Beyond Enlightenment
Chanukah, Jerusalem, and the Fanaticism of Hope
“…Thy name is as oil poured forth” (Song of Songs 1:3)
The rise of Hellenism was in the world a gigantic cultural and intellectual tsunami of new ideas and experiences, of that there is no doubt.
To the Greeks we owe drama as we know it, philosophy, and a scientific approach in general to life, as well as mathematics, medicine as we know it, sports... oh the list just goes on and on.
To the rest of the relatively barbaric world, the armies of Alexander the Great were a liberating force of enlightenment. But of all the forces of mind that Aristotle and his student Alex brought to the world, none was as powerful as simply the replacement of (to some degree) superstition and emotion, with pure human reason.
The Jews as well have a mechanism for developing human reasoning. It is called the mitzvah of Torah study.
In depth study of Torah requires a keenly logical mind. In the pursuit of truth no stone is left unturned, and every point is examined from all sides. Yet perhaps even more critical to the pursuit of truth is the trait of humility, as we are not trying to master knowledge but rather to nurse from it. Because for the Jew, knowledge does not exist for its own sake, but rather solely as a vehicle for understanding the Almighty, His world, and what He wishes us to do.
The Talmud is one vast exercise in logic, deduction and victorious conclusions - and revision and further conclusions in an endless cycle of completion and review. Each time we study the same page we understand it more deeply. It is that densely written. It is the densest and most impenetrable subject matter on earth... oh of course, besides the written Torah. Now that is beyond words to describe.
The hard toil of Torah study challenges the mind and develops the intellect. It also invigorates and very body - in ways we can hardly imagine.
For example, the “Rif” was one of the greatest Talmudist of the middle ages. His full name is Rabainu Alfasi, or even fuller Rabbi Yitzchok ben Ya'akov Alfasi ha-Cohen, and he lived from 1013 - 11030 of the common era.
The Rif was happily living in Fes, Morroco writing his magnum opus on the Talmud (which by the way is today printed in every edition of the Talmud, and therefore studied by thousands, daily when suddenly he was informed upon maliciously to the government, and at the ripe age of 75 - remember, this is the middle ages, had to flee with his family to Spain, where he began again to build a new Yeshiva and continue his Halachic writings. There are many many great subsequent scholars that come from Spain and it’s surroundings, as well as in mideavel England, France (Rashi! and Tosfos!) as well as Italy and the other centres of European Jewry. And this is not even to mention the great scholars of North Africa and the Middle East. While the rest of world was shrouded in darkness, the middle ages were for the Jews a wonderful period of scholarship and creativity. As I've already mentioned, more people are study Rashi today than Shakespeare, although the latter has more movie credits. But the former provides more life insights, at least to my mind. And I've studied both.
In any event, the Rif to the ripe old age of 90 (again, in the middle ages) the Rif passes peacefully away with his mind intact. And he didn’t do it playing bridge.
The Rif is not the only mediaeval Talmudist to write great works which are studied intensely every day by thousands worldwide, nor is he the only mediaeval Talmudist to live a long a fruitful life, despite the bloody Crusades. A campaign to “liberate” Jerusalem indeed. To covet it more like. And to kill thousands of Jews in horrific ways on the way, raping and pillaging as they tromped through the fields of Europe, just waiting to rob Jerusalem of whatever their swords could carve out for them.
Yet the Crusaders are gone, except in movies and stories that glorify and romanticise those dirty rapists and murderers. Murderers of innocent men, women and children. Whole villages, countrysides, whatever lay in the wake of the horses and their hungry riders. It is enough to make one cry - and therefore the tales of those days make up much of the liturgy we read on Tisha B’av, the saddest day of the year. Oh - but enough already, this is an essay about Chanukah, not Tisha B’Av, although Chanuka began as well with dark days indeed.
But the difference between Chanukah and Tisha B’Av is that on Chanukah the Jews got united and fought for their country, their homes, their families, but most of all for their God. And He fought for them. And therefore, they won.
Whereas on Tisha B’av, meaning during the actual time of the Temple’s destruction - over zealous Jews who wanted to fight the Romans burnt the stores of the besieged Jews so they would be forced to fight. The ensuing famine and fall of Jerusalem, city of God, into the fist of Titus will forever be laid at the feet of those Jews who chose the path of Esav, the sword, over that of Ya’akov, unity, and prayer, and only then war as one people under God… and it is because of their "zealousness" for national sovereignty that we still gaze at a Golden Dome instead of the House of God. And it will remain so until we - their decedents, choose the path of Ya'akov's children, who at the end of the book of Genesis stand around his bed and swear to their dying father "Hear O Israel, the Lord is Our God, the Lord is One!" That we have but one wall left standing is our fault, for we are still divided, and so on Tisha B'Av we are still obligated to cry and mourn.
Wouldn't it be better to join forces, my brothers and sisters, and stop the fighting? It's all any father wants from his children, isn't it?
People ask me if I believe in the coming of the Messiah. I say no.
Because I believe we are already living in Messianic times, we just haven’t realised it yet. When we do - when the final shofar actually blows and it is time to get on a plane and head to Jerusalem - to build it properly this time - well, campers - I hope you’re ready.
Yes, I realise I sound like a religious fanatic.
But I am a religious fanatic.
I am fanatic about the idea that we, as a species, still have within us the capacity to change, for the better, and cease the nonsense of war, and as well the rape of mother earth, if I may be so crude.
I am fanatic about the idea that we, as a species, can forever end the racial tensions that are all part of the silly experiment of evolution. That we appear differently to each other as human being has mostly do with the reaction of our DNA to eons of exposure to different climates, lands, histories, cultures, yada yada and blahblah blahblah. University shelves teem with explorations of our diversity, and yet though we are honing in on the simple truth that we are all Adam from the Adamah, I.e. Simply “Earth-Man,” still it seems to elude us.
Also I am fanatic that the world's resources, our money in short, not be divided equally as in communism, nor only willy nilly as the human heart may (or not!) be moved to give... but rather as the Torah commands.
You see - in the Torah your money is completely yours... after you have given the proper tithes to support the poor, the widow and orphan, the teachers, etc. etc. It is not "social welfare." It is how a healthy society functions.
When people realise that their money is a gift (and challenge) from God. A gift to live well with, and a challenge to see how you will partner with God using it.
The third "love" commanded in the Shema is to love God with all of our resources. This means simply to help others with what you are able. Not just your money - in fact - really money is not anyone's greatest resource. But your me'od, which are the exact same letters as Adam, mean to love God with everything you've got, literally.
But let's get back to Jerusalem, the holy city, the Eternal Capital of Israel.
What is it about Israel that makes it so… controversial?
Is it that the land is so special that it is coveted by many, the “heart of the three (or four, come on now) world religions? Is that it - is is the “holy places?”
Yes. It is.
Jerusalem truly is the heart of our universe. It’s a great place to live. Lots of people have felt this, throughout the history of the world, but yes, really beginning with it’s first king, our greatest human king, David, long may He live. Because David, besides the enormous contribution of his Divinely inspired Poetry which are now our prayers, and besides the amazing example of how to truly serve the Almighty he was for his people, was the real founder of Jerusalem as the Eternal Capital of Israel because he never forgot that he was not the true king, because there is only One True King.
In any event, Jerusalem real estate is precious, because yes, it is saturated with a history of inspiration to billions of people.
Muslims, Christians, Greek Orthodox, Armenians, and yes, the original owners of ALL the real estate, Jews.
We never sold Jerusalem, or any of Israel.
It was taken from us, by force.
It has passed through many hands throughout history - and is now, again, in Jewish hands.
Who is to say which religion is true and which is false?
The answer is so obvious that is startles me that it is not more widely known.
All the true religions say the same thing. Trust in the one above. Love your fellow human being, and all of creation. Is that so hard?
Oh yes - and do not do hateful, murderous things to your fellow man or woman, regardless of your political or social cause.
Please.
If you really think this is what God wants from you - you do not know God.
But you will, to your endless misery.
Meanwhile -
May it be the Will of the Almighty that Jerusalem never again leave our hands, and that we build it into the light unto the Nations that it was meant to be.
The rise of Hellenism was in the world a gigantic cultural and intellectual tsunami of new ideas and experiences, of that there is no doubt.
To the Greeks we owe drama as we know it, philosophy, and a scientific approach in general to life, as well as mathematics, medicine as we know it, sports... oh the list just goes on and on.
To the rest of the relatively barbaric world, the armies of Alexander the Great were a liberating force of enlightenment. But of all the forces of mind that Aristotle and his student Alex brought to the world, none was as powerful as simply the replacement of (to some degree) superstition and emotion, with pure human reason.
The Jews as well have a mechanism for developing human reasoning. It is called the mitzvah of Torah study.
In depth study of Torah requires a keenly logical mind. In the pursuit of truth no stone is left unturned, and every point is examined from all sides. Yet perhaps even more critical to the pursuit of truth is the trait of humility, as we are not trying to master knowledge but rather to nurse from it. Because for the Jew, knowledge does not exist for its own sake, but rather solely as a vehicle for understanding the Almighty, His world, and what He wishes us to do.
The Talmud is one vast exercise in logic, deduction and victorious conclusions - and revision and further conclusions in an endless cycle of completion and review. Each time we study the same page we understand it more deeply. It is that densely written. It is the densest and most impenetrable subject matter on earth... oh of course, besides the written Torah. Now that is beyond words to describe.
The hard toil of Torah study challenges the mind and develops the intellect. It also invigorates and very body - in ways we can hardly imagine.
For example, the “Rif” was one of the greatest Talmudist of the middle ages. His full name is Rabainu Alfasi, or even fuller Rabbi Yitzchok ben Ya'akov Alfasi ha-Cohen, and he lived from 1013 - 11030 of the common era.
The Rif was happily living in Fes, Morroco writing his magnum opus on the Talmud (which by the way is today printed in every edition of the Talmud, and therefore studied by thousands, daily when suddenly he was informed upon maliciously to the government, and at the ripe age of 75 - remember, this is the middle ages, had to flee with his family to Spain, where he began again to build a new Yeshiva and continue his Halachic writings. There are many many great subsequent scholars that come from Spain and it’s surroundings, as well as in mideavel England, France (Rashi! and Tosfos!) as well as Italy and the other centres of European Jewry. And this is not even to mention the great scholars of North Africa and the Middle East. While the rest of world was shrouded in darkness, the middle ages were for the Jews a wonderful period of scholarship and creativity. As I've already mentioned, more people are study Rashi today than Shakespeare, although the latter has more movie credits. But the former provides more life insights, at least to my mind. And I've studied both.
In any event, the Rif to the ripe old age of 90 (again, in the middle ages) the Rif passes peacefully away with his mind intact. And he didn’t do it playing bridge.
The Rif is not the only mediaeval Talmudist to write great works which are studied intensely every day by thousands worldwide, nor is he the only mediaeval Talmudist to live a long a fruitful life, despite the bloody Crusades. A campaign to “liberate” Jerusalem indeed. To covet it more like. And to kill thousands of Jews in horrific ways on the way, raping and pillaging as they tromped through the fields of Europe, just waiting to rob Jerusalem of whatever their swords could carve out for them.
Yet the Crusaders are gone, except in movies and stories that glorify and romanticise those dirty rapists and murderers. Murderers of innocent men, women and children. Whole villages, countrysides, whatever lay in the wake of the horses and their hungry riders. It is enough to make one cry - and therefore the tales of those days make up much of the liturgy we read on Tisha B’av, the saddest day of the year. Oh - but enough already, this is an essay about Chanukah, not Tisha B’Av, although Chanuka began as well with dark days indeed.
But the difference between Chanukah and Tisha B’Av is that on Chanukah the Jews got united and fought for their country, their homes, their families, but most of all for their God. And He fought for them. And therefore, they won.
Whereas on Tisha B’av, meaning during the actual time of the Temple’s destruction - over zealous Jews who wanted to fight the Romans burnt the stores of the besieged Jews so they would be forced to fight. The ensuing famine and fall of Jerusalem, city of God, into the fist of Titus will forever be laid at the feet of those Jews who chose the path of Esav, the sword, over that of Ya’akov, unity, and prayer, and only then war as one people under God… and it is because of their "zealousness" for national sovereignty that we still gaze at a Golden Dome instead of the House of God. And it will remain so until we - their decedents, choose the path of Ya'akov's children, who at the end of the book of Genesis stand around his bed and swear to their dying father "Hear O Israel, the Lord is Our God, the Lord is One!" That we have but one wall left standing is our fault, for we are still divided, and so on Tisha B'Av we are still obligated to cry and mourn.
Wouldn't it be better to join forces, my brothers and sisters, and stop the fighting? It's all any father wants from his children, isn't it?
People ask me if I believe in the coming of the Messiah. I say no.
Because I believe we are already living in Messianic times, we just haven’t realised it yet. When we do - when the final shofar actually blows and it is time to get on a plane and head to Jerusalem - to build it properly this time - well, campers - I hope you’re ready.
Yes, I realise I sound like a religious fanatic.
But I am a religious fanatic.
I am fanatic about the idea that we, as a species, still have within us the capacity to change, for the better, and cease the nonsense of war, and as well the rape of mother earth, if I may be so crude.
I am fanatic about the idea that we, as a species, can forever end the racial tensions that are all part of the silly experiment of evolution. That we appear differently to each other as human being has mostly do with the reaction of our DNA to eons of exposure to different climates, lands, histories, cultures, yada yada and blahblah blahblah. University shelves teem with explorations of our diversity, and yet though we are honing in on the simple truth that we are all Adam from the Adamah, I.e. Simply “Earth-Man,” still it seems to elude us.
Also I am fanatic that the world's resources, our money in short, not be divided equally as in communism, nor only willy nilly as the human heart may (or not!) be moved to give... but rather as the Torah commands.
You see - in the Torah your money is completely yours... after you have given the proper tithes to support the poor, the widow and orphan, the teachers, etc. etc. It is not "social welfare." It is how a healthy society functions.
When people realise that their money is a gift (and challenge) from God. A gift to live well with, and a challenge to see how you will partner with God using it.
The third "love" commanded in the Shema is to love God with all of our resources. This means simply to help others with what you are able. Not just your money - in fact - really money is not anyone's greatest resource. But your me'od, which are the exact same letters as Adam, mean to love God with everything you've got, literally.
But let's get back to Jerusalem, the holy city, the Eternal Capital of Israel.
What is it about Israel that makes it so… controversial?
Is it that the land is so special that it is coveted by many, the “heart of the three (or four, come on now) world religions? Is that it - is is the “holy places?”
Yes. It is.
Jerusalem truly is the heart of our universe. It’s a great place to live. Lots of people have felt this, throughout the history of the world, but yes, really beginning with it’s first king, our greatest human king, David, long may He live. Because David, besides the enormous contribution of his Divinely inspired Poetry which are now our prayers, and besides the amazing example of how to truly serve the Almighty he was for his people, was the real founder of Jerusalem as the Eternal Capital of Israel because he never forgot that he was not the true king, because there is only One True King.
In any event, Jerusalem real estate is precious, because yes, it is saturated with a history of inspiration to billions of people.
Muslims, Christians, Greek Orthodox, Armenians, and yes, the original owners of ALL the real estate, Jews.
We never sold Jerusalem, or any of Israel.
It was taken from us, by force.
It has passed through many hands throughout history - and is now, again, in Jewish hands.
Who is to say which religion is true and which is false?
The answer is so obvious that is startles me that it is not more widely known.
All the true religions say the same thing. Trust in the one above. Love your fellow human being, and all of creation. Is that so hard?
Oh yes - and do not do hateful, murderous things to your fellow man or woman, regardless of your political or social cause.
Please.
If you really think this is what God wants from you - you do not know God.
But you will, to your endless misery.
Meanwhile -
May it be the Will of the Almighty that Jerusalem never again leave our hands, and that we build it into the light unto the Nations that it was meant to be.