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Simanim 1-3 - First Steps of the Day

21.09.2014
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SIMAN 1, AWAKENING IN THE MORNING

1. WALKING BEFORE GOD: In the very first sentence of the book, Rav Ganzfried employs a very interesting expression.  He writes that keeping God's presence constantly in mind is a fundamental principle of the righteous "who walk before God."  While STANDING before God suggests being in God's presence, WALKING before Him seems to suggest that the Holy One is as it were following behind the righteous person!  Indeed, the Midrash distinguishes between Noach, who went merely WITH God (Bereshit 6:9) and Avraham who went BEFORE God (Bereshit 6:9), and suggests that Avraham as it were led the way or lit the way for HaShem (Tanchuma, Lekh Lekha 26).  The righteous person approaches places and people seemingly empty of holiness - aspects of existence where God seems to be absent.  But performance of mitzvot elevates and sanctifies the seemingly profance material world; reaching out to those far from holiness brings them near to God's presence.  So the righteous person walks ahead, and God's recognizable presence follows behind!

 

2. MODEH ANI: There is a famous Chasidic story of a very pious man who one day misses davening.  The explanation, it turns out, was that his morning ritual never got beyond "modeh ani:" as soon as he began to recite this expression of thanks, he began to agonize over the profound metaphysical issues it raises: who after all is this "ani," and how does he dare to start his day asserting that he is "lefanekha" - before God?!  The end result of his spiritual and intellectual struggle was that he didn't get out of bed for hours.

 

Actually, it is appropriate that the Modeh Ani should arouse such "identity" questions, because our day's first obligation, to say the morning benedictions, comes precisely to define our identity: "Modeh Ani:" makes us ask, Who am I?  And the benedictions upon waking give the answer: I have a divinely-given spirit; I am a Jew, and not a Gentile; a free person, and not a slave; I am a man, or I am a woman.  I am alert and mobile, I have an erect posture to demonstrate my independence and clothes and shoes to give appropriate expression to my human dignity.  Above all, I was created adhere to the Torah and to do right.

 

Modeh Ani strikes us as an "early" custom - it is the first mitzva of the day and one of the first we learn as children - but its historical origin  is actually rather late.  The source is in the book "Seder Ha-Yom" written by the early Acharon Rav Moshe ben Makhir, a later contemporary of Rav Yosef Karo, the author of the Shulchan Arukh.

 

3. The Kitzur Shulchan Arukh has a neat trick for rising with alacrity to God's service: pretend that you have to get up early for a profitable business deal.  This is a fine example of sanctifying the profane: the base urge to accumulate money is being exploited for a holy purpose - to stir a person to perform his or her religious obligations.

 

 

SIMAN 2 - WASHING HANDS

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It is of great significance that the basic act of self-sanctification in Judaism is washing the hands.  Our hands are our interface with the outside material world.  By washing them, we show that we have respect for that world, that we want to improve it and not pollute it.

 

There is an unresolved question in the Rishonim if the blessing on washing the hands is on our spiritual renewal upon waking, or rather on preparing ourselves for prayer by cleaning off nighttime filth.  There are certain practical differences (for instance, someone who sleeps in gloves) but the ethical message is the same: The idea that we MARK our spiritual renewal through physical cleanliness, as well as the idea that we PREPARE for a spiritual encounter through  physical cleanliness, both point to the importance of purity of action as the necessary adjunct of spiritual elevation.

 

There is an additional reason for washing the hands, though not for uttering a benediction.  This is the "ruach ra'a" - the unclean spirit - which is dispelled by washing the hands with water.  The gemara asserts that this spirit is completely dispelled only if we wash three times, and the Zohar (1) adds that we should wash FROM a vessel and also INTO a vessel.

 

The basis for this law is related to the previous explanation why we wash our hands in the morning.  Judaism is a religion of engagement - of involvement, sanctified involvement, in this world.  Not only the human spirit, but even the human body is holy, but the body's holiness finds expression specifically in action, and so the enforced inactivity of nighttime involves a partial withdrawal or removal of this holiness.  Of course, the very act of waking returns the person to activity, and indeed the Zohar tells us that the unclean spirit, which we have compared to a demeanor of idleness, does in fact disappear upon waking - except from the fingers.  In order to completely shake off the idleness of sleep, it is necessary to demonstratively and repeatedly prepare our hands - our primary active interface with the world - for pure and holy influence through action.

 

The fact that we wash from and into a vessel exemplifies the fact that our act of washing our hands merely REMOVES the tendency to laziness - it does not destroy it.  Constant vigilance is required even during the hours of waking activity not to be tainted by a tendency to sloth.  This is symbolized by the care we take that the washing water should not come into contact with water or utensils which we use in daily activity.

 

This same explanation enables us to see why washing hands is required also after contact with the dead, and with body wastes.  Death is the ultimate cessation of the holiness of a Jew's corporeality as expressed in his or her capacity for action and influence in the world.  (Of course it has no influence on the holiness of the eternal spirit!)

 

Bodily wastes have a negative symbolism for another reason.  The performance of the commandments enables us to elevate and sanctify the profane: an ordinary sheep becomes a Temple sacrifice, or in our day the parchment of a Torah scroll.  Another way in which we sanctify the material world is by using it to provide energy for the holy activity of our bodies - ordinary animal and vegetable matter is transformed into the wherewithal for our performance of God's will.  Yet, bodily wastes demonstrate that some aspects of the material world resist alliance with the holy. (2)  We live in a world which contains holiness, as well as the profane with the potential for holiness; alas, it also contains wickedness, aspects which resist and oppose holiness.  Thus, we are not allowed to utter benedictions until our bodies are cleansed inwardly and outwardly from palpable wastes, and likewise contact with these wastes obliges the sanctifying influence of washing our hands.

 

 

SIMAN 3 - GETTING DRESSED

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1. MODESTY: "Tzni'ut" - modesty - has several, seemingly unrelated connotations.  It refers to an internal state of mind, to an external appearance, and to a pattern of material consumption.  Certainly, we have known occasional unassuming people who wear revealing clothes or who are a bit profligate with their money, and arrogant individuals who are careful to cover themselves thoroughly or who live well within their means.  Even so, the fact that the different kinds of modesty share the same descriptive term both in English and in Hebrew testifies to a close relationship among them.

 

The common denominator is an awareness that what is important is innerness - who a person is, and not how he or she appears.  Our worth is not correlated with the "splash" we make in the outside world, through drawing attention to our opinions and achievements, to our bodies, or to our consumption.  A heightened awareness of the constant presence of God, Who perceives our innermost thoughts, naturally brings about a modest demeanor, and likewise modest conduct helps to wean us from addiction to external reinforcements and to keep our minds on the standards of the Divine Judge, and not on those of human vanity.

 

Some authorities (3) consider that getting dressed in a completely unrevealing way as described by the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh is a praiseworthy but not an obligatory custom.  Many contemporary authorities agree (4).  This would be especially true in our culture where most people wear underwear and therefore remain partially dressed even when changing from pajamas to day clothes.

 

2. MODESTY WHEN NO ONE IS PRESENT

 

The Kitzur, like the other codes (Tur, Shulchan Arukh) emphasizes the need for modesty even when no one is present because God sees, and God's glory fills the whole world.  A common objection to this is that God sees even through one's clothes, and God sees even in the bathhouse and other places where being uncovered is not improper.

 

One reply is that one's clothes are an expression and even an extension of oneself.  This is one of the reasons that the Kitzur emphasizes, later in our siman, the importance of choosing dignified though modest clothes.  When Adam and Chava noticed that they were naked, they did not hide from each other - they hid from God.  A human being who is conscious of his own vulnerability to sin simply needs a little external help, in the form of clothes, in order to feel that his physical self projects his elevated side.  A person who does not feel the need for such "reinforcement" of his dignity is in effect saying that unlike Adam, he is not ashamed of the sinful side of his nature.  What God may take notice of in this case is not one's bare flesh but one's bare face - one's insolence.

 

In the bathhouse (swimming pool, etc.) circumstances dictate being uncovered and so there is no disgrace involved.

 

3. ACTING LIKE NON-JEWS

 

Our approach to modesty can also help us understand Rav Ganzfried's seemingly surprising decision to include the rule against likening ourselves to non-Jews in this siman.  It would have been more natural to include it among the simanim from 166 to 178, where he discusses miscellaneous rulings from Yoreh De'a - INCLUDING rulings relating to dress!  A Jew is usually tempted to dress like the surrounding non-Jews because he is self-conscious about his "different" appearance.  He wants to show his neighbors that he is like them.  This is much different from the reason a person might be tempted to cross-dress (siman 171) or to wear sha'atnez (siman 176) - in those cases there is generally no element of show.

 

Indeed, the word "goy" - nation, usually meaning a member of a Gentile nation - is itself related to the word "ga'ava" - pride, the opposite of modesty.  Of course, many non-Jews are exemplars of modest conduct, but when we use this term for non-Jews we emphasize to ourselves that for a Jew modest conduct is not merely an individual ethical desideratum but rather an essential part of our national character.

 

4. The Kitzur Shulchan Arukh mentions that putting on two garments at once will lead to forgetting one's learning. (5)  I have no doubt that this is true.  A penchant for clever shortcuts is certain to lead to superficial study which is soon forgotten.  Several of the causes of forgetting mentioned in the Talmud (6) are also examples of shortcuts and improvised solutions.  As Rav Amital never ceases to remind us, "There are no tricks ('patentim') for learning Torah!"

 

5. COVERING THE HEAD: The connection between covering the head and having the fear of heaven is that covering one's head serves as a reminder that there is Someone above us.  Likewise, it is a simple attribute of modesty to cover more rather than less. 

 

It does seem strange that women should be exempt from this requirement.  The beginning of our siman points out that modest deportment in general serves as reminder of God's presence; perhaps the stricter demands of modest dress to which a woman is subject serve the same purpose as head covering for a man.

 

6. WALKING BETWEEN MEMBERS OF THE OPPOSITE SEX, OR BETWEEN BEASTS: This convention has been the subject of unfair bad press; fundamentally it does not discriminate between men and women.  The gemara (7) tells a man not to pass alone between two women nor to let a woman pass between him and his male companion.  The gemara is naturally addressed to men (its historically usual audience), but the bottom line is that a person shouldn't pass alone between members of the opposite sex, nor between harmful beasts.  There is an obvious degree of modesty and decorum in this convention.

 

It would be thoughtful to keep observers of this convention in mind and not create single-sex mobs at the entrance or exit to shul.  I for one have often been bewildered on being confronted by a crowd of ladies at the synagogue egress.

 

It is helpful to know that the problem exists only if the two ladies or gentlemen (or beasts) are companions.  Otherwise, no one could go anywhere, since there are enough men and women in the world that one is always passing between them.

 

 

Endnotes:

 

(1) This Zohar is cited in the BY (Beit Yosef), siman 4.

 

(2) This is based on the explanation in Nefesh Ha-Chaim II:7.

 

(3) Rambam De'ot 5:6 seems that this is a characteristic of a talmid chakham, but not a requirement for every person.

 

4) Magen Avraham siman 2, Igrot Moshe YD III 47, 68.

 

(5) Magen Avraham cites Sefer Ha-Kavanot as the source.

 

(6) Horayot 13b.  For instance, one who CONSTANTLY eats olives, seems too lazy to make oil.

 

(7) Pesachim 111a.

 

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