And so, we stand here today, looking out into the future – if we have the courage to do so – and we see darkness and terror ahead of us and around us. We imagine unbearable pain and chaos beyond comprehension. The words of the Tochecha come to mind: “You will go mad from the sight of your eyes ….”
Many people today are nervous, tense, worried by the future and all the things that could and might go wrong, all the pressures of life, all the worries that could possibly be.
And there is – we have discussed it – plenty to worry about.
Why should we feel such stress and have no ability to deal with it? Should we not be calm and full of confidence in Hashem’s protection? Does Dovid ha Melech not say, “Whoever sits in the refuge of the Most High, he shall dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of Hashem, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress. My Hashem, I will trust in Him,’ that He will deliver you from the ensnaring trap and from devastating pestilence. With His pinion He will cover you and beneath His wings you will be protected ….”
Why do we not feel calm and protected?
That in itself is a source of anxiety.
Our ideal is the following: “You shall be wholehearted with Hashem,” which Rashi understands to mean: “Look ahead to Him and do not delve into the future. But rather, whatever comes upon you, accept with wholeheartedness and then you will be with Him and of His portion.”
“Perhaps you shall say in your heart, ‘These nations are more numerous than I. How will I be able to drive them out?’ Do not fear them! You shall remember what Hashem your G-d did to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt. The great tests that your eyes saw and the signs, the wonders, the strong hand and the outstretched arm with which Hashem your G-d took you out, so shall Hashem your G-d do to all the peoples before whom you fear.”
“It will be when all these thing come upon you — the blessing and the curse that I have presented before you – then you will take it to your heart among all the nations where Hashem your G-d has dispersed you, and you will return unto Hashem, your G-d, and listen to His voice, according to everything that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and all your soul. Then Hashem, your G-d, will bring back your captivity and have mercy upon you, and He will gather you in from all the peoples to which Hashem, your G-d, has scattered you. If your dispersal will be at the ends of heaven, from there Hashem, your G-d, will gather you in and from there He will take you. Hashem, your G-d, will bring you to the Land that your forefathers possessed and you shall possess it. He will do good to you and make you more numerous than your forefathers. Hashem, your G-d, will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love Hashem, your G-d, with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”
Being “wholehearted with Hashem” is not a frill. Unless one has this connection with Hashem one will not be able to steady himself when the whirlwind comes. We must find an anchor in the storm and not fall apart. We must hold on to the rope. “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid and do not be broken before them, for Hashem, your G-d, it is He Who goes before you. He will not release you, nor will He forsake you.”
How do we get there?
When our teacher Moshe Rabbeinu first came to Egypt to liberate the Children of Israel from slavery, they were unable to listen to him. Why? Because they were panicked. They were trembling from mental and physical enslavement, subjection to control by outside forces which were every moment trying to tear them away from their connection with the Ruler of the Universe, Who was calling to them through Moshe. But they could not hear Moshe because they were so panicked.
It says in the Torah, “Moshe spoke … to the Children of Israel, but they did not heed Moshe because of shortness of breath and hard work.”
Moshe, the greatest teacher in Israel and the greatest person who ever lived, was speaking to our ancestors and they did not hear him.
Why? The Torah calls it “shortness of breath and hard work.”
One can suffer from physical symptoms of panic which prevent one from dealing with one’s situation and understanding what is going on. In the midst of deep Golus, our souls are under such stress that words of Torah are not reaching us and we do not know where to find Hashem, just as in the days of the Egyptian Exile.
Many of us never stop to breathe. This may sound foolish, but it is true. From childhood we race through life, never stopping for breath.
Hashem wants us to remember Torah constantly.
“Let these matters that I command you today be upon your heart. Teach them thoroughly to your children and speak of them while you sit in your home, while you walk on the way, when you retire and you arise. Bind them as a sign upon your arm and let them be tefillin between your eyes. And write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.”
There is virtually no moment, except while we are sleeping, when we are not supposed to keep Torah in front of us. It should be our constant occupation. “This book of the Torah shall not depart from your mouth, rather you should contemplate it day and night in order that you observe to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way successful and you will act wisely.”
We are commanded to look at the tzitzis “so that you may see it and remember all the commandments of Hashem and perform them, and not explore after your heart and after your eyes after which you stray.”
But what if we are under so much stress that we are unable to focus?
Learning Torah and performing mitzvos cures everything, but we are blocked from a proper performance of the mitzvos and learning Torah by pressures emanating from the culture in which we are living. Torah concepts are extremely difficult to acquire if one is steeped in the outside culture. Personally, I had to learn to slow myself down physically by remembering to breathe. I had to learn to breathe deeply.
I found that, when I remembered to breathe
•I was able to concentrate better when I said a blessing.
•I was able to concentrate better when learning Torah.
•I was able to control my emotions better.
•I was able to calm anger and feelings of hatred.
•I was able to control obsession with food.
•I was able to overcome fear.
When I remembered to breathe, my body was controlling me less and I was controlling my body more. This exercise had an effect on my entire system.
The Rambam writes about anger that it is “a terrible trait, and a person must distance himself until the extreme and teach himself not to become angry even when called for.”
“Even when called for!” This is indeed a madreiga!
How does one fulfill this prescription? How does one learn to forgive another Jew? How does one control anger? I find this almost impossible to fulfill. But we are asking Hashem to make us this way, to do the “impossible” with us just as He has done with every Jew and the entire Jewish nation up to now throughout history.
How does one control anger? I have found that stopping to breathe enables me to exert some control over negative emotions like anger.
Torah study expands your brain beyond what you believed possible.
You are sure that you cannot understand something in the Gemora. It is “impossible” to understand. Torah is, after all, Hashem’s “way of thinking,” which is by definition infinitely beyond us. But then you work to understand, and Hashem changes the nature of your intellect so that it “gets bigger,” and you can begin to understand something you thought was totally beyond you.
How do we deal with the “impossible” challenges of modern life?
We need strategies.
The desires of the physical body represent a huge stumbling block for us. All sin began in Gan Eden when Chava wanted to taste a fruit which was forbidden to her. She gave in, and that is where all the troubles and tragedies of history started.
Have you ever studied Tefillah Zakah, which we say before Kol Nidre on Yom Kippur? It is the most graphic prayer I have ever seen. I am shocked every year when I read this courageous prayer by an exalted rabbi who is not afraid to describe the tremendous power of physical obsession. As the Torah tells us, at the beginning of history, in the days of Noach, “Hashem saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every product of the thoughts of his heart was but evil always.” This is mankind and this is how our heart becomes focused on our bodily cravings and emotions and pulls us with tremendous force toward a lifestyle which is not based on following the Torah of our Creator.
It all began with a desire to eat a certain food!
Following the desires of the body is what leads us downward toward the depths of destruction. Today our entire world is close to extinction because we are focused on satisfying the cravings and desires of our physical beings.
I realized that I was becoming very tired from eating. The more I ate the more tired I was becoming, and I felt I needed to be wide awake. I started to eat less, so I could think more clearly. It was not a diet; it was an effort to accomplish as much as possible. I became aware that I am no longer a teenager and my time is limited. Not only that: when I think about the state of the world, I realize it is urgent to act before it is too late. I decided to eat less in order to accomplish more. I don’t do this as much as I should, but I am having some success, and it works, because digestion takes physical energy and one can become tired from eating.
Once we become aware of how focused we are on satisfying the desires of the body we can try to wean ourselves from our obsession and focus on how we can improve our ways of serving Hashem, asking him to save us as the world turns upside down.
I kept thinking of the past, happy thoughts of good things, pleasant memories of years and times gone by, people – like my parents – who are no longer here and who represented a lifestyle that is very different from today’s lifestyle, even though we are talking about only a span of a few years. But Shlomo ha Melech told us, “Do not say, “’How was it that former times were better than these?’ for that is not a question prompted by wisdom.”
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