Confess With Your Mouth

I want to take two separate ideas and tie them together. We’ll see how this works out. “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleans us from all injustice,” I John 1:9. This idea is pretty simple and I don’t think you need me to explain it to you. I do want to highlight one thing, though, it requires something of us. We can’t just assume that God is going to forgive us, we have to own our mistakes, and then He is faithful to forgive us. God first requires something from us.

This is also stated as a commandment, “And when (anyone) is guilty of one of these, he must confess that in which he sinned.” (Leviticus 5:5) This verse is in the context of one certain kind of sin, but it can be understood to apply to all sins, based on R. Yishmael’s principle of “A general rule based on one verse” (introduction to Sifra). In other words, the Torah only mentions it in this one place, but this is just an example that shows us the general rule.

But the next verse, Leviticus 5:6 commands the person who confesses to then bring a sacrifice to the Temple. How can we do this without a Temple? Psalm 141:2 sets the precedent, “May my prayer be accepted as incense before You, the raising of my hands as the afternoon sacrifice.” This is why the sages began the practice of reciting the sacrifices every morning (Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 27b). In that way, our prayer takes the place of the sacrifice.

R. Yeshua also talks about confessing our sins “Our Father in Heaven, may Your Name be holy … and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven our debtors…” (Matthew 6:9&12). In the Eighteen Benedictions (Shemoneh Esrei), which is prayed three times every day, there are two prayers in which we refer to God as “Our father.” These are the prayer of repentence, and the prayer for forgiveness. When we admit to our sins and try to correct our behavior God, like a good and loving father, is faithful to forgive us. As Leviticus 5 shows us, this should be accompanied with a sign (like a sacrifice) that we intend to change our behavior, and so we read the sacrifices, and we say the Eighteen Benedictions, which are also take the place of the sacrifices (Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 26b)

These prayers were instituted to fulfill the commandments of confession and atonement, but this is just one reason for our prayers. The rabbis can give us a lot more reasons for faithfully following the traditions of daily prayer.

Promises, promises

“Promises, promises.” Isn’t it sad that promises mean so little in our culture that just saying “promises, promises” means you think someone is going to disappoint you? What do we have left in any kind of relationship if we don’t have trust? The Torah says, “You shall not take up the name of HaShem your God to emptiness.” (Exodus 20:7)

This verse is one that has several layers of meaning. The one that people talk about most is how we use God’s name in conversation, or if we use it at all, but the instruction also involves taking an oath. The Mishna talks about several kinds of “empty” or “vain” oaths. If you swear to something that is obviously wrong, for instance, “If he said concerning a pillar of stone that it is made of gold…” Or if you swear to something that is impossible, “if I did not see a snake as thick as the beam of an olive press,” another kind of vain oath would be any kind of illegal oath, like if you swear as a witness without the support of other witnesses, or if you swear to break a commandment (Mishna, Shavuot 3:8).

These are considered “vain” oaths, because the Hebrew word translated “vain” literally means “empty.” They’re worthless even if some of them are true, and because our words are important we shouldn’t waste our credibility on things that are empty and worthless.

The Torah also says, “Whatever comes out of your mouth, keep it and do it, just as you swore to.” (Deuteronomy 23:24a) A strict, literal interpretation of this verse has been suggested by many rabbis, such as R. Israel Meir Kagan, z”tzl (The Concise Book of Mitzvoth, Positive Commandments 39), however, there is another point we should take away from the previous verse. “And if you refrain from taking an oath you will have no sin.” (Deuteronomy 23:23)

This idea is explained in the Mishna simply as “Say little and do much.” (Mishna, Pirkei Avot 1:15) And Ecclesiastes has the same thing to say in Ecclesiastes 5:1 and then it comes around to saying, “It is better that you should not swear than that you should swear and not fulfill it.” (Ecclesiastes 5:4)

I think we would all rather not be promised anything at all than have someone make a promise that they never intended to keep. “But I say to you, do not swear an oath, whether by Heaven, for it is the throne of God, nor by the earth, because it is His footstool…but let your word be ‘yes’ for yes, and ‘no’ for no. Anything beyond this is trouble.” (Matthew 5:33-37) According to R. Yeshua we should make a practice of being reliable, doing what we say we’re going to do so that we don’t even need to swear in order for anyone to believe us.

When You Rise Up

“And you shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk in the way, and when you lie down, and when you get up” Deut. 6:7. This is understood as a commandment to recite the Shema in the morning and in the evening (Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 11a). Most people are familiar with the first chapter of the Shema, which starts at Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear O Israel, HaShem is our God, HaShem is One.” However, the Shema is actually made up of three passages (Mishna, Berachot 2:2), the second being Deuteronomy 11:13-21, “And it will be if you surely listen to my commandmens that I command you today…” and the third is Numbers 15:37-41, which contains the commandment of tzitziot, and the reminder of the exodus (verse 41).

Each of these chapters serves a specific purpose. In the first one we accept God’s absolute kingship. In the second, we accept His commandments, and in the third we remember the exodus from Egypt (Sepher HaMitzvoth HaKetzer, Mitzvoth ‘Asah 11).

According to the sages, if a person does not focus intently on the words of the Shema then he has not fulfilled his obligation to recite the Shema (Mishna, Berachot 2:1). This is so that we won’t get into the habit of reciting the Shema without remembering why we recite it. The words themselves are not important without the things they stand for. “And when you pray, don`t treat your praying as a matter of routine. But let it be a [plea for] mercy and supplication before the Omnipresent, blessed be he, as it is said, ‘For he is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and full of mercy, and repents of the evil.’” (Mishna, Pirkei Avot 2:13)

The Mishna also sets out the times when we are to recite the Shema, in the morning it should be between first light and the third hour of light. In the evening, between the time when three stars can be seen in the sky until midnight.

R. Yeshua reminds us of the kind of attitude we should have when we pray. We shouldn’t pray to feel superior, or to show off, we should only be thinking about the connection between us and HaShem. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:5-6 (RSV)

The Apple Metaphor

Second only to revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Lybia, and China, it seems like the world leader in news is Apple. Either they’re making it legal to do what everyone was already doing, or pioneering the next generation in laptops, or underpaying factory workers in Asia. More than anything else, Steve Jobs deserves kudos for his public relations department. Those guys are brilliant.

No matter what they’re doing, Apple is relevant. The main genius of their marketing is that they would rather be hated than ignored. Apple will be relevant, even if it’s in a bad way. This raises an important question for us. How are we relevant? Do we need to be coming out with a new line of products and releasing them on new networks every year so that we’ll matter to the modern world?

In Deuteronomy 8:3 we are told that we can’t survive only on food, but on every word that God speaks. In other words, Torah will always be as relevant to our daily lives as lunch is. Exactly what lunch looks like may change from time to time, place to place, but whether it’s PB&J, or Spanish rice and refried beans, lunch is still lunch. Torah is still Torah.

The Torah will always be relevant because it grounds us. There will be days when nothing goes right, and when even prayer isn’t much comfort, but having prayer in our lives still gives us one thing that we can come back to, one person we can always vent to. The Torah also grounds us in ethics. I don’t always do what’s right, but I know what’s right, and in my life that’s been vital.

Let’s take this back to computers, because they give us a good metaphore for Torah. As much as they adjust over time, they stay essentially the same. I have the same keyboard as the very first word processing machines. My motherboard isn’t the same as a motherboard twenty years ago, but, on the other hand, it really is, and it’s the same with my religious hardware. I may not wear the same clothes as the Rambam did, but I follow the same code of modesty. Then there’s software. Microsoft recently revamped Word, but it’s still a word processor, and as long as we have computers we’re probably going to have word processors. It’s the same in prayer, I can pray in English, a language which didn’t even exist a thousand years ago, but I’m still going to pray, and as long as we have language we’re going to have prayer because it’s what makes us human, and what makes us alive, just as much as word processors are what make computers useful to 90% of us.

Now, I know that about 15% of my audience uses Mac/iphone/ipad to read my blog. Are you proud of the fact that you’re not one of those PC users? I know you are. 42% of you use firefox, and I know you because I’m one of you. You’re proud of the fact that you’re not one of those IE people, and the 6% Safari users are even prouder. So if I’m proud of asserting my independence by using Firefox, there is no reason for me to be ashamed of wearing my kippa in public. There is no reason for me to be embarrassed about looking or acting different. I use Firefox, and I wear a kippa, and I am not ashamed.

And that’s what I learned from Steve Jobs.

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Her splendor and glory

This time I am covering a topic that is unusual because it doesn’t apply to my primary audience. I’m talking about it partly because it was requested, and partly because it is important to understand why it doesn’t apply to youth.

It is interesting that many of the women who object most to covering their hair are the most independent-minded feminists. They object that they shouldn’t have to cover up because of a man’s weakness. At the same time, I have heard adamant feminists defend their modesty because they shouldn’t have to show anything off for the benefit of men. In the end, I think they’re both correct. A woman should not choose her clothing at all based on what men think or how men will react. She should choose her clothing as a reflection of her personal connection to the Holy One, blessed be He.

That being said, Kisui HaRosh (covering the head) is a part of the commandments regarding modesty, but it doesn’t apply to most of my audience. Kisui HaRosh is a commandment that applies specifically to married women, and this goes back to Numbers 5:18. “And the priest will bring the woman up before HaShem and uncover the head of the woman…”

This statement is a part of the test of the adulterous wife, and so it is deduced that a married woman should cover her head. The instructions of covering the head for a woman are given in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 75, where it is stated that all of her hair should be covered. If she does so her children and grandchildren will be blessed (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 47a), again implying that this only applies to married women. This is interesting because it points out that the central tenet of this commandment is not to prevent men from lusting. If it was, then the Torah would give us the same commandment that Islam and certain Christian rites have, that all women cover their heads, regardless of marital state. This is not the case. Note also that some authorities even prefer that women wear wigs, which may be more beautiful than their original hair! (Igros Kodesh, vol. XIX, p. 428)

So what is the purpose of this commandment? It is not to hide a woman’s beauty, but to accentuate a different kind of beauty. “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is transient, but a woman who fears HaShem, she is worthy of praise.” Proverbs 31:30. As with the Kippa, the primary goal of Kisui HaRosh is to promote the fear of Heaven. It emphasizes that a righteous woman is clothed in strength and dignity (Proverbs 31:25), not just what she is wearing on the outside. Why only married women? Headcoverings have been likened to a queen’s crown, a symbol of her status, a mark of her dignity. As much as a wedding ring, covering her head marks a change of status for a woman. Before her marriage a woman’s hair is not considered erotic, but once she is married it becomes a beautifully sexual thing which is not so much hidden, but saved. A married woman’s hair is not something to be embarrased of, it’s like the good china, which you keep in a top cupboard until you have extra special guests.

The Fear of Heaven

I’ve been asked to explain headcoverings in Judaism. I’m going to do this in separate parts, because those for men and women have very different justifications and rules, even though we’ll find that they’re distantly related as far as reason goes.

I’m going to start with the more difficult, though generally less touchy, issue of the kippah. Now, this is clearly not a Biblical commandment and, contrary to common opinion, it doesn’t even fall under the umbrella of Rabbinic institution. This is simply a custom of Israel. The primary basis for the kippah in Jewish law is from Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 2:6. A man should not walk more than four amot (about six feet) without his head covered. It is important to realise that Shulchan Aruch records what was current Jewish practice in the sixteenth century. It is not a record of traditions like the Mishnah. It is also not a direct commentary on the Bible or the Mishnah.

So if there is no commandment, how did we get this tradition? The generally accepted story is that it begins with the Biblical commandment that Priests should not uncover their heads when serving in the Temple (Lev. 21:10). From the priesthood there was a kind of trickle-down to any great men, as we see in the Talmud’s story of R. Nahman Ben Isaac (z”tzl). R. Nahman’s mother was told that her son would grow up to be a thief, so from an early age she always kept his head covered so that “the fear of heaven may be on you, and you may pray for mercy.” One day, while studying Torah, R. Nahman’s kippah blew off his head, and he immediately fell under temptation and went up and stole an apple from a stranger’s apple tree. Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 156b

Be as skeptical as you like about the content of the story of R. Nahman, but it tells us both that by the time the Gemara was written (finished around 500 CE) it was not unusual for a sage to be wearing a kippah, and the purpose of wearing a kippah. Like R. Nahman’s mother said, the reason we cover our heads is so that the fear of heaven will be on us, and so that we may pray for mercy. The kippah, like the tzitzit, reminds us of God’s sovereignty over us and our duties to Him. To show submission, we ought to cover our heads whenever we pray, and we cover our heads all the time so that we can pray for mercy all the time.

Why should we accept this tradition? After all, it’s not in the Bible, or even the Mishnah, Talmud, or Tosefta. There is a story about a proselyte who comes to R. Hillel and asks him to teach him only the written Torah, without any traditions of Israel. R. Hillel agrees, and begins him with the Hebrew alphabet. The man goes home and memorizes the alphabet. Next day, he comes back and recites it for R. Hillel. The rabbi approves, and then tells him the alphabet backwards, and tells the man to learn it. The man is surprised and asks which way is correct. R. Hillel replies, you trusted me about the alphabet, so why don’t you trust me about the traditions? Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a.

One more reason why we should keep this tradition, R. Yeshua tells us that the Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat, and that we ought, therefore, to do as they tell us (Matt. 23:2-3). The rabbis are the spiritual descendants of the scribes and pharisees, and as such we still ought to follow their rulings. Besides, this is a good tradition. It shows our humility before God when we pray, and reminds us throughout our day that we are supposed to constantly be in a prayerful attitude.

Beyond a Fringe

Numbers 15:38-39 gives us the commandment of tzitziot (fringes). “Speak to the children of Israel and tell them to make fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the fringes of the corners. And it will be a fringe for them, and they will look at it and remember all the commandments of HaShem and do them, and they will not go after their heart and after their eyes, after which they go astray.”

This applies in two ways: If you wear a garment with four corners (It has to be split at least 51% of the way to count as a “corner”), then it needs fringes. If you don’t regularly wear something like this, then you need to wear a special garment (Sometimes called a “small tallit” and sometimes called, simply, “tzitzit”). Though women are not required to fulfill this commandment, they are allowed to, and many righteous women in history have.

There are a lot more rules about tzitzit than I can cover here, so I will focus on two things.

1) How we tie: there are a few different traditions for tying tzitzit, and the important thing is not which tradition you use, but that you choose a tradition. This website can show you the three most common traditions with very easy-to-follow instructions. http://www.israelvisit.co.il/beged-ivri/techelet/tying0.htm. If you are just beginning to keep this commandment, it may be best to buy tzitziot that are already tied to make sure that they follow all of the laws and customs

2) Why do we keep this commandment? Numbers 15 points it out, actually. So that when we see them, we will remember and not go astray from the commandments. Sometimes when we’re torn between doing the right thing and doing the wrong thing, we need that little, extra push in the right direction. The Talmud (Menachot 44a) tells the story of a man who was about to use a prostitute, but as he undressed, his tzitzit slapped him in the face, reminding him not to. It’s not that they actually slap us in the face, but they remind us that there is right and there is wrong, and they push us to do what is right. Because of this, the sages consider this commandment to be equivalent to all of the other commandments combined (BT, Menachot 43b, and Rashi on Numbers 15:38-49.

We should remember that R. Yeshua warns against people who “lengthen” their tzitzit (Matt. 23:5). They should not become a point of pride, or something that we show off. If we take pride in them, then we have defeated the purpose of wearing them. Instead, we should be humbled by the fact that we need to constantly wear a reminder not to sin.

I may consider writing a full guide to tzitziot, how to tie them, how to put them on, how to wear them, etc. if anyone is interested. Comment and let me know.