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- ב"ה - Today in Judaism - Today is Thursday, 1 Tishrei, 5778 · September 21, 2017 - Rosh Hashanah Day 1 - Candle Lighting - Light Holiday Candles after nightfall ––:––
Rosh Hashanah 1: Genesis 21:1-34
Rosh Hashanah 1: Numbers 29:1-6
Rosh Hashanah 1: Samuel I 1:1 - 2:10
Rosh Hashanah 1: Genesis 21:1 Adonai remembered Sarah as he had said, and Adonai did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah conceived and bore Avraham a son in his old age, at the very time God had said to him. 3 Avraham called his son, born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Yitz’chak. 4 Avraham circumcised his son Yitz’chak when he was eight days old, as God had ordered him to do.
(v) 5 Avraham was one hundred years old when his son Yitz’chak [laughter] was born to him. 6 Sarah said, “God has given me good reason to laugh; now everyone who hears about it will laugh with me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Avraham that Sarah would nurse children? Nevertheless, I have borne him a son in his old age!”
8 The child grew and was weaned, and Avraham gave a great banquet on the day that Yitz’chak was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom Hagar had borne to Avraham, making fun of Yitz’chak; 10 so Sarah said to Avraham, “Throw this slave-girl out! And her son! I will not have this slave-girl’s son as your heir along with my son Yitz’chak!”
11 Avraham became very distressed over this matter of his son. 12 But God said to Avraham, “Don’t be distressed because of the boy and your slave-girl. Listen to everything Sarah says to you, because it is your descendants through Yitz’chak who will be counted. 13 But I will also make a nation from the son of the slave-girl, since he is descended from you.”
14 Avraham got up early in the morning, took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child; then he sent her away. After leaving, she wandered in the desert around Be’er-Sheva. 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she left the child under a bush, 16 and went and sat down, looking the other way, about a bow-shot’s distance from him; because she said, “I can’t bear to watch my child die.” So she sat there, looking the other way, crying out and weeping. 17 God heard the boy’s voice, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong with you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, because God has heard the voice of the boy in his present situation. 18 Get up, lift the boy up, and hold him tightly in your hand, because I am going to make him a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went, filled the skin with water and gave the boy water to drink.
20 God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 He lived in the Pa’ran Desert, and his mother chose a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
(vi) 22 At that time Avimelekh and Pikhol the commander of his army spoke to Avraham. They said, “God is with you in everything you do. 23 Therefore, swear to me here by God that you will never deal falsely with me or with my son or grandson; but according to the kindness with which I have treated you, you will treat me and the land in which you have lived as a foreigner. 24 Avraham said, “I swear it.”
25 Now Avraham had complained to Avimelekh about a well which Avimelekh’s servants had seized. 26 Avimelekh answered, “I don’t know who has done this. You didn’t tell me, and I heard about it only today.” 27 Avraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Avimelekh, and the two of them made a covenant. 28 Avraham put seven female lambs from the flock by themselves. 29 Avimelekh asked Avraham, “What is the meaning of these seven female lambs you have put by themselves?” 30 He answered, “You are to accept these seven female lambs from me as witness that I dug this well.” 31 This is why that place was called Be’er-Sheva [well of seven, well of an oath] — because they both swore an oath there. 32 When they made the covenant at Be’er-Sheva, Avimelekh departed with Pikhol the commander of his army and returned to the land of the P’lishtim. 33 Avraham planted a tamarisk tree in Be’er-Sheva, and there he called on the name of Adonai, the everlasting God. 34 Avraham lived for a long time as a foreigner in the land of the P’lishtim.
Rosh Hashanah 1: Numbers 29:1 “‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work; it is a day of blowing the shofar for you. 2 Prepare a burnt offering to make a fragrant aroma for Adonai — one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs in their first year and without defect — 3 with their grain offering, consisting of fine flour mixed with olive oil — six quarts for the bull, four quarts for the ram, 4 and two quarts for each of the seven lambs — 5 also one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. 6 This is to be in addition to the burnt offering for Rosh-Hodesh with its grain offering, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to the rule for them; this will be a fragrant aroma, an offering made by fire to Adonai.
Rosh Hashanah 1: I Samuel 1:1 There was a man from Ramatayim-Tzofim, in the hills of Efrayim, whose name was Elkanah the son of Yerocham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tochu, the son of Tzuf, from Efrat. 2 He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other P’ninah. P’ninah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3 This man went up from his city every year to worship and sacrifice to Adonai-Tzva’ot in Shiloh. The two sons of ‘Eli, Hofni and Pinchas, were cohanim of Adonai there.
4 One day, when Elkanah was sacrificing, he gave a portion of the sacrifice to his wife P’ninah and portions to each of her sons and daughters; 5 but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved Hannah, even though Adonai had kept her from having children. 6 Her rival taunted her and made her feel bad, because Adonai had kept her from having children. 7 He did the same every year; and each time she went up to the house of Adonai, she taunted her so much that she would cry and not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why are you crying, and why aren’t you eating? Why be so sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” 9 So Hannah got up after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. ‘Eli the cohen was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of the temple of Adonai. 10 In deep depression she prayed to Adonai and cried. 11 Then she took a vow; she said, “Adonai-Tzva’ot, if you will notice how humiliated your servant is, if you will remember me and not forget your servant but will give your servant a male child, then I will give him to Adonai for as long as he lives; and no razor will ever come on his head.” 12 She prayed for a long time before Adonai; and as she did so, ‘Eli was watching her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking in her heart — her lips moved, but her voice could not be heard — so ‘Eli thought she was drunk. 14 ‘Eli said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Stop drinking your wine!” 15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a very unhappy woman. I have not drunk either wine or other strong liquor; rather, I’ve been pouring out my soul before Adonai. 16 Don’t think of your servant as a worthless woman; because I have been speaking from the depth of my distress and anger.” 17 Then ‘Eli replied, “Go in peace. May the God of Isra’el grant what you have asked of him.” 18 She replied, “May your servant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went on her way, and she ate, and her face was no longer sad. 19 They got up early in the morning and worshipped before Adonai, then returned and came to their house in Ramah.
Elkanah had sexual relations with Hannah his wife, and Adonai remembered her. 20 She conceived; and in due time she gave birth to a son, whom she named Sh’mu’el, “because I asked Adonai for him.”
21 The husband, Elkanah, went up with all his household to offer the yearly sacrifice to Adonai and fulfill his vow. 22 But Hannah did not go up, explaining to her husband, “Not till the child has been weaned. Then I will bring him, so that he can appear before Adonai and live there forever.” 23 Her husband Elkanah answered her, “Do what seems good to you; stay here until you have weaned him. Only may Adonai bring about what he said.” So the woman stayed behind and nursed the child, until she weaned him. 24 After weaning him, she took him up with her, along with three young bulls, a bushel of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of Adonai in Shiloh, even though he was just a child. 25 After the bull had been slaughtered, the child was brought to ‘Eli; 26 and she said, “My lord, as sure as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here near you, praying to Adonai. 27 I prayed for this child, and Adonai has granted the request I asked of him. 28 Therefore, I too have loaned him to Adonai — as long as he lives, he is on loan to Adonai.” And he prostrated himself there before Adonai.
2:1 Then Hannah prayed; she said:
“My heart exults in Adonai!
My dignity has been restored by Adonai!
I can gloat over my enemies,
because of my joy at your saving me.
2 “No one is as holy as Adonai,
because there is none to compare with you,
no rock like our God.
3 “Stop your proud boasting!
Don’t let arrogance come from your mouth!
For Adonai is a God of knowledge,
and he appraises actions.
4 The bows of the mighty are broken,
while the feeble are armed with strength.
5 The well-fed hire themselves for bread,
while those who were hungry hunger no more.
The barren woman has borne seven,
while the mother of many wastes away.
6 “Adonai kills and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave, and he brings up.
7 Adonai makes poor, and he makes rich;
he humbles, and he exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust,
lifts up the needy from the trash pile;
he gives them a place with leaders
and assigns them seats of honor.
“For the earth’s pillars belong to Adonai;
on them he has placed the world.
9 He will guard the steps of his faithful,
but the wicked will be silenced in darkness.
For it is not by strength that a person prevails —
10 those who fight Adonai will be shattered;
he will thunder against them in heaven —
Adonai will judge the ends of the earth.
He will strengthen his king
and enhance the power of his anointed.”
Today's Laws & Customs:
• "Good Year"
On the first night of Rosh Hashanah, we extend to one another greetings of Leshana Tovah Tekatev Vitechatem, "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year."
• Apple & HoneyIn the evening meal, we eat apple dipped in honey, the head of a fish, pomogranates , tzimmes (sweet carrots) and other foods signifying a sweet and successful year
• ShofarIn the course of the morning and musaf service, the shofar (ram's horn) is sounded one hundred times, in various combinations of tekiah (a long blast), shevarim (a trio of broken sobs) and teruah (a staccato of short notes), in fulfillment of the primary mitzvah of Rosh Hashanah. The shofar serves to trumpet our coronation of G-d as King of the Universe, as a call to repentance, and to evoke the memory of the Binding ofIsaac.
Link: The Cry of the Shofar: Two Parables
• TashlichIn the afternoon, the Tashlich prayer service, in which we ask G-d to "cast away our sins in the depths of the sea", is recited at a body of water (sea, river, lake, pond, etc.) containing fish.
• Torah Reading
Genesis 21-22
Genesis 21:1 Adonai remembered Sarah as he had said, and Adonai did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah conceived and bore Avraham a son in his old age, at the very time God had said to him. 3 Avraham called his son, born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Yitz’chak. 4 Avraham circumcised his son Yitz’chak when he was eight days old, as God had ordered him to do.
(v) 5 Avraham was one hundred years old when his son Yitz’chak [laughter] was born to him. 6 Sarah said, “God has given me good reason to laugh; now everyone who hears about it will laugh with me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Avraham that Sarah would nurse children? Nevertheless, I have borne him a son in his old age!”
8 The child grew and was weaned, and Avraham gave a great banquet on the day that Yitz’chak was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom Hagar had borne to Avraham, making fun of Yitz’chak; 10 so Sarah said to Avraham, “Throw this slave-girl out! And her son! I will not have this slave-girl’s son as your heir along with my son Yitz’chak!”
11 Avraham became very distressed over this matter of his son. 12 But God said to Avraham, “Don’t be distressed because of the boy and your slave-girl. Listen to everything Sarah says to you, because it is your descendants through Yitz’chak who will be counted. 13 But I will also make a nation from the son of the slave-girl, since he is descended from you.”
14 Avraham got up early in the morning, took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child; then he sent her away. After leaving, she wandered in the desert around Be’er-Sheva. 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she left the child under a bush, 16 and went and sat down, looking the other way, about a bow-shot’s distance from him; because she said, “I can’t bear to watch my child die.” So she sat there, looking the other way, crying out and weeping. 17 God heard the boy’s voice, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong with you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, because God has heard the voice of the boy in his present situation. 18 Get up, lift the boy up, and hold him tightly in your hand, because I am going to make him a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went, filled the skin with water and gave the boy water to drink.
20 God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 He lived in the Pa’ran Desert, and his mother chose a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
(vi) 22 At that time Avimelekh and Pikhol the commander of his army spoke to Avraham. They said, “God is with you in everything you do. 23 Therefore, swear to me here by God that you will never deal falsely with me or with my son or grandson; but according to the kindness with which I have treated you, you will treat me and the land in which you have lived as a foreigner. 24 Avraham said, “I swear it.”
25 Now Avraham had complained to Avimelekh about a well which Avimelekh’s servants had seized. 26 Avimelekh answered, “I don’t know who has done this. You didn’t tell me, and I heard about it only today.” 27 Avraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Avimelekh, and the two of them made a covenant. 28 Avraham put seven female lambs from the flock by themselves. 29 Avimelekh asked Avraham, “What is the meaning of these seven female lambs you have put by themselves?” 30 He answered, “You are to accept these seven female lambs from me as witness that I dug this well.” 31 This is why that place was called Be’er-Sheva [well of seven, well of an oath] — because they both swore an oath there. 32 When they made the covenant at Be’er-Sheva, Avimelekh departed with Pikhol the commander of his army and returned to the land of the P’lishtim. 33 Avraham planted a tamarisk tree in Be’er-Sheva, and there he called on the name of Adonai, the everlasting God. 34 Avraham lived for a long time as a foreigner in the land of the P’lishtim.
22:1 (vii) After these things, God tested Avraham. He said to him, “Avraham!” and he answered, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Yitz’chak; and go to the land of Moriyah. There you are to offer him as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will point out to you.”
3 Avraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, together with Yitz’chak his son. He cut the wood for the burnt offering, departed and went toward the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day, Avraham raised his eyes and saw the place in the distance. 5 Avraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go there, worship and return to you.” 6 Avraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on Yitz’chak his son. Then he took in his hand the fire and the knife, and they both went on together.
7 Yitz’chak spoke to Avraham his father: “My father?” He answered, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Avraham replied, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son”; and they both went on together.
9 They came to the place God had told him about; and Avraham built the altar there, set the wood in order, bound Yitz’chak his son and laid him on the altar, on the wood. 10 Then Avraham put out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.
11 But the angel of Adonai called to him out of heaven: “Avraham? Avraham!” He answered, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy! Don’t do anything to him! For now I know that you are a man who fears God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 Avraham raised his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. Avraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Avraham called the place Adonai Yir’eh [Adonai will see (to it), Adonai provides] — as it is said to this day, “On the mountain Adonai is seen.”
15 The angel of Adonai called to Avraham a second time out of heaven. 16 He said, “I have sworn by myself — says Adonai — that because you have done this, because you haven’t withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will most certainly bless you; and I will most certainly increase your descendants to as many as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the cities of their enemies, 18 and by your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed — because you obeyed my order.”
19 So Avraham returned to his young men. They got up and went together to Be’er-Sheva, and Avraham settled in Be’er-Sheva.
(Maftir) 20 Afterwards, Avraham was told, “Milkah too has borne children, to your brother Nachor — 21 ‘Utz his firstborn, Buz his brother, K’mu’el the father of Aram, 22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Yidlaf and B’tu’el. 23 B’tu’el fathered Rivkah. These eight Milkah bore to Nachor Avraham’s brother. 24 His concubine, whose name was Re’umah, bore children also: Tevach, Gacham, Tachash and Ma‘akhah.
• Links
More on Rosh Hashanah
• Ten Days of RepentanceThe 10-day period beginning on Rosh Hashahnah and ending on Yom Kippur is known as the "Ten Days of Repentance"; this is the period, say the sages, of which the prophet speaks when he proclaims (Isaiah 55:6) "Seek G-d when He is to be found; call on Him when He is near." Psalm 130, Avinu Malkeinu and other special inserts and additions are included in our daily prayers during these days.
The Baal Shem Tov instituted the custom of reciting three additional chapters ofPsalms each day, from the 1st of Elul until Yom Kippur (on Yom Kippur the remaining 36 chapters are recited, thereby completing the entire book of Psalms). Click below for today's three Psalms.
Chapter 88 Chapter 89 Chapter 90
Psalms Chapter 88:1. A song, a psalm by the sons of Korach, for the Conductor, upon the machalat le'anot; 1 a maskil2 for Heiman the Ezrachite.
2. O Lord, God of my deliverance, by day I cried out [to You], by night I [offer my prayer] before You.
3. Let my prayer come before You; turn Your ear to my supplication.
4. For my soul is sated with affliction, and my life has reached the grave.
5. I was reckoned with those who go down to the pit, I was like a man without strength.
6. [I am regarded] among the dead who are free, like corpses lying in the grave, of whom You are not yet mindful, who are yet cut off by Your hand.
7. You have put me into the lowest pit, into the darkest places, into the depths.
8. Your wrath has weighed heavily upon me, and all the waves [of Your fury] have constantly afflicted me.
9. You have estranged my friends from me, You have made me abhorrent to them; I am imprisoned and unable to leave.
10. My eye is afflicted because of distress; I call to You, O Lord, every day; I have stretched out my hands [in prayer] to You.
11. Do You perform wonders for the deceased? Do the dead stand to offer You praise? Selah.
12. Is Your kindness recounted in the grave, your faithfulness in the place of perdition?
13. Are Your wondrous deeds known in the darkness [of the grave], or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
14. But, I, to You, O Lord, I cry; each morning my prayer comes before You.
15. Why, O Lord, do You forsake my soul? Why do You conceal Your countenance from Me?
16. From my youth I have been afflicted and approaching death, yet I have borne the fear of You which is firmly established within me.
17. Your furies have passed over me; Your terrors have cut me down.
18. They have engulfed me like water all day long, they all together surrounded me.
19. You have estranged from me beloved and friend; I have been rejected by my intimates. Chapter 89:1. A maskil1 by Eitan the Ezrachite.
2. I will sing of the Lord's kindness forever; to all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.
3. For I have said, "The world is built with kindness; there in the heavens You establish Your faithfulness.”
4. I have made a covenant with My chosen one; I have sworn to David, My servant:
5. "I will establish Your descendants forever; I will build your throne for all generations," Selah.
6. Then the heavens will extol Your wonders, O Lord; Your faithfulness, too, in the congregation of the holy ones.
7. Indeed, who in heaven can be compared to the Lord, who among the supernal beings can be likened to the Lord!
8. The Almighty is revered in the great assembly of the holy ones, awe-inspiring to all who surround Him.
9. O Lord, God of Hosts, who is mighty like You, O God! Your faithfulness surrounds You.
10. You rule the vastness of the sea; when its waves surge, You still them.
11. You crushed Rahav (Egypt) like a corpse; with Your powerful arm You scattered Your enemies.
12. Yours are the heavens, the earth is also Yours; the world and all therein-You established them.
13. The north and the south-You created them; Tabor and Hermon sing of [the greatness] of Your Name.
14. Yours is the arm which has the might; strengthen Your hand, raise high Your right hand.
15. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; kindness and truth go before Your countenance.
16. Fortunate is the people who know the sound of the shofar; Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance.
17. They rejoice in Your Name all day, and they are exalted through Your righteousness.
18. Indeed, You are the splendor of their might, and in Your goodwill our glory is exalted.
19. For our protectors turn to the Lord, and our king to the Holy One of Israel.
20. Then You spoke in a vision to Your pious ones and said: "I have granted aid to [David] the mighty one; I have exalted the one chosen from among the people.
21. I have found David, My servant; I have anointed him with My holy oil.
22. It is he whom My hand shall be prepared [to assist]; My arm, too, shall strengthen him.
23. The enemy shall not prevail over him, nor shall the iniquitous person afflict him.
24. And I will crush his adversaries before him, and will strike down those who hate him.
25. Indeed, My faithfulness and My kindness shall be with him, and through My Name his glory shall be exalted.
26. I will set his hand upon the sea, his right hand upon the rivers.
27. He will call out to Me, 'You are my Father, my God, the strength of my deliverance.’
28. I will also make him [My] firstborn, supreme over the kings of the earth.
29. I will maintain My kindness for him forever; My covenant shall remain true to him.
30. And I will bestow [kingship] upon his seed forever, and his throne will endure as long as the heavens last.
31. If his children forsake My Torah and do not walk in My ordinances;
32. if they profane My statutes and do not observe My commandments,
33. then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their misdeeds with plagues.
34. Yet I shall not take away My kindness from him, nor betray My faithfulness.
35. I will not abrogate My covenant, nor change that which has issued from My lips.
36. One thing I have sworn by My holiness-I will not cause disappointment to David.
37. His seed will endure forever and his throne will be [resplendent] as the sun before Me.
38. Like the moon, it shall be established forever; [the moon] is a faithful witness in the sky for all time.”
39. Yet You have forsaken and abhorred; You became enraged at Your anointed.
40. You annulled the covenant with Your servant; You have profaned his crown [by casting it] to the ground.
41. You shattered all his fences; You turned all his strongholds into ruin.
42. All wayfarers despoiled him; he has become a disgrace to his neighbors.
43. You have uplifted the right hand of his adversaries; You have made all his enemies rejoice.
44. You also turned back the blade of his sword, and did not sustain him in battle.
45. You put an end to his splendor, and toppled his throne to the ground.
46. You have cut short the days of his youth; You have enclothed him with long-lasting shame.
47. How long, O Lord, will You conceal Yourself-forever? [How long] will Your fury blaze like fire?
48. O remember how short is my life span! Why have You created all children of man for naught?
49. What man can live and not see death, can save his soul forever from the grave?
50. Where are Your former deeds of kindness, my Lord, which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?
51. Remember, my Lord, the disgrace of Your servants, that I bear in my bosom from all the many nations;
52. that Your enemies have disgraced, O Lord, that they have disgraced the footsteps of Your anointed.
53. Blessed is the Lord forever, Amen and Amen. Chapter 90:1. A prayer by Moses, the man of God. My Lord, You have been a shelter for us in every generation.
2. Before the mountains came into being, before You created the earth and the world-for ever and ever You are Almighty God.
3. You diminish man until he is crushed, and You say, "Return, you children of man.”
4. Indeed, a thousand years are in Your eyes like yesterday that has passed, like a watch of the night.
5. The stream of their life is as but a slumber; in the morning they are like grass that sprouts anew.
6. In the morning it thrives and sprouts anew; in the evening it withers and dries.
7. For we are consumed by Your anger, and destroyed by Your wrath.
8. You have set our wrongdoings before You, our hidden sins before the light of Your countenance.
9. For all our days have vanished in Your wrath; we cause our years to pass like a fleeting sound.
10. The days of our lives number seventy years, and if in great vigor, eighty years; most of them are but travail and futility, passing quickly and flying away.
11. Who can know the intensity of Your anger? Your wrath is commensurate with one's fear of You.
12. Teach us, then, to reckon our days, that we may acquire a wise heart.
13. Relent, O Lord; how long [will Your anger last]? Have compassion upon Your servants.
14. Satiate us in the morning with Your kindness, then we shall sing and rejoice throughout our days.
15. Give us joy corresponding to the days You afflicted us, the years we have seen adversity.
16. Let Your work be revealed to Your servants, and Your splendor be upon their children.
17. May the pleasantness of the Lord our God be upon us; establish for us the work of our hands; establish the work of our hands.
Links: About the Ten Days of teshuvah; Voicemail; more on teshuvah
Today in Jewish History:
• Adam & Eve Created (3760 BCE)
On Tishrei 1 -- the sixth day of creation -- "G-d said: 'Let us make Man in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth...'" (Genesis 1:26). "G-d formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (ibid., 2:7). "And G-d took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden, to work it and to keep it" (2:15). "And G-d said: 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helpmeet opposite him' ... G-d caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and He took one of his sides, and closed up the flesh in its place. And G-d built the side which He had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man. And the man said: 'This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.' Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother, and cleaves to his wife; and they become one flesh" (2:18-24).
Links: The Man In Man; Man & Woman; Parshah Bereishit (Genesis 1:1-6:8) with commentary
• First Sin & Repentance (3760 BCE)On the very day he was created, man committed the first sin of history, transgressing the divine commandment not to eat from the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil." Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden, and mankind became subject to death, labor and moral confusion. But on that day the first man and woman also repented their sin, introducing the concept and opportunities of teshuvah ("return") into the human experience.
Links: The Discovery of Darkness; G-d's Business
• Dove's 3rd Mission (2105 BCE)On the 1st of Tishrei, on the 307th day of the Great Flood, Noach dispatched a dove from the ark, for the third time (see "On This Date" for Elul 17 and Elul 23). When the dove did not return, Noah knew that the Flood's waters had completely drained from the earth. On that day, Noach removed the roof of the ark; but Noah and his family, and all the animals, remained in the ark for another 57 days -- until the 27th of Cheshvan -- when the suface of the earth was completely dry and G-d commanded them to leave the ark and resettle and reppopulate the earth.
Links: The Window; Life in a Box
• Binding of Isaac; Sarah's Passing (1677 BCE)Abraham's supreme test of faith -- his binding of Isaac in preparation to sacrifice him as per G-d's command -- occurred on the 1st of Tishrei of the year 2084 from creation (1677 BCE), and is recalled each Rosh Hashanah with the sounding of the shofar (ram's horn -- a ram was sacrificed in Isaac's stead when an angel revealed that the command to sacrifice Isaac was but a divine test); the Torah's account of the event is publicly read in the synagogue on the 2nd day of Rosh Hashanah. On the day of Isaac's binding, his mother, Sarah, passed away at age 127, and was subsequently buried in the Machpelah Cave in Hebron.
Link: The Binding of Isaac
• Baal Shem Tov's vision of Moshiach (1746)In a letter to his brother-in-law, Rabbi Gershon Kitover, the Baal Shem Tov relates: "On Rosh Hashanah of the year 5507 [from creation] I made an 'ascent of soul' in the manner known to you... I ascended level after level until I reached the chamber of Moshiach... And I asked Moshiach: "When will the Master come?" And he replied: "When your teachings will be disseminated and revealed in the world, and your wellsprings will spread to the outside..." (Keter Shem Tov 1:1).
Links: About the Baal Shem Tov; about Chassidism
• Daf Yomi (1923)The "Daf Yomi" daily regimen of Talmud study (in which the participant studies one folio a day to complete the entire Talmud in seven years) initiated by Rabbi Meir Shapiro of Lublin, was launched on Rosh Hashanah of 1923.
Daily Torah Study:
Chumash: Ha'Azinu, 5th Portion Deuteronomy 32:29-32:39 with Rashi
• English / Hebrew Linear Translation
• Video Class
• Daily Wisdom (short insight)
Deuteronomy Chapter 32
29If they were wise, they would understand this; they would reflect upon their fate. כטל֥וּ חָֽכְמ֖וּ יַשְׂכִּ֣ילוּ זֹ֑את יָבִ֖ינוּ לְאַֽחֲרִיתָֽם:
they would reflect upon their fate: They would turn their attention towards thinking carefully about the end of Israel’s troubles [that the whole cause is God’s punishing Israel, rather than attributing Israel’s defeat to their own power].
יבינו לאחריתם: יתנו לב להתבונן לסוף פורענותם של ישראל:
30How can one [person] pursue a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their [Mighty] Rock has sold them out, and the Lord has given them over? לאֵיכָ֞ה יִרְדֹּ֤ף אֶחָד֙ אֶ֔לֶף וּשְׁנַ֖יִם יָנִ֣יסוּ רְבָבָ֑ה אִם־לֹא֙ כִּֽי־צוּרָ֣ם מְכָרָ֔ם וַֽיהֹוָ֖ה הִסְגִּירָֽם:
How could one [person]: of us pursue a thousand of Israel?!
איכה ירדף אחד: ממנו אלף מישראל:
unless their [Mighty] Rock has sold them out, and the Lord has given them over: i.e., has sold them out, and given them over into our hands, delivrer in Old French [like the English: to deliver].
אם לא כי צורם מכרם וה' הסגירם: מכרם ומסרם בידנו. דילבר"ר בלע"ז [להסגיר]:
31For their rock is not like our [Mighty] Rock. Nevertheless, our enemies sit in judgment. לאכִּ֛י לֹ֥א כְצוּרֵ֖נוּ צוּרָ֑ם וְאֹֽיְבֵ֖ינוּ פְּלִילִֽים:
For their rock is not like our [Mighty] Rock: The enemies should have understood all the above, that the Lord gave Israel over [to them], and that victory must not be attributed to them or to their deities. For until now, their deities have achieved nothing against our Rock. Because their rock is not like our Rock. The word צוּר in Scripture is always an expression meaning סֶלַע, rock .
כי לא כצורנו צורם: כל זה היה להם לאויבים להבין שהשם הסגירם ולא להם ולאלהיהם הנצחון, שהרי עד הנה לא יכלו כלום אלהיהם כנגד צורנו, כי לא כסלענו סלעם. כל צור שבמקרא לשון סלע:
nevertheless, our enemies sit in judgment: Nevertheless, now our enemies are judging us. It must be then, that our Rock has given us over to them.
ואיבינו פלילים: ועכשיו אויבינו שופטים אותנו, הרי שצורנו מכרנו להם:
32For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the field of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of rosh, and they have bitter clusters. לבכִּֽי־מִגֶּ֤פֶן סְדֹם֙ גַּפְנָ֔ם וּמִשַּׁדְמֹ֖ת עֲמֹרָ֑ה עֲנָבֵ֨מוֹ֙ עִנְּבֵי־ר֔וֹשׁ אַשְׁכְּלֹ֥ת מְרֹרֹ֖ת לָֽמוֹ:
For their vine is the vine of Sodom: [This verse is] connected to the above [verse 26. The continuity of these verses thus reads as follows:]“I said to Myself that I would make an end of them, eradicate their remembrance from mankind-because their deeds are those of Sodom and Amorah…”.
כי מגפן סדום גפנם: מוסב למעלה. אמרתי בלבי אפאיהם ואשבית זכרם, לפי שמעשיהם מעשה סדום ועמורה:
and the field of: Heb. וּמִשַּׁדְמוֹת, grain field. It is similar to the verse,“and the field (וּשְׁדֵמוֹת) will yield no food” (Hab. 3:17); and,“in the field (בְּשַׁדְמוֹת) of Kidron” (II Kings 23:4).
שדמות: שדה תבואה, כמו (חבקוק ג, יז) ושדמות לא עשה אוכל, (מלכים ב' כג, ד) בשדמות קדרון:
grapes of rosh: [The word רוֹשׁ] means: A bitter herb. [This has been variantly translated as the cultured poppy, from which opium is extracted, colocynth, and hemlock. See Nature & Man in the Bible , by Yehuda Feliks.]
ענבי רוש: עשב מר:
and they have bitter clusters: A bitter drink, which is appropriate for them; their punishment corresponds to their deeds. Onkelos also renders this phrase likewise:“And the punishment of their deeds is like their bitterness.”
אשכלת מררת למו: משקה מר ראוי להם, לפי מעשיהם פורענותם. וכן תרגם אונקלוס ותושלמת עובדיהון כמררותהון:
33Their wine is the bitterness of serpents, and the bitterness of the ruthless cobras. לגחֲמַ֥ת תַּנִּינִ֖ם יֵינָ֑ם וְרֹ֥אשׁ פְּתָנִ֖ים אַכְזָֽר:
Their wine is the bitterness of serpents: [Understand this] as the Targum renders it: הָא כְמָרַת תַּנִּינַיָא כָּס פּוּרְעֲנוּתְהוֹן, which means, “Indeed the cup of their drink of punishment is like the bitterness of serpents.”
חמת תנינים יינם: כתרגומו הא כמרת תניניא כס פורענותהון, הנה כמרירות נחשים כוס משתה פורענותם:
and the bitterness of [ruthless] cobras: is their cup. [The cobra] is ruthless when it bites; [thus, this verse is referring to] a ruthless enemy, who will come and seek out their retribution.
וראש פתנים: כוסם, שהוא אכזר לנשוך. אויב אכזרי יבא ויפרע מהם:
34Is it not stored up with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? לדהֲלֹא־ה֖וּא כָּמֻ֣ס עִמָּדִ֑י חָת֖וּם בְּאֽוֹצְרֹתָֽי:
Is it not stored up with Me: As the Targum renders it,“They think that I have forgotten their [evil] deeds, but these deeds are all locked away and preserved before Me.”
הלא הוא כמוס עמדי: כתרגומו כסבורים הם ששכחתי מעשיהם, כולם גנוזים ושמורים לפני:
Is it not [stored]: The fruit of their [bitter] vine and the [bitter] produce of their field are stored up with Me.
הלא הוא: פרי גפנם ותבואת שדמותם כמוס עמדי:
35Vengeance is poised with Me, and it will pay at the time their foot stumbles. For the appointed day of their reckoning is near, and what is destined for them hastens. להלִ֤י נָקָם֙ וְשִׁלֵּ֔ם לְעֵ֖ת תָּמ֣וּט רַגְלָ֑ם כִּ֤י קָרוֹב֙ י֣וֹם אֵידָ֔ם וְחָ֖שׁ עֲתִדֹ֥ת לָֽמוֹ:
Vengeance is poised with Me, and it will pay: Heb. וְשִׁלֵּם. The retribution of vengeance is with Me, prepared and held in readiness, and it will pay out punishment to them, according to their deeds. [That is to say,] Vengeance will pay the punishment they deserve. [Thus, the word וְשִׁלֵּם is to be understood as a verb.] However, some explain the word וְשִׁלֵּם as a noun, equivalent to וְשִׁלּוּם, and recompense , the same grammatical form as [the noun in the phrase],“And the [prophetic] word (וְהַדִּבֵּר) is not in them,” (Jer. 5:13) where the word is equivalent to וְהַדִּבּוּר [i.e., a noun]. And when will I pay them [their punishment]?
לי נקם ושלם: עמי נכון ומזומן פורענות נקם וישלם להם כמעשיהם הנקם ישלם להם גמולם. ויש מפרשים ושלם שם דבר, כמו ושלום, והיא מגזרת והדבר אין בהם (ירמיה ה, יג), כמו והדבור. ואימתי אשלם להם:
at the time their foot stumbles: namely, when the merit of their forefathers expires, the merit upon which they are relying.
לעת תמוט רגלם: כשתתום זכות אבותם שהן סמוכין עליו:
For the appointed day [of their reckoning] is near: As soon as I desire to bring the day of their disaster upon them, this day is near and in readiness before Me, to be brought about by many agents.
כי קרוב יום אידם: משארצה להביא עליהם יום אידם קרוב ומזומן לפני להביא על ידי שלוחים הרבה:
and what is destined for them hastens: And the things that are destined to come hasten [in coming].
וחש עתדות למו: ומהר יבואו העתידות להם:
hastens: Heb. וְחָשׁ, as in the verse,“Let him hurry, hasten (יְחִישָׁה) ” (Isa. 5:19). Until here, Moses testified against them with words of reproof, that this Song should be a witness for Israel’s reproof, i.e., when punishment would come upon Israel, they would know that I told them about this from the very beginning. From here onwards, he testifies to Israel with words of comfort, about things that would come upon them at the conclusion of the retribution, like everything he stated earlier: “And it will be, when all these words happen to you-the blessing and the curse… then, the Lord, your God, will bring back your exiles…” (Deut. 30:1-3).
וחש: כמו (ישעיה ה, יט) ימהר יחישה. עד כאן העיד עליהם משה דברי תוכחה להיות השירה הזאת לעד כשתבא עליהם הפורענות. ידעו שאני הודעתים מראש. מכאן ואילך העיד עליהם דברי תנחומין שיבואו עליהם ככלות הפורענות ככל אשר אמר למעלה (לעיל ל, א - ג) והיה כי יבואו עליך וגו' כל הדברים האלה הברכה והקללה וגו' ושב ה' אלהיך את שבותך וגו':
36When the Lord will judge His people, and will reconsider His servants, when He sees that the power is increasing, and none is controlled or strengthened. לוכִּֽי־יָדִ֤ין יְהֹוָה֙ עַמּ֔וֹ וְעַל־עֲבָדָ֖יו יִתְנֶחָ֑ם כִּ֤י יִרְאֶה֙ כִּי־אָ֣זְלַת יָ֔ד וְאֶ֖פֶס עָצ֥וּר וְעָזֽוּב:
When the Lord will judge His people: i. e., When God will exact judgment upon Israel by bringing upon them these aforementioned sufferings. Similar to this is the verse,“For through these He judges (יָדִין) peoples” (Job 36:31), i.e., He chastises peoples. The word כִּי here does not mean “because,” giving the reason for the preceding statements, but rather, it introduces a new passage [i.e., it means “when”], as in the verse,“When (כִּי) you come to the land” (Lev. 25:2). [The meaning of our verse is:] When these judgments will come upon them, and the Holy One, Blessed is He, will reconsider concerning His servants to return [to them] and to have mercy upon them….
כי ידין ה' עמו: כשישפוט אותן ביסורין הללו האמורים עליהם, כמו (איוב לו, לא) כי בם ידין יוסר עמים. כי זה אינו משמש בלשון דהא, לתת טעם לדברים של מעלה, אלא לשון תחלת דבור, כמו (ויקרא כה, ב) כי תבואו אל הארץ, כשיבואו עליהם משפטים הללו ויתנחם הקב"ה על עבדיו לשוב ולרחם עליהם:
will reconsider: Heb. יִתְנֶחָם. [This word] denotes changing one’s mind, whether for good or for evil.
יתנחם: לשון הפך המחשבה להיטיב או להרע:
when He will see that the power is growing: i.e., when God sees that the enemy’s power is becoming stronger and stronger against Israel, and none among them is controlled or strengthened.
כי יראה כי אזלת יד: כשיראה כי יד האויב הולכת וחוזקת מאד עליהם ואפס בהם עצור ועזוב:
controlled: Heb. עָצוּר. One who is rescued by an officer (עוֹצֵר) or a ruler who would confine (יַעִצוֹר) the people.
עצור: נושע על ידי עוצר ומושל שיעצור בהם:
or strengthened: Heb. עָזוּב, [One saved] by an עוֹזֵב, one who gives strength [to someone else]. An עוֹצֵר is a ruler who confines his people [within certain boundaries], so that they will not go out in scattered groups when they go to war against the enemy, mentenedor in Old French [like the English, maintain. Consequently:] עָצוּר [the passive noun from the root עצר] means: One saved through the confinement (מַעִצוֹר) of a ruler. עָזוּב Strengthened, like“and they fortified (וַיַּעַזְבוֹ) Jerusalem until the… wall” (Neh. 3:8); and,“How is the city of praise not fortified (עֻזְּבָה)” (Jer. 49:25). עָצוּר is mentenude in Old French, and עָזוּב is enforze , fortified.
עזוב: על ידי עוזב. עוצר הוא המושל העוצר בעם שלא ילכו מפוזרים בצאתם לצבא על האויב. בלשון בלע"ז מיינטינדו"ר [שליט]. עצור הוא הנושע במעצור המושל. עזוב מחוזק, כמו (נחמיה ג, ח) ויעזבו את ירושלים עד החומה, (ירמיה מט, כה) איך לא עזבה עיר תהלה. עצור מיינטינו"ד [נשלט]. עזוב אינפורצדו"ר [מבוצר]:
37Then He will say, "Where is their deity, the rock in which they trusted, לזוְאָמַ֖ר אֵ֣י אֱלֹהֵ֑ימוֹ צ֖וּר חָסָ֥יוּ בֽוֹ:
Then He will say: The Holy One, Blessed is He, will say about them [Israel]:
ואמר: הקב"ה עליהם:
Where is their deity: The idols which they worshipped. [Where are they now?]
אי אלהימו: עבודה זרה שעבדו:
the rock in which they trusted: [The word צוּר] means: The rock. [This figuratively means: The rock under which] they used to shelter themselves from the sun and the cold. That is to say, [the deity] in which they had placed their trust to protect them against any harm.
צור חסיו בו: הסלע שהיו מתכסין בו מפני החמה והצנה, כלומר שהיו בטוחין בו להגן עליהם מן הרעה:
38who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their libations? Let them arise and help you! Let them be your shelter! לחאֲשֶׁ֨ר חֵ֤לֶב זְבָחֵ֨ימוֹ֙ יֹאכֵ֔לוּ יִשְׁתּ֖וּ יֵ֣ין נְסִיכָ֑ם יָק֨וּמוּ֙ וְיַעְזְרֻכֶ֔ם יְהִ֥י עֲלֵיכֶ֖ם סִתְרָֽה:
who ate the fat of their sacrifices: i.e., these deities would eat up [the fat] and would drink up the wine of their libations when they offered the sacrifices before them.
אשר חלב זבחימו: היו אותן אלהות אוכלים שהיו מקריבין לפניהם ושותין יין נסיכם:
Let them be your shelter!: Let that same rock [you worshipped] be a refuge and shelter (מִסְתּוֹר) for you.
יהי עליכם סתרה: אותו הצור יהי לכם מחסה ומסתור:
39See now that it is I! I am the One, and there is no god like Me! I cause death and grant life. I strike, but I heal, and no one can rescue from My Hand! לטרְא֣וּ | עַתָּ֗ה כִּ֣י אֲנִ֤י אֲנִי֙ ה֔וּא וְאֵ֥ין אֱלֹהִ֖ים עִמָּדִ֑י אֲנִ֧י אָמִ֣ית וַֽאֲחַיֶּ֗ה מָחַ֨צְתִּי֙ וַֽאֲנִ֣י אֶרְפָּ֔א וְאֵ֥ין מִיָּדִ֖י מַצִּֽיל:
See now: Understand from the punishment that I brought upon you, from which no one can rescue you, and from the salvation with which I will save you, and that there is no one to stop Me, that
ראו עתה: הבינו מן הפורענות שהבאתי עליכם ואין לכם מושיע ומן התשועה שאושיעכם ואין מוחה בידי:
It is I! I am the One: “It is I” Who can bring someone down, and “I am the One” Who can lift someone up.
ני אני הוא: אני להשפיל ואני להרים:
and there is no god with Me!: [There is no deity] which can stand up against Me, to stop Me.
ואין אלהים עמדי: עומד כנגדי למחות:
with Me: resembling Me, like Me.
עמדי: דוגמתי וכמוני:
and no one can save from My Hand: those who sin against Me.
ואין מידי מציל: הפושעים בי:
Tehillim: Psalms Chapters 1 - 3739097
• Hebrew text
• English text
Special Custom for the Month of Elul and High Holidays
The Baal Shem Tov instituted a custom of reciting three additional chapters of Psalms each day, from the 1st of Elul until Yom Kippur (on Yom Kippur the remaining 36 chapters are recited, thereby completing the entire book of Psalms).
See below for today's additional chapters.
Chapter 1
This psalm inspires man to study Torah and avoid sin. One who follows this path is assured of success in all his deeds, whereas the plight of the wicked is the reverse.
1. Fortunate is the man that has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor stood in the path of sinners, nor sat in the company of scoffers.
2. Rather, his desire is in the Torah of the Lord, and in His Torah he meditates day and night.
3. He shall be like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither; and all that he does shall prosper.
4. Not so the wicked; rather, they are like the chaff that the wind drives away.
5. Therefore the wicked will not endure in judgement, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6. For the Lord minds the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Chapter 2
This psalm warns against trying to outwit the ways of God. It also instructs one who has reason to rejoice, to tremble—lest his sins cause his joy to be overturned.
1. Why do nations gather, and peoples speak futility?
2. The kings of the earth rise up, and rulers conspire together, against the Lord and against His anointed:
3. “Let us sever their cords, and cast their ropes from upon us!”
4. He Who sits in heaven laughs, my Master mocks them.
5. Then He speaks to them in His anger, and terrifies them in His wrath:
6. “It is I Who have anointed My king, upon Zion, My holy mountain.”
7. I am obliged to declare: The Lord said to me, “You are my son, I have this day begotten you.
1
8. Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, and the ends of the earth your possession.
9. Smash them with a rod of iron, shatter them like a potter’s vessel.”
10. Now be wise, you kings; be disciplined, you rulers of the earth.
11. Serve the Lord with awe, and rejoice with trembling.
12. Yearn for purity—lest He become angry and your path be doomed, if his anger flares for even a moment. Fortunate are all who put their trust in Him
FOOTNOTES
1.The day David was crowned. (Rashi)
Chapter 3
When punishment befalls man, let him not be upset by his chastisement, for perhaps--considering his sins—he is deserving of worse, and God is in fact dealing kindly with him.
1. A psalm by David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
2. Lord, how numerous are my oppressors; many rise up against me!
3. Many say of my soul, “There is no salvation for him from God—ever!”
4. But You, Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, the One Who raises my head.
5. With my voice I call to the Lord, and He answers me from His holy mountain, Selah.
6. I lie down and sleep; I awake, for the Lord sustains me.
7. I do not fear the myriads of people that have aligned themselves all around me.
8. Arise, O Lord, deliver me, my God. For You struck all my enemies on the cheek, You smashed the teeth of the wicked.
9. Deliverance is the Lord’s; may Your blessing be upon Your people forever
Chapter 4
This psalm exhorts man not to shame his fellow, and to neither speak nor listen to gossip and slander. Envy not the prosperity of the wicked in this world, rather rejoice and say: “If it is so for those who anger Him . . . [how much better it will be for those who serve Him!”]
1. For the Conductor, with instrumental music, a psalm by David.
2. Answer me when I call, O God [Who knows] my righteousness. You have relieved me in my distress; be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
3. Sons of men, how long will you turn my honor to shame, will you love vanity, and endlessly seek falsehood?
4. Know that the Lord has set apart His devout one; the Lord will hear when I call to Him.
5. Tremble and do not sin; reflect in your hearts upon your beds, and be silent forever.
6. Offer sacrifices in righteousness, and trust in the Lord.
7. Many say: “Who will show us good?” Raise the light of Your countenance upon us, O Lord.
8. You put joy in my heart, greater than [their joy] when their grain and wine abound.
9. In peace and harmony I will lie down and sleep, for You, Lord, will make me dwell alone, in security.
Chapter 5
A prayer for every individual, requesting that the wicked perish for their deeds, and the righteous rejoice for their good deeds.
1. For the Conductor, on the nechilot,1 a psalm by David.
2. Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my thoughts.
3. Listen to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I pray.
4. Lord, hear my voice in the morning; in the morning I set [my prayers] before you and hope.
5. For You are not a God Who desires wickedness; evil does not abide with You.
6. The boastful cannot stand before Your eyes; You hate all evildoers.
7. You destroy the speakers of falsehood; the Lord despises the man of blood and deceit.
8. And I, through Your abundant kindness, come into Your house; I bow toward Your holy Sanctuary, in awe of You.
9. Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness, because of my watchful enemies; straighten Your path before me.
10. For there is no sincerity in their mouths, their heart is treacherous; their throat is an open grave, [though] their tongue flatters.
11. Find them guilty, O God, let them fall by their schemes; banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against You.
12. But all who trust in You will rejoice, they will sing joyously forever; You will shelter them, and those who love Your Name will exult in You.
13. For You, Lord, will bless the righteous one; You will envelop him with favor as with a shield.
FOOTNOTES
1.A musical instrument that sounded like the buzzing of bees (Metzudot).
Chapter 6
This is an awe-inspiring prayer for one who is ill, to pray that God heal him, body and soul. An ailing person who offers this prayer devoutly and with a broken heart is assured that God will accept his prayer.
1. For the Conductor, with instrumental music for the eight-stringed harp, a psalm by David.
2. Lord, do not punish me in Your anger, nor chastise me in Your wrath.
3. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I languish away; heal me, O Lord, for my bones tremble in fear.
4. My soul is panic-stricken; and You, O Lord, how long [before You help]?
5. Relent, O Lord, deliver my soul; save me for the sake of Your kindness.
6. For there is no remembrance of You in death; who will praise You in the grave?
7. I am weary from sighing; each night I drench my bed, I melt my couch with my tears.
8. My eye has grown dim from vexation, worn out by all my oppressors.
9. Depart from me, all you evildoers, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
10. The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord accepts my prayer.
11. All my enemies will be shamed and utterly terrified; they will then repent and be shamed for a moment.1
FOOTNOTES
1.Only for a moment will they be shamed, because I will forgive them and never again mention their deeds (Metzudot).
Chapter 7
Do not rejoice if God causes your enemy to suffer—just as the suffering of the righteous is not pleasant. David, therefore, defends himself intensely before God, maintaining that he did not actively harm Saul. In fact, Saul precipitated his own harm, while David’s intentions were only for the good.
1. A shigayon 1 by David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Kush the Benjaminite.
2. I put my trust in You, Lord, my God; deliver me from all my pursuers and save me.
3. Lest he tear my soul like a lion, crushing me with none to rescue.
4. Lord, my God, if I have done this, if there is wrongdoing in my hands;
5. if I have rewarded my friends with evil or oppressed those who hate me without reason—
6. then let the enemy pursue and overtake my soul, let him trample my life to the ground, and lay my glory in the dust forever.
7. Arise, O Lord, in Your anger, lift Yourself up in fury against my foes. Stir me [to mete out] the retribution which You commanded.
8. When the assembly of nations surrounds You, remove Yourself from it and return to the heavens.
9. The Lord will mete out retribution upon the nations; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and my integrity.
10. Let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous—O righteous God, Searcher of hearts and minds.
11. [I rely] on God to be my shield, He Who saves the upright of heart.
12. God is the righteous judge, and the Almighty is angered every day.
13. Because he does not repent, He sharpens His sword, bends His bow and makes it ready.
14. He has prepared instruments of death for him; His arrows will be used on the pursuers.
15. Indeed, he conceives iniquity, is pregnant with evil schemes, and gives birth to falsehood.
16. He digs a pit, digs it deep, only to fall into the trap he laid.
17. His mischief will return upon his own head, his violence will come down upon his own skull.
18. I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, and sing to the Name of the Lord Most High
FOOTNOTES
1.This refers either to a musical instrument, or to a mistake committed by David, in recognition of which this psalm was written (Rashi).
Chapter 8
This psalm is a glorious praise to God for His kindness to the lowly and mortal human in giving the Torah to the inhabitants of the lower worlds, arousing the envy of the celestial angels. This idea is expressed in the Yom Kippur prayer, “Though Your mighty strength is in the angels above, You desire praise from those formed of lowly matter.”
1. For the Conductor, on the gittit,1 a psalm by David.
2. Lord, our Master, how mighty is Your Name throughout the earth, You Who has set Your majesty upon the heavens!
3. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings You have established might, to counter Your enemies, to silence foe and avenger.2
4. When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have set in place—
5. what is man that You should remember him, son of man that You should be mindful of him?
6. Yet, You have made him but a little less than the angels, and crowned him with honor and glory.
7. You made him ruler over Your handiwork, You placed everything under his feet.
8. Sheep and cattle—all of them, also the beasts of the field;
9. the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea; all that traverses the paths of the seas.
10. Lord, our Master, how mighty is Your Name throughout the earth.
FOOTNOTES
1.A musical instrument crafted in Gath (Metzudot).
2.The wonders of childbirth and nursing demonstrate God’s existence to non-believers (Metzudot).
Chapter 9
One should praise God for saving him from the hand of the enemy who stands over and agonizes him, and for His judging each person according to his deeds: the righteous according to their righteousness, and the wicked according to their wickedness.
1. For the Conductor, upon the death of Labben, a psalm by David.
2. I will thank the Lord with all my heart; I will recount all Your wonders.
3. I will rejoice and exult in You; I will sing to Your Name, O Most High.
4. When my enemies retreat, they will stumble and perish from before You.
5. You have rendered my judgement and [defended] my cause; You sat on the throne, O righteous Judge.
6. You destroyed nations, doomed the wicked, erased their name for all eternity.
7. O enemy, your ruins are gone forever, and the cities you have uprooted—their very remembrance is lost.
8. But the Lord is enthroned forever, He established His throne for judgement.
9. And He will judge the world with justice, He will render judgement to the nations with righteousness.
10. The Lord will be a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
11. Those who know Your Name put their trust in You, for You, Lord, have not abandoned those who seek You.
12. Sing to the Lord Who dwells in Zion, recount His deeds among the nations.
13. For the Avenger of bloodshed is mindful of them; He does not forget the cry of the downtrodden.
14. Be gracious to me, O Lord; behold my affliction at the hands of my enemies, You Who raises me from the gates of death,
15. so that I may relate all Your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion, that I may exult in Your deliverance.
16. The nations sank into the pit that they made; in the net they concealed their foot was caught.
17. The Lord became known through the judgement He executed; the wicked one is snared in the work of his own hands; reflect on this always.
18. The wicked will return to the grave, all the nations that forget God.
19. For not for eternity will the needy be forgotten, nor will the hope of the poor perish forever.
20. Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail; let the nations be judged in Your presence.
21. Set Your mastery over them, O Lord; let the nations know that they are but frail men, Selah.
Kapitel 2
Der Psalm warnt davor, die Wege G-ttes überlisten zu wollen. Er lehrt außerdem jeden, der Grund zur Freude hat, auch zu zittern, damit seine Vergehen nicht bewirken, dass sich seine Freude in ihr Gegenteil kehrt.
1. Warum sind die Völker unruhig und ersinnen die Nationen das Nichtige?
2. Die Könige der Welt stellen sich auf, und Fürsten verbünden sich gegen den Ewigen und gegen Seinen Gesalbten:
3. „Lösen wir ihre Bande, und werfen wir ihre Seile von uns!“
4. Er, der im Himmel sitzt, lacht, mein Herr spottet ihrer.
5. Dann spricht Er zu ihnen zornentbrannt, und vor Seinem Zorn erschrecken sie:
6. „Ich habe Meinen König gesalbt, auf Zion, Meinem heiligen Berg.“
7. Ich will von dem Gesetz erzählen: Der Ewige sagte mir: „Mein Sohn bist du, Ich habe dich heute gezeugt1.
8. Bitte Mich darum, und Ich werde dir die Völker zu deinem Erbe geben und die Enden der Erde dir zum Besitz.
9. Zerschlag’ sie mit einem Eisenstab, wie ein Töpfergefäß sollst du sie zerschmettern.“
10. Jetzt, ihr Könige, besinnt euch; seid gewarnt, Richter der Erde.
11. Dient dem Ewigen in Ehrfurcht, und freut euch mit Zittern.
12. Rüstet euch für den Sohn, auf dass Er nicht zürne und ihr unterwegs in die Irre geht, wenn Sein Zorn auch nur für einen Augenblick entbrennt. Glücklich sind alle, die ihr Vertrauen in Ihn setzen.
Die Erstausgabe der Tehillim erscheint im Andenken an unsere Übersetzerin Miriam Magall, sa"l, die gegen Abschluss der Arbeiten an den Tehillim im August 2017 von uns gegangen ist.
FOOTNOTES
1.Der Tag, an dem David gekrönt wurde (Raschi).
Additional Three Chapters
The Baal Shem Tov instituted a custom of reciting three additional chapters of Psalms each day, from the 1st of Elul until Yom Kippur (on Yom Kippur the remaining 36 chapters are recited, thereby completing the entire book of Psalms).
Today's Chapters are 88, 89 and 90.
Chapter 88
The psalmist weeps and laments bitterly over the maladies and suffering Israel endures in exile, which he describes in detail.
1. A song, a psalm by the sons of Korach, for the Conductor, upon the machalat le'anot; 1 a maskil2 for Heiman the Ezrachite.
2. O Lord, God of my deliverance, by day I cried out [to You], by night I [offer my prayer] before You.
3. Let my prayer come before You; turn Your ear to my supplication.
4. For my soul is sated with affliction, and my life has reached the grave.
5. I was reckoned with those who go down to the pit, I was like a man without strength.
6. [I am regarded] among the dead who are free, like corpses lying in the grave, of whom You are not yet mindful, who are yet cut off by Your hand.
7. You have put me into the lowest pit, into the darkest places, into the depths.
8. Your wrath has weighed heavily upon me, and all the waves [of Your fury] have constantly afflicted me.
9. You have estranged my friends from me, You have made me abhorrent to them; I am imprisoned and unable to leave.
10. My eye is afflicted because of distress; I call to You, O Lord, every day; I have stretched out my hands [in prayer] to You.
11. Do You perform wonders for the deceased? Do the dead stand to offer You praise? Selah.
12. Is Your kindness recounted in the grave, your faithfulness in the place of perdition?
13. Are Your wondrous deeds known in the darkness [of the grave], or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
14. But, I, to You, O Lord, I cry; each morning my prayer comes before You.
15. Why, O Lord, do You forsake my soul? Why do You conceal Your countenance from Me?
16. From my youth I have been afflicted and approaching death, yet I have borne the fear of You which is firmly established within me.
17. Your furies have passed over me; Your terrors have cut me down.
18. They have engulfed me like water all day long, they all together surrounded me.
19. You have estranged from me beloved and friend; I have been rejected by my intimates.
Chapter 89
This psalm speaks of the kingship of the House of David, the psalmist lamenting its fall from power for many years, and God's abandonment and spurning of us.
1. A maskil1 by Eitan the Ezrachite.
2. I will sing of the Lord's kindness forever; to all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.
3. For I have said, "The world is built with kindness; there in the heavens You establish Your faithfulness.”
4. I have made a covenant with My chosen one; I have sworn to David, My servant:
5. "I will establish Your descendants forever; I will build your throne for all generations," Selah.
6. Then the heavens will extol Your wonders, O Lord; Your faithfulness, too, in the congregation of the holy ones.
7. Indeed, who in heaven can be compared to the Lord, who among the supernal beings can be likened to the Lord!
8. The Almighty is revered in the great assembly of the holy ones, awe-inspiring to all who surround Him.
9. O Lord, God of Hosts, who is mighty like You, O God! Your faithfulness surrounds You.
10. You rule the vastness of the sea; when its waves surge, You still them.
11. You crushed Rahav (Egypt) like a corpse; with Your powerful arm You scattered Your enemies.
12. Yours are the heavens, the earth is also Yours; the world and all therein-You established them.
13. The north and the south-You created them; Tabor and Hermon sing of [the greatness] of Your Name.
14. Yours is the arm which has the might; strengthen Your hand, raise high Your right hand.
15. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; kindness and truth go before Your countenance.
16. Fortunate is the people who know the sound of the shofar; Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance.
17. They rejoice in Your Name all day, and they are exalted through Your righteousness.
18. Indeed, You are the splendor of their might, and in Your goodwill our glory is exalted.
19. For our protectors turn to the Lord, and our king to the Holy One of Israel.
20. Then You spoke in a vision to Your pious ones and said: "I have granted aid to [David] the mighty one; I have exalted the one chosen from among the people.
21. I have found David, My servant; I have anointed him with My holy oil.
22. It is he whom My hand shall be prepared [to assist]; My arm, too, shall strengthen him.
23. The enemy shall not prevail over him, nor shall the iniquitous person afflict him.
24. And I will crush his adversaries before him, and will strike down those who hate him.
25. Indeed, My faithfulness and My kindness shall be with him, and through My Name his glory shall be exalted.
26. I will set his hand upon the sea, his right hand upon the rivers.
27. He will call out to Me, 'You are my Father, my God, the strength of my deliverance.’
28. I will also make him [My] firstborn, supreme over the kings of the earth.
29. I will maintain My kindness for him forever; My covenant shall remain true to him.
30. And I will bestow [kingship] upon his seed forever, and his throne will endure as long as the heavens last.
31. If his children forsake My Torah and do not walk in My ordinances;
32. if they profane My statutes and do not observe My commandments,
33. then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their misdeeds with plagues.
34. Yet I shall not take away My kindness from him, nor betray My faithfulness.
35. I will not abrogate My covenant, nor change that which has issued from My lips.
36. One thing I have sworn by My holiness-I will not cause disappointment to David.
37. His seed will endure forever and his throne will be [resplendent] as the sun before Me.
38. Like the moon, it shall be established forever; [the moon] is a faithful witness in the sky for all time.”
39. Yet You have forsaken and abhorred; You became enraged at Your anointed.
40. You annulled the covenant with Your servant; You have profaned his crown [by casting it] to the ground.
41. You shattered all his fences; You turned all his strongholds into ruin.
42. All wayfarers despoiled him; he has become a disgrace to his neighbors.
43. You have uplifted the right hand of his adversaries; You have made all his enemies rejoice.
44. You also turned back the blade of his sword, and did not sustain him in battle.
45. You put an end to his splendor, and toppled his throne to the ground.
46. You have cut short the days of his youth; You have enclothed him with long-lasting shame.
47. How long, O Lord, will You conceal Yourself-forever? [How long] will Your fury blaze like fire?
48. O remember how short is my life span! Why have You created all children of man for naught?
49. What man can live and not see death, can save his soul forever from the grave?
50. Where are Your former deeds of kindness, my Lord, which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?
51. Remember, my Lord, the disgrace of Your servants, that I bear in my bosom from all the many nations;
52. that Your enemies have disgraced, O Lord, that they have disgraced the footsteps of Your anointed.
53. Blessed is the Lord forever, Amen and Amen.
Chapter 90
David found this prayer in its present form-receiving a tradition attributing it to MosesThe Midrash attributes the next eleven psalms to Moses (Rashi).-and incorporated it into the Tehillim. It speaks of the brevity of human life, and inspires man to repent and avoid pride in this world.
1. A prayer by Moses, the man of God. My Lord, You have been a shelter for us in every generation.
2. Before the mountains came into being, before You created the earth and the world-for ever and ever You are Almighty God.
3. You diminish man until he is crushed, and You say, "Return, you children of man.”
4. Indeed, a thousand years are in Your eyes like yesterday that has passed, like a watch of the night.
5. The stream of their life is as but a slumber; in the morning they are like grass that sprouts anew.
6. In the morning it thrives and sprouts anew; in the evening it withers and dries.
7. For we are consumed by Your anger, and destroyed by Your wrath.
8. You have set our wrongdoings before You, our hidden sins before the light of Your countenance.
9. For all our days have vanished in Your wrath; we cause our years to pass like a fleeting sound.
10. The days of our lives number seventy years, and if in great vigor, eighty years; most of them are but travail and futility, passing quickly and flying away.
11. Who can know the intensity of Your anger? Your wrath is commensurate with one's fear of You.
12. Teach us, then, to reckon our days, that we may acquire a wise heart.
13. Relent, O Lord; how long [will Your anger last]? Have compassion upon Your servants.
14. Satiate us in the morning with Your kindness, then we shall sing and rejoice throughout our days.
15. Give us joy corresponding to the days You afflicted us, the years we have seen adversity.
16. Let Your work be revealed to Your servants, and Your splendor be upon their children.
17. May the pleasantness of the Lord our God be upon us; establish for us the work of our hands; establish the work of our hands.
Tanya: Iggeret HaKodesh, middle of Epistle 19
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Thursday, 1 Tishrei, 5778 · September 21, 2017
Iggeret HaKodesh, middle of Epistle 19
אך הענין הוא פשוט ומובן לכל
But it is plain and clear to all,
שיש הפרש גדול בין השגת חכמי האמת, כרשב״י והאריז״ל, שהיא השגת חכמה ודעת
that there is a great difference between the apprehension of the Kabbalists, such as R. Shimon bar Yochai and R. Isaac Luria, of blessed memory, which is an apprehension through wisdom and knowledge,
ובין השגת משה רבנו עליו השלום ושאר הנביאים, בנבואה
and the prophetic apprehension1 of Moshe Rabbeinu, peace to him, and the other prophets,
המכונה בכתוב בשם ראיה ממש
to which Scripture refers as actual vision.
Seeing something grasps its essence; comprehension merely grasps its externality.
וראית את אחורי
In these terms Scripture describes Moshe Rabbeinu’s prophetic apprehension:2 “You shall see My back.”
ואראה את ה׳
Likewise even with Isaiah, a lesser prophet than Moshe Rabbeinu, who was the greatest of prophets:3 “And I saw G‑d.”
וירא אליו ה׳
Furthermore, even before G‑d gave the Torah we find Abraham’s prophecy referred to in these terms:4 “And G‑d appeared to him.”
ואף שזהו דרך משל, ואינה ראיית עין בשר גשמי ממש
Now, though the term [“seeing” with regard to prophecy] is used in a metaphorical sense and does not denote actual sight by the physical, fleshly eye,
מכל מקום, הנמשל צריך להיות דומה למשל
nevertheless, the analogue needs to resemble the analogy.
Just as the analogy of physical sight means that the viewer beholds the essence of a thing, so too the analogue — prophetic vision — must refer to a spiritual kind of seeing that grasps the essence of the spiritual level that is beheld through prophecy.
וכתרגום, וירא אליו ה׳: ואתגלי ליה וכו׳, שהוא בחינת התגלות
Thus too the Targum translates the above-quoted “vayeira eilav HaShem”: “And G‑d became revealed5 to him...,” indicating revelation,
שנגלה אליו הוי׳ הנעלם ברוך הוא, בבחינת התגלות
meaning that G‑d,6 blessed be He, being hidden, became manifest to [Abraham].
In this direct mode of revelation, the recipient of the Divine manifestation is able to absorb and internalize it, just as with visual sense-perception. The above-described manner of spiritually “seeing” a revelation is thus quite different from “hearing”, an inferior level of perception which leaves the recipient with a less tangible impression.
מה שאין כן בהשגת חכמי האמת, שלא נגלה אליהם הוי׳ הנעלם ברוך הוא בבחינת התגלות
It is different, though, with the apprehension of the Kabbalists. G‑d, blessed be He, Who is hidden, did not become revealed to them in a manifest mode;
רק שהם משיגים תעלומות חכמה, הנעלם (נוסח אחר: בנעלם) ומופלא מהם
rather, they apprehend the secrets of wisdom in a manner7 which is hidden and removed from them.
They merely “hear” about these matters rather than truly “see” them.
ולכן אמרו: חכם עדיף מנביא, שיכול להשיג בחכמתו למעלה מעלה ממדרגות שיוכלו לירד למטה בבחינת התגלות לנביאים, במראה נבואתם
[Our Sages] therefore taught that8 “A wise man is superior to a prophet,” because through his wisdom he can apprehend levels [of Divinity] far higher than those that can descend by means of revelation to prophets in their prophetic vision.9
Since the revelation of prophecy is “visual”, the most sublime levels such as Supernal Chochmah cannot possibly be revealed and “seen” below.
כי לא יוכלו לירד ולהתגלות אליהם רק מדרגות התחתונות, שהן נהי״מ
For only the lowest levels can descend and become revealed to [the prophets], namely, the levels of Netzach-Hod-Yesod-Malchut,
שהן הן היורדות תמיד, ומתגלות מהמשפיע להמקבל, בבחינת מוחין וחיות
for it is they that always descend and become revealed from the Emanator to the recipient, in the form of intellectual perception and [creative] life-force.
כידוע ליודעי חכמה נסתרת, שהנהי״מ של העליון מתלבשים בתחתון להחיותו
Thus it is known to the students of Kabbalah10 that the Netzach-Hod-Yesod-Malchut (i.e., the lowest levels) of the higher [realm] vest themselves in the lower [realm], in order to animate it.
שהן הן כלי ההשפעה והורדת החיות מהעליון לתחתון, בכל העולמות והמדרגות
For they are the conduits of the beneficent flow that bring down the life-force from the higher level to the lower, with respect to all the worlds and levels.
ולכן גם כן הן הן המתגלות לנביאים, בבחינת התגלות ממש
Hence they also become revealed to the prophets as an actual revelation, i.e., as prophecy.
ובתוכן מלובש אור הבינה, שהיא בחינת הבנת האלקות מאור נוסח אחר: ואור אין סוף ברוך הוא
Within these [four Sefirot] is vested the light of Binah, the attribute which relates to understanding the G‑dliness [that emanates] from11 the light of the blessed Ein Sof.
ובתוכה מלובשים אחוריים דחכמה, שהיא מדרגה שלמעלה מהשכל וההבנה באלקות ברוך הוא
And within [Binah] are vested the external aspects of Chochmah, which are a level that transcends the conception and comprehension of Divinity,
כי שם חכמה מורה על מקור השכל וההבנה
for the term Chochmah denotes the source of conception and comprehension.
As explained in Tanya, Part I, ch. 18, the word Chochmah comprises two words: כח מה — “the faculty of the unknown,”12 for it is a faculty that cannot be grasped intellectually.
ולכן אמרו בזהר, דאורייתא מחכמה נפקת
This is why it is stated in the Zohar13 that “The Torah derives from Chochmah.”
כי טעמי מצות לא נתגלו, והם למעלה מהשכל וההבנה
For the reasons for the commandments have not been revealed14 in rational terms; they transcend conception and comprehension, i.e., Chochmah.
וגם באיזהו מקומן שנתגלה ונתפרש איזה טעם המובן לנו לכאורה
And even in the occasional places where some apparently intelligible reason has been revealed and explained,
אין זה הטעם, המובן לנו, לבדו תכלית הטעם וגבולו
this reason alone, which is understandable to us, is not the ultimate and full reason; we have not yet plummeted its depths;
אלא בתוכו מלובש פנימיות ותעלומות חכמה, שלמעלה מהשכל וההבנה
rather, within [this reason] is vested the innermost core (the pnimiyut) and mystic principle of Chochmah that transcends comprehension and understanding.
In a public address15 the Rebbe once explained why the Alter Rebbe makes the point that even when we have some intelligible reason for a mitzvah, this is not תכלית הטעם. This phrase, rendered above as “the ultimate reason,” would more literally mean “the end of the reason”; i.e., the explanation given for a commandment is not the last word in the reason for performing it. Not only does the mitzvah remain in some measure unexplained: even the reason remains in some measure unexplained. For in essence, a mitzvah is a superrational expression of the Divine Will, which is fulfilled through its performance.
At the very beginning of Derech Mitzvotecha (subtitled Sefer Taamei HaMitzvot — “A Book on the Reasons for the Mitzvot”), the Tzemach Tzedek writes similarly16 that what one should chiefly keep in mind during the performance of a commandment is the intent of doing it because G‑d has so commanded us. The fact that we may not understand just why G‑d desired this particular action done, is immaterial.
The Tzemach Tzedek goes on to say that whatever modest insight we may have about the purpose of the mitzvot — according to the Kabbalah and Chassidut, or according to Jewish philosophy (chakirah) and homiletics (derush) — is not even a glimmer of their true intent. It is a finite drop in an infinite ocean. For no human being, clothed as he is within a corporeal body, can possibly comprehend the infinite domain of spirituality. Even Moshe Rabbeinu, who has experienced more than three thousand years of constant elevation in Gan Eden, advances constantly in his understanding of the rationale underlying the mitzvot.
Concerning these successive levels of comprehension the verse states,17 “To every yearning, even to the point of expiry, I have seen an end; Your mitzvah is very wide.” I.e., the comprehension and yearning experienced in Gan Eden are finite, whereas a mitzvah defies limitation: the extent of its inner content is endless.18
One outstanding question: Why, though, does the Alter Rebbe write that intelligible reasons have been given only for “occasional” mitzvot, whereas in fact this would appear to apply to a multitude of commandments (of the categories of mishpatim and eduyot), if not to a majority?
Likkutei Biurim on Tanya (by R. Yehoshua Korf) quotes the Rebbe as answering this question in the following manner:
In most cases only a general reason is provided, while the details remain unexplained. For example, while the general reason for the mitzvah of tefillin is stated — that it be19 “a sign upon your hand...,” no revealed explanation is provided for the myriad details relating to this commandment, such as: why the tefillin must be square; why the four scrolls in the tefillin of the head must be housed in four separate compartments while the Biblical passages in the tefillin of the hand must be inscribed together on one scroll; why the straps of the tefillin must be black; and so on and on.
וכן בכל דיבור ודיבור שיצא מפי הקב״ה לנביאים, הכתובים בתנ״ך
The same is true with respect to every word uttered by the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, to the prophets, as recorded in the Tanach —
Every word of prophecy found in the Tanach is applicable not only to the generation that first heard them, but to all future generations as well.20
הן דברי תוכחה, והן סיפורי מעשיות
whether they be words of admonition, as transmitted by the prophets, or narratives of incidents.
An incident is recorded in the Tanach not only as history but also as an eternal message for all generations.
מלובש בתוכם בחינת חכמת אלקות, שלמעלה מהשכל וההבנה
Vested in them — in these words of rebuke or narrative — is an aspect of the Divine Chochmah that transcends conception and comprehension.
כנראה בחוש, מענין הקרי והכתיב
This is empirically evident from the principle of kri, the Scriptural text as read, and ktiv, the Scriptural text as written, the two not always being identical.
כי הקרי הוא לפי ההבנה הנגלית לנו, והכתיב הוא למעלה מהשכל וההבנה
The kri reflects the comprehension [of the text] as revealed to us. The ktiv transcends conception and comprehension.
שתיבה זו ככתיבתה, אין לה לבוש בבחינת ההבנה, ובקריאתה בפה יש לה לבוש
That is, a particular word in its written form has no comprehensible “garment”, though as read aloud it does have such a “garment”, i.e., it is readily comprehensible.
An example of this would be the verse,21 “Know that the L‑rd is G‑d; He has made us, velo anachnu, His people and the sheep of His pasture.” The ktiv form of the word velo ends with an alef ולא, while the kri form of the word ends with a vav ולו. According to the latter form the verse is readily comprehensible: “Know that the L‑rd is G‑d; He has made us, velo anachnu — and we are His....” In the ktiv form, however, the verse reads, “He has made us and not us....” While this has meaning on a more sublime level,22 in the simple sense the ktiv of this verse seems exceedingly difficult to comprehend.23
וכן הענין באותיות גדולות שבתנ״ך, שהן מעלמא עילאה, ומאירות משם בגילוי, בלי שום לבוש כשאר האותיות
The same applies to the large letters that are occasionally found in the Tanach; they derive from a sublime world — from the Sefirah of Binah — and radiate from there openly, and not through a garment like the other letters.
FOOTNOTES
1.Note of the Rebbe: “In contrast, by means of their [non-prophetic] ‘apprehension through wisdom and knowledge’ they comprehended [higher levels, such as] Keter, and so on.”
2.Shmot 33:23.
3.Yeshayahu 6:11.
4.Bereishit 18:1.
5.Heb. text emended above according to the Glosses and Emendations of the Rebbe.
6.Heb. text emended above according to the Glosses and Emendations of the Rebbe.
7.The above reading הנעלם could imply that the manner of their apprehension is hidden from them; the variant reading בנעלם would imply that the subject of their apprehension is hidden from them.
8.Bava Batra 12a.
9.Note of the Rebbe: “This is not the case with their comprehension, as [in footnote 13] above.”
10.Lit., “to those versed in the Hidden Wisdom.” In the original text, the three Heb. words are abbreviated to לי״ח, which is an abbreviation for ליודעי חן (the letter chet being read as if vocalized with a tzeirei). The letters ח״ן in turn are an abbreviation for חכמה נסתרת.
11.According to the variant parenthetical text, “...understanding the G‑dliness and the light of the blessed Ein Sof”; i.e., the [infinite] Ein Sof-light too can filter down to the level of mortal understanding.
12.Zohar III, 28a.
13.Parshat Beshalach, 62a; cf. Parshat Chukat, 182a and Parshat Vaetchanan, 261a; et al.
14.Cf. Sanhedrin 21a.
15.Shabbat Parshat Vayeishev, 5724.
16.P. 4b.
17.Tehillim 119:96, explained in Epistle 17, above.
18.As an instance of this, consider the commandment involving the nesting bird (Devarim 22:6-7), chosen by the Sages (Berachot 5:3) as a classic example of a mitzvah which one should not assume one knows the reason for. The Rebbe points out that in Moreh Nevuchim (Vol. III, sec. 48) the Rambam offers an explanation for this mitzvah, yet in his Commentary on the Mishnayot the Rambam himself writes that this is a mitzvah “which has no explanation”!
19.Devarim 6:8.
20.See Megillah 14a.
21.Tehillim 100:3. See also Bereishit Rabbah, beginning of ch. 1.
22.Note of the Rebbe: “Zohar I, 120b; Or HaTorah (Yahel Or) of the Tzemach Tzedek on this verse in Tehillim (and see further references there).”
23.Note of the Rebbe: “But see commentary of Rashi there.”
Rambam:
• Sefer Hamitzvot:
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oday's Mitzvah
Thursday, Tishrei 1, 5778 · September 21, 2017
A daily digest of Maimonides’ classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"
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Negative Commandment 166
A Priest's Ritual Purity
"He shall not become impure for the dead among his people"—Leviticus 21:1.
A kohen (priest) may not contract ritual impurity through contact with a human corpse. The exception to this rule are his next of kin [—his father, mother, brother, unmarried sister, son and daughter. The Sages added his wife to the list].
This prohibition only applies to male priests.
Full text of this Mitzvah »
A Priest's Ritual Purity
Negative Commandment 166
Translated by Berel Bell
The 166th prohibition is that a regular kohen is forbidden from becoming tameh for any dead person other than the relatives listed in the Torah.1
The source of this prohibition is G‑d's statement2 (exalted be He), "He shall not become tameh through the dead of his people."
One who transgresses this prohibition and becomes tameh for anyone other than the six3 specified relatives is punished by lashes.
This prohibition does not apply to women. The Oral Tradition4 explains the phrase,5 "Sons of Aaron," to mean, "Only the 'sons of Aaron,' not the daughters of Aaron."
FOOTNOTES
1.See P37.
2.Lev. 21:1.
3.See Kapach, 5731, footnote 26.
4.Sifra, Parshas Emor.
5.Lev. 21:1.
Rambam:
• 1 Chapter A Day: Melachim uMilchamot Melachim uMilchamot - Chapter 7
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Audio: Listen | Download | Video ClassMelachim uMilchamot - Chapter 7
1
In both a milchemet mitzvah and a milchemet hareshut, a priest is appointed to address the nation before the battle. He is anointed with the oil of anointment and is called, the meshuach milchamah.
א
אחד מלחמת מצוה ואחד מלחמת הרשות ממנין כהן לדבר אל העם בשעת המלחמה ומושחין אותו בשמן המשחה וזהו הנקרא משוח מלחמה:
2
The meshuach milchamah speaks to the nation twice: Once, at the border, as the army is leaving before they assume battle positions. At that time, he tells the nation: 'Is there a man who has planted a vineyard and has not redeemed his first crop?...' (Deuteronomy 20:6). When these individuals hear his words, they should retreat from the battlefront.
He speaks a second time when the army has assumed battle positions: Then, he declares: 'Do not be afraid. Do not panic...' (ibid. 20:3).
ב
שתי פעמים מדבר משוח מלחמה אל העם אחת בספר בעת שיוצאין קודם שיערכו המלחמה אומר לעם מי האיש אשר נטע כרם ולא חללו וגו' כשישמע דבריו יחזור מעורכי המלחמה ואחת בעורכי המלחמה אומר אל תיראו ואל תחפזו:
3
When the armies assume battle positions and will shortly join in war, the meshuach milchamah stands in an elevated place before the array of the entire army. He addresses them in Hebrew:
Listen, Israel, today you are about to wage war against your enemies. Do not be faint-hearted. Do not be afraid. Do not panic and do not break ranks before them. God, your Lord, is the One accompanying you to do battle for you against your enemies to deliver you (ibid. 20:3-4).
These words are related by the meshuach milchamah. Afterwards, another priest of a lower rank, proclaims them to the people in a loud voice. Then, the meshuach milchamah announces:
Is there a man who has built a new house?... Let him go home...
Is there a man who has planted a vineyard?... Let him go home...
Is there a man who has consecrated a woman?... Let him go home... (ibid. 20:5-7).
These words are related by the meshuach milchamah. Afterwards, an officer proclaims these words to the nation in a loud voice. the officer announces on his own initiative: 'Is there a man who is afraid or faint-hearted? Let him go home...' (ibid. 20:8). Another officer proclaims these words to the people.
ג
עת שעורכין המערכות והם קרבים להלחם משוח מלחמה עומד במקום גבוה וכל המערכות לפניו ואומר להם בלשון הקדש שמע ישראל אתם קרבים היום למלחמה על אויביכם אל ירך לבבכם אל תיראו ואל תחפזו ואל תערצו מפניהם כי ה' אלהיכם ההולך עמכם להלחם לכם עם אויביכם להושיע אתכם עד כאן אומר משוח מלחמה וכהן אחר תחתיו משמיע אותו לכל העם בקול רם ואח"כ מדבר משוח מלחמה מי האיש אשר בנה בית חדש וגו' ומי האיש אשר נטע כרם וגו' ומי האיש אשר ארש וגו' עד כאן משוח מלחמה מדבר והשוטר משמיע לכל העם בקול רם ואחר כך מדבר השוטר מעצמו ואומר מי האיש הירא ורך הלבב ושוטר אחר משמיע לכל העם:
4
After these individuals depart from the battlefront, the army is arrayed again and commanding officers are appointed at the head of the nation.
Powerful officers with iron axes in their hands are placed in the rear of each array of troops. If a person wants to leave the battle, they have permission to chop off his legs, for flight is the beginning of defeat.
In which instances are the above-mentioned individuals sent away from the battlefront? In a milchemet hareshut. By contrast, in a milchemet mitzvah, the entire nation must go out to war, even a groom from his chamber, and a bride from her pavilion.
ד
ואחר שחוזרין כל החוזרין מעורכי המלחמה מתקנין את המערכות ופוקדים שרי צבאות בראש העם ומעמידין מאחור כל מערכה ומערכה שוטרים חזקים ועזים וכשילין של ברזל בידיהם הרוצה לחזור מן המלחמה הרשות בידן לחתוך את שוקו שתחלת נפילה ניסה בד"א שמחזירין אנשים אלו מעורכי המלחמה במלחמת הרשות אבל במלחמת מצוה הכל יוצאין ואפילו חתן מחדרו וכלה מחופתה:
5
Those who leave the battlefront include a person who builds:
a house to dwell in,
a barn for his cattle,
a woodshed, or
a storage house.
A person who builds one of the latter is deferred because those structures are also fit for dwelling.
Just as a person who builds a home is deferred from military service; so, too, one who buys a home, receives one as a present, or inherits one should also return from the front.
However, one who builds (a silo,) a gatehouse, an excedra, a porch, or a house that is less than four cubits by four cubits, and similarly, a person who steals a house does not return from the war.
ה
אחד הבונה בית לישיבתו ואחד הבונה בית הבקר בית העצים בית האוצרות הואיל וראוי לדירה ואחד הבונה ואחד הלוקח ואחד שניתן לו במתנה או היורש הרי זה חוזר אבל הבונה [בית התבן] ובית שער אכסדרה ומרפסת או בית שאין בו ארבע אמות על ארבע אמות או הגוזל בית הרי זה אינו חוזר:
6
Just as a person who plants a vineyard is deferred from military service; so, too, one who plants five fruit trees, even though they are of five different species recieves a similar deferment.
This applies to one who plants a vineyard, one who extends, one who grafts, the extensions and graftings must be significant enough to obligate the vine in orlah, one who buys, one who inherits, and one who received one as a present.
However, one who plants four fruit trees or five trees that do not bear fruit and similarly, one who steals a vineyard does not return from the battlefront because of it. Also, when a vineyard is planted by two partners, neither may return from the battlefront because of it.
ו
אחד הנוטע כרם ואחד הנוטע חמשה אילני מאכל ואפילו מחמשת מיני מאכל אחד הנוטע ואחד המבריך ואחד המרכיב הברכה והרכבה שהיא חייבת בערלה אחד הלוקח ואחד היורש ואחד שניתן לו במתנה אבל הנוטע ארבעה אילני מאכל או חמשה אילני סרק או שגזל כרם אינו חוזר עליו וכן כרם של שני שותפין אין חוזרין עליו:
7
Just as a man who consecrates a virgin is deferred from military service; so, too, a deferment is granted to one who consecrates a widow and similarly, to a man to whom a yevamah becomes obligated. Even if there are five brothers and one of them dies, all should return from the battlefont.
If a man consecrates a wife on the condition that the Kiddushin take effect retroactively from the day they were given after a year has passed and that time period is completed during a war, he should return from the battlefield.
ז
אחד המארס את הבתולה ואחד המארס את האלמנה וכן אם נפלה לו יבמה אפילו חמשה אחים ומת אחד מהן כולן חוזרין קדש אשה מעכשיו ולאחר שנים עשר חדש ושלם הזמן במלחמה חוזר ובא לו:
8
A person who remarries his divorcee and one who consecrates a woman whom he is forbidden to marry, for example, a widow for a High Priest, a divorcee or a woman who has undergone chalitzah for a common priest, or a mamzer or a natinah to an Israelite, or an Israelitess to a mamzer or natin, should not return from the battlefield.
ח
המחזיר את גרושתו והמארס אשה האסורה עליו כגון אלמנה לכהן גדול גרושה וחלוצה לכהן הדיוט ממזרת ונתינה לישראל בת ישראל לממזר ולנתין אינו חוזר:
9
All those who return from the army camp, return when they hear the proclamation of the priest. They must supply food and water to their brethren in the army and fix the roads for them.
ט
כל אלו שחוזרין מעורכי המלחמה כששומעין את דברי הכהן חוזרין ומספקין מים ומזון לאחיהם שבצבא ומתקנין את הדרכים:
10
The following should not go out to the army camp at all and should not be bothered for any obligation whatsoever:
one who builds a house and dedicates it;
one who marries the woman he consecrated or his yevamah;
one who redeems his vineyard.
They are not conscripted until the completion of one year as Deuteronomy 24:5 states: 'He must remain free for his home for one year and rejoice with the bride he took.' The Oral Tradition teaches that the one-year deferment applies whether he purchased a house, married a woman, or began to benefit from the fruit of his vineyard.
י
ואלו שאין יוצאין לעורכי המלחמה כל עיקר ואין מטריחין אותם לשום דבר בעולם הבונה בית וחנכו והנושא ארוסתו או שייבם ומי שחלל כרמו אין יוצאין עד תום שנה שנאמר נקי יהיה לביתו שנה אחת ושמח את אשתו אשר לקח מפי הקבלה למדו שיהיה נקי שנה בין לבית שקנה בין לאשה שנשא בין לכרם שהתחיל לאכול פריו:
11
During this entire year, he is not obligated to supply the troops with food or water. He should not fix the roads, guard the walls or pay the levy for beams for the gates of the city, as ibid. states: 'He shall not enter military service or be assigned any duties.'
The repetition of the prohibition teaches that the transgression of two prohibitions are involved. He is not obligated to his city, nor to the army.
יא
כל השנה אין מספק מים ומזון ולא מתקן דרך ולא שומר בחומה ולא נותן לפסי העיר ולא יעבור עליו שום דבר בעולם שנאמר לא יצא בצבא ולא יעבור עליו לכל דבר לעבור בשני לאוין לא לצרכי העיר ולא לצרכי הגדוד:
12
If a person builds a house and rents it to others, in the event the tenants pay the rent beforehand, it is considered as if he has already benefited from it. If they do not pay him rent until after twelve months have passed, it is considered as if he has not yet derived benefit.
יב
בנה בית והשכירו לאחרים והקדים לו שכרו הרי זה כמי שחנכו נתן לו שכרו לאחר שנים עשר חדש הרי הוא כמי שלא חנכו עד עתה:
13
The following rules apply when a man built a house, placed his belongings inside, and locked them within: If he has to spend time guarding them, it is considered as if he derived benefit from the home and began dwelling there. If he does not have to sit and guard them, he is considered as one who has derived no benefit from his home as of yet.
יג
בנה בית ונתן בו חפציו ינעל עליהם אם היה צריך לבטל על שמירתן הרי זה כמי שחנכו והתחיל לישב בו ואם אינן צריכין לישב ולשומרן הרי זה כמי שלא חנכו:
14
Anyone that builds a house or plants a vineyard outside of the land of Israel, is not sent back [from the battlefront].
יד
וכל הבונה בית או נוטע כרם בחוצה לארץ אינו חוזר עליהן:
15
To whom does the phrase 'Is there a man who is afraid or faint-hearted]?' refer? The phrase should be interpreted simply, as applying to a person whose heart is not brave enough to stand in the throes of battle.
Once a soldier enters the throes of battle, he should rely on the Hope of Israel and their Savior in times of need. He should realize that he is fighting for the sake of the oneness of God's Name. Therefore, he should place his soul in his hand and not show fright or fear.
He should not worry about his wife or children. On the contrary, he should wipe their memory from his heart, removing all thoughts from his mind except the war.
Anyone who begins to feel anxious and worry in the midst of battle to the point where he frightens himself violates a negative commandment, as it is written (Deuteronomy 20:3): 'Do not be faint-hearted. Do not be afraid. Do not panic and do not break ranks before them.'
Furthermore, he is responsible for the blood of the entire Jewish nation. If he is not valiant, if he does not wage war with all his heart and soul, it is considered as if he shed the blood of the entire people, as ibid. 20:8 states: 'Let him go home, lest he demoralize the hearts of his brethren like his own.' Similarly, the prophetic tradition explicitly states: 'Cursed be he who does God's work deceitfully. Cursed be he who withholds his sword from blood.' Jeremiah 48:10
In contrast, anyone who fights with his entire heart, without fear, with the intention of sanctifying God's name alone, can be assured that he will find no harm, nor will bad overtake him. He will be granted a proper family in Israel and gather merit for himself and his children forever. He will also merit eternal life in the world to come as I Samuel 25:28-29 states: 'God will certainly make my lord a faithful house, for my lord fights the wars of God and evil will not be found with you... and my lord's soul will be bound in a bond of life with God.'
טו
מי האיש הירא ורך הלבב כמשמעו שאין בלבו כח לעמוד בקשרי המלחמה ומאחר שיכנס בקשרי המלחמה ישען על מקוה ישראל ומושיעו בעת צרה וידע שעל יחוד השם הוא עושה מלחמה וישים נפשו בכפו ולא יירא ולא יפחד ולא יחשוב לא באשתו ולא בבניו אלא ימחה זכרונם מלבו ויפנה מכל דבר למלחמה וכל המתחיל לחשוב ולהרהר במלחמה ומבהיל עצמו עובר בלא תעשה שנאמר אל ירך לבבכם אל תיראו ואל תחפזו ואל תערצו מפניהם ולא עוד אלא שכל דמי ישראל תלויין בצוארו ואם לא נצח ולא עשה מלחמה בכל לבו ובכל נפשו הרי זה כמי ששפך דמי הכל שנאמר ולא ימס את לבב אחיו כלבבו והרי מפורש בקבלה ארור עושה מלאכת ה' רמיה וארור מונע חרבו מדם וכל הנלחם בכל לבו בלא פחד ותהיה כוונתו לקדש את השם בלבד מובטח לו שלא ימצא נזק ולא תגיעהו רעה ויבנה לו בית נכון בישראל ויזכה לו ולבניו עד עולם ויזכה לחיי העולם הבא שנאמר כי עשה יעשה ה' לאדוני בית נאמן כי מלחמות ה' אדוני נלחם ורעה לא תמצא בך וגו' והיתה נפש אדוני צרורה בצרור החיים את ה' אלהיך:
Rambam:
• 3 Chapters A Day: Avel Avel - Chapter 9, Avel Avel - Chapter 10, Avel Avel - Chapter 11
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Audio: Listen | Download | Video ClassAvel - Chapter 9
1
Whenever a person rends his garments after the loss of a relative other than a parent, he may sew the tear after the seven days of mourning and mend it after thirty days. For one's father and mother, he may sew the tear after thirty days, but may never mend it. A woman should rend her garments and sew them immediately, even when she lost a father or mother, as an expression of modesty.
א
כל הקרעים שקורע אדם על שאר קרוביו שולל הקרע לאחר שבעה ומאחה לאחר שלשים על אביו ועל אמו שולל לאחר שלשים ואינו מאחה לעולם והאשה קורעת ושוללת מיד אפילו על אביה ועל אמה מפני הצניעות:
2
Just as a person must rend his garments for the loss of his father and mother; so, too, he is obligated to rend his garments for the loss of a teacher who instructed him in the Torah, a nasi, the av beit din, the majority of the community who were slain, the cursing of God's name, the burning of a Torah scroll, when seeing the cities of Judah, Jerusalem, and the Temple in their destruction.
ב
כדרך שקורע אדם על אביו ועל אמו כך חייב לקרוע על רבו שלמדו תורה ועל הנשיא ועל אב בית דין ועל רוב הצבור שנהרג ועל ברכת השם ועל ספר תורה שנשרף ועל ערי יהודה ועל ירושלים ועל המקדש:
3
All of these tears should be rent to the extent that one reveals his heart and they should never be mended. Although they should never be mended, they may be sewed irregularly, sewn after the sides are wound or twisted together, or sewn like ladders. All that was forbidden was Alexandrian mending.
Whenever a person tears a garment in a place where it was sewn irregularly or sewn after the sides were wound and twisted together, his act is of no consequence. If, however, he rips a garment where it has been mended in an Alexandrian manner, it is of consequence.
Even one turns a rent garment upside down and makes its collar its hem, he should not mend it.
ג
כל אלו הקרעים קורע עד שמגלה את לבו ואינו מאחה לעולם ואף על פי שאין מתאחין מותר לשוללן למללן וללקטן ולעשותם כמין סולמות ולא אסרו אלא באיחוי אלכסנדרי בלבד וכל הקורע מתוך השלל או המלל או הלקוט לא עשה כלום אבל קורע מתוך האיחוי האלכסנדרי בלבד אפילו הפך הכלי ונעשה שפתו למטה לא יאחה:
4
Just as the seller may not mend it; so, too, the purchaser may not. Therefore the seller must notify the purchaser that this tear may not be mended.
ד
וכשם שהמוכר אסור לאחותו כך הלוקח לפיכך המוכר צריך להודיע ללוקח שקרע זה אינו מתאחה:
5
What is the source that teaches that one is obligated to rend his garments at his teacher's death just as he rends his garments for his father? II Kings 2:12 states: "He was calling out: 'My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen.' And then he no longer saw him. And he took hold of his garments and tore them into two halves." This teaches that one must rip apart the collar.
ה
ומנין שקורע על רבו כדרך שקורע על אביו שנאמר והוא מצעק אבי אבי רכב ישראל ופרשיו ולא ראהו עוד ויחזק בבגדיו ויקרעם לשנים קרעים מכאן שחייב להבדיל השפה:
6
What is the source that teaches that one is obligated to rend his garments at the death of the nasi, the av beit din, and a report that the majority of the community have been slain? II Samuel 1:11-12 relates: "David took hold of his garments and rent them as did all the people who were with him. They mourned, they cried, and they fasted until the evening for Saul - the nasi - for his son Jonathan - the av beit din - and for the people of God and the House of Israel for they fell by the sword" - this is an unfavorable report.
ו
ומנין שקורעין על הנשיא ועל אב בית דין ועל שמועה שבאה שנהרג רוב צבור שנאמר ויחזק דוד בבגדיו ויקרעם וגם כל האנשים אשר אתו ויספדו ויבכו ויצומו עד הערב על שאול זה נשיא ועל יהונתן בנו זה אב"ד ועל עם ה' ועל בית ישראל כי נפלו בחרב זו שמועה רעה:
7
What is the source which teaches that one is obligated to rend his garments when hearing the blasphemy of God's name? II Kings 18:37 states: "And Elyakim ben Chilkiyah who oversaw the palace, Shevna the scribe, and Yoach ben Asaf the secretary, came to Chizkiyahu with rent garments." Just as one who hears the blasphemy itself must rend his garments; so, too, one who hears the report of the blasphemy from the listeners must rend his garments.
ז
ומנין שקורעין על ברכת השם שנאמר ויבא אליקים בן חלקיהו אשר על הבית ושבנא הסופר ויואח בן אסף המזכיר אל חזקיהו קרועי בגדים אחד השומע ואחד השומע מפי שומע חייבין לקרוע:
8
The witnesses are not obligated to rend their garments when they testify in court, for they already tore them when they heard the blasphemy.
ח
והעדים אין חייבין לקרוע כשיעידו בבית דין שכבר קרעו בשעה ששמעו:
9
What is the source which teaches that one is obligated to rend his garments for a Torah scroll that is burnt? Jeremiah 36:23-24 states: "And it came to pass that when Yehudi would read three or four columns... until the entire scroll was consumed by the fire in the hearth. And neither the king nor his servants became fearful, nor did they rend their garments." Implied is that one is obligated to rend one's garments.
One is obligated to rend one's garments only because of a Torah scroll that was burnt arrogantly as in the incident cited. One is obligated to rend one's garments twice: once for the parchment and once for the writing, as ibid.:27 states: "After the king burnt the scroll and the words."
ט
ומנין שקורעין על ספר תורה שנשרף שנאמר ויהי כקרא יהודי שלש דלתות וארבעה וגו' עד תם כל המגילה על האש אשר על האח ולא פחדו ולא קרעו את בגדיהם המלך וכל עבדיו מכלל שחייבין לקרוע ואין חייבין לקרוע אלא על ספר תורה שנשרף בזרוע כמעשה שהיה וחייב לקרוע שתי קריעות אחת על הגויל ואחת על הכתב שנאמר אחרי שרוף המלך את המגילה ואת הדברים:
10
What is the source which teaches that one is obligated to rend his garments when seeing the cities of Judah, Jerusalem, and the Temple in their destruction? Jeremiah 41:5 relates: "Men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men with their beards shaven and their garments rent."
י
ומנין שקורעין על ערי יהודה ועל ירושלים ועל המקדש שחרבו שנאמר ויבואו אנשים משכם ומשילה ומשומרון שמונים איש מגולחי זקן וקרועי בגדים:
11
Whoever is present with a dying person at the time his soul expires is obligated to rend his garments even if he is not his relative. Similarly, when a virtuous person dies, everyone is obligated to rend his garments because of him, even though he is not a sage. They tear them a handbreadth as other mourners do. When, however, a sage dies, everyone is considered as his relative. They rend their garments for him until they reveal their hearts and uncover their right arms. The house of study of that sage should be discontinued for all seven days of mourning.
Torah scholars have universally accepted the custom of rending their garments for a handbreadth in respect for each other even though they are equal in stature and neither of them teaches the other.
יא
כל מי שעמד עם המת בשעת יציאת נשמתו אע"פ שאינו קרובו חייב לקרוע וכן אדם כשר שמת הכל חייבין לקרוע עליו אף על פי שאינו חכם וקורעין טפח כשאר האבלים אבל חכם שמת הכל קרוביו והכל קורעין עליו עד שמגלין את לבם וחולצין מימין ובית מדרשו של אותו חכם בטל כל שבעה וכבר נהגו תלמידי חכמים בכל מקום לקרוע זה על זה טפח אע"פ שהן שוין ואין אחד מהם מלמד את חבירו:
12
Whenever a person rends his garments because of a sage who dies, as soon as he turns away from the bier, he may sew it irregularly. It appears to me that when a person rends his garments for a sage, he may mend them on the following day. For even when his teacher dies, one should mourn for him for only one day, either the day of his death or the day he hears the report of his death.
Similarly, it appears to me that a person who rends his garments because of the death of the nasi or the like may sew them irregularly on the following day even though he may never mend them.
יב
כל הקורעים על החכם שמת כיון שהחזירו פניהן מאחורי המטה שוללין ויראה לי שהקורע על החכם מאחה למחר שאפילו רבו שמת אין מתאבל עליו אלא יום אחד בלבד או יום מיתה או יום שמועה וכן יראה לי שהקורע על הנשיא וכיוצא בו שולל למחר אף על פי שאינו מאחה עליהם לעולם:
13
When a report comes that a sage has died, we rend our garments only at the time he is eulogized. This is the honor granted to him. One may sew the garment that day and mend it on the following day.
יג
חכם שבאה שמועתו שמת אין קורעין עליו אלא בשעת הספדו וזהו כבודו ושולל בו ביום ומאחה למחר:
14
When the Av Beit Din dies, everyone rends their garments because of him and uncovers their left arm. All of the houses of study in the city are discontinued. The members of the synagogue enter the synagogue and change their places. Those who sit at the south should sit at the north and those who sit at the north should sit at the south.
יד
אב בית דין שמת הכל קורעין עליו וחולצין משמאל וכל בתי מדרשות שבעירו בטלין ובני בית הכנסת נכנסין לבית הכנסת ומשנין את מקומן היושבין בדרום ישבו בצפון והיושבים בצפון ישבו בדרום:
15
When a nasi dies, everyone rends their garments because of him and uncovers both arms. All of the houses of study are discontinued. The members of the synagogue enter the synagogue on the Sabbath, call seven men to the Torah reading and depart. They should not stroll in the market place, but instead should sit together in families mourning the entire day.
טו
נשיא שמת הכל קורעין עליו וחולצין שתי הידים מכאן ומכאן ובכל בתי מדרשות בטלים ובני בית הכנסת נכנסין בשבת לבית הכנסת וקוראין שבעה ולא יטיילו בשוק אלא יושבין משפחות משפחות דוים כל היום:
Avel - Chapter 10
1
The Sabbath is counted as one of the days of mourning. Nevertheless, the laws of mourning are not observed on the Sabbath with the exception of private matters, e.g., veiling one's head, marital relations, and washing with hot water. With regard to matters which are obvious, however, the mourning laws are not observed. Instead, one may wear shoes, position his bed upright, and greet everyone.
If the mourner has another garment, he should change it. He should not wear a torn garment on the Sabbath even because of his father and mother. If he does not have a garment to change, he should turn the tear to the other side.
א
השבת עולה למנין אבילות ואין אבילות בשבת אלא בדברים שבצנעה כגון עטיפת הראש ותשמיש המטה ורחיצה בחמין אבל דברים שבגלוי אינו נוהג בהן אבלות אלא לובש מנעליו וזוקף את המטה ונותן שלום לכל אדם ואם יש לו בגד מחליף ולא ילבש בגד קרוע בשבת אפילו על אביו ועל אמו ואם אין לו להחליף מחזיר את הקרע לאחריו:
2
When may one position his bed upright on Friday? From the afternoon onward. Nevertheless, one should not sit on the upright bed until nightfall. Even when there remains only one day for the seven days of mourning, one should overturn the beds again on Saturday night.
ב
מאימתי זוקפים את המטות בערב שבת מן המנחה ולמעלה ואעפ"כ לא ישב עליה עד שתחשך ואע"פ שלא נשתייר לו אלא יום אחד חוזר וכופה אותן במוצאי שבת:
3
On the festivals and similarly, Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, we do not observe any of the mourning rites at all. Moreover, whenever anyone buries his dead even a small amount of time before a festival or before Rosh HaShanah or Yom Kippur, the decree requiring him to observe seven days of mourning is nullified.
Thus after Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, a mourner counts 23 days. After Pesach, he counts16 days - for the seven days of mourning are nullified and the seven days of the festival are equal to 14. Similarly, if the deceased was buried before Shavuos, the mourner counts 16 days afterwards. For even though the holiday is only one day, since it is a festival, it is counted as seven days.
ג
הרגלים וכן ראש השנה ויוה"כ אין דבר מדברי אבלות נוהג בהן וכל הקובר את מתו אפילו שעה אחת קודם הרגל או קודם ראש השנה ויום הכפורים בטלה ממנו גזירת שבעה נמצא מונה לאחר ראש השנה ויוה"כ שלשה ועשרים יום ולאחר הפסח ששה עשר יום שהרי בטלה גזירת שבעה ושבעת ימי החג הרי ארבעה עשר וכן אם קבר קודם עצרת מונה אחריה ששה עשר יום אע"פשהוא יום אחד הרי היא רגל ועולה לשבעה ימים:
4
When a person buries his dead before Sukkos, he should count only nine days after the festival. For Shemini Atzeret is a holiday in its own right. Thus the first day concludes the seven days, then come the seven days of the holiday, and the eighth day is considered as a festival. Thus there are 21 days.
ד
קבר את מתו קודם חג הסוכות מונה אחר החג תשעה ימים בלבד שהרי שמיני עצרת רגל בפני עצמו ונמצא יום טוב הראשון מפסיק שבעה ושבעת ימי החג ושמיני של חג רגל אחד הרי אחד ועשרים יום:
5
When a person buries his dead seven days before any one of the festivals or seven days before Rosh HaShanah or Yom Kippur, the decree requiring him to observe the 30 days of mourning is nullified. He is permitted to cut his hair and launder his garments on the day preceding the festival or Yom Kippur. The rationale is that a portion of the day is considered as the entire day. After the holiday, he does not count any other days of mourning.
If, however, he is mourning for his father or mother - even if they died more than 30 days before the festival - he may not cut his hair until it grows uncontrolled or until his friends rebuke him. The festivals do not nullify this measure.
ה
הקובר את מתו שבעת ימים קודם רגל מן הרגלים או קודם ראש השנה ויוה"כ בטלה גזרת שלשים ומותר לספר ולכבס בערב יום טוב או בערב יום הכפורים שמקצת היום ככולו ואינו מונה לאחריהם כלום ואם על אביו ועל אמו הוא מתאבל אפילו מתו קודם הרגל שלשים יום אינו מגלח עד שישלח פרע או עד שיגערו בו חביריו ואין הרגלים מפסיקין דבר זה:
6
When the sixth day of mourning falls on the day before the festival - needless to say, this law applies if the fifth or the third day falls on that day - he may not cut his hair. The festival nullifies only the decree requiring him to mourn for seven days. He is not permitted to wash, anoint himself, or perform any other practice forbidden during the days of mourning until the onset of the festival. The festival concludes the seven days of mourning. After the festival, he concludes all 30 days from the day of the death. During them, he is forbidden to perform any of the five practices mentioned in Chapter 6.
ו
חל ששי שלו בערב הרגל ואין צריך לומר חמישי או שלישי אינו מגלח ולא בטלה ממנו אלא גזירת שבעה בלבד ואינו מותר לרחוץ ולסוך ולעשות דבר עד שיכנס יום טוב ויום טוב מפסיק שאר השבעה ולאחר יום טוב משלים כל שלשים יום מיום המיתה ואסור בהן בכל חמשה דברים:
7
The following rules apply when the seventh day of mourning falls on the day before a festival and that day is the Sabbath. The decree requiring him to observe the 30 days of mourning is nullified and he may cut his hair in the midst of the holiday. For he was held back by forces beyond his control since he cannot cut his hair on the Sabbath. Similarly, one may cut one's hair after Shavuot or after Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, for the decree requiring him to observe the 30 days of mourning has been nullified and he may cut his hair whenever he desires.
ז
חל שביעי שלו להיות בערב הרגל והרי הוא שבת בטלה ממנו גזרת שלשים ומותר לגלח בתוך המועד שהרי אנוס היה ואי אפשר לו לגלח בשבת וכן מגלח אחר עצרת או אחר ראש השנה ויוה"כ שהרי בטלה גזירת שלשים ויש לו לגלח בכל עת שירצה:
8
When a person buries his dead in the midst of a festival, the laws of mourning do not apply to him. He does not observe the mourning rites in the midst of the festival. Instead, after the festival he begins to count the seven days of mourning and observes all of the mourning rites at that time. He counts the 30 days of Sheloshim from the day of the burial. In the days that remain from these 30 days, he observes all the restrictions required.
ח
הקובר את מתו בתוך הרגל לא חלה עליו אבילות כלל ואינו נוהג אבילות ברגל אלא לאחר הרגל מתחיל למנות שבעה ונוהג בהן כל דברי אבלות ומונה שלשים מיום הקבורה ונוהג בשאר השלשים בכל גזירות שלשים:
9
In the above situation, in places where the holidays are observed for two days, one should count seven days from the second day of the final days of the festival. Since its observance is a Rabbinic institution, it is included in the reckoning and he need count only six days afterwards. He counts the 30 days of Sheloshim from the day of the burial as stated above.
ט
המקומות שעושין שני ימים טובים מונה השבעה מיום טוב שני האחרון אף על פי שאינו נוהג אבילות הואיל ומדבריהם הוא עולה לו מן המנין ומונה אחריו ששה ימים בלבד ומונה שלשים יום מיום הקבורה כמו שאמרנו:
10
When a person buries his dead on the second day of a holiday which is the final day of a festival or on the second day of Shavuot, he should observe mourning rites, for the observance of the second day of a festival is a Rabbinic institution and the observance of mourning rites on the first day is a Scriptural obligation. Hence the observance of a positive Rabbinic commandment is superseded by the observance of a positive Scriptural commandment.
If, however, one buries his dead on the second day of Rosh HaShanah, he should not observe the mourning rites. For the two days of Rosh HaShanah are considered as one long day, because of the rationale explained in Hilchot Kiddush HaChodesh.
י
הקובר את מתו ביום טוב שני שהוא יום טוב האחרון או ביום טוב שני של עצרת נוהג בו אבלות הואיל ויום טוב שני מדבריהם ואבלות יום ראשון של תורה ידחה עשה של דבריהם מפני עשה של תורה אבל אם קבר ביום טוב שני של ראש השנה אינו נוהג בו אבלות ששניהן כיום ארוך הן מטעם שביארנו בהלכות קדוש החדש:
Avel - Chapter 11
1
Although the mourning rites are not observed at all during the festival, one should rend his garments because of his dead on a festival and uncover his shoulder. Similarly, we bring the mourners bread of comfort during a festival. All of the above applies during Chol HaMoed. On a festival, even the second day of a festival, one should not rend his garments, uncover a shoulder, or bring bread of comfort.
א
אף על פי שאין אבלות במועד קורע על מתו במועד וחולץ כתיפו ומברין את האבלים לחם במועד כל אלו בחולו של מועד אבל ביום טוב אפילו ביום טוב שני אין קורעין ולא חולצין ולא מברין:
2
We rend our garments and uncover our shoulders during a festival only for the relatives for whom we are obligated to mourn, for a sage, an upright person, or for a person when one was present at the time his soul expired.
Everyone brings the meal of comfort to his colleague for a sage during a festival in the main street of the city in the way the meal of comfort is brought for mourners. For everyone is a mourner because of him.
ב
אין קורעין במועד ולא חולצין אלא הקרובים שחייבין באבל או הקורע והחולץ על החכם או על אדם כשר או מי שהיה עומד בשעת יציאת נשמה ומברין הכל על החכם במועד לתוך הרחבה כדרך שמברין את האבלים שהכל אבלים עליו:
3
When we bring mourners the meal of comfort during a festival, we serve them while they are sitting on upright couches. We do not recite the mourning blessing during a festival. We do however stand in a line, comfort the mourners, and take leave of them.
We do not leave the bier in the public thoroughfare lest that encourage the delivery of a eulogy. For it is forbidden to deliver eulogies and to fast during a festival. Similarly, one should not gather the bones of one's father and mother during a festival for this evokes mourning for the person. Needless to say, this applies with regard to one's other relatives.
Similarly, we do not eulogize the dead on Chanukah, Purim, or Rosh Chodesh. We do, however, observe all the rites of mourning on those days. It is permitted to deliver eulogies on the days which precede and which follow Chanukah and Purim.
ג
כשמברין את האבלים במועד אין מברין אלא על מטות זקופות ואין אומרין ברכת אבלים במועד אבל עומדין בשורה ומנחמין ופוטרין ואין מניחין את המטה ברחוב שלא להרגיל את ההספד שהמועד אסור בהספד ובתענית וכן אין מלקטים עצמות אביו ואמו במועד שאבל הוא לו ואין צריך לומר שאר קרובים וכן אין מספידין את המת בחנוכה ובפורים ולא בראשי חדשים אבל נוהגין בהן כל דברי אבלות ומותר לספוד לפני חנוכה ופורים ולאחריהן:
4
During a festival, the woman may lament, but they do not pound their hands together in grief. On Rosh Chodesh, Chanukah, and Purim, they may both lament and pound their hands together in grief; they may not, however, recite dirges on any of these days. Once the dead has been buried, they should neither lament, nor pound their hands together.
ד
הנשים במועד מענות אבל לא מטפחות ובראשי חדשים ובחנוכה ובפורים מענות ומטפחות אבל אין מקוננות לא בזה ולא בזה נקבר המת לא מענות ולא מטפחות:
5
What is meant by lamenting? That all raise their voices in mourning together. By reciting dirges? That one recites a dirge and all respond in lament, as implied by Jeremiah 9:19: "to teach your daughters mourning and a woman, her friends, a dirge."
When do all the above restrictions apply? When ordinary people die. When, however, a Torah scholar dies, he is eulogized during a festival. Needless to say, this applies on Chanukah, Purim, and Rosh Chodesh. This does not apply on the second day of a holiday.
On the days when a eulogy is permitted, it is permitted only in the deceased's presence. Once he is buried, a eulogy is forbidden. On the day when one hears a report of his death, it is as if one is in his presence and he may be eulogized even if it is a distant report.
ה
אי זהו ענוי שכולן עונות כאחת קינה שאחת אומרת וכולן עונות אחריה שנאמר ולמדנה בנותיכם נהי ואשה רעותה קינה במה דברים אמורים בשאר העם שמתו אבל תלמיד חכם שמת סופדים אותו במועד ואין צריך לומר בחנוכה ובפורים וראשי חדשים אבל לא ביום טוב שני ואין סופדין אותו בימים אלו אלא בפניו נקבר אסורין בהספד ויום שמועתו כבפניו הוא וסופדין אותו אף על פי שהיא רחוקה:
6
A woman should not have a eulogy recited for a deceased person within 30 days so that the festival will not arrive when they are grieving. For a deceased person will not be forgotten in less than 30 days. When does the above apply? With regard to a person who died previously. If, however, a person died within 30 days of a festival, a eulogy may be recited.
ו
לא תעורר אשה על מת שלה שלשים יום קודם לחג כדי שלא יבא החג והם דוים שאין המת משתכח מן הלב שלשים יום בד"א במת ישן אבל אם מת בתוך שלשים יום סמוך לחג מעוררת:
7
The seven days of the wedding celebrations are comparable to a festival. Thus if a close relative of a person - even his father or mother - dies in the middle of these days of celebration, he should complete the seven days of celebration and then observe the seven days of mourning. He also counts the 30 days of mourning from the conclusion of the days of celebration.
ז
שבעת ימי החתנות הרי הן כרגל ומי שמת לו מת בתוך ימי המשתה אפילו אביו ואמו משלים שבעת ימי השמחה ואח"כ נוהג שבעת ימי אבלות ומונה השלשים מאחר ימי השמחה:
8
The following rules apply when one prepared all the necessities for the wedding feast, baked his bread, slaughtered his animals to enter the celebration, and then one of his close relatives died before he began the celebration. If he did not place the meat in water, he should sell the meat and the bread, observe the seven days of mourning, and then observe the seven days of the wedding celebrations.
If he already placed the meat in water - in which instance, it cannot be resold - the corpse is placed inside a room and the groom and the bride are taken to the wedding canopy. Afterwards, he should engage in the marital relations which are a mitzvah, and then separate from his wife. He should observe the seven days of celebration and then the seven days of mourning.
Throughout the seven days of celebration, he must observe the private aspects of the laws of mourning as is required on the Sabbath. Therefore he should sleep together with other men and his wife should sleep with other women so that they do not engage in relations. For these 30 days, the bride should not be prevented from wearing jewelry.
In a place where it is possible to sell the meat even though it was placed in water, it should be sold and the mourning period observed first. In a place where it is impossible to sell the meat even though it was not placed in water, the wedding celebrations should be observed first.
When does the above apply? When the father of the groom or the mother of the bride die. For if this feast is spoiled, they have no one to work to prepare another for them. If, however, the father of the bride, the mother of the groom, or other relatives die, one should observe the mourning period first. Only afterwards, should he enter the marriage canopy and observe the seven days of wedding celebrations.
ח
הכין כל צרכי הסעודה ואפה פתו וטבח טבחו כדי שיכנסו לשמחה ומת לו מת קודם שיכנסו לשמחה אם לא נתן מים על גבי בשר מוכר הבשר והפת ונוהג שבעת ימי אבלות ואחר כך נוהג שבעת ימי המשתה ואם נתן מים על גבי בשר שהרי אי אפשר למוכרו מכניסין את המת לחדר ואת החתן ואת הכלה לחופה ובועל בעילת מצוה ופורש ונוהג שבעת ימי המשתה ואח"כ נוהג שבעת ימי אבלות וכל אותן הימים נוהג בדברים שבצנעה כשבת לפיכך הוא ישן בין האנשים ואשתו ישנה בין הנשים כדי שלא ישמש מטתו ואין מונעין תכשיטין מן הכלה כל שלשים יום היו במקום שאפשר למכור הבשר אע"פשנתן עליו מים מוכר ונוהג אבילות תחלה היו במקום שאי אפשר למכור הבשר אע"פ שלא נתן עליו מים נוהג שבעת ימי המשתה תחלה במה דברים אמורים כשמת אביו של חתן או אמה של כלה שאם יפסידו סעודה זו אין להם מי שיטרח להם אבל אם מת אביה של כלה או אמו של חתן או שאר קרוביהם נוהגין שבעת ימי האבל תחילה ואחר כך תכנס לחופה וינהגו שבעת ימי המשתה:
Hayom Yom:
• English Text | Video Class
Thursday, Tishrei 1, 5778 · 21 September 2017
"Today's Day"
Thursday, Tishrei 1, 1st day of Rosh Hashana, 5704
Torah lessons: Chumash: Ha'azinu, Chamishi with Rashi.
Tehillim: 1-9. Also 88-90.
Tanya: XX. "He and His (p. 497) ...(creation). (p. 499).
In the b'racha of Candle-lighting: ...shel yom hazikaron (p.127). Shehecheyanu. L'Eila is said only once in kadish, except at Ne'ila. L'david...ha-aretz um'loa... (p. 276) before Aleinu. Daytime kidush: Tiku, ki chok (p. 269); do not say Eileh mo'adei or askinu. At Tashlich (p. 295) shake out corners of the tallit katan.
Say Yehi ratzon (p. 277) for the apple after the b'racha, before tasting. Lamb's head is eaten, but Yehi ratzon is said only for the apple.
Daily Thought:
Happy Birthday, Universe
Every year, our sages taught, with the cry of the shofar the entire universe is reborn.
And so, at that time, with our resolutions and our prayers, we hold an awesome power: To determine what sort of child this newborn year shall be—how it will take its first breaths, how it will struggle to its feet and how it will carry us through life for the twelve months to come.
In truth, it is not only once a year: At every new moon, in a smaller way, all life is renewed again.
And so too, every morning, we are all reborn from a nighttime taste of death.
And at every moment—in the smallest increment of time—every particle of the universe is projected into being out of absolute nothingness, as it was at the very beginning.
Which is why there is always hope. Because at every moment, life is born anew. And we are the masters of how this moment will be born.
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