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Abroad: Parshat Bamidbar) No 1627: 5 Sivan 5776 (11 June 2016

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Abroad: Parshat Bamidbar) No 1627: 5 Sivan 5776 (11 June 2016 Shabbat-B'Shabbato – Parshat Nasso (Abroad: Parshat Bamidbar) No 1627: 5 Sivan 5776 (11 June 2016) AS SHABBAT APPROACHES "His G-d's Crown is on his Head" – Princes and Receiving the Torah - by Esti Rosenberg, Head of the Midrasha for Women, Migdal Oz One experience stands out in my head from my formative years – as a young girl I was coming home from the synagogue, my nostrils filled with the heavenly odor of "cholent," while I had one request: "Let's make Kiddush!" This of course was the blessing over the wine which opened the way for us to have a piece of cake, with a glass of cold cola. And Abba at his own pace, with his shiny face and faith filled with meaning would reply, "That is the basic dilemma of our lives. Who is in control? Do you control your stomach, or does your stomach control you?" This reply continues to accompany me in my life wherever I go. Eventually I found my father's advice in the Midrash – that the lives of the righteous people remain in their own hands, as opposed to the evil ones, who are under the influence of their own hearts. I can see an extension of the same idea with respect to a "nazir," who takes a vow to refrain from wine or any grape products. It is written, "One who makes a wondrous vow" [Bamidbar 6:2]. Avraham Ibn Ezra comments, "It is a remarkable act, since most people follow their lusts... And the nazir moves away from his lust in order to serve G-d, since wine corrupts the soul." Ibn Ezra summarizes the process through which the nazir passes as follows: "Know that all human beings are slaves of their own lusts, and the King really sets a royal crown on the head of anybody who frees himself from lust." We all live in tension between the physical and the spiritual. On one hand wine, food, and physical pleasures, while on the other hand we know that physical lust can lead to great harm, and that we might lose the proper balance between sanctity and the profane, the pure and the impure. A nazir sees this problem and tries to learn how to control his natural desires. The vow of becoming a nazir is for a specific length of time – to take the time to abandon lust in order to learn to control it and make it holy. "And afterwards the nazir shall drink wine" [6:20]. At the end of the vow, the nazir is commanded to drink wine and to return to a balanced lifestyle, as one who is now in charge. This wonderful ability which gives a person control over his own life is a great privilege, one that opens a broad pathway towards the acceptance of Torah and the mitzvot. It can provide a great level of self-confidence to a little girl who can fashion her own life, control her urges, and act as a queen even in her own small world. It is clear to me that this approach is an important element of the basis of the Jewish world. Many of the mitzvot point in this direction – to form a personality which has the ability to control its own lusts. Every boy and girl are required from a very young age not to eat all that they want, not to do everything that they would like to do. Even at a young age, they must control themselves like little princes. In order to receive the Torah, a person from Yisrael must take control of his or her life, to expend much difficult labor, to make a strenuous effort, to know what is important and what is not. This is challenging and makes us happy, it builds us up and makes us weary at one and the same time, and the main thing is that it is possible to accomplish. The result is that an opening appears for accepting the mitzvot, for taking on the obligation of serving the Creator of the World – and to do this with joy and a willing spirit. POINT OF VIEW "Zionist Halacha" - Does Such a Thing Exist?" - by Rabbi Yisrael Rozen, Dean of the Zomet Institute 1 Yedidia Stern, a graduate of Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh, is a Professor of Law and the Vice President of the Israel Democracy Institute. He sent out a challenge for the Torah-true members of the Torah-Zionist camp in a series of three articles on the subject of "Zionist Halacha" (published in the "Shabbat" magazine of Makor Rishon during the weeks of Emor, Behar, and Bechukotai). Aside from his recognition that there has been significant development of "Zionist Halacha" in our generation, the main thrust of his articles consists of sharp criticism of what is "missing," in his opinion. He feels that the rabbis of our generation did not make a proper response to this challenge, as he puts it. Almost his entire essay is devoted to an analysis of a broad range of subjects which have appeared in the annual collection of halacha in "Techumin" from the point of view of relevance for the rejuvenation of the state, for Israel sovereignty, and for the need to formulate "Zionist halacha" that should accompany the authorities of the country and its component parts. (Note that I have been privileged to be one of the leaders of the Techumin project. This week we are happy to announce the publishing of Volume 36.) This column of mine is not the proper forum to deal with the details of Prof. Stern's claims. I will merely make one double statement. His words contain a large measure of factual truth, but there are many possible replies to his analysis, both in general and with respect to specific issues. We can note with respect to Prof. Stern's Torah approach that as opposed to Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz, who challenged the Torah-true religious Zionists in the time when the State of Israel was established, Prof. Stern believes in the ability of the Torah scholars to "create Zionist halacha." Prof. Leibowitz, a master of ultimate assertive thinking, declared that halacha does not recognize the essence of a Jewish state! And there you have it! In passing, we want to praise the very fact that such a challenge was raised by the Vice President of the Israel Democracy Institute, an institution which is often considered to be on the other side of the issues (that is, emphasizing their commitment to democratic values) when it comes to discussions of the Jewish State and Democracy. Here is one important note, which I write based on my 40 years of experience in this field (Zomet Institute is 40 years old): It is impossible to "create abstract halacha" without a regime for pilot testing and without responding to questions from the field. For example, the responsa of Rabbis Yisraeli and Goren were based on the fact that many religious people served in the IDF or lived in settlements and asked for help with halachic questions. The great developments in the subject of health and halacha are an echo of the questions of a large community which was interested in answers to current issues. Unfortunately, the dreams of the rabbis who lived when the State of Israel took shape to establish a Halachic State were not fulfilled: Rabbi Waldenberg wrote "The Halachot of the Land" and "Shabbat on the High Seas" as general treatises, without any opportunity for practical applications. The same is true of the work of Rabbi Herzog in the field of Jewish law, again without any actual field tests. In Zomet Institute we many times without success tried to generate general halachic works on subjects which are under-represented among kippa-wearers. Some of the examples are operating a fleet of boats, drilling for oil, communications media, firefighting, municipal waterworks (in Jerusalem – see my article in Techumin, Volume 29). Various articles which appeared in Techumin about the subject of police operations on Shabbat remained quite abstract until the founding of the religious police prep school "Faithful in the Police," which stimulates practical halachic creativity, as led by Rabbi Rami Berachiyahu. In short, the lack of relevant creativity stems from a low level of demand! General Rulings as Opposed to Individual Halacha This weekend of the holiday of receiving the Torah I am writing to reject Prof. Stern's thesis that there is such a thing as "Zionist halacha." This concept encourages a false viewpoint that anybody who holds to a "Zionist" approach must of necessity be more lenient, more liberal than others. Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook and Rabbi Shlomo Aviner happen to be very stringent in their rulings, but nobody can cast any doubts on their Zionism! Their Zionistic outlook on life, including faith in redemption and celebrating our 2 national independence, is not relevant for their halachic rulings. Rather, the important element of halachic rulings is whether they are relevant for an individual and a community or for the nation of Yisrael as a whole. Does a rabbi take into account in his rulings the current state of society or only the desirable state? As examples, take some of the subjects which appear in the new volume of Techumin. One discussion concerns "A Woman who was Unfaithful in the Wake of a Mystical Influence." This is the subject of an article written by Chief Dayanim, Rabbis Shlomo Daichovsky and Eliyahu Abarjil, together with a psychological analysis written by Prof. Manny Koslovsky and Dr. Baruch Kahanah. The subject is neither "Zionist" nor relevant for governmental authority, but those who consider the issues involved will see that this is a social phenomenon and not an individual event.
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