Inner Stream - Insights into Torah

Yitro: Should Freedom be Imposed?

Rabbi Lazer — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:30:00 -0500

The Freedom App

Writing an essay has never been more difficult. In the past you could seclude yourself in a corner with pen and paper and let your mind flow. Now we sit at computers connected to the internet. The strain of concentration wears the brain and we are tempted constantly to distraction. Just a quick check of my email or a peek at the news, anything to ease the strain. But with these constant distractions how can one get any writing done? Every time I tune out, it takes forever to tune back in.

In truth, I can hardly be described as a technology geek. It took me forever to get my ipod. My blackbury is not even two years old. I rarely text and have about eight bbm contacts. Still as I sit down to study, teach or write I can hardly resist checking my device when it buzzes. I know it’s the wrong time and still I have to grab that call. Oops, there goes my cell, give me a sec while I see who’s calling…

The other day I heard a radio interview with the creator of something called the Freedom App. It can be downloaded for ten bucks and it blocks access to the internet for up to eight hours at a time. I looked it up online and was amazed to see the list of famous writers that hail this product as G-d’s gift.

All this is rather worrisome to Katie Rophie, who wrote a piece for Slate Magazine. “I don’t in any way question why anyone would want Freedom” she writes. “The addictive, mindless thrill of the Internet is clear: Why work when you can go on email or check the weather?” What is frightening is the lack of control implied by this program, the total insufficiency of will when it comes to the Internet.”

Katie agrees that freedom must sometimes be imposed. Her question is only whether we need help doing it or if we are capable of imposing it on ourselves, which brings me to Torah.

Purpose

Our sages taught that true freedom is achieved only through Torah. At first blush this sounds incongruent. Freedom means to do as we please. Torah study requires rigorous concentration and structured commitment. Where is the freedom in burying one’s nose in a book allowing the beauty of the vast and beckoning world to pass us by? (1)

Former US President Richard Nixon once said that when people are forced to go against their intuitions about the things they feel they ought to do, life becomes almost unbearable because what grants meaning to life is purpose. Without purpose it is impossible to be happy. We can try to fill the void with leisure, travel, gourmet and golf but that is not a life. Life is purpose.

As I understand it he was talking about the alignment of end and means. Life goals structure and streamline our lives around our purpose. Every resource, property and opportunity is unified by a common theme. They are all tools to purpose.

But when we lack a unifying purpose life becomes fragmented; an aimless collection of experiences and things devoid of structure and meaning. This kind of life is tempting to those who don’t have it, but those who do, know how tedious it can be. The glamour quickly fades and we are left yearning for the structure of the simple life. We become jealous of those who are poor of means, but rich in purpose because purpose grants meaning to life.

True Freedom

Freedom means that the outer accoutrements of life are aligned with our inner desires. We all desire meaning and we want our life to fall in step with our general purpose. When our inner desires are not synchronized with our outer lifestyle, life loses its luster and we grow despondent. We might be free to travel and do as we please. We have the means to pursue every whim, but life can’t be lived on a whim for whims do not a life make.

Consider a person who opts for six months of isolation in a remote and lonely cabin. This self imposed seclusion prevents this person from as much as stepping outside, but such people are free, doing precisely what they want. Contrast that with a billionaire placed under house arrest on a twelve hundred acre estate. They have absolute freedom of mobility over an area larger than most people traverse in a month, but they are imprisoned. What they do is not in concert with what they want.

True freedom comes from synthesis between the deepest undercurrent of our desires and the things we do in life. What we desire is often dictated by how and where we were raised, but as Jews there is a clear national desire that flows from our essence of being, our soul.

Torah

Every Jew desires a connection with G-d. Our souls know that proximity to G-d is of greater value than anything that material life offers. On the deepest level every soul craves this connection because G-d represents the highest point of meaning within our reach. It strikes the deepest chord within our soul because in G-d we find purpose. In G-d we find our own origin. With G-d we gain full equilibrium.

But then our soul descends to this world where we are besieged by an endless train of distraction. Everything holds the prospect of fulfillment and shines with the luster of promise. Fun, power, prestige, and status are all held out as tantalizing promises to those who opt for the life of materialism. From this perspective, a life steeped in Torah seems boring and lackluster.

Yet, the true state of our soul never changes. In our innermost chambers we know that true fulfillment derives from purpose and true purpose lies in a connection with G-d. Sometimes this truth is buried and we are not even aware of it, but it never goes away and we cannot be happy so long as we ignore it.

This schism between our inner truth and outer existence saps our energy and moral strength. (2) We try desperately to reconcile what we know to be true with the life we have chosen. We struggle with it mightily but it cannot be reconciled so long as we insist on using our means as an end. What was intended by G-d as a means to serve Him, we use as an end in serving ourselves.

Freedom can be achieved by recognizing these distractions for what they are and returning to our true desires. Torah is our freedom app. It awakens within us the truth we have always known and inspires us to align our lives with the deepest yearnings of our souls. We don’t require a force to impose this from the outside for in contradistinction to the internet, when it comes to Torah our will is sufficient.

Footnote

While this essay takes a different track in responding to this question it must be noted that the vastness of the world is in fact confining when compared to the unlimited vastness of Torah. One can sit in a bare room and cramped quarters, but immerse the mind in the endless wisdom of Talmud or Kabbalah, allowing the mind to soar. There is no limit to the freedom the mind can achieve when unleashed into the endless world of Torah. Through Torah one achieves a connection with the infinite wisdom of G-d whereas the material world, vast as it is, is still finite.
In the early part of the last century Jewish immigrants from Europe adopted the slogan, “Be a Jew at home and a Gentile on the street.” This constant seesaw between the rhythms of home and the values learned on the street was terribly confusing; especially to the next generation. This generation was forced to make a choice. Some surrendered their Jewishness at home and embraced their secular side completely and others surrendered their non Jewishness on the street and embraced Torah completely. Those who continued on the middle path opted for a life of struggle. It was incredibly difficult for them to reconcile their inherent faith in G-d with the ideology they embraced at University. They struggled to synchronize the values learned at home with those taught at Woodstock. Of this generation there are few if any whose children continued on this conflicted path. It is a path that is too difficult to follow. The path of compromise holds out great promise, but it the end it always proves too difficult. It is difficult to make everyone happy all the time, but it’s worse when the opposing forces are within us. Then it is literally impossible to compromise our own way into happiness.

Yitro – When Student Becomes Teacher

Rabbi Lazer — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 09:58:00 -0500

Teaching and Giving

Did you know that Jews knew and studied the Torah well before G-d gave it at Sinai? The Torah was taught to Adam, who taught it to Seth who passed it to his children till it reached Abraham, who taught it to the Jews. (1) This begs the obvious question, what did G-d give us at Sinai that we did not already have?

Before Sinai, G-d taught us the Torah, at Sinai He gave it to us. Abraham studied the Torah; we own it. It was G-d’s precious gem, His own thought pattern and mindset, but he transferred it to us. Absurd as it sounds, it is true. At Sinai we moved into G-d’s space. Not as renters, but as owners.

This ownership is expressed in concrete terms through Halacha. Before Sinai questions of Torah law were determined in heaven and Torah scholars simply accepted it. At Sinai G-d transferred ownership to us; now Torah law is formulated by Torah scholars here on earth. When the High Jewish courts vote on a matter of Jewish law, G-d accepts and ratifies the outcome. (2)

In The World

The Torah is not an abstract document studied by wizened scholars in ivory towers; it is a manifesto with real world applications. The real world applications of our ownership are startling.

The Hebrew word for permissible is Mutar, which means literally untied. The Hebrew word for forbidden is Asur, which means tied down. The forbidden item is tied down to unholy energies and can never be released from spiritual defilement. Pork for example is fastened to unholy energies; every time Jews eat pork, we nourish impure energies within us. Kosher meat on the other hand is Mutar, not bound to impurity. When it is consumed for holy purpose it enhances the holiness within us. (3)

On Passover

Let us consider leavened bread on Passover. Kosher leavened bread is permitted all year long; it is not tied down to unclean spiritual forces. On Passover, however, the bread transfers the channel through which it receives its vitality and sustenance and thus becomes forbidden. That which was permitted all year is suddenly tied down to unholy forces and is permeated with unclean energies.

Now consider this. In days gone by (when the Sanhedrin, the high Jewish court, was still functional) the calendar was governed by the sages, who heard testimony and adjusted the calendar in tandem with their calendrical calculations. Today the Sanhedrin is no longer in existence and the calendar follows a set formula, established in the fifth century. But suppose the Sanhedrin were still functional, every time the Sanhedrin would declare a leap year the date for Passover would change. On the day when leavened food was meant to be forbidden it would de-facto become permitted. On the day when it would otherwise have been permitted it would actually be forbidden.

This means that human beings can affect the spiritual composition of a given object. The leavened bread that was meant to channel holy energies on the day before Passover ipso-facto becomes permeated with impure energies on the authority of human beings. This is an amazing thought.

The reverse is equally amazing. Bread that would otherwise have been absolutely forbidden and inaccessible to holiness on the day that would have been Passover suddenly becomes kosher to eat when the Sanhedrin adjusts the calendar.

A Paradox

This is a classic case of putting the cart before the horse. G-d created the bread and is in charge of formulating its spiritual composition. Yet, when we choose to move the calendar, the composition is automatically adjusted. G-d lets us make His decisions. (4)

In the classical understanding of G-d and humanity this would be an irresolvable paradox, however, viewing it from G-d’s point of view yields a different understanding.

From our standpoint, G-d is the creator and we are the created. From G-d’s standpoint, everything is G-d. G-d is omnipresent; He fills all space and nothing exists outside of Him. Though we appear to be completely separate from Him, in truth, we are part of Him. G-d sees Himself in each of us and from this standpoint there is no difference if His law is delivered directly through Him as a revelation at Sinai or through the formulation of a Talmudic sage.

Of course it is necessary that we follow the formula outlined in the Torah and vote on this matter in the context of a Sanhedrin. It is also crucial that the members of Sanhedrin be bona-fide Torah scholars whose deliberates flow from authentic Torah traditions.

But once these criteria are met, G-d speaks through the human. It is G-d’s will that we abide by the ruling of the Sanhedrin no matter which way they rule. No matter which decision they make, their rule is endorsed by G-d and becomes His will.

The Absolute Essence

At Sinai G-d invested the Torah with his essence. The first words of the Ten Commandments were Anochi Hashem, I am G-d. Anochi, is an acronym for Ana Nafshi Ketavit Yehavit, I have invested the scripture with myself. (5) The Midrash taught that when we study the Torah we acquire G-d Himself. (6) Indeed, when we encounter the absolute essence of G-d we have encountered the absolute essence of all. At this level it is all one. (7)

Footnotes

Babylonian Talmud, 59b.
Babylonian Talmud, Yuma 28b.
Tanya ch. 8.
The Ten Commandments are introduced with the words and G-d spoke to Moses, saying. Ordinarily when the word, saying, is used it means that G-d instructed Moses to repeat the commandment to the people, but in this case G-d spoke directly to the people. What might G-d have meant with the word, saying? (Rashi offers his own answer, but according to Chassidus) The answer is that G-d wanted Jews to know that they could and should say the words of Torah after they receive it from G-d. Every time we study Torah we stimulate Divine speech for G-d says the words of Torah right along with us. Kind David wrote (Psalms 119: 172), may my tongue repeat your words. Every time our tongue speaks Torah G-d says the words that we are about to say, just before we say them thereby causing us to repeat them after Him. (Tana Dbei Eliyahu Rabbah ch. 18) This means that when we say Kosher G-d quickly whispers the word Kosher effectively making us echo the Kosher he meant for us to say. In this way, the ruling of the Sanhedrin becomes the ruling of G-d.
Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 105a.
Shemos Rabbah 33: 1.
This essay is based on Sefer Mamarim Melukat v.4 p. 273.

Yitro: The Vanishing Letters

Rabbi Lazer — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:29:00 -0500

Four Reviews

Our sages taught before appearing at Sinai, G-d reviewed the Ten Commandments four times. (1) What is the significance of these four reviews and what can we learn from them?

Four Stages in Idea Development

In the process of preparing for a lecture we tend to review our ideas on four basic levels. The first is purely cerebral; it is our knowledge of the core idea and its attendant questions, contradictions, resolutions, analyses and applications. When we reflect on the ideas at this core level we hardly formulate them into words. Instead, we scan the raw intellectual information and though we must formulate our ideas in some fashion even on this level, the cerebral words that we use are totally transparent to the ideas that they convey. We are barely cognizant of them; our focus is entirely on the ideas.
We then move to the point of self articulation. At this point we move beyond scanning the inner core of the ideas to articulating each aspect of the thesis. We articulate the ideas in our own minds exploring each element and layer, spelling out each question and answer and reviewing each application and consequence. At this level we distill the ideas into words. We are actually teaching ourselves; translating the concepts into structured sentences and laying them out in orderly fashion. At this point, our minds become orators, speaking to a most captive audience, ourselves. Letters and words become very much apparent at this point, but still the focus is primarily on the ideas that they convey. One manifestation of the word’s subservience at this point is that the idea can still be formulated in any number of words and sentences. This is because we are focused on the idea; the words serve merely as conveyors.
From here we move to the third level - that of transmuting our mental notes into prepared lectures. At this point we are more concerned with the organization of ideas, structure of argument and selection of phraseology than we are with analyses and comprehension. We have moved from exploration of the thesis to its presentation and accordingly seek words that best express its subtlety and distill its complexities. To be sure, we are still concerned with the conveyance of ideas, but our primary focus shifts from the ideas to the words that convey them. This is a paradigm shift; from self to others, from clarity of understanding to clarity of communication. To accomplish this we must move from principles and ideas to sentence and syntax.
We now arrive at the fourth and final stage; the actual oration. Standing at the lectern and facing the audience, our minds take a quantum leap outwards. No longer are we thinking of core ideas, comprehension, articulation, organization or even syntax; we are now focused on delivering our lecture with clarity. We strive to communicate and to be understood and to that end we focus almost exclusively on words; the vehicles that carry our thoughts to the audience. At this point, master orators reserve no mind space for ideas. They are consumed almost entirely with their prepared remarks. They focus on proper pronunciation and inflection, all the while feeling out their audience for the most convincing style and persuasive approach.

The Role of The Letter

When we consider these four stages and the evolution of letters from wholly transparent to wholly dominant, we realize that letters, despite being the most important vehicle of communication, are completely subservient and even redundant to the ideas that they convey. In fact, even the audience, who receives the ideas entirely through the vehicle of words, will not require those words one they grasp the essence of the ideas. They will begin by replacing the phrases selected by the orator with ones more palatable to their own style of thought. They will then mature along the intellectual curve till they internalize the teaching on the cerebral level and dispense with the letters completely.

What happens to the letters at that point? Where are they stored? The answer is that they are not stored at all. The properties of shape and sound that ideas take on when they are communicated to others, fade away (metamorphose or coalesce into their ideas) when we think for ourselves. We do not consciously discard them; we simply mature in our thinking till we find ourselves addressing the concepts themselves rather than its letters. At first the letters become transparent to the ideas and then, as their transparency increases, their independent presence decreases, till they merge completely with the concepts that they convey.

The Jew at Sinai

We can now appreciate the lesson derived from the four reviews that G-d undertook at Sinai. By conveying the four stages of preparation G-d illustrated the relation of the letter to the idea, which serves as a metaphor for the relation of creation to its Creator. Just as the letter seems to stand for itself, nearly eclipsing the idea it is meant to convey, so do we, created human beings, appear to be separate entities, completely independent from our creator.

But just as the letter becomes subservient and absorbed within the idea as we mature along the intellectual curve, so do we. As we absorb the Torah and internalize its patterns of Divine thought, we recognize the truth of our existence as mere extensions of the Creator. The rate at which our sense of independence decreases is commensurate with the rate at which our consciousness of G-d increases. We mature along this spiritual curve until we can hardly distinguish between Creator and creation; at this point we coalesce into the Divine beings that, at essence, we truly are.

The dawning of this realization was achieved at Sinai. The culmination of this realization awaits us with the coming of Moshiach. May it happen speedily in our days, Amen. (2)

Footnotes

Shemos Rabbah ch. 40. This is based on the following verse from Job 28: 27, “He saw and told, prepared and also researched and [then] spoke to man.”
This essay is largely based on the Chassidic discourse, Basi Legani, 5730.

Yitro: Food for Thought for Your Dinner Table

Rabbi Lazer — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:40:00 -0500

Seven Thoughts for Seven days

Yitro: Piercing the Veil of Earth

Rabbi Lazer — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 23:58:00 -0500

Moses succeeding in proving that G-d wrote the Torah with the mortal human in mind, but failed to explain why. If anything, he devolved the question onto G-d. Why did G-d write a brilliant Torah for the simple human? In the angels' words, why did G-d squander his cherished gift on the lowly creatures of earth.?