by Rabbi E. Tauger
MAR-CHESHVAN:
Dates To Remember
Mar-Cheshvan 7 - The date when the last of those who made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Sukkos festival would return to their homes. It is also the day on which the inhabitants of Israel begin praying for rain. The message of the two is interrelated: The people would not begin praying for rain until the last Jew returned home lest the rain cause him discomfort.
This is an important lesson in Ahavas Yisrael, the love and mutual concern that pervades our people. Although every Jew needed rain for his own fields, he would not begin to ask G-d for his own needs until he was certain that the fulfillment of his request would not cause hardship to another Jew.
Mar-Cheshvan 11 - The yahrzeit of Rachel our Matriarch. In explaining why Rachel was not buried together with the other Patriarchs and Matriarchs in Chevron, our Rabbis explain that when the Jews were taken to exile in Babylon, they passed Rachel's grave and Rachel came out weeping forr her children. So profuse and bitter was her wailing that it awakened G-d's mercy and He told her: "Restrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears. There is reward for your efforts... they will return from the enemy's land."
Mar-Cheshvan 20 - The birthday of the Rebbe Rashab, the fifth Lubavitch Rebbe. From his earliest childhood onward, the Rebbe Rashab showed unique spiritual gifts. At the age of three, he visited his grandfather the Tzemach Tzedek. When he first entered into his grandfather's room, he began to cry, asking why G-d does not reveal Himself to him, like He revealed himself to Avraham?
This thrust directed the Rebbe Rashab throughout his entire life. For himself and for others, he sought to bring about the revelation of G-dlin-ess, teaching the deepest secrets of Chassidus in a fashion that could be comprehended by mortal wisdom.
His crying for the revelation of G-dliness at the age of three also set a standard for children, showing them what is important to cry for.
Mar-Cheshvan - Navigating A Safe Landing We all like contrasts. But when they become too abrupt, we often ask ourselves: Is this what we wanted? Because we also like stability. When tomorrow looks very different from yesterday, we become disconcerted. And when the abruptness in a pattern stems from G-d, we search for an explanation. For He is not compelled to conform to any outside standard. If He structures the phases of our spiritual development in a discontinuous manner, there must be a reason. The transition from Tishrei to Cheshvan indicates such a radical change. Tishrei is a month of holidays, days of awe and joy that tap our deepest spiritual resources and bring them into expression. Cheshvan, on the other hand, is a month without a single Jewish holiday. Everything about the month is ordinary.
A People Of Extremes These two thrusts reflect patterns of cosmic significance. The soul of every Jew is "an actual part of G-d," unbounded and unlimited. For a Jew, the spiritual is natural. When he senses the awesomeness of G-d on Yom Kippur, or lets loose in spontaneous rejoicing on Simchas Torah, he is in his element. And yet, while this reflects who a Jew is, it does not disclose his mission. G-d brought all existence into being, because He desired a dwelling in the lower realms, that G-dliness be revealed within this material framework. He brought us - as a people and as individuals - into being to bring that intent into fruition. Were spiritual experience all He desired of us, He would have left us on a higher more refined plane of existence. On such a level, our sensitivity would not be hampered by the material trappings of our existence. Why did He make us physical entities? To enable us to communicate the spiritual within this physical setting. A Jew is thus a creature of both heaven and earth. And His mission is to fuse the two together: to make G-dliness a real factor here and now within the context of our world.
Two Months - Two Motions Tishrei thus reveals a Jew's fundamental nature. It shows the "above the world" we each possess inside ourselves. And Cheshvan points to our purpose in life: to bring the "above the world" into the world, making the world a dwelling place for G-d. Is Cheshvan a descent? From an apparent perspective, it would appear to be so. For during this month, less holiness is evident. And yet, this involves only the holiness that we take in, not the holiness which we achieve. If you're looking at what you receive, Tishrei is greater - far greater. But if you're looking at what you can contribute, there is an advantage - and indeed an awesome advantage - to the month of Cheshvan, because this is the month which reflects man's efforts to fulfill his purpose. Man becomes G-d's coworker, as it were, His partner in Creation. G-d created something from nothing - out of the absolute nothingness that existed before creation, He brought into being a material world. And man makes something into nothing, i.e., he takes the material nature of our world and causes it to be permeated by the spiritual. He shows how to lose consciousness of the self and gain awareness of a higher reality.
Spiritual And Material Produce These patterns within of our Divine service are intertwined with and reflected by the agricultural cycle described in the Torah and the Talmud. Tishrei is the harvest month, the time when the crops of the previous year are reaped, processed and stored. Cheshvan is a month devoted to preparing for the new crops, a month where the rains, necessary for next year's yield, begin to descend. To focus on the spiritual parallel: Tishrei is when we take in all that we have worked for an entire year. Cheshvan is when we begin anew and strive for more encompassing achievements.
Fusing The Finite And The Infinite These concepts relate to the ultimate purpose of our Divine service: the era of the Redemption. The era of Redemption will have an element of Tishrei. For when we say that G-d desired "a dwelling within the lower realms," we mean a place where He reveals Himself as He is. Just like a person lets loose and reveals himself at home without restraint, so too, this world is intended to be the place where G-d goes beyond all constraints and makes Himself known to us as He is. But if He would make Himself known as He is, seemingly, our entire worldly framework would be obliterated. For in the face of His boundless infinity, how could the world as we know it continue to exist? This is the lesson of Cheshvan. Cheshvan comes after Tishrei. It is not a departure from Tishrei, but a continuation of it. The purpose is not to forget about the spiritual heights of the previous month and "get down to business," but rather to make those heights our business, to orient our day-to-day framework to accept the ultimate spiritual reality. How is that possible? How can the unlimited be transfused within the limited? According to nature, it is impossible. But as we said above, we are not natural beings. The truth of every Jew's existence is that he is "an actual part of G-d." And just as G-d can combine opposites, so too, we can cause the spiritual to permeate the physical and reveal G-dliness within this material framework. But the message of Cheshvan is integral to this pattern, for the combination of opposites required of man requires remaking the nature of the world. That involves work. And since the revelations of the Era of the Redemption will encompass every place in the world and every aspect of being, our efforts must relate to every facet of existence. If a Jew is travelling to the Far East on business, the hidden reason for his trip is that in the Era of the Redemption, G-dliness will be revealed in those places as well and he must help prepare for that revelation. From time to time, we are exposed to spiritual heights like Tishrei so that we will be aware of the unbounded G-dliness which we are trying to communicate. (If we were not given such exposure, we might forget our mission and become worldly ourselves.) But the tone of the our present is set by Cheshvan; we are preparing for the crops. In the era of the Redemption, we will reap them. And yet, it is wrong to think that the harvest is in the far-off future. The Rebbe has told us that we are at the threshold of redemption and indeed, in the process of crossing that threshold. As we look around us, we see that the backdrop for the Redemption has already been set, for the forces that will facilitate the overflow of knowledge and affluence in the Era of the Redemption are already shaping the face of our society. We are reaching the point when "the plower will meet the reaper." Shortly after sowing our spiritual seeds, we will reap them. |
The Torah Portions of the Month
Parshas Noach - We are all familiar with the story of the flood, but at least as significant is the flood's aftermath. Noach saw "a new world"; he was given the opportunity to begin history anew. Despite everything that had happened before, G-d granted him a chance to start again.
What a lesson for each of us! Renewal, affecting an entire metamorphosis of our experience is within our reach.
And through each of us going through a personal experience of renewal, we prepare for the renewal of creation as a whole which will accompany the coming of Mashiach.
Parshas Lech Lecho - This Torah reading chronicles the history of Avraham, but as important as what the Torah says is what it leaves out. The story of Avraham with which we are all most familiar is the story of Avraham breaking his father's idols as a young boy. But the Torah does not mention that story at all. Instead, it begins its description of Avraham with G-d's command to him to leave his father's house and journey to Eretz Yisrael.
This contains a lesson for each one of us. Avraham's discovery of G-d and his breaking his father's idols are actions which he took on his own initiative. They are desirable and praiseworthy, but they represent a mortal's striving to improve himself and his environment.
Avraham's response to G-d's command represents a different motif. In obeying that command, he stepped beyond the mortal sphere and followed G-d's lead.
This is the lesson we must take from the father of our people: Not to focus only on our personal refinement, but instead to focus on obedience to a higher authority, to expand our horizons beyond our own scopes and tune in to His directives.
Parshas Vayera - This Torah reading relates the story of the Akeidah, the challenge Avraham had to face when asked to sacrifice his son.
What was so unique about Avraham's actions? After all, he is not the only one in our national history who was asked to give up his son.
Among the explanations given for the Akeidah's uniqueness is the eagerness and joy with which Avraham fulfilled G-d's command. He did not "grit his teeth and bear it." Instead, he had so subsumed his personal will that his own feelings did not stand in his way at all. His only desire was to do what G-d wanted, and this he did eagerly, without hesitation.
Parshas Chayah Sarah - The name of this Torah reading means "the life of Sarah." And yet, the Torah reading begins by telling us of her death. With this, however, the Torah teaches us a fundamental lesson. Life is not confined to the time when a person's soul exists within his or her body. A person's life is the posterity he or she leaves, the ongoing motif which he or she has fostered within the world.
When Avraham purchased a portion of Eretz Yisrael as his own property, when he found a fitting wife for Yitzchak, a wife whose qualities emulated those of Sarah herself, and when Yishmael and Avraham's other sons acknowledged Yitzchak's supremacy - the subjects spoken about in the Torah reading - they were giving expression to "the life of Sarah," her inner vitality and dynamism.
Parshas Toldos - This Torah reading recounts the struggle between Yaakov and Esav, a perennial rivalry that continues into the present day. For this is not merely a tale of two brothers, but a description of the powers that clash over "mastery of two worlds," the material and the spiritual. For neither Yaakov nor Esav was content with one world alone. It was not that Esav desired material matters, and Yaakov the spiritual. Instead, Esav wanted to interpret and express spirituality in his own selfish fashion. And Yaakov saw as his mission the spreading of spirituality within the context of the physical: that this world become G-d's dwelling.
The ultimate resolution of this conflict will be in the Era of the Redemption when "saviors will ascend to the Mount of Zion and judge the mountain of Esav, and the sovereignty will be the Lord's."