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The nazirite, the sotah
(the wayward wife), and a woman who has given birth are
required to sacrifice a sin offering: not because they have sinned, but because the Torah
does not look favorably upon vows, prohibitions that an individual chooses to place upon
himself: "What the Torah has forbidden is sufficient for you." Moreover, these sins are
individualistic-subjective sins, not normative-objective ones. After transgressing a
normative-objective sin, the sinner is punished both because he has committed a sin and
because the Torah wishes to put the fear of G-d into others, lest they learn from his
actions. There is a causal relationship between the sin and its punishment. However,
concerning the three individualistic-subjective sins, mentioned above, we are not
concerned that someone might learn from the sinner's actions and commit the same sin
because not everyone who encounters these same situations will react in the same way.
They might even react the opposite way. Thus, we might expect a birthing mother to
react with joy instead of anger. A husband might not be unduly suspicious of his wife. A
nazirite might take the time to look deep into his psyche before making a vow that he
might be unable to follow. However, these concerns are not objective ones.
"
With the following words will you bless
May Hashem bless you. May Hashem
illuminate His countenance. May Hashem turn His countenance." The Gemara in Shabbat
89a recounts:
When Moses ascended on high,
he found the Holy One, blessed be He, tying crowns onto the letters.
He (The Holy One, blessed be He) said to Moses: 'Moses, is there [no
greeting of] peace (shalom
) in your town?' He (Moses) said before
him: 'Since when does a servant greet his master?' The Holy One, blessed be He,
replied: 'Nevertheless, you should have helped me.' Immediately, [Moses cried
out]: 'And now, I pray thee, let the power of the Lord be great, as thou hast
spoken.(Bamidbar 14)'
See the insightful commentary of the Akeidat Yitzchak
on this parsha: Peace as the supporting pillar of Creation, as the
thread linking the opposites together. An approach perfectly
matching our own approach, based upon
the two contradictory verses that
conflict until the third verse arrives to reconcile them.
The Holy
One, blessed be He, ties two letters together, joining them at their
heads: turning two zayins into a chet. What is the
connection between tying crowns onto the letters and the concept of
peace? Apparently the following transpired: Moses ascended to the
heavens and thought it inappropriate to greet Hashem (say
shalom
) when he saw the
Holy One, blessed be He, involved in what he was doing. Hashem turned to Moses and
rebuked him on his, apparent, lack of manners. Moses replied that it would have been ill-
mannered for the servant to have initiated a conversation with his master. To this the
Holy One, blessed be He, replied: 'You should have helped me;" an ambiguous response,
having nothing to do with manners. Moses "helps" Hashem by reciting the verse, "And
now, I pray thee, let the power of the Lord be great
" This time, Moses' response
seems to have nothing to do with Hashem's words.
This wondrous midrash
seems to have the following meaning: The letters vav, zayin
and yud lacking a base, seem to be hanging on
nothing in the air. Their stability derives from their functioning
as vowels (tenu'ot) attached to and following the
consonants preceding them. This at least is true for vav and yud;
however, zayin is a consonant, not a vowel. In essence,
zayin is half-consonant and half-vowel. Zayin
lacks proper definition and when enunciated has no break. ZZZ
in
order to stop the zayins you must tied them together. They
can be tied from the top or the bottom. If they are tied at the
bottom, they almost look like the letter tet . So that
they do not become a vessel containing forbidden products, on the
right-hand side of the tet there is a sort of cover, which
distinguishes between forbidden and permitted products. This is in
keeping with the concept of eating the fruit and discarding the
peel. Another possibility is joining them at the top, a bond that
closes off any possibility of their connecting with the supernal
dimension [Since the chet, formed by the two
zayins is closed at the top]. Only by tying on a crown,
^, a hat of salvation can we reach the ideal situation of turning
chet (literally both sin and the letter under discussion)
into G-d's house of worship, the heichal
. Thus, that which has been created achieves balance and stability, but not via a
strong base in the physical world, for corporeal reality cannot possibly be founded upon
matter.
This is the message which Hashem gives to
Moses: "There is no peace (shalom) in the lower realms"
because of matter's complex nature. Composed of conflicting
opposites, matter needs to be completed (le-hashlim
, literally, be made peaceful or complete) by
another source. This state of completion, or this perfect state, can only be reached
through the intervention of the supernal dimension that makes peace between opposing
components of matter. This is the answer that Moses gave to the Creator: The servant,
who is steeped in the lower realms, cannot bring peace to the conflicting components of
matter. The Creator responds to this by hinting that there needs to be an awakening from
the lower realm in order to cause an awakening of the upper realm. Man needs to turn to
Hashem for help in order to be worthy of receiving divine aid ("You should have helped
me."). For this reason, Moses says: "And now, I pray thee, let the power of the Lord be
great
"
Based upon this interpretation, we can begin to
understand the notion of peace. Because of the conflicting nature of
matter the very bedrock of the material world - peace is not a
natural condition in the created world. Peace is a divine
quality
, not a component of
Creation. Peace is not woven into the fabric of Creation. It does not follow the laws of
Creation. However, without peace, Creation cannot exist. Thus, Creation is inherently
imperfect and is still attached to the Creator by an umbilical cord through which it
receives its sustenance and vitality. Becoming detached from its supernal source, the
world loses its vitality, and its ability to live.
Man possesses a
spiritual component, a piece of G-d above (chelek e-loha
mi-ma'al
).
Man is the only created being who has the ability to build up and stir divine mercy and
effluence through his behavior designed to awaken and petition heavenly assistance.
Thus, peace descends into this world by way of the G-dly essence's penetration into the
fabric of Creation; a spiritual essence with the exclusive ability to keep Creation going.
Thus, individual sin comes into being when man addresses the Creator by taking a vow -
a sin that contains within itself a good deed (or, even, the fulfillment of a
commandment)! Turning to the Creator and, apparently, battling nature is a sin for man is
attempting to stop a natural process, whereas performing the commandments is -- by
definition -- inherently acting in concert with nature for Heaven's sake. Those letters
decorated with crowns are a sign of the supernal dimension, radiating holy spirituality
upon natural, physical reality. This process neither undermines nature nor comes in its
stead, rather it helps the real world stand on its own two feet.
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