Showing posts with label Netsiv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Netsiv. Show all posts
Monday, June 3, 2013
KORACH – INSIGHTS IN RASHI – THE SIN OF KORACH’S ASSEMBLY
Bamidbar, 16:5-7: He [Moses] spoke to Korach and to his entire assembly, saying, ‘In the morning, HaShem will make known who is His own and who is holy, and He will bring close to Him, and whom He will choose, He will bring close to Him. Do this: Take for yourselves fire-pans – Korach and his entire assembly – and put fire in them and place incense upon them before HaShem tomorrow. Then the man HaShem will choose, he is the holy one. This is much to you, sons of Levi!’
Rashi, 16:7: sv. This is much to you, sons of Levi: ‘I have told you a great [serious] matter. Were they not fools for Moses warned them in this manner and yet they still undertook to offer [the incense]?! But they sinned with their souls…’
Joining Korach in the rebellion against Moshe Rabbeinu were two hundred and fifty great men. Rashi, quoting the Midrash Tanchuma, questions the motivations of these men in undertaking the seemingly futile rebellion against Moshe Rabbeinu. He points out that they were not foolish people, and answers that they ‘sinned with their souls’. The commentaries point out that it very difficult to see how this answers the initial question of why they embarked on this rebellion. Indeed it is not clear at all what it means that ‘they sinned with their souls’.
The Netsiv zt”l offers a fascinating explanation that answers these questions. He begins by pointing out that the two hundred and fifty men are always mentioned separately from Korach, Dasan and Aviram. Moreover, they were punished differently from those three evildoers. They were punished by being burnt by a fire from the Holy of Holies whilst Korach and his cohorts suffered the far greater punishment of being swallowed alive into the ground.
The Netsiv explains that the reason for these differences is because the intentions of the two hundred and fifty men were totally different from those of Korach, Dasan and Aviram. The latter were motivated by jealousy and desire for power. However, the two hundred and fifty men had essentially pure motives. They desired to attain greater closeness to HaShem by partaking in the service of the Kohanim. They realized that they would die for doing this yet they were willing to give up their lives in order to attain this perceived ‘closeness’ to HaShem. The Netsiv writes even further that they had no real claims against Moshe and Aaron, rather they knew that the only way that they could perform the priestly service was by joining Korach’s rebellion. Because their intentions, though clearly misguided, were leshem Shamayim (pure), they were killed in a more elevated fashion, by a holy fire. This explains why they embarked on this seemingly foolish endeavor and answers what Rashi means by the words, ‘they sinned with their souls’. It means that they willingly went against HaShem’s will to get closer to him with the awareness that they would die as a result.
It is clear from the Netsiv that despite their pure motives, the two hundred and fifty men clearly made a terrible mistake in their desire for closeness to HaShem. Their error was that the only way to truly cleave to HaShem is by doing His Will, not by performing actions that one thinks will bring him closer to HaShem despite the fact that He commanded us not to do so. The Netsiv in Parshas Shelach writes that the approach of the two hundred and fifty men constituted a transgression of the Mitzvo of ‘do not go after your heart and eyes’. He explains that this includes not creating new ‘Mitzvos’ or ways of connecting to HaShem because one feels it will bring him closer to HaShem, when that course of action actually constitutes a sin.
How does this lesson apply to our lives? There may be times when we perceive that other people have attained positions where they can attain higher levels of spiritual achievement than ourselves. In such situations it is important to realize that whilst one should make the maximum effort in the realm of ruchnius, if Providence deems that he not attain certain positions then that means he does not need to do so in order to attain closeness to HaShem. On a more general level it reminds us of the principle that each person’s relationship to HaShem is unique and his situation and abilities are perfectly suited to enable him to maximize that relationship.
This idea is demonstrated by the following story involving two of the great Baalei Mussar: Rav Naftali Amsterdam zt”l, once told his Rebbe, Rav Yisroel Salanter zt”l, “If only I had the head of the “Shaagas Aryeh”- a famous Torah genius, the heart of the “Yesod Veshoresh Ha’avodah - who was famous for his fiery, emotional avodah (service to Hashem), and the middos [characteristic traits] of the Rebbi - Rav Yisroel Salanter’s middos were legendary, then I could be a good oved Hashem (server of Hashem).” Rav Yisroel responded, “Naftali, Naftali, with your head, with your heart, and with your middos you can also a be a true oved Hashem. May we all merit to heed Rav Yisrael’s lesson and serve HaShem in the best way that each of us can.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
FULFILLING OUR POTENTIAL - YOM KIPPUR
As we approach Yom Kippur we recognise that there is a great necessity to contemplate our shemiras hamitzvos - where we have erred and where we need to do teshuva. However there is another vital aspect of Avodas Hashem that we are less aware of, that we also need to analyse: In the tefillas for the Yamim Noraim we state that man is judged, ‘maaseh ish u’pekudaso’. ‘Maaseh ish’ refers to one’s shemiras hamitzvos but what does ‘pekudaso’ mean? Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlovitz zt”l explains that ‘pekudaso’ refers to man’s tafkid, his purpose in this world. Every individual is placed in this world with a specific job to accomplish and he is judged according to whether he devoted enough effort into reaching this goal. Even if a person has kept all the mitzvos, he may still be taken to task if he did not fulfil his potential. It seems that this Avoda is even more difficult than that of shemiras hamitzvos as is seen by the following examples.
When the Netziv completed his commentary on the Sheiltos, ‘Emek Sheila’ he made a seuda, partly because that is the custom when one completes a sefer but he had another, more personal reason. He related that when he was a boy he was not particularly serious about his Torah studies. His parents made every effort to help him change his attitude but to no avail. One day he overheard his parents discussing his lack of success in Torah learning - they decided that he had no prospect of becoming a Talmid Chacham and therefore he should learn to become a cobbler. They hoped that at least he would be a yirei shamayim who would go about his work with honesty and dedication. When he heard this, it shocked him greatly and he decided to take his Torah studies seriously - this event had such an impact on him that it led to a complete change in his attitude and he became a Gadol, he was Rosh Yeshiva of Volozhin and wrote a number of classic sefarim. Imagine if he had never had this change of attitude and he would have become a simple cobbler who observed Torah and Mitzvos with genuine yiras shamayim. He would have gone up to shamayim confident that he had led a Torah true lifestyle, keeping the mitzvos, and being kovaya ittim l‘Torah. Instead they would have shown him the Emek Sheila, he would look at it and have no understanding of its content. They would ask him, where’s your Emek Sheila, where are all the sefarim that you could have written? He would have lived his life with no idea of what he could have become. It was only through a dramatic change in his attitude that he was able to reach his true potential - to be a Gadol b’Yisroel.
There are other allusions to this concept in the Yom Kippur davenning. At Mincha we read Maftir Yonah - what is the significance of the story of Yonah for Yom Kippur? Of course it teaches us about teshuva but the Mishna Berurah brings another connection. Yonah shows us that “one cannot escape from Hashem.” He elaborates in the Shaar Hatzion; sometimes a person gives up in life, feeling that he cannot achieve what he is meant to, “however, this is a mistake, for eventually, everything that Hashem wants this soul to fix, he must fix, and return many times to Olam Hazeh [in order to do so]… if that is the case, why should he go through the pain of death and ‘Chibut hakever’ and other difficulties and return yet again?” We learn a vital lesson from Yonah. He tried to escape G-d’s plan but could not: We too are all assigned a task to fulfil, but we have a tendency to try to avoid it; Why? It may be because it seems too difficult, or because we don’t feel we can achieve it or we do not want to take the responsibility. But whatever the reason is, we learn from Yonah that we must not escape our tachlis.
After Mincha we enter into the Neila prayers - the climax of Yom Kippur, the day of teshuva. But strangely, we do not say the vidui in the Neila Shemoneh Esrei; where do we express our feelings of teshuva in Neila? The Chiddushei HaRim zt”l answers that our teshuva is found in the words, “so that we can withdraw our hands from stealing.” Why do we davke mention the sin of stealing ahead of all others in Neila? He explains that this does not just refer to regular stealing, but to the fact that Hashem gives us so many gifts, money, food, housing, talents, opportunities, all in order to help us fulfil our role in life. But what do we do? We misuse those gifts for different goals - that is considered stealing, using gifts that are given for a certain purpose and using them for something else . As we approach the final moments of Yom Kippur we have, hopefully, already cleansed ourselves of our aveiros, but now, at the climax of the holiest day of the year, we also repent for failing to use our G-d given talents for the right reasons, and we express our intentions that, this year, we will do our utmost to use them to fulfil our potential. But we must really mean it: Everyone, at some point in their life is given an opportunity to do something significant for Klal Yisroel. Often, we refuse the opportunity, finding many excuses to avoid it. What is frightening about this is that a person may go through life having missed his golden chance to fulfil his potential and he will never realise it - he won’t necessarily feel that his life was missing anything. However, when he goes up to shamayim he may be faced with the same question that Avraham Avinu, the Netsiv and Reb Dovid Dryan could answer - where is the heavenly you, where is your true potential?
This idea is indeed something that should be a cause of concern for people - a person should often ask himself, ‘am I fulfilling my potential? Am I achieving what Hashem wants me to? How could I do more?’ However, this should also be an exciting idea - each of us has the ability to achieve true greatness, each one in his own specific way. How much can one person achieve? On a visit to Aish Hatorah, Rav Shach zt”l was astounded to see so many baalei teshuva - people who came from nothing but whom, through the efforts of a few dedicated and idealistic people, had returned to Torah. This was at a time when the baal teshuva movement had barely begun and it was not believed possible that it could ever take off. In his astonishment at what beheld his eyes he stood up and spoke: He quoted the passuk that we read in the haftara of Shabbos Shuva: “Return, Israel, to Hashem, your G-d, because you have stumbled in your iniquity .” He asked, that the passuk implies that the fact that we have sinned so badly is a reason why we should be able to return to Hashem - why is this so? He answered by bringing the concept that however much evil can do, good can achieve at least as much. Therefore, if a person can turn away from Hashem so much, then surely he can return to Him to an even greater extent. Similarly, if history has shown us that one man can destroy six million lives, then surely one man can save six million lives! With siata dishmaya, we cannot imagine what we can achieve, but it is surely beyond our wildest imaginations - but if we only try to make the effort and take the opportunities that come our way or even better, create our own opportunities, the we can begin to transform our imagination into reality.
We should all be zocheh to fulfill our true potential.
When the Netziv completed his commentary on the Sheiltos, ‘Emek Sheila’ he made a seuda, partly because that is the custom when one completes a sefer but he had another, more personal reason. He related that when he was a boy he was not particularly serious about his Torah studies. His parents made every effort to help him change his attitude but to no avail. One day he overheard his parents discussing his lack of success in Torah learning - they decided that he had no prospect of becoming a Talmid Chacham and therefore he should learn to become a cobbler. They hoped that at least he would be a yirei shamayim who would go about his work with honesty and dedication. When he heard this, it shocked him greatly and he decided to take his Torah studies seriously - this event had such an impact on him that it led to a complete change in his attitude and he became a Gadol, he was Rosh Yeshiva of Volozhin and wrote a number of classic sefarim. Imagine if he had never had this change of attitude and he would have become a simple cobbler who observed Torah and Mitzvos with genuine yiras shamayim. He would have gone up to shamayim confident that he had led a Torah true lifestyle, keeping the mitzvos, and being kovaya ittim l‘Torah. Instead they would have shown him the Emek Sheila, he would look at it and have no understanding of its content. They would ask him, where’s your Emek Sheila, where are all the sefarim that you could have written? He would have lived his life with no idea of what he could have become. It was only through a dramatic change in his attitude that he was able to reach his true potential - to be a Gadol b’Yisroel.
There are other allusions to this concept in the Yom Kippur davenning. At Mincha we read Maftir Yonah - what is the significance of the story of Yonah for Yom Kippur? Of course it teaches us about teshuva but the Mishna Berurah brings another connection. Yonah shows us that “one cannot escape from Hashem.” He elaborates in the Shaar Hatzion; sometimes a person gives up in life, feeling that he cannot achieve what he is meant to, “however, this is a mistake, for eventually, everything that Hashem wants this soul to fix, he must fix, and return many times to Olam Hazeh [in order to do so]… if that is the case, why should he go through the pain of death and ‘Chibut hakever’ and other difficulties and return yet again?” We learn a vital lesson from Yonah. He tried to escape G-d’s plan but could not: We too are all assigned a task to fulfil, but we have a tendency to try to avoid it; Why? It may be because it seems too difficult, or because we don’t feel we can achieve it or we do not want to take the responsibility. But whatever the reason is, we learn from Yonah that we must not escape our tachlis.
After Mincha we enter into the Neila prayers - the climax of Yom Kippur, the day of teshuva. But strangely, we do not say the vidui in the Neila Shemoneh Esrei; where do we express our feelings of teshuva in Neila? The Chiddushei HaRim zt”l answers that our teshuva is found in the words, “so that we can withdraw our hands from stealing.” Why do we davke mention the sin of stealing ahead of all others in Neila? He explains that this does not just refer to regular stealing, but to the fact that Hashem gives us so many gifts, money, food, housing, talents, opportunities, all in order to help us fulfil our role in life. But what do we do? We misuse those gifts for different goals - that is considered stealing, using gifts that are given for a certain purpose and using them for something else . As we approach the final moments of Yom Kippur we have, hopefully, already cleansed ourselves of our aveiros, but now, at the climax of the holiest day of the year, we also repent for failing to use our G-d given talents for the right reasons, and we express our intentions that, this year, we will do our utmost to use them to fulfil our potential. But we must really mean it: Everyone, at some point in their life is given an opportunity to do something significant for Klal Yisroel. Often, we refuse the opportunity, finding many excuses to avoid it. What is frightening about this is that a person may go through life having missed his golden chance to fulfil his potential and he will never realise it - he won’t necessarily feel that his life was missing anything. However, when he goes up to shamayim he may be faced with the same question that Avraham Avinu, the Netsiv and Reb Dovid Dryan could answer - where is the heavenly you, where is your true potential?
This idea is indeed something that should be a cause of concern for people - a person should often ask himself, ‘am I fulfilling my potential? Am I achieving what Hashem wants me to? How could I do more?’ However, this should also be an exciting idea - each of us has the ability to achieve true greatness, each one in his own specific way. How much can one person achieve? On a visit to Aish Hatorah, Rav Shach zt”l was astounded to see so many baalei teshuva - people who came from nothing but whom, through the efforts of a few dedicated and idealistic people, had returned to Torah. This was at a time when the baal teshuva movement had barely begun and it was not believed possible that it could ever take off. In his astonishment at what beheld his eyes he stood up and spoke: He quoted the passuk that we read in the haftara of Shabbos Shuva: “Return, Israel, to Hashem, your G-d, because you have stumbled in your iniquity .” He asked, that the passuk implies that the fact that we have sinned so badly is a reason why we should be able to return to Hashem - why is this so? He answered by bringing the concept that however much evil can do, good can achieve at least as much. Therefore, if a person can turn away from Hashem so much, then surely he can return to Him to an even greater extent. Similarly, if history has shown us that one man can destroy six million lives, then surely one man can save six million lives! With siata dishmaya, we cannot imagine what we can achieve, but it is surely beyond our wildest imaginations - but if we only try to make the effort and take the opportunities that come our way or even better, create our own opportunities, the we can begin to transform our imagination into reality.
We should all be zocheh to fulfill our true potential.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
ALEI LEHAKIM - KI SAVO
When the Jewish people entered the land, they were to assemble at two mountains for a new acceptance of the Torah, but the command to do so is found already in this week’s parsha. Twelve commandments were to be enumerated, and the people would acknowledge publicly that blessings await those who observe them and curses will befall those who spurn them. Each command discusses a specific act with the exception of the final one. It states: “cursed is the one who will not uphold the words of this Torah, to perform them; and all the people shall say, ‘Amen’ .” The commentators ask, what does this seemingly vague command involve? The Ramban brings a Yerushalmi that answers this question. “Rav Assi says in the name of Rebbi Tanchum Bar Chiya, one who learnt, taught, guarded and performed, but, who had the power to strengthen the Torah and did not, is considered ‘accursed.’… Even someone who was a complete tzaddik in his actions but did not strengthen the Torah in the face of those who do not keep it - he is considered ‘cursed’ .
The Chofetz Chaim zt”l wrote an entire Sefer, ’Chomas Hadas’, which was dedicated to urging people to do more to strengthen the Torah against the increasing tide away from Torah that threatened the very future of Torah observance. In his hakdama, ‘Chizuk Hadas’ he enumerates four separate chiyuvim that every Jew is obligated by the Torah to strive to increase observance amongst our fellow Jews . The fourth is based on this Yerushalmi; the Chofetz Chaim argues strongly that this obligation applies to any Jew who has the power to influence others. If a person does so, then he receives the blessings that were said on Har Gerizim and if he does not, chas v’shalom, then he will suffer the curses of Har Eival. He points out how awesome this idea is: The Leviim turned to six hundred thousand people who stood on the two mountains and blessed the people who would keep these commands and everyone present answered ‘amen’. Consequently, anyone who tries to uphold the Torah is blessed by the Kohanim, Leviim and six hundred thousand people, Hashem’s haskamah. And the opposite is true for anyone who does not try to keep this command. He writes that when a person does not try to save the Torah, “that the [heavenly] hashpaa to the whole world is reduced.”
My Rebbi, Rav Yitzchak Berkovits Shlita notes that by looking at some of the other sins enumerated in the curses we can begin to get a clearer idea of the seriousness of the failure to uphold the Torah. Amongst the other curses are; one who makes a graven image, one who degrades his parents, one who commits grave immorality, and one who strikes his fellow in private. There would be an inclination to think that failure to uphold the Torah is not such a terrible sin but we see from here that one who fails to uphold the Torah is placed in the same category as one who commits such terrible aveiros as the other sins mentioned in the curses at Har Eival. And the opposite is also true; a person who even tries to influence others to increase their observance is greatly praised by the Torah.
The Yerushalmi brings an example from Tanach of a person who epitomised the desire to mekayem the command of this passuk. Yoshiyahu Hamelech was brought up in a generation that had no knowledge of Torah to the extent that he had never seen a Sefer Torah. When he was a mere child one of the Kohanim, Chilkiah, found a Sefer Torah in the Temple courtyard, it was rolled to the passuk, “cursed is the one who will not uphold the words of this Torah..” When Yoshiyahu heard this he rent his clothes and said, “alei lehakim”, ‘it is my responsibility to uphold the Torah’ . He proceeded to do so and successfully reintroduced Torah learning and observance to the forlorn people. The Netsiv zt“l discusses the actions of Yoshiyahu in the context of his own time. There was already a great flow of people leaving Torah for other ideologies and there seems to have been a difference of opinion as to how the remaining Torah true Jews should react to this. Some people believed that the best course of action was to hide away and focus on their own personal avodas Hashem. The Netsiv wrote a teshuva in which he strongly disagreed with this approach. He believed that this was not the time to focus on one’s own ruchnius whilst the rest of the world was being spiritually destroyed . One of his proofs for his attitude is the story of Yoshiyahu. The passuk says that after Yoshiyahu found the Sefer Torah, he said to the Kohanim and Leviim, “… now go and serve Hashem your G-d and his people, Israel. ’ In what way did he mean for them to serve Hashem and his people? The Netsiv explains, that up till that time, the only people who had maintained their spiritual level were the Kohanim and Leviim and that they had retreated into their own world to avoid the perils of their surroundings. They had devoted themselves to their own spiritual development and relationship with Hashem but had neglected the rest of the people. Yoshiyahu now urged them to change their behaviour and to spread Torah to those who had lost their connection to it. He said that by serving the people in bringing them closer to Torah they would be simultaneously serving Hashem because that was his ratson at this time.
The Netsiv argues that just as in Yoshiyahu’s time there was a great need for the observant Jews to uphold the Torah, the same was true in his time, where people were leaving Torah in droves. If the Netsiv’s era could be compared to that of Yoshiyahu, then, all the more so the case is true in our time. There has never been a situation where so many Jews are so distant from any form of Torah than now. A survey was taken in 1990 of the state of observance in USA; here are some of its results . In 1950 the intermarriage rate in USA was 6%, by 1990 it was 52% and rising. 2 million Jews do not identify themselves as Jews. 2 million self-identified Jews have no Jewish connection whatsoever. For every wedding between two Jews, two intermarriages take place. 625,000 US Jews are now practising other religions. 11% of US Jews go to shul! Every day, dozens of intermarriages take place, which means that in the time that it takes to read this article, some Jews were lost forever! What would the Netsiv say if he were alive today? In Elul we all try to do a cheshbon hanefesh of our shemiras hamitzvos. We learn from this week’s parsha that an essential part of that cheshbon is that each person should ask himself, ‘am I doing enough to uphold the Torah?’ We all may have good excuses as to why we have not done a great deal in this area, but, the Chofetz Chaim asks, would these reasons stand up in court? He says, “at the end of one’s life, when his soul comes in front of Hashem’s throne of glory, and he asks to be honoured [for his mitzvos] in the heavenly Assembly, what will he say if they ask him, ‘why didn’t you care about My honour; in front of your very eyes, people desecrated My honour and that of My Torah.?! ”
The Chofetz Chaim, in his own life, demonstrated his fear of being judged for not doing enough to strengthen Torah observance on many occasions. When a community had weakened in its observance he would stand on the bimah in their shul and describe how he would be summoned to judgement after his death and he would be asked, “Yisroel Meir! You were there at the time. Why didn’t you rebuke the people? At times he would ask the congregation to sign their names to a document saying that he had fulfilled his obligation and rebuked them . On another occasion, during a three week stay in Riga he convinced 300 shopkeepers to close their stores on Shabbos . Another time, upon hearing from Jewish soldiers that on Pesach they had eaten chometz, he immediately set out to write Machane Yisroel which quickly spread among the Jewish soldiers. He founded and raised money for a Kosher Kitchen Fund, and he personally tried to come in contact with soldiers to influence them. A group of soldiers used to pass through Radun every summer. The Chofetz Chaim invited them to a banquet in his home, received them with fatherly love, and gave them a drasho to encourage their Torah observance .
The Chofetz Chaim constantly emphasised that there are many ways in which a person can strive to uphold the Torah, whether it be by giving drashos in front of large audiences, establishing places of learning, or befriending those that are distant from Torah. Each person is blessed with unique abilities to help bring others closer to Torah. At present, there are kiruv organisations that are providing many avenue through which people can increase their involvement in kiruv, even on a part-time basis. They offer classes in kiruv training, opportunities to learn one-on-one with a secular chavrusa, and many other options. With the yom hadin fast approaching may we all be able to learn from Yoshiyahu and say that we genuinely tried to uphold the Torah.
(If you would like to hear more specific details of what you can do to uphold the Torah and whom to contact, then you can contact me on email: Gefen123@smile.net.il Or call me on: 992 4050; 052 761 9935.)
Kol tuv
The Chofetz Chaim zt”l wrote an entire Sefer, ’Chomas Hadas’, which was dedicated to urging people to do more to strengthen the Torah against the increasing tide away from Torah that threatened the very future of Torah observance. In his hakdama, ‘Chizuk Hadas’ he enumerates four separate chiyuvim that every Jew is obligated by the Torah to strive to increase observance amongst our fellow Jews . The fourth is based on this Yerushalmi; the Chofetz Chaim argues strongly that this obligation applies to any Jew who has the power to influence others. If a person does so, then he receives the blessings that were said on Har Gerizim and if he does not, chas v’shalom, then he will suffer the curses of Har Eival. He points out how awesome this idea is: The Leviim turned to six hundred thousand people who stood on the two mountains and blessed the people who would keep these commands and everyone present answered ‘amen’. Consequently, anyone who tries to uphold the Torah is blessed by the Kohanim, Leviim and six hundred thousand people, Hashem’s haskamah. And the opposite is true for anyone who does not try to keep this command. He writes that when a person does not try to save the Torah, “that the [heavenly] hashpaa to the whole world is reduced.”
My Rebbi, Rav Yitzchak Berkovits Shlita notes that by looking at some of the other sins enumerated in the curses we can begin to get a clearer idea of the seriousness of the failure to uphold the Torah. Amongst the other curses are; one who makes a graven image, one who degrades his parents, one who commits grave immorality, and one who strikes his fellow in private. There would be an inclination to think that failure to uphold the Torah is not such a terrible sin but we see from here that one who fails to uphold the Torah is placed in the same category as one who commits such terrible aveiros as the other sins mentioned in the curses at Har Eival. And the opposite is also true; a person who even tries to influence others to increase their observance is greatly praised by the Torah.
The Yerushalmi brings an example from Tanach of a person who epitomised the desire to mekayem the command of this passuk. Yoshiyahu Hamelech was brought up in a generation that had no knowledge of Torah to the extent that he had never seen a Sefer Torah. When he was a mere child one of the Kohanim, Chilkiah, found a Sefer Torah in the Temple courtyard, it was rolled to the passuk, “cursed is the one who will not uphold the words of this Torah..” When Yoshiyahu heard this he rent his clothes and said, “alei lehakim”, ‘it is my responsibility to uphold the Torah’ . He proceeded to do so and successfully reintroduced Torah learning and observance to the forlorn people. The Netsiv zt“l discusses the actions of Yoshiyahu in the context of his own time. There was already a great flow of people leaving Torah for other ideologies and there seems to have been a difference of opinion as to how the remaining Torah true Jews should react to this. Some people believed that the best course of action was to hide away and focus on their own personal avodas Hashem. The Netsiv wrote a teshuva in which he strongly disagreed with this approach. He believed that this was not the time to focus on one’s own ruchnius whilst the rest of the world was being spiritually destroyed . One of his proofs for his attitude is the story of Yoshiyahu. The passuk says that after Yoshiyahu found the Sefer Torah, he said to the Kohanim and Leviim, “… now go and serve Hashem your G-d and his people, Israel. ’ In what way did he mean for them to serve Hashem and his people? The Netsiv explains, that up till that time, the only people who had maintained their spiritual level were the Kohanim and Leviim and that they had retreated into their own world to avoid the perils of their surroundings. They had devoted themselves to their own spiritual development and relationship with Hashem but had neglected the rest of the people. Yoshiyahu now urged them to change their behaviour and to spread Torah to those who had lost their connection to it. He said that by serving the people in bringing them closer to Torah they would be simultaneously serving Hashem because that was his ratson at this time.
The Netsiv argues that just as in Yoshiyahu’s time there was a great need for the observant Jews to uphold the Torah, the same was true in his time, where people were leaving Torah in droves. If the Netsiv’s era could be compared to that of Yoshiyahu, then, all the more so the case is true in our time. There has never been a situation where so many Jews are so distant from any form of Torah than now. A survey was taken in 1990 of the state of observance in USA; here are some of its results . In 1950 the intermarriage rate in USA was 6%, by 1990 it was 52% and rising. 2 million Jews do not identify themselves as Jews. 2 million self-identified Jews have no Jewish connection whatsoever. For every wedding between two Jews, two intermarriages take place. 625,000 US Jews are now practising other religions. 11% of US Jews go to shul! Every day, dozens of intermarriages take place, which means that in the time that it takes to read this article, some Jews were lost forever! What would the Netsiv say if he were alive today? In Elul we all try to do a cheshbon hanefesh of our shemiras hamitzvos. We learn from this week’s parsha that an essential part of that cheshbon is that each person should ask himself, ‘am I doing enough to uphold the Torah?’ We all may have good excuses as to why we have not done a great deal in this area, but, the Chofetz Chaim asks, would these reasons stand up in court? He says, “at the end of one’s life, when his soul comes in front of Hashem’s throne of glory, and he asks to be honoured [for his mitzvos] in the heavenly Assembly, what will he say if they ask him, ‘why didn’t you care about My honour; in front of your very eyes, people desecrated My honour and that of My Torah.?! ”
The Chofetz Chaim, in his own life, demonstrated his fear of being judged for not doing enough to strengthen Torah observance on many occasions. When a community had weakened in its observance he would stand on the bimah in their shul and describe how he would be summoned to judgement after his death and he would be asked, “Yisroel Meir! You were there at the time. Why didn’t you rebuke the people? At times he would ask the congregation to sign their names to a document saying that he had fulfilled his obligation and rebuked them . On another occasion, during a three week stay in Riga he convinced 300 shopkeepers to close their stores on Shabbos . Another time, upon hearing from Jewish soldiers that on Pesach they had eaten chometz, he immediately set out to write Machane Yisroel which quickly spread among the Jewish soldiers. He founded and raised money for a Kosher Kitchen Fund, and he personally tried to come in contact with soldiers to influence them. A group of soldiers used to pass through Radun every summer. The Chofetz Chaim invited them to a banquet in his home, received them with fatherly love, and gave them a drasho to encourage their Torah observance .
The Chofetz Chaim constantly emphasised that there are many ways in which a person can strive to uphold the Torah, whether it be by giving drashos in front of large audiences, establishing places of learning, or befriending those that are distant from Torah. Each person is blessed with unique abilities to help bring others closer to Torah. At present, there are kiruv organisations that are providing many avenue through which people can increase their involvement in kiruv, even on a part-time basis. They offer classes in kiruv training, opportunities to learn one-on-one with a secular chavrusa, and many other options. With the yom hadin fast approaching may we all be able to learn from Yoshiyahu and say that we genuinely tried to uphold the Torah.
(If you would like to hear more specific details of what you can do to uphold the Torah and whom to contact, then you can contact me on email: Gefen123@smile.net.il Or call me on: 992 4050; 052 761 9935.)
Kol tuv
Sunday, February 20, 2011
REACHING OUR POTENTIAL - VAYAKHEL
In the midst of its account of the building of the Mishkan that Torah states that, “Every man whose heart inspired him came.. ” The Ramban writes that this refers to those who came to do the work of weaving, sewing and building. Where did these people learn how to perform such skilled crafts? The Ramban answers that they found deep within their teva the ability to do them. These formerly hidden powers came about as a result of their deep desire to fulfill the ratson Hashem by helping to build the Mishkan. As a result of their burning desire, Hashem gave them the ability to do things that they had never been taught!
There is a well-known principle that Hashem grants us a unique set of talents with which they can fulfill their potential in life. Whilst this is certainly true it seems that it can be somewhat misapplied: As we grow up we naturally become aware of our strengths and weaknesses - there is the tendency that we can limit our activities to areas in which our strengths lie and ignore those fields in which we fell less able. For example, a person may feel that he is adept at speaking in front of small groups but that he cannot speak in front of large audiences. Thus, even when there is a necessity for someone to speak in such a setting, he will shy away from the responsibility because he has ‘pigeon-holed’ himself as being unable to speak in front of many people. We learn from the Ramban that this is an erroneous attitude - the people who stepped forward to work in the Mishkan had no awareness that they were able to perform such skilled crafts - however, as a result of their devotion to Hashem they found hitherto untapped talents that could be used to fulfill ratson Hashem. So too, in our own lives there may be times when there is a need for a certain task to be performed and we may feel that we are unable to perform it - however, the Mishna in Avos tells us that, “in a place where there are no men, be a man.” The Mishna does not qualify its exhortation by saying that you should only stand up where there is no man in an area where you feel highly capable. Rather, the only criteria that we should examine is whether there is anyone else who can perform the required task as well as we can. And if there is not, then if we dedicate ourselves to doing ratson Hashem then surely Hashem will bring out in us hidden talents.
There are many examples of people who were inspired to bring out hidden talents and consequently achieved great things; one of the most remarkable is that of the Netsiv zt”l. When he completed his commentary on the Sheiltos, he made a seuda, partly because that is the custom when one completes a sefer, but there was another, more personal reason as well. He related that when he was a boy he was not particularly serious about his Torah studies. His parents made every effort to help him change his attitude but to no avail. One day he overheard them discussing his lack of success in Torah learning - they decided that he had no prospect of becoming a Talmid Chacham and therefore he should learn to become a cobbler. They hoped that at least he would be a yirei shamayim who would go about his work with honesty and dedication. When he heard this, it greatly shocked him and he decided to take his Torah studies seriously - this incident has such an impact on him that it led to a complete change in his attitude and he became a Gadol. How did he achieve so much? Because he developed a desire to be great in learning - it was through this desire that he found in his teva hitherto undiscovered ability to learn Torah to a very high level.
One may respond to this story by arguing that not everybody can become such a great Talmid Chacham, however Jewish history shows that we need not necessarily be a Gadol to achieve great things - sometimes there are other areas of expertise which are required in order to bring about a fulfillment of ratson Hashem. Reb Dovid Dryan zt”l provides us with an excellent example of such a case. He was a pious shochet known for his adherence to shemiras halashon. However, there is one more thing that makes him stand out - he was directly responsible for the founding and running of the Gateshead Yeshiva and played a significant role in the formation of the Gateshead Kollel and Seminary. To a significant degree, his dedication is responsible for the fact that Gateshead is known as the greatest Torah center in Europe through which thousands of boys and girls have received a high level Torah education. How did Reb Dovid Dryan achieve this? When he came to live in Gateshead he found that there was no Yeshiva there. He said to himself, “how can I live in a place where there is no Yeshiva?!” This may be a question that many of us would ask in a similar situation. However, he did not suffice with just asking the question - he took action; he devoted much time and effort to achieve a seemingly impossible task in the face of considerable opposition. He took on many tasks which were not necessarily within the areas of his expertise, including fundraising and administration. He could have easily felt that he was a shochet and that was where his responsibilities to the community ended. Instead he motivated himself to do what was needed and Hashem granted him the ability to succeed .
Despite these inspiring stories one could still argue that he has in the past made an effort in certain fields and not been successful - consequently he feels that he is exempt from taking responsibility in these areas. The Chofetz Chaim addresses this claim; he points out how much effort we invest into our own interests. For example, if a business venture is not going well, a person will not simply give up, rather he will constantly think how he can improve the situation - he will seek advice from other businessmen and eventually he will often succeed. So too, he writes, “If Ratson Hashem was of equal value to a person as are his own personal affairs, he would seek advice and strategies how to build up Torah so that it does not weaken, and surely Hashem will help him find ways to succeed… however we do not do so in heavenly matters. When one sees that there is no way to improve the situation he immediately gives up and exempts himself from having to do anything. ” If we were willing to apply the same effort in Avodas Hashem as in our financial interests then we could surely rise above our accepted limits.
There is a remarkable present day example of a person who lives these words of the Chofetz Chaim. Rav Meir Shuster Shlita is naturally a shy person who is most happy in the Beis Medrash learning or davenning. However, many years ago, he recognized a need in Klal Yisroel - every day dozens of secular Jews would visit the Kotel and return back to their lives empty of Torah. He saw the necessity to approach these people and offer them accommodation in a hostel that could serve as the base with which to encourage the visitors to go to Yeshiva or Seminary. Consequently, he took it upon himself to go against his teva and walk up to these strangers and engage them in conversation. After doing this for many years, it is impossible to know how many hundreds of lives have been changed by his bold decision to do something against his teva because he felt it was Ratson Hashem. But it is clear that had he limited himself to his natural areas of strength then the world would have greatly suffered for it.
The people who raised up their hearts to fulfill Ratson Hashem found powers that they could never imagine they possessed. We too have the ability to break beyond our limits and achieve the seemingly impossible.
There is a well-known principle that Hashem grants us a unique set of talents with which they can fulfill their potential in life. Whilst this is certainly true it seems that it can be somewhat misapplied: As we grow up we naturally become aware of our strengths and weaknesses - there is the tendency that we can limit our activities to areas in which our strengths lie and ignore those fields in which we fell less able. For example, a person may feel that he is adept at speaking in front of small groups but that he cannot speak in front of large audiences. Thus, even when there is a necessity for someone to speak in such a setting, he will shy away from the responsibility because he has ‘pigeon-holed’ himself as being unable to speak in front of many people. We learn from the Ramban that this is an erroneous attitude - the people who stepped forward to work in the Mishkan had no awareness that they were able to perform such skilled crafts - however, as a result of their devotion to Hashem they found hitherto untapped talents that could be used to fulfill ratson Hashem. So too, in our own lives there may be times when there is a need for a certain task to be performed and we may feel that we are unable to perform it - however, the Mishna in Avos tells us that, “in a place where there are no men, be a man.” The Mishna does not qualify its exhortation by saying that you should only stand up where there is no man in an area where you feel highly capable. Rather, the only criteria that we should examine is whether there is anyone else who can perform the required task as well as we can. And if there is not, then if we dedicate ourselves to doing ratson Hashem then surely Hashem will bring out in us hidden talents.
There are many examples of people who were inspired to bring out hidden talents and consequently achieved great things; one of the most remarkable is that of the Netsiv zt”l. When he completed his commentary on the Sheiltos, he made a seuda, partly because that is the custom when one completes a sefer, but there was another, more personal reason as well. He related that when he was a boy he was not particularly serious about his Torah studies. His parents made every effort to help him change his attitude but to no avail. One day he overheard them discussing his lack of success in Torah learning - they decided that he had no prospect of becoming a Talmid Chacham and therefore he should learn to become a cobbler. They hoped that at least he would be a yirei shamayim who would go about his work with honesty and dedication. When he heard this, it greatly shocked him and he decided to take his Torah studies seriously - this incident has such an impact on him that it led to a complete change in his attitude and he became a Gadol. How did he achieve so much? Because he developed a desire to be great in learning - it was through this desire that he found in his teva hitherto undiscovered ability to learn Torah to a very high level.
One may respond to this story by arguing that not everybody can become such a great Talmid Chacham, however Jewish history shows that we need not necessarily be a Gadol to achieve great things - sometimes there are other areas of expertise which are required in order to bring about a fulfillment of ratson Hashem. Reb Dovid Dryan zt”l provides us with an excellent example of such a case. He was a pious shochet known for his adherence to shemiras halashon. However, there is one more thing that makes him stand out - he was directly responsible for the founding and running of the Gateshead Yeshiva and played a significant role in the formation of the Gateshead Kollel and Seminary. To a significant degree, his dedication is responsible for the fact that Gateshead is known as the greatest Torah center in Europe through which thousands of boys and girls have received a high level Torah education. How did Reb Dovid Dryan achieve this? When he came to live in Gateshead he found that there was no Yeshiva there. He said to himself, “how can I live in a place where there is no Yeshiva?!” This may be a question that many of us would ask in a similar situation. However, he did not suffice with just asking the question - he took action; he devoted much time and effort to achieve a seemingly impossible task in the face of considerable opposition. He took on many tasks which were not necessarily within the areas of his expertise, including fundraising and administration. He could have easily felt that he was a shochet and that was where his responsibilities to the community ended. Instead he motivated himself to do what was needed and Hashem granted him the ability to succeed .
Despite these inspiring stories one could still argue that he has in the past made an effort in certain fields and not been successful - consequently he feels that he is exempt from taking responsibility in these areas. The Chofetz Chaim addresses this claim; he points out how much effort we invest into our own interests. For example, if a business venture is not going well, a person will not simply give up, rather he will constantly think how he can improve the situation - he will seek advice from other businessmen and eventually he will often succeed. So too, he writes, “If Ratson Hashem was of equal value to a person as are his own personal affairs, he would seek advice and strategies how to build up Torah so that it does not weaken, and surely Hashem will help him find ways to succeed… however we do not do so in heavenly matters. When one sees that there is no way to improve the situation he immediately gives up and exempts himself from having to do anything. ” If we were willing to apply the same effort in Avodas Hashem as in our financial interests then we could surely rise above our accepted limits.
There is a remarkable present day example of a person who lives these words of the Chofetz Chaim. Rav Meir Shuster Shlita is naturally a shy person who is most happy in the Beis Medrash learning or davenning. However, many years ago, he recognized a need in Klal Yisroel - every day dozens of secular Jews would visit the Kotel and return back to their lives empty of Torah. He saw the necessity to approach these people and offer them accommodation in a hostel that could serve as the base with which to encourage the visitors to go to Yeshiva or Seminary. Consequently, he took it upon himself to go against his teva and walk up to these strangers and engage them in conversation. After doing this for many years, it is impossible to know how many hundreds of lives have been changed by his bold decision to do something against his teva because he felt it was Ratson Hashem. But it is clear that had he limited himself to his natural areas of strength then the world would have greatly suffered for it.
The people who raised up their hearts to fulfill Ratson Hashem found powers that they could never imagine they possessed. We too have the ability to break beyond our limits and achieve the seemingly impossible.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
PURE BEGINNINGS - TETZAVEH
The Parsha begins with HaShem’s instructions to Moshe Rabbeinu with regard to the people who would make the vestments that Aaron, the Kohen Gadol, would wear during his service. “And you shall speak to all the wise-hearted people whom I have invested with a spirit of wisdom, and they shall make the vestments of Aaron, to sanctify him to minister to me.” It is evident from this instruction that it was of the utmost importance that the people making Aaron’s clothing be on a high spiritual level. The Netsiv zt”l discusses why this was so significant; he introduces a principle that the kavannos (intentions) that are present at the beginning of any spiritual endeavor will have a long-lasting influence on the spiritual capacity of that endeavor. In this vein, he explains that the kavannos with which the clothing was made would have a permanent effect on the holiness inherent in it. This would in turn enable Aaron to utilize the maximum possible holiness inherent in the clothing, during his Holy service in the Mishkan (Tabernacle).
The Netsiv in another place in his commentary on the Torah , elaborates on this principle in explanation of a fascinating Gemara . Two great Tanaic sages, Rebbe Chanina and Rebbe Chiya were arguing in Torah. They then proceeded to point out their respective merits . Rebbe Chanina pointed out that if the Torah would be forgotten, he would be able to retrieve it through his great deductive abilities. Rebbe Chiya replied that he had already ensured that Torah would not be forgotten. He proceeded to explain how he went through a lengthy and difficult process; it began by creating nets for trapping animals. He would then use those nets to trap deer. He would slaughter the deer and give its meat to orphans. He would use the skin as parchment for scrolls; he would write each of the five books of the Torah on one scroll each, and teach five children one scroll each. He would then do the same with the six orders of the Mishna. He would then have each child teach the others the section that they had learnt. In this way, he ensured that it was impossible that Torah be forgotten. The section ends with Rebbe Yehuda HaNasi’s praise of Rebbe Chiya – ‘how great are the deeds of Rebbe Chiya!’
The Netsiv asks why it was necessary for Rebbe Chiya to go through so much effort in order to make the scrolls upon which the Torah and Mishna would be written? Why could he not have simply bought the parchment from a merchant and then written on that? He explains with the principle that we mentioned above – that the kavannos present at the beginning of a spiritual undertaking have a great effect on the future ability of that undertaking to succeed. Rebbe Chiya desired that the scrolls would be created with the purest of intentions – in this way they could have a greater effect in entering into the hearts of the children who would learn from them. This is a further example of how the intentions that a person has at the very beginning of his endeavor have a great effect on its future success.
We see another example of this principle, but this time, in the negative sense, where impure kavannos have a detrimental effect. The Gemara in Chagiga discusses the sad story of a great sage by the name of Elisha Ben Avuyah who became a heretic. The Gemara tells us of reasons as to why he finally abandoned Torah. Tosefos on that Gemara brings a Talmud Yerushalmi that informs us that the defining event in Elisha’s abandonment of Torah actually took place when he was a baby. It describes the festive meal in celebration of the bris mila of the young Elisha. His father, Avuyah, invited all the greatest Sages of the time to the meal. During the meal, two of the sages were in another room learning Torah on a very high level. Their learning was so great that a fire came down from Heaven and surrounded them. Avuyah entered into the room and saw that his house was on fire. He expressed his concern that his house would burn down, but they explained that there was no danger. Their learning was on such a level that it was comparable to the day that the Torah was given on Sinai when fire came down from Heaven. Avuyah was so impressed by the power of Torah that he said that if the power of Torah was so great then he would strive to dedicate his son to the learning of Torah. The Yerushalmi explains that since Avuyah’s intentions for his son were not purely lishma (for the sake of Heaven), his son eventually left the Torah path. We see from here that just as pure intentions facilitate future holiness, so too impure intentions can result in subsequent impurity.
We have seen the importance of the purity of intentions at the beginning of spiritual endeavors. However, there is another important Torah principle that brings into question the above idea, in particular the account of the negative impact of Avuyah’s intentions for his son: The Gemara in a number of places, tells us; “one should always toil in Torah and Mitzvos, even loh lishma (not for the sake of Heaven), because from the loh lishma will come the lishma.” This means that even if a person is not at the level of performing Mitzvos and learning Torah purely lishma, nonetheless, he should continue in his performance of the Mitzvos with impure intentions. And as a result of doing the Mitzvos for the wrong reasons, he will inevitably come to do the Mitzvos for the right reasons. If this is the case, then why did the impure intentions of Avuyah have such a detrimental effect on the future of his son?
It seems that the key to answer this question is found in the words of Rav Chaim Volozhin zt”l in his commentary to Pirkei Avos: He argues that there is a very important limitation to the Gemara’s assertion of the inevitability that Avodas HaShem that is loh lishma will lead to lishma performance. He stipulates that this is only the case if the person who performs the Mitzvos loh lishma, also has the active intentions that he will eventually come to do the Mitzvos lishma. This means that even though he recognizes that he is currently at the level where his Avodas HaShem is not totally pure, he realizes intellectually that the ultimate goal is to serve HaShem lishma. As Rabbi Akiva Tatz expresses it, the person ‘wants to want to do the Mitzvo for the right reasons’. In this way, his impure Avodas HaShem is acceptable in that it will surely bring him to pure service at a later date. However, if he does the Mitzvos loh lishma with no future goal of being lishma then there is no inevitability at all that he will ever come to perform Mitzvos lishma. Based on Rav Chaim of Volozhin’s explanation, we can now understand why Avuyah’s intentions had such damaging consequences. It seems clear from the Yerushalmi that Avuyah’s intentions were totally loh lishma, without any hope of attaining the level of lishma in the future.
We have seen how powerful the kavannas that are present at the beginning of spiritual endeavors (which include marriage, having children, starting learning, and many other undertakings) are in determining the future outcome of those endeavors. Therefore, it is very important that a person strive to have the purest possible intentions. However, it is clear that attaining such high levels of purity is very difficult and takes a great deal of time and effort. Rav Chaim Volozhin teaches us that even if we are not yet on the level of lishma we can realistically strive to have the attitude that we want to get to lishma – in this way we can inject our actions with a significant level of purity.
Moreover, it is important to note that even if a person has already began his endeavor without the highest levels of purity, he can always achieve a ‘new start’ through the miraculous process of teshuva (repentance). Accordingly, a person who, for example, is already married or already has children can restart the process through teshuva and thereby create a greater capacity for future holiness. May we all merit to have pure intentions in everything that we do.
The Netsiv in another place in his commentary on the Torah , elaborates on this principle in explanation of a fascinating Gemara . Two great Tanaic sages, Rebbe Chanina and Rebbe Chiya were arguing in Torah. They then proceeded to point out their respective merits . Rebbe Chanina pointed out that if the Torah would be forgotten, he would be able to retrieve it through his great deductive abilities. Rebbe Chiya replied that he had already ensured that Torah would not be forgotten. He proceeded to explain how he went through a lengthy and difficult process; it began by creating nets for trapping animals. He would then use those nets to trap deer. He would slaughter the deer and give its meat to orphans. He would use the skin as parchment for scrolls; he would write each of the five books of the Torah on one scroll each, and teach five children one scroll each. He would then do the same with the six orders of the Mishna. He would then have each child teach the others the section that they had learnt. In this way, he ensured that it was impossible that Torah be forgotten. The section ends with Rebbe Yehuda HaNasi’s praise of Rebbe Chiya – ‘how great are the deeds of Rebbe Chiya!’
The Netsiv asks why it was necessary for Rebbe Chiya to go through so much effort in order to make the scrolls upon which the Torah and Mishna would be written? Why could he not have simply bought the parchment from a merchant and then written on that? He explains with the principle that we mentioned above – that the kavannos present at the beginning of a spiritual undertaking have a great effect on the future ability of that undertaking to succeed. Rebbe Chiya desired that the scrolls would be created with the purest of intentions – in this way they could have a greater effect in entering into the hearts of the children who would learn from them. This is a further example of how the intentions that a person has at the very beginning of his endeavor have a great effect on its future success.
We see another example of this principle, but this time, in the negative sense, where impure kavannos have a detrimental effect. The Gemara in Chagiga discusses the sad story of a great sage by the name of Elisha Ben Avuyah who became a heretic. The Gemara tells us of reasons as to why he finally abandoned Torah. Tosefos on that Gemara brings a Talmud Yerushalmi that informs us that the defining event in Elisha’s abandonment of Torah actually took place when he was a baby. It describes the festive meal in celebration of the bris mila of the young Elisha. His father, Avuyah, invited all the greatest Sages of the time to the meal. During the meal, two of the sages were in another room learning Torah on a very high level. Their learning was so great that a fire came down from Heaven and surrounded them. Avuyah entered into the room and saw that his house was on fire. He expressed his concern that his house would burn down, but they explained that there was no danger. Their learning was on such a level that it was comparable to the day that the Torah was given on Sinai when fire came down from Heaven. Avuyah was so impressed by the power of Torah that he said that if the power of Torah was so great then he would strive to dedicate his son to the learning of Torah. The Yerushalmi explains that since Avuyah’s intentions for his son were not purely lishma (for the sake of Heaven), his son eventually left the Torah path. We see from here that just as pure intentions facilitate future holiness, so too impure intentions can result in subsequent impurity.
We have seen the importance of the purity of intentions at the beginning of spiritual endeavors. However, there is another important Torah principle that brings into question the above idea, in particular the account of the negative impact of Avuyah’s intentions for his son: The Gemara in a number of places, tells us; “one should always toil in Torah and Mitzvos, even loh lishma (not for the sake of Heaven), because from the loh lishma will come the lishma.” This means that even if a person is not at the level of performing Mitzvos and learning Torah purely lishma, nonetheless, he should continue in his performance of the Mitzvos with impure intentions. And as a result of doing the Mitzvos for the wrong reasons, he will inevitably come to do the Mitzvos for the right reasons. If this is the case, then why did the impure intentions of Avuyah have such a detrimental effect on the future of his son?
It seems that the key to answer this question is found in the words of Rav Chaim Volozhin zt”l in his commentary to Pirkei Avos: He argues that there is a very important limitation to the Gemara’s assertion of the inevitability that Avodas HaShem that is loh lishma will lead to lishma performance. He stipulates that this is only the case if the person who performs the Mitzvos loh lishma, also has the active intentions that he will eventually come to do the Mitzvos lishma. This means that even though he recognizes that he is currently at the level where his Avodas HaShem is not totally pure, he realizes intellectually that the ultimate goal is to serve HaShem lishma. As Rabbi Akiva Tatz expresses it, the person ‘wants to want to do the Mitzvo for the right reasons’. In this way, his impure Avodas HaShem is acceptable in that it will surely bring him to pure service at a later date. However, if he does the Mitzvos loh lishma with no future goal of being lishma then there is no inevitability at all that he will ever come to perform Mitzvos lishma. Based on Rav Chaim of Volozhin’s explanation, we can now understand why Avuyah’s intentions had such damaging consequences. It seems clear from the Yerushalmi that Avuyah’s intentions were totally loh lishma, without any hope of attaining the level of lishma in the future.
We have seen how powerful the kavannas that are present at the beginning of spiritual endeavors (which include marriage, having children, starting learning, and many other undertakings) are in determining the future outcome of those endeavors. Therefore, it is very important that a person strive to have the purest possible intentions. However, it is clear that attaining such high levels of purity is very difficult and takes a great deal of time and effort. Rav Chaim Volozhin teaches us that even if we are not yet on the level of lishma we can realistically strive to have the attitude that we want to get to lishma – in this way we can inject our actions with a significant level of purity.
Moreover, it is important to note that even if a person has already began his endeavor without the highest levels of purity, he can always achieve a ‘new start’ through the miraculous process of teshuva (repentance). Accordingly, a person who, for example, is already married or already has children can restart the process through teshuva and thereby create a greater capacity for future holiness. May we all merit to have pure intentions in everything that we do.
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