Musings on the Torah

Judaism. So many definitions. But boiled down to its (Rabbinic) core a very specific and gendered essence begins to emerge.  Consider the Eved Canaani. He is obligated in mitzvos like a Jewess. When he is freed he is stepped up to the full observance reserved for Jewish men.  What about a Shifcha Canaanis? Is there any difference between her obligation of mitzvos and that of a full fledged Jewish woman? Apparently not (see Avnei Neizer YD 350:2 ). She is under the same halachic system as a Jewish woman (personal status issues aside). What then distinguishes her from a Jewess? Her ability to birth Jews. She is just as obligated in mitzvos as a Jewish woman but being that her children aren't Jewish she too isn't.  Prior to Mattan Torah, Chazal are of the opinion that Avraham and his progeny were Jewish.  What was the implication of that designation? For males it was circumcision.  What about for females? Ramban writes that from when Avraham entered the Bris he w...

The Torah doesn't provide a date for the splitting of the sea.  Chazal (e.g., Seder Olam Rabbah 5 ), however, place krias yam suf on the last day of Pesach (cited by Rashi to Shemos 14:5 ).  Seforno ( Vayikrah 23:36 , Devarim 16:8 ) sees the song that Israel engaged in together in praise of HaShem for that event as what imbued shevii shel pesach with the status of a Yom Tov.  People tend to view Pesach as getting started with the Exodus on the 15th (the catalyst for the first day being a YT) and culminating seven days later with krias yam suf, when the Egyptians were fully removed from the picture, thus completing Israel's salvation from the Egyptians.  However, in Rambam's telling, Pesach seems to be exclusively a celebration of the miracles that happened in Egypt and the Exodus, but nothing thereafter, significantly altering Pesach's character. In MT ( Chametz uMatzah, 7:1-2 ), Rambam is clear that the mitzvah of retelling the Exodus account is limited to the mirac...

Let's begin with the famous Gemara (B Shab 21b) regarding the miracle of the oil:  מַאי חֲנוּכָּה? דְּתָנוּ רַבָּנַן: ״בְּכ״ה בְּכִסְלֵיו יוֹמֵי דַחֲנוּכָּה תְּמָנְיָא אִינּוּן דְּלָא לְמִסְפַּד בְּהוֹן וּדְלָא לְהִתְעַנּוֹת בְּהוֹן. שֶׁכְּשֶׁנִּכְנְסוּ יְוָונִים לַהֵיכָל טִמְּאוּ כׇּל הַשְּׁמָנִים שֶׁבַּהֵיכָל, וּכְשֶׁגָּבְרָה מַלְכוּת בֵּית חַשְׁמוֹנַאי וְנִצְּחוּם, בָּדְקוּ וְלֹא מָצְאוּ אֶלָּא פַּךְ אֶחָד שֶׁל שֶׁמֶן שֶׁהָיָה מוּנָּח בְּחוֹתָמוֹ שֶׁל כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל, וְלֹא הָיָה בּוֹ אֶלָּא לְהַדְלִיק יוֹם אֶחָד. נַעֲשָׂה בּוֹ נֵס וְהִדְלִיקוּ מִמֶּנּוּ שְׁמוֹנָה יָמִים. לְשָׁנָה אַחֶרֶת קְבָעוּם וַעֲשָׂאוּם יָמִים טוֹבִים בְּהַלֵּל וְהוֹדָאָה.״ This Gemara makes no mention of the astonishing military victory of the Jews over the Greeks, nor attributes any of Chanuka's significance to it. On the other hand, the Al HaNissim prayer focuses on the religious persecution and the miraculous victory which enabled Judaism and the Temple to flourish again, seeing them as the main fa...

This piece attempts to explain the mechanics of Teshuvah in two distinct ways, each corresponding to different conceptions of the purpose of punishment Yoma 86a correlates the efficacy of Teshuvah to atone with the severity of the sin committed: עָבַר עַל עֲשֵׂה וְשָׁב אֵינוֹ זָז מִשָּׁם עַד שֶׁמּוֹחֲלִין לוֹ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר {ירמיהו ג':י"ד,כ"ב} שׁוּבוּ בָּנִים שׁוֹבָבִים עָבַר עַל לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה וְעָשָׂה תְּשׁוּבָה תְּשׁוּבָה תּוֹלָה וְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים מְכַפֵּר שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר {ויקרא ט"ז:ל'} כִּי בַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם מִכֹּל חַטֹּאתֵיכֶם עָבַר עַל כָּרֵיתוֹת וּמִיתוֹת בֵּית דִּין וְעָשָׂה תְּשׁוּבָה תְּשׁוּבָה וְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים תּוֹלִין וְיִסּוּרִין מְמָרְקִין שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר {תהלים פ"ט:ל"ג} וּפָקַדְתִּי בְשֵׁבֶט פִּשְׁעָם וּבִנְגָעִים עֲוֹנָם אֲבָל מִי שֶׁיֵּשׁ חִילּוּל הַשֵּׁם בְּיָדוֹ אֵין לוֹ כֹּחַ בִּתְשׁוּבָה לִתְלוֹת וְלֹא בְּיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים לְכַפֵּר וְלֹא בְּיִסּוּרִין לְמָרֵק אֶלָּא כּוּלָּן תּוֹלִין וּמִיתָה מְמָרֶקֶת שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר {ישעיהו ...

This write-up highlights the Torah's philosophy to punishment, namely, that its aim is to provide justice, rehabilitation and prevention—not dehumanization and debasement.  In two places, both in Ki Seitzei, the Torah discusses a reality where the demands of justice require a corporal response and yet in both places emphasizes the need to preserve human dignity and that the punishment not spill over into unnecessary degradation and the stripping away of the offender's humanity.  In both cases the Torah employs a word root that bespeaks dishonor and ignominy—קל(ל)ה—to describe the debasement it seeks to avoid. The first (Devarim 21:22-23) centers on where a person need be hung (either as deterrence [Chazal]), or to kill him [e.g., Qumran text, Peshitta]), with the Torah cautioning that it not be overdone, as that will result in unnecessarily mortifying debasement—כִּי קִלְלַת אֱלֹהִים תָּלוּי (,הגר"א דברים כ"א:כ"ג: כי קללת אלהים תלוי – אלהים הוא להפליג הדבר כמו הר...

This piece attempts to provide some color to a comment of Chazal regarding the Bnos Tzelafchad's חיבת הארץ as well as explain away an apparent inconsistency in a specific Amora's approach to it Bamidbar 27 opens with the daughters of Tzelafchad making their case to share in the distribution of EY by inheriting their sonless father Tzelafachad's portion instead of his brothers. Chazal posit a love for the land of Israel as their motivation, explaining that the reason this narrative is juxtaposed with the previous chapter owes to it being illustrative of an inferred contrast therein that only the men died out in the midbar as only they had cast aspersions on the land (to the extent of wanting to return to Egypt) as opposed to the women that were lovers of the land and wanted to proceed apace even after the report of the spies. Namely, ibid 26:64: וּבְאֵלֶּה לֹא הָיָה אִישׁ מִפְּקוּדֵי מֹשֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן אֲשֶׁר פָּקְדוּ אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּמִדְבַּר סִינָי with Rash...

God reveals Himself to Moshe at the burning bush and tells Moshe that he's being tasked with becoming Israel's redeemer.  Moshe pushes back with various issues that he feels need to be addressed for the mission to be successful. After God addresses them all Moshe ends with the plaintive "Send anyone but me!" continuing his resistance even after starting the mission (large swaths of Shemos 3:11-7:2).  In middle of it all Moshe tells HaShem that he can't imagine that Pharaoh will pay him any attention given that the Israelites hadn't acknowledged him because of his speech trouble (6:12).  The issue is that the Torah clearly spells out that the reason that the Israelites hadn't paid him attention was due to their shortness of breath and debilitating burden—not Moshe's speech impediment (6:9)?  A possible explanation may be that people tend to hyperfocus on their flaws as they loom large in their own vision.  People are often hesitant to take on something ...