REVEALING THE HIDDEN WISDOM OF THE MYSTIC MASTERS
From the Baal Shem Tov
גאָט באדארף מען דינען מיט יראה און שמחה. ביידע צוזאמען זיינען צוויי פריינד, וואס שיידען זיך קיינמאל נישט. יראה אָן שמחה איז מרה-שחורה.
God requires people to serve with reverence and joy. Both together are two friends who never part. Reverence without joy is depression.
A line from Theodore Roethke’s poem, “The Gentle” reads: The sleep was not deep but the waking is slow.”
This commentary on Gen. 22:16 comes to us from R’ Meir’l Premishlaner.
ויקץ יעקב משנתו
and Jacob awoke from his sleep
יעדער מענטש, אז ער שלאפט ביינאכט, וועקט זיך איבער. דער חילוק איז בלויז, אויב דער מענש איז א פרומער, א “ירא-שמים,” אז ער וועקט זיך איבער, וואשט ער תיכף די הענט און זאגט “אכן יש ה’ במקום הזה,” הויבט זיך אויף, זעצט זיך לערנען און דאווענען. איז דער מענש א פראסטער, אז ער וועקט זיך איבער אינמיטען נאכט, דרייט ער זיך איבער אויף דער אנדערער זייט און שלאפט ערשט געשמאער….
Everyone wakes up when they sleep at night. The only difference is, if a person is pious, one who reveres heaven, when he wakes up he washes his hands right away and says: “Ochn yesh hashem bamakom hazeh,” (Indeed, Gd is in this place!) He picks himself up and sits down to study and pray. When an ordinary person wakes up in the middle of the night he just rolls over on the other side and goes back to sleep.
This teaching comes to me by way of Melamed Garry. Thanks Garry.
YOM KIPPUR
A Day of Intimacy?
A Teaching from Gershon Winkler
The deeper we delve into the meaning of Yom Kippur, the more it becomes about love and intimacy, not guilt and repentance. It is a sacred day of connecting to the root of roots, to the essence of our soul self, as is asked of us in the Torah’s instruction regarding Yom Kippur: “And you should respond to your souls ועניתם את נפשתיכם” (Leviticus 16:31) – often translated as “And you shall afflict your souls.” Which of the two renditions we choose is up to us, they are both grammatically and etymologically correct, which leaves us simply with the question: What kind of Yom Kippur do we want? Or better yet, what kind of relationship do we want with God, with Self, with Other? Affliction, or Response? Guilt, or Intimacy? Love, or Fear?
More than 3,300 years ago, Moses channeled the famous “Thirteen Attributes of Divine Compassion” – or Shalosh Es’ray Mee’dot שלש עשרה מדות– while traversing the great Mountain of Elo’heem in the desert of Sinai(Exodus 34:6-7). And they are, as follows:
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A commentary from the Rebbe of Lublin on the line from the Machzor:
You are He who remembers all the forgotten from eternity.
The Holy Blessed one remembers what people forget and remembers not what people do not forget.
For example, when a person does a good thing and he goes around continuously bragging and he keeps incessantly telling about the good he’s done, the Master of the Universe remembers it not, because the Holy Blessed One “remembers all the forgotten” — the good that a person does and immediately forgets about. On the other hand, when a person does good and forgets about it, doesn’t talk about it to anyone, then the Holy Blessed One “remembers all the forgotten” — the Master of the Universe remembers this.
Of course, the rebbe is obviously trying to get his constituents to refrain from boasting about their good deeds. But there is another implication to this. Although the context of the prayer makes it clear that what is being talked about is a person’s deeds that are judged on Rosh Hashana, we can also apply this notion to another context. Namely, that Hashem remembers US when we feel forgotten.
It is a common Rosh Hashanah theme to point to all the many instances in Bereshit (Genesis) where the text says, “And Gd remembered so-and-so.” But it is not that Gd ever forgot the person in the first place. It is merely that that person now comes to the fore of Gd’s attention. This is a little bit like when you’re out running errands and you suddenly realize you have to go pick your kid up from school. It is certainly not the case that you for one moment forgot you had a kid. Poooh-poooh-poooh! No, it is just that your attention was elsewhere for a moment. Similarly, I think we can sometimes feel that Gd has forgotten us. But it isn’t so. Indeed, this text proves it, because if all our deeds and our attitudes about them are counted and remembered, how much moreso the individual who performs them?
A Rosh Hashana teaching from Rebbe Elimelech.
יעדער מענש דארף האבן אין מחשבח אז א צווייטער מענש געהן מיט אים שטענדיג צוזאמען , פאלגט אים נאך וואוהין ער גייט און שטייט, לאזט קיין רגע פון אים ניט ארונטער קיין אויג. בשעת ער וועט עפעס גיין טאן, זאל ער זעהט אז ער זאל ניט זיין פנים צודעקען מיט חרפה פאר’ן צווייטער מענש וואס באגלייט אים, ער זאל ניט דארפען זוכען א פלאץ וושו זיך צו באהאלטען – אז א מענש וועט ארומגיין מיט אזא מחשבה, וועט ער קיינמאל ניט זינדיגען
Every man should have in mind that a second person is constantly present with him, following after him wherever he goes or stays, never letting him out of his sight for a moment. Whenever he goes to do anything, he should not shame himself in front of the second person, he should not look for a place to hide – for a person who goes around with this in mind will never sin.
טַפְּכֶם נְשֵׁיכֶם וְגֵרְךָ אֲשֶׁר בְּקֶרֶב מַחֲנֶיךָ
tapekhem n’sheikhem v’geir’khem asher b’kerev machaneikhem
your little ones, your women, and your convert who is within your camp (D’varim 29:10)
Far vos sheht “tapekhem” far “n’sheikem”? Veyzn fun danen ois, az kotsh oif’n foter iz mutl tsu lernen zein zun Torah, ober madrich tsu zein di kinder zolen gayn b’derech-hayashr un oifvaksen yiden iz ingantsen chul oif der muter. Vayl, der foter iz tsulib parnasa nit shtendig in shtub tsu hoben di hasgacha oif di kinders hadrecha vos iz zeyer vichtig far zeir dertsiung zeinen deriber “tapekhem mutl al n’sheikhem” — oib di kinder zeinen oisgevaksen shlecht un fardorben iz dos merstens di muter’s shuld.
Why is “your little ones” stated before “your women”? This shows that even though it is the father’s obligation to teach his son Torah, it is entirely the mother’s obligation to oversee the child’s proper Jewish upbringing. Because the father, due to making a livelihood, isn’t always at home to supervise the children’s essential training, it is therefore [stated] “your little ones (are incumbent upon) your women” — if the children are badly raised and spoiled, it is mostly the mother’s fault. (R’ Moshe Leib Sassover)
Well now . . . this is hardly modern thinking, and I am the last one to side with proponents of rigid gender roles and chauvinistic attitudes. BUT, there’s an important lesson here. Namely that in a two-parent household, both parents are responsible for part of the children’s education. The assumption there was that the father was out working most of the time and it made sense for the parent who was with the children to be responsible for teaching them how to behave, how to live Jewishly in a daily context. So the mother teaches the kids to say their blessings before they eat, not to drink milk with a meat lunch, to kiss the mezuzah on the way in and out of the house, to plan ahead for shabbos, etc. etc. When the father comes home he can sit down and do a little book learning with the kids.
In today’s world, both parents are usually working and neither of them is usually raising the kids. Of course, this is less than ideal, but that’s life in the modern world. But notice the teaching doesn’t exactly say that the parents have to do all the child rearing themselves. It says they are responsible for supervising the training and education. So if you have to pay someone else to mind your kids while you’re at work, that doesn’t get you off the hook for making sure they know what they need to know. You are responsible for your children and for their behavior, and for their Jewish education (both practical and academic) whether you spend all day with them or not.
My personal opinion is that parents (and I mean all parents, not just Jewish parents) do not take enough responsibility for their children these days. (In general, of course.) And the result is not merely that young people are ignorant of many important notions, facts, history and algorithms of life, but that they are spiritually, morally and culturally impoverished. And this only gets worse with each generation. Maybe most Jews do a little bit better job at it than say your average adherent of “American Civil Religion” but it is because of teachings like these that keep reminding us over and over again about what is really important in life. Even people who don’t have kids play parental roles in some context or other, and I think the world would be a better place if we all took our parenting responsibilities a little more seriously.
לא עצרתי ממצותיך ולא שכחתי
lo avarti mimitzvotecha v’lo shakhachti
I have not transgressed your mitzvos, nor have I forgotten them
(D’varim 26:13)
תעיתי כשה אבד בקש עבדיך — פאראן א גרויסער חילוק צווישען א הוטא וואָס זינכיגט און האָט תיכף חרטה און א חוטא וואָס די זינד פארפיהרען אים און ער פארבלאָנדיזשעט אויף שלעכטע פארדאָבענע וועגען.
Ta’iti k’seh oveid bakeish avdecha (I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Thy servant) [Psalm 119:176] — There’s a big difference between a sinner who sins and immediately regets (it), and a sinner whose sin leads him and he strays in bad and corrupt ways.
דאָס איז א משל צו א שעפסל וואָס בלאָנדזשעט אוועק פון פּאסטוך, איז דאָס שעפסל ניט ווייט פארקראָכען, הערט עס דעם רוף פון פּאסטוך, דערקענט זײַן קול און קערט זיך צוריק. פארפריכט אָבער דאָס שעפסל ווייט אוועק, הערט עס מער ניט דאָס קול פון פּאסטוך, בלאָנדזשעט אויף דאָרנדיגע פרומע וועגען און דער פּאסטוך איז זיך מייאש עס צו זוכען.
This is a parable about a little sheep who strays away from the shepherd. If the sheep doesn’t wander off too far, it hears the voice of the shepherd and comes back. But if the little sheep strays too far, it can no longer hear the shepherd’s voice and it strays in thorny and crooked ways. The shepherd is [too] disheartened to look for it.
דאָס האָט דוד המלך גע’תענה’עט צו גאָט. „תעיתי כשה אבד“ — איך בין ווי א פארבלאָנזשעט שעפסל וואָס בין ניט ווייט אוועק פון דרך הישר. א ראיה האסטו, „בקש עבדך“ איך זוך דעם פּאסטוך, איך וויל צוריקגיין צו אים, „כי מצוותך לא שכהתי“ ווייל זײַן קול הקריאה פון דער תורה ומצוות האָב איך חרטא אויף מײַנע זינד און וויל זיך צוריקקערן צו גאָט. (ר’ נחמן בראצלאווער)
This, King David pleaded with Gd, “Ta’iti k’seh oveid,” I am like a lost sheep who is not far away from the straight path. A shepherd has to “bakeish avedecha” (seek Thy servant), I am seeking the shepherd, I want to go back to Him, “ki mitzvotecha lo shakhachti” (for I have not forgotten Your commandments), because Your voice proclaims the Torah mitzvos, I have not forgotten and I regret my sins and I want to return back to Gd. (Rebbe Nachman of Breslov)
Post # 150!
ישמח לב מבקשי יהוה — ס’איז די טבע פון א מענש, בעת ער זוכט א פארלארענע זאך ער בשעת דעםזוכער זײַן פול מיט צער און וועהטאָג. א פרעהליכער ווערט ער, ווען ער געפינט די אבדה, די ’’מבקשי ד’ ” די וואס זוכען גאָט זיינען פרייליך, האָבען גרויס הנאה באלד ווען זיי זוכען אים.
Yismach lev m’vakshei Hashem (Joyous of heart are those who seek Hashem) [Psalm 105:3] — It is human nature to be sad when one is looking for something that’s lost. But one becomes happy upon finding the lost [item]. The m’vakshei hashem, those who seek Gd, will assuredly experience great pleasure promptly when they look for Him. (R’ Simcha Bunam)
כי תצא למלחמה
ki teitzei l’milchamah
if you go out to war
(D’varim 21:10)
כי תצא – ווען דו וועסט ארויסגיין פון יראת אלהים, אוועקגיין פון אידישען דרך, „למלחמה“ וועסטו תמיד זיין אומצופרידען און אומרוהיג. וועסט ליידען פון אינערליכען פירוד אין לעבען און מלחמה האלטען מיט זיך אליין. (ר’ דוב בער ממזריטש)
Ki teitzei (if you go out) — When you stray from yiras elohim (reverence for Gd), you depart from the Jewish path, “to war” and you will always be unhappy and restless. You will suffer from internal separation in life and you’ll be waging war with yourself. (R’ Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezeritsh)
צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִרְדֹף
tzedek, tzedek tirdof
justice, justice shall you pursue
(D’varim 16:20)
צדק צדק תרדף — זאל ביי דיר ניט זיין דער כלל „אז דער ציל הייליגט דאס מיטעל.“ נאָר נאכיאָגען זאָלסטו צדק מיט צדק. די מיטעל וועלכע דו וועסט באנוצען צו דערגריידען א גערעכטען ציל, זאל אויפ זיין גערעכט. (ר’ רבי בונם)
Justice, justice shall you pursue — don’t go by the adage “the end justifies the means.”* You should only pursue justice with justice. The means which you utilize to attain a just goal must also be just. (R’ Rebbe Bunam)
*Idiomatic translation. The literal translation of the phrase “az der tsil hayligt dos mitel,” would be “that the goal sanctifies the means.”
Digital Maggid
