Mas'ei 5634 First Ma'amar

The Midrash[1] on this week’s parsha states a Halacha regarding cities of refuge.  Beis Din is required to post signs so that people who have killed know how to reach the cities.  The Midrash cites a pasuk regarding this, “טוב וישר ה׳ על כן יורה חטאים בדרך/Good and upright is God; He therefore guides sinners on the way.” (Tehillim 25:8) 

The Hebrew word for sinners is חוטאים.  Why does the pasuk use the word חטאים/sins instead?  In fact, Chazal note this in another pasuk in Tehillim (104:35), “יתמו חטאים מן הארץ .../Sinners will cease from the land …”  The Talmud[2] relates that Rebbi Meir lived in a rough neighborhood. Thugs bothered him and he prayed for their demise.  His wife Bruria castigated him saying that he should instead pray that they repent because the pasuk does not call for the demise of the sinners, rather for the end of sin – Sins will cease from the land.  Clearly, our pasuk as well is referring to sins and not sinners.  But what, then, is the meaning of our pasuk.  In what way does God guide sins?  Are sins entities that can be guided?

Chazal[3] teach us that when one sins, a spiritual entity is created that works to that person’s detriment.  Punishment for sin is not only because a person rebelled against God.  Punishment is a direct consequence of the sin.  The sin causes the punishment, through the spiritual entity it creates, in a very real and direct way.  Therefore, even when there is no rebellion against God such as when a person commits a sin unwittingly, that sin still needs rectification to get rid of the spiritual entity created by the sin.  This is the reason that a person who kills someone without intent is exiled.  Exile is the rectification for the sin of killing without intent.

Why is exile the rectification for killing without intent?  The Chiddushei HaRim explains.  An exile recognizes that he has no place to be.  A person who killed someone, essentially, removed him from this world.  As a result that person is punished by losing his place in this world as well.  If the person killed with intent, he is killed.  If he killed without intent, he is exiled.  Exile is also a form of removing the exile from his place.  Paradoxically, when a person realizes what he did to another person and comes to the conclusion that he, as well, has lost his privilege to a place in this world, God’s grants him a place albeit in exile.

Rav Moshe Cordeveiro in his work Tomer Devorah[4] states that nothing can exist without shefa from God.  How then does the spiritual entity that the sin created exist?  God can say to the spiritual entity to go to the one who created it and live off him.  This would cause incredible suffering for that person.  Instead, God, in his great kindness, gives shefa to the spiritual entity created by the sin allowing the sinner time to repent.  This is the meaning of our pasuk, “... יורה חטאים בדרך .../… He guides ‘sins’ on the way …”  May we merit using the space God has given us to rectify our sins and return to Him.  Amen!

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[1] Bamidbar R. 23:13

[2] Brachos 10a

[3] Avos 4:11

[4] Tomer Devorah Chapter 1, ד"ה הב' – נושא עון.  He explains that this is the meaning of נושא עון/carrying sin.  God in his mercy carries the sin so that the sinner is not destroyed by it thereby giving him a chance to repent.

Matos 5631 First Ma'amar

The beginning of parshas Matos details the laws of vows.  The first Midrash on the parsha teaches us that not just anybody is permitted to take a vow.[1]  The prerequisite traits that are needed before a person may take a vow are derived from a pasuk in Devarim (10:20), “אֶת־ה' אֱ-לֹהֶיךָ תִּירָא אֹתוֹ תַעֲבֹד וּבוֹ תִדְבָּק וּבִשְׁמוֹ תִּשָּׁבֵעַ/You shall fear God your Lord, serve Him and cling to Him, and swear by His name.”  The Midrash says that to take a vow one must be God-fearing like Avraham Avinu, Iyov and Yosef whom the Torah refers to as God-fearing.  One must serve God through Torah and mitzvos to the exclusion of all else.  Finally, one must cling to God.

Regarding the last required trait of clinging to God the Midrash asks, “How is it possible to cling to the Shechina?”  The Torah calls God a consuming fire[2].  Is it possible for a physical being to connect to a consuming fire?  The Sfas Emes elucidates the Midrash’s question.  He explains that it is based on the premise that connecting to God involves distancing oneself from the physical, since God is far removed from physicality.  The Midrash notes the difficulty with this direct approach to clinging to God.  The Midrash answers that the only way a physical being can connect to God, is indirectly, through activity in this world.  We connect to God in this world when our actions are done for His sake.  

This explains how we can experience God in this world but why must a person’s every action be done for the sake of Heaven in order to take vows?  What is the connection between dedicating our actions to God and taking vows?  Understanding the nature of vows will shed light on this question.  A vow is a verbal expression of a person’s desire to do a given action.  The Torah gives such a declaration the status of a legal commitment.  Chazal tell us that vows can be used as a tool to encourage us in the performance of mitzvos.[3] 

Avraham Avinu, Iyov and Yosef, the people the Torah explicitly refers to as God-fearing, were on a level at which awe of God permeated and motivated their every action.  Everything they did was for His sake.  Since everything they did increased God’s glory in this world, every one of their actions, even the most mundane, was transformed into a mitzvah.

The Midrash is teaching us that when all of a person’s activities are for the sake of Heaven, when one’s desires and God’s will are in complete alignment, he has transformed his actions into mitzvos.  It is appropriate for this person to declare his desire, which mirrors God’s will, in the form of a vow. 

However, for many of us, our desires are not totally aligned with God’s will.  Our actions may be motivated by other factors such as personal desires.  These actions are not mitzvos.  It is thus not appropriate to declare such desires as vows.  What can we do to align our desires with God’s?  The Sfas Emes advises us to work on performing our routine daily activities because we need to (e.g. we need to eat to live) rather than because we desire to.  This is the first step in aligning our actions with God’s will.  May we merit it.  Amen!

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[1] Bamidbar R. 22:1

[2] Devarim 4:24

[3] Nedarim 8a

Balak 5632 First Ma'amar

There is more to the world around us than what we sense with our eyes.  Everything physical has a spiritual aspect to it.  Even those things which our eyes tell us are antithetical to holiness have a spiritual aspect.  They must, otherwise they would not exist.  Those who are on a high spiritual level can sense the spirituality.  

The nation of Israel in the desert was on such a level.  Not only were the people on this level, but their high spiritual level spilled over, so to speak, on their surroundings such that the peoples they passed and with whom they came into contact experienced a Godly revelation as well.  What happens when a person who is not ready for it, experiences a spiritual truth that contradicts the evidence of his own eyes?  The Sfas Emes explains that he denies it and believes, rather, what he sees.  The wicked cannot see the truth. 

This explains the pasuk at the beginning of our parsha, “... עַם יָצָא מִמִּצְרַיִם הִנֵּה כִסָּה אֶת־עֵין הָאָרֶץ .../… a nation went out from Egypt; behold, they have covered the face of the earth …” (Bamidbar 22:5)  The literal translation is, “He has covered the eye of the land.”  “The eye of the land” is a metaphor for eyes which only see the physical.  Balak, as well, experienced the revelation which showed the spiritual to be the ultimate reality, not the material world around him.  From his perspective, though, the exact opposite happened.  The reality of his physical surroundings was covered over with a veneer of spirituality.  This is why he was angry with the nation of Israel.  They were disturbing his view of reality.