Hello Everyone,
Here is a review of yesterday’s shiur on .עין איה
One of the great questions that we deal with as Jews is how we should relate to the cultures that surround us. Should we ignore them and try to exist within a cocoon? Or perhaps, should we try to co-exist with them and somehow learn from them while maintaining our identity as a separate people?
Rav Kook found an answer to this question in a surprising suggyah. In Shabbat pages 67a-b the Gemarah discusses magic and incantations.
תלמוד בבלי מסכת שבת דף סז עמוד א
משנה יוצאין בביצת החרגול ובשן שועל ובמסמר מן הצלוב משום רפואה דברי רבי מאיר וחכמים אוסרין אף בחול משום דרכי האמורי
גמרא יוצאין בביצת החרגול דעבדי לשיחלא ובשן של שועל דעבדי לשינתא דחייא למאן דניים דמיתא למאן דלא ניים ובמסמר מן הצלוב דעבדי לזרפא
משום רפואה דברי רבי מאיר אביי ורבא דאמרי תרוייהו כל דבר שיש בו משום רפואה אין בו משום דרכי האמורי
In this suggyah we see two ideas. First, there is a prohibition against adopting the habits and customs of the non-Jews. This is the prohibition of דרכי אמורי which Rashi says we learn from this pasuk:
ויקרא פרק יח פסוק ג
מַעֲשֵׂה אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם אֲשֶׁר יְשַׁבְתֶּם בָּהּ לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ וּכְמַעֲשֵׂה אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מֵבִיא אֶתְכֶם שָׁמָּה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ וּבְחֻקֹּתֵיהֶם לֹא תֵלֵכוּ:
But the suggyah also has the ruling of Abayei and Rava that when the there is some sort of therapeutic value to a custom then it is not forbidden as .דרכי אמורי
Rav Kook explains that every nation has its own unique system of values and ideas that work for it. Values and ideas are not always “transferable.” What works for one nation may not work for a different culture and may actually be harmful. This is particularly true for us, the Jewish people. Our system of values and morals is based on the Torah. We may not allow our system of values and morals to absorb the values of other cultures.
However this is not to say that we must be absolutely isolated from other cultures. Some cultural innovations are, as noted above, best left to the nation that discovered them. Bu there are discoveries that have a universal application. These discoveries can and should be shared by all humanity. Such discoveries can be made by even the most depraved cultures. Such is the case of medical therapies. The prohibition against following non-Jewish habits is called .דרכי אמורי The אמורי are one of the seven nations who lived in the Land of Israel whom we were ordered to battle. When our ancestors failed to drive them out of the land, they worshipped the gods of the אמורי:
שופטים פרק ו
(י) וָאֹמְרָה לָכֶם אֲנִי ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵיכֶם לֹא תִירְאוּ אֶת אֱלֹהֵי הָאֱמֹרִי אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם יוֹשְׁבִים בְּאַרְצָם וְלֹא שְׁמַעְתֶּם בְּקוֹלִי:
Nevertheless, if a practice of the אמורי should prove to have some sort of medical value we may adopt it. We need to examine all developments critically, but we need to take care not to reject those developments which can help us. This is what Abayei and Rava teach us when they say:
אביי ורבא דאמרי תרוייהו כל דבר שיש בו משום רפואה אין בו משום דרכי האמורי
This is a summary of yesterday’s class. Thanks to everyone who participated.
Stuart Fischman