Eikev Obeying Civil Laws

The parsha of Eikev starts out by saying "and it will be that ultimately you will obey the civil laws (Mishpotim) and you will watch them and do them". That if we do obey these civil laws the result will be that we will receive all the rewards that G-d has promised us. The obvious question begs for an answer. There are actually three types of Torah commandments, Mitzvos, Chukim and Mishpotim. Mitzvos are commandments such as Shabbos, Lulov, Tefilin, etc. Chukim are commandments such as the laws of purity. Mishpotim are civil laws. Moshe Rabbeinu says here that if we adhere to the Torah's civil laws then we will be rewarded. What about the Mitzvos and Chukim? Must we not also adhere and obey these commandments and will we not receive rewards for our obeisance to these laws?

To answer this let's first understand the concepts behind each of these types of Torah laws. Mitzvos are laws that G-d has commanded us to do that show our gratitude and appreciation to G-d for acts of kindness or miracles that He has done for us. These laws also express our acknowledgement that G-d is Almighty and "runs" the universe. Shabbos shows that G-d created the universe and commanded us to observe a corporeal rest which results in a spiritual state of holiness. Pesach and Tefilin show our gratitude to G-d for our exodus from Egypt. The observance of these Mitzvo laws all profess a deep gratitude and appreciation to G-d for all the things He's done for us in the past and continues to do. Chukim are laws that G-d has commanded us to do which seemingly have no reason behind them. These laws seem to purely extend G-d's reign over us as a King of the Jewish nation. We obey these laws because G-d has commanded us to do so, from our spiritual love for Him rather than any logical reason. Mishpotim, civil laws, on the other hand are laws that any humanistic society enacts. These laws such as not to steal and not to murder are logical laws promulgated by a society and obeyed as members of that society. These don't seem to require a commandment by G-d through the Torah.

We can answer this through an explanation of a part of the Shacharis prayer service. At the start of the morning prayers we recite several mishnayos that concern sacrifices and Temple services. This section concludes with a statement by Bar Kaporo: if we would add honey to the incense offering then we wouldn't be able to tolerate the amazingly beautiful aroma. Therefore we don't add honey. He then adds an interesting statement. "and why do we not add honey to the incense"? Why? We just stated why. Because we couldn't tolerate the wonderful aroma. But that's not what Bar Kaporo ends his statement with. He states, "and why don't we add honey? Because the Torah states that no honey nor leavening shall be added". Wait didn't he just say we don't add honey because we couldn't tolerate the aroma? Why add an additional statement about the Torah or why state the concept of the aroma being so powerful? The answer is that even obvious things that we do such as not adding honey because its more than we can stand, are done by us NOT just because they are logical things to do. We do these things because the Torah SAYS do this.

This is pshat in the posuk, "V'hoyo Eikev tishmeun". Rashi says that Eikev can also mean those things to which we don't attach much importance. We would obey the civil laws anyway. But Moshe is telling us that particularily these common sense laws that all humanity adheres to are to be obeyed because G-d has commanded us to obey them, not because they are humanly logical things to do. Why do we obey our civil laws? Because the Torah has commanded us to obey them. And for this we will receive a multitude of good blessings.

Watch What You Say

Each day, 3 times a day, we say the Amidah Tefilah, or the Standing Prayer, generally called the Shemona Esrei. At the end of this prayer the Rabbis added a small additional prayer. It starts off saying "Elokai netzor leshoni meira u'sefosai midaber mirma". My G-d, guard my tongue from (speaking) evil and my lips from speaking falsehoods. The prayer then goes on to make an additional plea to G-d, "P'sach libi l'sorosecho". Open my heart to your Torah. What is the significance of this segue from asking G-d to guard our mouth and then to open our hearts?

When we ask G-d to open our hearts to Torah, what we are really requesting is that we have the intellectual capacity to learn Torah properly. In other words, our mind and our mouth should be able to engage in Torah learning together in a way that will allow us to both grow spiritually and act accordingly. In order for our mouth to engage in proper Torah learning, we must first make sure that we have a spiritually pure mouth. How can we make sure and how do we accomplish this goal? By not talking Loshon Hora, malicious gossip about anybody. By being honest and not indulging in any type of falsehoods, whether in our personal lives or in our business endeavors. And therefore we ask of G-d, please guard and protect us from these actions of our mouth and then we ask open our hearts to Your Torah.

Yet another question begs for an answer. Since the responsibility of all our actions are our own, how can we ask G-d to protect our mouths from speaking evil? We are supposed to guard our own selves from doing any sins. I think we can answer this in the following manner. Although we are commanded by G-d to learn Torah and live according to its dictates, the real basis for our capacity to learn and understand Torah comes as a gift from G-d. We can look at this "gift" as the initial seed or catalyst needed in order to learn and understand Torah with a pure heart and mind. Therefore we express a plea to G-d, in order to properly engage ourselves with your gift to us, please also start us off by guarding our tongue and lips from speaking evil. This will allow us to have a spiritually pure mouth that we can now use to learn Torah properly.

Teshuva and Technology

Technology can open up our eyes to the spiritual aspects of our lives. All you have to do is switch your outlook from corporeal to spiritual and use your mind's eyes instead of your optical eyes. Chazal tell us that G-d created the universe with equal and opposing concepts, "zeh l'umas zeh boroh Elokim." What this means is that the spiritual aspects of the universe mimic the corporeal. For whatever hidden reason G-d had at Creation, He wanted a certain sense of balance. If all of Creation were to be perfectly spiritual, there could not be a concept of award since an award is given for accomplishing something and if there were no corporeal temptations, you aren't accomplishing anything if you do only good.

And if you do "bad", what then? G-d in His Mercy pre-ordained to Creation the concept of Teshuva, Repentance, in order to give us a second chance. Chazal say that a Heavenly Voice is projected each day that says, "Return errant sons"; return to the correct path that we are commanded to walk along in our lives. Have you ever actually heard this Voice? Well your corporeal ears don't hear the Heavenly Voice but your soul's spiritual "ears" sure do. And here's where technology comes in.

I think the majority of my readers have either heard of GPS devices or either own one or have seen them working. GPS devices are quite prevalent in newer car models and are used extensively in driving. How do they work? The device receives constant signals from a Global Positioning Satellite which gives the device its relative position. The device has a detailed map of the area and calculates where you are and where you should be and where you want to go. The GPS shows you a clear route to take based on the goal you entered. What happens if you accidently veer off its predetermined route? It immediately senses this relative to your new position and the signals from the satellite and its original route and immediately recalculates and provides a new route to the original goal. Interesting isn't it?

And G-d created a spiritual GPS system which does the same thing. You start off your day with clear intentions of living a Torah life, davening with concentration and devotion, learning Torah, and doing deeds of chesed; Torah, Avodah and Gemilas Chasodim. And then woops you make a mistake. You veer off the straight path and do something wrong. And your soul's spiritual GPS kicks in and senses the Heavenly Voice signal telling you to do teshuva and starts to recalculate. Just like the corporeal GPS device's voice that says "recalulating a new route", it's OK, here's a new chance at driving on a correct route, so too does your spiritual GPS tell you that you have a second chance. Do teshuva, start all over, don't worry about it, just forge ahead with your Torah path in life. Isn't technology wonderful? Isn't Hashem's spiritual technology wonderful?

Thoughts on Life

Spiritual Salvation
In the verses of Tehilim that we say during Shacharis we find a verse that says "In the evening I lay down to sleep crying but in the morning I sing of salvation". This verse is hard to understand. The term "darkness or evening" connotes a period during which the person is experiencing troubles in his or her life. It would seem that a Jew would have emunah, faith, that G-d would alsways be there to help him through this trying period. Why then go to sleep with tears as if saying that he or she can't be helped and is therefore crying? The answer is that sometimes because of the severeness of a person's trials and tribulations in life, that person's faith in G-d drops to a very low point The person feels buffeted by wave after wave of oceans of woes and feels that nothing can help. The person is in complete dispair and cries, not cried of prayer to G-d but cries of helplessness. Even so, G-d the Merciful, our G-d who is full of Chesed, Loving Kindness, will help this person through their troubles and give them salvation as a pure gift, even though they had no faith in G-d. And when the person "wakes" up from this troubling "evening" period and sees clearly the hand of G-d in the salvation, as if the day started to shine again, he or she will acknowledge this and sing G-d's praises, recognizing that G-d was there all along. Even when it's raing and dark and forbidding, the sun is still shining in back of all those clouds.

Heavenly Guidance
Technology is wonderful. We can learn so many lessons in Yiddishkeit from technology. Everyone by now is familiar with GSP instruments. What does it do? You enter a destination and the GSP attunes your position and determines a path to take. If you make a mistake and veer off that track, it recalulates and gives you a new path to your destination. Chazal say that every day a Heavenly Voice rings out and pleads with us, return your hearts to G-d. We start the day with a goal in life of serving G-d in all our actions, even the mundane daily things we do such as earning a living. And along the way we might stumble and do something wrong. Our Heavenly spiritual inner voice, constantly connecting us to G-d and to His Torah, says to us, OK you made a mistake, don't worry about it. You can go ahead and you can return to your right path and goal, don't give up. And our inner spark of G-dliness re-calculates and sets us straight and back on the true path. All we have to do is listen.

Korach, Brilliance Corrupted

The Midrash calls Korach a Pikei’ach, an astute person. In fact Korach truly understood the mood of the fledgling Jewish nation at that point. He knew that the nation had just gone through an historical transformation from a slave nation with an entrenched idolatrous and immoral outlook to a nation so holy that G-d Himself “descended” to speak to them. They accomplished the unheard of task of transforming themselves from the status of being in the 49th lowest level of spiritual contamination to the 49th highest level of holiness; all that in the 49 days from the Passover exodus to their spiritual Epiphany at Mount Sinai. Korach knew that the basis for this ability to undergo such a drastic change came from the innate holiness of the Jewish people, the "Pintele Yid", and he also knew that the Jewish people knew that too. And therefore when he told Moshe “Kol hoam kulom kedoshim”, the entire nation is holy, Korach knew that the people would buy into this challenge to their leader.

What did Korach actually mean when he said that? Many commentaries interpret this to mean that the collective nation isn’t just holy on a greater societal basis. Each individual Jewish person has an innate holiness, bolstered at that point in history through their complete immersion into a life of holiness. On a daily basis: they were led by G-d Himself in the form of a Cloud by day and a Pillar of Fire by night, they ate a heavenly food that was so purely spiritual that there was no corporeal waste, and they had Moshe and Aaron teaching them. No wonder that Korach could capture the minds of 250 of the nation’s top spiritual leaders into his revolution and challenge to Moshe’s leadership and Aaron’s priesthood. He couldn’t accept the idea of a Klal Yisroel, of a collective nature that binds each Jewish person to the societal whole. What Korach did not realize was that this individual holiness actually was anchored to the Jewish nation's collective attachment to Moshe Rabbeinu. And that if this anchor were detached, the individual's holiness would diasappear. The Gerrer Rebbe Bais Yisroel ztzl says that the reason that Korach was destroyed even though he was a great man was that his attachment to Moshe Rabbeinu was cut off. His spiritual life support was cut off.

What was Korach’s concept of individuality? How did his argument and challenge to Moshe express itself through that idea? Rashi tells us that the juxtaposition of the Mitzvah of Tzitzis to the Parsha of Korach teaches us that Korach challenged Moshe as to the rationale of one strand of Tzitzis, the blue Techeles strand, making the 4 cornered garment wearable. What if the entire garment was Techeles, would it not be wearable without actually attaching the full complement of Tzitzis? He also challenged the Mitzvah of Mezuza. Why do we need the single parsha of Krias Shema in a Mezuza to protect a home? What if the building was filled with holy tomes, would we still need one single parsha? The Jewish home and Jewish individual are naturally filled with holiness. This was Korach’s basic challenge. If the entire concept of home and individual is holy, why the need for a single holier than thou object? The whole nation is holy, why the need for Aaron as Holy of Holies? In fact, the Midrash and Zohar cite several areas of religious beliefs and practices, of a singularity representing a collective whole, that Korach argued against. Each one with the challenging rationalization by Korach that collectiveness with a separate representative singularity is not a necessary requirement. That a holy individuality is more important.

Let’s look at these areas and try to understand what it is that Korach challenged. Keep in mind that the underlying challenge was that each individual is holy with no need for a societal singularity to represent them or to lead them. Korach challenged the Mitzvah of separating a small chunk of bread dough and giving it to the Kohen. This piece was called Challah. What was he challenging? Flour is the ultimate concept of individuality. One small blow at a pile of flour and it all separates quickly into individual particles of dust. However, add water and it becomes dough, the ultimate concept of togetherness. On a theological level we can homiletically interpret this to mean that through the actions of Torah living, which Chazal liken to Water, do the Jewish people have a collective holy national character. Korach argued that there is no need for a holy national character; we are individually and innately holy. We don’t require physical expressions and actions to make us holy.

Korach challenged the concept of an Eiruv, the idea that individual homes can become part of a collective by placing a single meal in the home of one member of the collective. Again his challenge was that there is no need for a singularity to represent the collective nature of society. Each holy Jewish home can individually stand on its own.

And finally says the Zohar, Korach challenged the very holy concepts of Shabbos and Shalom, both holy Names of Hashem. Why do we need a single day to represent the whole week? If we fill our entire weekly endeavors with holiness, why the need for a separate holy Shabbos day? Korach actually challenged only Shabbos, he did not challenge the Festivals. Why, because the Festivals were declared Holy by Beis Din and therefore was accepted by Korach. With this challenge he used the concept of Shabbos and Klal Yisroel being intimately connected and argued that both have no need for a singularity to represent the whole. Friday night between Kabolas Shabbos and Maariv we say a piece of Zohar, Kegavnoh, that expresses the idea that on a spiritual level Hashem, Shabbos, and Klal Yisroel are intimately connected and equated in some way. The Zohar calls this "Rozoh D'Shabbos and Rozoh D'Echod", the Secret of a Singularity. Chazal tell us that when G-d was planning the creation of the world He planned a conceptual week of 6 days of 28 hours each day. The 6 days presented themselves to G-d and expressed the idea that the week needed a leader, a singular representative of what a weekly cycle should accomplish. G-d agreed and told the 6 days that in order to accomplish this He would have to take 4 hours out of each day and in this way create a single day that would not only represent the 6 weekdays but actually come from within them.

This was Korach’s challenge and his mistake. He challenged the idea of a singularity arising from within the collective whole and representing the collective whole. He challenged the concept of Sholom, peace and uniting individuals and concepts. He argued that we don’t need a single strand of Tzitzis, or a single Mezuzah, or a single home with an eiruv, or a single small piece of challah, or a single day of the week. And we as a holy nation of holy individuals don’t need a single holy person who will represent our collective prayers and requests to G-d. Korach challenged wherever the Jewish religion had a singularity concept representing the collective whole. His mistake was that the underlying rationale of a singularity concept representing the collective whole was because that singularity in fact originated from within the whole and as such actually incorporated in itself the entire spiritual core of the whole.

True that each individual is holy and that each individual must accomplish their own goals in life. Each weekday has a purpose and goal in the work of the weekly cycle. But the total efforts of the week come to fruition through the Shabbos day and its special holiness. And in turn, by observing the Shabbos day properly, do the ensuing weekdays receive their spiritual strength to further accomplish their weekly goals. The Jewish nation is represented spiritually by the Kohen Godol, the High Priest, culminating in his once a year rituals in the Yom Kippur services. On a spiritual level, the leaders of the nation actually receive their spiritual status from the nation as a whole because the leaders arise from within the nation. Korach had the right idea of individual holiness. What he missed was that just like flour has its individuality but is worthless unless formed into dough and subsequently into bread, so too is the Jewish nation’s strength from the collective nature of our total society, bound by the actions of Torah living.

Will the Real Tikun Olam Please Stand Up?

What is Tikun Olam and What It Means to be a Jew

The concept often used by secularist Jews to rationalize their attachment to humanistic projects, and their detachment from Jewish tradition and ritual, is Tikun Olam. In this context, they use the idea of Tikun, roughly translated as Fixing or Improving, to mean that a Jew is put into this world to fix something. Fix what? Olam, the World. The concept comes from the words in the Oleinu prayer at the end of each service. Le’sakein olam b’malchus Sha’dai.

They are missing several ideas here. The words Tikun and Olam are used literally. We know, however, that Chazal often use everyday expressions in presenting spiritual concepts since everyday language is more easily conveyed and remembered. The word Olam when used as other than the purely corporeal actually connotes the idea of Helem, hidden, veiled. This is the veiled nature of G-d and His hidden spirituality in what is the supposed reality of the corporeal world.

The Midrash uses the phrase “Ein Tzur K’Elokeinu” to mean “Ein Tzayor”. Tzur, which means rock, is thus used homiletically to alter the meaning to Tzayor or Painter. Hashem is called the Painter of creation. How do we gauge the talent and success of a painter when viewing his creations? A painter who can express in his artistry a sense of reality so genuine, that the painting looks almost real is considered a genius. How much more so is G-d who painted creation so real, that we actually call it Reality. In this, then, is hidden the concealed nature of G-d’s spirituality in this world.

The world and creation as we perceive them are controlled by the forces of Nature. Hidden from our ordinary view, however, is the concept that the world is governed by G-d; the idea of Hashgocho Protis. The world, the Olam, “veils” the true Ruler of creation. The Midrash says that G-d desired to dwell in the lower regions of creation and therefore created Man, epitomized by the Jew, to serve G-d through Torah study, mitzvos, and prayer. And yes, kindness to others. Our purpose, then, is to instill and inspire into this corporeal world the spiritual nature originating within each of us. Therein lays the concept of Man being created in the image of G-d. It doesn’t mean that Man actually looks like G-d. It means that our inner souls are part of the G-dly spirituality that He created and placed within each Jew.

The word Tikun, besides meaning to Repair, also means to Establish a foundation. A Jew accordingly, has a dual purpose within creation. He must Repair the fact that G-d and spirituality are hidden by the corporeal curtain of this world. Tikun Olam, thus means unveiling the hidden concepts within creation so that all can understand and actually perceive G-dliness within Nature. The second purpose, using the idea of Tikun as foundation, is utilizing those unveiled concepts of spirituality as a foundation for our daily lives, and for interacting with the corporeal world.

What all this gives us on a daily basis is that we can perform this dichotomy of individual purpose in this world with our daily living. Our actions, both spiritual, performing religious rituals and observing halacha, and corporeal, the way we interact with others and how we convey ourselves and various acts of kindness to others, will both “fix” the corporeal world by showing them how a human is supposed to look and act, and be a foundation in our lives so that we constantly strive to better ourselves and the world around us. All this within the realm of spirituality governed by halacha and Torah and using this to unveil the Helem within the Olam.

Prologue to Pirkei Avos or Ethics of Our Fathers

One of the oldest traditions observed during the period between Pesach and Shavuos, and subsequently through the summer months, is the learning each Shabbos of a chapter of Pirkei Avos Chapters of the Tractate Avos, or Ethics of Our Fathers. Why is this particular Tractate a part of the Talmud and why is this a Tractate? The Talmud is a set of Tractates, each concerned with a particular set of religious or civil laws. There are no laws in Ethics of Our Fathers. It consists of 6 chapters, containing mishnayos or sub-chapter headings, of ethical teachings. There aren't any religious concepts here. All the teachings are those that a humane civil society would expect.

Our Sages in the Tractate Baba Kama tell us, if you want to be considered a Chasid (not to be confused with the modern term), which can be loosely translated as an ethical person, learn civil jurisprudence and make sure that you adhere to its teachings and rules. Rava says, learn Avos or ethical concepts. Rava also says, learn about the Blessings for various reasons, such as prior to eating. In light of that, Rabbi Yehuda who compiled the six-sectioned set of Mishna, placed Pirkei Avos in the set of civil laws, Nezikin. But the question still remains. Ethics aren’t laws. Why place a book on ethics in a civil law course? And why are the three various reasons on becoming a Chasid or ethical person connected to civil laws?

First let's understand the three concepts given to become a Chasid. First is to learn civil laws, or how to interact with others in our society. Second is to learn ethics, or how to make oneself a better person. Third is to learn the laws of Blessing, or how to show gratitude to G-d for all the good He gives us. These three areas are the three general areas that a person is in constant contact and with whom a person has personal interaction. In order to become a whole individual, a person should learn how to interact with everybody in his sphere.

Next is the question of why is Avos or Ethical teachings in Nezikin? The answer is that the concept of Jewish ethics and the reason why we adhere to them is different than the secular concept of ethics. We are taught that all our daily actions should be directed by a desire to serve G-d. There’s an interesting Mishna that concerns itself with the burning of incense in the Temple. The Mishna states that if we add honey to the incense nobody would be able to stand the smell, the aroma being so intensely sweet and desirable. The Mishna then states, “and why don’t we add honey to the incense? Because the Torah states that no honey or leavening be burnt upon the altar”. Wait, didn’t we just say that we don’t add honey because the aroma is so powerful? The answer is yes, the aroma is powerful, but we have to understand that this is a human reason, but we must live our lives by the dictates of the Torah. We don’t add honey because the Torah STATES that we don’t add honey, not because human reason understands that we can’t add honey. By placing Pirkei Avos, Ethics of Our Fathers, in the civil law Mishanayos we show that we adhere to ethics because it’s part of our religious legal structure, not because human reason says that we should be ethical.

The same is true for the three concepts explained earlier. We become a Chasid or Ethical individual by adhering to the three concepts, civil laws, ethics and blessings, not because our intellect tells us to do that. Intellectually we understand that a person should adhere to civil laws, should be whole with oneself and should show gratitude to G-d for giving us whatever we need. But the reason we do all this is because G-d has commanded us to be ethical individuals.

Each week before we start the actual learning of the Perek or chapter, we say a Mishna from another Tractate. The Mishna states as follows:
The entire nation (all Jewish people) of Israel has a portion in the World to Come (generally meaning the afterlife). As it is stated: And your Nation are all Righteous people, and forever will they inherit the earth (meaning that everybody will inherit a portion of Olam Haboh or the World to Come).

Wait, aren’t we talking about the World to Come, not earth. What’s this about everybody inheriting the earth as being proof that everybody has a portion in the afterlife? I think we can explain it like this. Every Jewish soul is given a barren piece of the Olam Haboh, the World to Come. Call it G-d’s Little Acre if you will. Our mission is to sow this spiritual land, irrigate it, make sure it receives light and in general tend to the land so to speak. What are the spiritual seeds, water, and light?

We say in the morning prayers prior to Shema Yisroel, that G-d sows righteousness and hence sprouts redemption and creates healing. We see from these words of prayer that acts of righteousness can be construed as “seeds”. The Torah is often stated as being the Water of Life. And the Mitzvos that we are commanded to observe and do are called a “Light”. So here we have our requirements for growing our barren tract of spiritual land. By learning Torah, thus acquiring “Water”, by living our lives according to the Torah, thus acquiring a “Light” to lead our lives, and by doing acts of righteousness, thus acquiring the needed “Seeds”, we can tend to our spiritual garden and make it bloom. Each different type of deed and Mitzvah will grow into various spiritual flowers and fruits and shady trees, giving us a beautiful glorious spiritual garden in which to live our afterlife. And Hell? Imagine standing in that still barren tract because you didn’t do any righteous acts and didn’t learn Torah and didn’t live your life according to the Torah. And then looking over to your neighbor’s gorgeous garden. Hell isn’t it? Appropriate thoughts before learning the Ethics of Our Fathers aren’t they.