Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Three Midrashim on Psalm 4


1 לַמְנַצֵּחַ בִּנְגִינוֹת מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד׃

2 בְּקָרְאִי עֲנֵנִי אֱלֹהֵי צִדְקִי בַּצָּר הִרְחַבְתָּ לִּי חָנֵּנִי וּשְׁמַע תְּפִלָּתִי׃
3 בְּנֵי אִישׁ עַד־מֶה כְבוֹדִי לִכְלִמָּה תֶּאֱהָבוּן רִיק תְּבַקְשׁוּ כָזָב סֶלָה׃
4 וּדְעוּ כִּי־הִפְלָה יְהוָה חָסִיד לוֹ יְהוָה יִשְׁמַע בְּקָרְאִי אֵלָיו׃
5 רִגְזוּ וְאַל־תֶּחֱטָאוּ אִמְרוּ בִלְבַבְכֶם עַל־מִשְׁכַּבְכֶם וְדֹמּוּ סֶלָה׃
6 זִבְחוּ זִבְחֵי־צֶדֶק וּבִטְחוּ אֶל־יְהוָה׃
7 רַבִּים אֹמְרִים מִי־יַרְאֵנוּ־טוֹב נְסָה עָלֵינוּ אוֹר פָּנֶיךָ יְהוָה׃
8 נָתַתָּה שִׂמְחָה בְלִבִּי מֵעֵת דְּגָנָם וְתִירוֹשָׁם רָבּוּ׃
9 בְּשָׁלוֹם יַחְדָּו אֶשְׁכְּבָה וְאִישָׁן כִּי־אַתָּה יְהוָה לְבָדָד לָבֶטַח תּוֹשִׁיבֵנִי׃

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How did our Sages look at Psalms? What caught their eyes? What message were they trying to convey through their interpretation? The question I'm asking is, after analyzing the poetry based often on what we see, I would like to know how it was seen thousands of years ago, by Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai, Rabbi Joshua ben Levi, and others. I would like to analyze psalm four from the perspective of different midrashic viewpoints, in order to emerge with a spectrum of midrashic insights and approaches.

Psalm 4
1 For the (menatze'ach) leader, with instrumental music. A psalm of David.
2 When I call, answer me, O God my vindicator! You freed me from distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
3 You men, how long will my glory be mocked, will you love illusions, have recourse to frauds?
4 Know that the Lord singles out the faithful for Himself; the Lord will hear when I call to Him.
5 Tremble and sin no more, ponder it on your bed and sigh.
6 Offer sacrifices in righteousness and trust in the Lord.
7 Many say "Oh, for good days," lift up the light of your countenance Oh Lord.
8 You put joy in my heart when their grain and wine show increase.
9 Safe and sound, I lie down and sleep, for You alone, Oh Lord, keep me secure.

Verse 1. “La-menatze'ach”

La-menatzeach is a title whose meaning is uncertain to us. On the one hand it alludes to some kind of conductor, on the other the root comes from the Hebrew NTZCH meaning to conquer. The first midrash found in the Talmud (Pesachim 119a) is as follows:

Rav Kahana said in the name of Rav Yishmael: what is the meaning of the phrase La-menatze'ach, give praise to the One who is beaten( - conquered - won), and is [nevertheless] happy. Come and learn that the attributes of God are different than those of man. When man is beaten he is sad; not so the Lord who, when beaten, is happy, as it says, (Psalms 106:23) "He would have destroyed them (the children of Israel) had not Moses His chosen one confronted Him in the breach to avert His destructive wrath.

This is a classic midrash. By this I mean that the motivation for the author's interpretation stems from uncertainty concerning the meaning of a word. The Torah is the source of the Hebrew language. What do you do when a word in Hebrew cannot be adequately defined? We could accept that the definition of the word "La-menatze'ach" revolves around some kind of musical concept[1]. In fact, many words in Tehillim express some kind of musical content. Selah, Mizmor, Maskil, and others appear throughout David's work, hinting to us that an important dimension - the musical one - is often missing from our purview.
The author of the midrash does not relate to the musical aspect of the word, but chooses to focus on its root. Moreover, the root word of NTZCH in the Bible does not refer to conquest but rather to eternity. Somewhere along the line the meaning of the word changed from eternity to victory[2]. The author then takes his modern day meaning of NTZCH, and inserts it into the words of King David who lived over a thousand years before. In addition to this, the interpretation given is a radical one--God is beaten, which sounds blasphemous. God enjoys being beaten sounds all the more uncomfortable.
 Clearly the author of the midrash was intending to be homiletic in his interpretation, teaching us a lesson about how God's mercy transcends our ability to comprehend. But the freedom with which this interpretation is offered reflects an attitude that the authors of the midrash had, and we might conjecture that their audience understood it as well. Perhaps precisely because the readers of the midrash were attuned to the homiletic usage, they were able to use their interpretive tools so effectively.
Why is it so effective? Because only through exaggerated almost inconceivable notions can we explain a phenomenon relating to God. God is so compassionate that ... or He is as compassionate as ... What modifiers can we insert in there to emphasize an idea that transcends our humanness? The answer involves supplying some radical metaphysical reading which forces us to concede our limited faculties and search for an answer in the stars.
A second point to ponder is the inherent relationship between God and His people which is developed throughout the midrashic literature. One senses that this theological impossibility of God being overpowered only can take place when the reason for His surrender is His beloved people. Moses rises to the occasion when God is on the verge of judgement (destruction) and pleads, thereby forcing God's will. Such is the power of the righteous individuals before whom God willingly yields.

Verse 2. "When I call answer me."

In the Hebrew we are uncertain if David is asking God to answer him , or if he is telling God that "when I call You I am answered right away." One way it is a request (and a rather daring one), the other way it is a testament of praise and thanks. The midrash in Devarim Raba chapter two has David arguing his case before the Lord saying:

"When the nations of the world come before You to pray, You should not heed their requests for they are insincere. Instead, send them to their gods and they will not be answered. When the children of Israel call You, however, respond hastily and answer our prayers, as it says "when I call You, answer me Oh God my vindicator." Replies God, "by your word, I swear that even before you call I will answer you, as it says (Isaiah 65:24) "before you call I shall answer" for I have no other nation except for you ..."
Once again working with an ambiguity in the text, the author of this midrash reveals the beauty of the verse by creating a court-style discussion of David before God. Judaism often pictures God as the judge with his solicitors, the defense attorneys, etc. Here, the premise of the midrash is most powerful, and it is the dual interpretation of a prayer or a statement which allows for a dialogue to exist within the two possibilities. According to one reading, David asks for an immediate response from God, in the other reading, he declares it.
 The midrashic mind asks us to imagine the middle ground between the request and the declaration. When the children of Israel are worthy, the Lord answers their prayers even before they ask. A time will come when the connection between the people and the Lord will be so strong that the delineation between wanting something and asking from God and having Him grant it, will become blurred, and the response will come before the request.
 The courthouse motif is used to highlight the relationship between God and the Jews, but also to stress the Jews' connection to God in contrast to their surrounding neighbors, the pagans. At the time of the midrashic literature, paganism was rampant, sectarianism was on the rise and it seemed that monotheism was losing the battle. Thus, the midrash emphasizes the uniqueness of the Jewish people who call to God exclusively and who will be answered as opposed to the non-Jewish nations who call to God only to hedge their bets, since they pray to a multitude of other gods as well. Their prayers will go unheeded. In this circumstance, the midrash consoles, comforts and offers hope.

Verse 5. “Tremble and sin no more…”

 The midrash becomes legal (halacha) when a specific juridical act is learned from these words. In Talmud Berakhot 4b we find this statement:

"Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said, even though one has recited the evening prayer of keriat Shema (Mishna Berakhot 1:1) it is a mitzvah to recite it again at nighttime. Rabbi Yose said, what verse teaches this law to us? Tremble and sin no more…."

A glimpse at the wealth of midrashim on this short psalm gives us a sense of the magnitude of the rabbinic mind. Indeed, two thousand years ago, without television, without any of the distractions of modern day existence, a talmid chakham or scholar, sat all day and pondered the word of God. He became a sage due to the complete devotion of his life to the purpose of fulfilling God's will.
We have seen a selection of classic midrashim: a radical reading, a typical drama, a legal extrapolation. There are many more types which we can find on this psalm or on many other biblical verses. We might have thought that the words of the ancient rabbis are conservative and archaic compared to our modern senses and liberal interpretations; in fact, the opposite is true. The authors of the midrash were intent on catching our eyes and sparking an idea, sometimes a radical one. They did not fear a backlash, because they aimed the most effective way of communicating and elevating the word of God. Let us have the strength to follow in their footsteps.



[1] See Ibn Ezra Psalms 4:1
[2] A gradual and understandable development; Israel is eternal through continuous victories over their enemies...

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Psalm 97: Reactions...

1 יְהוָה מָלָךְ תָּגֵל הָאָרֶץ יִשְׂמְחוּ אִיִּים רַבִּים׃
2 עָנָן וַעֲרָפֶל סְבִיבָיו צֶדֶק וּמִשְׁפָּט מְכוֹן כִּסְאוֹ׃
3 אֵשׁ לְפָנָיו תֵּלֵךְ וּתְלַהֵט סָבִיב צָרָיו׃
4 הֵאִירוּ בְרָקָיו תֵּבֵל רָאֲתָה וַתָּחֵל הָאָרֶץ׃
5 הָרִים כַּדּוֹנַג נָמַסּוּ מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה מִלִּפְנֵי אֲדוֹן כָּל־הָאָרֶץ׃
6 הִגִּידוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם צִדְקוֹ וְרָאוּ כָל־הָעַמִּים כְּבוֹדוֹ׃
7 יֵבֹשׁוּ כָּל־עֹבְדֵי פֶסֶל הַמִּתְהַלְלִים בָּאֱלִילִים
הִשְׁתַּחֲווּ־לוֹ כָּל־אֱלֹהִים׃
8 שָׁמְעָה וַתִּשְׂמַח צִיּוֹן וַתָּגֵלְנָה בְּנוֹת יְהוּדָה
לְמַעַן מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ יְהוָה׃
9 כִּי־אַתָּה יְהוָה עֶלְיוֹן עַל־כָּל־הָאָרֶץ
מְאֹד נַעֲלֵיתָ עַל־כָּל־אֱלֹהִים׃
10 אֹהֲבֵי יְהוָה שִׂנְאוּ־רָע
שֹׁמֵר נַפְשׁוֹת חֲסִידָיו מִיַּד רְשָׁעִים יַצִּילֵם׃
11 אוֹר זָרֻעַ לַצַּדִּיק וּלְיִשְׁרֵי־לֵב שִׂמְחָה׃
12 שִׂמְחוּ צַדִּיקִים בַּיהוָה וְהוֹדוּ לְזֵכֶר קָדְשׁוֹ׃


Psalm 97 depicts the ‘song’ alluded to by the psalmist in the previous one when he proposed for the entire land to sing to God a ‘new song’. This song begins with the words ‘Hashem melech”. It is about this phenomenon and really the reaction to this phenomenon that psalm 97 focuses.
What is our reaction to the revelation of God in the world? Do we even recognize it and feel the need to react? Or do we ignore the hand of God and continue with our lives as if nothing changed? Psalm 97 presents us with three reactions in a progression of importance yet also a progression of delayed reaction.
“Hashem melech—tagel haaretz” (God is the king, the land rejoices).
Nature is the first to react to the coronation of God as king. Humanity slumbers but nature arises and dances. The land rejoices, the islands are happy, clouds and smoke surround Him, fire shines all around Him, mountains melt and the heavens sing His righteousness.
The first five and a half verses describe an awakening to the presence of God by nature and though most of it is joyful, the land which begins with joy (tagel) concludes with fear and trembling (tachel) recognizing the contradictory emotions the presence of God evokes.

In the middle of verse 6 though a transition from the heavens to Man takes place as if to say that the heavens are nudging man to arise and realize the remarkable event of God’s presence. Man, however, is confused having been assured by his gods that they were in control of the world already. Those gods failed him at every turn but he was so invested in the business of manufacturing his own god industry, he could not step back and witness the true God appear.

The second half of the psalm focuses on man’s reaction which is slow at first, beginning with shame at having played the wrong hand for so long, but then slowly man turns away from these gods to GOD and exclaims ‘for you God are above all other gods, having risen above all the other deities’. This turning to God is clearly a positive step forward but saying that God is greater than all the other gods is still not an ideal state, after all—what other gods?

The final section though, reaches the pinnacle of God’s creation, though it seemed to have taken him the longest to arrive at the understanding that the heaven and earth had reached at the beginning. Nevertheless, their reaction is pure, focused, filled with passion for God and the fight against evil. They are the ‘lovers of God’, ‘chasidim’, ‘yishrei lev’ and ‘tzadikim’ and they call out to God and are ultimately protected by God from harm.

They are enshrined with light, joy, a great feeling of gratitude and thankfulness and happiness in the knowledge that God has appeared and all will be right in the world.

Note that these individuals have no origin, no clan, tribe or nation—simply ‘lovers of God’. This represents the universalistic song to God where the heavens and earth mountains and fields rejoice and where humanity must come to discern between truth and fake and finally where any individual who possesses the courage and conviction to love God and hate evil—they will be rewarded by God and continue to sing His praises in joy.

The universe feels God’s presence and slowly it trickles down to man and to righteous man to declare the greatness of God and rejoice in the impending holy presence of our creator.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Kol Nidrei: A Strange Beginning

We begin this holiday with a strange prayer. It concerns vows that we have illegitimately made and wish to annul. Over a thousand years ago in some of the siddurim published we find this prayer which when adorned with this hauntingly beautiful tune has become a mainstay of the Yom Kippur service in all denominations despite objections over the years.

The prayer is based on a section in the Torah, which speaks of the importance of our word—if we promise, we fulfill. But if there are special circumstances which prevent you from fulfilling this vow, you may under certain conditions, annul that vow.

We want to come to God on this day pure of blemished hearts, without unfinished business and tabula rasa (clean slate). Therefore we invoke the annulment of vows to intensely prepare ourselves…

Already at the turn of the millennium certain sects were uncomfortable with the idea that the Jewish way to begin the holiday is by revoking their previous vows. The Karaites said this was shameful and while the rabbis explained that this does not at all refer to obligations made to others but only to oneself, other rabbis called Geonim (9th and 10th centuries) tried to downplay the recitation of this prayer.

The popular reason this prayer became widespread has to do with Jews in Spain in the 14th and 15th centuries during the inquisition. Jews who lived like Christians and hid their secret Jewish beliefs suffered the guilt of their worshiping idolatry throughout the year.

Imagine living a lie, hiding your deepest secrets and only divulging them to God once a year, in a clandestine service in perilous conditions. All the lies pile up, your essence changes, you become another and only a faint spark represents the real you, the pintele yid, the pure unadulterated soul.

[I didn’t have to imagine that this week; living and working in Poland provides me with countless examples of real, modern day, ‘hidden Jews’. I participated in an interview of a remarkable man who lived this very experience. He and his family were saved by a Priest, who forged papers for them, turning them into good Aryan citizens. After the war, he managed to live a very productive life and today, at 83 years young, he is very active and was ready to spend hours with us, teaching us about his inspiring life. His Jewishness he expressed in more cultural ways and a strong connection to Israel but when I invited him for the meal before Yom Kippur and Kol Nidrei he said he is coming!]

Perhaps, though, this can be seen as a metaphor of our own ‘hidden lives’, the pure soul within each of us that we often hide to the outside world. Throughout our year we hide or cover up our pure soul, which is struggling to emerge. We serve our bodies, our desires and our physical needs to the expense of our spirits. In effect, we come to the holiest day with an unclean slate, sins un-repented for, character traits stained. We confess that our word, which we promised ourselves to fulfill last Yom Kippur has been violated.

For these and many more reasons we reject the protests against removing this prayer and begin our holiest of days with a chant of Kol Nidrei--quietly, humbly, but then louder and louder until we shout out to God and to ourselves that this year we will truly find our hidden souls, our pure spirits.

I have been very busy over the past month teaching Torah in Poland to many different groups. Coming off of the highly successful Torah lectures during the Jewish Festival I embarked on a year-long presentation called "The 24 Books of Avi", each class covering the major themes of one book of Tanach. Last class over 50 people attended!



As my Polish improves (thanks to my wonderful teacher Marlgozata Pytel) I am able to spend more time with the seniors conversing in their language and teaching Torah on their level.



Before each holiday we have a general lecture about the themes in the upcoming festival. My Rosh Hashana lecture titled "will the real Rosh Hashana please stand up!", was received by around 45 people at the JCC.



I am also invited to lecture on behalf of the Chief Rabbi in many locations in Lower Poland (Małopolska). Last week I was invited to Nowy Sacz, to lecture on the High Holidays. The thirst of the Nowy Sacz community (Not Jewish) was remarkable. I blew the shofar and explained to them about some of the practices.



Finally, I had a chance to meet with some fascinating people including Dr. Viktor Bodnar and hear his story of heroism, courage and survival.



These and other people inspire us to realize that the glorious story of the Jewish people marches on despite trials and tribulations, ultimately delivering a message of promise and hope.

Gmar chatima tova.