Chasidut su Isaia 61:63
Kedushat Levi
It is also significant that the Torah describes Aaron as descending from the altar on which the sin offering, the total offering and the peace offering had been presented, whereas when reporting Moses and Aaron “leaving” before blessing the people, the Torah does not mention what they had been doing inside the Tabernacle before leaving it.
Before answering our question it is necessary to explain a Mishnah in Avot 2,1 in which the author of the tractate Rabbi Yehudah hanassi answers his rhetorical question: “what is the correct course in life that a person must walk?” (how must he organize his daily life), The Rabbi answered: כל שהיא תפארת לעושיה ותפארת לו מן האדם, “he should only do what reflects credit (distinction) upon himself who adopts it as well as confers credit upon himself in the eyes of other people.”
We know from psalms 135,4 that the Jewish people achieved great distinction when we read כי יעקב בחר לו קה ישראל לסגולתו, “for G’d chose Yaakov for Himself, Israel as His treasured possession.” We also know how highly esteemed are the righteous in His eyes who make it their primary concern to serve Him with a sincere heart, so that in the parlance of our sages they are considered as exercising a dominating influence on G’d Himself, as we know from Moed Katan 16 where the Talmud views the source of the righteous dominating influence on G’d as his very fear and awe of G’d. This position of the Jewish people, collectively, is perceived as a higher rank in the celestial regions than that accorded to the angels, and this is why the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 61,10) was able to say שוש אשיש בה', “I greatly rejoice in the Lord,” seeing that Solomon had said in Proverbs 10.1 בן חכם ישמח אב, “a wise son provides his father with joy,” and we, the Jewish people, have been called G’d’s children in Deuteronomy 14,1 where the Torah writes: בנים אתם לה' אלוקיכם, “you are the children of the Lord your G’d.” From this it follows that the righteous child (son) who serves His Father sincerely and meticulously provides G’d with true pleasure.
Let us describe our relationship to G’d in terms of a parable of a father who has a son and this son is so perfect that he does not lack for anything, seeing that his father is blessed with unlimited material wealth and the son provides his father with constant pleasure as he watches his development to manhood. In other words, the father is completely happy. G’d in His capacity of being our “father,” is in a similar position when we serve Him as He deserves to be served, seeing that our obedience and love are the only assets in the universe over which He did not exercise absolute control from the moment they came into existence. Similarly, there is no greater satisfaction for the son than to serve his father lovingly as he is aware that this is the only gift that his father could not have given himself. This is why the prophet Isaiah chose the expression שוש אשיש, “I will rejoice and cause joy”, (אשיש, in the causative mode) emphasizing the reciprocal relationship between us and our father in heaven. Isaiah describes the great joy the Jewish people feel for being privileged to provide this feeling of satisfaction that G’d has when one or more of His free-willed creatures relates to Him in this way. Thousands of angels that obediently carry out G’d’s orders cannot provide Him with a similar feeling of joy, as the angels have not been equipped with a freedom of will, and have to do His bidding regardless of feeling so inclined or not.
G’d Himself has stated in Genesis 8,21 that man is exposed to evil urges from the day he is born, כי יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו, and that the evil urge lies in wait for him before he sets foot outside his home, לפתח חטאת רובץ, so that He certainly makes allowance for this when comparing man serving Him with the angels serving Him. He, as man’s Creator, is familiar with the obstacles man has to overcome in order to become not only a loyal servant of His, but one who is overjoyed to have been granted the privilege to demonstrate this. Man’s greatest achievement is to humble the evil urge [or better, the urge predisposed to lead man into becoming evil, as being G’d’s creature this urge cannot be evil per se. Ed.]
Before answering our question it is necessary to explain a Mishnah in Avot 2,1 in which the author of the tractate Rabbi Yehudah hanassi answers his rhetorical question: “what is the correct course in life that a person must walk?” (how must he organize his daily life), The Rabbi answered: כל שהיא תפארת לעושיה ותפארת לו מן האדם, “he should only do what reflects credit (distinction) upon himself who adopts it as well as confers credit upon himself in the eyes of other people.”
We know from psalms 135,4 that the Jewish people achieved great distinction when we read כי יעקב בחר לו קה ישראל לסגולתו, “for G’d chose Yaakov for Himself, Israel as His treasured possession.” We also know how highly esteemed are the righteous in His eyes who make it their primary concern to serve Him with a sincere heart, so that in the parlance of our sages they are considered as exercising a dominating influence on G’d Himself, as we know from Moed Katan 16 where the Talmud views the source of the righteous dominating influence on G’d as his very fear and awe of G’d. This position of the Jewish people, collectively, is perceived as a higher rank in the celestial regions than that accorded to the angels, and this is why the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 61,10) was able to say שוש אשיש בה', “I greatly rejoice in the Lord,” seeing that Solomon had said in Proverbs 10.1 בן חכם ישמח אב, “a wise son provides his father with joy,” and we, the Jewish people, have been called G’d’s children in Deuteronomy 14,1 where the Torah writes: בנים אתם לה' אלוקיכם, “you are the children of the Lord your G’d.” From this it follows that the righteous child (son) who serves His Father sincerely and meticulously provides G’d with true pleasure.
Let us describe our relationship to G’d in terms of a parable of a father who has a son and this son is so perfect that he does not lack for anything, seeing that his father is blessed with unlimited material wealth and the son provides his father with constant pleasure as he watches his development to manhood. In other words, the father is completely happy. G’d in His capacity of being our “father,” is in a similar position when we serve Him as He deserves to be served, seeing that our obedience and love are the only assets in the universe over which He did not exercise absolute control from the moment they came into existence. Similarly, there is no greater satisfaction for the son than to serve his father lovingly as he is aware that this is the only gift that his father could not have given himself. This is why the prophet Isaiah chose the expression שוש אשיש, “I will rejoice and cause joy”, (אשיש, in the causative mode) emphasizing the reciprocal relationship between us and our father in heaven. Isaiah describes the great joy the Jewish people feel for being privileged to provide this feeling of satisfaction that G’d has when one or more of His free-willed creatures relates to Him in this way. Thousands of angels that obediently carry out G’d’s orders cannot provide Him with a similar feeling of joy, as the angels have not been equipped with a freedom of will, and have to do His bidding regardless of feeling so inclined or not.
G’d Himself has stated in Genesis 8,21 that man is exposed to evil urges from the day he is born, כי יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו, and that the evil urge lies in wait for him before he sets foot outside his home, לפתח חטאת רובץ, so that He certainly makes allowance for this when comparing man serving Him with the angels serving Him. He, as man’s Creator, is familiar with the obstacles man has to overcome in order to become not only a loyal servant of His, but one who is overjoyed to have been granted the privilege to demonstrate this. Man’s greatest achievement is to humble the evil urge [or better, the urge predisposed to lead man into becoming evil, as being G’d’s creature this urge cannot be evil per se. Ed.]
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Kedushat Levi
It is also possible to understand Leviticus 4,27 in a similar sense where the Torah describes the commission of a sin in a peculiar way by writing: נפש כי תחטא....בעשותה אחת ממצות ה' אשר לא תעשינה, “when a person commits a sin through performing one of G’d’s commandments which should not be performed.” What is meant is that “someone sins by the manner in which he performs a commandment, i.e. giving himself credit for performance, an act of arrogance.” In other words: we must guard against being smug about our level of service to the Lord. It is described as: ואשם, he became guilty.We can also say that this is what our sages had in mind in Sukkah 30 where they derived the rejection of someone’s offering on the altar, the presentation of which was possible only through the prior commission of a sin, from a verse in Isaiah 61,8 the prophet saying that G’d hates a burnt offering which was offered as a result of the donor having first stolen the animal offered, i.e. כי אני ה' אוהב משפט שונא גזל בעולה, “for I, the Lord Who loves justice, hates robbery with a burnt offering.”
Our author understands the concept of מצוה הבאה בעברה, “performance of one of G’d’s commandments at the cost of committing a sin,” as the “sin” consisting of the smugness of the party concerned about the other commandments he has already performed. Such smugness, i.e. spiritual arrogance, is considered sinful. He considers the verse from Isaiah 61,8 that we quoted above as referring to this kind of sin. Any Jew who considers himself a יש, “a somebody,” as a result of his having performed commandments instead of his having acquired a more profound sense of humility, has failed to absorb basic lessons of Judaism. He forgets or forgot that even the strength, physical and moral, to perform these commandments was something granted to us by the Creator; it is not something “homegrown.”
Our author understands the concept of מצוה הבאה בעברה, “performance of one of G’d’s commandments at the cost of committing a sin,” as the “sin” consisting of the smugness of the party concerned about the other commandments he has already performed. Such smugness, i.e. spiritual arrogance, is considered sinful. He considers the verse from Isaiah 61,8 that we quoted above as referring to this kind of sin. Any Jew who considers himself a יש, “a somebody,” as a result of his having performed commandments instead of his having acquired a more profound sense of humility, has failed to absorb basic lessons of Judaism. He forgets or forgot that even the strength, physical and moral, to perform these commandments was something granted to us by the Creator; it is not something “homegrown.”
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Hakhsharat HaAvrekhim
The third modality takes effect at every other time, not during times devoted to Torah or prayer, and not at times of a cheshbon nefesh. Then you are well to being subdued and humble as the dust, but nonetheless joyous, with strength of resolve and confidence. Know that you have many failings and think about how to fix them. Put your trust in God, since you are serving Him with all of your strength, and there are many times that you are immersed in teshuvah and avodah with maximum effort. This being so, in the merit of the Patriarchs and the Tsaddikim God will be merciful and gracious with you, bringing you close both now and in the future. One of the wonders of the Baal Shem Tov and his students, and his student’s students, is the novel concept that two divergent middos could be won by the heart that yearns for them – humility and meekness, together with confidence and joy, meaning true simchah, , “I shall greatly rejoice in God, my soul shall be joyful in Hashem.”304Yeshayahu, 61:10 Hashem is God, and you, Yisrael, are His son, His loved one, and His servant. Your deficiencies are not like the deficiencies of crude men, despicable rouges who might as well be rolling around in the garbage, but are like the deficiencies of the son of the king, where no matter what faults he has or mistakes he has made, he is still the son of the king. And when he only picks himself up and puts all of his heart and soul into serving his father, then to whom can he be compared and who can measure his awesome heights? When the prince gives himself over to the serving and honoring his father, then the intensity of his closeness and cleaving to his father the King is without end and without measure.
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Kedushat Levi
We need to understand the reason why the song of thanksgiving, sung (composed) by Moses on this occasion is called שירה in the feminine mode, whereas a similar song that will be composed after the final redemption by the Messiah is always referred to in the masculine mode, i.e. שיר. According to Sh’mot Rabbah 23,11 the reason is that the song of thanksgiving in the future will have been evoked exclusively from feelings of joy by those who have been redeemed, whereas any thanksgiving song prior to that will have come about at least in part by G’d having had to invoke miracles in order for some of the people to learn to fully acknowledge Him.
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Kedushat Levi
A third approach to Asher‘s blessing: The author quotes his sainted teacher, Rabbi Dov Baer from Mezeritsch, as explaining to him Isaiah 61,10 שוש אשיש בה תגל נפשי באלוקי', normally translated as “I greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being exults in my G’d,” as meaning that the prophet proclaims that he rejoices over having been privileged to experience visions of Hashem, and to have been chosen to serve Him in a way that only few people have been privileged to do.
Our author proceeds to apply this thought to Yaakov’s saying about Asher that מאשר שמנה לחמו, “Asher will be a terrestrial example of well being that will serve as inspiration for the well being expected to be experienced by people serving the Lord.” People will appreciate that the very fact that they are allowed to serve the Lord is reason to be filled with joy and ecstasy.
Our author proceeds to apply this thought to Yaakov’s saying about Asher that מאשר שמנה לחמו, “Asher will be a terrestrial example of well being that will serve as inspiration for the well being expected to be experienced by people serving the Lord.” People will appreciate that the very fact that they are allowed to serve the Lord is reason to be filled with joy and ecstasy.
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