Jewish Times - Volume I, No. 2...Feb. 8, 2002

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The first page in Talmud Taanisuotes an interesting statement of

Rabbi Yochanan:"Three keys are in the hand of god

nd are not given over to a messenger,nd these are they; the key of rain, the

ey of life and the key of resurrection.The key of rain is derived from the

erse 'God will open for you Historehouse of good, the heavens, toive you the rain (for) your land in itsme'. From where do we learn the keyf life? As it is written, 'And godemembered Rachel, and He heard her,nd He opened her womb'. The key ofesurrection is learned from where?And you will know I am God when Ipen your graves'.

Dedicated to Scriptural and Rabbinic Verification of Jewish Beliefs and Practices

www.mesora.org/jewishtimes.pdfVolume I, No. 2...Feb. 8, 2002 Download and Print

Questions, & AnswersE-mail your questions to:[email protected]

estd997

Reader: I recently wrote you aquestion, in response to which, youreferred me to the articles on olamhabah, soul and afterlife. The articles

were interesting and enlightening,however they make absolutely noreference to the question of a non-Jew.I often hear people throwing out quotesfrom Jewish sources that a gentile hasno soul, there is no prohibition to stealfrom a gentile and only Jews meritolam habah. Rationally it is difficult forme to accept that the Torah does notgive the majority of the people in theworld the status of being human. Andif that's our view why should wecomplain when a gentile feels the same

FormulatingBetter Questions

moshe ben-chaim

This paper was written to be an aidin developing questions when studyingTorah, and to help direct one to themain issues and understand a givenarea.

When one goes through an accountof Jewish history found in either thePentateuch, Prophets or Writings, orJewish Law in the Mishna or theTalmud, it is essential to yourunderstanding to keep the following inmind: the Pentateuch was designedword for word, letter for letter by God,as was the Oral Law. The Talmud was

written by the extremely wise. Onecommits a grave injustice both to theideas and to oneself by offering asimple explanation of any topic foundin these areas, as they all stem fromGod Who has infinite wisdom, "ForGod gives wisdom, from His mouthcome knowledge and understanding."(Proverbs,2:6). Everything must beappreciated and understood on thislevel. Every sentence in the Pentateuch,for example, must contribute to theexplanation of the area. In any givenstory in the Pentateuch, the Prophets orthe Writings, the precise amount ofinformation is disclosed to us by Godso that we can detect the issues. Certainunusual words will be used to catch ourattention. Certain passages will seem atfirst out of place, and seeminglyimpossible events are described whichforce us to delve onto the area. Theseare all generous clues for theinvestigation.

Besides having the correctappreciation for the design of theTorah, you must also approach yourstudies with the correct questions. As agreat Rabbi once said, "asking the right

(continued on page 2)

WithoutGod?n open letter to the jewish community:www.mesora.org/openletter/openletter2.html

God's ExistenceBelief orProof?ww.mesora.org/belieforproof.htmlMaimonides' 13PRINCIPLES

The basic foundations which all Jewsmust know as true. We urge you to read them:www.mesora.org/13principles.html

WithoutGod?

an open letter to the jewish community:

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Proof?www.mesora.org/belieforproof.html

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must know as true. We urge you to read them:

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In this issue:

Does god give man powers? 1,2,3

Better questions 1,4,5

Q&A's: Gentile souls 1

anctifying god's name 2

Loshon hara 3

God's plan for avraham 4

Christianity: OK for christians? 4

Magical powers 5

Does GodGive Man Powers?

moshe ben-chaim

(continued on page 4)

Suggested Reading:see these and other articles at our site

way about a Jew? point is, the Tevaluation of the non-J

one of the c

underpinnings of this relIf you could clarify it forwould be very appreciative

Mesora: A gentile has ajust as Adam and Eve had, aAbraham and Noach. God changed the way He cmankind. The view that ther

different laws regarding interaction with gentiles does

discount their having a soul just like oSomeone suggested foolishly, "

a gentile, who has no Jewishconverts to Judaism, he is g

Jewish soul". My rebuttal

God had no problem tawith Adam, Eve, AbrahamNoach who were all non Yet they were perfected

reached the levels that intended. God does not hav

distinction of Jewish and non Jsouls. Rather, man has a soul, regardlwho his parents are. The entire categ"Jewish" is really man's fabricatioreality, we are simply "Bnei Yis"Children of (the man) Israel", whJacob.

Our role in existence is actually tothe ideas of the Torah to the other nawe are in fact serving the needs o

gentile. God desires the folloresponse from the gentile: (Deut. 4"And you shall watch them and keepas they (the commands) are your wand understanding in the eyes onations, who will hear all these stand declare 'what a wise understanding people is this great nBecause what great nation has Godto them like God, whenever (they) cHim? And what great nation has stand laws as righteous as this Torah'......."

When Abraham changed his waysidolatry to monotheism over a 40

period of intellectual probing, he hconversion or no new soul blown intoHe simply elevated the level of functhis one soul given to him at birth, andthen related to him directly. It is foosay otherwise when the Torah itselfno support for such theories. It ismore foolish to hypothesize in areadoes not even understand the b(metaphysics, how the soul is created

We have shown clearly that all mewomen have a soul, not that "typemen have types of souls.


2/5


(Continued)

In the West they also included theey of livelihood, as it is written, 'Hepens His hand and satisfieth everyving thing with its wants".It is essential to note that when it

ays that "God never gives over theeys", it means, according to Tosafos,hat He never allows a messenger toave complete dominion over the keylways. But the keys are in fact givenver to a messenger at times.I have a few questions:1) What does Tosafos mean that "He

ever allows a messenger to haveomplete dominion over the keylways?"

2) Rashi adds that when it says "Godpens" it means God Himself, and notnother. How do these cases of

miracles differ from others? Doesn't

God perform all miracles, Himself?What is Rashi teaching?3) These verses don't seem to teach

what the Talmud started out saying,they are given over....". It actuallyeaches how God Himself iserforming all these feats.4) Why is the term "key" used? Why

ot use the term "miracle"?5) Does this teach that God does not

ecide everything Himself?6) Tosafos asks why the key of God's

nger is not mentioned, as the verselso refers to it as a "key". He answershat only those keys of good areanded over to messengers. What does

Tosafos teach here?7) How can it be that God gives over

hese keys, when we see that in thease of Eliyahu's resurrecting the boy,

Eliyahu prayed to God to revive him?Eliyahu himself attested through hisery action the he had no abilities. Theommentators say the reason why

Eliyahu laid on the boy was to eitherwarm so as to ready him for revival, oro assist in his concentration during hisrayer to God to revive him. So if

Eliyahu did nothing but pray, why doeshe Talmud say, "God gives over theseeys?"

8) What does "in His hand" teachs? Are these miracles any more "in

His hands" than others?9) Why is the term "messenger"

sed?The approach to answering these

uestions must be predicated on thedea that God does all. The reason, weave stated before; man came onto thecene after the King already establishedll laws. This means that man isreated, not the creator. As such, manollows God's laws, as his very

existence is a design of God. Moreimportantly, man's knowledge cannotgrasp the immense knowledge in thephysical world. He therefore cannotmanipulate what he does notunderstand.

This being true, we must deducewhat could be meant by the statement"God gives these keys over to amessenger".

If man does not have the ability to

perform these miracles, what is man'sinvolvement? Tosafos hints at it andsays only "good" keys are handed. Ifwe think about it, "good" refers tojustice. That is, what is good for man.In other words, God gives the keys ofjustice to man somehow, but not viagiving man powers, that is impossible.We can safely take the next step indeduction: Although capabilities formiracle working are not in man's hand,however, but the area of justice is, thenwhat is given over is "man's direction"of when justice must be employed. Attimes, man is given the right to request

when birth, rain, and resurrectionshould occur, and God responds toman's request. God allows certain mento direct these occurrences. He givesthem these "keys". "Keys" means thatthese areas are understood by man assomething completely closed off tohim, "locked", as with a key. Mannever asks in his prayers that he can fly.He understands that human flight isimpossible. Here too, man would neverask God to resurrect someone. It isunderstood that the dead remain dead.But in rare cases, God allows man thekey to open up what is normally a

closed possibility. The question ofcourse is why. Why can't man simplyfollow the rules; those who die, aredead. What necessitates God's handingover these three keys at times?

Factually, we are saying that Godshows flexibility with man's toleranceof what is justice. Normally, one who isdead, is dead. However, I believeRabbi Yochanan is teaching us aunique principle: God recognizes man'sinability to adhere to God's absolutesystem of Justice. God's knowledge isabsolute, and His system is based onflawless knowledge of good and evil.Man however, is not God., and cannot

grasp God's supreme system of justice,let alone live by it. This being so, manis ignorant of many of the rules whichGod's designed in His justice system.Ironically, God's justice demands thatman have a tolerable existence onearth. For this very reason, I believeRabbi Yochanan teaches that God willallow His own 100% true system ofjustice to be compromised for the sakeof man. Thereby, allowing man toabide in his own system. Man must

Volume I, No. 2...Feb. 8, 2002 www.Mesora.org/JewishTime

Reader: I believe I remember readingin Maimonides' rules for the criticalnumber of Jews present that dictates if,above this number you should admit your

heritage/belief and suffer martyrdom asan example, and below this number youshould deny it in order to preserveyourself and the line. I'd like to know, if Ididn't dream this, what the number is andhow it was arrived at.

Mesora: In laws of the "Foundations ofTorah", Chapter V, Laws I, II and III,Maimonides states the following:

V.I: "The entire house of Israel iscommanded on sanctifying God's greatname, as it is stated, 'And you shallsanctify me in the midst of the Jews'. Andwe are (also) warned not to defile Him,as it states, 'and do not defile My distinctname'. What is an example of how onedoes this? When an idolater rises andforces a Jew to (either) violate any one ofthe commandments stated in the Torah,or face death, one must violate and not bekilled, as its states, 'the commands bywhich man should live by them', live bythem and not die by them. And if he(selects) to die and not violate, thisperson is culpable with his life".

V.II: "In what circumstances does thisapply? In all other commandments asidefrom idolatry, murder and adultery. Butin these three commandments, if he tellsyou to violate or suffer death, one mustsuffer death and not violate. But this (that

suffering death is limited to these threealone) applies only if the idolater intendsto satisfy his desires, for example, if heforces you to build his house on Sabbathor cook him foods (on Sabbath), or heforces a woman to have intercourse, orsimilar cases. But if he intends for you toviolate the command alone, (for no otherreason than to violate the Torah) if justthe two of you are there, and there are notten other Jews, then you must violate(and not be killed), but if he forces you toviolate with ten Jews present, then youmust suffer death and not violate, even ifhe intends you to violate any of the other

commands."V. III: "And all these matters are

dealing in the case when there is nooppression, but in a time of oppression,that is, as a wicked king asNevuchadnezzar and his friends, andthey decree upon Israel to nullify theirreligion or a command from thecommands, one must suffer death and notviolate, even on one of the rest of thecommandments (aside from the threementioned), whether one is forced infront of ten Jews or forced between him

and the idolater alone."We learn a number of lessons

Maimonides' words. He teaches usatisfying the needs of the idolater

not necessarily demand we forfelives, even if by doing so we vGod's commands. In such a case the idolater merely wants his pafulfilled, one must violate the lawnot sacrifice his life. The reason isthere is no defiling of God in such aThis is not the intent of the idolater. he forces a Jew to publicly violaTorah for violation's sake, then hesuffer death, and not defile God's This is clear from the command you shall sanctify me in the midst Jews." But when alone with the idosince there is no sanctification i"midst of the Jews", (a quorum othere is no obligation to suffer death

A rabbi once noted, the fact therseparate verse in the Torah of,commands by which man should lithem", teaches that this separate vernew permission to vicommandments, and not die. Wthis verse, one would have to die focommand, not just the three. The leEach and every commandmeessential to man's life, and wortdeath. So why did God make exceand allow us to violate the comman"permission" indicates just how esseach command is. Permission mean

we must take into consideration commands, and that their violation obvious, even to save life. Their viorequires consideration, and permiLife then, does in fact outweigh vioof all commands in general. Not beof the dispensibility of the commbut actually the opposite. It is bethese very commands are so importour perfection, that God says "breacommands now, so we may keep later", by remaining alive. This I bis the exact meaning of "Live by the

We see that man's reasonmartyrdom is to demonstrate tha

lives are meaningless without the syof the Torah. In terms of sanctification of His name comes when man lays down his life insteviolating His word. Such an adevotion teaches others that God's is absolute truth, and God's truth goal of human life.

Sanctification of God's name mdefined as: the demonstration that Gthe source of all reality, and all truth

Sanctifying

God's Name

P(continued on page 3)


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Shimon, the son of Rabban Gamlielsaid: "All my days I grew up among theSages and did not find anything better forone's person than silence. Study is not theessential thing - deed is, and whoeverengages in excessive talk brings on sin."(Pirkei Avos)

How easy it is to engage in excessive

talk. Do we stop and think about what isconsidered excessive? When we arealone we think, "I just wish I could talk tosomeone." However, from the statementabove by Shimon, "he did not findanything better for one's person thansilence."

When we are part of a group/family,the need for continuous talk is satisfied. Ican say whatever I want, with mygroup/family. And since everyone hassomething to say, then what I say won'tsound so negative, or like gossip andmaybe won't be repeated, probably won'teven be remembered.

In Pirkei Avos, it says: "whoeverengages in excessive talk brings on sin."The Rambam says that when a personspeaks excessively, he will surely sinbecause within his words, there will be atleast one concept that was unnecessary tomention. So, clearly excessive talk alwaysleads to sin. It leads to forbidden speech,loshon hora. What is consideredexcessive? The Rambam says most ofwhat we say is superfluous, unnecessary.So if most of what we say is unnecessary,then it is also excessive. Excessive talkis an indication of foolishness, as it iswritten: "A fool's voice is known by amultitude of words."

What about the person/people wholisten to loshon hora, forbidden speech?Have they sinned by listening? OurSages say that the person who receivesthe loshon hora, forbidden speech - ismore severely affected than the one whospeaks it. The Chofetz Chaim adds, thatthe punishment for accepting loshon horais more severe than the punishment forspeaking it! How can the person knowbefore that what he is about to hear willbe loshon hora? Why should he/she bepunished more than the person who firstthought it, found someone who wouldlisten to it and then said it? What is the

difference between being affected byloshon hora and accepting loshon hora?

A person is affected by the forbiddenspeech - just by listening to it. It is stillconsidered forbidden even if by listeningto it your intention is not to accept it.Accepting loshon hora, forbidden speechis a more severe punishment becausealthough you heard negative informationabout a person you still are not permittedto accept this information without furtherinvestigation. This applies only withregard to your business dealings or a

match for marriage, shidduch permissible to accept the informatioprotect oneself by acting oninformation, but not to accepinformation as fact. So, imaginnegative information you heard was your sibling - naturally you woulwant to accept this information and

might immediately think: this informcould be false. You would usinformation to serve your situation That is exactly how we should feel our fellow Jew, as protective as we wbe of our own sibling, by usininformation but still giving the benethe doubt. This means not to usinformation to act against the peSince we said, that the information snot be accepted as fact, feelings of hrevenge are forbidden.

There are five categories of saccording to the Rambam. What Ito above is the second category of sthat includes: false testimony, lies, gcurses, vile speech and slander. Torah is specific in what is includthis category.

The first category is what wcommanded to speak: reading fromTorah, Torah study, and looking inmeanings.

The third category incinformation spoken about by everwhich is not positive or negative. Tcalled idle talk. Examples of this be: How so and so became wealthmost popular "idle" talk!) how a pfigure acted a certain way, how a buwas built, etc.

The fourth category, which cacalled "derech eretz" the way of the - describes acquiring desirable attrand avoiding negative ones, speech emulating others with positive Traits that are ethical, intellectual, of the wise, their conduct and important their virtues are and hoshould strive to emulate them. conversely, speech that discouundesirable traits, and how not to emtheir behavior and their ways.

The fifth category is left to us. includes one's personal agenda. livelihood, food, clothing and other n

A person can speak about these neemuch as he/she wants. Howeverbeneficial to minimize even this tytalk when possible.

How encouraging it would be if pinvested more energy and effort infirst category and less energy and into the second category!

"Lashon Hora kills three peoplone who speaks it, the one who listit, and the person about whom spoken." Arachin 15b, Jerusalem T(Pe'ah 1:1)

Lashon Hara Rivka Olenick

P


(Continued)

all man can do. If Eliyahu would note God revive the child when theother was so distraught, specificallyter she requested of Eliyahu not to

ve her a child temporarily (Rashi), itould be a poor reflection of God'sanagement of man's affairs if the

hild would remain dead. Goderefore allowed Eliyahu to pray fore child's resurrection, and Godsponded. This miracle was clearly

ot in line with the course of nature, orven other miracles. In order than mane satisfied with God's justice, Godill deviate at times, and He will not

ubordinate man's affairs to nature. Atuch times, God reverses matters,ubordinating nature to man's affairs.herefore, God allowed Eliyahu to

ray for the child's revival. Godlowed a barren Rachel to give birth,nd God allowed man to determinehen rain should fall.God created a perfect system ofstice. His knowledge dictates this to

e so. Simultaneously, man must lead aeaceful life, a life that incorporates theeas of a just God. But man has amited view of justice. Therefore, Godorks within man's system. I feel theerse in Genesis 18:17 supports thisew, "Shall I keep hidden frombraham that which I will do?"

Referring to the Divine system ofstice which demanded God's

estruction of Sodom). God teaches usere that there are areas of justicehich even the likes of Abraham couldot determine.However, God allowing man toquest changes in world order, ismited to men with the utmostnowledge, and not fools. Sometimeseople generalize the stories from thealmud, to others, viz., "just as Eliyahuade miracles, so too my rebbe makesiracles". There are three grave errorsese people make. The first is, Eliyahudn't perform the miracles, he prayedGod, (Kings II, 4:33). It also says

ere in 4:35, that after Eliyahu laidpon the boy, he then went back to hiswn house to pray to God again for hisvival. I believe this is to teach that

ubsequent to Eliyahu's act, God actedresponse to Eliyahu's prayer. It

asn't any power of Eliyahu whichvived the boy. The second mistakeade is their belief that today's rebbese Eliyahu's peers in perfection ande worthy of miracles. And the thirdror is their belief in all sorts of storiesue to mass acceptance of those stories.

Returning to the main topic, Ibelieve we can now answer theremaining questions.

Not allowing the messenger to havecomplete dominion also teaches thatthe miracle is God's handiwork, notman's. "Messenger" also teaches thatman is only requesting that which Godalready decided. A messenger meansone who is in line with God's existingplan. This means that man cannot

come up with his own plan of action,to which God would comply. Rashi'sstatement that God does these withouta messenger, means to say that manviews the area of life (birth,sustenance, revival) as completelycontrolled by God. Whereas miraclessuch as frogs, locusts and the likeaccept some natural explanation.nature there being referred to as amessenger.

One question I have not answered ishow man knows that he can ask forthose miracles that are normally closedoff? When God said to King Solomon,

(Kings I, 3:5) "ask what I should giveyou", it was said to Solomon becauseknowledge is not something man feelshe obtains by asking. The only route toknowledge is study. God thereforeinformed Solomon that in this oneinstance, He will circumvent naturallaw so he could become instantly, andmiraculously wise to judge the people.But where do we see God indicating toEliyahu that resurrection was possiblethrough prayer?

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God's Planfor Abraham

Question: Why did God start Judaismith Abraham? Why was their a need

or a change?Mesora: Abraham was an individualho understood and could teach theght ideas of life, God, and the world.

od desired that all mankind be awaref truths, and follow lives discoveringeas about the world, and ultimately

bout God. This is man's purpose, as iseen from man's exclusive gift of a

mind. No other being has this faculty.Abraham spent many years

ondering the universe, arriving atrofound ideas of philosophy, and

monotheism. Since Abraham followedhat God's original plan was for man, afe in pursuit of truth, God desired thate rest of the world benefit frombraham's findings. He therefore

elected him to become a leader of a

ation, a nation which would berovided with a system (the Torah) foruiding man towards these truths. This

expressly stated in Genesis,8:19,"For I know (him) that he willommand his children and hisousehold after him and they will keepe way of God to do charity andstice...."Abraham had a very unique mind and

ot all of mankind could arrive at truthsithout the guidance he had. The

ystem of knowledge enclosed in theorah affords mankind the ability toscover the profound ideas as Abrahamd. Man is commanded to be theacher in his home, as he is more

vailable to spend hours in daily study.e is most fit to teach and direct hisousehold. Similarly, the JewsAbraham's nation) are entrusted withe study of Torah to teach the rest of

mankind.

Christianity:OK For Christians?Reader: Thank you for a quick

sponse. If you don't mind I'd like tosk you a few more questions. Oneher person with whom I discussed thispic, told me that the information abouthristians not having share in olamaba is totally incorrect, sincehristianity is considered permissible

or Gentiles (but not for Jews). He usede term "shituf" when referring tohristianity and claimed non-Jews areot commanded against schituf. Whato you think about this opinion Rabbi?Mesora: "Shituf" means partner, or in

this context, dualism - believing in morethan one god. Judaism follows reality,which dictates that as we trace the stepsof creation backwards, we musteventuate at a cause which preceded allother causes, and was in fact the "FirstCause", i.e., God Himself.Parenthetically, speculation in mattersprior to the first acts of creation areprohibited by the Mishna in Chagiga,11b. Similarly, scientists teach that the

laws we use to understand the worldcannot be applied to studying anythingprior to the Big Bang. Since these laws(cause and effect) at that time were notyet established, we are inherentlycrippled from pondering this era. Thistruth that the scientists arrived atthrough reasoning, complies with theMishna we received on Sinai.

By definition, there can be only one"First Cause". Christian dualism, (i.e.,the father, son and holy ghost) is atheory which goes against reason. TheTorah does not say anywhere thatChristianity is acceptable for Gentiles.

Conversely, the Torah prohibits Jew andGentile alike in the area of knowingGod. It is an open verse seen by anyonewith clear vision, (Exod. 20:20) "Do notmake with me gods of silver, and godsof gold do not make to yourselves". We

just read this last week. The person youhave been talking with is not followingreason, nor the Torah's own words. GodHimself says do not follow dualism, andthis is part of the Noachide laws whichall Gentiles must follow. Again Godsays, "Hear O Israel, God is your God,God is One". Gentiles must accept God,and all that the Torah says about Him.He is One.

There are a few essential problemswith this person's statements. First ofall, he accepts a dualism for Christians.This means that God is not independent- He has needs, another god. In truth,God has no needs, as reason dictates,and as Ramban points out on the versequoted above, "God needs no other". Byclaiming a dualism, a few gods in needof each other, he denies the concept ofan all knowing and all powerful Godwhich Judaism firmly teaches. See ourRosh Hashana prayers. The entirefoundation of these prayers is that Godis omniscient and omnipotent.

His second mistake is he believesthere is more than one reality, as hesays, Christianity is fine for Christians.Would he say "gravity works for blacks,but not for whites?" Certainly theabsurdity of the latter applies to theformer. Just as there can be only onescientific reality, there can be only onetheological reality.

His third mistake is his belief that thefabrication of Christianity at a point inhistory affects what a follower of thisreligion must now believe as truth. My

response; Objective reality and God'sexistence are independent of foolishpeoples' fabrication of man-godsthroughout history. Just as there wastruth before Christianity, thisobjectively true system can in no waybe corrupted by the fantasies of Jesus'disciples. Claiming Christianity isacceptable for Christians means to saythat after Christianity was developed,all reality in the universe conformed to

Christianity's tenets. This is absurditytaken to new heights.


(Continued)

question is 90 percent of the answer."

You will notice that many timeswhen asking a question, you alreadyhave more information than you maythink, and by using that information inyour question, you will more likelyarrive at the correct answer. For

example: When you see a flat tire onyou friends car you can ask "whathappened?" But you already knowwhat happened. He probably drove hiscar over some sharp object. Thequestion should really be formulated as"What did you drive your car over?"By asking the question in this way, youwill start pondering what could havedone this. You've directed yourthoughts directly to the area that willcontain your answer - namely, the typeof sharp object. If you would havepersisted with your first type ofquestion, "what happened?", you

would have placed your mindset in anastonished state, as opposed to aninquisitively directed state. Beingastonished sets up the emotional statein a person to await a response fromanother. What we really want, is toposition the mind to answer thequestion. This can only come fromdirect questions on the facts. This typeof approach to questioning commencesan intellectual search, better suited toresult in answers.

The following area in the Pentateuchwill illustrate this point. I will first givea brief summary of the area. Then I

will show an indirect and direct way ofasking questions:The area is in Numbers, chapter 21,

sentences 4 through 9. It states that thepeople traveled towards the land ofEdom, and their patience grew short onthe way. They complained regardingGod and Moses that there was no breadand water and that they were tired ofthe "light bread" (the manna). God thensent fiery serpents to attack and kill thepeople, and many died. The people sawtheir wrong and went to Moses and

confessed that they spoke wroabout God and about Moses, and that he pray that the serpentremoved. After Moses prayed,told him to create a serpent and to it upon a pole and that any who loat it would be healed. Moses diand made a brass serpent and plaon a pole, and any man that was gazed at it and was healed. This basic story. Keep in mind also tha

must keep to the main issues if yogoing to successfully answer an Distinguish between main quesand side questions.

The main questions on this seare: What was the fault of the peWhy did God choose to give serpents" as a punishment heropposed to something else? Whatthe added affliction of "fiery" sercome to accomplish? Why did Mhave to make a serpent if the palready confessed? Why put it pole? Why did Moses make it o"brass"? How did looking at

serpent heal?Rashi said, "let the serpent whopunished due to his evil talksection dealing with Adam and come and exact punishment from who spoke evil. Let the serpent cto who everything tastes as oneexact punishment from those denied the good. That one (manna) was changed for themany things." According to RashJews received a corrective methrough snakes because of evilHowever, this isn't the first someone spoke evil. Why Miriam receive snakes when she sagainst Moses? Why didn't the receive snakes long before this? spoke evil before.

These are the basic questions.very possible to work with thethey are. But if we make slight chto their structure, we will ourselves closer to the ans

What would you likeread in the JewishTim

Suggestions:Quotes from Ethics of the Fathe

Topics for Discussion with ChildrParsha Questions

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o their structure, we will directurselves closer to the answers.

Remember, all of the information weeed to answer these questions is in theassages.

The main question should beddressed first. Why snakes? We know

why. They spoke evil. So we must askmore directly: "What was the differencen the evil talk of the Jews here, thathey received the snakes? After askinghe question this way, you directourself at their actions for the answer.

You know that in other cases the Jewsomplained to God and Moses, and theyidn't receive snakes, let alone "fiery"nakes. So speaking evil per se cannote the cause of their extraordinaryunishment. What is different here?

The difference is that it nevermentions anywhere else that the peoplegrew tired on the way". This firstassage seems extraneous at first. Butow, rephrase the question using thisnformation from the first passage:What is it in the fact that they werered, that the ensuing evil talk should beunished with serpents?" You canlmost immediately make theonnection that their evil talk was theirect result of being tired. Meaning,hat their evil talk was unjustified inelation to the object of their complaint.

was just talk used to vent theirmotions regarding something else.heir was no inherent flaw with the

manna.Talking can be used for one of two

hings: 1) communication of an idea orf a complaint, 2) an outlet for themotions, as one does when hotempered and breaks something. Insteadf breaking something, people often

whine and complain.This first passage is here to hint

owards the underlying cause for theiromplaining. They were tired of theourney and didn't control their feelings,nd began to displace their frustration toutlet their emotions. We also

nderstand now why they received suchdifferent punishment here than in

ther areas. Here, their complainingwasn't based on any real problem. Theyovered it up with a rationalization ofhe lack of bread and water. But ineality they shouldn't have complained.his explains why they receivederpents.

Serpents were given to them becausehey represent what the original serpent

was punished for - evil talk - and tooint out to them that they were victims

of an emotion of outletting their feelingsthrough speech. Had there been anotherincident in Scripture where anindividual, or people, had outletted theiremotions in this manner, and were on alevel for God to administer a correctivemeasure, we would witness anothercase of "fiery serpents". However, this isthe only account where this specificflaw occurred, and therefore, the only

account where fiery serpents comes tocorrect the situation.With this information, we can also

answer another question: Why theadditional aspect of "fiery"? The reasonis because they denied the good of themanna. This is what Rashi was pointingto. If there were two aspects to theirpunishment (serpents and fiery), theremust be a reason for both. So "serpents"comes to correct evil speech, and "fiery"comes to correct their denial of the goodmanna. Tangentially, Miriam wasn'tpunished with serpents because herdegrading talk wasn't to outlet anemotion. Contained in her words was anincorrect notion regarding how Godrelates to man. She however expressedthis with a boastful overtone. Thus, shefell prey to two faults; 1) Shemisunderstood how God relates toMoses, (as compared to herself) 2) Shegave in to the feeling of haughtiness.Since Miriam faulted in these two, Godcorrected her in both. He taught her howHis relationship with Moses differedfrom His relationship to her, and Hegave her leprosy which lowers ones selfesteem. This is another example of howGod's punishment differs from man's.When God punishes someone, or a

people, it is an act which corrects afault. It's not just a deterrent. This is thebasic concept behind "Mida k'negedmida", (measure for measure).

What about the question as to whyGod told Moses to make replica of theserpent? Didn't the people repentalready? This is one way of asking thisquestion. But we can deduce from thefacts that there must have beensomething lacking if God told Moses todo something further. The questionshould be rephrased as the following:"What was it in the Jews request for theremoval of the serpents which

demonstrates incomplete repentance?"You can see the answer clearly. Theirconfession to God and Moses isimmediately followed by their requestto have the serpents removed. (Animportant point about this is that theyboth take place in the same passage.When one passage contains a fewthoughts, they are related.) Theirrepentance was only for the sake ofremoving their immediate pain from theserpents - not a true realization of theirerror. Because of this, God instructed

Moses to create a replica of the serpentso that they could stare at it in order tocontemplate their problem properly,thereby removing from themselvestheir incorrect notions. Placing it uponthe pole facilitated the direction of theirthoughts towards God, Who isfiguratively "upon high".

In summary, the following stepsshould be taken when approaching an

area of Torah Sheb'csav: 1) Knowwhere the area begins and ends2) Understand the area thoroughly3) Distinguish between main points

and side points4) Ask yourself how this area differs

from all other areas. This will help topoint you towards the main topics

5) Formulate questions clearly usingas much information as you have towork with

6) If the area deals with God'srelationship to man, detect either man'sfault and see how the punishment fitsthe crime, or look into God's actionstowards man to understand what Hewas improving upon

7) If the area deals with mitzvos(commandments), if they are positivecommands, look into man's nature tosee what they affect; and if they arenegative commands, then they arecoming to control a natural dispositionof man which must be tempered.

False Notions:

MagicalPowersrabbi reuven mann

The idea that objects possesssupernatural powers is absolutelycontrary to Torah. The Torah makes itclear that nature operates according tofixed laws. Thus, objects only possessthe natural powers they are endowedwith. Whenever something occursoutside the frame of natural law theonly cause is the Divine Will, i.e., whatwe call Providence. In the war againstAmalek when Moshe lifted his handsthe Jews would prevail and when helowered them they would falter. YetRashi asks, "can the hands of Moshewage war?" So too in the case of thecopper snake those bitten would gazeupon the snake and be healed. Would

you say that the copper snake special power to heal? Here too asks, "Can a snake heal?"continues to explain that when thesubordinated their hearts to G-dHe would cure them.The same iregarding the hands of Moshe. the question of Rashi we can cdeduce that he rejected the notiascribing non-natural power

physical objects. It is importaremember the Chizkiyahu destthe copper snake when the pbegan to attribute powers to it. Tof manna and many other objectshidden for the same reason.

G-d did not give us any objecure us or help us with our probHe told us that our fate woudetermined purely by the quality ofaith, obedience to His will and leperfection. If the stones of the ehad the power to cause pregnancydid Channa pray so bitterly andthe child to G-d's service? Whythere any barren women? It imentioned that Channa or the wwho hosted Elisha swallowed anyin order to become pregnant.attitude of course represents a comdistortion of mitzvohs as the Ramexplains in regard to using mezzumedicinal purposes. On this poiintelligent people should agree.

Finally it is not our burdedisprove an idea which is contrTorah and common understanding of Torah. It is the bof the person asserting a notion runs contrary to the basic principTorah to demonstrate th

authoritative and unimpeacsources that his strange interpretatauthentic.

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Jewish Times - Volume I, No. 2...Feb. 8, 2002