Concert In Utero – Parshat Beshalach

Printable PDF available here. Previous years’ pieces on Beshalach are available here and here.

Rav Kook (Based on Ein Ayah, Gemara Berachot 50a)

At the Yam Suf, even fetuses in their mothers’ wombs recited song. As it is stated in the chapter of Psalms that describes the Exodus from Egypt: “In assemblies, bless G-d, the Lord, from the source of Israel (lit. מקור ישראל)” – “source” is an allusion to the womb. (Gemara Berachot 50a)

This teaching of our Sages is strange and hard to make sense of. Is it meant to be taken literally? Did the fetuses really join in the Song of the Sea, like some strange in utero concert? Also, why do the Sages teach that unborn children participated specifically at this juncture, as opposed to any other miraculous or transcendent moment of Jewish history? Indeed, we don’t find the gemara or midrash asserting that fetuses were part of the giving of the Torah or praised G-d for any other miracle.

To resolve this puzzle, we need to investigate some fundamental aspects of Jewish identity and religious development. Israel’s national identity is rooted in awe and love of G-d (lit. יראת ה׳ ואהבתו), and these in turn are cultivated through various channels. A significant part of our spiritual development is self-driven. By accepting the Torah and living according to its precepts, we refine our dispositions and elevate our souls. Chinuch is another layer or component of our religious development. Our parents and communities educate us to aspire to Torah life. They train us to claim the inheritance that prior generations have bequeathed to us as our most precious treasure.

However, we also have an innate predisposition to a connection with the Divine, one that has nothing to do with our own actions or those who educated us. It is nature, not nurture. Every Jew possesses a soul drawn from the G-dly source of Israel (lit. מקור ישראל – the same phrase from Psalms cited by the gemara), and is possessed with an innate yearning for spiritual perfection and rejoicing in G-d. Not everyone succeeds at manifesting these yearnings, and sadly many Jews are not even consciously aware of them. But embers of spiritual passion smolder within every member of Israel.

When did Israel become aware of its own uniqueness? As a nation, when did we first encounter the embryonic potential that lay within us? The answer is that it transpired shortly after the Exodus, at the Yam Suf. At that point, of our own spiritual conduct was nothing to boast about. Before Moshe split the sea, we complained bitterly and demonstrated a lack of faith. Outwardly, our Sages even teach that we were indistinguishable from the Egyptians, and that the ministering angels could not understand why G-d chose to save us but drown our former masters. Similarly, we had minimal chinuch or training to speak of. It was barely a week before that we had performed our first mitzvah – the korban pesach – and witnessed G-d crush the might of Egyptian empire through the death of their firstborn.

But the fetuses in the womb had not even witnessed this. Their only connection to the world of G-dliness and spiritual truth was the fact that they’d been conceived by a Jewish mother and father. And yet Our Sages teach that even they participated in the Song at the Sea. Presumably, this is not meant to be taken literally, but to highlight the spiritual potential that comes from nature, as opposed to nurture. In other words, our Sages are not interested in teaching us about literal fetuses, but rather our own very real embryonic potential. The most profound and sublime Divine ideals are the birthright become of every member of Israel, no matter their background or prior choices.

Food for Thought

Sefas Emes (Beshalach): Then Moses and the children of Israel sang. After the exodus they became instruments to give witness to the Creator. As it states, “the people I formed for Myself that they might declare my praise (Is. 43:21). The midrash quotes the verse, “G-d lifted me out of the gruesome pit, the slimy clay, and set my feet on a rock, steadied my legs. G-d put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our G-d. (Ps. 40:3-4). The meaning of “new” is that it forever carries this power of renewal. It can never be forgotten by the souls of Israel. It was not a throwaway that [our sages] established that we should sing this song each day. Israel’s faith [at the sea] was the this saving act would last for all generations…this song and the attachment to the Divine have been implanted in the Jewish soul forever. But until the exodus from Egypt they were not able to call it forth. Only after this was the longing for G-d revealed…thus on every Shabbat the soul and desire are set free. That is why Shabbat is “in remembrance of the exodus from Egypt” [and why we sing G-d’s praises on that day].

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (Covenant and Conversation, Ha’azinu 5777): There is something profoundly spiritual about music. When language aspires to the transcendent, and the soul longs to break free of the gravitational pull of the earth, it modulates into song. Jewish history is not so much read as sung. The rabbis enumerated ten songs at key moments in the life of the nation. There was the song of the Israelites in Egypt (see Is. 30:29), the song at the Red Sea (Ex. 15), the song at the well (Num. 21), and Ha’azinu, Moses’ song at the end of his life. Joshua sang a song (Josh. 10:12-13). So did Deborah (Jud. 5), Hannah (1 Sam. 2) and David (2 Sam. 22). There was the Song of Solomon, Shir ha-Shirim, about which Rabbi Akiva said, “All songs are holy but the Song of Songs is the holy of holies.” The tenth song has not yet been sung. It is the song of the Messiah.

Mystics go further and speak of the song of the universe, what Pythagoras called “the music of the spheres”. This is what Psalm 19 means when it says, “The heavens declare the glory of G-d; the skies proclaim the work of His hands . . . There is no speech, there are no words, where their voice is not heard. Their music carries throughout the earth, their words to the end of the world.” Beneath the silence, audible only to the inner ear, creation sings to its Creator.

So, when we pray, we do not read: we sing. When we engage with sacred texts, we do not recite: we chant. Every text and every time has, in Judaism, its own specific melody. There are different tunes for shacharit, mincha and maariv, the morning, afternoon and evening prayers. There are different melodies and moods for the prayers for a weekday, Shabbat, the three pilgrimage festivals, Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot (which have much musically in common but also tunes distinctive to each), and for the Yamim Noraim, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. There are different tunes for different texts. There is one kind of cantillation for Torah, another for the haftorah from the prophetic books, and yet another for Ketuvim, the Writings, especially the five Megillot. There is a particular chant for studying the texts of the written Torah: Mishnah and Gemarah. So by music alone we can tell what kind of day it is and what kind of text is being used. Jewish texts and times are not colour-coded but music-coded. The map of holy words is written in melodies and songs.

Music has extraordinary power to evoke emotion. The Kol Nidrei prayer with which Yom Kippur begins is not really a prayer at all. It is a dry legal formula for the annulment of vows. There can be little doubt that it is its ancient, haunting melody that has given it its hold over the Jewish imagination. It is hard to hear those notes and not feel that you are in the presence of G-d on the Day of Judgment, standing in the company of Jews of all places and times as they plead with heaven for forgiveness. It is the holy of holies of the Jewish soul. Nor can you sit on Tisha B’av reading Eichah, the book of Lamentations, with its own unique cantillation, and not feel the tears of Jews through the ages as they suffered for their faith and wept as they remembered what they had lost, the pain as fresh as it was the day the Temple was destroyed. Words without music are like a body without a soul…

Faith is more like music than science. Science analyses, music integrates. And as music connects note to note, so faith connects episode to episode, life to life, age to age in a timeless melody that breaks into time. G-d is the composer and librettist. We are each called on to be voices in the choir, singers of G-d’s song. Faith is the ability to hear the music beneath the noise. So music is a signal of transcendence. The philosopher and musician Roger Scruton writes that it is “an encounter with the pure subject, released from the world of objects, and moving in obedience to the laws of freedom alone.” He quotes Rilke: “Words still go softly out towards the unsayable / And music, always new, from palpitating stones / builds in useless space its G-dly home.” The history of the Jewish spirit is written in its songs…

Rabbi Elchanan Shoff (Contemporary): We are taught that when one is being formed in the womb, an angel teaches him the entirety of Torah. When he is born, an angel hits him on the mouth, and he forgets that Torah… In fact, we are left to wonder why we even are taught the Torah in the womb in the first place. Would this not seem to simply be an example of learning for no purpose at all? The Jewish people left Egypt like a child leaving the womb. It was a time that the Jewish people were being born. The experience at the sea was not one that the Jewish people had earned. They had not spent the time working on themselves, and were not at the level of prophets. In fact, had they remained in Egypt one more moment, they would have sunk to depths from which they could not have been revived. This was the desperate need for urgency on the part of Hashem. And yet, the maidservant at the sea saw what even the great prophets never merited to see!

It was just like the time that an infant spends in the womb of his mother. The Jewish people were brought to great levels of understanding, which they did not earn or deserve. We will always look back to the exodus to know what it means to be a Jew, and we will mention it every day, and in so many of our blessings and prayers. The song that we sang at the sea was the song of the fetus. It is the song of pure potential. Nothing has been earned, and nothing is separating us from who we really are. That purity, what we are made up of, is something that must always be on our minds. We are not learning Torah and fulfilling its commands in order to change who we are, but rather to discover that information. It is fundamental that we remember that our job in this world is simply to peel off the garbage that is separating us from ourselves. You are a Torah. As your body was being formed of the physical cells, your soul was being formed as a piece of truth and nothing more. If you become lost, it is a Torah that became lost. And if you can peel through the layers that are hampering you, you will discover that you really knew all that Torah all along.

Questions for Discussion

Rav Kook claims that the Jewish people possession a unique spiritual predisposition. How do you think he would explain the concept of geirus (conversion)?
What is the role of song and music in Jewish religious life?
What is an area of your life where you possess innate potential that hasn’t yet been realized? What can you do to change that, even just a little?
Are there any dangers to the idea that Jewish people possess a unique spiritual predisposition?
What is the proper balance between nature, nurture and training/chinuch in Jewish life?

Spiritual Wealth – Parshat Bo

Rav Kook (Ein Ayah, Gemara Berachot 9b)

“Speak, please (lit. נא) in the ears of the people, and they should borrow, every man from his fellow and every woman from her fellow, silver and gold vessels.” (Exodus 11:2).

Gemara Berachot 9b: G-d used an expression of supplication. He said to Moshe “Go and tell Israel, I beseech you, borrow vessels of silver and vessels of gold from the Egyptians in order to fulfill the promise I made to Abraham in theברית בין הבתרים so that that righteous person (i.e. Avraham) will not say that God fulfilled “And they will be enslaved and afflicted,” but not “And afterward they will leave with great wealth” (Genesis 15:13–14).

The nature of a slave is to be accustomed to being ignored and abused. Slaves have no ambition and no desire for greater things. When G-d set our ancestors free, He summoned them to a higher level of existence as partners to a Divine covenant. Instead of building pyramids under the hot sun, they were build edifices of spiritual splendor. But this process of rehabilitation was not an easy or a natural one. The Israelites needed something to coax them into spiritual ambition and ignite their passion for religious development.

This was the deeper spiritual purpose of the wealth that G-d bestowed on the Israelites in the Exodus. Their newfound gold and silver was intended to stir them out of their brokenness and complacency, and awaken an awareness that they could long for more. However, there was a danger that the people would come to value Egypt’s wealth for its own sake, instead of using it as an engine to power their spiritual advancement. For this reason, G-d did not command the people to request gold or silver from the Egyptians, but so to speak “requested” it of them. This was G-d’s way of signaling that these treasures do not have intrinsic value.

Perhaps the spiritual purpose of G-d’s promise of wealth also explains why this promise was made to Avraham. More than the other Avot, Avraham yearned to spread knowledge of G-d throughout the world. He sought to establish a nation that would illuminate the pagan darkness just like he did as an individual, but on a greater scale. But Israel cannot influence other nations without a robust involvement in the world of wealth and commerce. Through vigorous and thriving economic activity, Jews come into contact with other nations, who are influenced by their ethical conduct and the unique spiritual life that they model. A nation of shepherds and paupers cannot be a light unto the nations.

Thus, Avraham desired not only that the Jews emerge from the purifying furnace of enslavement, ready to accept the yoke of Torah and mitzvot, but also that their spirits be rehabilitated and elevated through a desire for wealth and a healthy yearning for economic activity.

All Natural? – Parshat Va’eira

Printable PDF available here. Prior years’ pieces on Vayeira are available here and here.

**Rav Kook (Based on Shemonah Kevatzim, 7:75)**

I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will increase My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. (Shemot 7:3)

Miracles spur us to re-evaluate our understanding of the natural order. They make us realize that the laws of nature can be suspended by their Divine legislator, and are not as firm or immutable as they seem. We recalibrate and realize that nature seems weak and flimsy, pliant to the world of Divine miracles that soars above it.

However, it is not for mere theology that the Torah presents nature as subordinate to G-dly miracles. The ultimate end of this knowledge is an ethical one – to become aware that the flawed, cruel and indecent aspects of our own inner nature are similarly not immutable. They can also become pliant and subservient to the Divine command, provided that we allow the G-dly light that sustains everything into our souls, in all of its splendor. We do not have to be stuck with habits, traits or behaviors that coarsen us or clog up our spiritual potential. We can change.

However, just as all great lights cast a shadow, this notion can be distorted and taken to an unhealthy extreme. One must exercise vigilance so that his conception of the natural order’s weakness does not extend to the positive and healthy aspects of his nature. Those must be fortified and encouraged, and allowed to unfold in a natural, healthy and holy way.

Food for Thought

Rabbi Yeruchom Levovitz (Da’as Torah, Shemot p. 75): The truth is that the main purpose for the whole Exodus from Egypt is belief in the concept of miracles. The main idea is to know and recognize that at the heart of existence is a spiritual core. One should know that existence is not just that which we see with our physical eyes, or sense with our physical senses. The physicality that we see in Creation is only clothing for the true existence. What is the true core to existence [which the Egyptian experience demonstrates]? It is spirituality, which is the source of all Creation.

Rabbi Akiva Tatz (Living Inspired, p. 152): The Sfas Emes expresses the connection between the miracles commemorated at the Seder and the rest of Jewish history in the most beautiful manner. He asks why we call the procedure of Seder Night a “seder” – the word “seder” means “order,” a regular, predictable series of events. Strange that we celebrate the most potent series of miracles, the sharpest departures from the natural order, with the name seder, “order”! His answer is unforgettable. For the Jewish people, our natural order is the miraculous! We have a seder of miracles. We were forged in impossible circumstances, conceived in a blaze of miracles, born beyond time. We can never descend into the natural; for us to do so would be souring of the worst kind, transforming matzah to chametz; lethal in the extreme.

Rabbi Meir Twerski (TorahWeb.org – Miracles and Wonders): The mishna in Pesachim teaches that the format for sippur yetzias Mitzrayim is maschil b’genus u’mesayeim b’shvach – one begins by recounting our disgrace and concluding with our glory (116a, translation adapted from Artscroll). Shmuel opines that genus refers to the fact that avadim hayinu, we were slaves. (This stands in contradistinction to Rav’s opinion that genus refers to our ancestors having been idolatrous. We incorporate both opinions in the hagadah.) The gemara does not explicitly state what the contrasting, corresponding shvach is. Primo facie, it is obvious. The contrasting, corresponding shvach is that we are now free. And, in fact, the Maharal miPrag (Gevuros Hashem) explicates Shmuel’s view in this way. Rambam, however, interprets very differently. He writes (Hilchos Chametz U’Matzah 7:4) that the counterpoint to avadim hayinu are the “miracles and wonders that were performed for us [in Mitzrayim] and in our freedom.” Rambam’s interpretation is puzzling. The formulation maschil b’genus u’mesayeim b’shvach suggests sharp contrast, thesis and antithesis. How are miracles the antithesis of slavery?

The answer lies in understanding the spiritual deficit and handicap of slavery. “Ki Li Bnai Yisroel avodim – v’lo avadim la’avodim – Bnai Yisroel are My slaves, and not slaves to slaves [says Hashem].” The dependence, vulnerability and accountability which a slave feels vis-a-vis his human master obstruct his relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Being the beneficiary of nissim and niflaos (miracles and wonders) not only reflects a direct relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but a privileged one. Thus from a spiritual perspective the nissim v’niflaos she’na’asu lanu are indeed the ultimate antithesis of avadim hayinu…

The Rambam’s quintessential definition of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim is absolutely remarkable. Sippur yetzias Mitzrayim, according to Rambam, is NOT about the exodus per se. In fact the Rambam does not even allude to, much less mention, freedom in his definition of mitzvas sippur yetzias Mitzrayim. Sippur yetzias Mitzrayim is the story of an enslaved, formerly idolatrous people who become so close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu that He bestows nissim v’niflaos upon them. The fact of liberation per se is only significant insofar as the freedom was a byproduct of nissim v’niflaos and enabled our new, privileged relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Sippur yetzias Mitzrayim is the story of spiritual transformation. An enslaved (and thus, remote), formerly idolatrous people through nissim v’niflaos become Hashem’s chosen people (Rambam Hilchos Chametz U’Matzah 7:4) enjoying privileged treatment and relationship.

Ramban (end of Parshat Bo, as summarized by Rav Ezra Bick): In his comments on the commandment of tefillin (Shemot 13:16), the Ramban offers a general theory of “signs” in Judaism, and, inter alia, a summary of the purpose of signs and mitzvotin general. In fact, this is a summary of the purpose of human life and of creation. The two subjects – the meaning of “signs” and the purpose of creation – are closely intertwined in the Ramban, as we shall see.

The Ramban lists a number of theological mistakes common in the world: those who do not believe in the existence of G-d, those who do not believe in His omniscience, and those who do not accept His omnipotence or His providence. The answer to these heresies, claims the Ramban, is the occurrence of miracles. The miracle, an exception to the “way of the world and its nature,” disproves publicly those false beliefs, for it proves that the world has a “creator-G-d, knowing, supervising, and capable.” The Ramban makes the sweeping statement that the occurrence of a miracle, together with its being predicted in advance by a prophet (demonstrating the truth of prophecy), serves to “establish the entirety of the Torah.”

However, there is a problem. G-d will not perform miracles in every generation. The Ramban does not explicitly explain why not, but the expression he uses – “G-d will not perform a sign and wonder in every generation in the eyes of every evildoer and heretic” – implies that it is somehow improper, an affront to the dignity of G-d for His power to be displayed for the unworthy. (In his derasha “Torat Hashem Temima” [p.150], he writes, “The great public miracles which can confound the weak in faith are not performed for every generation, for the generations are not worthy of that, or because there is no need for it to be performed.”) In any event, the outcome is that miracles are a necessary part of the world, in order to demonstrate G-d’s power and presence, but also a necessarily absent aspect of the world, in light of the unworthiness of humanity.

The solution to the absence of miracles, according to the Ramban, is the “sign.” We are commanded to make signs, remembrances, of that which “we” saw with our eyes, so that our children and all future generations, “to the end of time,” should have the experience of the miracle – specifically, the miracles that accompanied the exodus from Egypt.

Questions for Discussion

According to Rav Kook, the main lesson of miracles is ethical and not theological. Do you agree? Does the text of the Torah in the Exodus narrative offer any clues one way or the other?
Why doesn’t G-d perform open miracles and suspend the laws of nature for us like He did for the generation of the Exodus?
How does a person know whether certain habits, traits or behaviors belong to the positive/healthy or negative/unhealthy aspect of his or her nature?
See the Sefas Emes, quoted by R. Akiva Tatz in “Food for Thought” above. Is there any way to harmonize his position with Rav Kook? Or are they completely at odds?
What defines something as a miracle?

Bricks and Mortar – Parshat Shemot

Printable PDF available here. Previous pieces on Parshat Shemot are available here and here.

Due to time constraints, the “Food for Thought” and “Questions for Further Discussion” had to be omitted.

**Rav Kook (Midbar Shur, 16)**

And they embittered their lives with hard labor, with clay and with bricks and with all kinds of labor in the fields, all their work that they worked with them with back breaking labor. (Shemot 1:14)

Careful study is required to discern the purpose of our exile in Egypt and its impure culture. Prior to our descent to Egypt, our monotheistic beliefs and ethical conduct distinguished us from the pagan world around us. Afterwards, our Sages teach that we seemed indistinguishable from our idolatrous Egyptian oppressors, that the ministering angels could not comprehend why G-d chose to redeem us while He drowned our oppressors in the Yam Suf. Clearly, being in exile served some greater purpose, but why did it have to unfold in a way that was so damaging to Israel’s spiritual stature?

Perhaps our national descent to Egypt should be understood in the same light as the soul’s descent into the challenges and travails of this world. In heaven, our souls bask in G-dly light and partake of a clear perception of Divine truth. There are no challenges to overcome. But this static state of being is not the purpose of Creation. G-d sends our souls down into thisworld, where we are tempted by desire, greed, laziness, and numerous other seductions that are absent in the heavenly realms. Life in this world is not about basking in G-dly light, but about confronting and overpowering the unrefined and sinister aspects of our own being, so that our G-dly soul can express its true nature.

In the same way, G-d submerged Israel into the darkness and vile filth of Egyptian paganism precisely so they could struggle to overcome it and rise above it. Only through such inauspicious beginnings could the foundation be laid for a religious framework of struggle, vigorous effort and surmounting challenges to observe the laws of the Torah. Indeed, the prophet Hoshea declares that “When Israel was young, I loved him, and from Egypt I called My child” (Hoshea 11:1). Apparently, G-d regarded our spiritual failures in the Egyptian exile as the growing pains of a child in the early stages of development.

It seems that this interpretation is also prefigured in a puzzling statement of the Zohar. The Zohar analyzes the pasuk we began with about the suffering inflicted on Israel by the Egyptians. It states that hard work, עבודה קשה, refers to קושיא, the Talmudic term for analytical questions; mortar, חומר, refers to קל וחומר, one of the logical structures of Talmudic argumentation; and bricks, לבנים, refers to לבון הלכתא, the process of clarifying halachic matters. This must be more than a cute play on words, but what does it mean? Apparently, the Zohar is teaching us that the Egyptian exile paved the way for a model of Torah Study that requires vigorous effort to reach the truth. And while the Zohar is focused on the mitzvah of Torah study – with its questions, rejoinders, and rigorous analysis that is the hallmark of Talmud study – the same thing is true of all aspects of our avodat Hashem. The dark background of temptation, challenge and failure only creates a canvas upon which our successes can be etched. This is the way that G-d has created us and our world, so that spiritual greatness can be earned and not just dispensed on a silver platter, and so that our reward can thus be that much greater.

Skip the Shortcuts – Parshat Vayechi

Printable PDF available here. Previous pieces on Parshat Vayechi are available here and here.

**Rav Kook (Based on Ein Ayah, Gemara Shabbat 48a-b)**

“Reuven… you have the restlessness of water; therefore, you shall not have superiority, for you ascended upon your father’s couch; then you profaned Him Who ascended upon my bed” (Bereishit 49:4). R. Elazar taught that the word פחז is meant to be understood as an acronym. פ stands for פזת, “you were hasty.” ח stands for חבת, “you became culpable.” ז stands for זלת, “you diminished.” (Gemara Shabbat 48)

There is a thin line that separates alacrity from impetuousness. The former is commendable, while the latter brings much spiritual wreckage in its wake. Impetuousness comes from an unwillingness to engage with the incremental steps that constitute the building blocks of all worldly attainments. A spiritually complete person accepts these limitations with love and confidence. G-d’s wisdom has created us such that our accomplishments in this world – which are themselves the foundation of the World to Come – can only be earned through small and deliberate steps. The destination must be proceeded by the journey. The journey cannot be dispensed with.

In blessings his children, Ya’akov declares that Reuven has an impetuous nature, פחז. He identifies this as the source of Reuven’s sin with Bilhah. Our Sages understood the word פחז as an acronym and attempted to break it into its component parts. Character traits – both good and bad – are not unitary, but are comprised of a number of different elements, just like molecules are comprised of various chemical elements. And so R. Elazar sought to dissect this trait of impetuousness. Why is it bad to seek escape from the constraints of incrementalism and bring the ripening of the fruit before its time? What can go wrong? What sort of ruin will result?

R. Elazar discovered that haste results in a twofold harm. One aspect is signified by ח, for חבת, “you became culpable” As we have noted, everything meaningful in our worldly reality comes through a gradual unfolding, through a chain of cause and effect that began before we were born and will continue for generations after we are gone. Every stage on this journey fulfills an essential purpose in the Divine plan. To skip steps is to neglect one’s responsibility to bring some meaningful aspect of reality into existence. It is like a builder who takes materials meant for a building’s foundation and repurposes them to beautify the structure’s upper floors. The building will look nice for a short time, but the entire structure rests on a weak foundation, and it won’t be long before repairs are urgently needed. The structure may even fall apart and need to be rebuilt. In other words, taking shortcuts creates a ‘debt’ that must eventually be repaid. As R. Elazar teaches, the ח in פחזstands for חבת, “you have become חייב” – i.e. culpable, indebted. Impetuousness undermines the very substance of reality.

Let us unpack the other aspect of impetuousness, which is signified by ז, for זלת, “you diminished.” There is a great Divine light hidden at the core of existence, which will be revealed in its fullness at the end of history. That light can only emerge after Israel and humanity have made themselves into fitting receptacles, and are prepared to receive that light with honor and anticipation. But impetuousness is self-defeating. At the very moment we are rushing into the future, we are depriving ourselves of the preparation we need to appreciate it. The future, dragged prematurely into the present, will appear to us diminished, unimportant and deserving of scorn, because our haste has undermined our ability to perceive the future in its true splendor. As R. Elazar teaches, the ז in פחז stands for זלת, “you have diminished.”

Let us learn from this teaching to honor the journey that our Divine taskmasker has set us on, to gaze upon the future only with eyes that have been satiated by the goodness and the light of the present, and to come to the future precisely through our present. “They go from strength to strength (lit. מחיל אל חיל); he will appear before G-d in Zion!” (Tehillim 84:8).

Food for Thought

Luke Jones (a contemporary fitness coach): 92% of people who set New Year’s resolutions in 2014 failed to achieve them. Ninety two percent! That’s a pretty big portion of people… But why? Why do so many of us set out with good intentions, but come up short? Why are we unable to make the changes we want to make, and create the life we want to live? [One major reason is that] it’s easy to get carried away with habit changes, especially at the start of the New Year when everyone seems to be doing it. Very often we take on too many changes for us to deal with at once… Sometimes an inspirational story can get you excited to make a big transformation straight off. Or perhaps like I mentioned earlier, you’re a sucker for comparing yourself to that false idea of perfection. You panic, and think you have to change everything as fast as possible. Whatever the reasons is, biting off more than we can chew seems to be a common trait amongst us humans when it comes to New Year’s resolutions. Whether we’re talking about changing eating habits, exercising more, quitting smoking or saving money, the more habits we try to change at one time, the less likely we are to succeed. Some crazy people have a higher capacity for changing multiple habits, but that isn’t most of us. I know for me that any more than two, things start to get messy. What to do instead: Keep it simple. Start with one resolution, the one that’s the most important to you, and focus all your energy on that…

[Also, sometimes] we just want that magic wand or special pill that will take us from where we are right now to where we want to be. We want the quick fix, or the life hack. For better or worse, things rarely work like that. Lifelong habits don’t change overnight. For most of us they’ve been ingrained over years and years of repetition. Most of the time we set the bar too high, and expect ourselves to reach it… What to do instead: Take it easy. Instead of looking for a quick fix and making big jumps in progress, be patient. This habit change business takes a little work. Rather than hacking your life, commit to the long haul, and build each habit gradually… For most people it takes at least a month for the habit to stick. Then think of the next small step you can take that will bring you closer to your goal. And don’t forget to enjoy the journey. Often we get fixated on the end goal, and lose sight of what’s in front of us. Have an idea of the general direction you want to head, but keep your focus on the present, and the smallest thing you can do right now.

Rav Kook (Orot Ha’kodesh II, Pg. 531): We say that absolute perfection is essential to existence, when nothing will remain in potential but everything will be actualized. However, there is a perfection that consists of the process of increasing perfection. But that cannot possibly apply to Divinity itself, since G-d’s inﬁnite and absolute perfection allows no room for improvement. To this end – that the process of increasing perfection should not be lacking in existence – a universe must come into being that, in accordance with the goal of increasing perfection, begins from the lowest level. That is to say, it begins from a state of absolute deficiency. And it proceeds by constantly ascending to the absolute height.

Rav Moshe Weinberger (Song of Teshuva Vol. 4): People generally say that G-d’s objective in creating this world was to have everything completely actualized, in a state of absolute perfection. But… the highest perfection is the desire to perfect oneself. That, not a static perfection, is the purpose of Creation. The process of gaining perfection is in a certain respect higher than absolute perfection. Had Hashem not created the world with the opportunity for growth, that would have constituted an imperfection. It is precisely because G-d is perfect that He created imperfections. Only an imperfect world can perfect itself – in a constant state of growth and movement. Only because of constant feeling that he is lacking something that he must attain does man have the opportunity to work on himself. By analogy, a true teacher gives each student the ability to be creative and grow. The fact that Hashem made an imperfect world, the fact that He created us with problems and deﬁciencies that we have to struggle with throughout our lives, is itself an aspect of His perfection. G-d created an imperfect world that reaches toward perfection. That process is in a way greater than perfection itself. All of life is an ongoing process of reaching for these lights, which are always a step beyond us.… Our Sages tell us that the tzaddikim have no tranquility in this world or the next, for they never stop moving even in the world of souls, but keep rising “from strength to strength.” There is always room to improve. There is always a higher level. There is always something beyond a person’s immediate grasp… Nothing in the world is supposed to remain the way it is. Even a rock was not created to stay as it was made. From the beginning of time, everything is in a constant state of development and perfection, of opening up and rising, spinning towards the ﬁnal perfection of all worlds, which will be revealed in the future redemption.

Mesilat Yesharim: When the time of a mitzvah performance comes, or present itself, or when the thought of performing it enters one’s mind, he should hurry and hasten to seize hold of it and perform it, and not allow time to go by in between. For there is no danger like its danger. Since, behold each new second that arises can bring with it a new impediment to the good deed… For the trait of alacrity is a very high spiritual level of perfection which a person’s nature impedes him from attaining at the current time. But he who strengthens himself and takes hold of it as much as he can, will, in the future world, merit to truly attain it. The Creator, may His Name be blessed, will bestow it to him as a reward for his striving for it during the time of his service.

And after beginning a mitzvah, he should hasten to complete it. This is not in order to lighten on himself like one who desires to cast a burden off himself but rather out of fear lest he not merit to complete it… Likewise, you will observe that all the deeds of the Tzadikim (righteous) are always performed with haste. By Avraham it is written: “And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, make ready quickly three measures of fine meal… And he gave it to the lad and he hastened to prepare it” (Bereishis 18:6-7). And by Rivka: “and she hastened and emptied her pitcher in the trough…” (Bereishis 24:20). Likewise, they said in the Midrash (regarding the mother of Shimshon): “‘and the woman made haste and ran…’ (Shoftim 13:10) (Midrash:) this comes to teach that all the deeds of the righteous are done with haste”. For they do not allow an interruption of time to elapse – not before beginning the Mitzva nor in completing it. A man whose soul is afire in the service of his Creator certainly will not become lazy in doing the mitzvot. Rather, his movements will be like the quick movements of fire. For he will not rest nor be still until he has finished completing the deed.

Questions for Discussion

Can impetuousness ever be a good thing? Or is it always bad?
Where else in the book of Bereishit do we see Reuven acting impetuously?
Rav Kook writes that “Every stage of the journey fulfills an essential purpose in the Divine plan.” What can we do to stay mindful of this reality?
How is impetuousness different from the trait of “zeal” praised by Mesilat Yesharim (see “Food for Thought” above).
Rav Kook writes that “At the very moment we are rushing into the future, we are depriving ourselves of the preparation we need to appreciate it.” What do you think he means by this?