Parshas HaChodesh 5631 Second Ma'amar

The Purpose of Exile

The Sfas Emes’s Approach to Life’s Challenges

Chazal[1] relate a story about the Tanna, Rebbi Elazar ben Arach.  After the destruction of the second Beis HaMikdash, Rebbi Elazar ben Arach went to a certain city expecting his students to follow him. They didn’t. Alone in a city known for its decadence, he forgot his Torah learning. When he had the opportunity to read from a Torah, instead of reading, “הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם/This month is for you,” (Shmos 12:2) he read, “הַחֵרֵשׁ הָיָה לִבָּם/Their hearts were deaf”, a seemingly innocuous mistake.  The Chiddushei HaRim[2], however, understands that this was not an innocuous mistake.  The mistake was actually a hint to Rebbi Elazar to leave the city.

The Chiddushei HaRim understands this from a Midrash[3] which implies that the leaders of Israel have the power to lead the people and steer them onto the right path.  If instead they allow themselves to be led by the people, they fall.  Rebbi Elazar understood the words that he mistakenly said as applying to the inhabitants of the city of his exile.  He understood that he would not be able to improve them, would be drawn after their evil ways and should therefore leave.  

The Sfas Emes gives another interpretation to this story.  The new moon/month symbolizes renewal.  The Hebrew words for “month” and “new” are the same, חֹדֶשׁ and חָדָשׁ, respectively.  In order to experience the light of renewal, “הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם/This month is for you,” the Sfas Emes explains, we first must experience the darkness of deafness, represented by, “הַחֵרֵשׁ הָיָה לִבָּם/Their hearts were deaf”.

We could only experience God’s revelation at the redemption from Egypt after having first experienced the darkness of His concealment in the exile.  In fact, we define exile and redemption as God’s concealment and revelation respectively.  The redemption is simply a removal of the screen that hides God.  We merited this renewal of our relationship with God by first living through and bearing His concealment.

This idea underlies the need for the four kingdoms[4] – Babylon, Medes, Greece and Rome – before the final redemption.  Each of the four kingdoms is a rectification for an aspect or aspects of God’s concealment.  A complete rectification will manifest at the ultimate redemption as, “מַלְכוּתְךָ מַלְכוּת כָּל־עֹלָמִים .../Your kingdom is a kingdom spanning all worlds …” (Tehillim 145:14), the culmination of the historical process.

Rebbi Elazar ben Arach went to the city knowing that the inhabitants were on a low spiritual level.  He wanted to experience an atmosphere of God’s concealment so that subsequently he could find a renewed revelation.

The Zohar[5] as well teaches us that purity implies a preceding period of impurity.  Attaining purity from a state of impurity means that the mask hiding God is removed.  This idea is related in Chazal’s understanding of the following pasuk, “מִי־יִתֵּן טָהוֹר מִטָּמֵא לֹא אֶחָד/Who can produce purity from impurity?  No one!” (Iyov 14:4)  The Midrash[6] translates this pasuk as, “Who produces purity from impurity?  Is it not the One?”  Impurity does not have an autonomous existence.  Impurity is a screen that hides purity.  God produces purity from impurity by removing the screen that hides Himself.

We can only experience God's revelation by subordinating ourselves to Him.  This is also symbolized by the ashes of the red heifer.  The ashes represent our own subordination.  We only attain purity when we are sprinkled with the ashes of the red heifer.  When we subordinate ourselves and our own desires to God, we “connect” to Him and attain a state of purity.

When purity is reached we are open to a renewed relationship with God.  This is the meaning of the pasuk, “לֵב טָהוֹר בְּרָא־לִי אֱ־לֹהִים וְרוַּח נָכוֹן חַדֵּשׁ בְּקִרְבִּי/Create a pure heart for me, Lord, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Tehillim 51:12)  First David HaMelech asks God for purity - revelation.  This naturally leads to a desire for renewal.

This is why Parshas Para representing attainment of purity from an impure state precedes Parshas HaChodesh which represents spiritual renewal.  May we merit it!

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[1]Shabbos 147b

[2]Sefer HaZchus Shlach s.f. Slach lecha

[3]Shmos R. 27:9

[4] For a detailed discussion of the four kingdoms as described in the Book of Daniel, see Maharal’s Ner Mitzvah.

[5]Zohar 2:69b

[6]Bamidbar R. 19:1

Tazria and Parshas HaChodesh 5646 First Ma'amar

The first Midrash[1] of this week’s parshah explains the pasuk in Tehillim (139:5), “אָחוֹר וָקֶדֶם צַרְתָּנִי .../From behind and from in front you have bound me…”  Chazal explain that this pasuk alludes to this world and the next.  “אָחוֹר וָקֶדֶם/behind and in front” can also be translated as “last and first.”  “אָחוֹר/Last” refers to this world which was created last and “קֶדֶם/first” refers to the next world which was created first.  If a person merits it, he inherits two worlds, this world and the next. 

The word, צַרְתָּנִי/you have bound me, can also be translated, “you have formed me.”  Chazal therefore relate this pasuk to the creation of man, “וַיִּיצֶר ... אֶת־הָֽאָדָם .../He … formed the man …” (Breishis 2:7)  וַיִּיצֶר/He formed, is written with two yods, an uncommon spelling, to teach us that man comprises two components, physical and spiritual.  The Zohar teaches us that man is a microcosm of the entire physical and spiritual worlds.[2]  While he has a physical body, through his soul, he is connected to the upper spiritual realms.  The Zohar and the Tanchuma[3] teach that a person’s soul includes the forms of these realms.

There is an aspect of the nation of Israel which is spiritual, corresponding to God’s thought, as it were, and there is an aspect that is physical, corresponding to the physical Creation.  Chazal hint at this when they teach us that God created the world for Israel who are called רֵאשִׁית/first.[4]  God’s thought comes before the physical Creation.

We find this split between thought and action in the relationship between the days of the week and Shabbos.  The pasuk  in Tehillim (92:6) states, “מַה־גָּֽדְלוּ מַֽעֲשֶׂיךָ ה' .../How great are Your works, God …” suggesting the days of the week during which God created the world.  The pasuk continues, “... מְאֹד עָֽמְקוּ מַחְשְׁבֹתֶֽיךָ/… Your thoughts are very deep,”  referring to Shabbos.  Because Shabbos is the day on which God ceased to create, it is associated with God’s thought rather than with activity.  It was given to the nation of Israel which existed in God’s thought before the physical Creation.  Shabbos, then, is the sign that the children of Israel have a special spiritual status, “בֵּינִי וּבֵין בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אוֹת הִוא .../It is a sign between me and the children of Israel …” (Shmos 31:17)  All the creations of the world have a place in the physical Creation.  However, only the nation of Israel attaches to Shabbos, representing God’s thought.

We find another instance of this concept in a Midrash[5] on the pasuk in Tehillim (40:6), “רַבּוֹת עָשִׂיתָ אַתָּה ה' אֱ-לֹהַי נִפְלְאֹתֶיךָ וּמַחְשְׁבֹתֶיךָ אֵלֵינוּ .../You have done much, God, my Lord; Your wonders and thoughts are for us …”  The first part of the pasuk, describing God’s doing, relates to the physical world.  The second part makes it clear that God’s wonders and thoughts – the spiritual – are for us, His nation, as the pasuk states, “... נֶגֶד כָּֽל־עַמְּךָ אֶֽעֱשֶׂה נִפְלָאֹת .../… In front of all your people I will perform wonders …” (Shmos 34:10)

The nation of Israel merited this special relationship with God at the time of the Exodus when God changed nature on our behalf.  Although the Exodus itself was initiated by God, He told us at that time, that we would need to work to merit this special relationship.  This is alluded to in the first words describing the first mitzvah that God gave us as a nation, “הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם רֹאשׁ חֳדָשִׁים .../This month is for you the beginning of the months …” (Shmos 12:2)  The word חוֹדֶשׁ/month connotes חָדָשׁ/new.  With this first mitzvah, God hinted that He gave us the ability to draw novelty into the world. 

Novelty is beyond nature because the natural world is a closed system.  Nothing new can happen in it.  Novelty can only come from without, from the spiritual.  God is telling us that in order for us to be connected to the spiritual, we must draw it down.  How do we draw novelty into the world?  How can we not be bound by the physical world?  The answer, the Sfas Emes explains, is by realizing that the physical world is dynamic, not set.  By internalizing the concept that the physical world is changeable, the gates of miracles, wonders and novelty open.

This is why on Shabbos when, to an extent, we disregard the physical world by not performing creative work, the spiritual gates open.  We find this in a pasuk from this week’s haftara.  Yechezkeil describing the gates of the Beis HaMikdash tells us that the gate of the inner courtyard will be closed during the six days of the week and open on Shabbos.[6]  These physical gates suggest spiritual gates.

A person who takes these words to heart, though, realizes that the physical world is a barrier which separates him from God’s light.  The Sfas Emes says that this is not a reason to become melancholy.  It is all for good.  God sent us into this world, exile and darkness specifically to find His enlightenment which is hidden within it.  David HaMelech said, “וָֽאֹמַר אַךְ־חֹשֶׁךְ יְשׁוּפֵנִי וְלַיְלָה אוֹר בַּֽעֲדֵֽנִי/I said, ‘Surely darkness will shadow me, then the night would become as light for me.” (Tehilim 139:11)  Chazal[7] translate the pasuk as, “I said, ‘Surely darkness will shadow me in the next world.  In the end even this world which is likened to night has become light for me.”  David HaMelech was concerned that he would not merit God’s light in the next world.  In the end, he merited it even in this world.  We need to remember that the physical component of man and the physical Creation are also from God.  Fortunately, God enlightens us in this world as well through the Torah and the mitzvos.  

Both the darkness and the light are true and needed.  Realizing that we are in darkness, that this world is a barrier that hides God’s light is the first step towards revealing that light.  We find a hint to this idea in a story involving the Tanna Rebbi Elazar ben Aruch.[8]  When all his students went to Yavneh after the destruction of the second Beis HaMikdash, Rebbi Elazar ben Aruch went to a different city expecting his students to follow him.  They didn’t.  Alone in a city known for its decadence, he forgot his Torah learning.  When he had the opportunity to read from a sefer Torah, instead of reading, “הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם/This month is for you,”  He transposed letters and read, “הַחֵרֵשׁ הָיָה לִבָּם/Their hearts were deaf.”  Although at first glance this appears to be an innocuous mistake, the Sfas Emes explains that it actually bears out our concept.  In Egypt we first needed to experience the darkness before we could merit the renewal of God’s light.  The prophet Yeshayah, as well, prophesied this idea, “הַחֵרְשִׁים שְׁמָעוּ/Listen deaf ones.” (Yeshayah 42:18)  They needed to experience the deafness before they could merit listening.

In exile the nation of Israel pines to hear the word of God but it is hidden from us.  We need to not give up hope but rather to understand that it is hidden within the very darkness that we experience.  In fact, since revealing God’s light is the primary reason that we exist in this world, we are guaranteed success through hard work.  Yeshayah said this clearly, “מִי ... חֵרֵשׁ כְּמַלְאָכִי אֶשְׁלָח/Who … is deaf like My messenger who I send.” (Yeshayah 45:15)  The messenger – us – needs to experience the deafness in order to merit being the messenger whom God sends.  May we merit it!

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[1] VaYikra R. 14:1

[2] Zohar 1:170b, 3:48a

[3] Tanchuma Tazria 1

[4] VaYikra R. 36:4

[5] Pesikta Rabasi 15

[6] Yechezkeil 46:1

[7] Pesachim 2b

[8] Shabbos 147b

Parshas HaChodesh 5632 Second Ma'amar

This week we read Parshas HaChodesh which begins, "החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים .../This month shall be for you the beginning of the months …" (Shmos 12:2)  The words for month and for renewal – חודש and התחדשות respectively – have the same root.  The new month represents renewal.  The moon waxes, wanes, disappears then reappears at the beginning of each new month.  This is part of the natural order.  However, the idea of renewal seems to contradict the principle that, "... אין כל חדש תחת השמש/… there is nothing new under the sun." 

We can answer this apparent contradiction from an interesting story regarding the Tanna Rebbi Elazar ben Aruch.[1]  The Gemara relates that when all his students went to Yavneh after the destruction of the second Beis HaMikdash, Rebbi Elazar ben Aruch went to a different city.  He expected his students to follow him but they didn’t.  Alone in a city known for its decadence, he forgot his Torah learning.  When he had the opportunity to read from a sefer Torah, instead of reading, “הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם/This month is for you,” he transposed letters and read, “הַחֵרֵשׁ הָיָה לִבָּם/Their hearts were deaf.”  Although at first glance this appears to be an innocuous mistake, the Sfas Emes explains that Rebbi Elazar actually intended to teach us something about the meaning of renewal in this world.

Rebbi Elazar ben Aruch had the same question we have.  How can we reconcile the concept of renewal – התחדשות – as represented by the new moon, with the principle of, "אין כל חדש תחת השמש/There is nothing new under the sun …"?  Rebbi Elazar's answer was that we have a misconception about renewal.  Renewal does not mean that something new, something that was not here before, is introduced.  Everything is always here.  We fail to see it because our hearts are stopped up.  The reason everything is always here is because the source of everything is a spark of Godliness that gives existence to all.  God is here and therefore everything is here.  The spark of Godliness is within us but because we are numbed by the exile we do not recognize it.  This is what Rebbi Elazar meant when he transposed the letters in the pasuk and read, "... החרש היה לבם/ … their hearts were deaf." 

Renewal – התחדשות – means that our inner spirituality that was concealed from us becomes revealed.  This is what happened at the redemption from Egypt and this is the meaning of, "החודש הזה לכם/This month is for you" which we can now understand as, "Renewal is yours."

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[1] Shabbos 147b