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J l j t ~ l'i":l "The essence of our knowledge of the Deity is this: that He is One, the Creator and the Revealer of Commandments. And all the varied faculties of the spirit are only so many aids to the solution and the detailed description of this knowledge; their purpose is to clarify it and present it in a form that will be at once the most ideal, noble, rational, practical, simple and exalted ..." A Publication of "How shall man obtain a conception of the majesty of the G R Divine, so that the innate splendor residing within his soul may Student Organization of Yeshiva rise to the surface of consciousness, fully, freely, and without dis RABBI ISAAC ELCHANAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY tortion? Through the expansion of his scientific faculties; through the liberation of his imagination and the enjoyments of bold flights of thought; through the disciplined study of the world and of life; VOL. 4, NO. 1 ,~,w, m,,o, '::J through the cultivation of a rich, multifarious sensitivity to every phase of being. All these desiderata obviously require the study of all the branches of wisdom, all the philosophies of life, all the MENACHEM M . KASDAN, SIMON POSNER .... Editors ways of the diverse civilizations and the doctrines of ethics and MELVIN DAVIS, CARMI HOROWITZ .. Executive Editors religion in every nation and tongue. " NEIL LEIST . Managing Eaitor MOSHE FINE . Associate Editor RABBI ABRAHAM ISAAC Koo:< DAVID KLAVAN ..... ......... ... Assistant Editor HAROLD HOROWITZ, ALAN MOND, ........... ... ~¢®>1 ROBERT YOUNG Typing Editors YALE BUTLER, LAWREN CE LANGER, WILLIAM TABASKY . .. ................... Staff • Student Organization of Yeshiva ELIYAHU SAFRAN . , . President MENACHEM SCHLOSS .... .... .... Vice-President JACOB HOENIG ... .. ... .... Secretary-Treasurer TABLE OF CONTENTS Israel Israel's Day of Independence: Reflections in Halacha and Hashkafa by Rabbi A aron Soloveitchik 7 Religion and State: The Case For Interaction by Rabbi Dr. Aharon Lichtenstein . 24 Reflections On Torah ... The Sabbath by Rabbi Harold B. Kanatopsky . 51 Ecclesiastes by Rabbi Steven Riskin . 62 Hakhel by Menachem M. ,Kasdan 70 ... And Science Halachic and Scientific Categories: The Need For - Clarification by Rabbi Dr. Moses D. T endler . : . 83 When Is God? by Isidore Halberstam . 96 On The Operation of Free Will Within a Causal Framework by Mordechai Geduld . 103 Reviews The Varieties of Religious Experience: The Tension Between Theology and Experience by Simon Posner and Bezalel Safran . 127 Kaufmann Kohler's Theology: A Synthesis That Printed in the United States of America b_y Failed 137 BALSHON PRINTING & OFFSET CO. by Lawrence Grossman . 480 SUITER AVENUE BROOKLYN, N. Y. 11207 3 f ewish History The Divorce in Cleves, 1766 by Rabbi Aaron Rothkoff 147 The Two Obadiahs: A story of Two Converts in the Era of Maimonides by Nosan Roth . 170 ~*~ ISRAEL 4 • Rabbi Aaron Soloveitchik What place does the State of Israel have in Jewish Thought? What - if any - are the ha/,achi-c con sequences of its Day of Independence? Specifically, are any special prayers ( such as Hallel) to be re cited? Rav Aaron Soloveitchik, presently the Rosh Yeshiva of the Hebrew Theological Seminary in lJ.li'\ i'\U'2 '2mn "ff\~ U\,J. 'i'\ 1J1l\, Skokie Illinois, discusses these issues in the paper printed below. This paper was originally presented nrn1 ,111J. \,J'2nn ,,nm \J.1 J.R'2 ? nun by Rav Soloveitchik to his Shiur in Yeshiva Univer sity on Yom Hdatzmaut 5726 (1966). ? i'\l,lUi'\ R,i'\ \J,i'\ ,RJ.R : 1'J.R'2 lUR \J.i'\ n,Rl UR .11,J. Ri'\, m \U,'O ,lJ. : ,i lUR ISRAEL'S DAY OF INDEPENDENCE: .1'2 i'\J.'1\2 i'\l,lUi'\ ,ii'\ Tl9'2 nnJ.\2i'\ niJ. REFLECTIONS IN HALACHA AND HASHKAFA nn~n un,Ri UR ,'2RiID,'2 iU1R R,J.li'\ 1J The Torah consists of prose and poetry. While rhythm and rhyme 1lll, lURlID ui'2rul unR 1in '\lJTIR 1'0J,U) are the usual distinctions between human prose and poetry, there .i'\l~ '\11,J. 'i'\ is another distinction between divine prose and poetry. The Gemara tells us that the Song of Moses, the Divine Poetry, has to be written '~ '~ C''Nm 'il) '.lil)t:itu ~,p,, in a particular way, in the form of a "half-brick" set upon a "whole brick." The "half-brick" refers to the written part of the shira, and ~ the "whole brick" refers to the space left blank. The blank- part of die shira is double the written part. Divine prose, however, is written with only as much blank space as is necessary to separate one word from another. This is symbolic of the essence of the poetic as contrasted to the non-poetic part of the Torah. What this means for us will be explained shortly. There is a dispute between R. Eliezer and R. Joshua in the Midrash: i1'm~ no~nn P'i1 - where is wisdom located? R. Eliezer says that the heart is the source of wisdom, while R. Joshua assertS that the mind is the source of wisdom. The Torah in its entirety is composed of two categories of mitzvot, one based upon the wisdom of the mind, and the other based upon the wisdom of the heart. There is a logic of the heart just as there is a logic of the mind; 7 9 8 GESHER ISRAEL'S DAY OF INDEPENDENCE and the two phylacteries, for the arm and the head, represent these movements, however, did not originate as part and parcel of a two categories. The one worn on the head represents the mitzvot that universal Jewish movement of repentance. stem from the wisdom of the mind, and the one worn on the forearm A third argument against the significance of the Medina is that the opposite the heart represents the mitzvot which stem from the wisdom State of Israel came into being through natural processes. According of the heart. The halacha is that the phylactery of the arm must be to the opinion of some rabbis - though I think they constitute a put on before that worn on the head. The reason for this halachic very small minority of g' do lei yisrael within the last fifty years - rule is that the mitzvot which emanate from the wisdom of the any form of geula must take place in a supranatural fashion. mind are significant only if these mitzvot are coupled with, and • • • preceded by, the mitzvot which emanate from the wisdom of the heart. Chapter VII of the second book of Kings has a bearing on all The halachic rule as to the peculiar manner in which Divine these arguments. Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of poetry, contrasted with Divine prose, is to be written is based upon Israel, was besieged by the mighty armies of Syria and was in the the fundamental distinction between mitzvot based upon logic of throes of, famine. Ordinary food was unobtainable and articles of the mind and mitzvot based upon logic of the heart. Divine prose food which, under normal circumstances, would have been considered is perceived through observation and deductive and inductive reason repulsive were obtainable only at fantastic prices. Samaria seemed ing in accordance with the wisdom of the mind; divine poetry, doomed. however, which contains blank space double that of the written Desperate as the situation of the inhabitants of Samaria was, the space, stems from, and is to be perceived intuitively through, the condition of the four lepers outside the city was infinitely worse. logic of the heart. According to our sages, these four lepers were none other than As we cannot find any explicit statement by Ghazal regarding the Gechazi and his three sons who were afflicted with physical leprosy ~ establishment of the State of Israel, we have to delve into the as a penalty for their spiritual leprosy ( Maimonides in his rommen "blank lines" of the Torah. In understanding an historical tary on the Mishna describes them as epicureans and -heretics) . phenomenon that did not take place in the time of Ghazal, we Kept from the city because of their malady, they faced certain death have to apply primarily, although not exclusively, the wisdom of by starvation. Consequently they decided to surrender to the Syrians. the heart. At worst, they might be put to death immediately - that would be much better than starving. At best, their lives might be spared. They I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Those who do not recognize the importance of the establishment As they approached the camp of the armies of Syria, they beheld of Medmat Y israel give several reasons. The first argument raised a miraculous spectacle - the camp was empty, and on every side is that non-observant Jews led the movements which culminated in there were signs of a panicky flight. In their haste, the Syrian the establishment of the State. They argue that the results of such soldiers had abandoned everything: tents, horses, an abundance of leadership cannot be of great historical significance for the Jewish food and arms, and precious stones and metals. The four lepers went people. These results cannot be considered as a step towards geula, from tent to tent taking these precious objects and hiding them. But but rather as a step away from geula. as soon as they finished providing for their own needs, their A second argument is that inasmuch as galut is a penalty for consciences began to prick them, and they said, "We are not abandonment of the Torah, it follows that any salvation or deliver deporting ourselves properly. This is a day of good tidings. We are ance can take place only as a result of teshuva.