Kon tiki of mind, will have to wait for a while

Kon Tiki of mind was removed for now. It will have to await another time. Sorry about the delay.

Tefilat Chana - a lesson in Geula- By RR

Intro Principle: Disconnect from Shem Hashem- a culture of Achzariyut

The King must redeem the people from the natural achzariyut that should be our derech, projecting himself in the world as a shining example of the justice and tikkun maase of D'as Ha'emes, as shown by Shlomo in his 3 book curricula - Mishlai, Koheles, Shir hashirim. (See case ,  Shlomo and two Zonot)

הלכות מתנות עניים פרק י

א  חייבין אנו להיזהר במצות צדקה, יתר מכל מצוות עשה--שהצדקה סימן לצדיקי זרע אברהם אבינו, שנאמר "כי ידעתיו, למען אשר יצווה . . ." (בראשית יח,יט).  ואין כיסא ישראל מתכונן ודת האמת עומדת אלא בצדקה, שנאמר "בצדקה, תיכונני" (ישעיהו נד,יד); ואין ישראל נגאלין אלא בזכות הצדקה, שנאמר "ציון, במשפט תיפדה; ושביה, בצדקה" (ישעיהו א,כז).

ב  ולעולם אין אדם מעני מן הצדקה, ואין דבר רע ולא היזק נגלל בשביל הצדקה--שנאמר "והיה מעשה הצדקה, שלום" (ישעיהו לב,יז).

ג  כל המרחם--מרחמין עליו, שנאמר "ונתן לך רחמים וריחמך והרבך" (דברים יג,יח); וכל מי שהוא אכזרי ואינו מרחם, יחוש לייחוסו--שאין האכזרייות מצויה אלא בגויים, שנאמר "אכזרי המה ולא ירחמו" (ירמיהו נ,מב).

The era of the Shoftim was characterized by the lack of such leadership and subsequent degeneration into a culture of lack of Yirah or Gaava and achzariyut -  

 בימים ההם אין מלך בישראל איש הישר בעיניו יעשה

הלכות מלכים ומלחמות פרק ד 

ט  ובכול יהיו מעשיו לשם שמיים, ותהיה מחשבתו ומגמתו להרים דת האמת, ולמלאות העולם צדק, ולשבור זרוע הרשעים, ולהילחם מלחמות ה'--שאין ממליכין מלך תחילה, אלא לעשות משפט ומלחמה:  שנאמר "ושפטנו מלכנו ויצא לפנינו, ונלחם את מלחמותינו" (שמואל א ח,כ)

This is the role of all אדם גדול בתורה ומפורסם בחסידות,to be me'kadash Hashem through being the great living example of Zedek in action.
Ultimately this role model responsibility of the Adam Gadol is the legacy of Avraham Avinu. It was Avraham who pioneered Derech Tzedaka Umishpat- or Derech Hashem- the idea that , as Adam saw so clearly, we all get merely a Chelek of the resources of our Creator, Elokeynu Melech Ha-Olam, who provides resources to sustain the Olam. Adam lacked rain, because the Olam lacked rain. It therefore behooves us to pray to Elokeynu Melech Ha-Olam for a resource for ourselves,as part of an Olam that needs something, not personally.

ולפי שהשמות האלו שנקרא בהן היוצר, הן הדרך הבינונית שאנו חייבין ללכת בה, נקראת דרך זו, דרך ה'.  והיא שלימדה אברהם אבינו לבניו, שנאמר "כי ידעתיו, למען אשר יצווה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו, ושמרו דרך ה', לעשות צדקה ומשפט" (בראשית יח,יט).

Therefore our story begins with the Das ha-emes in a dire state. Without  the King as a great role model leader, the people revert back to be engaged in their infantile form of Avodah [pesel micah] or to the remaining halacha loyalists - "super-ego removing" avodah which by nature is weak, formal and rote. These are the manifestations of not seeing the Shem Ha-Shem as a governing reality in their lives. Such Avodah is incapable of uplifting society to Yirah and doing Tzedek and a culture of Gaava  and Achzariyut must arise.

Elkana, our first character, is one seen by chazal as a role model personality. He tries to bring people to the mikdash.  However, as the story develops its his wife Chana whose development and achievement which becomes the אדם גדול בתורה ומפורסם בחסידות, which is the necessary cause of the new go'el - Shmuel.

(א) ויהי איש אחד מן הרמתים צופים מהר אפרים ושמו אלקנה בן ירחם בן אליהוא בן תחו בן צוף אפרתי:

רלב"ג שמואל א פרק א

 הסכימו עוד ששני הספורים ההם שכבר נסע מבית לחם יהודה מי שבא על ידו הקלקול כי הלוי אשר בא בבית מיכה היה מבית לחם יהודה ופילגש הלוי היתה מבית לחם יהודה ומשם נסע האיש הלוי שבאה התקלה על ידו והנה סמך לזה זה הספור שהיה איש לוי גר בהר אפרים ויצא ממנו מי שבאה טובה גדולה על ידו לישראל:

The persona of Elkana is somewhat hidden.  Chazal see him as being of the family of Nevi'im

]ולמידי נביאיא כי הנביא יקרא צופה[כן ת"י 

How do they know that? We see that he is OK with Chana dropping off his son at the Mikdash which means he agreed with the basic thesis of Chana and other properties of an extremely mature person. Chazal see that he tried to rally the Am to go to the Shilo.

 Step #2 : Gaava measured in fertility

(ב) ולו שתי נשים שם אחת חנה ושם השנית פננה ויהי לפננה ילדים ולחנה אין ילדים:

(ג) ועלה האיש ההוא מעירו מימים ימימה להשתחות ולזבח לידוד צבאות בשלה ושם שני בני עלי חפני ופנחס כהנים לידוד:

(ד) ויהי היום ויזבח אלקנה ונתן לפננה אשתו ולכל בניה ובנותיה מנות:

(ה) ולחנה יתן מנה אחת אפים כי את חנה אהב וידוד סגר רחמה:

Is Chana’s infertility an expression of Hashgacha Pratit or Hashgacha K’lalit?

שמות פרק כג

(כה) ועבדתם את ידוד אלהיכם וברך את לחמך ואת מימיך והסרתי מחלה מקרבך:

(כו) לא תהיה משכלה ועקרה בארצך את מספר ימיך אמלא:

RS pointed out that when the Klall is Mikadesh Shem Hashem it receives the Bracha  - that which is beyond Tevah. When the Klal abandons Derech Hashem – we will have Akarot.

שמואל א פרק ב

(יב) ובני עלי בני בליעל לא ידעו את ידוד:

Therefore, Chana suffered because of the distance from Hashem of the Klal.

ולפי שהשמות האלו שנקרא בהן היוצר, הן הדרך הבינונית שאנו חייבין ללכת בה, נקראת דרך זו, דרך ה'.  והיא שלימדה אברהם אבינו לבניו, שנאמר "כי ידעתיו, למען אשר יצווה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו, ושמרו דרך ה', לעשות צדקה ומשפט" (בראשית יח,יט).

יד  וההולך בדרך זו, מביא טובה וברכה לעצמו, שנאמר "למען, הביא ה' על אברהם, את אשר דיבר, עליו" (בראשית יח,יט).

The nation's disease of soul manifested in the symptoms of……

Onas Devarim, Achzariyus, Halicha Bekeri

(ו) וכעסתה צרתה גם כעס בעבור הרעמה כי סגר ידוד בעד רחמה:

(ז) וכן יעשה שנה בשנה מדי עלתה בבית ידוד כן תכעסנה ותבכה ולא תאכל:

(ח) ויאמר לה אלקנה אישה חנה למה תבכי ולמה לא תאכלי ולמה ירע לבבך הלוא אנכי טוב לך מעשרה בנים:

Chana suffered on two levels. One, Penina made her feel worthless in her infertility. Chazal state, "מכעסת וחוזרת ומכעסת. מה הייתה אומרת לה?
זבנת לבריך רבה סודר או לתניינא חלוק?
ויונתן תרגם: 
הרעימ' לאקניות -
כלומר שתהא לה קנאה ממנה, הייתה אומרת בפניה דברים של גידולי בנים וכיוצא בהם, כדי שתהא לה קנאה ויכאב לבה.....
Second {Rabbi Mann},Elkana in his comforting suggested that she move on and give up. "You don’t have to worry, your position in the family is secure, my love for you is complete.

Both P’nina and Elkana implied that Chana’s situation was pointless and even Tefillah could not help. This is the first mark of a Keri oriented society. No focus on Tefilla/Z’aka. Tefilla is merely a  rote and formal religious endeavor — קרוב אתה בפיהם ורחוק מכליותיהם
הִלְכּוֹת תַּעְנִיּוֹת פֵּרֶק א
  ג  אבל אם לא יזעקו, ולא יריעו, אלא יאמרו דבר זה ממנהג העולם אירע לנו, וצרה זו נקרוא נקרית--הרי זו דרך אכזרייות, וגורמת להם להידבק במעשיהם הרעים, ותוסיף הצרה וצרות אחרות:  הוא שכתוב בתורה, "והלכתם עימי, בקרי.  והלכתי עימכם, בחמת קרי" (ויקרא כו,כז-כח), כלומר כשאביא עליכם צרה, כדי שתשובו--אם תאמרו שהוא קרי, אוסיף עליכם חמת אותו קרי..
That would support the Chazal that the people needed to be “picked- up “to go to Shilo – why do I need to bother with all this Avodah hassle?!?

The second mark of the Keri society is affliction of the downtrodden.
ישעיהו פרק א

(כג) שריך סוררים וחברי גנבים כלו אהב שחד ורדף שלמנים יתום לא ישפטו וריב אלמנה לא יבוא אליהם: 
It is interesting to note that Elkana did not know or did not want to know of P’nina’s affliction of his favorite wife Chana – in contrast to Sara’s informing Avraham of Hagar’s affliction of her and asking him to rectify the situation.  It is also interesting that וְשָׁם שְׁנֵי בְנֵי-עֵלִי חָפְנִי וּפִנְחָס כֹּהֲנִים לַיהֹוָה are mentioned – they were ones who embody what Yeshayah says - , וְרֹדֵף שַׁלְמֹנִים even though Eli was there – his sons were reflective of the true culture.
Chana steps up to מתפלל for a Go’el Yisrael in דור קרי
(ט) ותקם חנה אחרי אכלה בשלה ואחרי שתה ועלי הכהן ישב על הכסא על מזוזת היכל ידוד:
(י) והיא מרת נפש ותתפלל על ידוד ובכה תבכה:
(יא) ותדר נדר ותאמר ידוד צבאות אם ראה תראה בעני אמתך וזכרתני ולא תשכח את אמתך ונתתה לאמתך זרע אנשים ונתתיו לידוד כל ימי חייו ומורה לא יעלה על ראשו:
Why the need for a neder? Is she bribing G-d? How does giving birth to a baby boy, just to give him to the Mikdash solve her problem?
Yoni pointed out that nedarim are the tool of the one who is kovesh yitzro who needs to utilize Midat Chassidut, going to an extreme (Haflaah), to heal the Nefesh.
הִלְכּוֹת נְדָרִים פֵּרֶק יג 
[כד  [כג] מי שנדר נדרים כדי לכונן דעותיו, ולתקן מעשיו--הרי זה נאה ומשובח.  כיצד:  כגון מי שהיה זולל, ואסר הבשר עליו שנה או שתיים, או מי שהיה שוגה ביין, ואסר היין על עצמו זמן מרובה, או שאסר השכרות לעולם; וכן מי שהיה רודף שלמונים ונבהל להון, ואסר על עצמו המתנות, או הנית אנשי מדינה זו; וכן מי שהיה מתגאה ביופייו, ונדר בנזיר; וכיוצא בנדרים אלו:  כולן, דרך עבודה לה' הם; ובנדרים אלו וכיוצא בהן, אמרו חכמים--סייג לפרישות, נדרים:
Chana clearly had a strong maternal instinct otherwise she would be able to resign herself to her barrenness.  She realized the low state of the Tzibbur. She saw that a special leader was needed to redeem the Klall. She mispalleled that she should have such a child.
משנה מסכת אבות פרק ב משנה ד
הוא היה אומר עשה רצונו כרצונך כדי שיעשה רצונך כרצונו

Are we ready for Teshuva from Hanahaga of the לץ?

Courtesy of Tabletmag


By Jeffrey Goldberg

Ten years ago, I visited Orrin Hatch, the senior senator from Utah and a prominent member of the [Mormon] Church, on Capitol Hill. I was writing for The New York Times Magazine and Hatch was thinking of running for president. We talked about politics for a few minutes, and then he said, “Have you heard my love songs?”

No senator had asked me that question before. It turned out that Hatch was a prolific songwriter, not only of love songs, but of Christian spirituals as well. We spent an hour in his office listening to some of his music, a regular Mormon platter party. After five or six Christmas songs, I asked, him, “What about Hanukkah songs? You have any of those?”

I have always felt that the song canon for Hanukkah, a particularly interesting historical holiday, is sparse and uninspiring, in part because Jewish songwriters spend so much time writing Christmas music. Several years earlier, as a columnist for The Jerusalem Post, I sponsored a Write-a-New-Song-for-Hanukkah contest. I received more than 200 entries. Most were dreck. The songs I liked best were the ones uninfected by self-distancing Jewish irony, songs that actually wrestled with the complicated themes of Hanukkah—religious freedom, political extremism, the existence, or non-existence, of an interventionist God—in a more earnest way.

Hatch lit up at my suggestion. He asked me to jot down some possible themes, which I did. Then he got sidetracked by his presidential campaign. (He didn’t win.) Still, time went on, and no song.

I never forgot about it, though. My interest in the Hanukkah story has stayed with me. I’m even writing a biography of Judah Maccabee for Nextbook Press. Last December, while reading From Ezra to the Last of the Maccabees, by Elias Bickerman, my mind wandered back to Orrin Hatch’s promise, and so I reminisced on my Atlantic blog about the time Hatch nearly wrote a Hanukkah song for me. A couple of days later, I received an email that read, “Dear Jeff, I know it’s nine years too late, but I hope you will like some of the following ideas.” What followed were five verses of a sincerely felt Hanukkah song.

I didn’t quite believe it was Hatch writing me, so I wrote back, asking this alleged Hatch to call.

The next night was Christmas Eve, and my family and I were wandering the aisles of the Martinsburg, West Virginia, Wal-Mart. (Don’t ask.) My children had just discovered something miraculous—a display case filled with kosher products. We had never seen this before. I began to deliver a lecture in the kosher food aisle, explaining that what we were seeing was further proof indeed that America is a Promised Land for our people, a place where even the Wal-Mart in Martinsburg, West Virginia, carries Manischewitz matzo-ball mix. It was at this moment that my cell phone rang.

“Jeff, it’s Orrin,” I heard over the phone. “What do you think of the song?” It was, indeed, Hatch. The second miracle of the night.

“Senator Hatch,” I said. “It’s Christmas Eve.”

“Yes, it is!” Hatch replied. “What about the song?”

“Senator,” I said, “I love the song.”

And I do. It’s a delightful thing to have Orrin Hatch write a song for Hanukkah. Of course I appreciate the absurdist quality to this project, but I also deeply appreciate Hatch’s earnestness. His lyrics are not postmodern or cynical, which is a blessing, because I for one have tired of the Adam Sandlerization of Judaism in America. Yes, we are, as a people, funny (at least when compared to other people, such as Croatians) but our neuroses, well-earned though they may be, have caused us to lacerate our own traditions, which are in fact (to borrow from Barack Obama) awesome. The story of Hanukkah is a good case in point—maybe the perfect one.

I also appreciate the song because Hatch’s collaborator, Madeline Stone, has written music that, to borrow this time from Felix Unger, is happy and peppy and bursting with love. And I love the fact that the song’s producer, Peter Bliss, hired a delightful singer named Rasheeda Azar, who was not only a back-up vocalist for Paula Abdul (Jew) and Janet Jackson (not a Jew) but is a Syrian-American from Terre Haute, Indiana. Rasheeda’s participation closes a circle of sorts, since the Syrian King Antiochus was, of course, the antagonist in the story of the Maccabean revolt.

And so it was a very American day in a recording studio on West 54th Street in Manhattan when we gathered to hear Rasheeda sing. In one small room were Bliss; Madeline Stone, a Jewish songwriter who writes contemporary Christian music in Nashville; a crew of downtown Jews from Tablet Magazine; Hatch’s chief of staff, Jace Johnson, who didn’t seem to know exactly what he was doing there, but was very nice about the whole episode; and Hatch himself, who sang background vocals and even showed us the mezuzah he wears under his shirt. Hatch, like many Mormons, is something of a philo-Semite, and though he is under no illusions about Jewish political leanings in America—he told me that though he likes Barbra Streisand very much, he’s fairly sure she doesn’t like him—he possesses a heartfelt desire to reach out to Jews.

Hatch said he hoped his song would be understood not only as a gift to the Jewish people but that it would help bring secular Jews to a better understanding of their own holiday. “I know a lot of Jewish people that don’t know what Hanukkah means,” he said. Jewish people, he said, should “take a look at it and realize the miracle that’s being commemorated here. It’s more than a miracle; it’s the solidification of the Jewish people.”

He’s right. Without Judah Maccabee’s militant intervention in 167 BCE, the Syrian program of forced Hellenization might have brought about a premature end to the Jewish story.

Follow the wise King- the Teshuva of a start up nation

 יִרְאַת יְהוָה רֵאשִׁית דָּעַת; חָכְמָה וּמוּסָר, אֱוִילִים בָּזוּ׃    פ

  פ 20 חָכְמוֹת בַּחוּץ תָּרֹנָּה; בָּרְחֹבוֹת, תִּתֵּן קוֹלָהּ׃ 21 בְּרֹאשׁ הֹמִיּוֹת, תִּקְרָא בְּפִתְחֵי שְׁעָרִים בָּעִיר, אֲמָרֶיהָ תֹאמֵר׃ 22 עַד־מָתַי פְּתָיִם תְּאֵהֲבוּ פֶתִי וְלֵצִים, לָצוֹן חָמְדוּ לָהֶם; וּכְסִילִים, יִשְׂנְאוּ־דָעַת׃ 23 תָּשׁוּבוּ, לְתוֹכַחְתִּי

Courtesy of Foreign relations council http://www.cfr.org/publication/20356/

Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million people, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources—produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the United Kingdom? Drawing on examples from the country’s foremost inventors and investors, geopolitical experts Dan Senor and Saul Singer describe how Israel’s adversity-driven culture fosters a unique combination of innovative and entrepreneurial intensity.

As the authors argue, Israel is not just a country but a comprehensive state of mind. Whereas Americans emphasize decorum and exhaustive preparation, Israelis put chutzpah first. “When an Israeli entrepreneur has a business idea, he will start it that week,” one analyst put it. At the geopolitical level, Senor and Singer dig in deeper to show why Israel’s policies on immigration, R&D, and military service have been key factors in the country’s rise—providing insight into why Israel has more companies on the NASDAQ than those from all of Europe, Korea, Japan, Singapore, China, and India combined.

So much has been written about the Middle East, but surprisingly little is understood about the story and strategy behind Israel’s economic growth. As Start-Up Nation shows, there are lessons in Israel’s example that apply not only to other nations, but also to individuals seeking to build a thriving organization. As the U.S. economy seeks to reboot its can-do spirit, there’s never been a better time to look at this remarkable and resilient nation for some impressive, surprising clues.

Know thyself, reposted

The blog didn't handle the first posting accurately. I have reposted, hopefully this posting will avoid technical difficulty.


In private communication with David Guttman, as well as in comments on David Guttman's blog to R. Micha, I made reference to the significance of Rambam's model of the soul in understanding the Mesorah as presented in the MT. I have been thinking about this statement of mine about the soul a lot lately. How do I illustrate what I mean, without resorting to meaningless terminology, or as my dear student RJM puts it so eloquently, heavy jargon?

The answer lies, as it so often does, in allowing Rambam to speak for himself, without getting in the way. In Shemone Perakim, Rambam presents the issue of developing proper Middot in the 

soul by means of an important analogy, one which deserves our undivided attention.

ואתה יודע, שתיקון המידות הוא ריפוי הנפש וכוחותיה. וכמו שהרופא, אשר ירפא הגופים, צריך שידע תחילה את הגוף אשר ירפאהו בכלל וחלקיו - מה הם, רצוני לומר: גוף האדם, וצריך שידע אילו דברים יחלוהו וישמר מהם, ואילו דברים יבריאוהו ויכוון אליהם, כן רופא הנפש הרוצה לתקן מידות האדם, צריך שידע הנפש בכללה וחלקיה, ומה יחלה אותה ומה יבריאה

Rambam instructs us to reflect upon our educational relationship to himself as a Baal Ha-Mesorah, as being like that of the therapeutic relationship of a doctor to a patient. In so instructing us, 

Rambam is not interested in some feel - good, pretty words. There would be no need for an elaborate technical description of the soul to achieve a feel good experience. Rather, Rambam seems

intent on fostering a certain insight into the Mesorah we otherwise would overlook. But what is this insight?

The answer is obvious in the Rambam, yet somehow mystifying to us. By virtue of telling us that the Doctor of the Soul must come to learn the nature of the soul, it is clear that most of us, do 

not have knowledge of our souls. This simple fact, that we need instruction by a Baal Ha-mesorah to identify our souls, implies that we do not know how to identify our very selves. 

This notion, that we do not know ourselves, is also implicit in the dictum of the great philosophers of Greece. What could "know thyself" mean, if not that we are currently ignorant of what and who we are? Clearly, wise men generally,and Rambam in particular, intend to awaken a reader who needs to first and foremost be informed that he ,in fact, does not know his own soul, that he is unaware of his very identity as a human being. It is the removal of core ignorance, the inability to identify  ourselves, that constitutes the education of Torah and Mitzvot. 

But is this not preposterous, to say that we do not know who and what we are? Not if we consider the reality of education, Jewish and Non-Jewish as we experience it today. In fact, ignorance of soul is the elephant in the room that permeates all education. Education is totally preoccupied with the results of soul -problem solving- to the absolute exclusion of considering the soul itself as a phenomenon.We all know that educators limit themselves to politely solving problems proper to the popular fields of study -the various "subjects.”  For them, the crowning glory of man lies in the ability to solve official problems about all things, other than ourselves. No wonder then that the focus of modern education lies exclusively in the issue of either which problems to present, or perhaps the proper sequence of such problems. When was the last time we saw the identification of the soul, its whole and parts, as an important issue in school? Such talk would be a disaster, it would waste so much time, we would never cover the subject matter of general and Torah subjects! No wonder we never stop to consider the best way to understand mizvot as the means by which  the soul can be given tikkun through the therapy of a Doctor.

This  failure on the part of education to isolate a natural “thought ability” underlying the act of the identifying and solving problems of particular subject areas is bizarre. Is not all of modern science founded on the notion that all things have natural principles, open to our research? Why should man, body and soul, be exempt? How does this ignorance of our very selves arise?

Tefilla as Gedankenexperiment

5. Now no tree of the field was yet on the earth, neither did any herb of the field yet grow, because the Lord God had not brought rain upon the earth, and there was no man to work the soil.
Rashi
When the creation of the world was completed on the sixth day, before man was created, no herb of the field had yet grown. And on the third [day], where it is written:“Let the earth bring forth,” they [the plants] had not yet emerged, but they stood at the entrance of the ground until the sixth day. And why? Because He had not caused it to rain, because there was no man to work the soil, and no one recognized the benefit of rain, but when man came and understood that they were essential to the world, he prayed for them, and they fell, and the trees and the herbs sprouted. — [from Chul. 60b]

If there were a Gedankenexperiment about Man's constitution - What would it be?

Courtesy of Wikipedia-Gedanken

A thought experiment, sometimes called a gedankenexperiment in German, is a proposal for an experiment that would test or illuminate a hypothesis or theory.[1]
Given the structure of the proposed experiment, it may or may not be possible to actually perform the experiment and, in the case that it is possible for the experiment to be performed, there may be no intention of any kind to actually perform the experiment in question. The common goal of a thought experiment is to explore the potential consequences of the principle in question.

Famous examples of thought experiments include Schrödinger's cat (pictured above) , illustrating quantum indeterminacy through the manipulation of a perfectly sealed environment and a tiny bit of radioactive substance, and Maxwell's demon, in which a supernatural being is instructed to attempt to violate the second law of thermodynamics.
Schrödinger wrote:

One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in aGeiger counter, there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small that perhaps in the course of the hour, one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges, and through a relay releases a hammer that shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts.

It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a "blurred model" for representing reality. In itself, it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks.^[3]

The above text is a translation of two paragraphs from a much larger original article that appeared in the German magazine Naturwissenschaften ("Natural Sciences") in 1935.^[4]

Schrödinger's famous thought experiment poses the question, when does a quantum system stop existing as a mixture of states and become one or the other?

Each alternative seemed absurd to Albert Einstein, who was impressed by the ability of the thought experiment to highlight these issues. In a letter to Schrödinger dated 1950, he wrote:

You are the only contemporary physicist, besides Laue, who sees that one cannot get around the assumption of reality, if only one is honest. Most of them simply do not see what sort of risky game they are playing with reality—reality as something independent of what is experimentally established. Their interpretation is, however, refuted most elegantly by your system of radioactive atom + amplifier + charge of gunpowder + cat in a box, in which the psi-function of the system contains both the cat alive and blown to bits. Nobody really doubts that the presence or absence of the cat is something independent of the act of observation.^[5]

Thought experimentation in general

In its broadest usage, thought experimentation is the process of employing imaginary situations to help us understand the way things really are (or, in the case of Herman Kahn’s "scenarios", understand something about something in the future). The understanding comes through reflection upon this imaginary situation. Thought experimentation is a priori, rather than an empirical process, in that the experiments are conducted within the imagination (i.e., Brown’s (1993) "laboratory of the mind"), and never in fact.

Thought experiments, which are well-structured, well-defined hypothetical questions that employ subjunctive reasoning (irrealis moods) -- "What might happen (or, what might have happened) if . . . " -- have been used to pose questions in philosophy at least since Greek antiquity, some pre-dating Socrates (see Rescher). In physics and other sciences many famous thought experiments date from the 19th and especially the 20th Century, but examples can be found at least as early as Galileo.

Know thyself and Thy Mesorah

In private communication with David Guttman, as well as in comments on David Guttman's blog to R. Micha, I made reference to the significance of Rambam's model of the soul in understanding the Mesorah as presented in the MT. I have been thinking about this statement of mine about the soul a lot lately. How do I illustrate what I mean, without resorting to meaningless terminology, or as my dear student RJM puts it so eloquently, heavy jargon?

Ignorance of Self

The answer lies, as it so often does, in allowing Rambam to speak for himself, without getting in the way. In Shemone Perakim, Rambam presents the issue of developing proper Middot in the soul by means of an important analogy, one which deserves our undivided attention.

ואתה יודע, שתיקון המידות הוא ריפוי הנפש וכוחותיה. וכמו שהרופא, אשר ירפא הגופים, צריך שידע תחילה את הגוף אשר ירפאהו בכלל וחלקיו - מה הם, רצוני לומר: גוף האדם, וצריך שידע אילו דברים יחלוהו וישמר מהם, ואילו דברים יבריאוהו ויכוון אליהם, כן רופא הנפש הרוצה לתקן מידות האדם, צריך שידע הנפש בכללה וחלקיה, ומה יחלה אותה ומה יבריאה

Rambam instructs us to reflect upon our educational relationship to himself as a Baal Ha-Mesorah, as being like that of the therapeutic relationship of a doctor to a patient. In so instructing us, Rambam is not interested in some feel - good, pretty words. There would be no need for an elaborate technical description of the soul to achieve a feel good experience. Rather, Rambam seems intent on fostering a certain insight into the Mesorah we otherwise would overlook. But what is this insight?

The answer is obvious in the Rambam, yet somehow mystifying to us. By virtue of telling us that the Doctor of the Soul must come to learn the nature of the soul, it is clear that most of us, do not have knowledge of our souls. This simple fact, that we need instruction by a Baal Ha-mesorah to identify our souls, implies that we do not know how to identify our very selves. 

This notion, that we do not know ourselves, is also implicit in the dictum of the great philosophers of Greece. What could "know thyself" mean, if not that we are currently ignorant of what and who we are? Clearly, wise men generally,and Rambam in particular, intend to awaken a reader who needs to first and foremost be informed that he ,in fact, does not know his own soul, that he is unaware of his very identity as a human being. It is the removal of core ignorance, the inability to identify  ourselves, that constitutes the education of Torah and Mitzvot. 

But is this not preposterous, to say that we do not know who and what we are? Not if we consider the reality of education, Jewish and Non-Jewish as we experience it today. In fact, ignorance of soul is the elephant in the room that permeates all education. Education is totally preoccupied with the results of soul -problem solving- to the absolute exclusion of considering the soul itself as a phenomenon.We all know that educators limit themselves to politely solving problems proper to the popular fields of study -the various "subjects.”  For them, the crowning glory of man lies in the ability to solve official problems about all things, other than ourselves. No wonder then that the focus of modern education lies exclusively in the issue of either which problems to present, or perhaps the proper sequence of such problems. When was the last time we saw the identification of the soul, its whole and parts, as an important issue in school? Such talk would be a disaster, it would waste so much time, we would never cover the subject matter of general and Torah subjects! No wonder we never stop to consider the best way to understand mizvot as the means by which  the soul can be given tikkun through the therapy of a Doctor.

This  failure on the part of education to isolate a natural “thought ability” underlying the act of the identifying and solving problems of particular subject areas is bizarre. Is not all of modern science founded on the notion that all things have natural principles, open to our research? Why should man, body and soul, be exempt? How does this ignorance of our very selves arise?

ויקרא פרק כא

א ויאמר יהוה אל-משה, אמר אל

הכהנים בני אהרן

ואמרת אלהם

לנפש לא-יטמא בעמיו

ב כי, אם-לשארו, הקרב, אליו, לאמו ולאביו, ולבנו ולבתו ולאחיו.ג ולאחתו הבתולה הקרובה אליו, אשר לא-היתה לאיש--לה, יטמא.

ת ד לא יטמא, בעל בעמיו--להחלו.ה לא-יקרחה קרחה בראשם, ופאת זקנם לא יגלחו; ובבשרם--לא ישרטו,שרט.

ו קדשים יהיו, לאלהיהם, ולא יחללו, שם אלהיהם: כי את-אשי יהוה לחם אלהיהם, הם מקריבם--והיו קדש.

ז אשה זנה וחללה לא יקחו, ואשה גרושה מאישה לא יקחו: כי-קדש הוא, לאלהיו.

ח וקדשתו--כי-את-לחם אלהיך, הוא מקריב; קדש, יהיה-לך--כי קדוש, אני יהוה מקדשכם.

ט ובת איש כהן, כי תחל לזנות--את-אביה היא מחללת, באש תשרף.{ס

י והכהן הגדול מאחיו אשר יוצק על ראשו שמן המשחה ומלא את ידו, ללבש, את-הבגדים

את- ראשו לא יפרע ובגדיו  לא יפרם

יא ועל כל-נפשת מת, לא יבא, לאביו ולאמו, לא יטמא. יב ומן-המקדש, לא יצא, ולא יחלל, את מקדש אלהיו: כי נזר שמן משחת אלהיו, עליו--אני יהוה

יג והוא, אשה בבתוליה יקח. יד אלמנה וגרושה וחללה זנה, את-אלה לא יקח: כי אם-בתולה מעמיו, יקח אשה. טו ולא-יחלל זרעו, בעמיו: כי אני יהוה, מקדשו. {ס

Taanit #11: Terua and Zaaka

Review
Based upon the Seforno, we saw that the national derech in the Midbar was one of Mussar
עַל פִּי ה' יִסָעוּ.
It was not enough to remove focus from the destructive "bread alone" preoccupation through the inui of the Manna. There also had to be a positive focus, a recognition beyond mere transcending of the idea that the good life is attained by "bread alone". This positive realization of the good life being reflection upon Chochmat Hashem was manifested through
עַל פִּי ה' יִסָעוּ.
The Mussar of the Midbar was clear, supply of physical resources was instrumental to the educational development of the people. To the extent that we seek development in reflecting upon the universal Chochmat Hashem and honestly apply it to all cases, including ourselves, He aides our way. As it says in Pirkei Avot.

אבות פרק ב משנה ד

עשה רצונך כרצונו, כדי שיעשה רצונו כרצונך

We are now,finally, in the position to appreciate the function of trumpets in the Mitzva system. Why were the trumpets only needed at the point the Mitzva was given, ie the Hakamat Hamishkan? The reason, Seforno says, is because the Jews were on the verge of leaving the Midbar, to begin Kibbush Ha-aretz. As such, the educational challenge to the Jews would increase. No longer would we be relieved of the challenge of acting on a strategic plan. In the desert, we had no political say in our activity עַל פִּי ה' יִסָעוּ. Now that the time of Kibbush had come, this was all changed. The Elders would now begin consulting with Moshe, choosing strategies of entry such as spies and war plans. The realization that success depended upon Hashem would remain, but the responsibility of formulating plans to implement D'var Hashem, would fall upon the people.

This new empowerment required an instrument of Zechira, to maintain the hard won knowledge that we succeed via our plans being in harmony with Chochmat Hashem only. We must dread falling into the old fantasy of human power of being a Heroic Achilles whose vain conquests are empowered by a fantastical Zeus god-
יז וְאָמַרְתָּ, בִּלְבָבֶךָ: כֹּחִי וְעֹצֶם יָדִי, עָשָׂה לִי אֶת-הַחַיִל הַזֶּה. יח וְזָכַרְתָּ, אֶת-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ--כִּי הוּא הַנֹּתֵן לְךָ כֹּחַ, לַעֲשׂוֹת חָיִל: לְמַעַן הָקִים אֶת-בְּרִיתוֹ אֲשֶׁר-נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ, כַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה.

It is this Zechira that the trumpets facilitate. The Elders reflected upon strategies only after having been summoned Lifnei Hashem el petach ohel moed by Moshe Eved Hashem. This would cause Zikaron Lifnei Hashem.

במדבר פרק י

א וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָֹה אֶל-משֶׁה לֵּאמֹר:
ב עֲשֵׂה לְךָ שְׁתֵּי חֲצוֹצְרֹת כֶּסֶף מִקְשָׁה תַּעֲשֶׂה אֹתָם וְהָיוּ לְךָ לְמִקְרָא הָעֵדָה וּלְמַסַּע אֶת-הַמַּחֲנוֹת:
ג וְתָקְעוּ בָּהֵן וְנוֹעֲדוּ אֵלֶיךָ כָּל-הָעֵדָה אֶל-פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד:
ד וְאִם-בְּאַחַת יִתְקָעוּ וְנוֹעֲדוּ אֵלֶיךָ הַנְּשִׂיאִים רָאשֵׁי אַלְפֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל:
ה וּתְקַעְתֶּם תְּרוּעָה וְנָסְעוּ הַמַּחֲנוֹת הַחֹנִים קֵדְמָה:
ו וּתְקַעְתֶּם תְּרוּעָה שֵׁנִית וְנָסְעוּ הַמַּחֲנוֹת הַחֹנִים תֵּימָנָה תְּרוּעָה יִתְקְעוּ לְמַסְעֵיהֶם:
ז וּבְהַקְהִיל אֶת-הַקָּהָל תִּתְקְעוּ וְלֹא תָרִיעוּ:
ח וּבְנֵי אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֲנִים יִתְקְעוּ בַּחֲצֹצְרוֹת וְהָיוּ לָכֶם לְחֻקַּת עוֹלָם לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם:
ט וְכִי-תָבֹאוּ מִלְחָמָה בְּאַרְצְכֶם עַל-הַצַּר הַצֹּרֵר אֶתְכֶם וַהֲרֵעֹתֶם בַּחֲצֹצְרֹת וְנִזְכַּרְתֶּם לִפְנֵי יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם וְנוֹשַׁעְתֶּם מֵאֹיְבֵיכֶם:
י וּבְיוֹם שִׂמְחַתְכֶם וּבְמוֹעֲדֵיכֶם וּבְרָאשֵׁי חָדְשֵׁכֶם וּתְקַעְתֶּם בַּחֲצֹצְרֹת עַל עֹלֹתֵיכֶם וְעַל זִבְחֵי שַׁלְמֵיכֶם וְהָיוּ לָכֶם לְזִכָּרוֹן לִפְנֵי אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֲנִי יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם

But what of the polar opposites of Taanit and Yom Tov? This we hope to discuss in Shiur on Sunday.

Taanit #10 The context of the trumpets

We see from Seforno how the trumpets are a culmination of instilling the "all that comes from God's mouth" mentality in the people. The reflective civilization of mind, one aware of Shechina, was the intended object of the Mishkan. The trumpets were part and parcel of training the people in maintaining the awareness of this maturational accomplishment.

במדבר פרק ט

טו וּבְיוֹם הָקִים אֶת-הַמִּשְׁכָּן כִּסָּה הֶעָנָן אֶת-הַמִּשְׁכָּן לְאֹהֶל הָעֵדֻת וּבָעֶרֶב יִהְיֶה עַל-הַמִּשְׁכָּן כְּמַרְאֵה-אֵשׁ עַד-בֹּקֶר:
טז כֵּן יִהְיֶה תָמִיד הֶעָנָן יְכַסֶּנּוּ וּמַרְאֵה-אֵשׁ לָיְלָה:
יז וּלְפִי הֵעָלוֹת הֶעָנָן מֵעַל הָאֹהֶל וְאַחֲרֵי כֵן יִסְעוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וּבִמְקוֹם אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁכָּן-שָׁם הֶעָנָן שָׁם יַחֲנוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל:
יח עַל-פִּי יְהֹוָה יִסְעוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַל-פִּי יְהוָֹה יַחֲנוּ כָּל-יְמֵי אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁכֹּן הֶעָנָן עַל-הַמִּשְׁכָּן יַחֲנוּ

ספורנו

פסוק א
בַּחדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁון. אַחַר שֶׁפָּקַד אַנְשֵׁי הַצָּבָא (פרק א) וְסִדֵּר הַדְּגָלִים (פרק ב) וְנושְאֵי הַמִּשְׁכָּן (פרק ד) לְהַכְנִיסָם לָאָרֶץ, וְטִהֵר מַחֲנֵיהֶם מִן הַטְּמֵאִים (פרק ה) כְּאָמְרו "וְהָיָה מַחֲנֶיךָ קָדושׁ" (דברים כג, טו) וּמִן הַמַּמְזֵרִים בְּעִנְיַן סוטָה, לְמַעַן תִּהְיֶה הַשְּׁכִינָה בֵּינֵיהֶם בְּמַחֲנֵה צִבְאותָם, סִפֵּר הַכָּתוּב אַרְבָּעָה מַעֲשִים טובִים שֶׁעָשׁוּ יִשְרָאֵל, שֶׁבָּהֶם זָכוּ לִכָּנֵס לָאָרֶץ מִיָּד בִּלְתִּי מִלְחָמָה לוּלֵא הַמְרַגְּלִים כְּמו שֶׁהֵעִיד משֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ בְּאָמְרו לְחובָב "נוסְעִים אֲנַחְנוּ אֶל הַמָּקום" (להלן י, כט).

רִאשׁונָה: סִפֵּר חֲנֻכַּת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ.

שֵׁנִית: זְרִיזוּתָם בְּעִנְיַן חִנּוּךְ הַלְוִיִּם.

שְׁלִישִׁית: זְרִיזוּתָם בְּקָרְבַּן הַפֶּסַח.

רְבִיעִית: לֶכְתָּם אַחֲרֵי הָאֵל יִתְבָּרַךְ בַּמִּדְבָּר (על פי ירמיהו ב, ב), אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁהָיָה הֵעָלות הֶעָנָן בִּזְמַנִּים בִּלְתִּי נודָעִים, פְּעָמִים אֲרֻכִּים וּפְעָמִים קְצָרִים, בְּאפֶן שֶׁהָיָה רָאוּי שֶׁתִּקְשֶׁה עֲלֵיהֶם מְאד הַחֲנָיָה וְהַמַּסָּע. וּלְהודִיעַ כָּל אֵלֶּה, סִפֵּר אותָם כְּפִי מַדְרְגַת הֱיותָם לְרָצון לְפָנָיו, לא לְפִי הַזְּמַן שֶׁהָיוּ בּו.

וְלָכֵן סִפֵּר בְּכָאן עִנְיַן חֲנֻכַּת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וְהַלְוִיִּם וְהַפֶּסַח שֶׁהָיוּ בַּחדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁון, וְהָיְתָה תְּחִלַּת הַסֵּפֶר בַּחדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי, וְהָיָה עִנְיַן חֲנָיָתָם וּנְסִיעָתָם עַל פִּי ה' מִיּום צֵאתָם מִמִּצְרַיִם. וְעַל כְּמו זֶה אָמְרוּ 'אֵין מֻקְדָם וּמְאֻחָר בַּתּורָה', וּלְזֶה כַּאֲשֶׁר תְּכַוֵּן תַּכְלִית מַה זוּלָתִי הַזְּמַן בַּסֵּדֶר הַמְסֻפָּר.

פסוק יז
וְאַחֲרֵי כֵן יִסְעוּ. אַחֲרֵי הֵעָלותו הָיוּ נוסְעִים אֶל אותו הַצַּד שֶׁהָיָה הֶעָנָן פּונֶה.

וּבִמְקום אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁכָּן שָׁם הֶעָנָן שָׁם יַחֲנוּ. סִפֵּר זְכוּתָן שֶׁל יִשְרָאֵל עַל לֶכְתָּם אַחֲרָיו בַּמִּדְבָּר: רִאשׁונָה שֶׁהָיוּ חונִים בַּמָּקום אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁכָּן שָׁם הֶעָנָן, אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁהָיָה מְקום "תּהוּ יְלֵל יְשִׁימון" (על פי דברים לב, י).

פסוק יט
וְשָׁמְרוּ בְנֵי יִשְרָאֵל אֶת מִשְׁמֶרֶת ה'. סִפֵּר שֵׁנִית, שֶׁהָיוּ מַמְתִּינִים אֶת הַמְתָּנָתו זְמַן אָרךְ, אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁהָיָה הַמָּקום רַע מְאד.

וְלא יִסָּעוּ. לָתוּר לָהֶם מָקום לַחֲנותָם טוב מִמֶּנּוּ.

פסוק כ
וְיֵשׁ אֲשֶׁר יִהְיֶה הֶעָנָן יָמִים מִסְפָּר. סִפֵּר שְׁלִישִׁית, שֶׁלִּפְעָמִים הָיְתָה חֲנָיָתָם בְּמָקום נָאות לָהֶם וּלְמִקְנֵיהֶם, וְשָׁם הָיָה שׁוכֵן הֶעָנָן "יָמִים מִסְפָּר", מִכָּל מָקום.

עַל פִּי ה' יַחֲנוּ. לא מֵאַהֲבַת אותו הַמָּקום.

וְעַל פִּי ה' יִסָּעוּ. אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁהָיוּ נוסְעִים מֵאותו הַמָּקום הַטּוב.

במדבר פרק י

א וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָֹה אֶל-משֶׁה לֵּאמֹר:
ב עֲשֵׂה לְךָ שְׁתֵּי חֲצוֹצְרֹת כֶּסֶף מִקְשָׁה תַּעֲשֶׂה אֹתָם וְהָיוּ לְךָ לְמִקְרָא הָעֵדָה וּלְמַסַּע אֶת-הַמַּחֲנוֹת:
ג וְתָקְעוּ בָּהֵן וְנוֹעֲדוּ אֵלֶיךָ כָּל-הָעֵדָה אֶל-פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד:
ד וְאִם-בְּאַחַת יִתְקָעוּ וְנוֹעֲדוּ אֵלֶיךָ הַנְּשִׂיאִים רָאשֵׁי אַלְפֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל:
ה וּתְקַעְתֶּם תְּרוּעָה וְנָסְעוּ הַמַּחֲנוֹת הַחֹנִים קֵדְמָה:
ו וּתְקַעְתֶּם תְּרוּעָה שֵׁנִית וְנָסְעוּ הַמַּחֲנוֹת הַחֹנִים תֵּימָנָה תְּרוּעָה יִתְקְעוּ לְמַסְעֵיהֶם:
ז וּבְהַקְהִיל אֶת-הַקָּהָל תִּתְקְעוּ וְלֹא תָרִיעוּ:
ח וּבְנֵי אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֲנִים יִתְקְעוּ בַּחֲצֹצְרוֹת וְהָיוּ לָכֶם לְחֻקַּת עוֹלָם לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם:
ט וְכִי-תָבֹאוּ מִלְחָמָה בְּאַרְצְכֶם עַל-הַצַּר הַצֹּרֵר אֶתְכֶם וַהֲרֵעֹתֶם בַּחֲצֹצְרֹת וְנִזְכַּרְתֶּם לִפְנֵי יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם וְנוֹשַׁעְתֶּם מֵאֹיְבֵיכֶם:
י וּבְיוֹם שִׂמְחַתְכֶם וּבְמוֹעֲדֵיכֶם וּבְרָאשֵׁי חָדְשֵׁכֶם וּתְקַעְתֶּם בַּחֲצֹצְרֹת עַל עֹלֹתֵיכֶם וְעַל זִבְחֵי שַׁלְמֵיכֶם וְהָיוּ לָכֶם לְזִכָּרוֹן לִפְנֵי אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֲנִי יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם

.

Taanit #9

Review

In post #8 we noted the choice between two lifestyles- דרכים - bread alone vs all that comes from God's mouth. Each of these דרכים involves an objective, a love -אהבה - that demands the dedication of energy to the pursuit. But how does this Mussar explain the use of trumpets?

Dedication to reflection, on the part of an individual, results from the coordination of educational processes at a civilizational level, a commitment involving all strata of society. Shifting the אהבה of a civilization is a monumental task, one which in a certain sense never ends. Even following the Mussar of the miracles in Egypt, Mt Sinai and the Midbar, the Jewish people still stood in danger of relapsing into a religious slumber. How this occurs is clear from history. Uncomfortable events are mythologized, recast to fit into the needs of bread alone mentalities that cannot and will not adapt to the clear Mussar of events. Over the years the Holocaust is recast to suit the needs of various constituencies. So too the great depression, the confrontation with Hitler etc etc.

How much more so the events of the Torah. All we need to do is to look at a Seder in order to see this slumbering process at work. Is the average Seder today a true rememberance of events designed to shake civilization from its bread alone preoccupation? Not at all. The seder has been coopted, ritualized into a religious fantasy framework. Rather that awakening the bread alone mentality, society has enslaved the seder, making it the instrument of its own ritualized perspective. The very concept of redemption that was so painfully raised by the enslavement in Egypt and the mussar of the Midbar, is thereby safely put to sleep, bound and gagged with a thousand ritual chains.

In the intro to Chelek Rambam shows how the core beliefs of the redemption: Gan Eden, Beracha Ukelalah, Techiyyat hametim and Moshiach are subject to distortion.

It is the dread of this process of distortion that we recall with the trumpets. For Israel to be facing tzara, is to come face to face with the reality that we are falling into a religious stupor. Far from releasing ourselves from the injustice of Egypt with its religious fantasies and cruelty, we are creating a new Egypt of our own making. This creation of the new Egypt is what is depicted by the Navi Rambam chooses for Hilchot taanit- Yirmiyahu #5. The Chapter depicts the strata of society falling out of reflection upon Chochmat Hashem and into a ritualized new Egypt. The common people are depicted as victims of a society led by corrupt political leadership of so called - גְּדֹלִים - and ultimately false Neviim.

Common people

א שׁוֹטְטוּ בְּחוּצוֹת יְרוּשָׁלַם וּרְאוּ-נָא וּדְעוּ וּבַקְשׁוּ בִרְחוֹבוֹתֶיהָ אִם-תִּמְצְאוּ אִישׁ אִם-יֵשׁ עֹשֶׂה מִשְׁפָּט מְבַקֵּשׁ אֱמוּנָה וְאֶסְלַח לָהּ:
ב וְאִם חַי-יְהוָֹה יֹאמֵרוּ לָכֵן לַשֶּׁקֶר יִשָּׁבֵעוּ:
ג יְהוָֹה עֵינֶיךָ הֲלוֹא לֶאֱמוּנָה הִכִּיתָה אֹתָם וְלֹא-חָלוּ כִּלִּיתָם מֵאֲנוּ קַחַת מוּסָר חִזְּקוּ פְנֵיהֶם מִסֶּלַע מֵאֲנוּ לָשׁוּב:
ד וַאֲנִי אָמַרְתִּי אַךְ-דַּלִּים הֵם נוֹאֲלוּ כִּי לֹא יָדְעוּ דֶּרֶךְ יְהֹוָה מִשְׁפַּט אֱלֹהֵיהֶם:

הַגְּדֹלִים
ה אֵלְכָה-לִּי אֶל-הַגְּדֹלִים וַאֲדַבְּרָה אוֹתָם כִּי הֵמָּה יָדְעוּ דֶּרֶךְ יְהֹוָה מִשְׁפַּט אֱלֹהֵיהֶם אַךְ הֵמָּה יַחְדָּו שָׁבְרוּ עֹל נִתְּקוּ מוֹסֵרוֹת:
ו עַל-כֵּן- הִכָּם אַרְיֵה מִיַּעַר זְאֵב עֲרָבוֹת יְשָׁדְדֵם נָמֵר שֹׁקֵד עַל-עָרֵיהֶם כָּל-הַיּוֹצֵא מֵהֵנָּה יִטָּרֵף כִּי רַבּוּ פִּשְׁעֵיהֶם עָצְמוּ מְשֻׁבוֹתֵיהֶם:
ז אֵי לָזֹאת (אֶסְלַוח ) [אֶסְלַח-לָךְ] בָּנַיִךְ עֲזָבוּנִי וַיִּשָּׁבְעוּ בְּלֹא אֱלֹהִים וָאַשְׂבִּעַ אוֹתָם וַיִּנְאָפוּ וּבֵית זוֹנָה יִתְגֹּדָדוּ:
ח סוּסִים (מְוֻזָּנִים ) [מְיֻזָּנִים] מַשְׁכִּים הָיוּ אִישׁ אֶל-אֵשֶׁת רֵעֵהוּ יִצְהָלוּ:
ט הַעַל-אֵלֶּה לוֹא-אֶפְקֹד נְאֻם-יְהוָֹה וְאִם בְּגוֹי אֲשֶׁר-כָּזֶה לֹא תִתְנַקֵּם נַפְשִׁי:

הַנְּבִיאִים
י עֲלוּ בְשָׁרוֹתֶיהָ וְשַׁחֵתוּ וְכָלָה אַל-תַּעֲשׂוּ הָסִירוּ נְטִישׁוֹתֶיהָ כִּי לוֹא לַיהֹוָה הֵמָּה:
יא כִּי- בָגוֹד בָּגְדוּ בִּי בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל וּבֵית יְהוּדָה נְאֻם-יְהֹוָה:
יב כִּחֲשׁוּ בַּיהֹוָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ לוֹא-הוּא וְלֹא-תָבוֹא עָלֵינוּ רָעָה וְחֶרֶב וְרָעָב לוֹא נִרְאֶה:
יג וְהַנְּבִיאִים יִהְיוּ לְרוּחַ וְהַדִּבֵּר אֵין בָּהֶם כֹּה יֵעָשֶׂה לָהֶם

ה, יג
והנביאים -
הנביאים שמטעים אותם ואומרים: שלום יהיה לכם יהיו לרוח, כלומר כמוץ לפני רוח.

והדיבר אין בהם -
כיון שהדבר אין בהם, כלומר רוח הקדש, איך ידעו הם כך וכך?!
אלא שהם סומכין בחלומותיהם או בקסמיהם ומבטיחים העם לטוב, כדי שימצאו חן בעיניהם כשמיפין להם מעשיהם ואומרים: לא תבא עליכם רעה ובעונש זה יכלו ויהיו לרוח.