A Thought on Parshas Shlach

"...u're'isem oso u'zechartem es kol mitzvos HaShem..." (15:39) "...and when you see it you'll remember all of HaShem's commandments..." The status of tzitzis is enigmatic. At the physical level, they involve strings, strands, knots and fringes. At the thematic level, they involve reminding, cautioning and inspiring. They are tied into forms and quantities, and they are also "tied into" remembering the commandments, avoiding temptation, recalling our national origins, and knowing HaShem. The commentaries seek symbolic meaning in these knotted threads, finding numeric allusions, and visual echoes of the sea, the sky and beyond. The tzitzis are unique to the Torah nation, and boys and men don them beneath, above, and upon their garments, including the Tallis which is worn during prayers. ibn Shu'aib also takes notice of the tzitzis and seeks some meaning in them. Strings tied into knots, strings hanging beyond those knots, somehow reminding and cautioning us to avoid the straying of the eye and the fantasy. ibn Shu'aib focuses on the strings which hang beneath the knots. What began as four strands now appears as eight strings. Below the final knot emerge four strings at one side and four at the second side. What do they represent or hint at? ibn Shu'aib suggests that since the verse says that upon seeing them, we are meant to remember not to pursue the objects and subjects of our wayward fantasies, there must be a link between "eight" and our use of the self. Physically, he comments, we are given eight limbs with which we can either serve HaShem or we can self-indulge in profane ways. We have the eye, the ear, the nose, the mouth, the hand, the foot, the mind, and the organ of procreation. We can utilize these parts of our physical selves in ways which help us think of the heavens above. We can, however, opt to do the remote opposite as well. This is one thought to have when seeing the eight strings below the knots. Will we think above the strings at their higher connection, or will our lives dangle over the abyss? With tzitzis on all four corners of the garment, there are four sets of eight strings. That totals 32. The number 32 is also representational of a higher truth. ibn Shu'aib teaches that there are 32 pathways to wisdom. These are the ten sefiros - the channels of Divine emanation of knowledge from the heavens down to the earth, and there are the twenty two letters of the aleph bais. With those sources, we have access to the wisdom of the Torah, both in its given, written form (alef bais), and in its more mystical hidden forms (ten sefiros). In fact, the Torah itself begins with the letter bais (equaling 2) and it ends with the letter lamed (equaling 30). Together of course they equal 32, which are the number of pathways mentioned. When our verse above proclaims, "and when you see the tzitzis you will remember all of the mitzvos of HaShem", that thought is then captured in the number and layout of the threads themselves. The 32 threads hint at the 32 ways to wisdom which are accessible through learning and practicing the Torah. Good Shabbos. D Fox

A Thought on Parshas Beha'aloscha

"...anav me'od..." "...very humble..." (12:3) ibn Shu'aib notes how the themes in this week's parsha events seem to reflect the wise saying of our Sages (Avos 4:28) on how jealousy, lust and arrogance can destroy a person. He shows how these characteristics were at play in the episode of the complainers, in the confrontation against the prophets, in the confrontations against Moshe Rabbeinu, and elsewhere. His motif is that when Chazal speak about how these things can "take a person out of the world", this does not always imply death but rather can mean the destruction of a person's mind and spirit. He argues that the antidote to those "qualities" is the development of a humble demeanor. He brings a midrash which is from a source unknown to us: "They asked Eliahu: 'Who is sitting behind the highest heavenly partition?'. Eliahu answered: those who are modest and humble, as it says (Tehillim 37:11), "and the modest shall inherit the world." ibn Shu'aib then cites the Talmud (Chulin 89a) which explains that HaShem admires His nation Israel when they do not aggrandize themselves even when they are graced with His bounty. Avraham downplays himself, declaring that he is but dust and ash. Moshe and Aharon downplay themselves, questioning their value. Dovid insists that he is lowly. In contrast, look at the other nations: Nimrod is given greatness and declares that he will build a city that reaches the heavens. Pharaoh asks, 'who is G-d?". Sancherib claims that even HaShem cannot stop him. Nevuchadnezar broadcasts that he is going to pay G-d a visit. Chiram proclaims that he occupies HaShem's throne. Greatness and grandeur are a challenge: will one maintain perspective and use them to become a better person, or will one exploit them to glorify the self? What does exploitation of HaShem's gifts look like? ibn Shu'aib observes that jealous thoughts are a misuse of the mind. Lustfulness is a misuse of the body. Arrogance is a misuse of the emotions. The antidote is to use one's mind for constructive thought in the pursuit of knowing HaShem; using one's body to develop the health to serve Him; using one's emotions to promote wonder and inspiration in experiencing the perfection of His universe. A modest person knows his capacities, and channels his thoughts, senses and feelings towards the service of the Almighty. That is the self in modest perspective, and the humbling of self to maintain perspective of HaShem Above. Good Shabbos. D Fox

A Thought on Parshas Naso

"...u'kasav...u'macha..." "...and he writes...then dissolves..." (5:23) From time to time we read a passage in the Torah which seems to present principles which appear to run contrary to other principles. The appearance of contradictory ideas is a challenge for us. It can become fertile ground for those who seek to fault find and flaw-find in the Divine Word chas v'shalom. The parsha of the Sotah is probably a case in point. Throughout the Torah, so much emphasis in placed on the sanctity of HaShem's name. We must not desecrate it, we must not defile it and we certainly should not deface or erase it. Many verses throughout the Torah emphasize our charge to promote and to preserve kedusha. The Sotah ritual or ordeal seems like an exception to this high standard. The Torah requires that a scribe write out verses that are then obliterated. There are many homiletic lessons which our Sages derive from this, yet the question remains: how are we to comprehend the seeming inconsistency between the standard of maintaining the sanctity of the Name and this glaring 'exception'? ibn Shu'aib provides the insight that we have been waiting for. We have first another difficulty to deal with: our tradition relates that at Sinai, when HaShem spoke the words of Torah - the first two of the "Ten Commandments" - the first and the second clauses were actually uttered as a single statement. We understood what was being said yet it was said as a compressed single utterance containing multiple messages, in a manner that the human ear does not readily comprehend. At an almost angelic level, transcendently, we heard the entire Torah within that single solitary tone. Forever after, in all subsequent moments in time, we could not have comprehended anything from that tone. We are only able to hear the commandments one at a time, just as we can only fathom one bit of information at a time. How so much information, so many details, so vast a sea of Torah, could be condensed into such a single audible sound is beyond the human brain's grasp, just as "seeing thunder and hearing lightening" is beyond our intellectual frame. Nonetheless, everything did synthesize simultaneously into the Sound of Sinai, and we not only heard it, but we understood all of it at once in that one moment in history. This is alluded to in Tehillim 62:12 where we proclaim, "achas diber Elokim, shta'yim zu sho'mati - HaShem said one word yet I heard many." What are we meant to learn from that celestial reality, manifest within our mind but once in the history of the universe? Says ibn Shu'aib: that one-time phenomenon was to teach us that there are no contradictions in HaShem's Torah. Everything coincides. From our perspective, there are plenty of inconsistencies which we experience as contradictions. From a mortal view, we cannot grasp the dichotomies which our logic exposes, yet in the mind's theology, our questions only reflect our limitations, rather than sully HaShem's limitlessness. Thus, we look at the Name of HaShem which is written then obliterated. While defying what our limited logic would expect, we embrace the higher reality that when these rules were first spoken, our ears heard them all at once and every nuance fit in perfectly as a Divine whole. Good Shabbos. D Fox

A Thought on Parshas Bamidbar

"...degel machaneh..." "...each camp with its flag..." (2:3) The counting, placing and "flagging" of the Benei Yisroel features prominently in our parsha. Beyond the function of some form of census keeping, what was the meaning behind this methodical, and picturesque, structuring of our camp into four groups, as we traveled through the wilderness and as we camped in formation, with flags? ibn Shu'aib offers a midrashic perspective. These three steps - the accounting, the formation and the flagging - were to demonstrate the great affection shown to us by HaShem. The camp below mirrors the heavenly camp above. HaShem's "chariot", which we glimpsed in the writings of ibn Shu'aib on Parshas Emor,has four facets, which we have identified as the imprints of our three Patriarchs and that of Dovid HaMelech. But those four facets also have four spiritual presences ("Archangels"), namely, the malach Michael and his "flag", Gavriel and his flag, Refael and his, and Uriel and his. We read in Shir HaShirim (2:4): Hevi'ani el bais ha'yayin v'diglo alay ahava - He brought me to the house of wine and His flag over me is love. The midrash explains: wine has the gematria of 70. The house of wine is Mt. Sinai, where HaShem led our nation to shelter us, with the giving of the Torah, from the seventy nations. He 'fed" us wine, which means that HaShem gave us our own nationhood status through our imbibing the words of Torah (see Shir HaShirimt 8:2, and 1:2). What is "the flag of love" which HaShem spread over us? This is how the firmaments, that which divides and blocks our perception of the Holy, were set aside so that we could see more clearly the worldly and cosmic manifestations of the Divine. This means that we could peer through the veils of human limitation and espy the "chambers of the Chariot."(see Shir HaShirim 1:4). The chambers of the Chariot are the four Archangels and their flags. We were given a glimpse of the higher world and its hidden elements, and at that moment, our people longed to have a part of it all. HaShem declared there and then that we could in fact have a replica of that higher realm, here on earth. This became the four faceted formation of our camp, with its four flags. This is alluded to in Tehillim (20:6) when Dovid HaMelech recalls our glorious songs of salvation in the desert which were followed by "u'v'Shem Elokeinu nidgol" - we raised our flag in HaShem's name, which means the assembly at Mt. Sinai where we were granted the heaven-like banners of the angels. There are only 4 places in TaNaCh where the word degel is used as a verb or adverb rather than as a noun. One is the above verse in Tehillim, two are in Shir HaShriim 6:4 and 10, and one is in Shir HaShirim 5:10. The one in Tehillim we have mentioned. The ones in Shir HaShirim, a'yuma k'nigdalos (twice) and "dagul m'revava" translate as "fearsome as flagged ones" and "flagged by multitudes." ibn Shu'aib relates the midrashic perspective that at the end of our exile, the nations of the world will cower in the presence of our nation, as we become, once again, flagged by Divinity as are the angels above who carry out His word. Good Shabbos and Chag Matan Torah Sameach. By the way, the day after Shavuos this year is, uh, Flag Day. D Fox

A Thought on Parshas Beh'aloshca

"...im be'chukosai tei'lechu..." "...if you follow My statutes..." (26:3) The word "chok" has become familiar to us. A chok is one of those commandments about which we have no sense of its purpose or meaning. A "statute", as contrasted with a rule, or a regulation or a law (i.e. mishpat, din, mitzvah) is something that we are commanded to observe yet without an understanding or without having a ready interpretation as to its logic, sensibility or obvious function. In our parsha, HaShem tells us about all of the good which will follow our walking in the ways of His chukim. Some of our great commentaries look at this verse as a promise that if we are careful about keeping those statutes even though we do not understand them, we "deserve" a reward. ibn Shu'aib has a different view. He looks not at the word itself, but rather the rewards which we are promised for following these chukim. He cites the holy words of our sages who see within those Biblical references to "rewards" an allusion to the world to come, to the afterlife, to the messianic era and to the rewards (and punishments) which are part of our theological belief system. So, the Torah asserts that for our obedience to HaShem's word, we will reap great rewards. Yet, when you stop and think about it, so many of the commandments seem to be rational. Many make sense to us. Many make sense to the world at large, and even had we not been ordered to observe them, many civilized people and societies would have observed them anyway. So, how is it that if we adhere to principles of common sense and justice that we will earn such vast rewards and wondrous consequences? This, suggests ibn Shu'aib, is the "chok" quality of all 613 mitzvos. There is a statute-like quality of "hidden meaning" - not necessarily in the essence of the commandment - but rather in the gravity and magnitude of its importance in Heaven and on Earth. There are mystical and cosmic ramifications when we observe these commandments. The rest of the world cannot claim this, when they take a moral or common sense or societal harmony view of those acts which we are commanded to observe. For the world, there are rules and standards. For our nation, there are commandments, and they all have this chok aspect of earning eternal and cosmic repercussions. So our verse means that if we follow all of HaShem's rules, wondrous and supernatural compensation will follow, and this gives a chok quality to those rules, especially to those which would seem rational and obvious. ibn Shu'aib closes Sefer VaYikra by expounding upon the well known verse (26:42) wherein HaShem promises that He will always recall His covenant with Yakov, with Yitzchak, with Avraham and with the land. He views this as a promise that even though our people may be exiled in far off lands, HaShem will redeem us just as He redeemed our ancestors in Egypt. He cites a midrashic reading of the prior parsha's hidden meaning: the Torah says "and when your brother declines" (25:25) - this alludes to our brothers ("brothers and friends" of Tehillim 122:8) who decline in their observance of Torah and mitzvos. "and he sells his inheritance" - this refers to our forfeiting the Temple in Jerusalem, which we "sold" to the nations whom we submitted to. " and someone redeems it" - this alludes to HaShem Himself who will come ultimately and redeem us. ibn Shu'aib closes with the fervent prayer that HaShem will show us mercy and fulfill all of those promises, beginning with (26:44) "and even though they will be in the lands of the foes, I will not reject them." Good Shabbos. D Fox