The Talmud (in the tractate Taanit, 20b) states that "One should always be soft like a reed and not hard like a cedar." Beyond the specific story the Talmud recounts, several ideas can be drawn from such a phrase.<\/p>\n
Regarding the weekly Torah portion, the Midrash provides an explanation of the first verses which, combined with the previously mentioned Talmudic phrase, will give us a concept that has practical application.<\/p>\n
The Torah states in this parashah that God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai and gave him a series of details regarding the mitzvah of Shmita (the resting of the land after six years of work). The problem is that all the mitzvot were given at Mount Sinai, so why does the Torah emphasize that God spoke to Moses there? The Midrash answers that just as the general principles and even the smallest details of the laws of Shmita were given at Mount Sinai, so too were the general principles and details of all the mitzvot given there.<\/p>\n
In other words, people tend to think that what God gave to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai was only what is written in the Torah, which in some cases is very brief and summarized, while the explanations and details of those "summarized mitzvot" were either given later or simply derived by our sages over the generations. That is why the Midrash comes along and explains that no, the entire Torah was given by God at Mount Sinai, from the general principles to the smallest details.<\/p>\n
When one analyzes the Torah, one can quickly see that its laws apply to and govern every detail of a person's life, from birth to death (and even after death!), from waking up in the morning to going to sleep, including sleep time! It is a kind of structure that gives a person the means to lead a happy life, to reveal their full potential, and to put it into practice.<\/p>\n
However, this structure is flexible. And this is where the Talmudic saying comes into play. Instead of proposing a rigid and inflexible structure, the Torah proposes, within certain limits set for the good of the person according to their Creator (that is, who better to set limits for us and teach us the path of life than our own Creator...), a flexible structure where feelings have their place, where different spiritual levels are considered, and actions are judged according to the place, time, and level at which the person finds themselves.<\/p>\n
That's why the phrase doesn't say "soft as cream" or "melted wax," etc., because in that case the structure, the identification with Jewishness, would be completely lost. And the same applies in reverse: the phrase doesn't say "hard as iron," because in that case the system wouldn't allow for exceptions.<\/p>\n
This can be seen in the incredible adaptability the Jewish people demonstrated throughout thousands of years of exile and suffering. Carrying the Torah and its mitzvot with them, the Jewish people passed through the most inhospitable places and endured the most complex situations without abandoning their identity and their connection to God through the Torah.<\/p>\n
This example should serve as proof and inspiration that life according to the limits of the Torah is not a limited life, but quite the opposite, it is a direct and paved path towards the realization of our own reason for being.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"El Talmud (en el tratado de Taanit, 20b) declara que \"Siempre uno debe ser suave como la ca\u00f1a y no duro como el cedro\". M\u00e1s all\u00e1 de la historia particular que el Talmud trae, de una frase as\u00ed pueden extraerse diferentes ideas. En relaci\u00f3n a la secci\u00f3n semanal de la Tor\u00e1, el Midrash trae una… Read More \u00bbSmooth as sugarcane<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[68,9],"tags":[950,954,962,945,1019,969,1026,942],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behar","category-editoriales","tag-di-s","tag-judio","tag-ley","tag-mitzva","tag-moshe","tag-parasha-2","tag-talmud-2","tag-tora"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/Ca\u00f1a.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/avatar1400.jpeg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"castbox":{"key":"castbox","url":"","label":"CastBox","class":"castbox","icon":"castbox.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/en\/feed\/podcast\/rabino-tuvia-serber","embedCode":"Suave como la ca\u00f1a<\/a><\/blockquote>