Avot184
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BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI
of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel
RABIN MISHNAH STUDY GROUP
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Today's shiur is dedicated by Andrew Hoffman in memory of his father, Ronald Hoffman, Reuven Chaim ben Yaakov, whose yahrzeit was yesterday, 15 Adar, (Shushan Purim).
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TRACTATE AVOT, CHAPTER THREE, MISHNAH TWELVE (recap):
Rabbi El'azar ha-Moda'i says: One who desecrates [Israel's] sancta, who despises the holy days, who shames another in public, who abrogates the covenant of Father Abraham, and who relates to the Torah inappropriately – even if he is possessed of Torah [learning] and good deeds he shall have no share in the next world.
EXPLANATIONS (continued):
14:
Who abrogates the Covenant of Father Abraham: this is not to be understood as a general condemnation of religious infidelity; it refers to the specific action of 'undoing' the covenant of circumcision. 15:
God further said to Abraham,"As for you, you and your offspring to come throughout the ages shall keep My covenant. Such shall be the covenant between Me and you and your offspring to follow which you shall keep: every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin,and that shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. And throughout the generations, every male among you shall be circumcised at the age of eight days… Thus shall My covenant be marked in your flesh as an everlasting pact. And if any male who is uncircumcised fails to circumcise the flesh of his foreskin,that person shall be cut off from his kin; he has broken My covenant."
And the Torah [Genesis 17:23-27] then relates how Abraham fulfilled these instructions:
Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, and … every male in Abraham’s household,and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that very day,as God had spoken to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. Thus
Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on that very day; and all his household … were circumcised with him.
16:
Throughout the ages circumcision of males was regarded as the physical sign of the national covenant between God and the Jewish people. In earlier times Israel was well aware that some of the surrounding peoples – such as the Philistines – did not practice circumcision and this was looked upon as a sign of their spiritual inferiority, a reason for religious derision. (David ridicules Goliath as being "this uncircumcised Philistine who has taunted the ranks of the living God" [1Samuel 17:26, 36]. And in Isaiah 52:1 the prophet promises that nevermore shall "uncircumcised and impure" enter Jerusalem. Many other examples could be cited.) 17:
In those days lawless men came forth from Israel, and misled many, saying, "Let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles round about us, for since we separated from them many evils have come upon us." This proposal pleased them, and some of the people eagerly went to the king [Antiochus]. He authorized them to observe the ordinances of the Gentiles. So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, according to Gentile custom, and removed the marks of circumcision, and abandoned the holy covenant. They joined with the Gentiles and sold themselves to do evil.
18:
This tendency was not unknown also in the days of Rabbi El'azar ha-Moda'i, the author of our mishnah. In Avot 078 I described the situation in Eretz Israel which led to the outbreak of the Bar-Kokhba revolt in 132 CE. But, at the same time there were many Romanophile Jews who behaved in the same way as their ancestors had done some 300 years previously: because the Romans so heartily despised circumcision there were Jews who tried to hide the 'covenant of the flesh' and to appear physically uncircumcised. To be continued. DISCUSSION:
In Avot 179, I mentioned the fact that Rambam abolished the silent Amidah on Shabbat and YomTov.
Derek Fields writes: The reason being that congregants, having presumably said their Amidah individually, felt no compulsion to listen and respond to that of the Shatz [cantor]. I have been to many services in North American Conservative congregations in which the custom is to do a Heicha Kedusha and omit the rest of the repetition. I have identified many reasons for this practice, one of which is to reduce the length of the service. Given the low level of liturgical literacy, I would think that Rambam’s solution, to have a full "repetition" and eliminate the individual Amidah would be a much better solution for those congregations in which they feel compelled to choose between one and the other. Many congregants aren’t able to actually pray the Amidah on their own but would be able to answer Amen to that of the Shatz. Moreover, hearing the liturgy on a regular basis would increase literacy and might, thereby, increase concern for the activity of prayer. I respond: What Derek writes makes a great deal of sense in some circumstances. However, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement in America disagrees:
The silent Amidah is an important part of congregational worship and should not be omitted…
However, the decisions of the CJLS are only recommendations to local rabbis and are not binding. (On several occasions I have made public my view that a few of the decisions of the CJLS over the decades have been erroneous.)
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