Giyyur 016

(For the Hebrew text of this passage please click here.)

16:
We are studying how those born Jewish are expected to relate to Jews of choice, converts. In Giyyur 013 we learned that the Torah forbids us to speak in a disparaging manner to a convert. Such a manner of speaking is called ona'ah in Hebrew. We have seen that in many places the Torah commands a respectful and kindly approach towards those Jews who were not born Jewish. It is with the prohibition of ona'ah in the case of a ger as background that we must consider an episode recorded in the Gemara [Yoma 71b]. The relating of this episode is happily most apposite for this time of the year.

17:
On Yom Kippur, during the Musaf service, we read what is called Seder Avodah. This refers to the ceremony that took place in the Bet Mikdash when it was still in existence. The very last time this ceremony was carried out was on September 14th 69 CE. However, the episode which concerns us at this time took place about a century before then, sometime during the last third of the first century BCE.

18:
The Yom Kippur ceremonies that took place in the Bet Mikdash were impressive and dramatic. The High Priest was required to lead the ceremonies in person. (On other days he could appoint a deputy.) He had been coached in his part in the ceremonies for the past week. Three times during the ceremonies he was required to change his robes for white linen; three times during the ceremonies he was required to bathe in a mikveh; three times during the ceremonies he made confession before God using the ineffable Name. But the most dramatic moment in all of these ceremonies was the moment when the High Priest, alone, entered into the Holy of Holies. The people in the courtyard were anxious for him for they believed that if he were found wanting in any way he would not leave that holiest of places alive.

19:
The Gemara [Yoma 70a] tells us that after the High Priest returned from the Holy of Holies

We can imagine that the High Priest must have been in a state of elation at this time, being escorted home by a joyous throng of friends, well-wishers, and just ordinary members of the public who had been present in the courtyard of the Temple during the ceremonies.

20:
The Gemara [Yoma 71b] tells us that during this happy procession in the particular year in question there was an incident.

This account needs some explanation. Shemayah and Avtalyon were the joint heads of the Sanhedrin. (You will find an explanation of this joint leadership in Avot 027 in the Discussion section. You can find much more information about the tenure of Shemayah and Avtalyon in Avot 043 and the following shiurim – up to Avot 051.) Shemayah and Avtalyon were the teachers of the great sage Hillel.

21:
The Gemara [Sanhedrin 96b] tells us that several personalities known to us from the Bible as great adversaries and persecutors of Israel had descendents who were great Torah scholars!

"The descendents of Haman" who taught Torah in Bné-Berak is apparantly a reference to Rabbi Akiva. But what concerns our present story is the fact that Shemayah and Avtalyon are described as descendents of the Assyrian king Sennacherib (7th century BCE). This is why the High Priest in our story refers to them disparagingly as 'descendents of non-Jews' – reminding them of the fact that one of their remotest ancestors was a wicked non-Jew.

22:
In Avot 056 we learned one of the great teachings of Hillel, who followed Shemayah and Avtalyon:

In the shiur I mentioned above I wrote:

In our classic sources Aaron is seen as a paragon of the virtue of being a peacemaker. Peace, as such, is one of the greatest desiderata that rabbinic Judaism knows … Aaron as the prototypical flagbearer of this desideratum finds an origin in biblical verses [Malachi 2:5-7] where the prophet sings the praises of the priesthood in its heyday. (Aaron the elder brother of Moses and first High Priest, is the progenitor of all the priesthood):

You will also find in that shiur a classic example of Aaron acting as a peacemaker.

23:
We can perhaps understand the chagrin of the High Priest when the sudden appearance of the two beloved leaders of the Sanhedrin drew the crowd away from him (leaving him alone!). But the way he greets the two sages who have come to pay their respects is downright ona'ah – the kind of disparaging remark which it is forbidden to address to a ger, apparently even to the ultimate generation. His pride in his own pedigree should not permit him to denigrate the status of others. Shemayah and Avtalyon, therefore, rebuke him: they came in peace, as 'disciples of Aaron'; but he, a linear descendent of Aaron, is not behaving as a 'disciple of Aaron'.

Thus we see that not only is it forbidden to disparage a ger, but it is forbidden even to mention disparagingly the fact that someone born a Jew is descended from a ger.

24:
I thought it appropriate to relate this story during this shiur, which is the last one before Yom Kippur – something to think about during Seder Avodah on the Day of Atonement.

To be continued.

I take this opportunity of wishing everybody a meaningful fast and Gemar Ĥatimah Tovah.