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Rabbi Haim Lifshitz
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PARASHAT BO l'ilui nishmat Esther bat Mrdechai Education Continuing with the topic that we have been discussing in our weekly Torah readings, we arrive now at the foundations of faith that are unique to the Torah. There is an equation that brings balance in the relationship between the believing individual and his belief in the Creator of the universe. It is tied to individual initiative, as exemplified by our sacred forefathers, each of whom excelled in taking the initiative to create a connection with his Creator - a connection that was nevertheless in keeping with his own character – that informed his path in serving his God. The characteristics of these connections constituted the foundations of our faith. Without these, belief in the Creator of the universe would have become an ephemeral affair, gone with the wind, or more precisely, gone with the changes wrought by time and historical periods, each of which would have imprinted their impressions upon the notion of belief as experienced by the believer. The very fact that there is nothing more solid or more absolute in the entire creation than the Jewish faith in the Creator of the universe – and that this solidity surpasses even the solidity of the laws of nature, and that it is a solidity that is not silent and passive, not frozen but rather dynamic, that renews itself from within itself, that is not the victim of changes in the external conditions of the environment – begs investigation. This solidity contains two essential components that have been discussed in our previous Torah readings: Human initiative expressed by free choice, which is the fundamental element from which the freedom to choose derives, accompanied by the obligation to bear responsibility toward oneself and toward one’s environment. The main, first and foremost derivative of this obligation is entry into a flexible system that fits itself to every servant of God, in relation to reward and punishment, and that is built upon the ability of every single one of God’s servants, and that includes also the structure of a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. (Hence the Talmudic sages' need to elaborate upon all the details of the characteristics of the molders of this nation, including Joseph “the Righteous,” and his brothers’ attitude towards him, and even the details of the characteristics of the two sons of Aaron who died, apparently upon offering alien fire.) Coming from this perspective, we must clarify another fundamental element, prior to discussing the element that balances and that is an essential principle in the matter of free choice. This is the element of Divine initiative. Choice grasps onto the heels of God's providence over creation. This includes both generalized Divine providence and private, personalized Divine providence. One corollary that might be construed from the aspect of free choice is a sensation of arrogance, for it emits a smell of the absolute, and evokes a feeling of “I shall resemble the supreme One,” on the part of one who has, for some reason, fallen upon a governing position, or obtained a position of power. From this position, one may be swallowed by the sensation of power. One may imagine oneself as a supreme power. It is from this perspective that surging waves of tyrants rose and flooded the world, bringing rivers of blood into the world. We refer not merely to primitive populations, in which the sovereign cuts off hands and feet for the slightest error committed by his subjects. To this day, in China, a reign of terror prevails, transforming this multi-populous nation into human sheep, condemned to death for the slightest slip, or merely at the rulers' whim. The extent of absolute control is such as to obligate the family of the one condemned to death to pay the costs of his execution, and to fund even the price of the bullet that pierces his flesh. Even in our own contemporary era, the Christian religion attributes the status of the absolute to their religious leader, claiming he is incapable of error. Merely questioning this fact is considered heresy. There is no doubt that the death penalty that exists in many states in America derives as well from this foundation position of the absolute character of jurisprudence, which man has taken upon himself in his great arrogance, and from the power that the position of government has bestowed upon him, and this refers even to states that preach a form of government that prides itself upon its democratic foundations. In the Torah, we find that absolute judgement such as the death penalty is balanced by the principle of personalized Divine providence, which takes into consideration every individual’s emotional and spiritual condition. Thus for example, the deaf, the mentally handicapped, and minors: “Harming them is harmful.” Whoever causes them harm is found guilty, whereas if they harm others, they are found innocent. In principle, the punishment of death is made conditional upon the personal situation of the one being judged. In the time of the Sanhedrin (Septaguint) this was true to such an extent that if a Sanhedrin decreed a death penalty once in seventy years, it was called a lethal court. This balance between free choice on the one hand and providence on the other hand causes a softening of the punishment. It changes punishment from a Divine absolute to something that is human, and relative. We must recall that that this was the case even in the ancient era, when every regime followed the model of the Divine absolute. Here a difficulty arises: How could the Holy One have removed the element of free choice from Pharaoh, hardening and fortifying his heart during the last five plagues, so that he could not relent, as the sages of the Talmud teach us in their commentary on the plagues. This phenomenon has no equal in history. Even with the cursed Amalek, it is never mentioned that the Creator removed their element of choice. Does no educational way exist for bringing about the repair of free choice? In the previous Torah readings, we made it clear that the ways of faith divide into two paths: There is the natural way, the way that is most straightforward from a logical perspective – this is the way of gratitude. When an individual can no longer avoid the clear and obvious realization that the good the Creator has lavished upon him surpasses his own merit, he feels a sense of gratitude and is filled with the longing to attach, which obligates him to never deviate from his Creator’s imperative. The second way is the way of distress, and the question must be asked: Why has distress proven more effective than the way of gratitude, as we find clearly if we chronicle our path along the entire length of human history – a history that is gory with the blood of the Jewish nation. After all, the way of gratitude is preferable. It is more logical, and it entails feelings of thankfulness toward the One who has bestowed all good. However, it also entails indebtedness, and people do not delight at indebtedness, until they find themselves indebted by compulsion. Our Torah reading this week illuminates the question of how it is possible to acquire and to deepen the way of gratitude, for it is not acquired in a natural manner, and we must not wait in passive patience until it comes to us of itself. Rather, it is possible to educate and to train one’s personality, and to initiate, and to pave our own path toward it. To the order of events in the exodus from Egypt that take place in our reading, we suddenly find the order of the Passover sacrifice attached. This later becomes the Passover Seder conducted by the nation of Israel, which entails strict preparations of destroying all of one’s leavened products, in keeping with the prohibition that leaven may not be seen and may not be found, in even the minutest traces, to whatever extent a Jew is capable of controlling this. All aspects of the Passover Seder are built with the educational agenda in mind: “You shall tell your son…that with a mighty hand, God took us forth from the house of bondage…and if God had not taken us forth from Egypt, why then we and our children and our children’s children would have been slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.” Therefore, we find ourselves indebted in a way that has no equal for tangibility, for recognizing the good and for feeling gratitude towards the Holy One. However, this way becomes fixed into our souls if and only if we know that it must be preceded by tangible stages in the chronicles of our own lives, such as honoring our parents and our teachers. We stand no chance of fixing the obligation of gratitude permanently into our souls if we do not consider ourselves thus obligated toward the people who brought us into this world, as well as toward the people who show us the way to deserve the next world. Modern liberal education, devoid of gratitude toward parents and teachers, began the way they educate in the kibbutz. The caregiver is whoever is there to be the most direct caregiver, whereas parents may budget approximately two hours for their children before supper. Children call their parents by their first names. The father, when he plays with his children, encourages his little ones to ride upon him, while he, the father, walks like a horse on all fours. In the modern form of education, urban dwellers too are apprehensive about imposing their views upon their children, or punishing them when necessary, lest their children complain to the law. The father fears his children more than the children fear their parents. Gratitude for parents has been lost to the world. How can the character trait of gratitude toward the Creator of the universe become rooted in a child’s heart? Though it is possible to deepen and to enhance the trait of gratitude while it is still in its sensory stages, with a very young child, it is nearly impossible to persuade individuals to adopt this trait toward the Holy One at any age. Thus if the nation of Israel leaped up and cried out “we will do and we will obey,” this trait was preceded by “honor your father and your mother, during the sensory stage, while they were yet to be found at the stage of the trait of humility, upon which the trait of gratitude is guilt. The trait of humility is the product of the habit of respecting those older than oneself. The trait of humility is the most basic character trait of all. It opens the door to the personality, allowing it to receive values, and to move the selfishness that rules unchallenged and that prevents values that are greater than man from taking their place in his personality. For this reason, one must educate for humility at a young age, while selfish arrogance has still not matured and closed all openings. The trait of gratitude is the main entry, inviting values to enter and to dwell within the personality, rather than allowing selfishness to acquire a place for itself. The trait of gratitude is not limited in time. Whereas distress - its ultimate fate is to pass away and be forgotten. For after all, one cannot bear it for any length of time and continue to live, whether from habit or from despising one’s life because one can no longer bear the distress. Whereas gratitude – its nature is eternal and it is free of the disadvantages of distress. And there is another quality that characterizes the trait of gratitude. It is not localized, and it is not necessarily caused by any one factor that comprises the individual’s nature. Rather, on the contrary, gratitude encompasses and includes all sensations of existence in incessant fashion. As long as there is the breath of life in one’s body, one senses it, with every single point in the sensation of life joining to this gratitude and this recognition of thanks, which embraces and attaches to an expression that is entirely good and positive. |
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