Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A thought on פרשת במדבר

"...v'nosata es ha"leviim l'Aharon...""...and you shall give over the Levites to Aharon..." (3:9)

The Kohanim were the priestly segment of the tribe of Levi. They served on the nation's behalf in the Holy Mikdash and as descendants of Aharon, they were charged with the task of facilitating shalom. The Levites assisted them, engaging in the peripheral and ancillary facets of the sacred avoda. A curious nuance of our verse is the lead word, v'nosata.

Now there is nothing unfamiliar about the word itself. Nesina always means giving or giving over. We know many of its conjugations - nosen, nosan, t'en - and their meaning is as clear as our verse's word, which simply translates as "and you shall give over." It is just a second-person future tense imperative form of nesina and it means "and you (plural) shall give over."

However, the word is written with the latter "hey" at the end. That adds nothing to the word in terms of sound. The letter is silent, much like the English letter "e" would be silent if added at the end of the word "potato." "Potato" and "potatoe" sound the same even with that extra silent letter at the end of the word (although we would quail from such misspelling.) In the Sacred Tongue, "v'nosata" sounds the same with or without the "hey" at the end. If so, what is that letter doing there? For that matter, the same verse refers to the Levites a bit later by the third-person plural pronoun "heyma" which means "them." The verse might have used the more familiar "heym" which would have been the more accurate term for referring to a group of men. That extra "hey" at the end almost makes the word sound "feminine" in grammatical form. For that matter, the extra "hey" at the end of v'nosata also gives the verb a feminine quality, grammatically.

Hey! Something is going on!

Perhaps it is in view of these questions that the Recanati reveals a depth to this verse. He writes that the giving of the Levites to the Kohanim is like the giving of a wife to a husband. Remember, in our tradition, the man "takes this woman to be his wife" and her father "gives her hand in marriage." Marriage is the gift that keeps on giving, or taking, or both. Moving from the real into the sublime, let's try to understand the Recanati's interpretation. When he uses various "mundane" terms, those terms are actually word-symbols for higher elements. Man and Woman, in the kabbalistic lexicon, are symbols for the Divine attributes which we term "rachamim" and "din" - compassion and justice, respectively. Some of this has been explained in earlier parsha e-mails. The Kohen is a mortal, living symbol of rachamim as well. In his work of facilitating peace and harmony between people through the means of serving HaShem in four-dimensional ways (the fourth being the celestial component) which avail the world of heaven-sent peace and harmony of the highest forms, he represents compassion on earth and attracts compassion from above. All of that rachamim is a this-worldly reflection of Divine Rachamim.

In contrast, the more servile, structured and three-dimensional labor of the Levi reflects his role as a symbol of din. His work is objective and precise, mirroring the Divine attribute which we experience as justice. When we think of Levi, the son of Yakov Avinu, we can also trace aspects of that precise, exacting judgment which seems to have marked his qualities. This is different than the qualities which we associate with Aharon the Kohen.

The world operates with midas ha'Rachamim yet the world also is run within the scope of midas ha'Din. Divine compassion was apparent from the beginning of creation and through the emergence of Adam. Din emerged into human consciousness, and experience, with the advent of Chava. Both attributes, as we have learned this year, are essential, yet both are facets of only One Reality. In the Holy Mikdash, the lower-world replica of all that we know about the Higher Realm, both rachamim and din needed symbolic representation. This is why there were Levites, on the one hand, and Kohanim on the other. They both had roles to serve, yet the primacy of compassion over justice was reflected in the more ascendant role of the Kohaim in contrast with the background subservience of the Levites.

In that sense, the Levites interacted with the Kohanim much like "woman" with "man." This is alluded within the lettering of our verse. The Recanati surprises us with his extension of this symbolism. Ever notice how when our prayers include "Duchening" that the Kohanim walk out, and the Levites also leave? The Kohanim need to wash their hands before chanting their blessing (which is a vestige of the Holy Mikdash avoda.) The Levites are the ones who do their hand washing for them. This is to symbolize that din is ideally part of life in order to serve and enhance rachamim. Furthermore, the Kohanim deal with fire. The Levites deal with water. Whatever aspect of harsh justice (fire) lurks within compassion is symbolically extinguished by the compassionate waters offered by the Just Levites. That means that the justice of the Levite is visibly converted into an act of giving, of compassion. In more lofty terms, rachamim she'b'din and din she'b'rachamim melt into fluidity, and the elixir that remains is purely refined rachamim.

Good Shabbos. D Fox

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

A thought on פרשת בחקתי

"...v'ha'aretz ezkor...""...and I will remember the land..." (26:42)

HaShem assures us that each covenant which He forged with each of our three Patriarchs will be remembered always, even when we gone astray into exile. We find comfort in that Divine promise to uphold these covenants made on our behalf with our Avos.

What about the land? The verse says nothing about a covenant with the land, yet closes with this fourth reassurance that HaShem will remember the land. What will He "remember" with regard to the land? How is the land on par with the three Avos? Our patriarchs, at least, modeled great virtues through their lives of kindness, of justice and of truth. What has the land modeled? The land is inanimate, and not a person who can be party to a covenant. The land was worked when we inhabited Israel, and it lay fallow when we were exiled. What is this mysterious remembrance about, that seems to rank along with the deeds of the Avos?The Recanati introduces a thought from the holy Zohar: when the verses refer to the three Avos, the reference is not to the people (Avraham, Yitzchak and Yakov), but to the three covenants. A bris, or covenant, means that a form of partnership is created. On earth below, because the Avos modeled great and essential virtues, HaShem commits to showing their descendants, our nation, the same attributes from Above. This is the meaning of the somewhat familiar image we have of the Avos being the "chariot" through which the Divine Presence is known in our world.

A chariot needs four wheels. Three patriarchs means only three wheels. Who was the bearer of the fourth wheel? Dovid HaMelech is the fourth wheel, for through his life of avoda, of conquest and intervention, the land could be transformed into the place where the Holy Mikdash could arise and both contain that sense of the Presence, and also help launch heavenward the prayers and offerings of our people.

Dovid HaMelech modeled the virtue of receiving Sacred Presence, and resonating with sacred praise and devotion. He was the final wheel of the "chariot," and with his essential role, the Heavens above could now be viewed as a "land" or a realm about which there could be a sense of consistency, attachment and belonging. Dovid HaMelech helped forge a Divine parallel not of an attribute but of a more attainable sense of a Heavenly reality.

Therefore, HaShem promises that He will adhere to the covenants of kindness, of justice, of truth and of accessibility, even when we are estranged from His Presence in exile. "The Land" is an allusion to the role which King Dovid would take in our later history in galvanizing the bond between the earth below and the heavens above. And this, says the Recanati, is the deeper message in our daily recitation in Boruch Sh'Amar when we praise HaShem as "Boruch Merachem al Ha'Aretz" - blessed is He who still has mercy over the land.

This is being sent out early as I depart for another land tomorrow. Good Shabbos. D Fox

Thursday, May 15, 2008

A thought on פרשת בהר

"...ki gerim v'toshavim atem Imadi...""...for you are strangers and dwellers with Me..." (25:23)

HaShem reminds His people that we must not deal carelessly with the Holy Land. The verse seems to explain that we must always be aware of our fluid status in this world, in our land. We may dwell there yet we may also go into exile, estranged from our homeland like strangers who sojourn here and there but are forced to wander.

The Recanati endorses that interpretation, but adds another angle. We note that HaShem does more than pronounce us "strangers and residents." He adds that we have that versatile status "Imo," with Him. This means more than the reality that in His Presence we may be transformed from dwellers to wanderers. The verse also means that HaShem's 'status', as perceived within a mystical light, is symbiotic with our status.

When we are rooted to our land and our conduct merits the right to feel like residents and dwellers, then the Divine Presence is sensed with a similar permanence. However, when we stray and must flow past our borders, afoot and afield in the Diaspora, the Presence seems distant, alienated, even estranged from us and from the rest of the world. As the Talmud declares, "wherever Israel is exiled, the Shechina is with them" (Megilla 29a.)

The Recanati's novel addition here is that not only is the Presence with us in exile, but the Presence is exiled in the ways in which we are exiled. The verse states, thus, that "you are dwellers along with Me, yet you can become estranged, as can I."

One of our challenges in exile is that of developing a constant sense that HaShem is to remain a presence in our minds and lives. Attaining that sense is possible, for the Presence "follows us" into exile. However, the other aspect of that challenge is accepting that the more we roam and stray in our wanderings, the harder it is to remember how to look for Him.

When I was a little boy, my mother used to sing me a song from her childhood in Scotland. It was about a person who had not followed directions nor paid attention to their path. One of the final verses went, "...lost my way and don't know where to roam..." The tragedy which we all face in the Diaspora is not only that we have become displaced and lost, but that we no longer seem to know where to roam. We end up making faulty decisions, wrong turns, hit dead ends, or go in smaller and smaller concentric circles.

Can you find your way home?Good Shabbos. D Fox

Friday, May 09, 2008

A thought on פרשת אמור

"...v'kidashto...kadosh yi'yeh lach...ki Kadosh Ani..Mekadishchem..."
"...make him holy...he shall be holy to you...for I am Holy & make you holy..." (21:8)

In describing the triangle of interaction between the Kohen, the Jew and the Above, HaShem instructs us all to safeguard the sanctity of the Kohen, then reiterates that kadosh yi'yeh lach - he shall be holy to you. There is a great emphasis on this sanctity and on our maintaining perspective that HaShem, who is Holy, sanctifies us.

We value the sacred role of the sacred Kohen, who brought sacred offerings to the Holy One, so we can understand that honoring and protecting Kohanim is a means of promoting their continued service. It is less clear to us what the second clause, kadosh yi'yeh lach, adds here.

The Recanati provides a creative perspective of these "seemingly redundant" (from our limited view) words: in the Holy Tongue, gender terms can be masculine, feminine or pareve when referring to inanimate objects or topics. For example, the word for "him" or "her" can also mean "it." We have discussed this some years ago in another parsha email. While is it tempting, at first reading, to read the phrase "kadosh yi'yeh lach" as "he shall be holy to you," which opened up our query about restating the verse's earlier phrase, there is a variant reading of these words: the phrase can also mean "and you will become holy." (kadosh - holiness - yi'yeh - will be -- lach - yours.)

The Recanati suggests that with the Torah instructing us to safeguard the sanctity of the Kohen in order that he perform his holy service (as the verse says if you read its entirety), he is not doing that service for himself alone. Rather, he is a catalyst for each Jew's attaining a fuller measure of personal sanctity. We promote his continued service by sponsoring his sanctified role, which means that he brings forth offerings through our own efforts to do our part. That way, that which is offered on the sacred altar becomes a means of bringing all of us closer to HaShem as we share in doing His ratzon (see this year's email on Parshas VaYikra). This facilitates our being closer to Him, which elevates our level of personal kedusha.

So, the verse means, "and you shall make the Kohen sanctified and this will sanctify you." So many times, when the Torah guides our conduct and our thinking, we hunt for the objective consequence of what our actions will lead to. Here, the Recanati reminds us, we see that our actions may have an external objective (promoting the sacred service of the Kohen) but we may also benefit at an internal subjective level by developing a deeper sense of sanctity, and in fact may be the objects of Divine ratzon, which brings us holiness.

Good Shabbos. D Fox

Thursday, May 01, 2008

A thought on פרשת קדושים

"...v'ohavta l'rei'acha k'mocha...""...and you shall love your fellow as your self..." (19:18)

This sublime moral principal is number 243 of the 613 commandments which Jews are to follow. For that manner, many cultures throughout this chaotic world of ours foster similar standards, and value this ideal of people being considerate of others.

Some of us have heard or learned that this is regarded as "klal gadol ba'Torah." Rabbi Akiva tells us this and we believe it. We even sing songs to those words. Loving your friend and your neighbor in the ways in which you care about yourself is a central principle of Torah. Could there be any greater principle than that of promoting social stability? Could any other value or standard as that of caring for others be as central to a healthy society?On the other hand, is loving others emblematic of the entire Torah? Surely there are more sacred and spiritual axioms which are great and important. After all, other nations who lack the Torah also value this idea of loving others, or have variants of it in the form of one adage or another.

The Recanati brings a midrashic view. One of the great disciples of Rabbi Akiva was Ben Azai. He is mentioned in the Mishna and Talmud. Ben AzaI reacted to Rabbi Akiva's statement by saying, "HaShem created people in His image. That is an even greater klal gadol ba'Torah.

The Recanati elaborates: Ben Azai declares that living by the standard of "love thy neighbor as thy self" is fine as long as we truly care about our selves. However, if a person does not mind self-neglect, or self-debasing behavior, and decides that if it is acceptable to him than he is entitled to neglect or humiliate others (a mutation of "loving others the way you love self") then the world is once again on a path to chaos (as we see around us.)

Rather, as the Recanati interprets Ben Azai's "greater principal", one must honor and revere other people, mindful that they are meant to be in HaShem's image. "One who loves his fellow as a creation formed in the image of HaShem is one who loves and honors HaShem."

We might say that at a functional level, Rabbi Akiva sees in the commandment of "love thy neighbor" a great central principle. Ben Azai adds that from a spirituality perspective, there is a deeper facet of loving others, and that is being considerate of the spiritual quality within each person. Loving others, mindful of their tzelem Elokim, is a more profound form of loving. It takes a social standard and elevates it to a sacred principle. It makes healthy interactions with others a form of devotion to HaShem Himself. As Ben Azai says, "zeh klal gadol mi'zeh" - such a standard is a greater one.

Once again, the Recanati offers us a deeper view into the complexities of Torah and a more profound glimpse into the words of Chazal. Good Shabbos. D Fox