Reclaimed reviewed

 I'm very grateful to Yosef Lindell for his recent incisive review of Talmud Reclaimed in the Jewish Press. The review focuses primarily on the opening third of the book.

Link to Yosef's review is here.

For comments and discussion of this post on Facebook,click here.

Repentance: to change our behaviour or ideas?

With Yom Kippur fast approaching in the midst of war and upheaval, it has been unusually challenging to concentrate my thoughts on the traditional seasonal discussion points such as judgement and repentance. This post is a brief attempt at to correct this oversight!

While for many, the term “repentance” is associated with the somewhat narrow yet laudable process of identifying one’s shortfalls from the previous year and attempting to repair them (seeking forgiveness in the process from anyone whom one has hurt), Rambam’s Laws of Teshuvah sees it far more broadly. Barely two chapters of this work on repentance focus on what I refer to as “micro-teshuvah”, while other chapters proceed to explore matters of free-will, necessary beliefs and the World to Come.

Particularly notable for me is the final chapter, which elaborates eloquently upon the notion of serving God out of love rather than for an ulterior motive. A notion which Rambam considers to represent the apex of divine worship in Judaism.

What emerges, it seems, is a concept of “macro-teshuva” which directs us not merely to examine our specific deeds, but also to develop and focus upon our ultimate religious ideals. The sort of person we aspire to be if circumstances so permitted. Not only our day-to-day actions but also our religious, moral and spiritual aspirations would appear to be an important part of our religious personality and relationship with God.

But to what extent does repentance even for specific sins require one to repair one’s thoughts?

An early teaching in Hilchot Teshuva relates that complete repentance is known to have been achieved if one has been placed in an identical situation with the same temptation – and this time withstood the ability to sin. This appearing to show that one now has gained the requisite self-discipline that one previously lacked.

However, as my friend Eitan Kastner recently pointed out to me, certain sins may also require a change of thought and attitude as well as simple self-restraint.

In his Shemonah Perakim, Rambam notes an apparent aggadic contradiction on this subject. On the one hand there is a Talmudic statement that “even if certain commandments had not been written in the Torah, we could legitimately claim that they ought to have been”, which presumes that we are able to discern reasons and spirit for the mitzvot. This is contrasted with the teaching that “One should not say that he does not wish for non-kosher food [etc]; rather, he should say, I would like to partake of it but my Father in Heaven has forbidden it to me”. Rambam shows how mitzvot which he labels mefursamot (widespread) – i.e. those which are commonly legislated in society (e.g. not to steal, murder…) – are understood to be in accordance with the Torah’s broader spirit and we would therefore expect to be prohibited. By contrast, mitzvot which have bear no clearly apparent reason (chukkim) such as prohibitions against certain foods and clothing mixtures are observed out of obedience to God’s word.

What emerges from here is that even the desire for the sort of sins which are considered to be inherently immoral is a fault and a matter than one should seek to educate oneself to amend. This being the case, would it be correct to argue that the ultimate form of repentance for such sins would not simply be a matter of self-control, however admirable, but a process of re-education too?

I would like to take this opportunity to wish readers a Shana Tova – a year of blessings, peace and better news. And hope that you will forgive me if anything that I have written has offended.

For comments and discussion of this post on Facebook, click here.

Is the concept of a 'chosen nation' inherently unfair?

Membership of any kind of elite club or select society is often designed to boost the status and egos of those fortunate enough to possess it - while leaving those excluded peering curiously and sometimes even enviously over their shoulder. When it comes to the elite club established by God, such inbuilt inequality can often prompt pointed and difficult questions:

Why did God desire and establish such a two-tiered system in which the apparently privileged “Chosen Nation” enjoys such a significant hereditary advantage over their unchosen counterparts?

Judaism Reclaimed addresses this question on the basis of Seforno’s commentary to a verse (32:7) in yesterday’s Torah reading – as developed by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. Seforno, like other commentators, understands parashat Ha’azinu to represent a poetic progression through human history as seen from God’s perspective.

In Seforno’s telling, God’s initial and ideal plan was for all of humanity to join together as a single society to serve God and implement a thriving moral and spiritual society. As explained by Rav Hirsch, it was only the repeated failures – such as those of the generations of the flood and tower of Babel – which necessitated a recalibration of the divine plan. This was because, while a single cohesive society could, in theory, unite more effectively to further God’s will, at the same time this also created a commensurate potential for evil to be spread quickly across human society.

When God promised, in the aftermath of the flood, that He would never again bring about worldwide destruction, this led to the splintering of human society into different countries, cultures and languages. From this point, evil could be more easily isolated – as seen in the instance of Sodom – but so too would the effective implementation of God’s moral and spiritual teachings be isolated to specific worthy communities.

The opening chapter of Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi’s Kuzari develops the idea that, for God’s purpose in creation to be realised, a broadly righteous and morally functioning society needed to be established which could receive God’s teachings and then successfully transmit it throughout the generations – to its own descendants and also, eventually to the entire humanity. The Kuzari relates that, in the 20 generations between Adam and Avraham, there was a steady supply of righteous individuals who taught this new mission with which humanity had been charged. However, these individuals were unable to influence the world around them by spreading this message and building a society based upon its values.

In subsequent chapters, Judaism Reclaimed continues to develop this idea of the nature and role of the Chosen Nation – including a teaching of the Rambam that the spiritual achievements of the Avot led to such a powerful providential overflow that it was even able to guide the fortunes of their descendants. Ultimately, as is also demonstrated, membership of the Chosen Nation is not solely a privilege but, in reality, a double-edged sword. The heightened providential focus which facilitates our ability to carry God’s torch and be a light unto the nations also means that, when we fall short, this attracts more immediate and intense divine correction.

Finally, the more universalist approach of Rav Hirsch, Rambam and the Seforno also informs their interpretations of prophecies which concern the messianic era. Having recognised that the humanity’s ideal is for the entire world to join to serve God, these commentators emphasise the prophecies which see all of humanity unite to serve God.

For comments and discussion of this post on Facebook, click here.

Reasons for mitzvot: the hidden and revealed

In one particularly mysterious verse from yesterday’s Torah reading we are told “The hidden matters are for Hashem our God, and the revealed matters are for us and our children…”. Yet the identity of these “hidden matters” is not revealed to us!

Needless to say, the commentaries step into the breaching to offer a range of suggestions. One that tends to be overlooked, however, is that of Ralbag who understands the verse to be addressing the rationales and reasons behind mitzvot – some of which we are aware and other which remain “hidden” and beyond our comprehension. In keeping with this analysis, Ralbag’s Torah commentary highlights “benefits” rather than stating “reasons” for the commandments.

It can be argued that Rambam adopts a very similar approach towards reasons for mitzvot. On the one hand he appears to provide comprehensive practical reasons for mitzvot which fulfil the functions of establishing a functioning moral society that directs its members towards religious and spiritual accomplishment. Yet at the same time he also adds emphatically at the conclusion of these reasons that “We only appreciate the justice of some of His commandments...what is hidden from us...is much more considerable than what is manifest”.

Talmud Reclaimed explores an additional fascinating dimension of Rambam’s approach to offering reasons for mitzvot.

In the third section of Moreh Nevuchim, Rambam undertakes a comprehensive study of ta’amei hamitzvot – the extent to which we can propose reasons for divine commandments. Addressing the broader question of the extent to which we can expect mitzvot to impart positive benefits, he cites two apparently contradictory midrashic positions. The first, found in the Talmud Yerushalmi, expounds a verse in Devarim:

“The matter is not empty for you” – if it is [i.e. seems] empty then it is [on account of] you. For you have not adequately delved into the Torah.”

Rambam explains that this Midrash refers to reasons for the Torah’s commandments – that none of the mitzvot are “empty” and devoid of a positive function – and that, if it appears to be so, the lack is only in the reader’s comprehension of the Torah.

However, a very different approach appears to be taken in Bereishit Rabbah:

“Does the Holy One Blessed be He really care whether an animal is slaughtered from the front or back of its neck? Rather, the mitzvot were given only to refine the creations [i.e. people].”

Rambam proposes a controversial solution to this contradiction, asserting that

"The generality of the mitzvah has a certain reason, and was commanded for a clear benefit. But details which it contains are only for [the sake of fulfilment of] the commandment."

He continues by explaining how the command to slaughter an animal is primarily concerned with using a sharp knife in order to give the animal a quick death. Similarly, with regard to the details of sacrifices, he explains that the reason for them is to withdraw the Jews from pagan culture, adding:

“Anyone who troubles himself to offer reasons for all its minutiae is in the grip of a prolonged madness…Necessity determined that there should be details for which no reason could be given. It would be something impossible within the context of the Law not to have contained this type of detail.”

It is pointless to ask why detail A rather than detail B was selected, since the very same challenge could have been made if detail B had been selected in its place. It is crucial for us to determine, therefore, how exactly Rambam distinguished between (i) the “generality” of commandments that are taken to relate to and further their function, and (ii) the details which are “necessary for the commandment” but do not relate to its basic purpose.

Fortunately, Rambam’s lengthy study of hundreds of commandments and their reasons—which spans a full fifteen chapters of Moreh Nevuchim—provides copious material for examination. These 15 chapters see Rambam systemise the commandments into their respective categories, before moving methodically through them in order to elucidate their underlying functions and the benefits that they confer. While some commandments merit only a fleeting generalised mention, others are analysed by Rambam in greater detail – drawing upon some of the more specific laws which govern their practice.

What is striking however, is that none of these specifics of the commandments ever includes a detail which has been hermeneutically derived by the sages – the sort of rabbinically-derived details of Torah law which constitute the vast majority of the Talmud. Instead, these details are gleaned from verses of the Torah (or later prophets) or are based upon traditions that Rambam considers to have been transmitted from Sinai as part of the core and immutable “received explanations” of commandments. Talmud Reclaimed contains an Appendix in which these 15 chapters of Moreh Nevuchim are analysed in order to demonstrate the accuracy of this theory.

Talmud Reclaimed then proceeds to combine this distinction that Rambam makes here between core aspects of each commandment in terms of the function of each mitzvah together with another Maimonidean distinction between core and peripheral aspects of mitzvot: Rambam’s distinction between core aspects of each commandment – which he understood to be transmitted intact from Sinai and immutable – and the finer rabbinically-derived details of biblical law which could be subject to dispute and altered by future Sanhedrin.

What emerges is a fundamental distinction, within Rambam’s understanding of Talmudic law. A distinction which, when fully internalised and applied to one's Talmud study can brilliantly illuminate many of the perplexing problems that one encounters in the vast and often confusing sea of the Talmud.

For comments and discussion of this post on Facebook, click here.