EXOD337 To be sure, in the Torah itself we see the Israelites as a recalcitrant, obstinate people complaining and rebelling against God. Yet the prophets in retrospect saw things differently. The wilderness was a kind of yihud, an alone-togetherness, in which the people and God bonded in love. Most instructive in this context is the work of anthropologist Arnold van Gennep, who focused attention on the importance of rItes of passage. [The Rites of Passage (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1960)]. Societies develop rituals to mark the transition from one state to the next-from childhood to adulthood, for example, or from being single to being married-and they involve three stages. The first is separation, a symbolic break with the past. The last is incorporation, re-entering society with a new identity. Between the two comes the crucial stage of transition when, having cast off one identity but not yet donned another, you are remade, reborn, refashioned. Van Gennep used the term liminal, from the Latin word for "threshold," to describe this transitional state when you are in a kind of no-mans-land between the old and the new. That is what the wilderness signifies for Israel: liminal space between slavery and freedom, past and future, exile and return, Egypt and the Promised Land. The desert was the space that made transition and transformation possible. There, in no-mans-land, the Israelites, alone with God and with one another, could cast off one identity and assume another. There they could be reborn, no longer slaves to Pharaoh, instead servants of God, summoned to become "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" [this verse].

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EXOD339 Hillel said: Do not separate yourself from the community… Pirkei Avot, Perek II, mishnah 5. The community, the group living together holds a most important place in Judaism. To the group was given the Torah, and it is of the group, with its interrelations and collective activity, that the Almighty has willed to make "the kingdom of cohanim (priests) [this verse]. Indeed, the individual, in fulfilling his personal religious obligations, is often dependent on the community and its institutions. There is much in Torah that you cannot observe in isolation. For Hillel, the authentic, historic community in Jewry is even more. It is an implicit, immutable authority on normative Jewish law. Once a question arose: When the day before Passover occurred on the Sabbath, and people came to sacrifice the pascal lamb, were they allowed to carry their slaughtering knives to the Temple area? No one knew, and Hillel himself could not remember how his teachers had ruled. But he advised, "Let the people Israel (do as they are accustomed]. If they are not prophets, they are the children, the descendants of prophets." Once he saw what the people did, he remembered what he had been taught (T.B. Pesahim 66a). In an age when religious observance was a living force among the people, current practice, what people simply did or didn't do, could be relied on as a faithful, accurate reflection of the tradition.

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EXOD340 Priesthood of Israel's One God was thrown open to all that walk in His ways and who have made holiness their aim in life. This priesthood, attainable by all who so willed it, is to be illustrated and realized by Israel as "the Kingdom of priests and the holy nation" [this verse]. As "a holy nation", Israel's public and private life was one continuous consecration. Justice, truthfulness, solicitude for the weak, obedience and reverence for those in authority, regard for the rights of others, a forgiving and a candid spirit, aflame with love for men and consideration for beast, charity and humility--these are to be some of the characteristics flowering forth from the Jewish life dedicated to God.

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EXOD341 When it comes to Jewish thought, there is no one book that encompasses the correct Jewish view on any issue. Nor should there be. Unlike Jewish law, i.e., Jewish actions, when it was necessary to come to a consensus in order to form a generally unified Jewish practice, Jewish thought always permitted various viewpoints. This is even alluded to in the Torah itself. The Torah, on two separate occasions, tells us that when the Jewish people originally accepted the Torah and said, "We will do it." [This verse] This acceptance of practicing the Torah was said by the Jews in unison, as a total unified people. But a few verses later, when the acceptance by the Jewish people of the Torah practice and its ideas is recorded as, "We will do it and we will understand it," there the unity and the words "Yachdov"-"unified" and "Kol Echad"-"one voice," are conspicuously missing. From the very beginning, Jews understood that there could not be unanimity when it comes to Jewish thought. There is no one "right" idea or monolithic value concerning Jewish beliefs and outlook on life. Thus, referring to the joy gained from understanding of Jewish or Torah life, King Solomon wrote that the paths of Torah are pleasant, not the one singular path, but paths in plural, because there are many ways to understand the Torah in Judaism properly and legitimately. Maimonides makes the same point in his Mishna commentary (on Sanhedrin 10:3). He states that unlike Jewish law, which necessarily must come to one conclusion and follow one practice, when it comes to Jewish thought, one need not rule like any one of the various opinions. Judaism makes room for more than one attitude within the structure of traditional Judaism. Within the framework of Jewish tradition, there can be more than one proper path when it comes to philosophical ideas, ethics, and beliefs.

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EXOD342 Rules Regarding an Envoy. Rashi writes: "The Torah teaches us derech eretz--do not think that if the one who sent you knows of your deeds, you are no longer obligated to inform him [of the completion of your assignment]. This is the meaning of the verse, '… and Moshe relayed the people's word to Hashem" [this verse]. This obligation certainly applies if the person who sent the envoy does not know if the assignment was completed according to his instructions. Thus, in order to avoid causing undue worry to the person who appointed him, derech eretz would require the envoy to contact him.

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EXOD343 When someone sends us on a mission, we should report back afterward. Rashi cites the Mechilta: "Why was it necessary for Moshe to report back to God, the omniscient? Because the Torah comes to teach you derech eretz (proper behavior) from Moshe; Moshe did not say: 'Since He who sent me knows anyhow, I do not need to report.'" Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv cited this verse in a letter he wrote to someone who had neglected to respond to a letter that he had previously written him, and added: "We must learn derech eretz from Moshe and remember to report back to someone who sends us on an errand or mission." (Chochmah Umussar, vol. 1, p. 45).

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EXOD344 The Torah hereby teaches us derech eretz [proper deportment], that one should return an answer to his sender; for Moses said: Even though He knows, I shall return an answer (Mechilta).

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EXOD345 The need for circumspection in one's manner of dressing is inherent in the Bible. A preliminary period before the giving of the law on Mount Sinai was set aside to allow the people to launder their clothes so that they would be properly dressed for the occasion [this verse]. Ecclesiasticus admonished: "Let thy garment be always white, and let thy head lack no oil" (Ecclus. 9:8). Warnings against the wearing of improper clothes abound in the Talmud (see "Appearance and Attire"). This includes provocative clothes (Yevamot 63b) and soiled garments (Shabbat 114a).

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EXOD346 Let us analyze this. It is written (34:3): "Also the sheep and the cattle shall not feed opposite that mountain" [Where the Shechinah abides]. Why, then, is it stated: "With the sounding of the shofar they shall ascend the mountain"? [i.e., Why should the departure of the Shechinah not suffice?] To teach that anything [prohibited] by consensus requires another consensus to permit it [though the reason for the original prohibition no longer applies] (Beitzah 5b)

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EXOD347 See [[EXOD1051]] Exodus 34:27 covenant HIRSH 50-1

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