Wednesday, February 27, 2013

A Thought on Parshas Ki Tisa

"...v'haya kol mevakesh HaShem yaetzae el ohel mo'ed..." (34:7) "...and all who sought HaShem went out to the Tent of Communion.." Moshe Rabbeinu distanced himself from the camp in the desert. Those who sought him out followed the path leading to the Tent and were then able to continue their learning from and with him. You will notice that our verse refers to those who followed Moshe as "mevakesh HaShem" (G-d seekers), rather than mevakesh Moshe - seekers of Moshe. Moreover, the verse actually gives those individuals this title. They are called "seekers of G-d." What is the message here? Rabbeinu Avigdor begins with a midrashic view. We see from here that seeking out Torah study is tantamount to seeking out HaShem. When we turn to Torah, when we engage in studying in order to know the word of HaShem, we are also studying in order to know (about) HaShem. So those who immerse themselves in Torah need to envision their process as G-d seeking, and need to envision themselves as G-d seekers. Such a lofty and elevated image of our learning as a sublime avoda! Then Rabbeinu Avigdor moves into his role as posek, inferring a practical halacha from our verse. He writes that it is clear, from the wording in our verse, that those who sought out Moshe were exemplars. They did the proper thing, and modeled for us what is right. Otherwise, the Torah might not have needed to reference the fact that there were people who followed Moshe out of the camp. The Torah tells us that there were those who traveled in order to teach us that they did what they were supposed to do. They were supposed to seek out teaching from Moshe, because this is how we are meant to develop and maintain a personal sense of communing with HaShem. Rabbeinu Avigdor rules, on the basis of this inference, that a person is obligated to uproot himself and to travel in order to learn Torah. This is similar to the mishna in Pirkei Avos (4:18) which instructs us to "Exile yourself to a place of Torah." Just as Moshe camped on the fringe of the greater encampment and people traveled to seek out his wisdom, each of us is obligated to travel to those places and to those persons from whom we can grow in Torah and in feeling more closely connected to HaShem. Rabbeinu Avigdor paskens that the path to being a Seeker of G-d is to pick up and travel to find Torah, rather than to remain idle and fixed to the comforts of one's familiar turf. This is a halacha in how to learn Torah and how to serve HaShem. When I was young and there were few places in California where one could be mevakesh HaShem in this way, my parents saw to it that I could go and exile myself in a makom Torah. When it was time for me to continue my studies, they made sure that I could move on for more Torah opportunities. Please join me in wishing my father Gershon ben Mareida a refuah sheleima in the special zechus of his role in being part of the Mevakshei HaShem. Good Shabbos. D Fox

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

A thought on Parshas Tetzave

"...v'asisa mizbei'ach miktar ktores..." "...and you shall make an altar where incense is ignited..." (30:1) One of the most important structures in the sacred Mishkan was the mizbeach ketores, the altar where fragrant incense was offered. The avoda, the service of burning those sweet spices, was a mystical one. The smoke ascended in a plume and was representational of the Jewish people reaching forth to the Above, transcending from the material to the ethereal in our quest to feel, or to make, a sense of connectedness. Perhaps that mystical quality of this service is what prompts Rabbeinu Avigdor to offer only a short, and cryptic comment here. He moves from his analytic and halachic mode to his kabbablistic approach, leaving us to ponder his deep thought. Rabbeinu Avigdor moves into the midrashic coding of two words, which we know as notarikon. This term is from the Greek word from which our own English word "notation" stems. Notarikon dissects a word's overt meaning into a noting of its component letters. These letters are then coded or denoted into new words. He begins with the four letters in the word mizbeach (altar). They are mem, zayin, beis and ches. The mem stands for the word mechila, the zayin for zachus, the bais for bracha, and the ches for chaim. Thus we have the new words "forgiveness, merit, blessing and life." The function of the altar was to bring about, for us, those results. In turn, the four letters of ketores are kuf, tes, raish, and tof. The kuf stands for kedusha, the tes for tahara, the raish for rachamim and the tof for tikva. Thus we have the new words "sanctity, purity, mercy and hope." The incense service brought about, for us, those results. What occurs to me is that there is a unifying theme in each of these two strings of words. What connects forgiveness, merit, blessing and life is that these are all things which we are given only if we deserve them. We must deserve HaShem's forgiveness, we must deserve to be shown merit, we must deserve His bracha and we must deserve the entitlement to life in this world and in the next. Perhaps the material altar symbolizes the mortal effort which we must invest in order to deserve those Divine responses. In turn, the theme connecting sanctity, purity, mercy and hope is that these are things which we must earn. To acquire sanctity requires effort, so we work to earn that sanctity. To attain purity we must earn a level where impurity does not enter. We have to work in order to earn mercy from Above, and so too must we earn a degree of security in order to form a sense of hope for a better future. Perhaps the ethereal incense represents our efforts to rise above and beyond our corporeal state, where we can earn the higher states of sanctity, purity, mercy and hopefulness. The altar where the incense was offered served, at that mystical level, as a symbol for the devotion and dedication which we must invest in a process of spiritual ascendancy and personal refinement. Wishing you a good Shabbos and a joyous, ascendant Purim. D Fox

Friday, February 15, 2013

A Thought on Parshas Teruma

"...va'yik'chu Li teruma..." "...take for Me a portion..." (25:2) We were commanded to apportion some of our precious metals for use in constructing the Sacred Shrine in the desert. Gold, silver, copper...portions of those valuable possessions were given over as offerings. The puzzling word in our verse is "Li." It can be translated as "to Me", "for Me" and "unto Me" yet the verse would have been just as clear had that word been omitted. The Torah could have said "take portions" and it would have made perfect sense. In fact, it could have said "give portions" rather than "take portions" and it would have sounded right. This is why many of the commentaries offer interpretations of that word. Rabbeinu Avigdor suggests that there are places in the Torah and TaNach where the word "Li" takes on a fourth meaning. There are times when the word means "with Me." He then offers a midrashic approach based on the thought that the Torah is HaShem's Torah, yet He has entrusted His Torah to the Jewish people. In turn, HaShem asks that wherever we go, just as we take His Torah along, we should also take Him along. How so? By offering up our personal valuables (those precious metals) which were used in building the mishkan (which was considered the material abode or shrine for HaShem's sensed Presence on earth), we were "taking Him along with us." When we would journey in the wilderness, our own riches - which we had consigned to Him - were now an abode for Him, which meant that He was paralleling our own travels. Therefore, one way of understanding the verse is "take Me with you." Wherever we traveled, we took Him along. We took His Torah, and by building the mishkan, we were also taking Him with us. Rabbeinu Avigdor also offers a second approach. A fifth meaning of the word "li" is "Mine." The verse can refer to the fact that whatever we consider "ours" is actually "His." When it comes to the precious metals which the Jews possessed in the wilderness, we must recall that this was a nation of former slaves. Whatever exquisite wealth which we had was largely the spoils of war, namely, that which washed up on the shores of the Yam Suf as the Egyptian army perished. We did not really wage a battle there. The Torah refers to HaShem as "the Master of War", and the victory was His miracle, and a secondary miracle was that the treasures floated ashore rather than sink to the sea floor (as metal tends to do). Hence, when HaShem commanded us here to take portions of those treasures, He was really asking us to give Him His bounty. This is a reminder to us that whatever we have in this life is a gift or a loan from the Divine. He seldom asks for it back, yet when He does tell us to give of our wealth for charity and other mitzvah causes, we need to remember that we are giving back, rather than giving up. Don't leave home without Him. Good Shabbos. D Fox

Friday, February 08, 2013

A Thought on Parshsa Mishpatim

"...v'ha'Torah v'ha'mitzva asher Kosavti..." (24:12) "...I give you the Torah and the commandments which I've written..." In giving us the two hewn tablets, HaShem also pledges to give "the Torah and the Mitzvah". To what do those words or terms refer? Our understanding is that within the "luchos" were the foundation for all of the Torah, which in turn encompasses all of the 613 mitzvos. What are we to learn from these seemingly unnecessary additions of "Torah & commandments"? Rabbeinu Avigdor begins with a midrashic interpretation, handing over our mesora or tradition that "theTorah" refers to statutes and laws. The word "mitzva" refers to "the mishna", which is the Oral Torah as systematized by our early Sages. The third clause, "which I've written" refers to the scriptures, which we know as the words of our Prophets and the Writings (Nevi'im and Kesuvim). So, Moshe was told that HaShem was going to give him the two tablets of stone, and in receiving the Torah, he would also be given all of the statutes, laws, rules, Oral teachings, and written scripture, which comprised the lessons and instructions which would emerge over time in the centuries which followed. A beautiful thought about the eternity of all of the Torah, and how it is Divine in origin, in entirety. It is all Torah. All was given to Moshe. Now, if you stop and think, you will realize that the era of the Prophets and of the Writings (such as the five Megillos) followed the giving of the Torah. Near the close of that era, the Oral Torah was redacted and eventually transcribed. We know it as the Talmud, which expounds upon the more concise Mishna. That was the chronological sequence in history. How is it that our verse, with the midrashic interpretation cited, first refers to laws and the Mishna, then to those written Scriptures? The time sequence seems out of order. Moreover, the "laws and Mishna" seem to modify the word "Torah", whereas the reference to TaNaCh seems like a separate thought? The verse seems to associate Mishna with Torah and "that which I have written" encompasses the holy words of our saintly Prophets. Rabbeinu Avigdor makes an observation here. He opines that there is greater sanctity - kedusha - in the Mishna and Talmud, since our verse considers them an elaboration of the Torah, than in the writings of the Prophets, which are introduced as if separate from the Torah. From there, Rabbeinu Avigdor derives an unexpected psak - a halachic ruling. If one is storing or stacking sefarim, we know that one must place on the top that sefer which has greater kedusha. This is a way of honoring the Torah. Hence, a Chumash will always go on top. We would not place, say, the Book of Proverbs (Mishlei) on top of a Bible. What about, say, Sefer Shmuel versus Mesechta Yoda'im, one of the tractates of the Mishna? According to Rabbeinu Avigdor, the Mishnayos will go on top of the Neviim! A Shmiras Shabbos k'Hilchasa (a contemporary sefer on the laws of Shabbos) will go on top of a volume of gemara (since the word "Torah" (rules) comes before the word Mitzvah (which means Mishna/Talmud) in our verse.) All of the Torah was given to Moshe, and was handed down from generation to generation, extending to the era of the Tanaaim, as we are taught in the opening lines of Pirkei Avos. This means that the timeless Torah was given at once, and whereas many laws were revealed and explained later than were the revelations of the Prophets, the primacy of the former is emphasized in our verse as being "Torah" and the latter are "HaShem's Writings." The lesson here is timeless. The concept of greater kedusha is unique. The practical implementation of this concept is novel (and still b'reshus HaTorah!). Good Shabbos. D Fox