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soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Worship, Conversion, Intermarriage (5/12) |
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When you move, unless you know for sure that the new occupant is
Jewish, it is proper to remove the mezuzot (plural for mezuzah). This
is because if you leave it in place, the subsequent owner may treat it
with disrespect, or treat it as a superstitious object.
More information on Mezuzahs may be found at
[5]http://www.jewfaq.org/signs.htm#Mezuzah
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Subject: Question 11.9.5: Symbols: What is a Menorah?
Answer:
A menorah is a 7-stick candle holder, typically with one holder higher
or different than the others. It is one of the oldest symbols of the
Jewish faith. It is mentioned in Exodus 25:31-40, which describes how
to construct the menorah. the priests (kohanim) lit the menorah in the
Sanctuary every evening and cleaned it out every morning, replacing
the wicks and putting fresh olive oil into the cups.
According to [5]www.jewfaq.org:
The menorah is often considered a symbol of the nation of Israel
and its mission to be "a light unto the nations." (Isaiah 42:6).
The sages emphasize that light is not a violent force; Israel is to
accomplish its mission by setting an example, not by using force.
This idea is highlighted in the vision in Zechariah 4:1-6.
Zechariah sees a menorah, and G-d explains: "Not by might, nor by
power, but by My spirit."
In synagogues, there is often a light above the ark, called the ner
tamid (usually translated as the eternal flame). This symbolizes the
menorah.
In a menorah, one of the holders is typically higher or different than
the others. This holder is called the shamash (head), and contains the
candle used to light the other candles.
Note: During Chanukkah, a nine-branched menorah is used. Technically,
this is called a Chanukiah. It contains eight holders, one for each
day of Chanukkah, plus the shamash.
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Subject: Question 11.9.6: Symbols: What is the significance of the number 5?
Answer:
Well, the number10 denotes a complete set, because we have (assuming
we're healthy, thank G-d) 10 fingers. Five is therefore representative
of half of a set. The 5th letter, with a gematria of 5, is the letter
hei. Hei denotes an outcry; that is, the letter is literally named
"Hey!"
In kabbalistic understanding of the Tetragrammaton, the letter "hei"
represents the spreading of G-d's beneficience from a point outward.
It it therefore composed of a point-like yud and a dalet showing
orthogonal axis, 4 (the gematria of dalet) compass points. We find in
Genesis 1 that creation can be described through the metaphor of
speech. "And G-d said 'Let there be light!'" So, this permeation of
G-d's Goodness through the universe is very much an outcry. The Talmud
sees in the shape of the letter the theme of repentence -- the choice
of descending or finding that small window near the top. They too
touch on a theme related to outcry -- but not G-d's call to man, but
man's cry to G-d.
The song toward the end of the seder asks "Who knows one?" and makes
its way up to 13. For 5, the answer is "5 are the books of the Torah".
Which is why there are 5 books of the Torah -- because only with
including the Oral Torah with the written text are we dealing with a
complete set. This idea, of two halves crying out for each other, is
what the symbology of five revolves around in Judaism.
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Subject: Question 11.9.7: Symbols: What is the significance of the number 3?
Answer:
Three is extremely significant in Judaism, as the human condition is
seen as tripartite: mans relationship to himself and the world of his
mind, mans relationship to others in the quote real world unquote and
mans relationship with God. According to the Maharal, this is the
meaning of the three pillars in Avot 1:2--Torah, Avodah (Service of
God), and Acts of Kindness.
Next, we have R Samson Refaeil Hirsch, who speaks about the messages
mitzvot convey through symbols. He speaks of the primary colors in the
following terms:
1. Red. The most bent by physical matter (in the rainbow). Also, adom
(red) is similar to adama (earth), representing mans physical
nature. This is why the red heifer is burnt as a means of ending
impurity, and the red string turns white on Yom Kippur when
atonement was gained, etc.
2. Green. The color of growth and human growth.
3. Blue. Spirituality. The color of tzitzis, the walls of Herod's
temple, the color of the sky. Spirituality.
Note the same triad.
Similarly Hirsch's treatement of numbers: 6 days of physical creation,
the 7th day of rest, and 8--going beyond the natural order. The eight
strings of tzitzis (the eighth, according to Maimonides, the blue
one), the eighth day of Shemini Atzeres, why Chanukah had to be eight
days, etc.
We can do the same with the three do-or-die sins, the three
forefathers, the three mitzvos of the seder (the lamb, matzah, and
maror), the three means of gaining atonement (teshuvah, tefillah and
tzadakah -- repentance, prayer and charity), the three items in the
fore-room of the Temple--the table of showbread (12, one for each
tribe), the menorah (representing wisdom and Torah), and the gold
altar (for a quote pleasing odor before Gd end-quote), etc.
Kabbalists, such as the Vilna Gaon, ties this back to the three
aspects of the soul discussed in the Zohar: the nefesh, the life-force
we share in common with animals (do not consume the blood [of the
animal], for the blood is of the nefesh); the ruach (lit wind), the
unseen mind which causes change and motion; and the spiritual
neshamah.
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Subject: Question 11.9.8: Symbols: What is the significance of the number 40?
Answer:
Forty days after a child is conceived, the Talmud tells us, the soul
enters the body. Forty, therefore, is a symbol of birth, rebirth and
change. It is interesting to note that it was recently found that
neural activity does begin at 40 days after conception. This also
means that abortion is permitted in more instances within the first 40
days of pregnancy than during the rest of pregnancy.
For the same reason, ritual immersion is done in a minimum of 40 seah
(a unit of volume) of water. Note that the letter mem, whose name is
from mayim (meaning water or fluid in general), is 40 in gematria.
When God wanted to rebirth the world, it rained for 40 days causing a
flood. Similarly, the Jewish People were born during 40 years in the
desert.
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Subject: Question 11.9.9: Symbols: What is the significance of the number 7?
Answer:
Consider the following:
A cube has six sides. We live in a universe of three dimensions. Each
dimension has two directions: front-back, right-left, up-down;
yielding a total of six. The seventh is then the middle point, a thing
of zero dimensions, and untouchable. Present but intangible. It
therefore represents the holiness which is inherent in the universe.
Thus, the physical world was created in six days, and imbued with
sanctity on the seventh, the Shabbos. Dr. Isaac Levy includes this
explanation in his English translation of Rabbi Samson Refa'el
Hirsch's commentary on Numbers 16:4):
The origin of this meaning is to be found in the work of the
Creation. The visible material world created in six days received
with the seventh day a day of remembrance of, and bond with its
invisible L-rd and Creator, and thereby its completed consummation.
Similarly the symbolism of the number seven in the Menora, in the
Temple, in the Mussaf offerings, in the sprinklings of the blood on
Yom Kippur, in the Festivals of Pesach and Succoth, in Sabbath,
Schmita, Tumma etc. etc. The symbolism of the number eight:
starting afresh on a higher level, an octave higher. The eighth day
for Mila, Schmini Atzereth and Israel as the eighth of G-d's
Creations. With the creation of Israel G-d laid the groundwork for
a fresh, higher mankind and a fresh higher world, for that shamayim
chadashim and the `eretz chadashah for which Israel and its mission
is to be the beginning and instrument (Is. LXV,17).
So that there are three elements in us. (a) our material sensuous
bodies, like the rest of the created visible world = 6; (b) the
breath of free will, invisible, coming from the Invisible One = 7;
(c) the calling of Jew, coming from the historical choice of Israel
= 8.
Jews entered a covenant to assume a role as a "kingdom of preists".
This preisthood requires reminding the world of the notion of "8", so
that the world can get beyond the physical "6" and reach the
free-willed, created, human, sanctity of "7". Eight is therefore not
above all of creation, but beyond this universe. Eight represents
man's ability to rise to angelic heights -- yes an image of growth,
but not unobtainable. Man connects two worlds, eight connects those
worlds. (Which is why the letter chet, the eighth letter, is drawn in
the Torah as two copies of the seventh, zayin, connected by a bridge.)
Which is why the laws of the covenant G-d made with Noah and thereby
all of humanity are grouped into *seven* commandments, and the sign of
that covenant is seen in the seven-colored rainbow.
For Rav Samson Rephael Hirsch, the week gives meaning to the numbers
six and seven. The Maharal, though, finds that the week itself is
based on a more primary idea. He attributes the symbolism of six and
seven to the structure of space: When you look closely you will find
that the physical has six opposing sides, which are: top and bottom,
right and left, front and back. All these six sides are related to the
physical, because each side has extent, and limits physical objects.
But, it also has in it a seventh, and this is the middle, which has no
exposure on any side. Because it is not related to any side it is like
the non-physical, which has no extension [takes up no volume of
space]. (Gevuros Hashem 46)
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Question 11.9.10: Symbols: Are there any Jewish housewarming
rituals?
Answer:
In traditional Judaism, there are none, save for putting up a mezuzah.
However, folk custom involves bringing wine, bread, and salt to the
house in addition to the mezuzah? Why? The answer may be found in
Reform Judaism's ceremony for the consecration of a house.
According to "Gates of the House" published by the Reform movement,
the items needs for the consecration of a house are a mezuzah, a
bible, wine, challah, and salt. The ceremony begins with the
Shema/Vehafta. The Challah is then dipped in the salt and hamotzi is
said. The specific symbolism is not said, but it may be to symbolize
that there will always be food in the house. The blessing is then said
over the wine, which symbolizes the joy that will occur in the new
house. The bible symbolizes the Torah, and a blessing is said
(...bemitzvotav laasok bediverei Torah) that there will always be
learning and doing in the house, and the house will be filled with
love of Torah. Psalm 15 is then said. The affixing of the mezuzah
follows, with the appropriate blessing (...bemitzvotav vetsivanu
likboa mezuzah). There appears to be no speciifc blessing for entering
the new house, other than shehechianyu.
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Question 11.9.11: Symbols: What is the significance of blue in
Judaism? Are there other special colors?
Answer:
In his analysis of the meaning of the mitzvah of tzitzis (tassles
placed on the corners of a four cornered garment), and in particular
the thread of blue that one is supposed to place around it, R' Samson
Refa'el Hirsch (Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, 19th cent) writes (in
Collected Writings vol III pg. 126):
We find only three terms to encompass the colors of the spectrum:
adom for red, yaroq for yellow and green, and techeiles for blue
and violet...
Red is the least refracted ray; it is the closest to the unbroken
ray of light that is directly absorbed by matter. Red is light in
its first fusion with the terrestrial element: adom, related to
adamah [footstool, earth as man's footstool]. Is this not again
man, the image of G-d as reflected in physical, earthly matter:
"vatichsareihu me'at mi'Elokim" (Tehillim. 8,6)?
The next part of the spectrum is yellow-green: yaroq.
Blue-violet is at the end of the spectrum: techeiles.
The spectrum visible to our eye ends with the violet ray,
techeiles, but additional magnitudes of light radiate unseen beyond
the visible spectrum. Likewise, the blue expanse of the sky forms
the end of the earth that is visible to us. And so techeiles is
simply the bridge that leads thinking man from the visible,
physical sphere of the terrestrial world, into the unseen sphere of
heaven beyond...
Techeiles is the basic color of the sanctuary and of the High
Priest's vestments; the color blue-violet representing heaven and
the things of heaven that were revealed to Israel... no other color
was as appropriate as techeiles to signify G-d's special
relationship with Israel. A thread of techeiles color on our
garments conferred upon all of us the insignia of our high-priestly
calling, proclaiming all of us: "Anshei qodesh tihyun li--And you
shall be holy men to Me" (Ex. 19, 6).
If we now turn our attention to the pisil techeiles [blue thread]
on our tzitzith, we will not that it was precisely this thread of
techeiles color that formed the krichos [windings], the gidil
[cord], the thread wound around the other threads to make a cord.
In other words, the vocation of the Jew, the Jewish awareness
awakened by the Sanctuary, that power which is to prevail within
us, must act to unite all our kindred forces within the bond of the
Sanctuary of G-d's law.
The Talmud's desciption of the blue woolen thread reads: "The blue
wool resembles the ocean, the ocean resembles the color of the sky,
the sky resembles the purity of the sapphire, and the sapphire
resembles the throne of G-d." (Chullin 89).
Along similar lines, Israel's leaders get a vision of G-d on His
Throne during the revelation at Sinai. The throne room is seen as
being paved with "sapphire brick, like the essence of a clear sky."
(Exodus 24:10) And the Midrash writes that the two tablets themselves
were sapphire.
Issacar, a tribe that was known for studying Torah full time, had a
standard with a picture of a donkey on it on a field of sapphire blue.
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Question 11.9.12: Symbols: What is the significance of the number 8?
Answer:
8 is 7 plus 1. If 7 is completion, and the 7th is Shabbos, the
sanctity inherent in the world, 8 is "beyond nature" and going beyond
the world.
The following was inserted by Dr Isaac Levy to his translation of R'
Samson Refael Hirsch's commentary on the Pentatuech (Numbers 16:41):
The origin of this meaning is to be found in the work of the
Creation. The visible material world created in six days received
with the seventh day a day of remembrance of, and bond with its
invisible L-rd and Creator, and thereby its completed consummation.
Similarly the symbolism of the number seven in the Menora, in the
Temple, in the Mussaf offerings, in the sprinklings of the blood on
Yom Kippur, in the Festivals of Pessach and Succoth, in Sabbath,
Schmita, Tumma etc. etc. The symbolism of the number eight:
starting afresh on a higher level, an octave higher. The eighth day
for Mila, Schmini Atzereth and Israel as the eighth of G-d.s
Creations. With the creation of Israel G-d laid the groundwork for
a fresh, higher mankind and a fresh higher world, for that shamayim
chadashim [new heavens] and the aretz chadashah [new earth] for
which Israel and its mission is to be the beginning and instrument.
[The Hebrew is a reference to Isaiah 65:17.]
So that there are three elements in us. (a) our material sensuous
bodies, like the rest of the created visible world = 6; (b) the
breath of free will, invisible, coming from the Invisible One = 7;
(c) the calling of Jew, coming from the historical choice of Israel
= 8.
The highest drive Rav Samson Rephael Hirsch calls the drive to be
beyond human. To go beyond the seven days of creation and into the
eighth day of the bris. This is the neshamah, which lives in a higher
realm, constantly seeking communion with Hashem. The idea that eight
represents "an octave higher" can be seen in the form of the letter
ches. Its shape as written in the Ashkenazi variant of Assyrian
Script, the script used in Sifrei Torah, is that of two zayin's
connected by a bridge. Zayin is seven in gematria. Ches is eight. Ches
shows the bridge between one seven, one complete world, and the next.
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: How do I obtain copies of the FAQ?
Answer:
There are a number of different ways to obtain copies of the FAQ:
* WWW. If you are reading this on Usenet, and would like to see an
online, hyperlinked version, go visit [2]http://www.scjfaq.org/.
This is the "web" version of the FAQ; the version posted to Usenet
is generated from the web version. Note that the www.scjfaq.org
version is a copy of the actual master version; if you want to
access the master, visit [3]http://master.scjfaq.org/.
* Email. Scjfaq.org also provides an autoretriever that allows one
to obtain a copy of the FAQ by return Email. To use the
autoretriever, you send a retrieval request to
[4]archives@scjfaq.org with the request in the body of the
message. A more reliable way to retrieve these files is through
the [5]FAQ autoretriever
([6]http://www.mljewish.org/bin/autoresp.cgi). For the FAQ, the
request has the form:
send faq partname
For the reading list, the request has the form:
send rl partname
"Partname" is replaced by the name of the part, as shown in the
general index. The following is a short summary of the mapping to
partnames for the FAQ:
+ [7]01-FAQ-intro: Section [8]1: Network and Newsgroup
Information.
+ [9]02-Who-We-Are: Section [10]2: Who We Are
+ [11]03-Torah-Halacha: Sections [12]3, [13]4: Torah; Halachic
Authority
+ [14]04-Observance: Sections [15]5, [16]6, [17]7, [18]8:
Jewish Holidays; Jewish Dietary Law and Kashrut; Sabbath and
Holiday Observance; Woman and Marriage
+ [19]05-Worship: Sections [20]9, [21]10, [22]11: Jewish
Worship; Conversion, Intermarriage, and "Who is a Jew?";
Miscellaneous Practice Questions
+ [23]06-Jewish-Thought: Section [24]12: Jewish Thought
+ [25]07-Jews-As-Nation: Section [26]13: Jews as a Nation
+ [27]08-Israel: Section [28]14: Jews and Israel
+ [29]09-Antisemitism: Sections [30]15, [31]16, [32]17: Churban
Europa (The Holocaust); Antisemitism and Rumors about Jews;
Countering Missionaries
+ [33]10-Reform: Section [34]18: Reform/Progressive Judaism
+ [35]11-Miscellaneous: Sections [36]19, [37]20: Miscellaneous;
References and Getting Connected
+ [38]12-Kids: Section [39]21: Jewish Childrearing Related
Questions
+ [40]mail-order: Mail Order Judaica
The following is a short summary of the mapping of partnames for
the Reading Lists:
+ [41]general: Introduction and General. Includes book sources,
starting points for beginners, starting points for non-Jewish
readers, General Judaism, General Jewish Thought, General
Jewish History, Contemporary Judaism, Noachide Laws, Torah
and Torah Commentary, Talmud and Talmudic Commentary,
Mishnah, Midrash, Halachic Codes, Becoming An Observant Jew,
Women and Judaism, and Science and Judaism.
+ [42]traditional: Traditional Liturgy, Practice, Lifestyle,
Holidays. Includes Traditional Liturgy; Traditional
Philosophy and Ethics; Prayer; Traditional Practice; The
Household; Life, Death, and In-Between; and The Cycle Of
Holidays.
+ [43]mysticism: Kabbalah, Mysticism, and Messianism. Includes
Academic and Religious treatments of Kabbalah, Sprituality,
and the Jewish notion of the Messiah.
+ [44]reform: Reform/Progressive Judaism
+ [45]conservative: Conservative Judaism
+ [46]reconstructionist: Reconstructionist Judaism
+ [47]humanistic: Humanistic Judaism (Society for Humanistic
Judaism)
+ [48]chasidism: Chassidism. Includes general information on
historical chassidism, as well as specific information on
Lubavitch (Chabad), Satmar, Breslaw (Breslov), and other
approaches.
+ [49]zionism: Zionism. Includes Zionism and The Development Of
Israel, The Founders, Zionistic Movements, and Judaism in
Israel.
+ [50]antisemitism: Antisemitism. Includes sections on
Antisemitism, What Led to The Holocaust, Medieval Oppression,
Antisemitism Today (Including Dealing with Hate Groups),
Judaism and Christianity, and Judaism, Freemasonry and other
rumors.
+ [51]intermarriage: Intermarriage. Includes sections on "So
You're Considering Intermarriage?", The Traditional
Viewpoint, Conversion, and Coping With Life As An
Intermarried.
+ [52]childrens: Books for Jewish Children. Includes sections
on Birth and Naming, Raising a Child, Family Guidebooks,
Upsheren, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Confirmation, Holiday Books for
Children, Liturgy for Children, Bible and Torah for Children,
Jewish History for Children, Jewish Theology for Children,
Israel, Learning Hebrew, and Jewish Stories.
Alternatively, you may send a message to
[53]mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the following line in the body
of the message:
send usenet/news.answers/judaism/(portionname)
Where (portionname) is replaced by the appropriate subdirectory
and filenames; for example, to get the first part of the reading
list, one would say:
send usenet/news.answers/judaism/reading-lists/general
* Anonymous FTP: All portions of the FAQ and of the reading lists
are archived on [54]rtfm.mit.edu and are available for anonymous
FTP from the pub/usenet/news.answers/judaism/FAQ directory (URL
[55]ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/judaism/FAQ/).
Similarly, the parts of the reading lists are stored in the
pub/usenet/news.answers/judaism/reading-lists directory (URL:
[56]ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/judaism/reading-lis
ts). Note that the archived versions of the FAQ and reading lists
are the posted versions; that is, they are each one large ASCII
file.
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Who Wrote the FAQ?
Answer:
The original version of the Frequently Asked Questions was developed
by a committee consisting of Mike Allen, Jerry Altzman, Rabbi Charles
Arian, Jacob Baltuch (Past Chair), Joseph Berry, Warren Burstein,
Stewart Clamen, Daniel Faigin, Avi Feldblum, Rabbi Yaakov Feldman,
Itzhak "Jeff" Finger, Gedaliah Friedenberg, Yechezkal Gutfreund, Art
Kamlet, Joe Kansun, CAPT Kaye David, Alan Lustiger, Hillel Markowitz,
Len Moskowitz, Colin Naturman, Aliza Panitz, Eliot Shimoff, Mark
Steinberger, Steven Weintraub, Matthew Wiener, and headed by Robert
Levene. The organization and structuring of the lists for posting
purposes was done by [2]Daniel Faigin, who is currently maintaining
the lists. Other contributors include Aaron Biterman, A. Engler
Anderson, Ken Arromdee, Seymour Axelrod, Jonathan Baker, Josh Backon,
Micha Berger, Steven M. Bergson, Eli Birnbaum, Shoshana L. Boublil,
Kevin Brook, J. Burton, Harvey Cohen, Todd J.Dicker, Michael Dinowitz,
Rabbi Jim Egolf, Sean Engelson, Mike Fessler, Menachem Glickman,
Amitai Halevi, Walter Hellman, Per Hollander, Miriam Jerris, Robert D.
Kaiser, Yosef Kazen, Rabbi Jay Lapidus, Mier Lehrer, Heather Luntz,
David Maddison, Arnaldo Mandel, Ilana Manspeizer, Seth Ness, Chris
Newport, Daniel Nomy, Jennifer Paquette, Andrew Poe, Alan Pfeffer,
Jason Pyeron, Adam Reed, Seth Rosenthall, JudithSeid@aol.com, David
Sheen, Rabbi John Sherwood, Michael Sidlofsky, Michael Slifkin, Frank
Smith, Michael Snider, Rabbi Arnold Steibel, Andy Tannenbaum,
marktan@aol.com, Meredith Warshaw, Bill Wadlinger, Arel Weisberg,
Dorothy Werner, and Art Werschulz, and the
soc.culture.jewish.parenting board. Some material has been derived
from other sources on the Internet, such as
[3]http://www.jewishwebsite.com/, [4]http://www.jewfaq.org/, and
[5]http://www.menorah.org/. Comments and corrections are welcome;
please address them to [6]maintainer@scjfaq.org.
A special thank you... Special thanks for her patience and
understanding go to my wife, Karen, who put up with me hiding at the
computer for the two months it took to complete the July/August 2000
remodel of the entire soc.culture.jewish FAQ and Reading Lists. If you
think the effort was worth it, drop her a note c/o
[7]maintainer@scjfaq.org.
------------------------------------------------------------
--
Please mail additions or corrections to me at maintainer@scjfaq.org.
Questions should be sent to questions@scjfaq.org.
Last Modified: $lastmod
End of SCJ FAQ Part 5 (Worship and Who is a Jew) Digest
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