The Gift

June 21st, 2015

Rabbi Akiva would say… All is foreseen, choice is granted, and the world is judged in kindness.

Ethics of the Fathers 3:15

These three points, expressed by Rabbi Akiva in one sentence, are interconnected.

The statement, “All is foreseen,” raises two questions. The most basic truth about G-d is that He is omnipotent: infinite, all-knowing, present and active in every point of time and space even as He transcends these parameters. But if such is the case, can man’s actions be the product of his independent choice? It’s not just a question of “If G-d knows what I’m going to do, how could I have chosen?”; the more basic problem is: “If G-d’s knowledge of the future is the product of His all-pervading and exclusive power, how can I possess any power that is not utterly subservient to His?”[1]

Yet the principle of free choice is basic to our very definition as moral beings. In the words of Maimonides, if man’s actions were not freely chosen:

“How could G‑d command us through the prophets ‘Do this’ and ‘Do not do this,’ ‘Improve your ways’ and ‘Do not follow your wickedness’…? What place would the entire Torah have? And by what measure of justice would G‑d punish the wicked and reward the righteous…?”[2]

How is this to be reconciled with the equally axiomatic principle of G-d’s omnipotence?

The second question raised by the statement “All is foreseen” is: if man is constantly under the scrutiny of G-d, how can he possibly maintain the standard of behavior that this demands? The Talmud says that to make a single superfluous gesture in the presence of a king is a capital offense.[3] If we are perpetually in the presence of the King of all kings, who is the man that might be found righteous before His exacting judgment?

It is to address these two questions that Rabbi Akiva adds:

“Choice is granted, and the world is judged in kindness.”

In answer to the first question, he says: “Choice is granted.” Indeed, man cannot possess any power or volition that is independent of G-d’s. But man does not intrinsically possess the capacity to freely determine his actions; rather, freedom of choice has been granted to man. G-d, who can do whatever He chooses, has given man a capacity that, in essence, belongs to Him alone.

To answer the second question, Rabbi Akiva says: “The world is judged in kindness.” It is true, in the words of the Alter Rebbe, that:

“G-d stands over [man], and the entire world is filled with His presence; He looks upon him, and searches his reins and heart, to see if he is serving Him as is fitting.”[4]

But it is also true according to Midrash that:

“G-d first wanted to create the world with the attribute of judgment, He saw that the world could not survive it; so He combined [the attribute of judgment] with the attribute of mercy”[5]

G-d also says:

“I do not demand of [My creatures] according to My capacity, but according to their capacity.”[6]

A person is always in the presence of G-d, at all times subject to the divine scrutiny and judgment; but this is a scrutiny sensitive to his limitations and vulnerabilities, a judgment tempered with empathy and kindness.

Based on the Rebbe’s talks, Shabbat Parshat Emor 5738 (May 20, 1978); Sivan 23, 5740 (June 7, 1980)[7]

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber

Tags: divine providence, judgment, justice, Rabbi Akiva, free choice, human behavior
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A Positive Conversation

June 19th, 2015

The following is a freely-translated excerpt from a letter by the Rebbe dated Purim, 5704 (1944):[17]

…There are several approaches to the endeavor of influencing one’s fellow and bringing him closer to Torah and the observance of mitzvot. Generally speaking, there are two basic methods:

a)      To describe to him the lowliness of man, the abhorrence and despicability of evil, the punishments of purgatory, etc. In other words, the emphasis is on what should be avoided. Basically, this is the approach of mussar (rebuke).

b)      To explain and expound upon the greatness of the Creator, the immensity of His works, the immeasurable loftiness of Torah and mitzvot, and the like. In other words, the emphasis is on what it is that one should bring oneself closer to. Basically, this is the approach of Chassidism.

One of the differences between these two approaches:

When one’s efforts to influence one’s fellow concentrate on matters of the first category–how terrible and bitter is the lot of the sinner, how lowly is the person who lusts after the pleasures of the material world, and the like–the only positive aspect of the discussion is the hope that this might cause one’s fellow to resume the right path. Aside from this hope, the discussion of these matters is not, in and of itself, a mitzvah.

On the other hand, the discussion of the concepts of the second category–understanding the processes of creation, “Know the G-d of your fathers,”[18] appreciating the unity of G-d–is itself a mitzvah, independently of its potential to influence one’s fellow…

Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Yanki Tauber

Tags: Yanki Tauber, Rebbe, good and evil, unity, fulfillment, love of G-d
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In Pursuit of the Divine

June 19th, 2015

And G-d spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying: speak to the children of Israel and tell them… for six years you may plant your fields, prune your vineyards and harvest your crops. But the seventh year is a year of resting for the land… you may not plant your fields nor prune your vineyards.

Leviticus 25:1- 4

Why is the commandment of shemittah [the law to rest the land every seven years] associated specifically with Mount Sinai; were not all of the commandments given at Mount Sinai? Rather the Torah is telling us that just as shemittah was taught at Mount Sinai both in a general manner and in specific detail, so too all of the mitzvot were taught at Mount Sinai both in a general manner and in specific detail.

Rashi on verse

We live in a time of unprecedented material prosperity and technological advancement. The benefits of these technologies affect every aspect of our lives, from education to entertainment, from business to health. As the computer/technology revolution propels us on a journey towards material and physical contentment, we may ask whether these advancements can in any way be integrated with spiritual growth. Many philosophies contend that spirituality is an ethereal, transcendental state, unencumbered by physicality and corporeality. Judaism however has a different perspective.

One

Twice daily we affirm G-d’s unity by proclaiming:

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One.”[1]

In reality, the meaning of G-d’s unity is not only that there are no other forces or powers existent in creation, but even more so, that there is nothing else which exists besides for Him, including creation itself.[2] Just as images conjured up in a person’s mind have no real existence of their own outside his mind and are all composed of the same substance called “thought,” the same is true regarding G-d and His creation: the totality of creation is merely the physical manifestation of Divine energy, which is the true and only “substance” in existence.

So although the world appears to be a viable reality, distinct from G-dliness, the very opposite in fact is true: the only reality is the Divine reality, of which the world is merely a projection. Just as G-d is utterly quintessential, having no beginning or end, creation similarly feels itself as a quintessential existence, without beginning or end. The reason why the world feels itself as a self-sustaining entity is that it in fact is nothing other than G-dliness.[3]

This then is the true meaning of the verse, “I am G-d; I have not changed.”[4] Many great philosophers have concluded, based on this statement, that after creating the world G-d promptly gave over its control to other forces.[5] It is impossible to say, they maintain, that G-d remains intimately involved with creation and yet is not affected by it. The mere notion that the Supreme Being, the Ultimate Truth, could even be associated with such a lowly, fragmented world evokes cries of protest. Accordingly, you can forget about miracles, Divine Providence, or anything of the sort.

In light of the above explanation, however, a completely different picture emerges. The reason why G-d is not affected by creation is not that He is completely detached from it; on the contrary, the fact that He and His creation are one is what makes it possible. Therefore, the meaning of G-d’s proclamation is: just as there existed only G-d before creation, the same holds true even after creation —there is still only one existence, that of G-d, for He is the very definition of existence, indeed, the substance of creation. Thus, nature itself is Divine; the very physicality of earth,
G-dly.

Excavation

These two perspectives differ not only ideologically, but practically as well.

How is one to attain spirituality? According to the philosophers, one must transcend the limitations of this world, essentially cutting oneself off from materiality to reach a sublime state conducive to spirituality. As long as one remains trapped within the confines of this world, they say, he will never truly experience spiritual fulfillment, for G-d is effectively “locked out” of His own creation.

Judaism teaches, however, that spirituality is realized not through leaving the natural order, but rather by peeling away the external layers of obscurity to reveal the Divinity inherent in creation, the G-dliness that is manifest expressly in this world. So while others believe that G-d and the world are contradictory and that the natural must be shunned to reach Divinity, we believe that G-d is not limited to the realm of the spirit, and is found in His creation as much as in the cosmos.

And this is the purpose of our existence, the why and wherefore of creation. Our sages explain:

“G-d desired to have an abode in the lower realms.”[6]

Our mission is not to create something that does not exist, rather to reveal the G-dliness that is already embedded within creation, to prove that there in fact is no dichotomy between spirit and matter, the infinite and the finite.

That is also why the mitzvot are primarily physical acts performed with physical objects, for it is only then that we are able to reveal how divinity exists within even the most mundane and material aspects of creation, which is the objective of our being.

Ground Work

Based on the above explanation we can better understand the statement of Rashi quoted at the beginning of this essay. Why did the Torah choose the mitzvah of shemittah, the obligation to refrain from all land-related work every seven years, as the basis of derivation that all of the mitzvot were taught at Mount Sinai both in a general manner and in specific detail? The Torah should have used a more “fundamental” mitzvah, such as giving charity or observing the Sabbath.

But in fact, it is specifically shemittah that expresses the whole purpose of the mitzvot. During the shemittah year, one was not permitted to work the land in any fashion. This expressed one’s complete faith and unwavering devotion to G-d, to trust that He would provide the necessary sustenance in an entirely supernatural way. Yet, in all other aspects, the seventh year was an ordinary one, for other forms of work could be performed; only the work pertaining to the land was prohibited.

This then epitomizes the concept of the mitzvot: to reveal the supernatural within the natural, the Divinity within the mundane, the spirit within the matter. This is why the mitzvah of shemittah is the source from which derive all of the other mitzvot, for it conceptualizes the purpose of mitzvot, and ultimately, the purpose of creation.[7] So the next time you have the opportunity to do a mitzvah, don’t pass up the chance, dismissing it as a trivial, meaningless act. Know that the whole journey, indeed, the single mission that unites all of mankind and the entire passage of history, is depending on it.

Based on addresses of the Rebbe given Shabbat Parshat Behar 5718 (1958) and on various other occasions[8]

Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Ari Sollish.

Tags: Shmittah, Ari Sollish, divine providence, body and soul, creation, mitzvot, spiritual and material, transcendence, Spirituality, truth
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Soldering Souls

June 18th, 2015

Welding is the art of joining two objects. By applying the heat of the torch, the previously separate entities fuse to one. However, it is of utmost importance that the surfaces to be welded be utterly free of all foreign substances; should the welder fail to remove the minutest bit of dirt or rust, the two parts will fail to bind or, at best, their union would be flimsy and temporary.

The same applies to man’s endeavor to cleave to his Maker. The fervor of prayer is a welder’s torch that fuses matter and spirit, heaven and earth, the mortal and the eternal; but one must take great care to first cleanse the union of all vestiges of grime and decay. For the bond to be true and enduring, it must be free of pride, strife and other elements inherently foreign to the soul of man.

Based on a saying by Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760), founder of Chassidism.

Tags: Baal Shem Tov, Power of Prayer, bonding
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Shoe Size

June 18th, 2015

The souls of all generations, say our sages, comprise a single body. The towering minds of history are its head, the passionate souls its heart, the great achievers its arms—each with its distinct function and role, each complementing and fulfilling the human mission in creation.

Our generation is referred to as the “feet of Moshiach.” This reflects the paradox of our lives: On the one hand, we are the lowliest of all generations, devoid of the understanding, the spiritual sensitivity and the great deeds of our illustrious forbearers. On the other hand, we are the final and culminating generation of history, upon which all else stands and moves; we live in a time when the footsteps of the approaching redeemer already reverberate through a world on the threshold of perfection.

Said Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok of Lubavitch: “Master of the Universe! A hat that is a size too small is uncomfortable, but tolerable. But a pinching shoe is pure torture. Perhaps earlier generations were better equipped to endure the pressures of history; but we, the lowly feet, can no longer suffer the pain. Please, go easy on us…”

Tags: spiritual, Rebbe Rayatz, Generations, exile, redemption, purpose
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The Soul Throws a Party

June 18th, 2015

Shabbos is the most spiritual day of the week. So why do we pleasure it with wine and meat?

Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov explained:

“Once there was a prince who was taken captive in a foreign land and thrown into a dungeon filled with common criminals. One day, after many months of no contact with home, he received a letter from his father the king.

“His heart was overflowing with joy. But how could he rejoice, alone, in this dismal place, amidst all this crudity and despair? So he procured a barrel of vodka and threw a party for the entire prison, so that they, too, would rejoice with him…”

Tags: joy, Baal Shem Tov, Shabbat, spiritual
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Mixed Feelings

June 18th, 2015

And Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they took hold of it, and grew and multiplied very much.

Genesis 47:27

Thus the Torah describes the beginnings of the first galut (exile) of the Jewish people, as Jacob and his seventy children and grandchildren relocated from the Holy Land and settled in the land of Egypt.

On the face of it, it was quite an agreeable beginning. One of their own, Joseph, was the de facto ruler of Egypt. Goshen, the choicest bit of Egyptian real estate, was theirs to settle. Settle it they did, finding it fertile soil for their individual and communal growth, in both the material and the spiritual sense.[1]

But the Hebrew word vayei’achazu in the above-quoted verse, which we have translated “and they took hold of it,” also translates as, “and they were held by it.” Both interpretations are cited by our sages: Rashi translates vayei’achazu as related to the word achuzah, “land holding” and “homestead”; the Midrash interprets it to imply that, “The land held them and grasped them … like a man who is forcefully held.”[2]

The Vehicle

A similar paradox describes Jacob’s feelings toward his new home. On the one hand, Jacob’s seventeen years in Egypt are considered to have been the best years of his life.[3] One the other hand, the Haggadah states that Jacob descended to Egypt “forced by the divine command.”

The Haggadah’s statement seems inconsistent with our sages’ depiction of Jacob as a merkavah (“chariot” or “vehicle”) of the divine will, whose “every limb was totally removed from physical concerns and served only as a vehicle to carry out G-d’s will every moment of his life.”[4] Would a merkavah feel “forced” to fulfill a divine command?

In truth, however, it was because Jacob was so absolutely attuned to the divine will that he felt forced into his exile in Egypt. For this is what G-d desires of us: that we should be fully invested in the endeavor to develop our galut environment, and at the same time experience a perpetual longing to escape it.

This duality defines our attitude toward galut. On the one hand, we know that no matter how hospitable our host-country may be, and no matter how we may flourish, materially and spiritually, on foreign soil, galut is a prison. We know that galut dims our spiritual vision, hinders our national mission, and compromises our connection with G-d. For only as a nation dwelling on our land with the Holy Temple as the divine abode in our midst can we perceive the divine presence in the world, fully realize our role as “a light unto the nations,”[5] and fully implement all the mitzvot of the Torah—the lifeblood of our relationship with G-d.

But we also know that we are in galut for a purpose. We know that we have been dispersed throughout the world in order to reach and influence the whole of humanity. We know that it is only through the wanderings and tribulations of galut that we access and redeem the “sparks of holiness”—those pinpoints of divine potential which lie scattered in the most forsaken corners of the globe.[6]

So galut is an achuzah in both senses of the word: a homestead to develop and a prison we must perpetually seek to escape. Indeed, it can only be the one if it is also the other. If we relate to galut solely as a prison, we will fail to properly utilize the tremendous opportunities it holds. But if we grow comfortable in this alien environment, we risk becoming part of it; and if we become part of the galut reality, G-d forbid, we could no more succeed in our efforts to develop and elevate it than the person who tries to lift himself up by pulling upwards on the top of his own head.

So when Jacob led the seventy members of his household—the seventy seedlings from which the Jewish nation was to grow—into Israel’s first exile, he did so as one “forced by the divine command.” As a divine “chariot,” Jacob had no will, desire or striving save the will of G-d. But Jacob knew that actually wanting to go to Egypt would undermine the very purpose of his mission there.

Jacob knew that the secret of Israel’s survival in exile is the refusal to become reconciled with it, the refusal to accept it as a state that is normal or acceptable—much less desirable—to the Jew. He knew that only he who remains an unwilling stranger to galut will succeed in mastering it as his “homestead” and exact from it a bountiful spiritual harvest.

Fear or Pain?

Therein lies the deeper significance of Rashi’s commentary on Genesis 46:3-4, where the Torah recounts how G-d appeared to Jacob on his way to Egypt and said to him: “Fear not to go down to Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation; I Myself will descend with you to Egypt, and I Myself will bring you up again.” Citing the words, “Fear not to go down to Egypt,” Rashi adds, “Because he was pained over the necessity to leave the [Holy] Land.”

On their most basic level of meaning, Rashi’s words come to explain the cause of Jacob’s fears and of his need for divine assurance. On a deeper level, Rashi is telling us why this fear was indeed not justified. G-d assured Jacob that he need not fear to go down to Egypt “because he was pained over the necessity to leave the [Holy] Land.” Because Jacob experienced pain over the need to leave the holy environment of the Land of Israel—because he would never feel at home on alien soil—this itself was the greatest guarantee that he and his descendants would survive the Egyptian exile and emerge triumphant from the challenges of galut.

Based on the Rebbe’s talks on Shabbat Vayigash 5725 (December 12, 1964) and on other occasions[7].

Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Yanki Tauber.

Tags: gallus, galut, Egypt, seder, raising the sparks, exile
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The Mysterious Sin

June 18th, 2015

When the prophet Jeremiah prophesied that the sins of Israel would bring about the destruction of the Holy Temple and their exile to Babylonia, he also predicted the duration of their punishment: “So said G-d: After seventy years in Babylonia, I shall remember you. I shall fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.”[8] But when the Second Temple was destroyed 420 years after their return from Babylonia, and the Jewish people were again driven from their land, no pre-set limit was given for their exile.

The Talmud offers the following explanation: “The first exiles, whose sins were known (for we read how the prophets rebuked them for idolatry, promiscuity and bloodshed), the limit of their exile was also known; the latter exiles, whose sin is not known, the limit of their exile is also unknown.”[9]

But on that very same page, the Talmud tells us that the Second Temple was destroyed because of “baseless hatred” between Jews. Why, then, are we told that their sin is unknown?

Said the Chassidic master, Rabbi Velvel of Zbaricz: Such is the nature of “baseless hatred.” Each side sees itself wholly in the right. It is the other who is the sinner, the other whose inflexibility is the cause of the dispute. So the strife and animosity go on without end, for one cannot rectify a situation for which there is no guilty party, and one cannot repent of a sin whose origin remains an utter mystery…

Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Yanki Tauber.

_____________________________________________

Tags: Beis Hamikdash, hate, exile, redemption
Posted in Weekly Parsha, Bereishit, Religion, Beliefs & Concepts, Exile, Spiritual, Torah, Vayigash | No Comments »

The Wealth of Nations

June 18th, 2015

And the entire world came to Egypt to Joseph to buy food, for the famine was severe in all lands…

And Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan (and all the gold and silver in the world[1]) for the food that they purchased; and Joseph brought the money to the house of Pharaoh.

Genesis 41:57, 47:14

For several weeks now, we have been following the story of Joseph: his sale into slavery, his imprisonment, his interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams, and his appointment as viceroy of Egypt; his management of Egypt’s crops in the seven years of plenty; his control of the entire food supply in the region in the years of hunger that followed, so that the wealth of Egypt and the surrounding lands was concentrated in his hands; his brothers’ journey to Egypt to purchase grain, the accusations he leveled against them, and his detention of Simon and then Benjamin.

This week, in the Torah portion of Vayigash (Genesis 44-4:18-47:27), comes the climax: Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers. They are speechless with shock and remorse, but he calms them and urges them to hurry back to Canaan and bring their father to Egypt. Father and son have an emotional reunion after 22 years of separation. Jacob and his household—seventy souls in all—settle in Egypt.

In Vayigash we are also told why all this came to pass. Joseph tells his brothers: “It is not you who have sent me here, but G-d…. Hurry and ascend[2] to my father, and say to him: So said your son, Joseph: ‘G-d has set me lord over all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. You will settle in the land of Goshen[3] and be near to me—you, your children and your children’s children, and your sheep and cattle, and all your possessions.’”[4]

In other words, all this was engineered by G-d in order that the Children of Israel should settle in Egypt.

Was there no other way to bring Jacob to Egypt? The Talmud explains: “Jacob might have had to be brought down to Egypt in chains, but he merited that [it should come about as described by the prophet:] ‘I[5] shall draw them with human cords, with ropes of love.…’”[6] The Midrash offers the following parable: “There was a cow that needed to be placed in a yoke that did not allow herself to be yoked. What did they do? They took her calf from her and led it to the place that they wanted her to plow. The calf began to bleat. When the cow heard her calf bleating, she went, in spite of herself, for the sake of her calf. In the same way, G-d wanted to fulfill the decree [of the Egyptian galut], so He contrived all these things so that [Jacob and his family] should come down to Egypt.”[7] “G-d said: ‘My firstborn child I shall take down [to Egypt] in disgrace? … I shall lead his son before him, and he will follow, in spite of himself.’”[8]

This explains why Joseph was made ruler of Egypt—so that Jacob’s descent there should not be as an exile in chains, but as the father of the most powerful man in the land. But why did Joseph’s rise to power come about the way it did? Why the seven years of plenty, the years[9] of hunger that followed, and the concentration of all the gold and silver in the world in Egypt—events that affected the lives of millions of people?

The Business End of Exile

In the writings of our sages, the word “Egypt” is a synonym for the very phenomenon of galut (exile).[10] For although the Egyptian galut lasted only 210 years (our present galut, in contrast, is in its 1,930th year), it was the most significant of the four galuyot[11] experienced by the Jewish people. Egypt was the “smelting pit” that forged the descendants of Jacob into a nation. It was the father and prototype of all subsequent exiles, containing the seeds of every Jewish experience under foreign rule.

One of the curious things about the Egyptian galut is the importance attached to the material wealth that the Jewish people carried out of Egypt. In the covenant G-d made with Abraham, the Egyptian galut is described as follows: “Know thee that your children shall be strangers in a foreign land, [where] they will be enslaved and tortured … and afterwards they will go out with great wealth.”

The “great wealth” promised to Abraham is a recurrent theme in the account of the Exodus—to the extent that one gets the impression that this was the purpose of Israel’s stay in Egypt. In G-d’s very first communication to Moses, when He revealed Himself to him in the burning bush and charged him with the mission of taking the Jewish people out of Egypt, He makes sure to include the promise that “when you go, you will not go empty-handed. Every woman shall ask from her neighbor, and from her that dwells in her house, vessels of gold and vessels of silver and garments … and you shall drain Egypt [of its wealth].”[12] During the plague of darkness, when the entire land of Egypt was plunged in a darkness so thick that the Egyptians could not budge from their places, the Jewish people—whom the plague did not affect—were able to move about freely inside the Egyptians’ homes; this was in order that they should be able to take an “inventory” of the wealth of Egypt, so that the Egyptians could not deny the existence of any valuable objects the Jews asked for when they left Egypt.[13] Prior to the Exodus, G-d again says to Moses: “Please, speak into the ears of the people, that each man ask his [Egyptian] fellow, and each woman her fellow, for vessels of silver and gold.” G-d is literally begging the Children of Israel to take the wealth of Egypt!

The Talmud explains that the Jewish people were disinclined to hold up their exit from Egypt in order to gather its wealth. “To what is this comparable? To a man who is locked up in prison and is told: ‘Tomorrow you shall be freed from prison and given a lot of money.’ Says he: ‘I beg you, free me today, and I ask for nothing more.’” So G-d had to beseech them: “Please! Ask the Egyptians for gold and silver vessels, so that the Righteous One (Abraham) should not say: He fulfilled that ‘They will be enslaved and tortured,’ but He did not fulfill ‘and afterwards they will go out with great wealth.’”[14] But would not Abraham have also been prepared to forgo the promise of “great wealth” to hasten the redemption of his children?

The Glitter in the Gold 

The Talmud states that “The people of Israel were exiled amongst the nations only so that converts may be added to them.”[15] On the most basic level, this is a reference to the many non-Jews who, in the course of the centuries of our dispersion, have come in contact with the Jewish people and have been inspired to convert to Judaism. But Chassidic teaching explains that the Talmud is also referring to “souls” of a different sort that are transformed and elevated in the course of our exiles: the “sparks of holiness” contained within the physical creation.[16]

Every object, force and phenomenon in existence has a spark of G-dliness within it: a spark that embodies its function within His overall purpose for creation and G-d’s desire that it exist, and a pinpoint of divinity that constitutes its “soul”—its spiritual content and design.

Every object, force and phenomenon in existence has a spark of G-dliness within it: a spark that embodies its function within His overall purpose for creation and G-d’s desire that it exist, and a pinpoint of divinity that constitutes its “soul”—its spiritual content and design.  When man utilizes something to serve his Creator, he penetrates its shell of mundanity, revealing and realizing its divine essence. It is to this end that we have been scattered across six continents: so that we may come in contact with the sparks of holiness that await redemption in every corner of the globe.

Every soul has its own “sparks,” which actually form an integral part of itself—no soul is complete until it has redeemed those sparks related to its being. Thus a person moves through life, impelled from place to place and from occupation to occupation by seemingly random forces; but everything is by divine providence, which guides every man to those possessions and opportunities whose essence is intimately connected with his.

(These consist of two general types, alluded to in the verse, “Every woman shall ask from her neighbor and from her that dwells in her house, vessels of gold and vessels of silver.”

Every soul has permanent “dwellers in her house”—constant, routine involvements, dictated by its natural talents and inclinations. It also has “neighbors” or casual acquaintances—the “chance encounters” of life, in which it comes in fleeting contact with something, unintentionally, or even unwillingly. Both of these, however, must be exploited as a source of “gold” and “silver.” The very fact that a certain resource or opportunity has presented itself to a person indicates that it constitutes part of his mission in life; that it is the purpose of his galut or subjugation to that particular corner of the material world. It is he, and he alone, who can redeem the spark it contains by utilizing it toward a G-dly end.[17])

Thus the Torah relates how Jacob risked his life to retrieve some “small jugs” he had left behind after crossing the Yabbok River upon his return to the Holy Land.[18] “The righteous,” remarks the Talmud, “value their possessions more than their bodies.”[19] For they recognize the divine potential in every bit of matter, and see in each of their possessions a component of their own spiritual integrity.

Mass Exodus

The Egyptian galut was the father and prototype of all galuyot. It was a highly concentrated period of history, in which the foundations were laid for all that was to unfold in subsequent centuries. The Kabbalists tell us that the material world contains 288 general “sparks” (each of which includes innumerable offshoots and particles); of these, 202 were taken out of Egypt,[20] redeemed and elevated when the Jewish people carried off its wealth, leaving it “like a silo emptied of its grain and a pond emptied of its fish.”[21] (This means that the thirty-three centuries of Jewish history that followed, with all the trials and tribulations they contained, represent the effort to redeem the remaining 86 “sparks”!) It was to set the stage for this mass redemption that Joseph concentrated the wealth of all surrounding nations in Egypt.

The lesson in this to each and every one of us is that we must recognize our G-d-given opportunities and resources as integral to our mission in life. One might be inclined to escape galut by enclosing himself in a cocoon of spirituality, devoting his days and nights to Torah study and prayer. But instead of escaping galut, he is only deepening his entrenchment within it, having abandoned his sparks of holiness—limbs of his own soul—in the wasteland of unrefined materiality.

It is only by meeting the challenges that divine providence sends our way, by utilizing every bit of material “gold” and “silver” toward a G-dly end, that we extricate these sparks from their galut, achieve a personal redemption, and hasten the universal redemption when “the great shofar shall be sounded, and the lost shall come from the lands of plenty, and the forsaken from the lands of stricture, and they shall bow to G-d on the Holy Mountain in Jerusalem.”[22]

Based on an address by the Rebbe,  Passover 5721 (1961)[23].

Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Yanki Tauber.

Tags: Egypt, Moshiach, Jacob, burning bush, Joseph, soul, exile, redemption
Posted in Bereishit, Biblical, Weekly Parsha, Beliefs & Concepts, Personal Life, Torah Personalities, Exile, Moshiach & Redemption, Torah, Joseph, Vayigash | No Comments »

The Eastern Colonists

June 18th, 2015

The children of Reuben and the children of Gad possessed much cattle; and they saw the land of Ya’zer and the land of Gilead, and behold, it was a land for pasture… And they said [to Moses]: “If we have found favor in your eyes, may this land be given to your servants for a possession—do not take us across the Jordan… We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our children.”

Numbers 32:1, 5, 16

They spoke first of their cattle, and only then of their children. Said Moses to them: Not so! Make the primary thing primary, and the secondary thing secondary.

Rashi to verse 16

In the writings of Chassidism, a question is asked about the nature of human nutrition: why does man derive his vitality from animals, plants and minerals? How is it that the highest life-form in the physical world can be sustained by these lowlier existences?

The Chassidic masters explain that the vital potential contained in the so-called “lower” tiers of creation is in fact loftier than man’s own vital force. At the heart of every being is a “spark of G-dliness” which gives it existence and imbues it with its particular qualities. And the “lowlier” a thing is, the loftier its spiritual core. When a wall collapses, the uppermost stones fall the furthest; similarly, in the “collapse” of the primordial world of tohu,[1] the loftiest sparks of the divine creative force fell farthest from their source and were incarnated within the most mundane creations.

To our eyes, man is the most spiritual of earthly creatures, the animal exhibits a more sophisticated vitality than the plant, and the mineral shows no outward signs of “life” at all. In essence, however, the sublimity of the spark of divine life in a thing is in converse relation to its manifest spirituality. Thus the mineral nourishes the vegetable, both nourish the animal, and all three sustain human life.

However, only man has the capacity to direct the vital energy in himself toward a G-dly end. For man alone has been granted the gift of free choice. The animal, vegetable or mineral cannot sin; their conformity with the divine will is automatic and inevitable, and thus devoid of moral significance. Only man can elect to do good; only man can, by the force of his deeds, transcend the creature state to achieve intimacy with the Divine.

So when man consumes the resources of the physical world, a bilateral transformation takes place. The slice of bread, piece of meat, or glass of water confer their superior vitality to the person, imparting to him a spiritual potential which he does not himself possess. At the same time, if the person utilizes this vitality to perform a mitzvah, a divine deed, he elevates the plant, animal or mineral he has consumed, releasing its vital soul from its mundane encasement and reuniting it with its divine source.

Moses Reconsiders

In the 32nd chapter of Numbers, the Torah describes how the Jewish tribes of Reuben and Gad came to settle the land east of the Jordan River.

The children of Israel were en route to the land of Canaan when they were attacked by the armies of Sichon and Og, whose domain lay on the eastern bank of the Jordan. Moses led the Israelites into battle, defeated the two kings and conquered their land. The tribes of Gad and Reuben, who owned much sheep and cattle, asked that they be given these territories, which were prime pastureland, in lieu of their allotment in the land of Canaan, which lay to the west of the Jordan.

Moses was extremely upset by their request. Forty years earlier, he reminded them, the people of Israel had been poised to enter the land of Canaan. But following a negative report by the spies sent to scout the land—they described it as a “land that consumes its settlers”[2]—the children of Israel spurned the land promised to their ancestors as the eternal heritage of Israel. G-d decreed that they remain in the desert for forty years, until that entire generation died out and a new generation, prepared to accept the gift and challenge of the Promised Land, arose. And now, said Moses to the Reubenites and the Gadites, you are repeating the sin of the Spies—a sin which condemned an entire generation and stopped Jewish history in its tracks for forty years. Like your parents before you, you are declining to take possession of the land deeded to you by divine decree.

How did the two tribes respond to this accusation? They assured Moses that they planned to settle and develop the land east of the Jordan, building “sheepfolds for our flocks and cities for our children.” They also promised that they would enter the land of Canaan together with the other tribes of Israel and aid them in its conquest; indeed, they would march at the head of the army and bear the brunt of the battle. Only after the land west of the Jordan had been conquered and settled by the other tribes would they return to the lands allotted them in the east.

But how does any of this answer Moses’ complaint to them? While perhaps a fitting response to Moses’ opening words (“Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here?”), it doesn’t seem to address the main point of Moses’ critisicm—that, like an earlier generation of Jews, they were spurning the divine mission to settle the land of Canaan. Surprisingly, however, Moses accepted their proposal and gave them the territories which they requested. He even arranged, at his own initiative, that half of the tribe of Manasseh should join the tribes of Reuben and Gad in settling the lands east of the Jordan.

Why this dramatic shift in Moses’ view on the Jewish settlement of the eastern territories? If the two tribes’ petition initially struck him as reminiscent of the sin of the Spies, what convinced him to endorse their plan and even expand on it?

A Shepherd’s Insight

Chassidic teaching explains the sin of the Spies as resulting from their reluctance to involve themselves with the mundanities of material life. The Jews in the desert led a wholly spiritual existence: manna from heaven sustained them, miraculous water from the “well of Miriam” slaked their thirst, and the “clouds of glory” protected them and preserved their clothes. But they knew that once they crossed into the land of Canaan the manna would cease, and they would be required to till the soil and grow natural grain; the “well of Miriam” would leave them, and they would be required to dig wells and cisterns; the clouds of glory would evaporate, and they would be required to weave cloth, tan hides and raise an army to defend their borders. Their spiritual commune would be replaced by a state of farmers, artisans, merchants and bureaucrats.

They wanted no part of that. Never mind that the material existence contains sparks of divine energy far loftier than anything their own spiritual lives could actualize; never mind that a symbiotic relationship with the land could unleash the most potent potentials invested by G-d in His creation. The risks were simply too great. “It is a land that consumes its settlers!” How could they be sure that once they involved themselves with the land, they would not be overwhelmed by its corporeality? How could they know whether they would indeed exploit its lofty potential and not instead sink into the morass of material life?

But unlike the generation of the Spies, it was not the dread of the material that drove the tribes of Gad and Reuben to ask for the territories east of the Jordan. On the contrary: they wanted to settle this land, to build cities and ranches, to raise their sheep and cattle on its pastures. Their plea, “Do not take us across the Jordan” did not express a reluctance to seek out the “sparks” buried in the land, but an attraction to even more remote—and thus even loftier—pinpoints of divine energy.

After all, the land west of the Jordan, though material, was the “Holy Land”—a land where even the most mundane pursuits are tinged with a spiritual glow. Outside of the Holy Land, the physical world is more lowly, and thus contains sparks that derive from an even higher source. The tribes of Reuben and Gad were convinced that their mission in life was to pursue, extract and elevate the sparks inherent in this more spiritually distant  corner of creation.

So they said to Moses: “We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle and cities for our children.” You accuse us of emulating our fathers by shunning the land; but what we desire is the very opposite of disinvolvement from the material resources of G-d’s world. We wish to engage in the development of an even more mundane domain—the territories that lie beyond the borders of the most sacred of lands as defined by our present mandate from G-d.[3]

This is why the Reubenites and the Gadites spoke first of the corrals they would construct for their flocks, and only then of the cities they would build for their children. Would it not have been more appropriate (as Moses indeed points out to them) to speak of the human beings under their care before their animals? But this, too, was in keeping with the nature of their petition to Moses. The tribes of Reuben and Gad were motivated by the knowledge that the most sublime deposits of divine energy are buried in the lowliest of places—an insight they gained from their vocation as shepherds, in which they recognized that the spark of divine life in the animal hails from a loftier place than that of the human being.[4]

The Dynamics of Need

But simply recognizing the lofty potential in a lowly place is not enough. Not every soul can venture to any place with a mind to extracting the sparks of divinity enmeshed therein. G-d Himself delineated the limits of our capacity to sublimate the material, by decreeing, in His Torah, the 365 prohibitions which proscribe all involvement with those substances, resources and experiences that are beyond our ability to redeem. Even in the realm of the permissible, one must employ great caution as to where one treads to ensure that one is indeed capable of extracting a divine potential without falling prey to its corporeal embodiment.

The Spies were wrong to doubt their ability to develop the land of Canaan. G-d had explicitly charged them with that mission, and G-d certainly knows the limits and the capacities of each of His creatures. But the territories desired by the tribes of Reuben and Gad were not part of the divine mandate to settle the land; how, then, could they know that they were equal to the challenge of this spiritually remote domain?

The first rule of material life (after distinguishing between the permissible and the forbidden) is to distinguish between the necessary and the superfluous. If a certain material resource represents a critical need for a person, he can assume that he is capable of exploiting its G-dly potential; for if divine providence has so ordered a person’s life as to make necessary his involvement with a particular thing, G-d has also provided him with whatever it takes to properly deal with it.[5] On the other hand, when something is a luxury, serving to enhance rather than support life, a person must be especially wary of involvement, lest he be consumed and coarsened by that which he is attempting to consume and sublimate.

Thus the people of Reuben and Gad said to Moses: “The land which G-d has vanquished before the congregation of Israel is land for cattle-grazing, and your servants have cattle.”[6] Divine providence has dictated that we earn our living by raising cattle, making this land perfectly suited to our material needs; we are therefore confident that we possess the capacity to properly develop it and exploit its lofty potential.

Spiritual Training

But even after a person has identified a particular corner of the material world as his to develop, he must first “prove himself” by constructively relating to its more refined areas of creation.

This is the deeper significance of “education”: before a human being is thrust into a coarse and mundane world, he is placed within a spiritual environment of ideas and values, so that even when he ventures forth into material life, his primary point of reference remains spiritual. This is why Israel’s entry into the land had to be preceded by a period of spiritual existence in the desert.

And before the tribes of Reuben and Gad could settle the land east of the Jordan, they had to participate in the conquest of the holier land to its west. Indeed, because of the greater challenge posed by the eastern territories, their commitment to the Holy Land had to exceed even that of the tribes that were to settle in the west. Only after they had fought in the frontlines of the battles for the Holy Land and aided their brethren in settling it, could they be certain of their ability to take on the challenge of a more mundane land and unearth its lofty potential.

Based on an entry in the Rebbe’s journal, dated “Mattot, Vichy”[7]

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber

Tags: mission, nature, education, Spirituality, animal, Moses, human being, free will, Divine, deed, manna, material, sparks, Holy Land, the twelve tribes
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