First, it's good to be back. After doing this for a good part of the year, I felt a void last week when I didn't have a regular amud to learn or a blog to post on.
The first mishna begins with the grand statement of obligating everyone in the re'iya -- the mitzva of appearing at the Beit Hamikdash during the shalosh regalim. Then immediately begins limiting that statement by excluding people based on physical disabilities, gender, social status and age. This exclusion of course is not so politically (or morally) correct today as the general call is for our us to build welcoming and open communities. But is it possible to build a strong community without any boundaries? Articles such as "Why Strict Churches are Strong" by Laurence Iannaccone argue against completely porous boundaries for communities. So if the boundaries set forth by this first mishna are not suitable for us today, then what are our boundaries? Does one's personal observance include or exclude them? Who they marry? The size of their home?
On another note, we learned with Rabbi Gordon Tucker Heschel's book Torah min Hashamayim. In it there is one chapter entitled "suma b'achat b'aynav patur min ha-re'iya" - that person blind in one eye is exempt from the re'iya. Heschel has a beautiful metaphorical reading on this, that one who is blind to either halakha or aggada is missing the point. Both text and context matter in living Judaism.
Monday, January 28, 2008
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2 comments:
A great way to start us off, Micah. This time I am right with you til the end; I was recovering from a monthlong fast and have not been able to study that masekhet in a while. I loved your comment about Heschel's Torah Min Hashamayim and will have to review that.
On another note, what I was thinking about was how irrelevant this text could appear at first glance since it is all based upon a Mistvah which is so foreign to people and which is not observed anymore. So perhaps another piece of our study will focus on how to understand this Mishnah and Masekhet in the context from which it was written back then and what relevance it has for today.
Further, the leap one has to make (even if you understand Reiyah), to understanding Chagigah (shalmei chagigah) is a far one and that obligation is quite far removed from us today. Thus, a challenge for me will be to make connections b/w the past and the present; ala, Micah's comment about text/contect or Aggadah/Halakha, this too is a piece of it.
I also just want to note that Robert Putnam's "Bowling Alone" made a similar point: chruchs with stricter rules for their members tended to create more social capital. People tended to belong more closely, and be more invovled. Indeed, boundaried seem to be vital. The question is: can we base them on actions and not inherent traits. The Mishanah is all about traits: deaf, blind, etc. Can we make boundaries that are strictly based on deeds? Is that what we want? We don't have that now, since being born to a Jewish mother is an inherited status (though it is "fixable"). Not sure.
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