Parshas Bamidbar[1]

1^st Mamar “Vayidaber Hashem El Moshe Lamor”

1. Vayidaber Hashem El Moshe Lamor:^[2]
2. Finding emotional individuality in Judaism:[3]

The verse in Koheles states, “Noda Bashearim Ba’alah,” which literally means that she knows her husband by the gates. The Alter Rebbe explains this as follows: the term Ba’alah here refers to G-d which is the “husband” of the soul of every single Jew. Now, “the gates” refers to the recesses of the heart. The emotions found in the heart contain many facets, angles, corners, levels, and grades of intensity, similar to the various different gates of homes. Although every single person contains the power of emotion in his heart, the level and quality is different from person to person. The term “Noda” refers to a deep contemplative exercise to open one’s personal gates of his heart. Altogether, the verse is stating as follows: every Jew has an obligation to perform contemplative exercises of matters relating to G-d that can arouse and open the gates of his heart for him to be able to emotionally connect and feel and experience G-d in accordance to the level and quality of the emotions that G-d created him with.

• The Divine lesson: From the above teaching we see that there is great room for individuality in Judaism, as although everyone is equally obligated in all of the Mitzvos, and is likewise equally obligated to arouse feelings of love for G-d, nonetheless every person’s feeling is different, and G-d desires and requests the special level and quality of emotion that each individual has and no other person can make up for what that person is able to accomplish emotionally in his experience with G-d. Accordingly, every single Jew is unique and special and indeed one can say regarding each individual Jew that the world was created on his behalf, as the special quality of relationship that he can have with G-d is unique to him only and not available to anyone else. Having this perspective, can hopefully remove from a Jew feelings of inferiority when comparing himself to the spiritual accomplishments of another, as it helps him understand that his relationship with G-d on his level, and according to the unique makeup of the emotions of his soul, is equally desired by G-d as that of the righteous one.

1. What caused the souls of the Jewish people to leave their body:

Our sages teach us that at the time that the Torah was given, the souls of the Jewish people expired and that they had to be resurrected with the dew of Torah. What caused the soul of the Jewish people to expire is the fact that at the time that the Torah was given, there was a great revelation of G-dliness that surpasses understanding and wisdom. This level shined upon the souls inner faculties in a revealed fashion with much revelation and intensity. This caused the soul to leave the body, which means that it left its intellectual boundaries and became incorporated and nullified in existence.

1. Gershon, Kehos, Merari in service of G-d:

The tribe of Levi was split to three families, Gershon, Kehos, Merari. Each of these three families are discussed in detail in Scripture, as in truth there is a lesson in divine service that every Jew must take from each one of these families.

Gershon: The name Gershon comes from the word Gareish, which means to expel and banish. This refers to implementing severities of holiness and banishing the evil inclination from one’s midst. This is hinted to in Scripture in the command of Sarah to Avraham that he should banish the maidservant Hagar and her son. Yishmael corresponds to the forbidden and evil lusts of a person and their root above in heaven, which need to be banished and expelled from his heart. It is specifically the left hand, which is the side of severity, that can accomplish this banishing. Even better than running away from evil, the evil should run away from oneself, and this is what we desire to accomplish with the banishing of the evil. It is for this reason that we read this portion on the holiday of Rosh Hashanah in order to emphasize the banishing of the evil attributes from our midst.

Merari: The name Merari comes from the word Marer which means bitter. It refers to the bitterness of soul that one should feel as a result of his past evil ways. To accomplish this, it requires him to perform an accounting of his soul to uncover the reason for why the light of G-d does not shine within him. One who is uncapable of arousing conscious and revealed love for G-d despite contemplating matters that should arouse this love is because his soul is walking in darkness and this darkness is the result of sin. It is similar to one whose head has been removed from his body in which the body is not capable of receiving anything from the head. Similarly, one who is unable to inspire his heart after engaging in mental exercises about G-d is showing signs that there is a disconnect between  the head of the soul and the emotional aspects of the soul. This disconnect is a result of past sinful behavior, or alternatively is a result of not subduing evil to a large enough degree. It can also occur as a result of one investing his mind and thoughts within soiled garments, which refers to thoughts of vanity or evil spirit which are empty of any purpose or productivity, or even as a result of overindulgence in thinking of matters of the physical world. Contemplating this matter in order to break one’s heart over the state of darkness that he is found in, is the remedy to reattaching his head to his body, and affecting that his heart is open to the contemplations of his brain.

Kehos: The name Kehos comes from the word Velu Yikhas Amim which means that to you the nations will gather. This refers to the gathering of all of one’s soul powers for the sake of arousing a passionate desire to cleave to G-d. This is accomplished only after one performs the divine service of Gershon and Merari. This idea is hinted to in the word Kehos, which also derives from the word Kiyuha which means sourness which is a form of sharpness. When one takes a food that is not edible due to its bitterness or sourness and sweetens it through cooking to the point it is edible, then he has turned bitterness into sweetness. The same applies with one who was living in darkness and then experiences light, that he has turned dark to light and bitter to sweet.

1. Studying Torah for the sake of G-d:

Upon one studying Torah his main focus should be for the sake of G-d alone which is to quench his passion and desire to cleave to G-d through his Torah study. One should not study Torah just for the sake of the Torah alone. One who does so, on him it says that one who says that he only has Torah, then even Torah he does not have.

• The divine lesson: This teaching of the Alter Rebbe is reminiscent of a widely circled teaching in the name of the Kotzker Rebbe that “Chassidim worship Hashem through the code of Jewish law, while their opponents worship the code of Jewish law through G-d.”[4] Whether or not he actually said this statement requires research of a proper documented source, however the statement certainly holds a true and strong message. It is possible for an individual to so to say worship the Talmud and Shulchan Aruch and totally forget about G-d. G-d ends up becoming a means for their goal of Torah study. G-d takes a back stage while one’s main focus is on the study of Torah. On this we are taught that it should be the opposite way around, that we study Torah because of G-d and hence the main focus is G-d, and the Torah is a means to get to G-d which is the ultimate goal.

2^nd Mamar “Miben Esrim”

2. Miben Esrim:^[5]
3. The significance of age 20:

Our sages teach us that a child is not able to perform real estate sales with his father’s assets until he reaches the age of 20 years old. What is significant about the age of 20 that specifically at that age one becomes mature enough to perform real estate sales? The explanation is that at the age of 20 a child receives the encompassing level of the soul of his father. This refers to the level of will that surpasses intellect. In the words of Kabbala this is known as Mochin Deaba. This refers to accessing a great reservoir of wisdom and in-depth comprehension that one does not have access to prior to this age. Prior to age 20, one only contains Mochin Deima, and hence lacks intellectual maturity to understand things in greater breath and greater depth than the way they appear to the naked eye. This is why a child under age 20 may not sell his father’s assets, as he may make a rushed and spontaneous decision which although provides instant cash and gratification is possibly unproductive for his long-term investment goals. After reaching age 20, he attains the intellectual maturity to make more rational decisions based on an in-depth analysis of the long-term effects of his real estate sale. [Seemingly, it is also due to this reason that it is recorded[6] that children below the age of 20 have certain leniencies regarding punishment for transgression, as although they become responsible for Torah and Mitzvot once they reach the age of Bar Mitzvah, nonetheless, they still lack the full intellectual maturity in making rational decisions in serving G-d.]

• The divine lesson: One of the famous quotes of the American writer and humorist Mark Twain was “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” In shorter words, “until 20 years old my parents were total ignoramuses and in one day they learned so much.” Whether you are a parent or a teacher of adolescent children, it is not uncommon to hear the teen make factually incorrect statements which they believe are absolutely true and continue to argue with you when corrected. The distance between their actual knowledge and their oversized confidence is often astronomical, or as one person once put it, that if they jumped from their ego to their knowledge it could be suicidal. On one occasion, I witnessed a 13-year-old yeshiva student arguing with a seasoned Dayan five times his age who deals with Gittin over a certain halachic matter in the realm of divorce, and only after a half-hour of back-and-forth did the child finally agree to his mistake. On another occasion, an adolescent remained steadfast that the city of Berlin was the capital of Spain despite being told by the adults that were near him that it is not. He argued against them until he was actually shown it in three separate maps! All of this can prove very frustrating for teachers and parents, who feels slighted at the youngsters brushing away their knowledge, and at the impudence that they have in thinking they know better than adults. The above teaching of the Alter Rebbe can help the parent or teacher lessen the negative feelings that he may have towards the stubborn teenager who thinks he knows everything. Prior to age 20, a child does not have fully independent intellectual capabilities. Meaning, he can’t think out-of-the-box, or foresee into the depths of matters. If he thinks that he once heard that Berlin is the capital of Spain, then so it is. He is very assured of his conscious knowledge as he does not yet have access to the subconscious knowledge known as Mochin Deaba, which helps him understand that logic and intellect can go beyond what he personally understands to be true. The age of 20 gives one an intellectual maturity to be more open-minded to other people’s opinions, advice, and the long-term effect of a given decision. With age, the teenager will eventually grow out of it and lessen the grip on his view on the facts of life in the face of the opinion of others. Interestingly, the fact that adolescence and the teenage years ends at age 20 fits right into the above teaching of the Alter Rebbe who has now given us the inner reason behind it. Nonetheless, it is also true that parents should find a beneficial way in correcting the child and teaching him the concept of open-mindedness to the opinion others, and eventually this message will ring home after 20 years old.

3^rd Mamar “Vayidaber Hashem”

3. Vayidaber Hashem:^[7]
4. The purpose of the descent of the soul below:

[It is well-known that the purpose of the descent of the soul below into the body is for the sake of an ascent. The typical explanation is that the ascent will only take place in the future era after the soul leaves this world and enters the garden of Eden, or in the world to come. However, in this world so long as the soul is still in the body it is considered a state of descent. In this teaching the Alter Rebbe explains that the ascent occurs even in this world.] The purpose of the descent of the soul below is not only for the reward that the soul will receive in the world to come, but is even for the sake of the elevation and advantage the soul will experience while it is in this world invested within a physical body. How so? This is based on the teaching of the sages that one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is greater than all the life of the world to come. The experience of the entire world to come derives from a mere ray of the divine presence. However, when one fulfills a mitzvah in this world he connects to the essence of G-d, and hence the descent to this world was for the sake of the ascent that the soul can experience also in this world, and it does not need to wait until the world to come.

1. Evil remains in one’s heart unless it is burned out through prayer:

Every person contains mixed within their soul a certain measurement of good and evil. Even a person who does not actually transgress or express the evil contains it within his soul in a dormant manner. The evil remains in its full strength within the person’s heart even if it is not expressed until it is properly refined and removed. How does one refine and remove the evil in his heart? This can only be accomplished through arousing such a strong and passionate love within prayer that one burns away any and all remnant of evil from his heart. It is for this reason that the sages instituted the daily prayer specifically after the destruction of the temple, as during temple times evil did not exist within man’s heart to such a great extent and hence did not require as much of a fire of love within prayer in order to refine it. [Now this does not mean that evil did not exist in the times of the first Temple in which they transgressed idolatry, adultery and murder, but rather simply that the evil did not stick as much to the heart.]

1. Why toddlers don’t show compassion and mercy:

The attribute of mercy and compassion comes from the aspect of Daas of one’s intellect. What is the connection between Daas and compassion? So this can be readily seen within the nature of a child. The reason why small children, babies and toddlers, contain a disposition towards cruelty is because they do not contain the aspect of Daas. It is likewise for this reason that we associate the attribute of mercy to a father, as it says in the verse “like a father who has mercy on his children.” Why is a mother not mentioned in the verse? The reason for this is because women are lightheaded, which means they have a lesser measurement of Daas. This is in contrast to a man who has a much broader level of Daas, and hence he can have more compassion.

[1] Likkutei Torah p. 1-20a

[2] Likkutei Torah p. 1a-2a

[3] Likkutei Torah Bamidbar 1^st Mamar 1a

[4] Recorded in Aryeh Kaplan’s a”h “Chassidic Masters”

[5] Likkutei Torah p. 2a

[6] See Shabbos 89b; Yerushalmi Bikkurim 6b; Midrash Raba Bamidbar 18:4; Zohar Vayeira 118b, Hazinu 298:3; Rashi in Bereishis 23:1, and beginning of Ki Sisa; Rambam Pirush Hamishnayos Sanhedrin 7:4; Chasam Sofer Y.D. 155; Pischeiy Teshuvah Y.D. 185:9; Chacham Tzevi 47 and 49; Noda Beyehuda Tinyana Y.D. 164; Chavos Yair 166 [end]; Rav Poalim 3 O.C. 37; Chida in Pesach Eiynayim Chagiga 15a; Maharitz Chayos on Shabbos ibid; Pardes Yosef beginning of Chayeh Sarah; Shearim Hametzuyanim Bhelacha

[7] Likkutei Torah p. 2a-3a