jewish times - volume i,no. 20...june 21, 2002

7/27/2019 Jewish Times - Volume I,No. 20...June 21, 2002

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In This Issue:Gladness & exultation 1, 2

The chosen people 1, 3

Alan keyes' message to mesora 1

urpose of halacha 2

redictions ii 3

Chukas: method in learning 4

"Serve the Lord with gladness, comeefore Him with exultation." Psalms

00:2What is the emphasis or repetition in

Serve the Lord" and "come beforeHim" which has the same meaning. Theentence also reads: "with gladness" andwith exultation" that also has the same

meaning. The sentence could have beenwritten as two separate statements:Serve the Lord with gladness." Or:Come before Him with exultation."

What is being emphasized and repeatedn the one sentence?

Dedicated to Scriptural and Rabbinic Verifof Jewish Beliefs and Pr

www.mesora.org/jewishtimes.pdfVolume I, No. 20...June 21, 2002 Download and Print

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Reader: I am trying to expand myknowledge in religions. Could you giveme an explanation of the phrase "Thechosen ones"? Who are they? Why arethey the chosen ones? Are theysuperior, in ways, to other people in theworld?

Mesora: Let me clarify your laststatement; man is man. Whencompared with all other nations, Jewshave no additional human features.

You question the term "chosenpeople". I ask, "what does 'chosen'imply"? I would say that one who hasmerited distinction based on his ownacts, and is ascribed credit by another,may be termed "chosen" by the other.

Does this compliment apply to eachindividual Jew? Let us consider:

Abraham lived in a societypermeated by idolatrous practices - hetoo worshiped idols. Upon later

analysis of what is real and true as heobserved the world, Abraham arrived atthe conclusion that there can be onlyone God, he beholds infinite wisdom,His wisdom reflects in all He created,He is just, kind, merciful, and He is notof the material of this world - He is notphysical. Noting man's clear distinctionas the only rational being on Earth,Abraham further understood that Goddesires man to use his mind above allelse. Abraham arrived at proofs for hisreasoning, such valid proofs that Goddesired His words be carried out in theworld through Abraham and his

descendants, to whom Abraham wouldteach the ways of God. This isexpressly stated in Genesis, 18:19,"ForI know (him) that he will command hischildren and his household after himand they will keep the way of God todo charity and justice...."

For the singular reason that Abrahamapproached this life - and ultimately hisrelationship with God - using rationale,intelligence, and proofs, God thereforechose Abraham - and thereafter his

(continued on page 2) (continued on page 3)

The basic foundations which all Jewsmust know as true. We urge you to read them:

www.mesora.org/13principles.html

www.mesora.org/belieforproof.html

an open letter to the jewish community:

www.mesora.org/openletter/openletter2.html

Gladness andExultationrivka olenick

Suggested Readings:see these and other articles at our site

In these days of terrible travail for Israel and for the civworld, I want to commend Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim ansupporters of Mesora and the Jewish Times for all their fine wdefense of truth, decency and humanity.

Israel is under assault from forces without and within. This has become intertwined, ideologically, politically, and militarilyassaults upon America. As human beings and children of ourGod, we must unflichingly oppose terrorist violence, whpretexts or causes it may hide behind. And we must all shshared responsibilities in these momentous days of IsraelAmerica's mutual struggle for survival against implacable enem

Energetic adherence to God's Will, faithful upholding of God's Law, determined respGod's Authority over the affairs of His creatures are righteous and, I deeply believe, pleasour Creator. They are also imperative to the proper, ardent advancement of the cause of

and peace in the world -- as they ever have been in His plan for the human race, sinbeginning of the world.

I am a Christian, and a Catholic. Rabbi Ben-Chaim and I share an understanding threligious faith and practice are supported, indeed commanded, by human reason. We alrespect our God-given capacity to know and defend the right. We all must protsacredness of innocent human life. We must honor God in all that we are and all that wMoral principle is accessible to the human mind and enshrined in the human heart, and obligated by our Creator to uphold the rational and saving commandments of His moral lour various vocations, this is the truth for all humankind. And at this moment in human hfor the future of Israel and America, we must insist on this truth.

I have said before, and I continue to believe,that the civilized world will prevail against ignorance,barbarism and hate. If we are faithful and true,we will win the war against terror, and secure forhumanity the better destiny our Creator hasdesigned for us to achieve. Keep faith,

The Chosen Peoplerabbi moshe ben-chaim

with commentary byrabbi reuven mann

ambassador alan keyes

Maimonides' 13PRINCIPLES

God's ExistenceBelief or

Proof?God's Land

WithoutGod?

Maimonides' 13PRINCIPLES

God's ExistenceBelief or

Proof?God's Land

WithoutGod?

ask your children:

"Is it better to fight with someone, or tell them how you feel so you can be friends?"Have your children email us with their answers: [email protected]

mail: [email protected] the jewishtimes is emailed to 55,000 - available online to 20-40,000 readers monthly affiliates: www.usaisrael.org email: letters@usaisramail: [email protected] the jewishtimes is emailed to 55,000 - available online to 20-40,000 readers monthly affiliates: www.usaisrael.org email: letters@usaisra

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"If you search for it like silver, and seek it like buried treasures, then will youcomprehend knowledge of God, and the fear of God will you find."

King Solomon, Proverbs 2:4-5

MESSAGE TO MESORA AND THE JEWISHTIMES


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Volume I, No. 20...June 21, 2002 www.Mesora.org/JewishTime

Unfortunately, many people believehere cannot be gladness or exultation

when serving God or coming before

Him. People mistakenly think that thenvolvement in the commandments isainful and burdensome and that wehould live a life of suffering andeprivation. The Torah's path is referredo as: "a tree of life" "Her ways are waysf pleasantness" (Mishle 3: 17, 18). Athe same time we should not think that toerve God, to come before Him withladness and exultation is simply anmotional state having nothing to do

with wisdom and thought. To theontrary a person can begin tonderstand that gladness and exultations produced when serving God,

specially in every day practical lifewhen you involve yourself in helpingourself and others. Every day life is setp specifically to immerse itself in God's

will. The more you use your talents andkills to help others, the greater theladness.Divine Service is more than going to

he synagogue on the Sabbath or makingphone pledge. Involve yourself in

earning more about the commandmentsnd prayer. When you are fulfilling aommandment or are involved in prayer,emind yourself that you are before the

One and Only God; that you come

efore the One Who created you and theworld. Do not allow anything or anyoneo disrupt the relationship between yound the Creator. Realize that you areependent on God, not man. Feel gladnowing that you are serving the One

who knows all your needs and providesou with all your needs. Be happy thatou have God to turn to. Thinking this

way gives a person tremendousnthusiasm. It creates a great sense of

well being that you can direct yourhoughts this way. Begin to understandhat by doing the mitzvos there are thereat benefits of gladness and exultation.earn the truths and purpose of theommandments, that itself producesladness. Gladness and happiness is ay-product of thought. Put your effortnd energy into fulfilling God'sommandments with optimism and that

will take you away from your ownadness and the sadness in the world.

Every Jew is obligated to serve Godwith joy and gladness in wealth and inoverty in good health and even if one isl. This level can be reached slowly bute practical about it, you cannot demandappiness from yourself. But you can

certainly improve the quality of yourlife, by putting more effort into Torahstudy and understanding thecommandments and their purpose in ourlives. Over time the effort you make inthis area will produce peace of mind. Itwill remove you from things that arepetty and superficial and will removeyou from the constant need to seekapproval from others, which will alwayscause conflict.

Only God knows all your thoughts.Focus on this idea when you feelestranged from God, especially when theworld is in turmoil and when you arepersonally suffering. It is God thatrelieves all suffering. Know that whenyou serve God you are fulfilling yourpurpose, the reason you were createdand this understanding will begin tobring you relief optimism and happiness.Do everything possible to preserve andstrengthen this relationship, it is the mostimportant relationship we have.Understanding this will give yousatisfaction and peace of mind. Your

peace of mind will produce gladness soyou can encourage others to serve Godwith simcha. Only a life committed toservice can produce such gladness andexultation. The pusuk emphasizes thatonly service produces gladness, that tocome before God only, producesexultation.

Don't allow yourself to be fooled tothink that anything else can bring aperson such gladness and exultation.Else meaning red benders, silver rings,handwriting annalists who claim toknow your essence from yourhandwriting, hanging a mezuzah in yourcar, a palm reader who claims to foreseeyour future, or claims that one can directyour life with a blessing, or anything elsethat you imagine instantly createsgladness and exultation. This is all false.The only way to serve God withgladness is through the commandmentsgiven to us in truth. There is only oneway to achieve exultation before God,through service and truth.

"The type of joy that is a mitzvah isthe joy you share with those lessfortunate such as orphans, widows, thosewithout a family and poor people. Ifsomeone closes his doors to others andonly utilizes what he has for himself and

his immediate family without helpingthe poor and the unfortunate, his joy isnot the joy of mitzvah, but joy of thestomach. Such joy is a badge of shame."Rambam, Hilchos Yom Tov 6:18.

"The feeling of steady and constantspiritual and moral growth, thecontinuous growth of all that is trulyhuman in us, a blissful joy of life that isnot subject to change in any manner bythe outward circumstances which lifemay bring." Samson RaphaelHirsch,The Hirsch Psalms, pg. 195.

Reader: Sure, I am Jewish. I am a goodJew. (whatever that is.?) However, I amnot sure that religion to the letter of the law

is where it really is at. I do believe we havedecisions to make in our lives (terriblysecular, am I not?) and when religion(Jews, or others)try to push everyone intothe same fundamental track, I object. Ihave seen lots of ignorance go down in thename of religion, mine and others. Somuch of the training has been done, and is,in many cases in an abhorrent manner.Your response is of interest to me.

I oppose anti Semitism, support Israeland am a caring, deeply spiritual. Myreligious background enriches me, my life,and is /was good training. Yes I absolutelythink the push for strict adherence in every

way is ridiculous. I understand Kosher, forexample is a discipline. So are many otherthings. I have seen many "Kosher"adherence and religious people be "asses"or should I say donkeys. I can go on andon, but certainly am interested in youropinion on such issues.Mesora: For those you call asses, they

are clearly not following halacha. A Jewwho follows the laws is considerate ofothers, his manners, and all which createsa good impression of man. If someone setsa poor example - deserving your ridicule -he cannot be adhereing to Halachaproperly.

There are many benefits for the strictnature of Halacha:

1) It keeps Judaism cohesive, notdiluted by subjective feelings on how toact. If each person was allowed to pick andchoose, Judaism would instantly vanish.

2) Halacha's strict guidelines causeman's every actions to be considered by hismind. As man talks, works, eats andinteracts with others during each day, heincorporates ideals of morals and justiceinto these actions, thereby living in linewith his reason. He is not guided bysuperficial whims.

3) Primarily, Halacha is a system ofsuch precision and beauty which aims to

draw man in, illuminating him with anappreciation for God's wisdom. Throughstudy and analysis of numerous theoriesand structures of Jewish law, mansubmerges himself in a sea of ideas whichcaptivates and invigorates his being. Noother earthly involvement offers its depth,or satisfies man's search for a fulling life. Itis for this last purpose that the Torah statesthat Torah study outweighs all othercommandments.

These halachas (laws) are the result oflengthy conversations - recorded in the

Talmud - by the meticulous analygreat sages. These sages uncovered the tremendous wisdom enclosed inlaws. God understands man and gaveTorah system by which He says wlive the most enjoyable and beneficiaMaimonides states that observing thkeeps our minds engaged while we ainvolved in Torah study.

Halacha may generate in some reluctance to follow it. This is not a f

the system, but in man. You must be cto separate personal discomfort, frowhich is inherently bad for man, Torah cannot be. The reason forreluctance is man's own level of cwith his current mode of living wTorah. He is free to eat what he wanwhat he wishes, and marry who he chThen the Torah comes along and restrictions on so many of his actionman will naturally be reluctant, as thenow restricts his so called "happinesdoctor told me that by taking 10 pilland exercise, I would remain healthylife, I most certainly would adhere

suggestion although this requires cHe knows my body better than I. If htold me that in time, my reluctanchange my lifestyle would be replacean actual enjoyment in the phexercise, I would be foolish not to ohis plan.

So to with the Torah. The restrictfirst impede my current lifestylethrough study, I will learn howcommand benefits me in line widesign as an intelligent being. My gessence as a thinking being - until thi- was not satisfied. But with involvemthought and learning, I come to appthat which is more central to my beinmore universally important in life. also draw me in, as we are designenatural curiosity, and a love for learnenjoyment unmatched by any involvement. Fulfillment will be realmyself, emotions will become more and enduring happiness will becoreality. It will greatly outweigh my cmomentary pleasures. I will abandneed to stay the same for comfort'and I will change as I learn, as I seeand benefit in such a change. One whthe truth in the laws and remains obsforfeits his life. He is truly ridiculous.

Without studying the human p

man is foolish to claim he knows wbetter for himself. However, once hstudy, he will most certainly see the as the perfect system for mandesigned both, man and Torah. He knows what man requires forhappiness. To remain ignorant of theis man's worst crime, one for which surely pay the highest price.

Alteration and abandon of hdestroy the Torah system, thdestroying our chance for true happin

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Gladness andExultationrivka olenick

Purposeof Halacharabbi moshe ben-chaim


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escendants - to be the guardians andachers of His Torah. It is most crucialat one realize this distinction betweenbraham and all others of his era, which

the same distinction between Judaismnd all other religions: Judaism is basedn rationale and proofs, just as all othereas of study, such as math and naturalience. Conversely, all other religions

ase themselves on belief and claims, notbject to proof. God does not desire this

pproach, demonstrated by His gift toan of intelligence.Abraham discovered God and Judaism

ith the same methods used to proveientific fact. God created both religion

nd science. Therefore, by design, bothquire the identical, intelligent approachorder to discover the layers of God's

isdom enveloped in each. This approachreason - the only approach - is what

braham engaged to demonstrate tohers the fallacy of idolatry and ditheism.e taught God's existence via proofs, andat following the Creator of the universe

what is reasonable and true. Mannnot deny logic, and Abraham soontracted thousands of adherents. Thatod revealed himself to Abraham is therevocable endorsement that Abrahamscovered what is real and true about life

nd the universe. We learn that Godaited for someone like and Abraham tond God, and not vice versa. Godvealing Himself to man without man

xerting his intelligence will neverappen. God does not desire that man berced into worshiping Him. This is whye Torah states in connection withvelation at Sinai, (Deut. 5:19) "A loudoice, and no more." Meaning, althoughne historically proven event was required

prove God's existence and the veracitythe Torah, it also coerced the Jews into

e acceptance of God, as the proof wasndeniable. This is not God's desiredethod for man's approach to Him.God wishes that man use intelligence,

ot his fear, nor faith, nor belief. Thisplies to all areas of life, starting with the

ost important area, man's knowledge of,nd adherence to God. Selecting Abrahamnd his descendants to teach the world,od teaches just that.Jews are bound to study God's system of

orah, both for our own edification, and toach other nations, demonstrated bybraham's life's work of reaching out tohers. Thus, we are referred to as thehosen people"(1), Deuteronomy, 10:15,

Only in your fathers did God desire and dide love them, and He chose their seed afterem from all other peoples, as this day."

Based on God's words noted herein, aJew must not feel arrogant towards aGentile. Certainly, if such a Jew is non-

observant, he does not fulfill in himselfGod's desire for man, nor does he layclaim on the term chosen. And even whenone does fulfill God's plan and adheres tothe Torah, the term "chosen" is notcomplimentary to him, but actually toAbraham. We read in Deuteronomy 7:8,"Because from God's love for you and Hisguard of His swear that He swore to yourforefathers..."

God secured the blessings of Abrahamupon his son Isaac, with the qualificationthat Abraham adhere to God's ideals, asstated in Genesis, 26:5, "I will increaseyour seed as the stars of the heavens, and Iwill give to your seed all these lands, andall nations will bless you. On account ofAbraham's hearkening to My voice, andhe guarded my guarding (laws), mycommands, statutes and torahs."(2)

Where do we see our goal of "a lightunto nations" realized? In Deuteronomy4:6-8 we read, "And you shall watch themand keep them as they (the commands)are your wisdom and understanding in theeyes of the nations, who will hear all thesestatutes and declare 'what a wise andunderstanding people is this great nation.Because what great nation has God closeto them like God, whenever (they) call toHim? And what great nation has statutes

and laws as righteous as this entireTorah'..." The Rabbis stated in line withthis quote, that we are chosen for no otherreason than to imbue the world with God'swisdom. God did not create "Jews" and"Gentiles". God created "man". Later on,man deviated through idol worship. Butfrom God's initial plan it is quite clear, Hedesires ALL mankind follow him. ThatHe chose a people most suitable toreceive, study and teach His ideas toothers, follows God's initial plan.Deuteronomy 9:5 and 9:6 state

emphatically, "Not due to yourrighteousness or upright hearts do youcome to inherit the land..."

The very fact that God selected Davidand Solomon as His kings, thedescendants of converts, demonstratesthat God judges one based on his ownmerit, not on his lineage. Although thesegreat men were not descendants of the"chosen" people, this is immaterial.

Maimonides - responding to a convert'squery whether he could accurately state inhis prayers "God of our fathers" -instructed him that Abraham was indeedhis father, as "father" is measured not inbiological terms, but in ideological terms.Maimonides taught that converts are trulydescendants of Abraham.

Jews can become corrupt - we are not

exempt from emotions and erroneousopinions which lead to sinning againstGod. Equally true, being a member of the"chosen people" does not brand us asgood - our free will determines our ownmerit. We must think clearly, andappreciate that the term chosen did notdevolve upon us today - it is Abraham'sappellation - who was not even a Jew. Wedo share that reference, provided westudy, understand, teach, and follow God'sinstructions to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, andMoses.

God desires all mankind know Him. Itis only due to our forefathers' adherence

to God's ideals, that God selected them.They demonstrated intelligence in allareas of life starting with religion, andthey embodied moral perfection essentialto act as God's emissaries - transferringGod's will to man - every man.

Footnotes:

(1) "Chosen" is not a universal accolade applying to allroles of a Jew. Chosen means, chosen for a specific task. (2) Once chosen, Abraham remained at risk of losing thechosen status unless he remained faithful to the true path.Unlike academic degrees, one's status as God's chosen isreversible; in proportion to his perfection is God's desire ofhim.

Reader: Could you tell me what Jewish opinion and belief of Nostradamuhis writings?

Mesora: If you ask, what is Judaism'on man's ability to predict the futurresponse is as follows: Man's mind is li

primarily to the functions of comprehememory, comparison, analysis, indudeduction, reason, intuition and imaginMan cannot function outside olimitations. Just as man cannot fly, as floutside our range of physical ability, soknowledge of the future outside the ranour mental ability. Without God informof the future, it is impossible for us to kn

The reasons why predictionsimpossible are three; 1) Foreknowledgminds can only work with knowledgknowledge is always about something already exists. The future does not exist, cannot know it with our minds' desig

Cause and Effect: We reason based onand effect relationships, and our minds cgrasp the vast number of factors contrito future events. 3) The Freewill Factofuture of Earth is most certainly cearound man, who functions outside of and effect, as we each have freewillprecludes our cause and effect reasoningarriving at any accuracy of prediction.

Reader2: I read your answer tquestion about Nostradamus (I have cobelow). I was surprised to read the anThe 1st paragraph was correct but left opossibility that man can predict the falthough that future is changeable. We sa

Adam HaRishon told Hashem that he not have children and he learned this froMazalot. We have cases in the gemara men predict the future. The whole idMAZAL applies to individuals (eyn l'yisrael is only applicable as a nationknow of Rabbi Akiva's fear aboudaughter's possible death on her wenight... The list goes on. We now shyfrom learning from the Mazalot but theya way of telling the future even thoughwere not 100 percent effective.

Mesora: 3 Points:1) You take midrashim literally, this

error. 2) You also contradict yourselfyou say, "even though they were nopercent effective..." Prediction, by defimeans 100% accuracy. Anyone capartially correct. This is precisely whTorah demands 100% accuracydetermining one a prophet of God. The realizes that people can be partially cand that foreknowledge is humimpossible. The Torah thereby teaches thonly valid proof that one has knowledge, is that it is divine in origin.

3) You have also not shown any flawreasoning.

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Predictions: Part IIrabbi moshe ben-chaim

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The Chosen Peoplerabbi moshe ben-chaim

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This paper was written to be an aid inveloping questions when studying Torah,d to help direct one to the main issues and

derstand a given area.When one goes through an account ofwish history found in either thentateuch, Prophets or Writings, or Jewishw in the Mishna or the Talmud, it issential to your understanding to keep thellowing in mind: the Pentateuch wassigned word for word, letter for letter byod, as was the Oral Law. The Talmud wasitten by the extremely wise. One commitsgrave injustice both to the ideas and toeself by offering a simple explanation ofy topic found in these areas, as they allm from God Who has infinite wisdom,or God gives wisdom, from His mouth

me knowledge and understanding."roverbs,2:6). Everything must bepreciated and understood on this level.

very sentence in the Pentateuch, forample, must contribute to the explanation

the area. In any given story in thentateuch, the Prophets or the Writings, theecise amount of information is disclosedus by God so that we can detect the issues.

ertain unusual words will be used to catchr attention. Certain passages will seem atst out of place, and seemingly impossibleents are described which force us to delveto the area. These are all generous cluesr the investigation.Besides having the correct appreciationr the design of the Torah, you must alsoproach your studies with the correctestions. As a Rabbi once said, "asking theht question is 90 percent of the answer."You will notice that many times whenking a question, you already have moreformation than you may think, and bying that information in your question, youll more likely arrive at the correct answer.r example: When you see a flat tire onu friends car you can ask "whatppened?" But you already know whatppened. He probably drove his car overme sharp object. The question shouldally be formulated as "What did you drive

ur car over?" By asking the question ins way, you will start pondering what couldve done this. You've directed youroughts directly to the area that will containur answer - namely, the type of sharpject. If you would have persisted withur first type of question, "whatppened?", you would have placed yourndset in an astonished state, as opposed to

inquisitively directed state. Beingonished sets up the emotional state in arson to await a response from another.hat we really want, is to position the mind

to answer the question. This can only comefrom direct questions on the facts. This typeof approach to questioning commences anintellectual search, better suited to result inanswers.

The following area in the Pentateuch willillustrate this point. I will first give a briefsummary of the area. Then I will show anindirect and direct way of asking questions:

The area is in Numbers, chapter 21,sentences 4 through 9. It states that the

people traveled towards the land of Edom,and their patience grew short on the way.They complained regarding God and Mosesthat there was no bread and water and thatthey were tired of the "light bread" (themanna). God then sent fiery serpents toattack and kill the people, and many died.The people saw their wrong and went toMoses and confessed that they spokewrongly about God and about Moses, andasked that he pray that the serpents beremoved. After Moses prayed, God told himto create a serpent and to place it upon a poleand that any who looked at it would behealed. Moses did so, and made a brassserpent and placed it on a pole, and any manthat was bitten gazed at it and was healed.This is the basic story. Keep in mind alsothat you must keep to the main issues if youare going to successfully answer an area.Distinguish between main questions andside questions.

The main questions on this section are:What was the fault of the people? Why didGod choose to give "fiery serpents" as apunishment here, as opposed to somethingelse? What does the added affliction of"fiery" serpents come to accomplish? Whydid Moses have to make a serpent if thepeople already confessed? Why put it on apole? Why did Moses make it out of

"brass"? How did looking at this serpentheal?

Rashi said, "let the serpent who waspunished due to his evil talk (the sectiondealing with Adam and Eve) come and exactpunishment from those who spoke evil. Letthe serpent come, to who everything tastesas one, and exact punishment from thosewho denied the good. That one thing(manna) was changed for them to manythings." According to Rashi, the Jewsreceived a corrective measure throughsnakes because of evil talk. However, thisisn't the first time someone spoke evil. Whydidn't Miriam receive snakes when she

spoke against Moses? Why didn't the Jewsreceive snakes long before this? They spokeevil before.

These are the basic questions. It is verypossible to work with them as they are. Butif we make slight changes to their structure,we will direct ourselves closer to theanswers. Remember, all of the informationwe need to answer these questions is in thepassages.

The main question should be addressedfirst. Why snakes? We know why. Theyspoke evil. So we must ask more

directly:"What was the difference in the eviltalk of the Jews here, that they received thesnakes? After asking the question this way,you direct yourself at their actions for theanswer. You know that in other cases theJews complained to God and Moses, andthey didn't receive snakes, let alone "fiery"snakes. So speaking evil perse cannot be thecause of their extraordinary punishment.What is different here?

The difference is that it never mentions

anywhere else that the people "grew tired onthe way". This first passage seemsextraneous at first. But now, rephrase thequestion using this information from the firstpassage: "What is it in the fact that they weretired, that the ensuing evil talk should bepunished with serpents?" You can almostimmediately make the connection that theirevil talk was the direct result of being tired.Meaning, that their evil talk was unjustifiedin relation to the object of their complaint. Itwas just talk used to vent their emotionsregarding something else. Their was noinherent flaw with the manna.

Talking can be used for one of two things:1) communication of an idea or of acomplaint, 2) an outlet for the emotions, asone does when hot tempered and breakssomething. Instead of breaking something,people often whine and complain.

This first passage is here to hint towardsthe underlying cause for their complaining.They were tired of the journey and didn'tcontrol their feelings, and began to displacetheir frustration to outlet their emotions. Wealso understand now why they received sucha different punishment here than in otherareas. Here, their complaining wasn't basedon any real problem. They covered it upwith a rationalization of the lack of breadand water. But in reality they shouldn't have

complained. This explains why theyreceived serpents.

Serpents were given to them because theyrepresent what the original serpent waspunished for - evil talk - and to point out tothem that they were victims of an emotion ofoutletting their feelings through speech. Hadthere been another incident in Scripturewhere an individual, or people, had outlettedtheir emotions in this manner, and were on alevel for God to administer a correctivemeasure, we would witness another case of"fiery serpents". However, this is the onlyaccount where this specific flaw occurred,and therefore, the only account where fiery

serpents comes to correct the situation.With this information, we can also answer

another question: Why the additional aspectof "fiery"? The reason is because theydenied the good of the manna. This is whatRashi was pointing to. If there were twoaspects to their punishment (serpents andfiery), there must be a reason for both. So"serpents" comes to correct evil speech, and"fiery" comes to correct their denial of thegood manna. Tangentially, Miriam wasn'tpunished with serpents because herdegrading talk wasn't to outlet an emotion.

Contained in her words was an incnotion regarding how God relates to She however expressed this with a boovertone. Thus, she fell prey to two f1) She misunderstood how God relaMoses, (as compared to herself) 2) Shein to the feeling of haughtiness. Miriam faulted in these two, God corrher in both. He taught her howrelationship with Moses differed fromrelationship to her, and He gave her le

which lowers ones self esteem. Thanother example of how God's punishdiffers from man's. When God punsomeone, or a people, it is an act wcorrects a fault. It's not just a deterrentis the basic concept behind "Mida k'nmida", (measure for measure).

What about the question as to whytold Moses to make replica of the serDidn't the people repent already? This way of asking this question. But wdeduce from the facts that there mustbeen something lacking if God told Mto do something further. The queshould be rephrased as the following: "was it in the Jews request for the remothe serpents which demonstrates incomrepentance?" You can see the anclearly. Their confession to God and Mis immediately followed by their requhave the serpents removed. (An imppoint about this is that they both take in the same passage. When one pacontains a few thoughts, they are relTheir repentance was only for the saremoving their immediate pain fromserpents - not a true realization of their Because of this, God instructed Moscreate a replica of the serpent so thacould stare at it in order to contemplateproblem properly, thereby removing

themselves their incorrect notions. Placupon the pole facilitated the directitheir thoughts towards God, Whfiguratively "upon high".

In summary, the following steps sbe taken when approaching an area of TSheb'csav: 1) Know where the area band ends

2) Understand the area thoroughly3) Distinguish between main point

side points4) Ask yourself how this area differs

all other areas. This will help to pointowards the main topics

5) Formulate questions clearly usi

much information as you have to work6) If the area deals with

relationship to man, detect either man'sand see how the punishment fits the cor look into God's actions towards munderstand what He was improving up

7) If the area deals with mi(commandments), if they are pocommands, look into man's nature twhat they affect; and if they are negcommands, then they are coming to coa natural disposition of man which mutempered.

ChukasProper Questions:

Method in Learningrabbi moshe ben-chaim

jewish times - volume i,no. 20...june 21, 2002

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