Masks
Thought, Intention,
and Deed.
Translated from Hebrew by DR.
S. NAthan
l'ilui
nishmat Esther bat mordechai
L'ILUI NISHMAT
MAYER HIRSH BEN LAIBEL
“Half a shekel – a soul’s
ransom.” The shekel count is an example of an
external mask; it represents man as a number, as a
quantitative entity.
The priests are required to undergo
purification, both in clothing and in behavior, in a
manner that is not natural to them but is rather
externally imposed upon them from above – their behavior
is molded according to an image pre-determined for
them.
The incense, the annointing oil, the
“spirit of insight and knowledge” in all of Bezalel’s
labors, these too are not his own, naturally, but rather
originate as an intervention from on high, intended to
create a heavenly model for human behavior.
Sabbath – Rest. “It is
a sign.” A sign is used for creating an image, a
symbol. Signs, signals - all of these are
expressions that come from the outside, or from above.
The Calf: “And Moshe saw the
nation, that it was wild…and…that they had made the mask
of a calf.”
Moshe removes himself, and removes
the Tabernacle, moving it outside of the camp.
Furthermore, he conceals his face with a mask.
Self-image is comprised of thought,
intention, and deed. These three components are
created from different sources of influence.
Thought is comprised of
images, imagination, stimulations and feelings that
awaken the inner self from its slumber.
Intention is the expression
of thought consolidated around a goal that is found
outside of the personality. It is directed toward
practical execution.
Deed is behavior as a result
of intention.
Among these three components, a
diverse mixture can be formed, from thought to deed,
when man is not confused. “The final deed was in
the original thought.” And from deed to thought:
“After the actions, the hearts are drawn." And all
the other combinations that lie between these two
extremes.
Organization of these components is
vital for functional behavior. When one is wild,
it is due to lack of organization, and this is what
caused the sin of the Calf.
Thought is formed through
imagination, which creates self-image. This
self-image is what dictates the character and the course
of one’s behavior. Self-image is not merely
negative or positive, but is dictated as well by
environment, education, tradition, and also by
expectations and their realization, and not merely by
talent and ability that have been actualized.
Self-image determines morbid behavior as well, both
emotional and physical. One is the landscape of
one’s birthplace. “Every man has a name,” as the
poetess tells us. This name contains the
concentrated essence of the uniquely original self-image
of that particular person - on condition that it is
controlled.
The role of the mask is to regulate
the relationship between outer and inner. A
distorted relationship creates the image of the
“double”, the hypocrite, “the degenerate with the
permission of the Torah.” Also the madman, who is
not responsible for his deeds, because his thought and
deed lack intention, the connecting link that is
decisive. It is possible also to find a capacity
for thinking (a multi-talented person) without any
capacity for control – because it is intention that
connects thought and deed.
The “sign” that was “the crowning
ornament” given to them at Sinai (Horeb), was
intention. They did not take proper advantage of
this jewelry, and therefore lost the right to wear
it. “And they lost their jewel from Mount Horeb.”
According to the Akeida, this
“jewel” was tefilin. The ritual
phylacteries that bind the head, hand and heart: Hand tefillin
represent shamor, to "guard" against the
prohibitions. Head tefilin are for zachor,
to "remember" the positive commandments. According
to other commentaries, it was a crown with the ineffable
name of God inscribed upon it, like that worn by the
high priest.
A mask is needed when external
reality is not compatible with thought. The mask
is intended to regulate and moderate between these
two. Thus Moses' mask was always removed, being
unnecessary, when he was teaching Torah to the people,
because the reality of Torah contains an integrative
factor that causes the teacher, the student, and the
Torah to merge, creating one solid whole.
The Calf Mask
The Calf was in fact a mask that
divided, as opposed to Moses' mask that connected and
joined. The mask within the Calf separated the
reality of material-physical force from its supreme
Godly/spiritual source. The people’s sin lay in
the faith they put in this brute force as separated from
its Godly source, whereas Aaron saw nothing wrong with a
brute force reality that did not separate from but
rather served as an expression for its spiritual source.
Aaron was attempting a delaying
tactic, trying to stall things until Moses would come,
or until he could find a connecting link between spirit
and matter – but he did not find one. He sought
the missing link, the factor of intention, the leshem
shamayim, “for the sake of Heaven” – but he did
not find it. Therefore blame was placed on him:
“For Aaron had made [the nation] wild.”
"Intending for the sake of Heaven,"
kavana leshem shamayim – this is the
factor that creates openness between the three
components, thought, intention, and deed. Hence
humility: Here the mask filters, creating a flow of
connecting factors.
Compare to arrogance: Here the mask
blocks. When the body blocks, it severs thought
from deed. Then there is no regulating the flow
between the inner self-image and the outer. The
external image is then merely a result, a victim of
arrogance, of wickedness, and of all other temporal
futilities that dominate the self and prevent its
expression. Thus is the self erased.
The attempt to detach olam
ha’asia, “the world of doing” from olam
hayetsira, “the world of creativity” and olam
habria, “the world of creation” is the Sin of the
Calf that continues to this day. This is the
attempt to free mechanical laws from human morality, to
make them independent and autonomous.
A society that is too intensively
evasive at the expense of the private individual erases
the personality, including its emotions, uniqueness, and
needs. It dictates alien needs to the individual,
and empties him of his own personality. Thus is
the Calf Mask created. This is the case in
interpersonal relationships as well: The man empties the
woman of her personality, relating only to her
exterior. Insightful women are more aware of this
danger than men.
When the self exists, but with no
connection to the deed, this creates paralysis, physical
and emotional impotence – depression.
Compulsiveness is an expression of the absence of any
connection between outer and inner, with the inner
struggling without success to find a path of expression
within reality.
Kitsch is the product of the thought
that lacks the intention. It becomes deed
indiscriminately, without the appropriate and natural
criticism that comes from the inner space of the
self. It may result from excessive external
stimulation that has difficulty passing through the
self’s digestive screen, or from an overflow of emotions
that surge into the vaccuum of an environment that does
not have the capacity for appropriate response.
Self-image is not really from the
self, truth to tell. It is constructed gradually
by “the labor of Torah”, which creates a Godly image out
of the raw human material. Thus is the covenant
between man and Creator expressed through self-image as
well. Self-image only requires the act of choosing
between image-makers that are inner and image-makers
that are outer. It is not created automatically.
As the Eben Ezra states: (31:18)
“One cannot know God if one does not know one’s own life
force and soul and body. For whoever does not know
the essence of his own life force – what use is wisdom
to him?”
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