retorts: Should I not care about that great city with its many people, and its many beasts as well?" (Jonah 4:11).

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LEVITICUS — 25:35 live with

LEV1037 … the poor of our city have a clear priority. Rabbi Saadiah [882-942, the famous Gaon of the Babylonian community] wrote that a person is required to put his own sustenance first, and is not duty-bound to give charity to others until after providing for his own. The Torah says, "And your brother shall live with you" [this verse], a verse which clearly establishes that your life comes first and only then, the other person. Also remember what the widow of Tzarefat said to the prophet Elijah [1 Kings 17:12], "And I have done this for me and my son," first for herself and afterward for her son, a comment he approved of since Elijah said [v. 13], "Do it for yourself," "and your son" only afterward. After one has seen to his own sustenance he may then give priority to the sustenance of his needy parents over that of his adult children, and then he should see to the sustenance of his adult children. Arbaah Turim, Yoreh Deah, Chapter 251. (Continued at [[GEN840]] Genesis 15:6 reckoned BOROJMV 126).

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LEVITICUS — 25:35 live with

LEV1038 There are eight gradations in the giving of charity, each higher than the other. The highest of these, which has no superior, is to take the hand of a fellow Jew and offer him a gift, or a loan, or enter into a business partnership with him, or find him a job, so that he may become economically strong and no longer need to ask others for help. Scripture says about this, "… And you shall strengthen him, that is, the stranger or sojourner, so that he may live with you…" [this verse]. In other words, you shall strengthen him so that he does not fall into poverty and need charity. (Section 7) (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Matanot Aniyyim, Chapter 10). We tend to think of charity as something we give to unfortunates to offset their calamities. There is much merit in that, as Maimonides will indicate [i.e., in his tzedakah hierarchy -- AJL]. But here this great Jewish conceptualist introduces a new and illuminating hierarchy to Jewish tradition. Tzedakah, he wants us to understand, involves more than merely alleviating symptoms. At its best, it is about eliminating causes. Don't scrimp on vision--think big, even if you must give little. Raise your tzedakah sights beyond tiding people over; instead, try to get them firmly back on their own two feet.

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