Parashat Tazrea-Mezora

Rav Haim Lifshitz

Essays and Articles:

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 Translated from Hebrew by S. NAthan

l'ilui nishmat Esther bat mordechai

A factor that is common to a group of people, that collects and groups them by like characteristics into like categories, is also the factor that divides and separates them, by the differences that separate one group from another.

This division into categories does not relate to human qualities, but rather to a quantitative mechanism that belongs to a systematic view of creation. In this view, the created universe is built of a system of components within a larger system comprised of mechanical laws that operate and activate the created universe. There is no doubt that the human race as well is a part of this system. It is no exception to nor does it deviate from the system.

As a system in himself, the individual human being is subject and subjugated to mechanical laws. Thus heredity is a system that gives individual tendencies of physical behavior, of diseases, of capabilities that operate and activate the physical system, and its physical movements. This includes the speed and efficiency of the muscular system, the level of sensitivity in reaction time and in overall coordination, and even the capacity for absorption of data, for memory, and for all mental activity, which too belong to a mechanical system that has been extensively investigated by Piaget and his fellow students of cognitive development, among whom I was included, having been privileged to be involved with him and to know him well.

During one of the seminars, in which we were given the opportunity to discuss issues relating to the activity of intelligence directly with Piaget, I asked a question which left the master speechless: According to Piagetian theory, cognition reaches maturity during the middle of adolescence, at approximately 14-15, the age at which the adolescent is capable of activating abstract thought, of operating at the abstract level of cognition. To my question of what happens after this age, Piaget replied that there is no new level of cognition, but only mechanical/quantitative improvement, such as increased speed of absorption and discharge, and improved proficiency in activating the cognitive process.

What of the quality of cognition, I persisted. What do you mean by the quality of cognition, Piaget inquired. I mean by it originality, creativity, intuition, creative imagination, discerning subtleties, in short all qualitative activity that bursts the technical confines of one's own accumulated personal experience. I mean the writer who is capable of creating new situations that do not derive from his own personal or collective experience. I mean the creative artist who sees ahead of his time, to the point of prophesying future processes of human behavior that could in no way have been predicted, as well as their repercussions, fraught with social and political implications. I mean the literary artist whose probing insight into psychological conditions is so profound that no psychologist would have been able to comprehend or predict them through the scientific tools at his disposal. Thus Flaubert, in is Madame Bovary, was able to understand the complex and intricate workings of a woman's heart despite his total lack of experience with any woman of any kind, and despite the truly rare level of disinterest in the feminine sex that characterized this great artist. Thus Mozart was able to produce musical creations of a perfection that knows no equal, with no correcting or rewriting or other creative struggling, directly from his brain to the musical notes on the page, as though the music had been preserved on a tape inserted into his brain by an invisible hand. Thus a literary artist such as Dostoyevsky - a name pulled at random from a long list of such names - was able to delve into the subtleties of the human mind so deeply as to provide inspiration for the likes of Nietsche and Freud, who came after him. Dostoyevsky did not only provide inspiration and influence for the science of psychology, which became the established, accepted source of rules, criteria, and applications in the field of mental health in the twentieth century. Rather, Dostoyevsky laid the actual foundations of modern psychological theory. This remark is not intended to express an opinion about the quality or validity of this theory, a highly controversial issue still unresolved to this day.

Yet no one contests the fact that a qualitative intelligence exists that is not a corollary of and has no connection with the mechanism of cognition. Surprisingly enough, I do not mean to attribute any human quality to these geniuses, despite their impressive achievements. The fact that the quality of a work is unable to testify to the quality of human character in these great artists proves the absence of this connection. Too often, their human perfection was in reverse correlation to the artistic perfection and quality of their work.

In light of what has been said, we may sharpen our question still further: Moral behavior, perfection of character, courage, bravery, insight, common sense...to which system among those systems fixed into natural law can one relate them? To what extent can one view them as personal achievements, rather than as the product of the achievement of some mechanical system? Does there really exist - if at all - any quality that is not connected to a predetermined system? And if no such quality exists in systemic reality, what shall be the fate of free choice? Is the entire issue of free choice not perhaps an illusion, a sweet fantasy? Does freedom exist? Personal responsibility? Can there be any justification to reward and punishment? To judging behavior? To demanding that one discern good from evil? Might such a demand not be cruel mockery, if one is faced with behavior that is an inevitable outcome of mechanical systems operated by predetermined rules?

This is the reason the Torah devotes so much attention to guiding subtle distinctions between minute particulars. It addresses the smallest details of the human tendency toward a systematic attitude, driving in stakes and erecting barriers intended to stall its inexorable and irresistible pull, in which a human being is drawn to automatically merge and succumb to systemic factors. Human behavior constitutes an inseparable aspect of the systemic factor, and this gravitational pull penetrates to the very fabric of human existence, both internally and externally.

On the basis of this understanding, one can comprehend the Torah's relating - by way of the positive and negative mitsvot - to behaviors that seem to have nothing to do with values. These are commandments that do not deal with ideals but rather with the smallest of small change, to the point of what appears to be a pettiness, and a digging among the trash cans of existence. Laws for using the bathroom, for example, take up a number of pages in the tractate of Brachot. What has spirituality to do with leprosy? With the biological cycle of women? Of men? Why does the Torah make such a to-do over eating, with laws of kashrut that enter the most picayune of minute details, all of a purely technical character? Is there any point to this tendency to connect these tedious technical preoccupations with the world of values, of concepts, of symbols expressing abstract ideas? If not, what spiritual tidings do these laws of kashrut and prohibited foods bear?

PART TWO

The tendency of religions to dominate man in the name of some hidden omnipotent power is common knowledge.  The way of mysticism is to impose dread upon its adherents.  In rationality’s war against mysticism, the latter wins without effort.  All religions earn their livelihood from this unholy source. 

Whenever a sign of honest intention is indicated – as perhaps the claim that religion intends to reign in man’s murderously aggressive tendencies, man’s hatred of his fellow – nevertheless, when all is said and done, we discover that religion’s intention was not to reign in, but rather to exploit.  Aggression is exploited “for the sake” of the religion: Murdering in the name of God, punishing heretics, removing aggressive control from the domain of the private individual, of society, of moral judgment, and transferring it to the domain of religious authority.  That is to say, it is not for human morality to determine against whom aggression shall be used.  The privilege of punishing is given over exclusively to the hands of religion.

Enter the Jewish religion, to return moral judgment to human hands; it is every man’s responsibility.  From this point onward, the Torah invests its efforts in involving the individual human being.  One must exercise human judgment, one must apply one’s uniquely human quality to every system of relationships in which one is involved by virtue of being animal, of being mortal, of being flesh and blood, and of being, mainly, the possessor of intelligence.  Yes, intelligence too is a mechanical system in the Torah view.  It tends to merge into the mega-system of the survival instinct.  To merge rather than to resist.  To merge rather than to exercise moral judgment.

Cultivation of human quality is the Torah’s goal.  This means moral quality.  It is the capacity to discern good from evil, the capacity to take control of all the systems of which man is comprised and in which man is immersed.  It is the capacity to arrest one’s momentum, to pause and consider, and to judge any tendency dictated by any system.  It is the capacity to set goals – to ask “what is the purpose”, and not just “what is the cause”. 

“Corresponding to four sons, the Torah spoke.”  Corresponding to the four systems in which man is immersed.  Not only the negative systems are worthy of notice, of moral and educational involvement.  Even those systems perceived as worthy, such as “the wise son,” must be attended to.  He too must be educated.  Do not rely on his intelligence to guide him safely through the labyrinth of existence.

The mitsvot, the Torah commandments were intended to arouse in human beings their capacity for judgment, their ability to impose the rule of “I” over ego, to declare the kernel of godliness – source of sanctity, source of human sensitivity, source of all good midot – to be sole and sovereign ruler.  To impose the rule of the spiritual over the bestial, over the system of the survival instincts – for even in relation to the survival instincts, a l’shaim shamayim approach exists.

Yet this goal – arousing the “l’shaim shamayim” dormant in every human being – is entirely made up of loving, sensitive humanness.  Reward and punishment does not play a central role in avodat Hashem.  It serves as the framework, as the set of red lines, as the method of dealing with human beings’ coarse and selfish aspect.  Whereas in all other religions, reward and punishment serves as the guiding line for all human relating to all systems, yahadut does not demand this restrictive attitude, in which one is expected to relate primarily to the system of reward and punishment, over and above all the other systems.  Reward and punishment too bears the disadvantages of systemization: It is a fixed system, standing on its own right, as a weapon, deterrent, and threat.

Amazingly enough – and few are aware of this – the Torah demands that the rule of human/Godly quality be imposed even upon the system of reward and punishment: Gedola aveira lishma...  “Greater is a transgression for the sake of heaven than a mitsva that is not for the sake of heaven.” 

Regarding only three transgressions does the obligation exist of “let him be killed rather than transgress.”  Even this obligation’s goal is to protect man’s qualitative wholeness, to prevent his being exploited by, and compelled to serve any higher force of any kind.

The goal of the imperatives of the Torah is to arouse and to develop in human beings their ability to protect and to make use of and to cultivate ceaselessly, the goal of human perfection, because such perfection is man’s unique opportunity to become a Godly presence on earth. 

It is human perfection that brings man to resemble his Possessor.  It is this perfection that determines his human/moral quality in relation to his fellow human being, as well as his spiritual quality, and the extent to which he will actualize Godly sanctity in relation to the dimension of height that is within him, and not necessarily above him.

Ha’azinu hashamayim...  “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear my mouth’s utterances.”  Earth and heaven are the systems to which human beings relate.  In Tehilim’s magnificent chapter, Borchi Nafshi, one finds an all-encompassing survey of all the systems of creation, and a description of each one’s legitimate claim: To become Godly presence, to praise and to glorify their Creator; to praise Godly wisdom, and the values that are the basis and the goal of each one’s function.  “All of them, in wisdom, You have made.” 

At the conclusion of Borchi Nafshi, the goal appears, for the sake of which these systems have been created:  Yitamu hata’im meen ha’arets.  “Let hata’im cease from the earth.”  According to the interpretation by Bruria, wife of the sacred tana Rabi Meir, hataim refers to the sins themselves rather than to the sinners. 

The sins have their roots in the systems’ blundering in their service of their Creator.  For this blunder, man is held responsible, in the capacity of the duty with which he is charged.  The goal is not to punish man or to remove him from duty, for without this duty and this role, creation is left with no purpose and no reason to exist.

Human beings are nezer habriah, “creation’s crowning wreath” and its actualization.  Human beings are the only creatures capable of transforming a system – any system – into a creative masterpiece, by endowing that system with its own quality and with its own purpose for existing.  Human beings are the only creatures capable of creating meanings that express content and goal.  A universe that is not lead by human beings remains a wretched, blind mechanical system. 

Worst of all, and most humiliating of all, and most hilul Hashem of all, is when a human being turns – by his own hand and by his own will – into a cog of the system, an inhuman slave, an eved nirtsa  whose supreme systems have turned out a useless product, and have ceased to express their own meaning.

The tendency toward laziness, and even more hazardous, the tendency toward the survival instincts, causes man to entrench himself within the point closest to himself, to bring his focus to bear only upon it, to the exclusion of all other systems.  This is not a religious tendency but rather, as mentioned, a survival tendency.  Every man has his own dalet amot, personal space, within which he feels the ground of his own existence.  There is no harm in this, as long as he does not view his own tiny (Godly) parcel as all-encompassing, as delegitimizing all else.  Everyone is capable of endowing his own system with meaning. 

The threat of religion becomes a danger only when one person delegitimizes another person’s focus: One finds fault with material tendencies of any sort, and preaching the abstinent life.  Another on the contrary worships brute force and views spirituality as an escape from reality.  Another turns his political movement into a religion, waging war, in its name, on anything that is not included in his socio—political ambitions.

Thus the world we live in becomes a buka umalbuka, a sticky mess, smothering every attempt at survival by human quality, the only element that can consistently preserve that which makes one human quality unique, and different from any another.

Focusing upon one’s own uniquely original quality is the solution to this problem, rather than the tendency to void anything that is different than oneself, for this tendency does not develop one’s own original uniqueness, but rather obliterates it.

Thus Hazal warn:  “Anyone who says, ‘mine is mine and yours is yours’ – is wicked.”  Meaning, anyone who views the universe from one exclusive angle – his own – and is not open, and lacks tolerance, and delegitimizes all else, is called wicked in that he is capable of bringing ruin to the universe through his own hatred.  Furthermore, “anyone who delegitimizes another is delegitimizing his own defect.”

It is important to note that an opposite vision, one that is able to encompass many different and even contradictory views, results in an inter-regional, multi-regional perspective that frees one from the bear hug of egoism. 

The fundamental need to belong, when severed from its mate, the fundamental need for freedom, becomes the main cause of one-sided and narrow-minded perceptions, which move in one direction only, which ignore and which declare null and void every possible perception other than their own.

Thus, paradoxically, it is precisely a broad view, that embraces within its understanding as many angles and perceptions as possible, that enables the type of balanced focus that gives birth to original creative work.  It is a precious trait of creative people, and of an artistic mentality: To encompass the entire human condition in one’s creative work, in order to pave a path to a more profound focus.

It is musical counterpoint.  It is formulating a question by emphasizing its inherent contradictions.  Above all, it is the structure of the Talmudic sugia, not built on a well-ordered, informative lecture format, but rather on the broadest base of discussion, in which problems grow out of an issue that is being presented simultaneously with its opposite perspective, as in “the two scriptures that deny each other until the third scripture comes and resolves them.”

In Judaism, there is no phenomenon that is originally illegitimate, that is not worthy of notice and of study.  Hence the well-known curiosity and open-mindedness of the Jewish intellectual.  His openness embraces the entire universe, while his hand holds the yardstick that takes its measure, as in “its fruit he ate, and its shell he threw out.”  The shells are not determined in advance but rather are the result of a profound sifting and sorting through of all possible options.

Torah prohibitions are no exception to this rule.  They are designed to ease the endless sifting and sorting, and to guide – by clear lines – the search for what is good and true.  The isurim largely address those areas in which there is no call for human effort, no demand for activating the human quality.  They deal with rejecting the systems that hold no interest for the human quality, that are alien in principle to the effort of avodat hamidot.  These systems deal with the purely mechanical, with brute force.  Attempting to activate one’s human quality within them is hopeless; the chances are not even slim, failure is a foregone conclusion.  Prohibitions are not intended to close out those areas of life that hold human interest.

What are called the cosmic systems are actually a singly heavenly/earthly system.  The Torah requires human beings to relate both to heaven and to earth.  “The heavens are heavens for God, and the earth He has given to the children of Adam.”  A superficial view of this statement might conclude that it intends to set up the order by which to relate to the system, but this is not so.  With the differentness that divides the human race – one person being heavenly and the other earthly – ‘heavenly’ does not necessarily mean spiritual, while earthly is not necessarily doomed to wallow in the muddy waters of gross materialism enfolded in stupidity. 

A ‘heavenly’ person can easily win the pithy Yiddish title of “luftmentsh.”  He is unstable, his opinions are lightly held, and he is constantly on the move, despising routine.  A hatred of any framework or rule characterizes the ‘heavenly’ one.  He looks exactly like the distant heavens, to anyone gazing up at them:  Shapes and colors and lights and shadows serve the winds, their playthings among the passing clouds.

The earth in contrast is blessed with real and solid forms and tools, which take no part in the playful, naughty games of wind and cloud.  It is with infinite patience, but with no sign of surrender or respect, that the earth regards the weather’s topsy-turvy moods.  Thus is born ‘earthly’ man, and his signs are stability and seriousness.  He may be depended upon.  He is true to his word, his promise has solid backing, and his opinions are fixed.  It is true that he lacks flexibility, and that his development is as limited and as cyclical as the trees of the forest.  He will produce nothing novel; there will be no surprises.

It is only from and precisely in the merit of the double mode of relating, in which earth and heaven kiss, that a complete human being grows.  The complete human being sees the distant horizons, veiled in the azure fog that promises infinite vastness, and surprise and novelty, and all things unpredictable, and adventure...that is subject nevertheless to law and order, not necessarily of the earthly sort, but of the principles of justice, honesty, and truth.

These principles of quality are capable of filling heaven and earth, for they are human spiritual qualities made tangibly real.  These alone characterize man’s qualitative contribution to the network of systems out of which creation is built. 

It is no heavenly law imposed upon earthly law that we have here (the classic Platonic view, though it has many variations) as is believed by those spiritual and religious people who are not of the children of Avraham, Yitschak and Ya’akov. 

Nor is it the law and order that is born of science’s investigation of the earthly system.  Rather it is a law and order that is the product of the moral principles that flow from the abundant font of human quality, and that merge with an existential situation that is both stable and changing.

We are not speaking here of some strict morality that earns its own place and sets itself up as an independent system versus the systems of heaven and earth.  Rather, morality is the fruit that is produced when human quality relates to any system.  It is not subject to any of the systems, and it is itself not a system. 

We see here that the Torah intends to guide human beings in how to relate, how to activate their abundant source of human/spiritual quality in order to control system-based situations, even systems so vast as to embrace both heaven and earth. 

The Torah’s need to intervene, to offer this guidance to human beings, derives from the principle of ain havush...: “No prisoner frees himself from jail.”

Water – Purity’s Source

Water serves as the intermediary between the systems of heaven and earth.  There are the “higher waters” and the “lower waters.”  This teaches us that the heavens have no ownership rights over the water, just as the great subterranean wellsprings are not necessarily the only source of water.  A cyclicity that embraces both heaven and earth characterizes water, rather than any other system.  Yet water itself does constitute a system.  Its use is intended as a purifying device, and this grants it its human/Godly quality.

Earthly animals receive their quality upon their honorable entry into the qualitative principles of dietary prohibitions and kashrut – of which there are so many and of such minute detail.  In contrast, for the fish of the sea, those citizens of the watery system, fins and scales are enough to categorize them and render them fit to be related to on the human/Godly level.  It is no accident that the study of reincarnation attributes fish specifically to the reincarnation of the souls of the righteous.

Birds too – citizens of the heavenly system – are categorized by Torah guidelines and thus merit being related to on the human/Godly level.  They possess quality when they refrain from stealing in order to survive, when they refrain from preying on their own kind, when they do not live off of carcasses.

Man’s attempt to create the tools of flight indicates his ability to relate to all the systems including the heavenly one, which is the most remote – one would think – from all the earthly systems to which man seems to belong.  Man has the right and the obligation to bestow his quality, and to thereby subjugate all the systems of creation to his own service of his Creator.

The sight of Jews standing and davening sh’moneh esreh, praying the amida prayer – symbol of the permanence of sanctity – during an airplane flight is something  quite wonderful.  Halacha determines the prayer times, which seem to have no connection to heaven, and which are the prime indicators of being subject to the passage of time on earth.  Yet remember that the passage of time on earth is the product of a cooperation between the systems of heaven and earth.  Relating to the passage of time as providing the guidelines for prayer times, even when one is in an airplane piercing the heavenly heights, gives the passage of time a realness of sublimely qualitative meaning.

Water: “Blue, t’chelet, is similar to the sea, water to the sky, and the sky to the Throne of Glory.”  Here you have a grading system that brings blessing and completeness to all systems.

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