פסחים נ׳ א
מתני׳ מקום שנהגו לעשות מלאכה בערבי פסחים עד חצות — עושין. מקום שנהגו שלא לעשות — אין עושין. ההולך ממקום שעושין למקום שאין עושין, או ממקום שאין עושין למקום שעושין — נותנין עליו חומרי מקום שיצא משם וחומרי מקום שהלך לשם.
Pessachim 50a
In a place where (the people) were accustomed to perform labor on passover eve until midday, one (may) do so (on that day). (In) a place where (the people were) accustomed not to perform (labor) one (may) not do (so). (...)
a place
several places
different places
different customs
this exile ended
After 70 years
childhood memories come back
(Zarina)
"I have friends who passed through several countries, lived in some, and been wholly accepted by none. For them, belonging to a mere nation is not an option. They have had to leave their home country, and each appointment with an immigration agency is a new attack, hacking away their dignity, a punishment for not staying in their place.
For people like them, talk of belonging is luxury.
(...)
For yet more, a border is a thousand foot high steel wall, stretching across seas and through human minds.
(...)
(Musa Okwonga, IG @okwonga)
homelands
Put a letter between two blanc pages
fill the spaces with
lines
They carried chains of words with them in jars
like seeds
some into pomegranates
<-------
--------->--------->
producing food, and clothes, and songs, and longing
and Shabbat and holidays,
and support for each other
הללוהו כל־מלאכיו הללוהו כל־צבאו [צבאיו]
Praise Him, all His angels, praise Him, all His hosts.
The Gemara rejects: All the stars that radiate, אור is not a noun but it describes an activity!
If that is so the stars that radiate are required to praise הקב״ה.
Are those who do not radiate light not required to praise?
Isn't it written: הללוהו כל צבאיו
לאור יקום רוצח יקטל־עני ואביון ובלילה יהי כגנב
The murderer arises in the evening
to kill the poor and needy,
and at night he acts the thief
from head to hand
from thought to deed
Lines on paper
lines of footsteps
The house הבית
and
the terrain השתח
The food האוכל
and
the book התורה
of sages:of customs:of concepts:of opinions
מיתיבי: ״יחשכו כוכבי נשפו יקו לאור ואין ואל יראה בעפעפי שחר״, מדקאמר ״יקו לאור ואין״ אלמא ״אור״ יממא הוא! התם מילט הוא דקא לייט ליה איוב למזליה, אמר: יהא רעוא דליצפיה הך גברא לנהורא, ולא לישכחיה.
The Gemara raises an objection to the opinion that or means evening: “Let the stars of the twilight be dark; let it look for or but have none; neither let it see the eyelids of the morning” (Job 3:9). From the fact that the verse states: “Let it look for or but have none,” apparently or is day. The Gemara rejects this contention. Actually, it is possible that or, in this context, means light in general, not specifically day. There, Job is cursing his fortune. He said: Let it be His will that this man, referring to himself, will seek light and not find it.
they raised an objection
to עפעפי שחר to יממה to נץ החמה
they kneaded the words of their thoughts like dough
could be our journey
towards הקב״ה
in הקב״ה
begin?
belongings, produce and ideas
through enclosures
journeying to find meaning in Pumbedita
to find halakhic ingenuity
orientation
The residents of Bet She'an didn't yet know the abeyance of exile.
In love for Shabbat they decided against travels to the market place before Shabbat.
Their children didn't want to keep this custom, they were another generation living in different times.
R'Yochanan reminded them not to dissolve the web the generations.
Which had been woven for the spiritual wellbeing of the future generations.
But sometimes they remind you of the importance of being a future ancestor.
בני ביישן נהוג דלא הוו אזלין מצור לצידון במעלי שבתא. אתו בנייהו קמיה דרבי יוחנן, אמרו לו: אבהתין אפשר להו, אנן לא אפשר לן. אמר להו: כבר קיבלו אבותיכם עליהם, שנאמר: ״שמע בני מוסר אביך ואל תטוש תורת אמך״.
As the mishna discusses the requirement to observe local customs, the Gemara relates: The residents of Beit She’an were accustomed not to travel from Tyre to market day in Sidon on Shabbat eve. In deference to Shabbat, they adopted a stringency and would not interrupt their Shabbat preparations even for a short sea voyage. Their children came before Rabbi Yoḥanan to request that he repeal this custom. They said to him: Due to their wealth, it was possible for our fathers to earn a living without traveling to the market on Friday; however, it is not possible for us to do so. He said to them: Your fathers already accepted this virtuous custom upon themselves, and it remains in effect for you, as it is stated: “My son, hear your father’s rebuke and do not abandon your mother’s teaching” (Proverbs 1:8). In addition to adhering to one’s father’s rebuke, i.e., halakha, one is also required to preserve his mother’s teaching, i.e., ancestral customs.
crossing physical borders and restrictions
somersaulting the restrictions of their minds.
פסחים נ״ד:יב
אמרי, חללה הוא דנברא קודם שנברא העולם, ואור דידיה בערב שבת
The void of Gehenna was created before the world
Before times and places
But its fire was created on Shabbat evening
in front of the other
- 22 -
Moving through space "with all your limbs"
"(...) You ought to think of doing good with all your limbs and with all your thoughts (...) all should be for the sake of Heaven (...)"
- Orchot Tzaddikim 16:13
אורחות צדיקים ט״ז:יג
לכן תחשוב שתעשה הטוב בכל איבריך ובכל מחשבותיך, ותבחר מכל איבר ואיבר קצת קלות וקצת כבדות, והכל לשם שמים
- 23 -
Did they turn the words of the Tora over and over while walking, while moving their limbs?
.
משנה אבות ה:כב
בן בג בג אומר, הפך בה והפך בה, דכלא בה. ובה תחזי, וסיב ובלה בה, ומנה לא תזוע, שאין לך מדה טובה הימנה
.
Ben Bag Bag said:
Turn it over, and [again] turn it over, for all is therein.
(Pirkei Avot 5:22)
- 24 -
Did their limbs ask questions?
- 25 -
And later?
Staying in enclosures
while
the book
traveled
and expands even now?
crossing spiritual borders and restrictions
and seasons
and fathers and mothers
and songs
and the void
and knowledge
and thieves
and empathy
and the sea
braiding
twining
taking up
changing
transforming
from afar
to be extended
into
every now
- 29 -
פסחים פ״ז:ב
אמר רבי אלעזר אפילו בשעת כעסו של הקדוש ברוך הוא זוכר את הרחמים
Even in a time of anger of the Holy One, Blessed be He, He remembers the attribute of compassion
(Rabbi Elazar, Pesachim 87b)
I imagined people traveling from the land of Israel to Babylon, traveling the text of the Tora and the traces of exile.
And they discussed different customs. How to stay one people and how to stay true to diverse local customs?
The area of Mesopotamia was always a difficult area, although it is acknowledged as the cradle of civilization. It was here that intensive year-round agriculture was first practiced. Mesopotamia was often a terrain of conflict and also todays nation states built on this landscape are tragically shaken by the brutal historical reality of modern day wars with its use of weapons of mass destruction.
I imagined the desert landscape interspersed with a few main roads along rivers.
It must have been a strenuous and risky endeavor for travelers to visit Pumpeditha.
The right for home was destroyed and longing became the norm again as so many times before in human history. Large refugee flows have moved west and north, many of them trapped in barely bearable situations in refugee camps along Fortress Europe.
It would be wonderful to travel peacefully in real life in the footsteps of the rabbis neglecting cartographic lines and political conditions.
It must have been a beautiful and rich life back then, even if danger was lurking around the corner at times, like the thief arising with the light.
In retrospect, we know that also this peaceful time was a temporary one.
There is a chance for change, for peace and wisdom at all times, בב"א.
But we have to work for it.