DOCSLIB.ORG

Exile and Exodus 2 the Kabbalist Haggadah: a Handbook of the Seder

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Exile and Exodus 2 the Kabbalist Haggadah: a Handbook of the Seder Exile and Exodus 2 The Kabbalist Haggadah: A Handbook of the Seder The Exile of Da’at – Knowing In order to understand the meaning of Passover, celebrating the Exodus from Egypt, we must be clear about the meaning of the Egyptian exile. It was, to use the terminology of the Kabbalah, ‘The Exile of Knowing.’ The Hebrew word for ‘Knowing’ is Da’at - ,gs. Of all the trees in the Garden of Eden, one was forbidden to Adam. In the text of Genesis (2 :9), it is named the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the Tree of Da’at of Tov and Ra. In the simplest of terms, eating of the Tree of Knowledge precipitated a crisis in the world - it became and remains impossible to separate good and evil absolutely. Since the time of the eating, good and evil are mingled, confused and often indistinguishable. An example of the confusion that prevails: In Ger- many between the years 1933-45, cruelty toward animals was considered a hei- nous crime, and progressively harsher laws were passed to punish it. What can one say to such a statement? Is any part of it good or bad? Is the good not inex- tricably confused with the evil? Maimonides, in his monumental work on Jewish Law (Hilchoth Teshuvah 5:5) discusses ‘Knowing’ both in the divine and human spheres. If you ask: Since God knows everything, does He have prior knowledge of who will be virtuous and who will be evil, or does God not know? If God knows someone will be virtuous is it possible for him not to be so? If you say that God knows the person will be virtuous but the possi- bility remains that he will be evil, is there not something confused about God’s knowledge? Know, the answer to this question measures longer than the world, broader than the ocean. Many radical basics and axiomatic princi- ples depend upon it. However, you must first know and understand the following that I tell you. As we have already explained in the second chap- ter of the Laws of the Fundamentals of the Torah, God’s knowledge, unlike human knowledge is not separate from God; the way human ideas have an existence independent of the people who think them. God and His knowledge are one, and no human can grasp this idea without confu- sion, just as humans are incapable of grasping God’s essential truth, as it is written; ‘For no man shall see Me and survive.’ Similarly no one has the power to grasp God’s Knowledge, and this is what the prophet meant when he said: ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, My ways are not your The Exile of Da’at – Knowing 3 ways.’ It being so, we have not the ability to know how God knows every- one and everything. Without doubt though, we know that every human acts with complete autonomy and without God decreeing it so. This is not merely a religious tenet, we know it after proving it philosophically with words of wisdom. This why the prophets assert that humans are judged for their actions and by their actions, good or evil. This is a basic upon which all prophecy depends. If you remain confused, dear reader, after reading Maimonides’ explana- tion of Knowledge of Good and Evil, don’t fret. It’s paradoxical. Knowledge and Confusion are synonymous. This is what eating of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil did for the world. Human behavior and rational philosophy are but tiny facets of the cosmic whole. The universe is a big place and confusion reigns throughout. Modernity is premised upon acceptance that the time, place or se- quence of events can never be established with absolute certainty. Confusion is the central theme within Kabbalah too. In the Kabbalistic system of Sephiroth used to describe all interactions and events in the created uni- verse Da’at – Knowing is a ‘virtual’ Sephirah. If one were to imagine the Kabbalis- tic Sephirah of Da’at – Knowing, exemplified in the human mind, we would have to postulate its momentary existence at the interface between the two hemi- spheres of the cortex at the front of the brain. The Hebrew word ,gs -Da’at translates as ‘Knowing.’ Nevertheless, everywhere in literature this word is accepted as having other meanings. In the broadest sense, where heaven and earth meet is Da’at - Knowing. Where man and woman meet is Da’at - Knowing. Where the past and the future meet is Da’at - Knowing. Knowing is the place where inside meets outside. Da’at - Knowing is the inside of the outside. To imagine the inside of the outside we have to imagine a crown sitting on a head, encircling the skull and resting upon the brow. Obviously the crown is outside the head, but where is the inside of the crown if not inside the head? The inside of the outside, the central point in space within the crown resting on the outside of the head, is actually a point in the middle of the brain. This Sephirah of Da’at – Knowing is central to our un- derstanding of Passover and the Exodus. Uncertainty, confusion, lack of knowledge: most of us are confused much if not most of the time, but at least we are sure of our confusion. There’s no confusion about that. The Exile of Knowing – Da’at only begins when we become confused about the very fact of our confusion. Officially, the Exile of Da’at is covenantal and begins with Abraham. In Genesis (15:13), God said to Abram: “Know surely that your descendents will be strangers in a foreign land for 400 years.” Yet where we read the verse as, 'know surely,’ the Hebrew text uses the words gs, gsh -Yodoa Tayda, which are both forms of the root gs -Da, ‘to 4 The Kabbalist Haggadah: A Handbook of the Seder know.’ It is as though Abram were told, ‘You will know that you know that your descendents etc.’ But because the Egyptian exile was an exile of Da’at - Know- ing, we, Abram’s descendents in Egypt did not know that we did not know. In order for the wound inflicted upon the cosmos by the eating of the Tree of Da’at –Knowledge to be healed, there has to be separation of good from evil. This involves a process of discernment, a long process, stretched over hu- man history. The Exodus from Egypt described in the Torah is a paradigm of this discernment process. It was not only the process whereby a family of sheep- herders became a recognizable nation, whereby God became the One God, the Lord and whereby good had discernment from evil. It was at every level, as we shall be learning, a discovery, a revelation, a determination and enlightenment of ‘Knowledge.’ It was the first big fixing of the damage caused by the confusion of Da’at - Knowing. In order to properly understand the Exodus, we need to understand the reasons and circumstances surrounding our descent into Egypt. A simple reading of the text of Genesis tells the story of Joseph and his brothers. They were as confused about him as he was about them. They sold him as a slave into Egypt where his sexuality – Knowing was tested. In prison he was recognized as a Knowing man. Pharaoh, after using him to interpret dreams realized that Joseph was a man who knows things, someone with divine knowledge. Joseph tortured his brothers and they knew him not. Eventually the whole family descended into Egypt. Joseph and his brothers died. A new Pharaoh governed Egypt, one who knew not Joseph. He oppressed the Hebrews and enslaved them. Moses was born. He stood before Pharaoh and demanded he let God’s people go. “Who is God? I know him not,” exclaimed Pharaoh. (Exodus 5:2) “You will know,” said God to Moses. (Exodus 6:7) “We don’t know,” said Moses to Pharaoh. (Exodus 10:26) We were brought forth out of Egypt, and now we know. If the Exodus were a simple historical event we would not be preparing for the Passover Seder as though it were a major life-event each year. The Exo- dus continues to resonate and repeat and retell itself as a current event each and every year. Seder night - Giluy Shechinah - Revelation of the Divine Presence The Exodus from Egypt is not merely an historical event. It is not the story of the migration of a people. It is a personal story about regaining our ability to achieve intimacy. At the macrocosmic level our capacity for intimacy describes our ability to become vehicles for the Shechinah - Divine Presence. One way of seeing how we have lost our capacity for intimacy is to realize we no longer have Giluy Shechinah - Revelation of the Divine Presence. The night of Passover in Egypt was the first night of Giluy Shechinah - Revelation of the Divine Presence, as will be described at length in the text. It was an historic and remarkable event through which we were changed instantaneously from serfs to The Exile of Da’at – Knowing 5 nobles, from being mired in blackest ignorance to the enjoy the ability to enjoy as commonplace breathtaking visions of the Divine. Together, let us explore some of the eternal verities and profound mysteries hidden in the story told in this Haggadah. Let us re-enact the exodus in our own lives, that we be healed of the damage we suffer as a result of our own eating of the Tree of Knowledge – Da’at of Good and Evil.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Chassidus on the Chassidus on the Parsha +
    LIGHTS OF OUR RIGHTEOUS TZADDIKIM בעזרת ה ' יתבר A Tzaddik, or righteous person , makes everyone else appear righteous before Hashem by advocating for them and finding their merits. Kedushas Levi, Parshas Noach (Bereishis 7:1) VA’ES CHA NAN _ CHASSIDUS ON THE PARSHA + Dvar Torah Deciphered Messages The Torah tells us ( Shemos 19:19) that when the Jewish people gathered at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah , “Moshe spoke and Hashem answered him with a voice.” The Gemora (Berochos 45a) der ives from this pasuk the principle that that an interpreter should not speak more loudly than the reader whose words he is translating. Tosafos immediately ask the obvious question: from that pasuk we see actually see the opposite: that the reader should n ot speak more loudly than the interpreter. We know, says Rav Levi Yitzchok, that Moshe’s nevua (prophecy) was different from that of the other nevi’im (prophets) in that “the Shechina was speaking through Moshe’s throat”. This means that the interpretation of the nevuos of the other nevi’im is not dependent on the comprehension of the people who hear it. The nevua arrives in this world in the mind of the novi and passes through the filter of his perspectives. The resulting message is the essence of the nevua. When Moshe prophesied, however, it was as if the Shechina spoke from his throat directly to all the people on their particular level of understanding. Consequently, his nevuos were directly accessible to all people. In this sense then, Moshe was the rea der of the nevua , and Hashem was the interpreter.
    [Show full text]
  • The }Amnia Period in Jewish History
    NOTES AND STUDIES 347 THE }AMNIA PERIOD IN JEWISH HISTORY. I. THE request made by R'J ochanan ben Zakkai, when he secured the favour of Vespasian, that the Sanhedrin should be allowed to settle at J amnia 1 is clear evidence of his wisdom and knowledge. The town itself had remained loyal to the Romans, and the Jewish population, hitherto in the majority 2 had just been considerably weakened by the importation of an alien eJement.3 Neither in }amnia nor anywhere in the neighbourhood could rebellion be even suspected. The Jewish population in the Plain of Sharon too had suffered but little in the war, and besides the whole plain from Carmel to Gaza, with the low hills of the Shephelah, was amongst the most fertile and desirable land in Palestine. The fertility of Lydda is specially mentioned 4 and ·from Ganoth Zeriphim, near J oppa, G the firstfruits of the wheat had been taken for presentation in the Temple. Nowhere else in the Holy Land could the maximum return be so easily secured with the minimum of labour. We need not then be surprised that the population was large, though of course the numbers given must be discounted in view of the manifest megalomania of the recorders. The little Jewish State, to some extent administered from }amnia ·from A. D. 70 to 135, is defined as extending from Antipatris to Gib­ bethon, the latter of which must have been somewhere in the Philistine country, as Bethshemesh is mentioned as having been between them.6 There we have it stated that there were no fewer than 6oo,ooo villages, and that Bethshemesh was the smallest.
    [Show full text]
  • Kabbalah Kabbalah - by the Blessing of G-D H”B with the Knowledge of Heaven D”Sb Contents Everything Belongs to Hashem
    Kabbalah Kabbalah - By the blessing of G-d h”b With the knowledge of heaven d”sb Contents Everything belongs to Hashem. }”hl Kabbalah - Title Page Kabbalah Meditation from Torah to Self-improvement to Prophecy ● I. Introduction hawbn la rswm la hrwt }m twnnwbth hlbq ● II. Torah Prophetic Truth and Version - 11/1/2001 Talmudic Dialectic Hermeneutical This work in progress is intended to train one to experience authentic Reality kabbalah. Study the manual by browsing the table of contents, links, ● III. The Written Law and footnotes. Let your spirit be your guide and Ribono Shel Olam (the ❍ A. Torah Master of the World) will reveal what you need to learn next. The work ■ 1. Bereshis -- In the focuses on learning kabbalah through character improvement through Beginning – Genesis the theoretical, meditative, and practical kabbalah. While I have written down some of my own kabbalistic journeys, in the final analysis one ■ a) Parsha Bereshsis must choose his own path and with the blessing of G-d reveal another truth path to the Infinite. ■ b) Parsha Noach This work uses a Hebrew true-type font that should be downloaded and ■ c) Parsha Lech installed on a PC to view the work correctly. To install the Hebrew true L’hah type font: ■ 2. Shemot - Names - Exodus ● Open location heb_tt.zip ● ■ a) Parsha Save the file to a location on your disc Terumah ● Double click on heb_tt.zip and extract files to a directory ● Double click on Install_Hebrew.ttf.vbs ■ 3. Vayikra - And Called - Leviticus ■ 4. Bamidbar - In the Your Hebrew fonts should now be installed.
    [Show full text]
  • Bigdei Shesh.Pdf
    © Copyright 2006 Published by Reuven Meir through lulu.com For more copies, visit: http://www.lulu.com/reuven Read more of Rabbi Bechhofer’s writings at his blog: http://rygb.blogspot.com and at his website: http://www.aishdas.org/rygb/ To listen to Rabbi Bechhofer’s shiurim including his Daf HaYomi Yerushalmi, visit: http://www.teachittome.com and http://www.yerushalmionline.org Bigdeh Shesh The collected writings of Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer Table of Contents ESSAYS ON HASHKAFAH...................................... 8 FACING THE MACHASHAVAH CHALLENGE.............................. 8 FORKS IN THE ROAD: OLD DIVISIONS, MODERN RAMIFICATIONS ..................................................................................... 20 THINK, ASK, INTERNALIZE!................................................ 41 GOOD CHUMROS?........................................................... 52 MEZUZOS, MACHLOKOS AND EILU V'EILU DIVREI ELOKIM CHAYIM ......................................................................... 64 BITACHON, HISHTADLUS, HISTAPKUS................................. 75 THE DVEYKUS VS. SHLEYMUS DEBATE.............................. 89 HAKHEL, SUKKOS, AND ACHDUS ....................................... 90 JUDAISM AND RACISM...................................................... 94 THESIS: JUDAISM AND COUNSELING ................................. 99 AYIN HO’RA.................................................................. 146 THE VALUE OF S’MICHAH ............................................... 149 SHIDDUCHIM IN AMERICA ..............................................
    [Show full text]
  • Seven Laws of Noah
    Seven Laws of Noah Sheva Mitzvot שבע מצוות בני נח :The Seven Laws of Noah (Hebrew B'nei Noach), also referred to as the Noahide Laws or the Noachide Laws (from the English transliteration of the Hebrew pronunciation of "Noah"), are a set of imperatives which, according to theT almud, were given by God[1] as a binding set of laws for the "children ofNoah " – that is, all of humanity.[2][3] Accordingly, any non-Jew who adheres to these laws because they were given by Moses[4] is regarded as a righteous gentile, and is assured of a place in the Olam Haba), the final reward of the עולם הבא) world to come righteous.[5][6] The seven Noahide laws as traditionally enumerated are the following:[7][8] 1. Not to worship idols. 2. Not to curse God. The rainbow is the unofficial symbol of 3. To establish courts of justice. Noahidism, recalling the rainbow that 4. Not to commit murder. appeared to Noah after theGreat Flood of 5. Not to commit adultery or sexual immorality. the Bible. 6. Not to steal. 7. Not to eat flesh torn from a living animal. According to the Talmud,[7] the rabbis agree that the seven laws were given to the sons of Noah. However, they disagree on precisely which laws were given to Adam and Eve. Six of the seven laws areexegetically derived from passages in Genesis,[9] with the seventh being the establishing of courts. Contents Sources Torah Book of Jubilees Acts 15 Tosefta Halakha and the Seven Laws Talmud Punishment Subdividing the Seven Laws Ger toshav (resident alien) Contemporary status Maimonides Christianity and the Noahide Laws Chabad movement Sefer Sheva Mitzvot Hashem Public recognition United States Israeli Druze See also References Further reading External links Sources Torah According to the Genesis flood narrative, a deluge covered the whole world, killing every surface-dwelling creature except Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives, and the animals taken aboard Noah's Ark.
    [Show full text]
  • Bamidbarto Perfection
    Paths Bamidbarto Perfection With gratitude to Hashem, The servant of Hashem, David Chananya Pinto, ThesonofmyFather,mymasterandteacher, The tzaddik, Moreinu Rabbi Moshe Aharon Pinto, zy"a, Grandson of the holy tzaddik, Rabbi Chaim Pinto, zy"a First edition, Cheshvan, 5774 Jerusalem ירושֹלים Table of Contents BA Bamidbar Torah – A Priceless Gift ................................... 1 Each One of Us Counts .................................... 7 Yisrael, in Whom I Take Glory............................ 10 Torah Requires Toil ..................................... 18 Character Refinement Precedes Torah...................... 23 Encamping According to the Flags......................... 29 The Census of the Tribe of Levi............................ 38 Gems on Parashat Bamidbar The Connection between Bamidbar, Naso, and Beha’alotcha... 45 A Calculated Counting of Bnei Yisrael...................... 48 The Gem of Torah Is Set in the Heart of Every Jew........... 49 The Numbers of the Nation............................... 52 The Pure Light ......................................... 53 Naso Greatness and Humility .................................. 55 The Connection between Parashat Naso and Shavuot......... 60 The Severity of Slander .................................. 65 Becoming a Nazir – Atoning for Arrogance................. 69 The Berachah of Peace ................................... 74 Sacrifice in Serving Hashem.............................. 82 The Connection between Naso and Beha’alotcha............. 90 Gems on Parashat Naso Chasing Away the
    [Show full text]
  • Talmud, Mishnah, Midrash
    TALMUD, MISHNAH, MIDRASH TALMUD Talmud Bavlì Talmud Yerushalmi HALACHA' MISHNAH MIDRASH RABBINI TALMUD Introduzione Accanto alla Bibbia, il Talmud (che significa "insegnamento") è il grande libro sacro dell'Ebraismo: diversamente dalla Bibbia ebraica, il Talmud è infatti riconosciuto solo dall'Ebraismo, che lo considera come la "Torah orale", rivelata sul Sinai a Mosè e trasmessa a voce, di generazione in generazione, fino alla conquista romana. Il Talmud fu fissato per iscritto solo quando, con la distruzione del Secondo Tempio, gli ebrei temettero che le basi religiose di Israele sparissero. Torah scritta e Torah orale Il Talmud consiste in una raccolta di discussioni avvenute tra i sapienti (hakhamim) e i maestri (rabbi) circa i significati e le applicazioni dei passi della Torah, e si articola in due livelli: la Mishnah (o "ripetizione") raccoglie le discussioni dei maestri più antichi (giungendo fino al II secolo d.C.); mentre la Ghemarah (o "completamento"), stilata tra il II e il V secolo, fornisce un commento analitico della Mishnah. La Torah comprende due parti: - i primi cinque libri della Bibbia, cioè il Pentateuco, che costituiscono la Torah scritta; - la Torah orale che ha dato origine al Talmud. Secondo la tradizione ebraica la Torah scritta non può essere applicata senza la Torah orale. La trasmissione della Torah orale Nel 587 a.C., il tempio di Salomone viene distrutto e il popolo ebraico deportato in Babilonia. Allora fu necessario precisare in che modo mantenere una vita ebraica in terra d'esilio e in mancanza del santuario di Gerusalemme. Questa è stata l'opera degli scribi (Sopherim), fondatori della sinagoga, interpreti della Torah scritta e maestri della Torah orale.
    [Show full text]
  • The Definitive Biblical Phenomena Anyone Who Does Not Believe the Bible Is from Heaven After Reading This Book Is an Idiot Or
    1 The Definitive Biblical phenomena Anyone who does not believe the Bible is from heaven after reading this book is an idiot or in denial What you are about to see is staggering. That is why I call it “The Definitive Biblical phenomena” . The only explanation of this phenomena is that it is “the work of God” as you shall see. People ask why should I believe in God. , Why should I believe what’s written in the Bible, is from God? Why should I accept the Bible as the word of God more than any other religious book ?. I will tell you, even more than this. I will show you. You will see how it all adds up, as we will see! I will begin by explaining to you a few things, and then we will examine “The Definitive Biblical phenomena”. There is a ancient teaching in the Oral tradition that the Bible is learned and explained by 32 methods. The 29th of these 32 methods is called gematria (numerology). It is taught that the numerical values of the Hebrew letters were given to Moses at Mount Sinai. Hebrew is the Divine language of the Bible, it’s the original language of the Torah. It is the code and the conduit through which God created and re-creates and sustains everything that is. We will discover just how true this is in the following pages. Before we look at the “The Definitive Biblical phenomena” in Hebrew, the Original language of the Bible. Hebrew is called the “Holy Tongue”, and we will see and come to know why.
    [Show full text]
  • Vayeishev 5758 Volume V Number 12
    Beha'alotcha 5781 Volume XXVIII Number 37 Toras Aish Thoughts From Across the Torah Spectrum are quite distinct and operate by a different logic, as a RABBI LORD JONATHAN SACKS Z"L simple thought experiment will show. Covenant & Conversation Imagine you have total power. Whatever you Rabbi Sacks zt"l had prepared a full year of Covenant & say, goes. Then one day you decide to share your Conversation for 5781, based on his book Lessons in power with nine others. You now have, at best, one- Leadership. The Office of Rabbi Sacks will continue to tenth of the power you had before. Now imagine distribute these weekly essays, so that people all around the instead that you have a certain measure of influence. world can keep on learning and finding inspiration in his You decide to share that influence with nine others, Torah. whom you make your partners. You now have ten times here is a lovely moment in this week's parsha that the influence you had before, because instead of just shows Moses at the height of his generosity as a T you there are now ten people delivering the message. leader. It comes after one of his deepest moments Power works by division, influence by of despair. The people, as is their wont, have been multiplication. Power, in other words, is a zero-sum complaining, this time about the food. They are tired of game: the more you share, the less you have. Influence the manna. They want meat instead. Moses, appalled is not like this, as we see with our Prophets.
    [Show full text]
  • Kol Mevaseret 5781
    קול Kol מבשרת Mevaseret A Compilation of Insights and Analyses of Torah Topics by the students of MICHLELET MEVASERET YERUSHALAYIM Jerusalem, 5781 Editors in Chief: Racheli Schachter ● Batsheva Shekhter ● Meira Steiner Editorial Staff: Hannah Aaron ● Hallie Gordon ● Amira Isenberg Aliza Kass ● Yehudis Tova Samuels ● Atara Shtern Emma Spirgel ● Nechama Stein ● Yonina Weinberg Faculty Advisor: Rabbi Eliezer Lerner © 2021 / 5781 – All rights reserved Printed in Israel מכללת מבשרת ירושלים Michlelet Mevaseret Yerushalayim Rabbi David Katz, Director Mrs. Sharon Isaacson, Asst. Director Mrs. Sarah Dena Katz, Asst. Director Derech Chevron 60 Jerusalem 93513 Tel: (02) 652-7257 / US Tel: (212) 372-7226 Fax: (02) 652-7162 / US Fax: (917)-793-1047 [email protected] U.S. Mailing Address 500 W. Burr Blvd Suite #47 Teaneck, NJ 07666 www.mevaseret.org/mmy HaDaF Typesetting [email protected] CONTENTS Letter from the Editors............................................... 7 Introduction Rabbi David Katz ................................................... 9 תנ"ך חתן דמים Leah Baron .......................................................... 15 Ben Sorer U’moreh: באשר הוא שם or נידון על שם סופו Michal Eckman .................................................... 19 Yehuda and Yosef: What it Truly Means to Be a Leader Kayla Goldstein ................................................... 23 Pesach: More Than Just the Holiday of Redemption Hallie Gordon....................................................... 33 A Guide to Becoming a Better Oveid Hashem Chana Rus
    [Show full text]
  • Sfas Emes Will Dayenu Includes Another Message
    Tzav 5767 Volume XIV Number 28 Toras Aish Thoughts From Across the Torah Spectrum unexpected twist and turn of events. Queen Jezabel RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN sends a messenger to inform Elijah that in 24 hours he Shabbat Shalom will suffer the same fate as the slain prophets of Ba'al, he Sabbath before Passover, which is known as and Elijah flees to Mount Sinai where he begs G-d to "The Great Sabbath" (Shabbat Hagadol), is take his soul. What causes Elijah to give up so quickly Tdedicated to Elijah the Prophet who - as we read in and so completely? At the heels of such a public the Haftarah - will herald the arrival of the "Great and triumph, why does he not stand up to Jezabel and taste awesome day of the Lord", the period of redemption the fruits of his victory? I believe that the answer lies in (Malachai 3:23). Elijah is one of the most fascinating the fact that Jezabel informed him that he would be and ubiquitous personalities of the Bible, which killed in the next 24 hours. Why did she not execute describes him as having been "translated into heaven": him immediately? Elijah understands that Jezabel is this provides the midrash with the opportunity to say delivering a profound insight into the mentality of the that Elijah never died, but rather continually travels Israelites. She couldn't possibly execute Elijah between heaven and earth visiting important immediately when he was still basking in the halo of his personages and sewing seeds of loving kindness and miracle; however, she understands only too well that in good works.
    [Show full text]
  • This Too Is for the Good1 Giving and Investing in Alignment with Jewish Values
    This Too Is for the Good1 Giving and Investing in Alignment with Jewish Values A collaboration between Investing with Impact and Philanthropy Management “ Charity outweighs all other commandments.” — Talmud, Bava Batra 2 MORGAN STANLEY | 2019 THIS TOO IS FOR THE GOOD Perhaps the central questions for all people TABLE OF CONTENTS of faith are: How do we live in the world as Five Mitzvoth � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 4 good and moral people? What are the values Initiating a Meaningful Conversation � � � 7 that have been imparted to us through the A Brief History of Jewish Philanthropy � � 8 The Mission-Aligned Jewish Investor � � 10 teachings of our religion, and how do we A Hypothetical Case in Point � � � � � � � � � �11 pass those values down to our children and Approaches to Mission-Aligned Investing � � � � � � � � � � � � 12 grandchildren? How should those values Jewish Values-Aligned Financial and Philanthropic Capital Approaches � � � � � 13 inform the way we interact with our families, Approaches to Mission-Aligned our communities and the world around us? Philanthropy � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 16 Advancing Mission Through And, how might those values guide our family Shareholder Action and Engagement � � 16 Jewish Values in Action, and foundation investing and giving decisions? Now and in the Future � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 17 Those raised in the Jewish faith, or observing it by choice, may first ask a more fundamental question: Is there a set of common values that spans the extraordinary
    [Show full text]