BS”D
VIRTUAL VITALITY: ACHAREI MOT-KEDOSHIM
Shira Smiles shiur – 2020/5780
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz
Stein
L’iluy
niahmot chayakei Tzahal who gave their lives in defense of our nation and our
land.
Parshat Acharei
Mot
includes a verse often quoted as a source for Rabbinic decisions involving
matters of life and death: “You shall observe chukotai/My decrees and mishpotai/My
laws vechai bohem/and by which he shall live-I am Hashem.” Rashi
comments on the phrase “and by which he shall live” as referring to olam
habo, the future world, since we are all destined to die in this physical world.
However, our Sages emphasize that the phrase is an affirmation of the
importance of life, that in all matters, except for the three cardinals sins,
where there is physical danger to life [or limb] when observing a Torah
command, the sanctity of life takes precedence over the observance of the
mitzvah. Are these two views, live in this world or live in the world of
eternity, in total conflict, or can we reconcile these two views?
Rabbi Asher Weiss
notes that even physical life can be experienced on multiple levels. For a Jew,
living his life within the dictates of Torah values and mitzvoth gives him the
fullest life experience possible. Taking this idea one step further, Rabbi Tatz
suggests that mitzvoth create a bridge between this world and the next. Man is
composed of a physical body and a spiritual soul. With very few exceptions,
mitzvoth are physical actions. However, to be fully effective, one should
perform the mitzvah with the proper intention/kavannah of acting for the
sake of Heaven. Our minds, which control our thoughts and intentions, are part
of our spiritual souls. Therefore, although we are performing a physical
action, we are affecting our souls which will receive their reward in the
future world where they will continue to exist after our physical death. The
more intense our spiritual intention, the greater will our reward be in the
eternal life of the soul.
The Slonimer
Rebbe, the Netivot Shalom, proposes an even stronger connection between
the world of physical performance and the world of the spirit. One can indeed
perform all the mitzvoth of the Torah punctiliously, and yet do them all by
rote, investing no spirit, infusing them with no spark of life. If a Jew does
not feel the joy of mitzvah observance, the exhilaration of Shabbat, for
example, how will he enjoy being in the radiance of God’s presence in the world
of the soul? If he has not experienced the joy of God’s presence in this world,
he will not experience that joy in the eternal world. He will be, writes Rabbi
Rabinowitz in Mesillot Bilvavam, like a blind man in an art gallery,
unable to appreciate his surroundings.
The Netivot
Shalom brings this point home by noting that our verse mentions chukim
in addition to mishpatim. While we may understand the reasons for the mishpatim/social
laws, chukim are those laws which we as human beings cannot logically
understand. Nevertheless, we should invest the same joy and exuberance in
performing all the mitzvoth, whether we understand them or not, because they
help us form a connection to Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
When we are told,
“And you shall live by them,” we are being instructed to invest our hearts and
entire being into the mitzvah’s observance, writes the Osherover Rebbe in Be’er
Moshe. Just as we cannot properly perform the mitzvah of the four species
with a dried out lulav, instructs us the Gemorro, so should we not
perform any mitzvah in a withering and “dead” mood. Why is the lulav
specifically used to to teach this idea? If we divide the four Hebrew letters
of lulav into two words, we get Lo lev/to Him is the heart, and its
numerical equivalent 68, the same as chaim/life. Hashem wants us to
become alive and enthusiastic in our mitzvah observance. When you infuse the
mitzvoth with energy, you yourself are impacted and become more alive, adds
Rabbi Rabinowitz, so that, although you will receive your reward in the world
to come, your physical life on earth is impacted and rejuvenated as well.
How can we bring
enthusiasm and life into our spiritual lives of mitzvah observance? Why is it
so difficult? Rabbi Eisenberg gives us some insight into human psychology.
Physical pleasure provides instant gratification, albeit the pleasure is short
lived and demands constant refueling. This need overpowers our sensibilities,
so that we may realize our actions are harmful even as we keep doing them, like
overeating when we know we’ll regret it later. Spiritual satisfaction, on the
other hand is delayed gratification. It requires time, effort, and training.
But its pleasure remains with you for extended periods of time, often forever.
Further, the spiritual activities and venues that are fulfilling for one person
are rarely the same as those for another person. Each of us must find our own
calling, our own energy source to plug into what will spur us to have the
patience and make the effort to grow. For one person, that may be raising tzedakah
for a worthy cause (or several), for another, it could be studying Torah and
teaching, for yet another, it might be immersion in prayer especially for
others, and yet for another, it might be cooking for families in need. Find the
path that gives you pleasure in this world so that you can build on it for
eternity.
Besides telling us
to live by the mitzvoth, the Torah also provides the parallel command to choose
life. But life for a Jew is “not by bread alone, but by all that go forth from
My mouth,” says Hashem. Therefore, choosing life means not only physical life
provided by bread, but especially spiritual life provided by observing the 248
negative commandments that correspond to the 248 limbs that comprise the human
anatomy, writes Rabbi Rothberg in Moda Labinah. We can thus extrapolate
that there is no life of the body without nourishment from the Torah. This
explains why our medrash relates that Hashem held the mountain over Bnei
Yisroel at Sinai like a dome, declaring, “If you do not accept the Torah, there
will you be buried;” If you do not accept the Torah and abide by its 248
negative commands and its 365 positive commands, you will surely die, for you
will have no sustenance for the soul that animates the body, explains Rabbi
Sheinerman in Ohel Moshe.
We are all in
God’s service, but we can be compared to the servants of a human king (lehavdil).
Some servants serve in the palace, in the king’s inner circle. Others are in
the distant reaches of his kingdom, performing perfunctory but necessary services,
but seldom if ever in direct contact with the king. Which kind of eved
Hashem do we want to be, asks the Sifsei Chaim, one who serves by
rote, out of pure necessity, or one close to the King, One with Whom we can
communicate on a personal level?
If Torah is our
life, it is meant to be continuous, without interruption, not delegated only to
specific times and hours, writes Rabbi Wolbe. During the course of our day,
fill those empty minutes (waiting on line, riding in your car, walking, etc.)
with Jewish thoughts, whether to review a Torah lesson, figure out how best to
prepare for Shabbat or Yom Tov, or how to observe any mitzvah. [My favorite
dream contemplation: If I win the lottery, how would I distribute double maaser?
While this may not be realistic, it fills a void that is well worth the $2.00 I
may spend on the lottery ticket. CKS]
Western culture
convinces us that the essential part of life is our profession, rather than our
spiritual life. If that is the case, let us treat our Torah as a profession,
writes the Tosher Rebbe in Avodat Avodah. As the Nusach Sfard
includes in the Prayers upon Arising, “Torah teheh emunasi…/Let my faith
be in Torah...” or, alternately translated, “May the Torah be my profession...”
Let us invest Torah and mitzvoth with at least the same importance we invest in
our professions. Let us identify ourselves as a servant of God, not only as a
lawyer, sales rep, mechanic, or teacher. That’s why our verse of living by
Torah ends in, “I am Hashem [spelled YKVK],” Signifying that if you make Torah
your life and your identity, then I will interact with you as the God of
compassion, even to the extent of annulling a negative decree. Further all the
time and each step taken in preparation of a mitzvah is equally rewarded.
Rabbi Frand
develops this idea more fully beginning with an analogy originally presented by
Rav Hutner. In response to a question presented by one of his students, Rav
Hutner explained that one was not living a double life by spending time
practicing his profession while compartmentalizing another part of his life to
Torah study. Instead, he was alternating living between two rooms in the same
house. Expanding on this idea, Rabbi Frand then explains that even while
living in the same house, one might be decorating one room elaborately while
keeping another bare. Which room is he really living in? Is his time with Torah
and mitzvoth like his family room or like his garage, and which is his
professional room? Does he identify with his Ivri Anochi, his Jewish
identity, or his worldly identity? Just as you hopefully find a profession
where you feel challenged, invigorated and fulfilled, find an area of Jewish
life, whether individual or communal, that will equally challenge you but also
invigorate and fulfill you. Let our children see us excited about something
Jewish.
The introduction
to Pirkei Avot/Ethics of Our Fathers states, “Every Jew has a portion in
olam habo/the future, eternal world. Rabbi Druck notes that the verse
does not say that he will have a portion in the world to come, in the future
tense, but that he already has it in the present. We are meant to create that
experience now, in our physical lives. Certainly, all who support Torah will be
rewarded in the future world, but if they themselves do not study Torah and
perform the mitzvoth, they will lose out on this experience, of the personal
connection with Hakodosh Boruch Hu while they are still alive. When we are
involved in doing a mitzvoth, adds Rabbi Yoffe in Leovdecha B’Emet, we
are already bringing the holiness of that future world of Gan Eden into the
physical world and surrounding ourselves in that aura and atmosphere. We can
already live the future world in this physical world.
In a profound
idea, Rabbi Schwab suggests that we are not to view this world and olam habo
as two separate entities, but rather as one continuous life, the only
difference being that the physical aspect of our lives have fallen away while
the spiritual aspect of our lives continues. As the blessing before reading the
Torah says, “Hashem has implanted eternal life within us.” With our study and
observance of Torah and mitzvoth, we are planting the seeds for our eternal
life during our physical time on earth. These seeds grow and bear fruit both in
this world and in olam habo. Life is a continuum from the moment we are
born into the physical world through the eternal world of the soul.