25 Iyar 5768 – Parshas Bamidbar 30 May 2008

Yechezkel Perokim 25 – 31

Hi, this week I have decided to take a different look on things as we read over this weeks chapters we learn that the destruction is coming and how is going to be done.

A question that I have be thinking about all week is, the person who is coming to destroy the temple what type of person would he be. He is clearly a messenger of Hashem and what he is doing needs to be, therefore perhaps he has lost free will, in a similar way to what happened in Egypt? Or perhaps the person has complete free will and is just simply an evil person. What type of personality would he be? Is he strong or weak? I think that these questions help us understand who these people are.

So if we take a number of different quotes from Chazal about who Nebuchanezter was, perhaps things might be slightly clearer and we can try to understand why he was chosen to destroy the House of God, and leave the Jewish people destroyed and desolate.

Chazal offer a number of different comments, I have only chosen a few and I am aware that some contradict at first glance. These are quotes which interested me and helped me to understand a little more about Nebuchanezter.

The man that truly ruled the whole known world of the time, he was, "haughty and a short person, during his travel he would be greeted by people, who would comment and snicker to each other, 'what a short person who rules the complete world.’” Please be clear that I have nothing against short people, some of my best friends are short people! Anyway, to try and get a visual picture of this man, perhaps picture him like Napoleon who was also short. Nebuchanezter was not this six-foot well built man, he was short and was had a peasant up bringing. He was neither from a noble household, nor brought up educated; he was a fighter, a man who came from nowhere, just like Haman.

We are also told that he would serve the sun as a god, a thought that seems so strange. But a man who has conquered the whole world and travels throughout his kingdom has nothing that remains constant in his world, can only relate to the sun, but even that disappears.

Just to focus on this for a brief moment. When we travel a Jews there are two main thoughts that we are worried about; where will we daven and where will we eat (not sure what order)? To travel to another city or country, the travelling can be a lonely time. I was alone travelling to my sister who lives in Melbourne and on the flight from London which takes about 24 hours, I had to daven Shachris. The intense feeling of being lonely on a plane of some 400 plus people but yet I found comfort when I put my tefilin on and davened. This really made an imprint on me and I think that it is the real feeling of being a Jew that no matter were we are or when it is we can turn to Hashem and feel that closeness. This feeling ensures that we never need to turn to the sun claiming that it is the only thing we can always turn to no matter where we are in the world.

However, one of the most interesting quotes from Chazal about Nebuchanezter is that "while Nebuchanezter was alive no laughed." Now I am not sure if this quote is meant to be taken for real that during the life span of Nebuchanezter, no laughed. Or perhaps it is describing a state of the peoples mind.

The obvious place to look for a description of laughter is with Avraham and Sarah when they are told in Lech L'cha that they are to have a child. The laughter of Avraham is one of uncontrollable happiness while Sarah is slightly cynical of the proposal. To laugh is to express ones inner most feeling and thoughts, any sound that is made which is not in a specific language is the deepest sound of all. The shofar is the sound of a crying baby; it does not matter from where or when in history but the sound remain constant. The same by laughter, to express ones inner most feeling of excitement, breaks all boundaries. So, to say that in the times of Nebuchanezter it was not allowed to express this feeling or perhaps it was not a feeling that one wanted to express opens a window to the assumption that those people did not feel the ability to feel the inner happiness to see the wider picture.

To draw these thoughts together, we must know the enemy and understand where they come from and what they do to the world. I am sure, but can’t prove it, that there must be a link between the effect that the enemy has on the Jewish people/the world and what aspect of Teshuva that the Jewish people need to do. Any ideas please let me know.

So now we have a better understanding of this rashah, we can feel more the build up to the destruction. Please let me know your thoughts. I am interested.

Have a great shabbos,

By Natan Rickman

18 Iyar 5768, Lag B’omer – Parshas Bechukosi 23 May 2008

Yechezkel Perokim 18 – 24

Well, I am back in the most holy City of Jerusalem. Thank you to those who came last week and allowed be to talk, I hope that you might have come away from that with a feeling of having learnt something. I was so excited to see young girls and boys getting together to learn Torah, in a very kodosh way. To see the faces of those who might read the d’var torah also helps me. So a very big THANK YOU and you should all know again that you are all very HOLY PEOPLE.

Let’s go………. There is a method of disciplining that is used in the classroom, where a teacher has three types of students. The first are those who always listen, the second are those who will listen once they have seen the types of punishment that the teacher gives out and then there are also those who even after seeing the punishments that they might encounter if they misbehave, still misbehave.

The Navi in chapter 21 is shown a vision of trees that are consumed by fire and which can not be extinguished. One tree is dry and is ready to be fire wood while the other is fresh and alive. Chazal explain that this is symbolism and that the dry trees are like those with no Torah and no drive towards Hashem and that the fresh trees are those who are full of Torah. Everyone will be punished and destroyed. What is interesting is that of the symbolism of a tree. Of course it seems the obvious option in that it lends itself to a strong image of the contrast between wood that naturally burns easily to that which does not. But perhaps the Navi specifically talks about trees and not wood, because trees understand that going against the Will of Hashem bring punishment.

During the creation of the world each item that is created is given the order by the ‘word’ of Hashem. If one looks at the creation of the trees, chapter one verse eleven, the command was “Let the earth sprout … fruit trees yielding fruit each of its kinds.” And the next verse says, “And trees yielding fruit.” What the ground did to the trees was not what it was directed to do. The command was that the tree itself i.e. the bark, should taste like the fruit of the tree and the whole thing would smell like the fruit. However, what came out of the ground was a type of trees that was have today, bark with smell and only the fruit is edible. Rashi on the possuk says that the ground was punished with Adam after his sin and that the ground grew thorns and weeds.

So we see that it is the tree that understands that to transgress the command of Hashem means punishment. So too here the Navi wants the people to understand that to transgress the Word of Hashem will mean that there will be punishment, however it seems that we never learn. We cannot be like the trees that were able only once to transgress the Will of Hashem.

Chapter 24!!! A story that we all know and cry over almost everyday. The feeling is almost the same as after hearing about the passing of a close friend or mentor. The build up over the last few weeks, all the prophecies about what might happen and how it will be. Jerusalem full of the greatest people of the time where everyone has come hoping that there they will find rest and a safe place from the destruction. But in truth nothing that can be done and Jerusalem will be destroyed with the people being killed and exile will become the new life for the Jewish people.

As we read on, the Navi himself breaks down at the vision and can no longer continue as he has seen what no man should see, the future destruction of what he loves; the people of Israel, the land of Israel and the House of God. But the Navi is not given time to sit and mourn, Hashem tells him that he should be silent and no longer cry. The Navi walks away with the message that it is too late, nothing can be done.

One can almost hear the Navi shouting from the pages in pain. The feeling of wanting to place an arm around the Navi and tell him, that yes this is painful but the people have great potential. But perhaps that is why the Navi is crying, knowing what could have been and seeing what in reality is.

What I have gained from this episode and what we have read has almost made clear the long exile that we are in now. Hashem does not punish us for no reason, we are not left ‘alone’ for no reason. Hashem told the Navi what might happen if we continue in those evil ways. So somehow over the last 2000 years, even without the Navi telling us what is wrong we should have looked and realised what the Navi was telling us. This is our guide book. We need to take these lessons and follow what Hashem want us to do.

So have a great Shabbos and enjoy, carry on with the learning. Again, I offered to those who find themselves in Israel and need a place to eat/sleep or jus chill please give me a call, everyone is always welcome, 054 345 3356.

All the best,

Natan

11 Iyar 5768 – Parshas Behar 16 May 2008

Yechezkel Perokim 10 – 17

Hello, this is my first time writing while I am in London, it is a bit shorter this week, sorry. If I saw you around it was great but if not sorry and maybe next time. I was thinking all week on what to write, I feel that the topic is one to think about. Again it is just my ideas so let me know what you think.......

In Chapter 13 of the Navi there is a strong command from Hashem about the evils and the dangers of the Navi Sheker, that the Navi Sheker does neither represent Hashem, nor His Torah. This idea of a Navi Sheker and the nature and need for there to be a special La’av in the Torah that commands against such a thing is puzzling. Why is being a Navi Sheker any worst than lying? What’s really wrong with it?

OK, I understand that to lie in the name of Hashem is clearly not a good idea, but there is a deeper point that needs to be understood. I am sure that you have dealt with this idea of what a Navi is etc. but let us go back to the Rambam, who really explains why Moshe was the man. So the Rambam explains what the job specs where to be a Navi, for those who have not learned Yesoday HaTorah chapters 7 and 8, it’s a good idea. There is a lot there that really explains what type of person the Navi was.

The Navi is the one who brings the word of Hashem to the people, which at times is good and some times is bad. Now the benefit of a Navi system as apposed to nowadays, is that today no one is really too sure of what’s wrong with the Jewish people. We all have ideas of what it could be but no one is exactly sure. So the Navi is able to tell everyone what Hashem is saying. Put in that way it really does sound like the Navi is the best way forward.

The Navi needs to be able to step away from what the people want to hear and tell them what they need to hear. So the Navi Sheker is the same as the idol worshiper. As explained last week, that when one can remove Hashem from the centre of his existence and put mankind there instead he will inevitably tell people what they want to hear as apposed to what they need to hear. Even though this ‘Navi’ calls out in the name of Hashem, there is no need to believe that this is the truth.

Throughout Jewish history people have always come up and wanted to tell the people what to do, to reveal their Nevuos, to tell over their personal revelations. But at times it has been to turn against the Torah and against the Will of Hashem.

The way that our Navi explains the Navi Sheker as the fox, reminded me of the Gemara at the end of Makkos. There is a story of Rabbi Akiva and his friends walking post-chorban and seeing a fox run through the destroyed Temple. Rabbi Akiva laughs while everyone else cries. This idea, of a fox running through a chorban is that the fox is looking for his scrapes of food and resembles the weak that remain. There is no vision for the future. No building. Just look after number one.

We have had our fair share of Navi Sheker over the last 2000 years, and even nowadays this Navi Sheker is still around, but is shouting out a different call. At the times when the Jewish people are down and need to be strengthened, the question that is asked is who is in the centre?

One of my Rabbis put this idea in a very real way by asking, why would the people go against the true Navi? And follow this Navi Sheker? He explained that, what would there be if a true Navi told us today that it was the Will of Hashem (God Forbid) to give away Jerusalem. Who would have the strength to listen and follow? No one at any time wants to hear that they need to give in. So when looking at this Navi Sheker, it is a really question of faith where one really needs to look into oneself and see what does Hashem demand. The Navi Sheker is the one who makes it all sound like easy work, the Navi Hashem makes demands on the people and shows them what they need to do.

Have a great Shabbos.

Natan

4 Iyar 5768 – Parshas Emor 9 May 2008

Yechezkel Perokim 3 – 9

Well I did not hear from anyone last week so I guess that you all enjoyed it, if not I am sorry and please let know, I even changed my email address to gmail!

Anyway, down to business, things got much worst this week and we have really seen some scary visions being prophesied, whilst having the knowledge that they did come true and sadly some times not only once in our history.

I felt that the climax of the nevuah and what sheds light on what is happening, is chapter eight. Until now we have heard what might happen and how it is going to happen, then almost out of no where, Hashem lets us know what the story in the Temple is. We must not forget that the Temple was not just our spiritual life and the place that we saw the revelation of Hashem, but it also was the one thing that united the Jewish people. Having just spent Yom Ha’atzmaut in Israel, the notion of needing a central place where the nation can turn to and feel pride in, is certainly lacking. So we read that by some means the Navi is being brought to the Temple in Heaven. Now there are a number of points that must be clarified before we continue.

Why is the process of taking him to the Temple so strange? What’s the need to grab him by his payos? Being a payos wearer I can testify that it’s certainly painful and what is this Temple in Heaven? Is it a vision for the future?

Ok, about the payos, Hashem needs to bring the Navi to the Beis HaMikdash NOW. He needs to be shown what is going on, what the people are doing. Therefore, the time did not call for niceties but rather it called for action. We will see soon what was so bad that such urgency was required.

The Beis HaMikdash in shomayim is explained by a number of different sources. The idea is larger than we can fully discover here but it is a good time to explain a little. The world that we see around us i.e. the physical world, the trees, the sun, the moon and even our bodies are all reflections. To explain this point let us take the example of staring at the mirror for a very long time or having a picture taken next to a mirror. It can sometimes be hard to discern what the real image is and what the reflection is. Even when you are convinced that what you are seeing is the real thing, it is merely a reflection.

The same is true at some level here, because for everything in the physical world there is the source of that object in the heavens, in its most complete form possible. Therefore what we see in this world is only a reflection from the real ‘object’. So what Hashem is showing the Navi here is the true Beis HaMikdash. There is a comment by Chazal, that when the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed it was of course a tragic event, but the ultimate tragedy was that the Beis HaMikdash only had that potential to be destroyed because the Beis HaMikdash in Heaven had already been destroy by the Jewish people. So what Hashem is doing here, is showing the Navi who and why is really leading the armies to burn down the House of Hashem.

What the Navi sees at first sight seems to be a rejection of Hashem and pure idol worship. But with a better reading of the verses, one gets to really understand what was going on here.

The history of idol worship is kindly related to us by the Rambam. The story is that people felt the need for a focus for their prayers and chose something from nature to look at in order to help them with this. As I am sure you guessed, it slowly moved away from the item being a point of focus to it becoming an idol and a god in itself. So idol worship is bad and Hashem does not like it, but destroy the Temple? Not sure, but here goes my theory.

If you look at the text the wording should sound like something else you might have read. Ok... it is Noah and the flood. Hashem tells Noah that the world has become full with “Chamas” and then Hashem goes and destroys the world saving Noah with his family and some animals. But here Hashem is going to destroy the Temple because of this “Chamas”. What is the “Chamas”? What is the connection between these two stories?

In essence the deeper problem of what the Navi was seeing was that the order of the Temple had broken down. Each group had certain areas where they were situated and other areas where they were not allowed into. Hashem had prescribed for it to be based on the structure of Mattan Torah. For the woman, they were only meant to go up to a certain point and no further. But here within this vision, the women are in the azarah itself. This was is too far! Now you might be thinking ok, too far forward, too much to the left, big deal!! Well yes it is. The need for order, structure and a system of how the revelation of Hashem is revealed to the world is so important and so critical that in its absence Hashem needed to destroy the Temple for it. There was no manoeuvring space in order that this problem be solved, the only solution was the ‘final solution’ for the Temple.

By rejecting real service for their own service and by violating Hashem’s order with their own they were sending out a message that goes far deeper than that of simply turning away from Hashem. What they were doing was to place man at the centre of the equation, to say that now it is man who decides how a god will reveal itself and whom can perform the service.

This is when the Temple needs to be destroyed, and so to by Noah. In that time it was mankind who decided what was moral, what was theft. There was no longer a system based on the Will of God but rather it was the will of man.

Another place in the Torah that this word comes up is when Yaakov gives his sons a bracha. He tells Reuven and Shimon that they are sons of “Chamas”, since they went out and became the judge, jury and executioner of the Sodomites concerning the episode with Dina. It might have been rightful revenge, but Yaakov tells them that we don’t live like that, we have rules etc.

Now for us, we follow the Torah and try and live a life of meaning. But the question that is a bit harder to answer is who is in the centre of our lives? Can we say that we place Hashem at the centre? Or rather is it a life that when it is easy, we fulfil what we need to do. Can we push ourselves when we don’t understand or don’t want to do?

We must help ourselves walk away from the destruction with positively answering these questions. What really is the centre of my life? Whose will am I really fulfilling?

By Natan Rickman

27 Nissan 5768 – Parshas Kedoshim 2 May 2008

Yechezkel Perokim 1 & 2

After agreeing to try and write something that might be one interesting and two intelligent, I then sat down and started to read over the first chapter of the Navi. Well the start is very famous and I knew what to expect, however then came chapter two. Anyway soon I was on my way and these are my thoughts on what I learnt. Please feel free to argue, debate and disagree on anything that I have written, because only through debate do we become wise.

So the opening chapter is a complete description of the "Ma'aseh Ma'merkava" (M.M) the Godly throne and those that surround it. We will not be discussing the deeper workings of the description and not a list of what each of the angels do etc, for two very good reasons. The first that Chazal placed a ban on learning these topics in large groups and two I can’t!

But what is important to note that this is the only place in the Tanach that such a detailed picture takes places. In truth if we were to ask, is this really the best place for such a description why is it mentioned here? Was Yechezkal the only one ever to see such a revelation?

I would guess that this type of revelation describing the throne of Glory which increases the awe and majesty in our eye’s, could have been placed in any of the following well know stories:

1. The creation of the world- some place in the first chapter of Torah would have been a nice introduction.

2. When God reveals himself to Avraham in the beginning of Lech Lechah.

3. When God visited Avraham after the Bris Milah.

4. Mattan Torah.

To list just the first four that came to my mind; I am sure that we could extend the list much longer. So what is really going on here? The gemara in Chagiga 13b, gives us an insight that answers both questions and raises another interesting point. The gemara wants to rate the different prophets and let us know that this prophecy was not unique to Yechezkal, but rather Yeshaya also saw the M.M and there is also a well known mechiltah that claims that by the Yam Suff, even a simple maid servant had a clearer revelation of Hashem than Yechezkal did! So why does Yechezkal draw for us this great picture where other prophets did not think that it was relevant?

Ok let’s go……. The gemara answers that in relation to the two prophet Yechezkel is like a villager, lets say some one from a small farming village that has never seen a large city and only knows his own village whereas Yeshaya is a city dweller, someone who lives in the centre of town. Let’s explain it a little bit clearer.

If you remember wondering around the old city in Jerusalem there are two very distinct types of people, those that rush through the narrow streets and are focused on the final destination. Then there are also those who are walking around in a daze trying to take in two thousand years of history and while they turn there head left and right and take more photos, they have almost forgotten their final destination. When they might ever get there it is almost irrelevant for them, since the simple experience of the old city is enough for them. This is the same with our prophet here. Agreed that others saw what he saw, and agreed another place in the Tanach might have added something. But it needed a prophet who saw the revelation as a "villager'' and not as a "city dweller". We needed to be reminded at that point in history of the ultimate glory of Hashem.

So too within our lives, we at times are running too much. We run from school to home, from home to friends and then to a hundred other places. Never, do we stop and look around and see what is going on around us -

We don’t see the beauty and grace of the world and the Torah. We need to take notice and see how a real person full of the sense that Hashem loves everyone, how they stand and talk, even before the Torah flows from their mouth.

There is a Gemara Yerushalmi, were different Amoraymin are explaining why they were able to become Torah giants. The discussion sounds so strange but I think that what we discussed above helps us to understand. So one turns to the other, and explains that he only he became great in Torah because he saw the arm of a great man when he was young, and that great man saw the face of another great man. The simple glance at another’s face should be enough. The Navi is shouting to us, take in what is around you allow your surroundings to prepare you for spiritual life.

Can anyone imagine what it must have felt to come to the Beis HaMikdash on the Regel? To see all the Jewish people gather together. To strengthen this point we know that the Torah commands men woman and children to come to Hakel, a service where the prince in Israel, reads from the Torah. The question is asked, men come to learn but why do woman need to come? The answer given there is that they come to see the awesome sight of so many Jews gathering together in service of God. There is so much value to being able to take in the positive messages form our surroundings. This is what the Navi wants us to understand.

From the second chapter in the Navi and onwards, when Hashem addresses Yecezkal He calls him Ben Adam. Now I am not sure if you realized that this is not very nice! He does have a name and he is a loyal servant so what is going on? One final question, Rashi and the Radak explain that this is a term of disgrace and that here the Navi is being told that you might have seen the M.M but still remember that you are just man. Nice, it sounds great that Hashem is reminding the Navi of humility but that could have been it. However one needs to look at what term Hashem uses to call him; Adam but not enosh or ish. The Zohar teaches that Hashem calls man by four names, gever, enosh, ish and adam and that adam is the greatest of them all.

Wait a second, what going on now? If Hashem wants to give Yechezkel a slice if humble pie, why not call him ensoh or ish? If you need to lower someone, do it fully? But here is the real beauty of the situation. The Navi has seen the M.M and now the Navi is in a dangerous position as he needs to keep his feet on the ground. So Hashem offers him a message that in one word expresses two different ideas that work together. The first is that Hashem reminds the Navi that he is just man and therefore is limited to the limitations of man, however at the same time he is also adam the highest level that mankind can reach. There is another medrash chazal, where the name adam the letter stand for Adam, David and Moshiach. The title adam is the expanse of the human existence the idea that encompasses all of mankind.

To conclude the Navi, is again showing us the lesson that takes a life-time to try and master. That on the one side we have this potential to reach the greatest heights that mankind can reach and on the other side, we need to understand that we are still mankind and no angels.

Have a great week and please email me with comments, ncdrickman@hotmail.com

By R’ Natan Rickman