Rosh HaShana 5768

Esnoga Bet Emunah

227 Millset Chase - San Antonio, Texas 78253

Triennial Cycle (Triennial Torah Cycle) / Septennial Cycle (Septennial Torah Cycle)

Three and 1/2 year Lectionary Readings	Third Year of the Reading Cycle
Tishri 1/2, 5768 – Sept. 12/14, 2007	Seventh Year of the Shmita Cycle

5768

LESHANÁ TOBÁ TIKATEBÚ VETECHATEMÚ!

For a good year may you be inscribed and sealed!

¡Para un año bueno sea usted inscrito y sellado!

Texas, U.S. – Candle lighting times: Eve of First day Rosh Hashana

Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007 – Light Candles at: 7:34 PM

Eve of Second day Rosh Hashana

Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007 – Light Candles after 8:27 PM

Shabbat Shuvah

Friday, Sept. 14, 2007 – Light Candles at: 7:32 PM

Saturday, Sept. 15, 2007 - Havdalah 8:25 PM

Atlanta, U.S – Candle lighting times: Eve of First day Rosh Hashana

Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007 – Light Candles at: 7:31 PM

Eve of Second day Rosh Hashana

Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007 – Light Candles after 8:25 PM

Shabbat Shuvah

Friday, Sept. 14, 2007 – Light Candles at: 7:28 PM

Saturday, Sept. 15, 2007 - Havdalah 8:22 PM

Brisbane, Aust. – Candle lighting times: Eve of First day Rosh Hashana

Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007 – Light Candles at: 5:21 PM

Eve of Second day Rosh Hashana

Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007 – Light Candles after 6:14 PM

Shabbat Shuvah

Friday, Sept. 14, 2007 – Light Candles at: 5:22 PM

Saturday, Sept. 15, 2007 - Havdalah 6:15 PM

Singapore, Sing. – Candle lighting times: Eve of First day Rosh Hashana

Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007 – Light Candles at: 6:47 PM

Eve of Second day Rosh Hashana

Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007 – Light Candles after 7:35 PM

Shabbat Shuvah

Friday, Sept. 14, 2007 – Light Candles at: 6:46 PM

Saturday, Sept. 15, 2007 - Havdalah 7:34 PM

September 12/14 – Rosh HaShanah – New Year – Feast of Trumpets

September 22/23 – Fast of Gedaliah

For other places see: http://chabad.org/calendar/candlelighting.asp

We have reached once again by the grace of G-d a critical junction in our calendar (the catechism of the Jewish people) a season of deep reflection, returning and repentance. At this time of the year we reflect on G-d’s great mercy for our people Israel, Who has in His abundant compassion provided us once again with a season for returning, meaningful renewal and reinvigoration in our walk with Him and in our service to our fellowmen. We pray first of all that G-d’s great consolation and healing hand be upon those all over the world and in particular, in our Holy Land who are either mourning the death of loved ones or are recuperating from their wounds as a consequence of war, and/or wanton acts of violence including terrorist acts.

It is also with a deep sense of awe that during the past month of Elul we have examined our deeds, words and thoughts for this last year and found them lacking and in need of much improvement. For this reason, His Honor Rosh Paqid Adon Hillel ben David, His Honor Paqid Adon David ben Avraham, His Honor Paqid Adon Mikha ben Hillel, His Honor Paqid Adon Poriel ben Abraham and your servant Hakham Dr. Yosef ben Haggai do take this opportunity to sincerely ask of all of our readers, friends, coreligionists, and family that if in any way shape or manner our words, behaviors, and/or deeds have given any of you occasion to be offended or your feelings hurt, we beg your forgiveness, and we most humbly apologize, and implore your mercy.

We are most sorry for and greatly regret any ill feeling, hurt, or disappointment that our misdeeds and torpid words may have caused you. We sincerely pray that G-d may grant you the courage to forgive us for any offence caused, since we are but frail human vessels full of many imperfections, yet trying our very best to serve our Most Sovereign G-d and our fellowman. Again, we most humbly pray that you forgive us as we have forgiven all those who have offended us or bruised our fragile egos.

We thank you for your great courage in forgiving us, for your kindness and patience with us over the last year, and for helping us to improve ourselves as human beings to serve G-d and our fellowman better. At the same time we pray that our teachings, our weekly Torah and festival commentaries, together with our web page found at: http://www.betemunah.org may continue to be a source of much blessing, edification, strength, comfort, and consolation to you and your loved ones. To those who have faithfully supported us in this Holy endeavor we are truly most thankful to you and your loved ones for your sacrificial giving.

We also want to challenge you at this time to share these weekly commentaries with others and if they wish to receive them, send us their E-Mail addresses that we may invite them to become members of this list. Good deeds should also accompany our Teshuva (Returning/Repentance), and we invite you to help us financially with this work, particularly at this time of need.

This year has surely been one of much research and soon you will find new articles appearing on our web page showing the fruits of our labors. Also we need to make mention that with Rosh HaShanah this year we inaugurate the 7^th Year known also as the Sh’mita Year, and which is also our last year of the Septennial Torah Reading Cycle. For more information see: http://www.betemunah.org/shmita.html

On behalf of all of us, we take this opportunity to wish you and yours that you may all be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for a very happy year, full of wonderful blessings, copious prosperity, long life, very good health, much Torah learning, and many opportunities to do good deeds of loving-kindness, together with all of our most noble people Yisrael, and all their blessed Hakhamim, wherever they may be, amen ve amen!

Rosh HaShannah	Torah Reading:
New Year - Año Nuevo
1st Day – Primer Día

	Reader 1 – B’resheet 21:1-4
B’resheet (Genesis) 21:1-34 B’midbar (Numbers) 29:1-6	Reader 2 – B‘resheet 21:5-12
Ashlamatah: 1 Samuel 1 – 2:10	Reader 3 – B’resheet 21:13-21
	Reader 4 – B’resheet 21:22-27
Psalm 81	Reader 5 – B’resheet 21:28-34
Proverbs 7:1-27	Maftir – B’midbar 29:1-6
N.C.: Yochanan 1:1-18	1 Samuel 1 – 2:10

For further study see:

http://www.betemunah.org/teruah.doc

http://www.betemunah.org/wicked.doc; http://www.betemunah.org/shofar.doc

http://www.betemunah.org/knowday.doc

Targum Pseudo Jonathan on Beresheet (Genesis) 21:1-34

XXI. And the Lord remembered Sarah according to that which He had said to her; and the Lord made a miracle for Sarah like to that for which Abraham had spoken in prayer for Abimelek. [JERUSALEM. And the Lord made miracles for Sarah, as He had spoken.] And she conceived, and Sarah bare to Abraham a son, who was like to himself in his age, at the time of which the Lord had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son whom Sarah had borne him Izhak. And Abraham circumcised Izhak his son, when the son was of eight days, as the Lord had commanded him. And Abraham was the son of an hundred years when Izhak his son was born to him. And Sarah said, The Lord has done wondrously for me; all who hear will wonder at me. And she said, How faithful was the messenger who announced to Abraham, and said, Sarah will nurse children, for she shall bring forth a son in her old age! [JERUSALEM. And she said, What was the announcement which announced to my lord Abraham at the beginning, and said, It will be that she will give suck, because she will bring forth a son in her old age?] And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day when Izhak was weaned. And Sarah observed the son of Hagar the Mizreitha, whom she bare to Abraham, mocking with a strange worship, and bowing to the Lord. [JERUSALEM. And Sarah observed the son of Hagar the Mizreitha, whom she bare to Abraham, doing evil works which are not fitting to be done, mocking in a strange worship.] And she said to Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son: for it is not possible for the son of this handmaid to inherit with my son; and he to make war with Izhak. And the thing was very evil in Abraham's eyes, on account of Ishmael his son, who would practice a strange worship. And the Lord said to Abraham, Let it not be evil in your eyes on account of the youth who goes forth from your nurturing, and of your handmaid whom you send away. Hearken unto all that Sarah says to you, because she is a prophetess; for in Izhak shall sons be called unto you; and this son of the handmaid shall not be genealogized after you. But the son of the handmaid have I set for a predatory people (le-am leistim), because he is your son. And Abraham rose up in the morning, and took bread and a cruse of water, and gave to Hagar to bear upon her shoulder, and bound it to her loins, to signify that she was a servant, and the child, and dismissed her with a letter of divorce (be-gitta). And she went, and wandered from the way into the desert which was hard by Beersheba. And it was when they came to the entrance of the desert, they remembered to wander after strange worship; and Ishmael was seized with a burning thirst, and drank of the water till all the water was consumed from the cruse. And he was dried up, and withered in his flesh; and she carried him, and was exhausted, and she cried unto the Fear of his father, and He answered her not; and she laid the youth down at once under one of the trees. [JERUSALEM. And the water was consumed from the cruse, and she took up the youth.] And she went and sat on one side, and cast away the idol (or the strange worship), and removed it from her son, as the distance of an arrow from the bow; for she said, I am not able to see the death of the child. And she sat over against her son, and lifted up her voice and wept. And the voice of the youth was heard before the Lord for the righteousness'/generosity’s sake of Abraham; and the Angel of the Lord called to Hagar from heaven, and said, What is to you, Hagar? Faint not, for the voice of the youth is heard before the Lord; neither shall judgment be according to the evil which he will do, but according to the righteousness/generosity of Abraham is mercy upon him in the place where he is. Arise, support the child, and strengthen your hand in him: for I have set him for a great people. And the Lord opened her eyes, and showed her a well of water, and she went and filled the cruse with water, and gave the youth to drink. And the Word of the Lord was the helper of the youth, and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became a skilful master of the bow. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, and took for a wife Adisha, but put her away. And his mother took for him Phatima to wife, from the land of Mizraim.

And it was at that time that Abimelek and Phikol, chief of his host, spoke to Abraham, saying, The Word of the Lord is in your aid in all whatsoever you do. And now, swear to me here, by the Word of the Lord, that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with the son of my son: according to the kindness which I have done with you, you will do with me, and with the land in which you dwell. And Abraham said to him, I swear. And Abraham remonstrated with Abimelek concerning the well of water of which the servants of Abimelek had deprived him. And Abimelek said, I knew not who did this thing; neither have you shown it to me; nor have I heard it from others, till to-day from yourself. And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave to Abimelek; and they both made a covenant. And Abraham set seven lambs apart and separated them from the oxen. And Abimelek said to Abraham, What are these seven lambs which you have set apart? And he said, That you may take the seven lambs from my hand, to be a testimony for me that I have dug this well. Therefore he called that well the Well of the Seven Lambs; because there they two did swear. And they struck a covenant at the Well of the Seven Lambs. And Abimelek and Phikol the Chief of his host arose and returned to the land of the Philistaee. And he planted a garden, (lit., "a paradise,") at the Well of the Seven Lambs, and prepared in the midst of it food and drink for them who passed by and who returned; and he preached to them there, Confess, and faithfully obey in the Name of the Word of the Lord, the everlasting God.

[JERUSALEM. And Abraham planted a paradise in Beer Sheba, and prepared in the midst of it food and drink for those who arrived at the border; and they ate and drank, and sought to give him the price of what they had eaten and drunk, but he willed not to receive it from them; but our father Abraham discoursed to them of that which he had said, that the world was by His word. Pray before your Father who is in heaven, from whose bounty you have eaten and drunk. And they stirred not from their place until the time when he had made them proselytes, and had taught them the way everlasting. And Abraham praised and prayed there in the name of the word of the Lord, the God of Eternity.]

Pesiqta de Rab Kahana

Ancient Sermons in the Midrash Style for Special Sabbaths and Festivals

Pisqa Twenty-Three:The New Year

In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, [you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets] - (Lev. 23:24).

XXIII:I

1. Forever, 0 Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens (Ps. 119:89).

2. It was taught on Tannaite authority in the name of R. Eliezer, ‘On the twenty-fifth day of Elul, the world was created.”

The following statement of Rab accords with the view of R. Eliezer, for it has been taught in the verses Rab assembled to accompany the sounding of the ram’s horn on the New Year, This day, the beginning of your works, a memorial to the first day. For it is a statue of Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob (Ps. 81:4). And concerning all countries, on that day it is declared, which is destined for the sword and which for peace, which for famine and which for plenty. On that day all creatures are judged, to be recorded for life or for death.”

3. [Since the New Year is the sixth day following the creation of the world, which took place on the twenty-fifth of Elul], you find that on the first of Tishri [the New Year] the first man was created [because he was created on the sixth day of creation].

In the first hour [the thought of creating him] entered [God’s mind], in the second God consulted the ministering angels, in the third he collected dust, in the fourth, he kneaded it, in the fifth he wove together the parts, in the sixth he stood him on his feet as an unformed mass, in the seventh, he blew into it the breath of life, in the eighth, he put him into the Garden of Eden, in the ninth God gave him a commandment, in the tenth Adam violated His commandment, in the eleventh he was judged, in the twelfth God gave him a pardon.

Said to him the Holy One, blessed be He, “Adam, lo, you serve as omen for your children. Just as you came to judgment before Me and I gave you a pardon, so your children will come before Me in judgment, and I will give them a pardon.”

When? In the seventh month, on the first day of the month (Lev. 23:24).

XXIII:II

1. R. Nahman commenced [his discourse by citing the following verse]: “Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, says the Lord, nor be dismayed, [O Israel, for lo, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return and have quiet and ease, and none will make him afraid] (Jeremiah 30:10).

“The verse speaks of Jacob: And he dreamed that there was a ladder [set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold the angels of God were ascending and descending on it] (Gen. 28:12).” [Mandelbaum: Genesis 28:17 states ‘and Jacob feared.”]

Said R. Samuel b. R. Nahman, “They were the angelic princes representing the nations of the world,”

For R. Samuel b. R. Nahmari said, “This teaches that God showed Jacob the prince of Babylonia going up seventy steps and then going down, the one of Media going up fifty-two steps, the one of Greece one hundred eighty steps. And as to the one representing Edom [Rome] he kept going up and Jacob did not know how many [steps he was going up, thus how long he would rule].

“At that moment our father, Jacob, was afraid and said, ‘Is it possible that that he is not subject to decline?’

“Said to him the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘Then fear not, O Jacob [My servant, says the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel, for lo, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid] (Jeremiah 30:10). Even if you see him sitting beside Me, from there I shall bring him down!’

“That is in line with the following verse of Scripture: Though you make your nest as high as the eagle, and though you set it among the stars, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord (Obadiah 1:4).”

R. Berekhiah, R. Helbo in the name of R. Simeon b. Menassia in the name of R. Meir: “This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, showed our father, Jacob, the prince of Babylonia going up and coming down, and the one of Media going up and coming down, and the one of Greece going up and coming down, and also the one of Edom going up and coming down.

“Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to him, ‘Jacob, you too will go up!’

“At that moment Jacob was afraid, and he said to Him, ‘Is it the case that just as these are subject to decline, so I too am subject to decline?’

“He said to him, ‘Then fear not, O Jacob [My servant, says the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel, for lo, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid] (Jeremiah 30:10). For the (sort of) ascent that you will make, there is no descent.’ Nonetheless, he did not believe and did not ascend.”

R. Berekhiah, R. Helbo, and R. Simeon b. Yosina: ‘R Meir expounded (the following verse:) Nonetheless they still sinned and did not believe in his wondrous works (Psalm 78:32). [This verse] speaks of Jacob, who did not believe and so did not ascend.

“Said to him the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘[Jacob] If you had believed and ascended, you would never again have gone down. Now that you did not believe and did not ascend, lo, your Sons will be enslaved by the four kingdoms in this world, liable for the taxes on crops and herds and exactions and head taxes [Leviticus Rabbah adds: from Babylonia to Media, from Media to Greece, and from Greece to Edom].’

“[He said before him, ‘Lord of the ages], is it forever?’

“Said to him the Holy One, blessed be He, [Then fear not, O Jacob my servant) ...nor be dismayed, O Israel, for lo, I will save you from afar (Jeremiah 30:10): from Gallia (France) and Aspamea (Spain) and nearby lands.’

“And your offspring from the land of their captivity: Jacob shall return: from Babylonia.

“And have quiet: from Media.

“And ease: from Greece.

“And none shall make him afraid: on account of Edom.”

2. For I will make a full end of all the nations (Jeremiah 30:11): As to the nations of the world, because they make a full end (when they harvest even the corner of) their field, concerning them Scripture states: I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you.

But as to Israel, because they do not make a full end (when they harvest, for they leave the comer of) their field, therefore: But of you I will not make a full end (Jeremiah 30:11).

I will chasten you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished (Jeremiah 30:11). I shall chasten you through suffering in this world, so as to leave you unpunished in the world to come.

When? In the seventh month, [on the first day of the month] (Lev. 23:24).

XXIII:III

1. Judah b. R. Nahmani in the name of R. Simeon b. Laqish commenced [discourse by citing the following verse:] “God has gone up with the shofar blast, [the Lord at the sound of the shofar’] (Psalm 47:5).

“When the Holy One, blessed be He, ascends to take His seat on the throne of justice on the New Year, it is for the sake of strict justice that he ascends.

“That is in line with the following verse of Scripture: God has gone up with the shofar blast.

“But when Israel take up their shofars and sound them forthwith: The Lord (Elohim) [the name of God that refers to the attribute of mercy] at the sound of the shofar.’

“[Leviticus Rabbah:] He rises from the throne of judgment and takes His seat on the throne of mercy. He is filled with mercy for them and for them turns the measure of justice into the measure of mercy,”

When? In the seventh month, [on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets] (Leviticus 23:24).

XXIII:IV

1. R. Josiah commenced [discourse by citing the following verse:] Blessed is the people that knows the sound of the shofar blast. O Lord, in the light of your face do they walk the way (Psalm 89:16).

R. Abbahu interpreted the verse [as follows]: “[It speaks of] five elders when they come together to intercalate the year. What does the Holy One, blessed be He do? He leaves His counselors above and brings His presence to rest among them below. At that moment the ministering angels say (the acclamation), ‘Look at this! Look at this! Is this power! Is this power! Is this ornament! Is this ornament! Should He, concerning Whom it is written, A God in the great council of the holy ones, great and terrible above all that are round about Him (Psalm 89:8) — should such a One leave His counselors above and descend and bring His presence to rest among the lower beings!’

“But why does He do all this? [He does so for], if they should make an error, the Holy One, blessed be He, enlightens their eyes [in deciding the law in the right] way.

“O Lord, they walk the way in the light of Your face (Psalm 89:16).”

2. Said R. Josiah, “It is written, Blessed is the people that knows the sound of the shofar blast (Psalm 89:15).

“Now do not the nations of the world know how to make a blast on a trumpet? How many horns, bucinae, and trumpets do they have. Yet you say, Blessed is the people that knows the sound of the shofar blast!

‘But: ‘Blessed is the people that knows how to propitiate their Creator with the sound of the shofar blast.”

When? In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, [you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets] (Lev. 23:24).

XXIII:V

1. R. Jeremiah commenced [discourse by citing the following verse]: ‘The wise man’s path of life leads upward, that he may avoid Sheol beneath (Proverbs 15:24).

“The path of life: The path of life refers only to the words of the Torah, for it is written, as it is written, It is a tree of life (Proverbs 3:18).

“Another matter: The path of life: The path of life refers only to suffering, as it is written, The way of life is through rebuke and correction (Proverbs 6:23).

“[The wise man’s path]...leads upward refers to one who looks deeply into the Torah’s religious duties, [learning how to carry them out properly].

“What then is written just prior to this same matter (of the New Year)? “When you harvest your crop of your land, you will not make a full end of the corner of your field (Lev. 23:22).

“The nations of the world, because they make a full end when they harvest even the corner of their field, [and the rest of the matter is as is given above: I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I have scattered you (Jeremiah 30:11). But Israel, because they do not make a full end when they harvest, for they leave the corner of their field, therefore, But of you! will not make a full end (Jeremiah 30:11). I will chasten you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished (Jeremiah 30:11).” When? In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, [you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets] (Leviticus. 23:24).

XXIII:VI

1. R. Berekhiah commenced [discourse by citing the following verse:] “Blow the shofar horn at the new moon, when it is concealed for our feast day (Psalm 81:4).

“Now is there not a new moon every lunar month? Rather: when it is concealed. But is not the new moon concealed every month? Rather: for our feast day.

“But, is it not the case that there is the month of Nisan, when the new moon to begin with is concealed, and in that month, there is a feast day [namely, Passover? Does one blow the shofar on Nissan for the advent of Passover? No!]

“However [the difference is] a month, with a concealed moon, with a holiday, and the holiday is on the same day [of the month]. And what is that? It is Tishri.

“Tishri is interpreted in the sense in which the letters of that word can also mean, ‘release,’ hence, ‘release and forgive all our debts.”

When is that? In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, [you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets] (Leviticus 23:24).

XXIII:VII

1. R. Levi in the name of R. Hama bar Hanina commenced [discourse by citing the following verse of Scripture:] “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: [I am the Lord your God, who trains you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go] (Isaiah 48:17).

“What is the meaning of trains you? I train you as a herdsman trains an ox.’

2. The same object bears three names: staff, goad, and lead,

Staff (MLMD), because it shows (MLMD) the way for a cow so as to plough [Leviticus Rabbah: in order to give sustenance for its owner].

Goad (MRD’), because it imparts knowledge (MWRH D’H) to the cow.

Lead (DRBW), for it provides understanding (MDR BYNH) to the cow.

Said the Holy One, blessed be He, “[Now is it not an argument a fortiori?] If for a cow a man makes a goad, then for his (own) impulse to do evil, which leads him away from the life of this world and from the life of the world to come as well, how much the more so (should he make a goad)! [Thus: Who leads you in the way you should go (Isaiah 48:17)].”

3. Who leads you in the way you should go (Isaiah 48:17). R. Levi in the name of R. Hama b. R. Hanina: “The matter may be compared to the case of a prince who had to bring a case before his own father.

“His father said to him, ‘My son, if you want to be acquitted before me in this case, retain as your counsel Mr. So-and-So, and you will be acquitted by me in this case.’

“So did the Holy One, blessed be He, say to Israel, ‘My children, if you want to be acquitted before Me in this case, you should make mention before Me the merit accruing on account of the patriarchs, and you will be acquitted before Me in this case.”

4. [In the seventh month,] on the first day [of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets] (Leviticus 23:24): The first refers to Abraham, for it is written, Abraham was the first, and he inherited the land (Ezekiel 33:24).

A memorial proclaimed with the blast of trumpets (Leviticus 23:24): This refers to Isaac, for it is written, And...looked and behold, a ram caught by its horns (same word as trumpet) in a bush (Gen. 22:13).

A holy convocation (Lev. 23:24): This refers to Jacob, for it is written, Listen to Me O Jacob, and Israel, whom I have convoked (Isaiah 48:12).

When will you make mention before Me of the merit of the patriarchs and be acquitted before me in judgment? On the New Year: In the seventh month, [on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets] (Leviticus 23:24).

XXIII:VIII

1. R. Hiyya bar Maré in the name of R. Levi commenced [discourse by citing the following verse:] “Sons of Adam are vanity, and sons of man are a lie; [if they are placed in the balance, they go up; they are together lighter than a breath] (Psalm 62:9) [Adam and “man” are the same word in Hebrew]:

“Under ordinary circumstances, people say, ‘Mr. So-and-so is marrying Miss Such-and-such.’ Sons of men are vanity: [That is, it is a vain act on the part of men to speak as if they initiate marriage, for it is God who does so].”

“Under ordinary circumstances, people say, ‘Miss Such-and-such is married to Mr. So-and-so.’ The sons of man are a lie: [It is a lie that man initiates marriage for it is God who does so.]

If they are placed in the balance, they go up; they are together lighter than breath:

Said R. Hiyya bar Maré [in reply to D], ‘Said the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘Even before they were made of nothing in their mother’s womb, I designated them and matched them for one another.”

2. Said R. Nahman, “All of the vanities and lies that the Israelites do in this world — Abraham, our father, is worthy of effecting atonement for all of them, What is the Scriptural proof text? He was the greatest man among the Anakim (Joshua 14:15).

“If they are placed in the balance, when does he effect atonement for them in the scales? It is in the month that is subject to the constellation of the scales [of Libra]. And which month is subject to the constellation of Libra? It is Tishri.

....in the month... (Psalm 81:4): [Reading the letters of the word for month to spell out the word for new:] renew your deeds.

shofar... [Reading the letters of the word for shofar to spell out the word for beautify:] improve your deeds.

Said the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘If you improve your deeds before Me, lo, I shall become for you like a shofar. Just as a shofar takes in at one side and lets out at the other, so shall I arise from the throne of justice and take My seat on the throne of mercy and become filled with mercy for you and have mercy on you and turn the attribute of justice into the attribute of mercy.”

When? In the seventh month, [on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets] (Leviticus 23:24).

XXIII:IX

1. In the seventh (ShBY’Y) month, on the first day of the month (Leviticus 23:24): A month which is sated (MSWB’) in the performance of religious duties, (for) the shofar [sounded on the New Year] is in it, the Day of Atonement is in it, [ the religious duty of building a tabernacle is in it, the religious duty of taking] the palm branch (lulab) and the willow is in it.

2. Another matter: In the seventh month (Leviticus 23:24): A month which is sated with all things: the vintage is in it, the threshing floor is in it, all sorts of delicious things are in it.

3. Another matter: In the seventh (ShBY’Y) month (Leviticus 23:24): R. Berekhiah would call (that month) the month of the oath (ShBW’T’), namely, the month in which the Holy One, blessed be He, took an oath (NShB’) to our father, Abraham, By Myself have I taken an oath,’ says the Lord (Genesis 22:16).

What need was there for this oath? R. Bibi bar Abba in the name of R. Yohanan: “Abraham said before the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘Lord of the ages! It is perfectly evident before the throne of your glory that, when You said to me, Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac (Genesis 22:2), I had in mind what to answer You and to say to You, “Yesterday You said to me, For through Isaac shall seed be called forth for you (Genesis 21:12). And today You say to me, Take your son, your only son.”

But just as I had in mind what to answer You, but made no reply to You, so, when the descendants of Isaac will come to the toils of transgression and bad deeds, You must remember in their behalf the binding of Isaac, their father, and therefore effect atonement for them and turn the attribute of justice to the attribute of mercy for them.”

When? In the seventh month, [on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets] (Leviticus 23:24).

XXIII:X

1. And Abraham raised his eyes, and he saw, and behold, a ram (Genesis 22:13). Said R. Yudan, “That verse teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, showed Abraham a ram tearing itself out of one thicket and getting caught in another, over and over again. He said to him, ‘So will your children be trapped by sins and entangled among troubles, but in the end they will be redeemed through the horn of a ram [sounded on the New Year].’ Then the Lord will appear over them, and His arrow go forth like lightning; [the Lord God will sound the trumpet, and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. The Lord of hosts will protect them] (Zechariah 9:14-15) [Leviticus Rabbah adds: That is in line with the following verse of Scripture: And in that day a great trumpet will be blown (Isaiah 27:13)].”

2. Said R. Haninah, “This verse teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, showed Abraham a ram tearing itself out of one thicket and getting caught in another, over and over again. He said to him, ‘So will your children be trapped among the nations and entangled among the kingdoms, and dragged from one kingdom to the next, from Babylonia to Media, from Media to Greece, from Greece to Edom, but in the end they will be redeemed through the horn of a ram (sounded on the New Year].’ Then the Lord will appear over them [and His arrow go forth like lightning; the Lord God will sound the trumpet, and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. The Lord of hosts will protect them] (Zechariah 9:14-15).”

3. In the seventh month (Lev. 23:24): Under all circumstances the seventh is preferred. Above in Heaven, the seventh is preferred. There are seven heavens: the veil, the firmament, the heights, the most high, the habitation, the established, and the clouds. Of the last-named, it is written, Cast up a highway for hint who rides through the clouds (Psalm 68:5).

Among kinds of land, the seventh is preferred: land, earth, ground, valley, dry land, territory, and world: And he will judge the world in righteousnessgenerosity (Psalm 96:13).

Among generations, the seventh is preferred: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mehallel, Jered, and Enoch: And [among all seven] Enoch walked with God (Gen. 5:24).

Among patriarchs, the seventh is preferred: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Kehath, Amram, and Moses: And Moses went up to God (Exodus 19:3).

Among the sons, the seventh is preferred: Eliab, Abinadab, Shemael, Nethanel, Raddai, Ozem, and David was the seventh (1 Chronicles 2:15).

Among kings the seventh is preferred: Saul, Ishbosheth, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, and Asa: And Asa called to the Lord his God (2 Chronicles 14:10).

Among years of the sabbatical cycle the seventh is preferred: And in the seventh there will be a year of rest (Exodus 23:11).

Among days the seventh is preferred: And God blessed the seventh day (Genesis 2:3).

Among months the seventh is preferred: In the seventh month on the first day of the month (Leviticus 23:24).

XXIII:XI

1. R. Abba son of K. Pappi and K. Joshua of Sikhnin in the name of R. Levi says, “On all the other days of the year, the Israelites are taken up with their daily work, but on the New Year they take up shofars and sound them, and the Holy One, blessed be He, arises from the throne of strict justice and takes His seat on the throne of mercy and is filled with mercy for them and turns the attribute of justice into the attribute of mercy.”

When? In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, [you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets] (Leviticus 23:24).

XXIII:XII

1. It happened: R. Yohanan and R. Simeon b. Laqish were in session: ‘We have learned [at M.R.H. 4:1], In the case of the festival day of the New Year that coincided with the Sabbath, in the sanctuary they would sound the shofar horn, but not in the countryside. [When the house of the sanctuary was destroyed, Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai made the ordinance that they should sound the shofar horn wherever a court was located.]

“Now [they said] if it is a matter of Torah law [that the shofar is sounded], then it should override [the considerations of Sabbath rest even] in the provinces. And if it is not [a matter of Torah law], then even in the sanctuary, [sounding the shofar horn] should not override [the considerations of Sabbath rest].”

While they were in session and raising these difficult questions, Kahana came by. They said, “Lo, here comes the authority for the tradition. Let us arise and raise our question for him.” They arose and asked him. He said to them, “One verse of Scripture states, You will have a day for sounding the horn (Numbers 29:1). Another verse of Scripture says, A Sabbath of remembrance of the sounding of the horn, a holy convocation (Leviticus 23:24).

“Now how (may the two verses be harmonized)? On an occasion on which [the holiday] coincides with an ordinary day [not a Sabbath], You will have a day for sounding the horn (Numbers 29:1). On an occasion on which the holiday coincides with the Sabbath, A Sabbath of remembrance of the sounding of the horn, a holy convocation (Leviticus 23:24), meaning that they make mention of the sounding of the horn but they do not sound the horn,”

2. R. Zeirah instructed the associates, “Go and listen to R. Levi expounding, because it is not possible for him to present a passage without instruction in law.” They went and he expounded in their presence: “One verse of Scripture states, You will have a day for sounding the horn (Numbers 29:1). Another verse of Scripture says, A Sabbath of remembrance of the sounding of the horn, a holy convocation (Leviticus 23:24).

“Now how may the two verses be harmonized? On an occasion on which [the holiday] coincides with an ordinary day [not a Sabbath], You will have a day for sounding the horn (Numbers 29:1). On an occasion on which the holiday coincides with the Sabbath, A Sabbath of remembrance of the sounding of the horn, a holy convocation (Leviticus 23:24), meaning that they make mention of the sounding of the horn but they do not sound the horn.”

3. R. Simeon b. Yohai taught on Tannaite authority, “It should override the sabbath restrictions in the sanctuary, where people know the proper time for the beginning of the new month [of Tishri, so there is no possibility of doubt about the matter]. But it should not override the restrictions of the Sabbath in the provinces, where people do not know the proper time for the beginning of the new month.”

R, Simeon b. Yohai taught on Tannaite authority, “You will have a day for sounding the horn, and you shall prepare [a burnt-offering] (Numbers 29:1-2), [You therefore sound the horn] where the offerings are prepared.”

4. Said R. Tahalipa of Caesarea, “In regard to all other additional offerings, it is written, And you will offer up (Numbers 28:19,27). But in this regard. (that is, in respect to the New Year), it is written, And you will prepare (a burnt-offering] (Numbers 29:2).

“Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to Israel, My children, since you have come before Me to judgment and gone forth with a pardon, I credit it to you as if on this very day you were made afresh before Me, as if today I created you as a new creation.’ That is in line with the following verse of Scripture: For as the new heavens and the new earth (which I will make shall remain before Me, says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain] (Isaiah 66:22).”

Ketubim Targum Psalm 81

1. For praise; on the lyre that comes from Gath, composed by Asaph.

2. Give praise in the presence of God, our strength; shout in the presence of the God of Jacob.

3. Lift up the voice in praise, and set out timbrels, the lyre whose sound is sweet with harps.

4. Blow the horn in the month of Tishri, in the month in which the day of our festivals is concealed.

5. For He made a covenant for Israel; it is a legal ruling of the God of Jacob.

6. He made it a testimony for Joseph, who did not go near the wife of his master; on that day he went out of the prison and ruled over all the land of Egypt. The tongue I did not know I have taught [and] heard.

7. I have removed his shoulder from servitude; his hands were taken away from casting clay into a pot.

8. In the time of the distress of Egypt, you called and I delivered you; I made you fast in the secret place where My presence is, where wheels of fire call out before Him; I tested you by the waters of Dispute forever.

9. Hear, O my people, and I will bear witness for you, O Israel, if you will accept my Word.

10. There will not be among you worshippers of a foreign idol, and you will not bow down to a profane idol.

11. I am the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; open wide your mouth with the words of Torah, and I will fill it with all good things.

12. But My people did not receive My voice; and Israel did not want My Word.

13. And I expelled them for the thoughts of their heart, they went away in their wicked counsel.

14. Would that My people had listened to Me – that Israel would walk in My ways!

15. In a little while I will humble their enemies, and I will turn My strong blow against their enemies.

16. The enemies of the Lord will be false to Him; and their harshness will last forever.

17. But He will feed him with the best of wheat bread; and I will satisfy you with honey from the rock.

Ketubim: Midrash Psalm 81

I. For the leader; upon the Gittith. [A Psalm] of Asaph. Sing aloud unto God our strength; shout unto the God of Jacob (Psalm 81:1-2). These words are to be considered in the light of what Scripture says elsewhere: None has beheld iniquity in Jacob (Numbers 23:21). Why did Balaam choose to mention Jacob - not Abraham and not Isaac - only Jacob? Because Balaam saw that out of Abraham had come base metal - Ishmael and all the children of Keturah; and he also saw that out of Isaac there had come Esau and his princes. But Jacob was all holiness, for to his sons - All these are the twelve tribes of Israel (Genesis 49:28). Scripture says, You are all fair, my love (Song 4:7). Hence Balaam mentioned no Patriarchs other than Jacob when he said None has beheld iniquity in Jacob. So, too, Asaph said: Seeing that there was some base metal in all the Patriarchs except Jacob, in whom there was no base metal at all, I, too, shall mention only Jacob. Hence Shout unto the God of Jacob.

II. Another comment. Why did Balaam mention Jacob, and not any of the other Patriarchs? Our Masters taught: In the measure that a man measures out, so is it measured out to him. For in the verse, In full measure (se'asse'ah), when You send her away, You do contend with her (Isaiah 27:8), se'asse'ah, taken as a reduplicating form, is read se'ah for se'ah - that is "measure for measure." This verse would seem to prove that only for a se'ah, a deed that bulks large, does God give measure for measure. Whence do we know that also for a tarkag, a half tarkag, a kag, a roga', a half roga', a toman, or an 'ukla is His measure for measure given? From Scripture which says, For every se'on, a so'en is returned in fierceness (Isaiah 9:4). Mark the variety of measures hinted at in this verse. The reference to them would seem to prove that God measures only by bulk. Whence do we know, however, that God also measures [by number] by small coins which can add up to a large sum? From Scripture, which says, Adding one to one, to find out the sum (Ecclesiastes 7:27).

A parable of a king who had three friends. Desiring to build a palace for himself, he sent for the first friend to whom he said: "Behold this place where I would build me a palace." The friend replied: "From the very beginning I have been mindful of this mountain." The king sent for the second friend and said to him: "I would build me a palace here." The friend replied: "From the very beginning I have been mindful of this field." But when he sent for the third friend and said: "I would build me a palace here," the friend replied: "From the very beginning I have been mindful of this place as a palace." The king said to him: "As you live, I shall build this palace, and I will call it by your name." Even so, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were friends of the Holy One, blessed be He. But Abraham called the Temple mountain, as is said In the mountain where the Lord is seen (Genesis 22:14); and Isaac called the Temple field, as is said See, the smell at my son is as the smell at a field which the Lord hath blessed (ibid. 27:27); but Jacob called it a house even before it was built, as is said This is none other than the house at God (ibid. 28:17). Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "As you live, because you did call it a house even before it was built, I shall call it by your name," as is said Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain at the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob (Isaiah 2:3), and as Jeremiah also said: Behold, I will turn the captivity of Jacob's tents (Jeremiah 30:8). And Asaph corroborated Balaam's assertion [that there was no iniquity in Jacob], for when Asaph spoke of the shouting in the Temple he mentioned only Jacob, as is said Shout unto the God of Jacob.

III. Take up the melody, and sound the timbrel, the sweet harp with the psaltery (Psalm 81:3). R. Hiyya bar Abba taught: The psaltery and the harp were the same. R. Simeon taught: The psaltery was one thing, the harp was another; they differed one from the other in the number of their bass and treble strings. R. Huna said in the name of R. Asi: Nor did they differ only in the number of their bass and treble strings, for the skin [of the sounding-board] of one of them was not dressed. And why was the psaltery called nebel? Because it put to shame (menabbel) every other kind of musical instrument.

R. Judah said in the name of R. Ilai: How many strings were there to the psaltery? Seven, as is said With seven a day do I praise You (Psalm 119:164). In the days of the Messiah, however, there will be eight strings to the psaltery, for it is said For the leader; on the Sheminith ("eight strings") (Psalm 12:1). And in the time-to-come, the psaltery will be made with ten strings, as is said Upon an instrument of ten strings, upon the psaltery (Ps. 92:4).

IV. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon (Ps. 81:4). These words are to be considered in the light of what Scripture says elsewhere: Blessed is the people that knew the trumpet sound; they walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance (Ps. 89:16). Blessed is the people that knew the trumpet sound: The generation of the wilderness knew by the sounding of the trumpet when to pitch camp and when to journey forward, as is said "Make thee two trumpets of silver ... and you shall use them for the calling of the congregation, and for the journeying of the camps" (Numbers 10:2). Accordingly, the end of the verse, They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance, is to be read in the light of the words "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud ... and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light" (Exodus 13:21).

Another comment: The words Blessed is the people that know the trumpet sound refer to the people who intercalate the year and designate the day that is the proper day for the sounding of the trumpet; and the words They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance mean, according to R. Abbahu, that the Holy One, blessed be He, conforms to the calendar of the children of Israel.

In a different interpretation, the words are read Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound -that is, blessed are the members of the Sanhedrin who know the joyful sound of the give-and-take of Torah study. They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance: The Holy One, blessed be He, conforms to their decisions and makes their faces shine with the radiance of the Law.

R. Jose ben Jacob taught in the name of R. Idi who taught it in the name of R. Aha: The verse Naphtali is a hind let loose: he gives words of a horn (Genesis 49:21) means that when the children of Naphtali were on a mission of Torah, they were as swift as the hind. And words of a horn refers to the fact that the words of Torah were given to Israel with shouts of joy and with the voice of the horn, as is said "And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking" (Exodus 20:15). Hence it is said Blow the trumpet at the new moon.

In a different exposition of Blessed is the people that know the trumpet sound, R. Josiah said: But the nations of the earth, have they not many trumpets, too? Have they not many bugles? Have they not many horns? But Blessed is the people that know the trumpet sound refers to Israel, the people who know how to propitiate their Creator with their shouts of joy and with the voice of the trumpet, as when They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance in the ten days between New Year's Day and the Day of Atonement.

V. Blow the trumpet at the new moon (Psalm 81:4). At a particular new moon? Yes, the one that comes in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day (ibid.). The only new moon that comes in with a particular feast day, a feast day that arrives at the new moon, is New Year's Day.

In another exposition, the verse is read Trumpet our renewal (Chodesh), our becoming acceptable to God (Shofar), at the pardoning (keseh) on our solemn feast day. Our Masters taught that God meant by this: "Renew your deeds. Make your deeds acceptable to Me, and on this day I shall pardon your iniquities," as is said You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people, You have pardoned all their sin (Psalm 85:3).

R. Berechiah bar Abba - some say, R. Berechiah in the name of R. Abba - taught that God meant: "Renew your deeds. Then, I" - if one may be permitted to speak thus of God - "like a trumpet into which a man blows from one end and makes the sound come out of the other, shall let in one ear and out of the other the charges that any accuser whatsoever brings against you before Me." Hence Blow the trumpet at renewal (Psalm 81:4).

VI. When it is a statute for Israel, it is an ordinance of the God of Jacob (Psalm 81:5): Therefore, what is not a statute for Israel, is not - if one be permitted to speak thus - an ordinance of the God of Jacob. And so R. Hoshaia taught: When an earthly court decrees, saying: "Today is New Year's Day," the Holy One, blessed be He, tells the ministering angels: "Raise up the dais. Summon the advocates. Summon the clerks. For the court on earth has decreed and said that today is New Year's Day." If, however, the witnesses of the new moon are delayed in coming, or if the court has decided to intercalate the year, and to advance New Year's Day to the next day, the Holy One, blessed be He, tells the ministering angels: "Remove the dais, dismiss the advocates, and dismiss the clerks, since the court on earth has decreed and said: 'Tomorrow is New Year's Day.'" And the proof? When it is a decree for Israel, it is an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

R. Phinehas and R. Hilkiah taught in the name of R. Simon: When all the ministering angels gather before the Holy One, blessed be He, and say, "Master of the universe, what day is New Year's Day?" He replies: "Are you asking Me? Let us, you and I, ask the court on earth." And the proof? When it is a decree for Israel, it is an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

VII. In the verse He appointed it (shamo) in Jehoseph for a testimony (Psalm 81:6), read not shamo, but shemo, "His name." Jeh, that is, the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, [in Jehoseph], testified for Joseph that he had not touched Potiphar's wife. The end of the verse, When he went out through the land of Egypt (ibid.), implies, so our Masters taught, that [pardoned] on New Year's Day, Joseph went out from his prison, for the next verse reads: I removed his shoulder from under the burden [of sin] (Psalm 81:7). What is meant at the end of this verse by the words his hands were delivered from the pots (dud)? They mean that he was delivered from being a servant to the chief of the cooks, for dud is read as in the verse And he struck it unto the pan or pot (dud) (I Samuel 2:14).

The Rabbis quote the phrase delivered from the pots as meaning delivered from the servitude in Egypt, to prove that Joseph's children were not enslaved in Egypt. For the verse His firstling bullock, majesty is his (Deuteronomy 33:17) means that like the firstling bullock with which no work is done, as it is said "You shall do no work with the firstling of your bullock" (Deuteronomy 15:19), so the children of Joseph were not enslaved in Egypt. That the pots (dud) clearly refers to the servitude in Egypt is indicated by the verse In the land at Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots (Exodus 16:3), a word rendered duda' in the Aramaic Targum.

Incidentally, the proof that the children of Israel, when dismissed [from work] to go to their houses, used to pilfer food from the marts of Egypt, comes from the verse Remember the fish, which we were wont to eat in Egypt, for nought (Numbers 11:5). On the other hand, the verse When we sat by the fleshpots (Exodus 16:3) does not apply to the children of Joseph: They were not enslaved and they sat not by the flesh-pots, for they were shield-bearers and warriors, as another verse says of them The children at Ephraim being armed and carrying bows (Psalm 78:9). Hence it is said of Joseph I removed his shoulder from under the burden (Psalm 81:7).

Ashlamatah: 1 Samuel 1:1 – 2:10

1 ¶ NOW THERE was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of the hill-country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

2 And he had two wives: the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

3 And this man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there priests unto the LORD.

4 And it came to pass upon a day, when Elkanah sacrificed, that he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions;

5 but unto Hannah he gave a double portion; for he loved Hannah, but the LORD had shut up her womb.

6 And her rival vexed her sore, to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb.

7 And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, so she vexed her; therefore she wept, and would not eat.

8 And Elkanah her husband said unto her: ‘Hannah, why do you weep? and why do you not eat? and why is your heart grieved? am not I better to you than ten sons?’

9 ¶ So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk—now Eli the priest sat upon his seat by the door-post of the temple of the LORD;

10 and she was in bitterness of soul—and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.

11 And she vowed a vow, and said: ‘O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your handmaid, and remember me, and not forget Your handmaid, but wilt give unto Your handmaid a man-child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there will no razor come upon his head.’

12 And it came to pass, as she prayed long before the LORD, that Eli watched her mouth.

13 Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice could not be heard; therefore, Eli thought she had been drunken.

14 And Eli said unto her: ‘How long wilt you be drunken? put away your wine from you.’

15 And Hannah answered and said: ‘No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I poured out my soul before the LORD.

16 Count not your handmaid for a wicked woman: for out of the abundance of my complaint and my vexation have I spoken hitherto.’

17 Then Eli answered and said: ‘Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him.’

18 And she said: ‘Let your servant find favor in your sight.’ So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.

19 ¶ And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah; and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her.

20 And it came to pass, when the time was come about, that Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she called his name Samuel: ‘because I have asked him of the LORD.’

21 And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow.

22 But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband: ‘Until the child be weaned, when I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide for ever.’

23 And Elkanah her husband said unto her: ‘Do what seems good to you; tarry until you have weaned him; only the LORD establish His word.’ So the woman tarried and gave her son suck, until she weaned him.

24 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of meal, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the LORD in Shiloh; and the child was young.

25 And when the bullock was slain, the child was brought to Eli.

26 And she said: ‘Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman that stood by you here, praying unto the LORD.

27 For this child I prayed; and the LORD has granted me my petition which I asked of Him;

28 therefore I also have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives he is lent to the LORD.’ And he worshipped the LORD there.

1 ¶ And Hannah prayed, and said: my heart exults in the LORD, my horn is exalted in the LORD; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in Your salvation.

2 There is none holy as the LORD, for there is none beside You; neither is there any rock like our God.

3 Multiply not exceeding proud talk; let not arrogance come out of your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed.

4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.

5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry have ceased; while the barren has borne seven, she that had many children has languished.

6 The LORD kills, and makes alive; He brings down to the grave, and brings up.

7 The LORD makes poor, and makes rich; He brings low, He also lifts up.

8 He raises up the poor out of the dust, He lifts up the needy from the dung-hill, to make them sit with princes, and inherit the throne of glory; for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, and He hath set the world upon them.

9 He will keep the feet of His holy ones, but the wicked will be put to silence in darkness; for not by strength will man prevail.

10 They that strive with the LORD will be broken to pieces; against them will He thunder in heaven; the LORD will judge the ends of the earth; and He will give strength unto His king, and exalt the horn of His Messiah.

Ketubim: Proverbs 7

1 ¶ My son, keep My words and treasure up My commandments within you.

2 Keep My commandments and live, and My law as the pupil of your eye.

3 Tie them upon your fingers; write them upon the tablet of your heart.

4 Say to wisdom, You are my sister, and call understanding your kinsman,

5 that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who makes smooth her words.

6 ¶ For I looked through my lattice, at the window of my house,

7 and I saw among the simple ones, I observed among the children a young man lacking heart,

8 passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,

9 in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the darkness of night.

10 And behold, a woman came to meet him, with the attire of a harlot, and a heart of secrecy.

11 She is boisterous and stubborn; her feet do not settle down in her own house.

12 At one moment she is outside, the next in the streets, and she lies in wait at every corner.

13 So she has seized him and kissed him; and with straight face says to him,

14 Regarding my peace offerings, today I have completed my vows;

15 therefore I came out to meet you, earnestly to seek your face, and I have found you.

16 I have spread my bed with coverings, with striped cloths of linen from Egypt.

17 I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.

18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; let us delight ourselves with lovemaking.

19 For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey.

20 He has taken in hand a bag of money, and will come home on the day appointed (the new moon).

21 With great persuasion she influences him; with her seductive lips she moves him.

22 In an instant he goes after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool goes to correction in fetters;

23 till an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hastens to the snare; and does not realize that it is for his soul.

24 ¶ Now then, listen to me, O sons, and pay attention to the words of my mouth:

25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways; do not go astray in her paths.

26 For many are the wounded she has caused to fall, and countless are the ones slain by her.

27 Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the rooms of death.

Nazarean Codicil: Yochanan 1:1-18

1 ¶ At the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was an Elohim (Judge).

2 He was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

4 In Him was life, and the life is the light of men.

5 ¶ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not lay hold of it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through Him might faithfully obey.

8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and yet the world did not know Him.

11 He came to His idea, and the idea of Him is unspeakable.

12 But as many as received Him, to them He has given the authority to become Sons of God (Judges), to those that are faithfully obedient to His name:

13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (Torah).

15 ¶ Yochanan bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, This was he of whom I said, he who arrives after me appeared in history before me, for He existed before me.

16 And of his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.

17 For the Law indeed was given through Moses, but grace and truth (Torah) came to the world through Yeshuah the Messiah.

18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he declares Him.

Rosh HaShannah	Torah Reading:
New Year - Año Nuevo
2nd Day – Segundo Día

	Reader 1 – B’resheet 22:1-3
B’resheet (Genesis) 22:1-24 B’midbar (Numbers) 29:1-6	Reader 2 – B‘resheet 22:4-8
Ashlamatah: Jeremiah 31:1-19	Reader 3 – B’resheet 22:9-14
	Reader 4 – B’resheet 22:15-19
Psalm 81	Reader 5 – B’resheet 22:20-24
Proverbs 7:1-27	Maftir – B’midbar 29:1-6
N.C.: 1 Cor. 15:1-58; 1 Th. 4:11-18	Jeremiah 31:1-19

For further study see:

http://www.betemunah.org/teruah.doc

http://www.betemunah.org/wicked.doc; http://www.betemunah.org/shofar.doc

http://www.betemunah.org/knowday.doc

Targum Pseudo Jonathan on Beresheet (Genesis) 22:1-24

XXII. And it was after these things that Izhak and Ishmael contended; and Ishmael said, It is right that I should inherit what is the father's because I am his firstborn son. And Izhak said, It is right that I should inherit what is the father's, because I am the son of Sarah his wife, and you are the son of Hagar the handmaid of my mother. Ishmael answered and said, I am more righteous than you, because I was circumcised at thirteen years; and if it had been my will to hinder, they should not have delivered me to be circumcised; but you were circumcised a child eight days; if you had had knowledge, perhaps they would not have delivered you to be circumcised. Izhak responded and said, Behold now, to-day I am thirty and six years old; and if the Holy One, blessed be He, were to require all my members, I would not delay. These words were heard before the Lord of the world, and the Word of the Lord at once tried Abraham, and said to him, Abraham! And he said, Behold me. [JERUSALEM. And it was after these things that the Lord tried Abraham with the tenth trial, and said to him, Abraham! And he said, Behold me.] And He said, Take now your son, your only one whom you love, Izhak, and go into the land of worship, and offer him there, a whole burnt offering, upon one of the mountains that I will tell you. [JERUSALEM. At Mount Moriah.] And Abraham rose up in the morning and saddled his ass, and took two young men with him, Eliezer and Ishmael, and Izhak his son, and cut the small wood and the figs and the palm, which are provided for the whole burnt offering, and arose and went to the land of which the Lord had told him.

On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and beheld the cloud of glory fuming on the mount, and it was discerned by him afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, Wait you here with the ass, and I and the young man will proceed yonder, to prove if that which was promised shall be established:--So shall be your sons:--and we will worship the Lord of the world, and return to you. And Abraham took the wood of the offering and laid it upon Izhak his son, and in his hand he took the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together.

And Izhak spoke to Abraham his father and said, My Father! And he said, I am. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: where is the lamb for the offering? And Abraham said, The Lord will choose for Himself a lamb for the offering. And they went both of them in heart entirely as one. [JERUSALEM. And Abraham said, The Word of the Lord will prepare for me a lamb; and if not, then you are the offering, my son! And they went both of them together with a contrite heart.]

And they came to the place of which the Lord had told him. And Abraham built there the altar which Adam had built, which had been destroyed by the waters of the deluge, which Noah has again built, and which had been destroyed in the age of divisions; and he set the wood in order upon it, and bound Izhak his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

And Izhak answered and said to his father, Bind me properly (aright), lest I tremble from the affliction of my soul, and be cast into the pit of destruction, and there be found profaneness in your offering. (Now) the eyes of Abraham looked on the eyes of Izhak; but the eyes of Izhak looked towards the angels on high, (and) Izhak beheld them, but Abrahm saw them not. And the angels answered on high, Come, behold how these solitary ones who are in the world kill the one the other; he who slays delays not; he who is to be slain reaches forth his neck.

[JERUSALEM. And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay Izhak his son. Izhak answered and said to Abraham his father, My father, bind my hands rightly, lest in the hour of my affliction I tremble and confuse you, and your offering be found profane, and I be cast into the pit of destruction in the world to come. (Now) the eyes of Abraham reached unto the eyes of Izhak; but the eyes of Izhak reaching to the angels on high. And Izhak beheld them, but Abraham saw them not. In that hour came forth the angels on high, and said, these to these, Come, behold two righteous ones alone in the midst of the world: the one slays, the other is slain. He who slays defers not, and he who is to be slain stretches out his neck.]

And the Angel of the Lord called to him from the heavens, and said to him, Abraham! Abraham! And he said, Behold me. [JERUSALEM. And He said, Abraham! Abraham! And Abraham answered in the language of the sanctuary, and said, Behold me.] And He said, Stretch not out your hand upon the young man, neither do him any evil; for now it is manifest before Me that you fear the Lord; neither have you withheld your son the only begotten from Me.

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and, behold, a certain ram which had been created between the evenings of the foundation of the world, was held in the entanglement of a tree by his horns. And Abraham went and took him, and offered him an offering instead of his son. And Abraham gave thanks and prayed there, in that place, and said, I pray through the mercies that are before You, O Lord, before whom it is manifest that it was not in the depth of my heart to turn away from doing Your decree with joy, that when the children of Izhak my son shall offer in the hour of affliction, this may be a memorial for them; and You may hear them and deliver them, and that all generations to come may say, In this mountain Abraham bound Izhak his son, and there the Shekina of the Lord was revealed unto him.

[JERUSALEM. And Abraham prayed in the name of the Word of the Lord, and said, You are the Lord who sees, and art not seen. I pray for mercy before You, O Lord. It is wholly manifest and known before Your that in my heart there was no dividing, in the time that You did command me to offer Izhak my son, and to make him dust and ashes before You; but that forthwith I arose in the morning and performed Your word with joy, and I have fulfilled Your word. And now I pray for mercies before You, O Lord God, that when the children of Izhak offer in the hour of need, the binding of Izhak their father You may remember on their behalf, and remit and forgive their sins, and deliver them out of all need. That the generations who are to arise after him may say, In the mountain of the house of the sanctuary of the Lord did Abraham offer Izhak his son, and in this mountain of the house of the sanctuary was revealed unto him the glory of the Shekinah of the Lord.]

And the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham the second time from the heavens, and said, By My Word have I sworn, says the Lord, forasmuch as you have done this thing, and has not withheld your son, your only begotten, that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your sons as the stars of the heavens, and they shall be as the sand which is upon the shore of the sea, and your sons shall inherit the cities before their enemies. And all the peoples of the earth shall be blessed (i.e. grafted in) through the righteousness/generosity of your son, because you have obeyed My word.

And the angels on high took Izhak and brought him into the school (Bet Midrash) of Shem the Great; and he was there three years. And in the same day Abraham returned to his young men; and they arose and went together to the Well of the Seven, and Abraham dwelt at Ber-desheva.

And it was after these things, after Abraham had bound Izhak, that Satan came and told unto Sarah that Abraham had killed Izhak. And Sarah arose, and cried out, and was strangled, and died from agony. But Abraham had come, and was resting in the way. And it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcha also has borne; she has enlargement, through the righteousness/generosity of her sister, to bring forth sons unto Nachor your brother: Uts, his firstborn, and Booz, his brother, and Kemuel, master of the Aramean magicians, and Keshed, and Chazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. And Bethuel begat Rivekah. These eight bare Milcha to Nachor the brother of Abraham. And his concubine, whose name was Rëuma, she also bare Tebach, and Gacham, and Tachash, and Maacha. [JERUSALEM. And his concumbine…and her name…]

Midrash Tanhuma Yelammedenu on Beresheet (Genesis) 22:1-24

18. And it came to pass after these words that God did prove Abraham (Gen. 22:1). What words were spoken? Ishmael had said to Isaac: I am superior to you, for I underwent circumcision at the age of thirteen, and underwent the pain (that accompanied it), while you were merely eight days old at the time of your circumcision and could feel no pain. Why, even if your father had wished to slaughter you, you would not have known the difference. If you had been thirteen years old, you could not have tolerated the anguish that accompanies circumcision. Isaac retorted: That is not so! Even if the Holy One, blessed be He, should command my father: “Slaughter your son Isaac,” I would not resist. Immediately thereafter Scripture states: And it came to pass after these things that God did prove Abraham.

When the Holy One, blessed be He, embarked upon the creation of the world, the ministering angels said to him: What is man, that You are mindful of (lit, remember) him? (Ps. 8:5). The Holy One, blessed be He, responded: You have asked me, What is man, that You are mindful of him? because you beheld the wickedness of the generation of Enosh, but now I will reveal to you the greatness of Abraham so that you may remember him, as is said: And God remembered Abraham (Gen. 19:29).

You (angels) say (to Me), What is man, that You do remember Him? because it is said The Lord remembered Sarah, but now you are destined to see a father who is willing to slay his own son, and a son who is willing to be sacrificed for the sake of My Holy Name.

19. And it came to pass after these words that God did prove Abraham (Gen. 22:1). Scripture states elsewhere in reference to this verse: Forasmuch as the king’s word hath power; and who may say unto him: “What are you doing?” whosoever keeps the commandment will know no evil thing (Eccles. 8:4-5). What is meant by this verse? Whatsoever the Holy One, blessed be He, desires to do, He may do, and none may stay His hand. What then can be the meaning of And who may say unto Him: “What are you doing?” whosoever keeps the commandment, etc.? These words whosoever keeps the commandment allude to the righteous/generous men who perform the commandments of the Holy One, blessed be He. And it is their decree that He fulfills, as it is written: You will also decree a thing and it will be established unto you, and the light will shine upon your ways (Job 22:28). An example of this is what occurred after they made the golden calf. Though the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to destroy them, our master, Moses, restrained the Holy One, blessed be He, as though that were possible, just as a man restrains his companion. Hence the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: And now let Me be (Exod. 32:10). We learn this as well from the verse: Let Me alone that I may destroy them (Deut. 9:14). Therefore Scripture says: Who may say unto him: “What are you doing?” whosoever keeps the commandment.

20. And God did prove Abraham (Gen. 22:1). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: The Lord tries the righteous/generous (Ps. 11:5). R. Jonah maintained: If you pound a good-quality flax, its quality will improve, but if you pound a poor-quality flax, it will crumble. So the Holy One, blessed be He, tests only the righteous/generous.

R. Judah the son of Shalum said: A potter never tests a defective vessel for fear that it might break while being tested, but he always tests a perfect one. Likewise, the Holy One, blessed be He, tests the righteous/generous but not the wicked, as it is said: The Lord tries the righteous/generous.

R. Eleazar declared: If a householder has two cows, one of which is strong while the other is weak, he places the yoke on the stronger cow and not on the weaker one. Hence, Scripture says: The Lord tries the righteous/generous and God did prove Abraham.

21. And God did prove Abraham (Gen. 22:1). Observe this difference between the earlier generations and the later generations: The earlier generations were tested by the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said: And God did prove Abraham. And Scripture elsewhere states regarding the generation of the desert: That He might afflict you to prove you, to know what was in your heart/mind (Deut. 8:2). But later generations were tested by the nations of the world, for it is said: Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them (Judg. 3:1).

Similarly, you find that though the Holy One, blessed be He, decreed that Daniel and his companions should eat unclean bread, as it is said: And the Lord said. “Even thus will the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations whither I will drive them” (Ezek. 4:13), nevertheless when Nebuchadnezzar commanded them to eat his food, as is said: And the king appointed for them a daily portion of the king’s food and of the wine which he drank (Dan. 1:5), Daniel would not obey. He declared: Even though the Holy One, blessed be He, has decreed that we should eat unclean food, He did so only to test us. We will do our part, let Him do His part. Then he said to the chief of the officers: Try your servants, I beseech you, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before you, and the countenance of the youths that eat of the king’s food; and as you see, deal with your servants (Dan. 1:12-13). The officers retorted: “Are you descended from nobility that you are able to withstand the test of ten days without food or wine?”“Yes, indeed,” they replied, “for we are the descendants of that righteous man who was tried ten times. Perhaps his merit will assist us. After all, has not the king found us to be ten times as wise as all his magicians and sorcerers?”

Forthwith, the Holy One, blessed be He, made the officer feel well disposed toward Daniel: So he hearkened unto them in this matter and tried them for ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youth that did eat of the king’s food (ibid., vv. 14—15).

22. And He said unto him: “Abraham”; and he said: “Here am I” (Gen. 22:1). What does the expression hineni (“here am I”) signify? It signifies meekness and piety. The meekness of pious men is indicated in every instance by the use of these words. And He said: “Take, please, your son” (ibid., v. 2). The word na (“please”) is always used to indicate a request. For example, there was once a king who was constantly engaged in wars, and he had in his army a powerful warrior who was victorious in every engagement. At one time a crucial battle developed, and he said to his mighty warrior: “Stand beside me now (na), lest my officers say that the earlier battles were minor engagements.” Similarly, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Abraham: I have tried you nine times, and you underwent those trials successfully; now endure this final trial so that men may not say the earlier trials were of little consequence.

And He said: “Take now (na) your son, your only son” (ibid.). Abraham asked: “Which son is that?” The Holy One replied: Your only son. “But,” he said, “one of my sons is the only son of his mother, and the other is the only son of his mother.” The son you love, He replied. “I love them both,” Abraham responded. “The one you love the most,” said God. “Is there a limit in the viscera?” (i.e., Is there a measure within which a man gauges the love he bears his sons), he asked. Forthwith, God replied: Isaac.

And get yourself into the land of Moriah (ibid., v. 2). What is suggested by the word get yourself? It implies that the last trial was similar to the first. At the first trial, The Lord said unto Abram: “Get yourself out of your country and from your kindred” (Gen. 12:1), and at the last trial He said: Get yourself into the land of Moriah.

Forthwith, Abraham arose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him (ibid. 22:3). How many servants and maids that righteous/generous man possessed! Yet he saddled the ass himself. This reveals his eagerness to fulfill God’s command.

On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar off (ibid., v. 4). Why was he able to see the place on the third day, but not on the first or second day? Lest the inhabitants of the world assert that he was still in shock from God’s command and therefore was willing to sacrifice his son.

And he saw the place from afar off. Abraham had asked himself: What will I do? If I tell Sarah all about it, consider what may happen. After all, a woman’s mind becomes distraught over insignificant matters; how much more disturbed would she become if she heard something as shocking as this! However, if I tell her nothing at all, and simply steal him away from her when she is not looking, she will kill herself. What did he do? He said to Sarah: “Prepare some food and drink that we may eat and rejoice.”“But why is this day different from other days?” she asked. “What are you celebrating?” He replied: “When a couple our age has a son, it is fitting, indeed, that they should eat, drink, and rejoice.” Whereupon she prepared the food. While they were eating, he said to her: “When I was a child of three, I already knew my Creator, yet this child is growing up and still has had no instruction. There is a place a short distance away where children are being taught, I will take him there.” She answered: “Go in peace.”

Immediately: And Abraham arose early in the morning (ibid., v.3). Why did he arise early in the morning? He had said to himself: Perhaps Sarah will change her mind and not permit me to go; I will arise before she does.”

Another comment on early in the morning: Righteous/generous men are always anxious to fulfill their religious duties as early as possible. For example, though Scripture states; And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin will be circumcised (Lev. 21:3), thereby indicating that the entire day is appropriate for circumcision, a righteous/generous man will fulfill the precept of circumcision as early in the day as possible.

And he took two of his young men with him (Gen. 22:3). He said to himself: While I am sacrificing him they will guard the supplies.

Satan appeared before him on the road in the guise of an old man and asked: “Where are you going?” Abraham replied: “To pray.”“And why,” Satan retorted, “does one going to pray carry fire and a knife in his hands, and wood on his shoulders?”“We may tarry there for several days,” said Abraham, “and slaughter an animal and cook it.” The old man (Satan) responded: “That is not so; I was present when the Holy One, blessed be He, ordered you to take your son. Why should an old man, who begets a son at the age of a hundred, destroy him? Have you not heard the parable of the man who destroyed his own possessions and then was forced to beg from others? If you believe that you will have another son, you are listening to the words of a seducer. And furthermore, if you destroy a soul, you will be held legally accountable for it.” Abraham answered: “It was not a seducer, but the Holy One, blessed be He, who told me what I must do, and I shall not listen to you.”

Satan departed from him and appeared at Isaac’s right hand in the guise of a youth. He inquired: “Where are you going?”“To study the law,” Isaac replied. “Alive or dead?” he retorted. “Is it possible for a man to learn the law after he is dead?” Isaac queried. He said to him: “Oh, unfortunate son of an unhappy mother, many days your mother fasted before your birth, and now this demented old man is about to sacrifice you.” Isaac replied: “Even so, I will not disregard the will of my Creator, nor the command of my father.” He turned to his father and said: “Father, do you hear what this man has told me?” He replied: “Pay no heed to him, he has come only to torment us.” Forthwith, And Isaac spoke (ibid., v. 7).

On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes (ibid., v. 4). Since the distance was extremely short, what delayed them three days? When Satan realized that they would not pay any attention to him, he went ahead and created a river in their path. When Abraham stepped into the river, it reached his knees. He ordered his young men to follow him, and they did so. But in the middle of the river the water reached his neck. Thereupon, Abraham lifted his eyes heavenward and cried out: Master of the Universe, You have chosen me; You have instructed me; You revealed Yourself to me; You have declared: I am one and You are one, and through You shall my name be made known in My world. You have ordered me: Offer, Isaac, thy son, as a sacrifice, and I did not refuse; but now, as I am about to fulfill Your command, these waters endanger my life. If either I or my son, Isaac, should drown, who will fulfill Your decrees, and who will proclaim the Unity of Your Name? The Holy One, blessed be He, responded: Be assured that through you the Unity of My Name will be made known through the world. Thereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, rebuked the source of the water, and caused the river to dry up. Once again, they stood on dry land.

What did Satan do then? He said to Abraham: “Now a word was secretly brought to me (Job 4:12); that is, I have heard from behind the heavenly curtain that a Iamb will be sacrificed as a burnt offering instead of Isaac.” Abraham responded; “It is a liar’s fate that even though he should speak the truth, no one will believe him.” Immediately, And he saw the place from afar off. How was he able to see the place from afar off? This verse teaches us that the place was a valley at the time. However, when the Holy One, blessed be He, decided to make His Shekhinah hover over it and to make it the site of the Temple, He observed that it is not fitting for a king to dwell in a valley, but rather in a lofty and beautiful place, visible to every eye. Thereupon, the Holy One, blessed be He, called upon the hills in the surrounding area to come together in order to make a fitting abode for the Shekhinah. Hence, the mountain is called Moriah, for it was fashioned out of reverence (yirah) for the Holy One, blessed be He.

23. And he saw the place from afar off (Gen. 22:4). Abraham said to Isaac: “Do you see what I see?”“I behold a glorious mountain encircled by a cloud,” he replied. Then he asked his young men: “Do you see anything at all?”“We see only desert,” they answered. “Then abide with the ass,” he commanded, “for the ass sees nothing and you see nothing.” Abide here with the ass (ibid., v. 5), for you are like unto them.

And I and the lad will go yonder (ibid.). What is meant by the word yonder (Heb. koh, which also means “thus, so”)? It means: “Let us see what will be the final outcome of koh. The Holy One, blessed be He, promised me: So (koh) will your seed be (Gen. 15:1).” And we will worship and come back to you (ibid. 22:5). His own mouth foretold him that they would both return in peace. And he took in his hand fire and a knife (ibid., v. 6). Why was it called a slaughtering knife (ma’akhelet)? Because it made food (okhalin) suitable for eating.

Forthwith, And Isaac spoke unto Abraham, his father and said: “My father.” And he replied: “Here am I, my son.” Then Isaac asked: “Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?” (ibid., v. 7). Immediately, an overpowering fear and violent trembling seized Isaac, for when he saw nothing to be sacrificed, he realized what was about to transpire. Yet he asked once again: “Where is the lamb for the burnt-offering?’ And Abraham responded: “Since you ask, the Holy One, blessed be He, has selected you.”“If he has chosen me,” Isaac replied, “I will willingly surrender my soul to Him, but I am gravely concerned about my mother.” Nevertheless, they went both of them together (ibid., v. 8), of one mind: convinced that one was to slaughter and the other to be slaughtered. Isaac was thirty-seven years old at the time of his binding.

And they came to the place which God had told him of. . . and bound Isaac, his son (ibid., v. 9). As Abraham was about to slaughter him, Isaac cried out: “Father, bind my hands and feet, for the will to live is strong within me, and when I see the knife descending, I may tremble and the offering may become defective (as a result of the knife slipping). I implore you not to make me a blemished offering.” Then Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son (ibid., v. 10). Isaac said to him: “Father, do not tell my mother about this while she is standing at the edge of a pit or a roof lest she hurl herself down and die.” After they had constructed the altar, Abraham bound Isaac upon it and took the knife in hand to slaughter him until a fourth of a measure of blood would flow from his body, Satan appeared and pushed Abraham’s hand, causing the knife to fall. As he reached out to grasp the knife again, a voice emanated from heaven, saying: Lay not your hand upon the lad (ibid., w. 13). If this had not happened, Isaac would certainly have been sacrificed.

While all this was transpiring, Satan visited Sarah in the guise of Isaac. When she saw him she asked: “What did your father do to you, my son?” He replied: “My father led me over mountains and through valleys until we finally reached the top of a certain mountain. There he erected an altar, arranged the firewood, bound me upon the altar, and took a knife to slaughter me. If the Holy One, blessed be He, had not called out, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, I would have been slaughtered.” He had hardly completed relating what had transpired when she fainted and died, as it is written: And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her (ibid. 23:2). From where did he come? From Moriah.

When he was about to slaughter Isaac, an angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, saying: Abraham, Abraham (ibid. 22:11). Why was his name repeated? Because he was hastening to slaughter him. And He said: Lay not your hand upon the lad (ibid., v. 12). Abraham asked: “Who are you?” And he replied: “An angel.’ Thereupon Abraham retorted: “When I was commanded, Take now your son, it was the Holy One, blessed be He, who spoke to me; if He now wishes to stop me, let Him tell me so.”

Thereupon, And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven a second time (ibid., v. 15), for he had refused to heed the first call. Then Abraham cried out to the Holy One, blessed be He: “Master of the Universe, a man tests his companion because he does not know what is in his heart, but You know what is in the heart and the kidneys, the seat of deliberation. Surely, You did not need to test me.” He answered: Now, indeed, do I know that you are a God-fearing man (ibid., v. 12).

Thereupon, the Holy One, blessed be He, opened the sky and the cloud (surrounding Him) and said: “By myself have I sworn,” sayd the Lord (ibid., v. 16). “You have sworn.” Abraham replied, “and now I swear that I will not descend from this altar until I say what I wish to say.”“Speak,” He answered. “Did You not tell me,” said Abraham, “Count all the stars, if thou be able to count them; so will your seed be (Gen. 15:5)?”“Yes,” He replied. “But from whom will my seed descend?” queried Abraham. “From Isaac,” the Holy One answered. “It was in my heart, yesterday, to remind You that You told me that Isaac was my seed, when You said to me: Take him for a burnt-offering. But I restrained myself and did not challenge You. Therefore, when Isaac’s descendants sin and are being oppressed, recall the binding of Isaac, reckon it as if his ashes were piled upon the altar, and pardon them and release them from their anguish.”

The Holy One, blessed be He, answered: “You have spoken what was in you heart, now I will say what I wish to say. In the future Isaac’s descendants will sin against Me, and I will judge them on Rosh Hashanah. If they want Me to discover something to their credit, and to recall for their advantage the binding of Isaac, let them blow upon this shofar.” Abraham asked: “What shofar?” The Holy One, blessed be He, said: “Turn around. Then it was that Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind a ram caught in the thicket by his horns (Gen. 22:13). This was one of the ten things that were created at twilight.’

A ram caught in the thicket by his horns (ibid.). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Abraham: “Let them blow upon the ram’s horn to Me, and I will save them and redeem them from their sins.” This is what David meant when he sang: My shield and my horn of salvation, my high tower (Ps. 18:3). Then I will remove the yoke of exile from them and comfort them in the midst of Zion, as it is said: For the Lord has comforted Zion (Isa. 5 1:3). Amen!

Ashlamatah: Jeremiah 31:1-19

1 ¶ At that time, says the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people.

2 Thus says the LORD: The people that were left of the sword have found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I go to cause him to rest.

3 'From afar the LORD appeared unto me.' 'Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with affection have I drawn you.

4 Again will I build you, and you will be built, O virgin of Israel; again will you be adorned with your tabrets, and will go forth in the dances of them that make merry.

5 Again will you plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters will plant, and will have the use thereof.

6 ¶ For there will be a day, that the watchmen will call upon the mount Ephraim: arise, and let us go up to Zion, unto the LORD our God.

7 For thus says the LORD: Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout at the head of the gentiles; announce, praise, and say: 'O LORD, save Your people, The remnant of Israel.'

8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travails with child together; a great company will they return hither.

9 ¶ They will come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them; I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they will not stumble; for I am become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My first-born.

10 Hear the word of the LORD, O you gentiles, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say: 'He that scattered Israel does gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.'

11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and He redeems him from the hand of him that is stronger than he.

12 And they will come and sing in the height of Zion, and will flow unto the goodness of the LORD, to the corn, and to the wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd; and their soul will be as a watered garden, and they will not pine any more at all.

13 Then will the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

14 ¶ And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and My people will be satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD.

15 ¶ Thus says the LORD: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not.

16 Thus says the LORD: Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work will be rewarded, says the LORD; and they will come back from the land of the enemy.

17 And there is hope for your future, says the LORD; and your children will return to their own border.

18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: 'You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf untrained; turn me, and I will return, for You are the LORD my God.

19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented, and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.'

Note: The days in between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur (10 days after Rosh HaSahanah) are also known as Yamim HaNoraim - “The Days of Awe” and also known as the “Ten Days of Returning/Repentance,” these are the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In Hebrew, they are called Aseret Yemay T’shuvah (The Ten Days for Returning), and offer another chance for spiritual renewal!

LESHANÁ TOBÁ TIKATEBÚ VETECHATEMÚ!

For a good year may you be inscribed and sealed!

¡Para un año bueno sea usted inscrito y sellado!

Shabbat Shuvah – Sabbath of Returning

For further study see: http://www.betemunah.org/awesome.doc

Shabbat	Torah Reading:	Weekday Torah Reading:
עֲשֵׂה לְךָ, שְׁתֵּי חֲצוֹצְרֹת
“A’aseh L’kha, Sh’tei Chatsots’rot”	Reader 1 – B’midbar 10: 1-10	Reader 1 – B’midbar 11:16-18
“Make for yourself two trumpets”	Reader 2 – B’midbar 10:11-13	Reader 2 – B’midbar 11:18-20
“Hazte dos trompetas”	Reader 3 – B’midbar 10:14-21	Reader 3 – B’midbar 11:20-22
B’midbar (Num.) 10:1 – 11:15	Reader 4 – B’midbar 10:22-28
Ashlamatah: Isaiah 27:13 – 28:8, 16	Reader 5 – B’midbar 10:29-34
* Special Ashlamatah: Hosea 14:2-10; Micah 7:18-20	Reader 6 – B’midbar 10:35 – 11:3	Reader 1 – B’midbar 11:16-18
Psalm 98	Reader 7 – B’midbar 11:4-15	Reader 2 – B’midbar 11:18-20
	Maftir – B’midbar 11:13-15	Reader 3 – B’midbar 11:20-22
N.C.: Matityahu 20:20-34 Matityahu 3:1-12	Hosea 14:2-10; Micah 7:18-20

* This Ashlamatah should be read by the greatest Torah Scholar available to the congregation.

LESHANÁ TOBÁ TIKATEBÚ VETECHATEMÚ!

For a good year may you be inscribed and sealed!

¡Para un año bueno sea usted inscrito y sellado!

On the third day of Tishri (and if Shabbat falls immediately after Rosh HaShanah then on the foruth day of Tishri), Jews observe a minor fast known as the Tzom Gedaliah, the fast of Gedaliah. This fast commemorates the assassination of Gedaliah, the last governor of Judea following the destruction of the first temple, in 586 B.C. His death marked the end of Jewish rule and led to the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people. It is one of four fast days relating to the destruction of the temple and known in Scripture as “the fast of the seventh month,” kept on the third of Tishri (comp. 2 Kings 25), the anniversary of the murder of Gedaliah (Jer. 41:1, 2).

	Torah Reading:
Fast of Gedaliah
Ayuno de Guedalíah	Reader 1 – Shemot 32:11-14
	Reader 2 – Shemot 34:1-4
	Reader 3 – Shemot 34:5-11
Shemot (Exodus) 32:11-14 & 34:1-11	Hoshea (Hosea) 14:2–10
Ashlamatah: Hoshea (Hosea) 14:2–10

N.C.: Romans 1:18-32

The Murder of Gedaliah: An Anatomy of Self Destruction

(Jeremiah, Chapters 40-43)

by Prof. Uriel Simon

Department of Talmud

Bar-Ilan University

http://www.biu.ac.il/Spokesman/Tolerance/simon.htm

Four days of fasting and mourning were decreed by the exiles to Babylon in order to retain the destruction of the First Temple in our collective memory. (Zechariah 7:3; 8:19) Three of them commemorate the tragedies brought upon us by the Babylonians -- the onset of the siege, the breach of the wall and the burning of the Temple. The fourth, the Fast of Gedaliah recalls the two-fold calamity which we brought upon ourselves: the loss of the last remnant of Jewish autonomy in Judea and the self-imposed exile to Egypt. Those were the political results. From the religious point of view, expressed verbally by the prophet of destruction Jeremiah, the first three are punishment by G-d for the sins of Judea while the fourth is an entirely new set of sins into which the punishment is built from the start.

In the meeting at the city of Ramah between the Babylonian commander Nebuzadran and the prophet Jeremiah, who was set free from among the bound and chained captives being led out to Babylon, the destroyer of the Temple and of Jerusalem speaks in the conceptual terms of the prophet: "Because you have sinned against the Lord and did not listen to His voice, that is why this has happened to you"(40:3)! Indirectly it is implied that he is the executor of the word of G-d to his prophet, and that he must repay Jeremiah for his prophecies which have been realized. He presents Jeremiah with four options, which are in fact, really three: "To come with him to Babylon and there receive preferential status from the government", to go as a private citizen to any destination he chooses (in the Land of Israel or outside), or to join Gedaliah Ben Ahikam who was chosen by the King of Babylon as Regent over the Remnant of Judea and "to dwell" with him in Mitzpah, (which archaeological findings indicate was not destroyed), "among the people".

The starving Jeremiah received an allowance and a meal from his captor and left him without any word of reply (apparently wishing to escape the bear hug of the conqueror and oppressor of his people who was being kind to him personally) and went to join Gedaliah in Mitzpah. When corruption had become rampant in Jerusalem, the prophet expressed the desire to break off from his people ("Oh, that I were in the wilderness in a lodging for travelers that I might leave my people and go forth from them, for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men!" [9:1]), but during the siege he refrained from deserting his people though he advised others to do so (37:14; 38:2). Now, with the fall of the city and destruction of the land, he casts his lot with that of the Remnant and joins Gedaliah in the work of reconstruction: "and he dwelled with him among the people who remained in the land" (40:6).

There is an obvious affinity between the option chosen by the prophet and the reconstruction plans of Gedaliah, as he presented them to the seven "captains of the troops in the open country (outside Jerusalem) and their men" (40:7). He swore to them that they had no reason to fear serving the Chaldeans (Babylonians) even though they had fought against them previously, and encouraged them to "dwell in the land" like Jeremiah, rather than to seek personal resolutions to their troubles abroad. He promised to defend their rights before the occupation power and encouraged them to insure their economic well-being by gathering the crops left behind by the exiles and occupying deserted homes and lands ("and dwell in the cities you have taken" [40:10]). Their reaction is not given. Instead we are told of the initial success of the reconstruction plan of Gedaliah: "All the Judeans returned from all the places to which they were driven (among others -- from Moab, Ammon and Edom which were not conquered by the Babylonians) and they came to the Land of Judea, to Gedaliah at Mitzpah, and gathered an abundance of wine and summer fruits" (40:12).

In a second meeting between Gedaliah and "all the captains of the troops" except for Ishmael ben Netaniah, Gedaliah learns from them that the missing captain intends to murder him: "Do you know that Baalis, king of Ammon, sent Ishmael ben Netaniah to kill you?" (40:14). But Gedaliah "believed them not", though there was reason to believe that commonality of interest existed between the king of Ammon, who had participated in the rebellion against Babylonia (27:3) and with whom King Zedekiah had apparently hoped to find refuge in his flight to Jericho (39:4-5), and Ishmael ben Netaniah who was of "royal seed" (41:1) and could object to the position of power bestowed upon one who was not of the Davidic Line and criticize the co-operation with the Babylonians. (Gedaliah was of a family of long-standing loyalty to the worship of the G-d of Israel and supporting Jeremiah: His grandfather, Shafan, had been the scribe of King Josiah [Second Kings 22:3], his father Ahikam, was sent by Josiah to the prophetess Hulda [Second Kings 22:12] and had saved the life of Jeremiah [Jeremiah 26:24]).

The second intelligence warning came under cover: one of the most important warrior chieftains, Yochanan ben Kereach requested permission from Gedaliah to quietly assassinate Ishmael in order to avert a serious national disaster: "Why should he kill you and then all the Jews who gathered around you will be scattered and the remnant of Judea will perish?" (40:15). Gedaliah ignored the issue of the justification of committing murder to prevent murder and chose to deny very strongly the verity of the information and the reliability of the informant: "Do not do this thing, for you speak falsely of Ishmael"(40:16). The reader, who does not yet know what is about to happen, asks himself: are the two warnings some part of a conspiracy? Is it reasonable to assume that Yochanan, motivated by jealousy among the officers, would falsely accuse Ishmael? Could the complacency of Gedaliah result from his deep conviction in the correctness of his policies and from his simple belief that it would be inconceivable that a Judean army officer would even consider murdering him and thus mortally wound the attempts at rehabilitation of the "Remnant of Judea"?

Gedaliah disdained even passive security measures, inviting Ishmael and ten of his soldiers to share a meal with him. There, during the meal, the guests rose up against their host and murdered him, declaring their motive as political: "And they killed him because the King of Babylon had put him in charge of the land" (41:2). Ishmael, not content with killing the Jewish leader who had proposed collaboration with the Babylonians, also put to death all those who were in his immediate entourage -- "all the Judeans who were with him" as well as the Chaldean soldiers "who were stationed there" (41:3).

One iniquity brings on another: the assassinations soon led to slaughter. To prevent the news of the murder from becoming known outside Mitzpah, Ishmael massacred the participants in a caravan of eighty men from Schechem, Shiloh and Samaria who were traveling as penitents "their beards shaven, their clothing torn and having cut themselves" (41:5) to the Temple Mount to offer sacrifices and express their deep anguish over the destruction of the Temple (which took place only two months earlier). In order to convince them to enter the city Ishmael went out to them and by cynical manipulation of the power of attraction of the fraternity of mourners he went to them "weeping as he walked" (41:6) inviting them to be the guests of Gedaliah. Perhaps, their acceptance proved to him that they agreed to the polices of Gedaliah. In any case, as soon as they entered the city Ishmael and his men killed seventy of them and with contempt and disrespect threw their bodies into a huge cistern which, three hundred years earlier, had been a part of the northern fortification of the Kingdom of Judea.

This horrible disregard of the value human life is indicated not only by the act of mass murder but also by Ishmael sparing the lives of the remaining ten pilgrims who bought their lives with high priced bribery: "Do not kill us for we have stores hidden in the fields -- wheat, barley, oil and honey. So he stopped and did not kill them along with their fellows" (41:8).

Now, all that Ishmael ben Netaniah was left to do was "to go over to the Ammonites"(thus confirming after the fact the information about the Ammonite conspiracy related in the first warning to Gedaliah), taking with him by force all the survivors of Mitzpah: "and Ishmael carried off all the remnant of the people" (41:10).

Yochanan ben Kareach and the other captains were not in Mitzpah during the two days of massacre. When "all the evil that Ishmael ... had done" (41:11) became known to them, they regrouped their forces and pursued Ishmael and his captives. The latter, upon seeing their rescuers approaching, went gladly over to their side while Ishmael "escaped with eight men from Yochanan and went to the Ammonites" (41:15). The emphasis on the ridiculous smallness of this militant band (which presumably had incurred two losses) seems to be an indication that a very few determined men, devoid of all restraints, can inflict an enormous, grave historic damage. Yochanan ben Kareach did not return to Mitzpah, fearing that a Babylonian reprisal force would not distinguish between friend and foe and punish him for the sins of Ishmael. This is, in fact, the way of all conquering, imperialist armies which instill terror in the local population through collective punishment, tending to see the assassination of their appointed official as an excuse for the cancellation of the few rights granted previously to the conquered. Just as Yochanan feared reprisal from the Babylonians for the death of Gedaliah, so he could expect reward from the Egyptians for the blow dealt by Ishmael to their Babylonian enemy. He therefore turned, with his entire camp -- soldiers and civilians alike -- to go down into Egypt.

Only at this point are we made aware that the prophet Jeremiah was also in the camp of Yochanan, (but we are not told whether he was among those taken captive in Mitzpah, or whether he had been outside the city and joined the warrior chieftains following the murder). In contrast to Gedaliah, who did not consult Jeremiah concerning the intentions of Ishmael, Yochanan and his fellow commanders now turned to Jeremiah, requesting that he pray on their behalf and ask of G-d a clear instruction concerning where to go and what to do. One gets the impression that the destruction and murder had a deep influence upon them since this was the first time that the men of Judea acknowledged the presence of a prophet among them, who could serve as their messenger to G-d. Jeremiah agreed to pray for them in their hour of distress and also to pass on to them the Divine answer, hiding nothing. They, on their part, swore to obey the word of G-d whether or not it would be acceptable to them, "that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of the Lord our G-d" (42:6).

Ten days Jeremiah waited until the word of G-d came to him, proof positive that he did not answer them on the basis of his own opinion alone. His words indicated that God demanded of them to continue the policies of Jeremiah and Gedaliah. This can be deduced from the emphasized use of the verb to dwell: "if you continue to dwell (Hebrew verb root used twice for emphasis!) in this land I will build you and not destroy I will plant you and not uproot; for I regret the evil I have done to you" (42:10). G-d informed them that the time of retribution was over and a period of Divine Grace was at hand. Clearly referring to the terms of the prophetic dedication of Jeremiah, He told them that from this time forth He would cease "to uproot and pull down, to overthrow and destroy", and would begin "to build and to plant" (1:10). Gedaliah had told these military officers "Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans" (40:9) and G-d now broadens the scope of this encouragement to include the expected reprisal by the Chaldeans after the murder: "Do not fear the King of Babylonia...for I am with you to save you and I will dispose him to be merciful to you; he shall show you mercy and return you to your own land" (42:11-12). These last words echo those of Gedaliah "And dwell in the cities you have captured."(40:10), as does the Divine warning "if you turn your faces to come to Egypt and you come to live there..." (42:15) echo the first option rejected by Jeremiah (when it was offered by Nebuzadran): "if it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come" (40:4). They are forbidden to escape to Egypt because, with the end of the era of punishment, voluntary exile is sinful, and if rebellion and disobedience continue, so will punishment continue: "As My anger and wrath poured down upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My wrath pour down upon you if you go to Egypt..."(42:18).

In stark contrast to their previous commitment to obey the word of G-d, the two most important of the commanders -- Azariah and Yochanan -- "and all the arrogant men" (43:2) refused to keep their promise. They claimed that Jeremiah had presented his own political views (formed under the influence of Baruch ben Neriah) as the word of G-d, and that if they were to listen to him some of them would be executed by the Babylonians and the others would exiled to Babylon: "You speak falsehood! The Lord our G-d did not send you...rather Baruch ben Neriah is inciting you against us to deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans to be killed or exiled to Babylon"(43:2-3). This grave accusation echoes that of Gedaliah to Yochanan: "You speak falsely of Ishmael!"(40:16). Gedaliah, out of an inflated sense of security, refused to believe the warning of Yochanan (which proved true several days later) and Yochanan and his companions, out of fear and poor judgment, did not believe the word of G-d as related to them by Jeremiah (which proved true several years later with the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar).

Lack of caution on the part of Gedaliah made his murder possible along with the murders of many others with him. Lack of faith on the part of Yochanan and his companions led to voluntary exile and the wrath of G-d. Though they had seen the prophecies of destruction of Jeremiah proven true, the Remnant of Judea could not accept his present prophecies as the true word of G-d. Their inability to draw proper conclusions from the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple brought a further destruction upon them.

The three central figures in this sad story of self-destruction were: the killer, Ishmael ben Netaniah, his victim, Gedaliah ben Achikam and his successor, Yochanan ben Kereach.

The killer was motivated by a combination of disgraceful opportunism and a zealous loyalty to a specific political doctrine which may have had some legitimacy before the destruction but was totally unrealistic afterwards. His short term way of thinking made it impossible for him to consider either the immediate results of his actions (the reprisal by the military chieftains) or to predict the long-term damage (cessation of the reconstruction process and the return to the Land, the loss of the remainder of Jewish autonomy under Babylonian rule and the increased flow of the remaining Jewish population into exile). The complete lack of moral restraints prevented him from understanding that political assassination, which dramatically shatters the taboo of the sanctity of human life, would result in a terrifying chain reaction of bloodshed.

The victim was warned in advance concerning his murder and the destruction of his efforts in national reconstruction but his moral-political naivety caused his downfall and the murders of those who had chosen to cast their lot with his leadership. Our Sages, displaying extreme moral sensitivity, attach to Gedaliah the blame for the disastrous results of his failure: "Since he should have paid attention to the advice of Yochanan ben Kereach and did not do so, Scripture sees him as havkilled them (the seventy men who were thrown into the cistern)" (Bavli, Niddah, 61a). From here Rava derives the maxim: "Though one must not accept slander -- one must be cautious because of it".

The successor, onto whose shoulders fell the responsibility for the fate of the remnant of the people after the murder of Gedaliah and the rescue of the captives, panicked as a result of the act of terror committed by his rival. He knew enough to ask the word of G-d from Jeremiah but lacked the courage to follow it. His cowardice, lack of judgment and paucity of faith made him an accomplice to self-destruction since he compounded it by voluntary exile.

In our two thousand years of exile we became "merciful sons of merciful fathers", unable to commit murder. With our return to our own land we once again possess the means and our souls have the ability to spill blood. The Fast of Gedaliah is meant to give us the opportunity to stand face to face with the horrors of our past so that we may muster the strength to prevent their repetition in the present.

LESHANÁ TOBÁ TIKATEBÚ VETECHATEMÚ!

For a good year may you be inscribed and sealed!

¡Para un año bueno sea usted inscrito y sellado!