a torah thought

[cellio]

During the Omer (which is now, from Pesach to Shavuot [0]) we're supposed to read from Pirke Avot, a tractate of the mishna that is basically collected wisdom. There's a lot of good stuff in there, and I recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it before. (To those who have, my recommendation is irrelevant.)

Tonight my rabbi commented on two similar and famous passages. (One is part of the liturgy.) In one place, it says the world stands on [1] three things: torah, divine service ("avodah" [2]), and acts of loving-kindness ("g'milut chasidim"). Elsewhere, another rabbi says that the world stands on a different trio: shalom (literally "wholeness", conventionally "peace"), judgement ("din"), and truth ("emet"). So, my rabbi asked, what's going on?

He argues that the first set represents our obligations to God -- keep the torah, serve God, and treat each other appropriately -- while the second set represents obligations to other people -- seek peace, act justly, and be truthful. I can buy that, but I had been thinking in a different direction. I found myself looking for parallels between the two.

The first is easy: torah is truth. If it isn't, none of the rest of this matters. Matching up the others is a little less clear, but I can see a parallel between din and avodah, because both involve specified processes to produce correct results, whether it's temple ritual or ensuring that contracts are appropriate and thieves pay for what they take and so on. That leaves g'milut chasidim pairing up with shalom, and one could certainly argue that doing the former will ultimately lead to the latter.

Now that I've taken my stab at it I'll have to see what the sages say, perhaps over Shabbat. Other comments welcome, of course.

[0] Tonight is night ten of the Omer. We're supposed to count it explicitly.

[1] I think, actually, that one of these says the world "stands on" three things and the other says "depends on", but I'll have to look it up and I can't now say which would be which.

[2] "Avodah" means "work" or "labor" -- not the kind of activity forbidden on Shabbat (that's "melacha" [3]), but a different kind of work. However, it is also used specifically to mean the "work" of conducting the temple ritual, and it's apparently pretty clear that this is the sense in which it's meant here.

[3] "Melacha" is creative work -- not "creative" in the "I'll think up a melody for a song" sense, but rather in the "making things in the world" sense. So plowing your field is melacha, but singing isn't. Painting a landscape is, but walking in the park isn't.

Comments

[vonstrassburg.livejournal.com]

Mmm ... not sure that I'd use the words "divine service" as my first off-the-cuff translation of "avodah". Perhaps someone with better ivrit than me can comment but I've always held "avodah" to mean "work" or "service" that may or may not include "divine".

For example, a kibbutznik plowing his field (to steal from your later meaning) is "avodah", in that it is work done as a service to man, but is not necessarily divine service.

[cellio]

My understanding, perhaps flawed, is that "avodah" does mean work or service in the more general sense, but that there is a specific subclass that is the work of the temple service, and the sages mean that subclass in this case. (I guess I failed to connect all the dots -- sorry.)

[goljerp]

[0] Tonight is night ten of the Omer. We're supposed to count it explicitly.

Thanks for reminding me... I'd forgotten to count today.

Also, for some reason, there's a tradition of saying what day the Omer was yesterday. Maybe because you're not supposed to count twice? Maybe because it's omer++ rather than ++omer?

[cellio]

Also, for some reason, there's a tradition of saying what day the Omer was yesterday

There is? I haven't seen that. I thought it was ++omer. (Have we scared away the non-geeks yet? :-) )

Every copy I've seen (in the haggadah, for the second night, and in the siddur otherwise) has been for today (specifically tonight), as in "tonight is the Nth day of the Omer, that being N/7 weeks and rem(N/7) days". Mind, they don't phrase it that way, which is just as well for us folks who can't count in Hebrew and need to have these things spelled out. :-)

[goljerp]

My mistake. I meant to say, "when talking about what day of the omer it is, but not actually saying the brucha, there's a tradition..."

I made it until day 11. Joy didn't make it that long. She actually suggested on Saturday night that we count together, but I said I'd wait until later because she had to get going. So I can't blame anyone but myself.

[cellio]

Saturday night was my point of failure, too. On Sunday morning I had this nagging feeling that I'd forgotten something, but concluded that it was laundry. :-) (Well, I had planned to do laundry that day, but hadn't actually forgotten. I erroneously blamed a pushy subconscious.)