Sins of Biblical Figures

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  1. "Sarah Treated Her Harshly" - Did Our Matriarch Sin in This Regard?

    Rabbi Elchanan Samet

    There are several stories in Tanakh where the conduct of one of our national forebears or leaders arouses within us a certain sense of discomfort and surprise. At times we cannot but ask: Is this behavior appropriate for a person of such distinction? Does it not seem morally lacking?

  2. "Anyone Who Says That Reuven Sinned..."

    Rabbi Yaakov Medan

    Many interpretations were offered to explain the nature of Reuven's sin with Bilhah. This lesson will explore Reuven's sin punishment, and repentance, in light of the prophecy of Hosea ben Be'eri, a descendant of Reuven.

  3. Shlomo’s Sins

    Rabbi Alex Israel

    Three broad approaches exist to explain the jarring discrepancy between the love and dedication that Shlomo displayed towards God and His Mikdash and his love towards foreign women that led to idolatry.

    1) The approach adopted by the majority of traditional commentaries posits that Shlomo himself did not partake in idol worship but facilitated his wives’ idolatry and it is therefore attributed to him.

    2) A careful read of chapters 9 and 10 points to a wide range of failures, a sense of spiritual disorientation identified by Shlomo's overconfident abrogation of the Torah's restrictions for a king.  All these lead in a direct line to the more serious offenses of chapter 11. 

    3) Shlomo's marriage to Pharaoh's daughter at the very outset of his reign is a competing love to his love for God as is subtly described in the text and more explicitly described in the Midrash. Shlomo is caught ideologically between competing worlds.  Bat Pharaoh represents Egypt, the power and trade, the skills and crafts, wealth and international control that appeal to Shlomo's imperial mind.  These come along with a religious worldview that is polytheistic and pagan.  On the other side is the Torah, the Mikdash, the path of David Ha-Melekh.  Shlomo is committed to both.  He seeks to balance the two, but he fails.

     

  4. The Sins of Biblical Figures

    Part 1 - Introduction

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    A plain reading of the text shows that it is difficult to find any flawless figures: the forefathers, Moshe, the kings and the prophets all display human complexity. In many instances they make mistakes and even sin; in some instances they are described as committing major transgressions. We must ask, first, whether the plain text accords with Chazal's teachings concerning the greatness of our biblical ancestors, and second, how we are to understand the complex picture of the biblical heroes that emerges from a peshat-oriented reading of the text.

  5. The Sins of Biblical Figures

    Part 2

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    Two fundamental approaches exist regarding three incidents involving Avraham: one maintains that the plain reading of the text suggests that the acts in question were wrong – perhaps even serious sins – and are recorded with a view to instructing the readers how not to behave. The other view seeks to cast their actions in a positive light and regards them as a model for emulation.

    Those who seek a favorable interpretation of all questionable actions of biblical characters rely, as one of their central sources, on a well-known discussion in Massekhet Shabbat (55b-56b) which lists six figures who seem, according to the plain text, to have committed various transgressions – some of them extremely serious ones. In each case, Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani teaches, in the name of Rabbi Yonatan, that "anyone who says that so-and-so sinned, is simply mistaken."

  6. The Sins of Biblical Figures

    Part 3 - David

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    The episode of David and Batsheva illustrates the dilemma of the sins of Biblical figures in all its intensity and complexity. A plain reading of the chapter arouses great perplexity concerning David, the king chosen by God to establish the eternal royal house of Israel. How are we to reconcile God's positive attitude towards His chosen King throughout the grand sweep of the David narratives, with the straightforward meaning of the verses in chapters 11 and 12 on the other?

    While opinions exist both in Chazal and amongst the medieval commentators that minimize David’s sin, those seeking to address this complex story on the plain level of the text are not deviating from the path of Chazal and of the great Jewish scholars of previous generations; on the contrary, they are continuing the central view amongst Chazal and the path adopted by many of the medieval commentators.

  7. The Sins of Biblical Figures

    Part 4

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    Since the earliest times, there have been two main approaches to understanding the sins and errors of biblical heroes: one takes the straightforward meaning of the text as its starting point, while the other proceeds from the fundamental assumption that such negative actions cannot be attributed to such great figures. 

    Paradoxically, what the religious opponents of the peshat approach and the secular Bible critics share in common is an inability to accept that the Tanakh could depict its heroes as complex individuals whose greatness exists alongside their fallibility. It is a more religiously enriching message, for it accepts human complexity in the lives of Biblical heroes, and maintains the integrity and unity of the Biblical text.

  8. Targum Onkelos

    Dr. Avigail Rock

    In this first lesson of the series Targum Onkelos is examined. There is no doubt that Targum Onkelos succeeded, for over a millennium, in maintaining its honored place in the Jewish community as the authoritative translation of the Torah.  In every publication of the Torah with commentaries, Targum Onkelos maintains its place of honor, and throughout the Jewish world, the weekly study of the Targum is a halakhic obligation.

    The challenges, difficulties and limitations of any translation of the Bible are visited as well as the specific overarching principles of Targum Onkelos that include:

    • Simple translation of the text without details from the Midrash
    • Avoids the anthropomorphization of God
    • Explanation – not translation – of metaphors
    • Explanation – not translation – of biblical poetry
    • Varying translations of similar terms in different contexts in order to avoid the desecration of God’s name
    • Maintain the dignity of the leaders of the Jewish nation, often concealing questionable actions
    • In accordance with Halakha

  9. Rashi

    Part 4 - The Moral and Educational Philosophy of Rashi (II)

    Dr. Avigail Rock

    In his commentaries, Rashi displays great sensitivity towards the people in society who are indigent or powerless, who have no defenders.  This compassion for the disadvantaged is expressed in numerous ways.

    Rashi expresses great affection for the forebears of Israel, the Patriarchs, the Matriarchs, and the Twelve Tribes. This regard is expressed in two areas.  The first is an attempt to minimize — to the level of obscuring the very progression of the biblical text — the negative traits or acts which are attributed in Scripture to Israel’s forebears and its role models. The second is the glorification of acts that seem to be insignificant.

  10. R. Avraham ibn Ezra

    Part 3

    Dr. Avigail Rock

    Ibn Ezra believes that it is inconceivable for the Sages’ halakhic tradition to contradict the peshat of the verses. On this point, he argues with the Rashbam, who goes as far as to explain the halakhic verses against the tradition of the Sages. As we have explained in the previous lessons, Ibn Ezra supports the view of philological pashtanut and exerts great effort to explain the verses in accordance with the rules of grammar and topical logic. However, when there is a contradiction between the peshat and the Sages’ tradition in Halakha, ibn Ezra pushes the simple meaning of the words so that it will fit with the Sages’ view, while striving to have it dovetail with the rules of grammar and language.

    Despite these words of Ibn Ezra expressing the unquestionable authority of the Sages in Halakha, many times ibn Ezra veers in his interpretation from the interpretation of the halakhic ruling.

    ·       It may be that ignorance of the halakhic ruling – due to poverty and wandering - is what causes him to interpret verses differently than the Sages.

    ·       Alternatively, while the ibn Ezra sees himself as bound by the Sages’ legal authority, the Sages themselves do not believe that this is the verse’s intent, but they tie the law to the verse.

    While ibn Ezra had a profoundly negative view of the Karaites, it is important to note that he does not hesitate to cite their interpretations if he believes they are correct. According to his view, the truth of the Oral Torah may be established not only by finding its laws in the verses of Written Torah, but by confronting the reality of the absence of many laws in the Written Torah. These exigent rules are only found in the Oral Torah, and without their existence there is no significance at all to the laws of the Written Torah.

    Ibn Ezra was aware of Rashi’s status in France. Therefore, in his commentary to the Torah, ibn Ezra keeps his silence despite the fact that he disagreed with him.

    Ibn Ezra conceals issue in his commentary; he embraces the phenomenon of "sod" with regard to deep concepts, issues regarding the authorship of Torah and sins of great Biblical figures.

  11. Radak - Rav David Kimchi

    Dr. Avigail Rock

    The Radak — R. David Kimchi — was born and active in Provence, in southern France, near Spain. The Radak was a member of a family of Spanish grammarians and exegetes. Like R. Avraham ibn Ezra, the Kimchi family brought the fundamentals of linguistics and grammar from Spain to France.

    Despite the fact that Radak sees himself as a pashtan, he does not hesitate to cite derash. However, when the Radak quotes these sources, it is obvious that he has a distinction between peshat and derash.

    Two principles guide the Radak in citing Midrashic sources:

    • When it is difficult to resolve the peshat without the derash.
    • For the lovers of derash - in order to explain the text and engage his readers.

    The view of the Radak is that the Torah is not a historical tome. Those stories of the Patriarchs which have been selected to put into the Torah with all of its details must fulfill one criterion: teaching a moral lesson.

    Just as one may learn from the positive acts of the forefathers, so one may learn from their negative acts. The Radak does not engage in apologetics; instead, he writes explicitly that the narratives which describe the negative acts of the Patriarchs have been written in order to help us avoid this sort of behavior.

    The Radak points out consistently that the Torah often uses repetitious language, not because each word introduces new meaning, but because the verse seeks to stress the significance of a given issue. This view stands in stark contrast to that of Rashi, who argues that generally speaking, one must assign meaning to every word, as there cannot be any redundancy in the biblical text.

  12. The Rise and Fall of King Solomon

    Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein

    תאריך פרסום: 2022 | | Hour and 12 minutes

    We will delve into the episode of King Solomon's construction of pagan altars, exploring the question of what went wrong when the builder of the Mikdash erected these altars a few years after completing Beit Hamikdash. While the question itself is straightforward, the answers and theories surrounding it are complex. This shiur aims to understand Shlomo's motivation and propose the underlying dynamics that led to his grave error.

     

     

    Sponsored by Shelli Weisz in memory of Tom Weisz, z”l, Moshe Meir ben Avraham haKohen by his loving family. His love of Torah learning remains our inspiration

  13. Must Biblical Heroes be Perfect?

    Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter

    תאריך פרסום: 2022 | | 57 minutes

    In delving deeper into the stories of the Avot and Imahot, and particularly focusing on Moshe Rabbenu, the greatest prophet of the Tanakh, we seek to understand whether Jewish tradition requires us to view Biblical heroes as flawless or permits recognizing them as more "human", with frailties and limitations. By examining these ideas, we can gain insight into the nuanced perspective of Jewish tradition regarding the portrayal of these great figures.

     

     

    Sponsored by Barbara Osband and Mark Lichbach in honor of Rabbi Dr. JJ Schacter for being a thought leader in the Jewish world of learning to the tens of thousands with his Tisha B'Av day of learning; and for his acts of chesed in the Benjamin Project, replacing the headstones of fallen World War II soldiers with a Magen David; and for his friendship which we value and treasure. May you continue to inspire us and others

     

  14. The Sins of Biblical Figures

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak