ויקרא כ"ה:לז לח
The injunction involving property acquisition, adjoined unto not charging interest, have an equal applicability unto all the bnai brit peoples throughout the generations. Both require a time of redemption coupled with a developed fear of heaven. Redeeming one’s peoples or lands or both, requires a unique brit/partners relationship. The spirituality of cutting an oath/brit as contrasted by the popular belief systems common among the non-bnai brit civilizations merits a measured analysis. All generations of humanity explore and weigh belief in G-d(s). Limiting the brevity of this treatise, I bring only my methods and consequent conclusions seeking to contrast organized religion with cutting an Oath/brit. . Organized religions employ certain logical premises. It directs the passions of faith unto belief in a Greater Being. Belief systems tend to place both god(s) and their prophets upon pedestals of awe. Furthermore, belief systems usually establish unquestionable premises thereby designating a “believer in the faith”. A person who challenges or questions these established premises of faith, having embraced heresy faces Divine retribution and wrath.
By contrast, it seems to me, that one of the best sources, in the Talmudic Seas, for acquiring an in-depth understanding of the torah oath/brit - the ק"ש as found in our siddur-merits deep consideration.וגו דכתיב: בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך. The repetition of the word – בכל, implies plurality. The yetzer, for example, logical speculation suggests that it holds 26 middot, these middot serve as its primary building blocks, something like an alphabet functions in human languages. Based upon the revelation of middot at Sinai the yazir of man contains 13 middot t’horot and 13 middot t’maiot. Logically its also possible to deduce the spiritual purpose of our Soul(s), they serve as a unique container capable of receiving and containing the 13 middot Elokim. Our soul(s) includes not only the nefesh but further refinements and clarifications on the essential brit creates the Ruach, Neshamah, Chaya and Yichida. The oath serves as a sharp blade that cuts the orlah from our heart. By employing an oath a person can both dedicate and designate a soul to achieve, so to speak, a container capable of receiving and holding the Torah middot revelation of the Elokim. Consequently, according to how I learn, the bedrock of Torah spirituality directly depends upon emotional middot development, commonly referred to as דרך ארץ.
Religion might lead people on the 8th day following the birth of a male child to circumcise their children, but secular Jews also practice circumcision. Circumcision serves as a designated sign of faith for the generations; its expresses the Jewish desire toward accepting the Oath/brit first established by Avraham. Distinguishing between spiritual substance and ritual forms this treatise seeks to address. A person who purposely employs an oath/brit intending thereby to cut the soul(s) delves past religious forms and long standing ancient customs and instead seeks to satisfy a hunger toward understanding the Torah substance. This latter approach clearly requires primary textual investigation, Tanach, Talmud, Siddur, and Midrashim. Lastly, the plurality ofובכל מאדך , wealth either holds or repulses justice; justice and its opposite - tyranny - either builds or destroys a partnership with fear of heaven. Fear of Heaven requires more than simple rhetoric, buying into organized religion in no way transforms a person into emotionally mature person.
In galut, the fundamental and most terrible Torah curse, the bnai brit can still practice both דרך ארץ and the commandments. But the Elokim primarily judges His chosen peoples when we independently rule our own land. Justice which lacks enforcement power cannot prosper; when our peoples live under alien authority in strange lands, how can we achieve just ruler-ship? The Torah obligation to rule a land with justice does not apply to galut Jewry. When disputes occur, all parties to the dispute possess a certain foundation upon which they can make their stand. But this assumption applies when the ruling authorities show equal respect unto both citizens and aliens. Human history testifies that this utopian dream, while intellectually pleasing, lacks a foundation based upon historical reality.
The Torah obligates the father to educate his children. Our Sages of blessed memory ruled that the mother determines physical Jewish-ness. But Tamar and Ruth complicate this general rule. These two examples tell of a history of brit relationships in crisis. In both cases our fathers reached a crossroads and had to make a choice. Yechudah suffered public humiliation to acknowledge the brit alliance partnership. Boaz ruled that Moabite women could adjoin their souls unto the family of Israel, even though the descendants of Lot profaned their brit alliance with the house of Avraham. In the 1st case, Yechudah’s first born, like Sodom, abandoned the brit bnai Noach. The Torah assigns the term “wicked” unto any person(s) who openly abandon the brit bnai Noach, the essential brit of the Torah. In the latter case, Israel during the time of the judges sometimes behaved as a people who had no brit relationship – not between them-selves, and consequently not with the Elokim.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
The Calculus of Interest-Free Loans and it’s Logical Derivatives or Consequences - Footnote VIII
8) ת,ר כמה הוא שכרו? בין מרובה בין מועט דבר ר"מ ר' יהודה אומר אפי' לא טבל עמו אלא בציר ולא אכל עמו אלא גרוגרות אחת זהו שכרו. רבי שמעון בן יוחאי אומר נותן לו שכר משלם.
The Calculus of Interest-Free Loans and it’s Logical Derivatives or Consequences - Footnote VI
6) A summation of the 5 books of Torah. The Talmud learns 7 books. אשברית בראשית. This brit examines the nefesh oath/brit that first Noach cut. A brit forges a partnership, and requires making a formal oath. Making a formal oath ideally requires an altar and sacrifices. Hence the oath qualifies as the fire of the brit. As a consequence that the generations of Adam profaned their oath – the floods destroyed the world.
שמות… whereas בראשית teaches the art of cutting an oath/brit by families, this book and the next two tackle the thorny issue: Do or do no the generations walk according unto their fathers? שמות applies the oath/brit of Avraham on a national level. The ruach of Avrahams oath/brit:. If you give unto my descendants this land – we shall rule it with justice.
The Egyptian bondage contrasts cruel slavery with the Torah revelation and the establishment of the Sanhedrin. In Egypt, humanity orbits around Pharaoh; שמות measures the mishkan and garments of the high Priest.
ויקרא… whereas שמות blends the Sanhedrin home government into the measurements of mishkan and high priest, this book considers sacred dedications and the distinction between substance and form. Shall Israel dedicate our neshamah to walk in דרך ארץ before the Elokim? Sacrifices serve as the agent of the person(s) making a formal dedication. Shall the agent have greater holiness than the person(s) who send their “angel”? Holiness requires a specific dedication, for a sacrifice lacking a dedication of neshamah functions only as a barbecue. Dedicating a neshama concerns the living much more than it does the dead.
ויקרא first discusses the different types of sacrifices. And then addresses the profound central point of respecting the dignity of ones neighbor like a person protects his/her own.
The plagues of tumah, meaning the failure to develop דרך ארץ, separates the dedication of the family of Aharon with Yom Hakippur and the death of Nadav and Avihu. These two sons, the next generation, died as great scholars. Never the less, their failure to sanctify דרך ארץ in their relations with Moshe and Aharon resulted in their offering avodah zarah before the Elokim, hence they died. Our Sages attach slander with the plagues of tumah.
במדבר Whereas ויקרא considers tohor and tumah, keeping the oath sworn unto Avraham as the essential foundation, this book weighs the oath of the land against the slander of the faithless spies. It defines thereby redemption. The Chiyah distinguishes between the oath/brit peoples and non oath/brit nations; it passes the .אש.בריתunto the next generation, and thereby unto all future generations.
Moshe sets the tribes into formation and order. With each tribe possessing both leader and banners. Within the hearts of the bnai brit peoples function the 26 essential elements which form the Yazzir Hatov and the Yazzir Harah; without middot and derech eretz, all external orders turn eventually into chaos.
דברים This book examines the Yechida the Torah brit of Moshe our Teacher as a way to inherit both Chiyyah and the oath/sworn lands. This last book establishes the constitutional principle of legislative review as the chief burden of oral Torah. That Chiyya obligates all generations to employ Oral Torah so as to interpret the intent of the Framer and to legislate Torah specific to the needs of each generation.
Our Teacher rules that daughters could inherit their fathers house, but must marry only within their tribe. Later generations interpreted that this ruling applied unto a specific generation. Mishne Torah teaches the humility and power of legislative review.
שמות… whereas בראשית teaches the art of cutting an oath/brit by families, this book and the next two tackle the thorny issue: Do or do no the generations walk according unto their fathers? שמות applies the oath/brit of Avraham on a national level. The ruach of Avrahams oath/brit:. If you give unto my descendants this land – we shall rule it with justice.
The Egyptian bondage contrasts cruel slavery with the Torah revelation and the establishment of the Sanhedrin. In Egypt, humanity orbits around Pharaoh; שמות measures the mishkan and garments of the high Priest.
ויקרא… whereas שמות blends the Sanhedrin home government into the measurements of mishkan and high priest, this book considers sacred dedications and the distinction between substance and form. Shall Israel dedicate our neshamah to walk in דרך ארץ before the Elokim? Sacrifices serve as the agent of the person(s) making a formal dedication. Shall the agent have greater holiness than the person(s) who send their “angel”? Holiness requires a specific dedication, for a sacrifice lacking a dedication of neshamah functions only as a barbecue. Dedicating a neshama concerns the living much more than it does the dead.
ויקרא first discusses the different types of sacrifices. And then addresses the profound central point of respecting the dignity of ones neighbor like a person protects his/her own.
The plagues of tumah, meaning the failure to develop דרך ארץ, separates the dedication of the family of Aharon with Yom Hakippur and the death of Nadav and Avihu. These two sons, the next generation, died as great scholars. Never the less, their failure to sanctify דרך ארץ in their relations with Moshe and Aharon resulted in their offering avodah zarah before the Elokim, hence they died. Our Sages attach slander with the plagues of tumah.
במדבר Whereas ויקרא considers tohor and tumah, keeping the oath sworn unto Avraham as the essential foundation, this book weighs the oath of the land against the slander of the faithless spies. It defines thereby redemption. The Chiyah distinguishes between the oath/brit peoples and non oath/brit nations; it passes the .אש.בריתunto the next generation, and thereby unto all future generations.
Moshe sets the tribes into formation and order. With each tribe possessing both leader and banners. Within the hearts of the bnai brit peoples function the 26 essential elements which form the Yazzir Hatov and the Yazzir Harah; without middot and derech eretz, all external orders turn eventually into chaos.
דברים This book examines the Yechida the Torah brit of Moshe our Teacher as a way to inherit both Chiyyah and the oath/sworn lands. This last book establishes the constitutional principle of legislative review as the chief burden of oral Torah. That Chiyya obligates all generations to employ Oral Torah so as to interpret the intent of the Framer and to legislate Torah specific to the needs of each generation.
Our Teacher rules that daughters could inherit their fathers house, but must marry only within their tribe. Later generations interpreted that this ruling applied unto a specific generation. Mishne Torah teaches the humility and power of legislative review.
The Calculus of Interest-Free Loans and it’s Logical Derivatives or Consequences - Footnote V
5
ותדע שכביכול הוא היה סובלן פי' עף יוסף: מפני שאין זה נראה כבוד אלקים שהרי הנישא גדול מהנושא
ותדע שכביכול הוא היה סובלן פי' עף יוסף: מפני שאין זה נראה כבוד אלקים שהרי הנישא גדול מהנושא
The Calculus of Interest-Free Loans and it’s Logical Derivatives or Consequences - Footnote IV
4). במדבר רבא יג:כ……
This midrash disputes the actions of Shemone. It opens in his defense but closes by contrasting Gads building the hearts of Israel to conquer the kingdoms of Canaan as opposed to Shimone’s destruction of Shechem to assist his seduced sister.
This midrash disputes the actions of Shemone. It opens in his defense but closes by contrasting Gads building the hearts of Israel to conquer the kingdoms of Canaan as opposed to Shimone’s destruction of Shechem to assist his seduced sister.
The Calculus of Interest-Free Loans and it’s Logical Derivatives or Consequences - Footnote III
3) תנן ב"מ ט:יג המלוה את חברו לא ימשכננו אלא בבית דיו ולא יכנס לביתו לטול משכונן שנאמר (דברים כד, וגוי') בחוץ תעמד וכו'
Compare and contrast functions as a key tool in literature, I highly recommend study of this chapter. מדרש תנא צבי אליהו פרק כד. (א) (תהילים קמ:ט) אל תתן ה' מאויי רשע זממו אל תפק וגו
The Midrash opens with a verse from the Psalms. The proper way to study Midrash: Rule #1 the specific verse serves in a larger context. The Midrash seeks to understand a primary source, by a פרט/כלל logic. The specific verse has a relationship with the larger whole. Examine the whole psalm employing this verse as a lens. Know that understanding means learning a matter in the midst of another matter. Once a person grapples with the specific/general partnership of the Psalm itself, the student of Torah possesses the foundation by which to wrestle understanding of the relationship of the Midrash story with the specific verse.
This rule #1 applies to all Talmudic learning. But like any discipline it requires patience. Wisdom does not bring forth its fruits in a day. The Midrash compares the pleas of David that the Elokim would save him from evil and violent men with the broad concept of Jews living in galut among Esav. The behavior of Pharaoh who did not know bnai Noach
Yosef, and Esav/Europe share many brutal similarities.
This chapter of Midrash externally contrasts Yisrael and Esav but internally Midrash seeks to “understand” our Kabbalah. The Kabbalah not as commonly practiced in the popular mysticism of the dark ages, being the T”nach. Students of Torah must continually distinguish between primary and secondary sources. This too qualifies as a discipline. While this ancient Midrash dates back to the times of the Gemarah, it none the less interprets the Nach which studies 1st Temple period scholarship. Developing proper research skills requires the will to explore and re-examine again and again primary sources – how they relate to one another viewed from multiple and various perspectives. תוספתא for example requires memorization of its external ideas. It serves like a fertilizer in the soils of how our great sages edited the Talmud.
תוספתא gives students of Talmud a critical eye to judge how the editors of ש"ס what they included and excluded from the תוספתא. Hence תוספתא does not require a קהתי style commentary. It serves as the primary hand-maid in mishnaic studies.
The Torah holds the greatest treasure by which the peoples of Israel can rule our lands with wisdom. A diamond has many facets, so too our Torah inheritance. Consequently, the struggle of all the generations of bnai brit, acquiring access unto the primary sources, constitutes as the heart and soul of Torah education forever.
Study of the later commentaries both Rishonim and Acharonim merits blessings only after a person has strong familiarity with the sealed primary sources. Personally I prefer to study the Halachic codes as a compendium with the ירושלמי. Learning the רי"ף in conjunction with הבה"ג והרמב"ם followed by רבינו יונה ונמוקי יוסף followed by פסקי הרא"ש רבינו אשר with its דברי חמודות ומעדני יום טוב ופלפלא חריפתא
Having laid the foundations of Midrash and Kabbalah, תוספתא and ירושלמי, with the great halachic Talmudic codes, when the turn comes to study בבלי and its partnership with understanding the mishnaic intent Ya’alah it’s a party. The discipline that’s required, remembering and reminding that the ש"סcomes to understand and interpret the intent of the Written Torah as the constitutional mandate by which bnai brit can learn how to rule our inheritance lands wisely. After 120 the central question my souls must answer, did my Torah establish justice within the lands of Israel? When I stand before the Elokim I bear responsibility on one question: Did I keep the brit?
With the sealed primary sources: T’nach, Mishneh, Tosefta, Halachic Midrashim, Aggadic Midrashim, Talmud bavli and Yerushalmi and the Siddur the bnai brit labor to redeem our souls. As our fathers sanctified their souls through Torah scholarship our souls can achieve the same equality. A judge must never show partiality to a witness, equally so a particular generation holds no monopoly on Torah scholarship.
The latter commentaries written by our great Rishonim and Acharonim of blessed memory – their comments add unto but cannot replace the primary sources. A building contractor who builds great and beautiful buildings – that lack a solid foundation squanders time materials work and money. Standing upon the shoulders of Torah giants allows a person to see long distances, but it in no way replaces a solid foundation.
This book seeks to encourage bnai brit to dedicate their yechida to acquire our lands by honoring our תרי"ג obligations. Like the commandments, knowledge serves as a means to an end; neither functions nor exists as the final accomplishment. Torah reveals the souls of man. By torah wisdom we make a partnership alliance among the bnai brit. Our communal relationships therein establish a brit consequently with the Elokim. Fools who reverse this order worship – avodah zarah.
The Talmud teaches that the Tefillin posses holiness like a sefer torah. A person binds Tefillin upon the arm and head as a ritual form of worship. But the spiritual substance which causes the ritual form, a person should exert both emotional middot and the goals to invite the Elokim by cutting an oath/brit. All generations have their day under the sun. We all have equal opportunity to combine our souls and make our peoples one. When we forge soul relationships among our chosen peoples then and only then does the Elokim dwell within Israel.
How we behave and treat our bnai brit peoples every second in the future defines and measures our share in the world to come. Death does not determine our destiny in the world to come, rather life. Upon our life the judgment of the world to come depends. How we grow and mature both emotionally and rationally not only determines our social relationships in future encounters but this fundamental spirituality determines our portion in the world to come.
As diplomacy functions as the art of forging alliances so too and even more so Torah spirituality requires enlightenment of our Knesset souls, that all the bnai brit peoples together share. The commandment to establish גמ"ח and loan based partnerships flows like rivers into the seas of the תרי"ג obligations. Once grounded in the basics the latter Rabbinic commentaries flow with the Torah rivers and, so to speak, make fertile halachic deltas. These fertile deltas expand and enlarge the Torah mainlands.
Our Torah contains both land and sea, heaven and earth, this world and the world to come. If we cut the ערלה from our souls. Our souls with its Davidic crown shine unto all eternity. Its majesty possesses the length, width and depth to house the Elokim – the creator of the universe.
(ב) משלו משל למה הדבר דומה וגו'
The midrash speaks of the warrior king; the armies of David prevailed the Elokim conquered the gods of the nations. Similarly when Avraham returned victorious redeeming Lot from slavery.
The establishment of the Temple in Yerushalem David proclaimed the kingship of the Elokim above all gods. Consequently from that moment forward private altars became forbidden. Sacrificing offerings on private altars profanes the oath/brit that King David cut upon the souls of the Knesset Israel.
Offering sacrificial dedications outside of Yerushalem compares to surgically removing ones circumcision. After Yitzchak died, Esau abandoned the ruach and neshamah of his fathers. Even during their lifetimes he despised the brit Nefesh of Noach.
(ג) למה נדמה עשו ואליפז עם בנו עמלק וגו'
Righteous acts compare unto large rocks thrown into still tranquil waters. The emanating waves and/or ripples which occurs as a result compares unto the generations who inherit a destiny of righteousness.
שכרו של אגג – כשהיה חבוש בבית האסורין היה בוכה ומתאנח ואומר אוי לי שמא יאבד זרעי מן העולם וגו'
Learning the midrash acquires applying the lesson in both directions. Consider the opposite and its logical implications. If when non bnai brit do גמ"ח, like saving Jews during the shoah, and they receive a reward that shapes their spiritual destiny for generations to come, then when bnai brit honor their oath/brit obligations that they too receive a reward that shapes the destiny of generations.
גמ"ח, loan partnerships, discerning between ones bnai brit peoples and non bnai brit aliens etc, righteousness causes spiritual waves and ripples for at least that generation.
Now return unto Obadiahs prophecy against Edom. Edom rejoiced at the destruction of Israel. Because Esau regaled at the annihilation of Israel and Yerushalem a terrible curse thereafter destroyed the destiny of esau.
ד) ולמה זכה עובדיה לנבואה? וגו')
The explanation of midrash make no logical sense. Why bring a significant event and ignore the primary motivation that consequently produced the significant event? Twice concerning Ovadyahu the Kabbalah learns – fear of heaven…
דכתיב (מלכים יח:ד) ועבדיהו היה ירא את ה' מאד וגו' ועבדך ירא את ה' מנערי וכו'.
Ovadyahu merited visions of rebuke against Edom because he saved 100 prophets and rejected Queen Izevels abhorrence of the brit.
This non bnai brit Queen, a political tool by which King Ahav forged an international alliance, sought to uproot the oath/brit among the 10 tribes of Israel. Equally amazing Eliyahu spoke to the people as if only he remained of the prophets! Furthermore he compounded his error by rebuilding a high place. Eliyahu failed to uproot Yarovams breach of faith with its consequential drought of fear of heaven that prevailed among his generation.
עיין (מלכים א:יב) ויאמר ירבעם בלבו עתה תשוב הממלכה לבית דוד אם יעלה האם הזה לעשות זבחים בבית ה' בירושלים וגו' (שם ח:ל) ירפא את מזבח ה' ההרוס!
Following the building of King Shlomo’s Temple, private altars became forbidden. By rebuilding a forbidden altar Eliyahu separated himself from all the other prophets of Elokim.
Elisha took the mantle of prophetic leadership and replaced Eliyahu.
Yarovams [1] breach of faith-building high places – destroyed the alliance between Torah constitutional societies.
דכתיב (שם יד:ל) ומלחמה היתה בין רחבעם ובין ירבעם כל הימים
A mitzvah draws another mitzva and an aveirah draws another aveirah . Because king Shlomo erred and sought to build international alliances by chiefly employing political marriages as his diplomacy, Israel as a Torah based civilization remained internationally isolated. Political alliances established through convenience marriages cut both ways, when King Shlomo became old he too late realized his error and allowed foreign gods to defile Israel.
Because King Shlomo failed to establish other bnai Noach Torah constitutionally based societies, the other kings of Israel followed his disastrous example. Achav married Izevel and the 10 tribes slowly abandoned the Torah.
From this general concept the particulars of establishing גמ"ח and partnership loans unto ones bnai brit peoples becomes 3 dimensionally clear. By having compassion for ones allied bnai brit peoples, like the ger zeddek who becomes a prophet, Ovadyahu through גמ"ח became a partner with prophets. Hence the midrash asks?! ולמה זכה עובדיהו לנבואה
ה) שמא אין מעשיך כמעשה החסידים וכו')
Both Lavan and Pharaoh declared their faith unto the oath/brit Noach cut upon the Nefesh. But later a “new king” arose who found these obligations inconvenient.
(ה) יוסף נתברך ביתו של פוטיפר בשבילו וכו'
The faithless king challenges the integrity of his servant. The ger tzeddek Ovadyahu redeemed his souls by clinging unto bnai brit Israel. Whereas the King, accepted the mantle of leadership from his peoples and married a woman who abhorred both britot Noach and Israel. These alliances neither brought domestic harmony nor assurance from foreign invasions.
The most essential purpose of government, it must work to establish and maintain an internal partnership alliance among our peoples that possesses the metal to withstand clashes of interests in open market competitions. Business requires capital. Capital and banks function like a hand in a leather glove. גמ"ח and partnership loans given strictly only unto ones bnai brit peoples builds the bonds of faith that can unite our peoples in times of disputes and distress. Hatred without cause not only resulted in National disgrace and poverty, if tore the crown from off our souls. A Moslem mosque of avodah zarah profanes the holiness of the Har Habayit.
ה) שמא אין מעשיך כמעשה חסידים הראשונים, לכך נאמר ויקרא אחאב אל עבדיהו אשר על הבית. יצתה בת)
קול ואמרה: עבדיהו היה ירא את ה' מאד וביתו של אחאב . אינו מזמן לברכה....
(מלכים א:כ) ויאמר אליו (בן הדר לאחאב), הערים אשר לקח אבי מאת אביך אשיב וחצות תשים לך בדמשק כאשר שם אבי בשמרון ואני בברית אשלחך ויכרת לו ברית וישלחהו וגו' ויהי אחר הדברים האלה כרם היה לנבות היזרעלים וכו'
The faithless king lacked the essential wisdom to discern between aliens and bnai brit allies. Its not statues set along the main streets that cements an enduring alliance, rather abiding and honoring mutually agreed upon obligations. This fool won a tactical battle but uprooted the foundations of his rulership. Three years later Achav died in the battle of Ramot- gil’ad.
The house of Achav joined itself through marriage unto Yehoram king of Yehudah. Yehu destroyed Achavs political garden. The kabbalah teaches and encourages the bnai brit peoples to clarify and define their mutual bnai brit obligations of people-hood. Thereby distinguishing the bnai brit peoples from the non bnai brit nations.
The logic of this interpretation stands upon the logical principle of primary/secondary order. Our brit does not critically depend upon outward signs of ritual religious observance, for they compare to placing statues along the main streets. If clothes or manner of dress our brit does not essentially depend, on what necessary foundation does our bnai brit identity depend? It’s the 5 oath britot from the Torah and the 6th cut by King David which defines and refines the bnai brit souls.
These britot elevates our peoples and defines royalty. As even children and uneducated simpletons can discern between common peoples and Kings, the Torah calls Israel the chosen and eternal inheritance of the Elokim. The ערלה souls of common non bnai brit nations exist on an animal plane – their greatest thinkers say that man descended from apes. The souls of royalty hold Divinity.
For the inheritors of apes – might makes right, predators consume their pray. Would a tiger give גמ"ח to a sick, weak or wounded ox? When a barbarian sees a man on the ground, he kicks him to ensure that he remains on the ground. But even a barbarian can heartily believe and embrace religious ritual trappings and complex theological mysteries and dogmas which authoritivels declares the unity of G-d!
(ו) אליפז עם עמלק מאי הוא וגו'
אליפז gave excellent advice that עמלק not only ignored but chose instead to do the opposite. When we encounter the poor, weak, thirsty and afflicted among our peoples, how do we behave? Predatory barbarian souls cannot grasp the spirituality of גמ"ח and partnership loans.
מכלתא בשלח: ויבא עמלק ר' יהושע ור' אלעזר בן חסמא אומר המקרא הזה רשום ומפורש על ידי איוב שנאמר (איוב ח) היגאה גמא בלא בצה ישגה אחו בלי מים.
The banter between Iyyov and his “friends”: Bildad the shuhite seeks to console Iyyov that justice demands that his current travails shall pass. But when a man needs physical help, words do not much console. Kohelet councils: A time for war and a time for salvation. But Amalek perceives a different take both upon this world and the world to come. Barbarians view power and wealth as the supreme good in this world. Death functions as the eternal destiny in world to come for the defenseless and poor. Consequently the teaching of this midrash opens a question. How can a bnai brit person develop true fear of heaven and despise the oath/brit obligations?
(ו) ולמה נקרא שמה רפידים משום שרפו ידיהם מן המצות
Amalek despises throughout all the generations the oath/brit that Noach cut upon the Nefesh – not to do acts of theft, oppression and forbidden sexual license amongst ones bnai brit peoples.
(במדבר כ) וירא את עמלק וישא משלו ויאמר ראשית גוים עמלק ואחריתו עדי אבד.
The story of Bilam: a prophet who broke faith with the oath/brit, who encountered an angel with drawn sword and still feared not the Elokim. Cutting the britot distinguishes the souls of man from the soul of an animal clothed in the garments of human flesh. A man who accepts the obligations of the brit perceives life in this world, but survival of the fittest lies outside of the bnai brit perspective.
(ז) ולא זו בלבד, אלא זרעו של עשו שבטלו ברית המילה מבשרים וכו'
Our souls, and their service to contain the middot Elokim forever functions as the reward for being bnai brit. We view our responsibilities and obligations in this world entirely differently then do the non bnai brit – irregardless of their religious beliefs in G-d.
ז) לכן הקב"ה שהוא בוחן לבות וכליות אמר לו, אלו היתה ברית המילה בבשרך וכו' )
Esav as a specific touches all the non bnai brit nations in general. The 19th century saw Europe attain the highest, most advanced civilization. The 20th century witnessed its utter degradation unto barbaric bestiality. The predator of today becomes the prey of tomorrow. Wealth, power and culture exist only as very high and thick walls unto a city besieged by a conquering army.
(ח) ברוך המקום ברוך הוא, שהוא נפרע משונאיהם של ישראל מידה כנגד מידה וכו'
To the casual observer our midrash addresses an us/them relationship but on closer analysis the person opposed unto “us” – the guy we face in the mirror.
When we assimilate and walk the paths of the non bnai brit, then their prophecy of doom we equally inherit. Our brit continually and always stands upon the scale of blessings (קום ועשה אושב ולא תעשה) and curses (assimilation with Esav). We repeatedly have become our own worst enemies. The Romans occupied and destroyed Yerushalem but our hatred without cause invited the Romans. Upon casual observance, Titus burned the Temple, but Herod stood before the Sanhedrin and our Sages feared a murderer more than they feared the sanctification of justice. Herod filled our lands with bloodshed and our lands vomited us from their midst.
דכתיב (מלכים ב:כא) בן שתים עשרה שנה מנשה במלכו וחמישים וחמש שנה מלך בירושלים וכו'
שמיטה – Forgiving debts, גמ"ח and partnership loans to the poor etc.. Our oath/brit obligations by which we cut our souls, distinguishes the chosen peoples from the non bnai brit hoards. Barbarians embrace the manners of predators. In nature, predators cull the weak and sick from the herds of their prey. In nature, predators serve and have an intrinsic value in the food chain.
The vision of Torah holds a different path that humanity can therein walk. The destiny of man merits more than just existing as a part of nature’s food chain. Consequently the Torah specifically defines the foods permitted to eat. The bnai brit eat a deer and non bnai brit eat a deer. We ritually slaughter and salt the flesh, not so the non bnai brit. As living beings, human beings require food.
The Torah vision sees the larger strategic big picture and not just the tactical necessity of eating. The oaths that first our fathers swore, they serve as an eternally sharp precedent. All generations of bnai brit, by making these oaths themselves can cut and remove the ערלה from their hearts. Time does not remove or distance the destiny of bnai brit souls from housing the Divine Elokim – Creator of the universe.
Tactically each generation physically moves further, and distances itself further, from the Torah revelation at Sinai. Strategically all bnai brit have their day under the sun. By cutting the ערלה from our hearts, each person – in every generation – breathes life into the souls of our fathers. Forming a partnership to conquer the oath sworn lands; to establish the Torah as the constitutional mandate authority; to rule this holy land with justice. By means of דרך ארץ/emotional middot development, and mutually accepting our תרי"ג obligations, which we share together as a people, and intra - bnai brit diplomacy wherein we give our heart to the opposing others among our divided and conflicting peoples, their interests, perspectives and concerns we build an internal alliance among our peoples. This defines as I understand it the ultimate purpose of Divine spirituality.
The greatest conflicts of ה' do not occur on battlefields, where vast armies of good and evil fight. Rather the daily focus of the bnai brit struggle, centers upon establishing an Av/toldah relationship between our 13 middot tohorot and 13 middot tumahot. With our whole hearts – a unified Yazir – we can search and explore the intent of the 13 middot of Elokim.
מידה כנגד מידה, Shabbos we cease from doing the 39 middot of building the “shells” of the Mishkan. That we might dedicate building the 39 middot of the Shechinah that fills the mishkan. A holy dedication requires more than a שב ולא תעשה , the korbon shabbos requires a . קום ועשה
Reexamine the words of the prophet עובדיה:
שמועה שמענו מאת ה' וציר בגוים שלח קומו ונקומה עליה למלחמה וגו' איך נדמיתה וכו'
Leaving the corners of the field and gleanings that the poor might eat. The poor do not serve as the prey of the rich. The prophet rebukes his own people – bnai Israel – for abandoning the brit cut first by our fathers – as did Esav. The prophet employs a משל to teach a נמשל. Study of Kabbalah requires soul depth. Compare the rebuke of Malachi with the rebuke of Ovadiah and understood the משל/נמשל relationship of their vision.
מלאכי: בן יכבד אב ועבד אדניו ואם אב אני איה כבודי ואם אדונים אני איה מוראי.
Recall the beautiful prayers we say on the high holy days.
אמר ה' צבאות לכם הכהנים בוזי שמי! ואמרתם במה בזינו את שמך? מגישים על מזבחי לחם מגאל, ואמרתם במה גאלנוך? באמרכם שלחן ה' נבזה הוא.
Redemption and despicable contempt share the same verb root.
וכי תגשון עור לזבח אין רע וכי תגישו פסח וחלה אין רע! עובדיה: ביום עמוק מנגד ביום שבות זרים חילו ונכרים באו שערו ועל ירושלים ידו גורל גם אתה כאחד מהם. ואל תרא ביום אחיך ביום נכרו ואל תשמח לבני יהודה ביום אבדם וכו'
Kabbalah interprets the rebuke of the prophets with depth of souls. Rebuking a lion for behaving according unto its nature accomplishes nothing. Esav – our brother – exists and lives as our 13 middot tumahot. The essential elements combine and form our Yazir Hara. Yitzchak our father blessed both of his sons; the Torah commands us not to abhor our brother. For our brother lives very close to us. He’s the guy we see when we look into the mirror. Behold I have seen the enemy and he is me. True spirituality does not put down the goyim for being goyim. These people never develop brit nor דרך ארץ. Foolish barbarians converted Europe into a Jewish graveyard. But even greater fools abandoned the Torah britot that our fore-fathers accepted at Sinai and pursued avodah zarah and hatred without cause unto this very day!
(ט) ומהו החמס שחמס את יעקב וכו'
Intellectual knowledge of Torah as literature compares to the desire of the Nazis to make a museum of the exterminated Jew. Torah lives when we live the Torah. At the beginning of the 2nd terrible galut (3rd by including the wilderness generation) fools and arrogant pseudo – authorities among our peoples confused Torah with law. But law only serves as a means unto an end and never as an end in its own right. Our Torah teaches of the oath/brit partnership. The תרי"ג obligations serve only as a means unto that end. Establishing גמ"ח and/or loan partnership exists as pure examples of the תרי"ג obligation, and how the commandments defines and establishes the bnai brit as a people and nation.
(י) ולא זו בלבד, אלא שם הגדול בן נח וכו'
Swear not to do acts of theft, oppression and sexual license among your bnai brit peoples. This great Nefesh brit distinguishes Divine souls from the soul of animals. Belief in G-d and practicing theological and dogmatic rituals of worship neither touch nor possess power to cut the ערלה from the heart of men. Faith requires a relationship other than one’s personal beliefs. In the dark ages, animals slaughtered animals on matters of religious beliefs and theology. Cutting an oath/brit requires a korban or a Sefer Torah or Tefillin. A person who swears an oath does not afterwards declare: “I believe I swore an oath!” Because the generations of Adam despised and profaned their oath/brit – the floods destroyed humanity, the Babylonians, Herod and the Romans burned the Temple and the Nazis exterminated 1/3 of my peoples.
(י) (תהילים ז,ז) קומה ה' באפך, הנשא בעברות צוררי וגוי'
This psalm describes a terrible war among brothers.
(משלי כד) בנופל אויבך אל תשמח
It’s a natural event for physical beings to like hedonism, to admire the strong and despise the weak, to behave as an animal in natures food chain.
Cutting the ערלה from our hearts one generation cannot do for the as yet unborn generations. Earlier generations can record their mistakes and struggles with the angel of Esav. But each individual in every generation must place tefillin and accept the yoke of heaven.
(יא) כשיצאו ישראל ממצרים נתקבצו כל ישראל ומשה עמהן וכו'
The closing of the book שמות presents an obvious difficulty. Why repeat the measurements of the mishkan and the garments of the Cohen, or the repetitions of the dedications of the altar in the book במדבר? The midrash examines the prayer of Moshe following the sin of the calf. Both the sun and moon cast long shadows. The middot of the mishkan first stand in the shadow of forming a Sanhedrin government and established law. Our tribal heads dedicated the altar to serve for a greater purpose than merely sanctifying a Barbecue spirituality. Our fore-father publicly accepted the sacred obligation that judicial rulership employs judges and police to achieve justice and diplomacy among our peoples in times of strife and conflict. . The middot of the mishkan afterwards stand in the shadow of the 13 middot Elokim Revelation. Peoples not schooled in the study of Kabbalah call דרך ארץ – “manners”. The closing of the book שמות employs the middot of the Mishkan and the garments of the Cohen to distinguish substance from form, Torah scholarship walks in company and partnership with deep souls.
(יא) כגביעים וכוסות מלאים מים ויין ושלחנות מלאות מכל מעדני עולם, שנאמר (שיר השירים ז:ג) שררך אגן הסהר, אל יחסר המזג.
Learn the targum and it guides you unto the gemarah Sanhedrin:
דתנן סנהדרין: כיצד בודקים את העדים? היו מכניסין אותן לחדר ומאיימין עליהן ומוציאין את כל האדם לחוץ ומשיירין את הגדול שבהן אומרים לו אמור היאך אתה יודע שזה חייב לזה? אם אמר הוא אמר לי שאני חייב לו, איש פלוני אמר לי שהוא חייב לו לא אמר כלום.
Emotional middot development requires a precise discipline. דרך ארץ precedes Torah because a child who never receives instruction concerning conscious awareness, control and direction of emotions, lacks an essential emotional safety net, for when they must traverse the high wires of life. A person with this safety net can deal with ones bnai brit peoples with confidence. Not so, the poor child who fears to move for threat of his/her life. Lacking the substance of Torah the child quickly loses interest in the external trappings of Torah ritual worship. In this generation many children abandon the conflict and descend into the animal food chain.
(יא) לפיכך נשבע הקב"ה לעמו כו'
Cutting an alliance involves at least two parties. Shall one side swear an oath and not the other? A brit relationship requires an oath. The faithful King has kept HIS side of the brit.
עיין (ישעיה ה) אשירה נא לידידי שירת דודי לכרמו וכו'
If we fail to prune and hoe our heart and souls then the ערלה “weeds” shall dominate our lives, דרך ארץ dries upon the vine. Judaism becomes mere ritual observances which have no meaning in modern life. Our beautiful lands revert into a galut wildernesses.
If Jews return from galut they shall cry, “we wait for the moshiach! Our hands cannot alone exchange this galut wilderness into bountiful and fruitful lands”. How long shall the souls of our peoples – religious and secular – abandon redemption and extol nature’s food chain reality?
(יא) ולא יכלא אותם וכו' (דברים לג) ולזבולן אמר שמח זבולן בצאתך ויששכר באהליך וכו' ספרי: ולזבולן אמר למה נאמר לפי שנאמר (בראשית מט) מקצה אחיו לקח חמשה אנשים ויציגם לפני פרעה ולא נתפרשו מי הם מאותם שהוכפלו שמותם וזה אחד מהם.
The blessings of Yaakov, that we might endure despite having leaders like Olmert. The color green has obvious associations with Spring. Intense emotional confrontations between close connections, its possible to speculate also emits green color. Learning to emote powerful emotions at the moment of antagonism touches souls, can change the nature of a dispute from a rational argument unto an almost mesmerizing assault upon gut emotions. Causing the recipient(s) to go into a form of shock. Healing this hurt requires even greater wisdom. Its far easier to destroy a relationship than to build a threatened partnership – especially at the moment of its collapse.
From the sale of Yosef until he introduced his family unto Pharaoh, the Torah struggles to distinguish between bnai brit and non bnai brit relations. Partnership with non bnai brit however esteemed, lack souls connections. Even in the days of Avraham, the Nations respected brit bnai Noach more in its breach than in its acquisition. Cutting a brit entails more than establishing great legal codes of law or political alliances. The brit elevates souls from the food chain, not because people cease or change their humanity. Circumcision in no way diminishes the desire for sex. Rather cutting a brit clears a path permitting peoples and generations to redeem their souls. . The spirituality of salvation requires returning the souls unto fixed determined and established borders. The sons of Yaakov require the revelation of discerning bnai brit souls from non bnai brit souls. The Egyptian galut aided and highlighted the unique brit by which our father Yaakov cut his souls. The oath/brit established by Moshe our Teacher further refined these britot that our fathers cut upon their souls.
The Avodah practiced by the Cohanim and Leviim in a state of Tohorah atoned for the tumah that threatened to defile the oath/brit lands. Prayer functions today in place of sacrifices. Herein lays the essence of avodah though korbanot. That the nation should dedicate its best in a tohor state which thereby emotes a blessing unto the seed of Avraham to inherit the land with security.
Developing a partnership obviously requires developing an us/them relationship. Simply because a person shares a racial or national connection in no way means that these peoples have an alliance one with another. Consequently neither race nor nationality can hold or contain an adequate definition of the term – bnai brit.
ילקוט שמעוני: ולזבולן אמר למה נאמר לפי שנאמר (בראשית לז) ומקצה אחיו לקח חמשה אנשים ויציגים לפני פרעה, ולא נתפרשו שמותיהם, וזה אחד מהם. שמח זבולן בצאתך מלמד שהיה זבולון סרסור לאחיו, והיה לוקח מאחיו ומוכר לכנענים ומן הכנענים ומוכר לאחיו.
Two clauses, I learn each independent from the other. The first clause describes זבולון as a diplomat, whom his brothers placed their confidence as a broker in times of internal disputes among allied members. The second clause describes the trade applications this great wisdom produces. Consequently the 2nd clause amplifies and gives further depth of meaning unto סרסור.
י"ש: ויששכר באהליך. מלמד ששבטו של יששכר משתבח שנאמר (בה"א יב) ומבני יששכר יודעי בינה לעתים לדעת מה יעשה וגוי' מזבולן יוצאי צבא ערכי מלחמה:
The Kabbalah describes David making an alliance among our peoples in times of “war among brothers”. “War among brothers” by logical inference portents a time when our peoples perceive the brit alliance “among brother”. Organized religion primarily tends to direct accepted faith traditions in a vertical direction between man and heaven. During times of ignorance and anarchy or both, our peoples easily err.
The primary objective of achieving bnai brit its most essential crucial essence centers upon defining the mutual obligations that the bnai brit peoples accept responobility to keep honor and uphold in and between and among ourselves. If our peoples maintain a lateral faith among our chosen own, then and only then does this brit include a vertical faith between man and then Elokim.
A brit as opposed and opposite unto a religion or belief system centers its energies upon achieving intra- bnai brit diplomacy. Whereas the latter, cults define the foundations of their being on theologies or political theories which seeks to establish Divine and/or centralized authority.
Establishing the brit by uprooting these cults from our lands requires that our partnership peoples accept defined obligations upon our Nefesh/Yichida. Bnai brit and only bnai brit have political rights and protections within the borders of the lands of Torah.
Self actualization of the potential unto the reality, our sages learn by comparing the partnership between Torah and trade. Diplomacy requires two legs to stand. Torah and trade as general and broad ideas requires more than specific narrow or limiting interpretations. Confusing a general statement for a specific example qualifies as both erroneous logic and poor scholarship.
(ישעיה א) איכא התה לזונה, קריה נאמנה?! מלאתי משפט צדק ילין בה, ועתה מרצחים וכו'
The rebuke of the kabbalah, despair that results - our peoples exchange their souls like for a different pair of shoes. But the essential נמשל of this rebuke, that our peoples can so easily abandon their internal obligations that binds and establishes our bnai brit partnership.
Maintaining a soul’s connection with our chosen peoples requires work. Consider the story where Yaakov wrestles with the angel of Esav. Yaakov injures his tendon and we do not eat the hind quarters without complicated surgery. But it’s the נמשל that I find even more provocative.
גמ חולין צא: גיד הנשה נאסר לבני נח (בראשית לב) ויותר יעקב לבדו. אמר רבי אלעזר שנשתייר על פכין קטנים מכאן לצדיקים שחביב עליהם ממונם יותר מגופם וכל כך למה? לפי שאין פושטין ידיהן בגזל.
Bnai Noach have cut a Nefesh oath not to steal. Hence the גיד הנשה applies equally to them. In like manner not eating meat and milk together. Both Avraham and Lot served a meal unto Angels. But only Avraham checked to observe if these strangers followed the customs of avodah zarah! Another logical inference also applies. Since bnai brit treasure their possessions – because they do not steal – then to give גמ"ח money or partnership loans equally reveals an integrity unto the bnai brit relationship we share among our allied peoples. A person who helps a friend in need truly qualifies as a friend indeed.
The mishneh פרק ט ערכין makes a distinction between a walled city and a city that encloses itself by means of houses. By contrasting the two cases that mishneh teaches redemption.
גמ לב: דתניא משגלו שבט ראובן ושבט גד וחצי שבט המנשה בטלו יובלות שנאר (ויקרא כה) וקראתם דרור בארץ לכל יושביה. בזמן שכל יושביה עליה, ולא בזמן שגלו מקצתן.
Redeeming our peoples in troubled times has many grades. Jews to this day await Universal salvation by the hands of the Moshiach. But until nations cease pursuing war etc.. our peoples can still occupy themselves by redeeming our own. גמ"ח and partnership loans clearly qualifies as acts of redemption. This treatise seeks to strongly encourage our folk to invest in a גמ"ח for the purpose of validating a Torah based economy and economic system..
(יחזקאל יח:ה-כ) ואיש כי יהיה צדיק וכו'
The vision of Yechezkel beautifully describes דרך ארץ :
תנא דבי אליהו: אם אין תורה אין דרך ארץ ואם אין דרך ארץ אין תורה וכו' A person keeps and does the commandments not because they are commandments. Rather through these obligations a person from these actions cuts the Yechidah brit with his/her souls. This brit emotes the yoke of the kingdom of heaven from one generation unto another. . As the commandments interlink with one another, this ideal hopefully influences and shall influence intra – bnai brit behavior among our peoples. How can we – as a people- stand before our enemies in periods of war? When we daily despise our allied peoples in times of peace?!
קהלת: עת לאהב ועת לשנא, עת מלחמה ועת שלום וגו' הכסיל חבק את ידיו ואכל את בשרו
The commercial banks of Israel charge interest on loans. Why do Torah observant Jews do business with these banks? It’s easy to boycott stores that do business on Shabbat. But who among the Torah Jewry cries boycott the banks of Israel? . Establishing a mutually shared brit among our peoples requires accepting mutually binding obligations which therein forms a partnership. Business requires capital and entails risks – most business ventures fail. A person who takes a loan obviously reduces the risks of failure if his/her bank becomes a business partner. . Giving a loan unto ones peoples qualifies as an obligation. Just as paying this loan back equally so qualifies. Fear of heaven cuts in both directions. That the current banking methods totally overshadow גמ"ח institutions and establishments conducting partnership loans. This deplorable situation in no way proves that a generation cannot come and change the prevailing mismanagement
Compare and contrast functions as a key tool in literature, I highly recommend study of this chapter. מדרש תנא צבי אליהו פרק כד. (א) (תהילים קמ:ט) אל תתן ה' מאויי רשע זממו אל תפק וגו
The Midrash opens with a verse from the Psalms. The proper way to study Midrash: Rule #1 the specific verse serves in a larger context. The Midrash seeks to understand a primary source, by a פרט/כלל logic. The specific verse has a relationship with the larger whole. Examine the whole psalm employing this verse as a lens. Know that understanding means learning a matter in the midst of another matter. Once a person grapples with the specific/general partnership of the Psalm itself, the student of Torah possesses the foundation by which to wrestle understanding of the relationship of the Midrash story with the specific verse.
This rule #1 applies to all Talmudic learning. But like any discipline it requires patience. Wisdom does not bring forth its fruits in a day. The Midrash compares the pleas of David that the Elokim would save him from evil and violent men with the broad concept of Jews living in galut among Esav. The behavior of Pharaoh who did not know bnai Noach
Yosef, and Esav/Europe share many brutal similarities.
This chapter of Midrash externally contrasts Yisrael and Esav but internally Midrash seeks to “understand” our Kabbalah. The Kabbalah not as commonly practiced in the popular mysticism of the dark ages, being the T”nach. Students of Torah must continually distinguish between primary and secondary sources. This too qualifies as a discipline. While this ancient Midrash dates back to the times of the Gemarah, it none the less interprets the Nach which studies 1st Temple period scholarship. Developing proper research skills requires the will to explore and re-examine again and again primary sources – how they relate to one another viewed from multiple and various perspectives. תוספתא for example requires memorization of its external ideas. It serves like a fertilizer in the soils of how our great sages edited the Talmud.
תוספתא gives students of Talmud a critical eye to judge how the editors of ש"ס what they included and excluded from the תוספתא. Hence תוספתא does not require a קהתי style commentary. It serves as the primary hand-maid in mishnaic studies.
The Torah holds the greatest treasure by which the peoples of Israel can rule our lands with wisdom. A diamond has many facets, so too our Torah inheritance. Consequently, the struggle of all the generations of bnai brit, acquiring access unto the primary sources, constitutes as the heart and soul of Torah education forever.
Study of the later commentaries both Rishonim and Acharonim merits blessings only after a person has strong familiarity with the sealed primary sources. Personally I prefer to study the Halachic codes as a compendium with the ירושלמי. Learning the רי"ף in conjunction with הבה"ג והרמב"ם followed by רבינו יונה ונמוקי יוסף followed by פסקי הרא"ש רבינו אשר with its דברי חמודות ומעדני יום טוב ופלפלא חריפתא
Having laid the foundations of Midrash and Kabbalah, תוספתא and ירושלמי, with the great halachic Talmudic codes, when the turn comes to study בבלי and its partnership with understanding the mishnaic intent Ya’alah it’s a party. The discipline that’s required, remembering and reminding that the ש"סcomes to understand and interpret the intent of the Written Torah as the constitutional mandate by which bnai brit can learn how to rule our inheritance lands wisely. After 120 the central question my souls must answer, did my Torah establish justice within the lands of Israel? When I stand before the Elokim I bear responsibility on one question: Did I keep the brit?
With the sealed primary sources: T’nach, Mishneh, Tosefta, Halachic Midrashim, Aggadic Midrashim, Talmud bavli and Yerushalmi and the Siddur the bnai brit labor to redeem our souls. As our fathers sanctified their souls through Torah scholarship our souls can achieve the same equality. A judge must never show partiality to a witness, equally so a particular generation holds no monopoly on Torah scholarship.
The latter commentaries written by our great Rishonim and Acharonim of blessed memory – their comments add unto but cannot replace the primary sources. A building contractor who builds great and beautiful buildings – that lack a solid foundation squanders time materials work and money. Standing upon the shoulders of Torah giants allows a person to see long distances, but it in no way replaces a solid foundation.
This book seeks to encourage bnai brit to dedicate their yechida to acquire our lands by honoring our תרי"ג obligations. Like the commandments, knowledge serves as a means to an end; neither functions nor exists as the final accomplishment. Torah reveals the souls of man. By torah wisdom we make a partnership alliance among the bnai brit. Our communal relationships therein establish a brit consequently with the Elokim. Fools who reverse this order worship – avodah zarah.
The Talmud teaches that the Tefillin posses holiness like a sefer torah. A person binds Tefillin upon the arm and head as a ritual form of worship. But the spiritual substance which causes the ritual form, a person should exert both emotional middot and the goals to invite the Elokim by cutting an oath/brit. All generations have their day under the sun. We all have equal opportunity to combine our souls and make our peoples one. When we forge soul relationships among our chosen peoples then and only then does the Elokim dwell within Israel.
How we behave and treat our bnai brit peoples every second in the future defines and measures our share in the world to come. Death does not determine our destiny in the world to come, rather life. Upon our life the judgment of the world to come depends. How we grow and mature both emotionally and rationally not only determines our social relationships in future encounters but this fundamental spirituality determines our portion in the world to come.
As diplomacy functions as the art of forging alliances so too and even more so Torah spirituality requires enlightenment of our Knesset souls, that all the bnai brit peoples together share. The commandment to establish גמ"ח and loan based partnerships flows like rivers into the seas of the תרי"ג obligations. Once grounded in the basics the latter Rabbinic commentaries flow with the Torah rivers and, so to speak, make fertile halachic deltas. These fertile deltas expand and enlarge the Torah mainlands.
Our Torah contains both land and sea, heaven and earth, this world and the world to come. If we cut the ערלה from our souls. Our souls with its Davidic crown shine unto all eternity. Its majesty possesses the length, width and depth to house the Elokim – the creator of the universe.
(ב) משלו משל למה הדבר דומה וגו'
The midrash speaks of the warrior king; the armies of David prevailed the Elokim conquered the gods of the nations. Similarly when Avraham returned victorious redeeming Lot from slavery.
The establishment of the Temple in Yerushalem David proclaimed the kingship of the Elokim above all gods. Consequently from that moment forward private altars became forbidden. Sacrificing offerings on private altars profanes the oath/brit that King David cut upon the souls of the Knesset Israel.
Offering sacrificial dedications outside of Yerushalem compares to surgically removing ones circumcision. After Yitzchak died, Esau abandoned the ruach and neshamah of his fathers. Even during their lifetimes he despised the brit Nefesh of Noach.
(ג) למה נדמה עשו ואליפז עם בנו עמלק וגו'
Righteous acts compare unto large rocks thrown into still tranquil waters. The emanating waves and/or ripples which occurs as a result compares unto the generations who inherit a destiny of righteousness.
שכרו של אגג – כשהיה חבוש בבית האסורין היה בוכה ומתאנח ואומר אוי לי שמא יאבד זרעי מן העולם וגו'
Learning the midrash acquires applying the lesson in both directions. Consider the opposite and its logical implications. If when non bnai brit do גמ"ח, like saving Jews during the shoah, and they receive a reward that shapes their spiritual destiny for generations to come, then when bnai brit honor their oath/brit obligations that they too receive a reward that shapes the destiny of generations.
גמ"ח, loan partnerships, discerning between ones bnai brit peoples and non bnai brit aliens etc, righteousness causes spiritual waves and ripples for at least that generation.
Now return unto Obadiahs prophecy against Edom. Edom rejoiced at the destruction of Israel. Because Esau regaled at the annihilation of Israel and Yerushalem a terrible curse thereafter destroyed the destiny of esau.
ד) ולמה זכה עובדיה לנבואה? וגו')
The explanation of midrash make no logical sense. Why bring a significant event and ignore the primary motivation that consequently produced the significant event? Twice concerning Ovadyahu the Kabbalah learns – fear of heaven…
דכתיב (מלכים יח:ד) ועבדיהו היה ירא את ה' מאד וגו' ועבדך ירא את ה' מנערי וכו'.
Ovadyahu merited visions of rebuke against Edom because he saved 100 prophets and rejected Queen Izevels abhorrence of the brit.
This non bnai brit Queen, a political tool by which King Ahav forged an international alliance, sought to uproot the oath/brit among the 10 tribes of Israel. Equally amazing Eliyahu spoke to the people as if only he remained of the prophets! Furthermore he compounded his error by rebuilding a high place. Eliyahu failed to uproot Yarovams breach of faith with its consequential drought of fear of heaven that prevailed among his generation.
עיין (מלכים א:יב) ויאמר ירבעם בלבו עתה תשוב הממלכה לבית דוד אם יעלה האם הזה לעשות זבחים בבית ה' בירושלים וגו' (שם ח:ל) ירפא את מזבח ה' ההרוס!
Following the building of King Shlomo’s Temple, private altars became forbidden. By rebuilding a forbidden altar Eliyahu separated himself from all the other prophets of Elokim.
Elisha took the mantle of prophetic leadership and replaced Eliyahu.
Yarovams [1] breach of faith-building high places – destroyed the alliance between Torah constitutional societies.
דכתיב (שם יד:ל) ומלחמה היתה בין רחבעם ובין ירבעם כל הימים
A mitzvah draws another mitzva and an aveirah draws another aveirah . Because king Shlomo erred and sought to build international alliances by chiefly employing political marriages as his diplomacy, Israel as a Torah based civilization remained internationally isolated. Political alliances established through convenience marriages cut both ways, when King Shlomo became old he too late realized his error and allowed foreign gods to defile Israel.
Because King Shlomo failed to establish other bnai Noach Torah constitutionally based societies, the other kings of Israel followed his disastrous example. Achav married Izevel and the 10 tribes slowly abandoned the Torah.
From this general concept the particulars of establishing גמ"ח and partnership loans unto ones bnai brit peoples becomes 3 dimensionally clear. By having compassion for ones allied bnai brit peoples, like the ger zeddek who becomes a prophet, Ovadyahu through גמ"ח became a partner with prophets. Hence the midrash asks?! ולמה זכה עובדיהו לנבואה
ה) שמא אין מעשיך כמעשה החסידים וכו')
Both Lavan and Pharaoh declared their faith unto the oath/brit Noach cut upon the Nefesh. But later a “new king” arose who found these obligations inconvenient.
(ה) יוסף נתברך ביתו של פוטיפר בשבילו וכו'
The faithless king challenges the integrity of his servant. The ger tzeddek Ovadyahu redeemed his souls by clinging unto bnai brit Israel. Whereas the King, accepted the mantle of leadership from his peoples and married a woman who abhorred both britot Noach and Israel. These alliances neither brought domestic harmony nor assurance from foreign invasions.
The most essential purpose of government, it must work to establish and maintain an internal partnership alliance among our peoples that possesses the metal to withstand clashes of interests in open market competitions. Business requires capital. Capital and banks function like a hand in a leather glove. גמ"ח and partnership loans given strictly only unto ones bnai brit peoples builds the bonds of faith that can unite our peoples in times of disputes and distress. Hatred without cause not only resulted in National disgrace and poverty, if tore the crown from off our souls. A Moslem mosque of avodah zarah profanes the holiness of the Har Habayit.
ה) שמא אין מעשיך כמעשה חסידים הראשונים, לכך נאמר ויקרא אחאב אל עבדיהו אשר על הבית. יצתה בת)
קול ואמרה: עבדיהו היה ירא את ה' מאד וביתו של אחאב . אינו מזמן לברכה....
(מלכים א:כ) ויאמר אליו (בן הדר לאחאב), הערים אשר לקח אבי מאת אביך אשיב וחצות תשים לך בדמשק כאשר שם אבי בשמרון ואני בברית אשלחך ויכרת לו ברית וישלחהו וגו' ויהי אחר הדברים האלה כרם היה לנבות היזרעלים וכו'
The faithless king lacked the essential wisdom to discern between aliens and bnai brit allies. Its not statues set along the main streets that cements an enduring alliance, rather abiding and honoring mutually agreed upon obligations. This fool won a tactical battle but uprooted the foundations of his rulership. Three years later Achav died in the battle of Ramot- gil’ad.
The house of Achav joined itself through marriage unto Yehoram king of Yehudah. Yehu destroyed Achavs political garden. The kabbalah teaches and encourages the bnai brit peoples to clarify and define their mutual bnai brit obligations of people-hood. Thereby distinguishing the bnai brit peoples from the non bnai brit nations.
The logic of this interpretation stands upon the logical principle of primary/secondary order. Our brit does not critically depend upon outward signs of ritual religious observance, for they compare to placing statues along the main streets. If clothes or manner of dress our brit does not essentially depend, on what necessary foundation does our bnai brit identity depend? It’s the 5 oath britot from the Torah and the 6th cut by King David which defines and refines the bnai brit souls.
These britot elevates our peoples and defines royalty. As even children and uneducated simpletons can discern between common peoples and Kings, the Torah calls Israel the chosen and eternal inheritance of the Elokim. The ערלה souls of common non bnai brit nations exist on an animal plane – their greatest thinkers say that man descended from apes. The souls of royalty hold Divinity.
For the inheritors of apes – might makes right, predators consume their pray. Would a tiger give גמ"ח to a sick, weak or wounded ox? When a barbarian sees a man on the ground, he kicks him to ensure that he remains on the ground. But even a barbarian can heartily believe and embrace religious ritual trappings and complex theological mysteries and dogmas which authoritivels declares the unity of G-d!
(ו) אליפז עם עמלק מאי הוא וגו'
אליפז gave excellent advice that עמלק not only ignored but chose instead to do the opposite. When we encounter the poor, weak, thirsty and afflicted among our peoples, how do we behave? Predatory barbarian souls cannot grasp the spirituality of גמ"ח and partnership loans.
מכלתא בשלח: ויבא עמלק ר' יהושע ור' אלעזר בן חסמא אומר המקרא הזה רשום ומפורש על ידי איוב שנאמר (איוב ח) היגאה גמא בלא בצה ישגה אחו בלי מים.
The banter between Iyyov and his “friends”: Bildad the shuhite seeks to console Iyyov that justice demands that his current travails shall pass. But when a man needs physical help, words do not much console. Kohelet councils: A time for war and a time for salvation. But Amalek perceives a different take both upon this world and the world to come. Barbarians view power and wealth as the supreme good in this world. Death functions as the eternal destiny in world to come for the defenseless and poor. Consequently the teaching of this midrash opens a question. How can a bnai brit person develop true fear of heaven and despise the oath/brit obligations?
(ו) ולמה נקרא שמה רפידים משום שרפו ידיהם מן המצות
Amalek despises throughout all the generations the oath/brit that Noach cut upon the Nefesh – not to do acts of theft, oppression and forbidden sexual license amongst ones bnai brit peoples.
(במדבר כ) וירא את עמלק וישא משלו ויאמר ראשית גוים עמלק ואחריתו עדי אבד.
The story of Bilam: a prophet who broke faith with the oath/brit, who encountered an angel with drawn sword and still feared not the Elokim. Cutting the britot distinguishes the souls of man from the soul of an animal clothed in the garments of human flesh. A man who accepts the obligations of the brit perceives life in this world, but survival of the fittest lies outside of the bnai brit perspective.
(ז) ולא זו בלבד, אלא זרעו של עשו שבטלו ברית המילה מבשרים וכו'
Our souls, and their service to contain the middot Elokim forever functions as the reward for being bnai brit. We view our responsibilities and obligations in this world entirely differently then do the non bnai brit – irregardless of their religious beliefs in G-d.
ז) לכן הקב"ה שהוא בוחן לבות וכליות אמר לו, אלו היתה ברית המילה בבשרך וכו' )
Esav as a specific touches all the non bnai brit nations in general. The 19th century saw Europe attain the highest, most advanced civilization. The 20th century witnessed its utter degradation unto barbaric bestiality. The predator of today becomes the prey of tomorrow. Wealth, power and culture exist only as very high and thick walls unto a city besieged by a conquering army.
(ח) ברוך המקום ברוך הוא, שהוא נפרע משונאיהם של ישראל מידה כנגד מידה וכו'
To the casual observer our midrash addresses an us/them relationship but on closer analysis the person opposed unto “us” – the guy we face in the mirror.
When we assimilate and walk the paths of the non bnai brit, then their prophecy of doom we equally inherit. Our brit continually and always stands upon the scale of blessings (קום ועשה אושב ולא תעשה) and curses (assimilation with Esav). We repeatedly have become our own worst enemies. The Romans occupied and destroyed Yerushalem but our hatred without cause invited the Romans. Upon casual observance, Titus burned the Temple, but Herod stood before the Sanhedrin and our Sages feared a murderer more than they feared the sanctification of justice. Herod filled our lands with bloodshed and our lands vomited us from their midst.
דכתיב (מלכים ב:כא) בן שתים עשרה שנה מנשה במלכו וחמישים וחמש שנה מלך בירושלים וכו'
שמיטה – Forgiving debts, גמ"ח and partnership loans to the poor etc.. Our oath/brit obligations by which we cut our souls, distinguishes the chosen peoples from the non bnai brit hoards. Barbarians embrace the manners of predators. In nature, predators cull the weak and sick from the herds of their prey. In nature, predators serve and have an intrinsic value in the food chain.
The vision of Torah holds a different path that humanity can therein walk. The destiny of man merits more than just existing as a part of nature’s food chain. Consequently the Torah specifically defines the foods permitted to eat. The bnai brit eat a deer and non bnai brit eat a deer. We ritually slaughter and salt the flesh, not so the non bnai brit. As living beings, human beings require food.
The Torah vision sees the larger strategic big picture and not just the tactical necessity of eating. The oaths that first our fathers swore, they serve as an eternally sharp precedent. All generations of bnai brit, by making these oaths themselves can cut and remove the ערלה from their hearts. Time does not remove or distance the destiny of bnai brit souls from housing the Divine Elokim – Creator of the universe.
Tactically each generation physically moves further, and distances itself further, from the Torah revelation at Sinai. Strategically all bnai brit have their day under the sun. By cutting the ערלה from our hearts, each person – in every generation – breathes life into the souls of our fathers. Forming a partnership to conquer the oath sworn lands; to establish the Torah as the constitutional mandate authority; to rule this holy land with justice. By means of דרך ארץ/emotional middot development, and mutually accepting our תרי"ג obligations, which we share together as a people, and intra - bnai brit diplomacy wherein we give our heart to the opposing others among our divided and conflicting peoples, their interests, perspectives and concerns we build an internal alliance among our peoples. This defines as I understand it the ultimate purpose of Divine spirituality.
The greatest conflicts of ה' do not occur on battlefields, where vast armies of good and evil fight. Rather the daily focus of the bnai brit struggle, centers upon establishing an Av/toldah relationship between our 13 middot tohorot and 13 middot tumahot. With our whole hearts – a unified Yazir – we can search and explore the intent of the 13 middot of Elokim.
מידה כנגד מידה, Shabbos we cease from doing the 39 middot of building the “shells” of the Mishkan. That we might dedicate building the 39 middot of the Shechinah that fills the mishkan. A holy dedication requires more than a שב ולא תעשה , the korbon shabbos requires a . קום ועשה
Reexamine the words of the prophet עובדיה:
שמועה שמענו מאת ה' וציר בגוים שלח קומו ונקומה עליה למלחמה וגו' איך נדמיתה וכו'
Leaving the corners of the field and gleanings that the poor might eat. The poor do not serve as the prey of the rich. The prophet rebukes his own people – bnai Israel – for abandoning the brit cut first by our fathers – as did Esav. The prophet employs a משל to teach a נמשל. Study of Kabbalah requires soul depth. Compare the rebuke of Malachi with the rebuke of Ovadiah and understood the משל/נמשל relationship of their vision.
מלאכי: בן יכבד אב ועבד אדניו ואם אב אני איה כבודי ואם אדונים אני איה מוראי.
Recall the beautiful prayers we say on the high holy days.
אמר ה' צבאות לכם הכהנים בוזי שמי! ואמרתם במה בזינו את שמך? מגישים על מזבחי לחם מגאל, ואמרתם במה גאלנוך? באמרכם שלחן ה' נבזה הוא.
Redemption and despicable contempt share the same verb root.
וכי תגשון עור לזבח אין רע וכי תגישו פסח וחלה אין רע! עובדיה: ביום עמוק מנגד ביום שבות זרים חילו ונכרים באו שערו ועל ירושלים ידו גורל גם אתה כאחד מהם. ואל תרא ביום אחיך ביום נכרו ואל תשמח לבני יהודה ביום אבדם וכו'
Kabbalah interprets the rebuke of the prophets with depth of souls. Rebuking a lion for behaving according unto its nature accomplishes nothing. Esav – our brother – exists and lives as our 13 middot tumahot. The essential elements combine and form our Yazir Hara. Yitzchak our father blessed both of his sons; the Torah commands us not to abhor our brother. For our brother lives very close to us. He’s the guy we see when we look into the mirror. Behold I have seen the enemy and he is me. True spirituality does not put down the goyim for being goyim. These people never develop brit nor דרך ארץ. Foolish barbarians converted Europe into a Jewish graveyard. But even greater fools abandoned the Torah britot that our fore-fathers accepted at Sinai and pursued avodah zarah and hatred without cause unto this very day!
(ט) ומהו החמס שחמס את יעקב וכו'
Intellectual knowledge of Torah as literature compares to the desire of the Nazis to make a museum of the exterminated Jew. Torah lives when we live the Torah. At the beginning of the 2nd terrible galut (3rd by including the wilderness generation) fools and arrogant pseudo – authorities among our peoples confused Torah with law. But law only serves as a means unto an end and never as an end in its own right. Our Torah teaches of the oath/brit partnership. The תרי"ג obligations serve only as a means unto that end. Establishing גמ"ח and/or loan partnership exists as pure examples of the תרי"ג obligation, and how the commandments defines and establishes the bnai brit as a people and nation.
(י) ולא זו בלבד, אלא שם הגדול בן נח וכו'
Swear not to do acts of theft, oppression and sexual license among your bnai brit peoples. This great Nefesh brit distinguishes Divine souls from the soul of animals. Belief in G-d and practicing theological and dogmatic rituals of worship neither touch nor possess power to cut the ערלה from the heart of men. Faith requires a relationship other than one’s personal beliefs. In the dark ages, animals slaughtered animals on matters of religious beliefs and theology. Cutting an oath/brit requires a korban or a Sefer Torah or Tefillin. A person who swears an oath does not afterwards declare: “I believe I swore an oath!” Because the generations of Adam despised and profaned their oath/brit – the floods destroyed humanity, the Babylonians, Herod and the Romans burned the Temple and the Nazis exterminated 1/3 of my peoples.
(י) (תהילים ז,ז) קומה ה' באפך, הנשא בעברות צוררי וגוי'
This psalm describes a terrible war among brothers.
(משלי כד) בנופל אויבך אל תשמח
It’s a natural event for physical beings to like hedonism, to admire the strong and despise the weak, to behave as an animal in natures food chain.
Cutting the ערלה from our hearts one generation cannot do for the as yet unborn generations. Earlier generations can record their mistakes and struggles with the angel of Esav. But each individual in every generation must place tefillin and accept the yoke of heaven.
(יא) כשיצאו ישראל ממצרים נתקבצו כל ישראל ומשה עמהן וכו'
The closing of the book שמות presents an obvious difficulty. Why repeat the measurements of the mishkan and the garments of the Cohen, or the repetitions of the dedications of the altar in the book במדבר? The midrash examines the prayer of Moshe following the sin of the calf. Both the sun and moon cast long shadows. The middot of the mishkan first stand in the shadow of forming a Sanhedrin government and established law. Our tribal heads dedicated the altar to serve for a greater purpose than merely sanctifying a Barbecue spirituality. Our fore-father publicly accepted the sacred obligation that judicial rulership employs judges and police to achieve justice and diplomacy among our peoples in times of strife and conflict. . The middot of the mishkan afterwards stand in the shadow of the 13 middot Elokim Revelation. Peoples not schooled in the study of Kabbalah call דרך ארץ – “manners”. The closing of the book שמות employs the middot of the Mishkan and the garments of the Cohen to distinguish substance from form, Torah scholarship walks in company and partnership with deep souls.
(יא) כגביעים וכוסות מלאים מים ויין ושלחנות מלאות מכל מעדני עולם, שנאמר (שיר השירים ז:ג) שררך אגן הסהר, אל יחסר המזג.
Learn the targum and it guides you unto the gemarah Sanhedrin:
דתנן סנהדרין: כיצד בודקים את העדים? היו מכניסין אותן לחדר ומאיימין עליהן ומוציאין את כל האדם לחוץ ומשיירין את הגדול שבהן אומרים לו אמור היאך אתה יודע שזה חייב לזה? אם אמר הוא אמר לי שאני חייב לו, איש פלוני אמר לי שהוא חייב לו לא אמר כלום.
Emotional middot development requires a precise discipline. דרך ארץ precedes Torah because a child who never receives instruction concerning conscious awareness, control and direction of emotions, lacks an essential emotional safety net, for when they must traverse the high wires of life. A person with this safety net can deal with ones bnai brit peoples with confidence. Not so, the poor child who fears to move for threat of his/her life. Lacking the substance of Torah the child quickly loses interest in the external trappings of Torah ritual worship. In this generation many children abandon the conflict and descend into the animal food chain.
(יא) לפיכך נשבע הקב"ה לעמו כו'
Cutting an alliance involves at least two parties. Shall one side swear an oath and not the other? A brit relationship requires an oath. The faithful King has kept HIS side of the brit.
עיין (ישעיה ה) אשירה נא לידידי שירת דודי לכרמו וכו'
If we fail to prune and hoe our heart and souls then the ערלה “weeds” shall dominate our lives, דרך ארץ dries upon the vine. Judaism becomes mere ritual observances which have no meaning in modern life. Our beautiful lands revert into a galut wildernesses.
If Jews return from galut they shall cry, “we wait for the moshiach! Our hands cannot alone exchange this galut wilderness into bountiful and fruitful lands”. How long shall the souls of our peoples – religious and secular – abandon redemption and extol nature’s food chain reality?
(יא) ולא יכלא אותם וכו' (דברים לג) ולזבולן אמר שמח זבולן בצאתך ויששכר באהליך וכו' ספרי: ולזבולן אמר למה נאמר לפי שנאמר (בראשית מט) מקצה אחיו לקח חמשה אנשים ויציגם לפני פרעה ולא נתפרשו מי הם מאותם שהוכפלו שמותם וזה אחד מהם.
The blessings of Yaakov, that we might endure despite having leaders like Olmert. The color green has obvious associations with Spring. Intense emotional confrontations between close connections, its possible to speculate also emits green color. Learning to emote powerful emotions at the moment of antagonism touches souls, can change the nature of a dispute from a rational argument unto an almost mesmerizing assault upon gut emotions. Causing the recipient(s) to go into a form of shock. Healing this hurt requires even greater wisdom. Its far easier to destroy a relationship than to build a threatened partnership – especially at the moment of its collapse.
From the sale of Yosef until he introduced his family unto Pharaoh, the Torah struggles to distinguish between bnai brit and non bnai brit relations. Partnership with non bnai brit however esteemed, lack souls connections. Even in the days of Avraham, the Nations respected brit bnai Noach more in its breach than in its acquisition. Cutting a brit entails more than establishing great legal codes of law or political alliances. The brit elevates souls from the food chain, not because people cease or change their humanity. Circumcision in no way diminishes the desire for sex. Rather cutting a brit clears a path permitting peoples and generations to redeem their souls. . The spirituality of salvation requires returning the souls unto fixed determined and established borders. The sons of Yaakov require the revelation of discerning bnai brit souls from non bnai brit souls. The Egyptian galut aided and highlighted the unique brit by which our father Yaakov cut his souls. The oath/brit established by Moshe our Teacher further refined these britot that our fathers cut upon their souls.
The Avodah practiced by the Cohanim and Leviim in a state of Tohorah atoned for the tumah that threatened to defile the oath/brit lands. Prayer functions today in place of sacrifices. Herein lays the essence of avodah though korbanot. That the nation should dedicate its best in a tohor state which thereby emotes a blessing unto the seed of Avraham to inherit the land with security.
Developing a partnership obviously requires developing an us/them relationship. Simply because a person shares a racial or national connection in no way means that these peoples have an alliance one with another. Consequently neither race nor nationality can hold or contain an adequate definition of the term – bnai brit.
ילקוט שמעוני: ולזבולן אמר למה נאמר לפי שנאמר (בראשית לז) ומקצה אחיו לקח חמשה אנשים ויציגים לפני פרעה, ולא נתפרשו שמותיהם, וזה אחד מהם. שמח זבולן בצאתך מלמד שהיה זבולון סרסור לאחיו, והיה לוקח מאחיו ומוכר לכנענים ומן הכנענים ומוכר לאחיו.
Two clauses, I learn each independent from the other. The first clause describes זבולון as a diplomat, whom his brothers placed their confidence as a broker in times of internal disputes among allied members. The second clause describes the trade applications this great wisdom produces. Consequently the 2nd clause amplifies and gives further depth of meaning unto סרסור.
י"ש: ויששכר באהליך. מלמד ששבטו של יששכר משתבח שנאמר (בה"א יב) ומבני יששכר יודעי בינה לעתים לדעת מה יעשה וגוי' מזבולן יוצאי צבא ערכי מלחמה:
The Kabbalah describes David making an alliance among our peoples in times of “war among brothers”. “War among brothers” by logical inference portents a time when our peoples perceive the brit alliance “among brother”. Organized religion primarily tends to direct accepted faith traditions in a vertical direction between man and heaven. During times of ignorance and anarchy or both, our peoples easily err.
The primary objective of achieving bnai brit its most essential crucial essence centers upon defining the mutual obligations that the bnai brit peoples accept responobility to keep honor and uphold in and between and among ourselves. If our peoples maintain a lateral faith among our chosen own, then and only then does this brit include a vertical faith between man and then Elokim.
A brit as opposed and opposite unto a religion or belief system centers its energies upon achieving intra- bnai brit diplomacy. Whereas the latter, cults define the foundations of their being on theologies or political theories which seeks to establish Divine and/or centralized authority.
Establishing the brit by uprooting these cults from our lands requires that our partnership peoples accept defined obligations upon our Nefesh/Yichida. Bnai brit and only bnai brit have political rights and protections within the borders of the lands of Torah.
Self actualization of the potential unto the reality, our sages learn by comparing the partnership between Torah and trade. Diplomacy requires two legs to stand. Torah and trade as general and broad ideas requires more than specific narrow or limiting interpretations. Confusing a general statement for a specific example qualifies as both erroneous logic and poor scholarship.
(ישעיה א) איכא התה לזונה, קריה נאמנה?! מלאתי משפט צדק ילין בה, ועתה מרצחים וכו'
The rebuke of the kabbalah, despair that results - our peoples exchange their souls like for a different pair of shoes. But the essential נמשל of this rebuke, that our peoples can so easily abandon their internal obligations that binds and establishes our bnai brit partnership.
Maintaining a soul’s connection with our chosen peoples requires work. Consider the story where Yaakov wrestles with the angel of Esav. Yaakov injures his tendon and we do not eat the hind quarters without complicated surgery. But it’s the נמשל that I find even more provocative.
גמ חולין צא: גיד הנשה נאסר לבני נח (בראשית לב) ויותר יעקב לבדו. אמר רבי אלעזר שנשתייר על פכין קטנים מכאן לצדיקים שחביב עליהם ממונם יותר מגופם וכל כך למה? לפי שאין פושטין ידיהן בגזל.
Bnai Noach have cut a Nefesh oath not to steal. Hence the גיד הנשה applies equally to them. In like manner not eating meat and milk together. Both Avraham and Lot served a meal unto Angels. But only Avraham checked to observe if these strangers followed the customs of avodah zarah! Another logical inference also applies. Since bnai brit treasure their possessions – because they do not steal – then to give גמ"ח money or partnership loans equally reveals an integrity unto the bnai brit relationship we share among our allied peoples. A person who helps a friend in need truly qualifies as a friend indeed.
The mishneh פרק ט ערכין makes a distinction between a walled city and a city that encloses itself by means of houses. By contrasting the two cases that mishneh teaches redemption.
גמ לב: דתניא משגלו שבט ראובן ושבט גד וחצי שבט המנשה בטלו יובלות שנאר (ויקרא כה) וקראתם דרור בארץ לכל יושביה. בזמן שכל יושביה עליה, ולא בזמן שגלו מקצתן.
Redeeming our peoples in troubled times has many grades. Jews to this day await Universal salvation by the hands of the Moshiach. But until nations cease pursuing war etc.. our peoples can still occupy themselves by redeeming our own. גמ"ח and partnership loans clearly qualifies as acts of redemption. This treatise seeks to strongly encourage our folk to invest in a גמ"ח for the purpose of validating a Torah based economy and economic system..
(יחזקאל יח:ה-כ) ואיש כי יהיה צדיק וכו'
The vision of Yechezkel beautifully describes דרך ארץ :
תנא דבי אליהו: אם אין תורה אין דרך ארץ ואם אין דרך ארץ אין תורה וכו' A person keeps and does the commandments not because they are commandments. Rather through these obligations a person from these actions cuts the Yechidah brit with his/her souls. This brit emotes the yoke of the kingdom of heaven from one generation unto another. . As the commandments interlink with one another, this ideal hopefully influences and shall influence intra – bnai brit behavior among our peoples. How can we – as a people- stand before our enemies in periods of war? When we daily despise our allied peoples in times of peace?!
קהלת: עת לאהב ועת לשנא, עת מלחמה ועת שלום וגו' הכסיל חבק את ידיו ואכל את בשרו
The commercial banks of Israel charge interest on loans. Why do Torah observant Jews do business with these banks? It’s easy to boycott stores that do business on Shabbat. But who among the Torah Jewry cries boycott the banks of Israel? . Establishing a mutually shared brit among our peoples requires accepting mutually binding obligations which therein forms a partnership. Business requires capital and entails risks – most business ventures fail. A person who takes a loan obviously reduces the risks of failure if his/her bank becomes a business partner. . Giving a loan unto ones peoples qualifies as an obligation. Just as paying this loan back equally so qualifies. Fear of heaven cuts in both directions. That the current banking methods totally overshadow גמ"ח institutions and establishments conducting partnership loans. This deplorable situation in no way proves that a generation cannot come and change the prevailing mismanagement
The Calculus of Interest-Free Loans and it’s Logical Derivatives or Consequences - Footnote I
Notes and References
1) Its possible to channel by means of prayer and meditation the 26 middot through ten gates. Fear, Anger, Grief, Shame, Worry – honor, trust, duty, integrity, authority.
Middot
Tohorot Tumahot
1) Modesty: grief/duty
1) Hated without cause: worry/authority
2) Truth: anger/trust
2) Narrow eye: fear/honor
3) Controlling anger: grief/duty
3) Jealousy of others success: anger/trust
4) Increase beauty to give honor: fear/honor
4) Greed: grief/duty
5) Grace: worry/authority
5) Illicit nakedness: anger/trust
6) גמ"ח: fear/honor
6) Pleasure from others humiliation: grief/duty
7) Act of creation/ דרך ארץ: fear/honor
7) Arrogant self worth: shame/integrity
8) Self nullification: anger/trust
8) Loyalty that fails to distinguish: worry/authority
9) תשובה: worry/authority
9) Oppressive violence: worry/authority
10) Mercy: grief/duty
10) Mob emotionalism: shame/integrity
11) Giving heart: shame/integrity
11) Inability to listen: worry/authority
12) Forming the Yazir: anger/trust
12) Lust for power: fear/honor
13) Embolden will to rule humility in the face of conflict: the palm
13) Selfishness: shame/integrity
The 10 gates align with the hands and diagonally opposite feet. Assigning the middot as fixed points within the body establishes internal focus points when meditating. By focusing upon fixed nefesh pulses a student of דרך ארץ can develop a conscious awareness of his/her emotional mind located in the general area of the brain stem. Rational logical methods and emotional logical methods operate independently from one anther. A master of דרך ארץ respects this most fundamental distinction within the functions of the human mind. At birth a child’s emotional mind has essentially matured, not so the Neo-cortex. The Elokim informed Rivka that the elder would serve the younger. Hence דרך ארץ serves as the foundation of Torah faith.
1) Its possible to channel by means of prayer and meditation the 26 middot through ten gates. Fear, Anger, Grief, Shame, Worry – honor, trust, duty, integrity, authority.
Middot
Tohorot Tumahot
1) Modesty: grief/duty
1) Hated without cause: worry/authority
2) Truth: anger/trust
2) Narrow eye: fear/honor
3) Controlling anger: grief/duty
3) Jealousy of others success: anger/trust
4) Increase beauty to give honor: fear/honor
4) Greed: grief/duty
5) Grace: worry/authority
5) Illicit nakedness: anger/trust
6) גמ"ח: fear/honor
6) Pleasure from others humiliation: grief/duty
7) Act of creation/ דרך ארץ: fear/honor
7) Arrogant self worth: shame/integrity
8) Self nullification: anger/trust
8) Loyalty that fails to distinguish: worry/authority
9) תשובה: worry/authority
9) Oppressive violence: worry/authority
10) Mercy: grief/duty
10) Mob emotionalism: shame/integrity
11) Giving heart: shame/integrity
11) Inability to listen: worry/authority
12) Forming the Yazir: anger/trust
12) Lust for power: fear/honor
13) Embolden will to rule humility in the face of conflict: the palm
13) Selfishness: shame/integrity
The 10 gates align with the hands and diagonally opposite feet. Assigning the middot as fixed points within the body establishes internal focus points when meditating. By focusing upon fixed nefesh pulses a student of דרך ארץ can develop a conscious awareness of his/her emotional mind located in the general area of the brain stem. Rational logical methods and emotional logical methods operate independently from one anther. A master of דרך ארץ respects this most fundamental distinction within the functions of the human mind. At birth a child’s emotional mind has essentially matured, not so the Neo-cortex. The Elokim informed Rivka that the elder would serve the younger. Hence דרך ארץ serves as the foundation of Torah faith.
The Calculus of Interest-Free Loans and it’s Logical Derivatives or Consequences - Part VII
. Diverging the business interests requires a plurality of agreement between business partners. Corporations have greatly profited by increasing or expanding the market spheres of their business. Never the less, all partners merit the opportunity to consider and weigh invading anther market. An example, a business partner who has responsibility to sow in a certain field, but fails to plant the seed. The loss of the crop clearly damages the potential profits that might have accrued. But ascertaining damages requires a known entity. In this case, the cost of the seed and its relationship to giving charity unto the poor among our peoples. A second comparative case, a person who arbitrarily invests his/her partners shared working capital into other un-related businesses. All business losses become personal debt obligations that this person owes unto his/her partners. While all profits that result from this “horse gambling”, the partners evenly split. . Companies that require transporting their products unto markets. They can either employ their own people who receive a fixed and determined salary for this support work. Or they can employ independent contractors to transport their merchandise. All necessary business expenses, the consumer eventually eats. But businesses that so to speak establish a partnership loan with the consuming public, by shouldering half of these necessary expenses, extends their diplomacy toward establishing a consumer alliance with their products. Salary negotiations require flexibility. Hence, it seems to me that the three opinions of ר''מ ר''י ור''ש compliment one another rather than mutually and exclusively oppose each other. The capitalist who hires employees and bases a salary upon the Torah principals of partnership loans, as opposed to Western fixed hourly wages, elevates the dignity of the employer/employee union. Still the Capitalist labor boss remains the first among equals. For at the end of the day he/she determines who to keep and who to let go. Finding people who can work independently and that do not require constant supervision – employees like this function as a treasured asset to any business. Knowledge of how to work, and work well, not all peoples share this unique ability equally. It’s not reasonable to pay an inexperienced and/or unmarried worker equal and fixed salaries paid unto all workers. The services rendered vs. the risks involved with untrained help in no way compares to talented, experienced married with children employee partners. Simply because a Jew studies Talmud in no way makes him fit to be a Rav. Furthermore, basing a salary scale on principals of partnership loans must also weigh the service of supplying jobs to workers. This act in itself merits a certain appreciation. The workers owe a debt of gratitude to their employer. Salary equations have to weigh human feelings. The purpose and intent of this Torah establishes the principals of partnership loans – or recognition of our shared humanity within the bnai brit alliance. It’s important to remember that this humanity cuts in both directions in employer/employee partnerships.
Salary negotiations require wiggle room. It’s not a simple communism where one size fits all. The risks require consideration. If the business partnership fails all lose. The capitalist employer faces financial ruin, and the workers face unemployment. Business resembles a high wire balancing act. The wise do business with a safety net underneath them, less they fall.
Salary negotiations require wiggle room. It’s not a simple communism where one size fits all. The risks require consideration. If the business partnership fails all lose. The capitalist employer faces financial ruin, and the workers face unemployment. Business resembles a high wire balancing act. The wise do business with a safety net underneath them, less they fall.
The Calculus of Interest-Free Loans and it’s Logical Derivatives or Consequences - Part VI
The כותים not only rejected oral Torah, they profaned the Davidic brit. Specifically never to cut a brit by means of sacrifice other than at Mt. Moriah. They created their own religion at the expense of profaning their oath/bit. Bnai Noach clearly merit freedom to interpret their Torah constitution. But a crucial condition applies unto all bnai brit throughout the generations. All bnai brit obligate them selves when they cut a nefesh oath/brit. A bnai brit person acknowledges and shall not despise all the oath britot of the Torah. Israel, as the firstborn son of Torah, has established this critical condition unto all eternity. By this fundamental condition Israel guards the gates of our enemies. This essential condition establishes and defines the ethical containment force that binds bnai brit societies into a national and international alliance. The כותים destroyed this ethical containment force that binds bnai brit Israel with bnai brit Noach. Their religious belief system profaned their Nefesh. Their choice effectively negated their brit with Israel unto this very day. Hence Moshe our Teacher declared unto Israel before his death: I give you life and death, therefore choose Life” It’s permitted to charge interest unto animal souls. An animal soul touches all non bnai brit peoples who live under the sun. Within the borders of Torah bnai brit society, non bnai brit tourists enjoy no political rights, nor legal protections. The bnai brit peoples have however formal warning to respect the dignity of non bnai brit animal souls. A bnai brit that can abuse or cruelly damage non bnai brit dignity shall probably in the future misbehave in equal manner unto his/her bnai brit peoples. First the Zionist army and police forces trampled upon the remnant Arabs who remained within our lands. Today Israel has become a police state who’s government equally abuses both Arab and Jew within our borders! The non bnai brit animal souls live as human beings. The humanity of the bnai brit peoples shares equal purity with the humanity of the non bnai brit animal souls. The only difference between our souls – them and us- they have not cut a brit upon their souls and we have cut a brit upon our souls. Other than the brit distinction, non bnai brit have built great civilization which includes amazing developments in art science and culture. Their lack of a brit in no way diminishes from their innate humanity in this world. Only that these societies and civilizations exist outside of the Torah constitutionally based alliance which defines the bnai brit nations, our peoples, and our cultures. Land constitutes as the best collateral. Movable objects also qualify as a פיקדון, but movable objects have their restrictions. The 5th and 9th chapters of בבא מציעה teach how to establish proper partnership loans. I learned by comparing
אין מושיבין חנוני למחצית שכרו וגו' אלא אם כן נותן לו שכרו כפועל with המקבל שדה מחברו והובירה...שמין אותה ראויה לעשות ונותן לו. Loans require accountability. Both loans and acts of charity – redeem. But the former requires a return and the latter come no strings attached. An agent of a person functions as an extension of the person. A person assigns his agent to move products to another place and give them to someone else to sale at this new location. The loan transaction does not take place until the agent transfers title of the goods unto the party receiving the loan. Obviously if the loaned movables suffers damages prior unto the exchange of title, the original owner bears the burden of loss. Only after the transfer of title does the borrower assume the obligation to restore the borrowed commodities. Establishing a loan entails opening a diplomatic dialogue, for the purpose of forming a business alliance or partnership. Clearly this partnership must respect the terms or conditions that the contracting parties agree to accept and honor.[1] Forging a business partnership requires flexibility. Consequently, depending upon the conditions, all three opinions bear merit. The halachah does not have to follow one opinion at the exclusion of the others. A clear distinction exists between work required under the open sun and work accomplished in the shade;[2] between common labor of unskilled help and professional expertise of managerial skills. Therefore ר"מ, ר"י, ור''ש discuss the possibilities of forging a business partnership. Contracting a partnership the parties involved clearly should weigh credit history. Upon forging a partnership both parties accept an equal share of the risks that the business might succeed or fail. The contracting parties must share common interests and clearly defined achievable goals. Herein lays the distinction between a גמ"ח and a torah bank. Developing viable business partnerships requires a human face. As opposed unto statistical predetermined contracts written with a legal language that primarily protects the interests of the banks. Banks obviously prefer land as the best possible פיקדון . But movable properties can also serve as collateral. Under the current Zionist governments, wherein the government “owns” the land, land as the primary פיקדון does not exist. Consequently stable business partnerships entails investing up to a 50% פיקדון to loan ratio with a bank. Do banks involve themselves in the affairs of independent businesses? Under Torah banking guidelines, depending upon the business and the size of the loan banks can function like the equivalent of stockholding investors up to forming an equal partnership. Consequently it serves the best interests of the banks to involve their institution(s) and assist their partners’ toward achieving financial success. As a central hub, the banks can facilitate their partnership business interests and introduce it to other partnership business interests, something like a telephone operator or chamber of commerce. What salary then do they merit that compares their services unto ?כפועל בטל A consumer investment holds little or no possibility of distributing future profits. Why should a torah bank give a loan touching private consumer investments? Determining the profit value of consumer investments the business partners must obviously ascertain through means of negotiation, assigning risk and profit ratios to consumer investments. Statistical evidence and other factors the partners must consider. Private consumer investments that depend upon loans consequently require determining כפועל בטל salary for the bank and also loss/profit risks. A house holds its value much more than does a car, especially when housing values escalate like they currently do under the Zionist governments. Because a car depreciates quickly a person taking a loan from a Torah bank of necessity must console the banking partnership to its yearly loss of value. Clearly quickly re-paying a loan under these circumstances serves the best interest of the contracting partners. What value does one assign to experience or thinking outside of the box or management labor skills that result in stable boss/employee relationships etc.. Forming a business partnership initiates a new beginning. But the end game, like water under the bridge, concerns completely different objectives. Forming working partnerships serves only as a stepping-stone toward achieving success. Forming working partnerships cannot guarantee success. Still businesses that function harmoniously and enjoy good management/labor relations possess fundamental advantages over competitive businesses, which fail to develop strong management/labor ties. People need to feel confident that their allies will go to bat for them, even when confronted with difficult or less than ideal circumstances. While management determines policy, both on a corporate and governmental basis it’s the laborers or common man that must rely upon their gut feelings to interpret the reality of their lives. The laborers or common man shares a partnership with both their employers and governments to obey the instructions that higher authorities determine. But a frequent and reoccurring result all to frequently happens, the “mentals” and the “emotionals” fail to develop a common language. Consequently many businesses have high employee turn over rates. And governments quickly lose the mandate to rule and either collapse or oppress their common “emotionals”. Cutting a brit changes the soul. Consequently it entails much more than mechanical methods or rituals which automatically determines how a man butchers a carcass in order to eat a steak. The souls of man holds within its life a certain fluidity, as well as abstract intangibles that wise men do well to heed, weigh and respect. Stable business partnerships stand upon the solid foundations of honoring with shared integrity the mutually accepted and agreed obligations. Something like faithfully paying ones debts. But when partners confuse “rights” for “obligations”, their relationship, business or otherwise, begins to decline. Something like foreign imperialist armies invading a country in order to attain a monopoly over a given market. The British tea monopoly deprived the peoples of India of their human dignity and political independence so that a selected few would enjoy great profits. Consequently, establishing a brit relationship means that the bnai brit partners that both respect and honor their mutual obligations. A fish cannot live on land, their continued survival depends upon certain environmental conditions; equally so, cutting an oath/brit upon one’s souls. The oath creates a specific environment wherein the bnai brit peoples therein can live.
אין מושיבין חנוני למחצית שכרו וגו' אלא אם כן נותן לו שכרו כפועל with המקבל שדה מחברו והובירה...שמין אותה ראויה לעשות ונותן לו. Loans require accountability. Both loans and acts of charity – redeem. But the former requires a return and the latter come no strings attached. An agent of a person functions as an extension of the person. A person assigns his agent to move products to another place and give them to someone else to sale at this new location. The loan transaction does not take place until the agent transfers title of the goods unto the party receiving the loan. Obviously if the loaned movables suffers damages prior unto the exchange of title, the original owner bears the burden of loss. Only after the transfer of title does the borrower assume the obligation to restore the borrowed commodities. Establishing a loan entails opening a diplomatic dialogue, for the purpose of forming a business alliance or partnership. Clearly this partnership must respect the terms or conditions that the contracting parties agree to accept and honor.[1] Forging a business partnership requires flexibility. Consequently, depending upon the conditions, all three opinions bear merit. The halachah does not have to follow one opinion at the exclusion of the others. A clear distinction exists between work required under the open sun and work accomplished in the shade;[2] between common labor of unskilled help and professional expertise of managerial skills. Therefore ר"מ, ר"י, ור''ש discuss the possibilities of forging a business partnership. Contracting a partnership the parties involved clearly should weigh credit history. Upon forging a partnership both parties accept an equal share of the risks that the business might succeed or fail. The contracting parties must share common interests and clearly defined achievable goals. Herein lays the distinction between a גמ"ח and a torah bank. Developing viable business partnerships requires a human face. As opposed unto statistical predetermined contracts written with a legal language that primarily protects the interests of the banks. Banks obviously prefer land as the best possible פיקדון . But movable properties can also serve as collateral. Under the current Zionist governments, wherein the government “owns” the land, land as the primary פיקדון does not exist. Consequently stable business partnerships entails investing up to a 50% פיקדון to loan ratio with a bank. Do banks involve themselves in the affairs of independent businesses? Under Torah banking guidelines, depending upon the business and the size of the loan banks can function like the equivalent of stockholding investors up to forming an equal partnership. Consequently it serves the best interests of the banks to involve their institution(s) and assist their partners’ toward achieving financial success. As a central hub, the banks can facilitate their partnership business interests and introduce it to other partnership business interests, something like a telephone operator or chamber of commerce. What salary then do they merit that compares their services unto ?כפועל בטל A consumer investment holds little or no possibility of distributing future profits. Why should a torah bank give a loan touching private consumer investments? Determining the profit value of consumer investments the business partners must obviously ascertain through means of negotiation, assigning risk and profit ratios to consumer investments. Statistical evidence and other factors the partners must consider. Private consumer investments that depend upon loans consequently require determining כפועל בטל salary for the bank and also loss/profit risks. A house holds its value much more than does a car, especially when housing values escalate like they currently do under the Zionist governments. Because a car depreciates quickly a person taking a loan from a Torah bank of necessity must console the banking partnership to its yearly loss of value. Clearly quickly re-paying a loan under these circumstances serves the best interest of the contracting partners. What value does one assign to experience or thinking outside of the box or management labor skills that result in stable boss/employee relationships etc.. Forming a business partnership initiates a new beginning. But the end game, like water under the bridge, concerns completely different objectives. Forming working partnerships serves only as a stepping-stone toward achieving success. Forming working partnerships cannot guarantee success. Still businesses that function harmoniously and enjoy good management/labor relations possess fundamental advantages over competitive businesses, which fail to develop strong management/labor ties. People need to feel confident that their allies will go to bat for them, even when confronted with difficult or less than ideal circumstances. While management determines policy, both on a corporate and governmental basis it’s the laborers or common man that must rely upon their gut feelings to interpret the reality of their lives. The laborers or common man shares a partnership with both their employers and governments to obey the instructions that higher authorities determine. But a frequent and reoccurring result all to frequently happens, the “mentals” and the “emotionals” fail to develop a common language. Consequently many businesses have high employee turn over rates. And governments quickly lose the mandate to rule and either collapse or oppress their common “emotionals”. Cutting a brit changes the soul. Consequently it entails much more than mechanical methods or rituals which automatically determines how a man butchers a carcass in order to eat a steak. The souls of man holds within its life a certain fluidity, as well as abstract intangibles that wise men do well to heed, weigh and respect. Stable business partnerships stand upon the solid foundations of honoring with shared integrity the mutually accepted and agreed obligations. Something like faithfully paying ones debts. But when partners confuse “rights” for “obligations”, their relationship, business or otherwise, begins to decline. Something like foreign imperialist armies invading a country in order to attain a monopoly over a given market. The British tea monopoly deprived the peoples of India of their human dignity and political independence so that a selected few would enjoy great profits. Consequently, establishing a brit relationship means that the bnai brit partners that both respect and honor their mutual obligations. A fish cannot live on land, their continued survival depends upon certain environmental conditions; equally so, cutting an oath/brit upon one’s souls. The oath creates a specific environment wherein the bnai brit peoples therein can live.
The Calculus of Interest-Free Loans and it’s Logical Derivatives or Consequences - Part V
It’s permitted to loan money with interest to non-bnai brit as it’s permitted to sell them non Kosher foods. The bnai brit have neither partnership nor alliances with non- bnai brit. It’s forbidden for bnai brit to marry non- bnai brit.
גמ"ח and partnership loans apply only among bnai brit. Midrash Rabba: מצורע יז:ב וראה ד:י , learns both the negative and positive components of sharing a soul connection with ones peoples. Building a partnership requires more than not slandering or other malicious actions among our peoples. The willingness to empathize with our peoples’ plight, or even more, forming a partnership to share the distress of life together, redeems the spirituality of the bnai brit peoples.
A brit that does not elevate or even refine the soul, such a brit lacks Torah.[1] Halachah has authority not because this respected authority rules in this way or another; rather that the bnai brit peoples clearly designate the way in which we dedicate our walk before the Elokim; something comparable to placing a mezuzah upon our doors and gates. Parents must elucidate this most essential distinction unto their children. A child can easily grow to resent that others have already determined the destiny of our lives. The Oath/britot determines the destiny of our people. The Torah and Talmud only serves to prove the point: Your can bring a horse to the trough, but you can’t make him to drink!
Torah mandated governance must never allow or even maintain - state owned lands. The first act of a Torah mandated government – returning and restoring the land inheritance unto the sons and daughters of the alliance. For people who possess land have land as collateral and therein can conduct their business interests. Herein stands the redemption of the shmittah and the jubilee.
Torah potentially holds a big vision. A small Torah limits its view to archaic ritual observances. This Torah feels uncomfortable with the modern democratic mandate and its founding principles of human rights. A small Torah fails to comprehend fundamental distinctions. Namely, that a people do not become a people because of equal rights. Rather a people become a people by mutually accepting to keep and honor defined and specific obligations. Theתרי"ג commandments serves as the most basic and profound example.
Religion or common and shared belief in god(s) does not forge a people. Doing a commandment לשמה requires a soul connection. Consequently, a Torah that serves only as ritual garments of religious observance yet fails to ignite and dedicate the soul, such a
Torah touches Avodah Zarah. Something like a Cohen placing a maimed animal upon the altar.
The act of creation as found in בראשית harmonizes opposite and opposing forces. So too דרך ארץ works to establish an Av/Toldah partnership between middot tohorot and tumahot. As דרך ארץ requires neshamah, so too sanctifying the holiness of Shabbat.
Sanctifying a matter requires a קום ועשה. The 10th trial of Avraham serves as an example. Our father offered up his son. To return without cutting a brit would have destroyed the spirituality of that unique moment in time. Hence our father offered up a ram in the place of Yitzchak and elevated his Ruach unto a Neshama. The Elokim formed a partnership with our fathers, the ram as a loan brought salvation unto the Neshama/Yitzchak.
The book of Kohelet confronts the visitation of death. This wisdom learns that all living should toil with their souls, for this qualifies as the essential labor of man on this earth. Refining the soul carries life unto future generations, like young trees sprouting forth from a dead stump. All peoples face death but some must experience its bitterness sooner than others.
(קהלת ז) ומוצא אני מר ממות את האשה וכו'Yitzchak did not have to endure great hardships in finding a suitable wife. Yaakov by contrast, endured great hardships to marry. Lacking a wife, a man has no house, for from the wife comes suitable heirs. The wives of our fathers developed a soul connection. This partnership matured into great fear of heaven, not so the wife of Job. The worst nightmare that can occur to a man – that his relationship with his wife stagnates to only a physical connection. Herein lay the curse of King Shlomo’s political marriages. . Hedonism includes the profit motive. What portion does Hedonism share with fear of heaven? All men have their day under the Sun, every person has equal opportunity to elevate their souls. The wisdom and light of Torah shines unto all generations. All peoples can redeem and work upon their souls and the souls of their peoples by cutting an oath/brit together as a nation. The number of his days under the sun, so to speak, gives a value unto the life of a man.. The living spirit that breathes, hedonism neither strengthens nor prolongs. This truth equally applies to both private individuals and public government officials. Great leaders understand this and guide their nation down the pathways that make the souls live both in this world and the next. Walking before the Elokim carrying this crucial soul obligation defines fear of heaven. Among the non bnai brit barbarians, great lions have arisen throughout history. During the dark nights of the European exile, the Jews existed like dogs that ate scraps at the tables of priests and kings. The goyim despised their token dogs. But with Torah, dogs could redeem their animal souls, whereas lions roared, died and returned unto the dust. Israel has witnessed the rise and fall of many cruel and terrible empires, whose arrogance have cast both religions and nations unto the trash heaps of history. All the rivers flow into the seas yet the seas remain unfilled. . Hidden mysteries and cryptic mystical languages serve as only the garments of kabbalah. The essence of Kabbalah focuses on redeeming the souls of the bnai brit peoples. Our Kabbalah teaches: when there are no men, strive to be a man. . The oath/sworn lands teach of a משל/נמשל partnership. The land does not cut a brit. Rather, Adam cuts a brit upon his souls. If the Torah fails to redeem the animal soul of our peoples, then the oath lands stand desolate and profaned, and our disgraced peoples must struggle to survive accursed galut. . Non bnai brit chase profit as if it gives life. But profit motives behave more like a mirage in the dessert for thirsty souls. The tree of life, it’s so close and near to every human being. That every life, all peoples or nations, who cut an oath/brit – these chosen, who dedicate fidelity and faith - receive the Divine permission to approach the tree of life, to eat and enjoy. Unto where must a person travel to approach the tree of life? No further than the soul of man. Non bnai brit pursue the profit motive – knowledge of good and evil – like dogs returning unto their vomit. From these two trees came the middot tohorot and tumahot. Redemption requires discernment. The sons of Yaakov lacked discernment when they sold Yosef unto slavery. Yaakov remembered Yosef’s dream, he mourned that his children had abandoned the brit Nefesh of Noach. His grief slowly entered their souls, and the sons of Yaakov became enlightened unto their crime. Still the die their actions had cast, the galut had begun. Galut does not come when the bnai brit discern their peoples and sanctify the Nefashot of their bnai brit peoples. . The shmittah and Jubilee redeem the lands. But the primary reason they bring redemption in their shadow – not because our people let the land lie fallow, that’s an obvious given. Rather the shmitta and Jubilee establishes the credit and banking system and therein shapes and forms the economies of all Torah constitutionally based societies! Business works on capital. Capital requires credit. Credit depends on collateral. By limiting debt, the shmitta and Jubilee redeem the lands because they restore a business line of credit. Lacking the shmitta and jubilee, powerful aristocracies develop and monopolize and eventually control national wealth. Cutting a brit changes the soul of a non bnai brit person. Making a formal oath with the Torah, places binding obligations upon the soul. Traditionally weddings employ fixed and established religious rituals, nevertheless a man must maintain faith with his wife in order that this marriage develops into something more than just living together. Equally so, cutting an oath/brit requires that a person maintain fidelity with ones’ souls. Different international currencies trade at different values. It’s forbidden to loan money and link it to currency speculations.
גמ"ח and partnership loans apply only among bnai brit. Midrash Rabba: מצורע יז:ב וראה ד:י , learns both the negative and positive components of sharing a soul connection with ones peoples. Building a partnership requires more than not slandering or other malicious actions among our peoples. The willingness to empathize with our peoples’ plight, or even more, forming a partnership to share the distress of life together, redeems the spirituality of the bnai brit peoples.
A brit that does not elevate or even refine the soul, such a brit lacks Torah.[1] Halachah has authority not because this respected authority rules in this way or another; rather that the bnai brit peoples clearly designate the way in which we dedicate our walk before the Elokim; something comparable to placing a mezuzah upon our doors and gates. Parents must elucidate this most essential distinction unto their children. A child can easily grow to resent that others have already determined the destiny of our lives. The Oath/britot determines the destiny of our people. The Torah and Talmud only serves to prove the point: Your can bring a horse to the trough, but you can’t make him to drink!
Torah mandated governance must never allow or even maintain - state owned lands. The first act of a Torah mandated government – returning and restoring the land inheritance unto the sons and daughters of the alliance. For people who possess land have land as collateral and therein can conduct their business interests. Herein stands the redemption of the shmittah and the jubilee.
Torah potentially holds a big vision. A small Torah limits its view to archaic ritual observances. This Torah feels uncomfortable with the modern democratic mandate and its founding principles of human rights. A small Torah fails to comprehend fundamental distinctions. Namely, that a people do not become a people because of equal rights. Rather a people become a people by mutually accepting to keep and honor defined and specific obligations. Theתרי"ג commandments serves as the most basic and profound example.
Religion or common and shared belief in god(s) does not forge a people. Doing a commandment לשמה requires a soul connection. Consequently, a Torah that serves only as ritual garments of religious observance yet fails to ignite and dedicate the soul, such a
Torah touches Avodah Zarah. Something like a Cohen placing a maimed animal upon the altar.
The act of creation as found in בראשית harmonizes opposite and opposing forces. So too דרך ארץ works to establish an Av/Toldah partnership between middot tohorot and tumahot. As דרך ארץ requires neshamah, so too sanctifying the holiness of Shabbat.
Sanctifying a matter requires a קום ועשה. The 10th trial of Avraham serves as an example. Our father offered up his son. To return without cutting a brit would have destroyed the spirituality of that unique moment in time. Hence our father offered up a ram in the place of Yitzchak and elevated his Ruach unto a Neshama. The Elokim formed a partnership with our fathers, the ram as a loan brought salvation unto the Neshama/Yitzchak.
The book of Kohelet confronts the visitation of death. This wisdom learns that all living should toil with their souls, for this qualifies as the essential labor of man on this earth. Refining the soul carries life unto future generations, like young trees sprouting forth from a dead stump. All peoples face death but some must experience its bitterness sooner than others.
(קהלת ז) ומוצא אני מר ממות את האשה וכו'Yitzchak did not have to endure great hardships in finding a suitable wife. Yaakov by contrast, endured great hardships to marry. Lacking a wife, a man has no house, for from the wife comes suitable heirs. The wives of our fathers developed a soul connection. This partnership matured into great fear of heaven, not so the wife of Job. The worst nightmare that can occur to a man – that his relationship with his wife stagnates to only a physical connection. Herein lay the curse of King Shlomo’s political marriages. . Hedonism includes the profit motive. What portion does Hedonism share with fear of heaven? All men have their day under the Sun, every person has equal opportunity to elevate their souls. The wisdom and light of Torah shines unto all generations. All peoples can redeem and work upon their souls and the souls of their peoples by cutting an oath/brit together as a nation. The number of his days under the sun, so to speak, gives a value unto the life of a man.. The living spirit that breathes, hedonism neither strengthens nor prolongs. This truth equally applies to both private individuals and public government officials. Great leaders understand this and guide their nation down the pathways that make the souls live both in this world and the next. Walking before the Elokim carrying this crucial soul obligation defines fear of heaven. Among the non bnai brit barbarians, great lions have arisen throughout history. During the dark nights of the European exile, the Jews existed like dogs that ate scraps at the tables of priests and kings. The goyim despised their token dogs. But with Torah, dogs could redeem their animal souls, whereas lions roared, died and returned unto the dust. Israel has witnessed the rise and fall of many cruel and terrible empires, whose arrogance have cast both religions and nations unto the trash heaps of history. All the rivers flow into the seas yet the seas remain unfilled. . Hidden mysteries and cryptic mystical languages serve as only the garments of kabbalah. The essence of Kabbalah focuses on redeeming the souls of the bnai brit peoples. Our Kabbalah teaches: when there are no men, strive to be a man. . The oath/sworn lands teach of a משל/נמשל partnership. The land does not cut a brit. Rather, Adam cuts a brit upon his souls. If the Torah fails to redeem the animal soul of our peoples, then the oath lands stand desolate and profaned, and our disgraced peoples must struggle to survive accursed galut. . Non bnai brit chase profit as if it gives life. But profit motives behave more like a mirage in the dessert for thirsty souls. The tree of life, it’s so close and near to every human being. That every life, all peoples or nations, who cut an oath/brit – these chosen, who dedicate fidelity and faith - receive the Divine permission to approach the tree of life, to eat and enjoy. Unto where must a person travel to approach the tree of life? No further than the soul of man. Non bnai brit pursue the profit motive – knowledge of good and evil – like dogs returning unto their vomit. From these two trees came the middot tohorot and tumahot. Redemption requires discernment. The sons of Yaakov lacked discernment when they sold Yosef unto slavery. Yaakov remembered Yosef’s dream, he mourned that his children had abandoned the brit Nefesh of Noach. His grief slowly entered their souls, and the sons of Yaakov became enlightened unto their crime. Still the die their actions had cast, the galut had begun. Galut does not come when the bnai brit discern their peoples and sanctify the Nefashot of their bnai brit peoples. . The shmittah and Jubilee redeem the lands. But the primary reason they bring redemption in their shadow – not because our people let the land lie fallow, that’s an obvious given. Rather the shmitta and Jubilee establishes the credit and banking system and therein shapes and forms the economies of all Torah constitutionally based societies! Business works on capital. Capital requires credit. Credit depends on collateral. By limiting debt, the shmitta and Jubilee redeem the lands because they restore a business line of credit. Lacking the shmitta and jubilee, powerful aristocracies develop and monopolize and eventually control national wealth. Cutting a brit changes the soul of a non bnai brit person. Making a formal oath with the Torah, places binding obligations upon the soul. Traditionally weddings employ fixed and established religious rituals, nevertheless a man must maintain faith with his wife in order that this marriage develops into something more than just living together. Equally so, cutting an oath/brit requires that a person maintain fidelity with ones’ souls. Different international currencies trade at different values. It’s forbidden to loan money and link it to currency speculations.
The Calculus of Interest-Free Loans and it’s Logical Derivatives or Consequences - Part IV
A Torah scholar must learn how to do proper research, how to weigh relationships and partnerships. Still knowledge can dazzle the mind in similar fashion that a new toy enraptures a child. Honesty in partnerships, withdraws from speaking devastating comments: it seeks to narrow the scope of disputes. For breaking a partnership leaves lasting scares upon ones soul.
The Torah of תולדות ויצא speaks of relationships which open with such promise and ends in terrible bitterness.
((תהילים פד,יד) ה' צבאות אשרי אדם בטח בך.)
Open trust has to come to terms with anger. When partnerships sour, anger uproots trust. The human soul(s) possesses a multi-dimensional warp and woof. Time serves within the souls. דרך ארץ and Torah not only intra-weave among themselves, but both share a partnership with rational and emotional intelligences. Human relationships possess a kind of viscous fluidity of infinite combinations of middot tohorot and tumahot, of one person’s flowing, sometimes crashing into another person’s middot tohorot and tumahot. A tranquil hill can erupt into a lava emoting volcano on a flash or this same volcano can smoke and become active over years
The seduction of Dina did not entitle Israel to inherit all the lands of Shechem.[1] Clearly Levi advised the establishment of an alliance. And Yaakov, felt deceived through
this advice, after Shemone destroyed the tribe. If a person feels that his/her partner lacks honesty, this critical perception permanently shapes this relationship, (בראשית מט) שמעון ולוי אחים כלי חמס מכרתיהם בסדים אל תבא נפשי וכו'
Human relationships balance both open and concealed aspects of the psyche. This reality especially applies touching matters of business. A person who takes a גמ"ח or partnership loan(s) links his/her reputation unto these loans. A גמ"ח and a marriage broker require good information in order to make a decision. A person who takes a loan has an obligation to produce a credit history.
The prophets of Israel rebuked our peoples for all too easily throwing off the yoke of our oath/brit obligations. A person seeking to use other people’s money stands in the shadows of suspicion. Cutting a deep spirituality whereby our peoples honor and respect the dignity of a sacred trust requires a Torah education that goes far beyond the limited scope of a halachic ritual law.
As Levi carried the Ark of the brit, we - the generations of Israel - transport our souls. Dedicating one’s soul to keep and honor the britot established first by our fathers, requires employing Divine names. Nefesh – Ya, Ruah – Ha’El; Neshama.- El; Chiyya,- Elokim; Yechida – Shad dai; and 10 key emotions or encouraging awareness of the fundamental emotional gates: fear, anger, grief etc.
The revelation of the10 words contained the entire Torah. Similarly, souls function as a ‘fixed place’ in prayer; on the regelim and high holy days a person can dedicate a particular soul. Through prayer we can dedicate our souls to establish the Torah as the constitution mandate of Jewish governmental rule. Cutting an oath/brit establishes an internal continuum wherein not only our forefathers, Noach, Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe, and David, but every bnai brit in all the generations can labor to refine and uplift the non bnai brit animal souls and thereby redeem the souls, achieving the Divine potential of Adam..
Making a proper blessing requires the language, “universe”. Cutting an oath/brit equally applies unto all generations; for a generation does not make a nation. The essence of prayer constitutes as one of the תרי”ג commandments. Equally true, only the living can redeem an animal soul from hedonism.
Earlier generations, through their Torah, can teach a vision of Souls, but only the living people who bear responsibility to keep and honor the תרי"ג obligations, can sanctify souls and raise animal soul(s) unto Adam/Israel. Everything comes from heaven except the fear of heaven. . גמ"ח or establishing partnership loans uplifts and redeems our bnai brit peoples. But all this works upon the sacred condition that our peoples accept the obligations, placed upon their souls to pay back their debts. The spies profaned the partnership they held with both Moshe and Israel, their words melted the hearts of our warriors, thereby condemning an entire generation to death.
The Mishkan functions as a משל/נמשל Torah teaching.[2] The destiny of man holds a vision far greater and profound than hedonism. What does hedonism have to do with justice? The bnai brit alliance requires that the people mutually accept specific and defined obligations upon their souls.
Noach: not to do acts of theft, oppression and nakedness among ones bnai brit peoples.
Avraham: to rule the oath/sworn lands with justice by establishing intra-bnai brit diplomacy.
Yitzchak: to dedicate the Neshamah to walk with דרך ארץ before the Elokim.
Yaakov: to pass Chiyyah unto future generations, that the bnai brit locals can discern and redeem the souls of their peoples.
Moshe: that Israel gives the tribe of Levi the means to inherit the Elokim that in turn the tribe of Levi would bless the avodah of Israel to inherit the land.
King David: crowns the souls, that only in Yerushalayim at the Har Habayit can peoples and nations through means of sacrifices – cut an oath/brit, revealing the Divine potential transforming animal non bnai brit souls unto bnai brit souls. By and through this revelation Israel shines as a light unto the nations.[3]
The Torah of תולדות ויצא speaks of relationships which open with such promise and ends in terrible bitterness.
((תהילים פד,יד) ה' צבאות אשרי אדם בטח בך.)
Open trust has to come to terms with anger. When partnerships sour, anger uproots trust. The human soul(s) possesses a multi-dimensional warp and woof. Time serves within the souls. דרך ארץ and Torah not only intra-weave among themselves, but both share a partnership with rational and emotional intelligences. Human relationships possess a kind of viscous fluidity of infinite combinations of middot tohorot and tumahot, of one person’s flowing, sometimes crashing into another person’s middot tohorot and tumahot. A tranquil hill can erupt into a lava emoting volcano on a flash or this same volcano can smoke and become active over years
The seduction of Dina did not entitle Israel to inherit all the lands of Shechem.[1] Clearly Levi advised the establishment of an alliance. And Yaakov, felt deceived through
this advice, after Shemone destroyed the tribe. If a person feels that his/her partner lacks honesty, this critical perception permanently shapes this relationship, (בראשית מט) שמעון ולוי אחים כלי חמס מכרתיהם בסדים אל תבא נפשי וכו'
Human relationships balance both open and concealed aspects of the psyche. This reality especially applies touching matters of business. A person who takes a גמ"ח or partnership loan(s) links his/her reputation unto these loans. A גמ"ח and a marriage broker require good information in order to make a decision. A person who takes a loan has an obligation to produce a credit history.
The prophets of Israel rebuked our peoples for all too easily throwing off the yoke of our oath/brit obligations. A person seeking to use other people’s money stands in the shadows of suspicion. Cutting a deep spirituality whereby our peoples honor and respect the dignity of a sacred trust requires a Torah education that goes far beyond the limited scope of a halachic ritual law.
As Levi carried the Ark of the brit, we - the generations of Israel - transport our souls. Dedicating one’s soul to keep and honor the britot established first by our fathers, requires employing Divine names. Nefesh – Ya, Ruah – Ha’El; Neshama.- El; Chiyya,- Elokim; Yechida – Shad dai; and 10 key emotions or encouraging awareness of the fundamental emotional gates: fear, anger, grief etc.
The revelation of the10 words contained the entire Torah. Similarly, souls function as a ‘fixed place’ in prayer; on the regelim and high holy days a person can dedicate a particular soul. Through prayer we can dedicate our souls to establish the Torah as the constitution mandate of Jewish governmental rule. Cutting an oath/brit establishes an internal continuum wherein not only our forefathers, Noach, Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe, and David, but every bnai brit in all the generations can labor to refine and uplift the non bnai brit animal souls and thereby redeem the souls, achieving the Divine potential of Adam..
Making a proper blessing requires the language, “universe”. Cutting an oath/brit equally applies unto all generations; for a generation does not make a nation. The essence of prayer constitutes as one of the תרי”ג commandments. Equally true, only the living can redeem an animal soul from hedonism.
Earlier generations, through their Torah, can teach a vision of Souls, but only the living people who bear responsibility to keep and honor the תרי"ג obligations, can sanctify souls and raise animal soul(s) unto Adam/Israel. Everything comes from heaven except the fear of heaven. . גמ"ח or establishing partnership loans uplifts and redeems our bnai brit peoples. But all this works upon the sacred condition that our peoples accept the obligations, placed upon their souls to pay back their debts. The spies profaned the partnership they held with both Moshe and Israel, their words melted the hearts of our warriors, thereby condemning an entire generation to death.
The Mishkan functions as a משל/נמשל Torah teaching.[2] The destiny of man holds a vision far greater and profound than hedonism. What does hedonism have to do with justice? The bnai brit alliance requires that the people mutually accept specific and defined obligations upon their souls.
Noach: not to do acts of theft, oppression and nakedness among ones bnai brit peoples.
Avraham: to rule the oath/sworn lands with justice by establishing intra-bnai brit diplomacy.
Yitzchak: to dedicate the Neshamah to walk with דרך ארץ before the Elokim.
Yaakov: to pass Chiyyah unto future generations, that the bnai brit locals can discern and redeem the souls of their peoples.
Moshe: that Israel gives the tribe of Levi the means to inherit the Elokim that in turn the tribe of Levi would bless the avodah of Israel to inherit the land.
King David: crowns the souls, that only in Yerushalayim at the Har Habayit can peoples and nations through means of sacrifices – cut an oath/brit, revealing the Divine potential transforming animal non bnai brit souls unto bnai brit souls. By and through this revelation Israel shines as a light unto the nations.[3]
The Calculus of Interest-Free Loans and it’s Logical Derivatives or Consequences - Part III
Prayer stands in the place of korbonot. Attaching Divine names unto our souls we by means of spirit breath can direct our souls unto the fixed High Place in Yerushalem; that our souls through prayer can meet the middot Elohim. Herein constitutes as the most fundamental revelation of accepting the Torah at Sinai. This revelation of the Middot Elokim applies equally unto all generations as the inherent human potential unto the Creator. Consequently, “the Israel division” reads מעשה בראשית during the times when the Cohonim and Leviim do their avodah in the Temple; as Jews we face unto Yerushalem when we pray. The eye reads from the siddur and sees the Shem Hashem. The lips cry אד'ני which means – master of the souls. The heart calls Ya, or El, or Ha El, or Elokim, or Shad dai, determining our intent to send a particularly named soul unto the High Place. The emotions emote middot through the 10 gates: Fear, Anger, Grief, Shame, Worry, Honor, Trust, Duty, Integrity and Authority. A person stands before a Sefer Torah with the kavannah to transport his/her souls unto the Torah revelation at Sinai, King David through an oath permanently designated the holiness of the Har Habayit, for the purpose that he/she accepts the Torah oath/brit obligations. Foremost of all, conquering the lands of Canaan and establishing the Torah of Moshe as the constitution and Mandate authority of all bnai brit societies therein; that all the bnai brit governments shall employ Oral Torah logic to interpret the intent of Moshe our Teacher - the Framer – and as a consequent to establish just laws which addresses the needs of each particular generation.
עיין ספרי: לא יחבל רחים ורכב וגם בעל הטורים (דברים כד)
A person who has neither money nor employment must confront the choice of stealing in order to survive. Selfish greed results in growing anarchy among the bnai brit partnership[3]
מדרש רבה: צז:ו – ויאמר ישראל אל יוסף אנכי מת והיה אלקים עמכם והשיב אתכם אל ארץ אבתיכם.
That the Elokim shall redeem HIS bnai brit peoples from galut qualifies as an essential and multi faceted concept of faith. Obviously Hashem can only “redeem” a people whose souls possess clearly definable distinctions from the non bnai brit nations. The essential struggle of Yaakov and his sons throughout the generations, centers upon grasping and defining our Chiyya soul. If this struggle exists as merely a forgone conclusion, then the term “struggle” as commonly understood would require a different word.
The bnai brit slaughter of Shechem and sale of Yosef indicates that our forefathers lacked maturity in their understanding of Chiyya. Whereas Yechuda’s acknowledgment of Tamar, and Yosef’s refusal to abuse his master’s trust reveals a more developed and experienced Chiyya. In both latter cases the sons of Yaakov declined the convenience of deception. Developing honesty as a sign of Chiyya soul by no means qualifies as a piece of cake.
במ"ר: בר אחוי דרבי יוסי ג' סימנים נתן להם הזקן, הבא בסיגנון שלו אנכי והממנה מכם זקנים ואומר לכם פקוד זה הוא הגואל. רבי הוניא מוציא אנכי, ומכניס שם המפורש תחתיו.
Placed in an embarrassing situation, whether one causes the situation as in Yechudah and Tamar, or someone else causes the situation as Potifar’s wife, it’s not easy to own up. Living honesty requires soul. The spies preferred death to losing face. Developing a lasting and enduring honesty requires great t’shuvah. A ritual can no more hold honesty than did circumcision unto Shcem. Without honesty – no partnership can long endure. Honesty defines Chiyya or the lack thereof.
(עיין שמות רבה לו:ג,ד)
עיין ספרי: לא יחבל רחים ורכב וגם בעל הטורים (דברים כד)
A person who has neither money nor employment must confront the choice of stealing in order to survive. Selfish greed results in growing anarchy among the bnai brit partnership[3]
מדרש רבה: צז:ו – ויאמר ישראל אל יוסף אנכי מת והיה אלקים עמכם והשיב אתכם אל ארץ אבתיכם.
That the Elokim shall redeem HIS bnai brit peoples from galut qualifies as an essential and multi faceted concept of faith. Obviously Hashem can only “redeem” a people whose souls possess clearly definable distinctions from the non bnai brit nations. The essential struggle of Yaakov and his sons throughout the generations, centers upon grasping and defining our Chiyya soul. If this struggle exists as merely a forgone conclusion, then the term “struggle” as commonly understood would require a different word.
The bnai brit slaughter of Shechem and sale of Yosef indicates that our forefathers lacked maturity in their understanding of Chiyya. Whereas Yechuda’s acknowledgment of Tamar, and Yosef’s refusal to abuse his master’s trust reveals a more developed and experienced Chiyya. In both latter cases the sons of Yaakov declined the convenience of deception. Developing honesty as a sign of Chiyya soul by no means qualifies as a piece of cake.
במ"ר: בר אחוי דרבי יוסי ג' סימנים נתן להם הזקן, הבא בסיגנון שלו אנכי והממנה מכם זקנים ואומר לכם פקוד זה הוא הגואל. רבי הוניא מוציא אנכי, ומכניס שם המפורש תחתיו.
Placed in an embarrassing situation, whether one causes the situation as in Yechudah and Tamar, or someone else causes the situation as Potifar’s wife, it’s not easy to own up. Living honesty requires soul. The spies preferred death to losing face. Developing a lasting and enduring honesty requires great t’shuvah. A ritual can no more hold honesty than did circumcision unto Shcem. Without honesty – no partnership can long endure. Honesty defines Chiyya or the lack thereof.
(עיין שמות רבה לו:ג,ד)
The Calculus of Interest-Free Loans and it’s Logical Derivatives or Consequences - Part II
As cutting an oath/brit establishes souls definition, so too profaning an oath uproots the souls from this world. The non-bnai brit – irregardless of their religious beliefs – never refine, elevate or sanctify their souls by cutting a brit by means of a Torah oath. Herein lays the essential distinction between bnai brit and non bnai brit nations.
The mother determines the physical Jewish-ness of the child, like land determines a person’s nationality. But the essence of the bnai brit Israel comes through the holiness of our souls. To dedicate one’s souls - to cut an oath/brit – requires both דרך ארץ and Torah[1].
Consequently, Jewry as a people does not qualify as a race, but rather due to our oath/brit - as a different species of humanity. While lands can determine the forms of our citizenship, Torah determines the substance, דרך ארץ and our souls unique abilities to meet and contain the 13 middot Elokim...
(שם כה) נשך ורבית Both touch monetary גמ"חand/or partnership loans, no distinction exists between them. It’s forbidden to “bite” by profiting from compounded interest accrued upon loans. It’s also forbidden to speculate on currencies. A person cannot loan money in dollars and demand payment in shekels.
Middot Tumahot can produce a Yazir that seeks to profit at the expense of the helpless. As land cannot prevent farmers planting a crop in the 7th year so too a poor person who needs a loan cannot prevent interest. As slaves in Egypt, our people existed like soil under the soles of our slave drivers. Remembering Egypt enjoins sanctifying the soul(s) commitment unto the sacred obligation of redeeming our lands and our peoples.
The bnai brit peoples share a partnership with one another. Understanding the principles of giving Torah loans both acknowledges the alliance we have with our peoples and our faith in the Elokim. The Elokim swore and established thereby, the lands of Canaan as the eternal inheritance unto the firstborn of the bnai brit peoples. In turn our father Avraham swore to command his descendents to rule these promised lands with Justice. The Torah revelation holds the wisdom whereby the descendents of Avraham can obey the commandment of Avrham. Similarly both honoring the 7th year and giving loans without “biting”, reflects a developing fear of heaven.[2]
The non bnai brit loan institutions charge interest; they speculate and seek profit from anyone they can bite. What makes bnai brit Israel unique as a people… our circumcision does not only cut off the ערלה of the foreskin, rather the oath/brit cuts our souls into five divisions; Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chaya and Yechida, and our hearts into 26 middot. . Nefesh: Brit Noach – the oath not to do acts of theft, oppression and illicit sex among our bnai brit peoples.
Ruach: Brit Abraham – the oath to establish justice by means of intra-bnai brit diplomacy.
Neshamah: Brit Yitzchak - the oath to sanctify the soul in a holy dedication to walk with דרך ארץ before the Elokim, to establish an Av/toldah relationship between the 13 middot tohorot and the 13 middot tumaot. That a person works to walk before the Elokim with a harmonious Yazir. The heart, so to speak, serves as the seat Yazir’s emotional – non verbal- emotional attributes.
Chaya: Brit Yaakov – the oath to pass and inherit unto future generations, not only the oaths/britot of our fathers but the wisdom to discern refined souls from non bnai brit animal souls; the understanding that the bnai brit souls share a union partnership with their peoples and as a consequence with the Elokim; that the Shem Hashem dwells in the hearts and souls of HIS chosen bnai brit alliance civilization, and NOT necessarily or exclusively within specific individuals of this same nation, when we despise our sacred brit relationship we share with one another. The best examples which forever applies, Moshe our Teacher’s spiritual depression while “that generation” died. Our father Yaacov mourned the closure of spiritual revelations consequently resulting from the sale of Yosef.
Yechida: Brit Moshe – the Torah. That Israel would give unto Levi the means to do their avodah to inherit the Elokim. That Levi would bless Israel in our portion of the תרי"ג obligations, and that through this avodah, that Israel merits to inherit the land.
Keter: Brit David – the oath dedicating Yerushalayim as the sole and eternal chosen High Place, there-in all of bnai brit peoples – bnai Israel or bnai Noach – have opportunity to renew or affirm their oath/brit relationship through means of the sacrificial oath dedications for all generations to come.
Notes and References 1) Its possible to channel by means of prayer and meditation the 26 middot through ten gates. Fear, Anger, Grief, Shame, Worry – honor, trust, duty, integrity, authority. Middot Tohorot Tumahot 1) Modesty: grief/duty 1) Hated without cause: worry/authority 2) Truth: anger/trust 2) Narrow eye: fear/honor 3) Controlling anger: grief/duty 3) Jealousy of others success: anger/trust 4) Increase beauty to give honor: fear/honor 4) Greed: grief/duty 5) Grace: worry/authority 5) Illicit nakedness: anger/trust 6) גמ"ח: fear/honor 6) Pleasure from others humiliation: grief/duty 7) Act of creation/ דרך ארץ: fear/honor 7) Arrogant self worth: shame/integrity 8) Self nullification: anger/trust 8) Loyalty that fails to distinguish: worry/authority 9) תשובה: worry/authority 9) Oppressive violence: worry/authority 10) Mercy: grief/duty 10) Mob emotionalism: shame/integrity 11) Giving heart: shame/integrity 11) Inability to listen: worry/authority 12) Forming the Yazir: anger/trust 12) Lust for power: fear/honor 13) Embolden will to rule humility in the face of conflict: the palm 13) Selfishness: shame/integrity The 10 gates align with the hands and diagonally opposite feet. Assigning the middot as fixed points within the body establishes internal focus points when meditating. By focusing upon fixed nefesh pulses a student of דרך ארץ can develop a conscious awareness of his/her emotional mind located in the general area of the brain stem. Rational logical methods and emotional logical methods operate independently from one anther. A master of דרך ארץ respects this most fundamental distinction within the functions of the human mind. At birth a child’s emotional mind has essentially matured, not so the Neo-cortex. The Elokim informed Rivka that the elder would serve the younger. Hence דרך ארץ serves as the foundation of Torah faith.
2) (ויקרא כה:לח) tangentially: Finding an opening to annul a vow qualifies as redemption,
as does a girl coming of age. Clearly קידושין redeems as does an עבד עברי acquiring his freedom. So too a person coming from galut to Israel, Israel unto Yerushalem qualifies as redemption.
(דברים כג:כ) Mercy, graciousness, justice and wisdom function as the main tools of redemption. גמ"ח loans or giving partnership loans to ones bnai brit peoples, both charity and business can redeem the Yazir from the desire to speculate in money and goods and to bite like an animal soul! Developing Fear of Heaven entails accepting responsibility for ones’ house and gradually extending this yoke unto all ones’ peoples. A person who has no children does not qualify to become a judge. The Torah repeatedly employs a unique language, “the children of Israel”. As children require food clothing and education, so too they equally need responsible parents. From my experience raising children gave me a perspective of responsibility that I had never beheld before HaShem blessed me.
The mother determines the physical Jewish-ness of the child, like land determines a person’s nationality. But the essence of the bnai brit Israel comes through the holiness of our souls. To dedicate one’s souls - to cut an oath/brit – requires both דרך ארץ and Torah[1].
Consequently, Jewry as a people does not qualify as a race, but rather due to our oath/brit - as a different species of humanity. While lands can determine the forms of our citizenship, Torah determines the substance, דרך ארץ and our souls unique abilities to meet and contain the 13 middot Elokim...
(שם כה) נשך ורבית Both touch monetary גמ"חand/or partnership loans, no distinction exists between them. It’s forbidden to “bite” by profiting from compounded interest accrued upon loans. It’s also forbidden to speculate on currencies. A person cannot loan money in dollars and demand payment in shekels.
Middot Tumahot can produce a Yazir that seeks to profit at the expense of the helpless. As land cannot prevent farmers planting a crop in the 7th year so too a poor person who needs a loan cannot prevent interest. As slaves in Egypt, our people existed like soil under the soles of our slave drivers. Remembering Egypt enjoins sanctifying the soul(s) commitment unto the sacred obligation of redeeming our lands and our peoples.
The bnai brit peoples share a partnership with one another. Understanding the principles of giving Torah loans both acknowledges the alliance we have with our peoples and our faith in the Elokim. The Elokim swore and established thereby, the lands of Canaan as the eternal inheritance unto the firstborn of the bnai brit peoples. In turn our father Avraham swore to command his descendents to rule these promised lands with Justice. The Torah revelation holds the wisdom whereby the descendents of Avraham can obey the commandment of Avrham. Similarly both honoring the 7th year and giving loans without “biting”, reflects a developing fear of heaven.[2]
The non bnai brit loan institutions charge interest; they speculate and seek profit from anyone they can bite. What makes bnai brit Israel unique as a people… our circumcision does not only cut off the ערלה of the foreskin, rather the oath/brit cuts our souls into five divisions; Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chaya and Yechida, and our hearts into 26 middot. . Nefesh: Brit Noach – the oath not to do acts of theft, oppression and illicit sex among our bnai brit peoples.
Ruach: Brit Abraham – the oath to establish justice by means of intra-bnai brit diplomacy.
Neshamah: Brit Yitzchak - the oath to sanctify the soul in a holy dedication to walk with דרך ארץ before the Elokim, to establish an Av/toldah relationship between the 13 middot tohorot and the 13 middot tumaot. That a person works to walk before the Elokim with a harmonious Yazir. The heart, so to speak, serves as the seat Yazir’s emotional – non verbal- emotional attributes.
Chaya: Brit Yaakov – the oath to pass and inherit unto future generations, not only the oaths/britot of our fathers but the wisdom to discern refined souls from non bnai brit animal souls; the understanding that the bnai brit souls share a union partnership with their peoples and as a consequence with the Elokim; that the Shem Hashem dwells in the hearts and souls of HIS chosen bnai brit alliance civilization, and NOT necessarily or exclusively within specific individuals of this same nation, when we despise our sacred brit relationship we share with one another. The best examples which forever applies, Moshe our Teacher’s spiritual depression while “that generation” died. Our father Yaacov mourned the closure of spiritual revelations consequently resulting from the sale of Yosef.
Yechida: Brit Moshe – the Torah. That Israel would give unto Levi the means to do their avodah to inherit the Elokim. That Levi would bless Israel in our portion of the תרי"ג obligations, and that through this avodah, that Israel merits to inherit the land.
Keter: Brit David – the oath dedicating Yerushalayim as the sole and eternal chosen High Place, there-in all of bnai brit peoples – bnai Israel or bnai Noach – have opportunity to renew or affirm their oath/brit relationship through means of the sacrificial oath dedications for all generations to come.
Notes and References 1) Its possible to channel by means of prayer and meditation the 26 middot through ten gates. Fear, Anger, Grief, Shame, Worry – honor, trust, duty, integrity, authority. Middot Tohorot Tumahot 1) Modesty: grief/duty 1) Hated without cause: worry/authority 2) Truth: anger/trust 2) Narrow eye: fear/honor 3) Controlling anger: grief/duty 3) Jealousy of others success: anger/trust 4) Increase beauty to give honor: fear/honor 4) Greed: grief/duty 5) Grace: worry/authority 5) Illicit nakedness: anger/trust 6) גמ"ח: fear/honor 6) Pleasure from others humiliation: grief/duty 7) Act of creation/ דרך ארץ: fear/honor 7) Arrogant self worth: shame/integrity 8) Self nullification: anger/trust 8) Loyalty that fails to distinguish: worry/authority 9) תשובה: worry/authority 9) Oppressive violence: worry/authority 10) Mercy: grief/duty 10) Mob emotionalism: shame/integrity 11) Giving heart: shame/integrity 11) Inability to listen: worry/authority 12) Forming the Yazir: anger/trust 12) Lust for power: fear/honor 13) Embolden will to rule humility in the face of conflict: the palm 13) Selfishness: shame/integrity The 10 gates align with the hands and diagonally opposite feet. Assigning the middot as fixed points within the body establishes internal focus points when meditating. By focusing upon fixed nefesh pulses a student of דרך ארץ can develop a conscious awareness of his/her emotional mind located in the general area of the brain stem. Rational logical methods and emotional logical methods operate independently from one anther. A master of דרך ארץ respects this most fundamental distinction within the functions of the human mind. At birth a child’s emotional mind has essentially matured, not so the Neo-cortex. The Elokim informed Rivka that the elder would serve the younger. Hence דרך ארץ serves as the foundation of Torah faith.
2) (ויקרא כה:לח) tangentially: Finding an opening to annul a vow qualifies as redemption,
as does a girl coming of age. Clearly קידושין redeems as does an עבד עברי acquiring his freedom. So too a person coming from galut to Israel, Israel unto Yerushalem qualifies as redemption.
(דברים כג:כ) Mercy, graciousness, justice and wisdom function as the main tools of redemption. גמ"ח loans or giving partnership loans to ones bnai brit peoples, both charity and business can redeem the Yazir from the desire to speculate in money and goods and to bite like an animal soul! Developing Fear of Heaven entails accepting responsibility for ones’ house and gradually extending this yoke unto all ones’ peoples. A person who has no children does not qualify to become a judge. The Torah repeatedly employs a unique language, “the children of Israel”. As children require food clothing and education, so too they equally need responsible parents. From my experience raising children gave me a perspective of responsibility that I had never beheld before HaShem blessed me.
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