March 23rd, 2015
And I beseeched G-d, at that time, saying: “L-rd G-d, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness…”
Deuteronomy 3:23
Said Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov:
Moses was G-d’s faithful servant, the greatest of the prophets, the recipient of the Torah from G-d. And after one hundred and twenty of the most G-dly life ever lived, he sees himself as only beginning his relationship with the Almighty…
Tags: relationships, old age, Moses, Baal Shem Tov
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March 23rd, 2015
Remember what Amalek did to you, on the way, when you were leaving Egypt…
Deuteronomy 25:17-9
Said Rabbi Yosef Yitchak of Lubavitch:
The numerical value (gematria) of the Hebrew word amalek is 240, the same as that of the word safek, “doubt.”
All things holy are certain and absolute. Torah is absolute, the mitzvot are absolute, divine providence is absolute. Amalek is doubt. Baseless, irrational doubt that cools the fervor of holiness with nothing more than a cynical shrug.
Tags: doubt, Amalek, absolute truth, gematria
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March 23rd, 2015
Three cities you shall set aside within the land that the L-rd your G-d is giving you as an inheritance… and they shall be for all murderers to escape to. This is the murderer who shall flee there, and live: one who strikes his fellow unintentionally…
Deuteronomy 19:2-4
And for one who did not lie in wait [to kill premeditatedly], but G-d has caused it to happen to him, I shall establish for you a place to which he can flee
Exodus 21:13
The unintentional murderer is not innocent. He is guilty of criminal negligence—negligence which has resulted in the destruction of a life. But for his sake, G-d commanded that “cities of refuge” should be established in the Holy Land. Cities to serve him both as a haven and as a place of exile; cities to which he is banished to atone for his deed as well as to rebuild his life anew.
There are cities of refuge in space, and there is a city of refuge in time. And while the spatial cities of refuge await the coming of Moshiach and the restoration of Torah law in the Holy Land to be reinstated, the haven in time that G-d has established for us in the calendar is there for us at all times, under all conditions.
This haven in time is the month of Elul—the last month of the Jewish year and the month that leads to the “Days of Awe” that commence the new year. This is alluded to in one of the verses that discuss the law of the “cities of refuge”: as master Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria[8] points out, the first letters of the Hebrew words inah l’yado v’samti lach (“…has caused it to happen to him, I shall establish for you…”—Exodus 21:13) are alef,lamed, vav, lamed, which spell the word “Elul.”[9]
The Accidental Sinner
Elul is the month that Moses spent atop Mount Sinai as G-d reconciled Himself with His people after they had betrayed their covenant with Him by worshipping the Golden Calf. By divine command, Moses had hewn two tablets of stone and brought them to the top of the mountain; there G-d inscribed upon them the Ten Commandments that encapsulate His covenant with Israel to replace the original “Tablets of the Covenant” that were broken in the aftermath of Israel’s sin. After forty days, which included the whole of Elul and culminated in Yom Kippur, G-d uttered the fateful words, “I have forgiven, as you request,” thus establishing the precedent for teshuvah—for man’s ability to rectify an iniquitous past and establish it as the base for a renewed and invigorated relationship with G-d.[10]
Ever since, the month of Elul has been the “city of refuge” for all “inadvertent murderers” who seek the protection of its walls. For every transgression against the will of G-d is, by definition, an act of “inadvertent murder”: murder, because one has violated the essence and raison d’êtreof one’s own life; inadvertent, because man is inherently and intrinsically good, and all evil deeds result only from a lapse of awareness of one’s own true will. In the words of our sages, “A person does not sin unless a spirit of insanity has entered into him.”[11]
The twenty-nine days of Elul offer an isle in time, a sanctum for introspection and self-assessment, for atonement and rehabilitation. It is a place to which we might exile ourselves from our subjugation to the struggles and entanglements of material life to audit our spiritual accounts and restore the sovereignty of our true will over our lives. It is a month in which to resolve that, henceforth, no accidental iniquity will mar the quintessential goodness of our soul.
Based on the Rebbe’s talks on Shabbat Mevarchim Elul, 5711 (1951), and on other occasions[12]
Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber
[8]. The “Holy Ari,” 1534-1572.
[9]. Shaar HaPesukim, Parashat Mishpatim.
[10]. Rashi, Exodus 33:11.
[12]. Likkutei Sichot, vol. II, pp. 623-626; et al.
Tags: Jewish law, cities of refuge, repentance, good and evil, teshuvah, free will
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March 23rd, 2015
You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep go astray and ignore them; return them to your brother… So shall you do with his ass, so shall you do with his garment, and so shall you do with every lost thing of your brother…
Deuteronomy 22:1-3
Obviously, the duty to return a lost object to its owner is not limited to oxen, sheep, asses and garments, but applies—as the verse concludes—to “every lost thing of your brother.” The Talmud explains that the Torah cites these examples because each of them teaches us another of the laws regarding lost objects.[1] However, while it deciphers the laws to be derived from “ox,” “ass” and “garment,” it does not succeed to do so in the case of the “sheep.” “The lost sheep is a difficulty,” it concludes the Talmud, meaning that the legal significance of the word “sheep” in the verse proved difficult for the sages.[2]
The Zohar tells us that the Torah has both a body and a soul. The “body” of the Torah is its “physical” part—the historical events it recounts and the laws it legislates. But implicit in this body is a “soul,” a mystic dimension in which every story has its sublime analogy and every legal nuance its spiritual counterpart.
Accordingly, the mitzvah of returning a lost object applies not only to the physical property of one’s fellow but to his spiritual possessions as well. If you encounter a life gone astray—a confused mind, a dysfunctional heart, a soul that has lost its moral compass or spiritual sensitivity—restore it to its owner. You may not remain indifferent to the spiritual plight of a brother any more than you may ignore his wayward ox.
Specifically, the four examples of “lost objects” enumerated by Torah correspond to four prototypical maladies of the human soul.
The ox is a powerful and volatile beast. When provoked, it is virtually unstoppable. One moment it is grazing quietly; the next, it is a thousand pounds of charging flesh and brawn, crashing through everything in its path. We all know its spiritual cousin: the contrary, opinionated brute who lashes out at anything that is disagreeable to him or challenges the tranquillity of his mastication.
When the ass rebels against its master, it doesn’t rage and gore—it digs in its heels and coldly disregards its master’s commands, pleas, even the blows raining down on its back. Spiritually, the obstinate ass is worse than the raging bull. The “ox” at least responds; the fact that he is provoked means that he has been challenged. On the other hand, coldness and indifference signify a greater distance from holiness and truth.[3]
The “garment” represents an even more noxious spiritual malady. The Hebrew word for garment, beged, is related to begidah, “treachery.” The antagonistic ox and the indifferent ass might resist or ignore their master, but they do not hide behind a contrived identity. The beged personality is one who misleads others—and worse yet, himself—as to where his loyalty lies, making it far more difficult for him to own up to his behavior and rectify it.
Useful Deficiencies
And then there is the sheep—a creature characterized by meekness and docility. While this might seem a lesser ill than the previous three, it is the most difficult to overcome. A person who fights, ignores or even betrays his G-d can come to recognize the truth and rectify his behavior. But you cannot convince the “sheep” of the error of his ways—he fully agrees with you. You cannot fan the flames of his heart—he is already fired with inspiration. He knows the truth, he cares about the truth, he desires to do what is right—but he is too timid to do anything about it.
This is the deeper significance of the Talmud’s words, “The lost sheep is a difficulty.” Regarding the “ox,” “ass” or “garment,” there are ways of dealing with a soul’s loss. But what is to be done with the “sheep”? Here the Talmud has no formula, no logistic solution.
Nevertheless, the Torah commands: “Return them to your brother!” Every spiritual loss is recoverable, every deficiency can be transformed into a positive force. An ox run amok is a destructive force, but when properly harnessed and channeled, its passion diverted to holy ends, “Much grain yields the might of the ox.”[4] The obstinacy of the ass, properly sublimated, translates into endurance and perseverance in remaining true to one’s mission and G-d in the face of trial and difficulty.[5] Treachery, too, has its positive uses; physical life is itself an act of subterfuge on the part of the soul, who assumes a material body and identity only to exploit them to serve its spiritual goals.[6]
And the meekness of the sheep, no matter how difficult a problem it poses, can also be reclaimed as a virtue. Meekness can be recast as self-abnegation to G-d—a self-abnegation that spawns not the passivity and resignation of the lost sheep but the resolute and uncompromising activism of he who has surrendered his ego and its encumbrances to serve an omnipotent master.
Based on the Rebbe’s talks, Tishrei 5715 (October 1954)[7]
Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber
[1]. For example, the word “garment” teaches us that a person is only obligated to return an object that has identifying marks or characteristics (simanim) by which the owner can prove it is his (a garment is an object that can always be identified by size, color, material, and the like). If someone finds something that has no siman (such as loose coins or fruit) he is not obligated to return it, even if he knows who lost it, because it is assumed that the owner has relinquished all hope of recovering it.
[2]. Talmud, Bava Metzia 27a.
[3]. Cf. Talmud, Shabbat 53a: “A donkey is cold even in the height of summer.”
[5]. Thus Jacob blessed the tribe of Issachar with the ability to pursue the study of Torah with the endurance of an ass (Genesis 49:14; Rashi on verse).
[6]. This is the deeper significance of Jacob dressing himself in Esau’s clothes to receive the blessings of “the dew of the heavens and the fat of the land,” as related in Genesis 27.
[7]. Likkutei Sichot, vol. I, pp. 155-158.
Tags: garments, lost objects, Talmud, Jewish law, animals, ego, humility
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March 23rd, 2015
A rabbi once rebuked a rich miser for not being more helpful to his poor relations. “I remembered them generously in my will,” the man defended himself.
“And during your lifetime, must they starve?” asked the rabbi.
“But that, precisely, is the problem,” said the miser. “I have retired from my business. What if I live a very long time? I fear that my money will run out.”
Later that day, the rabbi had some words of rebuke for another member of his community. “Your children complain that you give away every penny you earn to charity, without a thought to your own financial future.”
“But rabbi,” said the generous soul, “what if I die today? I can’t afford to put money away. I must do all the good I can while I still have the chance!”
Recalling these two conversations, the rabbi told his students: “Everyone is afraid of something. Today I met two people, one of whom was afraid that he’d live a long life, while the other was afraid that he’d die young. And both were doing everything in their power to prevent their fears from coming to pass….”
Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber
Tags: old age, money, charity, tzedakah, fear, rebuke
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March 23rd, 2015
The following is a freely-translated excerpt from a letter written to a chassid living in a midwestern US city by the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, during his year-long visit to the United States in 1929-1930:[17]
…The people of your community made a most positive impression on me. I enjoyed seeing the arousal of the inner vitality and sensitivity [of the Jewish soul], which, though it is covered with the dust of the roadways of life and enveloped in the cloak of material cares, glitters “through the lattice,”[18] making it an easy matter, with the help of G-d, to awaken it and bring it forth from concealment to revelation.
In every Torah-knowledgeable Jew, the divine lamp [of Torah] illuminates the darkness of his material self, so that he may contemplate the purpose of his being upon this earth, what it is that G-d desires of him in the mission He entrusted to his soul, and what is the purpose of his wanderings from land to land.
For can it be that it was solely for the sake of bread and meat, for the feeding of your own body or the sustaining of your household, that G-d has driven you from the land of your birth and dwelling, distanced you from your parents, your family and the graves of your grandparents, placed in your hand the wanderer’s staff, and dispatched you to a foreign land and alien environment where you have neither friend nor acquaintance? Can it be that all this was merely to provide forage for your flesh?
Can any man imagine that the Almighty G-d, who feeds and sustains every creature and provides a livelihood for every living thing—who provides nourishment to a worm residing in a barren wilderness—would so trouble the most select of His creations only to obtain its daily bread?
Certainly what we are witnessing is G-d’s guidance of the steps of man, for each and every Jew is an instrument in the hands of the Divine Providence.
We know what our sages have said[19] regarding the verse, “The charity of His dispersion of Israel”[20]—that G-d has done a kindness to the people of Israel in dispersing them amongst the nations. For if the people of Israel, their Torah and faith are persecuted, G-d forbid, in one country, the strengthening of Torah learning in another country, besides illuminating its own place with its goodly light, also strengthens and empowers those who find themselves under siege and oppression, G-d forbid, to hold their own, overpower their adversaries and fulfill the Torah and its commandments with great sacrifice….[21]
Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber
[17]. The letter was written in Chicago on the 17th of Adar, 5690 (March 17, 1930), and refers to an address the Rebbe delivered in the recipient’s hometown about a week earlier; thus the letter is probably to a chassid living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which the Rebbe visited on March 10.
[18]. Cf. Song of Songs 2:9.
[19]. Talmud, Pesachim 87b.
[21]. Igrot Kodesh Maharayatz, vol. II, pp. 241-242.
Tags: light and darkness, exile, anti-semitism, self-sacrifice, spiritual and material, education, divine providence
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March 23rd, 2015
If a man takes a wife and cohabits with her, and it comes to pass that she does not find favor in his eyes because he discovers in her a promiscuous matter – he should write her a writ of divorce and give it into her hands, and send her away from his house
Deuteronomy 24:1
It was a vanquishing reply that the community of Israel gave to the prophet: … “If a wife is divorced by her husband, do they have any further claim on each other?”
Talmud, Sanhedrin 105a
While the Torah sanctions divorce, it also expresses how negative and undesirable is the dissolution of a marriage. The Torah calls for divorce only in the case of “a promiscuous matter” – an act of unfaithfulness or other moral offense. Indeed, there is an opinion – held by the School of Shammai – that this constitutes the sole grounds for divorce. But also the sages of the School of Hillel, who allow divorce on other grounds as well, agree that “When a person divorces his first wife, even the Altar [in the Holy Temple] sheds tears on his account.”[1]
In light of this, a certain curiosity of Torah law is even more astonishing. The Torah devotes a full section (Deuteronomy 24:1-4) to detail the procedures of divorce. The laws of marriage, however, are derived from hints and allusions inserted within the very verses which specify the laws of divorce![2] Could not the Torah have chosen a more appropriate way to convey its conception of marriage?
The emphasis placed on the seriousness of ending a marriage also shows why divorce involves far more than the simple decision to separate. Once a marriage begins to break down, there can be difficult questions about children, finances, property, living arrangements, and the legal steps required to formally end the relationship. Even when both spouses want to move forward, reaching fair arrangements can take time and may require a clear understanding of their rights and responsibilities. This is where seeking guidance from family lawyers can help people understand the legal side of separation and make informed decisions about matters that affect both spouses and their children.
Having proper legal guidance can be particularly important when there is disagreement over property, financial support, or parenting arrangements, since these issues can continue long after the decision to divorce has been made. A careful process can help reduce unnecessary conflict while ensuring that the practical consequences of ending a marriage are properly addressed.
One area that may require immediate attention is the safety of children when serious concerns arise during or after a separation. While many custody matters are handled through the regular family court process, circumstances involving potential harm, abuse, neglect, or another urgent threat may require a parent to seek a faster court response.
In such situations, understanding how an emergency custody request works and what circumstances may support one becomes important, particularly when waiting for a standard custody hearing could leave the child in a vulnerable position. Johnson Law Group may be consulted when a parent needs to understand the legal process surrounding an emergency custody order and the information that may need to be presented to the court. The focus in these cases remains on addressing the immediate concern while also considering how longer-term custody arrangements should be handled once the urgent situation has been addressed.
Once the immediate safety concerns have been addressed, parents may also need to work through the financial responsibilities that continue after separation. Child support helps cover a child’s everyday needs, including food, clothing, education, healthcare, and other living expenses, but determining the amount can involve several factors.
Parents may need to understand how their incomes, custody arrangements, and eligible expenses affect the final calculation. Learning How to calculate child support can provide a clearer picture of the financial obligations involved, particularly when parents are adjusting to separate households and new budgets. Family law guidance, such as that provided by Lancaster Law, can help explain how child support is determined and what financial information may be needed during the process. Establishing a fair arrangement helps keep the child’s needs at the centre of financial decisions while giving both parents a clearer understanding of their ongoing responsibilities.
Mirror Realities
“The Torah speaks of the physical reality,” writes Nachmanides, “and alludes to the supernal reality.”[3] The Torah speaks of the physical reality—it recounts the history of the physical world, mankind and the people of Israel, and legislates the laws of physical life. But each of its stories and laws is also a description of a supernal reality—of a particular aspect of the relationship between the Creator and His creation.
The Kabbalist Rabbi Menachem Azariah of Fano takes this a step further. “The Torah speaks of the supernal reality,” he writes, “and alludes to the physical reality.”[4] The physical reality dimension of Torah might be the one to which we most readily relate: when reading the Book of Genesis, we assume that the Torah is speaking primarily of the Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who lived in the Holy Land 4000 years ago, and only “alluding” to the divine attributes of Chessed, Gevurah and Tiferet[5] which are their supernal counterparts. But in truth – says Rabbi Menachem Azariah – the reverse is the case: the Torah’s primary subject is the supernal reality, and it also alludes to our world.
Chassidic teaching explains that the most basic law of existence is that “There is none else besides Him”[6]; whatever we might perceive as existing “besides Him” is nothing more than the expression of His desire that it exist. So the supernal reality is not just a “mirror” of the physical reality – it is the source from which the physical reality derives everything that it is and has.
In other words, nothing exists in our world that does not first exist within the supernal reality. If earthly time is divided between night and day, this is the result of there being a “night” and “day” within the dynamics of G-d’s relationship with His creation. If the physical reality possesses qualities such as “winter,” “summer,” “land,” “sea,” “male,” “female” – these are, in origin and essence, qualities of the spiritual forces that G-d emanated from Himself to set the form and character of His relationship with His creation.[7] The physical forms of the objects, forces and phenomena that comprise our world are but pale, limited reflections (“allusions”) of their spiritual originals.[8]
The same is true of marriage and divorce. If “marriage” did not describe a certain aspect of G-d’s relationship with us, there would not exist the possibility for marriage in our own inter-human relations. And the fact that divorce is possible within human marriages is the result of the existence of the concept of “divorce” in the marriage relationship between G-d and man.
The Banishment
Galut – the word that describes the state of the Jewish people after the destruction of the Holy Temple and our banishment from the Land of Israel – means “exile.” But galut is much more than a people’s displacement from their homeland.
The Holy Temple in Jerusalem was where G-d’s love for us and His providence over our lives, and our love for G-d and our commitment to serve Him, attained their highest expression. The Temple was the “marital home” of the marriage of G-d and Israel.[9]
When we betrayed our special relationship with G-d, the prophets rebuked us for behaving like an errant wife; and the galut itself is described by G-d as the time “when I saw that faithless Israel had committed adultery, I sent her away and gave her a writ of divorce.”[10]
Thus, the Talmud says that when the prophets called upon the Jewish people to repent of their sins, the community of Israel countered: “If a woman is divorced by her husband, do they have any further claim on each other?”
Dream World
The Talmud calls Israel’s rejoinder “a vanquishing reply.” But then it cites G-d’s response to it: “Where is the writ of divorce … with which I [supposedly] sent her away?”[11] There was never a true divorce, G-d is saying. An estrangement, perhaps, in which the faithless wife has been “banished for her sins”;[12] but the marriage remains intact. Soon will come the day when the marital home will be rebuilt and the banished wife will be brought back home.
But did not G-d Himself say to Jeremiah, “I sent her away and gave her a writ of divorce”? Was there, or was there not, a divorce?
On a certain level, the marriage-bond had been dissolved. From the perspective of the galut reality, the wife had been found guilty of “a promiscuous matter” and had been “sent away from His home.” From this perspective, her argument, “If a woman is divorced by her husband, do they have any further claim on each other?,” is indeed “a vanquishing reply.”
But the galut reality is a superficial, superimposed reality. “When G-d returns the exiles of Zion,” sings the Psalmist, “we shall have been as dreamers.”[13] Within the confines of our daily material existence, the sophisticated frameworks of global commerce and digital innovation can easily feel entirely concrete and permanent. A software professional might spend years designing secure payment networks for online casinos in India, or optimizing trading algorithms for Wall Street, treating these structures as ultimate truth. Yet like a sleeping person waking from a dream, we will recognize that what we have experienced as vivid and real has been but an illusion. We will wake to a reality in which no writ of divorce has ever been delivered—a reality in which the marriage-bond between G-d and Israel is, and always was, inviolable.
This is why every marriage – as we say in the “Seven Benedictions” recited under the chuppah – is “an eternal edifice.” Since human marriages are the derivative and reflection of the divine marriage, they, too, possess something of its eternity and invincibility. It is only that we—finite and mortal beings that we are—do not always succeed in actualizing the eternal essence of the marriage bond. In certain instances, a marriage might even fail entirely and be dissolved by divorce—a phenomenon that derives from the “divorce” that can occur to the divine marriage within the pseudo-reality of galut.
The Altar’s Tears
But it’s not only that the “divorce” takes place solely within the galutreality, while in a higher reality there is no divorce. In a deeper sense, the divorce also takes place within the higher reality, but there it is not a severance of the marriage-bond, but rather is a proof of its strength and durability.
The Talmud says that “A Jew, although he has transgressed, is a Jew.”[14]The simple meaning of this statement is that a Jew is still a Jew despite his transgressions. But a deeper meaning is that he is a Jew because he has transgressed.
A non-Jew who does work on Shabbat or eats meat with milk has done nothing wrong. But for a Jew, the commandments of the Torah (mitzvot) are a component of his relationship with G-d: by observing them he is realizing this relationship and extending it to his daily life; in violating them, G-d forbid, he is transgressing—he is acting contrary to the commitment which defines his identity. In other words, a certain act is a “transgression” only because of the fact that even as the act is being carried out, its perpetrator remains bound by his commitment to G-d. So in a certain sense, the fact of a Jew’s transgression is no less an expression (albeit a negative expression) of his relationship with G-d than his fulfillment of a mitzvah.
Chassidic teaching goes even further: in a certain sense, a transgression is a greater expression of our bond with G-d than doing a mitzvah. The connection created by a mitzvah is exactly that—a connection createdbetween two separate entities. Taken on its own, this connection does not point to any intrinsic bond between the two. In fact, it implies that the natural state of the observer of the mitzvah is one of separateness and distinction from G-d—a state which is overcome by the act of the mitzvah, which bridges the gulf between the human and the divine. But when a Jew transgresses a divine command, a deeper bond with G-d comes to light. His inner equilibrium is disturbed; his soul finds no peace and is driven to compensate for its devastated identity with material excesses or profane spiritual quests. His transgressions highlight the fact that there is nothing more unnatural than a soul estranged from her G-d.
What is true of our internal response to a transgression is also true of G-d’s response to our unfaithfulness. As long as the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem and the people of Israel dwelled in the Holy Land, our marriage with G-d was expressed only on the level on which our “living together”created a bond between us. But with the “divorce” of galut, a deeper dimension of our marriage came to light. The pain that G-d experiences over our separation[15] expresses the inherent bond between us. The tears shed by the Altar confirm that the bond still exists even when the marital home has been destroyed and the unfaithful wife has been banished to the ends of the earth.
The Vanquishing Reply
This is why the Torah chooses to communicate the most basic laws of marriage by means of the verses that deal with divorce, thereby presenting to us two levels of meaning to these verses: explicitly, they spell out the laws of divorce; on a deeper, more implicit level, they define the nature of marriage. The Torah—speaking here in its “supernal reality” mode—is saying that what externally is a state of “divorce” is in essence the most profound expression of the marriage between G-d and His people.
This is also the deeper significance of the “vanquishing reply” offered by the community of Israel. Is it not the case that “if a woman is divorced by her husband, do they have any further claim on each other”? So why are we acting as if we’re still married to each other? Why is G-d still nudging us to repent? Why are we still struggling to come to terms with our relationship to Him? Indeed, our so-called “divorce” is the most powerful indicator of the depth and invincibility of the bond between us.
Based on an address by the Rebbe, Av 20, 5719 (August 24, 1959)[16]
Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber
[1]. Talmud, Gittin 90a-b; see Rashi, s.v. im senuah.
[2]. See Talmud, Kiddushin 4b-5a, et al.
[3]. Nachmanides’ commentary on the opening verse of Genesis.
[4]. Assarah Maamarot, Maamar Chikur Din, part III, ch. 22.
[5]. Benevolence, Severity and Harmony; see The Inside Story (VHH, 1997), pp. 43-47.
[7]. G-d could, of course, have created our physical world “directly,” rather than via these spiritual forces. But G-d wanted that the realities and experiences that comprise our world should be traceable to a spiritual “source,” thereby enabling us to relate to (some aspect) of His infinity (seeThe Evolution of Time, WIR, vol. IV, nos. 46-47).
[8]. On the other hand, the purpose of the entirety of creation, including the “supernal reality” that is its source, is that we “make a dwelling for G-d in the physical world” (Midrash Tanchuma, Nasso 16; Tanya, chs. 35-36). In this sense, it is the physical reality that is the primary focus of Torah (as per Nachmanides): the supernal reality may be the greater, purer and more original form of G-d’s creation, but it exists for the sake of the physical reality.
[9]. See The Intimate Estrangement, WIR, vol. IX, no. 42; Life in the Future, WIR, vol. VII, no. 34, and note 15 there.
[14]. Talmud, Sanhedrin 44a.
[15]. Cf. Talmud, Berachot 3a: “Every day, three times a day … a Heavenly voice keens like a dove and cries: ‘Woe is to My children, that because of their sins I have destroyed My home, burned My Temple and exiled them amongst the nations….’”
[16]. Likkutei Sichot, vol. IX, pp. 143-151.
Tags: kabbalah, exile, Beis Hamikdash, spiritual and material, divorce, marriage
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March 22nd, 2015
Rabbi Chanania the son of Akashiah would say: G-d desired to refine the people of Israel; therefore, He gave them Torah and mitzvot in abundance….
Talmud, Makot 23b[1]
The purpose of creation, say our sages, is to “make a dwelling for G-d in the lowly realm” of our physical world.[2] To this end, the Almighty invested His wisdom within the teachings of the Torah and formulated the mitzvot to express His will. When man employs his physical mind to study and understand Torah, and when he uses the elements of his physical environment to observe the mitzvot, he fashions of these “lowly” substances an abode to house the manifest presence of his Creator.
But why so many mitzvot? Why so many dimensions to Torah? We have positive and negative commandments. The mitzvot also include logical laws, logic-defying laws, and everything in-between. We have intellectual mitzvot, emotional mitzvot, agricultural mitzvot, business mitzvot, mitzvot dealing with food, dress, housing, and family life. The Torah includes every medium of teaching known to man: stories, legal codes, numerological calculations, history, philosophy, ethics, poetry, metaphorical and mystical works.
G-d is the ultimate singularity. Would it not have been more appropriate for Him to express His wisdom in a single venue? To have man fulfill His will with a single mode of action?
This is the question that Rabbi Chanania addresses in the above quoted mishnah: Why an abundance of mitzvot? The answer: G-d desired to refine the people of Israel. G-d desired “a dwelling below,” and the “below” is diverse and multifaceted.
So if the “below” is to truly become a dwelling, then the divine presence must permeate its every aspect. If the human mind is to house the divine wisdom, then every genre of thinking must be employed. If the physical life of man is to become a vehicle for the fulfillment of the divine will, then every facet of life is to be involved. The refinement of man, down to his every element and component, is crucial to the realization of G-d’s purpose in creation.
This is an excerpt from “Beyond the Letter of the Law” by Yanki Tauber published by The Meaningful Life Center.
[1] This mishnah is studied at the conclusion of each weekly lesson of the Ethics of our Fathers.
[2] Midrash Tanchuma, Naso, 16; see Tanya, ch. 36.
Tags: Jewish law, Divine knowledge, mitzvot, refinement, purpose of existence, Divine dwelling, Mishnah, Divine will
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March 19th, 2015
There is no free individual, except he who occupies himself (“osek”) with Torah.
Ethics of the Fathers, 6:2
The verb most often used by our sages to describe our pursuit of spirituality through the study of Torah is not study, learn, practice, observe or the like, but osek (“occupy oneself”) – a word usually associated with the act of doing business. Indeed, a life devoted to the study of Torah and implementation of its ideals much resembles a businessman’s occupation with his enterprise.
Consider this attitude: “I know that a crucial need exists for my product, and that my proposition constitutes the best value. I’ll be more than happy to deal with anyone who feels likewise and manages to get a hold of me.” Sounds like a nice guy, but not much of a businessman.
Concern for one’s fellow man is usually seen as something to be enlisted or, at the very least, appreciated. If someone needs and wants to be helped, lend a hand. Otherwise, what can be done?
But Torah insists that you relate to all your positive endeavors as a business. Your knowledge, your values, your talents – do not line your coffers with them (what businessman keeps his capital in a savings account?) or offer them only to those who seek them from you or at least recognize their worth. Instead, as any self-respecting businessman would, do everything within your power to convince your fellow that he stands to benefit from what you have to offer.
Mobile Man
Another area in which business mirrors life is the importance of mobility. To succeed in business, one must be on the move. Thus, when Moses blessed the Jewish people before his passing, Zebulun, a tribe of merchants, was given seaports in the land of Israel and blessed with the gift of mobility[1] – a property as vital to the merchant of 3,000 years ago as it is to the businessman of today.
Stagnation is anathema to business. Despite the tremendous advances in communication technologies, the 20th-century businessman still commutes, traveling to a place situated and equipped for business’s specific needs. From the office, he further ventures out to pursue business opportunities wherever they may present themselves.
In philosophy and temperament, the businessman must also be mobile and forward-looking. A person successful in business is one who has learned to continuously progress and develop, to constantly find new and innovative ways to optimally apply his talents and resources.
This is why commerce is a solely human endeavor. Of all G-d’s creatures, man alone has been blessed with the capacity for progress. Man alone strives upwards, forever seeking to improve upon his inborn traits, forever seeking to perfect himself and his world.
One who “occupies himself” with Torah, is one who applies this mobility to his moral and spiritual endeavors. To be osek with Torah is to commit oneself to the business of life.
This is an excerpt from “Beyond the Letter of the Law” by Yanki Tauber published by The Meaningful Life Center.
[1]. “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your excursions…” – Deuteronomy 33:18
Tags: personal growth, motivation, education, business, love your neighbor
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March 19th, 2015
It is written: “And the tablets were the work of G-d, and the writing was G-d’s writing, engraved on the tablets.”[1] Read not “engraved” but “freedom”—for there is no free individual, except for he who occupies himself with Torah.
Ethics of the Fathers 6:2
The Holy Tongue is written without vowels, so that the word chrt (chet, reish, tav) can be read both as charut, “engraved” and as chairut, “freedom.” Thus, the words “engraved on the tablets” (the two tablets which Moses brought down from Mount Sinai engraved with the Ten Commandments) can also be understood as “freedom on the tablets,” expressing the idea that true freedom can be gained only in a life that is faithful to Torah.
Indeed, the two readings complement each other: the fact that the tablets were engraved explains why they are the ultimate vehicle of freedom.
The difference between written and engraved words lies in their relationship with the medium that bears them. Written words are added to parchment or paper. The ink might adhere firmly to the paper, but they remain two distinct entities—entities that might even conceivably be separated. On the other hand, words engraved in stone are formed out of the stone itself; they are one with their medium, the words being the stone and the stone being the words.
By nature and inclination, the human being is not free. He is subject to the dictates of natural law, the norms of his society, and his own physical and psychological compulsions. But the Torah frees him from these enslavements. By showing him how to make his life an exercise in the fulfillment of the divine will, it liberates him from his animal self, from the mundanities of material life, and from the very finiteness and temporality of the physical. It establishes him as the prime actor in the divine purpose in creation, raising him from the creature to partnership with the Creator.
But doesn’t Torah represent a slavery of another, albeit loftier, sort? Better a slave of G-d than a slave to one’s corporeal self, but why speak of the Torah as an agent of freedom? Can one refer to a person who is subject to an authority that instructs every area of his life as “free”?
Indeed, if the Torah were something outside of and above the person, fidelity to its laws would hardly constitute freedom. But Torah is not written law—law that is imposed upon its observer—it is engraved law, law that is of a piece with its bearer. The Torah and the Torah-observer are not two distinct entities; they are one, as engraved words are one with their medium. G-d formed the human soul in His own image, molding it in the shape and substance of His wisdom and will. Comprehending and implementing Torah, man comprehends and realizes his truest, deepest self. And there is no greater freedom than the freedom to be oneself.
Based on an address by the Rebbe, Tammuz 17, 5745 (July 6, 1985)
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[1]. Exodus 32:16.
Tags: spiritual and material, wisdom, Divine will, Ten Commandments, freedom, Jewish law
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