Shavuot Insights

Rosh Yeshivat Ahavat Shalom

Rabbi Yaakov Hillel

by

Who Revealed This Secret To My Children?

The Illogical Reaction

The Jewish nation accepted the Torah with the famous words naaseh vnishma, we will do and we will hear,(Shmot 24:7). This means, First we will fulfill, and then we will understand what we are fulfilling. This was a declaration of such enormous import that the Al-mighty said, Who revealed this secret to My children? It is a function of the angels alone (Shabbat 88a). Only angels, who have no free will, act without question. How, asked Hashem, had the Jewish people known to respond with precisely these words, which so exactly define the essence of servitude to G-d? Understood simply, We will do and we will hear is not a logical statement; in fact, we may say that it flies in the face of common sense. How could any levelheaded person commit himself and his descendents for all eternity to a complex system of laws and obligations without even hearing what they entail? A responsible individual would first find out what exactly is involved, and consider if it is something he can realistically take on. And yet, our ancestors accepted the Torah sight unseen, so to speak. First came the promise to fulfill the mitzvot, whatever they might be. Once that was settled, they would learn and understand more about what they had committed to undertake. To understand why this particular combination of words was so important and so precious to the Al-mighty, let us take a look at the reaction of the other nations when they were offered the Torah. They were considerably more cautious. Their approach was logical and sensible: they immediately inquired, What is written in it? First find out whats required, before saying yes. When they heard the prohibitions against murder, theft and adultery, they quickly refused (Sifri VZot HaBerachah 343).

The Jews, on the other hand, did not bother with all that. They hurried to agree, no questions asked. Why did their impulsive headlong plunge earn them Hashems love? It is because the principle behind naaseh vnishma is the foundation of the entire Torah, and as such, it is the key to the ongoing acceptance of the Torah in every generation by every individual Jew.

G-dly Wisdom
Torah is not another science or field of study, developed by human minds. It is Gdly wisdom, spiritual, abstract and intangible, far removed from ordinary human comprehension. Other types of wisdom are the product of logical, reasoned, scientific observation of the world and its phenomena. The resulting conclusions make sense to the human mind, and the intellect accepts them. Hashems Torah is different; it is not confined to what mans intellect can grasp. It is Divine intelligence, and man cannot plumb its depths. Some mitzvot are called hukim commandments whose reasons are hidden from us (see Rashi on Vayikra 19:19). Perhaps the best known example is the commandment to purify defilement caused by contact with a corpse with the ashes of a red heifer (parah adumah; see Bamidbar 19:1-22). Obviously, we cannot understand this commandment on a rational level, and we accept it purely because it is Hashems Will. But not only hukim are beyond our comprehension; all mitzvot, the details of our familiar daily halachot included, are abstract, spiritual, and infinitely profound. The human mind on its own would never have arrived at the conclusion that man can perfect his soul by wearing a tallit or putting on tefillin, for example. Once we have been commanded by G-d to do so, however, and we actively fulfill His commandments, we can begin to understand some of the reasons behind them. The most important way to ready ourselves to receive the Torah is by refining our character traits. Torah is a spiritual entity and man is a physical being. In order for our crude flesh and blood brain to be able to grasp Divine spirituality, we must move away from physicality and come close to spirituality. Only then can we hope to understand G-dly wisdom. If we cling to our lowly physical nature, our mind will be limited to material thinking, and incapable of comprehending abstract spirituality (see Maharal, Derech Hayyim Chapter 6, and Netiv HaTorah, Chapter 8). The declaration naaseh vnishma recognizes this truth. Torah is spiritual and Divine, incalculably more exalted than any human mind bound by the rules of logic. The only way we can receive it is by subjugating our limited physical, material intelligence to the Torahs Divine intelligence, and accepting it as truth, free of material mans preconceived notions and instinctive reactions.

Total Subjugation
An incident related by our Sages illustrates this lofty level of acceptance. On one occasion, a Sadducee1 passed by and saw the Amora Rava, who was totally engrossed in his learning. Rava was seated in such a way that his foot tread on his fingers, crushing them. His fingers started bleeding heavily, but he was oblivious to any sensation or pain; he did not even notice the bleeding (Shabbat 88a)! The Sadducee said, You are a hasty, impulsive, impetuous nation. He saw in Ravas behavior the same impetuous nature which had led our people to defy logic and take on the Torah without first examining it thoroughly. As he put it, at Mt. Sinai they had put the ear before the mouth. Before hearing how difficult it was and weighing whether or not they would be able to maintain it, they had rushed to say yes. Now too, Rava defied normal, worldly, logical behavior by completely ignoring the pain and bleeding from his fingers, continuing his learning as if nothing had happened. Why did this Sadducee perceive the element of naaseh vnishma in Ravas total negation of material considerations, his own pain included? We can understand this by considering the meaning of naaseh vnishma. He saw Rava fully negate his own material being to the intangible spirituality of Torah, to such a level that he was oblivious to the bleeding from his crushed fingers. He concluded that this must have been what happened at Sinai. Then too, the Jews completely subjugated their own material, physical intellect and reason to receive the Torah and fulfill Hashems Will, with complete, unswerving trust in the Al-mighty. This explains Ravas reply. We Jews, he told the Sadducee, rely wholly and unquestioningly on Hashem, and are sure that He would not give us commandments which we cannot fulfill. In this sense, naaseh vnishma is a secret... which is a function of the angels alone. Angels were created to serve Hashem, and they act without freedom of choice, fulfilling their tasks automatically. When the Jews said naaseh vnishma, they took upon themselves angelic behavior: they negated their own intellect, subjugating themselves unconditionally to the Will of Hashem. They did not take the normal, logical, academic approach as the non-Jewish nations did. They accepted the Torah without questions and conditions, and without demanding to first understand the mitzvot and the reasons behind them.

Tasting Mitzvot
We learn that mitzvot are beyond the logic of human intellect from an encounter between Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananya and the Roman emperor. The Emperor
1

A member of a sect active at the time of the Second Temple, who rejected the Oral Torah. 3

partook of a Shabbat meal at the Sages home, and was amazed by the delicious taste of the food he was served. He asked about the seasoning which had produced the exceptional flavor. Rabbi Yehoshua told him, We have a certain spice, and its name is Shabbat. That special spice, he explained, was responsible for the delicious flavor. When the Emperor requested some of the spice for his own use, Rabbi Yehoshua told him that it imparts its flavor exclusively to those who observe Shabbat. This cannot have been an easy answer for him to accept, because we know that the Romans did not acknowledge the sanctity of Shabbat. As the Roman governor Tinneius Rufus said to Rabbi Akiva (Sanhedrin 65b),What makes one day different and more special than another day? Shabbat is not a visible, tangible entity. Scientifically, it is impossible to say that the identical combination of ingredients and seasonings prepared in an identical manner will produce a different flavor on a weekday than on Shabbat. Rabbi Yehoshuas statement was utterly illogical. But we as Jews are different. We are privileged to taste and feel an abstract spiritual flavor which has no place in scientific reality. When the non-Jewish nations were offered the Torah, they wanted to hear what it said, in plain, down-to-earth words. The Jews were able to rise above this level and say naaseh vnishma: we negate our understanding to the Al-mightys Divine, intangible, immeasurable wisdom. This made them worthy to taste and see that Hashem is good (Tehillim 34:9). It is the practical fulfillment of Hashems commandments which allows us to see and appreciate that Hashem is good. First, our ancestors said, they would do, and by doing, they would gain the spiritual perfection achieved only through mitzvot, and not through logic, reason, or intellect. Purified and elevated by the doing itself, they would then be able to grasp the beauty and holiness of mitzvot. As Rabbi Yehoshua observed, the exquisite taste of Shabbat is only available to those who actually observe it.

Eight Days
Our Sages tell us about an interesting exchange between Avrahams two sons, Yitzhak and Yishmael (Bereshit Rabbah 55:4). Yitzhak and Yishmael were arguing. The latter said, I am more beloved than you because I was circumcised at the age of thirteen years. The former said, I am more beloved than you because I was circumcised at the age of eight days. Yishmael said to [Yitzhak], I am more beloved than you. Why? Because I was capable of protesting, and I did not protest. At that moment, Yitzhak said, If only the Holy One, blessed be He, would reveal Himself to me and tell me to cut off one of my limbs, and I would not refuse. Immediately

afterward, And Hashem tested Avraham [with Akedat Yitzhak, where Yitzhak was called upon to give up his very life for Hashem.] What exactly were they arguing about? Yishmael had a logical, rational approach to the mitzvah of milah. Practically speaking, it did not demand all that much. There was no loss of limb and no physical defect involved in removing the foreskin, so why not consent? It was not totally illogical, so he was willing to go along with the commandment, despite the suffering and inconvenience. However, had he been asked to sacrifice one of his limbs, perhaps the little toe of his left foot, there is not a chance in the world that he would have agreed he would have seen it as senseless madness. Yitzhaks response is more difficult to understand. As an eight-day-old infant, he had had no choice in the matter, and in any case, his pain and suffering were certainly less than that of an adolescent undergoing circumcision. It would appear that Yishmaels claim did indeed have greater validity. Yet Yitzhaks words teach us an important, fundamental principle. Circumcision at eight days appears to defy reason. The baby is obviously incapable of agreeing to fulfill the commandment to be circumcised. He has no input; at most, he can cry when the cut hurts him. This, Yitzhak said, is in fact the highest level in fulfilling the mitzvah. From infancy on, Jewish parents instill the concept of naaseh vnishma in their children. We do Hashems Will strictly because it is Hashems Will, without rationalization and justification, much like the eight-day-old infant who has neither reason nor awareness, but is circumcised in a joyous ceremony nonetheless. If we adopt this approach to mitzvot, we will be privileged to taste their sweetness and feel their holiness. Yishmaels approach was rationalistic. He was willing to put up with a little suffering and forfeit a small chunk of unnecessary flesh, but that was all. Yitzhaks approach, on the other hand, was that of naaseh vnishma. He was prepared to give himself up completely, limb by limb, to fulfill the Will of his Creator.

Throughout Our Lives

This concept is expressed in the blessing bestowed on a baby at his circumcision: Just as he entered the covenant, so may he enter Torah, the wedding canopy, and good deeds (Shabbat 137b). A baby is circumcised on his eighth day of life not because he understands the importance of brit milah, but solely because milah is a mitzvah. He will achieve success at the next stage, learning Torah, if he learns in the same way. The more he subjugates his own intellect to that of the Al-mighty, the more profound his understanding of Torah will be. The blessing concludes with good deeds. As we explained, if we do mitzvot strictly because they are Hashems
5

Will, and not because we imagine that we see the logic behind them, we will become worthy of discovering their true holiness and importance. With this in mind, we can understand why a child is named at the time of circumcision. Brit milah at eight days inculcates Mt. Sinais message of naaseh vnishma from the very beginning of a childs life. His name is related to the root of his Jewish soul, which was present at Sinai when the Torah was given, so it is appropriate that he receives it at this time.

Wisdom, Intelligence, and Reason

Every day in Shemoneh Esre we say, Attah honen ladam daat umelamed lenosh bineh. Hanenu mItcha hochmah, binah, vdaat. Baruch Attah Hashem, honen hadaat: You grant man reason and teach man intelligence. Grant us from You wisdom, intelligence, and reason. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who grants reason. The wording of our prayers is never random or redundant. The terms hochmah, binah, and daat each refer to a different aspect of the intellect. Hochmah is knowledge, our accumulated store of information. Binah is intelligence, the capacity for intellectual depth. With binah we can define, compare, contrast, and classify our acquired information. There is a difference between hochmah and binah: hochmah is knowledge without emotion, belonging only to the mind. Binah is our emotional bond to that knowledge once it enters the heart. Daat, the third term, is the reasoning power which enables us to actually apply the product of our hochmah and binah to the situation at hand. We can explain the apparently repetitious wording of the blessing as follows. The first part of the blessing speaks of mankind as a whole. We thank Hashem for giving man (adam, a general term for all mankind) reason (daat), the human intelligence which allows him to identify and differentiate between various concepts and entities, elevating man from beast and allowing him to study the world around him, draw conclusions, and manage his affairs. Then we thank Him for giving man (enosh, also a general term) intelligence (binah), the ability for profound comprehension which can develop new wisdom. Wisdom (Hochmah) is not mentioned in this part of the blessing, because mortal knowledge and information, no matter how hard earned, are neither permanent nor absolute. The old scientific truths embraced in earlier eras have long since been discarded in favor of new discoveries. The next part of the blessing speaks about the Jewish people in particular. We ask Hashem to grant us wisdom, intelligence and reason. Us refers specifically to our nation, and wisdom refers to the Divine, absolute, eternal wisdom of the Torah. We say, hanenu mItcha, grant us from You, because there is no other way to
6

attain Torah wisdom if not from Hashem. It can only be a gift granted from Heaven, and we must ask for it specifically from Him. This request for Torah wisdom comes first on our list. If we learn Torah, we will gain the intelligent depth of comprehension that is binah. Torah provides the connection between mind and body, teaching the physical body to act in keeping with the loftier demands of the mind. From there, with hochmah and binah combined, we can achieve the level of daat, knowing how to apply our knowledge of halachah to situations as they arise. This is the purpose of our learning, so the blessing concludes, honen hadaat Hashem grants reason, namely the capacity for practical application of our Torah knowledge. Here too, we find the concept of naaseh vnishma. There is a fundamental difference between Divine knowledge and human knowledge. Divine knowledge begins from the source. Human knowledge observes existing phenomena and works backwards to understand them, tracing them to their source. As we have explained, Torah is G-ds wisdom. Unlike worldly wisdom, which is based on human logic and observation, Torah is infinite, far beyond the limitations of the human mind. If we subjugate ourselves to its absolute truth, regardless of our own perceptions, we acquire daat Torah, a way of thinking and understanding based totally on Torah, not confined by earthly, material limitations.

Believing Without Seeing

Despite the effort we put into understanding the Torah, Torah is not limited to what the human mind can grasp. We must first accept it as truth, regardless of our own limitations. Then we can begin to analyze it with the intellectual tools at our disposal. Our Sages relate an interesting incident which illustrates this principle. On one occasion, the great Amora Rav Yohanan described to his students the magnificent gates which the Al-mighty will one day erect in Jerusalem. They will be made of enormous jewels, a staggering thirty by thirty cubits in size, with an opening of ten by twenty cubits carved into the stone. A student listening to the description mocked what he considered to be a preposterous statement. Today, said the student, we dont even have jewels the size of a birds egg. Where on earth would anyone find precious stones of such impossible size? Some time later, this student was traveling by sea, and he saw a spiritual vision of the angels. They were carving huge jewels, thirty by thirty cubits in size, shaping openings of ten by twenty cubits. He asked them, What are those jewels for? They told him, In the future the Al-mighty will use these for the gates of Jerusalem. When he returned, he came to Rav Yohanan and told him that his words had been

proved true. Rebbe, keep on talking, he said. You are the right one to teach. I saw for myself exactly what you described! Rav Yohanan was less than enthusiastic. He told him, Empty one. If you hadnt seen, you wouldnt have believed. You mock the words of the Sages. His anger was so great that it resulted in the students death (Baba Batra 75a). This is surprising. Why didnt Rav Yohanan express disapproval at the time of the offense, when the student scoffed at his words in public? Why did he criticize him for mocking the Sages, precisely when he told him that he had seen for himself that his teachers words really were true? The answer teaches an important lesson. We can expect that a student may have a hard time accepting a teaching which he finds illogical. Rav Yohanan realized that this student was still on a low level, and hoped that with time, as he grew spiritually, he would come to accept the teachings of the Sages implicitly. It was when he brought his scientific proofs to the bet midrash that Rav Yohanan was angered. The student was saying that he could only accept the words of the Sages as true if there were visible proof backing them up. He did not say, Rebbe, I see now that I was wrong and the Sages are right, even if what they say appears to defy logic. What he did say was, I saw it myself so I know its true. This was the crucial difference, and it was now that Rav Yohanan was angered by his words (see Bne Yissachar, Maamar LChodesh Sivan, Mamar He LMaalat HaTorah and Derashot HaRan, Derush Hamishi, Nusah Bet.)

The Non-Jewish Approach

If we confine Torah to human intelligence and approach it as the non-Jews do, we will not understand a single word of Torah. From the very beginning, the non-Jews refused to accept the Torah as Divine intelligence, and their error till stands. Our Sages describe the outcome. In the future, the Al-mighty will come with a Torah scroll in his arms to give reward to those who did His Will. The non-Jewish nations will come forward and ask to be rewarded, pointing out that after all, they have made great contributions to the world. They have applied their logic and intellect to the advancement of civilization and science, and built highways and bridges for the benefit of mankind. The Jews in turn have used all those wonderful inventions to further their Torah study and service of Hashem. Hashem will respond with a test of their sincerity, instructing them to fulfill one of the easier mitzvot, that of dwelling in a sukkah. When they sit in their sukkot, however, Hashem will unsheathe the full heat of the sun, making it terribly hot and uncomfortable. They will get up and leave the sukkah, giving it a hearty kick on the way out (Avodah Zarah 2a-b, 3a).
8

Obviously, they will have failed the test. Leaving the sukkah due to the unbearable heat is legitimate; if one suffers from sitting in the sukkah, he is exempt from the mitzvah (see Sukkah 25b-26a). But kicking the walls on the way out is something else entirely. It shows all too clearly that they do not view the sukkah as a sacred object, elevated to spirituality by its use for a mitzvah. They see it only for its physical composition: the refuse of the threshing-floor and the vineyard (Sukkah 11b). Rationally and logically, a sukkah is nothing more than a heap of boards and branches knocked together, and what is that worth? They are incapable of discerning and appreciating its enormous spiritual and esoteric value. Concepts such as dwelling in the Shade of the Al-mighty, and the seven spiritual guests (Ushpizin) whose presence is with us in the sukkah can only be grasped by a Jews G-d-given soul.

Stepping Out to Learn

Our Sages often use an interesting expression. When a question was asked in the bet midrash and an answer was given, they would say nafak vdarsh, he went out and answered (Shabbat 156b and elsewhere). We find a similar term in Pirke Avot (2:9). Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai told his students, go out and see what is the straight path to which man should cleave. Why do the Sages equate profound comprehension with going out? In order to truly understand Torah, we must first step out of the limitations of the human mind and break through the boundaries of material logic. That is the only way to arrive at pure truth, enabling us to learn and teach true Torah. It is also the way which leads to the straight path that we should follow, in our attitudes and deeds. If we view life from the vantage point of our limited physical being, we will not perceive absolute truth. Instead, we should go out, leaving behind the perceptions of the material world and the confines of simple logic, enabling our brain to cleave to Torah. Then we will be able to appreciate the supreme truths of Divine wisdom.

Belief in Eternal Truth

The ultimate purpose of Torah and mitzvot is to elevate us spiritually. The more we cleave to the holiness of Torah, the more we will bask in its sacred beauty and appreciate the unparalleled sweetness of its mitzvot. We achieve this lofty level through perfect, unquestioning faith in Hashem and His Torah, and through belief in His sages, who pass on the Torah to future generations. It is up to us to subjugate our own ideas and opinions to the truths of Torah. When we learn Torah and fulfill its mitzvot in this manner, we will merit the influx of its holy light, and the world will be as full of knowledge of Hashem as the seabed is full of water (Yeshayahu 11:9).
9

Naaseh vnishma also teaches us not to be led astray by those who attempt to adapt the Torah and the teachings of the Sages to the methods and theories of nonJewish science and academics. Moshe is truth and his Torah is truth (Tanhuma Korah 11), for all eternity. Our Written and Oral Torah have neither flaws nor deficiencies; if we do not understand something in Torah, the lack is not in the Torah, G-d forbid, but in ourselves. Throughout history, the oldest, most established scientific truths have been disproved and discarded by subsequent generations of scholars. We need not prove Torah with science, because Torah is eternal, living truth. Our Sages every word was spoken with Divine inspiration, and they penetrate to the core of every matter they discuss. In our times, we are not even capable of understanding the simple meaning of their teachings, let alone their true profundity. Those who wish to make Torah compatible with science are bypassing the faithful wife in favor of the maidservant. Let us work to study our Sages sacred teachings in depth. If at times we do not understand them, we should bow our heads to their infinitely superior knowledge and spiritual stature, and accept their words for what they truly are: truth handed down at Sinai. Every year on Shavuot, we receive the Torah anew. It is up to us to accept it as our ancestors did at Sinai, on the lofty level of naaseh vnishma, with all that implies. If we internalize the message for all time inherent in these words, with Hashems help we will merit to attain great heights in Torah and mitzvot.

10