An opening Aggadic statement from one of the masters of Aggadah (Rabbi Akiva)
הרבה מעות יש לי ואין לי שולחני להרצותן
I have many coins, but I do not have a money changer to whom to give them.
Possible outcomes:
1: Knowledge- (Breadth) Thematically structured, covering a broad spectrum of Aggadah.
Spiritual Literacy. Knowing the meaning of words and terms and dispelling mistaken clichés.
2: Understanding- (Depth) Recognition of established conceptual patterns.
Spiritual Perspective. Understanding principles, context and application.
3: Wisdom-(Spiritual Perspective) 'Shov ve Ratzo' & the 'Shvil HaZav'.
Spiritual Empowerment through the 5 elementals.
A rough timeline
Tannaim(beginning of CE)
Amoraim(200approx)
Savoraim(500approx)
Geonim(650approx)
Rishonim(1000approx)
Achronim(1500approx)
Torah - The Inverted Knowledge Pyramid
"Mountains hanging by a hair" (Chagigah 10a)
(ג) מִטַּל הַשָּׁמַיִם, זוֹ מִקְרָא. וּמִשְׁמַנֵּי הָאָרֶץ, זוֹ מִשְׁנָה. דָּגָן, זוֹ תַּלְמוּד. תִּירשׁ, זֶה אַגָּדָה.
From the dew of heaven-Mikra.
From the fat of the land-Mishna
Grains(bread)- Talmud
Wine- Aggadah
An Index of Spiritual Intelligence--The 5 Elementals of Torah Wisdom
(יב) וְעַתָּה֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מָ֚ה יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ שֹׁאֵ֖ל מֵעִמָּ֑ךְ כִּ֣י אִם־לְ֠יִרְאָה אֶת־יְהוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ לָלֶ֤כֶת בְּכָל־דְּרָכָיו֙ וּלְאַהֲבָ֣ה אֹת֔וֹ וְלַֽעֲבֹד֙ אֶת־יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֖ וּבְכָל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃ (יג) לִשְׁמֹ֞ר אֶת־מִצְוֺ֤ת יְהוָה֙ וְאֶת־חֻקֹּתָ֔יו אֲשֶׁ֛ר אָנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם לְט֖וֹב לָֽךְ
-Awe/Wonder/To sense the ineffable.
-Character/Virtue/To transform through resemblance.
-Love/Gravity/To give of ones entire being.
-Intention/Language/To bring near to the Other.
-Embodiment/Conscience/To sanctify.
Defining Aggadah in light of Halachah
The Torah stands on a interdependent dual foundation:
Halachah- Jewish law
Aggadah-Jewish wisdom
The challenge of polarity and the imperative of balance.
Halachah defines and specifies limits by placing life into an exact system--Aggadah describes the role of conscience within the actions of man.
Halachah deals with granular details of actionable deeds--Aggadah looks with the totality of religious life.
Halachah deals with law--Aggadah deals with the meaning of law.
Halachah decrees--Aggadah teaches.
Halachah is definite--Aggadah is sublime.
Halachah without Aggadah is spiritless and Aggadah without Halachah is groundless.
Contamination of 'source code'- Lost in translation.
Nomos(law) vs Oraita(teaching) [about 250 years before the common era]
א"ר יהודה אף כשהתירו רבותינו יונית לא התירו אלא בספר תורה ומשום מעשה דתלמי המלך דתניא מעשה בתלמי המלך שכינס שבעים ושנים זקנים והכניסן בשבעים ושנים בתים ולא גילה להם על מה כינסן ונכנס אצל כל אחד ואחד ואמר להם כתבו לי תורת משה רבכם נתן הקב"ה בלב כל אחד ואחד עצה והסכימו כולן לדעת אחת וכתבו לו אלקים ברא בראשית (בראשית א, א) אעשה אדם בצלם ובדמות (בראשית א, כו) ויכל ביום הששי וישבות ביום השביעי (בראשית ב,ב) זכר ונקבה בראו (בראשית ה, ב) ולא כתבו בראם ...
R. Judah said: Even when our teachers permitted (holy texts to be translated into) Greek, they permitted it only for a scroll of the Torah. This was on account of the case of King Ptolemy, as it has been taught: It happened that King Ptolemy brought together seventy-two elders and placed them in seventy-two [separate] rooms, without telling them why he had brought them together, and he went in to each one of them and said to him, "Translate for me the Torah of Moses your master." God then gave each one of them wisdom and they all conceived the same idea. And they wrote for him, (Genesis 1:1); "God created in the beginning". (Genesis 1:26); "I shall make man in image and likeness". (Genesis 2:2) "And he finished on the sixth day, and rested on the seventh day". (Genesis 5:2); "Male and female he created him", [but they did not write "created them"]. (Genesis 11:7)...
תנו רבנן כשנכנסו רבותינו לכרם ביבנה אמרו עתידה תורה שתשתכח מישראל
When our Sages entered the vineyard in Yavne, they said: The Torah is destined to be forgotten from the Jewish people, as it is stated: “Behold, days are approaching, says the Lord God, and I will send forth a hunger in the land, not a hunger for bread and not a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11).
The Amoraim -The descent from Jerusalem to Babylonia.
Shifting perceptions of Babylonia
-The scholars of Babylonia were known for their sharp minds. It was said "they could draw an elepant through an eye of a needle"(Bava Metzia 38b)
-Rabbi Yermiah an Amora of Israel said "Those foolish Babylonians dwell in a land of darkness and therefore their darkened teachings should not be listened to."(Pesachim 34b)
How important is intention? What is Halachah-Principles or Rules?
"The performance of mitzvot requires intention"(Reish Lakish,Pesachim 114b)[Israel]
"The performance of mitzvot does not require intention"(Rava, Rosh Hashanah 28b)[Babylonia]
והכתיב ויין ישמח לבב אנוש ולחם לבב אנוש יסעד וגו׳ נהמא הוא דסעיד חמרא לא סעיד אלא חמרא אית ביה תרתי סעיד ומשמח נהמא מסעד סעיד שמוחי לא משמח
“Wine gladdens the heart of man, making the face brighter than oil, and bread fills man’s heart” (Psalms 104:15); bread is that which satisfies, wine does not satisfy? Rather wine has two advantages, it satisfies and gladdens. Bread, however, satisfies but does not gladden.[Israel]
"The mitzvot were not given for enjoyment, rather they are like a yoke around one's neck" (Rava, Rosh Hashanah 28a)[Babylonia]
א"ר ביבי זמירות היו לי חוקיך (תהלים קיט נד)
Rabbi Bibi said your statutes are songs.[Israel]
אמר ר' יוחנן כל הקורא בלא נעימה ושונה בלא זמרה עליו הכתוב אומר (יחזקאל כ, כה) וגם אני נתתי להם חוקים לא טובים וגו'
Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Concerning anyone who reads from the Torah without a melody or studies the Mishna without a song, the verse states: “So too I gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live” (Ezekiel 20:25)[Israel]
דרש רבא מפני מה נענש דוד מפני שקרא לדברי תורה זמירות שנאמר (תהלים קיט, נד) זמירות היו לי חוקיך בבית מגורי אמר לו הקב"ה ד"ת שכתוב בהן (משלי כג, ה) התעיף עיניך בו ואיננו אתה קורא אותן זמירות ?
Rava taught: For what reason was David punished with Uzzah’s death? He was punished because he called matters of Torah: Songs, as it is stated: “Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage” (Psalms 119:54). The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him: Matters of Torah are so difficult and demanding that it is written: “Will you set your eyes upon it? It is gone” (Proverbs 23:5), i.e., one whose eyes stray from the Torah even for a moment will forget it, and you call them songs?[Babylonia]
Shifting perceptions- What matters most of all?
דורשי רשומות אומרים: רצונך שתכיר מי שאמר והיה העולם? - למוד הגדה.
The expounders of metaphor say: Do you wish to recognize the One who spoke and brought the world into being? Learn haggadah. [Israel]
דאמר רבי חייא בר אמי משמיה דעולא מיום שחרב בית המקדש אין לו להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו אלא ארבע אמות של הלכה בלבד
Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Ami said in the name of Ulla: Since the day the Temple, where the Divine Presence rested in this world, was destroyed, the Holy One, Blessed be He, has only one place in His world where he reveals His presence exclusively; only the four cubits where the study of halakha is undertaken. [Babylonia]
"If you take this statement literally it is palpably untrue; it is as though the end of all existence is to dwell in the confines of Halachah and to cast away all otherr intellectual pursuits. In the time of Shem and Eber and before there was Halachah, shall we say that the God was not involved in the entire universe?" (Maimonides, Iggeret Techiat HaMeitim)
The last of the Geonim, R. Hai Gaon stated “ The teachings of Aggadah do not constitute an ongoing tradition. They are rather a product of an individual’s…thoughts. They are not precise enough to be regarded as authoritative”. (Otzar Ha-Geonim Chagigah,p.65)[Babylonia]
The Rishonim and the rebound
(יד) אך חכמת התורה מתחלקת לב׳ חלקים.
(טו) האחד מהם לדעת חובות האברים והיא החכמה הנראית.
(טז) והשני לדעת חובות הלבבות והם המצפונים והיא החכמה הצפונה.
(יז) חובות האברים יחלקו לב׳ חלקים:
(יח) האחד מהם מצות שמחייב בהם השכל אפילו אם לא חייבה בהן התורה.
(יט) והחלק השני מצות השמע שאין השכל מחייב בהם ולא דוחה אותם כאיסור בשר בחלב ושעטנז וכלאים והדומה להם ממה שנעלמה ממנו עילת איסורם ועילת חיוב ממה שנתחייבנו מהן.
(כ) אך חובות הלבבות כל שרשיהן הן מן השכל כאשר אבאר בעזרת השם.
(14) Furthermore, the science of the Torah falls into two divisions:
(15) The first aims at the knowledge of the duties of the limbs (practical duties) and is the science of external conducts.
(16) The second deals with the duties of the heart, namely, its sentiments and thoughts, and is the science of the inner life.
(17) The duties of the limbs likewise fall into two divisions.
(18) The first consists of precepts which reason would have dictated even if the torah had not made them obligatory.
(19) The second, precepts received on the authority of Revelation which reason neither obligates nor rejects such as the prohibition of milk with meat, shaatnez (garments woven of wool and flax), kilaim (sowing diverse seeds together), and similar precepts whose reason for being prohibited or obligatory is unknown to us.
(20) The duties of the heart, however, are all rooted in rational principles, as I will explain with G-d's help.
Maimonides distinction - 'Torah wisdom' and 'True Torah Wisdom'
ואין הכונה במאמר הזה - להבינם כלם להמון ולא למתחילים בעיון ולא ללמד מי שלא יעין רק בחכמת התורה - רצוני לומר תלמודה - כי ענין המאמר הזה כלו וכל מה שהוא ממינו הוא - חכמת התורה על האמת.
It is not here intended to explain all these expressions to the unlettered or to mere novice, a previous knowledge of Logic and Natural Philosophy being indispensable, or to those who confine their attention to the study of our holy Law, I mean the study of the canonical law alone; for the true knowledge of the Torah is the special aim of this and similar works.
The Masters of Aggadah
Avot HaOlam- Two Universal Paradigms
Behind the scenes there is a complete and comprehensive world outlook that evolved through the period of the Tannaim. Rabbi Ishmael and Rabbi Akiva, the two greatest Tannaim of the third generation, were nicknamed "Fathers of the World" (Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim 3:1 (47b). Each of them founded separate schools of thought. The previous generations held many treasures of thought yet to be expressed. These two masters of Aggadah along with their schools, became the mouthpieces for the voices that preceded them. In addition they are also the 'Fathers' of two kinds of paradigms that the surviving generations up through the ages including the present, would inherit.
A very brief glimpse into the worlds of two competing paradigms:
Rabbi Ishmael sought clarity---Rabbi Akiva sought profundity.
Rabbi Ishmael avoided the esoteric and cryptic----Rabbi Akiva gravitated to the esoteric and cryptic.
Rabbi Ishmael read language as lucidly minimal---Rabbi Akiva read language with metaphorical embellishment.
Rabbi Ishmael preached that the world needed compassion and moderation---Rabbi Akiva preached spiritual heroism.
Rabbi Ishmael viewed God's power as transcendent---Rabbi Akiva viewed God's power as imminently present.
Rabbi Ishmael believed that Torah speaks in human language---Rabbi Akiva believed the Torah speaks apart from human language.
The wise gather within themselves insight by finding coherence for the beauty and form of their thoughts. Spiritual perspectives imbue our soul with fullness. The more these insights are contemplated in their lucidity, the more profoundly our level of understanding grows. The more real we become with our perception of truth the more our character becomes ennobled by this process. (R Kook, Shemona Katzavim 12:1)