How communal prayer helps community

[This week's Haveil Havalim is here]

Back in Weeks 1-2 we discussed how communal prayer helps prayer. This week (Week 6), our Wednesday night Tzibburology class will look at the ways in which tefillah b'tzibbur [communal prayer] helps to build community. Here is the source sheet we will use:

Community aids prayer, as well as religious practice
1. D. E. Saliers, Liturgy and Ethics: Some New Beginnings, Journal of Religious Ethics (Fall 1979)
Worship both forms and expresses persons in the beliefs, the emotions and the attitudes appropriate to the religious life.

The mitzvah of communal prayer
2. Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Tefillah 8:1
תפלת הציבור נשמעת תמיד ואפילו היו בהן חוטאים אין הקב"ה מואס בתפלתן של רבים, לפיכך צריך אדם לשתף עצמו עם הציבור, ולא יתפלל ביחיד כל זמן שיכול להתפלל עם הציבור, ולעולם ישכים אדם ויעריב לבית הכנסת שאין תפלתו נשמעת בכל עת אלא בבית הכנסת, וכל מי שיש לו בית הכנסת בעירו ואינו מתפלל בו עם הציבור נקרא שכן רע.
The prayer of the community is always heard; even if there are sinners among them, Gd does not reject the prayer of the many. Therefore, one must always join himself with the community, and not pray alone so long as he could pray with the community. One must always rise early and go in the evening to the shul, for his prayer will not be heard at all times other than in the shul. One who has a shul in his city and does not pray there with the community is termed a ‘bad neighbor.’

3. Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 90:9
ישתדל אדם להתפלל בב"ה עם הציבור, ואם הוא אנוס שאינו יכול לבוא לב"ה, יכוין להתפלל בשעה שהציבור מתפללים, (והוא הדין בני אדם הדרים בישובים ואין להם מנין, מ"מ יתפללו שחרית וערבית בזמן שהציבור מתפללים, סמ"ג).
Mechaber: One should always endeavor to pray in shul with the community. One who is forced such that he cannot go to shul should specifically pray when the community prays. Rama: And people who dwell in outlying areas where there is no minyan should still pray in the morning and evening when the community prays.

4. Midrash, Yalkut Shimoni 871
מעשה באשה אחת שהזקינה הרבה ובאת לפני רבי יוסי בן חלפתא אמרה ליה רבי הזקנתי יותר מדאי ומעכשיו חיים של נוול הם שאיני טועמת לא מאכל ולא משקה ואני מבקשת להפטר מן העולם, א"ל מה מצוה את למודה לעשות בכל יום, א"ל למודה אני אפילו יש לי דבר חביב אני מנחת אותו ומשכמת לבית הכנסת בכל יום, א"ל מנעי עצמך מבית הכנסת שלשה ימים זה אחר זה, הלכה ועשתה כן וביום השלישי חלתה ומתה,
A greatly aged woman came before R’ Yosi ben Chalafta and said, “My master, I have become too old, and my life is now repellent to me. I do not taste food or drink; I wish to leave this world.”
He asked her: What mitzvah do you practice daily? She replied: My practice is that even if I have something beloved to do, I leave it and rise early for shul each day.
He said: Keep yourself from the shul for three consecutive days. She did this, and on the third day she fell ill and died.

5. Mishneh Berurah 687:7
ואפילו היתה ת"ת של חבורה גדולה של ק' אנשים שלומדים באיזה בית אפ"ה צריך לבטל ולילך לקרותה בצבור משום ברב עם הדרת מלך.
Even if there is a great group of 100 men studying in a house, they still must cease and go to read megilah in the community, because of the principle, “The glory of the king is in a great nation.”

6. Talmud, Rosh haShanah 35a
אמר רב אחא בר עוירא אמר רבי שמעון חסידא: פוטר היה רבן גמליאל אפילו עם שבשדות.
Rav Acha bar Avira cited R’ Shimon Chasida, saying that Rabban Gamliel ruled that the chazan [in repeating the amidah] even exempted the masses out in the fields.

Communal prayer is meant to draw people together
7. Bamidbar 10:2
(ב) עשה לך שתי חצוצרת כסף מקשה תעשה אתם והיו לך למקרא העדה ולמסע את המחנות:

8. Esther 4:15-16
ותאמר אסתר להשיב אל מרדכי: לך כנוס את כל היהודים הנמצאים בשושן וצומו עלי ואל תאכלו ואל תשתו שלשת ימים לילה ויום...

9. Talmud, Yoma 12a
והאי תנא סבר ירושלים לא נתחלקה לשבטים דתניא אין משכירין בתים בירושלים לפי שאינה שלהן ר' אלעזר בר שמעון אומר אף לא מטות.
That authority theorized that Yerushalayim was not divided among the tribes, as we learned, “They may not charge rent for homes in Yerushalayim, for it does not belong to them. Rabbi Elazar bar Shimon said: Beds, too.”

10. Netziv, Haameik Davar Vayyikra 7:13
דתכלית התודה שבא על הנס הוא כדי לספר חסדי ה' שגמל עליו, ומטעם זה ריבה הכתוב בלחם ומיעט בזמן אכילת תודה מכל שלמים היינו כדי שיהיה מרבה ריעים לסעודה אחת ביום הקרבה ויהיה סיפור הנס לפני רוב אנשים וארבע חלות לכהנים שהן המה תלמידי חכמים.
The goal of the todah that is brought in response to a miracle is to tell of the great generosity Gd performed for him. Therefore the Torah increased the amount of bread and decreased the time for the todah’s consumption beyond that of any other shelamim, so that he would increase his friends for one meal on the day he brought the korban, and so he would tell of the miracle before many people. Four loaves would go the kohanim, who were the scholars.

11. Tur, Orach Chaim 90
ואין די לו במה שיקבע לו ב"ה להתפלל בה תדיר אלא גם בב"ה שקובע בה צריך שיהיה מקומו קבוע וידוע ולא ישב היום כאן ולמחר במקום אחר דהכי איתמר בירושלמי א"ר תנחום בר חייא צריך אדם לייחד לו מקום בב"ה שנאמר ויהי דוד בא עד הראש אשר ישתחוה שם השתחוה לא נאמר אלא ישתחוה משמע שהיה תדיר משתחוה שם
It is insufficient to establish a shul in which one always prays; even within the shul, one should establish a known place for himself, and not sit here today and there tomorrow. This is what we learned in Yerushalmi, “Rabbi Tanchum bar Chiyya said: One must designate a place in shul for himself, as it is written, ‘And David came to the front where he would bow’ – It does not say ‘bowed,’ but ‘would bow,’ which indicates that he always bowed there.”

12. Maharil (R’ Yaakov ben Moshe Moellin), Minhagim, Hilchot Yom Kippur 11
אין לשנות מנהג המקום בשום ענין אפילו בניגונים שאין מורגלים שם.
One should not change any aspect of local minhag, even to introduce unfamiliar tunes.

13. Mishneh Berurah 619:7
כי עי"ז מבלבל דעת הקהל
Because that would confuse the congregation.

14. Machzor Vitry 190
וזוכר את המתים שרבו תורה ותקנות בישר' ואותם שהניחו שום דבר בקהל ושהניחו אחרים בשבילם.
And we remember the dead, who increased Torah and enactments in Israel, as well as those who left anything to the community, and those for whom others left something.

15. Talmud, Taanit 14a
על אלו מתריעין בשבת: על עיר שהקיפוה גייס או נהר, ועל ספינה המטורפת בים
For the following situations we are matria even on Shabbat: For a city surrounded by soldiers or an overflowing river, and for a boat that is being tossed in the sea.

16. Talmud, Rosh haShanah 34b
תניא, אמרו לו לרבן גמליאל: לדבריך, למה צבור מתפללין? אמר להם: כדי להסדיר שליח צבור תפלתו. אמר להם רבן גמליאל: לדבריכם, למה שליח צבור יורד לפני התיבה? אמרו לו: כדי להוציא את שאינו בקי.
They said to Rabban Gamliel: According to you, why does the community daven? He replied: To give the chazan a chance to order his prayer.
Rabban Gamliel said to them: According to you, why does the chazan descend before the Ark? They replied: To fulfill the mitzvah for those who are not expert.

Secular sociology shows that communal prayer helps community in general ways
17. Sosis and Ruffle, Religious Ritual and Cooperation: Testing for a Relationship on Israeli Religious and Secular Kibbutzim, Current Anthropology 44:5 (2003)
Hypotheses: If religious ritual impacts solidarity and cooperation as many anthropological theories suggest, then we should expect members of religious kibbutzim to exhibit higher levels of cooperation than members of secular kibbutzim. Although there is no agreement on the details, these theories maintain that it is collective ritual that promotes solidarity and cooperation, whereas no theory proposes a similar functional role for privately performed rituals. Private rituals appear to serve a different purpose, such as communicating with oneself (e.g., Rappaport 1999, Sosis 2003). Thus, we also expect that religious males will exhibit higher levels of cooperation than religious females because of their greater participation in collective ritual, especially daily prayer. Lastly, we expect the frequency of participation in collective ritual to affect an individual’s cooperativeness positively. Therefore we predict that men who participate in communal prayer most frequently will exhibit the highest levels of cooperation.


18. Sosis, The Adaptive Value of Religious Ritual, American Scientist 92
Abstract: Why do Hari Krishnas shave their heads? Why do Mormons abstain from coffee, tobacco and alcohol? And why do so many religious groups have strict initiation rites, ranging from bathing in icy water to painful scarification, hair plucking and genital mutilation? In other words, why all the ordeals and sacrifices? Most attempts to explain religious rituals and taboos have focused on the spiritual benefits of these practices, but anthropologist Richard Sosis thinks there's a more fundamental reason. They signal commitment to the group, and prevent those who are uncommitted from gaining the benefits of membership. After all, who but a believer would engage in these costly acts?

Also see: Ruffle and Sosis, Does it pay to pray? Costly Ritual and Cooperation, The Berkeley Electronic Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy 7:1 (2007)

Communal prayer helps community in highly specific ways: Communal Structure
19. R’ Yosef Teumim, Pri Megadim to Orach Chaim 94: Mishbetzot Zahav 2
עיין ט"ז דיעמדו בית הכנסת לא ממש נגד המזרח רק נטוי קצת לצד דרום, ולפי זה מקום הרב בבית הכנסת בצד דרום הארון ואינו צריך להדרים דבלאו הכי כן הוא. ומי שעושה ממש נגד המזרח טוב מקום הרב לצפון ארון הקודש, שידרים, דבדרום נראה כהופך עורף מארון קודש.
See the Taz’s statement that they should establish the shul not precisely opposite the east, but inclined a little to the south. According to this, the place of the rabbi in the shul should be on the south side of the Aron; he would not need to face south, for even without facing that way he would be in the south. One who establishes it precisely opposite the east should then have the rabbi north of the Aron, so that he will face south; if he would be south then he would appear to be turning his back upon the Aron.

20. Talmud, Megilah 32a
ואמר רבי שפטיה אמר רבי יוחנן: עשרה שקראו בתורה - הגדול שבהם גולל ספר תורה.
Rabbi Shefatiah cited Rabbi Yochanan: When ten read from the Torah, the greatest among them rolls the Torah.

Communal prayer helps community in highly specific ways: Teaching children to value community
21. Vivienne Mountain, Prayer is a Positive Activity for Children, International Journal of Children’s Spirituality 10:3 (Dec 2005)
The data displayed a sense of joy in, and appreciation of, aspects of communal worship. The sense of identity connected to communities of faith was part of the prayer experience for about two-thirds of participants. To pray together in the positive sense of praise and worship was perceived as a meaningful activity where children found a sense of identity and belonging. The praying community was also valued in intercessory prayer (prayer for others), where the community of faith was identified as a resource. As care for others was expressed through prayer, children could understand a sense of unity where prayer was also available for them.

Communal prayer helps community in highly specific ways: Coping with death
22. Sinead Donnelly, Folklore Associated with Dying in the west of Ireland, Palliative Medicine (1999)
In their grief, the community was supported by the loose formality of the wake (torramh), funeral procession, keening (caoineadh) and music. In all these, the men and women of the community and its leaders had distinct and respected roles to play.

Communal prayer helps community in highly specific ways: Announcing communal needs
23. Talmud, Bava Metzia 28b
תנו רבנן: בראשונה, כל מי שמצא אבידה - היה מכריז עליה שלשה רגלים, ואחר רגל אחרון שבעת ימים, כדי שילך שלשה ויחזור שלשה ויכריז יום אחד. משחרב בית המקדש, שיבנה במהרה בימנו, התקינו שיהו מכריזים בבתי כנסיות ובבתי מדרשות.
Initially, whoever found a lost item would announce it for three festivals, and for seven days after the third festival, so that he could travel three days, return three days, and announce one day. When the Beit haMikdash was destroyed – it should be rebuilt speedily in our days – they enacted that people should announce in the shuls and study halls.

24. Talmud, Shabbat 150a
ואמר רבי יעקב בר אידי אמר רבי יוחנן: מפקחין פיקוח נפש ופיקוח רבים בשבת, והולכין לבתי כנסיות לפקח על עסקי רבים בשבת.
And R’ Yaakov bar Idi cited R’ Yochanan as saying: They look after lives and they look after the community on Shabbat, and they go to shuls to look out for communal needs on Shabbat.

Building a Community of Trust

Here are the sources for the fourth week of Tzibburology, which I expect to teach Wednesday night at the BAYT.

We'll be discussing "Building a Community of Trust," looking at the Trust = Social Capital model of James Coleman, Francis Fukuyama and others, and how it is applied in Jewish law in community-building.

We'll look at issues of earning the trusted Chaver status, practicing trust-promoting behaviors, avoiding suspicion of wrongdoing and judging others favorably. Much of the material is traditional, but I have a few surprises in mind, particularly at the end.

The quotes in the beginning are long, but I really like them.

The Role of Trust in Building Society
1. Fukuyama, Social Capital and the Global Economy, Foreign Affairs (September/October 1995)
Conventional maps of the global economy divide the major players into three groups: the United States and its partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement, the European Union (EU), and East Asia, led by Japan but with the four dragons (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) and the People's Republic of China catching up rapidly. This three-pronged geography is said to correspond to major divisions in the approach to political economy: at one pole lie Japan and the newly industrialized Asian economies, which have relied heavily on state-centered industrial policies to guide their development, while at the other extreme lies the United States, with its commitment to free-market liberalism. Europe, with its extensive social welfare policies, lies somewhere in between.
This familiar map, while not wrong, is today not the most useful way of understanding global economic geography. The most striking difference among capitalist countries is their industrial structure. Germany, Japan, and the United States were quick to adopt the corporate form of organization as they industrialized in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and today their economies are hosts to giant, professionally managed corporations like Siemens, Toyota, Ford, and Motorola. By contrast, the private sectors of France, Italy, and capitalist Chinese societies like Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the marketized parts of the People's Republic of China (PRC) are dominated by smaller, family-owned and -managed businesses. These societies have had much greater difficulties institutionalizing large-scale private corporations; their relatively small companies, while dynamic, tend to fall apart after a generation or two, whereupon the state is tempted to step in to make possible large-scale industry.
The reasons for these differences in industrial structure have less to do with level of development than with a key cultural characteristic, what the sociologist James Coleman has labeled social capital—that is, the component of human capital that allows members of a given society to trust one another and cooperate in the formation of new groups and associations... The competitiveness literature of the past decade has it wrong when it describes the United States and Japan as polar opposites with respect to individualism and group orientation. In fact, the strong historical propensity of Americans to form voluntary associations is quite similar to that of the Japanese, and it is no accident that these two societies pioneered the development first of the corporate form of business organization and later the smaller, decentralized network.
Virtually all economic activity, from running a laundry to building the latest-generation microprocessor, is carried out not by individuals but by organizations that require a high degree of social cooperation. As economists argue, the ability to form organizations depends on institutions like property rights, contracts, and a system of commercial law. But it also depends on a prior sense of moral community, that is, an unwritten set of ethical rules or norms that serve as the basis of social trust. Trust can dramatically reduce what economists call transaction costs—costs of negotiation, enforcement, and the like—and makes possible certain efficient forms of economic organization that
otherwise would be encumbered by extensive rules, contracts, litigation, and bureaucracy. Moral communities, as they are lived and experienced by their members, tend to be the product not of rational choice in the economists' sense ofthe term, but of nonrational habit.

2. Fukuyama, The Economics of Trust, National Review (August 14, 1995)
A nation’s well-being, as well as its ability to compete economically, is conditioned by a single, pervasive cultural characteristic: the level of trust inherent in the society.
Consider the following vignettes from twentieth-century economic life: During the oil crisis of the early 1970s, two automakers on opposite sides of the world, Mazda and Daimler-Benz, were both hit with declining sales and the prospect of bankruptcy. They were bailed out by a coalition of companies with which they had traditionally done business, led in each case by a large bank: Sumitomo Trust and the Deutsche Bank. In both cases, immediate profitability was sacrificed to save the institution…

3. Sosis, Does Religion Promote Trust? The Role of Signaling, Reputation and Punishment
[T]he conditions for intra-group trust are often not met in religious communities, especially isolationist and closed communities to which high levels of trust are typically ascribed. Rather, in such communities cooperation is maintained through institutional structures that effectively punish cheaters and enhance the value of an honest reputation. These groups gainfully facilitate collective action by offering a circumscribed social arena in which reputations can be built, evaluated, rewarded, and efficiently punished.
While face to face reciprocal relations obviate the need for trusting behavior within closed religious communities, when social groups are fluid religious practices and symbolic markers are successful at promoting trust among in-group members and anonymous coreligionists who reside in different communities. In addition, these religious badges of identity may be used by non-group members as signals of trustworthiness.

The Role of Trust in building Jewish society: Cases from Tanach
4. Masechet Derech Eretz, Perek Shalom 5

חזקיה אמר גדול הוא השלום, שבכל המסעות כתיב ויסעו ויחנו, נוסעין במחלוקת וחונין במחלוקת, ובזמן שבאו לסיני חנו חנייה אחת, ויחן שם ישראל, אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא הואיל ושנאו ישראל את המחלוקת ואהבו את השלום ונעשו חנייה אחת, עכשיו אתן להם את תורתי.

Chizkiyah said: Peace is great, for with each journey it was written, “And they travelled and they encamped,” traveling with division and camping with division, but when they came to Sinai they camped as one, “And Israel camped [singular].” Gd said: Since Israel hated division and loved peace and became one camp, I will now give them My Torah.

5. Rashi to Bereishit 11:19

וכי אי זו קשה, של דור המבול או של דור הפלגה, אלו לא פשטו יד בעיקר, ואלו פשטו יד בעיקר כביכול להלחם בו, ואלו נשטפו, ואלו לא נאבדו מן העולם. אלא שדור המבול היו גזלנים והיתה מריבה ביניהם לכך נאבדו, ואלו היו נוהגים אהבה וריעות ביניהם, שנאמר שפה אחת ודברים אחדים. למדת ששנוי המחלוקת וגדול השלום:

What is worse, that of the Flood generation or that of the Division generation? These did not reach out against Gd and these did reach out against Gd, as though they could war against Him, and yet these were drowned and these were not eliminated from the world! But the Flood generation were thieves and had quarrels among themselves and so they were eliminated, and these acted with love and friendship among themslves, as the Torah describes, “One tongue and many words.” We learn that division is hated and peace is great.

6. Kohelet 4:9-12

טובים השנים מן האחד אשר יש להם שכר טוב בעמלם: כי אם יפלו האחד יקים את חברו ואילו האחד שיפול ואין שני להקימו: גם אם ישכבו שנים וחם להם ולאחד איך יחם: ואם יתקפו האחד השנים יעמדו נגדו והחוט המשלש לא במהרה ינתק:

Two are better than one, for they have good reward for their struggle. Should they fall, one would pick up the other; if one would fall, he would have no second to pick him up. Also, if two would lie down they would be warm; how would one be warmed? And if one would be overcome in an attack, two would stand against him; and the tripled-corded thread will not quickly break.

The Role of Trust in building Jewish society: Halachah 1: Trusting those who honor Communal Standards
7. Responsa of Rashba 1:430

שאלת מי שהוא חשוד באחת מן העבירות שבתורה אם נאמן באיסורין אם לאו?
תשובה נאמן הוא בשאר האיסורין דהא קיי"ל בפר' קמא דחולין (דף ה') דמומר לדבר אחד לא הוי מומר לכל התורה. זולתי מומר לעבודה זרה ולחלל שבתות בפרהסיא דהוי כמומר לכל התורה.

You asked: May we trust a person who is suspected of a transgression regarding prohibitions, or not?
He is credible regarding other prohibitions, for we learn in Chullin 5a that one who is a mumar for one matter is not considered a mumar for the entire Torah, other than one who is a mumar for idolatry or violating Shabbat in public, who is considered like a mumar for the entire Torah.

8. Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Maaser 10:2

ת"ח שמת והניח פירות אפילו כנסם באותו היום הרי הן בחזקת מתוקנין.

If a talmid chacham passes on and leaves behind produce, they may be assumed to have been tithed – even if they were collected only that day.

9. Mishnah, Sheviit 5:9

משאלת אשה לחברתה החשודה על השביעית נפה וכברה ורחיים ותנור אבל לא תבור ולא תטחן עמה אשת חבר... וכולן לא אמרו אלא מפני דרכי שלום ומחזיקין ידי נכרים בשביעית אבל לא ידי ישראל ושואלין בשלומן מפני דרכי שלום:

A woman may lend a sifter, sieve, mill or oven to her friend who is suspected of violating the laws of shemitah, but she may not sift or grind with her… All of this was said only for peaceful practices. One may grasp the hands of non-Jews in shemitah, but not the hands of Jews; one may ask after them, though, for peaceful practices.

10. Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 55:11

עבריין שעבר על גזירת הצבור או שעבר עבירה, אם לא נידוהו נמנה למנין עשרה.

A sinner who violated communal decrees or who violated a prohibition may be counted toward a minyan, unless he has been ex-communicated.


The Role of Trust in building Jewish society: Halachah 2: Implementing peaceful practices
11. Mishnah, Gittin 5:8

אלו דברים אמרו מפני דרכי שלום: כהן קורא ראשון ואחריו לוי ואחריו ישראל, מפני דרכי שלום; מערבין בבית ישן, מפני דרכי שלום...

The following are prescribed for the sake of peaceful practices: The Kohen should read first, then a Levi, and then a Yisrael, for peaceful practices. We set up the eruv meal in the established house, for peaceful practices…

12. Talmud, Taanit 14b

חברים אין שאילת שלום ביניהן, עמי הארץ ששואלין - מחזירין להם בשפה רפה ובכובד ראש.

Chaverim do not greet each other [on Tishah b'Av], but if amei ha’aretz greet us then we respond with a soft tongue and with solemnity.

13. Talmud, Gittin 61a

מפרנסים עניי נכרים עם עניי ישראל, ומבקרין חולי נכרים עם חולי ישראל, וקוברין מתי נכרים עם מתי ישראל, מפני דרכי שלום.

We support non-Jewish paupers with Jewish paupers, and we examine non-Jewish ill with Jewish ill, and we bury non-Jewish dead with Jewish dead, because of peaceful practices.

The Role of Trust in building Jewish society: Halachah 3: Avoiding suspicious practices
14. Talmud, Berachot 3a

מפני שלשה דברים אין נכנסין לחורבה: מפני חשד, מפני המפולת ומפני המזיקין.

There are three reasons why we do not enter a ruin: Suspicion, Collapse and Harmful forces.

15. Talmud, Shabbat 64b

אמר רב יהודה אמר רב: כל מקום שאסרו חכמים מפני מראית העין - אפילו בחדרי חדרים אסור.

Rav Yehudah said, citing Rav: Whenever the sages prohibited a practice because of appearances, it is prohibited even in rooms within rooms.

16. Rama to Yoreh Deah 87:3

ונהגו לעשות חלב משקדים ומניחים בה בשר עוף, הואיל ואינו רק מדרבנן. אבל בשר בהמה, יש להניח אצל החלב שקדים, משום מראית העין

People prepare almond milk and place poultry in it, since this would only be a rabbinic prohibition [even were the milk actually dairy]. For beef, though, one should leave nuts next to the milk, because of appearances.

The Role of Trust in building Jewish society: Halachah 4: Judging others favorably
17. Avot d’Rabbi Natan 8:7

מעשה בריבה אחת שנשבית והלכו אחריה שני חסידים לפדותה. נכנס אחד מהם לקובה של זונות כשיצא אמר לחבירו במה חשדתני. אמר שמא לידע בכמה דמים היא מהורהנת. א"ל העבודה כך היה. א"ל כשם שדנתני לכף זכות כך הקב"ה ידין אותך לכף זכות:

Once, a young girl was taken captive and two pious men went to redeem her. One of them entered a hut of zonot, and when he emerged he asked the other, “What did you suspect of me?”
The other replied, “Perhaps you entered to find out how much money they were demanding for her release.”
He said, “By the Avodah, so it was! And just as you judged me for the side of merit, so may Gd judge you for the side of merit.”

18. Yirmiyahu 40:14

ויאמרו אליו הידע תדע כי בעליס מלך בני עמון שלח את ישמעאל בן נתניה להכתך נפש ולא האמין להם גדליהו בן אחיקם:

And he said to him: Do you know that Balis, King of Amon, has sent Yishmael ben Netanyah to kill you?
And Gedaliah ben Achikam did not believe him.

19. Talmud, Niddah 61a

אמר רבא: האי לישנא בישא, אע"פ דלקבולי לא מבעי - מיחש ליה מבעי. הנהו בני גלילא דנפק עלייהו קלא דקטול נפשא, אתו לקמיה דרבי טרפון, אמרו ליה: לטמרינן מר! אמר להו: היכי נעביד? אי לא אטמרינכו - חזו יתייכו, אטמרינכו - הא אמור רבנן האי לישנא בישא, אע"ג דלקבולי לא מבעי - מיחש ליה מבעי, זילו אתון טמרו נפשייכו.

Rava said: Although one may not accept evil speech, one must be concerned for it.
Word spread that certain Galileans had killed someone; they came to R’ Tarfon and asked him, “Master, hide us!” He said to them, “What should I do? If I don’t hide you, they will find you. If I hide you – the sages say that although one may not accept evil speech, one must be concerned for it! Rather, go hide yourselves.”


20. Talmud, Shabbat 97a

אמר ריש לקיש: החושד בכשרים לוקה בגופו, דכתיב והן לא יאמינו לי וגו', וגליא קמי קודשא בריך הוא דמהימני ישראל. אמר לו: הן מאמינים בני מאמינים, ואתה אין סופך להאמין. הן מאמינים - דכתיב ויאמן העם, בני מאמינים והאמין בה'. אתה אין סופך להאמין - שנאמר יען לא האמנתם בי וגו'. ממאי דלקה - דכתיב ויאמר ה' לו עוד הבא נא ידך בחיקך וגו'.

Reish Lakish said: One who suspects the innocent will be physically harmed. It is written, ‘And they will not believe me,’ and Gd knew that the Jews would believe. Gd said to Moshe: They are believers, children of believers - and you, in the end, will not believe!... And how do we know he was harmed? For it is written, ‘And Gd said to him, Put your hand in your chest again…’

More generally: The imperative to proactively create a society of trust
21. Mishnah, Shekalim 3:2

אין התורם נכנס לא בפרגוד חפות ולא במנעל ולא בסנדל ולא בתפילין ולא בקמיע שמא יעני ויאמרו מעון הלשכה העני או שמא יעשיר ויאמרו מתרומת הלשכה העשיר לפי שאדם צריך לצאת ידי הבריות כדרך שצריך לצאת ידי המקום שנאמר (במדבר ל"ב) והייתם נקיים מה' ומישראל ואומר (משלי ג') ומצא חן ושכל טוב בעיני אלקים ואדם:

The tither could not enter with hemmed clothes, shoes, sandals, tefillin or amulets, lest he become poor such that people might say he was impoverished because of sinning with the shekalim or lest he become wealthy such that people might he say he was enriched by the shekalim. One is obligated to satisfy others as he is obligated to satisfy Gd, as it is written (Bamidbar 32), ‘And you shall be clean from Gd and Israel,’ and it is written (Proverbs 3), ‘And you will find favor and [a reputation for] wisdom on the eyes of Gd and Man.’

The relationship between human and Gd
22. Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah 2:2

ומה היא התשובה הוא שיעזוב החוטא חטאו ויסירו ממחשבתו ויגמור בלבו שלא יעשהו עוד... ויעיד עליו יודע תעלומות שלא ישוב לזה החטא לעולם...

What is repentance? For the sinner to abandon his sin and remove it from his though, and conclude in his heart that he will never commit it again… and the One who knows all hidden things will testify that he will never return to this sin…

23. Hosheia 12:13-14

ויברח יעקב שדה ארם ויעבד ישראל באשה ובאשה שמר: ובנביא העלה יקוק את ישראל ממצרים ובנביא נשמר:

And Yaakov fled to the field of Aram, and Yisrael worked for a woman, and waited for a woman. And with a prophet HaShem brought Yisrael up from Egypt, and with a prophet He waited.

24. Hosheia 2:21-22

וארשתיך לי לעולם וארשתיך לי בצדק ובמשפט ובחסד וברחמים: וארשתיך לי באמונה וידעת את יקוק:

And I will betroth you to Me forever, and I will betroth you to Me with righteousness, justice, generosity and mercy, and I will betroth you to Me with trust, and you will know HaShem.

Why Jews eat communal meals

I'm having a lot of fun with my Tzibburology class, in which we link halachah and social science. Gd-willing, Wednesday night's Tzibburology class will look at the way we share food in Judaism, and the communal motivations behind it.

We'll compare the motivations for food-sharing within Jewish society with the motivations for food-sharing in primate and general human cultures (risk reduction reciprocity, cooperative acquisition, costly signaling and more).

Then we'll look at an additional component within Judaism: food-sharing with the goal of creating ideological community, as well as excluding those who don't fit the ideological community from the food-sharing process.

Last, we'll talk about how Jews handle the imperative to build community by food-sharing, versus the need to exclude people who don't fit the ideological community.

I know that description sounds pretty dry, but I do expect this to be fun. (How could it not be fun, when the first source is about Vampire Bats and blood-sharing?)

Here are the sources:

Food-Sharing, from an anthropological perspective

1. Perry, Reciprocal Altruism in Vampire Bats

Vampire bats will starve after 60 bloodless hours, losing as much as 25% of their bodyweight, making them unable to maintain a critical body temperature. They need to eat 50-100% of their body weight in blood every night. Blood is preferentially donated to bats in critical need (those that would reach minimum weight within 24 hours) within a given roost; if a bat has more than 24 hours until starvation it will usually not be fed. Males in critical need, however, will still not be fed.

2. Kaplan and Gurven, The Natural History of Human Food Sharing and Cooperation: A Review and a New Multi-Individual Approach to the Negotiation of Norms (2001)

Humans share food unlike any other organism. Many other animals, including eusocial insects (bees, ants, termites), social carnivores (lions, wolves, wild dogs), some species of birds (e.g. ravens) and bats (vampire), actively share food; however, the patterning and complexity of food sharing among humans is truly unique. Unlike other mammals, for which food sharing between mothers and offspring is limited largely to lactation during infancy, human parents provision their children until adulthood. Moreover, the sharing of food between human parents and their children continues bi-directionally until death in most traditional non-market societies. Additionally, marriage is universal among human societies, and husbands and wives regularly share food with one another throughout their marriage…In addition to within-family food transfers, food sharing sometimes extends beyond the nuclear family in many societies; indeed, sharing is rather pervasive in numerous foraging societies.

3. Wilkinson, Reciprocal food sharing in the vampire bat, Nature (March, 1984)

Initial increase in frequency depends, however, on reciprocal altruists interacting predominantly with other reciprocal altruists either by associating with kin groups or by having sufficient memory to recognize and not aid nonreciprocators.

4. Kaplan and Gurven, The Natural History of Human Food Sharing and Cooperation: A Review and a New Multi-Individual Approach to the Negotiation of Norms (2001)

The acquisition of difficult-to-acquire foods, especially wild game, often requires the coordinated efforts of several individuals. However, usually only a single individual is identified as the owner of the acquired resource, determined by cultural-specific norms of ownership (e.g. hunter who makes first lethal shot, finder, killer – Dowling 1968). In many groups, sharing among task group members occurs as an initial wave of sharing (e.g. Pygmies – Bailey 1991; Harako 1976). Owners may reward non-owners for their current cooperation by giving them shares of the resource, but this sharing may also act as a means of insuring future cooperation in similar food production activities. Thus, sharing is a form of trade-based reciprocal altruism, where labor is rewarded with food. An alternative interpretation of the same phenomenon is that engaging in group production when there is sharing provides participants with higher per capita returns than if they produced food by themselves. Thus, group production may represent a form of byproduct mutualism (Clements and Stephens 1997; Dugatkin 1997; Alvard and Nolin in press).

5. Smith, Bird, Bird, The benefits of costly signaling: Meriam turtle hunters, Behavioral Ecology 14:116-126 (Jan 2003)

Signalers (hunters) gain social and reproductive benefits. Specifically, we find that successful hunters gain social recognition, have an earlier onset of reproduction, achieve higher age-specific reproductive success, and gain higher quality mates, who also achieve above-average reproductive success. Meriam hunters also average more mates (women who bear their offspring) and more co-resident sexual partners than other men, and these partners (but not mates) are significantly younger. Several lines of evidence thus support the idea that hunting is a form of costliy signaling in this population.

6. Stevens & Stephens, Food Sharing: A Model of Manipulation by Harassment, Behavioral Ecology 13:3 (2002)

We propose a game theoretical model of a general sharing situation in which food owners share because it is in their own self-interest – they avoid high costs associated with beggar harassment. When beggars harass, owners may benefit from sharing part of the food if their consumption rate is low relative to the rate of cost accrual. Our model predicts that harassment can be a profitable strategy for beggars if they reap some direct benefits from harassing other than shared food…

7. Goldstein, Melting pots and Rainbows, Gastronomica (May 2008)

Nearly fifteen years after independence, the specter of apartheid is still painfully apparent in South Africa. Yet, an exciting new inclusivity is visible in the cultural sphere, particularly in the kitchens of some talented chefs, where the various traditions comprising South Africa’s multilayered cuisine come together. “Rainbow cuisine” has proved to be more than just a catchy phrase. It has actually impelled change, at least in the culinary arts. The larger question is whether this metaphor can have a wider impact and help shape social behavior.

8. McKenzie, Social and Economic Implications of Minority Food Habits, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society (1967)

Minority food habits may present us with many problems. If some of these are of a nutritional nature we must accept that certainly in the short run, perhaps even in the long run, their solution will not be achieved by advocating major changes in food habits. Nutritionists must look in other directions to deal with any resultant deficiency… [T]he significance of minority food habits goes far beyond nutritional considerations. Food habits are a vital yet almost totally neglected aspect of community integration. Choice of food not only influences our physical health, it also determines our social ‘well-being’.

Food-Sharing in Judaism: Examples

Donations to others: Bikkurim; Terumah/Maaser; Matnot Aniyyim; Tamchui

Sharing Food: Britot in Tanach; Hachnasat Orchim; Seudat Yom Tov

Sharing the eating experience: Mezuman; Maaser Sheni

Food-Sharing in Judaism: Motivations

9. Talmud, Moed Katan 28b

דיספד – יספדוניה, דיקבר – יקברוניה, דיטען – יטענוניה, דידל – ידלוניה

One who eulogizes others – others will eulogize him. One who buries others – others will bury him. One who carries others – others will carry him. One who elevates his voice [in eulogy] – others wll elevate their voices for him.

10. Talmud, Rosh haShanah 31b

כרם רבעי היה עולה לירושלים מהלך יום לכל צד, וזו היא תחומה: אילת מן הדרום, ועקרבת מן הצפון, לוד מן המערב, וירדן מן המזרח. ואמר עולא ואיתימא רבה בר עולא אמר רבי יוחנן: מה טעם – כדי לעטר שוקי ירושלים בפירות.

The fourth year of a grapevine would ascend to Yerushalayim for a radius of one day’s travel in each direction. This is the boundary: Elat form the south, Akrevat from the north, Lod from the west, Yarden from the eats. Ulla, and some say Rabbah bar Ulla, cited Rabbi Yochanan as saying, “Why is this so? In order to ornament the markets of Yerushalayim with produce.”

11. Mishnah, Bava Batra 9:4

האחין שעשו מקצתן שושבינות בחיי האב חזרה שושבינות חזרה לאמצע שהשושבינות נגבית בבית דין

If some of a family’s brothers made a shushvinut while their father was alive [from his property], then when the shushvinut is returned [after the father’s death] it goes to the group, since shushvinut is legally collectible in court.

12. Bereishit 31:54

(נד) ויזבח יעקב זבח בהר ויקרא לאחיו לאכל לחם ויאכלו לחם וילינו בהר:

And Yaakov brought an offering on the mountain and he called to his brothers to eat bread. They ate bread, and slept on the mountain.

13. Rashi to Bereishit 31:54 לאחיו

לאחיו – לאוהביו שעם לבן

“To his brothers” – To his friends with Lavan.

Food-sharing in Judaism: Building an Ideological Community

14. Fox, Food and Eating: An Anthropological Perspective

Because of its centrality in our lives, food becomes a perfect vehicle for ritual, and food rituals become central to most religions; food taboos mark off one sect or denomination from another…Modern anthropology tends to stress the usefulness of food as a marker of social boundaries. As the late Meyer Fortes said, it is not so much that food is "good to eat" as that it is "good to forbid." Catholics, for example, could find a bond between each other and a mark of difference from Protestants by substituting fish for meat on Fridays. It was probably a mistake for the Catholic Church to end the ban on meat; it had helped make Catholics feel special, and many continue to observe it voluntarily.

15. Talmud, Sotah 10a-b

ויקרא שם בשם ה' אל עולם - אמר ריש לקיש: אל תיקרי ויקרא אלא ויקריא, מלמד, שהקריא אברהם אבינו לשמו של הקב"ה בפה כל עובר ושב, כיצד? לאחר שאכלו ושתו עמדו לברכו, אמר להם: וכי משלי אכלתם? משל אלקי עולם אכלתם, הודו ושבחו וברכו למי שאמר והיה העולם.

‘And he called there in the name of Gd, Master of the Universe’ – Reish Lakish said: Do not read it as ‘And he called’ but as ‘And he made to call.’ This teaches that Avraham Avinu put the Name of Gd in the mouth of every traveller. How? After they ate and drank and stood to bless him, he said to them, ‘Did you eat my food? You ate the food of the Gd of the world! Thank, praise and bless the One who spoke and the world came into existence.’

16. Mishnah, Berachot 7:3-4

כיצד מזמנין בג' אומר נברך בג' והוא אומר ברכו בעשרה אומר נברך לאלקינו...שלשה שאכלו כאחד אינן רשאין ליחלק

How do they invite? With 3 he says, ‘Let us bless.’ With three plus the leader, he says, ‘Let us bless our Gd.’… If three eat together, they are not permitted to split.

17. Talmud, Avodah Zarah 31b

אתמר: מפני מה אסרו שכר של עובדי כוכבים? רמי בר חמא אמר רבי יצחק: משום חתנות,

We learned: Why did they prohibit the intoxicating drinks of idolaters? Rami bar Chama cited R’ Yitzchak: Because of marriage.

18. R’ Avraham Gombiner, Magen Avraham 199:2

ופשוט דמי שהוא רשע בפרהסיא ועובר עבירות וכ"ש מומר דאין מזמנין עליו דלא גרע מע"ה בזמן התלמוד:

It is straightforward that one who acts wickedly in public, and violates laws, and certainly a mumar, may not be part of a mezuman. His disqualification is no weaker than that of the am ha’aretz in talmudic times.

19. Talmud, Shabbat 13a

לא יאכל זב פרוש עם זב עם הארץ שמא ירגילנו אצלו. וכי מרגילו אצלו מאי הוי? - אלא אימא: שמא יאכילנו דברים טמאין. אטו זב פרוש לאו דברים טמאין אכיל? - אמר אביי: גזירה שמא יאכילנו דברים שאינן מתוקנין. ורבא אמר: רוב עמי הארץ מעשרין הן, אלא: שמא יהא רגיל אצלו, ויאכילנו דברים טמאין בימי טהרתו.

‘A zav who is careful about purity may not eat with a zav who is an am ha’aretz, lest he become accustomed to his company.’ What is wrong with becoming accustomed to his company? Rather, it means, ‘Lest the am ha’aretz feed him impure foods.’ But does a zav who is careful about purity not eat impure foods?! Rather, Abbaye explained, it is lest the am ha’aretz feed him untithed food. Rava explained: Most amei ha’aretz tithe, but the concern is lest he become accustomed to his company, and the am ha’aretz might feed him impure food when he is pure.

20. Talmud, Pesachim 99a

אמר רבי יהודה: אין שוחטין את הפסח על היחיד

Rabbi Yehudah said: One may not slaugher the korban pesach for an individual.

21. Talmud, Pesachim 98a

תנו רבנן: המפריש את פסחו ומת, אם בנו ממונה עמו - יביאנו לשום פסח. אין בנו ממונה עמו - יביאנו לשום שלמים לששה עשר... אמר רבה: לעולם דמית קודם חצות, ומאי יביאנו לשום פסח - לשום פסח שני. אביי אמר: לצדדין קתני; מת אחר חצות, בנו ממונה עמו - יביאנו לשום פסח, מת קודם חצות, אין בנו ממונה עמו - יביאנו לשום שלמים.

‘If one designates his korban pesach and dies, and his son is also appointed on the korban, then his son may bring it as a korban pesach. If his son is not appointed on the korban, he may bring it as a korban shelamim on the 16^th of Nisan.’…

Rabbah said: This is where he died before midday, and ‘Bring it as a korban pesach’ means for Pesach Sheni.

Abbaye said: It is a split case: If he died after midday, and his son is appointed on the korban, then he may bring it for a korban pesach. If he died before midday, and his son is not appointed on the korban, then he may bring it as a shelamim.

22. Shemot 12:43-45

(מג) ויאמר יקוק אל משה ואהרן זאת חקת הפסח כל בן נכר לא יאכל בו: (מד) וכל עבד איש מקנת כסף ומלתה אתו אז יאכל בו: (מה) תושב ושכיר לא יאכל בו:

And HaShem said to Moshe and Aharon: This is the law of the Pesach: No stranger will eat from it. And any eved, purchased for silver – you shall circumcise him and then he shall eat it. A settler or merchant will not eat it.

23. Levi-Strauss, The Culinary Triangle

On two grounds, then, one can say that the roasted is on the side of nature, the boiled on the side of culture: literally, because boiling requires the use of a receptacle, a cultural object; symbolically, in as much as culture is a mediation of the relations between man and the world, and boiling demands a mediation (by water) of the relation between food and fire which is absent in roasting.

Balancing our imperative to share with our imperative to exclude, in creating an ideological community

24. Talmud, Chagigah 22a

אמר רבי יוסי: מפני מה הכל נאמנין על טהרת יין ושמן כל ימות השנה - כדי שלא יהא כל אחד ואחד הולך ובונה במה לעצמו, ושורף פרה אדומה לעצמו.

Rabbi Yosi said: Why are all credible for purity of wine and oil, all year round? So that each individual won’t build his own altar and burn his own red heifer.

25. Talmud, Niddah 34a

רגל היה וטומאת עם הארץ ברגל - כטהרה שוינהו רבנן, דכתיב +שופטים כ'+ ויאסף כל איש ישראל אל העיר כאיש אחד חברים הכתוב עשאן כולן חברים.

It was Yom Tov, and the sages rendered the assumed impurity of an am ha’aretz as purity on Yom Tov, as it is written, ‘And all of the Jewish men gathered to the city as one man, as chaverim’ – the verse rendered all of them chaverim.

26. Rambam, Moreh haNevuchim 3:34

הימים הטובים הם כלם לשמחה ולקבוצים שיש להם הנאה שבני אדם צריכים אליהם ברוב, ויש מהם תועלת ג"כ בענין האהבה שצריך שתהיה בין בני אדם בקבוצים המדיניים

Festivals are all for joy and for gatherings which provide the benefit that people need in their masses, and they also benefit by causing the love required between people in national gatherings.

27. R’ Tzvi Hirsch Chajes, Niddah 34a

להיפוך, גדול הפירוד במה שאדם מונע עצמו לאכול אצל ישראל חבירו, ובפרט עת רעה שאינו נאמן אצלו על המעשרות ועל הטהרות. ולא לחנם אמר ר' עקיבא כשהיה עם הארץ מי יתן לי תלמיד חכם ואנשכנו כחמור והיה עיקר הסיבה לעליית רגל משום לחבר את לבות ישראל זה לזה אבל עדיין לא תושג המטרה אם לא יהיו נאמנים זה לזה לטהרות וראו חז"ל עצות מרחוק להשבית המונע שלא יבא השטן לרקד ביניהם הימים הקדושים הללו לגרום שנאה ופירוד הלבבות. ועשאו כל ישראל חברים בשעת הרגל. ואף עמי הארץ נאמנים אז על יינם ועל שמנם. ומפני זה הרשות לחבר ועם הארץ לאכול יחד לחם ולהיות יחד בסעודת מרעים, ועל זה תגדל האהבה ויתחברו הלבבות זה לזה.

Just the opposite, the division caused is great when a person abstains from eating with another Jew, and the moment is especially bad when he is not credible regarding tithes and purity. It was not for naught that R’ Akiva said, when he was an am ha’aretz, “Who would give me a Torah scholar, and I would bite him like a donkey!”

The essential reason for holiday pilgrimages was to join the hearts of Israel, but that goal would not be achieved if they would not be mutually credible regarding purity.

The sages saw distant counsel to eliminate the obstacle, lest the Satan come to dance among them on these sacred days, causing enmity and division of hearts. They made all Israel as chaverim in the time of the festival, and even amei ha’aretz are credible at that time for their wine and their oil.

Because of this, chaver and am ha’aretz could eat bread together and join together in a meal of friends, and so increase love and join hearts to each other.