A Few Short Bursts about Community

I present a Biblical-Talmudic haiku, dedicated to my hhevrusa as well as to the king of judeoblogsopheric haiku, Rabbi Neil Fleischmann.

On page/side 13b of masekhet Sanhedrin in the Babylonian Talmud, there is a discussion of how many judges are necessary for the laying-on-hands ritual of the sin-offering of the par he‘eleim davar — a bull sacrificed to atone for an unintentional violation by the community as a whole due to an incorrect decision by the Sanhedrin.

In discussing the signals within the Torah's description of the semikha (yes this is also called סמיכה) that would indicate how many members of the Sanhedrin have to perform it on behalf of the entire court, it is suggested that the verb וסמכו and then they will perform-the-hand-laying is extra, and unnecessary for the verse to express its meaning. Dropping this verb, it is explained, the Torah could have easily been written זקני העדה ידיהם על ראש הפר — the elders of the community, their hands on the bull's head.

At some point during our learning it hit me that what the Gemara just did was turn this verse into the beginning of a haiku, to which we can easily add the next phrase in the verse, filling out the 5»7»5 haiku structure:
זִקְנֵי הָעֵדָֿה
יְדֵֿיהֶם עַל רֹאשׁ הַפָּר
לִפְֿנֵי יֲיֹיָי

For this to work, though, you need to count the initial shəva’ na‘ in the word ידיהם as a full vowel, as well as the hhataf in God's name.

I was thinking about the concept of ‘Ayin Hara‘ recently. Getting ready to become officially linked to an institution that has a stigma of delegitimization and demonization attached to it in certain parts of the Jewish world worries me. As things stood before last week, people would usually need to get to know me before hating me. You would need to read what I write, or talk to me, to find out that I hold such heretical beliefs as human beings being created in the image of God, and that caring about people and being a mensch are not asur mide’Oraita but are actually a basic goal of Torah.

Now, though, there are thousands and thousands of people out there who hate me. Personally. Without ever having met me. There are people calling for my death and lehavdil people writing slanderous newspaper articles. These are, in many cases, people who are supposedly part of my own community, who it would have been assumed share goals, ideals, and lenses on life with me.

This hatred hurts. It literally hurts. It always hurts to be betrayed. And so I was thinking... maybe this is what the "Evil Eye" is all about. You can hurt people with your eyes and with your mouth. When you hurt someone with your hands, when you beat them bloody and broken, you break them on the outside. When you use words, when you use body language, when you use that distancing double-take — "you're going there?" — you break them on the inside. You hurt them. You hurt their soul. You make them cynical, paranoid, and self-doubting.

Which I guess is no big deal if you believe that compassion and empathy are forbidden by the Torah.

whatever happened to the values of humanity?
whatever happened to the fairness in equality?
instead of spreading love we're spreading animosity;
lack of understanding, leading lives away from unity!
that's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' under,
that's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' down —
there's no wonder why sometimes I'm feelin' under,
gotta keep my faith alive till love is found...
('where is the love' by black eyed peas)