#makkos

First of all, before I launch into explanation, I’ll mention that the biblical death penalty is EXTREMELY difficult to invoke. First of all, a person has to have 2 completely righteous witnesses who are completely non-biased who see them doing whatever it is (any of the death penalties, not just this one), and then warn them in detail of the punishment within about 3 seconds of them committing the act (I’d like you to try to find ONE completely righteous person in the entire world now. Barring the lamed-vav-niks I guarantee you that you won’t be able to). If there is another person there who comes to court with them, who isn’t completely righteous and testifies with them, they already can’t do the death penalty. If they witness it, but do not give a warning, they cannot do the death penalty. If the person waits 4 seconds, or 5 seconds after the warning, they can’t do the death penalty. The only death penalty that would get around this is the death penalty on testifying falsely in a death penalty case to try and get an individual killed, which is called Eidim Zomemim (plotting witnesses). But now we have another set of problems. The Beis Din (Court) has to be comprised of 23 righteous people. If one among them isn’t, they can’t even judge the case. Furthermore, even if you would find 23 righteous people to be a court, the death penalty can only EVER be put through in Judaism is if the Temple is standing and the Great Sanhedrin (REALLY big beis din of 71 people) is in its place is the “Chamber of Hewn Stone”. Furthermore, most of this is not even relevant regarding the 3rd Temple, because this all applies when someone is doing the aveirah intentionally and maliciously, and they KNOW exactly what they are doing. If there is no desire or lust to do it - which there won’t be - then there would be no death penalty. It’s so unlikely, that there is one opinion that says that if a Beis Din puts to death more than once every 7 years, it’s called a destroyer beis din (bad thing, not a good thing)… and the other opinion says that a beis din who puts to death more than once in 70 years is called a destroyer beis din. (Basically a summary of chapter 1 of Tractate Makkos there)

Now that I’ve covered that, I’ll take a look at the posuk. You are certainly right that this verse requires an explanation. I looked at it and did a double-take, because re-reading it, even with the Rashi, raised a few questions. (DISCLAIMER: I am going to use anthropomorphic parables. DO NOT take these literally - it’s well accepted the statement of the Rambam that Hashem has no body, and not even any sort of likeness to a body.)

Anyway, the posuk (whose hebrew text reads: זבח לאלקים יחרם בלתי לה’ לבדו) translates, as you probably know “Whoever sacrifices to other deities will be put to death.” I’ll point out a major issue that sticks out immediately after seeing this. 

Isn’t it so that the fundamental pillar of Judaism is the unity of Hashem in the world? That there AREN’T any other deities or powers? If so, what does the verse mean when it speaks this way? 

To answer this question, I’ll give 2 interpretations - the simple one, and the deeper understanding. From the simple level, the verse can be understood to mean “sacrifice to entities that the other nations have construed as deities”. 

Now, from a deeper perspective, It says in the Midrash (for parshas Bereishis I believe) that avodah zara originally started out as a money-making ploy by a guy named Enosh. He came to the conclusion that he could convince people that after G-d created the world, that He gave power to entities/cosmic bodies like the Sun or Moon to rule - in other words, he convinced people that Hashem created everything, AND THEN “handed over” his rule to them - giving them powers of their own. The word for “powers”, or “dieties” (IN PLURAL), is Elokim… which happens to be also one of G-d’s names. it is brought in throughout Torah that G-d is called by many names. The two we speak about the most often are sheim Elokim (אלקים - except with the ‘hei’ instead of kuf… Generally, orthodox jews are very careful to avoid typing any of G-d’s names out), and sheim Havaya (the 4 letter name, starting with Yud). It is explained in many places that these names correspond Hashem’s expression of being more than infinite (Ein Sof, literally without end - this refers to Sheim Havaya), and Hashem’s interaction with finitude, which is sheim Elokim. 

Interestingly enough, you find sheim Elokim in this verse… and not with any qualifiers (it doesn’t say clearly “others” in the posuk). Rashi offers an in-depth explanation of how it works grammatically, but b’derech efshar, al pi kabbalah, what is this posuk telling us?

It’s telling us Don’t give power to “Elokim”. Don’t ascribe that the “Elokim” has any power of its own. The “Elokim” is just a glove through which Hashem interacts with us. Sometimes the “glove” can come through the weather, sometimes that gloves comes through things like money, livelihood, your boss or coworkers. Some people misconstrue this… and they think that the “Glove” is really the hand… and so they ascribe independent power to the glove. But Hashem commands us to know that there is a hand behind the glove. And that we should thank the one to whom the hand belongs, no matter how the glove looks. And now that we are leaving the month of Tishrei and all the revelations that we saw, together… praying and blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, Fasting and tears on Yom Kippur, eating together, unified in the sukkah on Sukkos, and dancing with perfect joy on Simchas Torah… and we are entering back into daily life, our jobs, our studies - physicality… it’s more important than ever to keep this in mind, and never to be afraid of those things -not your parnasah, not your boss, not your classes or professors-, and ultimately -and it should be soon!-, we’ll all see together what really always was.

As we say in Aleinu, the familiar verse “Know this day, and have it sit well in your heart, that Hashem is Elokim, in the heavens above and on the earth below, and there is nothing else.” (וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך כי ה’ הוא האלקים בשמים ממעל ועל הארץ מתחת אין עוד) - And we should all merit to see those peaceful days where we no longer have to look at the “Elokim” and wonder where Hashem is, when there will be no more grays, and everything will be clear to see, with the immediate redemption from Exile we’ve been waiting for, for so long.

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We say in the Rosh Hashanah prayer service, “זה היום תחילת מעשיך, זכרון ליום ראשון” (this is the day of the beginning of your works, a remembrance of the first day). This comes with a distinct difficulty. The day of Rosh Hashanah doesn’t correspond to the first day of creation at all. Rosh Hashanah was the day in which Adam and Chava were created, the Sixth Day of creation… So how can we say “This day is the beginning”, when “בראשית ברא אלקים” (in the beginning, Hashem created…) was actually on the 25th of Elul?

To answer this question, there is a posuk (verse) which states “אנכי עשיתי ארץ ואדם עלי’ בראתי” (I have made the land, and on it, i’ve created man). The language “עלי'ה” (on) has a unique implication - the torah could have said “ואדם בה בראתי” (and in it, I’ve created man). In Torah, the word על (on), usually is used to denote significance or importance (ע’'ש במסכת ברכות, פ’'ה דל’'א ע’'ב - more examples of this can be found in the 5th Chapter of Tractate Berachos, 31a - among other places). Chassidus explains that the intention of this posuk is to explain our role down here, in the physical world. First of all, the word ארץ (land), is in many places is explained to mean רצון (will - the usual wording is “ארץ לעשות רצון…” - I run to do the will [of my creator]). Thus, humanity was placed in the “aretz” (land) in order to fulfill the “ratzon” (will) of the creator. Furthermore, we find in posuk that when the torah refers to non-jews, it will use the words “enosh”, “b'nei enosh”, “ha-adam”, or “bnei adam”… but never the word אדם (adam) with no qualifications. אדם with no qualifications, in the Torah, always refers to the Children of Israel, the Jewish people (As the posuk says אתם קראוים אדם - “you [Children of Israel] are called 'Adam’”). Now, regarding the end of the posuk above (“on it, I’ve created man”)… When the torah could have used a simpler language, and instead uses something unusual, or adds extra words, it always comes to teach us something additional… And the word בראתי (I have created) is an extra word (The torah could have said אנכי עשיתי ארץ ואדם עלי'ה “I made the land, and man on it.).

What’s the explanation? In hebrew numerology, the word בראתי has a numerical value of 613 (ב = 2, ר = 200, א = 1, ת = 400, י = 10 … 613)… corresponding to the 613 mitzvos. The reason why Rosh Hashanah is called "This day is the beginning…”? Because it’s only through fulfilling the will of G-d that the world will reach to its ultimate purpose, a clear revelation down here, in the lowest world - a dwelling place for Hashem, in this world… and it is only once Adam and Chava were created that the work began, of making the physical into something spiritual. This is accomplished by fulfilling the 613 Mitzvos (for the jews)… and for the non-jews, fulfilling the 7 Noahide Laws. And what is the effect? Every mitzvah we do brings incredible G-dly light into this physical world, down on our souls, and every flow we bring down brings us closer to that ultimate purpose, the dwelling place down here. And from this we can understand yet another cryptic statement of our sages:

יפה שעה אחת בתשובה ומעשים טובים בעולם הזה מכל חיי עלום הבא אבות פ’'ד מי’'ז

“1 hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is greater than all of the life in the next world”. Pirkei Avos 4:17

The mitzvos are commandments. Physical actions, and speech. In the next world, there is no physicality. No physical action, no physical speech. The souls in the next world don’t fulfill mitzvos… they only enjoy what they already have, but they can gain nothing more. In chassidus, it is often brought that the souls, before they come down into this world, are standing beneath G-d’s throne of glory and basking in the light of the shechina. What do they gain from coming down here into the darkness? Why do they need to come down?

The answer is within the statement itself - The souls are standing above. They come down here to learn how to walk, to climb higher and higher. And how? The 613 Commandments. The 248 parts of the body (this needs an explanation but for another time), each one begging you to do that positive commandment, to give tzedakah, or to feed the poor… and the 365 days of the solar year, begging you NOT to profane them by breaking one of the prohibitions. And as we say in many places, “המעשה הוא העיקר” - the action is the main thing. Take everything that you learn, from Rosh Hashanah -and from my blog-, and make EVERY hour of yours, worth equal to all the life in the next world. Every single hour.

גמר חתימה טובה - You should be sealed for a good year