Just a few notes on a busy day full of learning. The best article of the day is here. Dershowitz writes lucidly about the issue of civilian casualties. This is an article to carry in your wallet when you get into discussions about the war. This is the first time in a very long time in which Israel is getting support from many quarters. It seems that much of the world is waking up to the real dangers of Islamic fundamentalist terror. However many well meaning people do not see the consequences of accomodating a terrorist organization. The Prime Minister of Israel seemed to capture the moment in his speech: "Ad Kan" (meaning in Hebrew-no more.)
The learning today at the Hartman Institute was extraordinary. Today Moshe Halbertal took us through a section of the Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 30b and 31a. We immersed ourselves in the discussion of the proper mood one requires to pray the Tefilah. This is a classic Talmudic debate on the nature of prayer. This section of the Talmud is a wonderful example of the capacity for the rabbis to accept different points of view and to challenge attempts to establish a single norm. In the case of prayer, the rabbis essentially recognize what moderns would call a pluralism of spiritualities. While all agree that a relationship with God is a critical dimension of life, the Talmud entertains several different stances toward God from submission to defiance.
The hero of this section of the Talmud is Hannah (1Samuel, chapters 1ff) who become the paradigm of a person who prays to God out of defiance. For those who are looking for one of the origins of the Jewish trait of Hutzpa, this is a passage you should definitely look at. I plan to include this text during our study sessions on the High Holidays. I consider it one of the classics of all of Jewish literature.
Beside this marvelous sessions we had excellent sessions on the Binding of Isaac (Gen 22) in comparison with 2 Samuel 24. The session could have been titled "Sacrificing before God or Sacrificing before the People. A third session in the evening was a thought provoking session on how popularization of Jewish mysticism in contemporary culture. This session was given by Yoni Garb who is one of the outstanding scholars of Kabbalah.
Shalom,
Rabbi Dov Gartenberg
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This is the first time in a very long time in which Israel is getting support from many quarters.
[ With all due Respect Rebbe Dov, I cannot agree here. The United States has backed Israel since it's creation, Bush's misguided Iraq war and the recent Hezbollah attacks will not serve to create peace, but to create more instability and leaving the Iraelis and the people of the middle east in a less secure state. The jewish religion of all should know that violence and hatred only beget violence and hatred. We need only look to the inquisition of how such things can get completely out of control]
"It seems that much of the world is waking up to the real dangers of Islamic fundamentalist terror"
[Fundmentalism is Fundamentalism. The Christian Dominionist Fundamentalists here in the States, such as Hagee,Falwell, North, Rushdoony, Falwell or Robertson and fundamentalist followers won't say publicly that they need 2/3 of The Jewish religion to die for their Fundamentalist Ideology. I find these people to be extremist]
I wonder rebbe, perhaps you can assist me with my personal dillema.
How many people are truly enlightened unto the knowledge of the equilibrium?
It seems to me, Church of One =), If they had seen my vision they would not be preaching for the death of other men. They would know it's not a battle of good vs evil, but a battle of the light and the heavy.
The Universe does not operate on hatred.
Nor does the Earth revolve around the sun because good and evil make it so.
It is, to me, attraction and repulsion.
If a man has a heart heavy with materialism he will sink to nefarity to get what he desires, the man with no has no materialist agenda speaks with the VIS.
Such is my view Rebbe Dov. I wish for the safety and peace for you and your country and your people just as I do for the entire world, perhaps this is a foolish dream, I doubt it is.
I do know that God is with us all. Shalom Rebbe Dov.
TAU
7/29/06
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