Special Features From last year... Again... but More You are going to read something that will be familiar from recent issues of Torah Tidbits. Your first reaction might be "There he goes again". Keep the following in mind - the Torah keeps repeating this message, possibly because it takes repetition to sink in. And this message contains more than previous similar ones, andits prime target has expanded as well. An interesting point was raised by the one who gave the Drasha last Shabbat in the "other" shul in Ramot Eshkol (MaMaD Pardes). In the first part of the Sh'ma (from Va'etchanan), we have the commands to learn and teach Torah, wear T'filin, affix a Mezuza to our door posts. Shortly after that, in Eikev, we find the second part of Sh'ma with the same mitzvot. Why repeat them so soon? In the first instance, we have the straightforward presentation of the mitzvot. In the second passage, the mitzvot follow the warning of what will happen if we do not keep faithful to G- d - G-d will be "angry", He will lock the Heavens, hold back rainfall, the earth will not produce its yield, and we will be quickly exiled from our Land. Then the Torah repeats these mitzvot. Rashi says that even if we go into exile, we should still carefully keep the mitzvot, wear T'filin, put up Mezuzot, etc. - why? - so that when we return to Eretz Yisrael, the mitzvot will not be new and strange to us. Rashi seems to be saying the same thing that the Ramban is famous for saying, that THE venue for mitzvot is Eretz Yisrael - that mitzvot are to be performed outside of Israel for practice purposes. It all goes back to the "deal". G-d took us out of Egypt and made us into a Nation in order to give us the Torah and EretzYisrael. Torah is incomplete without Eretz Yisrael. Eretz Yisrael is incomplete without Torah. Many Jews throughout history have made the mistake of thinking that one or the other could be complete on its own. Jews are still making that mistake. And the consequences of those mistakes are often monumental. The Meraglim made that mistake. The thought that they had a perfect Jewish Life in the Midbar. Wrong. Moshe Rabeinu says it over and over again. In this week's sedra, he reminds the people that they "have not yet arrived at the Menucha and the Nachala that G-d has given them". He adds that they will cross the Jordan River and dwell in the Land that G-d is giving them, and there they will live in security and tranquility, unmolested by the surrounding enemies. And here's the next part... Torah and Eretz Yisrael is still incomplete - without the Beit HaMikdash and everything that goes with it. We say it at the Seder table in DAYEINU. First G-d took us out of Egypt, etc. and we have sufficient cause to thank him for the many miracles and kindnesses He performed. Dayeinu does not mean that it is enough andwe don't need more. That would be absurd in light of G-d's "purpose" for taking us out of Egypt. He brought us to Sinai and gave us the Torah. And we acknowledge and thank Him for it all the time. Enough? No. He brought us into Eretz Yisrael, the nature environment for Torah and mitzvot, for Jewish Life. Enough? To thank Him - yes. But there has to be more. The Beit HaMikdash. The full potential of spirituality of the Jew can be realized only through Torah, in Eretz Yisrael, with the Beit HaMikdash, with the Ingathering of the Exiles, with a Sanhedrin, with a complete Torah way of life, with the Mashiach. In the pasuk mentioned before (D'varim 12:9), one can say that Menucha (which Rashi says is Shilo) is coming to Eretz Yisrael, and Nachala (which Rashi says is Yerushalayim) is the Beit HaMikdash. To the Jews who had come out of Egypt and stood at Sinai and built the Mishkan and traveled to the threshold of Eretz Yisrael (the next generation), Moshe has to remind them that "they've come a long way", but there is plenty to go. To the Jews of our time, we must receive the same message - we've come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. With HaShem's help and our untiring efforts, we'll get there, BB"A. ELUL The word ELUL - ALEF-LAMED-VAV-LAMED - is an acronym (Rashei Teivot) for several phrases that have meaning relevant to the themes and mood of this pre-Yamim Nora'im month. Most famous is probably ANI L'DODI V'DODI LI from Shir HaShirim (6:3), which beautifully and succinctly describes the love relationship between HaShem and the people of Israel. To know that we approach Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur in a mood and mode of AHAVA - in addition to the awe and dread - is truly inspiring and encouraging.The thought of facing an angry king in judgment is daunting. To know and feel strong AHAVAT HASHEM and love from Him, can help tremendously in our task of T'shuva. In addition to the Rashei Teivot of this phrase spelling ELUL, the Sofei Teivot, final letters, are each YUD, for a total of 40, a reminder of the 40 days and nights Moshe Rabeinu spent on Har Sinai pleading on our behalf. In D'varim 30:6 we find: U'MAL HASHEM ELOKECHA ET L'VAV'CHA V'ET L'VAV ZAR'ECHA. Part of the RETURN process, return to the Land, return to Torah, return to G-d, is "and HaShem, your G-d, will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your children. The initials of ET L'VAV'CHA V'ET L'VAV spell ELUL. T'shuva, with a big helping-hand from G-d, is the hallmark of the month. In Megilat Esther 9:22 we find the mitzva of Mishlo'ach Manot, which we can take as symbolizing interpersonal mitzvot. u'mishlo'ach manot ISH L'REI'EIHU UMATANOT LA'EV'YONIM.These last four words also spell ELUL and typify the concerted effort at improving our relationships with others. More on ELUL, IY"H, next week. NEW SERIES... THE JERUSALEM INSTITUTE OF JEWISH LAW R. Emanuel Quint, Dean Lesson #1. Why Study Jewish Civil Law? Many years ago when I was practicing law, a young Jewish lady law clerk in our office who was living with a Christian man came to ask me a question. Her boy friend’s father died, she went to the funeral service held in a church and the minister who officiated began by reading, as she put it “a thing called the 23rd Psalm that begins with the ‘Lord is my shepherd’”. Her question to me was, “Why don’t Jews have such things as part of our religion?” This summer I have the privilege of lecturing in various summer programs for overseas students. In one lady’s yeshivah, where the students were on the highest intellectual level, I gave a lecture on rights of privacy in Jewish law and announced that the next lecture would be on fraud in sales transactions and monopoliesin Jewish law. After the lecture one of the ladies approached me and told me that when she was in graduate school of business she was writing a paper and wanted to compare fraud in sales in different legal systems. She had asked her local orthodox rabbi what the Jewish attitude was regarding the topic so that she could incorporate it into her research paper. His answer to her was, as she put it, “Judaism doesn’t get involved in these areas.” She told me she asked him “Why don’t Jews have such things as part of our religion?” Yes, it was the very same question that I was asked by the young lady lawyer. If the lady lawyer who was totally uneducated in things Jewish asked that question, it was understandable. But for the graduate business student to ask this question as a result of a conversation that she had with her local orthodox rabbi, evidences a lack of education even amongst those who ostensibly should know better because of their education and position occupied by them. As a result of that after class conversation, I changed the topic of one of my lectures to be a recitation of the major topics of Jewish civil law. There are 427 chapters in Hoshen haMishpat, the part of the Shulhan Aruch dealing with Jewish civil law. I recited the major groupings of topics and spoke a few minutes about each. Almost every student, including several lawyers who were taking the course praised the fact that for the first time they knew that Jewish law does get involved in the everyday business dealings of people. Also business transactions don’t always involve businessmen on both sides. When the housewife goes to the local market to purchase a bottle of milk, she is involved in a business transaction, a sale and purchase of merchandise. When a tenant pays rent to the landlord, when a person at an airport asks someone to look after her tote bag while she goes to the restroom, when a person gets injured in a car collision, when a person takes out a mortgage from a bank, when a person borrows a book, when a person does renovations in his apartment, to name but a few of the business transactions that a person is involved in during a lifetime. And yes, Jewish law covers all of these topics and so many, many more. Ask an Orthodox Jew, “If one wants to be pious, which laws should he or she perform?” This indeed is a question posed in the Talmud. (Baba Kamma 30a) Most of us would answer “The laws taught in tractate Shabat, or tractate Niddah, or tractate Chulin (dealing with kashruth) or tractate Avoth, or tractate Berachot”. Indeed,the Talmud, amongst its three answers names the latter two tractates. But the Talmud, in its infinite, infallible wisdom quotes another opinion, that in order to be pious one should fulfil the teachings of tractate Nezikin (Baba Kamma, Baba Metzia, and Baba Bathra). This last answer makes one ponder. Can the teachings of Nezikin, the relationship between individuals in laws of torts, commercial law, real estate law, sales, wills, contracts loans and a myriad other matters in which we deal with our neighbors every day, be as important as the laws of Shabat or Berachot or Niddah? The Talmud’s answer seems to indicate that the answer is, yes. In fact the Talmud goes on to say that when a person reaches the Next World, the first question he or she will be asked is “Did you conduct your business transactions faithfully?” (Shabat 31a) On Yom Kippur during the confessional we say that we seek forgivenessfor the sins committed in our business dealings. Thus one of the six orders of the Mishna and Talmud is devoted to Nezikin; of the 14 books of Maimonides code of Jewish Law (Yad HaChazaka) over 3 are devoted to the laws of nezikin. In the Shulhan Aruch one of the four parts (three of ten volumes) Hoshen haMishpat deals with nezikin. With this as background, we shall attempt in future essays to familiarize the reader with some of the laws of nezikin, so that one can be a better Jew and answer Hashem in the Next World, “Yes we dealt faithfully in our business transactions.” The major topics of Hoshen haMishpat are (in the sequence of Rabbi Yosef Karo, (1488-1575) the author of the Shulhan Aruch, who follows the sequence of Rabbi Yaakov Tur (1275-1340): Laws of: [1] judges; [2] evidence; [3] loans; [4] contracts; [5] pleadings; [6] collection of debts; [7] collections from heirs; [8] mortgages; [9] agency; [10] guarantees; [11] presumptions regarding ownership of personal property; [12] presumptions regarding ownership of real property; [13] interfering with one’s neighbor’s property;[14] joint ownership of real property; [15] partition of real property; [16] partnerships; [17] sales; [18] acquisition of personal property; [19] fraud in sales; [20] gifts of a healthy person; [21] gifts made in contemplation of death; [22] lost and found property; [23] inheritances; [24] unpaid bailees; [25] paid bailees;[26] lessors and lessees; [27] borrowers; [28] labor law; [29] theft; [30] robbery; [31] damage to property; [32] informers; [33] damage caused by one’s instrumentalities; [34] damages and injuries caused by a person’s actions. Unlike the Talmud that first goes through three tractates of nezikin with substantive laws of nezikin and only then goes on to the procedural laws of tractate Sanhedrin, which is the order followed by Maimonides, Rabbi Yosef Karo following the sequence of Rabbi Yaakov Tur, commences with the laws of the courts. The court system consists of three levels, the Great Sanhedrin, the Lesser Sanhedrin and the beth din. In some legal systems this would be a three-tiered system, that is, one can take an appeal from the beth din to the Lesser Sanhedrin and then to the Great Sanhedrin. With rare exceptions, in Jewish law we do not have athree-tiered system. Each court has its own jurisdictions, that is the type of cases that it can handle. Before discussing the jurisdiction of the Great Sanhedrin, the next lesson will discuss the requirement to act beyond the requirements of the law (Lifnim MiShurat HaDin). G'MATRIYA 3+40+9+200+10+1=263 from L'Ora shel Torah by R. Auerbach z"l In this week's sedra, referring to Yom Tov (specifically the 7th day of Pesach), the Torah says ATZERET LASHEM ELOKECHA - there shall be an ATZERET (we'll leave the meanings of this word for some other time) for G-d. In Parshat Pinchas, referring to Yom Tov (in that case, SHmini Atzeret), the Torah says ATZERET T'H'YE LACHEM- there shall be an ATZERET for you. From this apparent contradiction - is Yom Tov for G-d or for us? - we learn the famous concept that Yom Tov is to be "half for G-d and half for us". Exactly what that means is besides the point here. The Vilna Gaon demonstrates this idea with numeric value. LASHEM (to G-d) = 30+10+5+6+5= 56. LACHEM (to you) = 30+20+40 = 90. Half for G-d (56/2=28) and half for you (90/2=45) add up to 28+45 = 73. YOM TOV = 10+6+40 (56) + 9+6+2 (17) = 73. Hence, YOM TOV is half for G-d and half for ourselves. In addition to being a command not to go to the Mikdash without an appropriate offering, it can also be seen as a promise: One who fulfills the mitzva of "Aliya l'Regel" will merit not being "empty-handed". [The R'ei Homepage]
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