The Key To Success

“You shall offer the one sheep in the morning, and the second sheep shall you offer in the afternoon”(29:39)

There is a Midrash which discusses the a priori axiom of the Torah. Rabbi Akiva states that the a priori axiom is “ve’ahavta lerayacha kamocha” – “love your friend as you do yourself”.¹ Ben Azai cites the verse “Zeh sefer toldos adam, beyom bero Elokim adam bidmus Elokim asah oso” – “This is the account of man’s origin: On the day that Hashem created man, He made him in his likeness.”^2,3 A variant Midrash, recorded by the author of the Ein Yaakov, offers a third opinion. Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi states “Es hakeves ha’echad ta’aseh baboker, ve’es hakeves ha’sheini ta’aseh bein ha’arbayim” – “You shall offer one sheep in the morning and a second sheep shall you offer in the afternoon” as the a priori axiom.⁴ What is the issue being disputed by these three opinions?

There are three basic relationships which each individual is expected to perfect exist in this world. These relationships are “bein adam le’atzmo” – “man’s relationship to himself”, “bein adam lachaveiro” – “man’s relationship to his fellow man”, and “bein adam lamakom” – “man’s relationship to Hashem”. The three relationships are interdependent to the extent that if there is a deficiency within one of them, all three are lacking.

Fundamental to man’s ability to accomplish and succeed in any endeavor in life is his degree of self-esteem. A person with low self-esteem is not motivated to accomplish. What should a person focus on so that he may develop a positive definition of himself? Rabbi Akiva maintains that by performing acts of kindness and exhibiting love toward his fellow man, a person will build up a positive perception of himself. By learning to love others, a person comes to love himself.

Ben Azai disagrees. He maintains that a person with a low self-image, who does not love himself, cannot love others. How then does a person come to appreciate himself? The Torah teaches that man is created in Hashem’s image. The most heinous of transgressors, the blasphemer is required to be buried before nightfall of the day he is executed. Rashi explains that it is deprecating to Hashem, in whose image the blasphemer was created, for his corpse to remain exposed overnight. Even the corpse of this sinner retains the stamp of G-d’s likeness. Therefore, the knowledge that man is a G-dly being is sufficient to give man a positive definition of himself, thereby enabling him to perfect his other relationships.

Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi does not find Ben Azai’s solution satisfactory, for the knowledge that man is created in Hashem’s image is only indicative of man’s potential. The awareness of this potential cannot be the source of man’s self-esteem. On the contrary, a person’s self-esteem can be extremely damaged by the knowledge that he has tremendous potential, but he is not actually achieving to potential. Therefore, Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi offers an alternative solution. Hashem requires man to serve Him by bringing offerings twice daily. This means that although Hashem is omnipotent, He has created a relationship with Bnei Yisroel by which we can offer Him something. We can cater to His “needs”. The knowledge that a person is needed in a relationship is an enormous self-esteem builder. The ultimate boost in self-esteem comes when a person recognizes that the One who needs him is Hashem. The understanding that we have a relationship with Hashem and He desires that we serve Him, gives man self-esteem and is also the vehicle through which man can actualize his potential. The system that Hashem has designed for us to follow is the path which we must take to ultimately be fulfilled.

For man to actualize his potential, he must first develop his self-esteem. According to Rabbi Akiva, this can be achieved by focusing upon his relationships with his fellow men. Ben Azai argues that man’s relationship with himself is the key to a positive self-definition, while Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi maintains that man’s awareness of his relationship with Hashem is the building block to success in all relationships.

1.Vayikra 19:18
2.Bereishis 5:1
3.Bereishis Rabbah 24:8

Eternal Lights

Parshas Tetzaveh

Posted on February 6, 2014 (5774) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner

The Torah busies itself in this week’s parsha to point out the necessity for an eternal light to always burn in G-d’s tabernacle. The Talmud points out that the light was certainly not for G-d’s benefit. The Lord is always beyond our physical needs and environment. The commentators to the Torah always searched for a deeper and more understandable meaning to this commandment.

Many ideas have been presented to explain the necessity for this eternal light. One that I wish to mention here in this essay is that the eternal light represented the eternity of Israel and its survival as a people no matter what. Just as the Lord inexplicably demanded that an eternal light be present and lit in the Tabernacle and the Temple, so too is the survival of Israel to be seen as something that is truly inexplicable.

The lights of Hanukkah are the successors to the eternal light of the Tabernacle and the Temple. They too symbolize the unlikely and miraculous, the triumph of the weak and few. This symbolic light is meant to guide us in our understanding of Jewish history and life. The otherwise seemingly unnecessary light represents G-d’s guarantee of Jewish survival and of the great lesson that a small candle while burning can illuminate a great deal of darkness.

The Lord needs no light but humankind cannot operate in the darkness. The prophet Isaiah chose his words carefully when he charged Israel to be “a light unto the nations.” Our mere existence and accompanying story of survival is enough to be a guide to a very dark world and lead it towards a better future and a brighter day.

When the eternal light of the national existence of the Jewish people was dimmed by the Roman legions, the Jews installed a physical eternal light in their synagogues. But just as the eternal light in the Tabernacle and Temple required human effort and physical material – pure olive oil – so too does our current eternal light require human effort and physical material.

Lighting a dark room requires ingenuity, ability, planning and the correct fixtures. Since Torah is compared to light in Scripture, and it too is an eternal light, it is obvious that the maintenance of Torah and the spread of its light also require human effort, talent and industry. Even the glorious eternal light that hangs in front of the ark in our synagogue has to have its bulbs changed and cleaned periodically.

The Lord, Who needs no light, demands from us that we provide light in the physical and spiritual sense of the word. The High Priest of Israel was charged with the daily cleaning, preparing and lighting of the eternal light in the Temple. The Lord never provided for automatic lighting but rather for a light that would be generated and cared for by human beings in the daily course of their godly duties.

That remains the case today as well. Though our survival as a people is guaranteed, paradoxically, it cannot happen without our efforts and dogged commitment. We must light our own lamp ourselves in order for it to burn brightly and eternally.

Shabat shalom

Rabbi Berel Wein

Divine Reflections

Parshas Tetzaveh

Posted on January 28, 2014 (5774) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

One of the most challenging issues confronting a Jew at all stages of growth is the need to find a healthy balance between developing and expressing one’s identity and conforming to the Torah’s norms.

The drive for self-assertion is a lifelong force, emerging in early infancy. It manifests in children in their resistance to parental authority and the tendency to be overprotective of toys and turf.

The tantrums and irritability that mark the teenage years reflect this same innate need for self-definition. An adolescent’s fragile, maturing sense of self remains under assault as he or she reacts to relentless peer pressure.

Adults, too, must grapple with this push for independence and the corresponding yearning for self-definition. As life progresses, the issue tends to fade somewhat into the background. The pressing challenges of livelihood and children occupy our minds and energies, while also anchoring our social standing and self-image.

In subtle guises, however, the quest for self-promotion persists as we move along the road of life, mirrored in one’s desire for status, power and other ego-props.

Strangely, the accomplishments that we were certain would cement our identity never fully do so. Who are we at our core? We know how we wish to be perceived-but is that a reflection of our true self, or merely a carefully crafted image designed to impress others? As well as we know ourselves, part of that inner self remains a stranger.

Some of our greatest Torah thinkers have attempted to unravel this mystery of the ever-elusive self. They have taught us that who we truly are, in the most fundamental sense, is determined by our deepest innermost aspirations.

Forgetting about public opinion for a moment, what do you really want deep down? Who is that person you want to be?

The answer to that question puts one on the path to true self-definition. What your deepest ideals are-who you really want to be-is the best way of describing who you actually are.

Though we may constantly veer off course from the path leading to our ultimate self-realization, our identity can still rightfully be defined by who we ideally yearn to be.

This important thought about what makes up the core of a Jew’s deepest self may be alluded to in the opening lines of this week’s Torah portion: “Now you shall command the Jewish people that they should take pure pressed olive oil for illumination, to kindle the ner tamid.”

Our sages tell us that this continuously burning light, the Western lamp of the menorah, was never extinguished. Its cup was replenished daily with the purest oil attainable. With great devotion and in exacting detail, only a few drops of select oil were extracted from each olive tree and carefully primed to illuminate the ner tamid.

The questions bounce at us from the text: Why are all the Jewish people commanded to participate in this mitzvah, when only one person-Aaron, the High Priest-was permitted to ignite this light? Why the emphasis on only pure olive oil? Wouldn’t any high quality oil produce the same flame? And why the need altogether for an eternal light to be constantly aflame and aglow in the tabernacle?

The commentaries explain that the ner tomid is a reflection of Hashem’s presence that constantly animates and gives light to the universe. This Divine energy remains invisible to the naked eye, hidden under the guise of “mother nature,” yet its presence is clearly visible for those who wish to see the Creator in creation.

The commentaries further explain that this ner tamid is apparent in each of us. Every human being is an olam kotton, a miniature world. Each of us has a ner tomid, an ever-burning flame of Hashem’s presence, embedded in our soul. It is what we call the “pintele neshama.”

This pintele neshama emits pangs of conscience when our actions betray our beliefs, and when our bodies fail to act in consonance with our soul’s Divine moorings. The soul reflects our innermost aspirations to fulfill our life mission and to remain connected to our Source.

Even when we are consumed with stirrings of jealousy and lust; even when we are struggling to secure our livelihood in the degenerate atmosphere of the marketplace, the vibrations of our pintele neshama are always audible.

That ner tomid emits a constant glow that is pure and untainted. Even when the mitzvos we perform are tarnished with self-interest, our true and constant sublime yearning to fulfill His will in the purest way possible is what defines us.

When we constantly reaffirm the stirrings of our ner tomid and ensure that they determine our life’s direction, we will then succeed in shedding the unsavory thoughts and actions that are but a façade around our intrinsic core. Keeping a pure ner tomid aflame at all times is a mitzva that is instructed to each and every Jew for all future generations. Only when we are suffused with its spiritual glow will our bodies ceaseless striving for self-definition and self-realization reach fruition, allowing our everlasting flame to be locked for eternity with its eternal Maker.

Wishing you a wonderful Shabbos,

Rabbi Naftali Reich Text Copyright © 2014 by Rabbi Naftali Reich and Torah.org.

Rabbi Reich is on the faculty of the Ohr Somayach Tanenbaum Education Center.