Getting Into The Swing of It?

I'm a thinkin' I hear sum cuntry music a playin'. So are you ready to grab your partner and swing some chicken? KAPPOROS are the square dancing of the frum world, the very mention of it sends fear into the hearts of our fowl friends and any Fred Astaire Dance School grad.

To see old post on the topic, spin you mouse over your head three times, say a few hail Marys and click here.

Antigonus and Tradition

Before I get to Antigonus, I need to do a bit on Chanukah.

My daughter came over to me last night and asked me a question. She asked if we know Antiochus, who is uncle-ochus? The apple doesn't fall far!

(Onward Christmas soldiers...)
I was discussing with my dad the third Mishnah in Aboth which continues the list of through whom the oral tradition was transmitted. It says, "Antigonus of Sokho received from Simeon the Righteous." Although there were others in the third and fourth century BCE that had the same name, this Antigonus was the first Pharisee (Rabbinic Judaism) on record to have a Greek name. My father considered the importance of names in Judaism, an example, Yaakov was so named because he held onto Akev (heel) of Esau. Other Biblical names have meaning as well. Perhaps Antigonus is Anti-gnos. Maybe he represents an anti gnosis. Gnosis being the philosophy that one can have direct knowledge of God if he has the proper tools or knowledge. Antigonus represents the politically correct approach to religion (as the mishnah sees it), that knowledge of God can be achieved through the proper vehicles; ie. those who received the tradition and passed it on. Follow the Torah, its rules, its priests and prophets not the gnosis approach. At the time of Antigonus there was a major debate among philosophers as to the proper means to have knowledge of God.

It is peripherally interesting that Simeon the Righteous is a cohen gadol of the Zadokite line. There was also a major conflict during the emergence of Rabbinic religion as to who has the authority to determine the course of Jewish teaching and law. The Zadokite line of priests who had ruled the temple for hundreds of years claimed that Sinaitic tradition is meant to be passed through the priestly line. The rabbis contested this and developed the mishnah in Aboth specifically to legitimize their rule. They also needed validity from a recognized power in a similar manner that a famous actor would be used for an infomercial. They used a Zadokite priest who adheres to the Rabbinic modality.

Gabrielle Boccaccini's, The Roots of Rabbinic Judaism, describes this as follows. By focusing on Moses and Joshua the rabbis bypass the hereditary line of priesthood (cutting off Aaron and descendants). Interestingly, The sages included Zadokite high priest Simon the Righteous (described as receiving his Torah based on being a survivor of the men of the great synagogue NOT because he was a priest). He then passed Torah on to disciple Antigonus rather than his sons as would be expected of a priest.
For more on Antigonus because you just can't sleep without it see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigonus_of_Sokho

It Shouldn't Happen To Chicken

I meant to do this post a while back but my feathers were all ruffled by life's challenges. Apparently, there is a custom before Yom Kippur to take live chickens, swing them over a person's head to transfer the sins to the chicken. The chicken is then ritually slaughtered (similar to the idea that during the temple times people offered live animals for slaughter in order to achieve atonement). The chicken is then given to a poor family for a meal. While I do like the idea of giving charity and I certainly recognize that if you give a chicken as charity to a poor person, that animal would be killed, kapporos are not the best way.

I decided to go reference what R. Slifkin, the zoo rabbi, had to say. I read his book, Man & Beast. I think it's an ok reference, kind of dry and dull but it does discuss kapporos. First he goes over the laws that state that we are certainly allowed to use animals for human need. We can eat the kosher ones, make clothes and use them as beasts of burden, and in the times of the temple we could offer them as sacrifices (thus used for spiritual needs as well). What we can't do, is distress them beyond what is necessary to accomplish those needs (Tz'ar Ba'alie Chaim).

He seemed to say that the swinging of the chicken overhead was not unnecessary distress but I lean toward the opinion of the chicken that it sure isn't fun. Instead, he described the conditions used to transport the chickens in densely packed, dismal coups. Coincidentally, I was hiking with an Australian woman and she said that the animal rights laws in her country require that the person go to the farm to do the kapporos rather than the chickens being transported under reprehensible conditions.

R. Slifkin notes that there is already, in place, an alternate acceptable mechanism to transfer sins and that is to money. Use a handkerchief with money and spin it around your head if you like rather than distress an animal. Let's face it folks, we don't have a temple and there are no ritual sacrifices so this is an unnecessary and cruel substitute. (Personally, I don't believe that we will have any sacrifices in the third temple. People can no longer relate to worship of God through sacrificial rites. We have substituted that with prayer. Even Ramban says the reason God gave the people the means to perform sacrifices is because the state of the people's minds back then was such that sacrifices were the only way they understood worship of any god).

I don't think most of us would go out of our way to do this form of kapporos if not for the organizations that bring these chickens to communities. I wouldn't be surprised if someone isn't turning a profit under the guise of Tzedakah but that's nothing new. "Be inscribed in the Book of Life!" the flyer claims. As if this voodoo magic procedure will tilt the scales of heavenly judgment in your favor. Recently I heard that some people were told to kick the chicken afterward. People are morons and people are cruel. Think for yourself and be a better person but not at the expense of other people or animals rather than harm an animal to save your soul. Sheesh.

Experiencing Sinai

Rabbi Wolfe from Isralight was an amazing addition to the Saw You At Sinai back to camp Labor Day weekend. Aside from good humor, good nature and personable character, he had a seemingly endless supply of magical metaphors (and similes). It appeared to me that he was able to grap the essence of experience of the Divine. Simple ideas made connection to God and even practice of religion not only palatable but desirable.

For example, he described sheet-music. When you look at it, what you see is cold, very mathematical, complicated, calculated, and unfeeling. But when you play it, the music comes alive, your body moves in tandem to the beat, your spirit soars. So too with Halachah. He didn't claim that it was the only mechanism but it is the mechanism which we have successfully used over thousands of years to experience God. Halachah is very technical and cold but when you live it, it is transformed and it transforms you. It directs you on a mission to be a light unto the nation and achieve tikkun olam.

He also described halachah as a window. We spend time cleaning our window, people compete to say my window is better and shinier than others but they fail to realize that the window is just the means to go beyond. The purpose is to see the view and that view is God. People get lost in their window never using it to its proper end.

It was a spiritually satisfying and physically rewarding weekend. I have to rate Sinai as THEEE best shabbaton I have ever been on. They (all 3 back to camp weekends) have never failed me. One caveat. This weekend was a liberal/conservadox weekend. It wasn't the uptight machmir Nachamu. I hear that nachamu was stiff and awkward, less feeling. They didn't want to sing havdalah (so I heard). We had such an emotional havdalah with guitar and singing and dancing. Poor Nachamu machmirites lost in their own rigid window never allowing themselves to glimpse the essence and experience of God. How sad for them.

Just remember life is full of sheet-music.
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Beyond A Doubt

-"Halacha course canceled due to lack of interest."

That was the shocking yet vaguely amusing announcement we heard over the PA. It was my Junior year in an orthodox day school in what is now a very frum community. Apparently some administrator took it upon himself to actually consider areas of student interest, or disinterest for that matter, even to the point of sidelining a hallmark of Jewish education. Obviously, it is imperative for a religious student to absorb the tenants of the faith or in the very least be aware of the rules which he is breaking. It's somehow more fun that way. But that year was to be robbed of its mischievous transgressions. If we didn't know the laws, we couldn't be guilty of violating them nor would we have the temptation to do so in the first place. Shlomo Auslander has a great related article (Hat tip:NJG).

But what is it about Halacha that seemed so useless to our school yet always served me well in cure of insomnia or as a coaster? For all of you who heard about halacha but never got to read from the text, the answer is this. It's just page after page of dry, boring facts that requires an equivalent of a law degree to become proficient. At the time, I just shrugged and said, "Great!"

But I have come to appreciate the significance behind that moment, even more so lately. I guess I had gotten used to years worth of technical educational manuals that I had forgotten what it was like to learn about life through the fictional escapades of others. Much more illuminating and better retained are the gleaned words of wisdom or useful insights from stories, in the context of an enjoyable parable rather than from dry lists.

I recently listened to the book-on-tape, The Salmon Of Doubt, compiled from Douglas Adam's writings. One 2-page story, entitled "Cookies," made a great impression upon me. Go to your library and read in the real book page 150-1 for the full flavor. Should you proceed here further, you can save a quarter on inter-library loan because I do reveal the punch line. In brief, he was sitting at a table waiting for a train with his package of cookies, coffee and a newspaper. Opposite him was a businessman who proceeded to open the package of cookies and eat one of the cookies! Douglas said nothing but ate the next of his cookies and then the man ate the following. Douglas was upset but didn't know how to deal with this affront. His tension was building as was his righteous indignation. When the package was finished the man walked off. He then looked under his paper and found his own sealed package of cookies beneath his paper. He had been eating the other man's cookies all along while that man quietly suffered the infraction!

Douglas had been so sure of his take on what was happening, considered rebuking the man, was horrified and yet resigned to refrain from confrontation. His reality during those moments seemed as clear to him as anything else he would bet his life on but one little itty bitty fact was missing and that changed the entire meaning and context of his exchange. Could there really exist another perspective?

My friend complained to me recently about the character of another friend's wife pointing to the fact that she never sent a thank you card to him for a wedding gift sent 10 years ago. First off, I was surprised he remembered who sent him thank you cards and that he could hold a grudge so long. Secondly, I told him Douglas' story and asked him to consider if his gift was lost in the mail, or her thank you card was lost as well. Perhaps, the husband had agreed to write it and failed to do so thus absolving the wife. I asked him to take a step back and consider there might be alternate realities than the one he felt so grounded in. It's a lesson that could be summed up in a book of facts as "Don't jump to conclusions or off cliffs for that matter" or "Things may not be as they seem on the surface unless you're actually on the surface" or "Don't judge a book by its cover unless its pornography" but in the absence a very telling context they are just neat sayings that are so passe. Instead, Douglas Adams succeeded in forever implanting his insight into my mind in a way no dry text could ever. So drop your textbooks and pass me a trashy novel.

Please feel free to share your own stories about some faux paxs based on the third person omniscient, "If our hero had only known..."