Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Rav Kook's Ein Ayah: Praying with the Heart, Not with the Mind
Gemara: Is it so that praying for a long time is good? Doesn’t Rabbi Yochanan say that whoever prays for a long time and looks into it will ultimately come to heartache? …and doesn’t Rabbi Yitzchak say that three things bring up one’s sins: a leaning wall, looking into one’s prayer, and handing over to Hashem complaints against a person (relying on Hashem to punish him)? It depends if one just has a long prayer, which is good, or whether he also looks into it (Rashi – he reasons that since he prayed with strong concentration, Hashem will certainly do as he requested).
Ein Ayah: The ability of prayer to improve one’s material and spiritual wellbeing, as Hashem incorporated into nature, depends on one understanding clearly what prayer is.
A person should know that all his strengths and the circumstances that surround him are arranged with Divine wisdom. When a person feels upset due to personal or communal circumstances and his pure heart turns to Hashem in prayer, this helps his moral standing. He need not be concerned with the philosophical question of whether people’s prayers can cause a change in the Divine plan. In truth, that which can bring a person to completeness (i.e., prayer) is part of the all-encompassing Divine plan. Since a person’s soul flourishes when he feels Hashem’s closeness upon turning to Him, nature is set up so that such beseeching before Him will be fruitful.
A person should concentrate in his prayer just on the feeling of connecting emotionally to Hashem through the process. It should not include intellectual calculations of gain and loss or determining philosophical truths based on it. The power of prayer was created for the feelings of the soul, not the limited human intellect.
If one delves deeply into the expected results of his prayer, he will not receive the results he seeks but will experience great disappointment. Rather he should treasure the ability to turn to Him with a full and thirsting soul. Hashem did not create man just for his intellect, but also so that his heart would be most moved when praying to Hashem in a time of need.
It is crucial to save oneself from over-intellectualization of the experience of prayer, which stems from one’s desire to feel that he can capture Hashem’s providence within his intellect. However, Hashem is beyond that and wants to engage man by giving him life in the realm of the body and the emotions, as well. That is why one who spends a long time on his prayer, but does so in a manner of trying to analyze what will come of it, will experience heartache. If someone treats the power of prayer as a power of nature [which must succeed], he will not only lose the full experience but will come to false beliefs.
It is important for man to have faith in Hashem to keep his physical and spiritual state stable so that he not be shocked and overpowered by the physical world. He thereby learns that not everything that man thinks is good is indeed so, for everything in the world is guided by Hashem. He will also not be despondent when times are hard and foreboding, for nothing can prevent Hashem from bringing salvation. Faith is not intended to make a person lazy and inattentive to the efforts needed for the success of the individual or the group. Faith is certainly not intended to give a person the confidence to put himself in a position of danger. That is why one must not walk next to a leaning wall.
Divine judgment is a pillar of the world, but that is primarily to keep a man’s evil inclination in check. It is not something that a person should misuse for personal gain at the expense of another person. If he does so, it will not help but will pollute his soul and will cause his sins to be remembered.
The Completion of the Mishkan and of Creation
Nasi HaYeshiva, Kerem B'Yavneh
Chazal comment in Masechet Shabbat (87b):
"It was in the first month of the second year, on the first of the month, that the Mishkan was erected." (Shemot 40:17) It is taught, that day took ten crowns: first for Creation, first for the princes, first for priesthood, first for [the Mishkan] service, first for the descent of the fire...
All the "firsts" that are mentioned in the Gemara are connected to the beginning of the service of the Mishkan, except for "first for Creation," which seems to stand out from the rest of the list. What is the connection between the "first for Creation" to the dedication of the Mishkan?
In Megillah 10a it says that on the day that the Mishkan was erected, there was happiness before Hashem like the day that heaven and earth were created. Again, we need to ask, what is the connection between the dedication of the Mishkan and the creation of heaven and earth?
Furthermore, Chazal teach (Shabbat 119b) that whoever says "Vayechulu..." becomes a partner with G-d in Creation. How is it possible to become a partner in something that was completed so long ago?
"Hashem desired to have a dwelling in the lower regions [earth]." (Tanchuma Bechukotai) A desire is an ambition that one looks forward to its fulfillment, so what prevents Hashem from dwelling his Shechina in the lower regions if He so much desires it?
The answer to all of these questions lies in the pasuk that is written at the conclusion of Creation: "Thus the heaven and earth were completed ... which G-d created to do." (Bereishit 2:1-3) The creation was, indeed, finished but the doing - the perfecting, all the finishing touches - depend on us in the lower world. When Tornus Rufus showed wheat and pastry to R. Akiva and asked him whose deeds are greater - Hashem's or men's, R. Akiva answered that although Hashem created the world, it is up to us to perfect it. This is how R. Akiva explained circumcision to him. Hashem creates and we do – we perfect and add the finishing touches. (Tanchuma, Tazria 5) Hashem, indeed, desires a dwelling in the lower regions, but He expects us to build it for him.
This is the reason for the commandment: "They shall make Me a Sanctuary, and I will dwell amongst them." (Shemot 25:8) When Bnei Yisrael built the Mishkan, the purpose of the creation of heaven and earth was fulfilled. This is what the Ramban writes at the conclusion of Shemot, which ends with the Divine Presence in the Mishkan: "The book of redemption is completed in which Hashem, G-d of Israel, appeared to Bnei Yisrael - the nation that is closest to him."
This Mishkan was made by Betzalel, who knew how to join the letters with which the heaven and earth were created. The Midrash points to the parallel between what it says about Betzalel: "I filled him with wisdom, insight, and knowledge" (Shemot 31:3), and what it says about Creation: "Hashem founded the world with wisdom, established the heaven with insight, with his knowledge the depths were split." (Mishlei 3:19) In this way man becomes a partner in Creation, because the creation of heaven and earth is worthless without Presence of the Shechina through Am Yisrael.
This was the great joy of that first day. Indeed, "The first of the creation," belongs with the making of the Mishkan. Even though the making of heaven and earth were already completed, they still had not achieved their purpose until the Mishkan was constructed, thus making Am Yisrael partners in Creation.
There is still something deeper to all this. "Hashem desired" – because of his love for Am Yisrael! As feelings are reciprocal, Hashem also expects us to show our love to Him: "As the deer longs for brooks of water, so my soul longs for You, O G-d." (Tehillim 42:2) "In Your behalf, my heart has said, 'Seek My Presence.' Your Presence, Hashem do I seek." (Tehillim 27:8)
How is it possible to long for G-d who is separate, hidden and distant? It is because in the beginning there was love. "He blew into his nostrils the soul of life." (Bereishit 2:7) Chazal write (see Ramban there): "He who blows, blows of himself." They also write: "This is comparable to a princess who marries a townsman. Whatever he gives her does not satisfy her because she is a princess. Thus, the soul also is also from the upper regions, and this is what is says, "The soul cannot be satisfied." (Kohellet Rabbah 6) A person's soul is a part of the Divine G-d from above.
The world was also closely connected to G-d: "They heard the sound of Hashem G-d manifesting in the garden" (Bereishit 3:8), but after the sin the Shechina departed. Yet, in essence the Shechina still is associated with the world. Therefore, both a person and the world can return to the source and reconnect, and the pasuk: "I will place My Sanctuary in your midst ... I will walk amongst you" (Vayikra 26:11-12) will be fulfilled again.
When the longing of the Creation grows to the point that they build a Mishkan, then Hashem's desire will be fulfilled. "Thus the heaven and earth were completed" – "Moshe completed the work" – then, "The glory of Hashem filled the Mishkan."
We say in Adon Olam: "Master of the universe, who reigned before any form was created; at the time when His will brought all into being – then as 'King' was his name proclaimed. When all will end, He, alone, will rule Awesome."
We have here three stages:
1. Master of the universe, who reigned before any form was created.
2. When His will was fulfilled, then He was proclaimed as 'King' by the creation.
3. After everything ends - he will, one again, reign alone.
This process is puzzling. If, at the end, we return to the beginning - what need was there to go through it all in the first place? If the purpose is for Hashem to reign alone after everything, then what need was there for the Creation?
Rav Kook zt"l explains that "V'acharei kichlot hakol" does not mean "When all will end" - that everything will cease. Rather, it means that the souls of all the creation will long greatly for G-d, as it says, "Kalta nafshi – My soul longed for the courtyards of G-d." (Tehillim 84:3) "My flesh and heart long ... for the Eternal G-d." (73:26) This, indeed, is the perfection of heaven and earth. At the beginning Hashem reigned alone, and at the end the souls of all of the creation will long to become closer to G-d. This is the highest level and the purpose of creation, when the lower world will accept the yoke of His Reign willingly. Therefore, through the construction of the Mishkan, the Shechina returned through our actions and our desire for Hashem's nearness, thereby fulfilling the purpose of creation.
Rav Kook on Parashat Pekudei: Always on His Mind
“What, have you never heard of a businessman who mentally plans out his day while reciting the morning prayers?”
Constant Awareness
One of the eight special garments worn by the kohen gadol, the high priest, was the tzit. This was a gold plate worn across the forehead, engraved with the words kodesh le-Hashem — “Holy to God.”
The Torah instructs the kohen gadol that the tzitz “will be on his forehead – always” (Shemot 28:38). Chazal understood this requirement not as addressing where the head-plate is worn, but rather how it is worn. It is not enough for the tzitz to be physically on his forehead. It must be always “on his mind.” The kohen gadol must be constantly aware of the tzitz and its succinct message of “Holy to God” while serving in the Temple. His service requires conscious recognition of the purpose of his actions, without irrelevant thoughts and musings. He cannot be like the fellow whose mind was preoccupied with business matters while he mumbled his daily prayers.
Tefillin and the Tzitz
The golden head-plate brings to mind another holy object worn above the forehead: tefillin. In fact, the Sages compared the two. Like the tzitz, wearing tefillin requires one to be always aware of their presence. The Gemara in Shabbat 12a makes the following a fortiori argument: If the tzitz, upon which God’s name is engraved just once, requires constant awareness, then certainly tefillin, containing scrolls in which God’s name is written many times, have the same requirement.
This logic, however, appears flawed. Did Chazal really mean to say that tefillin, worn by any Jew, are holier objects than the sacred head-plate worn only by the high priest when serving in the Temple?
Furthermore, why is it that God’s name is only recorded once on the tzitz, while appearing many times on the scrolls inside tefillin?
Connecting to Our Goals
We may distinguish between two aspects of life: our ultimate goals, and the means by which we attain these goals. It is easy to lose sight of our true goals when we are preoccupied with the ways of achieving them.
Even those who are careful to “stay on track” may lack clarity as to the true purpose of life. Chazal provided a basic rule: “All of your deeds should be for the sake of Heaven”(Avot 2:12). However, knowledge of what God wants us to do in every situation is by no means obvious. Success in discovering the highest goal, in comprehending our purpose in life, and being able to relate all of life’s activities to this central goal — all depend on our wisdom and insight.
For the kohen gadol, everything should relate to the central theme of “Holy to God.” We expect that the individual suitable for such a high office will have attained the level of enlightenment where all of life’s activities revolve around a single ultimate goal. Therefore the tzitzmentions God’s name just once — a single crowning value. Most people, however, do not live on this level of enlightened holiness. We have numerous spiritual goals, such as performing acts of kindness, charity, Torah study, prayer, and acquiring wisdom. By relating our actions to these values, we elevate ourselves and sanctify our lives. For this reason, the scrolls inside tefillin mention God’s name many times, reflecting the various spiritual goals that guide us.
In order to keep life’s ultimate goals in sight, we need concrete reminders. The tzitz and tefillin, both worn on the forehead above the eyes, are meant to help us attain this state of mindfulness.
Now we may understand the logic of comparing these two holy objects. Even the kohen gadol, despite his broad spiritual insight, needed to be constantly aware of the tzitz on his forehead and its fundamental message of kodesh le-Hashem. All the more so an average person, with a variety of goals, must remain conscious of the spiritual message of his tefillin at all times.
(The Splendor of Tefillin. Adapted from Ein Eyah vol. III, p. 26 by Rav Chanan Morrison)
Accounting Practices
The basic lesson in this week's Torah reading is accountability. God demands from Moshe and the others who formulated and created the Tabernacle in the desert, to account for all the material that was donated by the Jewish people for that purpose. The last piece of silver that was donated had to be accounted for, but Moshe was distressed that he could not account for 1000 measures of the silver. He finally remembered that this donation of silver was used for constructing hooks that bound the tapestries of the Tabernacle together.
The hooks must" shout" to remind us of their presence, and to make Moshe's accounting complete and accurate. Accounting is a very painstaking project. Most people view it as bordering on boring. Nevertheless, there is no commercial enterprise that can successfully exist without good and accurate accounting practices.
The financial accounting in our Parsha regarding the materials that were used in the construction of the Tabernacle is a template for proper human behavior concerning the use of resources in all areas of life. This is especially true in matters that border on religious institutions that are held to the highest of all standards and are to be above any suspicion of corruption. The Priest of the Temple wore garments that had no pockets and could not conceal any hidden items of value that might be removed from the Temple.
This overriding meticulous standard and value of accountability is not limited to financial matters. Judaism teaches us that we are all accountable for our actions - behavior, speech, attitudes and even thoughts. We were created as being responsible creatures – responsible to the creator and to the other creatures that exist with us on this planet. We are given talents that are unique to each one of us. The challenge that is put before us is how those talents and abilities can be used for good and noble causes.
There are many who think that the gifts that they have been given are for their exclusive use, and that there is no need or obligation to share them with others. They are sadly mistaken in this view. People are accountable for what they have, as they were for the supposedly insignificant amount of silver that was used to construct hooks that kept the tapestries together.
King Solomon states in Kohelet that one should realize that all actions and behavior will eventually be weighed on the scales of heavenly justice. We live in a time when accountability, to a great extent, has been replaced by excuses, social engineering, economic and psychological theories. All of these are used only to avoid the issue of accountability. To be human is to be responsible, and that is the message not only of this week's Parsha, but of everything in Judaism.
The hooks must" shout" to remind us of their presence, and to make Moshe's accounting complete and accurate. Accounting is a very painstaking project. Most people view it as bordering on boring. Nevertheless, there is no commercial enterprise that can successfully exist without good and accurate accounting practices.
The financial accounting in our Parsha regarding the materials that were used in the construction of the Tabernacle is a template for proper human behavior concerning the use of resources in all areas of life. This is especially true in matters that border on religious institutions that are held to the highest of all standards and are to be above any suspicion of corruption. The Priest of the Temple wore garments that had no pockets and could not conceal any hidden items of value that might be removed from the Temple.
This overriding meticulous standard and value of accountability is not limited to financial matters. Judaism teaches us that we are all accountable for our actions - behavior, speech, attitudes and even thoughts. We were created as being responsible creatures – responsible to the creator and to the other creatures that exist with us on this planet. We are given talents that are unique to each one of us. The challenge that is put before us is how those talents and abilities can be used for good and noble causes.
There are many who think that the gifts that they have been given are for their exclusive use, and that there is no need or obligation to share them with others. They are sadly mistaken in this view. People are accountable for what they have, as they were for the supposedly insignificant amount of silver that was used to construct hooks that kept the tapestries together.
King Solomon states in Kohelet that one should realize that all actions and behavior will eventually be weighed on the scales of heavenly justice. We live in a time when accountability, to a great extent, has been replaced by excuses, social engineering, economic and psychological theories. All of these are used only to avoid the issue of accountability. To be human is to be responsible, and that is the message not only of this week's Parsha, but of everything in Judaism.
Monday, March 24, 2025
Syria: Terrorists in Suits and Ties: Syria: Terrorists in Suits and Ties
by Lawrence A. Franklin
From March 6-9 – unchecked by Ahmed al-Sharaa's professedly "moderate" interim government – his jihadist troops slaughtered an estimated 1,080 Syrians in 72 hours, apparently mostly civilian members of the minority Alawite religion. Pictured: Jihadists loyal to al-Sharaa celebrate on a beach in Latakia on March 9, 2025, following the massacre in the city. (Photo by Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty Images)
In December 2024, after an offensive lasting less than two weeks that swept through much of Syria, a Turkish-backed Sunni militia led by Ahmed al-Sharaa ousted the Assad regime, which had ruled the country for 54 years.
From March 6-9 – unchecked by al-Sharaa's professedly "moderate" interim government – his jihadist troops slaughtered an estimated 1,080 Syrians in 72 hours, apparently mostly civilian members of the minority Alawite religion. The Alawite sect, which split off from Shia Islam in the ninth century, is regarded by other Shiites as heretical. To people who practice Sunni Islam -- the religion of al-Sharaa and Turkey -- all non-Sunnis are infidels. Alawites are estimated to be up to 10% of Syria's population, and the deposed Assad family belong to the sect.
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- [Ahmed] Al-Sharaa, on taking power in Syria in December, originally professed to be a "moderate." The Biden administration even lifted a $10 million bounty for his arrest, for previous terrorist activity linked to Al Qaeda, presumably in the hope of moderation actually being delivered. Since that time, however, al-Sharaa and his followers have appeared more as terrorists in suits and ties.
- The country's new constitution, published on March 14, stipulates that Islamic Sharia jurisprudence is the sole source of judicial decision-making. This constitution also asserts that Syria's president must be a Muslim and that the executive branch has almost dictatorial powers. Moreover, the constitution includes no provision for protecting Syrian ethnic or religious minorities, which include Christians, Alawites, Kurds and Druze.
- Sunni jihadist government forces are reportedly reveling in the massacre of the Alawites, and Turkey has already set up secret cells throughout Syria "to use as proxies abroad." Christians throughout Syria are afraid that after the Alawites, they will be next. It is also possible that al-Sharaa's HTS will be successful in uniting most of Syria under its control, then initiate a genocidal purge against Christians and the rest of the "infidels."
- Some of Syria's minorities have been seeking help from nearby Israel. Some Druze community leaders even asked Israel officially to annex their villages. Israel has established a strategic "buffer zone" in areas of Syria adjacent to the countries' shared border, to deter potential jihadist and Turkish attacks, and may yet again turn out to be threatened minorities' greatest protector.
From March 6-9 – unchecked by Ahmed al-Sharaa's professedly "moderate" interim government – his jihadist troops slaughtered an estimated 1,080 Syrians in 72 hours, apparently mostly civilian members of the minority Alawite religion. Pictured: Jihadists loyal to al-Sharaa celebrate on a beach in Latakia on March 9, 2025, following the massacre in the city. (Photo by Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty Images)
In December 2024, after an offensive lasting less than two weeks that swept through much of Syria, a Turkish-backed Sunni militia led by Ahmed al-Sharaa ousted the Assad regime, which had ruled the country for 54 years.
From March 6-9 – unchecked by al-Sharaa's professedly "moderate" interim government – his jihadist troops slaughtered an estimated 1,080 Syrians in 72 hours, apparently mostly civilian members of the minority Alawite religion. The Alawite sect, which split off from Shia Islam in the ninth century, is regarded by other Shiites as heretical. To people who practice Sunni Islam -- the religion of al-Sharaa and Turkey -- all non-Sunnis are infidels. Alawites are estimated to be up to 10% of Syria's population, and the deposed Assad family belong to the sect.
Continue Reading Article
Friday, March 21, 2025
Rav Kook's Ein Ayah: The Intersection of the Intellect and Emotion
Gemara: “Who is like the wise, and who knows the pesher (literally, the deeper understanding, but here, compromise) of the matter?” (Kohelet 8:1). Who is like Hashem Who knows how to make a compromise between two tzaddikim, Chizkiyah (the king) and Yeshaya (the prophet)? Chizkiya said: “Yeshaya should come to me, as we have found that Eliyahu went before Achav …” Yeshaya said: “Chizkiya should come to me, for we have found that Yehoram the son of Achav came before Elisha…” What did Hashem do? He brought afflictions onto Chizkiya and said to Yeshaya to go visit the sick.
Ein Ayah: The power of prophecy that Hashem bestowed upon Israel during its era had the goal of fulfilling the eternal needs of the nation. It was meant to make eternal spiritual life attainable and to teach the ways of life to be used to obtain constant existence, so that its spirit would last forever and merit eternal national existence.
The power of the monarchy was to strengthen Israel’s national life in the present. Realize that there are ways of leading that add power to the nation in the short term but detract from its future prospects. Similarly, there are many things that weaken the nation in the short term but provide power and resolve in the future.
Following an extreme is always difficult and dangerous. If the nation is concerned only with future success and pays no attention to present needs, marauders will come to plunder and kill in a way that will endanger the people’s spiritual status and their hopes for eternal existence. On the other hand, the destruction can be immense if the heart of the nation is seduced to place its concerns only on short term life and strength. In so doing, they will trip and fall after a generation.
Hashem, Who guards Israel, regularly arranges factors that cause a balance between the power of the immediate and the future survival so that the nation does not trip in its path and will survive for many generations into the future. “As the new heavens and the new land stand before Me, so too will your offspring and your name stand” (Yeshaya 66:22).
Therefore, Yeshaya was concerned that if he gave precedence to the power of the monarchy [by going to Chizkiya], the nation’s spirit might fall and forget their efforts for eternity. Chizkiya was concerned that if the nation would see the power of the kingdom as weak in relation to that of prophecy, they would lose political strength. This could cause bad outcomes for their moral status, even in regard to Torah, fear of Hashem, and good middot, which the king’s power supported.
Hashem made a compromise between them. The eye of providence saw that according to the status of Israel at that time, they needed an exactly equal balance between the concerns. The public perception had to be that the kingdom had ultimate power and strength of the nationhood. Yet, those seeing the inner situation would see the king surrendering his temporary leadership for the welfare of prophetic eternity. This was Hashem’s compromise. Chizkiya was afflicted; Yeshaya went to visit the ill. Openly, the king was primary, for Yeshaya went to him. Internally, it was the king who suffered. This showed that sometimes, the immediate outlook of national strength has to cede when it rivals the eternal goals. From the external perspective of sensual desires, people need to be held in check by a powerful [righteous] kingdom. However, internally, regarding one’s intellect and desires for sanctity, he needs to be lead by a more gentle dominion, which shows the positive path, and out of love choose the path of good [represented by prophecy]. This is along the lines of the Rambam (Melachim 2:5) that although, externally, the king should have an advantage over a prophet, Yehoshafat privately would rise from his chair to honor talmidei chachamim.
The Middle Crossbar - Uniting the Jewish People
Rosh HaYeshiva, Machon Meir
“The middle crossbar was made to go through the center of the beams, from one end to the other” (Shemot 36:33). It was the middle crossbar that linked together the Tabernacle beams from one end to the other, while the other four crossbars linked together only portions of the beams. The middle crossbar ran within the beams and could not be seen from the outside, while the other crossbars could be seen from the outside. This situation serves to allude that the very ‘thing’ that serves to unite the Jewish People ‘from one end to the other’ is - like the middle crossbar - precisely something that is hidden away in the ‘interior’ of the precious soul of the Jewish People; this ‘thing’ is concealed within the whole nation down through the generations, and within every individual Jew, whoever he or she may be.
In these challenging times, we must strengthen that which has united all the parts of the nation throughout the generations. That same ‘middle crossbar’ that has extended from one end to the other, from our inception as a people until the end of days. It has united all the tribes of Israel from East to West, gathering together in Eretz Yisrael, and all the open and hidden social streams. What has united all the Jews, is the fact that we all possess one precious soul, and that we are a people chosen by G-d to perfect the world under the reign of the Almighty. As G-d long ago said to the father of our nation, Avraham: “I will make you into a great nation... You shall become a blessing... All the families of the earth will be blessed through you” (Beresheet 12:2-3).
To strengthen ‘middle crossbar’ that unites us, we must remember that Israel were counted in the desert by means of the half-shekel contribution. The Torah here is teaching us that it makes a difference whether you measure each person individually or as part of a group. Each individual alone is metaphorically called a “gulgolet,” literally a skull (see Shemot 38:26), which is known to symbolize death. When a person is not connected to the larger community, he is like a limb torn away from the body, a dead limb - and then the evil eye takes control of him.
Yet, through the half-shekel contribution, a general fund is created of the whole Jewish People together, with each donor being linked to the larger group, as one man with one heart, each member of the group having worth and importance. Under such circumstances, the good eye takes control and then there is nothing to fear from counting the people of Israel. They are then like limbs connected to the body, all sharing one soul, and the census, now counting a collective, itself attains holiness.
The middle crossbar is the root of all the nation’s branches, and, like the branches on the tree - which all imbibe their sustenance from the root - we too must drink deeply from our roots. Let us unite all the branches and strengthen them.
Besorot Tovot,
Looking forward to complete salvation,
With the Love of Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael,
Shabbat Shalom.
What were the Jews thinking and how were they feeling the morning after Yom Kippur?
A number of years ago at a parlor meeting of the coalition for the Israeli Soldiers missing in action, someone stood up to share a few words about a close friend of his with whom he had both studied and gone to war: Yehuda Katz.
Yehuda Katz, a soldier who, along with Zack Baumel and Tzvi Feldman, has been missing in action since the battle of Sultan Yaakov in June of 1982, studied in Yeshivat Kerem Be’Yavneh and has been missing now for over twenty years.
At the beginning of the Lebanon War on the first Sunday night in June of 1982, they received word in the Yeshiva that buses would be coming to take the boys up North to fight. Kerem Be’Yavneh is one of a number of very special Yeshivot (Academies for higher Jewish learning) whose boys combine their yeshiva studies with army service in Israeli Combat units. In addition to their regular reserve duty and studies in yeshiva, whenever the army is in a tight spot, this is naturally one of the first places to receive an emergency call-up; where else can you gather together an entire reserve battalion at a moment’s notice?
The boys were given only half an hour to get their gear together and be on the buses, time was of the essence as this was an elite tank unit whose services were desperately needed on the front lines.
As they were rushing to get back to the buses with their kits, Yehuda told one of his buddies to make sure the bus didn’t leave without him as he had to run to the bathroom.
A few moments later with everyone accounted for and the bus engines idling, they were still waiting for Yehuda Katz to get back from the bathroom. After a few more minutes one of the men decided to go looking for him; it was out of character for him to keep everyone waiting for so long, and especially considering where they were headed, they couldn’t imagine what was keeping him.
As his friend approached the men’s room, he saw Yehuda Katz coming out of the Beit Midrash (the study hall) and break into a run. Not understanding why Yehuda had a made a detour to the Beit Midrash when they were so pressed for time, Yehuda explained he had gone into the Beit Midrash to learn a few minutes worth of Torah, because as a Jewish soldier in a Jewish army going off to fight a war in defense of the Jewish people, “you don’t go to war from the bathroom.”
I have often wondered what it was that Yehuda chose to study for those brief moments in the Beit Midrash, and please G-d look forward to being able to ask him one day when he at long last comes home. But the thing that most challenges me about this story, is how, on the brink of war, in the midst of heading off to battle, and with all the thoughts that I unfortunately know rage through your mind and your soul at such a time, Yehuda Katz was able to turn it all off and sit down to learn five minutes of Torah?
This week’s portion, Va’Yakhel, begins with a moment of pure potential:
“Va’Yakhel Moshe Et Kol Adat B’nei Yisrael, Va’Yomer Aleihem:”
“And Moshe gathered together the entire congregation of Israel and said to them:” (Shemot 35:1)
Rashi points out that this day was the day after Yom Kippur, when Moshe came down with the second Tablets, the Luchot Ha’Brit, signifying that the Jewish people had been forgiven (or at least their sentence had been commuted) following the transgression of the Golden Calf.
Moshe had first gone up on Mount Sinai on the seventh day of Sivan, only to return forty days later on the seventeenth day of Tammuz to discover his people dancing with idolatry (the Golden Calf). He went up again, for an additional forty days coming down on Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of the month of) Elul, having achieved forgiveness. But that just meant they had gotten back to where they had been before the experience of Sinai. Now they had to re-commit to receiving the Torah all over again, this time with tablets fashioned by man, and not by G-d (34:4). So Moshe went up yet a third time, again for forty days, finally coming back down to the people on Yom Kippur with the two new tablets (Luchot) of stone, (containing the ten commandments) signifying Hashem’s forgiveness of the Jewish people, and allowing them to start over again.
Moshe however was a very wise leader; just because G-d had forgiven the Jewish people did not necessarily mean they had forgiven themselves. What were the Jews thinking and how were they feeling the morning after Yom Kippur? They had barely seen Moshe in the last three months, and it was entirely their fault. G-d had basically decreed that the consequences of this transgression (the sin of the Golden Calf) would be suffered by the Jewish people for thousands of years (32:34), and one wonders how the Jews must have felt, now that the immediate danger of annihilation was past, and the enormity of their mistake had begun to sink in.
So Moshe, a true leader, rises to the challenge of the moment, and gathers the entire people together with, it would seem, the goal of inspiring them to pick up the pieces and begin again.
I recall, years ago, during what has become known as the first Intifada, a particularly hairy day, when one of our patrols got into some serious trouble. We were stationed near Jebalya, a nasty piece of real estate in the Gaza strip, home to approximately 120,000 Arab refugees, and in the spring of 88’ things were really heating up. We didn’t have enough officers and men to handle the load, so we were working with additional units, and an urgent radio call came in from one of these neighboring patrols who were apparently surrounded by hundreds of rioters with rocks and Molotov cocktails and found themselves hemmed in an alleyway with nowhere to retreat and not enough ammunition.
I couldn’t understand where this huge riot had sprung up from, as I had just finished a patrol in the same area and had even passed the cross- street he described on patrol less than half an hour earlier, but there was no time to think about it.
Standard operating procedure in such situations was to muster up as many vehicles as were available, as quickly as possible and offer the rioters both a second ‘front’ (or contact point) with which to contend, as well as an easy and natural avenue of retreat. A few well-thrown tear gas grenades (which were basically harmless in the long term) would usually suffice to cause an entire riot to begin dispersing in the direction of the avenue they had open to them. Our company commander (I was a lieutenant at the time) sent us in different strategic directions so we would all arrive at the right places at the right time. Only when we got there, there was no riot… and no Israeli patrol.
It took us over half an hour, which for those eight men caught between a rock and a hard place was a very long time, to finally figure out where this patrol actually was. And it transpired that this entire mess had occurred because this new officer had at one point taken a left turn instead of a right one, and was in a completely different area from where he thought he was. In fact, he had led his patrol into an area we were not even supposed to be venturing into, as it was a hot spot far enough away from the main road that it wasn’t part of our mission (which was to keep the road open to civilian traffic).
In the process of this frantic search, not only the battalion, but the brigade level got involved, and by the time we finally arrived, expecting a huge fight and worse, the rioters took one look at all the vehicles roaring down the streets, and dispersed entirely before we even reached the alleyway.
I still remember our battalion commander, Rami, who understood the value of an officer learning from his mistakes rather than being broken by them, taking the young second lieutenant aside for a quick de-briefing.
The young officer was obviously pretty shaken; he and any number of his men could have been injured or worse, and an entire brigade had just spent the better part of an hour diverting valuable manpower and equipment all because he had made a wrong turn. All I caught were the first words Rami said as he walked him off to the side: “Well, we needed a good exercise for the men, so I’m glad you found an original way to set one in motion….”
That sentence carried more lessons in commanding men, and for that matter counseling life, than many entire books I have read on the subject. And this was Moshe’s challenge: how, now that the Jewish people had been made to realize the error of their ways, and the guilty had suffered the necessary consequences, to find the right words that would offer the Jewish people a sense of comfort, hope, and even inspiration after the trying events of the past few months.
Which makes the message Moshe actually shared with the Jewish people so puzzling. We might have expected him to tell the Jewish people that they were on their way to the land of Israel, or even, as he begins to do subsequently (35:4), to review the mitzvoth concerning the Jewish people’s mission to build the Mishkan, meant to be a resting place for the Divine presence which, at least according to Rashi, represented some level of atonement for the debacle of the Golden Calf.
Instead, inexplicably, Moshe shares with them a most unlikely mitzvah: Shabbat.
“These are the words Hashem has commanded to do: Six days shall you labor, and the seventh day shall be holy for you, a day of complete rest for G-d; whomsoever shall do work on it shall die. You shall not kindle fire in all your dwellings on the Sabbath day.” (35:1-3)
What does Shabbat have to do with Moshe’s desire to comfort the Jewish people after their terrible error in building a golden calf? And, if, for whatever the reason Shabbat is the right topic to mention here, why does Moshe feel it necessary to warn them that the penalty for its transgression is death? After all, Moshe is trying to comfort the Jewish people after narrowly avoiding imminent destruction, so how is the promise of a death penalty any form of comfort? And what does the prohibition against fire (and labor in general) have to do with all this?
If the Torah is going to remind the Jewish people of Shabbat, a mitzvah already given them at Marah (16:25-27; 30) as well as in the Ten Commandments (20:8-11), why not share with them the beauty and peace of the Sabbath day? Why present the prohibitions and the penalties here? And what does all this have to do with the Golden Calf?
In order to understand this, we need to take a closer look both at the sin of the Golden Calf, and the concept of sin in general, as well as the true purpose of Shabbat.
What was the Golden Calf all about? The Jewish people, at the foot of Mount Sinai, not six weeks after hearing the Ten Commandments which include a specific injunction not to worship idols, forget the words they heard from G-d Himself and believe that a calf of molten gold is their true god? The Jewish people come to Aaron, struggling with what they perceive to be a new reality: Moshe, who has ‘brought them up out of Egypt’ (32:1) is gone, and they are obviously looking for a substitute.
So, Aaron throws their gold into the fire and fashions it into a golden calf, and they say: “This is your god O’ Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt.” (32:4)
It is hard to imagine the Jewish people believing that a calf of gold they have just seen fashioned in the fire is the One who brought them out of Egypt; after all, they witnessed the ten plagues and the splitting of the sea! It is worth noting that this phrase corresponds directly to their description of Moshe (in verse 1) who also is described as having brought them out of Egypt, despite the fact that Moshe is clearly known to be a messenger of G-d, and takes great pains to ensure that this is indeed the viewpoint of the people.
Obviously, then, what the people are looking for is not to replace G-d, but rather a substitute vehicle in relating to G-d. Indeed, when G-d speaks directly to the people in the first two commandments, the people are overwhelmed and beg Moshe to speak the word of G-d instead. (20:16) The problem the people have is not that they forgot G-d exists, rather, they are so aware of G-d’s existence, they aren’t sure what to do with it. How do you maintain a relationship with something so intangible as G-d?
Indeed, this is exactly how Rambam, in the beginning of his Hilchot Avodah Zarah, explains the gradual process whereby believers in One G-d, sink into the morass of idolatry. It begins with the attempt to find tangible objects of G-d’s creation with which to maintain a relationship with G-d. And eventually, the original goal of maintaining a relationship with G-d is forgotten and all that remains are the tangible objects, which have been so deified they end up taking G-d’s place.
Essentially, the Jewish people are struggling to find a way of bringing G-d into the physical world, and that’s good; in fact, that is our purpose here on this earth; they are just going about it in a way that negates Hashem’s will; they are using the very molten image G-d has warned them against in the first place.
Their desire to bring G-d into the world is good, but in choosing the path that is not Hashem’s desire they inevitably distance themselves from Hashem’s will, and that was their tragic mistake.
How often do we have goals that are so noble and so pure, and yet get lost along the way when the means by which we attempt to attain those goals are not nearly as noble as the goals themselves? And one day, we wake up and take a look around and can’t quite figure out how something that started so right became so wrong. And the way in which we realize it really is all wrong, is because it becomes abundantly clear that we have somehow strayed off the path that Hashem (G-d) really wanted us on; we have substituted, on some level, His will for ours.
And this is where the lesson of this week’s portion becomes so crucial, because so many people live with incredible amounts of guilt, over all the decisions that caused them to be headed in the wrong direction. ‘If only I could have done it differently’, is a refrain heard often amidst painful regrets of past misdeeds and mistaken courses of actions.
In truth, however, this is not at all what Judaism teaches.
Think about it: do we really have the ability to change G-d’s will? Can we look back at anything that has ever happened in this world and say that it was not the will of G-d? How could anything ever be against the will of G-d? By definition, if something transpires, it must be the will of G-d (though of course this does not mean we can necessarily understand the will of G-d), which is why it occurs in the first place.
In Judaism when we look back at the mistakes or sins we have committed, they are not about what we have done, they are about what we wanted to do. Transgressions are not about the actions we have done wrong, because in reality whatever happens is always what Hashem meant to happen. Rather our mistakes are about the desire to do what we perceive to be against Hashem’s will.
For example, when Adam and Chava eat from the Eitz Hadaat, which Hashem told them not to eat from, Hashem knew they would eat from the tree (because G-d, by definition has to know everything), and thus all of history was based on the events that unfolded as a result of their eating of the tree. Ultimately, had they waited, they would have eventually been given from that tree by G-d. Their mistake, however, was that they wanted to do something which they perceived to be against the will of G-d. And ultimately, all Hashem wants of us, and all we are here in this world to achieve, is to make his desire ours. “Aseh Re’tzono Re’tzoncha” “Make His will yours”, says the Talmud.
Which is why the first component of Teshuva (mistakenly translated as repentance, but really from the root ‘Shuv’, to return, and all about trying to get back to where I once was.) is charata: regret.
Maimonides clearly points out in his Hilchot Teshuva that the first stage of Teshuva is to regret my desire to do something different from that which Hashem wants me to be doing. Once I have succeeded in changing my desire, once I no longer want to sin, then I have achieved atonement, because I am a completely different person. And once my desire changes then there is nothing left but the reality that always was, and which was always good.
Now, imagine how different life would be for so many people, if we could all just tap into this idea. I have met people living with anger or pain or guilt for decades over things they have done that they can’t even speak about. But if this world is really an illusion and anything I have ever done wrong was ultimately the will of Hashem and serves Hashem’s purpose just as much as all of the things that I have done right, then all that really matters is where I am at right now, in this moment.
And if I truly desire only what Hashem desires, then nothing I have done is wrong anymore, because the only thing that was really wrong about anything in the first place was the desire of people to try and do something Hashem doesn’t want them to be doing, but whatever happened, happened as it was meant to. So now that my desire is as it should be, all that’s left are the actions, which are always good.
So how does one access this idea? How do we tap into the reality of everything as the will of Hashem, and let go of the illusion that what I do (as opposed to my desire to do) is what is real in this world?
That, finally, is the secret of Shabbat. On Shabbat, I get a taste of the world to come, because after six days of work and labor where I do so much to be in partnership with G-d, I take a day to consider what that is all about. And I manage, if only in a small way, to let go of the illusion that this world is what is real. On Shabbat we try to access what Hashem really wants of us, and why we were put here in the first place, and we get back in touch with the reality that it’s all good, and that whatever happens is ultimately all part of Hashem’s plan.
And if everything is part of Hashem’s plan, then the consequences, however painful, are also good, if we only we could see that reality.
Which is why on Shabbat we don’t light fires, which are representative (along with all the categories of labor we desist from on Shabbat) of what we do in this world. According to the Midrash, fire was the first thing we created, and it thus represents our creative abilities, and our partnership with G-d in creating the world. And I let go of that on Shabbat, because on Shabbat I realize that everything I am creating is really G-d, I am just a tool, and my only challenge is to make myself a willing tool.
And this is why if we violate Shabbat we die, because if we do not understand the message of Shabbat, then we are not really living life, because if life is all about what we want without taking into account what Hashem wants, then life is really death.
Indeed, Rav Avigdor Nevehnsahl, in his Sichot Le’Sefer Shemot, points out that this is the understanding of the Midrash (Bereisheet Rabbah on Bereisheet 4:16) that when Adam heard of Cain’s success in doing Teshuva, he clapped his hands to his face, realizing he too could have done Teshuva, and then immediately, he composes a Tehilim for The Sabbath day. What does Teshuva have to do with Shabbat? Adam understood that the essence of Shabbat was in seeing everything as part of the wondrous and continuously unfolding plan of G-d.
This, then, is the reason Moshe begins here in our portion with Shabbat. The Jewish people, struggling with the immense tragedy of their mistake (the Golden Calf) are stuck in the world of ‘Oh, What might have been…” And Moshe here is reminding them that while looking forward we are supposed to imagine it is all up to us, nonetheless when reflecting on events passed, everything is ultimately in G-d’s hands, and part of that master plan….
Indeed, this leads to the challenge of learning to live in the moment, which is what Shabbat is also all about. So often, we are so busy trying to get somewhere, we don’t realize where we already are. And the ability to really see things as they are and let go of where we think things should be going, is also what Shabbat is all about. Because if Hashem runs the world, and what is crucial is tapping into what Hashem wants of me now, in this moment, then that is also the essence of Shabbat: we let go of where we are trying to get to, and slow down to appreciate where we are right now, here, in this moment.
And this is the secret to letting go of the guilt about past mistakes: they were never really mistakes, and Shabbat teaches me, and better, allows me to experience, that Hashem doesn’t waste our time with where we were, He just wants to know we are here now.
Shabbat Shalom.
Yehuda Katz, a soldier who, along with Zack Baumel and Tzvi Feldman, has been missing in action since the battle of Sultan Yaakov in June of 1982, studied in Yeshivat Kerem Be’Yavneh and has been missing now for over twenty years.
At the beginning of the Lebanon War on the first Sunday night in June of 1982, they received word in the Yeshiva that buses would be coming to take the boys up North to fight. Kerem Be’Yavneh is one of a number of very special Yeshivot (Academies for higher Jewish learning) whose boys combine their yeshiva studies with army service in Israeli Combat units. In addition to their regular reserve duty and studies in yeshiva, whenever the army is in a tight spot, this is naturally one of the first places to receive an emergency call-up; where else can you gather together an entire reserve battalion at a moment’s notice?
The boys were given only half an hour to get their gear together and be on the buses, time was of the essence as this was an elite tank unit whose services were desperately needed on the front lines.
As they were rushing to get back to the buses with their kits, Yehuda told one of his buddies to make sure the bus didn’t leave without him as he had to run to the bathroom.
A few moments later with everyone accounted for and the bus engines idling, they were still waiting for Yehuda Katz to get back from the bathroom. After a few more minutes one of the men decided to go looking for him; it was out of character for him to keep everyone waiting for so long, and especially considering where they were headed, they couldn’t imagine what was keeping him.
As his friend approached the men’s room, he saw Yehuda Katz coming out of the Beit Midrash (the study hall) and break into a run. Not understanding why Yehuda had a made a detour to the Beit Midrash when they were so pressed for time, Yehuda explained he had gone into the Beit Midrash to learn a few minutes worth of Torah, because as a Jewish soldier in a Jewish army going off to fight a war in defense of the Jewish people, “you don’t go to war from the bathroom.”
I have often wondered what it was that Yehuda chose to study for those brief moments in the Beit Midrash, and please G-d look forward to being able to ask him one day when he at long last comes home. But the thing that most challenges me about this story, is how, on the brink of war, in the midst of heading off to battle, and with all the thoughts that I unfortunately know rage through your mind and your soul at such a time, Yehuda Katz was able to turn it all off and sit down to learn five minutes of Torah?
This week’s portion, Va’Yakhel, begins with a moment of pure potential:
“Va’Yakhel Moshe Et Kol Adat B’nei Yisrael, Va’Yomer Aleihem:”
“And Moshe gathered together the entire congregation of Israel and said to them:” (Shemot 35:1)
Rashi points out that this day was the day after Yom Kippur, when Moshe came down with the second Tablets, the Luchot Ha’Brit, signifying that the Jewish people had been forgiven (or at least their sentence had been commuted) following the transgression of the Golden Calf.
Moshe had first gone up on Mount Sinai on the seventh day of Sivan, only to return forty days later on the seventeenth day of Tammuz to discover his people dancing with idolatry (the Golden Calf). He went up again, for an additional forty days coming down on Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of the month of) Elul, having achieved forgiveness. But that just meant they had gotten back to where they had been before the experience of Sinai. Now they had to re-commit to receiving the Torah all over again, this time with tablets fashioned by man, and not by G-d (34:4). So Moshe went up yet a third time, again for forty days, finally coming back down to the people on Yom Kippur with the two new tablets (Luchot) of stone, (containing the ten commandments) signifying Hashem’s forgiveness of the Jewish people, and allowing them to start over again.
Moshe however was a very wise leader; just because G-d had forgiven the Jewish people did not necessarily mean they had forgiven themselves. What were the Jews thinking and how were they feeling the morning after Yom Kippur? They had barely seen Moshe in the last three months, and it was entirely their fault. G-d had basically decreed that the consequences of this transgression (the sin of the Golden Calf) would be suffered by the Jewish people for thousands of years (32:34), and one wonders how the Jews must have felt, now that the immediate danger of annihilation was past, and the enormity of their mistake had begun to sink in.
So Moshe, a true leader, rises to the challenge of the moment, and gathers the entire people together with, it would seem, the goal of inspiring them to pick up the pieces and begin again.
I recall, years ago, during what has become known as the first Intifada, a particularly hairy day, when one of our patrols got into some serious trouble. We were stationed near Jebalya, a nasty piece of real estate in the Gaza strip, home to approximately 120,000 Arab refugees, and in the spring of 88’ things were really heating up. We didn’t have enough officers and men to handle the load, so we were working with additional units, and an urgent radio call came in from one of these neighboring patrols who were apparently surrounded by hundreds of rioters with rocks and Molotov cocktails and found themselves hemmed in an alleyway with nowhere to retreat and not enough ammunition.
I couldn’t understand where this huge riot had sprung up from, as I had just finished a patrol in the same area and had even passed the cross- street he described on patrol less than half an hour earlier, but there was no time to think about it.
Standard operating procedure in such situations was to muster up as many vehicles as were available, as quickly as possible and offer the rioters both a second ‘front’ (or contact point) with which to contend, as well as an easy and natural avenue of retreat. A few well-thrown tear gas grenades (which were basically harmless in the long term) would usually suffice to cause an entire riot to begin dispersing in the direction of the avenue they had open to them. Our company commander (I was a lieutenant at the time) sent us in different strategic directions so we would all arrive at the right places at the right time. Only when we got there, there was no riot… and no Israeli patrol.
It took us over half an hour, which for those eight men caught between a rock and a hard place was a very long time, to finally figure out where this patrol actually was. And it transpired that this entire mess had occurred because this new officer had at one point taken a left turn instead of a right one, and was in a completely different area from where he thought he was. In fact, he had led his patrol into an area we were not even supposed to be venturing into, as it was a hot spot far enough away from the main road that it wasn’t part of our mission (which was to keep the road open to civilian traffic).
In the process of this frantic search, not only the battalion, but the brigade level got involved, and by the time we finally arrived, expecting a huge fight and worse, the rioters took one look at all the vehicles roaring down the streets, and dispersed entirely before we even reached the alleyway.
I still remember our battalion commander, Rami, who understood the value of an officer learning from his mistakes rather than being broken by them, taking the young second lieutenant aside for a quick de-briefing.
The young officer was obviously pretty shaken; he and any number of his men could have been injured or worse, and an entire brigade had just spent the better part of an hour diverting valuable manpower and equipment all because he had made a wrong turn. All I caught were the first words Rami said as he walked him off to the side: “Well, we needed a good exercise for the men, so I’m glad you found an original way to set one in motion….”
That sentence carried more lessons in commanding men, and for that matter counseling life, than many entire books I have read on the subject. And this was Moshe’s challenge: how, now that the Jewish people had been made to realize the error of their ways, and the guilty had suffered the necessary consequences, to find the right words that would offer the Jewish people a sense of comfort, hope, and even inspiration after the trying events of the past few months.
Which makes the message Moshe actually shared with the Jewish people so puzzling. We might have expected him to tell the Jewish people that they were on their way to the land of Israel, or even, as he begins to do subsequently (35:4), to review the mitzvoth concerning the Jewish people’s mission to build the Mishkan, meant to be a resting place for the Divine presence which, at least according to Rashi, represented some level of atonement for the debacle of the Golden Calf.
Instead, inexplicably, Moshe shares with them a most unlikely mitzvah: Shabbat.
“These are the words Hashem has commanded to do: Six days shall you labor, and the seventh day shall be holy for you, a day of complete rest for G-d; whomsoever shall do work on it shall die. You shall not kindle fire in all your dwellings on the Sabbath day.” (35:1-3)
What does Shabbat have to do with Moshe’s desire to comfort the Jewish people after their terrible error in building a golden calf? And, if, for whatever the reason Shabbat is the right topic to mention here, why does Moshe feel it necessary to warn them that the penalty for its transgression is death? After all, Moshe is trying to comfort the Jewish people after narrowly avoiding imminent destruction, so how is the promise of a death penalty any form of comfort? And what does the prohibition against fire (and labor in general) have to do with all this?
If the Torah is going to remind the Jewish people of Shabbat, a mitzvah already given them at Marah (16:25-27; 30) as well as in the Ten Commandments (20:8-11), why not share with them the beauty and peace of the Sabbath day? Why present the prohibitions and the penalties here? And what does all this have to do with the Golden Calf?
In order to understand this, we need to take a closer look both at the sin of the Golden Calf, and the concept of sin in general, as well as the true purpose of Shabbat.
What was the Golden Calf all about? The Jewish people, at the foot of Mount Sinai, not six weeks after hearing the Ten Commandments which include a specific injunction not to worship idols, forget the words they heard from G-d Himself and believe that a calf of molten gold is their true god? The Jewish people come to Aaron, struggling with what they perceive to be a new reality: Moshe, who has ‘brought them up out of Egypt’ (32:1) is gone, and they are obviously looking for a substitute.
So, Aaron throws their gold into the fire and fashions it into a golden calf, and they say: “This is your god O’ Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt.” (32:4)
It is hard to imagine the Jewish people believing that a calf of gold they have just seen fashioned in the fire is the One who brought them out of Egypt; after all, they witnessed the ten plagues and the splitting of the sea! It is worth noting that this phrase corresponds directly to their description of Moshe (in verse 1) who also is described as having brought them out of Egypt, despite the fact that Moshe is clearly known to be a messenger of G-d, and takes great pains to ensure that this is indeed the viewpoint of the people.
Obviously, then, what the people are looking for is not to replace G-d, but rather a substitute vehicle in relating to G-d. Indeed, when G-d speaks directly to the people in the first two commandments, the people are overwhelmed and beg Moshe to speak the word of G-d instead. (20:16) The problem the people have is not that they forgot G-d exists, rather, they are so aware of G-d’s existence, they aren’t sure what to do with it. How do you maintain a relationship with something so intangible as G-d?
Indeed, this is exactly how Rambam, in the beginning of his Hilchot Avodah Zarah, explains the gradual process whereby believers in One G-d, sink into the morass of idolatry. It begins with the attempt to find tangible objects of G-d’s creation with which to maintain a relationship with G-d. And eventually, the original goal of maintaining a relationship with G-d is forgotten and all that remains are the tangible objects, which have been so deified they end up taking G-d’s place.
Essentially, the Jewish people are struggling to find a way of bringing G-d into the physical world, and that’s good; in fact, that is our purpose here on this earth; they are just going about it in a way that negates Hashem’s will; they are using the very molten image G-d has warned them against in the first place.
Their desire to bring G-d into the world is good, but in choosing the path that is not Hashem’s desire they inevitably distance themselves from Hashem’s will, and that was their tragic mistake.
How often do we have goals that are so noble and so pure, and yet get lost along the way when the means by which we attempt to attain those goals are not nearly as noble as the goals themselves? And one day, we wake up and take a look around and can’t quite figure out how something that started so right became so wrong. And the way in which we realize it really is all wrong, is because it becomes abundantly clear that we have somehow strayed off the path that Hashem (G-d) really wanted us on; we have substituted, on some level, His will for ours.
And this is where the lesson of this week’s portion becomes so crucial, because so many people live with incredible amounts of guilt, over all the decisions that caused them to be headed in the wrong direction. ‘If only I could have done it differently’, is a refrain heard often amidst painful regrets of past misdeeds and mistaken courses of actions.
In truth, however, this is not at all what Judaism teaches.
Think about it: do we really have the ability to change G-d’s will? Can we look back at anything that has ever happened in this world and say that it was not the will of G-d? How could anything ever be against the will of G-d? By definition, if something transpires, it must be the will of G-d (though of course this does not mean we can necessarily understand the will of G-d), which is why it occurs in the first place.
In Judaism when we look back at the mistakes or sins we have committed, they are not about what we have done, they are about what we wanted to do. Transgressions are not about the actions we have done wrong, because in reality whatever happens is always what Hashem meant to happen. Rather our mistakes are about the desire to do what we perceive to be against Hashem’s will.
For example, when Adam and Chava eat from the Eitz Hadaat, which Hashem told them not to eat from, Hashem knew they would eat from the tree (because G-d, by definition has to know everything), and thus all of history was based on the events that unfolded as a result of their eating of the tree. Ultimately, had they waited, they would have eventually been given from that tree by G-d. Their mistake, however, was that they wanted to do something which they perceived to be against the will of G-d. And ultimately, all Hashem wants of us, and all we are here in this world to achieve, is to make his desire ours. “Aseh Re’tzono Re’tzoncha” “Make His will yours”, says the Talmud.
Which is why the first component of Teshuva (mistakenly translated as repentance, but really from the root ‘Shuv’, to return, and all about trying to get back to where I once was.) is charata: regret.
Maimonides clearly points out in his Hilchot Teshuva that the first stage of Teshuva is to regret my desire to do something different from that which Hashem wants me to be doing. Once I have succeeded in changing my desire, once I no longer want to sin, then I have achieved atonement, because I am a completely different person. And once my desire changes then there is nothing left but the reality that always was, and which was always good.
Now, imagine how different life would be for so many people, if we could all just tap into this idea. I have met people living with anger or pain or guilt for decades over things they have done that they can’t even speak about. But if this world is really an illusion and anything I have ever done wrong was ultimately the will of Hashem and serves Hashem’s purpose just as much as all of the things that I have done right, then all that really matters is where I am at right now, in this moment.
And if I truly desire only what Hashem desires, then nothing I have done is wrong anymore, because the only thing that was really wrong about anything in the first place was the desire of people to try and do something Hashem doesn’t want them to be doing, but whatever happened, happened as it was meant to. So now that my desire is as it should be, all that’s left are the actions, which are always good.
So how does one access this idea? How do we tap into the reality of everything as the will of Hashem, and let go of the illusion that what I do (as opposed to my desire to do) is what is real in this world?
That, finally, is the secret of Shabbat. On Shabbat, I get a taste of the world to come, because after six days of work and labor where I do so much to be in partnership with G-d, I take a day to consider what that is all about. And I manage, if only in a small way, to let go of the illusion that this world is what is real. On Shabbat we try to access what Hashem really wants of us, and why we were put here in the first place, and we get back in touch with the reality that it’s all good, and that whatever happens is ultimately all part of Hashem’s plan.
And if everything is part of Hashem’s plan, then the consequences, however painful, are also good, if we only we could see that reality.
Which is why on Shabbat we don’t light fires, which are representative (along with all the categories of labor we desist from on Shabbat) of what we do in this world. According to the Midrash, fire was the first thing we created, and it thus represents our creative abilities, and our partnership with G-d in creating the world. And I let go of that on Shabbat, because on Shabbat I realize that everything I am creating is really G-d, I am just a tool, and my only challenge is to make myself a willing tool.
And this is why if we violate Shabbat we die, because if we do not understand the message of Shabbat, then we are not really living life, because if life is all about what we want without taking into account what Hashem wants, then life is really death.
Indeed, Rav Avigdor Nevehnsahl, in his Sichot Le’Sefer Shemot, points out that this is the understanding of the Midrash (Bereisheet Rabbah on Bereisheet 4:16) that when Adam heard of Cain’s success in doing Teshuva, he clapped his hands to his face, realizing he too could have done Teshuva, and then immediately, he composes a Tehilim for The Sabbath day. What does Teshuva have to do with Shabbat? Adam understood that the essence of Shabbat was in seeing everything as part of the wondrous and continuously unfolding plan of G-d.
This, then, is the reason Moshe begins here in our portion with Shabbat. The Jewish people, struggling with the immense tragedy of their mistake (the Golden Calf) are stuck in the world of ‘Oh, What might have been…” And Moshe here is reminding them that while looking forward we are supposed to imagine it is all up to us, nonetheless when reflecting on events passed, everything is ultimately in G-d’s hands, and part of that master plan….
Indeed, this leads to the challenge of learning to live in the moment, which is what Shabbat is also all about. So often, we are so busy trying to get somewhere, we don’t realize where we already are. And the ability to really see things as they are and let go of where we think things should be going, is also what Shabbat is all about. Because if Hashem runs the world, and what is crucial is tapping into what Hashem wants of me now, in this moment, then that is also the essence of Shabbat: we let go of where we are trying to get to, and slow down to appreciate where we are right now, here, in this moment.
And this is the secret to letting go of the guilt about past mistakes: they were never really mistakes, and Shabbat teaches me, and better, allows me to experience, that Hashem doesn’t waste our time with where we were, He just wants to know we are here now.
Shabbat Shalom.
The Yishai Fleisher Israel Podcast: GAZANS GOTTA GO
SEASON 2025 EPISODE 11: Yishai speaks with Dr. Mordechai Kedar about a plan to relocate Gazan Arabs to Qatar. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is kicking pro-Hamas students out of America. The Biblical Alter of Joshua is explored by Brigadier General Amir Avivi. Ben Bresky on Israel's efforts in the Eurovision. And finally, Yishai answers tough question about Israel's renewed war efforts on the BBC.
Thursday, March 20, 2025
All In On Killing Jews: What the support for Mahmoud Khalil and other terrorist supporters really means
A few days after the anniversary of Oct 7, the New York Times reported that Columbia University Apartheid Divest officially endorsed terrorism against Jews and withdrew an apology by one of its members for threatening to kill Jews.
Over the past weeks, the paper and 103 members of Congress, the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senate Minority Leader Chuck. Schumer, the Jewish Democratic Council of America led by Halie Soifer, Kamala’s former foreign policy advisor, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs led headed by former J Street press secretary Amy Spitalnick, among many others went all in on fighting for Mahmoud Khalil, a leader in CUAD who had defended terrorism, from being deported.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest is a front group for the college’s suspended Students for Justice in Palestine chapter which reacted to the first anniversary of Oct 7 by promoting a statement from a Maoist publication, “October 7th was Not ‘Barbaric’ or ‘Unfortunate’—It was Strategic and Anti-imperialist” and hailed the “moral, military, and political victory of the Operation”.
The signatories to a letter standing up for a Syrian national who had taken part in a pro-terrorist group’s harassment of Jewish students and faculty included half of House Democrats, not only extremists like AOC and Rep. Ilhan Omar, but Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking House Judiciary Democrat, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, along with multiple House Democrats of Jewish ancestry and those who represent large Jewish districts including Rep. Jerrold Nadler in New York, as well as Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Rep. Laura Friedman who holds down Sen. Adam Schiff’s old seat, in the Los Angeles area. The same politicians who had remained silent when Jewish students and faculty were being terrorized on campuses in their areas now rushed to the barricades for a member of a group that had openly celebrated the murder of Jews.
After Mahmoud Khalil, the next cause was Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese Hezbollah supporter, traveling to America on a visa who was refused entry into the United States.
According to Customs and Border Protection, Alawieh had deleted Hezbollah materials on her phone, attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and claimed that she followed Nasrallah’s teachings “from a religious perspective.”
Hezbollah is not only responsible for the murder of Jews, but the barracks bombing in Beirut which killed 220 Marines, the kidnapping and brutal torture of Colonel William R. Higgins, who was castrated and skinned before his body was dumped near a mosque, and the vicious killing of Robert Stethem, a Navy diver, during an airline hijacking when, as a stewardess described, “They were jumping in the air and landing full force on his body. He must have had all his ribs broken… they put the mike up to his face so his screams could be heard by the outside world.”
Judge Leo Sorokin, a Clinton appointee, barred the Hezbollah supporter from being deported, and then demanded to know why she had not been allowed into the country. Instead of reporting that Rasha Alawieh had visited a terrorist group’s event responsible for the murder of hundreds of Americans, the New York Times claimed she had been visiting her family in her country.
Rep. Gabe Amo, along with other Dems, have stated that they intend to continue fighting for her
Brown University, which employed Alawieh and is under investigation for antisemitism, responded by urging foreign employees like her not to travel abroad because of “travel bans, visa procedures and processing, re-entry requirements” they might conceivably run afoul of if they support terrorists and the mass murder of Americans and Jews.
In the New Yorker, Andrew Marantz hyped Hasan Piker, a Muslim influencer on the video game streaming platform Twitch, as the best hope for the Democrats winning over “bros” and “young men” .Somewhere in the middle of the article, after mentioning his dog’s name and his support for ‘non-binary’ people, gets around to briefly mentioning his “soft-pedalling the brutality of Hamas, or the Houthis, or the Chinese Communist Party” and being named “Antisemite of the Year” as a minor detail before pivoting to a discussion about a possible Hasan reality show.
But too many Democrats today, such things are minor details, less important than anything else.
Piker, has said, “it doesn’t matter if rapes f***ing happened on Oct. 7, like that doesn’t change the dynamic for me even this much” while holding up his fingers slightly apart. “The Palestinian resistance is not perfect.” And he’s been featured on CNN, invited to the DNC, and Democrats, from Rep. Ro Khanna to AOC to Sen. Ed Markey appeared on his podcast. Buttigieg has been trying to get on. Expect most other Democrats aspiring to run in 2028 to do likewise.
(Twitch which banned ‘pro-Russian propaganda’ is awash in pro-terrorist content.)
The political establishment has moved beyond pretending that they are expressing sympathy for the nebulous concept of ‘Palestinians’ and ‘innocent civilians’ and have moved on to accepting that 'armed resistance' or, less euphemistically the mass murder of Jews, is a political position they tolerate, whitewash and gradually come to identify with.
What was once marginal, is now quickly becoming mainstream.
The new price of progressive admission is no longer just opposing Israel, but affirmatively supporting the murder of Jews, not just on occasions, but on a massive scale as on Oct 7.
After Mahmoud Khalil’s detention, a constellation of Jewish leftist groups, from more radical ones like Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, chaired by Alex Soros, and Randi Weingarten’s New York Jewish Agenda, to establishment groups like the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the Jewish Democratic Council of America, stood with him.
The AJC and the ADL became the only liberal Jewish groups to condemn Khalil’s hate.
Muslim terrorists are a part of the new “democracy coalition”, but Jews aren’t unless they disavow not just Israel’s presence in a particular set of territories, but their right to live. Such disavows may be disguised in procedural blather about “democratic values”, “free speech” and “due process” by an activist class that has never shown any concern about the rights of those they actually disagree with, but what they come down to it is a movement that has gone all in on killing Jews.
And Jews are expected to keep quiet and go along.
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Does God exist, or doesn’t He?
When it comes to Mishnah or Gemara, there is no disagreement in the Torah world regarding their universal importance. Mishnah is the basis of Torah law, and the Gemara explains how to implement it
Kabbalah is a very different story. Some hold that it is essential to learn Sod (secrets of Torah), others, that it is okay to learn it but only once you have mastered all the more obligatory areas of learning, and a few are still not sure about Kabbalah’s authenticity and place within a well-rounded Torah education
Addressing the latter group, the Leshem wrote:
Since the Wisdom of the Truth (Kabbalah) has become revealed and known among all Jewish scholars, the inheritance of the Assembly of Ya’akov through Moshe Rabbeinu from the mouth of God, anyone who denies or argues with it is called a kofer (apostate). They deny a portion of the Oral Tradition, and remove themself from Emunas Klal Yisroel (Faith of the Jewish People). From the time…of the Ramban onward, there has not been a single scholar from the [Torah] scholars of the Jewish people…[who has disputed it]. Prior to this it was hidden and revealed only to a few fitting people in [each] generation…but from the time of the Ramban, it became known among the entire Jewish people and no chacham from all the Chochmei Yisroel, from whose waters we drink through their commentaries on Talmud and Poskim, have doubted it. Specifically for someone who has merited to see it, the words speak for themselves, those of the holy Zohar testifying that they are from the Rashb”i (Rebi Shimon bar Yochai), and the words of the Arizal testifying to the greatness of the Ari. It is the essence of the truth itself. (Drushei Olam HaTohu, Chelek 1, Drush 5, Siman 7, Os 8)
Regarding the other opinions, the Ramchal explained:
…All Chachmas HaEmes (Wisdom of Truth, another name for Kabbalah) is the wisdom of the truth of emunah (faith), to understand all that was created and all that occurs…how it is the result of the will of the Upper One (God)…how everything is correctly guided by the one Almighty, may He be blessed, causing everything to occur in order to bring all of it to its ultimate completion… (Sefer Klach, Pischei Chochmah, Pesach 1)
Does God exist, or doesn’t He? If He does, does He run the world, or does it run by itself? And if He runs the world, does He mircomanage, or just oversee history in a more general way?
These are questions that billions of people have asked over the last five-and-a-half millennia. They ask them because things happen in life that contradict their idea of what history should look like if God, or at least their version of God, was running the world. Whether they keep the faith or not has usually come down to how well they can answer such questions on behalf of God.
The Torah community makes up a minority of the world’s Jewish population. But once upon a time, all of us came from Torah families. Those who left Judaism only did so because they had more questions than answers, especially as science and technology became more prominent in everyday life. The Haggadah Shel Pesach makes this point vis-a-vis the four sons and the questions they ask.
Perhaps this is why at the end of history, more than ever, learning Kabbalah is so important, as counterintuitive as that may have become:
“Someone who clings to Sefer HaZohar…will not require chevlei Moshiach.” as mentioned in Raya Mehemna, Parashas Naso, 124b, etc. However, the Zohar was not revealed until much later after it was created because it was meant for “its” time. The explanation is: “the Jewish people will flee with this secret of the Zohar, because it will only “work” at the end of days in the generation of Melech Moshiach.” I will now explain to you what the generation of Moshiach is. Our rabbis, z”l, have said that during the footsteps of Moshiach, chutzpah will increase, and this will be because of the chevlei Moshiach… (Adir BaMarom, p. 22)
This is but the beginning of the discussion, the introduction to a paradigm shift that is already underway. It will be a new direction for many in the Torah world and, as such, it will and already does meet with resistance. But it is one with ancient roots, from Torah leaders such as Rebi Akiva, Rebi Meir, and Rebi Shimon bar Yochai, whom we have followed for everything else in Torah life for thousands of years now.
Greats like the Ramchal (Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzatto) and the Vilna Gaon, living during the final five hundred years of the sixth millennium, began to initiate Torah learning programs to transition the Jewish people to a more geulah way of thinking. Consistent with this approach to the end of days, many have focused on bringing the words, wisdom, and depth of the Zohar to those who have difficulty doing so for themselves.
As we approach the final redemption at a quicker rate than most seem to be noticing, and seeing the negative direction mankind seems to be going regarding the Jewish People, we need to do whatever we can to soften the blow to the Messianic Era.
For this reason, Perceptions will be taking a somewhat different approach to the weekly parsha moving forward. I hope to use it as vehicle to share important kabbalistic ideas for surviving the end of days, b”H. And anyone wishing to add to that should visit my new site for videos on YouTube (@shaarnunproductionsinc), or my site for recently translated material www.shaarnunproductions.org.
Good Shabbos,
Pinchas Winston
Thirtysix.org / Shaarnun Productions
Palestinians: 'We Are Dying Because of Hamas'
by Khaled Abu Toameh
If the Palestinians living in Gaza want to end the war, they must revolt against Hamas and provide Israel with information about the whereabouts of the hostages. Sadly, most Palestinians seem unwilling to do so, either out of fear of Hamas or because they simply identify with the terror group and its goal of destroying Israel. Pictured: Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists share a moment of friendship before a crowd of supporters in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on November 28, 2023. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
Palestinians are again paying a heavy price as a result of Hamas's refusal to release the remaining 59 Israeli hostages (almost half of whom are believed to be dead) held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. On that day, thousands of Hamas terrorists and ordinary Palestinians invaded Israel, murdering 1,200 Israelis and wounding thousands others. Another 251 Israelis – alive and dead – were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip.
Since then, Hamas could have avoided much of the death and destruction it brought on the Palestinians by simply releasing all the hostages, laying down its weapons and relinquishing control of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, however, chose to drag the two million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip into a war that has claimed the lives of thousands and destroyed large parts of the coastal strip.
Continue Reading Article
- Hamas leaders have also repeatedly made it clear that their terror group has no intention of laying down its weapons.
- Hamas leaders -- based in luxury hotels and villas in Qatar, Lebanon and Egypt -- appear in no rush to end the war. Many of them had fled the Gaza Strip together with their families during the past few years in search of a better life in Arab and Islamic countries. From their safe homes and offices, the Hamas leaders continue to issue fiery statements about their group's refusal to make concessions to end the conflict.
- "They are not the ones searching for food in the rubble. They are not the ones watching their children die. They sit in safety while others pay the price.... the suffering of Gaza has never been their concern, only their weapon." — Hamza Howidy, Palestinian human rights and peace activist, X, March 18, 2025.
- "Enough martyrs and death. Damn those who voted for you [in the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary election]." — Ranem El Ali, Palestinian journalist and author, X, March 18, 2025.
- If the Palestinians living there want to end the war, they must revolt against Hamas and provide Israel with information about the whereabouts of the hostages. Sadly, most Palestinians seem unwilling to do so, either out of fear of Hamas or because they simply identify with the terror group and its goal of destroying Israel.
If the Palestinians living in Gaza want to end the war, they must revolt against Hamas and provide Israel with information about the whereabouts of the hostages. Sadly, most Palestinians seem unwilling to do so, either out of fear of Hamas or because they simply identify with the terror group and its goal of destroying Israel. Pictured: Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists share a moment of friendship before a crowd of supporters in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on November 28, 2023. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
Palestinians are again paying a heavy price as a result of Hamas's refusal to release the remaining 59 Israeli hostages (almost half of whom are believed to be dead) held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. On that day, thousands of Hamas terrorists and ordinary Palestinians invaded Israel, murdering 1,200 Israelis and wounding thousands others. Another 251 Israelis – alive and dead – were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip.
Since then, Hamas could have avoided much of the death and destruction it brought on the Palestinians by simply releasing all the hostages, laying down its weapons and relinquishing control of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, however, chose to drag the two million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip into a war that has claimed the lives of thousands and destroyed large parts of the coastal strip.
Continue Reading Article
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Where is the renewed fighting leading?
Parashat Vayakhel 5785
by HaRav Nachman Kahana
The fighting has resumed, and people are asking, “where is it leading?”
A while back, I wrote what came to my mind regarding where HaShem is taking us at this juncture in our long and circuitous history. And it seems to be even more imminent than before, so I wish to repeat the idea for those who missed that article.
It was reported that following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, the head of IDF military intelligence and the head of Shabak (internal security) met in Jordan with their counterparts to discuss the real possibility that Iran will attempt to undermine the government of Jordan to send in Iranian troops to the border with Israel.
Let’s discuss this:
The changes in our region are so sudden and extreme that political analysts and commentators cannot keep up with the unprecedented events. The only way to be relevant is to begin by appraising events beyond the present and working backwards.
I suggest:
Just as the Assad regime of Syria was overthrown, so too – by the will of HaShem in His plan for Am Yisrael – will there be a revolt and civil war in Jordan with King Abdullah begging for refuge in Israel.
This will necessitate our army to seize large areas within Jordan, if not all of the country.
Behind everything that is happening in and around Eretz Yisrael are the seismic changes in HaShem’s relations with Am Yisrael. They could be headlined “End of galut and beginning of the advent of the Mashiach”.
Meaning:
We have troops in and along the length and breadth of the Gaza Strip. Gaza is part of the biblical tribes of Yehuda and Shimon.
We have troops in Lebanon, which is situated on the soil of the two tribes of Asher and Naftali.
We have troops in Syria, which is in the tribe of Menashe.
In total, there are Israelis today in 10 of the 12 biblical tribes that constitute Eretz Yisrael. Excluded are the tribes of Reuven and Gad, which are in the central and southern regions of Jordan.
Ten is nice but it is not twelve; and like water history seeks its natural level.
The last time Jews were in simultaneous control of all the territories of the twelve tribes was in 722 BCE – a whopping 2746 years ago – when Hoshea ben Ella, the last king of the ten northern tribes and his empire was exiled by the Assyrian King Shalmaneser.
The events in Jordan will necessitate our seizing large parts of the area, including the regions of Reuven and Gad. This will close the historical circle of 2746 years, when Am Yisrael is again in control of all the land areas of the twelve tribes.
This does not necessarily mean that the Mashiach is about to arrive. In fact, it is quite possible that the era of pre-Mashiach struggle could continue with up-and-down periods for many more years. However, the condition for some of the agricultural Torah mitzvot is our residence in all the 12 tribal areas.
We might yet turn out to be one of the most meaningful generations in our long history.
Shabbat Shalom,
Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Rav Kook's Ein Ayah: Three Types and Times of Prayer
Gemara: Avraham instituted the prayer of Shacharit, as it says: “Avraham awoke in the morning at the place that he stood (amad) (Bereishit 19:27), and amida is prayer, as it says… Yitzchak instituted the prayer of Mincha, as it says: “Yitzchak went out to supplicate (lasu’ach) in the field toward evening” (ibid. 24:63), and sicha means prayer, as it says… Yaakov instituted the prayer of Arvit, as it says: “He encountered (vayifga) in the place and retired there for the sun set” (ibid. 28:11), and pegia means prayer, as it says…
Ein Ayah: These three terms for prayer, amida, sicha, and pegiacorrespond to three benefits of prayer.
The basic function of prayer is to stabilize the spiritual level that a person attains so that it not be forgotten through the busy day and fleeting desires. The time when this is most necessary is in the morning, before one embarks upon a day of activity filled with physical needs and feelings. That is why the verb used for Shacharit is amida (standing). The most appropriate person to institute it was Avraham, who was the first of the believers who stood up to ten difficult tests and to all of those who opposed him. He indeed was the great “stander.”
The term sicha, while referring in this case to prayer, is used in another context having to do with plants. The common denominator is the element of growth, in this case, so that the spirit gets new emotional powers. This is most appropriate at Mincha time when one is trying to shake off fleeting concerns. That allows the spirit to be elevated with natural holy feelings and grow “new branches and foliage,” like a tree. This natural holiness is connected to matters of strict judgment (din), as something that strays from its natural state is more likely to receive a natural punishment. Din was indeed Yitzchak’s attribute.
There is a final element of prayer that can elevate one to a special level of or close to the level of prophecy. They encounter (pog’im) higher levels than are natural and cling to Hashem with a pure heart. The time that is suitable for such an experience is night time, as the author of Chovot Halevavot says that prayer at night has special impact. Truly special people might also receive, specifically before, during, or after sleep, special types of revelations (even if short of prophecy) that one cannot get through the physical world. These types of events are best captured by the term pegia, as they unexpectedly come upon a person in a manner that is beyond natural. Indeed, regarding Yaakov, his most profound prophecy, with the image of the angels on the ladder, took place immediately after the prayer that was described as pegia, and the prayer apparently helped prepare him for that lofty experience.
The basic function of prayer is to stabilize the spiritual level that a person attains so that it not be forgotten through the busy day and fleeting desires. The time when this is most necessary is in the morning, before one embarks upon a day of activity filled with physical needs and feelings. That is why the verb used for Shacharit is amida (standing). The most appropriate person to institute it was Avraham, who was the first of the believers who stood up to ten difficult tests and to all of those who opposed him. He indeed was the great “stander.”
The term sicha, while referring in this case to prayer, is used in another context having to do with plants. The common denominator is the element of growth, in this case, so that the spirit gets new emotional powers. This is most appropriate at Mincha time when one is trying to shake off fleeting concerns. That allows the spirit to be elevated with natural holy feelings and grow “new branches and foliage,” like a tree. This natural holiness is connected to matters of strict judgment (din), as something that strays from its natural state is more likely to receive a natural punishment. Din was indeed Yitzchak’s attribute.
There is a final element of prayer that can elevate one to a special level of or close to the level of prophecy. They encounter (pog’im) higher levels than are natural and cling to Hashem with a pure heart. The time that is suitable for such an experience is night time, as the author of Chovot Halevavot says that prayer at night has special impact. Truly special people might also receive, specifically before, during, or after sleep, special types of revelations (even if short of prophecy) that one cannot get through the physical world. These types of events are best captured by the term pegia, as they unexpectedly come upon a person in a manner that is beyond natural. Indeed, regarding Yaakov, his most profound prophecy, with the image of the angels on the ladder, took place immediately after the prayer that was described as pegia, and the prayer apparently helped prepare him for that lofty experience.
Holy and Mundane
Nasi HaYeshiva, Kerem B'Yavneh
The ten curtains of the Mishkan were attached in a special manner. They did not sew the ten curtains into one large one, nor did they leave any two curtains separate, as it says (Shemot 36:10-13):
He attached five curtains to one another, and five curtains he attached to one another. He made loops of turquoise wool on the edge of a single curtain at the end of one set; so he did at the edge of the outermost curtain on the second set ... He made fifty clasps of gold and attached the curtains to one another with the clasps -- so the Mishkan became one.
The Sforno explains that when the curtains were spread out on the Mishkan, the place where the two sets of curtains were connected with the clasps was directly above the Parochet, which separated between the holy and holy-of-holies. This manner of attachment -- not through sewing, yet no two separate, but rather connection with clasps -- comes to teach that, on the one hand, the holy connects with the holy-of-holies -- "the Mishkan became one." Yet, on the other hand, they did not spread one curtain on the entire Mishkan, to indicate that the holy and holy-of-holies are not one level, but are distinct.
This idea has a deep meaning. There are those who focus on the spiritual realm alone, disregarding material needs. There are also those who submerse themselves in the pleasures of the physical world, and seek to negate spirituality, which, in their opinion, contradicts materialism. The truth is that G-d is one: "The Creator of all is He." So, too, Israel: "One nation in the land," and unity is the basis of its worldview. Israel knows that the mundane, holy, and holy-of-holies are, indeed, distinct in their levels, but they are not detached one from another. The soul is above the body, but connected to it, and needs it, just as every spiritual matter requires a material container.
It says in the Zohar that the Divine Presence does not dwell in a place that is lacking. Therefore, the Mishkan, the dwelling of the Divine Presence, has to unify all the separate elements. Thus, all the various level of holiness are united in it, yet, at the same time, the different levels are recognizable. "Differentiation is not separation," and the definition of the various levels does not necessarily lead to a separation between them.
The Kabbalists compare this relationship to that of the sanctity of Shabbat and Yom Kippur. Shabbat is more sacred than Yom Kippur, since one who desecrates Shabbat is sentenced with stoning, whereas one who desecrates Yom Kippur is punished with karet. Nonetheless, it is a mitzvah to enjoy the Shabbat with food and material things, and on Yom Kippur, whose sanctity is less, there is a mitzvah of affliction. This teaches that self-affliction is not the ideal, only once a year in order to atone for sins, but rather the primary mitzvah is to sanctify the physical life. Thus it says in Parshat Mishpatim, "You shall be holy people to Me." (Shemot 22:30) The Kotzker Rebbe comments that G-d does not lack angels and seraphim, but rather He wants that there be holy people, who live in a mundane world, but are holy.
Thus, G-d Himself commands, "They shall make a Sanctuary for Me -- so that I may dwell among them." (Shemot 25:8) G-d desired that He have a dwelling specifically in the material world.
Rav Kook on Vayakheil: Technology and Shabbat
The Torah forbids 39 different categories of activity on Shabbat. Yet only one — lighting fire — is explicitly prohibited in the Torah. Why?
And why does the Torah qualify the prohibition of lighting fire with the phrase, “in any of your dwellings"? Is it not forbidden to start a fire in any location?
Guidelines for Technology
The control and use of fire is unique to humanity. It is the basis for our advances in science and innovations in technology. Even now, fuel sources for burning, coal and oil, are what power modern societies. In short, fire is a metaphor for our power and control over nature, the fruit of our God-given intelligence.
What is the central message of Shabbat? When we refrain from working on the seventh day, we acknowledge that God is the Creator of the world.
One might think that only the pristine natural world is truly the work of God. Human technology, on the other hand, is artificial and perhaps alien to the true purpose of the universe. Therefore, the Torah specifically prohibits lighting fire on Shabbat, emphasizing that our progress in science and technology is also part of creation. Everything is included in the ultimate design of the universe. Our advances and inventions contribute towards the goal of creation in accordance with God’s sublime wisdom.
Along with the recognition that all of our accomplishments are in essence the work of God, we must also be aware that we have tremendous power to change and improve the world. This change will be for a blessing if we are wise enough to utilize our technology within the guidelines of integrity and holiness.
Fire in the Beit HaMikdash
This caveat leads to the second question we asked: why does the Torah limit the prohibition of lighting fire on Shabbat to “your dwellings"? The Gemara (Shabbat 20a) explains that lighting fire is only forbidden in private dwellings, but in the Beit HaMikdash, it is permitted to burn offerings on Shabbat. Why should fire be permitted in the Beit HaMikdash?
The Beit HaMikdash was a focal point of prophecy and Divine revelation. It was the ultimate source of enlightenment, for both the individual and the nation. The fire used in the Beit HaMikdash is a metaphor for our mission to improve the world through advances in science and technology. We need to internalize the message that it is up to us to develop and advance the world, until the entire universe is renewed with a new heart and soul, with understanding and harmony. Permitting the technological innovation of fire in Temple on Shabbat indicates that God wants us to utilize our intellectual gifts to innovate and improve, in a fashion similar to God’s own creative acts.
We need to be constantly aware of our extraordinary potential when we follow the path that our Maker designated for us. At this spiritual level, we should not think that we are incapable of accomplishing new things. As the Gemara declares, “If they desire, the righteous can create worlds” (Sanhedrin 65b). When humanity attains ethical perfection, justice will then guide all of our actions, and scientific advances and inventions will draw their inspiration from the source of Divine morality, the Beit HaMikdash.
(Gold from the Land of Israel, pp. 164-165. Adapted from Ein Eyah vol. III, p. 53 by Rav Chanan Morrison)
Israel's Special Need For Unity
This week's Torah portion of Vayak'hel describes how the various artisans executed the different activities necessary for the construction of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and the special furniture it held. These include, of course, the Menorah, Holy Ark, table, and altars.
Something interesting stands out in this account, however. When the Holy Ark was fashioned, the Torah emphasizes that it was Betzalel ben Uri ben Hur who did it – but regarding the other items, the Torah simply says, "He made," over and over. Why does the Torah not seem to "care" who exactly made the other vessels?
On a simple level, we can assume that Betzalel himself built the Ark because of its sanctity and special virtues. But if we delve a bit deeper, we will reveal the following important idea: The work of building the Ark includes that of fashioning the cherubim atop it. And to make the cherubim, special pure and clean intentions were required. Why? Because the Torah in general clearly wishes us to stay away from any type of picture or sculpture regarding Divinity – and yet, here we are commanded to actually make two cherubim inside the Holy of Holies! Clearly, this could be misconstrued, Heaven forbid, as a violation of that prohibition. Therefore, it had to be specifically Betzalel who built them, for it was his grandfather Hur who was killed by the mob when he refused to cave in to their desire to make a golden calf. G-d chose Betzalel to build the cherubim because He knew that only he, Hur's grandson, would do so without a single impure thought of any type.
Another point worth noting is that when G-d issued the commandments to build the Mishkan, as recounted in the portions of Terumah and Tetzaveh, He concluded them [in the next portion, Ki Tisa] by reminding us about the mitzvah of Shabbat – whereas here, when the Torah speaks of the actual construction of the Tabernacle, the Sabbath is mentioned at the beginning!
Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, known as the Meshekh Chokhmah for the Torah commentary he authored, explains this in a fascinating manner: Terumah and Tetzaveh appear before the Sin of the Golden Calf, when Israel's spiritual level was at a great high, and the Divine Presence dwelled in their midst even without a Mishkan! As such, the construction of the Tabernacle is a form of Temple service that defers Shabbat, just like offering sacrifices as part of the Temple service defers Shabbat. But after the great spiritual deterioration that came with the Golden Calf, the Divine Presence appears only in the Temple or Tabernacle, and therefore as long as they are not built, there is no real revelation of the Shechinah within Israel – and therefore the Temple may not be built on the Sabbath.
In light of these concepts, let us look at the first verse of this Torah portion, which states, Vayak'hel Moshe, "Moshe assembled the entire nation of Israel." It does not mean to tell us only that he gathered them together, but also that the entire purpose of constructing the Mishkan was to raise up the level of the nation from its great deterioration of the Golden Calf. Moshe knew that just like the Torah was given to Israel only amidst their unity – "Israel camped [in singular] opposite the mountain [Mt. Sinai]" - so too the great ascent of the building of the Tabernacle can only come to pass with unity, with Moshe's assembling of "the entire nation of Israel."
This idea is found also in the Scroll of Esther, when Esther tells Mordechai, "Go and gather all the Jews." There, too, this was not merely a technical matter, but rather the contra to Haman having identified the Jewish Nation as one that was "dispersed and separated."
Today, as well, when were are surrounded by enemies near and far who scheme constantly to destroy the Jewish Nation and State, we know that the only thing that can help us withstand them is our internal unity. Such unity can come only in the context of spiritual values that can raise us up and unite us. To speak vacantly about "unity" without internalizing the spiritual values that bring this unity has no purpose or benefit.
May it be that our people truly understand and internalize what Rav Saadiah Gaon said over a millennium ago: "Our nation is a nation only through its holy Torah." And in this merit, may we speedily merit a Divine redemption in our days, Amen.
Something interesting stands out in this account, however. When the Holy Ark was fashioned, the Torah emphasizes that it was Betzalel ben Uri ben Hur who did it – but regarding the other items, the Torah simply says, "He made," over and over. Why does the Torah not seem to "care" who exactly made the other vessels?
On a simple level, we can assume that Betzalel himself built the Ark because of its sanctity and special virtues. But if we delve a bit deeper, we will reveal the following important idea: The work of building the Ark includes that of fashioning the cherubim atop it. And to make the cherubim, special pure and clean intentions were required. Why? Because the Torah in general clearly wishes us to stay away from any type of picture or sculpture regarding Divinity – and yet, here we are commanded to actually make two cherubim inside the Holy of Holies! Clearly, this could be misconstrued, Heaven forbid, as a violation of that prohibition. Therefore, it had to be specifically Betzalel who built them, for it was his grandfather Hur who was killed by the mob when he refused to cave in to their desire to make a golden calf. G-d chose Betzalel to build the cherubim because He knew that only he, Hur's grandson, would do so without a single impure thought of any type.
Another point worth noting is that when G-d issued the commandments to build the Mishkan, as recounted in the portions of Terumah and Tetzaveh, He concluded them [in the next portion, Ki Tisa] by reminding us about the mitzvah of Shabbat – whereas here, when the Torah speaks of the actual construction of the Tabernacle, the Sabbath is mentioned at the beginning!
Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, known as the Meshekh Chokhmah for the Torah commentary he authored, explains this in a fascinating manner: Terumah and Tetzaveh appear before the Sin of the Golden Calf, when Israel's spiritual level was at a great high, and the Divine Presence dwelled in their midst even without a Mishkan! As such, the construction of the Tabernacle is a form of Temple service that defers Shabbat, just like offering sacrifices as part of the Temple service defers Shabbat. But after the great spiritual deterioration that came with the Golden Calf, the Divine Presence appears only in the Temple or Tabernacle, and therefore as long as they are not built, there is no real revelation of the Shechinah within Israel – and therefore the Temple may not be built on the Sabbath.
In light of these concepts, let us look at the first verse of this Torah portion, which states, Vayak'hel Moshe, "Moshe assembled the entire nation of Israel." It does not mean to tell us only that he gathered them together, but also that the entire purpose of constructing the Mishkan was to raise up the level of the nation from its great deterioration of the Golden Calf. Moshe knew that just like the Torah was given to Israel only amidst their unity – "Israel camped [in singular] opposite the mountain [Mt. Sinai]" - so too the great ascent of the building of the Tabernacle can only come to pass with unity, with Moshe's assembling of "the entire nation of Israel."
This idea is found also in the Scroll of Esther, when Esther tells Mordechai, "Go and gather all the Jews." There, too, this was not merely a technical matter, but rather the contra to Haman having identified the Jewish Nation as one that was "dispersed and separated."
Today, as well, when were are surrounded by enemies near and far who scheme constantly to destroy the Jewish Nation and State, we know that the only thing that can help us withstand them is our internal unity. Such unity can come only in the context of spiritual values that can raise us up and unite us. To speak vacantly about "unity" without internalizing the spiritual values that bring this unity has no purpose or benefit.
May it be that our people truly understand and internalize what Rav Saadiah Gaon said over a millennium ago: "Our nation is a nation only through its holy Torah." And in this merit, may we speedily merit a Divine redemption in our days, Amen.
The Mishkan
The book of Shemot that began with such high drama just a few months ago ends this week on a rather bland and apparently purely technical note. The Torah once more reviews and recounts for us the details of the construction of the Mishkan and an exact accounting of the material goods that were used.
Through the ages, the commentators have dwelt long and hard on these parshiyot in the holy Torah, where every letter and word is eternal, in an attempt to justify this seemingly superfluous repetition. I will not attempt to review all of the different approaches to explain this issue. They are all satisfactory and yet somehow short of the mark as well. There is an obvious teaching that all of the commentators agree with that does derive from this review and repetition regarding the construction of the Mishkan.
The Mishkan had the miraculous quality of being built exactly and unwaveringly according to its original plan. Many times in life people and institutions set out to create structures, organizations and policies that will be of great benefit to society upon completion. Rarely if ever does the finished product match exactly the plans and true intentions of those who initiated the project.
All human plans and blueprints are subject to change, alteration and even to cancellation. The plans for the Mishkan, shrouded in the spirituality of God’s commandments, were not subject to such changes. Bezalel and Ahaliav and the Jewish people were complimented for their strict adherence to the original plans given to Moshe for the construction of the Mishkan.
Every detail of the construction of the Mishkan is reviewed in the parshiyot of this week. All builders are aware of the importance of detail in their work. A missing screw, nail or hook can lead to later disaster. This is true in the physical mundane life of people and is doubly true regarding the spiritual and moral character of a person and a community. Only in the completion of the details is the whole person or project seen.
The measure of an artist, whether in pictures or music, is always in the nuances - in the details. The avoidance of shortcuts that invariably lead to shabbiness is the true hallmark of the gifted performer. Moshe lovingly records for us every piece of material that came together in the holy Mishkan. In kabbalistic thought, every detail in the construction of the Mishkan is truly an influence on the general world at large.
Though the Mishkan is no longer physically present with us, its lessons and greatness still abide within the Torah we study and in our value systems. By reading the Torah’s description of the Mishkan and studying the underlying principles that it represents, it gains life and influence within us individually and collectively. May we be strengthened by this eternal knowledge.
Through the ages, the commentators have dwelt long and hard on these parshiyot in the holy Torah, where every letter and word is eternal, in an attempt to justify this seemingly superfluous repetition. I will not attempt to review all of the different approaches to explain this issue. They are all satisfactory and yet somehow short of the mark as well. There is an obvious teaching that all of the commentators agree with that does derive from this review and repetition regarding the construction of the Mishkan.
The Mishkan had the miraculous quality of being built exactly and unwaveringly according to its original plan. Many times in life people and institutions set out to create structures, organizations and policies that will be of great benefit to society upon completion. Rarely if ever does the finished product match exactly the plans and true intentions of those who initiated the project.
All human plans and blueprints are subject to change, alteration and even to cancellation. The plans for the Mishkan, shrouded in the spirituality of God’s commandments, were not subject to such changes. Bezalel and Ahaliav and the Jewish people were complimented for their strict adherence to the original plans given to Moshe for the construction of the Mishkan.
Every detail of the construction of the Mishkan is reviewed in the parshiyot of this week. All builders are aware of the importance of detail in their work. A missing screw, nail or hook can lead to later disaster. This is true in the physical mundane life of people and is doubly true regarding the spiritual and moral character of a person and a community. Only in the completion of the details is the whole person or project seen.
The measure of an artist, whether in pictures or music, is always in the nuances - in the details. The avoidance of shortcuts that invariably lead to shabbiness is the true hallmark of the gifted performer. Moshe lovingly records for us every piece of material that came together in the holy Mishkan. In kabbalistic thought, every detail in the construction of the Mishkan is truly an influence on the general world at large.
Though the Mishkan is no longer physically present with us, its lessons and greatness still abide within the Torah we study and in our value systems. By reading the Torah’s description of the Mishkan and studying the underlying principles that it represents, it gains life and influence within us individually and collectively. May we be strengthened by this eternal knowledge.
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