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GENESIS — 5:24 walked

GEN551 A craftman must take extreme care to produce a product of the highest quality. … Shoddy workmanship constitutes cheating the customer.  The Torah obligates you to produce as perfect a product as you are able.  Moreover, no matter how mundane one’s vocation may be, it can be elevated by keeping in mind that one is helping others.  The Midrash Michtav MaiEliyah vol 1, pp. 34-35 relates that Chanoch was a shoemaker whose mind was occupied with elevated thoughts as he stitched shoes.  Rabbi Yisroel Salanter explained that those elevated thoughts were not of a mystical nature.  Rather, Chanoch took meticulous care that each stitch be perfect so as not to cheat his customers.  Moreover, he tried to make each shoe as comfortable as possible in order to give his customers pleasure.  His main motivation was to help others rather than merely to sell shoes for a living.  PLYN 35

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GENESIS — 6:1 daughters

GEN555 Is the commandment of procreation applicable to non-Jews as well as Jews?  On the surface it would seem obvious that the obligation devolves upon them as well, for was this commandment not given to Adam and Noah, the fathers of the human race? Thus, one of the great codifiers of early times, Rav Ahai of Shabha, She’eltot No 165 explicitly states that the commandment is of universal scope. However, most of the codifiers have maintained that a non-Jew may remain celibate and not thereby evade the fulfillment of the Divine commandment.  The ground for the exclusion of Gentiles from this commandment is to be found in the Talmud, Sanhedrin 59a, which states “Every commandment that was given to the sons of Noah and repeated at Sinai applies to both Israel and the sons of Noah; a commandment that was given to the sons of Noah and was not repeated at Sinai is intended only for the sons of Israel and not for the sons of Noah.” This declaration implies that the Siniatic revelation is the source of the commandments that bind both Israel and the nations. The Noachide revelation as such is no longer a living tradition among the nations of the world cf. Bava Kamma 38a. Except insofar as it manifests itself in various religious traditions, both ancient and more recent and is known only through the Torah given at Sinai. Hence, the acceptance of the Noachide commandments must be based upon the Written and Oral law which alone have preserved the record of the Noachide revelation. One who observes these commandments because of their reasonableness is regarded as a wise, but not as a God-revering, man.  Maimonides, Melakhim, VIII, 11, according to the correct reading.  Whatever was repeated at Sinai from the original revelation was directed both to Israel and humanity at large. What was not repeated was removed from its former area of application and limited to Israel. Sanhedrin 58a The commandment of procreation was not repeated at Sinai. Therefore, it no longer applies to the Noachides. Ibid, 59b. The question, of course, arises as to the reason for the exclusion of Noachides from the obligation to propagate. Perhaps the fact that the sexual instinct had been used perversely by the Generation of the Flood and had been elevated to a divine status [this verse] was responsible for its removal from the sphere of Divine commandments. The preservation of the species would be assured by the very dint of a most powerful human drive. It may, moreover, be possible that once the earth was replenished with human beings, the commandment was removed from the Noachides and transferred to the children of Israel, who were few in number, Deuteronomy 7:7 to ensure their physical survival, so that their covenant with God will be continued throughout the generations. ROSNER 70

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GENESIS — 6:2 took

GEN556 … the sage Rav considered it a chilul HaShem [desecration of God’s name] if he were to buy meat from a butcher without paying for it on the spot, lest someone suspect that he did not intend to pay for it – even though buying on credit would surely not be seen as anything wrong if done by an ordinary individual.  Therefore, my brother and friend, take great caution to protect your soul.  If you encounter a rabbi, Chassidic Rebbe, Rosh Yeshiva (yeshiva dean), or any other spiritual leader of this nature, who shows disregard for the mitzvos between a man and his fellow --- let along if he shows disrespect for Torah scholars – keep as far away from him as the distance of a bowshot. [Based on the language of Genesis 21:16.]  You too could easily become ensnared in his trap, and instead of drawing you closer to the true Torah, he will draw you close to a counterfeit Torah.  For there is no greater falsification than this: He contemptuously transgresses many explicit Torah prohibitions, because the are “only” mitzvos between a man and his fellow men, yet the masses still consider him a tzaddik [holy person] – even if he is caught stealing from the public!  And all this, in spite of the explicit statement in the Talmud Bava Basra 88b that “the punishment for sins of [faulty] measures [Overcharging customers by using measures that overestimate the actual weight or amount of product] is even more severe than the punishment for sins of sexual impropriety.”  Moreover, the Ramban writes in his commentary on the Torah [this verse] that “the punishment [of the Great Flood] was only decreed against them on account of their robbery, because [the criminality of this act] can be inferred by human logic, and need not be taught by a Torah law.”  If so, how severe must the punishment be for us Jews, who have also been commanded against wronging or defrauding our fellow man through a number of explicit prohibitions.  Now, all this applies to any Jew who commits these transgressions. However, when the perpetrator is a spiritual leader, the magnitude of his sins is far greater, as the Kli Yakar indicates in his commentary on Moshe Rabbeinu’s statement to his brother Aharon Leviticus 9:7, “And provide atonement for yourself and for the people.” EYES 151

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GENESIS — 6:2 took

GEN557 [I]f Jewish judges meet the standards set by the Torah, they will not only benefit both parties, by returning the victim’s property and saving the exploiter from the serious sin of stealing, but will also instill feelings of justice and equity in the hearts of the Jewish people.  Moreover, the civil laws of the Torah reflect an incomparable concern for the effect of one’s actions on his fellow man.  For the Torah’s command Deuteronomy 6:8 to “do what is fair and good in the eyes of God,” demands more of us in this regard than do the laws of any other nation, as we learn in Tractate Baba Metzia 108a with respect to the “Laws of Bar Metzra” [adjoining property owner]. Thus, when proper judges enforce these laws, they will naturally being about a Kiddush Hashem [sanctification of God’s name].  However, if Jewish dayanim [judges] are ch”v unworthy, and they rule in favor of the exploiter because of a lust for money, it is the judges themselves who openly commit robber, as the Ramban [this verse] writes regarding the Dor HaMabul (Generation of the Flood): “The dayanim, whose task it was to do justice, committed open robbery themselves – and no one stopped them.” And as the Ramban’s statement implies, the punishment deserved by these judges is more severe than that of ordinary people who commit robbery, since others will learn from their actions and do likewise.  People will say: If the judges, whose job it is to execute justice, are committing robbery in broad daylight and no one restrains them, then everything has become permissible. “If a blaze has broken out amongst the great cedars, what can be expected of the meager moss that grows upon the walls?” [An expression found in Tractate Mo’ed Katan 25b] EYES 338

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GENESIS — 6:5 evil

GEN559 Genesis [chapter] One tells me that “I” am in the image of God. Genesis [chapter] Nine tells me that “you,” my potential victim, are in the image of God.  Genesis One tells us about human power. We are able, says the Torah, to “rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air” Genesis 1:28. Genesis Nine tells us about the moral limits of power. We can kill but we may not. We have the power, but not the permission. Reading the story [that begins with creation and ends with Noah] closely, it seems that God created humans in the faith that they would naturally choose the right and the good. They would not need to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil because instinct would lead them to behave as they should. Calculation, reflection, decision-all the things we associate with knowledge-would not be necessary. They would act as God wanted them to act, because they had been created in His own image. It did not turn out that way. Adam and Eve sinned, Cain committed murder, and within a few generations the world was reduced to chaos. That is when we read: [this verse]. Everything else in the universe was tov, ”good.” But humans are not naturally good. That is the problem. The answer, according to the Torah, is covenant. Covenant introduces the idea of a moral law. A moral law is not the same as a natural, scientific law. Scientific laws are observed regularities in nature: Drop an object and it will fall. The moral law is a rule of conduct: do not rob or steal or deceive. Scientific laws describe, whereas moral laws prescribe.  When a natural event does not accord with the current state of science, when it “breaks” the law, that is a sign that there is something wrong with the law. That is why Newton’s laws were replaced by those of Einstein. But when a human act breaks the law, when people do rob and steal and deceive, the fault is not in the law but in the act. So we must keep the law and condemn-and sometimes punish-the act. Scientific laws allow us to predict. Moral laws help us to decide. Scientific laws apply to entities without free will. Moral laws presuppose free will. That is what makes humans qualitatively different from other forms of life.  So, according to the Torah, a new era began [i.e., with Noah; the Noahide covenant - AJL], centered not on the idea of natural goodness but on the concept of covenant-that is, moral law.  SACKS 11-12

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GENESIS — 6:5 iniquity

GEN560 [Iggeres Ha-Mussar of Rabbi Yisroel Salanter]. Let us give thought to the subject of transgressions. We will find that they fall into two categories. One category derives from unrestrained lust – the desire that which is momentarily sweet – without taking heed of the future, though the end will be a bitter one. We find somewhat similar circumstances, in regard to worldly matters. [For example], a foolish individual – and particularly one who is ill – may, with his limited intellect, love to snatch food which is sweet to his palate, and he will forget that this will lead him to unrestrained illness. [This is a common occurrence in regard to those individuals, who, because of either health or cosmetic reasons, wish to go on a diet. Nevertheless, all too often, they find – against their own better judgment – that because of their great craving for sweets or gourmet foods, they are entirely unable to do so. The same, of course, holds true for many cigarette smokers, who are convinced that cigarette smoking poses grave health hazards. Despite this intellectual awareness, however, they often find it all but impossible to break the cigarette habit – frequently to their own great consternation.]  Therefore did the Sages teach us, “Who is a wise man – he who regards the future.” Talmud, Tamid 32a; Cf. Avos 4:1 This, [too], is as the Sages said [elsewhere], “An individual does not perform a transgression unless a spirit of foolishness enters within him.” Talmud, Sotah 3a.  This is man’s entire toil in his service of God, be He blessed, to give thought to, and to ponder into the [matter of] the fear of God, and into the great fear of His retribution through [the study of] mussar words and the Aggadic Midrashim of the Sages, until he will hear with his ears and almost see with his eyes the terrible punishment – in both a quantitative and a qualitative sense – arrayed in front of his eyes. As the Sages observe, “A dayyan – a Jewish judge – shall always visualize that Gehenna is open for him, beneath him.” Talmud, Sanhedrin 7a.  Reference is made here to the Dayyan because he is more prone to become ensnared in transgression. ‘This is because of the great pressure which is often placed upon the dayyan to render a biased judgment, either by offering him bribes, or by exerting pressure upon him in numerous other ways. For further treatment of this topic See Halacha and Beyond, p 38-52]. The same thought applies, however, to every man, to guard himself from adverse situations involving grave transgressions.  If the individual will take this approach, with an understanding heart, he will repent, and he will be healed. Isaiah 6:10  However, Great is the iniquity of man upon the earth. [this verse] There is none who seeks out righteousness, Cf. Isaiah 59:4 or who is perceptive in regard to the fear of God, to set aside time regularly to toil in the “fear of God,” to draw “waters of wisdom” from that faith which is dormant and hidden within the recesses of the heart, to broaden it, to reinforce it, to give it strength and power, to place the dominion upon its shoulders, [Cf. Isaiah 9:5. Here the emphasis is upon seeking ways to reinforce our dormant, intellectual belief in God and in His reward and retribution, and to endow this belief with an inner source of power, so that it might exert dominion over the hitherto dominant emotional impact of the yetzer hara that it might rule over the bodily limbs, that they might not exceed its limitations [That is, that they might not exceed the limitations set upon us by yir’as Shamayim – “fear of Heaven.”], and that they might comply with Torah law.  This is the second category, the likes of which we do not find in regard to worldly matters. There is no man who has tribulations hovering overhead to engulf him, who will not take out time to reflect upon how he might escape from them. [Why, then should we not do as much in regard to the yetzer hara, which is waiting to engulf us.] How [enigmatic] this is! It is not even caused by passion. [There is no logical reason, the author tells us here, why we should not take time out, before we are actually engulfed by temptation, to give serious thought to methods whereby we might combat the powerful lure of the yetzer hara and of temptation, when it does come upon us, and to seek ways and means of reinforcing our fundamental emunah-values in this regard. Not to do so, Rabbe Yisroel says, is entirely incomprehensible]. This transgression is astounding, and astounding is its name – not to give serious thought to the fear of God, and to the chastisement of His retribution! These transgressions cannot fall into the first category [where the transgressions are motivated by passionate desire], for there is not sufficient passion here to be [regarded as] their cause. Rather, they are derived from the [negative] spiritual power of טומאה -- spiritual defilement, which surrounds the individual, so as to cause him to sin. This is particularly true of transgressions involving speech, [e.g. רכילות talebearing and  הרע לשון speaking evil of someone] for what advantage is there to the slanderer [Cf. Ecclesiastes 10:11 – “If the serpent bites without having been incited; and one who slanders derives no advantage”, as the Sages observe in tractate Erachin [“In the latter days, all animals will gather around the serpent and say, ‘A lion claws at its prey and devours it; a wolf tears its prey apart and devours it. But what benefit do you derive [when you inject your venom, since you do not devour your prey’?’ Whereupon, he will reply, ‘What advantage is there to the slanderer? [Yet he does it nevertheless!]’”  [15b] FENDEL 276-80

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GENESIS — 6:5 iniquity

GEN561 The concept of kedushah [i.e., “holiness” – AJL]… would appear to be the most general and all-embracing term by which Judaism designates the highest religious quality that can be attained either in space, in time, or in man himself and that brings one closer to God, or into communion with Him. But, since in Judaism, the essential core of religion is morality, it follows that holiness for man is “basically an ethical value” D.S. Shapiro, “The Meaning of Holiness in Judaism.” Tradition 7, No. 1 (Winter 1964-5); 62, the “perfection of morality” and the “ethical ideal of Judaism.”  M. Lazarus, The Ethics of Judaism (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1901), pt. II, pp 25, 176.  The concept of holiness is also found in connection with the dietary laws and the rules governing sexual behavior. Leviticus 11:44-45, 20:8, 26. See Rashi on Leviticus 19:2.  These too, however, must be seen as ultimately contributing to the development of the personal morality of the individual, i.e., his inner character traits and moral dispositions. For clearly, we are dealing here with the two strongest urges or appetites in man, which are biologically grounded and thus have “natural” and useful channels of expression. Yet there is something in man that can convert these passions and sources of great creative energy into an “evil urge.” It is the “imaging of the designs of his heart” [this verse] – which Buber understands as “play with possibility, play as self-temptation … images of the possible from which ever and again, violence springs” Good and Evil (New York: Scribner’s 1953), p. 91 – that is called evil and can transform a neutral passion into lust and gluttony. While Judaism accepts the pleasures of food and sex as legitimate and as a positive good, it seeks, by the imposition of guidelines – by laying down rules for the “how,” “when,” and “with whom” of these activities – to encourage the individual to exercise a degree of control.  Armed with deep insight into the psychology of desire and the dynamics of hedonism, Judaism strove to have man avoid the extreme of repression and obsession and instead cultivate an approach that would preserve for the individual the simple and satisfying joys of food and sex. One of the effects of the many rules regulating eating and drinking in Judaism has been thus described: As often as one is about to satisfy the impulse of eating and drinking, the Torah brings one, from early youth, to that pause which converts impulse to will. The pause may be exceedingly brief but the very withholding of the immediate fulfillment of the demands of the impulse, the very questioning and the very performance of actions other than through the medium of impulse, but after the examination and deliberation, are indeed what separate fundamentally and basically the man whose impulse has the better of him from him who can master it. Aaron Barth, Quoted by B. S. Jacobson, Mediations on the Torah (Tel Aviv: Sinai, 1956), p. 285 Judaism, however, recognizes that man is neither an ascetic animal (which leads to neurosis) nor a pleasure-seeking animal (which leads to obsessional indulgence), but a human being, created in the image of God, whose every biological activity is interpenetrated by the human psyche, which demands meaning and significance. Eliezer Berkovits, “A Jewish Sexual Ethic,” in Crisis and Faith (New York: Sanhedrin Press, 1976), pp. 48-82. Only self-transcendence can save these activities from ultimately becoming stultifying and empty. SPERO 47-8

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