Is All Haste “From the Devil”? Rabbi Baruch Weintraub Haste Is from the Devil
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בס“ד Parshat Bo 6 Shevat, 5779/January 12, 2019 Vol. 10 Num. 19 (#397) Issue #400 is coming up with Parshat Mishpatim (February 2)! To place a dedication in this special, 12-page colour edition, please email [email protected] or call 416-783-6960. Is All Haste “From the Devil”? Rabbi Baruch Weintraub Haste is from the Devil. • According to Rabbi Akiva, the meal our national character would require a (Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, 6th ed.) can continue up to the morning, for long process. Rambam further our haste to leave Egypt began only explained that even the forty years of G-d’s instructions regarding the then. wandering in the desert were not only a Pesach sacrifice performed in Egypt According to Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, punitive response for the spies’ sin, but include some peculiar orders: they then, the haste to be commemorated is also a method for reshaping former were to eat it only roasted, not that of the Egyptians, as part of our slaves into fierce and independent breaking any bone, and without memory of the strong hand with which people – a process which needed the leaving home. All of this should be our nation was rescued from these cruel span of a generation. As the sin of the done as the participants are fully masters. Haste, then, is a negative thing spies itself proved, these changes clothed to leave, their loins girded, – to be celebrated as it was forced upon cannot be hastened. [See Moreh shoes on their feet and staff in their our enemies! Nevuchim 3:32.] hand. This list of specific commands concludes with the general concept We may find support for the view that Should we then conclude that “Haste is underlying them: “You shall eat it in the haste to be remembered is not our from the devil”? Not necessarily. As haste.” (Shemot 12:11) See also own, but rather that of the Egyptians, mentioned above, the plain meaning of Rambam’s Moreh Nevuchim 3:46 for in a mishnah which says that the our parshah does convey the message an explanation of how all of these commandment of haste only applied to that our ancestors’ haste was a positive commandments were a consequence of the Pesach performed in Egypt, and not element to be remembered. According to the need for haste. to the celebrations of later generations. Rabbi Akiva, whose position is followed (Pesachim 9:5) Furthermore, Rabbi by some, this message is encoded into The atmosphere of haste is by no Elazar ben Azariah could base his the very timeframe of our Seder. means an incidental element, limited position on an explicit prophecy of to this original Pesach executed in Yeshayahu regarding a future A key to the distinction between positive Egypt. Rather, the Torah explicitly redemption: “You shall not depart with and negative haste lies in the opening obligates us to integrate its memory haste, nor go by flight, for Hashem will words of Rabbi Tzaddok HaKohen to his into the very core of the Pesach go before you.” (Yeshayahu 52:12) A book, Tzidkat HaTzaddik. He explained experience for generations – the midrash contrasts this prediction with that the beginning of every spiritual matzah is a reminder of the haste with the haste ordered in Egypt, concluding wakeup must be with haste, as any which we departed the land of Egypt. that the future redemption will not be of delay may result in missing Divine (Devarim 16:3) haste. (Mechilta d’Rabbi Yishmael) inspiration. The system must be Haste, then, is not part of our shocked for any change to begin. But However, a closer look will reveal that redemptive process, but rather it is the after this initial arousal comes the time the Jewish attitude towards the haste experience of our former persecutors. for slow and methodical work – which of Pesach night is much more complex. secures and advances a sound elevation The sages of the Mishnah (Berachot There are good reasons to oppose haste. of soul and mind. 9a) debated the deadline for G-d preferred to deliberately slow down completing the Seder: the fugitives’ pace, avoiding the fastest Haste, then, far from being “Satanic”, • According to Rabbi Elazar ben route from Egypt to the promised land. can and should be utilized, in the right Azariah, all eating must cease by (Shemot 13:17) Rambam explained that time and manner, as another tool in our midnight, to emphasize the this was because of G-d’s deep ongoing quest to draw near to our Egyptians’ haste to expel the understanding of human nature, and Creator. Israelites from their land; the knowledge that any deep change of [email protected] OUR BEIT MIDRASH ROSH BEIT MIDRASH RABBI MORDECHAI TORCZYNER SGAN ROSH BEIT MIDRASH RABBI ELIHU ABBE AVREICHIM EZER DIENA, RABBI ALEX HECHT ADULT SEDER BOKER DIRECTOR RABBI MOSHE YERES WOMEN’S BEIT MIDRASH MRS. ELIANA ABBE ISRAELI CORRESPONDENTS RABBI ADAM FRIEDMANN, RABBI BARUCH Find our upcoming shiurim on-line at WEINTRAUB, RABBI JONATHAN ZIRING www.torontotorah.com UNIVERSITY CHAVERIM YONI BLUMENFELD, COREY KAMEN, ARI KARON, JAY KARON, YEHUDA LEVI, COBY LYONS, JACOB POSLUNS, MORDECHAI ROTH, ARI RUBIN, We are grateful to DANIEL SAFRAN, DAVID TOBIS, URIEL WEISZ, ELI WELTMAN, BARUCH WISE Continental Press 905-660-0311 Journey Through Tanach: Yehoshua, Chapter 17 Rabbi Alex Hecht Summary complained to Yehoshua that they them, “Go hide yourselves in the Our chapter continues to describe the were given only one lot and one portion forests” (Yehoshua 17:15) so that the process of apportioning land in Israel to despite their population having “evil eye” would not harm them as a the two tribes descended from Yosef: increased more than that of any other result of showing off their numbers. Menasheh and Ephraim. Consistent tribe since the census taken when the with the order in which Yaakov blessed Israelites left Egypt. (Rashbam, Bava Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (1892- Yosef’s two sons (Bereishit 48:19), Batra 118a) Rather than allot them 1953, Michtav me’Eliyahu IV pg. 6) Yehoshua gave Ephraim’s descendants more territory, Yehoshua suggested explained that an ayin ra is caused their portion before Menasheh’s, even that Menasheh and Ephraim maximize when a person fails to be mindful of the though Menasheh was the older of the use of the land they were given by way he displays his blessings. If a two. driving out the Perizzites, Rephaim, person flaunts his blessings or uses and Canaanites, and clearing out the them to cause anguish to others, he At first, Menasheh’s territory was forests in the mountain region. bears responsibility for inviting divided among the families descended Precisely because they were numerous, resentment and its harmful effects. from his seven sons - Machir, Aviezer, Yehoshua insisted that they should be However, noted Rabbi Dessler, if a Chelek, Asriel, Shechem, Chepher, and able to drive out the idolatrous nations person is “a giver and not a taker,” who Shemida. However, the five daughters of in their midst. is modest and uses his blessings to Tzelophechad (Machlah, Noah, Chaglah, help others, he will not arouse the “evil Milcah, and Tirtzah), a great-great Insight: The Evil Eye eye.” The Talmud notes that the grandson of Menasheh who died The sages of the Talmud (Bava Batra modesty and generosity necessary to without any male heirs, came before 118a) asked why Menasheh and avoid the evil eye were traits Yehoshua and the leaders to claim their Ephraim’s ineffective pleas to exemplified by Yosef himself and father’s portion, as Hashem had Yehoshua for additional territory were inherited by his descendants. instructed Moshe. (Bamidbar 27:11) As recorded in Tanach. The sages Therefore, Yehoshua exhorted a result, the tribe of Menasheh received answered that Yehoshua’s refusal was Menasheh and Ephraim to use their an additional four portions – their included to teach that a person should great numbers and strength to benefit father’s portion, a share of the portion avoid the jealousy expressed in an the rest of the nation by driving out the of an uncle who died childless, and a ayin ra (evil eye). Yehoshua was idolatrous Canaanites. double-portion for their grandfather concerned that if the tribes of Yosef Chepher, who was a firstborn. (Rashi to were given additional land and drew [email protected] Yehoshua 17:5) attention to their large numbers, they would cause others to view them with Menasheh, joined by Ephraim, resentment. Therefore, he instructed Law of the Land: Non-Halachic Civil Courts Rabbi Adam Friedmann Parshat Mishpatim begins, “These are the laws that you will The Talmud (Sanhedrin 23a) indicates that litigants are place before them.” (Shemot 21:1) Our Sages understood that entitled to accept upon themselves any judicial system they the ones receiving the laws directly are not the entire Jewish desire, including courts which are staffed by unordained people, but rather the judges who are tasked with applying judges who do not judge based on halachah. [See Rashi and the legal system described in the parshah and the rest of the Meiri there.] Evidently, the option for non-halachic Torah. On this basis the Talmud (Gittin 88b) records the judgment exists, and is contingent on the choices of those halachah that only judges who are semuchin (ordained in a being judged. direct chain of tradition from Moshe) are authorized to execute Torah judgment. Today the chain of semuchin is lost, The contradiction between the first two sources and the but contemporary rabbinic judges operate as “messengers” of final has elicited several possible solutions. Perhaps the the original courts.