mitzvas milah and its origins

last year i raised the question concerning the origins of mitzvas milah.  i stumbled across a teshuva of the rambam that directly addresses this topic (start at top right column):

 

mabul - will hashem really never bring another one

We are familiar with the story of the mabul.  This question sometimes gets a bad rap, but it must be asked.  Everything in the Torah teaches us some halacha, hashkafa, or mussar. What does the mabul  teach us?

The Rambam explains that the mabul is fundamental to Judaism - in fact - it is the basis for one of the thirteen cardinal principles of faith:

והיסוד העשירי שהוא יתעלה יודע מעשה בני אדם ולא הזניחם, ולא כדעת האומר עזב ה' את הארץ, אלא כמו שאמר גדול העצה ורב העליליה אשר עיניך פקוחות על כל דרכי בני האדם, ואמר וירא ה' כי רבה רעת האדם בארץ, ואמר זעקת סדום ועמורה כי רבה, הרי אלו מורים על היסוד העשירי הזה.

The tenth principle of faith, commonly misunderstood to be that Hashem knows what goes on in this world, is actually much more than that.  (Hashem's knowledge of what goes on is really assumed by the first few ikkarim of G-d's existence and ultimate perfection.)  The tenth ikkar is that Hashem cares about, and therefore reacts to what we do.  Hashem is not, as per the deistic conception, a watchmaker who leaves his creations to do as they please - rather, he cares that we behave in certain ways, and will react to encourage obedience and discourage rebellion.

The proof is the mabul - Hashem saw the evil of man in the time preceding the mabul - and he didn't just shrug it off.  To the contrary, Hashem destroyed the entire world because of it.

How ironic, then, that the force of this ikkar seems to be blunted by Hashem's subsequent promise to never destroy the world, (seemingly) even if we were to deserve it.  Are we then back to the watchmaker model, where Hashem is no longer mashgiach in the happenings of the world, or at least, only to a much lesser extent?

The question is really stronger than that, though, because the rambam takes the lesson of the mabul further in his yad hachazaka (teshuva 3:1):

אדם שעונותיו מרובין על זכיותיו מיד הוא מת ברשעו שנאמר על רוב עונך. וכן מדינה שעונותיה מרובין מיד היא אובדת שנאמר זעקת סדום ועמורה כי רבה וגו'. וכן כל העולם כולו אם היו עונותיהם מרובין מזכיותיהן מיד הן נשחתין שנאמר וירא ה' כי רבה רעת האדם. ושקול זה אינו לפי מנין הזכיות והעונות אלא לפי גודלם. יש זכות שהיא כנגד כמה עונות שנאמר יען נמצא בו דבר טוב. ויש עון שהוא כנגד כמה זכיות שנאמר וחוטא אחד יאבד טובה הרבה. ואין שוקלין אלא בדעתו של אל דעות והוא היודע היאך עורכין הזכיות כנגד העונות:

The Rambam writes that an individual who sins will inevitably die from his sins.  (The hebrew is miyad -- see here where they explain that as inevitably.  Its the best explanation I've seen so far, though I'm certainly open to other possibilities.)  Similarly, a wicked province will inevitably be destroyed, and if the world were to become more bad than good, the world would inevitably be destroyed.  Proof: the mabul - but Hashem promised to never destroy the world again?

Its important to understand where the Rambam is coming from, and why the question is more on the havtacha of the keshes than on the rambam himself.  Sevara is squarely with the rambam:  If we believe in hashgacha, and we believe in din, how can Hashem promise to not destroy the world even if it deserves it?  That violates the Rambam's ikkarim of hashgacha and tzedek!

In the back of the frankel rambam they ask this question, and suggest that perhaps Hashem's havtacha was only to not destroy the world through water - but he could still destroy it through other means.  This is certainly a possible answer, but it makes G-d's havatcha and seeming consolation to Noach a farce -- who cares that Hashem won't bring a mabul if he will instead just bring a giant volcano?

I'm still looking for answers, and I'm open to suggestions.  But I think the following might be the answer.

The Chayei Adam brings that because the keshes is a siman that Hashem really wants to destroy the world, it is a siman ra and one who sees it shouldn't point it out to his friend.  Its not obvious that the keshes is a siman ra; even if it is, I still believe the chayei adam is incorrect.

The Seforno writes:  והיתה לאות ברית. בהיות הקשת כפולה כי אמנם נלאו חכמי המחקר לתת טעם לסדר צבעי הקשת השנית, אשר הוא על הפך סדר צבעי הקשת הראשונה המורגלת, והיא תהיה אות לצדיקי הדור שדורם חייב, כאמרם "כלום נראתה הקשת בימיך" (כתובות עז ב), ויתפללו ויוכיחו וילמדו דעת את העם:

The whole point of the keshes is to inspire teshuva - because of that, it davka is important to spread the news of a rainbow so that people know that Hashem is angry and we need to do teshuva.

The seforno goes a step further in his understanding of the keshes, and this I think will answer for the rambam:   וראיתיה לזכור ברית עולם. אשגיח במסובב ממנה, והוא תפלת הצדיקים ועמדם בפרץ למען אשיב חימה מהשחית, כמו זוכר "ברית עולם":

Hashem didn't make any blanket promise to not destroy the world.  The keshes inspires teshuva - Hashem will see that teshuva, and because of that teshuva, he won't destroy the world.  If c''v that teshuva would not materialize, then it is scary to think about what could happen.  Because as the Rambam told us: וכן כל העולם כולו אם היו עונותיהם מרובין מזכיותיהן מיד הן נשחתין שנאמר וירא ה' כי רבה רעת האדם.

Whats the moral of the story?  The next halacha in rambam:

לפיכך צריך כל אדם שיראה עצמו כל השנה כולה כאילו חציו זכאי וחציו חייב. וכן כל העולם חציו זכאי וחציו חייב. חטא חטא אחד הרי הכריע את עצמו ואת כל העולם כולו לכף חובה וגרם לו השחתה. עשה מצוה אחת הרי הכריע את עצמו ואת כל העולם כולו לכף זכות וגרם לו ולהם תשועה והצלה שנאמר וצדיק יסוד עולם זה שצדק הכריע את כל העולם לזכות והצילו. ומפני ענין זה נהגו כל בית ישראל להרבות בצדקה ובמעשים טובים ולעסוק במצות מראש השנה ועד יום הכפורים יתר מכל השנה. ונהגו כולם לקום בלילה בעשרה ימים אלו ולהתפלל בבתי כנסיות בדברי תחנונים ובכיבושין עד שיאור היום

(parenthetically, this rambam answers a question people always ask:  why do we act differently during aseres yemei hateshuva - isn't it just a game?  The answer is that we're trying to chap one more mitzvah, one more zechus, to save the world.  Do we appreciate that?  We should --  its not a joke).

This is hard to internalize - its quite harsh.  But with G-d's help, we should all merit to be a tzaddik yesod olam.

end of yom tov season

its always sad - though I dont know whether that stems from a reluctance to again face reality (bad) or something more genuine.

Over this sukkos, I theorized that the minhag to dance before the torah on simchas torah and the hakafos of simchas torah are in reality two separate minhagim - i believe this is meduyak in shulchan aruch and in the darchei moshe, and if you think about, theres one point which clinches this argument:  since when do you 'dance' with the torah by walking it around the bimah in a circle -- thats not dancing!

Hakafos, it is clear, stem from hoshanos - as we say in hakafos, ana hashem hoshia na...  We do hoshanos with lulav and esrog, and simcha is an inherent part of the daled minim (as per the pasuk usmachtem lifnei hashem shivas yomim).  While on rosh hashana and yom kippur, we cry out to g-d to save us out of yirah, in the hoshanos of sukkos, which culminate in the hoshanos / hakafos of simchas torah, we daven for hashem to save us with simcha. (I think the excessive emphasis on 'dancing' really takes away from this powerful point.)

G-d should grant us all meaningful and successful months ahead, and a speedy rebuilding of the beis hamkidash in our days.

Back to Mishkan, relationship to sukkos

Some while ago I wrote this piece about mishkan and the real machlokes between rashi an the ramban.  This is a short addendum to that connecting it to sukkos.

This also relates to my speech last year sukkos (here) about why sukkos is in tishrei and not in nissan.

I have a simple question:  we just had yom kippur 3 days ago. What do you think - did Hashem forgive us, or not forgive us?

People sometimes get so caught up in their personal sins / forgiveness, that they forget that yom kippur is equally (if not more) important as a day of atonement for klal yisrael as a whole.  So did Hashem forgive us, klal yisrael?  Did he, or did he not, say salachti kidvarecha as we prayed that he would at the very onset of yom kippur?

Well, on the one hand, there are so many midrashim about the confidence klal yisrael has going into din.  Lech echol bisimcha lachmecha - rejoice, for surely kvar ratza ha-elokim es maasecha.  But lets look again at the ramban from the mishkan piece above:

ואמר לכולם ענין המשכן אשר נצטוה בו מתחלה קודם שבור הלוחות, כי כיון שנתרצה להם הקב"ה ונתן לו הלוחות שניות וכרת עמו ברית חדשה שילך השם בקרבם, הנה חזרו לקדמותם ולאהבת כלולותם, ובידוע שתהיה שכינתו בתוכם כענין שצוהו תחלה, כמו שאמר (לעיל כה ח) ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם, ולכן צוה אותם משה עתה בכל מה שנצטוה מתחלה:

'Once Hashem forgave them, it is clear and obvious that his shechinah will again rest among them as originally intended, and thus Moshe immediately preceded to begin mileches hamishkan.'

If Hashem forgave us, then wouldn't we have a beis hamikdash?  After all, we believe that the reason we don't have a beis hamikdash is due to our sins - so if we have no sins, then where is our beis hamikdash?!

I believe this is a tremendous raayah to shittas rashi (again from the mishkan piece).  Yes, Hashem forgave us, and wasn't meifer his bris with us.  But that doesn't mean we're back to where we were before, with Hashem coming to be mashreh his shechinah amongst us with a beis hamikdash.  The fact that bnei yisrael were able to recover from cheit ha-egel to the extent that they were able to build the mishkan was special above and beyond ordinary teshuvah -- as rashi said, it was a special eidus that hashem truly forgave the cheit ha-egel.  We, li-daavoneinu, don't seem to be zocheh to this special kapparah.

Thinking in this way really transforms the way I view a large segment of the Jewish calendar.   (Just as a hakdamah, there is a machlokes in chazal how many times moshe went up to har sinai.  rashi says 3, but the ramban quotes a deah in chazal which the gra accepts as correct that moshe went up two times.  it doesn't fundamentally change what I'm about to say, but its definitely easier to assume like the gra.  So we will).

On the 17th of tammuz, bnei yisrael do the unthinkable and break the bris they made just a few weeks earlier at har sinai, and worship a golden calf.  Every year, shiva assar bitammuz heralds in a bad time for the Jewish people.  We go through a three weeks, culminating in tisha b'av, when bnei yisrael did cheit hameraglim (not the same year -but not important for now).  This three week period doesn't exist in isolation - it really is (unfortunately) the culmination of a year of sin, a year in which the beis hamikdash has not been rebuilt because of our aveiros.  And after such a year of sin, like klal yisrael in the midbar, we may very well (chas vishalom) deserve death.

Rosh Chodesh Elul: Moshe Rabbeinu goes up to har sinai to plead with Hashem for 40 days to spare the Jewish people.  And every year, on rosh chodesh elul, we begin with extra davening (and selichos for some) to also plead for our lives.  When Moshe goes up to har sinai, the kol shofar is heard: as the rambam writes: עורו ישינים משנתכם ונרדמים הקיצו מתרדמתכם וחפשו במעשיכם וחזרו בתשובה וזכרו בוראכם -the shofar was a wake up call:  Moshe is going to daven, but if the people don't do teshuvah, it will all be in vain.  We begin blowing the shofar on rosh chodesh elul, culminating in our tekios on rosh hashanah, for the same reason: we need to do teshuvah so that hashem wont destroy us after the year of sin and its culmination in the three weeks.

Yom Kippur: Hashem teaches Moshe the yud gimmel middos harachamim and grants atonement: salachti kidvarecha.  Every year, our selichos culminate in the selichos of neilah - kimo shehodata le-anav mikedem... We beg Hashem to remember the yud gimmel middos he taught Moshe Rabbeinu and to forgive us with them.

And here, as we mentioned, the parallel breaks.  If we had truly succeeded on yom kippur, we should have been zocheh to a beis hamikdash.  But we didn't  truly succeed - and that should leave us broken.  Is there any consolation, a small ray of light that we can cling to?

Thats where sukkos comes in.  The Gra explains that sukkos is in tishrei and not in nissan because it is a zecher to the return of the ananei hakavod after Hashem forgave us on yom kippur.   We don't have a mishkan / beis hamikdash.  But we do have the ananei hakavod - the sukkah in your backyard.

כֹּה אָמַר יְקֹוָק זָכַרְתִּי לָךְ חֶסֶד נְעוּרַיִךְ אַהֲבַת כְּלוּלֹתָיִךְ לֶכְתֵּךְ אַחֲרַי בַּמִּדְבָּר בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא זְרוּעָה - the mishkan is hashem's way of coming to live with the Jewish people - that we don't have.  So instead we say, "fine.  If Hashem won't come to live with us, we'll have to follow after him"  לֶכְתֵּךְ אַחֲרַי בַּמִּדְבָּר - we build a sukkah to go out and follow Hashem in the desert.  The return of the ananei hakavod after the cheit ha-egel is our ray of hope thats left with no beis hamikdash - it's Hashem's hand, beckoning us to follow after him.  He's not yet willing to come live with us, but he's not leaving us behind - he gives us the ananei hakavod so that we will follow after him, and one day,  catch up with him.   That day should come very soon.

Chag kasher visameach!