Pesah is coming. One of the most challenging things about Pesah for me is the unique feeling of being stuffed and unsatiated. On Pesah we eat almost nonstop, but without chametz, I'm left feeling hungry.
What can I learn from this about Pesah?
The Holiday of Pesah is a special time set aside to recognize the difference between living a physical existence, and living a spiritual existence clothed in physical experience. When we eat on Pesah we don't feel satiated to show us that physicality itself isn't enough. The Matzah gives us a taste of spirituality, makes us hungry even starving for the spiritual part of our existence.
That's why, at the end of the seder, after we've eaten the afikoman and will eat no more, we pray "Next year in Yerushalayim rebuilt." After our physical hunger should be completely satiated and yet we still feel hunger, we recognize that that hunger is for spiritual fulfillment, the kind only possible in Jerusalem, in the Beit HaMikdash, together with all of Am Yisrael.
לשנה הבא בירושלים הבנויה
22.3.10
16.3.10
the sharp sword of exile
On the very bottom of Masechet Berachot 10a, King Hizkiyahu shares something he learned from his ancestor King David: Even if a sharp sword is poised over your throat, never rule out HaShem's mercy.
To myself I have to wonder why the expression used is "a sharp sword" what does the word sharp come to add? Many people may look at this question and dismiss it on the grounds that it is an aggadeta, part of a story in the Talmud and not subject to the same rigors of expression as halachah. I disagree with those people on the simple grounds that the same people that so carefully composed, preserved and related those halachot composed, preserved, and related these aggadeta.
In the simplest sense, a sharp sword is more likely to kill cleanly, and requires less effort to do so. So in this context, a sharp sword comes to teach that even if there remains absolutely no window of doubt, no chance of error, STILL know that HaShem can have mercy on you and extricate you from your predicament. This is easier for us to digest in our day and age, we almost take it for granted since movies are full of just such escapes.
This was an absolute chidush in time of David HaMelech and Hizkiyahu HaMelech. Yishayahu just told him: "You have no hope of changing your fate, HaShem has already passed His verdict." Hizkiyahu quotes this teaching throwing it (proverbially) in Yishayahu's face.
It's important for us to remember even until the very last instant.
No negative prophecy is ever final.
The only prophecies that will always be fulfilled, the ones that are non-negotiable, are the positive ones.
Yishayahu knew that, yet he didn't seem to know just how far that went. He thought the negative prophecy doesn't have to come to fruition, but if it begins to, then there is no hope of escape, after all it was foretold in prophecy. That's why he was so sure that he didn't try to help Hizkiyahu HaMelech even after Hizkiyahu requested his daughter's hand in marriage.
It's so easy to think, even when everything is coming crashing down, that it's all over, it's too late.
It's never too late.
The exact quote states, don't prevent yourself from HaShem's Mercy. Never give up hope. Never give up an unwavering faith in HaShem's mercy.
When He took us out of Egypt it was a promise to take us out of every exile, national as well as personal.
To myself I have to wonder why the expression used is "a sharp sword" what does the word sharp come to add? Many people may look at this question and dismiss it on the grounds that it is an aggadeta, part of a story in the Talmud and not subject to the same rigors of expression as halachah. I disagree with those people on the simple grounds that the same people that so carefully composed, preserved and related those halachot composed, preserved, and related these aggadeta.
In the simplest sense, a sharp sword is more likely to kill cleanly, and requires less effort to do so. So in this context, a sharp sword comes to teach that even if there remains absolutely no window of doubt, no chance of error, STILL know that HaShem can have mercy on you and extricate you from your predicament. This is easier for us to digest in our day and age, we almost take it for granted since movies are full of just such escapes.
This was an absolute chidush in time of David HaMelech and Hizkiyahu HaMelech. Yishayahu just told him: "You have no hope of changing your fate, HaShem has already passed His verdict." Hizkiyahu quotes this teaching throwing it (proverbially) in Yishayahu's face.
It's important for us to remember even until the very last instant.
No negative prophecy is ever final.
The only prophecies that will always be fulfilled, the ones that are non-negotiable, are the positive ones.
Yishayahu knew that, yet he didn't seem to know just how far that went. He thought the negative prophecy doesn't have to come to fruition, but if it begins to, then there is no hope of escape, after all it was foretold in prophecy. That's why he was so sure that he didn't try to help Hizkiyahu HaMelech even after Hizkiyahu requested his daughter's hand in marriage.
It's so easy to think, even when everything is coming crashing down, that it's all over, it's too late.
It's never too late.
The exact quote states, don't prevent yourself from HaShem's Mercy. Never give up hope. Never give up an unwavering faith in HaShem's mercy.
When He took us out of Egypt it was a promise to take us out of every exile, national as well as personal.
4.3.10
In the merit of righteous women
Rebbe Nachman is usually credited with his teaching 282, sometimes called Azamra.
In Likkutei Moharan I:282, Rebbe Nachman explains that through judging someone favorably one can bring that person over entirely to the side of good, until you will look for him in his former [evil] place and you won't find him. (והתבוננתה על מקומו ואיננו)
Today I saw in Masechet Berachot 10a that the originator of this idea is not Rebbe Nachman, but rather Rabbi Hanina ben Teradyon's daughter, Rebbe Meir's wife, Bruriah, and she was just explaining pshat (the plain meaning) in Tehillim:
Here is an english translation I found on e-daf from http://halakhah.com/:
In Likkutei Moharan I:282, Rebbe Nachman explains that through judging someone favorably one can bring that person over entirely to the side of good, until you will look for him in his former [evil] place and you won't find him. (והתבוננתה על מקומו ואיננו)
Today I saw in Masechet Berachot 10a that the originator of this idea is not Rebbe Nachman, but rather Rabbi Hanina ben Teradyon's daughter, Rebbe Meir's wife, Bruriah, and she was just explaining pshat (the plain meaning) in Tehillim:
הנהו בריוני דהוו בשבבותיה דר"מ והוו קא מצערו ליה טובא הוה קא בעי ר' מאיר רחמי עלויהו כי היכי דלימותו אמרה לי' ברוריא דביתהו מאי דעתך משום דכתיב (תהילים קד) יתמו חטאים מי כתיב חוטאים חטאים כתיב ועוד שפיל לסיפיה דקרא ורשעים עוד אינם כיון דיתמו חטאים ורשעים עוד אינם אלא בעי רחמי עלויהו דלהדרו בתשובה ורשעים עוד אינם בעא רחמי עלויהו והדרו בתשובה: אמר לה ההוא <צדוקי> {מינא} לברוריא כתיב (ישעיהו נד) רני עקרה לא ילדה משום דלא ילדה רני אמרה ליה שטיא שפיל לסיפיה דקרא דכתיב כי רבים בני שוממה מבני בעולה אמר ה' אלא מאי עקרה לא ילדה רני כנסת ישראל שדומה לאשה עקרה שלא ילדה בנים לגיהנם כותייכו(From Snunit Kodesh archive: Talmud Bavli Masechet Berachot 10a)
Here is an english translation I found on e-daf from http://halakhah.com/:
There were once some highwaymen3 in the neighbourhood of R. Meir who caused him a great deal of trouble. R. Meir accordingly prayed that they should die. His wife Beruria4 said to him: How do you make out [that such a prayer should be permitted]? Because it is written Let hatta'im cease? Is it written hot'im?5 It is written hatta'im!6 Further, look at the end of the verse: and let the wicked men be no more. Since the sins will cease, there will be no more wicked men! Rather pray for them that they should repent, and there will be no more wicked. He did pray for them, and they repented.
A certain Min7 said to Beruria: it is written: Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear.8 Because she did not bear is she to sing? She replied to him: You fool! Look at the end of the verse, where it is written, For the children of the desolate shall be more than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.9 But what then is the meaning of ‘a barren that did not bear’? Sing, O community of Israel, who resemblest a barren woman, for not having born children like you for Gehenna.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Related posts
