Shabbat Duality: The Value of Inaction

 Ki Tisa, Shabbat  1 Response »
Mar 052010
 

In this week’s Parsha, right after discussing the details of the construction of the Mishkan the Hashem instructs Moshe to tell the Jewish people about Shabbat. There it states (in full):

וְאַתָּה דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, לֵאמֹר,אַךְ אֶת-שַׁבְּתֹתַי, תִּשְׁמֹרוּ:  כִּי אוֹת הִוא בֵּינִי וּבֵינֵיכֶם, לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם–לָדַעַת, כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָה מְקַדִּשְׁכֶם. וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם, אֶת-הַשַּׁבָּת, כִּי קֹדֶשׁ הִוא, לָכֶם; מְחַלְלֶיהָ, מוֹת יוּמָת–כִּי כָּל-הָעֹשֶׂה בָהּ מְלָאכָה, וְנִכְרְתָה הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַהִוא מִקֶּרֶב עַמֶּיהָ.שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים, יֵעָשֶׂה מְלָאכָה, וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן קֹדֶשׁ, לַיהוָה; כָּל-הָעֹשֶׂה מְלָאכָה בְּיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת, מוֹת יוּמָת. וְשָׁמְרוּ בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֶת-הַשַּׁבָּת, לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת-הַשַּׁבָּת לְדֹרֹתָם, בְּרִית עוֹלָם. בֵּינִי, וּבֵין בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל–אוֹת הִוא, לְעֹלָם:  כִּי-שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים, עָשָׂה יְהוָה אֶת-הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, שָׁבַת וַיִּנָּפַשׁ.

‘Speak to the children of Israel, saying: However, you shall keep My Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, for it is holy unto you; every one that desecrates it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days work shall be done; but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work in the Sabbath day, shall surely be put to death.  The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and rested.’

The Abravanel asks many questions on these verses, but I am going to focus on just a few. First, what is the significance of telling us about keeping Shabbat right after the discussion of the Mishkan? Weren’t we just told about Shabbat at Har Sinai a few weeks ago? Second, why does the Pasuk use the word שַׁבְּתֹתַי (my Shabbats) in plural? It could have just said “but keep the Shabbat”. Finally, why does the description of Shabbat use the word אוֹת (a sign) twice – first, it is a sign through which we can know that Hashem sanctifies the Jewish people and second, it is a sign that Hashem created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th.

To answer these questions, the Abravanel explains that there are two major aspects to Shabbat. First, there is the acceptance and appreciation of the fact that Hashem created the world. Shabbat comes as as a break from the busy week to serve as perpetual sign that there is a Creator who placed us here and gave us purpose in our weekly tasks. This aspect of Shabbat corresponds to the word “Zachor (remember)” which is recorded in the first recounting of the 10-commandments in the Torah. Through Zachor, we observe Shabbat in an active sense. By refraining from work we have an opportunity to spend time learning Torah, taking advantage of the extra Neshama we have on Shabbat to come closer to Hashem.

The second aspect of Shabbat, (as noted by the plural שַׁבְּתֹתַי) is the recognition that there is a World To Come. Chazal say that the Shabbat we experience is 1/60th of our ultimate Olam Habah, and note that the World To Come is a “Yom SheKulo Shabbat (a day which is entirely Shabbat).” Through this recognition, Shabbat serves as its second sign. By reminding us that that we have a place and a purpose on this world, Shabbat ensures that we keep focused on the fact that it is Hashem who makes our work successful in this world and gives us our due reward in the World To Come.

This second aspect of Shabbat is manifest through the word “Shamor (to guard)”, as recorded in the second recounting of the 10-commandments. In contrast to Zachor, Shamor is a passive observance of Shabbat. We keep Shabbat by not doing things. Through this observer we realize that just as there is value to action, there is sometimes also value to in-action. Just as we must work for 6 days (as it says שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים, יֵעָשֶׂה מְלָאכָה), so to0 we accomplish even more by showing that we refrain from work on the 7th day. Through this in-action we show how we recognize Hashem’s ultimate dominion and realize that all we accomplish is through Him.

This is why Shabbat is commanded again right after the instructions for the Mishkan. It is very easy to understand how the Jewish people might have thought that the holy task of building the Mishkan might supersede the observance of Shabbat. Isn’t it more important to have the Mishkan built as soon as possible to help bring Hashem’s presence into the world than to keep Shabbat? The answer is “No.” The most important thing is to realize that just as the world was created by Hashem, so to everything we accomplish, we accomplish through His hands.

Have a wonderful and rest-filled Shabbat!

Also, enjoy this video to get into the Shabbat mood.

 Posted by Liron Kopinsky at 9:37 am  Tagged with: , , , , ,

Collective Punishment

 VaYishlach  No Responses »
Dec 042009
 

Parshat VaYishlach contains the tragic story of how Yaakov’s daughter Dina is kidnapped and raped by Shechem. After committing his heinous act, Shechem asks his father, Chamor, to ask Yaakov for Dina’s hand in marriage. Yaakov’s sons hear what happened and respond to Shechem’s request by saying that they cannot allow their families to intermarry unless Shechem and Chamor and all their citizens are circumcised. Shechem and Chamor convince their people that if they all get circumcised they will do very well financially as they will be able to take over (through marriage) all that Yaakov owns. After the circumcision, as retribution for what happened to Dina, Shimon and Levi kill Shechem, Chamor his father, and all the male inhabitants of the city. The rest of Yaakov’s sons then come and take the women, cattle, and possessions of the city as booty.

Many commentators ask the obvious question, “What did the inhabitants of the city do to deserve to be killed?”

Sforno suggests that they deserved to die since they didn’t circumcise themselves for the right reason. Instead of having righteous motives of self-perfection, they just wanted to get hold of Yaakov’s money.

The Rambam, however, suggests that they were at fault for not creating a court system to prosecute Shechem for his kidnapping of Dina.

The Abarbanel combines these two ideas very nicely. He agrees with the Rambam, that the entire population was at fault for not doing anything to prevent or punish Shechem for what he did to Dina. He notes though, that in general it is not the Jewish way to plunder cities. We see this from the Megillah where it says “ובבזה לא שלהו את ידם” (and they didn’t take any spoils). Why then did the brothers take the spoils here? The Abarbanel answers like the Sforno, that since they had done their circumcision solely to acquire the property of Yaakov, they ended up losing all their property to Yaakov.

The Or haChaim cites another reason (among many) why everyone was killed. He says that initially Shimon and Levi had no desire to kill everyone and only wanted to exact revenge on Shechem and Chamor. But, since they all stood up to defend Shechem and Chamor (their king), Shimon and Levi had no choice but to fight everyone in order to exact true justice.

What is amazing to me about this story though, is that ALL of the inhabitants were killed? Was there not one person who did the circumcision for the right reason? Did no one even try to speak out about the wrong-doing of Shechem? How could it be that every single male in the city felt the need to take arms to defend Shechem from Shimon and Levi after what they had done to Dina?

We see here how powerful communal pressure can be.  There is a famous idea in Chazal “אוי לרשע ואוי לשכנו” (Woe to the evildoer and woe to his neighbor). In general, this idea is taken to mean that sometimes people can be punished solely for associating themselves with an evil person, even without doing anything specifically bad themselves, due to the unavoidable negative influences of peer pressure. From this story though, I think you see a different explanation. Each individual person has the ability to choose between right and wrong and can always make a stand for that which is true and good. Doing so can make a person stand out and be saved, even from a collective punishment. That is why I think Chazal went out of their way to come up with explanations for why the entire population had to be killed.

This ability to buck the tide is one of the characteristics that made Yaakov Avinu the impressive person that he was. As Yaakov said to Esav at the beginning of the Parsha “עִם לָבָן גַּרְתִּי” (I have lived with Lavan) to which Rashi famously cites “עם לבן הרשע גרתי ותרי”ג מצות שמרתי ולא למדתי ממעשיו הרעים” (I lived with the wicked Laban, but I kept the 613 commandments, and I did not learn from his evil deeds.)

May we all find the courage to stand up for what is right and good.

Have a spiritual Shabbat!

 Posted by Liron Kopinsky at 10:41 am  Tagged with: , , , , ,

The Little Things In Life

 Toldot  No Responses »
Nov 192009
 

This week’s Parsha starts with the story of the birth of Yaakov and Esav. Yaakov is born grasping onto Esav’s heel, seemingly trying to prevent his older brother from being born first.

וְאַחֲרֵי-כֵן יָצָא אָחִיו, וְיָדוֹ אֹחֶזֶת בַּעֲקֵב עֵשָׂו, וַיִּקְרָא שְׁמוֹ, יַעֲקֹב.

And after that came forth his brother, and his hand had hold on Esav’s heel (Ekev); and his name was called Yaakov.

The Abarbanel lists 5 different things that this symbolizes. One of these is the idea that Yaakov would grasp onto those things that Esav felt were unimportant and understand their true value. Esav would always choose physicality while Yaakov was able to see the spirituality of the world that Esav ignored.

In Parshat Ekev the Parsha opens:

וְהָיָה עֵקֶב תִּשְׁמְעוּן, אֵת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים הָאֵלֶּה, וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם וַעֲשִׂיתֶם, אֹתָם–וְשָׁמַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְךָ, אֶת-הַבְּרִית וְאֶת-הַחֶסֶד, אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע, לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ.

And it shall come to pass, because you hearken to these ordinances, and keep, and do them, that the LORD your God shall keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers.

In this context, the word עֵקֶב (Ekev) means “because”, but Rashi immediately points the similarity between the word עֵקֶב meaning “heel”. Rashi explains the verse to mean that HaShem will keep his covenant with us if we are careful even with the Mitzvot that man “crushes with his heel.”

The Ohr HaChayim notes that in Parshat Ekev, the Parsha starts with the word וְהָיָה (And it will be). He points out that everywhere this word appears, it connotes a level of happiness. This comes to show, he says, that there is no true happiness except being able to properly keep all the mitzvot that HaShem commands us to do.

Through this understanding of the word עֵקֶב, we can now see how Yaakov was able to focus on those elements of spirituality that Esav threw by the wayside.

Yaakov saw how important it is to be able to appreciate and enjoy every opportunity to do even the smallest of Mitzvot that Esav rejected as meaningless and insignificant. By seeing the beauty and joy of even the most mundane and seemingly meaningless Mitzvot, Yaakov was able to develop himself into an Ish Tam, a truly complete person.

Shabbat Shalom

 Posted by Liron Kopinsky at 11:08 pm  Tagged with: , , ,

Anger Management

 Chayei Sarah  1 Response »
Nov 122009
 

This week’s parsha has the interesting story of Avraham sending his servant Eliezer to find a wife for Yitzchak. At the beginning of the story, Avraham makes Eliezer swear that he will not take a wife for Yitzchak from the Canaanim, but rather that he will go find Yitzchak a wife from Avraham’s birth place in Aram Naharaim.

This is a very interesting request because we know that the Torah was unimpressed by Betuel and Lavan, Rivka’s father and brother, and described them unflatteringly. We say in the Haggadah:

צֵא וּלְמַד, מַה בִּקַּשׁ לָבָן הָאֲרַמִּי לַעֲשׂוֹת לְיַעֲקֹב אָבִינוּ–שֶׁפַּרְעֹה הָרָשָׁע, לֹא גָזַר אֵלָא עַל הַזְּכָרִים; וְלָבָן בִּקַּשׁ לַעְקֹר אֶת הַכֹּל

Come and learn, what did Lavan the Aramean try to do to Yaakov our father – That the evil Pharoah only decreed against the males, but Lavan tried to uproot it all.

This question is made even stronger by the fact that Avraham was living at the time near Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre, his three friends who had helped him win the war of the four kings versus the five kings.

The Abarbanel asks this question, and first answers it with a pragmatic answer. Hashem had promised Israel to Avraham and his descendants, not to the Canaanim. If Yitzchak married a Canaanite woman, the Jewish people would forever be tied to the cursed Canaanim (see the story of Noach) and the Canaanim would end up inheriting the land they otherwise were not due.

This answer however, does not deal with what was different about Avraham’s far-away, idol-worshiping family that made them worthy to marry their daughter/sister to Yitzchak. To answer this question, the Abarbanel cites an amazing answer given by the Ran.

The Ran writes that there are two types of mitzvot and aveirot. There are those that leave an impression on both the soul and the body — like those of actions or character traits, and those that leave an imprint only on the soul — like those of belief.

The sins that leave an impression on both the soul and body also leave a lasting impression on future generations. The Ran brings as examples the attributes of hatred, anger and jealousy.  Indeed, we often hear how abused children are more likely to become abusive parents themselves.

The sins of belief, however, are not passed on to the next generation in the same way. It is instead possible for children to reject the beliefs of their parents (as we saw happen with Avraham breaking the idols of his father Terach) and take on a new, more upright path in life.

The Ran says that the failings of the Canaanim were in the first category. They had bad character traits and while they may have been able at times to determine right from wrong, they more often let their emotions reign supreme.

Lavan and his family were evil in that they worshiped idols.  They did not, however, evidence weakness in controlling their emotions and actions.

The lesson here is that while it is obviously preferable to avoid all types of sins, working on and having a good character is of paramount importance and functions as the prerequisite to true spiritual growth.

The Ramban, in the opening to his famous letter to his son, echoes this idea beautifully.

שְׁמַע בְּנִי מוּסַר אָבִיךָ, וְאַל תִּטֹּשׁ תּוֹרַת אִמֶּךָ (משלי א ח)
תִּתְנַהֵג תָּמִיד לְדַבֵּר כָּל דְּבָרֶיךָ בְּנַחַת, לְכָל אָדָם וּבְכָל עֵת, וּבַזֶּה תִּנָּצֵל מִן הַכַּעַס, שֶׁהִיא מִדָּה רָעָה לְהַחְטִיא בְּנֵי אָדָם. וְכֵן אָמְרוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ ז”ל (נדרים כב ע”א): כָּל הַכּוֹעֵס – כָּל מִינֵי גֵיהִנּוֹם שׁוֹלְטִים בּוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (קהלת יא י): “וְהָסֵר כַּעַס מִלִּבֶּךָ, וְהַעֲבֵר רָעָה מִבְּשָׂרֶךָ”. וְאֵין “רָעָה” אֶלָּא גֵיהִנּוֹם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (משלי טז ד): “וְגַם רָשָׁע לְיוֹם רָעָה”.
וְכַאֲשֶׁר תִּנָּצֵל מִן הַכַּעַס, תַּעֲלֶה עַל לִבְּךָ מִדַּת הָעֲנָוָה, שֶׁהִיא מִדָּה טוֹבָה מִכָּל מִדּוֹת טוֹבוֹת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (משלי כב ד): “עֵקֶב עֲנָוָה, יִרְאַת ה’”.

Hear, my son, the instruction of your father and don’t forsake the teaching of your mother (Mishlei 1:8). Get into the habit of always speaking calmly to everyone. This will prevent you from anger, a serious character flaw which causes people to sin. As our Rabbis said (Nedarim 22a):Whoever flares up in anger is subject to the discipline of Gehinnom as it is says in (Koheles 12:10), “Cast out anger from your heart, and [by doing this] remove evil from your flesh.” “Evil” here means Gehinnom, as we read (Mishlei 16:4): “…and the wicked are destined for the day of evil.” Once you have distanced yourself from anger, the quality of humility will enter your heart.This radiant quality is the finest of all admirable traits (see Avodah Zarah 20b), (Mishlei 22:4), “Following humility comes the fear of Hashem.”

 Posted by Liron Kopinsky at 6:43 pm  Tagged with: , , , ,
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