{"id":60568,"date":"2018-09-12T10:09:17","date_gmt":"2018-09-12T15:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=60568"},"modified":"2018-09-26T08:38:14","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T13:38:14","slug":"everything-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/everything-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Learning halacha can be tricky, as it often seems to devolve into a complicated laundry list of \u201cdo this\u201d and \u201cdon\u2019t do that.\u201d If we haven\u2019t studied the background in depth, some of the details can seem kind of weird. Does it really matter how many handbreadths wide my sukkah<\/em> is or how low my decorations hang? If I have to drink on Yom Kippur \u2013 one ounce every nine minutes? Really? Okay, whatever, that\u2019s random.<\/p>\n

Except it\u2019s not random. When we do study in a little more depth, those same picayune details can be mind-blowing, sometimes precisely in the simplicity of their explanations.<\/p>\n

Those shot glasses every nine minutes on Yom Kippur? That\u2019s because the specific Torah requirement on Yom Kippur is not about \u201ceating,\u201d but about \u201caffliction.\u201d We are instructed to afflict ourselves, and refraining from eating and drinking is only one of several ways Rabbinic tradition determined we achieve that affliction. In a perfect world, we wouldn\u2019t eat at all on Yom Kippur, not even one bite. But in an imperfect situation, where someone\u2019s health is at risk if they don\u2019t eat \u2013 but they don\u2019t need full meals \u2013 we turn back to the roots of the commandment and the definition of \u201caffliction\u201d: How much can I eat and still technically feel \u201cafflicted?\u201d While it might be easy to say \u201cjust don\u2019t eat,\u201d or on the flip side, \u201cyou can\u2019t fast, so don\u2019t\u201d \u2013 or, perhaps, \u201cwhatever, just take one bite, it\u2019s not a big deal\u201d \u2013 if we pay careful attention to those picayune details, we find that we can eat our cake (or, you know, something more nutritious) and \u201cfast\u201d on Yom Kippur, too. Not because \u201cit\u2019s one bite, what\u2019s the big deal?\u201d \u2013 every bite does actually count \u2013 but because that one bite is defined differently from a full meal.<\/p>\n

I did the shot glass thing once, for the sake of a nursing baby who was struggling to grow, and it was a beautifully technical-halachic experience. I felt fine, but not really comfortable. I internalized the difference between eating for sustenance and eating for satisfaction. I was able to appreciate the significance and necessity of those dry Talmudic analyses and definitions in my very real, meaningful, human life.<\/p>\n

(It\u2019s at this point that I must insert the following disclaimer, which can\u2019t be emphasized enough: Always consult with a doctor in the case of any concern about fasting, and remember that every situation is different<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

One of my favorite examples of this nuance comes from the laws of Sukkot. Not just the rules about construction of the sukkah<\/em>, though those can get overwhelmingly and fascinatingly and meaningfully detailed too, but the rules about what and when to eat in it \u2013 or not.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re supposed to eat in the sukkah<\/em> for seven days, right? But what if it\u2019s raining or otherwise uncomfortable? What if I just want a quick bite?<\/p>\n

It would be easy to simply say \u201ceat in the sukkah<\/em> means eat in the sukkah<\/em>; who cares how you feel about it?\u201d or \u201coh, well, if it\u2019s uncomfortable then you shouldn\u2019t have to go crazy\u201d or \u201coh, one quick bite isn\u2019t a big deal; just eat it in the house!\u201d<\/p>\n

Except that in halacha, everything is kind of a big deal, and we kind of do make ourselves\u2026well, not crazy, hopefully, but certainly attentive and careful about a great many things. So how do we decide when it\u2019s okay to eat outside a sukkah<\/em>? Is it ever okay?<\/p>\n

The Shulchan Aruch, of course, says yes. For instance, Orach Chaim 639:2 states, \u201cWe eat and drink\u2026in the sukkah<\/em> all seven [days]\u2026 but it is permitted to eat achilat arai<\/em> [insubstantial, or non-meal, food] outside the sukkah<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why is that okay? The easy answer would be that achilat arai<\/em> is just not a big deal, so halacha doesn\u2019t care where you do it. And indeed, a glance at the first few words of the Mishna Berurah (s.k. 12) might seem to support that: \u201cFor this is not important.\u201d However, as I frequently remind my students, we always have to keep reading; at the very least, let the man finish his sentence! What the Mishna Berurah actually says is: \u201cFor this is not important, to obligate him in sukkah, because even with his house, <\/em>it is common that one would eat arai<\/em> outside of his house.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does that mean?<\/p>\n

Just like we returned to the base Torah rule for Yom Kippur to determine the halacha in particular situations, we do the same with sukkah<\/em>. As it turns out, there is no Torah law to \u201ceat in the sukkah<\/em>\u201d (except perhaps the first night); our eating in the sukkah<\/em> is simply one fulfillment of the law to dwell<\/strong> in the sukkah<\/em> for seven days. Chazal <\/em>(see Sukkah 26a, with Tosfot) define that law through the principle \u201cTeishvu \u2013 k\u2019ein taduru<\/em>\u201d: \u201cdwelling\u201d means in the sukkah<\/em> whatever it means regularly in one\u2019s house. As the Shulchan Aruch puts it, one must \u201c\u2026live in the sukkah<\/em> all the seven days\u2026the same way he lives in his house on the other days of the year.<\/em>\u201d People snack outside their houses even in a society in which meals are only eaten sitting down at home, so snacking can be done outside a sukkah<\/em> (i.e., in one\u2019s house) as well.<\/p>\n

(Disclaimer #2: Consult your preferred halachic authority before implementing anything I say about practical halacha. Maybe about anything. Ever.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

The reason this example is so powerful to me is precisely because of the way my understanding of the halachic exception changed as I read the Mishna Berurah\u2019s full comment. That shift, from seeming to say \u201cit\u2019s not important\u201d to actually saying \u201cit\u2019s not considered to be in the relevant halachic category,\u201d highlighted for me the difference between playing fast and loose with halacha on our<\/strong> own terms, versus submitting to a carefully-defined halacha on its<\/strong> terms.<\/p>\n

We find the same sort of definitional nuance when it comes to a situation of \u201cmitzta\u2019er<\/em>,\u201d one who is too uncomfortable to stay in the sukkah<\/em> because of weather, bugs, or other conditions. Other than the first night (ahem<\/em>, disclaimer\u2026), one who is mitzta\u2019er<\/em> in the sukkah<\/em> may eat in the house (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 640:4) \u2013 not because it\u2019s unreasonable to expect someone to observe the mitzvah in those conditions, but because that is<\/strong> the mitzvah. As the Mishna Berurah explains there: \u201cFor we require k\u2019ein taduru<\/em>, and even during the rest of the year, a person will not live in a place where he is mitzta\u2019er<\/em>.\u201d People don\u2019t eat in their houses when the roof is leaking on them or cockroaches start joining them at the table, so we don\u2019t have to eat in the sukkah<\/em> in those conditions.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that our subjective experience overrides halacha, that some things are less important or more important than halacha. On the contrary, that is<\/strong> the halacha \u2013 and it\u2019s found in those details of textual analysis.<\/p>\n

I once read an article that claimed \u201cwe must be human beings before we are Jews.\u201d The writer implied she felt that we sometimes place too high a premium on rules and details, and not enough on the subjective human experience. Her words got me thinking about Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and so many other cases in which all those rules and details actually take the subjective human experience into careful consideration, and sometimes arrive at the same conclusion she would. The difference is that we get there through objective analysis of our sacred texts, rather than setting ourselves above the texts. We don\u2019t say \u201cI know best and will determine when to apply the text or not,\u201d but we often say \u201cI need to understand this text better so I can apply it to my situation.\u201d Certainly, there are things we don\u2019t get to do that we want to do, because we choose to subject ourselves to halacha \u2013 but halacha is not the dry, unsympathetic system it might sometimes appear to be.<\/p>\n

One final example, returning to the question of eating on Yom Kippur: Why is it ever okay to eat anything on Yom Kippur? Because sometimes one\u2019s life depends on it, of course; we violate almost any mitzvah for the sake of a life. This principle is so ingrained in us that it seems self-evident \u2013 but is it? If we can approach the question without any pre-conceived ideas: Where do we actually get the right to say our health comes before G-d\u2019s command? Indeed, some people are innately uncomfortable with the very idea, and go to great lengths to observe all details of halacha regardless of the circumstances and even at great personal risk \u2013 even though that\u2019s rarely the actual halachic requirement. On the flip side, others might feel free to simply react, \u201cno way am I going to keep a mitzvah that puts someone\u2019s life in danger!\u201d Jewish tradition arrives at the same conclusion as the latter, but not through subjective human values. Instead, we learn it from a pasuk<\/em>: \u201cKeep My laws\u2026 which a person will do and live by them; I am G-d\u201d (Vayikra 18:5). \u201cLive by them\u201d \u2013 but not die by them (Sanhedrin 74a). Even this most fundamental principle, the overriding value of life, has to come from a pasuk<\/em> \u2013 but not to worry, because come from a pasuk<\/em> it does.<\/p>\n

The careful analysis of details of text, all the seemingly random, picayune details \u2013 it all adds up to a halachic system that carefully weighs the details of human experience and offers a reasoned, sourced framework for halachic living through it all. From the smallest bite to the biggest moment of potential self-sacrifice, everything has meaning. Nothing is random; the divine is in the details.<\/p>\n

\n

Sarah C. Rudolph is a Jewish educator and freelance writer. She has been sharing her passion for Jewish texts of all kinds for over 15 years, with students of all ages. Sarah\u2019s essays have been published in a variety of internet and print media, including Times of Israel, Kveller,\u00a0Jewish Action<\/a>, The Lehrhaus, TorahMusings, and more. Sarah lives in Cleveland with her husband and four children but is privileged to learn online with students all over the world through\u00a0www.TorahTutors.org<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0www.WebYeshiva.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learning halacha can be tricky, as it often seems to devolve into a complicated laundry list of \u201cdo this\u201d and \u201cdon\u2019t do that.\u201d If we haven\u2019t studied the background in depth, some of the details can seem kind of weird. Does it really matter how many handbreadths wide my sukkah is or how low my<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133529,"featured_media":60570,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nEverything Matters - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Does it really matter how many handbreadths wide my sukkah is? If I have to drink on Yom Kippur, why one ounce every nine minutes? 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