CHOCHMAT NASHIM: NASO: Elevation Revelation
By: Suri Davis
I attended my nephew’s virtual graduation from medical school yesterday. One his professors quoted Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.[5] It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
It differs substantially to that which King Solomon quotes in his Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3:
ג׳
לַכֹּ֖ל זְמָ֑ן וְעֵ֥ת לְכָל־חֵ֖פֶץ תַּ֥חַת הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ (ס)
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
עֵ֥ת לָלֶ֖דֶת וְעֵ֣ת לָמ֑וּת עֵ֣ת לָטַ֔עַת וְעֵ֖ת לַעֲק֥וֹר נָטֽוּעַ׃
A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
עֵ֤ת לַהֲרוֹג֙ וְעֵ֣ת לִרְפּ֔וֹא עֵ֥ת לִפְר֖וֹץ וְעֵ֥ת לִבְנֽוֹת׃
A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up;
עֵ֤ת לִבְכּוֹת֙ וְעֵ֣ת לִשְׂח֔וֹק עֵ֥ת סְפ֖וֹד וְעֵ֥ת רְקֽוֹד׃
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
עֵ֚ת לְהַשְׁלִ֣יךְ אֲבָנִ֔ים וְעֵ֖ת כְּנ֣וֹס אֲבָנִ֑ים עֵ֣ת לַחֲב֔וֹק וְעֵ֖ת לִרְחֹ֥ק מֵחַבֵּֽק׃
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
עֵ֤ת לְבַקֵּשׁ֙ וְעֵ֣ת לְאַבֵּ֔ד עֵ֥ת לִשְׁמ֖וֹר וְעֵ֥ת לְהַשְׁלִֽיךְ׃
A time to seek, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to cast away;
עֵ֤ת לִקְר֙וֹעַ֙ וְעֵ֣ת לִתְפּ֔וֹר עֵ֥ת לַחֲשׁ֖וֹת וְעֵ֥ת לְדַבֵּֽר׃
A time to rend, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
עֵ֤ת לֶֽאֱהֹב֙ וְעֵ֣ת לִשְׂנֹ֔א עֵ֥ת מִלְחָמָ֖ה וְעֵ֥ת שָׁלֽוֹם׃ (ס)
A time to love, and a time to hate; A time for war, and a time for peace.
The very first brachah of birchot hashachar is “asher natan lasechvi binah l’havchin bein yom uvein Lylah/Thank you G-d for giving the heart understanding to distinguish between day and night.” One might ask why we are not thanking G-d for the sight to discern between day and night. Why the heart? Because when we wake in the morning, our eyes tell us its dark and still night, but with binah, the sixth sense, our heart can discern that while the eyes see darkness, the light is on the verge of shining. It’s experience, hindsight and foresight.
In this week’s parshah, there are interesting juxtapositions from which to learn. This parshah is always read on the eve of Shvuoth, the celebration of the receiving of the torah on Mount Sinai. We know that our forefathers studied and followed the laws of the torah, why is Shavuoth so important then? The Lubavitch Rebbe tells us in Sichas Shabbos parshas Naso 5747, that until the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, we Jews and our materialism were very separate from G-d and His spirituality, both existed, but there was no long term union between the two, the upper spiritual world could have no lasting union with the lower physical world, but that changed when G-d married the Jews and brought the two together as a lasting union.
Often we crave for a definitive situations, black and white occurrences and answers and choices, gray is so difficult to discern, but life is a range. When the torah mentions the three sons of Levi, Gershon, Kehot and Merrari, it does not do so in their age order as it generally does, it mentions Kehot first, Gershon second and Merrari last. Rashi tells us this is so for two reasons. They are mentioned in spirituality order, with Kehot carrying the Ark of the Torah, Gershon its furnishings and Merrari its supports.
The listed order also answers the question of when getting closer to G-d, is it more important to divorce yourself from evil, as in the name Gershon, Geresh/divorce, or Kehos from the root word gathering, as in gathering of the good deeds. Placing Kehot before Gershon elucidates that doing good is paramount in making the world a place where G-d can shine His countenance, and make His home. (Likutei Sichos, Volume 13, p.19). They were all holy, some more holy than others.
We see the gradations in the juxtaposition of three situations, that of the sotah, woman suspected of betraying her husband with another man, the nazir who separates himself from wine/grape products, meat and refrains from cutting his hair and G-d’s Blessing to us bestowed by the priests. Rashi tells us that one who sees a Sotah in her disgrace will make a Nazarite vow to abstain from wine for wine leads a person to adultery. This is juxtaposed to the Priests’ receiving their gifts from Jews, stating that any man who abstains from giving the priest his due, is bound to come before said priest with a Sotah, a wife who is suspected of betraying him. But those who gift the Priests their do, will be receive the Priestly blessing.
We move from a woman who has taken that which is holy and desecrated it. We have a man who has taken material good, wine and meat, and refrained from it so as to elevate himself and get closer to G-d, and then G-d bestowing His blessing on the Jewish people.
Let’s look at Shavuoth. G-d gave Elimelech, in the Book of Ruth, great material wealth. Instead of using said wealth to feed the poor during the famine, he runs away to avoid acts of chesed. He and his two signs die. Ruth, a Moabite princess has the ability to return to her kingdom, but insteads takes upon herself the yoke of torah, even though it means poverty to her. She denies the material wealth of a princess. She gets closer to G-d, and G-d blesses her not only with a child, but with descendants who will be kings of Israel and eventually Messiah.
From the dust, elation and redemption.
Es tzarah hi l’yaakov, umimenah yivasheah/a time of trouble for the nation of Jacob, but from the trouble itself, will sprout redemption. I cant help but think of the transformation/metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly set forth by a NYT writer in quarantine. “A caterpillar does not choose to go into its cocoon. It is a chrysalis, a hard shell that was inside the caterpillar’s body the whole time. In order to expose the chrysalis, the caterpillar just has to slough off its chubby outer layer. It seals itself inside itself. No decision really made, its just a matter of hormonal cascades, cues beyond the understanding of the creater being cued. The caterpillar stays inside because it has to. And when it comes out, it is a different thing.” It is different, but can we say it is better?
We are not caterpillars. These circumstances clearly came about by G-d. But how we come out of this, is up to us with the help of G-d. Its what we put into our mix. Is it Hulu, Youtube and Netflix, or is it Ou.org, Yutorah.org and Virtual Beis Medrash. G-d built within us this chrysalis called tzelem elokim, it is meant to cause us to change every single hour of every single day. We have no choice but to change, the question is what do we change into, is it something better?
In another NYT article, a writer wrote “Quarantine didn’t just take things away, it revealed, with a harsh unrelenting clarity what had already been lost.” We lost touch with ourselves, the real us that we loved about ourselves. We lost touch with those with whom we live. We didn’t hug our children and parents enough. We didn’t appreciate the times we walked maskless with our friends and family. We ran and ran and ran and lost sight of what we were supposed to do with our time, aside from running running and doing. We thought we could never do without a weekly mani/pedi. We thought we couldn’t do without our daily espresso. We thought we couldn’t have religious meaning in our lives without minyan. We thought we couldn’t do without our monthly single/double process and botox injections, and running to and from flight to flight. We thought we couldn’t work without a commute. We thought we couldn’t do without our housekeepers. Soccer lessons, hockey lessons, 200 ppl bris, 600 ppl weddings, 1,000 ppl graduations, 100ppl sheva brachot. In the words of my parents, we learned how “to make do.”
AND in the process, we learned the beauty of a backyard bris, of being able to zoom a shiva visit throughout the world. We learned its ok to have a seder for one. We learned that CVS brand tissues are ok too, that it is magnificent not having airplanes flying overhead every 90 seconds, that $10,000 summer camp experiences not as pleasurable as bike rides in Harriman State Park, kayak launches from the Woodmere dock, charcoal hibachi barbecues in North Woodmere Park, feeding the pigeons on the Far Rockaway boardwalk, saving thousands of dollars on Shabbos clothes which we don’t need in quarantine and whatever else you put in your chrysalis that changed. We are known as a wealthy community, but within minutes of opening a site for food for those who are food insecure 2,500 people signed up. Tomchei Shabbos is stretched. The Gural JCC Food Pantry be utilized to the max, Hatzolah stretched to its limits. We need social services infrastructure, and we need to support them.
Whether it is both the best of times and the worst of times, or whether it has been alternatively a time for birth and death, love and hate, finding rebirth in a self induced destruction to reveal the chrysalis for
We were placed on earth to raise ourselves as a holy nation. To maximize our potential. G-d shoved us into our cocoons to morph faster with less distractions. We start with Sotah, our goal, is G-d’s brachah, it is up to us to move through the necessary changes to elevate ourselves for mattan torah/for receiving the torah and rededicating ourselves to torah, torah learning and doing good deeds to hasten the arrival of Moshiach speedily in our time.
-Shabbat shalom. Chag sameach.
Suri