Shavuos – Daf 42
Our Gemara on amud aleph quotes a central verse that discusses the liabilities of a person entrusted to safeguard an object of value, and the oaths he may incur (Shemos 22:6-8):
When any party gives money or goods to another for safekeeping, and they are stolen from that other party’s house: If caught, the thief shall pay double; if the thief is not caught, the owner of the house shall depose before G-d and deny laying hands on the other’s property. (In all charges of misappropriation – pertaining to an ox, an ass, a sheep, a garment, or any other loss, whereof one party alleges, “This is it” – the case shall come before G-d; the one whom G-d declares guilty shall pay double to the other.)
The Arvei Nachal (Nitzavim 2) takes this series of verses about entrusted objects and interprets it as an allegory for the ultimate entrusted object – our souls – which are entrusted to us by G-d into our bodies. The allegory is expanded further to explain various states of reincarnation. While reincarnation seems like an absurdly irrelevant topic for day-to-day Judaism, I believe it is more relevant than one might think, as I shall explain later. First, let us understand the allegory.
The “money or goods” that are given for safeguarding are the soul. If the person sins, he may be subject to reincarnation in a lesser form, to redeem and work his way back up from the most unevolved form to full human potential.
As an important aside, the level of regression is represented in the form of the object, the worst being an inanimate object such as a garment, and the highest form, a sheep. (If you ever saw real sheep and not cartoons, their facial features and expressions are uncannily human.)
Arvei Nachal states that this is why the forefathers were all shepherds, as they were tending to the process of elevating and evolving the world, humanity, and themselves. Yaakov tells Eisav (Bereishis 32:6), “I have acquired cattle, asses, sheep, and male and female slaves,” the hidden meaning being “I have elevated many souls and redeemed material matter while in exile.”
While Arvei Nachal says reincarnation in a lesser form is agonizing to the soul, there is a way to avert it via repentance. This is alluded to in this passage “the case of shall come before G-d; the one whom G-d declares guilty shall pay double to the other.” In other words, if the person returns to G-d and confesses his guilt, he will be forgiven and even receive a double reward.
I do not know about the details of mysticism; however, as we have noted numerous times in this column, patterns repeat throughout the physical, spiritual, and emotional world. This only makes sense because there is one Creator organizing everything according to a set of wisdom principles. Separate from the theory of evolution, clearly forms of life follow a pattern of progression from simple to more and more complex, yet using remarkably similar basic features from DNA to organs. Chimpanzees and humans share about 98% of the same DNA, and jellyfish 60%, so we are seeing a chain of living organisms that progress from the simplest to most complex, yet are in some way clearly related to each other.
In our own psychological development, there is an unconscious tendency to repeat and recreate disturbances and dysfunctions in our current relationships that correspond to past and primary relationships. This is known as the repetition compulsion, and it represents an unconscious effort to revisit and rectify past pain, although it often leads to people recreating their fathers in their bosses or siblings in their co-workers and problematic attachments in their romantic life. This is why the idea of reincarnation, whether actually true, metaphorically true, or both, is more relevant than one might think. In the end, we have an urge to revisit our failures until we can turn them into successes. (Note: Reincarnation is not a universally agreed-upon phenomenon in Judaism. For example, Sefer Ikkarim (4:29) and Rav Saadiah’s Emunos Ve’Dayos (6:8).)
Pledge of Allegiance: The Soul of Tzedakah
Shavuos – Daf 44
Our Gemara on amud aleph discusses the textual proof that the creditor has ownership over the security, which has ramifications for who is liable if it is lost. The proof comes from the verse that delineates the process for a creditor who must collect security in lieu of payment (Devarim 24:10-13):
When you make a loan of any sort to your compatriot, you must not enter the house to seize the pledge. You must remain outside, while the party to whom you made the loan brings the pledge out to you. If that party is needy, you shall not go to sleep in that pledge; you must return the pledge at sundown, that its owner may sleep in the cloth and bless you; and it will be tzedakah before your G-d.
Since the verse refers to the return of the security as tzedakah, which is charity, it indicates that the creditor is giving something of his, which means he must be in possession of the security.
Likkutei Halachos (Choshen Mishpat 1:1) adds psychological and mystical depth to this process. A person’s soul is linked to his possessions. If his possessions must be taken from him, they cannot be taken suddenly. Rather, the creditor must stand outside and wait for the debtor to choose which item to give over. This process allows time for the debtor’s soul to adjust and withdraw from that item so that the loss is not traumatic. It is hard to find a better example of how psychology and mysticism coincide, perhaps two sides of the same coin, capturing a truth of what it feels like to be dispossessed, and the need for society to be empathic as it pursues justice.
This set of laws, showing great sensitivity and providing basic dignity for all people, rich or poor, surely must have been part of what inspired James Madison when he authored the Fourth Amendment, which states:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Also of note, James Madison studied the Bible in its original Hebrew (https://latterdaysaintmag.com/the-old-testament-and-hebrew-influence-on-james-madison-the-first-amendment-and-religious-liberty/).
Waxing Philosophical: The Ledger Of Life
Shavuos – Daf 45
Our Gemara on amud aleph discusses the evidence that a storekeeper may use from his writings in his ledger. The Gemara’s term for this ledger is a “pinkas.” My father, z”l, who was a scholar of Torah and learned in Greek and Latin, always took pains to correctly pronounce the Greek words in the Gemara. What we yeshivishe folk call a pinkas is actually a pinaks, a kind of tablet, such as a storekeeper’s ledger, that used to use beeswax as a base, so one could carve temporary notes which then can be erased for reuse after melting the wax. (An ancient Etch A Sketch.) We will return to discuss the significance of the writing being temporary a bit later.
One of the most famous usages of the pinaks in rabbinic literature is the allegory about life in this world found in Avos (3:16):
Everything is given against a pledge, and a net is spread out over all the living; the store is open and the storekeeper allows credit, but the ledger (pinaks) is open and the hand writes, and whoever wishes to borrow may come and borrow; but the collectors go round regularly every day and exact dues from man, either with his consent or without his consent, and they have that on which they [can] rely [in their claims], seeing that the judgment is a righteous judgment, and everything is prepared for the banquet.
The ledger and the storekeeper is G-d, tracking a person’s deeds, credits, and debits. We note that here a temporary writing tablet is used, yet in the allegory about judgment on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, a more permanent scroll is used (Rosh Hashana 16b):
Three books are opened on Rosh Hashana before the Holy One, Blessed be He: One of wholly wicked people, and one of wholly righteous people, and one of middling people whose good and bad deeds are equally balanced. Wholly righteous people are immediately written and sealed for life; wholly wicked people are immediately written and sealed for death; and middling people are left with their judgment suspended from Rosh Hashana until Yom Kippur, their fate remaining undecided. If they merit, through the good deeds and mitzvot that they perform during this period, they are written for life; if they do not so merit, they are written for death.
I believe that the books that are opened on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur contain the more permanent decrees and judgments of our fate for the rest of our lives or death, be that as it may. The parable in Avos is referring to a person’s day-to-day actions and merits, and therefore subject to constant recording and revision.
I will conclude with a modern-day rendering of the same allegory:
Rabbi Mordechai Elefant, the late rosh yeshiva and founder of the ITRI Yeshiva, dictated a candid memoir of his eclectic life experiences as a rosh yeshiva, investor-entrepreneur, and fundraiser. His travels took him far and wide, as he engaged with fellow roshei yeshiva, but also secular statesmen and assorted famous and not-so-famous shady characters in his various efforts on behalf of his yeshiva and other causes. (You can download this fascinating read at: https://forum.otzar.org/download/file.php?id=88463.)
This is no hagiographic exercise. It’s at once inspiring, disturbing, and brutally honest. Rabbi Elefant relates a remarkable story that is apropos to this parable:
I walked in one morning and saw Rav Leib Malin himself repairing a toilet. He noticed the look on my face and realized that I thought that what he was doing was not in keeping with his dignity. He sat me down and told me the secret of his life.
He said, “Let me tell you something I heard in the name of Rav Simcha Zissel of Kelm:
‘G-d keeps very exact accounts of what we take from this world. We don’t get anything for free, other than life itself. Any person who is the least bit honest with himself understands how unworthy he is. At the same time, he’s running up a big debt. Nothing is free – not a sip of water, not a breath of air. How do we stand a chance? There’s only one way. You have to view life as a big, luxury hotel. They’re charging you left and right. It’s great, but there’s going to be a huge bill when you check out.
‘There’s only one guy who enjoys the delights of the hotel without paying. That’s the waiter. The waiter is devoted to serving others. He’s always smiling and ready to help. He is at the beck and call of the guests. He runs to help one, and then runs to help the other. But when he takes a break, he can go into the kitchen and make himself a sandwich with two thick steaks in it. Nobody looks, nobody cares, nobody charges him.
‘That’s what you have to do. Be a waiter. Devote your life to serving others. Do whatever has to be done; then, at the end, you won’t be hit with a big tab.’”
