Here We Go Again

Anyone who lives on the east coast of the United States has by this time heard the dire predictions concerning Hurricane Sandy.  Maybe these predictions will chas v'shalom come to fruition in whole or in part in the next few days or they won't.  In either case that will be a fact that those affected by it will deal with.  But lest we make the same mistake as we collectively did last year in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene when we cut Hashem out of the postmortem, I'm reposting EmunahSpeak: A Divinely Pulled Punch before Sandy hits for the purpose of assessing the storm in its proper context in whatever form it ends up taking.
 

A Divinely Pulled Punch

Hurricane Irene or Tropical Storm Irene or just a rainy day named Irene depending on where one lives and the condition of one’s basement, has (almost) come and gone leaving most of us a little wetter, no wiser, and maybe even less so.

While there was plenty of water to go around in upstate New York, Northern New Jersey, and Vermont to mention but a few of the waterlogged venues visited by Irene, these and most of the others severely affected by the storm were victims of fresh water flooding courtesy of voluminous amounts of rain that overwhelmed storm sewers and sent local rivers over their banks.

The flooding in parts of Westchester County was such that if not for the occasional sighting of a guardrail ever so slightly poking out above the water line, it would have been impossible to distinguish the Saw Mill River Parkway from the Saw Mill River.

On the other hand, the threatened Storm Surge that put to flight thousands of residents of the South Shore of Long Island and forced the evacuation of the entire Rockaway Peninsula failed to significantly materialize, and as a result my neighbors and I still have where to live, Boruch Hashem.

  

In the aftermath of Irene,Weatherdom, by means of satellite tracking, high speed computers, and specialized software modeling, all of which comprise the heart and soul of weather forecasting, has every answer to any conceivable question as to what did or did not happen, storm wise, to the New York Metropolitan area between Friday and Sunday the week before last.

It’s all a matter of timing.

After the fact, we are treated to cutting edge sophisticated analysis.  And before the fact, like when it might count for something, one could do just as well by flipping a coin.  It’s the high tech version of drawing the bull’s eye around the arrow wherever it lands. 

It’s bad enough when the Weatherman attempts to explain away weather in general and Hurricane Irene in particular in the language of teva.  But as insufferable as the Weatherman’s teva babble may be to the ears of those whose heads are screwed on according to the Manufacturer’s specifications, it’s beyond inexcusable when those of us who profess to see through the teva smokescreen begin to think and speak in the tevadik language by which Weatherdom and the rest of the secular world defines its existence.

As I look out across the street to the peaceful ocean beyond I am less troubled about reports of another hurricane forming south east of the Bahamas that will put the entire coast from North Carolina to New England definitely at risk than I am by the general response to Irene, or rather lack thereof. 

In advance of the storm, some of us went to the Catskills, some to Queens, others to Brooklyn, and a number of us sought refuge in Monsey.

But where did Hashem go?

To hear people talk, one would think that at the same time many of us were packing out of the area in a hurry, Hashem was also heading for the high ground to points north and west of the city.

While most of us correctly see the Yad Hashem in devastating manifestations of “Nature” we seem to have a blind spot with the flip side of the equation which, in the absence of the predicted devastation, leads all too many of us to see no more than another "mistake" by the Weatherman, and "mistakes" by the Weatherman tend to preclude the perception of a hatzala which in turn is not particularly conducive to a teary eyed Modim.

The weather people tell us that in the last twenty years or so they have made great advances in tracking violent storms, and indeed, the predicted path of Irene was almost spot on to the tract the storm actually took.  Hashem allows them to follow His Shadow around as He flashes them the picture He wants them to see, which is accurate at its inception.  And then, not being bound by the teva that is driving the computer models that are trying to make sense of the storm, He does as He pleases.

Had Hashem stuck with the original picture of Irene that He revealed to the weather satellites, the storm would have whacked us pretty good.  But at the end of the day rather than devastating most, if not all of the kehillas stretching from Baltimore to Boston, He withdrew His Hand and threw water in our face instead.

And all we saw was rain.

Thanks for the Freebie

In a number of pieces, with EmunahSpeak: "Interior Decorating” being but the most recent, we have established the core principle of the Chovos Halavovos as being that we should recognize the munificent kindnesses that Hashem bestows upon us from the time of our inception until our neshamas are recalled to their source.  And we also learned that, as a consequence thereof, this recognition should quite naturally instill in us a desire to be makker tov for all of the aforementioned kindnesses.

And in addition to spending our lives attempting to pay back some small part of what we owe to Hashem, in the form of Torah and Mitzvahs, for the 24/7/365/lifetime beneficences that have been bestowed upon us, we also said in EmunahSpeak: If You Feel Blessed that if you feel that Hashem has bestowed you with extra tov you should feel obligated to pay back a little more by adding something to your avoda, be it an extra twenty minutes of learning, a little more kavana in davening, or perhaps resolving to put more effort into doing chesed.

And this fact of Hakoras HaTov being the core principle of the Chovos Halavovos most assuredly means that it’s not limited in its application to Sha’ar Avodas Elokim which discusses the nature of our service to Hashem.

In Sha’ar HaTeshuvah of the Chovos Halavovos we are taken beyond what the Halacha requires as to normative teshuvah in cases between man and Hashem. In such a situation it is not enough just to say you’re sorry, coupled with viduy etc.  In addition to confessing our guilt in relation to the errors that we have committed, regretting those errors, and taking on never to the repeat them, the Chovos Halavovos adds a little something of its own.

Rav Chaim Malinowitz tells us in its name that if we err, it means that the organ, limb etc. with which we erred is, spiritually speaking, weak.  In order to properly complete the teshuvah process we therefore need to exercise the “muscle” that was weak and go to the other extreme in order to ‘tone it up.’

You spoke Loshon Hora?

It’s the view of the Chovos Halavovos that from now on you should only speak good thereby refraining even from negative comments that would be perfectly permissible.

You ate something that you shouldn’t have?

Henceforth, take on to stay away even from some food that is permitted.

And so it goes for every move you made that ended up requiring you to do teshuvah.

But isn’t teshuvah the ultimate free lunch?

Therefore the Chovos Halavovos, consistent with its view that the Hakoras HaTov that we owe Hashem for everything and then some is the touchstone of our existence, tacks on a little something to what the Halacha requires of us vis á vis teshuvah.

After all, if we should feel obligated to pay back a little more by adding something to our avoda, for those little right turns that our lives take, courtesy of Hashem, as opposed to lefts, then what should we say about teshuvah which is essentially a freebie that Hashem throws our way in the form of a second chance after we have made a train wreck out of chance numero uno?

"Interior Decorating”

In both EmunahSpeak: If You Feel Blessed and EmunahSpeak: If You Feel Blessed (2) we put forth the yesod hayesodes of the Chovos Halavovos, which is that we owe everything to Hashem, and we rationally concluded that being makker tov to Hashem should be the focus of our lives.

In EmunahSpeak: If You Feel Blessed we said that if you feel that Hashem has bestowed you with extra tov you should feel obligated to pay back a little more by adding something to your avoda, be it an extra twenty minutes of learning, a little more kavana in davening, or perhaps resolving to put more effort into doing chesed.

And in EmunahSpeak: If You Feel Blessed (2) we took the proposition a step further by stating that this principle (of giving back a little more) also works on a national level because Klal Yisroel, even in golus, has almost always lived better than the people in whose midst they lived.

Okay, so in the spirit of all that is written above, you took stock of all of the tov (both gashmiyous and ruchnius) that Hashem has been showering upon you since day one of your earthly existence, and driven by a desire to be makker tov you began to learn seriously or took on one or a series of mitzvahs big time so as to bump up your Avodas Hashem.

As far as the Chovos Halavovos is concerned, you’re good to go, in that you have responded in kind to the beneficence that Hashem is bestowing upon you.  And we said in EmunahSpeak: If You Feel Blessed (2), in relation to your response, that Hashem will continue to shower upon you that special shefa that distinguished your lot from that of others. And that He will even add to it.

And when He in fact does, your recognition of such will once again push you to respond in kind, and so it goes in what will hopefully be an endless cycle of ever increasing Avodas Hashem.

But we’re not quite finished as yet.

Whereas the Chovos Halavovos looks upon your increased learning and all of your other aliyahs in Yiddishkeit as a form of payback for what Hashem has sent your way, the Mesillas Yesharim takes somewhat of a different view.

Rabbi Yisroel Brog tells us that rather than look upon your growth in Torah and Mitzvahs as satisfying, in some small degree, your obligations to Hashem, the Mesillas Yesharim’s take on the matter is that those madreigas that you climbed actually increased those obligations.

You’re learning half a day and your beard and clothes are commensurate with your newly minted madreiga so that your appearance is that of a serious Ben Torah?  Then you have to increase your Tikun HaMiddos accordingly, says Rabbi Brog.

Torah is supposed to improve a person. 

So if someone is immersed in Torah while his middos are merely floating on the surface, this disconnect between what he appears to be and how he conducts himself is a denigration of the Torah and therefore a chillul Hashem.

We summed up the approach of the Chovos Halavovos in EmunahSpeak: If You Feel Blessed as follows:

Therefore, if Hashem gives us more, we understand from the structure of the mitzvahs that we are supposed to do more than we have heretofore done.

Or put another way, if you feel blessed you should be putting a little more on the table.

And we could add, as per the Mesillas Yesharim, that when you put that little extra on the table make sure you use your finest china and silverware so that it will ‘look’ as good as it ‘tastes.’

Do Not Fear

It’s getting rough out there.  

Even a cursory glance at the news gives one the feeling that the busy season for the panic stricken is upon us.

In EmunahSpeak: Someone’s Knockin’ we quoted Rav Shimshon Pincus as follows:

We live in a very fateful generation.  It’s a twilight generation, something akin to bein hashmashos.

The period of radiance has passed, and we already hear the sounds of what is to come.  Moreover, we are living in a period when even looking out the window can be dangerous.

Someone who is wise can already hear a voice calling out from Shomayim.

We also said over there that Hashem changes the times, and in consideration thereof Rav Pincus held that we must be cognizant of what is going on around us so as to be able to devise corrective strategies.  

And he didn’t mean keeping on top of the news because he constantly spoke out against wasting time reading newspapers and such.

Being cognizant of what’s going on around us as per Rav Pincus refers to those times when Hashem shows His hand, be it ever so subtly.

To my thinking, Hashem seems to be showing His Hand even if it’s ever so subtly and it’s beginning to look like a redux of the Purim story, and it’s even being shot on location (Iran).

What to do?

We said in EmunahSpeak: The Call of the Hour that a number of….very serious seforim on emunah… have independently come to the conclusion that it is a matter of pikuach nefesh for this last generation before Moshiach to seriously strengthen its emunah in order to stay the course for what’s coming our way.

Simply put, we’re headed for a very bumpy ride, and if we don’t buckle up with emunah we risk being thrown from this world.

Being that the events of the day could well play out like a Purim meisa what could be better than to mechazik ourselves by drawing from the same well that Mordechai HaTzaddik drew from?

Citing Esther Rabba, Rabbi Yisroel Bernath informs us that when Mordechai learned of the wicked decree that Haman obtained to murder all of the Jewish people, he went out into the street and met three young cheder kinderlach. He asked each one to say over what he had learned that day in cheder.

The first boy answered, Do not fear sudden terror, nor the destruction of the wicked when it comes..

The second cited the verse, Contrive a scheme, but it will be foiled; conspire a plot, but it will not materialize, for G-d is with us.

And the third replied with To your old age I am [with you]; to your hoary years I will sustain you; I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.

Rabbi Bernath tells us that from these three posukim Mordechai knew that the Jewish people should fear no enemy; he took it as a divine omen that Haman's plans to annihilate the Jewish people will come to naught and that G-d would deliver them from all danger. 

Those who instinctively look at their watches when they finish the Aleinu prayer may not have noticed that there are three posukim printed under it that we are supposed to say.  And not just any posukim mind you, but the very ones that the cheder kinderlach said over to Mordechai:  


Do not fear sudden terror, nor the destruction of the wicked when it comes.

One should not be afraid of fear, for fear is paralyzing and harmful in itself. Even when the wicked are there and planning to destroy the world, we should not be afraid.

Contrive a scheme, but it will be foiled; conspire a plot, but it will not materialize, for G-d is with us.

We should not be afraid. We say to our enemies "You may make your wicked plans, and utter your wicked threats, but nothing will come from them, for G-d is with us."

To your old age I am [with you]; to your hoary years I will sustain you; I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.

No matter how long the exile will be Hashem will always "carry" us. We are Hashem’s responsibility. Our exile and dispersion among the nations of the world is also Hashem’s doing. He will, therefore, surely deliver us from our enemies and from this exile. 

And we also hear from Rabbi Bernath that reciting these verses expresses confidence in G-d's protection, and all are regarded as auguries of deliverance.  And if that weren’t enough, the Mekubalim tell us that many powerful things are hidden in these verses.

It may indeed be getting rough out there, but if we read these three posukim with kavanah after every Aleinu that we recite it need not concern us because just like Mordechai we will fear no enemy, the plans of the wicked will come to naught, and Hashem will deliver us from danger.

It’s All About Us

In EmunahSpeak: Now We Know  we said that As is well known, the Gemara teaches that every disaster that comes upon the world comes only because of Klal Yisroel.  It’s always about us.  It always was and it always will be.

Rav Miller, z”l used to say that if you see a small news item on the bottom of page 89 in the New York Times reporting a cyclone in Bangladesh that killed 200,000 people, the whole purpose for this devastation was that a Jew named Miller in Flatbush should hear about it and do Teshuva.  And if he doesn’t do Teshuva, then it’s a waste of a lot of goyim for nothing.

But the truth is that when we learn from Chazal that even a ship carrying goods from one country to another does so only for the needs of Klal Yisroel even if there are no Jews living in either of those countries, they are telling us the paramount centricity of Klal Yisroel in this world is such that it transcends disasters to touch every aspect of life.

From these well established core teachings of Chazal as to Klal Yisroel’s importance and responsibility vis á vis the rest of the world, we can extrapolate the importance and responsibility of those Jews who are loyal to the Torah to the vast majority of our brothers and sisters who presently are not.

And while we’re at it, how did this vast majority of Jews, who are presently having difficulty distinguishing Shabbos from Tuesday, get this way?  Rabbi Yigal Haimoff cautions us not to let assimilation, Communism, Socialism, Zionism, Czarist despotism or Eastern European poverty et al. divert our attention from the real source of this disaster.  He tells us in the name of his rebbe that the reason that there are so many Jews who think that Shabbos is the best day to wash the car or play golf is because the Jews who do observe Shabbos don’t keep it the way they should.

The vicissitudes of life invariably bring upon us circumstances that we perceive as giving us cause to cry.  But for the real reasons that we have to cry we are not, says Rabbi Haimoff, because if we see a Jew driving on Shabbos we don’t cry.

So Hashem gives us other outlets for our tears.

But Shabbos is but one responsibility gone awry.  Given the fact that all about us in the context of Klal Yisroel’s constituent parts means that everything  Torah Jewry does impacts for better or worse on those Jews who are less affiliated, we should not have difficulty making a connection between our failings in the realm of proper tznius and the disregard that all too many of the not yet affiliated Jews have for the concept of clothing one’s body.

But Rabbi Haimoff takes us one step further by informing us that if those whose level of tznius is already conforming to the Halacha in every respect would do a little more, the others would get dressed.

So how far does this go anyway?

Rabbi Aharon Lieb Shteinman says that if a Jew who is loyal to the Torah takes upon himself something new in Torah and Mitzvahs that previously wasn’t his custom to do, fifty people will walk out of the hospital and the doctors won’t even understand the reason.

Why?

Because it’s all about us. 

Testing…Testing

The world is a test.  Everything is a test.  Even for a frum young man or woman.  And our sole business in this life is to withstand them.

That the tests of life are without end was one the main themes to which Rav Avigdor Miller z”l consistently returned over the course of the many decades in which he set the standard for the spreading of Torah in the United States of America.

He taught us never to think about a vacation from the Yetzer Hora because the Yetzer doesn’t do weekends.  It also doesn’t do breakfast, lunch, supper, or coffee breaks.  Or put a different way, a Jew should never sit with his back to the door of life unless he enjoys getting blindsided.

He was also wont to remind us that the temptation of Apikorsis was forever in the air.  And although he articulated this warning many years before the Internet, our wireless connections testify to how prescient his warning was.

But the tests of life to which Rav Miller z”l referred were neither limited to dangerous philosophical abstractions nor to more grounded dangers such as Marxism, which he considered to be the biggest enemy that Klal Yisroel ever faced.  He saw them in every facet of life with no circumstance being so benign as to pass unchallenged under his penetrating gaze.

You had a piece of toast for breakfast this morning?

If you are a cookie cutter example of what usually passes for a frum Jew these days, you first washed your hands according to the Halacha before diving in and you concluded your repast with a recital of Birkas HaMazon.

But did you see the nes (miracle)?!

Yes, even the piece of bread on your table is a test to see if you can eat it while being oblivious to the nes that is inherent within.

And by the nes of bread, Rav Miller z”l meant the literal nes that should be widening your eyes, and nothing less.  Suffice it to say that while the many steps in the bread making process from the planting up until the grinding of the grain into flour and from the flour onward are plausible in that over time mankind could have either figured them out or could have simply stumbled across them, the actual grinding of the grain into flour is a divine gift beyond the collective imagination of all humanity.  But that’s a story for another day.

So how far does this testing go anyway?  Rav Miller z”l took it even a step past the bread to the table.

How does one approach a Jewish table?

Do you gruffly plant yourself down to stuff yourself as you would at an outdoor picnic table or do you approach it with great Derech Eretz as befitting something that is Kodesh.

Do you sit on it or are you zoche to understand that the Jewish table is a mizbeach (an alter)?

Testing….Testing.

Look, Judge, and See

In these three words Rabbi Mordechai Groner shares with us a series of pass words that will take us past the barriers that stand between us and the good kvittel that will give us yet another year to effect a gut rehab that will transform our total essence.

By means of Look, Judge, and See we are able to leverage Hashem’s system of midda keneg midda (measure for measure) in our favor to such an extent that our actions in this regard are actually co-extensive with the first draft of our judgment. 

Everything else we do during the Yemei HaDin, be it Tefillah, Teshuva or Tzedakah is for the purpose of getting that first draft signed in indelible ink.

Look, says Rabbi Groner, at everyone with an ayin tov.  In the way we look at yenem that’s how Hashem will look at us.  And as far as Hashem is concerned, you can take it to the bank.  But we’re a different story.

You have four kids in shidduchim and your neighbor’s girls are always engaged before their twentieth birthday.  You may be able to effortlessly flash a sincere smile but you can’t fake your ayin tov, or rather the lack thereof.  When put to a test it doesn’t come easy but that’s the only way to merit Hashem flashing an ayin tov in your direction.  If not for your Yetzer Hora stirring the pot what would your ayin tov be worth anyway?  

Rabbi Groner also admonishes us to judge everyone favorably, and if that’s not a ticket just waiting to get punched by Hashem for a good year then what is?  But the devil’s in the details because everyone means everyone, not just tzaddikim and other people of which you happen to approve.

And favorably means in a case where unfavorably is at least as likely to be the correct assessment of the situation on the ground.  But it’s much more than that because we’re not speaking in a halachic context as to when we are required to judge others favorably.  To have Hashem judge us favorably in all circumstances no matter how rough the edges, we have to judge everyone favorably even in the most unfavorable circumstances.

Rabbi Groner also lets us hear that we have to see the good in people.

And this one doesn’t come easy either because the default position of most of humanity is to notice in others the aberrations of the norm as defined by us.  Seeing the good in others requires us to penetrate layers of what we shouldn’t be looking at just to get to that upon which we should be casting our gaze.

As we said in GuardYourSpeak: The One Thing, There’s someone in your shul that shows up late every morning about two minutes before Borchu, and he doesn’t come rushing in either.  And it just so happens that you’re the first one there.  You don’t know him that well but you do know that there’s nothing doing in his house that would slow him up in the morning.  

What we see here is most definitely not what we get because we’re talking here about our inability to see past our self imposed delineation of reality.

In contexts such as these, when there is a clear distinction in our favor between our avoda and that of our friend, it never occurs to us that for all we know maybe coming late to shul is the one thing he does wrong whereas coming early is the one thing we do right.

Seeing the good in people means if the good is not readily apparent then keep looking until you find it because it’s surely there.  And as far as your field of vision is concerned, nothing else exists.

And if we do it right, then Hashem will look for our good until He finds it, and as far as His field of vision is concerned nothing else will exist.

Morphing Hurt Into Blessing

We have to be careful of what we say to people and, no less important, how we say it.  And people also includes one’s wife (okay, okay, husbands also).

The aveira of Onas Devarim (hurtful words) is big stuff, which is bad news for most of us.  On Hashem’s scales of justice, which are so finely calibrated that the measurements are beyond human comprehension, Onas Devarim exceeds the recommended weight thereby setting off a cacophony of Heavenly bells and whistles that are immediately responded to by Hashem Himself because matters of Onas Devarim are not given over to a shaliach.  That one Jew should be suffering emotional distress from the verbal sting of another Jew is enough for Hashem to clear His desk, so to speak, and get Personally involved.

Moreover, as we know, the Gate of Tears is never closed.  

At the very least, Onas Devarim brings on tears of the heart, and those tears are given the red carpet treatment as they pass through the Gate of Tears.  In fact, some say that there may even be a special Gate for Onas Devarim that keeps the same hours as the Gate of Tears, but in either case the result is the same in that all of those tears are Personally massaged by Hashem Himself.

In the normal course of things, when someone who has suffered from Onas Devarim cries out in pain to Hashem, the story’s not going to have a good ending for the Mouth that Roared.  But that’s in the normal course of things.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

As Rabbi Yisroel Brog tells us, there’s a tremendous opportunity here for anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear.  After all, who says that the Gate of Tears only deals in kind?  Tears open them for sure, but once opened, anything can march through.

Even Brochos.

He says in the name of HaRav HaGaon Chaim Kanievsky Shilta that if someone blitzes you with Onas Devarim (speaks to you harshly) you shouldn’t answer back.  It’s not easy to stand there and take one for the team, with the team being Hashem’s desire, but all in all it’s a concept that most of us are familiar with.  Reb Chaim then takes it a step further and says that you shouldn’t even complain to Hashem.  Instead, you should take advantage of your direct access to Hashem by way of the Gate of the Tears that was opened by your pain and ask for anything you need because vis á vis you at this moment in your life Hashem is all ears.

This is not just a nice vort that Reb Chaim once said at a seudah shlishis once upon a time.  This is what he tells people who come for a brocha.

And he tells them even more.  He says that if you see someone getting verbally ripped and he doesn’t answer back you should ask that person for a brocha for whatever you need because the Gate of Tears is open for him and Hashem is listening.

This is not a segula.  We’re talking about a direct line here.

For my part, I can’t think of anyone who’s going to punch my ticket for a deal like this.  But my wife’s going to make out like a bandit.

It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over

And so goes one of the most well known aphorisms of the mid-Twentieth Century American philosopher, Yogi Berra.

Although in his hands these six words never ran deeper than baseball, in ours they plummet the depths of the run up to Rosh Hashana 5773.

This past Nissan (5772), Rav Yaakov Akiva Mashinsky z”l left this world for the Olam HaEmes.  On the 29^th of Elul 5771(Erev Rosh Hashana 5772) he spoke in Yeshiva Ohr Somayach in Monsey where he was a maggid shiur and said the following:

If you’re davening Mincha Erev Rosh Hashana, in Boruch Aleinu you are davening that all of the good things that you davened for last year will happen this year.

In other words, NOW.

Have you ever thought about that?

Those of us who have the shofar of Elul ringing in our ears are so focused on our Teshuva in preparation for the Yom HaDin and on all the changes we intend to make in the coming year that we tend to forget that the current year has yet to run its course.

It was inscribed on last Rosh Hashana and sealed last Yom Kippur how many will pass on and how many will be created in these last few days of 5772.  It was also written down and sealed, how many of us will be tranquil amidst all the tumult raging fore and aft and how many of us will be emotionally and/or mentally swept away by the same in these waning days of our current cheshbon.  And so it goes for every facet of our lives.

I don’t know whether Rabbi Mashinsky z”l was already not well when he spoke last Erev Rosh Hashana or whether his subconscious was pointing him in the direction of grabbing the moment.  In either case, he was sharing something with us that was both profound and simple at the same time.

We’re davening for the whole Shemona Esray to be NOW.

From today until Rosh Hashana when you say Selach lanu (Forgive us) you are asking to be forgiven Now, not next year.  And when you say Refuainu (Heal us) you are davening that you will hear good news NOW, not after your doctor returns from Succos in Eretz Yisroel.

And Tikah B’Shofar Gadol (Sound the Great Shofar) is no exception. You’re not waiting for the election results or to see how things play out with Iran a few months down the road.  You are davening for Kibbutz Golious (the ingathering of the exiles), NOW, today, this year.  

But Rabbi Mashinsky z”l also takes us past Shemona Esray to show us a bigger picture of the 5772 countdown.  He tells us that every year Dovid HaMelech comes to Hashem and asks for his Malchus back.  Up until 5771 Hashem hadn’t yet acceded to Dovid’s request. 

It’s our hope that on Rosh Hashana 5772 Hashem did indeed return the Malchus to Dovid HaMelech and that we will still see it yet, NOW before the curtain comes down on 5772.

It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.

Hashem Is Looking

At the very beginning of the Torah it states that G-d created Man in His image.

Although there are five methods by which the Torah may be interpreted, we never go away from the basic meaning of a verse, and the simple meaning of G-d created Man in His image is that a man’s face is the image of Hashem, is it not?

Rabbi Avigdor Miller z”l reveals to us that one of the Torah’s chief purposes of teaching that G-d created Man in His image is that we should behave in the presence of others as if Hashem is looking through their eyes.

And truth be told, He is.

So when you look at someone’s face don’t forget that Hashem is staring you down through the eyes of that person.

And is it not human nature to try and behave when someone is looking?

If we really took to heart the reality that Hashem is looking at us through everyone’s eyes we would have to behave at least as well as we do in public, would we not?

We would indeed, but Rav Miller z”l tells us that we can’t appreciate that the human face is the image of Hashem unless we have Hashem in mind.  As he puts it, in order to have the proper attitude as to what a Tzelem Elokim means in relation to those around us, we first have to work on our understanding of Elokim.

With Rav Miller z”l pointing the way we try to understand Hashem in terms of our Emunah which, if correctly calibrated, lets us feel Hashem right here/right now.  And when a person is zoche to a feeling that he is locked in Hashem’s gaze from on high then he is ready to come to the realization that He’s also looking at him through the eyes of all those round about.

And with but one exception, what goes on in your house is no different from what takes place in public. Hashem is also looking at you through the eyes of your children and most certainly through those of your wife.

Unfortunately, the once exception is you.

As Rav Miller reminds us, a man is true in his house.  At home there is no posturing in front of neighbors, co-workers, or anyone else, in front of which one might be embarrassed to be himself.  It’s just the wife and kids.

 

And because it’s perceived to be only the wife and kids, Hashem gets to see a lot more than He otherwise would.  And He gets an earful also because Chazal tell us that the walls of a man’s house testify against him.

So on Yom Kippur, when you’re confessing all of your sins, don’t forget the ones that you commit in your house.  And especially don’t forget how you spoke to your wife (husband).

Hashem was looking at you.

Seeing With the Heart

“Look!  There’s an antelope!”

“Where?”

“Over to the left.”

Yossi turned his head a full ninety degrees and smiled.    “We just saw an antelope.”

“And what else have we seen?

Yossi immediately ticked off a long list which read like a roll call of the animal kingdom, liberally punctuated with the words, we saw prefacing the name of each species.

Tante Miriam then matter-of-factly mentioned that the rhinoceros was an endangered species.

“What’s an endangered species?” asked Yossie.

“There are hardly any of them left.”

“How can that be? demanded Yossi in a respectfully incredulous tone.  “We just saw three of them!”

“Yes, we just saw three of them,” repeated Tante Miriam to herself in muffled tones, as she decided to change the subject.

“So how do you like your first trip to the zoo?”

“This is the most fun trip I ever had!” exclaimed Yossi.  But no sooner was the word had out of his mouth that his face dropped a bit, not precipitously mind you, but just enough to be attract the attention of Tante Miriam.

“If this is the most fun trip you ever had, Yossi, then why aren’t you smiling?”

“We didn’t see the barbarusa,” said Yossi in a tone that could qualify him as poster boy for the Unhappy Camper.

Tante Miriam thought for a moment and then asked, “how many animals did you see, Yossi?”

“So many!” shouted a now smiling Yossi, as the memory of the most fun trip he ever had once again took center stage in his mind.  “I would still like to see the barbarusa a different time,” said Yossi, “but I’m happy with all the animals I saw today.

It was Tante Miriam’s turn to smile now.

After all, it’s not every blind boy that can be happy with what he can see today while patiently waiting for the sights that tomorrow will bring.

Tam v’Emes

Even though mitzvahs whose performance are motivated by somewhat less than altruistic considerations are fraught with imperfections, Chazal have admonished us to do them anyway because mitzvahs not done for their own sake (shelo lishma) will eventually lead to mitzvahs which are properly motivated (lishma).

And as Reb Yitzchak Frank reminds us, the shelo lishma mitzvah comes to us courtesy of the Yetzer Hora, who can be counted on to be sitting in the wings waiting to pounce at the first opportunity to stir the pot vis á vis our motivations.

When dealing with not yet observant Jews, the Yetzer’s operational strategy is to keep them as far away as possible from anything that has even a shmeck of Torah and mitzvahs in any form.  But in relation to Torah Jewry it well understands that this approach is a losing proposition.  Instead it will endeavor to water down the effect of one’s efforts in the realm of his Avodas Hashem.

If someone has a propensity to give tzaddakah the Yetzer will, ever so subtly, steer him towards the most worthless tzeddakah it can get away with.  And if one has decided to take on learning Daf Yomi the Yetzer will try to work it out so that he will get the least out of his learning experience, be it by way of the ArtScroll gemaras for those who don’t need them or by pushing traditional gemaras in the direction of those who do.

Moreover, Reb Yitzchak reveals to us an even more insidious tactic of the Yetzer Hora.  He tells us that even when the Yetzer is incapable of inducing someone to dumb down the sundry manifestations of his Avodas Hashem, it will endeavor to allow him no time to reflect upon what his avodah is actually all about, thereby rendering him a member in good standing of a Judaism without meaning.  In such a case, the Yetzer will marshal all of its efforts simply to get you to ask, what is the point of all this anyway?

As Reb Yitzchak puts it, the Yetzer Hora is prepared to give a person everything except for that which would breathe life into what he has been given.

But when all else fails; when a person is not buffeted by big kashas as to what this world is all about, and he’s not dissuaded from learning in a way that’s appropriate for his station, and despite the Yetzer’s full court press he gives tzeddakah to places that are highly respected in Shomayim, the Yetzer then plays its favorite card and either influences him to do it shelo lishma (for the wrong reason) or it so perverts a person’s motivation that he would be better off not doing the mitzvah altogether.

But how is one to plummet the depths of one’s motivations in a world that, more often than not, is a study in shades of gray as opposed to black and white?

For this we need Rav Dessler z”l, who, in his famous essay on tam (taste) and emes (truth) gave us the tools to sort out the motivational aspects of our Avodas Hashem.  

You pledged $1,000 at an appeal in your shul with mixed motives?   What did you think of first?  Was it the tam or the emes?

Rav Dessler tells us that if you thought that it was a worthy tzeddakah and, by the way, everyone will think that you’re a big tzaddik, then write the check because you are the proud owner of a mitzvah shelo lishma compliments of the Yetzer Hora.  But if you first thought about showing off, and then you rationalized that in any case it’s a good cause, put your money back in your pocket because the Yetzer Hora has so bamboozled you that Rav Dessler holds that your $1,000 pledge is nothing but a demonstration of gaiva and/or chanifa.  And this is not a contradiction to Chazal’s admonishment above to do a mitzvah even if it’s shelo lishma because in Rav Dessler’s view, such a debasement of a mitzvah’s essence no longer rises to the level of a mitzvah shelo lishma.

The test of tam v’emes is a yardstick that can be applied to virtually any mixed motive situation because deep down you know what you thought first.  And if it just so happens that your Yetzer has nudged you to visit someone in the hospital that you only casually know from the neighborhood because you would like to get him for a customer, and while you’re there you’ll khap arein the mitzvah of being mevaker cholim, then save the gas.

Stay home instead and watch the ballgame.  At least you’ll be doing something lishma.

Fuggedaboutit

Every aspect of Hashem’s creation bespeaks of perfection.

That’s the blueprint. 

From the perspective of functionality, however, the gears of Creation only mesh if used for their intended purpose.  When the sundry elements of Hashem’s mosaic are working at cross purposes the ink on Divine blueprint runs a little, for as Rav Avigdor Miller z”l was wont to say, the function of teeth are to chew one’s food, not the inside of the cheek.

The same holds true for forgetfulness.

Contrary to popular belief, the act of forgetting is not something that denotes some slight slippage that just happens on occasion in contradistinction to remembering which we view as the norm.  It is also one of Hashem’s creations and it is not a physical process.

As Rav Miller z”l tells us, it is one of the wonderful mechanisms that the Creator put into the mind.

He wants you to forget.

There used to be a saying that there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world, the meaning of which was that every benefit in the here and now of this world came with a price tag of some kind, be it economic, emotional, spiritual or anything else upon which a demand could be made for a benefit received.

The act of forgetting is the only exception to this rule because this wonderful gift of forgetfulness is one of Hashem’s great kindnesses, and as pure chesed it demands nothing in return.  It acts as the ultimate filter in that it retrospectively flattens life’s speed bumps or better yet deletes them altogether from the hard disk in our head.

Any emotionally healthy individual who has ever lost a loved one has tasted of the miracle of forgetfulness.  At first, all of the beautiful memories are interlaced with the intense pain of the loss. But as time passes through the shiva, the shloshim, and the first year and beyond, it takes with it the edge off the emotional pain, and as such, what began as bittersweet memories morph into sweet memories at a given point in the timeline that stretches from the loss incurred into the future, with that time being different for each person.  At this point, one’s memories of the past invoke a smile rather than a tear.

But as Rav Miller z”l reminds us, this gift of forgetfulness was given for a purpose, and it’s meant to be used for that purpose, and that purpose only.

You’re not supposed to forget Who gave you the gift.  For that you are supposed to make use of that other great gift:

Remember Hashem your G-d.

Seeking Hashem

And where, exactly, does one learn how to formulate an honest Tefillah?

So asked Rav Yaakov Weinberg z”l, as quoted in EmunahSpeak: So Say Something Already!

And he answered that we should learn it from a child.  If you have a need, cry.  You have a Tatte up There Who is going to take care of you.

Tatte, I have a need!  That’s enough in itself.  Your need requires a response.  

Your desires are another story.

Chazal tell us to seek Hashem where He can be found, and they then point us in the direction of the Aseres Yemei Teshuva.  And on these days, in contradistinction to the rest of the year, your desires are very much the story for we are told that we can ask for anything we want because Hashem is close to those who call out to Him.

Rav Avigdor Miller z”l notes, however, that there are different degrees of closeness.  You merit some kind of a response (albeit a possible NO) just for asking, because Hashem’s default position vis á vis His People during these holy days is one of closeness. 

Seek Hashem for whatever you heart desires but ultimately, if your wish list is properly prioritized, you should be seeking Hashem to get close to Him over and above all else.  Getting close to Hashem is the real deal, and He is close, as in tight, with those who call out to Him for that very  purpose, rather then squander their entire opportunity on mundane wants and needs.

Rav Miller z”l reminds us that that the closer one gets to Hashem in this world the closer he will be to Him in the next world for ever and ever. True enough, but it’s not a free lunch because he also tells us that before one can even hope to come close to Hashem he has to implicitly believe in His existence to the extent that he has a clear cut sensory perception that He’s here right before him.

The one who seeks to come close to Hashem, vaults that hurdle only to discover that he is separated from Him by mechitzas (barriers) that are constructed from his aveiros (sins) and character flaws, and there’s no getting close to Hashem as long as they remain standing.  Teshuva gemura, and only a Teshuva gemura is the means by which these mechitzas can be toppled.  But that’s only the first step because we still have to propel ourselves forward toward Him, and to that end Rav Miller z”l walks us over the fallen mechitzas and reveals to us three things that will bring us close to Hashem.

In the name of the Rambam he informs us that the very best way to come close to Hashem is to take a good hard look at His Creations in Nature. We are supposed to utilize the phenomenon of this world to see Hashem.  The purpose of spiders, porcupines, electric eels, snow, rain, lightening and every other manifestation of Nature is to teach mankind about Hashem.  If their purpose is to teach then ours is to learn, and as we begin to take notice of things around us our minds become enriched and we are drawn closer to Him.

But the myriad upon myriad of miracles that are documented by Nature all around us are not the only avenue by which we can aspire to come close to Hashem.  

Speaking to Hashem can also make you great, and you can seek Him within yourself, where the Spirit of Hashem is well ensconced, by consulting your own mind.  And in the course of time you can come closer Hashem because when people discover the greatness that’s within them they burst forth in praise of Hashem, be it by way of their own unique niggun from within or their recitation of Tehillim with kavana and feeling as recommended by the Mesillas Yesharim.

And there’s the third way, by which we jam pack our minds with thoughts of Hashem.  Love what Hashem loves and hate what Hashem hates.  Have in mind doing Avodas Hashem (korbanos) in addition to the rest of the mitzvahs because if your mind becomes full of Torah thoughts then you are already coming close to Hashem.

Seek Hashem where He can be found so as to come close to Him, and He will meet your gaze.