Introduction:
The Torah describes a dream of Jacob, our father. Regarding the first part of the dream, the Torah states:
“He dreamt and behold! A ladder was set earthward, and the top of it reached to heaven” (Genesis 28:12).
In his commentary on the image of the ladder which connects earth and heaven, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch writes:
“A ladder is shown to him, signifying that there is a link between the terrestrial and celestial realms.”
The Torah states that “the top of it reached the heaven,” and Rabbi Hirsch offers the following deeper meaning of this image:
“Everything on earth is summoned and destined to rise and ascend toward a lofty, heaven-set goal.”
The mitzvos are the Divine mandates of the Torah which enable us to elevate all areas of our earthly existence; thus, through fulfilling all the mitzvos, our entire earthly existence ascends towards a lofty, heaven-set goal.
Dear Friends,
The mitzvos of the Torah can be viewed as rungs on a spiritual ladder which enable us to ascend toward a higher, heaven-set goal. During the 19th century, however, there arose a new movement among German Jews that wanted to develop a “shorter” ladder by eliminating most of the mitzvos of the Torah. Through developing a “shorter” ladder, this movement also limited the heights that we can climb. Among the leading Torah sages who responded to this challenge was Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. He sought to renew our people through helping us to rediscover the deeper meaning and purpose of each rung. As a result of his efforts, many straying Jews began to once again climb the “ladder” of mitzvos.
Rabbi Hirsch
lived in the era
when the walls
of the Ghetto
were beginning
to break down in
Western Europe,
and Jews began
to gain some
civil and
political
rights. Many
Jews were
dazzled by these
new
opportunities;
moreover, they
feared that the
fulfillment of
the mitzvos
would limit
their
participation in
the modern
society of
Western Europe.
They therefore
began a process
of assimilation,
and this
movement of
assimilation was
especially
strong in 19th
century Germany.
For example, the
new movement
that sought to
eliminate most
of the mitzvos
of the Torah
also began to
deny that Jews
were a people;
thus, the
leaders of this
movement felt
that German Jews
should be
defined as
“Germans of the
Mosaic faith.”
They also stated
that Germans of
the Mosaic faith
were no longer
connected to
Zion and that
Berlin had
become their
Jerusalem.
Many
Torah-observant
Jews did not
know how to
combat this new
trend towards
assimilation.
Rabbi Hirsch,
however, had
great Torah
teachers, such
as Rabbi Isaac
Bernays and
Rabbi Yaakov
Ettlinger, who
were able to
defend classical
Judaism with
some success,
and they
inspired Rabbi
Hirsch to
develop creative
ways of
addressing this
new challenge –
ways which would
be in harmony
with the
teachings and
mitzvos of the
Torah. Unlike
the “reformers”
of his era who
were trying to
renew Judaism by
having it become
more similar to
the prevailing
culture of the
modern age,
Rabbi Hirsch
began to renew
Judaism from
within by
demonstrating
the relevance of
its teachings
and mitzvos to
the modern age.
His first major
step in this
direction took
place when he
was the 27-year
old Rav of
Oldenberg, and
he was still
unknown outside
of his
community. That
year, he
published his
first book – one
which stirred
the German
Jewish world. It
was called
“Nineteen
Letters about
Judaism” and it
was written in
the form of
letters to a
young German Jew
who had begun a
process of
assimilation.
The book begins
with an
introductory
letter from this
young Jew which
explains why he
feels alienated
from Judaism,
and the rest of
the book is
Rabbi Hirsch’s
eloquent
response.
In his first
letter of
response, Rabbi
Hirsch writes:
“Forget the frustration that reading these writings caused you in your youth. Forget the prejudices about these writings which you may have absorbed from various sources. Let us read them as if we had never read them before, never heard about them. Let us raise in our soul the basic questions of life: The world around me – what is it to me? What am I and what should I be in relation to it? What should I be as human being and Israelite? We must read with such a questing spirit.” (Letter Two)
Rabbi Hirsch
begins by
showing how the
study of Torah,
the Divine
Teaching, leads
to a true
understanding of
human identity,
and how this
study guides the
human being in
his relationship
to the earth and
its creatures.
As Rabbi Hirsch
explains, the
human being was
created in the
Divine image
with the
capacity and the
responsibility
to emulate the
Divine love and
justice. He
writes:
“Your own inner
awareness tells
you, and the
Torah states,
that the human
being’s purpose
is to be
tzelem Elokim
– a likeness of
God. You are to
be more than
everything else;
you are to exist
for everything
else. You can
know God only
through His acts
of love and
justice; and in
turn, you too
are called upon
to act with
justice and
love, not merely
to indulge or
endure. The
earth was not
created as a
gift to you –
you have been
given to the
earth, to treat
it with
respectful
consideration,
as God’s earth,
and everything
on it as God’s
creation, as
your fellow
creature, to be
respected, loved
and helped to
attain its
purpose
according to
God’s Will.”
(Letter Four)
Rabbi Hirsch
also
demonstrates how
an understanding
of Torah is
crucial for an
understanding of
the identity of
“Yisrael” –
Israel;
moreover, it is
through the
Torah that one
can gain an
understanding of
Yisrael’s role
among the
nations:
“Yisrael was
given the Torah
in the
wilderness, and
there – without
a country and
land of its own
– it became a
nation, a body
whose soul was
Torah. Thereby
it came to be a
mamleches
kohanim, a
‘kingdom of
priests,’ a
nation serving
as the guardian
of God’s Word in
the midst of
humanity, as a
priest serves
amidst his
people. At the
same time, by
fulfilling God’s
Word, it was to
become a goy
kadosh, a
‘holy nation,’
standing apart
in holiness...
Torah, the
fulfillment of
the Divine Will,
constitutes the
foundation,
basis and goal
of this people.
Its nationhood
is therefore not
tied to
transitory
things or
dependent on
anything of a
passing nature;
it is as eternal
and everlasting
as spirit and
soul and the
Word of the
Eternal.”
(Letter Eight)
As Rabbi Hirsch
explains, this
people was to
enter history as
a nation in the
midst of other
nations in order
to become a
social model of
the Torah’s
teachings, and
he writes:
“Therefore a
land, prosperity
and institutions
of statehood
were to be put
at Yisrael’s
disposal not as
goals in
themselves, but
as means for the
fulfillment of
Torah.
Accordingly,
they all were
granted to
Yisrael on one –
and only one –
condition: that
it would indeed
fulfill the
Torah. Blessed
with all these
gifts, this
people had to
remain separate
from the
nations, lest it
learn from them
to consider
these blessings
an end in
themselves”
(ibid).
This separation
is to lead us to
a universal
goal; thus,
Rabbi Hirsch
explains to his
correspondent:
“You wrote that
the Torah
isolates us.
True! If it did
not, Yisrael
would long since
have lost its
identity. Look
what struggles
are required to
preserve the
purity of
Yisrael’s spirit
within our
people despite
this isolation!
But does this
spell enmity? Or
pride? As if God
were not the
Lord of all
creatures, all
human beings? An
unfortunate
misinterpretation
indeed! After
all, Yisrael has
no other task
than to
acknowledge as
its God the One
Who calls and
educates all
human beings to
His service, and
to make Him
known as such
through its
destiny and way
of life!”
(Letter Fifteen,
p. 198)
Rabbi Hirsch also states: “Judaism, correctly conceived and conveyed, constitutes a bond of love and justice encompassing all creatures” (Letter Nineteen).
In this spirit, we chant the following prayer in the afternoon service of Shabbos:
“O Hashem, You
save both human
being and
animal” (Psalm
36:7).
Have a Good and
Comforting
Shabbos,
Yosef Ben Shlomo
Hakohen (See
below)
Related Insights and Comments:
1. Rabbi Hirsch stresses that the Torah is the essence of our nation’s identity; yet, he also points out that we cannot fully express our identity without the Land of Zion, for the Land enables us to apply the mitzvos of the Torah to all areas of our existence. Without the Land, we are still a nation, but we are not a “healthy” nation, as Rabbi Hirsch writes: “As long as the Jewish national organism is dispersed in exile, it is sick.” (The Hirsch Siddur, page 139)
2. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, the founder of the Mussar movement who lived in Lithuania, met Rabbi Hirsch when he visited Germany, and during his visit, Rabbi Salanter also read Rabbi Hirsch’s work, “The Nineteen Letters.” After reading this work, Rabbi Salanter felt that it could benefit those Jews in Russia who were starting to assimilate due to the influence of modern western culture, and he said, “The book must not only be translated into Russian, but also into loshon ha-kodesh (the holy Hebrew tongue).”
This book was also praised by other leading Torah sages. For example, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Spitzer wrote in 1889: “Anybody who reads the Nineteen Letters will find that until now he did not know Judaism as he knows it now, and literally becomes like a new being.” Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spector wrote in 1896 that the Nineteen Letters is “a precious and marvelous work on the Jewish faith.” He also wrote: “All his words are drawn from holy sources and sevenfold purified in the crucible of true insight and straight thinking.”
3. About fifteen
years ago,
Feldheim
published a new
English
translation of
“The Nineteen
Letters” with a
comprehensive
commentary by
Rabbi Joseph
Elias. For
information on
this highly
recommended work
visit:
www.feldheim.com
. Other works
by Rabbi Hirsch
include:
A. “The
Pentateuch” – A
translation of
the Five Books
of the Torah
with a
commentary
B. “Horeb” –
This work offers
an explanation
of some of the
ethical and
spiritual
lessons that can
be derived from
the Torah’s path
of 613 mitzvos –
including those
mitzvos which
teach us to
respect the
earth and its
creatures.
C. “The Psalms”
– A translation
and commentary
4. As we discussed, the mitzvos of the Torah enable us to return to the ideal state of the Garden of Eden. It is therefore relevant to mention that the haftorah that we chant on this Shabbos concludes with the following comforting message:
“For Hashem will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her wasteland like the Garden of Hashem; joy and gladness will be found there, thanksgiving and the sound of music.” (Isaiah 51:3)