The Wise Son

"...And on the seventh day (of Pesach), it should be a holy day to you, all manner of work should not be done..." Tonight (Thursday) - Sat. night, we celebrate the last 2 days of Passover. As we take advantage of these final days of the holiday of spiritual freedom, we must think about how we can internalize the message of Passover into our daily lives for the coming summer and year.


A woman once approached Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik of Brisk with a strange question. She wanted to know whether one could use milk instead of wine for the four cups of the Seder, since she simply could not afford the wine. He responded by giving her a large amount of money. One of the Rabbi’s students asked him, “I understand you gave her money because she can’t afford the wine, but why so much?” The Rabbi explained, “If she wants to drink milk at the Seder, it is obvious she has no meat for Pesach” (since the laws of kashrut forbid the mixing of milk and meat). “So I gave her enough to buy both wine and meat for the entire holiday.”

One of the core parts of the "Haggadah" (story of Pesach) is the discussion of the 4 sons, the 1st of which is the wise son. What does it truly mean to be wise, and how can we become that? As seen by the Rabbi in the story, sometimes it's not enough to just be "smart". Rather, we have to be perceptive. People always taught me in yeshiva: "If you want to answer, to teach somebody, don't focus on just answering their question, as if that's their real, only issue. Answer the questioner." We have to have a sensitive "ear" to hear what people are saying behind their words. This enables us to perceive the speaker's true needs and respond accordingly with compassion. We have to learn, study, reflect, and grow. But that wisdom we attain, must always lead practically to the betterment of the world and others around us. It is easy for wisdom to stay locked away, remote from the outside world. But as our Sages say: 'He whose good deeds exceed his wisdom, his wisdom will endure. But he whose wisdom exceeds his good deeds, his wisdom will not endure.' (Ethics of our Fathers 3:9)

May we never cease learning, especially the holy words of the Torah and our Sages, and may the wisdom we attain permeate our thinking and the way we view others and the world around us. For a beautiful insight on this, see this video: Gratitude

Wishing you a lovely end of Pesach & a Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel

The Wisdom of a Seed

B"H

Turns out I'm going to Narva, Estonia in a few weeks to help make a Passover Seder. Should be fun!

Wish me luck :)

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There is a known principle in Jewish Teachings, particularly elaborated on in the mystical writings, that

"Man is a small world, and the world is a large man."

Meaning that all that can be found within the universe, can be found in some way within us.

G-d Created human beings as the microcosm, and the world as the macrocosm.

Let's focus on 1 beautiful example of this, that clearly demonstrates this rule.

We'll start from the human being, and work our way outward to the world:

The Kabbalah teaches that our spiritual makeup can be broken down into 10 aspects; the 10 sefirot.

3 intellectual, 6 emotional, and 1 connected with action.

The 1st 3 intellectual sefirot are called in Hebrew: "Chochmah (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding), and Da'at (Knowledge)." [The acronym for these 3 isChaBaD].

What is Chochmah?

You know when you're watching a cartoon and you see a character come up with a novel idea & a light bulb flashes over his head? That's Chochmah.

You've just come up with an idea. You have the seminal point, the kernel of the idea.

But you don't yet fully realize what you actually have.

Now all you have to do is develop what you've just got. To expand the idea and develop all of the details. That's the ability of Binah that we have.

To slowly and methodically develop that which was given to you in one flash of inspiration.

Finally there's Da'at.

The ability to internalize the idea that you now have developed. To bring to fruition what you have in theory. In our case, to bring to emotion what you now understand.

[A quick example: Imagine you're watching the news and all of a sudden, you read on the news ticker on the bottom of the screen that a Tsunami has

just killed 50,000 people. You have all of the info. embedded in that one-liner, but you don't fully grasp what's going on (Chochmah). You feel little, if anything.

Next up is a long & detailed program of video footage of the disaster and mayhem (Binah). Interviews with mothers looking for their lost children, etc.

But for you to feel real sadness and pain, you have to identify with the disaster (Da'at). It's still too distant from your life. Imagine if your child had been there?]

Physically, in our human bodies, we can see these 3 aspects as well.

How is a child born?

1st there's a seed which contains all of the details and particulars of the child (Chochmah/wisdom).

The mother takes that seed and develops it for 9 months, expanding and developing it into completion, slowly and methodically (likeBinah/understanding).

Finally the child is born, emerging into life in the physical world (Da'at/knowledge).

Finally, let's move out into the world. The macrocosm.

Let's examine trees.

A tree also begins with a seed.

That seed is placed into the earth, where it receives water and is slowly and methodically developed by mother earth :)

Over time, the baby tree grows and develops all of its limbs and leaves, and finally develops fruit.

(Interestingly enough, just as a person can create another person who has the ability to create another, potentially ad infinitum,

so does a fruit-producing tree, which produces fruit with seeds which can be re-planted ad-infinitum).

This is only one example that can be found in many areas of our beautifully orchestrated world.

The examples brought in the mystical writings abound. The divine unity apparent in all of nature is truly astounding.

As Iyov (Job) says: "From my flesh, I see G-d." (Job 19:26)

May you have a Shabbat Shalom, and enjoy the world around you in all of its splendor!

-Daniel