Myśl Żydowska do Psalmów 47:6

One might suppose at first, that just as in the case of Gideon, when only a few select men were left to go into battle, so the task of the Priests and the police would be to weed out all those that are afraid. In order not to cause embarassment to anyone in the first three categories, they were called out first. In this way, when men were seen returning from the mobilisation centres, they would be presumed to belong to either of the first three categories whose reasons for return were legitimate. Our sages, however, seem to have ruled out this approach by not mentioning it as a possible exegesis. (compare discussion in Talmud Sotah 43 and 44) Even though Rabbi Yossi suggests that the words "afraid and of faint heart," (21,8) refer to fear of being punished for sins committed,- thus vindicating our suggestion,- it would still leave us with the question why in this instance the "fearful ones" are listed last instead of first, as had been the case when Gideon had mobilised his men. Also the question of why the switch between the Priest and the military police addressing the soldiers, would remain. We approach the problem in a different way. Because the Jewish people are the chosen people, they are exposed to Divine guidance in a variety of ways: 1) Those whose conduct is based entirely on loyalty to G'd and His Torah. These people are subject to G'd intervening on their behalf as a matter of routine. 2) Those who are normally loyal to G'd, but who are not of the calibre to merit G'ds intervention on their behalf until after they have done everything to help themselves. In other words, the average Jew. 3) The group of Jews whose past conduct cannot allow them to expect to rely on anything better than their natural mazzal. They have spurned Divine help by their way of life. Therefore, Heaven would neither help nor hinder them. (see detailed discussion in chapter twenty six) Since there would be representatives of all these types amongst the Jewish people reporting for mobilisation, the address of the Priest and the military police takes this fact into consideration. The first proclamation of the Priest is addressed to group number one. The Priest tells that group not to worry; G'd would fight for them. The third proclamation of "who is the man that is afraid," obviously addresses itself to the third group, the ones who have only their physique and marital skills to rely on against any enemy. They are advised to go home as a reminder that they cannot count on Divine intervention on their behalf. The middle group, comprised of the "house builders, newly weds (betrothed) and the planters of orchards," are those whose moral conduct coupled with their own efforts entitles them to put their trust in Divine help. Such people need to be especially careful in their affairs, so that misdemeanours do not provoke the celestial attorney general to prepare a dossier against them. Such a dossier, -as long as it has not been disposed of,-leads to the review of all of their subject's past down to the minutest detail. When G'd had praised Job and his way of life to Satan, the latter remarked that Job's piety was not altruistic. We all know how that story ended. The Talmud Berachot 55, reports that there are three things which provoke G'd into ordering an audit into our affairs. A) Too much prayer. B) Living in a house with a damaged wall. C) Asking that a fellow human being be punished. The common denominator in all these three items is that we ask for more than midah keneged midah, measure for measure. Before such requests can be granted, the credentials of the person making such a request must be beyond reproof. On the other hand, the Talmud Yerushalmi in Bikkurim tells us that there are three categories of people whose sins have been forgiven. A) Anyone who has been chosen for a position of great honour. B) A groom or bride on the wedding day. C) Someone who has recovered from a serious illness. Since all those three groups of people had achieved their ambition/desire, their merit had been recognised by the Heavenly judges. People who have not yet experienced such confirmation that they possessed such merit, need to exercise extreme caution before venturing into obviously dangerous situations. This is why we have these three categories of people who are asked to return home and await confirmation that the undertakings they are engaged in will be crowned with success. After all, they represent the three major undertakings of a person in his life. Once they have received such confirmation of their merit, they can join the battle with confidence. In the first instance, upon coming face to face with numerically superior forces, the point of the war had to be explained. At this point, we note the double entendre that we have mentioned earlier. There is no better time to confront our enemies within than when one readies oneself to deal with enemies without. The enemy within is the human body. Frequently the body's demands are excessive; sometimes the body even wants to enslave the spiritual part of man. Frequently the body is not content to remain the servant at the call of man's spiritual aspirations. Since the building of a new home, establishing a family and planting a vineyard are the primary challenges in our physical life, one needs to come to terms with the relative importance of each of those activities, and assign the material values in life their proper place in the scheme of things. Anyone who has not yet done that, cannot hope to face the day of battle. The "day of battle" is of course, the day of death, the time of the final judgment. He who has not even started on this task, and has therefore reason to fear Heavenly judgment, must certainly address himself to his tasks on earth before he can face the ultimate battle, the one against his own yetzer hara, evil inclination. The Priest in his address in verse three, warns of four distinct frames of minds, although they all appear lumped together. "Let not your heart be faint,- fear not,- do not be alarmed,- do not be frightened." Each one of these four frames of mind, when present, can prevent repentance from becoming a turning point in one's life. These are the impediments for people who though they incline to return to their roots, do not have a firm determination to do so. 1) Man's fear of physical discomfort associated with acts that have an element of self torture by means of which he demonstrates his repentance. 2) The fear that repentance will not be accepted by His Maker; therefore such a person does not bother to undertake what he considers may be a futile effort. 3) Man may embark on his repentance in the wrong order. Instead of first abandoning his sinful way of life, he may merely concentrate on fasting and prayer; these steps, at that point are utterly useless. 4) A person who indulges in physical pleasures may decide that if as a result of his repentance he will forthwith have to forego these pleasures, it is not worth his while to repent and remodel himself. For the above mentioned reasons, the Torah exhorts man by listing all four possibilities. In view of this, the ten days of penitence our sages instituted in preparation for the annual battle on Yom Kippur, assume great significance. In addition, we prepare during the whole month of Ellul to give us a total of forty days preparation. The significance of the number forty in this context, goes back to the forty days Moses had spent on Mount Sinai both on the occasion he received the first set of tablets as well as on the occasion when he was to receive the second set. The forty days were employed in mending our spiritual fences. These had been severely damaged after the sin of the golden calf. The process of substituting one set of tablets for a new set of tablets was begun at Sinai. The concept introduced at that time is one of ongoing validity. Having defiled one set of "tablets" by our collective or individual misconduct, it is our task to substitute new "tablets" that will remain untarnished. The essential thing is that what is written on any subsequent edition be identical with what had been inscribed on the original version. Just as springtime is nature's time for renewal, so Rosh Hashanah is the season of man's renewal. Since after the summer when we have witnessed an abundance of the physical attributes of the universe, we experience a weakening of these physical phenomena, i.e. a weakening of the desires of the flesh, what better time could there be for our spiritual forces to reassert their preponderance in shaping our lives?

Lastly, the "kind deeds" parts of his statement is contained in the very fact that forgiveness and atonement are possible, and are granted by G'd. He who is aware of the inherent weakness of man, has generously made provision for man's rehabilitation. It is not a Jewish characteristic to indulge in wholesale killing, even if great wrongs have been committed. The Torah has to exhort us not to have mercy in such cases as the ir hanidachat, the city whose majority have indulged in idol worship, whose inhabitants have to be executed. The Torah therefore emphasizes that administering the death penalty has as its objective to turn aside G'ds wrath against those who tolerate wrongdoing. This is proof that were it not for this consideration, we might not administer a death penalty at all. Kings who desire the adulation of their subjects, certainly indulge in generosity when sinned against. Even Haman had to keep secret the identity of the people he wished to murder, and not use the word "murder," but "destroy," meaning "neutralise," so as not to offend the sensibilities of the king. Another motivation for generosity is that forestalling the desire for revenge by his subjects, as well as fear to trigger hostile action by those to be killed. He who feels threatened, will try to act in self defense. Ahasverus, who had shown that he craved popularity by throwing lavish banquets, had no choice but to execute Bigtan and Teresh. He executed Haman when he had become aware of the latter's machinations. Heretofore he had put quite a different interpretation on what Haman had meant when the latter had asked permission le-abdam, to destroy them, (compare story in megillat Esther) Being generous and forgiving is therefore seen as a character trait that is conducive to self-preservation. It keeps civilisation going. The King of Kings certainly does not desire mass death of His subjects, but wishes to inspire teshuvah, repentance, through the retribution exacted from the few. G'd, who had first considered creating the universe by using the yardstick of justice, i.e. midat hadin, had reconsidered when He realised that the world would not be able to endure on that basis. This is because no man could be expected never to sin. (Bereshit Rabbah 12) This is why when the Torah relates the story of creation a second time in chapter 2,4, we find that G'd has acquired a new attribute in addition to elokim. He is now also called hashem, "the merciful One." These two attributes of G'd are reflected in the two holy days Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur, i.e. New year's day and Day of Atonement. The former reflects the din, justice aspect of G'ds rule, the other the rachamim, mercy aspect. On the former day everyone is judged according to his "present" state. Even the beynonim, the people whose merits are balanced by their errors, debits, are treated according to the yardstick of justice, since G'd waits until the Day of Atonement to see which way the scales will tip at that time. However, repentance is accepted from all on Yom Kippur, meaning that G'd relaxes the rule of strict justice. This is what is called lifnim mishurat hadin. The hint in scripture confirming that this is so, is found in Psalms 47,6, Elokim arose at the sound of truah, but Hashem at the sound of the shofar. Since the term truah is found in the Torah in connection with Rosh Hashanah, whereas only the term shofar is found in connection with Yom kippur, the hint is reasonably clear. If, as we said before, Samael, i.e Satan, has no control over man on Yom Kippur, as long as man exploits the day properly, it follows that he who ignores the opportunity presented by that day will fall irretrievable victim to Samael. This is the "bribe" that G'd gave to Satan. The attribute of mercy, when ignored, causes utter destruction of the soul for all those who have ignored it. A hint of all this is found in the numerical value of the word "Satan." It adds up to 364, i.e. Satan has control on 364 days of the year, not on the 365th day, the Day of Atonement. (Yuma 19) The last sentence in the Yom Kippur service (16,34) is to remind us that the function of Yom Kippur is not affected by the existence or non existence of the holy Temple and the ability to offer the sacrifices. The need is for penitence brought on through innuy, discomfort. The day alone does not achieve atonement.

G'd agrees with the decisions made by Israel, in contrast to earthly rulers. When an earthly ruler promulgates a law, his parliament cannot revoke it, but the king himself is at liberty to cancel his decree. Not so with G'd. He accomodates Himself to the laws enacted by the Sanhedrin. For instance, if the Sanhedrin decides to proclaim New Year's day on a certain day, G'd assembles His Court to arrange to sit in judgment of mankind on that day. "G'd arose when there is blowing of the teruah,"(shofar). (Psalms 47,6) The Torah says "it will be a day of teruah for Me." (Numbers 29,1) It also says "These are the appointed times for G'd, which you will proclaim." (Leviticus 23,2) This means that Israel is the final arbiter concerning the dates of these holydays. "These," implies that "I, G'd have no other holydays but these." The concept expressed in the above Midrash is extremely puzzling. Both solar and lunar orbits determine anniversaries, i.e. new years, new moons etc. as is well known from antiquity; it therefore seems quite irrelevant whether or not the Sanhedrin gives its sanction to the dates on which these anniversaries occur. The Talmud Rosh Hashanah 25, interpreting the word otam, them as attem, you, as the basis for the authority of the Sanhedrin to make such halachic rulings, is even stranger. Moreover, the Talmud broadens the authority of the Sanhedrin to include both wilful and erroneous decisions to change the apparent calendar dates for either the holydays or new moons. Surely, G'd does not have to adjust His conduct to human error, and even less so to human caprice! Furthermore, what can be the meaning of G'd saying "I have no holydays but these?" Is time in Heaven measured then in a similar manner to the way we measure time on earth?