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?