"SPIRITUALITY"- WHAT IS IT?

 

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

The word “spirituality” is a buzzword, like “family values.” Yet, few people know what it is all about.

The need for spirituality arises:

a.      Usually after a period of crisis, when people turn to explore existential questions; to make sense of what is happening to us.

b.     When we realize that science cannot solve all our problems.

c.      When we acknowledge the precariousness of our lives.

d.     When we accept the fact that material success is not enough; when we need to nourish our “soul.”

e.      When we admit that we are not at  the center of the universe; that we need an anchor.

f.       When we need to relate to something/ someone larger than life.

THE CHALLENGES:

a.      For some, spirituality evokes otherworldliness, a monastic life.

b.     Some feel that it limits our ability to deal with pressing everyday issues; it takes us away from our social concerns.

c.      It is narcissistic in nature.

d.     Because it stresses the duality between body and mind, it is more Greek than Jewish.

e.      Because it deals with emotional issues, there is fear that it will ignore the dictates of the mind.

f.       Many claim that it is a substitute for the rigors of scholarship; it is anti-intellectual.

g.      A few believe it is a subtle form of assimilation.

h.     It reifies the individual and ignores the needs of the community.

i.       Its informality ends up like a chat with the divine.

j.       Many are attracted to extreme forms for spirituality that is a turn-off for others.

            We need a balanced view and must find a path that is rooted in the need to transcend oneself in search of purpose and meaning in life.  

DEFINITION:

There are various definitions of “spirituality.” ( Just check the web)

I prefer to define it as “The awareness of being in the presence of God,” where God refers to the energy of the universe.

DIFFERENT PATHS:

The pursuit of spirituality can take different forms:

Some seek spirituality through study, others through prayer, others through meditation, many through rituals or relationship and good deeds. And yet, some find it through various acts of transcendence, when they go through peak experiences in life.

For more details, see my book, 6 Jewish Spiritual Paths, NY: Jewish Lights/Nashville: Turner, 2002.

Date: Feb. 16, 2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ON THE 613 COMMANDMENTS

 

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

It is often mentioned that there are 613 commandments (TARYAG Mitzvot, in Hebrew) in the Hebrew Bible. Where does this idea come from? The number gave rise to a lot of controversy. No ancient text ever provides us with a clear list.

 The Bible does not mention this assumption. It is of rabbinic origin (1), but we really don’t know who initiated it.  Efraim Urbach noted that “In the Tannaitic sources [I and 2^nd cent. CE] this number is unknown” (2). In an early rabbinic text, Simeon ben Azzai (2^nd cent. CE)  is quoted as saying that there are 300 biblical commands (Sifre, Deut. 76).

 The earliest reference to 613 is found in the Talmud, attributed to a certain Rabbi, by the name of Simlai, who lived in the late 3^rd cent. CE. He stated that “there are 613 commandments attributed to Moses  in the Torah, corresponding to the number of days in the solar year of 365 and 248 commandments corresponding to the number of a person’s limbs” (Mak. 23b). Yet, in another Talmudic passage, the number 613 comes from Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in law (Yeb. 47b).  

 Some sages argued that it is difficult to number all the biblical commandments, because some of them are duplicated in other parts of the Pentateuch. If they are repeated, like the commandment to observe the Sabbath (Ex.20 and Deut.5), do they count as one or two? In fact, Ibn Ezra, a Rabbi who lived in the 12^th cent. Spain, maintained that “if we were to count only the root principles of the Torah, the number of commandments do not even reach 613” (Yesod Moreh 2). Furthermore, Rabbi Simlai’s statement reads more like a sermon, and not as a legal dictum (3), indicating that we need to serve God all the time with everything we have.

 During the Medieval times, Moses Maimonides, 12^th cent. Spain, in his monumental book, Sefer Hamizvot (The Book of the Commandments), has identified 248 positive and 365 negative commands.

Many of the commandments listed by Maimonides cannot be kept today, because they apply to the temple rituals, and became irrelevant after the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 CE. According to Rabbi Yisrael Meir Ha-Kohen, (d. 1933), popularly known as Hafets Hayyim, only 77 positive and 194 negative commandments can be observed today. 

 For a list of the 613 commandments, see “The 613 Commandments” in www.chabad.org.

 Date: Feb. 2, 2022. Total viewers: 695,576

 1.     Mark Herman, “The Origin and Use of the 613 Mitzvot,” The Torah.com , May 26, 2017.

2.     The Sages; Their Concepts and Beliefs, Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press, 1987.

3.     Israel Drazin, “There are not 613 Biblical Commands”, The Times of Israel- the Blogs; May 31, 2017.