Re: tortured souls

[I. Oppenheim <i.oppenheim...>]

On Thu, 31 Jan 2002 SamWeiss (at) bellatlantic(dot)net wrote:

Dear Sam,

Thank you for your remarks.

I totally agree that my formulations where unclear and unsatisfactory.
All I wanted to say is that Yom Kippur commences about 40 minutes
before the chazzan starts 'Bishivah shel Ma'lah' and 'Kol Nidre.'
All the regulations of Yom Kippur come into force that early,
among which the regulations of Inuy Nefesh are most notable.

The prohibition of instrumental music indeed does not derive from
Inuy Nefesh, but rather from Zekher Lechurban: in commemoration of
and morning over the destruction of the Temple, no instrumental music is
allowed shabbatot, yamim tovim, Yom Kippur, and Bein Hametsarim.

'Mortification of the soul' was indeed the term that I was looking
for, but could not find. (My native tongue is Dutch.)

I hope we will all be in Yerushalayim before the
next Tish'ah Be'av.

A Tortured Soul,
Irwin Oppenheim.

> I believe you are confusing Yom Kippur -- a day of contrition, whose
> biblical name is Shabbat Shabbaton ("the supreme Sabbath") -- with Tisha
> B'Av which, in addition to being a day of contrition and prayer, is
> primarily a day of mourning.  Not listening to music on Tisha B'av does not
> derive from Inuy Nefesh, but is a characteristic of the entire nine-day (or
> three-week) period preceding Tisha B'av.
>
> 'Torture of the soul' is a poor translation of Inuy Nefesh.  Better would
> be 'mortification of the soul', which is defined in the dictionary I have
> at hand as "control of one's physical desires and passions by self-denial,
> fasting, etc. as a means of religious or ascetic discipline".  In Judaism,
> Inuy Nefesh has been strictly codified to mean the denial of four
> pleasurable categories: food & drink, bathing & anointing, wearing of
> leather [shoes], and sexual activity.  In the case of Yom Kippur, the
> relevant biblical command (Lev.16:31 & 23:27, et al.) is often rendered
> "You (plural) shall afflict your souls", but this antiquated phrase is
> misleading to modern English speakers.  Indeed, the recently published
> Bible of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism ("Etz Hayim")
> translates "t'anu et nafshoteychem" as "you shall practice
> self-denial".  This is not a particularly beautiful turn of phrase, but it
> does capture the basic meaning.  (I think, however, that in their
> commentary on this phrase [p.684] the editors go off the New-Age deep end
> in their attempt to miss the real point of this practice.)

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