An Example of My Idiosyncratic Brand of Spirituality

This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Naomi Mann in honor of Rabbi Moskowitz zt"l, whose shloshim is this week.

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An Example of My Idiosyncratic Brand of Spirituality

This past Friday I made my annual summer pilgrimage back to the Pacific Northwest. After waking up super early on Shabbos morning, I decided to daven at home. I was in the middle of saying my post-shacharis Ashrei when something stirred in my peripheral vision. I turned and – behold! – outside the picture window, not 15 feet away, stood a baby deer, munching on leaves from a tree in the front yard. When I moved closer, the deer froze and looked sharply in my direction, whereupon we made prolonged motionless eye contact for what felt like a full minute. Once the deer perceived that I wasn’t a threat, it continued eating and I resumed my recitation of Ashrei while watching it eat.

It then dawned on me that the contents of the pesukim I was reciting were unfolding before me in real time: “All eyes [look] towards You with hope, and You give them their food in its time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Tehilim 145:15-16). My mind went to the Radak’s explanation, which I had taught earlier this year:

"All eyes [look] towards You with hope": Likewise, he said: "all [the animals] hope towards You" (ibid. 104:27), for You created all the earthly creatures and You created their food - some eat grass, some eat seeds, and some eat other animals - and their eyes all depend on You and hope towards You, "and You give them their food in its time" through the chain of causality [in nature]. He said "in its time" in the singular because each and every species has its own time when its food comes about. He said "they hope towards You" [because] even though [these animals] lack knowledge, they instinctively yearn for their fixed portion that is given to them, and we [humans] are the ones who know that their hope is towards You, for You are the One Who prepares and provides.

I’ve recited these pesukim three times a day for as long as I’ve been Jewish, but it wasn’t until that moment that I felt like I was actually praising Hashem. I felt close to Hashem, as described towards the end of Ashrei: “Hashem is close to all who call Him, to all who call Him in truth,” which the Radak explains to mean, “with mouth and heart-mind [1] in harmony.”

This experience was amplified by the fact that it was Shabbos, a day about which the psalmist writes: “For You have gladdened me, Hashem, with Your deed; about Your handiwork I will sing joyously. How great are Your works, Hashem; [how] very deep are Your thoughts!” (Tehilim 92:5-6). Radak explains:

“For You have gladdened me” – On the Shabbos day You have gladdened me in my contemplation of “Your deed” and “Your handiwork,” which is the world and everything in it. On the Shabbos day, when I am able to contemplate, then I will rejoice. This is a reference to the natural sciences. When I contemplate [science] and apprehend through it whatever I apprehend, I will rejoice and sing joyously with my heart-mind. And since each thinker contemplates the work of God [with his own heart-mind], therefore he said, “You have gladdened me … I will sing joyously,” in the singular.

There are many models of spirituality [2] within Judaism: the ecstatic religiosity of Hasidism, the mystical practices of Kabbalah, the existentialist yearnings of Rav Soloveitchik, and much, much more. To each their own. As for me, in these recent years I have found great fulfillment in my ongoing (re)discovery and (re)cultivation of an intellectual-emotional spirituality grounded in Sefer Tehillim, as elucidated by the philosophical Rishonim (i.e. Radak, Meiri, Sforno) within the framework of the Rambam’s approach to Torah. An explanation of what this entails is beyond the scope of this article. But if the experience I described above resonates with you, then I encourage you to learn Tehilim towards this end.

[1] The Hebrew word “lev” can mean “heart,” “mind,” or both, depending on the context. I recently heard Tara Brach use the term “heartmind,” and although it’s awkward to use a made up term, it really does capture the sense of the Hebrew.

[2] In my fiery youth, I used to privately refer to the term “spirituality” as “the s-word.” It’s not that I objected to the concept itself. Rather, I objected to its typically vague usage across the entire spectrum of religiosity. That's why I avoid it ... except in this article.

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Mishlei 3:19-26 - Mishleic Security in God

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Artwork: The Mirari Conjecture, by James Arnold

Mishlei 3:19-26 - Mishleic Security in God

Some of my students decided to start learning Mishlei on their own this summer. They recently contacted me and asked for my assistance in learning the pasuk: "Hashem founded the earth with wisdom; He established the heavens with understanding" (Mishlei 3:19). They said that they had made some headway, but the ideas they came up with "didn't feel like Mishlei ideas."

I responded by affirming their observation: yes, the main idea of Mishlei 3:19 doesn't feel like a Mishlei idea, nor should it. Why not? Because this pasuk is from the first nine chapters of Mishlei, which serve a different purpose and are written in a different style than "regular Mishlei."

I wrote about this in my How to Learn Mishlei: A Step-by-step Guide. Chapters 1-9 constitute Shlomo ha'Melech's introductory discourse. The pesukim in chapters 1-9 were written to be learned paragraph by paragraph, sequentially. In contrast, the pesukim in chapters 10-29 are "standalone proverbs" which can be learned in any order, without any regard to their context within the sefer.

For this reason, I urge newer Mishlei students to skip chapters 1-9 and begin with chapters 10-29. These pesukim are easier to learn because they can be analyzed on their own. Moreover, it is also easier to approach chapters 1-9 after building up a basic "Mishleic intuition" from "standard Mishlei" pesukim, which will serve as a guide through the introductory material.

Although I usually write about standalone pesukim from chapters 10-29, I decided to switch it up for this week's Mishlei post and write about the pasuk that my students are learning, in order to illustrate just how different these introductory chapters can be.

The first step is to figure out the unit of which Mishlei 3:19 is a part. It's clearly not related to the pesukim before it, since that unit ends with the paragraph break at 3:18. It's also clear that 3:19 is connected to 3:20 at the very least, and the use of the pronoun "them" in 3:21 suggests that 3:19-20 is connected to 3:21-26. The pesukim after 26 seem to be their own thing.

Thus, the cluster of pesukim we'll be working with is this:

משלי ג:יט-כו

(יט) יְיָ בְּחָכְמָה יָסַד אָרֶץ כּוֹנֵן שָׁמַיִם בִּתְבוּנָה: (כ) בְּדַעְתּוֹ תְּהוֹמוֹת נִבְקָעוּ וּשְׁחָקִים יִרְעֲפוּ טָל: (כא) בְּנִי אַל יָלֻזוּ מֵעֵינֶיךָ נְצֹר תֻּשִׁיָּה וּמְזִמָּה: (כב) וְיִהְיוּ חַיִּים לְנַפְשֶׁךָ וְחֵן לְגַרְגְּרֹתֶיךָ: (כג) אָז תֵּלֵךְ לָבֶטַח דַּרְכֶּךָ וְרַגְלְךָ לֹא תִגּוֹף: (כד) אִם תִּשְׁכַּב לֹא תִפְחָד וְשָׁכַבְתָּ וְעָרְבָה שְׁנָתֶךָ: (כה) אַל תִּירָא מִפַּחַד פִּתְאֹם וּמִשֹּׁאַת רְשָׁעִים כִּי תָבֹא: (כו) כִּי יְיָ יִהְיֶה בְכִסְלֶךָ וְשָׁמַר רַגְלְךָ מִלָּכֶד:

Mishlei 3:19-26

(19) Hashem founded the earth with wisdom; He established the heavens with understanding. (20) With His knowledge the depths were cleaved, and the heavens drip dew. (21) My son – do not let them deviate from your eyes; guard wisdom and strategic thought, (22) and they will be life for your soul, and a graceful [ornament] for your neck. (23) Then you will walk securely on your path, and your foot will not falter. (24) When you lie down, you will not be afraid; you will lie down your sleep will be sweet. (25) Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor the darkness of the wicked when it comes, (26) for Hashem will be your security, and He will guard your foot from ensnarement.

When learning "standard Mishlei" pesukim from chapters 10-29, we try to ask all the questions we can. If we did that on this paragraph, we'd easily be overwhelmed. Instead, it is advisable to focus on getting the main idea of the paragraph as a whole - much like we do in our approach to Sefer Tehilim - and then examine the details in light of that main idea.

The major questions on this paragraph as a whole are:

(1) What are the first two pesukim saying? This certainly doesn't seem to be a practical decision-making idea, since it's about Hashem's creation of the world. These pesukim seem to be more appropriate for Tehilim or Bereishis than Mishlei!

(2) What is the relationship between 19-20 and 21? I am assuming that there is a connection because of how 21 begins: "Do not let them deviate from your eyes" - with the "them" referring to the chochmah, tevunah, and daas mentioned in 19-20.

(3) How do all of the benefits listed in 22-26 result from implementing the advice in 21? In other words, how do these effects (i.e. "they will be life for your soul ... and He will guard your foot from ensnarement") result from these causes ("do not let them deviate from your eyes; guard wisdom and strategic thought")?

Before we move on to the main idea, I just want to underscore how different these questions are from the kinds of questions we normally ask. For example, if we approached pesukim 22-26 as we would approach "regular Mishlei" (i.e. chapters 10-29), then we'd focus on all of the specifics - but since our pesukim come from Chapters 1-9, we need to prioritize the main idea over the details. 

It's not always clear which questions are major and which are minor. For example, one could expand on Question #1 by asking: "What are the definitions of chochmah (wisdom), tevunah (understanding), and daas (knowledge)?" or "Why is chochmah associated to Hashem's founding of the earth, tevunah to His establishing the heavens, and daas to His causing them to drip with dew?" An argument could be made that these are major questions which are critical for understanding the main idea. However, my intuition tells me that these questions are minor. Pesukim 19-20 are basically saying "Hashem created the universe with knowledge," and the terms used are synonyms.

[Okay - now it's time to think! Continue reading when you're ready.]

Due to the difference in style between "regular Mishlei" and the introductory chapters, I think it's best if I answer each of the three questions individually, and then summarize the main idea in 1-4 sentences - much like I do in my posts on Tehilim.

Answer to Question #1: What are the first two pesukim saying? 

The Meiri [1] offers several explanations of these two pesukim, but his final explanation appeals to me the most:

There are those who explain that the phrase "with chochmah" here refers to the [design of the] earth, meaning to say that He created it in accordance with chochmah - that is, with [laws of] nature that do not deviate from their creation, and which are responsible for the establishment and continued existence of the earth, [such as] the rotation of the earth, the rising and setting of the sun, the orders of the moon and stars which provide light at night, etc.

Turns out that the Meiri was quoting the Sefer Chukah, [2] whose explanation is spelled out a bit more:

"Hashem founded the earth with wisdom; He established the heavens with understanding" [means] that from the day He created them, they do not deviate from their ways, nor does any part of His design deteriorate, such that he would need to fix it - unlike human beings, who build a building, only to have it deteriorate years later and be in need of repair. The Creator (blessed is He) created all of His works with wisdom, and firmly established the earth through nature and [laws of] cause-and-effect - [such as] the rotation of the earth, the rising and setting of the sun, the order of the moon and the stars to provide light at night - and each and every one of them stands at its post and performs His commands. 

In other words, these two pesukim convey the idea that Hashem created the world and endowed it with lawful principles of cause and effect, which are consistent, perfect, and harmonious in their preservation of the universe, obedient to the will of the Creator. The terms chochmah, tevunah, and daas here all refer to the quality of intelligent lawfulness that is manifest everywhere in the universe. 

Answer to Question #2: What is the relationship between 19-20 and 21? 

Mishlei's premise, as stated in Saadia Gaon's Introduction to Mishlei, is that man is unique on account of his tzelem Elokim (i.e. truth-seeking intellect), which allows him to comprehend abstract knowledge, and to make decisions based on long-term benefits and consequences. 

In light of this premise, and the premise stated in 19-20 that the universe operates by natural cause-and-effect, it follows that man should utilize his intellect to understand the lawfulness of the world around him, in order to align himself with it to the best of his ability to maximize long-term pleasure and minimize long-term pain (again, as Saadia Gaon wrote in his Introduction to Mishlei). 

This manifests itself in two ways: "guard[ing] wisdom," which refers to avoiding actions and decisions which lead to harmful consequences, and "strategic thought," which refers to using knowledge of the laws of nature to bring about benefits that one wouldn't have otherwise received. But these two things will only be possible if he exercises Mishleic vigilance, "not letting [wisdom, understanding, and knowledge] deviate from his eyes." 

This might also be why the emphasis is on the "eyes": it's not enough to know, in abstract, that the universe operates by lawful cause and effect; you need to be able to see opportunities to implement Mishleic thinking in the sensory particulars of everyday life. 

Answer to Question #3: How do all of the wonderful benefits listed in 22-26 result from implementing the advice in 21?

These pesukim are a breakdown of the two general categories mentioned in the previous pasuk (i.e. "guarding wisdom and strategic design"). I don't know whether this is a comprehensive list or just a series of particular examples. Here's what my intuition tells me about each item on the list:

"they will be life for your soul" - If "soul" means your physical life, then this is a reference to all the ways that Mishlei literally prolongs your life by helping you make intelligent decisions to improve your physical health and to deter you from taking unwarranted risks and engaging in unhealthy practices or behavior. If "soul" means your mind, then this is referring to the enjoyment of Mishleic thinking, which will become the central pleasure of your life. (Judging by the rest of the list, I'd say that the first explanation is the correct one.) 

"and a graceful [ornament] for your neck" - If I recall correctly, "neck" in Mishlei refers to your larynx (a.k.a. vocal cords). [3] Mishlei will change the way you speak, the contents of your speech, and when you exercise your speech - all in a manner which will give you the quality of "grace" (i.e. people will naturally be drawn to you because of the benefits and pleasantness they derive from the effects of Mishlei on your personality, and the beneficial results of Mishlei in your life [4]). 

"you will walk securely on your path" - I think "your path" refers to the general direction you take in life (i.e. the goals you pursue), which will be "secured" by your intelligent decision-making. 

"your foot will not falter" - I doubt this means that you won't make mistakes, since that would be humanly impossible. Rather, I think it means that even when you do make mistakes, you will learn from them and benefit from the insight you gain. Thus, in the long run, even your mistakes will enhance the quality of your life. Either that, or it just means that you will make fewer mistakes than a person who doesn't learn Mishlei. 

"if you lie down, you will not be afraid" - As a student of Mishlei, you will have a healthy recognition and acceptance of what is in your control and what is not in your control; you will take all of the precautions to protect yourself from threats that are within your control, and you will accept that whatever is out of your control is out of your control, to the extent that when you go to sleep (i.e. a state of complete lack of control, and therefore, complete vulnerability), you will still feel secure that you have done everything in your ability to protect yourself from harm.

"when you lie down and your sleep will be sweet" - This physical security will also lead to an emotionally secure state of mind, which will enable you to have a restful sleep, free from those late-night bouts of stress, fear, and anxiety about the worries of the day. 

"do not be afraid of sudden terror, and the darkness of the wicked when it comes" - Even when unexpected catastrophes happen, whether natural ("sudden terror," such as hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, etc.) or brought about by human beings ("darkness of the wicked," such as assaults, robbery, war, the Holocaust, etc.), you need not be afraid; as a student of Mishlei, you will use the same decision-making approach in these situations as you would under normal conditions, and will be sure to achieve the best results that are in your control to achieve. 

"Hashem will be your security, and He will guard your foot from ensnarement" - I believe that this pasuk is framed in terms of Hashem in order to chiastically conclude this cluster of pesukim as it began. How does one take security in Hashem? By aligning oneself with Hashem's chochmah, tevunah, and daas which constitute the fabric of His universe. To the extent that you trust in His will, as manifest in the laws of nature, you will feel secure, and not become ensnared in the consequences of bad decisions, or in the stress and anxiety that results from non-Mishleic thinking.

Having said all of that, here is my four-sentence summary of the main idea:

The basis of Mishleic security in Hashem is the recognition that He created the universe in accordance with laws of cause and effect – laws which are universal, consistent, and rational (i.e. they can be known and understood by human beings). The Mishlei student’s trust in Hashem is based on the reliability of His will as manifest in these laws of nature. By using wisdom and strategic thinking to align himself with these natural laws, thinking and speaking about them constantly and harnessing them to his advantage, he will achieve both physical and emotional security – physical security from making the best decisions within the realm of his control based on the best of his knowledge, and emotional security derived from his trust in Hashem’s will, and from his knowledge that he has done everything in his power to make the best decision he can. And even when he makes a mistake, which will inevitably happen, he will learn from it, and use the insights he gained to improve his decision-making in the future.

There you have it. See how different this feels from a "regular Mishlei" idea? It's far more general and less focused on particular practical decision-making strategies. I also hope you can see what I meant when I said that I encourage students not to learn these introductory chapters until after they've developed their Mishleic intuition by learning chapters 10-29 for a while.

[1] Rabbeinu Menachem ben Shlomo Meiri, Commentary on Sefer Mishlei 3:19

[2] Rabbeinu Yosef Kimchi, Sefer Chukah on Mishlei 3:19

[3] see, for example, Rabbeinu Yonah on Mishlei 1:9

[4] I heard a great example of this yesterday from my Mishlei rebbi, who recently spent nearly an entire week in the hospital. He told me that many nurses and doctors came up to him and told him that he is the best and most pleasant patient they've ever had. My Mishlei rebbi attributed this to the effects of Mishlei on his personality, which we spent a while discussing and analyzing.

Tehilim 23: The Lord is My Shepherd

This can be read as a standalone post, but is also a follow-up to How to Learn Tehilim (Psalms), which I recommend reading first if you haven't already done so.

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Artwork: Plains (Shards of Alara), by Michael Komarck

Tehilim 23: The Lord is My Shepherd

Here is the text of Tehilim 23:

(1) A psalm by David. Hashem is my Shepherd; I shall not lack. (2) In lush meadows He lays me down, beside tranquil waters He leads me. (3) He restores my soul. He leads me on level paths [1] for His Name's sake. (4) Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no harm, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff - they comfort me. (5) You will prepare a table before me in view of my tormentors. You anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows. (6) Only goodness and kindness will pursue me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the House of Hashem for long days.

Now let's jump right into the four questions (see How to Learn Tehilim for more on this method).

Question #1: What is this perek about as a whole?

Let's start by identifying the pivot point. Although it's debatable, I think the cleanest pivot point is between verses 4 and 5. Verses 1-4 is the mashal (allegory), in which David ha'Melech describes himself as a sheep:

(1) A psalm by David. Hashem is my Shepherd; I shall not lack. (2) In lush meadows He lays me down, beside tranquil waters He leads me. (3) He restores my soul. He leads me on level paths [1] for His Name's sake. (4) Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no harm, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff - they comfort me.

Verses 5-6 are the nimshal (the decoded mashal), in which David speaks as a human:

(5) You will prepare a table before me in view of my tormentors. You anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows. (6) Only goodness and kindness will pursue me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the House of Hashem for long days.

Unlike Tehilim 92, in which the two halves were quite disparate and we had to break down Question #1 into four sub-questions, we only need to break Tehilim 23 into two sub-questions: (a) What is the nimshal? (b) What is gained by expressing this idea as a mashal? (Note that this is basically asking "What is the main idea?" and "What is the function of the pivot point?")

This perek was surprisingly difficult to figure out, considering how overt the theme appeared to be. Clearly this perek has something to do with David's relationship with Hashem, and his trust in Him, which is compared to the reliance of a sheep on a benevolent shepherd. But what aspect of trust or reliance in Hashem is the perek talking about? One might think that this perek is talking about a high level of hashgachah pratis (personal divine supervision) - but if that's the case, then why use this mashal of a sheep doing "normal sheep-things"? Indeed, there is nothing in this mashal or the nimshal which points specifically to hashgachah pratis. [2] If anything, it would seem that this perek is about God's hashgachah klalis (general supervision, or laws of nature) - but if that's true, how can David speak about it with such an emphasis on personal guidance?

Thankfully, the Ibn Ezra showed us the way. Not only did he explain many of the particulars in the perek, but he even explicitly identified a unified theme. Here is what he wrote:

This psalm speaks of the servants of Hashem who forsake all addictions to worldly pleasures (taivos ha'olam) and are content with their portion (smeichim b'chelkam). They consider bread and water the equivalent of the delights provided by any and all delicacies, for their thoughts and hearts are directed to the pleasures of the Olam ha'Ba (World to Come). Hence, they forsake the pleasures of the moment for the eternal pleasures.  

My chavrusa and I really liked the crux of the Ibn Ezra's theory. However, we didn't like the way he framed the point about Olam ha'Ba, we weren't convinced by his explanation of all the details in the pesukim, and we weren't able to see a unified idea in the perek on that basis. Nevertheless, we were able to take his initial definition of the perek and develop our own approach. 

Here is the 1-4 sentence summary of the main idea, according to our understanding:

This perek is about the enjoyment, security, and tranquility attained by the individual whose life revolves around his needs instead of his wants (and certainly instead of his desire-fueled fantasies). The benefits of such a lifestyle are manifold: he will derive immense gratification when partaking of the most basic necessities (e.g. experiencing a meal of bread and water as though he were eating at feast with wine); he will ride through life on an even-keel of contentedness, instead of a roller-coaster of extreme highs and lows (as happens to most of humanity); he will face impending harm with equanimity, finding comfort in the opportunities for insight that arise from such situations; and he will be free of the existential dread and depression of a meaningless existence, since his life revolves around the pursuit of knowledge. As a result of this prioritization of his needs and his recognition that God has provided His world with everything that is necessary, he will feel as though he is being pursued by goodness and kindness throughout his days, enabling him to devote his life to the pleasurable pursuit and contemplation of knowledge. 

(You can see where we overlap with the Ibn Ezra and where we deviate. It's possible that this is what he meant by "their thoughts and hearts are directed to the pleasures of Olam ha'Ba," but I think that's a difficult read.)

Question #3: Is this perek true, in whole or in part?

We're actually going to skip Question #2 and come back to it later, since my guess is that there might be some questions about the veracity of the main idea. Is it really true that Hashem has provided for all of our needs? Is it true that we can achieve all of these benefits simply by prioritizing our needs over our wants? Is this level of bliss actually attainable by someone who is sameach b'chelko in this manner?

Truthfully, each of these questions deserves its own blog post. Instead of attempting to address them in a comprehensive manner, I'm going to share with you an excerpt from the Rambam which addresses all of these points. 

This excerpt is from the part of the Moreh ha'Nevuchim [3] in which the Rambam lays the foundations of his explanation of hashgachah and his commentary on Sefer Iyov. The specific context of the passage is the Rambam's assertion the majority of harm that we suffer in this world is self-inflicted, and is a result of our own ignorance and/or stupidity. The Rambam argues that the major cause of this category of poor decision-making is the pursuit of superfluous goods, beyond our basic needs. He writes:

(Note: the paragraph breaks are mine; the underlines indicate the parts which are most relevant to our perek - though, admittedly, it was difficult not to underline everything!)

This class of [self-inflicted] harms originates in man’s flaws, such as excessive desire for eating, drinking, and sex, indulgence in these things in undue measure, or in improper manner, or partaking of unhealthy food. 

This course brings diseases and afflictions upon body and soul alike. The suffering of the body [in this regard] is well known. Those of the soul are twofold: First, such harms of the soul as are the necessary consequence of changes in the body, insofar as the soul is a force residing in the body; it has therefore been said that the properties of the soul depend on the condition of the body. Secondly, the soul, when accustomed to superfluous things, acquires a strong habit of desiring things which are neither necessary for the preservation of the individual nor for that of the species. This desire is without a limit, whereas things which are necessary are few in number and restricted within certain limits - but what is superfluous is without end. For example, you desire to have your vessels of silver, but golden vessels are still better; others have even vessels of sapphire, or perhaps they can be made of emerald or rubies, or any other substance that could be suggested. 

Those who are ignorant and perverse in their thought are constantly in trouble and pain because they cannot get as much of superfluous things as a certain other person possesses. They will often expose themselves to great dangers, for example, by sea voyage, or service of kings, and all this for the purpose of obtaining that which is superfluous and not necessary. When they thus meet with the consequences of the course which they adopt, they complain of the decrees and judgments of God; they begin to blame God, and are astonished by His [perceived] injustice, that He has not enabled them to acquire great riches, with which they could buy large quantities of wine for the purpose of making themselves drunk, and numerous concubines adorned with various kind of ornaments of gold, embroidery, and jewels, for the purpose of driving themselves to sexual indulgence beyond their capacities – as if the whole universe existed exclusively for the purpose of giving pleasure to these low people.

The error of the ignorant goes so far as to say that God's power is insufficient, because He has given to this universe the properties which they imagine cause these great "evils" which do not help these imperfect persons to obtain the degenerate things which they seek, and to bring their evil souls to the aim of their desires, though these, as we have shown, are really without limit. 

The virtuous and wise, however, see and comprehend the wisdom of God displayed in the Universe. Thus David says: “All of the ways of Hashem are kindness and truth, to those who guard His covenant and His testimonies” (Tehilim 25:10). For those who observe the nature of the Universe and the commandments of the Torah, and know their purpose, see clearly God's kindness and truth in everything; they seek, therefore, that which the Creator intended to be the aim of man, namely, pursuit of knowledge. Due to the needs of the body, they seek that which is necessary for bodily maintenance – “bread to eat and garment to clothe” (Bereishis 28:20), and this is very little - but they seek nothing superfluous. With very slight exertion man can obtain [his bodily needs], so long as he is contented with that which is necessary.

All the difficulties and troubles we meet in this respect are due to the desire for superfluous things. When we seek unnecessary things, we have difficulty even in finding that which is necessary. For the more we desire to have that which is superfluous, the more we meet with difficulties; our strength and possessions are spent in unnecessary things, and are lacking when required for that which is necessary.

Observe how nature proves the correctness of this assertion. The more necessary a thing is for living beings, the more easily it is found and the cheaper it is; the less necessary it is, the rarer and dearer it is. For example, air, water, and food are necessary to man. Air is most necessary, for if man is without air a short time he dies, while he can be without water a day or two. Air is also undoubtedly found more easily and cheaper [than water]. Water is more necessary than food, for some people can be four or five days without food, provided they have water; water also exists in every country in larger quantities than food, and is also cheaper. The same proportion can be noticed in the different kinds of food; that which is more necessary in a certain place exists there in larger quantities and is cheaper than that which is less necessary. No intelligent person, I think, considers musk, amber, rubies, and emerald as very necessary for man except as medicines – and they, as well as other like substances, can be replaced for this purpose by herbs and minerals ...

It is no wrong or injustice for one person to have many bags of the finest myrrh and garments embroidered with gold, while another lacks those things, which are not necessary for our maintenance. He who has them has not thereby obtained control over anything that could be an enhancement of his [true] nature, but has only obtained something illusory or deceptive; the other, who does not possess that which is not wanted for his maintenance, does not miss anything indispensable: “Whoever took more had nothing extra and whoever took less was not lacking; everyone according to what he eats had they gathered” (Shemos 26:18). This is the rule at all times and in all places; no notice should be taken of exceptional cases, as we have explained.

Can you see why my mind went to this excerpt from the Rambam while thinking about the Ibn Ezra's interpretation of Tehilim 23? It's almost as if the Rambam is giving a shiur on all of the premises of our perek!

Personally, I find the Rambam's argument to be convincing enough to accept this perek as true, even though there are many details of practical application that can still use some verification. Enough for now, though. 

Question #2: What is being said in detail, and how?

As I did last time, I will now provide a brief commentary on each pasuk with the goal of showing how each part develops or reflects the main idea. In some cases I'll use the Ibn Ezra's commentary, and in other cases I'll provide the explanation that my chavrusa and I came up with.

(1) The Ibn Ezra points out that the phrase "lo echsar" ("I shall not lack") is a grammatically incomplete statement, since it doesn't tell us what David doesn't lack (i.e. "I shall not lack _____"). Ibn Ezra fills in the blank in accordance with his understanding of the main idea, explaining that David means: "I shall not lack anything that I need." In other words, the person who is sameach b'chelko (content with his portion) is the one who will relate to Hashem as the Shepherd depicted in this mashal. Likewise, those who do not forsake their "worldly lusts" will not be able to relate to Hashem as the Shepherd in this manner.

(2) Just as a sheep lying down in "lush meadows" is surrounded by all the food he needs, so too, the person who prioritizes his needs over his wants will find that everything he needs is within reach. The Rambam acknowledged this in the excerpt above, saying: "With very slight exertion man can obtain [his bodily needs], so long as he is contented with that which is necessary." The Ibn Ezra explains that "tranquil waters" is the opposite of "rushing waters," which a good shepherd would avoid, since the sheep might fall in and be swept away. So too, the person who is sameach b'chelko will not endanger himself by pursuing superfluous goods, as the Rambam wrote about the fools: "They will often expose themselves to great dangers, for example, by sea voyage, or service of kings, and all this for the purpose of obtaining that which is superfluous and not necessary."

(3) Whereas the previous pasuk refers the acquisition of physical needs, which is only a means to an end, "He restores my soul" refers to the satisfaction of the soul through the pursuit of knowledge, which is the ultimate end - an end alluded to at the end of the pasuk: "for His Name's sake" (i.e. for the sake of knowledge of God). "he leads me on level paths" refers to the even-keel of contentedness I wrote about in my summary of the main idea. Most people spend the majority of their lives chasing peaks of extreme pleasure separated by long periods of "quiet desperation." 

(4) "the valley of the shadow of death" is a mashal for situations of potential harm. In these situations the knowledge-seeking person who is sameach b'chelko will "fear no harm," even if there is harm to fear, "because You are with me" - which the Targum translates as "because Your word (i.e. wisdom) is with me." This "word of God" manifests itself in two forms: as a "rod" ("sheivet" lit. "rod of punishment"), which alludes to the knowledge that can be gleaned from the yissurin (afflictions) that he might suffer, and as a "staff" ("mishaan" lit. "support"), which alludes to the practical decision-making knowledge he can use to get himself out of harm's way. In other words, either he will use his wisdom to avoid harm, or he will suffer the harm but learn from it and use this knowledge to further his development. Both options offer comfort (albeit a mature type of comfort - not the childish kind that many people seek from God).

(5) I don't see this pasuk as introducing a new idea, but only providing clarification of the previous ideas. As the Ibn Ezra explained: "You will prepare a table ... You anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows" expresses how someone who "forsakes all taivos ha'olam and is content with his portion" will perceive even the simple pleasures of life, such as "bread to eat and garment to clothe," as an opulent extravaganza. I also believe that the use of the all three tenses - future ("You will prepare a table"), past ("You anointed my head with oil"), and present ("my cup overflows") - supports the notion that this perek is about how Hashem provides us with everything we need in nature, which is true for all times. David emphasizes "in front of my tormentors" to show the extent of his peace of mind: even when he is antagonized by those who knowingly and intentionally aim to cause him pain, he is comforted by the "rod" and "staff" of the "Shepherd."

(6) One of my friends pointed out the oddity here, asking: "What is moving in this pasuk and what is stationary?" You would expect David to be chasing after the "tov" (goodness) and "chesed" (kindness), depicting them as stationary and himself as moving. Instead, he says, "Only tov and chesed will pursue me." He is the one who is stationary, "sitting in the house of Hashem," while the tov and chesed chase him! Again, this is another support for the way we're learning this perek, namely, that it's describing the mentality of the person who is content with satisfying his basic needs. This person recognizes that there is abundant tov and chesed all around, to the point where he feels that it is coming directly to him, and he doesn't even have to move - just like the lamb whose shepherd led it to lie down in lush meadows. "I shall sit/dwell in the house of Hashem for long days" is the explicit nimshal corollary to the phrase in the mashal: "for His Name's sake," which alluded to David's pursuit of knowledge. In other words, obtaining one's physical needs and being sameach b'chelko is not an end in and of itself, but is a means to the end (i.e. involvement in a life of learning).

To reiterate: this is just an example of the manner in which Question #2 should be answered. I realize that I haven't explained every single detail or answered every question, and that some of my explanations and answers are more speculative than others. That's okay. Your goal should be to read the perek through the framework of the main idea - as you currently understand it - see how that idea is developed through the particulars, revise and sharpen your main idea, and keep repeating the process until you've refined your understanding as much as you can.

Question #4: What of it?

The answer to Question #4 surprised me. Tehilim 23 has quite a reputation among Jews and Christians. Many people regard it as an affirmation of reliance on God's personal protection, comfort, and consolation. Some use it as a plea for Divine guidance in times of fear, danger, and uncertainty. Others regard it as a description of what it feels like to be close to God - a state of being that is characterized by protection, guidance, comfort, and tranquility. I'm not saying that these approaches are wrong or misguided. They're just not the approach that we or the Ibn Ezra have taken.

According to our approach, the purpose of this perek is to show us the path to tranquility, but to teach us that this path requires a major overhaul of our value system and our priorities in life. David ha'Melech's description of being shepherded by Hashem sounds great, but how many of us are willing to do the work that it takes to get there? Not many! If I may repurpose the poetic statement of the Rav [4]:

[When] we sing the psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters” (Ps. 23), etc., etc., and we believe with our entire hearts in the ultimate destination of homo religiosis ["religious man"], not the path leading to that destination. For the path that eventually will lead to the “green pastures” and to the “still waters” is not the royal road, but a narrow, twisting footway that threads its course along the steep mountain slope, as the terrible abyss yawns at the traveler’s feet.

In this sense I would almost characterize Tehilim 23 as a "psalm of rebuke." [5] It should be brought to mind and recited when we feel lacking, hungry, in danger of being swept away, weary, jostled by life's vicissitudes, lost without a sense of purpose, afraid of harm, afraid to face suffering, afraid to face our tormentors. When we find ourselves inundated by these feelings, Tehilim 23 reminds us that there is a way to alleviate our suffering and find contentment, security, and peace of mind - but it is up to us to change ourselves if we wish to partake of that bliss. 

To put it differently: we cannot spend our days chasing after superfluity and indulging in our addictions to physical and psychological pleasures and then turn around and complain that we are miserable. Similarly, we cannot demand that Hashem be our Shepherd if we are not willing to live as His lamb - as a creature who is to live a life free of indulgence, loyally following the dictates of our Shepherd.

There is a sense that we live in an era dominated by fear, anxiety, crisis, depression, hopelessness, confusion, loneliness, anger, helplessness, insecurity, restlessness, purposelessness, and a host of other negative emotions. Today, perhaps more than ever, Tehilim 23 is a necessary reminder that a return to simplicity will bring sanity and serenity in its wake - provided that the "simplicity" is a life rooted in satisfying our physical and psychological needs so that we can live a life of knowledge. 

Concluding Thoughts

That's all I've got for Tehilim 23 for now. Remember: I am NOT, by any means, an expert in Tehilim. I'm still trying to figure all of this out myself. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the perek and my analysis. 

[1] this translation follows Rabbeinu Avraham Ibn Ezra, Commentary to Sefer Tehilim 23:3; this makes more sense than "paths of righteousness," since the pasuk is comparing David to a sheep, and sheep are neither righteous nor wicked

[2] I intended to support this point by comparing Tehilim 23 to Tehilim 91, which does seem to be talking about hashgachah pratis. I wanted to cite the entire perek, but I felt that this would interrupt the flow of the analysis, so I relegated it to a footnote. Here is Tehilim 91:

(1) Whoever sits in the refuge of the Most High, he shall dwell in the [protective] shade of the Almighty. (2) I will say of Hashem, "[He is] my refuge and my fortress; my God, I will trust in Him." (3) For He will deliver you from the ensnaring trap, from devastating pestilence. (4) With His pinion, He will cover you, and beneath His wings you will be protected; His truth is shield and armor. (5) You shall not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, (6) nor the pestilence that walks in gloom, nor the destroyer who lays waste at noon. (7) A thousand may fall victim at your side and a myriad at your right hand, but to you it shall not approach. (8) You will merely peer with your eyes and you will see the retribution of the wicked. (9) Because [you said], "You, Hashem, are my refuge," you have made the Most High your abode. (10) No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent. (11) He will charge His angels for you, to protect you in all your ways. (12) On [their] palms they will carry you, lest you strike your foot against a stone. (13) Upon the lion and the viper you will tread; you will trample the young lion and the serpent. (14) For he has yearned for Me and I will deliver him; I will elevate him because he knows My Name. (15) He will call upon Me and I will answer him; I am with him in distress; I will release him and I will bring him honor. (16) With long life will I satisfy him, and I will show him My salvation. 

See how different the particulars and the overall tone is in comparison to Tehilim 23? Both deal with reliance on God for protection, but Tehilim 91 seems to be a more particular type of supervision, whereas Tehilim 23 is dealing with something different. 

[3] Rabbeinu Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam / Maimonides), Moreh ha'Nevuchim 3:12

[4] Rav Yosef Dov ha'Levi Soloveitchik, Halakhic Man, Footnote 4

[5] see Rabbeinu Avraham Ibn Ezra, Commentary to Tehilim 146:2, where he seems to imply that this is a genre of Tehilim

Tehilim 92: Mizmor Shir l'Yom ha'Shabbos

Although this can be read as a standalone post, I highly recommend reading my How to Learn Tehilim (Psalms) post first, in order to familiarize yourself with the methodology I'll be using.

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Artwork: Wildest Dreams, by Daniel Ljunggren

Tehilim 92: Mizmor Shir l'Yom ha'Shabbos

Here is the text of Tehilim 92:

Tehilim 92 

(1) A psalm, a song for the Sabbath day. (2) It is good to thank Hashem and to sing to Your Name, O Exalted One; (3) to recount Your kindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness in the nights. (4) Upon a ten-stringed instrument and upon lyre, with singing [accompanied] by harp. (5) For You have gladdened me, Hashem, with Your actions; about Your handiwork I will sing joyously. (6) How great are Your works, Hashem; [how] very deep are Your thoughts - (7) a boorish man doesn’t know, and a fool doesn’t understand this - (8) when the wicked bloom like grass, and all the doers of iniquity blossom, it is to destroy them forever and ever. (9) But You [remain] exalted forever, Hashem. (10) For behold Your enemies, Hashem, for behold – Your enemies shall perish; dispersed shall be all doers of iniquity. (11) You raised like a re’eim my pride; I was saturated with fresh oil. (12) My eyes have seen my foes; when those who would harm me rise up my ears have heard. (13) A righteous person will flourish like a date palm, and like a cedar in the Lebanon he will grow tall. (14) Planted in the house of Hashem, in the courtyards of our God they will flourish. (15) They will still be fruitful in old age, vigorous and fresh they will be, (16) to tell that Hashem is upright, my Rock in Whom there is no injustice.

Let's review our basic method. The four questions we're going to try to answer are:

(1) What is this perek about as a whole? What is the main idea? What major insight is this teaching us about Hashem and His relationship to His world - or how He relates to man, in particular?

(2) What is being said in detail, and how? How does each pasuk - or each word and phrase - contribute to the main idea?

(3) Is this perek true, in whole or in part? Remember: it's not enough to know what David ha'Melech thought, nor is it enough to accept the truth of Tehilim based on the authority of Torah she'bi'Chsav (even though we have no choice but to start with this). We must strive to verify the contents of this perek to the satisfaction of our own minds. 

(4) What of it? What "inspiration via knowledge" is this perek written to bring about? How is the main idea in this perek supposed to affect your life, your view of reality, and your relationship with God? What else follows - what is further implied or suggested by the insights? What else can you do to internalize and be moved by these ideas? 

The only question we will not attempt to fully answer is Question #2, since I specifically want to avoid getting too bogged down in details, as I wrote about in my methodology article.

Question #1: What is this perek about as a whole?

According to our methodology, the first step is to find "the pivot point." In this case, the pivot point is obviously verse 7: "a boorish man doesn’t know, and a fool doesn’t understand this." This is a unique type of pivot point in that it can be read with either half of the perek. [1] If read with the first half, it will look like this:

A psalm, a song for the Sabbath day. It is good to thank Hashem and to sing to Your Name, O Exalted One; to recount Your kindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness in the nights. Upon a ten-stringed instrument and upon lyre, with singing [accompanied] by harp. For You have gladdened me, Hashem, with Your actions; about Your handiwork I will sing joyously. How great are Your works, Hashem; [how] very deep are Your thoughts! A boorish man doesn’t know [how great Your works are], and a fool doesn’t understand [how very deep are Your thoughts].

If read in accordance with the second half, it will look like this:

A boorish man doesn’t know, and a fool doesn’t understand [the following phenomenon]: when the wicked bloom like grass, and all the doers of iniquity blossom, it is to destroy them forever and ever. But You [remain] exalted forever, Hashem. For behold Your enemies, Hashem, for behold – Your enemies shall perish; dispersed shall be all doers of iniquity. You raised like a re’eim my pride; I was saturated with fresh oil. My eyes have seen my foes; when those who would harm me rise up my ears have heard. A righteous person will flourish like a date palm, and like a cedar in the Lebanon he will grow tall. Planted in the house of Hashem, in the courtyards of our God they will flourish. They will still be fruitful in old age, vigorous and fresh they will be, to tell that Hashem is upright, my Rock in Whom there is no injustice.

Now that we've discovered the pivot point, the four sub-questions we must answer under the heading of Question #1 are: (a) What is the main idea of the first half? (b) What is the main idea of the second half? (c) What is the unified idea (i.e. the main idea of the perek)? (d) What is the purpose or function of the pivot point? 

In this case, I believe we can answer all four sub-questions in one shot. Here is my summary of the main idea in four sentences:

The purpose of this perek is to answer the question of how the wicked are able to flourish in a world governed by Divine justice.[2] David ha'Melech's answer is that the only person who will be bothered by this question is the foolish, boorish man who doesn't comprehend the perfection, harmony, and depth of God's wisdom in nature. To the extent that a person recognizes how all natural systems operate in accordance with perfect justice - with every component perfectly suited to achieve its end, and each species receiving exactly what it needs for the continuity of the system as a whole - he or she will also recognize that there must be a similarly perfect system which governs human beings; just as there will inevitably be destructive consequences for interfering in a natural system, so too, there will be destructive consequences for those who deviate from the Creator's laws which govern human interactions. True, the wicked may flourish, but their success is short lived, like lowly grasses that quickly wither and die, whereas the righteous flourish like date palms and cedars - tall, long-lasting, and bearing fruit into their old age. 

This answers all of the sub-questions under Question #1: (a) the main idea of the first half is that nature is absolutely perfect and reflects the profound wisdom of the Creator in its lawful design; (b) the main idea of the second half is that the flourishing of the wicked is only temporary and is destined to end in destruction, whereas the flourishing of the righteous is the opposite; (c) the unity in the perek is that the human realm is merely a special case of the general character of the universe as a whole, and operates in accordance with the same principles, the same perfection, and the same justice; (d) the function of the pivot is to bring us to the realization that the key to seeing the justice in the human sphere is to recognize the justice in the natural world, and that to the extent that one recognition is lacking, so will the other. 

Question #2: What is being said in detail, and how?

As I said, I'm not going to go into this part in depth. I'll just write a few brief comments on each pasuk or two in order to give you an idea of how deep and how not deep I like to go when answering Question #2:

(1) Shabbos embodies the main idea of this perek since it is a day devoted to both objectives: recognizing God's wisdom in nature (zeicher l'Maaseh Bereishis - remembering the Act of Creation) and His justice in the human realm (zeicher l'Yetzias Mitzrayim - remembering the Exodus from Egypt). Moreover, Shabbos affords us the opportunity to re-calibrate ourselves to the Maaseh Bereishis framework, since the issur melachah (prohibition of creative work on Shabbos) forces us to withdraw our energies from striving to dominate the material world and to invest that energy in the contemplation of Hashem's reign over the natural world.

(2) Hodaah (giving thanks) and zemirah (singing praise) are two vehicles of achieving the recognition that is central in this perek; David refers to Hashem as "the Exalted One" to emphasize His transcendent supervision of the physical universe.

(3) "your chesed (kindness)" refers to the totality of the Creator's beneficence in nature, as it is stated: "the world was built with chesed" (Tehilim 89:3), and "your  emunah (faithfulness)" refers to the reliability of Hashem's hashgachah klalis (laws of nature); David describes himself as engaging in this praise "morning" and "night" to emphasize the infinite depth and breadth of Hashem's chesed and emunah in the universe, saying that in order to express his recognition, he would have to be involved in praise all day and all night.

(4) Who knows what the significance of the "ten-string instrument," "lyre," and "harp" are? Who even knows what these instruments were? As far as I'm concerned, trying to explain these details would be pure speculation, and the answer isn't going to have any bearing on the main idea anyway. 

(5) David is pointing out yet another benefit of contemplating Hashem's works: not only does this answer the question of how the wicked can flourish, but it is also an enjoyable activity in and of itself!

(6) and (7) we explained in our summary of the main idea.

(8) "it is to destroy them forever and ever" implies that there are two types of destruction that the wicked will suffer: the natural consequences of their lifestyle in Olam ha'Zeh, and the consequences to their soul in Olam ha'Ba.

(9) see my comments on (2).

(11) and (12) contain David's testimony about how he has seen the truth of this perek play out in his own lifetime; in addition to encouraging the reader to check out this claim by examining the events of David's life, this also provides an important piece of advice, namely, that a person should look for evidence of this in his own observations of the wicked and the righteous.

(13) In addition to the general idea that the righteous will succeed, I believe that the "flourishing plants" metaphor also suggests that the righteous person's success goes hand in hand with his development as a tzelem Elokim; plants are a perfect mashal for this, since we associate plants with natural growth and development. 

(14) It is unclear to me whether "house of Hashem" and "courtyards of Hashem" are references to the Beis ha'Mikdash (the Sanctuary) - and, by extension, Batei Kenesiyos (synagogues) and Batei Midrashos (study halls) - or whether they are a reference to the universe as a whole. [3] Either way, the idea is that by aligning oneself with the lawfulness which governs the human realm and seeking to comprehend the lawfulness in nature, a person will, in effect, be "planted" (i.e. permanently established in a manner which provides sustenance and continued growth) as a component part of the system of the universe - in contrast to the wicked, who seek to detach themselves from the system in a futile attempt to dominate it. 

(15) The lifestyle of the righteous as portrayed here will result in a prolonged and enhanced old age, in which the person's tzelem Elokim and righteous actions will continue to bear fruit - as I wrote about in my article On Aging: With (and Without) Torah.

(16) In a very "ecosystem-esque" manner, the righteous who live in this manner will, through their words and their actions, pass on their worldview to the next generation of mankind, thereby moving others to recognize the benefits of praising the Creator.

This is a good example of the level at which I like to answer Question #2. My goal is to be able to read the perek and see how most of the words and phrases contribute to or reflect the main idea. I'm not trying to get everything.

Question #3: Is this perek true, in whole or in part?

Personally, this perek didn't raise any questions of veracity to me. However, if I taught this in school, I would have to be prepared to demonstrate the truth of the following three claims:

1. that nature exhibits profound wisdom and perfection
2. that the success of the wicked is only temporary, and is destined to end in destruction
3. that tzadikim will flourish and enjoy a long life 

Originally I was going to write out how I would go about doing that, but I think this would take us beyond the scale of this blog post. Suffice it to say: watch nature documentaries for #1, and learn Mishlei, for #2 and #3.

Question #4: What of it?

What function does this serve in our avodas Hashem? I think the answer is clear from the perek: whenever we see the wicked flourishing and we feel troubled, we need look no further than the natural world around us. The more we recognize the absolute justice and benevolent functionality of nature, the more we can rest assured that the wicked will get what they deserve, no matter how successful they appear at the present. 

Similarly, if we are in doubt as to whether following the laws of the Torah will result in the best life for ourselves and for society as a whole, all we have to do is contemplate any ecosystem in nature. Each organism is cared for by Hashem's hashgachah klalis, and everything exists in peace and harmony. The same is within the reach of human beings, if only we align ourselves with the will of our Creator.

Concluding Thoughts

I hope this walk-through of Tehilim 92 has been beneficial in its own right, and in familiarizing you with our method of learning Tehilim. I plan on writing a post on Tehilim 23 in the near future, and possibly more later on in the summer. I'd love to hear your feedback! 

[1] Rabbeinu David Kimchi (Radak), Commentary on Sefer Tehilim 92:7

[2] Note that this is specifically an answer to the question of why the wicked flourish, in a general sense, but this is NOT an answer to the specific problem of tzadik v'ra lo (how can bad things happen to a righteous person) which is addressed in Sefer Iyov.

[3] see, for example the Rambam's explanation of Hashem's praise of Moshe as "the most trustworthy in My house" (Bamidbar 12:7) in the Moreh ha'Nevuchim 1:54.

Yom ha'Din and Yom ha'Teruah

This is my attempt to write up a burgeoning insight about Rosh ha'Shanah - one which I feel is quite big, but which I haven't yet gone over with all of my chavrusas yet. I thought it would be best to write it up now, so that I can gain some clarity before Rosh ha'Shanah, and so that those who read it can think about it over the Yom Tov, and maybe provide feedback during the Aseres Ymei Teshuvah. Enjoy!

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Artwork: Time Sieve, by Franz Vohwinkel

Yom ha'Din and Yom ha'Teruah

Rosh ha'Shanah in the Written Torah

One cannot read through the Torah's presentation of the moadim (holidays) in Parashas Emor without noticing the sparseness of the Torah's treatment of Rosh ha'Shanah. When discussing the other moadim the pesukim (verses) go into detail about the laws and themes of the day, but when it comes to Rosh ha'Shanah, the pesukim have barely anything to say about the nature of the day:

In the seventh month, on the first of the month, there shall be a rest day for you, a zichron teruah (remembrance of a shofar-cry), a holy convocation. You shall not do any laborious work, and you shall offer a fire-offering to Hashem.

The holiday is not given a name, nor is its character mentioned, nor are any laws explicitly spelled out. Even the central mitzvah - hearing the sound of the shofar - is barely alluded to. All we have to work with are two words: zichron teruah.

Perhaps the most shocking omission is the fact that nowhere does the Written Torah identify Rosh ha'Shanah as the Yom ha'Din (Judgment Day). In fact, there is no reference anywhere in the Written Torah to a "judgment day" of any kind. This fact is mentioned only in the Oral Torah, but one would not even be aware of it by reading the pesukim. 

What are we to make of all this? How are we meant to view Rosh ha'Shanah based on its presentation in the Written Torah, and how should we go about reconciling this view with the additional - and seemingly essential - information provided by the Oral Torah? 

We will leave these questions aside for the time being and focus on a more important question: What is the Yom ha'Din? Every Jew who grows up going to Rosh ha'Shanah services has some notion of judgment day. The liturgy is rife with imagery: the True Judge sitting on His throne of judgment, the Book of Life and the Book of Death open before Him, a judgment being pronounced which determines the course of events for the rest of the year, the final verdict being sealed on Yom ha'Kippurim, and so on. To what extent do these images reflect the reality of what happens on Rosh ha'Shanah, and to what extent are they merely byproducts of our own imagination? 

This year I stumbled upon an explanation which radically changed my view of the Yom ha'Din. That explanation was provided by the Abravanel, in his commentary on the Torah. I will do my best to convey that view to you now, and I will do so in my usual style of translating the text and commenting on it step by step.

Rosh ha'Shanah as Yom ha'Din

The Abravanel begins by explaining the nature of the din (judgment) that happens on Rosh ha'Shanah. You will quickly notice that the Abravanel is working with certain premises that are rooted in Aristotelian physics, which we now know to be false. In my treatment of the Abravanel's explanation I will do my best to adapt his worldview to one which is consistent with our current scientific model: 

I have already explained in Parashas Bo, in the Parashas ha'Chodesh, that Rosh Chodesh Tishrei is the beginning of the year and its true starting-point, based on the nature of the physical universe, based on the motion of the sun, the moon, and the celestial sphere of the constellations. 

The starting-point of any phenomenon provides us with indications about the [future] occurrences which pertain to that phenomenon, based on the celestial circumstances at that initial time. For example, just as the celestial circumstances at the time of a person's birth will indicate all of the future occurrences of his life, so too, the celestial circumstances at the starting-point of Rosh ha'Shanah will indicate all of the occurrences of that year.

This is true with regards to the occurrences which pertain to the world as a whole, including satiety and famine, health and sickness, death and life, war and peace, and similarly for all other things which pertain to the world as a whole. This is also true with regards to each and every country within the inhabited world ... and with regards to the particulars of each and every person, in accordance with the circumstances of his birth, i.e. this one will die, this one will live, this one will profit, this one will lose, and likewise with all similar circumstances. 

Let's stop here for a second and examine the Abravanel's premises:

1. Premise #1: Rosh ha'Shanah (i.e. Rosh Chodesh Tishrei) is the "beginning" of the year in an objective, physical, astronomical sense. In other words, the Abravanel maintains that Rosh ha'Shanah isn't merely the beginning of the year from a "halachic perspective," or even a "Jewish perspective," but from a scientific perspective. According to his understanding, this "onset of the year," which happens at Rosh Chodesh Tishrei, is accompanied by actual physical effects, due to the earth's alignment with the "celestial forces" (read: laws of nature) and these physical causes affect the inhabitants of earth.
   
   To the best of my knowledge, there is no corollary in modern science for this concept of an "objective beginning" to astronomical cycles. Although this would seem to deal an early deathblow to the Abravanel's theory, I believe that we can salvage his view in spite of the fact that one of its major premises is false. I have decided to address this point in an addendum, which should be read after familiarizing yourself with the Abravanel's full theory. 
   
   
2. Premise #2: The beginning stage of any phenomenon indicates and determines all future occurrences associated with that phenomenon. This premise is based on a highly deterministic view of nature which still holds true today - at least, for all practical, everyday purposes (i.e. ignoring quantum). 
   
   
   I will illustrate this view with a mashal. Imagine an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine. If you have complete knowledge of how every part of the machine is initially set up, then you will be able to predict exactly what will happen when the chain-reaction is set in motion. The same is true for more complex reactions. For example, if you were to fill a room with mouse traps set with ping pong balls, and if you had a supercomputer that could measure the exact weight, position, and subtle variations among all the mouse traps and ping pong balls, then you would be able to determine exactly where each ping pong ball would end up once the chain reaction was set off. The only difference between the determinability of the Rube Goldberg outcome and that of the ping pong balls is in their relative quantitative complexity; from an objective standpoint, the outcome is determinable in both cases, even though the latter is too complex for us to be able to figure out.
   
   What is true of the Rube Goldberg device and the ping pong scenario is true of every physical thing: if you know the initial circumstances of something, and you know the laws which govern that thing, then you will be able to predict, from the outset, everything that will happen in the future.
   
   
3. Premise #3: The circumstances at the beginning of the year indicate and determine all future occurrences of that year - globally, regionally, and individualistically. In other words, the Abravanel views the entire terrestrial realm - with its multitude of complex systems and their countless moving parts - as one big Rube Goldberg device. If you were to take a snapshot at how things are at the onset of the year, on Rosh Chodesh Tishrei, that snapshot would indicate everything that will happen throughout the course of that year. Thus, Rosh Chodesh Tishrei is not only a Rosh ha'Shanah calendrically, but deterministically as well.

Got it? Even if you object to what the Abravanel is saying, or you don't buy my attempt to reframe the Abravanel's explanation in a manner that is palatable to the modern mind, then at least try to suspend your disbelief for long enough to hear his full explanation of the Yom ha'Din. This is where things get interesting:

Since Rosh Chodesh Tishrei is the [true] beginning of the year, which actually indicates and determines all of the occurrences of the [upcoming year], for this reason it is called Yom ha'Din and [Yom] ha'Mishpat, for it indicates what will be, and [indicates] the decree that is decreed from heaven for all occurrences of that year, good and bad - for the world as a whole, and for each and every country and people, and for each and every person. 

For this reason they established in the tefilah of the Yom Teruah these three types of mishpat (judgment). Regarding the mishpat of the world as a whole they established to say [in the berachah of Zichronos]: "You remember the deeds done in the universe and You recall all the creatures fashioned since the early times, etc." Regarding the mishpat of every country they established: "Regarding countries, it is said on this day which is destined for the sword and which for peace, which for hunger and which for abundance." Regarding the particular mishpat of every individual they established to say: "and creatures are recalled on it to remember them for life or death. Who is not recalled on this day? [For when the remembrance of everything fashioned comes before You: everyone's deed and appointment, the accomplishments of man's activity,] man's thoughts and schemes, and the motives behind man's deeds."

In other words, according to the Abravanel, the din on Rosh ha'Shanah is an entirely naturalistic phenomenon, having nothing to do with hashgachah pratis (individual providence). The terms "din" and "mishpat" of Rosh ha'Shanah refer to the natural outcomes which are determined by the laws of nature at the beginning of the new year. The "decrees" which are pronounced on Rosh ha'Shanah refer to the causes which are in place at the onset of the new year, and which are deterministically responsible for all effects and occurrences which happen that year.

Lest you suspect that I am reading some sort of Maimonidean view of hashgachah into the Abravanel's framework, the Abravanel goes on to state this point in the most explicit terms possible:

This din [of Rosh ha'Shanah] is NOT in accordance with the hashgachah pratis which comes specially from Him (blessed is He) to His loved ones and those who keep His commandments; rather, it is in accordance with hashgachah klalis (general providence) that is ordered by the celestial causes which relates to all creations in general manner.

Regarding this din and mishpat [Chazal] say in the mishnah: "all inhabitants of the world pass before Him like sheep, as it is stated, 'He fashions their hearts together'" (Rosh ha'Shanah 8a). In order to explain that this din is not in accordance with the hashgachah which relates to the entire nation [of Israel], the perfected one - R' Yochanan - said about this statement: "and all of them are examined [by God] in one glance." By "in one glance" he was referring to that celestial circumstance at the onset of Tishrei which determines all of the affairs of the inhabitants of the world ... This is the din of Rosh ha'Shanah, which pertains to every member of the human race. It is a natural phenomenon (davar tiv'i) in existence, in accordance with the effects of the celestial world on the terrestrial world.

There you have it: the din of Rosh ha'Shanah refers to the innumerable chains of cause-and-effect that are in place on Rosh Chodesh Tishrei and unfold throughout the year, and which determine all of the events that happen in the physical world. 

Now, you might be wondering, "If that's the din of Rosh ha'Shanah, what about the weighing of our zechuyos (merits) and avonos (iniquities), which Chazal discuss throughout their writings? What about the whole business of being inscribed in the Book of Life or the Book of Death? What about doing tefilah, teshuvah, and tzedakah to tear up the bad decree? If everything is set and determined from Rosh Chodesh Tishrei, then what are we doing during the Aseres Ymei Teshuvah (the Ten Days of Repentance)?" 

This brings us to the second part of this blog post ...

Rosh ha'Shanah as Yom Teruah

The Abravanel continues:

However, there is an additional dimension to this day, which is unique to the Jewish nation alone ... [In the case of the other nations and terrestrial entities,] everything which is determined by the celestial causes will necessarily come to be - no more and no less. But with the Jewish nation, this is not the case. Even though the celestial bodies create a potentiality and a predisposition for certain occurrences to befall them, these potentialities are not brought into actuality via the celestial causes ... but directly by Hashem (blessed is He), the Cause of causes ... The affairs and occurrences [of the Jewish people], both the good and the bad, are brought about jointly with hashgachah pratis, which negates the celestial causes on many occasions.

When the Jews do God's will, the celestial causes which indicate that harm [would befall them] are either completely negated by His hashgachah, or are transferred from one subject to another, as it is stated, "all of the bad maladies of Egypt that you know - He will not put them upon you, but will put them upon all your foes" (Devarim 7:15). But when the Jewish people are bad and sin, then even though the celestial causes may indicate that good [will befall them], they will not merit it, for He will negate it.

In other words, Klal Yisrael (the Jewish nation) is not exclusively under the governance of the natural law. Even though the din is set on Rosh ha'Shanah for the entire world - insofar as all natural chains of cause-and-effect are set into motion on that day - the fate of Klal Yisrael is not determined exclusively by that din. To the extent that we align ourselves with God's will, we will be saved via hashgachah pratis from the fate that would have naturally befallen us in accordance with hashgachah klalis. Conversely, even if we are predisposed to receive certain goods in accordance with hashgachah klalis, this good can be negated via hashgachah pratis if we fail to live in accordance with His will. 

And this is where shofar and the Yom Tov of Rosh ha'Shanah comes into the picture:

Since Rosh Chodesh Tishrei is the rosh ha'shanah, and the Yom ha'Din for the entire world - in which the celestial circumstances dictate everything that will happen for the entire year - for this reason, since Hashem desired to make Yisrael meritorious, He revealed to them that this is the day on which everything is determined, and on which the creatures are remembered for life or for death, and He commanded them to stand up for their lives and strive to save themselves and to escape from these celestial decrees, and that the only way to do this is to go out to greet God and to supplicate before Him and to cling to Him to ask Him not to abandon us to these celestial forces, but to take shelter in the concealment of His wings, since they are "the flock He pastures" (Tehilim 95:7) and "the measure of His inheritance" (Devarim 32:9).

This is the character of the mitzvah of yom teruah, He commanded us to sound tekiah and teruah on the shofar, which points to the idea of release and freedom - as if to say that [Bnei Yisrael] are free from the indications of the celestial causes, and in this sense He is our God, and there is none other, for He taught this to us as a reliable remedy to escape from the calamities which come about from the [celestial] arrangements. Therefore, He said, "It shall be a yom teruah for you" - in other words, this is a special chesed which He did for His nation; or [it means to say] that in spite of the fact that the din of Rosh ha'Shanah encompasses all human beings, nevertheless, the remedy of shofar and teshuvah which saves us from this celestial decree was uniquely given to Yisrael, as it is stated, "He relates His words to Yaakov, His statutes and His judgments to Yisrael. He did not do so for any other nation; such judgments - they know them not, halleluyah!" (Tehilim 147:19-20).

According to the Abravanel, Hashem - in His abundant kindness and mercy - revealed to His nation the nature of Rosh Chodesh Tishrei and gave Israel the tool of teruah b'shofar. The shofar, which signifies freedom and release (see Vayikra 25:8-10), is sounded on Rosh ha'Shanah to remind us that even though the fate of the world and its inhabitants may be determined by the celestial forces which are set into motion on the Yom ha'Din, we - the members of Klal Yisrael - can rise above these forces and forge our own destiny, by the decisions we make with our free will. By doing teshuvah and aligning ourselves with God's will, we can be saved from our predetermined natural fate through hashgachah pratis and avoid the harm that was set to befall us. By making the Rosh Chodesh Tishrei into a Yom Tov with mitzvos centered around the most fundamental ideas, Hashem has provided us with the best possible chances of circumventing the harm of the natural decrees. 

That is where the weighing of our zechuyos and avonos comes into the picture, as well as the Books of Life and Death, the Aseres Ymei Teshuvah, and all of the other Yomim Noraim elements which are expanded upon in Torah she'baal Peh. All of these things pertain not to the Yom ha'Din itself - which is entirely naturalistic - but to the hashgachic aids which Hashem gave us to escape from the harm that would befall us from that universal, naturalistic din. 

A Speculative Answer to Our Original Question

Before I encountered the Abravanel's explanation, I conceived of the Yom ha'Din and the weighing of zechuyos and avonos as the same thing. I was under the impression that Rosh ha'Shanah was a day of judgment, and that this judgment was a hashgachah pratis phenomenon which resulted in a "good" or a "bad" din depending on our zechuyos and avonos, as mitigated by our teshuvah, tefilah, and tzedakah during the Aseres Ymei Teshuvah. 

According to the Abravanel (or, at least, my understanding of the Abravanel), this picture is not accurate. According to him, there are two separate phenomena: on the one hand, there is the Yom ha'Din, which is a natural event that determines the course of natural cause-and-effect for the duration of the year; on the other hand, there is the Yom Tov of Rosh ha'Shanah, which was commanded by Hashem to provide us with an opportunity to rise above the aforementioned din (with the help of hashgachah pratis), thereby reshaping our own destiny. 

This, I believe, is why the Written Torah says nothing about the Yom ha'Din aspect of Rosh ha'Shanah. The Yom ha'Din is a reality, and although it is necessary to understand that reality - hence its inclusion in the Oral Torah - it is merely an astronomical phenomenon that happens, which is not directly tied to our observance of Torah and mitzvos. In contrast, what is tied to our observance of mitzvos is the Yom Teruah aspect of Rosh ha'Shanah - the means by which we can improve our ways, and the quality of life we experience. That is something worth mentioning. 

Perhaps a mashal will help. If you were to write a manual on How to Survive a Hurricane, you would not need to include a detailed meteorological explanation of how hurricanes form, how many types or hurricanes there are, what the natural conditions must be, etc. Why not? Because this is a practical handbook on How to Survive a Hurricane. The very premise of the book is that hurricanes can and will happen, and from a practical survival standpoint, it is irrelevant how, why, or even when hurricanes come about. These topics would only be touched upon insofar as they have a practical dimension, and can aid the reader in achieving the goal promised by the manual. The main focus of the manual would be the strategies and techniques which must be learned and implemented in order to survive. The meteorological background knowledge can be left for the students of science. In fact, when the hurricane sirens go off, and people find themselves needing to consult the manual, the inclusion of the meteorological information would distract the reader from focusing on the practical task at hand.  

The same is true here. The Yom ha'Din is something we have no control over, and will happen every year on Rosh Chodesh Tishrei, no matter what. If you want to understand the Yom ha'Din, consult your rebbi who teaches you the Oral Torah. The focus of the Written Torah is on what we can do to "survive" the Yom ha'Din, and all of that knowledge resides in the Yom Teruah aspect of the day, which is the only characteristic of the day that the Torah does mention. If the Written Torah explicitly raised the topic of the Yom ha'Din, that would pose a distraction from the practical task at hand. The mitzvah of the day demands that we involve ourselves in getting the most we can out of our teruah - not involving ourselves in the metaphysical or scientific study of the Yom ha'Din. That latter topic is certainly an important one, but is something that warrants its own investigation, separate from the objectives of the day itself. 

Concluding Thoughts

In my opinion, any insight into Torah which helps us develop from an immature view to a more mature understanding is worthy of celebration and gratitude to the Chonein l'adam daas. I am still working through this Abravanel and all of its implications, but already I feel that his view has enabled me to "level up" my understanding of the Yom ha'Din and its relationship to the Yom Teruah. 

I plan on spending this Rosh ha'Shanah thinking more into these ideas and furthering my understanding of the Abravanel, by myself and with my chavrusas (and rabbeim). For the time being, I hope this blog post has led you to new insights as well, which will result in "leveling up" from wherever you are currently holding.

May the insights we gain on this Rosh ha'Shanah indicate and determine the insights we will have in the year to come, God-willing. Shanah Tovah, and may you be inscribed in the Book of Life - whatever that means! 

Addendum: Resolving the Difficulty with the Abravanel's First Premise

Now, you might be wondering about the question we raised earlier when discussing the Abravanel's first premise: "How does this idea of a deterministic 'objective beginning of the yearly cycle' still valid in light of our current scientific model, in which is no 'objective beginning' of the year which occurs in Tishrei?" 

I don't know what the Abravanel would say, but I can tell you what I think. Whereas the Abravanel believed that a new "wave" of natural cause-and-effect is set into motion every Rosh Chodesh Tishrei, we maintain that this happened only once: during the Six Days of creation. We are still "riding that wave" of natural cause-and-effect, from the Big Bang until now. 

On Rosh ha'Shanah we reflect on the creation of the world (or the creation of man, if you prefer). We say, "Today is the birth[day] of the world. Today all creatures of the world stand in judgment." Perhaps we can modify the Abravanel's explanation like this: Rosh Chodesh Tishrei may not be a day on which new natural causes are set in motion, but it is certainly a day when we reflect on Maaseh Bereishis, which is when all natural causes were initially set in motion. 

With this small modification, the rest of the Abravanel's model of Yom ha'Din and Yom Teruah are rendered viable - the only difference being that the annual Rosh ha'Shanah in Tishrei is no longer an objective, physical, astronomical "starting point," but merely a halachically mandated time to reflect on the true "starting point." From a hashgachah pratis standpoint, nothing changes: we can still assume that there is some weighing of zechuyos and avonos which takes place on Rosh ha'Shanah, and that the effects of this weighing can save us from the din which was decreed from the true starting point of Maaseh Bereishis, for which our Rosh ha'Shanah is an annual reminder.

Of course, if we discover that there is a problem with positing that Rosh ha'Shanah does not correspond to an objective hashgachah klalis phenomenon in the physical universe, then we'll have to find some other solution. As of now, I don't see any way that the Abravanel's premise - as he understood it - can be accepted as true. Please feel free to try and change my mind.