Tomer Devorah

I recently read the book Tomer Devorah, by R Moshe Cordovero, a great sixteenth-century Kabbalist and Musar writer. I was interested in reading it for several reasons:

1. It is one of the great Mussar texts - in fact, the first chapter (about one-third of the book) is the primary text for the second year of the Center for Contemporary Mussar (CCM) program I'm taking (still in the first year). CCM uses a translation and commentary by R Ira Stone and Beulah Trey, which I have but have not yet read but will read next.

2. R Moshe Cordovero (Ramak) is one of the great kabbalists and, indeed, this work uses the sefirot as a framework for the book (especially in the latter 9 chapters).

3. In college, my Israeli Hebrew professor insisted we use our Hebrew names in class. As the only non-Jewish kid in the class, I of course did not have one, but he gave me the name "Tomer", probably because of the similarity in sound to "Tim", and it has come to have resonance as a name for me. "Tomer" means "palm-tree" and Tomer Devorah refers to the palm tree of Deborah under which this biblical judge sat to rule over Israel (Judges 4:5). ( I don't know why this is the title - there is no mention of this verse or image in the work. I have a couple of non-mutually-exclusive theories - first, some rabbinic works will take a biblical phrase as a title that references the author's name [e.g., Pachad Yitzchok refers to writings by Yitzchok Hutner, Yitzchok Friedman, and Yitzchok Lampronti while Chaim of Volozhin authored Nefesh Chaim]l. The names of the mother and wife of Moshe Cordovero are unknown, and my theory is that perhaps one of them is named Devorah and the work is dedicated to her. Second, he also wrote Pardes Rimmonim, "Orchard of Pomegranites", a synthesis of kabbalistic thought to date, and I wonder if the two books named after trees are a reference to the Etz Chaim, the Tree of Life?)

4. The physical book is incredibly beautiful - fairly small, but with faux leather that is embossed with a beautiful design (including a medallion with a palm tree on the back) and beautiful endpapers.

Intriguingly, in addition to the version by Stone & Trey, I am aware of at least two other commentaries on the first chapter alone, and having read the whole work, I now understand why.

The first chapter uses the Thirteen Supernal Attributes of Mercy found in Micah 7:18-20 (which differ from the standard Thirteen Attribute of Mercy in Exodus 34:6-7 used in the High Holy Day liturgy with a very moving melody) to construct a beautiful theology of God based on mercy and profound love of creation that forms the basis of an ethic requiring people to imitate those attributes by virtue of being created in the image and likeness of God. I was very moved - and challenged - by the description of the thirteen attributes and the ethical imperative contained in them, and I want to explore them further and look forward to learning them through CCM next year. I plan to read the Stone-Trey book next to re-read it with their commentary.

The remaining nine chapters are interesting but do not live up to the promise of the first chapter. They display a worldview that most modern readers outside very traditional communities will find oppressive - in particular, a patriarchal view of women and a decidedly hetereonormative view of marriage, the relationship between spouses, and singleness. In addition, the advice about how to attain humility veers into self-abusing techniques that are best left in the past (even though the virtue of humility is to be prized and some of what is presented in terms of how to relate to others is much more useful).

That being said, there are insights that can be translated into a contemporary context, particularly in regard to charity/tzedakah, and I do want to read it again and think about it more. There are a couple of things that stood out to me in particular. First, a story of Rabbi Yehudah from Bava Metzia is related that he failed to show mercy to a calf who took refuge under his cloak to avoid slaughter, for which he was punished, but then did show compassion on a weasel and was rewarded - perhaps this spoke to me because weasels made several appearances in recent dappim in the daf yomi cycle! Cordovero connects this to the sefirah of chochmah and says that he was delivered from gevurah by the act of compassion. (Interestingly, the term for weasels in Bava Metzia is "b'nei karkushta" - but Tomer Devorah, in alluding to the passage in Bava Metzia, uses "hulda" as is used in Pesachim.) There is also an interesting connection made between tzedakah, including the mitzvot of maaser ani (tithe of the poor) and peah (leaving the corners of a field unharvested for the poor to glean) with chesed, tiferet, yesod, and malchut - and also mentioning the idea in the Zohar that tzedakah refers, by gematria, to daily saying Amen 90 times, reciting Kedushah 4 times, reciting 100 blessings (the only one of these I had heard about), and learning from the 5 books of the Torah.

So, to sum up, I loved the first chapter and heartily recommend it, while the rest of it might or might not be of interest to others and should be read with a dash of critical salt.