BS”D
The Dawning of the Age of Awareness
Dr M Bank
A Guten Erev Shabbos. I would like to call this shiur, the Dawning of the Age of Awareness. Last weeks parsha was Haazinu. This Shabbos is Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur falls on Shabbos 32% of the time, that’s approximately 1 third. Yom Kippur is Shabbas Shabbason, a Shabbos of Shabboses. All the laws of Shabbos and Yom Kippur kick in. The computers in Shamayim are wworkng overtime. Shabbos is multiples and multiples of mitzvos. They say even the smallest matzo is greater than the greatest happiness that a person can experience in this world. Think of the greatest happiness you could imagine, winning the nobel prize, discovering a cure for a massively deadly disease, bringing their first child into the world, the wedding of their first child, or grandchildren. Contemplate that, and then multiply it beyond end. That is a reflection of the tinniest mitzvah, the reflection of the reward that we get in the next world.
All the more so, the tragedy of missed opportunities, of not having takenthe opportunity to excel. The agony of having rebelled, of having knowingly done an aveira. H knows the heart of man, whether it was intentional or not.
So, I would like o think for a moment about a situation that happened and then go back into Haazinu.
A story of incredibly tragic
proportions. It gives me now a shudder, probably more tragic than the collapse
of the
So a person has to come to Yom Kippur pleading with H to do a kind of miraculous spiritual dry clean of his neshoma. We have to plead for all the aveiros of the past year, we have to plead with all our might. Al Heit Shehashavnu machshovot Raot, thinking bad thoughts. Somebody walks past and he thinks, who does he think he is, or what made him worthy of such a blessing, why can’t I have such a blessing. Or worse, I would like to be a millionaire. H’s hands are not short. He gives to each one of us what we need to serve him. If we start serving our taivas, our desires it is Ein Sof, unti l the person is destroyed completely. Like on Yom Kippur when you are standing be
There was a Rabbi who was one of a kind in the world in Kiruv. People who help others who suffer from Tuberculosis could become infected too. What is the spiritual equivalent? Sometimes people think that an aspect of Torah doesn’t apply to them because they are beyond it. When we stand before H on Yom Kippur, the last thing on his mind are his physical lustings and cravings. We are trembling and when we say Borchu or Boruch Shem Kavod we are similar to angels. After Yom Kippur we are back to the situation of Basar VeDam, the pressures of the day, the workplace, extra money, to perform and to excel. Our spiritual perfection falls by the wayside has veshaom. When a person sees some beautiful temptation, he should never kid himself that there is no temptation. He should feel the agony that he could get the spiritual equivalent of the aids virus. What does he want? The kiss of life or the kiss of death? The Yetzer hora can come and destroy his family and everything he has built up in life in one second. So we have to learn, as we see with the meraglim, the furthest distance in the world is that between the mind and the heart. The eyes see, the heart desires and the body sins. So we have the tzitzis which remind us of the Yam, the Sea, hich reflects shomayim which reminds us of heaven and of H’, and even today without the pesil techeles, and person wearing tzitzis feels he is surrounded by the 613 mitzvos. We have to be constantly vigilant against the Yetzer Hora. So this Rabbi showed certain indiscretions in the community on account if which he was removed from his Rabbinical position, from the shiul that he had sepnt over 20 years building, he Was divorced fvrom his wife and children, and thrown out of the house. That is the Bamidbar of Gehenom.
BS”D
Ha’azinu
At this stage, lets
reflect on Parshas Ha’azinu, last weeks Torah reading. It was Rosh Hashana and
then Shabbos, so we couldn’t have our shiur at the regular time, but I would
like to explore Parshas Ha’azinu because really this is really encapsulating all of Torah in one
song.
The Torah is called
a song – go and write for yourself this song. So when the Ba’al Koreh reads the
Torah, he doesn’t read it. He sings it. And of course Bar Mitva boys learn the
well documented trop for each word. So we see at the beginning of Ha’azinu –
“listen” it says. “And give me your ear”. In other words, open your ears. “O
Heaven” – “ will speak and may the earth hear the words of my mouth”.
א הַאֲזִינוּ
הַשָּׁמַיִם,
וַאֲדַבֵּרָה;
וְתִשְׁמַע
הָאָרֶץ, אִמְרֵי-פִי
This is the most curious
statement. Who really comprehends that the
heavens are listening. And the earth is listening to the words of a
person’s mouth. The sky, the karka, the dirt under one’s feet. The mountains, the
rocks. It is a strange thing – mystical to the extreme – that you’ve got all
these ears, so to speak – listening to you. So it says in the commentary
according to Rashi – why does Moshe call the heaven and the earth as witnesses
against Am Yisrael? As it says, I am giving warning to Bnei Yisrael and the
witnesses should bear note to his matter. Yisrael – you will have witnesses who
will bear testimony against you; who are these witnesses? Shomayim va’ Aretz.
Hwo does it work? Moshe said in his last days, “I am flesh and blood and
tomorrow I will have left this world. So, if there are those amongst you in
Yisrael who are harboring a thought in your heart or mind, to say we don’t
accept this covenant upon ourselves, and anyway, when Moshe Rabbeinu has gone,
who will testify against us? This is why Moshe Rabbeinu called as witnesses
against those of Am Yisrael that harbour a tragic misconceived thought – heaven
and earth themselves will come and testify against you. Why? Because these
witnesses are forever. It says in the Nevi’im as long as there is heaven and
earth there will be Am Yisrael. So what can we learn from this? That Am Yisrael
in Netzach Netzachim, eternity of eternities. Just like torah, just like Eretz
Yisrael, Am Yisrael will exist for eternity. Moshe told Bnei Yisrael, these are
eternal witnesses that will rebuke you. Moshe Rabbeinu says, I am flesh and
blood, my time has come to depart, but if you think you can get away with
anything after I am gone, the earth that you stand on and the heavens that you
hope to go to, these are the very things that will come and testify.
So, we explore a little
further.
First the witnesses begin the
punishment for the idolator, and then the community come and complete the job.
Heaven and Earth join in the punishment of the one who thinks he got away with
his crime. As it says in the Shema, H will restrain the heavens, and there will
be no rain, and the ground will not produce its produce. Such a simple thing,
Devarim posuk 11, 17. Such a simple thing. Just by locking up the dew, the
waters of the heavens, mayim mishamayim – the ground will be laid waste, it
will become barren and parched, and the life that it was supporting will
quickly perish. Afterwards you will swiftly be banished. If a person can’t make
a living in a certain place, he has to quickly move to a place where he can maker
a living. The punishment which comes from heaven and earth, represents the
hands of the first edim, that will be upon him, while banishment, to the other
nations of the world, it says here, he will be banished to the other nations of
the world, constitutes the hand of the entire people.
We see an amazing thing from
this. In Pirkei Avos it says, please be careful with your words lest you be
driven out of the land, with the talmidim, and drink from the poisoned waters
of the other lands of the earth and quickly perish. The death of your disciples
will be on your hands. Their blood will be on your hands. H calls Eretz
Yisrael, Eretz HaKodesh the good land, no other land has that title. Aperson may have a parev thought about iyt –
I’d like to visit but to tell you the truth my parnassa is in another place in
the world, so if a person can contemplate, this is not less than Egypt and the
best he can accomplish there is to build pyramids. If he insists on building
pyramids, he will be buried in his pyramid. With Torah he will be zoche quickly
to come to Eretz Yisrael and experience TOras Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael. The
next world and this world. The tragedy is someone addicted and stuck to galus –
their children can be swallowed up, assimilated and annihilated, has veshalom,
and that blood will be upon his hands. Chazal say, a person who did not teach
his son loshon hakodesh has his blood on his hands. Loshon hakodesh and Torah.
Otherwise it is as though he murdered his child. How much blood over the years
has been shed in galus? And whatever it is coming to the land to daven and
learn torah brings infinite blessing. Moshe Rabbeinu wanted to come, the Vilna
Gaon wanted to come. Countless numbers wanted to come to Eretz Yisrael but H
has created in our generation that within 24 hours, every Jew in the world
could be home. So a person has that awesome responsibility and privilege.
Either he can come home and experience Olam haba in Olam haze, heaven on earth
so to speak, Utopia, Gan Eden in this world as well, and excel to the greatest
level of his potential which he will be rewarded for in the next world, or he
can bury himself and his children in the pyramids of Galus. As we learnt, in
pirkei Avos, if he leads his children to drink from the poisoned waters of
Galus, they will quickly perish and that blood will be upon him.
So we have to be tremendously
sensitive, in awe, terrified, tremble and plead to H’, that H’ will allow us
another year of life. A year of Torah – the Etz Chaim – Tree of Life, living in
the land of life, Eretz Hakoedsh, coming home to these great aspirations and
inspirations, and acquiring our ultimate potential, to create a world that is
better than the one we came to. So we refelect. If
If we aren’t doing the ratzon
of H’, we are not fulfilling our purpose.
If a person just stands still, he will be burnt up in the furnaces of
Gehenom. If a person doesn’t use his potential he loses it for good.
It goes on and says, “my
teachings are like the rain.” Now we have to concentrate, there are
4 levels,
The word יַעֲרֹףmeans anything but droplets.
This is a very powerful word. We see this with the Egel Arufa. If a person is
murdered and they cannot find the culprit, the Sages of the nearest towns have
to put their hands on a calf and swear that they did not cause the death. Then
they cut of the head – aruf, from behind.
The
first is a threat, if we don’t take the mitvos seriously, it will figuratively
cut off the head, kares. A person has to cry out on Rosh Hashana – plead for
another year. A person should not be arrogant and trust himself too much. The
Gemoro in
The dew
represents the fact that the Torah is totally beneficial like the dew, and
subtle like dew. Dew settles overnight and in the morning appears as beautiful
pearls on leaves and cars. We would have thought flowing would apply to rain
and dripping, to dew. It uses droplets of rainwater because rain is not always
good for everyone, whereas dew is described as flowing but it is always
desirable. Rav Moshe Sternbuch once addressed a mixed community in
So we
go further. I would like to concentrate on the inte4nsity of the water. It can
be a ferocious torrent that can chop off the heads of the arrogant that bow
down to nothing. Those that believe in themselves and nothing else. They
believe that their hand and their strength will save them. They are subject to
terrible blows.
The
four expressions can also represent four levels of Torah learning. From that we
have to understand something tremendous. Incredibly, the level of Torah
learning goes according to one’s behaviour. So we see an amazing insight in
Chinuch here. Similarly there are 4 types of children at the Pesach seder and
each needs to be taught Torah at his own level. For the Tzadik, his level of
Torah can be the most gentle because he is very receptive to the subtleties of
Torah. He already accepts H Elokeinu H Ehad, he is already on his way, but
asks, how can I serve H to perfection – by learning His laws. He doesn’t have
to worry about basic proofs of H’s existence. He is way beyond that. He is
solid that H exists and is the source of all that exists in the world. The
second son, the Rasha – if he doesn’t humble himself, and Yom Kippur is the
ideal opportunity, - it can repair every aveira, turning them into mitzvos. If
he doesn’t take the opportunity and deosn’t fast, especially this Yom Kippur,
which is Shabbos as well, then he is exposing himself to infinite dangers of
being cut off and destroyed. This is an infinite opportunity for a person to
really connect with his creator. A person who has a cell phone who doesn’t pay
his dues, eventually his cell phone will be cut off. He sees everyone else
using their cell phone and can’t comprehend what they are doing. He thinks they
are bablling but they are having a real personal conversation with H’. H allows
His children to communicate with Him. H can listen to millions of people
individually at the same time. He provides for all the living creatures. Can we
comprehend all the people in the world? He provides 6-9 billion meals a day. H
provides for every living creature from an elephant to an insect, bird and
fish. We’re all here to serve H’. Man has a unique quality that for man H the
hold world continues to exist because of his merits. If not, there would be a
mabul and it would return to hevel verick and oy vavoy. If a person does not go
in the right way, he has a personal oy vavoy. If he follows H’s ways, he gets
Olam Haba. So the Rasha needs to be left speechless. H can make us slaves has Veshalom to Nazis or
other tyrants, taking us captive and seeking to destroy us. We have to be
infinitely grateful for our brochos from H’. Helping the stubborn son is like a
last attempt at CPD, resuscitation. If not, defibrulate his heart that is hard
as rock. If a person insists on worshipping idols or other gods he loses his
protection. For the person who doesn’t know how to ask, the Torah has to be
very gentle and soft. The four levels relate to the four types of chinuch a
person might need to give to his children. According to the vessel, so is the
ability to fill it. Beginners need short exposures, whilst others might be able
to learn for hours without a break. H’ knows everyone’s potential. There is a
version of a famous story of the Netziv
an\bout a Rav who dreamt that he went to shomayim and they asked him why
he destroyed certain sefarim. He said that he had never seen these sefarim. The
reply was that theses were the sefarim he was sent to earth to write for Am
Yisrael. He failed the nation and was held to account for destroying the
sefarim.
We cry
out as a community together and not less, we cry out for merxcy to protect and
save our lives. I would like to reflect on something here from Rav
Soloveitchiik. He writes that Yom Kippur is akin to Yom Hakippurim. Purim –
what does a day filled with remorse and fear have to do with a day of
celebration and mishloach manot? Rav Soloveitchik wrote that Pur donates a
lottery. The ‘chance’ of every person was decided at one time, on Purim. On Yom
Kippur similarly our actions are weighed up. The goat for H and the scape goat
for Azazel looked the same and were identical in many ways. The Cohen Gadol
picks their fate by lots. Both make us aware of the subtleties of life. Life is
about H’s intervention. When the Jews is Shushanm fasted and prayed with all
their heart, soul and abilities. Then, like the illusion of the purim costume,
we heave the opportunity to turn things around. Our aveiras are a mask. If we
tear off the mask, H tears of His mask keveyahcol and reveals Himself. In the
Beis Hamikdash there were the Chruvim.
When it was being destroyed the faced away from each other. When they entered
the Beis Hamikdash, they were shocked to see something beyond any explanation.
This nation say that they are commanded not to make a god of wood and stone,
and nnot to make a picture or statue of anything in the earth, sky or seas and oceans. These two Angels made by
klal Yisrael (on H’s command of course) were hugging in an eternal embrace. It
was H’s message to the eternal nation. Even though I am leaving my eternal
home, I am leaving with you and we are coming back together.
Let it
be very soon in our days that we will be able to celebrate in H’s eternal home,
and may we all experience a Shabbat Shalom, a yom Kippur of Teshuvba and may we
soon be returned to the Beis hamikdash, Binmheira Veyameinu, Moshiach
Tzidkeinu, Guelah Shleima, and a wonderful Shabbos to every one of Am Yisrael
and the whole world.