Sunday, April 15, 2018
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Chad Gadya: An Interpretation
Chad
Gadya: An Interpretation
by Rabbi
Tzvi Abraham, of Adas Yeshurun, Beit Shemesh
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Chad gadya. Chad gadya.
That Abba bought for two zuzim, Chad
gadya. Chad gadya.
Then came a cat and ate the goat, That
Abba bought for two zuzim, Chad gadya. Chad gadya.
Then came a dog and bit the cat, that
ate the goat, That Abba bought for two zuzim, Chad gadya. Chad gadya.
Then came a stick and beat the dog,
that bit the cat, that ate the goat, That Abba bought for two zuzim, Chad
gadya. Chad gadya.
Then came fire and burnt the stick,
that beat the dog, that bit the cat, that ate the goat, That Abba bought for
two zuzim, Chad gadya. Chad gadya.
Then came water and quenched the fire,
that burnt the stick, that beat the dog, that bit the cat, that ate the goat,
That Abba bought for two zuzim, Chad gadya. Chad gadya.
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Then came the ox and drank the water,
that quenched the fire, that burnt the stick, that beat the dog, that bit the
cat, that ate the goat, That Abba bought for two zuzim, Chad gadya. Chad
gadya.
Then came the shochet and slaughtered
the ox, that drank the water, that quenched the fire, that burnt the stick,
that beat the dog, that bit the cat, that ate the goat, That Abba bought for
two zuzim, Chad gadya. Chad gadya.
Then came the Angel of Death and killed
the butcher, that slaughtered the ox, that drank the water, that quenched the
fire, that burnt the stick, that beat the dog, that bit the cat, that ate the
goat, That Abba bought for two zuzim, Chad gadya. Chad gadya.
Then came the Holy One, Blessed be He
and slew the Angel of Death, that killed the butcher, that slaughtered the
ox, that drank the water, that quenched the fire, that burnt the stick, that
beat the dog, that bit the cat, that ate the goat, That Abba bought for two
zuzim, Chad gadya. Chad gadya.
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Chad Gadya beckons
interpretation. It’s the concluding song of the Seder and that’s the
key. What do we expect from the final paragraph of an essay, or the
conclusion of a play? Something that wraps it up and puts in
perspective. That’s what Chad Gadya does.
The Haggadah is much more than
the story of the Exodus. It a bird’s eye view of Jewish history, not as a
secular historian would see it, but as a sacred historian would see it:
as an unfolding of the spiritual destiny of Klal Yisrael, from the
beginning, when “our Fathers served idols,” to the end, as we pour a cup
for the prophet who will herald the coming of the Moshiach and petition (שפוך חמתך)
for the manifestation Divine Justice that will mark the transition from the
world we know to the world to come, in which all nations will revere Hashem and
honor His Chosen People. Chad Gadya identifies the essential motifs of
the religious experience that drives our history.
Chad Gadya – One kid
goat that Abba bought of two zuzim (Emunah)
The kid goat represents the
Jewish People, which Hashem (Abba) acquired by bringing Bnei Yisrael to Mount
Sinai and giving them the Two Tablets of the Law (The two zuzim).
Then came a cat and ate the goat
(Kefirah)
The kid goat (the Jewish People )
is set apart from the nations by the emunah instilled at Sinai. The
opposite of emunah (revealed faith) is the kefirah of the rationalist who
scoffs at anything that cold reason cannot comprehend or ascertain. That
scornful, cold intellect is represented by the “shunra,” the wild cat who hunts
by stealth and pounces with cunning, killing the kid without compassion.
Then came a dog and bit the cat
(The Longing Heart that finds no Peace in Kefirah)
The Hebrew word for dog is kelev, meaning
“like the heart,” and that’s what the dog represents, here:
the heart, with its longing for love. The enmity between the dog and the
cat is the struggle between the longings of the heart and the cold discipline
of the intellect. The dog bites the cat because the longing for love, both
human and Divine, is the greatest challenge to the rationalist spirit. For
some, Judaism is more a matter of the heart; for others, more a matter of the
mind. The tension between heart and mind has been a driving force in
Jewish history (consider, for example, the rise of Hassidism).
Then came a stick and beat the
dog (Torah Disciplines the Heart with Practice and Images)
The stick disciplines the
dog. The dog is the heart that longs for love. Unless that longing is
guided and disciplined by reason informed by emunah (i.e., Torah), that longing
for love will turn to things that are hateful. But how does reason
address the heart? Through images and practice (i.e. halachah).
They are compared, here, to the stick that disciplines the dog. Without that
stick, the heart may entirely reject authority of reason, and descend
into the chaos of whim and irrationalism.
Then came fire and burnt
the stick (When Mystical Passion Chafes at Halachic Restraint)
The Transcendent Glory of
Hashem is revealed through an interior union (d’vekus) unmediated by
images, for just as Hashem transcends all things, we know Him most perfectly
when we move beyond anything that an image can convey. The mystical passion
that aspires to that interior union is the fire that burns the stick (the
images and practice) that beat the dog (discipline the heart). When
mystical passion “burns the stick,” the communication based on images which
reconciles the heart and the mind breaks down, so the heart, swept up in
the religious passion of the spirit, can feel constrained by the discipline of
religious practice. The result is antinomianism: the rejection of
Law and religious authority in favor of religious experience. That can
happen on the highest levels, and analogously, in people who have no real
knowledge of Hashem, but reject religious law and authority because they
feel that it just “gets in the way.” The tension between religious
passion and halachic restraint is another dynamic component of Jewish history.
Then came water and quenched the
fire (Body and Soul)
Few are fired with desire to know
the Transcendent Glory of Hashem, because that fire is so readily
extinguished by the flow of feelings and natural impulses that carry them
away like an untethered raft on rapids. Those feelings and impulses are
suggested by the water that that “quenches the fire that burned the stick.”
Then came the ox and drank the
water (The Demands of the Body)
The ox is the natural life of
every Jew sustained by the inner flow of natural inclinations. Much as
the ox would die without water, the Jew could not live the human life
Hashem created him to have without partaking in the “water” --the flow-- of his
natural inclinations. The ox drinking water represents the man
preoccupied with his natural inclinations.
Then came the shochet and
slaughtered the ox (Using the Body in the Service of the Soul)
If we are oxen, we are not only
oxen, for we have a Divine Soul. The ox is nourished from below. The
Divine Soul is nourished from above. They tug us in opposite directions.
How can we avoid being pulled apart? The answer lies in the will, and the
single most fundamental choice we can make: the ultimate purpose of
whatever we do to feed and care for that ox.
A person can work with the
purpose of living in luxury or he can work for the purpose of supporting his
family and giving more charity. The choice to serve that higher purpose
is the spiritual choice of avodas Hashem that yokes the ox to the service of
the soul. The shochet personifies that choice, reciting a blessing and
fulfilling a mitzvah while slaughtering the ox for flesh to feed the
body. The death of the ox signifies the transfiguration of the physical
through everyday tasks when they are done with a higher purpose, so that
the efforts we make to feed the body also feed the soul. That higher purpose is
like the fire that transforms animal flesh into the sweet fragrance of
sacrifice that ascends to Hashem from the altar.
Then came the Angel of Death and
killed the shochet (Sin and its Consequences)
But the consecration of
everyday tasks is not unobstructed. Adam was made to live
forever. He died because he sinned. Just as we still die, we still sin,
and the impulse to sin which Adam’s sin implanted makes it hard to lift our
hearts to a higher purpose. And so we are torn between an ox that forages
the fields and a soul that forages the Heavens. Will it always be like
that? Are we condemned to live forever frustrated in our avodah by the
leaven of sin and an ox that bellows for the pleasures of his greens?
Then came the Holy One, Blessed
be He and slew the Angel of Death (Hope and Redemption)
No! The
sin of man brought death to a creature that was made to live forever.
Hashem won’t allow that sin to nullify His purpose of creating an
immortal being that dwells in a temporal world. Someday He will restore the
creature He made in His Image and debased himself with sin to his
original dignity. And then, the descendants of Adam will live
forever, their soul suffused like Adam’s in the Garden by an Eternal Light that
penetrates through his soul to his body and nourishes it from above, so that
the tick- tock of time in the natural world no longer measures the length of
his days.
Monday, April 2, 2018
Kenes for Chol Moed Pesach
Kenes for Chol Moed Pesach
When: Fourth day of Pesach, third day
of Chol Moed, Tuesday 18 Nisan, April 3, 2018
Where: B'nai Brak, 25 Ben Yaakov St., very near the Coke factory, first stop on bus
Talk in English by Rav Meir Posen, followed by translation into Hebrew.
Chazanut, including the choir of KAJ Jerus.
Mincha
Talk by R’ Shlomo Binyamin Hamburger shlita, in Hebrew
Maariv
Chazanut, including the choir of KAJ Jerus.
Mincha
Talk by R’ Shlomo Binyamin Hamburger shlita, in Hebrew
Maariv
Time: 18:30
mincha 19:45 maaariv
A group will be leaving from Beit
Shemesh around 4:00 PM. Please contact me if you’d like to join us.
Get off bus at Coca Cola factory. Ben
Yaakov street is to the right of the gas station across the street.
In attendance will
be Yekke/Minhag Ashkenaz people from
all over Eretz
Yisroel.
If you'd like to
sing at the Kenes, please contact me: TIDE@outlook.co.il
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