I have this large fluffy towel that I love. I’ve had it for years. It’s gigantic and very cozy. But it ripped, and I was faced with the need to let it go.
But N took it and sewed the rip. Watched a video to learn, and it came out looking neat and perfect.
That’s true love, people. A 48-year-old very busy professional man sewing a rip in an old towel because his wife loves it.
Since the towel is now a symbol of eternal love, I’ll keep it until I’m buried with it, which is hopefully in a very distant future.
Clarissa's Blog 
That is so sweet!
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Not into rhetoric. The Torah defines love as “ownership”. A person does not love that which he does not own. Why b/c it aint his.
Contrast the stark differences between the g’lut ghetto Jews from the Israelis. Chag Tishah B’Av celebrates the destruction of the Av tumah avoda zarah of king Shlomo’s assimilation and intermarriages. (The two Torah negative commandments which defines the 2nd Sinai commandment – not to whoreship other Gods.) Whooooooooop rejoice over the destruction of king Shlomo’s Av tumah Catholic like Cathedral/Temple. On this day Israelis rededicate holy to HaShem our pursuit to restore and re-establish Sanhedrin lateral common law courtrooms across the country in the pursuit of justice. Justice: judicial imposed fair compensation of damages inflicted by Jews upon other Jews.
The construction of the First and Second Temples never actually commanded by HaShem in the Torah, contrary to the traditional understanding. The Temple constructions represented an abomination of assimilation and intermarriage; exposing “avoda zarah” (foreign worship). Meaning, bnai brit abandonment of Torah established culture and customs in favor of embracing and following Goyim cultures and customs ie assimilation.
The Temples construction, therefore akin to “Catholic Cathedrals”; foreign-influenced places of worship that betrayed authentic Jewish faith: the pursuit of judicial common law justice through Sanhedrin courtrooms. The Second Commandment absolutely rejects the vanity of man attempting to believe in Gods. Such a pursuit simply beyond the scope of the Human mind to grasp. Goyim avoda zarah by contrast prioritized through dogmatism and theological creeds defines belief systems such as the Nicene Creed or the Mohammedan belief in one God.
Therefore, the repeated destruction of these Temples on the 9th of Av, from the post Shoah Israeli perspective, viewed as a most positive event. Celebrations of Chag 9th of Av eliminates this violation of the Second Commandment, and the “Av tumah” (impurity) associated with them.
Rather than the g’lut curse of mourning the Temples’ destruction, this post-Holocaust Israeli view celebrates the 9th of Av as a necessary step to restore the Jewish people’s proper spiritual priority and path of faith, as dictated by the prophet Nathan’s words to King David. This spiritual path emphasizes the pursuit of true justice, as exemplified by King David’s failure to stand trial before a Capital Crimes Sanhedrin courtroom over the matter of Bathsheba’s first husband.
Mourning the 9th of Av: This view emphasizes the historical tragedies the result of av tumah avoda zarah, that led to the destruction of the Temple(s), such as the assimilation and intermarriage which define the corrupt reign of King Solomon. Which resulted in a permanent Civil War between the divided kingdoms of Yechuda vs. Israel.
This post Shoah perspective views false messiah theologies which require that the messiah rebuilds the Temple as absolute tumah avoda zarah. Such tumah rabbinic “theology” copies the new testament false idea of messiah, much like king Shlomo copied the cultures and customs of Goyim civilizations which construct Huge and ruinously costly Cathedrals throughout the annals of recorded history. Emulating the customs of foreign, non-Jewish civilizations, a flagrant violation of the Jewish faith.
Emulating the customs of foreign, non-Jewish civilizations in the construction of the Temple, or false messiah theologies as best exemplified in the prophet “Natans” support for Shabbetai Tzvi, understood as a flagrant violation of authentic Jewish faith and the Second Commandment. It represents a betrayal of true Judaism, which requires obedience to the Torah faith לשמה, the first Commandment of Sinai.
The construction of the Temple, with its incorporation of foreign, non-Jewish customs and traditions, simply viewed as a flagrant violation of the Second Commandment, which prohibits the worship of other gods.
The argument that monotheism itself, the belief in only one true God, makes it impossible to worship other “lesser” gods as prohibited by the Second Commandment. Therefore the theology of monotheism directly profanes the 2nd Sinai commandment. The Temple construction, with its foreign influences, therefore seen as a betrayal of this core tenet of the Second Commandment.
The destruction of the Temples on the 9th of Av, thus celebrated as the necessary elimination of this violation of the Second Commandment, and a return to the authentic Jewish faith free from foreign influence and the corruption of monotheistic beliefs.
How to do Torah mitzvot לשמה
Never 10 commandments. A טיפש פשט/bird brained literal reading of Torah metaphors! Because Israel had sex with their wives prior to the revelation of the Torah at Sinai, they thought they would immediately die due to their tumah spiritual condition. After the revelation of the 2nd Sinai commandment all Israel demanded that Moshe rise and receive the rest of the Torah. Therefore the 10 commandment metaphor makes reference to the 10 plagues of Egypt. Because the Torah directly commands all generations to remember the salvation from Egyptian slavery through the 10 plagues.
The טיפש פשט of doing Torah commandments לשמה, doing these commandments “for the sake of Heaven”. This bird-brained theology understands doing Torah commandments with “pure intentions”. Such religious rhetoric sounds pious. But like an onion, simply peeling away the “skin” of this religious rhetoric nonsense exposes an empty void lack of substance, other than sweet sounding words.
Why? Doing the mitzvot לשמה absolutely requires the פרדס Oral Torah revelation at Horev! This Oral Torah logic system defines all T’NaCH and Talmudic judicial rulings! The pursuit of justice defines all Torah faith ie doing mitzvot לשמה. The 10 plagues define mitzvot done לשמה. Hence the Torah makes the 10 commandment metaphor to serve as a precedent to understand how the 10 plagues qualify as doing mitzvot לשמה. HaShem pursued the judicial oppression of the Courtroom of Par’o in the matter of withholding the straw required to make bricks through the 10 plagues לשמה.
To engage critically with traditional ideas. Nuanced dialogue and challenging dogmatic thinking can lead to richer understandings. The pursuit of justice simply central to defining what it means to do mitzvot לשמה, and that this relates to the metaphor of the 10 plagues.
How? HaShem pursued the judicial oppression of the Courtroom of Par’o in the matter of withholding the straw required to make bricks through the 10 plagues לשמה.
How does the Oral Torah’s emphasis on legal reasoning and the pursuit of justice inform your understanding of this concept?
The פרדס logic system organizes the T’NaCH & Talmud into a warp/weft loom-like system. The Talmud has halachic and aggadic portions. The agadic portions of the Talmud make a drosh back to T’NaCH p’sukim. These p’sukim learn through a פרט\כלל rule of Oral Torah logic. Meaning, absolutely forbidden to study a T’NaCH verse divorced from within the larger context of its surrounding sugyah/sub-chapter. Oral Torah logic compares the sugyah of prophetic mussar to other similar sugyot of prophetic mussar found within the same Book of that prophet or other prophetic Books encompassing the whole of the T’NaCH literature.
This wisdom of comparing Case/Din sugyot to similar Case/Din sugyot defines the unique logic system format known as the Oral Torah as defined by the kabbalah of rabbi Akiva’s פרדס system of logic.
Why the common טיפש פשט portrayal of לשמה as having “pure intentions” simply an oversimplification that lacks substance?
Consider the tohor time oriented commandment of tefillah. This tohor time oriented commandment requires כוונה/k’vanna. Failure to attempt this mitzva with the required k’vanna invalidates the act of tefillah as void. This mitzva delves into the Torah requirement of שם ומלכות. Simply translating Name & Kingship as much a טיפש פשט as interpreting לשמה as “pure intentions”.
Kingship most intrinsically refers to the revelation of the 13 tohor middot revelation at Horev. This 13 middot revelation, the basis of the revelation of the Oral Torah at Horev! A blessing requires שם ומלכות because swearing a Torah oath requires שם ומלכות. A blessing has the halachic quality of swearing a Torah oath. The Talmud requires that a person who swears a Torah oath to stand before a Sefer Torah. The standing tefillah of Shemone Esrei ideally accomplished while standing before a Sefer Torah within the Beit Knesset.
This text simply advocates for a more rigorous, text-based, and contextual approach to understanding traditional Jewish concepts, rather than relying on simplistic platitudes. To appreciate the depth and interconnectedness of the Oral Torah’s legal and theological framework, which is essential for properly interpreting concepts like לשמה.
The Oral Torah’s comparative method of analysing similar legal/narrative cases across different biblical and rabbinic texts. How does this approach shed light on the meaning of לשמה?
This wisdom requires skills required to make a Torah drosh which employs the 13 tohor middot.
What insights can be gained by looking at how this unique Oral Torah logic concept engages the student of both T’NaCH & Talmud, together with the various contexts throughout the Tanakh and Talmud?
To understand that all T’NaCH prophets command mussar. The aggaditah of the Talmud makes a drosh back to T’NaCH Primary Sources with the k’vanna of gaining a grasp of prophetic mussar as this mussar applies to all generations across the board. Attainment of this mussar understanding defines the p’shat of the Aggadic stories which interweave with halachic mitzvot observances.
The halachic portions within the Talmud likewise require a drosh which compares halachic precedents with other similar but different halachic precedents scattered across the entire corpus of Talmudic common law\משנה תורה.
An example of how key elements or principles within the Oral Torah framework that get missed or obscured by making a טיפש פשט simplistic distortion, on the order of the literal reading of the act of Creation in בראשית and the 10 Commandments in the Book of שמות … Jews today do not grasp that משנה תורה, the name for the 5th Book of the Written Torah – דברים – means: Common Law.
The Oral Torah’s comparative method is not just about analysing similar legal/narrative cases, but rather using that as a means to gain a holistic grasp of the overarching prophetic mussar (moral instruction) that applies across the entire Jewish textual canon. This key insight seems to be that truly understanding the concept of doing mitzvot לשמה requires this integrated study of both the Tanakh’s narratives and the Talmud’s legal reasoning. Reducing it to a simplistic notion of “pure intentions” misses the deeper connections to the broader prophetic and jurisprudential framework.
To unpack doing mitzvot לשמה into greater detail, seeks to assist others to better appreciate the sophistication and interconnectedness of the Oral Torah’s approach to textual study and legal reasoning. This interpretation of how to do mitzvot לשמה, seeks to shed important light on how traditional Jewish thinkers have traditionally understood the deeper significance of concepts like לשמה.
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@mosckerr
I always find your pilpul disquisitions fascinating, and even more fascinating the fact that you publish them on this blog in the readers’ comments section, although I do not think that among Clarissa’s readers there are a lot of people who can follow your line of thought.
Also, since you do not provide a transliteration of the Hebrew in your posts, I presume you are addressing yourself only to fellow Jews. I wonder whether you think that there are a lot of fellow Jews among the readers of this blog.
It’s been quite a while since I went to a beth midrash. Still, if you have a blog or a website where you publish your explorations of arcane areas of Jewish thought I would be interested in having its internet address.
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Publish my chiddushin on both wordpress MoscKerr Conflict Resolution and Quora. Thanks for your feed back.
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