Frustration - 42 Times

This past Shabbos the Torah portion discussed the 42 travels of the Jewish Nation in the wilderness. The Torah describes these travels as being the travels the Nation took as they left Egypt. Rabbi Yaakov Alesk, one of the leading 18th Century Kabbalists, asks that the wording is problematic as only the first few travels took them out of Egypt. The rest of the travels lasted close to forty years and took them all over the Sinai Desert.

He explains that by being in Egypt for 210 years the Nation had been very influenced by the Egyptian way of thinking. The experiences they had during each of these 42 travels taught them lessons that enabled them to pull themselves out of the Egyptian mindset and into the mindset God needed for them to have in order to enter the Land of Israel. It took 42 lessons over 40 years until they had moved from one way of thinking to another.

This is a good lesson when trying to help others grow spiritually or emotionally. All too often we can become frustrated with them and be ready to give up. Why can't they learn the lesson already? Why aren't they changing. Haven't I taught them enough times? Haven't enough years passed already? The Torah teaches us here that it can take many years and varied lessons until someone can truly change.

At the same time, we can learn that you shouldn't give up on yourself either, no matter how many times and how many different ways you have tried to change. It may take a while, even 40 years, but if you keep on persevering you can make it.

Frustration - Continued...

After all we have written, a person can still be frustrated. "How can I be satisfied when I am so distant from perfection?"

Here is what you really need to understand. If God has still not enabled you to perfect yourself spiritually, that is His will. It is for your good. Your success will tarry until you have succeeded in working on yourself and you are ready for the gift from God. A little more introspection, some more humility, a bit more prayer and then you will see it.

Were God to grant you success before you were ready for it, it would harm you. As long as you are still producing hideous shoes, still not achieving your goals in spirituality, that is what is best for you. God knows what you are doing, and sees your efforts; nothing is ignored. Any lack of success is born of God's love for you, as he patiently waits for you to build the vessel that is capable of receiving his light. Until you have minimized your ego to the point where you can truly feel Him.

Frustration

As we return now to the story of the Wise Man and the Simple Man, Rabbi Aroush is still struggling with understanding how the Simple Man can be happy with the hideous shoe he has created. Understanding that his efforts at making a shoe are a metaphor for our attempts to develop a relationship with God, he asks how it is that a person can be satisfied, even joyful as the story indicates, when his efforts are proving to fall short and produce hideous results.

He explains that it is imperative that as a person embarks on trying to develop his relationship with God that he has two thoughts in mind:

1. It is imperative that I develop a relationship with my Creator.


2. I will be joyful no matter what the result is.

One who becomes upset when his desires are not fulfilled is, in reality, only exhibiting the fullness of his own ego. He isn't living with reality; only God can determine who and when a relationship is developed. The frustration a person feels at his perceived lack of success comes from a feeling that he, the person, is the one who determines the outcome.

One (V) - Teshuva

There is an enigmatic Midrash which says that when consulted as to what a sinner should do to rectify his sin, most of the spiritual entities in the world were at a loss to find a good answer. Finally, God Himself was consulted and He said that the sinner should do Teshuvah (return or repentance) and be forgiven.

Based on our last few posts, I would suggest that all the other entities were those existing under the realm of Binah, with a consciousness that defined the world as a series of lines and boundaries. From that perspective crossing a line and encroaching where one doesn't belong is a fait accompli that cannot be undone. It is only when one can approach God, reach the realm of cognizance of God's permeating all, that one can truly return to God with the understanding that even in his sin, God was there.

The Maharal quotes a Midrash which likens a sin to making a crack on a piece of china belonging to a king. Nothing can be done to repair the crack. The one who cracked it is told that the situation is hopeless and he is going to be in trouble from the king. But when he finally approaches the king, the king tells him that he likes cracked china.

We can view our sins as being violations of our covenant with our Creator, or we can develop the understanding that even they are part of His plan.

One (IV) - Further Out of Bounds

Examining the story of Adam in the Garden of Eden, Rabbi Yaakov Leiner of Ishbitz has a very out-of-the-box view of the Sin. He maintains that at the End of Time God will reveal the truth that Adam did not sin by eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Adam's eating from the Tree was part of the Divine plan to begin with. The sin he committed was in his attitude, not in his action. After eating from the Tree, when God questioned him about what had occurred, he should have answered "God, I am incapable of doing anything without your enabling me." That would have shown his understanding that God permeates all. Instead, seeing that he had done something that he thought he was not supposed to do, he came to the conclusion that he had the ability to act outside of God's will. This was his sin.

Adam was faced with two choices as to how to view Creation. He could take the lower view of Binah and view the world as a series of lines and boundaries, dos and don'ts with Adam having the choice to stay in the lines, or to step out. This is by far the "easier" view to take of a world in which God's presence is hidden under many layers of Creation, both physical and spiritual. Alternatively, being the handmade creation of God, he had the best view from which to be aware of God's presence in all, and of his own inability to act outside of God.

Adam chose to take the view of his having the ability act outside of God. This is why the Talmud labels him as arrogant and also refers to Adam as an idol worshipper. In his denial, his attitude was akin to idol worship.

One (Part Three) - Out of Bounds

At this point in my thinking, I was finally beginning to grasp certain concepts I have seen in Chassidic writings, but could not until now wrap my head around.

Halacha (Jewish Ritual Law) teaches that although one can fulfill his technical requirement to pray by reciting the prayers in the absence of really paying attention to what he is saying, there are exceptions to this rule. One of those is the first verse of Shema which, if someone recites it while he is daydreaming about something else, he has not fulfilled his requirement, and must repeat the Shema.

Rabbi Isaac of Komarna, one of the most intensely Kabbalistic of all the Chassidic writers, says that rather than repeating the Shema one should accustom himself to remembering that God is in everything, even in his stray thoughts. One who truly understands this will realize that his day dream during Shema was not a violation of the will of God thereby invalidating his recital of Shema, but was indeed God's will. As such, he should not repeat it.

I would add that as the idea of Shema is the declaration of God's permeation of all of existence, filling one's mind with this consciousness and thereby not repeating the Shema, is in and of itself, the very same declaration.

To be continued

One (Part Two)

As I continued to contemplate the two paradigms of awareness of God's involvement with His Creation, I began to understand some things that had always left me wanting deeper comprehension.

The dichotomy we wrote about yesterday can be referred to be different names. In Kabbalistic thought it can be viewed as the distinction between Chesed and Gevurah (Din), or the transition from Chochmah to Binah. Others would refer to it as the distinction between right and left brain thinking. Let's explore this a little.

The realm of Chochmah in Kabbalistic thought represents an all encompassing thought and sense of purpose, but one that has not yet taken a form and shape to put it into actual this-world practice. Chochmah is infinite in its possibility, Binah gives it form and function, but at the same time places limits on the Chochmah.

The Chochmah of God permeates all of Creation, but, in order for Creation to be a useful creation, it is all presented to us in its neatly packaged and user-friendly Binah wrapping. The world of Binah, with its form, function, and limitations is what gives us (in the words of the Kabbalists) concepts such as Right and Wrong, Valid and Invalid, Pure and Impure. These concepts are all a direct result of the delineations imposed by the application of Binah to the hitherto unformed Chochmah.

In the realm of Chochmah, by contrast, these delineations do not exist. One who can rise to that level of consciousness can move beyond these categories entirely and view the world as completely infused by God.

To be continued...

One

On Friday morning I was davening (praying) and I arrived at the Shema which begins with a declaration of the Unity of God: Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. Following that a line is added which does not appear in the original Biblical text which reads: Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.

As I contemplated these words which I have recited thousands of times in the past, I focused on a teaching which explains that these two lines represent distinctly different types of declarations of God's Unity. The first line represents an "Upper Unity," the second a "Lower Unity." "What, exactly, do those two terms mean," I began to wonder to myself.

I realized that there are two ways in which we can view God and His interaction with the world. We can view God as the Creator and Master of the World, the One to whom the whole world is subservient, or view Him as the one whose very being permeates all of existence. I have written about the distinction between these views previously.

These views represent a higher and lower vision of what God is. Although both of them do acknowledge God and are certainly an improvement over those who would deny His existence, there are still significant differences. Living as we do in the Universe in which division and separation reign, seeing the true vision of God as One is very difficult. It is much easier to be able to believe in God as the Master of All, without arriving at an understanding as God being All.

The first verse, which refers to God as One, is the Upper Unity as it is the verse which expresses arriving at the point in which we can truly envision and comprehend the fullness of God's Unity, that he permeates all. The second verse, by contrast, only acknowledges him as King, he is the Master, but it lacks the vision to see Him as permeating all.

To be continued...

Striving with Life -Marriage

The Talmud records an interesting debate between two schools of thought. The students of Shammai said that when attending a wedding one should sing the praises of the bride "as is." For better or for worse. The students of Hillel, by contrast, said that no matter what the bride is like one should sing that she is "pretty and kind." Nowadays the custom of Hillel is followed and there are any number of tunes by which those words are sung.

Many are puzzled by the meaning of this debate, and based on what I have shared with you the past few days, I would like to offer an innovative approach to their debate. The Shela HaKadosh a 16th century Kabbalist explains that oftentimes when we find a debate such as this in the Talmud, there are not truly two different opinions, rather, each is offering a partial glimpse of the total picture.

Oftentimes when people seek a marriage partner, they are seeking someone who they see as the perfect partner for themselves. Only someone who meets the preconceived notions is considered for the possibility of marriage. After marriage, when reality sets in, disappointment frequently follows.

The students of Shammai felt that it was important to understand that your spouse, warts and all, is the person placed in your life by God, as it is this spouse who will offer you the challenges and opportunities that you need in order to meet your destiny. The "perfect" spouse would have been less than perfect for this task. That is why he says that at the wedding people should sing about the bride "as is." As she is, she is the perfect bride for this groom, and it is important that he understand and accept that with joy and faith and not strive with the divine plan for the world. Hillel's students agreed with this. Every bride is exactly as pretty and kind as this groom needs, they argued, so for every bride we should sing of her beauty and kindness.

Imagine how the state of marriage in this country would change if we could all truly internalize this message.

Striving with Life - The Red Heifer

This past Saturday I read the part of the story about the Simple Man and the Wise Man that I posted yesterday. When I was done, I switched to a commentary on the week's Torah portion. Fascinatingly, it touched on the same concept.

The Torah teaches that if one comes into contact with a dead body, either by touching it or being in the same room, he becomes tamei, ritually impure. The only way to remove the tumah (ritual impurity) is by waiting a minimum of seven days during which the ashes of a red heifer mixed with some other ingredients, are sprinkled on the person's body. There are other occurrences which can result in a person becoming tamei, but contact with the dead results in the most severe tumah. Usually tumah is removed by immersion in a mikvah, a ritual bath and one is pure the following day. Why does contact with the dead require such a strange sounding a lengthy process?

The most significant ramification of a person's being in a state of tumah is that he is precluded from entering the Temple and offering sacrifices or participating in some other manner. This shows us that one who is in such a state is not allowed to approach God in the same manner as others. The tumah symbolizes that there is something in his spiritual makeup that is creating a barrier between himself and God. We haven't got the space here to discuss this in reference to all the various types of tumah that exist, but why, specifically, in the case of contact with the dead, is there tumah? Why does it affect a person's ability to connect to God?

Rabbi Yitzchok Issac of Komarna, a Chassidic Rebbe who wrote an intensely Kabbalistic commentary on the Torah, gives us some insight into this. He explains that when one sees someone who has passed away, there is always a part of the person that begins to strive with God. To some degree the person begins to question God's providence in taking this person, and wondering about the justice of the way the world is run. The person does not want to accept the reality of what is and finds himself upset and striving with the facts as they are before him.

This attitude creates a barrier between the person and God which is represented by the tumah which comes upon him. He or she needs a week to work on their attitude towards God and to come to terms with the reality and to quit striving with what is.

The ashes which are sprinkled upon the person are meant to symbolize this as well. They remind the person that he is but dust and ashes. For that matter, only a microscopic bit of ash mixed in water must land on him. That reminds the person of what he is as compared to the entire Universe, the Creation of God. "Humble yourself as all you are is ash, and don't question reality or strive with it."

As we said yesterday, happiness can only come by making peace with what is. Striving with the facts only retards ones ability to achieve true spiritual growth.

Striving with Life

Rebbe Nachman's story continues with the Simple Man having become a cobbler making a particularly hideous looking shoe which he could only sell for a few pennies to a pauper. Looking at the fruit of his labors the Simple Man began to sing and dance and praise God for his ability to make such a shoe.

Rabbi Aroush points out that the shoe should have symbolized to the Simple Man all of his shortcomings. It should have forced him to focus on his inability to be properly educated and to make a decent living. It should have reminded him of the ridicule he often suffered from other people. Yes none of these thoughts entered his mind. Instead, he took the symbol of his shortcomings and danced with it happily. He was able to do so because he was at peace with himself.

To achieve this peace a person must be aware of his shortcomings and believe that this is exactly who he must be in order to achieve his destiny in this world. Ignoring ones shortcomings, or convincing ones self that they don't exist can only lead to an artificial and temporary joy. Eventually the issues will bubble to the surface and he will be forced to deal with them. This will happen because it is only be coming face to face with them that he can achieve his destiny.

Whatever bad hand a person feels he has been dealt - a difficult spouse, abusive parents, tyrannic boss, impossible children - there was no error in God's plans that brought these issues about. On the contrary, they are the necessary ingredients to assist him in achieving his destiny.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that people who are happy and righteous are able to accomplish that because they have fewer or easier challenges in life. The fact that that is simply not so.

It is not greatness that brings about joy, it is joy that brings about greatness.