Tag Archives: torah portion

Torah Portion: What are the Tassles on the corners of my Clothes for ?

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“You Shall Make Tassles on the Corners of your garments” (Deuteronomy 22:12)

Twice this week I was asked by a traveller on one of my tours what the funny Tassels (one of which is pictured above) was for.

Its something that I forget when guiding is that some of the basic facts about Judaism are also interesting to someone visiting Israel for the first time.

The Commandment to Wear Tsitsit

Twice in the Bible (the source above and Numbers  / Bamidbar 15:37 -41) the Jewish people are commanded to put tassels on the corner of their garments. In the instance in the book of Badmidbar / Numbers the Jewish people are told to wear distinctive blue tassels made out of a die found in the blood of a certain snail. The Rabbis interpreted that this commandment was only applicable for men and only during the day.

What’s the Reason?

According to the section in Badmidbar / Numbers  the reason that Jews wear such tassels is to be constantly reminded about the commandments and not come to err.

Being a Moral Agent in one’s personal Deeds

The next verse is the start of a law concerning marital impropriety. The juxtaposition of these two concepts teaches that one could think that one wears Tsitsit in public so a person can be easily recognised as a religious Jew and then forced to behave in a proper manner due to social pressure. This time teaches that when only the individual himself can see his Tsitsit he is forced to act in a proper manner due to the  meaning he himself places  on these tassels.

 

 

Torah Portion: Shoftim – Cities of Refuge

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Cities of Refuge Courtesy of Agbad (Wikipedia user)

 “Three Cities you shall separate for yourselves in the Midst of your land…” (Deuteronomy / Devarim 19:2)

The Jewish People were commanded to create 3 ‘Cities of Refuge’ inside their land (another 3 were outside in the territory of Reuven, Gad and half the tribe of Menassah).

Function of the Cities of Refuge

The function of the Cities was that when a person was guilty of manslaughter (accidental negligent causing of death), he would flee retribution to one of these cities. Inside these cities he would be free from any attempt to mete out a corporal punishment upon him.

Their Location

Oral Tradition has it that their location was in the Cities of Hebron, Shechem (modern day Nablus) and Kedesh (up in the North of the country in what is now known as ‘The Pan Handle’. These were 3 major cities and all excavations done there show evidence of settlment going back as far or further than 1000 BCE.  All except for Kedesh are major cities to this day.

(This learning experience is dedicated to the swift recovery of Zlata Bat Sima.)

Spotlight on Nature: The Camel, The Hare and the Hyrax.

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This little animal is happily perched on one of the scariest cliffs in Israel. (Hyrax in Rosh Haniqra)

This Post is a cunning combination of this weeks Torah Portion (Re’eh) and the Monthly Spotlight on Nature.

‘But this you can’t eat… the Camel, the Hare and the Hyrax’.(Deuteronomy  / Devarim 14:7)

Not a Badger or a Rabbit

A little note (or rant) on my translation and what animals you can actually expect to see in Israel. The King James translation of the Bible renders this the ‘Camel, the hare and the coney’. This is patently ridiculous as ‘Coney’ means a rabbit.

Exciting Nature Fact of the Day: THERE ARE NO WILD RABBITS IN ISRAEL.

The Bible was written for a people intended to live in the land of Israel. The fauna spoken of in the Bible are all animals indigenous to Israel. As there are no naturally occuring wild Rabbits in Israel. Some translations such as the ‘New American’ translate the second animal, in hebrew ‘Arnevet’, as rabbit too. This is equally wrong even though in modern Hebrew a similar word ‘Arnav’ means rabbit and ‘Arnevet’ means lady rabbit.

Exciting Nature Fact of the Day number 2:

THERE ARE NO BADGERS EITHER.

All the translations that call ‘Shaphan’ (the last animal) a badger are clearly mistaken, there are no badgers in Israel at all.

Common Israeli anmals

The first animal mentioned ‘Gamal’ in hebrew is easy to translate and spot, there are, suprisingly enough, quite a lot of camels in this part of the world.

The second animal; ‘Arnevet’, well I have n’t yet seen a hare in Israel, but apparently there are quite a number.

(Oh yes, incidentally the difference between a Rabbit and a Hare is that Hares are non gregarious, they do n’t live in communities and they are larger than Rabbits.)

The third one, ‘Shaphan’, is a hyrax, the little fuzzy beast depicted above. They can be seen all over the place, in the desert in Ein Gedi, in the Galilee and up on the Coast at Rosh Haniqra. Psalm 104 describes them as hiding in rocks, and its pretty much a rule in Israel, anywhere there’s rocks, there’s bound to be a hyrax or two poking around.

(This Word of Torah is dedicted to the Health of Zlata bat Sima)

Torah Portion Ekev: A Land of Light

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Olive Trees, Haas Promenade

Olive Trees, Haas Promenade by YossiTourGuide

Olive trees on the Haas Promenade

“A Land of Wheat, of Barley, Grapes, Figs and Pomegranates, a land of  Olive Oil and honey” (Deuteronomy / Devarim  – 8:8)

This weeks portion of the Torah discusses some of the blessed qualities of the land of Israel.

There is a slight textual difficulty in that it only mentions one product of a fruit; Olives. It does not say a land of ‘Wheat Bread’ or ‘Grape wine’ or ‘Pomegranate slushies’.

What Are Olive Trees Good For ?

So one answer given by Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (10th Century Torah commentator) is to tell us that the Olive trees were used for oil. But is n’t this a bit obvious; we can get 2 things from an olive tree:

1 Olives

2 Olive Oil.

Surely we could say that about all these fruits.

Ah! but all these other fruits have multiple uses: you can have beer or bread, pomegranites, pomegranite slushies or grenadine etc. With olives thats pretty much all you get; olives and oil. Ever heard of Olive wine ? Normally (unless we’re constipated) we do n’t drink Olive Oil. All these other products are edible as well.

Its all Part of the Process

Three of the fruits have a process associated with them. Both wheat and grapes can be fermented to make bread, beer or wine, by extension all of the fruits except for Olives can be fermented but that’s fairly uncommon, people mosly ferment wheat and grapes.

Olives have a special process associated with them. Firstly they are squashed normally releasing a tiny little bit of oil. This first squeezing releases the best oil or ‘Virgin Oil’. Then the pips and skins are gather again, put in baskets and squeezed once more. Since antiquity Olives have undergone this intricate process of squeezing.

This is for collecting the virgin Oil from the first crush, the upper stone is called a memel, the lower stone is called a 'yam.

This is a re -constructed ' beam and weight' press from Tel Hatzor, the baskets of olive bits are squashed by the Kora 'beam'' to collect the lower stage of Olive Oil.

Olives: Not just for Salad Dressing – a symbol of Light

 

Olive oil was the main source of lighting in the Ancient Near East, the purpose of the process mentioned above was light. The product of Olives – oil gets a special mention because of its high value.  My teacher, Rabbi Yitzchak Hirshfeld said that Olives are a symbol of the Jewish people that they are crushed through the travails of history and continue to produce the Light of Truth, the light of the Torah.

 

 

(These words of Torah are dedicated to the speedy recovery of Zlata bat Sima, please include her in your prayers and in the memory of the seven precious souls who were killed today in Southern Israel)

Torah Portion Massei: The Borders of Israel

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“And you will have the corner of the Negev, the Wilderness of Zin by way of Edom, and this will be the border of the Negev to the edge of the Salt Sea to the East. The border shall go around from th South to the Scorpions Ascent and cross over towards Zin and it shall come out at Kadesh Barnea and it will go out at Hatzar Adar and Atzmona. And the border from Atzmona will go to the river of Egypt and it will go out West.  This shall be the Northern border: from the Great Sea and this shall be the Sea (Western) border.  This shall be the Northern border, from the Great Sea it shall turn to Mount Hor, it will come to Hamat and will go out to Zared …” (Numbers / Bamidbar 34: 2- 10)

This is an abridge version of the border of Israel as described in the book of Bamidbar (Numbers).  It is one of the divine descriptions of the Land of Israel (another is from Ezekiel, also shown on the map).

Divine Privilege (?)

Although there are many descriptions of Israel’s size and shape in the Bible they all focus on the idea that the size and shape is dictated by  God. In a post – modern world this seems to be a very backward concept.  We live ina world that despises divinely bequeathed privilege.

Duty

The earlier verse says :

“This is the Land that which fell unto you as an inheritance”

Why does it use the phrase ‘fell’ ?

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (11th century commentator) wrote:

” Being a land wherein many  commandments form its culture  and do not form part of the culture of the rest of the world necessitated the delineation of its borders, meaning to say ‘this is the land and inside it are its commandments”.

The bizzare term ‘fell’ coupled with the extensive description of the land indicates that it is  land where specific duties form its culture.

Moral Purpose

The inheritance here was not merely an inheritance of physicality but an inheritance of a moral purpose bound in the physical ‘clothing’ of land.

 

Haftorah for Torah Portion: Matot – Jeremiah’s Northern Prophecy

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Stearn Family Tour - Pointing North

Stearn Family Tour – Pointing North by YossiTourGuide

‘And the word came to me a second time and he said;

“what do you see?”

I said; ” A bubbling pot and its face its pointing North.”

The eternal said;

“From the North shall spout forth evil on to all of the inhabitants of the land.”‘ (Jeremiah 1: 13 – 14)

This week’s reading of the Prophets (Hafarah) is from the Book of Jeremiah. It is part of a series of Haftarot leading up to the ninth of Av, the day commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples and subsequent Diaspora of the Jews.  In it God speaks to him telling him that “From the North Shall spout forth Evil”.

Trouble Up North

 

Historically Jerusalem was invaded from the North. In the period of history before, when Isaiah was prophesying, Sennacharib, the King of Assyria invaded (unsuccessfully) from the North. During Jeremiah’s time Nebuchadnezzar conquered from the North, as did the Romans and when the Crusaders invaded Israel they came from Lebanon and Syria. In recent history, in 1948, the Jordanians shelled the City from the North and East. Though, counter to our rule, the Israeli paratroopers, in 1967, entered the Lions Gate in the North to conquer the Old City. Seemingly most conquests Jerusalem come from the North.

The Meaning of North

 

In tactical terms we can say that conquests typically come from the North because that is where the highest ground is; from the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus. However there is a more spiritual reason to do with the meaning of the word North. In Hebrew North is:

צפון – Zafon

 

As we learnt in the Torah Portion of Balak, words in Hebrew have ‘root’ letters which tell us about their meaning. We can make a number of words from the root letters of Zafon:

A Zofe in Hebrew is a scout.

Lizpot is to forsee

Mazpen is a compass

Mazpun is a conscience

The word North is to do with looking forward, forseeing and looking with an agenda in mind.

 

Negative Prophecies

 

Not all looking with an intent is negative, without an ability to foresee certain actions and their  moral consequences we would not have a conscience. There is a type of prophecy that is always negative, this is the type that is common amongst people with depression. It consists of statements such as:

‘I always make mistake X’

‘I will never succeed

‘This type of thing is always happening to me.’

These over generalisations plague our speech and harm our lives, and become true, not by virtue of an innate truth of these statements, but by the belief of the person stating them.

It was God that told Jeremiah to look North, normally it would have been a really bad idea to make such a negative prophecy. In fact if we look at the text it took two prophecies, one with a almond tree stick and the other more disturbing image of a bubbling cauldron. Surely one warning was enough?

The lesson that we learn by the doubling of the prophecy and the harshness of the imagery is that it was not a normal matter, rather it excels in abnormality. The prophecy is the exception that proves the rule:

that a person should not become the prophet of his own downfall.


Torah Portion: Balak

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“And he looked out onto the Yeshimon (wilderness)”

(Bamidbar / Numbers 21:20)

This weeks portion discusses Balaam’s unsuccessful cursing of the Children of Israel at the behest of King Balak. There is a scene where he is looking out onto the wilderness or ‘Yeshimon’ in hebrew.

The Bible mentions 4 types of arid terrain which are many times confused under the same heading ‘desert’, these are:

Midbar

Negev

Arava

Yeshimon

A Midbar, IS NOT a real desert. In hebrew, words have root letters the root letters connected to other words with the same root letters.. The family of root letters ‘d’ ‘b’ ‘r’ are to do with grazing or raising flocks. In a few places; in the book of Micah and Isaiah, the word ‘Dover’is used, meaning to graze cattle. Midbar is an a arid terrain which cannot sustain crops but can sustain flocks for part of the year. The picture above is Wadi Kelt in Midbar Yehuda; the Judean (for want of a better word) desert.

Negev means both South and desert its root letters are associated with being dry, Naguv means dried up. Negev is true desert, the area south of Beer Sheva is all desert.

Arava, means East and also is to do with mixing things. An Eruv is a mixture of things. The Arava area is a valley in the south of the Country which has a subterranean water supply. It is also a ‘mixture’ in terms of being the place where the red mountains of Moab (modern day Jordan) meet the land of Israel.

Yeshimon is just a waste. Its root letters ‘sh’ and ‘m’ appear in the word ‘shamam’ meaning waste. In fact it is used in the first usage of the phrase ‘howling waste’ in Deuteronomy 32:10. In our portion in represents what Balak and Balam wished to find; a wasted nation devoid of hope and purpose, instead they found a great nation and were forced to bless them.

Torah Portion: Korach

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‘And behold, the staff of Aaron or the House of Levi had sprouted and blossomed and there were almonds.’ (Numbers / Bamidbar 17:24)

In this week’s portion we have the story of the rebellion of Korach where Korach’s leadership was called into question. The Eternal set a ‘competition’ between all the tribes to proves Aaron’s right to the Priesthood. They were all to take staffs and write their names on them and place them in front of the ‘Tent of Meeting’, all the staffs remained the same except for Aaron’s which sprouted almond blossoms.

The significance of almond blossoms is understood by Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (an 11th century Torah scholar) as being a sign of promptness, he says that ‘ with one who objects to the priesthood, his calamities shall be prompt to come’.

The image of the  almond is synonymous with judgement. I carry out the following experiment;

I found a wild almond tree that had produced fruit, it was easy to find as the almond tree is indigenous to Israel and a common site to see when walking in the forests and hills of Israel. I tried to open the fruit, but the nut was so tough it took a good whack with a rock. The effort was not that worth it, you got a tiny fruit, yet the taste was really bizarre. I’m used to the kind of almond that you get in the supermarket, the taste was really strong, really bitter and kind of sweet at the same time.

The message that I take from this is that the almond is a symbol of divine judgement, what is called in Hebrew, Din. Din is strong and powerful, like the taste of the almond and strength of its shell. Yet it is meant for the betterment of humanity, symbolized by the flowers of the almond and its sweetness.