Parshas Shoftim 5754

"When you go to battle against your enemies, and see horses, war chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them, since G-d your L-rd who brought you out of Egypt, is with you." (Deuteronomy 20:1)

There have been many great battles fought throughout history, such as the AV battles at Marathon, Waterloo, Stalingrad, Battan, and Normandy to name a few. No matter how vicious and horrible the carnage of these and other battles have been, they in no way compare to the battle between the Satan and man. This war has been waged from the beginning of time. Rabbi Nachman says that if we would be able to see the spiritual damage and carnage that is caused in the upper spiritual worlds from even the slightest sin, we would be amazed and horrified at the massive destruction. In the following paragraphs we will discuss one aspect of this struggle between man and evil, which we encounter almost daily, as described by Rabbi Nachman and his disciple Rav Noson.

Each person that comes to this world has many inherent deficiencies in his soul which needs to be improved and rectified. The need to rectify the world and one's own soul was brought about by Adam's sin and the sins that a person committed in all of his previous incarnations. Every sin committed causes a fragmentation of the soul and a scattering of many holy sparks from the soul OT throughout the world. The loss of these holy sparks manifested through many various afflictions such as poverty, ill health, mental confusion and a lowered intelligence level, lack of children, a loss of popularity and social acceptance etc. Therefore, every activity that is performed by man on this earth is for the purpose of and involves gathering and accumulating holy sparks which nourishes the soul. Many of these holy sparks, which each person must gather, had become lost and fragmented from their very own souls as the result of sin in this or previous incarnations. Many sparks from other sources add beauty and increased nourishment to his soul. Every minor action, good deed, prayer, word of Torah and faith, travel or relocation, job, marriage, producing children, buying and selling etc. results in a reclamation of lost sparks that was once part of a person's soul or was destined to merged with his soul.

Every physical object in creation contains holy sparks. Therefore, holy sparks are transferred from person to person and place to place through the activities that are performed through each physical object. Physical activities cause the manipulation, change, and movement of the spiritual (holy sparks) throughout the creation. This is why we are forced to be involved in the physical world. For example, any job, good deed (mitzvah), piece of Torah knowledge, person, house, or piece of food etc. which contains the sparks that pertain to one's soul, will be destined and decreed by G-d to eventually come into his life or possession at the right time, no matter what, so that this person can complete his soul. No one has the power to prevent it from happening. It is a Divine decree. Thus Rabbi Nachman taught, whatever is not destined to come into a person's possession, will never be permanently owned, no matter how hard one tries to secure it (This includes the completion of a particular good deed or area of Torah study. However one must make every effort to perform these deeds and learn Torah. If he is successful, fine; and if he isn't able to complete the tasks he still gets credit, for he wasn't destined to complete them) and what is destined to come into his possession, will come into his possession no matter how hard someone else tries to prevent it. The Zohar says that each soul is spiritually clothed with the power and abilities that it needs to fulfill its mission on earth. A person who has a mission that is connected with writing, speaking, art, or music will be given spiritual clothing that gives him the ability to excel in these areas. without this type of spiritual clothing, no matter how hard he tries, he will not excel in these areas. A president, janitor, corporate executive, businessman, doctor, scholar, a person in any occupation is given the spiritual clothing that draws him to a certain position and gives him the ability to perform his predetermined tasks. If a career counselor would have the ability to look at a person's soul, he could easily direct each person to the field that would be best suited for him. If we would be able to look at each candidate's soul before an election, we would easily know which candidate would win the election, for we would see the spiritual clothing of rulership that his soul is wearing.

One of the reasons why we must earn a living is so the sparks and fragments that were once part of our souls and have become embedded in the place of our business or employment can be collected and gathered through the efforts of our labor in all the physical aspects related to our jobs or work. This is not as simple as it seems. The work-place is surrounded by hoards of spiritual beings from the forces of evil. one of the greatest areas of struggle between man and evil, where the spiritual battle can be lost or won, is at the work-place. The danger of the work environment is that one can become easily and thoroughly trapped by the forces of evil and fall very far away from G-d. The rewards are that the worker gathers the holy sparks that his soul needs in order to serve G-d. The majority of Jews, religious and estranged, have lost Gd mainly as a result of their encounters in the work-place. The following are a few instances of how a worker can fall into the grip of evil:

1. One can become overly greedy, becoming so hungry for wealth that he devotes most of his waking hours to the pursuit of accumulating more and more money, not devoting any time to seeking out G-d for nourishing and enriching his eternal soul.

2. At the turn of the century thousands of Jews gave up their religious observance because they could not hold a job if they didn't violate the Sabbath laws and work on the holy day (keeping the Sabbath is one of the fundamentals of Judaism).

3. Many Jews have come to cheat in business as standard practice (even though their financial position is solid and they don't really need the money to survive) defrauding unsuspecting customers which has ruined lives, and even worse, they (whether an estranged Jew or especially a Jew who is dressed in religious garb) have brought about a desecration to G-d's holy name and have dragged it into the sewer (to desecrate G-d's name is the gravest sin of all).

4. Because work makes many demands of their time, many Jews are prevented from praying properly or with a minyan (quorum of 10), studying enough Torah, doing good deeds, and in general making more of an effort to seek-out G-d. Work basically dilutes one's commitment to the spiritual pursuits.

5. Many Jews, because of the social climate, influences, and pressures from their jobs having to impress and entertain important clients and having to associate with people from alien cultures - have gotten used to eating non-kosher food, have become vulgar and overly aggressive in their speech and mannerisms, and in some extreme cases, these negative influences have led to intermarriage, adultery, divorce and other types of inappropriate behavior.

6. Someone who has excelled in his career or business and has attained prominence and importance may develop an attitude of self-importance (in the negative sense) and arrogance (a person like this is furthest from G-d) , which may lead to insensitively and callousness toward those less fortunate than himself. He might feel he is a self-made man (he didn't need G-d's help before his success and especially not now after his success) and he won't help anyone else or give much charity, because he feels: "I worked hard and succeeded with no one elsels help, they should do the same!"

7. Many Jewish bosses exploit their workers by making them work long and hard for low wages and then not paying them on time or not paying the full amount owed. These are just some examples of how the forces of evil are able to dxag a person down and trap him with or without his awareness.

Soul-death, which can easily happen at work can be avoided by performing one's job with faith and honesty. This means that a person must strictly adhere to all of the Torah laws related to business to the best of his ability. By adhering to the Torah business laws one is able connect oneself with G-d and have G-d with him even in the spiritual darkness of the work environment. This practice strengthens one's faith and connection to G-d at all times and in all situations and will allow the worker to safely collect the lost, holy sparks that pertain to his soul, which is his soulls life-force, helping him avoid becoming trapped by the forces of evil.

To increase one's possessions (providing nourishment to the soul from the holy sparks they contain, because ultimately one will use the added sparks or increased possessions to serve G-d) one must leave the safe environment of one's home and venture outside to the work-place or market. In these outside areas, the forces of evil abound with great strength and intensity. The forces of evil always guard the gates of holiness preventing entry. As the verse says: "Sin [and the forces of evil] lies [and waits] at the door [of holiness]. It lusts after you, but you can dominate it" (Genesis 4:7). One must always encounter and break the evil that blocks each spiritual gate leading to the. next spiritual level. Torah law permits a person to unload his burden within a distance of four cubits from the entrance of his home, even though this area might be in the public domain. These four cubits are considered to be part of one's house, even though he might not own this area. Torah law also mandates that every person possesses the four cubits in which he is standing, even in a public domain. The reason for this is that the number four alludes to G-d's name which consists of four letters. This four lettered Divine name emanates the light of truth. It is the light of truth which has the ability to smash the forces of evil no matter where they might be found. Therefore, the four cubits of which the Torah gave each person possession, even in the place of the forces of evil the public domain, is connected to the Divine name which emits the light of truth. The light of truth helps to eliminate the forces of evil, even those found in the public domain, as the verse says: "[The] G-d (of truth] is my light [that chases away the forces of darkness] and (thus brings me] salvation" (Psalms 27:1). Therefore the four cubits where a person stands in the public domain is like his own home, the place where all the holy sparks come under his strong and exclusive control.

Now we can understand why we place a mezzuza (parchment containing specified Biblical verses containing certain Divine names) on the right door post. The light of truth contained in the Divine names found in the mezzuza has the power to chase away the forces of evil blocking the entrance to one's home. Rabbi Nachman says that affixing a mezzuza to one's door helps him prosper and increase his wealth and possessions, because the main wealth that a person acquires is the material possessions which are actually brought into the home and contain the holy sparks that pertain to his soul. These objects through the person's having to obtain them and by being brought within the confines of his home, have been greatly stripped of the forces of evil which once surrounded them. So we see the home is the place where all the holy sparks that are contained in a person's possessions can become fully merged with his soul providing there is no interference from the forces of evil. However, if the forces of evil should interfere, they could rob him of his holy sparks and thus diminish his wealth and possessions. Therefore, the main power that enables a .person to accumulate wealth and holy sparks is generated by affixing a mezzuza .to his door. The mezzuza assists a person to be successful by chasing the forces of evil away from the entrance to his home, enabling him to spiritually connect himself with his wealth and possessions, as we described above. This is the main battle that we all must fight. We must fight our way to gain entrance into the gates of holiness by overcoming the forces of evil that stand in our way. It is through the power of the mezzuza and truth that a person is able to merge his soul with the holy sparks contained in his possessions and connect them to the realm of holiness. (Lekutai Halachoth: Choshen Mishpat: Hilchoth Challukas Shutlfim 4:2-5)

The father, a learned man himself, was very impressed with this young man called Feivish. The girl's father guaranteed a substantial dowry and promised to support his future son-in-law for the rest of his life so that he might be free to study the Torah unhampered by the burdens of earning a living. Feivish was delighted with this arrangement and agreed to the match.

After the young couple were married, they moved into a house that was near the girl's father and Feivish continued studying while his father-in-law managed the business, providing for his daughter as he had promised.

Many years later, age caught up with the rich man and he felt he could no longer run the business alone. His daughter suggested that he take Feivish into the business to help out part-time. The rich man protested stating that he agreed to support Feivish for the rest of his life. Torah, which Feivish studied so diligently, was more important than the mundane affairs of business. This controversy raged on back and forth until the daughter, because of her concern for her father's advanced age insisted that Feivish help her father in the store at least part-time. At first Feivish refused, but eventually he gave in. Feivish, at first, came to the store for one hour a day and even then he would study from a holy book the whole while.

When a worker was once caught stealing by a customer, Feivish realized that his father-in-law was no longer able to adequately watch the workers by himself. Feivish decided to take a more active role in running the business. He spent more and more time in the store until he became thoroughly knowledgeable in running the business on his own. Soon afterwards, his fatherin-law died leaving Feivish completely involved with the business and with little time to study Torah.

His business expanded and he was appointed the king's agent. This made him so busy that he had no time to pray during the week and was now only able to pray on the Sabbath. Soon even this stopped, because he was so worn out, that he needed to sleep the entire Sabbath to recuperate from the week's strenuous work.

His position as the king's official supplier required that he meet with high officials who offered him refreshments during their business meetings. He felt too embarrassed to refuse their hospitality and he eventually became accustomed to eating non-kosher food.

His wife and everyone in the community noticed his metamorphosis from a Torah Scholar to a non-observant Jew. This grieved his wife deeply, but she no longer had any influence on him. He became known as: "Feivish, Lowest of the Low."

When it became time to marry off his two daughters, he married them to two eminent young scholars who lived in far away countries, so they were not aware of his degenerate behavior.

After the weddings of his two daughters he informed his two sons-in-law that although he himself violated every commandment in the Torah, and that was why he was known as "Feivish, Lowest of the Low", he desired pious Torah scholars for his two daughters and he agreed to support them for the rest of their lives so they could study Torah. His two sons-in-law went into shock when they discovered the truth about their new father-in-law. However, they decided not to divorce their new brides when they both saw that his two daughters were pious and G-d fearing women who truly wanted to live a Torah life.

The father of Feivish's second son-in-law was a holy man with Divine powers and he begged Feivish to repent. To push this holy man off Feivish finally promised that he would repent three days before his death. Years later the father of the second son-in-law informed the healthy Feivish that he had only 3 days left to live. Feivish went into a panic. He thought, "How could I repent for 30 years of heavy sinning in just 3 days?!" His two sons-in-law took him to see the Baal Shem Toy who lived near by.

Feivish threw himself at the Baal Shem's feet and burst into uncontrollable sobbing, his life story emerging between his racking cries. The Baal Shem told Feivish that he could still repent. The Baal Shem said to Feivish, "This is what you must do. You must fast for the next 3 days and spend the entire time in the study hall in prayer and repentance. Whenever a group of people comes in to pray you must throw yourself at their feet and exclaim, 'I am Feivish, the sinner, who has transgressed the commandments of the entire Torah. I regret it all and have accepted upon myself the burden of repentance as specified by the Baal Shem Tov.111

Feivish went to the study hall and recited Psalms all day and night, confessing his sins before everyone who entered the study hall, all the while weeping and fasting.

Satan raised a riot in the heavenly court. How could Feivish be allowed to make amends for 30 years of sin in just 3 days, it wasn't fair! The heavenly court ruled that if Feivish would taste some non-kosher food, his repentance would not be accepted.

The Satan sent a prominent man to the study hall to mock and ridicule Feivish for his behavior and he tried to convince him to eat and not continue in his penance. He offered the starving and weakened Feivish some hot soup to eat, Feivish almost gave in, but Feivish noticed some non-kosher wax from the candle had dripped into the soup, Feivish refused to partake of the soup. Then the man offered Feivish some freshly baked bread, and again Feivish refused to eat saying that there was no water in the wash basin to wash his hands (which the law requires before bread can be eaten) . The man then dragged Feivish to the ritual bath next door (so he could wash his hands and eat the bread) and that was empty of water as well. Seeing that the man was trying to force Feivish to violate the Baal Shem's instructions the weakened Feivish realized he had no choice and he jumped into the empty ritual bath and passed away.

The Baal Shem said that now Feivish's self sacrifice had atoned for all of his sins, and that he would rest in peace. Now people said that even Feivish the Lowly had sanctified G-d's name in public. [Note: No one should wait to repent at the end of one's life for this opportunity may never come]. (Story told over by Rav Nachman, the Spinker Rebbe)

Volume 2, Issue 42