[Par-lite] Parshat Breishit - intro
Menachem Leibtag
tsc at bezeqint.net
Thu Oct 11 14:44:31 EDT 2012
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THE TANACH STUDY CENTER
[http://www.tanach.org]
In Memory of Rabbi Abraham Leibtag
Shiurim in Chumash & Navi by Menachem
Leibtag
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SEFER BREISHIT - Intro
There's a big difference between simply
reading the
Bible, and studying it. To help encourage
and facilitate the
study of Chumash, each week the Tanach Study
Center provides a
battery of questions on the weekly Torah
reading in addition
to [and in preparation for] several shiurim
[lectures] that
discuss its theme and content.
Our introductory set of questions will
begin with a short
explanation of why it makes sense that
Chumash should be
'studied' (and not just read), followed by a
discussion of the
methodology that we employ which forms the
backbone of these
study questions and shiurim.
NOT JUST A 'STORY BOOK'
Before opening a book of any sort, the
reader will
usually have certain expectations based on
the type of book
that he has chosen. For example, the reader
of a history book
expects to find historical information; while
the reader of a
science book expects to find scientific
facts; and certainly
someone who picks up a novel expects to find
drama, etc.
But what should we expect when we open a
Chumash? Is it
a 'history book' - the story of Jewish
people? Is it a book
of 'halacha' - laws that govern our life? Is
it book of
philosophy that discusses the relationship
between man and
God?
As Chumash is a book of 'nevu'a'
[prophecy], it would
only be logical for the reader to assume that
each book will
carry a prophetic message. Therefore, to get
a better idea of
what to expect when we read Chumash- we must
first discuss
what the word "nevu'a" means.
WHAT IS NEVU'A
The popular translation of nevu'a -
prophecy - is often
misleading, for it is usually understood as
the ability to see
(or predict) the future. However, in Tanach,
'predicting the
future' is rarely the primary mission of the
prophet.
In Hebrew the word 'niv' [nun. yud. bet]
means a saying
(or technically speaking - the movement of
lips). For
example, in Yeshayahu chapter 57, God is
described as 'borei
niv sefatayim' - He who created [or performs
acts of Creation]
with the movement of His lips. [See
Yeshayahu 57:19 and
its context, see also Mal'achi 1:12.]
Therefore, technically speaking, the
word nevu'a relates
to speech, and hence it makes more sense to
understand a navi
as a 'spokesman' for God. In this sense,
when a navi speaks
to the people, he is delivering God's
message. Certainly,
there may be times when his message may
include a prediction
of certain events, however his primary job is
to deliver God's
message to man.
Similarly, a 'navi Ba'al' - is a spokesman
for the Ba'al
god (see Melachim Aleph 18:22); while a 'navi
sheker' is one
who claims to be speaking in the name of God,
but instead is
making it up himself (see Yirmiyahu
27:14-15!) .
In other words, the Bible uses the word
"navi" in
reference to anyone speaking on behalf of any
god.
AHARON - the 'NAVI' of MOSHE
To clarify (and prove) this point, let's
bring an example
from a very interesting usage of the word
"navi", found at the
beginning of chapter seven in Sefer Shmot.
Recall from the story of the 'burning bush'
(see chapters 3
thru 6)) how God had commanded Moshe to
deliver His message to
Pharaoh. After failing his first mission (in
chapter five),
God commands him to confront Pharaoh once
again:
"And God said to Moshe, I am God - go speak
to Pharaoh
King of Egypt everything that I speak to
you." (Shmot
6:29)
In other words, God has charged Moshe with
the job of
begin His 'spokesperson'. Then note how
Moshe explains why
he thinks that he is not fit for this job:
"But Moshe appealed saying: 'hen ani aral
sefatayim' -
Behold I am of uncircumcised lips [i.e.
impeded speech],
and how shall Pharaoh listen [or understand
me]?"
(see Shmot 6:29-30).
To solve Moshe's problem, God provides
Moshe with a
solution, where Aharon will becomes Moshe
'spokesman'! Note
how the Torah uses the word navi in this
description:
"And God responded to Moshe, see - I have
appointed you
as Elokim to Pharaoh, but Aharon your
brother will be
your navi" [i.e. Aharon will become
Moshe's navi!]
You will say [to Aharon] everything that I
command you, and
Aharon your brother will speak unto
Pharoah." (see 7:1-2).
Because of Moshe's [legitimate]
complaint, God offers a
very logical solution. Moshe will remain
God's spokesman, but
now due to his 'speech problems', Moshe
himself needs a
spokesman! Towards that purpose, God
appoints Aharon to
become Moshe's navi, i.e. he will speak to
Pharaoh on behalf
of Moshe.
In the usual case of nevu'a - God has a
message that must
be delivered to the people, and hence need a
navi as His
spokesperson to deliver that message. Now,
Moshe himself
needs a 'spokesman' to deliver his words to
Pharaoh, hence he
will be like 'Elokim' and Aharon will be his
navi.
In summary, the word nevu'a implies a
message from God to
man, and the navi becomes the person who
delivers that
message. Hence, a sefer of nevu'a must be a
book that
delivers a message from God to man, delivered
by His
spokesperson - the navi.
Therefore, when we study a book of
nevu'a, we should
expect it to contain a message from God to
man.
However, when we read Chumash, that message
is often not
very explicit. Instead, we often find that
Chumash delivers
its message in a more implicit manner,
through a set of
stories - and not necessarily through an
explicit set of
commands.
The problem then becomes: how do we
decipher that message
from those stories, and how can we be sure
that our
interpretation is correct!
Through the centuries, it has been the
goal of the Rabbis
and the great commentators to attempt to the
best of their
ability to decipher God's message. Even
though there have
been many approaches, and wide variances of
opinions, most all
commentators began their study and base their
commentary on a
critical reading of the text (while taking
into consideration
the commentaries of the previous generations,
sometimes
agreeing and sometimes arguing).
Our contention is that to best
appreciate the works of
those commentators, and to be able to the
best of our ability
to understand God's message, we too must
first undertake a
critical reading of Chumash. By sharing the
same experience
of carefully reading every story, and
attempting to understand
the flow of topic and the underlying theme
that unfolds, we
increase our chances of properly
comprehending the
commentaries of previous generations, and
hopefully can reach
a better understanding of God's message to us
via His "nviim"
[prophets].
For example, as we study Sefer Breishit, we
must assume that
purpose of the Torah's presentation of the
story of Creation
and all of its subsequent stories, must
relate (in one form or
other) to a message that God wishes to convey
to man.
The goal of our questions for self study
will be to raise
certain points that may facilitate that
study, and enhance the
appreciation of the interpretations suggested
by the classical
commentators.
We conclude our introduction with an
explanation of a
methodology of study that relates to
'parshiot'.
THE IMPORTANCE OF 'PARSHIOT"
One of the most significant - but often
overlooked - ways
that Chumash conveys messages is through its
division into
parshiot.
First of all, don't let the word parshia
(small 'p') confuse
you with the name Parshat Ha-shavu'a (capital
'P')!
In our shiurim, we use the word "parshia"
in reference to
the 'paragraph' like divisions of the text
that are found in
the Sefer Torah. In contrast, the word
Parsha [with a capital
'P'] is used in reference to the weekly
shabbat Torah portion,
e.g., Noach, Lech Lecha, Vayera, etc.,
through which we
complete the entire Torah once a year.
From a thematic perspective, the parshia
divisions are very
important, for they were given by God to
Moshe Rabbeinu
together with the Torah! Therefore, if God
found it necessary
to provide us with parshia breaks to aid us
in our study of
His Torah, it only makes sense that we should
pay careful
attention to them when we study. In fact, in
his opening
commentary to the book of Vayikra, Rashi
himself provides us
with a very similar insight:
These short breaks were given [together
with the Torah by
God] to allow Moshe Rabbeinu the
opportunity to
contemplate from one parshia to the next,
[in order] to
understand the flow from one topic to the
next, [and if
this was necessary for Moshe Rabbeinu] then
even more so
- we who study Chumash must pay attention
to these
breaks!
(see Rashi's commentary to Vayikra,1:1).
In contrast, the 'Parshat Ha-shavu'a"
division of Chumash -
i.e. the weekly sedra (technically speaking,
Sedra is the
proper name for what we call Parsha) -
reflects a tradition
that began during the Babylonian exile, over
a thousand years
after the Torah was first given.
With this in mind, it's important to
clarify an important
point. Should one speak of the 'theme' of a
certain Parsha,
(e.g., the theme of Parshat Noach), this
statement can be
misleading, for God never composed Parshat
Noach (or Parshat
Lech Lecha etc.) by itself. Instead God gave
an entire Sefer
(book) to Moshe Rabbeinu. Hence, when
someone speaks of the
theme of a certain Sedra, he is simply
explaining why Chazal
chose to group together a certain set of
psukim together (over
others) to compose that weekly Torah reading.
On the other hand, when we speak of the
theme of a Sefer
(e.g., the theme of Sefer Breishit, Shmot,
etc.), we attempt
to uncover God's underlying message in that
Sefer. In other
words, that fact that God chose to include
all of the stories
in Sefer Breishit into one complete book
implies that it
should carry one basic underlying theme. In
fact, many
commentators (e.g. Ramban and Seforno in
their introductions
to each Sefer) attempt to uncover that theme.
This assumption is important for it
provides the basis for
the methodology that we employ in our weekly
shiurim. Our
analysis of parshiot will be helpful in our
attempt to uncover
the primary theme (or themes) of each Sefer;
and in turn we
will use those themes to help appreciate the
detail of its
various stories (and/or mitzvot).
Ptuchot & Stumot
As you are probably familiar, there are two
types of parshia
divisions
1. 'ptuchot' = open.
Indicated by a gap of blank spaces until
the end of a
line; the next parshia begins at the start
of the next
line. See board
2. 'stumot' = closed
Indicated by a gap of at least nine spaces;
the next
parshia can begin on that very same line.
See board 2
As a rule of thumb, a parshia ptucha
usually indicates a
major change of topic, while a parshia stuma
indicates a more
subtle one. As we will see, however, there
are many
exceptions.
These parshia breaks are so important that
a Sefer Torah
without them is 'pasul' (not valid). In this
regard, I
recommend that you read chapter eight in
Rambam's Hilchot
Sefer Torah where he not only explains the
importance of these
parshia breaks, but even lists each and every
one of them to
make sure that sofrim [scribes] will write
their Sifrei Torah
properly!
So what are the chapter divisions that we
are so familiar
with?
To the surprise of many students, even
though just about
every Chumash in print today uses a
chapter/verse system, this
division of Chumash into chapters is not a
Jewish tradition.
It is, however, a very useful convention, as
this system has
been used by just about every publisher of
the Bible
(regardless of religion or language) since
the invention of
the printing press (15th century).
Therefore, as we study Chumash, its division
into chapters is
a very useful convention, and a helpful
reference that
reflects how other people may have understood
(or
misunderstood!) its topics, but it certainly
does not carry
any prophetic significance.
In contrast, the division of Chumash into
Seforim [books]
and parshiot is of paramount prophetic
significance. Hence,
their consideration will often be a primary
focus in our
shiurim. `
Tanach Koren
To easily identify these important parshia
breaks when
studying Chumash, it is very useful to use
either a 'Tanach
Koren', or (what is known as) 'Rav Breuer's
Tanach'.
The Tanach Koren (named for its beautiful
Hebrew font
designed for that publication) was first
published in the
sixties, and is probably the most widely used
Tanach in Israel
today, both in schools and shuls. More
recently Mossad ha-Rav
Kook also published a complete Tanach based
on the famous
manuscript of the Keter Aram Tzova, and
edited after
exhaustive research by Rav Mordechai Breuer,
one of Israel's
most renowned Bible scholars. Both
publications provide the
reader with a very accurate and clear
printing. [Which Tanach
is 'better' has become a 'hot topic' in the
Yeshiva world, and
therefore, I refrain from taking a stand.]
It is difficult to explain why, but rest
assured that once
you become accustomed to studying with this
style of Tanach,
you will quickly find how useful a tool it
becomes for
analytical study of Chumash, especially in
regard to
appreciating parshiot.
In some Chumashim, and quite often in
Mikra'ot Gedolot
versions, the parshia divisions are noted by
letters instead
of spaces. Usually the Hebrew letter 'peyh'
notes where a
parsha ptucha should be (see board 3), and
the Hebrew letter
'samech' notes where a parsha stuma should be
(see board 4).
Long parshiot and short ones!
Even though we have noted that parshiot act
more or less
like paragraph breaks, we find numerous
exceptions - that are
thematically very significant. We will
demonstrate this by
undertaking a quick analysis of the parshiot
found in the
first five chapters of Sefer Breishit.
Using a Tanach Koren, take a quick glance
at the story of
Creation in chapter one. Note how each day
of Creation forms
a single 'parshia'. This reflects a very
logical 'paragraph
like' division.
Next, take a look at what happens in
chapter two! A new
parshia begins with the story of Gan Eden in
2:4 and continues
for some forty psukim - all the way until
3:15, and there we
find parsha stuma!
Then, we find another parsha stuma, but
this one (to our
surprise) is only one pasuk long! The next
parshia is also
stuma and continues for five psukim until
3:21.
At first glance, this division seems to be
rather absurd!
Why should some forty psukim continue without
any parshia
break, even though there are plenty of spots
in between that
would easily qualify for a paragraph break?
Then, immediately
afterward we find a mere pasuk that becomes
its own parshia
(i.e. 3:16).
Clearly, these examples prove that a
parshia break is not
always the equivalent of a paragraph break.
Instead,
sometimes the Torah will intentionally group
numerous psukim
together without any parshia break to
emphasize a certain
point, and sometimes, the Torah will
intentionally provide a
parshia break at a spot that does not
necessarily require one.
However, when the Torah does this, we should
assume that it
carries some thematic significance.
Let's return now to this example and
attempt to understand
why. Note that the lengthy parshia
(2:4-3:15) contains not
only the story of God's creation of man in
Gan Eden (i.e. 2:4-
25, and hence the chapter break at 2:25), but
also the story
of the 'nachash' and man's sin (3:1-15).
The lack of a parshia break between these
two stories
already alludes to the intrinsic connection
between them, i.e.
between the story of man's sin in Gan Eden
(chapter 3), and
the very creation of Gan Eden (in chapter 2).
Immediately afterward we find a one line
parshia that
describes Eve's punishment, and then another
very short
parshia that describes Adam's punishment, and
then yet another
parshia that describes mankind's punishment
(i.e. the
banishment from Gan Eden in (3:22-24)!
Clearly, the fact that the Torah delimits
each form of
punishment with its own parshia break alludes
to the thematic
importance of aschar va-onesh' [Divine
retribution] in Chumash
- the concept that God holds man responsible
for his deeds.
As we should expect, this will emerge as a
primary Biblical
theme, and these short parshia breaks help
emphasize its
importance.
Let's return now to Parshat Breishit. Note
that chapter
four - the story of Cain and Abel - forms its
own parshia.
Then in chapter five, we find a separate
parshia for each one
of the ten generations from Adam to Noach.
Note, however,
that all of these parshiot from man's exile
from Gan Eden (see
3:22) until the story of Flood (see 6:5) are
parshiot stumot
(see board 11)! As we shall see, this too
will be
thematically significant.
We will return to these topics in our shiur
on Parshat
Breishit, but to help you prepare for that
shiur (and for all
the remaining shiurim on Sefer Breishit), we
conclude with
some pointers for self-study that will apply
what we have
discussed thus far, and as usual, some more
questions for
preparation.
======
QUESTIONS FOR SELF STUDY - Intro:
==================================
Finding the Theme of Sefer Breishit: A
self-study guide
With this background in mind, I'd like to
introduce you to a
methodology that I have found very useful
when teaching. For
the most basic level of preparation for
class, I ask the
students to scan through an entire Sefer (or
at least one
section at a time), noting its division into
parshiot. Then,
we take a sheet of blank paper, and along the
left margin, we
prepare a long list of short blank lines.
Then, after reading (or scanning) each
parshia, we attempt
to summarize its primary topic in four words
or less! For
some parshiot this is very easy, for others
it is quite
difficult (but try your best). As we
proceed, you'll
understand why it is so important to be
concise.
Then, we record that brief (one phrase)
summary on the
blanks lines on the sheet that we prepared;
one line for each
parshia.
Ideally, we should do this list for the
entire Sefer, but
usually this is not very practical, so we
choose instead one
unit within the Sefer at a time. For
example, in Sefer
Breishit, we begin with the first twelve
chapters.
After our listing of the parshiot is
complete, we
contemplate the list, looking to group
together only the most
obvious units. For example, when studying
Parshat Breishit,
the seven parshiot of the seven days of
creation form a
distinct sub-unit. Similarly, the nine
parshiot of toladot in
chapter five also form a distinct unit.
To indicate these grouping on our list, we
mark these units
with 'greater than' signs. At the end of
that sign, we write
a short phrase that describes that group.
The following example will illustrate this,
as it shows the
results of this method for the first three
chapters of Sefer
Breishit .
day one \
day two \
day three \
day four --- 7 days of Creation
day five /
day six /
day seven /
Man in Gan Eden \
Eve's punishment \__ Gan Eden
Adam's punishment /
Expulsion /
Usually, you will quickly see how several
parshiot
immediately group together, while many others
stand alone.
Again, be careful to group parshiot together
only according to
the most obvious groupings. If it's not
obvious, then don't
group it.
For example, the parshia of the Cain & Abel
story (chapter
four) would stand alone, since it's not part
of the Gan Eden
narrative, nor is it part of the toladot in
chapter five.
Upon completing this process for the entire
list, we reach
the second level, for a new list has now
formed towards the
right, reflecting the summaries of the most
obvious sub-units
from level one.
Now we treat the new level in the same way
that we treated
the first level. We analyze our new list,
again looking to
group together the most obvious units. When
we finish level
two, we proceed to level three, etc.; and
slowly, our list
begins to look like a tournament. However,
as we proceed from
level to level, we need to apply a bit more
creative thinking
when grouping into sub-units, for the
connection from one unit
to the next will not always be so obvious.
In essence, we begin by constructing a
table of contents
for the book, and slowly (by taking theme
into consideration)
we attempt to turn this table of contents
into a structured
[and titled] outline.
In case you didn't catch on yet, our
assumption is that if
we continue this process, sooner or later
there will be a
'winner' (on the right margin) - i.e. a short
phrase that
identifies a common theme for all of the
sub-units of the
entire Sefer - and that 'winner' is none
other than the
primary theme of the Sefer.
This methodology is far from an 'exact
science', and it gets
complicated at times (and doesn't always work
so smoothly);
but it certainly helps the student follow the
thematic flow of
a Sefer.
As we will see in future shiurim, it
becomes an excellent
tool to help appreciate not only what the
various commentaries
say, but also to understand why they argue.
As preparation for our shiurim over the
next three weeks,
try to complete this style of analysis for
all of Sefer
Breishit, or at least for the first twelve
chapters. Don't
expect for everything to be easy, and don't
expect to find
simple answers all of the time, but try your
best. As you
study, be sure to relate to the questions for
self study that
will follow in the next email.
b'hatzlacha,
menachem
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