This Jewish Life - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe

At the beginning of the Second Commonwealth Era the Jews were introduced to a reality that they were previously unexposed to; namely living in Israel under foreign rule. With relatively minor exceptions such as the successful Macabbean revolt in 67 BCE and the Bar Kochba Revolt in 132 CE, Israel will be thenceforth dominated by non Jewish entities until the founding of the modern State of Israel. This created unique challenges for the Jewish communities living in Israel at that time. They were at the mercy of their hosts, and no longer could they feel at home and have their rights to live and practice as a Jew guaranteed. Additionally, the spiritual effects of the exposure to these foreign influences began to permeate into the ideological and religious consciousness of the people. Jews abandoning their dedication to their religion became a trend. The offices of Jewish central authority became destabilized opening up room for spiritual dissent and spiritual descent. This is a story of Jewish resolve in the face of tremendous conflict.

Belief in the idea that God communicates to man is an essential principle of our religion. In fact, various elements of prophecy comprise four of the thirteen principles of the Jewish faith that Maimonides enumerates as necessary for inclusion in the religion. What does prophecy mean? How does one become a prophet? How are claims of prophecy vetted? What was the leadership role of prophets throughout the ages? What was unique about the prophecy of Moses?

As Jews we believe that God is not only the Creator of the Universe, but also is constantly sustaining the world with spiritual and physical nourishment and individually supervising all humans. The extent of how involved God is with us in the most minute fashion is revealed when the Talmud declares “A person cannot bend his finger from below unless it is thus decreed from above”. Yet surely we cannot rely on God totally and neglect our own responsibilities. Or can we? In this class we examine some of the sources in classical Jewish literature that grapple with this delicate subject.

שלשה מעין עוה”ב, אלו הן: שבת, שמש, ותשמיש. תשמיש דמאי, אילימא תשמיש התטה, הא מכחש כחיש, אלא תשמיש נקבים (ברכות דף נז:) The Talmud does not dispense secrets like gumballs. Therefore the Aggadic secrets of the Talmud are masked in parables, fantastic stories, allusions and the like and only after much toil can one uncover their true meaning and gain insight into the wisdom contained within. In this class we learn a lot about the Sabbath, the eternality of the Soul and the interplay of humanity’s body-soul makeup from examining, investigating and analyzing a brief and seemingly obscure, confounding and befuddling Talmudic statement.

It is probably impossible for us to truly recognize the enormity of the existential challenges confronting the Jewish people during the beginning of the Second Commonwealth, circa 350 BCE. The nation was still reeling from the trauma of the destruction of the first Temple and the subsequent exile 70 years prior and had just narrowly avoided Haman’s genocidal ambitions. The people’s physical status was unstable at best, but several factors combined to create a spiritual crisis that threatened to completely derail the Jewish religion entirely and to doom the critical mission of Tikkun Olam entrusted to the Jewish people by the Almighty eons earlier. During this period of time spanning more than 400 years many of the basic institutions of normative Judaism will either disappear entirely or remain but as mere shells of their former glory. The Temple was indeed being rebuilt in Jerusalem, but it was to be besieged by corruption, devoid of the ever present miracles that graced the First Temple and even lacking some of the sacred vessels such as the Ark of the Covenant. A Jewish reality was emerging wherein the majority of Jews will no longer be living in Israel; the masses choosing to remain in Babylon. The Second Temple period was to see only illegitimate kings; the Davidic monarchy only controlling the spiritual, not the political, leadership mantle of the people. This era also coincided with the end of prophecy. Judaism thenceforth was relegated to being a non prophet organization. This loss of a direct divine channel opened the door for massive mutiny, internal infighting and schismatic sectarianism, and placed the accurate transmission of the Oral Torah in jeopardy. An assembly of 120 Sages under the leadership of Ezra was convened to ensure the survival of Judaism, and the remarkable foresight and impact of these personalities and their decisions paved the way for the vibrant and flourishing Judaism that we still have today.

Jews are not strangers to suffering. Jewish History is most easily described as an endless litany of expulsion, dispersion, exile, antisemitism, pogrom, Inquisition, Holocaust, blood libels, Autos-da-fé, ghettoization and ceaseless economic and social marginalization. When a person of faith is confronted with suffering – and especially when the sufferer is a person of good moral character – the correct question to ask is: why would God do this? Why would a a fair, just and good God cause innocent babies who have committed no wanton sins to die in infancy? Why do bad things happen to good people and conversely why do good things happen to bad people? These legitimate questions are already discussed in the Talmud and what emerges from the classical sources are fascinating insights to the Jewish view on life, death and the meaning of suffering. The two Talmudic sources discussed: ואמר רבי יוחנן משום רבי יוסי: שלשה דברים בקש משה מלפני הקדוש ברוך הוא ונתן לוֹ וכו’ בקש להודיעו דרכיו של הקדוש ברוך הוא ונתן לו, שנאמר: (שמות ל״ג) הודיעני נא את דרכיךֹ אמר לפניו: רבונו של עולםִ מפני מה יש צדיק וטוב לו ויש צדיק ורע לו, יש רשע וטוב לו ויש רשע ורע לו? אמר לו: משה, צדיק וטוב לו ־ צדיק בן צדיק, צדיק ורע לו ־ צדיק בן רשע, רשע וטוב לו ־ רשע בן צדיק, רשע ורע לו ־ רשע בן רשע. אמר מר: צדיק וטוב לו ־ צדיק בן צדיק, צדיק ורע לו ־ צדיק בן רשע. איני? והא כתיב: (שמות ל״ד) פקד עון אבות על בנים, וכתיב: (דברים כ״ד) ובנים לא יומתו על אבות ורמינן קראי אהדדי ומשנינן: לא קשיא, הא ־ כשאוחזין מעשה אבותיהם בידיהם, הא ־ כשאין אוחזין מעשה אבותיהם בידיהםִ אלא, הכי קאמר ליה: צדיק וטוב לו ־ צדיק גמור, צדיק ורע לו ־ צדיק שאינו גמור, רשע וטוב לו ־ רשע שאינו גמור, רשע ורע לו ־ רשע גמור. (ברכות ז.) אמר רב יהודה אמר רב: בשעה שעלה משה למרום, מצאו להקב״ה שיושב וקושר כתרים לאותיות, אמר לפניו: רבש״ע, מי מעכב על ידך? אמר לו: אדם אחד יש שעתיד להיות בסוף כמה דורות ועקיבא בן יוסף שמו, שעתיד לדרוש על כל קוץ וקוץ תילין תילין של הלכות. אמר לפניו: רבש״ע, הראהו לי, אמר לו: חזור לאחורך. הלך וישב בסוף שמונה שורות, ולא היה יודע מה הן אומרים, תשש כחוֹ כיון שהגיע לדבר אחד, אמרו לו תלמידיו: רבי, מנין לך? אמר להן: הלכה למשה מסיני, נתיישבה דעתו. חזר ובא לפני הקב״ה, אמר לפניו: רבונו של עולם, יש לך אדם כזה ואתה נותן תורה ע״י? אמר לו: שתוק, כך עלה במחשבה לפני. אמר לפניו: רבונו של עולם, הראיתני תורתו, הראני שכרו, אמר לו: חזור [לאחורך]. חזר לאחוריו, ראה ששוקלין בשרו במקולין, אמר לפניו: רבש״ע, זו תורה וזו שכרה? א״ל: שתוק, כך עלה במחשבה לפני. (מנחות כט:)

The Jewish Bible consists of 24 books. All 613 mitzvot are instructed in the first five books collectively known as the Torah. The very end of the Torah tells the story of the death of Moses on the doorstep of Israel. The next section of the Bible, collectively known as the Prophets and beginning with the book of Joshua, document what happens to the Jewish people as they begin their conquest and settlement of Israel, their battles with it’s indigenous peoples and the political, social and spiritual ups and downs of the nation and her leaders. In this class we meet great visionary leaders such as Samson, Devorah, Saul, Ezra, David, Solomon and the prophet Samuel, debate the traditional perspective of the David and Bathsheba controversy and draw parallels between the triumphs and missteps of yesteryear and the challenges facing the Jewish people in contemporary times.

תנא דבי אליהו ששת אלפים שנה הוי עלמא שני אלפים תוהו שני אלפים תורה שני אלפים ימות המשיח (סנהדרין דף צז.) “They taught in the Academy of Elijah: Six thousand years is the world; two thousand chaos, two thousand Torah, two thousand years Messiah” (Sanhedrin 97a) The core tenet of the Jews that the world had a beginning; a rallying cry that they proclaimed for millennia to the derision of the rest of humanity, has only recently been adopted by all as true via newfound and incontrovertible evidence. After thousands of years all now concede to the very first word of the Torah; there was indeed a beginning. This cryptic Talmudic statement teaches us there is an end as well. The world is a process leading up to an ultimate and unavoidable conclusion. What is this conclusion? What is the meaning of these three epochs? In this first class of a series on Jewish History we explore the philosophical roadmap of the subject, examine the various ways God intervenes in it and, beginning with Abraham up to the death of Moses, tell the story of history’s most unprecedented people and their journey. The Nine Characteristics of God video referenced in the class can be found HERE.

The clear and copious evidence that the Torah is of divine origin (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) is incontrovertible to all but the most unreasonable of skeptics. In this class we continue the exposition of presenting convincing proofs that the Torah could not be written by man and also explain how the text of the Torah was transmitted from the times of Moses till today without any errors whatsoever. When we see hagbaha, we can indeed sincerely proclaim: “וזאת התורה אשר שם משה לפני בני ישראל על פי ה’ ביד משה” “And this is the Torah that Moses placed before the children of Israel, per the dictation of God in the hand of Moses.”

Yom Kippur is a day unlike any other. Every other day of the year our spiritual growth is limited to small steps; like climbing a ladder – we cannot skip any rungs. Yom Kippur is a spiritual cornucopia – 24 hours to make meteoric spiritual ascensions before this golden opportunity expires. In this class we learn how to maximize Yom Kippur and make it memorable, marvelous and meaningful.