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HALAKHAH AND SOCIAL REALITY Shtrashun of Vilna, explains the differently, as follows: To THE EDITOR OF TRADITION: See Rashi on Bava Metsia 52a (in explanation of a phrase in the Tal- In Yitzchok D. Gilats article mud, dealing with the laws of (Spring-Summer '73) on "The Ha- overcharging, stating that people lakhah and its Relationship to So- are wont to say "ashik legabokh veshavi likreisokh" or "overpay cial Reality," a Midrash was quoted for the clothes on your back but which, as quoted, has strong words give only the exact worth for the for the and their uphold- food for your stomach," where- ing of the laws of mamzerut. The upon Rashi comments) "ashik is an expression denoting high value, words "miyad oshkeihem koach mi- etc.," and with this explanation we yad sanhedri gedoloh shel yisroel can understand the Torath Ko- shebo'o aleih.~m mikochoh shel To- hanim in the portion Kedoshim rah" are rendered as follows: "And "'Thou shalt not oppress thy on the side of their oppressors there neighbor,' I might think (one has sinned) even if he said 'so-and-so was power - This is the Great is a strong man' and he isn't a Sanhedrin of Israel which comes strong man, 'a wise man' and he against them with the power de- isn't a wise man, etc." f'his pass- rived from the ." We are thus age being completely unintellgible unless one notes that the verb presented with the idea that the ashok can mean "to ascribe honor Israeli considered the San- or worth"). hedrins of many generations as op- pressors merely for upholding the It is noteworthy that the Malbim, din haTorah as given to Moses. in explaining this T orath Kohanim, Anyone reasonably acquainted also connects it with the Bava Me- with the Torah sheb'al p.!!h and tsia passage cited above. He also truly sensitive to its major prin- cites a Midrash which interprets ciples would be shocked and in- Koheleth 4: 1 as referring to indi- credulous at such a Midrash, and viduals who falsely give the impres- so was I - until I checked to see sion of saintliness, with the word what the commentaries say. We find ashukim again denoting- the giving that the Rashash. Shmuel of glory and worth. This verse is

154 Communications the very one which is dealt with Halakhah. Nevertheless, there is by Lev. Rabba 32:8. the Midrash one noteworthy similarity between cited by Gilat. them. Both deal with the question Thus, the Midrash did not, chas of when, and under what circum- veshalom, condemn Sanhedrin as stances, a "lie" is condoned or is oppressors. but, on the contrary, permissible. In the former case the referred to them as honored men. "lie" is ascribed by the in May it be G-d's wil that, speed- the Midrash to Jacob, and Frimer ily, men of great scholarship and comes to the conclusion that "in . true righteousness appear and gain the face of Laban, even the tsaddik the respect and allegiance of all like Jacob is permitted to be de- Jewry, and declare piskei Halkhah ceptive." It may be pointed out en in rectitude, thereby bringing the passant that the rabbis raise what completion of the Redemption (see is known as the "white lie" to the Sabbath 139a), and then, as the level of a positive virtue when they Midrash says. the unfortunate speak favorably of Aaron deliber- mamzerim shall truly become pure. ately tellng each of the parties to (Rabbi) Herschel L. Gottlieb a quarrel that the other had ex- Chicago, Ilinois pressed his regret and contrition and desired a reconcilation, when there was no truth in it, but the "lie" was justified because it brought about peace and harmony. ON SACRIFICES According to Hendel it is Mai. monides himself who is guilty of To THE EDITOR OF TRADITION: "lying," but it is excused ió that it is in the interests of the further- The stimulating article by Nor- ance of belief in . He ex- man Frimer, "A Midrash on Moral- plains the failure of Maimonides to ity, or When a Lie is Permissible" include in the M oreh the positive (VoL. 13.4 and 14.1, Spring Sum- aspect of the value of sacrifice on mer 1973, pp. 23-14), belongs en- the grounds that when one is deal- tirely, as its title suggests, to the ing with "an ignorant or sinful per- sphere of Aggadah and ethics and son" or where "there is a possibilty brings out excellently the profound that if the truth is told then this moral issues which the Rabbis, with person will misconstrue fundament- what Frimer rightly calls their al tenets of Judaism or wil con- "sparkling, at times breathtaking, tinue to aggravate his sin," "there insights which the sages had into is a moral obligation (sic!) to en- the humanity of men" with which gage in some types of speech that they dealt in their imaginative the Torah normally prohibits." homilies. The article by Russel Jay They may be "distorting the truth, Hendel in the same issue (pp. 163- telIng a half truth, lying by omis- 179) "Maimonides' Attitude to- sion and actual lying." wards Sacrifices" belongs squarely Hendel rightly points out that at to the counterpart of the Aggadah, the time of the Rambam was one

155 TRADITION: A Journal of Orthodox Thought of shaken faith on the part of which he intended settling in IsraeL. many, and he justifies the "lie" on (He never did; the girl student the grounds that "it helped strength- did!) en religion since once the people When I lectured to that class on accepted that "lie" they would "no Maimonides on one occasion, in longer attack the rest of it." order to indicate the difference of There is, as wil be shown, a cer- approach of Maimonides in his Yad tain element of truth in Hendel's and in the Moreh, and to explain analysis, but he surely goes too far those apparent contradictions, I in thus attributing a suppressio veri, said, "Maimonides wrote the Y ad which is tantamount to a lie, to for people like you, Rivkah, where- Maimonides in this. as he composed the Moreh for It is not only with regard to his people like you, Mottie." In other views on sacrifices that one can dis- words, the Y ad was a code com- cern an apparent contradiction be- piled for those of unquestioning tween the two classical works of faith who believed implicitly and Maimonides, the Yad Ha-Chazakah unreservedly in the eternal validity and the M oreh N evuchim, and it of the Torah and its command- is this apparent contradiction which ments, and whose sole desire was gave rise to the utterly untenable to know how to act and conduct theory mentioned by Hendel that their lives in accordance with God's the third part of the Moreh was not revealed wil, and the manner in by Maimonides but is a forgery at- which it found its expression in the tributed to him. Halakhah. The M oreh, on the other There is, however, to my mind a hand, was composed, as indeed Mai- simple explanation of these discrep- monides clearly states in his intro- ancies which I can best ilustrate duction, for those whose faith had by a personal story. In my class at been impaired or destroyed by their the University of the Witewaters- acceptance of the prevailng (Aris- rand where I was Professor of He- totelian) philosophy, those who brew Literature I had, in a certain doubted, or even rejected the val- year, two students who represented idity of the Torah. In this case the extremes in their attitude and at- aim of Maimonides was to instruct tachment to Judaism. The one, a them not how but why they should girl student, and the daughter of a observe the commandments. In Rabbi was beyond question the short, as its Hebrew title, which is most Orthodox and observant stu- an accurate translation of the orig- dent I ever had. Of unswerving inal Arabic one, indicated, it was faith she was meticulous Be-Kal- written for the "Nevuchim," the lah K.!!-Ba-Chamurah. The other "perplexed," the doubters and the was a young man who had been questioners, and he had to explain brought up in the anti-religious Ha- them in accordance with their own Shomer Ha-Zair, and was.certainly standards and preconceived ideas. an agnostic, if not a positive athe- No one, to my mind, can doubt ist. He had, however, a real enthu- the apologetic aspect of the Moreh, siasm for Hebrew, in addition to its evident aim to prove to those 156 Communications

who were convinced of the truth of dependent of the attempt to explain the version of Aristote which they it rationally. A person may be im- had studied, but were not similarly pressed by the cogent evidence ad- convinced of the truth of the To- duced that swine's flesh has a po- rah. Generally speaking Maimon- tentially dangerous affect on health; ides strove to show that the two there is surely no need to add that did not necessarily stand in con- if it were scientifically proved be- flict with one another. In other yond question that it was a veri- words, it was "Le-Shittatam," and table panacea for robust health it the parallel with the well-known would still remain utterly forbid. passage anent Rabban Johanan ben den. And that is exactly the answer Zakkai which Hendel brings is given by Johanan ben Zakkai, . thê striking. He answers the pagan ac- "Jewish" answer, to his disciples. cording to his pagan ideas, but his He did not attempt to give a rea- own disciples in accordance with s'on for the Red Heifer which the truth of the Torah. That very would be acceptable to his disci- answer surely disposes of the alIe~ ples and their intellectual and spir- gation of deliberate untruth with itual leveL. He answer that he knew which Hendel accuses Maimonides, no reason but that it was a Divine justify it though he does. This ap- statute which had to be observed proach is by and no means con- for that reason alone. And the very fined to Maimonides. When Kan- fact that the validity of the Mitzvot tian philosophy held sway attempts and the obligation to observe them were made to explain Judaism in is independent of any reason ad- terms of that philosophy, and in duced to buttress faith and observ- our own days we have been witness ance. But that is a very far cry to similar attempts with regard to from "distorting the truth, tellng Socialism, existentialism and other a half-truth, lying by omission or reigning "isms." One does not only actual lying." To a very real ex- "answer a fool according to his tent, in view of what has been said folly"; one answers the philosopher about the Ta'amei Ha.Mitzvot. according to his philosophy, and the every reason given for the Mitzvot pagan according to his pagan con- partakes on "non-truths" since the cepts, and all who try to justify reason adduced does not represent Judaism do so in this spirit. the essential truth, that the The justification for this ap- is independent of that reason. And proach depends upon the much de- that despite the tendency to regard bated question of the value we at- some of them as axiomatic, as, for tach to the Ta'amei Ha-Mitzvot. example, the therapeutic effect of However plausible and acceptable circumcision, that the observance these ta' amim may be, however of Tevilah avoids cancer of the much they may succeed in strength- womb, and the general tendency to ening the wavering faith of the give hygienic and not spiritual rea- doubter or the rationalist, it is an sons for the Mitzvot. One has only axiom of that to peruse TRADITION to see how the Mitzvah itself is completely in- widespread this tendency is today.

157 TRADITION: A Journal of Orthodox Thought

The explanation of David Shapiro upon it( or perform it) and (there- for the blessing of fertility given by) bring to mind all the com- to fish and fowl but not animals in mandments of the Lord and per- this issue is a case in point. form them." Man, with his ten- There is, however, another aspect dency of "going astray after his of Maimonides' attitude towards the eyes and after his heart" stands in sacrifices which belongs not to the need of some practical counter- apologetic, but to the philosophicaL. weight to overcome that tendency. "Everyone" knows this radical view It is provided by the ceremonial of sacrifices which he puts forward of Judaism, whether it be sacrifices, in the M oreh which has given rise TeDiln, or the Arba Kanfot, in to so much discussion, but I am connection with which this passage continually surprised at the almost occurs. And did not the more than complete ignoring by those who a milennium from the cessation of compose that "everyone" of the sacrifices, and the near two milen- remarkable parallel which Maimon- nia to this day, prove that an ac- ides proceeds to give in order to ceptable substitute was found, that justify it. In pointing out that it adumbrated by Johanan ben Zak- would have been too much to ex- kai, whereby "lips" took the place pect of men, at the time the sac- of "animals?" And Maimonides rificial system was enjoined, wholly points out that even that substitute, to discard this system of worship, the need to formulate one's ap- he gives the following parallel proach to God in words, similarly, ( Hirschfield's translation) , "It if to a lesser degree, constitutes the would in those days have made the same external stimulus, and that if same impression as a prophet would and when man could reach the spir- make at present (i.e., in Maimon- itual stage of complete mental com- ides' time) if he called us to the munion with God even that would service of God and told us in His be unnecessary. There is ample cor- name that we should not pray to robative support for that view that Him, nor fast, nor seek His help the true essence of worship in the in time of trouble, that we should and Midrash, and especial. only serve Him in thought, and not ly in the ethical and mystical litera- by any action." Surely that passage ture of the Middle Ages, of which is more eloquent of Maimonides' the lovely story told in the Seier view of sacrifices than all the more Chassidim of the ignorant boy who or less forced explanations which expressed his love for God by have been given of it. It gives ex- whistling and the Divine displeas- pression to the true and ultimate ure that he was forced to stop and meaning of worship as expressed in substitute it with prayers which the phrase A vodah She-Be-Lev-. In were incomprehensible to him, is a the ultimate resort it should be pos- tellng example. sible for man to establish com- It is that ultimate goal whereby munion with God by thought alone. "The All-Merciful demands the Actions and words belong to the heart" which Maimonides puts for- category of "And ye shall look ward but only when our hearts are

158 Communications purified to serve Him in truth wil that Messianic day come. (Rabbi) Louis i. Rabinowitz , Israel

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