Tu Bishvat - Fixing the Original Sin

Being a rabbi, I don't get to hear many classes or talks given by speakers. But at SBH we have a learning Shabbat every four to six weeks. At these learning Shabbatot, different rabbis, educators and congregants give a twenty minute class. This past Shabbat I had the pleasure of listening to my wife's presentation on the "Roots of Tu Bishvat". This blog is based on her shiur. Click here to read the source material. 

Tu Bishvat is first mentioned in the first mishna in Masekhet Rosh Hashana. The topic of the mishna is the different New Years in our calendar. The date for the New Year for trees is an argument between Bet Shammai (1st of Shevat) and Bet Hillel (15th of Shevat). We hold with Bet Hillel and the New Year for trees is the 15th of Shevat. This date is significant in agricultural terms but for those of us who are not farmers there is very little relevance. The mishna and the Talmud make no reference to this being a festive day or a day for eating fruits and wine with friends and family so where does that come from?

Although the English translation of the phrase ראש השנה לאילן is New Year for the trees. The truth is that אילן is in the singular. So what tree is the mishna referring to? According to the Kabbalists there is a deep connection between Tu Bishvat and the tree in the Garden of Eden - עץ הדעת טוב ורע - the tree of knowledge. This was the one tree that God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from. But as we all know, this was the tree that they couldn't resist.

It is a point of discussion in the Talmud (Masekhet Berakhot 40a) of what type of fruit the tree was. You are all thinking an apple tree? Well not exactly. The Talmud posits three possibilities.

"Rabbi Meir holds that the tree of which Adam ate was the vine, since the thing that most causes wailing to a man is wine, as it says, And he drank of the wine and was drunken. Rabbi Nehemiah says it was the fig tree, so that they repaired their misdeed with the instrument of it, as it says, 'And they sewed fig leaves together'. Rabbi Yehuda says it was wheat, since a child does not know how to call ‘father’ and ‘mother’ until it has had a taste of grain."

The Midrash (Bereshit Rabbi 15:7) adds "Rabbi Abba of Acco said that the fruit referred to the etrog as the verse states ‘and the woman saw that the tree was good’. Go forth and see, what tree is it whose wood can be eaten just like its fruit, and you find none but the etrog" So where does the apple idea come from? The etrog was known in Ancient Greek as the golden apple.

There is a lot more to Tu Bishvat than just eating fruit and wine. The 16th Century Kabbalists under the Arizal established the Seder Tu Bishvat with a particular order and sequence. The idea being that by eating these particular foods we are repairing the original sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge. We eat from the seven species connected to the Land of Israel - wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. Firstly to keep us connected to Israel and second to repair the sin of Adam and Eve who may have eaten from one of these fruits. Some also have the custom to eat etrog jam on Tu Bishvat too.

Have a wonderful and meaningful Tu Bishvat!

Wearing Tzitzit

What are the origins of the mitzvah of Tzitzit? Why do men wear Tzitzit? Do they always need to be worn? Should they be seen? Why are there differences for Ashkenazim and Sephardim?

(This article is written with the understanding that wearing Tzitzit is a mitzvah only for men)

A few people have asked me to go into the commandment of tzitzit. So I thought I would write something although I must admit that there is far more to be written about them than I will be putting in this blog. Tzitzit are the tassels or strings that are tied to the corners of four cornered garments. Although when someone is talking about Tzitzit they normally are referring to an item of clothing called a Talet Katan which is worn under a man's clothing. 

There are two sources for wearing Tzitzit the first is Bemidbar at the end of Parashat Shelach:

דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם, וְעָשׂוּ לָהֶם צִיצִת עַל-כַּנְפֵי בִגְדֵיהֶם, לְדֹרֹתָם; וְנָתְנו עַל-צִיצִת הַכָּנָף, פְּתִיל תְּכֵלֶת.

וְהָיָה לָכֶם, לְצִיצִת, וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת-כָּל-מִצְוֹת ה', וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם; וְלֹא- תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם, וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם, אֲשֶׁר-אַתֶּם זֹנִים, אַחֲרֵיהֶם.

Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: They shall make for themselves throughout their generations fringes on the corners of their garments; and that they put with the fringe of each corner a thread of blue. This shall be fringes for you, and when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord to perform them. And you will not turn after your heart and after your eyes, after which you tend to stray.

In Devarim 22:12 it says גְּדִלִים, תַּעֲשֶׂה-לָּךְ, עַל-אַרְבַּע כַּנְפוֹת כְּסוּתְךָ, אֲשֶׁר תְּכַסֶּה-בָּהּ

You shall make for yourself twisted cords upon the four corners of your covering, with which you cover yourself.

On the question of should the tzitzit be seen or not this is one of the few time where Sephardic practice goes against Rav Yosef Caro (Maran). Maran writes in Shulkhan Arukh (O.H. 8:11) that one should wear the tzitzit over his other garments so that he can constantly see them and be reminded of the mitzvot.

On the other hand, the great Kabbalist, the Arizal, would wear his tzitzit under his other garments. His student, Rabbi Chaim Vital explained that this was because the tallit kattan and the tallit gadol relate to two kinds of reality: the internal reality and the external reality. The tallit kattan represents the internal level and is therefore worn within other garments, while the tallit gadol represents the external and is therefore worn over the other garments. 

Sephardim follow the Arizal and Ashkenazim follow Maran. 

There are number of different ways for tying the Tzitzit. Most Sephardim tie10,5,6,5 which is Yud, hey, vav, hey, which spells God's name on the talet katan and they tie 7,8,11,13 on the Talet Gadol. Ashkenazim tie 7,8,11,13 for both. Rav Messas notes (Shut Mekor Hayim Chelek Bet Chapters 69 and 120) that there are many different customs for tying and they are all valid.

Are men obligated to wear Tzitzit or only when they are wearing a four cornered garment? The Rambam writes (Laws of Tzitzit 3:11) "Even though a person is not obligated to purchase a tallit and wrap himself in it so that he must attach tzitzit to it, it is not proper for a person to release himself from this commandment. Instead, he should always try to be wrapped in a garment which requires tzitzit so that he will fulfill this mitzvah. In particular, care should be taken regarding this matter during prayer. It is very shameful for a Torah scholar to pray without being wrapped in a talet."

Sephardic custom has been that only Torah Scholars  wear a Talet Katan. Rav Yosef Messas(1892-1974, Algeria, Morocco and Israel) wrote in Hod Yosef Hai (p.43) that since it is only worn out of piety since strictly one only needs to wear tzitzit if one has a four cornered garment, one should abstain from wearing them because:

1. They may become soiled in the bathroom

2. The strings could become pasul/invalid (because some of the knots became untied or strings were cut off) in that case one would be in breach of the mitzvah of having tzitzit on a four cornered garment. 

However, Ashkenazic custom is somewhat different boys are taught to wear tzitzit from as young as three. Indeed in some schools boys can be reprimanded for not wearing tzitzit even though there is no obligation to wear them. (Although, my dad told me that in Gibraltar the Hebrew school did enforce tzitzit wearing).

Although technically one does not need to wear tzitzit and historically in some Sephardic countries the practice was not to do so times have changed. In today's world we look to be able to do mitzvot whenever we can and Tzitzit is such an easy one to do especially if it is one of the T-shirt varieties. I encourage men of all ages to wear tzitzit as much as possible.

Removing the Shel

This is my first time writing a blog. In this blog I'd like to answer any questions that people have in Judaism in the form of a She'ela u'teshuva - a question and a developed answer. First up is a question raised on the exact wording of the berakhot recited on the festival Hanukah.

Q: What is the significance of having the word של/shel in the first berakha of lighting the Hanukah candles?

A: There is a disagreement over the text of the first berakha said before lighting the Hanukah lights. Ashkenazi and a minority of Sephardim (Spanish and Portuguese communities, Gibraltar and others) say the berakha is להדליק נר של חנוכה while most Sephardim recite להדליק נר חנוכה. So what's the significance of one little word של meaning of? To light the Hanukah candle or to light the candle of Hanukah? There doesn't seem to be too big a difference in English or in the simple understanding of the Hebrew.

One of my favorite books to look up when it comes to differences in text or custom are the books of Rabbi Shem Tov Gaguine. His set of sefarim are called the Keter Shem Tov and are an encyclopedia of explanations of different texts and minhagim. He writes (volumes 1-2 p.515) that the text in the gemara (Shabbat 23a)  uses the word של and that is followed by the Rambam, Rav Amram Gaon, The Tur and others. Haham Ovadiah Yosef zt"l also adds in Hazon Ovadiah that the Rif and the Rosh follow the text of the gemara.

However, Maran Rav Yosef Caro in Shulkan Arukh brings the berakha without the word של. Rav Gaguine explains why Rav Caro does not follow the gemara and the Rif and the Rambam by explaining that although the text of the Babylonian Talmud uses the word של the Yerushalmi version is על מצות הדלקת נר חנוכה (which no one uses today) and the version in Masekhet Soferim is להדליק נר חנוכה.

So how did the version of Masekhet Soferim which is not the usual source for halakha become the position of the majority of Sephardic communities? Haham Ovadiah writes (Hazon Ovadiah on Hanukah p.125 footnote 1) that Maran Caro bases his position on the words of the Arizal. The reason that the Arizal prefers the berakha without the word של is because the phrase להדליק נר חנוכה can be rearranged to be the abbreviation נח"ל. נח"ל in turn is an abbreviation of נצר חסד לאלפים and נפשנו חכתה לה. 

The Hida in Birkei Yosef gives a beautiful explanation of the significance of not using של. He explains that when we use the word של when lighting Shabbat candles it is because we are using the light and it provides shalom bayit - peace in the home. But on Hanukah we are not permitted to use the light for anything just to look at them. A second reason is that on Shabbat there are other mitzvot like making kiddush and having 3 meals but on Hanukah the lights are the only mitzvah so no connective word is needed.

To add to the Kabbalistic direction there are 13 words without using the word shel which is the gematria for the word אחד meaning Hashem is one. There are also 13 words in the second berakha too. 13+13 = 26 which is the gematria for the name of G0d which is not pronounced. The Maharshal combines the two words to form שלחנוכה in order to keep the best of both worlds of keeping the version of the gemara and also having 13 words for kabbalah.

I ponder to think if before the Arizal all Sephardim said של. But such is the influence of Kabbalah in our liturgy it is hard to imagine a world without it. But it wasn't just the Arizal that brought Kabbalah to our liturgy the Hida had a huge impact. Today with the Iraqi dominance of Sephardic practice, especially in Israel, Sephardic siddurim no longer even mention the word shel. 

Everyone should light the hanukiah in accordance with their tradition. Turkish Jews today do not use the word של while lighting the hanukiah. I hope you all found this illuminating! Special thanks to Yossi Babani for asking the question and Jack Babani for research on this topic.