Letters of Light. Kalonymus Kalman Epstein
Lure and Cooling of Appetite69
“And the Lord said to her (to Rebecca), ‘Two nations (goyim) are in your womb.” (Gen 25:23)
[On the basis of sound-similarity], Rashi 70 explained this verse in reference to two persons of lofty rank (geiʾim), Antigonus [a high Roman official in Palestine] and Rabbi [Rabbi Yehuda ha-Nasi, the rabbinic sage who edited the Mishna in the early third century, C.E.] on whose tables neither radish (tz’non) nor horseradish (ḥazeret) were ever absent. His words allude to the saying of our Sages of blessed memory that now [in the absence of the altar in the Temple which had been destroyed], our eating-table serves as a means of atonement.71
The words would seem to convey that the righteous walk in the ways of the Torah of God and do not pursue (material and gastronomical) desires, eating only what is necessary for the maintenance of the body which enables them to engage in the service of God. Eating at their table, they abstain, even in the middle of a meal, and even when their inclination burns to tempt them to continue with some tasty food or sweet drink, they cool off their inclination to eat or drink more. And they even worry and engage in repentance (t’shuvah) concerning what they have already eaten, lest they ate or drank more than was necessary. This is overheard in the words ts’non and ḥazeret, for they cool off (miston’nim) their inclination (and desire) and repent (ḥozrim bit’shuvah) concerning what they had done.
This contrasts with the way of the wicked. For even if they had engaged in some mitzvah with enthusiasm and great desire, the wicked cool off that spiritual enthusiasm and turn from it due to their stronger desire for additional food and drink.
The same pattern [of cooling off and repenting, linguistically symbolized by the radish and the horseradish] characterizes both the righteous and the wicked, though in diametrically opposite directions.
Comment: The talmudic passage on which this brief discourse is based, a statement of Rabbi Yehudah in the name of Rav, read the two nations (goyim), mentioned in a verse from the Torah-reading, as indicating two persons of lofty rank (geiʾ im), namely Antigonus and his contemporary, Rabbi Yehudah haNasi (“Rabbi”). Rashi, in his comment on that source, explained that the former was a descendent of Esau (Edom/Rome) while the latter was a descendent of Jacob.
The talmudic passage states that lettuce, radish, and cucumbers were always to be found on Rabbi’s table for reasons having to do with how their respective medicinal properties effect the body. That kind of statement might indeed interest those curious about ancient medicine. The passage as re-stated in Maʾor va-shemesh, however, understands radishes and horseradish-root symbolically in terms of the letters and sounds comprising those words and brings the listener into a very different world of concern—not physical health-measures, but rather two distinct types of persons with very different value-systems and dispositions. The “righteous” (represented by Rabbi) regard food as a requirement of bodily survival which, in turn, is viewed as necessary in order to serve God in life, while the “wicked” (represented by Antigonus) eat out of a boundless desire for food and drink. The first emphasize the spiritual dimension of life, while for the second group the lust for food, beyond any health-considerations, takes precedence.
In addition to the liberty the preacher has allowed himself in arriving at what he claims to be the real contrast between the two men, he added what might be a humorous nuance in locating a shared formula at work in terms of each of the two groups: each follows the same basic formula, one which, however, is interpreted in terms of distinctly opposing sets of values.
69. Maʾor va-shemesh, I, 17a.
70. Based on Rashi’s comment on b. ʿAbod. Zar. 11a.
71. b. Ber. 55a.
Vayetze
Jacob’s Dream-Episode72
“(Jacob) came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night . . . . Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head (and lay down in that place).” (Gen 28:11).
Rashi explained that the stones began to argue with one another (each seeking to serve as Jacob’s pillow) and the Blessed Holy One immediately made of them a single stone, and hence “Jacob took the stone . . .” (Gen 28:18). [Two rabbinic texts,73 providing different backgrounds, explained that the twelve stones were merged into a single stone.]
But one might interpret Rashi’s words as intimating a deeper thought. . . .
Our holy Torah comes to teach us the ways of the worship of God as we are to praise Him through Torah (study) and prayer. And in doing so, it is important not to corporealize any word or letter of the Torah or prayer, thinking that these are understandable simply according to their surface-meaning.
Rather, when one is standing in prayer, it is necessary to remember that the very existence and life-energy of thousands upon thousands of worlds depend upon the holiness of the letters and upon every word and letter and even upon a small dot in the Torah-text. This is alluded in the saying of our blessed Sages that God “is the place (makom) of the world,”74 [rather than the world being God’s place; the comment in the Midrash refers to Ps 90:1, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling-place (maʿon) in every generation,” as a prooftext] and that the Torah is entirely one with the Blessed Holy One. Failing to realize this, one might corporealize his prayer, which in that case is not a prayer of tzaddikim. For the core principle of prayer lies in one’s attaching himself to the spirituality of the letters which can awaken higher realms.
“He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky . . . . Jacob awoke from his sleep (mi-sheinato), and he said, ‘Surely the Lord is present in this place (and I did not know it). Shaken, he said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven” (Gen 28:12–17).
The Midrash strangely explained that Jacob awoke from his study (mi-mishnato).75
The Midrash would seem, however, to suggest that the core and goal of human prayer is the fullness of perfection in the worship of the Blessed One as a person grasps God’s blessed Divinity through Torah-study and prayer. This cannot be achieved by one without the other, because “An unlearned person (ʿam haʾaretz) cannot be devout,”76 and through Torah-study alone one cannot cultivate his soul to attain a state of wholeness, as our Sages said, “Anyone who says he has nothing but Torah does not even have Torah.”77 [Deeds are also necessary.]
Certainly through engaging in Torah for its own sake, one comes to a pronounced state of holiness and attaches himself, in the three basic levels of the soul, nefesh, ru’aḥ and n’shamah, to the letters of the Torah. However, even so he cannot fully attain the quality of awe and love and thirst and longing for serving God and cannot attain a true sense of Divinity other than through praying with devotion and enthusiasm, as is said in all the holy books.
Our Sages explained Jacob’s “coming upon a certain place” as his instituting the evening prayer (ʿaravit/maʿariv).78 Until then he did not know the greatness of prayer. While we find that Jacob had previously sought refuge in the Academy of Shem and Ever where he studied Torah,