Chagigah 15: "Acher"

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As a continuation of the story of arba she-nikhnisu ba-pardes – four tannaim who embarked on the study of esoteric secrets of the Torah – our Gemara discusses the case of Acher, the Tanna Elisha ben Avuya, whose experience in the pardes led him to become a heretic. According to the Gemara, Acher peered into heaven and found the Archangel Mitatron who had received permission to sit down to write the merits of the Jewish people. From the midrashim it appears that Mitatron is the angel responsible for the entire world, and seeing him gave Acher the sense that there existed shetei reshuyot (two competing forces in heaven) – Mitatron and God – which was a common belief of Gnostic sects at that time.

Even after Elisha ben Avuya’s heresy, his student Rabbi Meir continued to study with him, and our Gemara relates a series of conversations that went on between them.

We explore the story of his apostasy and the history of scholarship on the parallel texts regarding his tragic end in Tosefta and Midrashim.

Milton Steinberg’s novel is a reconstruction of his biography which bears on the issues of theodicy and belief.

Chagigah 14: παράδεισος, Mystical Journeys

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The discussion of ma’aseh bereshit – the secrets of creation – continues with a description of the heavens.

The Gemara records that Rabbi Yehuda recognizes two heavens, while Reish Lakish enumerates seven heavens.

Back in daf 5 we had already learned: Rav Shmuel bar Inya said in the name of Rav: The Holy One, Blessed be He, has a place where He cries, and its name is Mistarim.

The Gemara asks: But is there crying before the Holy One, Blessed be He? Didn’t Rav Pappa say: There is no sadness before the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is stated: “Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and gladness are in His place” (I Chronicles 16:27)? The Gemara responds: This is not difficult. This statement, that God cries, is referring to the innermost chambers, where He can cry in secret, whereas this statement, that He does not cry, is referring to the outer chambers.

On our daf, the Gemara asks: "And is there darkness before Heaven, i.e., before God? But isn’t it written: “He reveals deep and secret things, He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him” (Daniel 2:22), demonstrating that only light, not darkness, is found with God?"

The Gemara answers: This is not difficult. This verse, which states that only light dwells with Him, is referring to the inner chamber/ houses, where there is only light; that source, according to which He is surrounded by darkness, is referring to the outer chamber/houses.

We explore the difference between the inner and outer chamber with the help of Eicha Rabba (Petichta 24) where Jeremiah and Metatron try to console the divine, whereupon He threatens to withdraw to the inner chamber and cry alone.

The Piacetzna Rebbe, in a startling sermon (Shabbes Parshe hachodesh 1942, Warsaw Ghetto) uses this midrash to forge a new theodicy...

Chagigah 13: God's Two Chambers

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The discussion of ma’aseh bereshit – the secrets of creation – continues with a description of the heavens.

The Gemara records that Rabbi Yehuda recognizes two heavens, while Reish Lakish enumerates seven heavens.

Back in daf 5 we had already learned: Rav Shmuel bar Inya said in the name of Rav: The Holy One, Blessed be He, has a place where He cries, and its name is Mistarim.

The Gemara asks: But is there crying before the Holy One, Blessed be He? Didn’t Rav Pappa say: There is no sadness before the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is stated: “Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and gladness are in His place” (I Chronicles 16:27)? The Gemara responds: This is not difficult. This statement, that God cries, is referring to the innermost chambers, where He can cry in secret, whereas this statement, that He does not cry, is referring to the outer chambers.

On our daf, the Gemara asks: "And is there darkness before Heaven, i.e., before God? But isn’t it written: “He reveals deep and secret things, He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him” (Daniel 2:22), demonstrating that only light, not darkness, is found with God?" The Gemara answers: This is not difficult. This verse, which states that only light dwells with Him, is referring to the inner chamber/ houses, where there is only light; that source, according to which He is surrounded by darkness, is referring to the outer chamber/houses.

We explore the difference between the inner and outer chamber with the help of Eicha Rabba (Petichta 24) where Jeremiah and Metatron try to console the divine, whereupon He threatens to withdraw to the inner chamber and cry alone.

The Piacetzna Rebbe, in a startling sermon (Shabbes Parshe hachodesh 1942, Warsaw Ghetto) uses this midrash to forge a new theodicy...

Chagigah 12: The Seven Firmaments

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The Mishnah (11b) taught that ma’aseh bereshit – the secrets of creation – can be taught only to a single student, while ma’aseh merkavah – the secrets of the supernatural – can only be taught to a single student, if he is a scholar who has the ability to understand on his own. How are the terms ma’aseh bereshit and ma’aseh merkavah to be understood?

The Gemara quotes Rebbi Yosi who says, "Woe to those who see but do not know what they see, and who stand but do not know upon what they stand." He proceeds to describe what supports the world. The world is supported by pillars, which are supported by water. The water is supported by mountains, which are supported by the wind (Ru'ach). The wind is supported by the tempest (Se'arah), which is supported by the mighty arm of the Holy One, Blessed is He.

Rav Yehudah says there are two levels of heaven, as the verse says that Hashem has both the shamayim – heaven and shmai hashamayim – the heaven of the heavens.

Raish Lakish lists 7 (vilon, rakia, shechakim, zevul, ma'on, machon, and aravos), and lists the function of each one.

We explore the ancient cosmology of Genesis via the lens of the Talmud and contrast with modern understandings of these heavenly bodies.

Chagigah 11: The Seven Firmaments

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The Mishnah (11b) taught that ma’aseh bereshit – the secrets of creation – can be taught only to a single student, while ma’aseh merkavah – the secrets of the supernatural – can only be taught to a single student, if he is a scholar who has the ability to understand on his own. How are the terms ma’aseh bereshit and ma’aseh merkavah to be understood?

The Gemara quotes Rebbi Yosi who says, "Woe to those who see but do not know what they see, and who stand but do not know upon what they stand." He proceeds to describe what supports the world. The world is supported by pillars, which are supported by water. The water is supported by mountains, which are supported by the wind (Ru'ach). The wind is supported by the tempest (Se'arah), which is supported by the mighty arm of the Holy One, Blessed is He.

Rav Yehudah says there are two levels of heaven, as the verse says that Hashem has both the shamayim – heaven and shmai hashamayim – the heaven of the heavens.

Raish Lakish lists 7 (vilon, rakia, shechakim, zevul, ma'on, machon, and aravos), and lists the function of each one.

We explore the ancient cosmology of Genesis via the lens of the Talmud and contrast with modern understandings of these heavenly bodies.

Chagigah 10: כַּהֲרָרִין הַתְּלוּיִין בִּשְׂעָרָה Mountains Suspended by a Hair

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Incidental to the Festival peace-offering, the mishna describes the nature of various areas of Torah study. The halakhot of the dissolution of vows, when one requests from a Sage to dissolve them, fly in the air and have nothing to support them, as these halakhot are not mentioned explicitly in the Torah. There is only a slight allusion to the dissolution of vows in the Torah, which is taught by the Sages as part of the oral tradition.

The halakhot of Shabbat, Festival peace-offerings, and misuse of consecrated property are like mountains suspended by a hair, as they have little written about them in the Torah, and yet the details of their halakhot are numerous.

We explore this metaphor through the reference of the Sifre and through the eyes of Professor Stephen Fraade and Michal Bar-Asher Siegal

who extend the metaphor to the entire project of extrapolating the oral law from the written, and the tools employed to derive.

Chagigah 9: מְעֻוּוֹת לֹא יוּכַל לִתְקוֹן וְחֶסְרוֹן לֹא יוּכַל לְהִמָּנוֹת

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On the three regalim – Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot – one is obligated to bring an olat re’iya and a shalmei chagiga.

The Mishnah (1:6) teaches that if one does not offer the korbanot on the first day, he has the remaining days of the festival to offer these korbanot. We shall investigate this law, which is referred to as tashlumin.

When the Gemara questions the meaning of tashlumin it cites two opinions. R’ Yochanan maintains that the remaining days act to replace the first day while R’ Oshaya explains that each day compensate for another. In other words, according to R’ Yochanan the root obligation is to offer these korbanot on the first day. The remaining days are however available to fulfil that original obligation if it was not satisfied.

R’ Oshaya however maintains that each day carries its own independent obligation provided that the obligation was not fulfilled on the previous days. Demanding a practical difference between these views, the Gemara continues explaining that the case where one was lame on the first day of the festival but was then cured on the second, would be the subject of debate.

"One who did not celebrate [by bringing the korban chagigah] on the first day of the festival can celebrate on the remaining days, and even on the last day of Yom Tov (Shmini Azeret). If the holiday ends and he did not offer his sacrifice, he is no longer responsible for it. On this, it is said, 'that which is crooked cannot be straightened, and that which is missing cannot be counted'" (Kohelet 1:15, Chagigah 9a).

We explore the notion of tashlumin, when we can “make up” and when it cannot be fixed… both regarding offerings as well as harm done to us and harm done to others.

Are there sins that cannot be pardoned and how does one live with the unforgiven?

Chagigah 8: Simcha Without Meat?

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The mishna stated that Israelites fulfill their obligation to eat peace-offerings of rejoicing with their vow offerings and gift offerings. The Sages taught that the verse:

יד וְשָׂמַחְתָּ, בְּחַגֶּךָ: אַתָּה וּבִנְךָ וּבִתֶּךָ, וְעַבְדְּךָ וַאֲמָתֶךָ, וְהַלֵּוִי וְהַגֵּר וְהַיָּתוֹם וְהָאַלְמָנָה, אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ.

14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.

Deut 16:14

“And you shall rejoice in your feast” comes to include all types of rejoicing as constituting a fulfillment of the mitzva of rejoicing. From here the Sages stated: Israelites fulfill their obligation to eat peace-offerings of rejoicing with their vow offerings and gift offerings and likewise with animal tithes.

Rav Ashi said: There is no need to derive this halakha from “And you shall rejoice in your feast” by explaining that the word feast is referring to the Festival peace-offering. Rather, this halakha is derived simply from the phrase “And you shall rejoice.” This excludes those bird-offerings and meal-offerings that do not have an element of rejoicing, as the joy of eating is provided only by animal meat.

We explore the halachic ramifications of simchah only with meat and the vegetarian vision for mankind struggles with these norms including Rav Kook’s unique approach to the future sacrifices.

Chagigah 7: מָה אֲנִי בְּחִנָּם, אַף אַתֶּם בְּחִנָּם

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The verse states: “All your males shall appear.” Although the verse as written can be read: “Will see [yireh],” it is actually read: “Shall be seen [yera’e].” The baraita derives that just as I, God, come to see you for free, as He has no obligation to bring an offering when He comes to see us in the Temple, so too, you may come to see Me in the Temple for free, i.e., there is no requirement to bring an offering.

The Gemara accepts this objection and therefore proceeds to explain the dispute between Rabbi Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish in a different manner.

Hashem requires no fees for entrance to see Him, since He shows His face with no entrance fees...

We explore the notion of Torah being free and teaching Torah should have no compensation according to the RAMBAM.

Chagigah 6: Mesorah

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Rabbi Yishmael says: General statements were said at Sinai, i.e., Moses received general mitzvot at Sinai, including the Ten Commandments.

And the details of the mitzvot, e.g., the particulars of the sacrificial process, were said to Moses at a later time in the Tent of Meeting.

Rabbi Akiva says: Both general statements and the details of mitzvot were said at Sinai and later repeated in the Tent of Meeting, and reiterated a third time by Moses to the Jewish people in the plains of Moab, as recorded in the book of Deuteronomy.

This idea of the mesorah and revelation at Sinai being a process rather than a singular event is explored by scholars from different denominations in our essay.

This bears on the authority of tradition in subsequent generations and the power of the poseik.

Chagigah 5: הַסְתָּרָה תּוֹךְ הַסְתָּרָה

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The Gemora continues to explain the verse about the troubles besetting Bnai Yisrael, which is followed by a verse in which Hashem says that His anger will burn on that day, and He will abandon them, and hide His face from them, letting them be consumed. Rav Bardela bar Tivyomi quotes Rav saying that anyone who doesn't experience a hiding of Hashem's face and being consumed is not part of Bnai Yisrael.

Finally, he cried when he reached the verse which says that Hash-m will punish the people with afflictions that cannot be remedied (Devarim 31:21), because the remedy for one problem intensifies another problem.

Perhaps Rebbi Yochanan was sensitive to these particular verses because of his personal experiences. The Gemara in Berachos (5b) relates that Rebbi Yochanan lost ten sons but did not despair. He accepted the tragedies as Yisurin Shel Ahavah.

These themes of justified vs unjustified suffering permeate the theme of our dad.

We explore the writings of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira, the Rebbe of Piaseczno, who composed "Esh Kodesh," an extraordinary collection of sermons, in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust. This work is outstanding in its honesty, its power, and its religious and existential depths, especially considering the impossible and nightmarish circumstances of its writing.

Rebbe Nachman writes on the hiddenness of God using the same prooftext from Deut 321:21

Chagigah 4: Imbecile שׁוֹטֶה

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We mentioned that a deranged person does not have to appear in the Temple, as well as do any other mitzvah. Who is considered deranged? - One who goes alone at night to uninhabited places, sleeps in a cemetery, and tears his clothes for no reason. Do we need him to do all three?

Rav Huna and Rebbi Yochanan disagree about how many of these signs a person must display in order to be classified as a Shoteh.

Rav Huna says that one is not classified as a Shoteh until he performs all three strange actions. Rebbi Yochanan disagrees and says that a person has the status of a Shoteh even when he performs only one of the three actions.

We explore the notion of insanity, and the halachic dispensations thereof as well as the more recent implications of imbecility in western culture.

Chagigah 3: Hakhel

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A passage on our daf is quoted in the name of Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria, expounds the pasuk (Devarim 31:12) which describes how every Jewish person – man, woman and child – is obligated to travel to Jerusalem once in seven years for the mitzvah of hakhel (assembly).

While the men and women come to learn and to listen, what is the purpose of bringing children?

Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria explains that it is so that extra reward can be given to those who bring them.

We bring a number of commentators who attempt to explain this unique halachah, including the radical teaching of the Mei hashiloach Reb Mordechai Leiner the Izhbitzer Rebbe.

Chagigah 2: Visual Exceptions

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One who is blind in one of his eyes is exempt from the mitzva of appearance, as it is stated:

יז שָׁלֹשׁ פְּעָמִים, בַּשָּׁנָה--יֵרָאֶה, כָּל-זְכוּרְךָ, אֶל-פְּנֵי, הָאָדֹן יְהוָה.

17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

Ex 23:17

“Three occasions in the year all your males will appear [yera’e] before the Lord God”

Since there are no vowels in the text, this can be read as: All your males will see [yireh] the Lord God. This teaches that in the same manner that one comes to see, so he comes to be seen: Just as the usual way to see is with both one’s eyes, so too the obligation to be seen applies only to one who comes with the sight of both his eyes. Therefore, one who is blind in one eye is not obligated in the mitzva of appearance in the Temple.

We explore the notion of being seen by the divine and considering the need for binocular vision. What does recent research reveal and what are the spiritual insights regarding depth perception.

Moed Katan 29: Hadran

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Moed Katan 28: טוֹב לָלֶכֶת אֶל-בֵּית-אֵבֶל.

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It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Meir would say with regard to the verse:

ב טוֹב לָלֶכֶת אֶל-בֵּית-אֵבֶל, מִלֶּכֶת אֶל-בֵּית מִשְׁתֶּה--בַּאֲשֶׁר, הוּא סוֹף כָּל-הָאָדָם; וְהַחַי, יִתֵּן אֶל-לִבּוֹ.

2 It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart.

Eccl 7:2

“It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart”

What should the living lay to his heart? Matters relating to death. And these matters are as follows: He that eulogizes will be eulogized by others. He that buries others will be buried by others. He that loads many words of praise and tribute into the eulogies that he delivers for others will be similarly treated by others. He that raises his voice in weeping over others will have others raise their voices over him.

We explore the ironic mixture of fatalism and resistance in Kohelet through the lens of modern poets including Yehudah Amichai.

Moed Katan 27: אִי אַתֶּם רַחְמָנִים בּוֹ יוֹתֵר מִמֶּנִּי Grief and Belief

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It is written [Yirmiyah 22:10]: Do not cry for the dead, neither shall you shake your head for him. Do not cry for the dead means that one should not cry excessively, and do not shake your head means beyond measure.

The Gemora explains how this is applied: Three days for weeping and seven for lamenting and thirty to refrain from pressing clothes and cutting hair. From that point and on, the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: You are not more compassionate towards him than I.

We explore the notion of excessive mourning and the limits of grief from an archetypal perspective.

I was 17 when I first heard Jaqueline Du Pre play the Elgar Cello Concerto (the saddest piece of music), and weeped.

She died when I was 37 and I weeped again.

As a neurologist I realized how much she suffered with MS and how it robbed her of her divine gift, slowly agonizingly…

Yet our daf admonishes us to not mourn excessively, for אִי אַתֶּם רַחְמָנִים בּוֹ יוֹתֵר מִמֶּנִּי……

I am left only with questions, is human rachmonus different to divine?

Moed Katan 26: The Poetics of Grief

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Our Daf brings a passage in II Shmuel (1:11-12) that describes King David’s reaction to the news that King Saul and his son Yehonatan had been killed and that the army of the Jewish people had been defeated.

From the fact that David and his men tore their clothes, mourned and fasted, the Sages deduce that one is obligated in keriya (tearing one’s clothes) over the Nasi (King Saul), the Av Bet Din (Yehonatan), and news of tragedy (the Jewish people who lost the war).

We explore the scene where the Amaleki brings the news of Saul’s death and compare the discrepancies with the same narrative in the last chapter of I Samuel….how does the reader use them to uncover tensions in the set about what occurred and David’s ambivalence.

What does the lament tell us about the character of King David and how might that compare to the kings of England portrayed in Shakespeare's’ historical plays?

Moed Katan 25: Kiss of Death

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The mishna teaches that only the relatives of the deceased rend their clothes. The Gemara asks: And is this the case even if the deceased was a Torah Sage? But isn’t it taught otherwise in a baraita: When a Torah scholar dies, everyone is his relative.

We review the idea of the misas neshika... the kiss of death reserved for the righteous.. and cite a hesped for the Rov that evoked such memories.

Having discussed our daf’s minhagim on the death of a teacher and a Rebbe at the “moment of death” when one tears kriah, and having discussed the “kiss” the misas neshika in the bible and in midrash/Zohar, we now turn to the most infamous kiss of all… the betrayal by Judas Iscariot and how that fateful kiss has informed antisemitic tropes from the Church to Hitler for a millennium….

Moed Katan 24: Infant Loss

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The traditions associated with the burial and mourning of a baby who died less than 30 days after birth differ from normal customs. Specifically, the Gemara teaches that such a child is carried to the cemetery in a woman’s arms, rather than in a coffin, and the statements of consolation are not uttered, neither in the cemetery nor in the home.

These differences stem from the possibility that a child who perishes after less than one month is considered a stillborn.

We explore the particular halachos of fetal and newborn deaths then move on to how grief differs between fathers and mothers.

We review the neurobiology of grief and the functional anatomy that subtends this most excruciating loss imaginable.