The Talmud has just started the chapter of “with what may an animal go out”*. The Bible commands Jews and their animals to rest on the Sabbath. Making an animal carry a burden would be causing it to perform forbidden work, so our sages need to explain which items are a burden to which animals. Items used to control an animal, like a collar, are not a burden. The Gemara asks about putting a leash on a cow. This sounds bizarre, because normally a cow does not need a leash. Our sages explain that if you are leading a cow from one city to another it indeed needs a leash, since a cow will naturally turn back to familiar areas where it eats and rests. It will not go somewhere new without external guidance.
This is a deep insight into not only bovine but also human nature. Most people, most of the time, want to be in familiar surroundings where they know what to expect. Where they eat, sleep and relax. It usually takes goading from outside to get us to try something new, or go somewhere alien. When you have an opportunity to change scenery and get out of your familiar patterns, seize it. Work up your ability to approach new situations with confidence. Don’t be a cow on a leash.
*I’ll share one my favorite vort on this Mishnah by the Divre Emes, brought in the Biure Hassidus on the daf:
baalei haSher, animals that require a collar with a leash, yotzin beSher, may go into the public domain with the Sher, with their leash, venimshochin beSher, and are led with Sher. The word Sher is spelled identically to “Shir”, song. Baalei Shir, those who sing, yotzin beshir, are able to be saved from tzarah and do teshuvah with song. “venimshochin beshir” they will sing with longing for Hashem, they will emerge from all sin and they will also be drawn to God. They will achieve purity through Shir. This shows the spiritual power of song and music, when used correctly in Divine service.
This is not just a new Chassidic concept, see Elisha using joyful music to bring prophecy (2 Kings 3:15).
Today we continue learning about insulating food for Shabbat. Our sages rule that if you insulated your food before the onset of the Sabbath then you can remove it from the wrapper and return it. But, if you did not insulate it before Friday night, then you cannot place the food in any wrapper during the Sabbath. Our sages also note that if you insulated before Shabbat you can add insulation.
This is part of a broader concept of preparing yourself in advance.
When you put in the effort to train, educate, and prepare yourself, then when the situation requires you, you will be ready. If you are a man who stays in shape, stays organized, keeps alert, then you are better suited to respond to change. If you have started strengthening your body, you can continue even when it gets difficult. Start now, while you have the time and energy, you don’t know what life will bring.
Another truly amazing exchange. Rabbi Yehuda the Prince (also translated as president – he was the leader of the generation) was teaching about insulation. He stated that it was forbidden to insulate cold food. Rabbi Yishmael reported that his deceased father Rabbi Yossi had ruled it was permitted. Rabbi Yehuda publicly agreed to Rabbi Yossi.
The Gemara notes that when Rabbi Yossi been alive, he had deferred to Rabbi Yehuda, the president, even though he himself was older and wiser. Then Rabbi Yehuda, hearing that Rabbi Yossi had already made a decision on this issue, deferred to him.
We see from here that a leader needs to set his ego aside and be willing to hear other information and opinions. We also see that even if you have more wisdom, you should be aware of the underlying power structure and defer to the leadership to maintain unity.
A real gem in today’s Talmud learning which touches on the practical differences between men and women…
The Gemara discusses using facial cleanser on the Sabbath, including an ancient recipe made of aloe, myrtle, and violet. Some cleansers remove facial hair, which is forbidden on the Sabbath. Therefore, our sages allowed children, women, or eunuchs who lack facial hair to use this particular cleanser. A group of rabbis were together and some used a facial cleanser, while one objected, since using such beauty products is a potential violation of Deut 22:5 “A man cannot wear a woman’s garment”. Using product on your face is for women! He noted a statement of some sages (in Shabbat 94b) that a man can remove whatever dirt or filth causes pain or bother, but cannot use beauty products meant for women.
We see from here that men and women should have differing standards of beauty. The rugged masculine look is a classic for men. Women should invest more time and energy on their appearance.
Tosafot (a group of European commentators on the Gemara, in comment DH bishvil tzaaro) point out that even according to the more restrictive opinion, if a man would have embarrassment around others then he should wash with whatever products are needed so he will not be embarrassed. The logic is that there is no worse pain than embarrassment. Embarrassing another man is compared to shedding his blood, Talmud Bava Metzia 59. Therefore, if a man needs to simply look (and smell) normal and fit in with society, he should use facial cleanser and whatever products are needed so that he won’t be embarrassed by his appearance.
The less restrictive group of rabbis explain the need to look good is based on the concept of Proverbs 16:4, loosely translated as “God has made everything ultimately for His own sake”. The understanding is that when a man of God makes himself look good, this brings more glory to God. So even beauty products were in a sense made for God’s glory. We have discussed how Jewish women beautified themselves and used sexual attraction to save the Jewish people.
The practical lesson here is it is okay to use product to look good, and even if you rock the classic rugged look at least don’t be embarrassed compared to other men. [Also, you need to lift.]
This week we are privileged to study two sections in the Torah, Tazria and Metzora, Leviticus 12:1–15:33. Much of this section discusses the rules of “Tzaraat”, a spiritual ailment with physical symptoms often mistranslated as leprosy.
This was not the disease we call leprosy, but a divine sign of a personal problem that needed spiritual correction. Tzaraat was manifest as white patches on the skin, or colored patches on garments or walls of a house. This is why it is sometimes identified as leprosy.
Tazria starts with the topic of pregnancy and birth. After a male child is born, on the eighth day, the parents circumcise the boy (Lev 12:3). This is called “Brit Milah”, or Brit meaning covenant, “Bris” in European pronunciation. Until very recently circumcision was nearly universal among all Americans, and it still is among Jews and Muslims.
In this generation, circumcision gets a lot of criticism. In earlier generations it was taken for granted that parents will certainly guide their offspring and control health decisions. This is no longer considered self evident. Some of the objections to circumcision of infants are part of a broader argument that each human should make their own choice about their physical body. More about that later…
One of the reasons for circumcision (thought God has His own reasons of course) is to teach us that men are incomplete at birth. Each man must become something. Yes, our body is designed by God, but God wants us to do more than just be a body. Entering into the covenant signifies that a boy, the future man, is imperfect and must always work on himself to be better than what he is now.
In addition, a critical area of a man’s self actualization is to become the master over his innate sexual urges. A man’s libido has incredible power and can get him into a lot of trouble. A man who wants to get access to sex can give up a lot of critical things: his time, attention, money, even his freedom. He can end up offering his very life as a human sacrifice on the altar of a woman he idolized in his own mind as a sex goddess.
Jewish culture does not teach that sex is bad, evil or sinful. But we acknowledge that it is a very powerful tool. That power can cause damage and ruin lives if misused.
This may sound extreme, but you probably already know that the act of sexual intimacy causes a release of hormones including endorphins that change the way a man thinks about this woman. This is how God designed us, to feel physically that intimacy is a serious and powerful act.
Fulfilling intimate relations is a central need for both men and women and a healthy sex life is absolutely necessary for a healthy relationship. But as the Talmud states, men should not act like roosters, there is a time and place that is appropriate to express your intimate powers… Intimacy has an amazing power, as God intended.
In Judaism our holy men do not remain celibate but join with their wives and God to create new generations. Even where conception is impossible (the wife is pregnant or older), there is a religious requirement to connect intimately with your wife, because this is necessary for a normal healthy relationship.
Your sexual energy is a tool to be used to maximize your life, but it can also become an addiction or a blindfold to reality.
The circumcision is a sign that you are master over this body part, a reminder to think with the larger and more intelligent head of you body. A man who is able to rule over himself and his desires will not easily be led astray by temptation.
“A woman, when she becomes pregnant…” Leviticus 12:2
There are no extra words or phrases in the Bible. So why does the Bible add a “when”? The language “when” seems to assume that a normal, typical woman will eventually become pregnant.
The translation into Aramaic of the word pregnant is Te’adi, from the root Adah. The first time this word is used is Genesis 4:19: וַיִּֽקַּֽח־ל֥וֹ לֶ֖מֶךְ שְׁתֵּ֣י נָשִׁ֑ים שֵׁ֤ם הָֽאַחַת֙ עָדָ֔ה וְשֵׁ֥ם הַשֵּׁנִ֖ית צִלָּֽה׃ “Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other was Tzillah.”
Adah and Tzilah, the first co-wives. Rashi explains (based on our ancient sources) that the custom of this generation was to have two wives, one for reproduction and another for cohabitation who would try not get pregnant.
Naturally, names in the Bible have significance. In conventional Jewish culture, the name given to a baby contains an element of prophecy about the destiny of the child. For a boy, the name is giving immediately after circumcision. The boy starts his long journey towards manhood and self control with a prophetic gift of his name.
Here understanding the wives’ names yields an amazing lesson, Tzillah, the wife Lamech kept for sex, is related to the word “Tzel”, shade. She was always in her husband’s shadow, close to him and ready to fulfill his desire , per our ancient sages in the Medrash Rabbah.
Adah is related to the Aramaic word “surah”, meaning aloof or separate (per Rashi). However, Adah is also cognate to Hebrew words Adeh and Adaim – Jewels or decorations. Meaning a woman who becomes pregnant is now adorned, as if bedecked with jewels. She feels greatness, that she had reached her goal in life – to become a mother. There is separation and envy from other women who are not pregnant, but God is giving the expectant mother herself a feeling of incredible fulfilment.
God puts into her a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction, a spiritual adornment. She is also separate and aloof, from her life before the pregnancy, which was a lower level of existence. Of course, the proximate cause of her feelings is pregnancy hormones; remember that God designed our hormones. Adah was bejeweled by pregnancy, since she realized it was her destiny and her way of achieving immortality.
I have no idea what the wives are up to, but Lamech had flippers on in case the flood came early
But then Tzillah, the wife supposed to remain unsullied by pregnancy, also had children.
Gen 4:22 implies that Tzillah only became pregnant after Adah had her sons. After she saw her rival wife become pregnant and the attentions of her husband changing to his pregnant wife and young sons. You can imagine how Tzillah felt about that. I suggest that this is the first recording instance in history of a woman who “forgot to take her pill“. They did have rudimentary forms of conception in ancient times, our Talmud documents certain methods used 2000 years ago, and lists certain foods and medicines that reduce or enhance fertility.
I suspect that Tzillah saw Adah fulfilling her life goal of becoming pregnant, having and raising children, and getting incredible joy from her children along with more attention from Lamech. Tzillah realized that no matter how beautiful she was now, eventually she would age and be less valuable to her husband as a sex object. But if she gave him children, she would be giving him a connection to eternity, and he would be grateful. She was not merely in her husband’s shadow, she felt that without children she was in Adah’s shadow.
Now, whatever ancient birth control they were using must have been fairly effective, or they would not have been able to designate one wife for sex with an expectation she would not typically become pregnant. Rashi states: “she was given a cup of some medicine to drink” – the first oral contraceptive. However, as with today it was not foolproof or woman-proof. Tzillah was able to do something to neutralize the birth control drug and become pregnant.
Under the circumstances, who could blame her? Her desire for children was the desire to create something that would outlast her lifetime, to join with God in creating and sustaining the world. Responding to her holy intent, God gave her children, both a boy and a girl: Tubal-Kain and Naamah. Tubal-Kaim was the world’s first coppersmith, inventing new tools and technology for mankind. Her daughter Naamah became the wife of Noah making Tzillah ancestress to the entire world.
The Bible shows us that a woman who did not expect to get pregnant and bear children ultimately wanted that role. We also discussed our Matriarch Sarah’s intense desire for a child, and also Hannah, the mother of Samuel the prophet. Hannah herself was in a polygynous marriage, along with a co-wife Penina (Samuel 1 chapter 1).
When Hannah was upset about not having children, her husband points out that he prioritizes Hannah over Penina and her children. This was not enough for Hannah, she became obsessed with having and raising a child. Hannah’s intense prayer for children is the considered the archetype for heartfelt Jewish prayer. We discussed the power of a mother’s love:
Hannah and Sarah held as examples of faith despite barrenness and dedication to their children. We see they were emotionally fixated on becoming pregnant, raising then protecting their children, to the point that for Hannah, her rational faculties were used to argue with Heaven to give her Shmuel…
The take away for modern times is if a woman is emotionally invested in her offspring (and most are), that is a permanent feature embedded deep in her psyche. I’m not telling men not to get involved with a single mother. There could be a tiny chance that it would not be a horrible idea.
Just don’t ever expect her to put you before her children. You will never be first in her world. Her investment in her offspring is paramount. There are always exceptions… but if a woman is ready to dump her own offspring for a new man, her own emotional attachment system is likely damaged, and what are you doing with her?
The innate life mission of normal women is to become pregnant and to mother her children. Using her God-given ability and talent to birth and raise a new generation of human beings gives women the feeling they are alive, eternal, and contributing to humanity. We see this by what Rachel told Jacob “give me children or I am as good as dead” (Gen 30:1).
Oppressed women
Modern society features pervasive indoctrination aimed at women to convince them that really their life mission is to get an education, a job, a nice house, nice clothing, makeup, wine, vacations… Women are pushed into careers or spending their time on ‘social justice’ or outrage theater. Advertising, feminism, and modern selfish me culture all nudge girls and women to put material ‘success’ before family. They are told they will find greatness as a “Strong Independent Woman” (TM).
These messages prey on women’s strong desire to feel fulfillment and accomplishment, and hijack that desire, telling women they will get personal satisfaction through career and consumption. Women are being emotionally manipulated to devalue family life, and taught that they will find fulfillment by becoming cogs in corporate machines.
Women are also pushed to join a cause (typically feminism) with a promise they will get an identity and fulfillment through this cause. Again, this group takes the place that a family traditionally had a source of feminine pride and accomplishment.
There are many reasons for this pervasive social engineering which manipulates women and cages them into chasing a career instead of a life. Single women spend more money, are more likely to want to follow the latest fads in style, vacations, conspicuous consumption. Single women are more likely to vote for a certain political party, married women with children are more likely to vote for the other party. One could argue that without a family to think of and save money for, single women are easier to manipulate into buying whatever product or cause you are selling.
Feminists push women to ‘prove themselves’ equal or superior to men in the work force. So manipulation on a massive scale is used by powerful interests who want women to remain single as long as possible. By manipulating emotions, they trick women into thinking they will find joy and satisfaction through career and consumption. They don’t want women to think that building a family is in their best interest. That would not be in their interest of controlling women and the narrative.
One of the amazing things you only can notice from the outside is that this manipulation is so pervasive and effective that it drives generations of women to follow a feminist script. A young woman will tell you that each (female) human should be entitled to make her own choice about her body. At the same time she has practically zero control over her own mind.
She is not even aware of the propaganda she has been digesting since her first Disney movie that is now guiding her values and life choices away from her own biology and happiness and towards someone else’s corporate profits and political goals. She is under tremendous subconscious emotional pressure to pursue self destructive feminist plans instead of her own long term personal fulfillment. I recommend readers of any gender peruse Rollo’s An Essay for Women [warning to Orthodox Jews, adult content and nibul peh on that site].
The truth that is purposefully obscured is that no one can have it all, even women. Feminist culture tells women they can have an amazing career first then a suitable man will simply be available for her to start a family “when she is ready”. The unspoken meaning is “before her biological clock runs out”.
But in real life, often this is a fantasy. I have seen, and I am sure you have if you work in an office, many a career woman in her mid 30s desperate to lock down a man. A man who is just as successful in business as her, if not more. And if she does, then she is desperate to get pregnant, before her clock runs out.
And we also see the women who don’t lock down a man. They get a cat and become a cat lady. Sadly, not like this one:
Catwoman, not Cat Lady
The biological reality is that, women do want children, family, stability. The tragic element here is that society is so effective at brainwashing girls and young women that in contemporary mainstream America many women do not realize they actually want a family more than a career until they are in their 30s. For many women, they don’t realize they were manipulated until their internal biological reality rears it’s head. By then it may be too late for her to join Adah and Tzillah among the ranks of the eternal mothers of mankind.
Mothers and bad boys
An interesting side effect of this whole business is that young women, without any children to nurture, are attracted to mean known as “bad boys“. Young children, especially boys, are naturally selfish, unpredictable, unreliable, and fun. God gave to women a special ability to tolerate these aspects of male personality and be nurturing and forgiving. God put an innate desire into women to want to work with these traits to mold rowdy children into functioning adults. Women love a project, they want to feel needed, and who could need them more than children?
But without any actual children, a young woman can only use this special talent to nurture adult “bad boys” who have never fully grown up and retain their childish traits. So she feels attracted to the “bad boy” types, both sexually and on a deeper level. This is because her relationship with such a man allows her not only fun and thrills, but an outlet to express her mothering instinct. That is why she is so forgiving and nurturing especially to a “bad boy” who other men would say is no good for her.
This is my theory; I would be curious if there is any relevant data out there. Perhaps women without their own children who teach in an all boy preschool are less inclined to be attracted to a bad boy type as a mate. They get enough outlet for that type of interaction at work.
The message for men
The Bible reminds us that women, normal healthy women, naturally want to become pregnant and raise children. Modern society is trying to hide this reality from women, and push them into career and consumption, and manipulate them to feel that being a cog in the narrative will be emotionally fulfilling. Many women never realize they are being used to further the political and profit goals of others, or only realize too late, when biology tears through the layers of feminist propaganda.
Men also cannot have it all, a man devoting time and energy to career or business has less energy for independent self development, exercise, learning, and family. We all make trade offs and sacrifices in life. But a man can become a father much later in life, so putting off family for financial stability or advanced education is biologically sensible.
For men, realize this innate difference. Be cognizant that you can afford to wait while you work on yourself, but she cannot. If you are a valuable man, be aware that women in their 30s will be trying to lock you down, aware that their time is running short.
She may want a baby, due to her age and situation. You may assume that this may help your relationship. Unless she really wants your baby, chances are it will not. This knowledge can help you to make the best choices for your personal life and your family.
Greater is learning Wisdom than the priesthood and than royalty, for royalty is acquired by thirty stages, and the priesthood by twenty-four, but Wisdom by forty-eight tools :
Tool #16: בְּמִעוּט סְחוֹרָה with proper involvement in business
The first word implies a reduction, saying that a man should try to reduce the time and effort he spends on simply earning his livelihood. Freeing resources from your business and investing in yourself for a change. The Mishnah means that you can be more efficient in your business and use the gains in other areas of your life.
However, to have a reduction first you need to be involved in business. In conventional Judaism, the assumption was that a man, after his basic education and marriage, was involved in business and earning his own keep. The Talmud brings stories of great sages who were working as Blacksmith, Tanner, or Roofer. A man needs to be able to make a living, but he must realize that there is more to him than his job.
A man can easily become a workaholic. There are bills to pay and mouths to feed. Income tends to rise with expenses (and then expenses rise with income). Escape this trap. Figure out what you really need to be comfortable – not just get by. Then set out to make that much money. You may be able to earn more working overtime or adding another side hustle. But you have to invest more time and energy. What other things can you accomplish with that time and energy?
Our sages use business as a model for making your life efficient and well managed. What if you woke up every morning and had to look for your shoes, which you had put somewhere the night before? How much time would be wasted every single morning trying to remember or hunt down where your shoes were? If you have a system, you already know. You don’t waste time. Just as a big business needs an efficient filing system to organize the business and financial data, you need to be organized.
You need to treat your life as a business, become organized and efficient. A successful business does not waste time and resources on dead ends, that will ruin the corporation. If a component is losing money and cannot be salvaged, it gets liquidated. You need to be ruthless, if a relationship is not paying dividends, you end it. You don’t keep pouring your time, money, and emotional resources down a hole. If a hobby is just sucking time without any payoffs, get a new hobby. Don’t keep doing what you have been doing out of habit or nostalgia, if it is not paying off for you change your personal line of business.
Businesses also take risks to obtain gains. Untapped markets are untapped for a reason. There is a risk. Don’t get stuck on the emotional level of avoiding danger. Use your intellect, weigh the options, and make a rational choice. This is what successful businesses do to grow and profit. Take reasonable risks that can bring you gains, not stupid risks based on emotion.
At the end of the day, you are responsible for you. You are the CEO and manager of the most important business – yourself.
Fantastic true story in today’s page of Talmud. At one point during the Roman occupation and domination of Israel, the Romans banned the Jews from donning their Tefillin (aka phylacteries, ritual boxes with verses from the Bible inside). The Gemara brings the story of one rebel who defied the Romans:
And why did they call “Elisha Man of Wings”? Because on one occasion the evil kingdom of Rome issued a decree against Israel that, they would pierce the brain of anyone who dons phylacteries. Nevertheless, Elisha would don them and defiantly go out to the marketplace. One day, a Roman officer saw him; Elisha ran away from him, and the Roman ran after him. When the Roman was reaching him, Elisha quickly removed the phylacteries from his head and held them in his hand. The officer asked him: What is that in your hand? Elisha said to him: It is just a dove’s wings. A miracle was performed: He opened his hand, and, indeed, it was found to be a dove’s wings. Therefore, in commemoration of this miracle, they would call him Elisha, Man of Wings.
And what is different about doves’ wings from those of other birds that led Elisha to say that he had doves’ wings in his hand? The Gemara answers: Because the congregation of Israel is likened to a dove, as it is stated: “You shall shine as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her pinions with yellow gold” (Psalms 68:14). Just as this dove, only its wings protect it and it has no other means of protection, so too the Jewish people, only mitzvot protect them.
[Tosafot has discussion about the legal propriety of Elisha risking his life to uphold the command of Tefillin]
Our sages note that the Jewish people is compared to a peaceful dove. Rashi, a major French commenter from about 1000 years ago, explains that the dove protects itself with wings and also hits other animals with the wings when threatened.
Yes, the Dove is the symbol of peace…and it does hit when needed.
Likewise, a modern mad needs to be a man of peace, in the sense that he is unshaken by criticism and insults. Don’t let people get to you and knock you off kilter. Don’t lose your frame under pressure. But if truly needed due to an actual threat, you must be able to protect yourself with aggression.
Judaism is a culture/religion/nationality that is known for being into food. We love good food. So what is a Jew to do on the Sabbath, when it is forbidden to cook?
The Talmud has discussed the parameters of leaving food on a hot stovetop, not to cook but to keep hot.
Now we discuss insulating food to keep it warm. Our sages allow insulated in materials that do not add external heat. As with many seemingly dry legal rulings in the Talmud, this contains a hint of deeper psychological wisdom.
Insulation is anything that helps you cope with the outside world. For some men it can be alcohol or video games, or comfortable patterns of behavior and repeated conversation. Exercise, hobbies. Anything to calm your emotional fire and get back to equilibrium.
We all need healthy coping mechanisms. Our sages reveal that when you are trying to obtain a rested state of mind (a mental Sabbath) or to be deliberate in your decisions, you want to avoid those forms of insulation that “add heat”. That means any activities that change your mindset or emotional state. You may need to remove yourself from your day to day life and get into a different space to make an important decision. But if you are using a favorite game or whiskey to do that, it will change your state of mind. You won’t be making a clear, focused decision that come from your essence, because the method of insulation you are using affects your thought process. Getting wrapped up in your personal insulation also can delay thinking about how to change your life or making vital decisions. Be aware of how your coping mechanisms alter your mood and mind so you can make decisions with clarity.
Greater is learning Wisdom than the priesthood and than royalty, for royalty is acquired by thirty stages, and the priesthood by twenty-four, but Wisdom by forty-eight tools :
Tool #15: בַּמִּשְׁנָה with the Oral law
The Hebrew “Mishneh” means taught, repeated or second. The written Bible is the first Torah, but it is incomplete without the background information and explanation. We made an Introduction to the Written and Oral Torah:
Deut. 12:21 “If the place the Lord, your God, chooses to put His Name there, will be distant from you, you may slaughter of your cattle and of your sheep, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat in your cities, according to every desire of your soul”As I have commanded you? The written Torah doesn’t explain how to slaughter animals. This was commanded by God to Moses who taught the Jewish people (Talmud Yoma 75b). It was part of the Oral Law, which explains how to implement the written Law.
Example: Leviticus 23:40 commands Jews on the holiday of Sukkot to take a pri eitz hadar, “fruit of a splendid tree.” The Torah does not identify this fruit, we know from tradition all the way back to Moses this is an Etrog fruit (Talmud Succah 35a).
The written Torah is like the skeleton and the Oral Torah is the flesh, muscles and organs.
Another metaphor I heard that Americans should understand was that the written Bible is like the Constitution, with the major themes and outlines of government. The Oral Law is the actual laws, statues, and regulations that describe the day to day function of the country. The Oral Bible started as Moses repeated the Law to the Jewish people before he died. This was actually written down as the book of Deuteronomy. This is why Deuteronomy has a different style from the first four books of Moses. For thousands of years the Oral Law was not written, but committed to memory and passed down from Rabbi to students for generations. Mishnah means repeated, the students would repeat the law and commit it to memory.
After the destruction of the Temple and the Roman persecutions, many Jews were scattered and what was common knowledge was in danger of being lost. The Rabbis decided to allow writing down the Mishnah to preserve conventional Judaism in these dark times. Still, the background and explanations of the Mishnah were oral. Generations later, the sages decided to allow writing this information as well, which is the Talmud or Gemara the conventional Jews learn to this day. We still study information that was taught orally by Moses to the Jewish people, and passed down orally for thousands of years. We live with these laws on a daily basis.
For modern men there is a powerful lesson. You will learn wisdom in your life, from your own experience and from other men. If you start to recognize the wisdom you gain, repeat the lessons, and live with them, then you will gain a tremendous advantage.
Start by realizing that you are wise. Write down 10 significant things you have learned about life. Review your list, put it in order of priority. Then memorize it, live with it, and use it in life. When you see the improvement, find more wisdom. Look for opportunities to learn not just from your own life, but from older and wiser men. From their successes and failures. Build on their life and add your own insights.
Greater is learning Wisdom than the priesthood and than royalty, for royalty is acquired by thirty stages, and the priesthood by twenty-four, but Wisdom by forty-eight tools :
The Bible is the best selling book of all time. Not only that, but much of modern western civilization is based on Biblical concepts. Equality under the law, inalienable human rights, love thy neighbor… A lot of ideas we take for granted in civilized society are right out of the Bible. There was actually an intense interest in the Hebrew Bible, especially the idea of God-given rights and freedom, 250 years ago when the United States was getting started. In fact, some of the founding fathers including Benjamin Franklin proposed making the official language Hebrew. The “shining city on a hill” and “a light to the nations” idea of American exceptionalism is right out of the Bible. The USA (originally) drew a lot of inspiration from the ancient Hebrew Bible. Some of these ideas still guide our modern society.
The importance of reading and literacy among the Jewish people cannot be overstated. The written Bible, the five books of Moses, was the original Book. Practically every Jewish man was taught to read and had personal access to the wisdom of the Book. This was thousands of years ago, when among most cultures only the highest elites could read and write. We see in ancient rabbinical sources that even Jewish women could read and were familiar with the Bible, Psalms, etc. This was at a time when almost every non-Jewish man in the world could not read. Universal literacy is a Jewish innovation. Among the mainstream Christian culture most men were illiterate until as recently as about 500 years ago. It was the publication of the Gutenberg bible in vernacular that gave men the impetus to learn how to read, so they could access the Bible. Wanting to read the Book for themselves was the cause of literacy in European culture. It also meant men did not have to rely on the priests’ interpretation of the Bible. This was also the cause of the protestant reformation and the rise of modern European nations. You see, the Book also spurred the start of modern education, culture, and political entities. Without reading the Bible as a cause, would Europeans have bothered with literacy and education? The Jews have had a 3000 year head start on individuals reading and trying to understand the Bible.
My Rabbi gave us a comparison to help understand how conventional Jews look at the Bible: Imagine that mankind received a message from outer space. It would be amazing! Everyone would stop what they were doing. We would see utmost excitement in getting a message – it would mean there is another intelligence in the universe, intelligence that is communicating with us! Amazing!
Mankind would be in suspense as our best and brightest worked around the clock to translate and interpret the intergalactic communique. The message was cryptic but with intense study it could be deciphered, with many levels of meaning in each sentence, and deep concepts buried inside. Not only that, but the aliens sent along a key to help us understand the meaning of their communication. This allowed regular men, not just astrophysicists and comparative linguists, to start to decipher and understand the alien text. Any man could sit down with the alien message, and if he would put the intellectual effort, he could start to understand what the aliens were saying. You can imagine that a lot of men would put in a lot of time on this communication, and that people would come together and debate what it means, and try to reach a deeper comprehension of the intergalactic message. After all, it was a message from beyond our world! Mankind would see a massive unity of purpose as across the globe we tried to understand the ideas and themes in the alien message, and try to learn about the aliens themselves.
You see, the Bible, our Torah, is the message from across the cosmos. It is a communication that has both obvious and cryptic levels of understanding. God intended for us to work on understanding the Bible, and to decipher and apply it to our everyday lives. Since it emanates from the highest intelligence, it is of the highest importance. And it is meant specifically for us, as advice and instructions to help us live better lives. You understand why conventional Jews spend so much time on the Bible, why 96 year old Rabbis still read the same text as 6 year old boys.
Now, compared to mainstream secular Americans, I am a religious fanatic. So I understand if you don’t want to believe that the Bible is a Divine text, or divinely inspired. You might think that thousands of years as the Jews stood at the sea, a comet happened to rush over at the perfect moment to split the sea and let the Jews through, then as the comet left and the sea returned onto the Egyptians. Okay. [It would be impossible to say that such a thing never happened, because Jews are a stubborn people. If Moses or Ezra simply made up the Bible, then the other Jews would never have accepted it, since their grandparents told them something different. Jews are famously argumentative and exacting, and would have totally rejected a made up book that went against their shared oral history].
You can completely reject the Divine origin and still gain from the Bible. If you think the Bible was written by men, then it reflects the rules, goals, and ideas of men from thousands of years ago. These men were patriarchal, had traditional gender roles, enforced rules and standards of justice. Their society lasted for millennia on these basic pillars that modern society seems to despite. So the book they wrote to capture their ideals would be priceless for any man who wants to know how to succeed as a patriarch and utilize traditional gender roles in his relationships. Compared to modern society, the men in the Bible lived very different lives. But the concepts they teach are totally valid today: men are men and women are women. People need to respect each other’s (God given) rights and boundaries. Men ought to help their brothers, fight against evil, and try to improve themselves.
Even if you don’t accept any divine inspiration, the Bible is still the ultimate source book for masculinity and patriarchy.
If you are Jewish, the our Bible is not just good advice, it is the history of your people, your ancestors. It is your spiritual history and your future. It is never too late to begin learning. Our famous Rabbi Akiva was illiterate until age 40 (and among Jews literacy was almost universal). He had to go to kindergarten with 5 year olds to learn the ABCs. Ultimately, he became the greatest leader in his generation, and the conduit through which the oral Torah was passed. On a practical level, learning Torah as an adult keeps your mind fresh. Conventional Jews read the five books of Moses every year, and review the weekly Bible reading three times (with translations and explanations). This continual review lets us delve deeper into the meaning and messages hidden in the text. There is an endless deep sea of wisdom available, dive in.
I do recommend (even if you are not Jewish) to learn Hebrew. The Bible is totally different in the original language. There are more internal connections and layers of understanding that are totally lost in the translation. Many of the translations were made with an outside agenda, to bend the text to support the values of the translators. We discussed the importance of language before in Exodus: Women and assimilation:
Hebrew is a spiritual language. The Eskimo have many words for snow, since snow comes in various forms. They have a word for wet snow, another for powdery snow, for slippery snow etc. So too the Jews have many nuanced words for things like prayer, the human soul, the intellect. Having the words that allow you to discuss in detail these spiritual concepts allows you to understand. If the ancient Jews had jettisoned Hebrew, they would have lost some of our ability to learn and understand key spiritual concepts.
When learning any form of wisdom, you need to learn the “language”, the terms and definitions men use to describe reality. If you haven’t yet learned Hebrew, you can buy an authentic Jewish translation made in line with the original intent, like ArtScroll’s Stone Chumash (Chumash means five as in the five books of Moses).
Learning the Bible can be a deeply spiritual experience, even if it is merely an intellectual curiosity for you, there is an amazing wealth of untapped wisdom inside.
Gentlemen, amazing concept in today’s page of Talmud. We have been pursuing the topic of set aside items that cannot be moved during the Sabbath.
The Gemara teaches that Rabbi Romanus* testified that Rabbi Yehuda the Prince allowed him to move an incense censer with burnt ashes inside, even though ash is useless on Shabbat and normally not moved. Rav Assi (in a later generation) explained that there must have been some unburnt incense in the censer too, which allowed them to move it. Abaye rejects this explanation since a little unburnt incense would have been considered insignificant in the household of Rabbi Yehuda the Prince, who was the richest man in Israel, with wealth on a similar level to the Roman Caesar Antoninus (Antony). Abaye notes that the law is that items fit for poor people are significant for them and can become ritually contaminated, but they are not considered significant for wealthy people.
*This is a unique name in the Talmud and possibly an indication that Rabbi Romanus was a prominent Roman who converted, similar to Onkelus.
The wisdom here is that value is relative. A poor man puts a high value of a few grains of incense. To a rich man it’s just pennies, not worth his time.
This concept is much broader than relative financial value. If you put a high value on yourself, your freedom, and your time, then brother, you don’t waste your time. You don’t let people waste your time. You understand that your time and energy are your most previous asset. You are like a poor man relative to your self worth – your life is very valuable in your own eyes. Contrast this to a man who values access to sex, he is poor relative to it. He will compromise himself, spending a great deal of his time, money, and energy, just to get sex.
Since value is relative and depends on your subjective mindset, carefully consider how you value certain items or experiences in your life. Most importantly evaluate how you value your own time, energy, and freedom.
Red Pill Rabbi 