BS"D
It was three years ago this morning that Gilad Shalit was kidnapped from Israel by Hamas (by the way, חמס means evil-doing, to violently rob, or oppress) and hidden in Gaza.
Since then there has been only one recording of his voice and three letters allowed by his captors to his family. Nobody has been allowed to see him, not even the International Committee of the Red Cross. He was only 19 when we was taken. Can you imagine not seeing your child for three years?
Human Rights Watch is demanding that Hamas end their cruel and inhumane treatment of Gilad.
Gilad's father and grandfather asked for Rav Ovadia Yosef to pray for his safe return. Gilad's father also asked Ha-Ga'on Ha-Rav Elyashiv Shlita for a blessing that his son may be released and safely allowed back home. Aviva Shalit, Gilad's mother, has written a letter begging us all to help.
Some even posit that Gilad Shalit may be a sign that Moshiach is even closer than we think.
It's frustrating when I cannot do much. Most of us can only blog or change our Facebook profile pictures or status updates to raise people's consciousness. Today there's a push to make #Gilad a trending topic on Twitter. I'm doing these things, but there's one more thing I can do:
There are 24 mentions of (גִּלְעָד) "Gilad" in Torah. I am going to repair them all today in the Sefer Torah I'm fixing, on the third anniversary of Gilad Shalit's kidnapping, with the intention that he be restored, body soul & spirit, to his loving family & friends NOW.
Pictures to follow.
---
Cross-posted on Facebook
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Parshat Be-Ha'alotekha Parte Deux: Nuns Sealed Shut
BS"D
Psych!
Did you really believe yesterday's post, that I would refuse to comment on the two backward Nuns (those would be Hebrew letters (נ), not ladies dressed modestly and wearing crucifixes)?
How could I resist? I mean REALLY?
Peshat
Before and after Sefer Be-midbar/Numbers 10:35-36, there is a backwards letter Nun surrounded by space:
These verses preserve the invocation prayers in connection with the going forward and the resting of the Ark on our jouney through the desert to the Land of Israel. They are chanted to this day at the opening and closing of the ark and/or parokhet, whenever the Torah is read in the synagogue.
These two verses are enclosed with a long space, a letter Nun hafukh or mezuneret (isolated), then another long space on either end. I've seen thousands of Torah scrolls in my sofrut career, and I've noticed that these two Nunim can be written not only backward, but upside down, or even facing front, looking back over their shoulders. הָפוּךְ hafukh can mean reversed, inverted, inverse, in disarray, or even in slang "cafe au lait"!). There are many scribal rules about these spaces and letters, but no universal agreement.
Why are they here? Were they originally written into the text by hand by Moshe Rabbeynu atop Mount Sinai as dictated by The Holy One? If not, then do these addition graphic signs present a Halakhic or historical problem, since we are forbidden by Torah to add anything to the Torah?
Sefer Devarim/Deuteronomy 13:1 states:
The RaMBaM, Maimonides, writes:
So when the Rabbis institute a new law, they have to be clear that they aren't adding to the Torah at all, only building a fence around the Torah, to help the rest of us avoid breaking the Torah's laws.
When we trace these two Nunim and their wide spaces back through to our oldest surviving Torah scrolls and manuscripts - Rashi commented on this so we know this scribal feature of Torah scrolls is at least 1,000 years old - we find that there has in fact been a change, that there was some kind of metamorphosis. Here are the verses in a 700-year-old Torah scroll. Does this look like any of the Sifrei Torah you have in your synagogue? NO!
Forgive me for sounding apikorsodox when I ask: did our great Sages enact this change in text, or did the Scribes? Or both? Are these signs, added later, a fence around the journey of our Holy Ark?
So how is this a fence?
The backward Nuns could be written here like this to indicate either that they are not in their original place: Both Rav Ashi and R' Shim'on ben Gamli'el explain that when the Messiah comes in the future this section will be removed from here and written in its proper place.
Another traditional idea is that they are taken from another source (possibly from "The Book of the Wars of the Lord", Numbers/Be-midbar 21:14 [parshat Chuqat]) and form a distinct section, scroll, or even "book" of the Torah. Some of the Rabbis thought of the Book of Numbers/Sefer Be-midbar as consisting of three parts (Chapters 1 - 10:34; Chapter 10:35 - 36; Chapters 11 - 36), and, in consequence, counted seven books of the Torah.
Thus, according to Rabbi Yochanan, Mishley/Proverbs 9:1
referred to the Seven Books of the Torah. R' Shmu'el ben Nachman agrees.
There is a supporting baraita for this idea: Rabbi Yehudah Ha-Nasi said the strange layout of spacing and inverted Nunim isn't because these pasuqim/verses are in the wrong place, but because they are an important book standing on their own.
Why the letter Nun?
There are no less than ten words, or letters, or groups of words or letters appearing in the text of our Torahs which carry a dot above their heads. That discussion is too broad for this particular article, so I'll deal with them at another time. The point here is that the word "dot" in Hebrew is נקד, naqud, and the initial of that word, obviously, is the letter Nun.
Many opinions suggest that in this instance every single letter of these two verses was dotted, causing a very problematic result: difficult to lay out, to write, and to read. This would also mean that G@d's name would be dotted, which is impossible, since dotting traditionally indicates a erasing or effacement of the letters which are dotted (which I'll explain in a separate article). All Very Bad. Instead, a letter Nun was placed on either end, at the beginning and at the end of the journey of the Holy Ark, but written irregularly, to reflect the irregularity of the dots, the placement, or otherwise, and to ensure that they were never inadvertently entered into the text permanently, over time.
Kabbalah
The gematrial value of the letter Nun is 50.
There are fifty Gates of Understanding or Wisdom in our tradition. The same gates which we pass through as we count the omer between the second day of Pesach and Shavu’ot, invoking the presence of each S’firah as we walk the Tree of Life. Each Gate refers to the nature of each of the fifty references to our Exodus in the Sefer Torah, and to the fifty queries into the nature of Creation which G@d poses Job. These verses are gated off from the rest of the Torah.
Why Fifty?
One way of solving mysteries in Judaism is of course to turn to numbers. Words which share the same numerological value are considered to be connected in a very deep way, a way that is not so apparent on the surface. So what can I do with this number? A word which also has a value of 50 is spelled Alef-Tet-Mem Sofit (אָטַם): atam meaning "seal" or "shut" or even "water-tight". These two verses are sealed off from the rest of the Torah.
בַּסּוֹף
The word נֶאֱמָן ne'eman, "faithful", begins and ends with a Nun just as these verses do. This could be an indicator that we can rely on the information communicated in these verses. That as long as we keep ourselves under the protective wings of the Shekhinah, G@d's Holy Sheltering Presence, by keeping our commandments and staying true to our covenant, that we have nothing to fear. For G@d is One, there is nothing else, so all that denies this One Universal Truth will surely נָס, disappear.
Sources:
Talmud Bavli Masekhet Shabbat 115b; 116a
Talmud Bavli Masekhet Sofrim (the scribe's tractate) 6, 2
"The Burnt Book: Reading the Talmud", by Rabbi Marc-Alain Ouaknin
RaMBaM, "Mishneh Torah, Book Fourteen: Sefer Shofetim, Laws of Rebels" 2:9
Sofer.co.uk
Rashi's commentary on Rosh Hashannah 17b as related by Rabbi Solomon Luria in his Responsum #63
Nehama Leibowitz, "Studies in Bamidbar"
---
Cross-posted on Facebook
Psych!
Did you really believe yesterday's post, that I would refuse to comment on the two backward Nuns (those would be Hebrew letters (נ), not ladies dressed modestly and wearing crucifixes)?
How could I resist? I mean REALLY?
Peshat
Before and after Sefer Be-midbar/Numbers 10:35-36, there is a backwards letter Nun surrounded by space:
וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן, וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה: קוּמָה יְהוָה, וְיָפֻצוּ אֹיְבֶיךָ, וְיָנֻסוּ מְשַׂנְאֶיךָ, מִפָּנֶיךָ.
לו וּבְנֻחֹה, יֹאמַר: שׁוּבָה יְהוָה, רִבְבוֹת אַלְפֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.
Now it was, when the coffer was to march on, that Moshe would say: 'Arise (to attack), O Y-H-V-H, so that Your enemies may scatter; and that those who hate You may flee before You!'. And when it rested, he said: 'Return, O Y-H-V-H, You of the ten thousands myriad/families/clans of the divisions of Israel!
These verses preserve the invocation prayers in connection with the going forward and the resting of the Ark on our jouney through the desert to the Land of Israel. They are chanted to this day at the opening and closing of the ark and/or parokhet, whenever the Torah is read in the synagogue.
These two verses are enclosed with a long space, a letter Nun hafukh or mezuneret (isolated), then another long space on either end. I've seen thousands of Torah scrolls in my sofrut career, and I've noticed that these two Nunim can be written not only backward, but upside down, or even facing front, looking back over their shoulders. הָפוּךְ hafukh can mean reversed, inverted, inverse, in disarray, or even in slang "cafe au lait"!). There are many scribal rules about these spaces and letters, but no universal agreement.
Why are they here? Were they originally written into the text by hand by Moshe Rabbeynu atop Mount Sinai as dictated by The Holy One? If not, then do these addition graphic signs present a Halakhic or historical problem, since we are forbidden by Torah to add anything to the Torah?
Sefer Devarim/Deuteronomy 13:1 states:
אֵת כָּל-הַדָּבָר, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם--אֹתוֹ תִשְׁמְרוּ, לַעֲשׂוֹת: לֹא-תֹסֵף עָלָיו, וְלֹא תִגְרַע מִמֶּנּוּ.
All this word which I command you, that you will observe to do; do not add to it, nor diminish from it.
The RaMBaM, Maimonides, writes:
The intent of this prohibition is that we not add to the words of the Torah nor subtract from them, thereby permanently establishing the addition or subtraction as part of Scripture. This applies to both the Written Law and the Oral Tradition (transmitted to Moses on Mount Sinai).
So when the Rabbis institute a new law, they have to be clear that they aren't adding to the Torah at all, only building a fence around the Torah, to help the rest of us avoid breaking the Torah's laws.
When we trace these two Nunim and their wide spaces back through to our oldest surviving Torah scrolls and manuscripts - Rashi commented on this so we know this scribal feature of Torah scrolls is at least 1,000 years old - we find that there has in fact been a change, that there was some kind of metamorphosis. Here are the verses in a 700-year-old Torah scroll. Does this look like any of the Sifrei Torah you have in your synagogue? NO!
Forgive me for sounding apikorsodox when I ask: did our great Sages enact this change in text, or did the Scribes? Or both? Are these signs, added later, a fence around the journey of our Holy Ark?
So how is this a fence?
The backward Nuns could be written here like this to indicate either that they are not in their original place: Both Rav Ashi and R' Shim'on ben Gamli'el explain that when the Messiah comes in the future this section will be removed from here and written in its proper place.
Another traditional idea is that they are taken from another source (possibly from "The Book of the Wars of the Lord", Numbers/Be-midbar 21:14 [parshat Chuqat]) and form a distinct section, scroll, or even "book" of the Torah. Some of the Rabbis thought of the Book of Numbers/Sefer Be-midbar as consisting of three parts (Chapters 1 - 10:34; Chapter 10:35 - 36; Chapters 11 - 36), and, in consequence, counted seven books of the Torah.
Thus, according to Rabbi Yochanan, Mishley/Proverbs 9:1
חָכְמוֹת, בָּנְתָה בֵיתָהּ; חָצְבָה עַמּוּדֶיהָ שִׁבְעָה.
Wisdom hath hewn out her seven pillars.
referred to the Seven Books of the Torah. R' Shmu'el ben Nachman agrees.
There is a supporting baraita for this idea: Rabbi Yehudah Ha-Nasi said the strange layout of spacing and inverted Nunim isn't because these pasuqim/verses are in the wrong place, but because they are an important book standing on their own.
Why the letter Nun?
There are no less than ten words, or letters, or groups of words or letters appearing in the text of our Torahs which carry a dot above their heads. That discussion is too broad for this particular article, so I'll deal with them at another time. The point here is that the word "dot" in Hebrew is נקד, naqud, and the initial of that word, obviously, is the letter Nun.
Many opinions suggest that in this instance every single letter of these two verses was dotted, causing a very problematic result: difficult to lay out, to write, and to read. This would also mean that G@d's name would be dotted, which is impossible, since dotting traditionally indicates a erasing or effacement of the letters which are dotted (which I'll explain in a separate article). All Very Bad. Instead, a letter Nun was placed on either end, at the beginning and at the end of the journey of the Holy Ark, but written irregularly, to reflect the irregularity of the dots, the placement, or otherwise, and to ensure that they were never inadvertently entered into the text permanently, over time.
Kabbalah
The gematrial value of the letter Nun is 50.
There are fifty Gates of Understanding or Wisdom in our tradition. The same gates which we pass through as we count the omer between the second day of Pesach and Shavu’ot, invoking the presence of each S’firah as we walk the Tree of Life. Each Gate refers to the nature of each of the fifty references to our Exodus in the Sefer Torah, and to the fifty queries into the nature of Creation which G@d poses Job. These verses are gated off from the rest of the Torah.
Why Fifty?
One way of solving mysteries in Judaism is of course to turn to numbers. Words which share the same numerological value are considered to be connected in a very deep way, a way that is not so apparent on the surface. So what can I do with this number? A word which also has a value of 50 is spelled Alef-Tet-Mem Sofit (אָטַם): atam meaning "seal" or "shut" or even "water-tight". These two verses are sealed off from the rest of the Torah.
בַּסּוֹף
The word נֶאֱמָן ne'eman, "faithful", begins and ends with a Nun just as these verses do. This could be an indicator that we can rely on the information communicated in these verses. That as long as we keep ourselves under the protective wings of the Shekhinah, G@d's Holy Sheltering Presence, by keeping our commandments and staying true to our covenant, that we have nothing to fear. For G@d is One, there is nothing else, so all that denies this One Universal Truth will surely נָס, disappear.
Sources:
Talmud Bavli Masekhet Shabbat 115b; 116a
Talmud Bavli Masekhet Sofrim (the scribe's tractate) 6, 2
"The Burnt Book: Reading the Talmud", by Rabbi Marc-Alain Ouaknin
RaMBaM, "Mishneh Torah, Book Fourteen: Sefer Shofetim, Laws of Rebels" 2:9
Sofer.co.uk
Rashi's commentary on Rosh Hashannah 17b as related by Rabbi Solomon Luria in his Responsum #63
Nehama Leibowitz, "Studies in Bamidbar"
---
Cross-posted on Facebook
Nunim Hafukhim in Parshat Be-ha'alotekha
BS"D
This week's Torah portion, Be-ha'alotekha, has a very clearly recognizable scribal feature: that of the Nunim Hafukhim, which most lay people are familiar with. These letters Nun are written backwards (or upside down, as הָפוּךְ hafukh can mean reversed, inverted, inverse, in disarray, or even in slang "cafe au lait"!), each also known as a Nun mezuneret, an "isolated" Nun who enclose Sefer Be-midbar/Numbers 10:35-36.
However, as oceans of ink have been devoted to forests of paper to thoroughly record the infinite explanations, midrash, extrapolations, legends, history, exegesis, secrets and lessons of these special letters by scholars greater than I, I will not be writing of them here.
Shabbat Shalom
---
Cross-posted on Facebook
This week's Torah portion, Be-ha'alotekha, has a very clearly recognizable scribal feature: that of the Nunim Hafukhim, which most lay people are familiar with. These letters Nun are written backwards (or upside down, as הָפוּךְ hafukh can mean reversed, inverted, inverse, in disarray, or even in slang "cafe au lait"!), each also known as a Nun mezuneret, an "isolated" Nun who enclose Sefer Be-midbar/Numbers 10:35-36.
However, as oceans of ink have been devoted to forests of paper to thoroughly record the infinite explanations, midrash, extrapolations, legends, history, exegesis, secrets and lessons of these special letters by scholars greater than I, I will not be writing of them here.
Shabbat Shalom
---
Cross-posted on Facebook
Friday, June 05, 2009
Parshat Naso - The Raised Eye of the Sotah
BS"D
The Sotah - סוֹטָה
This parasha tells of a very intense and difficult ritual brought to bear against a woman whose husband suspected her of adultery, a capital crime. Any husband, Jewish or not, who was afraid his wife had been unfaithful, but had no proof, could bring her before the kohen (priest or G@d-helper) in the Mishkan (tabernacle) for a trial by ordeal known as the sotah ritual.
As with all Hebrew words, sotah has a shoresh, or root. The shoresh of this word are the letters ס–ט–ה, which not only means "adulteress", but also "to digress, to change direction", or even "pervert" or "deviant". So as you can see, the accused woman was not given the benefit of the doubt. No "innocent until proven guilty" here.
Regardless of whether the woman was innocent or guilty, her jealous husband would bring her and a jealousy-offering (in this case barley flour without oil or frankincense) before G@d and the kohen. She would be publicly humiliated by her hair being uncovered and/or mussed up, and being made to swear her innocence.
For a fantastic five-minute animation of this bit of par'shat Naso, see G-DCAST.
עין
In ּsome unusual Torah scrolls, written by practitioners of Kabbalah, we see in Be-Midbar/Numbers 5:17 a raised letter Ayin in the word be-qarqa (בְּקַרְקַע).
Qarqa קַרְקַע means earth, soil, ground, land, floor, or bed (of the sea, river).
The letter Ayin's name means, among other things, "eye, vision, sight, or witness". Is this Ayin raised because this unfortunate wife has been raised before the eyes of the whole community, the eyney ha-edah (עיני העדה), to be publicly put through this ordeal?
Gematria
Ayin's gematrial value is 70, and according to Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh it is also the number of Divine Providence. Is it possible that the dirt floor of the Mishkan, where priests in the highest state of spiritual purity were constantly serving G@d and the Jewish people was holy ground imbued with Sacred Insight? That its being added to the water she drank ensured justice?
The number 70 is also the value for words such as ivteychan אבטחן, to secure or protect. Pehaps the accused woman, who is undoubtedly terrified, is innocent and this raised letter Ayin shows her eye looking up for Heavenly aid ("The Eyes of G@D" ha-sh'gachah pratit השגחה פרטית)?
The phrase אדם וחוה, Adam ve-Chavah Adam and Eve also adds up to 70. Does this represent the couple's deep desire for their relationship to reflect the blessings of new, uncomplicated love which they shared in the beginning of their marriage, (בגן עדן מקדם)?
However, the number 70 also stands for בזונה, be-zonah: to commit fornication, adultery or play the harlot. So which is it? The raised letter Ayin draws our attention to her predicament but does not reveal to us her fate.
But that isn't all...far from it...
Just a little further on, at the end of the ritual in Be-Midbar/Numbers 5:31, we read:
There is a four-crowned letter Hey in the word ve-niqah (וְנִקָּה) - that the husband was innocent (cleansed, acquitted, relieved) of five sins (the gematrial value for the letter Hey is 5). These five sins are how she is humiliated by the ritual:
1. She stands alone, publicly accused of adultery, at the East (leper) Gate of the Temple
2. Her clothes are torn, exposing her "heart"
3. Her hair is uncovered and/or messed up
4. Her jewellery and ornaments are taken
5. A rough rope is tied around her breasts
Five sins he would normally be guilty of in treating his wife this way. But this being a special case of male jealousy, he is excused.
That is the end of the ritual and of the chapter.
Sources:
The Torah
Talmud Bavli Sotah 7a,b; 26b
inner.org
sofer.co.uk
The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet by Rabbi Michael L Munk
---
Cross-posted on Facebook
Copyright A. Barclay
The Sotah - סוֹטָה
This parasha tells of a very intense and difficult ritual brought to bear against a woman whose husband suspected her of adultery, a capital crime. Any husband, Jewish or not, who was afraid his wife had been unfaithful, but had no proof, could bring her before the kohen (priest or G@d-helper) in the Mishkan (tabernacle) for a trial by ordeal known as the sotah ritual.
As with all Hebrew words, sotah has a shoresh, or root. The shoresh of this word are the letters ס–ט–ה, which not only means "adulteress", but also "to digress, to change direction", or even "pervert" or "deviant". So as you can see, the accused woman was not given the benefit of the doubt. No "innocent until proven guilty" here.
Regardless of whether the woman was innocent or guilty, her jealous husband would bring her and a jealousy-offering (in this case barley flour without oil or frankincense) before G@d and the kohen. She would be publicly humiliated by her hair being uncovered and/or mussed up, and being made to swear her innocence.
For a fantastic five-minute animation of this bit of par'shat Naso, see G-DCAST.
עין
In ּsome unusual Torah scrolls, written by practitioners of Kabbalah, we see in Be-Midbar/Numbers 5:17 a raised letter Ayin in the word be-qarqa (בְּקַרְקַע).
וְלָקַח הַכֹּהֵן מַיִם קְדֹשִׁים, בִּכְלִי-חָרֶשׂ; וּמִן-הֶעָפָר, אֲשֶׁר יִהְיֶה בְּקַרְקַע הַמִּשְׁכָּן, יִקַּח הַכֹּהֵן, וְנָתַן אֶל-הַמָּיִם.
And the priest shall take holy water in a pottery vessel; and from the dust that is on the dirt floor (קַרְקַע) of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water.
Qarqa קַרְקַע means earth, soil, ground, land, floor, or bed (of the sea, river).
The letter Ayin's name means, among other things, "eye, vision, sight, or witness". Is this Ayin raised because this unfortunate wife has been raised before the eyes of the whole community, the eyney ha-edah (עיני העדה), to be publicly put through this ordeal?
Gematria
Ayin's gematrial value is 70, and according to Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh it is also the number of Divine Providence. Is it possible that the dirt floor of the Mishkan, where priests in the highest state of spiritual purity were constantly serving G@d and the Jewish people was holy ground imbued with Sacred Insight? That its being added to the water she drank ensured justice?
The number 70 is also the value for words such as ivteychan אבטחן, to secure or protect. Pehaps the accused woman, who is undoubtedly terrified, is innocent and this raised letter Ayin shows her eye looking up for Heavenly aid ("The Eyes of G@D" ha-sh'gachah pratit השגחה פרטית)?
The phrase אדם וחוה, Adam ve-Chavah Adam and Eve also adds up to 70. Does this represent the couple's deep desire for their relationship to reflect the blessings of new, uncomplicated love which they shared in the beginning of their marriage, (בגן עדן מקדם)?
However, the number 70 also stands for בזונה, be-zonah: to commit fornication, adultery or play the harlot. So which is it? The raised letter Ayin draws our attention to her predicament but does not reveal to us her fate.
But that isn't all...far from it...
Just a little further on, at the end of the ritual in Be-Midbar/Numbers 5:31, we read:
וְנִקָּה הָאִישׁ, מֵעָוֹן; וְהָאִשָּׁה הַהִוא, תִּשָּׂא אֶת-עֲוֹנָהּ
And the man shall be clean of transgression, and that woman shall bear her sin.
There is a four-crowned letter Hey in the word ve-niqah (וְנִקָּה) - that the husband was innocent (cleansed, acquitted, relieved) of five sins (the gematrial value for the letter Hey is 5). These five sins are how she is humiliated by the ritual:
1. She stands alone, publicly accused of adultery, at the East (leper) Gate of the Temple
2. Her clothes are torn, exposing her "heart"
3. Her hair is uncovered and/or messed up
4. Her jewellery and ornaments are taken
5. A rough rope is tied around her breasts
Five sins he would normally be guilty of in treating his wife this way. But this being a special case of male jealousy, he is excused.
That is the end of the ritual and of the chapter.
Sources:
The Torah
Talmud Bavli Sotah 7a,b; 26b
inner.org
sofer.co.uk
The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet by Rabbi Michael L Munk
---
Cross-posted on Facebook
Copyright A. Barclay
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