Spark of Jewish Experience

For yours truly, this and next week’s Torah reading is a cool time because it’s my bar-mitzvah parshah (sometimes they fall on the same week). I’m sure most guys looking back at their bar mitzvah, most likely, will admit to having a very special time of their lives. One of the many memories that come to mind, besides the funny tuxedos we had to where, was the excitement of putting on tefillin. For many years before, I would observe my father and upper grade boys in school put theirs on and my classmates and I would beg them for an opportunity to wrap their tefillin. I remember when I got my tefillin and smelled the scent of the new black leather straps and feeling of ‘hey I’m a grown up’, was nice. Although it’s been awhile since I bought a new car, the black exterior is preferred, popular and expensive, but why a black collar for tefillin? Why the leather and square box? Why the puny animal hairs that stick out from the box? One has probably asked himself over the years a pretty basic question; why does one need this strange contraption to get close to G-d? Perhaps, I would think it is better suited to meditate or give a good cry.

In order to answer these questions, one has to understand the Torah concept of closeness. Spiritual closeness, which is very different than physical, is obtained by having resemblances. For example, one can be on the other side of the world and still maintain a strong bond with his friend, a spiritual closeness, because they share the same ideology. If I like pastrami with sweet red peppers and Boaz in Israel likes pastrami with sweet red peppers, we resemble each other and in this concept are considered close. In the spiritual world, it’s impossible to bring two opposites together; therefore, good and bad people will have no contact with each other once they die. Sometimes strangers can exist with each other. It’s important to note, there is a way where spiritual things can be bound to the material. For example, good and evil urges are polar opposites; they exist together only with a material physical body, which is the common denominator; they could never be brought together otherwise.

G-d and man are also worlds apart. It’s only by binding ourselves to the same physical object that we can get close to Him. The physical tefillin we wear are the counterpart of what G-d has on. In each detail, they parallel G-d’s spiritual tefillin and because they resemble them they are spiritually very close to each other and that links us to G-d.

We are told from various accounts about near death experiences that seeing the light, which presumably is G-d, is a very exhilarating sight. The Zohar teaches that G-d chooses to be hidden because if He would be more open, there will not be freedom of choice. Man would not struggle to find answers about life; he would not have difficulty making a living. He would not need to try to fill voids in his life to be happy, trying various things to reach some satisfaction. He’s being discreet casts a spell of confusion. Therefore, man has to find ways to climb the mountain. Every day should be a learning experience. In order to achieve success in his spirituality and physicality, he has to use his creativity. This is one reason why tefillin is black, indicating that G-d’s purpose is dark and hidden. The white parchment found inside are only to be found when one penetrates this black barrier. The square is the archetype of man; it’s not a natural shape. Round is the way of the world, (hakafot on Simchat Torah, Hoshanas on Sukkoth, Chatan and Kallah dancing in a circle (separately of course.) The meaning of the square is that the ultimate goal is in man’s hand; he can change the natural occurrence of the world through creativity. He is able to take this physical animalistic world and enhance it spiritually. This is the reason everything in the tefillin is made from an animal product. Man is only perfected through his animal nature, which is through his physical body. Man’s main link with G-d is with his physical observance of his commandments.

If you look carefully at the head of the tefillin, you will find four very short hairs coming out near the base between the third and fourth sections. One of the ways we resemble G-d is the practice of free will, and one of the ingredients to have free will is the existence of evil. This evil is the hair in the tefillin, which is symbolic to the hair of a calf. The golden calf is one of archetypes of evil. This hair that is in the tefillin which man wears, ultimately connects all evil to G-d. Therefore, it is also the channel through which all evil can be brought back and be redeemed. We are not perfect and man has to go through an experience of a shameful gehenom (hell) even for a mere moment. By wearing the tefillin, he fulfills the obligations and saves him from a more stringent judgment. This explains why a particular Chassidic group stands in a street corner and urges people to put on tefillin. Therefore, it’s very important to wear tefillin every day.

“Tefillin” taken from the writings of R’ Aryeh Kaplan.

One of the most fundamental beliefs in Judaism is found in this week’s Torah reading. In fact, I believe G-d is daring us ‘Ah you proclaimed first we will do and then listen…well, let’s see; put your money where your mouth is’.

When the Jews were approached by G-d and were asked if they are interested in receiving the Torah, they proclaimed they will follow G-d’s commandments blindly. This is how much trust our ancestors put in G-d. Those words, which were said with pride, ‘na’aseh v’nishma’, we will do first then we will listen, was the magic phrase that G-d wanted to hear, earning us brownie points and elevating us to his chosen people.

The Sages find that those who observe the laws of shmitah; a strength of character attributed only to angels. In fact, when we uttered the famous phrase, the angels wondered who divulged our secret to mankind. The angels perform G-d’s commandments with sincerity and blind loyalty, and we, with that statement, reached a very lofty level. Every seven years of a seven-year cycle, the land of Israel lies fallow; one cannot sell for profit; the grass cannot be cut; no pruning allowed; and the fruits cannot be taken out of Israel. However, one can eat from his land as long as there is no planting done during the shmita year. Also, during the year of shmita, all loans are canceled. Similarly, Shabbat also is a time of rest. Both provide a challenge in faith because of the temptations involved. How does one deal with the profits and losses of Shabbat and shmita?

The Talmud Yerushalmi offers a vivid illustration of how, in the long run, man’s efforts do not change his livelihood. The wife of R’ Yossi Haglili treated him with tremendous disrespect and with no appreciation. One day, R ‘ Elazar ben Azarya came by and told him ‘to divorce her for lack of kavod’; it is not befitting that you live with her ‘. A while later, she married the town watchman. The watchman became poor and blind and she was forced to make the rounds and beg. One day, they did not collect anything. He asked her, “Is there not another neighborhood here?” She replied, ‘”There is another street here where my first husband lives, but I am too embarrassed to go there”. He began hitting her. Just then, R’ Yossi Haglili passed by and heard her humiliation. He put them up in one of his houses and supported them for the rest of their lives. He did this in keeping with the verse, ‘Do not ignore your kin’ which applies even to one’s divorcee. Still, one could hear her voice at night saying ‘Better the beating from my husband which is but an external pain, then the humiliation of being supported from R’ Yossi Hagalili which is an internal pain'(Yerushalmi ketuvot 11:3).

A closer look at this teaches us an important lesson about the effectiveness of human effort. After all her craftiness and sinister plots to discredit her husband, R’ Yossi’s wife was back to her original supporter! The same husband that fed her before, fed her now. The difference is only that she was provided with food in a dignified manner and now she had to bear the humiliation of accepting charity from her former husband. Thus, we see man’s sustenance remains unchanged. All that man’s deeds can accomplish are a worsening of the condition of his livelihood; it is rather the provider of the universe who gives to each his needs.

It is a hallmark of the greatness of Israel that they are expected to live with the level of trust that angels have. When our ancestors pronounced ‘na’aseh v’nishmah’, it was said with tremendous pride that lifted that experience to such a monumentous moment. It would be a shame not to live up to those standards.

“Shmitta” –  taken from the writings of R’ Chaim Shmuelevitz.