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"Jewish halakhic decisions," says Rabbi Prof. Daniel Sperber, "tended throughout most of the generations to be user-friendly. There are impressive examples in halakhic history of the willingness of poskim (arbiters of Jewish law) to allow the taking of interest or to prevent the cancellation of debts in order to make economic life possible; to allow the sale of chametz on Pesach and a heter mechira (permission to sell land to a non-Jew) during the sabbatical year to prevent losses; even to impose severe sanctions on those who refused to grant a get (a religious divorce) or to release agunot (chained women, whose husbands cannot or will not grant them a divorce) under lenient conditions. Only in recent generations has pesika (issuing a halakhic ruling) become extreme and increasingly stringent."
This argument is not new, of course. For many years it was voiced by Conservative and Reform Jews, women's organizations and ordinary liberal religious Jews. The innovation lies in the speaker, his background and the knowledge that he brings to his argument. An Israel Prize laureate for his talmudic research, Sperber is president of the Institute of Advanced Torah Studies at Bar-Ilan University. A reknowned scholar of Jewish law and the Talmud, he also is the rabbi of a congregation the neighborhood where he lives in Jerusalem, the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.
In two
He traces the origin of the problem, as did many of his respected predecessors (chiefly historian Jacob Katz) to the extreme reaction of religious society in Europe to the phenomenon of Reform and the Haskala (Jewish Enlightenment movement). Since Reform Jews wanted to innovate, traditional Jews had to refrain from any innovation. This extreme position was reflected symbolically by the famous statement by the Hatam Sofer, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox community in Hungary in the 19th century, who declared that hadash (the new) is "forbidden by the Torah." (This was a paraphrase of a Jewish law in Temple times forbidding the eating of the new grain crop before the ceremony marking the Counting of the Omer). In short, any attempt at innovation regarding a specific custom was enough to invalidate it, even if there is no halakhic prohibition.
The Hatam Sofer influenced poskim and communities all over Europe, and the situation reached the absurd, according to Sperber: "Recently a book was published about the customs of the Mattersdorf community [in Hungary- Y.S.] in the mid-19th century. And it turns out that in this community the rabbis refused to allow a heater into the study hall and consequently it was so cold that most members of the community refrained from coming to the synagogue in the winter, and there's evidence that those who came had icicles running down from their beards, only because 'our forefathers did not have heaters.' In that same community they also avoided placing benches in the synagogue, and elderly people were forced to stand during the entire prayer service, for the same reason that 'Hadash is forbidden by the Torah.'"
Even major poskim, experts in the halakhic tradition, avoided innovation to the point of absurdity. Sperber tells of the testimony of the son of the Hafetz Haim (Rabbi Yisrael Hacohen of Radin, the main Ashkenazi posek of modern times) regarding his father, who refrained from introducing electricity into the synagogue, even on weekdays, because of the innovation it represented.
Ivory tower phenomenon
The second and more recent cause of extremism, says Sperber, is the central role that the large yeshivas and their heads began to assume in the Ashkenazi (European) halakhic world: "In the past it was common for the pesika to be issued in each community by the local rabbi. The rabbi was familiar with the nature of the community, its ability to observe various stringencies and the needs of the people, and therefore the decisions suited the community. The moment that the yeshiva heads became the main poskim the rulings became 'academic,' issued from an ivory tower, unconnected to the actual situation of the public, and in any case also tending to be stringent."
Incidentally, he points out, because the two phenomena - Reform Judaism and the large yeshivas - were not found in Sephardic Judaism (in southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East), the phenomenon of halakhic extremism was avoided there.
In "Darka shel Halakha," Sperber deals particularly with what he considers a central example of "unfriendly" pesika: the subject of Torah reading by women. A priori, the Talmud determines that there is no problem with women being called up to the Torah, and only when it came to reading from the Torah "the Sages said that they shouldn't read because of the dignity of the public"; the most common interpretation of this explanation is that this could humiliate those men who didn't know how to read from the Torah.
For most of Jewish history the ruling did not even come up for discussion because the women didn't see themselves as candidates for reading from the Torah. But in recent decades feminism has also affected the desire of religious women to be full partners in religious life, including reading from the Torah. Sperber is convinced, and that is also what he rules, that they should be allowed to do so, adopting an approach of "friendly" pesika:
"First of all, today most religious men who come to the synagogue know how to read from the Torah, so, in any case, they should not be insulted by a woman reading. Second, just as there is concern for a public that is insulted when women read, another public can also "forgo its dignity' and decide that it is not insulted by this reading. And primarily - in contrast to the value of 'the dignity of the public' - preference should be given to the universal value of human dignity, because the moment women feel insulted by not being allowed to read, this insult is more important."
In the second book Sperber discusses another major problem that he sees as an obstacle to the poskim - the absence of sufficient scientific knowledge. He is referring mainly to their ignorance of the academic field of Jewish studies, which causes them to be unfamiliar with sources discovered in recent generations or differences of opinion between versions of various manuscripts, which could influence the pesika. As a basic example of that he mentions that Rabbi Yosef Caro, the compiler of the Shulkhan Arukh, which from the time it was written in the 16th century up to the present, has been considered the central book of halakha in the Jewish world, made his halakhic decisions by following the majority opinion in three previous books of halakha with which he was familiar: those of Maimonides, the Rif (Rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi) and the Rosh (Rabbi Asher ben Yehiel). "But in recent generations," says Sperber, "many halakhic sources that were totally unfamiliar to the author of the Shulkhan Arukh have been discovered, for example extensive halakhic literature from Provence. This literature could change the entire balance of majority and minority opinion in halakha, but the poskim will not allow any expression of that. The Hazon Ish [a central posek who lived in Israel in the 20th century -Y.S.] even said there is no need to take this literature into consideration, because apparently it was determined from above that this literature would not be discovered before the halakhic tradition was consolidated. Incidentally, Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is actually willing to rely on the new literature, and in several places he rules contrary to the Shulkhan Arukh, in accordance with new sources that have been discovered."
Occasionally, it must be admitted, unfamiliarity with the various sources actually causes lenient halakhic rulings. For example, Sperber brings the famous case of the permission given by Rabbi Avraham Kook to sell the lands of the country during the sabbatical year. This permission was based, among other things, on previous poskim who ruled that there is no prohibition against selling land from Eretz Israel to goyim in our time, because the prohibition written in the Torah on this matter relates only to idol worshipers, and today's Arabs are not considered as such.
But manuscripts discovered in recent decades reveal that these quotes stemmed from censorship imposed by Christian rulers on the original pesika, which actually prohibited the sale of land from Eretz Israel to all the goyim, and not only to idol worshipers.
In the test of results, Sperber is not afraid of the practical significance of his discovery, "because there are enough other ways and reasons to allow the sale," but the basic principle is important.
By Yair Sheleg
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In a "Jewitchery" forum I belong to, "astrobio2001" writes in his commentary on this week's Torah portion:
Interestingly, the Shomronim (Samaritans), the modern heirs to the northern kingdom do not have a mashiach, but a taheb, a RESTORER who in their tradition is supposed to come from the House of Joseph.
This is another incredible link to my recent dreams (here and here) regarding RESTORATION of the Divine Feminine and "the Old Ways" (i.e., Tradition).
However, "Druid" transliterated into Hebrew () is David with a reish and a yod in it. The shoresh means "to return". The meaning of the shoresh combined into the name David means "David, the returning one". David means, among other things, "friend/relative", like the two maggid-priestesses among my ancestors who have "returned" and taken upon themselves to teach me, to "restore" the Old Ways.
On the website of the Shomronim, taheb is defined:
meaning to return, returning one
Source: http://way-of-witch.blogspot.com
Upgrade V: Satanic Jewish Evil to Sublime Good(R) Sequestration.
The Satanic Abraham Ritual exchanging Jew Evil for Goyim Good has made the Satanic Jew the Master of all the West owning all the property, riches and Goyim. British Maritime Law means no Goyim can own property land because by Eminent Domain all Western land, property, Goyim are owned by the British Crown via the City of London's Temples, Westerners can only lease land, property... their lives; Eminent Domain means they can never be the possessors ther. This is the Satanic Abraham Ritual writ large!
Now Tim Rifat the Psi-Lord has Sequestered the power that made Satanic Jews the Masters of the West, the Psi-Lord goes into the ultimate reason, destination for the Abraham Ritual, Abramelin Ritual... Kabbalah. Zionists follow the teachings of the Kabbalist Isaac de Loria, or Luria. This Lurianic Judaism preaches that all Goyim are the spawn of LILITH and SAMAEL and belong on the inverse Sephirothic Trees, the QLIPPOTHIC ADAM BELIAL. They state all Jews have Evil from the past. 7 attempts by SABBAOTH, TSABAOTH, YALTABAOTH, YALDABAOTH to make Creations - all of which have failed. These are called the 7 Edamic Worlds and their SABBAOTH'S TSABAOTH'S the 7 Kings of Edam collectively called AMALEK the Other God. This is because YALTABAOTH, YALDABAOTH was destroyed by the hidden part in her called AMALEK hidden part in Evil that Evil is blind to and destroys Evil from within. The 7 because of these 7 Edamic Worlds. This according to Lurianic Satanism is the eighth Creation (hence the importance of the 08/08/08, the attack on Russia to complete the Abraham Ritual, the Olympic Bird's Nest stadium to dump Jew Evil on the rest of the world (see Sequestering Judaic Messiah Service for info on the Bird's Nest). The Eighth King of Edam according to Lurianic Satanism was supposed to be conquered - think again Satanic Jews, the Eighth King of Edam has terminated TSABAOTH, SABBAOTH, YALTABAOTH, YALDABAOTH. The Russians beat the American Jewish attack in Georgia proving the Chosen Race are now the Russians. Lurianic Zionism postulates Jews are Evil because of the toxic waste from the 7 previous Edamic Creations (failures of YALTABAOTH, YALDABAOTH) so the 7 ELOHIM Spells are needed to get the Satanic Jew back to a semblance of normality. The Abraham Ritual then Sublime Good(R) the Jewish Evil to Goyim in return for Sublime Good(R) and as they are creations of YALTABAOTH, YALDABAOTH make the Chaos God Sublime Good(R) so the AMALEK hidden Evil destroyer does destroy the Jew creation. Hence the Lurianic Zionists mission to make all Goyim corrupt Evil to save their skins from AMALEK.
In this Service the Psi-Lord allows the Bone Psi-Master to dump Evil using his right hand Bone Generator(R) using the Abraham Ritual on Jew UnterGoyim and to upload pure Sublime Good(R) via the left hand Bone Generator(R) to make the SuperJew a pure Sublime Good(R) being the goal of all Zionist Lunariac Satanism. As pure Sublime Good(R) you can be as evil as you wish and are immune to AMALEK payback so all your failures, enemies, feed you with Sublime Good(R) to make you a God while AMALEK eats them alive and destroys all Jews and Goyim in return.
Origin: http://wicca-teachings.blogspot.com
DovBear and the BabyBears talked Torah and tried to figure out if Moshe's Cushite wife was beautiful or black or both, and came to the conclusion that Miriam's sin when speaking against Moshe's Cushite wife was that Miriam was a "racist".
This is what the witch thinks Miriam's sin may have "really" been.
Moshe was the greatest prophet among the gathered of the tribes. He had no male prophetic rival (except for Korach who thought he was as great as Moshe). Miriam was the greatest female prophet among the gathered of the tribes, although she was not as great a prophet as Moshe. She had no female rival.
"Necessarily", Moshe's bashert would be as great a prophet as Moshe himself. Consequently, any wife of Moshe's who was his true bashert would indeed be a greater prophet than Miriam. Racism wasn't driving Miriam's opposition to Moshe's Cushite wife. Miriam knew that when Moshe's bashert was found and gathered into the tribes, Miriam would no longer be the greatest female prophet among the gathered of the tribes. Moshe's wife would be.
Consequently, Miriam may have been "protecting her own status as the greatest female prophet" among the gathered of the tribes. It may have been for this reason that she spoke against Moshe's Cushite wife, playing the "race card" to incite opposition against Moshe's Cushite wife, an "other" woman, fearing for herself that indeed, the Cushite woman was Moshe's bashert.
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Exhausted yesterday (even though I really like my new job) by my new work week (where one workday this past week - my first week - averaged between 10 and 11 hours, which is not an easy endeavor for a 46-year-old following an extended period of years of un/underemployment), today this shabbat day, I am "renewed".
In the upcoming new week's parashah, "Beha'alotcha", we find that Aaron and Miriam spoke against Moshe (Bamidbar 12:1-2), and by extension, against the prophecy of Moshe. In consequence to the charge made by Aaron and Miriam, the Divine commanded all three to go to the Tabernacle (Bamidbar 12:4-8). There, Aaron and Miriam were called outside - to which they both cried "water! water!" (Rashi). Inside the Tabernacle, to Moshe alone did the Shechinah reveal Herself (Numbers Rabbah 14:19, Rashi on Vayikra 1:1).
Now hear My words. When there is a prophet among you, I make Myself known in a vision, I speak in a dream. But it is not so with my servant Moshe - in all My house, he is faithful. "Mouth to mouth" I speak with him, in a vision and not in riddles. [Bamidbar 12:4-8]
UNIQUE. The prophecy of Moshe is unique among the prophets. Mouth to mouth, the Divine communicates. Zohar (I:170b-71a, Yev. 49b, Leviticus Rabbah 1:14) tells us "Moshe received the Divine message standing with his senses unimpaired, and he comprehended it fully... whereas other prophets "fell on their faces" in a state of exhaustion and did not obtain a perfectly clear message." The words of their prophecies were unclear riddles, unlike Moshe's singularly unique prophecy.
SINGULAR WORD. Earlier in the parashah (Bamidbar 9:2), we also find the word meaning "in its appointed time". This word () which "the Divine spoke" to Moshe mouth to mouth, itself is connected to prophecy (nevuah). With a gematria of 128, it is the im hakolel (mispar musaphi) of the number of years (127) in the life of Sarah Imeinu, the prophetess whose Torah Aur illumines Gan Eden.
HIGH HOLY ONE. The Hebrew name Sarah means "woman of high rank", and (see link) is "sometimes translated as "Goddess" or "High Holy One"."
VISION. The prophet Yishayahu (51:2) exhorts us to look to our mother Sarah. Happiness and joy abide with Her, where thanksgiving and the sound of music can be heard. Through Her emanates Light among peoples.
TORAH AUR. Taken together, through the Divine Word, the prophecy of Moshe Rabbeinu and Sarah Imeinu are identified as uniquely and singularly One, mouth to mouth.
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Interestingly, my dream this morning - Shamanic Heartwalk, Unifying Covenants - has correspondences with the Kiphonus Gate of the Temple Mount. The Kiphonus Gate is the only gate (on the western side of the Temple wall) which leads directly (through a 50 foot tunnel) to the Temple Mount (Har HaBayit).
Importantly, my dream links to this 50 foot tunnel beyond the sealed up Kiphonus Gate which leads directly to the Temple Mount.
The rainbow light sensor of my dream corresponds to the boundary of the sealed up Kiphonus Gate which few may pass beyond. The upwardly curving lighted road beyond the rainbow light sensor of my dream corresponds to the 50 foot tunnel beyond the Kiphonus Gate. "The Light of The "Place of Making" Requests" in my dream corresponds to the "Kodesh HaKadoshim" (Holy of Holies).
Hat-tip to Mystical Paths for picture under the kotel.
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