Abraham Joshua Heschel, Who is Man, p. 107
Over and above personal problems, there is an objective challenge to overcome inequity, injustice, helplessness, suffering, carelessness, oppression. Over and above the din of desires there is a calling, a demanding, a waiting, an expectation. There is a question that follows me wherever I turn. What is expected of me? What is demanded of me?
What we encounter is not only flowers and stars, mountains and walls. Over and above all things is a sublime expectation, a waiting for. With every child born a new expectation enters the world.
This is the most important experience in the life of every human being: something is asked of me. Every human being has had a moment in which he sensed a mysterious waiting for him. Meaning is found in responding to the demand, meaning is found in sensing the demand.
R. Shalom Noah Berezovsky (1911-2000), Netivot Shalom, Awareness ch. 6
In the holy book “Yesod Ha-Avodah” (vol. 4 chapter 1) the author quotes Arizal as follows: “Since the creation of the world every day and every single moment is utterly unique, every person is utterly unique, and no-one has the capacity to repair what his fellow repairs… This idea is crucial; one needs to discern what it is that Hashem requires of him—of him in particular. What are the ways open for him to come close to Hashem according to the root of his soul, according to his qualities, according to the day, and the period of history in which he lives? One who lacks this clarity of personal mission is like someone who wanders aimlessly in the streets, not knowing where he wants to go.
This clarity is necessary for all aspects of one’s service—for knowing one’s mission in general, for matters concerning one’s nature and character, and for knowing one’s obligation in every situation. It safeguards him in all his decisions; he confidently maintains a course that ascends to the house of God.
The first matter he needs to reflect deeply upon is his special mission in the world. Why has his soul come in to the world? The key to detecting his mission is that it is connected to his own root of wormwood and gall, that is the particular area in his personality that causes him the greatest difficulties and brings out the worst in him. The tzaddikim have said that his mission on earth is to correct precisely that area, and it is a mission that requires nothing short of total dedication. When it becomes clear to a person that his soul has descended for the purpose of rectifying this particular trait—that this is his mission on earth—no sacrifice is too dear for him. He will not let himself be deterred or distracted from expending every effort toward the fulfillment of his life’s mission.
The same idea applies concerning one’s strengths. One needs to discern the special talents with which Hashem has bestowed him and through which he is given the opportunity to draw closer to Hashem. For God created this corresponding to that. In the same way that one has a particular negative trait, one also has a particular strength through which he can successfully ascend spiritually...If someone is blessed with an exceptional talent in Torah, it is a sign that his mission is to succeed in Torah; if someone loves to be generous, it is a sign that this area is connected to the root of his soul.
… It is vitally important that one recognize the age one lives in, and what its special significance is. This is what is meant by the verse (Deuteronomy 32) Understand the years of the generations, and, as we wrote earlier, quoting the Arizal, every day is different and every epoch in history carries with it a unique mission.
In light of this we are obligated to reflect deeply on the era we live in. What is our special mission? We live in astonishing times. Our age began with a holocaust the likes of which we have never known as a people—wiping out all the faithful Jewish communities of Europe. Yet we did not fall into complete despair. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzatto writes (in his book KeLaCH Pitchei Chochmah) that a draught is followed by rains of abundant blessing. Similarly, after a period of terrible concealment we have experienced a great influx of divine benevolence and compassion, though we cannot understand how any recovery is possible after such destruction.
… Much is required of us. Though we do not fully understand it, we intuit that we live in a very great time of history. We need to recognize the importance of our mission, our obligation, and our task in this generation—we need to utilize what has been given to us—so that we not despise the King’s gift, God forbid.
… This generation calls us to great things. Rabbi Moshe of Kobrin commented on the saying The day is vast. It’s not a time for gathering cattle. “The great and awesome day is approaching. This is not a time to gather up “cattle” and worldly possessions.”
Toni Morrison, The Handy English Grammar Answer Book
If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.
Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl (1763 - 1797)
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This is the “torah” of man: When a person dies in a tent … (Num 19:14) As the sages said: “Torah continues to exist only because of those who labor all the time over it.” It is known that there are 600,000 thousand letters in the Torah, parallel to the 600,000 soul roots [in Israel]. Even though the number of Jews is greater, their essence lies in this number; the rest result in the subdivision of the sparks. |
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Each one of Israel has a particular letter of the Torah. But Torah and God are one; this then refers to the part of God within the person. That is the precise letter in which that soul is rooted. From that letter, the bounteous and holy flow of life energy comes into the person. |
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We need to note that the letter dwells in the person’s mouth. Since each letter contains the entire Torah, all of Torah is present in each person’s mouth. |
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Regarding a Torah scroll, if a single letter is missing it is considered unfit and is not regarded as Torah. Each letter is considered [a vital part of] Torah as they are all joined together. The entire service of YHVH depends on this, each person drawing close to his own [inner] root, comprising the whole Torah, all 613 mitzvot. The person too is made up of 248 limbs and 365 sinews, as is known. Just as a Torah scroll that lacks one letter is unfit, so too our sages taught that “Whoever destroys one soul of Israel is as though he had destroyed the entire world, and whoever sustains a single soul is like one who sustained the entire world.” That is why we recite before each prayer service: “I hereby accept upon myself the positive commandment to love my neighbor as myself.” We are all an absolute unity, just as the scroll comes to be a Torah only when all the letters are joined together. Even if you see some wickedness in your fellow, you should despise the evil within him, but love the holy part, like your own self. The Besht said that the perfect Tzaddik who has no evil within him does not see evil in any person. If you do not see evil in others, you are like one looking in a mirror. If your face is dirty, you’ll see a dirty face in the mirror; if your own face is clean, nothing amiss will appear in that mirror. As you are, so do you see. That is the meaning of “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Lev 19:18) As yourself means “as you are with yourself.” If you know there is some problem within you, that does not make you hate yourself, just that problem. Be the same with your neighbor since we are all one. Your neighbor too has a part of God within him, a letter of the Torah. |
Divine Love, Human Uniqueness (Rabbi Shai Held, 2020)
R. Isaiah Horowitz (known as the Shelah, 1565-1630) reports a Kabbalistic teaching that the 600,000 Israelites in the desert correspond to the 600,000 letters in the Torah. The souls of the Israelites originated in the letters of the Torah, he writes, and the spirituality of the Torah consists of those souls. All subsequent generations of Jews, he insists, are “branches” of those 600,000 original souls (Shelah, Parashat Korah, “Torah Or”).
We can derive the following simple but powerful implications: If every Jew is a letter in the Torah, then every Jew has a unique Torah to teach, insights into God’s teaching that are unavailable to anyone else.
https://kehillahsynagogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2020-HHD-Reader_Pages_Digital_2-1.pdf
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, To Heal a Fractured World, p. 262
The interesting part of the moral life, the grown-up part, comes not in universals but particulars. It speaks to me, here, now: this person, in this situation, at this time. It knows my name. It calls to me, not to the person next to me. It says: there is an act only you can do, a situation only you can address, a moment that, if not seized, may never come again. God commands in generalities but calls in particulars. He knows our gifts and he knows the needs of the world. That is why we are here. There is an act only we can do, and only at this time, and that is our task. The sum of these tasks is the meaning of our life, the purpose of our existence, the story we are called upon to write.
Rabbi Shalom Berezovsky, Netivot Shalom on Rosh Hashanah, p.108:2
According to the secrets of Creation that are known to the Creator, may He be blessed, every emanation and creation formed and fashioned down to every small detail in Creation, has a function and purpose of their own within the larger general goal of all of Creation. [With respect to each individual part of Creation] If it were not for this specific purpose, it would not have been created…Therefore, in the renewing of Creation on Rosh Hashanah there is a discussion in the Heavens as to whether this and that specific detail are needed for the New Year—if they are fulfilling their specific purpose and function or if they are superfluous and therefore not needed. And this discussion is had concerning every single part of Creation in all of its diversity without end.
R. Shalom Noah Berezovsky (1911-2000), Netivot Shalom, Awareness ch. 6
In the holy book “Yesod Ha-Avodah” (vol. 4 chapter 1) the author quotes Arizal as follows: “Since the creation of the world every day and every single moment is utterly unique, every person is utterly unique, and no-one has the capacity to repair what his fellow repairs… This idea is crucial; one needs to discern what it is that Hashem requires of him—of him in particular. What are the ways open for him to come close to Hashem according to the root of his soul, according to his qualities, according to the day, and the period of history in which he lives? One who lacks this clarity of personal mission is like someone who wanders aimlessly in the streets, not knowing where he wants to go.
This clarity is necessary for all aspects of one’s service—for knowing one’s mission in general, for matters concerning one’s nature and character, and for knowing one’s obligation in every situation. It safeguards him in all his decisions; he confidently maintains a course that ascends to the house of God.
The first matter he needs to reflect deeply upon is his special mission in the world. Why has his soul come in to the world? The key to detecting his mission is that it is connected to his own root of wormwood and gall, that is the particular area in his personality that causes him the greatest difficulties and brings out the worst in him. The tzaddikim have said that his mission on earth is to correct precisely that area, and it is a mission that requires nothing short of total dedication. When it becomes clear to a person that his soul has descended for the purpose of rectifying this particular trait—that this is his mission on earth—no sacrifice is too dear for him. He will not let himself be deterred or distracted from expending every effort toward the fulfillment of his life’s mission.
The same idea applies concerning one’s strengths. One needs to discern the special talents with which Hashem has bestowed him and through which he is given the opportunity to draw closer to Hashem. For God created this corresponding to that. In the same way that one has a particular negative trait, one also has a particular strength through which he can successfully ascend spiritually...If someone is blessed with an exceptional talent in Torah, it is a sign that his mission is to succeed in Torah; if someone loves to be generous, it is a sign that this area is connected to the root of his soul.
… It is vitally important that one recognize the age one lives in, and what its special significance is. This is what is meant by the verse (Deuteronomy 32) Understand the years of the generations, and, as we wrote earlier, quoting the Arizal, every day is different and every epoch in history carries with it a unique mission.
In light of this we are obligated to reflect deeply on the era we live in. What is our special mission? We live in astonishing times. Our age began with a holocaust the likes of which we have never known as a people—wiping out all the faithful Jewish communities of Europe. Yet we did not fall into complete despair. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzatto writes (in his book KeLaCH Pitchei Chochmah) that a draught is followed by rains of abundant blessing. Similarly, after a period of terrible concealment we have experienced a great influx of divine benevolence and compassion, though we cannot understand how any recovery is possible after such destruction.
… Much is required of us. Though we do not fully understand it, we intuit that we live in a very great time of history. We need to recognize the importance of our mission, our obligation, and our task in this generation—we need to utilize what has been given to us—so that we not despise the King’s gift, God forbid.
… This generation calls us to great things. Rabbi Moshe of Kobrin commented on the saying The day is vast. It’s not a time for gathering cattle. “The great and awesome day is approaching. This is not a time to gather up “cattle” and worldly possessions.”
Sefat Emet: Teztaveh 2
In the Midrash: "You command"... "Adonai named you verdant olive tree, fair, with choice fruit" (Jer. 11:16). There is a hidden point within the souls of Israel, of which Scripture says: "If you seek it as you do silver and search for it as for treasures..." (Prov.2:4). This inwardness reveals itself as a result of great effort, a struggle of the soul and the body, to purify the physical. Thus we are like the verdant olive tree: what an effort it is to bring forth that oil!
Now Scripture also says: "For a commandment is a candle and Torah is light, and the way to life is the rebuke that disciplines" (Prov. 6:23). The souls of Israel are the wicks that draw the oil after the light. Thus we read: "Let them take olive oil unto you" (Ex. 27:20)--drawn toward the wick. The mitzvot are the lamps, vessels in which oil and wick are joined to the light.
All these elements exist within every person, just as they exist within Israel as a whole. The Midrash here also quotes: "From them shall come cornerstones, from them tent-pegs" (Zech 10:4). God made humans upright, bearing within themselves the perfect totality (shleimut) of all creatures, from the deepest depths to the greatest heights. Aaron the priest was chosen to serve God; this was for the sake of Israel, for after the sin they contained a mixture of good and evil. The Blessed Holy One's counsel was to choose one person in each generation to represent purity, through whom purity would flow to all of Israel.
You can do the same. Set aside one quality, or one special mitzvah, about which you take fabulous care. Through this you will be able to draw light and redemption to all your qualities. "From them shall come tent-pegs"--the choosing of Aaron set firm grounding for Israel's tent. The blessed Holy One raised him up, removed him from all evil. It was through this [uplifted on] that Israel were always able to return, to cleave again to their blessed creator.
Arthur Green's Commentary on Sefat Emet, Exodus, Tetzaveh 2
The metaphor of the olive tree also contains an unspoken understanding that is only through the pain of divine rebuke--the pressing of the oil--that its fine oil is drawn forth. Israel is made pure by its suffering, drawn after the wick that makes its fire burn.
As God appoints a leader for the people, so may you also appoint a "leader" within your own religious life. The mitzvah or quality that you choose to make your own in this special way will become a mirror to your soul. Choose it wisely--or let it choose you.
Do you think personal growth requires pain or discomfort? Why or why not?
What are some character traits that you value in yourself?
What traits do you value in others?