Nachal novea; makor chochma -
A flowing river; the source of wisdom (Mish. 18:4)
As mentioned above, the other source of conflict is impatience. Anyone
who tries to acquire the inner knowledge of G-d's Torah before he has
adequately prepared himself by sanctifying his body and subduing its
urges - i.e. subduing the left side of the spiritual spectrum - will
cause great damage. The left side is strongly connected to the forces of
evil. Therefore, when an unsanctified person draws the great light of
G-d to his body by studying the inner Torah, he strengthens the forces
of evil and causes holiness to fall into their grip. This was the nature
of Adam's sin. G-d planned to teach him the knowledge contained in the
Tree of Knowledge, but only after he had first subdued the left side,
his urges. Adam's impatience in partaking of the fruit before he was
ready caused G-d's great, holy light that was merged with his soul to
fall into the grip of the forces of evil, strengthening them and giving
them control of this world, throwing the entire creation into chaos,
making it very difficult to find G-d. This struggle between the right
and the left, will rectified with the coming of the Messiah. Amen!
(Lekutai Halachoth: Choshen Mishpat: Hilchoth Mekach U'Memkar 3:9,10)
Our parsha talks about the close relationship between the righteous
Abraham and his hedonistic nephew Lot, who drifted apart, leading to
strife and eventual separation. Abraham gave Lot the option to go to the
right or left and they parted. This story of conflict between Abraham
and Lot is worth analyzing because every letter, word, sentence, and
story mentioned in the Torah contains an infinite reservoir of advice
that applies to our daily lives on every level. G-d commanded Abraham to
leave his native land and family and go live in the land of Israel. Lot
accompanied his righteous uncle. Abraham had acquired great wealth
through his travels and shared it with Lot. After thus becoming wealthy,
Lot became transfomied from Abraham's humble follower into a
self-important person, seeing himself as Abraham's equal. He set out on
his own path, divergent from Abraham's. Lot's shepherds, influenced by
his views, were wicked men and grazed their cattle in other people's
fields. Abraham's shepherds rebuked them for this act of robbery, but
they replied, "The land has been given to Abraham, and since he has no
son nor heir, Lot will inherit his land; consequently this is not
considered robbery." The verse, however, states: "The Canaanites and the
Perizzites were then in the land," teaching that Abraham was not yet
entitled to possess the land. (Rashi) This shows how conflicting needs
and agendas can easily lead to strife. In Lot's case, his dishonesty
with himself and with others in failing to acknowledge his true motives,
was an added dimension that led to disagreement with Abraham. In
addition, strife can come from impatience, especially the impatience
associated with being unable to control and discipline oneself to avoid
sin, delaying gratification until he receives his reward in the
hereafter. Thus, Lot, already wealthy but wanting more without delay,
justified his acts of theft as legal to himself and to others, even so
far as to say that it was the virtuous thing to do, for G-d, Himself,
had sanctioned his conduct.
G-d, who is hidden behind the veils of the material world, created the
world so that man, using his intelligence and the faculty of free choice
can discover Him hiding within the creation. Since the physical world
veils G-d, we must be involved in it so that we can reveal Him. To
discover and experience G-d in this world, one must access energies that
are derived from both the right and left sides of the spiritual spectrum
which is the source of free-choice. The left side is responsible for
mental and physical limitation and for the base urges of the body. The
right side is associated with expansion of one's mental and physical
resources, allowing one to become strongly connected to G-d. How does
one find G-d, concealed in the darkness and physicality of this world?
If G-d wanted us to find Him, wouldn't it be easier and make more sense
for us, as many other religions profess, to search for the spiritual G-d
in the spiritual realms, and not get involved with the physical, which
is so far removed from Him? The Talmud teaches: "Rabbi Yaakov said:
'[Involvement in the gross materialism of] This world is like a lobby
[which one must encounter] before [meriting] the world to come; prepare
yourself in the lobby [by adhering to G-d's wishes] so that you may
enter the banquet hall.'" (Talmud: Avoth 4:21) This alludes to adhering
to G-d's commandments while encountering the gross materialism of this
world which sanctifies the material realm as well as the left side of
the spiritual spectrum. When the material realm is sanctified, many of
the material veils behind which G-d hides are stripped away, allowing
better perception of and connection to G-d. According to Rav Noson, the
veils that are peeled away are merged with a person's soul, acting as
filters of G-d's great light, enabling each person to come very close to
G-d in this world and, especially, in the hereafter. This is why the
angels cannot come as close to G-d as man, for they lack the necessary
material filters to protect them.
The energies that come from the right side of the spiritual spectrum can
only be accessed by overcoming one's base urges, one level at a time.
Once each level is mastered, there is an expansion of the mind, making
life easier and enhancing one's perception and experience of the
sweetness of G-d, until it is time to move on to the next level, where
he must again confront and sanctify his urges, but on the next, higher
level. The energies that one attains from the right side must be used to
dominate and subdue the energies from the left side. Thus a person uses
his base urges to serve and further perceive G-d, e.g. using and
sanctifying sexual desire to produce holy children, who will serve G-d.
The Talmud tells us that the only way that a person can experience true
peace and serenity within himself is if he allows the energies of the
right to dominate the energies of left, i.e. the soul should dominate
the body. [Note: This does not mean that the soul should destroy the
body, but that the soul should treat the body with proper respect, so
that the body can be a vehicle for closeness to G-d].
The righteous Abraham, on the allegorical level, represents the good
inclination and the materialistic Lot, the evil inclination. Therefore,
when Abraham gave his nephew the option to choose between the right or
the left, he meant that if Lot (the evil inclination) chose the right,
symbolizing becoming overly spiritual, to the detriment of the body
(which is a trick from the evil inclination), Abraham (the good
inclination) would choose the left and draw Lot toward the holy aspects
of materialism - the side of moderation, which excessively spiritual
people have difficulty in reaching. If Lot chose the left, the side of
opulent materialism, Abraham would go to the right and assist Lot by
drawing him closer to spirituality. When Lot had lived with his holy
uncle, he had received help in both areas. We see from this that the way
to inner peace is through moderation between physicality and
spirituality. A person's main struggle within is to compromise and make
peace between the body (which draws its energies from the left side) and
the soul (which draws its energies from the right).
TO COMPROMISE AND MAKE PEACE WITHIN
Besides the conflicts within, one must deal with external conflict as
well. The great sage, Rabbi Akiva taught that the entire Torah is
founded on the verse, "You shall love your neighbor as [you love]
yourself," (Lev. 19:19) implying that the goal of every commandment in
the Torah is to promote peace between opposites which have conflicting
goals, through teaching humans how to compromise. The Torah teaches us
how to be moderate, so that opposites can live and function together,
creating an atmosphere of trust and peace in the world which enables
every human to better understand G-d. The Torah teaches us how to make
compromises between such opposites as the body and soul, G-d and man,
man and woman, man and animal, man and the environment, old and younng,
rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, etc. Rabbi Nachman taught that G-d
created so many different things and so many opposites in the world so
that we can better understand Him by expanding our intellectual
horizons. A narrow point of view not only limits intellectual growth,
but diminishes one's perception of G-d, because of His infinite nature
which encompasses every aspect of the intellectual spectrum. G-d values
compromise and peace above all else because, in order to better perceive
and get closer to Him, we need the collective intelligence of every
human being on earth. Each person must share his own unique insights
about G-d and the world with others so that other people's perceptions
of G-d will be expanded. This requires communication which can only come
about when there exists peace and harmony between people and,
especially, between opposites. Exclusion of other viewpoints, therefore,
severely limits one's perception of G-d and diminishes His honor and
greatness. Thus, G-d values peace above all else. (1 Lekutai Moharan
27:1).
FIND A LARGER PERSPECTIVE, A HIGHER VIEWPOINT
G-d created everything from four basic elements: water, fire, air, and
earth. Each person's soul draws to it the spiritual energies that are
contained in those four basic elements. This influences his personality,
outlook on life, way of expressing himself and manner of doing things.
In every individual, one element predominates over the other three. This
accounts for the differences in personality, needs and method which are
the major source for conflict between people. There are people who have
a "fire" personality, which may cause them to be more extroverted, their
emotions erupting with the passion and heat of fire. A person with a
"water" personality is more introverted and seems to be very calm and
relaxed on the surface, exhibiting little outward emotion, yet is very
active and deep on the inside. When two people with such differences
meet, it could result in conflict. Therefore, G-d teaches us, that just
as the sea and the land are totally different, and yet they function
together while maintaining their own unique identities, but only when
they maintain their boundaries, people must make every effort to do the
same. One person must not overwhelm or negate the other. It would be
like the sea overstepping its bounds and flooding the land, causing
destruction. It also removes G-d's presence from the world, for when one
person dominates and suppresses another, preventing him from functioning
to his full potential, he is unable to contribute his unique insights
about G-d to the collective whole. G-d gave us the Torah to show us how
to compromise so that opposites can function and live together without
one negating each other.
Rabbi Nachman explains that each one of the basic physical elements is
rooted spiritually in G-d's four-lettered name. G-d sends each person
down to this world to fulfill a specific mission, which is related to
building a part of the massive spiritual structure in heaven. The
spiritual energy of this structure, when completed, will be used by the
Messiah to bring the world to its complete rectification. The "building
materials" for the structure are gathered from every area in heaven,
each area possessing different spiritual energies which require
specific, unique spiritual nourishment. Every person's soul is connected
to a group of souls that originate from a common spiritual root. Each
spiritual root comes from a different part of heaven and is responsible
for constructing a different segment of the massive spiritual structure
described above. This explains why a person will be drawn to a certain
spiritual path or philosophy. It will be the path which best suits the
needs of his soul and best helps him accomplish his mission,
contributing to the massive heavenly structure. The tendency is for each
person and group to feel strongly that their way is right and will be
loathe to accept another way no matter how logically stated. Conflict
arises when two different philosophies collide. Rav Noson says that as
long as a philosophy is in accordance with Jewish law, one should not
hate or fight it, for the alternate philosophy is necessary for
contributing another segment to the great heavenly structure. Opposing
the other path only hurts and delays the entire project. Just as the
electricians and the plumbers who are all involved in constructing a
building would not fight each other, so too the different aspects of
spiritual construction. There are twelve tribes because each one
contributes a different talent to the "construction project". Even the
person who doesn't follow Torah law (rachmana l'tzlan) should not
be hated, for he actually contributes to the structure in his own way as
well. Certainly, it is preferable that we try to influence that person
to follow the Torah, yet if he refuses, he should not be hated, for hate
only destroys.
THE MASSIVE SPIRITUAL STRUCTURE IN HEAVEN
According to the Talmud, anyone who wants to be a chassid (pious)
- which is the highest level of connection to G-d, even above that of a
Tzaddik (saint) - should be careful to fulfill the commandments
and laws which teach how to avoid harming and hurting others. The Talmud
says that a compassionate person is highly intelligent. It takes great
intelligence to understand, overlook and work around the faults of
others and yet maintain a peaceful relationship with them. People who
cannot disregard the faults of others display a low intelligence akin to
that of animals which, acting based upon instincts, lack the creativity
to overlook flaws and be compassionate. Abraham, who was the epitome of
chessed (kindness), was chosen to be the father and foundation of
the Jewish nation, because he was an expert in dealing with and
compromising with each individual, never causing harm to anyone in any
way. Abraham set the example for maintaining and fostering peace in the
world, giving everyone the greatest opportunity to learn about G-d as
explained above. Since Abraham was at peace with everyone and
everything, they were willing to learn about G-d from him. Thus Abraham
fulfilled G-d's purpose in creating the world and was the best person to
be the founder of the holy, chosen people, who would spread peace,
communicating and disseminating knowledge about G-d in the world. The
Talmud says that King David reached the level of chassid (pious).
For this, he was chosen to be the king of all Israel and his dynasty to
last for all time; the king Messiah eventually descending from him.
The way the pious Abraham dealt with Lot teaches us how to deal with
controversy and conflict. Although Lot rejected Abraham's beliefs and
way of life, for Lot's motivation in leaving Abraham was his rejection
of G-d and His ways (Rashi), Abraham did not condemn or hate him. Nor
did Abraham accuse him of ingratitude, despite the fact that all of
Lot's financial success was due to Abraham. He did not negate Lot or
insult him. In fact, not one word of hard rebuke is recorded. The verse
says: "And Abram said to Lot...' (Genesis 13:8) The Hebrew
expression for "said" used in this verse is the word
"Va'yomer", which denotes that one's feelings are expressed using
a soft tone. In this verse, Abraham openly says that, above all else,
his goal in talking to Lot was to maintain peace, no matter what the
outcome. "I [Abraham] [respectfully] ask of you [Lot] that there should
be no strife between me and you." (Genesis 13:8) Abraham gave Lot the
benefit of the doubt and found the good within him, which made him love
his wicked nephew, and treat him like an equal, as the verse says: "We
[Abraham and Lot] are brothers [and therefore equal]." (Genesis 13:8)
Since you, Lot, are unable to tolerate my ways, "Isn't the whole land is
before you?" (Genesis 13:9) "Although G-d has promised me the entire
land of Israel, I give you the option to choose the best place for
yourself, wherever you desire to settle." Abraham wasn't proud or
insistent and did not lord his rights to the land over Lot to force him
to accept his way. Abraham showed flexibility and was willing to yield
to Lot for the sake of compromise and peace, which, ultimately, is for
the sake of revealing G-dliness in the world. May we all merit this
level. Amen! (Lekutai Halachoth: Choshen Mishpat: Hilchoth Nezikin
4:31-33)