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Weekly Torah Email
Dec. 24, 2009 |
Weekly Torah Email
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A Thought On Parshas Vayigash
"...Anochi ered imcha...gam aloh...""...and I will do down there with you...and ascend..." (46:4)
It may seem "obvious" to us that this verse means what it says: HaShem assured Yakov that He would accompany him down to Egypt during our first national exile. After all, we are familiar with the concept of golus HaShechina - the Divine Presence goes into exile when our nation does. We are all familiar with the concept of immo Anochi ba'tzara - I am with you during hardship - and our verse simply means that HaShem goes with us and returns with us wherever our sojourn may be. Simple enough.
"Obviously", however, nothing that magnificent and majestic can be so simple, nor should it seem so easy to understand. The Shechina is not a substance or entity which can travel, nor does the Shechina "need" to travel. HaShem is Omnipresent, incorporating all and encompassing everywhere in a manner which is metaphysical and transcends even the best metaphor. Moreover, the standard statements in Chazal regarding those lofty concepts about golus HaShechina do not even cite our verse, which would seem like an "obvious" source upon which to anchor the notion of a migrating Presence.
The Recanati offers a better perspective for us. He produces a verse (Zecharia 4:2) which says, "V'hinei menoras zahav kula v'gula al rosha" - "and there was an image of a pure golden light with a gula over it." The Recanati then cites a midrash (VaYikra Rabba 32:8) -
"gula" means "gola" (exile). Above the image of light is a symbol that the Divine light also contains an "exile" component, as it is written (Yeshaya 43:14) - l'manchem Shilachti Bavela - for your sakes I have sent Myself down to exile.
There is an eternal Divine Presence yet within that Presence is a facet "fit for exile." What are the theodyamics (I believe I just coined that term) of this? The Recanati explains further:
Early on in the Torah, during the days of creation, we read (1:4) va'yavdel Elokim bein ha'or u'bein ha'choshech - HaShem separated between the light and the dark. Taking light and separating it from dark is not the most complicated activity in life. We do it all the time. So, it is "obvious" that what took place in the early moments of creation was not that simple.
The Recanati sees here an allusion to the light which we have talked about in earlier parshios this year. With light as a metaphor for the endless power which emanates from Above, HaShem separated light into light-light and dark-light. This separation represents the seeming accessibility of that sense of the sacred with which we seek to encounter HaShem in our deeds and minds and feelings, and the more faint sense of the Beyond which we struggle with in the dark of exile. We can understand darkness as being the absence of light, but we can better understand that darkness is a different view of light. When it is dark outside, the light is still there but we cannot see it. When we are in exile, the light is still there but it is experienced in a darker manner. This is the "separating" at creation. This is the gula hovering above the golden menora in Zecharia's vision. And that is what HaShem assured Yakov. Rather than a foreboding sense that the descent into exile would bring a darkening over the spirit, HaShem assured Yakov that there is a form of light called darkness. That is the light which is accessible during golus.
That light form would go down into exile with us, but gam aloh - it will also ascend with us. The return from exile will not herald a permanent diminution of the sense of Presence, for the Presence never changed. The light will once again be perceived and experienced as light. The gula over the menorah will become the geula.
Good Shabbos. D Fox |
Reader's Question: Do you know of any Torah sources that recommend: 1) physical exercise as a way of staying in good health. 2) playing sports as a good way to spend one's time?
Answer:
Excercising, in order to stay healthy is an important part of being a Torah Jew!
The Torah specifically dictates that we guard our health, as it states V'Nishmartem Meod L'Nafshoseichem- You shall Guard your health very much" (Parshas V'Eschanan Chapter 4:15)
Rambam in the 4th chapter of Hilchos Dayos prescribes a whole regimen of healthy eating and excercise, and even guarantees anybody that follows his regimen to a long life, free of sickness!
Regarding ball playing, if it is being done for excercise, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it (as long as it is done in a kosher venue, and without any compromising of halacha)
If it is being done for reasons other than health, then some authorities have dubbed it " a waste of time" (See Kaf HaChaim Siman 308:259)
Of course, on Shabbos and Yom Tov it is prohibited to play ball and/or excercise for various reasons. This applies to children who have reached the age of Chinuch as well. If necessary for health reasons, a Rav must be consulted.
Reader's Question:
Chacham Ovadia Yosef Shlita holds that when one leaves the restroom and wishes to eat bread, he has 2 choices:
1) wash 6 times alternating, say netilas yadayim, asher yatzar, hamotzi
or
2) wash 6 times alternating, say netilas yadayim, hamotzi, asher yatzar. he says not to follow the Ben Ish Chai who suggests washing 6 times, saying asher yatzar and then touching an unclean part of the body requiring a regular netilas yadayim for bread because this is forcing a bracha she'eina tzricha.
Answer:
Regarding one who uses the restroom and also plans to eat bread, there are many different methods that are halachically acceptable. See Shulchan Aruch Siman 165:1 and Mishna Berura S"K 2.
The most commonly accepted method (for Ashkenazim at least ) is to wash the hands without a utensil and recite Asher Yatzar and then wash the hands with a utensil and then recite Al Netilas Yadayim
When drinking a morning tea or coffee with a cookie, doughnut or danish (Path Habba-ah Bekhisanin - which is Mezonoth), the blessing (Beracha) or blessings one that recites depends essentially on the individual.
If the cookie or other similar Mezonoth that the person is eating is what is most important and the drinking of the tea or coffee is just to accompany it and is secondary, then the only Beracha that is recited is Borei Minei Mezonoth on the cookie, doughnut, or other similar Mezonoth and it covers the drink as well. But if the drink is what is most important and the Mezonoth is secondary and consumed simply to accompany the drink, then the blessing of Shehakkol should be recited on the drink and one must have in mind that it covers the Mezonoth also.
If, however, both the the drink and the Mezonoth are equally important and neither is secondary to the other (as is common when a person settles down to drink his or her morning coffee and have a danish or doughnut with it and enjoys each one independently), then both blessings must be recited. First the Beracha of Borei Minei Mezonoth is recited on the Mezonoth and then Shehakkol is recited on the drink.
(See Q. Sh. 'A. H"R Rafael Baruch Toledano, 167: 22).
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