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B”H

Chassidic Tales and Wisdom of the Week

Wisdom of the Week:

“THIS THING IS VERY NEAR TO YOU”

For this [body of] commandment[s] which I am commanding you today, is not concealed from you nor is it distant. It is not in the skies that you should say, “Who will go up to the skies and take it for us, and tell it to us, so that we can keep it?” Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross to the other side of the sea and fetch it for us, to tell it to us so that we can keep it?” Rather, this thing is very near to you, in your mouth and heart to observe it. (Devarim 30:11-14)

The Torah and its mitzvot are not concealed from us, nor is their observance beyond our capabilities. The Talmud says “Ain Hakadosh Baruch Hu ba bitrunya im bree’yotav.” G-d does not come in a storm with his creatures – Hashem does not ask us to do something, that we are not capable of doing. The very fact that Hashem commanded us is proof that we do have the capability to do accordingly.

The fulfillment of the mitzvot is not equally easy or difficult for each person. Nor is it always equally difficult or easy to do the mitzvot. Life circumstances change every so often, and what was easy yesterday may be very difficult today, and vice versa. We need to know clearly, without any doubts – that every Jew possesses the capability of ‘messirut nefesh’, the strength and capability to give our lives for the sanctification of Hashem’s Name. The Tanya teaches us that not only can we access this phenomenal power of complete devotion to Hashem, when faced with the ultimate choice of turning away from Hashem, or giving our lives for Hashem, we can learn to utilize this great strength to live for G-d each day of our lives. (See Tanya chap. 25) It is in this sense that the Torah is “not distant from you … Rather, this thing is very near to you, in your mouth and heart to observe it.”

In his commentary on the Tanya (Ch. 25) Rav Steinsaltz explains that it has been said that the difference between the righteous and the one who is not yet righteous can be portrayed as follows: both say “Wait, I’ll attend to you soon.” The righteous one says this to his ‘yetzer hara’ – his evil inclination, whereas the one who is not yet righteous in his behaviour says this to his ‘yetzer hatov’ – his righteous inclination. However every Jew can learn to access and utilize his and her embedded and innate love and fear of Hashem to live and act righteously each day at all times.

The key for unlocking the wisdom of the Torah and its secrets is found in the ‘performance’ of the mitzvot – “For the mitzvah is a candle and the Torah is light.” Through our doing of the mitzvot we acquire the needed light to learn and understand both the revealed and hidden aspects of the Torah.

To acquire the light of the Torah and to see clearly in its light we further need to make a blessing both before and after the reading and the study of the Torah – beforehand so that the gateways should be opened for us, and after so that we should have a correct and true understanding of what was revealed to us. (Based on 5664.)

Chassidic Tales

When Hashem Hides His Face

“On that day I will surely hide My face because of all the evil that they have done in turning to alien gods.” (Deuteronomy 31:18)

Have you ever felt alone, so alone that you think that even Hashem is hiding from you? Yes, it happens to us both as individuals and as a community. G-d often plays hide and seek with us.

I believe that it was the Kotzker Rebbe’s grandson [and I have heard similar stories about other tzadikkim] who came in crying to his holy grandfather. “Why are you crying?” the Rebbe asked? And he answered, “I was playing hide and seek with my friends, and it has been a long time that I have been hiding, and they haven’t found me.”
“So why are you crying, isn’t that the point of the game – to hide so well that you can’t be found?”
“Yes, that’s true, but they have stopped looking for me- that’s why I’m crying.”

And the Rebbe remarked with a deep sigh, “Imagine how Hashem must be feeling, He has been hiding for so long that so many of His children have stopped looking for Him.”

Hashem hides, but only because He wants us to find Him. However sometimes he may be so upset with us that He hides His hiding. In other words, we may not even realize that He is hiding- and that’s the worst because then we don’t even know to look for Him.

The Baal Shem Tov taught that if only we would remember that Hashem is always present, even in the concealment, then the all the facades would readily disappear and we would not feel alone. We would realize that we are not alone. Like Rebbe Nachman taught, whenever you sincerely cry out to Hashem saying “AYEH?” -Hashem where is Your glory? I feel so alone- I’m finding myself in such a lowly and forsaken place, can it be true that You have forsaken me ‘chas v’shalom’? Surely You are here- please do not conceal Yourself from me any more. “I am seeking Your face!” –Hashem will hear you and will come to be close with you. He will not let you feel abandoned. He will show you that “His glory fills the entire world.” Even in this most difficult and lonely place that you find yourself in, Hashem will reveal to you that He is there with you.

Often when we do tshuvah we forget to seek the closeness of Hashem. We think that we are so far away from Him, and maybe so for good reason. And maybe Hashem is hiding from us momentarily, to make us realize that there are things that we need to fix in order to be close to Him again. But, at the same time we must remember to ‘mammash’ truly ask Hashem to be close to Him; and we need to invite Hashem to be close to us, as we do our best to come close to Him. And not only that, we also need to trust that Hashem is nearby, always- right there in His concealment.