The
Restoration
By Rabbi Joshua ( alphabetically known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
The midrash tells us that the letter 'aleph,' the first letter of
the Hebrew alphabet, complained to God that it should be the first letter in the
Torah, since it is, after all, the first letter in the aleph beis. Why, asked
the aleph, does the Torah start with the second letter, 'beis?' The midrash
explains that God wanted to begin the Torah with that letter because it begins
the word for blessing- 'beracha.' However, God told the aleph that He would make
it up by beginning the 'aseres hadibros,' or the Decalogue, with an aleph, in
the word 'anochi'- - in the first commandment, " I am the Lord your
God..' Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra already pointed out that there are other words
that begin with 'beis' that do not refer to blessings. In fact, the very word
'beracha' can also mean curse. Moreover, we may add, there are also words
that begin with 'aleph' that do not refer to good things, such as 'arur,' which
means 'curse.' Besides these points, the midrash obviously cannot be taken in a
literal sense, since the letters of the aleph beis are not thinking beings who
can speak up for ther rights! What, then, is the meaning of this midrash?
Rav Gedaliahu Schorr, in his Ohr Gedaliayhu, explains that the midrash must
be understood as an allegory, and when it tells us that the letter 'beis'
denotes beracha, it is not referring to the letter 'beis' per se, but to the
letter 'beis' as representing the number two, which marks the beginning of
differentiation. God Himself is One, constituting complete unity. In order to
create the world, He underwent a process of contraction and subsequent
emanations, by which that unity, as it manifested itsef in the world, became
bifurcated, and then continually broken into further fragments. The goal of
creation is to re-unite its various fragments and again unite with God. This is
man's task in the world, to elevate himself and all of creation to the full
extent of his capabilities, and thereby help pave the way for the ultimate
redemption, which consists in bringing everything back to its original source.
This is the meaning , according to Rabbi Mordechai Elon, of the mishnah
in l Pirkei Avos which teaches that anyone who says over a dictum in the
name of the person who originally said it brings redemption to the world.
The idea here is that saying the dictum over in the name of the one who
said it constitutes bringing it back to its original source. This is also the
idea behind the dictum of the rabbis that teshuvah, or repentance, was one
of the things that was created before the world came into being. The idea here
is that teshuvah really means return, in the sense of returning to the original
source, and while creation was only made possible through the splitting up of
creation to its component parts, this is merely the beginning of a process, the
end of which is man's restoration of unity in the world by dedicating all
of his efforts to using creaton for the sake of heaven, or God's
name.
This teaching of Rav Schorr can help us understand some other puzzling
midrashim in connection with parshas Bereiashis, as well. For example, the
midrash, as cited by Rashi in our parsha (Bereishis, 1:11),, says that on the
third day of creation God commanded the earth to produce fruit trees
in which the flavor of the tree is similar to the flavor of the fruit.
However, the earth, as it were, sinned, and produced fruit trees whose
wood tasted different from its fruit. Of course, the earth is not a free agent
which can wilfully transgress God's words. What this midrash means, according to
Rav Avraham Yitzchak Ha Kohein Kook in his Oros HaTeshuvah, is that God's
intention was for the means that are used to reach a goal to be as purely
directed as the goal itself is. Thus, the tree that produces the fruit should
have the same nature as the fruit itself. Following Rav Schorr's
exposition, we can understand this teaching of Rav Kook to mean that the efforts
we put into reaching a certain goal should be chosen in a way that reflects our
desire to bring everything back to its source, which is the unity of God. In
short, all our actions should be for the sake of heaven, to restore the unity of
God's name that was fractured in order to create the world in the first place.
When the midrash says that the earth sinned by producing fruit trees in which
the tree and the fruit do not have the same taste is that man, being imperfect,
by his nature will someti\ms ;miss the mark,' which is the literal meaning of
the word for sinning- 'chato'- and not have the same dedication in his choice of
means as he has in his goal. the constant challenge of man in this world is to
achieve this correspondence, and thereby restore the divine unity as
manifested in his life and in the world.
Rav Moshe Tzvi Neriah, in his posthumously published Torah commentary,Ner
Le Meah, cites Rav Kook's remarks in Oros HaTeshuvah, and adds a related
teaching that he heard orally from Rav Kook. Rav Kook, in explaining the great
joy that was experienced at the Simchas Beis Ha Shoeivah, or the festival of
water drawing, that was celebrated in the Temple during the intermediate days of
Sukkos, noted that the festival is named after the drawing of the water, rather
than after the use that this water was put to, namely , as a libation on the
altar during Sukkos. This is because the water was drawn with the same single
minded dedication as with which it was poured onto the altar, and thus
constituted a fulfillment of God's original desire for the world when he
commanded the earth to produce fruit trees. In fact, the rabbis tell us that the
esrog tree was the only fruit tree that actually did carry out God's command to
the letter, and whose tree actually does taste similar to its fruit. Thus, both
the water libation and the esrog are part of our service of God on Sukkos.
Perhaps this is because Sukkos follows shortly after Yom Kippur, when we have
undergone a process of teshuvah, of literally returning to God, and we are
therefore now prepared to retrn all of creation to God, as well. In this way, we
can better understand why Sukkos is taken by many Jewish thinkers, such as the
Sefas Emes, as a time particularly suited for teshuvah. This idea,
at first blush, seems a bit difficult, since Sukkos comes after the one day in
the year that is totally dedicated to teshuvah and atonement. Why, then, should
we dedicate ourselves, again, to tershuvah so soon after Yom Kippur? According
to Rav Schorr's understanding, however, teshuvah does not merely mean repentance
from sins, but the process of returning everything to its ultimate source and
thereby restoring the unity of God's name in the universe. It is, in fact,
precisely after we have achieved atonement and purified ourselves on Yom Kippur
that we are most able to dedicate ourselves to this work, and it is this effort
which brings the greatest joy, which consists in being 'lifnei Hashem,' or
in the presence of God.
Returning to the midrash with which we started, the idea of beginning the
account of the creation with the letter 'beis,' and the Torah with the letter
aleph, is now clear. The world was created through a process of differentiation,
which caused a break in the unity of God's name as manifested in the world. This
is denoted by the letter 'beis,' which represents the number two, the beginning
of differentiation. The goal of man is to restore that lost unity, and it is the
Jewish people, through the Torah, who are uniquely suited to achieve this goal.
That is why the Decalogue begins with an 'aleph,' to signify that sincere
involvemnet in and dediation to Torah is the means towards restoring divine
unity in the world. Through this process, we can truly be ilifnei Hashem, in
God's presence, and experience an ultimate sense of joy. May we all experience
this sense of joy as we celebrate Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah, and a
begin again the weekly cycle of Torah readings in the coming days.
Please address
all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address -
JoshHoff @ AOL.com.
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