Remember

DIASPORA

Diaspora describes religious and physical dispersion for Jews following the destruction of the 1st and 2nd Temples of ancient Jerusalem. How Jewish leaders handled the loss of homeland and sanctuary, especially the second time in 70 CE, gave rise to rabbinic Judaism. This new Judaism replaced animal sacrifice with prayer, learning, and righteous conduct defined by rabbinic law or Halakha.

Around this time, early Christians distinguished themselves by rejecting law, such as circumcision. For salvation, they replaced animal sacrifice with a final human sacrifice. There is no Hebrew scriptural support  for human death as expiation. This Christian teaching degrades and refutes the Akeda, or the Binding of Isaac in Genesis, which rejects human sacrifice for atonement. And even while animal sacrifice was practiced, prophets taught beyond its obvious moral limitations. 

“I desire mercy and loving kindness, not sacrifice.” Hosea 6:6

Yochanan Ben Zakkai advanced post-temple Judaism by establishing a learning center in Yavneh and redesigning worship. The Mishnah became the blue print for this task, extrapolated by the Talmud. This new Judaism took its cue from the prophet Hosea.

LAW & PROPHESY

Some scholars claim that Soloveitchick saw the prophet as the religious ideal but not a law maker. I think this misreads Soloveitchick who certainly saw Moses as our first prophet and law giver. He also knew that by grounding Jewish survival in Hosea's teaching, prophecy becomes the driver for evolving rabbinic law. In Part II of Halakhic Man, Soloveitchick states: “The dream of creation is the central idea in the halakhic consciousness…”. Noting that the Hebrew word for law (hok) also means to carve, Soloveitchick calls law a “divinely carved out boundary”. Carving reminds us of ten utterances engraved at Sinai. 

Though the fall of the 2nd Temple is mourned, this and this alone helped advance the relationship between law and prophesy. By advancing the philosophy of Halacha, Soloveitchick cracked the door open to a room where this relationship could be consummated. He cracked the door, but did not enter the room.

THE STANFORD ZOHAR

“I will come near to you in justice. I will be swift against sorcerers, against adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the worker regarding wages, who oppress the widow, the fatherless, those who turn aside from the stranger, and those who do not fear me, says the Lord of Hosts." (Malachi 3:5)

Stanford University proudly hosts Daniel Matt’s English translation of the Zohar, claiming that “Jews in many lands over the centuries have come to accept the Zohar as revealed truth — no less sacred than the two other major texts of their religion, the Torah and the Talmud.” 

I did’t get that memo -- so I'm still reading Malachi as the last Hebrew (and Jewish) prophet. The Zohar is 13th century Torah commentary by Moses de Leon regularly and wrongly attributed to a 2nd century sage named Simeon bar Yohai who was a rabbi — not a prophet. Historically, the Zohar can be associated with Jacob Frank’s antinomian and destructive heresies. And before that with Sabbatean heresy.

MY MOTHER’S SHIUR

One real prophet that I do recall my mother quoting to me as a young girl was Isaiah. She had asked if I understood why we don't believe there has ever been a messiah and continued by saying that the true messiah will bring world peace. Paraphrasing Isaiah, she said, “The lion will lie down with the lamb".

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 וְגָר זְאֵב עִם-כֶּבֶשׂ וְנָמֵר עִם-גְּדִי יִרְבָּץ וְעֵגֶל וּכְפִיר וּמְרִיא יַחְדָּו וְנַעַר קָטֹן נֹהֵג בָּם

 “The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will sit with the goat, the calf, lion cub, and young fatling will be together, and a small child will lead them”.

Isaiah 11:6

8th Yahrzeit • Haile Sandra Zuppke Plafkin • 19 Av 5785