Nachal novea; makor chochma -
A flowing river; the source of wisdom (Mish. 18:4)
The Torah clearly recognizes the need for peace and unity between all people. There are many verses and commandments that emphasize this ideal. Despite this, the Torah also stresses that differences between people must still remain. There must be individualism to enable each individual to grow and give him the opportunity to contribute one's unique talent to make the world a better place. Therefore, the Torah demands that each group of people maintain their uniqueness while yet working in conjunction with all other groups with the common goal of serving and seeking out G-d. It is this common and pure goal that allows each type of person to maintain his individualism, but yet be part of the collective whole, resulting in the elimination of hatred, competition, and hostility between the various groups of people. As the Talmud teaches: "A favorite saying of the Rabbis of Yavneh was: 'I [each sage] am G-d's creature and my fellow Cthe non-sage] is G-d's creature. My work is in the town and his work is in the country-side. I rise early for my work [Torah study] and he rises early for his work [physical labor]. Just as he (the laborer] does not presume to do my work [to study Torah all day], so I do not presume to do his work. Will you say, I do much [through my Torah study] and he (the laborer] does little [because he mainly works, and studies only when time allows]? We have learned: one may do [and accomplish] much [in serving G-d] or one may do [and accomplish] little [in serving G-d]; it is all one [both groups, the sages and the laborers are equally vital and important to G-d and to the world] provided he directs his heart to heaven.'" (Talmud: Berachoth 17a).
The problem arises when the different groups of people who live in this world fail to realize that they are all part of the same team and that they are supposed to fulfill their designated assignments (determined by G-d) as part of the greater whole in a common effort to find and serve G-d. When individuals or an entire group forget this and carry out their assignments with the intention of dominating all the other groups for self-aggrandizement and not for the common good, this causes hatred, animosity and resentment between each group, which G-d greatly deplores. Unfortunately the unity, respect, and love between the different groups of Jews that once prevailed in ancient times has been greatly diminished. The Messiah will rectify and restore unity between all groups of Jews and Gentiles to put the world back on the course of serving G-d.
In every system there is a hierarchy. No system can function properly without one. The Talmud Tells us that everything found on earth reflects in some way what is found in heaven, therefore in G-d's spiritual system there is a hierarchy as well. The difference between G-d's hierarchy and all other systems is that those who seem to be on the bottom of the hierarchy are really not. Each individual, no matter what his position, is close to and loved by G-d and will be greatly rewarded by Him, for His system is unable to work without the contributions of all of its parts from top to bottom.
The hierarchy in all other systems, intentionally or unintentionally, exploits those who are on the bottom. This is why there is great confusion and misconceptions about G-d's hierarchy. People wrongfully associate and misapply the general rules about hierarchies to G-d's system. They assume that any seeming inequality means that G-d's system is just as corrupt and exploitive as all the other systems where there are hierarchies. This cannot be farther from the truth. The Talmud tells us that G-d does not withhold the reward of any creature. Meaning that it doesn't matter what position one holds in this temporary world of falsehood, as long as one sincerely serves G-d. In the hereafter, that person will be greatly rewarded and elevated for all eternity in the world of Truth. If one is in a high position in this world and neglects G-d or doesn't serve G-d with his full potential, he will suffer shame and a degraded status in heaven, until he rectifies this flaw in a future incarnation.
In G-d's system the most highly qualified and righteous individuals are given extra privileges and authority. They must use their authority and privilege only for the sake of assisting people to serve G-d (a leader must lecture and set policy to induce the people to live by a high moral standard). The Talmud says: "Woe to those in positions of authority for it buries those who possess it." Rabbi Nachman explains this to mean that anyone who is in a position of authority will have his life slightly shortened every time he abuses his power, even to the slightest degree, putting it to use for his own purposes and not for the sake of serving G-d.
In the past few centuries there has been a breakdown in every system in the world including the system that G-d had established. Many unqualified and insincere, power-hungry people have wrongfully usurped positions of power for themselves and all the honest and sincere G-dfearing people feel resentment and frustration at this horrible situation. The Torah warns that if we disobey G-d, He will allow corrupt and unqualified people to become leaders, making it very difficult to truly serve Him. Rabbi Nachman teaches that the sins of the Jews causes qualified leaders, the true Tzaddikim (saints), to hide themselves and back away from positions of leadership. Consequently, people see that many corrupt and unqualified people have filtered into the hierarchy, and they mistakenly wish to tear down the system that G-d Himself had mandated. If the system would be removed, the entire universe would be destroyed. This means that the nature of the system has a positive impact on the world, despite the corrupt individuals who unjustly have positions of power. Only G-d, Himself can safely alter the system, as was with by the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem (we no longer have sacrifices, officiating priests, tithes, a king and sages that have the authority to issue punishments and enforce Torah law etc.) The system during Temple times became decayed through corruption so G-d replaced it with a more limited system to induce spiritual healing.
Every person contains two main spiritual forces which nourish his soul thus influencing his behavior. one spiritual force is derived from the group to which one belongs and the other is his own individual light. An individuals spiritual light might be tainted, through his evil actions, but yet, the light that he derives from his group still remains pure. Despite the blockages created by the sins of one Jew, he still has access to the positive and holy influence contained by the Jewish group as a whole. This explains why even the sinners of Israel are still loved and given preference by G-d, despite their unworthy behavior, just as a member of a royal family, who does not live up to lais hi-qh vosition is still included in the family and receives hcncr. Conversely, a person,may be very holy, but still adversely influenced by the group to which he belongs. An illustration of this is Eliezer, the slave of Abraham, who was a very holy individual and even merited to be one of the nine individuals to enter paradise alive, yet Abraham rejected his offer to have his son Issac wed Eliezer's daughter. Abraham told Eliezer: "Although I love you and you are a righteous and holy man, your group, Cannan, is cursed and a curse cannot be allowed to be included in the foundations of the Holy People." There would be no guarantee that Eliezer's descendants would be able to overcome the evil tendencies of the Canaanite Clans as Eliezer had done.
Within Judaism there is a certain hierarchy that exists, established by G-d, because of the potential for positive influence by the individuals wlio hold upper echelon positions. But this is not a guarantee that those individuals who hold positions of power will not, because of their individual faults overcome the positive influence of their group and act corruptly. In Temple times, the king from the Davidic line was chosen to lead the nation. Along with him served sages, prophets, and priests to influence and guide the king to ensure his compliance with Torah law. Throughout the long exile, it has been the leadership of the righteous sages that has ensured the survival of the Holy People. This system, in effect, places those righteous and humble individuals who are loyal to G-d and His ways at the top of the hierarchy. This is the only way that the people could survive and be influenced to do G-d's will.
The family unit is the core of any society. What happens within each family unit ultimately effects the entire society as a whole for good or for bad. The family reinforces and transmits society's values to the next generation. Within the family the Torah demands that the parents share in the leadership role. The father must be the final authority in the areas that the Torah delegated to him and the mother is the final authority in the areas delegated to her. Even if the parents are unfit and abusive, they must still be respected or else the spiritual life-force that the parents contain, shared by the group at large will be tainted causing spiritual, emotional, and physical damage. If a person is having trouble dealing with unfit and abusive parents, outside help must be sought, but respect should be maintained.
The two most powerful spiritual forces on earth are men and women. There are times when, in order to have the greatest positive effect in the world, men and women must act separately, even to the point of staying in different locations to achieve the highest potency and there are times when each group must mix together to be effective in producing positive results. In the synagogue, men must be separated from women by a barrier called in Hebrew a mechitza to potentiate each group's spiritual powers producing the right spiritual effects in this and the upper worlds. Yet, in family situations, men and women are encouraged to mingle at certain times, combining their talents to produce other positive results. In the following paragraphs, based on the teachings of Rabbi Nachman we are going to explore some aspects of the spiritual nature of both men and women, which will help clarify why the two groups must retain and develop their separate spiritual powers.
Men are connected to the spiritual power of intellectual truth. It is difficult to find the Truth in this confusing world. Therefore, "I [G-d] will make him [man] a helper [a woman] opposite him" (Genesis 2:18). The helper refers to "A woman who fears [or has faith in] G-d" (Proverbs 31:30). The main spiritual power of women is faith, which is an essential component in discovering G-d's truth. Working together, man and woman can discover this Truth. The following verses point this out: "Your Torah [a tool by which to find the Truth] is truth" (Psalms 119:142). Another verse says: "All your commandments [another tool by which to find the Truth] are founded on faith" (Psalms 119:151). Combined, the intellectual truth of man and the faith of woman can lead to proper conclusions. Intellectual truth needs the help of faith, since there are many corcepts in this world that are bevond the qrasp of the limited human mind. when one encounters such perplexing concepts, one must rely o nly on one's faith in G-d to arrive at the Truth.
On the other hand, one can come to believe in false ideologies. Therefore one must scrutinize and use the discriminating eye of intellectual truth to weed out false ideas and life-styles. Through faith or intellectual truth alone one cannot arrive at absolute Truth. Both traits are mandatory, therefore the verse recommends: "They [man and women] shall be one flesh" (Genesis 2:24) to fulfill the purpose of creation, which is to discover G-d.
Adam (intellectual truth) mated with his wife, Eve (faith in G-d) for the sole purpose of merging faith with truth to produce holy offspring who, using this combination, would come to find G-d. Before Adamis sin, the evil inclination was an external force and therefore Adam and Eve were able to be naked and not experience any shame or lust. However, after their sin, the evil inclination became internalized, which damaged and polluted their minds kindling their base desires. originally, Adam and Eve were able to absorb G-d's great light which nourished their minds directly into their purified bodies without harm. However, after the sin, because their bodies became more physical and more attached to the forces of evil, they were unable to absorb G-d's great light. Now they needed clothing to filter G-d's light and to protect the light from the forces of evil, which by being attached to their bodies, would pollute the light, and result in non-belief in G-d, and mental confusion. In addition, Adam and Eve now needed to wear clothing because G-d injected shame into them to help them overcome and reduce their lust. The holy Ari says that clothing provides protection against the evil forces, and keeps them off our bodies, preventing them from polluting our minds. However, the forces of evil can also become attached to our clothes, which can still distort our minds, although to a lesser degree. This is why the Torah commands us to attach tziztes [fringes] to our clothing, to shield and filter the light that passes through. (A woman, who is not required to wear tzitzes can draw the power of the tzitzes to herself through modest dress and through her father or husband's tzitzes, since a woman's soul is attached to her husband's or father's soul) - Since the light of G-d, which nourishes our thoughts and attitudes must be filtered through our clothing, it is essential to wear the proper clothing to influence the mind properly. Wearing wild or immodest clothing can stimulate the mind's fantasies and cause mental confusion, which can lead to sin. A person feels differently when dressed formally, as compared to when dressed casually. The clothing sets the mood and mental state. We can see how clothing influences the mind for when a prostitute dresses immodestly, she arouses men's fantasies and passions which lures them into sin. (Scientific, psychological studies have demonstrated that men are affected much more by visual stimuli than women.]
Now we can begin to understand the verse: "A woman shall not have upon her the apparel of a man and a man shall not put on a woman's garment" (Deut. 22:5). "This leads to immorality" (Rashi). When a woman (intuitive faith in Gd) wears male attire or does things in a masculine fashion (analysis to discover the truth) this damages the woman's intuitive faith and confuses her mind which may cause her to lose her faith in G-d. Male clothing or mannerisms influence her mind to seek intellectual solutions to questions that do not have answers based on logic in this world, but only based on faith, answers which cannot be proven or disproven from the standpoint of intellectual reason.
Conversely, if a man wears female attire or employs feminine mannerisms his mental ability to analyze and discover the truth becomes impaired and he may come to believe in false ideologies without scrutinizing them properly, which could lead to non-belief in G-d. However, when both men and women wear their appropriate attire, the proper influences on their minds are activated to expand their mental powers so that men can more deeply analyze the world to arrive at the Truth and women can more effectively intuit the Truth. Therefore, it is essential for both men and women to follow their respective paths in serving G-d as prescribed by Him in order that the integrity of intellectual truth and intuitive faith be preserved so that only at the proper times will they merge to arrive at the truth. [Space does not allow for a more full discussion of the reasons why men and women need to be separate for public prayer, nor for an understanding of the concept of the presence of feminine traits of intuition in man and masculine traits of logic in women.] (Lekutai Halachoth: Yora Dayah: Hilchoth Gelluach 4:10-13)