סמינר תלמ"א

(10) Jacob left Beer-sheba, and set out for Haran. (11) He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. (12) He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it. (13) And the LORD was standing beside him and He said, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac: the ground on which you are lying I will assign to you and to your offspring. (14) Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you and your descendants. (15) Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (16) Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is present in this place, and I did not know it!” (17) Shaken, he said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven.” (18) Early in the morning, Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. (19) He named that site Bethel; but previously the name of the city had been Luz.

3) Even as I pour water on thirsty soil, And rain upon dry ground, So will I pour My spirit on your offspring, My blessing upon your posterity....

(3) The Shema may not be repeated, nor may any one go before the ark, nor may priests raise their hands [to say the priest's blessing], nor may they read in the Torah, nor read a section from the Prophets; nor may they perform the funeral halts , nor may the blessing for mourners be said, nor the seven blessings said on the celebration of a marriage, neither may the [Divine] name mentioned, when less than ten [men] are present. And on an occasion of redeeming land that has been consecrated, it is necessary that at least nine Israelites and a Cohen [priest] shall be present, and the same also at the valuation of a man.

(1) In order to explain the difference between a People of Fate and a Nation of Destiny it ‎is ‎appropriate to deal with a different contrast — that between an Encampment and a ‎Congregation. ‎The Torah used both of these concepts with respect to Israel. “Make for yourself ‎two silver ‎trumpets of hammered work; and they shall be to summon the congregation and ‎for ‎causing the encampments to set forth” (Numbers 10:2, emphasis added).‎

(2) Encampment and Congregation constitute two different sociological experiences, two ‎separate ‎groups that have nothing in common and do not support one another. An Encampment is ‎created ‎out of a desire for self-defense and thrives on fear. Congregation is fashioned out of ‎longing for ‎the realization of an exalted moral idea and thrives on love. In the Encampment, fate’s ‎rule is ‎unlimited, whereas destiny rules the Congregation. The Encampment represents a phase in ‎the ‎development of the nation’s history. The continued survival of a people is identified with ‎the ‎existence of the Congregation.‎

(3) An Encampment, in its essence, is not a uniquely human phenomenon; one finds its traces in ‎the ‎animal kingdom as well. There, too, the encampment serves as a shield against outside ‎danger. ‎When fear of attack grips herds of cattle and sheep, they tumble down in a crazed frenzy ‎from ‎every green mountain and grassy place and run toward each other, lock horns, and butt ‎their ‎heads. Fear finds its instinctive expression in a common quest for protection through ‎gathering ‎together. The secret of individuals uniting into one camp in the face of peril is well known ‎to the ‎animal instinct.‎

(4) In man’s world too, an Encampment is created solely from fear. When fateful, choiceless ‎existence ‎terrifies man, the individual grasps the inadequacy of his strength and aligns himself with ‎others for ‎purposes of selfdefense, in order to prevail over a common enemy. The establishment ‎of an ‎Encampment is a stratagem of warfare. Learn what the Torah has taught: “When you shall go ‎out ‎as an encampment against your enemy” (Deuteronomy 23:10, emphasis ‎added). An ‎Encampment is born out of the terror of destruction and loss, from the fear that fate ‎is ‎overwhelming. From the midst of the Encampment, the People arises. In the beginning, the ‎Jews ‎in Egypt were an Encampment. When they were freed by the Holy One, they rose to the ‎level of a ‎nation‎.‎

(5) Indeed, the Congregation has a special place in the kingdom of man and in his mighty spirit. ‎The ‎Congregation is man’s characteristic creation, and his glorious glorious hovers over it. ‎The ‎Congregation is not created as a result of negative causes or out of fear of the fate that ‎pursues ‎man, who senses his own misery and feebleness, but rather as a result of positive ‎impulses. Destiny is the foundation of the Congregation. A Congregation is a collection of ‎individuals with a single ‎past, a common future, shared aspirations, identical yearnings for a world ‎that is totally good and ‎pleasant, and a singular and harmonious destiny. The beginnings of the ‎Congregation are ‎embedded in the tradition of the people’s ancestors at the dawn of its existence. ‎Its end is rooted ‎in a common vision of the end of days. The people of the Congregation are ‎‎witnesses¹⁹ to the ‎events that have passed and to the miraculous future that has not yet ‎arrived. A The Congregation ‎encompasses not only those who are alive today but everyone who ‎has lived and who will live ‎from the dawn of humanity until the end of days. The dead who have ‎passed on are still alive ‎within the confines of the Congregation, and those destined to be born are ‎already alive within its ‎jurisdiction. A Congregation is a holy nation that does not fear fate and does ‎not live against its will. ‎It believes in its destiny and of its free will sanctifies itself for its realization. ‎The Covenant of Egypt ‎was made with a people that was born in the Encampment, the Covenant ‎of Sinai was concluded ‎with a holy people.‎

(1) From when do we begin to mention the power of [bringing] rain [in the Shemoneh Esrai], Rabbi Eliezer says, from the first day of the festival [Sukkot]. Rabbi Yehoshua says, from the last day of the festival [Sukkot]. Rabbi Yehoshua said to him [Rabbi Eliezer], since rain on the festival is nothing but a sign of a curse why should he mention it? Rabbi Eliezer said to him: I also did not say to request [rain] but to make mention, “He causes the wind to blow and the rain to fall” in its due season. He replied to him: if so one should at all times make mention of it.

(2) We do not ask for rain, unless it is near [or during] the rains. Rabbi Yehudah says, "He who passes in front of the ark [the chazzan] on the last day of the festival [Shmini Atzeret], the last one [the chazzan who does the Musaf service] mentions [that G-d brings rain], but the first one [the one who does the Shacharit service] does not. On the first day of Passover, the first [chazzan] still mentions it, but the last one does not." Until when is the rain to be prayed for? Rabbi Yehudah says till after the Passover; Rabbi Meir says till the month of Nissan has passed, because it is said [Joel 2:23], "And he will cause to come down for you the rain, the early rain and the late rains in the first month."

(3) On the third of Mar-Cheshvan prayers for the rain are to be said, but according to Rabbon Gamaliel, on the seventh of the same month, namely, fifteen days after the feast of tabernacles, in order that the last Israelites might have reached the river Euphrates.

(4) If the seventeenth of Mar-Cheshvan has come without the rain having yet descended, private individuals commence to keep three fast-days. On the night beforehand, they are allowed to eat and drink, and it is allowed [on the fast day itself] to work, to bathe, to anoint the body, to wear [leather] shoes, and to perform the marriage duty.

(5) If the new moon of Kislev has arrived without the rain having yet descended, the Beth Din (law court) shall order three public fast days. On the night beforehand, we may eat and drink, and it is allowed [on the fast day itself] to work to bathe, to anoint the body, to wear [leather] shoes, and to perform the marriage duty.

(6) If these [fasts] have passed and were not [favorably] answered, the Beth Din shall decree three more public fasts. On the night beforehand, we may eat and drink, but [on the fast day itself] it is prohibited to work, to bathe, anoint the body, wear [leather] shoes, and to perform the marriage duty. Additionally, we lock the bathhouses. If these [fasts] have passed and were not [favorably] answered, the Beth Din shall decree seven more fast days, which altogether make thirteen public fasts. These are more [strict] than the earlier [fast days], because [on these new fasts] we cry out [with shofar or voice], and we lock the shops. On Mondays, towards the evening, the shop-shutters [of those who sell articles of food] may be [loosely] leaned on [that is, not fully closed, but in a slanting position, so as to discourage but not completely prohibit buying], and on Thursdays, they may be entirely taken off, in honor of the [approaching] Sabbath.

(7) If these [fasts] have passed and were not [favorably] answered, we lessen from engaging in business transactions; from erecting buildings and planting; and from betrothings, weddings, and mutual greetings, like men who have been rebuked [and, so to speak, put] in their place. Private individuals return to fasting until the end of the month of Nissan. If Nissan has elapsed, and then the rain falls (some change the words to read "without rain," though not all. Due to the verse quoted, it seems that the phrase should be left out), it must be considered as a curse, for thus it is written [I Samuel 12:17], "Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain (proving through context that rain during the harvest season is a curse)."

(1) What is the order of the [prayer service of the] fast-days? We take out the ark to the square of the city, and we place ashes of burnt [substances] on the heads of the Nasie and of the chief of the tribunal of justice, and other persons shall also put ashes on their heads; the eldest among them shall then address them in heart-moving terms: "My brethren, consider that it is not written in respect to [the repentance of] the Ninevites, that God regarded their having wrapped themselves in sackcloth, and considered their fast-days, but that 'God saw their acts, and that they had turned from their evil ways' (Jonah 3:10), and the tradition of the prophets also is, 'Tear your hearts, and not your garments' (Joel 2:13).

(2) They stand to pray. We bring in front of the ark (meaning, to be the chazzan) an elderly man who is regular [to function as chazzan], who has children, and whose house is empty (meaning, he is poor), so that his heart may be entirely [devoted] to his prayer, and he says before them twenty-four blessings: the eighteen that are [said] every day, and he adds upon them another six.

(8) R. Simeon ben Gamaliel said, "Never were more joyous festivals in Israel than the fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, for on them the maidens of Jerusalem used to go out dressed in white garments—borrowed ones, in order not to cause shame to those who had them not of their own;—these clothes were also to be previously immersed, and thus they went out and danced in the vineyards, saying, Young men, look and observe well whom you are about to choose [as a spouse]; regard not beauty [alone], but rather look to a virtuous family, for 'Gracefulness is deceitful, and beauty is a vain thing, but the woman that feareth the Lord, she is worthy of praise' (Prov. 31:3); and it is also said (Prov. 31:31), 'Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.' And thus is it said [in allusion to this custom], 'Go out, maidens of Jerusalem, and look on King Solomon, and on the crown wherewith his mother has encircled [his head] on the day of his espousals, and on the day of the gladness of his heart' (Song of Songs 3:11); 'the day of his espousals,' alludes to the day of the gift of the law, and 'the day of the gladness of his heart,' was that when the building of the Temple was completed." May it soon be rebuilt in our days. Amen!