When is forever not forever?
(Note: We are not referring to
Western society's attitude
towards marriage)
In a classic analysis of the
relationship between the Jew and
Torah Sheba'al Peh (Oral
Law), Beis Halevi offers the
following metaphysical gem[1]
At first (after the first set
of tablets) , when the entire
Torah was merely alluded to,
Israel and the Torah were two
separate entities .... Bnei
Yisrael were those who observed
the Torah and kept it ... they
were akin to a utensil or an ark
containing a Torah scroll, [tashmishei
kedusha]. But after the 2nd
tablets, when Oral Law was given
to them, Bnei Yisrael became the
parchment of the Oral Law [, as
the verse states: "Write them
upon the tablet of your heart" (Mishlei
7:3)] . Just as the parchment of
a Torah scroll constitutes
essential sanctity, .... for the
parchment and writing together
constitute the Torah scroll, so
too the Torah and Israel are
one.
Oral Law binds the Jew to
Torah in a most intimate way. A
soul is parchment and one's
mouth the quill for words that
create indelible soul prints.
Deep analysis of Oral Law now
becomes a task of uncovering the
collective nishmas yisrael
- a profound process of self
discovery!
And for the less mystically
minded (nebach) ? Oral
Torah remains logically
compelling. Sans tradition, Shabbos
laws are "mountains hanging on
threads[2]".
"Do not do melacha (work)"
doesn't quite complete the
Shabbos picture - for what
is work and what does it
mean to do? Hence the
Oral Law serves as a necessary
complement to the Written
word.
Apparent contradictions between
Written and Oral Law however
create spiritual anxiety. While
Oral tradition emerges
victorious, for those who value
text, disloyalty to the word
causes extreme discomfort. Thus
many great commentators (e.g.
Vilna Gaon, Hakesav V'kabbalah,
Netziv, & Malbim) made it their
clarion call to restore harmony
between the written word and the
Torah Sheba'al Peh
Within Mishpatim resides a
classic example of apparent
incongruity between the Written
and Oral Torah
If the [Hebrew] servant shall
say (after the six year period),
I love my master ... then his
master shall bring him to the
court ... and he shall serve him
l'olam - forever
L'olam (Forever)! Indeed?
Flash forward to Vayikra
[25:10]:[3]
You shall sanctify the
fiftieth year and proclaim
freedom throughout the land for
all of its inhabitants;
it shall be the Yovel year for
you....
Rashi[4]clarifies
that with the onset of the
yovel, (Jubilee 50th
year) all who carry the title of
eved ivri, including
the nirtza[5],
[the Jewish servant who extended
his term beyond the initial six
year obligation] must be freed.
Apparently forever is not always
forever.
Ibn Ezra, mitigates the problem
by redefining l'olam.
Koheles [1,10] implies that the
world olam may simply
mean an extended period of time.
Yovel is the longest
block of time in the Jewish
calendar; thus the word olam, as
"a long time" is appropriate.
Ibn Ezra's rational approach may
satisfy some - but leaves me
underwhelmed. While technically
correct, one may still ask: Why
would the Torah opt for the more
ambiguous "olam" in lieu
of the more pristine "yovel",
in other words - why does the
Torah create a problem it must
later solve?
How cryptic and enticing are
Ramban's words :
The enlightened one will
understand that L'olam is [to be
understood] literally - for one
who works until Yovel has worked
all the days of the world. And
the words of the Mechilta: Rebbe
says: "Come & see that the world
is only fifty years old as it
says and he shall work forever -
until the Yovel"
I desire to be enlightened, but
I know people that are above
fifty (one of these days, I hope
to become an eyewitness). Yet,
one senses a profundity in these
enigmatic words. Ramban seems to
be saying that l'olam
is the more precise formulation!
Penetrate the term and you will
discern the nature of our world
- that in some mystical way
exists for only fifty years.
With Rabbeinu Bechayei's help,
we present Ramban's essential
point - the short story. In
Jewish numerology, what
separates 49 and 50 is a world
of difference. A world,
mamash.
Fifty days marks the
extraordinary transformation of
Bnei Yisrael from lowly slaves
to noble mekablei hatorah.
Fifty represents metamorphosis8.
Every year henceforth, we
personally bridge Pesach to
Shavuos with an omer period,
where we kabbalistically ascend
seven emanations from Chesed
(kindness) to Malchus
(kingdom). On day 49, we have
scaled the highest peak - we are
at malchus shebimalchus,
the kingdom of kingdoms. Now
what?
We start again. This time,
however we are in a different
world9.
... for fifty is the
number of utter transformation[6].
Personal, national and indeed
cosmic! Davar tziva l'eleph
dor[7].
(The matter [of the world]
He commanded for one thousand
generations), Ramban calculates
that a generation is fifty years[8].
The Midrash[9]
teaches that our universe has
experienced 6 previous
existences, each of which lasted
for a total of 7,000 years[10]
. Our world too will last for
7,000 years. Thus the totality
of this Universe's existence
will cease at its Yovel.
Yovel the messages teaches
that after seven cycles of
shemitta - each a new rung
of perfection within the world,
we are now ready for the dawn of
a completely new one[11]
At yovel, ready or
not, the eved ivri is
forced out. He, for whom the
world has turned so dark, he,
who is at the mercy of another
human, he, who may have lost his
sense of destiny and
independence, is now taught that
a Jew never consigned to fate.
New worlds and new hopes beckon.
Ramban's notion reminds us that
we can make new worlds [perhaps
most significantly our very own]
And for the rational Jew unaware
of the mystical notion of the
Yovel cycle ? Ramban's notion
still resonates - for it teaches
that a Jew need not die to
change his world, rather he
can transcend worlds in his
lifetime.
How many times do we set red
lines for our spiritual goals?
"This I can do, but I'll never
do that" can be the healthy
protest of one who engages in
slow but steady spiritual
progress. A progress that
ultimately creates for one a
nyer velt, a new spiritual
world, a progress that allows
one to be very personality he
"never" could be.
That is the goal of life. We
take a moment, look who we are,
who we can never be, and figure
out a way to get there.
Good Shabbos
[4]
based on Kiddushin 15a
[5]
so named for his pierced
ear
[6]
Ramban in his
introduction to
Bereishis writes:
וכבר אמרו רבותינו חמשים
שערי בינה נבראו בעולם
וכלם נמסרו למשה חוץ מאחד
שנאמר ותחסרהו מעט מאלהים
Moshe Rabeinu attained
the highest level of
wisdom known to man
Vatichasreihu me'at
me'elokim - the 49th
level. He was a bit
short of Hashem
(whatever that means).
According to the Zohar,
Bnei Yisrael were on the
49th level of
impurity and had to be
rushed out of Egypt; one
rung lower and they sink
into oblivion. For at
the fiftieth level, one
is transformed, in
either direction. Is it
not interesting that the
Levi may only serve in
the beit hamikdash
until the age of fifty ?
In some way his world
too has been completed.
[8]
[8]
Ramban, Shir Hashirim
Chavel edition, p. 539
[9]
Bereishis Rabah 3:7
(according to R.
Bechayai's
understanding)
[10]
For a novel approach to
reconcile this notion
with modern theories of
the Age of the Universe,
see Immortality,
Resurrection, & the Age
of the Universe: A
Kabbalistic View by
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan . See
also Tiferet Yisrael,
Drush Ohr Hachaim
[11]
It is indeed striking
that while prohibiting
labor in the Shemitta
the Torah still cedes
ownership to man [Vayikra,
25:5] "your
field you shall not sow,
. . .", while in
prohibiting labor in the
Yovel the Torah revokes
that ownership
[Vayikra,25:11-12] you
shall not harvest its
aftergrowth; ... from
the field you may eat
its crop" . In
Yovel, we have entered a
new world with no prior
ownership