Chagiga 14: Sod; Four Went to the Orchard

We are deep into aggada, the stories that our rabbis use to explain concepts that might be more difficult to grasp than simple, logical halachot.  These include the Creation of the universe, the Divine Chariot, the nature of good and evil; G-d's will and human will, and the discussion of these topics.

There is too much written today to summarize in the time that I have given myself.  A broad-stroke outline would include:

• good and bad people distributed throughout the generations
• the reward for keeping our mitzvot is that G-d will share the secrets that we cannot fathom, sod, with us when we enter the World-to-Come
• conflicting verses regarding the image of G-d as both old and youthful; the two thrones in heaven
• the eighteen curses: those things listed today that will be taken away from Jerusalem
• dealing with a reversal of power
• Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai kissing Rabbi Elazar ben Arach: the latter found a way to express his thoughts about the Design of the Divine Chariot which caused the sky to open with fire and the trees to speak poetry
• Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yehoshua speaking of the Design of the Divine Chariot followed by rainbows and other beauty in the sky
• Those Sages who expounded to each other about the Divine Chariot
• Four who entered the 'orchard', pardes; three of whom were changed by what they saw while Akiva survived due to his deep knowledge of Torah.  
• Elisha Acher who ate too much of his desired knowledge, or honey, and became sick - a heretic

The daf ends with a discussion of the status of a pregnant woman who is a virgin - is she allowed to the High Priest?  And whether or not a dog, a non-kosher animal, can be castrated.  We learn about the dog in today's daf: animals are G-d's creatures and they should be allowed to procreate.  I wonder if this was written in times like these, where we attempt to protect animal rights by doing the exact opposite?

Today's daf has probably been the inspiration for the continued practice of Jewish ritual over millenia.  We are told about the rewards of living with the unknown.  We are given supernatural stories that promise us wonders beyond our dreams - all we have to do is observe the mitzvot.  How desperate we are, all of us, to understand the deeper, unanswerable questions.   How eager we are to accept simple explanations.