2022/5782
Perushim and Tzedukim Debate
Among the great debates that raged between Orthodox Jews (Perushim/Pharisees) and Jews who deviate from tradition (Tzedukim/Sadducees) in Talmudic times was an intense argument how to perform the Ketoret, the special incense offering, of Yom Kippur the only day the Kohen Gadol would enter the Kodesh HaKodashim.
The Perushim believe that the Kohen Gadol places the ketoret on the coals after he has entered the Kodesh HaKodashim and the Tzedukaim insist it is done before entering the Kodesh Kodashim.
During the waning years of the second Beit HaMikdash, the quality of Kohanim Gedolim had greatly diminished since the Roman government sold the position to the highest bidder. The Mishna (Yoma 1:5) records the Sanhedrin administering a solemn oath to the Kohen Gadol, who enters the Kodesh HaKodashim alone, ensuring he would perform the Ketoret ceremony in proper Orthodox fashion.
The Brazen Tzeduki
The Gemara (Yoma 19b) presents a poignant episode about an ambitious and ardent Tzeduki who gravely overstepped his bounds:
The Sages taught in the Tosefta: There was an incident involving a certain Sadducee who was appointed as High Priest, who prepared the incense outside and then brought it into the Holy of Holies. Upon his emergence he was overjoyed that he had succeeded. The father of that Sadducee met him and said to him: My son, although we are Sadducees and you performed the service in accordance with our opinion, we fear the Pharisees and do not actually implement that procedure in practice. The son said to his father: All my days I have been troubled over this verse: “For I will appear in the cloud above the Ark cover” (Leviticus 16:2). The Sadducees interpreted this verse to mean that God will appear above the Ark cover, i.e., will enter the Holy of Holies, only after the incense cloud is already there. I said: When will the opportunity become available to me, and I will fulfill it according to the Sadducee interpretation? Now that the opportunity has become available to me, will I not fulfill it?
The Sages said: Not even a few days passed until he died and was laid out in the garbage dump, and worms were coming out of his nose in punishment for his actions. And some say that he was struck as soon as he emerged from the Holy of Holies, as Rabbi Ḥiyya taught: A type of sound was heard in the Temple courtyard, as an angel came and struck him in the face. And his fellow priests came in to remove him from there and they found the likeness of a footprint of a calf between his shoulders. That is the mark left by an angel striking, as it is stated with regard to angels: “And their feet were straight feet, and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot” (Ezekiel 1:7).
While there are rich discussions and manifold lessons we may derive from this episode, for now we will focus on three major lessons.
Misplaced Passion
The passionate Tzeduki words match the passionate words Rabi Akiva uttered during his horrifying execution by the evil Romans for his teaching Torah publicly in defiance of a Roman government decree. The Gemara (Brachot 61b) recounts: “When they took Rabbi Akiva out to be executed, it was time for the recitation of Shema. And they were raking his flesh with iron combs, and he was reciting Shema, thereby accepting upon himself the yoke of Heaven. His students said to him: Our teacher, even now, as you suffer, you recite Shema? He said to them: All my days I have been troubled by the verse: With all your soul, meaning: Even if God takes your soul. I said to myself: When will the opportunity be afforded me to fulfill this verse? Now that it has been afforded me, shall I not fulfill it? He prolonged his uttering of the word: One, until his soul left his body as he uttered his final word: One. A voice descended from heaven and said: Happy are you, Rabbi Akiva, that your soul left your body as you uttered: One.
While Rabi Akiva lives on a great honor and esteem in Jewish memory, the fervent Sadducee is a remembered as a fool. The legacy of Rabi Akiva continues to survive, burn bright, and thrive.
By contrast, there is no continuity for the Sadducee worldview. Rabi Akiva’s dedication saved our people and our spiritual way of life. The Sadducee’s death was a tragic and entirely unnecessary waste of a life.
Human beings thrive on passion in all areas of life, especially in regards to our relationship to the Creator and Lord. It is the oxygen upon which life depends. Religious passion, though, can be channeled in a very wrong direction. Molech, the Avoda Zara involved the burning of children, is a classic example. Death resulting from praying in a Beit Kenesset in defiance of public health regulations during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, is a contemporary case.
The brazen Tzeduki shared the identical religious passion as Rabi Akiva. What a tragedy that he expressed in a completely misguided manner!
A sobering lesson emerges that our religious passion must be reined in and disciplined by our tradition and leading Rabbanim. Otherwise, we follow the misguided Sadduccee’s (paraphrasing Yirmiyahu 2:13) abandoning Mekor Mayim Chaim (the source of living water) for “Borot Nishbarim Asher Lo Yachilu Mayim” (broken cisterns that cannot retain its water).
We are Tzedukim
Responsibility for the tragic end of the brazen Tzeduki lies to a great extent with his father. Notice the words of father to son “We are Tzedukim”. The father’s critical error is defining himself as a Tzeduki. It is one thing for a Jew to imperfectly adhere to every word of the Torah. It is quite worse to label oneself as a member of a deviant group. When one defines himself as a member of a deviant group, he can justify all sorts of deviant practices based on his affiliation.
Defining oneself as a secular Jew, a Reform Jew, or a Conservative paves a most unfortunate road to Jewish spiritual oblivion. It is painful to hear Jewish people say “I am a Conservative Jew and I drive to synagogue on Shabbat” or “I am Reform and do not observe Kashrut”.
By contrast very few Sephardic Jews define themselves as secular, Reform, or Conservative even if they are less than stellar in their religious observance. When a less than fully observant Sephardic Jew attends a synagogue or celebrates a lifecycle event such as marriage, it will typically be at an Orthodox congregation. The result is a dramatically lower rate of assimilation among non-observant Sephardic Jews than non-observant Ashkenazic Jews. Paraphrasing Bava Batra 73b, the boat of Torah remains nearby such Jews that saves them from drowning in the sea of assimilation.
In our story the father set his son up for failure by creating a family culture of belonging to a Jewish deviationist group. The son therefore is raised with intensity and fervor for the Tzeduki worldview.
We Fear the Perushim
The father made the fatal error of neglecting to teach his son that Tzedukim recognize that the inauthenticity of their practices and beliefs. Alternatively, the father communicated the point, but the son raised in an environment defining itself as Tzeduki was unable to internalize the message.
While the skeptic may regard this Talmudic story as self-serving to the Perushi worldview, I and many others testify that have experienced such attitude first hand.
A relative who was raised in an Orthodox environment and received an Orthodox education but left tradition and is a member of a Reform congregation, confided to me that he knows that non-Orthodox Judaism, in his words, “play Judaism”. However, his children who did not benefit from an Orthodox upbringing do not grasp what their father is able to intuit.
Conclusion
Jews affiliating with deviationist groups that brandish alternative beliefs and practices are paving a path to spiritual extinction. While a small percentage may feel passionately attached to their wayward ideology, theirs is a broken cistern that is incapable of containing water, as evidenced by the Jewish experience of the past hundred years.
What a happy phenomenon to hear of droves of less than fully observant Jews leaving non-Orthodox congregations in favor of Chabad synagogues. The many Jews making this switch are tuning into the Mekor Mayim Chayim, from which they at least have a chance at a much brighter Jewish and legacy.