Shmini: Bribe Yourself

The Bribe
This scene has probably played out in every family home. You are going to a wedding and don’t want to be late. But your children couldn’t care less about being late and are taking their merry time getting ready. At your wits end, you do what any desperate parent does; you offer a bribe. If you dress quickly, stop fighting and get into the car, you can have an extra helping of dessert at the wedding.

Scrupulous or not, bribes work, which is why so many parents do it. It is an efficient and effective way to gain your children’s compliance. But parents are not the only ones to bribe. Our souls bribe too.

Every Friday evening the soul exults over the oncoming Shabbat. As the holy day descends, the soul is in high spirits. It sings, it dances, rejoices and celebrates. But it is hampered by a reluctant body. The body is worn out from a grueling week, we are tired, weary and want to rest. We are not interested in singing and celebrating. All we want to do is crash. What does the soul do? It offers a bribe.

Do you think the soul cares for wine, challah, candles, festive dishes, delicious recipes, visiting guests and social camaraderie? No. The soul wants to study the Torah with diligence, chant the prayers with fervor and sing the Shabbat Z’mirot. Yet, the soul acquiesces to the wine and food because it is the only way to bribe the body into willing participation.

The soul understands that if the body is offered a chance to learn and pray in honor of Shabbat, it will decline the offer. But if it is offered a festive meal and enjoyable company, it will anticipate with relish. The hope is that when the body sits down to enjoy the meal, it will embrace the celebration of Shabbat. It will be more than a social gathering; it will hold spiritual meaning even for the body.

In other words, the soul bribes the body to celebrate Shabbat.

A Question Of Priority
In the Mishnah a dispute is cited between the schools of Hillel and Shamai about the order of the Kiddush blessings. The school of Shamai maintains that one should first chant the invocation to sanctify Shabbat and then the blessing over the wine. The School of Hillel takes the opposite view. One should first chant the blessing over the wine and then the invocation for Shabbat.[1]

The disputes between Shammai and Hilel, resulted from their opposing worldviews. Shamai was an exacting man who demanded much of himself and expected much from his students. Hillel was a patient fellow, who understood that not everyone can be held to the same exacting standards. Shamai’s didactic personality led him to expect the most from his fellow. Hillel’s pliant personality led him to be accepting of less. Consequently, Shamai often took the strict view whereas Hillel often took the lenient view.

In this particular dispute about the order of blessings there does not appear to be a strict or lenient approach. This appears to be a clear cut dispute on protocol. Yet, the commentaries offered a deep insight that links this dispute back to their world view.

The disputants understood that the Kiddush entails two parts, the wine and the Shabbat. The Shabbat is the spiritual element and the wine is the bribe to recruit the body. The dispute was over which element deserves priority.

Shamai’s school insisted that since the goal is Shabbat, it should be mentioned first and the wine should be secondary. Hillel understood that one can’t expect the body to jump right into Shabbat without enjoying the wine and meal first. His school therefore ruled that the blessing over the wine should be chanted before the invocation for Shabbat. This way the wine can serve as a bridge to Shabbat.[2]

Jewish law follows the view of Hillel and indeed the liturgy of our Kiddush follows the lenient order. Nevertheless, some people are held to a higher standard. Namely, the priests in the Temple were not permitted to drink wine. The inner sanctum of the temple was so uplifting and awe inspiring that even the simple priests were inspired without the aid of bodily libations.

Nadab and Abihu
This will help us understand a curious aspect about the tragic passing of Nadab and Abihu, the two elder sons of Aaron, the high priest. The Torah tells us that they died for the sin of offering a foreign flame that they were not commanded to offer. Yet the biblical commentator, Rashi, insisted that according to the opinion of Rabbi Shimon they were punished for drinking wine before entering the sanctuary.[3]

The question arises, how could Rabbi Shimon contest the reason stated clearly in the Torah? The Torah said that it was in punishment for offering a foreign flame and Rabbi Shimon claimed it was fordrinking wine before entering the sanctuary?

The idea that we developed in this essay will help us understand that Rabbi Shimon was in fact saying the same thing as the Torah only in different words. The foreign flame that the Torah spoke of, was the wine. They felt that to recruit their body to this holy moment it was necessary to drink some wine, yet they were mistaken. In the temple, wine was a foreign substance because it was unnecessary.

Here they were expected to be inspired by the sheer intensity of holiness. Here it was expected that this holiness would touch not only their soul, but their bodies too. There was no need to set the mood for the body before entering the inner sanctum. Sadly, by the time they realized this truth, it was too late. They had already entered and their punishment was meted out.

Yet the Torah comes right out and prohibits all priests from entering the sanctuary while intoxicated. The message for us is that though the norm is that we usher in our holy days with a glass of wine and a festive meal, we should strive to be inspired by holiness without these accoutrements. From time to time a Jew should work towards being uplifted and moved through pure meditation and study. We each have a soul. We each carry this latent capability. It might be buried under many layers, but with patient work, it can be teased out.

And because it can, it therefore should.[4]