לזכות אבי מורי ואמי מורתי
ולרפואת ניסים בן לידיא בתוך שח"י
[This was written BS"D in "Shomyaim" courtesy of El Al].
[This was written BS"D in "Shomyaim" courtesy of El Al].
There are two basic reasons to love life. One is because life is inherently valuable and precious. The other is that the alternative is quite lousy [death]. Similarly, there are basic two reasons to choose Hashem. One is because of His inherent awesomeness and wondrousness and the other because the alternatives [other gods] are quite pathetic. We choose Hashem because of the former reason. Not merely because the other options are not desirable but rather because of His inherent, innate greatness.
If one views Hashem in proportion to other powers then it diminishes His inherent power and dominion. It is like saying "Einstein is better at math than a third grader". An insult and diminishing of Einstein. Moreover, if we compare Hashem to other powers and entities, we NEED those other powers and entities in order to appreciate Hashem. That itself is a great insult to Hashem. Li-havdil, one walks around checking out every woman in order to tell his wife that she is superior to them all. He needs other women so that he can appreciate his wife. A shonda-busha-vi-cherpa!!! Here it is even worse because those other women have a purpose and independent value while idols are false and lead to evil.
The nations call Hashem אלהא דאלהיא - the G-d of gods [Menachos 110]. This is an insult to Hashem. It is like saying about the best baseball player EVER that he is better than all the other kids in little league. Also, it shows that the nations DESIRE the existence of other powers while they give the top spot to Hashem. Thanks but no thanks.
We unfortunately fail to value life as an inherent entity. We are just happy to be alive because the notion of lying in the ground 6 feet under, covered by dirt and marble, is unattractive to say the least [as fancy as our tombstone may be]. We love life as the absence of death. If we would appreciate life for what it is then death would be obliterated. The sin of primordial man was that after eating from the tree of "good and evil" he now views good in the context of evil. We are happy we are rich in a significant way because it means we are not poor. We are happy to see because being blind strikes us as a horrible fate. What about appreciating the good for what it is without having to resort to viewing the alternative? Man lost that. We need death because otherwise we wouldn't appreciate life [as I am writing this there is turbulence on the plane and I ponder my own demise…] .
Avraham Avinu was the first person to call Hashem "אדון" - Master [Brachos 7b]. Until Avraham, people viewed Hashem relative to other powers and deities. Avraham came and taught that Hashem is the Absolute Master and not just the "top ranked G-d". He is in a class all His own. No comparison. מצד עצמותו.
Still, Avraham's avoda was love which negates תאוה. As a result he had a child like Yishmael who fell in the area of תאוה. That was Avraham's פסולת. Then came Yitzchak whose avoda was Gevurah, overpowering the forces of evil. His פסולת was Eisav who used Gevurah on others in a negative way. "על חרבך תחיה". His chiyus and vitality came from killing others with his sword. Yaakov's avoda was EMES. Absolute truth. There was thus no need to exclude anything else [like Avraham and Yitzchak needed to do with their offspring] and therefore all of his offspring were holy. מיטתו שלמה.
The pasuk says ואתם הדבקים בה' אלהיכם חיים כולכם היום - You who cleave to Hashem are alive today. To be TRULY alive is to cling to Hashem Himself, with no linkage to any other entity that needs exclusion. He is the Only One.
That is the meaning of the pasuk in this weeks parsha
"כי יפלא ממך דבר למשפט בין דם לדם בין דין לדין ובין נגע לנגע דברי ריבות בשעריך וקמת ועלית אל המקום אשר יבחר ד' אלקיך בו".
Meaning, when you are in that world of relativity, where you are distinguishing between pure and impure blood, between someone who is innocent and someone who is guilty, between a skin growth that is pure and one that is impure – you should go UP to that place which is chosen by Hashem. Not a place that is merely better than all other places but rather a place that is in a league all its own. That place about which is says "וירא את המקום מרחוק" – He [Avraham] saw the place from afar. It was FAAAAR outta normal human conception. That is the place we go up to in order to remove ourselves from the world of relative comparisons and enter the world of absolutes.
Eretz Yisrael is ALSO not a Land like all lands – just in first place. Rather E.Y. is in a league of its own. The pasuk says about the spies:
"ויבא עד חברון ושם אחיכן ששי ותלמי ילידי הענק וחברון נבנתה שבע שנים לפני צוען מצרים"
Chevron is being viewed in the context of Mitzraim. PROBLEM!! Chevron – and all of E.Y. – is incomparable to any other place.
Yehoshua and Calev correctly asserted "טובה הארץ מאד מאד" - The Land is VERY VERY good. Therefore, they remained righteous.
The pasuk says צדק צדק תרדוף – - You should pursue justice for justices sake. Not because relatively speaking it is better than injustice.
This is the period of the year where the stress is on accepting Hashem's Malchus מצד עצמותו - inherently and not relative to other kingdoms.
[עפ"י דברי מרן הגאון רבי יעקב משה חרל"פ זצוק"ל]
