כָּל־גּוֹיִ֥ם סְבָב֑וּנִי בְּשֵׁ֥ם יְ֝הוָ֗ה כִּ֣י אֲמִילַֽם׃
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Kedushat Levi
Genesis 40,10. “and there were three branches on the vine.” According to one (Rabbi Eleazar hamodai) of numerous allegorical explanations in Chulin 92, the vine is symbolic of Jerusalem; whereas the three branches are symbolic of the Temple, the King, and the High Priest, respectively. The words: והיא כפורחת עלתה נצה הבשילו אשכלתיה ענבים, usually translated as: “it had barely blossomed when out of it came its blossoms and its clusters ripened into grapes,” is understood allegorically by the Talmud. The reference is to the young priests who will mature and offer libations in the Temple. In order to explain this somewhat far fetched allegory, although the one preferred by the Talmud, our author quotes Yuma 29 where the rhetorical question of why Queen Esther has been compared to an אילה, a gazelle, hind, the Talmud defining the gazelle in psalms 22,1 as אילת השחר, Queen Esther as being like a gazelle in the morning, i.e. at the end of the night, sees in Esther and her experiences the last chapter belonging to the period of history described in the Bible. No overt miracles in Jewish history have been reported in the Bible subsequent to her period.
What did the Talmud have in mind when suggesting that after Mordechai and Esther, [in whose time these ”miracles,” were already not overt, Ed.] no more miracles occurred?
We must distinguish between two kinds of wars. Usually, when we speak of “war,” we refer to an armed confrontation between warring nations.
The second type of “war,” is one that originated in G’d subjecting the Jewish people to attacks by external enemies, in order to strengthen their faith in Him when He would save them from a fate which they were powerless to escape by any other means. Psalms 91,2 refers to the psalmist acknowledging such miraculous escapes of the Jewish people. It is remarkable that the psalmist, in referring to his trust in the Lord, does so in the future tense, i.e. אלוקי אבטח בו, “my G’d in Whom I will put my trust,” instead of, as we would have expected, “in Whom I have put my trust.” The psalmist acknowledges that he now understands the purpose of the “war” that had befallen his people as having been a test, teaching the Jewish people to put their trust only in the Lord. The same theme is found in psalms 118,10 כל גויים סבבוני בשם ה' כי אמילם, “all nations have surrounded me; by the name of the Lord I will surely cut them down.” The psalmist does not predict what he is about to do, but refers to what G’d had in mind by allowing His people to face such impossible odds, i.e. to strengthen their faith when they will be saved by Him. The psalmist makes it even plainer In verse 21 of the same psalm, when the words אודך כי עניתני ותהי לי לישועה, must be understood as: “I will express my thanks to You for having afflicted me so that You could demonstrate how You will be my salvation.”
When G’d “rescues” the Jewish people, this occurs in either of two ways. The most easily recognizable way are overt miracles in which His mastery over nature is demonstrated by His breaking all the “rules” that scientists have taught us are inviolate. The best known examples of this are the 10 plagues G’d visited upon the Egyptians, crowned by the splitting of the sea of reeds in which the Egyptian army drowned to a man, while the Israelites crossed the bottom of that sea safely. Although in the song of thanks by the Jewish people after the drowning of the Egyptians the text is full of G’d being lauded for His performing “wonders,” (Exodus 15,11) what are “wonders” performed by G’d in our eyes, are, of course, nothing extraordinary when viewed from His vantage point, seeing that He had made the rules, He is certainly able to suspend them when it suits Him. The Jewish people praised Him not so much for what He had done, but for having found the Jewish people worthy to be saved by such spectacular means, involving the undoing of what G’d had done during the six days of creation.
What did the Talmud have in mind when suggesting that after Mordechai and Esther, [in whose time these ”miracles,” were already not overt, Ed.] no more miracles occurred?
We must distinguish between two kinds of wars. Usually, when we speak of “war,” we refer to an armed confrontation between warring nations.
The second type of “war,” is one that originated in G’d subjecting the Jewish people to attacks by external enemies, in order to strengthen their faith in Him when He would save them from a fate which they were powerless to escape by any other means. Psalms 91,2 refers to the psalmist acknowledging such miraculous escapes of the Jewish people. It is remarkable that the psalmist, in referring to his trust in the Lord, does so in the future tense, i.e. אלוקי אבטח בו, “my G’d in Whom I will put my trust,” instead of, as we would have expected, “in Whom I have put my trust.” The psalmist acknowledges that he now understands the purpose of the “war” that had befallen his people as having been a test, teaching the Jewish people to put their trust only in the Lord. The same theme is found in psalms 118,10 כל גויים סבבוני בשם ה' כי אמילם, “all nations have surrounded me; by the name of the Lord I will surely cut them down.” The psalmist does not predict what he is about to do, but refers to what G’d had in mind by allowing His people to face such impossible odds, i.e. to strengthen their faith when they will be saved by Him. The psalmist makes it even plainer In verse 21 of the same psalm, when the words אודך כי עניתני ותהי לי לישועה, must be understood as: “I will express my thanks to You for having afflicted me so that You could demonstrate how You will be my salvation.”
When G’d “rescues” the Jewish people, this occurs in either of two ways. The most easily recognizable way are overt miracles in which His mastery over nature is demonstrated by His breaking all the “rules” that scientists have taught us are inviolate. The best known examples of this are the 10 plagues G’d visited upon the Egyptians, crowned by the splitting of the sea of reeds in which the Egyptian army drowned to a man, while the Israelites crossed the bottom of that sea safely. Although in the song of thanks by the Jewish people after the drowning of the Egyptians the text is full of G’d being lauded for His performing “wonders,” (Exodus 15,11) what are “wonders” performed by G’d in our eyes, are, of course, nothing extraordinary when viewed from His vantage point, seeing that He had made the rules, He is certainly able to suspend them when it suits Him. The Jewish people praised Him not so much for what He had done, but for having found the Jewish people worthy to be saved by such spectacular means, involving the undoing of what G’d had done during the six days of creation.
Kedushat Levi
When David in psalms 118,11, part of the hallel hamitzri, repeats the words סבוני גם סבבוני בשם ה' “they beset me, they surround me; by the name of Hashem I will surely cut them down;” the word: גם, “also,” seems problematic. According to what we have just explained, David’s wording is quite easily understood. When David (verse 10) first spoke about all the nations surrounding him being his mortal enemies, he dismissed this threat more or less, as it was only an external threat; his own personality not having succumbed to fear. At that point he had been certain that G’d would take care of him as he had considered himself a loyal servant of the Lord. This is why he had added the words: בשם ה', “by the name of the Lord;” he had considered himself as having served the Lord with a mature intellect. Upon reflecting further, he had realized that he had not always served the Lord on such a lofty level, but from time to time had had a relapse to a lower intellectual level, that of מוחין דקטנות. On such occasions he had experienced “real” fear. This is what he had in mind when he repeated the words סבוני גם סבבוני, i.e. he had really filled encircled, not knowing how to escape the fate that appeared to threaten him. If, as we see from the lines following this, G’d had miraculously extricated him from all the dangers threatening him, he realised that he had every reason to be especially grateful for an escape that he may not have merited due to his own accumulated merits.
The considerations just described may have provided the background to a custom mentioned in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 430 that the Sabbath preceding the Passover festival is called שבת הגדול, “the great Sabbath,” in commemoration of the great miracle that occurred during the four days between when the Israelites set aside the paschal lamb in preparation of slaughtering it on the 14th of the month, as per the Torah’s instructions in Exodus 12,6. They had been instructed to keep watch over each person’s lamb to be sure that it was not physically blemished, but even more so to demonstrate their faith in G’d that although slaughtering a lamb which was a deity for the Egyptians and therefore a provocation of their “masters,” they were not deterred by the physical danger they were exposing themselves to by doing this. Each Jewish household tied their respective lamb to their beds, daring the Egyptians to do something about this after they had told the Egyptians who enquired about the meaning of this that this lamb would be slaughtered at the command of the Jewish G’d on the evening of the 14th of the month. In the event the Egyptians gnashed their teeth but did not dare to take any countermeasures.
The considerations just described may have provided the background to a custom mentioned in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 430 that the Sabbath preceding the Passover festival is called שבת הגדול, “the great Sabbath,” in commemoration of the great miracle that occurred during the four days between when the Israelites set aside the paschal lamb in preparation of slaughtering it on the 14th of the month, as per the Torah’s instructions in Exodus 12,6. They had been instructed to keep watch over each person’s lamb to be sure that it was not physically blemished, but even more so to demonstrate their faith in G’d that although slaughtering a lamb which was a deity for the Egyptians and therefore a provocation of their “masters,” they were not deterred by the physical danger they were exposing themselves to by doing this. Each Jewish household tied their respective lamb to their beds, daring the Egyptians to do something about this after they had told the Egyptians who enquired about the meaning of this that this lamb would be slaughtered at the command of the Jewish G’d on the evening of the 14th of the month. In the event the Egyptians gnashed their teeth but did not dare to take any countermeasures.