The Vilna Gaon, the Maggid, and the Work Ethic of a Talmid Chacham

[Interesting: Shana Tova Parking Tickets at Life in Israel]

[Note: "Maggid" in the title of this post refers to an angel who comes to teach a person Torah. It does not refer to an itinerant preacher.]

A friend led me to the passage below today, and I knew instantly that I needed to translate this for others to read. There is much to learn here; it comes from Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin's introduction to the Vilna Gaon's Safra d'Tzniuta, available at hebrewbooks.org here. I have appended the Hebrew at the bottom, but there is more to see in the original.

He [the Gaon of Vilna] did not gain satisfaction other than from the work he did in wisdom and intellect and ability and after much strain, when Heaven had mercy upon him and wellsprings of wisdom were revealed to him, secrets of secrets and hidden things inside hidden things, this was for him a gift of Gd. Other than this, he did not want them, even though the heavens wished to give him, without any work or exhaustion, celestial secrets via angelic messengers, masters of secrets and officers of Torah. He did not raise his eyes to this. It was close to him, and he distanced it. I heard from his sacred mouth that angelic messengers often rose early to his door, desiring to convey to him secrets of Torah without any work, and he did not turn his ear to them at all.

One of the angelic messengers pressed him greatly, but he did not look upon the angel's great appearance. He answered and told him, "I do not want my grasp of Gd's torah to come via any intermediary at all; my eyes are raised only to Him. That which He wishes to reveal to me and give me as my portion in His Torah for the work I have done with all of my energy, He will give me wisdom, from His mouth comes intellect and comprehension, when He gives me a comprehending heart…

And he said that although our master Rabbi Yosef Karo had an angelic messenger, that was two centuries ago, when the generations were proper, and he lived upon the holy land. It is not thus now, when there are many who break the barriers, and especially outside of the land it is impossible to be at the height of holiness, without any inappropriate element mixed in. Especially those revelations which come without Torah, his spirit was impatient with them and they were not significant to him at all.

לא הראה את נפשו טוב רק בעמלו אשר עמל בחכמה ובדעת ובכשרון ואחר רב יגיעותיו וכאשר חסו עליו מן השמים ונתגלו לו מעיינות החכמה רד"ר וסתרין דסתרין זו היה אצלו מתת אלקים וזולת זה נפשו לא רצה בם אף כי רצו למסור לו מן השמים בלא שום עמל ויגיעת בשר רזין וסתרין עליוני עליונין ע״י מגידים מארי דרזין ושרי התורה לא נשא עיניו לזה עמו היתה וריחקה כי שמעתי מפיו הק' שפעמים רבות השכימו לפתחו כמה מגידים מן השמים בשאלתם ובקשתם שרוצים למסור לו רזין דאורייתא בלא שום עמל ולא הטה אזנו אליהם כלל

וא' מן המגידים הפציר בו מאד עכ"ז לא הביט אל מראהו הגדול וענה ואמר לו איני רוצה שתהיה השגתי בתורתו ית״ש ע"י שום אמצעי כלל וכלל רק עיני נשואות לו ית״ש מה שרוצה לגלות לי וליתן חלקי בתורתו ית"ש בעמלי אשר עמלתי בכל כחי הוא ית"ש יתן לי חכמה מפיו דעת ותבונה שיתן לי לב מבין
...
ואמר אף כי מרן הב"י היה לו מגיד היה זה לפני ב' מאות שנה שהיו הדורות כתקנן והיה שרוי על אדמת הקדש לא כן עתה שרבו המתפרצים ובפרט בחו"ל א"א כלל שיהיה כלו קדש קדשים בלי שום עירוב כלל. ובפרט הגילויים אשר בלא תורה נפשו בחלה בהם ולא היו נחשבים אצלו כלל וכלל.

Daf: Sotah 33-35 - lots happening here

There's a lot going on in these pages; I've just added some notes on a few of the many issues. As always, read with a gemara in front of you, but I have taken a few extra minutes to try to make some of these items comprehensible for those without a gemara.

33a
The gemara says that the entire Torah is supposed to be read in the original Hebrew. Rashi and Tosafot Shantz disagree on the application of that statement, as far as whether it refers to the weekly Torah reading or only to the biblically required Torah readings. Of particular note is the marginal comment on the Tosafot Shantz, suggesting that Parshat Parah is biblical.

Do the angels only speak Hebrew, or do they speak all non-Aramaic languages? See the Maharsha. (And boy is that topic odd – especially as it has halachic ramifications!)


33b
Tosafot and the Maharsha seem to have different explanations of the question of והלא לא ראו את הגלגל – Tosafot מול understands it to be asking that one cannot see Gilgal from Mount Gerizim and Mount Eval, but the Maharsha seems to think it is asking that the Jews cannot see Gilgal from their desert location.

The gemara lists times when Kohanim carried the Aron. See the Gilyon haShas on other times the Aron was carried by Kohanim. The Radak he cites asks and answers as Tosafot וכשהחזירוהו does here.


34a
I would have assumed the “300 mil” number was just an exaggeration, as is the gemara’s evaluation of the distance from earth to the clouds (in other discussions), but Tosafot יותר does not think so.


34b
See Tosafot כחנייתן on the matter of how the Jews crossed the Yarden.

The idea that a person could walk faster than water travels downstream is odd, to say the least. Rashi רבה and Tosafot מר both wrestle with this issue, and develop different solutions.

Regarding the issue of naming someone for an event that has not yet happened (as in the case of נחבי בן ופסי and סתור), see the Maharsha in Berachot on naming Ruth רות for the deeds of her descendant Dovid haMelech. Naming has elements of prophecy associated with it. See also our earlier discussion on Leah naming Yehudah for what he would do in the future.

The gemara here famously describes Moshe re-naming Yehoshua before his espionage mission; the Maharsha says that Yehoshua’s earlier labelling of “Yehoshua” in the Torah is only because his name would be changed later.

See Tosafot אבותי on the question of whether the deceased actually know what is happening in this world – and follow up in that gemara in Berachot 18-19 on this issue, particularly given the comment in the margin here. Based on our liturgy, such as some of the Tisha b’Av kinot, we certainly believe that the deceased do find out what is happening in this world.

See the Aruch on ענק; he renders it as neck.


35a
The Torah Temimah, commenting on the story of the spies, explains why the spies should have suffered particularly from wounds to their tongue and belly, and from the dreaded askerah death. The tongue was for lashon hara. The belly was for slandering Israel, which is seen in the gemara as the navel of the world. Askera is considered an appropriate punishment for lashon hara [but see also Pesachim 105a, where it is also a punishment for eating before havdalah…]

The idea of Dovid being blamed for Uzza’s death, when Uzza acted independently, is reminiscent of an issue discussed in many halachic authorities, of one’s liability for the death of a person who is doing a job for you. The Mahari Weil ruled that one is spiritually liable for the death of a person who is doing a job in his employ, and the issue has been greatly debated since. See Sanhedrin 95, Mahari Weil 125, Maharshal 96, Maharam Lublin 44, Beis Yosef at the end of Choshen Mishpat 188 (on financial liability), Tzemach Tzedek (the earlier) 6, Chasam Sofer 177, Avnei Nezer Yoreh Deah 478.


35b
Rashi’s explanation of בעבר הירדן is interesting; see also Rashbam to Devarim 1:1. There are others who are more troubled by this phrase.

If the Jews are not supposed to accept peace with the Canaanites they encounter, how do we understand Rachav’s survival? Tosafot לרבות gives one answer here, and this approach is seen in Malbim to Yehoshua 2:12 as well. Radak to Yehoshua 6:25 gives a similar answer, saying she converted. On the other hand, Ibn Ezra to Shemot 20:7 says that the oath bound the Jews, despite their mitzvah regarding her.

Class: Angels, Part II - Praying to Malachim

This morning I taught the second part of my two-part class on Angels; here's the source sheet, along with some bibliographic references for those who are interested.

We discussed the long history of addressing angels, and even beseeching their assistance, in Judaism - from Yaakov's request for an angelic blessing, to Rabbi Yochanan's apparent request for angelic assistance in Sanhedrin 44b, to Hitkabdu Mechubadai to Machnisei Rachamim to Barchuni l'Shalom. Then we looked at three reasons why this is a problem - the question of why angelic intercession would be needed, the concern for idolatry, and the concern for mystical danger in mixing with angels.

We talked about the historical elements of the issue of angelic intercession, and we concluded by looking at three different ways to handle angel-seeking liturgy: (1) Delete/Edit, (2) Accept that angels do have some power, and we may seek their help within that sphere, and (3) Modify our understanding of these prayers.

Here is the source sheet:
1. Talmud, Berachot 60b
One who enters the bathroom says: “Be honored, honored ones, sacred ones, servants of Above. Give honor to the Gd of Israel! Leave me until I go and do my desire, and then I will return to you.

2. Machnisei Rachamim
Angels of mercy, bring our plea for compassion before the Presence of the Lord of mercy. … Intercede for us and amplify supplication and entreaty before the King, Almighty, Who is exalted and uplifted.

3. Shoshan Sodot 412
Remember, always, to see at every molad and tekufah under which star they fell, and from the star you will know which angel is appointed thereupon, and from the angel you will know which emanation, and the name which emerges therefrom… And you will first be mashbia the star of the tekufah with its sacred angels, and then the star of the month and its angels…

4. Shalom Aleichem, third verse
Bless me for peace, angels of peace, angels of Above, from the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.

5. Psalms 91:11, 121:8
For He will instruct His angels for you, to guard you upon all of your ways.
HaShem will guard your departure and arrival, from now and forever.

6. Exodus 23:20
Behold, I send an angel before you, to guard you upon the way and to bring you to the land I have prepared.

7. Talmud, Shabbat 119b
Rabbi Yosi bar Yehudah said: Two ministering angels escort a person on Friday from the synagogue to his home, one of them good and one of them bad.
When they come to his home and find the lamp lit and the table set and the bed arranged, the good angel says, ‘May it be the Will that next Shabbat will be like this.’ And the bad angel is forced to answer ‘Amen.’
If not, the bad angel says, ‘May it be the Will that next Shabbat will be like this.’ And the good angel is forced to answer ‘Amen.’

8. Midrash Tanchuma (Warsaw edition), Vayyakhel 1
Rabbi Meir said: For every mitzvah a person performs, he is given an angel to guard him. If he performs one mitzvah, he is given one angel. If he performs many mitzvot, he is given many angels. It is written, ‘For He will instruct His angels for you, to guard you upon all of your ways.’

9. Talmud, Shabbat 12b
Rabbi Yochanan said: One who prays in Aramaic will not be helped by the ministering angels, for the ministering angels do not know Aramaic.

10. Genesis 32:27
And he said, ‘Send me away, for the morning has come.’
And he said, ‘No, unless you bless me.’

11. Talmud, Sanhedrin 44b
Rabbi Yochanan said: One should always ask for mercy that all should strengthen him, and that he should have no foes above.

12. Talmud Yerushalmi, Berachot 9:12
Rabbi Yudin said: A human being has a patron. If he encounters trouble, he does not approach the patron suddenly, but rather he stands at the door of the patron’s home and calls the patron’s servant or family member and says… But Gd is not so. If a person encounters trouble, he should not cry out to Michael or Gavriel, but rather to Me he should cry out, and I will answer him immediately.

13. Maimonides, Commentary to Mishnah, Introduction to the 10th chapter in Sanhedrin
…That it is suitable to worship Gd, to exalt Him, and to publicize His greatness. We do not do this to anything beneath Him, among the angels and stars and spheres…and we do not make them intermediaries through which to reach Him…

14. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Idolatry 2:1
The essential instruction regarding idolatry is that we should not worship one of the creatures, no angel or sphere or star or any of the four foundations or anything created therefrom. Even if the worshipper knows that HaShem is Gd, and he worships this creation as Enosh and his generation did at first, this is still idolatry.

15. R’ Yehudah haChasid, Sefer Chasidim 205
It is not good for a person to pray other than to Gd. One who goes out on the road should not be mashbia angels to guard him on the road, but rather he should pray to Gd for all of his needs…

16. Rama, Code of Jewish Law Yoreh Deah 179:16
Regarding hashba’ah, in which one is mashbia them with names, some permit this altogether, but most who involve themselves with this do not leave it in peace. Therefore, one who would guard his life should distance himself from them.

17. Genesis 19:21
And the angel said to Lot: Behold, I have shown favor to you even in this, not to overturn the city, as you spoke.

18. R’ Shemuel Yaakov Weinberg, Fundamentals and Faith, pg. 59-60
It is a form of idolatry to attribute power or free will to any intermediary. Therefore, believing that one must beg angels to bring his prayers to Gd is idolatry. For this reason, the Maharal and R' Chaim of Volozhin (Keter Rosh #93) forbade the singing of "Barchuni leshalom," since it implies that one is asking the angels to bless him.
Those who do sing this popular prayer on the Sabbath should envision a situation in which the angels will have to bless him. The Talmud (Shabbat 119b) relates that, returning home after the Sabbath services Friday evening, one is accompanied by two angels. If, upon entering one's home, the angels find the table set for the Sabbath meal, they are forced to bless the home with the blessing that this joy and preparation should occur the following week as well. It is for this situation, where the angels must bless him, that one should pray.

19. The First Gerrer Rebbe, Sfat Emet to Rosh haShanah 32bWith every mitzvah the Jewish people perform, an angel is created. In truth, Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur are holidays, so that there is joy in the hearts of the Jews, but they cannot bring that desire into action, to say Hallel. However: From this great longing, angels are also created.

And here is a partial bibliography:

https://www.yeshiva.org.il/midrash/shiur.asp?id=5248
http://www.netivot-shalom.org.il/parshheb/vayishlach5.php
http://dafyomi.shemayisrael.co.il/sanhedrin/insites/sn-dt-044.htm
http://www.moriya.org.il/shut/indexid.asp?id=4288
http://www.havabooks.co.il/shut/ShutInside.asp?Qid=1618
http://hebrew.grimoar.cz/anonym/sosan_sodot.htm

Chasam Sofer Orach Chaim 166
Yehudah Yaaleh 1: Orach Chaim 21 - I loved what he had to say here.
Igros Moshe Orach Chaim 5:43
Divrei Yatziv Yoreh Deah 191
Tzitz Eliezer 14:48

Class: Angels

I expect to teach the first of a two-week class on "Judaism's view of Angels" on Sunday morning, Jan. 20th, at 10 AM, at Brith Sholom in Bethlehem.
My thesis is that angels are actually "our-worldly" rather than "otherworldly." They represent the closest that the material universe can come to fulfilling Divine desire. I base my view on various biblical sources, as well as the writings of the Rambam.
I also believe that, in this sense, the existence of Angels presents a challenge to us, in terms of how we use our own Free Will.

Here is the outline/source sheet I plan to distribute:

Angels - Week I – Angels: “A Challenge to Priorities and Settled Ways”

Introduction
For our purposes: Angel = Malach
Time Magazine weighs in (Dec. 1993)

Key Questions
Why do Jews and Christians disagree in characterizing angels?
Where do angels come from?
What can we learn from angels?

The narrowest definition of a Malach: Gd’s task-oriented agent
The earliest biblical angels
Task-oriented
Simple etymology

But we find angels in other roles: An expression of Gd’s desire for this world
Acting in Heaven
Acting independently
The common denominator
An expression of an interventionist Gd’s desire for this world
The “Guardian Angel” concept

The holes in this definition
People becoming angels?
Angels becoming corrupted?!
What exactly does “Divine desire” mean, anyway?!?

A Jewish definition: An expression of this world’s desire to draw closer to Gd
Angels: Our representatives in Heaven
Physical beings of suspended Free Will
Maimonidean support

The charge to us: Are we supposed to become angels?
No
Yes

Source Sheet

1. Time Magazine, 12-27-93, Angels Among Us, Nancy Gibbs
This rising fascination is more popular than theological, a grass-roots revolution of the spirit in which all sorts of people are finding all sorts of reasons to seek answers about angels for the first time in their lives. Just what is their nature? Why do they appear to some people and not to others? Do people turn into angels when they die? What role do they play in heaven and on earth? While the questions have the press of novelty, they are as old as civilization, for the idea of angels has hovered about us for ages.
Glancing around the gift shops, one might imagine that their role is purely decorative. Holiday angels are luscious creatures, plump and dimpled, all ruffled and improvised. In their tame placidity they bear no relation to the fearsome creatures in the Bible and the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke and Wallace Stevens.
Biblical angels are powerful creatures; in Genesis they guard the east gates of Eden with flashing swords; in Ezekiel they overpower the prophet with awesome visions, four-headed, multiwinged and many eyed; in Revelation they do battle with a dragon. Milton describes the "flaming Seraph, fearless, though alone, encompassed round with foes." And Rilke wrote, "If the archangel now, perilous, from behind the stars took even one step down toward us, our own heart, beating higher and higher, would beat us to death." Every angel, he declared, "is terrifying."
In their modern incarnation, these mighty messengers and fearless soldiers have been reduced to bite-size beings, easily digested. The terrifying cherubim have become Kewpie-doll cherubs. For those who choke too easily on Gd and his rules, theologians observe, angels are the handy compromise, all fluff and meringue, kind, nonjudgmental. And they are available to everyone, like aspirin. "Each of us has a guardian angel," declares Eileen Freeman, who publishes a bimonthly newsletter called AngelWatch from her home in Mountainside, New Jersey. "They're nonthreatening, wise and loving beings. They offer help whether we ask for it or not. But mostly we ignore them."
Only in the New Age would it be possible to invent an angel so mellow that it can be ignored. According to the rest of history, anyone who invites an encounter with an angel should be prepared to be changed by it. By scriptural tradition, angels pull back the curtain, however briefly, on the realm of the spirit. In offering a glimpse of a larger universe, they issue a challenge to priorities and settled ways…

2. R’ Avraham Ibn Ezra’s Introduction to Chumash
Regarding any word for which you seek the explanation, in the explanation of its first appearance you will find it.

3. Genesis 3:24
And He exiled Man, and He placed before the Garden of Eden the cherubs…

4. Genesis 6:2
And the bnei haElo--him saw the daughters of Man…

5. Genesis 16:7
And a malach of Gd found her…

6. מלאך = מלאכה

7. Isaiah 6:3
And one called to another and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy…’

8. Talmud, Shabbat 89a
Moses asked: What else is written in the Torah? “Do not kill,” “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not steal.” Do you have any jealousy? Do you have any desire to commit sin?

9. Genesis 5:24
And Chanoch walked with Gd, and then he was gone, for Gd had taken him.

10. Otzar haMidrashim pg. 285
Chanoch is Metatron.

11. Ezekiel 1:4-14 (mostly JPS translation)
And I looked, and, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with a fire flashing up, so that a brightness was round about it; and out of the midst thereof as the colour of electrum, out of the midst of the fire.
And out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings. And their feet were a straight foot; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass.
And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and as for the faces and wings of them four, their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man; and they four had the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four had also the face of an eagle.
Thus were their faces; and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. And they went every one straight forward; whither the spirit was to go, they went; they turned not when they went.
As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like coals of fire, burning like the appearance of torches; it flashed up and down among the living creatures; and there was brightness to the fire, and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

12. Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed Volume 2 Chapter 6
Should you tell one of those people who consider themselves Sages that Gd sends an angel into a woman’s womb, and that this angel creates the form of a fetus and its functions, he would accept this and think that this is part of the glory of Gd. He would believe, at the same time, that the angel has a body of burning flame, and that this angel has a body which is as large as one-third of this whole planet.
However, should you tell him that Gd put the power of creation into a tiny drop of fluid, the power to create the form of a fetus’ limbs, and that this fluid is the angel, he would say that this is impossible, and he would not believe!
Our Sages have already explained that each of the body’s functions is considered an angel, for such is the case with all of the forces in the universe.

13. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Fundamentals of Torah 2:3
Everything Gd created in His world fits into three units.
Some are combined from substance and structure, and they are created and destroyed continually, like the bodies of people and animals and plants and metals.
Some are combined from substance and structure, but do not change from one body to another or one structure to another as the first do. Rather, their structure is eternally fixed in their substance and they never change as these do. These are the spheres and stars…
Some are just structure, without any substance; these are angels, for angels have neither body nor physicality, only structures that are separate from each other.

14. Talmud, Yoma 30a
The Torah was not given to the ministering angels.

15. Pirkei Avot 2:4
Nullify your desire in the face of His.