Parshah Matot Masei
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
We are fast approaching the supreme holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and the holiday of Sukkot is not far in the distance. These are times of great revelation of the Light and need great preparation so that one may become a proper vessel for the revelation of this great Light. We have been given the month of Tammuz and quickly approaching the month of Av, which precedes the month of Elul. This is the month wherein the Light can be given to anyone who wants to know and be one with the Kavod. HaShem in Elul gives every one extra sustenance; however, before Elul we have Av. This is the time of destruction of both Temples, the time of national mourning. This reveals a certain part of the heart. The sages say only those who mourn the loss of the Temple will be those who will rejoice when it will be rebuilt. By contemplating this we can come to realize as the sages say “one who has not seen the ceremony during sukkot where water is poured up the alter has never seen joy in his life”
Our parsha starts out discussing vows- sincere commitments one makes to HaShem. Our lives should be a sincere commitment to his will. If we follow His will we will become holy. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov teaches that through emunah (faith) one achieves the level of sechel (intellect). It is according to one’s Da’at (knowledge that connects the mind to the heart), which is “penimi” (an internal aspect) in the sefirot that there is a “segulah” (miraculous power) to unite with Divine will and Light. By this we can accomplish anything. But to reach this power we have to unite with the Divine will which gives us power over all in this world. In order to yield to the Divine will one must learn a lot. One must go through many netivot (pathways of spiritual development). The netivot are the pathways of rectification and their archetypal representation is on the schema of the Sefirot between each Sefirah. By traversing these netivot one corrects their desires and raises their consciousness to greater levels of reality.
By these pathways that we each face in our own lives which represent our “tikun”(fixing) we may enter a Divine state of consciousness called “Yisrael” (Israel is a state of spiritual development). In these journeys we face many tests, these come to refine us. By this we may merit to not only have the consciousness called “Yisrael”, but to actually enter the Holy land and connect to the Infinite quality of the Light that is always dwelling upon the Land. It is a quality like Shabbat which is manifest by the Divine name of (42) מ”ב of the world of Beriyah as explained in the books concerning the meditations of the Shabbat. It is on Shabbat in Eretz Yisrael that the Light is revealed more than any other place on Earth. In Eretz Yisrael Light is revealed more because the garments of the supernal vessels which contain the Light are more refined in Assiyah (the physical world) as their bodies are more sanctified in mitzvot (which are tikkunim) than if dwelling outside the land. As Eretz Yisrael itself is as a “mikvah” (ritual bath) completely surrounding the inhabitant of the land. “Eretz” (land) is related to “ratzon” (will), receiving the yolk of heaven is the spiritual aspect of Eretz Yisrael. Those who walk in the ways of “avoda zara” (opposite of Divine Will) do not follow Derech HaShem (Way of the Creator) and the Light will not rest in their hearts. By walking in avodah zara we can become defiled and separated from the Light and in need of cleansing. This cleansing is relative in degrees as we see in the parsha. With a sincere commitment for the sake of Derekh HaShem we can avoid much of the worst kind of defilement. The defilement that we are concerned with here is defilement of our sechel (intellect). As this can cloud over our understanding and shake our sincere commitment to Divine service in fulfilling the will of the Creator.
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