Monthly Learning Forum by Rabbi Yaakov Kermaier: May 6, 2008

The Chosen and the Elected: Torah Perspectives on Democracy

Rabbi Kermaier opened by recounting an incident at the Yeshiva University Library as he was preparing this class. A security guard came through the library, somewhat agitated, and Rabbi Kermaier heard him command: “I want all the Jews out of the room.” It being the Yeshiva University Library, this was somewhat surprising, till Rabbi Kermaier realized the guard had said he wanted all the juice out of the room. Evidently, students had been smuggling juice into the library, contrary to the rules. Still, the incident gave some perspective on today’s class. In the United States, we do not expect Jews to be suddenly and arbitrarily ejected from a room. We should not take the blessings of our democracy for granted. Millions around the world who live under oppression view the United States as the dream, and we should be grateful for what the country has done for us.

Monthly Learning Forum by Rabbi Yaakov Kermaier: March 18, 2008

How many times is G-d mentioned in Megillat Esther? The obvious answer is zero, and that’s true for our Masoretic text. But there is also a Septuagint version of the Megillah, and there the name of G-d appears 50 times. Whereas the Chumash was translated into Greek in roughly 285-286 BCE, tradition says that Esther was translated in approximately 170 BCE, or over 200 years after the story it depicts had taken place.

Monthly Learning Forum by Rabbi Yaakov Kermaier: February 12, 2008

Gambling is an ancient pastime. In mythology, Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon divided the universe among them, sharing heaven, hell, and the sea, via roll of the dice. There is archaeological evidence of gambling among cavemen, bolstered by cave drawings. Dice were found in the ruins of Pompeii — some of them loaded. There is evidence of wagering on Chinese tile games going back to 2300 BCE.

Monthly Learning Forum by Rabbi Yaakov Kermaier: January 15, 2008

I. Background
In the winter of 166 BCE, agents of the Greek government arrived in Modi’in and called for Jews to bring sacrifices (possibly of pigs) to Zeus and in honor of Antiochus IV. This proved the last straw in the Greek campaign to force assimilation to Hellenic culture and led to the revolt of the Maccabees. When the first Jew came forth to accede to the Greek demand, Matityahu struck him down and announced: “Whoever is with G-d, follow me.” Matityahu and his Maccabee followers lived in the desert and fought a guerrilla war. Eventually, they triumphed over the Greeks, leading to the restoration of the Temple and the holiday of Chanukah.

Rabbi Kermaier’s Shabbat Shuva drasha discussed the modern shemita situation in light of the history of the first agricultural settlement in modern Zionism, Ekron, which was subsidized by Baron Rothschild and eventually renamed, in memory of his mother, Mazkeret Batya. Rabbi Kermaier summarized the history of the settlement’s founding, with much of the information also available here. The settlement began with 11 men. The thought was to have a minyan, and to assure that the minyan would remain even if one of the men succumbed to the difficult conditions that obtained.

Several years after Mazkeret Batya was founded, the shemita year of 5649 (1889) arrived. The first item on the source sheet is an excerpt from the announcement in Hatzvi that Rav Yitzchak Elchanan, among others (including Rav Shmuel Mohlever, who had been instrumental in founding Mazkeret Batya), had decided in favor of the heter mechira, the controversial procedure under which land in Israel is sold to a gentile in order to permit its being worked during shemita. (Please note, before printing the source sheet, that it contains the name of G-d on the second page.) On the other hand, the second item on page 1 of the source sheet contains a contrary proclamation from two of the gedolim in Yerushalayim, Rav Shmuel Salant and Rav Yehoshua Leib Diskin, opposed to the heter mechira. To Baron Rothschild’s disappointment and chagrin, the settlers of Mazkeret Batya decided to abide by the strict ruling of Rav Salant and Rav Diskin rather than rely upon the heter mechira.

On the second page of the source sheet, we see the Biblical sources for shemita and its connection with Shabbat. Indeed, the second page concludes with a Mechilta cited by Rashi to the effect that we must keep Shabbat even during the shemita year. That there was a hava amina to the contrary is an indication of how intertwined the two mitzvot are. The intertwining is further established in the Gemara from Rosh Hashana 9a cited on page 3, quoting Shemot 34:21, which conflates Shabbat and shemita. The comparison between the mitzvoth is further developed in a Minchat Chinuch on the question of whether shemita is an obligation on the person (gavra) or on the land (cheftza), upon which halachic distinctions turn. That Minchat Chinuch analogizes the obligation to let one’s animal rest on Shabbat — which cannot be circumvented by leasing the animal to a gentile — to the obligation to let the land rest on Shabbat.

Having discussed the heter mechira controversy applicable to Mazkeret Batya and the underpinnings of shemita and its connection to Shabbat, Rabbi Kermaier moved to the mussar portion of his drasha, discussing the relationship between shemita and teshuva. Whereas Shabbat tells us how to relate to our possessions, shemita requires something different, a severing of the relationship between us and our possessions. The shemita Jew, Rabbi Kermaier argued, is not concerned with wealth or poverty, good looks or bad looks, social status, or any such superficial matters. He lamented that on the Upper East Side it is easy to become concerned with social acceptability, and thus to compromise on standards of Shabbat observance or kashrut.

Rabbi Kermaier then turned the mussar discussion on himself. We should all ask ourselves, he said, whether we can be the shemita Jew. This summer, he and Elana spent much of August in Israel. During that time, Rabbi Kermaier took his two oldest children, Binyamin and Tzipora, to visit the kever of Zvi Arkin, a founder of Mazkeret Batya and an ancestor of Elana’s. Zvi Arkin is buried with various descendants, including three brothers who were all killed in the 1948 War of Independence. Rabbi Kermaier said he asked himself whether he was doing the right thing to live in chutz la’aretz, raising Arkin’s descendants outside the land that Arkin sacrificed to inhabit. He expressed the hope that we could all become shemita Jews, focused on what is essential, and merit a gemar chatima tova.

Monthly Learning Forum by Rabbi Yaakov Kermaier: November 6, 2007

The Land of Israel has its own version of Shabbat: the shemitta year, in which it is to lie fallow. Ideally, shemitta would still be observed in all its stringency. Over the years, accommodations have been made to permit the Zionist enterprise to exist in a modern economy. This year, the most famous accommodation of shemitta, the “heter mechira,” has been very controversial. The result has been not only a rupture in Israeli society but an undermining of the authority of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

Monthly Learning Forum by Rabbi Yaakov Kermaier: May 10, 2007

Background

President Bush established criteria for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research on August 9, 2001. The criteria he established at that time remain in place now. Essentially, he permitted federal funding for research on existing embryonic stem cell lines, but not lines coming from embryos harvested after August 9, 2001.

Both sides of the intense debate that preceded and followed this decision believe they are defending life. Supporters of embryonic stem cell research argue that cell-based therapies may assist those who suffer from Parkinson’s Disease (which afflicts one of 50 adults over 65), Alzheimer’s Disease, spinal cord injuries, certain cancers, and stroke. Opponents of embryonic stem cell research argue that the research involves destruction of life, with some contending it is outright murder and others saying it desensitizes society to the value of life.

Monthly Learning Forum by Rabbi Yaakov Kermaier: January 2007

Rabbi Kermaier led off today's discussion be referring to the recent execution of Saddam Hussein. Few would deny that he was a wanton murderer and cruel torturer, but, putting aside the method of his execution, was the execution itself justified? Many would say yes, but European nations and the Vatican said no. The Rabbi noted that halacha does not view a mass murderer, terrorist, or serial killer as more worthy of the death penalty than the murderer of a single individual, as the life of each human being has infinite value. He also noted that the Torah assigned capital punishment to offenses other than murder, such as Shabbat violation, adultery, and incest. But murder is unique because it is so disruptive to society and causes not only the victim but his potential progeny to be wiped out.