"Foreign thoughts"

And Yakov kissed to Rachel and he lifted his voice and cried (Gen. 29:11)

When Yaakov first meets Rachel the first thing he does is kiss her and then he cries. What is the significance of this kiss? How was  Yaakov allowed to do that? I think that on the level of pshat this is best addressed by Ibn Ezra who points out the language "Yakov kissed  to Rachel", meaning he kissed her on her hand. This custom was widespred among cultured Europeans until fairly recently, much as nowadays Sephardim kiss the hand of the chacham to show their affection ( I was told that this was  also a custom in Munkatch when visitng the Minchas Eluzor). Note AZ 17a and Shabbos 13a: "'Ulla  on returning from college used to kiss his sister on the hand; some say, on the (upper) chest. He, then, contradicts himself. For 'Ulla said: Even mere approach is forbidden because we say to a Nazarite ,  'Go, go  round about but do not approach the vineyard.'

The Medrash Rabba writes that Yaakov cried because the people around suspected him of pritzus for kissing Rachel. The Seforno adds that this is the reason why Yaakov right away told Rachel that he was related to her so that she too wouldn't suspect him. The Netziv says a similar pshat on his own, he says that Yaakov cried to show Rachel that the kiss was because she was his relative and was not for lustful purposes. Rabbenu B'Chaye offers 2 explanations, either Rachel was under 3 or that he kissed her hand or forehead and not her lips.

Rashi says that Yakov cried because he he divined that Rachel is not destined to be buried with him. In that kiss, Yakov saw that his attachment to Rachel carries within it the seeds of separation and so he cried. This would be similar to Orpah crying as she kissed and separated from Naomi.

 

There is an intersting comment in Noam Elimelech on this posuk. Rav Elimelech of Lizensk writes that Yaakov Avinu's attribute was that of Tiferes, meaning "Beauty". This implies that Yaakov Avinu had the ability to be see by G-dly beauty in all he saw. For example, the Noam Elimelech continues, "When a person eats a tasty food, he should say to himself, "if this food is so good in taste, is it not obvious that all the good and pleasantness is to be found in the Creator--may his name be blessed--without any limit or boundary!...and this is the secret of the Pasuk "and Yaakov kissed Rachel".  

 

 

This is very interesting for it suggests that looking  at a woman with the intention of elevating the image can be a type of a praiseworthy avodah. Notice that Noam Elimelech is very careful and does not say exactly that and that his example is in the realm of eating. Neither does he say that one can elevate a non-kosher food, chas veshalom. However, since the source comes from Yakov kissing Rachel, such an implication is difficult to avoid.

 

There are sources that even in regard to behavior between men and women, great tzaddikim may have more leeway than average people. One can accordingly counter that Yakov is different because he was such a great tzaddik. In Kesuvos 17a we find that Rabbi Judah ben Ilai would take a myrtle twig and dance before the bride singing. Rabbi Samuel ben Isaac, even when he was old, would juggle three myrtle twigs as he sang and danced. Rabbi Aha danced with the bride on his shoulder because to him she was like carrying a beam. In Brochos 20A we find that R. Gidal and R. Yochanan sat outside before the women who came out of the mikvah because they appear as "white geese" and so that they should see him, a very handsome man, before coming to their husbands, and have handsome children. In Kiddushin 91b, R. Acha b. Aba took his already-betrothed, prepubescent granddaughter in his lap (some say under his bedclothes) because Shmuel said that "hakol lesheim shamayim" (everything [done] for the sake of Heaven [is permissible]), i.e., he had no untoward thoughts. As we saw above, Ulla was in the habit of kissing his married sisters n their hands or sleeves or perhaps on their upper chests, a practice he forbade to others. Tosafot there explains that Ulla was a completely righteous person (tzaddik gamur), and "he knew that he himself would not come to hirhur," even though others might. That "hakol lesheim shamayim" is the same prinicples as the statements that women are like wooden beams or white geese, is explicit in Tosfot Rabbeinu Elchanan (the son of Ri Ba'al haTosafot),
in Avodah Zarah 17a, regarding Ulla:
"He permitted himself [to kiss his sister(s)] because she was like a
wooden beam to him, as we say in Ketuvot about [dancing with] a bride,
and as we say at the end of Kiddushin "I hold like Shemuel's statement
[that] hakol lesheim shamayim."

The Ritva at the end of Kiddushin explains that things that are not truly forbidden but that are avoided because they lead to improper thoughts are not binding on the true tsaddikim, who will not be lead to such laviscious thoughts.

However none of thes sources suggest that it is a mitzvah or an avodah of some kind to gaze at a woman in order to uplift the resulting hirhur. The implications of this position are certainly quite destructive. Neither is it logically compelling, for as Tanya in Ch. 8 explains, things that are from kelipas nogah, for example kosher foods, can be uplifted by proper intention but things that come from purely evil kelipos, such as non-kosher foods, cannot be uplifted in any way.

 

Still, it cannot be denied that the concept that a tsaddik can and should elevate improper thoughts existed in early chassidic thought. It may have been one of the factors which led to the cherem against chassidim on the part of their opponents. R. Yakov Yosef of Polnoye (Yisro and Vayakhel) writes for example, "As I received from my Master: when a man finds strange thoughts, for example when thinking of coitus, he should cling to the its root, namely to the category of "Love"... and the Glory of Hashem is hiding in it".  This statement only says that if such thoughts come to an unwilling recipient, they can be uplifted; it is nothing more than a means of dealing with a problem but not that one should a priori seek out such situations. In Eikev R. Yakov Yosef applies the same idea to thoughts of killing or idolatry, that they should be raised to the root of Chessed. The Alter Rebbe wrote in Likkutei Amarim 28:35a that only tsaddikim can rectify "foreign thoughts'  that are sent to them for rectifications, but not  common people whose evil thoughts come from the evil within themselves (their left heart).

 

R. Dovid Makow, an early antagonist of Chassidism, wrote derisively of the idea of elevating improper thoughts. Some of these sources can be found in a discussion of the concept of the "descent of the tsaddik" in order to elevate the "sparks" in E. J. Shochet's book.

 

What really caused a controversy was a well distributed comment by a fellow by the name  of Lob Melamed of Brody. The chassidim claimed he was not of them but one of the Frankists and the opponents of chassidim said he was a chassid. Melamed wrote a note on the margin of his Tur: " One day alone with a woman... the bed was made... and she was in the nude....and she asked me to be with her. I, however, did not listen to her but only looked at her body and her blinding beauty until I was overcome by great holiness and stopped. Likewise everybody who, when seeing a woman desires her, should nevertheless control himself and confine himself to looking at her closely and contemplating her. Thus he will pass the test and rise to a high degree. And enough said for him who understands (from Shochet p.45)".

 

I close with a quote:

"The worshipper should watch his thought... like idolatry, he should raise it up and he should bring it to its root.... He should think: It is part of the world of love... If he suddenly sees a beautiful woman... he should think from whence does she have this beauty. If she was dead, she would not have this face anymore... therefore it comes from G-d's power that spreads within her. (Zavoas HaRivash, #68)."

 

The concept that survived and became a part of official chssidic view, is that only thoughts that intrude uninvited upon consciuossness can be elevated and with that, only by great tsaddikim, to whom they are sent on purpose.

 

Comments

[steve mcqueen]

Thank you for this - I have a question on your final point.

You mention the concept becoming "the official chassidic view"; I would like to know what criteria you are applying to this. I can understand how things become an official halakhic or hashkafic view over time, as things crystallise through the rishonim or acharonim even as we move further from Sinai. But is there not an argument that the closer you get to the Besht, the nearer it is to an official chassidic view, even if it seems wrong (or very wrong) to us now. There are a good few examples of this in the seforim. Is it therefore appropriate to say that the later generations, who were further away from the early greats, have the right to rule certain statements out of bounds? Unless you hold that all thought reached its heights in the Tanya, which is not your usual position, it somehow seems odd to characterise chassidic thought as working towards an official view.

[Avakesh]

That is a good point. However, in the kabbalistic sphere in general, the tendency is to view the later authorities as being closer to the truth, since kabbalistic knowledge is progressively revealed and is drawing illumination from the light of the forthcoming Redemption. The closer to Maschiach, the closer the light. Besides, there is such a thing as consensus in every chassidus, and this is most visible in Chabad with its voluminous literature. One finds that later Rebbes amplify what the earlier Rebbes said but there are certain ideas and concepts that get dropped, or more correctly not developed, or you might say neglected over time, perhaps because they prove to be injurious or "not right for the times".