Profit from Blood

I want to return to a verse that I’ve talked about before on this blog. Leviticus 19:16b says “Do not stand upon the blood of your neighbor. I am HaShem.”

There are two points I want to raise from this half-verse. First, how we approach the idea of the death penalty and second, what this means about what we should buy and sell.

The sages who compiled the Talmud refer to this verse to explain Mishnah, Sanhedrin 8:7, which reads, “And these are those who are to be saved [from doing evil] even at the cost of their lives…” There follows a list of sins which should be prevented at all costs, including killing the person who plans to commit them. These are issues of self-defense, for the most part, such as a person who is setting out to commit murder or rape. (cf. BT Sanhedrin 73A.) But the thing I want to call your attention to is the way they talk about it. A person who sets out to commit murder is to be “saved” at the cost of his own life.

The same attitude can be applied in cases of capital punishment for a crime already committed. We never take up the attitude that someone needs to be punished simply as retribution for what they’ve done. We prevent the sin for the sake of the sinner. We execute the sinner for the sake of the sinner, in order to atone for the sin.

Lev. 19:18 is found in the context of business practices, and a general description of how to not take advantage of those around us. In this context, it is likely that “do not stand upon the blood of your neighbor” is intended to tell us that we should not benefit from death. This should cause us to carefully think and research what we buy and sell. Recent information about unsafe factory conditions, or products which are made available by war and oppression are in violation of the clear meaning of this verse. So we should not assume that these reports are correct, but we should carefully investigate and make an ethical decision when we make a purchase.

True Loving-Kindness

In the portion for the seventh day of Unleavened Bread we read about how Moses brought the bones of Joseph up from Egypt, according to Joseph’s request (Ex. 13:19). That reminded me of another deathbed request, when Jacob said to Joseph, “Please act graciously to me, place your hand under my thigh as an oath of your true loving-kindness. Please do not bury me in Egypt.” (Gen. 47:29b)

Genesis Rabbah 96:5 explains that loving-kindness, an idea that has to do with faithfulness to a covenant, done to the dead is “true” loving-kindness. This is because there is no chance to be rewarded for it. The dead person cannot enforce the covenant, or pay the living. The only thing that keeps the living from completely ignoring the request of the dead is their loving-kindness.

The sages do make caring for the dead a commandment, but do not expand “true loving-kindness” beyond that. The only broad principle is that it is good to do acts of true loving-kindness, as stated in Mishnah, Pirkei Avot 1:3:

Antigonus, leader of Socho, received the tradition from Shimon the Righteous. He used to say; Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of receiving a reward; instead be like servants who serve their master not for the sake of receiving a reward. And let the awe of Heaven be upon you.

 But Yeshua expands this idea.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:32-36 (NRSV)

The Messiah actually expects acts of true loving-kindness from his disciples. He requires this of his disciples because by acting mercifully, we imitate our Father. When we imitate our Father we draw close to him. Our reward is this closeness to God, becoming sons of the Most High.

True loving-kindness is the truest imitation of God. When God created us, gave us all of the good things of the world, sent our Messiah to save us, and anything else he has done for us from the smallest things to the biggest, there is nothing that he can get out of it. So it is our greatest privilege to do the same thing for our fellow man, showing the love of God and drawing close to him. As the Alter Rebbe explains in the Tanaya, “He does not truly love the King who looks to him for some favor.”

Ignorant Enough to Know

“The first among the commandments to perform is the commandment to know that there is a God, as it is said ‘I am HaShem your God.’ (Exodus 20:2)” (Mishneh HaTorah, Positive Commandments 1:1)

R. Yeshua disagrees with Maimonides about the importance of this commandment, saying that it is more important to love God (Matt. 22:37-38), but that does not mean that the commandment to believe in God is unimportant. It is placed at the beginning of the Decalogue for a reason. This commandment is foundational because so many of the commandments are dependent on it.

It is important for us to realize that this is more than a commandment to “believe” in the sense that we believe it is the most likely situation. Maimonides says we should “know,” and the Hafeitz Hayim emphasizes our assurance even more, “The main thing, though, is to fix firmly in one’s heart and soul that this is the truth, and nothing other than this is possible.” (Seifer HaMitzvot HaQatzar, HaMitzvot-Aseh 1)

This is a very difficult position to maintain in any age, when trouble and pain come to steal our faith. It is at those times that we must fix firmly in view our choice to believe that God is God, and to remember His faithfulness to us in the past. Rashi points to past faithfulness as the reason for obedience to this commandment. We believe in God because God is our deliverer, our redeemer. It is easy to fall into the mistake of believing in God because of some philosophical argument about the First Cause, or Natural Law, but we believe in God because God acts in history, as hard as it may be to believe sometimes. We believe in God because He steps into space and time and acts to save us.

We don’t often think about belief in God as a commandment, but John uses this idea in a powerful way:

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. (I John 3:21-23, NRSV)

The relevant passage in I John is longer than I’m going to quote here, but John points to the importance of confidence just like Maimonides and the Hafeitz Hayim. Just like Rashi, John points to God’s acts in history, though less obviously, when he mentions the Messiah, whose life, death, and resurrection mirror the Exodus appealed to in this commandment.

This may be the most difficult of all the commandments. To keep our eyes set on God at all times and overcoming doubt requires doubt so strong that it becomes faith.  I’d like to challenge you the next time you are struggling with faith: doubt your doubt. If you find yourself being a skeptic, remember that the father of the ancient Greek skeptics, Pyrrho, insisted that his students remain doubtful of skepticism. If  we dare to doubt completely, in the rubble of the world that we have torn down with our doubt we will find the faith we need to rebuild.

Unleavened Bread

Last week’s Torah portion, Vayikra, overlaps with our Passover preparation in a very important way. “All the offering that you bring to HaShem will not be made with leaven, because absolutely no leaven or honey may you burn (on the altar) to HaShem.” Lev 2:11

I want to talk about a few aspects of the laws of clearing out leaven and of eating unleavened bread. First, based on Deut. 16:3, which states that we should not have any leaven in our houses even on the very first day of the festival, the sages decided that we need to search our houses and get the leaven out on the day before Passover, that is Nissan 14, by noon (BT Pesahim 28b). And we are instructed to fulfill the commandment to eat unleavened bread every day during the festival (Ex. 12:15) with one of five particular types of grain. Wheat, barley, spelt, rye, and oats (Mishnah, Pesahim 2:5). These grains are listed because they include the only classes of grain that can be leavened naturally. If we leave any of these grains out on the counter mixed with water, they will leaven themselves. If we leave, say, Potato flour out, it will just mold. That doesn’t mean we can’t eat other types of grain during Matzot, but that when we do we haven’t fulfilled the commandment to eat unleavened bread.

Based on the fact that these are the only grains suitable for unleavened bread, the sages concluded that they are also the only grains which we need to worry about leavening (BT Pesahim 35A). There is a difference of opinion in the Talmud as to whether or not rice and legumes are allowed, but it should be noted that the only reason that some rabbis do not allow eating rice and legumes is because they are “like” leavening. Observance of this law should be based on your local custom, and we should not let it divide us.

Leavening agents which are not in one of these grains, and that cannot be used to leaven anything are allowed during Passover. For instance, if there is baking soda in your toothpaste, you don’t have to throw it out. The purpose of the rule against leavening is to remember the Exodus from Egypt through the kind of bread we eat, so if there is no chance that it can be used to leaven bread then it is not considered leavening.

I have heard a lot of misunderstandings about why there is Matzah which is Kosher for Passover, and Matzah which is not Kosher for Passover. Most of them are very wrong. The real reason that not all Matzah is kosher for Passover is because making Matzah, as a ritual commandment, requires “kavanah” meaning “intent.” (previously discussed here: http://nothingtolosebutyourshackles.blogspot.com/2011/07/change-of-heart.html) If we do not set out to make Matzah for the sake of eating it during Passover, then we have eaten Matzah, but we have not fulfilled our obligation to eat Matzah.

When I Came out of Egypt

The season of Passover is fast approaching. It’s time for us to clean out all of the hametz we own, according to our own local customs. Not only is it time for us to clean out our houses, it’s time for us to clean out our hangups. Paul reminds us that leaven is connected with pride in I Corinthians 5:6, and encourages us to clear it out of our lives. This is connected to an often overlooked commandment which R. Gamaliel drew from Exodus 13:8:

In every generation a person is duty-bound to regard himself as if he personally has gone forth from Egypt, since it is said, And you shall tell your son in that day saying, “It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt” (Ex. 13:8). Therefore we are duty-bound to thank, praise, glorify, honor, exalt, extol, and bless him who did for our forefathers and for us all these miracles. He brought us forth from slavery to freedom, anguish to joy, mourning to festival, darkness to great light, subjugation to redemption, so we should say before him, Hallelujah. (Mishnah, Pesachim 10:5)

We have a tendency to read the stories of our predecessors smugly. It’s easy to tell ourselves, “Well, I wouldn’t have done that.” It’s easy to think that we wouldn’t have complained in the wilderness. It’s easy to think we wouldn’t have gone astray with Solomon or worshipped Ba’al or that when Jeremiah made his accusations against the people we would have been an exception. But when we read the story that way we have missed the whole point.

What R. Gamaliel reveals here is that not only would I have acted like my ancestors, I actually have acted like my ancestors. I am to tell the whole story of the Exodus and the wilderness as if I was there personally. I am to read it and tell it as if I share in their sins, their deliverance, and their triumph.

But this is the great good news of deliverance, that just as we are the same in every generation, as we recite in the Tachanun prayer, “This is Your way, showing undeserved kindness in all generations and generations.” If I have sinned like my fathers, I will also be delivered like my fathers. As God made a covenant with my fathers, He makes a covenant with me, “for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:28 NRSV)

By associating ourselves with the sin and redemption of our predecessors we become part of the covenant with them.

Afflicting our Souls

Where I live you can’t ignore Lent even if you want to. So, rather than ignoring the current Christian holy season, let’s address some important, related halacha. There is no institutionalized asceticism in Judaism. True, Nazirites abstain from certain things, alcohol and grapes. Priests who are serving have to keep themselves under strict control, but neither of those is a system of self-denial. A few historical rabbis have practiced self-denial, including Simon ben-Yohai and Daniel Zion. However, these rabbis only neglected themselves for the sake of spending more time studying the Torah.

The reason we do not systematically deny ourselves physical pleasure because we believe that the physical world is not evil, God made it to be good and to be enjoyed. Physical creation is celebrated throughout the Bible, in passages like Psalm 104:14-15, “He makes plants sprout for the beasts, and herbs by the work of man, to bring forth bread from the earth / And wine that makes man’s heart rejoice, to make the face glow from oil, and bread to sustain the heart of man.”

Food and wine are good, created for our joy. Rav even states that we will have to answer to God for all of the good things which we were allowed to eat and refused (JT Kiddushin 4:12). R. Elazar HaKappar even states that someone who gives up the good things God has given us will be counted a sinner. He based this on the fact that Nazirites are required to offer a sin offering when they complete their vows (BT Taanit 11a, Num. 6:11). Early believers also made statements to this effect, saying that God created food for man to enjoy (Didache 10:3). The Messiah also did not come as an ascetic, but “eating and drinking” (Matt. 11:19).

What the sages to encourage is moderation (cf. Mishneh Tora, Hilkhot De’ot ch. 3). Although there are specific times when we fast for repentance or intersession, like the Fast of Esther which just passed, we do not make self-deprivation a way of life. Fasting in Judaism is purposeful, limited, and clearly defined. It is a sign of mourning, despair, and/or repentance, when we deprive ourselves of things which are normally not only good but necessary as a sign of our earnestness. In fact, the Hebrew phrase translated "fasting" means to "afflict the soul," which, according to Rashi, means that we must abstain from something which is necessary for the "soul," the life force. Because fasting is restricted to not eating and drinking at all, it cannot become a lifestyle.

Be still and know

Jewish tradition has usually taken a very practical view on violence, something like “just war theory.” The idea being that war can be justified on the basis of self-defense of one kind or another. I would like to suggest, though, that there is room within our tradition for another position. There is room for a position which prohibits violence altogether.

Go! And see the wonders of HaShem / which he has done throughout the earth // He puts an end to wars to the ends of the earth / He snaps the bow and breaks the spear / He scorches the chariots with fire. // Stop! and know that I am God / I will be exalted among the nations, / I will be exalted in the earth. // HaShem of legions is with us / A fortress for us is the God of Jacob. / Selah. Psalm 46:9-12

We’ve all heard “be still and know that I am God” over and over as a kind of devotional verse. We’ve been told that this encourages us to sit still for a little while and realize that God is good. We could not have been more wrong. This is a command for us to stop killing each other. In this verse God looks out over a war-torn earth and shouts at us “Stop killing!”

Radak and Rashi both interpret the command to “stop” as a command to the nations. Rashi understands it as only a command to stop attacking Israel, while Radak argues that it is a command for them to stop participating in idolatry and worship God. I disagree with both of these rabbis. The psalm clearly addresses Israel, and the verse goes on “I will be exalted…” This is to tell us that God will be exalted and not us. God will fight, and not us. God is our fortress, and He will fight for us.

There is another precedent for this idea. Rebbe Mendel of Kossov once referred to an idea which is common throughout Judaism, “Why has the Messiah not come yesterday or today? He has not come because we are today just the same as we were yesterday.” It is our responsibility to live in such a way that will bring about the Messianic age. Yeshua even seems to refer to this idea when he says, “Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Luke 13:35, NRSV)

If there is going to be peace in the Messianic age, then it is our responsibility to live that out now, to bring it about through our actions. Even if it is inconvenient. The Psalmist doesn’t give us room to plead self-defense, because it is only God who will be exalted over the nations. It is only the God of Jacob who is our fortress.

This moves us far beyond a devotional understanding of this verse. It’s no longer about a neat little quiet time. When I read this verse now I can hear the shouting voice of God weeping over the way we kill our fellow man at he screams for us to “BE STILL! And know that I am God.” And that we are not.

None of this is meant to contradict the tradition. I mean only to critique the tradition based on the tradition. Part of the whole purpose of halacha is to bring peace, as Rambam writes in Guide to the Perplexed, the Torah is to bring “the well-being of the states of people in their relations with one another through the abolition of reciprocal wrongdoing.”