Rosh Hashanah – madlik

parshat bereshit – genesis 1 – 3

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz for their YouTube video debut. There are those who would have us believe that in Creation, God made unity from chaos and that the Torah’s end game is to find that unity, tikkun or nirvana once again. We explore an alternative, counterfactual approach, where God created through division and with a goal of creating a world where divisions are emphasized, managed but definitely not erased. So, join us for our first podcast of the year.

Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/598674

Transcript:

Welcome to Madlik. My name is Geoffrey Stern and at Madlik we light a spark or shed some light on a Jewish Text or Tradition. Along with Rabbi Adam Mintz we host the Madlik Disruptive Torah podcast on your favorite platform. This week’s parsha is Bereshit. There are those who would have us believe that in Creation, God made unity from chaos and that the Torah’s end game is to find that unity once again. We explore an alternative, counterfactual approach, where God created through division and with a goal of creating a world where divisions are emphasized, managed but definitely not erased. So, join us for our first podcast of the year: Splitting the Adam.

moreAnd Rabbi Mintz, as I said that, I realize that you are Adam Mintz. We are Splitting the Adam

Adam Mintz (01:23.406)

So, that’s why I was especially excited about this one, because I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m getting nervous.

Geoffrey Stern (01:29.749)

Well, first of all, as I said in the intro, this is our first broadcast on YouTube. So, it’ll be on all the other platforms, but also, on video on YouTube. And I was setting it up and looking at putting down our bios and stuff. And I had the most amazing experience. I stumbled upon your new, www.rabbimintz.com your new website.

I think it’s new because I’ve never seen it before and it says the premier Orthodox conversion rabbi and that is So, So, Exciting and hopefully during the course of the year. We will talk a little bit more about that I’ll definitely put a link rabbimitz.com in the show notes So, that is So, So, exciting but meanwhile, we have a new Torah to start reading all from the

Adam Mintz (02:01.143)

It is new. It is new.

Geoffrey Stern (02:29.753)

the start again. It’s truly amazing that we’re here. So, I have to tell you, I was in my shul and I was davening. Because we go visual now, I’m holding up the machzur that I was reading. And on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, I came across the following prayer that is made at the end of the Amidah where traditionally you’re supposed to add a personal supplication.

You can ad-lib a little bit. And I have put it in the Sefaria show notes that I am also, going to share. And it says,

It’s an absolutely beautiful prayer. It was translated by the Jules Harlow. It’s a little bit of a synopsis of the longer prayer which I do show.

from Rabbi Nathan Ben Moshe Hanover, who wrote an amazing collection of prayers. It’s called Sha’arei tzion. It was written in 1662. This is not a new book. And Gershon Sholom, in his great book, on the Kabbalah, really says this was an extremely influential

book and it was infused with the Lurianic doctrines of man’s mission on earth, his connections with power of the upper worlds, the transmigrations of his soul, and his striving to achieve tikkun were woven into prayers. So, Rabbi, certainly when you look at this beautiful prayer, and I must have used this machzor So, many times before, but I never really noticed it, it talks about this

Geoffrey Stern (04:59.065)

of the different species. And certainly, my first inclination was God created the world out of Tohu and Vohu, out of chaos, and therefore this man saw the unity in it. But he clearly is looking at it from a perspective which we might consider kind of modern. This tikkun, this being able to fix the fragments, to bring everything together. So, Rabbi, have you seen this prayer before? Just reading it

Now, what are your thoughts? I just found it was charming and of course because Russia Shun is the birth of the world and we are discussing in our pasha the birth of the world, it’s also very relevant.

Adam Mintz (05:43.023)

So, the answer is, thank you, Geoffrey. I am not familiar with this prayer, but it is a wonderful prayer. You’re right, it’s a beautiful prayer. And the idea of uniting fragments into a universe or uniting fragments to create the human being, right? It says uniting fragments into a universe, uniting fragments to create the human being.

I think that’s a great idea because as we know, and this is what we’re gonna talk about, the story of creation has five days of creation. Everything is created. Then the human being, and it turns out to be man and woman, are created on the sixth day. So, the creation of humans is the culmination of the creation process. So, this prayer sees that as

taking the first five days of creation and uniting them all together and then creating the human. And that that’s uniting fragments into a universe. means that you unify everything in the world. take everything and we as humans represent a unified world. That’s really a beautiful idea.

Geoffrey Stern (07:09.961)

It is, and I love that you bring it all the way to Adam and Eve, because of course, I think at the end of the posture when we talk about the Garden of Eden, there’s a book called Return to Eden. This whole concept of how the world began and where it ends up is So, critical to Judaism, to any religion who has its Genesis myth. So, as I said in the intro, I’m going to take, I’m gonna disrupt this prayer today.

into an absolutely opposite direction. Because when I thought about it for a second, it seems to me that there is a totally different read that you could read of all of creation, which has less to do with unity and more to do with division. And we are, because we are a disruptive toa, going to actually kind of follow that thread of what happens if you read the Pasha not from the basis of a tikkun.

or love and of course what I didn’t say is this prayer seems So, modern. It was written in the 1600s and 1700s but it is So, apropos of the way people think of religion as a unifying force. But I think that there is a second just as critical message that is as powerful if not more powerful in terms of a force of division and creation through division. So, let’s

begin. are in Genesis 1, 1, when God began to create the universe. The world was just full of unformed and void. And of course, the interesting thing here is the correct translation is not So, much when God began to create

or in the beginning kind of like God there is nothing there ex nihilo yesh meh ayin. If you look at the text itself it’s God’s creating to move around the pieces. He’s beginning to deal with Tohu and Vohu. And So, what does he do? There was darkness on the face of the deep and a wind was blowing and in verse three it says God said let there be light and there was light and God saw

Geoffrey Stern (09:39.405)

that the light was good and God separated the light from the darkness. So, here up until now we only have one verb, Barak, that God was creating. The second verb that we get is Vayavdel, that God separated. And what did he do by way of separating? He separated light from darkness. God called the light day, called the darkness night,

there was evening, there was a morning, a first day. So, Rabbi, you cannot but ignore the fact that Havdalah, something that we do once a week at the end of Shabbat, becomes a star player here. God has really not So, much created as divided between night and day. As we… Yep.

Adam Mintz (10:31.849)

So, let me, So, you ask. So, my question is, why is it so important that God separated between night and day? Why couldn’t we have lived for the past 5,785 years with 24 hours of twilight? Why would that have been So, terrible? Means there seems to be this idea of separation. Now actually in the next day,

God separated the water, the water on top and the water on bottom, and you get to that afterwards. So, this idea of separation isn’t just night and day. It seems to be that creation is partially about separation.

Geoffrey Stern (11:19.271)

separation or putting objects into order. In other words, if we don’t project, and this is what I was trying to say before, that God somehow created matter out of nothing. If we don’t project onto the text, it seems that the most creative thing that God is doing, and you’ve gone ahead already to the second day, is separating things. And that is where he, she shows his creativity. And that’s

Adam Mintz (11:25.021)

Yeah.

Geoffrey Stern (11:49.167)

where the value add is. So, as you say in verse 6 it says, said let there be an expanse in the midst of the water that it may separate water from water. I think it as much as anything else it is showing something about the creative process. And first and foremost, in the creative process if we forget about the Big Bang for a second and say no matter

what was before. Once creation starts, God is putting things into order. He is separating one thing from another. He’s creating clarity, if you will, but that clarity is mostly created by dividing stuff. You have a messy desk, you start making order. So, if we go on and we go into verse 14, God said,

the sky to separate day from night, they shall serve as signs for the set times, the days and the years, and they shall serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth.” And it was so. And then it goes on to say, God made the two great lights, the greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to dominate the night and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine unto the earth, to dominate the day

day and the night and to separate light from darkness and God saw that it was a good.” So, here too, and this of course is a continuation of what he did on day one, but now he’s not only separating, he is not separating equally. He’s making value judgments. He’s assigning tasks and utilities in terms of serve as signs for set times for days and years.

It’s really he is getting very creative in terms of what he’s putting into different place. He’s giving jobs. He’s giving Characteristics to these things if you look at Rashi on 116 great luminaries, they were created of equal size but that of the moon was diminished because she complained and says it is Impossible for two kings to make use of one craft

Geoffrey Stern (14:18.377)

This is such a precious and beautiful and kind of poignant commentary that I am going to go to the So,urces because now already we’re starting to get into how do you orchestrate,

How do you work with different beings that have different functions and maybe those functions aren’t equal? Crisis control all of a sudden, interpersonal relationships. We are personalizing these things but all we are is we are what? 16 verses into Genesis and we already have crisis management. We already have the

The problem with making havdalah, which is jealousy, which is competition, isn’t that fascinating?

Adam Mintz (15:26.505)

Well, that’s fascinating. So, I just want to say before we look at the Gemara, which tells us a tale, a legend, know, God creates two, the sun and the moon, and he creates them unequal.

It’s almost as if within creation, God wants to teach us exactly like what you said, is that not everything can be equal. We need to figure out how to manage with things that are unequal. Now, the Gemara and the Rashi are concerned with it’s not fair. And that’s one of the problems of being unequal.

But you made the most important point of all is, that is, life is not fair. Life is unequal. So, therefore, right there in the fourth day of creation, we have this issue as if we’re already dealing not only with creation, but with how to deal with the different pieces of creation. Like we deal with different people. Not everything can be equal, which is remarkable.

Geoffrey Stern (16:32.951)

I mean it’s conflict resolution and we cannot look at human beings and put the blame there. This is part of God’s plan. So, first he goes ahead and divides and then he starts creating inequity and divisions and even attributing to these inanimate objects jealousy and competition. It is truly amazing because I think you have to make the argument that it’s part of his or her plan. It’s not

And So, when we start from the perspective of that beautiful meditation where everything is about unity and sholeimmut and this sense of nirvana, here we have a creator who’s creating differences from the get-go in a very profound way. So, yes, you have the Gomorrah in Hulun that talks about the moon said before the Holy One, blessed master of the universe.

possible for two kings to serve with one crown? I mean, God could have answered yes, but he clearly, as you say, recognizes that that is going to be a problem. And of course, here it almost rings up much later on with Haven, where he says, came up with the question, you should now go ahead and diminish yourself. You were the one who brought this up. Then we get to Bereshit-Rabab, and again,

it goes into the same thing but here it starts to say that

one of the payoffs, one of the dividends that the moon gets is because the moon will have an ally with the Jewish people. And So, all of a sudden, as again, as I said in verse 16, we’re talking not only about inanimate objects, we’re talking about God’s chosen people, or should I say differentiated people, the people that were segmented out, and they have an ally with this diminished moon.

Geoffrey Stern (18:40.185)

So, he’s almost already saying that he might even have a preference for the minority, for the diminished. It’s pretty amazing if you think about it here in verse 16, we’re getting into all of this stuff.

Adam Mintz (18:55.607)

Well, you know, it always reflects back to the Jewish people. And in the Book of Devarim, now it seems very far away, but in the Book of Devarim, Moses tells the people that God loves you, because you are the smallest of all the nations. So, clearly there’s a preference. Now in Bereshit, we’re gonna have every story where the younger son,

is the one who’s the favored son. So, that this idea that being the moon is actually maybe to the benefit of the moon. That means the moon is going to be favored. And of course, in Jewish history, we’re about to start the holiday of Simchat Torah, which is a lunar holiday, which means that it’s based on the…

on the month of the moon rather than the month of the sun. The whole world goes on the month of the sun, but we follow the month of the moon. So, actually there’s a benefit by being in second place.

Geoffrey Stern (20:05.175)

I love what you said and of course if you look and I really recommend that everybody look at the source sheet in Bereshit Rabah 6-4 after talking about the moon it talks about Menashe and Ephraim that Joseph or Jacob puts his hands he switches his hands and he favors the small So, it truly is the Midrash is not missing the point here it understands that God creates not only

by differentiating, not only in assigning different tasks, different characteristics to things, but then starts to show a little bit of his affection for the underdog, for the smaller. And then we go to Genesis 2.

that God had done. The Chaveh Rav really rang true to me. The seventh day is, didn’t have a mate, didn’t have a pair. It’s an uneven number. God again started to divide between days of the week and he had this odd, day. This odd man out called

called Shabbat, and he separated it from the rest of the week. So, this concept of separating doesn’t stop with the six days of creation. It even enters into creating what could be considered the Jewish greatest contribution to the world, which is the seventh day. So, that then we can start

to think of the Midrashim. I mentioned earlier Rabbi that we’re using a word Havdalah that most Jews knows because of the Havdalah ceremony. It is the ceremony that we do at the end of Shabbat. But normally I dare to say we don’t combine it with this concept of Havdalah that happens throughout creation. But I’m gonna try to do that. I think the Midrash do it very well in terms of the

Geoffrey Stern (22:34.505)

There’s a direct connection between the creativity that God effected using this Havdalah, making Shabbat which was different and lehavdil ben all of the other work days and how it married this into the narrative. What thinks you?

Adam Mintz (22:54.822)

Yes, I mean, that you see that the difference between Shabbat and the week is a very interesting thing. Let’s talk about this week. I know we’re now going on video. So, it’s not only right now that people are listening, but we can refer to what this week is. This week is Simchat Torah. And we in the diaspora,

have celebrated, observed over the past month, three long weekends that go from Chag to Shabbat, right? Thursday, Friday, and then Shabbat. Now, when we go from Friday to Shabbat, we do something interesting. And that is we just make regular kiddish for Shabbat. It’s like a straight line from the Chag to Shabbat. But if the Chag…

were to fall out on Saturday night, we actually would recite Havdalah on Saturday night going into the chag, because Shabbat is considered to be special. So, I’m just pointing that out because that’s, see, when you talk about separation Havdalah, Shabbat from the rest of the week, that has come to identify what separation means, what Havdalah means.

And the fact that even when we go from Shabbat to a Chag, we still say separation. Separation is something that is really, you know, is something that’s So, fundamental. And I’ll just tell you this last thing. And that is if you make Havdalah from Shabbat to a Chag, and those people who want to look forward to the next Chag, the next Chag is Pesach. And Pesach is going to fall out on Saturday night this year. So, we’re going to recite this Havdalah. And the Havdalah that you make is Baruch Atah Hashem,

HaMavdiel b’in kodesh le kodesh. Exactly what you have right here. Now that’s remarkable, Geoffrey, because usually we say HaMavdiel b’in kodesh lechol, God who separates from holy to mundane to everyday. That’s a distinction. But in our tradition, we understand even the subtlest of separations.

Adam Mintz (25:15.751)

And that is Hamavdil Benkodesh Lekodesh. I’ll just tell you a funny story by Joseph Soloveitchik, who was probably the greatest Orthodox mind in the second half of the 20th century, said that when he was a little boy, five years old, and for the first time he heard this Havdalah of Hamavdil Benkodesh Lekodesh, he said he couldn’t sleep the whole night because he couldn’t understand what it meant to make havdalah Benkodesh Lekodesh.

Geoffrey Stern (25:42.283)

You know, it’s kind of like they say about the Eskimos that they have 50 words for snow. We Jews at least have two different types, two different madregot; levels of Kiddusha. But I love that you brought that up because it appeared to me in that special Kiddush that you mentioned, at a certain point it says, And it seems to me that the word Kiddusha

Adam Mintz (25:52.242)

That’s very good.

Geoffrey Stern (26:12.497)

can mean almost Havdalah. In other words, when the verse says, kadochim tihi you, that you should be holy, the rabbis, the Pharisees who are called in Hebrew the perushim, says kadochim tihi you, perushim tihi you. So, if you want to talk about the power of separation, perush means to divide, to separate, because holiness at the end of the day is to take something

and divide between Chulin and Kedushin. And so, when I am saying that we are reading this lens today of the beginning of Bereshit from a whole new lens, not one of homogeny, not one of Nirvana where all of the sharp edges are sanded down and everything becomes unified. If anything, we’re finding a very strong

element of the power of differences, of the power of separation. And that, in fact, is the source of Kiddushah. So, getting back to that first Shabbat, yes, by making it separate from the rest of the week, by making one last havdalah between when he worked and when he stopped working, God was continuing the process of creation and created this amazing Shabbat.

If you look at the source sheet, you’ll see Bereshit Rabot. There are Midrashim that believe that Adam and Eve, and we’re going to get to that hopefully in a few seconds, when they sinned was the afternoon of Friday. So, the first, there was 12 hours in the afternoon of that day where they sinned. Then there was Shabbat, and then they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. They were expelled.

known rabbi as Havdalah. They were separated out of Eden and the tradition is that God gave them Shabbat So, that they could experience the hidden light of creation. But more importantly or as importantly, he gave Adam the first invention. He gave him fire and he taught him how to make fire after he cast

Geoffrey Stern (28:41.761)

him out of the garden in Eden and that is why we say, Bo-reh, Ma-o-reh Ha-esh at the Havdalah ceremony. So, now already we have invention as well as creation. And so, what I want to finish up with Rabbi is the story of in chapter 2 of the creation of Eve. Because here too there is this sense

that Adam was unified, was one person, and he is the only element of creation who was Lo tov. Lo tov, lehiyot ha’adam levad. And So, he had to go through that division as well. And So, in Genesis 221, God cast a deep sleep upon the human, and while he slept, God took one of his sides.

Again, another verb that has to do with separating. And he made Eve. Normally we think of this as a unifying element, that it was flesh of my flesh, but I emphasize on the me’atsmi. It was flesh taken from, kind of like when you take challah.

Rabbi. And then what is he called? then it says, and therefore a man should what? Separate from his parents. And I would argue not only from his parents on earth, who Adam actually did not have, but also, maybe his parents. I think if you look at the story of the sin of, we call it a

Adam Mintz (30:22.368)

Separate.

Geoffrey Stern (30:41.233)

sin, but if you look at the story of the eating of the tree, the apple of the tree of the knowledge, and then the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, it again, it is this necessary separation. And it puts into a whole new guise, I believe, what is necessary, the necessary elements in this creation myth. And when I say creation now, we’re talking about humanity as hell.

As well, we’re talking about splitting the atom. Bye-bye, Mints.

Adam Mintz (31:14.667)

That’s great. So, I’ll just finish up by saying everything you said is fantastic. The best thing you said was that Adam was the one thing that was not tov, lo tov heyot ha’adam livadoh, and therefore he needed to go through separation. Adam himself, and there he’s only a man, himself needed to be divided because division is the process of creation. That’s a fantastic idea.

Creation means division. You can only create by separating. And that’s what the Torah comes to tell us. And it’s separation for the sake of ultimate unity. think that’s…

Make your point even stronger. It’s the separation for the sake of ultimate unity. Because that’s what we try to do. We try to take opposites. We try to take separated things and we try to make them work together. They’re not equals, but we try to make them work together. This is a fantastic way to begin. I can’t wait for the rest of the Torah.

Geoffrey Stern (32:17.201)

I love it. Give me one last word though, because as you know, and we love this, it says, that he built Eve from this rib, we know from there that according to the Talmud and other sources, that women have bina. And what is bina? It’s a type of wisdom. If you think, Rabbi, in terms of science, how do scientists

Adam Mintz (32:20.013)

Yes.

Geoffrey Stern (32:47.337)

things. They separate phenomenon So, that they can analyze one phenomenon not mixed up with another. Without that separation you have nothing. So, we really have this true source of Bina, of understanding. And to your point, I love this further Midrash which says when in Genesis 3 6 and when the woman saw that the tree was good and it was a delight to the eyes…

She took of its fruit and did eat and gave also to her husband with her and he did eat and So, Rashi says that she was afraid if she ate it and he did not that she would die and he would go get married to somebody else it almost is a story of Romeo and Juliet and It’s a story of Romeo and Juliet and this Emma rabbi is Exactly what you were saying

It’s this cleaving of two different people together who can survive the rejection of their parents on earth, their parents in heaven, create their new life together. And I think that becomes then an amazing narrative of creation that starts with the heavens and ends with a couple, two human beings that are “imo”, that are together with each other. Fascinating read.

Adam Mintz (34:14.233)

Amazing. Yasher Koach to you. Shabbat shalom to everybody. Chag sameach. And can’t wait for next week. Chag sameach, Geoffrey. Enjoy. Bye bye.

Geoffrey Stern (34:21.185)

Chag sameach, all the best, bye bye.

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parshat ki tavo – Deuteronomy 26

Join Geoffrey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on clubhouse on September 15th 2022. As we approach the high prayer season we trace the evolution of the oldest prayer preserved in the Torah. The First Fruits Declaration, a once iconic prayer made by a farmer on Shavuot; the Harvest Festival. We see how this prayer was censored, repurposed and reinterpreted up until today and wonder what license it provides to us.

Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/431313Transcript:

Welcome to Madlik. My name is Geoffrey Stern and at Madlik we light a spark or shed some light on a Jewish Text or Tradition. Along with Rabbi Adam Mintz, we host Madlik Disruptive Torah on clubhouse every Thursday at 8:00pm Eastern and share it as the Madlik podcast on your favorite platform. As we approach the high prayer season, we trace the evolution of one of the oldest prayers preserved in the Torah. The Bikurim or First-Fruits Declaration, made by a farmer on Shavuot; the Harvest Festival. We explore how this prayer was censored, re-purposed and re-interpreted and wonder what license it provides to us. So grab a bowl of fruit and a siddur and join us for First Fruits – First Prayers.

moreWell, welcome back another week. And as we said, in the pre-show, the High Holidays are coming, they’re coming. They’re coming. They’re not waiting for us. And that’s what I meant when I referred to the “prayer season”, because isn’t that actually what it is, I mean, there’s no time of year that we pray more, that we are engaged with our liturgy. And before we get to the exact text from our parsha, that I want to discuss, and the Parsha is Ki Tavo in Deuteronomy, it just seems to me, Rabbi that Deuteronomy is the source of many prayers, much of our liturgy, I mean, the most famous Shema Yisrael is in Deuteronomy 6: 4. Last week, while not liturgy, we talked about the paragraph that says that you have to remember what Amalek did to you. And I referenced that there is a whole Shabbat called Shabbat Zachor, that we focused just on saying that little chapter in public, and some say, that’s one of the rare occasions that literally by Torah law, we have to make that declaration. So am I wrong here? There’s little avoid liturgy comes from the Chumash, The Five Books of Moses itself, but that that does, there’s a lot in Deuteronomy.

Adam Mintz 02:34

So you’re absolutely right. And the fact that Shema, not only the paragraph of Shema. But the second paragraph of the Shema Vehaya Im Shemoa וְהָיָ֗ה אִם־שָׁמֹ֤עַ also comes from the book of Deuteronomy (11: 13), I think the reason is probably a simple reason. And that is Deuteronomy is the kind of the summary, the review of the Torah. So, it has paragraphs that have a lot of different ideas all together. Like in the paragraph of Shema, you have belief in God, you have study Torah, you have Tefillin and you have Mezuzah. Yeah, you have all these things, you have reward and punishment. It’s all there in one paragraph, you don’t have that in the rest of Torah. So actually, in terms of prayers, and in terms of kind of covering all the bases, Deuteronomy is a great place to get prayers from.

Geoffrey Stern 03:22

And you know, I would kind of add, and I’ve said this before, that, modern scholarship believes that Deuteronomy was probably written closer to when Ezra came back from the exile, we’re talking about a period where there was maybe no temple anymore, the synagogues were starting to be formed. But even if you don’t buy into higher criticism the whole angst of Deuteronomy is when you come into the land. And certainly, coming into the land, the central Mishkan was over. And there was this beginning of what we could see as decentralized Judaism. And certainly, it had a prophetic sense of there would be a time where Jews would need to pray and our religion would change. So, I think from all different perspectives, there is no question that Deuteronomy is a great source for later liturgy. I think we’re on the same page there.

Adam Mintz 04:28

Good. I think that’s 100%. Right. And I think you know, that just makes the point stronger, but you know, whatever the explanation is just making the point is interesting, right, just realizing that so much of our prayer service and the Shema itself comes from Deuteronomy is a super interesting point.

Geoffrey Stern 04:46

Great. So, we’re going to start with one of the most iconic little prayers; declarations if you will, certainly something that we’ll see ended up in our liturgy by way of the Haggadah. It is a farmer’s declaration of bringing the first fruits of the harvest to the temple. And it starts in Deuteronomy 26: 3 it says, You shall go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, I acknowledge this day before your God that I have entered the land that God swore to our fathers to assign us. The priest shall take the basket from your hand, and set it down in the front of the altar of your God. You shall then recite as follows before your god, my father was a fugitive Aramean he went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there. But there he became a great and very populous nation. The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us they imposed heavy labor upon us. If this sounds familiar to any of us, it’s because it is quoted in the Haggadah. And what the Hagaddah does is literally take every one of the words that I just said, … when it says the Egyptians dealt harshly with us. When it says that we became לְג֥וֹי גָּד֖וֹל עָצ֥וּם וָרָֽב when it says they oppressed us וַיְעַנּ֑וּנוּ it has a standing commentary, which actually becomes the most fundamental core part of the whole Haggadah-Seder moment. And it says, We cried to God, the God of our ancestors, and God heard our plea. God heard our plea. You’ll see in the Passover Haggadah, it says, When God heard our plea, he understood what they were doing to us. Maybe he was separating men from women. It goes into this running commentary in the Haggadah, he saw our plight, our misery and our oppression. God freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, you remember in the Haggadah talks about what does it mean by בְּיָ֤ד חֲזָקָה֙ by an outstretched arm וּבִזְרֹ֣עַ נְטוּיָ֔ה and awesome powers and by signs and portents…. So, this is as far as the Haggadah goes, but the literary piece the parsha of Bikkurim continues, bringing us to this place, וַיְבִאֵ֖נוּ אֶל־הַמָּק֣וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה and giving us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of soil which you God have given me, you shall leave it before your God and bow low before your God, and you shall enjoy together with the Levite and the stranger in your midst, and all the bounty that your God has bestowed upon you and your household. And then if you were looking at this text in a Sefer Torah, there is an end of literary piece, the end of Parashat Bikkurim, we have finished. So this clearly is a very old piece. It is in a sense quoted, you are literally quoting what the farmer says in front of the Cohen. So Rabbi, how many prayers like this do we have that are verbatim? And what does it mean to you?

Adam Mintz 08:48

Well, you said a mouthful here. The first interesting thing is that this is probably the earliest prayer that we have, which means that this was said as a prayer. In the time of the Torah, when they brought the first fruits, they recited this as a prayer. We just a minute ago, talked about Shema. Now Shema in the Torah is not written as a prayer, meaning that Moshe tells the people to believe in God and to put on tefillin and to put up a mezuzah, but he doesn’t say recite this every day. It wasn’t a prayer. We took it to become a prayer. But this actually was a prayer. And that’s really interesting. It’s interesting because what you see is that we have prayers, from the very beginning of time we have prayers, there are very few prayers in the Torah. There’s one another example of a prayer when Miriam, Moshe’s sister is sick. So Moshe says to God וַיִּצְעַ֣ק מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֶל־הֹ’ לֵאמֹ֑ר אֵ֕-ל נָ֛א רְפָ֥א נָ֖א לָֽהּ (Numbers 12: 13) , God, please cure her. It’s the shortest prayer in history. But that’s an example of a prayer and here we have another prayer. So, it’s interesting that the Torah recognizes the value of prayers, and even gives us some prayers that we actually recite.

Geoffrey Stern 10:10

You know, you saying that reminds me of the key prayers of the High Holidays? הֹ’ ׀ הֹ’ אֵ֥-ל רַח֖וּם וְחַנּ֑וּן אֶ֥רֶךְ אַפַּ֖יִם וְרַב־חֶ֥סֶד וֶאֱמֶֽת. This is something we’re going to start saying Selichot on Saturday night. These prayers are not only old, but because they’re old. They almost seem to have power, don’t they? If you really can count on your fingers, whether their prayers like this one, or whether like the Shema we’re quoting verses, I mean, some of the other ones that come to mind is with Ballam מַה־טֹּ֥בוּ אֹהָלֶ֖יךָ יַעֲקֹ֑ב (Numbers 24: 5). We start our service every day with that we quote, How goodly are the tents of Jacob”, it’s maybe written over the ark. We have the prayer that maybe parents say on their children on Friday night, יְשִֽׂמְךָ֣ אֱ-לֹהִ֔ים כְּאֶפְרַ֖יִם וְכִמְנַשֶּׁ֑ה (Genesis 48: 20) which is what Joseph said. But you’re absolutely right. This is, along with רְפָ֥א נָ֖א לָֽהּ which is with Miriam is one of the few places where, at least in the Chumash, The Five Books of Moses, you have actually texts of prayers.

Adam Mintz 11:27

Yeah, that is interesting in the history of prayer. That’s interesting that prayer is biblical. That’s not the prayers we say. The prayers we say are basically rabbinic. The Amidah that we recite is not found in the Torah, the Amidah that we recite the rabbi’s made up. So, we generally think of prayer as being rabbinic. But the truth is a prayer is biblical. There is a biblical source for prayer.

Geoffrey Stern 11:51

I mean, I think if you look at for instance, the Shemoneh Esrey, the Eighteen Benedictions, the Amidah, the Silent Prayer, a lot of stuff is taken from Psalms, Psalms is a rich source of if not prayers, but at least phrases or expressions; ways of talking about the, you know, healing people or making them stand up straight or reviving them in the morning. But here, actually, it’s very few times that in our liturgy, we have stuff directly from the Five Books of Moses. But there are a few cases. And this is a very, very old prayer, no question about it.

Adam Mintz 12:36

Right that so so that’s, that’s the beginning of what’s interesting here. Now, the text of the prayer is also interesting, because what the prayer is, is it’s kind of a review of Jewish history, to allow us to be grateful to God, recognizing not only that God gave us new fruits, but that God gave us everything beginning with taking us out of Egypt.

Geoffrey Stern 13:00

I mean, isn’t it amazing if you step back for a second, and the two prayers that we’ve identified as biblical and old, one had to do with healing, and the other one had to do with thanks and gratitude. And what more can you talk about thanks Then the harvest? You know, I think of he who sows in tears reaps in joy הַזֹּרְעִ֥ים בְּדִמְעָ֗ה בְּרִנָּ֥ה יִקְצֹֽרוּ (Psalms 26: 5), There is nothing more primal than the thankfulness and it comes all the way to the Puritans and the Thanksgiving festival and Sukkot that we’re going to have. You can almost track the three major festivals, the pilgrimage festivals, all around agriculture, which ultimately becomes that we are dependent on the earth we’re dependent on rain, we’re dependent on God. And the flip side of that is we are so thankful when we have a basket of fruit that we can we can bring to God to thank Him or Her.

Adam Mintz 14:09

Right. I think all that all that is exactly right. I think that’s, that’s wonderful here, and then the use of this prayer in the Seder also needs to be discussed. Why do we choose this verse? To make the question better? Let me ask it like this. The Seder on Passover, remembers the Exodus from Egypt. If we’re going to choose verses that talk about the Exodus from Egypt, why don’t we take verses from the book of Exodus that talk about the Exodus from Egypt? It seems kind of ridiculous that we choose verses from the book of Deuteronomy that talk about the Exodus from Egypt. We might as well choose to have the original story I might as well you know if I’m if I’m reading the story, I don’t know what your story the story of of the you know, of the I have the respect that they’re paying to the Queen. I might as well read it as it’s happening now. I’m not interested 10 years from now and they write a book about it, they IV the story in the moment is actually more accurate and more reflective of the way people are thinking later on, you kind of just have a perspective. So why do we choose the verses from Devarim? from Deuteronomy? And not the verses from Exodus?

Geoffrey Stern 15:24

So that is an amazing question. And I think that also will give us an insight into some prayers of the High Holidays. So, one of the commentaries on the Haggadah, that that I love, he claims he says that the Mishna wanted that …. and by the way, the Mishna in Pesachim actually dictates that these verses are said in Pesachim 10: 4 it says that, when teaching his son about the Exodus, he begins with the Jewish people’s disgrace, and concludes with their glory, מַתְחִיל בִּגְנוּת וּמְסַיֵּם בְּשֶׁבַח, וְדוֹרֵשׁ מֵאֲרַמִּי אוֹבֵד אָבִי, and he expounds from the passage an Aramean tried to destroy my father, which is our verse with a new translation we’ll find out in a second, the declaration one was cites when presenting his first foods at the temple. And here the Mishnah says until he concludes explaining the entire section. So the Mishna says you have to read it, עַד שֶׁיִּגְמֹר כֹּל הַפָּרָשָׁה כֻלָּהּ. The Mishna, in fact says to answer your question, not why, but that you have to say this whole section about bringing the first fruits on the night of the Seder from beginning to end. But the commentaries and modern scholarship, argue that the Mishna wanted to find a text and integrated commentary that was well known to the Jewish masses. And when we say well known to the Jewish masses, remember, there were many centuries, generations of Jews who did not even speak Hebrew, they spoke Aramaic, they spoke other languages. Because this prayer of giving the Bikkurim was so iconic, these scholars argue, we pick the one that people knew they not only knew the words in Hebrew, but they also kind of knew in a singsong way, the commentary on it. So, there was a great scholar named David Tzvi. Hoffman, who wrote a book called The First Mishna. And he actually uses the Haggadah and the way it goes from וּבִזְרֹעַ נְטוּיָה, and it gives an explanation, בְּיָד חֲזָקָה and gives an explanation. He says, this is a prime example of Midrash Halacha, and the earliest use of reading the written law and adding ongoing explanatory Midrash and interpretations. So, his answer to your question is, there are many other verses that talk about the exodus of Egypt, that might do it in a more poetic way, in a more discursive way, but the rabbi’s of the Mishna picked these because as we started by saying, it was an old prayer that everybody knew. And clearly, this is a prayer unlike the Shema that is not household to every Jew nowadays. But there was a time …. you knew The Bikkurim, and that we could we could talk about…

Adam Mintz 18:50

Well, everybody had first fruits, everybody had a harvest. We don’t we don’t live in agricultural life anymore. But if everybody lived in agricultural life, you would all have it.

Geoffrey Stern 19:00

so so again, I think that it’s fascinating that when we look at prayers, and some prayers are so well known, and we don’t even remember the reason that we know them. I mean, I think, and I’d love your take on this. We come to services on the night of Yom Kippur, the holiest night of the holiest day of the year. And this service is named after a prayer that we all sing in the same tune, and we probably all get choked up over; it’s called Kol Nidrei. And it is basically a prayer that has to do with a legal formula for canceling your oaths that you made. And we might not even know the meaning of the words we might not know the meanings of a lot of words of prayers, but this one has lived way beyond its expiration date, but it still has all the power and the meaning. And that’s a fascinating insight, I think into prayer.

Adam Mintz 20:00

Yeah, that is an interesting point, the power of the prayer and you raise the power of the tune of Kol Nidrei. You know exactly what its history is not clear. The key is that everybody has been doing it. Right. And everybody sings the same tune. And that’s what’s so powerful.

Geoffrey Stern 20:22

Do you know if the Sefardim, the Mizrachim also have the same tune?

Adam Mintz 20:26

I don’t know if they have Kol Nidre, I think Kol Nidrei is an Ashkenazim thing?

Geoffrey Stern 20:31

Well, it’s certainly for the for the Ashkenazi him. And again, it’s a little bit like the beginning of the Seder, where we sing the Seder itself. It’s like singing the table of contents of a book. You’re right, it is the music. But I think the rabbis and the scholars who say that the reason Bikkurim was bought into the Haggadah are touching upon this aspect of some of our prayers, that a prayer can be more than the words that are written in it becomes like a mantra, it becomes something that we share with each other. And it goes beyond the meaning of the words or the original context. And I think that if we stopped right here, that would be a fascinating lesson about the power of prayer, or how prayer is used, or what its power on us is, don’t you think?

Adam Mintz 21:28

I think that that that really is a very interesting point. Now, I’ll just compare for a minute Kol Nidrei. And this prayer for the first fruit, you know, this prayer for the first fruit is biblical Kol. Nidrei is actually in Aramaic, right? I mean, it’s not even in Hebrew. So, some of the power is and you know, Aramaic is like English. That was the language that people spoke. So, you know, sometimes prayer in the vernacular is what’s so powerful. And obviously, we have that, especially in the kind of in the more liberal movements that you know, prayer in the vernacular has a certain power to it.

Geoffrey Stern 22:12

Yeah. And so there’s definitely this issue of lack of language. And those, those scholars who say that Bikkurim was something that people who didn’t speak Hebrew and Aramaic was their language, still new because it was so popular. That’s one message and what you said a second ago, which is to walk into a synagogue, where most of the services for the rest of the day are going to be in Hebrew, and you see something you hear something that’s in Aramaic is welcoming the codices in Aramaic. So the language is an important part. So I said in the beginning, that this was going to be a history of the censorship, and the reinterpretation of a prayer. So when I read the verses in in Deuteronomy itself, and I said, אֲרַמִּי֙ אֹבֵ֣ד אָבִ֔י. The translation was my father was a fugitive, Aramean. Oved is typically translated as someone who is lost and we’ll get a little bit into it for a second. In the Haggadah, however, it introduces before we get into this first fruits declaration, it says as follows and those of you who have been at a Seder will remember וְהִיא שֶׁעָמְדָה לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ וְלָנוּ, and this is what stood for our ancestors for us, since it is not only one person that has stood against us to destroy us, but rather each generation they stand against us to destroy us. But the וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַצִּילֵנוּ מִיָּדָם, God rescues us. So that’s the introduction to this prayer of the farmer. And then lo and behold, it changes the meaning. And in the Haggadah, it says, An Aramean was destroying my father Avood. I guess, when Esther was about to go in front of Achashveros when she wasn’t beckoned. She says וְכַאֲשֶׁ֥ר אָבַ֖דְתִּי אָבָֽדְתִּי (Esther 4: 16), Avood definitely can also mean, not lost, but lost in the sense of my life is in danger. And the rabbis in a sense, re interpreted this, this whole Parshat Bikkurim, this whole declaration of the first fruits in a different way. Do you agree? Before I asked that question Rashi in his interpretation on the Chumash actually goes out of his way to bring the Haggadah’s as interpretation, but if you look at the source sheet, most of the classical commentary say it’s clear that what he was talking about is we were wandering, landless people. And here I am a farmer living in my land, bringing my crop. So how do you account for this change of interpretation?

Adam Mintz 25:20

I mean, that that’s easy, because the change the interpretation, because the new interpretation works out better within the Haggadah,

Geoffrey Stern 25:30

Especially after that introduction, Right, meaning the simple explanation, which is that we were wandering and now we’re in the land of Israel, and now we have our own fruits etc. and all that kind of stuff. That makes a lot of sense, given the context of the Chumash, but that’s not relevant to the Seder. The Seder wants the big picture, which is that Laban tried to destroy us אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי, the word Avad, means from the word … tried to make us disappear, and therefore tried to get rid of I think, and we’ll see this comes up in another aspect of what the rabbi’s did. That there was a an evolution in the Haggadah itself. There is the Haggadah that was written and used in the land of Israel. And then when the Jews were exiled, it almost became a Haggadah of the exile. And so, the commentary that I have in the source sheet, it’s a by Joseph Tabori, he says as follows. He says while the temple existed, they understood the whole passage as truly representing their radical change in status. Remember, you’re in the land of Israel, you’re talking about the Exodus from Egypt, you actually parallel that farmer in a very profound way. The people had started out as fugitives, wandering nomads, and now they stood in their permanent home. But he says, After the destruction of the temple, there was no longer any parallelism between the lowly beginnings as nomads and their present status as people saved from persecution. And therefore, they talk about oppression rather than landlessness. So what he is saying and you can either buy it or not, is that the prayer itself evolved based on the needs of the time, and that when the mission of might have said say these verses of the first fruits, it might have been talking to people that their patriarchs, their ancestors had been in Egypt. Now they were in the land. They were spot on, like that farmer and the Seder was a question of being thankful just like the farmer, but when they were exiled, that message almost missed its mark, and therefore the rabbi’s put this introduction about how in every generation, they come to kill us, and it changed the interpretation of the verse. What do you think of Tabor’s theory?

Adam Mintz 26:12

That I love the idea that the that the interpretation of the verse evolves, and being grateful for it to having our own first fruit may not make sense if we don’t have our own land. I liked that a lot. That’s a really good explanation. Thank you.

Geoffrey Stern 28:37

So that explanation explained something else that I mentioned when I read the verses from our parsah, which is that in the Haggadah, it quotes are from our verses, but it doesn’t follow the advice of the Mishnah. It doesn’t read it till the end. It stops at verse 8. Verse 8 says, God freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand you will remember, that’s where the Haggadah says, What’s a mighty hand by an outstretched arm by awesome Power by signs and portents? There’s at least two pages in the Haggadah that talks about each one of these words, but get to verse 9, it says bringing us to this place. וַיְבִאֵ֖נוּ אֶל־הַמָּק֣וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה no interpretation, giving us this land, no interpretation a land flowing with milk and honey, no interpretation, all the way till the end. And I’ve spoken about this before the last verse, it says, And you shall enjoy together with the Levite the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that God gave you. So, in the introduction, I talked about censorship, in a sense and Tabori goes on to say this for people that were once more in exile. You It would be almost too much to pretend that they weren’t, it would be almost too much to talk about coming into the land, a land of milk and honey, and therefore the Haggadah decided not to quote those verses, and not to provide this singsong commentary about it. And if we step back and we look at prayers, that means that the prayers do evolve based on our condition where we are. But it’s also an open question. And I would say an invitation, is it not?

Adam Mintz 30:36

I think that that’s 100%. right. I mean, I really liked to Tabori’s explanation, I think he got it right. It also is good for us. Because what it does is it links the Torah portion to the Haggadah. Usually, the Haggadah just borrows these verses, but they’re not really relevant. And what he does is he really connects one to the other. So, I like that also.

Geoffrey Stern 31:01

So at the end of my source sheet, I quote just one, one section from a whole Google Doc, which comes out of Israel from young scholars in Israel. But literally, there is a revival in the Haggadah today, where they continue and they say וַיְבִאֵ֖נוּ who brought us in, and they say then is now as it is said, How I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to me in the same kind of tradition, this singsong thing they quote another verse, and אֶל־הַמָּק֣וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה this place refers to the temple, and it comes from Rabbi David Mishlove, supplement for Seders in Israel. So here we have an example of a prayer that starts in the Five Books of Moses in Deuteronomy, that was changed, maybe censored out of sensitivity to people living in exile, and is today being rewritten, and re-positioned for a new generation of Jews who are in the land. And I just find that to be so. So fascinating.

Adam Mintz 32:14

I think that’s great. I think this was really the sources I give you credit, Geoffrey, because the sources tonight were really, really good.

Geoffrey Stern 32:20

Well, and I think it’s an invitation to all of us as we, as we begin this prayer season, as I call it. There are different ways to approach the prayers. You know, many of us just focus on what does this prayer mean. But I think tonight, we’ve really seen that there were so many other reflective and reflections that can have meaning to us beyond just the simple meaning of the words, and we’re gonna be in synagogue for so many hours. We need all the tools we can get.

Adam Mintz 32:50

Fantastic. And we still got one more next week. So well, Shabbat Shalom, everybody, and we’ll see you next Thursday. Looking forward. Be Well, everybody.

Geoffrey Stern 32:57

Shabbat shalom. Thank you, as always, Rabbi. And for any of you who have a comment. Oh, Miriam, I’m going to invite you on

Miriam Gonczarska 33:08

I posted something a little comment that we have another prayer in our siddurs from the Torah. Not from Deuteronomy but from Numbers and its יְבָרֶכְךָ֥ יְהֹוָ֖ה וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ (Numbers 6: 24)

Geoffrey Stern 33:32

Of course, the Priestly Blessing, the Cohen’s benediction. That’s, that’s perfect. We did miss that.

Miriam Gonczarska 33:39

Yeah, and I wanted to add that because I think it’s fascinating, although it’s not from sefer Devarim. But the beautiful part is it’s about Cohanim. It’s about temple, temple rituals. And we say it every day, every morning, but this is a beautiful, beautiful player.

Geoffrey Stern 34:07

Thank you for that. It is fascinating how few of our prayers come from the Torah itself, the rabbi kind of mentioned that. But those that do obviously have great power. And again, you look at Bikkurim It’s a prayer of a farmer being thankful with a historical memory. You look at the priestly blessing that you just mentioned, you know, it doesn’t talk about ritual, it talks about that God should bless you and keep you and shine his light upon you and give you peace. I mean, they’re just powerful.

34:42

Yes. And what is very interesting that apparently, archeologists in Israel found this prayer on a very early materials and there is this concept of biblical criticism, which we might like or not like, but they say that this is one of the oldest texts in the five books of Moses. It’s beautiful words, and that the entire idea that Hashem should bless you and keep you and turn his face and shine upon you and be graceful into you. I mean, there’s different translations, and there’s so much in this play of words, because it’s the וִֽיחֻנֶּֽךָּ, you can translate it as chinuch (education), and Hanukkah, and there’s just so much written here plays so much, so much in this prayer. And again, it’s not from first book of Moses, it’s that from the fourth one. But the observation that you write I really liked that is that most of our prayers are from the sefer Devarim. That’s a fascinating observation and, and there is something very deep about it. Even if I found to be prayer here, taken from Bamidbar (Numbers)

Geoffrey Stern 36:05

So Miriam, if I remember you are a graduate, you got smicha Maharat, is that correct?

Miriam Gonczarska 36:10

Yes. And Rabbi Mintz is my teacher. I took all his classes.

Geoffrey Stern 36:15

And you serve the Polish community, if I remember correctly. So, what do you do during the High Holidays? Are you conducting services?

Miriam Gonczarska 36:26

No, it’s kind of public knowledge. So I can tell you I’m struggling right now with cancer. So I am in New York, but I am not able to be insured in a long you know, for long periods of time. So, I’m undergoing chemo right now. So, I’m laying low on the days themselves, but I teach online before I’m preparing my class, and I actually I want to teach this material to my students. So, I was so excited I need the source Sheet. I want to teach them in Polish. I’m going to translate parts of what you taught and teach it in Polish

Geoffrey Stern 37:07

Amazing! I wish you a life and vibrance and Refuah Shelema and all those good things that were included in Miriam’s Refa Na La

Miriam Gonczarska 37:23

So actually, definitely means knows about my illness, and it was extremely moving when he actually said it knowing that I’m in the audience and my name is Miriam. And I love this moment and it’s like, it’s my teacher, but it’s like this this you know, I was warm and fuzzy.

Geoffrey Stern 37:41

As you should have been.

Miriam Gonczarska 37:43

Yeah. It might be just accidental, but I love that type of accidents.

Geoffrey Stern 37:47

Yeah, there are no accidents. Right? Anyway, Shana Tova, Shabbat shalom. Thank you all for joining us. Thanks Miriam for coming on.

Miriam Gonczarska 37:56

And it was fantastic. Fantastic to talk to you and thank you for all the Torah that you’re sharing with Rabbi Mintz this is this a beautiful class and I’m so happy that there such a zchut for clubhouse to have such a high level Torah on this platform.

Geoffrey Stern 38:14

Thank you so much. Shabbat Shalom Thank you. Bye bye.

Miriam Gonczarska 38:17

Bye bye.

Sefaria Source Sheet: http://www.sefaria.org/sheets/431313http://www.sefaria.org/sheets/431313Listen to last year’s Ki Tavo Podcast: Chosen:

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parshat korach, numbers 16-18

Join Geoffey Stern and Rabbi Adam Mintz recorded on June 30th 2022 on Clubhouse as we take a fresh look at Korach’s rebellion. Dathan and Abiram refer to Egypt as a Land Flowing with Milk and Honey and defy Moses even were he to offer fields and vineyards in a land flowing with milk & honey. What does the Biblical “Flowing with Milk & Honey” mean?

Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/416706Transcript:

Welcome to Madlik. My name is Geoffrey Stern and at Madlik we light a spark or shed some light on a Jewish Text or Tradition. Along with Rabbi Adam Mintz, we host Madlik Disruptive Torah on clubhouse every Thursday at 8pm Eastern and share it as the Madlik podcast on your favorite platform. Today we we take a fresh look at Korach’s rebellion. Dathan and Abiram, Korach’s sons refer to Egypt as a Land Flowing with Milk and Honey and defy Moses even were he to offer fields and vineyards in a land flowing with milk & honey. What does the Biblical “Flowing with Milk & Honey” mean? Join us today’s episode: Milk and Money

moreWell, welcome. You know, every week I try to figure out what am I going to talk about that we didn’t talk about last year. And last year, we talked about, the Midrash that said that cholera and all of the 250 Levites, showed up in a Talit She’kulo Techelet, in a garment that was all blue. And this year, I read the text afresh without any Midrashim, and I discovered, as you could tell in the intro, that there was something I had never noticed before. And it was a reference to what everybody knows is a namesake of the Land of Israel, “a land of milk and honey”. So we are in Numbers 16 and Korach obviously comes in front of Moses, and he started to rebellion. And the punchline of his rebellion is You have gone too far. רַב־לָכֶם֒. And he says, when did you raise yourselves above God’s congregation, מַדּ֥וּעַ תִּֽתְנַשְּׂא֖וּ עַל־קְהַ֥ל ה’ and Moses fell on his face. And Moses made a test that everybody should gather the next day with pans of incense. And whoever’s offering would be accepted, that would prove that God was on their side. And then we get to verse 12. And it says Moses sent for Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab. But they said, We will not come. So Moses asked for these guys to come and they wouldn’t come and the said as follows. Is it not enough that you brought us from a land flowing with milk and honey, to have us die in the wilderness, that you would also lord it over to us? Even even if you had brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey, and even if you had given us possession of fields and vineyards should you gouge out the eyes of those involved? We will not come. So had you ever noticed this? I’m sure you had. But what do you make of the textual argument? Number one, I had never realized that the land of Egypt that you know we always refer to as the fleshpots of Egypt, where you could have watermelon and all of this stuff that it was referred to as a land flowing with milk and honey. And I never heard this argument where, it almost sounds like the lady does protest too much. When somebody says even if you offer me this, I will come you kind of get a sense of what bothers them. And they said even if you were to give us fields and vineyards and gouge out our eyes, we wouldn’t come. What do you make of all this?

Adam Mintz 04:11

Yeah, so that’s kind of funny. You know, when you rebel against somebody, sometimes the arguments aren’t logical. It’s interesting that you mentioned last year, how the rabbi’s try to make Korach’s argument very logical, you know, he says, You know, does, does a garment that’s all blue need tzitzit that are blue. That’s a house that’s fulfilled with Jewish books need a mezuzah? That’s very logical. But actually, if you look at the text, the text is the opposite. The argument that they make is not really very logical, because the argument that they make is really that, even if you would have given us good things, we still wouldn’t have come and you know what, that’s a lie. That’s just a lie. It’s not true. They want good things. What they don’t want is they don’t want Moses telling them what to do. So I think it’s interesting just to play the text against the rabbinic interpretation.

Geoffrey Stern 05:17

So I totally agree with you. But I literally am stepping back and I am just listening to what they say. And you know, I kind of joked and said, maybe the lady protest too much Me thinks from Shakespeare. But if you remember back when Abraham wanted to buy a burial place for his wife, Sarah, and he’s talking to a Hittite Prince called Ephron. And Ephron says, you know, take it for free, we want to give it to you. And Abraham’s constantly says, No, I want to buy it, I want to buy it. So Ephron finally says, My Lord listen to me a piece of land worth 400 shekels of silver, what’s that between me and you? And of course, that was a hefty sub, not a bargain. And Abraham settled for that amount. And I really think that the text in a literary fashion and historic fashion, is doing the same thing with Dathan and Aviram. And when they say, let’s forget about the reference to milk and honey, but when they say, even if you had given us possessions of fields and vineyards, we would not come. I learned from that, that that’s what’s bothering them. And of course, we’ve touched upon this many times on the podcast, that what makes the tribe of Levi and the Kohanim subset unique is that they did not have fields and vineyards, their portion was God’s. And I think that once you look at the argument from that perspective, and then you go back and even read רַב־לָכֶם֒ maybe that’s their arguments, they are protesting that Moses and Aaron made this ridiculous decision, in their mind, to forego the possession of fields and vineyards. And they’ve taken on too much. And they are holier than thou. And these guys want to have fields like everybody else. I’ve not seen anybody give this explanation. But what do you think of it? Rabbi?

Adam Mintz 07:36

I liked that explanation. Let’s go one step at a time. Who were they rebelling against? Are they rebelling against Moses or rebelling against Aaron, or rebelling against the whole system? I think there are three options.

Geoffrey Stern 07:51

Well, I mean, I think even if you say that we’re building against the whole system, since Aaron and Moses and God are part of the system, they’re rebelling against the whole shebang.

Adam Mintz 08:05

Right. I’m in agreement with you. I think that they’re rebelling against the whole shebang.

Geoffrey Stern 08:12

And I think for us moderns and even not so moderns even those under the influence of Greek democracy it’s very easy to say רַב־לָכֶם֒, you’ve taken too much, which is you have special rights and privileges and we should have that too. And of course for a Levi to make that argument it’s not as strong as an argument as with a Yisrael making it for a Levi saying to a Cohen you’re taking too much …. correct me if I’m wrong… yes, for Cohen has certain obligations and also privileges that outrank a LEVI So even if a Levi is eating food that is holy in sacrifice to him, he might take off Terumah … a 10th and give it to the Cohen, but ultimately, he’s part of the same system so it’s kind of tenuous for a Levi to argue to a Cohen you know, why are you is so exclusive. I want to have all the privileges you have but God forbid I will be a Pushut Yisrael, a simple Israelite

Adam Mintz 09:21

Well, that’s that’s what’s interesting. They really want they want Aaron’s position, or Korach wants Aaron’s position. It’s almost as if he says Moshe, it’s okay. Moshe got when Moshe got but why did they why did they get two in the family? That’s not fair. See, what I’m really arguing is the nepotism comes in Aaron, not in Moshe. That’s my argument. Moshe is chosen by God. That goes back to the burning bush Aaron It sounds like maybe he’s chosen by Moses. And that’s not fair because Aaron’s his brother, I’m just raising that as an option.

Geoffrey Stern 10:09

Okay, so now I continue leading the posture, and for the rest of chapter 16 that we started with. And so the whole of chapter 17, it goes into what happens. So just to review quickly, the earth opens up, and the earth swallows, Korach, and his 250 co-rebels. And then God is still angry and says enough already with these people, and a plague begins. And now we’re getting hundreds and 1000s of other Israelites who are guilt by association… and then we get, and this blew me away to Numbers 18. And starting with Numbers 18: 8, it says God spoke further to Aaron. And he starts delineating exactly what privileges the tribe of Aaron gets. In verse 9, he says, this shall be used from the Most Holy sacrifices, the offerings by fire, every such offering that they render to me as most totally sacrifices, namely, every meal offering sin offering guilt offering of their shall belong, he says זֶֽה־יִהְיֶ֥ה לְךָ֛ מִקֹּ֥דֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁ֖ים. Same, basically, he’s saying, all of those things that I promised you, you still get. And then he goes on in 11. And he goes, This too shall be us the gift to offerings, the elevation offerings I gave to you and your wives, your sons into the daughters that are with you, as a due for all time, every one of your household. And then it continues in verse 13, the first fruits the Bikurim of everything in their land that they bring to God shall be yours, every one of your household who is pure may eat. And he goes on and he says, their meat shall be yours, it shall be yours, like the breast of elevation, so forth and so on. And it shall be an everlasting covenant of salt before God for you and for your offspring. And then he goes on to say in verse 20, and God said to Aaron, you shall, however, have no territorial share among them, while own any portion in their midst. I am your portion, and your share among the Israelites, and to the Levites. I hereby give all the types in Israel as their share in return for the services they perform the services of the tent of meeting. And finally, in verse 23, he says, but they shall have no territorial share among the Israelites לֹ֥א יִנְחֲל֖וּ נַחֲלָֽה. So I’m reading this from the context of this throwaway comment that that Datan and Aviram said, we’re even if you were to give us land, even if you were to give us vineyards, we wouldn’t come. And I interpret that to be the crux of their their complaint. And here at the end, the parsha ends with a formal delineation not only of what they have, but that they have no territory. To me. It’s a complete literary unit and it absolutely bakes the whole argument from beginning to end.

Adam Mintz 13:42

Yeah, that’s interesting. So what do you make of it? I like that. What do you make of that? So what is that? What happens to the argument?

Geoffrey Stern 13:51

So it seems to me that the argument is basically one of crass materialism that the Levites and Korach are saying you gave away too much, you were too holy. We also want territory, we also want vineyards, what have you done to us? And God Moses, Aaron rejects their claim. And we learned about the whole thing, as we will find out later on. There is a tradition that Datan and Aviram survived. We’ll get to that later. But for now, after all of that is done. This is the formal legislation about this amazing concept that we talked about for many times. Where in Egypt. The priests were the gods. The priests were the ultimate power. They had material power. They were the ones that Joseph didn’t take taxes from them. They had the honey; they had the milk. And they owned the afterlife, which is ultimately the final arbiter of power, especially if you look at the Catholic Church where it’s all about getting into the pearly gates. And here, the revolution of our people in the desert at Sinai was it took them from them, Moses and Aaron gave it freely. And Korach is giving one final rebellion against that. And here we have it resolved. So what do you take of my argument, Rabbi?

Adam Mintz 15:38

I think you say I think you argument is interesting. First of all, the rebellion, let’s kind of take a step back. I like your argument a lot. The rebellion, so I raised the question whether the rebellion was against Moshe, or the rebellions against Aaron. My next question is, rebellions always reflect a weakness in the leadership? You only have a rebellion when the leader is weak? How does your argument relate to that? Are Moses and Aaron weak? And is that what Korach and Dotan and Aviram are pushing they do they see a weakness? Do they see a problem? What do you think?

Geoffrey Stern 16:23

Look, I’m going to cut it short, because I want to hear from Nachum. But I think whenever you have a revolutionary movement, ultimately, you get to a point where there’s a falling out. And the inner group breaks apart, whether it’s a Trotsky and a Lenin. And I think this is a revolutionary idea. I think the weakness of the idea is how radical it is. And I think that Korach is showing us ….. that’s the importance of cola. He is the straw dummy, who shows us just how radical a move it was, by God, by the Toba, by by Moses and Aaron. Nachum, welcome to the Bimah!

Neil (Nachum) Twersky 17:09

So as I’m saying, I don’t totally agree with your interpretation, Geoffrey. I feel that really Korach was trying to usurp first the power of Moshe and that he had the right as, if you will interpreter of Humash its legacy and Jewish decisior. And therefore, the reason I raised the question of two miracles, is the second rebellion was really against the priesthood. And that, that was relegated to Aaron, in the level of that he convened, which was spirituality. Hence, the first miracle is what happened. You know, the earth swallows up a bunch of people then he was spared because Moses intervened the second miracle, which you didn’t relate to, when you’re going through your verses comes afterwards. It’s when God commands that they set up their staffs and see what happens. And the only staff that blossoms is Aaron. That’s a symbol that his staff blossom, convincing people that the rebellion against Him was one of spirituality. In fact, Rav Aaron Soloveitchik, interpreted that the reason that his staff was made of shaked, I’m not sure what shaked is….

Geoffrey Stern 18:43

is it not an almond. Is it an almond?

Neil (Nachum) Twersky 18:48

Right, but etymologically, supposably, at least according to Rav Aahron Soleveichik an almond anyplace it’s planted, it can be blossom. So in any event, there are two miracles. There are two rebellions, … not that they weren’t against both of them, but one against Moshe, because of his interpretation of Torah was a threat to his leadership. And the second one against the spiritual leadership of Aaron, hence his staff blossomed, maybe, indicating spirituality can grow any place.

Adam Mintz 19:36

So let’s go back Geoffrey to your interpretation. So at the crux of my interpretation, and I said it’s all about the money. I want, I went into the rabbinic texts. And you know, we don’t know a lot about Korach. One of the rabbinic texts in the Talmud, Pesachim 119a says that he was one of the richest men of all times. So the rabbi’s took it upon themselves to say, you know, he actually worked for Joseph. And he found out where the riches….. , it’s kind of reads like Raiders of the Lost Ark, you know that there were these riches that were brought down from Canaan into Egypt. And they came back to Israel in Solomon’s time we know from my talk with the Reverend how they went to Kush. And they went to so Korach is targeted as a very rich person. And you know, the other rich person that disappears by the rabbinic tradition at this time, is our old friend Nachshon. Who the legend has it also was the only one disappears. He should have been part of the spies last week and he wasn’t

Geoffrey Stern 20:56

Correct. And the Rabbi’s, you know, they only have good things to say about him. But one thing that they say that’s not so good, is that when Nachshon brought his offering, it says he bought his offering on the first day and the rabbi’s interpret this to mean that whereas the other nesi’im, the princes got the offering from their tribe Nachshon was rich, and he got his own, he had his own money. So I think one of the takeaways even that made it to the rabbinic tradition is that again, feeding into what I was saying that Korach was actually interested in having…. he didn’t want the whole Cohen thing. He didn’t want the whole Levi thing. He wanted a possession. He wanted a nachla in the land. And it’s all about crass capitalism. And I just wonder, do you feel that there was a thread in rabbinic tradition that had an issue with wealth? I mean, we certainly see plenty of instances where there were certain great scholars who were very wealthy and all that,

Adam Mintz 22:09

In the Torah is very important. Nobody is wealthy in the Torah. Avraham as a lot of flocks, and actually it gets him in trouble. Because with Lot he has a problem, because they’re both wealthy and they fight with one another. Wealth is not a value in the Torah.

Geoffrey Stern 22:29

So certainly, in the beginning, I stayed away from the rabbinic interpretations. And I said, Let’s just read the text. And I gave an interpretation. And now looking at the rabbinic there is a little bit of a reference to that, that he was a wealthy man looking out for his vested interests. So I think that’s one thing. And I think, in a sense, his interpretation of a land flowing with milk and honey, he compared the land of Egypt and the land of Israel. Talking about what you were saying Nachum about the spiritual aspect, he didn’t see the spiritual aspect. He saw Egypt as a rich country, as crass as it was, how it had slaves and how it took advantage of people… No he looked back with great nostalgia and when he said, If you promise me the land of Canaan is a land flowing with milk and honey, he saw it as a parallel, and he wanted a piece of it. So so that’s how I see it. And that’s, I think, the first interpretation that we get of a land flowing with milk and honey, and for the remaining time, I thought we would talk about what actually a land flowing with milk and honey has been taken to mean. And I think, you know, the most obvious is, it’s a sign of fertility. If you look at Exodus 3: 8, where God says, I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the region of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. This concept of fertility, this concept of flowing which almost has a sensual aspect to it, I mean, if you think of the word Zav, normally when we come across the words of it has to do with almost with, with issues and bodily functions and sensuality and sex. So I think that the way that we take it is one that’s very central if you look at the Song of Songs 4: 11 It says Sweetness drops From your lips, O bride; Honey and milk Are under your tongue; And the scent of your robes Is like the scent of Lebanon. So I think that in our tradition, not in Korach’s tradition, we saw a land oozing, flowing with milk and honey as something that was set aside and was a differentiator from a land of Egypt. And I think that’s the most basic interpretation. What does land flowing with milk and honey mean to you?

Adam Mintz 25:31

So, though it’s different than Egypt, even though Egypt was clearly a very prosperous land, milk and honey, Egypt is never described as milk and honey, but Egypt, actually, the Nile River is what makes Egypt successful, isn’t that right? Everything’s around the Nile. Pharaohs around the Nile. He’s always at the Nile. It’s not milk and honey, it’s water, it’s River. It’s something like that. But milk and honey represents a flowing, You say flowing like Zab is sensual or sexual. I think flowing is continuous.

Geoffrey Stern 26:21

And what I should have emphasized when I said sexual, I was getting back to fertility, it’s very fertile.

Adam Mintz 26:28

I think that’s part of it. When you flow, it continues to go when the river flows, it continues to go.

Geoffrey Stern 26:37

And the flipside of fertility is infertility. So whereas the Nile was dependable, and didn’t give rise to a nation that prayed for rain, and was dependent on the heavens and the spiritual, I think that again, is part of what makes milk and honey so important and the flow. If you take milk to mean cow’s milk or goat’s milk, and if you take honey, and we’re going to get into whether it’s bees honey, or honey, from dates, fruit juice, you could also maybe say that, it’s a lamb that combines agriculture, with herding

Adam Mintz 27:23

Oh, that’s interesting. I didn’t think of that. You could explain it that way that it covers both.

Geoffrey Stern 27:30

So let’s talk about a little bit about honey devash, which I think most people on the street if you would ask them, they would say, oh, It’s bee’s honey, right. So as fascinating as it may seem, we need to go to the Talmud to confirm that bee’s honey is kosher. Because there is a principle that what emerges from a non kosher animal is non kosher. And that is in Bekorot 5b. And the Gemora in Bekorot 5b and the Gomorrah in 7b raises the question, and it says, what do the sages say about honey of bees? Is it permitted? And they give two reasons that it’s, it’s permitted. One is because they bring the nectar from the flowers into their body, but they do not excrete it from their body. So the first is that all the work of the bees are worker bees, so they process the nectar. And so it you’re not eating something that comes from a bee. And then Rav Sheshet stated his answer in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Ya’akov, who says that with regard to honey, the Merciful One permits it as an exception to the principle that a substance that emerges from a non-kosher animal is non-kosher. who said that actually, we have a special verse. The verse says In Leviticus, yes, these may you eat of all winged creatures. Why does it say these, and the rabbi’s say you may not eat a non kosher winged creature, but you may eat that which is non kosher when creature discharges. And what is that? That is the honey of bees. So it’s fascinating. If you think about it, especially if you think of Rosh Hashan or you think of when a child starts to study Torah that they lick each word covered with honey, that bee honey is kosher, by way of either some biological knowledge on the part of the rabbi’s or by a special verse that permits us to eat it. And I think that is kind of fascinating.

Adam Mintz 29:32

That is absolutely fascinating. That’s so interesting. Well, first of all, it’s interesting, just the discussion about bee honey, and the fact that something that comes from a non-kosher animal is not kosher. Why bee honey is an exception. That itself is fascinating, right? Just the Talmudic discussion is fascinating. And I think it’s not the subject matter of today’s talk… But if you want to talk about a woman’s right to her body what most of Talmudic law states is what is in the womb of a female animal or person is part and parcel of that female mother. And if she’s tameh she’s tameh… if a cow is shechted, slaughtered with an embryo inside, the embryo doesn’t need to be slaughtered. We have a very strong tradition of identifying what’s inside of a mother, with the mother, just as an aside. But in any case, that’s honey. And I think that it’s fascinating to think that something as we associate so strongly with our religion, is nonetheless something that needs to be debated. And it’s true if you if you do a Google search about vegans, vegans are debate whether they can eat honey, That’s correct. There are some vegans who do eat honey and some vegans don’t eat honey and that’s basically the two opinions in the Gomora.

Geoffrey Stern 31:03

So the other opinion is that Devash is a from a date. And in Deuteronomy, for instance, when it lists the famous Shiva minim, the seven species, the last one is “and honey”, and it certainly doesn’t mean bee’s honey.

Adam Mintz 31:20

Correct… that’s definitely date honey.

Geoffrey Stern 31:22

So if that’s the case, then certainly we have something about agriculture and the milk that I think is very nice.

Adam Mintz 31:32

,And I think we just we can finish off with Nachum’s point, the fact that the staff blossomed, also has to do with agriculture.

Geoffrey Stern 31:43

Absolutely.

Adam Mintz 31:44

I think your point is, right, and the fact that the symbol, you know, that that, you know, that that Moses and Aaron were right, was the fact that the that the staff blossomed, that’s part of this whole thing. So the way that I want to finish, and I told you in the pre story I was going to mention this is there is a tradition that the two sons of Korah actually survived. And there’s also a tradition that there’s a special Psalm that we say, every day, and on the psalm of Monday, which in the creation, narrative, God does not say “it is good”. We all know on Tuesday, he says, Pa’amiyim ki tov, on Monday, he doesn’t say ki Tov once, because that’s when God made a division. And he made a division between heaven and earth. And Korach is associated with trying to make a division. And on Monday, we say Psalm 48, which is one of eight I believe, Psalms that are in the name of l’Bnai Korach the children of Korach, who the tradition feels somehow are in a unique position from down in that pit that was swallowed by the earth, to sing the praise of God and try to bring the parts back together. And I think the takeaway from that, and the fact that we have honey from a bee who might not be all together kosher is that as Shlomo Carlebach said, “you never know”. You never know where purity can come from. And that at the end of the day, is this sweetness that comes out of a very bitter story of Korach. Fantastic. I love the end. Shabbat shalom, everybody. Next week, I’ll be coming to you from Jerusalem. We’re going to do it at 4pm New York Time 11pm Israel time, can’t wait to speak to you from Jerusalem. Shabbat shalom. Enjoy the Parsha be well.

Geoffrey Stern 33:35

Shabbat Shalom to everybody have a great one.

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