The Alpeh, Beis, Gimmel of Moshiach
Youth is not just a prefatory stage for adulthood. Its presence must be felt throughout our lives. Moses’ demand that the children be allowed to leave was also a request for Pharaoh to allow adults to take their youth with them.
Divine Editing
King Ptolemy of Egypt summoned 72 Sages to translate the Torah into Greek, he placed them in separate cubicles. The Talmud (Megillah 9a) relates that a miracle occurred, and they all translated the Torah identically.
In fact, they even made the same deliberate modifications in their translation. For example, instead of translating the opening verse in Bereishis with the words: “In the beginning G-d created” they rendered it, “G-d created in the beginning” so that he would not misinterpret the words of the Torah as a suggestion that the first G-d (“The beginning”) created G-d. That would have supported the idolatrous view of there being a hierarchical system of g-ds.
Another one of these divinely inspired modifications can be found in this week’s parsha. In the section where it discusses the offering of sacrifices to coincide with the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, the Torah states: “He [Moses] sent the youths [firstborn-Rashi) of the children of Israel, and they offered up burnt offerings, and they slaughtered bulls as peace offerings to G-d.” These offerings, our Sages tell us, were part of the Jewish people’s “conversion” to Judaism that was part of the Sinai experience.
Instead of the word “na’arei-youths” the 72 Sages translated “zatutei” which has the connotation that Moshe sent distinguished members of the community such as the elders.
Talmudic commentators explain that the reason for this “correction” was to avoid Ptolemy raising a simple question: Why would Moses send mere youths to offer the sacrifices? Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate and dignified to send the elders? To avoid this challenge to the Torah, the Sages were divinely guided to mistranslate the word so that it would not offend Ptolemy’s sensibilities.
In other words, G-d was willing to sacrifice the accuracy of the Biblical text just so that a pagan monarch would not trivialize the ritual offering of the sacrifices that were associated with the giving of the Torah.
However, this understanding of that “emendation” raises an obvious question: if it appeared so disrespectful to a pagan monarch to have Moses employ mere youths in such an important ceremony, then why, in fact, did Moses send youths and not the more distinguished members of the community?
Perhaps, as some commentators suggest, it was this question that prompted Rashi to interpret the word “youths” as “firstborn.” True, they might have been youths, but they were of a special class of youths—the firstborn who served as priests. Only after they were involved in the sin of the golden calf was the priesthood taken from them and given to the sons of Aaron. The fact that they were young did not diminish their special status within the community.
The above, however, will not completely resolve the difficulty. The original question, somewhat modified, can still be asked: Why does the Torah refer to these firstborn priests as youths and not simply as firstborn? If the Torah had done so, there would not have been a need for the Sages to mistranslate the word as “zatuteidistinguished.” Even Ptolemy would most likely have appreciated the elevated position of the firstborn, inasmuch as even in pagan societies the firstborn were considered to be special.
The Preeminent Role of Youth
The role of youth in Judaism, in general, is central to understanding why the Torah employed the term “youths” here and, conversely, why King Ptolemy would have taken exception to this term.
Ptolemy was not the first Egyptian monarch who could not appreciate the value of involving the youth in Jewish rituals and assigning a central role to them in Jewish life. In an earlier parsha we read how Pharaoh—after the seventh plague and after having been warned of the devastating consequences of the plague of locusts which was to follow—finally relents and offers to let the Jewish people go. However, curiously, Pharaoh asks Moses, “But exactly who will be going?”
Moses replies: “With our youth and with our elders we will go! With our sons and with our daughters…” Pharaoh protests vociferously to the suggestion that the children would be included. In Pharaoh’s mind, religion was exclusively an adult occupation. Thus the Jewish children must remain behind.
Pharaoh’s eventual successor as the king of Egypt—Ptolemy—seems to have had the same ideological aversion to assigning a central role to children in Jewish practice.
Indeed, there are still modern day educators who echo the Egyptian monarchs’ objection to allowing children to be fully immersed in Judaism. They might accept the notion that we must educate the children Jewishly, but why do we have to expose them to the spiritual, mystical, and non-rational aspects of Judaism? Give them only an edited and watered down version of Judaism, and later, when they mature, let them decide on their own what—if any— part of Judaism suits them. “Why indoctrinate them” is sadly a refrain that can still be heard by some in the Jewish community.
What is the ideological basis for this phenomenon? Why are some Jewish people tainted with an Egyptian monarch’s mentality? Why do they find the inclusion of children in the thick of Jewish practices so objectionable?
The Child Moshiach
The answer lies in the nature of a child to accept and embrace the teachings and practices without reservation. The verse in both Psalms and Chronicles recited daily declares, “Do not touch My anointed ones (Meshichoi)…” The Talmud interprets this as a reference to children who study Torah. They are G-d’s Moshiach’s!
The child’s study of Torah and observance of Mitzvos is untainted by the outer layers of our personalities which haven’t yet fully developed. The child is not shackled by worldly conventions, nor is he or she encumbered by the stifling influence of a mature intellect. A child’s embrace of Torah is unqualified, total, pristine, and devoid of any external influences. On the other hand, a much more complex approach is a prerequisite of the adult study of Torah, which requires rigorous intellectual efforts.
If we left the intense study of Torah and the observance of the Mitzvos for the adult years, the Jew would be left without Judaism’s crucial foundation, which is acceptance of G-d’s teaching that transcends reason. The character of that person’s Judaism would not offend even a leader of Egypt because it is confined to one’s intellect and to society’s standards. Indeed, the very word for Egypt in Hebrew—Mitzraim— means boundaries, straits or confinement. The Mitzraim mindset wants the Jew to keep his or her Judaism boxed in to defined borders. It must be measured and redacted to make it palatable to the Pharaohs and Ptolemys of the world.
The emphasis in Torah on the child occupying a prominent and preeminent role in Jewish life tells us that, on the contrary, Judaism is about breaking out of Mitzraim and allowing the hidden energy that comes naturally to a child to be unleashed by everyone.
“Child First” or “Adult First” Approaches
It may be suggested that the deliberate, Divinely inspired, mistranslation of the word “na’areiyouths” parallels the first mistranslation of the 72 Sages referred to earlier. The syntax of the Torah’s opening words, “Bereishis bara Elokim—In the beginning G-d created…” was altered by the 72 Sages and rendered “Elokim bara bereishis-G-d, in the beginning created…”
The Rebbe in one of his discourses (Likkutei Sichos, volume 15) notes that the correct version of the Torah begins with the letter beis, the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In the redacted version, the first letter is an aleph, the first letter of the alphabet. What does this alphabetic rewording signify?
The Rebbe explains—based on a statement in the Jerusalem Talmud—that the reason why the Torah begins with the second letter is to indicate that the formal, intellectual level of Torah study that commences with Genesis is but the second level of Torah study. Before a Jew embarks on the study of Torah he or she must recognize that Torah is Divine wisdom which transcends our understanding of it. Thus, the Torah begins with a beis, the second letter, to underscore that the study of Torah is step number two. Torah study must be preceded by the recitation of the blessings on the Torah in which we invoke the Divine nature of Torah.
When they translated the Torah for Ptolemy, however, that version had to be altered to begin with the letter aleph, the first letter of the Torah. From a Ptolemaic or non-Jewish perspective there is no room for the Divine element in Torah as a prerequisite for the study of Torah. Torah study was to them a discipline like any other discipline. Thus there is only one level and approach to Torah—the intellectual approach. The study of Torah to Ptolemy and his ilk is not only step number one, but the only step.
The same is true about his aversion to the role of children in the sacrifices that were offered at Sinai. If Torah and Jewish practice are exclusively intellectual exercises, the involvement of children is uncalled for.
In truth, the children’s involvement is not only acceptable; it is the very foundation of all of Judaism. It is the first and most fundamental step—the alpeh of Judaism—without which adult involvement has no validity and will prove to be as unstable as a building would be without a foundation.
The “adult first” mentality is a product of Egyptian exile. The “child first” mindset is one that liberates us from our limited grasp of Torah and its Mitzvos; it is the ultimate repudiation of Egyptian exile.
But one does not have to be a child in the chronological sense to enjoy the spiritual benefits of the “child first” approach. The Ba’al Shem Tov (as recorded in the Chassidic work M’or Einayim of R. Nochum of Chernobyl) teaches us that every Jew possesses—at his or her core—a spark of Moshiach. That spark of Moshiach represents the innocent, pure, and unadulterated devotion to the infinite aspect of G-d, Torah and Mitzvos.
When we ask G-d for Moshiach to take us out of exile we are essentially saying to G-d: We want to return to our most essential spiritual state that is not tainted, stifled and suppressed by the outer layers of our personalities. We certainly don’t want the Pharaohs and Ptolemys of the world to dictate to us how we should think. We want total freedom to be in touch with the Moshiach/child within us.
But asking for Moshiach is only the first step. We must also live with Moshiach. This means we must not wait for the external Moshiach— the Jewish leader who ushers in the Messianic Age—to compel us to expose our internal Moshiach. Even now we must try to live in a liberated way by doing everything the way a child approaches Judaism—with innocence and joy. We must not allow our natural penchant to be skeptical and cynical to taint our Judaism. While we are certainly required to learn, understand and even raise questions about all matters of Judaism, that should be step number two. It must be preceded by the first step: an unadulterated and unconditional acceptance of Torah and a pure desire for the ultimate Redemption through Moshiach that will facilitate our complete embrace of Torah.
The Three Steps
In terms of the Hebrew alphabet, step number one, the “aleph”, is:
Involve your biological children as well as the internal child—the internal Moshiach—in your Jewish life. Instill all of your doings with Moshiach innocence. And, of course, focus on the role of Torah and Mitzvos to prepare us for the ultimate Redemption.
Step number two—the “beis”—is:
Learn what the Torah says about Moshiach and Redemption, applying rigorous analysis and indepth study so that our minds become saturated with Torah knowledge in general and with a Moshiach perspective in particular.
Step number three—the “gimmel”—is “Geulah,” the actual Redemption, when the internal Moshiach is completely ignited, exposed, and unites with the Moshiach spark of every Jew because our Moshiach spark will merge with the soul of Moshiach himself who will usher in the true and complete Redemption.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Mishpatim by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
