The Weekly Dvar Torah
Volume I Issue #25
The Synergy of Souls
Vayero
Adapted from the wisdom of Rav Meir Simcha HaCohen of Dvinsk from the Meshech Chochmoh and Rav Tzadok HaCohen from Pri Tzadik and other works.
By Rav Yitzchak Schwartz Rosh Yeshiva Orchos Chaim Jerusalem
yschwartz@orchos.org.
This publication, Zichron Yehoshua, is in memory of Yehoshua Yakov ben Moshe-Jeffrey Nussbaum through a generous grant from Dr. Eric Nussbaum and family.
This issue is dedicated to… It could be yours. Please consider sponsoring a weekly d'var Torah.
Perhaps the most difficult test that our forefather Avraham was subjected to was when Sarah asked him to banish his son Yishmael from their home (Breishis 21:12). Avraham was the pillar of love and kindness in the world; to banish his own son from his home was anathema to his essence. But Hashem supported Sarah's motherly instincts and instructed Avraham to heed her decision. Our sages ob"m derived from this that Sarah was superior to Avraham in her capacity to intuit the will of Hashem.
Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk draws our attention to a remarkable passage in the Talmud, Bava Batra 58. Rebbi Banah made a visit to the burial site of our forefathers and matriarchs in the cave of Machpelah next to the city of Hebron. At the entrance to the cave he saw Eliezer, the faithful servant of Avraham, guarding the entrance to the cave. He asked permission to enter the cave. Eliezer told him that since Avraham was lying in the arms of Sarah while she was "examining" his head it would be inappropriate to enter at that time. Ultimately, Rebbi Banah's persistence gained him entrance and was able to observe what was taking place inside.
Rav Meir Simcha explains that this fascinating story/parable illustrates the fact that the souls of the Jewish people are intrinsically dependent upon and bound to each other. An individual soul on its own is incapable of achieving its own completion and perfection without interaction with other souls. This is what the extraordinary story of Rebbi Banah reveals. Avraham was a spiritual giant but he was not perfect. His imperfections, both spiritual and intellectual, manifested themselves in the years prior to his realization that idolatry was absolute falsehood. Furthermore, it was only through Sarah his wife that he was able to bear a son who would possess the capacity to ascend to the spiritual magnitude of their son, our forefather Yitzchak. Sarah had the unique capability to draw on Avraham's spiritual strengths and talents and at the same time discard his imperfections. This is symbolized in Sarah examining Avraham's head. She was carefully choosing which of Avraham's attributes and talents would be necessary to spawn the next generation of forbearers of the embryonic Jewish nation. When she came across something that could harm their future she casted it aside. Yishmael's mother Hagar, Avraham's concubine, was not so skillful and therefore incapable of bearing a righteous son with Avraham. Sarah understood that Hagar's spiritual shortcomings and undiscerning relationship with Avraham would cause his imperfections to be passed on to Yishmael. He would become a toxic influence on Yitzchak the forbearer of the newly emerging nation and therefore must go.
Avraham's capacity to become the forbearer of a holy nation could be actualized only in partnership with Sarah. His own spiritual perfection could come to fruition only through Sarah's strengths, symbolized by him lying in her arms. Sarah possessed keen spiritual powers through which she was able to synergize with Avraham and ultimately bring out the best in both of them.
Rav Meir Simcha explains that the soul's full development is a three phase process. In the first phase, while in its primordial metaphysical state the soul lacks perfection. In order to transcend to a higher degree of perfection it must enter and subsequently live a sacred life in a physical body. Upon completion of the second phase of its mission the soul is separated through death from the constraints of the physical body and elevated to an even higher level than it previously possessed. The final stage of the soul's completion is realized when the upgraded soul is united with other souls with whom it interacted during the courses of its worldly existence and by virtue of such realize higher levels of perfection.
The Talmud conveys this lesson in Bava Metziah 62b. Rava was one of the greatest sages in the Talmud. He was also a great advocate for the previously deceased Rebbi Osheyah, one of the foremost scholars of the period of the Mishna. Whenever Rebbi Osheyah's statements seemed to contradict the Mishna, Rava would apply himself to reconcile his words so as not to come in conflict with the authoritative rulings of the Mishna. If not for Rava's diligent efforts in his defense Rebbi Osheyah's teachings would have been relegated to secondary importance and been stripped of much of their veracity in subsequent arguments of Talmudic law. In recognition of his tireless efforts Rava proclaimed that upon his own death Rebbi Osheyah would be there to greet him as he enters the next world.
Rav Meir Simcha explains that Rebbi Osheyah's greeting of Rava was not a mere gesture of gratitude but a unification of Rava's soul with Rebbi Osheyah's. Rava's brilliant Talmudic mind was further honed and polished as a result of his efforts to reconcile the opinions of Rebbi Osheyah. Rebbi Osheyah's teachings served as a catalyst to bring Rava to even higher levels of Torah erudition. Rebbi Osheyah too was dependent upon Rava to bring his own teachings in concurrence with the Mishna. Rava and Rebbi Osheyah's souls were intrinsically linked, similar to Avraham and Sarah whose souls were bound and dependent upon each other for their own perfection. While in this world Rava's intellectual toil to understand Rebbi Osheyah's wisdom created a bond between them on a spiritual level. By virtue of this their souls were united in the next world, elevating both of them to a new state of spiritual grandeur.
The people we meet and interact with in our lifetimes should not be taken for granted; they are extremely important. Although we are incapable of recognizing it in this world, our own eternity may be dependent upon, and intrinsically bound to the souls of: parents, spouses, friends, colleagues, etc. who are such important parts of our lives.
By Rav Yitzchak Schwartz Rosh Yeshiva Orchos Chaim Jerusalem
yschwartz@orchos.org.
This publication, Zichron Yehoshua, is in memory of Yehoshua Yakov ben Moshe-Jeffrey Nussbaum through a generous grant from Dr. Eric Nussbaum and family.
This issue is dedicated to… It could be yours. Please consider sponsoring a weekly d'var Torah.
Perhaps the most difficult test that our forefather Avraham was subjected to was when Sarah asked him to banish his son Yishmael from their home (Breishis 21:12). Avraham was the pillar of love and kindness in the world; to banish his own son from his home was anathema to his essence. But Hashem supported Sarah's motherly instincts and instructed Avraham to heed her decision. Our sages ob"m derived from this that Sarah was superior to Avraham in her capacity to intuit the will of Hashem.
Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk draws our attention to a remarkable passage in the Talmud, Bava Batra 58. Rebbi Banah made a visit to the burial site of our forefathers and matriarchs in the cave of Machpelah next to the city of Hebron. At the entrance to the cave he saw Eliezer, the faithful servant of Avraham, guarding the entrance to the cave. He asked permission to enter the cave. Eliezer told him that since Avraham was lying in the arms of Sarah while she was "examining" his head it would be inappropriate to enter at that time. Ultimately, Rebbi Banah's persistence gained him entrance and was able to observe what was taking place inside.
Rav Meir Simcha explains that this fascinating story/parable illustrates the fact that the souls of the Jewish people are intrinsically dependent upon and bound to each other. An individual soul on its own is incapable of achieving its own completion and perfection without interaction with other souls. This is what the extraordinary story of Rebbi Banah reveals. Avraham was a spiritual giant but he was not perfect. His imperfections, both spiritual and intellectual, manifested themselves in the years prior to his realization that idolatry was absolute falsehood. Furthermore, it was only through Sarah his wife that he was able to bear a son who would possess the capacity to ascend to the spiritual magnitude of their son, our forefather Yitzchak. Sarah had the unique capability to draw on Avraham's spiritual strengths and talents and at the same time discard his imperfections. This is symbolized in Sarah examining Avraham's head. She was carefully choosing which of Avraham's attributes and talents would be necessary to spawn the next generation of forbearers of the embryonic Jewish nation. When she came across something that could harm their future she casted it aside. Yishmael's mother Hagar, Avraham's concubine, was not so skillful and therefore incapable of bearing a righteous son with Avraham. Sarah understood that Hagar's spiritual shortcomings and undiscerning relationship with Avraham would cause his imperfections to be passed on to Yishmael. He would become a toxic influence on Yitzchak the forbearer of the newly emerging nation and therefore must go.
Avraham's capacity to become the forbearer of a holy nation could be actualized only in partnership with Sarah. His own spiritual perfection could come to fruition only through Sarah's strengths, symbolized by him lying in her arms. Sarah possessed keen spiritual powers through which she was able to synergize with Avraham and ultimately bring out the best in both of them.
Rav Meir Simcha explains that the soul's full development is a three phase process. In the first phase, while in its primordial metaphysical state the soul lacks perfection. In order to transcend to a higher degree of perfection it must enter and subsequently live a sacred life in a physical body. Upon completion of the second phase of its mission the soul is separated through death from the constraints of the physical body and elevated to an even higher level than it previously possessed. The final stage of the soul's completion is realized when the upgraded soul is united with other souls with whom it interacted during the courses of its worldly existence and by virtue of such realize higher levels of perfection.
The Talmud conveys this lesson in Bava Metziah 62b. Rava was one of the greatest sages in the Talmud. He was also a great advocate for the previously deceased Rebbi Osheyah, one of the foremost scholars of the period of the Mishna. Whenever Rebbi Osheyah's statements seemed to contradict the Mishna, Rava would apply himself to reconcile his words so as not to come in conflict with the authoritative rulings of the Mishna. If not for Rava's diligent efforts in his defense Rebbi Osheyah's teachings would have been relegated to secondary importance and been stripped of much of their veracity in subsequent arguments of Talmudic law. In recognition of his tireless efforts Rava proclaimed that upon his own death Rebbi Osheyah would be there to greet him as he enters the next world.
Rav Meir Simcha explains that Rebbi Osheyah's greeting of Rava was not a mere gesture of gratitude but a unification of Rava's soul with Rebbi Osheyah's. Rava's brilliant Talmudic mind was further honed and polished as a result of his efforts to reconcile the opinions of Rebbi Osheyah. Rebbi Osheyah's teachings served as a catalyst to bring Rava to even higher levels of Torah erudition. Rebbi Osheyah too was dependent upon Rava to bring his own teachings in concurrence with the Mishna. Rava and Rebbi Osheyah's souls were intrinsically linked, similar to Avraham and Sarah whose souls were bound and dependent upon each other for their own perfection. While in this world Rava's intellectual toil to understand Rebbi Osheyah's wisdom created a bond between them on a spiritual level. By virtue of this their souls were united in the next world, elevating both of them to a new state of spiritual grandeur.
The people we meet and interact with in our lifetimes should not be taken for granted; they are extremely important. Although we are incapable of recognizing it in this world, our own eternity may be dependent upon, and intrinsically bound to the souls of: parents, spouses, friends, colleagues, etc. who are such important parts of our lives.