At the beginning of this week's parsha Rashi
(Bereishis 37:1) explains the end of last week's
parsha and its connection to Vayeishev: "After
[the Torah] succinctly recorded Esav's dwellings and
offspring, since they are not valued or significant [enough
to justify] enumerating [the details of] where they lived,
the wars they waged, and how they drove out the Horite, the
Torah indicates at length Yaakov's dwellings and offspring
and all the causes of what happened to them, since Hashem
found it important to write at length about them. Likewise
you find that in the ten generations from Odom until Noach
[the Torah writes] `So-and-so gave birth to So-and-so' [and
no more than that,] but when [the Torah] reached Noach it
wrote at length about him. Moreover, in the ten generations
from Noach until Avrohom [the Torah] wrote briefly about
them, but when it reached Avrohom it wrote at length about
him. A parable to this is of a pearl that fell into the sand.
A person gropes in the sand and sifts it until he finds the
pearl. After he finds it he throws away the detritus and
takes the pearl."
This moshol clearly illustrates the relationship
between Noach and Avrohom and all others who lived during
those generations. Chazal intended to show us the correlation
between the valuable and essential and the secondary and
insignificant as far as spiritual values are concerned. This
should stir us to set out to make our own comprehensive
examination of the relative importance of all that matters
that is in the tremendous world HaKodosh Boruch Hu has
created.
According to the Rambam (Hilchos Yesodei
HaTorah 2:2), contemplating Hashem's astounding Creation
stimulates within us ahavas Hashem: ". . . And what is
the way to [be able to truly] love and fear Him? When a
person reflects about Hashem's colossal and miraculous deeds
and creations, and sees His endless wisdom that cannot be
measured, he immediately loves, praises, and exalts Him, and
craves to know the all-powerful Hashem."
What the Rambam writes in Hilchos Teshuvah (10:6)
complements this by showing us the vital need to reflect
about this: "HaKodosh Boruch Hu loves only someone who
knows Him by using his intellect. According to his
intellectual grasp will be his love [for Hashem]: if it is
shallow, so will [his love] be superficial, and if it is
profound, so will [his love] be deep-seated."
The contemplation of Hashem's existence actually exceeds the
bounds of man's intellectual and imaginary capability. The
most astute person can only perceive a faint image of the
eternal. Distances in the fearful cosmos are measured in
light-years (a unit of length in interstellar astronomy equal
to the distance that light travels in one year in a vacuum --
about 5,878,000,000,000 miles). Not only are we unable to
perceive the distance of even one light-year, but also one
light-hour, minute, second, or even part of a second, is
beyond our power. This is obvious to any thoughtful
person.
We are simply astounded by the fact that there are stars
thousands and tens of thousands of light-years distant from
earth. According to most opinions to this day, and according
to all the evidence that there is so far, they are all stars
without any planets where life might exist. Only on our own
Earth, considered a tiny planet in comparison to planets that
are tens and even hundreds its size, is there life. Why did
Hashem decide to create such a tremendous Creation, and
seemingly all of it just for the sake of our planet and those
who live on it? The Earth does not make up even one-billionth
of the whole colossal universe. What was the purpose behind
this huge creation?
Dovid Hamelech asked this fundamental question: "When I look
at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the
stars which You have established -- what is man, that You
remember him, the child of mortal man that You are mindful of
him?" (Tehillim 8:5-6). And what is Dovid Hamelech's
answer? "Hashem, our Master, how mighty is Your name over all
the earth" (ibid., 10).
This can be explained according to what the mussar
masters have taught us: that the whole Creation was made so
that one Jew could raise his hand to Heaven and praise
HaKodosh Boruch Hu, so that someone could realize
Hashem's presence through contemplation of the entire
Creation: "Hashem, our Master, how mighty is Your name over
all the earth."
Now let us ponder this deeper: There is immeasurable space in
the universe. We are incapable of measuring it even with the
most sophisticated instruments, these are distances beyond
the capability of mortals to even dream of grasping, and all
this was created for one single reason -- "How mighty is Your
name over all the earth."
After this introduction let us concentrate on
discussing the earth on which we exist. The phenomenon we
have been speaking of repeats itself throughout the universe
and on the earth too: more than two-thirds of the earth is
covered with water! Most of the world is vast deserts, steep
hills, and wild jungles that are unsuitable to live in. We
are left simply overwhelmed over this universal occurrence:
what is vital for man's existence is of negligible quantity
in proportion to what is secondary.
Before we arrive at any conclusions, one more short
observation should be made. It is indeed short, but only in
length, not in worth. It is an observation that obligates us
to think about our objective in life.
HaRav Yechiel Michel Tukatchinsky zt'l (in his
Gesher HaChaim) makes an instructive comment (when I
say that it is instructive I mean that it instructs us to
learn the ways of righteousness proper for man; a comment
that enlightens and inspires us). He writes that every year a
person eats some thousand kilograms (twenty-two hundred
pounds) of food. If he lives a hundred years, then we arrive
at a hundred thousand kilograms of food (two hundred twenty
thousand pounds) -- a hundred tons of food!
Now, if we were to separate out the various minerals from a
person's corpse and try to sell them, we would receive just a
few dollars in exchange. A person eats a hundred tons of food
during his life in order to sustain a body that weighs on an
average between seventy and eighty kilograms (150 to 200
pounds) -- a body which in life is worth only a few dollars
and which ultimately turns to earth.
Our spiritual mentors have taught us that
what we must learn by contemplating the above is to think
about the indisputable fact that what is beneficial and vital
for us in the world is a tiny minority of the total. The
whole vast universe, that cannot even be measured, exists
only to sustain man, who is nothing in comparison to
it.
This principle is truer still in spiritual matters. "There
were ten generations from Odom to Noach -- to show the degree
of His patience, for all those generations angered Him
increasingly until He brought upon them the waters of the
Flood. There were ten generations from Noach to Avrohom -- to
show the degree of His patience, for all those generations
angered Him increasingly until our forefather Avrohom came
and received the reward of them all" (Ovos 5:1-
2).
The world waited twenty generations until the rock of the
world, Avrohom Ovinu, appeared. But the world was not merely
waiting; all that time there was a worldwide rebellion
against Hashem, that "angered Him increasingly." This was,
however, all worthwhile as long as Avrohom Ovinu, the unique
individual from among millions, was finally born.
The Meshech Chochmah, on the posuk, "And I will
take you to Me for a people" (Shemos 6:7), cites the
gemora (Sanhedrin 111a): "Their departure from
Mitzrayim is compared to their coming to Eretz Yisroel. Just
as their coming to Eretz Yisroel involved only two people out
of six hundred thousand (namely Coleiv and Yehoshua), so also
their departure from Mitzrayim involved only two from among
six hundred thousand!"
What message is hidden in this gemora? The Meshech
Chochmah says that we are being taught that all of the
miracles, makkos, and krias Yam Suf that
happened to bnei Yisroel when we left Egypt were all
for the sake of two people out of six hundred thousand who
would reach the Divine objective. Hundreds of thousands who
did not succeed would perish for the benefit of a mere few,
but these were exceptional individuals who believed in His
Divine Providence.
"Rovo goes on to say," explains the Meshech Chochmah,
"that it will be likewise at the advent of the Moshiach. The
same proportion of the worthy and the unworthy will exist at
that time: only a sparse few individuals will be worthy to
live during the sublime event of Moshiach's coming, while all
others will die.
"Someone who believes in Hashem should not feel powerless
after realizing that only a few special individuals are
fitting and privileged to fulfill the Divine objective. A
spark of fire carried along a storm wind can light up a whole
world. Likewise when Divine Providence clings to exceptional
individuals they will spread a spirit of justice that will
enlighten the world with a Divine flame."
Let us return to the moshol of the
pearl buried in the sand that Rashi cited. What comparison is
there, as far as worth is concerned, between sand and a
single pearl? Sand is totally worthless. People trample on it
and it has no objective to accomplish in and of itself. It is
used for men's needs in building and the like.
On the other hand, the pearl is valuable per se and
people all over the world search after it. Those who already
have a costly pearl guard it carefully. Pearls are placed in
the crowns of kings, adorn the fingers of nobles, and are
safely stored away in the safes of the world's richest
people.
The mussar that we should extract from this is that
the ten generations from Odom to Noach, and the other ten
from Noach to Avrohom, are compared to mere sand. This should
totally shake any intelligent person. Twenty generations are
considered worthless like sand!
So it is with individual men's lives. There are necessary and
vital matters that are like jewels, while there are some
matters that are worthless like sand. Every astute person
should look at what he does during his life: Torah study,
tefilla, performing mitzvos, eating, drinking,
talking, recreation, and other activities. He should
designate the relative importance of each activity in his
life. This is man's constant duty: to weigh on a just scale
all of his deeds and behavior.
There is an additional angle to be considered. R' Yisroel of
Salant zt'l once remarked that all the high-echelon
discussions in London and Paris about seemingly worldly
matters center around those who toil over their Torah studies
throughout the world. Many of the conferences, and the world-
shattering matters being considered by those who are holding
the steering wheel of international politics, are in the end
relevant in one way or another to the Torah World. The fate
of millions and hundreds of millions of people will be
determined according to the needs of those who meditate over
His Torah!
Although there might be other points to
consider about the above, "Give instruction to a wise man and
he will be yet wiser" (Mishlei 9:9). Let us analyze
another point, one that is a natural outcome of the
above.
Carbon is crystallized into diamonds in the depths of the
earth, due to the tremendous heat existing there. The crude
material is hardened by the many pressures and volcanic
activities.
After being mined, cleaned, cut, and polished, diamonds are
set in the crowns of kings and the rings of nobles. This is
equally so in the formation of refined and eternal wisdom.
The foundations lie in the refinement and nobility of man's
nefesh. They are molded in the depth of a person's
sublime feelings, created in a hidden and majestic world, and
afterwards brought up and polished until they correspond to
our world of concepts. We too must adjust ourselves to the
world from which these concepts came in order to position
them correctly in our world of concepts, so they can
embellish and cultivate our philosophies of life.
However, the way such wisdom is formed is concealed from most
people. The secret lies in the fact that when one properly
controls his material side in the depths of his emotional
makeup, this fact radiates outward to his power of analysis.
Refinement of one's desires bridges between true concepts and
reality. It binds together his practical, moral obligation
and his intellectual grasp. Furthermore his intellectual
perception stems from the refinement of his feelings.
Just as diamonds are formed through immense pressure and
heat, refined feelings too, like diamonds, are formed through
deep pressure, created by one's bridging the positive and the
negative, and by the triumph of good over evil. This matter
involves "immense effort and a mighty number of days,"
according to the pure language of Maran the Chazon Ish in one
of his letters.
