JACOB JR, MY JEWISH WORLD. RASHI AND THE FIRST COMMENTARY

Rashi Synagogue - Worms/Germany

Monday, Cheshvan 20, 5777. November 21, 2016.

Shalom! World. 

Rashi Synagogue - Worms/Germany

Rashi asks a question about the first verse of the the first chapter of the first book of the Torah, "In the beginning G'd created Heaven and earth." Rashi's question is, why does the Torah begin with a description rather than with commandments? Since the Torah is basically a book of commandments and a guide as to how we should behave inn our daily life, the Torah should get right down to instructing us on our behavior. And yet it begins with a lengthy description of creation and the history of what happened from creation until the giving of the Torah. Rashi answers that this was done because there would come a time when the nations would accuse the Jews of being crooks and impperialists. They would say, "You stole the land from the nations!" Therefore, the Torah begins with the story of creation so that we will know how to respond to this change. 

We will say: G'd created Heaven and earth. Earth belongs to G'd. G'd gave it to the Canaanites for a while, then he took it from them and gave it to us." So our answer is that we can't "steal" the land because it belongs to G'd, and G'd gives it to whomever he wants. 

Rashi Synagogue - Worms/Germany

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, commenting on this Rashi, which is basically a quote from the Talmud, doesn''t say "the land of  Israel." It doesn't say we will be accused of stealing "the Land of Israel" - it says that we will be accused of stealing the land of nations. What is "the land of the nations"? In addition, Rashi doesn't say that is the response to the accusation of an anti-Semite. This is a response to the Jew who thinks that the anti-Semite in this case might be correct. Why would a Jew agree with an anti-Semite? For this, we need to understand exactly what is was that happened at Mt. Sinai.

When the Jews left Egypt, they were told by Moses that they had to leave Egypt because the Egyptians were not a holy people and they, the Jews, were to become a holy people, a kingdom of priests. How was this going to happen? By receiving the Torah at mt. Sinai. So the Jewish people came to Mt. Sinai expecting to hear "Heavenly things." But what were they actually going to hear? They were going to hear, "Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Honor your mother and father." They would't have survived the schock.


Therefore, they needed some kind of introduction, some kind of warning that what was about to be revealed was going to  sound very simple and down to earth. They needed such a warning because they were expecting spiritual, holy, Heavenly things, and for good reason - they had just been told that they had to leave Egypt because they were a holy people. They were not going to understand these "pedestrian" commandments; they'd think, "Here we're gathered at Mt. Sinai to become a holy people, and we're told not to steal?! You told us not to work on Shabbos, but what about the rest of the week? If we're a Heavenly people, we shouldn't work on any of the days! If we're a Heavenly people, it's not enough to say 'don't steal' - we shouldn't eat at all! What do You mean eat kosher animals? How does that make us holy? We shouldn't eat at all! We should be fasting as much as possible, and if  that means dying, so what? We belong in Heaven anyway!" In short, what they would say is: "If we re a Heanvenly people, then what are we doing on earth? Why are we engaged in earthy activities?"

Therefore, it's not only the anti-Semite, but also the Jews who is bothered by this question of Jewish people occupying earthly land, and the Jews thinks: "Wait a minute. We're trespassing. We are taking away the land of the nations."

Mikveh - Rashi Synagogue

Which nations? You name it. Wherever Jews have gone, they've been accused of taking away someone's land, of trespassing. We went to Spain. We were told, "You can't stay here, this is not your place." We went to France, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Russia. They each had their expulsion dates when Jews were thrown out because we were occuppying someone else's land and we had to move on. Every country we've been to has made the same argument, and the argument is: "You are a Heanvenly people, it says so in the Torah. So fine, go to Heaven. But if you're going to live on earth and be normal human beings, then you're trespassing. This is our property. It belongs to the nations of the earth."

Shalom! Aleichem.

Suporte cultural:  Jacob Jr. B.A.C.E., avec L'Integration d'Association avec Israel et dans le Monde/Cz.