Mensch•Mark For Tishrei 4: An Understanding of the Heart - Binat HaLev
Even before knowing what the laws were, the Israelites said to Moses, “Na’aseh v’nishma,” “We will do -- and THEN, we will understand.” But nowadays, we can accept nothing at face value.
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The Talmudic tractate Avot, 6:6 provides a roadmap as to how to live an ethical life. This passage includes 48 middot (measures) through which we can “acquire Torah.” See the full list here. For each of these days of reflection, running from the first of Elul through Yom Kippur, I’m highlighting one of these middot, in order to assist each of us in the process of soul searching (“heshbon ha-nefesh”).
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Today’s Middah: An Understanding of the Heart - Middah Binat HaLev
URJ’s Take:
Text
"I have given you a wise and understanding heart." (I Kings 3:12)
Commentary
This week's text comes from the book of Kings, which recounts a dream of King Solomon. In the dream God appears to Solomon and asks Solomon what gift he desires. Solomon wisely asks for "an understanding heart" in order to judge the people by distinguishing between good and bad, innocent and guilty.In Jewish tradition the heart is also the seat of all emotions. There is a midrash that lists over 60 emotions of the heart. Among these emotions: "the heart sees, hears, speaks, falls, stands, rejoices, weeps, comforts, sorrows. . ." (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:16). In Judaism, our hearts are the vessels of both our feelings and our wisdom.
Reuven Bulka asserted that it was vital for a person to have an understanding heart in order to absorb Torah. He taught that one can mechanically perform the 48 middot - ethical precepts for learning Torah - but one must really have their heart in it in order for the Torah to be fully integrated. (As A Tree by the Waters, p.254) In other words, if we learn with an understanding heart, we embrace the words of Torah with our minds and souls. An understanding heart changes our learning from a memorization of Torah facts and obligations to an appreciation of Torah as the basis of our lives.
In Judaism there is a clear connection between study and action. Each and every Jew is commanded to set time aside for study. The rabbis recognized the difficulty in fulfilling this precept. To accommodate this commandment, the rabbis added three verses from Torah and two rabbinic passages to the morning service. One of the rabbinic teachings describes leaving the corners of the fields unharvested so that the poor might glean and gather food to eat. It is important to note that the specific amount of the corners was not a part of the commandment. It is left up to our discerning heart to determine how much is enough. In any age this does not make economic sense, but as Borowitz and Schwartz point out in The Jewish Moral Virtues, "whatever involves us, we should let our hearts, rather than our wallets, decide just how much is enough." In feeding the poor or in the fulfillment of any mitzvah we should allow our understanding hearts to decide what is appropriate.
There is an old expression which describes a person who does not fully commit to a task: 'his/her heart was just not in it.' Though not rabbinic, it captures the intent of Binat HaLev. Tasks and commitments done with heart are substantially different than those that lack passion. BARBARA BINDER KADDEN
My Take: Going above and beyond: in caring, in activism and in scrutiny.
Caring is in itself not essential to fulfilling the mitzvah of Tzedakkah. The act is one of justice (tzedek) than caring. That’s why the word charity - which comes from caritas (love) is a misleading translation of the Hebrew.
But going above and beyond the requirement, and doing it with a little passion behind it, is always helpful.
One question increasingly on our minds regards tipping workers. Tipping is now ubiquitous, not simply in the usual places. It can be off-putting at times. which makes it the perfect test. Here are some Jewish commentaries regarding tipping:
There is a section of the Talmud about tipping in tractate Megillah (the book of the Talmud dealing with Purim) in a couple of places. It says that inn-keepers weren’t able to charge rent to an oleh regel (one who attends festivals in Jerusalem). Why? Because it is said that that all of Klal Yisroel owns the property in Jerusalem. Therefore, the inn-keepers couldn’t even charge rent. But it says that the proprietors should be tipped, and that they could take the tips even against the will of the tenants. And that sum could be quite a lot. The Talmud says that we can learn from that practice that it is the way of the world to leave a tip for a proprietor. The commentaries note that the Talmud says that it is the accepted custom, (literally ‘the way of the land’) to leave a tip. It’s derech erertz (the civil, proper thing to do. And if you don’t do it, you don’t have derech eretz, and you don’t follow the ways of the world.
Generally, a tip is voluntary. But the Talmud says that for those whose entire income will be coming from the tip – such as the inn-keepers in Jerusalem – the tip becomes mandatory. So you see that in such cases, giving a tip is an obligation. This is a Hallachah (Jewish law) that the Gemorah (Talmud) states clearly, not just a nice way to behave. When I said the fee could be rounded off, it’s simply because when there’s a larger group, very often the rate is cut a bit.
How do we know that the Torah wants us do mitzvot passionately? In Exodus, we learn how important it is to go above and beyond the call. Even before knowing specifically what the laws were and how this decision would impact their lives, the Israelites said to Moses, “Na’aseh v’nishma,” “We will do -- and THEN, we will understand.” That verse, for those who are counting, is Exodus 24:7.
That is how to be a 24/7 Jew.
The commentators differed on how to interpret this verse. Rashi interprets the word “nishma” to mean not “to understand” but rather, “to obey.” In his view, the Israelites pledged what amounts to blind obedience to God in accepting the commandments sight unseen. Rava in the Talmud sees this not as an example of blind obedience, but rather of a deep trust in God.
If the word “nishma” means understand, the verse is telling us that only after you perform a mitzvah can you begin to understand its true meaning. Reb Nachman of Bratzlav said that for the Jew it is not enough to simply accept the commandments – that was the “na’aseh” part. By also saying “nishma,” we are demonstrating a willingness to go above and beyond them, to continue to grow every moment of every day.
To be a Jew who just says “Na’aseh,” “I will do,” is to be a Jew only when it is absolutely necessary. But to be a Jew who says, “Na’aseh v’Nishma,” is to be a Jew 24/7. And to be a Jew 24/7 means to go above and beyond the call in everything that we do.
There is a technical term for going above and beyond the law - lifnim meshurat ha-din - though some say that in fact it really means staying within the law and sacrificing something you are legally entitled to (in the case of a tip, the extra money you are giving away). See Dr Elana Stein Hain’s lecture on the topic.
Here’s another, almost polar opposite take:
The word “na’a’seh” also connotes active engagement, not blind obedience. In our age of bots and fake news, of Big Lies and AI, a post-Holocaust reading of the verse would reframe this verse to be better understood as, “We will grapple with each word to assess its validity, and then we will understand.” Each of us needs to painstakingly critique social media posts passed along by people we love. On all sides of the political spectrum, the time has long since passed for blindly sharing or retweeting without first being sure that the source is reputable. We need to be the ones to ask, all the time, is this true? Na’aseh V’Nishma, the post-Holocaust ethic demands: means “We will scrutinize and then understand.”
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