Mishpatim 5631 Second Ma'amar

At the time of the revelation on Mount Sinai, God instructs Moshe Rabbeinu regarding the nation’s upcoming journey to the land of Israel, “הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ מַלְאָךְ לְפָנֶיךָ לִשְׁמָרְךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ ... אַל-תַּמֵּר בּוֹ ... כִּי שְׁמִי בְּקִרְבּוֹ ... וַעֲבַדְתֶּם אֶת ה' אֱ-לֹהֵיכֶם וּבֵרַךְ אֶת-לַחְמְךָ ... וַהֲסִרֹתִי מַחֲלָה מִקִּרְבֶּךָ/Behold I am sending an angel before you to safeguard you on the way … Do not defy him … for My name is within him … You shall serve God your Lord and He will bless your bread … I will remove illness from your midst.” (Shmos 23:20)

The Sfas Emes understands this paragraph as a metaphor explaining the difference between serving God during the days of the week and on Shabbos.  The Torah requires us to work during the week, “שֵׁשֶת יָמִים תַּעֲבֹד .../You shall work for six days …” (Shmos 20:8)  During the week the Torah tells us, essentially, to immerse ourselves in the matters of this world.  Should we not live a life of holiness?  How can we immerse ourselves in the physical world and still live a holy life?  

The Sfas Emes explains that holiness is latent in our weekday activities.  We have the ability to transform our mundane activities into spiritual acts – into mitzvos – drawing out the hidden holiness.  How?  God gives life and existence to everything.  Creation was not a one time event.  Existence itself is a continuing act of creation.  We and every other part of the Creation continue to exist so that we may do God’s will.  Furthermore, since God enables every action we take, it follows that every action that we do is inherently part of His will.  If we recognize it as such we turn the action into a mitzvah.

The pesukim mentioned above suggest this.  The angel that God sent is the holy life force within every part of the Creation.  We can recognize it by recognizing that we are doing God’s will with every action that we do even if that action seems to us to be mundane.  Regarding this the pasuk says, “... אַל-תַּמֵּר בּוֹ ... כִּי שְׁמִי בְּקִרְבּוֹ/… Do not defy him … for My name is within him.” (Shmos 23:21)  When we go to work, for example, without recognizing the angel within our work, without recognizing the potential holiness inherent in our work, we are defying the angel.  Significantly, the Hebrew word for work – מְלָאכָה has the same root as the Hebrew for angel – מַלְאָךְ.  The מְלָאכָה/work enclothes the מַלְאָךְ/angel.

During the week this applies to our weekday work.  On Shabbos, though, there is no מְלָאכָה/work.  We are prescribed from doing any work.  This is because on Shabbos we can serve God without the outer shell of work.  Chazal[1] teach us that Shabbos is like the next world.  Just like there is no work in the next world, so too, there is no work on Shabbos.  This is alluded to in the pasuk, “וַעֲבַדְתֶּם אֶת ה' .../You shall serve God …” (Shmos 23:25)  It implies that there are ways of serving God directly.  We can experience God directly on Shabbos by being sensitive to the holiness of Shabbos.  

The pasuk continues that God will remove illness from our midst.  The automatic result of serving God on Shabbos is that He will remove all illness from our midst.  According to the Sfas Emes, eating and the removal of illness is symbolic of all our activities and needs.  This is why, on Shabbos we do not request things for ourselves in our prayers.  There is no need to.  Why does the pasuk speak specifically about eating?  The reason is that there is a particular physical connection between eating and illness.  The Zohar says that all of the body’s illnesses have dietary causes.[2]

How does serving God on Shabbos result in His taking care of all our needs?  The Sfas Emes explains.  Directly following the requirement to serve God the pasuk states that God will bless our bread.  The Hebrew word for bless – בַּרֵךְ has the same root as the Hebrew for a type of grafting – הַבְרָכָה.  Grafting means that a branch from one tree attaches to and gains nourishment from a different tree.  The pasuk is teaching us to “graft” our mundane activities, such as eating, to God by using them to serve Him.  We then gain nourishment from Him and He removes illness from our midst and takes care of our needs.

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[1]Brachos 57b

[2]Zohar 3:240a, 1:166b

Mishpatim 5634 First Ma'amar

"ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם/And these are the laws that you shall place before them." (Shmos 21:1)  Why does God instruct Moshe to place the laws before them?  In fact, the entire pasuk seems extraneous.  Why does the Torah not state simply, as it does elsewhere, "God spoke to Moshe.  Tell the children of Israel …"

The  Chiddushei HaRim said in the name of the Rav from Parshischa z"l, that the Torah is teaching us that we must put the laws of the Torah before our very lives.  We committed to this when we said, "... כל אשר דבר ה' נעשה ונשמע/… everything that God said, we will do and accept (lit. hear)" (Shmos 24:7)  We committed to doing everything God had commanded even though we did not necessarily understand it all.  It was more important to us to perform God's will than to understand the reasons underlying His will.  Because of this approach, we merited understanding as well. 

This is why the Ten Commandments – simply commands – were given first followed by the laws representing understanding.  This concept is clear in the pasuk, "מגיד דבריו ליעקב חוקיו ומשפטיו לישראל/He tells His words to Ya'akov, His statutes and laws to Yisrael." (Tehillim 147:19)  His words represent His will without understanding the reasons.  Only afterwards, does He relate the reasons represented by His laws.   This is true for every mitzvah.  By cultivating a strong desire to accomplish God's will by performing His mitzvos we will, in the end, merit understanding as well.    

This idea is the answer to a question on a Rashi in the beginning of our parsha.  Rashi explains the words, "אשר תשים לפניהם/that you shall place before them, answering the question that we asked earlier.  He says, "God told Moshe, 'Don't think to teach them the laws a few times and be done with it.  You must teach them the reasons as well.'  This is why the pasuk says, 'that you shall place before them'; place the mitzvos before them like a set table that is ready for eating at."

The Sfas Emes asks, does anyone think that Moshe Rabbeinu would not teach the nation the reasons for the mitzvos?  Why does God have to make a point of instructing Moshe that he must teach them the reasons?  The answer is our concept.  Our intent when we perform mitzvos needs to be achieving the will of God, without necessarily understanding their reasons.  God, however, said that the nation merited understanding because we said, נעשה ונשמע/we will do and we will listen, thus committing to the mitzvos even before understanding them.  So he instructed Moshe to explain the reasons to us.

This idea refers to those mitzvos which confound us.  What of mitzvos which seem logical?  Most of our parsha is filled with civil laws.  Any ordered society would abide by them.  The Sfas Emes teaches that we must perform these mitzvos, too, only because God commanded us and not because of their logic.  Why?  Logic itself, the Sfas Emes teaches us, is a creation and cannot therefore be taken for granted.

He learns this from the first Rashi in our parsha.  Our parsha starts with the letter vav/and, connecting it to the previous parsha and the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.  Rashi, quoting Chazal, infers from this connecting vav that the logical laws in our parsha were also given on Mount Sinai.  Why do Chazal need a pasuk to teach us that the laws in our parsha were given at Mount Sinai?  The entire Torah was given at Mount Sinai. 

The answer is that Chazal are in fact, not teaching us that these laws were also given at Mount Sinai.  That is obvious.  When Chazal say that these mitzvos were also given at Mount Sinai they are teaching us that the logic of these mitzvos comes from God.  Logic itself is a creation.  We find this concept in the following pasuk, "... אתה כוננת מישרים משפט וצדקה ביעקב אתה עשית/… You founded fairness; You have made the justice and righteousness of Ya'akov." (Tehillim 99:4)  Even our concept of fairness was created by God. 

Once we understand and accept that logic itself was created, it is clear that we need to perform even the logical mitzvos because God commanded us.  May we merit yearning to achieve God's will. Amen!

Mishpatim 5632 Third Ma'amar

"ואנשי קודש תהיון לי ובשר בשדה טרפה לא תאכלו .../You shall be a holy people for me; do not eat flesh of an animal mauled to death in the field …" (Shmos 20:23)  The pasuk teaches that we become holy people when we follow the dietary laws.

According to the holy Rav Menachem Mendel of Kotzk z"l, this pasuk is teaching us something fundamental about being holy.  From this pasuk we learn that God gave us the ability to be holy and made retaining holiness dependent upon our actions.

The Sfas Emes elaborates.  God does not lack holy beings.  The spiritual realms are full of angels, seraphs and holy spiritual creatures.  Still, God specifically wants our holiness.  But we are physical beings living in a physical world.  How is it possible to be holy while living in the physical world?  The answer is that it would not be possible if God had not imbued us and the world around us with holiness, with spirituality, albeit in measured doses.  Everything in the world contains holiness commensurate with its task.  Our job is to align our physical selves and actions with the holiness that is within us.  We must make sure that our actions are appropriate for our holiness.

We can infer this from an interpretation that Chazal[1] give the second half of this pasuk.  Removing a sacrifice from the Beis HaMikdash invalidates it.  Chazal learn this halacha from our pasuk.  They interpret the pasuk, "Meat (a sacrifice) that is in the field (outside of its boundaries since a field is unbounded) is like an animal that has been mauled to death, do not eat it."  Being outside the Beis HaMikdash is inappropriate for the holiness inherent in the sacrifice.  The Sfas Emes understands this as a principle that applies to life in general.

We can also understand the beginning of the pasuk as promise.  God is telling us that ultimately He will become revealed and we will be dedicated to Him.  The word for holy in Hebrew also connotes dedicated.  Therefore we must watch ourselves now so that we will be prepared when that time comes.

A Midrash teaches the same idea through an allegory.  The Midrash relates of a man who is decorating a crown with gems and pearls.  A passerby encourages him since the crown will ultimately adorn the head of the king.  We too, will ultimately be totally dedicated to God so it is imperative that we prepare ourselves now.

According to this understanding, "ואנשי קודש תהיון לי .../And you will be a holy people to me …" fits well with a deeper understanding of קודש/holy as explained by the Rishonim.  ["ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש .../And you will be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy people." (Shmos 19:6)  According to the Ramban and Rabbeinu Bechaye[2], "גוי קדוש/a holy people, is better translated as "a people of the Holy One."  Here to, "אנשי קודש/holy people" could be translated as "people of the Holy One."[3]] 

God's promise to us is that we will ultimately be connected to Him in a way that we cannot even fathom now.  It is our responsibility to prepare ourselves now for that day, acting in ways that are in alignment with the holiness that is within us. 

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[1] Zevachim 82b

[2] On Shmos 19:6

[3] The Sfas Emes does not clarify to which Rishonim and which sod he is referring.  I believe he is referring to this idea mentioned by the Ramban and Rabbeinu Bechaye and possibly others as well.

Mishpatim 5631 First Ma'amar - Practical Application

This essay is based on Mishpatim 5631 First Ma’amar.  Clicking on the previous words will bring you to the ma’amar on the blog. (Opens in new window.)

Many people find reviewing what they’ve already learned tedious.  It seems that it’s easier and more exciting to learn something new than review what we’ve already learned.  However, the Sfas Emes teaches that the words of the Torah have layers of meaning. 

The Sfas Emes teaches that with the proper approach, we can gain new insights and even new knowledge each time we learn the same thing.  This applies even to seemingly “non-spiritual” laws and sugyos.  For this reason Chazal tell us specifically that the משפטים/civil laws were also given at Sinai in order to stress that even these seemingly rational laws have deep spiritual meaning.  Even sugyos that deal with civil law that are reviewed in a certain way take on new and deeper meanings that  what was originally understood. 

When we understand and internalize this, review takes on a completely different meaning and becomes a completely different process.  Usually, review is quick and for the purpose of remembering the material better.  Review of Torah is completely different.  Of course, reviewing Torah also helps to remember.  The primary purpose of review, though, becomes to gain new insight.

In addition to understanding that God wants to uncover the hidden meaning s of the Torah, there are techniques for helping us review properly.  I learned one such technique from the sefer Kerem Yehoshua written by Harav Yehoshua Cohen.  It’s a short but powerful sefer that I strongly recommend.  It may not be available in stores, however, anyone who wants to get a copy, please send me a note and I’ll get it for you from the author.

In short, the technique for reviewing properly is straightforward:

1. The first time you learn a sugya, learn several lines of the Gemara well enough to repeat the dialog without having to look at the Gemara.  (Do not attempt to memorize the words of the Gemara.  The key here is understanding the dialog well enough to repeat it, not memorization of words which is something else entirely.)
2. Learn the next several lines in the same way.  Learn until the end of the sugya in the same way however do not go beyond one daf.
3. Repeat the entire sugya without looking into the Gemara.  If you get stuck, look in to remind yourself and then continue.  Do it until you can repeat the entire sugya without looking into the Gemara. If you find that a daf is too long, stop at an amud.
4. Now repeat the entire process.  Learn from the beginning of the sugya slowly the same way you learned it the first time through.  Learn it as if you were looking at the sugya for the first time.
5. Repeat the process again.  Learn from the beginning of the sugya without hurrying.

As you go through this process, particularly when you are saying the dialog without looking into the Gemara, pay attention to debates and places where more than one answer is brought for the same question.  Try to understand each side of the debate, why they hold the way they do.  When more than one answer is brought to answer the same question, try to understand if there are halachic ramifications for the different answers. 

If done properly, your understanding of the sugya will be radically different after the third time than it was after the first.  Even though you haven’t looked at any commentaries besides Rashi.

You may say that of course, after reviewing the sugya well a few times, you will have a better understanding.  It’s not just a better understanding.  It’s a deeper understanding.  You will find that you are asking questions on the sugya that may be found in the meforshim or even novel questions.

Learning an entire Masechta this way gives a completely different understanding of the Masechta.  People who learn this way, start asking many questions from different sugyos, questions that are often found in Tosefos.

This is truly an amazing way to learn.  It seems to me that it is possible only because of the idea that the Torah itself has layers of meaning, a concept that is not found elsewhere, certainly not to the extent that it is found in Torah.

I remember a course I took in English literature.  The professor was interested in the deeper meanings, the symbolism that the authors intended.  Lehavdil, the Torah has many many layers of meaning. 

Here we see this applied even to the relatively straightforward process of understanding a sugya.  We have not touched upon the spiritual underpinnings of the sugyos.

Rav Nosson, a talmid muvhak of Rebbe Nachman of Breslev, wrote a sefer called Likutei Halachos.  The sefer follows the Shulchan Aruch and shows the deeper non-pshat meanings of the Halachos.  It’s fascinating and possible only because of the concept expounded upon in this ma’amar of the Sfas Emes that the Torah contains layers of meaning and that even the “non-spiritual” Halachos have deep spiritual meaning.  

Hatzlacha and please try the technique above and drop a line to let me know how it went.

Mishpatim 5631 Second Ma'amar

At the time of the revelation on Mount Sinai, God instructs Moshe Rabeinu regarding the nation’s upcoming journey to the land of Israel, “הנה אנֹכי שֹׁלח מלאך לפניך לשמרך בדרך ... אל תמר בו ... כי שמי בקרבו ... ועבדתם את ה' אלקיך וברך את לחמך ... והסרֹתי מחלה מקרבך/Behold I am sending an angel before you to safeguard you on the way … do not defy him … for My name is within him … You shall serve God your Lord and He will bless your bread … I will remove illness from your midst.”

The Sfas Emes understands this paragraph as a metaphor explaining the difference between serving God during the days of the week and on Shabbos. First, a description of the metaphor, followed by how the Sfas Emes sees it in the p’sukim.

The Torah requires us to work during the week, “שֵׁשֶת יָמִים תַּעֲבֹד .../You shall work for six days …” During the week the Torah tells us, essentially, to immerse ourselves in the matters of this world. Should we not live a life of holiness? The Sfas Emes explains that holiness is hidden in our weekday activities. We are able to draw out the holiness and transform our activities into mitzvos. How so? God gives life and existence to everything continuously. Existence is a continuing act of creation. We and every other part of the Creation continue to exist is so that we may do God’s will. Since God enables every action we take, it follows that every action can be a tool to do His will. Every action is a potential mitzvah.

The p’sukim mentioned above suggest this. The angel that God sent is the holy life force within every part of the Creation. We are required to recognize it by striving to do God’s will with everything and every action. Regarding this the pasuk says, “אל תמר בו ... כי שמי בקרבו/Do not defy him … for My name is within him.” When we go to work without recognizing the angel within our work, without recognizing the potential holiness inherent in our work, we are defying the angel. Significantly, the Hebrew word for work – מלאכה has the same root as the Hebrew for angel – מלאך. The מלאכה/work enclothes the מלאך/angel.

During the week this applies to our weekday work. On Shabbos, though, there is no מלאכה/work. On Shabbos we can serve God without the outer shell of work. Shabbos, Chazal tell us, is like the next world. Just like there is no work in the next world, so too, there is no work on Shabbos. This is alluded to by the pasuk, “ועבדתם את ה'/You shall serve God.” It implies that there are ways of serving God directly.

The pasuk continues that God will remove illness from our midst. The automatic result of serving God on Shabbos is that He will remove all illness from our midst. According to the Sfas Emes, eating and the removal of illness is symbolic of all our activities and needs. This is why, on Shabbos we do not request things for ourselves in our prayers. There is no need to. Why does the pasuk speak specifically about eating, then? The reason is that there is a particular physical connection between eating and illness. The Zohar says that all of the body’s illnesses have dietary causes.

How does serving God on Shabbos result in His taking care of all our needs? The Sfas Emes explains. Directly following the requirement to serve God the pasuk states that God will bless our bread. The Hebrew word for bless – ברך has the same root as the Hebrew for a type of grafting – הַבְרָכָה. Grafting means that a branch from one tree attaches to and gains nourishment from a different tree. The pasuk is teaching us to “graft” our mundane activities, such as eating, to God by using them to serve Him. We then gain nourishment from Him and He removes illness from our midst and takes care of our needs.

Mishpatim 5631 First Ma'amar

“ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם/And these are the laws that you will place before them.” The Torah contains many laws. Some are decrees having no apparent reason while others are rational laws found in most cultures. The commandment to eat only the flesh of animals that have split hooves and chew their cuds, for example, is a decree having no apparent reason. The commandments not to steal and murder on the other hand, seem very logical, indeed. In this first pasuk of the parsha, God commanded Moshe Rabeinu to place the rational laws before them. The word “משפטים/laws” refers to rational laws.

The Midrash says that this parsha directly follows the story of the revelation of God on Mount Sinai and the giving of the ten commandments to teach us that these rational laws were given on Mount Sinai, too. Our parsha begins with the word “And” indicating that this parsha is a continuation of and connected to the previous one. But why must the Torah make a point of teaching us that these laws were given at Mount Sinai? All the laws were given there! Furthermore, Rashi quotes Chazal who tell us that God instructed Moshe Rabeinu to explain to the nation the reasons behind these laws. This is why the pasuk states, “... אשר תשים לפניהם/… that you will place before them.” Moshe Rabeinu was required to serve them the laws like food on a set table. Everything was to be understood and clear. Why was he instructed to explain specifically these laws? What about all the other laws in the Torah?

The Chiddushei HaRim explains that there is a tendency to attribute these rational laws to man’s logic. After all, these laws are good for society. Chazal tell us that these laws as well were given on Mount Sinai to teach us that the only reason the laws are logical to us is because God created logic as well. We usually do not think of logic as a creation. But, the Chiddushei HaRim says that this is exactly the point. The rational laws of the Torah only appear logical to us because that is the will of God. This is why Chazal make a point of telling us that these rational laws were given at Sinai, too. They are teaching us that the laws are only rational because that’s the will of God.

The Sfas Emes explains this further. Not only do we understand these laws as being rational because that is the way God created us. Even the rational laws have deep underlying spiritual meaning. We are able to connect and understand these deeper meanings only because Moshe Rabeinu placed these laws before us. Regarding this the Zohar explains the pasuk, “ברכו ה' מלאכיו גברי כח עשי דברו לשמע בקול דברו/Bless God, His angels, those mighty in strength, performers of His word, to hearken to the sound of His word.” This pasuk tells us that the angels were “עשי דברו/performers of His word.” When the nation of Israel said “נעשה ונשמע/We will do and we will listen,” we became “עשי דברו/performers of His word.” How so? The word “עשי דברו/performers of His word.” in this pasuk can also be translated as “makers of His word.” How do we make God’s word? The Zohar is teaching us that when we said that we will first do and then listen, God gave us the power to make His words come alive in this world. According to a person’s desire to understand the letters themselves will become alive to him and he will be able to constantly hear new and novel things from the very same words. This is the deeper meaning of “... אשר תשים לפניהם/… that you will place before them.” The Torah stresses that Moshe Rabeinu placed particularly these rational laws before us to teach us that even the rational laws to which this pasuk refers have very deep spiritual meanings. Moshe Rabeinu placed these laws before the nation so that they would be able, through their quest, to reach an understanding of the very deepest meanings of the laws.

The Holy Rav of Parshischa takes this concept a step further. He says that God was telling Moshe that they should place His laws before themselves and before their own lives. The Rav of Parshischa explains that the nation of Israel did this when we said that we would keep God’s decrees even before knowing what they were. Essentially, we trusted God completely and delivered ourselves into His hands.

Because of this mesirus nefesh, God granted us the ability to understand all the inner meanings of the Torah. In essence He gave us the power to make the Torah come alive by drawing out the inner meanings of the words of God. This is what Chazal meant when they explained the pasuk, “... אשרי תשים לפניהם/… that you will place before them.” God instructed Moshe Rabeinu to place the laws before them like a set table with food ready to be eaten. The laws can be understood on different levels. God commanded Moshe to set the laws before them so that they could merit the deepest understanding.

Moshe Rabeinu gave us all the inner meanings of the words of the Torah. However, it was given to us in a format which requires work on our part to unveil them. When a Jew works hard to understand God’s laws, he opens himself up to constant new understandings in the words of the Torah. A person can merit understanding new and different concepts each time he learns the same words of Torah. We can merit understanding the deeper will of God through the letters of the Torah.

This happens when we trust God completely and accept the words of the Torah even before understanding or knowing what they are. Then, the wellsprings of Torah open up for us. Certainly God does not limit these wellsprings to these specific laws. Rather, a Jew through learning the Torah can reach a deep understanding of all of God’s laws. The inner will of God will be revealed to him through the Torah. We can prepare, before beginning to learn, by taking a few moments to contemplate this. According to the intensity of our desire, we will find the truth in everything and we will not err, chas vesholom.