“וַיִּכְתֹּב מֹשֶׁה אֶת-מוֹצָאֵיהֶם לְמַסְעֵיהֶם .../Moshe wrote their departures for their travels …” This pasuk is somewhat awkward. The pasuk could have stated simply that Moshe recorded their travels or that he recorded their encampments. Why their departure points for their travels?
The Sfas Emes explains that there are places that have no intrinsic importance. Rather, they are important specifically because we distanced ourselves from them. The Torah refers to the encampments as journeys in order to accentuate this idea. The reason these encampments are listed is because we left them. As with the encampments so too, in life, there are many things whose primary raison d’être is to provide us the opportunity to improve ourselves by distancing from them.
We see that our intent and the way we relate to things affects the importance of those things. The Sfas Emes, expounding on this concept, explains that it is our intent directly affects the existence of things. When we create wealth, for instance, for the sake of heaven, that wealth has intrinsic spiritual value and thus it will endure. By the same token we give importance to negative aspects of this world by avoiding them thus recognizing their role in helping us to improve ourselves.
We find the idea clearly in a Midrash from parshas Matos. The Midrash says that when a person grabs wealth for himself by not recognizing God’s hand in it, he tends to lose it. The children of Reuven and Gad were wealthy. However, their love for their wealth caused them to separate from their brothers and remain outside of the land of Israel. As a result the tribes of Reuven and Gad were the first to be exiled. Had the children of Reuven and Gad recognized the hand of God in their wealth, they would have entered the land with the other tribes. Recognizing their abundance as a gift from God would have imbued lasting duration in their affluence.
Relating to this same idea another Midrash in parshas Matos states that the love the children of Reuven and Gad had for their assets caused them to give their assets greater importance than they gave themselves. We see that they told Moshe Rabbeinu that they would build enclosures for their flocks and only afterward would they build cities for their children. They were more concerned for their wealth than for their children. Paradoxically, by treating their flocks with secondary importance they would have ensured a perpetuation of their wealth. Treating them with primary importance caused their loss.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Matos 5631 Second Ma'amar
“וּמִקְנֶה רַב הָיָה לִבְנֵי רְאוּבֵן וְלִבְנֵי-גָד .../The children of Reuven and the children of Gad had much livestock …” The Midrash on this pasuk says that when a gift such as wisdom, power or wealth, comes from God on the merit of a person’s Torah, it will last. However, if a person grabs wisdom, power or wealth it will not last. They did not come from God. Because of love for their wealth, the tribes of Reuven and Gad refused to enter the land of Israel. Significantly, they were the first of the tribes to be exiled.
The Midrash thus differentiates between a gift that comes from God and a gift that one grabs for himself – a gift that does not come from God. Does not everything come from God, though? Is it possible to grab a gift that God does not what me to have? What does the Midrash mean when it refers to a gift that does not come from God?
Of course everything comes from God. However, God’s power is sometimes revealed and sometimes hidden. Whether it is revealed or hidden depends upon a person’s thoughts. The one who realizes that everything he owns comes from God, will experience the Godly power inherent in everything he owns. He will not lose his possessions. The one who thinks that God has little to do with what he owns, rather he believes that they are his due to his own strength or wisdom will not experience the Godly power inherent in them. Left to the vagaries of chance, so to speak, he may very well lose everything.
The Midrash thus differentiates between a gift that comes from God and a gift that one grabs for himself – a gift that does not come from God. Does not everything come from God, though? Is it possible to grab a gift that God does not what me to have? What does the Midrash mean when it refers to a gift that does not come from God?
Of course everything comes from God. However, God’s power is sometimes revealed and sometimes hidden. Whether it is revealed or hidden depends upon a person’s thoughts. The one who realizes that everything he owns comes from God, will experience the Godly power inherent in everything he owns. He will not lose his possessions. The one who thinks that God has little to do with what he owns, rather he believes that they are his due to his own strength or wisdom will not experience the Godly power inherent in them. Left to the vagaries of chance, so to speak, he may very well lose everything.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Friday, July 06, 2007
Pinchas 5631 Second Ma'amar
“... אֶת-קָרְבָּנִי לַחְמִי ... תִּשְׁמְרוּ לְהַקְרִיב לִי .../… Take care to offer me my offering of my food …” What is the significance of sacrifice?
Everything in the physical Creation has a spiritual source. The ultimate source, of course, is God Himself. This spiritual source is the channel through which God bestows blessing on the physical creation. The structure of the Creation, physical and spiritual, though, is such that there are blockages which prevent this.
How can these blockages be overcome? One of the ways is through sacrifice[1]. The Hebrew word for sacrifice is korban. The root of this word means to draw near. The korban is a means of drawing everything to its source. By offering a sacrifice to God we clarify that He is the ultimate Source. The realization and belief removes the blockages, elevates and draws us close to Him.
For this reason Chazal established our daily prayers based on the times of the daily sacrifices. They wanted to teach us that just as the sacrifices draw the physical close to its spiritual source, so too, prayer draws us closer to God. By asking God for everything, big or small, we recognize that He is the Source of everything. The very act of prayer with this intent removes the blockages that separate the physical from its spiritual source.
On Shabbos there is an additional prayer corresponding to the additional korban that is brought. The significance of the additional korban is tied to the relationship between Shabbos and the preceding weekdays. When we work to serve God during the week, we experience the results on Shabbos. The reward for our labors during the week is a spiritual experience of closeness to God on Shabbos. It is easy and natural to think that we deserve this experience, that it is payment for our weekday work. This is a mistaken line of thought, though. God owes us nothing. Just as the weekday korban and, by extension, the weekday prayers teach us that everything comes from God and we make that clear by asking Him for everything, large or small, the additional korban, and by extension, the additional prayer teach us that even that which we merit through our hard work in serving God, we receive only because this is His desire.
[1] “Sacrifice,” the English translation for the Hebrew korban misses the underlying meaning of the concept. Sacrifice implies that in order to receive, something must be given up. While this may be the case, it is also possible to sacrifice without receiving anything. Korban, though, teaches us what actually happens every time a korban is brought.
Everything in the physical Creation has a spiritual source. The ultimate source, of course, is God Himself. This spiritual source is the channel through which God bestows blessing on the physical creation. The structure of the Creation, physical and spiritual, though, is such that there are blockages which prevent this.
How can these blockages be overcome? One of the ways is through sacrifice[1]. The Hebrew word for sacrifice is korban. The root of this word means to draw near. The korban is a means of drawing everything to its source. By offering a sacrifice to God we clarify that He is the ultimate Source. The realization and belief removes the blockages, elevates and draws us close to Him.
For this reason Chazal established our daily prayers based on the times of the daily sacrifices. They wanted to teach us that just as the sacrifices draw the physical close to its spiritual source, so too, prayer draws us closer to God. By asking God for everything, big or small, we recognize that He is the Source of everything. The very act of prayer with this intent removes the blockages that separate the physical from its spiritual source.
On Shabbos there is an additional prayer corresponding to the additional korban that is brought. The significance of the additional korban is tied to the relationship between Shabbos and the preceding weekdays. When we work to serve God during the week, we experience the results on Shabbos. The reward for our labors during the week is a spiritual experience of closeness to God on Shabbos. It is easy and natural to think that we deserve this experience, that it is payment for our weekday work. This is a mistaken line of thought, though. God owes us nothing. Just as the weekday korban and, by extension, the weekday prayers teach us that everything comes from God and we make that clear by asking Him for everything, large or small, the additional korban, and by extension, the additional prayer teach us that even that which we merit through our hard work in serving God, we receive only because this is His desire.
[1] “Sacrifice,” the English translation for the Hebrew korban misses the underlying meaning of the concept. Sacrifice implies that in order to receive, something must be given up. While this may be the case, it is also possible to sacrifice without receiving anything. Korban, though, teaches us what actually happens every time a korban is brought.
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