Shelach 5773: Rachav

In this week’s Haftorah (Yehoshua/Joshua 2:1-24) Yehoshua sends two men to secretly scout the walled city of Jericho. The Haftorah parallels the weekly Torah portion in which Moshe (Moses) sends out 12 scouts to the Land. “Yehoshua, the son of Nun, sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying ‘go view the Land and Jericho.’ They went and came to the house of a woman innkeeper/harlot named Rachav and they lodged there.”

Most commentators agree that Rachav was a harlot, but the word zonah the text uses to describe her profession can also mean innkeeper, from the same root as mazon, food.  Rachav’s inn is situated in the wall of the city and the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Yehoshua 1:9) says that important officials patronize it and share secrets with Rachav. The Talmud (Megillah 15a) names Rachav as one of four of the world’s most beautiful women ever and notes that men who see her lust after her.

Rachav hides the two scouts from the King of Jericho, provides the information the scouts need to bring back to Yehoshua, gives them an escape route from a rope from her window, and advises them how long to stay hidden. Why does Rachav risk her life to save the Jewish scouts? She hears about the miracles G-d performed for the Jewish people and she is inspired: “As soon as we heard, our hearts melted, nor did there remain any more spirit in any man because of you, for the L-rd your G-d, He is G-d in heaven above and on the earth below (Yehoshua 2:11).”

This statement is considered to be Rachav’s conversion to Judaism, which merits her salvation and that of her family when the Jewish people conquer Jericho. Talmud (Megillah 14b) notes that Rachav also merits to marry Yehoshua and have eight prophets and Kohanim (priests) descend from her.

Writes Rabbi Dr. Gidon Rothstein on ou.org: “The connection of Rachav to prophecy and priesthood seems part of tradition’s recognition that her faith transformed her from a woman sunk in the most physical and faithless of pursuits, ordinarily also a barrier to being able to recognize G-d or His Presence in the world. Having changed, she is the one who sees G-d in the events around her and acts to further that Presence.”   

Because Rachav is not afraid of the King of Jericho when he asks for the scouts, nor the Israelites when they come to destroy Jericho – she fears only G-d – the Midrash applies to her a verse of Eishet Chayil (Mishlei/Proverbs 31: 21): “She fears not snow for her household, for all her household is clothed in scarlet.” (In the Haftorah, verse 18, Rachav uses a scarlet cord as a sign between her and the scouts when they return to Jericho.)

Writes Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum: “While the color scarlet contrasted with white usually is a negative color symbolizing sin, Eishet Chayil uses the color of scarlet in the reverse way – to protect her household against the cold of snow. The color of scarlet – deep red – is the color of fire. Perhaps we can say that the Eishet Chayil has her own and her family’s fire in control. She protects her family by channeling the very same fire which usually causes people to sin into fire and passion for Hashem’s mitzvot (commandments).”   

Rebbetzin Siegelbaum notes that the name Rachav means “broad”. She writes: “As Rav Tzadok of Lublin explains, the advantage of the ba’al teshuva (literally, “master of return”, one who repents and embraces Torah) over the tzaddik (righteous person) is that when a crooked line is made into a straight line, the line becomes broader.”

http://www.berotbatayin.org/Torah/Parsha/Haftorah%20Shelach.pdf

http://www.ou.org/index.php/torah/article/shelach_haf/parsha-tab#.UZ9X9srDlQI

Behaalotcha 5773: Miriam

The end of this week’s Torah portion (Bamidbar/Numbers 12:1-16) relates an incident between three siblings: Miriam, Aharon (Aaron) and Moshe (Moses). “Miriam and Aharon spoke against Moshe regarding the Cushite woman he had married.”

Miriam is concerned about Moshe’s separation from his wife, Tziporah. She discusses the issue with her brother, Aharon, and neither understands Moshe’s motivation. We are both prophets, they reason, and we do not separate from our spouses. 

Rashi explains that Moshe has separated from his wife because he has to constantly remain in a ritually pure state in order to receive prophecy directly from G-d, which could come at any moment. Miriam and Aharon fail to recognize that Moshe is at a higher spiritual level than they are. Because they receive prophecy less frequently than Moshe does and in a different manner, they do not have to separate from their spouses. G-d gives them enough warning to immerse in a mikveh (ritual bath) and make themselves ritually pure before receiving prophecy.

Mrs. Esther Vilenkin on chabad.org puts forth that Miriam speaks out against Moshe’s actions because as a former midwife and savior of Jewish babies including Moshe, she does not want Moshe to separate from his wife and miss the opportunity to create more Jewish children.

Miriam’s and Aharon’s criticism of Moshe angers G-d. Because Miriam opens the discussion about Moshe with Aharon (note that her name appears before Aharon’s in the text), G-d afflicts Miriam with tzara’at, a leprosy-like skin condition caused by sinning that requires the afflicted to separate from the camp. In this case, Miriam’s sin is lashon hara, improper speech.

Writes Mrs. Vilenkin: “Miriam loved Moshe dearly and her words carried no harmful intent. She did not even speak negatively about Moshe, other than comparing him to other prophets…In the final analysis, Miriam erred. She failed to appreciate Moshe’s unique level of prophecy and relationship with G-d that precluded his marriage. Precisely because of her greatness, the punishment for this slight was so severe. G-d holds the righteous to a very high standard. Without a doubt, however, her intentions were noble and pure.” Rambam comes to the same conclusion in his Yad HaChazakah (Tum’as Tzaraas 16:10).

While Miriam is in quarantine outside the camp, the people in the camp wait for her for seven days. They do not move on until she rejoins them. Rashi explains that G-d honors her in this way because of the time she stayed with her baby brother, Moshe, when he was cast into the river (Shemot/Exodus 2:4). During the time they are waiting, the people can contemplate the destructive power of lashon hara.

Later in Torah, the people are warned: “Remember that which Hashem your G-d did to Miriam on the road when you went out from Egypt.” (Devarim/Deuteronomy 24:9) This is one of only six experiences the people are told to remember daily: leaving Egypt, receiving Torah, being pursued by Amelek, sinning with the Golden Calf idol, and keeping Shabbat.

We remember Miriam for so many positive actions: She inspires the Jews when they are enslaved in Egypt; she endangers her life to save Jewish newborns; she prophesizes the redemption and is ready with tambourines to praise Hashem; and through her merit, water spouts from a rock during the Israelites’ sojourn in the wilderness. Asks Mrs. Vilenkin, why then does Torah choose this unflattering incident and make it mandatory for us to remember it?

Rambam answers with a question: “[If the prophetess Miriam was such a tzadeket (righteous woman) and was so severely punished for a simple mistake], how much more so great a punishment will be coming to those wicked fools who frequently speak great and wondrous [criticisms]?” We learn from Miriam’s experience that our words have powerful consequences so we should be extremely careful in our speech.

http://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/2219326/jewish/Remember-the-Story-of-Miriam-Every-Day

http://www.torah.org/learning/ravfrand/5763/metzora.html

Naso 5773: Hatzlelponi

The Haftorah for Naso is from Shoftim/Judges 13:2-25.  It tells the story of the birth of Shimshon (Samson) who was a lifetime Nazir (Nazirite). (Naso contains the laws of the Nazir.) The Haftorah begins: “And there was one man from Tzorah, from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoach. His wife was barren and had not borne children. An angel of the L-rd appeared to the wife and said to her, ‘You are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.’”

The angel tells Manoach’s wife (who is unnamed in the text) that her son will be a Nazir from conception, so from now on she must abstain from wine, other intoxicants, grapes and ritually impure foods because a Nazir is prohibited from indulging in these. The angel also reveals that the son will begin to save the Jewish people from the Philistine oppressors.

Upon hearing the good news, the future mother goes to tell her husband. Manoach prays to G-d to send the messenger again so he can hear the instructions himself. The angel reappears to the wife and she runs to get her husband. The angel repeats the instructions. Manoach invites the messenger for a meal. The angel declines and tells Manoach to make the meal as a sacrifice to G-d. The angel ascends into the flames that burn the sacrifice and is not seen again.

Finally recognizing that he has seen an angel, Manoach is frightened and fears that he and his wife will die. His wife, showing exceptional emunah (faith), reassures him, saying, “Had the L-rd meant to take our lives, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a meal offering from us, not let us see all this and He would not have had us hear this.”

The Haftorah concludes: “The woman bore a son and she named him Shimshon. The boy grew up and the L-rd blessed him.”

The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 10:5) gives the name of Shimshon’s mother, Hatzlelponi. (The Talmud in Baba Basra 91a slightly varies the name as Tzelfonis.) This name is one of the few women’s names listed in the genealogy Divrei haYamim/Chronicles 4:3 and places Hatzlelponi in the most prestigious family/tribe of Yehuda (Judah). This is of interest because Manoach is from the least important family, Dan.

The name Hatzlelponi refers to seeing an angel. Tzel is the word used in Torah when Lot sees an angel. Since she saw the angel twice, Hatzlelponi’s name has an additional lamed (L). Poni is related to panim (face) and refers to seeing the face of an angel or coming face to face with an angel.

The noted lecturer Vivienne Frank surmises that Hatzlelponi’s name is omitted from the text to emphasize the importance of her dual roles, wife of Manoach, and as she later is called in Shoftim, mother of Shimshon.

There is a discussion about Manoach in Talmud (Berachos 61a). Rav Nachman characterizes him as an am ha-aretz, (literally, man of the earth, an unlearned man). In the Haftorah, it says that Manoach “walked behind (followed) his wife” when she took him to see the angel. While Rav Nachman claims this means that Manoach was ignorant of the accepted practice for men to avoid walking behind women (lest the men become aroused), Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak says it means that Manoach follows “after his wife’s words and advice.”

The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 10:5) puts forward that Manoach may not have trusted his wife’s words. Indeed, Manoach asks for the angel to reappear “to enlighten us what we should do with the child that is to be born.” Note that Manoach’s request is in the plural, on behalf of the couple. In deference to Hatzlelponi, the angel merely repeats the previous instructions that apply exclusively to Hatzlelponi.

Why did the angel appear to Hatzlelponi and not to Manoach? Writes Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum: “Perhaps it was because the angel appeared without prayer or preparation and these kinds of spontaneous prophetic experiences happen more often to women than to men. Malbim explains that the angel didn’t appear to Manoach because his wife was more ready than he was for the angel’s appearance.”

Otzar haMidrashim includes Hatzlelponi as one of 23 upright and righteous women. Bereishis Rabbati, Chayei Sarah lists Hatzlelponi among 22 worthy women. Yalkut Shimoni relates that verse 22 of Eishet Chayil (Mishlei/Proverbs 31:24) refers to Hatzlelponi.

        

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/wife-of-manoach-samsons-mother-midrash-and-aggada http://rebbetzinchanabracha.blogspot.com/2010/05/mother-of-shimshon.htmlh

Bamidbar 5773: Gomer, Wife of Hosea

 

This week’s Haftorah always is read on the Shabbat preceding the festival of Shavuot, the anniversary of the giving of the Torah. (This year, Shavuot will be observed in the Diaspora the evening of Tuesday, May 14 through Thursday, May 16.)  Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks explains that the way to understand the giving of Torah is to understand the relationship between G-d and His people. One of the most beautiful and intimate metaphors for G-d is husband, with Israel as bride and Torah as marriage contract.

This week’s Haftorah (Hosea 2:1-22) is about the marriage of the prophet Hosea and the harlot Gomer. In the opening chapter that precedes the Haftorah, G-d tells Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land goes astray from following the L-rd.  And he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Divlayim.”

It is not clear whether Gomer was a wanton woman before her marriage, or if she becomes licentious only after her marriage to Hosea. The Talmud (Pesachim 87a-b) comments on Gomer’s name: All would gratify their lust on her (gomerim) and they would tread on her like pressed fig (d’vilah) [which is a euphemism for sexual conduct].

The “back story” to the marriage also is found in Pesachim 87a-b. G-d tells Hosea that His people have sinned. Instead of asking G-d for mercy, Hosea suggests that G-d “exchange them for another nation.”  G-d responds: “What shall I do with this old man? I will tell him to go marry a harlot and have children by her. Then I will tell him to send her away. If he can, then I, too, will send Israel away.”

Gomer bears three children who may not even be Hosea’s biological offspring. She then leaves home, is unfaithful to Hosea many times and with multiple men, and eventually she is forced to sell herself into slavery. Hosea still loves her: he purchases Gomer’s freedom from slavery and provides her with clothing and food. Writes the Chief Rabbi: “In a flash of prophetic insight, G-d leads him [Hosea] to understand that his own personal experience mirrors that between G-d and the Israelites.”

In the Haftorah, G-d goes on to tell Hosea that in the future He will return the people to the wilderness where they were betrothed so that they can renew their relationship with Him.  “And it will come to pass on that day, declares the L-rd, that you will call Me ‘Ishi’ and you will no longer call Me ‘Baali.’”   

The Hebrew words ish and baal both mean “husband”. Baal has the additional meaning of “master” or “owner”.  Baal also is the name of a pagan god, the powerful god of lightning as well as the fertility god who sends rain to “impregnate” the ground.

Writes the Chief Rabbi: “Hosea…hints at the kind of world that emerges when you worship sex and power. It is a world without loyalties, where relationships are casual and people are taken advantage of and then dropped. A marriage predicated on the word baal is a relationship of male dominance, in which women are used, not loved; owned, not honored.”

“Daringly, Hosea suggests that the making of woman from man mirrors the creation of humanity. First they are separated, then they are joined again, but now as two distinct persons, each of whom respects the integrity of the other. What joins them is a new kind of relationship built on fidelity and trust.”

The Haftorah ends with the words Jewish men recite as they wrap the tefillin (phylactery) strap like a wedding ring around their finger: “I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness and justice, loving kindness and compassion; I will betroth you in fidelity, and you will know G-d.”  A loving and faithful relationship with G-d is thus the foundation and model for the ideal marriage.

http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/2212376/jewish/Love-as-Law-Law-as-Love.htm

http://www.thefoundationstone.org/en/bible/haftarot/3504-haftarah-bamidbar-experiencing-gods-love.html