Beis Halleivi on Beshallach

I saw a beautiful בית הלוי today, on פרשת בשלח. I don't have the text in front of me, so let's see how well I can recall it:

כשושנה בין החוחים כן רעיתי בין הבנות -- the Medrosh says that God compares Israel to a שושנה (lily or rose), because at the moment of the Exodus, Israel gave up her idolatrous ways, and immediately started performing mitzvôs, singing praises to God in the שירה. Thus, she smelled fragrant like a rose.

The בית הלוי points out that this is because Israel's naughty behavior had not been due to internal causes, but to environmental causes. (See the Rishônim on the verse שחורה אני ונאוה.) Thus, she was like a fragrant flower, which has been placed near a pile of filth. As soon as you remove the flower from the filth, its fragrance will again clearly fill the air. Similarly, as soon as Israel was removed from the idolatrous environment of Egypt, her fragrant deeds were exuded, strong and clear.

On the other hand, when bad deeds are due to internal causes, the habituation (הרגל) of doing them makes it difficult for one to stop. Thus, in order to set a new pattern of behavior, one must go through a perioud of habituation to the good behavior.

The בית הלוי compares this distinction to a distinction in the Laws of Niddo. If a woman has a וסת קבוע, a set time each month when her period always comes, this וסת is assumed to be halakhically still valid until she has lived through three months without seeing blood on the scheduled day. However, if this וסת קבוע is due not to her internal biological clock, but to some other, external factor (such as eating garlic), then even having a single time (of, say, eating garlic) without seeing blood is enough to annul the halakhic validity of this וסת. Thus, even though an externally-caused וסת can be a וסת קבוע, we treat it as a וסת שאינו קבוע with regard to this rule.

Thus, we see that habituation that is caused by external causes is much easier to break than habituation that is caused by internal causes, because the former does not require a new habituation-period to break the old habituation.

Shemoth Rabba

The first derasha in Shemoth Rabba on Parashath Vayyera. (I imagine that it is taken somehow from the Tanchuma, but haven't gotten a chance to look it up.)

The Medrosh talks about the verse וּפָנִיתִי אֲנִי לִרְאוֹת חָכְמָה וְהוֹלֵלוֹת וְסִכְלוּת; כִּי מֶה הָאָדָם שֶׁיָּבוֹא אַחֲרֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ אֵת אֲשֶׁר-כְּבָר עָשׂוּהוּ (Ecclesiastes 2:12).

The Medrosh applies the verse first to King Solomon, then to Moses, and implicitly compares them.

Solomon heard (or rather, read in the Torah): "ולא ירבה לא נשים, ולא יסור לבבו"-- The king should not have too many wives, so that his heart not go astray. Yet he said: "Feh! I don't believe what God said. I shall have as many wives as I like, and my heart will not go astray." So, what happened? He married many wives, and his heart went astray, and he worshipped עבודה זרה, and his kingdom was torn apart.

Moses, too, didn't believe God's word.

God had said to him (Exodus 3:19-20): וַאֲנִי יָדַעְתִּי כִּי לֹא-יִתֵּן אֶתְכֶם מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם לַהֲלֹךְ, וְלֹא בְּיָד חֲזָקָה. וְשָׁלַחְתִּי אֶת-יָדִי וְהִכֵּיתִי אֶת-מִצְרַיִם בְּכֹל נִפְלְאֹתַי אֲשֶׁר אֶעֱשֶׂה בְּקִרְבּוֹ, וְאַחֲרֵי-כֵן יְשַׁלַּח אֶתְכֶם. And I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, not even with a strong hand. So I shall send forth My hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I shall do there-- and then he will send you out. Nevertheless, he complained to God after only a single meeting with Pharaoh, before performing any of the wonders, וְהַצֵּל לֹא הִצַּלְתָּ את-עַמֶּךָ, Yet Thou hast not redeemed Thy people!

So, the Middath Haddin, God's "Attribute of Justice", was furious at Moses, and began: וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים אֶל-מֹשֶׁה (Elôhim spoke to Moses). The midrashic thought-process often associates the words דַּבֵּר and אֱלֹהִים with the Attribute of stern Justice.

But then, the Middath Harahamim, God's "Attribute of Mercy", kicked in-- וַיּׁאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי יי. The midrashic thought-process often associates the verb אָמַר and the Tetragrammaton with the Attribute of Mercy.

The medrosh asks: What was it that caused the Middath Harahamim to take over, even though Moses had doubted God's prediction? It was that God saw what Moses's cause for complaint was-- namely, the fact that he felt compassion and caring for the poor, suffering Israelites.

Great are compassion and caring-- and altruism-- for they can turn divine Stern Justice into Divine Mercy.

(By implication, the medrosh is criticizing Solomon, who doubted God's prediction because he cared only about himself and his own desires, and therefore was punished.)

Group identification

Some people find it very strange when I say things such as "Back when KAJ was in Frankfurt, we used to not have laayning at the hashkomo minyon."

They say: "What do you mean, we? When were you ever in Frankfurt?"

Well, I identify with my community. And my community was in Frankfurt until 1939ish.And what's more-- I say it entirely unselfconsciously and naturally.

First Post

Dear Readers,

I used to run a pseudonymous blog, which was fairly well known among certain sectors of the JudeoBlogging world.

However, I have come to the conclusion that it is best for me to post under my own name, so that I will not have a false sense of security, which could encourage me to post silly or stupid posts, or content that I would not want to be traced back to me.

This new blog will give me a voice.

I am a first-year rabbinical student at RIETS, and a member (and chorister) at KAJ.