AHEREI MOT-K'DOSHIM

Part One:

Parashat Aharei Mot

Part Two:

Parashat K'doshim

Rav Haim Lifshitz

Essays and Articles:

Go to Hebrew site

Aharei Mot - Sa’ir Ha’Mishtalaiah

as an Existential Problem
 

 Translated from Hebrew by S. NAthan

l'ilui nishmat Esther bat mordechai

PART ONE:  AHAREI MOT - Sa’ir Ha’Mishtalaiah as an Existential Problem

“And my soul as dust, to all, shall be” is a prayer of yearning to be freed of the enslavement that makes life bitter, that especially sabotages the freedom to choose to belong to one’s Possessor:  It is dependency upon external factors.  It prevents one from belonging, from d’vaikut to one’s heavenly source in the dimension of height.

To neutralize dependency upon external factors, Hazal teach: “ ‘The horse and its rider He plunged into the sea.’  Higher ones were down, lower ones were up.”  Thus is man freed of the things he imagines to be permanent – aggressors and other threats.  Thus is his spirit freed, to sense his own inner needs that flow from his Godly “I”’s source, and to attach to this source.

Yet now suddenly the dreaded Sa’ir Ha’Mishtalaiah approaches.  Images conjured up by the pasuk “satyrs dance there” rise before one’s eyes, a witches’ dance of ghosts and demons and the stench of the graveyard; one finds oneself standing in the terrifying shadow of...life’s end, stepping out to the dance with “as for man’s superiority over the animal – there is none.” 

Dependency upon external factors is accompanied by a sensation of one’s own limitedness, of the deterioration of one’s own existence.  Dependency upon the dimension of height, in contrast, creates a sensation of being connected to life’s source, of infinity, of exaltation, of abundant bracha.

What attitude does the Torah expect toward the Sa’ir Ha’Mishtalaiah?

Indeed, the mefarshim do not attempt to evade the problem.  Some view it as a philosophical difficulty – a sort of attempt to involve man with the alien forces that might enslave him to avoda zara, God forbid.  Thus the Ramban sees the issue of Sa’ir Ha’Mishtalaiah as a paying off of debt to Sama’el, the angel of death, as though his power were a cause for concern, for he stands opposed to the Power on high, and he would interfere with the bond being created between Yisrael and their Father in heaven.

Ohr HaHaim HaKadosh takes a human/Godly approach that has no external factors mingled into it.  He sees the Sa’ir Ha’Mishtalaiah as a sort of drainage channel.  It is intended to drain off the zuhama, the poisons accumulated through sinking into sin.  Zuhama testifies to the presence of disease that creates toxins that spread into the body and soul of the sinner.  Every sin creates a stain that cannot be wiped clean, and it is of urgent necessity to free man and to cleanse him of the sin that creates a barrier separating and distancing the sinner from his supreme source of sustenance.

Hesed asa haBoreh im yerai’av.  “In kindness has the Creator dealt with those who fear Him,” by giving them the two satyrs, in order that they might learn to distinguish and to separate between their good deeds and their less good deeds, and in order that they might learn how to deal with them.

What separates the era of Giluy Panim differs from the era of Hester Panim?

Yet there is a substantive difference between what is accepted now as a t’shuva occupation, and what was accepted then, during the era of giluy panim, the era of the two satyrs, when the Bet HaMikdash stood, when the hidden secret of ultimate quality was not separate from the quality that radiated down from heaven upon all creation, shedding light on God’s servant’s path.

During a period of hester panim, what unfolds within God’s servant’s innermost being does not find its way out into the light of day.  Innermost sanctity is not discernible on the face of things; it is not visible to the eye.  Evil makes itself known through a mask of goodness.  There is no Sa’ir Ha’Mishtalaiah, there are no korbanot.

“We have become orphans,” and “we have no one on whom to lean but on our Father in heaven,” to light our eyes to see our own way to serving God from the source of good that is within ourselves – service of God through avodat hamidot.  From the illumination of the Bet HaMikdash we have moved to the illumination of the Torah and the pure soul.

By an inward listening to its instructions, a path can be paved that will lead man to the goal that has been set for him by heaven.  Instead of the two satyrs doing his work for him, an inner consciousness appears, and understanding, and the servant’s awareness of his own spiritual condition, and these become the source of his ability to discern good from evil.  They become his tools, free and clear of the influences of external stimulus.  He acquires the abilities of autonomous thought and free choice - that rely exclusively on avodat hamidot and on amal haTorah.

He does not stand still, hanging in suspended animation, waiting for a change to take place in the conditions of his environment.  He depends only upon his own will, which is the force that activates the choice that comes freely from within himself, that does not depend on anything external.

Even attaching himself to rabo hamuvhak, to his great master cannot be at the expense of one’s own inner self-work.  He is only aided by his Rav’s guidance, in order to deepen self-awareness, as in “no prisoner frees himself from jail.”

Hence the extreme caution with which the Torah handles the Sa’ir Ha’Mishtalaiah issue.  The Torah wishes to preclude the error of viewing the Sa’ir Ha’Mishtalaiah as an object, in which human dependency is fixed upon an object that does not derive from the inner human being.  A heftsa, an object, during the period of giluy panim, was a direct expression of Divine Presence, and therefore held no danger of creating human dependency. 

In the era of “darkness shall cover the earth,” midat harahamim seeks the assistance of the sh’chinta b’galuta, of the exiled Godly Presence, of the Godly reality that has gone into deep hiding, that has penetrated the innermost intricacies of the human soul, and established Its abode therein, making of it a Mishkan.  From here on, man is the abode of sanctity.  This sanctity is totally in his hands and totally his choice.

Thus is created the human condition that bears sanctity.  It is a condition of Torah, of “causing oneself to die in Torah’s tent,” of the talmid hacham transformed into a mikdash me’at, a  Holy Temple in miniature.  One who attaches to him, attaches to the shechina. 

What remains today of the Sa’ir Ha’Mishtalaiah?  A mound of bones floating in the air, that collect into an idea that turns into a drainage channel for objects from the surround that threaten to enslave man and to turn him away from the direction of height.  Thus the Sa’ir Ha’Mishtalaiah benefits also the one who serves God from his inner being, by draining away whatever threatens his autonomy, and sending it to Azazel.

The role of the Cohen cannot be chosen or acquired.  The Cohen’s holiness is granted him by the source of supreme holiness, and in that way he resembles a heftsa of kedusha, a holy object.  Man as an object is possible only in an era of giluy panim.  Otherwise, “a bastard sage has more importance than a high priest ignoramus.”  This teaches us that the quality acquired by a servant of God who cultivates his Godly soul by virtue of his efforts of avodat hamidot and by the power of his Torah, in which he toils day and night, is of greater and superior status than a holy object. 

This principle held even in the era of giluy panim, and how much ever more so in an era of hester panim, when the “Face” is hidden, when we have no Cohen, and no mizbaiah, and not even a satyr that we might send to a cliff-strewn land.  One cannot lean on anything anymore, other than one’s own quality and the power of one’s own choice. 

(For further elaboration of this, see continuation - Parashat Kedoshim.)

PART TWO:

Parashat K’doshim

Human Sanctity – Shabat

“Kedoshim, Sacred ones shall you be, for kadosh,

sacred am I, your Lord.”  (19:2)

“For I am God mekadishchem, Who makes you sacred.” 

(Shmot 31:13) 

The Gemara comments (Beitsa 16): “...That you will know that I am God Who makes you sacred:  The Holy One said to Moshe: ‘A good gift have I in my treasure house, and its name is Shabat, and I seek to give it to Yisrael.  Go and inform them.”  What is the nature of this good gift?  The Gemara continues: “A neshama yetaira, an extra soul God puts into man on erev Shabat, and at motsa’ei Shabat they take it from him.”  One might examine the phraseology here: In the giving of the gift, “the Holy One puts it into man,” while in the taking of it, “they take it,” as though HaKadosh Baruch Hu does not take the soul away, but rather others take it.  It begs investigation: Who are they who take man’s extra soul away from him, which makes him sacred?

First and foremost we must examine the substance of kedusha.  As a first premise subject to no controversy whatever, we know that kedusha is the highest level, a goal longed-for by every upward-moving individual, and that there is nothing higher.  The Rambam calls it the sha’ar malchut shamayim – and an open doorway to prophecy, and the entry into eternal life.  A bursting of the boundaries of space and time, it is the revelation of truth, including the purpose of creation’s existence, of the creation of man and of the goal of his existence, the secret of human suffering, and the formula for perfect happiness.

The difficult question is:  To what extent is kedusha in human hands?  Meaning, how much is he involved in attaining it.  Is kedusha entirely a human condition, or is it only half dependent on a human condition?  Or is the source of kedusha’s forming perhaps entirely in heaven?  Perhaps it is not a human acquisition at all but only a something given to him in trust?  Perhaps it is a heavenly gift: As it comes, so it goes...  What does man need in order to hold on to it, and where are its enemies, that lie in ambush to take it from him?

“Sacred shall you be” according to Rashi refers to a localized meaning, specifically regarding the issue of incest.  The Ramban broadens its imperative, raising it to a conceptual level based on Rashi’s words: “For everywhere that you find stringency against incest, you find kedusha.”  The Ramban adds: “But in Torat Kohanim I saw that it said merely prushim tihyu, ‘be set apart’...therefore the scripture comes, after detailing all the prohibitions which it prohibits entirely, and commands in regard to a general matter – that we be set apart from motarot...which eventually will include in this imperative a cleanliness of the hands and of the body, that we are to be clean and pure and set apart from the masses of men who filthy themselves with excess and ugliness.  And this is the Torah’s way, to specify and to generalize regarding similar matters: After warning of the details of the laws in all interaction among human beings – ‘do not steal’ and ‘do not rob’ and ‘do not extort’ and all the other warnings – it then said the general rule of ‘you shall do what is honest and good’ – that one must put honesty and equality as a positive commandment.  And all this is well and far within the boundary of the law, in order to be pleasing to one’s fellows.  And the reason for the scripture that says ‘for sacred am I, your God’ is to say that we will earn the privilege of attaching to him by our being sacred.  And this addresses the first commandment of the Ten Commandments...”

  See the Ramban further on (pasuk 4) where he continues: “And in Midrash VaYikra Raba they mentioned regarding this parasha, ‘Rabi Levi says: ‘Because all ten commandments are included in [this parasha]: ‘I am God, your Lord’ and here too is written ‘I am God, your Lord.’  ‘You shall not have other gods’ and here is written ‘gods of mask you shall not make for yourselves.’  ‘Do not take the name’ and here is written ‘do not swear falsely in My name.’  ‘Remember the Shabat day,’ and here is written ‘My Shabats shall you keep.’  ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and here is written ‘each man, his mother and his father shall he fear.’  ‘Do not murder,’ and here is written ‘do not stand by at your fellow’s blood.’  ‘Do not adulter,’ and here is written ‘do not violate your daughter to prostitute her.’  ‘Do not steal,’ and here is written ‘do not steal.’  ‘Do not bear false witness,’ and here is written do not go slandering among your people.’  ‘Do not covet,’” which here in our parasha attains to the human dimension of “love your fellow as yourself.”  What has the negative commandment of “do not covet” to do with “love your fellow as yourself” unless the latter can be called treating the roots of the midot?  Preventive treatment: After all, one does not covet a thing, or feel distressed that it does not belong to him if it belongs to one he loves, for after all he is happy in the happiness of the beloved.

“The Holy One wished to grant Yisrael merit.  Therefore He gave them increased Torah and mitsvot.”  “Mitsvot were not given except to purge people thereby.”  What sort of mitsvot?

There is kedusha in the gavra, in the subject, and there is kedusha in the heftsa, in the object.  Had Moshe built the Bet HaMikdash, it could never have been destroyed, and God’s wrath against his sons “who had gone bad” would have been inflicted upon them.  Since it was Shlomo who built it, with the help of heathen artisans, “He exhausted His fury on wood and stones,” rather than on His children.

Similarly, kedusha sent from heaven to rest upon man nullifies that person’s uniquely original personality, making of him a heftsa of kedusha, a container lacking its own personal quality, a sort of robot activated by an external force, without choice.  To have only this form of kedusha would have failed to fulfill the Creator’s expectations, for He formed man in His own likeness, as His own image.  Therefore, the Creator planted a Godly spark in man, a kernel buried in the Godly soul which is at the foundation of “I”.  From this element, choice is formed, and the awareness and consciousness that enables one to discern good from evil, and to make creative, uniquely original choices, for creativity at its height is kedusha. 

Go To Top