Rosh HaShanah 14-15

Introduction.
 I want to answer a question in the Rambam. In brief the Rambam decides the halacha like the sages in Usha. and then in the next paragraph he brings the Gemara that a estrog going from the 6th into the 7th year is tevel even if it was only the size of an olive in the 6th year and then in the 7th year became as big as a loaf of bread.My answer is that he is referring to the period between Rosh Hashanah of the 7th year until Tu Beshvat.

 To make it clear what I mean let me try to bring some background information.

(1) Rabah said an estrog going from 6 to 7 is not obligated in tithes nor the laws of the seventh year.
But going from 7 to 8, it is liable to the laws of the 7th year. Abyee asked on this and it seems off hand that Abyee is thinking we go by the time of ripening and so from 6 to 7 is a problem. In any case Rabah answers him. Rav HaMenunah said we go by the time of ripening --period. The Rashbi in teh name of Rabbi Shimon said 6 to 7 and 7 to 8 is not obligated in anything because we need the growth and the picking time should be in a state of obligation. The Talmud answers that Rabah and Rav HaMenunah are going like Rabban Gamiel and the Five Elders that for the 7th year we go by ripening.
The sages in Usha said we go by the time of picking for everything


The comes the two statements of Rabbi Yochanan which the Rambam brings. The estrog going from 6 to 7 is considered  tevel--obligated in tithes.

(2) Rabban Gamiel said for an estrog we go by ripening for the 7th year and by picking for the tithes,
Rabbi Eliezer said we go by picking for everything.

(3) The Rosh HaShanah for the 7th year and planting is the first day of Tishrei and for trees it is the 15th of Shevat.

(4) You can't plant 30 days before Rosh Hashanah of the 7th year because we add from the secular onto the holy. And something planted that reaches the forth year after Rosh Hashanah is forbidden forever. Rosh Hashanah 10.

The key fact is the Rashi over there on page 10 that explains this last statement. This Rashi is the focal point of everything I have written here. He says even though the tree is in its 4th year because Rosh Hashanah has passed, still its fruits are Orlah forbidden forever because Tu BeShevat has not come.

(5) Therefore when the Rambam writes the esrog comes from 6 to 7 is obligated in tithes he means the first Mishna that Rosh Hashanah for trees in Tu Beshavat. So even though for tithes we go by the time of picking, but still since it is before Tu Beshabat it is as far as the estrog is concerned still the last year--that is year 6 and thus obligated in tithes even though it in the 7th year as far as the laws of the 7th year is concerned.

Pantheism comes when stupid people learn the Ari (Isaac Luria).

Pantheism would be a great subject to into in detail because it is highly relevant nowadays. .

There has been a long progression in the attempt to change the Torah from Monotheism into Pantheism. It has only been Reform Judaism that has preserved the original faith of the Torah. I think this might be because Reform Judaism made the Guide of the Rambam to be a prime source of information about what the Torah is about.

I really have little against pantheism per se. Spinoza and the Upanishads have  a lot to say about this subject.
But I object to presenting the Torah as pantheism.

How can I show this? Well for one thing the Guide of the Rambam goes into detail about the idea that God made the world something from nothing. Now what people do to get pantheism from this is they change the meaning of those words. The problem with this is that words mean what they mean, not what you choose them to mean. Redefining a term with widespread understood usage to a specialized usage that is quite different doesn't make the usage legitimate scholarship. It marks the user as an incompetent scholar.

The path from Monotheism to Pantheism started in innocence. The Ari [Isaac Luria] got popular and from there it was a short  step from the idea of emanation into pantheism. Pantheism comes when stupid people learn the Ari.  

But to change Torah from Monotheism into Pantheism is not innocence. And you can see why the Gra would  have signed the Cherem [excommunication.](His name is the very first signature on that document.)
I guess this makes me the Grinch. For Pantheism has become in the minds of many people the most essential doctrine of Torah today. Speaking against it is like speaking against the deepest article of faith for many people.

People can get their feeling of numinosity [purpose and meaning] from all kinds of different places- many times not from good places. People can find their purpose and feelings of holiness in life from ideas that are from the Dark Side. They can believe so strongly that they can do even miracles from the Dark Side.

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Pantheism really just does not come up in the Talmud. The belief system of the Talmud is monotheism.. But this really never gets articulated until Maimonides and Saadia Gaon. And it would not even be of any interest if not for people trying to claim that the Torah is pantheistic.


In any case the discussion seems to be more relevant to philosophy than to any Talmudic or halacha issue. However this issue does seem to have some bearing on the halachic nature of idolatry. After all if "everything is godliness," then those who happen to be into some form of idolatry have a free ticket.


This discussion has some bearing on the issue of learning Musar. One advantage of the Musar movement was that they emphasized learning the basic books of medieval ethics before anyone started pushing pantheism.

Once people started pushing pantheism, it became rare to find any books that don't include pantheism of some form, and present it as authentic Torah.
What is monotheism? It is this: The world is not God. God made it; something from nothing.
The Rambam goes into this in his Guide and you can imagine that that might very well be the reason it is not a popular book.
Also just for the information I should mention that another aspect of monotheism is Divine simplicity;--God is not a composite.











 כשאני עוסק בנושא של עבודה זרה  אני חושב  שדיון על הפנתאיזם  יהיה רלוונטי. פנתאיזם אינו בתלמוד. מערכת האמונה של התלמוד היא מונותיאיזם. אבל זה לא מקבל ביטוי עד הרמב"ם וסעדיה גאון. וזה אפילו לא יהיה של כל עניין, אם לא שאנשים מנסים לטעון שהתורה היא חובקת פנתאיזם
 לנושא זה יש יחס לעבודת אלילים. אחרי הכל, אם "הכל אלוהות, אז אין עבודה זרה. יש לדיון זה יחס לנושא של לימוד מוסר. אחד היתרונות של תנועת המוסר היה שהם הדגישו לימוד הספרים הבסיסיים של תורה של ימי הביניים לפני שמישהו התחיל לדחוף פנתאיזם. ברגע שהאנשים התחילו לדחוף פנתאיזם, זה הפך נדיר למצוא ספרים שאינם כוללים פנתאיזם של צורה כלשהי ולהציג אותו כאותנטי תורה

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learning Torah

I don't know how to go about learning Torah. It seems to me the best idea --if at all possible to to get a small Talmud Bavli, [Babylonian Talmud] and set of Musar [mediaeval Ethics] books and to learn at home.
It is not that this is the best way to go about it, but rather that any other way seem to be unworkable.
Hillel's are more for fun activities. Synagogue are also for other things.

In Eastern Europe there was a concept of a place where people would go when they were off from work, and be able to go in a sit and learn Torah; but today there are no such places. Yeshivas  are private, and certainly not anyone can walk in and sit and learn. So the old concept of  a "beit midrash" is largely extinct.


Now if you have a Hillel or a Reform or Conservative Temple in your neighborhood in theory you could set aside a place inside for learning Torah alone. But that would depend on other people's desires. And you  don't want your learning Torah to be dependent on other people's desires.



What I mean by a small Talmud Bavli is the small set they used to print a few years ago. You could get the whole Talmud for about hundred dollars then. And it had the Rif in it also. I should mention that I do think the Ari is also good to learn. But Torah learning nowadays really has to be done at home unless you happen to be in the vicinity of a legitimate Lithuanian yeshiva. But those places are rare.

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There is a divide between Jewish people and Conservatives in the USA. Jews always vote for as close to Communism and Socialism as they can get. And our support of blacks can be interpreted as not so much a love of blacks, but more because they are enemies of white people.

So what I suggest to correct this situation is that people should learn Torah.
This will be helpful in two directions. One is that when Jewish people learn Torah, they will see that the Torah's values are not socialism, but rather identical with conservative values. On the other hand when Conservatives learn Torah, they will benefit by gaining a more consistent world view.

The left is so antisemitic it is a wonder to me that any decent person can associate themselves with them. My advice is thus to vote for what would be considered conservative values in the next election. And in the meantime to start learning Torah. For those who need an introduction to Torah I recommend the Horev of Shimshon Refael Hirsch--but only as an intro. At some point you need to start serious learning on your own. That is to get a Talmud Bavli and start working your way through it. . [Avraham Cook's books also are very good for an introduction in Torah.]

 mysticism is not an introduction to Torah. It is best to learn them after one has finished the Talmud at least once and also the main writings of Isaac Luria. Without that basic background the tendency is to misunderstand him.

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Orchestra

For  health I recommend learning Musar, [like the Duties of the Heart and the general set of books on Ethics you can find in almost any Lithuanian yeshiva. These are yeshivas which walk in the path of the Gra.]


These are books that don't deal directly with  health but rather with the world view of Torah and how to keep Torah in a practical way. But the offshoot of learning these books is one gains fear of God. And fear of God is useful in several ways, one of which is  health.
But not everything that deals with Torah ethics is accurate. Many books which claim to be teaching Torah are pseudo Torah. To get to real Fear of God one needs authentic Torah.
Now I realize that authentic Torah can be dry. This is in fact the reason why Musar and Gemara are not learned. They are hard and unless you develop a taste for them they are dry.  

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