Musar for Deuteronomy 7:7

ותדבק נפשו בדינה . We find a statement in Bereshit Rabbah 80,7, that three expressions are used to describe G–d's love or attachment for Israel. The expressions are: דביקה, חשיקה, and חפיצה. The first expression is used in Deut. 4,4; the second expression is used in Deut. 7,7; the last expression is used in Malachi 3,12. The Midrash continues that we learn this lesson from this wicked person Shechem, of whom all these three kinds of feelings for Dinah are reported in 34,3-19 [actually the expression ויאהב is also used for his feelings.] Shechem's attachment to Dinah was of a terrestrial nature, designed to gratify his cravings in this world, and he wanted to achieve realization by means of these three kinds of "love."

They further said (Chulin 89a): "'It was not because you were greater than any people that the L-rd desired in you and chose you' (Devarim 7:7) - the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, 'My sons, I desire you because even when I bestow greatness upon you, you humble yourselves before Me. I bestowed greatness upon Avraham, yet he said to Me, 'I am but dust and ashes' (Gen.18:27); Upon Moses and Aharon, yet they said: 'And we are nothing' (Ex.16:7); upon David, yet he said: 'I am but a worm and no man' (Tehilim 22:7)"

To what is this similar? To a pig-herder who rose to become the king. As long as he remembers his early days, it will be impossible for him to become arrogant. Likewise, when one considers that at the end of all his greatness, he will return to the earth to be food for maggots, all the more so will his pride be submitted and his roaring arrogance quieted. For what is his good and his greatness if his end is shame and dishonor?

And when he contemplates further and pictures in his mind the moment he enters before the great Beit Din of the heavenly host, when he finds himself before the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, who is absolutely pure and holy, in the midst of the assembly of holy ones, mighty servants, strong in power, obeying His word, without any blemish whatsoever, and he stands before them, base, lowly, and petty in and of himself, defiled and polluted due to his deeds. Will he then raise his head? Will he have what to answer? And when they ask him: "where has your mouth gone? Where is the pride and honor which you assumed in your world?"

The Mishnah quoted from Avot 4,4 concludes by reminding us that all we have to look forward to in the grave is רימה, i.e. worms. The editor of that Mishnah implies that this is so only when the person in question has not adopted the lifestyle suggested by the author of the Mishnah, and has instead adopted a high profile, i.e. רמה קרנו. In other words: Employing the wrong vowel in this world results in the wrong vowel becoming your destiny after death.

We have explained earlier that man is the imprint of the Torah, [much as Torah is the imprint of G–d]. When we speak about "Torah" within this framework, we predominantly mean the revealed Torah, referred to by the Torah's statement והנגלות לנו ולבנינו. The בני העליה, of whom there are but a few, are the ones referred to in the Torah as כי אתם המעט, "For there are very few of you." (Deut. 7,7). This is why G–d deals with those few on a different basis i.e. that of the attribute of Justice, seeing that the root of their souls is in the domain of the תורה הקדומה, the Torah that had preceded Creation by two thousand years.

Sanctification of the body, i.e. refining the body is a preliminary for attaining sanctity of the spirit, for coming close to G–d. This is achieved through separating oneself from physically pleasurable experiences even when these are permissible, as we know from the statement of our sages קדש עצמך במותר לך, "if you wish to sanctify yourself do it by refraining from that which is permissible" (Yevamot 20). There are different kinds of "holiness;" all of them refine the body, prevent it from being something gross, and enable the person who is so sanctified to achieve mastery of mind over matter. When carried to the maximum extent possible, the body becomes an insignificant part of the total personality. When the Torah (Deut. 7,7) describes the reason G–d liked the Jewish people as כי אתם המעט מכל העמים "For you are the smallest of all the nations," the word המעט refers to the relative insignificance of the body of the Jew when compared to his mind, his soul. This is also the reason Amos 7,2 describes Jacob as קטן, small. Compared to Esau the part the body plays in Jacob's total personality is insignificant, small. When Esau first emerged from his mother's womb, his body was full of the pollutants of the original serpent. By that time this pollutant had left the body of Rebeccah and Jacob emerged; he was predominantly spiritual and only marginally tainted with the remaining pollutant. The impurity of the menstruating woman is none other than the residual pollutant first absorbed by Eve when the serpent mated with her. Esau's being אדמוני, reddish looking, is a reflection of the quantity of the blood of menstruation. The liver is all blood. Pursuing one's physical desires, giving in to the "fire" of one's passions originates in the liver. "Fire" is synonymous with destruction. The reason such an unrefined person cannot come close to G–d is that the state of his body makes his contact with fire an experience that consumes him rather than one which "warms" him.