For over twenty years I have had the privilege of sharing the beauty of our mesora with children who do not have the zechus to be born into a Torah family. I can confirm that the challenges have increased over the years. Before you jump to an overly simple answer, technology is not the only problem. At times, students are frustrated by a way of life that appears out of touch with the world they live in. On occasion, thankfully, they recognise the beauty of how we live and pine for the kedusha and meaning found in living according to the Halachik system. However, one of the greatest challenges and it’s the one we are responsible for creating, is when those who are distant look upon the so called “frum” community and notice contradictions or hypocrisies. Smoking is an easy example for the less connected Jew to question. Afterall the Torah commands us to look after ourselves, so they ask “how can that person be religious if they don’t follow what Hashem says?” A more nuanced less noticeable contradiction is the stern often grumpy appearance of religious Jews; “If they are following Hashem and doing what they should, then why do they look so miserable?”
We daven every day {just before the Shema} that Hashem should “put into our hearts comprehension to understand and to be intellectually creative, to listen, to learn, and to teach, to preserve, to practice all the words of instruction in Your Torah with love.
The Ba’al Ha’Tanya teaches that there are two types of love—ahavah rabbah and ahavas olam. Ahavah rabbah is a love of delight, a love of Hashem which delights in Him. There is no other desire or goal present, such as the desire to cleave to Him or to expire in one’s yearning for Him. The love itself is comprised purely of delight in Him and cleaving to Him. It is a fiery flame that rises of itself. Man does not create or kindle this love within himself; rather, it comes forth spontaneously.
Ahavas olam, however, the second and lower level of love, is that which comes from the understanding and knowledge of the greatness of Hashem. The individual will cease loving those things he had previously loved, and all his love will be directed to Hashem alone. Reflecting on this matter will lead the person to desire Hashem alone. All the above refers to a person who has a love for worldly matters and divests himself of this love because of his contemplation of Hashem’s greatness. His love will then be felt for Hashem rather than for mundane things. However, he who by nature is cold and removed from any feelings of love, whether to G d or otherwise, cannot simply transfer his love. It is much more difficult for such a person to awaken a feeling of love for G d. First must come the illumination earned by the fulfilment of Torah and mitzvot, and only then can one be granted the illumination of experiencing a love of Hashem.
Furthermore, the Gemoroh in Nedorim teaches:
It was taught: That you may love Hashem and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cleave unto Him: [This means] that one should not say, I will read Scripture that I may be called a Sage.’ I will study, that I may be called Rabbi, I will study, to be an Elder, and sit in the assembly [of elders]; but learn out of love.
We say in Yedid Nefesh “nafshi cholas ahavasecha- my soul is lovesick for your love. This is what we sing and possibly aspire too. However, living it is much more challenging. Kiruv rechokim has been around for some time; today we also hear of kiruv kerovim. I think it is time to start again with the way we experience our Judaism. We ought to ask are we truly proud and happy when we live our lives? Of course, we have our struggles and frustrations. But if we are in love then others should notice it. The Rambam writes:
“But how may one discover the way to love and fear Him? When man will reflect concerning His works, he will spontaneously be filled with love, praise and exaltation and become possessed of a great longing to know the Great Name.”
Surely, “being possessed of a great longing” is something that others will notice. Gone will be the morose exterior, the frown and bitter visage. In its place will be smiles, happiness, peace and inner harmony that will radiate to the wider world.
In letter 86 from Rav Yaakov Meir Shechter from Breslov he writes, that unnecessary chumros can detract from the joy in serving Hashem. If an added stringency elevates and animates the performance of a mitzva that is a good thing. If it creates neurosis and paranoia or steals so much time then it is likely that other mitzvos will be ignored and overall our relationship with Hashem will suffer. The fear that often accompanies our Judaism and anxiety that we are underperforming is not frumkeit! Instead, it comes from the sources of impurity, that use psychological tricks to stop Jews living according to the will of Hashem. Every mitzva we do should be celebrated ,rather than judged against some imaginary scale of stringency. This is what we mean by the term hidur mitzva. We invest extra in the performance of the deed whilst being elevated by the deed itself. Chazal have already told us this when they teach that a person who merits will experience Torah as an elixir of life. Whereas the very same Torah can feel like poison that will suck the life force out of a person.
The weeks of Shovavim are a perfect time to press reset on our Judaism. We must reconsider the way we live and the manner in which others perceive our lifestyle. The Torah community has a huge responsibility to each sector of the Jewish people. We daven in the plural for a reason. We are mekabel on ourselves Ve’ahavta le’reiacha kamocho before we daven. Only by demanding more from ourselves will we merit to inspire our brothers and sisters. Celebrate every mitzva you do, cherish every word of tefilla your children say. Perfection doesn’t exist, Hashem wants our heart our emotional investment. Be’ezras Hashem we will be successful and then with beaming smiles we will be ready to greet Moshiach.
Comentarios