‫ב”ה‬

‫פרשת אמור תשס”ח‬ ‫שיחות רב עוזר‬

Insights into Torah and Halacha from Rav Ozer Glickman ‫שליט”א‬
‫ר”מ בישיבת רבנו יצחק אלחנן‬
‫לנס צמיחת גאולתנו‬
I am struck once again by the ‫’הלל‬s choice of the outstanding characteristic of ‫ארץ מצרים‬:
:‫בצאת ישראל ממצרים בית יעקב מעם לעז‬
What can be more indicative of a people in exile than that they are immersed in the vocabulary and syntax
of a foreign language? It was no small factor in the ultimate liberation of ‫ עם ישראל‬that along with their
clothes and the names they gave their children they preserved the distinctive language of their nation.
Language, we have come to understand, is never devoid of cultural context. Every year in our ‫ישיבה‬
I ask my ‫ תלמידים‬if I may deliver ‫ שיעורים‬in Hebrew; only once has the answer been yes. We settle for the
precision of the language we know best while aware that it has been developed in and reflects a cultural
milieu that is alien to us as a people. We understand the denotative meaning better in the American
vernacular while exposing us to connotations that insidiously prejudice our discourse.
This is particularly problematic when we think not only about the letter of the law but its
jurisprudence. I choose “jurisprudence” over “theology” because the latter has too many connotations that
appear alien to the halachic mind. I don’t think Jews do theology the way others do. We are not consumed
by the need to reason about God as much as we are by our responsibilities toward Him. Unlike Spinoza,
we are Torah-intoxicated.
In this week of ‫יום העצמאות‬, I am conscious more than ever of living as an ‫עם לעז‬. The English language
is beautifully expressive precisely because of the resonances to the vast body of English literature and
common usage. While I also am an American and an admirer of English literature, I recognize that it does
not speak to the Jewish experience. The word “miracle” is a good example. It evokes only one aspect of an
event: its improbability. I prefer the Hebrew word “‫ ”נס‬for it has resonances that the word “miracle” does
not have. It is less a comment on the probability of the event and more on its emblematic nature. A “‫ ”נס‬is
a signature event, a defining moment, a beacon to the Jewish people through which its history has been
sanctified. ‫ משה רבנו‬calls the ‫ מזבח‬he builds “‫ “ה‘ נסי‬as it sits as a beacon on the hill (cf. BDB); ‫ ישעיהו‬exhorts
the keepers of the highway:
:‫ הרימו נס על העמים‬,‫ פנו דרך העם; סלו סלו המסלה סקלו אבן‬,‫ עברו עברו בשערים‬
Let us recall ‫ רבי יהושע בן לוי‬in ‫ פ”ק דמס‘ מגילה‬who observes that women are obligated to
hear the ‫ קריאת המגילה‬despite its being a positive commandment with a fixed time “‫”שאף הן היו באותו הנס‬.
The general rule that determines a woman’s obligation is trumped by the nature of the ‫ נס‬of which we
read. It included women and hence they must also hear the reading of these events.
‫ רש”י‬on the spot (.‫ )ד‬explains that women were included because they were saved as well. Since ‘s
decree extended ‫מנער ועד זקן טף ונשים‬, had the king not suffered insomnia and his attendants turned exactly
to the record of ‫’מרדכי‬s good deed, the Jewish women of the kingdom would have been exterminated
along with the men. They, too, have their part in the ‫ נס‬of ‫פורים‬.
‫תוספות‬, however, cite the ‫ רשב”ם‬who explains that women were included in the ‫ נס‬not as saved
victim but as an actor. A woman played a pivotal role in the salvation of the Jews. It is ‫ נס‬not as improbable
break in nature but as signature event, to be raised above the people and waved as an emblem of the
sanctity of our history. And so in all the other places in which ‫ ריב”ל‬proclaims women to be obligated
in a ‫”שאף הן היו באותו הנס“ מ”ע שהזמן גרמא‬: here in ‫ ;)אסתר( קריאת המגילה‬in ‫ ;)יהודית( נר חנוכה‬and in ‫ד‘ כוסות‬
commemorating the ‫)שבזכות נשים צדקניות נגאלו ממצרים( גאולה‬.
We have, then, two notions of a ‫נס‬: the improbable event that represents a Divine reweighting of
the odds versus an event more emblematic than improbable and involving the participation of human
actors to effect our salvation.
Would not the ‫ נס‬be greater if it were wholly improbable, a break in the rules of nature perhaps?
5768 ‫פרשת אמור‬ ‫שיחות רב עוזר‬
What can we learn from the participation of human beings in the signature events of Jewish history? History,
‫רבותי‬, is a cooperative venture between the Infinite God and His finite creatures. It has always been so. In fact,
in the realm of humanity God has accepted a passive role. Our ‫ פרשה‬this week tells us so: our most sacred
responsibility, the requirement of ‫קדוש השם‬, is expressed in the passive voice:
:‫ולא תחללו את שם קדשי ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל אני ה‘ מקדשכם‬
In the realm of human history, God requires our intervention to sanctify His Name. There is no realm of the
Numinous in this world that can survive without the cooperation of human actors.
Since the participation of human actors does not in fact diminish the ‫נס‬, then we may locate the
miraculous in the founding of ‫מדינת ישראל‬. Those among us who would reserve the shaping of Jewish history
to ‫ הקב”ה‬alone would be advised to remember ‫ רשב”ם‬who saw a reference to the very human actions of
women in the ‫ נסים‬of ‫ פורים‬, ‫ חנוכה‬, and ‫יציאת מצרים‬. The struggle for the Jewish State is emblematic of the
signature events of our history: part heroic, part improbable, wholly miraculous. May it speedily prove to be
‫!לנס צמיחת גאולתנו‬
‫שבת שלום‬
These sichos are published by students and admirers of Rav Ozer Glickman shlit”a. We may be reached at ravglickmanshiur@gmail.com.

Come learn with Rav Glickman at The Jewish Center in Manhattan

Tuesdays at 8:30 PM, May 13 - June 17
Laying Down the Law: the Inner Workings of Halachah
If Jewish law is fundamentally a positivist system based on the command
of God, how do the rabbis abstract principles from the mitzvot that are not
explicit in the text? Is the conceptualization of Jewish law in some fashion a
re-imagining of the law? Drawing on concrete examples from the Talmud and
Jewish codes, Rav Glickman challenges commonly held assumptions about
halachic practice and the internal logic of the system by which it is established.
All texts provided in the original with translation. Free of charge (register
www.jewishcenter.org).

Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future and

Congregation Beth Hakneses Hachodosh of Rochester NY
present
Rav Ozer Glickman, Rosh Yeshiva RIETS
as Scholar-in-Residence
‫שבת פרשת במדבר‬
May 30 - 31, 2008

hosted by Rav Mordechai Hochheimer

‫מרא דאתרא‬