In this message, I will present teachings of RaMBaM regarding Rosh ha-Shanah, Yom Kippur, and teshuvah (repentance) in general.  They are simple and profound, and they enable us to transform the fear and awe we naturally feel on those days into wise, practical action.  Then I will explain the dangers of certain widespread customs that have crept into our Orthodoxy, dragging us down for centuries.

THE REAL MEANING OF TESHUVAH AND HOW IT’S DONE

According to the tradition of Rabbenu ha-RaMBaM (hilkhoth teshuvah 3:6), the righteous are inscribed and sealed for life on Rosh HaShanah; while the wicked are inscribed and sealed for destruction on that very day.  It is average people, the “beinonim” whose judgment is postponed until Yom ha-Kippurim, when their judgment is sealed.  We take the days between Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom ha-Kippurim with great seriousness, and do our best to repent properly because we do not view ourselves as so righteous:  Rather, we are to see ourselves at all times as perfect “beinonim”: that our merits and sins balance each other exactly.  At any given moment, we are to view our very next act, be it a miSwah or `averah (sin), as the key factor that will tip the scale for ourselves, for our city, for our country, even for the entire world—either to the side of merit and salvation, or the side of destruction.  (ibid. 3:8)

Let us be reminded of what teshuvah really means.  Its simplicity is so powerful:

ב,ג  [ב] ומה היא התשובה–הוא שיעזוב החוטא חטאו, ויסירנו ממחשבתו ויגמור בליבו שלא יעשהו עוד, שנאמר “יעזוב רשע דרכו, ואיש אוון מחשבותיו” (ישעיהו נה,ז).  וכן יתנחם על שעבר, שנאמר “כי אחרי שובי, ניחמתי, ואחרי היוודעי, ספקתי על ירך” (ירמיהו לא,יח); ויעיד עליו יודע תעלומות שלא ישוב לזה החטא לעולם, שנאמר “ולא נאמר עוד אלוהינו, למעשה ידינו–אשר בך, ירוחם יתום” (הושע יד,ד).  וצריך להתוודות בשפתיו, ולומר עניינות אלו שגמר בליבו.

What is teshuvah?  It is that the sinner leaves his sin, and removes it from his thoughts, and concludes in his heart not to do it again, as it is written, “Let the wicked abandon is way, the sinful man his thoughts.” (Yisha`ya 55:7).  And so he must regret that he sinned, as it is written, “for after I turned back, I regretted; and after I became aware, I struck my thigh.” (Yirmiyahu 31:18).  And [even] the ‘One Who Knows all Hidden Things’ can testify that he will not return to that sin ever again… And he must confess verbally, and say these ideas he has concluded in his heart.  (hilkhoth teshuvah 2:3 ¹)

Therefore, on Yom Kippur all the piyutim (poetry and songs in the siddur), all the long standing on our feet, all the spiritual feeling, cannot replace the true `avodah (service) of teshuvah that is so necessary.  And that is that each person, having examined his or her ways and done real soul-searching, actually goes through the real ‘teshuvah’ process over his or her actual sins.  That involves the following three-step confession before HaShem:

א,ב  כיצד מתוודה–אומר אנא ה’ חטאתי עוויתי פשעתי לפניך, ועשיתי כך וכך, והרי ניחמתי ובושתי במעשיי, ולעולם איני חוזר לדבר זה.  זה הוא עיקרו של וידוי; וכל המרבה להתוודות ולהאריך בעניין זה, הרי זה משובח.

How does one confess–he says, [1] “Please HaShem, I have sinned, I have transgressed, I have committed crime before you, [2] and I have done such and such, [3] and behold I regret and am ashamed of my actions, [4] and I will never repeat this thing again.  (ibid. 1:2)

In other words, after the opening line of confession, we must state what we did (the more we elaborate, the better).  We must then feel and express genuine remorse and shame.  (Tears are definitely in order.)  Finally we utterly conclude in our hearts never to repeat the sin again. 

Note that besides the language of the formal confession that we find in Mishneh Torah, there is no necessity for lengthy poetry and song to “convince” HaShem to forgive us.  Rather, it is an internal process that we are to go through.   When we seriously follow these instructions, we have done our part.  According to the severity of what we have done, we may suffer punishment to fully expiate the sin—but we are ultimately forgiven.    

Finally, let’s remember that this teshuvah process is not only for the Days of Awe and Yom ha-Din.  Rather, it is something that an observant Jew is expected to do any time he sins against the Torah, be it a small matter or great, throughout the year.  This may seem too heavy to some people, and that’s sad, because it’s that an immature attitude that prevents them from getting the most out of their life (ibid. 7:2): 

ז,ב  לעולם יראה אדם את עצמו כאילו הוא נוטה למות, ושמא ימות בשעתו ונמצא עומד בחטאיו; לפיכך ישוב מחטאיו מיד, ולא יאמר כשאזקין אשוב–שמא ימות קודם שיזקין.  הוא ששלמה אומר בחכמתו “בכל עת, יהיו בגדיך לבנים” (קוהלת ט,ח).

A person should always see himself as though he is about to die, and lest he die at that very hour and remain in his sins;  therefore let him turn back in repentance from his sins immediately, and not say, “I’ll repent when I’m older”—lest he die before he becomes older.  This is what Shelomo, in his wisdom, said:  “At every time, let your clothes be white” (Qoheleth 9:8)

The worst thing is for a person to feel so far gone, so depraved, that he cannot come back to HaShem.  Consider the RaMBaM’s teachings on this:

התשובה מקרבת את הרחוקים:  אמש היה זה שנוי לפני המקום, משוקץ ומרוחק ותועבה; והיום הוא אהוב ונחמד, קרוב וידיד…  אמש היה זה מובדל מה’ אלוהי ישראל, שנאמר “עוונותיכם, היו מבדילים, ביניכם, לבין אלוהיכם” (ישעיהו נט,ב).  צועק ואינו נענה, שנאמר “גם כי תרבו תפילה, אינני שומע” (ישעיהו א,טו).  ועושה מצוות וטורפין אותן בפניו, שנאמר “מי ביקש זאת מידכם, רמוס חצריי” (ישעיהו א,יב), “מי גם בכם ויסגור דלתיים” (מלאכי א,י), “עולותיכם ספו על זבחיכם, ואכלו בשר” (ירמיהו ז,כא).  והיום הוא מודבק בשכינה, שנאמר “ואתם, הדבקים, בה’, אלוהיכם” (דברים ד,ד).  צועק ונענה מיד, שנאמר “והיה טרם יקראו, ואני אענה” (ישעיהו סה,כד).  ועושה מצוות ומקבלין אותן בנחת ושמחה, שנאמר “כי כבר, רצה האלוהים את מעשיך” (קוהלת ט,ז).  ולא עוד אלא שמתאווים להם, שנאמר “וערבה, לה’, מנחת יהודה, וירושלים–כימי עולם, וכשנים קדמונייות” (מלאכי ג,ד).               (הל’ תשובה ז-ח)

Teshuvah brings near those who are far.  Yesterday, he was hated before G-d, despicable and abominable; and today he is beloved and dear, close and a friend… Yesterday he was separated from HaShem G-d of Yisra’el… He would cry out and he wasn’t answered… He would do miSwoth, and they would be torn up in front of him… And today he is attached to the Shekhinah [the Divine Presence]… He does miSwoth and they are accepted with grace and joy… and not only that, but they are greatly desired… (ibid. 7:7-8)

Complete teshuvah requires not only repentance on the part of the individual, but on the part of the nation.  Part of cleaning up our own house, the great House of Yisra’el, entails looking beyond the religion as it developed (deteriorated) in ‘galuth’ (exile), to Torath Moshe, our actual ‘Berith’ (Covenant) with the Master of the Universe.   And that requires looking honestly at the customs we’ve accumulated of dubious origin. 

This year I want to take no chances that people be left unaware of two corrupt customs that have crept into our practice of Rosh HaShanah and Yom ha-Kippurim over the centuries. 

PRAYING FOR SUSTENANCE IN THE NAME OF A FOREIGN GOD

Please beware of a terrible custom that has crept into “Orthodox” practice in every ethnicity of Jewish People I am aware of: the ‘tefillah la-parnasah’ (prayer for sustenance) before the open ark, in the “merit” of a secret name, whose meaning I will soon reveal.  Being the name is not remotely Hebrew, but clearly Spanish, this custom clearly crept into Jewish practice in pre-Inquisition Spain, during the well-documented partnership between pseudo-mequbalim (pseudo-Kabbalists) and the Christian church.  (The following sources are taken from those quoted in Prof. Rabbi Jose Faur’s work, “A Crisis of Categories: Kabbalah and the Rise of Apostasy in Spain.”  pp.31  While I do not identify with all the views of the author, some of which  I find extreme and unbalanced, the sources he quotes from are extremely important.)

One example of this, is the letter written by Rav David Qamhi to Rav Yehudah al-Fakhkhar (d. 1235), the leader of the anti-Maimonideans in Toledo.  One of the greatest Hakhamim in Western Europe at the time, he reported on Rav Yonah’s instigation of the burning of RaMBaM’s Book of Knowledge and Guide to the Perplexed.  (It must be noted that Rav Yonah spent years in devout teshuvah for evil he’d done.  His later remorse is reportedly the inspiration behind his work, “Sha`arei Teshuvah”.)  Rav Qamhi wrote:

…he [Rav Yonah] is evil and unlearned…. And became an informer and an enemy collaborator.  Because when he realized that the Rabbis in France had rejected him and regarded him as an unlearned person… he turned to the graven images and idol worshipers [i.e. the Church], and implored of them and they consented to help him since he was denouncing the Jews.  First he went to the Franciscans telling them: ‘Look, most of our people are heretics and unbelievers, because they were duped by Rav Moshe of Egypt [Maimonides] who wrote heretical books.  You exterminate your heretics, exterminate also ours!”  Thereafter they ordered to burn those books, which were the Book of Knowledge and the Guide.  His uncircumcised heart, however, did not rest until he also told the same words to the Dominicans and the clergy…

This relationship between the church and pseudo-Kabbalists appears to have gone beyond book-burning:  The idolatrous concepts of shi`tuf and deification of abstract concepts—hallmarks of Christianity—found their way into “Jewish” thought.  The famous mequbal Rav Avraham Abul`afya (1240-1291) remarked:

Accordingly, let me inform you, that the masters of mysticism [and] the sefirot thought to profess the unity of G-d, and escape the doctrine of trinitarianism, and [in fact] they made him ten.  In the same fashion that the gentiles say, “He is three and the three are one,” some masters of mysticism say that the divinity is ten sefirot and the ten are one.

Certain quacks from Ashkenzic mystical circles (whose ideas were adopted by mystical quacks from Sefaradi circles) came to believe that the trinity itself represents the truest form of monotheism, Has wa-Shalom (G-d forbid).  Rav Solomon ibn Verga (d. ca. 1520) reported on this apostasy, quoting one of their polemics:

But the trinity is not polytheism but simple monotheism to those who understand.  And I saw three great men from the Ashkenazic sages and I learned from them in the books of mysticism, and I saw how from there it becomes evident how the trinity is monotheism….

So don’t be surprised that in the ‘tephillah la-parnasah’ found in about every High Holiday maHzor (prayer book)—Ashkenazi, Sepharadi, even Yemenite—people are praying for sustenance for the coming year in the name of DICARNOSA.   Look it up in your maHzor—it’s there. (Note how the Artscroll siddur instructs you NOT TO SAY THE NAME, just to scan it with the eyes!)  Here is the meaning:  “Di”, is identical to the Latin “deo”, or in English, “deity”–meaning “God”.  “Carne” is Spanish for meat or flesh, to this day.  It is the root of the word “carnivore”—a meat-eater.  Now if we want to describe something, some Spanish adjectives end in “oso” or “osa”, such as in “maravilloso” (marvelous), or “delicisioso” (delicious).  In other words, in simple Spanish, DI-CARNOSA simply means, “God in the flesh” / “The fleshy God”, etc.  It is another name for Jesus.  

Please don’t say this prayer.  May HaShem bless Israel with a year of prosperity—but if He does, it will certainly not be in the merit of a name from idolatry.  In fact, according to the Rambam, we are not to make special requests for anything on Shabboth and Haggim, outside the prayers instituted by Haza”l (the Talmudic Sages), except for specific, dire emergency situations. 

THE CUSTOM OF KAPPAROTH

Another frightening custom, called “kapparoth” is practiced in all innocence by the bulk of the Charedi Jewish world on the eve of Yom Kippur.  And they have no clue where it comes from.  It is a custom that was repeatedly branded by ruling sages of Israel between the 9^th and 16^th centuries as “the way of the Amorite”, a custom that must be stopped.  (This does not mean it was necessarily a tradition from the ancient Amorites; “way of the Amorite” refers to a custom with roots in idolatry.)  Note that I teach this as someone who identifies as Haredi, living comfortably in a Haredi neighborhood.  There is nothing hidden about these issues; they are discussed in books studied by all.  Consider the teachings of the AHaronim (latter-day sages) on this matter ²: 

The following is a quote from commentary of the Beith Yoseph (HaRav Yoseph Karo, zSq”l) on the Tur (written by the grandson of the Rabbenu Asher, “The Rosh”):   

יש מקומות שנוהגים לשחוט תרנגול לכפרה וכן יש בתשובת הגאונים המורדכי  ב-מס’ יומא כתב “המנהג הזה וכל מ”שכתוב בסימן זה, הוא בפסקי הראש למס’ יומא” וקצתו למורדכי ומנהג זה כתוב “גם בתשב”ץ וכ’ שם שננוהגים ליקח תרנגול לזכר ותרנגולת לנקבה:  והרשב”א כתב בתשובה בעניין הכפרה שעושין לנערי’ בעי”ה מנהג זה פשוט בערינו אפ על פי ששמעתי מאנשים הגונים מאשכנז שכל ארצם עושים כן.  וגם שמעתי שנשאל רבינו האיי ואמר שכן נהגו עכז’ מנעתי מנהג זה מערינו. וכתוב בא”ח שהרמב”ן אוסרו משום דרכי האמורי. 

There are places where they are accustomed to slaughtering a rooster as kapparah [an atonement], and there is a responsum of the Gaonim “The Mordekhite” on tractate Yoma… And the Rashb”a wrote in a responsum on the subject of kapparoth that they do it for children in the holy city [or 'our holy cities'].  This custom is spread out throughout our [Spanish] cities, even though I heard from decent men from Germany that all their land does so [too].  And I also heard that it was asked to Rabbenu Hayye [the Gaon], and he said that “this is how they practiced; even so, I have stopped this custom from our cities.”  And it is written in the OraH Hayim that the Ramba”n [Nachmanides] forbade it because [it is one of] the ways of the Amorite.

Note that Rav Hayye Gaon was such a pillar of ancient tradition, that his rulings reached the Spain of HaRav Shmuel haNaggid, and the students of the Rav YiS’Haq Alfasi (the Ri”f), who sent him their queries.  When Rabbenu ha-Rambam only heard from sages in the Land of Israel who had seen the t:phillin of Rabbenu Hayye Gaon, he ruled against even his own father’s tradition, the prevailing practice in his times, regarding the preparation of skins for the parchments of t:phillin and m:zuzoth.  In our times today, a noted scholar on the ancient traditions of EreS Yisra’el, HaRav Dawidh Bar Hayim of Makhon Shilo, hails Rabbenu Hayye Gaon as the greatest authority on the pure ancient traditions of EreS Yisrael (the Land of Israel).  This Gaon used his power to utterly stop the custom’ of kapparoth in Bavel (Iraq).  Likewise, Ramba”n, himself the recognized leader of Spanish Jewry in his day (and quite a mystic and astrologer, I might add) forbade it, declaring it to be an idolatrous custom.  

In case Rav Karo’s words still seem a little ‘parve’ (neutral) in the Tur, merely citing various sources, he gives a definitive ruling in the ShulHan ‘Arukh (OraH Hayim, siman tow-resh-heh–705): 

מה שנוהגים לעשות כפרה בערב יום כיפורים לשחוט תרנגול על כל בן ולומר עליו פסוקים, יש למנוע המנהג.

What is customarily practiced on the eve of Yom Kippur to slaughter a rooster over every son, and recite verses over it, this custom should be stopped. 

There are various later opinions that permit the custom, hailing the custom as ancient and beautiful, claiming it is idolatrous only if done in a particular way.

The mainly Chassidim and Sefaradim (how ironic) who hold on to this custom claim it is not performed as a ’sacrifice’, but that’s not so simple.  Even in HaRav Moshe Isserles’ gloss on Rav Karo’s words, he explains how one his to lean his hands on the bird, ‘d:muth qorban’—for “the appearance of a sacrifice” and after the slaughtering one throws/sprinkles the innards (comparable to the sprinkling of blood).   Even the Mishneh Berurah admits that there are those who forbid leaning one’s hands on the bird beforehand, since it has the appearance of offering sacrifices and slaughtering outside the Temple (see the M”B note on 705:8).  Other sages who wrote about the importance of the custom in their eyes (such as the Ar”i ha-qadosh) taught that one must intend that he should see the rooster as a replacement for himself; that he is personally worthy of the four death penalties of the Torah.  This is, of course, a qawanah (intention) fitting of a sin-offering.  Consider Ramba”n’s powerful argument with RaMBaM over the true purpose and meaning behind sacrifice (I personally find the Ramban’s reasoning here far more convincing):

צוה השם כי כאשר יחטא ויביא קרבן יסמוך ידיו עליו כנגד המעשה, ויתודה בפיו כנגד הדיבור, וישרוף באש הקרב והכליות שהם כלי המחשבה והתאוה, והכרעים כנגד דמו בנפשו כדי שיחשוב אדם בעשותו כל אלה כי חטא לאלהיו בגופו ובנפשו, וראוי לו שישפוך דמו וישרף גופו לולא חסד הבורא שלקח ממנו תמורה וכופר הקרבן הזה שיהא דמו תחת דמו, נפש תחת נפש, וראשי אברי הקרבן כנגד ראשי אבריו… (רמב”ן על ויקרא 1:9, חלק הראשון)

HaShem Commanded that when one sins, he shall bring an offering, lean his hands on it according to his [wicked] deed, and confess orally… in order that man should think in doing all this that he sinned to G-d with his body and soul, and it would be fitting for his blood to be spilled and for his body to be burned—were it not for the kindness of the Creator who took from a substitute and this ransom offering; that it be its blood instead of his blood, a life for a life, and its body parts for his body parts… (Ramba”n on Wayiqra 1:9)

That is true Jewish sacrifice.  Now consider the traditional recitation of Kapparoth (taken from the The Complete Artscroll Machzor Yom Kippur, Rabbi Nosson Scherman, Messorah Publications ltd. 1986).  The comparison should make practicing Kapparoth-swingers very concerned:

זה חליפתי, זה תמורתי, זה כפרתי.  זה התרנגול ילך למיתה.  [זה הכסף ילך לצדקה.]  ואני אכנס ואלך לחיים טובים ארוכים ולשלום.

This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my atonement.  This rooster will go to its death [this money will go to charity] while I will enter and proceed to a good long life, and to peace.

As we see above, in an attempt to avoid the idolatrous element, many Jews use coins for kapparoth instead of fowl.  Many Orthodox Jews, Barukh HaShem, avoid it altogether, and this is the practice of most traditional Yemenite Jews, who never had such a custom to begin with.  What upsets me, is how the “commentators” (nos’e kelim) on the page of a modern ShulHan `Arukh—whose aim should be to clarify the words of the sage; not to neutralize them when they conflict with their own customs—will not even allow the warnings of Rav Karo, the Ramba”n and HaRav Hayye Gaon to put a doubt in their heart as to the ‘kashruth’ of their custom. 

There are a few rabbinical figures who put forth alternative explanations as to what is the “way of the Amorite”; others don’t even bother—they plainly direct the masses to do kapparoth.  Now following idolatrous customs is a severe Torah prohibition, a miSwath lo-tha`aseh (a “don’t do” Commandment).  We should all know that even in a case of doubt; regarding a Torah Commandment, we must be strict.  Isn’t there room here for a little fear of Heaven?

What great mystical effect can people be having on the Heavenly scales on the eve of the awesome Day of Judgment, swinging chickens or money around people, paying no attention to the warnings of some of the greatest sages of post-Temple history…?  I understand their values and priorities to be far away from what they should be.  Our history remembers an anointed king of a united Kingdom of Yisra’el who lost his dynasty over a similar blunder: 

Rather than slaughter the sheep and cattle of `Amaleq per the Commandment of HaShem through Sh:mu’el, King Sha’ul spared the best of them to be given up as a sacrifice.   In other words, he reasoned that he could serve HaShem by transgressing His commandment,,,   How fitting to remember his lesson on the week we read the Commandment to remember `Amaleq…  These are the words Sh:mu’el the prophet answered him: words that should echo in our ears forever (1 Sh’muel 15):

Pay attention to the next verse, where we learn that transgressing the laws of sacrifice puts us in the realm of idolatry:

Consider how lack of fear for the parameters of proper sacrifice, and failure to obey HaShem’s Word spelled the end of Shaul’s throne: Accordingly, our Torah leadership today must fear the end of their own ‘reign’ in our day, and help restore us to the proper path. 

A clear line of comparison between Shaul and contemporary Torah leaders is the role of public pressure:

So too today: the main argument repeated throughout the commentaries that surround the ShulHan `Arukh today, defending kapparoth, is how popularly widespread and old the custom is—as if that should make a difference… as if old-time idolatrous customs, having had centuries to spread across the Jewish world, have preference over modern ones.  It is high time someone admits there is at the very least a ‘sapheq issur de’oraitha’ (a doubt regarding a Torah prohibition) and stands up for Torath Moshe against the stream. 

However, although HaShem rejected him as king, Shmu’el agreed to honor the king before the people and the elders.  How much more so should we show respect for the only Torah leadership there is until the rise of a true Sanhedrin, may it be speedily in our days:    

It is we, the People of Yisra’el, who wickedly demanded a king to be like the other nations.  HaShem begrudgingly acquiesced.  Perhaps if we just begin to clean up house in true teshuvah, to begin the difficult return en masse to authentic Torath Moshe, ready to leave corrupt customs and secular beliefs behind, and demand a king who will remove the bad influence of idolatry on us, who will elevate us to our unique priestly role in the world… A king who will implement the laws of Torah and not fail to wipe out `Amaleq… It might only be then that HaShem will agree, and our mashiaH finally be revealed, and the memory of `Amaleq truly wiped out forever.

CONCLUSION

The above are clear examples of how much teshuvah not only we need to do as Jews, but how much Judaism itself must do ‘teshuvah’ to ‘Torath Moshe’, our pure tradition.

For the individual and for the nation, no teshuvah is complete without dedicating ourselves to learning the ‘halakhah’ (Law) properly.  It is high time we dedicate ourselves to the study of Mishneh Torah of Rav Moshe ben Maimon in order to fulfill the Law of our Creator, our Father, our King—His unfathomable Oneness.

With Torah Blessings and hope for a safe, healthy year and the defeat of HaShem’s enemies,

            Michael Shelomo Bar-Ron,  Beith Midrash Ohel Moshe

A new article based on his articles O”M 32 and O’M 34 of the original Ohel Moshe series

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¹  Quotes from Bible and Mishneh Torah in this article were copied from the authentic Yemenite manuscript edition posted on www.mechon-mamre.org.  The English translations in my articles are original.  The Bible translations often bear influence and borrowings from the JPS Bible based on the electronic text (c) by Larry Nelson, and the The Living Torah: The Five Books of Moses by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Maznaim Publishing Corporation, New York, 647 pp. 

²  Sources from the AHaronim were taken from the standard ShulHan `Arukh series Sefer Maghinei EreS: ShulHan `Arukh OraH Hayyim, part three, Brukhman Barukh Inc. 1995, Jerusalem. 

FROM THE DAYS OF AVRAHAM UNTIL TODAY

Beth Avraham, the house of Avraham, was a flowering Noahide community.  It was a camp of numerous families of servants and students of the prophet-warlord (Avraham), that must have spread out over a sizeable area.  Surely there were young girls among those families of “ba`alei teshuvah” (returnees to the observance of HaShem’s commandments) for YiS’Haq to marry.  Yet, incomprehensibly, Avraham had his eyes set on the family he had left behind in Aram Naharayim, who remained with their idolatry and teraphim (which were the product of child sacrifice [murder] according to Sepher ha-yashar).   If Lavan’s behavior is indicative of the values (or lack thereof) of the degenerate family Avraham left behind, they would be no strangers to lying, cheating and theft. 

What then did he see in them?  What  was there in Aram that convinced Avraham that the root of his dynasty could only be found there?  And why is it that, in the same Torah that sums up phases of several decades in the lives of great men in few words, this story is described in vivid detail?  What eternal message does it have for us?

In perspective of all the stories of Lavan, from Avraham’s time to Ya`aqov (Jacob), it becomes clear that the house of Bethuel was a home in which women were not only cared for and protected, but respected as intelligent human beings. 

First, note how Eli`ezer (Avraham’s faithful servant) tells the story of his mission and its miraculous fulfillment to the household of Bethuel (hoping to impress them that the match was clearly from Heaven).  One of the small changes he makes to the story is as follows: 

Before he left, Avraham had told him as follows (B’reshith [Genesis] Chapter 24)¹: 

Avraham knew that his brother’s family would not arrange a marriage for their daughter without her consent.  Eli`ezer, however, expecting a different attitude from the house of Bethuel, related Avraham’s words differently to them:

On the contrary, the family’s nobility in this regard (which again, must have been known to Avraham) comes out loud and clear.  The elders in the family are even willing to put the whole transaction in jeopardy (and this was an agreement that would bring them considerable wealth) in order to keep her home for just another year.  Ultimately, when Eli`ezer presses them, they leave the matter to the girl’s own decision:

Here we see that Rivqah’s intelligence was respected: she was not being treated as a mere object to be married off.  Their parting blessing to her also carries the message of their high regard and hopes for her:

This pattern holds true even through later in the story of RaHel (Rachel) and Leah, and it puts the stormy relationship between Lavan and Ya`aqov in an interesting light:  Pushing Leah into marriage with Ya`aqov might well have been Lavan’s way of saving her from the fate of marrying the wild and G-dless `Esau.  When Lavan pursues and overtakes Ya`aqov in his flight homeward, consider the opening words of Lavan’s scourging attack, and then his parting message to Ya`aqov:

 Blind to his own selfishness and unfairness, Lavan sees in Ya`aqov’s action his worst nightmare: his daughters being carried off as captives of war.  He is deeply emotional about losing them.  Yet, despite his character flaws, I believe that his zealous caring for them is the very quality that made his home the root of the nascent Hebrew nation. 

In order to appreciate how rare that must have been in those times, consider how latent and widespread child abuse is today, in a world infused on certain level with basic Torah values, however diluted, through Christianity and Islam. (The RaMBaM’s teaching regarding the temporary role these two religions are playing in HaShem’s world can be found in ‘hilkhoth Shof’`tim’ [Laws of Judges] 11:11).  One can only imagine how rampant child abuse of every kind was in those times, especially abuse of girls.  To this day, there are traditional societies in which girls are still viewed chiefly as objects of family wealth to married off for a good bride price.

Attitudes such as these do not end with the perpetrators; they are passed on to the victims:  Modern statistics show that children who were abused themselves are far more likely to abuse their own offspring.  Perhaps that is the reason Avraham couldn’t entrust his beloved son to a girl from the families he had converted to the Torah of NoaH and Shem.  In a world where life for most women was “poor, nasty, brutish and short”³ the house of NaHor would have been a special exception.  

This message couldn’t be more critical in our own homes in these times.  In a world culture in open revolt against traditional values, women are objectified in the worst ways.  On the opposite extreme, Orthodox Jewry, seeing the clear dangers in modern feminism, must be very careful about the honor of our wives and daughters as intelligent human beings.  In this regard, loyal students of the Rambam have reason to take great pride in our authentic tradition: In the Mishneh Torah, our heritage of respect for women is no less than codified Law.      

The myth that RaMBaM condoned wife-beating must be done away with.  It is nonsense and a dangerous misunderstanding.  Just as there are instances in which a cruel husband might deserve to be punished with stripes by a court of law, so can a woman in other instances.  However, this can only be in the context of an ordained court, and there is none in our generation.  Never is a husband allowed to strike his wife, G-d forbid!  One need only skim the pertaining laws in hilkhoth Hovel u-maziq (Laws of Injury and Damages) to see an entire system of punishment in place for one who as much as pushes, kicks, or insults another person—no distinction is made between men and women.  In fact, to prevent marital abuse, the sages forbade us to give our daughters in marriage to ignoramuses:

כט  )לב( …ולא ישיא בתו לעם הארץ שכל הנותן בתו לעם הארץ כמי שכפתה ונתנה לפני הארי  מכה ובועל ואין לו בושת פנים.  ולעולם ימכור אדם כל מה שיש לו ויישא בת תלמיד חכמים שאם מת או גלה בניו תלמידי חכמים וכן ישיא בתו לתלמיד חכמים שאין דבר מגונה ולא מריבה בביתו של תלמיד חכמים.

…A man may not marry his daughter to a simpleton, for whoever gives his daughter to a simpleton is like one who binds her and feeds her to the lion:  he strikes [her] and then has sexual relations, and he has no shame.   A person must always [be ready to] sell all he has in order to marry the daughter of a Torah scholar [lit. “a student of the Sages]… And likewise one must marry his daughter to a Torah scholar, for there is nothing improper and no quarreling in the home of a Torah scholar.   –Hilkhoth Biah 21:29 (32)

One key ingredient of that peace in the home is honoring one’s wife (and her honoring her husband as well, of course).  Again, a wife’s honor isn’t an ideal by us; it is law.

יט  וכן ציוו חכמים שיהיה אדם מכבד את אשתו יותר מגופו ואוהבה כגופו ואם יש לו ממון מרבה בטובתה כפי הממון.  ולא יטיל עליה אימה יתרה ויהיה דיבורו עימה בנחת ולא יהיה עצב ולא רוגז.

Likewise, the Sages commanded that a man honor his wife more than himself, and love her has himself.  If he has money, he must increase his provision for her according to her needs.  He must not cause her unnecessary fear.  He should speak gently with her and not be depressed    or angry. (hilkhoth Ishuth 15:19)

The list of supporting sources and quotes goes on and on, and could well be the subject of a whole book. 

  It is clear from Laws of Foundations of Torah 4:21, that RaMBaM viewed the study of halakhah (Jewish Law) by both men and women as an ideal.   Unfortunately, quotes that are (mis)understood out of context upset people needlessly:  In the laws of idolatry, when women are included among the simple folk who tend to believe in magic and superstition, this is not a statement regarding women’s abilities or potential, G-d forbid.  Rather, it is a description of the reality in the RaMBaM’s day.  What offended people don’t realize is that RaMBaM’s opinion of the men of his time was not much higher.  In hilkhoth De`oth 6:2, he makes it clear that, “bizmanenu zeh” –”in our times”, no place in the world he knew of was on the proper path.  He was referring to Jewish communities the world over, which were generally run, of course, by men.   

I will end with the most vivid example of the positive legacy of the house of NaHor.  It remains to this day as codified law in Mishneh Torah and it is an echo of our ancestor’s covenant with Lavan: 

ו  לפיכך ציוו חכמים שלא יישא אדם יותר על ארבע נשים אף על פי שיש לו ממון הרבה כדי שתגיע להן עונה פעם אחת בחודש.

Therefore, the Sages decreed that a man not marry more than four wives even if he has a lot of money, in order that they might enjoy the marital obligation [at least] once a month.  (hilkhoth Ishuth 14:6)

In the merit of our zealous love and honor of our wives and daughters, may we be blessed with success in raising a new generation that will be redeemed as the generation that left Egypt: in the merit of righteous women.

Written by Michael Shelomo Bar-Ron, Beith Midrash Ohel Moshe

Based on his article O”M 6 of the original Ohel Moshe series, parashath Hayye Sarah 5767

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¹ Quotes from Bible are according to the authentic Yemenite manuscript edition posted on www.mechon-mamre.org.  The English translations in my articles are original.  The Bible translations often bear influence and occasional borrowings from the JPS Bible based on the electronic text (c) by Larry Nelson, and the The Living Torah: The Five Books of Moses by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Maznaim Publishing Corporation, New York, 647 pp.

 ²  Quotes from Mishneh Torah, Mishnah and Talmud are manually copied from the authentic editions posted on www.mechon-mamre.org, without use of their unique punctuation (providing a commentary) or hyperlinks.  The English translations are original. 

³  Borrowed from the words of Thomas Hobbes, written in another context.  From Wikipedia article on Thomas Hobbes  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes

However, stories from your family elders alone are not something likely to shut the mouth of the heretic.  Heretics are convinced that we have inherited myths and exaggerations.  What makes sense is the critical importance of knowing the secular history that proves the Torah to be true.  Never was this more true than today, when billions of children worldwide are actually being “educated” about history on a basic level by a global Western culture that has been given free reign to wipe the Jewish People out, off the pages of ancient history…  What they haven’t succeeded in doing to us physically, they are having much more success in the realm of rewriting history–the political war strategy of governments through academia. 

In the epic battle for truth, a warrior has arisen, one of the most important, righteous non-Jewish teachers of our generation, to my knowledge: Jim Long.  It is an honor for Beith Midrash Ohel Moshe to have the esteemed author of Riddle of the Exodus * (© Lightcatcher Productions, 2006), a speaker in high demand by yeshivoth and synagogues around the world, as our supporter and member.  His book should be required reading for every Jew and perhaps every human being (presently, it is only available in the English language (see http://lightcatcherprod.com/products_books_riddle.shtml).

A seasoned, amateur Egyptologist (therefore one who can actually be honest and objective) and painstaking researcher, Jim Long actually did his research en situ (on site) in Egypt.  Among the greatest events that Riddle of the Exodus sheds light, are those from this week’s parashah (’weekly Torah portion’ –this was parashath MiqeS): the life of Yoseph (Joseph).  The Torah’s account can actually be proven from the ancient Egyptian records.

 In a chapter called “Remembering Yoseph” (pp.149-159), Long writes [hi-lighting and comments by me):

"In the Third Dynasty, during the reign of Pharoah Djoser, there was a Prime Minister known as Imhotep.  This noble figure exhibited remarkable wisdom as a consummate administrator.  He is best known as the designer of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara...

"The resemblance between the Biblical Joseph and Imhotep is hard to deny.  Consider an inscription found among the rocks at Sehel, on the first cataract of the Nile.  The text on the stele is from the Ptolemaic period and said to be a copy from an older inscription.  It relates that during the reign of King Djoser the monarch was deeply distressed because of a seven-year famine.  He sought the counsel of the wise Imhotep... 

"Likewise, the burial site for Imhotep has yet to be found... The Torah tells us that Joseph was interred on a temporary basis, and his bones were brought out from Egypt by Moses.  If Imhotep were Joseph, it might explain the absence of his remains. 

"There is also evidence to suggest that Joseph served as vizier during the days of the Fifth Dynasty king known as Unas.  Some may suggest that the span between the Third and Fifth Dynasties is a bit of a stretch, but there is a strong possibility that some of these kings were actually co-regents  [I add: Yoseph began his service to the Pharaohs at the age of 30, and lived to be 110.  That time span could have encompassed the reign of a number of kings.]…

“That Joseph was vizier while Unas of Elephantine [island] was alive is further underscored by a remarkable artifact found at his [Imhotep's] pyramid at Saqqara.  The causeway in front of this edifice features a limestone block carved in low relief which depicts starving foreigners. … This commemorative relief in the causeway of Unas could very well be recalling a time when emaciated foreigners came to Egypt seeking grain stored during Joseph’s rule as Prime Minister.  But there is more:

“Located beneath the crumbling exterior of the Unas pyramid are well-preserved vaults…covered with the famous Pyramid Texts. … Once inside, we viewed a startling inscription on the east wall of the antechamber.  Typically, the virtues of the dead pharaoh are inscribed along with the words of praise for him as he carries out various tasks alongside…the other gods of Egypt.  The most curious line on this east wall reads as follows:

“‘Unas will judge with Him-whose-name-is-hidden on the day of the slaying of the eldest.‘  …Is it possible that the vizier Joseph, during one of his audiences with Unas, revealed that the Egyptians would one day forget how he saved the nation from starvation? …

“The death of the firstborn, the eldest, would come at the hands of a G-d whose name would never be uttered in the presence of Pharaoh.  To the Egyptian monarch, a worshipper of many gods, the G-d of Joseph would most certainly be ‘Him-whose-name-is hidden.’”

Truth to tell, it is clear from the biblical context (see Sh’moth [Exodus] 5:1-3]) that the future Pharaoh of the Exodus did not know the Name of the G-d of the Hebrews. 

Supporting this find, Jim Long continues how the future exodus seems to have been revealed to Yoseph, a prophet, in light of B’reshith [Genesis] 50:25 (Here I also quote the preceding verse):

Another connection between Imhotep and Yoseph is linguistic.  Quoting Egyptologist A.S. Yahuda, the vizier of Egypt was called “Itf”, meaning “father”.  “Itf “, of course is clearly linked to the root of Imhotep (or Imhotef). Jim writes: “In Genesis 45:8, Joseph describes his new status as vizier or prime minister, ‘G-d has made me a father to Pharoah.’“

One final point that Jim makes in the video documentary version of Riddle of the Exodus is that Yoseph and Imhotep share a remarkable similarity:  they both lived to the ripe old age of 110.  There was a proverb passed down through the centuries among the Egyptians.  It was said that to achieve perfect wisdom, one should live to the age of 110!

The first miSwoh described in Mishneh Torah, is to know that there is a  G-d.  (Laws of Foundations of Torah 1:1)   Not to believe, not to have faith, but to know.  While many people believe that seeing is believing, they are mistaken:  Seeing is knowing.  Once an idea has been observed to be true, time and time again, it is a known fact and not merely believed.  The connections between Yoseph and Imhotep are only one subject treated in Riddle of the Exodus.  However, even all of Jim Long’s honest egyptology is but the tip of the iceberg of all the proofs of Torah through the principles and discoveries of modern science, archaeology and recorded history.   

Why are we commanded to know, and not merely to believe?  To me it is clear that any religion that considers belief or faith in its theology–not action–as the adherent’s greatest goal, admits its own weakness:  It’s as if they realize deep down that believing in their fallible belief system is quite a feat:  it’s not easy, even for the uneducated!  Therefore, the one who succeeds in ‘believing’ earns his/her way to Heaven… 

Being that the Torah and HaShem are ultimately provable to the honest, sincere researcher, and not only through deductive reasoning, we are expected to know it to be true and then move on to fulfill 612 other miSwoth.  After all, when you know something to be true, there is only one thing left to do about it:  act accordingly.  As our faith solidifies into true knowledge, may we be moved to action: to love HaShem and keep His miSwoth with all our heart, soul, and resources.

Written by Michael Shelomo Bar-Ron, Beith Midrash Ohel Moshe

Based on his article O”M 10 of the original Ohel Moshe series, parashath MiqeS 5767

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Quotes from Bible are according to the authentic Yemenite manuscript edition posted on www.mechon-mamre.org.  The English translations in my articles are original, with influence and occasional borrowings from the JPS Bible based on the electronic text (c) by Larry Nelson, and the The Living Torah: The Five Books of Moses by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Maznaim Publishing Corporation, New York, 647 pp.