A thought on Parshas Shmos
"...asura na v'e'raeh es ha'mareh ha'gadol ha'zeh...""...let me turn toward it, that I can see this great site..." (3:3)
Rabbeinu Bachya broadens our understanding of Moshe's experience in the desert. There were three facets to his encounter out in the wilderness: the fire, the message, and the Presence.
He first encountered a bush aflame yet not incinerating. At that moment of unclarity, he had assumed that this was an ordinary fire, hence his wonderment. It was after this that he was able to apprehend the message (malach) that something greater was taking place within that vision. After that, Moshe grasped that HaShem's Presence was accessible around that area.
Just as the human eye, after staying in a dark room for a while, cannot face the sunlight head on, but must make a gradual adjustment, so too the mind's eye, which houses the kochos ha'nefesh which are intertwined within the kochos ha'guf. The body's mechanisms are a model for understanding the mechanisms of the soul. This was Moshe's initiation to higher spiritual vision (nevu'a) and HaShem saw to it that his mind and soul were presented with ascending measures of enlightenment.
Rabbeinu Bachya adds that our nation was also exposed to Torah in the same graduated manner. We were given a couple of mitzvos early on followed by the Asseres ha'devarim followed by the giving of the entire Torah.
This is the way of HaShem's world, as well. The sunrise does not burst across the sky with a blazing flash. There is the lifting of the darkness (alos ha'shachar) then the blossoming of the rays (netz ha'chamma) then the dawn appears and the day begins.
This is also the method we must follow in order to best study the ways of HaShem. Some try to rush in quickly as if their velocity and enthusiasm will suffice to rapidly incorporate all of the Torah. Not so, says Rabbeinu Bachya. This is not the derech. The prophet Hoshea (6:3) tells us, "...v'neida nirdefa la'das es HaShem ka'shachar nachon motza'o..." - "let us know by pursuing knowledge of HaShem like the dependable dawn..." Some people do not know how "to pursue" and instead they try to catch the Torah in one leap. This cannot be done. Torah is grasped "like the dependable dawn", which emerges in stages. The mind and soul are made to contain the Torah and knowledge of HaShem but one must make this adjustment along the ladder of mesora and chinuch. This is known as the pursuit of higher knowledge of HaShem.
May we have the merit and gift of better seeing the light as it grows brighter and brighter and may the darkness fade away. Good Shabbos. D Fox
Rabbeinu Bachya broadens our understanding of Moshe's experience in the desert. There were three facets to his encounter out in the wilderness: the fire, the message, and the Presence.
He first encountered a bush aflame yet not incinerating. At that moment of unclarity, he had assumed that this was an ordinary fire, hence his wonderment. It was after this that he was able to apprehend the message (malach) that something greater was taking place within that vision. After that, Moshe grasped that HaShem's Presence was accessible around that area.
Just as the human eye, after staying in a dark room for a while, cannot face the sunlight head on, but must make a gradual adjustment, so too the mind's eye, which houses the kochos ha'nefesh which are intertwined within the kochos ha'guf. The body's mechanisms are a model for understanding the mechanisms of the soul. This was Moshe's initiation to higher spiritual vision (nevu'a) and HaShem saw to it that his mind and soul were presented with ascending measures of enlightenment.
Rabbeinu Bachya adds that our nation was also exposed to Torah in the same graduated manner. We were given a couple of mitzvos early on followed by the Asseres ha'devarim followed by the giving of the entire Torah.
This is the way of HaShem's world, as well. The sunrise does not burst across the sky with a blazing flash. There is the lifting of the darkness (alos ha'shachar) then the blossoming of the rays (netz ha'chamma) then the dawn appears and the day begins.
This is also the method we must follow in order to best study the ways of HaShem. Some try to rush in quickly as if their velocity and enthusiasm will suffice to rapidly incorporate all of the Torah. Not so, says Rabbeinu Bachya. This is not the derech. The prophet Hoshea (6:3) tells us, "...v'neida nirdefa la'das es HaShem ka'shachar nachon motza'o..." - "let us know by pursuing knowledge of HaShem like the dependable dawn..." Some people do not know how "to pursue" and instead they try to catch the Torah in one leap. This cannot be done. Torah is grasped "like the dependable dawn", which emerges in stages. The mind and soul are made to contain the Torah and knowledge of HaShem but one must make this adjustment along the ladder of mesora and chinuch. This is known as the pursuit of higher knowledge of HaShem.
May we have the merit and gift of better seeing the light as it grows brighter and brighter and may the darkness fade away. Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 11:19 PM
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