parsha bit: Nitzavim-Vayeilech

[cellio]

Our parsha tells us "this mitzvah is not far away from you [...] it is very close to you, in your mouths and hearts to fulfill". To what mitzvah does the passage refer? Rashi says it refers to torah study. A lazy person, he says, claims that the torah is far away, beyond reach, and thus does not try to study. However, Rashi says, it is close by and thus easily available.

(I don't know where this comes from, but there is a tradition that says that an angel teaches the child in the womb all of torah, but it is forgotten at birth until later re-learned.)

Comments

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

That's Raziel. He's supposed to visit unborn children, teaching them all the secrets of the Universe, but he erases it just before birth. The rationale for that is, I suppose, an exercise for the student %^). I don't know the origin of the legend, since I came by it via Hermetic rather than Jewish studies. There is at least one supposed "book of all ancient wisdom" attributed to Raziel.

[cellio]

Thanks.

(No search results in talmud, but that doesn't mean a lot.)

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

There is an Artscroll book, What the Angel Taught You. I have to imagine it would mention this in the introduction & hopefully cite the source. Looking at this book in your local Jewish bookstore or library/beit midrash may be of help.

Last night, the mashgiach gave a very interesting talk on nearby pasukim of it not being in the Heavens or across the sea, interpretted about Torah study. He then brought in the 2 stories of "Lo B'shamayim hi"; the famous one from Bava Metzia about Rabbi Eliezer's machloket with Chachamim over the oven of Aknai and the other being that a prophet (after Moses) can't give psak from prophecy. He talked about the contrast between these ideas that now Torah is in the human domain to learn & interpret as opposed to other sugyot suggesting from the same verses that it is Divine wisdom which can not be understood by a person too haughty to have a rabbi or chevruta. If this sounds unclear, it is because I am condensing a 20 minute talk into a paragraph.

[cellio]

Sounds like an interesting talk! Thanks for the summary.

(If anyone else reading this needs a translation of any of those terms, just ask. zevabe knows he doesn't have to translate for me, but if others are still reading and need it, please don't be shy.)

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

Honestly, it was more an oversight on my part. I've been in yeshiva a lot lately & quickly pick up the lingo. So forgive me for slipping into yeshivish inappropriately.

Mashgiach- Director of Student Affairs/a rabbi
Pasukim- verses
Lo B'shamayim hi- It is not in the heavens, a quote from a verse in the Torah portion under discussion.
Machloket-Dispute
Chachamim-Sages
If you want to hear the story in question, ask. A lot of people do know it.
Psak-decision of Jewish law
Sugyot-short one-topic sections of Talmud (likely most akin to a paragraph if there were paragraph breaks in a Talmud)
Chevruta-Learning Partner

[cellio]

No problem -- as I said, I understood and you were writing for me. It was not my intent to impose a translation burden on you. I just know that some of my readers have commented that they don't always know the terms I use when I'm talking about this stuff, so I offered to translate for anyone else if relevant. You have no such obligation.

[hildakrista.livejournal.com]

I shall have to lean in and listen very closely when Otto talks in his sleep!

[cellio]

Too late; he lost it on his way out. For the next one, you'll have to install internal mics. :-)

[hildakrista.livejournal.com]

Yes, well, if I had to make my way through a hole the size of a lemon, I think some knowledge may be squeezed out of my brain, too.

Interesting though. Seems kind of...romantic...for a religion.

[cellio]

We've got lots of nifty midrash, some quite whimsical. This is not a dry religion of nuts and bolts only. :-)

There is a serious dispute in the talmud about whether man should have been created. There are behind-the-secnes details of Moshe's life (and many others'). There is a midrash about how the very words of torah themselves approached people at Sinai saying "will you take me?". There's the talmudic passage that talks about how God prays and what he prays for. I could go on.

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

Hey... so, we may be coming to your town... minds turn to shul shopping. My mom keeps telling me about this "Rabbi Chuck" and some shtiebl on the third floor -- know anything about them? I don't know if we'd really end up in Squirrel Hill (S. really has to like it), but it's at least a possibility.

[cellio]

That would be Or L'Simcha. I haven't met Rabbi Chuck, but he's apparently popular especially with young families. He used to be an assistant? associate? rabbi at one of the big Conservative congregations here, where his focus was the school. Something happened (don't know the details; wouldn't post publicly if I did anyway) and he left that congregation to start his own, with some members following him. Or L'Simcha is unaffiliated and calls itself traditional/egalitarian. I think they have about 100 members now, though I don't know if that's people or households. I should visit someday just to satisfy my curiosity.

Squirrel Hill is nice, you know. :-)