Shabbat-B'Shabbato – Parshat Shelach

No 1677: 23 Sivan5777 (17 June2017)

AS SHABBAT APPROACHES

Open, Closed, and Open - by Esti Rosenberg, Head of the Midrasha for Women, Migdal Oz

Twice a day those who serve G-d accept His sovereignty, remember the Exodus from Egypt, and declare their unique love for G-d. A close look at the passage of the Shema will reveal another important principle that can be found peeping out from among the cracks of the Shema.

“And you shall not be led astray by your hearts and by your eyes” [Bamidbar 15:39]. The author of the Sefer Hachinuch lists this as a negative mitzva:

“We have been commanded not to let our thoughts go to opinions which are the opposite of the ideas on which the Torah is based, since this can lead to an error... And similarly, a man is not allowed to follow what he sees with his eyes... Not to pursue the lusts of this world... And that is what the sages taught: ‘After your hearts’ means apostasy, and ‘after your eyes’ means illicit sex.”

The Torah warns us against two different situations.

“After your hearts means apostasy.” The unlimited power of the heart as a source of our thoughts and understanding might at times lead a person to realms which he does not want to reach. We must not entertain “opinions which are the opposite of the ideas on which the Torah is based.” There is a very fine line that separates a person’s ability and obligation to study all the available subjects and analyze them in depth from the danger that as a result of the deep study we might become confused about the main principles of our faith. The author of Sefer Hachinuch adds, “A person should not focus his thoughts on matters which might bring him to abandon the path of our holy Torah and move over to ideas which are shocking and heretical.” The Torah demands that a person view the opinions to which he is exposed in an honest way, and to understand that at times the result of deep study and an open mind can take him to places where he did not want to go. The Torah is afraid that we will lose control and not be able to maintain a proper balance.

“After your eyes means illicit sex.” What we see with our eyes can also make us lose control. A person can convince himself that what he sees will never take him astray, that he always remains the master, in control. However, the Torah warns us to beware of exaggerated self-confidence. At times, “the eye sees and the heart begins to lust,” and the result is “being drawn after physical lusts and pleasure and constantly being busy with them.” At times a person might lose all control of his inclinations. He might convince himself that his eyes will not lead him to sin, but this is not so. The process of wearing his defenses down begins with his uncontrolled exposure to the pleasures of the world, neither gently or modestly.

We are used to thinking that we have the power to control our inclinations and our thoughts. This mitzva of “do not be led astray” is trying to warn us that our ability to keep control depends on where we were born and raised. In order for us to develop and grow properly, we must make sure that the initial status is the proper one. We must start out without any illicit sex or apostasy.

What are the limits of this mitzva? How can a man know when he oversteps the boundary? This requires us to accomplish difficult and infinite labor. This can be done, it is necessary to open up the boundaries and keep them closed at one and the same time.

POINT OF VIEW

Calling for anInternal Truce among Religious Zionists - by Zvulun Orlev

LostEnergy

It is natural for us, as individuals and as a sector, to take care first of our own worries and then those of others. We have shown that we know how to struggle for our rights as religious Zionists in all walks of life. As long as the span of opinions among us was relatively limited and the internal disputes were not serious enough to cause separations and divisions, it was possible to hold parliamentary and public debates where our party presented a single unified front. Even though we were a clear minority, we succeeded in having the religious Zionist institutions appear as a unified force. Even though we were always a minority, we were able to guarantee that the religious Zionist enterprises in most walks of life received all of the rights that were available to all the citizens of the country. Moreover, we have become a significant factor in the life of the country, one that is listened to and taken into consideration. We have managed to establish the relationship between religion and the state in a way that is close as possible to our outlook, although it is still far from perfect.

Today the situation has changed. The marginal groups among us have moved further apart, the disputes have become more serious, and we have even seen examples of mutual hostility. There is almost no subject left where the different segments of religious Zionism can speak authoritatively with a single voice. A good friend said to me that no religious Zionist sector exists any more, and all that is left is people who are religious Zionists. The divisions and the disputes go across the board in all directions. Today there is no single religious Zionist framework that can include the entire range of its opinions – not a school, a yeshiva, a youth movement, a synagogue, a settlement, a rabbinical organization, a party, and so on. Under such circumstances, the sector has two major problems for which it pays dearly.

First of all, a sector which is dispersed and divided, with various forces that pull in different and contrary directions, will find it very difficult to make any achievements. Why should anybody listen to one internal group and not another? What do you want, that I should get close to one group and be soundly scolded by another? There are also some people who will take advantage of the situation to try to perform manipulations against the existing sector and thereby strengthen other groups which oppose religious Zionism.

In addition, there is a second problem, which is much more serious. The vision of religious Zionism sees its main mission as an attempt to influence the entire nation and to establish a Jewish character for the State of Israel as a whole. We must always think in terms of the best path to take so that Israel will be run according to our value system in all walks of life. The founders of our sector had many successes in their time, because we were united at the time and spoke in single voice. We can credit that era, until about 25 years ago, with our great achievements in the life of the country, even though we did not manage to achieve all of our goals.

The way things are today, is there any other way to accomplish a goal than by political coercion? We are well aware that what is achieved by political force can also be cancelled through political activity. To achieve something politically requires a broad consensus among the people. Just look at what happened to the Lapid Laws – forced drafting of Chareidim and a decrease in funding for yeshivot. They were passed in the face of harsh controversy, and they were rescinded within two years, when the coalition was replaced. With all due respect to legislation (and I should have respect – I proposed 73 laws that were passed in the Knesset!), new laws might not last very long if public opinion and the national spirit object to them. As we know, it is impossible to force the public to enforce a law which it is too difficult for it to accept.

A National Cultural Challenge

If we can learn to transform problems into a challenge, perhaps we may achieve more in spite of our own internal problems. Let us demand from all the diverse groups within our sector to make a public test of their ability to convince the public that their religious Zionist ideas are the best ones, and that in this way we will best be able to influence the Israeli public to expand the Jewish character of the State of Israel. Instead of internal struggles about who is right, we would do much better to follow a wise path and see what approach has the best chance of leading to a Jewish character for the Jewish state. Instead of wasting our efforts and excessive energy on internal disputes, we would be much better off to agree to a “truce” and to enlist all of our strength on the real front, which is the Jewish character of the State of Israel. We cannot succeed through our own internal struggles, rather we must influence the entire Israeli culture, through persuasion and conviction. I firmly believe that turning our efforts in this direction can weaken the internal strife in our sector and even lead to a closer approach between diverse groups.

Just as in a war the fighters are comrades in spite of the many diverse and contrary viewponts, so in struggles for cultural and moral values a fighting comradeship can be formed. For us, this can be based on an exalted common goal: The values of religious Zionism within the State of Israel.

A PARSHA INSIGHT

Threads of Hope - by Rabbi Asaf Harnoy, Rabbi of “Aderet Eliyahu” Community, Gilo, Jerusalem

This week’s Torah portion starts at one end with the story of the sin of the scouts and ends at the other end with the mitzva of tzitzit. Many great and wise men discussed the special link between these two seemingly unrelated topics. For example, somesaw the mitzva of tzitzit as a way to compensate for the sin of the scouts.

It is in fact quite easy to see a close link between the sin of the scouts, which stemmed from looking at Eretz Yisrael through an evil eye, and the mitzva of tzitzit, which comes among other things to mend the way we see with our eyes. In addition, the mission of the scouts – “to tour the land” [Bamidbar 13:16] – is parallel to the command associated with tzitzit – “do not follow your heart and your eyes” [15:39].

We can add another “thread” that links between these two passages.

The Hope of the Scarlet Thread

Just as in this week’s Torah portion, so right before the entry into Eretz Yisrael in the book of Yehoshua, scouts are sent to check out the territory before the military conquest. Yehoshua’s messengers want to repay Rachav for her help in avoiding the King’s soldiers. They promise to guard over her and her family in the coming war. As a precondition, they ask her to hang a scarlet thread outside of her window, as a signal that this house is off limits for the army of Yisrael.

This thread then becomes the great hope of Rachav and her family, in their desire to survive the difficult war that was threatening them. The word which the prophet uses to denote this thread is ‘tikva’ – which can mean a line but also a hope. “Tie this line of scarlet thread in the window” [Yehoshua 2:18].

The Hope of the Distance

It is no accident that a thread was chosen to signify the hopes of Rachav and her family for a peaceful life. The purpose of a thread in the world is to tie two elements together. A thread can be viewed as a long line which links two items that are far apart. This illustrates the semantic link between “a thread” and “a hope” (in the word “tikvah,” which includes the two-letter word, “kav,” a line).

Hope gives a person the strength to maintain his position in a difficult situation. Hope can often be the “light at the end of the tunnel” which gives a person the ability to take the next step. Hope can be viewed as a thread which links man in his current difficult situation to a better and more beautiful future which he yearns for and hopes to attain.

Make Fringes for You

The essence of the mitzva of tzitzit is to create a thread which links and makes contact with our physical existence here on the earth and reaches all the way up to the Throne of Glory in heaven. The techelet – blue wool – in the tzitzit is like the sea, which is like the sky, and which reaches out to the Throne of Glory. In this way, man is like a tree that grows here on earthwhile its roots find their way deep into the heavens.

The threads of the tzitzit are symbolic of the importance of this link between the reality of the visible present and the future and upper and hidden worlds to which we are connected, even if we usually are not aware of the link. The threads of the tzitzit demand that we look into the depths of things, to create a system of aspiration and hope that will lead us to much higher spiritual levels than we usually experience and to maintain the link and the connection between heaven and earth. This, after all, is the only hope for man in this earth.

One Who Anticipates Hope

Perhaps the sin of the scouts stemmed from a lack of being connected by the proper threads, from a loss of hope.

The scouts looked at the discouraging reality that appeared before their eyes, and they kept this image with them, without developing threads of hope and anticipation towards the promised land. They did not allow the threads of hope and aspiration to reach the land to awaken within them the faith and the link to heaven. They remained in shock in view of the strength and the size of the people living on the land. They did not allow the threads of the tzitzit to link them to a deeper and higher-level world, which can give a person a feeling of anticipation and hope.

And therefore the mitzva of tzitzit comes, and it demands of us to make threads, fringes and more fringes – in order to develop the hope, the link to the Throne of Glory, where everything remains good forever, the source of power and strength and heavenly light.

“Wait for G-d and maintain His way, and He will lift you up to take possession of the land” [Tehillim 37:34].

NATURE AND THE TORAH PORTION

Five Species of Grain - by Dr. Moshe Raanan, the Jerusalem College for Women

“Give an offering of bread from your dough, as teruma – like the teruma of the granary, that is how you shall offer it” [Bamidbar 15:20].

Setting aside “challah” is one of the mitzvot connected to the “five species of grain” defined as a special group. This group plays a special role from the point of viewof halacha as compared to other grains. The blessings for bread from the five grains are “hamotzi” and the Grace after Meals, these grains can become chametz and are therefore prohibited on Pesach, and they can be used to bake the matza used for the mitzvot of Pesach. Produce from the “five grains” may not be harvested before the Omer Sacrifice is brought, and it may not be eaten before the Omer Sacrifice.

The five species are: wheat, barley, buckwheat, rye, and oats. Other grains used for making breadthat are mentioned in the traditional literature include rice, millet, and cow-wheat. These are of a lower status, and they are treated in the halacha in a different way than the five main grains.

The identities of various grains, except for wheat and barley, were the subject of detailed discussions by commentators and researchers (see a long summary by Z. Amar, “Five Species of Grain”). Many factors are taken into account in the attempt to identify the five grains. One of these is their suitability for baking high-quality bread. The importance of this factor can be seen from the fact that even within the group itself the grains are rated according to this criterion. Thus, the blessing is recited first for wheat bread and only afterwards for bread made from barley. We can also add another halacha, the preference as a basis for an eiruv to link together several courtyards on Shabbat. The criterion is that the material used for the eiruv must be suitable for making bread. An eiruv can be made with bread made from the five grains or fromrice, but not with millet, which shows the low status of this grain even as compared to rice (Eiruvin 81a).

In order to judge if a grain is more or less suited for baking bread, we must know what factors establish the quality of the resulting bread and if they exist for the species being studied. In order to put our study on a firm basis, we can compare the properties of the “five grains” to rice and millet, which are not included in the special set of five even though they can be used to make a type of bread.

The Fluffy Texture

The most important factor is the fluffiness of the baked bread, which is a result of the rising of the dough. The rising stems from bubbles of carbon dioxide which are produced by the cells of yeast during the process. The yeast cells make use of the glucose in the dough to produce energy, and in addition to the gas they also produce alcohol, which evaporates during the baking. While wheat is mainly starch, the action of the enzyme β-Amylase converts it into sugar. Another condition for the rising of the dough is that the carbon dioxide must be trapped by a complex net of thin fibers which are produced by the protein gluten.