Nachal novea; makor chochma -
A flowing river; the source of wisdom (Mish. 18:4)
The destruction of the Temple and the many centuries of exile is a process of spiritual healing and rebuilding, the rebuilding of the third and final Temple. We take consolation in this fact.
These are the words of consolation we customarily speak to an individual
who is mourning the loss of a loved one. But what it is it, exactly,
about this phrase that helps? What connection is there between the death
of a loved one and the destruction of Jerusalem? And does it really
console the grieving mourner to hear our wish that his consolation be
somehow linked to the consolation of all those who mourn Jerusalem?
Isn't his personal mourning occasion enough for us to pray that HaShem
simply comfort him?
Rav Noson of Breslov, analyzing the teachings of his Master, Rabbi
Nachman, asks these questions and offers a revealing answer.
But although HaShem's light was constricted, it was not taken away. It
still exists but in a constricted form, hidden within the Creation. And
what HaShem desires most from us in this Creation is that we choose,
through our own free will, to find those hidden sparks of His light,
uncover and reveal them.
And how do we uncover and reveal these hidden sparks of HaShem's light?
Simply by choosing to perform His will.
But choice is always a two-edged sword. When we speak of using our free
will to perform HaShem's will, we hold out the possibility that we may
choose the opposite: To ignore or go against HaShem's will, ie. to
sin.
The First Man, Adam chose to misuse his free will in this way, and the
result, as we all know, was the imposition of death upon Man. What is
not so well known or understood, however, is that this "punishment" is,
in fact, a remedy for the spiritual damage caused by Adam's error --and
our continuation of it.
"Rabbi Shniuel Bar Yitzchak said '...behold,it was very good.' --This
(refers to) the Angel of Death." --(Medrash Rabba, Bereshis, 9:9)
Everything in Creation is a vessel that receives and contains Hashem's
light. Adam (Man) was created to reveal this light, hidden in the
vessels we call our World. So the World was really created for Adam. It
was spiritually connected to him, waiting and ready for him to reveal
the divine light hidden within it. And if Adam had used his free will to
reveal HaShem's light by choosing to follow His will, the purpose of
Creation would have been achieved.
But Adam made an error and sinned. And in doing so, the entire world
-- spiritually connected to Adam's soul as it was -- was also damaged.
Our world -- the vessels that contain HaShem's hidden light -- became
damaged vessels. And a damaged vessel does not hold it Is light as it
was originally meant to.
A damaged vessel does not fulfill Hashem's will, for it reveals a
distorted and smaller quantity of Hashem's light, less than He had
originally intended. So Hashem imposed the processes of decay and death
upon the material world in order to repair and, to use the contemporary
term, recycle the damaged vessels -- just as broken glass or ruined metal
vessels can be melted down and then reproduced into new, whole, and
completely functional containers. The process, viewed at one stage only,
seems destructive. But in reality, it is the only way to take broken
vessels and make whole vessels of them again.
When the body dies the soul ascends to the upper worlds. The soul brings
along with it all of the light of Hashem it gathered in this world,
through performing His will. There, Hashem's light provides the soul
with the most unimaginable pleasures, beyond our ability to fathom, as
the Talmud teaches, "[Rebbe Yaakov said], 'Better one hour of spiritual
bliss in the World to Come than the entire life of This World [all the
combined bliss of all the generations in the world's history cannot
equal an hour of bliss in the hereafter]."' (Talmud: Avoth 4:22)
But because we sin, we damage the vessels of HaShem's light in this
world --including our own bodies and souls. In most cases the soul
arrives in the next world like a damaged vessel, damaged by the sins one
has committed while alive, and so unable to enjoy the units of Hashem's
light it had gathered while in this world.
So a process of rectification is needed, often harsh and painful for a
time. But these tikunini imposed upon the soul actually repair and renew
the soul, almost like new. This enables the repaired or renewed vessel,
the soul, to finally enjoy the fruits of its labors, the light of
Hashem, in paradise.
And our bodies, too, go through a similar rectification and renewal
process. After death the body decays in the ground, disintegrating and
ultimately losing all of its gross and course materialism. With these
flaws eliminated from the body those people who are worthy, at the time
of the revival of the dead, will enjoy a new and perfected body, one
which will be able to enjoy the full benefit of Hashem's light in this
world.
However, Rabbi Nachman emphasized that no one should ever despair or
give up hope, no matter how great or numerous our sins may be. He
repeated this message thousands of times: Hashem is Merciful and wants
His creatures to succeed! And HaShem is, of course, very well aware of
the difficulties we have overcoming the urges of the body. So Hashem
provided a solution for us. It's called repentance.
Even if one has sinned tens of thousands of times, and after each one of
these sins, a desire to repent is aroused; But, despite this desire to
repent, he falls again... still he should not think that his struggle
has gone unnoticed by Hashem. The holy Zohar says, "Even a good
intention is never lost." Hashem gathers all of the spiritual energies
created even by one's unfulfilled desires to return and uses them to
actually help him repent. What's more, no one should ever despair or
give up hope, no matter how great or numerous one's sins, because
through repentance, all of one's sins can be turned into merits! How?
Now, evil is characterized as darkness, because evil blocks out or
covers Hashem's light, preventing one from connecting with Him. When the
soul, the vessel that contains Hashem's light, resides in the realm of
evil, it absorbs a lot of darkness, causing the soul to develop a thick
"shell," blocking out Hashem's light.
When a fallen soul repents, it, and all of Hashem's light it contains
returns to the side of holiness. As mentioned above, the chambers of the
soul, the vessel that contains Hashem's light, become very "thick,"
because it absorbed much darkness while it resided in the realm of evil.
Therefore, the soul's temporary stay in the realm of evil actually
benefited the soul greatly, because when it returns to the side of
holiness, the thick containers it developed while in the realm of evil
now enable it to receive and bear much greater amounts of Hashem's light
-- much more so than if it had never fallen!
This is why we often see individuals who return to Hashem after having
lived in great darkness, who reach high spiritual levels, even greater
than the level of those who never were so distant from Hashem. Without
the fall, the soul would never have been able to develop the protective
thick covering it needed to absorb high levels of Hashem's powerful
light. Rabbi Nachman defines this situation as, "A fall that [in the
end] causes or leads to a spiritual ascent."
[Note: Although the above principle is extremely significant, no one
should rely on it; Ie.: No one should ever consider committing a sin
with the intention that he will later repent. Rav Noson warns us that
not everyone is able to extricate themselves from their fall. In many
cases, it takes a great Tzadik (saint) to arouse a person to repentance,
extricating him from his fall, as the verse says, "And he [Lemechl
called his name Noah saying, 'This one [the Tzadik, Noah] will bring us
rest from our work and from the toil of our hands, from the ground which
Hashem had cursed (as a punishment for our sins.) (le: The Tzadik will
bring us rest by rescuing us from our sins, through helping us repent]."
(Genesis 5:29) One might not be able to find such a Tzadik, who can
create the proper vessels in his soul to arouse him to repentance.]
Rav Noson says we can find a great deal of encouragement in all this:
death being the beginning of renewal, and sin possessing the potential
to be the catapult to spiritual greatness. Every act performed in this
world creates a spiritual light that lasts for all time, a light that
can be accessed even centuries later. Although the Temple was destroyed
twice, the awesome light that it created when it stood still remains.
Not only will the third and final Temple be rebuilt upon its physical
ruins, but it will be rebuilt from the light created by the previous two
Temples while they stood.
Why was it necessary for Hashem to destroy His Temple twice? Rav Noson
explains that this can be compared to a artisan who wants to make the
most flawless and perfect vessel. After his first attempt, he looks at
his vessel and notices several flaws. He then breaks the vessel and
tries again. This process is repeated until he creates the flawless
vessel he desires.
The first two Temples were destroyed because of the spiritual flaws of
the people who lived during those times. After the struggle to come
close to Hashem, during the many ups and downs of Jewish history, the
third Temple will be rebuilt. The tremendous and great vessels needed to
contain the unprecedented revelation of Hashem's awesome and great light
in the third Temple will be built from all the vessels of the all the
suffering and darkness the Jews have endured throughout our long
history, as the verse says, "Greater shall be the glory of this house
[the Temple], the last one, than that of the first one." (Haggai 2:9) ..
Each Of You Shall Return To His Family" Now we can understand why it is
customary to share in a mourner's grief by saying "May the Omnipresent
console you among the other moumers of Zion and Jerusalem." The Temple
was destroyed twice, the Jewish People have suffered countless
destructions throughout their long history --but both are in the process
of rebuilding, rectification, and renewal, waiting for the perfected
third Temple. So the death of a loved one is part of the renewal and
rebuilding process of the soul, which will arise in a perfected state at
the revival of dead.
This reminds the grieving mourner that just as the destruction of the
Temple is only temporary, so is the loss of a loved one. At the end,
everyone will be reunited with their loved ones, but in a better and
more perfected state, as the verse says, "Each of you shall return to
his family." (Lev. 25:10)
The need for this consolation is based on the following teaching of the
Talmud:
"You [the Jews' will be lost among the nations, and the land of your
enemies will devour you. " (Lev. 26:36) This is the awesome judgment
which the Torah passes over exile existence. [The holy and great sage]
Rav said, "this verse frightens me." [This was the fear which gripped
Ezekiel's fellow exiles, Rav too had to be reassured]. Perhaps 'lost"
[in the verse] does not mean completely lost, but rather in the sense of
a lost object which its owner attempts to find. Perhaps "devoured" [in
the verse] does not mean utterly consunied, but rather as in the case of
cucumbers and pumpkins [which grow so fast that they constantly
replenish themselves after they are harvested]. (Talmud: Makkoth 24a)
This same message of comfort is the one which Ezekiel conveyed to his
listeners. (Lekutei Halachoth: Orach Chaim: Hilchoth Tefilas Mincha
7:32)
Rav Yaakov Yitzchak of Pshischah, who was known as the Yid HaKadosh (the
holy Jew), used to conduct a daily Talmud class for a group of his
disciples, one of whom was a local youth who had lost his father. During
one such class the Tzadik encountered an extremely problematic text, and
was became engrossed in his thoughts, attempting to untangle it. The
youth knew from experience that when this kind of thing happened, his
teacher would become carried away in his concentration that he would
have ample time to slip away and take some light refreshment at his
mothees house, nearby. Having eaten, he was about to return when he
heard his mother call. She wanted him to climb up to the attic to bring
down a bundle of fodder. After he completed his chore for his mother he
quickly returned to his mentoes class. The Yid HaKadosh sat up alert,
then stood up in his place and asked the youth, "What commandment have
you just performed?" The youth recounted the events of the previous few
minutes, and the Tzadik began to explain, "When you came in, I saw that
you were accompanied by the soul of Abbaye, the Talmudic sage who passed
away 1500 years ago. I immediately had my answer. The Talmud tells us
that Abbaye was orphaned as an infant. Since he knew no father or mother
of his own, it is Abbaye's custom to accompany anyone who fulfills the
commandment of honoring his father and mother, in order that he too
should have a share in this good deed. Once he was already here, and
found me grappling with that text in which he was a participant, he gave
me the answer." (Sepurai Chassidim Al HaTorah)
"May the Omnipresent console you among the other mourners of Zion and
Jerusalem."
The light of Hashem (C-d) is infinite. As such, it leaves no "room" for
anything else to exist. But it was HaShem's wish, out of his great love,
to make it possible for us to exist. So He had to constrict and limit
His infinite light until there was a "space" in which a lesser existence
-- our own -- could happen at all. And this is Creation, the Universe as
we know it.
"And Hashe, saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good."
(Genesis 1:31),
"[Rebbe Ben Kisnia said] 'When a man departs from this world, neither
silver, nor gold, nor precious stones, nor pearls escort him [to the
hereafter], but only Torah study and good deeds."' (Talmud: Avoth
6:9)
All of this may sound grim and depressing, leaving little hope. When we
look honestly at our shortcomings and often wasted lives, we become
acutely aware that we have neglected the needs of our own souls!
Rav Noson explains: Sin causes the soul and the light of Hashem that the
soul contains, to fall into the realm of evil. The greater and more
numerous the sins, the more parts of the soul containing Hashem's light,
fall into that realm.
The prophet Ezekiel prophetized, "Then He [Hashem] said to me [Ezekiel],
son of man, these [dead] bones are the whole house of Israel: behold
they say [the Jews who suffer in the exile], Our bones have dried and
our hope is lost. We are cut off [from Hashem]. Therefore, prophetize
and say to them, Thus says Hashem the L-rd, Behold I will open your
graves, and I will cause you to come up out of your graves, 0 My people,
and I will bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I
am Hashem, when I open your graves, and when I cause you to come up out
of your graves, 0 My people. And I shall put My spirit in you, and you
shall live ..." (Ezekiel 37:11-14) The purpose of this episode of the
resurrection of the dry bones was to comfort the Jewish people and
reassure them that no exile would ever be so hopeless, but that Hashem
would one day redeem them. (Radak)
Rav Noson asks, "Why did Hashem use a double expression of consolation
to console the Jewish people?" The verse says, "Comfort, comfort My
people [Israel], says your [Isaiah's] G-d.' (Isaiah 40:1) This verse
prophetically addresses the Jews in their long and bitter exile. The
double expression of comfort refers to the two things that provide
solace to the beleaguered Jews throughout the travails of exile. The
first instrument of consolation is the Torah as the verse says, "This is
my consolation (ne'che'mah'ti) in my affliction, for Your [Hashem's]
word [recorded in the Torah] has given me life." (Psalms 1 1 9:50) Not
everyone is capable of understanding the Torah well enough to be
consoled by Rs teachings. Therefore, Hashem provided the second
implement of consolation, the Tzaddikim of each generation, as the verse
says, "And he [Lemech] called his name Noah saying, 'This one [the
Tzadik, Noah] will bring us rest [lit. consolation (ye'na'cha'may'nu]
from our work and from the toil of our hands, from the ground which
Hashem had cursed [as a punishment for our sins. The Tzadik will console
us during the bitter exile, which was brought about through our sins,
with the advice he derives from the Torah]." (Genesis 5:29)
The light of Hashem that one absorbs from the study of the To@ah
influences the heart to follow the right path and enables one to find
Hashem. Due to the impurities contained in the hearts of most people, R
is very difficult for the Torah's light to have a positive impact on the
heart. The impurities of the heart pollutes the light one absorbs from
his Torah study and he motivated or able to find to Hashem. Only if the
light of Hashem derived from the Torah found in one's heart is pure can
it influence one to go on the proper path, as the verse says, "You shall
know this day [through Torah study] and take it [the words of the Torah]
to your heart [only if your is pure, will you understand] that Hashem,
He is G-d [and you be willing to do His Will." (Deut. 4:39) The Tzadikim
who derive their spiritual energies from the light of the Messiah are
able to convey the Torah, through this light, in a way that will have
positive eff ects, even on an impure heart. This will enable all those
who follow the Tzaddikim to find the path they need to come close to
Hashem. This concept is alluded to in the verse, 'Con-dort, con-dort My
[Hashem's] people says your G-d. [You the Tzadik Isaiah, like all
Tzaddikim] Speak to the heart of Jerusalem [teach the Jews Torah in a
way that its light reaches and purifies their hearts so it will have a
positive influence upon them] ..." (Isaiah 40:1, 2) (Lekutei Halachoth:
Yorah Daya: Hilchoth Yayin Nesech 4:28)
We mentioned that even after death, the soul remains intact and that the
soul ascends to the upper worlds with the light of the good deeds it has
performed while alive. The following true story illustrates these
points: