July 23rd, 2015
After those days … no longer shall a man instruct a fellow … for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest
Jeremiah 31:32-33
It is told of the mashpia (Chassidic teacher and mentor) Rabbi Dovid Horodoker that he wept when Czar Nicholas II was overthrown in the Russian Revolution of 1917. “Why do you shed tears over the fall of a tyrant?” he was asked. “I weep,” replied the chassid, “because a metaphor in Chassidut (Chassidic teaching) is gone.”
The metaphor, or mashal, is an elementary tool of Chassidic teaching. To truly understand something, we must experience it, or something like it, ourselves. This is especially true when one seeks to understand spiritual realities: to make palpable the ethereal to the human mind, one must first find the corresponding model in human experience. Chassidic teaching thus makes extensive use of the metaphor in its endeavor to explain the nature of G-d’s relationship with our reality and the essence and purpose of creation.
One of the most important metaphors employed by Chassidic teaching is the metaphor of “kingship.” Our relationship with G-d is described by the Torah as that of a child to his father, a beloved to her lover, a disciple to his master, a flock to its shepherd, among others. While these metaphors each express another facet of the bond between man and G-d, there is a dimension to the relationship that can only be expressed by the model of a subject’s relationship to his king.[8]
So when the Czar was overthrown, a teacher of Chassidism wept. How would a kingless generation understand the utter surrender of self that the king-subject relationship epitomized? How would they comprehend the awe accorded one whose rule is absolute and incontestable? What model would they have for one who transcends the personal to embody the soul of a nation? Never mind that most kings of history were unworthy metaphors of the divine sovereignty; central to our relationship with G-d is something that only one who has been subject to a king can truly appreciate.
Potential and Hazard
Monarchical rule certainly made submission to authority a tangible reality in the lives of its subjects. But it also suppressed another component of our relationship with G-d: the quest for freedom.
Inherent in the human spirit is the drive to defy rules and rulers, to rebel against the constraints imposed on it by authority figures, society, and the limits of its own nature. This drive is not an aberration, nor does it run contrary to the human soul’s intrinsic loyalty to its Creator and Source; on the contrary, it is part and parcel of the soul’s formation in “the image of G-d.” As G-d is utterly free of all limitation and definition, so, too, does the soul possess the desire—and potential—for an utterly free and unconstrained existence. Indeed, it is only as a free being that man has realized his highest potentials in the sciences, the arts, and the quest to know and serve his G-d.
But precisely because of the greatness of this potential, precisely because it is an expression of the very quintessence of the soul’s oneness with the divine, the drive for freedom is susceptible to the most devastating of corruptions. Set free from the bonds of authority, the worst in man is often the first to assert itself. All too often, freedom translates into selfishness, anarchy and violence; into the exploitation of the few and the weak by the many and the strong; into the abandonment of giving and altruistic relationships (marriage, family, community) for an egomaniacal lust for power, wealth and corporeal pleasure. Instead of freeing himself, the human being enslaves himself to the most base and animalistic elements of his nature.
Which is the greater evil—the constraints of dictatorial authority or the dangers of freedom? Are the rewards of freedom worth its risks? Indeed, is man capable of realizing the potentials of freedom without falling prey to its pitfalls?
Napoleon and the Czar
In the first two decades of the 19th century, this issue was embodied by two massive armies slaughtering each other on the battlefields of Europe. On one side stood Napoleon, heir of the French Revolution, espousing the ideals of “liberty, equality and fraternity” and promising emancipation to the oppressed peoples of the continent. Against him stood the monarchs of Europe, claiming a divine right to rule, casting themselves as defenders of the family, institutionalized religion, law and order—indeed, of civilization itself—and warning of the havoc the apostasy of freedom had wreaked in France.[9]
The leaders of European Jewry were likewise divided. There were rabbis and Chassidic masters who eagerly awaited liberation by Napoleon’s armies. No longer would the Jewish people be locked into ghettos and deprived of their means of earning a livelihood; no longer would the state be allied with a religion hostile to the Jewish faith. Liberated from the persecution and poverty that had characterized Jewish life on European soil for a dozen centuries, the Jewish people would be free to deepen and intensify their bond with G-d in ways previously unimaginable. Indeed, there were those who believed that a French victory would ready the world for the coming of Moshiach and the final redemption.[10]
But there were other voices in the Jewish community as well. Voices that prophesied the exchange of material poverty for spiritual woe. Yes, the ghetto walls would fall; yes, the financial centers, professional alliances and universities of Europe would open their doors to the Jew. But at what price! The demise of the shtetl would mean the destruction of the spiritual center of Jewish life, the breakdown of the Jewish family and community, and the compromising of the Jew’s commitment to Torah. Yes, Napoleon would free the Jewish body, but he would all but destroy the Jewish soul.
A major force in the Jewish opposition to Napoleon was Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of Chabad Chassidism. Rabbi Schneur Zalman did more than warn against the dangers of emancipation; he battled Napoleon on all fronts, interceding on high to effect his downfall[11] and aiding Russia’s earthly effort to defeat him. There was even a Chassidic spy, Rabbi Moshe Meisels of Vilna, who, at Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s behest, worked as an interpreter for the French High Command and relayed their battle plans to the Czar’s generals. Rabbi Schneur Zalman died while fleeing Napoleon’s advance on Moscow in the winter of 1812. His role in the defeat of Napoleon was recognized by Alexander I, who awarded him and his descendants the title and privileges of a “Citizen Honored for Posterity.”
Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s fears were borne out by the events of the next two centuries. When emancipation did come to European Jewry, it came as a gradual process, and the Jewish community had an array of intellectual and moral responses (most notably, the Chassidic movement). Still, the spiritual toll of freedom was high: traditional Jewish life was all but wiped out in France and Germany by the upheavals spearheaded by the French Revolution, and while it persevered in Eastern Europe until the eve of the Holocaust, many fell prey to the winds of permissive and G-dless “enlightenment” blowing from the west. We can only imagine what the toll might have been had Napoleon conquered the continent in the early years of the nineteenth century.
The Custom of the City
Napoleon did fall and monarchical authority was restored in Europe. But not for long. History was set on a course that could be slowed and tempered but not stopped—a course in which freedom was replacing authority, in which the will of man was becoming less and less subject to rulers, laws and social norms.
History is not blind. Divine providence provides each generation with the challenges it is equipped to meet and the potentials it is enabled to realize. If we today live in a free world, it is because we have been deemed capable of dealing with this volatile force and harnessing it toward positive and G-dly ends.
“When you come to a city,” says the Midrash, “do as their custom.”[12]This is more than a matter of etiquette designed to avoid awkward moments in restaurants for travelers; it is a rule to be applied to our journey through history. You are not here to fight the world, the Midrash is saying, but to mold it, develop it and sublimate it. Each era and society has its “customs,” its unique zeitgeist and cultural milieu that is to be exploited to serve your Creator and your mission in life. If you live under the hegemony of a czar, canalize the submission to authority to which this indoctrinates you to feed your commitment to the supernal King of all kings. If you live in a world profaned by an “everything goes” freedom, recast it as a G-dly freedom—as the facilitator of the uninhibited expression of the “image of G-d” that is your truest self.
Indeed, our generation has proven itself equal to the challenge of freedom. In the 1960’s and ’70s, the youth of the Western World rebelled against the conformity, materialism and sterile religions of their parents and teachers. They redefined freedom as the freedom to seek a higher purpose to life, the freedom to transcend an ego-encumbered self to discover a truer, more altruistic self within. Much of it was misguided and destructive—as rootless and unfocused revolutions are wont to be. But it also brought about a great liberation of the soul in the form of the teshuvah (“return”) movement. Countless thousands shed the shackles of habit and ignorance to embrace a Torah-true life—a life that answers the soul’s deepest yearnings and realizes its quintessential purpose.
Significantly, France—the very France that two hundred years ago epitomized the corruptibility of freedom—has been the scene of one of the greatest successes of the teshuvah movement, with thousands of French Jews rediscovering and recommitting themselves to Torah. Today, the land of Voltaire is undergoing a spiritual renaissance, and libertine Paris is dotted with yeshivot and reborn communities. Even the anthem of the French revolution, the Marseillaise, has been “appropriated” as a Chassidic melody. Freedom is being reclaimed and directed toward its true, G-dly end.
Freedom Redefined
The last frontier is before us—the frontier of self. Who are we, really? What happens when we are freed of all external constraints and authority structures? Is our commitment to G-d something to be enforced upon a resisting self, or is it the ultimate fulfillment of the self’s incessant quest for freedom?
Our sages tell us that there will come a day when “a fig tree shall cry out: ‘Do not pick my fruit! Today is Shabbat!’” A day when G-d’s blueprint for creation will be the natural state of every created thing. A day when reality will be a flawless mirror of its divine source.
We are now on the threshold of that day. Living in a world that grows perceptibly freer by the day, we face our final challenge: to bring to light a freedom that is not a challenge to the sovereignty of G-d but its ultimate complement. A freedom in which the ego of man is but a reflection of the divine “I.”
Based on an address by the Rebbe, Kislev 23, 5752 (November 30, 1991) and on other occasions[13]
Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Yanki Tauber
[8]. Thus, there are numerous Chassidic discourses that devote many pages to analyzing the dynamics of kingship—what makes a king, how he is crowned, how he rules, how he is perceived by his subjects, etc.—and then apply these details to corresponding features of our relationship with G-d.
[9]. At the time that the French Revolution was plunging that country into G-dlessness, anarchy and blood, another revolution, the American, was espousing and institutionalizing the tenets of freedom on the other side of the Atlantic. But the freedom of the American Founding Fathers was not the freedom from divine authority and moral constraints of Marat and Danton; they envisioned “one nation under G-d” and made “In G-d we trust” their motto. When they wrote “freedom of religion” into the Bill of Rights, they were speaking of the freedom of every man to worship G-d according to his conscience, not of a license for G-dlessness: to them, man’s subordination to G-d was a fact of reality, not some “religious” principle (the current trend to interpret the First Amendment as a mandate for the banishment of G-d from the classroom and the prohibition of public support for anything of a non-materialistic nature is an unfortunate distortion of its authors’ intent).
The American Revolution was thus a far closer approximation of the Torah’s ideal of freedom. G-d has indeed blessed their effort: the republic they founded has endured, and is today the most powerful of nations and in a position to positively influence all inhabitants of earth.
[10]. These included the Chassidic masters Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin; Rabbi Israel, the Maggid of Kozhnitz; Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev; and Rabbi Mendel of Rimanov.
[11]. Chassidim tell of a contest that took place on the morning of Rosh HaShanah between Rabbi Schneur Zalman and the Maggid of Kozhnitz to decide the outcome of Napoleon’s war against Russia. The sounding of theshofar on Rosh HaShanah effects G-d’s coronation as king of the universe and the divine involvement in human affairs for the coming year; each of the Rebbes therefore endeavored to be the first to sound the shofar in the fateful year of 5573 (1812-1813) and thereby influence the supernal decree. The Maggid of Kozhnitz arose well before dawn, immersed in themikveh, began his prayers at the earliest permissible hour, prayed speedily, and sounded the shofar; but Rabbi Schneur Zalman departed from common practice and sounded the shofar at the crack of dawn, before the morning prayers. “The Litvak (‘Lithuanian,’ as Rabbi Schneur Zalman was affectionately called by his colleagues) has bested us,” said Rabbi Israel of Kozhnitz to his disciples.
[12]. Midrash Rabbah, Shemot 47:5. See also Talmud, Bava Metzia 86b.
[13]. Sefer HaSichot 5752, pp. 174-186.
Tags: community, France, Yanki Tauber, Rabbi Schneur Zalmon of Liadi, unity, authority, crowning the King, war
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July 23rd, 2015
The imperative to give is deeply ingrained in the soul of the Jew: among no other people or culture is the practice of giving to the needy as universal or as extensive as it is within the Jewish community. Our sages describe the mitzvah of tzedakah (charity) as “equivalent to all the mitzvot” and refer to it simply as “the mitzvah.”[1]
But charity, in the sense of the moral duty to share one’s blessings with the less fortunate, is but one expression of a deeper, underlying truth: that existence itself is founded on a giver-recipient dynamic. The Kabbalists trace the very origins of the created reality to a divine desire to give: G-d, in His perfect and complete reality, all-inclusive and all-transcendent, obviously had no “needs” to be filled, nothing to “gain” from creating our world; so the act of creation was the ultimate act of charity, stemming from a pure desire to give. Nor is G-d’s charity confined to His initial act of creation: every fraction of time, every created entity is dependent upon G-d continuously granting it existence and life.[2]
“G-d created man in His image,”[3] imparting to the human soul the various “character traits” He assumed in His role as Creator. So man, too, is a giver. The most obvious expression of this is his charitable nature—the fact that every right-thinking human being understands that the sight of a fellow man in need should move him to contribute to the satisfaction of that need. But this is only part of the picture. At the heart of a functioning society is the flow of resources and goods between individuals; commerce, trade and credit are indispensable to life as we know it. (In fact, the Torah considers the granting of a loan an even greater form of charity than a gift to a pauper, since the latter is confined to a certain segment of the population, the poor, while everyone needs loans, including the rich.[4])
All this may seem obvious and unremarkable to us, but certainly G-d could have created man to be self-sufficient, without the need to give to and receive from others. But because G-d wanted man to emulate and reflect Himself, He imprinted the giver-recipient partnership into the very fabric of human need and nature. Indeed, G-d decreed that His giver-recipient relationship with us should be dependent upon how we exercise our role as “givers” within His creation. Thus our acts of charity toward each other are the “vessel” and receptacle for the flow of sustenance from Above.
Silver Foundation
The correlation between man’s charity (in all its forms) and his relationship with his Creator can be seen in the mitzvah of machatzit hashekel, described by the Torah in the 30th chapter of Exodus.[5]
Machatzit hashekel was the half-shekel coin which each individual Jew was commanded to contribute toward the building of the Mishkan, the portable Sanctuary built by the Jewish people during their forty years of wandering through the desert. These half-shekels were used to cast the silver foundation blocks upon which the Sanctuary stood.
The Sanctuary was built by divine command to serve as the place where “I shall dwell amongst them”[6]—where G-d’s presence in our world and His relationship with us are manifest. And the foundation of this relationship are our acts of giving and charity, represented by the half-shekel coins contributed by each Jew that were cast as the physical base of the Sanctuary.
From an address by the Rebbe, Shabbat Parshat Shekalim 5751 (February 9, 1991)[7]
Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Yanki Tauber
[1]. Talmud, Bava Batra 9a; see Tanya, ch. 37; Likkutei Torah, Re’ei 23c.
[2]. See Tanya, part II, ch. 1.
[5]. Read this Shabbat as “Parshat Shekalim.”
[7]. Sefer HaSichot 5751, vol. I, pp. 319 ff.
Tags: money, tzedakah, divine image, wealth, Yanki Tauber
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July 23rd, 2015
And you shall make a kapporet of pure gold… and two golden keruvim(“cherubs”)… at the two ends of the kapporet….
And you shall place the kapporet above, upon the ark; and into the ark you shall put the Testimony which I shall give you.
And I will meet with you there; I will speak with you all that I will command you regarding the Children of Israel from above the kapporet, from between the two keruvim which are upon the Ark of Testimony….
Exodus 25:17-22
In the wake of the divine revelation at Sinai, G-d commanded that a Sanctuary be built to serve as a “tent of meeting”—a point of permanent contact between Him and His people. At the heart of the Sanctuary, in its innermost chamber, stood the ark that housed the “Testimony”—the two stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed by the hand of G-d. The ark (in the form of a box and open at the top) was covered by the kapporet—a slab of solid gold, out of which rose the two winged keruvim, hammered out of the same piece of gold. When G-d spoke to Moses, Moses would hear the divine voice issuing from between the two keruvim.
The Testament housed by the ark was the essence of the divine communication to man, for the Ten Commandments encapsulate the entire Torah. Later, the ark also held the Torah scroll written by Moses, which embodies a more detailed rendition of the laws implicit in the Ten Commandments. So the ark was the container of the Torah, the vessel of the divine wisdom and will. Yet the divine voice did not emanate from the ark, but from a space “above the kapporet, between the two keruvim.” What was the significance of the kapporet? What were the keruvim and what do they represent? And why do they mark the point of contact between G-d and man?
Two Commentaries
Foremost among the commentaries compiled by our sages on the Torah are those by Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, 1040-1105) and Nachmanides (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, 1194-1270). Rashi defines his goal by stating: “I come only to explain the simple meaning of the verse”[1]; indeed, Rashi’s commentary has been universally accepted as the most basic tool for understanding the Torah and serves as a first reference for schoolchild and scholar alike. On the other hand, Nachmanides, a noted mystic and kabbalist, often uncovers a “deeper” stratum of significance in the Torah’s words, exposing its students to “delightful things, for those who know and understand the hidden wisdom [of the Torah].”[2]
Rashi and Nachmanides often differ in their interpretation of a particular word or verse. One example of this is their different conceptions of the kapporet and the keruvim.
Rashi sees the ark and the kapporet as two different objects. The Sanctuary contained various “vessels,” each with a designated function (e.g., the menorah, the altars); according to Rashi the ark and thekapporet are two different vessels—it is only that the designated place of the kapporet is atop the ark.[3]
Nachmanides, on the other hand, sees the kapporet as the cover of the ark (indeed, the word kapporet means “cover”)—as a component of the ark itself, rather than another of the Sanctuary’s vessels.[4]
Another difference between the interpretations of Rashi and Nachmanides concerns the form of the keruvim. According to Rashi, these were two winged figures, each with the face of a child (a boy and a girl).[5]Nachmanides is of the opinion that they were a representation of the celestial figures seen by the prophet Ezekiel in his vision of the divine “chariot.”[6]
Angel or Child?
“There are seventy faces to the Torah,”[7] say our sages, for the divine truth reverberates on every level of reality and in every dimension of the mind. The differences between Rashi’s and Nachmanides’ visions of the kapporet and the keruvim reflect the different faces of Torah that their respective commentaries expound.
Speaking from the perspective of “those who know and understand the hidden wisdom,” Nachmanides sees the Torah as the essence of the bond between G-d and His people. In the words of the Zohar,
“There are three knots[8] that are bound with each other: G-d, the Torah, and Israel…. The people of Israel are bound with the Torah, and the Torah is bound with G-d.”[9]
G-d invested His wisdom in the Torah and His will in its commandments; the Jew studies Torah and implements its commandments in his daily life; thus the Jew is bound with G-d.
According to Nachmanides, the divine presence in the “tent of meeting” radiated from the ark, the vessel of the Torah. The divine voice emerged “above the kapporet, between the two keruvim,” all of which were components of the ark. The keruvim were in the form of the celestial beings described in Ezekiel’s vision, which contains the most profound insights into the nature of the divine perceived by man. For the stuff of the relationship between man and G-d is divine revelation: the revelation of His wisdom and will via the Torah, which attains its loftiest and most intense form in the mystic “hidden wisdom” represented by the keruvim.
Rashi, on the other hand, elucidates the “simple meaning of the verse.” Often, this is mistakenly perceived as the most literal and superficial stratum of meaning of the Torah. But simple is not superficial. On the contrary, the simple meaning of the verse is its most profound meaning, its most elementary significance. It is the root from which all other meanings and levels of understanding derive. It is the essence of the verse, of which the others are but particular facets and expressions.
Rashi’s conception of the ark and kapporet reflects the truth that our relationship with G-d through the Torah is but the realization of a deeper, intrinsic bond that already exists between us; that the kapporet is not part of the ark, but something else, something higher. That ultimately, the divine presence in the “tent of meeting” derives not from the Torah, but from the child-faced keruvim that hover above it.
“For Israel is a youth, and I love him,”[10] proclaims the prophet. On the deepest, most basic level, G-d loves the Jew not for his wisdom or piety, but for his childishness. He loves us because, as the Baal Shem Tov[11] put it, “the simplicity of the simple Jew is of a piece with the simple essence of G-d.” He loves us because we are the extension of His quintessential self, as a child is the extension of the quintessential self of his father.[12]
Based on the Rebbe’s talks on Shabbat Terumah 5741 (February 7, 1981) and on other occasions[13]
Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Yanki Tauber
[1]. Rashi on Genesis 3:8; ibid., v. 24; et al.
[2]. Nachmanides’ introduction to his commentary on the Book of Genesis.
[3]. Cf. Tzafnat Pa’ane’ach on Exodus 25:17 (based on the Talmud, Sukkah 5a, and Torat Kohanim 1:11): “It was not simply a cover (of the ark) but an entity of its own; it is only that it must be placed upon the ark.”
[4]. Thus, the very same verse implies different things to the two commentators. In Exodus 25:16, after instructing Moses on the design of the ark proper—before telling him how to make the kapporet—G-d commands: “You shall place the Testimony in the ark.” Then, in verse 21, after the kapporet is described, we again read: “And into the ark you shall put the Testimony which I shall give you.” Why does the Torah repeat itself? According to Rashi, the repetition comes to emphasize that the tablets are to be placed in the ark before it is covered by the kapporet. “Place it in the ark,” the Torah is saying—in the ark as it stands alone, before the kapporet is placed upon it. According to Nachmanides, the repetition comes to make the very opposite point: that the Testament should be placed in the ark after it has been covered by the kapporet.
In other words, Rashi and Nachmanides both understand the verse’s repetition as serving to emphasize that the tablets should be placed in theark. But what exactly is the ark? According to Rashi, the kapporet is not part of the ark proper, but another, different component of the Sanctuary (though obviously related to the ark, as evidenced by the fact that it is to be placed atop the ark). So the verse is telling us that the tablets should be placed in the ark as it is unto itself, without the addition of the kapporet. Nachmanides, on the other hand, considers the kapporet to be an integral part of the ark; so the verse comes to tell us to place the tablets in the complete ark, not in an ark lacking its cover.
In addition to the question of when to place the tablets in the ark, there are a number of other halachic issues that relate to the question of whether the kapporet is part of the ark or a “vessel” on its own. See Tzafnat Pa’ane’ach on Exodus 37:6; Likkutei Sichot, vol. XXVI, p. 176.
[5]. Rashi, Exodus 25:18.
[6]. Nachmanides’ commentary on v. 21; see Ezekiel 10.
[7]. Otiyot d’Rabbi Akiva. Cf. Talmud, Sanhedrin 34a; Midrash Rabbah, Bamidbar 14:12; Zohar, part I, 47b; et al.
[8]. Kishrin, in the Aramaic. So reads the version of this Zoharic passage that is quoted in the teachings of Chassidism (the standard version reads “There are three levels…). See note 12 below.
[9]. Zohar, part III, 73a.
[10]. Hosea 11:1; see Baal HaTurim on Exodus 25:18.
[11]. Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760), founder of Chassidism.
[12]. See Tanna D’vei Eliyahu Rabbah, chapter 14: “Two things preceded G-d’s creation of the world: Torah and Israel. Still, I do not know which preceded which. But when Torah states ‘Speak to the Children of Israel…,’ ‘Command the Children of Israel…,’ etc., I know that Israel preceded all.”
This concept is also alluded to in the Zoharic passage cited above, which speaks of “three knots that are bound with each other.” But if Torah is the link between G-d and Israel, then what we have are three entities (G-d, Torah and Israel) linked via two bonds (Israel’s connection to Torah and the Torah’s connection to the Almighty). What are the “three knots” of which the Zohar speaks?
Yet Israel’s connection with G-d via the Torah derives from a deeper connection: the “direct” connection between G-d and His people which the Torah comes to reveal. On this level, Israel’s involvement in Torah is what connects the Torah to the Almighty, what causes Him to extend His infinite and wholly undefinable being into a medium of “Divine wisdom” and “Divine will.” On this level, it is not the Jew who requires the Torah in order to be one with G-d, but the Torah which requires the Jew to evoke G-d’s desire to project Himself via the Torah. Thus we have three interlinked “knots”: G-d’s connection with Israel, G-d’s connection with the Torah, and Israel’s connection with the Torah. On the experiential level, the Torah is the link between G-d and Israel; in essence, Israel is the link between G-d and the Torah.
[13]. Likkutei Sichot, vol. XXVI, pp. 175-182.
Tags: face, Yanki Tauber, children, Mishkan, wisdom, G-d's love, angels
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July 23rd, 2015
How did the children of Israel obtain [cedar wood for the construction of the Sanctuary] in the desert? Rabbi Tanchuma explained: Our father Jacob foresaw with his holy spirit that Israel was destined to build a Sanctuary in the desert; so he brought cedars to Egypt and planted them [there], and instructed his children to take them along when they left Egypt.
Rashi, Exodus 25:6
At the time, Jacob’s children might have wondered: why carry trees from the Holy Land to plant in Egypt for use in a building to be constructed centuries later? Surely, there is no dearth of wood in wealthy Egypt, and, in any case, it could always be obtained, for a price, wherever their descendants might find themselves. [4]
But his grandchildren and great-grandchildren understood. Throughout their long and bitter exile, they had watched these cedars grow. They harbored the knowledge that long before their enslavement by the Egyptians, these trees had grown in the soil of Holy Land–the land promised to them as their eternal heritage. They carried with them, and transmitted to their children, Jacob’s instructions to take these trees along when they would leave Egypt, to be fashioned into a Sanctuary for G-d.
Throughout their long and bitter exile, these cedars had whispered: This is not your home. You hail from a loftier, holier place. Soon you will leave this depraved land behind, to be reclaimed by G-d as His people. Soon you will uproot us from this foreign land and carry us triumphantly to Sinai, where you will construct of us an abode for the divine presence, which shall once again manifest itself in your midst.
Staves of Faith
“The tzaddik shall bloom as a palm,” sings the Psalmist, “as a Cedar of Lebanon, he shall flourish.”[5] In our current galut, we, too, have trans-historic cedar transplanted by our father Jacob,[6] cedars that provide us with a link to the past and hope for the future.
The tzaddik is a soul that towers above the transience and turbulence of galut; a soul that is rooted in Israel’s sacred beginnings and pointed toward the ultimate Redemption. When our subjection to the temporal and the mundane threatens to overwhelm us, we need only look to the cedars implanted in our midst. In these timeless staves of faith we find guidance and fortitude, comfort and encouragement.
Based on an address by the Rebbe, Shabbat Terumah, 5747 (March 7, 1987)[7]
Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Yanki Tauber.
[4] See Divrei Divid (Taz), Ibn Ezra, Baalei Tosfot and Chizkuni on verse (Exodus 25:6).
[6]. The Hebrew word nassi (“leader”) is an acronym of the phrase nitzotzo shel Yaakov Avinu, “a spark of Jacob our father.” The soul of every leader of Israel is an offshoot of the soul of Jacob, father of the people of Israel (Megaleh Amukot, section 84).
[7]. Likkutei Sichot, vol. XXXI, pp. 142-148.
Tags: Yanki Tauber, trees, Egypt, Mishkan, Jacob
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July 23rd, 2015
And you shall make two carrying poles of acacia wood and cover them with gold. And you shall insert the poles in the rings on the sides of the Ark, to carry the Ark with them. The poles should remain in the rings of the Ark and should not be removed from them
Exodus 25:13-15
The Ark, which housed the two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments and the Torah scroll written by the hand of Moses, sat in the innermost chamber of the Sanctuary, a place so holy that only the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) was permitted entry, and only on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year.
When the people of Israel were in the Sinai Desert, they built a portable sanctuary–the Mishkan–which they carried along with them on their journey from Egypt to the Holy Land. At each of their forty-two encampments, the Mishkan was assembled and then dismantled when the time came to journey on. For this reason, all the vessels of the Mishkan had specially-made carrying poles, which were inserted in rings affixed to their sides, in order to carry them from camp to camp.
Regarding the Ark, there is a specific commandment (counted as one of the 613 mitzvot) never to remove the carrying poles–despite the fact that the Mishkan was often not moved for many months. Indeed, this law also remained in force for the 381 years that the Ark stood in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.[8] The prohibition to remove the carrying poles is unique to the Ark–we do not find any such commandment regarding the other vessels of the Sanctuary.
There is a lesson here to each and every Jew, but particularly to the “arks” among us–those who devote their lives to the study of Torah. As the receptacle of the word of G-d, the Ark is the holiest vessel in the Sanctuary; its natural place is in the innermost chamber of the Temple, in sacred seclusion from the cares and mundanities of the outside world. Nevertheless, the Ark–particularly the Ark–must be in a state of constant readiness to travel, perpetually poised to leave its inner sanctum for wherever it might be needed.
The Torah instructs that when Shabbat must be violated in order to save a life, this should be done by the greatest and most venerated members of the community.[9] The same holds true when a fellow’s spiritual life is in danger. If there is a soul thirsting for the word of G-d in the ends of earth, it is the “ark” who must leave his sacred chamber to carry the divine wisdom to him. And even when the “ark” is in his chamber, he must always have his carrying poles inserted in his rings–he must always be aware of his responsibilities toward the outside world, always be ready to set out at a moment’s notice.
Based on an address by the Rebbe, Adar 11, 5732 (February 26, 1972)[10]
Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Yanki Tauber.
[8]. The Ark was installed in the Holy Temple upon its completion by King Solomon in the year 2935 from creation (826 bce), and was hidden away by King Yoshiyahu in 3316 (445 bce).
[9]. Talmud, Yoma 84b; Mishneh Torah, Laws of Shabbat, 2:2.
[10]. Likkutei Sichot, vol. XVI, pp. 334-335.
Tags: Holy Temple, responsibility, Mishkan, Yom Kippur, Yanki Tauber
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July 23rd, 2015
In the World to Come there is no eating or drinking … no business or competition; rather, the righteous sit, their crowns on their heads, and enjoy the radiance of the divine presence
Talmud, Berachot 17a
Said Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov:
“Do you think that paradise and purgatory are so different from each other? No, no, they are one and the same. Paradise, for the righteous, is to bask in the radiance of G-d. This shall be their reward. And how will the wicked be punished? They, too, shall be brought to paradise to behold the radiance of the Divine, which they won’t know what to make of. To experience the reality of G-d, and at the same time to recognize how distant one is from His truth–there is no greater agony for a soul.”
Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Yanki Tauber.
Tags: heaven, Baal Shem Tov, life after death, Tzaddik, Yanki Tauber
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July 23rd, 2015
We always read the Torah chapter Bamidbar before the holiday of Shavuot, when the Torah was given at Sinai. The technical reason for this is because the Torah was given in Bamidbar Sinai, in the Sinai Desert. However that only carries the question over: Of all places why indeed was the Torah given in a desert?!
The question can be further broadened. Why was it necessary for the Jewish people to wander 40 years before entering the Promised Land? Was 210 years of hard labor in Egypt not enough suffering? Why liberate them from Egypt only to put them through another 40 oppressive years?!
One of the most powerful messages that ever touched me is the teaching of the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, in his Tanya. He explains that the purpose of life on Earth in not for the tzaddik (righteous person), who does not have an evil inclination and therefore does not face the true struggles of life. The purpose of creation is the average man (the ‘benoni’) who faces a constant struggle between good and evil.
Judaism does not tell us that life is easy and that faith is bliss. On the contrary. We were placed in a wilderness and life is a battle. And it is precisely this battle that G-d intended us to face. Therefore, do not be disturbed or demoralized by your challenges, by your inconsistencies and by your weaknesses. Do not be shaken when you do not live up to your highest aspirations, and often do not actualize or maintain your inspiration. Do not be discouraged – because this struggle is the fundamental purpose of all of existence.
At the same time we must always know that each challenge, no matter how difficult, comes with tools to face that challenge and come out stronger.
Had the Torah been given in a beautiful city, then all we would have is a guide on how to live in beauty. “Torah lo ba’shomayim hi,” Torah is not in heaven. It was given to Earth, in order for us to use it to bridge heaven and earth. Torah was given intentionally in a wilderness in order to teach us that Torah is a guide for real life amidst real challenges. It’s not a book for la-la land and for naïve escapists. Torah is called Torat Chaim, the Torah of life – it addresses the harsh realities of living in this difficult world.
This message is relevant today more than ever. True, 3314 years have passed since the Torah was given at Sinai. We seem to have long left the wilderness, and the journeys of the past seem a long distance away, relegated to the annals of history. Yet, they have come alive today in ways that no one would have imagined just a year ago.
Growing up in modern times had created an illusion that we are no longer living in a wilderness. We had tamed the elements, built great cities, developed civilizations and cultures. We had become a highly advanced society – a far cry from the wilderness of the past.
September 11th and the global tremors that have been unleashed since have rudely reminded us that in many ways this world is still a wilderness. Not just the deserts of the Middle East, but downtown Manhattan was turned into a desert one bleak Tuesday morning 8 months ago. The raging primal passions of religious beliefs are shaking the world to its core.
Perhaps this ‘revelation,’ this awareness that the world is after all still a wilderness, is an eye opener that is meant to tell us: Do not be afraid. G-d created the world this way so that we humans tame and subdue the wilderness. And G-d gave us a precious gift – the Torah – which serves as a beacon of light to illuminate the dark roads of our journey through the wilderness.
The key is not to deceive ourselves into thinking that the world is just fine and we can remain passive and complacent. We must be wise and awake to life’s traps and realize that life is a struggle. At the same time we must know that we have all the tools necessary to face the struggle and prevail. Not just prevail but thrive and grow, and transform the wilderness into a garden.
This is the calling of our times: To introduce the universal message of Torah to the world. To create Sinai in the wilderness. Is there a more appropriate message today?
Tags: reality, challenges, Matan Torah, terrorism, nature, Alter Rebbe
Posted in Weekly Parsha, Bamidbar, Beliefs & Concepts, Bamidbar, Social, Exile, Torah, Government, September 11th, Current Events | No Comments »
July 23rd, 2015
Special Edition: Israel in Crisis
Let my people go and they will serve me – Exodus 7:17
As in the days when you left Egypt, I will show you wonders – Micha 7:15
Behold, the guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps – Psalms 121:4
The eyes of G-d are upon it [the land of Israel] from the beginning of the year until the end of the year – Deuteronomy 11:12
April 2, 2002
As Israel reels from the Passover massacres and has since declared war against terrorism, there is much we can learn from Passover, when we celebrate the first victory of the Jewish people against Egyptian aggression and oppression. Lessons that can help us face our challenges today.
But first let me share with you a personal experience.
I just took the subway to Manhattan – something I haven’t done in a while. In a brief instant I felt the urge to return to my (inner) childhood (maybe it’s Passover, which evokes the celebration of the child). So I sauntered off to the front of the train, and stood staring in the front window at the dark tracks ahead. The labyrinth of the New York underground world never fails to amaze me. An intricate maze of train tracks makes up this city beneath the city.
What struck me most this time was the fact that the rails are in place and lead the train along its tracks from one location to another, from your point of departure to your destination. Then I thought to myself, how simple life would be if we had such tracks in our lives than can help us navigate our way as we search for happiness. How confusing life can be without any bearings to guide us.
But as I was staring as the train was snaking through the dark tunnels ahead, I realized that perhaps there are such invisible tracks beneath the surface of our lives. Perhaps we have inherent coordinates that run like railroad tracks within our inner spiritual arteries. But we need to discover this internal compass.
And this brings me to Passover and to the events of our times. The Torah is precisely as its name implies: A blueprint for life. The Torah is a guide that provides us with direction how to reach our goals and objectives – how to navigate the journey called life and reach our destination. The way the Torah achieves this is by illuminating for us the ‘railroad tracks’ within our psyches and souls, so that we can discover ‘rails’ that can guide us along the often shrouded passageways before us.
By listening to the message of Passover – by looking to the past and how those before us traveled from oppression to freedom – we can discover the spiritual pathways that can help us face and tackle the challenges of our times.
WAR
Let us begin with war. Is war good or bad? No sane person likes war, not the warrior and not the adversary. Normal people want to live in peace. We are repelled by bloodshed and would do anything to avoid getting hurt and expend so much time, money and energy – not to mention, lives – in battle.
What is the Torah view on war? Torah – which is called Torat Chesed and Torat Chaim, Torah of love and of life – tells us that of all blessings, peace is the greatest. Yet, when faced with an enemy we must prepare for war if necessary. War is an option of last resort, but when necessary it becomes the way of peace and the way toward peace.
Had Pharaoh freed the Hebrews willingly as G-d commanded him via Moses no war would have been necessary. However, after Pharaoh remained obstinate, there was no other choice and G-d went to war against the Egyptians on behalf of the Jewish people. After each plague, one more intense than the previous one, Pharaoh continued to persist in oppressing Jews. In defiance he even intensified the bondage of the Jewish people.
War became the only option. And when it is the only option – it becomes the way toward peace. Why? Because recognizing evil and doing everything possible to eradicate it is a blessing – the blessing of truth and peace. Denying the existence of lurking evil or being fearful and not wanting to confront the evil is in itself a form of evil.
Yes, we all wish that there be no murder and terrorism in the world. We pray for the time when peace will prevail, and people will respect each other while maintaining their diversity. But, when there are people who wantonly abuse the sanctity of life, who despite all attempts persist in killing innocent civilians, then we must not fear to confront this growing menace. Indeed, by not confronting it we feed the cancer and allow us to kill many others.
One of the lessons we learn from these 49 days (between Passover and Shavuot) when we count the Omer is the need to balance chesed and gevurah, love and discipline. True love is possible only when it respects and preserves the boundaries and space to allow the love to flourish. To spoil a child in the name of love and give him/her everything without limits is actually one of the cruelest things a parent can do. To suffocate a spouse with love and not respect his/her space is another distortion of love. Among the reasons why we fear using gevurah include: fear of confrontation, fear of the unknown (as opposed to the known evil), laziness, naively believing that things will just be fine, denial and other factors that cause us avoid the sometimes inevitable need for discipline.
War is the ultimate manifestation – and last resort – of discipline necessary to create a loving world. When the Allies went to War against Hitler and the Nazis it was to protect and preserve freedom in the world. No one wants war, but when there is deep evil that threatens life and freedom, war is the necessary discipline within love (gevurah within chesed), to ensure and guarantee that love can thrive.
Another lesson from Passover: Even when the war against Egypt had to be fought, the Jewish people recognized that it was G-d who was fighting the war, not the people. Indeed, when the Jews felt stuck between the Red Sea before them and the pursuing Egyptians behind them – on the Seventh day of Passover – there was a group of them that argued “let us go to war against the Egyptians.” Moses replied in the name of G-d: “G-d will go to war for you.”
Even when we have no choice but to go to war, we must always recognize that it is not our personal battle, and it is not our human strength that gives us power to win our battles. The only justifiable war is one that is meant to bring peace in the world by defending our families and communities from maniacal terrorists, willing to kill themselves as they kill others. Even as we fight this war, we fight it unwillingly and have always in mind that we are defending G-d given life, and victory is dependent not on our own strength but on the blessings and strength of G-d.
This should not be confused with religious fanatics/terrorists that claim to be fighting a ‘holy war,’ a war for G-d. Because G-d gave no human being permission to wage a war on His behalf and in His name, no less one that targets innocent civilians. Targeting and murdering an innocent person is a crime against G-d and against humanity – against all of humanity, Jew, Muslim, Christian, Israeli, Arab, and people of all faiths, races and persuasions.
And when such a war against humanity has been declared, G-d instructs and empowers us to fight a war of self-defense: To defend and guarantee the right of every human being to live in peace and not in terror.
As we celebrate the holiday of Passover, the freedom of the Jewish people from their Egyptian oppressors, we relive the same experience today.
3314 years have passed since the Exodus from Egypt. In each generation we are instructed to relive the Egyptian exodus experience. Today, 3314 years later, we do not need to be commanded. In the same region in the world as the original exile and exodus, Israel is experiencing a bloodbath of its own and this time the entire world is affected. The terrorism of the Middle East now threatens all nations. September 11 has rudely reminded us of that.
Our most human response – and Divine responsibility – is to defend and protect life, all life – not just in defense of the targeted civilians, but also of the attackers and their communities, to protect them from themselves.
WHAT IS THE JEWISH/TORAH VIEW AND ATTITUDE TOWARD THE PALESTINIANS?
All life is sacred, Jew or non-Jew. Peace in Israel means peace not just for the Jews but also for the Arabs. But sometimes the peace must be achieved through strength and discipline.
Yet even after the Egyptians were deservedly drowning in the sea after stubbornly pursuing the Jews, G-d rebuked the angels for attempting to sing praise. “My creatures are drowning in the sea, and you sing praise?!”
Even when we must go to war, we need to never lose our sensitivity to the sanctity of life, even of our enemies.
From a Torah point of view every life, including that of so-called “Palestinians,” is sacred. Every human being is created in the “image of G-d” and has a right to freedom.
But no one has a right to murder innocent people for any reason. By doing that the murderer has desecrated the “image of G-d” in which all people are created. Once everyone accepts this absolute law – that we cannot use terrorism and suicide bombings for any reason whatsoever – then we can discuss the cause of the community of Arabs living within the boundaries of Israel.
Regardless of any cause, terrorism is NEVER acceptable. If any war must be fought it must be an uncompromisable fight against any notion that allows for linking a cause with terrorist activity. There is and never will be any justification for killing innocent civilians. We must do everything in our power to eliminate any such thinking.
I submit that the single biggest question today is this: Do the Arabs – I hesitate from using the word ‘Palestinians’ in fear that it may be another PR creation – recognize the legitimate existence of Israel. As long as they do not, or as long as we don’t know their true position, there can be no peace. Period.
To understand people’s intention you have to study their actions. What do we learn from the fact that the terrorists – and whoever stands behind them (does anyone really believe that teenagers just find explosive packs in the streets and strap them to their belts?!) – attacked innocent Jews on Passover Eve, and then made it a point to pull off a suicide bombing on each day of Passover, when Jews celebrate their freedom from Egyptian oppression? Let the facts speak for themselves… (Do you recall all the talk about America continuing their war in Afghanistan during the Muslim Ramadan?)
We cannot read other people’s minds and know how many people in the Arab world really want the destruction of Israel. But one thing is for sure: True peace is impossible as long as these intentions remain intact.
Perhaps the day of truth has come. This war will hopefully expose the most important element in this international crisis: Is Israel’s right to exist recognized? If there are those that want to destroy Israel they will simply not be able to continue living in Israel. Those that truly want to live in peace, accepting the fact that Israel is here to stay, will be able to find ways to actualize this peace.
It’s worth looking at another one of the many myths pervading conventional thinking: The issue of “occupied territories.” Recently I heard a talk in Washington by Ambassador Max Kempelman, where he argued the falsity of the State Department’s designation of the West Bank as “occupied land,” when in truth it should be “disputed land.” No different than Kashmir and other disputed territories in the world. The implications of this are quite obvious.
These are some of the messages we learn from Passover, and especially the seventh day of Passover, which concluded the process of freedom, when the Egyptians drowned in the sea 3314 years ago.
War is never comfortable nor particularly appetizing. War is bloody and ugly. And no one wants it. But once you face evil it is a blessing to “declare war,” to clearly define your enemy and to align you mindset to a focused objective – rather than hanging in the oblivion of ambiguity – and get the job done as quickly and as bloodlessly as possible.
In the first stages of a war everyone protests because we would like to go back to comfortable denial. We all cry during these days – for the senseless loss of life on all sides.
As Passover comes to a close, let us hope that the truth – and peace – will prevail as soon as possible, with the minimum amount of loss and pain.
As a Higher Will continues to guide us toward an intensifying alliance of Jacob and Esau in an escalating confrontation with Ishmael, hopefully we will be wise enough – with the least amount of lives lost – to understand the deeper meaning of September 11 and the events in the Middle East and act accordingly.
Every cloud has a silver lining. Every silver lining has a shade of gray. Every shade of gray has a streak of light.
May the prophecy be fulfilled: As in the days when you left Egypt, I will show you wonders. Passover opened the doors of freedom 3314 years ago. The liberation from Mitzrayim (Egypt) is the root and archetype of freedom from all exiles and oppressions.
May the doors of freedom finally open up in the fullest way, bringing permanent freedom and peace to the Middle East and to the entire world.
Let my people go. But we need to do our part to want to go and be ready to go, and do everything we can to go.
***
Here are some things each of us can do to help our brethren in Israel:
~ Wage a spiritual war against all forces of moral apathy and ignorance.
~ Strengthen the three pillars which holds up world – both personal and global: Torah, Prayer, and Kind deeds.
~Intensify your commitment to Torah study – study a new text, and designate additional time to your study.
~ Say additional prayers for the safety of people facing danger, especially for the Israeli Defense Forces.
~ Give additional amounts of charity. Charity has a special energy to counter perilous situations.
~ Engage your family and friends in meaningful dialogue. Reach out to your sphere of influence and inspire them with spiritual awareness. Encourage everyone to study Torah and add a new mitzvah – a good deed. The Bible tells us that through Torah study and performance of mitzvahs G-d promises: “You will dwell securely in your land. I will provide peace in the land. You will sleep without fear” (Leviticus 26:5-6)
~ Initiate a gathering in your home or office, promoting additional goodness and kindness.
~ Jewish men should be encouraged to put on Tefillin each weekday morning. Tefillin has faculties that add in protection in threatening times. [This suggestion was initiated by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in connection with the Six Day War and the subsequent wars in Israel].
~Women and girls should be encouraged to light Shabbat and Holiday candles, 18 minutes before sundown leading into Shabbat or the Holiday. It is also customary to give some charity before lighting the candles.
~ Encourage children to say holy verse and prayers and add in charitable and kind deeds. Children play a particular role in time of crisis. As the verse states, “out of the mouths of babes and sucklings You have established the strength…to destroy an enemy and avenger” (Psalms 8:3). [This suggestion was initiated by the Rebbe before the 1973 Yom Kippur War].
Tags: terrorism, divine benevolence, Torah, war, exodus, passover, story, freedom, redemption
Posted in Israel, Months & Holidays, Passover, Beliefs & Concepts, Social, Moshiach & Redemption, Torah, Nisan, Current Events | No Comments »
July 23rd, 2015
September 11, 2001 Elul 23 5762
October 10, 2001 Tishrei 23, Simchat Torah 5762
Today the world trembles: On Rosh Hashana eve the world is in a faint and it trembles. On Simchat Torah, during birchat Shehechionu on the Torah, the world calms down Rebbe Sholom DovBer of Lubavitch, Simchat Torah 5650 (Likkutei Dibburim vol. 1 p. 5)
What can be accomplished on the two days of Rosh Hashana with tears can be achieved on Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah with joy The RebbeYosef Yitzchak
Jews celebrate and it is called Simchat Torah, and they adorn the Sefer Torah with its crown Zohar III 256b
As we have been struck by the passions of violence from another part of the world, we now have been challenged as to what our true passions stand for. What we believe in and are ready to fight for.
What more appropriate time to be entering into the climax and finale of the High Holiday season: Simchat Torah.
Simchat Torah this year is 30 days since September 11. Jewish tradition teaches that 30 days – shloshim – concludes a distinct stage of grief and mourning over loss. It represents a psychological state where we can begin to move from shock and tears to a new cathartic stage when we can channel our powerful emotions into positive and proactive change.
What is Simchat Torah?
Following the seven days of Sukkot and the eighth day of Shemini Atzeret we celebrate Simchat Torah (in Israel Simchat Torah is celebrated on the same day as Shemini Atzeret), the simcha (joy) upon concluding the reading of the entire Torah. All of us dance and sing the day and night away with Torah scrolls with an unlimited joy that is greater than any other time of the year.
Why celebrate with the Torah? Because there is no greater joy than the celebration of having the Divine mandate and spiritual blueprint with which to live by. Torah is a roadmap, an x-ray, if you wish, of our soul and of the universe that allows us the eternal power to make sense of our lives and the world around us. Torah empowers us with tools to navigate our way through the dark and unexpected roads of the journey called life. No gift is greater than having direction in this world, particularly in uncertain times. And that is the best reason to celebrate. And celebrate we do, without restraint.
Why do we conclude and celebrate Torah at this particular point in time and not during Shavuot when the Torah was given at Mount Sinai? Because the true celebration of Torah is possible only after we have been forgiven and received the Second Tablets on Yom Kippur. On Shavuot we cannot celebrate, because the Torah and its recipients were not yet tested. As we see, 40 days after Moses received the First Tablets on Shavuot, the people built the Golden Calf, which led to the breaking of the tablets. Only after Moses prayed for 80 days; prevailed upon G-d to forgive us and received the Second Tablets on Yom Kippur; only then is it possibly to truly celebrate. Because now we have been broken and learned that we can rebuild after loss. Now we know that even flawed human beings can grow through the process and embrace Torah and use it as a map for life. On Shavuot we appreciate that perfect people can use Torah to live their lives. But what about all the rest of us? After Yom Kippur all of us, including the imperfect ones among us, can embrace Torah and live by it.
So we dance on Simchat Torah. All of us dance together, regardless of background, education and age. And we dance with a wrapped Sefer Torah, demonstrating a celebration that transcends intellect.
The Torah contains a very complex philosophical system and legal structure. However on Simchat Torah we celebrate the essence of Torah, the essential connection between us and Torah and G-d.
The connection with the system and logic of Torah distinguishes between us, recognizing the distinctions of education, intelligence, level of commitment and effort. The celebration of this dimension of Torah is also defined and limited relative to the particular level of understanding and commitment each of us has to Torah. But the essence of Torah – the integral bond that we have with our Divine mandate and calling – connects us all as one, and its celebration is unlimited and absolute.
That is the celebration of Simchat Torah: a celebration and dance of absolute and unconfined passion. We dance with our legs and they lift our entire bodies and minds to another dimension. Simchat Torah is both our celebration with Torah and the celebration of Torah with us. Yes, we have the power to crown the Torah and lift it to an entirely new level.
War has been launched by America and its allies against the enemies of humanity, and in some ways we are left with even more uncertainty. As we analyze the present situation our minds seem quite inadequate. The only thing that stands us in good stead in uncertain, insecure times like this, are our absolute foundations. We are in need of absolute faith and belief in our inner value system. We are in need of passion, a passion for our cause and calling, a passion no less than the passion of those waging war on us.
Now more than ever we are in need of the Simchat Torah dance – a dance of unbridled passion, passion that we need today that is beyond any limits and definitions, a dance with no constraints.
One of the most defining moments of my life that I only appreciate today in retrospect, as it is with most true defining moments, was back in 1966. Sukkot that year was a very wet one. Unceasing rains saturated the Sukkot (portable shacks) in New York, which left those sitting within, well wet, quite wet.
The Rebbe, as was his custom each year, led a farbrengen (gathering) in the central Sukkah adjacent to the synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway. As a young child I walked into the Sukkah and it was pouring inside. Not just pouring. The schach evergreens covering the Sukkah were drenched and dripping globs on the Rebbe and the hundreds of people participating in the farbrengen.
I dont remember how I processed it as a child, but today in retrospect I remember that this scene had a most profound impact on me. The Rebbe could have easily postponed the farbrengen to a dry day. What we call a “rain date.” He could have held the farbrengen indoors. After all, no meal was being eaten, and the farbrengen could have taken place without the saying of L’chaim. There was no real necessary reason to be sitting in the Sukkah. Its one thing if a meal had to be eaten, then Chabad custom is to eat even in a wet Sukkah. But here there was no meal.
So, why did the Rebbe insist on sitting in the Sukkah for hours on end, and causing all his Chassidim to follow suit?!
As a child the deep impression it left on me was this: Here was a man who was absolutely dedicated to his cause. A man ready to go all the way. A man of complete and undiluted passion. Rain, shine, no matter every year a farbrengen was held on this day of Sukkot, this year was not going to be different.
And instinctively, I as a child, trusted the Rebbe because I saw a man who would not compromise. Nothing could shake him. Life was determined not by circumstances and comforts. On the contrary, the Rebbe and his cause defined his circumstances.
That is what we need today: Absolute passion for our cause. There is no way that we can remain comfortable and complacent in a war against passionate enemies. Complacency is no match for passion, no matter how misplaced the passion.
So we have Simchat Torah when we celebrate with unbridled passion in a dance and song that transcends out limited intellects and tools.
Someone asked me what will stop people from returning to the comfort of complacency and thus losing our commitment to fighting this war. My answer: It is our work to STOP anyone from falling back into the sleep of complacency. I, for one, am completely committed to be relentless and not allow people to fall asleep. To awake them as we linger into spiritual slumber.
If anything should remain forever changed after September 11th it should be that we will no longer be complacent about our freedoms and blessings; that we always continue to fan the ignited flames of passion for our beliefs.
And that’s why we have Simchat Torah: To awaken us to our true passions and beliefs. And to keep us awake.
The absolute passion of joy on Simchat Torah gives us strength for the entire year.
May we use this day well. May we embrace it and allow it to connect us in joy to our essence. To who we really are and what we really stand for.
As we say the 17 (the numerical value of the word tov) verses preceding the Simchat Torah dance, let us remember their message:
You [G-d] have revealed yourself your true essence so that we can perceive that Hashem is Elokim [the transcendent dimension of G-dliness is one with the G-dliness within nature]; there is none else besides Him.
To Him who alone performs great wonders, for His kindness is eternal.
G-d will give strength to His people; G-d will bless His people with peace.
Whenever the Ark set out, Moses would say, Arise, o G-d, and Your enemies will be dispersed and Your foes will flee before you.
Your sovereignty is sovereign over all worlds. And your dominion is throughout all generations.
And finally, the 17th verse:
For from Zion shall go forth Torah; and the word of G-d from Jerusalem.
How prescient and relevant today are these words of Isaiah: It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of G-ds house shall be established on top of the mountains and all the nations shall flow unto it. And many nations shall go and say, let us go up to the mountain of G-d and we will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths, for from Zion shall go forth the Torah; and the word of G-d from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Tags: mourning, Torah, religion, America, celebration, Rebbe, golden calf, psychology, Shavuot, Moses, spiritual
Posted in Tishrei, Months & Holidays, Torah Personalities, Simchat Torah, Modern, Social, September 11th, Rebbe, Current Events | No Comments »
July 23rd, 2015
Part II
Dear Rabbi Jacobson,
Thank you for yet another brilliant and relevant – dare I say visionary – article, The Calling of Our Generation. In it you describe the foresight of the spiritual leaders who recognized, in 1908, 1924 and 1949, the onset of a new period, in which the forces of Edom and Ishmael would dominate and the primary need would be to counter the difficult challenges with the faculties of netzach and hod, endurance and humility/acknowledgment.
My question is: Where do we stand now? Clearly, we are in midst of a confrontation between the Western world (Edom) and the Islamic world (Ishmael). Whether this is as a “clash of civilizations” (as Samuel P. Huntington argues) or not, these two forces are pitted against each other and the battles between them are only accelerating.
With the Arizal’s declaration that Edom and Ishmael are the “final frontier,” what does that bode for us today?
Best wishes for the holiday,
Eileen B.
Dear Eileen,
Thank you for your kind words, but frankly any brilliance should be attributed to where it belongs: The Rebbe Rashab’s and Rebbe Rayatz’s discourses. I was simply presenting their words in the language of our times.
Indeed, the prescience of the Rebbe Rashab is even more astounding considering that the challenge of Islam would not rise till the end of the 20th century. In 1908 the long rule of the Ottoman Empire was dissolving giving way to the dominance of the Edomite West. Who could know at the time that the current challenge of Ishmael would reemerge several decades later, in a world ravaged from both World Wars?
The Rebbe Rashab’s foresight can be appreciated when we place things in context of the words of the Arizal cited in last week’s article: Following the Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian and Greek empires, the final stage of transforming the world consists of the refinement of the last two powers, Edom (Esau) and Ishmael, the Roman and Islamic empires (netzach and hod), which leads to the Messianic age – a world where all children of Abraham serve one G-d in peace and harmony.
The Arizal is saying that the last two millennia has essentially been dominated by the two powers of Rome, which refers to the general Western World, and Ishmael: From the first century and on Rome and its descendants ruled. Then, in the 7th century Islam rose to power. And the historical narrative ever since, till this very day, has been the confrontations between the West and Islam.
Even in 1908, with the fall of the Ishmaelite Ottoman Empire, the Rebbe Rashab recognized that the story with Ishmael was not over. It would take over a half century until the Arab/Muslim powers would rise again. Armed with rich energy resources – and the Western dependency/addiction to these resources – Ishmael would pose a formidable challenge to the West.
That is where we stand today: Edom and Ishmael are still at each other’s throats, with Israel always in middle of the fray.
Perhaps this helps explain the relevance of Edom and Ishmael to the year 1949, when the Rebbe Rayatz published his discourse on this subject: The Arab-Israeli War of 1948 marked the beginning of the new stage of conflict with Ishmael, since the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the early part of the century.
Thus, we see a pattern emerging: In 1908, when the Ottoman Empire began to dissolve and the stage was being set for the upcoming upheavals, the Rebbe Rashab delivered his discourse defining the historical and spiritual significance of the events to come. In 1924, with the dark clouds descending, the Rebbe Rayatz delivered the same discourse, with his unique additions (as discussed in last week’s article). Then in 1949, in the wake of untold destruction resulting from both World Wars, and following the Arab-Israeli War, the Rebbe Rayatz published the same discourse.
And to complete the cycle, listen to this: The late 70’s and early 80’s marked the beginning of the period, which has by now accelerated beyond anyone’s control, of the current confrontations involving Ishmael and Edom (the Western and Islamic civilizations). And true to form: In 1976 and then again in 1981, when the Ishmaelite powers began to rise (the first obvious Ishmael challenge to the West was the oil embargo in 1973-4, following the Yom Kippur war), the Rebbe (son-in-law and successor to the Rebbe Rayatz) delivers the same discourse, in his own unique style with new additions!
So where do we stand today?
We stand at the end of two thousand years of struggling with Edom and Ishmael, the forces of netzach and hod, and our mission has been defined and reinforced repeatedly – in 1908, 1924, 1949, 1976 and 1981:
We must stand resolute in our relentless pursuit of creating a better world; unwavering in our faith and commitment to fight for morality and virtue. We cannot allow anything to daunt us. This force of will determination is the only power that can vanquish the negative forces of netzach and hod, aggression and (misguided) faith, which terrorize the world.
In the face of passionate beliefs, we cannot afford to be passive bystanders, complacent and reactive; negative netzach and hod can only be countered with positive netzach and hod – an equal if not stronger, passionate embrace of our inner values.
And the end of the story?
In the words of the Midrash: (1)
The King of Poros (Ishmael) (2) will bring destruction to the entire world, and all the nations will be outraged and confused… and Jews will be outraged and confused and say: where shall we come and go, where shall we come and go? G-d will answer them: My children, do not be afraid. Everything I have done, I have done for you. Why are you afraid, do not fear, the time of your Redemption has arrived…
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(1) Midrash, Yalkut, Isaiah remez 499.
(2) Maharal, Netzach Yisroel ch. 21. Ner Mitzvah.
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Above are some thoughts to ponder as we enter the last days of Passover, which are related to the final redemption — as we read in the Haforah of the last day of Passover Isaiah’s eloquent description of the end of days. The Baal Shem Tov also instituted a custom to eat a final meal before sundown of the last day of Passover, called “Moshiach’s Meal.”
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Tags: conflict, Torah, religion, Middle East, Rabbi Simon Jacobson, Netzach, Hod, Rebbe Rashab, passover, spiritual, Rebbe Rayatz
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