The Erub and the Sephiroth--two Interesting Jewish Terms

There is no clearer indication of how words open fresh new worlds for most of us than by studying these two words from different realms in the life of medieval and modern Judaism. While the former finds its home in the intricate world of mystical Judaism (medieval Kabbalah), the latter is common in discussions of the Jewish law of Sabbath. Both of these, law and mysticism, rationality and ineffability, are part of the varied face of one of the world's oldest religions. In addition, the words are apt to be in spelling bees in the future; they sometimes appear in lists of unusual or difficult words, and thus deserve some of our attention.

Judaism, Law and Eruv

The principal document summarizing the foundational understanding of post-biblical Judaism is the Mishnah. Completed about 200 CE, the Mishnah consists of 6 Orders and 63 tractates. Each of these Orders deals with a specific area of religious or secular life, and the second of them, Seder Moed ("festivals") consists of 12 tractates. Each tractate is made up of several paragraphs, each laying out a specific theme and often reflecting different rabbinic approaches to a question. For example the first tractate of Moed is "Shabbath," or a description and discussion of 39 forbidden labors of the Sabbath. The second, our interest, is Eruvim (a plural noun; singular is Eruv), which consist of rabbinical decrees regarding the Sabbath, especially focusing on the extension of sabbath boundaries.

Now we are getting somewhere. This blog, of Rabbi Adam Chalom of Chicago, exposits for us, among other things, Tractate Eruvim. It is basically a discussion of how to allow for carrying some kinds of things on the Sabbath. Chapters 1 and 11 of Talmud tractate Shabbat prohibited the "transferring" or "carrying" most things between domains. But, since the realities of modern life require us to carry things, the rabbis developed the concept of the eruv as a way of extending the reach of a domain. As the OED tells us, the root meaning of the term is "mixture," because the concept implies the mixing of public and private spaces. An eruv is defined as "any of the various symbolic arrangements which extend the private domain of Jewish households into public areas, thereby permitting activities in them normally forbidden in public on the Sabbath." As the 1903 Jewish Encyclopedia says, it was introduced "to modify the inconvenient consequences of the Law...[The eruv] converted an open space into an enclosed one.." Thus, by making your 'private' space larger, an observant Jew could, as it were, extend the scope of permissible activity into a much larger area.

Here is a map of an Eruv--the Yale University Eruv. The one humorous feature of the page is the diamond-yellow "Eruv Advisory" signs. I admit, this was the first time I have seen such a sign. When I was in KS, I saw "Mennonite advisory" signs (diamond-yellow horse and buggy signs); in Oregon we occasionally see "Duck advisory signs." So, there are, on web sites, "Eruv Advisory signs." The map of the Yale eruv is at the bottom of the page, with instructions on how properly to cross from one eruv to another (the New Haven to the Yale). Be sure, for example, to stay on the south side of Goffe.

Well, this is a highly technical area in Jewish law, dealing with the nature of alleys and enclosed spaces, of what constitutes a boundary between spaces, of how widely such a space can be extended. It draws upon one characteristic that Jews have historically prided themselves in: their legal reasoning ability. For those who study Talmud, there is often no question that cannot be raised when a particular topic is under consideration; intelligence is prized, attempts to find contradictions or better arguments are honored. As one Jewish psychologist said to me, "We Jews are 'hard-wired' to respect intelligence." The rules of the eruv illustrate that.

The Ten Sephiroth

If eruv implicates Judaism in its "law-loving" activity, sephiroth, the plural of sephirah ("numbering" or "enumeration") takes us to the mysterious world of medieval Kabbalah. The Kabbalah is a system of belief beginning with the notion that God is unknowable, ineffable and unreachable through study or rational activity. This God, called the "En Soph" or "Infinite," has, however, manifested itself thrugh a series of emanations enabling a relationship between the creature and the Infinite. These ten emanations, flowing from God, begin with the highest and most rarified, the "Crown" (keter) and end with the lowest and most "earthly," the"Kingdom" (malkuth).

The Sephiroth are organized into three different columns which comprise the tree of life. The central column, known metaphorically as the "Pillar of Mildness" consists of Keter, Tipheret (Balance), Yesod (Foundation) and Malkuth. The right column, the "Pillar of Mercy," consists of Hokmah (Wisdom), Hesed (Mercy), and Netzach (Victory). The left column, the "Pillar of Severity," consists of Binah (Judgment), Gevurah (Strength), and Hod (Steadfastness). As you are beginning to see, this world is quite a complex one, too, but it holds the promise not simply of giving one correct "legal" advice on how to walk on a Sabbath or what you might be able to carry with you as you walk, but how you can be in intimate connection with the ineffable source of the Universe.

Different religious expressions are no doubt developed to appeal to different temperaments and approaches to truth. Some of us are more logocentric; others more intuitive. Whereas the talmudic tradition would say that it does not deny the heart, and the Kabbalistic tradition claims that it doesn't ignore the rational capabilities, each one of them picks up on a different but crucial part of human striving for truth and faithfulness to spiritual vision.

Conclusion

The endearing vitality of the Jewish tradition rests on so many things, from characteristic gestures to jokes, from a certain sense of humor to an appreciation of learning and creative expression of all kinds. But at the heart of that tradition are the study of law and the experience of the divine. Both of them claim to have originated not only in the mind of Moses, or even of the Patriarchs, but in the mind of God him/her/itself. These two words open up those worlds if only in a very slight way.

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