Can we do תפילות prayers for:
Nosson Chayim Leff and Torah.org?
So that through them The האור Light, רפואה The Healing and The ואהבה Love of ישועת יהוה Yeshuath YHWH may come back to הארץ The Land of Israel?
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| | The weekly Sfas Emes is now available in a
Sefer. The Seferis called Emes Ve'emunah : A Sfas Emes Companion. This
Sefer contains all of the materials in the weekly emails, plus new
insights. The Sefer also contains the text in lashon hakodesh on which
the Sfas Emes worked to produce his ma'amar. Accessing the the Sfas
Emes via the Sefer offers advantages. You have the week's Torah
without having to print the email. You have the Sfas Emes' text--which
could not be sent by email. Also many people who would enjoy the Sfas
Emes do not have internet.
You can purchase this Sefer at your favorite bokstore, or online, at
the Targum or Feldheim websites. Emes Ve'Emunah will also be available
for purchase or perusal at the SOY Seform Sale, January 15-January 24.
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Parshas Naso
Sfas Emes, Zechuso Tagein Aleinu, Parshas Naso, 5631/5634/5637
The Sfas Emes begins this ma'amar with a pasuk (and a Medrash) that
come well into the parsha. The fact that the Sfas Emes skipped over
other potential topics means that he saw special significance in the
subject that he did select. The pasuk that the Sfas Emes saw as
especially meaningful comes in Bemidbar (6:2): "ish oh isha ki yafli
lindor neder nazir ... "(ArtScroll: " ... a man or a woman who shall
dissociate himself by taking a Nazarite vow ... ").
The meaning of these words is not obvious, so the Sfas Emes
elaborates. He explains that being a nazir means that a person separates
himself from matters of olamhazeh (this world) even though in fact, he
is involved in olam hazeh. That may sound like a contradiction. In fact,
it is a contradiction. But the Sfas Emes does not hesitate to confront
apparent cosmic inconsistencies. He explains that HaShem gives us the
power to cling to the Source -- of His Presence -- which is present in
all things. Thus, the Sfas Emes is telling us that this capacity to be
part of -- yet separate from -olam hazeh depends on our maintaining
contact with the chiyus (vibrancy, vitality) that HaShem put into all
Creation. The Sfas Emes calls this phenomenon "pehleh" -- from the same
root as a word in the pasuk -- "yafli".
Clearly, the Sfas Emes regards the topic of the nazir as extremely
important. And equally clearly, "pehleh" is a key word for understanding
what nezirus is all about. How does the Sfas Emes arrive at his
reading: namely, that the word "pehleh" refers to our capacity to
maintain contact with the inner vitality that HaShem has placed in all
Creation? A pasuk from the haftora of Parshas Naso (Shoftim, 13:18)
provides some help. That pasuk contains the word "peli" -- a word that
all the commentaries render as "mechuseh" or "ne'ehlam" -- i.e., hidden.
That is to say: Our capacity to connect with ruchniyus even though we
are involved in olam hazeh is a phenomenon beyond our understanding.
Thus, we are dealing here with a familiar situation: our limited
capacity to understand how the cosmos functions.
For further clarification of the word "yafli", the Sfas Emes sends
us to an unexpected source. He directs us to a remark of the Rema in
Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim, Siman 6. The Rema there comments on a
phrase in the berocha -- the blessing -- of asher yatzar". The Rema
observes that the phrase "umafli la'asos" (HaShem, "Who does wondrous
things") refers to a unique creature that HaShem has fashioned with His
boundless creativity. What creature does the Rema have in mind ?
Human beings, can, in principle, combine ruchniyus (spirituality)
with gashmiyus (corporeality). Thus, following the Sfas Emes's approach,
we can translate the pasuk with which he began this ma'amar as: "If a
person commits to doing that wondrous thing -- something whose
feasibility is to us, with our limited knowledge, hidden -- that is, to
take a Nazarite vow ...".
Notice what the Sfas Emes is doing here. Earlier he defined a nazir
as a person who is not involved in olam hazeh even though in fact he is
involved in olam hazeh. That sounds paradoxical. But by introducing us
to the concept and halachos of nazir, the Torah
is telling us that such a combination is indeed feasible. And the Sfas
Emes brings support for this view by citing a berocha that celebrates
the reality of such a combination, which HaShem has built into all
humankind. The take-home lesson is clear: being bahsar vedahm (flesh and
blood) need not bar us from living a life of spirituality.
The Sfas Emes moves on now to another line of thought. He quotes the
Medrash Rabba on our pasuk. The Medrash, in turn, brings a pasuk from
Shir Hashirim (5:15): "Shokav amudei shesh ... " ("The Torah's
columns that support the world are marble ... "). The Medrash (and the
Sfas Emes) read "shokav" as coming from the same root as the Hebrew word
"teshuka" -- yearning. In other words, they read 'shokav' as "His
yearning". Thus, the Medrash tells us that HaShem yearned to create the
world. This perspective implies that the world is -- or can be -- a good
thing.
The Medrash continues in the same vein, quoting a pasuk that we say
in the Friday night kiddush (Bereishis, 2:1): " Va'yechu'lu ha'shamayim
veha'aretz ... " In non-pshat mode, the Medrash chooses to read the word
"va'yechulu" as coming from the root of another Hebrew word which also
denotes yearning or longing. Thus we find a pasuk in (Tehillim, 74:3.)
which says: 'nichsefa vegam kalsa nafshi...' (That is: 'My soul yearns
for ...') You see the link -- by allusion -- that connects "va'yechulu"
and "kalsa".
So far, the Sfas Emes has had to add little to the discussion. The
Medrash is so much in a Sfas Emes mode that he can let the Medrash say
it all for him. But at this point, the Sfas Emes enters with comment on
the pasuk (quoted above): "Shokav amudei sheish ... " As noted above,
the pshat (simple, literal) meaning of the word "sheish" in this context
is: "marble". Hence, the literal meaning: "His columns that support the
world are marble. " But in non-pshat mode, the Sfas Emes reads the word
"sheish" as "six." Hence, the Sfas Emes can now read the phrase as "The
six support the world." Thus, the Sfas Emes is telling us that during
the six yemei hama'aseh (workdays), our ma'aseh (work) can connect us
with HaShem!
The picture that the Medrash (and the Sfas Emes) give us is a
picture in which HaShem, as it were, yearned to create the world.
Further, the way He built the world, we can reciprocate His feeling. As
the pasuk in Shir Hashirim (7:11) says: "ve'ahlai teshukaso" ("And I
yearn for Him"). Taking the relationship a step further, the Sfas Emes
endows that pasuk with a secondary meaning, "And His yearning for me
depends on my yearning for Him".
Thus, the Sfas Emes views this world in a very positive light.
HaShem had a yearning to create this world. (In fact, the Medrash uses a
word much stronger than 'yearning': "ta'ava"). As you see, what we have
here is a deep, heartfelt relationship between HaShem and the world
that He has created -- that is, with us.
I suggest that this heartfelt relationship also brings with it a
potential danger. HaShem yearns for us. But what if we do not yearn for
Him? As we know, spurned love leads to frustration, and frustration
leads to anger. And anger can lead to acts of anger. Sad to say, Tanach
recounts many such episodes. So too does our people's history in the
post-Tanach years.
In any case, the Sfas Emes reminds us that on Shabbos we can come
closer to HaShem. And our coming closer gives HaShem nachas (joy). We
are told in Shemos, 20:1: "va'yanach ba'yom hashevi'i." (ArtScroll: "And
He rested on the seventh day."). The Sfas Emes reads this pasuk as:
"And He had nachas [joy] on the seventh day". When we say this pasuk in
kiddush on Shabbos morning, let us try to have in mind that on Shabbos
we can give HaShem nachas.
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Say Yes to Abba Yahweh and His Laws special in
this time when Abba Yahweh is 'testing' us:
Hab 1:12 Art thou not mikedem (‘everlasting’ also said of
Moshiach, indicating Moshiach’s eternal divine nature: Dan
7:14 And there was given Him
(Moshiach) dominion, and honor, and sovereignty, that all people, Goyim,
tongues, should pey-lammed-chet. [1](worship
as deity) (see Dan 3:12, serve, reverence as deity Him (Moshiach). His dominion
is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His (Messianic)
Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.]see Michoh 5:1[2]; Yahweh Elohai (my
Elohim) Kedoshi (my Holy One)? We shall not die. Yahweh, Thou hast appointed
them for mishpat (ordinance); O Tzur, Thou hast ordained them for reproof.
(Please read the whole book of HaNavi Habakuk)
Please take it serious what Abba Yahweh is telling us in:
Deu 18:15 Yahweh Eloheicha (your Elohim) will raise up unto thee a Navi
(prophet) from among thee, of thy achim (bretheren), kamoni (like me Exo
32:30 The next day Moshe said to the
people, "You have committed a terrible sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh;
maybe I will be able to atone for your sin."); unto him ye must listen;
Deu 18:16 According to all that thou
desired of Yahweh Eloheicha (your Elohimin) Chorev in the Yom HaKahal (day of
the gogregation), saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh Elohav
(your Elohim), neither let me see this eish hagedolah (‘great fire’) any more,
that I die not.
Deu 18:17 And Yahweh said unto me, They
have well-spoken that which they have spoken.
Deu 18:18 I will raise them up a Navi
(prophet) from among their achim (brethren), like unto thee, and will put My
words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him
[Yn 10:18].
Deu 18:19 And it shall come to pass,
that whosoever will not listen unto My words which he shall speak Bishmi (in My
Name), I will require it of him.
Joh 8:28 Therefore, Rebbe, Melech
HaMoshiach said to them, When you perform the hagbah (lifting up) of
the Ben HaAdam, you will have da'as (knowledge) that Ani Hu [YESHAYAH
41:4; SHEMOT 3:14-16], and from myself I do nothing, but as HaAv (the Father)
of me taught me, these things I speak.
[1]
Dictionary of the Talmud. M. Jastrow p. 1178 פלח
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