In Parashas Ki Seitzei, there are a number of Mitzvos instructing us how to react to a fellow Jew who is in some kind of predicament. One of them is the Mitzvo to help unload one’s fellow’s animal when it is suffering under a heavy burden. The Torah tells us: “You shall not see the donkey of your brother or his ox falling on the road and hide yourself from them, you shall surely stand them up, with him.” The commentaries note that this Mitzvo was already mentioned in another place in the Torah, however with a significant difference: In Parashas Mishpatim, the Torah states: “If you see the donkey of your enemy crouching under its burden, would you refrain from helping him? – you shall repeatedly help him.” The obvious question is why, in Parashas Mishpatim, the Torah instructed us to help one’s enemy, whereas in Parashas Ki Seitzei, the Torah discussed helping his brother.
The Meshech Chachmah offers a fascinating answer. He begins by bringing the Gemara in Pesachim that says it is permissible to ‘hate’ a person whom one knows has committed a despicable action. The ‘enemy’ that the Torah refers to in Parashas Mishpatim is someone about whom one knows he has committed such an action. The Meshech Chacmah writes that the passuk in Parashas Mishpatim was written before the sin of the Golden Calf, when the people were on an incredibly high spiritual level. At that time, because of their high level, it was acceptable for one to harbor negative feelings towards people who acted incorrectly. However, after the people sinned with the Golden Calf and on many other occasions, it would no longer be valid to feel negatively towards someone who sinned. This is because after a realistic self-assessment, each person would realize that they were really no better than the person whom they saw sin. Accordingly, it would be wrong to harbor feelings of hatred towards someone who acted inappropriately. With this explanation, he continues that by the time Moshe instructed the people in Parashas Ki Seitzei, they had already long fallen from their exalted level that they attained before the Golden Calf. Therefore, in this Parashah, the Torah says to help the donkey of “your brother” because even one who acts inappropriately is no worse than anyone else.
We have now explained the difference between the two passukim that deal with helping unload a donkey. However, it is still necessary to analyze why exactly it is so wrong for a person who sins himself, to feel negatively about someone else who sins. The simple understanding would be that it is hypocritical. However, it seems that there is a deeper principle underlying this issue. There are a number of reasons why one may feel negatively towards someone else. It may come from a genuine feeling of disgust at his reprehensible behavior. However, there is also the possibility that the negativity originates from a less pure place. A person may dislike someone else because of jealousy or because that person expresses a dislike to himself. Such forms of aversion are unacceptable according to the Torah viewpoint because they are not coming from a feeling of concern for the person, rather from a personal hatred. The only acceptable type of ‘dislike’ is one that is focused on a dislike of the displeasing actions of the person. However, this should in no way take away from the feelings of love that one must feel for every fellow Jew.
Based on this understanding, it seems that the Meshech Chachmah is saying that if one acts inappropriately himself, he may not feel negatively towards his fellow man who also acts improperly. This is because the fact that he himself sins, means that he does not feel a genuine disdain for sin, for if he did, then he would not sin himself. Therefore, his feelings of negativity are inevitably stemming, not from a pure distaste for sin, but for personal motives. Dislike that comes from such motives are unacceptable.
We have seen how it is unacceptable to look down on others for their mistakes, when we commit similar mistakes ourselves. Whilst it is essential to care about the spiritual level of others, one must be careful that his concern his genuine and not coming from his own personal flaws. Moreover, as the Meshech Chachmah pointed out, if we were to make our own personal accounting, we would recognize many areas where there could be improvement. Elul, in particular, is a time that is very conducive to focus on one’s own faults as opposed to those of other people.
Showing posts with label Pesachim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pesachim. Show all posts
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
MAKING PEACE BETWEEN BODY AND SOUL - SHAVUOS
The Gemara in Pesachim teaches us a fascinating lesson about Shavuos; the Gemara brings a machlokes (disagreement) between Rebbe Yehoshua and Rebbe Eliezer with regard to how a person should conduct himself on the Yamim Tovim. Rebbe Yehoshua holds that one should devote part of his time to spiritual pursuits, and the rest of his time to physical enjoyment. Rebbe Eliezer argues that it is impossible to be involved in both ruchnius (spirituality) and gashmius (physicality) , rather one must choose to totally focus on one or the other. The implication of Rebbe Eliezer's approach is that one should focus purely on spiritual activities such as learning and praying, to the exclusion of physical pleasures such as eating and drinking. However, the Gemara then points out with regards to Shavuos, even Rebbe Eliezer agrees that one should also involve himself in eating and drinking. The reason given is that this is the day that the Torah was given .
The commentaries find great difficulty with this Gemara, in particular they ask why the fact that the Torah was given on Shavuos means that one should eat and drink more. It would have seemed more appropriate that one should totally devote himself to spiritual pursuits on this holy day. The emphasis of physical enjoyment on Shavuos indicates that there must be some deeper connection between physicality and Shavuos.
The key to understanding this connection is a Gemara in Shabbos: The Gemara tells us that after the Giving of the Torah, Moshe Rabbeinu went up to Shamayim (heaven) in order to learn the entire Torah from Hashem. However, the Malachim (angels) took exception to the appearance of a mere human being in the higher realms. They argued that man is not deserving of the holy Torah because of his lowly physical nature, rather they should be its recipients. Hashem instructed Moshe Rabbeinu to refute their argument. He did so by pointing out numerous aspects and laws of the Torah that are clearly directed at physical beings; for example, the Torah commands that one should not do melacha (forbidden activity) on Shabbos but they do not do any melacha at any time so how is Shabbos relevant to them?!. Hashem and the Malachim themselves accepted this argument .
Rav Chaim Friedlander zt"l, discusses at length the interaction between the Malachim and Moshe Rabbeinu. He points out that the Malachim's desire to receive the Torah instead of man is difficult to understand. They were surely aware of the Torah's contents and realized that they were clearly directed at physical beings so how could they hope to receive it themselves?! He explains that the Torah can be understood on many levels, and that the simple understanding that we relate to is just one of many ways of understanding it. Accordingly, the Torah also applies to Malachim on their level of existence; for example there is a spiritual version of refraining from melacha on Shabbos that relates to them, and so is the case with every word in the Torah. The Malachim argued that it should remain in Shamayim where they could learn it on a far deeper level, untainted by Olam HaZeh (this world).
Moshe Rabbeinu understood that this was the Malachim's argument, nevertheless he argued that the Torah was made to be understood and applied on a physical level. He proved this by mentioning numerous Mitzvos that demonstrated that the Torah was deliberately written in such a way that it could be applied by physical beings. The reason for this is that there is a far greater increase of Kavod Shamayim when a human being overcome his physical nature in order to fulfill Ratson Hashem (Hashem's will) than when a purely spiritual being acts according to his nature. Thus, Moshe proved to the Malachim that they could not properly fulfill the Mitzvos in the Torah in such a way that would bring about the most Kavod Shamayim in the world.
This Gemara teaches us of the central nature of the body with regard to receiving the Torah. The fact that human beings are attached to the physical world was the very reason that we merited to receive the Torah. We can now understand the connection between Shavuos and the focus on one's body. Shavuos is the very day that the spiritual world and physical world combined at Har Sinai. On this unique occasion, the purely spiritual Torah was clothed in physical garb in order that we could elevate ourselves through its observance.
We asked why Rebbe Eliezer agrees that on Shavuos we must also provide enjoyment for our bodies. The Beis HaLevi answers that we must show an extra level of gratitude to our bodies because they were the cause of Moshe's victory over the Malachim . We therefore deliberately involve ourselves in physicality. It is possible to add that Rebbe Eliezer argued that on other Yom Tovim one cannot combine spiritual pursuits with physical involvement. It seems that he held that an excessive focus on gashmius would inevitably harm one's ruchnius. However, he agreed that Shavuos was different - on Shavuos there is a special energy whereby physicality and spirituality need not contradict each other, rather they can work together to bring about a greater revelation of Kavod Shamayim. In this vein, the Maharal notes that Shavuos is the only festival in which we offer a Communal Korban Shelamim . He explains, writing that "on this day there is peace and a strong connection between the upper and lower worlds. "
We have seen how Shavuos involves a unique connection between the body and soul and that everyone agrees that it is appropriate to be involved in physical pursuits on this Holy day. This lesson can also be applied to the rest of the year through our efforts to elevate our physical activities. Nonetheless, it is no easy task to attain the correct balance between the two and a person is always at risk of overly focusing on gashmius for its own sake. Rav Avigdor Miller zt"l offered a way of avoiding this possible pitfall; he suggested that at least one action we perform each day should be done with a conscious effort to be leshem Shamayim . He suggests applying this exercise specifically in the area of one's eating. For one time in the day, a person should try to focus on eating so that he will be strong and healthy to perform Avodas Hashem as opposed to satisfying his more base physical desires. Through efforts at self-growth such as this a person will be able to elevate his physical pursuits.
The commentaries find great difficulty with this Gemara, in particular they ask why the fact that the Torah was given on Shavuos means that one should eat and drink more. It would have seemed more appropriate that one should totally devote himself to spiritual pursuits on this holy day. The emphasis of physical enjoyment on Shavuos indicates that there must be some deeper connection between physicality and Shavuos.
The key to understanding this connection is a Gemara in Shabbos: The Gemara tells us that after the Giving of the Torah, Moshe Rabbeinu went up to Shamayim (heaven) in order to learn the entire Torah from Hashem. However, the Malachim (angels) took exception to the appearance of a mere human being in the higher realms. They argued that man is not deserving of the holy Torah because of his lowly physical nature, rather they should be its recipients. Hashem instructed Moshe Rabbeinu to refute their argument. He did so by pointing out numerous aspects and laws of the Torah that are clearly directed at physical beings; for example, the Torah commands that one should not do melacha (forbidden activity) on Shabbos but they do not do any melacha at any time so how is Shabbos relevant to them?!. Hashem and the Malachim themselves accepted this argument .
Rav Chaim Friedlander zt"l, discusses at length the interaction between the Malachim and Moshe Rabbeinu. He points out that the Malachim's desire to receive the Torah instead of man is difficult to understand. They were surely aware of the Torah's contents and realized that they were clearly directed at physical beings so how could they hope to receive it themselves?! He explains that the Torah can be understood on many levels, and that the simple understanding that we relate to is just one of many ways of understanding it. Accordingly, the Torah also applies to Malachim on their level of existence; for example there is a spiritual version of refraining from melacha on Shabbos that relates to them, and so is the case with every word in the Torah. The Malachim argued that it should remain in Shamayim where they could learn it on a far deeper level, untainted by Olam HaZeh (this world).
Moshe Rabbeinu understood that this was the Malachim's argument, nevertheless he argued that the Torah was made to be understood and applied on a physical level. He proved this by mentioning numerous Mitzvos that demonstrated that the Torah was deliberately written in such a way that it could be applied by physical beings. The reason for this is that there is a far greater increase of Kavod Shamayim when a human being overcome his physical nature in order to fulfill Ratson Hashem (Hashem's will) than when a purely spiritual being acts according to his nature. Thus, Moshe proved to the Malachim that they could not properly fulfill the Mitzvos in the Torah in such a way that would bring about the most Kavod Shamayim in the world.
This Gemara teaches us of the central nature of the body with regard to receiving the Torah. The fact that human beings are attached to the physical world was the very reason that we merited to receive the Torah. We can now understand the connection between Shavuos and the focus on one's body. Shavuos is the very day that the spiritual world and physical world combined at Har Sinai. On this unique occasion, the purely spiritual Torah was clothed in physical garb in order that we could elevate ourselves through its observance.
We asked why Rebbe Eliezer agrees that on Shavuos we must also provide enjoyment for our bodies. The Beis HaLevi answers that we must show an extra level of gratitude to our bodies because they were the cause of Moshe's victory over the Malachim . We therefore deliberately involve ourselves in physicality. It is possible to add that Rebbe Eliezer argued that on other Yom Tovim one cannot combine spiritual pursuits with physical involvement. It seems that he held that an excessive focus on gashmius would inevitably harm one's ruchnius. However, he agreed that Shavuos was different - on Shavuos there is a special energy whereby physicality and spirituality need not contradict each other, rather they can work together to bring about a greater revelation of Kavod Shamayim. In this vein, the Maharal notes that Shavuos is the only festival in which we offer a Communal Korban Shelamim . He explains, writing that "on this day there is peace and a strong connection between the upper and lower worlds. "
We have seen how Shavuos involves a unique connection between the body and soul and that everyone agrees that it is appropriate to be involved in physical pursuits on this Holy day. This lesson can also be applied to the rest of the year through our efforts to elevate our physical activities. Nonetheless, it is no easy task to attain the correct balance between the two and a person is always at risk of overly focusing on gashmius for its own sake. Rav Avigdor Miller zt"l offered a way of avoiding this possible pitfall; he suggested that at least one action we perform each day should be done with a conscious effort to be leshem Shamayim . He suggests applying this exercise specifically in the area of one's eating. For one time in the day, a person should try to focus on eating so that he will be strong and healthy to perform Avodas Hashem as opposed to satisfying his more base physical desires. Through efforts at self-growth such as this a person will be able to elevate his physical pursuits.
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