A Mishnah to Muse Upon

 

 

1)     This quiz is mostly on Sulfur.  That’s chemistry, not Torah portion. Has Mar Hirsch gone and lost his mind this time?

a)    Yes, he’s flipped his lid. Popped his cork.  Zipped his zongle.  Pringled his brainpan.

b)    Maybe he’s  whiffed his wuffle,  it’s hard to tell.  Maybe not.

c)     It don’t think so. He may just be joking.

d)    He might have, but I think he’s up to something.

 

2)    How common is sulfur in the universe (by mass)?

a)    Incredibly rare, as it needs water to form.

b)    Rare, but not exceedingly so.

c)     Common-  like tenth most common element.

d)    Super common, right after Hydrogen and Helium.

e)     Sulfur is the single most common element in the universe. Stars are made of sulfur, dude. 

 

3)    What color is solid Sulfur?

a)    Periwinkle.

b)    Canary Yellow

c)     Royal Blue

d)    A deep crimson.

e)     Don’t be fooled,  dude, sulfur is a transparent gas.

 

4)    How common is sulfur in the earth’s crust?

a)    Incredibly common, with all the water on earth

b)    Really common, like 5^th most common element in the crust.

c)     Common,  like tenth most common element, like in the rest of the universe

d)    Rare,  like platinum or something.

e)     Sulfur is the single most rare element in the universe. It’s millions of dollars an ounce, dude.

 

5)    Sulfur melts at what temperature Celcius?

a)    32 degrees.

b)    100 degrees

c)     115 degrees

d)    200 degrees

e)     1,875.23 degrees.

 

6)    What color is molten sulfur?

a)    Periwinkle.

b)    Canary Yellow

c)     Royal Blue

d)    A deep Crimson.

e)     Don’t be fooled,  dude, sulfur never melts, it just burns. 

 

7)    What does it mean if a meteor ends in an Airburst?

a)    It means it was never visible to the human eye

b)    It means the meteor burst up before hitting the ground

c)     It means the meteor burst up before entering the atmosphere

d)    It means that the meteor made a glittery streak across the sky.

e)     It means the Jewish space lasers have failed.

 

8)    What color is sulfur when it burns?

a)    Periwinkle.

b)    Canary Yellow

c)     Royal Blue

d)    A deep Crimson.

e)     Dude, sulfur doesn’t burn, it explodes.  

 

9)    What famous sushi roll is named for water sprites featured in harry potter?  (nothing to do with sulfur

a)    Tekka Maki

b)    Hoso maki

c)     Futomaki

d)    Kappa Maki

e)     Hirsch Maki

 

10) Burning sulfur produces SO2,  Sulfur dioxide.  What happens when that  reacts with water?

a)    It makes nothing. SO2 does not react with water.

b)    It releases its oxygen back into nature.

c)     It makes carbon disulfide, which is inert and doesn’t do much.

d)    It makes  Hydrogen Sulfide, which stinks so bad it is what you smell in natural gas.

e)     It makes sulfuric acid, dude!  Acid Rain! Lung Damage!  Evil stuff, dude!

 

11)  What the heck does this have to do with the Parsha? Take a guess.

 

  Mishnah, Avot 5:13

אַרְבַּע מִדּוֹת בָּאָדָם. הָאוֹמֵר שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלָּךְ, זוֹ מִדָּה בֵינוֹנִית. וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים, זוֹ מִדַּת סְדוֹם. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלְּךָ וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלִּי, עַם הָאָרֶץ. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלְּךָ וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלָּךְ, חָסִיד. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלִּי, רָשָׁע:

There are four temperaments among people: the one who says "what is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours" -- that's an average temperament. And there are some who say that is the temperament of Sodom. A second type is one who says "what is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine" -- that's an am ha'aretz (an ignoramus). "What is mine is yours, and what is yours is yours" -- that's a pious person. "What is yours is mine, and what is mine is mine" -- that's a wicked person. 

BAVLI  SANHEDRIN 109b

A) There were four judges in Sodom:   Shak’rai (The Liar) , Sha’kurai (The Lying Liar), Zay’yafi (The Forger), and Matzle-Dina (The Perverter of Justice).

·       If one cut off the ear of his fellow’s donkey, they would order, “Give it to him [the attacker] until it grows again.”

·       If one wounded his fellow they would say to him [the victim], “Give him a fee for making you bleed.”

·       He who crossed over with the ferry had to pay four zuzim, while he who crossed through the water on his own had to pay eight.

·       If one put out rows of bricks out for sale every person came and took one, saying, “I only took one.”  If one spread out garlic or onions [to dry them], every person came and took one, saying, “I only took one.”.” 

 

B) On one occasion, a certain cloth merchant happened to come there. Said they to him, “Give us four zuzim [for the use of the ferry].” But, protested he, “I crossed through the water!” “If so,” said they, “you must give eight zuzim for passing through the water.” He refused to give it, so they beat him severely. He went before the judge, who ordered, “Give them a fee for bleeding you and eight zuzim for crossing through the water.” 

 

Now Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, happened to be there and had also been beaten. When he went before the judge, the judge said, “Give them a fee for making you bleed.” Thereupon Eliezer took a stone and struck the judge. “What is this?!” the Judge exclaimed. Eliezer replied, “The fee that you now owe me for bloodletting,  give to this man [who attacked me], and my money will remain just where it is.”

 C) Now, they had beds upon which travelers slept. If he [the guest] was too long, they shortened him [by lopping off his feet]; if too short, they stretched him out. Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, happened to be there. Said they to him, “Why not get up [off the ground where you are resting] and sleep on this bed!” He replied, “Oh, what a shame! I have vowed since the day of my mother’s death not to sleep in a bed.”

 

D) They made this law amongst themselves: “whoever invites a man [a stranger] to a feast shall be stripped of his clothing.” Now, a banquet was in progress, when Eliezer chanced by there, they gave him no bread. Wishing to dine, he went and sat down at the end of them all. Said the man sitting next  to him, “Who invited you here?” He replied “You invited me!” The latter said to himself, “And what will happen if they will hear that I invited him? They will  strip me of my garments!” So he took up his clothing and fled outside. Thus he [Eliezer] did to all until they had all gone; and thus he consumed the entire banquet himself.

 

B’REYSHEET  18:20-21

 (כ) וַיֹּאמֶר יְקֹוָק זַעֲקַת סְדֹם וַעֲמֹרָה כִּי רָבָּה וְחַטָּאתָם כִּי כָבְדָה מְאֹד:

(כא) אֵרֲדָה נָּא וְאֶרְאֶה הַכְּצַעֲקָתָהּ הַבָּאָה אֵלַי עָשׂוּ כָּלָה וְאִם לֹא אֵדָעָה:

20 And the LORD said: ‘Verily, the cry ( זעקת ) of Sodom and Gomorrah is great ( רבה ), and, verily, their sin is exceeding grievous. 21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to her cry ( הכצעקתה ), which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know.’ 22

B’REYSHEET RABBAH 49:6--  I WILL GO DOWN NOW (XVIII, 21).  Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai taught: This is one of the ten descents mentioned in the Torah. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave them the opportunity of repenting. For it says, “I will go down now, and see whether they have done according to her [ the city’s] cry, “then they must be completely destroyed; and if not, I -will know, i.e. I will teach them that the Attribute of Justice exists in the world.  Rabbi Levi said: “God said ‘Even if I wished to keep silent, justice for a certain young woman (ribah) does not permit Me to keep silent.’  

For it once happened that two girls went down to draw water from a well. One said to the other, ‘Why are you so pale?’  ‘We have no more food left and are ready to die,’ replied the second. What did the first girl  do? She filled her pitcher with flour and they exchanged [their pitchers], each taking the other’s. When they [the Sodomites] discovered this, they took and burnt her for violating the law. Said the Holy One, blessed be He: ‘Even if I desired to be silent, justice for that young girl does not permit Me to keep silent. Hence it does not say, whether they have done according to their cry [namely, the cry of the Sodomites]; but According To Her Cry ‘- the cry of that maiden.

 

Science, Sulfur, and the Sinking of the City of Sodom

 

 

 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/evidence-of-sodom-meteor-blast-cause-of-biblical-destruction-say-scientists/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2018/12/04/new-science-suggests-biblical-city-of-sodom-was-smote-by-an-exploding-meteor/?sh=32714b345c67

and here’s my favorite: Sodom and Gomorrah: Fires Created by Ignition of Combustible Gases by Earthquake-Impelled Thermobaric-Hydrothermal Explosions

https://www.longdom.org/open-access/sodom-and-gomorrah-fires-created-by-ignition-of-combustible-gases-byearthquakeimpelled-thermobarichydrothermal-explosions-2329-6755-1000202.pdf

 

  

We read both in the Torah and Midrash that the plane of Zo’ar, where Sodom, Gomorrah,  Admah, Zoabim and Bela existed, was a fertile plain where crops grew with great ease, compared to Eden (Gen. 13:10).  Now the area is a wasteland, the Torah notes.  How?  Drop it down a few meters and expose it to burning sulfur, that’s how. When pure sulfur burns, you get sulfur dioxide, SO₂. Ask expert Chemist Avrom Littin what happens if you inhale such fumes. I did, and the answer is not pretty. Breathe in SO₂, he warns, and you will get H₂SO₄ - sulfuric acid - forming in your lungs. Get SO₂ into the atmosphere, and you get Acid Rain, the kind that kills off whatever is growing and any chances of future growth. Add in some backwash from the Dead Sea,  and nothing grows there anymore.  From sulfur and fire,  you get nature turning Eden into a wasteland,  and making people into pillars of salt. 

Some newer theories about the destruction are anchored in some serious science that indicates an airburst, and by that we mean a meteor that never quite hits the ground. Rather, while still hurtling through the atmosphere at incredible speed, thermodynamics, inertia and chemistry all look up at the space rock and say, “you're not touching the ground, buster!” and make it go “boom.” Which is another way to say that a massive explosion in the air was recorded in the Jordan River Valley basin over 3000 years ago, and not only that, but the heat was so intense it turned pottery shards into glass! It is possible that an airburst drops fragments of molten rock from the sky. Sulfur is so common in the universe, it's not impossible for molten sulfur to rain from the sky from a shattered asteroid.  Here, read some theories for yourselves! Here are two to start with,

https://www.timesofisrael.com/evidence-of-sodom-meteor-blast-cause-of-biblical-destruction-say-scientists/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2018/12/04/new-science-suggests-biblical-city-of-sodom-was-smote-by-an-exploding-meteor/?sh=32714b345c67

and here’s my favorite: Sodom and Gomorrah: Fires Created by Ignition of Combustible Gases by Earthquake-Impelled Thermobaric-Hydrothermal Explosions

https://www.longdom.org/open-access/sodom-and-gomorrah-fires-created-by-ignition-of-combustible-gases-byearthquakeimpelled-thermobarichydrothermal-explosions-2329-6755-1000202.pdf

So the rain of sulfur and fire, a plain collapsing into a rift, verdant fields becoming wasteland? More than possible. But if the science is a challenge, I would venture that the moral of the story is even more difficult for the modern mind to parse. If one is to accept the Biblical phrasing of the story, Sodom as a society was so perniciously nasty it deserved exactly what it got. We moderns often find such a conclusion troubling, we who are bound by the Geneva Convention and think of people as innocent until proven guilty. For our sages who were continually concerned for human life and human dignity, there was no doubt in their minds about Sodom's evil. They summon many stories and legends as a warning to the rest of us about how the wealthy and the comfortable can embrace evil by twisting good law into bad.

The danger for the modern reader, then, does not lie in saying that the Torah text is not historically accurate. The danger lies in saying that the Torah text is not morally accurate.  The problem lies in saying that there could never be a group on this planet so evil that it deserved to be annihilated for its cruelty, or that there will never be a part of human civilization that could descend to the point where  the very sulfurous wrath of the LORD should be poured out upon them. The suggestion that such evil is not possible despite the testimony of the Torah  and modern history should be far more troubling for the Jew than usual suggestions that Sodom was not real and no molten sulfur really rained down on it. The Human potential for evil that corrupts just law into cruelty, and the fact that it may take miraculous efforts to extricate decent people from such evil, that is a Torah lesson that must not be dismissed.  

Other people's celebrations and flaky savory pastries!

 

What's a meat Bureaka? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxggJUB8GbY

0	אֶפֶס
1	אַחַת
2	שְׁתַּיִם
3	שָׁלוֹשׁ
4	אַרְבַּע
5	חָמֵשׁ
6	שֵׁשׁ
7	שֶׁבַע
8	שְׁמוֹנֶה
9	תֵּשַׁע
10	עֶשֶׂר

11	אַחַת-עֶשְֹּרֵה
12	ֹשְתֵּים-עֶשְֹרֵה
13	ֹשְלֹש- עֶשְֹרֵה
14	אַרְבַּע- עֶשְֹּרֵה
15	חֲמֵֹש-עֶשְֹרֵה
16	ֹשֵֹּש-עֶשְֹרֵה
17	ֹשְבַע-עֶשְֹרֵה
18	ֹשְמוֹנֶה-עֶשְֹרֵה
19	תְֹּשַע-עֶשְֹרֵה
20	עֶשְׂרִים

Tefila time: 

https://www.sefaria.org/Siddur_Ashkenaz%2C_Weekday%2C_Shacharit%2C_Concluding_Prayers%2C_Alenu?lang=he

Werid fun with 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yroGB7Xob1k

Shir Ha’boureaks

Roni Donech

Words: Guy Asif

Melody: Uri Kinarot

 

A new day has come

Yah Habibi, what heat,

walking on the sweaty street

I see you in front of me suddenly.

 

I see your hair first,

And then your mouth.

And you have such a smile

You stole me in moments

 

So come,  let's eat Boureakas,

Little by little, the delicacies,

Add a pickled cucumber….

I want to be with you!

 

So let's eat Boureakas

(use your) white teeth!

Chomp them into your mouth, Princess

I won’t be shocked or get grossed out.

 

the rustling of soot (from the stove),

catches the throat

Breathing deep, looking  at you

The whole world is bright today

 

The foam is right on the waves,

I breathe in from the heavens

I don't know you well

But you are here with me right     now

 

So come, lets eat Boureakas!

1.   T or  F: More Jews celebrate Halloween than Sukkot.

 

2.  T or  F: There are no monsters in Judaism’s literature.

 

3.  T or  F: The dead, according to Judaism, can become fearsome monsters. 

 

4.  T or  F: A cemetery is a considered a  creepy place of horror and decay in Jewish legend,  just like in Halloween stories.

 

5.  T or  F: Judaism believes in angels and demons.

 

6.  T or  F: Halloween is secular in origin, just like the 4^th of July and Thanksgiving.

 

7.   T or  F: Unlike Catholicism, Judaism never has had a notion of possession or exorcism.

 

8.  T or  F: Astrology was practiced by many Jews in the medival period.

 

9.  T or  F: Haloween is  pretty much like Purim with costumes and giving out food.

 

10.                 T or  F: The “Evil Eye- Ayin Ha’rah”  is a Jewish superstition.

 

 

11.                   TIE BREAKER T or  F:  Of course I didn’t go trick or treating as a kid. 

OTHER PEOPLE’S HOLIDAYS?

Visiting the Beit Olam:  Rabbi D’ror’s notes on Judaism’s view of a visit to the Cemetery

In Judaism, a  Biet Olam (cemetery) is a place of holiness and dignity.  When going to visit a Beit Olam   you’ll want to plan ahead, and you’ll need a few things with you.  Bring water- at least  a half liter per person; also bring   prayers and psalms to recite,  and a stone to mark the grave.  You’ll also want to have ritual hand washing set up for when you get home.  Contact your synagogue for help with the proper prayers and rituals, and call the cemetery in advance to be sure of hours and directions to the grave you wish to visit.

An unusual blessing: One who has not visited a cemetery in the past 30 days recites a blessing known as “Asher Yatzar Etchem Badin ” as they approach the graves of those they have come to visit.   The text is not in every siddur, so contact a rabbi or cantor before you visit to make sure you have this and other important prayers at hand.  The theme of this long blessing speaks about God and the nature of human life.

Walk Carefully:  Although at some times it is unavoidable,  when we enter the burial grounds of the cemetery and leave roads or paths,  we do our best to not step on graves.  This is part of Kavod Ha’meyt,  respect for the dead. 

Be a mensch: when close to the grave, we do NOT eat or drink. We do not joke around, greet friends and fellows, or talk business- even over the phone.  We do not study Torah at the graveside, nor do we make blessings; these are seen as rude in a symbolic way, since the dead can not join in with these joyous or important acts.  We do recite Tehilim (Psalms), say special prayers both formal and spontaneous, and share consolation with others who visit the cemetery with us.  People often pledge to give tzedakah on behalf of the person whose grave they  visited.

We don’t leave flowers:  we leave a small stone or rock instead.  There are a number of reasons for this, but at the core is an ancient practice that sees leaving a stone as a more permanent statement of having visited; flowers come and go.  We leave saying phrases such as “May it be God’s will that the deceased should rest honorably and may his/her merit benefit us.”

On the way out:  Some communities have prayers for leaving the cemetery, and others ritually wash their hands at this point. 

On your doorstep:   Before entering your home or another person’s home after your cemetery visit,  we ritually wash our hands outside the house. Many communities have special traditions about this practice.  It is also customary not to wear shoes with the soil of the cemetery into a home.   We do so as to mark a transition from our encounter with death, impurity and sadness to our return to everyday life with its chances for joy and holiness.

 

 

RAMBAM (a.k.a. Rabbi Dr. Moses Maimondies),

COMFORTING MOURNERS,  AND BE-HAVIOR IN CEMETERIES

FROM THE BOOK OF TORAH LAW CALLED “THE MISHNAH TORAH,”  AVEL 14:1-14

It is a positive commandment through the Sages of Judaism to visit the sick, comfort mourners, to prepare for a funeral, prepare a bride, accompany guests, attend to all the needs of a burial, carry the dead [in a coffin] on one shoulders, walk before the bier, mourn, dig a grave, and bury the dead, and also to bring joy to a bride and groom and help them in all their needs. These are deeds of kindness that one carries out with his person that have no limit. Although all these mitzvot are of Rabbinic origin, they are included in the Scriptural commandment Leviticus 19:18: "Love your neighbor as yourself." That charge implies that whatever you would like other people to do for you, you should do for your fellow in terms of Torah and mitzvot.

It appears to me that comforting mourners takes precedence over visiting the sick. For comforting mourners is an expression of kindness to the living and the dead.

If there is one unattended dead body in a city, all the inhabitants of the city are forbidden to perform work until they bury him. If there is a person responsible for tending to the needs of funeral, the others are permitted [to work].

We bury the dead of the gentiles, comfort their mourners, and visit their sick, as an expression of the ways of peace.

It is forbidden to benefit from a cemetery. What is implied? We do not eat or drink, perform work, read the Written Torah or study the Spoken Torah within them. The general principle is: We do not benefit from them nor act frivolously within them.