Reviving '<i>Eretz Yisrael</i> Judaism',Elliot Resnick, <i>Jewish Press Staff Reporter</i>

Two hundred thousand people visited Machon Shilo's website in the month after its beit din declared that every resident of Israel may eat kitniyot on Pesach, Machon Shilo's founder, Rav Davidh Bar-Hayim, told The Jewish Press.

A soft-spoken Australian oleh who spent a decade in Yeshivat Merkaz Harav and studied under the late Yemenite sage Rav Yosef Kapach, Rav Bar-Hayim aims to revive the "Torah of Eretz Yisrael" as it existed a millennia ago until the Crusades.

In the last several years, Machon Shilo has reconstructed the ancient nusach Eretz Yisrael for prayer; ruled that Jews in Israel may wave the lulav when the first day of Sukkos falls on Shabbat; written a kinah for the destruction of Gush Katif; and composed an Al Hanissim text for Israel's Independence Day and Yom Yerushalayim.

The Jewish Press recently called Rav Bar-Hayim in Israel.

The Jewish Press: Why did Machon Shilo declare kitniyot on Pesach permissible?

Rav Bar-Hayim: The custom is Ashkenazic, and the halacha is that when a person leaves a locality where a certain custom exists and moves permanently to another locality where that custom is not the practice, he is no longer obligated to follow that practice.

For that reason, when a Jew picks up and leaves, shall we say, Poland, and moves to Yerusahalayim, he is not required to follow minhagim that were in force in Poland.

It's also a fact - it states this in Yerushalmi [the Jerusalem Talmud] - that if a person took upon himself something because he thought it was assur and it becomes apparent to him that in fact it's not so, he's not required to continue doing so when he becomes aware that he was mistaken.

In addition, we believe that there is no cogent reason why the Jewish people, particularly in Eretz Yisrael, should continue maintaining the continued existence of separate communities based on their ethnic origin - Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardi Jews, or Teimani Jews. Rather the old galut-based ethnic origins and minhagim should give way to a new set of uniform minhagim for the Jews in Eretz Yisrael. We cannot function as one nation otherwise.

We believe the only way to achieve this reality is to learn and disseminate the Torah of Eretz Yisrael - the Talmud Yerushalmi, Midreshai Halacha, Midreshei Agadah, which are all from Eretz Yisrael, as opposed to the Talmud Bavli, which is from Babylonia.

Rav Davidh Bar-Hayim

Why did Machon Shilo rule that Jews should wave the lulav on the first day of Sukkot even when it falls on Shabbat?

The Mishnah states to do so explicitly, and this is accepted without exception by the Talmud Yerushalmi and was always the case in Eretz Yisrael. The Talmud Bavli initially admits that this is so, but later says that seeing that we here in Bavel do not do netilat lulav on the first day of Sukkot that falls on Shabbat - because we do not know when Rosh Chodesh was established - therefore they in Eretz Yisrael should also not do so. That's a very surprising statement. First of all, it contradicts what the Talmud itself said a short while before. Second of all, it's rather unusual to suggest that because I can't do a mitzvah, you also shouldn't do a mitzvah.

It seems to me that that second statement of the Talmud Bavli - written without any name attached to it - comes from a later period historically speaking, probably in the time of the savaroim or geonim, and reflects the struggle for supremacy that existed between the Torah center in Bavel and the Torah center in Eretz Yisrael.

So we believe that it is more reasonable not to render inapplicable a biblical commandment based on reasoning which runs against the Mishnah and the Talmud Yerushalmi.

Shouldn't our generation's greatest rabbis decide such delicate matters?

"In a place where there are no men, strive to be man." Also, the kind of rabbanim to whom you refer are working with a halachic paradigm which aims to do one thing and one thing only, and that is to maintain the status quo of galut Judaism indefinitely.

And Judaism in the galut is not the real McCoy because the Torah is not directing itself to a people that live in galut amongst other nations without their own land, state, army, beit mikdash, etc.

Galut Judaism is some kind of scaled-down model which retains a certain amount of the original flavor and essence of the thing but is not the thing itself. It's merely a system to prevent the machine from dying altogether.

You also believe that we should rebuild the beit hamikdash before Moshiach's arrival, correct?

The Torah tells us that there is a mitzvah to build the beit mikdash. And this is listed by all the authorities as a positive mitzvah. One cannot nullify such plain and overwhelming evidence with some Agada or story that tells us it's supposed to fall from heaven.

You have written that the identification of the chilazon and the process of dyeing wool t'cheles are "well-known today." Is it really that clear?

I believe it's very clear and I believe that anyone who has gone into this matter seriously has reached the same conclusion. This is a perfect example of the let's- maintain-the-galut-reality-of-Judaism-syndrome because here we have a clear opportunity to perform a mitzvah from the Torah and the rabbinical establishment for the most part is uninterested.

Why are they uninterested?

Suppose you had a perfect circle of ten bricks, and you wish to introduce an eleventh brick. You have to either remove one of the bricks, in which case you're missing something which you had before, or you have to change the configuration and make a bigger circle.

Many rabbis don't know how to, nor do they want to, change the configuration of Judaism, and so they pretend there are no other bricks.

Read Comments (4)

Rav David Bar-Hayim-a fascinating, great visionary
Date 05:08, 08-23, 07

Rav David Bar-Hayim's website at www.machonshilo.org is wonderful. All frum and non-frum Jews should take a look!

Refreshing
Date 08:08, 08-23, 07

Rav Bar-Hayyim's message makes sense. Why should a Jew living in Israel have to do something just because Jews in Germany did it? It's not just silly; it's divisive. Perpetuating unnecessary rules prevents Jews from praying together and eating together. In advance of Yom Kippur, we should heed the Rav's message and pull together, instead of worrying about our little fiefdoms.

Galut
Date 04:04, 04-14, 09

Col Hakavod.
I lived in England until the age of 28, frequenting a number of types of kahila, from orthodox to reform. Why? I was searching for a relevant Judaism that relates to today and not to medieval Europe. I agree that The post Roman expulsion Judaism was intent on keeping Judaism whole and complete until we as a people could return to Eretz Yisrael (Israel). It did this sterlingly, as was intended, we're still around after 2000 long hard years!
Now we are back. We need a dynamic form of Judaism to reflect the modern times we live in. We need edicts and guidelines to show us how to live our lives piously, taking into consideration the contrast between biblical Judaism and the modernity of the 21st century - look at this site for instance, reaching 100's of thousands of people - this in itself is a huge responsibility on your behalf!- Your institution is beginning to address these issues.
More than anything, the differences between the minhagim of the various galut communities needs to be diffused and finally eliminated. We live in the ridiculous situation whereby there is discrimination by one Jew against another because of these differences. Why? We live in Eretz Yisreal, there is no longer a need to simply preserve Judaism. We live it!
Your institution is beginning to rekindle my faith and is making it relevant it for me.
Welcome Judaism, to the future!

Thank you so much for your work and Hag Pesach sameach.

Nick Levi

Reviving EY Judaism
Date 03:04, 04-14, 09

Reviving 'Eretz Yisrael Judaism'

OK so this article posits that minhag Avos gives way to minhag Hamakkom. I'm not sure why perpetuating 1500 year old minhag EY TODAY makes any sense just because the location is the same! So much has evolved since then.

I mm not a revisionist re: Minhag Avos but I do believe in innovation regarding Jewish Education. So I DO applaud the tilt away from Bavel towards Yerushalmi, Midrash Rabba etc. I think this will add a great deal of clarity to mis-understood traditions that WILL fit EY texts and NOT Bavli Texts.

Illustration: the Yerushalmi's only demand for Hasiba appears to be: to be seated while eating [i.e. only servants eat whilst standing]. This dovetails with the Raaviya's position that Hasibba no longer applies. Without this sugya, Raaviya seems radical. With it, he is perhaps MORE Traditional than the Bavli!

Bottom line: I would NOT change any minhaggim now, but I WOULD revise the education system. Over time the minhaggim will evolve naturally to match a more balanced Bavli-Yerushalmi perspective. NB: Tosafos factors in quite a bit of Yerushalmi, Tosefta, Pesikta etc. This revival is imho a welcome change

Chag Samei'ach
Rabbi Richard Wolpoe
Teaneck, NJ