avakesh

Peace of Mind

I would like some day to get Peace of Mind

You know, that feeling that's so hard to find

Without plenty of rest and plenty of sleep

When there are no struggles, and, for sure, no defeats

*

I could be so happy with this Peace of Mind

I would be so pleasant and patient and kind

And never, never become gloomy or sad

I'd treat all men well and smile a lot

*

Perhaps when I retire, I am sure I'll have

The time, healtlh, disposition, honor and love

To pursue all these things that I never had time

That are useful and good, nice and sublime

*

Some day I expect I"ll have Peace of Mind

It's a real good one to get before I die

But right now I'm too busy, with so many things

I must wait for right time, when the troubles cease.

Suffering enlarges

Psalm 118, from the Hallel prayer.

Dedicated to all those who suffer -May they be saved from their straits and may our portion be with them.

ה  מִן-הַמֵּצַר, קָרָאתִי יָּהּ;    עָנָנִי בַמֶּרְחָב יָהּ.	5 Out of my strait I called upon the LORD; He answered me with great enlargement.

Human beings have a capacity to contain great pain. Oftentimes, however, suffering washes over a person, suddenly, without preparation,  in a torrent of destruction. Those not tempered by past pain,  can break and shutter under the immense burden of anxiety, fear, dread and loss.

Such a state is called, "strait", in singular.

When the children of Israel groaned under the burdens of Egypt, "they could not listen to Moshe from the narrowness of spirit (kotser ruach (Ex. 6:9)". Rashi explains: "All those whose spirit is narrow and his soul is narrow and he cannot extend his breath"

If he is worthy, suffering enlarges and widens man's capacity to suffer. Within the mind and the soul there are many levels of toleration and forbearance, many expanses of hope, faith and trust, innumerable prayers and a great capacity for acceptance. These are called "depths", in plural.

Dovid HaMelech, in perhaps the most renowned chapter of Tehillim (Chapter
130) begins “Shir HaMaalos Mi’maa’makim--a Song of Ascents.  From the depths I
called you…”  This teaches us that there are many depths within a person's heart.  Similarly, it says in Jeremiah 13:17: "But if you do not listen,  I will weep in secret  places...", again in plural, for suffering and pain opens and reveals to a person the many hidden places within his soul, spaces in which suffering can be contained and accommodated, places of which he was not previously aware.

This is what the second part of the verse says to us: "You have answered me with great enlargement" - that is the enlargement of my spirit, of my capacity to contain and to bear, of my knoweldge of how to cleave to You from the midst of darkness and despair.

The literal translation of 'bamerchav Yah", is that you answered me with the" widening of God". This form of speech is often nonliterally translated as "great", as, for example, in Genesis 1:2, and the spirit of the Lord, that is, the great wind,  was hovering over the waters. However, here it can mean something far more profound.

Suffering does not ennoble. But suffering can broaden our concepttion of the personal God. It tests our committment to "hanging in there"  with the Almighty even as He appears to abandon us to the cruelties of fate and the darkness of suffering and loss.    

To go from "depth" to "depths", to open and discover new spaces within the heart and heretofore  unknown reserves or hope and trust - this is one answer that God gives to suffering.

    

Redemption without knowledge

The Maggid of Mezritch taught: Yakov had left behind letters from the Torah which he had not yet exracted from Lavan. This is why Lavan later pursued him -  to give him the letters which remained with him. An entire chapter was added to the Torah by these letters.

The "letters of the Torah" which Yakvov left behind were "sparks" of holiness. In fact, Yakov spent twenty years in Lavan's house extracting whatever sparks of holiness he could find there, and when the process was complete, he left. At least he thought it was complete...

In truth, however, Yakov left some sparks behind, so Lavan chased after Yakov to give them to him.

Why did Yakov leave the sparks behind?

Chassidic teachings explain that while most of a person's achievements in life come through his own conscious efforts, there are some "super-conscious" achievements that are so lofty they cannot occurr intentionally. So while we are usually the ones that choose our own paths in, life - to find the sparks which we are destined to elevate - sometimes our sparks pursue us, because they are too sublime to be "extracted" solely by our own endeavors.

Gutnick Chumash, based on LIkkutei Sihcos 15:260)

Comment:

This teaching is too sublime to have my own thoughts appended to it, but I will try nevertheless.

Perhaps this is what Chazal mean when they say that Moschiach will only come "bhesech haddas", when one's attention is diverted ( Sanhedrin 97). For a deeper understanding of this statement, that Redemption arrives from a level which is above knowledge (Daas),  see Tanya here).

On a more practical level, this teaches us never to be discouraged. Yes, there are times when we appear not to be accomplishing, when our lives seem to be in vain, just another small life among so many others of little value, of minor significance. We look at out achievements and see... nothing worthy.

Do not despair? Your greatest achievement may be one of which you are completely unaware, one which cannot be seen now, but will only become apparent in due time.

I think of R. Isroel Salanter. By all measures, his life would be considered a failure. A young man of great promise, he spent most of his life in pursuing manifold projects, few of which bore fruit - from translating the Talmud into German to changing the hearts of the common folk. Despairing of changing the climate in Eastern Europe, he spent his later years attemtping to effect a return to Torah among the enlightened elite in Germany and France, as we know, to little avail. He died in Paris alone and with little to show for his years of struggle.

Yet, the little seed that he planed so many years before, the few students that he imbued with the Mussar ideal effected a revolution in the Torah world, a revolution that was not visible or expected in his own lifetime. Besides exchanging an occasional letter with his former students and supporters, R. Isroel did not have substantive involvement with the incipient Mussar movement. Yet, it was precisely this child of his early years that is now remembered as his greatest achievement.

R. Yosef Yozel of Noavarodok said: "You must saw everywhere but pay particular attention to where it sprouts". Similarly, we do not always know where our greatest contributions are made. In this lies great consolation and great hope. 

 

Two paths, or can they be reconciled?

"A person who has mastered peace of mind has gained everything."

Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv

BUT...

"As long as one lives a life of calmness and tranquility in the service of God, it is clear that he is remote from true service."

Rabbi Israel Salanter

A vignette on R. Hirsch and Tolerance

It was his father, a disciple of both Rabbis Samson Raphael Hirsch and Ezriel Hildesheimer... who taught him to be tolerant, and to respect even the opponents of our traditional ideology. He impressed upon his son that while one may challenge alien ideas one should never attack the person advocating them. Salomon Carlebach frequently quoted the words of his master, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, as set down in the seventeenth of the "Nineteen Letters..": Be angry at none, respect all. Deplore the attitude of the opponent, grieve over apostasy, and combat his erroneous opinions with all the spiritual weaponry of our great and exalted literature. But guard yourself against any personal animosity; for it is mostly not only the opponent, but all the past before him who bear the burden of guilt"

When Joseph reminded his father than Hirsch himself did not deal too gently with his ideological adversaries, Salomon Carlebach replied, "I shall pay you one thousand marks on the spot if you can show me one word of personal animosity in any of Hirsch's writings"

"I have labored for years and years", Joseph wrote some time after (Judische Press 1907) and have not yet  been able to obtain that prize."

From Ish Yehudi: The Life and Legacy of a Torah Great, Rav Joseph Tsvi Carlebach, Shearith Joseph Publications, p 34.)

How to be humble

 How does an exceptional person retain humility? This is a question that is both theoretically and practically important. One who has exceptional intellectual or spiritual gifts is certainly aware ot them.The Talmud (Nedarim38a) states that the Divine Spirit only rests on a person who is powerful, wealthy, wise, and humble.Does humility mean that he must in some way disregard such gifts? If this was so, this Talmudic statementshould have added "and ignorant" (See a discussion at the beginning of the first chapter of Ruach Chaim, R. Chaim Volozhiner's commentary on Avos).

This question has been extensively addressed in the past.

Moshe was "most humble of men who are on the face of the earth". The Ohr Sameach at the end of his Kuntres haKol Tzafuy v'haReshus Nesuna (hil tshuvah) suggests that it is precisely because Moshe Rabeinu was so great and  spoke to  Hashem face to face, he ascribed his achievements not to his own efforts, but to the fact that he was in a position to see what no other mortal experienced. He was "in heaven", while everyone else resides "on the face of the earth". However, this and other such explanations do not teach us, men who do live on the face of the earth, how to attain true humility.

One can also suggest that humility is not a lack of self awareness but an opposite or exclusion of arrogance. " The definition of humility is not, as is popularly conceived, a sense of meekness and low self-image in which a person has no sense of his own worth.Instead, a true sense of humility is complemented by self-assurance. The person radiates confidence and self-esteem, but has no trace of arrogance or boastful pride. He knows his personal virtues, exercises them productively, and yet this does not lead to egotism or haughtiness.

We see this fusion exemplified by Moshe, our teacher. He himself told the Jewish people: "It is I who stands between G-d and you," and it was he who wrote the verse: "And there never arose in Israel a prophet like Moshe." Nevertheless, he was "more humble than all the men on the face of the earth."

Moshe did not see pride and humility as conflicting tendencies. Although he knew the greatness of the mission he had been given, and realized that he had been granted unique personal traits to enable him to fulfill this mission, this knowledge did not lead to ego-conscious pride. On the contrary, he realized that he had been endowed with these potentials by G-d; they were not the fruit of his own efforts. Moreover, he believed that if these gifts had been given to another, that person might have achieved even more than he."

"There is another approach to this question which also can teach us how to be humble. It maintains that a human being is composite of different  parts. This is the standard medieval and eenlightenment view that sees humans as being a combination of intellect, passions, desires and spiritual gifts (in the modern times we do not think of these soul powers as being discrete but as intermixed and in dynamic interaction with each other at all times). While a particular individual may be superior to others in some aspects, in emotions we are all the same. It follows that while one individual may be superior to another in intelligence, he might be inferior to him in spirituality, and in emotions we are all equal. It may be that unusual tasddikim accomplish eventual purification of their desires and feelings, but that comes at the end  their lives and after decades of work.

It is related that R. Hillel miParitch sought out the Alter Rebbe but always found that the Rebbe had just left as he arrived to the town in which he was staying. Once, R. Hillel managed to get into town before the Ater Rebbe. He immediately hid under the bed, with the goal of introducing himself to the Rebbe with a profound insight into the talmudic  topic of "erokhin", "evaluations". As theRebbe walked into the room, R. Hillel heard him say: "Who is this young man who wishes to evaluate others but cannot evaluate himself?". With that R. Hillel promptly fainted and the Alter Rebbe left town.

Humility is attained when a person sees himself AS HE IS. Almost certainly, such an honest self-assessment will reveal that, whatever his intellectual attainments might be, his emotions are no more disciplined or restrained than those of other, less gifted people. Just read a few biographies of great explorers scientists, or leaders. They often failed miserably through emotions for in this sphere all people are the same. If so, from whence arrogance?!

Judge your neighbor ...

I saw this story in R. Lazer Brody's "The Trail to Tranquility", with Kaye, a high powered executive in an airport. Now comes a video version.

Why we need tsaddikim.

Not so is my servant, Moshe...

Moshe wrote his book and the portion of Balaam. He also wrote the book
of Job ( Bava Basra 14b-15a)

Moshe wrote the Pentateuch and went back and wrote the book of Balaam
(Yerushalmi Sota (5,6).

Why must we be specifically told that Moshe wrote the portion of Balaam;
is it not a part of the Chumash and already included in the phrase
"Moshe wrote his book"?

A number of answers to this perplexing question have been offered and
can be found at <http://www.aishdas.org/midrash/5765/Balak.htm>. What
follows is a mussar take on the question.

One wonders whether there may not be moral lesson in this Talmudic
passage. We know from other Midrashic sources that Balaam was a great
prophet, one in fact as great or even potentially greater than Moshe.
Yet, he misused his gift of prophecy and brought himself and his students
to ruin.

Bilaam was intimate with his mule (A"Z 4b). He was a man who was barren
and whose partner in life was the very symbol of barrenness. Although
Balaam failed to fulfill his potential, a little bit of the good that
he could have done was redeemed and captured by Moshe. Each one of us
is meant to write a book with his life, a book in which he is the main
character. If we are fortunate it is the book that God means us to write.

Balaam did not fulfill the purpose for which his soul descended into
this world. A portion of the book that Balaam was meant to write was
instead salvaged by Moshe and written in his book.

Every man can learn from the story of the immensely gifted man who
has gone to ruin. Moshe wrote the story of Balaam in his book so that
it may serve as a warning and an example, so that we may know the
awesome responsibility that comes with G-d given gifts and the terrible
consequences of misusing them in the service of the self. Hashem's plans
always come to fruition; if we refuse to comply with them, His book will
still be written but by others and not by us.

Love the convert

Vaykra 19:33

When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am Hashem your God.

Why do we need a commandment to love the convert as ouselves; is it not already included under the obligation to love our neghbor, as in:

".. but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am Hashem.( v.18)"

It is, of course human nature to mistrust strangers and for this reason an admonition to love a convert is necessary. However, what does it  mean to love a convert as yourself?

We can start by pointing out that there are multiple areas in which a convert is not like "yourself".  A convert has certain halachic restrictions in marriage, cannot be appointed into positions of communal authority, and does not receive land in Eretz Yisroel. These differences are why we must be told that although a convert is not like a born Jew in some respects, we must love him as "yourself", just as much (and perhaps more) than a born Jew.

Rav Y.D. Soloveitchik (and I recall seeing other acharonim who say the same to the 8th chapter of Bekhoros) analysed the differences in the following fashion. What makes a Jew is a combination of Kedushas Yisroel, a personal kedusha that is received from our forefathers and through our parents and Kedushas Hamitzvos, the holiness of following the Torah and accepting its commadments. A convert does not have the former and certain obligations and privilieges that depend on Kedushas Yisroel do not apply to a convert. However, he does have Kedushas Hamitvos, through the act of personal acceptance of the Mitsvos during a conversion ceremony. As such, all other obligations and parameters of personal status as a Jew apply to him. This is why full acceptance of Mitsvos is crucial to a proper and valid conversion.

A convert is a part of the jewish destiny, that he elects to share. The Tanya writes 1:32:

הרי זו דרך ישרה וקלה לבא לידי קיום מצות ואהבת לרעך כמוך, לכל נפש מישראל למגדול ועד קטן

is a direct and easy path toward fulfilling the mitzvah, “You shall love your fellow as yourself,” with regard to every Jew both great and small — in spiritual stature.

כי מאחר שגופו נמאס ומתועב אצלו, והנפש והרוח, מי יודע גדולתן ומעלתן בשרשן ומקורן באלקים חיים

Since his body is despised and loathsome he will not love himself on account of his body more than he loves his fellow; and as for the soul and spirit, the differences between his own soul and that of his fellow surely will not diminish the love between them, for who can know their (the soul and spirit’s) greatness and excellence in their source and root — the living G‑d

How, then, can one claim that his soul is superior to his fellow’s

בשגם שכולן מתאימות, ואב אחד לכולנה

Furthermore, they are actually all equal; and not only equal yet separate, but, furthermore, they all have one father — one source, and within their source they all comprise one entity.

ולכן נקראו כל ישראל אחים ממש מצד שורש נפשם בה׳ אחד

It is on account of this common root in the One G‑d that all of Israel are called “brothers” — in the full sense of the word, and not only figuratively, in the sense of “relatives” or “similar in appearance” and the like;

רק שהגופים מחולקים

only the bodies are distinct from each other.

Netsiv in his comment to v. 18 cites Yerushalmi Nedorim CH.9. There, the Jews are compared to a body. If one part of the body, let say an arm, hurts, a wise individual does not punish ansd strike it, for this arm is  a part of the entire organism. Similarly one must love another Jew even if he or she is a source of trouble or pain.

Netsiv to v.33 extends this principle to converts. Converts are not always an asset.  Rav Halbo's saying "קשים גרים לישראל כספחת"(Yabamot, 47,B)  has been translated by Rambam to mean that converts are like leprosy for Israel. Yet, even a "bad" convert is a part of the body of Jewry, like an arm is a part of the organism. We must not be mindful of the problems that a convert may present but rather love him/her like ourselves. This is why the Torah does not suffice with the comamdnment to "love your neighbor as yourself " but also admonishes us to "love a convert like yourself".