More Parasha-Pages |
Weekly Parasha-Page |
 Ask a Question |
|||||||||
THE JEWISH HOLIDAYSTHE SEVEN LIQUIDS AND THE SEVEN MOADIMI
Besides the explicit descriptions of the first five Moadim in the Torah itself, our Sages and later commentaries have pointed out many less obvious aspects of the Moadim. The rabbinic literature is full of discussions of the biblical and rabbinic Moadim. With Hashem's help, let us unveil one more hidden pattern to the Jewish holidays. IIInterestingly, each of the seven Moadim finds its parallel in one of the seven liquids. III
"[Pharaoh told Moshe Rabbenu,] 'See that evil confronts you' (Shemot 10:10)" -- I heard a Midrash that there is one star whose name is "Evil." Pharaoh said to [Moshe and Aharon], "I see through astrology that the star of Evil is rising to greet you in the desert, and it is a sign of blood and murder!" Later, when the Jews sinned with the golden calf and Hashem wanted to destroy them, Moshe prayed, "Why should Egypt declare 'He took them out with Evil' (Shemot 32:12)?" This refers to what [Pharaoh] had told them, "See that Evil confronts you!" Immediately "Hashem withheld the Evil (Shemot 32:14)." He substituted the blood of circumcision from when Yehoshua circumcised them [upon entering the Land of Israel] for the blood that had been decreed. That is what is meant by the verse describing Yehoshua's mass circumcision (Yehoshua 5:9): "Today I have removed the disgrace of Egypt from upon you." Until the blood of circumcision was spilled, the Egyptians said of you, "We see blood (ruling) upon you in the desert!"2) The use of blood to serve Hashem was crucial to the Redemption from Egypt.
"And I passed over you and I saw you and behold it was time for you to be loved (Yechezkel 16:8)" -- Hashem meant by this, "The time has come to keep the promise I made to Avraham, to redeem his children!" But the Jews had no Mitzvot through which they could merit His redemption, as it says (ibid. 16:7), "And you were naked and exposed." Hashem therefore gave them two Mitzvot: the blood of the Pesach offering and the blood of circumcision (the blood of the mass circumcision on the evening that they left Egypt) as the verse says, "You were soiled with your bloods (ibid. 16:6)" -- with two bloods. And another verse says, "You too, with the blood of your covenant, have I sent forth your prisoners (Zechariah 9:11)."Because the time of Redemption was fated for blood (as the first Midrash states), our complete Redemption had to come through the use of blood to serve our Creator (the second Midrash). 3) Aside from this, the entire stay of the Jews in Egypt was bloodstained. As the Midrash tells us, Pharaoh used to bathe himself in the blood of Jewish babies to cure his leprosy (Rashi to Shemot 2:23). The Pesach Seder is full of reminders of the Jewish blood that was spilled in Egypt. Tosafot comments on the Charoset into which we dip our Marror: The Yerushalmi tells us that some people [mix in wine] in order to remember the blood [of our fathers that was spilled in Egypt].... It is customary nowadays to initially prepare it very thick and then to thin it with wine and vinegar.The halachic authorities (see Mishneh Berurah 472:38) also link the halachic preference for the use of red wine for the Four Cups at the Seder to its similarity to the color of the blood Pharaoh spilled slaughtering the Jews. The bloody color of the wine and the Charoset can also be seen as a reminder of the blood that the Jews themselves let flow when they circumcised themselves and slaughtered their Paschal lambs prior to leaving Egypt. IV
In many places it is customary to eat milk products on the first day of Shavuot1) Many reasons have been suggested for the custom of eating milk products on Shavuot, the day we were given the Tablets of the Law (see Ta'amei Haminhagim par. 621-626). One reason is that when the Jews received the Torah on Shavuot, they could only eat dairy products. None of the previously slaughtered meat had been prepared according to the Torah's requirements of Shechitah, salting and de-veining, so only milk products were available immediately after the receipt of the Torah (Ta'amei Haminhagim par. 623; Mishneh Berurah, 494:12). Another reason is that the Torah is referred to as "sweet as milk" (Shir Hashirim 4:11), or as "butter" (Berachot 63b). 2) The eighth chapter of Shir Hashirim is understood by the Midrash to be a description of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The woman in the verse [representing the children of Israel] says, "I will lead you, I will bring you to my mother's house [where] you shall teach me" (Shir Hashirim 8:2). On this, the Midrash comments: "My mother's house" -- this refers to Sinai. Rav Berechya said: Why is Sinai called "My mother's house?" Because that is where the children of Israel became like a newly born infant!An infant only eats its mother's milk (see Yevamot 114a, Kerittot 13b). The Jews were like newborn infants at Har Sinai, drawing their nourishment from the Torah as an infant sucks milk at its mother's breast. (Shir Hashirim 8:1 in fact alludes to the Jewish People as an infant nursing from its mother's breast.) This is another reason to commemorate the Giving of the Torah by eating dairy products. 3) The Kabbalists have an additional explanation, drawn from the Zohar, for the custom of eating milk products on Shavuot. The Zohar presents its theme in typically cryptic style, appropriate to the hidden nature of its message. The seven weeks of counting the Omer between Pesach and Shavuot serve for the Jewish people as seven clean time periods, just as a woman waits seven clean days in order to become Ta'hor (ritually clean) after seeing menstrual blood. According to the Gemara (Niddah 9a), the menstrual blood of a nursing mother is transformed into milk [which is why a nursing woman usually does not menstruate]. This metamorphosis represents a transformation from strict justice to mercy. (Similarly, on Shavuot, the "bloody" days of the Omer which follow the "menstrual period" of Pesach are transformed into a time of "milk" and mercy on Shavuot).The physical and emotional stress caused by the loss of blood during menstruation stems from the punishment of Chava, the first woman (Bereishit 3:16). Seven days are required to remove menstrual Tum'ah, which represents strictness and punishment. Another way to "put an end to punishment" is demonstrated by lactation. A nursing mother has brought new life into the world, partially compensating for the death that Chava introduced to the world (Bereishit 3:19). As compensation, nursing temporarily halts the menstrual cycle and produces life-sustaining milk instead. Retribution, portrayed by blood, is being replaced by the mercy of milk. On Shavuot, the Zohar tells us, we also find the "blood" of Pesach, representing justice and punishment, converted into the merciful "milk" of Shavuot. Seven time periods are required in order to complete this process and bring a close to the Omer count, with its connotations of harshness and punishment (See Yevamot 63b; Mishnah Eduyot 2:10). This period of retribution is followed by Shavuot -- a time of mercy and compassion, a time of "milk." The Zohar clearly depicts Pesach as a holiday of blood and Shavuot as a holiday of milk. V
Why did the Torah tell us to pour water [on the Altar] on Sukkot? Because Sukkot marks the start of the rainy season. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "Pour before Me water on Sukkot, so that there will be blessing in the year's rains!" When do we begin to mention rain [in our Shemonah Esrei Prayer]? Rebbi Eliezer said: From the time one takes the Lulav (i.e. the first day of Sukkot).... The four species [mentioned in the Torah, Vayikra 23:40] are taken on Sukkot in order to appeal to Hashem for water. Just as these four species cannot be brought without water [i.e. they need more water than other species in order to grow], so too the world cannot survive without water. VI
2) Olive oil represents the light of the Oral Torah. ("Olive oil helps a person remember even the Torah he learned seventy years ago," the Gemara in Horayyot 13b says.) It was the light of the Oral Torah that the Greeks and the rebellious Jews (the Sadducees) failed to extinguish (see Bereishit Rabba 2:4), and it is this light that shines from our Channukah menorahs until today. (This theme was discussed at length in the Channukah, 5755, Parasha-Page.) 3) The Sefat Emet (Channukah, 5661) reveals to us yet another aspect of the Channukah oil. The war against the Greeks was a war against both assimilation and Hellenism, a manifestation of the Torah observant Jews' refusal to absorb Greek culture. Oil too will not combine with another liquid, and thus represents the Jewish people: "And Hashem has singled you out today to be for him a chosen nation as he had told you he would,... and to place you above all the nations he has made, for praise, fame, and glory (Devarim 26:18,19)" -- Just as oil cannot be mixed with other liquids, so too the Jewish nation cannot be mixed with idolaters, as it says, "I have separated you from the nations to be mine (Vayikra 20:26)." Also, just as oil, when it is mixed with other liquids it will rise above them all, so are the Jews above all other nations, as it says, "and to place you above...."The oil of Channukah is representative of our resistance to and eventual rise above all competing pagan cultures. The choice of olive oil specifically highlights this trait of the Jewish people. When branches of most trees are grafted onto a tree of another type, they produce hybrid fruits. An olive branch, however, will produces only olives (Yerushalmi Kilayim 1:7; see also Rashi to Tehillim 128:3). The olive tree cannot be made to change its produce, and thus olive oil, even more than other oils, symbolizes the Jews' loyalty to their religion and their refusal to adopt alien ways.
VII
Every man is obligated to become inebriated on Purim!According to Avudraham, the reason for this peculiar practice is that all the miracles of the story of Purim were centered around wine-drinking parties (Mishteh): Queen Vashti was killed by her drunken husband Achashverosh during such a party (Esther 1:10); Esther's elevation to queen was celebrated with a drinking party (Esther 2:18); Esther later invited Achashverosh and Haman to two drinking parties, which led to Haman's demise and the neutralization of his cruel decrees (Esther 5:4,8). By drinking wine, we remind ourselves of the Purim miracles. 2) The Midrash describes Hashem's protection of the Jewish People from Haman's evil plotting in terms of intoxication. "Haman told the king, 'There is ('Yeshno') one nation...'"(Esther 3:8) -- What Haman meant to say was, "The 'One' of Whom it is said, `Hashem is One,' is sleeping (`Yashen') and not guarding his people!" Hashem retorted, "I have no sleeping moments, as the verse says, 'Behold the guardian of Israel does not rest and does not sleep' (Tehillim 121:4), and you are saying that I am asleep! By your life, you shall see that I will 'awake' my anger against *you*, and remove you from the world!" [This is the meaning of the verse which says,] "Hashem awoke as if from a slumber, as a mighty man awakening *from his wine*, and he smote his enemies..."(Tehillim 78:65,66).Drinking wine reminds us that Hashem changed his relationship to the Jewish People during the times of Mordechai and Esther. From a state of passive supervision that is compared to a drunken stupor, Hashem aroused Himself to actively intervene and protect His people. Perhaps this is why some interpret the Talmudic directive to drink as a recommendation to "drink more than one is used to, and then to *sleep*..." (Rema, Orach Chaim 695:2).
VIII
Maharil (Hilchot Rosh Hashanah) brings numerous sources from Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim for eating honey on the Day of Judgment. (See also Parasha-Page, Rosh Hashanah 5756.) 2) Shmuel (I:14), describes how King Shaul had the entire Israelite army take an oath not to eat until after the impending battle with the invading Philistines (I Shmuel 14:24). But, we are told: Yonatan did not hear his father make the people take an oath. He stretched out the end of the staff that was in his hand, dipped it into the canes of honey [that were to be found all along the road] and brought it to his mouth.Shaul later realized that someone had eaten and betrayed the oath. He swore that whoever had eaten, even if it was his own child, would be put to death. When Shaul discovered that Yonatan had eaten, Shaul kept his oath and ordered his son's execution. Only after the entire nation pleaded with Shaul did he rescind his decree and allow Yonatan to live (I Shmuel 14:45). The verses describing the repeal of Yonatan's sentence are recited as an omen of peace and well-being (Berachot 55b). By dipping an apple in honey, we appeal to Hashem to pardon us just as Yonatan was granted life even after the death sentence was pronounced upon him! Interestingly, the Zohar (3:231a) notes that when the term "Vayyehi Hayyom" ["It was that day"] is used, it refers to Rosh Hashanah. That very term is used to describe the day that Yonatan was saved from execution (I Shmuel 14:1). IX
The anger of the King is as a lion's roar and His goodwill is as dew upon grass. Return, Oh Yisrael, to Hashem (`Shuvah Yisroel')... I will accept their Teshuvah; I will be as dew to Israel.This theme is made even more clear by the Midrash:
"The ways of your youth shall be like dew to you, [Avraham]" (Tehillim 110:3) - Avraham worried, saying, "I have sinned for so many years in my youth, during which I worshipped idols!" Hashem calmed him, saying, "The ways of your youth shall be like dew to you, [Avraham]." Just as dew "flies off" (evaporates) and disappears, so, too, shall your sins fly off from you and disappear.2) Dew is impossible to drink. It does not accumulate in pools, and a single dew drop is too small to drink. It is the least substantial of liquids. As Rashi tells us:
When the sun rose, the dew on the Manna rose to "greet the sun" [i.e., it evaporated], as that is the manner of dew. Even if one were to fill a tube with dew and seal it, the dew would evaporate when left in the sun.Because it is so insubstantial, dew is the appropriate liquid to represent Yom Kippur, when all eating and drinking is prohibited. The lack of physicality of dew is also connected to the spirituality attained by the Jewish people on Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur, they rise, as it were, "to greet the sun," i.e., they enter a spiritual realm that is "closer" to their Creator. The Tur quotes from a Midrash: On Yom Kippur the accusing angel sees that there is no sin in Yisrael, and he says, "Master of the universe, You have a nation that is unique on the earth! They are like angels!"3) Dew is integral to the continued existence of the world.
Dew and wind... never cease, because without them the world would not continue to exist.And similarly, the world could not continue to exist without repentance and atonement:
If You took note of our sins, O G-d my Lord, who could survive? But You forgive our sins, that we may continue to fear You.The process of repentance and atonement reaches its height on Yom Kippur, which brings atonement for all the year's sins.
X
| |||||||||||
