Notes from Limmud 2009: Buddhism in Britain

( Having recently read 'Buddhism Explained' by Laurence Khantipalo-Mills, I was motivated to go back and reread these notes I took of a talk at Limmud given by a Jewish Buddhist monk. )

טבח

Here's a connection I spotted between this (and last) week's sedra and Chanukah. What was the job of Potiphar, Joseph's owner during his period as a slave? The KJV says:

Genesis 39:1	בראשית לט א
And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither.	וְיוֹסֵף הוּרַד מִצְרָיְמָה וַיִּקְנֵהוּ פּוֹטִיפַר סְרִיס פַּרְעֹה שַׂר הַטַּבָּחִים אִישׁ מִצְרִי מִיַּד הַיִּשְׁמְעֵאלִים אֲשֶׁר הוֹרִדֻהוּ שָׁמָּה׃

But that's not what שַׂר הַטַּבָּחִים means, as I learned from a comment in the Soncino commentary to Daniel 2:14. You see the same root, טבח, in מָעוֹז צוּר, in the line לְעֵת תָּכִין מַטְבֵּחַ מִצָּר הַמְנַבֵּחַ "When You will have prepared the slaughter of the baying foe." שַׂר הַטַּבָּחִים actually means Chief Executioner.

As for the line in מָעוֹז צוּר, that was written at a time (the Crusades) when Jews were massacred by Christians. Powerless in their minority position in society, the only way they could gain revenge was through pen and ink. Many Jews are uncomfortable with it nowadays. The Limmud team wrestled with what to do with it last year, when Limmud fell on Chanukah; and they wrote in their handbook:

In his siddur, Hertz adopted a version which changed the words לְעֵת תָּכִין מַטְבֵּחַ מִצָּר הַמְנַבֵּחַ—"when you prepare the massacre of the baying foe"—to לְעֵת תָּשְׁבִית מַטְבֵּחַ וְצָּר הַמְנַבֵּחַ—"when you halt the killing, and the baying [of the] foe", an amendment since incorporated into the most recent Reform siddur.

Of course, you don't have to be Reform to adopt this change—Hertz was the Chief Rabbi of the (Orthodox) United Synagogue. The words of מָעוֹז צוּר are not hallowed by tradition in the way of the prayer liturgy, and I see no reason why this change should not become more widely disseminated, for those that want.