Parshat Ra'eh - All a matter of perception

Parshat Ra'eh, like many of the Parshiot in Sefer D'varim is chock-a-block full of stuff, a lot of Chumash D'varim is a collection of "Greatest hits" from other parts of the Torah.

One of the things repeated in this week's parsha is HaShem's Kosher List - and I wanted to focus on one of the non Kosher Birds listed - the ראה also known as the איה or the דאה.

This bird is mentioned in D'varim 14:13:

: וְהָרָאָה וְאֶת הָאַיָּה וְהַדַּיָּה לְמִינָהּ.

Rashi points out that these are three names for the same bird:

"והראה ואת האיה וגו'" - (חולין סב) היא ראה היא איה היא דיה ולמה נקרא שמה ראה שרואה ביותר ולמה הזהירך בכל שמותיה שלא ליתן פתחון פה לבעל דין לחלוק שלא יהא האוסרה קורא אותה ראה והבא להתיר אומר זו דיה שמה או איה שמה וזו לא אסר הכתוב ובעופות פרט לך הטמאים ללמד שהעופות הטהורים מרובים על הטמאים לפיכך פרט את המועט

My Alacalay dictionary translates ראה as "Vulture" and says that the word can also be spelt
"דאה"

Bible Picture Gallery says that the bird is a Hawk or a Kite (see here or here)

Firstly, it is very surprising (at least to me) that the Resh and Daled seem to be interchangeable, as Vayikra Raba (19:2) points out:

אם אתה עושה דלת - ריש, אתה מחריב את כל העולם כולו

"If you change a Dalet to a Resih, you destroy the entire world"

However in the case of this world both ראה and דאה seem fitting names for the bird - ראה from the verb "to see" designates its incredible eyesight, דאה from the verb "to fly, sore, or glide" is also a good description of this type of bird.

The Gmara describes the bird's eysight in Chulin 63b:

ולמה נקרא שמה ראה שרואה ביותר וכן הוא אומר (איוב כח) נתיב לא ידעו עיט ולא שזפתו עין איה תנא עומדת בבבל ורואה נבלה בארץ ישראל

Why is it called "Ra'ah", because it sees very well, as it is written (Job 28) "No bird of prey knows that hidden path, no vulture's eye has seen it.", we learn that this bird could be positioned in Babylon, and see a corpse in Eretz Yisrael.

The question is, given that we should try to emulate Kosher animals, and avoid the traits of non-kosher animals, why is this bird not kosher? Surely eyesight (and with it perception) is an important trait - shouldn't this bird be the prime example of a kosher animal?

I think that the answer is in what the bird perceives, it sits in Bavel and all that it sees in Eretz Yisrael is a corpse - dead bodies.

I think that unfortunately today we have many people who emulate the Ra'ah, they can sit in their homes in Bavel (or Canada, or the US, or Europe, or anywhere else in the world), and can look at Erezt Yisrael with the help of CNN or BBC or other news cameras. But when they turn on the news to look at Eretz Yisrael, they don't see the miracle of our nation rebuilding its land and language, they don't see thousands of school children happily retuning to school, or world leading technological and medical advances. They don't see the hundreds of thousands of people sitting and learning our Holy Torah, or the beautiful new and rebuilt communities throughout the country - what do they see? a corpse, or even several corpses.

Unfortunately we are effected by this attitude, Rabbi Riskin used to say that Eretz Yisrael is like Israeli Coffee - it's either "Nes" or "Botz", if you don't see the "Nes", the miracle that is Eretz Yisrael and Medinat Yisrael, all that is left if the "Botz", the mud on which our holy land rests.

We should all work on our perception, when הקב"ה gives us a beautiful gift like Eretz Yisrael, we should appreciate it, and not be like the Ra'ah who only sees the dead bodies.

Shabbat Shalom

Who were the Ludai'i? (Gittin 46)

Yesterday we leaned in Daf Yomi (Gittin 46b, last line) that:

ההוא גברא דזבין נפשיה ללודאי אתא לקמיה דרבי אמי אמר ליה פירקן

A certain man sold himself to the Lydians and then appealed to R. Ammi saying, Redeem me.

This translation comes from the Soncino Talmud, available online here:
http://www.come-and-hear.com/gittin/gittin_46.html#PARTb

So the question is, who or what were the לודאי?

One possible translation is that they came from a place called Lod, hopefully not the modern Lod which is close to Modi'in, and a pretty scary place but doesn't seem to be as scary as the "Lydians" of the Gemara seem to be.

Rashi describes them as cannibals (אומה שאוכלים בני אדם), this would help us understand the story of Reish LaKish who was captured by these Ludim and was granted a final request before they would kill him (he requested the right to "bop" each one over the head 1.5 times, unfortunately for them, the first "bop" was enough to kill them so Reish lekish managed to escape.)

The problem with Rashi's approach is that if they were cannibals is that why would anyone sell himself to cannibals? I understand that if someone falls on hard times, he may sell himself to slavery, but to sell yourself to be eaten sounds like an unusal practice.
If you can explain how Rashi would understand the concept of selling yourself for dinner, please leave a comment.

One of the other guys at the shiur last night, who is a tour guide and is studying history, said that he understood the Ludai as Gladiators.

With a bit of research on line, I found that the poeple who arranged galdiator fights were known as "Ludarii", so it would seem that the man in our Gemara sold himself as a contestant in a battle to the death as a Gladiator. This makes a little more sense, although contradicts Rashi.

The Soncino has the following footnote, which quotes both approaches:

[H] A tribe of cannibals (Rashi). [Or 'ludarii' [ludi], people who arrange and hire men for gladiatorial contests to kill off with the finishing stroke the enraged beasts; v. Graetz, Geschichte, IV, p. 238, and Krauss, AT, I. p. 701.]

Jastrow (which i hadn't taken off my bookcase for a VERY long time), also thinks that the Ludim were organizers for Galdiators, and even has a "Jastrow Jackpot" (i.e., he quotes our daf) - see for yourself:


(BTW - Did you know that Jastow is available on line here: http://tabs-online.com/TABS/Jastrow/ )

Anyway, if you are interested in who these Ludim were, and whether you should avoid Lod just in case you get eaten, there is a very interesting article by Eliezer Segal available here:
http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/031204_CanaanCannibals.html

Can there be such a thing a Soferet? (Gittin 45)

Hi,

I haven't blogged for a while, but I'll try to get back into it - so here's a quick post or thought.

In the Daf earlier this week it said (Gitting 45b):

דתני רב המנונא בריה דרבא מפשרוניא ס"ת תפלין ומזוזות שכתבן מין ומסור עובד כוכבים ועבד אשה וקטן וכותי וישראל מומר פסולין שנאמר (דברים יא) וקשרתם וכתבתם כל שישנו בקשירה ישנו בכתיבה וכל שאינו בקשירה אינו בכתיבה

"We learn in a Barita: Rav Huna son of Rava from Parshunia says: a Sefer Torah, Tfillin, or Mezuza written by someone who betrays fellow Jews, a non-Jew, a servant, a woman, a minor, a "kuti", or a non-believing Jew is Pasul (not Kosher), as it says (Deuteronomy 11) "And you should tie it [on you arms] ... and you should write it", this teaches that anyone who is obligated to tie [Tfillin] can write [Tfillin], and anyone who is not obligated to tie [Tfillin] can not write.

This Gmara seems pretty clear that a woman cannot write a Sefer Torah, and if she was to write a Sefer Torah the Torah would be Possul and should be put in Geniza.

Just in case you had any doubt, Rambam brings this down explicitly (Hilchot Tfillin, 1:13):

יג ספר תורה תפילין ומזוזות שכתבן מין, יישרפו. כתבן גוי, או ישראל משומד, או מוסר, או עבד, או אישה, או קטן--הרי אלו פסולין וייגנזו

Sefer Torah, Tfillin, or Mezuzot written by a heretic should be burnt. Written by a non-Jew, or Jew who betrayed other Jews, or Servant, or woman, or minor is Pasul and should be put in Geniza.

When this came up in Shiur, I was a little surprised as I definitely remembered hearing about a woman who claimed to be a Soferet - could it be that there was a woman who took the time to learn Hilchot Sofrut, but never learned that STAM that she writes is passul and should be put in Genizza.

Well, sure enough, with a little help from Google I found the worlds only Soferet:
http://www.hasoferet.com/ritual/women.shtml
She even has her own Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jen_Taylor_Friedman

What to me was strange is that she takes the time to explain that Halachic sources are pretty explicit that her STAM products are possul. She does bring down a few minority opinions who tried to reinterpret them (e.g., when it says "Sefer Torah" it doesn't mean 'Sefer Torah", when it says "Woman" it doesn't mean "Woman").
Even she seems to agree that these opinions aren't very compelling, yet she's written a Sefer Torah anyway.
The Sefer Torah is currently at Conservative Congregation called Anshei Chesed.

So I guess if you every are looking to buy a Sefer Torah, you should double-check who wrote it before carrying out the purchase, and if you ever find yourself in New York, and you want to be Yotzei Kriyat haTorah, all can suggest is avoid Anshei Chessed.
I believe that there are other congregations in New York.

PS - A post about the Soferet wouldn't be complete without a link to her Tfillin Barbie - for the Egalitarian Girl who has everything,