VaYigash 5631 First Ma'amar

At the end of parshas Mikeitz, Yosef frames his younger brother Binyamin. He decides that as a punishment he will keep Binyamin as a servant and free the rest of his brothers.1 In the beginning of our parsha, Yehudah tries to convince Yosef to take him instead of Binyamin. To this end he recounts the sequence of events from the brothers’ initial encounter with Yosef to the present.2 The question that immediately presents itself is that Yehudah’s argument adds nothing that is not already known. He simply recounts the events leading up to the current situation. What is the point of this?

The Chiddushei HaRim explains that Jews are called Yehudim in Hebrew, after Yehudah. The name Yehudah comes from the root word hoda’a which means “thanks” and “admission.” Jews are called Yehudim because we thank God for everything, large and small. We know that everything comes from Him.

Yehudah understood that everything, even the most difficult situation, is from God. Yehudah knew that to be saved he would have to accept God’s providence in the entire sequence of events leading up to the present. By accepting God’s hand in the events, by acknowledging that God was “in” the events and their cause, he was removing the screen that hid God. He was saying, in essence, “I recognize that God is the cause of these events,” thus revealing God. In fact, the Sfas Emes explains in parshas Mikeitz that Yosef himself symbolized the Godliness hidden in the material world.3

The greatest good we can aspire to, is coming close to God himself, experiencing God, as it were. Therefore, revelation itself is redemption. That is why immediately following Yehudah’s argument, the Torah tells us that Yosef was no longer able to contain himself and he revealed himself to his brothers. Once the Godliness was revealed, the brothers were saved.

The Torah is teaching us an important lesson. Any time we find ourselves in a difficult situation, we have the tools with which to extricate ourselves. We need to first understand that God is hidden in even the most difficult circumstances. Even if a person thinks that his own mistakes caused his current situation – the Torah tells us that Yosef’s brothers blamed themselves for their predicament – when he recognizes that God is the life giving force behind his predicament and asks God for help, he will be answered. May we merit it!

1 Breishis 44:2-17

2 Breishis 44:18-33

3 Mikeitz 5631 Second Ma’amar

Chanuka 5631 Eighth Night

The eighth day of Chanukah is called Zos Chanukah/This is Chanukah, after the Torah reading for this day which contains the words “zos chanukas hamizbei’ach …/this is the dedication of the altar ...” (Bamidbar 7:84)  Aside from the nice play on words what is the significance of the name?

The Sfas Emes explains that Zos Chanukah indicates something very fundamental about Chanukah.  The Chanukah story begins with the persecution of the Jews by the Assyrian Greeks.  The situation was bleak indeed.  The gentile rulers were powerful.  How could we overcome them?  From the depths of this darkness came the salvation.

The word zos/this, is laden with symbolism. In the Zohar[1] we find the word zos alluding to Jerusalem and the kingdom of Heaven.  The Midrash[2] says that the word zos/this in the pasuk, “... בְּזֹאת אֲנִי בוֹטֵחַ/… in this I trust,” (Tehillim 27:1) is an allusion to God – in God I trust.  The early kabbalists[3] teach that zos alludes specifically to that point of spirituality through which God gives existence to the physical. David HaMelech as well, asked God to preserve this recognition of His presence within us, “... שָׁמְרָה־זֹּאת לְעוֹלָם לְיֵצֶר מַחְשְׁבוֹת לְבַב עַמֶּךָ .../… Preserve this forever – the product of the thoughts of Your people’s hearts …” (Divrei HaYamim 1 29:18)

Zos, then, is a reference to the Godliness hidden within us and all of Creation.  Knowing that everything, including God’s obscurity is powered by this point of God-given spirituality, essentially, knowing that God is “in” everything and that everything is therefore “good” is a tremendous tool for strengthening one’s faith particularly in times of exile.  This, in fact, is the fundamental meaning of the pasuk in Eicha (3:21), “זֹאת אָשִׁיב אֶל־לִבִּי עַל־כֵּן אוֹחִיל/This I will bear in mind; therefore I have hope.”  The prophet is teaching us that when we bear in mind zos – that the exile as well is from God and that He is present even in the darkness of it – we have good reason for hope.

This concept is the lesson of Chanukah.  The salvation came when the nation realized that God was with them in the darkness as well.  We find this idea as well in the following pesukim from Tehillim (112:7-8), “מִשְּׁמוּעָה רָעָה לֹא יִירָא נָכוֹן לִבּוֹ בָּטֻחַ בַּה': סָמוּךְ לִבּוֹ לֹא יִירָא עַד אֲשֶׁר־יִרְאֶה בְצָרָיו/He will have no fear of evil tidings; his heart is firm, confident in God. His heart is steadfast, he shall not fear, he will even [expect to] see [vengeance upon] his tormentors.” When a person trusts in God, he knows that salvation is at hand. The Chiddushei HaRim points out that, significantly, the last letters of the words, “נָכוֹן לִבּוֹ בָּטֻחַ בַּה׳ סָמוּךְ/his heart is firm, confident in God, steadfast” spell out חֲנוּכָּה/Chanukah.

The chapter in Tehillim that we say on Chanukah bears out this idea. “הָפַכְתָּ מִסְפְּדִי לְמָחוֹל לִי פִּתַּחְתָּ שַׂקִּי וַתְּאַזְּרֵנִי שִׂמְחָה/You have transformed my lament into dancing for me; You undid my sackcloth and girded me with happiness.” (Tehillim 30:12)  The word for transformed – הָפַכְתָּ – also means to overturn or to turn inside out. The difference between lament and dancing is whether God is hidden or revealed. Dancing is lament turned inside out, as it were. The important point is that God is present in both. The Midrash[4] on the curses in parshas BeChukosai makes this point when it says that the difference between the blessings and the curses is that the blessings are in the order of the Hebrew alphabet whereas the curses are backwards.

The second half of the pasuk continues this idea. It is important to understand that the sackcloth, a clear reference to exile and God’s concealment is only a cover. When the sackcloth is undone, when the concealment is removed, God is revealed in the form of salvation and closeness to Him. Then we are girded with happiness. This is the meaning of Chanukah, the days of miracles, when the nation of Israel was at a very low point and God helped us. It is encouraging to know that according to the extent of concealment so is the extent of the good since everything is from God and everything is for good. And according to our recognition of this fact and our trust in God so the underlying good will be revealed and we will merit salvation.

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[1] Zohar 1:93b-94a

[2] VaYikra R. 21:4

[3] Sha’arei Ora 1:14a-b

[4] VaYikra R. 35:1

Toldos 5639 First Ma'amar

In this week’s parsha Yitzchak Avinu blesses both his children.  At least part of those blessings is very similar.  To Ya’akov he says, “ויתן לך הא-להים מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ .../And may God give you the dew of the heavens and the fatness of the land.” (Breishis 27:28)  To Eisav he says, “... משמני הארץ יהיה מושבך ומטל השמים מעל/… you will live off the fatness of the land and from the dew of the heavens above.” (Breishis 27:39)  It seems that Yitzchak gave material blessing to both Ya’akov and Eisav.  Is there any difference between these blessings?

The answer lies in a deeper understanding of Yitchak’s blessing to Ya’akov.  Yitchak’s blessing to Ya’akov begins with the word, ויתן/and may He give.  The word is enigmatic in that it starts with a vav/and, implying that this is a continuation and not the beginning of the blessing.  Why does the blessing begin with, “and”?  Furthermore, the structure of the beginning of the blessing is uncommon.  It translates literally as, “And He will give you God …”

Chazal[1] note these difficulties.  They explain that the extra vav implies that God will give and then give again.  He will continue to give.  The uncommon wording at the beginning of the blessing teaches us that God would give Ya’akov of His Godliness.

Putting the two together, the Sfas Emes teaches us that Yitzchak’s main blessing to Ya’akov was not material plenty.  Rather, the main blessing was that God would give him the plenty.  God imbues us with Godliness through the material blessing that he bestows upon us.  We connect with God by receiving His bounty.  Yitzchak says that God will give and give again implying that there will always be the opportunity to connect to God by acknowledging that He is the root of the plenty that we have.

For Eisav, on the other hand, Yitzchak says that he will have what he needs, however he gets it[2].  Of course everything always comes from God.  However, for Eisav, the main thing is the material plenty whereas for Ya’akov the main thing is that it is a gift from God, a way to connect with God.

Since the physical plenty that Ya’akov receives is an indication of a connection to God, Yitzchak continues, “... הוה גביר לאחיך .../… you will be a master over your brothers …”  Since Ya’akov is connected to the root of the blessing, the plenty that reaches the entire world comes through him.  In fact, the word, הוה/you will be, connotes a command.  Yitzchak is telling Ya’akov that he must accept upon himself to draw the plenty into the world for the benefit of the nations when the nations are subservient to him.

Yitzchak’s blessing is meant of course for the nation of Israel, Ya’akov’s progeny.  We need to realize that the blessing of material plenty that we have is not primarily the plenty itself but rather that God gave it to us so that we can connect with Him and attain Godliness.  May we merit it.  Amen!

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[1] Breishis R. 66:3

[2] See also Ramban on 27:28 from והנכון בעיני.  Ramban also notes that Yitzchak says ויתן only to Ya’akov.  See his conclusions based on this.

Lech Lecha 5632 First Ma'amar

“... לֶךְ-לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ אֶל-הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ/Leave your country, your birth place and your father’s house for the land that I will show you.” (Breishis 12:1)  Why did God not reveal the land to Avraham Avinu immediately?  The reason, according to the Midrash[1], was to make the task more precious to him and to give him a reward for each step that he took to get there.

Coming to the land of Israel represents a quest to understand and achieve God’s will.  We can merit understanding God’s will by subordinating our own to His.  We show God that we want to subordinate our own will to His by being willing to sacrifice all to see His will.  This is the lesson we learn from Avraham Avinu.  He had such a burning desire to know God’s will that he was ready to leave everything he knew behind to pursue it.  When he did this, God’s will was revealed to him.

We learn an important principal from Avraham Avinu.  Many times God’s will is beyond our ken.  We do not understand what God wants from us.  We do not understand why things happen to us.  We find it difficult to leave behind that which we understand, know and are comfortable with for uncharted territory.  However, if we express our desire to understand by always being open to hear and accept God’s will even at the expense of suppressing our own, even if it is beyond our current understanding and knowledge, it will be revealed to us.  This is clear from a pasuk in Tehillim (45:11), “שִׁמְעִי בַת וּרְאִי וְהַטִּי אָזְנֵך וְשִׁכְחִי עַמֵּךְ וּבֵית אָבִיךְ/Listen daughter and see and incline your ear and forget your nation and your father’s house.”  An attitude of openness and acceptance, a mode of listening, seeing and hearing even at the expense of current understanding and knowledge, is needed.    This open attitude of acceptance of that which is beyond our grasp is the prerequisite for understanding God’s will.

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[1] Breishis R. 39:9

No'ach 5633 Second Ma'amar

At the end of this week's parsha the Torah relates the story of the tower of Bavel.  The generation that built the tower sinned and was punished by being scattered across the face of the earth.  It's not clear from the pesukim, though, exactly what their transgression was.

The Sfas Emes explains that the sin of the dor hapalaga/generation that was split, as Chazal call it, is closely connected with the very purpose of our existence.  We can learn about that purpose from the special Mussaf tefilla of Rosh Chodesh that falls on Shabbos as it does this week.  The middle bracha of the special Mussaf begins, "אתה יצרת עולמך מקדם/You have formed Your world in ancient times." The word מקדם comes from the root קודם/before.  So, this tefilla can also be translated as, "You have formed Your world beforehand."  God formed the world before what?  The Sfas Emes explains that the physical world that we live in has a spiritual counterpart that was formed first.  The tefilla is actually referring to the spiritual world that God formed before the physical one in which we live.

The Sfas Emes teaches that the physical world is like a garment and an allusion to the spiritual world much like clothes say something about the person who is wearing them.  On the first Shabbos, when the Creation was completed, the physical world became a vehicle for the revelation of God's will.  At the very least, the harmony of the physical world is a lasting testimony to the Creator. 

In fact, every Shabbos has this quality.  It is easier to connect with and experience the physical world's underlying spirituality on Shabbos.  We learn this from a pasuk in Yechezkel (46:1) referring to the third Beis HaMikdash, “... שַׁעַר הֶחָצֵר הַפְּנִימִית הַפֹּנֶה קָדִים יִהְיֶה סָגוּר שֵׁשֶׁת יְמֵי הַמַּעֲשֶׂה וּבְיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת יִפָּתֵחַ וּבְיוֹם הַחֹדֶשׁ יִפָּתֵחַ׃/The inner courtyard gate that faces east will be closed during the six workdays but on Shabbos it will be opened and on Rosh Chodesh it will be opened.”  The gates of the temple opening and closing connote spiritual gates opening and closing.  On Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh there is a spiritual revelation that we don’t find naturally during the week.

קדים/east also has the same root as קודם/before and therefore alludes to the spiritual that underlies the physical world.  Our job is to acknowledge the spiritual underpinnings of the physical world and to internalize the understanding that the spiritual is the main thing.

How can we do this?  The Sfas Emes's advice is to identify strongly with the nation of Israel.  The Sfas Emes learns this from a Zohar that sheds light on the story of the tower of Bavel.  The Zohar infers from pesukim in the story that the generation that built the tower was rebelling against God.  The Sfas Emes understands this to mean that they only wanted to recognize and associate with the physical world.  They wanted to exclude the spiritual from their lives.  The Torah says, "בנסעם מקדם/as they travelled from the east."  As we've said, "מקדם/from the east" can also mean "from the spiritual that was created beforehand."  The Zohar tells us it means that they were trying to flee from God who existed before the Creation.  Either way, it's clear that they wanted nothing to do with the spiritual.

The Torah relates that they would have succeeded if God had not intervened.  Amazingly, they would have succeeded even though their goal was at odds with the purpose of the Creation.  Why is this?  Why would they have succeeded?  They would have succeeded because they were united in a singular purpose.  They spoke the same language – the holy language – and all struggled toward the same goal.  The Zohar concludes that the nation of Israel when united in serving God can certainly succeed and will receive God's help as well. 

God split the generation that tried to build the tower of Bavel.  However, to us He gave the Torah so that we would remain together with the singular purpose of internalizing the spirituality that underlies the physical world.  This is the meaning of the pasuk, "זכור ימות עולם ... בהפרידו בני אדם יצב גבולות עמים למספר בני ישראל כי חלק ה' עמו .../Remember the days of old ... when He separated the children of Adam.  He fixed the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the children of Israel.  For God's portion is His people …" (Devarim 32:7-9)  This pasuk is referring to the generation that was split – the dor hapalagah.  God's portion is His people so He gave us the Torah and one language – the holy language – as vehicles for unification.